#everyone: (keeps pushing me about watching horror movies)

[unsettlingcreature]

I refuse to feel bad about setting boundaries. I will not be made to feel bad about setting boundaries.

[yanderestarangel]

HEADKANONS | JOHNNY CAGE MK1 WITH S/O

A/N: Yes, he's my favorite, please make requests for me with this man, I need ideas, I need requests- I'm obsessed for him. Do you want to make a request? Read my blog rules in the pinned post.

TW: sfw, smut, fluff, sex, sexual positions, afab reader, pet names, vaginal sex, oral m!re. | f!re |, degradation, daddykink.

SFW:

Johnny Cage is the typical golden retriever boyfriend, he will want your attention because we know he is an attention slut, not only applies to his fans but also to you, you need to keep in mind that when Johnny wants your attention, He'll get it one way or another, whether it's sending you countless messages, asking you for affection, or even begging you to stay with him, if you're the type to get angry and punish him with silence, he'll be very upset. bad, even becoming physically ill.

He loves being emotionally pampered, a lot of cuddling with him with his head in your lap, while the two of you watch a movie together in the living room of his mansion, while you massage his scalp and the light brown locks of his silky hair, he would be happy. smiling like a fool in love - which he is - even if you pointed it out, he would deny it with some typical joke of his, if you threaten to leave his side or stop making out with him he will pout and complain, a lot.

He also likes tight arms just enjoying the silence between the two of you, chaste kisses on his forehead or cheek are welcome, especially if you wear lipstick or gloss, he will smile sideways and run his fingers through the warm residue on your lips on his skin.

Johnny likes to show you on all his social networks, always taking selfies with you and posting them, stories talking to his fans but always with you by his side, he loves sharing some couple story about the two of you so that everyone can laugh at such a situation that you passed by, like the time he got the location of the award show he was going to wrong and you had to walk a long way to get to the right place, with Johnny carrying you on his back obviously, he wasn't going to make his beautiful S/O walk. If you're the shy type, he'll push you a little, not because he's mean, but because he wants to show you to the world, show the person who makes Johnny Cage happy, but if you still don't want to, he'll respect your decision, Even if it upsets him a little at first, he will still take photos of you and the two of you together, with various filters, from the cute ones to the most cursed ones he finds.

The two of you have a YouTube and Twitch channel together, he already had a channel so now you are a regular guest, after all you date him. Johnny loves just chatting in chat, or reacting to some edits and fanarts that his fans make of him live, he always thanks everyone and is satisfied, from the most amateur to the most professional, everyone is valid and valuable from Cage's perspective , and he also loves the edits with the photo and video of you as a couple, with you and him thanking you for your affection, he leaves the @'s of the editors and designers, encouraging their growth. In the lives it also happens that Johnny plays some games with you, his favorite is the horror genre, he loves seeing your reactions because you feel tense around him and the chat, he sits on a black gaming chair in the center of the camera and you or in the background or on his side - it's your choice - he also gets scared very easily so you can take advantage and poke his shoulder or arm during a tense moment in the gameplay, he'll jump and scream from his chair like a scared kitten while letting out a series of swear words - he may or may not have let his glasses fall to the floor and break one of those times.

Johnny lets you wear his clothes, he's very stylish, if there's something you like, you can wear it, he has enough money to buy a new and identical piece, but obviously there are clothes that he's more zealous and jealous of, he He'll even let you use it if you tell him you'll be careful, if you tear it or get it dirty, he won't do anything other than sigh and get irritated for a few hours, then go buy a piece like the old one and pretend nothing happened.

He also loves that you make him breakfast, he loves his food, his seasoning, the smell of warm food makes Johnny wake up in bed with a satisfied smile, seeing you in his kitchen, preparing everything for him, that's it. it also made his ego rise, but in a good way after all he has you in his life and no Hollywood award compares to having you as his partner, he comes up behind you and while hugging you, giving you a kiss on the head and smelling you, even though he's drowsy, he wants to be there with you, watching you make his breakfast with such care - Cage also whispers in a hoarse and low voice how much he loves you, thanking you for being so helpful to him and that will reward you later however you want -

The two of you play 'just dance' together, Johnny knows practically all the choreographies and makes you dance with him, whether you're good or bad at dancing, what matters to him is that you just have fun with him, and he's great at dancing, knowing move the hips extremely well and being very elastic.

Johnny loves sending you memes, posts, songs, everything he sees and remembers about you he will send you immediately, Johnny is the type who has a gallery full of memes that he never sent because he forgot, he is the type who sends more than +99 reels in less than 10 minutes, so if you two have been chatting don't be surprised if you get distracted and have more than 60 videos in your dm, each with a caption and context from Cage:

"I remembered you."

"LMAO you that day (Y/N)"

"That song is the one you like, isn't it?"

"lol that's so me"

"That food looks delicious, can we make it later?"

"pookie wookie"

"This film appears a lot in my fy, let's see it this weekend"

"Am I bbg in this edit?"

He also uses a lot of emoji and stickers to communicate, with chibi versions of himself often in his chat to show his emotions, he uses emojis to Seriously, then get used to using them.

He also uses a lot of emoji and stickers to communicate, with chibi versions of himself often in his chat to show his emotions, he uses emojis to Seriously, then get used to using them.

The two of you have a typical mean girls night together, with skincare, hair moisturizing, movies together and gossiping together, Johnny doesn't mind if you want to try makeup on him, or paint his nails - as long as it's black and he's not in No acting roles at the moment - he accepts it willingly, and he even likes it when you do eyeliner on him - he looks even more handsome, believe me. -

Loves to pamper you materially! Johnny is the type that if he sees that you are looking too much at a certain product in a store, he will pull you and enter the place, calling the salesperson immediately and buying everything you want, and I guarantee you, he knows exactly when you want something. or when you're lying that you don't want to because you're embarrassed, if you lie and try to say that you didn't want to, Johnny will get serious and immediately take the most expensive products in the store for you, as a form of "punishment" for lying to him. He will be able to take you to the concert of your favorite band or singer when he is off work as a Hollywood star or he will hire the singer/band you want to do a private show at his mansion, nothing is too expensive or impossible for Johnny Cage.

He loves romantic nights with you. Johnny will put on a fancy suit, hire a good buffet for a candlelit dinner with you, something he does practically every weekend, it has become a couple's tradition in your relationship. A good dinner and expensive wine, to end the night with the lights of the Cage mansion partially turned off, with you and Johnny in the large marble area, the only light was from the moon that entered through the large video window, with the song: "You rock my world - Michael Jackson" playing in the background, on the speakers of the luxurious room, with the two of you pressed against each other, just singing while dancing intertwined in a heat of passion and love. - Johnny loves this song because he says it sums up what you did in his life, you rocked his world in a way that he can only thank you internally for being the love of his life, and being the person he can count on always, even though he is sometimes too arrogant and proud to admit it, he always says: "-This song sums up what I feel and have always felt about you honey." -It's his way of saying he loves you, when he can't say it directly.

He hates to show it, but he is extremely insecure, after the separation from his ex-wife - Cris - he always asks you if you still love him or if you will leave him one day, this insecurity causes some jealous attacks when you go out, doesn't it? nothing serious, just Johnny sulking and asking you why you're so different with him - which you weren't - just make this man sure of your relationship, holding his arm or hand when you go out helps a lot, with him smiling stupidly in the corner because you're proud to be dating him, after all who wouldn't be? he is Johnny Cage after all.

He's extremely intelligent, so he'll love rambling about everything about you, movies, art, history, everything. He will talk about several topics at the same time, while his head is in your lap.

NSFW:

Recorded sex: He carries that stupid phone of his 24 hours a day, that is, this also applies to sex, he will fuck you practically making a movie every time, recording in HD all your reactions and how you fit your body to his so well , moans, juices of lust, your face salivating with pleasure, the nicknames, the dirtiest things, all recorded and saved in a folder with a password on his cell phone. He uses the videos to masturbate when he is traveling to direct a film as a director, he becomes needy and needs you by his side, having to settle for the homemade porn videos that the two of you make together, your pussy jumping on his dick in the video, his body, his reactions, as he whimpered, fucking his own dick in his hand, writhing on the hotel bed he was in.

Sex on the phone: Well, when the porn videos you made, he will call you, begging you to masturbate on call with him, either just vocally, or on video call, or exchanging nudes while the two of you did it.

"-Come for me. Show me how much you want my cock, how much you need me to fill you like the submissive whore you are."

Daddykink: Self Explanatory, he loves being called daddy by you, he himself has a habit of calling himself daddy in random situations, with an arrogant air. "-Leave it to Daddy, Baby." "-Oh yes, Daddy Johnny is here to sort it out." And this applies to sex, he will fuck you while you call him Daddy or Daddy Johnny - he loves that shit, it boosts his ego like hell. -

Degradation and praise: He loves to praise you and degrade you at the same time, he also loves to be praised during sex, especially when you do the "missionary" position, while he looked at your face, fucking your pussy with greed and hunger.

"-Do you want to cum, my naughty little slut?"

"-You really want my seed to fill your pussy, don't you? You're such a dirty slut, wanting to be bred by me. You want to mark you as mine, don't you?"

"-You're nothing but a filthy whore, begging for my cock."

"-You're such a good boy/girl, taking my dick in that tight, pretty pussy, like the good slut you are."

His favorite sexual positions with you: 69, Doggy Style, Cowgirl, Reverse Cowgirl, Missionary, Scoop Me Up, The Seashell, The Pinball Wizard, Valedictorian, Table Top, The Lazy Man, The Snake, Stand and Deliver.

He also loves giving oral, he would really stay under your legs all day fucking you with his tongue if he could, in every corner of his mansion that he could, his tongue fucks you in the right spots, passing from your clitoris to the your entrance tight, his thick and firm hands keep you in place, holding the soft flesh of your hips, massaging the area in small circles with his thumb while looking into your eyes, while his mouth was too busy working for you. make you cum - maybe... Just maybe he rubs his nose on your clitoris to tease you, he has a big nose... Just maybe. -

Johnny likes blowjobs when he's angry, he likes to come home, have a good whiskey while sitting on the couch, and you between his legs, sucking him greedily, it was a relaxing sight, making Johnny remember the good things about life, you.

"-Yes fuck baby... Keep going... I really need to cum, you're my good boy/girl, sucking my dick so good."

Please squirt on this man! He loves to fuck you and make you squirt, whether with his dick, tongue, fingers or even vibrators - which you have to stimulate your pussy and his dick in some foreplay - Johnny just wants you to cum and get him all wet with your Sweet essence, the first time you squirted on him you were embarrassed, but he wasn't, he seemed to have discovered a new world, smiling like a fool.

"-Mmmm Johnny... I... Please take it off, I-" -You tried to speak between moans, while your pussy squeezed Johnny's cock more than ever, he felt something different, smiling sideways.

"-Fuck I bet that's a fucking squirt, come on, I want to see you squirt on my dick baby, this is going to be so fucking hot, just cum in that tight pussy." -Johnny says, thrusting his dick even more into your pussy, with all the strength and speed he could have in his hips at that moment, fucking you to the core, he gives a strong thrust, hitting his dick on your cervix, making you moan and squirt on his dick, abdomen and groin, dirtying him all over, while he smiled extremely happily.

"-I won't stop fucking you until you do it again baby." -He says smug with a cheesy wink, but he was serious, you were going to do that until he saw you squirt and cum like that again.

©YANDERESTARANGEL 2023

[royalsweetteaa]

Hi can you do a Steve Rogers x shy reader smut

Where she’s shy to make moans while Steve paces harder to make a moan🥰

Title: Music to my ears

Pairing: dom!Steve Rogers x shy!reader

18+ ONLY | MINORS DNI

WARNING - The following fic contains: explicit smut, smut with no plot, fluff, rough sex, dom!Steve Rogers, sub!reader, dom/sub dynamic, p in v sex, cumshot, praise kink, pet names.

It’s quiet as the only noise echoing in the bedroom is the queen sized bed squeaking.

Steve is on top of you, entering the stage of home base as he pushes the tip of his cock past your pussy lips and into your pulsing core. He already goes into a steady pace with your legs around his waist, pulling him in closer.

Your breathing becomes heavier, but that’s about the only sound he gets to enjoy from you while he in contrast audibly grunts. Light squeaks leave your lips at best, and while he absolutely adores those short little noises, he knows there’s more in you.

He knows you’re ashamed and you keep feeling the need to suppress those moans and cries as he makes you feel good with the way his cock hits your cervix with each thrust.

He has heard you scream from horror before as you have watched scary movies together, so he knows the high level of sound your lungs can create.

And oh, how he wishes to hear you scream from pleasure.

Steve doesn’t stop praising you as he continues to roll his hips against yours, his huge cock thrusting in and out of your tight hole, making you see stars by how much he fills you.

“Feels so good being inside of you, baby…” Steve groans as he closes his eyes for a moment, taking in the way your pussy sucks in his cock as he drags himself out before he fucks home again. “I’m going to move a little faster from now on, is that okay?”

You nod shyly as Steve plunges in deeper, and you quickly slap a hand around your mouth to keep quiet as the pool of arousal in your abdomen tests your limits. Already by then, you pick up the look of disapproval Steve pulls, and you frown.

“A-ah, no covering your mouth. I won’t allow it anymore...” Steve sets the new rule as he pins your hand to the side, making your eyes go wide as blood rushes through your cheeks.

“B-But…- mmmhaaah!” A sudden mewl is ripped out of you as Steve starts to pound into you faster, his heavy balls beginning to slap against your ass at the quicker pace.

You become overwhelmed, your mouth left hanging to let out cries for each thrust Steve performs. Embarrassment showers over you like cold water, but the heat from Steve’s breath tickling your neck and the constant friction is enough to distract you from it.

In final attempts you try to keep your mouth shut, but Steve surprises you yet again as he holds you by the chin and kisses you, slipping in his tongue to meet yours. It’s beyond erotic, and it prevents you from keeping any noises slip. When he pulls back, he gives you the warmest smile, stroking your cheek ever so lovingly before he speaks.

“I know you’re shy, hun…but I’m about to show you how much I want to hear you…how desperate I am to have you moan for me…if you won’t allow yourself to make noises, I’ll have to force them out myself.”

He thrusts harder, making sure you feel every inch of his thick shaft slide inside of your wet cunt. Your eyes roll back with your head as you let out the loudest moans you have ever made before. Steve holds you by the hips, pulling you back as he slams into you, causing his cock to enter you ever so deep. You cry out so loud you think everyone in the city must be hearing it, but Steve’s hums of delight reassures you there’s nothing to worry about.

“Mmmh, my love…I could never say enough about how wonderful you sound. Keep making those sounds, be as loud as you want. Let me know how amazing it feels to be stretched…how much you crave to be fucked…”

“O-Oh Steve…Aaaaah!~ Feels too good! I-I can’t - nngh!~ M’gonna cum!” Cries and moans escape your mouth uncontrollably now as Steve pounds away, making him grin with pride. There it is, he thinks.

“That’s my girl…cum for me, doll…sing for me…”

Your back arches against him as you reach your climax through a cry, making your cunt hug Steve’s cock tighter as a new flow of wetness surrounds inside. Steve grunts and snaps his hips into you once more before pulling out, cumming all over your stomach and making a hot mess.

He pants with his chest rising, and hovers over you one last time to kiss your lips tenderly before he lays down to rest next to you.

Steve sighs with content, “That was…”

“Embarrassing…” you barely mutter with your palms hiding your face.

Steve frowns, and let’s out a sudden chuckle as he playfully pinches your cheek, “It was no such thing, my love. Quit speaking nonsense. You were amazing…made me cum so hard and fast hearing your cute cries as you clung onto me desperately during your orgasm…you’re my precious doll…” he picks a towel by the nightstand and cleans his mess off your stomach before he drags you closer to him, giving your shoulder a peck.

“…I love every part and aspect of you. Don’t think otherwise...” He whispers, and it makes your stomach swirl with butterflies at his reassurance.

N/A: Thank you for some inspiration, anon! This became just a simple drabble but it helped getting my writing skills in use!

Hearts & Reblogs are very appreciated! Thank you! <3

[murdrdocs]

ghostface!luke; reader is v off; MDNI 18+ based on a req from beloved 🍒 anon w/ LUKE CASTELLAN

you don't notice him at first.

you're too focused on trying to locate your charger, mentally retracing your steps from earlier in the day. your back to the opened door, your shoulder facing the window, your eyes staring unfocused up at the ceiling as you attempt to remember if you had your charger before or after you went for a shower.

the creak of your floorboard is covered up by the loud horror movie sting coming from the living room. the sound of your door shutting is shadowed by your friends screams, and when they become muffled you attribute it to a hand over the mouth rather than you being cut off from the others.

you remember where your charger is. you approach your bed, shaking the covers to find it. there, sticking off the side of the bed. you climb atop the mattress—uncaring of how compromising your position is. it's only you in there after all—and reachhh for the charger. as soon as it's in your hand, you stand. and that's when you notice him.

the feeling of a presence other than your own in the bedroom. the warmth of someone being right behind you. the sound of breathing, amplified by something that almost restricts their exhales.

without even turning around, you know who it is.

the man your friends thought they left behind across the country. the man that sliced your friend's arm, nicked their cheeks, slammed them against walls, and then left you there to witness it all. the man you all convinced yourselves would never show face again, not with the police detail strolling the halls and watching the entrances.

you don't move, not yet. your eyes search for a weapon, for something that could buy you enough time to get everyone out of your apartment. just when your eyes latch onto your lamp sitting on your bedside, he beats you to it.

his hands latch onto your shoulder and hip, directing you forcefully into the nearest wall where he pushes you up against it. he pushes his body into yours, keeping you still against the wall.

really, you both know it's unnecessary. it's unlikely that you'll ever actually try to run away.

you push your ass back against him, already attempting to communicate how you think this should go. you know he feels the same when he returns the message, giving you one well crafted grind back into you.

through the thin fabric of your shorts, you can feel the denim of his jeans. heavy, sturdy, familiar. the last time he wore these particular ones they were soaked in blood. soon enough, you soaked them, too. you wonder if he got either substance out since then.

you're about to tell him to hurry. that you don't have much time before grover comes looking for you with an urgent claim that his phone is going to die.

but then you feel it. the metal of a knife pressed against the front of your throat, slipped in the tight space between the skin and the wall. one move from either of you and blood is drawn.

the situation should be threatening. it is threatening. your tv loud enough to drown out your screams. a man stronger and more capable than you behind you, with you being completely at his mercy.

"do you want me to scream?" you ask him, your words more sacarstic and teasing than they should be, given the circumstances. maybe you would beg for your life if you didn't know luke.

you know he's going to throw you on the bed. you know he's going to force your legs over his shoulders. you know he's going to hold the knife against your throat for as long as he's interested in, all while he fucks you within an inch of your life.

and he does. he does all of it, one hand holding metal to your untouched skin and the other muffling your screams of pleasure (just in case) all while you stared into the cold slits of the white mask. one of the original masks, he'd boasted about it when it was first acquired.

and when he's done, he sends you out of the room with a lopsided smile, his promise that he'll be back later echoing in your otherwise empty head.

you don't know what he'll be back for but you have a couple of guesses.

