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m0nsterqzzz · 9 months ago

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Capture the Flag

pairing: clarisse la rue x child of apollo!reader

summary: you hate capture the flag, and clarisse hates people hurting you. that's that.

warnings: kidnapping? *done by a bunch of demigod teenagers for the simple outcome of winning a game* mentions of murder because what is a clarisse fic without it? swearing? kinda oc clarisse just because I can't write anything else without turning it into enemies to lovers

a/n: she is my love. clarisse defender for life.

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Clarisse La Rue.

The name sparks fear in many people at Camp Half Blood. Kids cower when she’s near, or run away when she walks towards them. It makes her happy, having people fear her. She thrives off of it, being a daughter of Ares; the god of war.

But too you? The name brings warmth, comfort, and love. It’s very rare her wrath has ever been directed towards you, and the few times it has been was when she didn’t know you. When you were just another camper to her.

It only took a few days at camp for you to be claimed by your father, Apollo.

It made sense really, your bubbly and energetic personality was so similar to your fathers and his demi god childrens. You moved into cabin seven with your small backpack of beloved items from your past, picking the bed in the corner farthest away from the few other children of Apollo and spending most of your time in that spot if you weren't at arts and crafts or archery. Not many people cared about you at first, not that you mind while you were trying to process all that happened for you to finally get to this wilderness home. Then you tried to make some friends, which ended with you mostly spending your days with your siblings or the children of Hermes and the campers who lived in that cabin without being claimed.

Then, you met your girlfriend. The love of your life. You're everything. Clarisse.

She had protected you during a game of capture the flag, not realizing that your “attacker” was one of your best friends who simply held his sword up to you in a playful way. You teased her for weeks after that, giving her the title, “my protector”. Although the teasing eventually stopped, the nickname never did.

You’re her sunshine. That’s clear to everyone in camp, but nobody really talks about it for fear of being hurt by her spear.

Capture the flag is one of her favorite days out of the week. Other than every Tuesday when Chiron lets you eat dinner at her table- an agreement that came after a very long week of begging of course. That was his compromise to your ask of being able to spend every night at that table, and Clarisse wasn’t going to push it despite liking the first idea more.

It became a lot harder to win said game when she started dating you, team red losing one of their best fighters when she would leave her post by the flag to roam the forest and make sure you are okay. It just makes you laugh when she stops kissing you up against a tree to suddenly run back to her post when she remembers the main task at hand, but her siblings and team would definitely disagree that it's funny.

Today's no different, and after threatening her teammate with her spear, she leaves her post to find you with the peace of mind that they’ll protect the flag and won’t tell on her to the other players on team red.

You on the other hand, you have your headphones in, music blasting in them as you dance through the forest and around the trees. Capture the flag has never really been as important to you as your teammates on the blue team, and both Annabeth and Luke eventually learned to give you a simple task and let you do your own thing.

The nymph's join along in your activities every once in a while, but for the most part they just stay in their tree form as you dance past them.

You’re in your own world with your favorite song playing on your wired headphones that stay connected to the ipod in your hand that your girlfriend gifted to you after she came home from a quest a few months ago. It’s only when someone hits your helmet-covered head with the butt of their sword so hard you pass out that you realize you wandered into the red team's territory.

Waking up, the first thing you notice is the harsh light of the sun glaring down at you. Then it’s the rough feeling of wood on your back and the tight pull of rope on your stomach when you try and fail to stand up from your sitting poston. Your stomach churns as you realize what kind of situation you're in; no help, in a vulnerable position, and no weapon. Lastly, you groan when you realize that your headphones have been taken out of your ears and are laying in a tangled pile a few feet away along with your ipod.

After a few seconds, your vision clears up and the two blobs of color that you saw in front of you turn out to be two people. They’re clearing down at you from their standing positions, one with a sword out and the other holding a dagger.

“Good morning sunshine.” You cringe at the nickname that comes from one of the boys you now recognize from the Aphrodite cabin. It’s the one that your girlfriend uses for you.

Children of Aphrodite may be well known for her being the goddess of love, and all things pink and pretty, but sometimes people forget she is also a goddess of war. Her demigod children are sweet and nice, but it’s no big surprise why Clarisse likes having them on her team when you see their fighting abilities when they actually try.

“What do you want with me?” You question harshly, trying but eventually giving up on trying to force the ropes to untie by moving your body around. You’re tied to a thin tree, thin enough for your arms to reach behind you and wrap around it- it's kind of like your giving the tree a backwards hug with your hands tied together around it- but not thin enough to break when you push you back up against it to test the theory on if you can snap it.

They look at eachother and chuckle, putting their weapons away when they realize you can’t get out of your ties. One you recognize as Oliver steps closer to you as he says, “Annabeth and Luke care about you so much, the moment they realize that you’re missing, they’ll forget all about the flag and Clarisse can go get it.”

You stare at them blankly for a few seconds before you burst out laughing. They glance at each other before narrowing their eyes at you.

“What are you laughing at sunshine?” You finish laughing when the ropes pull on your stomach way too tightly with the way your body shakes with the laughter. “You ummm…” You start, taking a deep breath when you find yourself beginning to giggle again. “You thought the most amazing plan…was to lead my overprotective friends and girlfriend…the girl who carries a spear with her everywhere she goes and hurts anyone who looks at her wrong mind you…to the spot where she’ll find her partner tied up to a tree in a clearing where no one is around to stop her from killing you guys?”

They stare at you with a sudden look of fear in their eyes before they walk a few yards away to begin whispering to each other, the confidence from earlier gone and rethinking their plan after you brought the obvious ending to your attention.

“Hey guys?!” You shout out, smiling when they turn around for a second to face you. “Don’t worry. I’ll tell Clarisse not to kill you! She usually listens to me because the last time she killed someone, I didn’t cuddle her for a week!” Their eyes widen at your casualness, as if her killing someone is completely normal in your world before turning back around so you can’t see them panicking. It doesn’t matter though, the way they move their hands erratically and have to take deep breaths from raising their voices in fear is enough knowledge.

They come back a few minutes later, the fear still there as they stand in front of you. You don’t ask what plan they’ve come up with now, and they don’t tell you.

You guys sit in silence for a second before you glance at your earbuds and ask, “Do you guys like jazz tunes?” The boys stare at you with a confused expression.

“Um..…no. Why? Is that what you were listening to?”

“No. It’s just a conversation starter. The quiet was getting kinda awkward.”

The silence is back again, before you begin to quietly hum the tune of the song you were listening to before they interrupted your state of happiness. “So…..did you guys see my amazing dancing?”

Liam chuckles, eyes not meeting yours as he scans the forest around you guys and mumbles, “It wasn’t that good.” Oliver lets out a small hum of agreement.

You scoff, eyes falling to your legs as you whisper under your breath, “Well damn. I’m definitely letting my girl kill you now.”

Suddenly, a few yards away, there is a loud scream that could make someone's ear eardrums bleed. It isn’t one of fear or sadness, but of anger. The boy’s eyes widen and they begin to spin in circles to try and keep track of the attacker as they pull out their weapons. You just smile.

The sound of someone running is what finally snaps them out of their panic enough to try running away, but she’s already there using the end of her spear to hit one's back so hard he falls forward and pulls the other one of one backwards and throws him on the ground by his armor.

The first boy she pushes tries to get up and scurry away, but she simply places her foot on his back and presses so down with her boot with enough pressure he looks ready to cry. He really should be wearing armor.

“Clar! Clar, it’s fine! I’m fine!” You shout when the fear starts to set in that she might actually hurt them, and she doesn’t even seem like she’s listening as she twists her spear in a circle and looks towards the other boy with a grin on her face that you know all too well. She’s going to kill them.

You begin to try and pry your hands out of the rope so hard it begins to shred your skin like paper in hopes of stopping her from doing something she’ll get in so much trouble for, and it’s only when you let out a small whimper of pain does Clarisse stop her actions. The grin falls from her face, and her foot releases the boy as she hurries over to you.

Both boys get up off the dirt, stumbling over their own feet as they begin to run back into the forest to hide from Clarisse. “You touch them again and I’ll kill you in ways even my father couldn’t imagine!” She screams over her shoulder in a terrifying voice, and the way she then turns to you with a sweet smile would be weird to anyone else. It only comforts you.

“I’m so sorry sunshine. I’m so sorry I let them hurt you.” She whispers as she uses the sharpest part of her spear to cut the ropes off. You sigh in relief, bringing them to your lap so you can gently caress them. There are red marks surrounding them, some of which you can already tell are going to bruise and one with a small cut on it from the rope and bark on the tree rubbing on your skin.

Your girlfriend looks guilty, so when she begins to spill even more apologizes you shut her up with a gentle kiss. “It’s okay Clar. I’m okay. It’s my fault. I wasn’t paying attention.” She shakes her head no and you watch with a small smile as she uses the most gentle touch you’ve ever felt to pick up your wrists and assess the injury.

“Really. I’m fine. It’s just some rope burn.” She hums in understanding, bringing them up to her lips one by one to place a feather light kiss on the red spots. “Better?” The curly haired girl asks with a small smile.

“Much.” She nods, letting out one more apology before she picks you up bridal style and begins to walk back in the direction of camp. It’s only when you make it to the edge of the clearing and the cabins, mess hall, and big house come into view do you realize she’s not taking you back to your team's territory.

When you go to ask where she’s taking you, but she just shh’s you and takes the trail to the infirmary. In the distance, the conch shell sounds, signaling the end of the game. It’s followed by the familiar cheers of your team, making you feel bad.

“I’m really sorry Clar. I could have walked myself. I’m so sorry” She just shakes her head, walking into the small building that only has about three Apollo children in it, the kids who don’t like to play capture the flag and volunteer to stay in the infirmary in case someone needs medical help. You know them, sending them all bright smiles and they do the same.

She sets you down on a gurney, a quick glare to the boy standing awkwardly a few feet away with a clipboard is all he needs to run over and begin gently cradling your arms to wrap your wrist’s. His name is Jamie, and he’s the quietest out of all of your siblings. Even with his silence, you know he’s an absolute sweetheart after nights spent painting with him or enjoy a walk in the sun together.

“Just take off the bandages to ice them every once and a while, and you should feel fine in a few days.” He mumbles before scurrying off to do something else, but in reality you know he’s just trying to get away from the girl who now stands at the edge of your bed like a guard. My protector.

You stand up, slowly walking towards her and wrapping your arms around the back of her neck. “You know, your siblings are beginning to despise me for being the reason you guys are losing.”

She shrugs, a small smile making its way onto her face. “Let them. They ever talk shit, you come to me. I’ll deal with it. Until then, they can despise you in silence. I’m just happy you’re okay sunshine.”

“Thanks to you. My protector.” With that she chuckles, leaning down to kiss you as your arms tighten around her.

“But I’m definitely getting Chiron to change the Apollo cabin to our team.”

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#clarisse la rue #clarisse la rue x reader #percy jackon and the olympians #percy jackson series #clarisse la rue x you #ares god of war #once again i don't know how to write endings

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creatingblackcharacters2 · 2 months ago

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Did you know that the creator of #Inktober stole his work from a Black artist?

Now you do!

I want to kick off October by talking about #Blacktober, an event for supporting Black and Black biracial artists that ran from 2020 to 2023!

According to the organizers' own website:

In response to the creator of Inktober plagiarizing his art book from Alphonso Dunn, and the antiblack harassment Black cosplayers and artists face for re-imagining their favorite characters as Black in media and an art community where we're underrepresented - we created #Blacktober in 2020 in hopes to celebrate ourselves, nurture the community and create a positive, empowering space for Black creatives.

Any Black creative and/or cosplayer can tell you that creating or cosplaying beloved characters while Black will lead to vitriol. From comments as supposedly "harmless" such as "oh thats the "Black version" of [character]" (instead of acknowledging that they are the character), to more overt antiblackness like "n***er [character]" and "[character] isn't Black!" with the intent to mock both the creator and the character in question. They suggest that the Blackness is an insult to the character, that it's not accurate. Far less normalized is anyone saying "white [character]" or "cracker [character]" about white people cosplaying nonwhite characters.

Virulent antiblack racism towards organizers and participants was amongst the main reasons that the organizers had to let go of hosting Blacktober.

We've had a blast with everyone these past 3 years watching fan art to original creations be born out of a passion for seeing ourselves in media. However, we, the organizers, are no longer able to keep going with this event, especially with the current state of social media. We've had to combat a lot both on the front lines and behind the scenes. Not just the organizers, but also those participating. This, along with time, was two of the few reasons why we've decided to sunset.

While Blacktober itself is unfortunately no longer an organized event, Black and Black biracial artists might still choose to draw something for the month under the #Blacktober tag.

No, this is not for nonblack creatives to participate in themselves. Not for you nor your Black OCs!

It's a shame that racism constantly seeks to destroy what Black people create, and that it's so common to steal, take credit for, and benefit from our work. But you can avoid being a part of that by supporting Black creatives in your space! I am sure they are there, if you put in the effort to look for them! Search the tag- you might find old AND new work! This also includes standing by them when they speak up on mistreatment within your communities. When you don't speak against antiblack racism, it means you tolerate its existence. And when you tolerate antiblackness, guess what it makes you? We can't say fandom is for everyone, and then not act to make it so. Let's do better.

