#i have to go to the next town over to go to the hospital <3< /div> Explore tagged Tumblr posts

[pineconepie]

Since option 1 won the poll results, here you go!! <3 two yandere dads and their kiddo who is back after a long abduction! Will write a part 2 eventually if anyone wants to see that.

TW: Past mentioned kidnapping, implied child abuse (not by the yandads), infantilization, hospitals

...

Several years went by since your disappearance, and both parents handle it differently.

For the first few years, Cullen began drinking more regularly and destroying his own things in anger. He took his pain out on everything he could except for August. If he weren't being self-destructive, he was driving all around town, including your favorite places, just to have even the tiniest hope of seeing you again. Even with the odds against him, he didn't stop.

August, on the other hand, went practically catatonic as his heart shattered inside of him. Everything reminded him of you in some way. If he were at the grocery store, he would remember your favorite snacks. At home, he remembered the times you'd bake together or make dinner together.

Years passed. You'd be an adult by now. It broke both of their hearts to dwell on the fact its been so long. Would you remember them? What if...

That was the worst part to dwell on. The possibility you may never be found again. Each time someone even suggested such a horrible idea, Cullen would get thrown into a rage, while August would break down crying.

Even though, eventually, life went on normally, there was a void that remained where you used to be.

August blamed himself for it all. For just one second he was distracted when taking you out of the car to go shopping, and then...

You were gone.

But just an hour ago, an officer had shown up on their doorstep and revealed to them that you'd been found and rescued from your captors. Their elated screams of joy and sobs could surely be heard by their neighbors. Even before the officer finished their explanation, both husbands hugged each other tightly, laughing as they cried in each others arms.

And now they're rushing to the front desk of the hospital where you were taken for examination and recovery.

"Where is our child?!" August cries. "(Y/n) Zimmerman!"

The nurse at the desk looks between the two, then over to the police officers who guided them through the door. Upon seeing the men nodding in confirmation, she opens something up on her computer. "Room 618," she says. "Elevators are right around the corner."

"Thank you," Cullen quickly responds. He then tugs his husband along before he bursts into tears again.

The elevator ride is painfully long, or at least that's how it felt to August and Cullen.

When the doors open, they race out of them, looking for the sign indicating where your room is. The numbers pass by quicker than they do until they stop right outside Room 618. They're breathing heavy and quick, full of nerves and excitement.

They open the door, too happy to even consider knocking.

Cullen gasps quietly upon seeing you awake, sitting on the bed with blankets over your legs and a tray of food next to you. You look up and watch the two men approach you.

August can barely contain himself, crying loudly as he walks forward. "My sweet baby!" he wails, moving to cup your face, kissing you on the forehead over and over again. It overwhelms you, but he's too emotional to notice. "I missed you so much, never leave us again...!" he cries into your hair.

"Honey," Cullen chuckles lightly, pulling his sobbing husband back by the shoulders. "Give them space." His smile turns towards you, his eyes watering with held back tears. "Do you remember us, baby? We're your dads." His voice breaks on the last few words.

You take a moment to assess your fathers.

The one who was just sobbing all over you a moment ago, has long auburn hair tied up in a loose bun with a couple strands falling from it. He has blue eyes and is slightly taller than the man who had pulled him away.

Speaking of, the other man has mid-length black hair and brown eyes, with a tiny bit of facial hair if you squint. While both seem happy to see you, he seems a bit more composed and calm, even with the tears staining his cheeks.

Hesitantly, you shake your head no, watching as August breaks down further as Cullen rubs his arm to soothe him.

"But—!"

"(Y/n)'s been through enough today," Cullen reminds his partner gently. "We should give them some space."

"But I want my baby!" August continues to sob. "After all these years!"

"I know, hon, me too." Cullen kisses August on the cheek. He then looks at you. "Your papa and I missed you so much. It's going to take a lot of time getting used to everything. But don't worry," Cullen says. "We will be by your side the entire time."

August sits on the edge of the bed and grabs hold of your hand, kissing it several times. "I've missed you so much," he repeats. He holds onto your hand as though he believes you'll be taken away again if he lets go.

Cullen wipes his own tears. "I'm gonna talk to the police and doctors." He gives you an encouraging smile. "Don't worry about anything. Papa and Dad have everything covered."

August nods, not taking his eyes off of you for even a second. As soon as Cullen leaves, he says, "Let me help you eat, alright?" Without waiting for you to respond, he reaches for your spoon. When he sees your eyebrows furrow, he smiles sadly at you. "Please, darling? Let me baby you a little after being away from you for so long."

Something in you just couldn't bring yourself to refuse his plea.

...

Several days pass.

August refuses to let go of you for long periods of time, holding your hand as you both walk through the hospital halls, feeding you when you get sleepy during your meals, and constantly keeping you within his grasp.

Cullen isn't much better. He's more subtle, but still tends to crowd around you. He just tries to be more subtle about it compared to his husband.

When you're finally discharged from the hospital, both parents keep you between them as they lead you to their car. Your arms are hooked in theirs as August gushes over you.

"When we get home, I can cook you any food you want!" he grins. "And—and we ordered you a new bed, since your old one is too small. I think all your new furniture should arrive in a day or two." His voice trembles, giving away how hard he's trying to keep himself together. "But while we wait, you'll sleep between Papa and I! We don't want to let you out of our sights yet."

"Or ever," Cullen mutters.

It causes you to shiver, but you brush it off. After so many years of being captive, why wouldn't your parents be clingy?

Even though they're already starting to feel like captors themselves...

As soon as you step foot inside of the home, August and Cullen lead you around, pointing out where everything is as you go.

"And this," August sings as he opens the door to your bedroom, "is your room!"

Despite never seeing it before, it looks familiar to you. Perhaps from pictures shown to you during your hospital stay.

The walls are painted soft lavender with a white accent wall. The plush rug by the small bed matches the wall color, and has frilled edges. The curtains covering the window next to your bed are white with faint purple polka dots on them.

Everything about this room looked beautiful, but childish. Which makes sense. You were a child since the last time you used this room.

"We kept everything the same," Cullen explains. "Your favorite stuffed animals are still sitting on your dresser, and—here—" he pulls you towards your bookshelf, "—all of your favorite books!" he exclaims. He pulls out a worn copy of he Rainbow Fish and offers it to you.

You can tell it's well loved from just looking at its spine and pages.

"This one was your absolute favorite," August informs you as you carefully take it in your hands. "Whenever we finished reading it to you at bedtime, you would always cry, begging us to read just one more time."

"Not just for that book," Cullen interjects. "For any of the ones in this row," he adds, tapping on a section of books.

"I can't wait to read to you again," August sniffles. He's cried so many times, you're wondering how he can possibly have more tears left to shed.

"Now now, dear," Cullen says softly, pulling him close to kiss his temple. "No more tears. We have our baby back now." He then turns his attention back to you. "Isn't that right, kiddo?" he grins.

You wordlessly nod and hand the book back to him.

"How about some cartoons while Papa and I fix dinner? A movie?"

"I'd rather sleep," you inform them. Both parents visibly deflate at your words, and you feel a little bad. "...or maybe a quiet dinner would be nice."

August's mood brightens a little upon hearing you say such a thing. "Yes, yes," he chants in agreement, nodding. "Dinner with my beautiful family... Nothing could be better right now." He gives Cullen a tender smile.

"That sounds wonderful," Cullen agrees. "Oh, and I'll give you some of my clothes until your new ones arrive, okay?"

Before you can ask what he means, he goes to his and August's bedroom and returns with some pajama pants and a t-shirt for you.

"Thanks..." You look between them and they get the message.

"We'll be downstairs while you change," Cullen answers. "Do you need any help?"

"No, I've got it," you insist, prompting both parents to leave your room.

They shut the door behind them, but you don't hear their footsteps descend the stairs. Did they simply want to give you the illusion of privacy?

Still, you're free to change, you suppose.

After dressing in Cullen's clothing, you open your bedroom door. On the other side stands your parents.

"All ready?" Cullen asks.

August is beaming once more at the sight of you. "Oh, darling, you're absolutely adorable!" he cries. He hugs you tightly, squishing you against him and rocking you both gently. You blush, unsure what to make of his praise. Forcing an awkward smile, you try hugging him back. Immediately, he kisses the top of your head. "My sweet baby, oh, Papa loves you so much!"

Cullen ruffles your hair. "We both love you very much."

The rest of dinner is awkward for you. Even though they let you feed yourself this time, you can see them staring, like they're prepared to witness you choke just so they can come to your aid.

Once the meal is done and over with, they set you up on the couch with plenty of blankets and pillows. It feels so soft against your skin that you're already fighting sleepiness. As you adjust in your spot on the couch, the TV begins to play old cartoons—all nostalgic.

There's no doubt your dads chose those programs on purpose.

Eventually, August and Cullen join you. One sits on either side of you.

Before the first episode of the show ends, you feel August's fingers start to massage your scalp, trying to lull you into slumber.

You subconsciously shift your position, so your head is against Cullen's shoulder.

His body stiffens, and when you turn your head to look up at him, you see unshed tears in his eyes. He wraps an arm around you to pull you closer before you can even question it.

"G'night," you mumble, already half-asleep.

"Sleep well, baby," August coos, after Cullen kisses your forehead. "We love you so, so much."

[brbsoulnomming]

Heart On Your Sleeve Part 10

Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9

-----

The town is a wreck, but there's still space for them at the hospital.

Nancy recognizes a few of the doctors - ones who know about the Upside Down - and they're all whisked away into two private rooms. One for Eddie, and one for Max.

Steve is stuck with Eddie. He hates thinking of it like that, because he wants to be with Eddie, but he wants to be with Max, too. He wants to prowl back and forth between them, like his presence will make any difference.

But Eddie's heart is still in his chest, and while the doctor had praised his quick thinking in helping his friend, it's too risky to have Eddie's heart far away from his body while he's healing.

So Steve's in the chair next to his bed, hooked up to the heart monitor and listening to the faint but steady sound of Eddie's heart as he feels it beat in his own chest.

Dustin and Robin go back and forth, one of them always with him and the other giving updates when they come to switch out.

It's Dustin in the chair next to his now, and he feels the echo of his own heart next to Dustin's, knows the kid must be feeling what he is - and probably a little bit of Eddie's, too.

Three hearts, all entwined. Robin could make something poetic from that, he thinks.

All he can do is let Dustin pillow his head on his shoulder, press his hand to his own chest and think come back to us.

Eddie's hand twitches.

Steve jolts up, reaching for it automatically.

“Steve?” Eddie asks, even though his eyes are closed and his expression hasn't changed. “Dustin?”

Dustin makes some kind of strangled noise, fumbling for Eddie's other hand. “Can he feel us?”

“I've got his heart, and you've got mine, so yeah, he has to, right?” Steve asks, aware he sounds a little desperate and not really caring.

“Come on, Eddie,�� Dustin pleads. “You have to wake up, okay?”

Eddie wakes up.

—

“I should have died in there.”

Steve feels his jaw tense. “No, you shouldn't have.”

“No, I meant - doc says I would have died, if you hadn't taken my heart,” Eddie says.

Oh.

“I know,” Steve admits. “That's why I asked for it.”

Eddie exhales, long and slow. “Where'd you learn that?”

“Eighth grade science,” Steve replies, shooting a little grin at him.

Eddie gives a surprised little laugh. “Seriously?”

“Eh, kind of.” Steve considers for a moment. He's never talked about this with anyone, but - “My parents used to lock their hearts in a safe in my dad's study at night. When I was little, and I got upset at them leaving, they told me they put their hearts in there when they went on trips, too, and I had to stay behind to watch over them.”

Eddie looks at him, soft and tender. Steve'd think it was pity, if it wasn't for Eddie's heart in his chest. It's just sad, and a little angry.

“I told Mr. Clarke about that, and he said it was hogshit.”

Eddie snorts. “Mr. Clarke said hogshit?”

“Who's telling this story?” Steve retorts, then laughs when Eddie mimes zipping his lips closed and throwing away the key.

“It was hogshit,” Steve continues. “But then he told us that people could survive potentially fatal injuries with heart exchanges. Then, after Starcourt…”

He trails off, not sure how to say it.

“Robin told me a little,” Eddie admits. “That it was the Russians and the Upside Down, and you let yourself get caught to cover for Dustin and Erica. That you tried to draw attention away from her.”

Oh.

That makes him sound more heroic than the moment felt, but at least it also makes this easier.

“The Russian spies, they had this thing that could open your chest. They didn't believe I was telling the truth, so they took my heart out.”

Eddie reaches out to take his hand, squeezing it tight. There's a faint trickle of horror and guilt and affection, and he knows that Eddie's put it together with the changes in his heart.

“I healed a lot faster because we were doing heart exchanges,” he finishes. “So I figured it'd keep you safe.”

Eddie's grip on his hand tightens. “I really am sorry,” he mutters. “About last summer. After - after that, you needed a friend, and I just left.”

Steve licks his lips, considering his response for a moment, before he goes with honesty. “I had friends. I had Robin and the kids, and they were enough. I didn't really need anything else. But - I wanted you.”

Eddie looks at him, and Steve can feel - hesitation, uncertainty, does he really want me?

“Eddie,” Steve says, slow and thoughtful. “I don't want you because I'm lonely, or I have no one else. Maybe there was a part of that when it first started, but - I'm okay, I'm happy. I want you because of you, not just because I want anyone.”

Shock filters through Eddie so hard that Steve feels it like an almost physical blow.

His heart aches.

He doesn't have to ask if that's something that Eddie hasn't been told before - he knows it already.

“I'm not letting you go,” Steve tells him, only because Eddie's heart is still beating in his chest and he's confident it will be well received. “Not this time.”

“I can live with that,” Eddie says, only a little shaky.

—

Dustin takes a turn swapping hearts with Eddie, and Steve heads immediately for Max's room.

Lucas is there, sitting by her bed and holding her hand.

“Hey,” Steve says softly, pulling up a chair to sit next to him. “How's she doing?”

“Same,” Lucas says flatly. “But she's in there, I can feel it.”

“You can feel it?” Steve asks.

“We swapped before - before. Just in case. To give her another tether to the real world.”

Shit, that was a great idea. It gives him more hope, and he sags a little in his chair.

“Jesus, you kids are smart,” Steve says, impressed.

Lucas looks at him funny. “We learned that from you, Steve.”

He doesn't really think that's true, considering he learned it from them just as much, but he lets it be, just gripping the back of Lucas's neck and giving him a little squeeze.

Lucas unwinds, just a little bit, and Steve gets a better look at him - notices his swollen eye, his puffy jaw, and feels a cold surge of rage.

He waits for a moment to let the worst of it pass, then asks, “Swap?”

Lucas looks over at him, clearly hesitant.

“The three of us are kind of banged up,” Steve says. “Figure it can't hurt to have more heart power at work here.”

Lucas snorts. “Heart power?”

“Heart power,” Steve confirms, radiating as much confidence as possible.

He's not sure if it works, but Lucas does open his chest up and carefully pull out Max's heart. Steve's extra gentle as he swaps them, tucking her heart into his chest.

It's immediate, what Lucas was talking about. There's only the faintest sense of Max, and an equally faint sense of a fear and guilt and love that he recognizes as Lucas - the residual of what Max is feeling from him, he guesses. Even stranger is an echo he can feel of his own emotions - from him to Lucas to Max and back to him again, apparently.

“Huh,” he says, at the same time Lucas goes, “Woah.”

They sit there, together, and Steve must fall asleep at some point because the next thing he knows, there's the shifting of a chair as Lucas jumps up. Steve startles, only to see El and Will and Mike come flooding in. They sweep Lucas into a hug, and Steve watches them hold on, clinging and desperate.

Eventually, they peel apart, and El goes to Max's side, taking her hand. Her eyes close for a long while, then open again, looking sad.

“I can't reach her,” she whispers. “Not even with my powers back.”

“She's there, though, right? I can still feel her,” Lucas says.

El's brow furrows.

“Max and Lucas swapped before this happened,” Steve explains. “To keep her tethered here, so Vecna couldn't take her.”

Mike frowns. “Vecna?”

“One,” El says, which - okay, yeah, clearly there's a story there, but not the time. She holds her hands out to Lucas. “May I swap?”

Lucas looks over at Steve, and he takes Max's heart out and offers it to her.

“We figured the more helping, the better,” Lucas says.

El exchanges her heart for Max's, looking thoughtful. It's an even bigger rush, with El in the mix, and - even though Max's heart isn't in his chest anymore, he can feel the echo of her even more clearly.

Lucas sucks in a breath. “It's working,” he says. “She's stronger.”

“The more, the better,” El says thoughtfully.

“Eddie woke up from me and him and Dustin sharing,” Steve says, the realization coming over him. “I mean, it wasn't a real circle, but he was just regularly unconscious, not creepy wizard unconscious.”

El looks at Mike, who immediately turns on his heel and leaves. He comes back a few minutes later, with Dustin and Robin and Erica.

“We made Nancy and Jonathan and Argyle stay with Eddie,” Mike announces.

“Uh, yeah, do you want to tell us why?” Dustin asks.

El's eyes flash. “We're going to get Max back.”

Hearts change hands quicker than Steve can keep track of, but in the end, no one has their own heart in their chest. It's an avalanche of emotion that Steve can't make out - so much it’s almost overwhelming - until he feels something like a guiding hand, firm and insistent.

“Max,” El whispers.

Steve turns his thoughts completely on Max, focusing on her - on taking her to the arcade, on the skate park, on her hanging out in his kitchen as they cook dinner. One by one, everyone's emotions start to take focus - on how Max makes them feel, how much they care, how they need her here.

Max's eyes open.

—

They set up another rotation schedule, this time for Max, who looks a little shell shocked and overwhelmed by all the attention.

“Did you think we wouldn't do this for you?” Steve asks quietly when it's his turn, when Lucas and El are sleeping and it's just him and Max awake in her room.

She doesn't answer for a while, but he can feel her conflicted confusion and then unsteady acceptance.

“No,” she says after a while. “I knew you guys would.”

He breathes out, and they sit in silence for a bit.

“Did you read my letter?” she asks, purposefully not looking at him.

“Nah. You said it was just in case, and there wasn't going to be an in case. We weren't going to let Vecna have you.” He manages to keep his voice steady, though he knows she can feel the edge of the fear he'd had for her. “I wanted to hear what was in it from you.”

She makes a face, and he thinks she isn't going to tell him, but then she blurts out, “I said I wished you were my brother, not Billy.”

Oh.

His stomach drops out, and there's a rush of vertigo that leaves him breathless for a moment, but - not in a bad way.

He doesn't know how to respond to that, other than, “I am your brother.”

She scoffs. “It doesn't work like that.”

“Sure it does,” he counters, growing confident. “Billy was your brother just because of a piece of paper your parents signed, right?”

She frowns, finally looking at him again. “Yeah, I guess.”

“So what's stopping us?” He taps his chest, over where her heart beats. “We have each other's hearts. We'll always be family.”

Max looks away again, then, very quietly, says, “Okay.”

—

“Heard you call Max your sister when you were talking to the doctor earlier,” Eddie says.

Steve feels a little smile tug at his lips as he takes Eddie's hand. It grows when Eddie laces their fingers together.

“You know Dustin's going to throw a fit when he hears it, and insist that you were his brother first, right?” Eddie teases.

“Of course he is.” Steve rolls his eyes. “Welcome to my family. You sure you still want to stick around?”

He's joking, but Eddie's expression goes soft and contemplative.

“Welcome to your family, huh? You planning a proposal soon, big boy?” Eddie asks softly.

Steve's mouth goes dry. He thinks he should say something - anything - but nothing comes out.

“Swap?” Eddie asks, after a few minutes.

Steve's not sure if someone told him or if he figured it out himself, and part of him wants to ask Eddie if he's sure, but he decides to take Eddie at his word. He opens his chest up, holding out his heart.

Eddie copies him, and - it's his first real look at Eddie's heart. There's silver lines all over it, delicate scars mottling its surface, but it's almost as deep red as Steve's still is.

“Oh,” Steve breathes once Eddie's heart is safely tucked inside his chest again.

There's a love there so strong he almost doesn't know what to do with it - isn't sure if it's Eddie's or his for a moment before he realizes it's both of them feeding off each other.

“Yeah,” Eddie says quietly.

Steve lifts Eddie's hand up, presses a kiss to his knuckles. “I know what I want my future to look like,” Steve admits. “And I want you in it.”

Eddie swallows, and Steve can feel an edge of trepidation before it solidifies into something sharp and determined. “Okay.”

“Okay?” Steve asks.

“I'm sticking around, this time,” Eddie confirms. “For good.”

“Okay,” Steve agrees.

He knows it's a risk, but - right now, they're alone, and so he leans in to seal the promise their hearts are making with a kiss.

-----

And that's the final part for now! I do have a sequel planned down the road for what happens after they get out of the hospital, folding Eddie into the heart sharing and settling Eddie and Steve and Robin into a trio - I plan on using the tag "hearts out steddie" if anyone would like to follow it for when it comes out!

Thank you so much to everyone who commented, reblogged, liked, or otherwise interacted with this! Everyone's reactions were so amazing, and I really love reading your thoughts!!

Final taglist: @fairytalesreality @lostonceandneverfound @wheneverfeasible @awkwardgravity1 @theintrovertedintrovert @thewickedkat @ravenfrog @scarlet-malfoy @missmagillicuddy @xxfiction-is-my-realityxx @ollyxar @cringe-culture-is-dead-99 @thedragonsaunt @makewavesandwar @cryptid-system @ajeff855 @mae-liz @the-fantastical-asexual @jettestar @warlordess @persnicketysquares @samsoble @my-love-of-books @mydysfunctionallife @dreamercec @holyangelstudentuniverse @breealtair @shunna @xtraordinarally @thatdamnfan @justalittledrainbamage @strangerfolks @disrespectedgoatman @amber-ambience @anxietyfulloption @thepossummoldypasta @irregular-child @th30ra3k3n @powdeeee @theohohmoment @5ammi90 @ominous-pool-light @beeeeeeeeeeeeeeens @rebellatlas @blackpanzy

[moody-alcoholic]

Cross My Heart

Part 2 - Trust is a Two Way Street

Summary: eventual poly141 x reader. Enemies to lovers, mini fic.

