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figthefruitfaeth · 1 year

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Robin’s First Date.

| 12:36pm |

“Wow, okay, I’m not taking advice from Mr. Polo for everyday of the week.”

“Hey, those were a gag gift—”

“Right, a gag gift you spent twenty minutes looking for. I got written up cause you couldn’t wear a Saturday on Tuesday.”

“I’m sorry I have standards.”

“Mm-hm.”

“Whatever. Come on—when have I ever steered you wrong? I’m off at 5, plenty of time before your date—”

“No! No. Not that I don’t appreciate it, cause I do and your great and all but...well...our styles don’t exactly mesh.”

“Right, well that’s cause one of us has eyes and one of us has clashing patterns, so—”

“Oh, and the stripes? They don’t ever—”

“Which is good for you! But I know what the ladies like, Bobbin. I also know what this lady likes. And I know what’s going to get you laid.”

“Gross—“

“So are you gonna let me help you or what?”

“I’m calling Eddie.”

“Eddie?! No—”

| 12:57pm |

“Munson Mansion. This is Eddie, trapped in the wine cellar, speaking.”

“Eddie, I need your help.”

“Oh, hey, hi, what’s up?”

“The date’s tonight and I don’t have anything to wear.”

“Okay...”

“Not anything, but what I wanted to wear was in the washer before it broke and now it’s not gonna be dry in time and everything else is too bright, or too boring, and I’m getting sweaty and maybe developing a rash which is just perfect, I’m going to show up red and gross and she’s never going to talk to me again. God, maybe I should just cancel—“

“Heeey there, settle down. Breathe, in—out, there you go.”

“Sorry.”

“Don’t worry about it. I’ll be over in 10.”

| 3:09pm |

“This is the Wheeler Residence. Looks like you’ve just missed us! Feel free to leave a message—“

| 3:33pm |

“Wheeler Residence, this is Karen speaking—“

| 4:17pm |

“This is Hop.”

“Oh. Um. HI Chief Hopper, or, Officer? Uh—“

“Who is this?”

“Robin. Buckley. Sir. Robin Buckley. I’m a friend of Steve’s?”

“Right.”

“Right. Right, uh yeah.”

“Well, he’s not here, so—“

“Right, right, no! I was, uh, calling for Jonathan? Is he—is he around?”

| 4:21pm |

“Robin?”

“Jonathan! Hey! Buddy...how’s it going?”

“Is everything alright?”

“Yeah, totally, why wouldn’t it be? Unless, everything’s not alright with you? Are you okay?”

“Yeah, everything’s fine. Just don’t get a lot of calls from you.”

“Right. Well, you know work. Busy, busy! Ha ha...”

“Okay...did you wanna talk? Or...”

“Yes! I did, I did...OW! Sorry, sorry, banged my knee against something annoying. So...I can’t do this, this was a terrible idea...well, you shouldn’t have encouraged me—”

“Hey, if you’re busy—“

“Sorry, that was..my dad! Yeah, he needs help with the car. Tire busted and he’s not strong enough to lift the wheels so he always asks me, cause you know. Guns of steel and all that. But we should talk more. Yeah! Okay.”

“Yeah. Definitely...”

| 4:55pm |

“Family Video. This is Steve.”

“Steve.”

“Robin.”

“...”

“You need me to—“

“I need you to come over.”

“Yeah, that’s what I thought. What’s Eddie got you in?”

“Well...it’s creative?”

“Robin doesn’t want to go metal, even though metal clearly wants to go Robin. Hi sweetheart.”

“Hi babe. Rob, this is why you shouldn’t’ve asked him. He has terrible taste—“

“Ugh! You love this!”

“I do. For you. And more specifically, taking if off of you—“

“O.K. gross! Disgusting! Stop! Can we focus on me? I’m in a crisis!”

“Alright, alright. Let me clock out. Don’t let him near your scissors.”

| 6:14pm |

“This is the Wheeler’s, it’s Mike.”

“Mike! Oh, Michael, thank God I thought I was gonna have to hangup on your mom again.”

“Robin? Why are you calling my house? Is someone in trouble?”

“No! Why does everyone keep assuming that? Don’t answer that. Listen, I need your help.”

“What? No, I have a campaign going.”

“It’ll take like two minutes—did he say a campaign?—then you can do whatever—no, don’t—What campaign?”

“Eddie?”

“What campaign? Unless I’m mistaken, and I rarely am—HA—we don’t have a Hellfire meeting scheduled till Friday. What is this? A mutiny?”

“No! No I promise! It’s just a one-shot, just to get Will back into things, I swear.”

“You swear, huh?”

“On my life! On The Knights of Mystic Fire!”

“Yeah, you better. I’ll let this slide if you help out Robin. No buts! Or Sir Miklan is getting disadvantage on every throw next session.”

“Fine. What do you want?”

“Can you go check and see what Nancy’s wearing?”

“What?!”

“Not like that! Just! We’re, uh, hanging out tonight and she didn’t tell me where we were going and I don’t know if I should bring a jacket, so just go and check, okay?”

“I’m not doing that.”

“What? Why?”

“It’s weird. Here, just talk to her yourself—“

“What—no, Mike—”

“Robin?”

| 6:19pm |

“Nancy. Hi.”

“Hi, Robin.”

“...”

“I didn’t mean to hang up. I’m sorry.”

“It’s okay. I figured it was an accident or something.”

“Yeah. You know me, love slipping on things and hitting buttons I can’t..unclick..”

“Yeah, I do. It’s really cute.”

“Ah, well, I mean, if you say so. Most people find it annoying, but I mean, if you think—ah, well, thank you. I think your cute too, obviously. Um. I mean, not for that, also obviously, cause I don’t think you’ve tripped on anything in your life, uh, so—“

“Robin.”

“Yes!”

“Are you nervous?”

“Yeah! Could you tell?”

“Hm!”

“I don’t know what to wear. I had an idea, and then it vanished and nothing else in my closet felt right. Steve just kept trying to cinch my jeans cause he said that’s what girls like, and Eddie kept suggesting leather, but I sweat a lot in leather, you know? And then I called Jonathan—“

“You called Jonathan?”

“I know, Steve already chewed me out for that. I didn’t really talk to him anyway, I just didn’t know who else to call—I don’t have a lot of friends. But—I don’t know. The outfit needs to be perfect, cause the girl I’m going on the date with, is perfect. And...I really like her. A lot. Like, makes my head dizzy, a lot.”

“Oh, Robin.”

“That’s not a pitying ‘Robin’ is it?”

“No. It’s a ‘you’re very cute and I’m very excited for this date’ Robin. Look, don’t listen to Steve. I’m pretty sure the jeans are more about him getting to check out his own ass than anyone else, and Eddie’s into whatever everybody else isn’t. Just wear what you feel like. You could pull up in PJ’s and I’d be happy. I don’t want the date to be perfect, I want the date to be us.”

“Naaaancyyy! Oh my god that was so perfectly sweet.”

“Does that help?”

“Yeah, that makes me feel better. Still a little anxious, cause on a practical level I still don’t know what to wear, but I do feel better about the not-knowing.”

“Well...if it helps, I’m wearing purple. So you should wear something green, that way we match.”

“That’s smart. I love green.”

“I know.”

“You know?”

“Yeah, that’s why I wore purple.”

“You were trying to get us to match?! Nancy, do you have a crush on me or something?”

“Well I’m glad to see you’re feeling more confident. Even if it’s at my expense.”

“Ha-ha yeah. Okay, gotta run, I’ve got—oh my god, I’m gonna be late. Okay, I’ll see you at the diner—dressed! Bye, Nance!”

“Bye, Robin.”

#my writing #my work #ronance #ronance ficlet #robin buckley #nancy wheeler #stranger things fic #steddie ficlet #hi here's a two line idea that exploded #i loved JUST doing dialogue this was such a fun exercise #also purple/green combo FULLY crediting liv for her genius brain

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eskawrites · 2 years

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Anyway Nancy hates cooking because she isn’t naturally good at it. There are very few things Nancy isn’t naturally good at, so when she’s 8 years old and accidentally dumps too much salt into the pan—and when Ted mutters something about how the food is inedible, despite Karen’s pointed praise of how Nancy made them dinner—she decides she’s never going to cook again.

That’s unrealistic, of course. Her mom all but forces her to help out in the kitchen, no matter how much it stresses out little 8, 10, 12 year old Nancy. She can chop vegetables and stir pots, but she refuses to touch the seasonings.

Once she’s a teenager, and her parents start leaving her to watch Mike and Holly once in a while, she finds herself floundering even more in the kitchen. After burning eggs, letting pasta boil over, and nearly poisoning her siblings with undercooked chicken, Karen starts making sure she always leaves leftovers if she and Ted are going out. It might be her imagination, but 14 year old Nancy swears her mother gives her a disappointed look every time she points out the leftovers in the fridge.

And once when she’s 16 and spending a rare night alone, she steps into the kitchen, determined to do this right at least once in her life. She ends up with little burns on her arms and a small cut on her thumb, frantically opening windows to get rid of the smoke. She gives up, fighting back angry tears as she cleans the dishes so no one knows she was even there. She goes to bed without eating at all.

Meanwhile you have Robin, who doesn’t really think she’s naturally talented at anything (even though she very much is) and so she doesn’t mind being bad at something at first. She’s creative and flexible, and the last thing she expects is perfection. If she messes something up in the kitchen—which she does, often—then she either comes up with a way to fix it or she tries again. She also has plenty of time on her hands with her parents either working or hanging out with friends so often. Her mother teaches her a few basic recipes, and by the time she’s 10, her parents deem her competent enough to feed herself whenever.

So she does. And, because she’s Robin and she gets bored easily, she makes a habit of finding new recipes whenever she can. She cuts them out of magazines or memorizes the ones she overhears other women sharing. Some of them take a few tries, but the more she learns, the more she enjoys cooking.

She loves it even more when she can share what she cooks with someone else. Once she learns Steve only gets home cooked meals when he has dinner with Dustin and Mrs. Henderson, she makes a point of keeping his kitchen stocked and cooking whenever she stays the night at his house. Which means she cooks for them—and for whichever munchkins are around at the time—nearly every day of the week.

So Nancy is hanging out with everyone at Steve’s one afternoon, and they dig through the abundance of leftovers in the fridge to make dinner. She asks when cooking became part of his babysitting resume, but the kids all jump to tell her that it’s Robin, actually, and how have you not had her food yet, Nancy, she’s such a good cook

A week later she goes over to Robin’s house to study with her and finds her in the kitchen, wearing an apron, a streak of flour on her cheek, beaming at Nancy when she walks through the door. “You didn’t have to make cookies just for our study date,” Nancy tells her. “I know. I wanted to. I like baking.” “What? Why??”

Cue Robin talking about how she loves cooking, loves the creativity, loves playing music and doing something that lets her move around a lot without thinking too hard, and especially loves getting to share with others, when so many of her childhood meals were just made for one.

“You don’t like cooking, I take it?” Robin asks. “Not my thing,” Nancy says quickly, not meeting her eyes.

Robin comes over for dinner at the Wheelers and brings a pie. Karen adores her just for the gesture, but when it turns out to be amazing, she decides Robin is her new favorite of all her children’s friends. Even Ted gives an absent compliment after taking a bite, and Nancy quickly excuses herself from the table.

Robin finds her upstairs later, pretending like everything is fine. She asks if the pie was really that bad, and despite holding back tears, Nancy laughs.

And it’s stupid, because Nancy knows she’s good at many things, and in the grand scheme of things she doesn’t give a fuck about cooking. But she’s just so bad at it, and she doesn’t like being bad at things.

Not to mention the fact that she doesn’t remember the last time she got a compliment from her father, but she sure remembers him insulting her food.

So Robin sits down beside her and tells her about the time she ruined her mother’s favorite pot by burning chili in it. She spent four hours trying to scrape a rock hard layer of beans and peppers and stewed tomatoes from the bottom before her mother found out. She had to save up for two months to replace it.

“But I’ve had your chili,” Nancy says. “It’s amazing.”

“Yeah, once I learned how to not turn it into charcoal.”

Robin tells Nancy, not for the last time, that her father’s an asshole. And the next time she cooks dinner for the two of them, she casually asks if Nancy wants to help.

Nancy doesn’t. Robin says that’s okay, too.

But Robin’s kitchen is such a pressure free environment. There’s music playing, and dishes everywhere, and she can’t use an ingredient without spilling it. So one day, Nancy nervously walks up behind her and wraps her arms around Robin’s waist. She stands on her toes and rests her chin on Robin’s shoulder and asks, quietly, “Can I help?”

Robin asks what she wants to do. So she chops vegetables and stirs the pot. Next time, she lets Robin guide her through stacking layers of lasagna. After that, they make Robin’s favorite vodka sauce. The next Saturday morning is spent trying to flip pancakes. There are plenty of mistakes and much more laughter, but even the ones that fall apart still taste good.

Nancy decides cooking really isn’t for her, but she doesn’t mind being in the kitchen with Robin one bit. Maybe, even, she learns a thing or two along the way.

#ronance #this started as cooking headcanons and ended with perfectionist Nancy #(my beloved)#anyway robin and Nancy almost burning dinner because they’re too busy dancing and laughing and losing themselves in each other

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gilmoregirlsbestmoments · 7 months

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If you enjoyed "Argylle", here are some other movies you might enjoy:

1. "Gunpowder Milkshake" - directed and written by Navot Papushado and Ehud Lavski, starring Karen Gillian, Lena Headey, Angela Bassett and so many other amazing female actresses, it's an insane movie, full of unexpected twists. I swear, no matter what you expect will happen, it never actually does happen. I love it.

The movie follows Sam, a bounty hunter for a company that practically raised her after her mom's disappearance, who receives a seemingly ordinary assassination mission, but her alliances are questioned once an 8-year-old girl is found to be in the middle of everything.

2. "American Ultra" - directed by Nima Nourizadeh and starring Jesse Eisenberg, Kristen Stewart and Topher Grace, this one's also surprising.