Happy Blacktober!

#blacktober #creatingblackcharacters #antiracism #antiblackness

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msbigredmachine · 2 years ago

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Hoochie Daddy (Jey Uso/OC)

How many of these shorts does he have? And how quickly can she take them off him? Jey Uso/OC gym one-shot.

Warnings: SMUT

Word count: 4.7k

A/N: I believe @southerngirl41 is the reason for this title, lol. Let me know what you think!

All Jey gifs by @annoyedkayah2395

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The gym in the basement of Jey Uso’s house was something straight out of the Creed movies. The floor, walls, and ceilings were solid concrete, the old school decor contrasting with the state of the art equipment within its walls. The speaker system on the far wall blasted the late great DMX as you laid waste to the punching bag in the corner. The straining of your muscles and the aching of your joints felt good. It was helping a lot with clearing your head, given the rather stressful events of the past couple of months.

Though not directly involved yourself, you had experienced the strife within the Bloodline through your boyfriend. From Sami’s betrayal at the Royal Rumble, to Roman’s rage, Jey boycotting the shows for weeks, the uncertainty coming to a head at Wrestlemania with the twins losing the Tag Team titles to Sami and Kevin. Hit hard by the defeat, Jey reacted by keeping his distance from the group once again. He avoided everyone’s phone calls, and you happily played gatekeeper, screening his calls and keeping the doors locked from all intruders. If Jey didn’t want to communicate with anyone, then so be it. You loved his family like they were your own, but his peace of mind always came first. Always.

Which is why you let him sleep in while you came down here to beat the shit out of this damn bag. He’d gone to bed early last night and you wanted sex, but you couldn’t find it in your heart to wake him up and disturb his rest. This morning, you had to physically stop yourself from mounting him and riding him well into the afternoon. He looked so good lying there next to you, butt naked with his new chest tattoo just begging for your oral attention. That man made you horny at a moment's notice and it would have been infuriating if you weren’t already completely in love with the way he made you feel.

So, you decided an early morning exercise would help you out with your frustrations. You learned that working out brought you to a state of erotic readiness. There was a power and excitement about exerting your entire body that amplified your arousal. It also helped that you were dating a man that shared your philosophy. Exercise energized you and Jey. The changes you’d experienced sexually in the past year were testament to this. As a couple you had transitioned from traditional sex to something so much more erotic and spiritual. Your relationship thrived as a result, and for the first time in years, you were happy.

"You’re stronger. But you gon’ hurt yourself if you don't relax your shoulders," a familiar gruff voice warned from the doorway of the gym.

You turned towards your boyfriend, locking eyes with him from across the room. You nodded at his barely clothed frame. “And you’re gonna have a yeast infection if you keep wearin’ them tight ass hoochie daddy shorts,” you shot back.

He burst into a chuckle as he glanced down at his yellow shorts, smiling that breathtaking smile of his. “You got jokes, huh?” he said, pushing off the door frame. As he approached you, his dark eyes raked over the light sprinkling of freckles over your beautiful face. He knew how many there were and could locate each one with his eyes closed. Your frizzy jet black hairstyle and crafted eyebrows made your eyes pop. And though they were hidden, he couldn’t help but drool over the outline of your nipple piercings through your thin, long sleeved Nike crop top.

You picked up your bottle of water. “How long have you been standing there watching me like a creep?”

“Long enough. You know I can watch you all day, baby. You sexy as hell,” he winked, giving you a sweet kiss before swatting your backside. "How long you been in here?”

"About an hour. Did some cardio first. I was horny and you were asleep.”

“Sorry ‘bout that, babe. I’ll make it up to you later.”

“I wanna fuck you now,” you pouted like a child, “Do you know how much willpower it took to not jump your bones this morning?”

“I do. And I applaud your restraint. Usually, you can’t resist me,” he bragged.

“So damn arrogant.”

“Luh you too, boo,” he chuckled. Adjusting the Snapback around his head, he moved to the free weight area of the room. You noticed him fiddling with his phone, and rolled your eyes when he placed it in a strategic vantage point. Another IG story in the works; another day of women coming online to comment and thirst over his beautiful body. Just great.

You stared as he pulled himself over the high bar and back down in flawless repetitions. The transformation of his body over the last year was goals, and you were inspired. However, with said transformation came the sudden need to wear only the teeniest tightest outfits to the gym, and now he had these little shorts in every color imaginable; pink, green, yellow, black, literally the Power Ranger collection of bikini shorts, with the hem just a few inches below his backside and showing off the extensive leg tattoos and the fullness of the groin that belonged to you. The material bunched up in that area as he slowly lowered himself back to the ground. Sweat glistened on his body, coursing down his defined contours, and you felt an animalistic urge to go right up to him and lick off every drop...

“Like what you see, baby?” His deep voice interrupted your dirty thoughts. Forcing your gaze back up, you saw his smirk, expressing his amusement at the heat in your eyes.

“You know I do. I’ve lost all my concentration thanks to them little ass shorts.”

“Concentrate on something else, then,” he insisted, empowered by how flustered he made you.

“I can’t. That ass is calling my name,” you whined, “You got your Daddy’s booty, I’ve told you this before.”

Jey groaned audibly. “Girl, leave my Daddy outta this!”

The side of your lips quirked, showing off the tiny dimple in your cheek that drove Jey crazy. “But it’s true. Jimmy got Kish’s face, you got his ass.”

The former tag champ burst out laughing. His girl was as crazy as she was beautiful. “You are unbelievable.”

“I know, Daddy.”

Not Daddy. Damn. His gaze followed your ample backside as you walked away, and involuntarily, his tongue darted out over his lips. Forcing himself to refocus, he settled down on the weight bench and picked up the weights he set out to train with.

The two of you worked out in comfortable silence, shooting furtive glances when the other wasn't looking. As he laid back on the bench, you ogled his dick print, his grunts of exertion causing you to bite your lip and squeeze your thighs together where you stood. Noting his attention was solely on the dumbbells, you sensed the opportunity passing you by.

Fuck it.

“Your video still on?” you asked, going over to him.

“No, why?”

You gave no answer, but proceeded to flop down directly onto his groin, smirking at his startled grunt. You could feel his eyes burning holes into the back of your head but you didn't care. Making yourself comfortable on his lap, you started slowly, grinding your ass on his cock, feeling him harden almost instantly through the thin barrier of your clothing.

“What are you doing?” Jey demanded, scrambling to sit upright. You looked over your shoulder at him with a devilish grin, noticing the struggle in his eyes.

“I told you…I want some dick...I want what’s mine,” you let him know, opening your legs a little wider to grind on him. With a steady roll of your hips, you moaned and whimpered at the feeling of the wetness pooling in your loins. You let his groans wash over you as you rocked you back and forth on him, bumping your ass against his abs repeatedly.

“Fuck, baby,” he hissed.

“Yeah, Daddy, you like that?" you taunted him, looking back at him as you rode him reverse cowgirl. "Come out here looking like that and expect me not to jump you, huh?"

Jey did not know where to put his hands. You had him all discombobulated from your little ambush. He settled for the curls of your hair, tugging your head to the side to allow his lips and tongue attack your sweaty neck. This motivated you to arch your back and roll your ass more harshly, his hand in your hair making you look back at it. You knew how good you were making him feel as he shifted multiple times to make your ass stroke his dick through his shorts. His hungry eyes watched you dry hump the shit out of him, his eyebrows pinched together in total arousal.

“Aww fuck, keep goin’,” he moaned, grabbing your gyrating backside, purposely flexing his thigh muscles to give you more friction. His husky praise encouraged you to pick up the pace. Your hips rolled diligently, your hands braced on his knees for leverage, thoroughly enjoying the sounds tumbling from his mouth. It was sweaty, it was hot, and from the way your pussy rippled, it was about to get even hotter.

Then, from out of nowhere, you stopped and stood up.

“And that’s my workout done for the day,” you announced, stepping away from him.

Jey could not keep his jaw from dropping in shock. “The fuck? Babe!” he exclaimed with wide eyes.

You casually adjusted your clothes and ignored the prominent tent in his shorts. “Yep. Pelvic thrusts. Great for mobility,” you explained, fighting the urge to laugh. He looked so frustrated, it was hilarious.

The Samoan squared his shoulders and glared at you. “Damn dick tease. I’ma get you for that, ya hear me?” he threatened.

“I hope so.” For a long moment, you regarded him, talking to him without saying a word. You were checking on him, hoping he was okay. Jey’s expression softened in understanding, and he grabbed your hand and pressed his lips to your inner wrist. The feeling of his mouth gently pressed to your skin made your stomach clench with a sweet mix of affection and need.

“See you upstairs, baby. I’ll be right up, a’ight?” he prodded gently, his eyes shining with gratitude.

You nodded. “I love you.”

“I love you too. Now go, before I bend your fine ass over my lap.” He burst out laughing as your eyes lit up at the prospect. “Go!”

“Fine.” Blowing him a kiss, you left the room before he could change his mind and carry out his dastardly threat. Like he did a couple of weeks ago, when he locked you inside the laundry room and proceeded to fuck you for an hour. In eight different positions. All while getting the laundry done. Good Lord. Could you do that again, actually?

Buying a jetted jacuzzi tub big enough for two, was one of the best decisions you and Jey had ever made, expense be damned. It was one of your favorite things about the whole house, your place of Zen and tranquility after a long day. You ensured the water was adequately seasoned with Epsom salts and eucalyptus mints among others. Turning off the hot water, you stripped off, tucked your hair into a shower cap, and lowered yourself carefully into the tub. You leaned back and closed your eyes with a deep sigh, allowing the quiet to take over the ambience. You could feel your pores opening instantly, absorbing the mint and the steam, making you feel much more relaxed.

The sound of shoes being noisily kicked off forced your eyes open, landing on the handsome Samoan culprit grinning cheekily at you.

“That looks nice,” he commented.

“It feels amazing,” you concurred, crooking your finger at him. "C'mere, Daddy. Come join me."

Like he would ever turn down such an offer. He peeled off the t-shirt that stuck to his sweaty skin, followed by his so-called hoochie daddy shorts. He blushed at the way your eyes glossed over with desire as they raked over his body. He would never stop enjoying the way you looked at him. He descended into the tub on the opposite side, allowing his legs to entwine with yours underneath the water. Once he was seated, he exhaled loudly, leaning back and closing his eyes like you did.

“Your mind’s a mile away from here,” you spoke up after a few minutes of observing him in silence. “Come back to me, baby. Talk to me.”

Jey turned his head toward the window, staring dully at the bright sky outside. When he spoke, the pain in his voice hurt your soul.

“Tell me how I let all of this shit happen,” he whispered. “I thought I was doing the right thing, man. Staying in the Bloodline to protect Jimmy. I thought I had everything under control. Until I got in that ring on Saturday night. It shoulda been just another match for me. But one look at Sami and all I saw was red. I let my emotions get the best of me. Now we’ve lost the fucking titles.” He paused, dragging a hand down his face. “The crazy part is, I believe Sami. I know he’s right about everything. Everything he warned me about is happenin’ now. Baby I just don’t know what to do.”

He looked over at you, and your heartstrings tugged at the helplessness you saw in his eyes, something you realized you’d been seeing too often lately. It was taking a toll on the usually confident, self-assured man you knew and loved. It was no secret that your boyfriend was under the Tribal Chief’s thumb, with no true will of his own. You had your own opinions on everything that was happening and you had told Jey that much, but it was ultimately up to him to do what he needed to do.

Pushing away from your end of the tub, you waded in between his spread legs, resting your back against his chest. You always seemed to fit so perfectly against him. His arms instantly came around you, feeding off your warmth, your aura, your quiet strength that he so desperately needed.

“You’re not happy, Jey,” you assessed. “I wish you didn’t second-guess yourself so much, because your instincts are almost always right. You need to act on them again. I want you to do what’s best for you. Nobody else. Not Sami, not your brothers, not your cousin…not even me. Look out for Jey Uso this time. Just this once. And as always, whatever you decide, I got your back one hundred percent.”

Although you couldn’t see him, you could feel him absorbing your advice, letting your words swirl around in his head. You only hoped this meant that his misery would come to an end sooner rather than later. Exhaling heavily, he reclined again, stretching one arm across the top of the tub’s ceramic surface and holding onto you with the other.

“After this shit is over, I owe you a vacation,” he spoke. “Just you and me, far away from here.”

“Ooh, yes I’m down for that,” you nodded eagerly.

“Yeah. I definitely owe you a ring, too.”

“A ring?” Your brows furrowed in confusion at first, and then it hit you. Your head angled up to meet his eyes. “Mr. Ucey Jucey, are you proposing to me?”

Jey shrugged. “I told you I’ma marry you one day, lil’ mama. I ain’t changed my mind,” he said.

“You sure you’re ready for my craziness on a full-time basis?”

“That’s what I love about you the most, baby. I ain’t letting nobody else have you, that’s for damn sure.”

“Hmm. So you’re possessive,” you interrogated.

“I just know a good thing when I see it,” he stated, gazing deep into your eyes. “You’re the best thing that’s ever happened to me, and I ain’t letting it go, not even with my last breath.”