[bluetimeombre]

✧˚ · . 𝐒𝐭𝐚𝐲 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐦𝐞, 𝐈 𝐝𝐨𝐧’𝐭 𝐰𝐚𝐧𝐭 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐭𝐨 𝐥𝐞𝐚𝐯𝐞,

✧˚ What if Logan had a nightmare about your death and swore that he would never let anything happen to you. But what if, him trying to save you is what gets you killed in the first place?

(I’m back!! Trust me to find a hot guy to obsess over and immediately get to writing. Yes, I’m on the X-men, Logan, Wolverine band wagon and honestly, couldn’t be happier to be here. Binged all the movies, have read all the smut (and don’t tempt me, I want to write my own) but for now enjoy this pure ANGST. Also this is low-key inspired by when Anakin dreams of Padme dying)

Warning/ disclaimer: angst, death, grief, sexual innuendos made, made up scenario, Evil Jean and sad Rogue and very sad Logan. Angst. Not proof read.

You- unlike many if your unfortunate mutant friends- rarely had to deal with nightmares plaguing your peace. Once the moon came out and all the children were safe and tucked away, you took yourself to bed, maybe read a book or a theory Charles wanted your opinion on. On the rare occasion you'd go to the kitchen, see Jean or Scott up after a particularly bad dream.

It was even more rare for you to hear yelling down the corridor. But when you did, you recognised it immediately.

'No!' They yelled out and you shot up in bed, heart racing as if it was your horror you'd woken from.

'No! Not her, please...'

You pushed back your covers and rushed out as the screaming became louder and agonising. Students were already peeking their heads through their doors, or lingering in the doorways. Everyone knew that when he had nightmares, somebody else usually paid off it. 'Back to bed everyone,' you tell them all, trying to keep some composure whilst only in your night gown. You cleared your throat and shooed them all away. 'Nothing go see here.'

You stood in front of his door, blocking students from the door and waiting until they all disappeared back into their rooms.

From inside, you could hear him tossing and turning, claws sheathing and unsheathing. He called your name, more so cried it.

You rushed inside and locked the door behind you, creeping in.

Logan was bare chested (and dare you suggest, completely naked if it weren't for he covers pooling around his waist). He tossed and thrashed his arms out. The sheets were already torn up, blood marking them from where he must have cut himself.

With everything he'd endured it wasn't unlike him to wake up screaming, but in such pain and your name was new.

'Logan!' You crept closer, settling on the edge of his bed. You knew the risk as you watched his claws gleam in the moonlight. 'Logan, wake up!'

He tossed, face contorted in pain. 'Y/N!' He screamed.

As his hand wiped out, you grabbed his wrist before he could accidentally strike you. This seemed to alert him as he shot up, his other fist coming for you.

You stopped him again, with your powers that you'd never been more thankful for.

Logan's eyes cleared from their haze as he slowly realised it was you. His breath moved with his deep and ragged breaths as he stared, taking every part of you in. His eyes searched, as if he couldn't believe you were in front of him.

You gulped, dreading to think what he must have seen.

'Y/n,' he sighed. His claws drew back into his knuckles and he winced. You were reminded how it hurt for him, every time. So it hurt to see him hurt. It always had.

It was an old and tumultuous relationship the two of you shared. Way before he joined the X-Men. The two of you met out of order, always one knowing more about the other. Still, there was no word for what the two of you meant to each other. You didn't need a word. Everyone knew, they just decided to call it different things:

A fling. Love at first sight. Enemies to lovers. Soulmates...

Logan pushed himself back until his back was to the headboard. 'Bub,' he still held onto your wrist, as if afraid you'd disappear if he let you go.

You cupped his rough and large hand in your own. 'Nightmare?'

Sometimes they were memories, painful ones. But the screams, the growls, you'd never heard that reaction from him before.

'You died,' he whispered. He looked her over again. 'You died in my arms.'

'I'm right here,' you said.

Logan looked into your eyes, shaking his head. He was trembling.

You grabbed his cheeks. Any other time, he would have turned away or growled but he only stared at you. Your thumbs soothed over his cheeks, begging him to see you. 'I'm safe. You're safe. Nothing is going to happen to us.'

As if the words instructed him, he knelt, the covers clinging to cover his decency. He held onto your shoulders, a grip worthy of leaving bruises. 'I won't lose you like I've lost everyone else, bub. I won't.'

You nod. 'Ok.'

Logan slowly shrunk back, tucking his covers closer to him. His hands fell between the two. 'Did I... get you?'

For a moment you wondered what he meant. His claws. He was afraid he'd hurt you.

'What? oh, no. No. I'm fine. You must have got yourself though,' you said, gesturing to the blood on the sheets like blood against snow.

'I heal,' Logan grumbled, glancing back up at you. Without saying it, you knew he had the dark images floating in his mind again.

'I'm fine, Logan. You don't need to be so afraid.'

He gulped, his jaw clenching. There was something he wanted to say, but wasn't.

Your hand itched out to reach his but after years of experience, you knew too much physical touch or affection would scare him away. 'Do you want to talk about it?'

'No,' he denied immediately. 'I don't want to think about it.'

You nod slowly. 'Ok.'

The door was still locked and the night was still going.

'Do you want me to stay?'

Logan looked at the door and then at the wrecked sheets around him. He sighed at the sight but his eyes glanced up to you. God, you saw the pain fade to something else. Something softer. 'Come 'ere.' He pulled at your shoulder until you were tucked into his side, warmth spreading over your skin as he tugged the blanket over the two of you.

Your arm slid over his chest and you sighed at the feeling of him. Your legs hiked up, until you were a ball in his side. 'Oh thank god, you're wearing boxers.'

He huffed a laugh, your head moving on his chest. 'I can take them off, if you like?'

You hummed, fingers tracing circles on his chest. 'Don't tempt me, Wolvie.'

✧˚

Logan had always battled against his dreams.

On one hand, he knew they were tricking him. He knew what nightmares were memories played ten-fold to make them worse and he knew which ones were playing on his fears. Like you dying.

But, the less reasonable part of himself (and the part he favoured) couldn't stop thinking about your death. It was the first dream of the sort. He'd had some where he hurt you, his claws sinking into your skin. He'd have other dreams where he was sinking himself into you in a different way.

Your death was new. And it scared him. It scared him so bad he went to Charles to try to calm him.

'Our minds have a way of tricking us, Logan,' said the professor. 'Y/N is a string mutant, level five at that. And she is sensible, good for you in that way.'

'It was Jean,' he admitted. 'In the dream, it was Jean that killed her.' Knowing how much you loved the woman, he hadn't wanted to tell you. You were close enough to sisters, with similar enough powers to grow up together and help each other. For days, he'd looked at Jean with anger and grief. He couldn't help himself, even when Scott threatened to hurt him.

When Charles hesitated to talk him down, to comfort him and tell him Jean would never, it set Logan on edge for the rest of his days.

Now, he feared it was less a dream and more a prophecy.

Jean had lost herself to the Phoenix, that power inside of her that had always threatened to break out. She'd killed the professor, she'd got rid of Cyclops.

Her eyes were set on you.

Logan had done all he could to talk you down to helping. To fighting but you'd distracted him and come along anyway. He'd tried to take down Jean himself with little effort.

The only other person who stood any chance, was you.

He was slouched on the ground, a slab of metal crushing him down as he watched you creep closer to Jean like she was a ticking time bomb. 'Y/n,' he tried to call.

Maybe you didn't hear him, or perhaps you didn't want to. 'Jean, please! Listen to me.'

Logan grunted, trying hard, trying so hard to get free. 'No!'

You raised your hands to the redhead. Her eyes were dark, black like ink and beyond recognition. But she was still your friend, in there. 'Let me help you. I want to help you.'

'Go away,' she growled, trying to push you away with her power, but you blocked with your own.

'Y/N! Don't!' he yelled.

His voice irritated Jean, who's neck cranked around to get rid of his voice. 'Stop!' she yelled.

'Jean, you can stop this. All you need to do is come back to me,' you said, every step getting closer and closer to her.

'Stop!'

Logan grunted, straining against the junk. 'Y/N.'

You reach out a hand to her. 'Jean, come back to us.'

'Leave me alone!' she threw out her arms and you were thrown from your feet, from the junk, tumbling down and being thrown out of sight.

But you couldn't be dead. No, you'd survived worse. But Jean had hurt you and whatever inside of her wasn't Jean.

Logan found the strength and threw the junk off him, running to end Jean and not you.

It was a mistake. If he had known you were in your final breaths then he'd have fought thousands of Jean's to reach you.

But no, whilst he dealt with saving the world, Rogue fell to your side. She gasped at what she was seeing. Metal. Metal pieces thrust through your chest, marking your suit with blood. Too much blood. You didn't heal. Getting out of there was a no go.

Rogue cried. 'Oh god.'

'Hey,' your eyes were barely open, as if so sleepy you couldn't hold your eyes open. Your hand reached out to grab her, but she seemed so far away. 'It's ok. I'm ok.' Both knew it was a lie. A comforting lie. Your head lulled to the side, to look toward Rogue. 'Is Logan alright?'

As you asked, the chaos around them ended. Logan threw his claws into Jean and laid her down gently, knowing you'd want to treat her with the last bit of respect she deserved. He did it for you. All for you.

Rogue watched as everything around you fell. She looked back over her shoulder, seeing a wounded Logan heal at remarkable rate. 'Yes. Yes, he's alright-'

When she looked back at you, your eyes were closed. It was so peaceful, so quick and easy it was as if you were sleeping. But Rogue gently touched your hand with her bare skin and there was nothing. Nothing.

'No!' an animalistic roaring echoed around them, shaking the earth. Logan fell next to you, hands hovering over your body, afraid to touch. 'No! No!' finally, he touched you, ripping away any little part of metal he could get to.

Rogue backed away, crying silently as the X-men gathered to see Logan cradle his own heart to his chest.

Slowly, he takes you in his arms and pulls you from the metal that had stabbed you. Your body slouches, arms falling out and not wrapping around him, not comforting him like he needed you to. He shook your body, tears blurring his vision and sliding down until they splashed on your cheeks. But you didn't flinch.

'Y/N? Y/N? Bub, c'mon,' he cried, shaking his head. 'Don't do this to me, no.'

It was just as he'd seen. Your blood. His body. Your death. His arms.

Logan growled. 'C'mon!' he roared. It was a moment of fury. Blind anger raging as you left him when you promised you never would. Suddenly, he remembered how much you hated his anger. How you'd shriek away from his yells. 'Oh, baby, i'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm so sorry.' Logan cradled you close, kissing the top of your forehead. You were so cold already.

Nobody touched him. Nobody comforted him. That was your job. But you were dead. His dreams had come true in the worst way possible.

Logan, held you close, rocking you both, finally realising what it felt like to lose everything.

(If anyone has any ideas for a Logan request please let me know, I’d love to try to write more about him!)

[ahsokaismyqueen]

Saving the World or Not Pairing - Steve Harrington x HendersonSister!Reader Summary - Steve's gone off to fight Vecna while you've stayed behind to distract the bats. What could possibly go wrong? Word Count - 2.5k Warnings - Language. Canon typical violence. And yes, I'm going to go ahead and tell you, Eddie ain't dying in this one. Because I don't want him to, and in this universe I'm the boss. :P Steve Harrington x HendersonSister!Reader Masterlist

You knew the exact moment when you decided you weren’t going back up that rope into your world. You watched as Dustin appeared overhead, safe in Hawkins, and Eddie yelled at you to “GO!”. The thought didn’t make you panic. It was something you felt with certainty. Steve wasn’t back, they needed more time, and you weren’t leaving this place without him. 

Dustin screamed at you from overhead, but you ignored him, turning to Eddie. “Keep him safe all right?” You grabbed the backpack filled with backup weapons and turned back towards the front of the trailer. 

“Woah, woah, woah, where the hell are you going!?” Eddie said, grabbing your shoulder and pulling you back around to face him. “We said we wouldn’t be heroes!” 

You gave Eddie a small smile, putting a hand on his shoulder and giving him a squeeze. “He’s not back, which means I’m not going anywhere.” 

Not giving him the chance to say anything else, you ran out the door, grabbing one of the bikes you guys had left outside, and took off. “Come on you bastards! Come and get me!” 

You didn’t allow yourself to panic. You didn’t allow terror to swallow you whole and pull you under. Even when the awful screeching of those bats echoed through your stomach as they started following you. You cycled through every one of your friends’ faces and reminded yourself that you were doing this for them. You were doing this to keep them safe, whether it meant you would get to see them that way or not. Whether it meant you were sacrificed or not. As long as everyone was okay . . . It would be worth it. 

Steve’s smiling face had just formed in your mind when a vine grabbed a hold of one of the wheels of your bike, the sudden jerk throwing you off and sending you flying into a decaying car. 

You heard glass shatter, then it was black. 

————————

The world came back into focus like a slow motion action movie sequence. Your eyes opened and pain hit your body like a freight train. A groan left your lips as you attempted to sit up, and you felt blood dripping down the side of your forehead. Some of it fell into your eye, tinting everything in red. You looked up to find that you had flown through the windshield of the car, landing miraculously in the passenger seat. 

That was when you heard the screeches. 

You looked in horror out the shattered window as the bats swarmed Eddie. He had come after you. Your best friend had followed you, and was now being attacked. You gasped as you saw one almost get him around the neck, and knew what was going to happen next. 

No. 

You did not waste a year of your life not being friends with him to watch him die like this. The world needed Eddie Munson. They needed someone to befriend the outsiders, to make everyone who felt like they were outsiders feel like they had a place they belonged. Your brother needed Eddie Munson. You needed Eddie Munson, and he was not about to die.

You were sure it was the adrenaline that allowed you to push all that pain down and climb back out through the window, not even wincing as your hands touched the broken glass. You slid down the hood and fell to the ground looking around for something, anything to help. A few feet away you saw it, the bag of extra weapons. You crawled over to it, trying to think of what was in there and how it could help. 

The first things you pulled out were all too small. They could never take on that whole swarm, and then your hands touched the lighter. Your mind flashed back to senior year, you, Steve and the kids setting the hub on fire. No matter what it was, fire seemed to hurt everything in the Upside Down. A lighter wouldn’t put off enough flames to get all of them though. 

Then your eyes fell on Steve’s hairspray. 

With every ounce of energy you had left, you pulled yourself up, clutching the lighter in one hand and the hairspray in the other, and stumbled over to where the bats were. They had just gotten Eddie to the ground with each holding down one limb when you reached them. “Fuck all of you.” You said as one noticed you and dived for you. You pressed down on the nozzle and lit up the lighter, flames exploding out in front of you and burning the bat to a crisp. 

You did your best to keep the flames away from Eddie, but you knew you had to get them to let go of him, and they did when the threat of the flames got too close. The flames incensed them, the screeching rising to a noise so loud that it hurt your ears, but they were off of Eddie, and he was still breathing. You had to stay on guard for both of you, but the bats had a healthy fear of the fire. God you hoped the hairspray would last long enough. You could feel it getting lighter, and let out a, “shit!” as it sputtered for a moment. 

“Uh Henderson, how long is that thing gonna last?” You heard Eddie ask, and you glanced over at him to see him attempting to sit up with a wince. 

“Keep your ass down Munson! You shouldn’t even be here! I told you to go back!” You said, angry that he had put his life in such danger. 

“You know I can’t let you take all the glory.” He grunted, but stayed where he was, holding onto his stomach. “And you’re my best friend. I’m not leaving you behind.” 

Tears started to fill your eyes at his words, but you forced the emotion down as the hairspray sputtered again. “No more friendship ending fights?” 

“And no more keeping shit from each other.” Eddie agreed, and you glanced down at him to see him smiling up at you. 

Before you got the chance to say something, the hairspray gave out in your hands. “Fuck.” 

Eddie tugged you down to the ground and you both wrapped your arms around each other, trying to protect the other from the bats, but then the strangest thing happened. You both froze as the bats screeches faded, and thuds told you that something was hitting the ground all around you. Looking up you watched in disbelief as the bats dropped all around you, dead. “Holy shit.” Eddie said. 

Relief filled your body, and you let out a breathless laugh, pulling away from Eddie to get a better view. “They must have got him. They must have got Vecna!” 

Eddie fell back to the ground on his back then, letting out his own laugh of relief. 

You took that moment to glance at his wounds, noting how similar they looked to yours. Ugly, but it seemed like the bats had been stopped before they got anything vital. “I know it’s more metal, but we should have just gotten matching tattoos instead.” You told him. 

He laughed again at your words, but then groaned in pain clutching his stomach. “Shit, don’t make me laugh. It hurts.” 

“Yeah, I know it hurts dipshit.” You said, shoving his shoulder. 

It was then that you heard your name and Eddie’s name being called and looked up to find your brother limping towards the two of you. 

You made yourself get to your feet, shocked by the sight of him and pulled him into a hug at once. “You dumbass, you were supposed to stay where it’s safe.” You told him, pulling back to look at him. “What the hell did you do to your leg?” 

“The two of you are the dumbasses! What were you thinking?! You promised Steve you wouldn’t try to be a hero!” He said, and you were shocked to see him looking close to tears. 

Tugging him close again, you ruffled his hair as you hugged him. “I’m okay, D. We’re both okay.” 

“You don’t look okay. You look like shit.” He murmured into your shirt. 

“Always keeping me humble, aren’t you little bro?” You said, and then pulled back again to look at him in the eyes. “Now tell me what you did to your leg.” 

It was at that moment the whole world began to shake. You pulled Dustin to the ground, being careful to make sure he didn’t hurt his leg more, and sat down between him and Eddie who was now sitting up again. “What the hell is going on?!” Eddie shouted over the rumbling. 

You didn’t know, but it couldn’t be good. Panic started rising in your chest once again as you thought about Steve, Robin and Nancy, a couple of miles away, unsure of what was happening to them. But the bats had died, so that had to mean they had killed Vecna, right? As soon as the shaking stopped, you found yourself wanting to run toward the Creel house to assure yourself they were all right, but Eddie’s wounds needed to be wrapped, Dustin needed something for his leg, and your head was still bleeding from flying through a car. There was no way you could make it through the miles in the woods and even if you could, you knew they’d never let you try to do it alone. 

So all you could do was wait, glancing up at the trees every few seconds hoping for the sight of them, and getting more anxious with every second. 

“They’re coming back.” Eddie tried to reassure you as you bandaged his wounds. “Harrington’s so in love with you I think he would have taken Vecna on himself to get back to you.” 

You gave a faint smile, but your heart wasn’t in it. It wouldn’t be until he was back. “It almost sounds like you approve.” You teased. 

“Yeah, well . . . Maybe he’s not as big of a douchebag as I thought.” Eddie admitted. “Kinda looks like a badass right now for sure.” He gestured behind you. 

You spun around so fast it made you dizzy for a second, but there they were, coming out of the trees. Alive, safe and only looking a little worse for wear. “Steve,” you gasped, stumbling to your feet as he took off running towards you. 

