#he’s the sort to suddenly tear up at the thought of his kids leaving them | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

runraerun · 2 months ago

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ao3 • 6.1k • @steddie-spooktober day 30 prompt: “Where did you find that costume?” • beta: @netflixandchilis 🧡🖤

Summary:

“This is not a sex costume.” Steve rolls his eyes, “I swear, I could show up dressed as a clown and you guys would accuse me of—”

Steve doesn’t have time to brace himself before Eddie reaches forward and yanks. The sound of tearing velcro is deafening, and so is the silence that follows afterward.

His entire cop costume is suddenly off of his body and somehow, inexplicably, in the hands of Eddie Munson.

Or, unbeknownst to Steve, he shows up to Eddie’s Halloween party dressed as a stripper.

*Knock knock knock*

Steve steps back from Eddie’s front door, then rocks back on the heels of his boots that he hasn’t fully broken in yet. He knows that technically, he could just stroll into the trailer—he’s done it before after all, but sue him; he’s feeling playful tonight. And if there’s one night a year you’re allowed to embarrass yourself a little in the name of shits and giggles, it’s Halloween, right?

Steve had drawn the short straw between the four of them and was saddled with babysitting duty earlier tonight. As usual, Steve thinks with an amused sort of bitterness. Always the goddamn babysitter…

He’d just finished dropping the kids all off at Henderson’s house for a sleepover, but this was after they had forced him to trail after the lot of them for what felt like an eternity while they filled their pillow cases up with sugary garbage. Steve’s fucking exhausted.

When no one answers the door, Steve steps forward again, delivering three sharp knocks in quick succession.

“Hawkins PD, open up,” he bellows, giving what he considers is a fairly decent Hopper impression.

Steve’s skin prickles against a sudden cool breeze. He hooks his thumbs into his belt and waits on the creaky front porch, trying not to squirm against the wedgie that this outfit seems determined to give him.

Cheap ass costume…

The front door swings open, and Steve is suddenly bathed in the warm, welcoming light of the trailer’s interior. Robin, who has a football helmet on, along with some kind of orange jumpsuit with tubes wrapped around her torso, looks him up and down.

Before she can even say a single word though, Steve cuts her off, playing at arrogance.

“Got a couple of noise complaints, ma’am. Are your folks home? I’m gonna need—”

Robin holds her hands up with barely contained glee, “Wait wait, hold on! Just stay right there.”

The door slams shut in his face, leaving Steve in the darkness of the porch again. Through the door, Steve hears Robin yell for Eddie, but can’t make out much of the muffled voices after that.

Left on the porch with nothing but his thoughts Steve can’t help but wonder if Robin even recognized him. The fake stache wasn’t that convincing… was it?

“Man, c’mon…” Steve sighs, stepping forward and knocking again, this time with more force. He’s very quickly regretting his decision to ham it up as opposed to just walking in, kicking off the uncomfortable boots he’d been wearing all evening, and plopping down on Eddie’s lumpy, yet deceptively comfy sofa.

“C’mon, open up, Hawkins Police.” Steve calls again, trying to keep his exhaustion out of his voice.

In a blink, the door swings open again. Steve makes the extra effort to push his shoulders back and puff out his chest. This time, instead of Robin being the one haloed in the dingy light illuminating the trailer, it’s Eddie. A very confused, shockingly pale, cape-wearing Eddie.

Steve tilts his head back and peers down through his dark aviators at his friend, trying to maintain a stern, authoritative demeanor. His lip itches from underneath the stupid fake facial hair he’s got taped to his face. He can’t wait to rip the damn thing off.

Eddie grips the edge of the doorway, apparently stunned into silence.

“Sir, did you or anyone in this household place a call to 911 this evening?” Steve barks, trying his best to lean into his power-tripping asshole persona he’s decided to adopt.

“What the–” Eddie starts, but doesn’t seem to have any words to follow. His wide, dark eyes roam over the uniform and his twitching smile says enough.

Steve’s putting on a good show, it seems.

“Because it’s a criminal offense to prank call an emergency hotline, sir.” Steve leans forward, hoping for intimidation, “I could have you arrested.”

Steve suddenly becomes aware of Nancy and Robin both snickering in the background, watching the interaction with seemingly great interest. Eddie, for the most part, appears frozen at the door. It’s an odd bunch of reactions if Steve is being honest—he’s just dicking around, after all. Was he really being that out of pocket?

“Shteve, where in the fresh hell…?” A bewildered looking Eddie begins, his words slightly slurred, almost as if he has a lisp. Then Steve spots them; the sharp toothed plastic tray of vampire teeth that Eddie’s got stuffed into his mouth, making his lips pucker out just a bit. He looks ridiculous. If anyone should be laughing, it should be Steve. But instead of waiting for everyone to get their shit together, Steve forges on. He makes a show of sniffing the air. He slowly pulls the aviators down his nose to shoot Eddie a look. “Is that marijuana I smell, son? You kids smoking the devil’s lettuce in there?”

Robin sounds like she’s choking on something, Nancy’s all but retreated back into the trailer, unable to contain herself. Was it really that funny? Steve knows he can get the girls laughing on occasion, but he’s not like, a comedian or anything. And this cop bit he’s doing wasn’t even all that funny, even he can admit that. It’s just dorky fun. But Eddie’s shoulders are shaking and he’s giggling hard enough that he’s gone all quiet. Steve briefly wonders if he has something on his face…? Besides the stache, of course.

A particularly cool breeze hits his side, and he can physically feel himself break character as he brings his shoulders up to his ears in an attempt to brace against it. This cheap fucking costume does absolutely dick all to keep the cold out.

“Alright alright, jokes over, just let me in already.” But when Steve takes a step to pass through the door, Eddie quickly holds a hand to Steve’s chest, stopping him in his tracks. With his other free hand, he noisily pulls the vampire teeth from his mouth, a string of spit connecting the two until Eddie wipes his mouth with the back of a hand.

“Slow your roll, Sargent Cinnamon,” Eddie exclaims, barely able to contain his laughter to get the words out, “Jesus Christ, Steve, you’re gonna get the actual cops called on us.”

Sargent Cinnamon?

Steve takes off his aviators, perplexed. “What? Why?”

“Just—just turn around for me for a minute.” Eddie says. His hand falls from Steve’s chest as Steve begrudgingly takes a step back.

“Yeah, give us a spin, Steve.” Robin calls from the kitchenette, and Eddie gives a noisy laugh through his nose in what looks like a failed attempt to withhold a full on fucking belly laugh from escaping.

“Why?” Steve makes a face as he asks again, defenses up.

“We just have to confirm something.” Eddie says, playing coy.

Now that Steve’s really looking at him, he can see Eddie’s clearly dressed as a vampire. He’s all in black, though most of him is covered up by the long, heavy looking cape that’s tied around his shoulders and draping down his back. The collar of it looks stiff, its points reach damn near up to his cheekbones. His eyes are rimmed with dark makeup, making them pop even more than they usually do. Most striking of all though, is the white makeup that’s smeared all over his face, down his neck, and even over his mouth. It makes for a shock when he speaks or laughs, the deep red of the inside of his mouth contrasting sharply with the undead paleness of the rest of his face.

He looks… good. Spooky, but good. Especially now that those chunky fake fangs are out. Maybe Steve should have dressed as something spooky too…

“C’mon, just let me in. I don’t wanna spin.” Steve frowns. He does not pout. His lip may or may not jut out the tiniest of amounts. But Steve Harrington does not pout.

Eddie’s brows pinch together in mock sympathy, “oh, I’m so sorry Officer, but in that case, we’re gonna need you to come back with a warrant.”

Steve sighs. He’s cold, annoyed, and he’s pretty sure there’s two big watery blisters on the backs of his heels that’ll need patching up before the night is out. “Dude–”

Eddie holds out a finger, silencing Steve, “ah ah ah. You don’t get to show up here dressed like that and not put on a show.”

Steve’s brain stutters to a halt. “...I’m just dressed as a cop. What’s the big deal? Why’re you guys acting so weird?”

“Less yapping, more spinning, Deputy.” Eddie smiles wide, tilting his head. Despite being a total shithead at the moment, that smile never seems to fail at making Eddie look strangely endearing. It’s like a trap—one Steve always seems to be tumbling into as of late.

He gives a noisy groan of frustration to show exactly how ridiculous he thinks this whole thing is, before he complies and slowly turns around on the spot. Steve puts out his arms in defeat, suppressing yet another urge to dig at the wedgie now firmly up his ass. “There. Happy? Any more questions or demands?”

“Yeah, just the one,” Eddie says, seeming no less entertained than if Steve had just burped the whole alphabet backwards while simultaneously juggling a set of kitchen knives. “Where did you find that costume?”

Steve feels his neck go red, then his ears. He stuffs his hands under his armpits to try and warm them up, then shrugs defensively, not fully knowing why he is so embarrassed, only that he is. “Just a regular costume store.”

“What store exactly?” Robin calls from behind Eddie while she nurses a beer, “was there, oh, I don’t know, lingerie in the window of this costume store?”

And with that, there’s simply no helping it; Steve’s face goes scarlet. “No! It was just that pop-up Halloween store—the one next to Family Video. Robin, you went there too, what’s the big deal?”

“Did you happen to have crossed a beaded doorway in order to get to this costume by any chance?” Eddie asks in mock curiosity, barely withholding more of his obnoxiously loud laughter.

Steve opens his mouth to deny the downright weird accusation but… thinking back on it, he may have hit some beads at a certain point while he was in that shop.

Oh God…

“There’s that lightbulb,” Eddie gives a smarmy type of smile, “knew it would turn on eventually.”

Steve casts a glare between Eddie and Robin. They’re just poking fun at him, surely. If he’s being honest, he’s sort of sick of them ganging up on him lately. It’s like, all of the sudden, Eddie and Robin had just decided to become besties. They were always whispering and sharing these weird, heated looks between the two of them, ones Steve could never interpret. Like they suddenly had a whole slew of inside jokes that they refused to let Steve in on. It was infuriating!

If he didn’t know for a fact that there was no possibility of a romance between the two of them he would think they were hooking up. But no, apparently they’ve just bonded over their shared love of torturing ex-jocks. It’s like fucking Revenge of the Nerds out here.

“This is not a sex costume.” he growls, bunching his shoulders up just a little in an attempt to keep the breeze away from his neck.

“Steve,” Eddie’s voice goes soft, as if he’s opting to break the news to Steve gently, “you’re dressed as a stripper, man.”

“No, I’m not!” Steve shouts before he thinks better of it. He reels it in, but only a little, “It’s just… I’m just a cop. Okay, maybe it’s a sexy cop, but it’s just a stupid joke costume! It’s not my fault the outfit looks good on me, alright? That doesn’t make it a stripper outfit.”

Eddie nods empathetically, “right right, sure.”

“It’s true!”

“Totally, yeah.”

“I’m being serious!”

“Oh, I know you are.”

“It’s just a little tight is all.”

“I’ll say.”

Steve huffs, “I swear, I could show up dressed as a goddamn clown and you guys would accuse me of–”

Steve doesn’t have time to brace himself before Eddie reaches forward and yanks. The sound of tearing velcro is deafening, and so is the silence that follows directly afterward.

The entire front of his cop costume is off of his body and somehow, inexplicably, in the hands of Eddie Munson. And without the support of the front piece, Steve feels the entire back half of his costume follow suit, slipping down and off of his shoulders. Humiliatingly, the only reason it doesn’t hit the ground altogether is because the fabric is so securely lodged in between Steve’s ass cheeks.

Either way, he’s standing there, on the Munson’s front porch, in front of Eddie, in nothing more than his bright red boxers that he put on this morning, his uncomfortable fucking boots, his fake stache, and the octagonal police cap he’s got resting atop his head.

Eddie takes a deep breath, not even bothering to try and hide the way he’s basking in Steve’s utter humiliation. “Well well well. Looks like Christmas came early this year, huh?”

Robin at least has done him the good favor of collapsing somewhere in the living room, shrieking in laughter.

“Wh–Why would you do that!?” Steve clumsily grabs for the cap atop his head before holding it to his crotch in a flimsy attempt to preserve at least some of his dignity.

“Honestly? Because I don’t have a lot of impulse control,” Eddie admits truthfully, “but mostly I did it to prove to you that you did, in fact, show up to my party dressed as a stripper.”

Steve’s had enough. He grumbles out every single curse word he knows and shoulders his way into the trailer, yanking the remainder of the costume off of his body and out of his ass as he goes. If Steve was cold before, he’s freezing now. His nipples could cut fucking glass.

“Don’t tell me you took the kids out trick or treating in this.” Eddie says, motioning towards him with the bundle of thin fabric that had been, up until a few seconds ago, Steve’s costume.

Steve snatches the dark blue remains of his outfit, suddenly furious. He’s sure his face matches the red of his boxers at this point. Boxers that are now on display for all to see, apparently!

He reaches up to angrily tear off the mustache from his upper lip, and has to bite back an honest to god scream as it tears away, taking some of his actual lip hair with it. It was like a fucking wax strip!

“You did.” Eddie gasps, all but clutching his damn pearls, utterly scandalized. “You really went around and gave the good folks of Hawkin’s a free fucking show tonight, huh? Jesus Christ, Harrington, you probably sent some poor fucker out there into cardiac arrest!”

“No, I–” Steve sputters, “well, yes, I wore the cop costume while I took the kids around a couple of neighborhoods, but there wasn’t any kind of show.”

“Were the mothers especially kind to you, Stevie?” Robin asks from her position on the sofa beside Nancy, one sandy brown brow arched. “Did they give you extra candy?”

“One, I didn’t go trick-or-treating, so I didn’t get any candy at all,” Steve says, suddenly reluctant about taking his boots off, wary of losing any more of his clothing. As he speaks, he shuffles behind the countertop in the kitchen area instead, hiding at least his lower half from further attention. Everyone had already seen his hairy chest plenty of times, but still. It was the indignity of it all! “And two, I didn’t know it was a stripper costume. And three, screw all of you.”

Thank Christ the kids seemed oblivious to that sort of thing still. Steve’s as relieved at preserving their innocence as he is grateful they didn’t bear witness to his great blunder.

“Didn’t it feel weird when you had to velcro the sides shut..?” Nancy asks, sheer amusement playing across her features.

“Well, in hindsight… yes.” Steve has to stop speaking because all three of his so-called friends dissolve in further fits of laughter. He has to shout to be heard over their cackling, “but I just thought it was because the costume was cheap!”

“Oh, Steve.” Nancy shakes her head, still giggling. She sounded a little drunk.

“Sweet, naive Dingus.” Robin adds, as if she were finishing her girlfriend's thoughts.

So now Nancy and Robin were ganging up on him too. And after Steve gave Robin his blessing to date his ex-girlfriend! Traitors, all of ‘em, Steve thinks haughtily as he crosses his arms and glares.

“C’mon big boy, you can borrow something of mine.” Eddie says, finally deciding to take pity on Steve. “Unless, of course, you want me to help velcro your ass back into that little number..?”

That’s the absolute last thing he wants. So, with an angry grumble, Steve accepts Eddie’s offer for clothes and follows him down the narrow hallway, into his bedroom. Steve all but collapses on the end of Eddie’s unmade bed, snatching a pillow and holding it to his lap as he watches Eddie dig around his dresser drawers.

Steve notices that Eddie’s oddly quiet now that they’re alone.

Steve was sort of used to Eddie’s constant prattling on when they were together—so much so, that the lack of it seems unnatural in its own sort of way. It’s damn near unsettling to be near Eddie and not have him chewing his ear off.

Eddie pulls some soft, gray clothing from his drawers, attempts to discreetly give it the cautionary sniff test, then turns to offer them up to Steve. “Here, these, uh, they should fit you. Elastic waistband.”

“Thanks.” Steve mumbles, still a little pissed at Eddie for the whole tearing him out of his clothes thing. To be fair, Steve would have probably returned the favor if the roles had been reversed and would have laughed just as hard. Maybe harder.

He shoves the shirt on, then discards the pillow in order to stand and attempt to rid himself of the godforsaken boots from hell... Steve is unnervingly aware that the red of his underwear stands out like a fucking fire engine.

Eddie turns his painted face away, suddenly very interested in the various posters on his wall.

“Oh, sure, now you’re shy.” Steve snorts, but when he steps on the backs of his heels in an effort to toe off his boots, he sucks in a sharp breath and wobbles back onto the bed, cursing. The sharp stinging pain from the blisters is enough to cut his breath. “Shit, shit, shit–”

“What is it? What happened?” Eddie’s full attention is back on Steve, and Steve’s insides squirm a little at the intensity of it. He kind of loves that about Eddie; how he can be flighty and erratic one minute, but wholly and completely laser focused on something the next.

And Steve is man enough to admit that he sort of likes it when that undivided attention lands on him. Admittedly, he likes it when anyone pays attention to him, but… it’s different with Eddie. Even Steve’s not entirely sure why. It just makes him feel… seen, maybe. Special. Understood?

Steve doesn’t fucking know. He gives his head a shake.

“It’s just these stupid boots. I’ve only worn them a few times and they always give me blisters. I shouldn’t have worn them tonight but I just thought they went good with the outfit...” Steve explains, as if it’s a confession. The price of vanity, he thinks bitterly. Steve lifts one of his feet until it’s propped up his opposite knee and begins working the boot off, flinching as he goes, “they’re just stinging a little, it’s fine.”

“I’ll get some band-aids.” Eddie mutters as he darts out of the room, nearly tripping over something in his haste. Steve can hear him digging through the cupboard in the bathroom through the paper-thin walls of the trailer. Eddie sounds like a goddamn tornado. But hey, what’s new? Dude is tornado incarnate.

By the time Eddie’s back, armed with a battered box of band-aids and a tube of Neosporin, Steve’s already managed to work off a boot and peel away one of his socks. He’s poking the painful, fluid-filled blister with a grimace.

“Here.” Eddie awkwardly passes both of the items to Steve. He practically shoves them into his hands. Steve accepts them all with a quick thanks and gets to work. He half expects Eddie to go and just leave Steve to it, but he doesn’t. Instead, Eddie just stands there, hovering in the middle of his bedroom, staring like a weirdo.

Which sounds harsh even in Steve’s own mind, but there really was no mistaking it; Eddie most definitely is a full-blown, bonafide, one-of-a-kind weirdo. But as time’s gone on, and the further Steve’s gotten away from high school, the more he’s realized that his favorite people in the whole world—the ones he’d lay down his life for any day of the fucking week—are all freaks and weirdos. And maybe that made him a weirdo freak right alongside them. And hey, if all the best people were weird, shouldn’t he be proud to be counted among them?

Steve finds he doesn’t entirely hate the concept.

“You must think I’m a moron, huh?” Steve mutters as he smears some of the antiseptic cream over the blister, then a band-aid overtop, flinching the whole way through.

“For getting a blister? Or for accidentally cosplaying as a sex worker?” Eddie asks, grinning. Knows he’s being a cheeky little shit.

Steve just scoffs and rolls his eyes, “it could’ve happened to anyone, y’know. The costume thing, I mean.”

He settles his bare foot on the ground and starts on his next boot.

“Maybe. But it’s funny because it happened to you.” Eddie aims a set of finger guns at him. Steve, despite himself, chuckles a little under his breath. It was sort of funny.

“I don’t, though, by the way.” The couple of words tumble out of Eddie’s mouth. Steve knows by now that when he isn’t following Eddie, all he usually needs to do is wait a few seconds. Eddie never seems to mind taking the time to further explain himself to Steve, unlike most other people. So, Steve just spares him a glance and waits. “Think you’re a moron, I mean. You’re just… more of a do first, think later kinda guy. It doesn’t make you dumb. Maybe a little foolhardy, is all.”

“Foolhardy?” Steve’s hands stop what they’re doing as he looks up at Eddie. Steve’s pretty sure he knows what it means, but who the hell throws around digs like that?

Well, come to think of it, Eddie Munson would. Between writing his own songs and making up those D&D campaigns, Eddie’s inner voice probably speaks to him in sonnets and soliloquies.

“It’s a good thing—well, it is when I say it…” Eddie rushes to explain, but seems to abandon a few trains of thoughts before shaking his head, “whatever, nevermind, forget I said anything.”

“I know what foolhardy means I just–” Steve doesn’t have any fight in him though, too focused on how fucking painful this blister is compared to the last. The sharp sting was enough to make his eyes embarrassingly prickle. “Fuuuuuck…” he groans as he pulls.

“Stop, stop, just–” Eddie kneels, taking a knee, before he grabs Steve’s boot.

“No no, Eddie, don’t–!” Steve shrieks, suddenly terrified of Eddie’s jumpy, erratic movements he’s known for. His foot can’t fucking take it…

“Calm down, I’ll pull it off slow. I’ll even give you a countdown. You just–just relax, alright?” Eddie says, looking downright ridiculous in his costume. And yet, despite how crazy he looks, Munson seems sincere. He liked to poke fun at Steve, sure, but Eddie wouldn’t hurt him. Steve knows that. And when Eddie’s fingers curl around the back of his calf, the touch is gentle. Steve’s skin heats underneath Eddie’s hold. It’s enough to make his head go a little fuzzy.

