#hope you like it ❤️✨

[leenoe]

Prettiest model in town @t-m-o-axel

[sainz100]

Charles in Monaco yesterday ☀️

[welcome-to-green-hills]

How do you think SCU!Sonadow would work? Reading some of your posts, it seems like it would be a fluffy slow burn ❤️

Hello, my dear!❤️✨

I think SCU!Sonadow could work either way for them. They could go the fluffy slow burn as suggested, or they could do skinny love. Either dynamic could work very well if this is your favorite ship😊

[beartitled]

[MESSAGE RECEIVED]

[LOADING...]

Hi Bear!

I bring a weapon idea for you! (or your sona I'm not sure lmao)

I present to youuuuu

BEAR AXE 001

The first one has HIVE-ish colour and the second one has colours that would go better with ur sona's colours (I think-)

I originally had idea that your sona could have a hammer but brain said nuh uh and went BATTLE AXE

I'm not very familiar with drawing weapons so it's very simplified skkskskksk

Feel free to add some details if you would like to :D

I can't get this out of my head so there's a chance I might doodle more ideas lmao

Now I shall dissappear and hyperfixate on weapons

[CR2868]

🎉🎉IT’S DONE IT’S FINALLY DONE🎉🎉

@braisedhoney @insomniphic @idunnowhattowriteheretbh

I’m so happy I was able to finish it and take my time to experiment with colours ✨✨

Big thanks to you CR2868✨

This was such a fun ask to answer, I hope you enjoyed the comic ❤️

Just letting you guys know

🐝Hive asks are always welcome🐝

I always enjoy doing fan content for the Hive, I love this cozy honey ship 🫵❤️

(They will take time to answer most of the time, but ya know 💥 art time comics lost of time 💥💥)

Reminding ppl that

Hive belongs to @braisedhoney

If you’re new here and have no idea what Hive is

👉Check out @talesaboardthehive👈

Also in my navigation header you can find a bunch of silly comics I did for the Hive

❗️smol reminder, my comics are not canon to the official Hive lore (only if Ney decides they are 🫡/ silly)

oh

also

bumblebee puppy 🐝

(I love him)

(he’s stinky, but I love him)

[shorukarts]

Happy anniversary wdyw !!

What do you want belongs to the amazing writer and artist @the-writing-mobster

Hope you like it Mob✨❤️✨

Sorry for being late the app crashed 🥲

[sunsetsandsunshine]

AAAHHH REQUESTS ARE OPEN!!!!

So proud of you for powering through your requests and wips of your own!!! You did SUCH A FANTASTIC JOB AT BY THE WAY!!!! oh my gosh!! Your creativity inspires me A HECK OF A LOT EMERY! 🫶🫶💙💙💙💙

I thought I'd might as well send you a request! (No pressure, and absolutely no need for a rush!)

Maybe something that is Halloween themed for rottmnt? Maybe they're decorating for Halloween and Mikey or Leo seems to have a disagreement with certain decorations that the rest of the Hamato brothers seem to have no problems with? Resulting in normal brother banter, but it soon turns into one of them declaring a "tickle fight"?

One of them could be like "how about we settle this with a tickle fight!" and since Mikey or Leo is the only one who has a disagreement with the decor, one of them just get ganged up on, and eventually it rules out to them loosing since it's literally a 1v3? 😭😭

I don't know! I just thought of it, but of course no pressure in writing it if it's too confusing! 🙏🙏

~ 𝙲𝚘𝚛𝚊𝚕𝚒𝚗𝚎 𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝚊 𝚙𝚞𝚖𝚙𝚔𝚒𝚗 ~

❤️💜🐢💙🧡 𝙵𝚒𝚌 𝚛𝚎𝚚𝚞𝚎𝚜𝚝𝚎𝚍 𝚋𝚢: @saturnzskyzz ❤️💜🐢💙🧡

·̩̩̥͙＊*•̩̩͙✩•̩̩͙*˚𝙰𝚆𝙴 𝚂𝙰𝚃𝚄𝚁𝙽 🥹💗💕💗💕💗!!! 𝚄𝚁 𝙲𝙾𝙼𝙿𝙻𝙸𝙼𝙴𝙽𝚃𝚂 𝙰𝙻𝚆𝙰𝚈𝚂 𝙼𝙰𝙺𝙴 𝙼𝙴 𝚂𝙾 𝚂𝙾 𝙷𝙰𝙿𝙿𝚈 𝚃𝙷𝙰𝙽𝙺 𝚈𝙾𝚄??? 𝙸𝚝’𝚜 𝚜𝚘 𝚏𝚕𝚞𝚜𝚝𝚎𝚛𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝚜𝚞𝚛𝚙𝚛𝚒𝚜𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚝𝚘 𝚑𝚎𝚊𝚛 𝚖𝚢 𝚜𝚒𝚕𝚕𝚢 𝚠𝚛𝚒𝚝𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚒𝚗𝚜𝚙𝚒𝚛𝚎𝚜 𝚙𝚎𝚘𝚙𝚕𝚎 𝚠𝚑𝚎𝚗 𝙸’𝚖 𝚘𝚗𝚕𝚢 𝚗𝚘𝚠 𝚋𝚎𝚌𝚘𝚖𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚊 𝚜𝚘𝚙𝚑𝚖𝚘𝚛𝚎 𝚒𝚗 𝙷𝚒𝚐𝚑𝚜𝚌𝚑𝚘𝚘𝚕 😵‍💫🫶🏾…! 𝙰𝚗𝚍 𝚢𝚘𝚞 𝚛𝚎𝚚𝚞𝚎𝚜𝚝𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚜𝚘𝚖𝚎𝚝𝚑𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝙷𝚊𝚕𝚕𝚘𝚠𝚎𝚎𝚗 𝚝𝚑𝚎𝚖𝚎𝚍 𝚍𝚞𝚛𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚕𝚎𝚐𝚒𝚝 𝚖𝚒𝚍-𝙹𝚞𝚕𝚢 𝚒𝚜 𝚓𝚞𝚜𝚝 𝚜𝚘…𝚢𝚘𝚞 😭👍🏾— 𝚊𝚕𝚜𝚘 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝙿𝙷𝙾𝚃𝙾 𝙱𝚁𝙾 𝙻𝙼𝙰𝙾?! 𝚂𝚊𝚟𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝚂𝙰𝚅𝙴𝙳˚*• ̩̩͙•̩̩͙*✩＊·̩̩̥͙

𝙶𝚎𝚗𝚛𝚎: 𝙵𝚕𝚞𝚏𝚏

𝚆𝚘𝚛𝚍𝚜: 𝟸,𝟸𝟸𝟾

𝙻𝚎𝚎: ��𝚎𝚘 🐢💙 

𝙻𝚎𝚛: 𝚁𝚊𝚙𝚑 🐢❤️, 𝙳𝚘𝚗𝚗𝚒𝚎 🐢💜 𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝙼𝚒𝚔𝚎𝚢 🐢🧡

𝚂𝚞𝚖𝚖𝚊𝚛𝚢: 𝚃𝚑𝚎 𝙷𝚊𝚖𝚊𝚝𝚘 𝚋𝚛𝚘𝚝𝚑𝚎𝚛’𝚜 𝚊𝚛𝚎 𝚜𝚎𝚝𝚝𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚞𝚙 𝚏𝚘𝚛 𝚝𝚑𝚎𝚒𝚛 𝚗𝚎𝚠 𝙷𝚊𝚕𝚕𝚘𝚠𝚎𝚎𝚗 𝚑𝚘𝚖𝚎 𝚊𝚎𝚜𝚝𝚑𝚎𝚝𝚒𝚌 (𝚋𝚎𝚌𝚊𝚞𝚜𝚎 𝚒𝚝’𝚜 𝚝𝚘𝚝𝚊𝚕𝚕𝚢 𝙾𝚌𝚝𝚘𝚋𝚎𝚛 𝚛𝚒𝚐𝚑𝚝 𝚗𝚘𝚠), 𝚋𝚞𝚝 𝙻𝚎𝚘 𝚒𝚜𝚗’𝚝 𝚝𝚘𝚘 𝚏𝚘𝚗𝚍 𝚘𝚏 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚌𝚑𝚘𝚒𝚌𝚎 𝚘𝚏 𝚍𝚎𝚌𝚘𝚛.

(𝙰/𝙽: 𝙳𝚘𝚗’𝚝 𝚋𝚎 𝚝𝚑𝚊𝚝 𝚐𝚞𝚢! 𝚃*𝚌𝚎𝚜𝚝 𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝙺𝚒𝚗𝚔/𝙽𝚂𝙵𝚆 𝚋𝚕𝚘𝚐𝚜 𝙳𝙽𝙸!!!)

T𝚊𝚐𝚐𝚐𝚜𝚜𝚜𝚜: @shut-up-jo @someone1348  @itzsana-kiddingmenow 

@giggly-cloud  @savemeafruitjuice  @rice-cake-teen10

@titters-and-tingles @veryblushyswitch @tmntalways  @mistyandsnow

𝚆𝚊𝚛𝚗𝚒𝚗𝚐𝚜: 𝚃𝚒𝚌𝚔𝚕𝚒𝚗𝚐, 𝚌𝚞𝚜𝚜𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝚖𝚎𝚗𝚝𝚒𝚘𝚗𝚜 𝚘𝚏 𝙷𝚊𝚕𝚕𝚘𝚠𝚎𝚎𝚗 𝚖𝚘𝚟𝚒𝚎𝚜 𝚕𝚘𝚕. 𝙸𝚏 𝚗𝚘𝚗𝚎 𝚊𝚛𝚎 𝚢𝚘𝚞𝚛 𝚏𝚘𝚛𝚝𝚎, 𝚐𝚘 𝚏𝚒𝚗𝚍 𝚜𝚘𝚖𝚎𝚝𝚑𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚝𝚑𝚊𝚝 𝚒𝚜 🕺🏾✨

＊*•̩̩͙✩•̩̩͙*˚𝚂𝚙𝚘𝚘𝚔𝚢 𝚜𝚌𝚊𝚛𝚢 𝚜𝚔𝚎𝚕𝚎𝚝𝚘𝚗𝚜 𝚜𝚙𝚘𝚘𝚔𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚞𝚙 𝚢𝚘𝚞𝚛 𝚜𝚙𝚒𝚗𝚎 𝚘𝚛 𝚑𝚘𝚠𝚎𝚟𝚎𝚛 𝚒𝚝 𝚐𝚘𝚎𝚜 𝚓𝚜𝚓𝚜𝚖𝚜𝚓𝚍𝚑𝚑 𝚎𝚗𝚓𝚘𝚢!!!˚*•✩•̩̩͙*˚＊·̩̩̥͙

“Move it to the left! No…your other left! …Donnie, I just said your other left!!!” Raph yelled. 

“I don’t have 'an other left!' Are you trying to tell me that you want me to use my right hand?!” Donnie asked, irritation abundantly clear in his tone. 

“NO! I KNOW WHAT I SAID!!! WHAT I WANT YOU TO DO IS USE YOUR OTHER LEFT!!” Raphael basically screamed.

“I. DON’T. KNOW. WHAT. THAT. MEANS!!!” Donatello screeched back. 

“Oh for crying out—“ The eldest sighed, “Give it here.” The taller turtle snatched the Coraline themed paper cut out’s from his younger brother, getting tape and sticking them to the wall. 

Raph stepped out a bit, looking at where he had placed the paper cut out’s before letting out a huff of satisfation, putting his hands on his hips, “See? Now was that so hard?” 

