#finally gonna be able to actually save-save money for moving

[junkdyke]

AHH and my tattoo studio is officially looking for artists to populate the new spot in San Francisco!! so it's actually happening so much sooner than i anticipated. Idk i'm still so undecided of where i want to move, i was thinking about moving to SF but it's just so fucking cold and windy idk if i can handle it lmao

i think the plan is to just stay in LA and go back and forth regularly. Was also talking to one of our guest artists from Korea and I do think I'll end up doing a 6-month - 1 year stay over there to animate, he was like "yeah a year is about enough time to get the full nightlife experience, after that is when it starts to get old" and just some other tidbits about Itaewon and apparently there's heelllaa lesbian clubs out there, bless bless

[bibbityboppitybillyharvgrove]

BLUE- PROLOUGUE

Summary - Y/N Dursley had always been the ideal daughter, doting, loving and obedient. However, she gets a letter saying she's a witch and is invited to attend Hogwarts, her parents are quick to turn on her. All she has after her parents turn on her is her cousin Harry. But, she falls in love slowly with the friend of her cousin's enemy, Theodore Nott.

Word count - 1711

Warnings - Female reader, use of Y/N, Dursley's treatment of Harry, talks of Voldemort

Author's Note - Welcome to BLUE! I've been planning this series for a long time now and I've finally been able to sit down and start writing it! I currently don't know what house to place the reader in so if you want to be part of the decision head over to my poll to vote on her house! It's been a long time since I've last posted a fic but I'm finally back! I'm gonna try my best to stay on top of my updating and keep posting. I do have a lot of requests to fulfill so I'll start working on those as I wait for the poll results! Lots of love to all of you and thank you for your patience!

THERE WILL BE A TAGLIST SO PLEASE COMMENT OR MESSAGE ME IF YOU WOULD LIKE TO BE ADDED!

She has always been the ideal daughter and the ideal sister, treating her family with nothing but love and respect. She wished she could say the same for her brother, Dudley. Now Dudley was the most typical spoiled brat there was, he treated his parents like they were made of money and his sister as a servant. When it came to their cousin however, the poor boy was stuck under the stairs, being left out of many things because of who his parents were. Now she didn’t understand what was wrong with the boy, she was close with the boy, he was her best friend and she was his. 

They were close in age which aided in their closeness, her parents disliking her being so close with the boy but not saying anything in fear of upsetting their beloved daughter. The Dursley girl, who had a heart of gold, used any allowance given to her to get new things for her cousin who was stuck under the stairs. She shared whatever she could with him, whether it be food, clothes, books or toys. On her birthdays, she chose to celebrate with Harry, always making sure she included the boy in her special day.

On Harry’s birthdays, she was always the only one to get the boy a present, she would save up her allowance as well as any birthday money to get the boy new clothes, toys, books, games and whatever else she could think of. She never understood the animosity between her parents and her cousin but she never questioned it in fear of being yelled at by them.

It was Dudley’s birthday, he had requested they go to the zoo for the day. It was a nice change of pace, actually doing something everyone enjoyed on the spoiled boy’s birthday. She was squished in the backseat between her brother and her cousin, hating every second of it because Dudley kept trying to pull Harry’s hair and pulled hers on one too many occasions. “Stop pulling my hair! Mum, tell him to stop!” The girl complained to her mother.

“Leave your sister alone, Dudley. This is supposed to be a happy day, not one filled with complaining,” Her mother lightly scolded. The long necked woman’s last comment hurt her daughter but that’s what always happened when she would complain about Dudley.

As Vernon parked the car and the family walked into the zoo, Dudley ran ahead trying to pull his sister along with him. She pulled her arm away from him and stuck by Harry’s side instead. The day at the zoo was rather uneventful until the end of the trip when Dudley somehow got stuck in a snake enclosure and the snake got out. However poor Harry was locked into his ‘room’ under the stairs for a week. She would sneak the boy out at night so he could eat something and actually move around.

Now it was a couple weeks later, close to Harry’s birthday, she had already gotten him his present which was clothes that actually fit him. Harry was bringing in the post, handing his cousin a letter addressed to her, keeping a letter for himself and handing his uncle the rest of the post. “Harry, give me your letter, they’re gonna take it, we can open them later,” She whispered to her cousin. He handed over his letter and she hid them in the cupboard under the stairs. 

Later on that night, she snuck downstairs and unlocked Harry’s door to find the boy awake, holding their letters in his hand. “You first,” Harry said, putting her letter in her open hand. She let out a breath as she broke the seal and pulled the letter out. 

“Dear Miss Dursley, We are pleased to inform you that you have a place at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Please find enclosed the list of supplies needed for the school year. The term starts on September 1st, we await your owl until July 31st. Sincerely Minerva McGonagall, Deputy Headmistress,” She read the letter aloud, “I’m a witch? They’re real?”

Harry left her questions unanswered as he opened his own letter, “My letter says the same. I don’t understand.”

The two of them stayed up the rest of the night, rereading their letters over and over. They stayed awake until the sun rose and Petunia began to walk down the stairs. “What are you doing awake? It’s a Saturday, you usually sleep in,” Her mother questioned.

“Harry and I got the same letter in the post yesterday. It was strange, it was from a school called Hogwarts,” She explained to her mother.

“Vernon! Get up!” The woman shouted to her husband. The fat man came down the stairs at a snail’s pace.

“What is it, Petunia?” The woman ripped the two letters from her daughter’s hand, leaving a large paper cut on her palm as her mother handed the letters over. Her father’s face paled, ripping up the letters.

As the days flew by, the letters flew in by the hundreds, both of them receiving letter after letter until Vernon decided to take them to a remote island to get away from the letters. However, instead, at midnight on Harry’s birthday, a large man had knocked the door down looking for the two. Standing up to the adults and telling them that the two children’s names had been put down since they had been born. The girl was surprised to hear about how her aunt had actually died and about Hogwarts itself. Right then, Hagrid, who had finally introduced himself, brought the two to London.

They had traveled to a place called Diagon Alley, where Hagrid brought the two to the wizards bank to fetch money out of Harry’s vault before starting their shopping spree. They went to all of the shops, the last stop being Ollivanders to get their wands. Harry went first, trying out two other wands before finding his match. It was a little harder for her, trying five wands before she finally found her match. 

Hagrid knocked on the window, holding up a snow owl in a cage and a calico cat in another. They ended their day getting something to eat at the leaky cauldron, Hagrid finally telling Harry how he got his scar, how Voldemort killed his parents and tried to kill him even though he was a baby. That night, neither of them could sleep, staying up all night going through their lists and triple checking they got everything they needed for the first term. The next morning was the day they actually got to see the cryptic school.

Hagrid only gave them their tickets when they got to King Cross Station, telling them to follow their tickets before disappearing. The two cousins tried to find the platform and resorted to asking a guard at the station who was no help at all. That’s when they saw a family of redheads talking about muggles. They looked at each other with a nervous smile before choosing to approach the older woman.

“Excuse me, how do you get…” Harry wasn’t sure how to ask his question but the woman was quick to understand.

“Onto the platform, of course dear. It’s Ron’s first time as well. All you have to do is walk straight at the wall between platforms nine and ten. If you’re a bit nervous, it’s better to do it at a bit of a run,” The woman explained to the two. So together they jogged at the wall as the woman instructed, finding their way to the platform.

“Woah,” Y/N said in awe, taking in her surroundings. 

They were able to find a compartment containing the same boy they met earlier, asking if it was okay if they sat with him. “I’m Ron Weasley,” The boy introduced himself.

“Y/N Dursley and Harry Potter,” Her cousin introduced them both.

“You’re Harry Potter! Do you have the…you know?”

“The scar?” The girl finished his question for him. The redhead nodded and Harry lifted his hair to reveal the lighting bolt scar on his forehead. The three bonded on the train ride to Hogwarts, getting all of the sweets from the trolley and meeting yet another first year by the name of Hermione Granger. She was looking for a boy’s toad before instructing the three to change into their robes. They all did and just as they finished the train had stopped. All of the students had filed out of the train, meeting up with Hagrid who led them to the boats that would take them to the castle.

The view was breathtaking, the only lights coming from the lanterns on the boats and the castle itself. It was like a dream, she had to pinch herself to convince herself she wasn’t actually dreaming. When she winced she deduced that she wasn’t dreaming and this was actually real. Hagrid led them to one of the professors, the same professor who signed their letters. She was leading them up to the Great Hall for the sorting.

“There are four houses, they will be your home for the next few months until summer, they are Gryffindor, Ravenclaw, Hufflepuff and Slytherin,” The professor explained to the group.

“There's not a witch or wizard from Slytherin that hasn’t gone bad,” Ron whispered to the cousins. 

“So it’s true what they say, Harry Potter has come to Hogwarts. Draco, Draco Malfoy. This is Crabbe, Goyle and Theodore Nott,” A blond boy interrupted from behind them.

Harry and Draco had a quite heated exchange before the lot of them finally followed the older professor into the Great Hall. The sorting ceremony dragged, Harry getting placed into Gryffindor along with Herminone, Ron and the boy who lost his toad, Neville.

“Y/N Dursley,” The professor called. She walked up to the stool on shaky legs before sitting, the hat getting placed onto her head. The hat coming to life spooked her a bit but she was able to relax for a second.

“Hmmm, you’re a tough one to place, you’re intelligent, brave, loyal and clever. Big traits of all four houses, but where to put you? You would do great things in all houses…Ahhh… I got it, better be…”

[reikunrei]

feeling incredibly averse to posting this but i'm just gonna drop my kofi link here in case anyone wants to help me get out of my increasingly shitty situation living with my parents

more info below ig

after having given my parents nearly $100k over the last four years, i'd love to be able to actually leave. my future job situation is still up in the air (i've submitted for about a dozen positions and the only one i've heard back from and interviewed for hasn't gotten back to me yet), and i haven't been able to build up any savings because, again, i was (and still am) helping my family afford rent and bills, and probably the taxes my parents are behind on, but if i think about that, i'll get too angry. no joke, i've given my family, at the bare minimum, 85% of my income over the last 4 years. the rest of it has gone toward medical stuff and, now, my car

at this point, with the combo of my mom refusing to lower her standards and my dad's seeming refusal to hunt for a new full time job, i don't see how they won't continue to bleed me dry. my dad even has a bad habit of taking money out of my old savings account that he's a joint owner on or whatever from when i got it set up when i was 16, even when i stopped actively putting money in it, so now any time it gets its automated $1 transfer from my checking account, he'll just take that $1 without consulting me. i'm not exaggerating, even if it has $1-2 in it, it'll be gone within a week

i've even put off starting on testosterone because of this. i wanted to start it like 3 years ago, but kept putting it off because of money issues and wanting to save as much as possible. i got really close to actually starting it this year, but because of how messy everything is, i put it off again bc having one more thing on my plate, especially when my parents are already weird about me being trans, was not something i wanted to deal with

not to mention, we're still currently not living under a lease in our house that we're, as far as i'm aware, still tens of thousands of dollars behind in rent on (again, my dad refuses to disclose our financial position honestly with any of us) and it's developed many, many issues bc the landlord, even before we were behind on rent, is shit and refuses to actually fix anything. and my dad loves to just ignore things unless we beg him to do something

i'd love to be on my own (in the, much more affordable, midwest) by the end of summer. i by no means want to rely on donations and i have other avenues i'm working with to make money (i still have my current full time job, but i'm going through my old belongings and selling a lot online), but i'll take any help i can get atp because i'm truly at my wits end. i'd start doing art commissions again if i could, but doing that from 2020-2022, partially on top of my full time job, absolutely wrecked my right hand and i'm still in enough pain that i can't make it a regular activity

idk how much else there is to say. there's more i could say but... i don't really wanna air all my dirty laundry here. i'm miserable in so many ways and it's just become increasingly clear that my dad expects me to constantly cover his ass. my younger brother gives money too, but he manages to go on big cross-country and overseas trips with friends, so i think i've been stuck with the burden of giving the most money. there's so many more things going on in the world rn and everyone is stretched thin so i don't expect much, or anything, but. idk. might as well throw it out there, right?

i’ve also since taken down the gfm i set up last year when we got our first eviction notice bc, while we still need the money, i don’t feel right keeping it up for multiple reasons, including “i don’t want to give any of that money to my family” and it feels too… serious to keep it up when i could just throw out my kofi instead

i just want to make sure i have some sort of safety net to catch me if i move before anything job-wise is finalized. i need to be able to afford a place to live for at least a month so i can job-search while physically being in the area i wanna move to, which would ultimately make it easier for me to find a job at all. i'm working on being more firm with giving less money so i can actually have the means to move and be safe and comfortable, but... that never lasts long in this house

anyway. that's it, i guess. thanks for reading

[rafyki]

Episode 11 really showed Jack's growth

Okay, I know what you're gonna say: "but he lashed out at Joke! He threw him away again! He got so angry!". And like- yes he lashed out, yes he didn't stop to think, yes he got extremely angry. But that literally happened in the first ten minutes of the episode, alright? There's more than a hour after that, so please let's focus on everything else that happened too, and the fact that Jack acting like that literally only lasts for a short while (as I already said, everything happens extremely fast in this episode, if you really think about it he only stays made for less than a day, which is a perfectly valid period of time to need to sort through complicated feelings - hell, it's an incredibly short time, Jack got over himself extremely quickly).

Anyway, lemme go in order, because I'm not just talking about his relationship with Joke here, but about everything else too.

There are two main things about Jack's character arc (well, more than two, but I wanna focus on these ones now): first, his tendency to hold grudges and be hard on forgiveness and, second, the fact that he never stands up to power and powerful people in an active way (I'll explain better what I mean later).

As for the first, I made a whole other post about it, so I'm not gonna repeat everything again, but let's see how in this episode he got to the end of his growth in this aspect.

He's extremely mad at the start of the episode (rightfully so), so much that he goes on a rampage (we love to see it, tbh), even though he should know that it wouldn't end well.

When he wakes up, he's still mad - of course he is, he didn't have time to think and process everything yet, given that he was beaten unconscious until now. He gets mad at Grandma when she mentions Joke, and then he lashes out at Save and Hope. It's understandable.

But then? Then it only takes Hope saying this for him to calm down and put things into perspective

I think it's important to point out that here it's only been maybe a few hours since the hospital scene. And here, Jack finally has time to think.

This it when he finally stops and thinks and realizes that he was wrong, that he didn't have any right to be mad at Save or Hope (or, well, he does, but how should also be able to understand their positions, because he's been there too), because they're all in the same situation in the end; and he realizes that Joke only did what he did for him. This is the moment when he finally has time to think and realize he was wrong (both about Save and about Joke), realize that he doesn't want to lose Joke, that he misses him.

Let's not forget that the start of Jack's character growth was to learn to forgive. And here, he shows that he's finally able to do this.