The movie follows Mike Howell, an anxious, stoner, convenience store clerck, who plans on proposing to his longtime girlfriend, when he comes across two tough-guys tempering with his car, a dormant, primal instinct he wasn't aware of, takes over him and he manages to over take them with ease.

3. "The Art of Self-Defense" - written and directed by Riley Stearns, starring Jesse Eisenberg and Imogen Poots.

The movie follows Casey, an awkward accountant who's brutally attacked by a motorcycle gang. In order to protect himself, he goes out to buy himself a gun, when a stumbles upon a dojo where he takes a trial class and eventually decides to forget about the firearm and instead learn Karate for self-defense.

4. "Dual" - also written and directed by Riley Stearns, starring Karen Gillian, Beulah Koale, Theo James and Aaron Paul, this might be the heaviest movie of the bunch. It's really sad and confusing, but it's also really funny and Aaron Paul absolutely gives his all in his performance, he's the absolute best thing in this movie.

The movie takes place in the near future and follows Sarah, a depressed alcoholic, who's disconnected from her mother and in a lackluster relationship with her boyfreind. One day, Sarah wakes up to a pool of blood on her pillow and when she goes to the doctor, she's told she'll certainly die soon. She's given the option to protect her dearest from the pain of her loss, by cloning herself. The clone will live with the original Sarah until her untimely demise, and learn her every move and get to know her personality so that she could become a perfect copy.

Of course, you should also watch the rest of Matthew Vaughn's films, such as "Stardust", "Kick-Ass" and "Kingsman".

#argylle #argylle movie #kingsman #american ultra #kingsman movie #dual movie #the art of self defense #dual #aaron paul #jesse eisenberg #karen gillan #imogen poots #Riley Stearns #matthew vaughn #kick ass #stardust #movies

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xx-alice-in-wonderland-xx · 6 months

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charlie and the chocolate factory ticket winner headcannons!! (Apart from charlie)

(This is from the 2005 movie so their birthdays will be what age I think they were in 2005)

Augustus Gloop:

birthday: August 1st 1990

is German

has a younger sister called Andrea who is 6 years old

his father is a butcher and owns a butchers shop

Comes from a rich family but not as rich as verucas

he rarley eats vegetables

is babied by his mum

his mum does EVERYTHING for him - gets his clothes, cleans his room, wakes him up, gets him food, everything

hates listening to music

is very lazy

loves the colour red

Couldn’t sleep when he got the golden ticket - he was too excited to go to the factory

his mum is called gail and his dad is called otto

is so lazy he’s never hurt himself - yeah he’s grazed his knee as a kid and all that but he’s never sprained his ankle, stretched too hard or broke a bone

After the factory he was stained with chocolate so he has a slight tan now

when he found out Charlie won the factory he was so jealous and mad that he didn’t eat chocolate for a full 2 weeks

has a huge king sized bed

is homeschooled

Veruca Salt:

Birthday: November 2nd 1994

is British but has Swedish, Irish and Scottish heritage

goes on holiday 5 times a year

goes to a private school

teachers pet

only child

her father is in his 60s as her mother is in her late 20s

has seen the queen before

Can horse ride

has a massive bedroom, on-sweet bathroom, walk in closet, study room, eveything

everyone wants to be her friend at school

has a private doctor

her parents are called Ken and Maria

thinks her name is the best

has a pure gold necklace

has pure silver earrings

if she isn’t in the top set lesson at school she gets her dad to complain and move her up to the top set even if she’s dumb lol

was going to be named Kylie but her parents chose Veruca instead

has a personal hairstylist

claims she will never wear makeup when she’s older because she’s ‘perfect looking’

comes from a upper class family

after the factory her parents started saying no to her and she had a huge fit and smashed most things in the house - her parents went back to giving her anything she wants after that

loves the film ‘pretty woman’

never uses slang - always uses complicated words and instead of saying ‘yeah’ she’ll say ‘yes’

Violet Beauregarde:

Birthday - March 3rd 1992

Is American but has Italian heritage

Has a twin sister named Lilla

her parents are divorced - her sister lives with her dad, and she lives with her mom

her mum is a Karen lol

can box

is popular in school

even though she chews gum every single second of every single day she has perfect teeth - people think she has fake teeth

is allowed to swear

Loves nirvana

her mum is called Shona and her dad is called Liam

Is a pure blonde

Her mum tried flirting with mr Wonka to try and increase violets chances of winning

Thought she was gonna win

gets called blueberry girl at school after the factory

after the factory she tried to use makeup and other things to make her not blue but nothing worked

her whole closet is blue/purple

has a pet chinchilla called Gumball

loves the amazing world of gumball

Always has packs of gum on her

likes watching law and order

rarely sees her sister

her and her sister are identical

mike teavee:

Birthday: October 4th 1991

Is American but has Spanish and polish heritage

has 3 older brothers and 2 older sisters called Luca (29), Gary (30), David (22) , Sarah (27) and Tina (25),

his siblings are quite a bit older than him, the one that is the second youngest is 10 years older than him

his Parents had kids in their 20s, then had Mike quite late on

hes the baby of his family and RAGES when they baby him

has a niece who is the same age as him

has atleast one day off of school a week because he wants to play video games and if his parents try to get him to go to school he breaks things

once broke a window with a vase lol

his parents are called Norman and Clara

likes tomb raider, call of duty, watch dogs, hitman, James Bond, GTA, ect

loves heavy metal music

can do a metal scream and it terrifies his parents when he does it

his sleep schedule is he falls asleep at 4am and wakes up at 9am

Loves energy drinks

bites his fingernails when he’s nervous

hates people who call him micheal (his real name)

wants to be a twitch streamer lol

after the factory he found a way to shrink back to his regular size

when he got home from the factory and looked in the mirror he passed out because he thought he looked fresky

thinks Veruca is a brat but she’s pretty lol

has a very short attention span

likes race car driving

hates football

wishes he was born on halloween

has a whole bookshelf full of video games

#catcf 2005 #charlie and the chocolate factory #Augustus gloop #mike teavee #violet beauregarde #charlie bucket #veruca salt #catcf #headcannons #siblings #hobbies #videogames #2005 #lol

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andiwriteordie · 2 years

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hello andi! for the mini prompts, some platonic snarky madcleric gossiping w each other if you would be so inclined? xx

lark!!! oh my god i love madcleric so i am OBSESSED with this prompt!!! they are Best Friends to me, okay? so have this little ficlet!

(also this isn't explicitly stated, but this is set in the same universe as let our walls cave in in case anybody cares hehe)

—

swear i don't love the drama

Wednesdays are Will’s new favorite day of the week.

Okay, that’s maybe a bit of an exaggeration, and Will knows if he tells Mike or really anyone else in the Party that Wednesdays have become his favorite day of the week, every single one of his friends will throw a temper tantrum. Especially when they learn the reason why.

But hey, Will can’t help it. The others can get over it.

Because Wednesday afternoons at 3 PM are for one person and one person only.

Max Mayfield.

See, the two of them have a new tradition. Every Wednesday afternoon, he and Max will drive over with Rosie the rottweiler to the local coffee shop, buy themselves iced coffees (surprisingly, they have the same exact order), and sit down at the same table near the back of the coffee shop. If someone is sitting in their spot, Max will make up some excuse to guilt them into moving. Rosie the rottweiler even bares her teeth sometimes for an extra dramatic flare.

And yes, Will had been absolutely mortified the first time it had happened, but then Max had joked that the world still owes them both reparations for… you know, saving the world and ending up with a lifetime’s worth of physical, emotional, and mental trauma. The least the citizens of the world could do was allow them to sit in their favorite spot.

So, that had been that.

Very quickly, Wednesdays had become Will’s favorite day, and every week, he finds himself counting down the days until he and Max are able to hang out again. He consistently comes back from their little coffee shop dates with a grin on his face, and every time, Mike always wants to know what new gossip Will has learned this week.

…

Oh, yeah.

That’s the other thing about the Wednesday Will and Max coffee dates.

They use this time to talk about everything… and everyone.

“Okay, so catch me up,” Will says, after he’s helped Max into her own chair and taken a seat across from her. “Who is Steve dating now?”

A grin forms on Max’s face, and she takes a sip of her iced coffee. “Some guy who’s going to the same college as him and Robin,” she says. “According to Robin, this guy acts just like Eddie. She says the resemblance is uncanny.”

Ah, Eddie Munson. Unfortunately, Will had never gotten the chance to meet Eddie, but from what Mike and Dustin have both shared with him, Will thinks he… probably would’ve gotten along with him. At the very least, they could’ve bonded over DnD and maybe shared some music recommendations with each other.

Plus, from what Robin has told him about Eddie, it might’ve been nice getting to know an older, gay teenager because when he was young and still in the closet. Maybe he and Eddie didn’t have that much in common besides DnD and liking guys, but still… Will thinks he probably would’ve liked having Eddie as a friend.

“I mean, that could just be a coincidence, right?” Will asks curiously. “Also… I didn’t realize Steve was bi. Good for him.”

“I don’t think he did either,” Max chuckles, stirring her coffee absently. “And look, I’d think it was a coincidence too, but here’s where it gets weird, Will.”

She pauses for dramatic effect, and Will rolls his eyes. Max likes to do that when she’s about to share some really juicy gossip. It’s a bit ridiculous, but honestly, Will loves it. If they’re going to gossip like they’re Karen Wheeler and all the moms of the Hawkins parent-teacher association, they might as well act like it too.

“Guess who the guy looks like, Will,” Max says with a grin.

Will raises an eyebrow. “Who?”

“Jonathan!” Max exclaims, and Will damn near spits out his coffee.

“No fucking way,” he says, staring at his best friend in shock. “Wait, so… Steve is dating a guy… who looks like my brother but has the personality of Eddie? Seriously?”

“Seriously.” Max nods. “Robin says it’s the craziest thing, but she thinks it makes sense. I mean, your brother’s an attractive guy, so that makes sense, right? And I don’t really remember that much from the week that Eddie joined our little group—you know… ‘cause I was worried about being brutally killed and stuff—but from what Robin can remember, Steve and Eddie really hit it off.”

“Damn.” Will leans back in his chair, still reeling from this new information. “That’s… damn, okay. Well, good for Steve… I’m glad he’s figuring this out and stuff! But… Jonathan and Eddie.”

“Jonathan and Eddie,” Max confirms, taking another sip of her iced coffee. “Crazy, right?”

“Didn’t Eddie hold a knife to Steve’s throat?” Will recalls, thinking back to the stories Dustin had shared with him from that week. “And I’m pretty sure Jonathan once beat the shit out of Steve the week I went missing.”

Max purses her lips together. “Sounds like he has a type,” she remarks, and Will nearly chokes on his drink again.

“Max!”

“I’m just saying!” Max laughs, leaning back against her chair. “It sounds like Steve’s type is…”

Her voice trails off, and slowly, a look of horror forms on Max’s face. “Oh no.”

Will raises an eyebrow. “What? What’s wrong with you?”

“If Steve’s type is who guys who could beat him up, that means…” Max shudders. “Holy shit, Will. Steve got the shit beat out of him by Billy the first year I moved to Hawkins.”

“No,” Will says flatly. “No, absolutely not.”

“I’m just saying—”

“Steve Harrington’s an idiot,” Will interrupts, making a face at his best friend, “but I refuse to believe that he’d have a thing for your asshole step-brother. He fucking hit Billy with a car, remember? And he confessed later that he didn’t even know Billy was flayed at the time. No way Steve had a thing for him. He’s too good for Billy.”

Max exhales; then, she takes another sip of her iced coffee. “You’re right, you’re right,” she agrees. “God, I thought we were about to have to drive across the country to knock some sense into Steve. Rosie doesn’t like long car rides, so that would’ve sucked.”

Will laughs, and he reaches over, patting Rosie’s head gently. “Well, we would’ve taken lots of breaks, right, Ro?” he says with a grin. Rosie lifts her head slightly, and she wags her tail, clearly excited to be receiving attention from Will. “Anything for you, Rosie. Aw, you know I love you!”

“Dude, stop trying to steal my dog,” Max complains, kicking Will’s shin lightly.

“Not my fault your dog likes me so much,” Will retorts.

“Byers, I know you feed her scraps under the table sometimes,” Max deadpans. “It is absolutely your fault she likes you so much. Can’t believe you’re trying to steal a service dog from a blind girl. That’s just a new level of fucked up.”

“You’re a drama queen,” Will deadpans in return. “And here I thought I was dating the world’s biggest drama queen. Nope. That honor goes to Lucas and El.”

A grin forms on Max’s face at the mention of her partners, and she reaches down, petting Rosie’s head. “I wear that title like a badge of honor,” she says dryly. “Especially since it means I beat Mike at something. I know that he probably hates that.”

Will rolls his eyes; then, he takes a drink of his ice coffee, leaning his head on his hand and looking at his best friend. “Okay, so, besides the Steve drama, did you learn anything else from Robin?” he asks curiously. “Because Mike and I learned some really interesting things from Nancy and Jonathan the other day.”

The grin on Max’s face just grows, and she leans in closer to Will. “Robin doesn’t think Steve’s little fling is going to last,” she reports. “Vicki agrees with her, and they’ve got a bet going on for how long Steve will be with the Jonathan/Eddie doppelganger. But other than that… that’s all I’ve got. What do you have for me, Byers?”

Will smirks, sipping on his iced coffee. “Okay, are you ready for this?”

“Hell yeah. I was born ready.”

Will just laughs, and he smiles at his best friend, before recalling the gossip he’d heard from his brother: “So, Nancy sometimes still talks to Murray, right? And they were on the phone the other day, and apparently…”

#andi's asks #madcleric #st ficlet #andi writes not dies

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ronanceautistic · 6 months

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mike and eddie headcanons?

Whoops late reply! Brain stopped braining.

