#do i need to put a disclaimer that i’m not being mean to max i’m saying that billy would say this to her

[ickypuppi3]

giving very much billy and max

[lighteyed]

driving miss mayfield

steve harrington x fem mayfield!reader

[5.8k] steve gives you driving lessons, max gives you heat, you give yourself no time to daydream.

disclaimer- no mention of blood relation to max, no physical descriptors of reader, they are sisters in any way you want them to be.

     “What do you mean you don’t know how to drive?” The disbelief in his words is almost as emphatic as the annoyance in yours, but he seems to be more disbelieving than you are annoyed at him, who could ever really be annoyed at him, so you let Steve gape at you and blink rapidly instead of telling him to mind his business.

   You slurp down the rest of your soda from the general store in his passenger seat, shrugging, fighting to push down that urge to snap. Mayfield girls, you, Max, your mother when she wasn’t bogged down by a soul-sucking man-leech draining her lifeforce from her right before your eyes, had a less than lovely temper most of the time, and you tried very  hard to keep it contained, especially around people who didn’t deserve it. It just felt like a ridiculous question. “I mean, why do you think I’m stuck drivin’ with Billy half the time? You think I get in that car willingly? You think Max gets in that car willingly?”  You shake your head. “No way. If I had a license I would’ve been, like, halfway back to California the second you people started dragging me and Max into your science fiction monster crap.”

    “As if she woulda let you,” Steve scoffs with a similar head shake, a lock of his hair falling nicely into place in the middle of his forehead. He swipes at it quickly. He has this ridiculous urge to never be anything less than perfect in front of you, you, who is perfect without effort, leading him to put even more effort into holding up this front for himself. “Besides, you’d miss this pretty face, right?” He points to himself, smiles, and waits for you to laugh. You do. It makes his heart constrict.

   “Think you’d miss my pretty face, actually,” you snort, shoving your now empty shake in the cupholder.

    “Yeah, I would,” he teases, just a little, just enough to make further attempts at breaking all that ice you’ve got protecting you, and he swears, he sees it crack the slightest amount, even though you don’t answer. You smile and stare down at your hands in your lap, twisting a mood ring around your finger and making sure you don’t look at him. He’ll take what he can get. “Well, anyhow,” he says, dramatically blowing air out of his mouth, the subject change swift and, in his opinion, a flawless execution, “I can’t in good conscience let you keep driving with him.”

    “You already drive me and Max and all her friends everywhere, you don’t have to do anything else.” You don’t like being indebted to anyone. Even if it’s Steve, who insists on picking you up for school in the mornings and dropping you off in the afternoons and, if he’s free, taking you anywhere else you need to go. And he usually is free, because you, and the group of middle schoolers (almost high schoolers, to be fair) he’s adopted since he protected them from Billy and the Demodogs and the whole Mind Flayer debacle (you’re still fuzzy on the details, honestly) a few months ago,  are his only friends nowadays, so it’s not like his schedule is packed and there’s no room to fit you in there. There’s more than enough room. If there wasn’t, he’d make it so. You both knew that.

    “I love driving you,” he insists. “But the thing is, my dad’s cutting me off.”

    “He’s what?”

    “Like, you know, he’s gonna stop paying for my shit. I’m not goin’ to college and he thinks I’m a useless sack of nothing-“

   “You are not a useless sack of nothing-“

   “You tell that to him-“

   “Take me there right now and I will-“

    “Alright, alright, easy.” As much as he’d love to see you go toe to toe with his dad, and you’d be able to, he’s sure, he doesn’t want to talk about it any further than the basic facts of the situation. He’s not going to college therefore his dad has no reason to pay for anything he does anymore. His car insurance is his responsibility now, anything else he needs is up to him to to get, food, clothes, gas, if he has to go to the hospital he’s sure his dad would shove the medical bills onto him, too. He was like that, unfortunately for Steve. But it was one thing he could relate to you on. You had him slightly beat, though. You had two dads to complain about, both terrible in their own ways. Sam Mayfield: emotionally distant, didn’t bother to call, didn’t ask you to visit, too busy when you lived with him to spend any time with you anyway. And then, of course, there was Neil Hargrove: controlling, abusive, cold Neil Hargrove. How he’d charmed your mother into marrying him was a mystery to you and to Max, but you supposed, for as much as you loved her on principle because she was your mother and you pitied her and looked up to her all the same, she was easily charmed by men. It killed you a little more every time it happened, but this was the first time she’d actually brought him into your family, integrating them together in a way she thought would be seamless, but you and Max despised your stepbrother and he despised you both right back. “Point is, I’m gonna have to get a job, probably at that new mall they’re opening up-“

   “Oh the horror-“ you feign a hand over your forehead and slump back in your seat- “Rich pretty boy Steve Harrington doing labor, at the fancy new mall, with those soft delicate hands of yours, whatever will you do-“

   “Shut it,”  he warns, but there’s a grin on his face anyway. “You just admitted I’m pretty, by the way.” He continues before you can dispute his claims. “I’m not gonna be around as much. So you need your license. Unless you wanna be stuck with Billy yelling in your ear all day long.” He pauses, thinking. “Which might make me kill him. So, actually, unless you want me to murder him in cold blood-”

   “Please? I’m begging at this point,” you joke back.

   “Let me get a word in would you?” He laughs and it sounds like music to you. You keep it to yourself. “I want you to be okay on your own. I don’t want him, y’know, hurting you guys, okay? So you need your license.” His words and his eyes go lovely and soft, all rounded ages, nothing jagged about them, just pure, undulated care and affection.

    It makes you soften, too. You spend a lot of time looking after Max, it hits you hard when someone takes the time to look after you, too. “I don’t know, Steve, I wouldn’t be getting a car right after or anything, my job doesn’t pay enough, and we can just take the bus or something. I’m sure it’ll be fine.”

   ‘I’m teaching you to drive, and you can take my car wherever you need to go. I’ll come pick you up, we’ll go on over to wherever I’m working, drop me off, and then you go wherever you need to go and come back in time to pick me up.” He says it so easily, as if it’s the most obvious answer to your problems in the world. He doesn’t even fathom how much it means to you.

   “You’d let me drive this?” You brace both your hands on the dashboard, your turn to stare at him in incredulity. His car is nice. It’s beautiful, really, and you don’t know much about cars. It’s classic and shiny and new. And expensive. Expensive being the operative word. Billy’s car is nice, too, and it’s about the only thing he takes care of other than his physique, which he thinks about obsessively, but you don’t think it’s anywhere as nice as Steve’s. Not in your opinion, anyway. The fact that Steve is nicer in personality (and looks, quite frankly) might make you biased, though. “I can’t afford to replace anything if I scratch it or crash it or if it explodes.”

   “You won’t scratch, crash, or explode it, you’re gonna be learning from the best.”

   “And who would that be?”

   “Me, obviously. Welcome to your first driving lesson, I’ll be your instructor, Mr. Harrington, thank you for joining us Miss Mayfield.” He tips an imaginary hat toward you. You’re not sure what driving instructors wear hats but you let him have his fantasy anyway.

   “Right now?” You can barely process what’s happening before he’s popping open his door, lanky legs sliding right out. He raps the hood of the car with his knuckles, ducking his head inside to look at you.

   “Yes, right now, Mayfield, no time like the present.” He comes around to the side you’re on and opens door for you, ushering you out. He holds your hand to help you out of the car, entirely unnecessary but a smooth move nonetheless, and your hands fit together in a way that makes him want to keep them clasped like that forever. He ushers you into the driver’s seat with a quickness that almost gives you whiplash.

    Your hands prop up on the wheel, uneasy. Your palms start to sweat. “I don’t like this,” you tell him. You take your hands off and wipe them on your jeans. They immediately dampen again. You’re afraid of leaving sweat prints all over his wheel and leaving a car-shaped hole in the side of the now abandoned Benny’s Burgers, the parking lot almost empty, save for the car that you are now responsible for. It’s eight o’clock on a school and work night, so naturally no one else was around and Hawkins may as well have been asleep.

   “You haven’t even attempted to drive yet.”

   “My hands keep slipping off the wheel,” you grasp for his hand and press yours against it, raising your eyebrows. “Do you feel the sweat?”

   “Jesus, yeah.” He squeezes your hand with encouragement anyway. “You don’t have to be scared. I’m a much nicer driving teacher than anyone you could hire at the school. You’re in good hands. Great hands. The best ones. Perfect, amazing hands.”

    Your eyes flick down to Steve’s hands. You have to agree. “I don’t even have a permit. You could get in trouble.”

    “By who? Chief Hopper? Officer Callahan?” He nearly cackles at the notion. “You’ll be fine, don’t sweat it.”

    “Bad choice of words.”

    “Enough stalling, let’s get to the lesson.” He claps his hands together. His face retains a serious, focused quality to it. It’s very handsome (he’s always handsome and it kills you a little because you don’t have time to daydream). “Alright, hands here, and here,” he taps the wheel to show you the correct position. He thinks he might die if you connect your hands again. “That’s called the 10 and 2 position.”

    “Why’s it called that?”

    “I don’t know, it just is, doesn’t matter, that’s where they go so you have the best control for making turns and steering.” You do as he says. “Okay, so now, you have to relax.”

    “Girls love hearing that, Steve,” you grind your teeth.

    But your rigidity and discomfort is obvious, especially to you, and you know it can’t be natural to drive all scrunched up and tense like this. “You’ll be fine. You can’t be all stiff if you ever want to get comfortable doing this.”

    “But I’m not comfortable.”

    “Hence why we’re doing this, yeah?’

   “I thought we were doing this so me and Billy don’t strangle each other.”

    “That too. Can’t have my only friend dead. Then I’ll be stuck with all the kids by myself.”

   “Can’t leave Max alone, either,” you say, more to yourself than to him. You think about her most of all. While you spend all this time with Steve, you worry over her all the time. You constantly check in to make sure she doesn’t feel left out. You fret about her being left alone with Billy. She occupies almost all of your thoughts.

   “Never,” he agrees, even if you weren’t talking to him. You give him a thankful smile. His heart almost stops but he clears his throat to snap himself out of it. “Okay, now, let’s turn the key, turn the car back on.”

  “Turning the key,” you nod, licking your lips. You turn the key in the ignition until the engine rumbles to life. The car vibrates in response. You hate it.

   “Clutch pedal down with your left foot,” he says, pointing. You do as he says. “Move this,” he pats the gear stick, “into first gear, right here, left then up.” He watches you carefully, nodding back. “Good, okay, press down on the acceleration with your right foot now, gently,” he adds. He can tell by the furrow in your brow that you hate it. “You’re doing good,” he praises.

  “Yeah, yeah, continue.”

  “Now you gotta lift the clutch until you feel it vibrating, okay, then release the handbrake, keep slowly moving off the clutch until you’re moving with just the acceleration, okay?” He finds the deeply serious expression you’re wearing kind of endearing. “If it stalls we’re gonna start again, but don’t worry about it.”

But you don’t stall. The car moves as it should, with you controlling it, in the empty parking lot by the neighborhood park. “Great, great, almost perfect” he tells you, “we can probably go faster if you wanna try that-“

  “No, we cannot,” you say tightly, your shoulders hunched.

  The laugh he lets out makes your spine tingle. “You have to relax your face, I promise you’ll drive better if you’re not all… scrunched up,” he motions to your shoulder area.

  You try. You roll them back as you keep focusing on the road, trying not to furrow your brows so much. You’ll get a permanent forehead wrinkle at this rate.

   “See, there we go,” Steve reassures. Your let out a little huff, but your face goes placid, still. “Beautiful.” He’s not sure if he means to say it. If he should. He says it anyway.

  You look sideways at him as you drive through the parking lot. You’re driving slow. Slower than slow. You’re practically inching along. “You can’t possibly be flirting with me right now.” It’s not that you don’t like it. You do. It hurts how much you do. If he wasn’t freshly single and you didn’t feel so obligated to focus most of your time on taking care of Max, you’d flirt back. You weren’t new to it or anything. You knew your way around a guy. Even a gorgeous one like Steve. But he was only a few months over Nancy and you saw the grimaces he did when she and Jonathan crossed his path. You weren’t sure if he was over her. Or if Max was comfortable and secure enough here to be a little more independent.

  “I am not,” he scoffs. The blush creeping up his neck onto his cheeks betrays him. You shift your eyes to look at him again but he points, “eyes on the road, by the way.”

  “You were flirting, you just can’t help yourself, can you? King Steve, right?” You snicker, recalling the nickname from when you’d first met him, the one that had been rescinded just as fast. It’s easy to hide the fact that you liked the way he said beautiful, like a caress, like a kiss, behind your banter and snark. Maybe it’s one thing you and Billy could have in common. Everything’s easier when you hide it behind an attitude.

  “I wouldn’t say that stating a fact is… flirting,” he shrugs, flippant. At least, he hopes it appears flippant. You don’t give yourself much time to ponder this.

  “It is when you say it in that voice,” you retort.

  “Huh? What voice?” He balks at that. He does not put on a voice.

  “Like, low and sultry,” you flick some hair away from your eyes. It had been the way he said it, after all.  

     “You think my voice is low and sultry?” His ears practically perk up like a puppy’s. You don’t answer. It’s actually all the answer he needs. “I think you’re the one flirting with me now, Mayfield, not the other way around.”

  You scoff. You are scoffing and he is laughing away. “In your dreams, Harrington.”

  “Every night.” The joke registers with that one but it still makes your stomach clench. Every butterfly in the western hemisphere makes its way into your gut and builds a home there, an uncontrollable influx of new neighbors, fluttering madly, demanding to be seen and known and understood. You understood them, you just didn’t want to. “See, now that, that was flirting,” he says, satisfied at your quiet. “And you sound like your stepbrother when you say my last name like that, by the way. Excellent Billy impression.”

   You’re doing slow, lazy laps around the parking lot at this point, your nerves still present but for entirely different reasons now. “I do not sound like Billy.” You grimace. “And you probably shouldn’t be flirting with anyone when you just got out of a relationship, like, not even four months ago. I don’t think you’re ready to be flirting again.” You, again, are saying it more to yourself than to him. A subtle reminder of the predicament you’re in.  

  “Hence why I’m not flirting,” he informs you.

  “Uh huh,” you say, unconvinced.

 “But if I was-“

“Which you’re not-“

“Which I am not,” he agrees, “how would you feel? Just for, y’know, future reference.” He juts his lip out, wondering.

  “Let’s circle back to that when you’re not still reeling from the Nancy incident.”  

  “Well,” he shifts around in his seat. He wouldn’t say he’s still reeling. Still hurt, sure. But hurt sticks around longer than heartbreak does. You can be hurt by something someone did and not still be heartbroken over them. He wouldn’t say he’s still heart broken. Looking at you, his heart feels very much intact. Nothing broken here, no, definitely not. “That’s why it’s for a hypothetical future reference.”

  “Right, of course,” you slow the car to a stop. “Then I wouldn’t be opposed. Hypothetically.”

  “You wouldn’t?”  

  “I wouldn’t.” But, you remember, suddenly, that it’s not just you that you look out for. “Once Max is all settled, of course.”

   “Settled?”

   “Like, y’know, feeling better about being here.”

    “She’s got a massive group of friends she sees all the time.”

   “I know, but-“

   “You worry about her, I get it,” he places a hand on your knee, very light, not asking for anything. “Who worries about you? You should- you should be happy, too, is that crazy to say?”

   You place your hand over his.  “I’m happy. I’m happy, I promise. I don’t need you to worry about me, I’m okay.”

   “You should do more things for yourself.”

   “Like getting my license,” you gesture to the car.

   “Like getting your license, yeah.” Like going on a date with me. Like letting me show you how serious I am about you.

   “I’m okay how I am.”

   “I’m making it my job to look out for you, y’know.”

   You smile again. Very soft, almost embarrassed. You hated the attention being on you but you had to get used to it, being around him. “Yeah, Steve, I know.”

   He’s diligent in his effort to give you driving lessons. He takes you driving almost every day after school, Max in the backseat if she’s not with her friends, both of them encouraging and kind even when you hit the curb more often than not. You were a good driver, for all intents and purposes, even though your palms still sweat every time you got behind the wheel. It was a gradual comfort process. They were less sweaty than the first time, and that had to count for something. You even get comfortable enough to drive through Main Street, which nearly sends you into a panic and leads to a shouting match between the two of you while you furiously honk your horn at the other people of Hawkins on the road, Steve slumped in his seat to avoid eye contact with everyone, but after that, you’re a pro.

    A few weeks of this pass when he says to you, out of the blue as you drive aimlessly, “So, I set up your road test for you.”

   You’re still not used to this whole looking out for you thing he’s got going on. You almost stop the car short. “Did you really?”

    “I think you’re ready. You’re great, you’ll pass easily.”

    “You think?” You’re typically confident, strong-willed, but sometimes he sees those flickers of insecurity crop up and he attempts to smother that right then and there.

   “For sure,” he nods. “They’ll be begging you to be on the road.”

   “You flatter me.”

   “You deserve it.” His eyes, his smile, trained on you, always, is devastating. Maybe you do. Maybe you do.

    At your dinner table that night, you, Max, your mom, Neil, and Billy, Max does what she should never do in front of Neil or Billy, and that’s open her mouth.

   Billy had been going on about how he was sick of being the chauffeur, even though he really wasn’t anymore, and that if he was going to get a job this summer before college like Neil wanted you two would have to learn to get around on your own, because he can’t be responsible for two people if he also had to be responsible for a job.

   “She’s getting her driver’s license tomorrow,” she jerks her head toward you, a proud, beautiful smile on her face, and you want to drag her by the hair into your shared bedroom to ask why in the world she’d ever tell that to everyone and also give her the biggest hug for the evident pride she takes in the fact that you’re independent and doing things on your own and she looks up to you so, so much. You bite your lip as Neil’s fork scrapes noisily across his plate. “And Steve’s been driving us around anyway, so I don’t know what you’re going on about-“

   You interrupt her with a hard, socked foot coming down on her own. Your eyes go wide and your head tilts in her direction,  a please oh please stop talking expression.

    “Who has been driving you, exactly?” Neil asks, eyebrows raised.

   “My friend from school, it’s no big deal,” you answer, staring down at your plate and then back up at him. His cold gaze is fixated on you.

   “What happened to the agreement we had?” Neil turned his sneer to Billy, rendered speechless by Max’s unexpectedly bold statement. Billy then glares at you, and you really don’t want an argument, so you cut in.

  “It’s only sometimes, like once a week, and he doesn’t drive us to school, he drives us home. Rarely. Rare occasions. I promise.” A lie, flowing easily from your lips, and because Neil thinks you’re a smart, good girl, and his son is always up to no good and lying, he relaxes, and so does Billy, though you’ll get no thanks from him, not now, not ever.

  “Well, who’s been teaching you to drive where you feel ready to take your test?” Neil stretches across the table to get another helping of the meal your mother prepared from the middle of the table.

   “Steve, when we’re both free.” Every day.

   And because Billy can’t let you have anything, because he needs to instantly make you regret ever doing anything nice for him, he says, “I’m not a big fan of this Steve guy.”

   “Hm, and why’s that?” Neil continues eating.

   “It’s a petty high school rivalry,” you interrupt, narrowing your eyes at him.

   “He’s got a reputation with girls, you know. I wouldn’t want to see something bad happen to you.” Billy’s stupid grin eats shit. The feigned care makes your skin crawl.

   “What sort of reputation is that? You shouldn’t be hanging out with that sort of person,” Neil frowns. Again, with that feigned care. It’s not about genuine worry for you. It’s about control. Dominance. You won’t fall for it.

  “It’s all rumors. He had a serious girlfriend for a year. And we’re not together, anyway. He’s my friend.”

   “Guys all want the same thing,” Billy says back.

  “How would you know?” You push, nearly slamming your hands on the table.

   “I’m friends with the basketball team, there’s locker room talk, you get the picture.” He continues smiling in that mocking way of his that makes you want to jump across the dining room and put your fork through his eye.

   “You don’t actually know anything, though, do you, considering you’re not friends with him?”

   “I think I know enough to know that this isn’t the type of person my sister should be associating with-“

   That gets you going most of all, which is giving him exactly what he wants, and you can’t help it. “We are not siblings-“ your chair drags across the floor with a loud screech as you remove yourself from the table, just as Neil is telling you both to settle down.

  “C’mon, honey, sit back down, you can hang out with whoever you want, I’m sure this boy is very nice,” Susan coaxes you gently but you don’t even look at her, too caught up with the fact that it’s all her fault you’re here in this place with these people, these strangers, that you hate so deeply it makes your bones ache.