Within moments, despite your lack of coordination, Steve had your face in his hands, looking over you with concern. “Jesus Christ, what the hell happened to you?” Then he looked over at Eddie who was now supporting a bandage and Dustin who had a makeshift splint. “What happened to all of you?” 

Reaching out, Steve let you pull him even closer, needing the touch to reassure yourself he was okay. “I uh, might’ve flown through the windshield of a car. Eddie might have gotten attacked by the bats trying to save me, and Dustin might’ve fallen back down into the Upside Down trying to come back and help us.” He looked more and more upset with every word. “I promise it’s not as bad as it looks. Head wounds just bleed a lot.” 

“That’s true.” Robin confirmed, and you shot her a grateful smile, relieved to see that she looked fine as well. “But . . . You’re probably going to need to get that looked at.” She said, wincing when she looked at your forehead. 

“I told you not to play the hero. To get yourself out of here the moment shit started to go south-” Steve started to say, but you interrupted him. 

“Steve, I’m fine-”

“You flew through a goddamn car windshield-!” 

“And I might’ve also used up all your hairspray making a flamethrower.” You admitted. 

“It was metal as hell.” Eddie piped up, grinning over at Dustin who smiled back at him. 

You and Steve both shot them a look which wiped the grin from their faces. 

“Why couldn’t you for once look after yourself!?” Steve asked.

Although you knew he was worried about you, you couldn’t help but be a little frustrated at his words. “You needed more time! I got you more time.” You saw him open his mouth to protest, but kept going before he could. “And you’re not stupid. You knew there was no way in hell I was leaving without you, the same way you wouldn’t have left without me.” You tugged on his shirt to emphasize your words. “We’re a team Harrington, and I’m not abandoning you. Ever. You’re stuck with me for the rest of our lives, and you better start getting used to-”

Steve’s lips cut off your words with a hard kiss. It was rough, it was passionate, and it was punishing. A kiss that was so intense it was impossible for you to tell if your dizziness was from it or the blow to the head. You were so caught up in him, so caught up in the relief that he was alive, that he was okay, you didn’t even notice when he pulled away until he spoke. “It won’t be for the rest of our lives if you keep almost getting yourself killed.” 

He had a point. You wrapped your arms around him, resting the good side of your head against his chest. “I’ll try to work on that.” You said, letting out a sigh as he put his arms around you as well, holding you close. 

Steve groaned, but didn’t say anything, instead turning his attention to Eddie. “Thanks for looking after her Munson.” 

Eddie’s grin was sincere when he looked at him. “She's my best friend, Harrington. Always will.” 

“And you,” he said, focusing on Dustin, “Are an idiot, listen to your sister next time.” 

“What the hell-!” Dustin started to argue, but you interrupted him. 

“Did you guys feel that big earthquake too? I mean I know we felt them already, but this one-” you stopped at the expression on Steve’s face, and watched as he glanced at Robin then Nancy. “What’s going on?” You asked, stepping back so you could look at all three of them. 

Nancy spoke then. “The shaking started right after Henry’s clock chimed . . . Four times.” 

“But . . . That’s not possible. You - you guys killed him right? I mean the bats all fell out of the sky dead-” Eddie said. 

“By the time we got to the body, it was gone.” Nancy admitted. 

The implications of that sent your mind reeling. Was there a possibility that he survived everything that they had done to him? 

“Max.” Dustin said, and it was at that moment that Nancy’s first words caught up with you. If the clock had chimed four times . . . “We’ve got to get back! We’ve got to see if she’s okay!” He started back in the direction of the trailer, and you hurried to catch up with him and help support his weight. 

Max had to be okay. You weren’t sure what had happened, but she had to be okay. You had promised that you were going to take her shopping and for ice cream when all this was over. Besides, she was so strong and brave . . . nothing too bad could have happened. 

But when you and Dustin burst through the door to the trailer and looked up at the ceiling to the gate, you realized how wrong you were.

[c1eepypas1a]

Can you do some dark Dean Winchester smut? With an age gap, daddy kink, and virgin reader?

A/n: I can only try, this is my first smut pls don't make fun, plus I dunno how to do the writing color change thingy, cringe ahh title name (plus: this is fictional, I know it's fucked up but honestly I've been through shit like this, and if you don't like it, don't read it, there are multiple fics like this, I'm just doing what people want okay?)

Parings: dean Winchester x fem! Virgin!sub! Reader (I can do a male version if it's not supposed to be fem)

Warnings: age gap (dean is 29 reader is 18, daddy kink, dean forcing reader to call him daddy/dean calling himself daddy, non-con, pain for the reader, forced oral (m!rec), tit palming/slapping, slight choking, kissing, swearing, obviously Dom!dean and sub!fem! Reader, nipple play (for like a second), crying, blood (slightly yk since she's a virgin)

"Please, don't...daddy."

*gif isn't mine I got it from Pinterest*

*readers pov*

Me and dean have been friends for awhile now, he thinks I'm stupid, that I don't know about all the staring or lingering touches when he's fixing up my wounds, I hate the looks, I remember when it all changed, when he changed

*flashback*

I smile as I walk into my house with jo, I jump as everyone shouts surprise at me,my dad, bobby singer walks up to me "wow kid, the big 18, do you feel older yet." He smiles warmly and I smile "uh, yeah I guess." I giggle, dean makes a backhanded joke about me finally being legal,

Sam rolls his eyes "dude, your almost thirty, stop being so gross, you knew her when she was in pigtails." Dean grumbles and hands me a present, telling me to open it later when nobody's around and his hand lingers on my shoulder,

That night I open the gift dean gave me, a fucking vibrator, in the shape of a rose and a photo of him, gripping his clothed hard cock, I quickly throw it under my bed along with the vibrator and I pretend nothing ever happened.

*end of flashback*

I walk into the motel room, I look at dean who's binging through channels on the tv "where's Sam?." I sit down next to him, "gone to get food." I nod and I continue to watch the tv, dean lands on a horror movie,

My eyes wander to the hand he placed on my thigh, I don't move it nor I say anything and I get back to watching the shit gore on the tv, "you know sweetheart, sammy's gonna be gone for a while." He says in his usual flirty tone, his hand sliding more up, I push his hand back down, "so what if he's going to be gone." I say feigning my clueless tone, bile rises in my throat as I feel his eyes move down from my face to my tits, "means we could find other things to do then this shitty ass movie." He grips my thigh tighter, borderlining on pain "d-dean what the fuc-" I'm cut off by his lips on mine,

I try to push him away and get up but he pins me down and he tsk's "no, your not going anywhere, I've waited to fucking long for you, I'm not letting you go now." He smirks and starts to undo and push down his jeans "as much as I want your cunt, I'm gonna use your mouth first."

He manhandles me so I'm on my knees, tears sting my cheeks and he smiles condescendingly, "oh baby, you started this, this is your fault, parading in your short shorts and your tight shirts, wearing no bra thinking I won't notice." He says, gripping my hair with one hand and palming my tits and thumbing at my nipples with the other, against my mind praying for this to stop, my body reacts, my nipples getting hard and my cunt getting wet, he smirks at me, pushing down his jeans, leaving himself in his boxers, the imprint of his dick visible,

He stops palming at my breasts and pulls his boxers down, his hard cock slaps against his stomach, leaking pre-cum at the angry red tip, "open up for daddy." He smirks but I don't, I keep my mouth shut and he gets visibly annoyed, he grips my hair tighter and then his other hand closes my nose, "c'mon baby, you gotta breathe soon." He says in a condescending tone,

I try my hardest but I finally open my mouth to breath, he quickly shoves his cock down my throat, I gag and spit forms around my lips and his length, he lets go of my nose and I try to breathe but its hard, "you know, this all could of been avoided if you didn't play fucking coy with me.", he says as he practically skull fuck's me, gripping my face and hair, thrusting his hips roughly,

After about 5 minutes he finally pulls away, I take a deep breath of air,tears streaming down my face, he roughly pulls me up against him, his cock against my clothed stomach, he pushes me down and sits in between my legs, trying to push my shirt up but I twist and I turn to get away, "c'mon babygirl, the less you resist, the less it'll hurt your little virgin pussy." I whimper at those words,

After what felt like forever of struggling, he finally gets my clothes off of me, leaving me in my panties, "lace...it's like you asked for me to fuck you.", I cry at those words "c'mon baby tell me how much you want this, tell daddy how much you want his big cock to stretch you open." He grins sadistically, I stay silent and dean doesn't like that, I feel his hand strike my left breast, "say it!." He shouts in my face, I whimper and I finally speak with a scared tone, "i-i want d-daddy's big cock to stretch me open." He smirks, "that's a girl.",

"please don't...daddy."

That's all I can say hoping that will please him but before I know it he thrusts into me, pain shoots through my whole body and I start to cry again "awe, baby don't cry, daddy's got you." He says as he fuck's me faster, taking away the one thing I thought I could control, but I can't, I'm helpless as he takes it from me, I feel liquid down at my pussy and I look down, I notice the crimson liquid leak down my cunt,

"I fucking knew you would bleed, don't worry sweetheart, it won't hurt that much anymore.", he says as he fuck's me harder, it hurts, no pleasure from it, I beg for him to stop, I cry to god that it'll be over soon and before I know it, I feel him pull out and his cum spurt on my tits and stomach, I feel dirty as dean kisses me before he flops down beside me and cuddles me, like he didn't just destroy me, exhaustion takes over me, before I slip into sleep I hear dean mutter something and I fall asleep.

*the end*

(a/n: my first smut, I hope it was good, if there is any mistakes or anything you didn't like please tell me, I'm sorry it's so short, I wrote this at 1am.)

[capricorn-season]

Homophobia in drag

When I was a young boy, I loved spending the night at my grandmother’s house. There, I could stay up as late as I wanted, and in the morning, there would always be Cinnamon Toast Crunch for breakfast. But the best part was raiding the closet in her basement, which was full of the gowns she had worn in the 1960s and 1970s – frilly pink and purple confections made of lace, chiffon and silk. I would put them on and watch The Golden Girls, sophisticatedly sipping Coke from a wine glass.

When I was nine, my dad bought a video camera, a giant monstrosity that my siblings and I struggled to balance on our shoulders while we filmed home videos. Alone, I’d prop the camera on the coffee table and record myself modelling various outfits, explaining to the camera why this plaid shirt went with these cargo shorts, or why this teal Starter jacket complemented these acid-washed jeans so perfectly. I captured on camera the dance I had painstakingly choreographed to Marky Mark and the Funky Bunch’s ‘Good Vibrations’.

As a kid, I followed my two older sisters around like a shadow, mimicking their mannerisms – the way they tucked loose strands of hair behind their ears when they were concentrating on their maths homework; the way they jutted their hips whenever they were talking to cute boys. Like them, I was a naturally athletic kid. My favourite sport was lacrosse, but I much preferred to play with the girls instead of the boys. The boys were quick to push and shove, and they loved to whack each other with their aluminium sticks. Girls relied more on their speed, their reflexes and the skills they’d honed to keep the ball securely cradled in the shallow mesh of their wooden sticks.

I grew up in a fundamentalist Christian community – most people would call it a cult. From kindergarten to the sixth grade, I attended the community’s tiny school. Because enrollment was so low, there was no in-crowd, no separate cliques of jocks and geeks. In retrospect, I’m sure my classmates and especially my teachers noticed my gender-nonconformity – all of my home videos prove that it was glaring – but it went largely ignored. All that mattered was that we were good Christians, that we loved Jesus and evangelised God’s Word to as many people as possible. When I learned about homosexuals in Bible class, or about AIDS (which we were told God had created to punish homosexuals for their sins), I didn’t think for a moment that I was one of them. Sure, my first real crush, when I was 11, had been on a boy – Elijah Wood, an actor about my age whose performance in the 1994 B-movie, North, had captured my heart. But at the time, before sexual maturity, I mistook the longing I felt for Elijah with the more sanitised desire to simply keep his company and be his best friend. I indiscriminately absorbed all of the lessons I learned about homosexuals, as if they were and would always be irrelevant to my life.

The summer after my sixth-grade year, my family left the community and we moved to a neighbouring town. I began seventh grade in a large public school, where there was definitely an in-crowd. My new classmates wasted little time informing me how unacceptable it was for a boy like me to behave the way I did – the way I enunciated my s-words, the way I brushed my auburn hair, which I had highlighted the previous summer with Sun-In. They called me a faggot, delivered me notes that said everyone knew my ‘dirty little secret’. They asked me frequently, ‘Are you a boy or a girl?’. Well, of course I was a boy, I would respond, trembling.

Meanwhile, I was beginning to sexually mature; I was soon developing crushes that inspired more than just a desire to keep a boy’s company. With horror, I realised that I might actually be what the kids were calling me – which, I knew in my bones, guaranteed me a tragically short life and a one-way ticket to hell. That, after all, was what the old form of homophobia entailed. Self-loathing.

To survive the onslaught, I defeminised myself. I lowered my voice, started wearing baggy jeans and sweatshirts, cut the highlights out of my hair, and replaced my Mariah Carey CDs with Nirvana. Soon, the fear and the anxiety became too much to bear, and the only refuge I found was in alcohol and drugs.

In high school, with each passing year, my drug use got worse. After graduation, I lasted one semester in college before dropping out. Two months later, at the age of 19, I had my first of several stays in a local psychiatric ward. I was delusional, addicted to drugs and suicidal.

It was during my second stay in the psychiatric ward that I was introduced to a 12-step programme, which was how I would eventually get sober in my early twenties. It was slow-going in the beginning of my sobriety to accept my homosexuality. I began to reconnect with the young boy I had once been, the boy whose interests expanded beyond what was typical for males. I experimented with bronzer and mascara, and got French manicures and pedicures.

Engaging in these behaviours felt liberating for a while, but eventually the novelty wore off. In fact, they started to feel performative. I realised I didn’t need those things to be my authentic self. My ideas, my voice, the way I treat other people – these are the things that make me the person I truly am.

In 2011, when I was 28, I fell in love with a man. The following year, I joined the fight for marriage equality. After we won that campaign, I knew I wanted to become a gay activist. I wanted to help create a world in which feminine boys and butch girls could exist peacefully in society. A world in which gender-nonconforming people were accepted as natural variations of their own sex. Minorities, sure, but real and valid nonetheless.

The trans question

In 2017, at the age of 33, I enrolled at Columbia University, New York to complete my undergraduate degree. There, I was shocked to discover how gay activism had evolved since marriage equality became the law of the land. The focus was now entirely on personal pronouns and on being ‘queer’. My classmates labelled me ‘cis’, short for cisgender. I didn’t even know what it meant. All I knew was that they called me ‘cis’ in the same cadence that the seventh graders had called me ‘fag’.

Soon, I learned about nonbinary identities, and that some people – many people – were literally arguing that sex, not gender, was a social construct. I met people who evangelised a denomination of transgenderism that I had never heard of, one that included people who had never been gender dysphoric and who had no desire to medically transition. I met straight people whose ‘trans / nonbinary’ identities seemed to be defined by their haircuts, outfits and inchoate politics. I met straight women with Grindr accounts, and listened to them complain about the ‘transphobic’ gay men who didn’t want to have sex with women.

All around me, it seemed, straight people were spontaneously identifying into my community and then policing our behaviours and customs. I began to think that this broadening of the ‘trans’ and ‘queer’ umbrella was giving a hell of a lot of people a free pass to express their homophobia.

At Columbia, I took classes on LGBT history, but much of that history was delivered through the lens of queer theory. Queer theorists appropriate French philosopher Michel Foucault’s ideas about the power of language in constructing reality. They argue that homosexuality didn’t exist prior to the late 19th century, when the word ‘homosexual’ first appeared in medical discourse. Queer theorists proselytise a liberation that supposedly results from challenging the concepts of empirical reality and ‘normativity’. But their converts instead often end up adrift in a sea of nihilism. Queer theory, which has become the predominant method of discussing and analysing gender and sexuality in universities, seemed to me to be more ideological than truthful.

In my classes on gender and sexuality in the Muslim world, however, I discovered something else, too. I learned about current medical practices in Iran, where gay sex is illegal and punishable by death, and where medical transition is subsidised by the state to ‘cure’ gays and lesbians who, the theocratic elite insists, are ‘normal’ people ‘trapped in the wrong bodies’. I privately drew parallels between the anti-gay laws and practices of Iran and what I saw developing in the West, but I convinced myself I was just being paranoid.

Then, I learned about what was happening to gender-nonconforming kids – that they were being prescribed off-label drugs to halt their natural development, so that they’d have time to decide if they were really transgender. If so, they would then be more successful at passing as the opposite sex in adulthood. Even worse, I learned that these practices were being touted by LGBT-rights organisations as ‘life-saving medical care’.

It felt like I was living in an episode of The Twilight Zone. How long were these kids supposed to remain on the blockers? And what happens in a few years, if they decide they’re not ‘truly trans’ after all, and all of their peers have surpassed them? Are they seriously supposed to commence puberty at 16 or 17 years of age? These questions rattled my brain for months, until I learned the actual statistics: nearly all children who are prescribed puberty blockers go on to receive cross-sex hormones. Blockers don’t give a kid time to think. They solidify him in a trans identity and sentence him to a lifetime of very expensive, experimental medicalisation.

I wondered how different these so-called trans kids were from the little boy I had been. Obviously, I grew up to be a gay man and not a transwoman. But how could gender clinicians tell the difference between a young boy expressing his homosexuality through gender nonconformity, and someone ‘born in the wrong body’? I decided to dig deeper into the real history of medical transition.

Medicalising homosexuality

What I learned validated all of my worst fears. I learned that for decades after their invention, synthetic ‘sex hormones’ were used by doctors and scientists who sought to ‘cure’ homosexuality, and by law enforcement to chemically castrate men convicted of committing homosexual acts.

I learned about actress and singer Christine Jorgensen, one of the first people in the US to become widely known for having ‘sex-reassignment’ surgery in the early 1950s. Jorgensen may now be celebrated by the modern ‘LGBTQIA+’ community as a trans icon, but he seemed more concerned with escaping his homosexuality, which he said was ‘deeply alien to my religious attitudes’. As Jorgensen put it, ‘I identified myself as female and consequently my interests in men were normal’.

I learned that of the first adolescents to be treated for gender dysphoria (or what was then called ‘gender identity disorder’) with puberty blockers and cross-sex hormones in the 1990s and early 2000s, the vast majority were homosexual. And I learned that these studies inform current ‘gender-affirming care’ practices.

Soon, I met detransitioned gay men who had sought an escape from internalised and external homophobia in a transgender identity. They continue to suffer severe post-surgical complications, years after their vaginoplasties.

I began to fear we had reached a point of no return a couple of years ago, during a conversation I had with a supposedly ‘progressive’ friend. I told her that, if I had been a young boy now, I likely would have been prescribed puberty blockers and gone on to medically transition. ‘And you don’t think you would’ve been happy as a transwoman?’, she asked me. Her question left me speechless. I couldn’t find the words to state the obvious: that I am a gay man, not a transwoman; that statistics tell me my medical transition may not have been successful; and that I would suffer severe medical complications. In any case, if I had transitioned, I wouldn’t be living an authentic life. After all, isn’t that what this is supposed to be about? Living authentically?