CW: Mentions of war, mentions of death, descriptions of wounds, medical stuff, medical inaccuracies.

Previous parts - masterlist - next AO3

Enjoy <3

The barrel is cold on your skin, you’re holding your breath, his finger is on the trigger. 

“Explain yourself.” A deep voice asks. You swallow hard trying to keep as still as possible.

“I’m a smuggler. I work for whoever pays. The people you killed, I was supposed to get them to Al Qatala. Konni pays me to smuggle people or weapons over the border. It’s easy to use ULF safehouses up here as a stop off point.” 

“You Russian?” The man with the mohawk asks. 

“Does it matter?” You almost spit back at him. 

“What about Al Qatala or ULF you done jobs for them too?” 

“If they pay, yeah. You’d be surprised  how desperate people can get.”  

“Gaz, stand down. She’s not a threat.” You see a hand land on his shoulder. You swallow again, looking up at him, his eyes are scrunched together, there’s real anger behind them. The gun moves from your head, you let out a sigh of relief, sitting back on your legs, you lower your hands slowly.

“What do Al Qatala pay you to smuggle?” Ghost asks. 

“I don’t ask. The less I know the less I’m a liability. I’m good at what I do, that's all that matters.” The man with the mohawk scoffs. Gaz moves back to stand with him. 

“You don’t even get a little curious?” Gaz asks, putting his pistol away. You sigh rolling your eyes, almost like it’s an inconvenience.

“POW’s, chemicals. High ranking members of Al Qatala, mostly for meetings with Konni, sometimes with Makarov himself.”

“What about the ULF?” 

“General supplies, the odd civilians, favors for Farah. It’s harder to cross the other borders. Russia is easy.” 

“So you’re not a medic. Can you even help him?” Ghost asks. You turn to look at him, you can’t tell if colour has come back to his face or not. 

“My mother was a nurse, my father was a doctor. I was on track to go to med school too.” You say, you’re not sure what’s going to happen now. You probably know as much as they do, they’ve most likely been trained on such situations. 

“Where are your parents now?” Gaz asks.

“Dead, killed in the conflict. Like almost everyone I know.” There’s sadness in your voice, you try to hide it. 

“You didn’t pick a side?” Ghost asks. 

“I did, in the beginning. Farah’s message was a popular one. It was the ULF who came to our aid when our town was attacked.” You pause looking round at them all. “It was the ULF who carpet bombed the hospital killing my father. A week later my mother was killed by Al Qatala when they raided a ULF base.” 

“I’m sorry, about your parents.” The mohawk man says, Gaz tuts. 

“Why become a smuggler?” 

“It was by chance. I managed to gather enough money to flee, and pay someone to get me over the border. We got talking, he offered me a job instead.” 

“Where is he now?”

“Probably dead.” You say as a matter of fact. You haven’t seen him in over a year. In the beginning he was like your mentor, teaching you the best routs how to use ULF and Al Qatala safehouses. Who to mention to get people to leave you alone. He vouched for you, got you jobs then when you were ready he just left. 

No one is saying anything. You move to stand up. 

“Your friend’s gunshot is not a through and through, that means the bullet is still in there. Pulling it out could kill him, I don’t have the equipment to check where it is or if he has any other injured organs. He needs a hospital.” You say urgently. 

“CASEVAC?” Gaz says.

“Not from here.” Ghost replies. There’s silence again. You squeeze your eyes closed sighing.

“There’s an abandoned vets in the next town, east of here. It will have the equipment I need to check him.” They could think you’re lying. They’re exchanging glances, you can almost see them thinking. It seems like Ghost is the one incharge, he shifts on his feet. 

“Okay.” 

“What about Farah?” Your head snaps over to the mohawk man, you need to get his name at some point, and figure out where his accent is from, he doesn’t sound like the other two.

“Nothing but radio silence.” Ghost replies. 

“How did you end up here?” You ask before you can stop yourself. You’ve been honest with them, maybe they’ll be honest with you.

“That's classified.” Ghost snaps, you nod. You expected that. 

“I heard Farah’s forces are moving north. We’re close to the Russian border. Maybe it’s best you wait?” You say offering up the only info you have on ULF’s movements.

“How do you know that?” Ghost asks. 

“I was warned they were on the move when I picked up this job.” You say. 

“By Konni?” Gaz asks, you nod. You hear Ghost sigh then mutter under his breath. 

“In your opinion, how bad is he?” Ghost asks, taking another step towards you, you hold your ground. 

“I don’t know. Moving him is risky, but there is no way to tell if the bullet is doing any damage internally. I couldn’t say without scans. There’s probably an x-ray at the vets.” You explain. “It’s 50/50 either way.” 

“And you know how to use one?” The mohawk guy asks, raising en eyebrow. 

“I-I could figure it out, I spent one summer shadowing a radiologist.” You explain. It’s a long shot, but right now it's about keeping yourself alive. As long as you’re useful you’re safe.

There are collective sighs around the room, glaces and nods of heads. Ghost lowers his weapon taking another step towards you. He opens his mouth about to speak when a groan from behind you stops him. 

You turn to see the man on the couch trying to sit himself up. Gaz rushes past you and you take a step back giving him room. 

“Price, don’t move. You’re okay.” He says. Price so that's the name of the man on the sofa. His eyes blink open and he looks around, you can feel Ghost behind you, the barrel of his weapon digging into your back. 

A gentle reminder they don’t trust you.

“Where are we?” Price groans, it’s barely words, you almost miss what he says.

“Urzikstan, ULF safehouse just across the border.” Gaz explains. They came from Russia, what were they doing in Russia?

“Shit, what happened?” Gaz is keeping him pressed down, his hand stroking his arm. 

“Convoy was ambushed, we had no choice.” 

“Alex?” Price asks.

“MIA, we lost track of him when you got shot. I made the order to fall back.” Ghost says but you can hear the strain in his voice. 

“Shit.” 

“It’s okay cap, we’ll find him.” So there are more people with them. Someone called Alex, and they’re missing. They had a convoy, most likely for the ULF. 

“Who’s she?” Price asks his gaze landing on you. You smile at him. 

“That’s a long story.” Gaz says.

next Banners by plum98

[gaywriterdude]

Time Travel AU (prologue)

fic | masterpost | next

inspired by this post from @hello-eden and @gaddaboutgriffon (i recommend going through all the reblogs there’s some great ones)

Daniel James Fenton lived a tragic, short life. Orphaned at a young age, adopted by Jack and Maddie Fenton a few years later. Neglected by everyone but his older sister, who was a child herself. Bullied by almost all of his peers, despite interference from caring teachers. Barely surviving a terrible lab accident due to his parents’ negligence, then suffering through bouts of depression and chronic pain in the year following, only to die unremarkably at 15 due to long-lasting effects from the accident. He was mourned by his sister and two best friends, as well as a few community members, but was overall barely a blip on everyone’s radar. His parents—who were already thought to have a few screws loose—went insane after his death, most likely from guilt, and joined a shady government agency that was hunting ghosts and terrorizing innocent civilians. His sister and best friends fled town as quickly as they could, but were said to be doing well for themselves.

At least, that’s what the gossip of Amity Park said.

In reality, Danny Fenton lived a much more tragic, much shorter life.

He was born Danyal, son of immigrant parents who fled to America when he was 3 years old. He didn’t remember his last name, or what and where they were running from. They died in a car crash a few months after arriving in the states, partway through a cross-country drive to California. Danyal remembered talks of California, where it was warm and people would stare at them less.

Danyal also died in that car crash, flung from the vehicle while his parents burned inside it. He remembered bleeding out slowly and listening to their screams. He also remembered the blinding green light, a natural portal to the Infinite Realms that opened under him just as his eyes closed for the last time. And Danyal was never alive again, not fully.

He awoke in the hospital, and for a time he didn’t remember. He maintained that lie, even when his memories came back, because he wished they didn’t.

Danyal was different after that, saw things differently. Sometimes he swore his eyes flashed green, and his fingernails sharpened, but it was gone in an instant.

He was sent to a group home for boys, where English was beaten into him for the next few years and he was renamed ‘Daniel’ and forced to cut his hair short. He hated it there, but a few of the older boys took care of him every time he came back to the bedroom with fresh bruises, so it was okay.

One day, he met a girl with fire for hair. The boys had been banished to the park because they were being too rowdy, but one of the older kids said the head caretaker just had too much fun the night before, whatever that meant. The girl pushed him on the swing and said her name was Jazz and that she was visiting from out of town because her parents were on a work trip. Danyal liked Jazz, because she was nice and not just because she had fire for hair.

Jazz decided she liked him, too, and told him that she was going to be his big sister whether her parents liked it or not. Her parents treated child acquisition much like getting a pet, in his opinion, and told Jazz that if she wanted a little brother she had to take care of him. But, soon he was renamed Daniel James Fenton, and any traces of his past life were washed away. That was okay, though, because he had a sister. She even learned some Arabic for him in secret, and they had whispered conversations late at night when they couldn’t sleep. He started going by Danny and pretended it was short for Danyal.

Danny died again 8 years later at 14. Electrocuted to death in his own basement, by an invention his adoptive parents made. This time he died fully. This time the portal that opened on top of him was much, much stronger. He died and was revived over and over again for an eternity and a couple seconds. When he was flung from the portal, he was fully dead and fully alive. Schrödinger's boy.

The year that followed was probably the worst of his short, miserable half-life.

No one told him how to be dead. Ghosts tried to, but since he was also alive it didn’t really work. He didn’t understand the intrinsic language of cores that all the other ghosts did, and saw their attempts at bonding as attacks.

He was terrified for his life daily. He was fending off other ghosts, trying to minimize damage to the town and damage to the ghosts. He was also attempting to hide the fact that he was dead, and alter every one of his adoptive parents’ inventions so that they wouldn’t End him fully, and fighting off an insane godfather with less than pure intentions. The Guys in White showed up, and things went from bad to worse. Sam and Tucker tried to call the Justice League, but something the GIW did stopped all outside communication.

Then, as if Danny didn’t have enough on his plate and trying to balance school on top of that, Vlad (said insane godfather) released the evil tyrant king of the dead, who had been imprisoned by his council for a reason. The tyrant king then pulled all of Amity Park into the Infinite Realms. Of course, Danny was the only one who could fight him off and no adult ghosts who knew what they were doing could help, and by defeating Pariah Dark Danny accidentally became the next king of the Infinite Realms.

Even then, he had no one to help him until months later when Vlad’s antics made the Ancients realize that Danny didn’t know what the fuck he was doing. But that took having to battle his evil future self Dan, being tortured by Vlad, and fighting off and subsequently adopting a failed evil clone of his. It was only then that Clockwork realized that standing back and not interfering in “timely matters” as he called it wasn’t working.

Danny was actually taught how to be a ghost. He learned that he was technically a baby ghost and all of his rogues had been trying to have friendly brawls with him as a way to teach him. He was also thrown into the deep end of learning how to be a future king to a literal infinite realm of beings.

All the while the GIW was attacking ghosts and civilians alike, and his parents were becoming more and more like the mad scientists Batman locked up, and Danny still had school.

And then, as if his half-life wasn’t hard enough, Frostbite came to him with the melting cores of Dan and Ellie. Dan, who had been put in time-out by Clockwork and had progressed enough to go on errands for him and been attacked. And Dani, who was unstable from the beginning but who Danny had thought was doing better with frequent treatments from the Yetis. The only way to save them was to take their broken cores inside his own to heal them.

Pregnant. He would be ghost pregnant at 15. Which was fine, it was all fine. He didn’t like Dan but he had been reformed outside of time and working to be better, and Ellie was his sister. Danny would save them.

It took almost 5 months before he started showing, but those 5 months were the most peaceful of his life. With his king-to-be training, he was able to send out a decree that all ghosts were to stay away from his home dimension for their own safety. He was also able to assign guards with the task of tracking down Vlad and imprisoning him. Though the man was on the run, he wasn’t bothering Danny. Danny could focus on school, and friends, and hiding from the GIW, who had lessened their forces a bit with the lack of ghosts.

When he started showing finally, he let the tentative peace get to him and decided to tell his parents everything.

It didn’t go well. He was shot with a weapon, a new one he hadn't had the chance to alter. Jack and Maddie were convinced that he was an evil ghost possessing their dead son’s body, and tried to capture him for experimentation.

He lost Dan and Ellie. He lost his parents, too, in a different way.

He fled to the Infinite Realms, blew up the portal and all of his parents' work, and decided that he was done with the human world.

[captain-huggy-bear]

Hi, an idea for a celly:

“Bring a damn charger next time, you scared the shit out of me” w/ Clayton?

P.S. love your writings! You always pop-off with them! 🫶🏼

Thank youu, hope you like it, lovely! So glad to write some Clay for this celly <3 We all know he'd be pissed out of concern if he can't contact you cause your phone dies, man is pulling his hair out but he also gets worried to the point of breaking I think. 1000 Followers Celly Currently ongoing 🥳🎉 Big requests/full fic/big idea requests are closed at the moment but drabble and prompt requests are still open. Writing Masterlist

You don't expect to be in this position when you leave your house early in the morning for a long day in the next town over with your friends. You'd sent Clay a text in the morning to tell him you'd speak to him later in the day, both of you in the habit of texting throughout the day, sending updates when you were busy doing your own thing. You never just went radio silent, both of you like the reassurance that the other was okay.

What you hadn't realised was that your phone battery was almost out. You swore up and down that you'd put it on charge overnight like normal, but you must have not plugged it in properly because by 8am it was on 5% charge and naturally you didn't notice until it was too late.

Clay, on the other hand, had spent the entire day freaking out and worried because none of his calls were going through to you, no messages were being seen and he'd yet to get any of your friends' numbers for emergencies. He'd spent the day phoning hospitals in the area in case you were in an accident...suffice to say that when you finally got home at 11pm he was pissed off, breathing heavily as he tried to not take his worry out on you. He was worried sick, adrenaline on a high, buzzing with it under his skin in away he hadn't felt outside of a game.

“Bring a damn charger next time, you scared the shit out of me.” He doesn't raise his voice. Clay never yells, not even when he's pissed off, but his tone changes. It's sharp with worry, nostrils flaring as he breathes heavier. He's been running his hands through his hair, so obvious by the way it's out of place, not as tidy, not as pristine. Clay looks dishevelled, he looks like he's spent the day worrying.

"I'm sorry, I swear I put my phone on charge over night, it should have been at 100...I'm sorry, baby." You feel shitty...so guilty because he'd spent the day thinking you'd been hurt, phoning hospitals, unsure if you were okay or not, only for you to waltz through the door like nothing had happened.

You're reaching for him, arms wrapping around his waist, hands rubbing across his back in an attempt to ease some of his worry, to comfort him. You've rarely seen Clay this worked up and you hate that it's caused by you making a silly mistake, one you normally wouldn't have. You'd have been just as stressed in his shoes and likely less forgiving about it.

"I...I thought something had happened to you...I thought..." You know what he thought, the phone calls to the hospitals said enough...he thought you were hurt, that something bad had happened to you. It has you sliding your hands into his hair as he drops his forehead to your shoulder, "Shit, if something ever happened to you I don't know what I'd do, sweet girl."

Clayton Keller is not someone you would say was overly emotional...no Clayton had a tight grip on his emotions whether it was pain, frustration, worry, sadness...you could count on one hand the times you'd seen him lose that control. But you could already hear the tears starting to choke him up, could already feel the shake in his body, that control slipping more and more. It was almost terrifying in it's own way, to know that he was actually not unshakable.

"I'm okay, I'm good...and I promise from now on I'll keep a spare charger in my bag." Practical promises in an attempt to help put his mind at ease but he's shaking even harder like trying to calm him down just makes it worse.

"Clay..." You clutch him tighter like if you do you can make it easier, make it better, but he's coming down off an adrenaline spike that's been happening all day. The shakes aren't just the impending tears but the adrenaline wearing off, finally able to come back down now that you're here, now that you're safe.

"Fuck.." You feel the tears before you hear them, wet on your shoulder as he clutches you tighter, falling thick and fast as he gasps and sniffles against you. It's almost scary to see him break because you never really have. He's always the stable one, and maybe you haven't made enough room for him to break, maybe this should have come a hell of a lot sooner.

"I'm okay, you're okay...we're both, okay, Clay. I'm not going anywhere."

All you do is hold him. That's all you can do, even as his tears make your own spawn, you just hold him. You run your fingers through his hair, over his back, squeeze him as tight as you can and don't let go. You don't let go after 5 minutes or 10 or 40. You hold him until he's ready to pull back because you want to be someone he can break around, because you know he needs this, because this just tells you how much he cares about you.

There's no shame in his tears, just love.

[togrowoldinv]

Falling for Christmas

Natasha Romanoff x Female Reader

When you wake up from an accident, you don’t remember who you are. A local ski lodge owner helps you find yourself

Note: Yes, this is based on the very cheesy movie on Netflix with the same name. Some big plot differences, but cheesy all the same. Enjoy!

Natasha Masterlist 1, Natasha Masterlist 2, Natasha Masterlist 3, Main Masterlist

Your life was perfect. You had everything you wanted. And everything you wanted came easy to you. So, why are you waking up now in a hospital bed so confused?  

The doctors try to calm you down, but you keep incessantly asking why you are here. It isn’t until a beautiful red headed woman walks in that anyone answers your question. 

“Hey, you’re okay,” the woman says. “You just had an accident.”  

“What kind of accident?” You ask. You feel a pounding in your head. Undoubtably, you feel sure you have a concussion.  

“A skiing accident. At my lodge,” she says. She walks further into the room and asks the doctors and nurses to leave you be.  

“Thanks,” you remark.  

“No problem. I’m Natasha.” She holds out her hand for you to shake. You take it and feel a shock of electricity in your veins.  

“Hi Natasha. I'm- I- well-”  

“The doctors were worried you might have had some amnesia.”  

You shake your head and drop her hand. You have no idea who you are. The beautiful woman, Natasha, excuses herself to talk with the doctors again. They come in to tell you that you can stay here or go stay at her lodge until someone comes to claim you or you get your memories back.  

“No offense, but I don’t know you,” you say.  

“Well, you don’t know anyone,” Natasha counters. You want to make some snarky reply, but she keeps talking. “Maybe coming back to the lodge will spark some memories for you. We have plenty of extra rooms.”  

“That would be good for her. She needs to get into a routine doing normal things,” the doctor explains. “Natasha will take good care of you.”  

“Thanks, Monica,” Natasha says. The woman nods and leaves the room.  

After a couple of hours, you are discharged from the hospital. Natasha drives you to the lodge in an old truck. Part of you wants to ask for more details about this woman, but the other part of you is just ready to sleep and try to forget this is happening.  

“So, we’ll set you up here,” Natasha says, opening the door of a suite. “My sister stays here a lot when she’s in town and she’s picky, so this is the best room in the place.”  

You manage to smile at that. Natasha walks further into the room and you follow her around. She tells you she’ll bring you some clothes to wear and to call her if you need help with anything.  

You turn in for the night without much fuss. The next morning, you put on some of Natasha’s clothes and go to the lobby.  

“Good morning,” Natasha greets you. She is wearing a sweater that looks extremely cozy. You’re not sure why your brain thinks about how it would feel to hug her while she is wearing it.  

“Hey Nat,” you say. She smiles at the nickname. “Is there coffee?”  

“Oh, yes,” Nat chuckles. “Caffeine addict Clint over here couldn’t live without it.”  

“I’m Clint,” the man working the front desk tells you.  

“I’m-” you stop, still not sure what your name is. “Sorry.”  

“No worries,” Nat reassures you. “Let’s get you that coffee.”  

You follow her into the dining area, but she keeps walking to the kitchen. She enters with ease and greets several people on the way to the back.  

“Danvers, I need your best cup of coffee,” she tells a tall blonde woman. The woman grins. 

“Coming right up, Romanoff.” She turns around with a mug full of coffee that smells amazing. “Special guest?”  

“Something like that,” Nat replies. “This is Carol the head chef.”  

“Hi,” you say to her. Your eyes catch a pendant necklace resting against her skin. “I love that necklace.”  

“Oh, thank you. My wife got it for me when our daughter graduated medical school,” Carol explains. Her smile is the brightest one you’ve ever seen.  

Natasha takes you to the sitting room where a fire burns and there are walls of books.  

“I have to take care of some things, but you make yourself at home. Feel free to explore the lodge. We have horses around back and whatever you’d like to eat or drink is on us,” Natasha says.  

There’s a comfort you feel around her that you really can’t describe. But you’re sad to see her go. Though she walks by throughout the day, you feel like you didn’t get much of a chance to see her.  

Dinnertime comes and she finally gets a moment to stop. She plops down in the chair across from you and smirks at the way you fell asleep in the chair with a book open.  

“Hey,” she says gently trying to stir you awake. “Sleeping beauty, it’s dinnertime.”  

“That’s a good name for her,” Clint says. “Especially since you think she’s cute.”  

“What? I don’t- it’s not-”  

“You totally think that,” the newest member of the team, Kate, pipes in. “As you should though. She is beautiful. And hopefully single.”  

Nat raises her brow at the girl. “Should I tell Yelena about this exchange?”  

“Please don’t,” Kate says, her face going white.  

Everyone laughs at that and you stir awake. You're met with a smiling Natasha.  

“Hey there,” Nat says. “Join us for dinner?”  

You expect to go the dining room, but Natasha leads you to the next building over. She opens the door to reveal a Hallmark level decorated living room and kitchen.  

“This is where I stay when I’m at the lodge,” Nat explains.  

“You don’t stay here year-round?”  

“I have family in Ohio, so I spend some time there in the summer.”  

“Your sister?”  

“She actually spends time all over the world, but my parents live in Ohio. It's glamorous,” she jokes. “Carol made us some dinner.”  