Trying to follow Eddie’s instruction, Steve hesitantly leans back on the heels of his hands, allowing his leg to go slack in Eddie’s grip. “Relax. Right. Okay.”

“Alright. My safe word’s Ronald Reagan, but you can borrow it for tonight if you want me to stop, cool?” Eddie looks up at him through his lashes. The liner around his eyes was really something else… And his hair looked especially poofy tonight. Like Steve’s hands could get lost in there. Were those plastic spiders in his hair? God, Steve hoped they were plastic spiders…

A beat passes before Steve’s brain catches up with him. “Why the hell is Ronald Reagan your safe word?”

“Because nothing kills my boner faster than thinking about that dickwad. Duh.” Eddie explains, as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. And maybe it was, but Steve wasn’t exactly experienced with things like safe words and… well, the things that normally go along with safe words.

He feels himself shift anxiously at the idea. He wondered if Eddie was just making a joke or if he actually…

“Ready?” Eddie interrupts and utterly derails that particular train of thought. He’s cradling Steve’s booted foot, one hand low on Steve’s calf, the other gripping the bottom of the boot. Real comforting like.

Steve takes a quick breath before giving a sharp nod. “Ready.”

“3, 2, 1, deep breaths everyone!” Eddie says, and true to his word, he pulls off slowly, trying to angle the boot away from Steve’s heel as best he can. Steve clenches his teeth through the whole thing, determined not to utter the president's name. “Aaaaand we’re done!” Eddie says triumphantly.

Steve sighs, and lets himself fall onto the bed in relief. He’s built up a bit of a tolerance for pain over the past few years (purely out of necessity), but he still fucking hates it. Even if it’s something small like this. Call him a pussy for it, whatever. Steve doesn’t care.

When he feels Eddie begin peeling off his sock though, Steve bolts upright, returning to his seated position. “Y-you don’t gotta do that part–”

Eddie shrugs nonchalantly and continues peeling away the sock. “It’s okay, I wanna help.”

“My feet probably fucking reek, dude. I’ve been wearing those all day.” Steve wrinkles his nose. The idea that Eddie could possibly be repulsed by him in some way just doesn’t sit right with Steve. “You don’t–... I-I can do this part.”

“I told you, I don’t care.” Eddie says as he peels away Steve’s sweaty, ripe sock before sticking it into the no doubt equally sweaty, ripe boot.

Eddie's now kneeling in front of a pantless and sockless Steve—to say he felt exposed would be an understatement. He watches as Eddie takes the tube of Neosporin in hand and squeezes out a glob onto his finger and lines it up with Steve’s heel.

“Unless,” Eddie halts, as if an idea had just occurred to him, “unless you don’t want me to.”

The two of them just stare at one another for a few seconds, as if they’re both just realizing that they don’t really know the limits of their friendship yet. Both of them seem to be asking the other for permission to cross some kind of a line that they don’t know even exists or not. It should be awkward, but somehow it isn’t. It’s a little uncomfortable, sure, but… exciting, in a weird way.

Steve swallows, “no, I want you to. I mean, if you want to, of course. I—”

I like it when you touch me.

The thought hits Steve with such a sudden and sharp clarity that for a second he’s not sure if he’s said it out loud or not.

But if Eddie somehow heard it, he doesn’t let on.

Instead, the sides of his mouth twitch into a tentative grin, but then Eddie ducks his head before Steve can watch it blossom fully into a smile, though he can tell by the way his cheeks rise near his eyes that it indeed does.

Eddie smears the antiseptic cream on Steve’s blister with guitar string scarred fingers, with more care than most people bother using when they reach for Steve. Then he wipes his hands on his own bed sheets before unpeeling a bandaid from its wrapping and laying it overtop of everything. He smooths a finger overtop of it, once, then twice for good measure. Why Eddie runs his finger over the band-aid a third time, Steve hasn’t got a clue.

There’s something about the way Eddie so can flip the switch from being a loud, boisterous, all out terror of a human being, to this sincere, gentle… almost sweet person. It’s hard for Steve to wrap his head around. Especially since Eddie doesn’t show the second side nearly as often as the first–and only to a lucky handful of people. Steve’s one of those happy few.

It’s like a secret Eddie.

Steve briefly wonders if there’s a secret Steve, but if there is, not even he knows about him. Steve has a feeling he’s more of a ‘what you see is what you get’ kinda guy. Hopefully, that doesn’t mean he’s shallow.

And just when Steve thinks Eddie’s done with him, the guy spins around and rummages in his top drawer for a few seconds before turning back with a rolled up set of fresh socks for Steve. Without a word, he kneels and begins putting them on Steve’s foot for him.

Which…

Honestly, Steve doesn’t know how to feel about it. Good, obviously. That much, at least, is crystal fucking clear. But there’s more. Like the fluttery sort of warmth that comes specifically when someone brings you a bowl of hot soup when you’re sick, or cares enough to hold your hair back for you while you puke your guts out after drinking too much. It’s that same sort of feeling. Only more.

“Thanks, man.” Steve says, utterly relieved his voice comes out sounding steadier than he’s feeling. Because… Well, because no one takes care of Steve, except Steve. It’s been that way since he was old enough to tie his own shoes. He’s always on his own. Self-sufficient. Steve takes a sort of pride in it.

But here’s Eddie, on his knees, tending to him, even though Steve can do it perfectly fine on his own. He’s still doing it for Steve, and for the hell of him, Steve can’t wrap his head around why. And all of it over some stupid blisters. It makes Steve’s chest ache, fixing to burst.

“No problem, Officer. Just doing my civic duty.” Eddie’s tone is soft when he flicks his eyes up briefly, paired with a grin. He finishes putting the fresh set of socks on Steve’s feet, careful to avoid the blisters. The socks are pilled, and scratchy, as if neither Wayne nor Eddie bothers with fabric softener, but they’re comfortable enough and blissfully warm.

“Well the city of Hawkins thanks you too, Mr. Munson.” Steve replies with a two fingers salute, attempting to match Eddie’s energy, but the words sound so deeply stupid when they’re strung together like that, that it has them both chuckling.

“Christ, you’re cute.” Eddie mutters, dragging a knuckle under his eye to clear away the stray tear that had formed from all of the laughing he’s done tonight. Then Steve watches as that easy smile that he had just been so admiring quickly fall away as Eddie seems to realize what he’d just said.

Eddie thinks he’s cute?

The question of what kind of cute he was referring to bombards Steve's brain. Cute could mean a hell of a lot of things—from puppies with big wet eyes to Michelle Pfeiffer in a skin tight leotard. Or maybe Eddie didn’t mean to say cute at all. Yeah, maybe it just slipped out. Hell, maybe Eddie’s just high. He does get a little extra tactile and emotional when he’s high. And Eddie definitely smells like weed, but—well, Eddie always smells like weed.

“Here’s your–” Eddie suddenly stands, cape fluttering behind him, and tosses the sweatpants from earlier back at Steve who catches it with ease, despite the newly unmoored feeling he’s got in his gut. Steve suspects Eddie’s blushing by the way he’s holding himself, but because of all the makeup, Steve can’t be sure. Eddie anxiously twists his rings around his fingers muttering a quiet, “sorry, man.”

It’s said so timidly that Steve almost misses the tacked-on apology entirely. Now, timid isn’t usually something that Steve would associate with Eddie Munson but, well, there it is. And despite their playful back and forth with one another, Steve can tell this is wholly different. He doesn’t—can’t leave Eddie standing there with egg on his face.

“Don’t be sorry. It’s not—it’s whatever, dude.” Steve says, forever baffled at how the English language, the only language he even knows and is apparently fluent in, still manages to sound like knotted garbage when it comes out of his mouth. He shoves his legs through the sweatpants, yanking them up to his waist.

Eddie seems to get it though, thankfully. “Yeah?”

“Yeah.” Steve says, quick, casual-like.

Eddie chews on his lip. “I didn’t make it weird?”

At this, Steve barks out a laugh. Because, yeah but… well, if Eddie started going around apologizing every time he did something weird the guy would never stop apologizing.

And Steve likes Eddie’s flavor of weird anyway.

“Hey, I’m the one who showed up to your house dressed as a stripper, didn’t I? If anyone’s made it weird tonight, it’s me.” Steve runs a hand through his hair, briefly concerned about how the stupid hat probably left an embarrassing indent where it was sitting.

Eddie’s wide smile is back, the one that lines his face and makes his eyes do that starlight thing. “That’s true.” He chuckles.

“I like your costume though.” Steve grins, feeling that fluttery feeling in his chest when he gets Eddie smiling like that. “Vampire, right?”

If possible, Eddie’s eyes widen further, giving him a manic look. He hastily pats his various pockets before finding his fake fangs and shoving them into his mouth. They look terrible, but admittedly, they sort of complete the overall look.

“That’s Count Dracula to you, foolish mortal.” Eddie says with a truly terrible Transylvanian accent as he dramatically swishes his cape over one of his arms, then positions it underneath his kohl-rimmed eyes.

Steve pretends to cower, but he’s always been kind of a shitty actor so he just ends up snorting and shaking his head. “Terrifying. If you hadn’t torn it off me earlier, I’m sure I would have shivered right out of my uniform.”

And again, it’s enough for Eddie to break character and bark out a laugh around his plastic fangs. He recovers quickly though, a smile still pulling at the sides of his mouth.

“C’mon, the girlsh have probably put the movie on without ush.” Eddie says with a very distinct lisp. It’s sort of adorable.

It’s profoundly less adorable after Steve hears how Eddie needs to suck back the spit trapped between his teeth and the tray so he doesn't drool all over himself.

Thankfully, Eddie doesn’t end up wearing the fake fangs for the whole movie, especially not after Nancy demands their removal after two or three noisy, spit-retrieving sucks. There’s some petty back and forth that lasts a couple of seconds, but it’s settled quickly and amicably, as most of their squabbles are.

Steve and Eddie spend the majority of the horror flick pressed up against one another, from shoulder to knee. Steve’s not entirely sure what the hell is happening between them, but whatever it is… it’s nice.

And when there’s a particularly scary bit that makes Steve nearly jump out of his skin, Eddie teases him and slaps a patronizing hand to his knee just to further torment him, but it’s the damnedest thing. Even after the joke’s over, and their collective focus is back (in theory) on the movie, Eddie just… doesn’t take his hand back. Neither one of them seems keen on addressing it either, afraid to spook whatever it is away.

They stay that way for the rest of the movie. He doesn’t risk putting his hand over top of Eddie’s—he can’t. Not yet, at least. But Steve will think about little else besides the feeling of Eddie’s warm hand curled around the top of his knee, searing into him like a brand, for many nights to come.

It’s hands down the most embarrassing Halloween Steve’s ever had—but it’s also kinda the best, thanks to Eddie.

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goodlittlerobot · 1 year ago

Text

Steve doesn’t really understand how he got here. His life has definitely been weird the past few years, but he thinks that hanging out alone, with Eddie “The Freak” Munson, in his bedroom, might take the cake.

He sort of knows how it happened, after everything happened last spring, things started to settle. The town worked on rebuilding, Vecna seems to be gone, or at least maybe under control, school started back up for the kids, work resumed, everyone was just trying to get back to whatever normal was now.

And as things slowly got a little more boring, Steve found himself with more time to spend with friends and less worrying about the world ending. But as Steve started forming a friend group, Eddie Munson somehow became a part of it. Which Steve wasn’t upset about, Eddie had won him over in the upside down. He didn’t dislike Eddie, he’d actually grown on Steve a lot, which was unexpected.

As unexpected as it was, Steve still gets how it happens, but ending up alone with Eddie like this? Technically he knows how that happened too. The whole group had gotten together for a while at Eddie’s, then Robin and Nancy had decided to split up and go have their own night, complaining that there was “too much testosterone in the air”. Steve didn’t blame them and was happy to see Nancy and Robin become friends as well.

But after Jonathan and Argyle left a little early, it was just Steve and Eddie. And that’s when Steve quickly became aware of the fact that he’s never really been alone with Eddie before, and he isn’t sure why that makes him nervous. Sure, they’ve been alone but not for that long and not like this. But even still, Steve isn’t sure why he’s getting so flustered.

Eddie is smiling and telling him all about…something. Steve realizes he stopped listening a while ago, but he knows Eddie’s excited so he’s doing his best to act like he’s listening.

Eddie finishes with a “you know?”, Steve nods and hopes it’s convincing. “Where’d I lose ya, Harrington?” -it wasn’t.

Steve sighs, “Yeah, I zoned out pretty hard there.” He admits, smiling a little.

Eddie laughs, Steve’s heart flips. That’s weird. “Okay, let me try this again…”

It’s a few hours before Steve leaves Eddie’s place, they’d both completely lost track of time while talking. Eddie played some records, and Steve didn’t even hate them like he thought he would. They ended up listening to music and laying on Eddie’s floor, they hadn’t shut up in hours but suddenly the room was quiet. Eddie has his eyes closed, his hands behind his head and a soft, small smile on his face. Steve cannot look away. He keeps telling himself to look away, he knows Eddie’s gonna catch him staring. Steve is searching Eddie’s face for answers, but he doesn’t know what questions he’s asking. His heart is racing and his hands are starting to feel like static, and he can’t look away.

And then it happens, Eddie’s eyes open slowly and he turns his head to face Steve, “Like what you see, Harrington?”

Steve’s breath catches and he doesn’t know why. “Yeah-“ he realizes what he says, as it comes out of his mouth. “I mean no-“ he finally tears his eyes away from Eddie to close them and run a hand over his face. “I mean, wait-“

Eddie laughs, “If I didn’t know you better, I’d say you had a crush on me.” He looks away from Steve and grins at the ceiling.

Steve lets that repeat in his head, and it keeps repeating. His chest feels tight and his face is hot, shit he knows he’s blushing. He shakes his head, hoping the thoughts will just fly out. “No, no, no. I-I’m just-I didn’t mean to like, stare at you, I was thinking and I just-“ he is falling over his words, he isn’t even sure how he’s talking, the only thing he can hear right now is Eddie’s voice still echoing in the back of his mind.

A big smile spreads on Eddie’s face slowly, he’s the one staring now. “I was joking, jesus.” He chuckles lightly.

Steve starts to feel a little more relaxed, but he still feels like he’s…drunk? high? dreaming? He turns his head again and locks eyes with Eddie, the second he does his heart flips again and he makes a note to see a fucking doctor.

Neither of them say anything for a second, it feels like a lot longer to Steve. He’s never felt this self conscious before. He’s so aware of how much space is between he and Eddie, it’s less than a foot, and Steve can suddenly feel the heat coming from the boy next to him. He starts to wonder seriously if maybe he is dreaming, and then he finally pulls his eyes away from Eddie’s to the clock on Eddie’s dresser. “Holy shit, it’s late.” He says sitting up, “I completely forgot I have to work in the morning. I better go.”

Eddie sits up too and watches as Steve stands up and grabs his jacket off of the bed frame. “Lame.” He says, standing up to follow Steve out. “but responsible.”

When they say goodbye, Steve keeps thinking he’s forgetting something. He’s checked his pockets like ten times, he knows he’s good, what is he missing? He realizes as he’s walking to his car that he just doesn’t really want to leave, he wants to stay. He wants to keep listening to records and he wants to keep laying next to Eddie.

When he starts driving away, he glances back he notices Eddie, still leaning against his doorframe, still watching Steve. That’s when Steve starts hearing Eddie’s stupid joke playing in his head again.

And he hears it over and over and over, the rest of the night. He hears it when he drives home, he hears it when he showers, as he brushes his teeth, and it’s the loudest when he tries to sleep. He tosses and turns for hours, unable to stop replaying the night in his head, unable to think about anything but Eddie Munson. Usually he’d be grateful for a night with no flashes of monsters and death in his mind, but tonight he thinks he might prefer it.

Around 2am he sits up, throws his blanket to the side in frustration and just sits on the side of his bed for a minute. He debates going downstairs and just waiting out the next few hours until he has to go to work. He thinks about taking a walk, maybe that would clear his head? He’s way too tired for that though.

He just sighs and puts his head in his hands, he decides the only thing he can do right now is face it.

“If i didn’t know better, I’d say you have a crush on me, Harrington.”

He thinks about it one more time. He asks himself why is he feeling the same way he felt the first time he liked a girl, why was he as nervous at Eddie’s house as he was on his very first date? Why did his heart flip when Eddie smiled at him the same way it used to for Nancy?

Because that’s the thing, six months ago Steve was planning this big life in his head with Nancy. He was in love with her, he was attracted to her, he liked her. He doesn’t like Eddie. -Not like that.

Steve Harrington isn’t gay, he knows that. He knows that because he still thinks Nancy is beautiful, he thinks Robin is beautiful, he’s attracted to girls. Steve loves girls, he likes their long hair, he likes their soft lips, he likes boobs. If Steve knows anything, he knows he likes boobs.

Eventually he talks himself down enough to lay back down. He likes girls. He doesn’t even know why he was acting like that now, he feels like an idiot.

So, of course his heart wasn’t doing flips because he likes Eddie. He was tired, he was distracted, and it was his first time one on one with his new friend. He was just a little nervous? Yeah, no, he was just a little nervous. He likes girls. He didn’t think that when Eddie smiles the world feels brighter, and he definitely didn’t notice that Eddie’s hand accidentally brushed against his when they were talking, and he never even thought about how those brown eyes would just light up when Eddie got excited.

Steve likes girls. He likes girls with long, wild hair, he likes girls with big brown eyes, he likes girls with soft lips, he likes girls with tattoos, he likes girls with ripped jeans, he likes girls who play weird dorky games, he likes girls who listen to heavy metal, he likes girls who look at him for a little too long while they lay on the floor together. Steve likes girls.

And that’s what he tells himself the rest of the night, but the rest of the night only lasts a minute or two before he finally falls into a peaceful sleep.

He wishes. Instead he’s tossed right back into Eddie’s room, the faint sounds of guitars and laughter fill the space, brown eyes on him again. Maybe it is a little peaceful, until he hears his alarm.

He wakes up, the room finally bright again, he barely recognizes it after spending so long tossing and turning in the dark last night. He sits up and shuts his alarm off, he sleepily makes his way to the bathroom and somewhere between brushing his teeth and getting dressed he remembers his dream. He just remembers flashes, bits and pieces. He remembers Eddie. He tells himself it’s not a big deal, even though something in him is begging to disagree.

He ends up being a couple minutes late, and when he gets in he expects to hear Robin giving him shit about it, but instead he hears “What happened?”

He furrows his brow and looks at Robin, who is giving him a look for some reason. “Hmm?” he barely had the energy for that reply, but he makes his way in and throws his jacket on the counter as he gets the rest of his things ready.

“You look awful, Harrington.” Robin says from behind him, “Are you sick?”

Steve blinks, and turns to face her. “Actually, you know what?” He laughs a little, and Robin gives him a concerned look. “Yeah, maybe. Maybe.” It all makes sense, that’s gotta be it. He’s sick. He’s coming down with something and he’s just getting confused because he’s sick. He’s just sick. “You know, that would explain it. I’ve been feeling so weird.”

Robin frowns a little, “Do you need to go home? What’s wrong? fever? Chills? Headache? You know, I was reading this magazine with Nancy last night and it said that you could cure almost anything with tea-“

“I’m good, I’m good.” Steve smiles, cutting Robin off. “I don’t feel sick, but no like I’m probably about to be sick or something.” He rationalizes out loud. “I barely slept, I was up all night.”

Robin gives him a weird look, “Wait, you don’t feel sick? Why were you up all night?”

Shit. Now he doesn’t know what to say, he usually finds it hard to lie to Robin. Steve thinks her habit of oversharing must be contagious. He opens his mouth to reply, but closes it and just kinda shrugs. But she’s still looking at him, confused. “I was just…I couldn’t sleep.”

“Yeah?” She looks him over for a second before going back to her stack of returned VHS tapes she’s sorting through, without looking up she asks “How long did you stay at Eddie’s after Nance and I left?”

Steve looks at her out of the corner of his eye for a second, “I was there a while, I dunno.” He says quietly, pretending to be reading the cover of the movie in his hands. “I uh, I ended up listening to records with Eddie for a few hours.”

“A few hours?” Robin looks at him again, “With, like- you and Eddie alone?”

He doesn’t know what to say, or why Robin is asking like that. He’s had enough of confusion and questions in the past how every many hours, he just looks at Robin for a second, takes a breath as if he’s gonna say something and decides against it again, instead he simply walks away with the VHS still in his hands. He doesn’t even know what it is, he glances down and reads the title for real this time. It goes on the other side of the store, he turns and pretends he doesn’t notice Robin following him.

“Like just the two of you?” She asks again, on his heels. “Have you ever even been alone before?

He puts the tape away and sighs. “Yeah, we were alone. I don’t see why that’s a big deal.” He crosses his arms.

“What?” She scoffs. “It’s not, it’s just you guys are kind of…” She trails off and Steve raises an eye brow at her, “opposites.” she finishes.

Steve relaxes, he doesn’t know why he got so nervous. He doesn’t know why he thinks that Robin would think…-okay, he’s overthinking things. “I don’t know, he’s cool.” He shrugs, avoiding looking at Robin. “I guess we’re friends now.”

Robin nods slowly. “Just when I thought I’d seen it all, King Steve listening to heavy metal with the town weirdo.” She snorts softly. “Now that’s something.”