The purple banded turtle’s eye twitched slightly, turning to his older brother and giving him a quickly glare as he put the excess decorations away, “You used your right hand to place that decoration, dumbass.” 

The eldest blinked in confusion at his brother’s statement, doing an L-shape with both of his fingers as a small embarrassed blush appeared on his cheeks, “I see...” 

The young scientist rolled his eyes fondly, shaking his head as he threw away the remainder of the paper, “You see—”

“I aham stopping you right there. Please dohon’t Dhar Man lihife lesson me right now…”

“You see…” The softshell continued, his grin widening as he heard a loud groan come from his older brother, “You should always listen to your immediate younger brother because he is just so intelligent and just so far beyond the usual intellect of the average fifteen year old.” 

The red banded turtle nodded his head, trying his best not to laugh at his brother’s silly antic’s. 

It was currently October and there was lots of spookiness in the air. Although it was literally just the 1st day of October, there was still freshly new spookiness in the atmosphere.

More or less, anyway...

The turtle teen’s were setting their lair to be a…sort of Halloween themed aesthetic. 

Did their Dad know they were basically re-decorating the whole lair? No. But he’ll just have to deal with it. 

Last year they did The Nightmare before Christmas.

The year before that they did the Corpse Bride…

…And, well…you get the idea. The rat man should be used to this routine by now.

The two eldest turtle’s looked at each other for a minute before bursting out into small laughs, chuckling at each other’s ridiculousness, “Okahay…remind me toho never doho ahanother Dhar Mann impression.” Donnie giggled out. 

“Ahalright, Dhahar Mann fam.” The eldest snickered as the two youngest turtle’s entered the living room. 

“Ew. Why did we choose Coraline as this year’s Halloween theme again?” Leo muttered, squinting at the choice of decorations in a disgusted manner, “I mean…the blue hair and pronouns girl? Love that. But can’t we just save that one for Pride month or something?” 

Raphael put a hand over his mouth, turning around and trying not to laugh as Donnie and Mikey looked at the red eared slider in confusion. 

“That’s Coraline, you idiot.” The box turtle muttered out.

“Wait…THAT’S Coraline?! What about the lady with the spider arms and looks like Jim Carrey from The Mask?”

Raphael loudly wheezed in the background at his brother’s genuine confusion, clutching his side and holding onto the kitchen counter for dear life as he laughed.

“That’s…That’s her Mom, man.” Mikey said. 

The slider blinked in awe before letting out a long sigh, “Whatever…”

The blue banded turtle went to the wall, taking off some of the Coraline cut out’s that Mikey put up and replaced them with Charlie Brown ones. 

“Charlie Brown? Really?” Donnie deadpanned as he crossed his arms.

“Yes!” Leo said, “It’s the Great Pumpkin! He rises out of the pumpkin patch—“

“We’re familiar with the tale, Nardo.” The second oldest interrupted, “But…just why? You seriously want to put up an imaginary pumpkin over Coraline…?”

“Yes. Yes I do.” 

The scientist just rolled his eyes, going over to help Raph who was currently dying of laughter on the floor, “You do you brother of mine.”

“Oho I beg to differ.” Michelangelo seethed, going up to his immediate older brother, “I worked hard on those Coraline paper cut outs! You can’t just…replace them with some pumpkin from the 1960’s!”

Leonardo looked at his youngest brother up and down, “…You bought these from the dollar store and just dumped glitter on it.” 

“EXACTLY! DO YOU KNOW HOW HARD IT WAS TO EVENLY DISTRIBUTE ALL THE GLITTER ON EACH CORALINE PIECE?!”

Leo hummed in acknowledgment, trying to take off more of the decorations but was basically jumped by Mikey to the floor. The two youngest playfully fought with each other’s arms, both of them trying to get the upper hand in the play-fight. “Hehey heHEY! Gehehet ohoff of me yohou overgrown frog!” Leo giggled out. 

“Oh dohon’t even, Leheheon. When yohou wear glahasses yohou look lihike that oddly proportioned 'brohother' of ours thahat’s aha disgrace to ahall turtle-kind.” The box turtle said smugly. 

“…ARE YOU COMPARING ME TO THAT UGLY ASS FRANKLIN GUY?!”

“I AM AND WHAT ABOUT IT?!”

“Oho you’re done. Done.” Leo growled, trying to get the upper hand but was pinned down by the youngest pretty quickly on the ground. The orange banded turtle grinned in triumph, brutally attacking the other by tickling his underarms.

Leo let out a loud squawk in surprise, pushing at his brother’s wrists as he clamped his mouth shut. He shook his head back and forth, trying his absolute best not to satisfy the youngest in his attack. 

Don’t laugh. Don’t laugh. Don’t laugh. Don’t laugh. Don’t. fucking. laugh. 

“Woah. We left for, like, 5 minutes tops. What happened?” The purple banded turtle asked as him and the eldest walked into the scene up-roaring in front of them. 

“Leo said my Coraline paper cut outs were cheap and ugly!” The youngest dramatically whined, wiping away a tear before skittering his fingers along the slider’s ribs. 

Okay, well first of all: Leo never said that. Did they look cheap? Yes. Did he think that the DIY decorations looked cheap? Oho absolutely. 

But the fact of the matter was he never said it out loud! He thought it but he never said it.

“Damn…he hasn’t started laughing yet? He would usually be squirming like a drunk mermaid right about now.” Raphael mused, poking Leo in the side repeatedly as the second youngest closed his eyes shut. “We know you wanna laugh, Leo~!” The eldest sing-songed. 

The second youngest let out a soft snort, continuing to shake his head as his legs kicked behind Mikey. Donatello raised an unamused brow, sitting down and lightly grabbing the slider’s right ankle as he tickled his heel.

“PFFTAHAH— *snort* dahAHAMMIT!” Leo screeched as he finally let out a laugh whilst stomping his free foot on the floor. The three teens tormenting their brother smiled at the long overdue flood of giggles and snorts that was escaping the slider’s mouth.

“There it is~!” Raph cooed softly, tickling under Leo’s chin as the second youngest blushed slightly at the tease. “GOHO *snort* AWAHAHAY YOHOU AHASS— *snort*!!” 

“GASP! Oh no you did not. Cussing us out now? C'mon, Nardo…you know better than that~!” The second oldest mused, using his spider arms to hold the blue banded turtle’s ankles in place as he tickled all over his feet. Leonardo laugh raised an octave at the sudden action, squirming underneath the youngest more frantically. 

The blue banded teen snorted loudly, his hands flapping on the floor which absolutley melted the other’s hearts, “GUHUHUYS S-STAHAP! IHIHIT— *snort* EHEHEHAH!!! IHIT TIHI— *snort*!!” 

“Awe…it tickles? Is that what you’re trying to say~?” Mikey asked mischeivously, pinching Leo’s hips mercilessly. Raphael grinned, holding the slider’s arms up as he tickled his stomach and sides. “Does iiiiit…tickle here? Orrrr…what about here? Here? And heeeere~?” The eldest asked as he unpredictably switched from tickling the blue banded teen’s stomach to his sides, definitely making sure to leave the leader in blue in stitches.

“Y'know, Lee…you could get out of this situation more easily if you just apologized.” The young scientist commented.

“FAHAH— *snort* FOHOR WHAHA— *snort* WHAHAT?!” Leonardo asked through his laughs.

“What do you mean 'fohor whahat?' For insulting Mikey’s precious art and calling it cheap!” Donatello said as if the answer should’ve been obvious. 

“BUHUT IHI DIHIHIDN’T!!! HEEHEE’S A *snort* LIHIHIAR!!!”

All the other turtle’s gasped dramatically, ceasing their attack momentarily as the box turtle glared at his brother playfully, “Oho I’m sorry…I didn’t quite hear you. What did you just call me?”

The lime-green eyed teen’s heart dropped at the fake sweet tone his younger brother was speaking in, he hugged his middles as more frantic giggles poured from out of his mouth, “N-Noho— *snort* NOHO! Ihi— *snort* I-Ihi dihidn’t meeheean IHIT! M-MIHIKEY WAHAHAIT!”

“And now you’re laughing at me. You must think this is funny, huh?” The orange banded turtle asked as he effortlessly pushed Leo’s hands aside as Raph casually held them up again. The eldest used one hand to hold Leo’s wrists together but wiggled his free hand near the second youngest’s neck. 

The blue cladded teen’s eyed widened, silently praying to God that he wouldn’t go to the golden gates early because of what was about to happen to him. 

Donnie hovered his hands over Leo’s knees as Mikey’s hands innocently and gently traced over his immediate older brother’s sides. The lime-green eyed mutant gulped, glaring at Mikey as the youngest happily glared back. 

“Anything you wanna say to me, Leon? Anything in particular?” The box turtle asked. 

“F-Fuhuhuck. yohou.” Leo giggled through gritted teeth.

After that extremely rude remark, the brother’s wasted no time tickling the second youngest into oblivion. Donnie tickled underneath his knees, Mikey scribbled his nails against the slider’s sides as he blew raspberries on his stomach, and finally, Raph tickled his neck as he held up his arms.

A pretty smart tactic if you ask me. A mean one? Oh 100%, but at least it was effective. 

Leonardo let out a screechy vulture-like scream before falling into loud bubbly cackles. The slider shook his head back and forth once more, squirming as best he could in the position he was in. 

“Awe…” Raphael chuckled out, letting go of his brother’s wrists to let him flap his hands happily on Michelangelo’s arms. 

“STAHAHAP!! PLEHEHEASE *snort* IHIHIT’S *snort* TOOHOO— *snort* NAHAHAH!!!”

“Buhut Ihi want my apology!” Mikey giggled. 

“MIHIKAHA— *snort*!!! SHUHUT IHIHIT!!!”

“Don’t you dare disobey me, Coraline~!” Raph snickered, using both of his hands to tickle the crooks of the second youngest’s neck. Leo’s adorable laughter became wheezy as happy tears slowly started appearing in his eyes, “DAHAHAH— *snort* RAHAH— *snort* PLAHAHA *snort* EEEEEE!!!”

“IHIHI’M SAHARRY! IHI’M SAHA— *snort*! GUHUHUYS!!!” The slider snorted as he scrunched up his shoulders. 

Mikey hummed in thought, blowing a raspberry on his immediate older brother’s ribs, “Are you apologizing for insulting my crafts or are you apologizing for cussing us out?”

“BAHAH— *snort* BOHOTH! BOHOHOTH!!! PLAHA— *snort* GUHUYS!!”

“Okahay okay…” Michelangelo giggled, gesturing for his older brother’s to stop. The red eared slider mutant layed limp on the floor, curling in on himself as his brother’s sat next to him. The art loving turtle wrapped his brother in a tight hug which the second youngest couldn’t help but melt in through his tired giggles.

“Are you guys alright?! I heard screaming.” April quickly said as she walked into the lair, carrying a grocery bag full of candies and treats. The mutants almost immediately perked up at the sound of their sister’s arrival, going over and attacking her in huge bear hug.

The small human giggled at the gesture, hugging her brother’s back. “I’ll take that as a 'we’re fine and not dying a gruesome death.'” She concluded as she got out of the hug to put the candy bag down on the kitchen counter. “I mean…why was there screaming, though? I honestly thought you all were getting brutally murdered…”

Donnie raised a brow, looking over at his twin, “Wanna give April the inside scoop of what went down, Nardo?”

“I’m good.” The red eared slider said as he stuck a tongue out at his older twin, which the purple banded turtle had no problem copying back.