Sylvester, an androgynous disco icon of the 1970s and 1980s, was once asked what gay liberation meant to him. He answered, ‘I could be the queen that I really was without having a sex change or being on hormones’. Perhaps I belong in an earlier era, when newly liberated gays and lesbians rebelled against the medical and psychiatric experiments they had long been subjected to. Perhaps my early aspiration of expanding what it means to be a boy or a girl was nothing but a pipe dream. In Europe, there is hope that these medical experiments will cease, and that gay and lesbian adolescents will be spared from a lifetime of medicalisation. But in the US, nearly eight years after same-sex marriage became the law of the land, it is full-steam ahead with these homophobic practices.

For voicing my concerns about gender-affirming care for minors, I have been called a transphobic bigot. If that’s what speaking out against the medicalisation of homosexuality makes me, then so be it.

[rogueddie]

Eddie shows his affection in a sort of aggressive way, which isn't surprising considering everything else he has going on. Dustin wasn't surprised when Eddie started shoving him a little when they started to actually become friends, wasn't surprised when he started ruffling his hair the way Steve does- but a little rougher.

But he is surprised to see the different way his affection comes out with different people.

With him and the other "little sheep", he pushes. It's a rough gesture of affection, but it's considerably gentle. A little shove, pushing them around a little. It's playful.

But with Nancy and Robin, it's crushing hugs. He'll throw his arm over their shoulders, pull them close enough that they'll wince and shove him off them. He just laughs, increasingly familiar with the response, but continuing to hug the same anyway. He grows to expect the shoves, trying to squeeze them and duck out of the way before they can. It's like a game.

Will and Jonathan both like their space- with most people anyway. Eddie respects that. His affection with them is more... kicking. Nudging them with his feet, trying to wiggle his toes under their legs, pressing cold feet up their pants in the winter.

It's like he's trying to play with them, an overexcited puppy, but keeps forgetting his own strength. And Dustin loves that... usually.

With Steve it's... different.

A lot of the gestures are the same. A hand in his hair, manhandling, tight hugs... but they linger. It looks more like he's brushing his fingers through Steves hair, his hugs never leave Steve wincing- rather, looking happy and content.

It's the way he manhandles him that first clued Dustin in.

The first time, Eddie had grabbed Steve by his belt and tugged him around until he was stood by his chair. It wasn't rough or pushing though. It was tugging, a coaxing pull, leading him to his place. It wasn't playful. It was careful.

The second time was worse. Steve had been standing back a little, squinting to see the board. Eddie had curled an arm around his waist, tugging him a few steps forward so he could see better. But his hand stayed there, lingering on his hip. It wasn't until Eddie noticed Dustin staring that he pulled away, blushing.

The third time had Dustin rethinking his assumptions about Steve.

Because he's always been a bit... particular. And if he doesn't want to do something, he won't. It takes a lot of bullying and peer pressure. Even then, he probably wanted to do it in the first place or he's given no choice.

But it makes Dustin suspicious when Eddie pulls at Steve, tugging until he lays on his side. He spends the rest of the movies time with his head in Eddies lap, falling asleep with his fingers brushing through his hair. Eddie kept looking down at him, smiling, the whole time. Steves little smile looked just as soft.

When they finally come out, finally tell everyone that they're dating, Dustin is relieved.

"Oh thank fuck," Dustin mutters, pressing the heel of his hands to his eyes.

"Excuse me?" Eddie asks, incredulous.

"If I had to watch you dancing around Steve like a peacock one more time, I was going to lose my mind."

"What? Hey- that- I wasn't-"

"You were," Robin cuts in with a tight smile. "It was really obvious."

"What? Why didn't you tell me?" Steve gently slaps her arm.

"I thought you were straight, dingus!"

"You honestly thought Steve is straight?" Eddie snorts.

His hand curls around him, just the same as before, pulling him close with his hand lingering on his hip. But, this time, he rubs his hand up and down his side. It looks like he's trying to pet Steve the way he would a dog, but Steve is smiling, leaning into him.

It makes the real horror of the situation truly dawn on Dustin. He realizes, slowly, that they must have been hiding whatever thing they had for a while. They must have been holding back.

They're going to be more affectionate than ever, Dustin realizes. And, as happy as he is to see them both so happy and relaxed and in love, he wants to gag at the thought of them being so openly affectionate all the time.

He just hopes they won't be as bad as Steve was with Nancy- he'd only seen them from a distance and that had been bad enough.

[weirdgenetic-fuckup]

No Nut November - Kirk

A/n: I have decided I'm focusing on unfinished series' first and I will deal with requests later because holy fuck I have a lot and I am ✨overwhelmed✨ so bear with me 🥹

Warnings: Smut, semipublic sex?, oral (m receiving), if you think I missed anything let me know otherwise enjoy!

Intro

It was barely a week into you staying with Metallica and the guys were all struggling. Kirk was having an especially hard time, partially because you were going after him first.

Kirk was the youngest, the calmest... honestly, he just seemed like an easy target.

He never acted on his thoughts, not that you knew of anyway, but you could see the cracks in his jokes, how he rarely made eye contact with you, left his eyes on you a second or two longer than he should've.

You were making yourself a little midnight snack in the dark, hoping that would keep people asleep since you hadn't felt like dressing up or anything. Also, your midnight snack was utterly atrocious, as is the way with the best of them, and you didn't need people coming in on that.

However, the light flicked on and you turned to see Kirk staring at you wide eyed. Shorts that weren't quite long enough and no shirt, just your bra because it was fucking hot this time of year.

"Hi." You said simply, just to break the awkward silence. Kirk's attention snapped up to your eyes and he smiled at you, crooked teeth and all.

"Hi." He replied, trying to keep his tone normal. "What are you doing?" He asked, coming closer to you.

"Making a snack." You said, continuing to work on your food.

"In the dark?" You chewed your cheek before shrugging.

"Dark doesn't scare me." You said, then you thought for a moment. "Does it scare you?"

"What?" He asked, giving you a look like he was more scared you'd genuinely think that of him. "No, of course not, why would I be scared of the dark?"

You shrugged and sucked your teeth. "I don't know, you watch a lot of horror movies, you might've thought I was some kind of demon."

"Oh, totally." He said with a soft laughter. "You know, I thought you were actually Freddie Kreuger out to get me."

"Right, right, so you came to get me first?" You asked, brow raised at him.

Kirk's mouth opened to say something but he cut himself off. "What the hell are you making?" He asked, changing the subject.

You explained your midnight snack of choice, by that time Kirk got hungry and since you were talking about horror movies he suggested you watched one with him right then. Perfect conditions, middle of the night, everyone sleeping, and you had snacks. Really, there wasn't much too it.

He set up a movie while you got to work on popcorn.

When you came over to him he was all set up on the couch with a blanket and everything. There was tons of space, the whole rest of the couch and other chairs, hell, you could've sat on the floor if you wanted. But you had a plan, and you were going to stick to it.

You sat right beside Kirk, curling up to him. Hesitantly, he returned your little act of affection and held you to his side, squeezing you gently whenever something even remotely scary happened.

You weren't too focused on the movie, you were more interested in what you could get kirk to do. You started rubbing your hand up and down his thigh, listening to his breath hitching and catching his small glimpses down to you.

He didn't stop you from pushing his shorts down and palming his hard-on through his boxers. Soft moans left him, lips parted and eyes looking dazed at the feeling.

You pushed the blanket off of the both of you and slipped off of the couch and onto your knees in front of him. Kirk looked around frantically. "We-we can't. What if-" He was cut off by a moan, which he covered by slapping a hand over his mouth.

You were pulling his shorts and boxers down, his cock springing free and hitting his abdomen, already red and leaky with pre-cum. "Don't worry," you said, trailing a finger up his length, "no one's coming down. The lights are off, they won't even notice us."

"What about the movie?" He mumbled. You glanced over you shoulder at the movie still playing.

"Then they'll notice you." You said with a shrug. He didn't look too convinced but he definitely relaxed when you took him into your mouth. He didn't care of someone came and saw you, he barely cared enough to cover his mouth as your head bobbed up and down on him, slurping, sucking and licking on him.

He spread his legs further and his hand went to the back of your head, guiding you on him, not that you needed it. His hips bucked up, pushing him deeper into your throat.

You felt him pulsing, veins on your tongue, tip hitting the back of your throat. Your eyes watered and drool dripped out the corners of your mouth. You kept your eyes on him, watching him carefully and taking mental snapshots of his expressions.

You heard noises coming from upstairs, Kirk did as well. "Stop, we have to-to stop." He said, voice breathless. Despite his words he kept pushing you back down, keeping himself in you. "Someone's gonna- fuck-!" He squeaked, holding a hand over his mouth tighter.

His body seemed to flare up, weakly trying to push you away while simultaneously holding you in place, hot cum spurting down your throat.

You pulled the blanket over you and Kirk pulled a few pillows over in a feeble attempt to cover you before the lights flicked on showed Lars standing by the stairs, rubbing his eyes tiredly. "Fuck are you doing?" He grumbled, accent painfully strong with sleep.

"Watching the, uh..." Kirk stammered, pointing to the TV which still had the horror movie going.

Lars stared at him, there was no way he didn't notice the strange lump on Kirk's lap but he didn't bring it up and just nodded. "Go to sleep, weirdo." He grumbled, turning the lights back off and heading back upstairs.

You waited to here the door to Lars's room close before pushing the blanket off of you once more, finally pulling away from Kirk and wiping your mouth.

You stood and pushed your shorts and soaked panties down before sitting next to kirk. "My turn~" You said, grinning widely. How could he say no?

[worth-the-chaos]

Adventures in Babysitting - Steve Harrington x female!reader - Chapter 15

Chapter Summary: Racing against the clock, you and your friends desperately attempt to connect the dots before it’s too late. Your efforts bring both progress and peril as you and your boyfriend dive headfirst into life-threatening scenarios in order to save each other.

Content Warning: swearing, trauma, angst, upside down scary shit

Word Count: 8.8k

Author’s Note: sorry this chapter took so long for me to get written. Life has been crazy, but here’s a longer one for you, so I hope you enjoy! I really enjoyed writing this one and I hope you enjoy reading it just as much!

Message me to be added to the taglist and get updated when the next chapter is posted! I highly recommend this if you want to keep up with the story since I don’t do regular updates!

ALSO, I am thinking about revamping the masterlist for this story and adding chapter summaries and word count…let me know if you think this would help!

Series Masterlist | Part 14 | Next Part

***

You all got out of your respective vehicles and looked at the dilapidated house in front of you. The lawn was overgrown with weeds, and every window was boarded up. The house’s facade itself screamed “go away,” looking like something out of a horror movie, but there you all were. You pressed yourself into Steve’s back, grabbing onto the back of his jacket to ground yourself. No one moved, everyone hesitant to approach the foreboding home, so you took one more deep breath and pushed past your boyfriend.

Steve was surprised by the confidence in your stride. He knew that you were cracking under the pressure. He knew you had to be scared out of your mind. Yet, you were facing it head on. He watched the way you tossed the hammer you were holding a bit before flipping it around and beginning to remove the nails from the board across the front door. Though he would never say it out loud, the way you looked so incredibly tough was incredibly sexy to him, and his eyes wandered your frame as he took in the sight of you.

Suddenly Steve felt an elbow in his side, jumping a bit as Robin glared at him and whispered, “dude, why don’t you stop undressing her with your eyes and help the fuck out.”

“What the hell are we supposed to be looking for in this shit hole anyway?” Steve grumbled as he made his way to the door to start removing nails on the opposite side.

“I don’t know…I-I just know it’s important,” you responded, momentarily stopping what you were doing to look at your boyfriend. You didn’t want to explain any more of what you saw and Steve didn’t press you for details as he continued removing nails.

“Maybe it has a clue as to where Vecna is,” Dustin spoke up, “you know, like why he’s back, why he killed the Creels, and how to stop him before he comes back for y/n.”

Your heart sank at the mention of your name. You weren’t sure that you’d be able to save yourself again if Vecna came back for you. The visions you were having were getting progressively longer, and your physical symptoms in the real world were getting progressively more terrifying. How long was it going to be before your bones were snapped every which way and your eyes were sucked into the back of your skull?

Steve removed the last nail and he looked at you, silently asking if you were ready. Though you weren’t, you nodded and the both of you dropped the board. It fell with a sickening thud, kicking up decades worth of dust up from the front porch. You coughed, waving away the haze before turning back to the front door. You saw the stained glass rose and suddenly your mind flashed to the sinister reds painted across the sky when Vecna had his hand around your throat.

“Hey, are you okay?” Nancy asked, gently putting a hand on your shoulder. You jumped a little, before turning slightly towards her, meeting her concerned expression.

“Yeah…yeah, I-I’m good. This is definitely it; no doubt about it,” your voice got small as you said it.

Steve tried the doorknob which didn’t turn, announcing the obvious, “it’s locked. Should I knock? See if anybody’s home?”

You rolled your eyes at Steve’s sarcasm before moving towards him. “It doesn’t matter. I have a key.” Steve looked at you quizzically, but before he could ask any questions, you shoved him to the side a bit before aggressively driving your elbow through the stained glass. It made a satisfying shattering sound as you listened to the shards hit the floor inside. You reached through the window and felt for the lock, turning it swiftly before shoving the door open.

Lucas flipped a light switch to no avail. “I guess somebody didn’t pay the electric bill,” he joked quietly as the room remained shrouded in complete darkness. The only light was the minimal sunlight peaking through the slats of the boarded up windows.

You pulled a flashlight out of your bag and handed it to Steve, knowing full and well that he didn’t bring his own, before you pulled out a second one for yourself.

“They just left everything,” Nancy breathed out, pointing her flashlight into the family room.

“Yeah, I guess a triple homicide isn’t good for resale value,” Robin responded. You barely heard her as your eyes remained fixed on the sight in front of you. You had to readjust your grip on your flashlight as you willed your hands not to shake.

“Guys, you see that too, right?” You asked quietly, the beam of your flashlight unsteadily illuminating the familiar grandfather clock in front of you.

“Yeah, we do,” Steve assured you, wrapping a hand around your shoulder and pulling you into his side. He could tell you were scared, and wanted to do everything in his power to comfort you. He couldn’t really imagine what it must be like to not be able to trust anything that you were seeing. His heart broke at the way he could see the fear in your eyes. His picture of you in his mind was always so fearless and stoic. You were always prepared to face any threat, regardless of whether or not it was supernatural.

This time was different though. This time they were racing to postpone the inevitable. It felt like a jack in the box, every attempt to investigate being another crank of the handle. He didn’t want to know what was going to happen when they pushed too far.

“Is this what you saw in your visions?” Max asked you gently. You turned to look at the girl and saw how she stared up at you with a furrowed brow, her worry painted across her face. Your expression faltered for a second before you regained your composure, readopting the stoic facade you tried to maintain; putting on a brave face for the kids.

Robin could sense your anxiety; in fact, it was radiating off of you like crazy. She was your best friend and she could read you like the back of her hand. “I mean…it’s just a clock, right?” She spoke up, trying to sound reassuring. She stepped past you and wiped the dust of the clock’s face, turning back towards you before adding, “just a normal old clock.”

“Why is this wizard obsessed with clocks? Maybe he’s like a clockmaker…or something?” Steve spoke up, and honestly it kind of broke the tension as you bit back a giggle. Steve was smart in so many ways, but in this moment, you were glad your survival was not up to your boyfriend being able to problem solve.

“I think you cracked the case, Steve,” Dustin replied sarcastically. You glared at him before elbowing him in the side. Steve was doing his best and you didn’t need the Henderson boy making him feel bad about it. Hell, you were going to take all of the help you could get…even if it was borderline idiotic.

“All I know is the answers are here…somewhere,” you added quietly, looking around the dust covered room. The longer you stayed there, the more unsettled you felt. You shook your head to clear the negativity from your mind before speaking up again. “Okay, let’s just split off.”

Robin nodded and quickly followed Nancy upstairs, and Lucas and Max darted off to the kitchen, begrudgingly followed by Henderson. The boy had wanted to stay with the two of you, but the look that Steve had shot him was clear in letting him know not to push it.

“So, I guess it’s you and me,” Steve spoke up, reaching to gently grab your hand. You jumped a bit at his touch and he immediately backed off, “sorry, I shouldn’t have—“

“No, it’s…it’s fine. It’s not you, it’s me. I-I just need to get my head on straight is all,” you quickly responded, your hand darting to grab his. You interlocked your fingers and placed a gentle kiss to the back of his hand, shooting him a weak smile. He didn’t look convinced, but he didn’t argue either.

You both entered some sort of family room, your flashlights sending light beams to scatter through the dust particles swimming through the air. You let go of his hand as you both spread out around the room to reach high and low for anything that might point you in the right direction. Though, you weren’t entirely sure what the right direction even was.

Steve was trying not to lose his mind. All he could think about was the way you had looked when you had gone into a trance at the cemetery. It was like you weren’t even there anymore. For a brief moment, he experienced what the world was like without you in it and he was sure that he couldn’t stand to live another moment like that. He looked back over his shoulder to make sure you were still there; that you were still in his sight. You were blowing a thick layer of dust off of the mantle of the fireplace, backing up and waving a hand through the air as you coughed.

Steve sucked in a deep breath and then turned back around, though it was hard for him to take his eyes off of him. You could go into another trance at any moment. He would never forgive himself if something happened to you. He redirected his gaze to his flashlight beam, noticing the way the light reflected off of something underneath a floor vent. He moved the vent out of the way, reaching in and pulling out a jar with the body of a dead spider in it.

Suddenly he felt movement on his jacket, looking over to see a spider crawling up his arm. Fear settled deep within his chest as he stood up, dropping the jar in the process and frantically backing away as he tried to get the damn thing off of him. He was embarrassed to admit it, but even Steve “the Hair” Harrington was afraid of spiders. He bumped into something (or more accurately, someone) barely noticing it was you until your voice rang out.

“What’s wrong? What happened? Are you okay?” You frantically asked, your heart pounding in your chest. You had heard the distinct sound of shattering glass and immediately started assuming the worst. You attempted to steady your boyfriend, your hands reaching for his arms, but he yanked them out of your grip, clearly still reeling from whatever encounter he just had. “Please, Steve; tell me what’s wrong!”

Your face was twisted with worry as your eyes scanned your boyfriend. He was still breathing heavily, but he was beginning to calm down. He brushed his hands down his arms, just to make sure, before pulling you into a bear hug as he rested his chin on the top of your head.

“There was a spider,” he breathed out, “black widow I think.”

He added the last part as he placed a kiss to the top of your head, squeezing you a little bit tighter. Your heart skipped a beat and you bit back a smile at how goofy Steve was sometimes. Even though he tried to be the tough guy, it was nice to know that he got scared of dumbass shit too.

“Poor baby,” you patronized, pulling away slightly to look up at him. Steve was going to stand up for himself but his words died in his throat as he just admired the way your eyes shined up at him. Recently, he hadn’t seen the light in your eyes. Even before these Vecna visions, you hadn’t been the same since what happened at Starcourt.