He rolls his eyes. “Let’s just do our jobs for once, okay?”

The rest of their shift goes by completely normally, it’s a slow day, there’s not a ton to do and they’re just about finished for the day so they have time to sit around and talk. Steve is thankful for the downtime, he is exhausted and all he can think about is going home and going to sleep.

He’s doing his best to not doze off right now, sitting on the counter and talking to Robin as she organizes the candy for probably the tenth time today. She’s rambling, and it’s comforting even if Steve isn’t paying close attention.

The bell chimes from the door and Steve begrudgingly slides off the counter out of habit, he goes to turn to greet whoever came in when he hears a familiar “Hey, Harrington.” and his heart does that thing again.

He blinks a few times and keeps thinking he’s going to respond but doesn’t. He’s thought about Eddie so much these past how ever many hours that he’s not even sure if Eddie is really here or if he’s just hallucinating. But then Eddie adds, “Buckley, my lady.” with a small, dorky bow.

Robin laughs and rolls her eyes, “Thank god you showed up, it’s slow as shit and I don’t know what you did to Steve last night but he’s been falling asleep for the past half an hour.”

Steve tries so hard to say anything before Eddie can, he already knows there’s going to be some kind of retort, but Steve’s too slow.

“Sounds like I wore you out, huh big boy?” Eddie smirks and looks up at Steve as he leans his forearms against the counter.

Steve’s chest feels like his heart might just burst out of it, it’s beating so fast. “Yeah, whatever.” He rolls his eyes, wiping his palms on his pants absentmindedly, why are they sweaty? He’s sick. He’s for sure sick. “What brings you in, Munson?”

“Well I’d like to say I just missed you nerds, but believe it or not I need a movie.” He taps his knuckles on the counter quickly. “Got a date, recommend something, Steve.”

“A date?” Robin and Steve say at the same time, but with differing tones. Robin sounds interested, Steve sounds shocked.

“Oh, is that such a surprise?” Eddie rolls his eyes and makes his way to the first rack of movies he sees.

“Kinda?” Steve admits, turning to follow Eddie. “You should have Robin recommend something, she’d be better at knowing what girls like.”

Eddie looks at Steve for a second and Steve knows there’s a reason for this look, but he’s unable to figure out what it is. “Probably so.” Eddie says slowly, “But hey, you’re ‘The Hair’, I know you’ve got moves.”

“Yeah, I guess.” He shrugs. He looks around for Robin and notices she’d stayed behind at the counter, he also sees that she’s been watching them. Steve takes note of that but keeps talking to Eddie, he tries to hide that his hands are shaky while he gives suggestions.

They walk and talk around the store, it feels easy but it’s not. Not for Steve at least, he feels like his brain is running on empty. After a handful of recommendations, Eddie is reading the back of a case and Steve can’t stop himself from asking “So who’s the girl?” he asks quietly, and he’s not sure why.

Eddie looks at him, “What?”

Steve attempts a small smile, “Your date?”

“Oh,” Eddie blows out a laugh, but pauses, he looks at Steve for a second and now Steve feels like maybe he’s the one with answers on his face this time because Eddie has this look, and Steve can tell he wants to say something.

Steve doesn’t break eye contact though, even though his brain is begging him to stop looking at Eddie, he can’t. He isn’t sure why his eyes betray him this way, but he glances at Eddie’s mouth for a second and he nearly falls over when it hits him. He kinda wants…maybe- no. Steve likes girls.

“How’s the movie search going?” Robin asks, and Steve isn’t sure when she got so close.

Eddie looks at her as if he wasn’t just looking right into Steve’s soul, he smiles “Harrington here has been a delight, you should give him a raise.”

“If i had that power, I would use it to fire him for standing around and flirting with the customers all day.” Robin says,

“Oh my god.” Steve mutters, rolls his eyes and heads for the counter. “I’ll be over here, working, if you two wanna keep doing…this.” He takes a stack of movies and wishes he knew what they were for but he’s gotten pretty good at just looking like he’s working today.

Robin and Eddie stay behind, chatting. Steve tries his hardest to not listen, he’s not sure why he cares. He doesn’t care. There’s nothing to care or not care about. He does a good job at minding his business at first.

“So did you pick a movie for your date?” is all Robin says, but just the word date is enough to get Steve’s attention. But, he doesn’t care. He’s screaming in his head to stop listening, but doesn’t.

“Yeah, but movie nights aren’t really about the movie, right?” Eddie says and Steve doesn’t look but he can hear his smirk. “Mostly background noise.”

Steve feels a new feeling he can’t name. It doesn’t feel like it did last night anymore. Last night was weird, but it felt better than this. This unidentified feeling feels…bad. His heart is still beating like crazy, but not quite like it was. No, now he feels kind of like he’s mad. Why is he mad? Jealous? He feels kind of jealous. No. Steve decided that’s crazy, forces himself to stop listening and just takes a breath. He’s losing it.

He gets out of his head just in time to see Eddie and Robin heading back to the counter, he reminds himself to act normal but already knows he’ll fail.

“Alright, Harrington. I’m going to listen to you but if this movie sucks i’m never taking your advice again.” He puts the movie down and Robin takes care of the rest.

Steve leans on the counter behind Robin, facing Eddie. “Listen, just rewind it before you bring it back, ‘kay?”

“Whatever you say, big boy.” Eddie says, before grabbing the movie. “Tell you what, if it doesn’t suck, you can suggest another movie and we’ll watch it together, make a night of it.”

Steve can feel his face go red. He knows Eddie did not mean it like that, he knows that. He still can’t stop the images that spark throughout his brain. He can’t help but think about how a night like that might go. He takes a shaky breath, “Yeah-“ his voice is too high, he clears his throat a little. “yeah, no movie night sounds fun.” He glances over to Robin, who is a little wide eyed and Steve can tell she’s dying to say something but she can’t. “Movie night?” He says, a little quickly, nodding. “We sh-should do a movie night with like, all of us one night. That-that could be fun?” He says, putting a hand on his hip, and he’s not sure how to stop stumbling over his words and he’s also not sure why he’s only looking at Robin now. He’s spent this whole time nearly unable to tear his eyes away from Eddie, but now he can’t get himself to look at him. “Hmm?” He adds because Robin is still silent.

She nods, “No, yeah. That would be super fun!” She says, but Steve sees her wheels turning and he desperately wants to stop them for a second because he can tell she’s about to do something. “Oh, but like, I’ve been so busy with, stuff. and Jonathan and Nancy are…you know they’re in love and they do stuff-together i mean, they spend a lot of time together, as a couple. And you know, I think if it takes us a while to find a good time you and Eddie should solo it…i guess it’s not solo if it’s together but, you could be like, alone together, kind of poetic.” She smiles. “Just saying, you know since everyone’s so busy right now, maybe you guys should go ahead.”

Steve looks at Robin with a please oh my god stop look, “Yeah.” is all he can get out.

Eddie smirks and looks between them. “Alright, I’m out of here, kids.”

“Have fun.” Robin calls out as Eddie walks toward the door.

“Always.” Eddie replies, “Later, Harrington.”

Steve can only bring himself to wave. When Eddie leaves, Steve waits about one second, looks around the store, walks over and locks the door.

“We are not closed.” Robin says, “And I don’t think closing the store is good for business.”

“What is going on?” Steve says, feeling like he’s finally cracking. “I-I mean, like all night right? Like I was up all night, and then when I finally did sleep? Guess what? That was all…messed up too. Like, I think there’s something going on.” He turns to Robin, he can tell he looks a little crazy, and his arms are swinging as he talks with his hands, “So I wake up, I go to work, and like… today?”

“I am gonna need some kind of context, or a clue, Steve.” Robin says and then glances at the door. “Oh, duh.” She adds, mostly under her breath.

“No,” Steve shakes his head, wondering if she can see into it. “whatever you’re thinking no, no.” He turns to unlock the door but stops, “That was weird, right?”

“What? You locking the door and saying gibberish?” She asks, walking past him to unlock it herself. “Yeah, a little weird.”

“You know what I’m talking about, Robin.” He says, a little louder than he meant to. “Like that whole thing at the end?” He crosses his arms, “Since when is everyone I know too busy to hang out? I saw you all yesterday!”

“I know, but I thought maybe you and Eddie should spend some more time together, you know? He said he had a great time last night, and I think you did too.”

Steve can’t stop himself, “He said he had a good time?”

“A great time.” Robin repeats with a smirk. “So?”

“I’m not-“ he starts and suddenly his throat is dry, he shakes his head a little. “I’m not-“ He tries again and fails. Robin is waiting, Steve can tell she’s gonna try to let him talk. But he’s not sure if he can. “I don’t-…”

“Shh.” She presses a finger to his lips, “you have been a crazy man today, Steve.” She walks back to the counter and sits on top of it. “Look, if you wanna talk about whatever is going on, I am here to listen, and if you want to never speak of it, well, i’ll just talk enough for both of us, yeah?”

He nods. “I’m sorry, I don’t know what’s going on.” He leans on the counter next to her. “I just, I guess like…” he trails off, and looks at her, “I don’t wanna talk.” He admits, and even he can hear how pathetic he sounds right now.

“Good, my turn.” She smiles and Steve hopes she knows how thankful he is.

He goes about the next two days as well as he can, no one has noticed that he’s been avoiding pretty much everything yet. He goes to work, he does what he needs to and he goes home. And for two days that worked, but Dustin called and asked if he wanted to go do something so Steve picked him up, and they went out for lunch and hung around Hawkins, killing time in the few stores that had rebuilt already. It was nice, and Steve felt more relaxed than he had in days.

Until on the drive to drop Dustin back off at home, Dustin suddenly says “Shit, I forgot, could you drop me off at Eddie’s?”

The request takes Steve by surprise for no reason, he does this all the time. It’s a normal thing, why would Steve care? He doesn’t. Sure, he’s been avoiding Eddie like the plague for reasons that aren’t entirely even clear to himself but this is fine. It’s fine. “Eddie’s?”

“Yeah, I almost forgot, I got a few new comics that he and I were talking about so-“

“Yeah, no, I mean, yeah I can take you to Eddie’s.” Steve nods and thinks he manages to sound mostly normal, “like his place?”

“Yes.” Dustin answers slowly. “Did you hit your head? You’ve been so weird.”

“You’re weird.” Steve retorts but there’s nothing in his voice to back it up. “I haven’t been weird.”

“You’ve been weird, even weirder than usual.”

Steve scoffs, and they ride in silence for a minute. He doesn’t want to go to Eddie’s, he knows it’ll be fast, he’s just dropping Dustin off. But if he sees Eddie, he’s going to think about Eddie, and he’s going to think about Eddie’s date and then he’s gonna only think about all of that for the rest of the night. But now he’s already thinking it, and he can’t stop. They’re nearly there when Steve blurts out “Does Eddie have a girlfriend?”

Dustin looks a little surprised, “I don’t think so.” He says. “Eddie doesn’t really talk about girls.”

Steve nods. “Right, I was just wondering cause like, if he doesn’t…maybe I’ll set him up with someone, you know?” He hopes the lie at least makes sense, but judging by the look on Dustin’s face it doesn’t. “Like I-I figured, since we’re friends now and-“

“You’re friends?” Dustin asks, looking suspicious.

“Yeah,” Steve says, glancing over at Dustin, “is that cool?”

Dustin smiles and nods, “It’s very cool. I told you that you’d like him.”

Steve sighs, “You were right, okay?” He looks over at Dustin and things feel like they make sense again, for the first time in weeks, in months. Maybe years? “I do like him.” Steve says, but when he says it out loud it all kind of just hits him.

He does like him. He likes Eddie. He likes Eddie. He likes Eddie? All those feelings come flooding in, he starts to panic but this is not the time. Not only is Dustin smiling next to him in the passenger seat, but he’s also literally pulling into Eddie’s. His hands are shaking and feel a little numb when he stops the car, his ears are ringing and his chest is tight. He hears Dustin in the distance, but quickly realizes he’s still in the car with him.

“Steve?” Dustin says, again and Steve blinks back to reality. His eyes oddly damp, and his face a shade too red. “Steve?”

“Yeah?” He says, not looking away from the steering wheel. “Yeah. Sorry, I just remembered I-“ he stops, shaking his head a little. He smiles at Dustin before pulling him into a hug. “I just remembered that I should never doubt you.”

“Jesus, dude-“ Dustin pushes him off, “seriously, you are so weird.”

Steve laughs. “Have fun, don’t do anything stupid.” He says as Dustin gets out.

Dustin goes to say something but is cut off, no. Not now. “Harrington!”

Steve freezes, mouth open slightly, he looks at Dustin as he runs toward Eddie. Steve sighs, he thinks quickly about just absolutely gunning it. He could be gone in thirty seconds, he doesn’t even have to stop driving. He can just leave, run away, never talk to anyone again, change his name, start a new life- he opens the car door and takes a breath, when get gets out he feels like his legs are jello, and he stumbles a little before leaning on his car. “H-hey, uh I-“ He stops, seeing Eddie is too much right now. Steve likes him. He’s trying so hard to act normal, how does he act normal? He likes Eddie.

“You got a while? We’re gonna read comics and hang, you’re invited.” Eddie says, and it’s so casual. Steve doesn’t feel casual.

“No, no, I would, but I-I’m going to Robin’s so-“ he absolutely had no plans with Robin, but he decided before he even got out of the car that he was definitely going to her house as soon as he left here, he’s not even sure if she’s home. He doesn’t care, he’ll wait. “thanks though.” He attempts a smile, but he worries he looks more pained.

“Cool, maybe next time.” Eddie waves, Steve nods and goes to get back in the car, “Oh,” Eddie stops, and looks back at Steve. “The flick? It was good, Harrington. Movie night soon, yeah?”

Steve feels like he could scream, this is a lot for him to take at once. But when he actually goes to reply, his voice gets stuck in his throat and he can just sort of nod like an idiot for a second before choking out a quick “Yeah, yeah, absolutely.” He clears his throat, “Sounds good.”

Eddie smiles, and it’s so bright and warm and intoxicating. “It’s a date.”

Steve’s breath catches and he isn’t sure what the right response is. He is freaking out, he needs to get to Robin’s. He barely chokes out “I-uh, Robin-“ before he just decides he’s had enough, waves again, gets in his car and heads out.

The whole way to Robin’s, Steve keeps replaying the other night at Eddie’s in his head, but his whole perspective has changed. He has the questions now, he has names for these feelings, he has words for these thoughts.

He likes Eddie. But, Steve likes girls. How can that happen? Can he like both? Can he just like, make an exception?

He keeps trying to tell himself that maybe he’s losing it, and he’s making this up in his head. He thinks maybe he’s just confused, or sick, or tired, or something. Because he can’t like Eddie, right?

But then he thinks of the other night, and how maybe when Eddie’s hand brushed his, it wasn’t an accident. He thinks about how he couldn’t stop staring at Eddie because he didn’t want to, he wants to stare at him. He wants to look at his hair, and his eyes, and his body. He really wants to look at his body. Steve tries to hit the brakes on that thought, but can’t stop it. He wants to touch Eddie, he wants to feel his hair, he knows it’s soft. He wants Eddie’s hand to brush against his again, he wants it to stay there. He wants more.

He gets to Robin’s and wastes no time, barely remembering to shut the car door behind him before he darts to Robin’s front door. He knocks and things finally work out for once, she’s home and she answers. “Steve?” Her smile fades quickly when she looks at him, “Uh, you good? Did you run here?”

“What?” He realizes now that he seems a little out of breath, “No, no. I need to talk to you.”

“Everything okay?” She asks, her brow furrowed, “Is everybody okay?”

“Everyone is good, it’s me-I’m fine, but-“ he sighs and takes a quick look around, “I can’t talk about this here.”

“Lucky for you my parents aren’t home, I’m not supposed to have boys in my room.”

Steve chuckles a little as he goes inside and follows her to her room. Once they’re in Steve realizes he doesn’t even know where to start. He doesn’t know what to say. He doesn’t even know if he should say anything.

What if he’s crazy and this is just like, something that’ll go away in a few days? What if this is all made up in his head and he doesn’t actually feel these feelings.

But it felt real, it felt real when they were sitting in Eddie’s room laughing together, it felt real when they were laying on his floor listening to records, it felt real when Eddie smiled at him. Steve tries his best to tell himself maybe it’s not real. But it is. He knows it is. He’s just stuck in this loop of uncertainty and he doesn’t know how to get out. He knows talking to Robin will help, that’s why he came over. He needs to say something, but where does he even begin? He isn’t sure where any of this began. One day he barely knew Eddie, and all of a sudden, they’re friends and Steve likes him?

Robin sits on her bed and looks up at him, Steve starts fidgeting with his hands and isn’t sure if he wants to sit or not. He feels restless. “So what’s going on?” Robin asks, calmly. “This isn’t like a spooky monster or government secret thing, right?”

“No,” Steve waves a hand dismissively. “Nothing like that, it’s…it’s personal.” Steve starts pacing just a little. “Like I’m physically fine but my brain is-“

“I mean everyone knows you’ve been acting weird this week.” Robin says, bluntly. Steve gives her a quick look of annoyance before she continues. “What’s going on? Is it like, girl troubles?” Robin raises her eyebrows.

“Robin,” He groans, -he knows he can tell her. Why can’t he tell her? He doesn’t think he has the guts to say this out loud. “Not exactly.” He says it slow, looking at her nervously.

“It’s not about Nancy, is it?” She asks, sitting up a little straighter. Steve can tell she’s fighting a smirk, she’s doing a good job of it but Steve can still tell.

“Oh my god.” Steve mutters. “Absolutely not, no. I told you, that’s over.” He runs a hand through his hair, “It’s not Nancy.”

Robin just stares at him for a second, waiting. Steve just holds her stare and she gives in, “Okay! So, what?” She throws her hands up a little, “This is about whatever has been making you crazy, right?”

Steve nods, and makes a noncommittal noise.

“So what is it, Harrington?”

Steve takes a breath and turns to fully face Robin again, “Look, whatever I say next stays between us, right? Like, no one else can know.”

Robin leans forward a little, “Of course, come on. We both have secrets.” She reminds him and it makes him feel better for a minute.

He drags a hand across his face and starts, “I-“ he stops, not sure what to say, not sure if he should even say anything, not sure if he should tell Robin everything, tell her that he’s having a breakdown because he thinks he likes boys, but he knows he likes girls, and that even if that wasn’t an issue, Eddie? Why Eddie? And can he even tell Robin that? Would that make all the times they hang out weird? But, he can’t bring himself to care as much as maybe he should. He knows he wants to tell her, he just doesn’t know how. He puts his hands on his hips, thinking it over for a second. He still has to say something, “Okay, look so, I like-“ he stops again, trying to choose his words carefully, “someone.” he finally says.

“Yeah?” She smiles, before gasping a little. “Love sick!” she says, pointing at him for a second. “That’s what was going on the other day, Steve.”

He rolls his eyes, “No, it’s not like-“ he scoffs, “I just, you know, I don’t know what to do about it.”

“Well, who is she?”

Steve feels his heart drop a little, this is the part he isn’t sure he can admit. Not only to Robin, but just out loud. He thinks about just making up a girls name and forgetting all of this.

But he can’t, because his brain has been caught on a loop of the past week. Eddie’s house, the video store, Eddie having a date, feelings having no names, he thinks of the heavy metal that was playing in the background and how he could barely hear it over his own heart pounding in his ears. He can’t fight it, he’s tried. He’s powerless.

“Robin,” He starts, weakly, leaning against her wall. His heart is beating fast again, and he can hardly bring himself to look at her, his eyes are wet now and he doesn’t know why. “This isn’t about a girl.” He admits, and he hopes she gets it.

She blinks at him a couple times and he can see that she’s thinking her next few words over carefully, something she actually does well for occasions like this. “Okay,” She nods, slowly, looking at Steve like he might break if she moves too quick. He doesn’t like it, but he can tell she’s just trying to keep him calm for this. “You like someone.” She starts, and looks up at Steve.

He nods and doesn’t say anything because he knows he can’t right now, he does not want to cry about this.

“And it’s not a girl?”

Steve swallows and shakes his head, “Nope.” He finally chokes out. “I, uh, I like…” He looks at Robin, he tries to stop himself, but he can’t. He knows this could mess everything up, but he feels like maybe he should tell her everything. It felt good to tell her part of it. Mostly, he just doesn’t want to be alone with these thoughts anymore. He sighs, sliding down the wall and sitting on the floor. “I’ve been losing my mind, Robin.” He admits, his voice low. He feels himself losing the fight he’s been having in his own head, if he doesn’t get this over with he’s going to explode. He can trust Robin, he reminds himself before taking a breath and starting again. “The other night, I couldn’t sleep, I was up nearly the whole night thinking about him, right? And then I-I finally fall asleep and I fucking dream about him, I kept thinking about everything, I kept going over the whole night, you know? We talked, we listened to music, but the whole time I could barely pay attention to anything, I didn’t care about any of it. I just wanted be around him. And then, like, he says stuff that I know is a joke, but god, it still just…” He trails off and checks to see if Robin’s going to say anything, he’s sure she’s probably dying to ask questions or say something.

But Robin is just watching him, with somewhat concerned eyes, and just waiting for him to finish. She gives a small nod encouragingly when she notices him looking at her.