“And I’m not letting you go either,” you smiled, leaning into him, “You’re all mine, my big bad hoochie daddy.”

“Stop,” he warned, licking his lips.

“Stop what?”

“Calling me that.”

You raised your eyebrow. “Make me.”

Jey's amused expression instantly became serious, and he swallowed hard as his eyes dilated. It was always a thrill for you, challenging his control, anticipating what he would do to you afterwards. Just as that thought crossed your mind, you felt his right hand glide slowly down your body.

“What are you doing?” you asked, your words dissolving into a gasp when he squeezed your right breast.

“Finishing what you started.”

Your breath hitched when his hand continued its journey down south and slipped between your thighs. Instinctively you opened them, letting him play with your pussy using the tips of his long fingers. "Oh fuck," you gasped, your head tilting back when they breached your folds, going in deep. Licking your lips, you moaned and then grunted as he scissored his fingers back and forth inside you. “Oh god, Jey, yes…”

His lips swept the length of your neck, your little moans music to his ears. "You like that, mama? Like my fingers deep in you?"

You tried to respond, but the words evaporated as he dug deeper into your pussy. You spread your legs wider in the water, letting him work you at the pace he wanted. His mouth suckled your throat, and a blissful sigh sang from inside your heaving chest, your body awash with heat as his fingers probed you.

“Daddy…”

“Yeah, say my name, baby.”

It was as though he’d cast a spell on you, the urgency with which you needed him inside you, on you, all over you. Holding the back of your head steady with his other hand, he leaned down and covered your lips with his. Your fingers raked through the wetness of his mullet fade, moving your lips greedily against his as he sped up the movements of his fingers.

“Mmm, these lips were made for kissing me,” he murmured dreamily, and his soft words turned you to mush. Your mouth remained on his even as you rotated your body, unwilling to release him for even the few seconds it took to turn around. You climbed onto his lap and sat on him. His hands immediately sought the curve of your ass, squeezing in large handfuls. Your pierced, erect nipples pressed against his chest, delightfully rising and sinking like two round buoys in the sea. His groin felt hot against yours, just like it did in the gym. As he guided you down his length, you quickly grabbed the edge of the tub to keep from slipping. You both gasped from the familiar joy of your bodies joining, with every inch of Jey’s thick length sliding all the way inside you.

Jey didn't think he had ever felt you so tight, yet so slick and easy to penetrate. He watched you closely as you rocked your hips slowly, carefully, making sure you had all of him. You lifted your knees and wrapped your legs around his hips, your heels pressing against his lower back and prompting Jey to sit up and hug you tight. The tilt of his cock as you rolled your hips forward brought out another groan from you both. You rode him at a variety of paces, watching the pleasure wash over his face with each change. He lifted one hand to toy with your nipple, his palm squeezing your breast as you moaned in response. You paused for a second to adjust yourself on top of him, then switched up your movements, rising and falling, your pussy gripping his length tightly with every drop and dragging a hiss from his lips. You rode him good, rode him hard, your wanton gasps of pleasure echoing around the bathroom. Jey’s bottom lip disappeared between his teeth as he kneaded and massaged your ass, then gripping hard as he took control, working you on his dick.

“Fuck, yes, yes!” you groaned into his neck as he steered you on his pole, his fingers digging into your hip bones as he grinded you onto him, increasing the stimulation on your clit. Then, he was lifting you up and down, bouncing you with a desperation that turned you on even more. Words failed you at this point, reduced to a panting, moaning mess. You were dizzy from pleasure, almost at the edge of release. The water splashing around you went ignored in the throes of passion, with him growling against your throat as you whimpered in his arms.

Jey’s grip on your waist was vice-like as he bounced you harder, chasing his own release. It felt like you were cracking in two from the scorching heat you and Jey had created. You didn’t try to tamp down your moans as you came. It was sweet and ferocious and ravaging all at once, ushering Jey himself past the point of control as he spurted generously inside you. His deep, raspy groan broke you all over again, and you let the ripples plunge you into another incredible orgasm, brought on by the sheer force of his. When it was over, you were both spent and trembling in the water, breathing raggedly, clinging to each other for dear life. Jey dropped a kiss to your forehead and then your nose, the gesture warm and tender.

“Damn, Daddy,” you moaned, earning a proud grin from him.

"Ay, you wanted dick, you got it. You're welcome," he said matter-of-factly, carefully lifting you off his cock and helping you out of the water.

“So arrogant.”

“Luh you too, boo.”

After draining the tub, the two of you made your way into the shower for a proper cleansing. You ended up in there for much longer than usual thanks to your make-out session beneath the cascading water while soaping each other up. There was something so sexy about him pinning you to the wall as you kissed, your wet bodies pressed together, the little sensual noises of pleasure you both made while he gripped and massaged your ass cheeks. As you left the shower, he maneuvered you towards the sink, facing the mirror. You hissed softly as the cold surface contrasted erotically with the heat of your man's body on your back, and you braced your hands on the bathroom countertop. He started kissing your neck, his hand shifting upwards so he could caress your breasts. You watched him in the mirror, your pussy moistening further at the sexy sight.

As he continued to nuzzle your throat, you flexed your spine, pressing your ass into his groin, and was rewarded by the sharp breath he sucked in. Relieving you of your shower cap, he swept your curly hair into his fist and pressed another kiss to your throat, meeting your eyes through the mirror.

“I love the way you look at me, like you want me,” he whispered.

“I do want you. I want you every day of my life. I’ll always want you, Jey,” you vowed. The look he gave you in response was so purely masculine, so primal, visibly turned on by your declaration.

"That’s my girl. Keep your eyes on me, baby,” he instructed, kissing your cheek, “Let me show you what I see every time we fuck."

Swallowing hard, you watched his head drop, and gasped as his fingers slipped unexpectedly between your legs, gathering your juices. You could hear the wet sound of his hand stroking his dick, and you longed to turn around and look, to watch him spread your essence all over himself. His husky groan as he lined his dick up with your entrance made your pussy flutter. Catching your eye in the mirror, he smirked at your impatient expression and smacked your backside for your troubles.

"Don’t worry, you gon’ get every inch, baby, all of it, it’s yours," he promised. With no further preamble, he bent you over, used your hips to pull you up onto your tiptoes, and entered you from behind. Your sharp gasp filled the bathroom as your walls stretched to accommodate his length and girth, your body almost doubling over in the process. His eyes remained on yours through the mirror as he slowly started to thrust in and out of you, reveling in the pleasure washing over your features.

A string of moans left your lips as his cock speared you over and over, his tattooed arm around your waist to hold you steady. Your breasts jutted forward as your spine arched back, both of you transfixed by the reflection in the mirror, both of you extremely turned on, panting with the sheer eroticism of watching yourselves have sex.

"Baby, you feel so good," you groaned, bending over slightly as he thrust deeper into you. His long fingers threaded through your hair, and he used it to roughly pull you back up, almost to a standing position. Both of you were panting, moaning, the scent of sex heavy in the air, the sounds of your flesh pounding together ringing in your ears.

Dropping a wet kiss to your neck, he growled in your ear as he stared you down through the mirror. "Look at us, baby. Look how fucking good we look together."

You did look good, especially with him inside you. Together, your joined reflection looked good. You were an amazing pair, you and the man of your wildest dreams. You spread your legs further and rocked onto the balls of your feet, bringing him deeper into you, your breasts bouncing in time to his fierce thrusts, his hand still in your hair to hold you in place. He was insatiable for you, and you for him.

"Shit, baby, your pussy is so good. You’re takin’ Daddy’s dick so well," he rasped.

His glassy eyes and barely contained groans told you he was close to coming. A naughty idea came to your mind, and you brought your hand down to touch yourself, moaning when your fingers slipped easily over the slick wetness you found there. Jey's eyes darkened in the mirror as he watched you, his hand in your hair tightening reflexively as you started stroking rapidly, right over where his dick made that sweet connection with your pussy.

Being the showman that he was, Jey loved himself a good show. And you found that you quite liked putting on a show for your man.

You could feel your body start to heat up, your swollen clit protruding against your fingers at the same time he deep-stroked your wetness. As you watched him in the mirror, you could see and feel the tension building inside him, matching yours, your naked bodies starting to tremble from the climbing pleasure.

“Daddy, I’m gonna come,” you whined. Those four words seemed to set him off. His movements became wilder, rougher, mounting to a rising crescendo. He had you literally on the tips of your toes, at the very edge of euphoria, finally falling over when his teeth sank into your shoulder.

“Jey!”

You exploded. Releasing one more time all over his dick. Jey was right behind you, pumping hard inside you once, twice, and groaning into your shoulder as he came. His body shuddered against yours, your orgasms seemingly pulsing through both of you together. Gripping your hips tight, he moaned again, rolling his pelvis against your thick, juicy backside to drain every drop of his cum into your warm, intoxicating pussy. You purred softly with satisfaction and rested your head on his shoulder, letting him envelop you in those strong arms of his as your bodies calmed down.

Jey slowly pulled out of you, his eyes flickering to your stance; naked, bent over with your legs splayed, with his seed trickling down your inner thighs. So fucking hot. He turned you back to him, a small smile on his face when you tiptoed up to kiss his lips and play with his hair.

“So…what else are we doin’ today?” he asked you.

“We might need another shower,” you giggled, rubbing his back, “Also, I want you to make me breakfast wearing one of them tiny shorts,” you added. “You’re gonna wear them all day and nothing else.”

“That what you want, baby?”

“Yeah, and for me and my eyes only. No videos,” you quickly added the caveat.

“Where’s the fun in that?” he quipped, laughing when you smacked his arm.

“I said what I said. I think your beloved IG fangirls have seen enough for today,” you pouted.

He chuckled at your little riot act and pecked your pouty lips. “Fine. Anything for you, pretty girl.”

“Thanks, Hoochie Daddy. Love you.”

Jey could only sigh and shake his head with a big smile. He wouldn’t have your cheeky self any other way. “Love you, too, lil’ mama.”

THE END.

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

I’m on a roll with Jey rn. But I’ll 100% go back to my Tribal Chief soon. This one didn’t have too much drama, but I hope you liked it, still.

Please leave comments. I love comments!

Banner made by me. Credit to owners of the pics and gifs.

#jey uso #jey uso fanfiction #jey uso smut #roman reigns #the usos #the usos fanfic #jey uso imagines #jey uso x reader #jey uso x black reader #jey uso x black oc #wwe smut #wwe #the bloodline

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py6oto · 6 months ago

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im a little embarrassed whenever i try to post about joshua, because he has such a minor appearance in the series and his entire character, appearance and personality are basically purely fanon. but that won't stop me!! joshua blast!!

i think its rather nice. it's like a little mold that could be anyone. not enough to call it an oc but enough for it to be different for everyone. that's why i love u hlvrai

i experimented a bit with my art style here. i wanna work up the courage to talk about this hlvrai au i have, but again, im embarrassed to show it to the public lol. im not quite past the cringe culture mindset yet. but i wanna share it with u all!!! so here's my joshua design! (aka the protagonist of said au)

#blood #hlvrai #hlvrai joshua #joshua freeman #hlvrai fanart #hlvrai joshua freeman #hes so important to me even though he's basically my oc at this point #but that just strengthens the bond.#ok #truzt me #hlvrai au #hlvrem

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sothasil · 2 years ago

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hello my good friend and keeper of khajiit knowledge. I have an inquiry for you. How do khajiit babies start out? I've heard they all begin as kittens, which does make sense for most of the furstock, ease on the alfiqs, but I'm having trouble like. making logical sense of it (which I know is dumb for tes lore) and I was wondering if you had thoughts on the subject?

My biggest thing is just the sheer differences that would have to happen in the first few weeks/months/years (however long it takes for a furstock to develop in it's entirety) for the variances between just plain skeletal structure. Because if they all start as kittens, so four legged digitigrades, I cannot imagine the shift to two legged plantigrades makes for a pleasant infanthood. It's growing pains turned to full blast! There's gotta be differences in newborns between four legged and two legged and digitigrade vs plantigrade, and maybe they just start kitten sized, but not actually kittens?

sorry if this is a bothersome ask, you just know so much about khajiit/have amazing world building for them and I figured you could solidly set this into my brain besides just handwaving it and going "it's moon magic!" like everyone else has done rjgtkgjf

Hello Chance! I'll be answering this ask publicly just in case other people are interested - if you'd want it not shared, please say so and I'll lock RBs.

The short answer to your question is we don't know. Khajiit children, or depictions thereof, do not exist in TES. So strictly canonically speaking: we have nothing.

The longer answer: I have had the exact same train of thought before and came to similar conclusions. Not only do khajiit of all shapes and sizes have to grow into these shapes and sizes, but any shape of khajiit has to uh, get pushed out of any other shape of khajiit... For my own headcanon I have solved this with two ideas. The following is all headcanon!

The first thing: the furstock of the mother will in major part dictate how many babies they can have in a single litter. In real life biology, humans have it very complicated, because our hips, made for walking upright, work poorly to give birth. Following this, I think the more humanoid a khajiit is, the less babies they can carry at once.