“Everything okay over here?” Robin’s voice rang out as she began to round the corner. The two of you quickly stepped away from each other, and Steve cleared his throat as you attempted to act natural.

Robin stopped in her tracks and glared at you, watching as you attempted to innocently shake out your hair, trying and failing miserably to pretend that you hadn’t just been pressed up against her best friend.

“Oh would you two just fuck already?” She rolled her eyes as she continued through the room, brushing past Steve on her way out. Your face immediately turned beet red and your mouth fell open, a small squeak escaping your lips as you tried and failed to defend yourself.

Steve’s face was equally red, but he chuckled as he tried to brush Robin’s comment off. He thought back to how the past him would have immediately corrected Robin; bragged about how he had in fact already slept with you. You would have been another notch on his belt, another conquest to tell Tommy H. about in the cafeteria. He was glad that he wasn’t that person anymore.

Besides, he felt somewhat self conscious about it. He knew that it had been your first time, which made it all the more nerve wracking…especially since you both hadn’t really talked about it since then. Sure, Nancy and him had slept together, and he had thought he had loved her, but since meeting you he wasn’t so sure that he really had. This—what he had with you? That was love, plain and simple. He’d never experienced anything quite like it.

He had to stop his mind from thinking about the way you had looked underneath him. The way your bare skin felt against his as he finally got to see all of you. He had to stop himself from thinking about the sounds you made, how reactive you were to his touch.

He cleared his throat, throwing an arm around your waist, feeling the need to be touching you in some capacity. He squeezed your hip a bit and smiled down at you, as the two of you shared a knowing look. He bent down to tell you something and you tried not to go weak at the knees at his warm breath whispered in your ear.

“I’m not sure about ‘already,’ but I could definitely go for ‘again.’” You could see his smirk in your mind’s eye as your breath hitched in your throat. Before you could even think about how to respond, Steve spoke up again. “Well, I guess we should get back to investigating.”

He let go of you and sauntered forward, confidence in his stride at how he’d so easily gotten a reaction out of you. You stood there for a second, staring at him in complete disbelief before biting back a smile and hustling to rejoin him. You only made it a few paces before you stopped dead in your tracks, your sneakers squeaking against the hardwood floor.

Steve whipped around to see you staring wide eyed at a lamp on the table next to you, sparking to life with erratic electricity. His heart jumped to his throat, and when you opened your mouth to speak, he wasn’t sure if the fact that your voice sounded so calm and collected made it more or less terrifying.

“I promise I’ll stop asking, but you see that too, right?”

“Yeah…yeah, I do,” Steve spoke up, fishing through his jacket pocket frantically before pulling out the walkman and headphones. He gingerly placed them over your head, hitting play on the device. You jumped at the contact, eyes previously still drawn to the flickering light at the lamp. You looked up at him confused as your hands went to the headphones on your ears. “Just in case,” Steve added in a whisper, struggling to speak past the lump in his throat.

He went to quickly turn away from you, not wanting you to see him cracking under the weight of the situation, but you quickly grabbed onto his jacket sleeve to catch his attention. “Hey, everything’s going to be okay, yeah?” You tried your best to reassure him, trying to believe the words yourself. You wanted nothing more than for them to be true.

“Yeah, yeah, yeah. Everything’s gonna be alright,” Steve agreed, but you could tell he believed it about as much as you did…which was barely at all. Normally these sort of sentiments would be followed by a pinky promise, but neither of you reached for each other’s hand as you continued to stare at the lamp humming with electricity.

Slowly but surely, you reached one of your trembling hands towards the lamp shade. As you got closer, the light intensified before flickering out altogether as soon as you made contact, plunging the room back into darkness. You could hear Steve suck in a breath and you felt his hand on the small of your back.

“Look,” Steve whispered, pointing to another lamp down the hall that had come to life with electricity. With much trepidation, you began to move towards the light source. No sooner had you started moving, did it jump to another lamp….and then another and another.

You continued to follow, but you quickly felt a force pulling you backwards as Steve’s fingers looped through the belt loops of your jeans. “Hey!” You called out, your brows stitched together in frustration as your attention was pulled away from the task at hand. “Let go of me, Steve,” you warned, your hand attempting to pry his away, but to no avail.

“Y/n, what if it’s a trap?” You could hear the fear in his voice and you saw the way it was reflected in his eyes. You two had been through hell together and lived to tell the tale. You had seen him scared all the damn time but never like this. This time your life was on the line much more directly than it had in the past. This time a miss step meant you’d be gone.

“Steve, we’re here to look for clues, so I’m looking for clues. End of discussion,” you yanked his hand away and attempted to continue down the hallway, but he caught your arm first, pulling you back again.

“Steve—“ you began again, but the rest of your sentence died in your throat as he wrapped his arms around you, his head buried in the crook of your neck as he hugged you. He held onto you as if he might never get to hold onto you again and you couldn’t help but feel tears well in your eyes as you hugged him back. He placed a tender kiss to your neck.

“I love you,” he whispered into your skin. He stayed like that for a little longer before pulling away and looking you in the eye adding, “I need you to know that y/n.”

“I know, Steve,” a tear rolled down your cheek, “I love you too. More than anything.” Your voice was a whisper, the emotion behind your words nearly rendering you speechless. You held onto each other for a few more moments before letting go and turning to follow the light.

***

Night had fallen and the seven of you stood under a cobweb chandelier, blinking haphazardly above a dining room table. You felt uneasy as you watched each bulb flicker, your hand instinctively going to grab Steve’s for comfort. He immediately reciprocated, giving your hand a tight squeeze and sending a reassuring smile your way.

“It’s like the Christmas lights,” Nancy spoke up, her eyes glued to the light fixture above you. Your mind flashed back to the Byers’ living room and the gashes now permanently etched across your arm. That was the first time you and Steve had faced threats like this together, back when you didn’t even really know each other outside of reputation.

Steve’s mind thought back to that time too, his hand letting go of yours and moving to rub up and down your upper arm. By now he had each scar perfectly memorized. He used to trace them with his fingers when you were asleep beside him as a reminder that you were still here; as a promise that he would protect you better. He felt a pang in his chest as he was painfully reminded of how he couldn’t keep that promise.

“Vecna’s here,” you spoke up, “in this house, just on the other side.

The light slowly fizzled out, nothing left but the long shadows cast by the beams of your flashlights. “I think he just left the room,” Robin spoke up, her eyes still glued to the chandelier.

“Did he hear us?” Max asked, her eyes widening with fear as she considered the possibility that Vecna may be able to discern their next move from the Upside Down.

“Can he see us?” Dustin asked further. You and Steve locked eyes before he quickly spoke up.

“Headphones!”

You abided by his instructions and quickly hit play on the walkman. “Everyone turn off your flashlights and spread out,” you added, darting away from Steve before he could protest. Everyone followed suit (though Steve did so much more begrudgingly).

You hated the way it felt being alone though. You honestly couldn’t remember the last time you were, considering the amount of time you spent sleeping over at Steve’s while his parents were traveling the world on various business trips. Your hands trembled as you waved your flashlight every which way, attempting to maybe, just maybe, pick up Vecna’s movements through the Upside Down.

All the sudden, Robin’s voice rang out through the deafening silence of the Creel house. “Got him!”

Before you could even think, your feet were taking off towards the sound of her voice. You stopped in your tracks, your breath catching in your throat as you saw the way the light hummed from her flashlight. As soon as it had started though, the light fizzled out. She made a sound of annoyance, but it didn’t last long as your flashlight suddenly sparked to life. The light jumped once more to Steve’s flashlight, and this time you were all ready.

“He’s moving! He’s moving!” Steve shouted, moving his flashlight in front of him as he followed, trying to maintain the gentle yet unsettling stream of light radiating into the empty house. You followed closely behind him, a hand loosely grabbing hold of the fabric at the bottom hem of his jacket as you tried your best to keep up with him. You ascended a staircase and once Steve reached the top, the light dissipated, leaving you all in the dark once more.

“You lost it,” you whispered, staring at the flashlight, disappointment settling into your chest as you attempted to shove it down so it wouldn’t turn into panic.

“No he didn’t,” Max spoke up, shoving past the two of you and opening a door that led to another corridor bustling with light and electricity. You all cautiously made your way up the stairs into the attic, anxiety settling in your bones. Steve instinctively wrapped his hand around your wrist for reassurance, needing a reminder that you were there.

A single light bulb thrummed with electricity, pulsing rhythmically and casting eerie shadows across the dilapidated floor. You took a cautious step towards it, and suddenly your flashlight began flickering, the beam growing stronger the closer you got. Steve’s light did the same until all of you were standing under the singular bulb, each of your flashlights synchronizing to the flicker of the attic light.

“What’s happening?” Steve whispered, eyes glued to the light above you. You had no words to answer his question, staring just as mesmerized as he was. This house likely hadn’t had electricity in the last thirty years. Thirty years! You had to remind yourself of the impossibility of it all, and you wished it was just a dream that you would wake up from, curled up in Steve’s arms.

Without warning, the light grew to a blinding intensity, and suddenly the bulbs in each of your flashlights began to burst, shattering as the light abruptly disappeared. You shrieked as you attempted to shield your eyes from the shards.

The room was plunged into a nearly pitch black darkness, the only light being the soft moonlight filtering in through the slats on the boarded up windows.

“Is everyone okay?” Nancy called out, looking over Max to check for any cuts. Robin helped her check over the other two kids while Steve turned to you.

“Hey, you’re bleeding,” his hands darted to your face, wiping blood away from a tiny cut on your cheek. His eyebrows knitted together with worry.

“Nothing a little band aid won’t fix,” you reassured him, pulling him into a hug. His hands wrapped around your waist and you felt comforted by the way they felt at the small of your back.

You thought back to the way the lights shattered as the cut on your cheek began to sting again. You felt a sinking feeling in your stomach, but you shoved it down and held onto Steve tighter.

You tried to convince yourself that this was progress. You knew something more now. What that something was, you weren’t sure. It seemed to be that you kept finding puzzle pieces but they were all impossible to connect. It was all just a big jumble.

You weren’t sure you were going to like it when the picture cleared.

***

You sat in the back of Nancy’s station wagon eating Pringles with Steve as you drove back towards Rick’s house to let Eddie know what you had found out. Robin was in the front seat rambling, clearly stressed about all that you did and didn’t know, but all chatter halted when Nancy turned the corner and noticed the crowd surrounding the lake house.

“Shit,” you whispered as you quickly yanked the trunk door open, flying out of the back seat with Steve hot on your tail as the car barely slowed to a stop. You ducked around the news van to tune into what the police officers were saying.

“….reporting a homicide here on the lake. Officer Callahan here and myself were the first on the scene. We found the victim, an 18-year-old senior from Hawkins High, Patrick McKinney, on the shore of Lover’s Lake. His limbs were…” you heard Chief Powell’s voice, but it faded out as your ears started to ring.

You stumbled backwards, needing room to breathe, shoving past all of your friends and walking down the street away from the yellow crime scene tape and the nightmares and the terror that just wouldn’t seem to stop despite how hard you tried to have a normal life.

“We’ve also identified a person of interest. Eddie Munson,” Chief Powell held up a picture of the boy to show the news camera. “We encourage anyone with information to please come forward.”

Steve immediately followed you, a sinking feeling in his chest as he ran towards you. “Y/n….y/n!” He whisper-shouted, trying to get your attention without drawing attention to you.

You didn’t react, continuing marching forward, so Steve jogged to catch up to you, grabbing onto your wrist and spinning you around to face him. His frustration over you ignoring him quickly disappeared when he noticed your tear stained cheeks and the blood trickling from your nose.

“Steve,” you breathed out, your voice dripping with sorrow, “I think I’m next.”

“Woah, woah, woah, baby, don’t say that….th-that’s not true, we don’t know that,” Steve was quick to try to comfort you, swiftly wiping at your nose with his jacket sleeve, his heart breaking as you broke out into a sob.

“We don’t know that! W-we don’t know anything! For all we know, I could go into another fucking trance right now and just like that—“ you snapped your fingers, “I’m gone.”

“Don’t fucking talk like that, y/n! I…I-I mean we found out the music thing! We’ve bought some time! You’re going to be okay, y/n, I promise, we-we just have to—“

“But how do you know that? How can you promise me that?” You cried.

“Because you have to be, okay? You just have to be,” Steve’s voice was full of fear and unshed tears and it just made yours fall faster down your face as you allowed yourself to break. The rest of the group cautiously made their way towards you as you gathered some of your composure. Suddenly, the walkie talkie sprung to life in your pocket.

“Dustin? Wheeler? Can you hear me?” Eddie’s voice crackled out of the speaker.

“Eddie! Holy shit, are you okay?” You asked, your brow furrowed with worry as you waited on bated breath for his response.

“Nah, man. Pretty….pretty goddamn far from okay.”

You could hear his exhaustion through his voice and your heart broke a little. “Where are you?” You inquired.

“Skull Rock. You know it? It’s by—”

“Yeah, I know where it is. Just hold on, okay?” Your face flushed as you thought back to the times that Steve had taken you there, but now was not the time to think about those kisses that you’d shared.

Right now it was you guys against the town, and you were damned if you were going to let them find Eddie first.

***

“Dude, you’re taking us the wrong way,” Steve complained at Dustin who was religiously following his map and compass.

“It’s north. I’m positive; I checked the map,” Dustin replied, irritation lacing his tone. You rolled your eyes at their bickering, but felt the need to speak up yourself.

“Normally I wouldn’t trust Steve’s judgment on something like this considering he bases 90% of shit like this on a hunch, but this time he’s right.”

Steve didn’t know whether to feel flattered or offended, but it didn’t matter, as he spoke up to defend himself. “Yeah Henderson, you do realize Skill Rock is like a super popular make-out spot?”

“Yeah, so?”

“Yeah, well, it wasn’t popular until I made it popular, alright? I practically invented it; we’re heading in the wrong direction,” Steve turned away from where Dustin was heading and you began to follow him. Dustin looked at you both in shock before shouting back at Steve.

“Yeah? Well just because you’ve stuck your tongue down y/n’s throat there doesn’t mean that your sense of direction is better than a goddamn compass.”

You gaped at the Henderson boy, and your glare must have shut him up because he quickly tried to back pedal his way out of it. “Woah, um that was my bad; I think I perhaps took it a little bit too far.”

“You think?” You rolled your eyes and continued on next to Steve.

“I mean, he’s not wrong…well, he definitely is about the damn compass, but we have had some pretty good times at Skull Rock,” Steve whispered to you with a smirk plastered across his face.

“Sure, whatever,” you rolled your eyes again. At the rate these boys were going, you were sure that they would roll out of your head before Vecna could suck them into the back of your skull. You immediately went nauseous at the thought.

“What do you mean ‘whatever?’ Come on, you’re telling me you don’t think about that time you skipped third period last semester?” Steve shot you a knowing look.

“Shut up,” you responded as your face went red.

“See! I know you too damn well, baby. Besides, I think about it all the fucking time so if you don’t that would be kind of embarrassing for me.”

“You think about it all the time?” You looked at him annoyed, not believing a word that was coming out of your perfect jock boyfriend’s mouth.

“I mean, yeah! Why wouldn’t I?”

“Why would you though?”

Steve paused for a second, contemplating how much he should say before he continued. He flushed a little and decided that there wasn’t much point in keeping secrets, especially since your time together may be more limited than he had thought.

“Well, I mean….okay, sometimes I think about the fact that you spend seven hours in that damn school everyday with guys that undoubtedly want to hook up with you, and-and I’m not there anymore to keep those assholes in line, you know?” Steve started and you stared at him in disbelief before he continued, “But!—but then I think about how fucking stupid that is of me and I don’t want to be one of those disgustingly possessive toxic boyfriends, so to keep myself in check I think about that time you skipped third period so that we could make out instead…and-and it calms me down a little…because if I keep kissing you like that then I would hope you wouldn’t be tempted by any of those dumbasses at Hawkins High.”

You began cackling and Steve turned beet red. “Hey! I’m pouring my heart and soul out to you here, you little shit! You don’t get to laugh!”

“No, you’re right; I’m sorry,” you giggled as you wrapped an arm around his and leaned into him. “It’s just…you’re you.”

“—and?”

“And—if either of us was going to be worried, it should be me,” you argued with a chuckle, “I mean, I spent so much time watching you flirt with other girls right in front of me when we worked at Scoops!”

“That was stupid of me, I don’t know why I did that,” Steve shook his head and looked down at his feet, a bit disappointed in his past behavior. “I was honestly just so in love with you at the time and it scared the shit out of me—it still scares the shit out of me, by the way—that I thought an appropriate solution would be to find someone that didn’t scare me so that I wouldn’t fuck it up and lose you, you know?”

“You’re not gonna lose me,” you nudged him in the side and smiled up at him, a silent gesture that you forgave him for his past mistakes. “I’m in it for the long haul, alright?”

Steve smiled back at you and shook his head. You were just so perfect.

“Besides,” you spoke up again before adding the rest in a whisper, “I think about that time during third period all the time too.” And with that you sauntered ahead of him, your hips swaying back and forth, in a way that had Steve thinking…well, about that third period.

You shoved forward through some overgrowth to a clearing to see the one and only Skull Rock. Steve pushed through shortly after you and you could see the self-satisfied smirk stretch across his face.

“Bada bing, bada boom. There she is, Henderson. Skull Rock. In your face, man. In your stupid, cocky little face,” Steve shouted out, and you smacked his arm with the back of your hand. You had only ever officially been Dustin’s babysitter, but sometimes it really did feel like you were babysitting Steve too.

“Cool it, Harrington,” you warned.

“But it doesn’t make sense,” Dustin stared at the boulders confused, and suddenly you got a sinking sort of feeling in your stomach.

“Yeah, yeah, even with it staring you in the face, you can’t admit it. You just can’t admit that you’re wrong, you little butthead,” Steve retorted. Suddenly, you heard something behind you, and you quickly turned on your heels as you heard the familiar voice ring out.

“I concur. You, Dustin Henderson, are a total butthead.”

“We thought you were a goner,” Dustin quickly hugged Eddie, relieved to see that he was okay given the police cars and news vans that had infiltrated his hiding spot.

“Yeah, me too…me too,” Eddie replied, patting the boy on the back before letting him go. “Teach, glad you could make it, sorry about the…you know,” Eddie gestured to his neck, apologizing for the small cut that he had left on yours.

“No apologies necessary. We’re just glad that you’re okay,” you replied, pulling Eddie in for a hug as well. You hated that he was involved in all of this shit. You hated how you always managed to bring more people into this mess; that it grew and spread like weeds in a garden.

Eddie explained what had happened with Patrick, and your heart sank at the fact that he had to experience all that trauma all over again. “…and when I got to shore, I tried to call you guys but my walkie was busted, so, uh, I did the thing that I do now apparently: I ran,” He chuckled exasperatedly.

“Do you know what time this was exactly?” Nancy inquired.

“Yeah, no, I…I know exactly what time it was. My walkie wasn’t the only thing that got soaked,” Eddie replied, taking off his watch and tossing it to Nancy.