  “’M done eating, going to my room,” and you don’t care how annoyed it makes Neil that you’ve gotten up before he’s finished eating, which has become practice in this house now, you can’t even celebrate the fact that you’re achieving a milestone, getting your license, God damn it, without it turning into the Billy Hargrove one man show. He makes everything, everything, hurt.

   Max comes in a little while later, her footsteps light and hesitant on the floor. She crawls into your bed even though hers is across the room and she hasn’t slept beside you since your first night here.

   “Are you mad at me?” She asks. Her eyes are big and blue, worried.

   “’Course not.” You smooth her hair back. You’re not mad at her, truly. It’s not her fault Billy ruins everything. “I know you were just trying to get back at him for his complaining. S’not your fault, lovie.”

   “I should’ve known it would turn into that,” she frowns, uneasy. “It always turns into that.”

   “You don’t have to know anything. You should be allowed to say whatever you want to our parents, that’s what they’re there for. Don’t worry your pretty head about it.” You boop her nose with the tip of your finger. You’ve been sulking in your room because of him, not her.

  “Can I ask you something?” You’re face to face with each other, both your heads lying on your pile of pillows, hair fanned out behind you. Her expression is earnest and endearing.

  “Always.”

 “I thought you and Steve were dating already.”

 You hesitate. “That’s not a question.”

  “Okay,” she rolls her eyes. There’s no malice behind it. “Why aren’t you dating?”

  You crinkle your nose, dismissive. “Because, I’m- I’m, like, busy, with stuff, and he’s not over Mike’s sister and I just, I don’t wanna get mixed up with some silly boy.”

   She admires your dismissive attitude toward boys, and it might be why she breaks up with Lucas every other week in exasperation with his boyish faults. She just thinks it’s crazy that you have this attitude when a guy like Steve is the one following you around with shiny looks and dreamy smiles. She’s sure that you’d never deny Steve, who, when she observed you both from the backseat, did everything in his power to make you feel comfortable, safe, secure, was kind to her while also maintaining a brotherly banter, something she thought she was getting when Billy had been introduced to her, was funny, and generous. He was always letting you drive his car and buying you both food and making sure you had a ride somewhere if you needed it. And she drove her and her friends around everywhere even if you weren’t there, too. Steve seemed perfect.

   He was easy on the eyes, too, but it brought a hot flush to Max’s cheeks to admit that, so she never would. 

   “He’s not a silly boy, he’s Steve.”

   “A boy is just a boy no matter who he is, you know that.”

   “Yeah, but,” she huffs, indignant, “he really likes you. I bet he’d go out with you if you asked.”

   “I’m not asking him out, and he doesn’t like me like that. He’s a good friend. And I told you, I’m too busy for him.”

   “Busy with what?” She cries, exasperated. “Busy driving with Steve, busy doing homework with Steve, busy getting dinner with Steve, busy-“

   She’s running out of fingers to write her list on. You grab her hand to stop the count. “I get your point.”

   “You can’t be too busy for someone if you already spend so much time with them, is all I’m saying.” She has a point. You scratch your arm absentmindedly. “What’s the real reason?”

   “What real reason? You’re saying that’s not the real reason?”

  “Definitely not the real reason.”

   “Says who?”

   “Says your best friend.”

   You sigh at her, a loving sound. “Oh, yeah, her.” You run a hand through her hair again. The softness of it soothes you. “I don’t wanna leave you alone.”

    She pokes your cheek. “I’m not alone. I have my friends.”

   “Didn’t you hear that we’re best friends? I can’t leave you in the dust.” It’s more playful than you really feel. You don’t want to burden her by unburdening yourself, relaying all your fears about what would happen if you spent more time with Steve, things like her resenting you, something awful happening between her and Billy, her getting hurt, injured, killed, your brain delved into all sorts of dark, terrible places, and these spiraling thoughts led to one conclusion: you would never, ever, let your focus waver from her. “I take care of you, okay? I don’t have the time to think about anything else. Besides, he might not even be over Nance, remember?”

   “He is. He is over her. I promise,” she insists, placing her hands on your arms. “He looks at you like he’s in love, I’ve seen it!”

   “You don’t know what you’re seeing, babe-“

  “I do.” She shoves herself off your bed, your hand, where it was twined in her hair, falling back onto the covers. You sit up, confused, as she stomps off to her own bed.

  “Are you mad at me right now?” You ask.

   “I’d be happy if you were happy.”

    “Max, stop, I am happy-“

   “Not happy enough. He’s nice. You should just go out with him. Stupid to worry about me all the time.” She flicks off her lamp light and turns away from you toward her wall. You sigh. You think. Your stomach twists itself in a knot you don’t want to think about. Eventually, when her stubbornness about it overrides yours, you turn back toward your own wall and turn out your own light. Your eyes strain from trying not to cry, so eventually, you cave in to that, too.

   Your hands shake at your road test the next day. For a multitude of reasons. You look at Steve differently, with your head tilted toward him like the head of a flower tilts toward the sun, waiting and wanting. You’re running over all the ways it could go wrong. You resign yourself to never doing a thing about it.

    He notices your quiet, so unlike yourself, and attributes it to your nerves about the test. He rubs your shoulders, an attempt to hype you up. “You got this, okay? You’re gonna kill it. You’re gonna be the second best driver in Hawkins.”

   “Lemme guess, you’re the first?” It’s the first smile you’ve cracked all day and he takes it as the victory it is.

   “Well it’s certainly not Billy,” he rolls his eyes. “Seriously, how you feelin’?” He spins you around and the gaze he bores into you is too intense to bear. You look away fervently.

   “Fine, ‘m fine, nervous, but fine, should be good, my driving instructor was excellent.” He beams with pride at that, a blinding flash.

   “World renowned, I heard,” he brags.

   “Let’s see if I pass first.”

   “You will,” he says. Confident, assured. It makes you feel assured in turn.  

   And you do. You pass. By a hair, truth be told, but you pass. It thrills you, clutching the paper declaring your triumph in your fist, walking outside to greet Steve who leans against the hood of his car in his devastating way of his, hands shoved deep in his pockets as he taps his foot in wait. When he sees you come out, he brightens, straightening himself out.

   “What’s the verdict?” He asks.

   You wave the paper around. “I passed!” You can’t fake it for a second, your joy at this little bit of freedom absolutely inescapable. He lets out a loud, thrilled whoop for you, and his joy brings you even more of it. He picks you up off the ground and spins you in a circle, and when you’re back on the sidewalk, steady, he envelopes you in a deep, encompassing hug.

  When he hugs, his whole body goes into it, if that makes any sense. He throws his all into it. There’s no hesitancy, no timidity, he’s not ashamed of it in the slightest. He hugs you, hard. He’s that proud. And he likes holding you. You pull away first and he’s not surprised.

  “Proud of you,” he squeezes you arm again.

   “Couldn’t have done it without, Steve, really. You- you’re the best, y’know that?”

   He decides to push his luck. “Good enough to go on a date with?” He can see already that you’ll say no. That you want to say yes but you’re going to say no. He doesn’t care. He’ll wait until you’re sick of him.

  “You don’t wanna go out with me,” you squeeze his arm back.

  “You’re real silly, you know that?” His voice is warm and awfully fond.

  You can’t bring yourself to let him all the way in just yet. You walk with him back to the car and agree with him. Yes, you’re real silly, indeed.

[madelynraemunson]

CALL ME WHAT YOU WANT 𓆩♡𓆪

(Book #1 of the Hellfire Gentlemen's Club)

(strip club owner!eddie x fem!exotic dancer!hargrove!x reader)

𝐌𝐎𝐃𝐄𝐑𝐍 𝐀𝐔 18+ only, minors i am ON PATROL

Chapter 011: Wolf in Sheep’s Clothing

Movie night is cut short when Billy and Eddie both show up to your door in search of compromise.

↳ chapters: 001, 002*, 003** , 004**, 005 , 006 , 007* , 008**, 009, 010, 011, 012* , 013**, 014**, 015, 016**, 017, 018, 019, 020*

somewhat smut = *

smut =**

word count: 4.5k words

disclaimers — eddie’s bruised lil face, billy’s bruised face, no one is beating the living daylights out of the other this time. 😵‍💫 just a lot of ✨ fluff ✨ and you guessed it… ANGST , traumatic flashback, max being a mastermind with her plotting & scheming 👀

“My head is saying ‘Fool, forget him!’, my heart is saying ‘Don’t Let Go’…”

♡

Isabelle Munson is a menace and a half.

It’s obvious that Eddie’s ex wife married him for one thing and one thing only: his money. And, when caught in her web of lies, Isabelle quickly threw him under the bus to cover her trail.

“What, are you trying to take over Hellfire or something?”

It’s no wonder why Eddie freaked out on you like that. The clinginess and need for control over your ‘situationship’ probably set off all the necessary alarms in his head. Even though Eddie probably knew your intentions, he didn’t want to risk the possibility of another Isabelle. After all, she too started as an employee.

POP! Snap! Fizz…

Max pours a can of soda into her ice cold tumbler. She stirs it around before taking a few sips.

"Your boss’s ex wife sounds like a bitch," she comments.

"The biggest bitch," you shake your head. "I’m reading up on all the tea right now."

A paramour for control, Isabelle’s calling to make Hellfire all about her started affecting the work-life balance. So, Eddie sent her to NDA Gentlemen’s Club in order to keep their affairs separate. But then a romantic affair began to brew between Isabelle and Terry, the owner and actual culprit behind the scandal. And of course that opened up another can of worms.

“Why would Isabelle wanna put Eddie behind bars instead of the guy who actually tried to sex traffic her?” Max inquires.

“Terry Hobb was already gonna be arrested,” you discover. “If Eddie went under too, Isabelle would likely be entitled to his assets while he’s locked up. Probably what she wanted all along.”

Framing Eddie for a crime. Something that’s so easy to do in Hawkins.

Like Billy said, Eddie coming from a long line of criminals did NOT help his case. Drug dealer, murderer. Con-man and arsonist. Eddie being someone who trafficked the vulnerable would be easy to believe, especially in a town full of conservative women who were tired of their husbands coming home late — and drenched in glitter.

To bear the Munson name is not exactly a blessing. Even the woman Eddie made a Munson managed to do him dirty.

There’s another kind of wolf that Mom never warned you about: the one dressed in white — the wolf in sheep’s clothing.

“This is all so awful,” you swallow hard, finally planting your phone face down onto the kitchen table.

And now Eddie’s business is in jeopardy again. All thanks to two volatile Hargroves who have no sense of self control.

"Why do I feel like there's something there?"

Max brings you back to earth. When you turn, she’s smirking at you.

“What do you mean?” you ask her.

“Oh come on,” Max rolls her eyes. “You seem really bothered by this. And Eddie beat THE LIVING SHIT out of Billy. Doesn’t seem like he does it for just any employee.”

You feel yourself blushing. Not only that but Eddie never fights anybody, period. He’s always called on Henry to do all the dirty work for him.

But Eddie knew about Billy and how powerless he made you feel. Seeing your abuser meandering so comfortably around his establishment was probably the last straw.

“There…might be something,” you confirm. “It’s hard though. Eddie doesn’t wanna commit.”

“Well after a marriage that traumatizing I wouldn’t either,” Max shrugs. “I’d be deathly afraid of women for the rest of my life.”

She walks over to grab the two bowls of popcorn that you guys heated up for everybody. You two, along with Vicky and Robin, are having a movie night to wind down from all the chaos. Tonight’s choice is Grease.

"Alright kiddos, camp is almost set up!" Robin dances her way into the kitchen. "We ready for some Grease Lightnin'?"

Max swoons as she adds some more key ingredients to her popcorn. "Hell yeah! Love me some Travolta and showtunes."

“What are you doing?” Robin asks, watching your sister douse your shared popcorn bowl with cayenne pepper and lime.

“A lil California spin on mine and Sissy's popcorn,” Max shrugs. “A squeeze of lime and some tajín. Well — cayenne pepper — since we don’t have any."

“That’s outrageous.”

“Wait till you see what we do with street corn,” you gush, dreaming about elote.

“Oh god…” Robin goes pale white.

“No really, Robin! It’s pretty good,” you insist.

“Not that!” Robin shakes her head. She points out the window. “That…”

You turn in the direction that Robin points in, which is outside towards the street.

Billy.

“Billy,” you gasp silently.

Your brother is parked along the curb, climbing out of his rental car with a little pep in his step. You watch as he checks his, relatively bruised, appearance, tugging at his hair and giving his clothes one last pat-down before making his way over.

Concerned footsteps dart their way into the kitchen. Vicky looks just as mortified as Robin.

"Do y'all see this?" Vicky questions.

Everyone nods to validate.

"How does Billy know where we live?!" you demand turning to the only other person here who has his phone number.

Guilt spreads across Max's face. As mortified as you are, you can't blame her. The fucked up parts of yourself would've done the same thing. You and Billy were in dire need of a heart to heart.

"You guys need to talk," Max explains what you're thinking. "I'm not letting him leave without at least a word or two. He agreed to be civil when I texted him."

"Thanks," you mumble. "I would've done the same."

Anyone who didn't fully understand the dynamic would've thought you and Max were crazy. But there is a part of you that will always love Billy.

Billy’s getting closer now. You can hear him clearing his throat from outside.

“So are we going to need the fire department too?” Robin asks, phone readily in hand.

“Most likely,” Vicky shrugs.

“No one’s calling anybody,” you instruct. “At least not yet. Let’s just see what he wants first.”

Billy's at the door now and you have no choice but to answer. You swing it open before he could even get a knock in, knuckle floating in mid-air but slowly drifting back down when he sees you in front of him.

Your big brother. At least by two minutes.

“Sup,” Billy greets you, almost jokingly. He flashes you a peace sign. Hi. I come in peace.

“You look awful.”

“Yeah, mosh pits aren’t really my scene,” he takes a sly jab at Eddie.

He requests entry into your new humble abode to which you deny. Billy backs down without question. So instead you walk out into the porch and close the door behind you.

“Before you press charges,” you preface. “I just want you to know how hardworking, kind, and empathetic Eddie i-”

Billy stops you with a raised hand. “I’m not…pressing charges.”

You’re almost stunned. “You…you’re not?”

“No,” Billy’s eyes are sullen. “I started it.”

“Eddie threw the first punch,” you point out. “If anything all you did was provoke him, which obviously won’t hold up well for him in court-”

“I…” Billy insists. “…started it.”

You don’t question it anymore because you can sense aggression brewing. And you preferred to talk to Billy when he’s calm like this.

Both of you take a seat right on the porch stairs. You can feel Vicky, Robin, and Max staring from inside.

“I deserved it,” Billy shakes his head. “And everything else coming to me for what I’ve done.”

“You don’t deserve it,” you try to convince him — and even yourself — of what you’re saying.

“YOU don’t even believe that,” Billy says, seeing through the bullshit. “Just fucking save it, okay?”

It's not like you can deny it any longer. Billy is the reason why you and Max are in this situation.

“I could’ve killed Max if I had been any more careless,” Billy grieves. “All because, what, she threw a box at me? And punched a hole in the wall because I said shit that made her do it. What I did made me lose everything I had left. Made me lose you guys."

Accountability, that's the first step. You turn away from him, refusing to believe this new change of heart.

"I didn’t honor your wishes to be left alone or at least given a little space..." he continues. "Showed up to your safe space and overstayed my welcome. And it blew up in front of me. Probably shattered my septum too."

"Do you see now?" you choke. "Do you see why we can't live with each other?"

"I'm sure we can, we just gotta change our ways."

"We've been trying to change our ways since Dad and Sue left!" you hiss. "Since Mom died, since the first crack in the glass. We change, but it just evolves into something worse."

Crickets on Billy's end. You can tell he's sitting with the words, no matter how uncomfortable they feel. But that alone is another big step.

You turn to stroke his face. He closes his eyes in dismay, soaking in all the affection radiating off your delicate, trembling hands.

“Look at what we do to each other, Billy," you plead. "It's not like this when we're apart."

Billy opens his eyes. They’re glistening with tears.

You fill him in on the friends you've made in Hawkins. How much your bank account grew. The payments you’ve caught up on since stripping at Hellfire. How you and Max sleep comfortably through the night. After what seems like forever.

Life is beautiful without Billy. As much as you didn’t want that to be true.

Billy finally speaks again. “What happened to us?”

“I don’t know,” you shake your head. “And until we can both get our shit together, we need to stay away from each other.”

And now it’s 1998. You and Billy are four years old, playing tug-o-war over the last chocolate chip cookie in the jar.

CRASH! went the jar when it fell to the floor.

You’re both in trouble now. Or so you thought.

Billy ended up winning this round, scurrying off with the cookie while you attempted to sweep the broken shards of glass away. But knowing Billy had gotten a beating several days prior — it was BAD this time — you decided to take all the blame.

“Say ‘Sorry Daddy’ right now,” your father ordered after three aggressive spanks to your backside.

Bent across his lap, you bite your tongue as he issues two more spanks with his large, calloused hands. It was sure to leave a mark.

“SAY IT,” Dad roared.

But you weren’t sorry. So it came out strained.

“‘m sorry Daddy,” you sniff. “And I’m sorry… Billy.”

The last word wasn’t worth it. It was never worth it.

Your buttcheeks were burning, eyes stinging with salty, resentful tears as Dad continued to use you as an outlet for his rage. When you thought it was over, Dad chucked you off his lap, pulling you by the hair to toss you against the wall like it was some dodgeball game at the Y.

Billy’s eyes watched in horror. Your eyes burned into his as he poked his curious head out from the wall he was hiding behind.

“Doing it for you,” you mouthed to him.

Later that night, your bruised behind hobbled side to side to your shared room after your bedtime routine. To your pleasant surprise, there was something waiting for you on a small plate at the foot of your bed.

The last chocolate chip cookie.

You and Billy never apologized to each other back then. So acts of service like saving each other the last sweet treat made for a good alternative.

Billy walked over to you as you fawned over the last cookie. You turned to him in disbelief.

“I thought you ate it,” you smiled.

“No, I was saving it,” Billy lied. “All for you, Sissy.”

“It used to be us against the world,” Billy recalls. “As cheesy as that shit sounds.”

“But now it’s just...not,” you point out. “We just can’t be in each other’s lives. We gotta love each other from afar, Billy. At least until we can figure out how to be civil with each other.”

Billy doesn’t speak for a while. Instead he takes a look around the neighborhood. The tall trees that decorate the telephone poles. The flat land that perfectly accentuates the edge of the horizon. The fresh air, slightly corrupted with the overpowering scent of Marlboro. It’s no quaint beach town, but there was something about it that screamed “home” in no way San Diego can.

“Are you sure this is something you wanna do?” Billy questions you, referring to your job. “It’s not a safe gig, sis.”

“I can handle it,” you insist. “It’s temporary anyways.”

“I can’t believe I’m saying this…” he sighs. “But I’m proud of you… ass and tits out and all.”

“Gee thanks,” you joke as you nudge him. “I’m glad I have your approval.”

After a while, you two finally stand up and make your way inside. Max is reluctant to walk towards Billy when he walks in, but that same invisible cord inclines her to do so anyway.

“You still don’t like me, huh?” Billy infers.

Max crosses her arms. “How can I?”

A timid smile forms across Billy’s face. “But you don’t hate me?”

Max repeats her sentiment. “How can I?”

She runs to him and snakes her arms tightly around his waist and he swings her around. Max giggles like a child when he playfully ruffles her hair.

“Seriously, how can I?” she questions. “I’d really like to take an expert class on how to hate you.”

Billy chuckles. “You need money for school books?”

“No, Sis got me on that.”

“Of course she does,” Billy says, peering over at you. “You’re in good hands.”

You formally introduce your brother to Robin and Vicky but it’s an awkward ordeal. Can't expect your good friends to get along with the person whose choked you out on multiple occasions throughout most of your life. Slapped you around as well. Pulled your hair and tainted your body black and blue. Calls you "bitch" and "slut" wherever he sees fit. But still loves you with everything he's got. And you, him.

Trauma is a weird thing.

Billy didn’t intend to stay for long, so he sees himself out shortly after that.

“Alright, I’ll text you when I leave,” Billy announces. “Call me. Please. If you two need anything.”

“Okay,” you smile. “We’ll be sure to answer this time too whenever you call.”

Billy gives you a half-assed salute as he swings the door open. He nearly shifts himself backwards when an unexpected surprise greets him at the door.