Their dynamic is so under-appreciated. I think more than anything, Mike is really lost in the world. He's spent so long living a sheltered life at the end of a cul-de-sac, I don't think he's ever met someone like Eddie before. I think the fact alone that people like Eddie even exist in Hawkins blows his mind a little. And he's 14! A freshman! This is the perfect time to have a completely switch in identity and Eddie is the coolest person he's ever met. He's got the converse, the t-shirts with bands he doesn't listen to. He begged Karen for a guitar for Christmas which he swears he'll one day be able to play.

He's also intimidated by Eddie in a way that Dustin isn't. Dustin is so fixated on D&D that he's not afraid to talk freely around Eddie, because of their shared interest in the game. But Mike is interested in more, he wants to ask about metal, being in a band, the fashion, the hair, everything. Maybe he even wants to get guitar lessons but isn't sure how to ask for them. So until then, he just laughs along with whatever Eddie says hoping for a way in without having to actively ask for it.

On the flip side, I think Eddie is loving seeing this boy turn from someone who wore polo shirts his mom bought him to a mini Munson. Not just because Mike is taking on his style, but because he's breaking out of his shell, shying away from what society wants him to be.

#mike wheeler #eddie munson

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marypsue · 2 years

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Fic ask but 🥺🤩and 🤲! Or ⛔️

[from this meme]

🥺 Is there a certain type of moment or common interaction between your characters that never fails to put you in your feels?

What I like to call "the thirteen-o'clock moment", after the climactic scene in Jim Henson's Labyrinth, when a character finally understands, after a long and arduous journey (through dangers untold and hardships unnumbered), that all that they need, they have. These are the story moments I live for.

🤩 Who is your favorite character to write?

This is a cruel and unusual question to ask of me, a person who collects favourite fictional characters like pogs.

I gotta say, though, I have never had quite as much fun writing a fictional character as I've had writing Bill Cipher. He's just so gleefully, audaciously, bad-joke-fully awful.

🤲 Would you please share a snippet of a wip?

Have a sample from the Stranger Things ageswap AU that I swear was written before season four was even announced:

...

Mike’s dad is waiting in the parking lot with the Beemer when Mike gets out of class. It kind of puts a crimp in his halfassed plan to try to catch Will before he heads home, but it also gives Mike an excuse not to hang around with Max and Lucas, so he can’t be too mad about it.

“Call me if you hear from Dustin, okay?” he says, to Lucas, as they step out of the stale hallways of Hawkins High and into the crisp November air.

“Yeah. Same to you,” Lucas says, giving a halfhearted wave as Mike jogs across the concrete and asphalt to his dad’s car.

Karen’s sitting shotgun. She flashes Mike a smug grin, and jabs her thumb back over her shoulder at the backseat. Mike rolls his eyes, but he goes around to the back door.

There’s a huge platter of deli meat and cheese back there, and another one full of veggies with a little carton of dip in the middle, along with a full box of donuts. Mike stacks the meat on the veg and pushes the donuts out of the way so he can sit. “What is this? Are we catering a PTA meeting?”

His dad frowns into the rearview mirror. “Sorry, forgot about your project. I can drop you at the library once we’re done. I just thought we could take some food out to the Byers’, let them know we’re thinking of them.”

“Food?” Mike gives the deli platters another look. “I think usually people give casseroles.”

“You know Dad’s been banned from the kitchen since the Thanksgiving incident,” Karen pipes up, and their dad rolls his eyes.

“Was that Lucas I saw?” he asks, obviously changing the subject. Mike groans, letting his head flop back against the headrest. His dad leans past Karen, waving at Lucas like a huge dork. Mike squeezes his eyes shut so he doesn’t have to see the look Lucas must be giving them.

“Who’s that girl with him?” Mike’s dad sounds a little too deliberately casual as he asks, “New girlfriend?”

Mike groans again. “Dad. Can we just go?”

His dad sighs, but he finally puts the car into gear.

“Where’s Carol?” Mike asks, as they head south through town.

His dad’s eyes flick up to meet his in the rearview, but it’s Karen who answers, with just a hint of sarcasm. “Too busy working.”

“Well, her job is so important. Those old ladies’ hair isn’t going to cut itself,” Mike agrees, and Karen snorts. Their dad lets out another long-suffering sigh.

“Would you two cut Carol some slack? I know you love your mom, but you don’t have to pick sides.”

“Who’s picking sides?” Mike asks, and Karen nods. Mike wonders if she’s just agreeing with what he’s saying, or if she knows what he means. He’s not picking on Carol to defend his mom. His mom’s let him down way more than Carol ever could. At least he doesn’t expect anything from Carol.

If they’ve got to pick sides, Mike’s picking his own first. Every time.

The Byers’ house even looks sad, all small and dark and shabby, with its porch roof hanging low over the front door. Mike stands awkwardly in its shadow, trying not to let the top tray go sliding off the bottom one, trying not to knock them both all over his sneakers, as his dad knocks.

“Shit,” Mike’s dad mutters, glancing back at Mike and Karen. “Should’ve got buns too -”

The door flies open. Joyce’s dad always kind of looks like he’s glaring, but Mike thinks this glare is more surprised than unhappy. “Steve?”

Mike’s dad spins back to face the door, like he’s just as surprised by Joyce’s dad as Joyce’s dad is by them, even though he’d been the one who drove out to the Byers’ house and knocked on their door. “Jonathan! Uh, hi.” He gestures lamely behind him, at Mike and Karen. “We brought food?” He makes it sound like a question.

Joyce’s dad looks around between the three of them like he really can’t believe his eyes. “Food,” he repeats. And then, offhand, “Hi, Karen.”

Karen raises the hand not holding the box of donuts in a half-wave.

“Figured you’d have enough casseroles,” Mike’s dad says, getting a little of his composure back. “Look, man, I’m – we’re all really sorry. I hope she’s okay.”

Joyce’s dad’s expression softens.

“Yeah,” he says. “Yeah, I do too. You – wanna come in?”

Mike’s only been inside the Byers’ house once or twice, picking Karen up or dropping Joyce off. He doesn’t know the way to the kitchen. Luckily, Karen marches in like she owns the place, and all Mike has to do is follow her.

They’re trying to figure out how to fit the deli platters into the fridge with the margarine tubs full of leftovers and the jug of milk when Will walks in. “I heard the door. My dad said you were in here,” he says, and then beams at Karen. “Hi, Karen.”

Karen beams right back. “Hey. Finish that dragon painting yet?”

“It’s still in progress. I haven’t figured out how to get the scales to glint gold just right yet.” Will raises a hand to rub the back of his neck, his eyes flicking up to meet Mike’s as he says, “Want to check it out? It’s in my room, down the hall. If you figure out what it’s missing, let me know.”

Karen gives him a double thumbs up, and dashes out of the kitchen. She’s back in a second though, poking her head around the doorway to say, “Make sure you get one of those donuts before your dad eats them all,” and then she’s gone again.

“You paint,” Mike says, in the silence Karen leaves behind her. It’s stupid. He knows this isn’t what Will wanted to be alone to talk to him about.

The look Will gives him is wary. “Yeah.”

“Cool. That’s cool,” Mike says, aware that he sounds like a total braindead idiot. But Will smiles, a little, so he figures it’s probably okay.

“Yeah?”

“Yeah, definitely. I mean, I paint like my dad cooks. And my dad’s cooking is why you guys got the deli special.”

Will lets out a bright, surprised laugh. It’s surprisingly nice to listen to. He casts a guilty glance back over his shoulder, towards the living room where their parents are still talking, but the smile doesn’t totally leave his face.

It starts to slip when he turns back to Mike, though. “That girl -”

“Gone when I got back this morning.” Mike shakes his head. “I left some food and a change of clothes. In case she comes back.”

“Good idea,” Will says. “Are you going to go check?” He takes in Mike’s look of confusion, and explains, “If she came back.”

Mike hadn’t thought about it.

“Later,” he says. “My dad’s on some kind of parenting kick. And -” He stops before he mentions Dustin. After all, it’s not like Dustin’s missing. Mike just…doesn’t know where he is right now.

Will nods anyway, though, like it makes sense.

“After dinner?” he asks.

“Nine?”

“Nine,” Will agrees. “Meet you there.”

And then the conversation grinds to a creaking halt. More to save himself and Will from standing around blinking at each other in awkward silence than anything, Mike says, “So…dragons?”

#chatter #this is mary's fic tag #stranger things ageswap au tag

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wontbyers · 2 years

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People who think Karen is homophobic or wouldn’t support Mike, because she’s married to Ted who is a Reagan supporter.

Okay, and Joyce was married to Lonnie who was actively homophobic towards their son, that means she’s homophobic and wouldn’t support Will either?

If you want to say “Well Karen is still compliant/married to Ted and Joyce & Lonnie are separated”—Lonnie left them. Joyce didn’t throw that trash out herself despite knowing what kind of things he said about Will, she still tried to push him to spend time with the boys (recall the flashback where she’s yelling at him about never showing up bc he was supposed to take Will to a baseball game, and Jonathan is showing Will The Clash?)

Yet we all love Joyce and recognize how much she loves her children and how supportive/proud she would be if Will came out.

Rub your brain cells together please. Some people see the world in such black and white as if there only exists the two states of perfect allyship and violent homophobia. There are grey areas.

All homophobia is bad, even the “passive” form of “I disagree with that lifestyle” and I’ll grant you Ted Wheeler is homophobic, but even he is not shown to be vicious about it the way Lonnie was—which Joyce was complacent to.

Meanwhile Karen has shown that she personally would be supportive of Mike and doesn’t want him to have to hide things from her, ultimately wants nothing but his safety, AND Mike canonically feels safe enough with her to seek her out for physical comfort when he’s at his low points (losing Will s1, end of s3) even if he hasn’t verbally confided in her.

People just want the Wheelers to be worse than they are because they’re projecting on Mike or something I swear to god.

(And don’t take this as me saying they have the perfect dynamic or aren’t at all dysfunctional, that Mike doesn’t have issues with opening up about his problems because of his home life, but seriously his mom would be supportive of him, give him that much???)

#karen wheeler #not tagging anybody else but yeah

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suffering-and-happy-about-it · 4 years

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Loving the sailors while hating the beach (White Demon’s Love Song, Part 3.)

Series description: A new job was what the reason you found yourself on a lonely roadtrip on the western coast, ending up in the woods of Olympian Peninsula. Yet a sudden car malfuction was what cause your unplanned stay in Forks. To your surprise, there was a lot of sinister things going on under the veil of fog.

Part summary: As you spent another day with the mysterious man who invited you to stay at his place as a sign of his selflessness, you started to notice that Forks really is a strange town. And on top of that, that Jacob might be hiding something.

A/N: NCIS Forks be strong in this chaper, oh boy.

Tagging: @missdictatorme

Word count: 4.2 K

Twilight playlist: ✨ Twilight Crackheads ✨

Series masterlist: H E R E

The night fell on Forks slowly, almost as if it was lurking around for some time before covering the streets. For some time, you've been sitting in a super-small cubbyhole named the 'Administrative office'. Administrative up your ass, you barely didn't knock off the brooms you've been sharing the room with. It shouldn't surprise you that you were falling asleep while writing small numbers into the boxes. You've also picked up a few phones - for such a small town, there was a lot of cars just suddenly breaking down. But Jacob sometimes even took small jobs around in the smaller towns around forks - like La Push, Beaver, and Sappho.

It wasn't even nine hours when you were snoozing with your head in your palm because you've simply fallen asleep. Also, it was weird to see Jacob walking around the whole building, checking on the heating - as if he wasn't turning the heating on in such cold. It was summer and the city was still cold as hell. And this mechanic wasn't turning on his heating system? What kind of crazy he was? The man has woken you up after ten minutes, sending you to bed - yet you didn't know that he didn't walk to bed that night. As soon as he heard snoring coming out of the visitor's bedroom, Jacob made sure the door to the small flat were locked before he ran into the woods. It was time to check with the other guys - Jared and Paul, two of his friends from Sam Uley's spent their whole day on the northern route, trying to find out something more about the unwanted visitors of Forks.

At first, the werewolves weren't entirely sure if there was any vampires close at the moment. If it wasn't just some... Re-awakening of the spirit animals. That was until two days ago - now, the whole packs have transformed once again. Every night Jacob had turned into a wolf, he growled sadly when he realized there was someone he hadn't heard before - first, it was Quil alone. The man was confused, as most of them. Both of them were praying for Quil to be the last. But he wasn't - Embry and Seth coming right the night after Quil's turning. Leah was the last to join. In the meantime, Sam's pack turned at once as well. It was just like five years ago.

'Welcome back to the game, chief.' - Seth's happy and joyful voice started to talk inside Jacob's head. As he was getting closer to the manger of the Calawah river, he could hear two other wolves joining him. It was Embry and Seth - rest of the pack got their tasks the last night and went on a watch and tracking the vampire pack. Jake could hear most of the things Quil and Leah told them. - 'We know they are here. We captured the smell...' - The leader mumbled to Seth, running along the river. They weren't sprinting because there wasn't a reason to do so. Quil nor Leah hadn't smelled the rotten tomato stench the whole day, as if the vampires had suddenly disappeared into the thin air.

'Don’t worry, Jake. We'll take all of them down.' - Embry answered from the other side. Dear Lord, Jacob almost didn't notice that Embry is there, even if he knew that he's coming. He could be so quiet at times. - 'I'm silent like death, yeah, suit yourself.' - Embry answered Jake's flow of thoughts, making a few pampering sounds. This was how the wolves were laughing. To some, it could sound almost horrifying, but it made Jacob giggle as well. Giggling, when the boys were in their animal forms was a wild combination of growling and strange throat sounds. - 'Yeah, but admit, it's strange. No stench, no track, we can't find them. It's like playing blind man's buff.'

