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justagalwhowrites · 11 months ago

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Halcyon - Ch. 3: Why don’t we try to actually get our shit together?

You and Joel come up with a plan. A continuation of Halcyon from the prologue through Ch. 2, a modern no outbreak AU TLOU fic found on Tumblr here.

Pairing: Joel Miller x Female Reader

Warnings: Some mild diet talk, no explicit mention of reader's weight or size (beyond she is smaller than Joel but my Joels are all giant, OK? Joel is like 6'5" Joel is a big big man, big big man). Modern No Outbreak AU, No use of Y/N, Slow burn, 18+ only, Minors DNI

Length: 5K

AO3 | Main Master List | Prologue | Previous Chapter | Next Chapter

“Sir, I can’t just… Well, I understand that you say that but…”

Amanda, the sophomore girl who worked the front desk of the English department offices, frowned, phone clutched against her head.

“I understand that,” she said again. “But she’s a special case, Professor…” She flinched and glanced up to see you coming in, looking relieved. “Sir? Give me just one second and I can check…” She pressed the hold button and lowered the receiver. “Professor, I am so so sorry, I know we’re not supposed to send unexpected calls or emails through to you but do you know a Joel Miller? He’s insisting he’s a friend of yours and…”

You raised your eyebrows before answering.

“Yeah, I know Joel. Go ahead and transfer him back to my office. And if he ever gives you a hard time again, tell him to fuck off.”

Amanda looked relieved and took Joel off hold as you went to the end of the hall and unlocked your door. You didn’t have to share an office like a few other people in your department. One of the perks, you imagined, of being a big name that got the university some attention. But you hadn’t done much with the space yet, the only thing on the wall a framed poster that the dean had waiting for you when you started there.

Your phone rang just as you set down your bag and you picked it up, tucking it against your shoulder.

“Yes, what do you want, I’m busy being very famous and important,” you said with a slight English accent.

“Oh, I’m sorry, I didn’t realize best selling authors were such a hot commodity,” Joel said. “Should I make an appointment?”

“Probably,” you replied. He snorted. “What’s up?”

“Did you know that you tried to put your number in my phone the other night?” Joel asked. “Note that I say ‘tried’ because what you actually did was put something in my notes that has four numbers and then seven symbols which, if you’re counting, ain’t even the right number of digits.”

You scoffed.

“You’re lucky I didn’t change your passcode or set an alarm for 4:30 in the morning,” you said. “Sounds like you got off easy.”

“You’re a menace.”

“I know,” you said, smiling a little to yourself. “So why were you looking for my number on a Monday morning?”

“Because I was looking for your number on a Sunday morning and ended up shit outta luck,” he replied. “Figured I could catch you at work. They got you all locked down over there, huh?”

“Trying to discourage random readers from contacting me here is all,” you said. “There was a problem with that at Brown right when the book first got popular. I don’t think it’d be as much of a problem now but still, administration thought it was smart. Speaking of which, don’t be a shit to my office aide.”

“Makes sense, I guess,” he said, ignoring your last comment. “Think you can put me on the list of people who are allowed to talk to you? And on the list of people who are allowed to bring you food?”

“Bring me food?” You frowned.

“Well, yeah,” he said. “I was hoping I could do that. Like… today. In an hour or so. If you’re not shaping young minds or whatever.”

“Don’t you have work?” You laughed.

“New job starts tomorrow,” he said. “And I don’t exactly have a lot of time without Sarah where I’m not at work.”

“And you want to see me?”

“No, I figured I’d just call and annoy your secretary as a new hobby…”

“Office aide.”

“You free for lunch or not, Goldie?” He said, exasperated. You resisted the urge to laugh.

“Yeah,” you said. “Yeah, I’m free. I have a class gap from 11:30 to 2. I can meet you somewhere…”

“I’ll just come to you,” he said. “Assuming that a fancy schmancy professor will still eat tamale lady tamales…”

“OK you could have opened with tamale lady tamales,” you said. “Buried the lead there, Miller.”

Joel laughed.

“I’ll give you my number and you can text me where your office is,” he said. “Then I’ll have a way to contact you that isn’t fucking gibberish. See you in two hours.”

You put his number into your phone and texted him. He responded with a screenshot of your note with the message literally none of those numbers are right which made you laugh.

It was hard to focus as you taught your next class, checking your watch every few minutes to see just how much time had passed. You were keyed up, stomach tight, and you tried to talk yourself down as you walked half way across campus back to your office.

It was Joel. Just Joel. Sure, before Friday, you hadn’t seen or talked to him in years but falling back into friendship with him had felt so easy so far. He was safe and comfortable. You’d spent every day with Joel once upon a time.

But that felt so long ago now. You were different people then. Joel was a jock who pretty much just hung out with you and tried to speed run his way through every hot girl in school. You were a geek who spent her entire life either trailing along behind Joel or with her nose in a book. A lot had changed in the last decade and a half. Joel had a kid. You’d gotten married and divorced. Well, almost divorced. Nothing was finalized yet but you’d stopped wearing your wedding band when you moved to Texas even though it still sat on the ring stand on your bedside table.

After Friday and Saturday, you weren’t entirely sure if you were going to see Joel again. You hadn’t gotten his number and you remembered nothing of trying to put your number in his phone while you were drunk. You weren’t sure if it was going to be a fluke, just a blip on the radar of your lives that had gone on totally disconnected paths for more than a decade, or if this was something that would continue.

You weren’t sure what you wanted. Losing him the first time had hurt. It might have been the worst thing that had ever happened to you, even worse than losing your mother, than watching your sister sister fall apart in slow motion over the last decade, than your father entirely. Was it something you could survive again? Was it something you’d need to dig back up and talk through with Joel now that you were speaking again? If that was what he needed, was that something you could handle doing? You weren’t sure about any of it.

But you were already starting to think that you’d go along with anything Joel wanted as long as you got to keep him around this time, just like high school. He’d been the sun and you’d been caught in the gravity of him. You wondered if you’d ever escaped it at all.

You straightened up your office a bit, not that you’d had much time for things to get too messy. Most things were submitted virtually now, though you insisted on poetry being printed to make sure formatting was maintained, and most of your personal notes were contained to planners and notebooks that were in orderly piles on your desk. You were absently checking your email when there was a knock on the frame of your door and you looked up to see Joel standing there, a foil covered plate in one hand, two glass bottles of Dr. Pepper in the other.

“Oh my God, is that Dublin Dr. Pepper?” You gaped at him.

“Technically no,” he said, coming in and setting a bottle down in front of you. “Stopped making it at the Dublin plant years ago but basically the same thing. Hi, by the way.”

“Hi. And I’ll take basically the same thing,” you said, leaning forward to peer into the hall. “Do me a favor and close the door?”

He nudged it shut with his foot and you took the bottle, popping it open on the edge of your desk. Joel sat in the chair on the other side of your desk before he followed suit, smirking as he did.

“I didn’t want witnesses if I broke the desk I’ve had all of a month, OK?” You said.

“Goldie, I don’t think you could break the desk if you tried,” he said, taking a sip of his drink. You did the same, humming a little in appreciation. You rolled the liquid on your tongue like you would a wine, the bubbles crackling and dancing there before you swallowed it.

“God, that’s good,” you said. “I can’t remember the last time I had a soda that wasn’t diet…”

“Christ you sound like a Yankee,” Joel laughed, sitting back in the chair. “That’s a Coke in your hand, darlin’, not a fuckin’ soda.”

“Oh God,” you groaned and laughed, too. “That was such a hard habit to break! I’d ask my roommate if we had any Cokes, she said no, I’d go in the fridge later and see Diet Pepsi and have a what the fuck moment.”

“Strange world out there,” Joel smiled slightly, turning the glass bottle that looked so small in his large hands.

“Are these the tamales?” You asked, nodding at the plate.

“Oh, shit, yeah,” he said, taking the foil off the plate. The corn husks glistened and you groaned a little. Joel pulled two sets of plastic wrapped silverware out of his pocket and handed you one. “How long’s it been since you had one of these?”

“I don’t even want to own up to it,” you said, unwrapping the fork and knife. “I’ve basically been on a diet for the last decade of my life, these look incredible.”

You wheeled your office chair around the desk and sat next to Joel before peeling back a husk and cutting the end off with your fork and taking a bite. Your eyes rolled back in your head and you slumped back in the chair with a satisfied moan.

“Jesus Christ.”

“That good, huh?” Joel laughed.You just nodded, mouth full, and sat up to cut off another bite before you even swallowed the first one. “Diet for 10 years?”

“Yeah,” you nodded, covering your mouth with your hand until you could swallow. “There was the book tour, they wanted me to look a certain way. And… well, my husband has a type so…”

“Fuck that guy,” Joel said, opening another tamale and taking a bite of it. You rolled your eyes a little. “Mean it, fuck that and fuck him.”

“Oh, so you don’t have a type?” You asked, brows raised. “Because I seem to remember a very distinctive type in high school…”

“Oh lord,” he rolled his eyes.

“Pretty, for sure,” you said, teasing a little. “You definitely seemed to be a bit of a boobs man…”

“If I were with someone I sure as shit wouldn’t make them fucking diet to be my type,” he cut you off. “He’s a fucking idiot, Goldie.”

“You’re making a bigger deal out of this than it really is,” you waved him off.

“No, I’m really not,” he replied. “If we’d been talkin’ I’d have fuckin’ come to Rhode Island and kicked his sorry ass.”

“Joel,” you rolled your eyes.

“What?” He asked. “I would’ve. And he’d fuckin’ deserve it.”

“Anyway,” you said, cutting off another chunk of tamale. “You’ve got a new job starting tomorrow?”

“Yeah,” he nodded. “It’s one that I’m actually lookin’ forward to, too. Get to be a little more creative…”

“You don’t normally get to be creative?” You frowned.

He scoffed.

“Not on any of the big shit,” he said. “Owners and managers get to do that. They toss me the smaller projects here and there to plan and run, this one is some owner’s suite remodel. Doin’ the bathroom, fancy fucking closet, that kind of shit. They’re letting me run it so I’ll shut up about never getting to do the fun stuff.”

“How long have you been working there?” You asked.

“Since I was 20,” he said. “So… fuck, 13 years? Jesus, I’m getting old…”

“And they’re not letting you do the creative stuff?” You asked, brows raised.

“I’m apparently ‘too valuable’ runnin’ the crew,” he used air quotes. “They throw a few of these little jobs to me every year but mostly I just make sure shit goes right on site for bigger jobs. Get it all done on time, all that.”