Steve looks away and sighs, “Robin, I like him.” His voice breaks again, just slightly. “I like him so much.”

“I know,” She says, nodding. “And that’s okay!”

Steve scoffs. “I can’t like him.”

“Why not?” Robin throws her hands up, “You can so like him.”

“I can’t like him.” He repeats, shaking his head. “For starters, I still like girls so-“

Robin gives him a puzzled look, “Steve,” she laughs softly, “You can like girls and like guys too!”

Steve just looked at her. “Are you serious?” He asks, sitting up away from the wall a little.

Robin looks at him for a second, smiling. “Yeah, Harrington. You can like whoever, you don’t have to pick guys or girls.”

“Shit.” He says, blinking and resting his head against the wall. “I thought I was like…the only one.”

Robin rolls her eyes, “Sorry, you’re not special.” She smiles, “You’re just bisexual.”

“Oh, huh.” Steve looks down, he lets it soak in for a second. This whole time he thought this was something wrong with him but it has a name. He can just like whoever he likes. He chuckles a bit, feeling a little embarrassed for freaking out about it. “Learned something new, I guess.”

“It’s not like you could have known. Look around this town, not a lot of people like us.” She says shrugging. “But welcome aboard, glad to have you. “

“Yeah, thanks.” Steve rolls his eyes. “That solves that but like, what do I do?”

“Well, technically you still haven’t told me who this is.” Robin says, grinning.

Steve glares at her for a second, “Robin, don’t make me say it.” He whines a little.

“How can I help if I don’t know who it is?”

Steve closes his eyes and presses his palms to his face for a second. “Robin, oh my god.”

She tries to hide laughter, but isn’t very successful. “it could be anybody!”

“Fine, fine!” Steve throws his hands up in defeat and looks at her, she is absolutely radiating excitement and he hates how endearing it is. “Eddie.” He says, but as quietly as possible. It still feels awkward to say out loud.

“Hmm?” Robin puts her hand to her ear, “I didn’t catch that?”

“Eddie!” Steve shouts a little, tossing his head back in defeat. “I like Eddie.” He admits and another weight floats off of him. “I really fucking like Eddie.” And now he feels like he kind of wants to keep saying it, it’s therapeutic after days of bottling things up and keeping secrets from himself.

Robin sits up on her knees, “I knew it! I knew it! I-I’ve known it for months!” She says excitedly.

Steve sits up straighter, “I’ve only known for like, an hour. How could you have known for months?”

“Oh, please.” She rolls her eyes, “It’s so obvious you guys like each other, all you do is stare and flirt. It’s pathetic!”

Steve’s whole body feels hot, he feels sick, but he feels almost hopeful. “He-no. You’re so wrong, there’s no way-“ he shakes his head. “You’re crazy, he doesn’t- he likes girls.”

“Steve, you like girls.”

Steve’s eyebrows go up and he nods a little, “That’s fair.”

“And how do you know? How do you know he doesn’t like you?”

“Why would he like me?” Steve shrugs, “Like we have almost nothing in common, you know?”

“So? He liked hanging out with you. If you guys are so incompatible, why would he want to hang out with you? Alone?”

Steve sighs, “There’s no way.” He says again, seriously. “And we don’t-we don’t stare at each other.”

“Yes, you do! All the time! Just like, get a room, oh my god. It’s disgusting.”

Steve laughs and for the first time he can breathe. He feels okay. He thinks maybe this won’t be so bad. Maybe he can just navigate this crush and somehow keep things together. But eventually he realizes he can’t just stay here in Robin’s room forever, and sooner or later he’s going to see Eddie again, they’re going to hang out and Steve is going to have to pretend that he isn’t hopelessly obsessed with him.

He and Robin talk for a while, and things start to settle for the night. It feels weird to just keep going through life after this. He’s supposed to just go home and go to bed after it feels like his whole world has flipped? He realizes he’s fucking head over heels for someone and he’s supposed to just act like he’s not?

It’s quiet for a minute and he and Robin are sitting across from each other on the bed, both lost in thought. He glances at her, “What do I do now?”

She looks like she thinks it over for a minute, before taking a breath, “You could go to his house, tell him how you feel and make out the rest of the night.” She looks at him and gives a small shrug, “That’s an option.”

Steve’s breathing gets a little shaky, that was definitely not something he’d considered. He tries to stop thinking about it, but he wants to. He shakes his head, “No, that’s not happening. I’m not gonna tell him.”

“Well maybe see if he wants to hang out, then you could kind of get a feel for things. Maybe you’ll see that he does like you and you can just see what happens.” She suggests and Steve doesn’t hate this idea.

He thinks it over, another night alone with Eddie, another night where Steve would get his full attention, another night where Steve could lay way too close next to him, a night where Eddie might let his fingers linger against Steve’s again. Steve nearly feels lightheaded just thinking about it. “Maybe.”

“Hey, he was just talking about a movie night, right?”

Steve’s eyes snap shut and he puts his head in his hands, “Oh my god.”

“Okay, so maybe not-“

“No, yeah. He just…when i dropped Dustin off he actually asked about that.” He looks at Robin a little nervously, he can feel his face going red. “I said sure, he said it’s a date, and I just-“ Steve makes a motion with his hand, “got the hell outta there, I came straight here.”

“Oh.” Robin says, “Even better, sounds like you already have plans!” Steve worries her face is going to get stuck with this excited smile she has.

“I don’t want to,” Steve sighs, nerves building already just thinking about it. “but yeah, i’ll try, okay?”

“That’s the spirit!”

The next few days, Steve tries his best to be cool. He’s not freaking out like he was, he knows better now. He knows more now. That doesn’t mean he feels quite like himself still. He’s still overthinking and over tired, the last few nights unfortunately have become dedicated to Steve just thinking about Eddie and all the different ways this could go, he’s played out every scenario. He doesn’t know what to expect, but he wants to be prepared for anything.

And yet, he finds himself very unprepared for Eddie’s voice coming through the line when Steve absentmindedly answers his phone while going through the mail. But the increasingly familiar “Harrington!” chimes in Steve’s ear and he drops the stack of envelopes he was holding.

Steve fumbles through the whole phone call, but keeps it together just enough to get by with using the mess he made as an excuse. He knows Eddie called for something, but he’s just kind of been rambling for five minutes and Steve starts to wonder if he might be a little nervous too. He also realizes that he has never given Eddie his phone number, he smiles a little to himself when he thinks that Eddie would have had to ask someone to give him Steve’s number, so he kind of went out of his way to call him.

“Anyway,” Eddie says, slowing down. “Look, you coming over tonight or what?”

Steve’s body does that tingly thing again, and his face is burning. He tries to respond but his words are stuck. He clears his throat and tries again. “Yeah, okay.” is all he mages to get out. It wouldn’t have mattered if he tried, he can’t tell Eddie no.

He hears Eddie laugh softly, and it’s basically the last thing he hears because he’s got a thousand thoughts running through his mind and he’s trying to sort through them. When he hangs up, he immediately calls Robin.

He does a double check to make sure he’s still home alone before she answers, “Hello?”

“What are you doing tonight?” He asks, quickly, skipping the greetings. He doesn’t really mean too, but his brain is moving too fast.

“Hello, Steve.” She says, huffing into the phone slightly. “I’m picking up a shift at the store tonight, why?”

“Okay, okay so no one else is going to Eddie’s?”

“No, everyone’s busy.” Steve can hear her smile through the phone, he knows she feels so smug.

He sighs, “Great.”

“You’ll be fine! You’ll have fun!” She reassures him, “Just relax.”

Steve tries to take that advice but he spends the rest of the afternoon doing anything but relaxing.

The last few days have dragged on so slowly, but today flies by, and he hates it. It’s all a blur of nerves, he spent 30 minutes just looking at the clothes in his closet. He didn’t even know why, but he just went back and forth between three different shirts before he realized he was taking forever and felt stupid for caring this much. After he gets dressed, he thinks that maybe he has done this before, once or twice before he’s gone to hang out with Eddie. He knows he changed twice before he went the other day, he couldn’t figure out why then, he figured he was just having an off day and brushed it aside. He feels like an idiot now.

He can barely drag himself to his car when it’s time to leave, he wants to go, but he also wants to just disappear. He’s unbearably nervous, and he circles the block once before he feels like he has enough courage to finally head in the right direction.

When Steve gets to Eddie’s door he pauses, he suddenly thinks about every scenario he played out last night. He thinks about the different outcomes, he weighs the pros and cons of knocking.

But before he can, the door swings open, “Harrington!” Eddie smiles before pulling Steve in gently by the wrist.

Steve feels like he would probably follow Eddie anywhere if he kept his hand wrapped close by his. “H-hey!” Steve wishes he was better at acting normal by now.

“Okay, you made it, so-“ Eddie let’s go of Steve’s arm and claps his hands together. He starts talking, going on about his ideas for the night, and Steve is listening but it’s difficult.

He’s trying so hard to think everything through, he doesn’t want to make a wrong move. He doesn’t want to be obvious, and he’s so worried he’s going to slip up and just say something fucking stupid.

Because every time he tried to play out all those different versions of tonight, he kept saying something stupid. He just doesn’t know how to not say something stupid.

After they settle in with some beers and a movie, it gets increasingly harder for Steve to focus on, well anything.

He’s basically missed the entire first half of this movie, instead he keeps taking too long and too frequent glances over to Eddie, who is sitting just a little too close to him, which is a major factor in Steve’s lack of focus. He keeps forgetting to focus on not slipping up, too. Once he and Eddie start talking, he can’t help himself. It’s just so easy that he forgets it’s supposed to be difficult.

When they’re talking, or even when they’re just in a comfortable silence, Steve forgets that Eddie doesn’t know, he forgets that Eddie doesn’t like him, he forgets that he’s worried about any of it. He’s just focused on Eddie, and that’s all that really matters.

Steve starts to realize that maybe the beer hasn’t helped him act normal, and that maybe that wasn’t his smartest move. But, he thinks he’s doing okay. Yeah, he’s still risking far too many glances Eddie’s way for it to not be weird, but he doesn’t think he’s been super obvious about it.

And yes, this time he’s staring again and he’s telling himself to stop, but somehow he just ends up resting his head on his hand and completely losing thought.

He doesn’t know why he thinks he’d get away this this, he hadn’t before. And just like last time, he gets caught. “You better stop looking at me like that, Harrington.” Eddie says, slow and quiet. He turns his head to face Steve. “You’re gonna give me ideas.”

Steve’s mouth goes dry and his heart is pounding in his ears, he thinks of a hundred lame excuses at once but can only manage a “hmm?”, hoping playing dumb would just work out for him.

Eddie rolls his eyes, “What’s on your mind? You’ve been looking at me for like five minutes.” he sits back and rests his own arm on the back of the couch, his body facing Steve’s. “I’m all ears, Harrington.”

Steve tries to blow out a laugh to seem casual, but feels like maybe it just makes him look more suspicious, “I-I haven’t been-“

“Steve,” Eddie raises his eyebrows. “Come on.”

Steve can’t help the small smile that spreads across his face, even though he feels absolutely crazy. He tries to think carefully and quickly about what to say, thinking about all the stupid stuff he wants to say and making sure none of that leave his lips. “I was just…I guess I-“ he sighs and looks at Eddie, who hasn’t taken his eyes off of Steve this whole time. He’s listening, whatever Steve says he’s going to listen and Steve doesn’t know if that’s good or bad. “I was just thinking, about something Robin said the other day.” He lies, thankful for his brain taking over for his heart.

“Yeah?” Eddie quirks a brow, “wanna share?”

“She said she thinks we should spend more time together,” Steve says, watching Eddie’s reaction for something he isn’t quite sure of. “I guess she thinks we make good friends.” Steve shrugs and keeps waiting for a reaction, even though he isn’t sure what he’s expecting. He’s unsure that he��s selling this, he wonders if Eddie knows he’s not saying everything. “I think she’s right.” He adds slowly before looking back at the tv, but only for a second before he feels Eddie’s fingers lightly press against his cheek and turn his face back to his.

Steve feels dizzy, drunk, he feels like he’s floating and he hopes that maybe out of all the outcomes he’s prepared for, he’d get a good one.

“You know what I think?” Eddie asks, and his voice is quiet and low, it makes Steve feel weak.

“Huh?” Steve says, and he can hear how dumb he sounds, his brain is just totally off. All he can see are brown eyes looking into his, all he can hear is his own heart pounding and all he can feel is Eddie’s fingers still resting on his face.

Eddie smiles, “I think…” he lets his fingers trail down Steve’s chin and neck, it’s quick but Steve can feel his heat lingering for longer than he knows is possible. Eddie sighs and glances at the screen, then back to Steve. “I think you should come over more.”

Steve nods slowly, closing his mouth, and trying to come back to life. He can’t get his mouth to form words, he just takes a swig of his beer and looks back at the tv. He’s trying to ignore the fact that now Eddie’s the one staring, he doesn’t know how he’s supposed to feel about it. Why is he staring? He glances over and accidentally makes eye contact. “What?” He laughs a little, in the back of his head he notes again that the beer is definitely not helping.

“Oh, so you can stare at me all night but it’s weird if I do it?”

“I was not staring.” Steve lies, knowing there’s almost no chance that Eddie would believe him.

“You know I have eyes right?” Eddie asks, “And i use them? And I use them to catch you staring at me.”

“Oh, will you shut up, Munson? So I looked at you?” Steve rolls his eyes, his argument half hearted, he’s loosening up and it feels good. He’s fighting to not say or do anything dumb, and he worries he’s going to lose. “What are you going to do about it? hmm?”

Eddie smirks at Steve, and Steve immediately realizes what he sets himself up for. He only realizes now that he might have done it on purpose. “I have a few ideas.” Eddie says after a second that feels like forever.

Steve’s brain checked out about ten minutes ago, he’s scrambling to think of anything to say, something that he can get out of this with. He settles for rolling his eyes and just pretending to watch the movie. After a minute, he feels Eddie move just a little closer, he uses up all of his focus to just keep his eyes on the tv.

“You know what’s weird?” Eddie says, breaking the silence that Steve desperately wanted. He can’t say something he shouldn’t if they’re not talking.

“Do you ever stop talking?” Steve asks, rolling his head to look at Eddie, happy to have a reason for once. He tries to sound annoyed but the smile on his lips betrays him.

“I thought all the Vecna, Upside Down, horror movie come to life stuff was going to be the weirdest experience of my life,” He says, and Steve is all of the sudden very aware of just how much closer Eddie got. “but this? You and me, hanging out, being…friends? This is definitely weirder.”

Steve laughs softly, “No, you’re right. It’s kind of weird.”

“It’s weird,” Eddie repeats, looking at Steve for a second before he takes a breath. “But, I like it.”

Steve’s heart races, and he can’t stop his eyes from darting to Eddie’s lips for just a fraction of a second. He nods, “I like it too.”

Eddie doesn’t take his eyes off of Steve, “Good,” He smiles, “You’re stuck with me now, Harrington.” He says, going back to the movie.

Steve takes the opportunity to internally panic, both of them sitting just a little too close to each other facing the screen. Steve reaches for his beer and starts going through what the fuck just happened. He isn’t sure if he’s reading too into things, or if he’s just seeing what he wants to. But he’s starting to think maybe Robin’s right, maybe Eddie -maybe- has some similar feelings. He can’t stop himself from testing the waters a little, hoping to not be as obvious as he feels. “So, y-you liked the uhm, other movie?” He stumbles out, looking ahead, a little afraid that if he looks at Eddie, he’ll give himself away.

“Yeah,” Eddie replies. “yeah, it was good.”

Steve decides he’s gotten this far and chances testing the water, “How’d the date go?”

“What?” Eddie looks at him, “Oh, yeah,” he laughs quietly. “It didn’t.”

Steve can’t stop himself from looking over, “It didn’t?”

Eddie watches him for a second, and Steve can tell he’s thinking something over. He’d give anything to know what. “Yeah, but it was for the best.” Eddie shrugs, “Wasn’t really what I want now anyway.”

Steve nods, “Well, she’s missing out.”

Eddie hums an agreement and goes back to looking at the screen.

Steve sits and tries to not get his hopes up for five minutes straight, and that’s when he feels Eddie’s fingers lightly brush against his own.

Steve instantly looks over at Eddie, who is focused completely on the screen in front of them. Steve blinks and looks back at the tv too. He doesn’t know what to do, he doesn’t even know what to think. The only thing he knows right now is that he’s about to do something stupid.

He brushes his fingers against Eddie’s this time, slow and a little shaky. This time he ignores the other when he looks his way. Instead, Steve can’t even help himself and he does it again, this time letting his fingers go up to Eddie’s wrist, tracing against the edge of his bracelet.

They both go quiet and still for a second, and Steve starts to panic. Why did he do that? But why did Eddie start it? His face is burning and his hands feel empty and cold.

The panic subsides quickly when he feels Eddie’s fingers graze against the top of his hand. He smiles, and looks over at Eddie.

This time Eddie looks back, his head resting on the back of the couch, “What?” He asks, innocently as if nothing is going on.

Steve can feel the heat coming from Eddie, they’re so close and all he wants to do is fill the space that separates them. He looks at Eddie for a minute, he swears he hears those records from the other night playing somewhere in the back of his mind, or maybe it’s real he can’t tell. Nothing really feels real.

Steve’s starting to get exhausted, he’s not good at this. He’s not good at hiding feelings, he’s not good at lying, he’s not good at pretending. He thinks if he doesn’t leave right now he’s going to lose.

“I might do something stupid.” He says without thinking, reason and sense left him the second Eddie touched his hand.

“I don’t doubt that.” Eddie quips, smiling softly. He waits for a second to see if Steve is going to continue, and Steve notices. But he can’t bring himself to move or talk. Luckily Eddie rolls his eyes a little and keeps talking, “If you’re gonna do something stupid, promise to do it with me.” He whispers, Steve can nearly feel his breath on his face.

Steve looks at him, he’s grasping at excuses and subject changes in his mind but he can’t seem to hang on to any long enough to stop himself from thinking about kissing Eddie Munson. As soon as the thought enters his mind it consumes him. He remembers Eddie said something, and he pulls his eyes from Eddie’s mouth to his eyes, unsure of how long they’d been there. “I really-“ he stops himself, unsure of how he’d finish that sentence, the words on his tongue trying to escape. “I uh,-“ He tries to turn away from him, he tries to pretend things aren’t as intense as they feel. He tries, but he can’t and he’s right back to looking at Eddie, right back to trying to figure out what to do, how to tell him without saying it, how to make this less awkward. His thoughts are interrupted, and he’s almost thankful.

“Steve,” Eddie says, quietly with a new air of seriousness to his tone that Steve isn’t expecting. “Whatever it is that you want to tell me…” he trails off, and without any plan they both move a little closer, Eddie doesn’t look away from Steve this time when he moves his fingers against his. “I’m waiting.” he finally says, and doesn’t move away.

Steve can’t take anymore, he feels like he’s not dreaming for the first time. He feels like this is real, he didn’t make this up, it’s not in his head. He likes Eddie, and he can’t help but think that Eddie likes him too. He feels another soft stroke against his palm and he gives up. He takes Eddie’s hand, finally threading their fingers together. “Yeah, well-“ he starts, he looks from their hands, back to Eddie, he can barely catch his breath as he leans in, stalling for another moment to be absolutely sure he’s not dreaming, but then Eddie leans in slowly and he stops caring about any of the things he was worried about before. “I’m done waiting.” Steve says, before he finally closes the distance between them, slowly. He brings a hand up to thread through Eddie’s hair, and it’s just as soft as he’d imagined. He feels Eddie kiss him back, it nearly knocks him out. Eddie brings up a hand to rest on Steve’s side, and pulls him closer, he can’t stop the small noise he makes.

Out of every scenario he planned, every version of this he rehearsed in his head, nothing compared to how it actually felt. His heart is pounding, his hands are shaking while he runs them over Eddie’s body, he feels like he’s on fire, he’s overwhelmed but in the best way.

Everything gets a little colder though when he and Eddie finally pull apart, he desperately wants to just dive right back in but he takes a second to try to wrap his head around everything. The nerves start to creep back in quickly as he worries if he’s made a mistake. What if he read everything wrong?

He takes a breath, hoping he doesn’t let any of his panic show. He looks away and shudders out a soft laugh. “Sorry, I-“ he stops and looks over at Eddie, unsure of what to say or do.

But Eddie’s watching him, looking a little unsure himself. “So…” he starts slowly, both of them backing away a little. “Do we…talk about it or-“

“I like you.” Steve says, surprising even himself. He didn’t mean to say it, he didn’t plan on ever telling Eddie Munson that he liked him. He doesn’t know why he can’t stop, he couldn’t stop himself from touching Eddie, he couldn’t stop himself from kissing him, and now he’s just telling him this and he doesn’t know how to stop. He blames the alcohol but knows it’s not that. The words have been threatening to leave his lips since he realized they were there.

Eddie raises his eyebrows, giving Steve a second. “Yeah?” he grins, just kinda beaming at Steve expectantly, and patiently.