Eddie.

Standing 5-foot-10 with a face full of contusions and cat-like scratches is your boss. Eddie cringes when he sees Billy, eliciting a similar reaction from your brother the moment they register each other.

The silence is deafening.

There’s an urge to pick up where they left off, but both men refrain from doing so for your sake. Billy stomps off, shaking his head without meeting Eddie’s eyes.

Eddie turns to you. Waits until Billy is out of earshot to speak.

“You’re right about your brother being a douche."

You laugh. Eddie gives you that puppy dog pout with his chocolate brown eyes. You want to forget about him so bad. You want to let him go. But your heart is yearning for more.

“Do you still hate me?”

“Kinda,” you shrug. “But less so by the minute.”

“I deserved that.”

You can’t help it anymore. Eddie tries his best not to wince when you fall into him, wrapping your arm around his waist and burying your head in his chest.

He rubs your back gently before ruffling your hair. Then he plants a gentle kiss onto your forehead. It launches you into squeezing him tighter.

“You okay?” he mumbles.

You nod into his chest and he strokes your hair, allowing you all the time you need to let you guard down.

“How long is he staying in town?”

“Forgot to ask,” you answer him honestly. “Probably not for long.”

“You should board up your windows just in case,” Eddie says half-jokingly. “Install a few more locks. Probably a few cameras.”

You tsk. “Okay, I don’t think I need to get that carried away.”

“Fine,” Eddie shrugs. “Of course I can always stay the night too.”

His fingers dance up the small of your back, causing you to inhale sharply out of arousal.

“Protect you a lil more…” he continues.

“Yeah I don’t think so, Munson,” Robin clears her throat, knowingly interrupting the sappy moment you’re sharing. “Movie night is for the girls only.”

“You know I can always leave it to you to cock-block, Buckley,” Eddie laughs. It’s a reminiscent one. “Thought your silhouette looked familiar at Hellfire.”

Your eyes dart between them both.

“You guys know each other?!”

“We all went to school together,” Vicky explains, coming back into sight as well. “The three of us were all in the same band class at one point.”

“Until ‘Dungeons’ over here thought he was too cool for us,” Robin adds. “And started his own band.”

“I was always a lil eccentric, wasn’t I?” Eddie winks. “Thanks for remembering. Though Corroded Coffin is all a distant memory now.”

“So that means you guys went to school with Steve too?” you direct your question towards Robin and Vicky.

Vicky raises an eyebrow. “Steve? Like… Steve Steve? Steve ‘The Hair’ Harrington?”

“You know King Steve?” Robin scoffs, completely baffled. She crosses her arms in amusement.

“Oh she knows King Steve,” Eddie smirks. “Knows him real well.”

“Jealous much?” you quip.

“I plead the fifth,” Eddie mutters.

“And I plead that we all know less and less about each other,” Max sighs. You almost forget that she’s there. “If you’ll excuse me.”

The girlfriends follow Max back into their room to continue with movie night. Now you’re left alone again with Eddie.

You stare up at him.

“Are you okay?”

“Just a couple ruffled feathers, I’ll be fine,” he dismisses your concern.

"You've got a great deal of damage control to do when we go back.”

“Eh,” Eddie shrugs. “Wouldn’t be the first time my business was in trouble.”

You laugh and roll your eyes.

“And for as long as you’re along for the ride? This probably won’t be my last.”

“Swinging at my estranged family members, my hero my hero,” you joke, finding yourself leaning into him further.

And then you kiss him. It's your first advance in a while that Eddie doesn't shy away from. He kisses you back, with an ignited passion that surpasses even the electricity from Saturday in his van. It's an aching, and a longing.

His lips interlace ever so comfortably with yours. He's missed you so. And you missed him too. Even when you were being irrationally jealous over Nina.

“Gettin’ me in so much trouble, Hargrove,” Eddie grazes your back as he slowly pulls away.

And your eyes can’t help but trail down to his hands. Knuckles bloody, fingers absent of any rings for once, tan lines on all but one special finger.

“Did you love Isabelle?”

Eddie stares at you like you’re insane.

"Of course I did,” he insists. “She was my wife. There were some warning signs that she was after my money though, but I was too stubborn to believe it was true.”

You nod.

"But now you know," Eddie grins in exhaustion. “Now you know why I’m guarded. Because like you, even Isabelle looked like a dream”. He tucks a strand of hair behind your ear as he mumbles, “Too good to be true.”

Your heart shatters for him.

“You need to start saying what’s really on your mind,” you say to him. “Speaking up, asking for help. I’m tired of watching you fight battles alone.”

“Then don’t look,” Eddie jokes. One second later and he’s back to being serious. “It’s pretty hard to trust people when they prove to you time and time again why you shouldn’t.”

He steals some popcorn from your bowl, tossing it up into the air. It successfully lands in his mouth.

“Besides. I’ve come this far without anyone, but Wayne’s, help. And I turned out fine.”

You glare at him.

“Couple scrapes and bruises,” he continues, alluding to his scuffle with Billy. “But I’m fine.”

“Keep telling yourself that.”

Eddie offers you a look.

“What, you think I’m bluffing?”

“No,” the pitch in your voice heightens. “I just think…a healed person would let a little love in.”

Then those sad doe eyes meet you again, the kind of gaze that would cause anyone to go weak in the knees. You swallow hard.

“Please be patient with me,” Eddie mumbles. “I’m really trying.”

“I know you are,” you rub his arm. “We don’t have to rush into anything.”

You both lean into each other again, the need to have and be with each other a palpable energy between your torsos. You beam up at him as you run your fingers down his hair.

“I am ready for something though,” Eddie proposes. “I’d like to keep whatever this is going.”

“I’d like that too,” you heart begins to flutter.

You picture yourself grocery shopping at Meijer with Eddie. He’d push for you to buy desserts, but you’d remind him that he needs veggies in his life. You see yourselves going to the pumpkin patch as autumn approaches and taking goofy Polaroids by the scarecrows. And it’s like he’s already in front of you on Christmas, his tongue poking out slightly — like it always does when he’s deeply focused on something — as he fixates on making his gingerbread house a gingerbread home. And when the ball drops on New Year’s Eve, he is going to be your kiss, dipping you like the one sailor did with the nurse in that one iconic picture of the world war being over. And then you two would recreate that same pose when you take him back home to experience a San Diego summer.

A romance for the books.

“Just…sex and quickies all the time!” Eddie speaks, instantly yanking you out of your daydream. “Smoking together…asking each other about our day…cuddling, in the nude…”

Suddenly, Eddie’s cock-blocked himself with his fantasy that he revealed to you. The familiar tinge in your chest returns again.

“Oh…hooking up is what you meant,” you nod.

“Duh, what else?”

You swallow hard again. So now you know what this is all about. You know now what he really saw when he looked at you.

“So… just purely sex. I gotcha.”

“Whoa, don’t put it like that,” Eddie grimaces. “It sounds bad. We’ll get to the titles eventually, I just gotta dip my toes in first.”

“I don’t want you dipping any of you in anything,” you glare at him with disgust. “Sorry but for a while I thought you liked me for me.”

“I do, Shy Girl,” Eddie insists. “I’m just not ready for titles yet. We literally just got done talking about that.”

“Oh, but you wanna keep me around as a fuck doll, that’s it?”

“Don’t act like you don’t have needs yourself…” he protests.

“Yeah and Steve is meeting those needs,” you hiss. “The reason I’m bouncing between you guys is because Steve is my fuck buddy, but I’m willing to let him go if you want to be exclusive with me. Which I don’t get why you won’t call it exclusive if that’s theoretically the case.”

But should’ve known Eddie only saw you as a booty call. You two hang out at nighttime, flirt, and touch each other too often for that to not be a case. And, of course, when something else catches his eyes, Eddie moves on and simply pays you no mind.

“I thought you saw this going somewhere,” you scoff as you cross your arms. “Beyond a mattress and the back of your van.”

“I thought I saw this going somewhere too,” Eddie shrugs bitterly. “But now that you mention it, someone who is always questioning my intentions without letting me explain myself doesn’t deserve the title anyways.”

Could Eddie stomp on your heart any more?

Did he just expect you to wait around for him? Did he expect you to run around with ‘Reserved For Eddie’ while he decided how much of himself to give you on whatever day? None of it is fair. But Eddie doesn’t play fair. He just calls the shots, as always.

And to think the two of you would come to any sort of compromise tonight.

“Goodnight, Eddie.”

“Hargr-”

“Good…night… Eddie.”

“The power you’re supplying… it’s electrifying.”

Defeated, you end up excusing yourself from the rest of movie night and lugging yourself to your room. Max is in the room too, a huge surprise considering John Travolta was metaphorically a room over.

“Oh she is cuuute,” Max raves.

She’s talking about the red lingerie set from Nocturna, you realize when you drag your feet into your room.

“Thanks,” you shrug sheepishly, taking the set back from jet. “Eddie bought it for me to wear actually.”

You take the set in your hands and smooth it out just a little. It’s such a pretty set. Now it’s just collecting dust, a shame because you loved how amazing you looked and felt in it.

“Why don’t you wear it to Hellfire?” Max suggests. “I’m sure Henry would love it if you did for his dance in a couple days.”

“You want me to wear it for Henry?” you scoff. “That’s a no. Eddie doesn’t wanna see me wearing that specific set for anyone else but him.”

“Hmmm,” Max thinks. “We’re talking about the same Eddie. Right? Eddie ‘Non-Committal’ Munson?”

You smirk. She smirks. Your sister is a genius.

If Eddie truly doesn’t want to commit to you and make you his, then there is no need for you to commit to him either.

And the DEVIL WOMAN set is clearly no exception. There’s no need for a hot outfit like that to go to waste.

“I’m picking up what you’re putting down…” you grin, a rather wolf-in-sheep’s-clothing grin.

Max rubs her evil little fingers together. “Figured you might.”

“TELL ME ABOUT IT!” you two hear Robin and Vicky yell from their room. “STUD!”

And ‘You’re The One That I Want’ starts blaring through the speakers.

Its a shame that you and Max were missing your favorite part of the entire movie. But you two have your own revenge plot in the works.

And you, you’ve got your own dance number to practice. A dance for the One that you want. In this case, it’s Henry.

“You better shape up because I need a man. And my heart is set on you.”

Oh Eddie…

Let the mental gymnastics begin.

—————————

author's note: when eddie goes low, shy girl goes lower…. do you guys think eddie will be mad seeing shy girl dancing for henry in the red set he bought her? 🤔😈

—————————

🏷️ tag list: @battymunson , @the-fairy-anon , @ali-r3n , @corrodedcoffincumslut , @bebe07011 , @mmunson86 , @eddiesguitarskills , @chelebelletx , @imonhereforareasonsadly , @eddies-trailer-babe @hideoutside , @motherfckerr , @jxps i , @munson-magic , @lindseyj23, @sidthedollface2 , @manda-panda-monium , @elvendria , @micheledawn1975 , @hereforshmut , @siriuslysmoking , @nymphetkoo , @m-chmcl-rmnc , @justinelittlewoodsworld , @ahoyyharrington , @keepittoyourselftellnobodyelse @kellyxo1 @emsgoodthinkin @winchester-angel @chloe-6123 , @redbarn1995 @angietherose @kiyastrf94 , @purplewitchcauldron

[rocketinthesky]

I’ve been thinking a lot about why a lot of people are starting to hate Lando sm and while i do think part of it does have to do with him just performing good and having a championship winning car, the other part might just be because he’s “changed” and he’s had a few “immature” moments so to speak. Like people are largely unhappy with his petty comments with Lewis in the cool down room (which yes as a lover of the norris boy i agree lashing out was childish and unnecessary), how he acted about Oscar’s first win (which to an extent ik why people are upset at Lando’s behaviour but…i can sympathise with both sides and can’t dislike him for that because it was a painful and complicated situation), and most recently his “cocky” comment after winning the dutch gp where he repeated Max’s signature line or wtv (which i myself didn’t see much issue with since they’re friends and Max himself didn’t show any significant emotion towards either).

A lot of it boils down to people calling Lando arrogant and perhaps him not “delivering” enough to be that arrogant and my opinion on that is: firstly) the whole SPORT is built on arrogance lol every single driver on the grid is competitive, arrogant, and so pumped full of adrenaline and rage that they say and do a lot of stupid shit when high on the emotions from a race. Literally every driver ever, from the grid now and from the past, has been far from perfect. Think Seb, the grid’s father even after retirement, hailed the nicest most genuine driver ever. Ya think he hasn’t had his cocky, fucked up moments? My mans was a MENACE in his prime. Yall need to stop wearing rose-tinted glasses for your favs lol. Max, who’s gotten into many childish altercations after races, like the infamous moment with Ocon and even last year with George. But no one criticizes Max to that degree (disclaimer: i don’t dislike any of the drivers i’m using as examples. I am a lover of all but that also means i criticize fairly). It’s fucked up to say you excuse certain behavior from someone just because they’re winning more or a better driver in your opinion. Very very fucked up to call someone who’s open about the mental struggles of being a racer “weak”. Lando’s far from perfect but so is every other driver on the grid.

They’re all human, they’re all clinically insane because only a crazy person would live their life riding at that speed for the thrill of it. They’re all heavily flawed, they’re all emotional beings. They have their moments of pettiness, aggression, immaturity, arrogance. This isn’t just in defense of Lando but of every driver on the grid. Stop putting them on a pedestal of unrealistic standards. They’re fuckin F1 drivers, some of the most fucked up (said fondly) species of human. And stop being hypocrites. It’s okay to criticize them, rather we should criticize them. I was and still am very vocal about how unnecessary Oscar’s recent comments about Stroll was, but it’s something i also won’t dwell on because it’s just part of the sport lol. I won’t hesitate to criticize any of them, even my favs, because that’s the healthy way to be a fan of someone. But mindlessly hating someone is so stupid. I mean ig u do u but if you’re gonna hate over dumb shit just be ready to get backlash over it lol

Anyways idk if this rant even made any sense.

Tl;dr - Lando’s shown some immature/“unlikeable” emotions like a normal human being and now everyone hates him for it despite ignoring the same behaviour from their favs. Lmfao. Peace out. Stay sane🫡

[fabbyf1]

Hi!

I’m not sure of this is how to go about this correctly.

I’m not sure what your position is on others drawing inspiration/directly from your incredible fan fiction writing but, on Ao3 there is a fic called ❤️lestappen- One shorts💙 by lestapeeen. The most recent chapter (14) is very similar to the monza chapter of long live(twwct) specifically the piggy back and proposal promise. some of the dialogue is exactly the same.

I figured you should know. If it’s a cool with you or if you knew already, sorry to be a bother.

DISCLAIMER: This post, by no means, is asking for ANYBODY to send this author mentioned (and tagged) below hate. On anon or main. I have been pretty damn clear with my feelings on the matter below. They know what they've done, and I won't stand for it. Nobody needs to make this worse by sending them death threats. With that out of the way, let's deep dive, shall we?

YOU KNOW WHAT?

First off, god bless you, bestie. God BLESS you. I want to smooch you on your incredibly wonderful forehead. Thank you so much for bringing this to my attention. I cannot be everywhere at once and cannot possibly read every fanfic posted to AO3, but it's not fucking cool for people to straight-up plagiarize my shit.

Secondly, I'd like to ask that if ANY of my followers come across something that looks very suspiciously similar to my fics, please let me know. You can for sure send it on anon, or send me a dm.

Now, with that being said, I clicked on this fucking fic not knowing what to think. I went into it with a pretty open mind, knowing that there are quite a few authors currently posting fics that are verrrrrrrrrrry similar to my writing style. I've gotten pretty close to calling a few of these authors out but haven't for a few reasons.

Fanfics based on the same ship, in the same canon setting, are always going to be... let's use the word "similar" here. The plot can only change so much when you're following canon events, you know? I don’t write AUs, so I’m only going off canon-inspired fics. My fics generally follow along with canon timelines and therefore, other author’s fics that follow the same timeline are going to be... similar. I get that and accept that.

Characterizations are bound to be... well, fuck it, let's use that word "similar" again. I'm gonna be pretty forgiving when someone's Max is damn near the same as my Max because one: I'm a good and forgiving person, and two: I think my characters (while totally fucking fictional) are very life-like to the real person. So, with that in mind, when I read a fic with characterizations similar to mine... I will usually give somebody grace... and accept that maybe, just possibly, they see Max Verstappen (the person) the same way I do (fictionally) and it’s a big old coincidence that our fics read so similar. You know? Does that make sense?

But with all that being said, I’m not a fucking idiot. 

And honestly? I give more grace than I should on this goddamn website. (lmfao, respectfully.) This is sadly not the first time that somebody has very much written in my likeness, and I know it won't be the last. But this is definitely the boldest version of plagiarism I've seen. I haven’t clicked on any chapter except for 14, and I heavily skimmed the first part, but let’s take a little deep dive into some of the highlights. Because I will show the receipts, bestie.

from their story:

from long live:

..... right, let's move on.

from their story:

from long live:

okay................. sure

from their story:

from long live:

If you're going to plagiarize my shit... you could at least put it in a different font, so to speak. "Hey, can I copy your homework?” “Sure, but change it up a bit.” 

Girlie pop, you stopped even trying to change it the fuck up. 

Let me be clear: I do not authorize anybody to translate, re-post or distribute my work without my written consent. This is in a disclaimer (that I will post below) in every single one of my fics. Taking MY dialogue is NOT okay. 

Direct quote from the beginning note of Long Live:  DISCLAIMER #4: This is 100% fictional, and I do not own any person, team, or sponsor referenced in this story. I mean no offense to any person(s) mentioned and characterized in this story. I am not affiliated with any part of Formula 1 or its subsections. Please do not translate, re-post, or distribute my work without my written consent. I will cry.

To sum up, writing is not easy, and it takes time and effort. Time away from my friends, my girlfriend, my family. Time away from my job and my other hobbies. Long Live is 76 thousand words and took me countless hours to write.

To have somebody so blatantly and disrespectfully post MY SHIT as their own and not even try to give me credit? To not write a note that said, “Heyyyyy go read long live, which I [clearly] really enjoyed!” or even a “Some of this dialogue was inspired by @fabbyf1” or even just a “lmfao some of this i didn’t write but the rest i did” really pisses me off.

Why did it ever have to come to this?

I am SO disappointed right now.

Happy fucking Friday, I guess.

For full transparency, here is the link to their fic: https://archiveofourown.org/works/55255699 and here is the link to their tumblr: @l-estappen

Here is the link to MY fic, which was posted on April 2nd, 2023, and written in Google Docs with revision history about a month before that. I have receipts out the fucking ass, my dear. https://archiveofourown.org/works/46190509/chapters/116284915

Be well.

[jxncywarrior]

Stranger Things characters and ships as Taylor Swift Albums

Part Two: Fearless (Taylor’s Version)

*Disclaimer: I’m tagging all the ships and characters featured. I’m gonna try not to be biased. MOST of these are strictly based on canon. No hate to ANY ships or shippers.*

Fearless: Jancy (Nancy’s POV)

“Well you stood there with me in the doorway…It's the first kiss, it's flawless, really something, it's fearless”

Fifteen: Will

“In your life you'll do things greater than dating the boy on the football team but I didn't know it at fifteen”

Love Story: Lumax (Max’s POV)

“Romeo, save me, they're tryna tell me how to feel. This love is difficult, but it's real. Don't be afraid, we'll make it out of this mess”

Hey Stephen: Stancy (Steve’s POV)

“Hey Stephen, I could give you 50 reasons why I should be the one you choose”

White Horse: Byers Brothers to Lonnie

“I was a dreamer before you went and let me down. Now it's too late for you and your white horse”

You Belong With Me: Byler (Will’s POV)

“I'm the one who makes you laugh when you know you're 'bout to cry”

Breathe: El to Hopper

“Cause it's tragedy and it'll only bring you down. Now I don't know what to be without you around”

Tell Me Why: Max to Billy

“I need you like a heartbeat but you know you got a mean streak. Makes me run for cover when you're around”

You’re Not Sorry: Mileven (El’s POV)

“You got your share of secrets and I'm tired of being last to know”

The Way I Loved You: Jopper (Joyce’s POV)

“Breaking down and coming undone. It's a roller coaster kind of rush. And I never knew I could feel that much”

Forever & Always: Byler (Will’s POV)

“Oh, and it rains in your bedroom. Everything is wrong It rains when you're here and it rains when you're gone”

The Best Day: Will to Jonathan

“know you were on my side even when I was wrong. And I love you for giving me your eyes. Staying back and watching me shine”

Change: The Upside Down

“These walls that they put up to hold us back will fall down. It's a revolution, the time will come for us to finally win and we'll sing hallelujah, we'll sing hallelujah”

Jump Then Fall: Lumax (Lucas’ POV)

“I realize your laugh is the best sound I have ever heard”

Untouchable: Byler (Will’s POV)

“It's like a million little stars spelling out your name. You gotta come on, come on. Say that we'll be together”

Come In With The Rain: Elmax (El’s POV)

“I've watched you so long, screamed your name. I don't know what else I can say”

Superstar: Steddie (Eddie’s POV)

“And all the girls in the front row scream your name”

The Other Side Of The Door: Jancy (Nancy’s POV)

“You carried me from your car up the stairs. And I broke down crying, was she worth this mess?”