The vampires seemed to be poking around in the woods as if they were trying to find a blind spot. Maybe they already did find some. But Charlie, when Jacob was calling him earlier, didn't report any missing person. Yet all of them were sure that as soon as the vampires find the smallest cranny in the defense, it will go down. As soon as they smell a chance, it will go down. At last, this half of the pack was on the meeting point. Sam was already sitting there, watching Jacob approaching the estuary of the Bogachiel and Quillayute rivers. - 'Keep it down for a moment, alright, boys?' - Jacob asked Embry and Seth, who were waiting in a respectful distance. Embry was almost always quiet and Seth, even though there was a huge grin on his face, knew better than talking to alphas communicating. - 'I have news from Quil and Leah. They were walking the trail up at Calawah. What about your people?' - There was no greeting needed - the russet wolf simply shook his head at the bigger, black one. - 'Nothing. It's like searching for a ghost.'

Jacob had to say, that even if he wasn't in Sam's pack anymore, he liked that Sam kept it simple - no matter what happened, Sam never gave anyone too complex orders. - 'Nothing on our part of the territory as well. We will be trying to search through the North, there's lesser of us. Would your pack take the South?' - Jacob planned on trying to search through the whole Northern region, up to the Ozette Lake. There was a lot of tricky canyons smaller rivers, pounds and the vegetation was thick there as well. There was a suspicion that maybe, this time, this group of vampires was hiding next to a water source. He already had experience with the leeches hiding in the sea, why wouldn't they bivouac in a lake? - 'Sure. I'll send Jared and Brady to Hoh Ox, Lucas, and I will go a bit western closer to Oil city. We'll gather here in the morning and give all the information to Seth so he can tell everything to the morning patrol, okay?' - Without answering the question, Jacob and the rest of his small pack got up, running through the ice-cold waters of the river.

Most of the night, it was quiet and calm - sometimes, when the silence was too long, Seth started to throw in some jokes. Most of them were pretty cringe, but some made Jacob snicker under his breath. It was almost time to regroup and set to the meeting point when the whole pack felt it through Embry's eyes. The fur on the back of his neck stood up, his whole body tensed, and growls unintentionally escaped through his tests. Just as he saw a woman standing on top of one huge cliff, looking down on him, the pack tried to get to Embry's position as soon as possible.

The animal wasn't holding anything back - as soon as it saw the woman, it sprang forward to kill her. But she just leaned her head to her shoulder, furrowing at the sight. It appeared as if she wasn't even taken away by seeing such a huge wolf. Based on the stench, she realized this wasn't just some wolf, but she hadn't even flinched. - 'Embry, don't!' - Jacob cried out just when Embry made his way onto the cliff, trying to take the cold woman down. Yet just when the wolf almost caught her ankle in his mouth, she jumped down while still studying every move the animal made.

She wasn't supposed to attack, no. Her posture was strictly curious, careful - the woman might tease them a bit, see how they react, but she surely wasn't about to strike back. She was a scout, sent there by her pack to study the animals. Sam's pack might've encountered another one. - 'Back off, Embry. She's just playing with you!' - Seth, who realized it as well, called out. - 'He's right. wait for us and then we'll try to chase her down!' - Jacob yelled at his friend and jumped onto the lake's beach, circling at the woman's back. It didn't take too long until Seth slowly walked out of the woods on the other side. The woman was quietly scanning all of them and Jacob's size certainly did surprise her. Embry was huge - but Jacob was even bigger.

'We won't catch her, no matter what we do. She isn't going to attack.' - Seth realized and started analyzing her back. At this, the woman smiled and started to lean her head just like Seth was. The pack was still closing on her, but as soon as she would feel threatened she'll simply run away. - "Interesting." - She mumbled and closed her eyelids a bit. - "We don't wanna hurt you. We won't be attacking you or your packs - we just want free access to the city, that's it." - The woman cried out. A terrifying grin appeared on her face for a second as the thought she might succeed. The deep growling came from everyone's mouth at the same time, giving her exactly the answer she needed. - "So you have chosen death. I'll tell it to the others." - And with that, she disappeared. As if she wasn't there, as if she just disappeared into the thin air. The wolves watched each other. The scent didn't lead them too far into the woods, it was as if the woman was just a dream.

Forks, 9:00 a.m.:

You were sleeping in the bed, safe and sound. Your mouth tasted disgusting, and you had a slight headache - you didn't even want to see your damn hair. Even if you knew it was just a lie, the room felt too warm for a moment. For the first time during your road trip, you weren't feeling cold. Lazily, you searched for your phone and read through the news and such. Then your eyes flought to the clock - oh Lord, Jacob had to open the workshop already, hadn't he? And there you were, laying in the bed, covered in a thick blanket.

Never in your life before, you had dressed as quick as you did that morning. Just when you wanted to run into the bathroom, as you opened door to your room, you heard snoring shaking every piece of pottery. With a straight face, you looked at its source - it was the man himself, somehow puzzled on his small sofa - his hands and one of his leg were laying on the ground, his hair was way messier than yours and also, the blanket was too small for someone like him. Jesus, he must've come back so late, you didn't even want to stop yourself.

As you were tiptoeing around the sofa, you noticed something - his feet. They were covered in soil and needles as if he was walking around in the woods barefooted. What was he doing late, in the woods, and barefooted? Was he searching the best location for a grave? Was he checking out his secret killer case hidden in the woods? With risen eyebrows, you locked yourself in the bathroom. At first, you thought he was just working late. That was it. But the soil on his feet made you insecure. Quickly, you brushed your teeth, combed your hair, and sneaked out of the flat. For a moment, you were thinking about walking to talk to Charlie.

While standing in front of the back door, you were biting on your lower lip and tried to figure out what to do. But in the end, you closed the door again and walked to the 'Administration office' to work on another part of the messy paperwork. Dear Lord, Jacob was bad with bureaucracy. In this, he was honest with you. Sometimes, you couldn't even read what was written down on the paper - so you were re-writing the text and sums on a fresh document while lamenting about his messy handwriting. Jacob came in barely half an hour after you. Yet the man was so quiet he almost gave you a heart attack as he stood in the cubbyhole's doorframe. - "Morning to you too." - The man grinned at you when you finally realized he's standing there and yelled out loud for the God's sake. - "Am I looking that bad?" - The man looked all over his body to see if there was something wrong. He was now looking way better than when you saw him laying on the sofa.

His hair was put into a man bun once more, he changed his clothes and presumably took a quick shower. You didnt know what was hiding under these socks. - "I just... Didn't hear you coming. I was really into reading your 'Volkswagen repair... Re-hair..'. Fuck, I can't read it." - With that, you sighed and tried to figure out the hieroglyphs once again. Jacob grinned at your attempts and drank a sip out of his mug of coffee. Silently, you looked him in the eyes - there were deep, black circles. Well, you weren't surprised. Sleeping on that sofa must've messed with him. Yet even the color in his face seemed to be fading away. - "Man, you have coffee?" - You cried out instead of asking him weird, personal questions. - "Uh, I don't wanna break it down to you... But most people have coffee at home or at work. You want some?"

And he brought you the promised cup - along with a slice of apple pie from Mrs. Peterson. Nothing seemed to be wrong. Jacob was working on his cars, humming most of the songs playing on the radio, while you finished the first few months of that year's paperwork. With an overly concentrated face, you categorized the papers into files, thoroughly writing the months they've containing. That was it for the most part.

Sometimes, when your ass started to hurt, you walked around the workshop, and once, you were so courageous that you took your jacket and walked into the freezing Forks. You never walked too far - but dear Lord, wasn't it cold? The mist wasn't supposed to come out of your mouth in August. It couldn't be more than 46 degrees outside, Jesus Christ. And Tacoma was even more on the North.

You've discovered a few peculiarities on your way. There was a real good looking steak restaurant, a library, and a local high school... Which didn't look like high school at all, in your opinion. For the locals, it was clear as a day you weren't from Forks - mainly because anyone who was from the North wouldn't be shaking because they felt cold. The more courageous ones even stopped you, mostly the older women living in the town just so they could brag about talking to the new girl in town. However, they were respectful and nice, always laughing at your attempts to joke.

"Huh. I was thinking about searching for you. I thought you might've frozen somewhere." - Jacob hummed from under the car he was working on at the moment. It looked like an old minivan. Oh, you'd like seeing me freezing somewhere, might as well get your goal easier, huh? You thought to yourself. You also noticed that the radio was playing the Sea Wolf song (which you've heard at least ten times since you arrived at Forks) and that Jacob knew every word of the song. Well, he couldn't be considered a singer, yet this was slightly against your care of this huge man being a killer. What killer would be singing a love song so blatantly? - "I just met some lady named Karen Newton? She was nice, but I couldn't get out of the conversation, dear Lord." - "Oh, old Mrs. Newton? She's super nosy. What was she asking you about?" - Suddenly, his face appeared from under the car as he was searching for his rug. - "The basics, I guess. Why I'm here, what's my name, how old I am... She seemed very happy when I told her how old I am." - Throughout the small talk, you've taken off your jacket and sat on the 'Administration office's' chair while looking at Jacob drinking a whole cup of super hot coffee. His eating and drinking habits were making you a bit uneasy, but whatever.

"Dear Lord. I'll tell you why is that." - The man sat on his small chair as well, looking back at you. - "She has a son named Mike. And she's trying to find him a girlfriend... Again. Do expect the boy suddenly appearing here soon." - Oh. Okay. So she wasn't just nice... She was trying to figure out if you're good enough for her son. Mrs. Newton didn't seem to be thrilled by your career choice, but her eyes started to shine when you answered her question about having a partner. - 'No, I'm single.' - You told her. That was a misstep. - "But, worry not, even though he's not on my list of favorite people, most people say he's a nice guy." - "Unbelievable!" - A squeal came out of you as you started to laugh from the bottom of your belly. - "I'm here one day and you already think about who I should date. Oh God, that's why I don't like small towns!"

Jacob smiled into his mug. He hadn't seen someone laugh so hard for a long time - and honestly, it was nice to take some time off the vampire-hunting thing to think about stupidities like dating and such. - "I just think that two weeks is a lot of time. This seems like fun." - The man mumbled and climbed back on his small assembly bed. You couldn't understand how the thing could be still standing on its small wheels under his weight, but you weren't wrapping your brain around it too much. - "I also saw a pretty dope steak house like... Five minutes from here." - Okay, this was interesting. His head appeared from below the car once again. - "Do I look like I'm looking for someone to date? No, thank you." - With that, he disappeared again, leaving you to sit there with a subdued expression.

This was straightaway rude. There was the cold, annoyed man once more. And yes, it almost ruined your day. Jacob just flipped at least by 180° in front of you, showing you the fed up man once again. It was the mysterious Bella, wasn't it? Also, who was asking him out on a date? There was a cool-looking restaurant near the workshop and you didn't want to cook all the damn time. Dear Lord, you were in the temptation to spit something about split personality disorder, but you just sipped your coffee to keep your mouth shut. - "All I'm saying is that instead of sitting there the whole time and cooking all the time, we might at least consider take out." - Well, you were firing in the same tone as he was. Under the car, he muttered out a few curse words. The man realized he might go too harsh after you.

It was just... It sounded like a date proposition, to be honest. And there was a lot of going on for Jacob at the moment - the stress of shifting again, a vampire hunt... And to be honest, he still didn't get over what happened with Bella - so even though you didn't have any idea about who the hell she was, you were right in this. - "Sure. Take out sounds good." - Jacob told you when you were sitting in your cubbyhole once again, continuing to do your job.

The rest of the day was more or less quiet and calm - Jacob finished the minivan and started to poke around with your Beetle, at least until an old man came for the car. As you got to know when he introduced himself, this was Mr. Newton and Karen's husband. When he realized who you were, he started to apologize for his wife and the bunch of super-weird and awkward questions. He promised you that in any case, his son won't be asking you out just because Karen liked you. No way in hell.

It was that evening when Jacob finished half of the first step with your car - he cleaned most of the inside, mainly around the engine, and started to make a specific list. Said list was meaningless to you since you didn't know jack shit about cars. But Jacob seemed to know what he was doing, so you just continued with doing what you were doing. When the Sea Wolf were playing for the seventh time, that day alone, you were already sure about every word in the chorus. You were singing it along with Jacob.

When it got late, it was time for you to perform a subtle observation of Jacob's behavior. Around the same time as the previous evening, you pretended that you're sleepy as hell - and told him you're going to bed. And since you got to the bed, after a proper hot shower, it was the waiting game from that point on. You've been pretending that you're sleeping and you did so for such a long time that you almost fell asleep for real. But creaking of the floor made you aware that he ended his work in the shop. For a moment, it seemed that he's listening if you're sleeping. After a few pretty convincing snores, you've heard the door creaking again and the door to the small flat locking. With your breath hitched, you tiptoed to the window, leaned your thighs into the warm hearing, and looked from the window - you've heard him locking the garage, so the only possible exit was right under your window.

And he soon came out - he was half-naked, dressed in some torn pants, barefoot again, looking around as if he was making sure that there's no-one who would be watching him. There was a small moment where your breath hitched completely. What in the world was Jacob doing there, without a t-shirt when it was still just 46 degrees there? Quickly, he ran to the woods - and he didn't come out for the whole half an hour you've been looking at the exact spot where he disappeared.

Your throat got swollen as you climbed under the blanket again. Sure, you had the suspicion he might hurt you at some point, but you knew that the fear is irrational for the most part. You've been just freaked out by large dudes since... That happened. This was making you feel very uneasy and unsafe. Who would disappear in the woods dressed like that when it was so damn cold? How long was he just walking around? Or what was he doing in there?

Could he be a killer of sorts? Was this man dangerous? Did he hurt someone before? Bullocks, you stopped yourself. Charlie seemed to be fond of the man. And he was the crown cop of Forks. No way in hell police chief would be in on this as well... Or would he? The terror was making your sleep very bad. You were waking up every half an hour because you had pretty vivid, intense nightmares.