“Aw man, I thought you would be cooking,” you tease her. 

“Oh, you do not want that,” she replies, throwing her head back laughing. You don’t remember, but you have a feeling you haven’t made anyone laugh like that lately.  

Dinner is going smoothly with small talk and Natasha telling you about the wildest things that have happened to her since running the lodge. But you’re interrupted at dessert time by a knock on the door.  

Nat excuses herself and opens the door to be met with three children tumbling through it.  

“What are you guys doing here?” Natasha asks excitedly. She hugs the older two kids and picks the youngest one up. “How is my namesake doing?”  

“So good, Auntie Nat!” The little boy says. You watch on with a smile, but something twinges in your gut at the sight of family. He catches your eye and points to you. “Who’s that?”  

“That is Auntie Nat’s new friend,” she explains. She tries to put the little boy down, but he hangs on tight. The girl, maybe a preteen, sticks close to her as well. “These are Clint’s kids. Cooper is the one too cool to be here, Lila is the best girl, and this guy here is Nathaniel.”  

“Hello,” you tell them.  

“Hi, sorry for interrupting dinner,” Lila says. She seems sweet.  

“No worries at all,” you say. “I think I'm going to head back to my suite.”  

“Oh,” Nat reacts. She puts Nate down after some protesting by the kid. “You don’t have to leave. They just only see me a few times a year, so they get excited when they do.”  

“That’s sweet,” you say. There is that twinge again. “I think- um- I think my brain is trying to process some stuff so I just-”  

“Need some space?” Nat asks.  

“Yeah. Thank you for today, Natasha. I had fun.”  

“Of course,” she says, helping you to the door. “Oh hey, if you hear anyone calling you Sleeping Beauty I might be to blame.”  

“I’m not even going to ask,” you joke. Natasha chuckles and you try to memorize the sound. 

The next few days go by without anything too exciting happening. You meet Carol’s wife Maria, Clint’s wife Laura, and even Natasha’s sister makes it into town. You really like Yelena.  

And you find yourself now sitting by the fire with all of them. Carol and Maria sit close together. Clint and Laura do the same, watching their kids play. Natasha sits by herself, but close to where Yelena and Kate are snuggling tentatively.  

“So, you don’t remember anything?” Maria asks you.  

“Not really,” you say. “I just get gut feelings. Like seeing you all with your families, I think I have family.”  

“I’m sure you do,” Laura says. “We’re your family in the meantime.”  

“Yeah. We are always here for each other,” Carol adds.  

“Speaking of,” Yelena starts. “How are you doing this holiday season, Natasha?”  

You figure she is referring to the lodge or maybe the busyness of the season, but when Natasha’s eyes drop you realize there is something more.  

“I’m good,” she says. No one believes her. Not even you. 

“Natasha,” Clint begins but he’s interrupted by Nat.  

“I just said I'm fine. Can we drop it?”  

She stands up and disappears into the kitchen. The group sighs and you look around confusedly. Something more is definitely up here. You excuse yourself and follow after Nat. You find her placing cookies on a tray.  

“Hey, are you alright?” You ask her. She wipes a silent tear from her cheek. “Sorry, obviously you are not. But I wanted to make sure you weren’t not okay all alone.”  

“That’s kind,” Nat replies. “I- it’s hard for me to talk about.”  

You nod. Although you don’t remember your life, you’re sure you have your own set of things that are hard to talk about.  

“You don’t have to talk about the sad parts,” you say. “But if there was any joy in there it is probably worth telling. Tragedy is only tragic because it was once beautiful.”  

“Poetic,” Nat teases. You smile at her. She feels comfortable. She takes a deep breath. “I was married. Very happily. And she- um- she got sick a few years ago.”  

“I’m so sorry,” you say, placing a hand on her shoulder.  

“She passed away last fall,” Nat says. “I actually didn’t even celebrate Christmas last year.”  

“That’s understandable.”  

“Yeah, but I realized it made my friends and family miserable too. So, I tried to be more festive this year. It wasn’t going that great until I met you, but now I feel like I have a reason to celebrate again,” Natasha explains.  

“Yeah?”  

“Yeah,” she says. “I know it sounds fucked up to be glad you ended up here with no memories, but-”  

“No, actually I am glad I did too. I’ve met so many wonderful people. Especially you.”  

You are standing close to each other now. Nat starts to lean in, but she stops a couple inches shy of your lips.  

“I don’t know if you are with someone, so if you are I don’t want to cross that line,” she explains.  

“Oh, yeah. No, I guess that makes sense,” you say.  

“We should get back out there.” 

The next few days are lighter on your heart. You spend time with all of the wonderful people you’ve met, and get geared up for a Christmas Eve party that the lodge always hosts. You help decorate, prepare food, and pick out clothes for everyone to wear.  

Walking into the room now you see Natasha standing by the bar. She looks breathtaking. She thinks the same about you.  

“Wow,” Nat says, approaching you with a grin. “You are beautiful.”  

“I can say the same about you, Natasha.” A blush hue finds its way onto her cheeks.  

“Looking good, SB,” Carol says, her arm interlocked with Maria’s.  

“Told you the nickname would catch on,” Nat says.  

The party is going well for a few hours until a man you don’t recognize, the doctor you do recognize, and a woman that seems strangely familiar enter the lodge.  

“Y/n!” The woman calls out to you.  

Everything clicks. Your name, your family, who you are. And your girlfriend.  

“Wanda,” you say.  

“She does remember!” Wanda says to the doctor. She pulls you into a hug. Funny, it doesn’t feel like it used to.  

“What’s happening?” Carol asks. “Monica, you know her?”  

“I do, Mom. These folks were looking for our Sleeping Beauty. I treated her at the hospital and knew I’d find her still here,” Monica explains.  

“We can go home now,” Wanda says, pulling your hand. “Pietro, get the car running.”  

“Wait, I'm sorry,” you say. “Natasha.”  

“Who?” Your girlfriend asks.  

“Hey,” the redhead steps into your view. “Y/n. That’s a good name.”  

“I guess so. Although, I liked being a princess.”  

“Ah, you’re still a princess,” Nat says. She looks at you with sadness in her eyes. “Go on now.”  

“Thank you for everything,” you tell her. And then turn to the group. “Thank you to all of you.”  

Wanda pulls you away before you can say any true goodbyes. You go with her and the three of you end up at the resort just down the road. Your parents own this, you remember.  

A few days pass, but you don’t feel that normal. Things felt better at Natasha’s lodge.  

She feels the same way. Things were better with you there. Clint comes in to find her slouched over the counter.  

“You should reach out to her,” Clint says. “ 

“She has a whole life,” Nat says. “Apparently a big one.”  

She had looked you up on Google and went on a deep dive of your social media presence. The daughter of hotel mogul, she felt sure you didn’t want her in your life. But, god, is she wrong.  

“Kind of breaking HIPAA here,” Carol eavesdrops and speaks. “But Monica told Maria y/n has another appointment before she leaves town.”  

“When did everyone decide to eavesdrop?” Nat asks.  

“When you fell in love with her,” Yelena replies, seemingly appearing out of thin air. “Go get her.”  

Natasha nods. She wants this. She drives across town and parks out in front of your dad’s resort not caring that her truck might get towed.  

“Y/n,” she calls after you, seeing part of you slipping into the elevator. She runs and slips in just before it closes.  

“Natasha?”  

“Hi,” she says. “I needed to see you.”  

“I’m listening.”  

“I couldn’t let you leave. Not when I’m falling in love with you,” she says. “And I know you have Wanda, but-”  

“Actually, we broke up,” you say.  

“Oh.”  

“Yeah, we never made any sense,” you explain. “Continue about the in love with me thing.”  

“Right,” Nat says. “Maybe I should just kiss you?”  

“That would be perfect.”  

Natasha takes your face in her hands and leans in. She wastes no time deepening the kiss and your knees threaten to buckle beneath you.  

“Come home with me, y/n?” Nat asks when you break the kiss.  

“I’d love to, Natasha.”  

[persevereforahappyending]

A Legacies Secret |5|

Pairing: Tara Carpenter x Reader

Summary: You just wanted a happy life with your girlfriend but then Ghostface attacks, revealing long thought to be buried family secrets.

Warnings: None

Word Count: 2.9k+

Main Masterlist | Series Masterlist

Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15

Sam had held Tara as she cried, it had been a long time since she got a hug from a member of her own family. Tara almost forgot how nice her big sisters’ hugs were. She had missed Sam like crazy, she still didn’t understand why she left. Tara thought Sam loved her, even when she was struggling, she always treated Tara well, but if she actually cared she wouldn’t have left. It seemed like Tara’s entire family left her at some point, her only constant was you.

Sam was pacing back and forth in front of her hospital bed. It seemed after their emotional reunion; Sam didn’t know how to act now. Tara wasn’t sure how to act either, she was curious where Sam had been, what she had been doing, why she left, it didn’t feel like the right time to bring any of that up though. She was also curious as to why Sam came back, Wes had called her and she came as soon as she learned Tara was hurt, that had to mean Sam cared about her, but if Sam only came back because she was hurt then that meant Sam didn’t actually want to come back.

“So,” Sam said, crossing her arms over her chest. “You and Y/N,” she nodded.

That quickly snapped Tara out of her thoughts. “Yeah, we’re together,” she said, taking on an edge in her voice. “What about it?”

“I just didn’t realize you two knew each other.” Sam’s eyes darted around the room, but Tara could tell Sam wasn’t thrilled about the idea of her relationship with you. “How’d you meet?”

“School,” Tara glared at her sister. She really didn’t appreciate the fact that Sam was gone for five years, left without notice, and was coming back trying to comment on her romantic relationship.

Sam’s eyes snapped to Tara. “She would have been a senior when you were a freshman.”

“Yeah,” Tara rolled her eyes. “We shared a class, we sat next to each other, had to do projects together.” Sam let out a little scoff, clearly not liking the sound of that. “It’s not like we started dating then,” Tara snapped. “We were school friends and then became actual friends the summer after sophomore year when we ended up working together.”

“Oh, you also worked together?” Sam couldn’t hold back her humorless chuckle, the judgement dripping from her voice.

“Yes,” Tara groaned. “Liv and I got summer jobs at the video store. Y/N already worked there and before you ask, they weren’t like my manager or anything.”

Sam closed her eyes, tilting her head to the ceiling. Tara glared at her sister, she hadn’t even been back five minutes and she was already judging her relationship with you. Tara really didn’t understand what the big deal was, you were amazing. The judgement from her friends, from her mom, from Judy, and now from Sam was so unnecessary. All those people claimed to care about Tara, so they should just be happy that you were so good to her, that you loved her and expected nothing from her.

“Don’t you think they’re a little old for you?” Sam sighed. She put a hand to her head as if she was trying to stop an oncoming headache. Tara wasn’t going to back down; Sam was the one who wanted the argument after all.

“Two years!” Tara scoffed, rolling her eyes. Sam opened her eyes, raising an eyebrow at Tara. “Practically three, whatever,” Tara rolled her eyes. Three years was hardly a big age difference.

“I know,” Sam let out a tired sigh. “You’re so young and they’re-where do they even work?”

Tara opened her mouth, the fire in her eyes was fueled solely by defending you. “The bar in town,” she mumbled.

“That’s just great!” Sam threw her hands in the air.

“It’s good money and they need to pay rent!”

“Oh, they have their own place as well, that’s great!” Sam clapped her hands together.

“They’re literally the only person who’s always there for me!” Tara snapped, glaring up at her sister. She didn’t care how much she missed Sam, she would not let Sam say anything bad about you or talk down about her relationship with you. “Even before we started dating, they were there for me, every time mom…” Tara aggressively wiped the tears that had started to fall.

Sam uncrossed her arms, shoving her hands into her pockets. “Tara I-”

“The only reason they’re staying at that that shitty job,” Tara didn’t allow her sister to speak. “Is to help save money, so when I graduate, we can get the hell out of this town.”

Sam’s head snapped up, looking at Tara with wide eyes. “You haven’t graduated yet?” Tara’s eyes fell to where her good hand was picking at the fabric of the hospital blanket.

“Why do you think I’m still here?” Tara asked quietly.

Sam blinked rapidly, shaking her head and gave a little shrug. “I don’t-I thought maybe you were pushing college a year, maybe putting it off because of mom, or Y/N-”

“I got held back,” Tara snapped. “I had to repeat junior year.”

“What?” Sam breathed out. Tara was sure she would have missed it if they weren’t the only two in the room.

“Mom wasn’t doing great,” Tara’s voice got smaller.  “I missed too many classes.” Tara watched as Sam closed her eyes and slumped back against the wall across from the hospital bed. “My relationship with Y/N was literally the only good thing to come out of that shitty year. When they saw me struggling, they helped as much as they could, whether it was making sure I had a ride to school or helping me deal with mom, if I needed something, no matter what it was, they were right there.”

Sam nodded; she kept her head pointed towards the floor. “That’s very nice of them.”

“I don’t know what version of them you knew.”  Sam finally looked up, meeting Tara’s eyes. “But, the one I know, is someone who would take time out of their day to bring me food, just to make sure I ate, they would stay up after working all day just to help me get all my homework done because they knew I couldn’t have any more missing assignments.”

Tara ignored the way her vision began to blur again as tears filled her eyes. “So, if you’re going to just judge my relationship with her,” Tara said, her voice stronger than she ever imagined it would be with what she was about to say. “Then you can just go back to wherever the hell it is you’ve been hiding.”

Sam’s eyes were once again glued to the floor. “You really trust them,” Sam said, though it didn’t come out as a question.

“With my life,” Tara said without hesitation.

Sam nodded to herself before pushing off the wall. Tara’s eyes tracked her movements as she crossed the room and took the seat you had previously occupied at her bedside. “So, how did you two get together?”

Tara gave her a soft smile. Maybe Sam did miss her after all, maybe coming back wasn’t just because she got attacked, Sam didn’t approve of Tara’s relationship with you, but she was willing to accept it, she was actually asking about you. No one had ever actually asked Tara about how the two of you got together, not without a snide comment following the question at least, or there was always an eyeroll of some sort.

“I had a crush on them for forever,” Tara said, giving a small eyeroll. She thought you were cute from the second she saw you. “We were in photography together.” The class was usually filled with seniors because the teacher was fun, and most students didn’t have the previously needed classes before then, but Tara took nothing but art electives in middle school, so she was able to take it as a freshman.

“They didn’t complain when I sat next to them and they got stuck doing partner projects with me,” she continued. Most seniors would complain about being stuck partnered with a little fourteen-year-old freshman, but you didn’t complain one bit, you even listened to Tara’s ideas of what to photograph, you treated her just like any other peer.

“It was a yearlong class, we became friends,” Tara looked down at her fingers continuing to pick at the blanket. “That December, I turned fifteen, mom went out of town. I’m pretty sure she forgot what day it was, but she was very busy.” Tara shook her head, even after all the years of consistent disappointment she was still making excuses for her mother. “But Y/N learned it was my birthday after I was grumpy all of class, or at least that’s what they said.” Tara pouted; she still didn’t think she had been grumpy.

“That night she knocked on my door, it was the first time we saw each other outside of class.” Tara shook her head at the memory of her opening the front door to see you standing there, an awkward smile on your face as you shifted from foot to foot. “She brought me a cupcake.”

“What are you doing here?” Tara asked, her mouth hanging open as she stared at you. Out of all the people to be knocking on her door she never expected it to be you.

“Oh, I,” you said, chuckling awkwardly as you rubbed a hand on the back of your neck. “I know it’s your birthday and I-” you held out a little plastic container.

Tara furrowed her brow but took the little container from you. She opened the lid, revealing a singular chocolate cupcake with chocolate icing. She looked back up at you, her wide eyes beginning to fill with tears. No one had done anything like that for her before. Her mother forgot her birthday and the last true celebration she ever had was before her father left, before Sam left. Her friends offered to do things with her, Judy would offer to bake for her, and Chad and Mindy’s mom would invite her over for dinner, but it always felt like they pitied her, like they felt bad that none of her family loved her enough to stick around or remember her birthday.

“I-I know it’s not much,” you said, breaking Tara out of her thoughts. “Maybe it’s weird-it’s weird I did this,” you gestured to the cupcake, though your eyes were glued to your shoes, refusing to meet Tara’s gaze. “I just think everyone deserves a little something on their birthday.”

Making sure to be careful of the cupcake in her hands, Tara stepped forward, closing the distance between the two of you and flinging an arm around the back of your neck. You froze as soon as her arm went around you but after a second, she felt you slowly relax. You knew what it was like to be alone, your parents gave you up when you were a baby, you never even knew what it was like to have a family. Even though Tara didn’t know what it was like to be an orphan, she knew what it was like to be abandoned by her entire family.

“Thank you,” Tara mumbled before pulling away.

You gave her a soft smile, your eyes flicking down to the floor for a second before meeting her gaze again. “Happy birthday Tara,” you said.

Tara gave you a wave as you made your way back to your car, quietly closing the door once she saw you driving off. A part of her wished you had stayed but just the idea that you had gone out of your way to bring her a cupcake was enough. She took her cupcake to the kitchen, sitting it on the island before picking it up and taking a huge bite. It was perfect and delicious; Tara was going to make sure to do something nice for your birthday as well.

Tara smiled at the memory. You and Tara never talked about that day, the next day at school Tara went to class, she sat next to you, and it was never brought up. You didn’t make a big deal out of what you did for her, she knew it didn’t change anything, but it definitely didn’t help her crush on you. You were nice but she couldn’t even bring herself to classify the two of you as friends, you were just someone who talked to her in class, and yet you were kind enough to go out of your way and get her a cupcake when you realized she didn’t have anyone there on her birthday. Tara never forgot that day though, she knew you didn’t forget about it either because when the two of you became true friends you always managed to get her a chocolate cupcake and it tasted just as good as the first one.

“I didn’t see her after she graduated, not until the next summer,” Tara continued. “I was bored, mom was gone, so I got a summer job at the video store with Liv.”

“Where Y/N happened to work,” Sam said.

Tara nodded. “Ended up bonding over the fact that we were doing all the work while Liv would flirt with guys.” Tara chuckled to herself, she didn’t know how many times she and you were restocking movies and she’d look up to see Liv flirting with someone at the counter. “She would also give me a ride home when we got off at the same time.” Her car rides with you back to her house were her favorite moments of the day, she wasn’t stressed about work, or worried about her mom, she was just at peace with you talking about whatever new movie she had seen, you would listen as she rambled on and on.

“We became actual friends, and I still had my crush,” Tara said. “I would ramble to Amber for hours about her despite Ambers clear disdain for her.” Tara rolled her eyes, even before she got together with you Amber practically hated your guts.

“I wasn’t sure if she liked me back,” Tara admitted. “Not in that way but then on my seventeenth birthday I decided to take a chance.” Tara smiled; it was more like she was talking to herself than to Sam now. “We had a small party, she stuck around to help me clean up and I just kissed her.”

“You don’t have to clean up,” Tara said. “You are technically my guest.”

“And leave the birthday girl to do all the cleaning up?” you asked, spinning around as you continued to walk around filling a trash bag. “That’s just bad manners.”

“Thank you.” Tara grabbed a few more empty cups, bringing them over as you held the trash bag open for her.

“Anytime.” You looked at Tara with the same soft gaze you always did, wearing the same small smile you always seemed to have around her. “Oh!” you dropped the garbage bag and ran to the refrigerator. “Before I forget.” You rummaged around in the fridge before turning around, holding a little plastic container with a chocolate cupcake inside. A shy smile slowly took over Tara’s face as you made your way back towards her. “Happy birthday.”

“Thank you.”

You flipped open the lid, then pulled out a little box of candles from your pocket. Tara chuckled as you stuck one of the candles in the cupcake. You brought out a lighter next, lighting the candle and holding out the cupcake towards her. Tara shook her head, hoping her inevitable blush wasn’t noticeable. She closed her eyes before leaning forward and blowing out the candle.

“What did you wish for?” you asked, your voice barely above a whisper.

Tara gently took the cupcake out of your hands and sat it on the kitchen island. She looked up at you, letting out a shaky breath for what she was about to do. “For some courage and for you not to be mad at me.”

You furrowed your brow. “Why would I-”

Tara reached up, grabbed you by the back of your neck and pulled you into a kiss. She felt your entire body freeze and just as she was about to pull away you leaned forward, eagerly reciprocating the kiss. Your hands found her waist, instantly pulling her closer to you. Tara smiled into the kiss, feeling you do the same as it went on for a few more seconds.

“We’ve been together ever since,” Tara said, smiling the same way she had the first time she kissed you, the same way she always did when it came to you.

“I can’t say I’m thrilled about your relationship,” Sam said. Tara opened her mouth, ready to go on a tangent about you again but Sam continued before she could get a word out. “But I’ll try to learn to accept it.”

Tara looked up at Sam, giving her a soft smile. “Thank you.”

Sam got up, opening the door to allow you and her boyfriend to come back in. You instantly moved to Tara’s side, silently asking her if everything was okay, not taking a seat by her bedside again until she gave you a small smile. You glanced at Sam who spared you a side glance before going back to talking to her boyfriend. Tara sighed, she knew it would take time for Sam to get used to you being around, which she would have to do if she actually wanted to be a part of Tara’s life.

[cowgurrrl]

Roll The Bones

Pairing: Joel Miller x reader

Author’s note: I wrote this in the midst of a flare up so please enjoy and be gentle with your disabled friends <3

Summary: A bad pain day with Joel [1.5k]

Warnings: descriptions of injuries and subsequent chronic pain, medical settings and discussion, I think that’s it??

When Joel finds you, you're in a pitiful state. Your arm is folded over your face, covering your eyes even though the blinds are closed and the room is dark. Your right leg is peeking out from under the bundle of blankets and quilt, elevated with a lukewarm towel surrounding the swelling kneecap. The room smells like the salve someone in the town makes that's supposed to alleviate your pain. So far, it's just given you a headache. Your entire body throbs with pain and frustration. It shouldn't be like this, you think ruefully. I shouldn't feel like this. 