Today Was A Fairytale: Jopper (Joyce’s POV)

“Can you feel this magic in the air? It must have been the way you kissed me”

You All Over Me: Stancy (Steve’s POV)

“I lived, and I learned. Had you, got burned”

Mr Perfectly Fine: Mileven (El’s POV)

“But that was when I got to know Mr. "Change of heart" Mr. "Leaves me all alone, " I fall apart. It takes everything in me just to get up each day. But it's wonderful to see that you're okay”

We Were Happy: Lumax (Max’s POV)

“No one could touch the way we laughed in the dark”

That’s When: Stonathan (Jonathan’s POV)

“I said, "I know" when you said, "I did you wrong, made mistakes and put you through all of this"”

Don’t You: Stancy (Steve’s POV)

“Don't you smile at me and ask me how I've been. Don't you say you've missed me if you don't want me again. You don't know how much I feel I love you still”

Bye Bye Baby: Stancy (Steve’s POV)

“I want you bad but it's come down to nothing and all I have is your sympathy”

If This Was A Movie: Stancy (Steve’s POV)

“I know people change and these things happen but I remember how it was back then”

Links to other parts of this series: Debut, Speak Now, Red, 1989, reputation, Lover, folklore, evermore

[holllandtrash]

genuine question why do you always talk about not liking Max on your podcast but on here you reblog Max content, write Max fics, follow Max blogs?

I don’t like him as a driver, he’s not someone I’m rooting for in F1. I can admit he is a great driver but he’s not a favorite of mine which is totally normal like everyone has people/teams they like and others they don’t. it’s just fan behaviour and you see it in everything

That being said I have no issues with who he is outside the track/F1. I think he’s been villainized as a person because of DTS unfortunately but I truly have no reason to dislike him as a person, I don’t know the guy I just am not a fan of him when he’s racing, there’s like 5 other people I’d rather see win a race than him.

It would be the same if I said I hate country music but I respect country singers like they’re just making music, I’m not gonna listen nor would I ever put it on and I will tell people I hate country music and country artists, but I don’t know them personally so I can’t have an opinion on who they are outside of their music

Max blogs don’t just post max stuff. I also am very entertained by lestappen and I love their friendship/rivalry so I like seeing that

Also I’m an F1 blog so I’m gonna reblog F1 stuff, which includes max. There are sweet moments with max like when he’s all smiley, his interviews, him with Dan or other drivers, I like seeing that but that doesn’t mean I’m rooting for him to win. I very much do not want him to win. I’ll reblog Alonso stuff too but I’m not rooting for him either.

And it’s fanfiction, it doesn’t mean anything. I got an idea for a plot and the the driver I thought fit the plot the best was max, (you’ll notice tho there is such little mention of him actually racing in the one shot - I assume you’re talking about last call)

When I say “I don’t like max” on the podcast, a lot of the time it’s followed up with a compliment or a praise and that’s because he still has earned my respect. He’s a DAMN good driver, but I don’t want people to think I’m rooting for him because I sometimes have good things to say about him. It’s just a disclaimer. Do I need the disclaimer? No, but I say it anyway.

Idk the way I see it I can still like the guy but not want him to win, hope this long response answers your question

[pinkandgoldensoul]

: ̗̀➛ Masterlist

  '*•.¸♡  Welcome to the Masterlist!  ♡��.•*'

Here you can find the list with links to all my writings. Note: before reading, please check the disclaimers ahead! /!\ COPYRIGHT DISCLAIMER /!\ I do NOT allow any copy of the content on this blog without my consent. Please contact me if you see things posted elsewhere. /!\ CONTENT DISCLAIMER /!\ The purpose of this blog, as the description says, is “self-therapy writing”. I write because it helps me releasing, processing and dealing with my emotions. Therefore, there could be triggering content for some of you: this is why I highly suggest going through the tags and notes before reading. Please, take care of your mental health being fully aware of what you expose yourself to.  All my writings are works of fiction. I do not mean to accurately represent, judge, shame or sexualize any of the real people appearing in my fics.  Lastly, I’m not an English native speaker. This implies that I have a poorer and weakened perception of what I write and some sentences could come across as unnatural. I apologize in advance and, in case you’d like to give some advice, definitely feel free to do so!

You can find info on Requests here!

F1

╰┈➤ MAX VERSTAPPEN #1 ✎ || ALREADY HOME || friends to lovers, slow burn (kind of), family drama, angst, fluff special guests: Charles Leclerc, Daniel Ricciardo, Carlos Sainz state of progress: completed plot: after an upsetting event has permanently changed your life, you meet someone special who could be able to make you forget the past and mark a new beginning. As feelings start to bloom, you have to take a decision: is it worth following your heart and putting at risk the relationship with the one who gave you everything you needed the most or is it better to preserve the only family you’re now left with?  Chapter 1. Spa’s Blues 10.5k Chapter 2. Flying Dutchman 9.9k Chapter 3. Chasing Shadows 8.6k Chapter 4. Nothing Is What It Seems 11.6k Chapter 5. Everything Has A Cost 10.1k Chapter 6. First Time 12.3k

✎ ||  tape a of the series  𝒻𝓇𝑒𝑒𝒽𝒶𝓃𝒹  || 6.6k

╰┈➤ CHARLES LECLERC #16

✎ || SECRET MOTIVES || 19.1k  genre: friends to lovers, angst, fluff and comfort major tw: mention of death (not reader’s), mentions of grief, dieting and struggles with self-image plot: nothing in your life came easy, and so did f1: facing hardship in your first year at Alfa Romeo, you are met with a familiar face, Charles’. Supporting each other and spending time together will inevitably bind two souls that seemed meant to be or, as someone could put it, that were predestined. ✎ ||  tape b of the series 𝒻𝓇𝑒𝑒𝒽𝒶𝓃𝒹  || 10.2k

drabbles: ✎ || living in vain || 0.7k genre: extra angst, comfort (requested)

╰┈➤ PIERRE GASLY #10

✎ || UNPLANNED FAIRYTALE || 18.6k genre: arranged marriage, angst, fluff and comfort special guests: Esteban Ocon, Charles Leclerc plot: you loved him, he loved you, and neither knew. Will an arranged marriage, an old love triangle and a special friend be enough to finally make you confess your true feelings? (requested)

╰┈➤ CARLOS SAINZ #55

✎ || SO? || 24.2k genre: secret relationship, strangers to lovers, fluff, a bit of smut, angst special guests: Charles Leclerc, Lando Norris plot: what could possibly go wrong if you hooked up with a handsome man who you too late discover to be your brother's teammate after said brother had tried to keep your existence unknown to his colleagues?  

[tommeraas-cc]

A warning about high polycount custom content - for downloaders and creators

I don't claim to be an expert on custom content, but I've been making CC for nearly 4 years now and I think I've learned a thing or two about how to spot custom content that might not be best for your computer/game. I only recently got a computer that can handle some of the CC out there, so I wanted to make a guide on how to spot CC that might not be right for you if you want fast loading times, minimal overheating, or your computer isn't as powerful. This guide will mostly be about clothing, but I'm sure most of these things can be applied to other types of CC.

Disclaimer: Absolutely no hate to anyone who makes CC that is high polycount -- I am guilty of doing this without disclosing it earlier in my CC making journey. We are all learning and improving every day and we all have different preferences for our own CC making which is the fun part of this community :) If you are a CC creator who needs help avoiding high polycount please message me and I would 100% be willing to you help you 

High polycounts 

3D content is made up of vertices that connect to each other to create a 3D model that can be molded into different shapes (the small segments that make up these larger shapes are called polygons). The more little dots you have, the more detailed the item can be. However, there are ways to include detail without using a high number of these vertices and polygons, it just takes time and practice.

Why should I be wary of downloading CC with a high polycount? 

There is a reason that clothing made by EA/Maxis has a limit to the number of polygons they can use in their meshes. If an item of CC has too high of a polycount, it could drastically slow down your game, overheat your computer, cause your game to crash, or even permanently damage the hardware of your computer. Of course, there are different tolerances for high polycounts based on the specs of your computer, so be aware of this before downloading. If your computer cannot run smoothly on the ultra graphics setting without CC installed, you should probably be proactive about the kind of CC you download to avoid these issues. 

However, even those with high end computers can run into issues when trying to play with a lot of this kind of CC, so it is up to the individual player to decide what they want for their game. I permanently damaged my last computer by busting a fan due to graphics rendering in the Sims 4. Please do not make the same (very expensive) mistakes I have.

The case for high polycounts:

There are certain clothing items that would not be possible to model in the sims without a high polycount. The creators who make these very detailed meshes are super talented and have my utmost respect, but my old computer just couldn’t handle them! My rule of thumb for my own personal game is that if I’m going to download something with a crazy high poly count, it better be something special. In my opinion, there’s no reason a simple tank top should be 3x the polycount of an average EA mesh. A handful of high polycount items aren’t going to crash your game (probably-- know your own computer’s limits), but considering most people will download many items from the same creator, the collection of all of those items may cause issues.

CC creators make their meshes for fun and creativity, and many don’t create for the express purpose of having many people use a bunch of their meshes in their games at once. It’s totally fine to make high polycount custom content, but if you’re a CC creator it would be respectful to people who download your items and support you to be warned of these possible issues (especially if they are paying for them!!!). Most CC creators have high-end computers, but downloaders might not, which is something to keep in mind :)

How high is too high?

This is honestly a personal preference. For me, anything with more than double the average polycount is “unacceptable without disclosing” and must include a disclaimer when I post it. For toddler full body outfits, which is what I normally make, I would consider this to be around 10-12K as the max acceptable polycount to post without a disclaimer. This number varies based on the type of CC, with adult polycounts being higher usually (given that items are quite literally larger than toddler items). For adult full-body outfits, I try to stay under 15K, and anything over 20k I would consider needing a disclaimer. But, again, this is up for personal debate, and there are a lot of factors that go into this. I am just basing this information on EA’s limits and my personal experience from playing this game on lower end computers.

How to spot high poly-count CC 

So, you’ve decided that for your personal game, you want to avoid high polycount CC. Unfortunately, many creators do not disclose when their CC has an high polycount, so it’s up to you to figure out which is which.

Before you download the item: for clothing, the easiest way to spot high polycount CC from preview photos is to look for folding in the fabrics. I don't have a high polycount CC of my own that is completed to show you, and I don’t want to put another creators CC here out of respect, so here is an example of an unfinished mesh that can get the point across. 

As you can see, the folds in the sleeves look like they are mostly physically present, and that the folds aren't a result of the texture. This often results in sort of a "bumpy" look to the CC. If you're seeing clothing that has this tell-tale bumpy look with many folds that you can tell are 3-dimensional, you should probably avoid this CC (if you have decided to avoid high polycount CC). A small amount of bumps is normal but as you can tell by this skirt it's a little more extreme. 

Below you can see the low polycount version of this cc item where the folds look much smoother and are not as 3 dimensional. I added details like the folds in the sweater and at the top of the skirt with textures and mapping rather than a high polycounts as you might be able to tell by the fact that there are smooth edges rather than 3D folds. I have a small section of ruffles on the sleeves that have maintained a higher polycount which you can see by the physical ruffles. Details like this are impossible to do with just textures.

There are many CC creators much more talented than I that are very good at using texture images to give off the illusion of detail without high polycounts. Look at the edges of the item where folds appear and if there’s a smooth line there, the creator might be using textures and mapping to give the illusion of folding!

After you download the item: Of course, you can always download Sims4Studio, the program CC creators use to import their meshes into the sims format, to check polycounts. If you open CC in this program and click the meshes tab, the polycount will be displayed here. I only do this for items that I think might be insane polycounts (like 100k+ or something ridiculous for clothing, which is about ten times higher than I would recommend) that might crash my game, otherwise, I usually just go by how the item looks in the previews with the tips I just told you.

There are some CC items that are pretty much guaranteed to have high polycounts. The vast majority of alpha hair will have high polycounts -- this is unavoidable and does not mean the CC is not high quality, it is just a necessity for that kind of CC. Just be aware that having many alpha CC hairs in your game might cause slowdown/overheating. 

I am a CC creator who wants to start making lower polycount stuff that still has detail. How do I get started?

I started figuring out how to do detail via textures and normal mapping about two years ago. The main resource that helped me was this fantastic tutorial by SLYD. The main thing you need for this method is a lowpoly AND highpoly version of your mesh. It takes more time to do this versus making a highpoly mesh but I think the payoff is worth it to make good quality cc that everyone can enjoy :) (Also, another benefit is you won’t have to spend so long waiting for sims4studio to import your mesh) If you would like some tips on how to do this or have questions from that tutorial feel free to message me anytime! I also have a discord server where you can get help with CC making. Again, I am not the best expert around but I might know enough to help you.

Here is another discussion on this topic that I think is a really good read if you are interested :)

TL;DR if you’re a creator who makes high polycount stuff, please put a disclaimer on your downloads. If you’re a downloader, be aware of what your own personal game and computer can handle.

[honeypiehotchner]

(un)requited (Loki x Stark!Fem!Reader Soulmate AU) -- part two

I had absolutely zero plans of writing a part 2 when I wrote part 1, but then this came to me and I couldn’t resist. Slight spoiler with the title, but nonetheless, enjoy!

{After re-reading this part, I feel the need to make a small disclaimer that character bleed is real and although I try my hardest to make the reader as neutral and moldable for you as readers, I realized that this reader is slightly autistic coded. I think it’s very slight, but it’s still enough that I wanted to let you know xx.}

Warnings: some residual angst, small mention of not being able to eat/struggles with eating, tooth-rotting fluff, many a cheesy pet name :))

Unrequited part one || Loki Masterlist

three years later

You’re busy working away in your dad’s lab while he handles all the meetings and important things that he’s been putting off for weeks now.

He was complaining this morning about having so much to do today, but it’s entirely his fault. Still, to be nice, you told him you’d work on repairs for him today instead of your other projects.

He’s lucky you even offered because doing his repairs means taking off your glasses — the specific glasses Tony made for you so you could go back to seeing in black and white after Loki.

It’s weird. You expected your dad to tell you no, that he wouldn’t make glasses for you to essentially reverse your colors because despite Loki being an ass, they’re still your colors. But Tony didn’t. He made them and they were ready to wear within two days. Now, they practically never leave your face.

Your room has been redecorated in black and white since that day, and your wardrobe got the same treatment a few months after. You found new comfort in the black and white in a way that you never did before.

“FRIDAY, go monochromatic for me.”

“Yes, little Stark.”

You chuckle to yourself. You always forget that’s the name Tony gave FRIDAY for you.

“And put my playlist on, please,” you add, shedding your jacket so you’re just in your black t-shirt for work. “Max volume with Do Not Disturb.”

“Scheduling an appointment with your ENT now.”

“Thanks, FRIDAY,” you laugh, diving in.

Three hours pass before you look up from the workbench, only because FRIDAY has alerted you that your dad has removed Do Not Disturb.

“Lower the volume,” Tony says, pulling a face at you. “What are you doing? Trying to blow out your eardrums?”

“Maybe,” you fire back with a smirk. “Done with meetings already?”

“Almost,” he says, walking up next to you and leaning against the bench. “You gonna condense that?”

“What have I said about disturbing me when I’m working?”

“Fine,” Tony clicks his tongue.

He’s holding something back. He’s doing the same thing you do when you have to tell him something, but you know he won’t like it, but there’s no way around telling him, so it’s only a matter of stalling for a few more precious moments before you have to come out with it.

“What is it?” You ask, pulling the protective eyewear off your face. “There’s something because you never bother me. And you’re clicking your tongue.”

He smirks. “You are my daughter, through and through, aren’t you?”

“Last I checked, yes, I wasn’t adopted.”

“Speaking of adopted,” Tony chuckles dryly. “Thor and...the one we don’t talk about-- They’re coming tonight.”

“Okay.” There is a party tonight and Tony already told you all of the Avengers are invited. You had assumed that would include Thor -- which meant possibly Loki as well.

“Okay?” Tony eyes you carefully. “Okay? That’s it? No ‘give me the keys to the beach house, what were you thinking’?”

“I don’t like the beach.” You shrug. “I’ll be in here working most of the night, anyway.” When he continues looking at you, you add, “It’s been three years, Dad. I’m fine, and I’m sure he’s over it. I doubt he’ll bother me and if he does, I’ll…” You shrug again. “I’ll ignore him, I don’t know. I’m not worried about it.”

“Okay,” Tony nods slowly. “Okay, that’s cool.”

You raise an eyebrow. “Can I get back to work now?”

“Sure,” Tony holds his hands up in surrender. “Want something for lunch?”

“Uh, yeah, whatever you feel like. I’m not that hungry.”

“But you need to eat,” Tony says, “so I’ll be right back.”

You lost your appetite the day you gained your colors. When Tony made the monochromatic glasses for you, it helped, but the mountain of grief you had to work through made eating harder, too.

It was all you could do back then to eat one full meal a day. You’re up to eating two meals a day now, which is better than what it used to be, but Tony is still a Mother Hen that tries to get you to eat a snack of some sort every hour.

You can eat when you’re distracted, which is what happens when your dad makes lunch and eats with you. It’s a wonder you don’t choke on your food from laughing so hard, but whatever works, Tony will take it if it means a mostly empty plate.

He leaves you to get back to work, hoping he can get Thor and Loki to leave quickly after they arrive.

+++

“Remember, brother, we are here for a reason, not so you can harass Tony’s daughter.” Thor presses the up arrow on the elevator.

“Why would I harass her?” The accusation stings Loki’s pride more than anything. He’s never harassed any woman, and he has no intentions to start with you.

“You’ve had three years to fix her broken heart and you have done nothing, yet you insisted on joining me here today,” Thor points out. “Now is not the time to pursue this young woman. That time has passed.”

Loki rolls his eyes as they step on the elevator. “Message received, brother,” Loki says, though, really, it could’ve been said back on Asgard.

Truthfully, Loki would be a liar if he said the thought of pursuing you hadn’t crossed his mind when Thor mentioned taking a trip to Midgard. Originally, Loki didn’t know it was a trip to the Avengers Tower -- he thought Thor was simply coming to visit Jane, and Loki could tag along and slip away in hopes of finding you.

The mere fact that Thor’s visit to Midgard is straight to the Avengers Tower is a coincidence, but a fine one, indeed.

It’s something celebratory, that much Loki knows. When it comes to Tony Stark, anything is an excuse for a celebration, so this party of sorts could be about something mundane.

The elevator dings and the doors slide open, revealing the grand event Stark has thrown. Loki’s eyes widen. It’s almost as extravagant as some of the feasts they have on Asgard.

Thor blends right in, which doesn’t surprise Loki at all. Thor was always better at the feasts, maneuvering the crowds with skill.

Loki’s expertise lied in sticking to the sidelines and charming a few men and women -- and those in between. He’s not sure how easy that might be tonight given that he recognizes most of the crowd, and the few that he doesn’t appear to be spoken for.

“Rock of Ages, there you are!” Tony Stark’s voice isn’t hard to hear, even with all the other noise.

Loki makes his way over to where Tony is standing with Pepper Potts and Thor, as well as Jane, who Loki didn’t know was coming.

“Nice to see you again, Jane,” Loki nods respectfully, giving his brother a look. “And you, Miss Potts. Tony.”

Pepper raises her glass of champagne and Tony grins, downing his. “Glad you decided to grace our planet with your godly presence,” Tony says.

“Any time,” Loki replies with a wider grin. “What might we be celebrating tonight, if I may ask?” The god questions, looking to Pepper for an answer, knowing Tony won’t give a serious one.

“One of Y/N’s designs was picked up by a major tech company,” Pepper explains.