Steve sighs, realizing there’s nothing he can do now. He’s done everything he promised himself he wouldn’t, and now he’s just going to have to follow through with it and hope for the best. “Yeah,” he rolls his eyes a little when he notices the smug expression on Eddie’s face. “I can’t believe it, but yes, Munson. I like you.”

“See, I knew you had a crush on me.” Eddie says, before getting a little closer.

“Oh my god,” Steve groans a little, “don’t even start.”

Eddie laughs softly, and relaxes back into the couch again, glancing back at the credits rolling on the screen. “I’m gonna be honest, I don’t think I even know what happened in this movie.” He turns to Steve, fidgeting a little with his hands and watching him a second, “It doesn’t matter though, cause I didn’t ask you to come over for a movie. It was just an excuse to see you.” He waits a second before looking head again.

He starts to feel nervous again, but it’s different than before. Fears and uncertainty are now replaced with a need to get this right. It’s been a while since he’s gotten something he’s wanted, he doesn’t wanna ruin it. “You didn’t need an excuse.”

Eddie smiles, he barely glances away from the static on the tv, “This might surprise you, Harrington, but I’m not the best at talking about feelings.” He admits, locking eyes with Steve, “But, I like you too, okay?”

Sure, Steve kind of got that already, but hearing Eddie say it still made his stomach flip. He smiles a little, trying to wrap his head around it. He likes him. Eddie likes Steve.

Steve finally starts to feel better, his world is changing again, but it’s slowing down a little. He feels like even if he doesn’t know what happens next, or what he’s supposed to do or say, he’s going to be alright. He can’t remember the last time he felt like he was going to be alright, so he tries to soak it in while he can. “So…what now?” He asks, smiling a little nervously.

Eddie looks like he’s pretending to think about it, looking up at nothing with a small smile, tapping a finger against his lips, “Well, we could watch another movie.” He suggests, looking at Steve, and something about this look makes Steve feel nervous, but not in a bad way.

Steve takes a breath, he tries to assess the situation, trying to figure out if Eddie is implying what he hopes he is. “We didn’t even watch the last one.” He reminds him.

“Yeah, we aren’t going to watch the next one either, Harrington.” Eddie says, leaning close and pressing his lips to Steve’s, barely giving him time to react before he stands up. “Stay there, I get to pick this time.”

Steve just watches as Eddie runs off to find a movie, he feels completely dumbfounded as he takes this in. He attempts to figure out the exact moment this started, but quickly realizes he doesn’t actually care. It wouldn’t make a difference.

Eddie puts the movie into the VCR and quickly turns back to Steve, walking over to him, “The goal here, by the way, is to see as little of this fuckin’ movie as possible.” He says, before threading this fingers into Steve’s hair and kissing him, pushing him back onto the couch. “Sound good?” Eddie says, after a few seconds, taking a breath and pulling back to look at Steve.

Steve nods quickly, “Sounds great.” he pulls Eddie back down into another kiss, feeling him smile against his lips. He doesn’t care about anything other than this right now, he just wants to get as close to Eddie as he can. And he does, they spend the whole night together tangled up, nothing but the tv and the post lamp outside shining in the dark.

When Steve leaves, he kisses Eddie goodbye, this time he doesn’t feel like he’s forgetting anything, but he still doesn’t want to go, he’s already counting down until he can come back. And when he drives away, he checks his rear view and catches Eddie watching him drive away again and Steve knows he’s going to spend another night awake thinking about Eddie Munson.

He still isn’t sure how this happened, he knows he could sit and think about it forever before it made sense, but it doesn’t have to make sense. It doesn’t matter to him how he got here, he’s just happy that he‘s here now.

#THIS IS 11k WORDS #JUST AS A WARNING #steddie #stranger things #i’m posting this while i am at work so i’ll come back and edit it up in a lil while #steve harrington #eddie munson #fanfic #fanfiction #long fic #one shot #idk how y’all tag these nowadays

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avengersassemble123 · 1 year ago

Text

ASKING TOKREV BOYS FOR YOU TO WAX THEM PT.3

FT. KOKONOI, INUPI, SANZU, HANMA

-----

KOKONOI

You slowly applied the wax strips as Kokonoi continued to sleep blissfully, unaware about his surroundings, as you tried to hold in your giggles as you applied the last wax strip on his chest.

You had applied few wax strips on his chest and one on either of his feet, while he continued to sleep peacefully. After a few seconds, you reached for a wax strip at the dead center of his chest, before trying to rip it out, but only being pulled partially.

Koko snapped his eyes open, grunting awake in shock, as he felt a sort of abrupt pain on the skin of his chest, as he looked at you, covering your mouth, trying to cover your laughter, as he looked down towards his body.

"Huh what happened?" Koko said, still not over his sleep despite being woken up abruptly, as he moved his hand over his chest, feeling something stuck on him.

"LMAOO you're so lucky, you're so lucky" (NAME) said, not being able to control her laughter, as Koko still tried to figure out what was going on.

"It felt like a heartattack..What're you doing?" Koko asked, as he now tried sitting on the bed, looking over his chest, before it clicked.

"OHH FUCK MEE" He cursed, as he laid back again, as he placed his hand over his forehead and eyes in frustration and realisation, while you laughed at his reaction.

"Oh god (NAME) are you serious? What ar- THEY'RE ON MY FUCKING FEET TOO??" Koko exclaimed, as he lifted both his feet up, which displayed the wax strips on them.

You laughed, tears threatening to spill from your eyes.

"Yea, they're on your feet too. But luckily for you, its more on your chest since majorly the hair is present there." You exclaimed casually, as Koko looked at you in horror, as he sat on the edge of the bed.

You then suddenly ripped a wax strip off his chest, making Koko squeal loudly as he fell back on the bed, covering the waxed area by his hands, "AAAHHH FUCK"

"You wanna choose which one you wanna do next." You said, laughing, as Koko stood up from the bed, trying to go towards a mirror, "OH MY GOD" he said as he took a glance of himself in the mirror, rubbing the bridge of his nose with his fingers while the other hand rested on his hip.

You pulled another strip from his chest.

"AHHH MY NIPPLE!"

-----

INUPI

Your boyfriend was busy watching TV, while you sat by the basin, applying wax on a wax strip, as you continuously peeked behind to see if you're boyfriend is still oblivious to this.

Inupi did notice you acting weirdly, but he figured it must be some silly prank that you're planning to pull, but not exactly figuring out what are you really going to pull on him.

As he continued watching TV, pushing those thoughts away, you slowly walked towards him on the couch, the wax strip behind your back by one hand, you sat on the couch beside him, pulling his hand over your shoulder, before snuggling onto him, which he gladly appreciated, pulling you closer, his eyes not leaving the TV.

Just then he felt something on his leg. As if something warm was glued onto his leg, as he looked down to see some paper stuck onto his leg, making his brows furrow.

"Huh?" He grunted confused, as he bent down slightly to examine it, before realisation hit him.

"Are you serious (NAME)?" Inupi looked at you with a deadpanned expression, making you chuckle.

"Fuck off...Are you kidding me right now?" Inupi groaned, as he tried pulling the wax strip off his leg slowly, hissing when he felt the pain, realising there was no way out now.

As you reached towards the strip, Inupi pulled his leg away from you, as he held your hand, groaning, "(NAME) no.."

"What's the matter? Its got to come off, not that its stuck." You laughed, as your boyfriend rubbed both of his hands against his face, while grumbling frustratingly.

"You're a dick, you know that right?" Inupi grunted, making you laugh more.

"Are you ready?" You asked as you rubbed in the wax strip, while Inupi laid his leg on the couch flat, preparing himself, "fuck no, but here we are."

"No no no no, wait" Inupi said, still pulling his leg, while you wheezed, trying to get his leg over to you.

"For fuck's sake" inupi groaned, as now he held his leg still by both hands, while you ripped the strip.

As soon as you ripped the strip, he yelped, rubbing his hand over the waxed area, while you cackled hysterically, disposing the wax strip before patting his head.

"Why do I even put up with you at this point?"

-----

SANZU

"Okay thats enough."

Sanzu said, sat on a chair, his hands and facing leaning against the headrest, while you applied wax on a small part of his back, his nose already stuffed with two wax dipped earbuds.

"(NAME) thats enough." Sanzu whined, his head slightly tilting sideways to meet your eyesight.

"I'm cleaning it up becauses you have pieces of it strangled on it." You said, as you continued working on it.

"That shit's hot." Sanzu muttered, his brows furrowing, to which you acknowledged him with your humming.

You waited for a few seconds, while the sight of your boyfriend stuffed with waxed earbuds up his nose, with his shirt pulled up to his neck due to the wax on his back, wildly entertained you.

You ensured all his hair was placed towards his front, before trying to get a grip on the wax. You soothed his back before ripping the wax out.

As soon as you ripped out the strip, Sanzu winced, abruptly standing up, moving away from the chair he sat, "Put that shit down, that shit fucking hurt." Sanzu said, as he pulled his shirt down, glaring at you lightly, while you covered your mouth, hiding your laughter, as you went towards him to hug him, while he pouted, "Baby are you okay?" You said, still laughing, as he slightly hugged you back as well, "Hell no, why the fuck do people use that?"

After a while, you two stood in the bathroom, as Sanzu tied his hair up, before leaning towards the basin, reluctantly holding one wax earbud up his nose since he decided that he didnt trust you enough to pull it out of his nose as you would literally rip out his nose as well, making you put your tongue out mockingly, giving him the middle finger.

Sanzu warmed himself up by tugging on the stick briefly before trying to pull it out, but failing miserable, making you wheeze at his failed attempt. He tried it once again but failed again, grunting out in pain and frustration while you stared at him with the look of 'i told you so', making hims giving you the middle finger this time.

As he attempted to remove the wax stick again, he failed again, making you both laugh out hysterically, while Sanzu tugged at the stick with both his hands, "Its stuck man..."

After dealing with the waxing, you both sat on the couch, as he let you clean his face with a towel,

"Your ass better not tell this shit to anyone or else im hunting you down to the ends of the earth."

"Yea yea i know.."

-----

HANMA

You two laid on your bed, as your boyfriend's head laid on your lap, while you applied the wax above his eyebrows to shape it.

"You better not mess up my beautiful face babe." Hanma said smirking, making you flick his forehead.

"As if. Im doing a favor by trying to make your face look bearable. And besides you can't mess up something that's already messed up." You sassed, as you stuck the waxing strips, rubbing on it to get it properly stuck, while your boyfriend played with your hair, irritating and teasing you.

As you waited for the wax to set in, you swatted Shuji's hands as he was getting impatient to remove the strips.

"Shuji not now."

"Then when?? Its taking too long. I thought this was supposed to be quick."

"The wax needs to set in dumbass."

"Always knew you were into these kind of nonsense."

"Shut the hell up."

As you got ready for pulling out the wax strips, Hanma held a mirror in front of his face, looking at the process inquisitively.

You managed to rip out one strip, making him taken aback alightly, eyebrows furrowing, as you rubbed the waxed area.

"Goddamn.." he muttered before his eyebrows fully twitched before leaning the mirror towards his face, examining, his mouth open, "What the fuck" Hanma called out before you both burst out laughing as you showed him the wax strip with excess eyebrow hair of his.

"What the fuck's up with my eyebrows." Hanma howled, cackling, as he continued examining his waxed area, before your ripped out the second one as well, making his jaw open out more.

"WHAT THE FUCK." You laughed as he cackled, while rubbing his waxed area, "Woman, what in the fuck did you to my eyebrows?"

"I fixed it asshole/ You're welcome."

"HAHA OH SHIT." Hanma exclaimed, as he sat up, admiring his face in the mirror, while you laughed at his antics.

"Well this was not even painful, the other areas when waxing are a pain in the ass, you know."

"Well if this is the result I'm getting, then i'm waxing my whole goddamn body. DAMN WE SHOULD'VE DONE THIS EARLIER."

You placed a hand on your forehead, already fed up, regretting your actions, knowing what else he's gonna make you do now.

"Wait so is it true that you can even shave down between your legs." Hanma asked, as he questioned you with a tilted face. You knew if you answered you would regret it, and even if you didn't he'll not let you off the hook that easily or will be able to find out somehow or the other.

"Yes Shuji, you can shave down there too."

"Huh." A sly grin appeared on your boyfriend's face.

"Then maybe we both should wax it for each other then. That would be fucking fun, won't it be babe?"

"HANMA!"

-----

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senseigrace · 1 year ago

Text

Take These Broken Wings and Learn to Fly (Part One)

Lloyd knew that he was a hybrid. He was an Oni, a Dragon, and a human. However, he wasn't ready for all of the changes that came with being a hybrid, both emotionally and physically.

But he would figure it out. He's the Green Ninja.

(Or Lloyd suddenly getting a whole bunch of Oni/Dragon features, and he has to come to terms with it.)

Kai couldn’t help but notice Lloyd’s absence at the breakfast table.

Maybe missions before breakfast were becoming normal for the youngest member of the team, but that didn’t make them a good idea. Or something that they should be getting used to.

“Hey, Pixal? Did Lloyd go out on a mission this morning?” he asked as he carried his bowl to the sink. It was Nya’s day to do the dishes.

Pixal looked up at him, then shook her head. “I am not aware of any disturbances in Ninjago that would require his attention this morning,” she told him. “Perhaps he is still asleep?”

Kai nodded, but something in the back of his head disagreed with Pixal’s words. It wasn’t like Lloyd to sleep in, and it definitely wasn’t like him to skip breakfast if there wasn’t some sort of mission.

“I’ll go check,” he said as he tried to keep the worry out of his head.

He knew he was overprotective of the youngest member of the team, it was something that had come with realizing what his full potential was. His job was to protect Lloyd, everything else came second.

He made his way through the monastery, then knocked on the door to Lloyd’s room.

He couldn’t hear anything from inside of the room, but that didn’t really mean anything. With the exception of an occasional nightmare, Lloyd was extremely quiet.

Kai opened the door, and peered in. As soon as he did though, he frowned at what he saw.

The room was a mess, which was unusual for Lloyd. The sheets were torn off of the bed, a teacup had been shattered, and in the middle of the room…

“Lloyd?” Kai asked as he walked in. “Lloyd, what’s wrong?”

Lloyd sat in the middle of the room, his legs pulled up to his chest and the sheets from his bed wrapped around him. He looked like he hadn’t slept in a year…

Instead of looking up at Kai, Lloyd looked away.

“Go away,” he whispered.

A part of Kai wanted to be hurt, but instead, his body was filled with worry instead. Lloyd didn’t act like that. He never pushed Kai away unless something was seriously wrong.

He didn’t take Lloyd’s advice. Instead, he walked over to his little brother and sat down on the floor beside him.

“Hey, what’s going on?” He tried to make his voice as gentle as possible, so he didn’t make Lloyd shut down anymore than he already had.

“I said go away!” Lloyd shouted as he looked up at Kai.

Kai gasped when he saw his little brother’s face. There was blood on his lips, cuts on his cheeks, and his eyes…

His eyes were glowing purple.

Before Kai had a chance to say anything, Lloyd made a noise of distress.

“I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I’m sorry!” he repeated over and over again as he reached out to stop Kai from leaving.

Lloyd’s hand didn’t look normal. Where once there had been gentle fingertips, there were now claws as sharp as swords. Claws that could tear through flesh without a second thought.

Kai reached out to wrap his arms around Lloyd, the way he always did when his little brother was having a bad day, but Lloyd recoiled.

“I-I… I don’t wanna hurt you,” Lloyd said as he curled himself into an even smaller ball.

Kai didn’t know what to do. This had never happened to Lloyd before, he didn’t even know that it was possible. Sure, the kid was some sort of hybrid, but…

He scooted a little closer to Lloyd, as close as he could be without intruding in his personal bubble. He wanted his little brother to know that he was close by, even if he couldn’t touch him.

Besides, it wasn’t the first time Lloyd had gone through a phase where he didn’t want to be touched. It had happened right after the Tomorrow’s Tea incident, when his body ached from the sudden changes that had taken place over seconds instead of years. And again after the Overlord had drained all of the power from his body, the only person who had been able to touch him after that was Garmadon.

So Kai sat as close as he could, a reminder to Lloyd that he was there and that he wasn’t alone.

Finally though, Kai knew he had to break the silence that was forming between the two of them. “Do you want me to go get your uncle?”

He wasn’t sure how much Sensei Wu could actually do, but he definitely knew more about this dragon and oni thing than he did.

Lloyd shook his head, but didn’t say anything. Kai didn’t know if he was scared to talk, or if he just didn’t want to.

Resisting the urge to reach out and hold his little brother the way he was so used to doing, Kai looked down at the ground and began to count the lines in the polished wood. “Do you wanna talk about it?”

A soft gaspy sound came out of Lloyd’s mouth. “It started last night,” he whispered. “Eyes first, then the horns, claws, and teeth… My back hurts so bad, I can’t stop my fangs from cutting open my lip, the claws keep scratching me… Kai, I don’t know what to do. I just want m-my dad… I need him.”

A shuddering sob wracked Lloyd’s body, and Kai watched as his little brother broke down.

His mind was running a million miles an hour, but it was blank at the same time. He had no idea what he could do to help, but he knew he had to do something to calm Lloyd down.

Kai resisted the urge to reach out and pull him into his arms again. Lloyd didn’t want to be touched right now, or at least not yet. Doing so would probably only make everything worse.

But then a thought popped into his head. There was nothing he could do to bring back a Garmadon that loved his son and was there to help at the drop of a hat, but the memories still existed. And even though Garmadon had never told Lloyd anything about his hybrid nature and how it affected his body, he had taught Lloyd a lot about his powers.

And he had taught him about how to control fear.

Kai swallowed. There were three ways this could go.

The first was that his suggestion would work and help Lloyd get through whatever was going on.

The second was that it would make Lloyd cry even harder, which Kai didn’t really want.

The third was that it would make Lloyd angry, and Kai had to admit that he didn’t really want to be on the receiving end of those sharp claws.

“Lloyd?” he began, his voice as gentle as it could possibly be. “Do you remember the breathing exercises that your dad taught you for when you were scared?”

Lloyd looked up at him, tears still pouring out of his glowing purple eyes. He hesitated for a second, then nodded slowly. “Uh huh.”

“Do you want me to help you do them?” Kai asked. They were the same ones that Sensei Wu had taught him after they had saved Nya from the skeletons, and he had been having nightmares and panic attacks.

Lloyd nodded again, then reached out his shaky clawed hand and placed it on Kai’s leg. His hand trembled even as it rested against Kai’s leg, an obvious sign of the anxiety the younger ninja was filled with.

“You ready?”

“Yeah.”

Kai nodded. “Okay. Breathe in, two, three, four…” he said slowly as he prompted his little brother to follow the exercise. “Hold, two, three, four…”

The exercise was simple. An even amount of inhaling, holding, exhaling, and resting. It was easy for Kai to remember when he needed it most, and was easier to do than some of the longer ones.

It took a few minutes of doing the exercise before Lloyd’s hand stopped shaking. It took longer for the last of the tears to stop falling.

But it didn’t matter how long it took to Kai. He would do this for days on end if it helped his brother feel better.

The claws disappeared at some point. Kai wasn’t really sure when, but all that was left was what looked like long, sharp fingernails. They didn’t resemble the claws that had been there earlier at all.

When Kai finally felt comfortable with saying something that wasn’t guiding Lloyd’s breathing exercises, he found himself only able to ask one question.

“When did you last eat, Lloyd?” he asked.

Lloyd opened his eyes and looked over at him. They still glowed purple. It was a color that looked so familiar on villains like Garmadon, but not on his son… The color barely registered as anything other than evil in Kai’s mind, though he knew his little brother was the furthest thing from that.

“Last night,” he responded, though Kai noticed it took him a minute to remember when. “After I got home from my mission.”

That settled that. The kid needed food.

Kai stood up, then held out his hand to Lloyd. “Let’s go get you some food,” he said.

Lloyd stared at him, his eyes still glossy with tears even though he had finished crying. Kai couldn’t help but notice the hesitation in his eyes.

“They’ll see me…”

Kai felt a surge of protectiveness rush through him. On top of the pain, Lloyd was embarrassed to be a hybrid. Kai had watched him push those parts of him away, but he hadn’t realized the harm it must have been doing.

But their team wouldn’t bully him, not for this anyway.

“Lloyd, they aren’t going to make a big deal out of it. They aren’t going to freak out, and they aren’t going to make fun of you,” he said. “Cole was a ghost, Jay was a snake, Zane’s a robot, and Nya was the sea… We’ve all had our moments.”

Lloyd seemed to contemplate that for a second, and then reached out and grabbed Kai’s hand.

Kai gently pulled Lloyd up, the blankets that had been wrapped around Lloyd falling down to the ground.

As they fell, they revealed one last thing.

It was all Kai could do not to gasp.

Lloyd had wings.

Wings with golden and emerald scales that glittered in the sunlight that was peaking through the window, wings that would maybe allow Lloyd to fly one day, wings that were so cool it made sense that only the grandson of the First Spinjitzu Master could have them.

And Kai had to admit, he was insanely jealous of them.

Lloyd caught his gaze, then looked over his shoulder. After a second, he looked back at Kai.

There was a smile on his face, a mischievous smirk. A sharp fang that hadn’t there before was just barely visible. “Jealous?”

Kai let out a soft chuckle. “Honestly?” he said. “Yeah, really jealous.”