“Leo said my decorations were cheap and ugly.” The youngest said with dramatic flair, pointing at his Coraline cut-out’s. April’s eyed widened in shock, biting down her lip as he nodded, looking away from her youngest brother’s creation. “It looks great, Mike.” She giggled out, going to the kitchen counter to take out the candy as she was happily followed by Raphael.

“Woah woah!!! Get back here! I heard that laugh, Riri!” The orange banded turtle screeched, following along the elder siblings to the kitchen as he was followed by the middle siblings.

In all honesty…perhaps the Coraline themed Halloween decor wasn’t the worst idea’s Leo’s brother’s have had. 

Leonardo could always make a Great Pumpkin Halloween theme next year.

But that did not stop the leader in blue from sticking the pumpkin sticker he had on his pouch on the youngest’s shell without anyone noticing.

Well, besides Donnie— who chuckled lighlty at the gesture as the two twins made their way to the kitchen.

·̩̩̥͙＊*•̩̩͙✩•̩̩͙*˚𝙵𝙸𝙽˚*•̩̩͙✩•̩̩͙*˚＊·̩̩̥͙ 

(𝙿.𝚂.: 𝙸𝚏 𝚢𝚘𝚞 𝚎𝚗𝚓𝚘𝚢𝚎𝚍 𝚝𝚑𝚒𝚜 𝚏𝚒𝚌, 𝚙𝚕𝚎𝚊𝚜𝚎 𝚛𝚎𝚋𝚕𝚘𝚐!!!)

[baede-6]

I was inspired by @dredgen-dumbass to make my Hunter in Starfield.

Look at my sweet baby gunslingin' cinnamon roll. I wish so badly I could edit these and put her Hunter outfit and cloak on and put Sunshot/Ace of Spades in her hand.

This is a lot closer to what I've always imagined her looking like.♠️❤️

She's a space scoundrel, if anyone was wondering. It was either that or a bounty hunter. 😄 It took me a while to decide,because both sounded like they would suit her,but ultimately the Han Solo/Malcom Reynolds fan in me won out.

[eternalyoo]

“Gifts aren't meant for us to keep but to share with everyone.” - for @sunmiyane

Do not repost

[leafith]

A Scene From My Sky Fanfiction ... ✴️🗝️✨

Heyy, I know this is totally random but, on Quotev, I've made a survey where people could put their favorite scenes in my Sky: CotL Fanfiction, “Fly Until You See The Light” , and one of them already completed it. As a gift for my one year on that website, I wanted to make drawings (digital or traditional) of those scenes :')

One of them finished the survey, and the one above is one of the scenes (happy scene they asked for, because there is also a sad one lol).

I don't want to spoiler, and it's long to explain anyways. So, if you're interested, go and read that story and you'll discover what on Earth is a random spirit doing in the scene 😌

Uhm bye, I'm going to fade away for another pair of centuries 🤍🤍🤍 I love you all people

[revnah1406]

✨HAPPY BIRTHDAY @efingart!!!✨

Here's a little gift for you my dear!!💖

I found a beautiful render on twitter of Valeria and Alejandro (credits to the respective author of course✨) and I thought it could be the perfect reference for this drawing I had in mind!!

I keep working on how to draw Mila properly, I want to do her justice, as the gorgeous woman she is. I'll keep trying!!

I think Woods and Mila would be amazing models hahaha! So what if "Just What I Needed" is a Fashion Magazine Cover? 👀👀

Anyway, I hope you have the most wonderful day and an Amazing birthday!! 💖💕 you deserve everything good in this world! I'm so proud of you!

Love ya with all my heart!! 🥰🥰❤️

Little extra 💖

[powerful-niya]

Hello everyone! 👋🏽

How's life treating you? Been looking after yourselves? Missed me at all?

I'm sorry that I just ghosted you all. I just had to take a little break from social media, is all. Sometimes you just gotta step back and recharge, you know?

Anyway, let me just cut to the chase. I just posted a new Naruhina fanfic. Yes you heard me right. A New. Naruhina. Fanfic.

More specifically, a dark Naruhina fanfic.

Come check it out (link is here)

Like seriously haha.

Also, let me tell you briefly about what's going on with me during my hiatus.

Spring semester of college has started up for me, and let me tell you, it's been a real grind.

I've got fewer classes left before I graduate, but the workload hasn't lightened up one bit.

On top of that, I'm still involved in a bunch of clubs and working part-time, all while dealing with some personal and health issues. I've gotten sick two times already this year, and I even had to deal with a dental surgery not too long ago.

Life's been throwing a lot my way lately, but I haven't forgotten about you guys or my writing plans. Now that I'm back, I've got tons of stuff lined up, hot and ready to go!

I've put in the hours during my downtime, just writing a helluva lot. So get ready for some awesome content in the coming weeks!

I've missed interacting with all of you, so be sure to drop a comment and vibe with me.

Can't wait to catch up!

[sainz100]

2024 Abu Dhabi GP

[napping-sapphic]

Will personally fight the fireworks for waking up such a sleepy cutie. Wrapping you up in blankets and sending you some comfy noise canceling headphones in spirit

A HERO😭❤️❤️

Not to worry though i went right back to sleep after making that post actually and it was. Such. A good nap like i’m wistful just thinking about it💘

[greensagephase]

Happy New Year Alondra!!!! 🎉🎆 I wasn’t expecting a new year’s one-shot for Nonviolent Communication, this was a great surprise too!! Thank you for posting both for Christmas and New Years!!! this is a great start to my new year!! The beginning tho??!! 😭 I love when Peter shows up in the flashbacks but it’s so bittersweet every time- this quote right here: “If you try hard enough, you can almost feel Peter’s lips against yours; so sweet, so tender, so gentle… So Peter.” 🥺😭 (I’m good, so okay) and when it’s brought up now reader was alone on the New Years after Peters death, alone in their shared bed noooo 😭 and when reader goes to his gravestone??!! CRYING WHAT especially when reader imagines how he’d listen to her talk and say to her??!! 😭 but you just know that Peter is so happy for her, especially with having Miguel by her side now (I'm totally fine here)

I'll say this again and again but Miguel is so, so sweet, he's very caring!! Always helping reader when she brings something 🥺 and again when wants to be the one to cook and prepares their food for reader??!! I love him, truly- he’s so sweet I can’t 🥹❤️ but the mention of him visiting Conchata and Gabriel’s resting place, with the thought of Gabriella, I can't imagine New Years is easy for him, but I'm so happy he has reader by his side now!!- and when the record player is brought up and his eyes light up 🥹 plus the fact that he bought more records for himself and reader??! I love that we’re seeing Miguel do these acts for reader (because he wants to!!)! especially with healing and their friendship evolving because he really cares!!! Also is Miguel’s top love language acts of service? And the reoccurring “always” 🥹 I just love it so much!!! And seeing how excited Miguel gets when he talks about the records he bought makes me so happy!! He has a little hobby both him and reader can enjoy! And listening to music with Miguel sounds so nice!! you know the vibes were so relaxing.

Also I’m so happy that Miguel wanted to go to Miles’ universe so reader could be with the group and everyone!!! Miguel is making such amazing progress in his healing journey!!! It makes me so happy! And the fact he used “we”?!! plus how he assures reader he’s okay with it- and reader making sure he’s okay with it too?! I love these two!!! readers concern for him getting cold?? And his whole outfit with the coat, scarf, and mittens (gifted by reader) 😭 and readers thoughts at the sight of him- girl same, no literally!

And when Miguel grinning to himself when they're swinging on the rooftops in miles’ universe??! I'm imagining his expression and it's so cute!! And I can only imagine Noir and Spider ham’s faces seeing Miguel with reader on the rooftop 🤣 with Miguel’s neutral expression 😭 and when the group swings one by one to the rooftop 😭 and it’s a small part but they way you wrote Noir and Spider ham is perfect- I literally read their lines with their voices and loved it! But when Peter B. And Mary Jane pull reader aside- that whole conversation??!! You just KNOW what they’re thinking about reader and Miguel!!! (Okay and when Miguel’s brow furrows when he realizes you’re not near him??! 😭 reader really does bring him so much comfort!!) and I have to say it again you write Peter B’s lines so good!!! With all the mannerisms and pauses- how do you write other characters so well?! And he just cares so much for reader and Miguel, he’s a great friend 🥺 I can imagine how happy he feels for the two of them!

And SCREAMING!!! ABSOLUTELY SCREAMING when Miguel wraps his scarf around readers neck!!! OMG THAT’S-HE’S I can’t even think straight I don’t know why but that part really got me. The way he cares for reader so much!!! When reader moves away, only to realize a little later Miguel moved closer- on purpose- to block the cold??!!! THIS MAN!!! (and omg I just had to mention I love flan, one of my favorite desserts, it’s dangerous- now I really want to get some- and with some café de olla?! yes) but Miles’ wide eyes when Miguel shows a hint of a smile- adorable!!! BUT OMG Mr. and Mrs. Morales conversation watching reader and Miguel on the rooftop?!? Time will definitely tell 🤭

When readers reflects back on her years alone after Peter passed to now, and starts to tear up, it really made me tear up too, what a massive difference to the years before, and a only a year into working in the spider society too? Having so many amazing new friends?! I’m so happy for reader, the progress both her and Miguel have made, I'll say it again and again, it makes me so happy!!! When Miguel notices right away the concern he has, the heartache he felt seeing reader like this, how he wishes he could take the pain away if he could?!?! 😭😭😭 I’m really crying here!!! How he also wishes he could dry her tears with his hands??!! BUT WHEN HE GRABS THE SCARF HE GAVE AND GENTLY DABS IT ON HER FACE TO DRY HER TEARS??!!! SCREAMING FROM THE MOUNTAINTOPS!!!!! I AM GOING TO THINK ABOUT THIS FOR A LONG TIME!!! This is such a huge moment for Miguel!!! I’ve said this before but I’m so happy he’s the one to initiate these gestures!!! His red cheeks tho??!! And when he deflects the snowball from Mayday- omg the look he must’ve given Peter… and the idea that they’ll help mentor Mayday as she gets older!! No that’s so cute!! When Mayday flies out of readers arms to Miguel and slides on the “2024” glasses!!! 😂🤣 the image I have in my mind of that omg that’s hilarious and so adorable!!! but when everyone tries not to laugh but Miguel gives everyone that look, you know that one eyebrow raise could make a whole room go silent 😭 the photo Lyla took of reader, Miguel and mayday with the glasses tho!! (Ok only reader could make Miguel grin even in a situation like this) Ahh!! And I just wanna draw that out so badly!!! That’s so adorable!!! And ok Lyla- new photo album?? Still wondering about that first one (that's totally appropriate) right? 👀 and AGAIN with the thermos- reader wanting to respect his boundaries with physical touch- only for this man to wrap his pinky around your finger again, even taking his mitten off to do it??!! I swear this man!! And the ending…. Alondra how it comes to a full circle?!?! Reader accidentally pulling Miguel’s scarf, only to fall asleep not long after, inhaling Miguel’s scent, probably because it also brings reader so much comfort??!!!?? WHAT!! You’re a genius, I swear!!!