“Do you like doing that?” You asked.

“Not really.”

“OK,” you frowned. “So why are you still there?”

“Well, mostly because I tried paying my mortgage once with dreams and they told me to fuck off,” he said dryly and you glared at him.

“You know what I mean,” you said, cutting off a chunk of his tamale.

“Hey!”

“Shove it,” you popped it in your mouth before he could take it back. He rolled his eyes. “You’ve been doing that work for a while is what I mean, I’m sure somewhere else would hire you and you could do the parts of it you liked.”

“What I really want is to start my own company,” he said. “Well, what I really want is to play music but that ship’s sailed. Realistically, I’d like to start my own company. I think I could make some really cool shit if I had the chance.”

“So do it,” you shrugged.

“Oh yeah, easy for you to say,” he scoffed. “What, you just write your fuckin’ book?”

“No,” you said. “It took a lot of work and editing and rewriting and I’m not sure I’ll ever do it again but I did it. You can do it.”

“What do you mean you’re not sure you’ll ever do it again?” He frowned. “Thought I saw somethin’ about you writing another one.”

You looked at him for a moment, frowning a little, fork frozen over the plate. You were contracted for another book but that wasn’t something that had made national news, just an item in some industry publications after the press release from the publisher.

Why would Joel know that?

“What?” He asked. “Why are you starin’ at me?”

“Oh,” you said. “Just got something on your face…” You dipped your fork into some of the drippings on the plate before smearing it on Joel’s cheek. “Just there, nothing crazy.”

He pursed his lips and looked like he was struggling not to laugh.

“You’re the worst person I know,” he said, wiping his face with a tissue from the box on your desk.

You smirked, sitting back in your chair and putting your legging-clad legs in his lap, the way you used to sit with him on the couch back when you were teenagers.

“I know.”

“I’m serious though,” he said, the hand not holding the fork going around your calf just like it always had. “What do you mean you might never do it again?”

“I don’t know,” you sighed, peeling the husk off another tamale and cutting off a bite of it. “I don’t know that I have another story to tell. I’ve been trying to tell another one and I just… haven’t found one. I think I had one good story in me and I told it. That’s the end.”

“That’s bullshit,” Joel said.

“It’s really not,” you shrugged. “When I wrote the first one it just kind of flowed. At least the first draft did. I wrote it in about six months after my mom died and Gale…”

“Brad.”

You glared at him.

“Gale,” you repeated. “Edited it and workshopped it with me.”

“Oh I’m sure he was a fuckin’ natural at that,” Joel said, voice dripping in sarcasm. You glared at him. “What, you’re telling me I’m wrong? I don’t think I am…”

“He was well equipped for the job,” you allowed. “And yeah, it took a lot of edits and rewrites before it was ready to even start trying to show to agents, it was years of work… Who would I do that with now? I don’t know that I can do it by myself…”

“Do it with your publisher and shit,” Joel said. “Come on, don’t tell me that jackass is what’s holding you back…”

“It’s not just that. I really don’t know that I have anything else to say. And even if I did…” you took a deep breath. You’d never said this aloud, not even to your agent. “If I did, what if it’s not as good?”

Joel waved you off.

“Of course it’d be as good, the fuck are you talking about?”

“I’m talking about the fact that everyone freaked the fuck out about the fact that my ‘debut novel,’” you put the words in air quotes, “was so brilliant and shit, what if I never write anything better? What if everything I ever make after this is a let down? What if I never do anything good again? Everyone who took a risk on me, everyone who read my first book, everyone who ever thought I could do something will be let down by it. Jesus, one reviewer said it was the best debut novel since To Kill a Mockingbird, how the fuck am I supposed to live up to that? Starting to understand why Harper Lee didn’t publish anything else for decades…”

“Goldie,” Joel said gently. “I’m sure you’d write something great.”

You poked at your tamale, staring at it as you did.

“What if the only great thing I ever made was great because of him?” You asked quietly, eyes darting to Joel for a second before looking back at the plate. “What if it was just fine when it came from me and it only became what it became because of him?”

“Anything you’d write would be great, got nothing to do with fuckin’ Brad,” he said. “Not sure you can write something that’s not great.”

You rolled your eyes.

“Joel, you read the articles I wrote for the school paper,” you said. “I don’t think you’re a fair judge.”

“And your lit mag stuff,” he said defensively. “Look, I’m not a genius or anything but I’m smart enough to know when something’s great and you’re great, alright?”

“Yeah, well…” you nudged his leg with your knee. “So are you.”

He just looked at you for a moment until you frowned.

“What?”

He leaned forward with his fork, smearing some tamale drippings on the tip of your nose.

“Got something right… there.”

You laughed and he squeezed your calf and you cleaned your face before you went back to focusing on the food and life outside of your broader ambitions. Before what felt like too long there was a knock on your door and Alyssa poked her head in.

“Sorry, didn’t realize you had company,” she smiled, her eyes drifting to where your legs were still in Joel’s lap. “I was just going to put a note on your desk, I figured you’d be at your next class already. Have you written your midterm yet?”

“Not yet,” you said, looking at your watch and you realized it was far later than you realized and you had less than 10 minutes to walk to your next class. “Shit, I have to go!”

Joel released your leg from his hold and you scrambled to collect your things as Joel cleaned up the remains of lunch.

“If you wanted to write midterms together,” Alyssa said as you slung your bag over your shoulder. “Maybe next week?”

“Sure,” you said, looking around at your desk and grabbing your gold notebook before standing next to Joel. “Email me?”

“Yup,” she smiled, looking Joel up and down. “Absolutely will. Hi.”

“Hi,” he said, smiling a little. You looked between them and fought the urge to groan. She was just Joel’s type.

“Alright, some of us have to go teach,” you said. “Out of my office so I can lock up.”

You ushered them both into the hall.

“Have fun teaching,” Alyssa waved, giving Joel a last look before heading to her office a few doors down from yours.

“Oh I’m sure I will,” you said, taking Joel’s hand and pulling him along behind you before he could start gawking at her and then you were really late for school. “See you later…”

“What was that about?” Joel laughed as you spilled out into the hall that was tight with the press of students.

“I know your type,” you said. “And I don’t have time to wait for you to be done doing your thing…”

“My ‘thing?’ And you know my type?” He asked, brows raised. “Really? Well, in that case…”

“Oh shut up,” you rolled your eyes and he laughed.

“I came by to see you, for the record,” he said. “And apparently feed you properly since you aren’t gonna do it yourself…”

“Thank you,” you said, sincerely. “That was really good. And it was really nice, hanging out with you.”

“It was good to hang out with you, too,” he said, smiling a little, his hands shoved in his pockets. “Should let you get to class though. Those minds aren’t gonna shape themselves. And I have your actual number now, not the fuckin’ hieroglyphics you tried to leave me Friday…”

“And I have yours,” you smiled back. “But I do have to go…”

“Right,” he said, leaning in and pulling you into a hug and holding you close for a second. He was warm and his chest was firm and there was something about the way his arms fit around you that was so all encompassing you were certain that you belonged there with him. That, somewhere in the universe, the root of you both had grown together and separated just to find each other again. He pulled back. “Don’t let those college kids give you too much trouble.”

“I won’t,” you said. “Don’t let Sarah give you shit.”

“Oh, I will,” he said. “Can’t help it. Bye, Goldie.”

You smiled.

“Bye, Joel.”

You were three minutes late to class. You didn’t care.

When you got home, you went to one of the boxes you hadn’t unpacked yet, one that sat in the extra bedroom that you hadn’t found a use for yet. You knew exactly which box, the one filled with things you only looked at when you were feeling especially strong or particularly weak. You sifted through old notebooks, past one of Joel’s faded band t-shirts that you’d swiped at his house when Tommy had knocked a cup of Kool-aid over when you were wearing a white shirt and Mrs. Miller and scrambled to get your top in the wash to get the stain out and then you’d never given it back, down to the shoebox of photos. You pulled it out and looked through them. Joel at 16, a confused look on his face as he lay on the wheeled contraption he used for sliding easily under his truck and you surprised him with camera, a splotch of grease on his cheek. You, 17, in Joel’s letterman that was big on him so it was massive on you, sleeves shoved up around your forearms as you stuck your tongue out at the camera. The two of you, 16, sitting on opposite sides of a restaurant booth, your legs stretched out on the benches, a basket of fries and a milkshake between you. You were flashing a peace sign at the camera and Joel was looking at you, a soft smile on his face.

It was easy to remember what friendship with Joel had been. It would be so easy to fall back into it. It felt like you were always supposed to be this way, lives so intertwined they were built on the same foundation. It had seemed an impossible thing, to blow it all apart. You’d loved it then. You missed it now. But it had blown apart and you weren’t sure you could survive losing it again.

You sighed, flipping to the back of the box to the photos from prom night. Your mom had sent them to you after you’d moved to Rhode Island and they’d languished at the photo lab for weeks. There was a simple note: “Thought you might want these,” a little heart drawn at the end.

You found the picture of the two of you together, your hand on his chest, his arm around your waist. You were looking up into his eyes and he was looking into yours, a small smile on his face, just enough for the beginnings of his dimple to show. You looked at it for a while before you signed, packing everything else away and moving to your office, propping the photo against your computer as you sat down to write.

***

Sarah had been in rare form that night. Very skeptical about why she needed to do homework at all and trying to logic her way out of needing to do it for as long as she possibly could.

“Kiddo, if you just sat down and did it, you’d be done by now,” Joel had groaned at one point.

“But if I just didn’t do it, I’d be done by now, too,” she replied.

He took a deep breath. Sometimes, this girl…

“Not on the table, Baby Girl,” he said. “You can either do your homework now and have time to watch TV before bed or you can not do your homework and fight me on it, not watch TV and get up early tomorrow to finish your homework. Up to you.”

She groaned, picking up her pencil, bouncing her leg impatiently under the dinner table. Joel wasn’t sure who was happier when the damn worksheets were done, him or his daughter.

Once Joel was certain Sarah was asleep, he went to the back of his closet and found the box that he kept stashed away. He didn’t have to look far, the two copies of your book right on top. One was signed. He didn’t open that one, just looked at it now and then, held it when he wanted to touch something you’d touched once.

The other had a worn spot on the spine, where the structure of the book had cracked and bent enough times because he’d tried to read it dozens of times but could never bring himself to go past the first page.