Joel lightly pads over to your bedside— his footsteps quiet now that he's discarded his boots by the front door— and perches next to you. His hand finds a home on your afflicted knee and carefully maneuvers his thumb over the tendons to help with the pain. You shift the arm covering your face to reach for him, and he smiles. 

"There she is," he murmurs as you take him in. His hair is long and a little unruly in the back, but you think it makes him look soft and domestic. He's shed his work jacket and heavier clothes downstairs and is clad in his soft, well-worn-in flannel. He smells like pine and leather. You want to wrap yourself in his warmth but settle for having him nearby. "Ellie told me you were havin' a rough day." He says. It doesn't surprise you that she did, even though you promised her you were fine and didn't need him. It's become rare that she doesn't update him daily on your health.

About a year ago, you were on patrol with Tommy when a Runner came out of nowhere and charged at your horse. She startled and bucked you off before you could regain control of the reins. The Runner was dead before you could hit the ground, and your horse would be recovered within the day, but the damage was done. You broke your leg in two places and dislocated your knee, in addition to a low-level concussion and cuts on your face and arms. When you came back into Jackson on Tommy's horse, half-conscious, bloody, and delirious with pain, Joel was horrified, Ellie even more so.

You were in the hospital for a month as they used what they could to put you in something akin to a cast and reset the bones. Joel and Ellie took turns being guards at your bed, monitoring what they gave you, when, and how much, and how your healing process was going. They were there with you every day, learning the tips and tricks to support you and keeping you sane as you stared at the white walls. 

Six months, the doctor said. Six months is all it would take to be back to normal as long as you did everything you were supposed to. Things have gotten better slower than you would like, but they have gotten better. You have really good days where you don't feel anything other than slight twinges when you move your leg in a weird way. Those days, it's hard to remember that you broke it in the first place. But other days, like today, you can feel every muscle in your leg tightening as stiff pain rockets up and down your body. You thought you could persevere enough to go to the store with Ellie, but your body obviously had other plans.

"My leg gave out on me when I was coming down the stairs. Pretty sure I made the whole house shake when I fell." You explain, and his eyebrows knit together in phantom pain as his thumb works your muscle. 

"You hurt anythin'?" He asks. "Other than your pride?" You blow air out of your nose in a half-laugh and shake your head. 

"Just some bruises," you say. He finds a tender spot in your knee that makes you hiss and ball up your fists, but he doesn't let up until the muscle releases. It's what he's supposed to do: break up the scar tissue, relax the muscles, and hope for the best. It still hurts like a bitch, and it'll hurt more in the morning. He mumbles apologies under his breath and kisses you to try and distract you, but your brain's been running wild for hours. "I went so long without any pain." You finally say, breaking the reverie and collapsing the unwanted space your pain often creates. 

"You've been takin' on a lot these past few weeks. It doesn't surprise me somethin' would flare up." It's an honest assessment. He warned you this would happen, but you ignored him. You thought you knew your body better. You wanted to know your body better. The returning thought and the gentle hand on your knee turn your tongue into sandpaper, and tears prick in the corners of your eyes. Despite the low light in the room, Joel catches it and makes a sympathetic noise. 

"Hey, talk to me." He says softly, shifting his hand from your knee to your face to catch a few stray tears. You shake your head and try and fail to form the words. Joel is patient. He always is, but he shouldn't have to be. 

"I'm so tired of being like this." You whisper, hating the feel of the words on your tongue and hating the sound of them even more. Joel gives you a confused look and pushes your hair out of your face. 

"Bein' like what?"

"Sick," you choke out. Now that the dam is broken, there's no stopping the bitter rush of words from leaving you. "We took her across the country and got rid of anyone who even looked at her wrong. Now, I can't even get on a horse without hurting. And I do all the stupid fucking things the doctor tells me to do. I do the exercises and take the medicine and everything, and nothing is making it better, and I'm so tired." 

"Why didn't you tell me that?" 

"Because I didn't want you to think I'm broken." It's a thought you've harbored since you were laid up in the hospital, unable to even walk to the bathroom without help, but this is the first time you've expressed it. You secretly hoped if you just didn't say anything about it, maybe Joel wouldn't notice. It's a stupid idea, given that your entire lives have changed since the accident. You just didn't want to get thrown away like all the other broken things in this world. Joel takes a deep breath and gazes at you. 

"Honey, you aren't broken. Not even close to it," he says. You want to counter him, but the weight of your emotion is too heavy on your chest. "I wanna know if somethin' is hurtin' you cause when you hurt, I hurt, okay? You're not a burden or somethin' to fix. You just… need a little extra care right now, and that's okay. I wanna take care of you."

"What if it's like this forever?" You ask, and he shakes his head. 

"It won't be."

"But, what if it is?" More tears fill your eyes as you await his answer. He didn't fall in love with this version of you. You don't know if you could blame him if he never does. But with enough ease and love to take your breath away, Joel kisses your forehead, right where your temple smacked against the cold ground. He kisses your forehead and the white scars littering your cheeks before finally shifting to kiss the knee propped up on pillows and hope. He doesn't flinch at the swelling or the angry spasms. He treats them with care and attention. He treats them as another part of you. 

"Takin' care of you has never and will never be on the list of worst things imaginable. Your health is not a sacrifice or a burden on me. If it's like this forever, we'll adapt, but I know you. I know how hard you're workin' to get better. I know we'll find a way to live with this," he says. "But I need you to talk to me when things aren't workin'. I can't help you if you don't tell me what's helpin' and what's not, okay?" You swallow around the lump in your throat and nod. 

"Okay." 

"Okay," he echoes. "I'm gonna get you an appointment with Dr. Lutton and see if we can't get you on a new treatment plan first thing tomorrow mornin'. Is there anythin' I can do for you until then?" He asks, fully prepared to go to the edge of the earth if you asked him to. 

"Can you lay with me?" You ask, and he smiles. 

"Of course, baby." He mumbles. He kisses your knee one more time before shuffling to wrap you in his arms. The warmth from his body helps relieve some of your tension and pain, and he kneads calming circles over your shoulders and back. Your focus shifts from the pain in your leg to the song he's humming, the vibrations in his chest a welcome distraction. The pain doesn't go away entirely— you doubt it ever will— but you rest your weary body against his and sleep, finding wholeness in his acceptance of your loss. 

TAGLIST: @abbyhaslongshorts @kiwiharrykiwi @sumsworldz @myloveistoolittle @anavatazes @marantha @cosmoscoffeee @shyminnie07 @beezusvreeland @eddiemunsonsbedroom @harriedandharassed @doodlebob-mp3 @ignorethisplz2004 @buckyispunk @d1lf-loverrr @vee-bees-blog @moel-jiller @anoverwhelmingdin @casssiopeia @maried01 @acupofhollie

[georgeweasleyslostearhq]

MISTLETOE TRAP

Prompt 3: mistletoe

Pairings: Eddie Munson x Fem!reader Summary: after spending so long watching you and Eddie hopelessy flirt with eachother, the club comes up with a plan fit for the festive season to bring you guys together. Warnings: mention of kissing, brief mention of Eddie being in the hospital. one mention of Y/n, I APOLOGISE

🦌𓂃 ࣪˖ ִֶָ་༘࿐⋆꙳❆⋆.ೃ࿔*:･°°‧❆⋆.ೃ𓂃 ࣪˖ ִֶ

🦌𓂃 ࣪˖ ִֶָ་༘࿐⋆꙳❆⋆.ೃ࿔*:･°°‧❆⋆.ೃ𓂃 ࣪˖ ִֶ

Christmas music played softly in the background as the club played a festive board game, yelling and screaming over each other filled the room as everyone pointed fingers to who's cheating.

the smell of pizza filled your noses as the fire crackled of Gareth's livingroom.

the lights of the tree twinkling in your eyes as you sat on the couch next to Eddie, everyone else choosing to sit on the dirty carpet. pillows under all their buts to soften the hard wooden floor.

it was perfect, everyone having fun, laughing- more or less when everybody isn't fighting, but despite that, it was perfect.

the club did this every year, but it's the first time Mike, Lucas and Dustin have attended.

and while this was their first time hanging out for Christmas games, this was not their first rodeo when seeing a certain pair of flirty best friends that are way to close to be just friends.

"my hands are a bit cold, mind warming them up for me?" Eddie had smiled, earning many silent groans from the room, from everyone except you, who had blushed and shook your head sheepishly

"I have a feeling you just want an excuse to hold my hand, Eds" you teased

"you caught me. so what do you say?" you nudged you, holding out his hand.

you've always been the flirty type of duo, you and Eddie. you don't know when it happened, it started with little remarks in certain situations that he deemed fit, then you slowly began retaliating, giving small comments back that left poor Eddie flushed in surprise. but the certain situations turned into a weekly thing, then soon every time you'd see each other.

"I say my hands are quite cold too" you rolled your eyes, slapping your hand in his and interlocking fingers

you barely noticed the glared and groans from anyone in the room until they all got up and left, saying they are going to the kitchen for seconds

where they all huddled up, sick of their dungeon master and his best friend acting like a bunch of idiots while flirting with each other.

"I'm sick of this, it's been going on too long" Jeff sighed

"I think it's cute" Dustin shrugged "Eddie deserves love too"

"Really? you think our dungeon master complaining his hands are too cold and that she needs to hold them is cute?" Lucas shook his head, questioning his friend's sanity,

because what you and Eddie have going on, is not cute.

"it's a bit cheesy-" Dustin started before Mike cut him off

"-it's gross!"

"Well, what do we do?" Gareth bit the inside of his cheek

then Dustin had an idea.

a brilliant idea

it was just involve talking to Steve.

🦌𓂃 ࣪˖ ִֶָ་༘࿐⋆꙳❆⋆.ೃ࿔*:･°°‧❆⋆.ೃ𓂃 ࣪˖ ִֶ

You walked into the Harrington home with Robin.

a little party with Steve's friends that you had been invited to, given that his parents went out of town.

you walked in, surprised to see the whole club sitting on the couch, including Eddie- which was less surprising

you knew Steve and Eddie were mutual friends, or friends, you're still not sure, you've never seen them directly talk after Eddie got permitted out of the hospital.

but the whole club here was definitely not something you would expect. but god you were happy

"we were waiting for you" The Munson boy cheered on your arrival

"don't cream your pants, we were just stuck in traffic" you rolled your eyes, pointing the robin behind you who threw her coat on the coat hanger, literally, letting it fall to the ground

"You do know how to put a coat on a hanger, right?" Steve huffed, picking her jacket up and hanging it on a hook while you settled on the couch, right next to open seat next to the one and only Eddie

the whole club had greeted you with unsettling smiles, Dustin rocking his legs as he sat cross legged on the floor.

their faces made you suspicious, they were always up to no good with those looks on their faces

"what's up with them?" you whispered to Eddie, who shrugged

he picked up a Garfield mug, steam floating up and reaching his nose as he brought it up to his lips. humming at the taste before pulling it away and back onto the coffee table

you giggled, looking away when he turned to you

"what? do I have something on my face?" he smirked, knowing the fluffy whipped cream adorned his top lip

you shook your head as he leaned in

"wanna help me out and get it off?" he raised his eyebrows, nudging your shoulder

it was a sight to barf at to everyone else I the room, but fighting against the sickening interaction, they knew this had to happen, this was all apart of the plan, well not this but this party.

that's actually a lie, Steve had invited everyone over for a little gathering, and by everyone he means his friends, but due to much begging to his favourite child, Steve had let Dustin bring the club too, why? the Harrington boy doesn't know, nor understand but whatever.

you huffed, reaching up and swiping the foam off of his lip, silently gasping when he connected his lips with your thumb, licking it off your finger.

the party's eyes were wide with disgust and shock before Dustin spoke up quickly

"Eddie why don't you get Y/n a cup of hot coco while we explain the rules of the game to her"

Eddie looked over to the freshmen and nodded, getting up

"marshmallows?" he asked before leaving, earning a happy nod from you

"only th-" you started before he cut you off, disappearing down the hall to the kitchen

"-the white ones!"

you blushed and smiled, watching as Steve placed The Christmas game down on the table, Mike eagerly opening it up

"so the rules of the game is-" Dustin began

"I know the rules of the game, Dusty, I've been playing this since before you knew how to walk" you chuckled, shifting on the couch

you leaned over and helped set up for the game, Nancy walking in from upstairs, had being in the bathroom when you had arrived. when you were busy putting the cards down on the board, Gareth had taken the bundle of mistletoe from his bag and tiptoed to the doorway of the hallway, connecting the Livingroom and kitchen, where he peeked over the corner to see Eddie lift up the mug and put marshmallows in.

he came and sat down without you realising he left before he spoke up

"hey...Eddie's been gone for a while, why don't you check on him?" he asked you, nodding his head in the direction to the kitchen

"oh.. uh sure" you frowned, getting up, it's not like Eddie couldn't handle making a cup of hot cocoa, but you walked to the kitchen anyway.

you walked through the open wall and yelped when you bumped into his hard frame, the cup of hot chocolate swished and spilled on his chest, earning a groan from him and a gasp from you

"oh shit, I'm so sorry" you blinked rapidly.

"it's fine, love, not your fault" he smiled tightly, sighing

you went to say something but you heard a few hushed laughs and Lucas coughing

you both looked back to notice their gazes focused above you

you look up and back down, confused before you did a double take and your eyes widened, Eddie looking up right after you, a sigh leaving his lips.

a bundle of green and red hanging above you, tied with a ribbon, a bow, mistletoe.

"oh" you said in unison

Eddie looked back down at you, watching as you stared up

he whispered "we don't have to- it's just a silly tradition"

that made you frown, did he not want to kiss you?

you know you were best friends but you had always hoped for more, not that you weren't happy, but he was just so...him, so perfect in your eyes.

"you have to kiss!" Robin smiled

-she wasn't in in the plan, no one but the party was, Steve knew but he wasn't listening when Dustin was rambling, all Steve remembered was him asking if the club could come, and Steve figured half of them were coming, may as well just give the kid what he wants to shut up.

you look down at Eddie to see his concerned face

or was it sad?

you couldn't make it out, but they held something of that sort

"may as well" you shrugged "you know we'll never hear the end of it from them if we don't"

he licked his lips

Eddie was sweating, everywhere. and not just from the fireplace they were right next to. but because he had thought over your first kiss so many times before.

it was be so perfect, so romantic, gentle but desperate. maybe looking over the town or during a drive in movie he'd take you to.

definitely not in Steve Harrington's Livingroom, and certainly not in front of all of yours and his friends.

he'd want it to be right. not a forced act, but an act of love.

because it's you

his best friend.

his lifelong crush

so to say Eddie Munson was sweating balls in this moment would be an understatement.

in the corner of his eyes he saw everyone looking at you both, expectedly

but his eyes were focused on yours. looking so deep into yours that he felt he was melting away

why was it so hot? apart from the scorching hot cocoa that drenched his band tee.

the way you looked at him, so soft, you were so beautiful, the coloured lights from the massive Harrington Christmas tree illuminating your face perfectly, you always looked beautiful in red.

"I don't want our first kiss to be in front of everyone" he mumbled to you finally. moth slightly agape, eyes wide in despair

you furrowed your brows when you looked over silently, watching as they all looked away

the room was dead quiet, the only noise was the crackle of the fire, so they must have heard Eddie.

so as they all looked out the window, watching the snow fall outside, tiny snowflakes dancing in the wind of the night, you looked back up at Eddie.

you silently parted your lips.

he looked back down at you.

he silently parted his lips.

he brought a hand up, slowly.

you brought a hand up, slowly.

his hand meeting the plush of your cheek.

your hand meeting the skin of his exposed hip.

then you leaned in, slowly.

so slow.

Eddie watched as your eyes fluttered shut as his nosed brushed against yours.

and his own soon shut as his lips met yours, grazing ever so gently before he took a sharp intake of breath before fully connecting them, pressing his lips firmly on yours.

Jesus, how they fit so perfectly, he thought to himself.

God, how they fit so perfectly, you thought to yourself.

your lips moved perfectly in sync, creating the kiss that Eddie had envisioned so many times before. it may have even been better.

his warm hand cupping your cheek, his fingertips rough but oh so gentle.

everyone in the room stayed looking outside awkwardly as they heard nothing, but Dustin, deciding to take a peek, was only able to catch a glimpse of the kiss ending, you both pulling away from each other, smiling softly as your eyes fluttered open

your eyes met again. your smile growing as you saw his blown out gaze, the colour of his eyes barely recognisable through his irises as he looked down at you

"I'll make you another hot chocolate" he said, blinking, in a haze of some sort

"I'll come with you" you replied, matching his tone as you grabbed his hand

everyone watched as you both disappeared down the hallway to the kitchen

"they're going to make out in my kitchen aren't they?" Steve spoke up after a minute, frowning

"leave the kids be, Steve, they've finally found out what horniness feels like" Robin joked, leaning against the back of the couch.

Steve's head whipped around in horror. so many thoughts in the poor head of his. are they gonna have sex in my kitchen?

"don't worry guys, this is just what the mistletoe trap does, it brings people together" Dustin said cluelessly

"that's what this was!?" Steve hissed at him, finally remembering something along the lines of 'bringing a young couple together' and 'mistletoe' that Dustin had said over the phone to him when he was just trying to focus on how to shut him up.

🦌𓂃 ࣪˖ ִֶָ་༘࿐⋆꙳❆⋆.ೃ࿔*:･°°‧❆⋆.ೃ𓂃 ࣪˖ ִֶ

bonus-

Steve storms into his kitchen, it's been too long since you both went in there and he wasn't ready for a baby to be made in that room.

all he sees is you, pressed against the counter with Eddie holding you, soft moans and sighs escaping your lips as your hands roamed each others body, your mouths locked together as you made out aggressively.

"DISGUSTING!" Steve yelled.

🦌𓂃 ࣪˖ ִֶָ་༘࿐⋆꙳❆⋆.ೃ࿔*:･°°‧❆⋆.ೃ𓂃 ࣪˖ ִֶ

[darlingdreadwrites]

Omfg omfg omfg omfg ggogggiffuuk. That toby x final girl reader was too good I feel like I'm floating....could you do a Jeff x final girl reader?

i hope you enjoy this! sorry if it’s too much of a long read…

pairing: Jeff the Killer x Final Girl F!Reader

part: 1, 2, 3

summary: you had anticipated a nice road trip with your boyfriend and some friends. when you're forced to stay at a motel for the night, you wished you had stayed home.

contains: Jeff the Killer getting a little crushy wushy on you (sorry i couldn't help it LOL), good ol' slasher shenanigans, Jeff unknowingly getting revenge for you

warnings: violence, gore, NSFW (ESPECIALLY UNDER THE RED DIVIDER), masturbation, insinuation of SA (nothing explicit, but can be read that way), a knife, character deaths, horror/slasher cliches

word count: 3.8k

masterlist

a.n: y'all i did not expect the attention i would get from the toby fics. I LOVE YOU ALL THANK YOU SO MUCH!! i know most of you followed for toby, but i got a request for jeff, so here you go!

This road trip was supposed to be fun. Your boyfriend—Tony—had promised you that. He promised that you’d have a great time. He promised that he would give you all his undivided attention. He promised he’d reign in his creepy friend’s weird comments. He’d promised he wouldn’t let his anger get to him.

“Jesus, old man. Just start the pumps back—“

But said old man interrupts him. They’d been going at this for a good few minutes now. “I cannot do that. You will have to come tomorrow. There’s a nice, luxury motel my buddy runs just up the road.”

“Listen,” Tony lets out a deep breath to try and control himself before he jumps over the counter to strangle the poor man. “We’re only trying to get out of this town, man. It is just one car.”

“If I start the oil back up, I’dun have to start it up for ev’rybody,” the man shakes his head, and I know he’s itching to keep up with the Southern Hospitality act.

You start to space out, having gotten used to Tony’s temper. You just wanted to sleep, no matter where. You spin on your heel and start walking down the candy aisle. There's a buzzing sound above you and you look up to see a flickering light. You swear you can make out the black dots of bugs that are being burnt to a crisp by the blinding lights. 

You almost scream as someone jumps next to you – seemingly out of nowhere – before you realize that it’s just your friend Stephanie. “Whachu want, girl?”

“Steph—“ You whisper-yell, and the girl only giggles. You shove her lightly and turn your attention back on the rows of different sugary confections. She looks up to see Tony still arguing with the gas station attendant. 

 “How long is he gonna keep doing that?” She asks you. You shrug in response. After a few silent moments, she walks around you. “Gonna calm him down.” 

“Mhm,” you hum and pick up a bag that is interesting to you. You squeeze it for no other reason than to hear the familiar crinkle of the plastic. From the corner of your eye, you can make out a figure walking over to you. You bristle already as Don’s cologne already starts to make your eyes sting. 

“You gonna get that?” He asks you and you want to immediately punch the cocky grin off his face. 

“No, just looking,” you answer simply. You place the candy bag back in its spot and cross your arms. 

“You’re already so hostile,” he chuckles, poking your side. You take a step to the side, putting more space between you. “Dude, come on. I’m just playing.” 

Don was never “just playing.” You almost learned that the hard way. 

“I think we're almost leaving,” mumbling, you turn to leave. He scoffs and stays in his spot as you walk toward Tony. Stephanie plays idly with her hair — not helping to calm Tony in the slightest. 

You were about to respond when a man nearly slams you to the ground. You catch yourself on your boyfriend’s back, who only noticed the interaction when you bumped into him. 

 “Watch it, asshole—” he shouts. 

You snap your head in the direction of the door, but the man was already gone. The bell hanging from the door almost flew off — you only caught a glimpse of white.

“You know what? Fine.” Tony glares at the worker. “Let’s just go to this shitty-ass motel and sleep with bed bugs, guys. Thanks for nothing, motherfucker.”

Stephanie and Don snicker, and your face burns from embarrassment.