It was at around three in the morning, you've been up for some time, when you heard Jacob walking into the flat, locking the door behind him. He was... Limbing? It sounded as if he had trouble walking straight - he knocked something over on his way to the sofa. When he crashed there, a loud sound made you aware he did so, you heard him whine for a while before he got up again - presumably to put some clothes on. Then, after some time, you heard his body falling onto the small sofa once more. With closed eyes, you've been listening to the whole process and the silence after. After another hour of laying in the bed, not letting out a single sound, you carefully got up. Deep snoring was residing through the few rooms Jacob had in his flat. You've opened up the door carefully, making sure it won't creak and stuck your head out. With a furrow, your gaze scanned the sleeping man.

Again, his hair was let down, the blanket was too small for him and his whole feet were covered in the soil. Did he think you won't notice? As you closed the door, you sighed against your will. There has been something going on in Forks - and Jacob was heavily involved in this. You decided to observe him for at least two days, to make sure he does this regularly and then... What will you do then? As you laid under the blanket again, your legs got cold and you finally realized what you had to do.

You had to follow him and see what was going on.

19 notes · View notes

lovemikage · 2 years

Text

— dear diary...: the worst confession.

back to the beginning (masterlist). / a brief intermission.

a/n: hi! omg we're done with the series...that's crazy...thank you all for being here and i hope you like the conclusion <3. this is kind of a monster n took me a lot of time to write and is also NOT BETA READ OR PROOFREAD so if there's mistakes my bad og. MWAH <3 also we don't find out how the letters are sent out but let's assume it's reader's little sister because i'm not creative enough to figure out sm else

wc: 4.78k

cw: none, just mildly suggestive stuff like twice. no outright smut, mostly toothrotting fluff and angst

summary: coming back to hawkins may have been the worst decision of your life.

This was the worst day of your life.

That title had previously been held by eighth grade picture day, when Michael Wheeler spilled chocolate milk all over your new white dress during breakfast.

Funny how that works.

You were wrong.

As soon as you get out of your mom’s car you’re frowning, the sight of a familiar black impala in the driveway next to yours making your heart heavy. He was home. You hoped he didn’t notice you were too, even if your mom had probably told Karen.

Unpacking your things was even more depressing; countless polaroids lined your walls, ones you’d been adding since you were little. The smiling faces of you, your friends, and your family tug on your heartstrings. You miss when you were younger and the only worry you had was whether Steve Harrington would be at the mall that day or not. You run a hand over them, fingers pausing over the ones dedicated to Max and Mike. Your heart hurts.

After a bit of unpacking and organizing (and a few small mental breakdowns), you decide that maybe a nap would do you good; you were starting to get annoyed by the constant sniffles.

It feels like the second you close your eyes Eleven, Will, and Dustin are bursting through your door, faces flushed and chests heaving like they’d ran here.

“Up, up! Wake up! Wake up, code red–” Dustin’s screaming and your eyes pop open, sitting up in your bed and rubbing at your eyes to try and assess the situation. Once you’re satisfied no one’s dead (which is the only reason they should be waking you up, as far as you’re concerned), you turn your murderous glare towards the curly haired boy, which seems to be the only way that gets him to shut up.

“Sorry,” He smiles sheepishly, rubbing the back of his neck with an open palm, “It’s just –”

“They found the letters.” El and Will say it in tandem, faces contorted in worry. You notice El’s fiddling with her fingers, something she only does when she’s nervous.

You swear you feel the entire room fall away – you’re launched into space and the world around you goes fuzzy.

You come to again and see your three friends looking over you, infinitely more worried than before. You distantly hear Dustin ask if they need to hide your body and you groan, a hand coming up to hold your now pounding head while the other swats him away from you.

“God, off, please, you’re smothering me –” You sit up slowly, running your hands down your face with a deep sigh. Of course this had to fucking happen now.

You pull one of your stuffed animals to your chest, pulling your knees up and practically curling in on yourself for some type of comfort, “Okay, so – slowly. They what?”

“The letters. They found them. We don’t know how, yet, but –” Will’s panicking more than you are (externally, anyway), his leg bouncing while he speaks.

“They all got them this morning. They asked us if we knew, and –” El spots your suddenly (even more) panicked expression and smiles fondly with a shake of her head, “I’m not mad. Don’t worry. Will explained everything to Dustin and I…”

“We’re so sorry,” It’s Dustin speaking now, his voice genuine. You know it’s bad when even he doesn’t want to make a joke, “But they all want to talk to you. The three of them, anyway.”

You know exactly who he’s talking about immediately. Your head dips down so you can scream into the plush bear. Was it too late to fake your death?

–

After lots of panicking, some yelling, and a bit of awkward clarifications (“Why the hell didn’t I get a letter?” “Dustin, you’ve been dating Suzie since we were like, thirteen.” “Oh. Yeah.”), the familiar sound of your doorbell rings throughout the house and the four of you look at each other like deer caught in headlights.

“Baby, Lucas is here to see you!” Your mom’s voice floats up the stairs and you feel your heart get caught in your throat. Fuck.

“Just – just send him up, mami!” You gulp down the lump in your throat and nod to the others, slowly rising from your bed and making your way towards the door. You let it click closed behind you, leaning back against the frame to take a deep breath. You can do this.

You smile as you watch Lucas ascend the stairs, handsome as always. He’s always been the one out of all of you with the most style and it shows, varsity jacket hanging around his shoulders and the coolest sneakers to match. You get why fourteen year old you had such a big crush on him.

“You’re back!” Is all Lucas can say once he gets to the landing, arms shooting out to wrap around you and bring you into one of the most suffocating bear hugs you’ve ever experienced. It’s the best feeling in the world.

You relax almost instantly, arms looping around him to hold him close, head resting on his shoulder. “I’m back,” You say through a laugh, tears brimming your eyes. You really missed him; he’d been the one to keep you sane for nearly four years, and a bond like that isn’t easily forgotten just by going to different schools.

You pull back and then you’re both silent for a few seconds; it feels like an eternity. You keep your head to the ground, too scared to look him in the eyes, and his hands are shoved into his jacket pockets – you’re both the picture of an awkward conversation.

But then you hear him laugh and you tilt your head up to look at him, eyebrows furrowed together.

“You feel butterflies in your tummy when I smile? Really?”

Your hands shoot up to cover your face, shaking your head in embarrassment and scrunching your nose, “God, really? I was fourteen! When you’re fourteen you’re always overdramatic!” Despite your words, you’re laughing, a full belly laugh that shakes your shoulders and makes your eyes crinkle up at the edges.

Lucas only chuckles with you, pulling you in for another hug and letting his head rest on top of yours. For a second, it’s just that – a comfortable silence, only pierced by periodic laughs.

He pulls away but keeps his hands on your shoulders, making sure you look up at him, “We’re okay, yeah? Promise. And – Max doesn’t care either. She’s got her own shit to sort out, but…” You know what’s coming next and you cringe. Shit.

“Talk to her soon, yeah? She’s home right now…” The boy trails off, averting his eyes for a second before turning back to you, face suddenly serious, “I’m not mad either. She wouldn’t tell any of us what the letter said, but it’s not really hard to figure out…I love you, yeah? Always.”

You smile, though this time it’s tinged with sadness. You didn’t think you were ever prepared to deal with this. You wished you’d had the choice of when to do so.

But you nod, trying to give him some form of reassurance even as the pit in your stomach grows, “Mhm – I love you too, Luc. Always.”

“Oh thank god–”

You hear a collective sigh from behind your door and roll your eyes. Lucas eyes you with a raised brow and you shake your head, pushing the door open and hearing the three behind it yell out various versions of ‘ow’.

“Nosy,” You chide, though your smile is fond, motioning towards Lucas to come into the room, “C’mon. I need a good pep talk if I’m ever stepping out of this damn house.”

—

You ended up requiring a bribe to leave your room – it came in the form of a strawberry milkshake Dustin made Lucas go get for you (after a lot of arguing as to why Dustin couldn’t drive yet).

The car ride to Max’s was mostly quiet. You told them that they could just wait outside for a bit, not wanting Max to think you brought all of them to listen; in reality, they were your only ride if things went south – which the knot in your stomach kept telling you they would.

You step out of the car with a heavy heart, ducking your head back in to address your friends, “If I'm not back in fifteen, assume I’ve killed myself and come get me. Thanks.”

The gravel road crunches under your sneakers as you make your way towards Max’s trailer, hands shoved in your jacket pockets and breath so shaky you can hear it. Once you finally reach her door you take a deep breath, slowly bringing your fist up to knock on the door. You can do this, you can do thi–

The door falls away from your hand and swings open. You jump back with a yelp, eyes widening and body tensing up.

“Sorry –” You’re met with a mess of red hair and a light smile, big blue eyes watching you in amusement, “You were taking really long. I heard you guys pull up – I’m not deaf, you know. Didn’t mean to scare you, though.”

Max pauses. Waits for you to laugh and tell her she’s fine. Realizes you’re not going to.

“Um –” She steps away from the door, motioning for you to come in, “Come in. Just – head to my room. Mom’s not home.”

You nod, gulping down the lump in your throat and walking towards your room looking like you’ve got your tail tucked between your legs. Unbeknownst to you she flips the car off, unable to stop the smile that curves her lips at the offended glares she gets back.

You perch yourself on the edge of her bed, entirely unlike the way you used to just plop down on it after school. You kick your legs out in an effort to distract yourself, hands kept neatly in your lap. Much too proper for Max’s taste. She eyes you from her place against her dresser, frowning slightly.

“Hey – who are you and where’s my best friend?” Her words come out playful – trying to be, anyway, but it just makes you realize how shitty the situation is, “Let her out for a bit, please? College couldn’t have changed you that much.”

You sigh, eyes flicking up to meet hers with a sad smile, “Hi, Maxie.”

“There she is,” The redhead can’t help but grin, pushing herself off of her dresser to sit next to you on the bed. She knocks her shoulder against yours, “I missed you, y’know. You didn’t even come back for Christmas. You love Christmas. And I didn’t know why, but after reading the letter…” It seems she has to steel herself before speaking, “It wasn’t ‘cause of me, right?”

Your eyebrows immediately scrunch together and you shake your head vigorously, eyes widening, “No! No – god, no, Maxie, it wasn’t you. It could never be you –” You grab her hands in yours, marveling at how soft they are and trying to put on a reassuring smile, “I promise, okay? I just … needed to be away. This place smothers me.”

She nods, and then a silence falls over the room. You’re both staring at your shoes, wondering where to go from here. The contents of the letter hangs over the both of you like an uncomfortably weighted blanket.

“Frisco’s really nice during Christmas, you know–” It’s a way to bring it up without bringing it up, “I’m glad I chose the university there…you’d really like it.”

“I’m sure I would –” You don’t look at her but you can hear the smile in her voice, “I know you don’t want to talk about it, but – for what it’s worth, nothing you felt was…wrong. I felt the same. I was just scared, and – you know I hate being scared.”

Your head actually does lift up this time, looking at her in disbelief. You’re so angry at the hope that stabs through your heart you almost shut down again.

But you can’t keep running away from this.

“You did?”

“Mhm, I did,” Max meets your eyes, nodding. Her smile is sad and her eyes are watery. Your heart hurts – Max never cries, “I think that’s why I told you first. You’re the only one I felt comfortable enough with…but then you left, and I really only had Will to relate to.”

“I’m so–”

“Shhh,” She shakes her head, finger pressed against your lips. It surprises you enough that you actually listen, “You didn’t do anything wrong, okay? We were kids. And I’m gonna keep that letter forever, just so you know – it’s special to me. And nothing’s gonna take that away.”

You feel hot tears stream down your face. You hadn’t even realized they were forming.

“I wanna give you something, okay? As a welcome back gift. Maybe a bit of closure.”

You’re confused, but you nod, stock still while you wait for her to go grab whatever gift it was, expecting to see a bag or something.

But then you feel her soft hands cup your face, cold skin cooling your burning cheeks. She’s pulling you closer; your eyes go wide and you try to move back.

“B-but – Maxie, Lucas –”

She laughs again, and the furrow of your brows only gets deeper. What the hell was happening?

“He said I could do this. He figured it would help us both…accept ourselves, or something. I don’t know. He’s oddly supportive,” Max shrugs, the picture of nonchalance, but her hands on your cheeks are shaking. She’s scared, “We – we don’t have to. I just thought you might want–”

“Do it, Maxie–” Your voice is soft, barely above a whisper, “Kiss me. Please.”

She surges forward, your confirmation all she needs to press her lips to yours. It’s soft, but there’s so much passion behind it – years of pent up feelings bubbling back to the surface. It’s everything you ever thought it would be and more, your body immediately melting into hers. Your hands steady themselves on her waist, trying to hold you up. You swear you could faint.

It takes a bit before she pulls away – there’s no tongue and no touching, but it somehow feels more intimate, just your lips moving together and trying to say everything you both never could. When she pulls away you’re both breathing heavily, and your eyes are glassy. You feel dizzy.

You both stare at each other for a second, smiling like maniacs. And then you start laughing, girlish giggles similar to the ones you shared when you used to talk about boys with El. The weight on your shoulders gets just a bit lighter.

“Better?” She asks between laughs.

“Much.” You nod, lunging forward to tackle her in a hug. You’d missed her so much.

“Aye, tiger, be careful –” Max giggles, fiery hair splayed out on the sheets behind her. She looks so pretty, you think, but the heartache is gone. It’s just wistfulness, now. A bittersweet feeling.

She looks at you with raised eyebrows and a wide smile, “You wanna sleep over?”

You nod eagerly, toothy grin matching hers. You guys stay there for a second, hugging and cuddling like old times. It feels like you’re a little high schooler again.

“Did she kill herse– woah, jesus – when I said you guys could kiss, I didn't mean to go this far!” Lucas’s voice pierces the silence and you immediately roll off of Max, shaking your head.

“We’re clothed! Oh my god, we’re clothed–”

“...You told them they could kiss?” Dustin’s voice is laced with judgment, matched by Eleven and Will’s scrunched up faces.