Loki’s eyes shine at the mention of you, the one who made his world bright, the one he left behind, because what will Asgard think if both its princes have Midgardian souls as their lovers?

“If this is for her,” Loki treads carefully, “where is she?”

Tony all but glares at the god. “Elsewhere. She doesn’t like celebrating, so she lets me have her fill.” He pauses. “She won’t be attending.”

Thor watches Loki carefully, as do Jane and Pepper. Loki should’ve known Thor would tell Jane of his younger brother’s demise, his stupidity. And it’s not a surprise Tony is aware of what happened between his daughter and a god.

“Right,” Loki says. “Well, send my congratulations and well wishes along to her, wherever she may be.”

Tony opens his mouth to say, “Wouldn’t--” But Pepper cuts him off, saying, “We will. Thank you. That’s really sweet of you.”

“Now then, if you’ll excuse me, I believe there is champagne somewhere around here?”

Tony points to the bar area. “Don’t get any funny ideas.”

“I wouldn’t dare,” Loki replies through a smirk, disappearing into the crowd.

+++

All you need is for this one wire to connect and work and then you’ll be done and you can go take a shower and debate on showing up to the party. Your dad would never force you to show up, but you know he wishes deep down that you’d show.

“Yes!” You whisper, cheering to yourself when the wire connects and lays flat, exactly how it’s supposed to. You begin closing everything up with a triumphant smile.

You pick your monochromatic glasses up and place them back on the bridge of your nose, telling FRIDAY that things can go back to normal colors.

You have your back turned when Loki walks into the lab, his footsteps so soft that you almost don’t hear them at all.

You turn around and Loki is in awe. Your glasses, your eyes, your lips, your nose, your chin. You’ve grown in the last three years, in ways that only make him long for you even more.

Your eyebrows furrow when you see him. “Loki?”

There are two glasses of champagne in his hands. He’s in his usual attire, the same dark green and gold you remember meeting him in. Only this time, it’s gray through your glasses.

You miss seeing the colors that he wears. And you hate that you do.

“I came to congratulate you,” he says. “I hear this party is for you.”

“You heard correct,” you say. “What are you doing down here?”

“I might ask what you’re doing,” he says. “Why aren’t you at the party if it’s for you?”

You chuckle nervously. “I don’t like big parties, not like my dad. Too many people, too much…” You gesture with your hands around you. “Everything.”

“I see,” Loki nods. “Well, it’s just the two of us down here.” He takes a few steps, enough to hold out a glass of champagne to you. “A toast?”

Gingerly, you take the glass from him, careful not to touch his fingers. “Sure. What’s the toast for?”

“For you, of course,” he says, holding his glass high. “Your brilliance. What other reason is there?”

You sigh and tap your glass to his, then taking a sip of the bubbly beverage. Loki does the same, his eyes trained on you like he’s studying you, looking for something.

“What is it?” You ask.

“What is what?”

“I know you didn’t come all the way down here just for a toast,” you say. “What’s your other reason?”

“Does there have to be one?”

“I know that there is.”

“Alright,” he admits defeat, just this once. “I wanted to see you.”

You blink. “What?”

“That’s my other reason. I wanted to see you.”

You shakily set the champagne glass down on the worktable. “Look, Loki, this…” You pause, taking a deep breath. “Thank you. For the toast. And kind words. But…”

“What?” He says, taking another step closer, but you take a step back. He looks as if he’s been hit, burned by you, by your single step away from him.

“I don’t know how to say this--”

Loki’s face falls. You’ve found someone else, he’s sure of it. He should’ve known. It’s just as Thor said. The time has passed.

“I gave up on this, us-- on you that day you told me I was silly and that it was impossible,” you say. “So, thank you, I guess, for trying again, but I can’t. I’ve moved on. I’ve let go.”

Loki watches you carefully. Part of him believes you because he has almost no reason not to. But after studying you, he sees. He sees through your white lies.

Without moving, he says, “If you say you’ve let me go, then why can’t you look at me?”

“I don’t have to,” you murmur, defiant, weak.

The truth is that the longer you look at him, the more you want to run into his arms, kiss him softly, run your fingers through his raven hair. Even if he wasn’t here to apologize to you, even if his only goal was to patronize you more, you wouldn’t care. You’ve felt him and his touch in your dreams for years now, and one night, if only one night with him, would simply make you sing. It might reverse the grieving you have endured for the last three years, but what would it matter?

It’s a dangerous feeling. To know someone is so bad for you, yet you’d still spend a night with them if it meant at least feeling their touch for a brief moment.

“Look at me. Please, my love.” The pet name slips right off Loki’s tongue with ease. Your heart flutters and you squeeze your eyes shut. “Without that foolish technology on your eyes.”

Never mind that Loki knows about the glasses. He’s the Trickster, the God of Mischief, simple tricks like color-altering glasses won’t slip past him. You knew that. You assumed it, but you didn’t expect him to say anything.

“I can’t.”

“Why can you not?”

“Because I just can’t. Not again. Not…”

“Not what?”

“Not when you don’t want me.”

Loki’s heart breaks with your words. He sets his glass down before taking another step toward you, and since your eyes are closed, you don’t move away this time. His hands gently lift the frames off the bridge of your nose, but you keep your eyes shut, refusing him. Your face buzzes with the ghosting of his fingertips.

“This is one of your tricks,” you say firmly. “I won’t fall for it.”

“My sweet thing, I may be the Trickster, but I will never play tricks on you. Not when it comes to my love for you.” He sets the glasses down on the table next to the champagne. “Open your eyes, little one.”

After a moment’s hesitation, you open your eyes. Colors flood your vision, all of the bright blues of your dad’s lab. Then, the dark green of Loki’s princely attire. The gold. His rosy lips, his blue eyes.

“Hi,” you squeak, barely above a whisper.

“My love,” Loki says, lifting his hand to cup your cheek. “I have missed you.”

“I’ve missed you,” you murmur, tears filling your eyes. “I’ve hated you.”

“I know, darling, I know,” he says, tears in his eyes, too, as he thumbs yours away. “I am so sorry for the way I spoke to you. Never again, never again will my wicked tongue hurt you in such a way.” He sees the skepticism in your eyes, so he continues. “Our souls have been searching for one another for thousands of years,” he says. “And I am sorry to have wasted these last three years. It’s time that I know I will never be able to get back, but I will do everything in my power to make it right.”

“Prove it,” you whisper. “Prove to me right now that this isn’t a trick.”

He does.

Loki closes the gap between your bodies, using his arm to wrap around your waist, tugging you flush against him. Your nose brushes his, your breaths mingling, and then, finally, lips pressed together, soft, coaxing, apologizing. Your arms wrap around his neck, keeping him close, and a whine is torn from your mouth, swallowed and protected, always and evermore, by Loki.

Pulling away, you ask, “What do we do now?”

Loki, still holding you against him, says, “Whatever you like.”

“Well. My dad doesn’t like you.”

“Not many people do.”

“Loki,” you chide softly, shaking your head. “My dad can’t know about this. Not yet. He’ll lose his mind and I don’t want him to ruin this.”

“Then we will keep it a secret,” Loki replies simply.

“How?”

“Magic, my dear,” he says. “Leave the mischief to me.”

Loki walks with you to your room, and then leaves you so you can get dressed and enter the party alone. He returns to the edges of the crowd, drinking more champagne, making sure he’s in Thor and Tony’s eye line.

When you do enter the party, you find Tony and Pepper, your monochromatic glasses perched back on your nose. Tony doesn’t know it, but they’re powered off.

Behind Tony and Thor, you see Loki sending you a grin, then a wink. Your heart beats rapidly for a different reason this time.

You assure Tony and Thor that Loki hasn’t bothered you one bit, knowing that you’re technically telling the truth.

[spaceoddball1969]

Falling for the Freak - Eddie Munson Fix-It Fic Chapter 14

Ok, I have to just say the comments left on the last chapter were so ridiculously sweet that I nearly cried reading them. I have spent my entire life writing and never really let anybody read what I have written so to get such kind and enthusiastic responses means so much to me. I really appreciate all of your answers to my question on the last chapter. I’m thinking what I’ll do is probably keep the serious smut to a minimum within this fic. I want to include it for those who are interested/enjoy reading it but I don’t want this to become only about the smutty chapters. I really like writing the plot and interactions between the characters, so the majority of this fic will focus on that, with a few little smutty moments sprinkled in for funsies. Anyway, that’s enough rambling. It’s time to get to the chapter!

CHAPTER SUMMARY: The reader frets over Eddie’s whereabouts as more is revealed about what happened in the Munson’s trailer the previous night. 

WARNINGS/DISCLAIMERS: Angst, fluff, mentions of crime scenes/dead bodies. Also, there will be mentions of Anton Levay, the founder of the Church of Satan and Richard Ramirez (The Night Stalker) in relation to the Satanic Panic of the 80′s and 90′s. I want to put this disclaimer in here just to say that in no way do I believe that the Church of Satan takes part in human/animal sacrifice or devil worshipping. I actually low-key really agree with their beliefs even though Anton Levay was pretty skeezy. In case you don’t know, Richard Ramirez became known as the Night Stalker after breaking into several homes and attacking people as they slept over 1984-1985 in California. He was eventually convicted of 13 counts of murder, 5 counts of attempted murder, 11 sexual assaults, and 14 burglaries. In short, he’s a wet gym sock of a human being. I just wanted to put some background info in here so y’all know what I’m talking about when I reference certain things.

Chapter 14

The longer I watched the news that morning, I harder I had to fight to keep the tears from flowing out of my eyes. A Hawkins High School student had been found dead in one of the trailers in Forrest Hill trailer park. The tv camera zoomed in on the trailer in question as the reported filled in the few details the police could release about the case. As the camera moved closer in towards the trailer I couldn’t deny that I knew exactly which trailer that was. 

“It’s his,” I whispered to Dustin, who sat next to me on the couch. 

“You don’t know that,” Dustin said.

“Yes I do,” I said. “I’ve been to that trailer more times than I can count. It’s his,”

“That doesn’t mean he’s dead,” Dustin said.

“But if another person was found dead in his trailer than what does that mean?” I asked. “Why haven’t they said anything about him?”

“I don’t know,” Dustin said.

Suddenly there was a loud knock at the door and both of us jumped. Dustin got up and opened the front door. Max Mayfield stood on the front porch looking worried and serious.

“We need to talk,” she said, pushing her way through the doorway. 

Dustin nodded and the two of them disappeared down the hallway and went into Dustin’s room. The news covered the supposed murder for another half an hour. Dustin and Max still hadn’t come out of his bedroom. I couldn’t take it anymore and decided to call Eddie. The phone rang several times and then finally his uncle picked up. 

“Mr. Munson,” I said.

“Y/N,” Wayne said. “I figured you’d call at some point,”

“I’m so sorry to be bothering you,” I said. “But is Eddie there?”

I heard Wayne sigh over the phone. “I was really hoping he’d be with you,”

“The body was in your trailer,” I said, it wasn’t really a question.

“I found her this morning,” Wayne said. “I don’t know her name. She’s one of the cheerleaders,”

I felt the air rush out of my lungs as he said this. It seemed like my whole world had stopped moving. It was Chrissy. The dead student was Chrissy. I couldn’t think of anything to say to Wayne, but he spoke for me.

“He didn’t do this,” he said. “Eddie, I mean,”

I took a deep breath. “I know,” I said.

“He couldn’t hurt a fly if he tried,” Wayne said.

“I know,” I said.

“You know what they’re going to do to him though don’t you?” Wayne asked.

“What do you mean?” I asked, suddenly confused.

“They’re gonna make it out like this was some kind of devil worship because he’s got long hair and tattoos and listens to that metal music.” Wayne said. “Satanic Panic. Ever since that Lavay fella painted his house black up in San Francisco and that Night Stalker yelled ‘hail Satan’ it’s all the news can talk about. The devil’s coming to get ya. And now they’re gonna use it to make Eddie out to be a murderer,”

“I won’t let that happen,” I said.

“Neither will I,” Wayne said. There was a pause between us. “You ever need anything give me a call,”

“I will,” I said. “Thank you,”

“Of course,” Wayne said. “I’ll talk to you later,”

“Goodbye,” I said.

I hung up the phone just as Dustin and Max stepped out of the bedroom. They looked worried but also excited. Dustin shouted something to his mom and then left the house with Max.

---

I had to work that morning. I felt numb as I tugged on my green Family Video vest. When I walked into the store, I found Steve and Robin mid-conversation. They immediately stopped talking when I walked in and concern washed over their faces. 

“How are you?” Robin asked as I walked behind the counter. “We just saw the news,”

“As good as you could expect, “ I said. “But I’m here, aren’t I?”

“You don’t have ot be,” Steve said. “We totally could handle it,”

“I don’t think I can bare to sit at my house all day. I need the distraction,” I said.

Robin pulled me into a tight hug and then I felt Steve give me a pat on the back. 

The morning was quiet. Nobody was going to come in and rent a movie after a body was discovered in Hawkins. It was like the town just couldn’t catch a break. So many awful things had happened in the last few years. There was talk that a curse had been placed over Hawkins. I didn’t quite believe in curses but there was definitely something wrong here.

As morning turned to afternoon, Dustin and Max came rushing into the store. Dustin didn’t hesitate - he approached Steve at the counter and immediately started questioning him on how many phones we had in the store. When Steve and Robin confirmed we had three phones, Dustin threw his bag over the counter and quickly cleared it. 

“What are you doing?” Steve cried as Dustin rushed to the computer.

“We’re setting up base of operations,” Dustin said.

“For what?” I asked.

“We’re looking for Eddie’s friend’s phone numbers,” Dustin said. He turned to Max and asked. “Would you please fill them in already?”

“Why are you two looking for Eddie?” I asked.

Dustin and Max suddenly both looked at me and then glanced at each other. 

“And what is there to be filled in on?” I asked. Everyone was staring at me now, even Robin and Steve. “What the hell guys? What aren’t you telling me?”

“Oh boy,” Dustin said. “This gonna take more time than I thought,”

---

The four of them then spent the next hour or so filling me in on what has really been going on in Hawkins for the last three years. They explained that Mike’s girlfriend in California was actually a scientific experiment, worked on in Hawkins lab. They told me how Will didn’t really get lost in the woods, but instead was taken to an alternate universe by a monster they referred to as the demogorgon. Nancy’s friend Barb Holland was also taken that same year but she never made it out. They explained that the fire at the Starcourt wasn’t a fire at all. Police Chief Jim Hopper and Max’s older brother Billy were both victims of yet another attempt at a gate to the alternate universe they called the Upside Down being opened. In order to remain anonymous and out of danger, the Byers had moved to California with Jane, who they actually called Eleven or El. And they now thought that Chrissy Cunningham was the latest victim of the monsters of the Upside Down. How we could use that to prove Eddie’s innocence, I had no clue, but at least I knew for certain he had nothing to do with Chrissy’s death.

We spent the rest of the afternoon calling all of Eddie’s friends. Eventually, Max came up with a lead. She told us we needed to look for a Reefer Rick, who was Eddie’s supplier.

“Oh my God,” I said, smacking my forehead. “How could I not have thought of him.”

“You know him?” Dustin asked.

“No, but Eddie’s mentioned going there a few times,” I said. 

“Do you know where he lives?” Steve asked.

“No,” I said. “Nobody really does, except Eddie. Sometimes he would crash there before we started going out,”

Robin then got the brilliant idea to search the name Rick in the store computer. We scanned through histories of movie rentals of a few Ricks before finding the history that most obviously was that of a stoner. Robin looked at the account and found the address. We were out of that store faster than lightning strikes in a thunderstorm.

---

It was dark by the time we got to Reefer Rick’s. It was an old looking house out by Lover’s Lake. We stood on the porch knocking and calling out to Eddie. I could feel my heart pounding in my chest as we waited for someone, anyone, to answer the door. Then Robin noticed a boathouse closer to the water. We moved as a crowd to the smaller shack and slowly poked our heads in. 

Flashlight beams were the only thing that lit the dark room. On the walls were various fishing supplies. In the middle of the room, the floor opened up to the water below it. The light of our flashlights reflected off it and threw curly lines around the walls. While Steve started poking around with an oar, Robin, Max, and I investigated the rest of the room. We found a pile of wrappers from candy and chips. There was a cigarette butt on the floor.

“Somebody was here,” Max said.

“Eddie was here,” I said.

Then from behind us suddenly, I heard the tarp over the boat being rustled. There was a crash and then Eddie was before us, pushing Steve against the wall with what looked like a broken bottle held to his throat.

“EDDIE!” We all cried. 

Dustin tried his best to deescalate Eddie, but he wasn’t having much luck. I stepped closer to my boyfriend. “Eddie,” I said, softly. “Eddie, it’s me. Put the bottle down. We’re here to help you. We know you’re innocent.” I paused. “I know you’re innocent. Baby, tell me what happened.”

Eddie looked at me through the corner of his eye. I saw his grip on the bottle loosen. I stepped closer to him and reached my hand out slowly. “Eddie, put it down. I want to help you, but you have to put that down. Eddie, tell me about Chrissy,”

I touched my hand gently to his arm. He flinched at the contact like a wild animal. He held the bottle to Steve’s throat for a second more and then dropped it suddenly. Before I could think, Eddie’s arms were around me and he was pulling me against him tightly. The air was knocked from my lungs as Eddie lifted me up to my tip toes. I wrapped my arms around him in return and stroked at his hair.

“I’m sorry,” Eddie said, and I could hear the sob fighting it’s way out of his throat. “I’m so so sorry,”

“It’s ok,” I said, “Shhh, it’s ok. I’m here now. It’s going to be ok,”

“I was so scared,” he whispered.

“I know,” I said. “But we’re going to protect you. I will protect you,”

“Not to break up the reunion,” Dustin said. “But Eddie, we’ve gotta talk,”

Eddie and I broke apart, but Eddie held my hand tightly in his. “You think I killed Chrissy Cunningham?”

“No, actually,” Dustin said. 

“But we might know who did,” Max said.

Falling for the Freak Taglist:

@dilophosaurusatenewman @efvyqrs @babeyglo @aestaethicvante @kbakery @kaqua @aereth @starryeyedkoko @lorrainlikesprivacy @possiblyexisting @cryuki-patootie @beepisbeep

[thesquidkid]

Operating in the realm of realism

A Roswell, New Mexico meta on alien powers, part 1.

Have you ever wondered, as you were watching this amazing little alien show, what the science behind the alien powers was? Whether it was pure fiction, of if it followed rel-life physics? Well, I have, and this essay might be for you! Don't worry, if you know nothing about science and physics, I will do my best to be as clear as possible.

This is basically a follow up to my three part meta on the science in the show, where I kept saying that one day, I was going to dive into the aliens powers. Well, that day has come.

Just like for the previous meta, this is mostly going to be my thoughts, while I'm rather sleep deprived. So apologies in advance if it's messy.

Disclaimer, I am not a native English speaker nor have I ever lived in America. What may seem obvious to me, may not be as straightforward for everyone, and vice versa. If anything is not clear, feel free to reach out! I am also not an alien, and thus can only theorise about the powers definitely not something an actual alien would say.

This meta will be structured similarly to the previous one, as I will go through every episode and describe / explain the alien powers as their are shown in the show. There will be more detailed explanations every "new power", and obviously I will try not to repeat myself every time Max makes lights explode when he's angry.

This post is then about season 1 (which I binged in hopes to finish this before season 4 aired), and there might be a few slight spoilers (I tried but sometimes I forget what we aren't supposed to know yet).

1x01 Pilot

Max saves Liz using his powers. We see him press his hand over the wound, and channel the energy towards the wound, thus healing it. The science behind it? Using electricity to shift the molecules together, and close up the wound. (theory) 

He feels sick afterwards: he is using his energy to heal Liz. (More on this in next ep)

Why is Max sick after using his powers but not Michael? Is it only because of Jones? or is there something else, to do with the amount of energy needed to heal ppl being a lot greater than what is needed to move things telepathically. To be compared with working out, and doing more than what is our physical limit. However, we must also note that we have only seen Max heal people, and not Michael and Isobel. So perhaps, the fact that Max is so sick afterwards is simply due to the fact that healing requires much more energy that telekinesis. (Manifesting a Michael healing Alex scene in season 4, purely for science). 

Michael moves the keys with his brain. My theory here is that he can move the molecules in space, which on a greater level allows him to move objects. I’m guessing it’s the same for shutting off the cameras, pressing a switch to control it with his mind. 