“Luxury motel” my ass, you thought. This place was the dingiest shit hole you’d ever seen. It was a classic two-story nightmare that you would see in a horror movie. There was only one other car but yours, and you could see the grime on the walls from the car. The rust that clung to the metal railings on the upper level streaked down like old bloodstains. Half of the lights on the neon sign that perched from the roof were dead — making it read as “Mo.” But there was nothing your group could do tonight. There was only enough gas to drive back to the gas station tomorrow.

After securing the rooms — and Tony weirdly insisting that you and him have a room upstairs while your friends were downstairs — you all decided to head to the pool. That was the most normal your group had ever been in a while. You played around with them as they splashed water on each other, and Tony even got a little clingy. You missed that feeling of his body enveloping yours in his warmth – and not just for sex.

“I am so tired,” Stephanie exclaims as she climbs out of the pool. You follow behind her and grab your towel. Stephanie pauses and turns to look at you. “Hey, have you guys seen my key?”

“Didn’t you bring it?” You tilt your head to the side, wrapping your towel around you.

“I thought I did. Where the fuck—did one of you guys take it?” She looks over your shoulder to look at the two men. They only shook their heads. “Ugh. Guess I have to talk to that weirdo at the front desk. What was this name again? Miles? Mickey?”

“Micheal,” you correct her, suppressing a smile.

“Oh, yeah,” she giggled. “Micheal Myers.”

As you walk back upstairs to your room, you can’t help but walk a little closer to Tony. You felt shiver spreading like ice under your skin. An invisible force made you feel heavier, as if someone’s eyes were pressing into your back. The prickling sensation of the hairs on your body raising caused you to turn your head to look behind your shoulder.

“Scared?” The sound of your boyfriend’s voice causes you to look straight ahead. Both of you had stopped just in front of the stairs – you hadn’t realized.

“This place is so creepy,” is all you say.

The motel room was just as shitty as the outside, but at least it was warm. The lights were all a disgusting yellow color against the fake wood paneling. There was a small TV sitting on an aged drawer, a desk with a table, and a singular bed that you could already smell the dust from. You remind yourself to urge Tony not to use the thick blanket when you sleep.

You had just received a text from Stephanie saying she was going to sleep when Tony stepped out of the bathroom. You sent a quick message back to your friend before putting the phone down on the bed. You smiled up at Tony as he walked over to your side. He cupped your chin – sending a wave of heat through your whole body – before he lets it fall back to his side.

“I’m going to Don’s room downstairs,” he informs you and your face falls.

“Why?” You ask before you can stop yourself.

“He brought his PS4,” he says it like it’s obvious.

Of course.

“’Kay, well,” you swallow your disappointment. “Take the key. I’m not waking up to let you back in.”

“My own girl would let me sleep outside?” He looks at you with a lopsided grin, tilting his head. You can’t help but smile back. He hadn’t called you that in a while.

“I could. Now go.”

“Bye, baby,” he chuckles and turns to leave.

Your eyes stay trained on the back of his head until it’s blocked by the closing of a door. You bite at the inside of your cheek. You close your eyes, reinviting the tiredness you had felt earlier. Lifting the blanket, you slide down beneath it, settling into a lying position. An odd, old smell wafts from the sheets, but the warmth provides a comfort that you need.

You’re woken up from your slumber by the sound of a blaring car alarm. The walls do nothing to muffle the sound of the piercing, repetitive wail. Surely any member of your group could do it, and you wouldn’t need to get up. After another minute, you toss the blankets off you and swing your legs over the edge of the mattress. Sliding your shoes on, you stand up.

The keys jingle as you pick them up and stomp over to the door. You stick half of your body out of the door and point at the keys in the general direction of the car. That didn’t work. You groan and walk outside to get closer to the railing – the door closes behind you. Oh shit. But it was too late when you turned around. Pressing down on the right key fob, the car finally shuts up. You try the door anyway. No luck. The only one with the room key is Tony.

You walk down the stairs of the motel. In the distance, you could see Don still at the pool. Funny, you thought. Wasn’t he supposed to be playing with Tony? Maybe he got bored of watching your boyfriend. Walking over to Don’s room, a noise captures your attention. It’s not talking, more like moaning and giggling – from Stephanie’s room. You realized that you could see a crack of light coming from the door – it hadn’t been fully closed. You snicker, thinking of how you’d tease her for being desperate enough to get with Don.

Wait, but… you just saw Don. Still at the pool. And there had been no sign of Tony.

Slowly, and with an anxious flutter in your chest, you step in front of the door. The door stays miraculously silent as you gently push it open. You swear that your heart stops beating. There, on Stephanie’s bed, the pair are writhing against each other. Tony mouths at the side of her throat, while your friend’s arms are snaking under his shirt. You slammed the door as your heart threatens to jump out of your throat. You walk away, dazed – ignoring the loud sounds that emit from the closed room.

The air in the room was heavy with the scent of copper and the drone of the motel lights above. Jeff is leaning over the bodies of Stephanie and Tony, his blade dripping red as he finishes the final carving of a grotesque grin on Tony’s face. He’s precise with his movements – like an artist putting the final strokes to their masterpiece. Jeff had to reposition the bitch back on top of the girl he was swapping spit with. God, he could still see the look of horror on their faces. Her skin was pale and dull, with a similar smile etched onto her features.

He straightens up and takes a step back, assessing his work, and his head tilted. He’d really outdone himself this time, he thought. Jeff smirks, reveling in his sick joke. He lazily wipes his blade on Tony’s sleeve – not that it made a difference. These two were coated in blood he had fun playing with.

The shrill scream slices through his moment of silence – it had come from outside. He freezes before his head snaps toward the door. Who was that? His pulse accelerates, not from fear, but from curiosity. He walks to the door, another wide grin on his face. He cracks it open enough to peek his head through, the sound drowned out by the lingering echoes of the scream.

Jeff can see you on the second floor, standing frozen in place and trembling. His eyes travel down to the crumpled body on the floor – it was the other guy. Don, or whatever. His body lays in an unnatural position, and he can see the man’s lifeless face. His jaw was out of place, jutting out like an extreme underbite. Jeff would’ve cackled if he wasn’t meant to be quiet. That’s what’s so boring about targeting a group of people. He had to be quiet until everyone was dead. Which they all were, eventually.

But, then, his eyes flicker to you again. You weren’t crying like he thought you would be. You were just… there – you didn’t even look down to make sure your buddy was okay. Just one peek was enough for you – got you hollering like a pig – but you weren’t crying or running for the cops. He leans out further as you mechanically walk over to the stairs. The split second of fear he had seen on your face was all but gone. Your shock had made you numb, and you would just walk around it like it was nothing. Like your friend’s mangled body was just a bug.

“Oh, you’re fucked up,” Jeff whispered, a smirk on his face.

That excited him. He would be the one to get you crying in terror soon.

Nothing seemed real anymore. You were sure this was some kind of nightmare. That’s why you didn’t care. You just walked over to the ice machine – ignoring Don’s body on the floor – and grabbed a handful of ice. You don’t waste another second and shove as many ice cubes in your mouth as you could. Some had slipped out and crackled against the concrete floor. The pieces that skittered away had flown at your feet. But you didn’t feel it. You didn’t feel anything.

As you crunch on the ice, you slide some of the remaining pieces over your skin. The stinging cold that you would usually feel was replaced by a slight buzzing under your skin. You’re not sure whether you’re glad you can’t feel anything or not. You just wanted to sleep now.

Oh, right. The room key.

Letting the remaining ice cubes fall to the floor, you spun to head in the direction of the lobby. You didn’t want to deal with seeing your boyfriend’s tongue in your best friend’s mouth. You decided that you’d deal with them tomorrow. You didn’t care anymore. And they didn’t care either, it seemed. That’s why they didn’t come out running after you, right? They didn’t care enough to even pretend like they felt guilty. Tony wasn’t groveling at your feet, and Stephanie wasn’t crying her eyes out – begging you to still be her best friend. They had to know it was you that came into the room and slammed the door.

The lights overhead were a dull, sterile white compared to the yellow of the rooms – but it still smelled like piss. You could hear some sports game being played on a tiny, clunky box TV. But there was no sign of the owner. You turned your head from side to side but saw no sign of the fat old man. When you look back at the front desk, you notice the small rack of candy. Fuck it, you shrug as you reached a hand out and grab one. The numb buzz was starting to die down, but there was still no sense of real fear. Just the same tiredness you felt all day.

Guess you’d have to speed up the reunion early, huh?

The door to the room was slightly ajar once again. You had closed it, you remembered that. Maybe they had gone looking for you. Or at least when you had screamed. You nudged the door open with your foot.

Dropping the bag of candy on the floor, you felt bile rising in your throat. Your heart stopped for what seemed like the third time tonight. You honestly wished it would stop forever.

The putrid stench of the blood – let alone the sight of it – attacks your senses and made your head spin. The bodies were positioned as if they were frozen in a perverse display of intimacy. Tony’s face was right up on Stephanie’s, her cheek was being pulled on by Tony’s teeth to make it look like he was eating her face. Your stomach churned and eyes brimmed with hot tears. Doubling over, you retched onto the already stained carpet in the room.

You staggered backward, your legs threatening to give out as they shook. But you managed to take quicks steps back in the direction of the lobby. Your blood seemed to rush to your head, and you could’ve mistaken the pumping for the sound of drums. You wanted to scream and cry and throw up all at once. You wanted out.

Rounding the corner, the motel owner stepped out of a nearby room just a few feet in front of you. You could see the sweat on his shirt as he fiddled with the key ring – he was locking a door. He raised a hand to wipe some sweat from his brow, oblivious to your approach.

Your heart pounded as you stopped dead in your tracks. His actions were so mundane compared to the horror you had just witnessed. It made your stomach do flips. This was just another night for him. Another night of fixing the rooms and watching football on his TV.

“Sir-sir,” you tried to speak, but it came out in a shaky rasp.

Micheal turned to you, his brows raising in surprise. You had startled him. He gave you a once-over before smiling. “Is there anything I can do for you, miss?”

“They’re…” Your lips trembled as you tried to get the words to come out of your mouth instead of puke. You knew you were inaudible, but you didn’t have the strength to speak properly. “They’re… all… They’re dead.”

“I’m sorry, hon,” he leaned forward and squinted. “What was that? I didn’t quite catch—”

The man’s eyes widened and a wet, gargle emitted from his mouth as it hung open. Blood poured from the side of his neck, and a hand shot out to grab his shoulder and stabilize him. There was a squelching sound as the knife was dragged just above the owner’s shoulder. He crumples forward, sending a shower of blood your way, and some of it fills your mouth before you close it tight. Your eyes follow the sight of the keys that land with a soft jingle at your feet.

You stare at the man responsible for only a second. His scarred, unnaturally pale face is framed by jet-black hair that falls wildly across his face. It casts shadows onto his skin, especially his sunken-in, hollow eyes. They’re wide as they stare at you – cold and vacant. His most defining and spine-chilling feature is the wide, carved out smile on his face. It looked like it had scabbed over months ago, but it was still glaringly present. If this man was human, he didn’t look it.

But you act faster than you or he anticipated. You dive for the keys, picking them off the ground, when, suddenly, you feel a hand grab your wrist. He pulls you back up, bringing you closer to his body.

Just when you thought it was all over, you realize that the man is just staring at you. You feel his warm breath hit your face, and you can’t tear your eyes away from him. You’re confused, and it seems that so is he. Using this to your advantage, you smash the ring of keys into the side of his head.

As he howls out in pain, you break free and take a few steps back. You turn and bolt in the direction of a beat-up truck – the only other vehicle in the parking lot. Your hands shook and you clutched at the keys held tightly in your palm. It felt like you could suffocate with the heavy, tense air that surrounded you.

You cursed under your breath as you tried – and failed – to fit the key into the car door. The sound of the jingling only heightened your sense of panic. The key finally slipped into the lock, and you let out a quiet whimper. You yanked the car open, not daring to turn around.

Jeff simply watched you with a wide grin on his face. He was amused by your desperation – elated by the thrill of hunting you down. When the car clicked open, something in him clicked. His smile faltered as the realization that you were almost getting away hit him hard. With quick movements, he sprinted toward you and rounded the car to the driver’s seat.

You practically flew into the driver’s seat and slammed the door just as Jeff’s knife made contact with the window. The loud, grating sound of metal meeting glass caused you to scream. But you continued your attempt to get away. You jam the keys into the ignition, ignoring the hand slamming into the window.

“You bitch,” he snarled, banging on the glass. “I’m gonna gut you like a pig when I get my fucking hands on you!”

The tires of the car screech as you threw it into gear, jerking it backwards. Jeff continued to try and slice through the window, the sharp blade leaving a jagged mark. He took a step back to avoid his foot getting run over by one of the tires. He watches as you manically speed out of the parking lot, his figure getting smaller in the rearview mirror.

Your breath was coming out in short bursts, and your heart pounded wildly. As you drive off, you get one final look at him. He just stands in the parking lot, his own chest rising and falling rapidly. He doesn’t chase your stolen car, but you can tell that his mind is thinking of how he can enact his revenge. For now, he’s proud that you’ve gotten away just this time.

Two Weeks Later

Jeff couldn’t stop thinking about you. He very rarely lets people get away on his sprees. Not that he was going to let you live, don’t be fucking stupid. He knew how to find you and what he’d do. The man was just biding his time. He wanted the time to be right. He wanted to make it special for you.

The thing was, that second guy – the one that was crushed on the floor – that wasn’t Jeff’s kill. And, as far as he knew, it wasn’t poor old Micheal’s either. You did that. Something had made you snap. And Jeff knew that feeling all too well. Just what had that useless motherfucker done to you? Must’ve been bad enough to cause a sweet little thing like you to break.

He… sympathized with you. In a very stupid way that he hated. But he also loved the blank look in your eyes as your brain numbed you to the act you acted on. That made him want you, oh, so badly.

He could make as many excuses as he wanted, but he wanted you. His mind replayed the whole thing like a movie. He thought about you while he trained, while he maimed, while he slept. And especially while pumping his hand along his cock. He’d stare up at the ceiling, mouth hanging open as low moans dragged out from his throat. He thought of the way your face twisted in fear, the blood that spattered on you, and oh that felt just right. That’s why he needed to see you again. He wanted you. He wanted you. He wanted you.

He hoped you were prepared.

[tanktopdiaz]

You Just Smile and the Picture Sells

eddie-centric | gen | 1.8k | 8x12 Disconnected Coda Saturdays he goes to the northeastern part of town and spends the afternoon driving around lovely couples who couldn't care less for his picture of him, a toddler Chris, and Abuela nestled in a tight loveseat. Tips come in steady, and as the sun goes down he notices he's a bit more hypervigilant of the couples he's hauling around. Pretty dolled up women holding hands and giggling to each other, bulky men next to tiny twinks, a group of butch women filing into his Prius like it's a clown car and they're the dependent variables of his clown college thesis. or: Eddie installs a little picture frame in his car.

story under read more or read on ao3 <3

On Mondays Eddie likes to stock his air-vent frame with the picture of Chris at his first robotics meet, crouched down and squished between two mentors behind a little robot made to throw basketballs. Chris's glasses are covered in masking tape to make them blue since that's his team's color and Eddie wasn't going to drop money on a new pair at the time (the next year, he transferred to the middle school team - red and white color scheme. Much easier on the wardrobe).

Only one person's ever commented on it. It was a mom with two teens, both in the back huddled over their phones. The mom's in the passenger seat, anxiously adjusting the temperature to make sure the kids were getting A/C. "Ah, First Robotics? My niece is in it. He yours?" Eddie talks about Chris for the rest of the trip and at the end of it all, the mom puts her hand on his arm softly and says "best of luck at the next comp. I hope my niece's team kicks his team's ass, though." She tips an additional $10 and puts a note to spend it on goggles.

-----

Tuesdays, he finds a rhythm from 2pm-10pm with a picture of the 118 smiling back at him. Buck's hanging off his shoulder, Hen and Chim squished on their sides, Bobby's tilted and stretched face in the foreground as he takes the selfie of them all.

There's a bar on the west end of the city that hosts industry night on Tuesdays, and next to that a bar that offers karaoke coupons and discounts to nurses and cops. The discounts start at 3pm but the cover starts at 7pm, and he circles the nearest hospitals and attorneys offices for hours starting at 2pm. Rakes in the fuckin money. He's almost always picking up groups of 2 to 4 and everyone loves the picture and is never silent about it. He gets to say, "I used to be a firefighter, actually. Transfer down to El Paso didn't go so smooth," with a grimace and a forlorn look at the picture on his dash. They all sympathize with him, talk about their transfers to the city or their connection to firefighters and other emergency personnel. Theres even a couple who were once EMS personnel and they share anecdotes back and forth.

Once, he dropped off and picked up the same nurse 5 hours apart and when she gets in the car she insists on sitting in the front seat and getting all the details about each of them. He beams, stutters an "oh I could talk about them for hours" and he sits in front of her house for an additional 10 minutes cackling over the names Hen, Chimney, and Buck before she stumbles back in her house. $20 tip.

-----

Wednesdays he sleeps in.

The picture of the 118 and his influenced attitude from it all means he's made enough the day beforehand, so he drives Chris to school and drops back into sleep when he gets home. Picks Chris up from school, takes him to a movie or dinner or sits with him at chess practice. When he gets home he'll endure his parents until Chris is out of the room, growl out a "you do not dictate my relationship with my son", and take a couple rides into the night until his blood warms back up and his fists unfurl of their own accord.

He flips between two different pictures of him and Chris, one from Christmas and one from Easter. No one says anything - they don't have to - that's obviously his son. He's beaming with a kid in his hands, what else could it be? Sometimes his mind races. Do they think he's an absent father with only holiday pictures to show for it? Do they think this could be his nephew? Do they think he's doing this to provide? Despite the silence, he gets decent tips. Maybe because of the silence, actually.

-----

On Thursdays it's - surprise surprise - another picture of him and Chris. Buck and Bobby are in the background doing goofy faces, Eddie and Chris squished cheek to cheek with BBQ sauce decorating silly smiles of their own. Hen took the picture, a fried pickle hanging out of her mouth and a smudge of ranch on her cheek. It's nice to reminisce on in the morning when he picks up silent teens for school or half asleep business workers.

He picks the rides back up around 8pm, the same time most live music events in the city start opening their doors, and once it rolls around to the closing numbers his app starts pinging like crazy. "Oh my god this is adooooooooorable," crows every drunk women that pours into his prius. "You and - oooooooohhhh - is that your son?? He's a cutie patootie!!!!" they'll all but scream, party partners in the back both cringing and drunkenly egging their friend on. "Who's that in the back?" they'll ask, some continuing with no answer, "they look like family! Are they yours?" And Eddie will smile and nod and sometimes tear up when he speaks and they'll clutch their chest, tears in their own bloodshot eyes, and fawn over the picture until he drops them off at home.

50/50 on them raising their tips once they're in their own homes. Most of the tip increases come in the middle of the night, no doubt when they're coming down from their high and scrolling their phones to piece their night back together. They hover over the Uber app, gasp a smile, and remember him.

-----

Friday is much the same as Wednesday. Eddie puts a simple picture of him and Chris in his visor and takes Chris to school, survives off Thursday's tips until night comes and the clubs start to fill up then thin. He nearly overdoses on B12 as he prepares for a night going into the next day, but Friday partiers are a whole different breed down here, he finds. He keeps picking up men who try to intimidate him or make snide remarks about having a Prius in Texas where everything is supposed to be Bigger; women who bat their eyelashes and adjust their tops in his mirrors and pout out nonsensical questions when he's trying to make tight corners or convince them to be dropped off a block or two from their warehouse destination.

He doesn't get good tips on Fridays, unsurprisingly, and eventually decides he'd rather be with Chris. Chris would rather be with his friends though, and Eddie's happy to play chauffeur and hang in the background while Chris hops around town. His friends sometimes chuckle at the picture of the two of them and one evening there's a girl included. She sits in the front and smiles adoringly at the picture, cuts her eyes carefully up to Eddie's face every now and then. When he drops them off and drives to the back of the parking lot, he sees her lean towards Chris and put a flirty hand on his shoulder with a look towards him in the lot. Chris turns too, then turns back quickly, and the girl melts at whatever he says back.

He should get Buck on that pronto.

-----

Saturdays he goes to the northeastern part of town and spends the afternoon driving around lovely couples who couldn't care less for his picture of him, a toddler Chris, and Abuela nestled in a tight loveseat. Tips come in steady, and as the sun goes down he notices he's a bit more hypervigilant of the couples he's hauling around. Pretty dolled up women holding hands and giggling to each other, bulky men next to tiny twinks, a group of butch women filing into his Prius like it's a clown car and they're the dependent variables of his clown college thesis.

That first night, he hauls three people - a bored looking Latina in the front seat and two handsy young men in the back who keep glancing at him and toning their behaviours down. "I'm from LA," he blurts out 15 minutes into the 25 minute drive, cheeks flushing when they give him weary looks from the rearview mirror. "I know a - I have a lot of gay friends, so you're totally good to keep on, uh, what you were doing. No hate here." The boys are silent for the remainder of the drive and once they're out of the car the Latina in the front puts a soft hand on his arm and says, "they were awkward, but thank you. Texas isn't always kind to people like my brother." The curtain of hair and kind eyes don't escape him.

After that he decides on a picture of him and Buck - simple, out of uniform but perched next to each other on the loft island with the slightest lean into each other. Showing off his bisexual friend should surely make it easier to explain why they should find solace in his car. He keeps picking up obviously not-hetero couples and tenses his shoulders until he sees them look at the picture, then him, then give themselves private smug smiles. The picture worked as intended, he hums to himself. Everyone loves my bisexual friend. Is he supposed to NOT talk about his bisexual best friend to the gay people in his car who ask about him? Tips stay steady, but the ones who ride in silence still tip more.

His Sunday is really still Saturday, from the tip of the clock to 3 or 4am depending on his B12 intake. The gay people in his car get gayer, louder, drunker, kinder, and he finds that questions of his bisexual best friend start extending to him. "Aww, is that your partner?" And he says yes because it get him good tips. "Oh my god he's so hot" and Eddie will give a smug thank you and then they'll squeal, "you're in the picture too!!!" "How'd you two meet?" Hiccupping giggles through drunk lips when he talks about how much Buck hated him when they met and how quickly he nipped it in the bud.