He works together with Save and Hope, he trusts them. Why didn't he call Joke to join them then? Well, I think he probably wanted things to calm down first so that after that he would have the time to actually talk to Joke. He didn't have the time to do that in the end, and that's the tragic thing.

But we know that's what he planned to do, because that's exaclty what he says.

Anyway, let's move on or this will become way too long lmao

It's not only in terms of learning to forgive that Jack grew. It's also in the way he finally decides to actively act to oppose Boss.

I mean, Jack was caught in Boss' web of power since he was young, and he's had to deal with the fact that he couldn't escape it, couldn't defeat it, for years. And so, he always submitted to Boss, in a way.

Yes, when he was a debt collector he went against him, in secret (and sacrificing himself and his own money), until Boss found out and Jack had to bow his head againt before him. When Gradma was in the hospital, he let himself in Boss' grasp again and even when Joke and Grandma slapped some sense into him his way to oppose Boss was to simply tell him he didn't want to marry Rose anymore, but was still willing to work for him; now, we know that that only worked because Joke had stolen the ring. What would have happened if Joke hadn't done that? Boss would have refused, of course, and Jack would have had bowed his head again.

Until now, Jack's actions were often passive, a result of him having no choice. Even when he played the ladder game against Lompran, that wasn't a real choice.

Not now, though. In this episode, Jack finally realizes that he can't keep doing it, that he needs to fight back for real. And this is the first time that Jack realizes that he can't always do the morally correct thing if he wants to defeat people like Boss.

Jack has always had really solid morals, and he's always lived by the fact that he needs to be better - better than the corrupted people in power who use them and look down on them. And that means he can't accept theft as a valid way to fix things, even if it would be justifiable and it would make things easier. But he can't do that, because that would mean that he's just as bad as them. Poor people are always expected to do the right thing.

Until now. Because now Jack has finally realized that he can't play it fair against people like them, he understood how that world works, and he realized that he needs to play following their game's rules.

He's learned the power game's rules and he's ready to play.

And that's what he does. He's able to take advantage of Lompran's greed and use it for his own ends, and he's not afraid of risking his own or Save's life - because he knows at this point that they can't play it safe anymore.

He played the game but he also kept his morals, because he still didn't do it for himself; he played their game but he's still better than them

Jack has mostly been a passive force until now, but in this episode he's finally the active force - he's the one with the plan, the one who takes the lead. (Joke, on the other had, has always been the active force of the show, and in this episode he's the passive one, but I'll make another post about this another day)

And I think this will be obvious in next episode too, when he'll (finally!) get a gun and do everything that's needed to save Joke and everyone else from Boss.

And he finally understood that the world isn't black and white and that sometime you need to do something "bad" to fight back, both for youself and for others. And that that doesn't mean you're a bad person.

[mxzenpai]

Idia Shroud x Reader

His and Theirs

Idia knows that Ramshackle doesn’t have the ability for you to have a computer…you wouldn’t mind the set up being in his room…right?

————————————————————————

Idia bites his lip as he stares at the set up in front of him. Did he choose the wrong color for the theme? He could have sworn this was your favorite aesthetic when it comes to this sort of thing. Then again, he really only had how you decorate in your co-ops to go off of. Maybe the games didn’t have the aesthetics you actually like? He looks around his room, seeing the mess that was all over the place shoved into a corner to make room for your desk.

Would you even like this? I mean, you like to play with him, but you never expressed wanting a computer. Hades it feels like he built his stats wrong and he’s about to get one-shot by the final boss. Idia’s hair flicks as he continues to stare at the set up. No no, that monitor needs to be a little higher. He moves to adjust the swing arm of the right monitor to raise it a bit more. Once done he looks at the other two monitors. Three monitors is enough for you right? You don’t need a lot since you aren’t going to be programing or anything… maybe he should have gotten another? Or he can quickly set up a hologram to go abo-

“You’re doing it again.” Idia whirls around to spot Ortho place the cat paw pillow Idia got you onto the chair of your set up. “I’m sure they’ll love it, they love anything you do.” Ortho smiles up at Idia.

“This is like- final boss territory Ortho, I gotta make sure everything is right. It’s like doing a blind playthrough without looking at a strategy guide!” Ortho giggles at Idia’s ramble before quickly leaving the room. Idia turns back to the set up. Should he have gotten some figures? You don’t know a lot of shows though…No! This was dumb! He’s just going to get rid of all of it and you’ll never know!

“Oh wow that’s so cool!” Idia lets out a screech as he whips around to see you standing there. A surprise encounter and he has NOTHING to help him with this! Idia silently watches as you look at the set up, eyes widening upon looking at the rig inside the case. “If this is the here equivalent to the RTX 3090 color me impressed.” Idia pauses.

“You…know computers?” You turn, nodding to Idia enthusiastically.

“Yeah! I played games all the time back in my world, even built my own rig. Things are different here though so I haven’t tried it. Not like I had the money to anyways, but still. Who’s this for? Ortho?” He watches as you take a look at the pc through the glass again before shifting his eyes away.

“For you.” You’re quick to turn, eyes widening in delight.

“For me? Oh hell yeah!” You turn on the pc in quick succession before turning on the monitor. You turn back to Idia. “You gonna sit?” Idia blinks, hair burning a tad brighter before he goes to grab his chair. You roll your eyes, yanking him down into your chair before plopping yourself onto his lap. Idia’s hair turns a bright pink.

“I- wha- but I don’t- you- chair- two of-“ You cover his mouth with your hand.

“Shhhhhhhh…I have a new toy and I must play with it. As the builder of said toy you must watch…aka help me with this part in this game that I’m stuck on.” Idia wraps his arms around your waist, resting his chin on your shoulder.

“Which game?” Idia watches as you change the wallpaper to one of your favorite characters.

“The one that you let me make a save file for a few days ago. I’m gonna have to use your account to finish the game, might start a new save on my account after I finish though.” Idia nods, his hair going back to blue except for the tips.

You give Idia a kiss on the cheek and his hair lights up again. “Nah but seriously, I appreciate the gesture. I was really missing being able to sit at a pc and play games. Playing with you using your handhelds is fine and all, but I miss the keyboard.” Idia tightens his hold around your waste.

“Almost thought I got the wrong items for the fight.” You let out a laugh.

“Oh come on, you and I both know I’m not a boss. I’m the love interest.” You give a wink before turning back to the pc to boot up the game.

Yeah…you are the love interest, and Idia wouldn’t have it any other way.

[thornsent]

my partner and I are both multiply disabled (mental + physical, we rly won huh) trans queers and we RLY need help moving out!!! we are finally probably ACTUALLY close to getting a spot this time? I've had like 6 places either bail on me or deny me after weeks of stringing me along so who knows. I truly hope, it seems more promising than ever idk!!

vnmo alumirust pypl alumirust@gmail.com csh4pp doppelgougar

more lore below the cut V I am so sorry and I am So tired of this situation

we've been staying with a friend of mine for several months and things have spiraled to the point I'm not sure I consider this person a friend anymore tbh. we've both been trying to communicate our needs and abilities from the beginning but we r not listened to, constantly disregarded, and then told our breakdowns bc of this are disruptive. lol

we have a housing voucher that we've been trying to use all this time but it's been really hard to find a place bc we don't have rental history or any family to back us up financially so even with full down payment in hand we've been getting turned down a lot. my girlfriend's savings from when she was able to work are dwindling fast bc it's all we've had to live on and pay for app fees with (my care team is supposed to be helping w this but they've been negligent of me since I started working w them) and we don't have a lot of furniture we need, as well as needing to get basics like dish soap and laundry expenses etc bc we also haven't really been able to do our laundry here! ough!

so basically the money would go towards first month's rent (we already paid the deposit TwT) getting furniture and household stuff we need, a desperately-needed trip to the laundromat, and anything else like that which would come up! I'm also working on an amazon wishlist for the practical stuff we need, blessedly I still have my mop and broom as they were unaffected by the infestation but other things like my microwave were not spared... ALSO FUCK WE NEED SOME BOXES!! we're gonna hit up a liquor store today but idk we'll see!

[jqmalikhsgib]

moonlight

one

six years ago you were forced into a car, bags packed, crying because you wouldn’t be able to tell the man you loved you were carrying his child.

seventeen year old you had been so in love with nineteen year old eddie munson. he was the perfect man in your eyes. you knew if your parents found out you’d been dating eddie, they’d have a fit!

your parents raised you in a conservative household. they taught you how to be a lady. you dressed conservatively, studied every night, forced to be the perfect woman. they had even set you up to marry. your life was already set for you to be a housewife.

for so long you thought being a real woman was about. that is until you met eddie. he was the one that taught you their was more to life than what your parents taught you. eddie brought out the color in your life.

six months into your relationship you knew he was the one for you. you wasted no time giving yourself to him. that resulted in teen pregnancy. the first person you wanted to tell was eddie.

your parents were worried about you for a while. they started snooping in your room. when they found an positive pregnancy test in your bathroom, they were livid! you had no choice but to tell them the whole truth.

they packed all of their bags and decided to move away from hawkins. you didn’t get the chance to tell eddie about your pregnancy, nor tell him goodbye. you were devastated and heartbroken.

they shipped you off to some camp where teenage pregnant girls hide away from society while they wait to give birth to their child. you had no idea they still had these camps in this day and time.

when you gave birth your parents decided to adopt your beautiful baby girl and raise her as their own. they planned on going back to hawkins but knew people would put two and two together if they just suddenly appeared.

for two years you had to pretend like your daughter was your sister. you couldn’t stand lying to your child! she had every right to know who her mom really was.

you finally had enough when they wouldn’t allow your two year old to be a cheerful happy baby, forcing her to put back clothes because it brought ‘too much attention’

that night you called your nana and she was shocked to say the least. she picked the both of you up, you stayed with her for the next two years until you saved enough money to move back to hawkins.

you weren’t ashamed of yourself, let alone of your daughter. she was your entire world.

“thank you for helping me move back home nance.” you smiled at the girl who was your best friend before moving.

“of course! stevie and i miss you around here.”

“steve? i thought—”

“we both went to college and the long distance wasn’t working for him anymore. he broke things off because he met a girl there. steve and i reconnected right after.”

you hum understandably. “how’s that going?”

“great! i guess you haven’t noticed.” nancy turned and that’s when you spotted a tiny baby bump.

“oh wow! congratulations, nance!” you hug her carefully.

nancy laughs. “it’s our third.” she states.

“three?! god, i can barely handle one.”

nancy frowns.

you didn’t really mention you had a daughter of your own. you didn’t exactly know how to tell someone that when you haven’t spoken to them in over six years. you only just ran into her because she lives across the street from you.

“yeah—i have a kid of my own actually.”

“oh, wow! how old?”

“she’s gonna be six in two months. she’s really excited.”

“what’s her name?”

“kali may.”

“is she—” nancy asked.

you simply nod your head. nancy put her hands over her heart sadly. she simply hugs you gently.

when she pulls away you wipe your tears. “where is she now?”

“she won’t be here until tomorrow. she’s staying with my nana, currently. i wanted everything to be set up and done when she gets here. it’s her first time having a room to herself.” you state.

“i wanna see photos!”

you laugh as you bring her inside your home. you dig through a box labeled “kali munson’

“you gave her his last name?”

“i wanted him to be apart of her life despite not physically being there. i had to go through the legal process of changing her whole name but, it was worth it.”

nancy didn’t ask. she’d wait until you were ready to explained that to her. once you find some old photos of her, you showed nancy.

nancy awes at every single photo. from when kali was a baby to her five year old frame.

“god, you can just tell she’s sassy just like her father!”

you hum. “she’s definitely eddie’s kid! she loves heavy metal. her favorite band is dio. oh, and she loves dungeon and dragons! she still doesn’t understand the game just yet, but i showed her the series when she was just three. she’s obsessed with it! all she ever ask is to watch dungeon and dragons.”

nancy giggles.

the two of you remain silent for a little while before you finally spoke once more.

“my parents found the pregnancy test in my room,” you start. nancy puts the photos down. she gives you her whole divided attention.

“they asked me if it was real or some sick joke. when i told them i was actually pregnant, my mom cried her eyes out. my father yelled at me. he called me all different kinds of names, slut, whore, tramp, you name it. he said i was a disgrace to this family,” thinking back to that day brought back all the pain. your eyes began to water.

“after my father was done yelling, my mom asked the big question. who’s the father of my child. i froze up. i wasn’t ashamed of eddie, i was afraid what my father would do once he found out. my silence only made them think i was sleeping around. i told them it was eddie and my father went ballistic. he called my baby a cultist freak. i had never spoken to my parents the way i did that night. i told them they were controlling, manipulative, selfish assholes and id run away to eddie. that was my moms final straw. she never laid a hand on me until that night. next thing i know, im forced to pack my bags, move to a different state, and was sent to some camp for pregnant teens. i gave birth to my daughter there, my parents legally adopted her, and named her angel rose yln. she was raised to be my sister for two years. i couldn’t take it anymore so i called my grandmother, told her everything, and she came to pick us up. i changed her name to something i knew eddie would love, worked too many jobs to count, and bought this house. i want my baby girl to know her father. i want eddie and i—i want eddie and i to try and rekindle. i never stopped loving him nance.”

nancy cried with you as you finished your heartbreaking story. both you and eddie have been through a lot. she knew once you found out everything that happened to eddie, this will only break your heart even more. she hoped the two of you could work things out.

nancy is glad you’re back. truth is, eddie hasn’t been the same since you left. and after almost dying, the town turning against him, and his having ptsd over the last five years, she knew you both needed one another. maybe this will bring back the old playful eddie.

nancy grabs your hand. “he never stopped loving you either.” she whispers truthfully. you nod and hug her once more.

the two of you ended up giggling. “now, let’s get this place put together for you baby girl tomorrow, yeah?! im gonna go get steve and robin to help. they’ll be so happy to see you!” nancy was out the door before you could protest.

it felt like you never left.

the event of season 4 did in fact happen but eddie did not die because i said so!!!!

the year you left was one year before the events of s4 (1985)

kali was born june 6th 1986

the year currently is 1992

yn: 23

eddie: 25

kali: 5 almost 6

[galaxywarp]

Amazon is going to reimburse me for the cat items that were delivered to my old apartment by mistake and I was debating what to use the funds for because I actually have been able to get enough food and litter to last awhile and. It hit me.

Cat tree. I can finally get them a new cat tree.

I left their old one at the old apartment cuz it was beaten down and shredded from years of use and I meant to replace it when I moved here but I lost my job after moving in and couldn’t afford it anymore.

And I’ve felt bad for months because the cats loved their cat tower. they love to leap and climb and sleep on it. I never would have ditched the old one if I knew I wasn’t gonna be able to replace it.

I’ve had one on my “saved items” list for months. I picked it out forever ago.