In my own Khajiit OC families, this is why Ma'Jahrann only has a brother and they are both single litters, because their mom is an Ohmes. But the mom herself (Elaahni) is one of half a dozen litter-sisters, her mother being Alfiq-raht.

The second thing: all khajiit are born as tiny shapeless cat beans. The younger they are, the more khajiit look like each other in terms of furstocks. Some eventually stand upright and others do not. Here is some concept art based on this idea I did for Beyond Skyrim.

On top of growing into their adult body plan, I made them also grow into their coat, with some more humanoid furstocks staying relatively hairless for a khajiit (see my Ohmes concept art). While this makes for rapid, weird growing, this is arguably the case for many animals including humans, who go from quadrupeds to bipeds pretty fast!

For BSE, instead of doing a model per furstock for children which would be a hefty amount of work, we decided on only three at around the same young age as vanilla kids, to "sum up" all furstocks with three yet less defined body types: a quadruped very catlike one, a digitigrade fully furry one with a long tail, and a plantigrade type with a straighter neck; allowing for variety with limited ressources.

For my own OCs again - some older drawings I did of Rezad and Rakkan show them as having short legs and a very catlike baby shape, despite both of them being bipeds, Cathay and Cathay-raht respectively. Again, because as babies, their body plan is more muddy.

Rezad and his dad, both Cathay

This being said - I hope this is inspiring, but again, all headcanon! As with any unexplained lore area, it's your freedom to make your preferred takes out of it :) Cheers!

#khajiit #ask #the elder scrolls

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theachskid · 1 month ago

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Hello! Welcome to my blog! ✨️

You can call me Achs! You pronounce Achs as Aw-ch.💪💯

My pronouns are she/her/hers//it/it's, and I'm Demipansexual!

On this blog, you will see my art/ my oc (Alanza) and other characters. You will also see some memes, music (bands, and stuff), and my bearded dragon piccaso!

⚠️ WARNING ⚠️

my art will have blo0d, scars, and other content that may be uncomfortable for some.

ALSO, I AM A MINOR!!!⛏️⛏️⛏️

⚠️RULES⚠️

🔸️DNI, if you're a terf, transphobic. Homophonic, racist, sexist, or any other hatred to any kind

🔸️ Dont like it. Don't interact

🔸️be kind to anyone who interacts on this blog! my moots, people who comment, *me*, basically everyone!

I do art requests! So send me asks! ✌️✨️❤️

You can find My stuff on..

Youtube: @The_Achs_kid / ~Artists Achs~

Ibis paint: The Achs kid

That's about it...😪

The rest is just things I like! And things about me!

📺shows i watch:

Young sheldon, Evil lives here, mha, Sxf, Demon slayer, Komi can't communicate, Ghost, ghost adventures, fear thy neighbor, married to evil, see no evil, Monsters: Eric and Lyle Mendez story, and Avatar the last airbender.

🎬Movies I like:

Nightmare before christmas, blended, the silent voice, the sixth scene ,the quiet place, imaginary, the longest yard, over the hedge, surfs up,happy Gilmore, Ragnorok, Evan hansen, Guardians the Galaxy vol.2, shark tale, and deadpool (1,2 and 3)

📚Books I'm reading/ have read.

Obsessed, the collected, American murder houses, the girl in the locked room, the ghost in the head lights, Percy jackson: the lighting theif, and Percy jackson: the sea of monsters.

🎨Artist I listen to:

Pierce the veil, Korn, TV girl, insane clown posse, odetari, 6arelyhuman, queen, panic! at the disco, sir mix-a-lot, eminem, kesha, mitski, queen, marina and the diamonds, Alec Benjamin, doja cat, miracle musical, fall out boy, mother mother, Bruno Mars, Tally Hall, kendrick Lamar, And Tyler the creator.

🎮Video games I play (mobile and console):

Amoug the sleep, hello neighbor, goat simulater, untitled goose game, roblox, cube escape, block blast, story teller, Fnaf, sims 4, little miss fortcreepy tails, and organizer.

Facts about muah <3

I speak 2 languages! Spanish and English, and I'm trying to learn German and hungarian because that's what I am!

I do dance! I just left my dance class and I'm trying to find a new one!

I have 4 awards! 3 art awards and 1 government award for being a good student!

I have eplipsy and anhidrosis! Anhidrosis means I can't sweat!

I'm a big-time collector! I collect rubber ducks, funko pops, stickers, stuffed animals, crystals, and glass bottle caps.

I'm allergic to 3 things! Kiwis, amoxicillin and fake jewelry

ALSO, IF YOU HAVE ANY QUESTIONS ABOUT ANY OF THIS STUFF YOU CAN ASK.

My radom favorite things!

Favorite place : the beach

Favorite food : sushi

Favorite song: pass the nirvana- pierce the veil

Favorite sport team: sandiago padres- baseball

Favorite yt: Duncanyounot and funkyfrogbait

What my # means!

#help... he is attacking me... :THIS IS MEANT FOR MY BEARDED DRAGON°°

#Asks ✨️<3: when someone asks me stuff

#hi anon:): when an anon asks me something

#in the clurb we all fam: This is meant for when me, spencerisdead, and rafrfr hang out!

SHIPS I GO FOR 💪💯

Izuocha , kirimina , todomomo , bakucamie , tokotsuyu , Erasermic , twiyor, damianya , shouko X Shoya , kamijirou , ojitoru , katarang , Alberta X Peter , Thor X flower , and probably more i can't think of 😅

Also, go check out my mutruals!

@rafrfr @leviathan-winters @generalallxsanjishipper @innercupcakehottub-blog @scobunny @myausofia @lastnightstoryart @sparklykat-hideoutenthusiast

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robots-are-kinda-hot · 2 months ago

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((long post incoming)) hi i havent posted in seven years. have slugcats

@ant1quarian is to blame for this. go look at their rain world utmv au before I implode

Side note I refer to Saint as he but none of my chars care abt gender bc i blasted them with the genderfluid beam

He would be . going thru it LMAO

I’m sure “fallen saint” did not mean a saint who probably deserved to be fallen but fuck it we ball. The problem with my Saint is he will ascend everything. Whether they want it or not. This creates a shit ton of echoes. So him losing his powers (likely due to a certain oc of mine) would actually be a good thing… eventually

At first he’d be pissed as all hell. Stays pissed as all hell when he meets Dust, Killer, and Cross (or whoever else). Getting to know them goes… ehhh. They all travel together, but Saint is trying to stay distant so he can move up karma. He’s also still very angry about losing his powers, but bottling it up bc saints shouldn't have emotions (according to him).

This comes to a head when someone gives the slightest suggestion of liking being alive. He shuts them down so fast it’s almost comical, but any good vibes are killed when Saint mentions how he ascended everything he came across. Cue argument about maybe Not Doing That. Cue Saint’s outburst (“WHAT DO YOU MEAN IT’S WRONG?!”)

Saint storms away from the group and sleeps in a different shelter alone. He… ends up thinking a little too much and has a bit of a breakdown. Begrudgingly goes back to the group once the rain stops, looking for forgiveness, and he FINALLY gets a crumb of character development. THEN the stage is set for eventual shipping shenanigans huehehehe (Saint still needs some more character development before he has anything official though, the bastard)

Design notes (because my saint design is a bit strange if you don’t know the context) + bonus old Artificer art bc she didn’t make it in here </3 dw i still love u arti

So… I’m gonna avoid talking about the main part of his design for funsies but its blaringly obvious. feel free to guess I’m like 80% sure everyone will get it

-My Saint actually has six tentacles/“wings”- three on either side so he’s symmetrical. After he falls, he loses a wing to represent said fall.

-The Saint in the first drawing is different on purpose! That’s him at the start with no echoes :] ironically the more echoes he meets the more echoed he gets

-At least one of his ears are always askew. This has to do with his main design aspect.

-He does have teeth. Kinda. He probably wouldn’t need to eat when fallen though, he’s echoed enough to not need it

-The three thingies on his forehead act like heat sensors. This lets Saint see at lower karma levels without getting snow blindness.

-He has pupils, but they’re the karma 10 symbol… which he no longer has, so he no longer has pupils too

Arti… oh, arti. My beloved. What the fuck did I do to you /pos

I missed you and all your triangular edgy goodness. You’ll get a few modifications but your cool ass face shadow and demon horn ears are staying

A little note about Artificer’s design, too: She does have her scar here! It’s just not visible under her shadow. My Artificer got so swept up in her rampage that she straight up forgot about her pups. Not coincidentally, her scar is vaguely shaped like a slugpup’s head. She’s blocking out the memories of her past in favor of needless bloodshed.

Not pictured is her fire fur that I still adore. Basically sometimes her fur just… isn’t fur, it’s fire, and while it is a more symbolic thing I love the idea of her fur turning to flames when she jumps

#this got out of hand #long post #my rain world au/story is vehemently against ascension because I’m allergic to killing my blorbos #Saint has more of a backstory than I said but I’ll keep that secret for now #I was gonna draw a more anthro Saint but… meh #I’m still getting reused to drawing slugcats and I wanted to draw slugcats #This is also why I didn’t draw arti sadly #Not necessarily shipping my saint with a specific boy. just setting up a background and kicking my saint off his high horse #anyway time to disappear for another 5000 years #rain world #rain world downpour #rain world utmv #rain world saint #this post make no sense because theres no context. do you expect me to give it to you? no. suffer #blank’s art #blank’s rw stuff

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ilovecupcakesandtea · 8 months ago

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My master list

Title: Lets bring this idiot home

Word Count: 12173

Archive Warnings: Temporary character death

Rating: M

Pairing(s): Eddie Munson/Steve Harrington Robin Buckley/OC

Character(s): Eddie Munson, Steve Harrington, Robin Buckley, The Party

Tags: Steddie, Steve Harrington. Eddie Munson. Robin Buckley. . Temporary Major Character Death

Beta Reader: Thank you so much to my awesome beta reader/cheerleader @slippy-slip I really could not have done this without you at all.

Art link and credit: Art is by the amazing @kokoshka67 as is the banner

Ao3 Link

AN: Working on this has been an absolute blast.

I wrote this for the @strangerthingsreversebigbang event and had a lot of fun doing so!!

Divider links: reblog and bats

Cold, that’s the first thing that Eddie felt when he woke up. Maybe felt wasn’t the right word, more experienced. He didn’t think he could actually feel anything. He was sure he should be feeling something. He should feel pain, he distinctly remembers being eaten alive by demobats making sure Henderson could get out of this hell pit and to help keep Steve, Robin and Nancy safe.

He must be dead, that’s the only conclusion he could come to. Dead. Not even 20 yet and he was here, dead, in hell. People always did say he’d end up in hell.

“Jesus H Christ,” he said, sitting up and looking around. The place looked totally different now there was no lightning in the sky or thunder to be heard. The only thing that remained the same was the red sky and the ground under him.

It was at this point he noticed that he was surrounded by bats, bats that he was sure had just been eating him, taking chunks out of his sides, arms and legs. But now they were just sitting there, looking at him. Watching him, rather unnerving really if you asked Eddie, almost as though they were waiting for him to do something, anything.

“Looks like everyone got out then,” he said out loud, for no reason other than to break the silence. He never did well with silence.

“What the fuck,” he screamed as the bats all nodded back at him, as though they were actually replying to what he had said.

He scrambled to his feet as quickly as he could and moved off towards the trailer where the gate was. Reaching for the door with more force than he intended, he fell right through and landed back on the ground face first.

“Christ,” Eddie exclaimed, sitting back up headfirst in the living room.

So definitely dead, a ghost by the looks of it. First thing he had to work out was a way of interacting with the world around him, surely it was possible to do? It had to be, right?

He took a second before standing up again to look around inside the trailer. It looked like the gate had closed.

“Well fuck, guess I'm stuck here a ghost then,” Eddie sighed.

Turning around he saw the bats had followed him. They were less scary when he looked at them now that they weren’t trying to eat him.

“Well come on then, if you’re following me let's go and see what’s out there,” Eddie spoke to the bats. He was losing it already, talking to the damn bats.

Eddie started to float off in a random direction when the bats stopped in front of him, stopping him in his tracks. He started in another direction and they moved in front again. A third try had him stopped again.

“Alright, alright you want me to go somewhere?” Eddie asked the bats flying in front of him, getting chirps in response.

“Well I guess I’ve got nothing better to do, lead the way,” he gestured widely.

The bats flew off slowly and looked back to make sure Eddie was following, giving what sounded like happy little chirps when he was.

Eddie floated behind the bats all the way through Hawkins, through the woods and out the otherside where Riffer Rick’s could be seen.

Entering the house he was filled with emotions, all of the fear and the hopelessness that he felt the last time he was there all came back to him. Only hours beforehand he was in this place laying low because he was wanted for murder after watching the death of Chrissy Cunningham.

The bats lead him further into the house and into Rick's bedroom, the last bed he lay on. On the bed lay his body, his mangled body with a torn shirt and missing flesh.

“You really did a number on me huh?” Eddie laughed a humourless laugh. The bats gave off sad chirps in response. “Yeah I know, you had no choice, he made you. Thank you for making sure I rested comfortably though.”