Really, thank you so much Alondra for writing this New Years one-shot for NC!!! I can’t thank you enough!!! I feel like I sound so repetitive sometimes but I really mean it when I say I’m so thankful I found your story on here and have the chance to interact with you and… the rest is history!!! I’m so excited for the new year and what it will bring. I am also excited to read more of your stories, make more fanart for NC, and of course interact with you when we can!!! I can’t begin to explain how much all this means to me, it’s truly amazing. 🥺 You’re a wonderful and sweet person Alondra, I’m so happy we’re moots!!! I wish you and your family an amazing new year filled with so many happy memories, positivity, and blessings. ❤️ I hope you had a wonderful time with family bringing in the new year!!! I wish you an amazing start to the new year Alondra!!! Always rooting for you and wishing you the best, friend!!!! ❤️✨❤️

Happy New Year, @sunsetdoodler !!! 🎉🎆❤️ I'm so happy that I surprised you guys! I was initially going to write a single one-shot that included both Christmas and New Year's, but once I saw how long the Christmas portion was and the time, I decided to split it and I'm glad because I got to include the beginning of the New Year's one-shot with Peter! Also, I'm so sorry for how long this is going to get! This is probably the longest response I've ever written!! 😭

Peter's part wasn't even in my plans! When I was writing the Christmas one-shot and thinking of keeping everything in one piece, all I had for the New Year's portion was Miguel with the 2024 glasses scene and reader reflecting on her years of solitude with Miguel comforting her. The Peter scene truly came out of nowhere and then I started to think about how I've never written a scene of reader at the cemetery. It's always just mentioned that she was there earlier or has plans to go later, but there hasn't been any scene of her actually there, so I thought to myself, "You know what? Why not add a little bit of Peter here?" And then I did it 😭 And omg THIS PART “If you try hard enough, you can almost feel Peter’s lips against yours; so sweet, so tender, so gentle… So Peter.” nO the way I typed that and I just stared at my screen like -

Totally okay... never mind! It's funny and probably stupid how I make myself feel sometimes with my own writing but I wasn't okay with that part at all!! Also, the part about reader imagining Peter listening and talking back to her 😭😭 I had that idea on my mind forever and once I started writing this portion of the one-shot, I was like, "this is my chance to include it!!" So yeah, it's funny that this wasn't even planned initially but it panned out at the end and I got to include Peter just a little bit!! 🥺

Yes, omg, Miguel is so sweet!! I genuinely love being able to write these parts with Miguel feeling more and more comfortable showing this side of him. Even if it's just minor gestures, I think it really shows that he cares and I just love thinking of him as the kind of man - a gentleman - that helps with the bag and helps her take off her coat - kind of like how Peter was with reader to be honest 😭 The mention of Miguel visiting Conchata and Gabriel's resting place was also not initially planned out but once again, I thought how I've never mentioned Miguel doing that but I think he definitely visits them and changes their flowers and cleans their graves, and if he could, he'd do it for Gabriella and his wife, too (I'm okay, really!!). Omg, his eyes lighting up at the mention of the record player - this is definitely their shared hobby now, so the record player will continue to be mentioned! Also, him getting so excited over the records he bought (and him buying some for reader!!!!!! screaming!!) - I love having Miguel be happy even over small things. He deserves it!! 😭 Regarding Miguel's love language 👀 in my opinion, his top love language is physical touch but right now he's still going through his loss and grief, so he can't express it (later on he will tho 🥺). His next love language is definitely acts of service though (in my opinion), so that's why we see him do all these things to express how he feels! Also, chilling with Miguel and listening to music - it truly sounds so relaxing!! Just imagining it right now and 🥹 I need it!

Miguel suggesting they go to Miles's universe!! I was wondering if this was too soon but then I thought about the Thanksgiving one-shot. I felt like he genuinely enjoyed their company that day on top of the fact that he loved seeing reader happy that she could be with everyone and decided he could at least give it a shot and take one more step in his healing journey before the year ended. I'm truly so happy about him and his progress, and can't wait to get more into it! I really hope you guys like it! Omg, Miguel using "we" - no, I was like "AHHHH! He said 'WE' and not 'you' omg" (I get too excited like I didn't plan this out but I just LOVE seeing Miguel's progress). Also, reader wanting to make sure he was okay with it and Miguel reassuring her - no, I love them so much, too!! I always want to highlight how understanding and respectful they are of each other!! Also, reader being worried about him being cold (my little foreshadowing of Miguel doing the same later on, hehe) and her just staring when she sees him in his attire - RIGHT? I just - the way I was imagining him in his coat, scarf, and mittens (the way he's using them already 🥺) and looking so cozy and cute and - !! I thought this was something we could all relate to, haha!!

Miguel grinning as they swing through the city to Miles's building - I was thinking of that scene with Gwen and Miles in ATSV when they're doing the "thread the needle" and other moves!! I like the idea of Miguel and reader having fun and swinging in some universe one day in the future, so this was my little nod to that idea. I don't know if I'll ever have them do that in the future (maybe I will as a self-treat, hehe) but for now there's that little part and I really like Miguel enjoying this moment! Omg 🤣🤣 the way I pictured everyone staring across the rooftop at Miguel and reader - I wish I could draw so I could've drawn it because it's so funny in my head!! And then Miguel just staring back with a neutral look on his face 💀 it killed me to imagine this!! Also, Noir and Spider-Ham's lines - the way I actually took some time to think about this and played around with different words for Noir especially to see what sounded most accurate with the way he talks. I'm glad you think their lines were in character!! It makes me feel that it was worth spending (maybe too much) time on their lines, haha!! Lol Peter B. and Mary Jane pulling reader away and their short interaction with her - let me just say that the Parker's ✨talk✨ and I'm gonna leave it at that!! No because Miguel's eyebrows furrowing when he realizes reader is no longer there, please tell me why I was dying over that?? But truly, omg!! He finds SO MUCH comfort in reader. As mentioned in the story, reader's existence alone is comforting to Miguel 😭 I'm okay, I promise I'm not crying- yes, I am but let's pretend I'm not, okay? But THANK YOU!! It makes me very happy that you think I write the other characters' lines well. As I said, I probably spend too much time on their lines when it's just one or two, but with Peter B. making more appearances in these one-shots, I've even paused to think of how he moves and such, down to the pauses as you mentioned. I'm probably being extra but I do feel some satisfaction knowing their lines are somewhat true to their character in the film, so thank you for the sweet words about this!! And yes, Peter B. just loves these two so much!! You can tell he really wishes the best for them and wants to see them move forward and be happy despite their losses in the past 🥺

MIGUEL PLACING HIS SCARF AROUND READER - LET ME JUST TAKE A MOMENT - okay, I'm better now!! I was SCREAMING to say the least!! HE CARES SO MUCH AND SJIDJKS, such a big move on his end to be honest, and then him shielding her from the cold!!!! HE IS SO SWEET!!!! Just another sign of how much he cares about reader and how he always seems to pay attention to her. Also, I LOVE flan and I know what you mean - it's a dangerous game when flan is involved - IT'S TOO GOOD and then throw cafe de olla into the mix? If anyone ever wants to kidnap me, that's the way to get me 🤣 but omg MILES'S WIDE EYES!!! I just imagined how excited he was on the inside with Miguel's hint of a smile on top of the fact that Miguel has continuously called him mijo more and more!! Also, I loved including Mr. and Mrs. Morales's conversation. I thought it would be a funny callback to the previous holiday season when they first asked reader if she could take food to Miguel because she and Miguel were "something" according to Miles and Gwen, and reader explaining they're just friends to clarify, but one year later, the Morales are watching them and let's just say they, too, have their ✨talks✨ like the Parker's. They're all probably in agreeance that time will tell (most definitely, hehe)!! 🤭

Reader reflecting on the previous years when she was alone - I'm not even joking but I was in the shower when I came up with this part and I started crying 😭 I'm so happy that reader is surrounded by amazing people that love and support her, that she has a little family again!! And I love that Miguel is also starting to accept this little family that he hasn't realize has always tried to be there for him. I'm just so happy for the two of them. Not only do they have each other, but also this little family (I'm okay, not gonna cry about this but) to rely on!! But then we get to reader crying and Miguel immediately noticing, because this man always has eyes on her!! I was just like "omg, omg, omg" that whole part about Miguel feeling heartache for her and wanting to take her sadness and make it his own so she doesn't feel it (THE WAY THEY LOVE EACH OTHER SO MUCH I- the way they always want to give up something so the other is happy and not hurting 😭) and he wants to dry her tears but it's still too much for Miguel even though he's trying, so what's the next best thing? HIS SCARF!!! I just wanted this moment to show even more how much Miguel cares and feels for reader, so much that he's willing and capable of pushing past his own boundaries to comfort her in this moment, even if she's crying "happy tears" - how gently he does it, too, like the soft and gentle giant he is 🥺🥺🥺(the way I was covering my mouth trying not to hyperventilate while writing this part -😭🤣 but soft Miguel always has me on my feels)!! And you and me both WILL BE THINKING ABOUT THIS FOR A LONG TIME!, trust me!!!

Also, YES, I love Miguel being the one to initiate these gestures!!! I always want Miguel to take his time and not feel pressured. So far, all his gestures have been because he wants to express comfort, not because he's being rushed or bullied into it, so that's why it's always him who initiates and that's how it's going to keep going until we get to... that's a spoiler, so never mind, we'll have to wait for future parts but 😭😭 This whole part lowkey had me thinking about the song "Nonviolent Communication" and the lyrics: "takin' chances, takin' risks for you" - !!!! 🥲

Hehe, his red cheeks (SCREAMING)!! 🤭 You know I love blushing Miguel, so I just had to!! And omg when he deflects Mayday's snowball and the way he says Peter - plus, the look Miguel gave him!!! Probably something like a mild angry pout that screamed, "Seriously, Peter? Can you please watch out?" because Miguel doesn't want reader to be hurt, even by a snowball 🥺 (totally okay about this...! This entire one-shot got me repeating this but I'm actually not okay)!! His comment about mentoring Mayday - please, I was just like AHH - it's so cute but also a sign he's okay with being around Mayday as she grows up when in the past he has found it difficult 😭 PROGRESS!! The part with Mayday sliding on the 2024 glasses - the way I had that in my mind from the moment the Christmas part started forming in my head!! I thought it was so cute and funny, and when everyone was trying not to laugh and ended up moving to the edge of the rooftop once Miguel raised that eyebrow - definitely the kind that makes a room go silent - it was too funny!! But I just love how reader is so comfortable with him that she didn't feel the need to hide her own smile and then on top of that, Miguel ended up smiling once he saw her smiling. Reader is really the only one that can get him to smile in such a situation, truly!! AND OMG, I WOULD LOVE TO SEE THIS PART DRAWN!!! IT WOULD BE SO CUTE 🥺 if you do, tag me as always ❤️ omg, Lyla's photo album 🤣 totally appropriate... or so she says, but I'm still wondering what kind of photos she's storing and why Miguel can't find the file! The THERMOS SCENE - the way this man gave reader the thermos for this purpose alone. He stood there and watched everyone give reader a hug for the new year, silently thinking about it and then decided on giving his own little version of a hug, finding the best time to do it when everyone else is on the other rooftop and the Parker's are not paying attention!! And the way he took his mitten off to do it, CRYING!!

The ending with Miguel's scarf omg !!! YES, FULL CIRCLE!! It was also a little callback to part three where reader talks about Peter's scent and how much comfort and peace she found in it. She hasn't even fully realized it but she finds comfort in Miguel's scent, too 😭I'm glad you liked this little detail!!!