It’s perfect. Those hammocks?? My cats LOVE hammocks. They’re going to absolutely LOVE this.

I wanted to still spend the money on the cats and I think this is perfect. This is so perfect. We can finally have a cat tower again omg. Omg I’m so excited im gonna cry lmfao omg

[ilovecoelacanths]

actually seriously though sorry to vent but this quarter has been like one of the worst times of my life i didnt really think it could get worse from last year but it did and also my whole family life kinda fell apart which didnt help.

i thought going part time this quarter could help me but it just gave me more time to do nothing and then feel bad about doing nothing. i only have two classes this quarter and im definitely gonna fail one and im maybe gonna barely pass the other one. plus my financial aid changed so school is literally 3 times more expensive which means im running out of money way faster than i have the past two years, i thought that since i worked 3 jobs this summer i had finally saved enough to pay for the whole school year but instead i barely paid for the quarter.

literally the only thing that makes school worth it right now is the rowing team and tbh half the time i cant even drag myself out of bed to get to practice because we meet at fuckin 4:30 in the morning so im just disappointing them and wasting all the fucking money in dues because we don’t get money from the school so we have to pay a lot to fund the club and yeah. i just. need a break. i thought i could do better this year but nothing ive done has helped and trying to fix whatever is wrong with me and do school at the same time is just too much.

im just so tired. im tired of doing nothing and then feeling bad about it and overwhelmed even though i havent done anything and all my tasks are very manageable. im tired of not being able to fall asleep on time because i managed my time badly or my roommates were being loud and then either getting up for rowing or sleeping way too long. im tired of getting 3 hours of sleep one day and then 10 hours the next. i feel like shit and i cant even tell people how bad it really is because i dont want to disappoint them but here i am disappointing them anyway. i want to fix it but for some reason things that should be easy are so so so hard. i didnt even brush my fucking teeth today man.

my professor sent me a message a week and a half ago telling me im gonna fail the class because ive missed too many classes and im too far behind and i still havent responded. she probably thinks i dont care but the truth is every time i think about responding i feel sick. i just want to go home but now everything is different and my mom and brothers moved to a new house and my aunt and uncle moved to a new state and i have to go home to a house that isnt mine and not all my family will be there. or i go to a different house that isnt mine and not all my family will be there. and they say they dont want me to pick sides but somehow going to either place feels like im betraying someone. cant a guy catch a fucking break around here

[kolak-magiia]

Apologies for my quietness, y'all. Things have been,, a bit rough, lately. All I've got in my head is TV static, and I haven't had much room for the muse for writing.

Hoping to come back by next week, but we'll have to see.

I need a fucking break from life man... I'm in a situation where at one point I was able to start saving up a bit of money, and then shit hit the fan. I hoped that moving away from my previous living situation would be a good thing. Fought to get on my own two feet but shit keeps happening and I keep getting knocked flat on my ass again and again and again and I'm so so so so fucking sick of it!!!!! and all I can do is try to keep going because if I go down, everything I've worked for this last year will just fall apart and I literally can't afford for that to happen.

I've been so stressed at the stability of finances lately. To the point where I'm worried that we'll lose the ability to live in our apartment. Even splitting rent three ways!! I've done so good at keeping up with payments on my debt and I've never missed a payment in a major way. but on top of rent, and bills, now my car is acting up. Correction: it HAS been acting up for,, idk a few months now but I've stupidly ignored it for as long as I can because I know that's probably a good thousand in whatever repair shop quotes me and I can't!!! Afford!! It!!

I have been in this cycle for the last two years now and I think I'm finally starting to actually lose my mind. I can't even get into the details of it but god.. god... I'm ready to leave this fucking planet one way or another.

So uh. I'm gonna go lay on the floor before I crash out completely and decide to go live in the woods for the rest of my life.

[somethingusefulfromflorida]

My little sisters and I all live in the same apartment complex, but I've never been over to their unit because they've never invited me inside and whenever I had to pick them up or drop them off they'd tell me to meet them in the parking lot. This morning, I had to go over and help them deal with an overflowing toilet because maintenance is closed on the weekends (god forbid you have an emergency on 2½ out of 7 days). I got it fixed no problem, but I noticed something fundamentally different between the three of us.

Their apartment is the exact same model as mine, same layout, same 4 bedrooms, same kitchen, everything is the same, but theirs actually looks like a home. They and their roommates have decorated everything for Christmas. There's a tree and lights and stockings, and the kitchen counter is full of appliances and a knife block and a drying rack. They've rearranged the furniture and hung up paintings and have little knick knacks everywhere, it looks lived in and welcoming.

Mine is a cesspit hovel.

My building had a terrible roach infestation all year, so my roommate and I can't leave any dishes or appliances out in the open. The fridge is safe, but the cabinets and drawers were crawling with the bastards, so I had to keep all my food in baggies inside sealed tubs in my bedroom.

The living room is as barren as the day I moved in; it looks like an empty model apartment they'd show off to prospective renters. It's cold and gray (well, actually landlord beige), and I didn't realize why I hated it so much until just now.

Ever since college, I've lived out of boxes because I've been afraid to get situated anywhere; save for the few years I lived in my childhood bedroom at my parents' place, I've lived in a different place every year since 2014. I didn't bother unpacking because I knew I'd have to repack it all up at the end of the year anyway and move somewhere else, so I've never been able to make a space my own. My sisters move apartments every year, and they just deal with it; they don't mind packing and unpacking, that's just one of the things they gotta do, and their apartments are always so much cozier for it.

I've sprayed Raid all over the kitchen and swept out behind the fridge and stove and called pest control two or three times since I moved in in September, and come to think of it, I haven't seen any roaches in weeks. I think the infestation might have been dealt with, this afternoon my roommate has started moving his utensils into the kitchen, so I think I'm gonna unpack for real. I'm hesitant about food, but after a personal inspection I feel confident enougn to put all my pots and pans and plates in the cabinets.

If I'm wrong and the roaches come back with a vengeance, I'll clean everything and repack it back in my room, but for now I think I can finally start to relax. I'm gonna hang some posters in the living room, maybe put out some coffee table books, move the couch and chairs away from the wall. Once I get some money, I'll buy a bookshelf and put all my tapes and DVDs out there for easy access.

This is going to be nice. 2023 has been unrelentingly horrible from start to finish, but 2024 will be better.

[goldenpinof]

Gonna tinhat in your asks just because

I feel like it really WAS supposed to be a hiatus. They stepped away from the gaming channel and joint content bc Dan had a lot of projects he wanted to work on (the more serious content like big, the YouTube show, maybe even the solo tour) just to stretch his creative limbs and bc they needed to sort out the house/move, and uploading through all of that would be stressful. They were probably thinking 2-3 years tops. And then the world blew up and half of Dan's plans blew up with it

I feel like this return is GENUINE, like they've wanted to do it and just haven't been able to yet because Dan wasn't done with his stuff

i see that you have good points. it was very convenient to not have a gaming channel when they ended up living in a filming apartment with 0 space. but Dan constantly saying (through Phil sometimes) that he doesn't want to make that type of content anymore and doesn't want the gaming channel to return... it was very telling. only Phil was saying "maybe" because he was the only one actually wanting and needing it. that "maybe" was saved in case everything else went down. like a safety blanket that they always could pull out. which they did.

i understand Dan wanting a hiatus of sorts. he was burnt out. 2018 was a crazy year! it's just.. the vibes we started getting right after were very final. "Dan doesn't want it" was a final statement. and maybe he didn't want it because of other projects. he basically killed DanandPhil brand at some point, it was very apparent that he wanted to get out of that label. that he wanted a name outside a very successful duo they built throughout almost a decade. and it was fucking hard for him, you know. i understand that. the 1st project was ruined by youtube and covid. the company that he gave 10 years of his life let him down. it's a rough fucking start for a name building.

i'm simplifying a lot here, bear with me :))

i think the wad tour opened Dan's eyes a little bit. and i will take it as a win in the end of the day. it was starting very well and promising. the concept and 1st promo materials were well done. but then everything started wobbling and neither Dan nor his team was ready to deal with problems fast enough. and in contrary to how fuckups didn't really make a difference during ii NOW they made a difference. Dan couldn't make a name between 2019 and 2022, so he started going back and forth with his content. sometimes it wasn't clear who was the main target for videos, announcements and promos. i still don't know who initially was the target audience for his book. it can't be us! we know everything he wrote there. but marketing was so non-existent, it's scary how it could flop if he didn't have an audience based on DanandPhil™. his tour had somewhat of an audience also only because of the branding he was so determined to escape. although, there was a moment when he tried to advertise it for a wider audience, wasn't it? especially in the UK, where they had actual posters in the cities outside the venues. i remember having questions about why marketing shifted throughout the tour (while the script stayed the same! loser). i can't say that dystopia daily even had a target audience in mind rfbhfjekeeo

what i'm trying to say is, something changed in Dan's mind. there was a series of events that made him realise that coming back to dnpgames wasn't actually a bad idea. the European leg of his tour was the biggest mess i've ever seen. the fact that Dan explicitly threw shade on people he worked with only confirmed how bad things were. the search for a new management team, constant postponing of wad dvd, Phil's recycling content, and god knows what else – maybe it made him realise that a familiar content on a channel that everyone loves so much and will give views (and money) is what's best right now. new projects are always a risk. dnpgames isn't. and he still can work on something alongside. especially if he finally has new managers who will fight for his interests and property communicate with people they happened to work with. (allegedly. we don't know if he actually got new representatives).

if he actually had a 2-3 years plan (even 5 years plan, idc), the communicative language should have been different. but the only vibe i was getting from him right till yesterday was "i don't what to do what y'all are suggesting. period." and then he is talking about hope on twitter?! bro, as if it wasn't in your hands all this time 😭 i love him and i wish him all the best, and i'm rooting for his career more than for my own. but damn, does he not make it easy 😂

P.S. if turns out i'm wrong, forget i ever said anything. Thanos your memory out <3

[tobikarae]

LOVE YOU SYNDROME ─── three

─── 𝕃𝕆𝕍𝔼 𝕐𝕆𝕌 𝕊𝕐ℕ𝔻ℝ𝕆𝕄𝔼; sano brothers x sister reader

๋࣭⭑ warnings! emotional incest, abandonment, short and rushed chapter, mentions of manipulation

๋࣭⭑ authors note! In @chxrrydarling 's ver the 3rd chapter is a flashback of how Shinichiro sees things but for me I'm gonna make it a Izana chapter. So basically the 4th chapter of this rewrite will her 3rd chapter, does that make sense? also, I'm planning on making one for Mikey to- like, an explanation of why they're so in love with you (I hope all of you know I cringe before posting anything related to writing)

index - two - three - four

Izana couldn't help it. He could help but fall in love with you. I mean, how could he not?

Ever since he was a young child, no one ever paid any attention to him. Nobody cared for him.

That was until the day he met you.

You talked to him in such a polite tone, like a loving parent to their child.

You asked him if he was okay, you asked where he was from, you asked who his parents were. Even he didn't know the answers to your questions.

His answer, “I.. don't know. I don't think I have parents.” it made your hurt ache.

So from then on, you declared him your brother. You made him a part of your family.

Of course, his love for you started out innocent. Just a normal brother-sister relationship.

But as time passed by, as everyone grew older, his love for you ‘evolved’ from a platonic way to a sexual and romantic way.

or maybe he always did love you romantically, he just didn't realize that it wasn't the normal type of love that are shared between siblings.

He was in sixth grade when he realized that you're the girl he wants to spend the rest of his life with.

He knows when you and Shinichiro started the relationship the both of you have, and he also knows that your unhappy but you don't feel like you can stop it.

Because if you do, then Shinichiro would be the one that's unhappy and then you'd feel guilty and selfish about it.

He was a first year in middle school (12-13 years old) when he began making a plan for you and him. He wants you to be happy, and clearly you'd be happy when you get away from Shin.

It was simple and easy to come up with, but the executing part was the hard part.

First, he'd save up money. Get a stable way to make money to make sure that in the future you wouldn't have to worry about money.

Second, he'd start buying you gifts through out the time where he isn't able or allowed to buy stuff like houses yet. When you would ask about money, he'd just tell you he was getting part time jobs and saving up the money. Of course, being the way that you are, he told you to save his money for him and to not spend it on material things for you but that wouldn't stop him. It was a way for him to make you like him even more.

The money he made would be divided into four categories. First, money that he would spend on gifts like dresses and other stuff you might want, second, the money he would save up to buy a house and to pay for the electricity, third, is for college tuition. Both for you and him. Fourth, is a back up for if anything happens.

The third and final step of his plan was the one he is most anxious about, Actually asking you if you'd like to get away from them.

He writes down what exactly he would say when the day comes, and practices in low voice in his room so that no one would here him. He only ever told one person about his plan, and that person is his best friend.

Kakucho thought that this plan was crazy, and would constantly try to find holes in the plan to try and make Izana at least give this a second thought but he would always find a way to solve the issues.

What about Mikey, how would he fit into all this? He'd let Mikey live with the both of you, but of course since he knows about Mikey's growing obsession with you he'd make some rules for Mikey to follow. Like, never making any moves of you.

What about Shinichiro? He couldn't careless about him. Shinichiro has always been a dick to him despite all of his efforts to get close to him. He hates Shinichiro but he'd never say it out loud. If you did worry about Shin then he'd just reason that Shinichiro is a grown man and he could probably deal without you.

What about you though? Well, he'd reason with you. Why would you even want to stay with Shinichiro anyway? Wouldn't you rather be with him? He'd treat you much better. In other words, he'd either manipulate or guilt trip you into going with him.

If you say no, then he'd pretend that he understands. He'd pretend he understands you reasons to stay. But in actuality? He'd be making up a whole plan to make you want to get away even more. A plan where you can't even connect him to everything that's happening. He'd probably get Shin to act like an even bigger asshole or something, it doesn't matter.

He'd do anything to get you to want him, after all.

Ik it's not that big of a deal, BUT TWO CHAPTERS IN A MONTH? I'M SO PROUD OF MYSELF EVEN IF THIS CHAPTER IS CRINGE

tbh I posted this so that I wouldn't have to post in March so maybe no chapters next month lmao✌🏻

[alba8688]

Love hurts

Chapter 36

Warnings:smut,pnv unprotected sex if I miss anything let me know please ..

Word count:7824

Eddie's pov

Authors note

Smutty Smut mentions the f word Fa g just letting you all know and is a really long chapter so get your snacks and enjoy and hope you like it .

March 12

Eddie’s pov

Im laying here in bed in Dani's room

Waiting for it to be midnight to wish a  happy birthday to my beloved Dani .

She was peacefully sleeping after the good Dinner we had a while ago with her mom and uncle Wayne.