“9:27,” she read the time out.

“Same time our flashlights when kablooey,” Robin added the proper context.

“Which means what, exactly?” Steve asked.

“That that surge of energy was Vecna attacking Patrick,” Nancy explained.

“Well, we’re one step closer. At least we know how Vecna attacks,” you tried to be optimistic, but it didn’t really feel like much of a win.

“And where he attacks from,” Lucas spoke up.

“So, now we just need to sneak into his lair in the Upside Down and drive a stake through his heart,” Max emphasized. All jokes aside, it sounded simple when she said it, though you knew that wouldn’t be the case.

“A stake? Is he like a vamp—is he a vampire?” Steve asked.

“It was a metaphor, sweetheart,” you replied. Oh how that boy was great at not catching on.

“A bullet should work on him, right?” Eddie asked.

“I say we chop his head off,” Lucas suggested.

“Hey, uh, Henderson’s not, uh, cursed…is he?” Eddie pointed and you all turned to see the boy pacing back and forth.

“Cursed? No, no, no, he’s fine. Mental? Absolutely,” Steve answered.

“Boom!” The boy suddenly shouted into the wilderness, “I was right! Skull Rock was north.”

“Seriously? Are you serious? This is Skull Rock!” Steve shouted back. That sinking feeling in your stomach returned as you took a deep breath awaiting Dustin’s explanation.

“This compass worked correctly when we left the Wheelers’. It was correct when we got in the car on Kerley. But it started to slip the further east we went. Now, it’s way off. When I was leading us here, I wasn’t wrong; the compass was. Do you remember what can affect a compass?”

“An electromagnetic field,” Lucas answered as his eyes lit up, beginning to connect the dots.

“I’m sorry, I must’ve skipped that class,” Robin spoke up, requesting an explanation.

“In the presence of a stronger electromagnetic field, the needle will deflect towards that power,” you began and Steve looked at you incredulously. You shrugged as Dustin continued.

“So, there’s either some super big magnet around here, or there’s a gate.”

“But we’re no where near the lab,” Nancy pointed out.

“But what if, somehow, there’s another gate? A gate that we don’t know about. It would have to be smaller, way less powerful,” Dustin proposed.

“A snack sized gate,” Robin contextualized.

“But how? Why?” Steve asked the hard questions.

“I don’t know. All I know is that something is causing this disturbance and the last time we saw anything like it, there was a gate. And if there is a gate that means we can get to Vecna and we have a shot at freeing y/n from this curse,” Dustin explained and then turned, his eyes glued back to the faulty compass.

“Hey, woah, woah, woah,” Steve spoke up, a hand on his hip and giving peak paternal vibes, “Eddie’s still a wanted man. We can’t just go on a hike in the woods.”

“This compass might be the key to saving Eddie and y/n. What say you, Eddie the Banished?” Dustin replied.

“I say you’re asking me to follow you into Mordor, which, if I’m totally straight with you, I think it’s a really bad idea…but uh, the Shire…the Shire is burning,” Eddie replied and Dustin began to jump up and down in excitement. You rolled your eyes and chuckled at Steve’s confused expression.

“So Mordor it is,” you added as Eddie hopped up to follow Dustin, the rest of the gang following suit.

“What is Mordor?” Steve asked quietly.

“Oh, baby,” you replied pitifully as you placed a hand on his back and led him to follow the others.

***

Night had fallen and you were still walking through the woods following the damn compass. Your feet were getting tired and if one more low branch hit you in the face you were pretty sure you were going to scream.

Robin and Steve were arguing over the plot of the movie they had watched at your last shift together and you fell into step with Eddie.

“So, I take it when I saw you all beat up in the movie theater last summer, it was related to all of this shit, right?” Eddie inquired.

“I mean yeah…well, kind of,” you replied, your face scrunching up in thought as you considered how you would have contextualized those specific injuries.

“What do you mean ‘kind of’?”

“Well, it was related to all of this supernatural bullshit, but not quite supernatural. Long story short, I got the shit beat out of me by a bunch of Russians who were secretly in Hawkins trying to reopen the gate to the Upside Down,” you explained. Eddie stared at you for a second, not really sure how to respond.

“So…you did all of that…and then just came back to school, like it was nothing? Started tutoring me in physics?”

“I mean, it was the third time some crazy ass shit had happened, so I guess afterwards all there is to do is to try and return to some form of normalcy. What else were we supposed to do?” You asked rhetorically. “Also, Steve and I started dating which made things a lot easier. You know, just having someone to rely on like that and all.”

It felt natural confiding in Eddie. He never judged you and you never judged him. He felt like the type of person that would be in your corner despite your ups and downs and you appreciated that tutoring him had given you the opportunity to see that side of him.

“Bullshit. You had to have been dating Steve last school year. Like before the mall fire. You two were all over each other after him and Nancy broke up; you were practically together all of the time!”

“It was…complicated before last summer,” you chose your words carefully. “I don’t think we knew how to tell each other how we felt, you know? I mean, we had already watched the world nearly end twice at that point, and the thought of ruining our friendship to pursue a relationship that might not work out was scary then. Looking back it was stupid of us, but we’re together now and that’s all that matters.”

“You think he’s the one?” Eddie asked and your face went bright red. You hadn’t really thought about it, but then again, you hadn’t really needed to because you already knew.

“Yeah…yeah, I think he is,” you smiled, your eyes focused on Steve’s back, watching how he laughed at something Robin had said. “Don’t fucking tell him I said that though or I’ll kill you myself,” you threatened.

“Surely he has to already know,” Eddie argued. You felt your insecurity festering in your chest. Sometimes you still couldn’t believe that he loved you. You weren’t the kind of girl he would have paid any attention to in the past and sometimes that thought ate away at you. You knew that he was it for you, but sometimes you doubted whether or not you were it for him. You hoped with all of your heart that you were.

You shrugged, “I don’t know. I mean, I’m probably going away to college next year and I don’t really know how we’ll make it through that. I don’t want him to have to wait for me, you know?”

“Oh, he’s waiting for you, honey. Don’t worry your pretty little head about that,” Eddie chuckled, speaking as if the idea was absurd. You felt a weight fall off of your shoulders as he said it. You bit back a smile as the two of you quickened your pace to rejoin the rest of the group.

“Dustin? Can you slow down? Dustin?” Steve called out as he attempted to follow the all-too-energetic boy.

“I think we’re getting close!” Dustin called out as he turned over his shoulder as you all entered a clearing, and you quickly pushed past Steve, grabbing the back of the boy’s collar just in time to keep him from stepping right into the lake.

“Woah, cool it alright?” You warned, your babysitting instincts still prepped and ready for action.

“You gotta be shitting me,” Steve breathed out. You were right back where you started. Lover’s Lake.

“There’s a gate in Lover’s Lake?” Max asked, trying to sort out the pieces of the puzzle in her head.

“Whenever the demogorgon attacked, it always left an opening. Maybe Vecna’s the same way,” Nancy suggested.

“Only one way to find out,” Steve spoke up. You all wandered the shore of Lover’s Lake until you found a boat. Steve held it steady as Robin, Nancy, Eddie, and you piled on. You had come prepared, again all thanks to the babysitting, and had the walkman and headphones safe in a ziplock bag to avoid them getting damaged from the water.

Dustin attempted to board the boat, but Eddie swiftly stopped him. “Woah, woah, woah. You trying to sink us? This thing holds four people tops, okay?”

“It’s better this way. If we all disappear, people are going to get suspicious,” Nancy argued.

“It’s my goddamn theory!”

“You heard Nance,” Robin warned.

“Who put her in charge?!” The boy asked in exasperation.

“I did,” Robin replied simply.

“Compass,” you held out your hand and Dustin begrudgingly gave it to you.

Steve pushed the boat off the shore, boarding it as it started to float away. “You said four!” Dustin shouted, angry at the way he’d been conned.

“Sorry,” Steve offered as the boat continued on. He threw an arm around you and hugged you to his side. He was nervous about the fact that you weren’t on the shore with the kids, but he knew that you would find a way out on the lake one way or another so he didn’t really feel like fighting the inevitable…even though you all were quite literally fighting the inevitable.

You thought about how this would be fun in any other context. Just you, three of your close friends, and your boyfriend, out on the lake at night. You thought about the way you would all probably crack jokes and share stories, passing the time away until it was way later than you realized. You wished that could be your reality, and you swallowed the lump in your throat as you accepted that it wasn’t.

The compass jumped to life in your hands, the needle spinning every which direction. “Woah, woah, woah! Slow down guys!” You called out, eyes glued to the small device in your hand.

“Woah,” Steve breathed out as you stopped to watch the compass needle spin. It was a mesmerizing sight, and your hands slightly shook as you watched it. Steve noticed and quickly grabbed your other hand, running his thumb over the back of it to calm you down.

“Guys what’s going on?” Dustin’s voice crackled through the walkie talkie. Robin quickly attended to it.

“Uh, Dustin, your compass has gone from wonky to wonky with a capital ‘ahhh!’” You barely paid any attention to her words, more preoccupied with the way Steve began quickly removing his shoes.

“Steve, what are you doing?” You were quick to question, though you already knew the answer. Your heart stopped in your chest and you felt like you could barely breathe anymore.

“Somebody’s gotta go down there and check this out. And unless one of you four can top being a Hawkins High swim co-captain and a certified lifeguard for three years, then…it’s gotta be me. No complaints, alright?” He made eye contact with you as he said the last part. You gaped at him, struggling to find the words to voice your very obvious complaint.

“Hey, I’m not complaining,” Eddie spoke up, “I do not want to go down there.”

Eddie wrapped his flashlight in a plastic bag and handed it to your boyfriend, and suddenly you were at a loss for words at the only other man on the boat too. Typical.

Steve took off his yellow crewneck and you flushed at the sight of his bare back. He was toned in just the right way that made you want to run your hands all over him, and you could go weak at the knees at the sight of his chest…but that was besides the point; right now, you needed to focus on the task at hand: not letting your boyfriend go kill himself trying to solve an inter-dimensional mystery.

“Steve, just let me go, okay? I’m practically dying anyway,” you argued, trying to pry the flashlight out of his hand. He swiftly pulled his hand above his head and out of your reach.

“Okay, absolutely not. No way…in hell. Alright?”

“Steve,” you looked up at him with so much worry that he about broke right then and there. But what he was doing was to save you, so that you would still be around for him to keep looking into those beautiful eyes.

He pulled you into a tight hug, placing a kiss to the top of his head. You placed a gentle kiss to his bare chest as you tried to swallow the worry that had leapt to your throat. “I’ll be alright, okay? I promise.”

He extended his pinky towards you and you hooked yours around his, taking a deep breath and nodding. “Be careful,” you warned him, and just like that he dove into the lake, disappearing under the surface of the water.

“Holy shit,” you whispered, holding a hand to your chest as you tried to remain calm. Normally when the two of you had faced supernatural bullshit together, you faced it together. The fact that Steve was on a solo mission right now was enough to make your heart explode. Maybe that made you codependent but right now you didn’t care.

“Woah, y/n are you okay?” Robin asked, noticing the way your breath was shaky.

“Yeah, I-I’m fine, I just need….to catch my breath is all,” you responded. She rubbed circles around your back, trying to comfort you while the four of you waited for Steve to resurface. How long could he even hold his breath for? You couldn’t even fucking breathe and you had access to plenty of oxygen.

“Where we at, Wheeler?” Robin asked, starting to get worried herself.

“Closing in on a minute.”

You all stared at the undisturbed lake. The silence was deafening and you were about fifteen seconds away from jumping in yourself when the surface of the water broke and Steve emerged, causing all of you to jump.

“I found it,” Steve reported, swimming towards the side of the boat to get back in.

“You found it?” You asked, hope starting to build in your chest, relieved that your boyfriend was no longer in the depths of Lover’s Lake searching for inter-dimensional portals.

“I found it, yeah, I found it,” he reiterated with a chuckle, his eyes shining as hope began to build in his heart as well. He grabbed onto the side of the boat, and it gently rocked towards him.

“Dustin, you are a goddamn Einstein! Steve found the gate!” Robin reported back to land.

“It’s pretty wild,” Steve explained, “it’s more of a snack sized gate than the mama gate, but still, it’s pretty damn big.”

No sooner had Steve finished his sentence, did he suddenly dip below the surface of the water, his shout cut off by his head nearly going under. He gripped the side of the boat more firmly, it teetering to the side, causing the rest of you to fall off balance. Steve bobbed back up, looking you in the eye, before he was suddenly yanked under the water again, this time losing his grip on the boat and disappearing completely below the surface of the lake.

“Steve!” You shouted, beginning to hyperventilate. You felt your stomach drop as he didn’t resurface. Everyone else on the boat was yelling and shouting and everything was starting to go fuzzy. They sounded far away and all you could hear was your heart beating in your chest.

Eddie, Robin, and Nancy were shouting at each other, arguing about what they should do. Your mind finally cleared in the chaos of the moment. You didn’t think twice, standing up and ignoring their protests as you dove headfirst into the cold water of the lake.

***

a/n: shit’s gettin’ real. Anyway, again so sorry about taking forever, but I hope it was worth the wait :). Reblog if you’re feeling generous and want to make me smile! Also comment! I love hearing what you think and it helps motivate me to write more when I see people interacting with the story! Love you all <3

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[cupidsdolll]

word count: 1.1k

summary: harry’s angry at the world, himself included and he makes it everyone’s problem but there might be a light coming in the middle of his storm

notes: this is part two of this fic so it is still considered a dark fic. it contains mentions of drinking to cope with his grief, violence inflicted onto others and a brief scene of it as well.

masterlist

- - - -

To say that Harry’s been miserable lately would be a huge understatement. He’s been absolutely insufferable in the past two weeks. He spends all day drinking and holed up inside his office, he’s grumpy and snappy with everybody and he’s even more mean whenever he has to take care of someone. It’s his release in a way, the one safe space he can let out his anger at the world, at the Gallegos for taking away his love, at himself for not doing more.

“Goddamn! Fuck!” He screams in the confines of his office. He down a shot of whiskey and quickly pours himself another one, the burn going down his throat is welcoming — encouraged is the better word for it. His chest rises and falls harshly as he stares at the picture of her. One he had taken a couple of months into knowing each other, a bright smile on her lips and her hair and dress flowing in the wind behind her as they walked through a park. She had wanted a picnic and he was a sucker for her smile, so of course he’d do it for her. It was all worth it in the end, to see the smile plastered on her face and the excitement in her eyes

He misses her terribly, the past week has been the hardest week ever and he doesn’t know if it’ll get any better. He allows the tears to fall freely, to stain his cheeks and the mahogany oak of his desk. It seems as if his tears are never ending, just becoming a permanent addition to his appearance. He can’t bring himself to care, too busy wallowing in his guilt and pain. He guesses he deserves it in a way, none of this would’ve happened if he’d been paying more attention, if they would’ve stayed home or better yet if he’d never given her his number.

He huffs sadly as he wipes his tears away the best he can, he can’t do anything about the stains left on his cheeks. He takes another shot of whiskey and heads towards his office door, he figures now is as good of a time as any, and really he just can’t wait to let out some tension. He walks out the room and down the hall, ignoring the eyes of the few employees gathered around the desk before rolling his eyes as they start whispering.

“Don’t you all have a fucking job to do? This isn’t Barbie’s show where we all sit around and look pretty.” He huffs before mumbling under his breath, watching them with crossed arms as they scramble to find something to do.

He continues walking then, taking deep breaths to try to hold back the tears threatening to fall. He can’t look weak in front of them. He walks past the framed pictures on the wall, past the rooms where clicking and the occasional scream filters through the closed doors until he gets to the last door in the hall. The dark wooden door detailed with swirls and large black handles is heavy as he pushes it open, but he enjoys the pain. His own form of punishment he guesses.

The room is filled with different tools and weapons, lights scattered all over the ceiling but still keeps the room dark enough. He prefers this environment to feel more like a horror movie than just a simple killing room, and wants it to feel eerie and depressing. He wants the room to inflict absolute sheer terror and feet into anyone who just so happens to end up strapped to the chair. His dress shoes click against the concrete floor, echoing around the room and he watches happily as the man strapped to the chair begins to squirm and try to break free. It’s no use though, he’s mastered the best knot to tie around the body and the chair tightly to keep them from moving but also to inflict pain when they try to escape.

“Well, well, well. Not happy to see me?” He asks in a sickly sweet voice, too sweet to be used in such a setting. The man shakes his head violently as he tries rocking the chair side to side, his screams are muffled behind the tape. Harry simply chuckles, he’s always amused at their useless attempts.

“Now, I just have a couple of questions for you. I just need some information and I believe you should be able to help with this.” He says as he leans down so his face is right in front of the man with tears filling his eyes. The man shakes his head and Harry grabs a handful of his hair, firmly holding him in place.

“So you don’t want to leave? I was gonna let you leave if you answer… but since you don’t think that’s fair.. you’ll be stuck here.” He says and he watches as more tears fall from the man’s eyes and Harry just laughs, everyone wants to be all big and bad until they have to confront their behaviors. They think that no one will be able to catch them, they always underestimate his dedication. He’ll search every corner of the internet and the world just to find someone, and he’s been doing that lately. Searching for hours and hours on the internet to find someone.

He pulls himself back as he smiles, he’s gonna enjoy himself through all this. He starts off small, a few punches and rough tugs of the hair, and he relishes in the muffled cries of the man in front. He rips off the tape and the man screams.

“Who wanted my girl dead and why?” He asks and the man shakes his head.

“I don’t know man!” He says through his tears and shakes his head as if he’s disappointed.

“Such a shame.” He says as he walks to a table full of various weapons and tools of all sizes, he grabs a pair of pliers and walks back to the man, hitting the pliers against his palm.

“Maybe this will ring some answers for you, for every question you don’t answer and I’m not satisfied with the answer I’ll pull one of your teeth out. How does that sound?” The man cries and shakes his head.

“Please man, I’m serious! I don’t know anything!” He cries out and Harry sighs.

“Already onto a bad start, my friend.” He says as he yanks the man’s jaw open as he decides which teeth to pull. As soon as he picks one, the door opens and EJ’s voice rings out.

“Hey boss, sorry to bother you but you have a phone call, it’s important.” Harry shakes his head. He should know better than to interrupt him. He’d hate to have to fire him.

“Uh, I’m busy. Tell them I’ll call back later.” Harry replies back, sarcasm and annoyance dripping from his voiceand the door still stays open.

“It’s the hospital, Y/N. She’s alive.”

[ch3rryc4ndy]

Sex with Me

Relationship - Dom! Haechan X Fem reader

Genre - Smut

Summary - Your best friend tries to convince you that everyone he sleeps with says he’s the best they’ve ever had. Unconvinced he decides to show you for himself.

Warnings - language, choking!, unprotected sex, pet names, aggressive haechan, talks of smoking (weed), degrading, talks of drinking, semi possessive haechan

“I swear it” haechan nods with a mouth full of ice cream “you lie a lot so why would I actually believe you” I shrug as haechan tries to convince me that all the people he’s slept with say he’s the best they’ve had.