And omg, you don't have to thank me for writing it, I wanted to for you guys and for myself, too!! We all need some soft Miguel content especially for the holidays, but THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR THE SWEET AND KIND WORDS!!! 🥹🥹 I'm so thankful that we've become moots and now we're here!! So, so thankful for it!! ❤️ And I'm so excited for this year - in Peter B.'s words "I have a good feeling about this year" - and I'm so excited to continue to see more of your art and share more writing works, and continue to interact with you!!! Our little conversations do mean so much to me!!!!! 🥺🥺 You're such a sweet, kind, and wonderful person @sunsetdoodler and it's been such a pleasure having you as a moot and interacting with you!!!!!! At the beginning of last year, I never thought I'd be on here, but I'm so happy I got to spend my last half of the year here with you guys!!! ❤️ Thank you so much for the sweet wishes, too!!! I hope you and your family are having an amazing and positive start to this new year and that you've relaxing and taking it easy after your semester!!! I wish you and your family nothing but blessings, positive moments, and that all your goals and wishes become a reality!!!! As always, I'm rooting for you and wishing you the best, friend!!!!! ❤️✨❤️

P.S. I'm still trying to respond to your previous ask on the Christmas one-shot and part 11 fanart but these past few days really went by in the blink of an eye!!! Did you get your Spider-Man 2099 action figure? 👀

-Alondra

[candied-cae]

And Who Are We At The End Of The World? - Time Flies Until It Hits The Fan

Chapter 20/? - - - Read it on AO3

[1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8] [9] [10] [11] [12] [13] [14] [15] [16] [17] [18] [19] [20]

Word Count: 10,048

Summary: Over the next few weeks, things start adjusting. Eddie and Nancy get together to plan how he'll defeat Ms. O'Donnell's Final Essay, and end up talking about some much more important things. Many different things and people across Hawkins shift around and in the end Jonathan and Nancy's relationship comes to a head.

Something has to change.

More ST Fics

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And time started to move on. Days passed by in faster succession than it felt like they had in the days of catching the fallout. They were in a rhythm that felt more like the normal world than anything really had. Nancy kept taking the time to stop by the Family Video most days. Always to return one tape and make her new pick from the comedy display. Never really even looking at any other genre.

It was helping, so she wasn't going to mess with the formula.

And she also had plans that following Friday.

Nancy and Eddie decided to meet in the library for their free period at the end of the day. Eddie caught up with her by her locker and they walked down to the end of the building together. A couple of pairs of eyes noticed, watching them make their way around the school. They were the writer of a major news story and the subject of said story, they all couldn't help but be intrigued by what those two were up to again.

Even the librarian made a bit of a face when he saw them enter side-by-side and mark off one of the study rooms on the check-in sheet. But they didn't really mind much. The two of them just went ahead and tucked into the privacy of a door and four walls, shuttering the blinds down over the window, and took their seats around the circular table.

Eddie started unpacking stuff from his bag and Nancy did the same. He pulled out a report card and a list of assignments he put together. Nancy got herself a spiral notebook and pen, ready to make notes and get a course of action set up.

They looked over his grades together. Most of which were pretty good, with various B's, a couple C's, and even an A- with the drama teacher. Well, pretty good grades except for the bane of his existence. Ms. O'Donnell's English Lit. Which currently sat with a D. Technically, it was barely passing. But if the final didn't hold that grade there, or higher, it was going to end his year as a fail in the grade books. Again.

It was probably a sore spot, but they needed to address that hurdle head-on.

Nancy blew out some air between her lips, twiddling the pen between her fingers, and tried to say it gently,“ So, why haven’t you passed it yet?”

She wasn't being judgy. She wasn't being mean. She just needed to know what the difficulty was and what was getting in his way if they were going to draw up a battle plan together. She needed to know what was going on so they could deal with it.

Eddie leaned back in his seat. Might've been avoiding eye contact for a moment.

“Cause she keeps failing me. Thought that was pretty obvious.”

“Okay, fine, but why? If you do the assignments well enough then she’d have no choice but to pass you, even if she doesn't want to. Otherwise, you would've had grounds to report it to the principal and gotten her grades overruled.” she reasoned. “But you didn't do that. So? What is it?”

“I don’t.”

Which was a pretty nothing statement.

“Don't what?” she pushed for more clarity.

“Don't do the assignments well enough.”

Nancy's head fell to the side,“ Why?”

“Not smart enough?” He crossed his arms around himself tighter. “Next question.”

But she just frowned at the idea. It didn't add up, and she wouldn't be fooled.

“Nope. No way am I buying that.”

That got him to look at her. “Excuse me?” he blinked.

“You’re excused,” she said, a little patronizingly. He might've laughed if he wasn't confused.

“No, what do you mean by 'you’re not buying that’?”

“I’m not.”

“Why not?”

“Because you’re smart.”

And she said it like it was the obvious conclusion to draw.

Eddie just raised his eyebrows and asked,“ Do I look like a mirror to you, Wheeler?”

She rolled her eyes. And for a second, Eddie thought he was going to get a chuckle out of her. But she sat there with a serious face. Focused on making her point.

“Eddie, I have heard your vocabulary. I know that you’re an avid reader who plays an instrument. You manage those DnD sessions in both the planning ahead of time and improvising as it runs. You’re headstrong and a creative problem solver. All of which are things that point to you being very smart. So I'm really struggling to believe an essay you tried on wouldn’t be good enough.”

She leveled him pretty quickly, all things considered. Eddie almost felt like he'd just been made a subject of Nancy Wheeler's journalistic investigation for a second time.

“And I just saw your other grades, not a minefield of F's like you made it out to be. So, what is it? Do you just not try on your finals for her out of spite or something?”

“No.”

“Because I'd get that. Might say it's a little self-sabotage-y and immature. But I'd get it. And that's something we can decide to not let you do this time around-”

“I tried,” he answered honestly.

“Then what happened? I’d get that maybe the first time through, it might’ve been really hard, but if you tried on the last essay knowing what to expect then I don’t understand how you couldn’t-”

“I didn’t turn it in,” he said abruptly.

And that was certainly an answer.

Nancy got quieter when she asked,“ What?”

“I tried really hard on the last one. I spent weeks on her final essay. And then I… I didn’t turn it in.”

“Why not?”

There was this hesitation. Eddie looked at his hands. At the black painted fingernails Robin and El left him with. At the chipped-off flecks that had occurred during the usual wear and tear of his day not being gentle with his hands. Little pale pink spots of his skin showed through. He brought his thumb to the edge of the lacquer on a forefinger and started to pick at it.

“My first senior year wasn’t a good one.” he eventually said, keeping his eyes stuck on the task he'd set,” I didn't focus and blew a lot of it off. There was more than one class I needed to improve my grade in to graduate. But the last assignment I did that year was Mrs. O’Donnell’s essay. I wrote a paper and it wasn’t good, I'll admit that. I pushed it off because I got mad every time I tried to do it, so it became a rush job at the last minute. Whatever.”

Eddie shook his head. His hair moved around his head as he did. Catching on his shoulders and crowding in further around his face. Closing him in. And Nancy watched him carefully. Her eyes studied the guy sitting next to her. She could tell there was more to say. So she waited for him.

He took a deep breath. Puffed out his lungs like he was winding up to bite the bullet.

“But after I turned it in, before the bell rang for me to go to my next class, I got called to the principal’s office. Um-” he bit his lip,” They called to tell me that… that my dad died.”

Nancy immediately felt terrible. Her stomach dropped and her mouth fell open,” Eddie, I-”

There was a hurt sort of laugh that came from him. Just a defeated huff in the face of what he was saying. What he was remembering.

“It wasn’t so seriously sad like how I think losing your dad is supposed to hit you.” he clarified,” I mean, he was practically a stranger to me, so it mostly just made me feel numb-” he swallowed hard,” And weird. They let me take the rest of the day off to go home. I did. Took a couple of them off. And I don’t know- I just- Later, when I came back to class, I had failed the essay. So I just didn’t turn anything else in after that. In any of my classes. I guess I kind of just gave up on all of it.”

“That’s when I started buying off Reefer Rick more. And that summer, after the rest of my class graduated without me, was when I started dealing for him. I decided it was my best bet to have any cash and something to do. And that fall, I wanted to graduate. I really wanted out. I tried harder during the school year. Did fine enough in all the other classes. But always with Ms. O’Donnell… Every time I sat in her classroom, I’d remember ‘Here’s where I was the last time I thought my dad was alive.’ I didn’t focus well. Always got high at lunch right before I went in. And still, I told myself I was going to write a killer essay and pass enough to get out of there. I worked so hard on it. And when I tried to hand it in… I just froze.”

Eddie's fingers stopped moving. He wasn't casting little specks of nail polish onto the carpet anymore. He was just clenching his hands together, tightly. Looking at nothing and seeing everything that Nancy didn't.

His voice sounded so vacant as he remembered,“ And I thought ‘What if it’s not good enough again? What if I turn in another bad essay and something worse happens this year? What if I lose Wayne?’ And…”

Eddie's voice hitched. He looked up into Nancy's eyes after the sentence broke in his throat. For the first time since he got started, she could see what was happening in those deep browns. He wasn't full-on crying, but there were tears sitting on the edge. Just enough to communicate a kind of pain and fear that was all too real.

“And I know that’s stupid,” he explained. ”Some essay doesn’t decide whether or not people live or die, I know that. But, then she got to my desk. To the kid who failed last year, to the kid who never paid attention to her lessons, who came in faded the whole semester, who everyone assumed was going to turn out just like his dad, in and out of prison until he died, locked up and alone- And she asked if I did the assignment. And I had started pulling it out before she got there because I thought I was going to be fine, but when she said that I shoved the paper back in my bag. Said ‘No. I didn’t.’ and I walked right out in the middle of class. Didn't even get in my van, I just kept walking till I was off school grounds. ”

“Eddie…” she wasn't sure what else to say.

Maybe, if she didn’t know any better, she’d have started mindlessly blabbing a dozen I’m-so-sorrys. Maybe she'd have cried a bucket of sympathy tears because his tragedy was so hard for her to hear. Maybe Nancy would've wrapped him in a hug and told him it was going to be alright.

A promise she was in no position to make.

But Nancy knew better. Maybe not exactly how it felt to lose a semi-estranged father. But she knew how it felt to be living your life and suddenly the whole ground has fallen out from under your feet because someone you loved died, scared and alone, while you didn’t know any better. She knew that part. She knew how it took her over in the strangest ways she never anticipated.

And so, she didn’t know what to say. Because, to that day, Nancy still didn’t know what she wanted to hear after Barb died. She could never figure out that part. What words could have possibly made it hurt even a little bit less? She still had no idea what they might've been.

Eddie just tried to blink away his misty eyes,“ Anyway. That’s the big story. That’s why I’m still here.”

He pulled on a smile. A pretty insincere looking one. The kind a person wears to make sure no one talks about it. To change the subject and move on.

Nancy recognized it pretty well.

“Do you still have the other essay?” she asked him instead.

Giving him what he asked for without words. Hoping he could see that she was more than happy to follow him if he wanted to talk about it. But it didn't feel like he wanted to unpack anymore in one of the library study rooms.

“Heh, no. I dropped it in a burn pile at the trailer park on my way home.” he admitted, until it looked like an idea came to him,“ But, I do still have the notebook I worked on it in… and the rough draft… probably.”

“Okay. Then it’s a deal. Next time we meet, you are going to bring me that notebook and we’re going to remake the amazing essay you should’ve turned in last year, and we’ll work through the other few assignments she might dole out between now and then. And then you’re going to graduate. With the rest of us, Class of '86-ers.” Nancy said with pride.

Eddie commented,“ You’ve got a lot of faith for a paper you didn’t even read the last attempt on.”

“What can I say?” she shrugged,” I believe in you, Eddie Munson.”

“Nancy Wheeler…” he looked at her like she was a divine blessing,” You’re an enigma, you know that?” Eddie wiped at his eyes some, trying to get them back to normal,” I can’t believe I just spilled all of that to you. I do not talk to people about my dad. Like, ever. Blegh. That was weird.”