Eddie looked close at his body. He wondered if he could get his ghost back in there. Would there be a point if he did? His body has no heartbeat he was clinically dead, and even if he wasn't there didn't seem to be any way of keeping a human body alive down here long term.

As he was walking Eddie kept trying to touch different things, concentrating really hard on doing so. Wondering if the type of thing he was trying to touch made a difference or if him having any kind of connection to it helped. Everything so far had been a no. Everytime he touched something his hand went straight through it. His feet didn’t physically touch the floor and his whole body felt light.

He wasn’t sure where to head for a while. Just wandering around Lovers Lake, seeing if there was anything that could help him at all. Nothing seemed out of place. With a heavy sigh Edidie headed into the town centre and ultimately towards Hawkins High.

Walking across the football field Eddie headed towards the clearing that once held the picnic table he used as a meeting point for his drug deals. A place that he spent many hours sitting in, reading, drawing or listening to music.

As he entered the clearing he noticed he wasn’t alone. Hovering by the picnic table was Chrissy.

“Chrissy?” Eddie whispered, he hardly dared to believe he wasn’t alone in this hell.

“Eddie?” She replied, moving towards him quickly. “Why are you here?!”

“I died, apparently,” Eddie shrugged. “How long have you been here for?”

“It’s hard to say, I’ve been kinda floating around the place, seeing what else and who else I can find,” she replied smiling

“Chris I need you to know I had nothing to do with your death, I tried to help. I am so sorry I left you. I’m so sorry that I couldn’t help you. Everyone misses you, they all love you so much. Jason led the whole town against me to avenge you. I promise if I could have done anything differently I would have,” Eddie cried.

“Eddie, I know,” Chrissy whispered, placing her hand close to his face. “There was nothing you could have done, please know that.”

“But I ran away and left you there,” Eddie whispered.

“You watched me float to the ceiling and my bones snap, what could you have done?” Chrissy asked.

“Nothing I guess,” he spoke softly in reply. “See, you did the right thing, you could have been next for all you know,” she smiled reassuringly at him.

“Why are you here?” Eddie asked, gesturing around to the clearing.

“This is the last place I remember thinking everything could still be ok. Like I had someone that was on my side and that I wasn’t completely losing my mind,” Chrissy replied simply.

“Even though you saw something whilst you were here, you still felt safe?” Eddie questioned.

“Yeah, you looked at me like you might actually believe me if I was to tell you what I’d been going through. You tried to make me laugh. Right until the end I felt safe with you Eddie,” she stated.

“I really really wish I could have saved you,” Eddie huffed, anger clear in his voice.

They spent a while floating around the clearing and chatting, finding out more about each other. She told him about all the secrets of the basketball and cheerleading teams as they both giggled away. Eddie told her all about Hellfire and the campaign he had finished the evening he took her back to the trailer. Chrissy told him about her family, her shitty mum and dad but also about her wonderful auntie and grandma who stood up to her mum whenever they could. Eddie told her about his own parents who skipped out on him for different reasons but also about Wayne who had taken him in and was better than a lot of dads he knew despite never wanting children of his own.

The conversation changed to the upside down. Eddie asked Chrissy about what she could and couldn’t do down here and if she’d seen anyone else.

“Yes actually I have, Barb Holland is around somewhere, the same with Fred and Patrick, I’ve seen them both as well. I’ve had a few good chats with Barb, she’s lovely, she was really helpful when I first ended up here. I can’t really interact with anything, my body seems to just go through it,” she replied.

After saying their goodbyes and promising to see each other again very soon, Eddie decided to continue with his trip around Hawkins. Floating around the parts of the hospital he could, around the police station and around the arcade as well as everywhere else he could get into.

A while later, time had no concept anymore, neither light nor dark to tell night from day, no working clocks, probably for the best after Vecna, Eddie found himself back in Hawkins itself, followed by the bats who hadn’t seemed to want to leave him alone since he woke up. There was no one around at all, no cars even. Hell he wasn't really sure where he was heading, no real destination in mind.

As Eddie floated through the centre of town he found the record store, as it looked in 1983, he walked through the door without opening it and started to look around.

He saw posters advertising the newest Iron Maiden album at the time. The tour that Metallica were embarking on in the January of 1984. Suddenly it hit him. Surrounded by this ‘old’ music it showed him what he would be missing out on, what he would never have again. New music. He couldn't even touch things physically so he didn't even have old music to listen to. He’d never play his sweetheart again. Never listen to the Master Of Puppets album again. The tickets for the Ozzy and Metallica show that Wayne had worked really hard to surprise Eddie with, wouldn't be used by him. Then there was the overwhelming emotional pain of missing Wayne. Did Wayne think he killed all those people? Wayne, Eddie realised, would have come home from this shift, fully expecting to head to bed and then to go to sleep, to find the dead mutilated body of Chrissy Cunningham on the floor and Eddie gone. He couldn’t even remember what his last words to Wayne were.

Eddie sat on the floor and screamed. Screamed for Chrissy, for Wayne, for Dustin, for Max. He beat his fists on the counter in front of him and was hit by the realisation that he was physically making contact with it, he was making noise against the front. It came as such a shock that he stopped screaming immediately, and then his hands fell right through again and back to his knee.

“Huh, that's an interesting development,” Eddie spoke. “Bet Henderson would be able to tell me what happened, I should probably go and find the little shit.”

He headed in the direction of the Hendersons. Seeing Hawkins back in 1983 was really weird, not the weirdest thing to have ever happened to him but certainly up there. Eddie walked past shops that had long since closed down, or had moved locations. Places he had never been able to shop in he could now just walk into without the dirty looks.

Eddie found the Henderson house, floated through the front door and saw straight away that this wasn’t the Henderson house. Someone else was very clearly living here at this point in time. Fuck.

As he floated away from the house, he had no idea where to go next. He wasn't sure how to contact the other side of the gate and he wouldn’t be able to touch anything if he could find it anyway.

“Dustin saw me die didn’t he?” Eddie wondered out loud.

Once again the bats seemed to nod in response. That would always be weird.

“So everyone else must think I’m dead?” He asked.

Another nod.

“So they won't be coming back for me,” he whispered.

He wasn’t quite sure how he knew this to be true but he was almost certain that if everyone was going to be anywhere, recovering from what they had gone through it was the Harrington Mansion. Luckily he knew they way, the parties back in the day had been very lucrative for his little side business.

It took what felt like ages to float there. But finally, in front of him was the infamous Harrington Mansion, just as big as he remembered and with Steve's BMW sitting outside of it as well. Walking across the lawn and to the front door Eddie walked right through and into the entrance way.

Eddie moved around the house slowly, trying to listen out for any sign of anyone on the other side of the vale. He tried shouting out for Henderson, for Steve, for Robin, for Nancy, for anyone. He tried moving things off the side but his hand just went through the items. It was then that he heard it, very faintly, but it was definitely there. Master of Puppets playing out to him from the other side. Now he was determined to make contact.

“I’m alive!” He screamed, “Come back for me!”

“Please,” he whispered. “Please find me”

He finally remembered the one thing that he’d been told was always a sign of the Upside Down, lights. The kids, and older teens, had freaked out whenever any lights flickered.

Eddie concentrated on the music he could faintly hear still and put his hand on the light switch, going through slightly but clearly making the lights in the hallway flicker.

“What the fuck,” he heard.

It had been a very, very long 72 hours since they got out of the upside down and to the hospital. Various amounts of medical care were needed for everyone and aside from Max, Steve was kept the longest. His wounds had to be bandaged a couple of times before they would let him leave, the staff wanted him to stay for longer but suddenly being down staff members and up patient numbers meant they didn’t argue too much when Steve said he wanted to leave. Getting home was a blessing, Steve didn’t normally like the silence but a few minutes alone was needed. The dirty clothes in his bag needed to go straight into the washer so that's where he headed first. As he walked past the living room Steve caught the sight of the tape player they had all sat around before everything making mix tapes for everyone, just in case. He felt compelled to walk towards it, maybe to tidy it all up first. Sitting by the player he gathered everything together and made sure all the tapes were in the right cases.

The last one, still sitting in the player, was Master of Puppets. Eddie had insisted on listening to it over and over again to make sure he knew it before going back into the Upside Down.

Eddie, who was determined to graduate. Eddie who had been so full of life even at the end, wanting to be strong for Dustin. Eddie with his big brown doe eyes and his even bigger personality. Eddie, who even in the short few days Steve had really known him, had shown him a glimpse of a future. A future snuffed out with Eddie’s last breath. His first ‘round’ with the upside down and he ends up dead. Steve should never have forced Eddie and Dustin to be decoys, he should have sent them both home before they went to kill Vecna, they should have had another plan. Eddie should not have died in that horrid place. A victim like Chrissy, Patrick and Fred.

Turning the volume up on the player as loud as it could go he pressed play and let the music engulf him. He stood up and went about what he set out to do, putting his clothes in the washer. Everything was in, bar the vest. Steve stood holding the vest, just standing there looking at it. Leaving it on top of the washer Steve turned around to go about getting clean himself and then going to sleep when he saw it. The lights were flickering. He could hear that the song was coming to an end and the lights were flickering.

“What the fuck,” he said outloud.

This couldn’t be, the Upside own was finished. Vecna was dead and the gates all closed. Then he noticed it, the pattern, the lights were making 3 quick flickers 3 longer flashes and 3 quick flickers again. S.O.S. Could Eddie really be alive?

The relief washed over him. If Eddie was communicating with him then he must be alive in some way. He needed to work out what to do, he couldn’t yet get everyone else involved, they were enjoying being at home with their families. No, he’d do this himself until he had to get everyone else involved with whatever rescue mission was needed. With the idea of a shower and sleep behind him now Steve grabbed a notebook and a pen and sat down at the kitchen table to write down everything he knew about the Upside Down, gates and anything else supernatural.

It wasn’t until he heard the front door open that he looked up and noticed it was now dark outside.

“Robbie?” Steve said into the darkness, closing the book and pushing it away from him.

“Yeah it’s me dingus, you ok? Sitting in the dark all by yourself,” Robin asked, concern obvious in her voice.

“Yeah, I’m ok, I was just sitting here and didn’t even realise it had gone dark. What are you doing here anyway? Why aren't you with your parents?” He questioned, trying to change the subject.

“Wanted to make sure you’re ok, your parents aren’t here and I didnt want you to be on your own,” she replied, coming over and giving him a hug, “What's this?” Robin questioned poking at the notebook.

“It’s nothing,” Steve whispered, he needed her to leave this alone for now.

“Steve, I’m not going to push, just know I'm here for you,” Robin said.

“Thank you,” He replied. “Anyway don’t you have a date tonight?”

“I called J and rescheduled, explained about the earthquake and everything and how I needed to help clean up and just needed to be with the family tonight,” Robin shrugged. “Want to watch a movie and judge everyone before we fall asleep on the couch and get really uncomfortable?”

“I couldn’t think of a better way of spending the evening, shall we make some food first?” He suggested.

20 minutes later they were both sat down with Top Gun on and huge bowls of pasta.

“Kelly McGillis is so hot,” Robin sighed.

“Not as hot as Tom Cruise,” Steve replied.

They couldn’t hear him or see him and he couldn’t see them or hear them any more but Eddie was in the room with them humming along to Master of Puppets hoping that someone had got his message earlier and that they were coming to save him.

The pair spent the rest of the evening watching films and judging everyone in them. However Steve couldn't shrug off the feeling he should tell Robin, at least she would probably know what to do. He was so grateful for her turning up to make sure he was ok though, he didn't have the heart to ruin it. He'd show her everything in the morning.

Later that night they crawled into bed together and as per their custom Robin was the big spoon. She was tiny but they both felt better sleeping this way. They fell into a restless slumber, too exhausted to be kept awake by the horrors that they had seen but not settled enough for it to be restful.

The next morning they woke up and made breakfast. Over an unusually quiet breakfast for the pair, Steve thought about what was written in his notebook. Having slept he felt better about letting Robin know what he had seen. Once toast had been eaten and coffee drank, Steve pushed the notebook towards Robin and stood up to do the dishes. "Steve, why does this page have Eddie's alive with a question mark at the top. And why is this followed by everything we know about the upside down and supernatural things in general?" Robin whispered. "The lights flickered," he answered simply. "Just like the S.O.S that Eddie told us about."

"He was dead though babes, we all checked for any sign of a pulse, all over this body. There wasn't one," Robin countered.

"Look, I know that, ok. I know the gate is closed and I know we all checked for a pulse and it wasn't there, but the lights flickered and it was S.O.S," he replied, pinching his nose to stop himself crying.

"Okay, do we need to get everyone else involved?" Robin asked, believing him.

"Maybe later. Can we just have a think if there's anything I've forgotten before we let them know? They're all still just kids and they're with their families right now," he suggested.

"Of course we can," Robin smiled, cuddling into him from behind.

"I really hope he's alive Bobbie," Steve sniffled.

"Oh dingus, me too," she sighed.

"Steve, I know you don't want to get them involved just yet but if Eddie is down there on his own we need to help him. We both know we can't do this on our own, it wouldn't help anyone and we'd just get ourselves into danger. Would you want to tell them what happened when we both come back half dead?" Robin said after their second morning together.