He liked the cover of it, certain that you’d had a hand in picking it. It was simple, an orange sun with a gilded flower in front of it, the title, Halcyon, in bold letters below the abstract image. Joel flipped past the pages of praise, the title page, the table of contents, the forward written by fucking Brad. He turned until he got to the words that were yours. He knew they were yours, he recognized the voice of you, even on paper. No matter what you said, there wasn’t an ounce of Brad there. At least, not on that page.

“The sun in Texas was hot in summer,” you’d written, “melting ice cream and asphalt in equal measure. But it was the heat of his palm that made my cheeks burn…”

He closed the book, looking at the back cover with your picture on it. Your arms were folded so that one was in front of you, the other vertical alongside your face. Your gaze was intense, a knowing smile on your lips, as though you were staring at him, teasing him, tempting him. “The answers are all here, Joel,” your picture said. “If you could just make yourself read it, you’d know.”

He put the book down and got his phone out of his pocket, finding your number in his contacts.

You answered on the second ring.

“Oh my God, you’re so demanding,” you sighed in faux exasperation.

Joel laughed.

“I know, I’m so fucking needy, don’t know how you stand me.”

You laughed back.

“What’s up?”

“Been thinking,” he began.

“You?” You said. “Really?”

“Shut up.”

You giggled.

“Anyway,” he continued. “Feel free to tell me to kick rocks but… Sounds like neither of our lives have exactly gone the way we’ve wanted them to.”

“You mean you didn’t plan on being a single dad and I didn’t plan on being divorced at 32?” You gasped. “Color me shocked!”

“We were always good at holding each other accountable,” he said, ignoring you. “Hell, you’re the only reason I graduated high school…”

“And you’re the only reason I started at the school paper,” you said. Joel smiled at that, the memory of standing outside the newspaper office while you talked to the teacher so you couldn’t back out.

“Right,” he said. “Well… what if we did that now?”

“Now?” He could hear you frowning through the phone. “What do you mean?”

“I mean,” he said. “Why don’t we try to actually get our shit together? You make me better, always have…”

“You, too,” you said quietly but you at least sounded serious now.

“When are you supposed to have your next book done?” He asked. “Assuming there’s a contract with a deadline for that shit, right?”

“End of next year,” you sighed.

“Great,” Joel said. “Alright, let’s give ourselves to the end of next year to set ourselves straight. You finish your book, whatever else you want to get done…”

“Finalize my divorce,” you said.

“That’s a good one,” Joel said. “I’ll see about starting my own business…”

“And having a stable relationship?” You asked.

“Sounds like a good goal,” he answered, his stomach twisting a bit at that. “What do you say? We come up with a list of shit and go from there? You know we’re better when we’re on a team than when we’re not.”

You were quiet for a moment.

“Yeah,” you said eventually. “Yeah, let’s do it.”

Joel smiled a little, looking down at the box, the cover of your book looking back at him.

“It’s a deal,” he said. “We’ve got this, Goldie.”

You laughed a little.

“Hell yeah we do.”

Next Chapter

A/N: So sorry for the long wait on this! Should be weekly updates from here out for a while, promise <3

Thank you thank you thank you for reading! I'm so excited for what's coming up for these two, I just love how they love each other and yes. I can't wait to explore it all with you.

Thank you for being here! Love you!

#fanfic #joel miller x female reader #joel miller x reader #joel miller x you #joel miller x oc #halcyon

144 notes · View notes

hazshit-hotel-hater · 9 months ago

Note

"I own you, b***!"

"Yeah, you do. In the studio. And you can do whatever you want to me there, just like our deal says. But out here, I get to do what I want." - Valentino and Angel (episode 6)

That one scene made me come up with a solution of how Angel can be freed and Valentino getting what he deserves. OK, fine, let's say that Charlie and Lucifer don't have the power to mess with other demons' contracts and can't free Angel's soul with just a snap of their fingers. BUT they do have the power as a royalty to take down Valentino's business. "And you can do whatever you want to me there(in the studio), just like our deal says." Think about it:

(No business + no studio) + Valentino losing his power and his overlord title = Angel's freedom (and the freedom of many others)

Just imagine: a powerful man-turned-demon doing a lot of terrible things in order to get wealth and fame, and people to step on (pls, don't take that out of context). He gets what he wants every time, and everything is perfect. For him, at least 😒. And then, out of nowhere, the "stupid, blonde, good-for-nothing" princess of Hell and her father, the King, declare that this porn business is coming to a close, and Valentino shall no longer be an overlord. Everything, EVERYTHING, that this disgusting moth-man has worked for crumbles right in front of him. Money, gone. Porn movies and drugs, bye-bye 👋🏻. His favourite toy (Angel) and the souls he has under contracts are free. Even Vox and Velvet are leaving him behind because he is worthless to them now. Personally, I think this will be more satisfying than simply killing Val with an angelic weapon.

But, alas, knowing Vivzipop, it's highly unlikely that she will come up with something like this.

I kinda feel proud of myself 🤗, and I'm not even a writer. 😅

(Sorry if I have any grammar mistakes, English is not my first language. )

Your grammar is very good don’t worry! Also you had me terrified a Valentino roleplay blog messaged me for a second

This is a really interesting idea actually! I’ve seen a lot of people mad at Charlie for not doing something about Angel’s situation and honestly I am too but Angel asked her to stay out of his business which is something I and many other have experienced of that “It’s fine I can handle it myself this is my issue” mindset, but still in the future I really hope she actually steps up and does something. Especially with her stupid “But thats so meaaan :(” line when Vaggie tells her to actually use her authority.

I also agree on the point I’d like to see Val have more consequences to his actions instead of just killing him. Of course I want him dead but I’d like it to be later on. Number 1 thing I hate is character’s abuser dying and then suddenly the character is fine and has no issues.

Id draw a picture of Valentino and put him through the oven and stove but I don’t want to draw anything more than the back of his torso and hands. Maybe someday you’ll see me make an animatic of Val being gunned down but certainly not soon.

Anyway expanding on this idea sounds like it’d be very interesting, if you’d have anything to add I recommend toying around with it!

#hazbin hotel #angel dust #hazbin angel #hazbin angel dust #hazbin critical #hazbin hotel criticism #hazbin hotel critical #hazbin hotel rewrite #angel dust hazbin #raimble #cw valentino #hazbin valentino #valentino hazbin hotel #valentino #tw valentino

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segredosjogados · 2 years ago

Text

From time

Story: You (y/n) and Richarlison are starting a thing but a message may tear this beginning down. // I didn’t intend to make a part 2 but it got too long. // it involves Drake and Pierre Gasly because 🤷🏾‍♀️🤷🏾‍♀️🤷🏾‍♀️

+16 / cursing

Ps: I wrote this directly on the Tumblr app!! Not revised at all. English is not my first language. Feedback is appreciated.

🫶🏾✨🫀 welcome to my wicked mind ✳️✏️📯

You were taking a nap with Richarlison when his phone beeped a message. Then two messages. You’re a light sleeper so it bothered you. You reached out to the phone and saw two messages by someone named Juliana. You smoothly placed the phone in front of his face to get his ID and the phone unlocked.

You opened the messages and there she was: a semi nude picture and the “what time you’re arriving tonight?” text. You gulped and felt tears dwell on your eyes but took a deep breath. Richarlison was sleeping heavily because it was a quick nap time after he came back from training.

You got up from the sofa and made your way to the bedroom on the first floor. The tears involuntary started streaming down your face. “I can’t believe he’s still talking to that bitch” you mouthed to yourself while packing your things the way you could and as quick as possible. By the time Richarlison woke up, you were gone.

You managed to book a hotel room for the night before taking the train from London to Paris. It’d be impossible to book a flight and everything was just wrong: you managed to find two days off from work to go to London to spend some quality time with your boyfriend. Ok, you weren’t official, like real official. But everyone knew about you, you had met his friends and even was known by other Tottenham WAGs*.

The thing was you worked with Formula 1 and tried to find peace spaces within the hectic schedule to be with Richarlison, but clearly he didn’t think of you dearly because that message? The semi nude from another chick? All the time he reassured that he was only with you. Come on.

You tried to rationalize the feelings but listening to the saddest love songs back to Paris wasn’t helping. You messaged your friend Pierre Gasly asking if he were in Paris and he said yes immediately. You explained that your “thing” broke your heart, which made Pierre very mad because he knew how hard you fell for Richarlison.

When you arrived at the hotel in Paris, all you could do was crying your heart out while hugging a pillow, letting out all your insecurities on those tears, letting your mind wonder what was wrong.

“I hate my body, I hate my hair, why I’m not perfect like them?” You whined while sobbing. This moment, a message beeped on your phone. It was Pierre.

- Vamo pra revoada* (Let’s party hard) - he wrote. You laughed. Pierre’s journey with learning Portuguese started exactly with carioca funk and it was a funny one to watch. He called you.

“Ay, you good? So, there’s this party tonight and I’m taking you with me. Go beautiful like always” he said. He didn’t even notice your crying voice. But you managed to confirm that you were going.

Time to recover.

You stood up and opened your suitcase. The music on your airpods was cut again by a call. It was Richarlison. You didn’t answer. Only hours later he realized you were gone? Come the fuck on.

Phone on airplane mode and Drake on the speakers now, you started to get ready. You put on a beautiful brown constructed corset that hugged your boobs tightly with your favorite low rise Levi’s jeans and heels with straps around the jeans. You nailed the make up, with a clean girl aesthetics face but with a lot of bronzer, ombré lips and Dior lipgloss. Everything was on point. You looked at yourself in the mirror realizing that it was difficult to hide de eye bags of crying and tiredness. You decided to snap a lot of selfies and a video lip syncing to Jimmy Cooks by Drake. It was a full photoshoot by yourself. The you posted the video of you lip syncing on Tiktok and a carousel of pictures + the video on Instagram with the caption “Honestly, nevermind”.

A few minutes later, Pierre arrived at the hotel. You didn’t realize the many messages Richarlison had sent you. They were spamming your messages app. A lot of missed Whatsapp calls.

“I couldn’t give a shit” you told yourself knowing very well you cared so much about him that it’d take 5 seconds of his voice to go back to him, no matter the excuse he gave you. But you weren’t just ready to be replaced by the woman he swore he was not talking to anymore. The message she had sent came to your mind and then you remembered you were better than this.

You left your room and met Pierre on the hall. He said nothing when he saw you, stunned by your beauty. You two left for the party.

——-

Back in London, when Richarlison woke up, he thought you were in the kitchen preparing some food, like you always did when you were there.

You weren’t in the kitchen. Nor in the bedroom. You were nowhere to be found and your suitcase and all your things weren’t there either.