“Oh my god, yes, Dustin, I’m a supportive boyfriend –” Lucas shoots back, removing his hand from covering his eyes, “God. Don’t scare me like that again, I almost regretted it–”

The four of them stop, then, taking the two of you in. Your smiling faces and glinting eyes.

“All good?” El asks, silently cheering inside that she has her best friends back.

“All good.” You and Max say it at the same time, nodding – before turning to each other and laughing, “Jinx.”

“Good.” Will says, clasping his hands together – that was two out of three, and you probably wouldn’t even have to deal with the third until tomo–

“Hello? Hellooooo?” The static voice of Michael Wheeler sounds through the old walkie on Max’s desk and you swear your heart drops into your ass. Fuck.

You all look at each other with panicked eyes, mouths agape.

“Earth to Max’s house. Look, you don’t have to answer, but – tell y/n to come talk to me? I know you’re all there, I asked her mom. Mike, over and out.”

“God, why does he still say that?” Max shakes her head, a look of disgust on her face.

“No clue – it’s stupid, right? I keep telling him it’s stupid,” Will shrugs, matching Max’s face.

They all look at you, then, and another silence falls over the room. This time it’s filled with dread, and you’re reminded of the remaining weight pushing you down.

Max looks at you with a soft, sad smile, her hand on your shoulder; you feel El’s smaller one on the other side.

“Guess no sleepover today.” You sigh, clasping your hands together before putting on a fake upbeat tone, “I’m gonna need another milkshake to get through it. Ice cream, anyone?”

—------

The five of you pull up to your house sipping milkshakes, your own already half done. Anxiety sipping.

You notice Mike’s impala isn’t in the driveway and your shoulders collapse in an odd sense of relief. Maybe you would be able to wait until tomorrow. At least then you could prepare.

“Want us to wait?” Max asks, expression concerned.

You shake your head, offering up a smile to your friends – it’s the opposite of reassuring, but they know you’re trying, “M’good. I’ll call you guys in the morning, yeah? Be by the phone.”

They all nod; your legs feel like lead when you get out of the car. They wait until you get in the door to drive away, and you watch them leave, processing how for the first time since all of this happened, you’re alone. Well and truly.

There’s a note on your bed from your mom when you get in your room: ‘Mike was over. Why haven’t you talked to him? Your dad and I are going to the casino tonight, so don’t wait up. We might not be home. Please don’t shut yourself in your room, okay? We love you. – Mom.’

You sigh, setting the note on your bedside table and plopping yourself down on your bed with an ‘oof’. You hate when she’s right.

You have about ten seconds of peace before you start hearing tapping at your window – it’s inconsistent and it sounds like hail. You know what it is immediately.

You walk over, parting your pink curtains and shoving your window up, narrowly dodging a rock in the process, “You know you’re supposed to stop when you see me at the window, right?”

“I didn’t see you!” The dark haired boy below you is whisper-yelling, looking at the handful of rocks in his hand before dropping it in embarrassment, “I thought I’d have to bring the boombox out or something, you’ve been ignori–”

“I’m not ignoring you!” You lie, irritation lacing your voice, “Just – come in, okay? I’ll go down and let you in, you’re going to get a co–”

Mike nods, already getting ready to scale the ladder at the side of your window before he registers you’ve stopped talking, looking down with a raised brow. He looks up with scrunched features, shaking his hair out of his face, “What?”

“They’re not home, stupid. Come through the front door.” You shake your head, shoving your windowsill down and closing your curtains again.

Shit, shit, shit.

It’s all you can think while you walk downstairs, taking two steps at a time before swinging open the front door. You’re greeted by the sight of Mike Wheeler, all lanky limbs and dumb doe eyes. You want to hit him.

“You weren’t supposed to be home.” You start, frowning.

“Wha–”

“Your car. It wasn’t in the driveway.”

“It’s in the garage. I figured you’d run if you saw it.”

God. You hate how well he knows you.

“Well – come in. The bugs are going to eat you alive out there.”

You step away from the door, gesturing for him to walk in. You’re already walking up to your room when you realize he isn’t moving, turning, “Are you going to follow me or not?”

“Oh, ri – yeah, yeah, cool –” He’s nearly tripping over himself to catch up to you, following you up the stairs like a lost puppy.

You settle yourself on the edge of your bed, feet kicking while you wait for him to figure out where he’s gonna go. Mike decides on your desk chair, gingerly picking up the stuffed animal that had been perched on it and holding it close in his lap. He knew better than to be mean to them.

“So –” You begin, hoping that if you act dumb this would be easier, “What did you need to talk to me about? Is it because I wasn’t answering your letters? I was just bus–”

“It’s about a letter, yeah, but you know it’s not about those ones,” Mike shoots back quickly, eyebrows raised in a knowing look. It shuts you up, gives him a bit more confidence to say what he does next.

“You’re in love with me?”

You have to breathe deeply. This sucks. You’d hidden it for years and it had to come out like this? You feel hot embarrassment flush your body and you try to deny it at first.

“I wrote that over a year ago–”

“And then you left and didn’t talk to me for that next year, so consider us back right where we left off. Are you in love with me, y/n?”

You contemplate lying. Or jumping out of the window and killing yourself. Both sound lovely right now.

But then you look up and meet his gaze – it’s one of a desperate man whose entire world seems to have fallen apart in the last week. One who needs reassurance.

And just like that, you feel yourself fold. You never were good at hiding things from him.

So you nod, the tears you thought you weren’t hydrated enough to produce welling up in your eyes, falling down into your lap.

“I–I am, Mikey. Always have been, you read it–” You sniffle, a sorrowful smile on your face. You don’t think you’ve ever been this embarrassed in your life.

“I–”

“Don’t. Please? Don’t try and let me down easy, or something, or say ‘it’s not you, it’s me’, just – just forget it? We can move on like it never happened, I swear–”

“Jesus, let me talk, will you?” He strides towards you in what seems like a flash, big hands cupping your cheeks and gently pulling your head up to meet his eyes, “You never let me talk.”

You nod, trying not to meet his gaze. Every time you blink another tear falls against his skin and you mumble a sorry, but then he’s shushing you, thumbs wiping at your tears.

“You look pretty when you cry,” Mike murmurs it under his breath but it’s loud enough for you to hear, and your teary eyes go wide for what feels like the twentieth time today. Pretty?

“You’re so dumb,” He continues, shaking his head and chuckling a bit while he pushes a strand of hair from your forehead. His voice is so soft, his touch so gentle. You feel yourself nuzzle your head into his hand, leaning into his touch. It’s addictive.

“I love you too,” It’s those words that make your breath hitch. You feel like you’re having a heart attack, your heart beating out of your chest and your stomach doing somersaults. He loves you too?

“And I wish you would have told me sooner. By the time El came around I figured you didn’t like me – don’t look at me like that, I was twelve,” He rolls his eyes, knowing that even if you aren’t talking you’d figure out a way to judge him somehow, “And then by the time we broke up, you were gone…they’d taken you. That’s how I saw it, anyway–”

He sighs, pulling you closer so your head is resting against his stomach, lean muscle underneath more comforting than you remember. His hands rub circles and trace shapes into your shoulders, your back, remembering how much it used to soothe you.

“And then when I finally realized that maybe I should get off my ass and do something, you were gone.”

Mike pauses, laughing almost bitterly to himself, “Wanna know a secret?”

When you nod against him he smiles to himself, “I figured it out that night, too. In my room. When I said you were my number one girl I wasn’t lying – haven’t even looked at anyone since then. Everyone else just started to look like you. – Look at me, please?”

You pull back, eyes glossy with tears, puffy and red. One of his thumbs strokes your cheek, his own voice sounding choked up, “There she is. You’re so pretty…god, we lost a lot of time, didn’t we?”

You continue looking up at him and he laughs, this time paired with a shake of his head, “You can talk now, nerd.”

“Finally, God, that was the worst – don’t you know not letting me talk is t-torture?” You glare up at him through your tears, bottom lip jutted out in a pout. He thinks it’s the cutest thing he’d ever seen.

“Can –” You hiccup, sniffle a little, “Can you kiss me now? If I have to go through any more embarrassing confessions today, I’m going to pass out from emotional exhaustion. I just wanna skip to where we’re happy and you’re my boyfriend.”

Mike rolls his eyes at you but nods, unable to stop the grin on his features, “We can do that. One question, though –”

You tilt your head in confusion, brow raised but still encouraging him to continue.

“My big doe eyes? My big hands? My shaggy hair? You were kinda whipped, huh?”

“Oh my god, shut up shut up, if you don’t kiss me in two seconds I’m going to punch y–”

And then you feel the soft press of slightly chapped lips against you. You taste the cotton candy chapstick he’d never stopped buying after you gave one to him when you were twelve. You finally understand what movies and books mean when they say fireworks went off after a kiss. Everything feels right, and Mike’s tongue sliding against yours feels like the most natural thing in the world. The way you both inch up the bed until he’s hovering above you feels like it was meant to happen, and the way you press your noses together and giggle feels long overdue. That weight on your shoulders falls away completely.

It’s perfect.

–

“Virgin still? Blink once for yes and twice for no,” Your hand shoots out to smack Dustin’s cap off of his head, rolling your eyes when he shouts ‘hey! No violence!’.

“None of your business, Henderson – what me and my boyfriend do is confidential.” Your words are met with a groan from the rest of the group – except for El and Will, who only give you happy smiles. They haven’t seen you this happy in a long time. You hadn’t stopped referring to Mike as your boyfriend for the entire day, too high on the adrenaline of finally being able to call him yours (and being newly deflowered).

You hadn’t had a movie night with your friends in the Wheeler’s basement in a long, long time. You’re mad at yourself for thinking you hadn’t missed it.

“He might be your boyfriend, but does he have great hair and really big muscles?” Steve interjects, flexing his arm and letting his hand squeeze the muscle that bulges out.

“Oh, or really pretty blue eyes?” Nancy smirks, eyebrows raised.

“But is he, like, the total package? Cooking, cleaning, and taking care of the kids?” Jonathan grins while he walks down the stairs, his arm draping over Nancy’s shoulders easily.

Your hands shoot up to cover your face and you curl up into Mike’s side, shaking your head fervently and squealing, “Stop it! Oh my god, you guys suck, I was a baby! Those don’t count!”

The sounds of breathless laughter fills the room and you peek through your fingers to look at all of your friends, for once feeling like you don’t have to run away from them. Like maybe you could stay a while.

✧･ﾟ — taglist (thank you for being here!): @dilflover3333 @bbymochi1 @amourrs @fentibeauty @moonylantsovs @sage111222 @ronaldiary @thel0v3hashira143 @livieweasley @larryrickardlover @littletroublegirl444 @fairyqueenxx007 @maxmayfieldsrealgf1986 @southernvamp @cybergiirl @softpia @the-great-himbo @honeydotc0m @honey-with-tea @sl0thsblog @stiles-stark @thecraziestcrayon @all-for-kpop @universce @73vyn @matthiashelvarsgf @ch4ot1ccoff1n @luv4mike @ihyperfixatetoomuch @queenelizabethsleftnipple @emilymay07

#mike wheeler x reader #mike wheeler imagine #mike wheeler x you #stranger things x reader #stranger things imagine #max mayfield x fem!reader #max mayfield x reader #dd.

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suckerfordylansstuff · 2 years

Text

New Journey (S.H.) Prologue Season 1

Pairing: (eventual) Steve Harrington x henderson!reader

Summary: The beggining of the story. How did Y/n Henderson get herself into this mess? How did she deal with the loss of a dear friend and how will she survive the bullies and monsters?

Warnings: swearing

Notes: Hello people. We are back and running. This backstory is going to be eight episodes (maybe an extra epilogue at the end, I haven't figured things out yet), but I do want to make sure I finish this before the new season. It was pretty challenging to make sure I didn't miss any information I had put on the character on the other chapters, but I think I managed. This whole backstory thing made me realise it was pretty stupid of me to not start from season one from the beggining, but oh well, what can you do. I hope you enjoy this first chapter and be prepared for some angst this time around! Stay safe! 💕

Gif not mine

~~New Journey Masterlist >> Chapter 1

" You sure you don't need any more help?" you called out for your boss at the diner. He had decided to close early, since not a lot people were coming in today. November had just hit and the nights were becoming even colder, so it wasn't pleasant to be out.

" Do not worry, Y/N. I can close my store just fine, I'm not that old yet." he winked at you after his joke and you couldn't help but chuckle a bit. Mr. Miller was one of the sweetest people you had met. When you decided to get a job to help your mother and save up some money for yourself, you were certain you wouldn't enjoy it so much. Sure, being a waitress at a diner had its disadvantages, especially in a small town like Hawkins where everyone knew eachother, but the rest of the stuff certainly knew how to pass the time without a sweat. Plus, the gossip was always fresh, so you weren't really complaining.

" Okay, Mr. Miller, but don't complain tomorrow if your back is hurting." you sent him a smile as he was cleaning the floor.

" Oh, I sure will! Goodbye, my dear." he waved at you before continuing his cleaning.

" Have a good night!" you told him while putting on your jacket. The moment you opened the door to exit the diner, you cursed yourself for not bringing extra clothes with you. As nice as the diner was, the uniform you had to wear was just awful during the winter. A dress cutting just above your knees, making them shiver from the cold. What was even worse was that you had to ride home with your bike. Jonathan had called you during your shift informing you that he was going to take another shift at his job, so he couldn't come and pick you up. You didn't like the idea in the slightest at the beginning, but you knew he was in a same, if not worse, economical situation with his family, so you couldn't be mad.

In the end, this left you alone at night in the cold riding your stupid bike. You tried to ride as fast as possible to keep your body warm. You were closing in at the Wheeler's residence and your eyebrows furrowed when you saw Dustin's bike still outside on the porch "Oh my God, they are still playing?" you had accompanied Dustin to Mike's just before your shift had started ten hours ago, you couldn't believe they hadn't finished yet. Even though you longed to head home, you couldn't, in your right mind, leave the kids to go home alone at this time, so you made a short stop to go and collect them.