Nancy just smiled. She reached out with her elbow and bumped his. “It’s what comes when you face hell together with someone. You end up sharing some of the other fucked up stuff about your lives too.”

Eddie smiled back at her. More real that time. And then the school bell rang over the intercom system. Students were officially let out. The two of them started packing up their things. Slipping the straps of their bags over their shoulders. Nancy was just reaching to pull out her car keys when an idea came to her.

“Are you doing anything later?”

Eddie thought for a moment,“ Corroded Coffin's got a band rehearsal tomorrow, but, no, nothing today. Why?”

“Then, how would you like a little trip to the Wheeler's? Don't have to stay for dinner - I wouldn't recommend for anyone who doesn't have to, sit there and deal with Ted Wheeler's table manners - but there's absolutely snacks in it for you before then.”

And Eddie’s eyes shone with another smile. “Sounds like another great deal. I think I'll take you up on that, Nan.”

“Ew, what am I, your grandmother?”

“I’m just trying something new! Now that we’ve leveled up our friendship with some tears at the library.”

It didn't take long for them to make it out of the school and get on the road, most of the students waited around on Fridays making plans before they took off. So Nancy got into the station wagon and, once he was behind her, Eddie followed her on the way over. Leading him right up to the Wheeler's front door. Eddie was let into the home with a warm welcome from Nancy's mother. Karen hung her head from the kitchen when they came in. An expression of surprise painted over her face when she realized it wasn't Mike trailing behind his older sister into the living room.

“Oh. Hello, Eddie.”

“Hello, Mrs. Wheeler.”

She wasn't too worried. Ever since Will and El got back to town, Mike and the others have been riding his bike to and from school most days again versus stowing away in Nancy's passenger seat. Plus, it was nice seeing Nancy bring someone by the house after school again. That hasn't really happened since…

Nancy quickly made for the pantry,“ We're just gonna grab some snacks and head upstairs.”

“Okay.” Karen nodded softly. Mentally hoping not to spook Nancy or her guest off. Seeing as it was something she's just got the nerve to have again. “I take it all the boys and El are back helping at the Cabin again?”

“Probably. They were all by the bike racks when we got out. Waved when I pulled away and everything.”

“Alright. Just keep an ear out if Mike needs to get picked up later.”

“Got it.” Nancy already had some treats stacked up in her arms when she turned around to ask,” Are there any brownies left?”

Karen motioned to the nearly empty container on the oven top,“ Just the corner pieces.”

“Score. I will take that one.” Eddie delightedly remarked.

“Oh? Finally, we've found someone that won't turn their nose up at the extra chewy edges.”

“Absolutely not.” he assured her,” The corners have always been my favorites.”

“Alright then. You've just earned yourself a standing invitation whenever I need help clearing leftovers. What else do you eat?” Karen started.

But Nancy dropped the items from her hands into Eddie's and then got him turned around. Started pushing him back towards the stairs. She excused them over her shoulder as they made their way up,“ We just came from the library essay planning, can't lose this momentum, Mom.”

“Okay, okay. You're free to go. Just keep it down, I'm expecting a phone call from Mrs. Peterson in a bit.”

“Got it.”

The two newfound pals shuffled up the staircase and into the second-floor hall. Nancy ushered Eddie to her door like they had anything to really be running from. He was laughing a little at her dramatics when they got inside. Spilling the sweets and salty morsels onto her bed, watching the soda cans bounce off the softness of it and crinkle against the plastic bags.

Eddie was the last one to see it, now that it was finally his turn to look upon the room. Well, the 1986, right-side-up version. He saw the 1983 upside-down one already. But that had, of course, been outdated and covered in dust and decay.

The one in the real world was remarkably nicer to look at. There were still frilly curtains and pink all over, but she also had a Tom Cruise poster and Blondie cassettes, and a shoebox with two handguns in the closet he was privy to.

Night and day, in some of the strangest ways.

It wasn't only Eddie's first time in Nancy Wheeler's real bedroom, it was actually his first time in any girl's bedroom.

Getting into one had never been a focus of his before. And it wasn't even then, not in the way most boys meant it. But Eddie wasn't most boys. Just like Nancy wasn't most girls.

They'd talked for a little while. On and on about nothing really. Nothing really important or deeply cutting. Just the smaller, surface-level things. Eddie's favorite color was red, and despite present appearances, Nancy's was blue. But more like a powder blue than a cobalt, she specified. Eddie said he liked his reds more ruby than orange-ish.

He asked how much she really liked Top Gun to have sprung for the poster for it. She laughed so hard she snorted. Her hand flew to her face to cover her nose and he just pushed and pushed. She threatened to break into what was left of his room so she could make fun of whatever posters he had on his wall. He might've begged her not to, while also insisting he had nothing that was possible to make fun of. Because all his stuff was cool. Even if people didn't get it, they just weren't cool enough for it.

That would've been his defense if she took him up on the challenge anyway.

He'd looked at this little, plush thing she had hanging on the wall. Like a girly kind of corkboard to pin and hang stuff off of. With fabric and ribbons on it to make it pretty. And it held up pictures and handwritten notes. Sentimental stuff.

She'd followed his eyes. Seen it. Knew what sort of stuff used to be presented on it. Until she took them down and tucked them safely into her bedside drawer because it got too hard to look at all the time.

The energy shifted in the room when Nancy abruptly said,” Barb was my best friend, you know.”

Truth be told, Eddie didn't really know. He barely knew Nancy until his life went to hell. He noticed years before that a boy went missing, and then a girl went missing, and the boy came back, and the girl didn't. He knew that about a year later all that news about government experiments and cover-up came from their very backyard. He'd heard that the missing girl became a dead girl because of it. But he didn't really know much beyond that.

Wasn't wrapped up in much of Barbara Holland's business before.

Didn't know who her best friend was, or that he'd come to know her pretty well himself.

“Yeah?” he offered anyway. He didn't know, but she could tell him about it.

“Yeah. She died back when everything started.” She swallowed hard. Curled her fingers into a fist. “I didn't find out anything was wrong until the next day. And even then, nobody wanted to listen to me. It drove me crazy.”

It sounded heartbreaking. “I can only imagine,” he told her.

“But even after, months after, I went sort of off the rails in my own way sometimes too.” And he started to see where she was going with it. “I thought I saw her sometimes. Like out of the corner of my eyes, around the halls at school. If I looked at the back of Ellen Brady's head too long. They sort of had the same hair. Went to a party and tried a little too hard to pretend I was okay.”

She sort of knew what it was like. Losing someone all of a sudden. Having trouble getting back to “life as usual.” And she was telling him that she got it a little.

“Yeah. Happens to the best of us, I guess. Can't see it coming, and then it does and…”

He didn't really finish the thought. Wasn't even quite sure where it was going. But Nancy picked back up. Seeming to know more of what she wanted to say than he did.

“Only happens sometimes to me, though. Never long enough to get stuck.” She sympathized,“ I never really found myself lucky for handling it as well as it did to stay on track with school, at least. I was always so focused on the hurting part.”

“Well, that's probably because it hurts. A lot. And often.” Eddie's eyes darkened as he looked away,“ And it's lonely.”

Nancy held her attention on him. On his bouncing knee. Like Mike did when he was thinking too much.

She agreed,“ It is. Because no one else really got it. No one cared about Barb like I did. And Will came back for Mike. No one around me ever lost a friend like that. So I was just… alone. Feeling it.”

“I was serious when I said I never talk about my dad with people. I'm not sure if most of my friends even knew he was ever in prison. And I didn't say anything after he died. I was just… fucked up all of a sudden. And that was that.”

He looked back at her. It wasn't the same in that way for Nancy and she knew it.

“Everyone knew something was up with Barb. And the people in the know knew what actually happened. I felt like I was always surrounded by it, and under an NDA so I wasn't supposed to talk about it, but I needed to. Or wanted to. Or just wanted to not need to.”

Eddie just watched her. He could see there was something else brewing under her skin. Something she was getting to that must torture her all the time. Even still.

“And that felt impossible,” she admitted,” But the worst part was probably that we had been so close, and then… we started to get some distance. There were disagreements and tension and not-quite-fights. Walking away. I told her to leave. And then she was actually gone.”

Ah. The regret. The kind that was way worse than not appreciating enough. It felt like not appreciating at all. Even though they did. They did appreciate their people in some ways. But life happens. Things change and feelings get coiled up into infuriating knots. And then people die. At seemingly the worst time. Right before a reconciliation could've happened. Should've happened.

It sparked a memory in him.

“The last time my dad went in… I asked him if he was even trying to stay out. Asked if he preferred having an excuse and being locked up versus being out in the world and having to actually get to know me. Asked him why he and Wayne didn't just lie about which brother was my father since it would've been simpler the other way around.”

He looked back on that day often. Hated how it all shook out. Wished he was someone who could've swallowed that anger instead of spitting it out.

“And I felt like shit a while after I said it. But I didn't want to apologize because I definitely still felt some of it. So I didn't call as much as I used to. And then it wasn't an option anymore.” Eddie sucked in a sharp breath through his teeth,“ It sucks so much more to have been putting that distance in right before…”

“Yeah,” she agreed. For the first time having someone get it. Get that part that always made her feel crazy. Like a cruel, selfish bitch. “It feels like… 'Why couldn't I have at least been nice? Even if I couldn't have stopped it, couldn't I have at least been better to them? If I knew what was going to happen, I would've. I'm not a bad person who wanted to hurt them in the time they had left. I swear, I'm not.' But that's how it happened anyway.”

Eddie shook his head. “But it wasn't your fault. Teens say stupid shit and get in stupid fights. She had to know things were supposed to get better between you two. If there was just a little more time after the dust settled.”

“Same goes for you, you know. Parents know that kids get frustrated and blow up sometimes. He knew that you didn't… hate him, or anything like that. Had to know you wanted to apologize.”

“Yeah. Wayne said that kind of thing to me lots. Never really bought it though.”

“Did you guys have good memories?” Nancy cocked her head to the side. A little crease appeared between her brows after she asked. Listening. Intently.

“Most of them were messy, one way or another. This one time he 'borrowed' a neighbor's kiddie pool and didn't tell me no when I said we should put food coloring in the water. They never found out who stained it purple.” Eddie chuckled to himself, picturing it happen all over again. “And he knew the reason I wanted to start learning guitar was because of a picture I saw of him playing one by a bonfire. He bought my first one while he was out for a bit. Showed me some of the chords before he slipped up again.”

“That sounds nice.”

“It was.”

“Is.” she corrected him,” The memories aren't going anywhere.”

Eddie let the idea soak in a second before he decided,“ No. Guess they aren't.”

They kept talking after that. But, eventually, they had to get Eddie out of there before Ted got home and made a big fuss about everything. Complaining about missing corner pieces even though he was never going to eat them, it usually came down to Mike. Throw a fit at the dinner table about “unsavory company" to have under his roof. Stuff like that.

Nancy offered to let him crawl out the window and scale the gutter to get out. He just joked that he'd leave that business to her boyfriends of past and present. Went down the stairs, stopped to say goodbye to her mom and put the container in the sink, and went out the door. Got into his van and headed for the video store. There was probably someone he ought to annoy hanging around there. Even though it was later than usual.

Eddie and Nancy continued to meet up once or twice every week to tackle schoolwork and the big essay. And sometimes just to talk shit about anything and everything. They ended up getting along better than anyone had really planned for. Karen also appreciated having another set of hands around to entertain Holly sometimes before Ted got home.