He ran downstairs to grab his phone and call you. When he unlocked it, the screen was opened exactly on the message he received from Juliana. The semi nude, the text. He gulped. “Y/N saw it for fucking sure”. He didn’t know whether to ask Juliana what the fuck was going on or to call you and know where you were. He did neither. He called his cousin.

“Bro I’m so sure she saw it, like what the fuck” he said on the phone, rubbing his hand back and forth on his scalp.

“Are you sure she saw it? Like, Y/N was supposed to travel back to Paris today cause she’s gotta go back to…” his cousin answered.

“Nah she saw it. The screen was on the message. How did she unlock my phone? She doesn’t have the code tho” Richarlison started to think properly.

“I don’t know, but bro let it go. You weren’t official anyways” his cousin stated. Richarlison scoffed, pretending to not care.

“Yeah, I’ll call you later” then hung up. He laid on his back on the sofa and messaged Juliana. “We need to talk”.

In a matter of minutes, she was in his house. He was wearing his Nike set of sweatpants and hoodie, hands on his pockets and walking around nervously.

“I knew you were longing for me” she said, approaching him and putting her hands on the back of his neck.

“You cannot text me things like that” he coldly stated. She took a step back, confused. “I’ve…” he paused, going around the kitchen counter to be as far from her as possible. “It’s not right, ok? Not for you, not for me. Just let’s move on separately, ok?”

“Why’s that all of sudden? Cause last week you were on my DMs asking if I were in London…” she told with her finger pointed to his face.

“I’ve met someone. I met her two months ago and we’re getting serious. Look, I know it’s my-“ he was saying but was interrupted.

“You texted me last week” she scoffed.

“I’m sorry, Juliana but-“

“Fuck you, for real” she said and left.

Richarlison took a deep breath and opened a bottle of wine. Who cared if the season was about to start and he had to be in great shape? He wanted to forget everything. Then it was time to call you.

He sent a message first. “Where are you? I’m worried.” You didn’t answer. Phone out of reach. He tried whatsapp calls. Nothing came from you. He knew you saw the picture and the message and as far as he knew you, it would be a big deal.

You weren’t like the other girls that came around. They were about sex, instagram stories, shallow dialogues, controlling him to dismiss the others. You came around and showed him places in London he didn’t know. The Italian restaurant of your first date was one of those. You cooked for him too, played FIFA with him even though you were terrible at it, sang pagode, taught him English through pop music, never made him do things “because you’re rich now”, had the same sense of humor, let him be him, cuddled him, listened to him, understood him… all of that in such a short time.

Where were you?

Hours later, his cousin sent him a message.

“Ay that ain’t your lil girl?” And he sent an instagram link of your post.

He saw the pictures one by one then the video. You were sexy, confident, beautiful. The lips of yours he missed on his. Your curvy body and juicy boobs under those clothes. The sassy attitude he loved on the low. One thing he noticed was the unusual amount of likes. Almost 300,000. And a comment by Drake himself.

———

“Drake commented on my fucking post!” You screamed to Pierre. You sent a screenshot to your friend Hannah, who was in Amsterdam, and she video called you right away.

“GIRL!” She screamed on the other side. You were trembling and giggling, your hands sweating and a face in disbelief

Comment: @/champagnepapi: major 🔥👨🏽‍🦯

You couldn’t believe it. Drake noticed you. Suddenly your heartbreak seemed so insignificant. You were that bitch.

Lies.

When you got back to the hotel, you took it all off and started crying again. On your phone, multiple calls from Richarlison laid on your screen. Rubbing your eyes, you felt your phone buzzing again. It was him. You answered it.

“What do you want?” You said, with a raspy voice.

All you heard was Richarlison’s breath on the other side of the phone. And you heard a knock on your hotel door.

To be continued.

#richarlison #pierre gasly #richarlison x reader #richarlison imagines #richarlison smut #richarlison blurb

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deansapplepie · 1 year ago

Text

Till THE DEAD do us part |Chapter 14

A/N: This story will take place in all the seasons, but it’s not exactly a rewriting cause I’d have to re-watch everything to use the exactly lines of the characters, also I think it’s better if I tell a side story without changing the main facts of the story. This story has a Female Reader, but I don’t describe her appearance, so anyone can identify with her.

Chapter 13 Chapter 15

Series Masterlist

Main Masterlist

Chapter 14: We’ll not lose each other

Summary: The group buries Dale and decide to honor his memory. The day that they would fulfill his wishes, chaos ensues and the day ends in fire, growls, screams and gun shots.

Warning; inner swearing, little angsty, mentions of violence, mentions of death, walkers are killed, grief, forgiveness. Minors do not interact.

Paining; Daryl Dixon x Grimes!Reader (Rick’s Sister)

Word Count: 2,151

Extra notes: I proofread the text, but English is not my first language, so feel free to correct any mistakes, of course with love. In this chapter we finish Season 2, I’d like to have written more about the final part, but honestly I thought it wouldn’t have anything that would make a difference in the story. Before the 8 months jump, I’m going to make some extra stories about them on the road.

The day wasn’t cloudy, but you felt just like it was. Everybody were silent, just talking when it was necessary. You did a funeral for Dale, everyone that wanted said a word about him. Rick decided to do things like Dale wanted and prove that you could be humans. When it all ended, you decided to talk to Andrea. You stopped her gave her a hug. “I’m sorry.” You said.

“For Dale or punching my face?” She asked a bitter smile on her face.

“Dale, and I have lost my temper very easily with you.” You broke the embrace, still holding her forearms. “The punches you deserved.”

“I’ve been reckless too, stubborn… trying to hurt others, just because I’m hurt.” She confessed. “I’m sorry.”

“Dale was important to everyone, but I know he had a special spot for you and Glenn. If you need anything, you can count on me, ok?” You hugged her one last time before each of you go your own ways. You were still upset at Andrea, but you realized you cared a lot for the people of the group and life was short. You’d hate if something happened to Andrea and you weren’t good.

Following this line of thought, you should also talk to Shane, but there was a whole different situation. You had already talked to him before and nothing worked, also after it he had hurt your blood brother, wanted his life for him… it, you couldn’t forgive. Not now, and you didn’t know if one day you’d be able to.

Hershel decided it’d be better if all of you moved to the house. He thought that more walkers would come because of the animals, also it was starting to get cold. You started to disassemble everything and bring what you needed to the house. As everything was kind of settled everyone started to do their chores around the house and organize all that needed to be organized.

Rick and Daryl were on the porch planning to take Randall to a town and leave him there. You wanted to go with them, but you couldn’t, they needed you around the house. Also, you knew they wouldn’t let you if you asked.

A long time had passed when Rick and Daryl decided it was time for them to take Randall to this other city and let him there. Rick asked T. to pick Randall so they could go, but T. came back worried saying that the guy wasn’t there. Holy Shit. All of you ran to the small room where he was locked, T. explained it was locked, no one forced it. It was very strange. Soon Shane came from the woods, blood and bruises on his face. Telling a story that Randall escaped the cuffs and forced him into the woods.

“It looks like not only you can’t identify vital signs, you also can’t fight against a slender boy like him. You’re not the same anymore Shane… thank God the world ended, or you’d have to retire.” You couldn’t hold your tongue inside your mouth and had to speak, because impossible nobody thought the same.

“I was taken by surprise, I wasn’t expecting.” He said and you tried really hard not to roll your eyes.

It was decided Rick, Shane, Glenn and Daryl would go in the woods to look for Randal, before they went you pulled Daryl aside. “Be careful, I don’t trust him. Everything he said, screams bullshit for me.”

“I know. I didn’t buy it too.” He said and he didn’t know what to do in the moment so he gave a little squeeze in your arm before entering the woods with Rick, Shane and Glenn.

It got dark very fast, and you couldn’t help the unease feeling while they didn’t come back. You stayed on the porch looking at distance for any sign of them. Soon Maggie joined you, nervous , fidgeting by your side.

“They’ll be ok.” You said, you didn’t know if it was for Maggie or for you. “Glenn and Daryl are badasses, Rick is a survivor, he survived when he wouldn’t. They’ll come back.” You side hugged her and she held your hand.

After some time Daryl and Glenn came back, you got inside the house with them, everyone waiting to know something.

“Are you ok?” You asked looking Daryl for any bruises, cuts, god forbidden bites and scratches. He had nothing.

“ ‘m good.” He looked at you, a little anxious to deliver the news.

“Where’s Rick?” You asked, worried.

“We thought he and Shane had come back.” Fuck. Did they separate? No.

They explained they found Randall, turned, and on top of that he wasn’t bitten. He had his neck broken. Shane. You knew it. But it didn’t answer why the boy turned if he wasn’t bitten.

You headed outside, you’d go with Daryl to find them. Worry consuming you. But when you got outside you saw something terrifying, a gigantic herd of walkers. You all started getting guns and setting plans to try ending with them, but you knew it was impossible, you’d need to fight them just so you could escape. You took one of the bigger guns and stood besides Hershel trying to protect the house and the ones that were still there.

Daryl jumped on his bike, Jimmy took the RV and together they tried to attract the herd to a place far from the house, Maggie and Glenn took a car to do the same while he shoot from the window and T. and Andrea took the truck, Andrea responsible of shooting the walkers.

The barn was on fire and you didn’t know who did this but you prayed it was Rick and not Shane, or both of them… but by all that happened you were afraid it would be only one of them. Everybody was running and fighting to get from the walkers and go to a safe place. Lori shouted for you and Hershel, but Hershel ignored. So you decided to stay there with him the maximum that you could, and try to convince him.

“Hershel, we need to go. There’s no way.” You tried reasoning with him while fighting the walkers.

“I’m not going. I’ll die protecting this land.” He stubbornly affirmed one more time.

“Don’t you think about Maggie and Beth? They need their Dad.” A walker fell in front of you as you shoot it.

“You can go.” He said one more time.

“I’m not going without you.” You said, and you didn’t want to, but it made you remind of what Dale did for Andrea.

Hershel’s ammo ends and he was going to reload his gun, there were too many walkers and you couldn’t cover him, when a Walker was too close and would bite him, Rick showed up and killed it. You pleaded Hershel to go with you, but it took Rick to convince him to go. You went to the car and you were relieved to see Carl, but… you thought Luna was with Carl. You couldn’t leave without her.

“Where’s Luna?” You asked before entering the car.

“She was with us, but she ran. I have no idea where she’s” Rick said, door open, waiting for you to go in.