You parked your bike next to theirs and quickly ran to ring the doorbell, begging for some more warmth. Finally, Mike's mom, Karen, opened it "Oh, hi sweetie, here for your brother?"

" Yes, I saw his bike outside and decided to come and take them all home. They have been playing for quite some time now." you answered as she welcomed you in.

" They sure have, let me call them for you while you warm up. Nancy's in her room if you want to say hello." she smiled at you and headed to the basement's door.

" I sure will and thank you." you told her and you walked up the stairs to chat a bit with your friend. You met Nancy when you were just thirteen. Your mother, Dustin and you had just moved to Hawkins, Indiana. You didn't expect making any friends that fast, but Nancy had introduced herself to you when you were sitting alone at the cafeteria on your first day. She came with a smile on her face along with another girl, Barbara. It made you so happy and relieved to finally have some company. You were beyond excited when you found out your brothers had become friends too. It made you feel like everything was coming together, that this change wouldn't suck.

You were a lot closer back then, than you were now. Not in a bad way. You still hang out a lot of the time, you just found yourselves in different situations. She was very into studying, being at the top of the class and she loved socializing, even if she mostly talked to you and Barb at school. You, on the other hand, focused on your family, doing everything you could to help them, since you didn't have your father here.. And you also didn't love the idea of talking to new people, especially at school.

Another big difference between the two of you is that you still liked hanging out with your brother's friends, the 'party' as they called themselves. Mike, Will, Lucas and Dustin had become inseparable after meeting eachother. It was because of them that you met Jonathan. His quiet persona made you want to explore more within him as a child and you were both glad you did. He was and is being viewed as weird around the kids at school, but you knew he's sweet and kind. Him and his family have been through a lot of shit because of their father, so he prefers to keep to himself and his close ones. You're just glad you're one of them.

When you reached your friend's room, you saw her on her bed talking to the phone. She had told you earlier at school that Steve Harrington promised to call and a smirk made its way on your face.

" Oh, is that Steve you're talking to? Have I walked into something inappropriate? Should I leave?" you teased her and she threw a pillow at you, but you caught it with ease.

" Shut up. No, I'm just talking to Barb." she explained to you and you walked over to her bed. You sat next to her and took the phone from her hands.

" Hey Barbara. We need to stop this madness she's got going on about Steve." you spoke to your friend on the phone about the infamous boy that has caught Nancy's interest.

Steve Harrington. He was the most popular guy at your school at the moment. He even had a stupid nickname, 'King Steve'. You didn't like him, you didn't like anyone from his clique, especially Tommy H. and Carol. Oh, you could not stand them. Always making fun of people because they didn't fit their definition of 'cool', just because they were unique, different. They always found a way to annoy you and Jonathan when you passed them on the hallways, calling Jonathan a 'weirdo' and you 'pathetic'. They started calling you that when they saw how much time you spent with your brother and his friends, saying you had no actual people your age that cared about you.

That's why you were so shocked that Nancy actually liked and went out with one of them. At first it felt like a betrayal, but she assured you that it was nothing to worry about, that he wasn't as bad as he seems. After a month of them just 'talking' you decided let your feelings of hatred aside and start teasing Nancy about her new crush.

" Oh, stop it you two." you heard Nancy say as she snatched the phone from your hands, bringing it back to her ear "Barb, I'll call you right back." she informed her friend, hang up the phone and turned to look at you "What are you even doing here?"

" Well, I'm here to annoy our brothers by ending their campaign. Can you believe they are still playing after ten hours? I mean Mike told me that he had prepared something extreme, but not like this."

" I can't believe that you still are involved with their games." she said while she hugged the pillow she had earlier thrown at you.

" It's not my fault that I can see how fun they can be. If you didn't ignore your brother now that you have become 'cool', you would have known." you sent her a smirk, when her phone rang again making you gasp "Oh, speak of the devil. Could that be dear Steve?"

" Alright, I think it's getting pretty late. Time to go now!" she took your shoulders in her arms and moved you towards her bedroom door. You started giggling because you knew you were correct, her cheeks immediately flushed when she heard the phone ring.

" Okay, okay! I'm going! But no funny business on the phone, young lady." you pointed your finger at her, when you stepped on the hallway. She just rolled her eyes at you and said 'goodbye', before shutting the door. You smiled a little at her behavior and it grew even bigger when you saw your brother coming up the stairs "Hey, Dusty. Ready to go?"

" Did you have to come? If you just ignored us, Mike's mom wouldn't even remember we were downstairs and we would finish." he complained.

" I highly doubt that." you ruffled his hat, but something caught your attention "What're you holding there?"

" Oh, a piece is left from our pizza and I wanted to see if Nancy wanted it." you found it adorable. You knew Dustin had this small crush on your friend since he met her, even though he denied it. He was crushed when he saw her with Steve one time at your school.

" She's a little preoccupied at the moment, so I'll take that." you opened the box and placed the piece in your mouth. You were starving.

" What's she doing?" you both started walking down the stairs, heading towards the front door.

" You know that saying 'curiosity killed the cat'?" you rhetorically asked him, as you finished the pizza.

" She's talking to that idiot, isn't she?" he looked up at you.

" Maybe, but that's none of your business. Goodnight, Mrs. Wheeler." you placed the pizza box at the kitchen table and waved goodbye at Karen.

" Goodnight, dear." she responded.

You closed the door behind and you picked up your bike just like the kids were doing "I don't get what she sees in him." Dustin continued complaining and now he had made his friends curious as to what you were talking about.

" Who?" Mike asked.

" Your sister. She completely ignores us now." your brother got on his bike. You just shook your head, while you waited for them to get going.

" She's too cool now that she's dating that douchebag, Steve Harrington." Lucas pointed out and your head snapped towards them.

" Boys, language. And don't blame Nancy for anything, that's what happens when you grow up."

" So why are you still hanging out with us?" Mike asked you.

" Cause I don't want to grow up. Now come on, it's freezing out here." you sent him a smile and started biking towards your house. The kids said their goodbyes and after a few seconds all of you were riding together. They started telling you all about the game and how they are going to trick Mike into thinking Will didn't roll a seven. The kids loved having you around. Sometimes Dustin argued because he didn't always want to be with his big sister, but he did agree that when you were apart of the campaign you brought so much life into the story.

Lucas was the first to get home "Goodnight, ladies."

" Kiss your mom 'night for me." Dustin teased back and you just chuckled. You knew it was all fun and games around their age "Race back to our place? Winner gets a comic." he said towards Will, who immediately had a mischievous look on his face.

" Any comic?"

" Yeah." Dustin agreed, but he regretted it the second he said it. Will had already speed up his pace, way ahead your brother "Hey! Hey! I didn't say 'go'! Y/N!" he whined at you, but all you could do was laugh "Get back here! I’m gonna kill you!" he tried to catch up to him, but to no avail. Will was going to win this one.

" I'll take you X-Men 134!" he yelled as he continued to make his way towards the Byers residence, since you had arrived at your house.

" Son of a bitch.." Dustin muttered, when he stopped in front of your house, catching his breath. You approached him and placed your bike at your usual place "You just gonna let this happen?" Dustin turned to look at you.

" What do you want me to do? He clearly won." you smiled at him, kind of enjoying his annoyance.

" No, he clearly cheated." he put his bike next to yours.

" Don't worry, you're gonna win it back, just have to play smarter." you placed your arm around his shoulders and headed inside.

___

" Sweetie, could you get that? I'm heading out." you heard your mother call out for you. The phone was ringing.

" Yeah!" you finished putting on your mascara and quickly went to answer the phone "Hello?"

" Hey, dear, it's Joyce." the voice responded and you smiled.

" Good morning, Joyce. What's up?" you saw Dustin enter the kitchen making himself a peanut butter and jam sandwich. A year ago Joyce asked you to start calling her by her first name, saying you had spent too much time at her house to keep up with the formalities. It was a bit weird at first, but you got used to it.

" Um. . Did by any chance Will stay the night at yours?" you could hear it in her voice, she was very anxious.

" No- no, he headed home after me and Dustin arrived at our house. We were with him till then. Did something happen?" your brows were furrowed and Dustin was also looking at you, silently asking what happened.

" Um, you know what? I bet he just left early for school. Thank you, Y/n." she explained trying to reassure you, but you were not sure she was telling the truth.

" Wait, Joyce, are you sure everything's fine? Because you don't sound f-"

" Yes, yes, everything is good. Bye, sweetie." you tried to ask again what is happening, but she hung up the phone. You stood still for a second, before hanging up the phone as well.

" What happened?" Dustin asked, his mouth full of toast.

" I- I'm not sure.. Joyce can't find Will." you took a sit at the kitchen table in front of your brother.

" What?" he asked surprised, his chewing stopping.

" Yeah, but then she covered it up by saying he must have left early for school.. Don't you always meet up before heading there?"

" Yeah, every morning.." you could see he was starting to get worried about his friend, so you decided to change the subject.

" You know what? I bet everything's fine. Come on, get ready and go find him at school, okay?" he nodded his head a bit reluctantly, but he followed you outside as you both rode towards your schools.

You waited on the parking lot as you usually do to wait for Jonathan, but he was taking longer than usual to arrive.

'Maybe something really is off..'

It concerned you a lot when the first bell rang and he still hasn't shown up yet. After that you made a mental note to yourself to go check up on him during lunch, but now you had to go and get your stuff from your locker.

As you were approaching the locker, your head filled with the worst scenarios about what had happened to the Byers family, you saw Barbara and Nancy talking in front of your lockers. You were glad you found them there, you needed a distraction. You went next to Nancy and opened your locker while you listened to their conversation.

"... We just... made out a couple times." you rolled your eyes and spoke up, startling only Nancy since Barbara had already seen you.

" 'We just... made out a couple times'. Oh my god, I still don't understand why you like him so much." you joked as you took a book on your arms, holding it tight.

" Y/n, you said you would be supportive." Nancy whined a bit at your comment, but you knew she didn't really mind. She had accepted the fact that for you Steve will forever be the boy that made fun of you when you first came into town. He will forever be the obnoxious jerk of the basketball team, even if she could see, he wasn't truly like that.

" Of what? The relationship you're pretending that doesn't exist?" you raised your eyebrow at her. This whole time she was pretending that the time her and Steve were spending wasn't a big deal, like she didn't actually had a massive crush on him. You smirked at Barbara as you saw your friend's cheeks turning red once again.

" I- What are you even doing here? Don't you typically come on in early with Jonathan?" Nancy asked, avoiding your comment.

" He didn't show up today, I'll go later to see if everything's okay. And why are you changing the subject? Did something happen last night?" your voice had a teasing not at the end. You closed your locker and walked over next to Barbara silently asking what happened.

" He called." she smiled at you.

" Aha! Was it the call that interrupted our conversation yesterday?" you softly nudged her arm.

" Maybe.." Nancy said with a sly smile, as if she was remembering what her 'lover boy' had told her.

" Nance, you're gonna be so cool now, it's ridiculous." Barbara said and you nodded your head in agreement. Even if you didn't like Steve's group, you had to admit there was something so appealing about being 'famous' around school.

" No, I'm not" Nancy argued back.

" Uh, yes you are. The moment you are in their radar it's a done deal." you replied.

" You better still hang out with us, that's all I'm saying." you knew about Barb's worries. One time when Nancy had 'ditched' her for Steve during lunch, she came and sat with you and Jonathan. You talked about how Nancy looks like she's starting to actually enjoy their company. You remember Jonathan laughing at that comment, but you didn't know what to think. You didn't liker her going out with these people, but you couldn't possibly stop her from doing anything.

Nancy turned from her locker to give Barbara a confused look "If you become friends with Tommy H. or Carol-" the girl next to you continued to explain her thoughts, before she was interrupted by her best friend.

" Oh, that's gross! Okay, I'm telling you, it was a one-time..." her words trailed off, when she opened her locker and saw a note falling from inside. You leaned forward to read the note that had with big letter the words 'Meet Me. Bathroom. -Steve' on it.

" You were saying?" Barbara teased, while Nancy smiled at you two, asking if it was okay to go.

" Just go." you waved her off and watched as she hurried to find Steve "Ahh, young love... Disgusting." Barbara giggled next to you.

" Come on, let's go to class."

___

You were tapping your foot against the floor, as you were pretending to listen to your teacher's lecture, when someone knocked on the classroom's door. Everyone's heads turn and watched the principal come inside with the chief of the police next to him, Jim Hopper. You didn't have a good feeling about this.

" Excuse me for interrupting your lesson, but could we borrow miss Henderson for a minute?" now all the heads turned towards you. You felt small due to all the eyes starring at you as you got up from your seat and made your way out on the hallway.

" Is everything okay?" you asked reluctantly, your feet following the men heading for the principal's office.

" We'll see." you heard Hopper say.

You entered the office. The principal sat on the chair behind his desk, motioning for you to take a seat. You placed yourself in one of the chairs in front of the big desk, watching as Hopper took his time to sit next to you, turning the chair to face you. One of his officers had come as well, leaning his body against the wall.

" You were yesterday with Will Byers, is that correct?" the Chief's voice filled the room and his words had confirmed your fears.

" Has something happened to Will?" you panicked. Will was the sweetest kid you had ever met, you didn't know what you would do if something bad happened.

" Were you with him." Hopper repeated himself. You didn't like him. You didn't have many interactions with the head of the police, thankfully, but everytime you did he always had this mean look on his face, like he didn't like anyone or anything.

" I- I, uh, yes. I was with him for some while yesterday."

" Can you tell me what happened?" you knew that it wasn't really a question.

" After my, uh, shift at the diner, I took my bike and started heading home. As I-"

" Around what time was that?" he interrupted you.

" My shift ended at 7:30, but I left the diner around eight o'clock. I was helping Mr. Miller with closing the store. After I left, I rode pretty quickly to get back home, cause I was freezing, but as I passed the Wheeler's residence, I saw my brother and his friend's bikes still parked there, so I stopped to take them home."