"Yeah, I know. I'll radio them soon and get everyone here and see what they say," He sighed. "I just want them to be kids for once."

“Me too dingus, me too, but we need their help,” the girl responded, pulling him into a hug.

They both got showered and dressed for the day and then Steve radioed Dustin.

"Henderson, you there dude?" Steve spoke into the walkie.

"Steve? Everything okay?" came the static reply of Dustin seconds later.

"Gather everyone at yours in 30 minutes. I'm picking you all up and bringing you here," Steve said, trying not to sound as stressed as he felt. Was he really dragging them all back into this bullshit?

"Sure okay, guys check in if you heard that," Dustin responded.

Different variations of 'heard' could be overheard from the walkie as each party member said they would be there.

"Right, sit down, I need to tell you something," Steve started a little while later when all of the party were all sitting in the Harrington living room.

"Are you dying?" Dustin asked straight away.

"Did you get Robin pregnant?" Mike asked.

"Are you moving away?" Lucas questioned him.

"No, no, none of that. Especially the Robin being pregnant thing, she’s like my sister dude," Steve replied, already exasperated.

"Well you've never had an issue fucking sisters," Mike retorted.

"Just yours Wheeler, just yours," Steve said straight faced.

"Just listen, please," Steve sighed. "A couple of nights ago when I got home from the hospital I was playing Master of Puppets at full volume and the lights flickered, like S.O.S, like Eddie showed us. I didn't hear anything but I know what I saw. I'm not clever enough to work this shit out on my own. I'm not asking anyone to come back down there if it's needed, I will do that alone. I just need help working out what's going on and how to go about fixing it."

"Oh yeah, like we're going to let you go back down there on your own," Dustin huffed, rolling his eyes. "So, which lights? Was it just the S.O.S or was it other flickering too? You said you didn't hear anything else but are you sure? Any kind of static from the radio? From the tape player? We need to see if we can contact the other side. Going to be a bit difficult if we don't know if Eddie is here or not. Like in the house still," Dustin rambled, question after question being thrown at Steve.

"Just the lights in the hallway that I saw, nothing else at all even vaguely weird. Robin did you hear anything or see anything last night or the night before?" Steve asked, turning to Robin for the last question.

"Nope," She responded, shaking her head.

Dustin's immediate reaction was to jump up and run to the light in question, clearly in the hopes to find some way of using them to communicate with Eddie.

"Okay so how do we talk to him?" Mike asked as he followed Dustin into the hallway.

"Can we even talk to him? Like if he's dead and a ghost or something will we be able to talk to him?" Dustin wondered out loud.

“Well he communicated with us so we should be able to talk back to him in some way. Like we did with the lite-brite the other day, we’ll figure this out ok. We need to. Eddie needs us again,” Steve pointed out.

“We could use the walkie talkie or a radio as a spiritbox type thing?” Robin suggested. “Kinda sweep the frequencies and see if we get anything at all from the upside down at all, it's kind of a different world like talking to a ghost would be.”

The party spent the rest of the day going through different channels on their walkies and walking around the house trying to get something, anything. They had gone through all the channels and walked around the whole of the Harrington house getting nothing back.

“I don’t think we’re going to get anything,” Will sighed.

“What’s different now than when you saw the lights Steve?” Mike asked.

“Music!” Robin shouted, jumping up. “Sorry, Steve said when he saw the lights he had Master of Puppets on full blast.”

“Yes! That’s it! Steve, where’s the tape and the tape player?” Dustin asked.

Steve found them both and soon the opening notes were blasting from the speakers and around the house.

They restarted their checks with the walkies, concentrating in the hallway, less than 3 minutes later and a walkie picked something up.

" 'derson," came a crackly voice through the walkie that Lucas was holding in the hallway.

“Holy shit Eddie! It’s Lucas, man is that really you?” the younger boy asked excitedly.

“Older Sinclair! Man, it's good to hear your voice. Yeah it’s me,” came the staticky reply.

“Lucas, what channel are you on?” Dustin demanded to know.

“Eddie! Eddie, it’s me, It’s Dustin,” Dustin said into the walkie once he had tuned it right.

“Henderson, I’m so fucking sorry,” Eddie replied quietly.

“Dude, we’re going to fix this okay, we’re going to bring you home,” the curly haired boy said.

“Operation Let’s Bring This Idiot Home has officially begun,” Robin laughed into her walkie.

“Now I know I’m saved with the brain of everything helping the kids, is the brawn behind your brains helping too or is King Steve too busy?”

“I’m here you jackass, stay close to whatever you’re using to speak to us. We could use your weird knowledge of things.”

“Always happy to be a fountain of weird knowledge. I’ll stay where I am. Over and out for now,” Eddie replied before the music ended and the static of the radio started up again.

Eddie didn’t think anything would be able to wipe the smile off his face. Having human contact again after days of no one but bats to talk too and it being the people he went down fighting alongside felt amazing. Knowing that they wanted to help him potentially get back to the right side up gave him a feeling that he never thought he would feel again, hope.

He wanted to go and wander around and explore more of the Upside Down, he wanted to know how far it spanned. Was it just Hawkins that was affected or was further afield having the same issues. He also wanted to be nosey in peoples houses, as much as his ghostly body would allow anyway. However he needed to stay close to the radio he had been able to communicate to them through. Unable to actually take it with him.

He waited around for what felt like ages. He hoped someone would check in with some update or idle chit chat, but no, silence. The more the silence drew on and on the more the bad thoughts crept back in. Eddie had had time since ‘waking up’ to accept that this was his new normal but since the talk with the party he allowed himself to think about going home, about hugging Dustin again, seeing Wayne again, about 6 kids, a winnebago and a road trip.

Had they already forgotten about him? He couldn’t be sure how much time had passed with no way of gauging time of day. He also didn’t know if time worked the same down here as it did up there. Trying to convince himself that a large amount of time hadn’t actually passed was difficult but he had to try.

“Hey, guy’s, is anyone there?” He asked, touching the radio, which seemed to be the only way he could get it to work.

Silence.

No reply came at all, not even static.

He sat and waited, speaking into the radio another few times, trying different things to see if that would help. He had no luck.

Eddie felt helpless again.

The little bit of hope he had ripped away from him as quickly as it had come.

How was he going to recover from this now? He’s already come to terms with being stuck down here forever now but he’d, albeit for a brief moment, had hoped that that would change.

“Eddie, you there man?” Steve asked later that evening, something told him he needed to check in with the other man. He couldn’t imagine how lonely it must be to be left alone down there.

Nothing came back.

“Munson, you there? It’s Steve,” Steve said again. “Harrington, Steve Harrington, just like in case you know another Steve.” Maybe he had been hanging out with Robin too long.

Still nothing.

Has the connection they made been lost? Has something happened? Had Eddie just wandered away and couldn’t hear him? All kinds of thoughts ran through his head.

Steve was trying the radio over and over walking around the house.

“Hey dingus, everything ok?” Robin asked, waking into the house and seeing him pacing.

“I can’t get Eddie back again Robin, he’s gone,” Steve replied frantically, trying the radio one more time.

“Okay, we can sort it,” she replied calmly.

“What if he’s gone this time Bobs?” he whispered.

“He isn't okay, we know this. It took us ages to get in contact last time. We can keep trying okay. You did forget the music though. I can’t say for certain that helps the link but it’s not a coincidence that the 2 times contact has been made that music was involved,” she reassured him, pulling him into a hug.

“You’re right, let’s get it playing and see if that works again,” he replied, breathing out the breath he felt like he’d been holding for ages.

They got the tape playing and Steve tried again.

“Hey Munson, you there man?” He asked again, hoping he sounded a lot calmer than he felt.

“Steve Harrington as I, well, float in another worldly place,” Eddie replied, drawing out Steve’s name. “How can I help big boy?”

“Just wanted to check in, see how you’re doing,” Steve replied, trying his best to hide his blush from Robin, the smirk on her face suggested he hadn’t been successful. “Guessed it must be pretty lonely down there, and it’s just me and Robin here right now”

“I’ve made friends with the bats!” Eddie exclaimed, glee clear in his voice.

“The bats?!” Robin shouted after taking the walkie from Steve.

“Yes, they’re not too bad when they’re not killing me,” he laughed, he could just imagine the look on both their faces. “Oh you’ll never guess who else is down here! I haven’t spent all that much time with her but we did spend some time together, Chrissy.”

Steve looked at Robin straight away, he could sense the impending freakout before it happened.

“That’s great! Maybe we can errmm, talk to her sometime, I guess, like maybe. She probably doesn’t want to talk to me, or us I mean, she didn’t even know us really,” Robin rambled.

“I get it Robin, she’s a very beautiful girl,” Eddie replied casually. Robin’s shoulders relaxed at being accepted without having to say the words. “I was always slightly more inclined towards the basketball team rather than the cheerleaders but I have been known to look their way.”

Days passed and the group did research into all things to do with ghosts and discussed their collective knowledge of the Upside Down. Robin had made a couple of long tapes with Eddie's favourite songs once they realised that any music that Eddie connected with emotionally worked to bridge the gap between worlds. They left a tape running any time someone was awake and in the house.

Everyone had gone home on the fifth day of brainstorming when Eddie’s voice came across the walkie that they had made sure could always be used by him.

“Steve, you there?” he asked.

“Yeah I’m here. Miss me already?”

“You weren't meant to figure it out,” Eddie laughed.

“Secrets safe with me,” Steve responded with a laugh. “All jokes aside, everything ok? Need something?”

“Yeah, a huge favour actually. Can you help me keep everyone away from Riffer Rick's bedroom if you guys have to come down here. My, erm, physical body is in there. It’s not pretty and I don’t want anyone seeing that unless it can be changed.”

“Yeah, of course. If someone needs to go there it’ll be me,” Steve said, nodding as though he could be seen.

Almost two weeks later the party realised they had as much information as they could gather and the next step, they all decided, was heading down into the Upside Down.

“I know you don’t want to but I think we’re going to need El involved in this. I’m not sure how we can open the gate without her,” Dustin declared.

Everyone else agreed reluctantly and Mike gave her a call to fill her in on everything so far.

“I have sensed something a little different down there. I couldn’t quite work out what it was though, it didn’t feel evil. Just sad mostly, sparks of happiness but mostly sad,” El explained when she joined the group.

“Can you open the gate again so that we can go and see him?” Mike asked her.

“Possibly yes, I can feel the one in the pool a little still so maybe I can open that one up again,” El replied.

“A gate in the pool?” Nancy whispered “Where it came and took Barb. I never thought about that.”

“So El, you can open the gate up and we can head in, save Eddie and bring him home,” Dustin said cheerily.

“Let’s take it one step at a time shall we?” Steve replied.

Heading out into the back garden and over to the empty pool the group looked around to see if anything looked any different.

“I can feel it the strongest here,” El said as she stood near the diving board. “I can open this gate up. I can’t feel anything dangerous and Eddie said that he hasn’t seen anything bad right?”

“Said he’d made friends with the bats,” Robin scoffed.

El got ready and sat on the diving board. Taking a deep breath she closed her eyes, held her hands out and concentrated. The air suddenly felt heavier. A rip in the very fabric of the universe started to open and continued to spread. Once the gate was open fully El placed her hands by her side and opened her eyes again.

“It’s open and I can’t feel anything bad in there,” El said as she took a tissue from Will who had rushed over to her.

The silence was deafening. Any noise that there seemed to be before the gate was opened had disappeared.

“Right, let’s get going then,” Dustin said, stepping forward.

“Just me, Robin, Nancy and Jonathan are heading in ok. We can’t risk any of you but we’re all adults and have made this decision,” Steve said, one hand on his hip and the other pointing at each of the party in turn.

“Right, let's just go in and bring this idiot back,” Robin sighed, picking up her axe.

They had spoken at length with Eddie about what creatures could be found down there. He’d said they were harmless but they couldn’t be sure what would happen when people who weren’t connected to the Upside Down entered.

Steve went in first, trusty nailbat swinging by his side. Jonathan and Nancy followed him, Nancy with her shawnoff pointed dead ahead and Jonathan with a pistol in hand. Robin followed the group with her axe held ready to strike should it be needed.

“Watch for the vines guys, don’t forget about the hive mind. We don’t know what connection they have now. Also we’re not sure what kind of connection they have to Eddie either so don’t hurt any of them because we don’t want to hurt him as well,” Robin rambled.

“I hate this place, it’s no less creepy now than it was when we were last here fighting for our lives,” Nancy commented.

“You weren’t joking when you said this place was stuck in ‘83. The Phillips still have that awful tree that always used to overhang the sidewalk,” Jonathan said looking around.

“She was such a bitch too, always on at me and Tommy over something or other. Plus her cooking was lousy and they were always cheating on each other. Broke up 3 other marriages between them,” Steve replied off handedly.

Walking around the Upside Down when something wasn’t trying to kill them was a whole new experience for each of them. This time the place was silent, all bar their footsteps and chatter. The sky was no longer red with lightning above them, no bats or other demo creatures were trying to kill them, just silence. They knew that Eddie had been spending a lot of his time at the Harrington residence as that was the only place they could communicate with him. So that’s where they headed too.