“I’m not going without her.” You said turning to leave and go after her, but Rick was faster. He took you by your waist and pushed you inside the car, put the car lock and closed the door.

You tried opening the door, but it wouldn’t open. The fucker had locked it. Before you could go for the door on Carl’s side he started the car and left the farm. “No! Why Rick? Why?” You cried.

“I told you we wouldn’t lose each other, we’d not separate. I’m not letting you lose your life because of a dog.” He said, eyes on the road, hands firmly gripping the wheel. Carl hugged you and you hugged him back.

“It’s not a dog, it’s Luna. She’s my life.” You said turning your look for the window and crying all you could, trying to remain silent. Luna were with you in your worst, she was the one that made you smile again. A gift from your brothers and now, she was gone… lord knows where. You didn’t know if she was even alive. It wasn’t your fault, but you felt as if you were abandoning her.

“Maybe someone got her. We don’t know. You could stay and never find her. Let’s go to our meeting point in the highway. I’m pretty sure the others are going there too. It’s the only place all of us know.” Rick looked at you on the rearview mirror, he felt your pain, but he couldn’t go soft on you, he couldn’t have let you risk your life like that.

The rest of the drive was silent. The sun rose and you arrived at the spot where you left the sign for Sophia. She never got to find it.

All of you got off from the car. Hershel talked with Rick about he taking Carl and leaving to protect the kid. While that you followed Carl around, telling him to stay close. After some time, Rick talked about leaving, but before he could take any action, Glenn and Maggie arrived in a car, they got off and came to meet you. No Luna. The truck arrived with T., Lori and Beth. Again, no Luna. They were your last hope, It left Andrea, Carol and Daryl. You didn’t see Andrea and Carol around in the last minutes, so you didn’t know if they made it. Daryl wouldn’t bring her in a bike. Daryl, where was Daryl?

Some time after, Daryl arrived on his bike with Carol. You felt relieved to see them, especially Daryl. He stopped the bike close, Carol got off of it, Rick approached Daryl to greet him, he was happy to see he made it. Daryl got off the bike and you didn’t waste any second and hugged him. He didn’t waste any second to hug you back, damn the fear of being judged about PDA, you just survived a hoard of Walkers. He was relieved.

Nobody saw Andrea, Daryl wanted to go back for her, but Rick didn’t allowed he said it was too late to find her. The group decided to continue their way on the road. Daryl saw on your face that you had cried, but he decided not ask about it. He didn’t see Luna around, but he thought it’d be better if he didn’t ask anything in the moment. “Are ya comin’ with me?” He asked.

“Yes, of course.” You answered and as soon as the group parted from the highway you were on Daryl’s bike holding onto him and resting you head on his back. ‘And to think that last time we were leaving he made some excuse to not take me.’ You thought and also felt that there wasn’t anything more comfortable than being with him.

BONUS SCENE:

Andrea was left alone, everyone had taken the cars and she had no way out of the farm. She tried calling for Rick to wait for her, but she wasn’t heard. Her only option was to flee from the farm by herself. She took the guns bag from the ground, at least she was armed and could defend herself she moved in the woods trying to go opposite from where the walkers were going, even though she knew she would find walkers eventually, but she hoped not so many.

Deep in the forest she heard a bark and when she looked she saw a german shepherd, the dog from her mate from her group. The dog was barking at a walker, keeping distance but ready to attack. Andrea took a gun and shoot on the walkers head, making it fall motionless to the ground.

“I see you were also left behind.” She said getting closer to the dog and petting her. “I think it’s just you and me now girl.”

The dog was happy to see the face of a friend after seeing so many ugly faces of the walkers, she bumped her cold nose on the human hand to show her appreciation while swinging her tail.

“Come on, Luna. Let’s get out of here.” She said continuing her way into the woods trying to survive and who knows maybe re-encounter her group again.

Wanna be add to my tag list? Let me know. (Please tell me if you want to be tagged on everything or just specific series)

Everything Taglist: @lilyevanstan1325

Till THE DEAD do us part Taglist: @sunnybunnyy2 @royaltysuite @isakyakiisak @milopenne @murdadixon

#daryl dixon #the walking dead #the walking dead daryl #twd #twd daryl #daryl x reader #daryl x y/n #daryl fanfiction #daryl imagines #daryl x you #daryl dixon fanfic #daryl #the walking dead daryl dixon #daryl dixon fanfiction #daryl dixon x grimes!reader #till the dead do us part #deansapplepie

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picklebunbun · 7 months ago

Note

Hello !! I'm here for a platonic request , can you do a Flippy/Fliqpy x sister reader who is in love with someone and is extremely clumsy like , stuttering, falling over her own feet and blushing a lot around that person, while she literally knows everything about that one person , like their favorite color , their hobbies , their favorite food , their favorite place , their favorite pet, exactly know when their wakes up and go sleeping , their size of each body part for make clothes that fit them perfectly (and actually didn't gives the gift to them yet) ,and, makes extremely complicated and detailed plans and explains them to Flippy/Fliqpy even go wake him up at 3am for explain it , if there is very little chance that it will end well

❣︎⁀➴♡︎₊˚⊹ flippy/flipqy + sister! reader

⋆.ೃ࿔*:･

pokkan karra

tone rion/kikou ♥︎

⇄ ◁◁ I I ▷▷ ↻

⁰⁰ ²⁵ ━━●━━━━━━━━ ⁰² ⁰⁸

⋆.ೃ࿔*:･

𐙚⋆.˚- female reader, can be transgender or cisgender, feminine pronouns

𐙚⋆.˚- genre: fluff, not sure if you can consider this angsty

𐙚⋆.˚- fandom: HTF

𐙚⋆.˚- platonic

summary: I’m guessing these are headcanons, the summary is just basically what this lovkey requester said

[ angel’s notes 👼🪽: aghhh, I know this is a late response, I have this major english test next week and other major tests that’ll determine if I’ll pass this year. I have also been updating my little BBEL comic. Regardless, hope you enjoy this]

‧₊˚❀༉‧₊˚. ‧₊˚❀༉‧₊˚.

headcanon:

first of all, the fact that you’re research about someone, whether it’d be a friend or stranger, and it’s heavily detailed is kind of scary to him. How do you even know that much and how did you acquire that information.

he didn’t believe it at first when people told him how creepy your ability to know someone extremely well, so he put it to the test, he asked you what size his bicep was to which you replied with “14.5 inches”, of course, he didn’t believe you until he actually measured it, you weren’t even off by a bit.

ok… weird, very weird actually, even if you grabbed the tape measurer to see how thick his bicep actually was in the middle of the night, he still would’ve caught you, your his sister after all, you should know he’s an extremely light sleeper.

you started off by recalling all the times that he stood next to something that was approximately the size of the thickness part of his whole arm, you measured that and since the average bicep size for a muscular person is 14 or 15 inches, you made that estimate and then did the exact math. Unless you actually just found a way to work around his light sleeping thing, either way it’s still really terrifying.

Flippy often ponders “how do you know this?” to which you respond “I just care a lot” like what you always tell everyone who asks that.

but there was this one specific person that really caught your eye, it was just the little traits, to the way their nose crinkles when they’re annoyed or disgusted or how the morning sun complimented how they looked, not like you didn’t think that they were beautiful before

previously, you knew everything about almost everyone, but somehow, you knew even more about this person, down to the number of seconds it takes for them to brush their teeth or pick out an outfit.

Flippy wasn’t stupid, he knew when you got a crush, you always had a far-out look on your face, which meant that you were thinking about a special someone, and how clumsy you acted around them, it was like your heart had a mind of it’s own and was trying to humiliate you in-front of your crush

it was adorable to see you like that though, it nice to see you so head-over heels in love with someone, even if Flippy disapproves of them, they still made you happy and that was all that matters

what he didn’t like, however, was how torn you were about this person. Every night you keep yourself up with these little scenarios you played over and over again in your head, it also kept Flippy awake too since you were the one dumping your thoughts onto him.

while he did heavily enjoy talking to his sister, he would rather it to be in the afternoon or late morning than 3AM when it’s a work night, usually he’d just say “you’ll be fine” but honestly sometimes you say the most jaw-dropping stuff about your crush that he can’t help but comment about it

overall though, he looks past that because your his dear sister, the girl that he’s sworn to protect with all his might, even if your habits are really weird

(I forgot how fun it is to write fanfics

#fluff #soundcloud #happy tree friends x reader #happy tree friends #fanfic #fem reader #sister reader #htfxreader #htf flippy #mtf reader #idk if im missing anymore tags #idk how to tag this

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circledotdestroy · 1 year ago

Text

Retrospective - Chapter 1: My Old Friend, My New Problem

Pairing: Shouta Aizawa x F! Pro-Hero! Reader (slow burn)

Summary: After 12 years, you, Pro-Hero Strife, has to return to Japan. Your objective: discreetly track down and capture Akari Kaneko, a.k.a. Pro-Hero Aegis— your old classmate who attacked you during her visit in America. In the aftermath of All Might losing his power, however, using UA resources has its complications. The most unexpected complication being Aizawa, someone you never expected to see again. Why does your past have to come back to haunt you now?

Masterlist

Next Chapter

Word count: 2380

You shouldn’t be on the ground of your hotel room. Not with all the glass and furniture the two of you broke. Not holding a knife in your abdomen so it doesn’t move. Your old friend shouldn’t be grabbing her bag and limping toward the door like she tripped and you two didn’t destroy the room in a fight.

Akari was panting with her bloodied hand on her ribs. “It was nice seeing you again,” Akari Kaneko said in English. When she was done she turned from the cracked glass, there was blood dripping from her soft smile as she saw you amongst the splintered furniture and broken glass. Akari winced as her hand left her gray tank top to smear the blood away from her chin to match eye makeup on her face. “I have to go now. Find me when the time comes for the next mission, ok?”

When you were young, your mom carried you to bed the night after your first martial arts tournament. When she laid you down, you were waking up. The yellow light of the hallway shone behind her when she persuaded you to close your eyes again.

This wasn’t the appropriate time to be reminded of that. Not when your nerves felt so cold, numb like when you hold snow without gloves on. You should never feel this hollow.

Akari’s face was more serious and her voice was stern. “-we need to work together.” she said in Japanese. Akari Kaneko, with blood in her peach-colored hair, waited for an answer by the door, but threw her duffel bag over her shoulder.