Mrs.Henderson was actually really happy about us being in a relationship,but at the same

She was worried because we started dating while she was a teacher .

But Dani assured her that she didn't know I was  her student that we had actually met the day she arrived at Hawkins at The Hideout .

Which she put one and one together realizing that the was the reason she got home

The day after because she spent the night with me.

Wayne was happy as well, especially because he had somebody else that knew about our secret .

We even told her Hopper knew about us ,we didn't tell her how he found out ,that'll be really embarrassing.

But we where just glad we where able to finally be able to be together as a couple that the world would know she was mine and I was hers .

I didn't care what people would say or think about our relationship, the only people that matter were our family and our closest friends.

The rest of the town can kiss my ass.

——————-

Dinner was delicious. Mrs.Henderson had made beef stroganoff with mushrooms with garlic bread on the side .

Everything was so fucking delicious. I could get use to eating like this other than my regular spaghetios or microwaveable dinner Wayne and I used to have. Mrs.Henderson even gave Wayne food to go ,which made my uncle super excited because he didn't have to make himself food in the morning .

She gave him more than enough.

Dustin was really talkative today ,he even told us about the time he followed me all the way to Dani's apartment and how he found out about us.I'm glad he didn't say or maybe he didn't hear what we were doing before he got there .

I was glad for that because I wouldn't want our parental units to hear about our sex life ,which was great can't complain about the best sex ever.

Damn I miss that apartment ,I miss being with Dani alone, our movie nights ,being with her  everyday without being interrupted ,so that's why today I decided I'm going  to ask her to move in with me to my trailer while her house is finished .

I couldn't be away from her and Nate another day ,I looked at my phone to check the time .

"11:55 pm" I said softly

5 more minutes for her birthday .

I got up from bed slowly trying not to wake her and went to Dustin's room to get one of her presents .

When I walk into Dustin's room Nate and him  were asleep so I try to be as quiet as possible and got the gift from his closet that I had hid there so Dani wouldn't find it.

After getting the gift i went back to Dani's room and placed the gift next to her ,I also had gotten her some flowers but those where for tomorrow for her party,I kind of also had gotten her more gifts even though she told me not to spend too much money on her ,but I did spend too much money on her and I honestly didn't care .

I had to spoil her like she spoils me ,I mean she got me the most expensive chain I've ever had and I take care of it with my life and wear it every single day even to go to sleep .

I might have gone a little Bit overboard with her gifts but she deserves nothing but the best.

You know that money I had saved for the road trip I might have gotten from there to buy her all her gifts.

I know already she was gonna kill me for spending too much money on her but again I don't care I want to spoil her as much as I can.

I might not be able to afford something as expensive as she buys for me .

But one day I promise I'll buy her everything that she deserves and even more.

My watch beep meaning The clock hit midnight ,I lay back down next to Dani, turning her around slightly to face me wrapping my arms around her waist .

"Happy birthday Sweetheart." I whisper on her ear sweetly

"Mmm." She hum

"Happy birthday Dani ,happy birthday Dani ." I started singing to her in her ear .

"Thank you baby ." She said sleepily

"I have something for you ." I whisper

"Huh?" She opened one eye to look at me ,even without makeup she was the most beautiful girl ever. She was my Angel .

Fuck she had me stupidly in love with her.

I reached over the nightstand to get the gift bag and handed it to her .

She sits up with her back against the headboard ,my eyes on her waiting patiently for her to open the gift and also I'm a bit distracted by her being completely naked right next to me .

Her breast on full display and the freshly made love marks from before we went to sleep .

I watch her pull out a small box out of the gift bag .

She opens it slowly to reveal a key inside .

"A key?" She grabs it and looks at me dangling the keys on her hand .

"Yeah,a key to my house ." I say softly my heart was starting to beat irregularly .

"So I get to go in whenever I want?" She ask with a big smile

"Or maybe you can move in with me ."I blurted , Her eyes were wide, her mouth half open.

"Move in with you ?"

"Yes ,you and Nate ,I-I already talk to Wayne and he is ok with everything." I told her stuttering like an idiot.I think I started sweating. Maybe it was hot in here, maybe it was just me getting nervous for her answer .

She looks down at the key then back at me .

"I mean this took me by surprise but you already know my answer baby ." She smiles at me.

"So you move in with me ?" I tilted my head to look at her.

"Yes, but if it's ok with Wayne I mean it's Nate Ozzy and me."

"Sweetheart I already talk to him and he is 

ok with it ." She smiles and nods "so is that a yes?"

"Yes ,I'll move in with you ,but the first thing we are doing is changing that mattress. I don't want to see the  stains of your one night stands to be a reminder that you've been with other girls that weren't me because that makes me so mad  ." She scrunches her nose, crossing her arms over her chest .

"Baby ,you can do whatever you want at my house ." I tell her kissing her forehead.I know she can be pretty jealous ,but it's ok cause I think I'm worse than she is .

"You're gonna regret that ."She moves over to sit on my lap .

"And why is that ?"

"Because you said I could Do whatever I want at your house ."She kisses my lips and my expression changes, realizing what I just said .

"Oh no ,please don't put up the Christmas tree already ." I chuckled

"Noo,that's until November Dummy." She giggle

"I thought it was October when you put it ?" Remembering what Liam Had told me.

"Not anymore ." She Pecks my lips"now can you shut up and Fuck me ." She says in the most  sexiest voice that sends shivers all over my body and she doesn't have to tell me twice cause I was already hard since I woke her up and saw her breast .

"Your wish is my command Darling ."I lift her up a little and align her with my length she looks at me with her half hooded eyes and biting her bottom lip and slowly slides down my length making the sensation feeling incredible and totally forgetting that I was at her mothers house  I let out a loud moan and Dani started chuckling.

"You think that's funny huh?" I said in a low and sultry voice and thrusting up.

She let out the most pornographic moan that got me even more harder if that was even possible .

She immediately raised her hand to her mouth and put her hand on my chest stopping me  "Eddie?"she said breathlessly looking at me she started moving at her own slow pace driving me crazy little by little ,."yes...baby ?" I managed to answer ,but how was I supposed to talk when she was making me feel so damn good the way she moved her hips in circular motion I didn't think I was on this planet anymore I was in heaven ,my eyes roll To the back of my head .

Was now biting my lips to stop the moans coming out of my mouth "I-I want to tell everyone tomorrow at the pool party."she tells me bringing me to reality and she changes her movements starting to jump up and down my legnth making it harder for me to answer the only thing that came out was a groan .

"Ok." I said gripping on her thighs tightly .Fuck she was gonna make me bust right here .

She closes the gap between us kissing me sloppily .

"Are you ok with that ?" She ask

"Mhmm." Was the only thing that came out ,I wasn't thinking straight right now .

I think I was melting with the way she made me feel that way her walls felt in my dick it was an amazing euphoric feeling .

Her wetness in my length  made it easier for me to go in and out without any problem. She was always so ready for me and yeah I let that go to my head .

"Eddie ,oh fuck Ed's"she moaned jumping faster making her breast bounce right in my face ,shit I was in heaven right now .

"Cum." I growled leaning in to suck on that soft spot she loves so much.

And just like that I felt all the wetness from her orgasm dripping down all over my length .

I continue my thrusting helping her ride her orgasm feeling myself getting closer and just like that my orgasm hit me hard moaning loudly, she kisses my lips muffling my moans .

"Happy birthday sweetheart ."

We stayed in the same position for I don't know how long until she finally decided to stand up slowly and peck my lips before she left to go clean herself in the bathroom and brought me a towel to clean myself .

She came back to bed resting her head on my chest and entangling her legs in mine .

"Happy birthday sweetheart ." I whisper before both drifting to sleep .

Morning ....

"Happy birthday mommy !!!" Nate Jumped on top of us in the bed followed by Ozzy who immediately makes himself comfortable on top of Dani.

"Ozzy ." Dani's whines sleepily

I don't even know what time it was but I could see that it was still dark outside.

"Thank you baby ." Dani rasp "come to bed with us." She said sleepily

"Ok,but I want to sleep next to Eddie ." Nate yawns and climbs off the bed coming to my side to laid down picking up the blanket to cover himself.

"Eddie ." He says softly

"Yes buddy ?" I respond sleepily, " Why aren't you wearing clothes ?" Nate asks ,I immediately open my eyes realizing I was butt naked and so was Dani due to one of the birthday presents I gave Dani last night .

"Umm...I ...yeah...I was hot ." Was everything I said"could you turn around buddy so I can change." Nate rolls his eyes and turns around crossing his arms over his chest .

"Tell mommy to put some clothes on too ." Ok ,I have never been more embarrassed in my whole entire life .

Dani got up wrapping herself in a blanket and walked to the restroom chuckling to herself .

"I'm laying down now " Nate tells me, he had his dragon plushie I had gotten for him for his birthday .

I was glad he liked it .

I put on my boxers and a shirt  and checked my phone for the time it was 4am .

"Damn is to fucking early ." I groaned, flopping down in the bed next to Nate .

"Language ." Nate said sleepily

"Sorry buddy ." After a few minutes all I heard  was the small snores of Nate and Ozzy .

How can he go to sleep so fast?

I'm glad Dani had a king size bed because I don't know how we were all going to fit here .

Ozzy was in the far corner then it was Nate then myself .

Dani came out of the bathroom after a few minutes wearing my Dio Shirt and some small shorts and lay down next to me, her being the big spoon, because Nate wanted me to cuddle him .

Just by Dani Hugging me made me feel so comfortable that I fell asleep fast hugging Nate and Ozzy .

-Time skip afternoon-

So short story short we slept more than we were supposed to by waking up at 10am.

I was supposed to meet Harrington at 8am and  I know he wasn't going to be too happy about me being late because the party was starting  at 3 ,but as soon as I checked my phone I had so many missed calls from Harrington.

We were supposed to pick up the cake at the bakery and the balloons at the party place .

I had gotten her red and black balloons because I knew that was her two favorite colors ,I also knew she like hot pink but I couldn't find a hot pink fucking balloon all the pink balloons had Barbie's or other princess shit .

So instead I got her a big latex balloon that said Happy birthday.

They gave us the option of picking up

The balloons the day of the party which it was fine because I had nowhere to hide them .

Harrington had me buy a shit load of balloons  I don't know for what but I still did .

The cake I chose if something more

Her style and her two favorite colors red and black I really hope she did like it as much as I did .

Little Henderson was the one that woke me up first getting after  me saying that Steve has been calling me and other shit .

But I mean who wants to start getting ready for a fucking party  so early in the fucking morning .

Yeah .Harrington does .

But I don't know why he worried so much if we had already paid for the balloons and the cake. I just had to go pick them up .

Shit I also forgot I had to go buy the food as well. I had placed an order for a bunch of Chinese food.I got Dani's favorite chicken fried rice ,jalapeño chicken and other things as well. I was also getting pizza for the people that didn't like Chinese .

"Hurry up!!"I got a text message from

Dustin .

Jesus Christ !!

I could hear him screaming even through text.

I got up fast putting my clothes on and before  leaving I left a note for Dani,and placed a kiss on Dani's lips. I can't leave without my kiss.

But we aren't telling that to anyone because that's not metal at all .

I walked out of the room without making any noise and didn't want to wake Dani up nor Nate .

I heard Ozzy yawning and I turned to look at him and he started wagging his tail .

"Ozzy be a  good boy ok ." I whispered and got out of the room fast. .

On my way out I saw Dani's mom making breakfast.

"Good-morning sweetie  ."

"Good-morning Mrs.Henderson ." She hands me a cup Of coffee and a brown bag to go

"What's this ?"

"Breakfast to go Dusty is already waiting for you in your van ." She tells me sweetly

"Thank you ." I gave her a kiss on the cheek before leaving

She was the nicest lady ever ,she fucking made me breakfast, I ran out of there before I started crying .

And yeah there was Henderson sitting down inside my van giving me a death stare .

I hop on the driver side Henderson giving me a side eye .

"Little Henderson I'm sorry ."

"We are late, we were supposed to do so many things but you'd decided to sleep in ." He crosses his arms over his chest shaking his head

"I'm sorry it was late ." I smile remembering the night before ,fuck it was an amazing night for sure .

"Yeah ,well you Two should keep it low. I'm tired of hearing "ohh Eddie ." "Fuck yeah  Eddie." He says imitating Danis voice .

I blushed so hard and at that moment I wanted to  disappear.I regret not  learning to do magic tricks because if I had I would have been able to disappear right now,but  I don't know if that's even possible .

I didn't even want to look at little Henderson but I could feel his eyes burning in the side of my face .

"Oh little Henderson your sister sounds way hotter than that ." I smirk and continue looking at the road and not at him. I was dying of embarrassment even though I tried to put on a normal face.

"Agh you're disgusting ." He fake gagged

Ha ,got him back .

It was a good come back Eddie .I Tell myself hopefully that way he stops bothering me or maybe Dani and I should be more careful of how loud we are.

Jesus Christ !!

What if her mom heard us too ?

Nope I'm not gonna think of that ....

—————————————-

So after getting the cake and the balloons we headed to Harrington's house he had already decorated the backyard by the pool .

We were making Dani a surprise pool party .

She knew we were coming over to Harringtons for some drinks but she didn't know that it was a party for her .

It was her first real party where she actually got to hang out with everyone and our first public outing as a couple .

Today everyone would know about us and I was nervous I'm not gonna lie.

Harrington knew about us. Apparently he put things together after that night that Dani and I got in a fight because of  my jealousy. He gave me a long speech that I better treat her right or I was going to meet his fist .

But I know damn well that Harrington can't ever win a fight ,that I know thanks to Little Henderson.

But he had nothing to worry because Dani made me change in so many ways ,I never thought that a girl would actually tame me .

For me love never existed. All I ever believed was in a one night stand with whoever I met after a gig or a night out with the boys .

But Dani ,damn she has me so fucking mesmerized she has me under a fucking spell and don't even get me started with Nate I love that boy to death .

Never in a million years would I think I would be loving a kid that wasn't even mine as much as I love Nate. I would do anything for him,I would throw punches at whoever made fun of him Or bully him.

Dani has told me Nate has been home school  since pre school for the reason that when he was in pre school he was bully by fucking pre school kids!!

Man,these kids nowadays are such assholes ,but I blame the parents .

Poor little Nate couldn't defend himself because he couldn't speak but i was going to show him how to defend himself maybe not fighting but how to stand up for himself.

I wanted to protect him ,and now more that this year he is starting 1st grade in Hawkins elementary.

And if any of those little gremlins makes fun of him or calls him any names I'll be the first one to arrive at that school to have a word to whoever was in charge of them .

Yeah ,I would have never thought that I would have myself thinking like that .

I'll even join the PTA shit they have at school just so I can be closer to Nate .

I always thought I wasn't going to be a good father figure but now look at me ,trying to be the best dad for Nate .