Michael explodes the car windows. From a physical standpoint, I would theorise that he compressed the molecules together, putting the glass under so much pressure that it collapses on itself, exploding. 

Side note, but Grant Green talks about his alien wave detector going off the charts since the blackout. My guess here, is that he in fact does not have a machine that allows him to track down the actual aliens, but more like a machine to pick up electromagnetic waves. 

Electromagnetic waves are waves that are created as a result of vibrations between a magnetic and an electric field. There is electricity all around us (in electrons), and the atoms (which contain electrons) are attracted / repulsed by each other via magnetic forces acting on the electrons. In other words, when the magnetic forces are being changed (i.e. with Michael exerting his powers to blow up car windows, or Max healing Liz), it creates vibrations between the electric field of the atom and the magnetic field of the air. Therefore, such waves would be picked up by Grant Green’s machine. 

Pods. We know that the pods kept them safe during the crash, meaning that the membrane is strong enough to resist extreme conditions (shock of the crash, atmospheric pressure, fire from the crash? Cold in space?) I guess the closest comparison to the pods we could find in our daily life would be an egg, or the membrane sac inside the uterus of a pregnant person.

Obviously, a pregnant person does not become bulletproof overnight, but there is still quite a lot of padding between the outside world and the foetus.

The amniotic fluid for instance is a slightly yellow fluid that surrounds the foetus, absorbing pressure in a similar way to a water bed. 

We also notice that the people in the pods float. This is similar to a foetus in a stomach. Hence, the liquid inside the pod (unspecified) is somewhat close to the amniotic fluid. 

Sharing memories. Max puts his hand over the handprint on Liz’s chest, allowing him to share his memories of meeting Liz, and hanging out with her. My theory here is that by putting a handprint on her, it’s like a part of his DNA made its way to Liz, and since it’s alien DNA it would create a connection between the two of them. We already know that aliens can communicate telepathically, so I’m guessing that when an alien puts a handprint on a human it allows the human to share some of that telepathic communication, and feel what the other feels (as Max says). 

Now, I don’t think telepathic communication is truly with words in English, especially since I find it rather suspicious that on another planet far far away, english is a spoken language. So, if telepathy is more with feelings, emotions, memories, then it would mean that during a handprint, a human would be able to get close to the alien experience. And since Michael, Isobel and Max have more practice, they can block each other, and distinguish their feelings from the other’s. But that can’t be said about Liz and her connection to Max. 

1x02 So much for the afterglow 

Michael uses his powers to lock the door of the Crashdown, and to stab a knife into chocolate (please ignore the line “I’m a chocoholic”, I hate it). 

Max is clearly not fine, he’s angry. Consequences of his actions, namely healing Liz. Since the handprint is a connection between two beings, shouldn’t Liz also be impacted by the anger that is coming off of Max? Especially as we see in season 3, when Max gets hurt, the people who have a handprint feel it too. Unless it only works for physical pain and not emotional pain. 

We then see more memory sharing between Max and Liz, namely memories of Rosa. Like Liz says, she doesn’t just see the memories, she feels them. Thus telling us once more that the handprint serves as a portal into someone else’s mind. 

When confronting Wyatt Long, Max gets angry (again), and we hear the radio crackle. This just follows from the fact that Max controls electricity in the air, and loses control of his powers when angry (or horny). We see this again when Max tries to kill Wyatt and all the lights explode. As he tries to kill him, his hand glows red, meaning that he is doing the same thing we see him do in 1x06. My supposition here is that he is doing the opposite as healing: instead of forcing the molecules to move closer to each other, to repair damage fabric, he is moving them away from one other, causing a rip in someone’s body (small enough that we don’t see blood, but big enough to cause death). 

Another theory (albeit similar) would be that he is making someone’s heart stop, shutting down all internal organs. This would still be done by moving the molecules away from each other, breaking neurotic connections, stopping all communications between the brain and the organs, eventually leading to death. 

However, that second theory seems to me to be more on Michael’s powers (or at least, the powers that he has mastered the most, as aliens all seem to have the same powers, as seen later on in the show). We indeed see Michael making Max’s heart beat again in 2x05, so it wouldn’t be too far-fetched that he’s able to do the opposite. 

In the end, Max doesn’t kill Wyatt Long, as he is interrupted by Michael, who uses his telekinesis to push Max away (similar to what happened at the police station). 

– Not alien power, but Isobell knocking Wyatt out with a taser is really cool. 

And finally, Max admits that there is something going wrong with him, since he healed Liz, that he has all this dark energy in him. See the very famous apocryphal quote by Lavoisier: “Nothing is lost, Nothing is created, every is transformed”. (Note that apocryphal means that this quote is attributed to Lavoisier, even though he never said those words in that way). 

We then have that the energy from the wound (okay, this is all fictional, last I checked there wasn’t such a “dark energy in wounds” kind of thing in humans, but please bear with me in this totally realistic scenario) has to go somewhere. It cannot simply vanish into thin air, and so, Max absorbs it when the handprint heals Liz. 

Alien glass. This isn’t quite related to alien powers, but it does enter the category of “real of realism (with a sarcastic voice)”, so I will talk about it now. The glass has symbols on it. I’m pretty sure that it’s alien alphabet (otherwise why would it be random symbols?). We can also see that the glass is somewhat organic here, as it changes as Michael touches it. (It is indeed confirmed that the alien tech is organic, and has the same compound as alien dna, see my meta on the science in the show for more details). 

1x03 Tearin’ up my heart

Liz basically confirms what I said just earlier. She says that “Max’s ability to manipulate electromagnetic energy gives him the power to heal and also to harm”. So indeed, the healing is done by manipulating electromagnetic waves, which leads to moving molecules. 

Max then adds that he’s not sick, but angry, in rage. To sum up: bad vibes. 

The more Liz interrogates Max, the faster his heart beats (relatable), until the Holter monitor (machine to monitor heart rate) explodes. I can understand how annoying it must be to make electric devices every time you feel anything. 

 (I won’t describe every time Max makes lights explode because honestly it’s really all the same. The dude is angry. We get it.) 

Isobel uses her powers to infiltrate Liz’s mind. This is the first time we properly see a landscape, except, instead of talking to Liz, Isobel sees Rosa too. Perhaps an old memory. This also emphasises the fact that Isobel cannot decide on people's action against their wishes: Liz doesn’t want to leave, and so she won’t. 

Isobel is sick after using her powers, so the updated theory is once again that Michael is the only one not to get sick, because of Jones. Note also that the way Isobel feels after drinking acetone reminds me of (an extreme version of) a diabetic person drinking sugar during a hypo (this is a personal observation). So really, acetone doesn't heal aliens, only helps to make them feel better. 

The blackout. The release of all of Max’s bad into the universe. Again, this is due to the electromagnetic pulse that he releases as he lets it all out. 

An electromagnetic pulse (EMP) is a brief burst of electromagnetic energy. It can occur as three forms: electromagnetic field, electric field, or magnetic field. The electromagnetic interference can disrupt communications and damage electronic equipment. An EMP can be weaponized, and used in a war, to collapse an electrical network of a country for example. 

Within an EMP, there are different characteristics, which will influence what is affected. There characteristics can be defined by: 

The mode of energy transfer (via radiations, or electric / magnetic waves) 

The range of wavelength / frequency present in the pusle

The form of the wave: shape, duration, amplitude. 

We are not given so much detail about the pulse emitted by Max, so I don’t really have much to go off on. But. We know that a pulse of electric energy will always be accompanied by a pulse of magnetic energy, and vice versa. What matters the most in defining the field of the EMP is which one is dominant. Here, I would assume that both forces are fighting for dominance (sounds like some fanfiction here), and hence we obtain an electromagnetic field. This supposition is purely based on the fact that it is already established that aliens can manipulate electromagnetic energy. 

Now, to dive deeper into this EMP, we need to explore its type. There are three main categories of EMP, namely natural, man-made for a civil use, and man-main for a military use. I won’t explain all the differences between each type, and will only go into the natural cases, as this seems to be closer to what we see here. 

So, when we look at natural EMPs, we notice that most of them happen close to the sun (a result of the radiations emitted by the sun). I don’t think this could relate to the blackout in Roswell. The other possibility is what is called an electrostatic discharge.

An electrostatic discharge (ESD) is a sudden and momentary flow of electric current between two electrically charged objects (here I would assume it to be Max and the air?). The two objects don’t need to be in physical contact. 

Note that even though ESD usually produce electric sparks, those sparks are not required to be visible or heard by humans, hence, the fact that we don’t really see or hear any sparks doesn’t quite discredit my theory. 

One of the main causes of ESDs is static electricity (which is present when you rub a sweater against a plastic material for instance). Here, I would assume that the static electricity is coming out of Max, who has been under pressure from the “bad vibes”, who somehow produced an electric field around him. 

(I am aware that this is very vague and based on my hypotheticals, but considering this is about alien powers, I am doing my best to make it make sense). 

All in all, the blackout caused by Max relieving the dark energy is similar to a real-life natural scenario. 

1x04 Where have all the cowboys gone

When Maw tells Michael and Isobel that Liz found out that an alien killed Rosa, Michael gets angry and lets his powers loose. However, we notice that the only thing that moves is Max’s car. He doesn’t touch Isobel and Max, he purposely avoids hurting the people he cares about. Even when he ‘loses’ control, he makes sure that no one gets affected by his powers. We see more of that (and the reason why Michael is the one to seemingly hold more control over his powers) later on. 

We see that following the blackout, every transformer in town has a Lichtenberg figure. A Lichtenberg figure is a natural phenomena which exhibits fractal properties, and is known to occur on or within solids, liquids, and gases during electrical breakdown. 

Fractal is a term used in mathematics (I promise I will try not to go on a maths rant) to describe geometric shapes containing a very detailed pattern at an arbitrary small scale. This means that regardless of how much we “zoom in” on the figure, we can see a pattern. 

The burns on the transformers in town are fractal patterns, as we can distinguish a pattern at every scale we look at. This is usually the case for lightning strikes and other electrical breakdowns, which is basically what happened with Max letting go of the bad vibes. 

Then, at the Wild Pony, Isobel practices her powers. We see her influence Hank to order some fancy drink, and donate money to an immigration organisation. Since we know that Isobel can’t make anyone do anything they don’t wish to do (as seen with Liz), that must mean that Hank deep down wanted to do so (or at least, didn’t not want to do it). Note  that this is still quite a large invasion of privacy. So I would not recommend doing that. 

Similarly, we see Isobel getting inside Maria’s mind, to find out why she doesn’t like her. She accesses a memory, where we see Maria and Rosa are talking and Rosa mentions that Isobel acts differently when she’s with her and when she’s with others. 

We can then conclude that the mindscape allows somewhat full access to someone’s memories and emotions. As well as being a place where no one can lie, or at least no one except for the person in charge. 

We also have that Isobel passes out after being in Maria’s mind, which could either be a result of the necklace, or of Isobel having tired all her energy on Hank. Especially since we see her stagger, like if she was drunk. (I would assume a combo of both). 

Then, Max reboots the power in the hospital. My guess is that he is acting more or less like an eel (see my meta on science for a detailed description of eels and electricity). Basically, Max is concentrating the electricity from his body into his hands, which are in contact with the transformer, thus transferring electricity to power the hospital. 

Again, using his powers is exhausting, so he passes out. 

We see Isobel lying on her couch, and clearly feeling sick (following getting into Maria’s head). She is sweating, and her nose bleeds. This is a common trope in science fiction: a character who overuses their powers gets a nosebleed. Nothing new. 

1x05 Don’t speak

Mind control. Wyatt Long shoots at Grant Green and Liz. We clearly see that this is Wyatt acting on his own accord, since really, why would Wyatt care about Grant talking to Liz. (We later found out he’s being mind controlled by the fourth alien, but I’ll get to that later on). 

We know that victims of mind control need to have passed out in order to be mind controlled (as seen later on in the series). I’m guessing either Wyatt was simply asleep (since Isobel tells Max that Liz is near Long farm), or passed out drunk.  

1x06 Smells like teen spirit

The scene with the drifter. (Aka the scene that started it all if you think about it). Also the scene where Max kills someone for the first time. He pressed his hand on the drifter’s chest and he “suddenly knew he could”. It’s pretty much the opposite as healing someone, taking the energy from their body. 

Michael then buries the guy with his mind. 

We see the pod squad at Sanders auto, where Michael throws cans in the air, while Max shoots. This is also the first time we see Isobel “act” differently. (Since she is feeling like she’s losing the people she cares about the most). 

(I won’t really dive into the differences between who Isobel is, and who she is when she is mind controlled, cause that’s not really the point of the meta per say. More on mind control later). 

Rosa’s death. We first see Michael and Max feel that something is wrong with Isobel, a telepathic calling for help (as you do), and rush towards her. When Michael arrives, Isobel has her hand over Rosa’s mouth (where we have previously seen the alien handprint). Considering Isobel’s hand isn’t glowing, this means that Michael arrived too late; Rosa was already dead. 

This is the first indication we have that all aliens share the same powers, since until now, we only see them use a single power (but not, Isobel seemingly has a glowing hand too, and can kill in a similar way to Max).

Then Max tries to bring her back. His hand on her chest, and it is glowing red, but he can’t heal her (as he says, he’s not strong enough to bring her back). 

Michael then moves the bodies in the air, and the car towards the tree (which we already knew had happened). This also shows the precision at which Michael controls his powers, turning on the car, shifting the gear stick, pressing the accelerator. 

Then, Max puts his hand on the hood of the car, and sets fire to it. Again, similar to an eel. Concentrating electricity to his palm, which leads to the car being on fire. Physics. 

1x07 I saw the sign

We are introduced to Mimi DeLuca. (Okay, spoiler alert for seasons 2 and 3) She is seeing the past, the present, and the future all at once. And she also technically knows about aliens. (More on Mimi in 3x08 and maybe a bit before). 

1x08 Barely breathing

More mind control: Isobel getting Kyle to inject her with the serum. It’s not the same kind of mind control as with Isobel and Rosa’s death, since we see before that Kyle already thought about punishing Isobel for what happened. 

Max feels something is wrong with Isobel, that the connection is lost. He feels “cold”. We know that aliens have telepathic connections, and my theory about why Isobel and Max have a deeper connection than with Michael is mostly due to the fact that they were separated as kids, that Michael went through so much abandonment that he closes himself off from Max and Isobel, and thus doesn’t feel the cold of Isobel injected herself with the serum. 

We see that the serum indeed works as a blocker for the alien powers, when Isobel tries to get Kyle to take his shirt off, but fails. 

Side note, but I have a lot to say about Michael’s speech to Liz about stripping Isobel of her powers. Because where Isobel wants to be normal, human. Max and Isobel have lived a life where they belonged, where they had a family, where they were accepted by humans. Michael didn’t. (However that is not the purpose of this meta)

The serum is degrading Isobel’s cells, and Max tries to heal her, but it’s not working. Because Isobel is not sick, the serum attacks her cells from the inside, they’re degrading by themselves. This isn’t like a virus attacking. This is like an autodestruction. That cannot be stopped. 

Michael uses his telekinesis to move his trailer and open the door to his secret lair. And we finally get a first look at the alien science that Michael has been working on. We see pieces of alien tech scattered around, plans to rebuild a ship. 

We also get confirmation that Isobel cannot control people, just influence them. Meaning that it’s not entirely mind control. Just a mind nudge. 

If you want more about the alien science that Michael and Liz come up with, feel free to read my previous meta. I am not going to dive into it once again, I already lost too much of my sanity with sci-fi science. 

1x09 Songs about Texas

Another display of Michael’s precision when it comes to his powers: he unwrapped the cord from the tent to open it. And more of Max getting emotional and making sparks fly (and frying Arizona’s glowing hand.

1x10 I don’t want to miss a thing

Isobel gets a memory of her and Rosa being friends. This is technically not alien powers, but a result of the cure that Liz and Michael invented. But still, more alien related than science. Liz even says that it’s a result of her cure, of the cells that went dark because of the blackout in her brain regenerating, and reforming the memories. 

Then, Isobel uses her powers to move the anti stem cell research crowd. Showing that she indeed is back to her full alien self. 

Maria (who isn’t wearing her necklace), finds out about Alex and Michael. (Spoiler if you haven’t watched season 2:) I’m guessing one of the reasons she asked about Michael Guerin was not only because they just hooked up and she somehow puts him at the same level as Wyatt Long, but maybe because she felt it from Alex. Because she wasn’t wearing her necklace. 

The active shooter at the hospital, more mind control. A way for the fourth alien to stop Isobel from getting her memories back. (I’m assuming if you’re reading this you’ve finished at least the first season? Otherwise don’t read what’s next) Noah is really powerful, as we can see in this scene. He controls someone, makes them move around, shoot at people, destroy Liz’s lab, all while being conscient, walking around with Isobel, getting shot. (I wish I could multitask as well as him). 

1x11 Champagne supernova 

Isobel confirms that the fourth alien is a lot stronger than her when it comes to mind control. That she wasn’t even there when she was possessed. That he had full control over her body. 

Max and Michael are trapped in Michael’s bunker, with the yellow powder which inhibits their powers. My guess is that the powder acts as a reaction inhibitor. 

A reaction inhibitor, just like the name suggests, is a substance that decreases the rate of, or prevents, a chemical reaction. 

We then have more mind control by Noah on both Isobel and Maria (which I won’t go into detail on as that would be repeating). We do see that when Liz injects Noah with the serum, he still is in control of his powers: Isobel is frozen in place, he uses his telekinesis to keep Liz where she is, and he even gets a glowing hand as he tries to kill Liz. 

My theory is that the powder would then “fix” itself on the surrounding molecules in the air, which would counteract the effect of alien powers on electromagnetic connections between atoms. Hence, making Michael unable to use his powers, and Max unable to make things sparkle in the bunker. 

But that doesn’t last long (because Liz is a genius). 

1x12 Creep

Noah wakes in the pod. Which is technically not possible. My first theory is that it’s connected to the handprint he left on Liz. That there is still a tether connecting him to the real world, to the normal passage of time (since time freezes in the pods). 

My second theory is that,as Noah mentions that his deficient pod made it impossible for him to get out, we can conclude that he came out the pod they put him in because he knew how to. Because he was already an adult when they left their planet, and therefore would know the ins and outs of pods. 

In front of Caulfield, Michael explains the psychic connection between aliens, that he gets flashes of emotions from Max and Isobel, and that, namely at Caulfield, he hears the other aliens scream. 

He also struggles to open a door with his powers. It isn’t explained here why he cannot, so my personal theory is that the door is made of yellow powder. 

Isobel then brings Noah into her mindscape. The only place where she has total control (as Liz says). I absolutely hate the fact that he violated Isobel (and so many other people) in that way, so I won’t really go into detail into Noah’s mind control and abuse. 

We then see that Isobel can bring people into her mindscape, like here, with Max. And Noah tells them that killing makes them stronger, that this is how he healed. Which Max felt after he killed the drifter. The research is backed up by experiments made in Caulfield, as said by Flint. 

We then have that the most that Michael can do about the prison cell holding his mother is crack the glass. Once again, my main theory here is that the cells are made (or dosed) with yellow powder, to hold the aliens in. 

Finally, the scene between Michael and his mother (yes I cried rewatching it). When their hands are both on the glass, Nora’s glowing, this is what I suppose to be something like a handprint connection (but not lasting, if that makes sense?) What I mean by that is that during that short moment of connecting with her, he knows that she is his mother, and feels her love, and her telling him to get out of here. 

This once again shows that the aliens on the show are a telepathic species (at least when communicating with their own), that words are shared via feelings and emotions. That aliens of the same family (not necessarily by blood, as seen with Max, Isobel and Michael) can communicate without words needed. 

Noah mentions the aliens having a purpose, which is never mentioned again, and will now be my villain origin story (I’m holding hope for season 4, but that may be useless). 

1x13 Recovering the satellites 

Max heals Michael from the stab wound he got from Noah. Somehow that didn’t leave a handprint. The logical conclusion to make here would be that aliens can’t give handprints to other aliens. 

The pollen that Liz left with Noah in the freezer was not enough to stop him, further proving that Noah is more powerful than the Pod Squad. That, or the dosage was really much lower than what Noah gave Max and Michael in the bunker. 

But the fact that Noah is stronger is clearly seen when he dodges the bullet that Max shoots, or when he ties his intestines together. 

Even as Isobel is unconscious, she sends out a telepathic sos call to Michael, meaning that deep down, her subconscious is still there, calling out to her brother for help. 