As the night progresses it becomes more "you two look so happy" and "ugh, too cute, get it away from me" from a handful of singletons and "reminds me of me and my man" from the older crowd he picks up around the corner. Eventually he gets nothing but people dozing on his windows or silently staring ahead like they're processing the night. "Have you had a good night driving?" or "Been safe tonight, I hope." become the default small talk.

"He must be sick worrying about you out so late," an older woman tuts once, tapping the corner of the framed picture of the two of them. She's turned into the console with her other hand tight in her girlfriend's as the girlfriend leans head first against the passenger seat, drunk as a skunk.

"Nah," Eddie says with a tired grin. "He knows I'm coming home to him."

[bookworrm1999]

How Far Away? Epilogue

Caleb x Mc

Tags: unplanned pregnancy, presumed death, depression, miscommunication

Summary: Mc and Caleb fight right before he goes on a long mission into space. Caleb ends up MIA while Mc finds out she's pregnant. She struggles to deal with the grief while Caleb is fighting for his life to make it back home to her.

Ao3

Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12

Epilogue

25 weeks

You were really starting to show now, it had seemed to already be big before but you had no idea what was in store for you. There were still 15 weeks to go! When people said that pregnancy was 9 months, it wasn’t quite accurate, it was actually 10 months when you broke down the 40 weeks.

It was spring now and it was warm enough in Skyhaven to leave the windows open, letting the spring breeze in.

You were laying on the couch on your side, your head sidled up next to Caleb’s thigh.

His hand was smoothing your hair down, a comforting feeling as you dozed. He was reading a pregnancy book to look even more into what was happening in your body.

Things that you weren’t even sure that you wanted to know.

How the baby would most likely have a lot of hair if you had frequent heartburn, how the baby's first poop would be dark and sticky like tar because the baby still peed even in the womb.

The baby breathed even in the womb, practicing breathing and swallowing.

Even now, your baby could hear you and would recognize your voice when they came out of the womb.

What really made you want to cry with all these pregnancy hormones, was that the baby didn’t even consider their mother a separate person from themselves for their first year of life.

Caleb told you all these things as he pet your head gently, the quiet intimacy was something you needed after so many weeks of loneliness and grief.

27 weeks

Laying on your bed together, Caleb’s head resting on your belly

“Hi baby girl, it’s me, your daddy.”

“I love that you talk to her every night like this.”

“Well with me back to work, I gotta make sure that she recognizes my voice too! I wasn’t here for the first few months after all.”

“She couldn’t even hear anything back then, you goose.”

“Semantics. Your mother thinks she’s so smart and knows everything. The only reason she does is because I read the books and told her.”

“I would’ve read them on my own if you hadn’t!”

“When?”

“…. Eventually…”

“Ha! When you were in the hospital and freaking out in the middle of the night, freaking out about what you were supposed to do?”

“Be nice to the lady carrying your baby.”

“I’m always nice. Hear that little girl? I’m the nice one, your mama is the meanie.”

You flick his forehead in retaliation.

“Hey! Ow! What was that for?”

“You’re poisoning our child against me! Before she’s even out of the womb too!”

“Okay, okay I’m sorry!”

“Sing her a lullaby, I’m going to bed, I’m tired.”

“Are you that mad at me?”

“No, just being pregnant is tiring. I may not be out in the field but doing desk work here at home is still mentally exhausting on top of this little one rolling all day.”

Caleb kisses your belly gently and begins to sing quietly.

“Hush little baby don’t say a word, daddy’s gonna buy you a mocking bird. If that mocking bird don’t sing, daddy’s gonna buy you a diamond ring. If that diamond ring turns brass, Daddy’s gonna buy you a looking glass. If that looking glass gets broke, Daddy’s gonna buy you a billy-goat. If that billy-goat don’t pull, Daddy’s gonna buy you a cart and bull. If that cart and bull turn over, Daddy’s gonna buy you a dog named Rover. If that dog named Rover don’t bark, Daddy’s gonna buy you a horse and cart. If that horse and cart fall down, You’ll still be the sweetest little baby in town.”

“Sounds like Daddy is going to be wrapped around her finger.”

“Just go to bed.”

30 weeks

Two weeks into your third trimester, your belly felt so heavy now. Caleb had bought you a maternity belly support belt.

It was a godsend but it wasn’t comfortable to lay down in but when you needed to work at your desk or do things around the house, it was amazing.

Caleb had been grounded until your baby was born and for another 4 months after the birth.

With Ever flailing around like a chicken whose head had been cut off, the Fleet had gone back to what it had used to have been.

Similar to what Zayne had described when you had first reunited with Caleb all those months ago.

A quiet but always present authority.

It let Caleb be a proper pilot, he didn’t have to be scary just commanding now.

Sylus had Ever on the defensive, Viper was instrumental in either eliminating threats within the organization or passing on information.

They were dying a slow death all because of an inside job taking out the heavy hitters.

It let Caleb and you have a proper relationship, you were finally communicating and you had even brought in a couples therapist.

Your personal therapist was great but Caleb hadn’t quite worked up the courage to go to one himself.

It had been hard enough opening up to the love of his life after all.

You were hopeful that you could both move forward with your lives.

The only issue now was that Caleb hadn’t brought up marriage again.

It had been weeks since he had mentioned it that morning you had reunited.

Had you been too harsh in rejecting him and just settling for being his girlfriend?

There was so much in the air at that time, life and not really knowing what was happening with Caleb.

The threat to all of your lives.

But it was different now, would you have to bring it up?

You would but Caleb still had a tendency to be secretive, you would hate to ruin a well thought surprise just because you were impatient.

Speak of the devil, you had been washing dishes when Caleb came up behind you, head resting on your shoulder.

Grabbing your hands gently and intertwining his fingers with yours, the soap sudsing between your palms.

“I thought I said I would wash the dishes?”

“You made dinner, which was delicious, thank you.”

“Oh I try, but really, you should go sit down. It worries me to see you up and doing things.”

“Really Caleb, I’m pregnant, not injured. Pregnancy is not a disability.”

“It can be for some people.”

“Honestly, I know but you’ve seen me, has it really given me much of an issue besides the usual symptoms?”

“I just want to help.”

“Listen, what’s really going on honey?”

“Ah, you caught me. I…. I guess I just feel guilty that I left you alone for those first few months. I know how sick you got and it eats me up. I want to help as much as I can now.”

“Caleb, I appreciate the thought. Really I do. But if I want to help and do things, just let me. It makes me feel like a caged bird again when you don’t let me do anything.”

“I’m sorry.”

“So long as you understand. But since you’re here and you offered, you can take over now! My back is starting to hurt.”

“On it! I’ll massage you after I finish ok?”

“You’re such a puppy.”

“What was that?”

“Nothing dear!”

35 weeks

So close but yet so far from the end of pregnancy. Everything felt heavy and took so much energy to do.

It was hard to take a deep breath, her little head living in your ribs. Maybe it was her feet now, the doctor had said that she had turned to face down now.

Getting ready for birth, you didn’t want her to come early but you were starting to get tired.

You couldn’t lay on your back, it was uncomfortable, not to mention unsafe.

Something about the baby putting pressure on a certain major blood vessel, slowing blood flow between you and the baby.

You groaned aloud, catching Caleb’s attention. It was the evening, you were laying on your side, watching a mindless home renovation show.

He was beside you, reading a report, bringing work home as usual.

“What’s wrong baby?”

“I feel so heavy and uncomfortable!”

“What can I do to help?”

“I dunno, I’m tired but it’s hard to get comfortable and then it’s hard to stay asleep because I have to pee so much.”

“I’ll draw a bath for you. Maybe being in the water will help you feel lighter, take some pressure off your back.”

“That sounds heavenly.”

“Give me a minute.”

Caleb leaves the room, you hear the roar of water from the bathroom after a few seconds.

It takes him five minutes to come out and offer you his hand to help you up.

“Your bath awaits my lady.”

“You’re such a goof.”

“And after all that effort? I’m offended.”

“If you could really be offended by a little thing like that. I’d be disappointed in you.”

Helping you up and leading you to the bathroom. The scene was so nice that it made your eyes tear up, touched by his gesture.

He’d set the mood by lighting some candles, the bath warm and filled with bubbles from your favorite bubble bath soap. A bath bomb on the side in case you wanted it, he’d even grabbed a water bottle and some crackers and cheese to munch on.

“You really are the best boyfriend.”

“I’m flattered! Such high praise!”

“Shut up and help me get in.”

Caleb helps you into the bath after getting undressed, a bath pillow behind your neck. Water buoying your body, giving you some much needed relief from the pressure in your back.

A low groan escaping you, sinking down into the water, your hair is up in a bun safe from getting wet.

“Thank you.”

Caleb trails his fingers in the water, happy to just watch you.

“You’re welcome.”

39 weeks

It’s the middle of the night, you had just gone to bed 2 hours before.

You awoke feeling odd, you stood up and made your way to the bathroom.

Caleb still sleeping in the bed behind you.

You had just made it to the tiled floor when a weird but warm feeling spread down your thighs.

It was wet.

Like you had just peed yourself but it was different.

You checked, sitting down on the toilet. It was not definitely not pee.

It was still leaking, a constant drip.

So you stuck a pad in your underwear, not having gotten use from these for months.

Going back to your room; you shook Caleb awake.

“What…?”

“I think my water broke.”

“What?!”

He sits up straight in bed looking at you with panic.

“Don’t worry, I’m not feeling any contractions but we do need to head to the hospital. Since my water broke, I’m at risk for infection if I don’t go into labor in the next 24 hours. I need to be at the hospital so they can induce me if I don’t naturally start progressing.”

“I’ll grab the bags, you go get in the plane.”

“It’ll be ok hon, from what I’ve learned. It’s nothing like the movies, we have time.”

Reaching Skyhaven hospital, you had let your OB know that your water had broke. It was the middle of the night so it had taken her a bit to reply back, but she’d be there in a few hours.

The nurses brought you and Caleb into the intake room, asking questions about when your water had broken, what color it was, if it was still leaking, etc.

Once they had you alone to get you changed into a gown and move you to your room, they asked you the standard question if you were safe at home.

Boy oh boy if they had asked that question at the beginning of your relationship, it made you ligas but appreciate the progression of your relationship as you answered yes.

They got you into the hospital bed, Caleb coming in behind you now.

Hooking you up to the fetal monitors to check on your contractions.

“Looks like you are having some small contractions, are you feeling those?”

“No i'm not actually.”

“Alright, you let me know when you start feeling them. Would you like to be able to walk and bounce on the ball?”

“Yes please!”

“Ok, when you start feeling the contractions, since you won’t be hooked up, just press this button ok?”

“Sounds good!”

“Will you be wanting any pain medication or an epidural?”

“I think I’ll be fine.”

Famous last words.

**

“Son of a— agggh!”

Caleb holds your hands anxiously, not able to help and distracting you just made you mad.

“Maybe I can see if they can get the anesthesiologist in here to give you an epidural?”

“Please!”

He presses the call light and explains the situation, the nurse says that the anesthesiologist would probably take about 15 minutes to get there.

“Are you kidding me?”

The contraction passes, now 3 minutes apart. You had been here for 10 hours already, you had thought you could tough it out. But as they got closer together, the stronger the pain became.

“I’m here baby.”

“I know, I don’t know if that’s making me feel better or not yet.”

It does indeed take 15 minutes for the doctor to appear, right around the same time as the OB comes in to check on your progress.

“Hey, I’m feeling some intense pressure like I gotta go bad.”

The anesthesiologist stops preparing your back and looks at the OB knowingly.

She puts in her gloves and has you spread your legs.

Checking your progression, she smiles.

“Your feeling your baby’s head bearing down. You’re at 10 centimeters and it’s time to push!”

“Wait! What about the epidural?”

“I’m sorry dear,” the two doctors look at you sympathetically, “You progressed too fast and it’s too late for that. You’ll have to do without it, we do have some gas you could take though!”

Another contraction starts and the pressure is unbearable. The doctor tells you to bear down with the contractions.

Everytime, it feels like fire down there, the pain so bad that you can’t think straight.

Caleb holds your hand, having gone silent to avoid getting his head bitten off and for nervousness.

“There’s the head! The next contraction should bring it out! Come on, next one and push!”

Bearing down like you were going to the bathroom seemed to be the best way to get the baby out. Your body naturally taking over in this act.

“She’s almost here! You got this baby.” Caleb whispers in your ear, having been wiping your forehead off and being the one to ground you.

“Aaahh!”

“The head! Bear down! The shoulders and everything else will follow if you can get those out!”

“Nnnngh!”

You felt your baby slide out from you and the pain released you. Quickly laying your baby on your chest, stimulating your little girl with a soft blanket and vigorous rubbing of her back.

The sweetest little cry, like a lamb bleating greets your ears.

“Oh! Oh! You’re beautiful!”

She’s the most precious thing, looking up at you with dark hair and a peek of purple eyes.

Tears falling from your eyes, you look up at Caleb, seemingly stunned at first but he raises his hand and lays it on her back. His hand covering almost all of her little body.

Tears fall from his eyes, a beaming smile covering his face.

“Hi little girl, I’m your daddy.”

“And I’m your mama, and we love you so much.”

You both surround your little girl with your bodies, feeling the bliss of the golden hour. The doctors in the room but leaving you to bond with your baby before taking her to check on her.

You smooth her soft hair, a little slimy with vernix but everything seems so novel and perfect about her regardless of the fact that she’s basically covered in cheese.

Placing a kiss on her forehead, you notice that she seems to have fallen asleep on your chest. Lulled by the familiar sound of your heartbeat and your scent.

“So what do you think? Should we keep the name we picked out?” You ask Caleb, not taking your eyes off of her but grasping his hand.

“Yes absolutely. She is our most cherished one now and that’s what Ahava means.”

“Hello little Ahava, welcome to the world.”

Everything else passes with a blur, she weighs 6 pounds and 7 ounces all in perfect health.

You lay her on your breast and it takes some finessing but she manages to latch

You hadn’t slept that long the night before and the pain had kept you up. So you passed her to Caleb and fell asleep, sore, the placenta already passed but you still had so much healing to do.

A few hours later, her little snuffling cries woke you up. Caleb looked a little stressed but he rocked her gently and murmured soothing words. His lips against her forehead and his body surrounding her.

“I can take her.” You held your arms out for her.

Ahava was placed in your arms and you breathed in the smell of your baby. You had often wondered about parents talking about the smell of a newborn but it was true. Babies smelled amazing at least when they were clean.

Breastfeeding her, yawning and still out of it. You swore you saw something twinkle on your hand.

No it was there! A ring!

You turned your head accusingly at Caleb but he just grinned smugly.

Whispering into your ear as not to disturb your daughter, he said

“I measured it all those weeks ago while we were washing dishes. I think you’ve been my girlfriend long enough now. I’d like to say you’re my wife as well as the mother of my children when I introduce you to people.”

“Children? As in plural?”

“Absolutely, I think we need a few more of these little ones. Don’t you?”

“I’m sure you’ll find some way to convince me.” You sigh teasingly.

“Oh you can bet on it.” Caleb leans forward and kisses you gently, the feeling of your daughter sleeping in your arms and all threats gone. Life truly felt complete in that moment.

Thank you so much for reading! I’ve really enjoyed writing this fic. I may write more about these characters in the future, maybe a smutty one or about their lives as parents, we’ll see.

Tags: @moonberry69 @supermyeon22 @tinnyrabbit @gavin3469 @marina27826 @crowleysthings @tabi-callico @midiplier

@his-ocean-emissary @rosalyne08

@xaviers-pookie-bear @tsunamethyst @thejujvtsupost @cherrybeomgyu

@gojosballsack69 @apple-lov3r @dinochocochip @violetpurplez @raiyuxa @nickibunny23 @sh3sa1dwhat @playboygeniusphilanthropist @flwerie @lynnlovesthestars @twilightsmissingfur

@kasuumi @i-messed-up-big-time @mcdepressed290 @mc-cos-charm @needsleep3000

[autisticfaun420]

My life with level 2 (part 1)

I'm making this post to share some things about my life and give an idea about what my support needs are

1. Every morning I wake up sealed in my cubby bed, an enclosed bed that keep me trapped inside so I dont wander and hurt myself or roll out and have a meltdown (common things that happen with me and regular beds). It's also soft so I don't potentially bang my head against something hard. you're probably wondering well how do I go to the bathroom at night. That brings me to my next point.

2. Every morning after opening up my cubby bed either my mom, dad, caregiver, or occasional close friend takes me to my changing station in my room and begins to change my diaper. Thats right I was NEVER able to potty train and due to EXTREME sensory issues I am unable to change myself. This means I need constant super vision as I always need someone to change me, also calm me down if meltdown, etc. I simply have no way to tell I need to go, 1 or 2, till its much too late. So yeah diapers are an all day thing not just at night.

3. I'm older then 20 and my parents are l now my legal guardians for life, and if they can't do it I have friends that will step up. I'm not sure exactly what this means legally but I take it to mean Im basically still a kid to them on like, every level. They respect my intelligence but they still set the rules. One that always kind of gets people mad but then they understand is the fact that I have child safety internet settings on my tablet and phone, I can't access most social media websites and I'm not alliowed YouTube only YouTube Kids. This is because my parents and close friends agree that these teenage boys from a nearby town were trying to make me an "lol cow", basicallly a target for online harassment and bullying and trolling me because I was special needs and active on social media. Tumblr with my parents having the username and password and log ins and they check it every day is all I get. My friends and parents show me things from TikTok and Youtube that they think i'll like so I don't miss out. Oh yeah and I would binge watch horror and terror content on youtube, something that a lot of autistic people do apparently, however I mentally can't handle it. I wake up and freak out and hit myself all night and lose sleep for a week and end up in a mental hospital cause I'm hurting myself and not sleeping. Not fun... at all. I had unrestricted internet access as a teenager and I'm glad that part of my life is over. My parents do however let me eat cannabis edibles every day so its not like they're over protective, just protective in the way I need.

4. My parents are my emotional coregulators and I rely on them heavily, a lot of the time just to know how I'm feeling. I break down emotionally frequently and if my parents or a select few of my friends aren't there to cuddle me and rub my back the right way, I FREAK out and start hitting myself cause my brain is a bit nutty I guess. I'm needy with those I love to a rediculous degree. I'm a lot better, still not great, at self soothing. Self soothing is an oxymoron for me. I kinda need to be with somebody to be told to calm down, encouraged to come out my shell, praised when I do something good, and just having a hand to hold. My mom is rubbing my back encouraging me to write this out like I said I wanted to do.

5. I need to stim, constantly. I'm always rocking, fidget toy and plushie in hand chewing on my chewing laynyard, you get the idea. I also need audio and visual stims which I get in the form of watching bright colorful little kid shows on my tablet like Blues Clues and Daniel Tiger. I think this is why people don't think I'm smart but its just who I am and what my needs are.

I think this is a good starting point, I'll make a part 2 later.

[ladykailitha]

Share With Me One Love, One Lifetime Part 8

This is it. This is the end. I am grateful to everyone who liked, comment, reblogged and followed this story to its completion. It means the world to me.

And this means that I did what I set out to do and finish this trilogy before season five came out. Though I probably have to the writers' and actors' strikes to thank for that.

In this we have happily ever after. As it should have always been.

Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 4 Part 5 Part 6 Part 7

~

Steve’s eyes fluttered open and he immediately closed them again, squeezing them shut against the harsh white light. Either he had died and this was a really shitty version of heaven or he had been taken to the hospital and he had been admitted.

The room went dark and then there was a single warm light off to his left.

He opened his eyes again, blinking against the much subdued light.

“Hey there, Stevie...” a warm voice muttered. He felt a hand take his and instantly Steve relaxed. “Don’t try to talk yet, they have you all tubed up. I’ve already called for the nurses and they should be here right about... now.”

And sure enough two nurses came bursting into the room.

“Hello, Mr. Harrington,” the first nurse said. “I’m Amanda and this Kelsey we’ll be taking good care of you. Dr. Miller will be in shortly to explain everything that’s going on.”

“But first,” Kelsey said with a bright grin, “let’s get that tube out of your mouth, okay?”

Steve nodded and gripped Eddie’s hand tightly.

“You’ve got fierce group of friends there,” Amanda said as she checked his vitals. “They practically insisted you have someone take watch over you all night. Thankfully your Uncle Wayne and cousin Eddie were able to take shifts.”

Steve huffed out a dry laugh. He had no doubt that Robin and Dustin were his biggest contributors to the bending of the rules.

“Your voice will be a little rough for a bit,” Kelsey said as she started to dispose of the equipment properly. “But that will go away quickly the more you use those muscles. Still though, take it easy, yeah?”

“Yeah,” he rasped.

Both nurses grinned at him and then filed out.

“You gave us all a bit of scare there, sweetheart. Marty noticed you were lagging behind and hurried on ahead to radio us to get to you ASAP. And it was a good thing we did. You opened up your stitches as you were running for your life and you were losing a lot of blood. But because of the adrenaline you were high on, you didn’t feel it.”

“Tsk, tsk, tsk,” another voice said from the door. “You tell him any more and I’ll be out of a job.”

Steve chuckled and Eddie smiled broadly.

“Just telling him layman’s terms is all,” Eddie joked back. “You tell him all the fancy stuff to sound smart.”

Dr. Miller laughed. “Well then, Mr. Interpreter you can stay. I suppose.”

The doctor the proceeded to explain to Steve about the stitches and how much blood he lost, and how without the quick thinking of his friends he might have not had made it out alive.

He went on to conclude that Steve would be the hospital for the next few days as they monitored his stats and then he would be released into the care of his uncle and cousin.

“It’s really very sad,” he said shaking his head. “We attempted to reach your parents as they were also listed as emergency contacts, but we were stymied at every turn. But Dr. Owens managed to reach them and he was told that all your bills would be paid, but they couldn’t make it back to Hawkins for at least another month.”