You stared at the blurred image of her focusing more on staying awake, but your head… It was throbbing…

“I’ll see you soon, Pro-Hero Strife” She shouted in English for any other guests to hear before shutting the door behind her, leaving you in the half-lit room for two– gloved-hand holding a knife carefully between two strips of metal, lodged in your abdomen. The back of your head burned.

The warmth buzzed down your spine, hopefully that meant a staff member saw Akari. They’d be more likely to get closer to the disaster zone than the average person. Though if anyone saw the state you were in, it’d make this aftermath more bearable. Taking a deep breath, you dispersed the energy flowing through you. A shaking arm and legs pushed you off the ground without the courtesy of giving you balance. Your left hand tried to keep the knife steady between the bloodied, black plates, as you shifted your weight, despite your tremors. The sting alone almost made you topple over

Few villains have given you punctures, but none of them were like this. You reached out to the edge of the bed frame for aid and it collapsed under the force. A grunt escaped upon the impact between your right side and the piece of wood. While slapping the broken pieces crossed your mind, you knew you didn’t have time for that. Instead you pushed against it and stumbled across the room for the beige telephone in the corner. When you got to the nightstand at the far-end of the room you collapsed into the doorframe with your back.

Dialing for your agency’s medic, you scrutinized the damage the two of you had done. The torn curtain, broken window, a chair and a table that broke into splinters, the glass from the tv screen decorated the floor, your suitcase had busted the lamp on your nightstand. To think, both of you could’ve done a lot worse if you used your quirks on each other.

You sighed as the ringing started and allowed yourself to sink to the floor, still cradling the knife inside you. Did Akari really come all this way so she can leave you like this?

A couple of days later, you wandered the halls of your old school, unsure if the years made you forget how to transverse the hallways or if the floor plan really changed. Good thing you thought to arrive as soon as you could. Even if there was no set time for you to arrive, the security measures implemented into the school, specifically a man with a dog-based quirk and rough voice that was difficult to translate, proved to be a lengthy process to go through itself. When he was done looking at your hero license, passport, and the bundle of documents for your visit, he allowed you to enter the school. Now you were trying to decipher the list of directions given by Hizashi. They were vague, and very blurry on the paper. Even if the hallway was empty, you felt stupid walking around, squinting at text and straining your eyes so early in the morning.

The current principal was nice enough to let you present your case to the current staff to decide if you should have access to their records and library. To your understanding, the school, the first year hero course in particular, had been through a lot in these few short months. If UA were to offer you resources, chances are they could be putting themselves more at risk.

Even if Present Mic asked the principal to conduct this meeting, and he and Midnight– who doesn’t know you’re here– vouched for you, you couldn’t afford to look sloppy. It doesn’t help that you have to wear an outdated version of your uniform either.

While the support team in your agency was able to give it an emergency mending for your trip, the damage the armor endured, especially from your last fight in it, is still noticeable. Even after repairs no one can miss the damage if they tried. One crack on your red breast-plating flowed through your left shoulder, across your chest, and ended where the bottom of your ribcage is. This disfigured the black outline of your broken-heart emblem, and that was only the largest scar of your armor. Honestly, it was a miracle this armor survived its last run. If it was made of lighter material then it wouldn't have stood a chance… but then again, red was your lucky color.

When you walked through yet another identical hallway instead of finding the Principal’s office, you sighed out your frustration then looked back down. The characters on the page started to split and overlap with one another, and that dull ache in the back of your head was coming back.

Fantastic.

You stared at the paper and kept walking. At least you knew the office should be somewhere on this floor. It shouldn’t take that much longer, so you can afford to fight the headache a little longer. While strolling down the hall, red paint on a door, “1-A”, caught your attention. ‘What are the new students like now,’ you wondered. Were any of them like you when you were in that class? You let out a small laugh and shook your head. Noting the turn ahead, you looked back down on the paper.

“Sure hope not…”

When you tried to get your eyes to refocus on the paper, you heard something down the hall. You deactivated your quirk when you identified the sound as footsteps, the smallest spark inside you confirmed there was someone else on this floor. It’s still too early for a student to be at school, especially when it’s still technically summer break, so it had to be faculty. They can give you directions to find the office quicker.

You picked up the pace, not wanting to lose your chance to get out of this maze. Turning the corner a figure was way too close. Jerking back before you collided, you went to apologize. Your eyes rose from the purple floor up to an all black outfit as you were trying to find your words. Then the gray scarf, wrapped around his neck too many times to be standard, because it was never meant to be found on store shelves.

It was a custom-made weapon.

In half a second you sized the man’s frame. Knife on utility belt’s right side. Pale skin. Torn sleeves. Black boots. Baggier clothes, but the same concept since first year.

Straightening out your back, you locked eyes with the man under the sun’s spotlight. This man with dark hair and eyes that once occupied so much space within your mind. Those shrinking flames of memories, the tree-lined neighborhoods, the cold 24/7 stores, and early morning training sessions, were suddenly revived with barrels of kerosene. Now you were left to bear with the rising heat.

After all, those memories were so long ago, and people change, you know you have. The choice your brain and body struggled with, whether to come closer or follow the etiquette rules, left you still. Your last name rang through the air, barely loud enough to echo through the empty hall.

He recognized you too.

“It’s been a while, huh?” Your head tilted as you observed his face. He had a scar under his eye. The peachy rift of his skin indicated a deep gash within the past few months. No other scars could be found– which is admittedly impressive in this field. Not only that, but his hair was longer, including the stubble on his face, and the whites of his eyes were more irritated. If he’d pass you by without the weapon, you’d be blissfully ignorant of the man before you. After everything that’s happened, you wouldn’t expect to see him back here of all places.

“What are you doing here,” he asked.

A bloody and backlit Akari standing in front of you, telling you she would see you soon emerged in your mind. Telling Shouta about all the details of your old classmate out in the open, where anyone could overhear, didn’t seem appropriate. “I’m here for work.”

He nodded with no change in his expression. He was never known for being particularly emotive in the bunch, even then he wasn’t so still.

“Right,” he responded to your obvious answer. In a way, you were relieved that he accepted the answer. Perhaps he was just as off-guard as you were at the moment, you thought.

“The emergency meeting is because of you then.” He said it as a fact as he stepped toward you. If you looked away from him before he said that, you would’ve broken your neck from the whiplash.

You took slow shallow breaths as the words passed your mind again; the current running through you became warmer. “Again, the job brought me here,” you responded.

Did he not get the hint?

Silence fell between the two of you, Shouta didn’t make any attempt to say that he had somewhere to be to excuse himself. The quiet was starting to lie on you heavily as he continued staring you down. “So how long have you been working at UA,” you asked without thinking. The pressure in your lungs was unbearable with how thick the air was. “I remember you being good with children, but I didn’t think you would consider teaching here.”

“You don’t know? I’ve been a teacher for years now. ”

In two sentences all the gears in your brain stopped.

Your world was silent.

It’s not like he told you.

The thought made you break eye contact as your last days in this country caught up to you like a dark cloud. In a second, that small current started running from your brain, down your spine, confirming what you briefly thought.

Then thunder rumbled through the sky.

‘How was I supposed to know,’ you thought, clenching your jaw.

“I’ve been busy…” you retorted back. This was stupid. It’s not like he ever bothered to call you after you left.

“And then you decided to come to UA of all places,” it was hard to pick up on the exact tone of voice. Lack of practice will do that; but the way he squinted his eyes told you he was skeptical. ”I know you’re holding back. What aren’t you telling me?”

The idea that this stranger would know anything about you made your jaw clench. More electricity coursed through your nerves, veins, any and all fibers of your body at his voice. It was filled with blame as he all, but asked, ‘what did YOU do?’

After all this time, what makes him think he had the right—

No.

Breathing out the tension, you glanced at the ceiling becoming all too aware of the dull ache from earlier. It creeped back into your head, vengeful for being forgotten

You stepped back from the man. You didn’t come to Japan for a petty spat, you were too old for this.

“That will be discussed at the meeting,” you grumbled. The ache in the back of your head was getting worse the longer you were standing in front of him. You gave him a slight bow then walked around him to find the principal yourself.

You took a few steps away. Before hearing his voice again.

“We’ll talk at the meeting,” you said back.

Whatever is between him and you has nothing to do with this mission.

The sunlit hallways became narrower as you stormed through the building like dark clouds rolling in. Trying to find the principal became your sole mission at that moment, although you knew that if you were to meet him in your current state, you wouldn’t be making the best first impression.

Although if you were being honest with yourself, you already messed up with whatever the hell that was. You needed to pull yourself together before you screwed up anything else for the mission.

No matter what you had to convince the faculty at that meeting to let you use UA resources. While you were used to working with the bare minimum, that’s not ideal here. This mission had to be done quietly and as quick as possible. There was only so much time you have to figure out what’s going on with Akari.

Your fists unraveled and you shook the electric feeling off from your hands as you breathed deeply.

Don’t get into any more petty spats then everything will work out and you’ll be back to work in no time. Stay cool, calm, and collected, and you won’t complicate your mission.

#I DID IT!#bnha x reader #mha x reader #shouta aizawa x reader #aizawa x reader #aizawa x you #aizawa x y/n #aizawa shota x reader #mha x female reader #mha x fem!reader #Retrospective by Dot

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usaigi · 8 months ago

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new chapter :3c

“Morning, girls. They’re coming later, some school stuff they need to do. Who’s the fella?” Dad ignores Dimitri’s hand, looking to Byleth and Flayn instead. “Why’s he making that noise?”

“He’s mine.” Byleth answers proudly. “He’s English.”

“English,” Dad scoffs disapprovingly. “You never told me he was English, why’d I think he was a Scot.”

Byleth shrugs, quick to grab Dimitri by his sleeve, and pulls him down to sit on the chair beside her. “He spent Christmas in Scotland. What’s wrong with him being English?”

“I can –” Dimitri stutters. “Can um… step out, if this is a personal conversation,” Byleth grabs him by the back of his shirt before he can fully stand up again. “Oh ok.”

“ What’s wrong with him being English? What the hell do you mean what’s wrong with him being English? They drew a line through your country – both of your countries. It’d be one thing if he was a normal working-class bloke. Hell, even if he was a protestant . But English with that accent?” Dad shakes his head.

“Dad, he’s not like the other evil colonizing bastards – no offense,” Byleth turns to Dimitri.

“None taken,” he mouths silently.

“He’s different.”

Dad huffs, arms still crossed. “That’s what they all say. You know his kind only allowed us to import communion wafers from Chernobyl? Tried to make us sick, I tell you.”

“We did?” Dimitri asks, visibly horrified and appalled.