Will and El enjoyed being able to go to school with their friends again. It was a lot less isolating than being in Lenora was. There was still a lot of history hanging over the both of them, which was the whole reason Joyce took them away in the first place. To get their fresh starts somewhere new. But they preferred to deal with having a history than sometimes feeling like they had no one.

The kids still visited Max's hospital room often and helped with the Hopper-Byers cabin in their free time. Everyone had their own tapes just in case of an emergency. Lucas and El even teamed up to put together Max's with the stuff she had in her bedroom. Radio sets were bought and set up at both Steve's house and the Cabin.

El was able to look for Dr. Sam. She saw him, and he wasn't dead. But she couldn't tell exactly what was going on. Most of the time she checked, he was just sitting silently in a chair. Leaned forward on a metal table. Looking at his wringing hands with a stern expression. No one around.

No talking she could listen in on.

No one really knew what to do with that. So they just tried to keep on, keeping on. Moving through the motions of what “normal” was supposed to look like. It was weird trying to pretend like everything was alright when Max was still in a coma. When they were still waiting for the end of the world to come back up.

They still hadn't found Vecna/Henry/One. Every time Will so much as felt a chill, they had El sit down and try. Blindfolds, television static, the works. But it wasn't leading anywhere.

And despite all that uncertainty and weirdness, the time passed. Progress was made.

Before they knew it, two more weeks had come and gone. And the Hopper-Byers Cabin was officially move-in ready. Including the additional rooms they built off the sides to accommodate the increase in residents since the last time it was lived in. Dmitri and Mikhail even had some space, and Murray was getting thrown to the couch until their passports, IDs, and home loan signed to the United States government came through and they'd take up one of the abandoned houses in the suburbs.

As the end of April closed in, it was finally time. Everyone came together to spend the weekend getting all nine of them moved out of Steve's. A fact many of them were pretty happy about. Except for maybe Hop, when he mourned the idea that he might never get to soak in a jacuzzi tub ever again. He'd kind of liked the little bit of luxury.

And Family Video finally had three workers besides Steve and Robin. So they were able to work out a much more manageable schedule between them all. Even left Robin time to go on covert dates with Vickie pretty often. Steve took to a different use of his off hours.

Sitting in Max's hospital room.

With his house emptied out, it felt like a better way to be alone. By not actually having to be alone. Especially as the kids started getting bogged down with homework and keeping an eye out for supernatural enemies. It was good to have someone with her for part of the school day and as much after as he could.

The first night he was set to go back home alone - the Monday after all the moving - he'd been sitting at her bedside for a few hours when the nurse came to send him on his way. And going back home became a daunting thing it hadn't quite been for so many weeks. He used to always be headed somewhere to sit in silence… but that routine had been interrupted. Suddenly, he had to think about a house full of turned-off lights, no dinner warm and waiting for him, and no one to greet him when he pushed open the door.

The nurse repeated to him,” Sweetheart, we gotta get you on your way. It's like bar rules at closing time: Don't care if you're going home, but you can't stay here.” She had a kind laugh as she said it, probably made that joke more than a couple of times in her day.

But Steve just didn't have the heart to immediately get up. She tried again,” We might've been able to loosen on our hours now that things aren't so emergent, but all non-family has to be out of patient rooms by six o'clock now. And you’ve been dropping by here enough to know that.”

“I know. I just-”

He couldn't think of anything to say. To excuse why he just couldn't seem to get to his feet. And then Nurse Brown's eyes softened where they'd fixed on him. She let out a little sigh and decided to let him in on an idea.

“Tell you what, if Susan approves special permission to have you listed with family visitation privileges, I’ll file the paperwork and you can start staying later. But it won’t be tonight, so you best head on home and get you something to eat.”

“Okay. Okay, thanks.”

“Course, sweetheart.”

The next day he saw her and asked. And Susan agreed. Like it was the simplest thing to say yes to. Like there wasn’t even a doubt in her mind.

And despite one very expensive utility bill hitting the Harrington bank account, there wasn't so much as a phone call made about the fact. Either his dad didn't really read it, or he'd been away from home so long he couldn't remember what a normal amount was. Whichever way it was, Steve wasn't going to complain.

Things had… come together. Or cleaned themselves up. Mostly.

Settled into place in a temporary sort of way. Like maybe it'd all still mostly be like that after Vecna was actually dealt with. But in the meantime, they were all still in prepping mode. Not wanting to go soft and get caught with their pants down.

A little while after people got cleared out of Steve's house, the government came through for the Antonovs. Dmitri and Mikhail were given birth certificates, social security numbers, IDs, and a place to live. It wasn't right next to the Wheelers like Dmitri had joked about with Karen, but it was in that neighborhood, believe it or not. There was another round of moving efforts to get the two of them and Murray into their new sleeping quarters.

And once it seemed like all the people had gotten re-shuffled to where they were supposed to be… Joyce thought it'd be nice to have a little dinner among themselves at their cabin Monday evening. Something as a little celebration for making it through the rumble. But the invitation was also extended to Nancy.

She and Jonathan hadn't been meshing together like they used to. She's been busy, spending time with Eddie, and just seeming… different. Not wrong, just different. Jonathan's been readjusting back to going to school at Hawkins and sticking pretty close to Argyle, seeing as he was the new guy in town.

And honestly, Jonathan was starting to convince himself that he maybe didn't need to listen to Argyle. Maybe he didn't need to break up with Nancy. Maybe there was a way out of it. If they could just find a way to be boyfriend and girlfriend comfortably again, maybe he could explain that the idea of being too far away from his family made him sick. And they could figure something out, while he figured out how to be in love and be good enough again.

It wasn't quite like they were avoiding each other. They saw each other sometimes, laughed and made small talk during lunch, and studied quietly at the same table in the library. They interacted, but it felt like there was stuff going unsaid. Something being ignored and brushed over. Something that, even though they both wanted it dealt with, neither wanted to face and bring up.

They had reasons for being a little distant. “It's just been so hectic with all the finals coming up.” “We're all so stressed about how or when things are going to get worse.” “I'm just too tired to do more right now.”

Things had been sort of awkward and stilted. And as much as it seemed easier to just let it be, Nancy was at the end of her rope. She didn't like not having answers. She didn't like being in the position of trying to maintain something by walking on eggshells.

If it was ending, it just needed to end.

So, she was driving the two of them out to the cabin for dinner, and when she put the station wagon into park next to the other cars, she started trying to break up with him. To excuse herself before they went in for dinner with his family and it just became a more complicated mess.

She shut off the engine and rested her hand on the keys, but didn't pull them from the ignition.

“I don’t think this is working, Jonathan.”

She was speaking gently. Kindly and honestly. Just stating an unfortunate fact of the matter.

Jonathan sat back into the seat from where he'd started getting up. It was a little out of nowhere. Just a second before they were talking about Murray's electrical work on the cabin and hoping he knew what he was doing enough that it wouldn't accidentally trigger a forest fire one day. But what Nancy said surely wasn't related.

“What?” he asked her.

“I… I just feel like we keep going in opposite directions. And it’s not just been since California. Even at the Hawkins’ Post, we were butting against one another and just… now it seems like we can’t even talk to each other.”

Jonathan blinked at her and tried,“ We can talk to each other.”

“Can we? Because I don't feel like we have. You've been back in town for over a month now and I still feel like there's something wrong. Some rift between us. And I don't know why we're holding back, I don't know if it's just because we got so used to only talking over the phone or if it's because we're both trying not to be scared of what Vecna means for El and Will when he comes back or… if it's something else entirely?” Nancy leaned forward with a heavy breath falling from her lips,“ But I feel like there's gotta be something. Because we don't feel like we used to.”

Jonathan didn't know what to say first. That it was all his fault, that he's been hoping some switch would flip and he'd be okay again, that he's been lying and procrastinating with only Argyle's counsel telling him that he needed to be honest… That he wished he'd never let any of it go on so long because it kept making it harder to admit.

“I’m sorry.”

And Nancy's brows furrowed to hear that. “No, I don’t want your apologies. I just want to know if I’m crazy for feeling like this or if you understand where I’m coming from. If you even see it?”

His voice almost caught in his throat. Quiet and small he tried to agree,“ I see it, Nance. I-”

“Kids!” Joyce yelled from the open front door, warm light from the cabin spilling out around her into the dim evening forest surrounding them,” Supper’s ready and on the table already! Come on in before it gets cold!”

“We're all waiting!” Will's voice carried from behind her. She shot another pointed look for them to hurry up before she went back inside and closed the door.

Nancy shook her head,“ I don’t think I should-”

“Can we just make it through the dinner? And we can talk after?” Jonathan asked.

And maybe if he left it there, Nancy would've said no. She shouldn't go to dinner with his family while they're in the middle of a serious talk. Especially not one she was expecting to end in a breakup.

But then he said “Please.”

So, she argued with herself. Thought that she might as well let them have one more nice evening. One more memory for the road. And she was expected. She didn't need to embarrass him by canceling from the driveway.

Nancy decided,“ Okay. We can make it through dinner. And we'll talk after.”

She leaned over the console and pressed a kiss into Jonathan's cheek. She pulled on a thin smile and took the keys out of the ignition. He returned the small smile. Gave a curt nod.

They were in agreement.

Just make it through dinner, and they were going to figure it out after. Whichever way it would go.

The two of them went inside, greeted Hop and Joyce, El, Will, and Argyle, and joined the five of them at the table. It was a steak dinner with a wide array of homey sides, mashed potatoes, brown gravy, steamed carrots, green beans, etc. All the sort of stuff that made sense for a small dinner with something to be thankful for. It was pleasant.

They all small-talked in circles as they ate. Eventually, the topic of California came up. They were all checking with Argyle for the hundredth time that he and his parents were okay with him staying in Hawkins as long as he had. Promising over and over again that it was okay for him to go back home without seeing this whole mess through to the end with them.

He never wavered though. So Joyce smiled and gave a breathy laugh, muttering about all the apologies she'd have to make when they stopped back in Lenora at some point. Probably after they thought things are really over. And then she said something about loading up another moving van to bring all their stuff back to Hawkins. Which struck Jonathan for the first time.

They must've not talked about it, or at least not clearly enough, because he didn't realize they were moving back to Hawkins permanently. His mother just sort of snickered and agreed, yes, that's why they renovated Hop's whole cabin to fit them comfortably. But even though that made sense, the whole thing didn't.

It didn't make sense for Jon and his plans.

All of a sudden, it slipped out.

“We can't move back here, I applied to Lenora Community College so I could stay with you guys at home!”

And then the whole dinner pulled to a screeching stop.

Forks froze in people's hands, bites of food when un-chewed as that truth settled in, eyes widened and stuck on him in shock.

“What?” came from four different directions around him.

Joyce. Will. El. And, most urgently, Nancy.

Jonathan's throat immediately went dry as he realized the shit storm he just kicked up.

“What the hell?” Nancy questioned him again. Though, quickly becoming more angry than confused.

“I…”

“Jonathan, what's going on?” his mom asked seriously while she tried to understand.

Argyle looked at him with an expression that said something nicer than “I told you” and “This is going to be bad.” But Nancy's eyes were set in her hurt. In the betrayal. In the fury and rage and shock. She wiped her mouth off with her napkin before smacking it down onto the table and storming out the door. Not another word.

“Nancy,” Jonathan called after her. Getting up from his chair and following just a few seconds behind while she nearly ran to the car.

It was all such fucking bullshit.

“Leave me alone.”

“Stop. Nancy!”

She grit her teeth together with her hand on the car door handle,“ I'm serious, Jonathan. Go away.”