“This is all suspiciously quiet down here. This has not been my experience of this place so far. Is this ok or are we walking into a trap? Oh shit. Did we ever take a second to check if this was actually Eddie? We all saw him dead, Steve you tried chest compressions and Nancy you checked for a pulse. What if we didn’t actually kill Venca and he’s bringing us down here hoping we come back down without much of a plan so he can kill us and get free?” Robin questioned.

“Robs, it’s Eddie ok. Trust me,” Steve replied.

The group continued to walk towards the Harrington residence without issue and finally they were there.

“Munson, you here man?” Steve asked as he walked into the house. It felt so weird for him to be seeing the house as it was in ‘83, before everything started.

He could almost see a younger version of himself sitting on the couch watching something on TV. Or sitting with the book club he joined talking about their neighbours.

“Yeah in your super posh living room,” Eddie said, interrupting Steve’s thoughts before they could spiral any further.

They all walked into the living room with their weapons ready to attack if it wasn’t actually Eddie.

“Guys, I’m a ghost. You can’t kill me any further and a nail bat or gun isn’t going to get rid of me,” Eddie laughed.

“I brought an iron poker as well,” Robin declared, unhooking it from her belt.

“A wise woman, Buckley, but please keep it away from me. We don’t actually want me to disappear,” Eddie said, moving further away from her.

“The weapons were for more fleshy creatures than yourself, no offence obviously,” Nancy pointed out.

“I told you they're all harmless, nothing will hurt you. Venca is dead. I can’t feel him at all and the bats agree,” he sighed.

“Right so Eddie is officially a ghost, we don’t know where his body is, we don’t know what state that body is in, and we have no way of getting ghost Eddie back into human Eddie even if parts 1 and 2 weren’t an issue, which they are,” Robin spoke up.

“I, erm, know where my body is. The physical one anyway but parts 2 and 3 are still an issue so,” Eddie said sadly.

“Let's go and see what we’re dealing with then,” Nancy said, turning to leave clearly having already made up her mind that they were heading to Eddie’s body next.

“I think we should ask Eddie what he wants to do about his body. He should be given the choice as to who gets to see him like, well, that,” Steve shrugged.

“Thank you Stevie. I just want you guys to know that bits of the flesh are missing. It’s clearly a very dead body ok. It’s not pretty. None of you need to see it if you don’t want to, I wouldn’t blame you if you didn’t. I asked Steve to keep the kids away so they didn’t have to see it but I would really consider if you want to see that or not,” Eddie said before the group could move too far.

“Thanks for the heads up Eddie but if we’re going to fix this at least one of us that can go right side up needs to see your body so we know exactly what needs to be done,” Nancy nodded at him.

“Lead the way then,” Robin said.

The group all left the Harrington house and started their way through the woods towards Riffer Rick's place. Their surroundings stayed as quiet as it was when they entered the Upside Down a few minutes prior. The bats follow at a safe distance behind them.

“I don’t like that they’re following us at all, it’s really creepy,” Robin pointed out. “Can they stop please?’

“They don’t like you guys being down in their territory either. Last time you were here you guys set fire to things and did a lot of harm. Plus killing their master,” Eddie shrugged. “They’re not going to hurt you though if you don’t do anything.”

“Does this pose a future issue of getting your body out of here? Is that maybe something we need to be careful of?” Jonathan questioned as they reached the house and walked inside.

“I don’t think so but maybe we need a game plan for that happening,” Eddie replied. “Right, I’m in the bedroom, I mean my body is in the bedroom. Please remember what I said earlier about what’s in there before you just walk in.”

“I’ll go and look, no one else needs to join me if they don't want to,” Nancy said, walking towards the bedroom. Steve followed behind her.

A few minutes later Nancy and Steve both walked back out.

“The first issue would be the fact your body has no blood in it but it doesn’t actually look like it's started to decompose which is good,” Nancy declared. “We’d have to close up the wounds. Get at least 5 pints of blood into you and restart your heart.”

“Not a lot then, we could get all of that done in an hour or so right?” Eddie deadpanned. “Let's face it guys, we can't do that. My spiritual being is outside of my body and we have no way of fixing that. I’m dead and I’m staying dead. Is there any chance someone could explain all this enough to Wayne so I can speak to him again though please?”

“Yeah of course, anything to help,'' Robin replied. “Should we have a look around? Make sure Vecna/ Henry / 001 is dead? May as well make sure the job is done.”

“Sure, let's head over to the Creel house and check it out,” Jonathan shrugged.

The group walked back into Hawkins and through the town and passed the Memorial Hospital.

“We could burn it down?” Robin suggested, nudging Steve, as they walked past Family Video.

“We could always burn the school down instead?” Eddie countered as they went past Hawkins high.

Finally they were walking up the path towards the Creel house.

“I know we’re all thinking it and I just want you all to know that even if we can’t get this situation fixed I appreciate you all trying. It means a lot that you all came down here to try and help, even though you had no idea what was waiting for you when you got here. So yeah, even if I’m still a ghost at the end of all this, Thank you,” Eddie said as the group made its way inside the creepy house.

“This really is an awful place. I can still feel the vines around me,” Robin commented with a shudder.

“There’s so much cool shit in this house that I want to explore but I can’t physically pick anything up which sucks,” Eddie said, looking around the hallway. “Buckley, can you help me explore?”

“Don’t touch anything yet, we still need to make sure this place is safe,” Nancy spoke up.

“It’s safe,” came a voice from behind them.

“Hey Chris, you know everyone right?” Eddie greeted Chrissy.

“I know faces, but not everyone’s names. I know you, obviously. Steve from basketball and Robin from band, really wish I’d gotten to know you better Robin,” she spoke softly. “I’m really sorry but I don’t know either of your names,” she apologised, turning to Nancy and Jonathan.

“I’m Jonathan Byers and this is Nancy Wheeler,” Jonathan smiled awkwardly.

“Right, now we’ve all been introduced, can we have a look around this place now. See what kind of things could be taken back to the right side up or just fun things down here,” Eddie declared.

The group spent lots of time looking around each room in the house, after Chrissy had helped Eddie learn how to float up the stairs. The last room they looked in was an old library filled full of very old books and some handwritten texts. They spent time looking through each of them seeing if there was anything that could be useful to anything.

“Erm guys, I think I may have found something,” Robin spoke up. “It certainly isn’t a normal book, looks super old and it’s giving me a really weird feeling.”

“Let’s have a look,” said Steve, walking up beside her and taking the book from her and looking through.

“Open it!” Eddie insisted, a manic look on his face as he was on the other side of Robin.

“Alright, alright,” Robin sighed.

Instantly a ghostly green glow started to come from the book.

“This is amazing,” Eddie cackled.

“We need to close this book now and hope that it didn’t do any damage to either the Upside Down or the Right Side Up,” Robin said, trying to close the book.

“We should have a look through it to see if it can help any. If any book in here can, it's this one,” Steve pointed out.

“Have neither of you seen The Evil Dead? Nothing good can come from using this book for anything,” She sighed.

“Can we at least look through it to see? This could be my only hope to fix all of this,” he asked, gesturing to himself.

“Fine,” Robin sighed. “But I 100% reserve the right to say I told you so when this all goes wrong.”

“Let’s take this back and get the party to look through it, see if those nerds can find something in it,” Steve suggested.

The group headed back out of the Creel house after finishing their look around and headed back towards the gate and the right side up.

“We’ll keep in contact over the walkie as normal and we’ll come back and see you if we can’t get this sorted quickly,” Steve said, having to keep his hand still to stop himself from reaching out to touch Eddie.

“Yeah ok Stevie, I’ll sit by the radio waiting for your call,” Eddie smiled shyly. “See you guys soon, yeah?”

“Bye Robin, good to see you,” Chrissy said, waving at the other girl. “Bye guys,” she finished and then floated away.

“Erm Buckley you got a sec?” Eddie spoke up as Robin just stood and looked at the space where Chrissy had been.

“Sure, what’s up?” She asked, shaking herself and stepping towards him.

“I’m not sure if you were being serious earlier about speaking to Uncle Wayne about all of this. But it really would mean the world to both me and him if we could talk again, even if it’s just one last time,” Eddie spoke nervously.

“I said I would and I will, ok. As soon as we know exactly what is going on with you I’ll talk to him. No need to upset him with you being dead if we can bring you back,” she smiled.

“I owe you one, seriously. Once I’m all ok, whatever you want, just ask,” Eddie said

“Just take care of him ok, he’s not as strong as he makes out. That’s all I ask in return.”

“What?” Eddie stammered. “I don’t know what you’re on about.”

“Yes you do. I’m not going to say a word though,” She nodded.

Eddie nodded in response and turned to float away again.

Back at the Harrington house the party, along with Steve, Robin, Nancy and Jonathan sat down with the book. Dustin had previously made sure that a walkie had been made so that the button didn’t have to be pushed in to talk to Eddie.

They spent the rest of the day and some of the following day having a read through the book to see if anything was useful.

“There’s a whole section in this book dedicated to exorcisms. Eddie, you’d love that! You can shout Latin at people and they’ll think you’re cursing them but you’re really just telling demons to get away,” Dustin laughed.

“Oh dude that sounds amazing! You’ll have to show me when we get all of this fixed,” Eddie replied, clearly also very entertained by the prospect.

“Hey, wait here a second!” Dustin exclaimed. “I actually think I’ve found something! There’s something in here called the Transmutational Resurrection Spell. The Latin incantation translates to ‘Restore the blood. Restore the flesh. Restore the bone. Bring the spirit and warm the body. After death, made whole again.’ This could be useful, it would need Eddie’s blood though which I don’t think we have.”

“Is it a good job one of the 6 languages I speak is Latin?” Robin sighed, “Write it down for me please Steven then I can start learning it.”

“I, erm, still have his battle vest and I was wearing it whilst I tried to do CPR, that should have some of his blood on it still,” Steve said sheeplishly. “I didn’t have time to put a wash on okay! Things happened very quickly once I got home,” he defended.

“We need to discuss what we do if this works and what we do if this doesn’t work. We can’t just go into this with no plan at all,” Nancy spoke up.

“This is starting to sound like a DnD quest,” Eddie laughed. “If this doesn’t work then that’s okay. We tried, well you guys tried.”

“Stop with that shit okay,” Steve huffed. “You were the only reason we know you’re down there. You did the S.O.S on the lights and got us to look around the Creel house. So stop with that self-deprecating bullshit, okay, it’s not cute.”

“Yeah, ok Stevie, just for you.”

The group spent the rest of the afternoon talking through the best way to get Eddie’s soul back into his body and then to get his body, alive, out of the hell pit that is the Upside Down. Nancy and Jonathan took the party and Robin home and left Steve alone at the start of the evening. He made something to eat, changed the tape in the player and moved everything to be as close to the love seat so that he could curl up with some food and talk to Eddie.

“Hey Eds you there?” he asked.

“Yeah I’m here Stevie, everything ok?” came the reply.

“Everythings fine. Just wanted to check in with you, seen as it's just us now,” Steve responded.

“Got me alone, have you sweetheart?” Eddie chuckled. “I’m not that kind of girl Stevie, need to wine and dine me first.”

“It’s a date,” he responded, not really thinking and feeling his cheeks heat up as he realised what he’d said.

“As soon as I’m fit enough we can work out the details of that date, yeah?” Eddie hummed.

“Once I’m finished with my food, do you want me to read something to you? I’m sure there’s something here I could read for you if you wanted me too?” Steve asked, trying to keep his cool when all he wanted to do was kick his legs and giggle.

“That really would be great. Anything you have, takeaway menus included, I will happily listen too,” Eddie replied, a smile clear in his voice.

The rest of the evening consisted of talking through everything, from how they were actually dealing with everything to what Eddie's first meal would be when he could eat again. A conversation spurred on by Steve actually reading the takeaway menus to him through lots of laughter and silly voices.

Lying in bed that night, for the first time in days, Steve felt hopeful for the future. There was no doubt that he liked Eddie as more than friends, the physical attraction to the other man had always been there. After spending time with him over the last few days though and talking to him for hours tonight there was no ignoring that the attraction ran deeper than how good Eddie looked.

A banging on his front door the following morning woke Steve up.

“Is the world ending again?” He asked as soon as he opened the door, showing Robin to be on the other side.

“Yes actually my world is ending ok Steven so a little sympathy would be great right now, thank you,” she replied, walking into his house and heading to the kitchen.

“What’s happening?” He asked, following her into the kitchen and starting to make coffee.

“I still like Chrissy but I spent the evening with J and I really like J too. It’s a mess,” she replied, helping him make coffee by getting their favourite mugs out and grabbing the sugar and creamer.

“Ok,” he responded, clearly thinking his next words through. “Does J know about what happened? I’m assuming you weren’t silly enough to tell her everything but does she know what’s in the press?”

“Yeah, she does. She’s mentioned it in passing a couple of times but never pressed for anything.”

“So maybe being honest with her is the best way to go?” he shrugged. “It’s not like you’re looking to move in together next week, get married the week after and adopt 4 kids and a cat by Christmas. You could tell her that you really enjoy seeing her exactly as you are but that you really need to keep it at this pace for a little bit?”