Noah then talks about the Alightnight. Which, by the way, if we don’t know more about that in season 4, I will riot. 

He also mentions Max being the saviour. Makes sense, as he is the one that has mastered the healing power. But Noah also says that Max has only unlocked one power, further confirming that all aliens more or less share the same power. 

And then, Max is playing God, part 1. Taking the electricity of the lightning in his hands, and directing towards Noah. Basically like an upgraded eel, since he isn’t directly touching him. 

Before Noah dies, Isobel brings him into her mindscape, to finally tell him what she thinks of him. And then, Noah collapses on the ground, dead, struck by lightning. We see in the moments following Noah’s death, that Max is indeed stronger, or at least feels that way. 

Max playing God part 2. Note: I hate this so much, the clear lack of consent as Michael literally begs Max not to do it. The fact that this was none of Max’s business to even begin with. The fact that it’s basically never mentioned again. Ugh. They better address it in season 4 (which airs in just a few hours as I’m writing this). 

Once again, we get confirmation that aliens do not mark other aliens, as Michael doesn't have a handprint. 

We then have a consensual handprint scene (the first and possibly the only one of the show as of pre-season 4) between Max and Liz. I’ve already talked quite extensively about handprint connections and what they entail, so I won't elaborate more. 

And to end the season on a bang, Michael and Isobel discover Noah’s pod, with inside it, none other than Rosa. 

We then see Isobel train her powers, and start to develop telekinesis. A little insight on the fact that indeed, all aliens somewhat share the same powers. Pod Squad hasn’t unlocked it all yet.

To end the episode, and the season, we have Max playing God part 3. Resuscitating Rosa. And killing himself in the process. My logical explanation here (other than the fact that it’s illogical) is that it’s a swap of energy in a way. Since nothing is created, nothing is lost, everything is transformed. 

Conclusion (spoiler free for future seasons)

To sum up on all the alien powers in season 1, we see that each alien has a “predominant” power: 

Max with healing and controlling electricity (all technically related as both boil down to controlling the electricity part of electromagnetic connections between atoms);

Michael with telekinesis;

Isobel with her mindscape and influencing people’s actions; 

Noah, who seems to be able to use full extend of his powers;

Subject N-38, who can give stage 4 tumours to anyone and anything he touches. 

As we see with Noah, and as he confirms, the aliens who we have so far only seen master a single ability (excluding N-38 from that list, as we do not have enough information on him to conclude anything about the full extent of his powers), simply haven’t unlocked everything. 

We also see that Max and Isobel have both gotten sick after using too much of their powers, but we haven’t seen the same for Michael.

Alien powers can be inhibited by a yellow pollen that comes from a rare plant that seems to only grow in a part of the desert in Libya (I will go back to that plant in season 2, since then the show actually gives more details about it). 

[agentofmischief]

Birthstone Legacy Challenge

Ok, I don’t post a lot on here, but I’m a huge fan of the sims. I’ve been playing it since gen 1 back in 2000. So, I’ve been having fun with challenges, especially the past couple years with 100 Baby, and I’ve found online. And after reading hearing and reading up on Lilsimsie’s Not So Berry Challenge, I had an idea of my own challenge. So, I thought I’d share if anyone else wanted to play along.

Disclaimer: These challenges mean nothing in regards to people born in that month. I simply took symbolism and cultural aspects of each stone to create a challenging and interesting playthroughs you might not think to do.

Lifespan requirements: Normal (not sure if it’s possible on Short, but if you want hard mode, do it).

The idea is to start with your month’s birthstone, then each generation is the next month’s stone for either 10 generations (traditional Legacy), or 12 if you wan to do the full year. You could also start on the month after your birth month with a full year play-through, so your birth month acts as a “finale”. Might be helpful if say your birth month is April, and you know your month’s stone is Diamond and to you it sounds like a finisher, or if your birth month is December, and you’d just prefer to start with January’s stone. It’s up to you.

These will just be listed month by month, so they are easy to find.

Like in the other color challenges, you want to model your sim with the stone’s colors in mind. You should also build their house with their stone’s color in mind.

1. January stone: GARNET

    Color: Dark Red

Garnets have a high refractive index, which causes them to look as if they are emitting light. Due to this phenomenon, travelers during the crusades would carry them to ward off evil. The stone represents Faith, Love and Constance.

Traits: Good, Ambitious, Cheerful

Goals:

 - Complete the Soulmate aspiration

- Complete the Law career as a judge.

- Must maintain career until death (meaning no retirement, quitting, or being fired).

- Must have at least 2 kids after the soulmate aspiration is fulfilled.

- All children must be raised with all green character values and no lower than Bs in school.

2. February stone: AMETHYST

    Color: Purple

The word Amethyst comes from the Greek word, amethystos, meaning “not drunken.” This comes from a myth where Dionysus was so enraged, he vowed his wrath on the next human he saw, which was a young woman, Amethystos. To “save” this woman, Artemis turned her to stone (note to self, don’t ask Artemis to save you ever, because her track record sucks). Dionysus calmed at seeing the stone’s beauty, and poured his wine on it, giving the stone it’s purple color. In more recent centuries, amethysts have been associated with piety and rank in the Catholic Church, as bishops are given amethysts when they are appointed.

Traits: Genius, Bookworm, Snob (If you have Snowy escape, replace one of these with Proper).

Goals:

-Complete the Knowledge - Renaissance Sim aspiration.

-Complete the Education Career as a Professor.

-Can not go to bars or nightclubs

-Max out Logic, Writing, and a musical skill (Violin, Guitar, Piano, or Singing)

-Can never marry or enter into an official dating relationship; HOWEVER must have at least 1 kid at some point to continue the legacy. This can be through adoption, which is more likely if you want to play pure piety or you have an Ace sim in mind, and the adoptee must be a child or teen. The other option is through secret woohoos if you want to play the more historically accurate, seedy way. **If you are playing with Risky Woohoos, you can have max 2 kids living with you. All others children must be removed from the house and into a Townie’s home once they become toddlers.

3. March stone: AQUAMARINE

    Color: Light Blue

Due to aquamarine’s sea-like color, they’ve long been associated with traveling and the sea. Sailors used to put them under their pillows to calm themselves. They are said to inspire peace and ward off poisons.

Traits: Loves Outdoors, Glutton, Loner

Goals:

-Complete Angling Ace aspiration.

-Eat out of the trash 5 times without getting sick.

-Have an aquarium with 10 fish.

-Catch a vampire squid. ** Or if you have Island Living, you must become a mermaid.

-Must eat and learn to make Pufferfish Nigiri.

4. April stone: DIAMOND

   Color: White/Silver

Diamond is the hardest stone on Earth, and is often associated with wealth and treasures. The word diamond comes from the greek word adamas, meaning unconquerable. They are the most popular of the stones, and so recently have been “Lab Grown.”

Traits: Ambitious, Insider, Perfectionist

Goals:

-Complete the Scientist career.

-Complete Leader of the Pack aspiration.

-Find all the crystals.

-Must clone a diamond.

-Become best friends with Judith Ward and have a framed selfie with her in your house.

-Date/marry someone in the Style-influencer career.

5. May stone: EMERALD

    Color: Dark Green

Emeralds are an old stone, first mined in ancient Egypt. Cleopatra was known to wear them frequently. They are said to symbolize fertility, wisdom, and Spring. It’s also said to heal heartbreak.

Traits: Jealous, Romantic, Materialistic

Goals:

-Master Gardening skill.

-Date and 100% romance a politician, then break up with them.

-Have at least 3 kids from multiple partners (each must have reached 100% romance first).

-Breed a frog worth over $100

-Must complete Fabulously Wealthy aspiration

-Does not marry, UNLESS you have Strangerville, and can marry an Officer in the Military Branch. However, when they die, so does your sim.

6. June stone: PEARL

    Color: White/Cream

Pearls are created by oysters and are considered the “perfect” gem, as it needs no man-mad alterations. Pearls are often attributed to wisdom through experience, as well as innocence and fertility.

Traits: Childish, Perfectionist, Family-oriented

Goals:

-Must have 5 kids before becoming an adult.

-Must complete the Curator aspiration.

-Must master 10 skills. ** If you are using Tiny House perks, 15 skills.

7. July stone: RUBY

    Color: Bright Red

Rubies are well known for their blood-red color, earning their association with health and vitality. They are also symbols of love, passion, and prosperity.

Traits: Self-Assured, Romantic, Self-Absorbed

Goals:

-Complete Serial Romantic aspiration.

-Master Cooking, Athletic, and Charisma skills.

-Complete Doctor Career.

-Must Woohoo at least once in each: Closet, Jacuzzi, Observatory, Bush, Spaceship, Lighthouse, Pile of leaves, Shower, Coffin.

8. August stone: PERIDOT

   Color: Light Green

Peridot is the stone of compassion, bringing health and peace to emotions and the mind. It inspires eloquence, creativity, and good cheer.

Traits: Creative, Vegetarian, Goofball

Goals:

-Complete the Painter Career.

-Master Painting, Photography, and Handiness skills.

-Paint 5 Masterpieces.

-Craft a bathtub of excellent quality.

-Complete Painter Extraordinaire aspiration.

9. September stone: SAPPHIRE

    Color: Royal Blue

With the most famous sapphires being Princess Diana’s iconic engagement ring and The Heart of the Ocean in Titanic, it’s now wonder Sapphires hue long been associated with nobility and power. The stone symbolizes strength, loyalty, and focus through self-discipline.

Traits: Materialistic, Genius, Insider ** If you have snowy escape, Proper takes place for Materialistic.

Goals:

-Complete the Law Career as a Private Attorney.

-Complete the Mansion Baron aspiration.

-Must start a club with Wealthy requirement ($30,000+). *If you start a fraternity/sorority in University, it counts if wealthy is listed as a requirement.

-Max out Charisma, Logic, and Writing skills.

-Must marry another club leader.

-Must get Gold in Wedding Social Event, and pay full $1750. Minimum of 10 guests.

-Must have a son. (He does not HAVE to be the continuation of the Legacy, but he can if you want. Also, if you have a born daughter, but decide to transition her, that does not count. Since it’s a click of a button without game mechanic influence, it’s kind of cheating. HOWEVER, if you decide your born son should transition, it still counts. This is mostly to take the steps during pregnancy to make a boy (since we’ve all watched others influence for a girl 1000x), That or to keep going until “the odds are in your favor.”)

10. October stone: PINK TOURMALINE

      Color: Pink

Pink Tourmaline, also known as October rose, represents humanity, sympathy to others, and humanitarian work. It’s believed to carry the virtue of love that is unconditional, offering comfort to children and lasting friendships.

Traits: Unflirty, Gloomy, Outgoing

Goals:

-Complete the Politician career as a Charity Organizer.

-Complete Friend to the World aspiration.

-Adopt 2 kids (Do not have to be legacy continuation).

-Max out friendship/be best friends with 4 sims before becoming an Adult. The friendship must be maintained throughout life.

-Have a rose garden.

-Write 5 Children’s books.

-Volunteer with family 5 times.

*If you get the pop-up asking to donate to charity, you must if you have the money.

11. November stone: CITRINE

     Color: Dark Yellow (almost Gold)

Citrine’s yellow stone radiates happiness, creativity, and wealth. Named for it’s citrus like color, it’s no wonder it’s the stone for a month known for it’s food. Citrine is known also as the Merchant’s stone for it’s golden color.

Traits: Cheerful, Foodie, Creative

Goals:

-Complete Culinary Career.

-Complete Culinary aspiration.

-Master Cooking and baking skills.

-Own a fruit and vegetable garden with every possible fruit and veggie in your game.

-Own a Bakery or Restaurant.

-Cook an Excellent quality Grand Meal.

-Learn 10 Food Stall recipes.

12. December stone: Turquoise

     Color: Blue/Green (Teal)

Turquoise is an odd one. In European cultures, it’s the stone of friendship and attracts money and luck, but is also frequently used in Evil Eye talismans. Historically, Montezuma II gifted these gems to Cortez, the Spanish Conquistador. The Apache used turquoise as well, as a charm on their bows for better aim.

Traits: Evil, Outgoing, Kleptomaniac

Goals:

-Max out Mischief and Charisma skills.

-Complete the Criminal Career.

-Complete Public Enemy aspiration.

-Start a Kleptomaniac club.

-Steal an object worth $10,000

-Marry someone with the Good trait, and cheat on them 5 times.

Happy simming!

[mercgaydes]

Hii! New F1 fan, Ive seen clips of battles from last year. Why does it look so toxic with lewis and max but charles is different?

hi! so the answer to this kinda depends on who you ask because there’s many opinions flying around! but I’ll try to be objective in explaining how I see it (and this is long so it’s going under the cut):

i think the last year was all about the drivers’ understanding of each other. and what I mean by that is there’s a lot of trust between lewis and most drivers he goes to wheel to wheel with. sebastian has gone on record saying he’s always trusted lewis to be safe when going wheel to wheel with him. a lot of lewis’s best work from last year was very clean (all his overtakes brazil, battles with alonso, his duel with checo in Abu Dhabi, etc). by default, a lot of his wheel to wheel racing is dependent on the assumption that above all, battles will prioritize safety and respect on both ends. obviously he’s made mistakes, but those are far and few in between + usually involve errors on both his and the other driver’s ends.

personally, i think max took advantage of this last year. he knows that lewis would back out of corners where it wasn’t safe to fight, and he used that against him by being sloppy and bulldozing his way to the front. he went wide on quite a few turns where lewis was about to overtake, forcing someone off track. he brake tested lewis in jeddah. he pulls up next to race leaders during safety cars. in my opinion, his driving is crude and dangerous and he’s never had a need to fix that because he thinks everyone will make way for him. and for the most part, lewis did do that. because, you know, safety.

but like anyone else, lewis probably got sick of always yielding? and that’s where things like silverstone happened, which in my opinion was a racing incident, but honestly wouldn’t have happened if max didn’t drive with the expectation that he by being dangerous he could be ahead. lewis was going to stop putting up with that at some point, which is fair play if max is going to choose to drive the way he does. 

now this brings me to charles vs max. full disclaimer: we’ve only seen two races this season so this it’s hard to say that these two won’t be toxic. keep in mind, last year started the same way - it slowly got more and more problematic. And historically, charles and max have a history of getting into incidents, so who is to say it won’t get messy? also, max has 7 penalty points on the board already, the first of which doesn’t expire until later in the season. he cannot afford to drive recklessly, because it could be at the risk of getting suspended. in my opinion, that’s why max is suddenly complaining so much about rule-following on the radio. he can’t drive dirty, so he might be trying to land others in hot water to gain an advantage. again, that’s just my theory.

this means that max can’t really rely on his main bulldozing “driving” style, so he’s stuck driving fairly like everyone else. and a lot of max’s driving isn’t … coordinated or particularly smart. again, that’s my thought. if you’ve seen the last few races, his lunges are still kinda dangerous and he gets outsmarted pretty often. he’s not really a strategist/good with on-track judgement like charles and lewis are, so he’s kind of stuck relying on whatever raw talent he might posses and the Red Bull car.

I’m guessing we’ll start to see max get back to his old tricks as soon as his penalty points let him. It’ll probably get messy. If you’ve seen my blog, you know I don’t like him, and a lot of what I talked about here is why - I don’t respect him as a driver. That being said, I did try to be objective in answering your question!

anyways this was kinda long rip hope it makes sense

[mybillyhardgrove]

The Language of Love s.h.

A/n: another one! love language is such an endearing idea to me… plus, I need to show steve more love lol

ps. i mentioned watching movies too much lmao

Disclaimer: i don’t own any Stranger Things material

Word count: 3125

Warnings: a couple curses (par for the course at this point)

Pairing: Steve Harrington x Reader (female)

Summary: after being with Steve for a while, it has become clear how he shows his love for you

Words of Affirmation

You couldn’t stop shaking your leg or gnawing on the skin of your bottom lip on the drive over to the Wheeler’s house. You looked over at Steve when you heard him laugh a bit under his breath. “What are you laughing at?”

“Nothing, nothing.” You nudged his shoulder a bit, whining that he share what was so amusing. He sighed, glancing over and resting his hand on your thigh before returning his eyes to the road. “I just think it’s cute how wound up you are to meet a bunch of kids. You can relax, they are not hard to impress.” The entire party was meeting at the Wheeler’s to watch The Neverending Story and it would be the first time you met them all. Of course you’d seen your boyfriend talking with them from time to time and you knew Billy, Nancy, and Jonathan from school, so you knew something about their younger siblings, but this was a different circumstance altogether. You thought you might be more nervous than when you met Steve’s parents.

“This is important, Steve. I mean, these kids are practically your children the way you talk about them, and I want to fit in, make sure they like me. You love them and I love you, so I really want this night to go well.” You took a deep breath, getting worked up again and grabbing his hand from your leg, squeezing it tight.

After a few minutes, he pulled his car to the curb outside the house and turned to you. You looked towards the first-floor window and saw the kids all gathered in the dining room, laughing and wrestling. Oh boy.

Steve reached over and put his fingers under your chin, turning your face towards him and pressing a kiss to your forehead. “You’re gonna be great tonight. You are so funny and loving and sweet. Those idiots will love you as much as I do. Trust me, beautiful, just be yourself and everything will work out.”

And not to spoil anything, but it did. A few days later, Steve recounted over the phone how all the kids were raving about you and how cool, funny, nice, and pretty you were - just as he said they would.

Gifts

Ever since the first night you met them, you and the party were very close and they always invited you to everything they did. You accompanied them to the arcade from time to time, you helped El and Max get ready for the school dances, you gave the boys relationship advice, and you were even attending the Christmas party at the Byers’s house. Though it was usually you, Steve, and the kids getting together for impromptu hang-outs or some casual pizza nights, this evening involved everyone getting dressed up and bringing food, drinks, and their secret santa gifts.

You had received Max and took care to get her the specific skateboard she had been talking a lot about, information passed to you by Lucas. You gave the gift after being at the party for a couple hours and she jumped up and down, hugging you tightly and saying more than once how excited she was to try it out. After that success, you were riding high through appetizers and dinner, so glad your gift was a success and you were celebrating the holiday with those closest to you. When you had collected the plates for Mrs. Byers and finished washing them with her, you heard someone clear their throat behind you. You turned and saw your handsome boyfriend in a cozy sweater and khakis, hair brushed back neatly from his face.

“Hey, stranger.” You reached out your arms, slipping them around his waist and letting him pull you in tight.

Mrs. Byers shooed you two to the living room to be comfortable, “Honey, everything is all set here. Thank you for the help.” Steve released you, draping his arm over your shoulders and walking with you towards the couch. Once you were both settled, you tucked into his side, watching the kids exchanging more gifts, he pulled something from his back pocket. Passing it to you, he leaned his lips to your ear and whispered, “Merry Christmas, sweetheart.” You looked over with a smile, surprised he hadn’t let it slip that he got you for the secret santa (he wasn’t the best at keeping secrets usually). You sat up a bit more, tearing the neat paper from the gift, gasping when you saw what it was.

A small, ornate book filled with ticket stubs, receipts, polaroids, pressed flowers, and other mementos from your relationship. Your vision got blurry as you looked through each page, reading the little handwritten descriptions Steve had added. When you got to the last page, it said ‘To be continued’, which made you giggle despite how emotional you were. You closed it and held it close to your chest, turning and kissing Steve a few times before thanking him profusely. “Steve, this is beautiful. I love it so much. I can’t believe you put this all together and kept these things.” He placed his hand on your cheek, running his thumb under your eye to wipe a tear away before kissing you again.

“The kids helped me set it all up and organize it, but I had been keeping it all in a little box in the glove compartment of my car. I looked in there from time to time when I was having a shitty day, so I put it in this book for you to look at.” His cheeks were red from all the attention and the confession, which you thought made him so handsome.

You kissed him a couple more times before resting your head on his shoulder, finally realizing that all eyes were on you. Steve seemed to realize at the same time, so he said, “Alright, show’s over. Put the movie on already.” When the lights were turned down low and all attention was on the screen, he turned to you once more, whispering, “Merry Christmas. I love you.” And what a merry Christmas it was.

Acts of Service

It was your birthday and you were dreading it. Birthdays felt like a day of awkward encounters and attention you didn’t want, all while being reminded you were another year older. For most of high school, it seemed to be a letdown in a way because it fell on some random weekday and you did homework for the evening, instead of something fun or relaxing.