"Munson stop playing with that balloons and come help me put up the banner  ." Harrington said, taking me out of my thoughts .

"Going ." I let go of the balloon it almost flew up

To the ceiling but Lucas got it just in time .

"Thanks man ." I told him

"No problem Eddie ." He smiled and ran off with the balloon in his hands and I watched him give it to Max making her smile widely ,im glad those two were trying to work things out .

Good for them..

"Munson stop daydreaming and come help me !!" Harrington shouted he was upstairs trying to hang the banner from the balcony .

"Going sorry ." I walked up the stairs to help him ,but still thinking about how stupid in love I was ,I was down bad for Dani .

Like little Henderson once told me "she has you on a chokehold ." I don't even know what the fuck that  means .

We really need to take that cell phone from him he is always learning new words that make no sense at all.

"Munson ,ok tell me what's wrong you've been in another world ." Harrington tells me getting me out of my thoughts again.

"Huh,sorry man I'm just thinking you know ." I tell him tying up the banner to the railing

"About ?" He ask tying the other side of the banner

"I don't know I'm down bad for Dani and it scares me you know  ." I finished tying up the banner and leaning against the wall .

"You're in love Munson ,I know it's scary but you love every moment of it especially when you're with her ." He smiles looking downstairs at someone but I can't see who he is staring at so I walk over to the railing and see him looking down at Nancy .

"You still love her right ?" I ask without even thinking.

"Ima be honest with you I really do ,I've never stop loving her ,I go out with girls and sleep with them but in my head is always Nancy none of those girls can fill the hole in my chest ,I really truly love her so much ,but what can I do man she is with Jonathan she chose him ." I look down ,Nancy caught a glimpse of Steve watching her and she blushed and waved at Steve and myself .when she was caught.

I could tell she still had a thing for Steve but I honestly don't know what goes through her head making herself suffer with Jonathan ,they're always fighting and he even lied to her about the college he was going to .

I really hope these two finally can get their happy ending.

—————-

After finishing decorating Harrington's house we all headed to our houses to change,I stopped at my house first to get extra clothes .

Dustin was with me. He seemed really excited about surprising his sister. That boy loved her so much and he was also really protective of her .

But that's what brothers are for .

When we arrived Nate was already waiting for us in the living room watching cartoons on the tv ,wearing his dragon swim trunks and Hellfire shirt I've gotten for him he was ready to go swimming .

"Eddie!!" He runs up to me as soon as he sees me walking in the house and jumping into my arms .

"Hi uncle Dustin, I'm glad you're back ." Dustin crosses his arms and raises a brow looking at Nate

"Uncle Dusty you know you're my favorite." He says sweetly at Dustin

I fake gasp and pretend I'm hurt with what he said .

"Eddie, he is my favorite uncle ." He giggles

"I thought I was your favorite ." I pout "you're my favorite but you're not my uncle ." He pauses and jumps down from my arms and sits back in the couch covering his face with his dragon plushie

"Hey buddy what's wrong ?" I walk over to him and kneel down in front of him

He says something but it sounds muffled, but his mouth being covered by the Dragon ,Dustin sits next to him and he has a big smile plastered on his face .

"You're my favorite .." I heard Nate say but the last part he said really low almost as a whisper

I smile and try to take the dragon from him, slowly tickling him .

He starts laughing "are you gonna tell me ." I continue tickling his sides .

"Yes !!" He giggle "But stop." He laughs

"Ok I'll stop ." I chuckle

"You're my favorite Dadda just don't tell my Dadda Liam that because I don't want him to feel bad ,I love my dadda Liam a lot but he never has time to play with me he is always on his phone working  ." I didn't know what to say to him. I know Liam works a lot, he even had to work weekends having two jobs maintaining his and Dani's app and then working with his father,I know one day Nate would understand that .

But what took me by surprise was he said I'm his favorite dad ,did I hear correctly ?

He calls me dad .

Fuck !!

Dani had told me he would call me dad but hearing from him did something to me .

My cold heart suddenly became warm, making me feel so many feelings at the same time ,just like Dani did when she entered my heart .

But these feelings were different. I felt so much love for Nate. These were fatherly feelings that I never thought I was gonna be able to give because I never knew the true meaning of being a father ,but thanks to my uncle Wayne I learned some things .

Tears started trickling down my cheeks and I wiped them away fast with the back of my hand .

"I think you broke Eddie ."

I heard Dustin tell Nate.

Nate cupped my face squeezing it making me look like a fish.

"Are you broken ?" He ask scrunching his nose.

"I'm not broken, I just can't believe you call me dad."my voice sounds shaky

Man,I shouldn't cry. I can't lose my cool in front of little Henderson.

"Nate baby, are you ready ?" Dani's voice came from the hallway saving me .

"Yes momma I'm here with Eddie and uncle Dustin." He shouts back ,

"Ok ,I'll be out in a minute Baby ." She shouts from her room

"Ok,sweetheart ." I shout back

"Ok buddy let's go put your stuff in the car ." I tell him, grabbing his bag "Dani sweetheart, where's your keys to the car ?" I ask her

"On the table next to the lamp in the living room ."

Table next to the lamp ,there they are.

Gotcha

————-

And it wasn't even a minute that Dani took, more like 30 minutes .

After putting the things in the trunk we came back inside and she told us to wait for her in the car and that's where we were right now waiting for her .

"How much longer is Dani gonna take ?" Dustin whined from the backseat .

"I don't know little Henderson ." I turned to check on Nate but he was happily watching videos on his tablet and he had his headphones on so he had no care in the world and Ozzy was sleeping in Dustin's lap..

Nate made my day today That little boy really made me the happiest man alive today he fucking call me his Dad .

Damn !  The tears wanted to come out right there when he call me dad and I  know a few came out but I honestly couldn't care anymore. I was the happiest man alive .

"Sorry I took long ." I was startled by Dani opening the door to the passenger side where I was sitting .

"Jesus Christ !!" I place my hand in my chest trying to catch my breath .

"Sorry ." She coos "now get out." She tells me

"Excuse me ?" I raised my brow,what does she mean to get out ?

"I'm not driving, it's my birthday ." She says in a cute voice ,ok I feel better I thought she was mad at me or something .

I got out of the car and realized that she had dyed her hair the same color she had it when I first met her .

She had reddish orange hair for a while because she couldn't dye her hair red while working at the school and I'm guessing now that she isn't going to work there anymore she went back to  her red hair . Her red hair with blonde tips looks beautiful on her. My heart stops for a moment when she looks at me she looks so fucking beautiful .

Memories from the night I met her flow through my mind and I can't believe I actually am standing in front of her after all those months .

She had minimum makeup on and she look beautiful I can't deny that I was totally in love with her like a fucking idiot if she told me she killed someone I'll help her hide the body ,that's how much fucking in love im With her and it's scary because I don't know how to be a good man to her or a father to Nate . my father was always an ass to me and beat me whenever he didn't like something I did ,he is also the blame that I had a buzzed cut for so long because he said I look like a "Faggot." Because I wanted to have long hair.

I know he hated me because I knew I was the reason my mother was dead .

"Eddie baby are you ok?" I shake my head and smile at Dani "yes sweetheart I was just mesmerized you look so beautiful ." I peck her lips softly

"No ,I don't !! I'm not wearing my usual makeup ." She covers her face

Why can't she never take a compliment ,we are gonna have to work on that .

"So I'm driving your car ?"

"Yes ,you but be nice to him ." She Pecks my cheeks and slides in to the passenger seat

I close the door for her and run to the other side to get in the car .

"So should I be jealous?" I tell her putting on my seatbelt ,she just chuckles and turns on the radio .

I still can't get that hang of that radio is like some alien shit or maybe I wasn't used to that new modern shit .

I was more of a tape kind of guy, maybe I was born in the wrong time .

I adjust the mirrors and my seat. I don't know why Dani likes to sit all the way to the front of the steering wheel but I'm Guessing is the height difference.

So now off to  Harrington's house

At Harrington's

Arriving at Harrington's house I saw a car that I wasn't expecting to see .

Fucking Liam .

Who fucking invited Liam to Dani's surprise party?.

I parked the car far away from his, just because I could ,and got out and went to open the door for Dani. I saw that Nate was still sitting in his car seat looking at me .

I knew what he wanted so I helped Dani out of the car and made my way to open the door for Nate and help him out of his car seat .

"Thank you Eddie ." He smiles, putting his tablet in his backpack and walking to the other side to Dustin and they both grab their bags and head inside the house followed by Ozzy .

That was the whole plan all the time Dani and I went in last ,everyone would get in their positions to surprise Dani .

Plus Dustin and Nate were the signal that Dani was  here so that meant everyone was hiding right now as soon as they saw them walk in .

"Baby let's go inside. I want to get in that pool already ,I can't wait for you to see my bathing suit ." She says excitedly

"Oh really ? Can I have a peek ?" I ask her unbuttoning the very top button from her shirt

"Eddie !" She whined, slapping my hand away "you have to wait ."she giggled and ran away towards the door .

Shit that wasn't supposed to happen. I ran after her calling her name but she beat me by opening the door and closing it behind her .

And all I heard was surprise and Dani screaming .

Shit, I ran and opened the door and there she stood with both of her hands on her mouth, everyone staring down on the floor where Liam was ,ha  did she punched him.

Yeah, she did ...

"Oh shit she got you good " i cackle

"I'm so sorry Liam." Dani kept saying over and over again "is that you scared me ." She kneels down to help him up .

"It's ok, don't worry ." He stood up "surprised ." He winced and gave Dani a hug. His arms went way down, almost touching her ass.

I could feel my eye twitching ,this man had the audacity to do that infront of all our friends and me!!!

I heard some awww and some boos when they hugged.

Of Course they didn't know about us so they were rooting for them to get back together.

But that was going to change today because everyone will know about us .

I still wonder who invited him.

"Have you thought of what I told you ?" I heard him whisper to her and Dani pulled away looking at him ,his arms weren't leaving her waist ,I think that was a very long hug for my liking .

I stood there in back of them like a security trying to protect her from anything .

Our friends gave me  a stare and Jeff and Grant called me over, signaling me for us to go outside .

But I didn't want to move from my spot .

Steve and Gareth came over to my side in case something went wrong .

Their  hands on my shoulders holding me in case I snap .

"Liam ,please not here and if you really want that answer is a no I chose him ." I heard her tell him then look back at me and smile .

I smiled back ,a big toothy smile. I felt Gareth and Steve pat my back and walk away when they knew it was safe and I wasn't going to do anything stupid.

Ok ,suddenly my smile faded .

Did he ask her to take him back ?

When was this ?

And she didn't  tell me ?

Was she thinking about it ?

"Danielle!!!" The door to the front opens and A loud shriek coming out of someone screaming Dani's name follows.

Dani turned around with a big smile on her face and ran past me leaving Liam standing there looking like a fool .

I turned around to see what all the commotion was about a skinny blonde girl around Dani's height was the one making that awful sound .

"Cinthia!" Liam ran over to join the hug

"Cinthia?" Fucking Cinthia who made it her purpose to turture me for two fucking years Cinthia.

Great fucking great .

After that reunion ,Dani went to go say thank you to everyone for making her this party and of course I was by her side like a lost puppy .

Her hand on mine and our fingers intertwined she  pulled me with her saying hi to everyone .

She had no care of the stares we were getting from everyone.

Especially from Cinthia and Liam.

I could feel their eyes burning in the back of my head .

But I just ignore them .

Nobody asks questions as to why she was holding my hand .

Finally after saying hi to everyone we went outside and sat by the pool looking at Dustin and the kids playing in the water .

I kept getting up when I would see Nate go under water, almost pulling my hair out .

"Baby i sit down ,he is gonna be fine ." I feel Dani wrapped her arms around my waist From the back and I jump scared that someone would see us .

"I'm sorry it's just a habit ." I pull her close by her hips, and without thinking or caring I peck her pretty plump lips .

And it felt right so fucking right .

She pulled me right back to her lips wrapping her hands around my neck and I didn't fight it at all. My arms went around her waist pulling her closer to me every inch of her body was align to mine .

Was this her way to tell everyone she was taken ?

Taken by me Eddie the Freak Munson.

I heard gasps and some noo .

Dustin shouted finally .

And then Cinthia's voice was heard

"No fucking way she changed you for the freak !!"

Fuck you cinthia.

Dani pulls away her hands and slides it to my cheek caressing it .

"I love you Eddie Munson ." Cinthia kept talking loudly to Liam saying stupid things, making me mad.

I was about to turn to say something but Dani cupped my face .

"I love you and only you Eddie, I chose you ."she pecked my lips again.

"I love you too sweetheart ."

"Way to go Munson !!" Jeff shouted and our whole friends started cheering for us .

"Finally ,I'm not the only one that knows !!" Gareth shouted

"Hey ,I knew ." I heard Steve tell

Him .

Now our whole friends knew about us there was gonna be no more hiding.

"You want to go in the pool ?"dani ask unbottoning her shirt .

"No, it's fine ." I reply

"Are you sure?" She smiles, taking off her shirt slowly then her shorts .

"Jesus Christ Danielle !!" I gasp she was wearing a fucking two piece bathing suit with black sheer  crop top and a black sheer skirt .

What's wrong baby ? You don't like my outfit ?" She said in a sexy tone

"I-Is not that i fucking  love it but I think you're showing a little bit too much for my liking ." I managed to say through all the drooling .

And plus I didn't want Liam to be eye fucking her .

She giggles and walks over to me "you silly boy I can see you like it very much ." She teased her eyes going down from my face to my growing bulge in my jeans .

Yeah i like a lot and fuck !!!

This was embarrassing. I had to go sit down and cover my growing bulge with her shirt .

"I'll be in the pool Ed's." She shouted and jumped in the pool splashing me .

She took awhile To come out from under the water so I got closer to the edge to check on her and suddenly she emerged from under the pool pulling me in with her getting me all wet .

I wasn't even mad .

Everybody started laughing and cheering,suddenly everyone started jumping into the pool with us except for two grumpy people in the crowd Liam and Cinthia .

I swam over to Dani who had swam away from me giggling trying to be as far away from me as possible while she got distracted by Dustin and Nate. I went under the water and grab her from her waist and pulled her under the water with me crashing my lips in hers.

I've always wanted to do this.

And I finally did and it was the most romantic shit I've ever done in my whole entire fucking life .

It wasn't metal at all .

We submerge from under the water almost out of breath from all the kissing .

Dani wrapped herself around me just like a baby koala.

Peppering kisses all over my face .

"I'm free to kiss you whenever I want to kiss you she giggle peppering my face with kisses.

"Sweetheart you're making me hard "yes I had to ruin the moment but what can I do when she is wrapped around me like that and wearing that bathing suit .