“Not really a fan of everything else, but I gotta admit… I like the wings,” Lloyd admitted. “Although, my back does hurt a lot cause of them…”

Kai winced. He remembered Lloyd saying that his back hurt earlier, but he never would have guessed that it was because of the wings.

“Maybe it’s because they’re just coming in?” he suggested. “I mean, I know you aren’t human, but you’re growing wings.”

A pained look flashed on Lloyd’s face for just a second, and Kai realized what he had done wrong.

“Lloyd, I didn’t mean…” he started. He hadn’t even thought about the words he had been using. Sure, Lloyd was a hybrid, but it wasn’t just Dragon and Oni, he was human too.

Lloyd cut him off with a shrug, and gave Kai a tight-lipped smile. “It’s okay,” he said. “It probably is just cause they’re coming in.”

Kai swallowed. A part of him felt like he needed to apologize, but he also knew that it would make it worse. The best thing he could do was drop it. Lloyd was already struggling with it today, and he always did better if they didn’t focus on it.

So he mustered up a smile and hoped that Lloyd wouldn’t internalize the accidental words used. “Let’s get you some food.”

Kai wasn’t sure if Lloyd was off balance because of the wings or if he just needed something to ground him, but Lloyd held tightly to Kai’s hand for the entire walk to the kitchen.

They didn’t say anything though, the only sound was their footsteps against the wooden floors.

When they reached the kitchen, Kai could hear the sounds of Nya doing the dishes. He wasn’t worried about how she would react to Lloyd’s current state, she was always great at using the right words and making the kid comfortable.

“Hey, Nya,” he greeted as he and Lloyd walked in.

“Hey,” she said back, but she didn’t turn towards them. Instead she just kept washing the dishes. “How’s Lloyd?”

“I’m okay,” Lloyd told her as he sat down. “Definitely been worse in the past.”

Nya turned towards him, and for a second, Kai could see the shock in her eyes. She masked it pretty quickly with a grin.

“Bet Kai is pretty jealous of those wings,” she said, her voice playful as she walked away from the sink.

Lloyd’s wings opened up a bit as a slight blush covered his cheeks. Kai wondered if the movement was something that Lloyd had done on his own to show them off more, or if it was automatic.

“Just a little bit,” Lloyd told her.

Nya sat down at the table. “They wouldn’t look good on him though,” she said, and Kai allowed himself to not fight their playful banter this time around. “Green isn’t his color at all.”

Nya looked over at Kai and gave him the most subtle nod she possibly could. They two of them had tag teamed Lloyd enough over the years to be able to say things to each other through nods and shakes.

Nya had Lloyd. Kai could focus on getting him food or anything else he needed.

So he let them keep teasing him as he walked over to the kitchen cabinets and began trying to find something to make the kid.

Kai grabbed a bowl and a packet of instant oatmeal. Lloyd tended to crave warm things when he was upset. Blankets to wrap around himself, someone warm to cuddle, warm things to eat…

It had always been adorable, but now Kai was wondering if it was the dragon inside of him. The dragons that the ninja had owned had all been different, but Kai would never forget the way Flame had always wanted warmth.

He missed that dragon…

Kai looked back over at Lloyd. He still looked sad and paler than normal, but in the few moments Kai had been focused on something else, Nya had cleaned up his bloody lip and the scratches on his cheeks.

The purple glowing eyes were gone now too, his bright green eyes replacing them with a glow that was almost as bright.

Kai poured the boiling water over the oats and stirred.

Their conversation had moved onto something different. Something about dragon wings and fight moves. Definitely something that Lloyd would be interested in, though it worried Kai.

Lloyd’s hybrid nature would put him at risk now that the physical traits were showing up. A pair of tiny horns covered by his blond hair would rarely be noticed, but wings?

Kai swallowed at the thought. He was Lloyd’s sworn protector, and he would give his life to keep him safe… But the risk was so much higher than before, and he had failed Lloyd before.

There had always been a target on Lloyd’s back, but would people actively seek out the blood of a Dragon, Oni, and Human hybrid? Especially when some part of that blood was also related to the First Spinjitzu Master?

He tried to push it away. He would leave it in the back of his mind until he was with the rest of his team. Then he could talk to the others and get their opinions on it.

Would they have to force Lloyd to hide what he was? That didn’t seem fair…

He knew that Lloyd would take it like a champ. He would smile his golden smile and mask the pain as he was forced to hide away parts of himself that should be free. Parts that none of the other ninja would have been forced to hide away.

Just the thought of forcing his little brother into that position made Kai feel sick.

Then Kai remembered what he was supposed to be doing. He was supposed to be taking care of Lloyd. He was supposed to be getting the kid food.

He carried the bowl of hot oatmeal over to Lloyd and placed it in front of him. Then Kai handed him a spoon.

“Eat.”

Lloyd nodded, then began to eat.

“Have you told Sensei Wu yet?” Nya asked. Of course, Kai knew that the answer was no. He had been the one to find Lloyd like this, and Lloyd hadn’t wanted to get his uncle involved. At least, not at that point.

“Told me what?”

All three of them jumped as they turned towards their master.

“Uncle!” Lloyd exclaimed, and Kai could hear the nervousness in his voice.

Sensei Wu looked over at Lloyd, and like always, his expression was unreadable. Kai couldn’t decide if that was a good thing or not.

“I see your Dragon and Oni heritage has caught up with you,” he said.

Lloyd nodded. “It happened last night,” he whispered. “Kai calmed me down this morning.”

Sensei Wu hummed for a moment. “Did you get any sleep?” His voice was gentle, and Kai had no idea why he had expected anything else from his master.

While he had pushed Lloyd to perfection and beyond, he had always been a good uncle. And besides, if Lloyd had Dragon and Oni heritage, Sensei Wu would have had it too.

Lloyd shook his head. “No, Sensei,” he said.

Sensei Wu nodded. “I see,” he said, then turned to Kai. “Once he is done eating, help him to bed.”

Kai knew what his sensei was asking of him. He was asking for more than just putting Lloyd to bed and leaving him. He was asking for him to help Lloyd be as comfortable as possible, then stay with him as he slept in case anything else happened.

Kai hadn’t just tag teamed Lloyd with Nya before. He’d tag teamed him with Sensei Wu too.

“Yes, Sensei,” he said.

Sensei Wu turned back to Lloyd. “Get some sleep,” he said. “Then I would like to speak with you.”

Lloyd nodded, but he didn’t say anything. To which Kai couldn’t decide if he thought that was a good thing or a bad thing.

Sometimes Lloyd was just quiet, but normally he would respond to his uncle…

Sensei Wu left the room after that, and it wasn’t long before Lloyd finished his food.

“Get some rest,” Nya told Lloyd gently as she reached across the table and squeezed his hand. “Use this as an excuse to get a good nap and take some time off of training. You need it, kid.”

Lloyd nodded, and Kai could tell how exhausted he was just by how slow the movement was. “Okay,” he whispered.

Kai stood up, then turned to his little brother. “Let’s get you to bed,” he said as he held out his hand.

Once again, Lloyd took Kai’s hand and allowed himself to be led across the monastery and into his bedroom.

Kai quickly made Lloyd’s bed, then looked over at the sleepy green ninja. “C’mon,” he said. “Bedtime.”

Lloyd nodded, then climbed into the bed and rolled onto his side. He didn’t say a word as he closed his eyes.

Kai walked over to the chair at Lloyd’s desk and sat down in it. If Lloyd needed anything, he would be right here. It was all he could do for the kid. He couldn’t change DNA, he couldn’t change the fact that people would hunt him down for another reason now.

All he could do was be an anchor. All he could do was be what Lloyd needed.

It was quiet for a long time, and Kai was completely convinced that Lloyd had fallen asleep, but then he heard his name.

“Kai?”

Kai looked up and towards Lloyd. “You okay?” he asked.

Lloyd didn’t move from where he was still laying on his side. “Do you think Uncle Wu is mad at me?” he asked, his voice barely above a whisper as he spoke.

“Why would you think that?” Kai asked. Sensei Wu had seemed pretty normal to him, but maybe he had missed some underlying tension earlier.

Lloyd let out a shuddering breath. “He said he wanted to talk to me alone, and all of this wasn’t really convenient, and now I’m supposed to be sleeping instead of training, and…” Lloyd suddenly stopped.

Kai stood up and walked over to Lloyd’s bed. He sat down on the edge of it and placed his hand gently on his little brother’s arm. “What?”

“What if he hates me?” Lloyd’s voice was barely above a whisper. “I-I’m an Oni now… I look like one, what if I… What if I can’t control myself? What if I become like Garmadon?”

Kai swallowed, then squeezed Lloyd’s arm. “He cares about you, Lloyd. He wants you to rest because you didn’t get any sleep,” he tried to reassure him. “He’s not gonna hate you just because you have horns and sharp teeth. You’re his nephew.”

Lloyd let out a sound that was a mix between a whimper and a sob. “I just wanna be normal again…”

“I know,” Kai whispered. “I know you do.”

Kai didn’t remind him that he had never been normal. He was the grandson of a god, the child of an Oni, an Elemental Master, and the Ultimate Spinjitzu Master. His childhood had been ripped away from him, he was destiny’s favorite child…

The last thing that could be used to describe Lloyd was normal.

But still Kai sat by him, trying his best to soothe his little brother. He stayed quiet as Lloyd cried out tears that had been held in for too long, rubbed his arm and shoulder to remind Lloyd that he wasn’t alone…

And when Lloyd’s eyelids finally closed, and his breathing evened out, Kai breathed a sigh of relief.

“It’s all gonna be okay,” he whispered to his sleeping brother. “I promise. Dragon and Oni or no Dragon and Oni, you’re still our Lloyd.”

#ninjago #lloyd garmadon #ninjago lloyd #dragon lloyd #oni lloyd #hybrid lloyd #angst #hurt/comfort #kai smith #kai ninjago #nya smith #ninjago nya #sensei wu #fanfic #my writing

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hiwelcometothemonstersancturary · 9 months ago

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LOL I hope Dogday and Catnap end up together after all the typical romantic comedy shenanigans!

How did Dogday get feelings for Catnap? I bet it was hard once Catnap went off the deep end…but did he ever feel the same about him before? I imagine they were both at least pretty good friends at one point…

Dogday and Catnap were close since before they were turned into toys. I think kid Dogday (Im considering naming him Oskar) would protect Theo from bullies, and was worried sick when he just dissapeared one day. When they turned into toys, both Dogday and Catnap continued to be sort of close to each other. Catnap was isolated from the other Smiling Critters, and it was Dogday who would drag him to interact with everyone! I think this is when the mutual crush first started. Dogday saw a kind-hearted and shy friend who genuinely wanted to connect with others, while Catnap saw a ray of sunshine dragging him out of his misery corner in order to have him make friends with others.

For Dogday, Catnap was just everything he needed during that time: Someone who listens and is kind, not demanding much from him, much less getting mad at him for not doing things right. Catnap helped calm him down, and Dogday, touch and attention-starved, just caught himself suddenly developing an innocent crush on his best friend.

However, after the Hour of Joy, Catnap spent some time hiding with the Prototype as he taught him how to hunt. When he came back to the Playcare, he had changed. Hardened. He wasnt little Theo anymore, just like how Catnap wasnt little Oskar anymore. One became a hunter, the other, a leader. They clashed many times with Catnap wanting to go after other toys and the Smiling Critters not wanting to kill for their own survival. And when Catnap's religion became bigger than his own logic and morality, the two fell apart.

Below the cut are my thoughts on how their relationship went during the decade and after Angel rescued them!

Catnap did attack some of the Smiling Critters and he did tore off some of their limbs to feed the mini critters and himself. It was either that or starve, at least in his POV. Him crucifying Dogday consisted of him almost begging poor Oskar to quit with his morality and join him and Prototype. He wanted Dogday to listen, and he wanted to be together with his best friend, but tearing someone's stomach and legs off isnt the way to make them listen to you talk about how the guy who put everyone into this mess is the one and only true savior and god.

After Angel arrives at Playcare and saves not only Dogday but Miss Delight and even some of the mini critters, Catnap's world view start to shift, esp with how Angel treats him. "What happened to you?" is one of the first things they say to him, and Catnap, lonely and away from his dad/god and any company asides from the mini critters, just inevitably ends up getting attached to who he now sees as a messiah. This only gets worse after Angel saves Catnap's life.

Dogday... Oh, my poor baby. He DESPERATELY wanted Catnap to quit with the Prototype bullshit and just listen to him. They can hunt others, yes, but they shouldn't be cruel about it. They can confront the Prototype about putting them into this situation, they can leave Playtime Co, they can do anything, but please please please just LISTEN to him and STOP TALKING ABOUT THE PROTOTYPE AS IF HE'S A GOD. Dogday is ready to kill Catnap if necessary during Angel's time at Playcare, mind you, he just doesn't want to do that. And when Catnap is saved, guess who helps Angel treat his wounds? Yup, it's our big puppy.

Dogday feels guilt from letting his friends die, and feels anger at Catnap for helping with their deaths and for crucifying him. He wants Catnap to do better, but he feels like he lost him and will never get him back. And his happiness at seeing Catnap helping Angel is only for a moment, as he realizes Catnap just changed his god for Angel to fit the label.

After they confront Prototype and they leave the factory for good, they're both kind of lost. Catnap deep down knows neither Angel nor Prototype are gods, but what else are they for being able to survive such circumstances? And for Dogday, what else is there in the outside world, now that he feels more alone than ever before because his mind isn't busy with surviving anymore?

And then, BAM, every single Smiling Critter was actually alive. They're both shocked but happy at this, and begin to rekindle their relationship as they both agree that they're the only ones who can actually protect both their old friends and the newfound family they have. Their relationship at this point is two traumatized young adults trying to protect what they have of hope, still getting out of the survival instincts and way of life. They bicker a LOOOOT, but since day 1 from escaping they have sometimes slept next to each other because that's the only way they can fall asleep. They have so many conflicts but they are so much about each other in a way only they can truly understand (and also us but we don't count because we're just readers and players lmao).

With enough weeks passing by, and with enough long nights of these two being close and even playing with each other because they missed the other so much, they start talking. Untangling the mess. Catnap did apologize to Dogday when they were still inside Playtime Co, ofc, and he and Dogday had a moment when they saw the Sun for the first time since they were young children, but two conversations aren't enough to fix +5 years of hurt.

I think the mutual crush smacks them both in the head at the same time during the, like, third month of living with Angel. Sillies gotta be silly right?

#daynap #poppy playtime #poppy worldwide #save everyone au #dogday #catnap #ask tag #i wasnt expecting this to get THIS big lmao #gotta work on some things now but soon enough i shall infodump about these two telenovela-level worthy of romance drama and stupidity #(affectionate)

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honey-on-your-tongue · 2 years ago

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I Would Rather Be Yours

Na'vi female reader x Jake Sully

Series masterlist

Where you are betrothed to someone you don't want, and Jake saves you from it by mating you.

Warnings: smut, smut, smut. Big blue Daddy can get feral at times. Biting. Oral. Unprotected sex. Maybe some fluff? Idk. Rule-breaking. Parent bashing. If I miss anything, please lmk.

You never wanted to marry. Never wanted kids. You wanted independence and strength all on your own. The idea of love made you wince, the thought that someone could know you well enough for them to love you, to want you for your entire life made you want to recoil into the ground. You knew your parents expected it of you. You had to keep the species going, had to give them grandchildren, had to bring a new generation into the world. But you didn’t want to. You just wanted to live.

Not that they gave you much of a choice.

Your entire life growing up, you’d known you were betrothed to Totxep—the eldest son of your parents’ friends—but you were always so eagerly determined to prove to your parents that you didn’t need to be married, that you thought you’d be able to convince them.

At first, the date set for your mating had seemed so far away, it felt impossible. But as you grew, the day came closer and closer, and suddenly, mere months were being swallowed whole, and the prospect of becoming Totxep’s mate was looking you right in the face.

The only reason you didn’t become his on the intended date was because of the newcomer, Jakesully. He threw the entire clan’s lives off-balance, set new dangers, put everyone on the edge of their seats.

And then the Sky People came, and Jake helped you—all of you—fight them. And so, the clan gained freedom from the humans, and Neytiri married Tsu’tey, and Jakesully was transferred from his human form to his Na’vi form, and then life seemed to be returning to normal. And, therefore, your parents and Toxtep’s parents decided it was time. Time for both of you to commit to being one another’s and start a family.

The date was set, both parties were happy and eager, and a little irritated because of the delay, but relieved to see everything falling into place.

So, logically, you were freaking out. No amount of pleas, promises, tears, demands, or screaming got your parents to cave and release you from the engagement.

“You must follow your designated path, Leyeleu,” your mother would say. “You cannot disgrace our family.”

And so, you ran away. Mere days before the official date, you run. Into the woods, amongst the foliage and the animals and the sounds of the jungle around you. You run not to escape, but to gain a moment of peace and a chance for you to set your thoughts on straight. Even if only to put on the straight face and hardened heart necessary for what is about to happen.

But as you hide amongst the wildlife around you, sitting in a small cave of sorts, with the ground and the walls covered in mossy greens and a small curtain of large leaves that hide you from the outside world, footsteps reach you.

Light and soft, as if someone were just wandering around, exploring.

Your heartbeat increases, pulse racing. Could they be looking for you? Your parents, out to find you and keep you under their sights until the day that would steal your freedom from you arrived? Or was it Toxtep himself, searching for his runaway future mate?

You hear the mysterious person outside stumble on something and hiss softly.

“Ow, shit.”

Your ears perk up as you hear the voice. A male voice that you recognize with ease. Not Toxtep—Jakesully.

You’d watched him since he first arrived, studied his odd ways, admired him from afar. He was gorgeous, attractive, cocky, confident, and, most of all, charming. Besides, the fact that he was a stranger was oddly appealing to you. An omaticayan, yes, but also mysterious due to his…previous nature.

A human turned Na’vi. Charismatic and kind, enough to make you think—wish, maybe—that you’d been betrothed to him and not Toxtep.

Not that there was anything wrong with Toxtep, really. Just—he wasn’t your type.

But Jakesully—he was so perfectly your type.

Standing and walking out of your small hiding spot, you find him, standing there, rubbing a sore shoulder.

“Jakesully,” you say gently.

His eyes flash up to you, their greenish-yellowish glow studying you. “Leyelu,” he acknowledges, nodding softly. He glances around, as if searching for someone else. When he realizes you are alone, he asks, “What are you doing so far away from the others?”

“I could ask the same,” you respond. Your eyes fall to the shoulder he’s rubbing, and you catch sight of a small cut, slightly bleeding.

He notices where you’re looking and says, “It’s just a small scratch.” He shrugs. “Anyways, I’m just out here, kind of exploring the territory.”

“You shouldn’t be here,” you tell him, shaking your head softly. “If anyone comes looking for you, they might find me, and—” You cut yourself off, shake your head again. “You should return.”

He doesn’t budge. “And you’ll just stay here?”

“Hopefully forever,” you mumble.

“You’re, uh, you’re supposed to mate Toxtep in a few days, aren’t you?” he questions.

You glance away from him, frustrated tears threatening to sting at your eyes. “Yes,” you respond.

You look back at him and he cocks his head to the side, gently, eyes watching you closely. “You don’t want to,” he states.

You fold your ears back, snarl a little as you snap, “I didn’t say that!”

He seems unfazed. “But you don’t want to,” he insists.

He’s too observant, you decide. He pays too much attention to the details, and that allows him to know too much about you. Much more than you’d like him to.

“You should go back,” you tell him, turning away, intending to return to your cave. “If they find me because of you, I’ll be forced to harm you.”

You slide past the curtain of leaves, back into your hiding spot, feeling safe in the cozy, quiet space. But Jakesully follows you.

“Why don’t you want to mate him?” he questions as you sit on a moss-covered rock, facing away from him.

“I don’t like him,” you respond simply. After a moment of silence, you say, “My parents want me to be his. They wish me to be with him, for him, but I don’t want him. I don’t want—I want freedom. I want to choose my mate. If I must be with someone, I would rather they let me decide who he is. But I am being forced into this, and I hate it.”

Jake comes to sit beside you, his shoulder brushing against yours. “Why don’t you tell your parents that?”

“I did,” you say. “They don’t let me. No matter what I do, they have decided. I cannot change their minds.”

There is a pause and he asks, “Surely, there’s some way out of this?”

You shake your head. “Unless I were mated to someone else, I will become Toxtep’s in a matter of only a few eclipses,” you inform him.

Silence befalls both of you, the small cave feeling like the last moments of freedom are slipping through your hands. You’re grasping at water, trying to clutch onto it, but it snakes out of your grip, following the current that drags it along, and turning it into a mere memory. Your freedom, gone. And there’s nothing you can do about it.

Jakesully speaks. “And if…And if I mated you?”

Your ears snap up, alert, and your eyes jerk to his. You watch his face, study his expression—he’s absolutely serious.

He shrugs. “I mean, it would be a way for you to-to escape this, uh, engagement of yours, wouldn’t it?”

Baffled, you stutter, “Well-well, uh, yes.”

He shrugs again. “So? What’s the big deal? It doesn’t mean we’d have to be together, just—I would just be helping you out.”