He didn't want it to happen like that at all. He wanted to fix it. Or soften the blow. Or just explain. He wanted to explain what happened. To tell Nancy he wasn't trying to hurt her, that he'd never try to do that.

He slowed down a few feet away and reached out for her,“ Can I please just-”

With a sharp snap, she turned to face him. Her eyes set on him hard. His hand retracted from the harsh reaction.

She only had one question for him,“ Did you even apply to Emerson?”

That one question was all she needed to decide how mad she was going to be. And when he stuttered under the pressure, not a word to defend himself from the truth, she knew. She knew she was going to be as mad as she could possibly get.

“So how many months were you - not even by omission, just straight up lying to me - telling me you were still waiting for your acceptance letter? How many times did I try to make you feel better just because I got in early admission and you 'hadn't heard back yet'? When did you decide to just drag me along even though you decided you were done being invested?”

Jonathan just looked down and uttered,“ I'm sorry.”

Nancy's lip curled in something just less than a snarl.

“I already said I don't want your apologies. I just wanted to know if I was crazy. Turns out I wasn't and you just decided you were done with me but didn't have the decency to let me know-”

He stepped forward,“ I wanted to say something, but I didn't know how to!” he was desperate to correct her assumption,” I mean, you saw it, my mom didn't even know that I… I was trying to figure it out, how to tell you without hurting you, and- and Argyle tried to tell me I just needed to do it and stop-”

“Argyle?” she scoffed,” So you two were just laughing with yourselves over how fucking clueless I had to be to just believe you this whole time, huh?”

“No! No, absolutely not-”

She cut him off,“ I don't care. And if it wasn't clear, we're done. Just leave me alone.”

With a quick yank on the car door, she climbed into the driver's seat and was backing out before Jonathan could even figure out what he would've said next if she waited.

And part of him was pissed at her for not hearing him out, like the last two and a half years of dating, and the year of friendship before that, meant nothing because of this one time he fucked up. Another part of him was pissed at Argyle for having practically warned him it would happen like this because he kept waiting. Another part was just pissed at himself for being the fault of all of it.

“Jonathan?” Joyce asked from the porch, they'd heard pretty much all of the yelling from inside,“ Can we talk about what just happened?”

But another part of him was pissed at his mom for making it all come up when she told him they were staying at Hawkins during that special dinner.

“We were going to talk after…” he whispered to himself.

Because maybe if they had gotten to have the conversation they planned on after eating, maybe it would've gone better. Maybe Nancy would've listened and maybe they would've understood each other and maybe no one would've eavesdropped on him getting dumped after being exposed as a callous liar.

“What was that?” she asked, not nearly close enough to have heard him.

“I said, no thank you.”

And Jonathan stomped off into the woods. To kick rocks, snap twigs, and be pissed at all the people he wanted to be pissed at. Alone.

Nancy was driving, but she didn't really know where she wanted to go. Tears streamed down her cheeks that she had to wipe off onto her sleeves while she went. She was at least proud that she held them in until she left. She didn't want to cry in front of Jonathan after what he did.

How could he do that to her?

All those conversations, all those plans, all those promises. Worthless. He was just walking away. And there was this speck of Nancy's brain that said “hurting a good person just like his dad did.” She was thankful it wasn't something she'd thought of to say to his face. Because she felt bad about that one as soon as she thought it.

But she was hurt. And angry. And she didn't want to go home and be hurt and angry alone. To walk past her family having a perfectly normal and boring dinner and hear her mom call after her “I thought you were going over to the Byers’ for supper?” To run up the stairs just to avoid having the answer. To sniffle into her pillow until the headache set in.

She didn't want that. She wanted to fix it because Nancy liked fixing things. But she didn't know how to fix her and Jonathan. Not like how they were after what he did.

And while she tightened her hands on the steering wheel, and wrestled with thoughts about wanting to fix something, all she came up with was something Robin said to her.

Right after it all happened, when they were waiting in the hospital together. Nancy had held Robin's hands when she was getting nervous about Steve, and then Robin held hers while she worried about Mike. And then Robin smiled and started joking trying to get her to laugh; suggesting she got back together with Steve Harrington.

Robin said,“ You might’ve not been right for one another back then, but I don’t think any two people have changed as much as you guys have.”

And, hey, maybe she had a point.

She and Jonathan just went up in flames, she didn't want to be alone, and she and Steve have changed. Maybe that was the thing she could fix. Maybe that was the next step. And even if it didn't last forever, it could last for a little bit. Just so she wasn't alone.

So Nancy got turned around at the next light, and she headed towards Loch Nora. Rolling down her window and speeding more than she should on the way. Trying to dry her face and get there before she started crying again.

When Steve heard his doorbell ring, he almost didn't answer it.

Now that he was living alone again, anybody stopping by without calling first probably had to be a Jehovah's Witness or salesman. He really didn't want to chat with either. But it was almost nine o'clock at night. That was a strange time of day for the previously mentioned sort of visitors.

So he pulled himself up from the couch and went to the front door. Making the effort of a little jog when the doorbell rang again on his way over.

“I'm comin', I'm comin',” he commented under his breath. But opening the door to see Nancy Wheeler on his doorstep was a surprise.

What was even more of a surprise was the messy hair, the bright red, glassy eyes, puffy lids, and tear-stained cheeks. He almost winced at the look of her, because Nancy doesn't look like that. Ever. But she just smiled under the clear distress and took a step forward before Steve had really even welcomed her in.

“Hi, Steve,” she said casually like she didn't know the state she was in.

“Hi, Nancy. What're- What's got you stopping by my side of town?” he asked, pulling the door back and giving her room to come the rest of the way in.

“Just… Thinking about things.” she hummed as she passed him,” About me. About you. About a combination of the two.”

“Thinking about… us?”

“Yeah. About us. And the way we used to be 'us'. Before me and Jonathan, obviously.” Nancy kept striding into the living room. Her fingers swept over the top of the hall table as she went. Hearing Steve close the door behind her instead of seeing it.

“Okay, um,” he thought and started to follow her into the house,” And- and what sort of things were you thinking about? About us?”

Nancy stopped. Waited a moment before she turned around to face him, a slight falter in her balance as she did, per all the exhaustion that was still collecting in her. But, she regained her stance. And she looked into his eyes and wondered,“ We used to have fun, didn't we?”

“Yeah… we did.” Steve studied her before he worried,” Nance, is something going on? Do you need a ride home or to crash here for the night?”

Her expression dropped. “I'm not drunk,” she told him. Almost disappointed that was the conclusion he came to out of what she was saying.

“You're just a little wobbly and-”

“I'm tired,” she brushed off and turned back around to finish making her way to his living room.

“And you're talking about us from almost three years ago-”

She abruptly told him,“ Jonathan and I broke up.”

And those words cut through the air, sharp and sudden.

“Oh.”

Steve wasn't really sure how to react. He liked them together after everything, he thought. If they were happy, it was one nice thing that came out of the Upside Down ruining a lot of people's lives. If they were happy, it was one nice thing that came out of him and Nancy breaking up.

But they weren't happy, and then they weren't together, and now Nancy was in his house talking about them and what they used to have together.

A question that kept coming at him from all directions. Something he used to think about all the time and want. And now that he's been saying for weeks that he doesn't anymore… was that really true? Did he care?

Nancy kept going, taking a seat on Steve's white couch and sinking into it, fussing with the pillow next to her,“ I broke up with him because he's been lying to me and leading me on and so, now we're nothing.”

But even if Steve Harrington did want to be with Nancy Wheeler again, that wasn't the time. She was obviously hurting and a good friend would be offering support, not thinking about what they can get out of the opportunity presented to them.

So Steve stepped up. Sat down next to her, leaving about a foot of space between their seats, and spoke earnestly to Nancy.

“I'm sorry to hear that, Nance. Did you want to talk? Or is there anything I can do-”

“I seem to remember we had a lot of fun kissing. Right, Steve?”

Steve was a bit at a loss because that wasn't really what he was getting at. And maybe that was what Nancy was getting at, but maybe not. It would be rude to assume because maybe she just really wanted to reminisce. So Steve just agreed. “Yeah. Yeah, we did that a lot. I guess. Teenagers, it's what we do.”

But then Nancy shifted herself a little closer. Leaned in a little more.

“I miss having fun with you.”

And that caused Steve some pause.

“Are you saying…?”

“I don't want to be sad about Jonathan. I just want to have fun.”

Then she was kissing him.

Nancy was kissing Steve. And despite being slightly stunned, he started kissing back. They closed their eyes and sat together in the dark of his living room. Kissing with the kind of practiced familiarity that exists when two people have done that sort of thing together before.

And it was nice.

In a way, it had to be.

It was two people who cared about each other, connecting in a way they used to.

Nancy starting to move in. Deepening the moment, making it more, and heating it up.

She broke the kiss to breathe, and in that second she whispered something.

“I love you, Steve.”

And maybe she did, maybe she didn't. Maybe she didn't have the time or clarity to think about it enough. Maybe she shouldn't have said it if she wasn't really sure. But it all broke apart because she said she didn't. So the best idea she had, in that moment while she had Steve, before she had a chance to lose him, was to say she did.

To tell him what he wanted to hear.

And Nancy got back to it. She started shrugging off the cardigan on her shoulders. Her hands separated from Steve's jaw to shake off the knit sleeves. She turned to rise and kneel on the couch. Coming up taller than Steve at that angle. And he just followed her.

They started breathing heavier, but… then Steve's eyebrows pinched together.

No.

Steve turned his face, his lips moving away from Nancy's. She started to lower, possibly planning to go for his neck when he told her,“ Nancy… I don’t think this is right.”

She shook her head, their noses almost touching with the closeness,” Come on, it’s fine. Jonathan and I broke up, so it’s-”

“No. Nancy.” Steve grabbed her by her arms and put a little distance between them,” I- I don’t think this is what I want.”

Nancy looked at him. Confused for a moment as she sat back onto her heels. Steve loosened his hold on her arms and she wondered,” But you…?”

They've been seeing each other more recently. And Robin brought it up. Was practically trying to sell Nancy on the idea before. And he caught her when she was Vecna'd, then she dove after him into Lover's Lake and patched up his injuries in the Upside Down. And he told her about all those dreams about a big family in a Winnebago. And… They broke up because Nancy didn't love him, but they'd changed so much and she just said she did. So…

Why not?

Steve took a steadying breath before he tried to explain,“ I think I thought I wanted you. But I think I just wanted to hear you say you love me again after you said you didn’t. And that's not-”

Nancy drew back,” So, this was-”

“I’m sorry-”

“No, this was just some ploy to get back at me from when I was drunk on Halloween? Really?” And it wasn't like that, but that's how it made sense to her. “Just when a girl thinks you’ve actually changed, Steve Harrington.”

That cut deep. Steve didn't want her to think of him like that, he wasn't like that. That's not what he was trying to do or let happen. He just didn't know until he did, and then he knew so he stopped it.

“That’s not what I’m saying, Nance. I just didn’t know that I-”

“That you didn’t want me. Classy.” She roughly grabbed her cardigan and stood up from the couch.

“I’m sorry-”

But Nancy was so tired of bullshit, shallow apologies.

“No, I’m sorry. My bad. I’m the stupid one.” She shook her head while she went for the door,” Screw you, Steve. Should’ve known it’d all still be bullshit.”

[shorukarts]

Hey shoruk, may i request a artwork for a KurayamiTale character?

Since your name means sunrise, there's even an OC of mine called sun within the story...

I draw Chara =)

(I couldn't find a reference for sun I'm sorry)

She's so cool and she got a badass sword 🗡️✨