"Get a room!!" Gareth shouted

"Fuck off ,im finally able to touch her whenever the Fuck I want !!" I shouted back flipping off Gareth

"Language !!" Nate shouted

"Sorry buddy ." I said sweetly

"Hey !!that's not fair your nice to

Him!" Gareth jumps in the water splashing Dani and I .

"Hey !!" I splash him back

"Guys !!" Dani squeal then we heard another splash

"Nate !!!" Dustin shouted and both Dani and I turned to see Nate had slipped while he was running by the edge .

But Ozzy jumps in just in time to catch Nate .

"I love that fucking dog ." Liam had jumped in the water too swimming over to ozzy and Nate as well as Dani and I swam over  ,

Nate was laughing and I'm glad he was ok Ozzy came to the rescue now Nate was riding him

All over the pool with Dustin behind them .

As the day became night, most of the family members that had come left, leaving us to continue celebrating Dani's birthday .

Dustin and Nate and the rest of the kids headed over to the pool house to play on Dustin's game system .

They were tired of swimming and I'm glad they were out of the pool because I was dying of the nerves I kept checking on Nate every second .

Maybe I was overprotective but I didn't care.

Dani and I as well and the rest got out of the pool and sat down on the ground in a circle .

Dani was sitting down in between my legs. We had a big towel covering both of us .

Now that I was able to touch her in public I couldn't take my hand off of her .

"So how long has this been going on ?" Robin was the first to ask

"A while ." Dani responds

"Did you know he was your student ?" Jeff ask

"Actually she didn't ." Now i was the one to respond "we met in The Hideout ." I tell

Them

"Shit ,was she the hot girl at the bar that you couldn't take your eyes off ." Grant ask looking at me then at the boys.

"Holy shit !! Yes the redhead !I remember that  night man "Gareth tells me

"Yeah ,yeah shut your mouth ." I hissed I didn't want him Making a fool of myself .

Dani turns slightly and kisses my jaw "Where you watching me from the stage that night ." She giggles

"Maybe ." I bit my bottom lip

"So you Two lovebirds have been dating since when to be exact ?" Robin ask

"Well as soon as I found out he was my student i stop everything ." Dani looks at me recalling the moment we decided to stop everything the night that broke my heart .

"Yeah ,Dani stop everything but having her as my teacher was the hardest thing I ever had to do especially when there was a bunch of horny teenagers flirting with her every fucking single day." I sounded mad and I was .

"So you fell for the freak ?" Cinthia finally spoke she has been quiet all this time listening to everyone talk .

"Cinthia he is not a freak and I would appreciate it if you stop calling him that his name is Eddie ." Dani defended me. No other girl has ever done that for me .

And I felt like the proudest guy in the world. My girl defended me .

Robin and Nancy chuckle I could tell

They didn't like her but we had to deal

With her because of Dani .

"Well you fell for Eddie here ." Cinthia rolls her eyes 

"Yes, I did, it got to a point where  I couldn't see him as my student anymore every-time I would

Look at him his eyes where on me already and it made me so nervous it was hard for me

To teach when he was looking at me with those chocolate eyes ." She stops and looks down at her fingers .

"And what happen next ?!" Steve ask wanting her to continue the story

"Well I saw him with Chrissy one day and it made me mad ,I mean i had no reason to be mad because I wasn't with him I mean two months had passed but he also made me a promise that he would graduate so we could be together and it broke my heart seeing him with her after the promise he made, it broke my heart into a million pieces ." She pauses to catch her breath. I held her tighter to me .

"You asshole ." Robin hisses at me flipping me off

"I didn't break any promise ." I defend myself "I was helping her out to make Jason jealous. I swear that's the truth. I even explained that to Dani that same afternoon in her car and we decided to meet that same night to talk and now here we are 5 months later happy ." I kissed Dani's cheek

"Yes,that night was the best night of my life I mean I was risking everything for Eddie but I knew he was worth it,then I took him to New York as a Christmas gift for him And he met Nate for the first time and he accepted me and Nate ,he didn't judge me for having a kid a a young age ,then Nate got so attached to Eddie and it's rare for him to like someone." She looks at Liam in the last part.

"That right that caught me off guard. I've never thought my son would actually like someone else so fast but He likes you A lot Eddie he even tells me his momma boyfriend is  a rockstar ." He chuckles. Then looks at me "Nate really loves you."

"I love him too and trust me I'm trying

My best to be a good role model for him."

   I can't deny this was the best day of my life .

Finally I was able to kiss Dani whenever I wanted and show her off to the whole world .

I know there are going to be judgements from this town because no matter what someone does they always have to criticize people.

I know Dani is already prepared for all the talk and so am I and we are going to face this together as a couple.

Next chapter

[gaym0m]

Okay so l'm really sad cause this girl I have been kinda seeing (and like a lot) is moving states today so imma write that but as Ellie and Beth :) no maggot mommy sorry guys 😭

I'll probably do fluff later.

Warnings: angst, cuss words. Kissing? Gonna do 2nd person cause head hurts. R knows guitar in Beth's part. And just owns some in Ellie’s part.

Beth

Knowing Beth since before she started to learn about music and guitars was a joyful ride.

It was even better when you knew how to play the guitar.

Living just a few blocks from eachother's apartment buildings, meant the two of you would meet almost very day

Ellie wasn’t too sure about this at first but you grew on her (and kept her sister out of trouble while she worked which was really good for her)

But it really wasn’t meant to last

Cause if it was I tagged this wrong (I didn’t im sorry)

As soon as Beth was 18 and Ellie had enough money saved, they planned to move. Not only had Ellie found an amazing husband (this is actually a Jay haters group. But I guessss I have to say he’s nice at first), she had her tattoo business up and running.

Ellie had to go to LA for a bigger market

And Beth had to follow, already applying to multiple music schools and being accepted into most of not all

You? Even if you wanted to follow them (god you wanted to follow them so much it make you physically ill) you simply couldn’t.

You loved Beth so so much, how could you not? Her humor, her taste in literally everything, her voice. . . Truly the list goes on.

But you had been accepted to a school across country, full ride (this means tuition and living paid for those not in America 😔✊) and far from home

It was supposed to be a good thing.

You were all achieving your dreams

So why did it feel like you couldn’t breath?

Why did your chest ache and long for something you’d long since given up?

Because love sucks. (Which is why we all obsess over fictional characters)

The day came so much sooner than you were ready.

All three of you shared a teary good bye, but once Ellie had entered the car, Beth’s arms wrapped tightly around you.

Her face sinking into your neck (as it had a thousand times before after a fight with her mom or her mom vs her sister)

It was a quiet plead for comfort.

Comfort that after that day you wouldn’t be able to provide her.

Her tears soaked your shirt and your tears in hers.

No words were spoken, it wasn’t really necessary when you two knew each-other so well.

Too soon, you had to pull away. Tear stained cheeks flushed red, and green eyes looked dull while locking with yours.

Without much of a second thought, you both leaned in.

Finally Sharing the kiss you both (unknowingly) had been longing for.

It wasn’t how you wanted it, and it wasn’t Beth’s happy ending either

But it was a last hurrah, as your two stories broke off into different paths.

It was as comforting as it was painful, with ideas of what could have been.

Ellie

Ellie had always been a sweetheart, despite her mother’s neglect and her forced motherhood towards Beth.

That was something you admired about her from the moment you meet.

Being the same age as her and with little to no real responsibility except to school, you leant her a hand with Beth.

You parents weren’t rich, but they were certainly workaholics and comfortable.

Which meant while you couldn’t just move them into your house, you could certainly drive them around in your car.

Or buy them groceries when Ellie was running low on money.

It still made you laugh at the memory of her swearing up and down that she would pay you back or return the favor while Beth stood behind her quietly mocking her and sending you a playful wink (one which you’d always return with a smirk)

Ellie adored how well you got along with her sister, and just how much you were willing to go out of your way for them.

Even gifting Beth one of your older guitars for her birthday (you can’t remember who was smiling the widest, little Beth with her guitar feeling like a rockstar or Ellie, watching her sister with the warmest blue eyes you’ve ever seen in your life)

Looking back, that’s when you first fell hard for her. Very eyes so warm and welcoming yet so full of love, pain and everything else.

Like two vacuums dragging you in until you couldn’t breath.

In a good way

One of your favorite memories was convincing Ellie to give you a tattoo after watching her practice on fake skin.

She wouldn’t stop saying no until you compromised, if it looked awful when it healed, she owed you a cover up.

Spoiler alert, it definitely wasn’t great.

She did give you that cover up though

And it looked amazing

Almost matching with her beautiful vine design.

But maybe you waited to long

Or you read it all wrong

Because it was a random Tuesday when she dropped the bomb

She meet a guy. . . And she really liked him.

At first it felt like nothing, a stupid fling at best in your mind.

But one date turned to two then three then weeks of dating followed by months.

Yet your stupidly held on to hope.

Years passed, Jay was still in the picture and while you tried to stay sane you could feel yourself quickly deteriorating.

Beth was quick to notice, always offering a sorry smile when you two locked eyes while Ellie and Jay shared a loving moment.

Yet another year passed, one you spent overworked in order to push the tattoo artist out of your head.

A year which Jay spent pulling Ellie deeper and deeper.

The day you found out about their engagement sent you in a quiet spiral.

Just minutes from home, in a bar with shots lined up waiting for you to finish the last four.

Beth found you first, helping you up and home.

She knew she shouldn’t have told you, after all you clearly were struggling.

But she figured now was better than later.

“Ellie and Jay are moving to LA, and I was hired as a guitar technician with a bad going on tour in a month. .”

Talk about two birds one stone.

Your heart shattered further

Tears forming into your eyes and spilling down your cheeks until you had no more tears to give.

You knew better than to even imagine having a chance now.

Beth tried her best to be there for you, but she was also busy with packing and coming to terms with separating from her sister (and mother figure)

Meanwhile you distracted yourself. Pulling even more shifts at work, packing and shipping all your stuff out to NYC.

With no real tears left to cry, teary eyes and long tight hugs were exchanged between you and Ellie.

Her lips pressed to your cheek before she promised to keep in touch.

Then just like that she was gone

And suddenly you had more tears to cry

You had more pain

But you also had acceptance

And a new road ahead, and away from those you loved for so long.

Ahh sorry for the angst, I am depresso buttt i promise fluff tonight or tomorrow. For now send me ask if you’d like lol.

[fivenightsatfreddysfanfiction]

What Makes Family

Gregory isn't too sure what to make of these two yahoos that moved in with him and Vanessa to make house payments easier. He was hoping for a home with his family but with how messy all of them are, what exactly counts as 'family'?

Time Frame: Post-Security Breach, Pre-Ruin, Gregory POV

---------------------

All things considered, Gregory had made it out of the Pizzaplex into a way cushier life. He had a mom now, even if it was a little awkward still to call Vanessa that so he didn’t really push on the label. He had a dad, kind of, if Freddy could be considered one what with being possessed by a guy who had been a dad when he died. And he had an actual home now, even if it was a shared house with Vanessa’s ‘friend’ and his little brother.

That last part still made him kind of twitchy, mouth twisting into a sour expression whenever he thought about those two guys. Vanessa had introduced them to him when she took him along on a visit at the hospital once he was discharged too. He had an implant that was stuck to his head removed -apparently it had malfunctioned at some point so that explained some stuff that happened in the Pizzaplex- and he was given some nutrients and bland meals to try and get his body weight up a little bit. The few injuries he’d taken were treated and then he was let go, hand gripping Vanessa’s tightly while she worked out plans with the doctor to make sure he continued healing at home.

Meeting the big guy when he wasn’t being terrifying was weird. Apparently there had been some issue with him waking up from his treatment but he finally did after some other friends visited and now he was just quiet. Like, full on refusing to talk kind of quiet. It made Vanessa upset and Gregory thought it was stupid to just decide not to talk ever again. Why give her the silent treatment? She didn’t do anything wrong, it was all Vanny’s fault they’d been stuck inside that building and barely able to tell what was reality and what wasn’t. At least the guy was writing out what he wanted to say so maybe it wasn’t total silence.

The little brother seemed like kind of a dick. Sometimes he would glare at Vanessa like she did something he didn’t like and sometimes he’d look like he felt bad for glaring at her. If he couldn’t make up his mind, then he was just being a dick. That’s how Gregory thought of it. At least the big guy would glare back at him if he caught his brother giving Vanessa nasty looks.

Since technically they were all homeless now -Gregory, Vanessa and the big guy all had lived inside the Pizzaplex since it was built and the dick brother had lived with a cousin of theirs for a while-, none of them had a place to go. Vanessa had been living out of a hotel while talking with police and fighting whoever was in charge of Fazbear Entertainment to get a payout and keep Freddy with them in exchange for giving up her share of the company to them. That wasn’t gonna be enough for a permanent home.

The grown-ups talked -or wrote- about what to do about finding a house while Gregory sat in one of the visitor chairs, bored and fiddling with his Fazwatch. Freddy was too far out of reach to contact and he’d been hidden away by Circus Baby’s friends to keep the company from stealing him back as well as make sure he stayed charged. Eventually, Vanessa and the others worked out that they could pool their savings to make a deposit on a house and keep up with payments for a while until they could find new work.

Armed with the extra money, Vanessa and Gregory headed out together and went house shopping. There were some things they all wanted in a house, written in a note that Vanessa checked a lot as they toured some open houses with an agent. Gregory didn’t know what the other guys wanted but he definitely wanted a big yard to play in and a big kitchen so Freddy didn’t bump into anything while making food.

It took a while but they found a house that met most of what everyone wanted. The yard wasn’t as big as Gregory hoped, but it was nice enough to have a tree and space to still run around in while being open enough to give him a good field of view. The kitchen was a good size, but there weren’t as many rooms as the big guy’s brother wanted. Gregory rolled his eyes when the guy complained about it while they all moved in.

“Do you have to be so annoying about it?” he asked bluntly, meeting the brother’s glare with an unimpressed look of his own, “So what if you can’t have a room just for your computers and junk? Just have less stuff!”

“Gregory!” Vanessa scolded, “Space is a little tight, but that’s no reason to be rude about it. Geez, have a little consideration that this was all we could get with the money we have.”

“It’s not my computers I’m worried about having room for,” the brother grumbled under his breath, arms folding over his chest as he walked off to explore the place. Gregory watched the big guy flash him a frustrated look before miming himself writing on his hand. Vanessa handed him a small notebook and pen from her purse and Gregory pushed himself up on his toes to try and see what he was writing.

“Hm, the agent said this was a three bedroom house, with a laundry room, living room, kitchen, and two bathrooms,” she said in reply to whatever he wrote. A thoughtful look came over her and she looked down at Gregory. “We need one of the bedrooms to hold the new charge station for Freddy and some of the equipment to keep him functional, so that leaves the four of us to share the other two bedrooms.”