Steve let out a sigh of relief. They weren’t going to be coming back so he would have time to heal before he got the third degree grilling from his father.

Dr. Miller made note of the sigh, but wisely said nothing. He went on his way, leaving Eddie and Steve alone.

Steve finally was able to take in the room. He was by himself with a nightstand with a lamp and jug of water complete with paper cups. There were at least half a dozen chairs littered about the room and nice open window that looked out onto the town.

He snorted and whispered, “Nice to see my parents still can’t bear to have me with the poor schlubs of the world.”

Eddie laughed and shook his head. “Oh, no. This courtesy of the Dept. of Energy and Dr. Owens. He said that they are funneling in the money your parents are sending for the medical bills to a trust in your name that also has the hush money...” he paused with a grin. “Right I’m not supposed to call it that. The thank you from a grateful government for saving the world money from the last three apocolypses.”

Steve huffed out a sound that was supposed to be a laugh but it came out as a raspy sort of bark.

Eddie filled up a glass of water and helped him drink it.

“Thanks,” Steve said, his voice still rough but slowly getting better. His eyes fluttered shut and he forced them open.

“Sleep, sweetheart,” Eddie murmured stroking his head. “You need all the rest you can get before you’re invaded tomorrow.”

Steve tried to refute that, but sleep pulled him under once again.

~

The next day Steve got visitors in waves. He was really grateful to learn that other than Jason and his idiot cronies, he was the only one who had been hurt.

The murders were pinned on Henry Creel when the police found out that he had been alive the whole time and was targeting Eddie because he saw himself in Eddie and wanted them to be together.

“What did I tell you about pullin’ your stitches, boy?” Wayne growled the moment Steve opened his eyes.

The only ones who were there was Wayne and Eddie and he felt relieved that it was just the two of them in that moment.

“I’m hoping to delay that by saying that I was literally running for my life and I couldn’t help it?” Steve said with a grimace.

Wayne eyed warily then nodded curtly. “Just this once.”

“That’s a relief.”

Wayne took his hand. “I’m glad you’re safe now, Stevie.”

Steve nodded.

The next group were only allowed after Steve had been checked out and had his breakfast. Robin, Dustin, Max and Lucas came in and Steve was never more happy to see Max then he was in that moment.

“Told you if anyone could beat it,” he murmured holding her tight, “it’d be you.”

“Thanks, Steve.”

Dustin and Robin took turns talking a mile a minute about how the Upside Down was a completely different place now. It still had blood red skies but the storms had stopped and the plants were coming alive without the noxious fumes.

“It’s like when life starts to come back after a forest fire,” Robin said. “They’re still going to monitor it and try to keep bad people from using it the way Creel did.”

Lucas and Max shared their harrowing adventures with the Three Stooges and how the boys were now facing serious charges.

Then it was time for Steve to rest again. His body was really going through the ringer to heal itself.

When he woke and had eaten again, his next group had invaded.

This time it was the Hellfire crew.

“Shit, man,” Marty said shaking his head. “You’ve been fighting these monsters for years?”

Steve chuckled and shook his head ruefully. “Man it has been a fucking trip. But yeah. Hawkins was literally over hell.”

“The government wasn’t very happy with you bringing in outsiders,” Brian said. “But my mom is a lawyer and set them straight. They should have known about Creel from the start and put way more effort into keeping him from taking over the world. It’s hardly your fault the only people willing to listen were a rag-tag group of teenagers.”

Steve snorted. “Yeah. I’m glad everything worked out with Operation: Distract Vecna. I thought for sure this idiot was going to play hero.” He nodded fondly at Eddie.

“Oh,” Janice said with a wince, “he fucking tried. But then I suggested fire and everyone definitely preferred that option.”

“You know,” Gareth groused, hands on his hips. “For people who have been doing this awhile, you guys sure don’t know how to take out monsters effectively. Like you assholes used bullets and not fire which totally fucking backwards, by the way.”

Steve huffed out a laugh. “Good thing you were here this time, right?”

Jeff just shook his head. “You’d be useless without us.”

They talked for a little bit longer then it was time for the next group.

Robin was back this time with Vickie and Erica.

When Steve raised an eyebrow, Erica huffed. “My mom made me go to stay home today because of the whole hostage thing, so I couldn’t come until later. I like literally had beg to make sure you didn’t die.”

Steve chuckled. “And you couldn’t take Lucas’s word for it?”

“No.”

“My parents made me go to school,” Vickie said with a shrug. “And I couldn’t dislodge that one, so I brought her along to avoid the puppy dog eyes.” She jutted her thumb at Robin who proceeded to demonstrate said puppy dog eyes.

“It’s very effective,” Steve said sagely. “She uses it on me all the time.”

“Well if you weren’t such a sap, dingus,” Robin huffed, “I wouldn’t need to deploy them so often.”

Steve laughed and they chatted for a bit.

As they were leaving he asked, “Any word on the Cali crew?”

Robin shook her head. “We know they were alive when we took out Vecna because of the piggyback El did with Max to kill the bastard. But nothing since.”

Steve nodded and he slipped back into a deep sleep. This time sleeping straight through dinner until morning.

~

“Quiet!” a woman hissed. “The nurses were kind enough to let us stay if we didn’t wake him.”

“But it’s boring!” whined someone else.

“You don’t have to stay here, Mike,” yet another voice murmured. “I can take you home.”

“He would only be grumpier at home,” Steve muttered startling all them.

There were suddenly people shouting at each other for waking him until Joyce whistled, bringing everything to sharp silence.

He was relieved and slowly opened his eyes and did a head count. Seven. He blinked at them a moment and then counted a second time. Then he really focused on the faces.

“Hopper!”

Suddenly the old police chief was at his side. “You kept everyone safe. I’m so proud of you.”

Steve felt tears roll down his face for the first time since waking up. Everyone was safe. He had done it.

“I hope you don’t mind us bringing Argyle,” Jonathan said breaking into the moment to lighten the mood, “he said he wanted to meet you before he went back to Cali. His parents are pretty pissed at him right now.’

Steve looked over at the Native boy and cocked his head. “Welcome to the Party, man. I hope you at least got cookies.”

Everyone burst out laughing and the somber mood was broken. Everyone else was there. El and Nancy and Will, too.

His family was complete again.

~

It was about a week later when he was finally released from the hospital and allowed to go home.

He was currently holed up on the sofa with his art supplies and a board to draw on. He was working on his final comic when Eddie came in with lunch.

“Hey, sweetheart,” he murmured, coming to sit on the coffee table in front of him. “Wha’cha working on?”

Steve smiled up at his boyfriend. “My last Boy With a Bat comic. The last time the intrepid hero uses his trusty baseball bat and it’s against the final boss.”

“Have you thought about what you want to do once you’re on your feet again?”

“Well, considering Keith fired me,” he answered with a half shrug, “looking for another job to start.”

Eddie huffed out a laugh. “Yeah. The rat bastard. You were in the hospital, you couldn’t come into work. Which considering there wasn’t a lot of town that even functioning at that point it seemed extra callous.”

“Yeah.” Steve chewed on the lid of his pen for a moment. “I heard the radio station was hiring interns and I thought that would be something I could do. And then maybe work my way up to DJ so I can play my boyfriend’s band’s music.”

Eddie chuckled. “That sounds great, Stevie.”

Steve stared at the box he was currently drawing and tapped the pen back and forth between his fingers.

Eddie tilted his head to the side. “What’s on your mind there, babe?”

Steve chewed on his bottom lip a moment and then pulled out a small box from the cushions of the sofa. He handed it to Eddie.

“I know it’s probably too early for this,” Steve hedged, “and we can’t even make it legal, but I want to spend the rest of my life...” he looked up into Eddie’s eyes, “with you.”

Eddie looked down at the black velvet box and gently opened it with that annoying pop jewelry boxes tended to have.

In the bed of black velvet was a platinum ring with a single obsidian stone nestled in the band.

“Stevie...” Eddie murmured, pained. “It’s–”

“Too much,” Steve said with a sigh. “I know. But there is only one love for me now and you’re it, Eds. You’re everything to me.”

Eddie looked down at the ring and then set it on his knee. He worked off the ring on his right hand and slid it on to Steve’s left ring finger.

Steve looked down at the ring on his hand and then back up to Eddie in wide-eyed wonder. “Eddie?”

Eddie handed the box back to him. “You’ve got to put it on yourself, big boy. I’m not going to do the work for you.”

Steve’s lip trembled as he swung his feet off the sofa and set aside his art work. He took the box from Eddie’s hand and slipped his ring over the finger that once held the ring on his own hand.

“One love,” Eddie echoed.

“One lifetime,” Steve agreed.

Then they kissed. They didn’t know what was ahead for them, they just knew that they would do it together.

Steve would get his job at the radio station and stick around until the youngest of the party graduated, while Eddie and his band worked hard to make it big. Brian would leave the band after a year to get married and Janice would join them instead.

The kids would scatter across the country to do great things. Robin and Vickie would move to San Francisco together. But Nancy and Jonathan would break up. It would be mutual as they realized they wanted different things. Jonathan would move out to Cali with Argyle and Nancy would go to Emerson.

Eddie and Steve would live to see gay marriage legalized and tie the knot formally. They would see many years and live through many lives and jobs and through it all Steve had his comics.

He had gotten permission to write up their adventures from Dr. Owens, provided enough it was changed. And then it wrote it all. Starting with a D&D game and a little boy who just wanted to beat the demogorgon.

But when the comic became popular and made into a TV series, the question always asked was: “Where did you get the idea for it?”

And Steve would always reply: “It started with a boy and a nail bat.”

~

Tag List: COMPLETED

1- @itsall-taken @estrellami-1 @zerokrox-blog @sadisticaltarts @dolphincliffs

2- @gregre369 ​@a-little-unsteddie @irregular-child @cryptid-system @kultiras

3- @maya-custodios-dionach @goodolefashionedloverboi @val-from-lawrence @carlyv @wonderland-girl143-blog

4- @beelze-the-bubkiss @bookworm0690 @forgottenkanji @dreamercec @blondie1006

5- @yikes-a-bee @awkwardgravity1 @genderless-spoon @fearieshadow @thesecondfate

6- @dragonmama76 @ellietheasexylibrarian @thedragonsaunt @useless-nb-bisexual @disrespectedgoatman

7- @counting-dollars-counting-stars @tinyplanet95 @ravenfrog @swimmingbirdrunningrock @lingeringmirth

8- @gutterflower77 @a-lovely-craziness @just-a-tiny-void @w1ll0wtr33 @themoonagainstmers

9- @steddieislife @chaotic-waffle @strangerfolks @easilyobsessedwithanything

[hopelesswrites]

Music Boyfriend part 2

Eddie Munson x Fem!Reader

Part 1 / 2 / 3

Summary: Eddie is an anonymous frontman of Corroded Coffin and meets his long-time pen-crush while on the run from the law.

Notes: This is HEAVILY inspired by movie Dinner in America, I was obsessed with the dynamic and felt it fit Eddie and Reader so well. general plot similarities but not a complete retelling of the movie

Eddies POV

Without a word Eddie stormed out of the house, leaving the girl alone and confused.

His mind was racing as he marched his way through town, careful to use the backstreets to stay out of the way of police. Eddie had put a lot of effort into staying anonymous. It was good for the band, and it was good for him.

Somewhere along the way of Corroded Coffins career Eddie had made a particularly strong impression on a fan. Eddie knew this obviously, by the letters he would receive regularly. Letters of passionate love confessions wrapped up in the form of lyrics, addressed solely to him, no one else in the band. These letters had made possibly a stronger impact on Eddie, and he had begun responding in corroded coffins songs, it fuelled him and his own creativity. But he enjoyed the anonymous back and forth, never getting too familiar with each other, just enough to completely infect the other one’s mind.

Eddie snuck around the back of the trailer park his uncle lived at, staying in the trees to not be seen. This was extra dangerous territory because it seemed everyone in this place was out to get him. He eyed his uncle’s trailer and the window that he broke sneaking out as a teenager, that was his way in. He could see his uncle tinkering underneath his car out the front. He just needed to get in and out.

Checking the coast was clear he bolted past neighbouring trailers and caravans until he was flush with his trailer wall before hoisting himself through the window, landing on his bed in a heap.

Inside he made quick work of changing into clean clothes, his current jeans smelling of sweat and booze from the gig the night before. He then grabbed a bag packing an extra shirt in anticipation that he’d be laying low somewhere for the next couple of days, as well as a half empty bottle of bourbon he had beside his bed and his tin of medicinals. Eddie didn’t deal so much anymore but if he was going to be staying with this girl, he was going to need something to calm his nerves. Lastly, he opened his bottom drawer to find his stack of letters he had collected over the past year, careful to put them in the front pocket of his bag.

He didn’t know what he was going to do, he wasn’t even sure he would come clean to her about who he was and how he knew her, but he wanted to keep the letters with him in case.

Back at her house he spied a car out front that wasn’t there before. He watched from the road as a woman unpacked groceries in the kitchen, his mystery girl beside her, it seemed having a heated discussion.

Eddie readied himself to enter the house, not caring too much about the girl’s mom or how she would react to him. He opened the door and closed it with a bit of force to alert them of his presence, catching the tail end of the conversation.

“We’ll discuss your job later” The woman spoke turning the corner and stopping abruptly when she saw Eddie.

“Who are you?” She asked in horror, slowly backing away.

“Don’t worry, he’s a friend” the girl explained eyeing Eddie curiously. He assumed she had a million questions about his disappearance earlier in the day.

“Your daughter had offered me a place to crash for a few days, my place is getting fumigated” Eddie continued, catching the surprise in the girl’s eye.

Her mom looked between them speechless, and Eddie took it as his opportunity to slip away. “Thank you for your hospitality, its greatly appreciated” He called, dragging the girl back up to her room.

“Is your mom going to be a problem? And what was she lecturing you about anyway? That fucking job?” Eddie made himself comfortable on her bed, lounging back with his arms crossed behind his head. He was courteous enough to leave his boot clad feet dangling off the edge of her bed instead of on her pristine comforter.

He looked up at her stood in the middle of the room searching for answers, or arranging them in her head, he hadn’t quite worked the strange girl out. He knew she had a talent with words, there was proof of it in her letter, but she seemed to struggle to find them in person, unless he guessed it was to do with his band, so he tried a different approach.

“Answer me this then” he started, shuffling over and patting the bed beside him. There was a small space left against his hip, noticing her hesitation he shuffled over more offering another inch or two of space.

“I don’t bite, c’mon, I have a serious question.”

Slowly she lowered herself onto the bed, angled to look at Eddie, hip flush with his.

“What is it about Vandal that you like so much?”

Eddie watched the cogs in her brain tick 10 times faster and her eyes light up.

“He’s so passionate, his lyrics are so raw and angry but the mask he wears, he’s obviously more reserved, lives an anonymous life and I relate to him. I think I share his passion, but I didn’t discover my outlet for it until I discovered Corroded Coffin. Writing to him is my way of letting it out.”

Eddie took a moment to take in her answer, it was so profound, something he hadn’t heard from a fan before, usually they fawn over him, throwing their bras and begging to see his face.

“You don’t care about what he looks like? What if he’s ugly”

Eddie anxiously waited for her response, which seemed to have struck a drop of hesitation from her.

“He doesn’t sound ugly, but no I don’t care what he looks like”

A sudden wave of panic washed over him. What if she recognises his voice? He felt a strong urge to control his anonymity until he was ready. Anxiously he coughed, lowering his voice when he next spoke.

“You got a boyfriend? What would he think of all that?”

The girl looked away shaking her head. “I don’t have a boyfriend; Vandal is my music boyfriend”

“Your what?” Eddie questioned, heat rising up to his cheeks.

“My music boyfriend, I don’t need a real boyfriend” she said looking at him now, a stern look on her face as if to tell Eddie to drop it.

Eddie let the words sink in, music boyfriend. He was a music boyfriend.

The heat from his cheeks suddenly travelled south and Eddie couldn’t help what the unintentional flattery was doing to him.

“Where’s your bathroom?” He asked, getting up and snatching his bag up as he headed for the door. He needed a cold shower, or a hand job, ASAP.

Once alone Eddie slumped against the bathtub, rubbing his forehead and willing a thought that could completely turn him off to appear into his mind, but all he could keep repeating was, ‘music boyfriend’.

It made him feel sick, but he acknowledged that feeling in the pit of his stomach was far less sinister than his reaction permitted. He’d never felt this way before, at least not since he was a kid. Girls didn’t like him, not like that, not in a mushy romantic way. And neither did he, he was stubborn like that, if he wasn’t allowed to receive that kind of attention, he wouldn’t give it out. But he could tell this girl understood him on some astronomic cosmic level. He scoffed at the idea of soulmates, but he had felt that connection ever since the first letter. It had been a fantasy up until now, and Eddie was stuck with the decision to allow this girl into his life physically or keep up the façade, let her write him letter until the end of time.

Eddie pulled out the letters from his bag, shuffling through them to find his favourite. It was the one that first inspired him to respond in his own song. Reading it now gave him a different feeling. A feeling of need and desperation. The girl who wrote these words was no longer a mystery, she was sitting in the room down the hall from him. But it didn’t feel right to walk back in there and ambush her with her own dirty little secret. He had to do it right, make it special, for his music girlfriend.

-

“Do you like arcades?” Eddie asked, entering the girls room again. She was sat on her bed fiddling with an envelope and a sheet of glittery stickers. It was a letter for him.

“Yeah” She replied, concentration completely on her task.

“Do you want to go?”

The girl looked up at Eddie then to her alarm clock beside her bed. “It closes in like half an hour” she answered.

“I know a guy, he can get us in, whole arcade to ourselves” Eddie explained. His buddy Dustin worked the arcade and he knew if he asked nicely (threatened him) Dustin would let them in after hours.

The girl perked up at the idea, “Okay, yeah, but can we stop at a post box on the way?” She held up a decorated envelope with his name written on it. Eddie hesitated before agreeing, rushing her to get dressed so they could get there before Dustin left.

“Your mom need her car tonight?”

Eddie received a confused look then a scowl. “We cannot take my moms car, plus I don’t know how to drive”

Eddie rolled his eyes. “Why did you never learn how to drive?”

“Mom said I needed to gain more confidence before I could operate heavy machinery and Dad said he didn’t want to teach me”

Eddie scoffed, “Your parents are useless, I’m driving there, then you’re driving yourself to the post box out by the old diner.”

The girl looked at Eddie in horror, “No I can’t, and it’ll be dark, it’s too dangerous, there’s one in town”

“Sweetheart, you’re going to have to do it eventually, don’t you want to get out of here? Don’t you want your freedom?”

All Eddie got from her was a grunt and a shrug as she pushed passed him and down the stairs. Eddie watched from the landing as she checked the kitchen entry then returned to the front door where she fished out a set of keys from a bowl on the side table. The girl looked back up at Eddie motioning for him to come down then pressed her finger to her lips in an attempt to shush Eddie and his clunky boots.

“This your first time sneaking out?” Eddie whispered by her head while they walked to the car, reaching over to take the keys from her hand.

“First and last”

Eddie chuckled, not believing that for a second. He could practically feel the buzz coming off the girl as they entered the car and drove off. A swell of happiness filled his heart at the thought of creating excitement in this girl’s life. He wanted to continue to do it, he knew he would have to come clean in order for that to happen though.

Once they arrived at the arcade Eddie parked around the back, just in time to catch Dustin locking up.

“No! No! No!” Eddie heard Dustin scream once he stepped out of the car. “Not this time Munson, you almost got me fired last time” Eddie ran up to his friend gripping him by the shoulders and getting real close to whisper, “Please, I have a date, do me this one solid”

Eddie watched Dustin look around him and at the girl awkwardly standing by her moms’ car. “Fine, don’t rage on space invaders again we had to replace the joystick”

Eddie punctuated his gratitude with a big kiss to Dustin’s cheek which was not well received and dragged his date over to the back door.

“Power switch has the green tape!” Dustin called before getting into his own car and driving off.

Inside Eddie was quick to open the control box beside the back door and switch on the switch Dustin had instructed. Instantly the main room lit up in a wild buzz as each machine began to power on. Eddie watched the girls’ own eyes light up at the sight of the colourful room come to life.

“Popcorn?” Eddie offered, making his way to the kitchen of the small cafeteria and turning on the popcorn machine. He watched her frantically nod still admiring all the lights. It felt more alive at night when there weren’t snotty kids running around, you could hear the buzz of the machines.

“There should be a box of coins in the office, grab it and pick a game” Eddie called while he prepared a small batch of popcorn.

“This is so cool; your friend is awesome for letting us in”

Eddie listened for the girl, heard her grab the box of coins and jangle all the way over to a machine. He heard the machine process the coin and the game erupt with music. Poking his head out he spotted her enthusiastically tapping buttons on a game he had never paid much attention to in his time here as a kid. His heart swelled again, he knew he was royally fucked and in the span of one day his whole world had shifted. He thought back to how angry he was earlier in the day at the prospect of someone as strange as her knowing of Corroded Coffin, how in just a few hours his anger switched to possessiveness, how he would defend this girl to the end.

“Having Fun” He spoke, approaching her with a box of steaming hot popcorn.

“It’s so much better without kids crawling through your feet” she giggled, popping another coin in the machine. “What’s your favourite?” She asked, keeping half her attention on the game and half on Eddie.

“Dragons Lair” Eddie replied, handing out the popcorn for the girl to take. She was fully invested in the game now, both hands in action. “Feed me some” She rushed, opening her mouth for Eddie to place popcorn in.

Eddie hesitated, willing every perverted thought to the back of his mind as he gently placed two pieces into her mouth. She snapped her mouth shut, capturing the tip of Eddies finger and thumb, sending those thoughts right back to the forefront of his mind.

“We can play Dragons Lair next?” She spoke, looking up at Eddie briefly with a smile. He resisted a groan at the sight of her, he was so infatuated it made him sick.