You watch him carefully, eyeing him. “And why would you wish help me?”

His face reddens a little. Barely, but you notice it. “Maybe I just like you and the idea of you with someone else doesn’t particularly thrill me.”

Your heart begins to race again, excitement and fear and maybe lust begin to swirl through your veins. “My parents would never forgive me…,” you start, but it’s only a tiny thought, only a last attempt at going through with the duty you’ve been charged with your whole life.

One of his large hands lands on your bare thigh, caressing your skin that prickles with the feeling. “But you’d be free,” Jake points out.

Your eyes are locked on his, your body shaking with eagerness. You bite your lip, a little nervous, before nodding softly. “Okay,” you say quietly. Then, a little more confidently and spurred on by the glistening in his eyes, you add, “Please, Jake, mate me.”

He inhales sharply before leaning towards you, pressing his lips against yours lightly. He kisses carefully, as if taking a tiny taste of your mouth, before he takes it further. His tongue slides into your mouth, his teeth nibble on your lower lip. One of his hands rises to your face to hold you in place while the other one slides up your thigh, easily snaking under the loincloth and to your warm, moistening folds.

When his hand reaches your core, he runs a finger up your slit and he groans. You gasp softly as his fingers find your clit, gently tracing circles over it.

You’ve never felt anything like this. The sharp pleasure, fueled by the wrongness of what you’re doing. The danger only works to further arouse you.

Jake’s lips make their way to your jaw, to your neck, and as he kisses the sensitive skin there, he growls, “Fuck, I need to taste you.”

He removes his hand from between your thighs and kneels on the floor in front of you. He grabs onto your waist, his hands splaying over your torso.

Your breathing is heavy, your chest heaving up and down, and his eyes catch on the movement.

One of his hands wanders up your body, reaching your tit, grabbing it and massaging it under the small beads that cover them. You raise your hands to the back of your neck and undo the beaded necklace, allowing it to fall to the ground. Jake’s eyes shine as he studies your nipples, and his fingers grab one of them, pinching it and twisting it.

You shudder, eyes fluttering closed, legs clenching together.

His hand slithers down from your chest, between your breasts, over the center of your stomach and all the way down your thighs. He places his hands on your knees and pushes your legs apart, opening you wide for him.

His eyes watch your pussy, admire the glistening mess you’re making, and his gaze flies up to yours as he leans in.

His tongue offers a swipe from bottom to top, licking up your arousal, causing the softest of sighs to leave your body. His lips latch themselves onto your clit and he sucks, making your body jerk, your thighs clench closed.

He wraps his hands around your thighs and holds them apart as he licks and flicks at your clit. You gasp and moan, your body twisting with each twist of his tongue. He looks up at you, eyes meeting yours, his pupils are dilated with hunger and lust.

He moves his tongue down to your entrance and dips it inside of you, sending sparks through your body. You moan, hips bucking up, as his nose presses into your clit.

He eats you out as if he were famished, as if you were the first and only meal he’s ever had. He growls against your core, making you groan, and he runs his teeth agains your clit, which makes your legs jerk.

You are shaking, body twisting under his hold, hands digging into the mossy rock. Your pleasure grows, spreading out through you in waves, making you loud and whimper-y.

He adds a hand, snaking a long, calloused finger into you as he moves his tongue up to your clit. You clench around his digit, back arching, legs trembling.

“Too much,” you gasp as the pleasure grows, threatening to tear you in half.

“Come on, pretty girl,” he says against you, teeth rubbing over your clit. “You can handle it. Just a little longer, baby. You’re almost there.”

You gasp and moan, mewl and whine, body shaking and writhing under his grasp until your orgasm rushes over you with so much force, you’re left seeing white for a moment, your ears ringing.

As you come down from your high, Jake pulls his finger out of you, and runs his tongue over your folds, drinking up your orgasm.

You jerk a little, and glance down at him. His eyes are practically glowing as he uses his fingers to spread your folds apart and watch as you drip. He gazes back up at you and stands, and you can see his cock, long and erect, aching for you.

He grabs you and pulls you to your wobbly feet. He undoes your loincloth and simply studies you, watching your body—admiring it.

“You’re so fucking perfect,” he whispers, amazed. “So beautiful, Leyelu.”

He removes his own loincloth and your eyes are quick to fall to his cock. Just as you’d suspected, it’s long, the tip a dark blue and glistening with precum. You lower yourself to your knees and give it a quick lick, from the base up, before kissing the warm tip. He groans gently as he watches you. You wrap your hand around him and jerk him slowly as you say, “I need you inside of me, Jake.”

He groans again, louder this time, as you lay yourself on your back and spread your legs for him.

He’s quick to lower himself on top of you, your heart racing, his ears perked and his eyes studying you carefully.

“Are you sure?” he asks, breathless, eyes unwavering.

You wrap your warms around his neck and nod. “I’m sure,” you reply.

He thrusts into you slowly, closing his eyes and gasping gently as he does. A small moan forces itself out of your lips as he fills you to the brim, and your eyes roll into the back of your head.

“You’re going to be the death of me,” he says, voice thick and rough, as he pulls himself almost fully out before pounding into you. He sets a quick, merciless rhythm, hips slapping into yours as the tip of his cock hits the deepest part inside of you, making you whine.

You love it. You love the sharp pain that comes with each thrust, you love the feeling of his body on top of you, you love how long his cock is and how you can feel every inch of it.

You throw your head back, baring your neck, and he takes advantage. He leans his lips down to your throat, teeth nibbling softly on your skin before biting down, making you gasp and cry out. His tongue traces over the mark he’s most likely left, and then proceeds to mark other parts of your neck.

Your nails dig into his shoulders, your legs wrap around his hips, and you gasp out his name.

“Fuck, you take me so well,” he says, shuddering. “Your pussy is mine, pretty girl. All mine. I can feel how you clench around me, I can hear how wet you are.” He growls as you scrape your nails over his back.

“Please,” you beg, unsure as to what, exactly, you’re asking for. “Please, Jake, I-I need it.”

“Say it, baby,” he tells you, hips slowing a little to let you speak properly. “Tell me what you need, pretty girl.”

“Make me come,” you plead, shuddering, breathing heavily. “And then come inside me. Fill me up so they all know I’m yours.”

He groans, increasing his speed, fucking you until you see stars and the only thing you can do is gasp his name.

“More,” you beg, shaking, as you feel your orgasm approaching. “More—harder.”

So he does. His hips snap against yours, his cock about to split you in half, bruising your cervix. Pain blooms deep inside you, but it turns into pleasure and your orgasm finally washes over you, making you shudder and shake as you clench around him. He continues to thrust into you, pounding you, his hips stuttering slightly.

You gasp and mewl, whining as he continues to fuck you. You want him to stop, but, at the same time, you don’t. You want him to keep going until you don’t know your own name.

“Jake,” you gasp, shuddering. “Jake. Jake.”

“Take it,” he growls. “Take it, baby. I know you can. Just give me one more, pretty girl. I just want you to come one more time.”

And as your back arches and your toes point and your nails dig into his skin, you take it. You let him fuck you, use you senseless, hips crashing into yours, sure to leave bruises, teeth biting your neck, sure to leave marks. The harder and faster he fucks you, the more you shudder and cry out.

Eventually, your third orgasm reaches you, almost breaking you in half from the strength of it. Pleasure ripples through your body and you turn to a moaning, weak mess under Jake, skin slick, cunt sore. Still, you clench around him and finally draw him over the edge.

“Fuck,” he moans. “Fuck, fuck, fuck.”

With one last thrust, he comes, his hot seed filling you up, spewing inside of you.

Both of you are breathing heavily, bodies shaking, pleasure still coursing through your veins.

Jake pulls out of you and gets on his knees. He uses his fingers to push your folds aside and he watches your mixed orgasms drip out of you, decorating your blue skin. He uses his thumb to gather the slickness and he pushes it back inside of you.

“Let’s leave it there for a while, shall we,” he says, voice still hoarse. “That way, my scent will be all over you, and everyone will know you’re taken. You’re mine.”

And how glad you are to be his.

——————————————————

I did this as a random one-shot that came into my head for no reason. But, if you want another part, please let me know!

#jake sully #avatar #jake sully smut #jake sully x reader #avatar smut #fanfic #avatar jake sully #avatar 2009 #na’vi #na’vi smut #reader insert #avatar fanfiction #pandora

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missinghan · 1 year ago

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「 lee minho, (god)father at 800 years old 」

⤷ from the world of ‘your heart & your headache, too.’

◦ tw : slight swearing, chaos that comes with babysitting, mc sort of passing out at the end (out of exhaustion and anger)

It’s Lee Minho’s first day on his job as a babysitter. He sounds stressed when you pick up the phone.

“Y/N, what am I supposed to do with these little demons,” Minho says, he’s starting to sound near tears now. “I haven’t got any sleep for three days already.”

If you were nicer (less tired), you might ask him why and sit up to drive over to his place to help. You might even laugh because for someone like Minho, who used to and still exorcises demons for a living because he’s quite literally a god who was banished from Heaven, to call Hyunjin and Felix little demons and make no attempt to hide his fear for them is laughable.

However, you spent the entirety of last night finishing marking all of the midterms for your professor’s psych course, fueled by sheer spite and caffeine. You think you might suffer from a heart attack if you move the slightest inch right now.

“They won’t let me sleep yet somehow they still get more sleep than I do, how is that fair!!” Minho is on the verge of pleading for mercy, you can feel it.

“Sounds tough on your end,” you hum, curling up on the couch while Jisung makes popcorn in the kitchen. “Maybe lay down and take a nap?”

“Felix broke a light bulb and Hyunjin tried to glue it back together and now he’s got glass in his fingers—“

“Y/N!!!” Jisung’s voice is suddenly coming from the bathroom now. “There’s no more toilet paper on the roll!”

“I was looking for a first aid kit and when I turned around the piece of glass was gone—“

“Han, go get it yourself. It’s on the second shelf of the right drawer,” you echo back while covering your phone’s speaker.

To your dismay, Jisung thinks his matter at hand is more important than your much-needed rest. “But I’m taking a shit!”

“Hyunjin said he ate it—“

Minho has thought leaving Jisung at your place is a good idea for two reasons. Firstly, he doesn’t trust Jisung with kids because Jisung is apparently a descendant of the ancient vermillion which he has hatched from an egg, extracted his soul into a blade, and then nurtured him inside his spine for at least a hundred years. Simply put, Jisung is a spoiled bird who takes immense joy out of making Minho miserable. And secondly, he knows Jisung has a soft spot for you.

“Why can’t you just turn into a bird and then go take a shit outside? I have a bidet for a reason, what the fuck,” you mumble the last part, limply rolling your neck away from the direction of the bathroom.

“—and now Felix won’t quit crying because I told him the doctors might have to slice Hyunjin’s stomach open so he might possibly die—Y/N, are you listening to me???”

“What, yeah, yeah, I’m listening, I'm listening. I’m so listening, uh huh,” you reply distractedly. It takes a full inhale and exhale for you to register what just happened. You gather every last inch of patience you can muster in the fibers of your body. “Minho, you’re not supposed to say that to a kid.”

“And he was not supposed to believe me when I said so!!”

You think Minho has begun stress-crying at some point amidst the conversation. “So did Felix actually swallow the piece of glass or…?

“You weren’t fucking listening! Hyunjin was the one who claimed he had swallowed a piece of glass but he just confessed it was a prank—“

You hear a certain noise coming from the bathroom so you lean over once again to shout with any last dying breaths that are still there, “Han Jisung, if you get water on the bathroom floor I will pluck every single one of your feathers!!!”

To your absolute horror, Jisung walks out of the bathroom with toilet paper wrapped all around him. “I did get water on the floor,” he says with a start. “But I found the roll of toilet paper like you told me to…”

You lift a brow, expecting more elaboration.

“I tripped,” Jisung admits.

“And now Hyunjin just stepped on yet another piece of glass! I’ve got two crying kids here. Y/N, I need your help, I seriously need you—“

Kids are crying. Minho is in distress, or more like despair. And Jisung is showing off his new look as if he’s too dirt-broke to buy a proper Halloween costume. But then again, Halloween was months ago and apparently no one is sane anymore in this fucking household (yes you are factoring yourself into the equation).

“I think I might actually die and that is coming from an immortal god!!”

“Drop dead, then,” you mutter and hang up.

Jisung has disappeared from your viewpoint. He pokes his head out of the bathroom seconds later after a faint thud can be heard. “I spilled your favorite hand soap,” he informs you seriously because he knows how much you love that hand soap and it is unfortunately discontinued.

“Forget it,” you say lifelessly. Seriously, forget it. Forget driving over to Lee Minho’s place and lending him a hand. Forget forcing Han Jisung to clean up after himself. Forget turning in that one philosophy essay two days early. Forget the merits and legality of murdering a god.

Forget it, you think tiredly as sleep hovers its gentle hands over your eyes.

#stray kids #lee know #lee minho #lee minho imagines #lee minho scenarios #lee know imagines #lee know scenarios #stray kids imagines #stray kids scenarios #skz x reader #stray kids x reader #lee know x reader #lee know x y/n #stray kids fluff #stray kids x you #skz scenarios #stray kids oneshot #lee know oneshot

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rosypenguins · 4 months ago

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💔Bridges (Pt. 2)🖤

*+ *+ *+ *+ *+ *+ *+ *+ *+ *+ *+ *+ *+ *+ *+ *+ *+ *+ *+

Synopsis: Drew ends up spiraling.

A/N: Okay, this draws a lot from my headcanons for Drew’s backstory. This one’s like really emo lol.

Contains Swearing, Suicidal Ideation

*+ *+ *+ *+ *+ *+ *+ *+ *+ *+ *+ *+ *+ *+ *+ *+ *+ *+ *+

Drew watched Liam storm off before turning back to the bridge, taking in a sharp breath of air. That ever-familiar flame flickered in his chest; the smoke filling his lungs.

Each breath he took was heavy; it didn’t feel like he was getting any air. His head was spinning. The flame needed an escape.

Without thinking, Drew slammed his fist into the concrete railing, only for pain to shoot up his arm. Quickly, his hand recoiled, drawing closer to his chest. Fuck! Fuck, why the hell did I do that?

He could feel more sparks ignite at his own stupidity. The sensation was almost painful. Why couldn’t he just calm down?

Drew placed his elbows on the railing, his hands tugging at his tangled hair. Breathe, dammit.

But his throat felt tight, and his mind was spinning with voices and-

Drew felt a drop of water land against his cheek, and he glanced up towards the sky, only to find it covered with clouds.

…You’ve got to be kidding me…

He felt another drop hit his forehead, followed by a few more, and-

“Oh, is this some sort of joke to you?!” Drew suddenly screamed. “Do you think this is funny-?!” Drew’s throat tightened, his breath caught in his throat. He could feel tears forming in the corners of his eyes again, and almost instinctively he buried his face in his hands.

You worthless fucking failure. Get it together.

His nails dug into his skin as he thought back to the teary look Liam had given him.

You’re not supposed to be upset. You did the right thing. Liam was a bitch, anyways. You’re better off.

Slowly, Drew lowered his hands, resting them against the railing as he managed a few slow breaths. The flame was finally dying.

…

You didn’t need Liam. You don’t need anyone…

“All you do is hurt people!” The blonde’s words suddenly echoed in Drew’s ear, and he let out a huff as he sat himself on the railing. His gaze fell to the black water below, his reflection faintly visible, yet distorted by the ripples along the surface.

It’s not my fault. He told himself. It’s not my fault Liam has to be a little bitch about everything.

You’re lying…

He lied! Him and Jake and Zoey and everyone else who pretended to care about me! It’s not my fault they’re all shit!

You should’ve seen it coming. You really think anyone could love you?

…I’m better off alone. I’ve always been better off alone.

“All you do is hurt people!”

Drew let out a sigh, his gaze drifting to his hands. Bruises littered his knuckles, and there was still a small scar along one of his fingers from when he’d broken that mirror all that time ago.

His finger traced the mark, as his mind began to drift back to that night Liam had held him so softly…

What if he wasn’t lying..?

No, he was. He had to be.

…

“…Why am I like this..?” He whispered to himself, before placing his hands behind him, his attention returning to the waters.

“All you do is hurt people!”

I don’t hurt everyone. It’s not my fault-

It’s all my fault.

Everyone lies. Everyone leaves.

I’m the reason everyone leaves.

“All you do is hurt people!”

Drew pushed himself closer to the railing’s edge, his eyes locked with his reflection beneath him.

I was just defending myself! It’s not my fault everyone takes things so personally! It’s not my fault if-

“All you do is hurt people!”

I don’t hurt everyone.

“All you do is hurt people!”

I’m not… trying to hurt everyone.

“All you do is hurt people!”

It’s not my-

“All you do is hurt people!”

…

…Everyone would be better off without me.

Drew allowed himself to lean closer, his grip on the railing being the only thing keeping him steady.

“Probably be better if I was just dead, huh? Wouldn’t have to deal with all this bullshit if I was.”

Drew opened his eyes.

“Probably be better if I was just dead…”

His grip loosened slightly. He could hear his heart pounding, drowning out the sound of the rain.

…What use am I alive, anyways?

No one will miss me, not anymore, anyways.

…And it’s all my fault.

And Drew allowed himself to imagine it: falling over the edge, into the dark river. He imagined being swept away by the current, water filling his lungs and numbing his senses. How wonderful it’d feel to slowly lose consciousness, and simply drift away like the clouds in the sky…

“…All I do is hurt people, anyways...”

…

He released his grip from the railing, and his body fell forward.

But the sudden movement sent adrenaline coursing through his body. Instinctively, his hands grabbed the railing again, holding him steady.

His breath caught in his throat. His chest was tight. His heart was racing, but his head had finally gone quiet.

…For a split moment, everything was still.

…What did I just..?

…

Quickly, Drew hopped down from the railing, landing in a puddle beneath him. The splash alone was enough to make him flinch.

God, I didn’t actually just try to-

He swallowed, and pressed his back against the railing as he shoved his hands in his pockets.

And it’s not like I would’ve died if I fell, anyways. I mean, I probably wouldn’t have…

He pressed his palm against his forehead, taking a breath.

God, I shouldn’t even be thinking about this! I’m not supposed to be thinking like this! I’m not fucking depressed!

Drew shook his head, forcing the thoughts to the back of his mind as he glanced towards the rain-slicked path.

…He would’ve gone home by now, right?

After a moment of consideration, Drew decided to take the path back to his house, keeping his gaze firmly on the ground as he desperately tried to block out the screaming voices in his mind.

*+*+*

When Drew finally reached his house, he noticed the driveway was empty again. Thank God he’s gone…

And the first thing he did was return to his bedroom, throwing off his rain-soaked shoes and tugging off his jacket.

He made his way to his closet, pulling off his dirty clothes and throwing on a clean pair before collapsing onto his bed.

He didn’t care that his hair was still dripping wet. He could always wash it tomorrow.

He buried himself under blankets, and brought a pillow close to his chest, using it to hide his face.

But the moment he closed his eyes, he was met with the faces of those who lied to him.

The faces of those he hurt..

He opened his eyes again, but there was nowhere safe he could look. Every corner of his room had been tainted with their memory. Every surface tarnished with their presence. It was suffocating; realizing how much they’d impacted his life. How much he allowed them to…

How deeply he fell for their smiles, their voices, their lies.

Now he was left with the ghost of them, reminding him of what he’d once had. Of what he’d once believed…

And suddenly, Drew was back. Back to being the boy he was in Elementary School. The boy who’d lash out at anyone who came close. The boy who’d lock himself away in his room when he came home, knowing there’d be no embrace to greet him. The boy who couldn’t make a friend to save his life. The boy who’s own parents couldn’t be bothered to stay around…

The boy no one else wanted…

His grip on his pillow tightened, his nails scratching the light grey cover.

Eventually, his gaze drifted to his hands. His cold, bruised-up hands, that only seemed to push others away…

And Drew’s mind drifted back to the bridge, and he began to wonder what would’ve happened had he allowed himself to succumb to those cold, black waters…

#tmf #the music freaks #freakblr #tmf fanfic #tmf drew #tmf liam #druffering #im sorry

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eastwindmlk · 10 months ago

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After mentioning that I had an idea for a Jilypad fic the plunny would not leave me alone. For now this is just a cheeky short bit. a micro-oops if you will, but in the future this might blossom into something more.

There is a farmer’s market in Godric’s Hollow that Lily loves to visit. It was her Saturday morning ritual. Some time to herself while her husband took care of the kids. Entertaining them with games of chase and the toy brooms that still make her nervous.

Something she did her best not to think about while she browsed the seasonal selection of vegetables. Chatting to the lady running a stand with jams and jellies, leaving with a jar of gooseberry jam and a host of new advice on how to handle the abundance of cherries that grew in the backyard.

Her next stop was the old vicar who sold honey, something she was running low on running a household of incurable sweet teeth. Ending up having a sneaky cup of mead while they talked about the charity auction her husband was helping out with.

Leaving the stall a little more giddy than she had come, two bottles of homemade honey wine slipped into her basket. Something to enjoy when the little ones were down. As long as she promised to not have another accident.

She considered three to be more than enough, and none of them had been planned. But she had learned that life was what happened in between the plans. So, it was only fitting that is how her family came to be.