“What? But I wanted my own room!” Gregory protested in dismay. He’d liked having his own spaces in the Pizzaplex. It’d be weird to share one with Vanessa now. “Can’t I just share with Freddy instead?” That was more comfortable, considering how much time he spent around the animatronic that night. It’d also give him space to do any tinkering with Freddy, see if he could upgrade his battery some more.

“If he gets a room, I want one too!” the dick brother yelled from the staircase heading up. Vanessa and the big guy looked at each other, rolled their eyes and sighed in unison. Gregory felt his eye twitch but stubbornly held his ground. Just because he had a mom now didn’t mean he had to cave to her either. He did fine this long without one.

“Okay, then Freddy and Gregory can share an upstairs bedroom with the charge station, Alex can get the other bedroom up there for his computer equipment,” Vanessa laid out briskly, “and Sydney and I will share the downstairs bedroom. Everyone happy?”

Gregory felt his gut swoop, eyes widening as alarm bells rang in his head. “No!” he yelled, stamping a foot just as the guy on the stairs did the same, a matching expression of horror on his face. Holy crap, something he and the dick brother agreed on? Must be the end of the world.

Vanessa threw up her hands in exasperation, scowling down at him while the big guy shot his brother a really wicked death glare. “Wh-?! What’s wrong with that?!” she exclaimed, “We don’t have enough rooms for everyone to get one!”

“We can switch? How about you share with Freddy?” Gregory offered weakly, attempting to smile sweetly up at her. From the way she just raised an eyebrow at him in suspicion he was pretty sure it didn’t do the trick. Oh, wait, if he switched places with Vanessa…. “Or the big guy can share with Freddy?” he tried again, scrambling to fix the situation.

“Now you’re just being a little dick!” the brother declared while said big guy visibly shuddered, a grimace on his face, “Just share a room with Vanessa and stop being a bitch!”

“Everyone stop arguing!” Vanessa yelled, her hands flying up to her head in frustration. Gregory winced and hunched his shoulders up. She looked stressed. He didn’t mean to make her more stressed. He just… didn’t want her to be around people he didn’t know. It took him so long to figure out he stayed in the Pizzaplex to save her, and he just wanted to keep her safe.

No offense to the big guy, but Gregory didn’t know him that much outside of his brainwashed self. And his little brother was still a jerk so that was already a red flag.

The big guy slowly lifted a hand to call for attention, and when all eyes went to him he just pointed at himself and then at the living room, a questioning look on his face. Vanessa just gave him a flat look back, arms folding over her chest. “No, you’re not sleeping on the couch. You helped pay for the house, it’s not fair to make you crash out here like you don’t belong,” she told him firmly and then looked at all of them with same stern expression that Gregory remembered her having as the Pizzaplex guard. “Gregory gets a room with Freddy so he can help with his upkeep, Alex gets a room with his computers so he can do whatever he does with it when he’s not working at Circus Baby’s,” she repeated her earlier layout in an even and no-nonsense tone, “and Sydney and I will share the last room because we’re at least sensible about it. And that’s final. Am I clear?”

Gregory scowled, cheeks flushing as the confusing sense of frustration refused to leave him. He glanced over at the little brother, seeing the same dislike for the situation in his expression. What a weird thing to agree on, but they couldn’t keep arguing in circles forever. “Fine,” he finally grumbled.

“Whatever,” the brother sighed, throwing up his hands as he stomped his way up the stairs to pick a room.

“Why was that such a fight?” Vanessa asked the big guy tiredly and Gregory winced at her tone. He didn’t mean for it to get out of hand; he just wished there were more rooms for everyone. She looked down at him and her expression softened, which made him feel a little better as he managed a smile back up at her. “Why don’t you take your bag up and pick a room?” she offered, jerking a thumb back over her shoulder, “Me and Sydney still have to bring in everything else from the moving van before we’re overdue on returning it.”

“Then we can get the charge station installed and Freddy can finally come home too?” he asked hopefully and smiled wider at her nod, “That’s great!”

Reassured a little more with the news that Freddy would be able to join them, Gregory picked up his Glamrock Freddy backpack and ran for the stairs. It was nice, to be able to go up nice wooden steps to a place he could call his own. Having to share the house with those two guys was still kind of a setback but he supposed he could put up with it for a while. At least until Vanessa got a new job and made enough money that they could ditch these two and find their own place for real.

Gregory stopped in the hall at the top of the stairs, watching warily as the brother stepped out of the far room. Guess he claimed that one, which was fine. The closer one probably had nicer windows, which would be good to set up a solar panel to help charge Freddy.

They didn’t say anything for a bit, just stood where they were and stared each other down. Gregory wasn’t gonna give ground first; being on his own for so long and with his past and identity pretty much wiped out by a crazy rabbit lady meant he’d hold onto what little was ‘his’ with all his strength. If this guy wanted him to budge, it’d be over his dead body!

Finally, the other guy spoke. “She’s not his type,” he said flatly and Gregory bristled, offended that this jerk thought so little of Vanessa.

“Well, he’s not her type either!” he shot back. It was the only thing he could think of as a comeback. “They’re just friends!”

“Good,” the brother said as his expression grew confused and suspicious, “They’re just friends.”

“I’m glad we can agree on it!” Gregory declared, his hands tightening into fists. They stared at each other again. This was weird. Were they arguing or not? He tapped his fists against his legs and when nothing else was said he gestured to the door nearest him. “I’m taking this room,” he mumbled and walked very quickly into it to escape. He wasn’t giving ground if they already came to an agreement.

.

-----------

.

Everything was brought in and put into their places. There was still a lot of empty space on walls and in rooms, but Gregory felt that those would fill up once they started turning the place into a real home. Vanessa and the big guy were putting groceries away and Gregory borrowed her phone to call the workshop where Freddy was staying to let him know about the house and his room and his plans to set up his new charge station in it.

“That is wonderful news, superstar!” Freddy said enthusiastically, “I can not wait to see your new room. Are you comfortable there? Is Vanessa doing well too?”

“Yeah, she’s doing good,” Gregory replied, content to be curled up on a bar stool near the kitchen counter and watching her put fresh vegetables in a drawer in the refrigerator. “There weren’t a lot of rooms, so she’s sharing one with the guy from the Pizzaplex,” he added in a whisper, squinting at the topic of discussion.

“Ah, Sydney. He is her subordinate, or well, he was when they both worked at the Mega Pizzaplex,” Freddy affirmed, “It is good that he was willing to share so that you could have a room of your own. Sharing is caring!” Gregory rolled his eyes. Of course Freddy saw the good in the situation. He was the most optimistic guy in the world. But it was that sort of kindness that made him feel warm and glad to consider Freddy his new dad.

“How are you in that workshop? Are they treating you alright?” he asked, adjusting his grip on the phone while watching the going-ons in the kitchen. The big guy was setting up the stove and getting ready to cook dinner while Vanessa set up ingredients nearby. The jerk brother sat at the kitchen island, watching them both with a weird look on his face.

He kinda looked like how Gregory felt watching those two; like he didn’t know if he liked what he was seeing or not. The phone call was supposed to help him get distracted from that.

“It is a very nice place here. Mr. Fitzgerald and Mr. Woods were able to repair most of the damages to my casing and endo, and they were able to make a Fazbear Entertainment-compatible endoskeleton recharge station for me.”

Gregory let out a sigh of relief. He’d been worried that Freddy would have to carry the damages he took at the Pizzaplex from then on, but if Circus Baby’s Pizza and Parties kept these guys on call for animatronic maintenance then they had to be really good at their jobs. He wondered if they could teach him about it so he could do better repair work himself. Upgrading Freddy in the Pizzaplex had been kind of fun when it wasn’t terrifying, and he found himself interested in learning more about it.

They talked for a bit more while Vanessa and the big guy cooked dinner together. Jerk brother eventually turned his attention to playing a game on his phone. It felt… nice. Like how it should be at a regular home, according to what some of the kids in the Pizzaplex told him. Gregory felt cozy, pleased with how things turned out. It was almost perfect.

“Dinner’s ready. Say goodnight to Freddy now, Gregory,” Vanessa told him as she pulled down plates from a cabinet. “We’ll go see him tomorrow and ask those two engineers what we need to do to set him up with a charge station here.”

“Okay!” Gregory replied cheerfully and turned back to the phone, “I gotta go. G’night, Freddy. We’ll see you soon.”

“Sleep tight, superstar, I will see you then,” Freddy replied warmly. Gregory ended the call and joined the others at the kitchen island, taking another seat there and handing the phone back to Vanessa. Dinner was spaghetti, with the meatballs and sauce from a jar, and fresh salad. It tasted so good to Gregory! Not as good as Freddy’s little pizzas he made so long ago, but still really good.

It felt like a family dinner. Glancing around at Vanessa and the two other people they shared the house with, Gregory wondered if it was okay to feel like that when he still felt unsure of the other guys. Maybe things would work themselves out once Freddy moved in?

.

After dinner, Gregory helped with clean up, standing on a chair at the sink beside Vanessa as the two of them washed and dried dishes. The big guy was taking trash out to the curb so it would be picked up and his brother had wandered off to fiddle with the house’s thermometer so it would be comfortable for the night. Chores were a new thing. Gregory wasn’t sure he liked it but it also felt kind of good to have a responsibility given to him by Vanessa. Like she trusted him to work with her in cleaning up. Way safer compared to them working together to fight Vanny and the shattered Glamrocks and that creepy burnt rabbit animatronic under the Pizzaplex.

“This was nice,” Vanessa suddenly murmured and he looked over at her, drying towel in hand and waiting for her to hand him a dish. She gave him a little smile, twirling a finger in the direction of the rest of the kitchen. “All this. Making dinner together, eating together, even cleaning up. This feels… normal. Regular people do this. And now we’re free to do it too.”

“Do you think we used to do this… before?” Gregory asked uncertainly. His memories before escaping that weird lab in the Pizzaplex were spotty and fuzzy at best, something with games, running from certain images he couldn’t recall, and nothing about what ‘home’ was like before the Pizzaplex. But he had a feeling that he wasn’t alone, and the reveal from Vanny that he and Vanessa were family basically confirmed that she was why he stayed within the building. Yet even with her, those memories and feelings of family and home life of the past remained lost to him

“I’d like to think so,” Vanessa replied with a wry grin, “But even if it didn’t, so what? We’re having it now. New memories, ones we’ll get to keep and no one can take away.” Gregory nodded eagerly in agreement and she laughed, flicking a bit of dish soap bubbles onto the tip of his nose.

“H-Hey! That tickled!” he mock-complained, rubbing the towel against his nose to dry it off and grinning as she laughed louder. Yeah, she was right. This really was nice to have.

.

As the day wound down and everyone started getting ready for bed, Gregory got to enjoy the simple pleasure of having his own toothbrush safely stashed in the bathroom. Brushing his teeth and taking showers in the Pizzaplex had always been something of a task done in the midst of anxiety spikes, never knowing when he could be caught by S.T.A.F.F. and taken back to that lab. There was still some anxiety even now, but not as much thanks to being able to close and lock the bathroom door.

He had a nice warm bath, dressed in pajamas of his very own, and happily brushed his teeth before putting everything away in the medicine cabinet. There was tapping at the door to signal someone else waiting to use the room, probably the jerk brother since the other bathroom was downstairs. Well, he could wait a little longer.

Actually, no, Gregory really wanted to lie down in his new bed and sleep under his new blankets. He’ll annoy the brother some other way another time. He unlocked the door and opened it to give the guy a shot at the bathroom, tilting his head at the worried look. Wonder what was giving him reason to look like that?

The brother didn’t say anything to him, just a quick nod as a sort of thanks for the swap before heading into the bathroom, and Gregory didn’t think he was in a position to ask what was wrong. Not that he cared, but he’d like to have a head’s up if there was something to be alarmed about. Since there didn’t seem to be any obvious dangers or threats, he just shrugged and went to his room.

That was still so nice to think about and say to himself. His room. His room. With his own bed and dressers and closet and furnishings and desk and an empty space where Freddy’s charge station can be set up. Gregory gleefully jumped onto his new bed and scrambled under the blankets, sighing at the softness. Everything smelled clean and fresh, like some impossible dream. He pinched himself a little just to be sure it wasn’t and the sting was reassuring. Then he had to rub where he pinched to soothe the hurt.

A knock at the door. “Come in!” Gregory called out and smiled widely at having the ability to say that, to have his own space and decide if he wanted someone to enter it or not. The door opened and Vanessa poked her head in, hair down for the night, all loose and soft and golden in the light of Gregory’s bedside lamp.

“You comfy there, Gregory?” she asked with a soft grin. He nodded happily back, wiggling under his blankets as though to try and soak in everything all at once. “I’m glad,” Vanessa sighed in relief and nodded towards him, “Get some good sleep. Tomorrow we’ll go see about bringing Freddy home and then see if we can get you enrolled into a school.”

“Ugh, school? Really?” Gregory whined, pulling the blanket over his head, “Can’t I just learn about animatronics from the guys who work on Circus Baby?”

“School would help with that,” Vanessa pointed out, “Besides, you’ve been out for so long already, you’re gonna need to catch up and for that we need to figure out where you’re at right now with education.” Gregory groaned from under the blanket but she didn’t seem any more sympathetic to him. “Afton erased our identities and pasts, but she didn’t get rid of your memories of stuff you learned, so at least you don’t have to start all over with learning how to read and write,” she told him, “At least be happy you don’t have to sing the alphabet song because you forgot your letters!”

“Fine, fine! If only cuz it’ll help me help Freddy more!” Gregory declared and kicked under his blankets, “Goodnight, Vanessa!”

She laughed and wished him a good night, then closed the door, leaving him to turn down the lamp to a soft glow. The room was awash in dull amber and shadows, and Gregory snuggled against the pillows, blinking slowly until he faded into sleep.

.

--------

.

In the morning, Gregory went through a new ritual of picking out fresh clothes to wear, brushing his teeth again to get rid of the icky morning breath, then heading downstairs to see if everyone else was awake. He didn’t think the novelty of being able to do this would wear off for a long time. There was a kind of excitement in just going down and walking over to the kitchen to look for something to eat, his eyes lighting up at the sight of breakfast already being made.

Vanessa smiled brightly at him, a plate of pancakes in one hand that she set down on the kitchen island for him. The big guy was flipping a few more at the stove, looking back now and then at his brother in concern. Gregory reached for the syrup eagerly, pouring a generous amount for himself. “Did you sleep good?” Vanessa asked him before he could shove a forkful of pancake in his mouth.

“Yeah! I thought I’d still be light sleeping cuz I had to do that in the Pizzaplex, but I was so comfortable that I just slept like a rock!” he told her happily and proceeded to dig into his food. These tasted pretty good too. Maybe Sydney wasn’t as bad as he had worried the guy would be?