“See.” Dad pointing a finger at him, “Denying it. Lying bastard.”

#fe3h #fire emblem #fe16 #fire emblem three houses #dimileth #byleth eisner #dimitri alexandre blaiddyd #dimitri fire emblem #fe3h dimitri #byleth #usaigi speaks

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marie-swriting · 1 year ago

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Find Each Other - Eddie Munson

Superache Masterlist

Stranger Things Masterlist

Summary : You're back to Hawkins after you've spent several months away from your boyfriend Eddie because of University.

Warnings : angst, sad ending, implied sex but nothing explicit, mention of alcoholic parent, maybe some grammatical mistake as English is not my first language, tell me if you see some or if I missed any warning.

Word count : 4.5k

French version

Song inspiration : Astronomy by Conan Gray

You leave the coach and go grab your bag in the baggage compartment. Your belongings in hand, you scan the parking lot, searching for Eddie’s van.

You haven't come home since Winter break and it's now Spring break, not once during your time apart did you have the opportunity to see each other. You have to admit, just the thought of seeing him again makes you nervous. You had never spent that much time apart before.

Before leaving for New York University, you had some doubt about your relationship ; you thought it would be better to be friends again but he convinced you by saying that distance brings fondness so you agreed to stay with him.

The first weeks, you sincerely thought it’d work out. After all, even if you couldn't see each other as much as you wanted to, you could always make a phone call. Eddie even managed to visit you some weekends before the Winter break, unfortunately, taking the coach is expensive. So you both agreed it was better to stick with the telephone. It worked until the studies decided otherwise.

You haven’t contacted each other for quite some time and now, you can’t deny it anymore, University and the distance are affecting your relationship. However, you have a tiny bit of hope that everything might be okay during your break. Indeed, when you came back for Christmas, your relationship went back to normal after some time. Until you had to leave again - though you don’t want to think about this detail.

You keep looking for Eddie’s van when you hear someone running to you. Before you can do anything, you feel arms wrapping themselves around your body. The smell of cologne makes you understand it’s Eddie. You don’t wait and hold him against you, sighing peacefully to feel his body again. Suddenly, he raises you from the ground and spins you around. You laugh as you watch him being too much, as always. Once he puts you down, he doesn’t waste another second before leaning in and kissing you. You’ve missed his lips more than you imagined. Your lips are slowly moving for a few seconds. As soon as you break the kiss, Eddie tenderly looks at you, a big smile on his face.

“I've wanted to do this since the moment you left.”

“I’ve missed you so much.”

“I’m so glad you’re here.” he says, stroking your cheek. “You must be tired from the ride, unfortunately, we still have some road before being in Hawkins.”

Eddie takes your bag in his left hand and grabs yours with his free hand. You walk to his van and you get in the passenger seat while he puts your bag in the back. Once he joins you, Eddie starts the car and drives in the direction of your hometown. As you leave the parking lot, Eddie turns up his music player and Oh! Darling by The Beatles resonates in the vehicle. With a sudden movement of your head, you stare at him with big eyes.

“Have I finally managed to convert you to The Beatles? You’ve finally bought one of their tapes?”

“Not at all. I wanted to make you happy so I went by your house and grabbed one before coming.” he defends himself but you see right through him.

“I don’t have this tape.”

“Ok, right, I bought it.” Eddie confesses after a second. “But only because I needed something to remind me of you while you were in Uni.”

“Yeah, let’s say that.” you laugh.

“By the way, I did go by your house. Your mom told me she was working tonight so you can stay at mine.”

“Perfect.”

You turn up the volume and start singing the lyrics. Eddie puts his hand on your thigh, happy to physically have you again.

On the way home, you talk about your lives. Normally, you’re up-to-date on each other’s life though during the past few weeks, it has been complicated. Eddie tells you about his last campaign and his last maths’ grade. Whilst you’re listening to him talking, you realise you’ve missed a lot of things. You try to reassure yourself by thinking it’s normal, you only need to find each other again, it’s okay. However, as the trip goes by, the more you feel like you have to get to know Eddie again.

Once you get to Hawkins, you drive through the rich neighbourhood. In spite of yourself, you look at the houses and you can’t help but imagine yourself living in one of them one day. Even if you’re happy to have the roof of your trailer over your head, you wouldn’t mind a house, no matter how small.

“Any news on the neighbourhood?” you question.

“It’s Hawkins, nothing ever happens around here. But sorry to tell you someone stole our home.”

‘Your home’ is a house at the end of the block. The owners never stay long so you’ve always seen on sale. One night, when you were ten, you had decided it would be your home when you’d be grown ups.

“They didn’t!” you exclaim, your hand on your heart.

“They did! A family with a five-year-old kid, a real snotty-nosed kid. Anyway, we still have some hope. The day we’ll finally have the money, they might have moved out. I mean, if we manage to be considered respectable people to live in this respectacle neighbourhood.” Eddie states with a fake snobby voice.

“I think we have more chances to become billionaires.”

“We will have this house. Remember, Corroded Coffin will be a success and you will become a famous actress. We’ll be the it-couple and we’ll be too good for this city. You’ll see.” he affirms with a big smile.

“You right, it will happen, you’re really talented. As for me, well, I think I’m more likely to become a professional waitress than an actress. I can't pass the first audition.” you admit with a sad face.

“I believe in you, you’ll succeed. The perfect part is waiting for you. When you’ll be famous, all these casting directors will regret not seeing your talent.”

“And for you, the people from High School won’t stop saying they were with you, the rockstar Eddie Munson and you’ll be able to give them your best finger while saying they’re dickheads.”

“Oh, I’m totally gonna do that !” Eddie confirms, making you laugh.

You keep talking of your potential future as celebrities until you arrive to the trailer park at the end of the day. Before going to the Munson’s trailer, you go to your place to put your bag in your small bedroom. You don’t take anything, you have everything you need at Eddie’s and if you ever need something, you can just go to the trailer in front of his.

You spend your night watching movies while talking - you also spend a lot of time making out. You’re happy to be with Eddie after all this time. You still have this uncomfortable feeling that things have changed yet, tonight seems like a good start to a return to normal.

However, you’ll need some time.

Before, you could sleep in an instant as long as you had Eddie’s arms around your waist. Now, you have your eyes wide open while you can’t stop overthinking. Eddie, unlike you, is sleeping like a baby. He shifts in the bed and his arm leaves your body. Normally, he’d realise it and he would try to search for you while he’s asleep but not tonight. He keeps sleeping peacefully, light snores coming out of his mouth. This seems like it’s nothing notwithstanding for you, it’s another sign. Eddie is a touchy person, sleeping or not. You don’t like seeing he got so used to your absence to the point he doesn’t need to feel you against him anymore.

At this thought, you think you’re pathetic. You’re not seriously going to rethink all of your relationship just because he’s not against you when he’s sleeping? You shake your head before getting closer to Eddie’s body and putting your head in his neck. Everything will go back to normal. It has to.

The following days, you find each other a bit more.

While you should be doing your homework, you’re straddling Eddie’s laps as you’re making out, your notebooks long forgotten on the floor. Your hands are getting lost in his hair whilst his are on your waist. You kiss to the point you forget to breathe. You quickly take a breath before Eddie presses his lips against yours. You keep kissing until Eddie’s hands go under your shirt. At his touch, you break the kiss and look at him lovingly. Eddie tries to bring your face closer to his but you stop him.

“We have to work.” you state, making him roll his eyes.

“We have plenty of time to do this. We should enjoy ourselves.” Eddie affirms, kissing your neck.

“Except if we do enjoy ourselves, we won’t get our homework done and I don’t know for you but my essay is long.” you insist, moving Eddie’s head away from your neck where you can see a teasing smile on his face. “No dirty joke!”

“I didn’t say anything!” he defends himself, raising his hands to prove his innocence.

“I know you, Eddie. Let’s do our homework like this so we can leave it behind.”

“But I don’t want to! Besides, the only thing you do is studying, you should take a break.”

“Later. Come on! You won’t be able to graduate High School if you do nothing.” you say, leaving his laps.

“But I don’t understand this Physics exercise.”

“I can help you with it.” you propose and he doesn’t seem convinced. “The quicker we’ll be over with it, the quicker we’ll get back to where we left off.”

To motivate him a bit more, you peck his lips before handing him his notebook and Physics book. Not without sighing to show his annoyance, Eddie takes them and gets back to his homework. As for you, you reread what you’ve written for your essay. You try to get back to your argumentation yet, your eyes find Eddie. His focused face brings a smile on yours.

The moment you just shared gives you more hope. Despite the distance, both physical and emotional, you’re still attached to each other. The more you look at Eddie and the less you want to work on your essay. Without a warning, you take the notebook away from Eddie’s legs and kiss him with passion. Eddie doesn’t need to be asked twice to respond to the kiss.

It’s been six days since you came back to Hawkins and your fears have finally left your mind. Eddie and you made up for the lost time and you’re just like you used to be. You had no reason to worry. You’re spending almost all your days together and you’re more than happy.

Today is no different. Eddie comes to get you to go to his Corroded Coffin’s rehearsal. You haven’t listened to him play with his band in months and you can’t wait to hear all the new songs they’ve written. Furthermore, you haven’t seen some members of the band since you got back.

In Gareth’s garage, you’re sitting on a chair - Eddie refuses for you to be sitting on the floor - whilst you listen to them playing. First, they do some covers before playing old songs of theirs that you know by heart. Eddie can’t stop looking at you while he sings, glad to have you next to him.

Eddie starts to play another song and before singing, he tells you it’s a new one. Intrigued, you readjust your position in your chair to be fully focused whilst listening. Eddie starts singing and you instantly realise it’s about you. You don’t need for him to sing more than three lines to understand it. He uses specific elements when he writes about you and you know how to pick them up.

At first, you’re touched by it. Sure, it’s not the first song he writes for you but you always get emotional when you realise you’ve inspired him. However, the smile on your face disappears once you realise the meaning of the song. He talks about his fear of losing you because of the distance. You have a pinch in your heart when you understand you’re not the only one to have seen it. Your eyes get teary as soon as he mentions the lack of communication. He doesn’t blame you, he just expresses that because of your different routines, you can’t talk to each other as much as you’d like to. However, the song ends on a hopeful note. Eddie affirms that nothing will break you apart, your love is too strong for this. When he finishes singing, you stand up and take him in your arms. Eddie hugs you back before muttering an ‘I love you’ to which you answer with an 'I love you' of your own.