This year, however, would be different because of the one and only Steve Harrington. When you had explained your sentiments about birthdays to him a couple weeks earlier, he assured you he would change your mind. You argued that your family would be leaving you for the week and hadn’t even mentioned or apologized that they would be missing your birthday. After making you feel better, he wouldn’t say what he was planning, but he seemed to think it would excite you.

You were on the couch working on Math when you heard a knock at the front door. You rose, opening the door to see your boyfriend juggling three bags full of stuff. “Come in, come in. Do you need help?” He shook his head and shuffled past you, heading right for the kitchen and putting everything on the counter.

When he had done that, he ran to you, wrapping his arms around your waist and picking you off your feet, squeezing you tightly and kissing your neck a few times. “Happy birthday! Happy birthday!” He spun you around before setting you back on your feet. “Alright, I love you and this is all for you, but not yet. Please return to whatever you were doing and when you’re finished, you can… one second” and he rummaged through one of the bags with a frown before pulling out a VHS tape. “Here, this is your first gift. I grabbed it on the way over, so you can watch this while I do my thing in here. I will call you when I’m ready for you to see.” He turned you around and hit your backside, kicking you out of the kitchen and back to your place on the couch.

You were confused, but knew he had things handled and had been over enough to know where everything was, so you got back to work.

When you had finished, you played the movie and tried to ignore all the mumbling, clanks, and shuffling you could hear from the kitchen. At one point, you thought you heard him go upstairs, but ignored it. Then, after a little over an hour of that, Steve came back into the living room, announcing that he had cooked you your favorite dinner and the table was set for you to eat. “While you were watching the movie, I also took the time to clean the kitchen and your bedroom, all sparkly clean. I would like to say I saw your Christmas gift album up there, as well, which makes me very happy. Anyway, happy birthday.” He looked rather pleased with himself and you admitted you were too with all he had managed to accomplish in the time he had been over.

He offered his arm to you and escorted you to a beautiful dinner illuminated by a few candles and enjoyed the delicious food and meaningful conversation with your thoughtful and caring boyfriend.

“This is perfect, Steve, thank you. I think I am starting to like birthdays.” He did a little celebration dance in his seat. You laughed at his silliness, heart swelling with how grateful you really were and how much you loved him.

“Well, get ready because I also made dessert.” Yeah, you really loved him.

Quality Time

The nature of your relationship with Steve was that you spent a lot of time together, whether just the two of you or surrounded by people. He was clingy (in the best way), craving your attention and affection. He cuddled, hugged, and kissed you more times than you could count each time you were together, so you would say every time you were together was meaningful and special. If you both had your ways, you would spend all your time together, but the need for money outweighed those wishes.

Steve had been working at Scoops Ahoy, but after everything in the mall, he and Robin began working at a movie rental place. You were not lucky enough to work with them, working instead at a pizza place that was always loud and always filled with rude teens and entitled adults. Your only time of solace was your hour lunch break, which you took each day at the same time. This was so Steve would know when to stop by. Usually, you ate a couple slices or walked to the strip mall across the street to grab something quick, but this time, Steve said he had lunch handled. When he said that, you frowned and tried to ask what he meant, but he wouldn’t elaborate, so you let it go.

Looking at the clock, it was finally time for you to get some fresh air and spend time with your boyfriend before returning to work again. You pushed open the door, bell jingling, and waited out front for the flash of Steve’s deep red car. After a few seconds of scouting the lot, you found it, parked a few spaces away, Steve smiling at you and waving through the windshield once he saw you approaching.

He got out to meet you at the front of his car, pressing a kiss to your lips and rubbing your back. “How is it going today, sweet cheeks?” You laughed at his silly nickname and explained that it was relatively quiet, fewer phone calls and customers than usual. “Oh, that’s great. The day will fly by and I’ll come pick you up when it’s all over.” He put up a finger to signal you to wait where you were, opening the back door and leaning in to grab a basket and a blanket. “In the meantime, I packed a little picnic for us because I remember how you feel a little sick of all the shitty food we’ve had lately. There are some sandwiches, chips, cookies, and sodas.” Steve placed the basket in your hands, a pleased smile on his pink lips. You never got over how thoughtful he was, always taking care of you. It reminded you of your birthday dinner and how much care he took to make it special for you.

“Thank you, honey. This is perfect. Where should we eat?” He grabbed your hand and brought you to the back of his little car, laying the blanket across the back and took the basket back from you. He put his hands on your hips, squeezing a little before lifting you on the back, making sure you were comfortable before pulling the lunch from the basket, explaining everything and kissing your cheek.

You spent the next hour talking and eating. While he was telling a funny story that involved Robin and a rude customer, you just looked at him - his soft hair, doe eyes, smooth skin, pink cheeks, full lips, and freckles, admiring how beautiful he looked. “And then, she said that he should… is there something on my face?” He stopped talking, rubbing his fingers across his mouth and chin, confused why you were staring at him. You laughed and grabbed his hands, kissing him and leaning your forehead against his.

“There is nothing on your face, Steve. I love you and how much time we spend together. This was a wonderful lunch. Thank you.” You kissed his cheek and encouraged him to finish the story before you had to pack up and return to work.

Physical Touch

Another Friday night with the party, another movie. This time, it was at your house. Since Steve started his new job, it had been even easier for you all to figure out the newest and most popular movies to try. After some arguing, the kids had chosen to watch Gremlins, which would not have been your first choice, but you didn’t want to get involved in the complicated debating. In the end, it wouldn’t matter because on these nights, you and Steve usually ended up whispering together or making snacks as the rest were entranced by the screen.

Max and El looked over at you, asking if you wanted to sit with them on the little mountain of pillows and blankets they had set up in front of the couch the boys were sprawled out on. You smiled and joined them, getting comfortable with one of the large bowls of popcorn you had set out for everyone. You and the girls reached your hands in the bowl every once in a while as you waited for the movie to start. Once it started, you hopped up and shut off the light, looking over to make sure Steve was comfortable. His eyes were already on you and he had an exaggerated pout on his lips, arms crossed as he sat in the big armchair by himself. You shook your head with a grin and returned to the girls.

A little while into the movie, you realized the popcorn was finished and the candy was getting low, so you grabbed all the bowls and quietly slipped into the kitchen, grabbing the makings to replenish everything. After beginning to pour the M&Ms into the bowl, Steve joined you, wrapping his arms around your stomach from behind and swaying you both a bit. “You ditched me. That wasn’t very nice of you.” He kissed your neck after that and you could feel he was a little lonely in that chair alone, despite being only a few feet from you.

You put the candy down, spinning in his arms and wrapping yours around his shoulders as he dropped his face into the crook of your neck. “The girls asked me to sit with them, Steve, sorry.” He grumbled against your skin, pulling you in tighter. You decided to indulge him as you were tired and snuggling into his lap seemed like a nice idea. “When we go back in there, I’ll tell the girls they can spread out more and I’ll sit with you in the armchair. Does that sound okay, you big baby?” You felt him smile and nod. He helped you finish refilling the bowls and carried them to the living room, setting them all by the kids to be devoured. You leaned over to Max and El, informing them of your seat change.

Standing back up, you saw Steve was on the chair and waiting for you to join him, a big blanket in his hand. You smiled and climbed on top of him, sitting with your legs curled up between his and your head against his shoulder. You shifted a little to make sure you were both comfortable and he pulled the blanket over you, wrapping you in his arms. After a couple minutes, you felt your eyes getting heavier with how warm and relaxed you were. Every few seconds, you felt light kisses pressed to your hair and his hand tracing your cheek. He whispered sweet nothings in your ear and it lulled you even closer to sleep. That was, until you heard some snickers and whispers. You lifted your head and saw that the boys on the couch and the girls on the floor were all looking at you, speaking in hushed voices behind their hands. Steve noticed too and frowned. “What the hell are you guys laughing at?” He said this lightly, already having a suspicion it had to do with the two of you.

Dustin answered. “Oh nothing, just that you two are showing a lot of PDA. Steve, you’re whipped.” With that, the kids all laughed, nodding and looking at you for a reaction. You snorted and lowered your head back down, closing your eyes and pressing them against Steve’s neck, letting him answer for you both. You wracked your brain and figured there must be plenty of times where you and Steve act like this in front of the party, so why was this so surprising?

“Oh shut up. Watch the movie.” Not the most graceful comeback, but you felt Steve’s chest vibrate with a laugh as he gestured towards the screen. You heard a few more laughs before attention was once again on the movie. He whispered, “What a bunch of idiots.” You smiled and Steve wrapped you up even tighter, rubbing your back as you fell asleep to the sound of his heartbeat.

masterlist

[myhoneststudyblr]

I often get asked for tips on various aspects of creating a studyblr and then how to grow it! It can be really daunting before you start if you don’t know how to go about it or what to post - I remember really wanting to create one for months before I actually built up the courage to make one.

This post is hopefully going to make this easier for you and give you the tips you need to get the best out of your blog!

Disclaimer: this is quite long! i wanted to make it as detailed as possible and it kinda got away from me XD

What is a studyblr?

study + tumblr = studyblr

A studyblr is a tumblr blog that posts anything associated with studying.

These blogs are part of the ‘studyblr community’, which is an online community of students who share their love for studying, stationery and their current lessons and study tips.

Why should you create a studyblr?

There are honestly so many reasons why i think that studyblrs are an amazing thing and why i can’t see myself leaving this community any time soon! here are some of my personal experiences:

1. i want to study! i have always been a very conscientious student and i have always worked very hard but i’m going to be completely honest with you and say that a lot of the time, particularly as i’ve been getting older, it has been a real struggle to get the motivation to do work. since i’ve started my studyblr, i’ve noticed a real increase in my desire to work because i want to have new things to post and talk about. it acts as a sort of outside external motivator!

2. my studying has got more interesting! when i say this, i don't mean the content. i’ve learnt so many new techniques and ways to organise my work that each set of notes that i do is different and i don’t feel like i’m doing the same thing every day!

3. my notes and handwriting have got neater! if you follow me, you might have seen a post from me a while back where i talked about my insecurity about my handwriting because i was *always* the person with the messy handwriting™. unfortunately, i am a perfectionist and i really wanted to have neat handwriting and notes. so my studyblr - because i wanted my posts to look good - made me spend more time focusing on the appearance of my notes and forcing me to slow down (this had been my main problem). now i can see a huge difference and i’ve reached a place where, even though my handwriting will never be the perfect font-like handwriting, it is noticeably neater and more consistent and i now love my pretty and unique handwriting

4. incredible advice about everything studying related! no matter where you are from, or what you study, it is possible to find advice about something that is relevant to you! people in studyblr are going through or have gone through everything you have and they give incredible advice on some many different things, from college applications and how to study a certain subject, to book recommendations and notetaking tips. but there are also plenty of tips on lifestyle and self-care, which are invaluable. even if you can’t find a post that helps you, you can always send someone an ask or a message and they’ll always try to help you out!

5. my mental health has got better and the community has helped me through so tough times! being a student today is hard and keeping your mental health in a good place can seem even harder. but i personally have found the studyblr community really helpful with this because i don’t feel so i alone. i know that there are so many mutuals and blogs that i follow that are going through similar things and i know i could always reach out to them for anything. i’ve also become less hard on myself and give myself significantly less impossible goals since i started studyblr

6. you will meet some incredible people. this was something that i wasn’t really expecting because when i started my blog i thought i would get 100 followers *max*. instead, i have been completely embraced by the community and have had some amazing conversations with people i know genuinely consider to be my friends. it is so easy to meet like-minded people who just want to support each other!

these are just the most important benefits that I've experienced with my own studyblr journey and there are so many more!!!

The 5 Basic First Steps

1. create a blog

if you are seeing this post i assume that you already have a blog! maybe you don't but luckily for you its very easy to create one. the main think you need to think about is whether you want to create a primary or secondary blog! you can find the differences between these here!

2. choose a URL/blog name

your username can be pretty much anything and can be a good way to show your personality, your likes or dislikes, or your goal for your studyblr! you can get really creative with your username and though most are, it doesn't have to be study/studyblr related.

here’s are some ideas that you could use when coming up with a username:

Your name or nickname

Favourite subject or your degree

Your dream job

Role models or fictional characters

Stationery

Brand names

Study utilities

Your favourite study snacks

COFFEE (this is very popular with many studyblrs... i wonder why?)

Your favourite animal

Basically, it can be anything! and don’t worry, if you decide later that you don’t like the name or you come up with soemthing better, you can always change it

3. choose a theme

this can seem like a very daunting task if you are completely new to tumblr but don’t worry! there are plenty of options and you can play around with this until you get what you want!

mobile theme: this is usually just changing the colours to fit with what you like and the mood of your blog

desktop theme: this is where it gets interesting! your desktop blog usually looks much more unique compared to mobile and you can add various different pages and really get it to look professional. there are so many different incredible themes that you can find that are free to use and can be customised slightly to fit your blog (there are also paid themes). you can also make your own theme (but i know nothing about this so i can’t really offer advice for that!)

4. find an avatar/icon

i personally think icons are really important because they can often be how people begin to recognise your blog when they see it on their dashboard and it can be a glimpse into what people expect

you can just use a normal picture for this: for example of your notes or something that relates to your URL or blog (eg a coffee cup)

however, you can also make your own from scratch! you can create your own icon using applications like Adobe Photoshop, Adobe Illustrator, Canva or Word/Pages. i personally used canva to make my icon (as well as all my banners for posts) and it is really easy to use and best of all is free! there are also people who have made icons for you to use (as long as you give credit) or will make them for you (sometimes for a small fee)

5. find some studyblrs to follow

this is probably the easiest step! if you know about studyblr, you probably already know a few blogs! just go through their blogs and see who they reblog or you can search through the #studyblr tag. i am also always happy to give recommendations of my favourites blogs (of which there are too many to count) or can try to recommend blogs that i know who study the same thing as you/are at the same level of study or are from the same country

Introduction Posts

i am a big believer in studyblr introduction posts! i think they are the best way to meet people when you are just starting and are the way that you get people to notice and interact with your blog.

what should you put in a studyblr introduction post?

your name or a nickname so people know what to call you

your pronouns

where you are from

your age

what you study

what level of study are you at (high school, uni etc.)

your hobbies and passions

why you made your studyblrs

what your goals are

tag some of your studyblr inspirations! (this is quite important because they will probably reblog the post and more people can discover your blog

these are just some suggestions and you don't have to include all of them if you are comfortable with sharing certain things!

if you want some examples of these posts, have a look through the #studyblr introduction tag! on my blog you can find that here!

What to Post

the beauty of studyblr is that you can pretty much post whatever you want and you will find a place in the community!

i love reblogging posts that come on my dashboard that i love or stuff from my mutuals! however, it is also really important to post your own original content because this allows people to get to know you and is probably the best way to grow your blog!

here are some ideas for what to post:

pictures of your notes

pictures of your current book

pictures of your annotations

pictures of your desk/study space

pictures of your food/ study snack

pictures of your drink/coffee

pictures of your favourite cafe

pictures of nature

pictures of your handwriting

text posts about something funny that happened in school/class/uni/your life

text posts about what is going on in your life

text posts about what is on your mind

texts posts where you share your journey completing a particular goal

text posts where you share your plan for the day

study guides

advice posts

self-care and lifestyle tips

essentially, it is whatever you want and whatever works for you!

When to Post

you should post whenever works for you! i know for a lot of people (myself included) most of the time you do not have time to post every day because that is a big commitment and that is absolutely ok!

when i first started, i thought that i had to post every day and it was a lot fo pressure! it was basically impossible to keep up because not only was it taking up a decent amount of my evening editing and posting my notes but also i didn't actually have enough material available to post! a studyblr should never get in the way of your schoolwork so try to fit it around this! post when you have time!

if you do want to have a more consistent posting schedule, there is a feature that allows you to schedule posts! so, say you have a bunch of free time on the weekend, you could schedule all the posts for the week ahead of time!

i would also recommend building up a queue for reblogs because this means that you again have some consistency in posts and you have new stuff quite regularly! (i personally always have a huge queue)

How to Grow Your Studyblr

the main thing i want to stay is that you should not be too worried about how many followers you have or how many notes your posts get because it really is unpredictable! i’ve had posts that have got crazy amounts of notes and i literally expected them to get hardly any and vice versa! i have no idea how the tumblr algorithm works so you just have to try and post for yourself!

that said, i know that it is really nice to have people interact and appreciate your posts so here are 3 quick tips:

use popular studyblr tags. these include #studyblr, #notes, #studyspo. you could also tag the stationery that you used, what subject it is and what level you at are (eg #high school or #uni)

tag other studyblrs. many studyblrs track certain tags and if you want them to see what you've posted and they will often reblog your post! i personally track the tag #myhoneststudyblr. you can find a post i made a while ago with some studyblr’s and their tags here! (note: this may be slightly out of date)

try and have a relatively consistent ‘look’ to your posts. you don’t have to follow a specific aesthetic but having some consistency in your posts can help people recognise your stuff. i personally keep my pictures of my notes very clutter-free (often just the notes and the pen i used) and bright. however, you can definitely switch things up if you want!

How to Get Involved in the Community

There are so many different ways that you can do this! Here are some of the best ways in my opinion!

send asks and messages to people!

i highly recommend sending asks to people, for example, if they reblog an ask game post or even just asking for some advice because they will start to recognise you as someone who is engaged with their blog and you could also learn something new about one of your favourite studyblrs!

messages are also a great, slightly more personal, way to interact with people. it can be as simple as messaging people to tell them you love their blog, or again asking them for some advice. if they do a post about a test or exam that they have coming up, you could even message them good luck or ask how it went. i have had some amazing conversations with people through messages and it is a great way to meet new people

just a reminder: always be respectful and polite in messages and asks to ensure that the community remains positive

reblog posts with a comment on their posts!

(or just add a comment, although this could be confusing if your studyblr is a side blog so just be warned)

this is a really nice way to let people know you’ve seen their post and it is always nice to give feedback. a comment can be as simple as: i love your handwriting! or good luck in that test! but that simple message reaching out it so nice to get! also, reblogging is really helpful to blogs because it means more people see the post

join a challenge!

ok, so i’ve had this blog for about a year and a half now and i had a pretty decent amount of followers (which i seriously do not understand XD) but i never got the same amount of interaction and involvement in the studyblr community until i created my #2020 quarantine challenge (click here if you wanna find out about this). i would get reblogs and likes on posts but i don’t think that i used to get nearly as much interaction with my posts with people leaving comments and stuff. furthermore, although i had blogs where we were technically mutuals, i didn’t really have mutuals like i do know where we actively keep in touch and check out each other’s posts all the time and stuff and that is honestly the nicest thing

challenges mean that you are most likely posting every day (or at the very least pretty regularly if you cannot manage every day) and this is good because you post lots of new content for people to discover. another great thing is that there is usually a tag that you can search for and scroll through and find others who are doing the challenge alongside you. the person who created the challenge also probably checks the tag out every few days and reblogs the posts

for these reasons, i cannot highlight how amazing challenges are for interaction and getting involved in the community!

The Golden Rule of Studyblr

🚨 ALWAYS BE POLITE AND FRIENDLY 🚨

probably my favourite thing about the studyblr community - and i know many others share this opinion - is that is such a friendly and welcoming place. it of course has its problems but this is a place whose ultimate aim is to support each other through our studying journeys! we are all here because we wanted to find likeminded people who we can make friends with and share our lives! therefore it is really important that we always try and lift each other up because you never know what someone is going through

Summary

there are lots of benefits to starting a studyblr so you definitely should!

it’s good to make your blog look nice and clean!

studyblr introductions are very important to start your blog off!

post what you like when you like!

tagging can be a great way to grow your blog!

don't focus too much on the number of notes you get or how many followers you have!

send asks and messaging, reblogging and commenting on other people’s posts and joining challenges are all great ways to get involved in the community!

we are all here to support one another so always be polite and friendly!

Other Resources

From Me

here is an answer to an ask i received about starting a studyblr (here is another one)

here is an answer to an ask i received about editing photos

From others

A Beginner’s Guide to Starting a Studyblr by @eintsein​

12 Step Guide to Starting and Running a Studyblr by @emmastudies​

How to Start a Studyblr by @caffeineandcoding​

Advice for New Studyblrs by @studyquill​

Starting a Studygram by @studyrellablr​ (many of the tips are the same for studyblr)

I hope this was helpful to any new studyblrs and even existing ones! As always i am always happy to answer asks and messages about and give any advice! If anyone else has any tips or tricks, please add them below!!!