“What if she’s not ok with it?” She whispered.

“Then she’s no good for you anyway. You’re not telling J that you were in love with Chrissy or that you two were in a relationship. You’re telling her that you had the feelings for someone who is unfortunately now dead and that it’s caused a bit of emotional conflict within yourself and you wanted to make her aware of this,” he said, passing her a cup of coffee.

The pair sat down at the breakfast bar and ate cereal chatting away, catching up on the gossip that Robin had heard from her mom last night.

“I think I have feelings for Eddie,” Steve whispered as he was washing the dishes.

“That’s ok. Thank you for telling me,” Robin replied, leaning her head into him as she was drying the dishes he was washing. “He’ll be back with us soon and you can woo him with romantic metal songs and pretty painted miniatures.”

“You really think so?” He asked.

“Yes, no doubt about it. Pull out all your best moves and he’ll be yours before you know it,” she smiled. “Anyway, I’ve spent most of the night awake learning that incantation and I think I have it nailed. Dustin said that he and the rest of the party were meeting early at the Wheeler’s house so that they can make sure they know what else is needed for this to work and Nancy said that she was going to look into ways of making sure we could bring Eddie home at least alive enough.”

Steve got ready for the day and before 10am he had a living room filled with everyone again, all talking over each other about the plan they had concocted.

“One at a time please,” Steve shouted loudly over them all.

Calmly Will explained the plan. They would move Eddie’s body close to the open gate, Robin would perform the incantation and then Nancy and Jonathan would perform any immediate medical intervention needed. Nancy having stocked up on supplies at the drugstore on their way over to Steves.

Gathering everything together, weapons included, the group headed towards the gate again.

“Good morning everyone, to what do I owe this pleasure?” Eddie asked cheerfully as the group headed into the Harrington home and found him in the living room.

“Eddie!” Dustin shouted running towards the other man, catching himself short of trying to hug him.

“Hey Henderson, missed you too,” Eddie beamed.

“Shall we get this all started?” Nancy suggested “Not wishing to break up this reunion but we really should try and see if we can get Eddie back into his body as soon as possible.”

“Yeah Nance is right, let’s head over to Rick’s and bring Eddie back to the gate entrance and sort this all out ok,” Robin agreed.

Walking back over to Rick’s, Steve was trying to think of a way that they could move the body but still keep Eddie’s wish of the party not seeing him like that.

“Erm, Nance, Jon, can I grab you both for a second? You guys carry on,” Steve shouted. “Eddie requested that I don't let the party see his body, he doesn’t want to be remembered like that. Do you have any wipes with you Nance and I can clean his face off? And Jon will you help me carry him? I thought we could cover all but his face with a sheet and carry him like that. Means that all anyone will be able to see is his face.”

“Yeah I’ve got some in the bag ready to clean any wounds but we can clean his face off first,” Nancy replied. “It’s a really good idea Steve”

“And sure, I’ll help you carry his body. Sounds like the best idea to have him wrapped in a cover anyway,” Jonathan agreed.

“Thanks guys,” Steve smiled at the pair.

As they all reached the house Steve stopped them all.

“I want you all to stay out of the bedroom okay, no questions asked, just do as I say.” Steve said, hands on hips making eye contact with each as he spoke.

They all entered the house and Steve, Nancy and Jonathan went towards the bedroom ready to get Eddie’s body cleaned up and moved. 10 minutes later and the three walked back out into the main part of the shack with the body bundled up in a blanket and being carried between Steve and Jonathan.

“I’ll go ahead and keep a lookout for anything trying to attack us if everyone else can kind of spread out around Jonathan, Steve and Eddie with Robin at the back?” Nancy suggested as the group filled back out of the shack. They all nodded their approval of her plan.

All of a sudden there was an almighty screeching sound followed by the sound of the bats taking flight. Nancy raised her gun ready to shoot and the others stood around with their various weapons raised ready to fight.

“Please don’t hurt them, can you all lower your weapons?” Eddie shouted quickly. “Hey guys, my friends are helping me okay, they’re not doing anything to hurt me.” he said more calmly, addressing the bats this time.

The bats stopped screeching and settled back onto the fencing by Rick’s.

They got Eddie’s body to the edge of the gate and placed it down on the sheets and blankets they had placed on the ground earlier.

Eddie got as close as he could to his body, Robin knelt next to it and held the vest in her hands.

“Restituo sanguis. Restituo carnes. Restituo os. Afferte spiritus et calidum corpus. Post mortem, natus totum iterum.” She chanted over and over again.

At first it didn’t seem to be doing anything and then all of a sudden his soul was pulled back into his body and everything went black to him and his ghost vanished from sight for everyone else.

Eddie lay on the ground still covered in the blanket for what felt like hours. Not moving or even awake, just laying there.

“He’s got a pulse, it’s strong and his breathing is good too, I think he just needs some rest.” Nancy said, standing back up from checking Eddie over again.

“Let’s get him out of here and into the house. He needs to be warm and comfortable and to be somewhere safe. Who knows what could still happen whilst we wait for him to be okay enough to move.” Steve suggested.

Between Steve and Jonathan they picked Eddie up and carried him to the house. Getting him onto the sofa.

“Should we bring a mattress downstairs so that when he wakes up he doesn’t need to move around so much to get everything he’ll need? You have a bathroom and everything down here plus the kitchen and access to the outside.” Robin suggested.

“Yeah, yeah that’s a really good idea! My dad’s old office is empty, we can set a bed up in there. I’m sure my parents have an old bed frame they took apart and never got rid off and I know there’s a spare mattress as well. Some of you shitheads want to come and help me make a bedroom for Eddie?” Steve asked.

They all agreed and everyone but Nancy, Robin and El, went to help Steve.

“Is Steve ok?” Nancy suddenly asked, turning to Robin.

“Erm, yeah, I mean as well as any of us really are I guess” Robin replied.

“Good, I worry about him is all. He seems to really like Eddie though. Not sure I’d ever say I'd describe someone looking at a ghost as longingly, but he does.” Nancy chuckled.

“Damn, you think Harrington preferred me as a ghost?” Eddie suddenly rasped out from where the girls were sitting beside him.

“Eddie!” Robin gasped, reaching over to touch him. “How are you feeling?”

“Like I was a chew toy for a load of bats and my soul was thrown back into my body” he replied smiling weekly.

“I'll grab you some pain relief and some water,” Nancy said, standing up and rushing from the room.

“Hello Eddie, it's good to finally meet you in your physical form” El smiled, waving slightly.

“Supergirl!” Eddie grinned as best he could. “Thank you for everything”

“Ed’s” a whisper came from the doorway.

“Hey Stevie, “ Eddie replied sheepishly.

“You’re okay” Steve breathed out, as though he had been holding his breath.

“All thanks to you big boy.” the other boy smiled.

“Erm El, shall we erm go and see if anyone is hungry or thirsty and sort some food and drink if needed” Robin said, gently taking El by the hand and leading her out the room.

“We’re setting up a bedroom for you in the office, unless you have somewhere else you’d rather stay whilst you recover?” Steve said, stepping further into the room.

“No, nowhere else I’d rather be” He smiled, attempting to sit up, only to fall back down again.

“Lie back down and let's get some pain relief in you shall we.” Nancy ordered as she walked back into the room carrying a syringe. “IV morphine” she shrugged, nodding at it.

“Yeah, that sounds amazing to me. I’m not even going to question where you got it from or how much you have.” Eddie laughed before wincing in pain.

Eddie fell back asleep again within 5 minutes of having the morphine and spent the next 4 hours flat out, only waking up again because of the pain.

Waking up with a wince and a groan he looked around the room the best he could.

“Hey, I’m here, don't panic and don't try to move okay. Is the pain back again?” The voice of Steve came from behind him and seemed to be moving closer before it entered his vision.

“Yeah the pain’s back again and this couch isn’t the most comfortable to have been lying on for hours.”

“Okay, let's get you moved into your bedroom, sorry if it smells of cigar smoke and bourbon in there by the way. It was my dads office slash escape from the wife and kid room. Let me just go grab some more hands and we can get you moved okay.” Steve said as he left the room.

He returned a couple of minutes later with Robin, Jonathan and Nancy following him.

“We’re going to get you moved and then I’m going to give you more pain relief after we’ve got you settled. Let's start with getting you sat up shall we?” Nancy suggested.

With Steve taking the shoulders and Jonathan taking Eddie’s legs the two of them slowly and smoothly sat him up.

“Jesus Christ that hurt so fucking much” Eddie said through gritted teeth, tears clear in his eyes. “Can we try the standing now”

The two boys sat either side of him and placed his arms around their necks and their arms gently as they could around his waist.

“On three, let's stand and then take a second.” Jonathan said, looking at Steve and Eddie, receiving nods from them both and then counting to three.

With a lot of whimpering the four of them got Eddie moved and settled onto the bed and comfortable again.

“Here I’ve got some more pain relief for you.” Nancy informed as she entered the bedroom again. “We’ve been able to make you alive again and physically restore any flesh the bats took but you were still dead for over a week. Your body has not moved for almost all of that time. You’re going to be stiff and tired for a few days. Rest up and make sure you don’t push yourself. I believe Robin is on the phone to Wayne now. She’s not telling him you were dead and then alive again, she's just telling him that you’ve been found and are hurt but alive and here.”

“He’s on his way here now” Robin updated them both as she came into the room. “How you feeling now you’re in bed?”

“Exhausted honestly. I’m so grateful to you for calling Wayne though and getting him to come over.” He replied.

Once the morphine kicked in again Eddie fell back asleep.

Waking up again he was aware of someone sitting next to him with their hand on his arm.

“Uncle Wayne?” Eddie rasped.

“Yeah it’s me Ed’s. Need some water? We can help you sit up.” Wayne answered.

It was only then that Eddie noticed someone else was also sitting next to him, but on the other side of the bed.

“Please,” Eddie smiled.

Some puffing and panting later Eddie was sitting up propped up by pillows and being helped to take a drink by Wayne.

The rest of the evening was taken up by catching up with Wayne and the party who all filtered in inturn. Steve not leaving his side for more than 5 minutes at a time.

The following day everyone went home to be back with their families and Eddie spent most of the day sleeping after being assisted to get into the shower and to wash and dry his hair. In the evening he was helped out into the living room. Sitting on the coffee table was Chinese takeout. Sweet and sour chicken, roast pork fried rice and prawn crackers all sat next to other containers.

“You remembered '' Eddie whispered, sounding choked.

“What you wanted as your first meal back? Yeah of course I did. I didn’t think you would be up to it last night but figured you’d be ok with it tonight.” Steve shrugged, hoping his blush was hidden.

The boys sat and ate their take out, chatted and watched a couple episodes of The Golden Girls, naturally laughing and gossiping about their favourite characters all the way through. As the evening wore on and both boys became more and more tired they got closer and closer on the couch.

“We should get you back into bed” Steve suggested at the end of their 5th episode.

“Yeah ok, let's get moving” Eddie sighed.

They got Eddie back into bed much easier than they had the evening before. A couple days of rest and pain relief having worked wonders.

“You have more pain relief on the nightstand as well as a couple of bottles of water and a couple snacks.” Steve pointed to everything in turn. “Right, I'll leave you to it.”

“Stay?” Eddie whispered. “It was really lonely down there on my own.”

“Yeah, sure, if you want me too,” the other boy smiled.

Eddie shuffled out of his trousers and shirt before scooching further down into the bed. He was joined by Steve after he had taken his own trousers and shirt off.

“Good night Ed’s”

“Night Stevie.”

The following morning both men woke up tangled together and feeling much more rested than they had in days. Steve turned slightly so he was laying on Eddie's chest and hoped that the other man was still asleep so that he could enjoy this a little longer. He froze when arms pulled him closer and he realised that the other man was clearly not asleep.

“Morning” Eddie rasped, sleep still in his voice.

“Morning” came the shy reply, Steve still hoping to not break the spell.

“I don’t mind you know”

“That’s good, because I really like it here” Steve said, ever so glad Eddie wouldn’t be able to see how red his cheeks were.

“Get up here and look at me?” Eddie asked.

Reluctantly Steve leaned up and looked at Eddie.

“You really are so beautiful, I’ve always thought so” Eddie mumbled, almost to himself.

“I was so fucking upset when I thought you were gone, can’t believe you’re back” Steve choked out, over come with emotion towards the man in front of him.

“I’m here and I’m yours, if you want me that is”

“Of course I do.” Steve said, moving up Eddie’s body and leaning over him slightly.

“Then kiss me,” Eddie whispered.

Their lips met in the most tender and love filled kiss that Steve had ever felt. This was home. This was forever.

3 Months Later:

“Ed’s come on! We need to get going or we’re going to be late” Steve shouted from the living room as he was getting his shoes on.

“Down in a second, I want to look my best for our first public outing as a couple and our first double date with Robin and J.

“Let’s go then sweetheart” Eddie said, walking down the stairs ready to go 5 minutes later.

“Let’s go. The first of many dates” Steve smiled, pulling his boyfriend into a kiss.

#eddie munson #steve harrington #stranger things #steddie #robin buckley #stranger things fanfiction #Stranger things reverse big bang #temporary character death

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