“And how did we even get to this conversation, we were just talking about horror movies” I laugh as I bite into my cookie “I’m not lying y/n” he winks completely disregarding my question from before.

“I could always prove my point to you” he sighs with a smile on his face “really haechan” I laugh as he taps two fingers up my leg “I mean I’ve always wondered how you’d taste” he smiles.

“Are you drunk again” I roll my eyes as I place the back of my hand onto his forehead making he wasn’t drunk since he tends to get hotter when drunk “you aren’t hot so I guess you aren’t drunk” I smile “I’m not hot?” He pouts as he fake cries with a spoon hanging from his mouth.

“Oh my god haechan you know what I meant” I roll my eyes. He falls onto my lap, fake crying louder as he nuzzles between my thighs “haechan!” I squeal “I like it down here” he hums as he bites my inner thigh.

I don’t bother pushing him off he wraps his arms around my waist “not pushing me off?” He hums as he looks up at me with a raised eyebrow “I’m cold so I don’t mind the extra body heat” I shrug as I continue to snack on my candy.

I go back to watching the movie as haechans head comes back to lay on my lap. A few minutes pass of me watching the movie as I feel his face bury back between my thighs, I jerk back as I feel his nose hit my cunt, a low chuckle from below as he kisses my inner thighs.

I squirm from how close he was, his hands needing the sides of my thighs as he licks my clothed cunt. “Haechan” I mewl as he looks up at me “can I?” he hums slightly tugging on my panties. I nod eagerly at his question “need you to use your words” he purrs.

“Yes” I whine, my fingers tangling into his hair as he throws my panties onto the ground “so pretty” he purrs, his hands shifting me slightly to give him a better angle.

“Relax, you’re so tense” he purrs as looks up at me with pleading eyes “I’ve got you” he coos as he wraps my legs around his shoulders. My body shivers as he licks my cunt, softly pressing kisses onto my folds as he buries himself into my pussy.

“H- hycuk” I gasp as he hums onto my pussy “taste so good” he purrs as his tongue circles my clit softly. My fingers tangle into his puffy hair and needing it as he laps at my pussy.

My body feels as if I’m floating, his soft tongue making me squirm. “You sound so fucken pretty” he moans onto my pussy, his nails digging into my thighs as he loses himself in my pussy.

“O- oh my” I pant out as haechans pace quickens “let go” he whimpers in a needy tone. A shaky squeal leaves me as my head falls back, my eyes squint shut in ecstasy as he continues to lap at my pussy.

My legs squeeze around him, my orgasm hitting harder as he keeps going “I- can’t t- take it” I whine as I pat on his back “you can take it” he purrs. My nails dig into his hands, my body jerking and shivering from overstimulation.

“I might have to do this more often” he smiles, pulling back slowly as he takes in how sensitive I was. He kisses me softly, letting me taste myself as he swirls his tongue around mine.

“Fuck me” I whisper onto his lips, a smile growing on his face as he looks at me with a raised eyebrow. “I don’t have a condom” he sighs as he looks down at me with a smile he was failing to hide “I don’t care” I whine as his hands run up my torso.

“Just remembered you like being fucked full of cum, didn’t you tell me that once?” He cockily grins “I was high when I told you” I chuckle as he buries himself into my neck “but it’s true isn’t it?” He coos.

“Yea it is” I pant as he fiddles with his jeans. His pants hit the ground in seconds followed by his boxers “how many other guys have you let cum in you huh?” He whispers into my ear.

A whimper leaves me as I feel him rubbing his cock through my folds “n- no one” I moan as he teases me “I’m gunna be the first one?” He coos “yeah” I nod as he smiles onto my cheek “good”

Haechan thrusts into me roughly, lifting my legs onto his chest as he pounds me onto the couch. “Feels s- so fucken good” he hisses as his thrusts get harder “you’ve been driving me crazy” he growls as he fucks into me deeper, his cock pumping in and out of me roughly.

My hands getting smacked out of the way as I try and slow down his thrusts “don’t try and slow me down” he hisses as he drops my legs around his hips and holds me down by my neck.

“Don’t care if it feel too good, don’t care if it hurts, you wanted it you take it” he hisses with a primal tone. My eyes roll back at the feeling of his grip on my neck making me dizzy “you like being fucked like this don’t you” he chuckles as a smile grows on my face.

“Don’t bother lying I know you y/n, you love being treated this way” he scoffs, pushing me down and letting go of my neck “Haech- Hy- haechan” I mutter out of breath as I feel myself reaching my 2nd orgasm.

“Cum on me doll, I’ve got you” he whispers onto my lips. I scratch at his arms as he fucks into me harder “want me to cum in you yeah? Fuck my cum into you until you’re crying?” haechan coos.

The only sounds in the room being our moans and his hard thrusts. My pussy clenches around him and my legs squeezing around his waist as his pace starts to get sloppy “f- fuck”

His breaths get heavier as he holds my hips down onto the couch, thrusting into me sloppily. Incoherent words spill from him as he twitches inside me filling me full.

My body shivering at the unfamiliar feeling of being filled with his cum “gonna make sure you never do this with anyone else” he hisses as he pounds into me with his hands round my neck.

He falls onto my chest, my fingers tangling back into his hair as we catch out breaths. “We should’ve done that earlier” he groans as he lifts himself up and pulls out of me. He hums at the sight of our cum dripping onto the couch.

I lay there with a weak smile on my face as I catch my breath.“You ok doll?” Haechan chuckles as he pulls me onto his lap “yeah” I reply weakly as I nuzzle into his neck.

“so I’m the best you’ve had right?”

[demibats]

how to survive a horror movie - the first to go. . .

we aren't gonna talk about the fact that it took me an entire year to revisit this fic and post the first chapter ok? but without further ado, WE ARE SO BACK. give the masterlist a visit for context if you'd like <3 -demi xx chapter warnings: weed mention, brief description of homic*de and violence. minors do not interact!

word count: 3.4k

July 1991.

You’re practically being boiled alive in the tin can castle known as Munson Manor. The Indiana heat isn’t the awful part, but the humidity has you and everyone else in Hawkins choking on the air. The measly little air conditioner situated in one of the living room windows is working overtime to cool off the small trailer to no avail. You and Eddie lay on the floor, staring up at his ceiling, opposite of one another. He turned his head to look over at you, but your eyes are closed, trying to think of anything but the heat. You can feel his heavy stare on you, but you keep your eyes closed, knowing that the blood would rush to both of your cheeks if you caught him staring. 

“It’s hotter than Satan’s ass crack outside, can’t we go swimming or somethin’?” Eddie complains next to you, pushing the heels of his palms into his eyes.

You take this as an appropriate cue to open your eyes and turn to him, watching him writhe in the uncomfortable temperature. It makes you chuckle a little, examining the way his ‘Slayer’ muscle tank sticks to his torso from sweat. 

“I recommended that two hours ago and you whined at that too,” you challenge, resting your hands on your stomach, folded neatly there. Eddie shifts, taking his hands away from his eyes, those chocolate buttons fixating onto your gaze.

“The people of Hawkins don’t deserve to see what I’ve got underneath the denim and leather, sweetheart, but I’m bakin’ like a pie and I’ve already undressed to my comfort level.” He sounds too much like some kind of massage therapist as he says that last part, earning another breathy giggle from you. 

Your gaze lingers too long on his cut-off jeans, muscle tank, and bunched up crew socks that he ends up snapping his fingers in front of you, “Hellooooooo? Do I need to adjust the antennas on this thing?” He teases, gesturing to the top of your head as if it’s his old television. 

Waving him off, you push yourself onto your elbows, then off the cool carpet you’d been laying atop of for the last few hours, trying to will the heat away with Eddie at your side. He scrambles to his feet as well, long limbs making him look less like an agile ballerina and more like a newborn giraffe. All leg, no coordination. 

“I’ll give Robs and Steve a call, see if either of them can get a hold of Jonathan and Nance. You can be in charge of recruiting Argyle,” as you give him his set of instructions, he pushes his bottom lip out in a faux pout, “Don’t give me those puppy dog eyes, they don’t work on me anymore, Munson.”

He mumbles something along the lines of ‘they used to’ before heading toward the front door, the jingling of his keychain making you turn your head toward him, his landline nestled between your ear and shoulder, “Make sure he brings sunscreen this time and not just pizza nachos!”

“I’ll make sure he brings both!” Eddie quips before the door is closed between the two of you.

. . . 

Hawkins Community Pool is always packed during the summer. It’s the one reliable spot to cool off, unless you prefer the hose from your backyard. The poolside is lined with women in bikinis, magazine in hand and sunglasses shading their eyes from the harsh light of the midday sun. Kids splash around in the pool, being scolded by lifeguards being underpaid to make sure none of the little shitheads drown. It's the picture perfect scenery for a small midwest town summer. 

Sitting at the edge of the pool, your legs barely in the water, you sway your feet and the crystalline liquid ripples around you. Jonathan and Argyle are two knuckles deep in pizza nachos, a delicacy only the ladder’s cannabis-coated mind could craft. Underneath your dark shades, you lift your gaze over to watch Eddie in the pool with Robin on his shoulders, Nancy on Steve’s as they poorly attempt a game of ‘Chicken’, before one of the lifeguards beckons them to stop. 

After getting reprimanded by the pool police, Eddie hangs his head in pretend shame as he slides next to you at the pool’s edge , the ends of his curls wet and dripping onto his shoulders. “I bet you could’ve knocked Nance over. Robin’s too soft to head into a brutal ‘Chicken’ battle and win.” He says this because he knows it to be true, although you aren’t so sure.

“I’m surprised Robin was being so nervous about it.” You respond coyly, pretending like neither of you know about Robin’s enormous crush on Nancy. 

Disregarding the conversation about Robin and Nance, Eddie looks around the pool at the moms helping their kids towel-dry off and the meatheads and their girlfriends either arguing or borderline fucking poolside. It makes his skin crawl a bit to see such blatant public displays of affection. 

However, you think otherwise. It might be nice to have someone dote on you the way some of the boys of Hawkins do to their girlfriends. Maybe not the kind of boy like Tommy Hagan or Billy Hargrove, but someone like— 

“Hey! Come play Marco Polo with us!” Steve shouts, Robin and Nancy wading around him like sharks circling their prey. 

Eddie immediately slides back into the water, but he’s facing you, droplets sliding down his tattooed skin, glistening in the sunlight, “Come on, it’s not every day you get to see how oblivious Steve is to echolocation.” He chides, bringing a ring-adorned hand up to rest on top of your knee. His gesture sends a shiver up your spine, but you nod, more excited than you should be about the prospect of playing Marco Polo. But truthfully, you know why you're vibrating with joy.

The first two games are way too easy. Robin is Marco the first round and finds Eddie first, bumbling around the water like a scared duck. Once Eddie is Marco, he finds Steve and nearly drowns him, causing the lifeguard to give Eddie a final warning. When Steve is Marco, he can’t find a single one of you to save his life. 

“You suck at this, Steve!” Robin shouts from her spot. Nancy even tries splashing water at Steve to make him find her easier, but to no avail. Eddie has half a mind to try to drown him again. You wade around, trying to stay away from the other three stooges, especially since they’re actively trying to get Steve to catch them. It’s amusing, watching the four of them seem so carefree. 

Marco Polo ends on a high note, Steve finally finding Nancy (by accident). The five of you exit the pool to reapply sunscreen and try to pick at the crumbs of the pizza nachos, but the two megastoners have demolished more than half of them. The heat and water games have you exhausted, skin dry and pruning from the chlorine water. You slip your plastic flip flops on, your towel still wrapped around your torso. 

“Credit where credit is due, it was a genius idea to go to the pool today,” Eddie compliments, drying his frizzing curls with an old Power Rangers towel, “Wanna ditch these crazies and get a slushee?”

. . .

Eddie convinces Nancy to load the whole gaggle of twenty-somethings into her station wagon while you and Eddie leave from Hawkins Community Pool early. She agrees with a roll of her eyes before she’s back in the pool with Robin and Argyle as she tries to explain how to play mermaids to the long-haired boy. 

Your thighs stick together in the heat of his van, the chlorine-water creating a layer of discomfort against your skin. You try not to squirm in the seat, flesh itching from the pool drying out your pores. After shoving miscellaneous items into the already packed and trashed back of his van, Eddie most elegantly thrashes into the driver’s seat, his typical dopey grin seated perfectly on his pink lips. He’s fumbling for a tape to slide into his player, realizing how disorganized his music collection is, he laughs at himself, “Maybe I’ll have Robin organize these by alphabetical order or somethin’, Jesus.”

“Do that and she may try to sneak some Madonna,” You quip, thinking about Eddie’s disgruntled disagreements with Robin about her taste in music. 

Turning around, his arm reaching around the back of the passenger seat, he cranes his neck and torso to look back as he backs out of his parking spot. There’s something about this gesture, something so simple and plain, that makes your cheeks burn. He doesn’t see this, but he notices how you straighten your back up into your seat as you turn to look out the window, “You’re good on this side,” you offer.

“I know, sweetheart, I’ve got us covered.”

Eddie’s not the best driver, but he’s confident and has always kept you safe when you’re riding shotgun. He’s even let you pick the music that plays, despite his limited options, leaning toward 80’s thrash metal more than anything else, but it’s grown on you. 

The drive to 7/11 is about fifteen minutes, give or take. The sun is fading behind the tree line, the bright orange orb glowing beneath, creating a silhouette of twisted tree limbs. It’s as haunting as it is beautiful. Eddie drums along the steering wheel with the beat to ‘Sweet Leaf’, his hair still dripping onto his muscle tank. 

You adjust the flimsy cover over your bathing suit, trying to find a more comfortable spot in your seat. Eddie turns into the parking lot to the 7/11, pulling up right in front of the doors. You’re quick to unbuckle your seatbelt, but Eddie is quicker, hopping out of his driver’s seat to run around the hood of his van, opening your door for you, “M’lady,” he purrs, offering his tattooed hand out to you. 

You take it with a gentle courtesy, “M’lord,” you respond as you jump onto the pavement, your flip flops clapping against your heels as you do so. 

“I’ve always pictured myself as the court jester. Yknow, fuckin’ around and makin’ a fool outta myself just because I can.” He opens the door to the mini mart for you as well, earning a hushed ‘thank you’ from you. 

You laugh at his comment, reflecting on his words, “Don’t you do that anyway?”

“I’m taking that as a compliment, so thank you.” Eddie’s tone is a bit sassy , assuming you meant your comment to be an insult, but it is in fact a compliment. 

The 7/11 is desolate, with the exception of one customer talking to the sole cashier who looks bored out of her mind. She’s twirling her red curls around her fingers, popping bubblegum between her lips as the middle-aged man in a baseball cap tries to flirt with her to no avail. Meandering through the maze of aisles, Eddie snags a bag of chips off the shelf before skipping up to the slushee machine, “What flavor of tooth-rotting sugar can I interest you in today?” He jests, eyes fixated on the sloshing colored ice in the machine.

Aftering pondering over the two options you have, cherry and blue raspberry, you decide to mix the two flavors, Eddie following suit. Walking through the sweet treats aisle, eyes scamming over the packaging to see if anything in particular looks good, the two of you head to the register, seeing that the man flirting with the cashier had left. Offering a smile to the ginger behind the counter, who’s name appears to be ‘Barb’ from her nametag, Eddie chats her up a bit, asking how her shift is going and commenting on the weather finally cooling down. She responds blandly, while ringing up the slushees. You reach for your wallet but Eddie’s already handing over bills from his own wallet. Always one step ahead. 

The bell above the door dings as you exit, Eddie holding it open for you as you step outside, a skip in your step, “I think her and Nancy used to be friends,” Eddie chides as the door closes, “She was in school with us.”

You nod, agreeing and acknowledging, “Yeah, I never got the full story out of Nance, but they had a falling out.”

The conversation ends there as the two of you climb back into Eddie’s van, treats finally acquired, mission accomplished. Blue raspberry and cherry slushee in hand, you take leisurely sips as Eddie drives, unsure of his decided destination. The Munson trailer had become like a second home to you, your tiny closet of an apartment being the unfortunate first. Even though having your own space is nice and preferable to any alternative, it’s stuffy and during the summer tends to smell like a gym locker room if air isn’t properly circulating. 

In the end, Eddie drives the both of you back to his trailer. Once his van comes to a shuddering halt and the metalhead removes the key from the ignition, the two of you climb out of the vehicle, goodies in hand, and head into the trailer. Wayne’s truck wasn’t in the driveway, you assumed he still must be at the shop, despite the slowly setting sun off in the distance. Unlocking the front door, Eddie gives it the typical shove the break the seal of the door against the frame. In the summer it’s indefinitely worse due to the heat and humidity. 

Kicking his damp converse off, his curls beginning to frizz up upon drying, he places the plastic bag on the small, cluttered dining room table, “Movie night?” he asks, gesturing to the tv, sitting low to the ground atop a beat-up entertainment center, a few stacks of VHS tapes piled up next to it. 

“Have I ever declined a movie night invitation?” You quip at him as you saunter backward toward the trailer’s bathroom, ready to change out of your still damp swimsuit. Backpack slung over your shoulder, turning on your heels, you can hear Eddie chuckling and making a snide comment under his breath. 

Once you’ve peeled yourself out of the fabric, you exit the bathroom adorning a clean and dry t-shirt and pair of jean shorts settling snugly around your waist. Eddie has already poured the chips from the corner store into a bowl, a smaller bowl of gummy worms sitting next to it on the couch. Eddie sits on his knees in front of the entertainment center, looking through movies that the two of you have watched numerous times before. Two tapes are set aside, as he picks through the rest, “The Evil Dead, Hellraiser… those are the two I’m feelin’. Penny for your thoughts, Dear Watson?” he looks over his shoulder behind you with a lopsided grin on his face. 

“Hellraiser, undoubtedly.” You chirp in a faux English accent back to him. 

. . . 

Before the end of the movie, both you and Eddie are passed out on the floor, the snacks only half-eaten and forgotten before your inevitable slumber. You wake with a start at the sound of the landline ringing, nearly jumping out of your skin the moment you’re awake, eyes wide open. Eddie, still sleeping peacefully, isn’t bothered by the phone ringing. You harshly nudge him awake, both hands shaking his shoulder. 

“Eddie, the phone.” You say with a yawn, trying to calm your racing heartbeat. 

Curls matted to the side of his face, he’s barely awake as he clambers off of the floor, limbs adjusting to consciousness. Sauntering too casually to the phone, he lifts it off the hook and up to his ear with a yawn, “Munson residence.” He states through the yawn. His demeanor shifts all too quickly, spine straightening at the drop of a hat, dragging the palm of his hand over his face roughly. He speaks in a calm manner, giving you pause. 

“Wayne, slow down… Yeah, I’m fine… she’s here, yes… We went swimming, left earlier than the others, grabbed some snacks… What?” He answers his uncle, who you gathered was on the other end once Eddie spoke his uncle’s name. 

Eddie shoots you a worried look over his shoulder. You hadn’t seen Eddie this pale since the summer he was set to graduate, worried half to death that he wouldn’t be walking across the stage with the rest of the class of 1986. But this worry… was more akin to fear than anything else. Climbing up off the floor, you tiptoe over to him and stand beside him, still unable to hear Wayne on the other side of the call. 