You stay at Gareth’s all day and once the evening comes, you and Eddie go back to his place. You do your usual routine until you’re tired.

However, you can’t sleep. Eddie’s arms are wrapped around your waist whilst you’re staring at the ceiling, thinking back to his song and your relationship.

Your love is still here, it’s a fact, but for how long? When you’re in Hawkins, everything seems simple and when you’re far away, everything is different. It was already hard during Winter break, your relationship had already changed however, with these last months, it’s worse. No matter if you’ve found each other again, there is always this gap between your two. You feel like you’re two worlds apart. And Eddie is aware of this too. You’re frustrated to see that something is not right without understanding how to make things better.

You sigh and set your eyes on Eddie. You notice his curls hide a part of his face. With your hand, you put them away, allowing you to admire him completely. Eddie doesn’t react to your touch, being a heavy sleeper. You attentively stare at his tattoos, including a new one on his right forearm before looking at his torso moving up and down at the rhythm of his breaths. You hope you’ll find sleep by following them, in vain.

You roll your eyes before getting out of Eddie’s arm and going to the kitchen. You pour yourself a glass of water and stay in the room for a few minutes, lost in your thoughts. As soon as you hear the door opening, you get a grip on yourself. Wayne appears in front of you and you greet him. He’s not surprised to see you at his home, he’s used to it.

“You’re not sleeping?” Wayne questions, getting closer to you.

“I was thirsty.” you explain, putting your glass in the sink.

“Is everything good between you and Eddie?” he asks point blank. “I know distance is not always easy.” Wayne adds without giving you the time to answer. “Eddie is like a lost puppy without you. He misses you a lot, more than he wants to admit. He is always talking about you, even if you have nothing to do with the subject. It’s too much sometimes but that’s the way Eddie loves. He’s a good kid and he deserves someone who sees him like he really is. With you, he feels good, he gives himself fully for everything. Even when it’s for High School. He really wants to graduate and be with you.”

Following Eddie’s uncle’s speech, you can’t help but feel a warmth in your heart. You didn’t know you had that much of an impact on Eddie. Wayne is grateful you’re a part of Eddie’s life though you’re grateful as well. Without Eddie, everything would be more complicated.

“I hope he’ll be able to be with me, it’ll be easier when we’ll both be in New York. I miss him a lot, too.” you confess, getting emotional. “I’m gonna let you rest. Good night.” you finish.

“Good night.”

You go to Eddie’s room, close the door behind you and lay down on the bed. Instinctively, Eddie gets closer to you. You hold him tighter and tenderly kiss his cheek.

For the first time since you came back, you’re at your own home without Eddie. Your mom finally has some free time so you want to make the best out of it.

Your relationship with your mom has always been peculiar. When you were a kid, she wasn't the perfect mother. She couldn’t keep a job and her love for the booze wasn’t helping either. She was never mean to you, she was just emotionally distant.

Thankfully, two years ago, she understood she couldn’t keep doing this. She was losing you day after day and she hated herself for it. Therefore, she did everything to improve herself, giving up alcohol to be the mother you deserve. There are still some hard times, but it’s not like when you were younger.

Your mom is grateful for Eddie. She knows he was there for you when she couldn’t. She has always held him close to her heart, despite the rumours. For her, Eddie is the only one who is loving her daughter like she deserves, that’s what matters.

Your mom and you are sitting on the couch watching a comedy you’ve seen countless times. You could quote it in your sleep. Sometimes, you talk about random topics during the movie, your mom is always happy to learn more about your new life.

You’re laughing out loud at one of your favourite scenes when someone knocks on the door. Your mom pauses the movie so you can see who it is. You find Eddie who you didn’t see for the past two days.

“Hey, I wanted to know if you’d like to come with me at Starcourt. I need some stuff. We can grab ice cream too.”

“Sorry Eddie, I’m with my mom today.” you inform, scratching your neck. “She finally has some days off.”

“I understand. Can we see each other tomorrow?” he asks hopefully.

“I would love to but we already have something planned.”

“Oh, okay.”

“Sorry.”

“It’s okay.” Eddies promises you, taking your hands. “You have to spend time with your mom, too, I get it. Call me when you’re free. Say hello to her for me, have fun.”

Eddie pecks your lips before leaving. You close the door and sigh. Your mom watches you from the couch, confused. You go back to the couch without saying a word, a preoccupied expression on your face.

“You could have gone with him, you know.” your mom says, “And tomorrow, we have nothing special planned. Eddie could have joined us anyway.”

“I want to spend some time with you alone, that’s all.”

“What’s the matter, Y/N?” she asks, knowing you’re lying. “I can see something is bothering you.”

“It’s nothing. You can put the movie back on.” you affirm, avoiding her gaze.

Your mom doesn’t touch the remote and puts her right hand on your face, catching your attention.

“Look, I know I wasn’t always there for you but I am now. You can talk to me. Has something happened between you and Eddie?”

“Not really. I’m just a bit lost.” you confessed with a low voice. “I… I don’t know if our relationship is going to last.”

Upon these words, you break down in tears. Quickly, your mom holds you in her arms. She tries to calm you down while you explain the situation to her. You talk about the distance, the feeling of being face to face with a stranger you once knew, the feeling of slowly losing Eddie, despite your remaining feelings. She attentively listens to you, giving you the opportunity to get this off your chest. It’s the first time you confess about your relationship with Eddie since you left for University.

By saying everything you have in mind, you realise you’re suffering more than you thought. You wish everything could go back to normal, when everything was easier, when you were still in High School with Eddie. You wish you had stayed with him instead of leaving.

After you told her everything, you keep crying while your mother soothes you. Once your tears have slowed down, your mom moves your head away from her neck to look you in the eyes.

“Sweetheart, I’m sorry it’s so complicated between you two.”

“I don’t know what to do. I don’t want to lose him.” you cry.

“I think you already have.”

“But I love him.”

“Sometimes, it’s not enough.” she states, making you tear up again. “You said it yourself, when you’re not together, you’re like strangers.”

“But once he’ll graduate, everything will be easier. He’ll be with me again.” you argue, wiping your cheeks.

“It’ll be too late by then. During Christmas, you already felt like you were losing him and now, it’s worse so just imagine how it’ll be in the following months. Sometimes, you can love a person a lot and it’s not meant to last and it’s okay. It doesn’t mean it was meaningless.”

“He's been my best friend since we’re kids. We can’t lose everything because of Uni. We just can’t.”

“You might find each other again one day. You’re still young, nothing is set in stone yet. Besides, you’re growing up. Maybe you need to grow up away from him and him away from you so you can love each other better in the future.” she tries to reassure you in vain.

“You think I should break up with him?”

“You know I love Eddie and I see how you were happy with him but you’re not anymore. You’re unhappy and along distance relationship is not working. I think you should stop before it ends badly.” your mom recommends you.

“I don’t want to break his heart.” you mutter.

“It will eventually.”

Tears start running down your cheeks again as you realise your mom is right. You don’t want to, unfortunately she is. You can bury your head in the sand all you want, the fact is your relationship with Eddie isn’t working anymore. You throw yourself in your mom’s arms again, needing her comfort whilst you show all your sadness.

You avoid Eddie until the day before you have to leave. You give him more or less believable excuses and everytime you hear his disappointment in his voice, you feel bad. Since your conversation with your mom, you accepted you needed to break up with him but you don’t know how to do it so you do nothing, despite your mom’s encouragement.

However, you can’t wait any longer. You have to do it tonight. You can’t leave him thinking your relationship is working when it’s been over for some time. So, you take your courage in both hands and go to Eddie’s trailer. You take a deep breath before knocking on the door. As soon as Eddie sees you, he’s surprised at first, thinking you’d be packing.

“Hey, can we talk?”

“Sure,” he says, stepping aside. “What are you doing here?” Eddie questions, closing the door behind you.

“I wanted to talk.”

“About what?”

“About us. We have to talk about us.”

“You want to break up, don’t you?” he asks, making you frown as you realise he saw right through you. “Don’t act surprised. I’ve noticed how you’ve been ignoring me the past few days. So, why? Did I do something wrong? Did you understand I’m not good enough for you?”

“No, it’s not that. You did nothing wrong. You’re perfect.” you affirm, avoiding his gaze.

“But?”

“But, it’s not working anymore between us.”

“What do you mean? We love each other.” Eddie states before doubting. “We love each other, right?”

“I love you, yes but it’s not enough anymore. Eddie, we’ve been growing apart the past few months. It’s not like it used to be before.” you confess and and you see the panic in his eyes.

“If it’s because we don't see each other, we can change that. I’ve been saving some money so I can see you. Maybe not every weekend though, at least every other weekend.”

“You won’t use your savings for me.”

“If it means still being with you, I will.”

“You need to save it for your future.”

“But I want a future with you in it.” he says with a determined voice. “We have to realise our dreams together, buy our house... Live together.”

“I wish we could do all of that, too. But it’s too late.” you contradict, holding back your tears.

“There must be a solution. We can save our relationship.”

“We have to stop, Eddie. I’m sorry.”

Upon hearing your words, Eddie looks down, not wanting you to see the pain in his eyes yet you saw it. Your heart tightens in your chest, imagining how he must feel. Eddie stays quiet for a few seconds, taking in your words.

“So, you’re gonna give everything up? After everything we’ve been through, you’re gonna throw everything away because we’re struggling to overcome this?” he retorts, frustrated and with teary eyes.

“It’s no use to insist! Stop trying to find a solution when there is none. We tried and it’s not working. In December, it was already barely working and now it’s worse so we have to stop this mess.” you snap before speaking with a softer tone, “Eddie, you’ll always be important for me. You’re the one with whom I shared everything with, the one I get along the best with. We had everything for this to work but it’s not the case anymore. We have to stop. We should have stopped before I left. I’m sorry.” you whisper, putting your hands on his cheeks. “I never wanted to hurt but if we keep trying, it’d be worse. I know, deep down, you know it’s the right thing to do.”

“I just don’t want to lose you.” he confesses, starting to cry.

“Me neither.” you say before hugging him.

You stay in each other’s arms for a moment whilst your tears are running down your cheeks. Although you mentally prepared yourself for this, the pain is still unbearable. You never thought you’d have to break up with Eddie.

You hate yourself for his broken heart. His broken gaze when you told him you had to stop will forever be engraved in your mind. You try to reassure yourself by thinking you did the right thing by ending your relationship - Eddie would have never done it. However, this thought doesn’t make you feel better. You wish things were different.

Superache Masterlist

Stranger Things Masterlist

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