Once her game had finished, she walked them to his game and started it up. “Ill feed you while you play” She giggled, taking the box out of his hands. Eddies stomach dropped at how innocently she spoke. He couldn’t even concentrate on the game, giving his worst performance yet. Each machine they moved to the more in his head Eddie got. He had to confess tonight, he had to know how she felt about him.

Soon they had killed about 2 hours in the arcade and the sun had officially set. Eddie considered his next move. He had promised to take her to the post box. In fact, he had ordered her to drive herself to the post box. Eddie watched as she made her way to the passenger side of the car, either forgetting the agreement or naively hoping he had forgotten.

“Wrong side Darlin’, drivers over here” He called, jingling the car keys.

He thought he caught an eye roll before she walked around to the other side of the car. He plopped the keys in her hands and strutted over to the passenger seat, getting in haphazardly.

In the car he guided her through the steps to start the car and exit the carpark. With a couple of fumbled manoeuvres, they were out on the road, headed towards the edge of town. The road was relatively straight, so he didn’t have to pay too much attention as she drove knowing there was little for her to mess up on. This gave him time to think about how he was going to do this. He couldn’t let her post the letter, it was going straight to him anyway, he had to tell her now.

As she pulled up to the post box Eddie’s mind was racing with anxiety. “Ill just be a second” She mumbled, taking off her seatbelt.

“Wait!” Eddie yelled entirely too loud for the confined space they were both in.

The girl looked at Eddie confused, waiting for him to continue.

“You’re mailing it to Vandal, right?” He started, building up the courage to tell her she didn’t have to go through all that trouble to get a letter to him.

She answered with a nod which encouraged Eddie to go on. “Don’t do it”

“Why?”

Eddie groaned, unsure of how to even word it. “Don’t mail it to him, it’s a waste of time, you can give it to him personally.”

Eddie waited for her response, heart pounding in his chest. “Do you know Vandal?” She asked.

Eddie nodded, holding out his hand for the letter. Hesitantly, she placed it in his palm. He took a deep breath before unzipping his bag, pulling out the other letters she had sent.

“How do you have those? I sent them to Vandal; how do you have them!?” She questioned in a panic.

Eddie looked at her hoping he could telepathically send her the message. “I am Vandal” He almost whispered.

“No”

“Yes, I am” Eddie argued. “Look, you’ve sent all these letters to me, I’ve read them, every fucking word, every lyric, every confession, I’ve read them.”

After an extended moment of silence she replied, “Why?” It was quiet, Eddie barely heard it.

“Why what?”

“Why didn’t you tell me earlier?”

Eddie laughed, letting out a sigh. “How am I supposed to do that, its fucking awkward isn’t it? You really want me to sit in your bedroom and tell you I’m the one you’re calling your music boyfriend?”

Eddie watched her face turn into a deep frown. He cursed at himself for being too rough. “Hey” He tried gentler, getting her attention.

“Do you know how awkward it felt for me? To know the girl I’ve been in love with was right in front of me and I didn’t have a clue? How would I have confessed to that then?”

“In love with?” She asked, eyebrows raising in excitement.

Eddie chuckled, “Yeah, truly madly deeply or whatever it is they say, fucking head over heels and all you had to do is write me songs, you’re pretty incredible.”

She looked down shyly unable to look Eddie in the eyes and accept a compliment of that magnitude.

“Can I read this?” Eddie asked, waving around the letter. She nodded hesitantly, giving Eddie permission to read her latest song.

“Not here, can I take you somewhere else?”

With her permission, Eddie made them switch seats so he could enter phase two of what he was now calling, their first date.

Taglist: (Sorry it took so long)

@pupwrites @yourdailymemedelivery @princesssunderworld

[slayagami]

𐙚 synopsis: after losing consciousness in a villain attack, you wake up 2 and a half years later in the hospital. the time doesn't feel long to you, so adjusting to the new updates takes you by surprise. like your boyfriend of 2 years, izuku midoriya, apologizing that he found love elsewhere, in your best friend ochaco uraraka. you find refuge and comfort in your old friend todoroki, who visited you everyday you were out. does new love blossom or do you fight for midoriya back?

𐙚 pairing: midoriya x afab!reader x todoroki

𐙚 warnings:: mild violence, cursing, cheating?, love triangle-ish, angst to fluff, slow burn, friends to lovers, depression, nonchalant reader but over thinker, reader struggles expressing emotions, characters are 22

𐙚 readers quirk: poison arrow. can appear a bow and produce arrows that are ingested with poison that can temporarily paralyze or slow down the movement of who was shot. effects lasts roughly 20 minutes but depending on the victim, possible to move but will be slowed down. quirk allows the reader to have sharp sight, and can see farther and more clearer than most. reader has to train to shoot arrows more accurately. strength of poison depends on readers emotions. hero name: artemis.

𐙚 a/n: slow writer </3 3.9k words & might include typos, i finished this at 4:45 am lolz. link to join tag list is at the bottom! [next]

┊ ➶ ｡˚ ° m.list ! ┊ ➶ ｡˚ ° mha m.list ! ┊ love again

you remember sitting in your u.a. classroom in your final year, ochako around your arm while giggles left the slip of her mouth laughing at iida’s antics. his stiff arms flailing around the place as he scolded bakugo yet again, red eyes full of irritation and annoyance.

“something’s about this class will never get old!” you laughed as well, holding onto your bestfriend. she agreed, slowly pulling you to the hallway as the lunch bell rang, waiting outside the door for iida and another.

you remember loving your class. loving your homeroom teacher. loving the lunch meals, loving the thrill of training. but most importantly, you loved the flirtatious glances across the room from bright green eyes, the soft pink hue of his cheeks dusting over his freckles, a nervous smile paired with a wave. you loved eating lunch with him, sitting beside him while your knees touched. you loved visiting his dorm room late at night to play games on his switch. you loved going on dates around the city with your hand holding onto his arm while he guided you through town. you loved graduating with him, jumping into his arms in your cap and down and diploma in hand. you loved the way he asked you to be his girlfriend, bringing a huge bouquet of your favorite flowers and a pretty bracelet to your apartment door. you loved how gentle his hands always caressed your body, mumbles of permission being asked against your lips. you loved waking up in the early mornings with his arm over your torso, half naked while drool seeped its way onto your pillows, green hair tousled and scars on his back prominent. the melodic hum when you scratched his scalp, eyes peeking through long eyelashes up at your sleepy face. you loved working under the same agency as him, being sent on missions together and working hard. you loved having parties in your now shared apartment (after a year of dating) and inviting ochako and iida as well as other old classmates.

it was a comfortable life. so warm and loving. maybe that’s why you had this unfair situation happen to you. perhaps being too happy, too perfect, was a sin. but why? why have you been stuck in a void for so long, unable to move or wake up. faint beeping to your right. why did you deserve to be paralyzed for so long, after having everything you wanted. being where you wanted. you lost sense of time, only knowing the inescapable black hole that you seemingly floated aimlessly in. it was dark and cold. so dark that when you finally opened your eyes, even with the lights turned off the room was still too bright. it took you a while to understand where you were. pupils dilating as they adjusted to the low light. you turned your head to the side, eyeing the heart monitor and wires that connected from the machine to your arm, the soft glow illuminating the bed stand. there was a vase of flowers, still fresh, with a small ribbon that wrote ‘mom & dad’ . there was a red button behind the vase above the desk, ‘push for assistance’ and with a slow and sore arm you reached over. almost immediately loud footsteps and hushed yells came from the hallway, the intense flicker of the lights turning on causing you to wince and close your eyes.

“miss y/n! you’re finally up, how are you feeling?” the head nurse walked over with a clipboard, her blue eyes shining excitedly through her glasses. she wrote down on her clipboard while looking at the monitor, pen scratching filling in the silence. now that you had the chance to talk, your throat felt like sandpaper. dry and stiff, so scratchy it made your eyes water. one of the nurses standing around passed a cup to you, pink bendy straw in all its glory.

“what time is it? how long was i asleep?” a nervous glance between the nurses made you uneasy, fully awake now.

“ahem, its currently 3:44am. you were out for almost two and a half years. do you remember anything before you knocked out?”

a throaty laugh mustered its way up, scoff-like. you thought, unbelievable. it had to be some prank. some pro-hero reality show. you scanned the area, looking for possible hidden cameras. but the room was empty. just your heart monitor, IV bag, flowers. you spoke slowly, unsurely.

“i dont. i feel like i woke up a very long nap but im so stiff..” you fixed yourself to sit upright, your lower back tight. with uncertain eyes the head nurse gave an awkward smile, telling another nurse on stand-by to notify your parents. she spoke with a low tone, as if it would ease into her words.

“you were involved with a villain attack two and a half years ago. you fought very bravely one on one with a man who’s quirk went out of control. from what other pro heroes told us, your body had given out due to extreme exhaustion and overuse of your quirk, but your body automatically moved on its own and still fought. we believe the immense stress your brain and body endured is the reason you fell into a coma for so long.”

after the nurse ran your vitals she excused herself, and you spent the rest of your time wracking your brain to try and remember this so-called fight you were in. but you cant recall anything, and to be honest you don’t remember much of anything from before your coma. just the general facts like where you live, your agency, your friends, your boyfriend. but what you did the week before passing out? nothing. you don’t even remember when you had last went to your agency to work, just the general knowledge that you went. it was a strange feeling. almost out of body, like the person you were was you but also wasn’t.

it was 4:00am when your parents walked in the room, teary eyed and elated. your parents’ hair was longer, complimented with a few more noticeable gray hairs. it tugged at your heart not knowing the amount of stress you put them through, engulfing them in a warm hug. you talked for an hour or two, for any updates you should know and if everything the nurse told you was true. a part of you was hoping this was still a stunt. your parents awkwardly gave each other a look while you drank some water, unsure what to say. their hands found place in each other and intertwined their fingers, a thumb from your father rubbing your mother’s hand. it was quiet and still in your room. the clock on the wall ticking faintly in anticipation. you were now propped against your pillows, big eyes waiting for their words. and, almost comically, a knock on the door broke your attention, all three of you turning in curiosity. plush green of hair paired with the emerald eyes you fell in love with two- no, four? years ago. a smile cracked at your lips, your heart skipping at beat at the change of look your boyfriend held. hair that was shorter than before, styled and cut. a tanner complexion, slightly taller in height with new scars on his arms. he seemed more buff too, white tee hugging onto his biceps.

now, your eyes were always more perceptive than most, mainly because of your quirk. maybe thats why finding these differences were so easy for you to see. maybe thats why you noticed his new scars and shorter hair. maybe thats why your eyes trailed to his wrist, a thin gold chain wrapped around. a different bracelet from what you had given him on your one-year anniversary, to match with the old one he bought you when he asked you to be his girlfriend. your smile faded, intuition kicking in. something didn’t seem right. the glare in his eyes wasn’t as bright as before. weren’t excited. his face showed relief, sure, but also uncertainty. uncomfortableness. guilt. but for what?

you spoke softly, unsure. nonchalant. but your eyes held so many emotions. and midoriya knew that. he knew you’d rather be nonchalant when you’re unsure, even if the thoughts in your head are spiraling. he knew everything about you. which is why it was so much harder to speak. to get the words out. his eyes glanced at the machine next to you, the bpm slowly raising. with awkward, stiff steps he walked towards you, stopping at the your side of the bed. his hand held yours, unfittingly. you took note of the uncomfortable look on your parents face. it only made you worry more.

“it’s nice to see you’re finally awake. are you feeling okay? does anything hurt?”

of course, he still cares for you. you can hear it in his voice the hidden feeling of love and affection,

but why hide that?

like its there but he doesn’t want to show it. you can feel the tension in the room, in your neck as you strain to look at him. you told him you were fine, not knowing how to feel. the conversation lingered, all four of you sitting awkwardly in silence. in the background down the hall, faint flip-flop and footsteps made their way in the direction of your room. little gasps of air, brown hair shoving itself through the doorway.

“y/n oh my goodness! i’m so happy to see you’re finally awake!!” ochako squeezed her way to your side, hugging your body with teary eyes. she seemed like the only normal one, the only one expressing her happiness and relief. it was enough to make you feel better yourself, sighing in ease at her side with a light chuckle.

“of course im awake. that would’ve been a lame way to go out.”

she laughed with you, exchanging jokes and a giggle, yet slowly making her way towards midoriya’s side. then your unease came back. the weird gut feeling, the tug at your emotions and brain. you can see the remorse through the green irises. you can feel the thickness in the room. and as much as you wanted to run away from this feeling, you couldn’t. not physically, not emotionally. what in the world happened when you were out? with a quivering voice, midoriya speaks up softly. cautiously. you can practically see his puppy-dog ears folding downwards against his skull. “things changed between us.” you parents escorted themselves out, saying a faint goodbye. midoriya fiddled with his thumb, teeth nipping at his lower lip. you just say and listened. to his rambling, to the way his voice shook and how the back of his food tapped the floor.

“the doctor’s told us many times you weren’t going to make it. that your body would reject the IV fluids and make you ill, or your heart would stop and they’d struggle to start it again. i spent a year in agony, refusing to eat, refusing to work. i never left your side in the hospital. but it make me sick too. i couldn’t sleep, i-… i felt so hopeless knowing there was a huge chance you’d never wake up.” his lip shook with every word like a leaf to a tree, the smallest crack in his voice breaking his sentences.

“and so ochako took care of me. she let me cry, listened to my nonsense, helped with my sleep and motivated me to go to work again…”

“i guess a part of me accepted you weren’t going to wake up, so i allowed myself to grieve and found new love in ochako. she said she the healthiest way for us us if i agreed to be with her even if there was a small chance you woke up and wanted me still. that if you woke up, i’d still choose her.”

you wanted to laugh. now this really had to be a set up. some sick joke. it was unfair. to wake up, and be told by your nurse you've been out for two and a half years. to not even remember you fighting in the first place. to be stuck in a black hole with faint memories of your past. to see your parents age in the slightest ways 'overnight'. to see your boyfriend change physically. to hear your boyfriend say he's in love with your best friend.

to have your best friend betray you.

frankly, you don't know what hurt more. the fact that your own boyfriend, or now ex-boyfriend, the same man who never let you open a single door, pay for a meal, tie your shoes or take them off, order your yourself, walk alone anywhere without him, the man who talked about marriage and kids with you. to just wake up and hear he couldn't "wait" for you. and that he still can't chose you just from a stupid promise.

or your best friend, the one you've known since you were 5, the girl who sat in the rain with you when your parents forgot to pick you up after school, the girl who's seen you cry so hard you threw up after your first boyfriend in middle school, the girl who always chose you over a boy, over anyone. or used to. ochako knows everything about you. she knows you hate super sweet foods because it makes your stomach hurt. she knows you like your coffee on thee slightly more bitter side. she knows you like the fuzzy socks with animal faces. that you attempted to run from home when you were 11 because your parents grounded you, but got lost at the subway station and cried. and especially knows your love for midoriya. ever since you first started being friends, he was all you talked about. she knows how much you talk about him and how he treats you so well, how excited you were when he first held your hand when he walked you home for the first time, or how you cried when you had an argument that almost ended your relationship, how you had a pregnancy scare and couldn't sleep for days. so why? and ochako looked at you with her huge brown eyes, almost hopeful. you can see it, her asking not for forgiveness, but for you to understand where she's coming from. if you can let it go because nobody knew if you would ever wake up. that she should have the right to date him too. that you were too late.

the tips of your fingers grew cold. your face grew even more pale than before, completely losing whatever life you could express. why must the world be so unfair to you? and why couldn't you express the frustrate you felt, the anger, the pain, the betrayal. you had it verbally sorted out in your head, everything you could possibly say to make you feel better by shitting words out, but the lump in your throat refused any noise to slip by. the room was silent, becoming colder each passing second. it was unsettling. the two just stared at you. green eyes filled with guilt, brown eyes with expectance.

you allowed yourself to slump down the hospital bed, trying to calm your beating hard. though the machine just gave it away, beeping at the same pace as you, only increasing as more time passed, the rise of your chest more visible as you kept battling your thoughts.

"i understand it must be hard for you, for your girlfriend to be unconscious for two and a half years and you finding the comfort in our close friend. and i know as heroes we talked about death, and for us to find happiness if we ever lost one another," you could practically see the growing excitement in ochako's eyes, holding onto every syllable that slipped through. was she even ochako anymore? did she even care that you just gained consciousness not even three hour ago? doesn't she not understand that, to you, yesterday you were 20 and today you wake up 22. you ignored her gaze and look dead straight into midoriya's.

"but i didn't die. and i guess it was wrong of me to assume you'd wait in the first place."

you could tell izuku wanted to say something, and you can see the stupid look in his eyes of wanting to be with you, but would rather be a man of his word to ochako instead of you. and ochako? the excited look in her eyes should be illegal. why is she so happy she gets to be with your man? why does she look like she’s accomplished something? did 20 years of friendship mean nothing to her? before she could slip a word out, your assigned nurse came back in with a stack of papers and medications, asking the visitors to leave so she can properly discharge you. her words found no importance in your mind, completely passing through your head as you replayed what just happened, the anxiety kicking in and making the monitor go off again, dangerously high.

but the nurse calmly removed your vital compressor on your arm as well as your IV drip, refusing to ask questions. she stood outside your door and heard everything. but she really didn’t have to. there’s articles everywhere pertaining to your coma and inside scoop magazine’s of midoriya and uraraka’s dating life. you guys weren’t celebrities or anything, but coming from a school like U.A. that documented your every move puts you in the spotlight. you were considered heroes as soon as you got you license anyways.

midoriya was always at the top of his game, having interview after interview, making his name known whether he meant to or not. he became a popular topic for years, and still continues to rise in popularity. and you got your spotlight after being sent to Kyoto with ochako to handle a gang of villains from the LOV in an abandoned building, managing to save three children who got lost in there while fighting off three villains with close ranged attack-based quirks. your quirk is mainly used for medium to long range combat, but you and ochako interned under gunhead and improved your physical combat which stunned citizens and made you a ‘big deal’. you spent 20 minutes using only combat skills and plain arrows to paralyze them, since they always attacked once you pulled your bow out, never giving you an opportunity. you both took a beating, sure, but you both had unwavering confidence and raw strength, causing you to headline for a couple weeks in Kyoto. ever since then, the media has been keeping tabs on both of you, and your relationship.

so obviously everyone freaked once pictures of him holding ochako’s hand went public, a year after your comatose article went viral. he received a lot of hate, especially from his friends. and it was hard for him to be out in public again without being ridiculed. he eventually stopped his hospital visits, the media speculating it was his new girlfriend’s jealousy of her boyfriend visiting his unconscious lover.

“take this medication when your body feels sore, its just some asprin. your limbs shouldn't feel too stiff, our staff helped stretch your body while you were in your coma. this reduced the shock of trying to use them after they were idle for so long. and these pills are supplements to update your body on the natural nutrients it missed throughout the years! come back in two weeks for an MRI to make sure your body is recovering well,” she handed you two bags of pills, and a change of clothes your parents had left before going to work. you took your leave, a stretch of the body with a silent ‘crack’ of your unused bones. it was roughly 8am now, the sky painted in pink and blue’s as the sun rose, rays of sun covering your body in a light hug. you thanked the nurse,

“oh, and before you go!” she chimed, blue eyes sparkling with interest, “i know its not any of my business, but while you were gone the handsome young man with red and white here visited you quite often, you should thank him.”

todoroki? he was a good friend to you, in fact one of your closest friends you shared with midoriya. you sat next to him your second year at u.a. spending time getting to know him as a person. he was always quiet during class, yet you can see how his eyes shone curiously as he eavesdropped on conversations, acting like he didn't care. or how he would engage in the silly activities your classmates did, like fake a protest when the teacher was biased, or twisting the top off a confetti canon as people walked in during your christmas party. most students always thought he was cold, mean and uninterested. you could tell how that affected him too in the long run, your classmates not conversing with him enough or being too scared too. though as the school year went on, more people realized he just wasn't good at expressing so much. and that he was in fact, just really dense. the only one he was ever mean to was his dad, understandably.

and so you spent class throwing pieces of paper on his desk, written in small characters random questions you had about him. when's your birthday? who's your favorite classmate? favorite subject? what manga do you read? it was simple at first. general question to please the curiosity you both held. until the questions turned into late night invitations hang out in his room, playing on his switch at 2am. he was fun to be around, he became sassy and full of snarky remarks as you grew comfortable with each other. his personality seemed much more brighter to you. and you told him a plethora of things, a bunch of tiny secrets you kept to yourself. throughout each time you saw each other, you grew to understand each other more and more.

“i dont know if i like him or if i just think hes cute..” you hummed, face squished on his silk pillows as you laid on your side. he sat on the floor, back questionably straight as he played on his switch. a piece of cookie stuck out of his mouth, “you and ochaco both like midoriya? isnt that.. against girl code, or whatever you told me?” blue and grey orbs flicker across your face through his bangs, a hidden emotion dwelling in the depths. cookie crumbs lingered on the corners of his lip, moving his attention back to the mini screen in his lap. you laughed naively, hand reaching out to wipe his face.

“oh, she doesnt like him! she said she only sees him as a friend,” the softest shades on pink touched the tips of his cheeks, his face heating up unbeknownst to you. nimble fingers stopped fidgeting at the buttons, peeking once more to look at you, though to his dismay your eyes remained elsewhere, distant. “and you? is it true you have a thing for yaoyaorozu?” your eyebrows wiggled, giggling like a child finding out these simple secrets. everyone in 2-a knew yaoyaorozu had the mushy-gushy for your bi-colored friend, it was a topic always brought up during parties when the two sexes were separated in their respective rooms, desperately seeking gossip. todoroki remained silent for a minute, a soft huff puffing out his chest. “yeah, i like her.” sure, he liked her. she was smart, intuitive, intelligent, diligent, a great leader. anyone would like yaoyaorozu. she came from money yet never expressed that she was better than anyone else, she was generous and humble, kind. everyone liked her. but in todoroki’s eyes, you can see he longed for something else

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