It was when she was mulling over the elderberry cordial that it caught her eye. A flash from the past sent the glass bottle tumbling down to the ground, splashing her sandalled feet with the sticky substance.

“I’m so sorry,” the redhead gasped, suddenly breathless. Stooping down to help gather the shards of glass. Delicate fingers reaching out of the thick bottom piece.

There was a sharp pain, making her wince. Her eyes focussed on the crimson drop mixing into the golden liquid. Feeling hands grabbing her shoulders while she reeled backwards.

“It’s all good. I will take care of it.” The voice sounded far away, even though she could feel the presence of right beside her.

Squeezing her eyes closed, Lily pulled herself back together as much as she could. “Goodness me, I am a little out of sorts,” she excused. Her eyes roamed the market square, trying to confirm that her eyes were playing tricks on her.

Yet, there, just down the main street, stood a man whom she would recognize anywhere. From the windswept mess of hair and the glasses to the boots. She could almost smell the cologne, the memory of his voice rushing into her head. Something she had thought she’d long forgotten.

“Go home, Lily.” The vicar had joined them, his firm hand on the small of her back. Steering her away from the apparition across the street. “Do you want me to walk you home?”

Shaking her head vigorously, Lily adjusted the basket on her arm before marching off. Feet carrying her faster and faster, craving the safety of home. Of somewhere she could break down in the safety of her husband’s arms.

Keeping up a brisk pace, she made her way to their cottage, hearing the laughter of her children rising from the backyard. The redhead hurried down the garden path, through the front door.

The moment her basket was securely on the side table, she whipped around. Doing something she had not done in forever. She locked and bolted the front door. Fingers trembling on the twist lock.

It was then that her head leaned against the cool wood, and the tears came.

Light-headed, Lily slowly slid down to her knees. Shoulders shaking quietly. In the distance, she heard their house phone ring. The concern in her husband’s voice was audible, even in her state.

“I’ll be sure to do that. Thank you, Martin.” Great, it seemed that her state had already become the talk of their little village. The local doctor already checking in on her.

What would they think of her? Did they also see him? Would they remember? It had nearly been a decade since he vanished, after all.

A pair of firm hands wrap around her, pulling her into a bone-crushing embrace that is every bit as firm as she needs it to be.

“I got you, Lils.” His voice is soft and reassuring. His breath fanning over her neck. The slight sensation gave her something to hold on to. Find her way back to herself enough to grab onto his arm.

Pulling in a shaky breath, Lily moved his arm away from her. Turning around to find grey eyes clouded with worry.

Trembling fingers cradling his face as she leaned her forehead against his. “I saw him.” Her voice not rising above a choked whisper. Seeing the disbelief on his face.

“It was him, I am sure of it.” Watching the gears turning, shock settled over him as they both stared at each other in silence.

It was Harry’s voice that broke it, running in with his crying sister in tow. “Dad, Effie dropped her doll in the pool! Now she is upset it is all wet,” He informed before he’d even made it to the entryway.

Both their faces turned to face their oldest, standing in the middle of the doorway, frowning at them. “Should I leave you two alone? Is this one of those moments?”

The juxtaposition of their mood and his question spurred the pair into action. Lily pulled away and smiled at her son. “No, no, this is not one of those moments,” she forced a smile and pushed herself up. Feeling the stick of the elderflower cordial on her shins.

“Can you rescue Mrs Morrison? I need a quick shower,” she asked with an apologetic smile. Feeling bad for having dropped this news on him only to bail out immediately.

Still, despite them both being thoroughly rattled, the classic, careless smile appeared on his face. Leaning in for a kiss on the cheek, the calloused pad of his thumb brushing along her cheekbone before releasing her.

Once upstairs, Lily shed her clothes and dipped into the shower. Enjoying the cool water down her back before scrubbing herself down. Starting to feel a little calmer now she was home.

Maybe she had been wrong. Perhaps it was a summer phantom, conjured up by the July heat, that had made her see things.

As Lily, wrapped in a fluffy bath towel and hopping over a few toys strewn along the landing, made her way to the bedroom, she felt almost calm. Even more so when she methodically went through the steps of dressing.

Seeing her little family play in the shade of their ginkgo tree from her bedroom window brought a smile back to her face.

Of course, she had not seen anything. That would be impossible. After all this time, she should have known better.

A crashing sound from the garden below caught her attention, a wailing cry for her. Forgoing a bra, she pulled the kaftan over her head and rushed down the stairs.

The little urchin crashed into her arms the moment she stepped foot in the kitchen. Lifting the two-year-old up, cradling him in her arms. Gently brushing his auburn locks away from the red mark on his forehead.

“Did we have a little oops?” she cooed, planting a gentle kiss on the spot. “Why don’t we see if we have some ice cream in the freezer?” A suggestion that made Al beam and chortle.

“I for ice cream! I!” he exclaimed, throwing his arms up and squirming out of the redhead’s arms to scamper towards the freezer. Clearly knowing all too well where they kept the treats.

Just when Lily was about to join the toddler pulling hard at the freezer door, the rattling of the front door drew her eyes. Heart jumping into her throat, Lily wordlessly summoned her wand from the basket in the hallway.

The lock clicked open, and from the summer heat, the phantom appeared once more.

He was older than the image in her memory, a scar adoring his sharp features, trailing from his temple to the middle of his cheek. Gold eyes met hers, lip curling into a familiar smile as he spoke.

“Honey, I’m home.”

#jilypad #lily evans #james potter #sirius black #lilypad #Is this going to be a multi chapter? Maybe.

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thebucketpail · 1 year ago

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When You Accidentally Kill a Clown pt 14.

Pt.1 pt.13 Ao3

------

Jason had alot on his mind.

For starters, apparently his boyfriend had a kid, which, great! She seemed awesome and that was totally okay. But then there were the concerning things he had overheard from the phone call. Like the bit about cloning, which would make Dani- well at least it was somewhat better than the alternative. Suffice to say, he and Danny had alot to talk about later.

All this had led to the very strong urge to find this 'Vlad' character and shoot him where it hurt. (Well it would probably hurt no matter where he shot him but the point still stands.)

Luckily, Jason didn't have to spend long trying to hide this fury before getting an alert from Oracle about some super-powered lunatic tearing up the upper east side. Now that usually wouldn't be his problem, but beating up bad guys is, shockingly, a really good stress relief, so he took the out.

Hopefully Danny didn't take him leaving so suddenly the wrong way.

Unfortunately, Jason didn't really have the mental bandwidth to actually think all these thoughts while also getting shot at by a green floating maniac.

"Oracle, please tell me you have something on this guy, I'm almost out of tricks," he yelled, not waiting to watch the round he unloaded sail right through the guy, before diving behind a half melted car.

"Tt, you may be out of tricks, Todd, but I am not," Robin called as he vaulted over Hood's makeshift shelter. Giving him a satisfying view when seconds later he sailed back overhead and crashed into a storefront, as a chorus of, "Names, Robin," crackled over the intercomm.

"Lucky shot," he grumbled, stumbling over to Jason who had to stifle a laugh at how the kid's face was scrunched up in annoyance. "Not a word. Oracle?"

"Sorry boys, nothing yet. I'll keep trying but all I'm hitting are dead ends."

Robin scrunched up his nose and sighed in annoyance, "So what's the plan then?" He asked.

Hood was about to snap back that 'how should he know' when someone else spoke.

"The plan is: you focus on getting civilians out of the way while we take out big, mean, and corrosive over there." Okay, Red Hood would never admit that he jumped, but to be fair, Robin did too. The voice had come from directly over his shoulder and no one should be able to sneak up on two trained vigilantes that easily. Especially not Damian.

They turned in unison to find two floating teenagers, no more than 17 and 13 each, with floating white hair, and green, green eyes. They were nearly identical, all the way down to the black and silver jumpsuits emblazoned with a flaming D insignia, or were they p's? It was hard to tell.

They were clearly heros of a sort, but Jason didn't recognize them so they were either really small time and in Gotham for a visit, or they chose the wrong city to jumpstart their heroing careers.

"Why are you dressed like a traffic light?" The younger one asked, blowing and popping a blindingly pink bubble as she floated closer to Robin, "I thought the bats were supposed to be discreet."

"That's none of your business," demon Brat growled, "Touch me and you're dead." The girl's hand paused, halfway outstretched toward Robin's cape. She didn't back off, though, until he pulled a birdarang.

"Woah there," she said, holding up her hands and floating backwards as if to calm him, "You're a little late on the dead part, but let's go easy on the knives, eh?"

The guy, now standing next to Hood as he watched the scene play out, snickered.

Robin scowled, "Who are you?"

The guy beamed and raised his hand like he was waiting to be called on in class. "Ooh! I know this one! Uh, hi, my name's Phantom," he gestured grandly to himself and, grinning, took a small bow, and that's Stray," he continued, "We are ghosts, like you, but we're here to help with that." He finished off the whole thing by pointing at the guy stomping around the streets and shooting acid.

The little one- Stray- nodded and popped another bubble. "Yeah, basically, our job is to beat up the ghosts who escape the zone and cause mayhem. We're just cool like that. But don't worry, y'all aren't causing to many issues so you're good."

"We are alot more expirienced than you though, so you guys should just stick to evacuation while we take care of the combat part," Phantom added as he flipped a -was that a soup thermos?- in the air.

Somehow Robin's frown managed to get deeper.

"We do not need you're assistance with combat," he scoffed, "and I find it unbelievable that you two have more experience than I do."

Stray's eyebrows shot up. " Oh okay, sorry didn't relise you were good on your own. I guess that's probably why you just flew through a window and can't seem to land a single hit," she sassed back, hands planted firmly on her hips.

"Tt, a slight miscalculation. Besides, I have no doubt I could take you in a fight easily, much less the flying green bozo over there."

"Oh yeah?" She replied, her nose twitching slightly, "You wanna go traffic light?"

"Bring it," he growled, dropping into a fighting stance.

Then they were at each other's necks. Damian was tackled off his feet almost immediately, making it less of a standard fight and more of a knock-down, drag-out brawl, and Phantom was just watching. No, not even just watching, he was cheering them on, meanwhile Jason was still trying to wrap his head around what they had said.

"Wait, waitwaitwait. Rewind," he said, causing the ghost to turn toward him distractedly without pulling his eyes from the wrestling demons. "What do you mean 'ghosts like you'? Were not ghosts" At least as far as Hood knew he wasn't a ghost. Zombie plausibly, but he had gotten better, so not a ghost. No walking through walls and spraying people with goo, and he definitely didn't float and/or glow like these people.

Phantom snorted and turned toward him fully with a roll of his eyes.

"I don't mean like ghost, ghost," he snorted, "at least not what most people think of ghosts. But you've both clearly died before, and you have cores, however small, so- ghost," he explained, trailing off with awkward jazz hands.

what?

"What?"

Phantom looked like he was about to respond, but was cut off when a large glob of plasma careened into their makeshift shelter and melted the remains into the ground.

The demons, now rolling on the ground, froze, and Phantom let out a low whistle.

"Right, forgot about that. Stray, come on." The girl popped up from the ground, sporting several new bruises and a manic grin.

"Time to kick butt now, Dad?" Hood's brain froze. 'dad?' Phantom just let out a drawn out sigh as he mussed up her hair in a way that seemed oddly familiar.

"Oh so no I'm 'dad'," he grumbled before turning back to Hood. "You're good on the plan, yeah? Cool, see you in two shakes of a ghosts tail." He punned, then they were off, shouting insults and throwing punches that actually managed to hit.

Hood took a few seconds to process what the fresh hell just happened as Robin stood up and spat some blood from his mouth. He was also sporting fresh bruises, aswell as a small cut on his forehead. Impressive.

"Tt, they are adequate," he muttered, turning on his heel and heading for the nearest building where civilians were still trapped.

Hood sent a quick message to Oracle and B that they had help and to focus on civilians, before following as the fight raged on overhead.

---------

"So is it just me or does Red Hood seem kinda familiar?" Dani asked, ducking an ecto blast and moving in to land a solid hit.

Danny raised an eyebrow and shot a widely at their opponent. "What do you mean?" He asked in response, frowning as the shot missed.

"I don't know, I think it's his core? I feel like I've met him before, but I'm pretty sure I would know if I had."

"Huh, strange. Hey Acid Breath! When was the last time you took a shower? You're stinking up the whole street." The Ghost roared in response as they showered the area in corrosive ectoplasm. "Damn, sorry, didn't mean to strike a nerve. How'd you get here anyway?"

"AAACCCEEE!!" now what could that possibly mean?

"Sorry I don't know anyone called 'Ace'," Danny called, stopping long enough to keep their attention off Dani as she went in for another attack. "You wouldn't mind introducing us, would you?"

"RAWR!!!" Okay, that was a no then. Finally, Dani struck, landing a solid hit to their back before getting smacked to the pavement twenty feet below.

Danny yelped, fumbling with the thermos on his belt before promptly souping the poor sap and flying down to his clone.

"You good kid?" He asked, wincing as Danny scowled up at him and spat out her wad of gum.

"Just peachy," she replied with a sarcastic smile as she took his offered hand. "I thought you promised me a fight."

Danny squinted at her and looked around at the carnage and smoking crater they were currently standing in.

"Was that not? A fight?"

The kid snorted and rolled her eyes, "I meant like a fun one, like with Ember or Skulker. This guy was no fun, no finesse. The closest thing I got to a fight was that brawl with the traffic light."

Danny sighed and ran a hand down his face, "Sorry? We'll see if Robin's still up to fight, either that or we can spar later?"

"Hmph, fine. But don't think I'll go easy on you just because you're old and you're bones are creaky."

Danny gasped, old? Him? "Oh you're going to so pay for that comment kid."

"Oh yeah?" She asked, planting her hands on her hips and raising an eybrow.

"Yeah," Danny grinned back, with equal levels of Fenton sass.

Their standoff lasted about twenty seconds before Dani's gaze focused on something behind her original.

"What's with the guy in the leather furry suit? He's staring at us."

Ancients, could he not do one thing in this city without attracting this guys attention? Apparently not. Batman stared at Phantom and Phantom stared back. Danny groaned.

Unfortunately, with the fighting now finished and most if not all civilians safely removed from the street still dripping with ectoplasmic acid, Danny probably should, *shiver,* talk with the local heros, including the Bat himself. There was no way Danny would be able to walk out of this without setting up several more flags for the furry brigade to hunt down.

But as much as he dreaded it, for some reason Danny obeyed when Bats stared him down from a nearby roof, his eyes communicating a clear talk now or I will make your life hell, though he would probably do that anyway.

"Ugh, here comes the hard part," Danny mumbled as he motioned for Dani to follow him up to the roof. "Batman," he greeted with a curt nod when they landed. At least they were on equal ground now and it didn't feel like he was being looked down upon.

Dani landed behind him, just as Robin, Red Hood, and Red Robin materialized next to Batman.

"Hey, Traffic Light!" Dani beamed, pulling an arm across her chest to stretch her shoulder, "You wanna go again? That fight wasn't too enriching."

Robin scowled at her and shared a look with his- father? Partner? Boss?- whatever their relationship was, Batman had a hard set to his jaw, but Robin looked, not exactly pleading, but more that he wouldn't back down. Somehow Batman lost the stare off.

"Very well, your form could use improvement and I am an excellent teacher," he said, taking a few steps away from the group. In no time at all they were fighting again like they hadn't even stopped.

Robin tried calling out the flaws and tactics in the fight, but was quickly, fully, engrossed on not losing his ground or footing as Dani attacked with more brute, unrelenting, strength than with tact.

Batman stared very dissaprovingly, seemingly ignoring Danny. Danny cleared his throat in an attempt to, Ancients forbid, draw the Batman's attention back to him.

"Don't worry, Stray won't hurt him, at least not more than some bruises or maybe a small sprain if he's not careful." Shit, maybe he shouldn't have said that. The stare Batman gave him chilled Danny to the bones.

"Sorry," Danny muttered, with a sheepish grin he held out his hand, "I'm Phantom by the way, I don't think we've met."

---------

There was something about Phantom that felt vaguely familiar, Hood just couldn't quite put his finger on it. Aside from the fact that he could've sworn he'd seen this guy before, the ghost felt familiar. The vibes that seemed to exude from the glowing teens somehow felt cozy, in a way.

It was so weird. There was no way to explain it. It felt like- finding someone who was just like you, someone who shared your interests and tastes. It felt like community, like people you can rely on and a place to come home to.

The feeling was so sudden and out of place it made him want to punch something. But like in a positive way. Like when he used to wrestle with Dick or B, way back when. Something in Jason's chest seemed to sing, or more like contentedly rumble. It was something he was used to feeling around-

Hood watched as Phantom ducked his head with a nervous smile, his outstretched hand wandering back to rub at the back of his neck as he avoided Batman's glare.

"Not much for social niceties then, eh?" He asked, shooting honest to god finger guns at The Batman, personification or 'revenge and 'the night'. B's mouth drew into a tight line as he studied the ghost.

"Uhm, sorry for like, invading your territory and stuff, I'll try not to let it happen again," Phantom said, attempting to bring his eyes to meet B's gaze.

"Hn," B grunted, "Gotham is no safe place for meta's, besides, we've got the heroing thing taken care of. We don't need help."

Finally Phantom managed to lock eyes with the bat, he looked taken aback.

"Yeah, sorry. No. You kinda did need help with this one, thank you." Phantom's confidence grew as he proceeded to explain just exactly why he and Stray were needed there. Citing the Bats' underpreparedness, as well as a bunch of ghost politics stuff that was hard to follow.

Batman listened raptly.

And yeah, no. Jason had to be entirely wrong. This couldn't be him, sure the face shapes were nearly identical, and the same freckles, and actually if it weren't for the color change and differences in age they could be the same person. But they couldn't be.

Sure Jason's boyfriend could be a bit... odd, and boisterous sometimes. But he really couldn't imagine him being able to scold motherfucking Batman with that much confidence.

But still it nagged at his brain. It really was a long, long shot, that was really, very, highly, unlikely. And Jason really, probably shouldn't have said anything, but he did.

"Danny?" Phantom faltered and the way he froze at the name was almost confirmation enough. His green eyes flicked around the rooftop, then fixed on Red Hood. For a moment his mouth pulled to a slight frown and his brows furrowed, even the noise of the kids' fighting ceased as Stray- come to think of it, that was probably Dani- stared dumbfounded, with a hint of surprise. The two 'ghosts' shared a look then melted into.... laughter?

One double take later and sure enough they were laughing. It was actually kind of unsettling, all echoey and reverberating as if they found the statement absolutely hilarious. If he didn't know better, Hood would've thought they had gotten Joker gassed or something, but he did, and suddenly felt very awkward at even entertaining the notion.

Batman grumbled.

So yeah, whatever, he gad been wrong. He shouldn't have said anything. But did they really have to keep laughing like that?

Phantom was doubled over and clutching his stomach, while Stray went intangible and rolled out from under Robin, who'd had her pinned, giggling uncontrollably.

Eventually, Phantom managed to straighten out and wipe a tear from his eye.

"Who's Danny?" He asked with a few residual giggles tainting his voice. "I don't know a Danny," it was said with such ease, but something felt forced, and his eyes kept flickering around.

"Pft, yeah," Stray snorted, floating a bit to lean her elbow against her partner's shoulder, "His name's Bill actually. Y'know, like inviso-Bill?"

Phantom sobered up completely and fixed her with a glare as the kid devolved into another laughing fit.

"Its not," he said seriously, "I've been going by Phantom for thousands of years, that one nickname is not going to stick." Yeah, if there was any doubt left that he'd been wrong, allegedly existing for thousands of years probably blew that theory out of the water.

"You wish," Stray forced out between giggles, causing Phantom to sigh.

"Anyway," he emphasized, clapping his hands together as he forced a smile, "Ghost problem solved, so we should probably get going then. Right, Stray?"

"Sure thing, Bill," She snickered, but followed as he slowly drifted away form the rooftop, "cya around traffic light!"

Phantom rolled his eyes once more before they both shot off. In seconds they were gone.

B turned toward Hood, mouth already open to ask a question, but he was already gone too. He'd done his part and he could debrief later. For now he had a boyfriend and his kid to get back to.

Fifteen minutes later, Jason was back outside Danny's door with a whole new set of emotions swirling about in his head. He took a deep breath and opened the door.

Danny turned form their game to look at him with his ice blue eyes, and smiled. He patted the spot on the bed next to him as Dani threw a card down with a small shout. She followed Danny's gaze and twisted to look back at Jason, blowing a strand of black hair out of her face and grinning.

"Ay, welcome back! Glad to see I'm not a deal-breaker!" Jason chuckled and took the seat, cuddling up into Danny's side. What gad he even been thinking. There was still alot of concerning things to talk about, but being a ghost/superhero was something he could cross off the list.

-even if their similarities still nagged at his brain

--------

Woop, finally did it! And with Jason's suspicions successfully waylaid, we're going to take a (planned) break, while I get swamped down with all my other projects + school.

Hope you liked.

#dpxdc damian wayne #dpxdc #dpxdc red hood #dpxdc danny phantom #dpxdc batman #dpxdc dani phantom #dead in main ship #when you accidentally kill a clown #bucket writes things #long post #fic

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