“When did this happen?” Eddie asked, his tone borderline frantic. There’s another pause.

At first, you think there’s been an accident at the auto shop Wayne (and Eddie) works at, that he or someone has been injured and he has to wait for the ambulance or police to arrive. An uneasy feeling settles in the pit of your stomach as you wait for the brunette man to speak again. 

“Jesus Christ… No, she’s standing right next to me… Yes sir… I’ll see you when you get home… Okay… Yeah, I know, I know… Alright,” he mutters the last part under his breath as he hangs his head, as well as the phone back on the hook. 

“Shit…” he blows out a breath of air, cheeks puffed up as he exhales.

“What, what’s going on?” you ask meekly, anxiety spiked through the roof already. 

Eddie lifts his head up, expression damn near impossible to read, but that fear is still there, even more prominent than before.Extending a tattooed arm out, he brings you in for a tight embrace. Hesitantly, you wrap your arms around his torso, holding his figure just as tight against you. As you separate, Eddie’s sluggish as he walks over to the couch, plopping down. 

“I uh, I think you should sit down for this.” He pats the spot next to him, chewing the skin on his bottom lip. 

Even as you sit down next to him, you can't shake the uneasy feeling that’s raging in your chest. He won’t meet your gaze, even with you staring daggers at him, trying to will the words out of him with just your eyes, though he doesn’t budge just yet. The metalhead leans forward, elbows balancing on his knees as he holds his head in his hands. “Wayne just called me from the shop… Tommy Hagan and Carol Perkins were murdered.”

The anxiety dropped into the pit of your stomach like a large stone dropping into a calm pond. Bile burns at the base of your throat, but you quickly swallow the thick, intangible lump stuck there. A hand over your stomach, you take a deep breath, then another, trying to remain calm. Neither you or Eddie were particularly fond or even close to Tommy Hagan. He was a bit of an uncouth airhead during the years in high school together, and Carol was about as much of a girl’s girl as Tommy Hagan himself, always following him around like a lost puppy, but that didn’t mean that anyone wished any harm to either of them. 

After an unnerving silence between the two of you, Eddie hesitantly reaches over to take your hand into his. He strokes his thumb over your knuckles, noticing the subtle way your hand shakes. “He didn’t… say much. Carol’s mom found Tommy in the backyard, face down in the pool… Carol was… Listen, Wayne’s gonna be home soon, okay? Him and I can take you home-” Before he’s able to finish his line of thinking, you’re cutting him off.

“Can I stay with you?” you mumble, lifting your chin up to meet Eddie’s sorrowful gaze. He softens immediately, nodding. 

“You don’t even have to ask, m’lady. This castle is just as much yours as it is mine.” Hand over his heart, he gives a small bow, trying to incorporate his signature humor to such a grim time. 

Even with Eddie keeping you company through the night, both of you back to back in his bed. His pillow smells like his laundry detergent and stale weed and the dip next to you in the mattress gives you a sense of peace. Shifting in the bed for what seems like the fifteenth time in the past hour, you can’t get comfortable. Between the news of the double murder of your former classmates and the unruly heat, there is no finding comfort. 

A tattooed arm snakes around your waist, the warm fan of breath over your shoulder, “Quit fidgeting,” Eddie’s sleep-riddled, raspy voice says next to you. Part of you wonders if he realizes what he's doing, or if he’s not awake enough to, but you don’t argue. Though, you find your eyes drifting shut as you keen against Eddie’s touch, sleep slowly pulling you under, even with the macabre thoughts of the evening still plaguing your subconscious. 

tag list: @yaspillz feedback is always appreciated, and let me know if you're interested in being apart of the taglist <3

[chyckles]

Mastermind

━ A Bucky Banes one-shot

━ Pairings: bucky barnes x fem!reader

━ Summary: Where you plan a masterplan to confess your feelings for Bucky.

━ Words: 2.6k

━ Warnings: None, just my bad grammar

━ A/N: Nat is alive in this one, just wanted a little AU were everyone is happy and alive.

masterlist

Bucky isn't in his best mood. Actually, he's been in a bad mood lately, at least when he's with you. So you know that you should wait until he seems better to put the plan into action. But you just can't wait anymore, you've been having a pretty bad week yourself, and you need to get it out of your chest just yet, or it may end up killing you.

So, arming yourself with courage, you approach him that night. He seems to be doing nothing, just scrolling boringly through his phone. He looks cute, using both of his hands to hold the phone, just like old people. 

"Hey, Buck" you say when you enter his range of vision.

He looks up from his phone, he doesn't look startled, probably heard you entering the room with his super-soldier ear.

"Hey" he says, and goes back to his phone. For a man who wasn't born in this century, he seems to enjoy new technologies.

"Can I ask you something?"

"Sure" he says, even though he looks pissed. You don't understand why he's acting so strange around you lately, maybe you really shouldn't be doing this.

You sigh.

"So... I was planning on watching a movie with Nat, but she just went on a mission. Do you... want to watch it with me?" you ask quickly, like if you say it fast enough the words would change or something.

"I'm busy" he simply says, frowning. He doesn't look busy at all.

You look around as if looking for something or someone that's keeping him busy. You, of course, don't find anything, so you nod sadly and turn around "Okay, I'll ask someone else" 

Great, the plan hasn't even begun and you have already failed. You feel stupid. Why would a man like Bucky Barnes be interested in you? You're just a normal woman, there are plenty of better options out there, even inside the team. 

As you approach the door, you feel the pain of rejection wash over you. Bucky and you were always close friends, but lately, he's been acting all cold and weird with you. Maybe he found out you like him and is trying to push you away? That's the only thing that makes sense, and it hurts you. It hurts you because not only are you losing the man you have feelings for, but you're also losing a great friend.

"Wait" you hear Bucky's voice when you reach the door.

"Mhm?" you ask, turning around, he's now standing.

"You know what? A movie sounds great" he says with a nod.

You can't help but smile "Really? Cool. I was thinking of a horror movie, but if it's not your thing we can watch something else. You know, if you get scared easily?" you tease.

You're beginning to regret teasing him, now that your relationship is not at its best, but then he smiles:

"Yeah, I think I can handle myself, horror sounds good"

You nod, now excited "Great, I'll make some popcorn a prepare some drinks, we'll have fun"

"Sounds good"

You nod with a smile "You can choose the movie while I prepare everything. Choose a good one"

With that being said, you start to walk to the kitchen.

Now your plan can begin. To be completely honest, you didn’t have anything prepared with Nat, you just needed an excuse so you didn’t sound so desperate about it. You have everything planned: first, you will confirm if Bucky likes you, with subtle touches and light words. Then, you will finally confess your feelings. You just hope you don’t embarrass yourself.

Since he’s been so rude to you lately, you’re not so sure about the plan, but what can you do? Just stay there, watching him from a distance, but never making a move? You’re not like that, you have to do something, or you may combust. At least you have to find out if he likes you back, or if his sudden behavior with you is because he doesn't like you anymore, even as a friend. At least he has accepted to watch the movie, that has to mean something. Right?

With that in mind, you grab the popcorn and the drinks and make your way to the living room. Bucky is already there, scrolling through a streaming service with a frown on his face.

“Hey” you leave everything on the table and smile at him. He doesn’t smile back, just nods while you sit down next to him. Why is he being so reserved? You really don’t understand.

You can’t help but notice that he’s sitting in a way that his metal arm is not facing you, how convenient.

“So… have you chosen a movie yet?” you say as you eat popcorn.

“No, still trying to think what to pick” he says, turning his face back to the TV. 

"Anything's fine, really. It doesn't have to be a masterpiece (horror movies normally aren't)"

“Alright” and his eyes linger on yours, maybe longer than he intended. You can’t help but notice and smile.

Then he chooses a random movie and press play. He makes himself comfortable and you catch him looking at you. Is he looking at you with happiness, discomfort or something more? You can’t tell, his face is indecipherable.

You turn away from him, you don’t want to make it so obvious that you like him, not before putting your plan into action. So you stare at the movie, but you can still feel his eyes looking at you from time to time.

The movie plays and you’re too nervous to make a move. You sigh, now unsure about everything.

Then, the perfect moment for your plan occurs. There’s a jump scare in the movie. You’re not scared at all, but you jump a little and hold his hand, wanting to see his reaction.

His face doesn't change, but you can feel his body stiffening. Maybe he doesn’t like you after all? Maybe this was a bad idea? Maybe you’re making a fool of yourself?

But then he squeezes your hand and looks at you with a reassuring smile. All the doubts leave your mind when you see that smile that you love so much, when you feel his hand around yours, comforting you.

First part of your plan: done. He didn’t back off, he didn’t look at you like you’re crazy or called you out.

It still didn’t mean anything, right?

You continue watching the movie, and you proceed with the second part of the plan. This is a little more risky, but you assure yourself that it’s worth it. You fake yawn a few times.

Finally, you, slowly, rest your head on his shoulder. 

He doesn't move, maybe even being a little more frozen than he normally would be. You smile, this is a good sign, right? You wish you could see his face, or read his mind.

You continue watching the movie like this, resting your head on his shoulder and still holding his hand. There’s nowhere in the world where you wish to be more than here. 

You still have more things in your plan, but the movie ends before you can make them happen. You finally separate from him, your body hot where he was touching you.

“Hmm, not the best movie I’ve watched, but entertaining enough, right?” you ask with a smile.

“Yeah, it wasn’t bad” he nods. 

He looks at his hands, you can feel he’s nervous. Is that a good sign or a bad one? You can’t tell.

“I should get going” he suddenly says.

You feel disappointed.

You still haven’t decided if you’re gonna confess or not. He didn’t react bad to any of your moves, but you still feel unsure. What if he sees you just like a friend? What if you ruin your friendship? Then again, your friendship hasn't been in its best stage lately, you wouldn't be ruining anything.

You decide to do it. You just can’t stand this feeling. Looking at him, being close to him, but not being able to kiss him, to touch him… it’s just so painful.

“Got somewhere better to be?” you finally ask.

“Not really” he says “But… I should go. Thanks for the movie, tho”

He stands up and starts walking away.

“Wait” you say. You can’t just let him go like that, you may not have another chance like this, where you two are alone “Wait, I… need to tell you something, can you sit down for a minute?”

“Alright” he says with a confused frown, but he does as you say and sits down again.

You swallow nervously, unsure where to start. You decide to start with the beginning:

"I... I kind of lied to you. I wasn't planning on watching a movie with Nat, I haven't even seen her since yesterday. I... planned all of this to spend time with you" you confess "Alone time with you" you specify.

“You did?” he asks. He seems confused.

“Mhm, and you know why?” This is it, you’re gonna say it.

“Why?” he asks softly.

“Because I like you” you finally confess. 

The room falls completely silent. Bucky is apparently frozen. You are too.

You try to look into his eyes, looking for a sign. But he’s not looking at you.

“Well? You don’t have anything to say?” you chuckle nervously.

"I..." he stutters before he manages to get his voice back. “I like you too."

You sigh and laugh with relief "Really? I mean, I..."

“Yeah, I really do” This time he looks at you, and you can finally see his eyes. They’re shining, you have never seen them like that, you have never seen them as beautiful “I like you a lot”

You smile and lean in towards him. You look at his lips and then at his eyes, like begging him to kiss you.

You are so close… so close you can feel his breath. So close he can probably hear your fast heartbeat. “Kiss me” you whisper.

You don’t have to ask twice, he closes the space between you and kisses you. His mouth presses against yours, soft and gentle at first, then more firmly, with a hunger that has been growing for too long. His hand travels to your waist, holding you; and yours goes to his hair, holding him even closer to you. 

It feels like you two are melting into each other, his body pressed against you, every inch being touched. It feels almost surreal, almost magical.

Your tongues meet and you both let out a murmur of joy. Everything is perfect, this is how things should be.

You grab all the courage you have left and make your way towards his lap, putting each leg on either side of him. He lets it happen. Your legs are now wrapped around him, making it impossible to be closer.

He now holds you with both his arms, probably without thinking about it. Both the warm and the cold sides of him make you feel whole.

You finally separate from him to catch your breath, he seems to be just fine, tho.

He then smiles shyly, like you just did not kiss fiercely a second ago.

“I’m glad you told me”

“Yeah, I’m glad too” you say with a smile.

He shifts, making himself more comfortable, before he looks into your eyes with a smile "I… how long has it been that you feel this way about me?"

You raise your eyebrow, confused by the sudden question, but decide to answer:

“I think I liked you since the moment I met you, since the moment I saw that pretty face framed by that long hair" you laugh, and he blushes a little, making you blush too "But I thought I just liked you as a friend, I didn't realize what my feelings were until a few weeks ago, you know, after that mission... when you were injured, and I thought..."

“You thought what?”

“That I was gonna lose you” you confess and that makes him smile sweetly. Your right hand travels to his cheek and start caressing it "Yeah, and in that moment it hit me: I didn't want you as a friend anymore, I wanted to hold you, to take care of your injury, to kiss you until you feel better”

After a moment of comfortable silence you ask: 

“What about you? When did you start to have feelings for me?"

He seems to think about it for a moment, maybe contemplating if he should tell you.

"Do you remember when I told you I was having nightmares about the time I was tortured by HYDRA?"

“Yeah, that night neither of us could sleep?”

"Mhm, well... in that moment, when you comforted me... when you were there for me... I knew then. That was when I realized how much I liked and cared for you, more than any friend or teammate ever before."

You smile softly "That was a while ago, you should've told me sooner"

“I thought you would never feel the same way about me, though you were just being kind, like any friend would”

“That’s funny, I’ve been avoiding telling you because of the same reason” you chuckle slightly.

“I guess we’re both stupid”

“Yeah… But, anyways, I have a question… why were you being so… why were you avoiding me lately?” you didn’t wanna say the word ‘mean’.

“Oh, you notice?” he says, and you can feel embarrassment in his voice “I just… it hurted me being around you, but not being able to… you know… kiss you or…” he rambles.

You smile and kiss him again, this time the kiss is soft and short.

When you separate, you can’t help but laugh out loud with the thoughts that cross your mind.

“God, Nat is not gonna believe I told you”

“What? You've been telling Nat about me?" he raises an eyebrow.

“Of course, she’s my friend” you smile.

"Right, right. What else did you tell her?” he asks. Is he teasing you?

"Oh, nothing, really. Just rambling about how beautiful I think you are... you know, that kind of things girls talk about" you say caressing his cheek. That makes him blush again "I think she would be relieved that I finally confessed, because now I can tell you instead of her, she was getting irritated" you chuckle.

He chuckles too, probably imagining Nat pissed about you rambling about him. The thought of it is just too ridiculous.

"Did you always plan to confess to me at some point then?" he asks.

“Of course, I always have to make the first move” you joke.

"So, you really planned all of this? Not just the movie, but the whole confession as well?" he smirks.

"Yeah, the movie was just to make sure you liked me too. You know, holding your hand and all that... I'm a mastermind"

“And I guess that means you'll be making the first move the rest of the time as well?"

"Of course" you smile evilly.

"Of course," he mimics back. "Well, I guess I'll just have to get used to you taking charge then."

He smiles back at you in the same way you did and leans forward so that his face is close to you again.

"What are you planning next?" he hints with a smirk.

"Well, I was planning on asking you to be my boyfriend?" you ask with a sly smile.

"Be your boyfriend?" he repeats with a teasing smirk. "Did you plan that as well? Is this the next step in the mastermind's plan?"

"Mhm, is it working? Would you say yes?"

"Yes," he suddenly answers, not wasting any time. "I'll be your boyfriend."

"Great" you say and then give him a quick kiss.

"And now that I'm your boyfriend, what are our next steps?"

"I have to keep that a secret, don't want to spoil my masterplan" you wink.

"I should've known," he says, laughing softly. "Always a step ahead, isn't it?"

"Always" you chuckle.

[cowboycannibalism]

just got out of a late showing of Talk To Me and I have thoughts!

⚠️⚠️⚠️⚠️⚠️SPOILERS AHEAD ⚠️⚠️⚠️⚠️

so let's dive in while it's still fresh in my mind

Grief is a heavy player in this movie and that's what makes it so good. So much of what happens is because of Mia not being able to let go or face her grief. she's vulnerable to the spirits/demons/souls because she's lonely and sad and she's trying to find anything to make her feel.

The opening scene was absolutely amazing! it sets up how fucking crazy the movie is going to be. It brings us into the world where everything is for views, everyone is entertainment even when they're suffering. It's not the focus of the film but they way social media guides the story is interesting.

to add to the previous point, every time someone does the "game"/seance, the others whip out their phones with lightening speed. They laugh, they point their cameras at the possessed and scream and shout in joy regardless of what the possessed is doing. we see this in Daniel's first go which is a weird sexual possession that leaves him embarrassed and scared, whereas the group is laughing and recording. it's also what brings Mia to the hand in the first place, she keeps seeing the videos posted of people playing the game and having "fun"

I really liked the kangaroo scene because it was so jarring and the foreshadowing was just mwah. wonderful.

I will admit Mia got annoying because you want her to know that she should stop, but she won't. I was literally trying not to yell at the screen lol

on the other hand (ha hand), I get it. She was desperate, grief will do that to you, she just wanted answers and closure. And that can drive you mad.

The gore/violence in the movie was so good for a possession film! The Riley scene was intense and had the small amount of us in the theater squirming and yelling and gasping. And the limbo/purgatory scene although brief was not what I was expecting and it blew me away, it gave cronenbergian/yuzna's Society [1989] vibes.

the cast was very very good! Sophie Wilde played Mia with such an intensity and passion that drew me in even when I didn't care for her character's actions. And the supporting cast stood their own which was awesome because sometimes in horror those other characters can sometimes get pushed aside or fade into the background.

the sound design had me so tense! I swear I thought I was hearing things and not sure if it was me or the movie. We don't talk enough about sound when it comes to horror. It's honestly what really scares me, more than the actual scenes, it's the score that revs up my anxiety and fear.

All in all, the movie was really good! I'm not even a huge fan of possession horror but I was excited to see it and really glad that I did. I know it's been greenlit for a sequel which would be interesting depending on where they take the story but I'm definitely more interested in the prequel that they've already made!! I hope it gets picked up by A24 like the sequel is because I definitely would like to know more about the hand and mythology behind the "game".

Just to add on some more personal thoughts: It's interesting to me how often grief plays a role in horror. From Midsommar to Hereditary to The Babadook to classics like Pet Sematary, the list goes on. We are vulnerable when we're grieving, easier to let bad things in or ignore the people who love us who are trying to help. When I watch horror about grief, it gets to me more often than any others because I've known grief like a childhood friend. It's been with me my entire life. But I've learned to handle it better than I used to, and with movies like this it's a safe place for me to let it consume me, let it be messy and overwhelming like it is for the characters in the movie.

Anyways to wrap this up please go see Talk To Me! If you like possession movies you'll like it, if you like movies with deeper layers you'll like it, it feels like there's a little bit of everything to appeal to most horror fans.