His brother was still on thin ice, though. Gregory glanced over at him out of curiosity, brow furrowing at how exhausted he seemed to look. Yikes, what happened to him?

“You look like a zombie,” Gregory told him around a mouthful of pancake.

“Swallow your food before talking, you don’t want to choke on it,” Vanessa lectured without missing a beat in serving out another plate of pancakes for the other guy. Gregory wrinkled his nose but swallowed his mouthful of pancake like she said.

“You look like a zombie,” he repeated more clearly. The jerk brother just sat in a slump on his bar stool, looking like he was struggling to stay upright and keep his eyes open through lots of squinting and blinking. Didn’t he get any sleep? What happened, his bed not good enough for him?

“Huh,” Vanessa mused aloud as she set the plate down, “you’re right, Gregory. Hey, Alex, what’s the matter? Didn’t sleep well?”

The guy just yawned, covering his mouth, then squinted between her and Sydney as they both finally sat down to eat as well. “Didn’t sleep,” he finally said drily, “Was up all night. Just in case.”

“In case of what?” Gregory asked in alarm. Was there a threat he’d overlooked? Did Fazbear Entertainment know where they lived somehow? The brother’s face reddened a little and he looked almost embarrassed, ducking his head and staring at his pancakes.

“...Noises,” he muttered. Gregory tilted his head, confused. Noises? Like scratching at windows and doors or something? Was there a mouse loose?

“What kind of noises?” Vanessa asked curiously, blinking when Sydney suddenly stiffened as if he’d been zapped. Gregory winced at the glare he shot at his brother, a scarily withering look that had the guy shrink in on himself some more.

“It doesn’t matter cuz nothing happened,” he said sourly, jabbing his fork at his pancakes. “I thought… ugh, never mind! It was stupid!” Sydney reached across the island and flicked his forehead, annoyed expression on his face. “Ow! Geez! I already feel stupid and weird about it, don’t gotta flick me too, idiot!” the guy exclaimed, clapping a hand to his forehead and scowling.

Vanessa’s expression suddenly cleared, as if she finally figured out what the heck they were talking about, and she started laughing, face bright red. “Wh-what the heck! Oh my god, Alex, I said we were just friends!” she declared while Sydney just covered his face with his hands.

Gregory stared at them all, left out of the joke and unsure whether to be annoyed by that or happy he didn’t get it if it sounded embarrassing. Eventually he decided it didn’t matter more than enjoying his pancakes before they got cold, so he just turned his attention back to breakfast. Adults were weird with their jokes.

.

---------

.

Visiting Freddy was both awesome and kind of sucky. Awesome in that Gregory got to meet the two guys running the workshop that repaired Freddy and kept him charged. Sucky in that they needed to discuss stuff about the charge station with Vanessa so Freddy wouldn’t be coming home right away. The disappointment was enough to make him want to scream.

“It will be alright, Gregory,” Freddy told him, carefully patting him on the head while the two sat together on one of the heavy duty benches in the workshop. “I am not lonely while I am here, and we can still talk on the phone. The people here are very friendly and seemed very understanding that I have a spirit so they are very careful with my endoskeleton.”

“I thought they wouldn’t like us cuz we’re Aftons,” Gregory muttered, hugging his knees and scowling behind them, “Knife Lady was pretty mad about it when she found out that’s what Vanny named us. She was really angry with you though. It’s stupid. You’re different from the other animatronics and we’re all different from Vanny’s Afton Family.”

“That is true. We are not the same as the other Aftons. Uh, mostly,” Freddy agreed with a little gesture of one hand. “You and Vanessa were forced to become Aftons. Your names are not by choice. Miss Knife Lady understood that, which is why she was angry with what happened to you, not angry at you.” Gregory shrugged a little at that. He supposed that made more sense and was a lot nicer than thinking the other way. Freddy placed his hand over his chest, ears drooping a little. “However, she was angry with me because my spirit was from an Afton who did do wrong by her and her family. I am no longer that Afton. I gave up that connection because I saw the harm that was done in that name and I did not wish to continue it.”

“If you’re not him, then maybe she should just forgive you and get over it,” Gregory grumbled, leaning into Freddy’s side. He smiled a bit at the pats on the shoulder from him.

“Some things can not be forgiven, but she was willing to look past the history of my spirit because I have changed,” the animatronic explained gently, “I can accept that she may never like me since she has accepted that I wish to be better than who I was before.” His ears wiggled as Gregory looked up at him, his jaw opened a bit to make it seem like he was smiling as he talked, “Think of this as a learning moment, superstar.”

He thought about it. He didn’t think he understood but it probably was one of those future him lessons. Something that didn’t need to be figured out right away. Oh well, at least he was spending time with Freddy. That’s all Gregory cared about right now.

“Gregory? Time to go and see the local school for enrollment,” Vanessa called out to him and waved, “Hey, Freddy.”

“What about Freddy’s charge station?” Gregory asked in protest and she sighed, a pinched expression on her face even as she smiled, a strain to her mouth.

“We worked out a payment plan for having one built in the house, so Mr. Woods and Mr. Fitzgerald are going to head over to our house to take measurements and get started on that,” she told him, “Until it’s built, Freddy will have to stay here a little longer since they have the only working station right now. Sorry about the delays, Freddy.”

“It is fine, Vanessa. I only wish I were able to help pay for the construction,” Freddy replied kindly, “It is regretful that FazTokens are not an accepted currency outside of the Pizzaplex.” Vanessa smiled more warmly at him, chuckling at his words, and Gregory looked between them with a tilted head. How was that funny? Must be another adult joke.

.

Enrolling into a school was going to be a process. Gregory watched Vanessa’s expression become more stressed as the staff in the school explained needing proof of where they lived and that they’d be there on a permanent basis. Then they would have to make an appointment for Gregory to take a test and see what grade he should be at, and then new files had to be made because he didn’t have any history anywhere. Gregory could have told them that but then he’d have to go into the whole story of the Pizzaplex and Vanny and the Aftons trying to turn him and Vanessa into shells of people for some dead bad guys to possess them and come back to life and he wasn’t even sure if that was all there was to the story.

Like where even did that burned up rabbit thing come from in the first place? Vanessa didn’t know but she had freaked out when it started talking at them somehow so Gregory figured it was better to not try and ask her any more about it.

“Vanessa?” Gregory asked quietly as they got into Sydney’s car to drive back home, “Do you sometimes wish we never left the Pizzaplex?” Things were much simpler. Didn’t have to worry about school, paying for things, having to find someone to set up a charge station for Freddy, having to talk to so many people who would never know what they’d been through and wouldn’t understand.

Vanessa paused with her hands still on the keys for a moment before she sat back and exhaled slowly, her gaze down and lost. “...Sometimes,” she admitted. She raised a hand to the steering wheel and pat it lightly. Didn’t seem like she had reason to do it but to just give herself something to do while she thought. “But even while I was there, deep down, I already had a feeling that how I was living inside that place wasn’t right,” she added and shook her head, “It wasn’t healthy, not for me and not for Sydney, and not for you and Freddy either.”

True. And if they had stayed any longer then it would only be a matter of time before they weren’t even Vanessa and Gregory anymore, but those two dead Aftons Vanny had been trying to resurrect.

“Let’s go home. I’m getting hungry and I bet you are too,” Vanessa suddenly said in a cheerful tone that sounded like she was faking it. Gregory nodded, sitting back in his seat and watching the world go by through the window as she started driving.

.

-----------

.

Gregory heard hushed arguing from the jerk brother’s room while on his way to the bathroom to wash his hands before helping make dinner. Curious, he drew closer to the closed door and leaned in to listen. What was going on?

“Yeah, I know it was risky but this was old money!” Sydney’s brother protested, “I’m not doing anything but looking for our old accounts to see if I could recover anything to get more money into our current ones.”

There was quiet and Gregory realized that the silence meant Sydney was the other person in the room, the one being argued with. Why were they arguing over money? Did they not have enough to pay for stuff? He thought about how Fazbear Entertainment did business and shrugged. Wouldn’t put it past them to skimp on Vanessa and Sydney’s paychecks.

“Doesn’t matter anyway. Turns out the places we kept our accounts got busted by authorities, like, 25 years ago so they got frozen. I can’t break into them without drawing attention to us.”

More quiet. Guess Sydney needed time to write out his arguments.

“I don’t know. When I… left… our base of operations, I didn’t really take anything with me. And I went back only once before going after the pizzeria again. Everything had been burned to the ground, our stashes destroyed.” A sigh in frustration and regret. “Old destruction. Your weapons were long rotted. ...I’m sorry.” There were some muffled sounds of movement. “I wish you didn’t beat yourself up about it. That was you then, but that’s not who you are now. And not just cuz we made that deal. … We’ll find some way of making money so we can have our own place.”

Gregory stepped back from the door, frowning. He wasn’t sure how to feel about that. They wanted to leave? Already? But… wait, wasn’t this good? If those two made enough money to move out, then he and Vanessa and Freddy could keep this house for themselves. That’s what he wanted at the start. So this was good.

This was good.

If he thought it enough, maybe he’d believe it more.

.

“What if we opened our own pizza place?” Gregory suggested, watching Vanessa sprinkle cheese onto a homemade pizza. He had been in the mood for one of Freddy’s pizzas, but since he wasn’t home yet to make them and the Pizzaplex was pretty much shut down as the investigation was coming to an end, so homemade was the way to go. Jerk brother actually looked up a recipe on his laptop and had it spun around on the kitchen island for Vanessa and Sydney to use as they made the pizza.

“Sure, compete with my job’s place. I’d like to see that,” he huffed out a laugh without looking up from his phone. Gregory squinted at him, then kicked at his leg when it looked like he wasn’t paying attention. The jerk flipped him off for it and Sydney rapped his knuckles against the island’s top to get him to look up in time to get glared at. “He started it!” he whined, “You’re only siding with him cuz you like her!”

“We could if we had the money to open a business, but I don’t know if we have the budget for that,” Vanessa told Gregory, wisely ignoring the one-sided bickering going on beside them. “And I’m not sure if we can use the Freddy Fazbear name since that belongs to Fazbear Entertainment. We’d have to come up with our own name and then figure out what to do about Freddy because you know he’s going to want to pitch in as entertainment for the place.”

“If you had investors to give you money to start the business, that’d help a lot,” the jerk brother commented as a break from teasing Sydney, “You just need a proposal that’ll attract ‘em. Unfortunately, your biggest selling point of having Freddy as a performer might also be your biggest drawback.” He waved his phone at Vanessa’s puzzled look. “The investigation into the Pizzaplex drew a lot of negative press that’s gonna take time to die down, even with that company stamping out fires to save themselves. Freddy would just be a reminder of that until it all blows over.”

“So we’re too broke to make money?” Gregory asked in frustration. The brother nodded at him, and he rocked back on his bar stool with a scowl. “That’s so messed up! It feels like we’re stuck then!”

“That’s not for you to worry about, Gregory,” Vanessa told him, sliding the pizza into the oven to bake while Sydney cleaned up the mess from preparing everything, “You wanted to help with Freddy’s upkeep when he gets here, right? Try asking the engineers questions and get some tips from them when they show up to install the charge station. It’ll give you something to do until we can enroll you in school.”

The jerk brother sat up straight, eyes wide with alarm and confusion. “Hang on, what engineers?” he asked, “You mean Fitzgerald and Woods?” Vanessa nodded and he turned to Gregory, a manic light in his eyes, “I’ll teach you coding myself, how to hack Fazbear systems and stuff like that. No way am I letting Fitzgerald pass on his stupid verbal command schtick to another apprentice! He’s already got Woods!”

“What’s your deal with Mr. Fitzgerald?” Gregory asked him in suspicion, “He’s old but nice and he helped fix Freddy’s damaged casing.”

“We’ve got beef!” the guy declared with a huff, hands clenched into fists, “An old, old rivalry that surpasses death!” Sydney rapped on the counter top again. “Shut up, Sydney! No, I’m not letting this go! Fitzgerald was a little shit back then and he’s a little shit in present day!” his brother snapped back in annoyance, “If Gregory’s gonna learn hardware from Woods, then he’ll learn about software from me! And that’s final!”

“I don’t even like you,” Gregory complained. What a pushy guy, what was his problem?

“Don’t care! You don’t have to like me to learn from me!” the jerk declared and spun his laptop back around, typing away at the keyboard quickly, then sliding it in front of Gregory. “Here, we start with the basics. Animatronic programming is usually done in its own special language that computers and the animatronic can read and understand.”

Okay, so this was going to be a thing now. Gregory sighed even as he leaned forward to see the screen and follow along with his explanations. Some of this stuff felt faintly familiar, like he’d seen this kind of writing before. A refresher would be good, for however long Sydney and his little brother were around. Then he’d have the groundwork to go looking for more help elsewhere.

It wasn’t until Vanessa was sliding a plate of fresh pizza to him while he was tapping out responses to a mini quiz about what he’d just learned that Gregory realized he’d lost track of time just listening and studying. When had he stopped being annoyed by the guy butting in on his plan to learn to help Freddy and actually paid attention to the lessons? He bit into his pizza, munching away while he watched the other Herrera scroll through his answers with a serious expression, nodding to himself and humming in approval.

“You’ve got a good grasp so far, some areas could use more polish so we can work on that once we can get a look at what language Freddy’s programming was done in,” he commented and flashed Gregory a grin, “Pretty solid understanding of the basics, guey, I think you’ll do fine in being able to keep Freddy’s software optimized and updated. Once I’m done teaching you, you’ll probably even be able to secure him against getting hacked, so he’ll stay safe from a lot of online threats.”

Gregory’s eyes widened, an excited flush coloring his face. That would be so cool! If he could do that, then he wouldn’t ever have to experience seeing Freddy getting hijacked ever again. Not from that burned rabbit thing, not from the Pizzaplex network, not from anything or anyone!

“That’s awesome! Thanks for teaching me!” Gregory blurted out without thought. Oh, wait, he was supposed to not like this guy and not care, because he and Sydney would be leaving eventually. Right?

“Huh, you’re welcome, I guess,” Alex replied, rubbing his head in a suddenly sheepish expression, “I mean, there’s still a lot to learn, and I’m not exactly a teacher type, but if you actually like this sort of thing… well, I said I’d teach you everything I know so just be prepared! I’m not gonna make all your tests and tasks easy!”

Gregory just grinned. Looking around at everyone while eating pizza, at Vanessa smiling happily, at Sydney looking content with his meal, at Alex tapping at the laptop with a gleeful expression… was this what it felt like to have a family? Sure they were kind of a mess, so much trauma of different kinds, but here? Right now, together? Things felt nicer, brighter. And soon they’d have Freddy and the family would be complete.

At last, Gregory didn’t feel alone anymore. Not with this new family surrounding him. He could only hope that nothing dared to ruin it for him.