" Your brother's the one with the hat, right?" Hopper pointed to his head.

" The one with no front teeth?" the officer that was with him spoke up. You don't think his comment was to be mean, but it still made you give him a nasty look.

" Yes, Dustin Henderson, that's my brother. I went to go and collect him and his friends, Lucas and Will, and take them back home, since it was getting pretty late. Lucas was the first one to arrive at his place. My place was next on our road so.. Will was left alone to get back home. What happened?" you were very worried now. It hadn't crossed your mind that maybe you should have made sure Will had gotten home safely. You felt so stupid now. You were the oldest, you had the responsibility of making sure all of them are okay.

" Which rode did he take, you remember?" he ignored your question once again, making you more angry.

" He always takes the one where Cornwallis meets Kerley. The kids call it-"

" Mirkwood. Yeah, yeah, I know.." he sighed, adjusting his hat on his leg "Do you remember maybe any unfamiliar behavior with Will last night?"

" I- no. No, Will was the same sweet kid he always is.. He was actually a bit more energetic. Him and my brother had a race back to our place. Will won. Could you please tell me what's happening?" you were getting very impatient. You wanted to know what's actually happening here. If it was your fault..

The chief looked at you with his grumpy eyes and you could tell he was reluctant about telling you, but he eventually gave in "Joyce Byers has reported Will as missing. He didn't came home last night and we are trying to find out what has happened."

" What?" you didn't want to believe it. What had happened to Will last night?

" Do you by any change believe he would want to ran away? I know you are close with the kids and that they trust you. Maybe even more than they would do with a parent or a sibling. Has he told anything about going to Lonnie Byers?" his elbows fell to his knees as he leaned forward, your eye levels matching.

" Who, his dad? No way. There is no way Will would want to go to him. That's the last place I'd look." you looked him in the eye and he considered your words, before getting up and putting his hat back on.

" Alright, I think that's all we need for now. If you remember anything else come and see us."

" What? That's it? You don't know where Will is at all? Are you kidding me?" you stood up from your sit looking at him desperately.

" Miss Henderson, please, calm your voice." you heard your principal tell you, but your eyes were focused on Hopper. He turned to look at you once again.

" I promise you we're doing the best we can. Thank you for your help." that was the last thing he said before opening the door and disappearing with his colleague.

You didn't know what to think or do. Your thoughts were filled with unanswered questions and your body was frozen from the shock. You stood there until a voice pulled back into reality.

" Head back to class, Miss Henderson. The day isn't over yet." you looked at him, silently saying a quick goodbye and got out from his office. You stayed a bit on the hallway while recollecting your thoughts, until you made a decision.

" The day is over for me though."

You couldn't possibly stay here and pretend that all is well. That nothing is happening till the end of your lessons. You walked outside to the parking area and took ahold of your bike, speeding through the roads.

___

You were sitting for maybe forty minutes at the Byer's porch, waiting for either Jonathan or Joyce to return. Your heart was beating faster than it ever had before, your hands were trembling and cold sweat was running from your forehead. You were ready to start crying at the thought of what could have happened to Will, when you heard a familiar engine approaching.

You looked up and saw Jonathan and Joyce inside. When they got out you could see they didn't expect to see you here at all. you got up from where you were sitting and slowly went over to them.

" Hopper, he came into school and asked questions about Will. I knew something was happening ever since you called me in the morning, but I didn't know it was that serious." you felt tears in your eyes. Joyce saw that and pulled you in for a hug.

" We don't even know what's happening. What did Hopper ask you?" she sniffed when you broke your hug.

" He asked me to tell him what had generally happen last night when I took them from Mike's. How and when Will left by himself. Typical police stuff.. Oh! And he also mentioned Lonnie, like he would have anything to do with this."

" Oh, screw him with his Lonnie theory." she mumbled and hurried to get inside. You guessed he had talked to her about it too, a little too much.

Finally, your eyes fell on Jonathan, who looked just as exhausted as Joyce. You couldn't imagine what he was going through, both of them. If you felt bad, they must be feeling it ten times more. You immediately pulled him in your arms and he didn't miss a second returning it. He really needed that. You were one of the only people he could truly let his guard down.

" It's going to be okay.. All is gonna be well." you tried to reassure him with your words while your hand went up and down his back. It wasn't working, but it was the only thing you could do right now. How can you comfort a person who just lost a sibling? A son?

After a minute you felt Jonathan slip away from your arms. You looked up to see his eyes slightly red "I'm going to make a missing poster for Will, wanna help?"

" I'm sorry, but I wanna go and also check on Dustin. I just stopped by to see how you were. I'm pretty sure Hopper interrogated him as well and I don't know how he took it. This whole thing must have him so confused." you ran a hand through your hair and sighed.

" Hey, I get it.. All of us are really shaken up. Go find him." he gave you a weak smile that broke your heart. You wanted to stay with him a bit longer, you knew he needed it. A distraction from this mess. But you also both knew Dustin was just a kid with a missing friend. He was your priority for now.

" Call or leave a message if you need anything. I'll come in no time." he chuckled, agreeing to your statement "I'll come tomorrow morning for the posters, okay? Bye!" you rode, away waving back at him. He replied with a small and weak wave, before putting his hands on his pockets and headed inside.

Your head turned back on the dirt road, riding back towards the schools. This time the middle school. You were certain Dustin needed a break and taking him back home would be the best idea. School can wait.

~~~

I want to say a big thank you for all the people who are tolerating my ideas about this story and still wanting to keep up with it. I know I don't actually know you, but I love you guys! Also, another thank you for the new people joining in. It always feels nice when you see people enjoying something you put out there, so thank you all and I hope you like this first chapter!

If you want to be tagged, just ask!

Taglist: @bookscoffeandotherstuff @i-am-the-coffee-queen @bi-andready-tocry @enchantedcruelsummer @daddystevee @elite4cekalyma @hayadora @hannarudick @thecaptainsgingersnap @lookalivesunshine-x @sarasmismyonlydefence @astream-ofconsciousness @the-haikyuu-hoe @mileven-reddie @mochminnie @synonymforlame @teamkiall @samanthadegaro @the-passionate-freak @thesailbells @i-mmunity @marvelouspottering @mrs-diggory @mydarlingharry @beepbeephargrove @mikariell95 @spiderbitch69420 @paninipress @anolddayslover @10minutesofscreentime

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cleacc · 2 years

Text

A Visitor

Synopsis: You're Mike's sister and there's a surprise visitor in your house.

Warnings: Swearing.

Genre: fluff

You woke up because of the noise that's coming from the basement. You looked at the clock and saw the time. It's 9 am.

"What the hell?" You said as you forced yourself to get up from your bed. You rushed downstairs to check on what's going on in the basement when your mom, Karen saw you.

"Hi sweetheart goodmorning!" She said while holding a pan in her hand.

"Hi mom" you said grumpy.

"What happened?" She asked.

"It's so noisy. It's 9 am!" You said shouting.

"Oh it's Mike and his friends. They're playing D&D."

"Really?! 9 am in the morning and they're already playing?!" You asked annoyed.

"Calm down sweetheart. Here have some pancakes."

"Later mom. I have to talk to Mike first."

"Okay. But be kind okay?"

"Yeah, yeah whatever."

You're now going down the stairs to the basement when you hear another screaming.

"What the hell mike?!" You screamed.

They all looked at you with a surprise expression. There's will, Lucas, and Dustin. But, There's another person that you're not familiar with.

"Hi....?" You said looking at the tall man.

"Hi!" He said smiling at you.

"And you are...?"

"Oh! I forgot to tell you. He's Eddie. He's the leader of The Hellfire Club." Mike said introducing you to Eddie.

"She's my sister, Y/N."

"Hi!" He said smiling sweetly. You raise both of your eyebrows, Acknowledging his greeting.

The four boys looks at you and Eddie back and forth. They're sensing some chemistry.

"Breakfast's upstairs. You all should take a break first. Eat, so you guys have some energy." You said looking at all of them.

"And.... Eddie?"

"Hmm?" Eddie hummed.

"Don't be shy. Make yourself at home." You said and went upstairs.

"Yes. Make yourself at home Eddie, this will be your true home soon." Dustin said elbowing Eddie.

Eddie looked at Dustin pissed, Dustin stopped.

Mike, being a protective brother he is, he glared at Eddie and spoke.

"Come on, you heard her. Breakfast is upstairs."

#eddie munson fluff #eddie munson fics #eddie munson x y/n #eddie munson x you #eddie munson #eddie munson x reader #eddie munson stranger things #stranger things

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aloneinthehellfire · 2 years

Text

Chapter 3: Photo-Op

Raining Hellfire Series | Season One

Word Count: 6,843 words.

Warnings: Swearing, flashbacks to past trauma, mentions of sex, bullying, dead bodies mentioned, mentions of blood, just a lot of angst if I'm honest

[A/N: I applaud anyone who is still interested in this story haha]

Photo-Op

Your nightmares that night were a blur.

Flashes of unwanted memories mixed with the image of the unknown figure you saw in the forest. It was enough for you to wake up to the sound of your racing heart. Your breathing as equally as erratic. Your cheek throbbed while you tried to steady yourself.

Well yesterday was… eventful, you thought as you lifted yourself out of bed.

You had three goals for today: find out the plan from the boys, apologise to Barb for last night, and for once in your life go to bed early. These sleepless nights from staying out too late were starting to be a problem.

After a quick shower and changing into a Metallica shirt you found the last time you went shopping, you left the empty house and walked over to the Wheelers’. Karen opened the door almost as soon as you knocked and let you inside, offering breakfast. You politely declined.

“Nancy’s in her room.” She stated. She didn’t sound too happy.

“Um, actually I promised Dustin and the boys that I’d help them with something.” For once, not a complete lie.

“Oh,” She was surprised, “I think they’re in the basement. Probably planning their next big game or something.”

“Thank you.” You smiled and she tried to smile back, her lips twitching upwards but her eyes still. You wanted to ask her what was wrong but she just continued to the kitchen and you were on a limited time frame to talk to the boys before school started.

Approaching the basement door, you began to hear the voices of Dustin, Lucas, and Mike.

“And besides, why do we even need weapons anyway?”

You swung open the door, taking your cue and earning a small scream from Lucas as he threw a Nutty Bar at you.

“Damn, I love Nutty Bars.” You said, catching it in your hand before joining them around the table.

“Right? Anyway, back to my question, why do we need weapons when we have her?” Dustin says, pointing to El who sat in a blanket fort in the corner of the basement. You smiled at her and she gave you a little wave.

“She shut one door!” Lucas declared.

“With her mind!” Dustin shot back, “Are you kidding me? That’s insane! Imagine all the other cool stuff she could do.”

“Like what?” You say, curious.

“Like…” Dustin proceeded to look around before presenting a model replica of the Millennium Falcon, “I bet… she could make this fly!”

You and Lucas stared at eachother, concerned expressions on your faces. Lucas was most likely concerned for Dustin’s mental health while you were concerned that this party would be pushing El a little too far.

“Hey. Hey.” Dustin was trying to get El’s attention, “Okay, concentrate. Okay?”

El just stared at him as he dropped the ship. It hit the ground with a loud clatter.

“Okay, one more time. Okay. Use your powers, okay?”

You stifled your laugh as the ship crashed into the floor yet again.

“Idiot.” Lucas muttered, shaking his head.

“She’s not a dog!” Mike grabbed the ship, placing it on the table.

You looked down at the table to see the contents spilled across it; snacks and some sort of make-shift spy equipment.

“Um, what is this for?” You looked at Dustin.

“Boys! Time for school!” Karen’s voice rang out from upstairs and Dustin gave you a quick shrug before running away.

“Hey!” He was already gone.

You turned to see Mike talking to El, asking her to stay put.

“Come on, you need to get to school before your mom comes down to get you.” You said, a hand on his shoulder just as Karen called for her son.

“Coming!” He yelled back, not moving.

“Hey, Y/n. Are you free after school?” He asks, looking up at you.

“Uh, sure.” You reply hesitantly.

“Okay. El,” His focus shifts back to the young girl, “You know those power lines?”

“Power lines?” She repeats.

“Yeah. The ones behind my house?”

“Yes.”

“Meet us there, after school.”

“After school?”

“Yeah, 3:15.”

She looks at him in confusion and you hand him your watch, already knowing that she probably didn’t know how to tell the time. He straps it onto her wrist and shows her how to use it.

“Three-one-five.” She finally agrees.

“Oh and Y/n, you-”

“Yeah, I’ll see you there too.” You nod and he rushes up the stairs and out of the basement.

You crouch down next to the girl and she smiles at you, reaching out to touch your hair.

“Okay, I’ll see you later El, at…” You try to remind her.

“Three-one-five.”

“That’s my girl.” You quickly hug her and follow Mike’s path up the stairs.

You didn’t see Barb outside the school in her usual waiting spot.

You figured Nancy had gotten here before you and they went inside together. You were already dreading whatever conversation was waiting for you inside. Covering your bruised cheek with your hair, you headed through the double doors and stepped into the noisy hallway.

As you passed people, you heard hushed whispers. Gossip was usual for this school and you figured you’d hear your name after yesterday’s fight.

“Did you hear about Nancy Wheeler?”

The whisper passed you just as quickly as it spoke. Nancy? Why was she suddenly the trending gossip?

You made your way to your locker and were shocked to see that there was no Barb patiently waiting there for you. Usually she would be eager to tell you little things, like animals she may have seen on her walk to school, or whatever she saw on the TV the previous night. You figured she’d have loads to say about last night’s disappointment.

Still, you continued to your locker, rummaging around to find the books you needed and filling up your backpack. Turning around, you noticed yet another defiled poster of Will.

“What is wrong with people?” You muttered. You shut your locker and walked over, taking the poster down and making a mental note to check if Jonathan had some to spare.

“Hey!”

You heard the familiar nervous laugh of your friend from behind you and turned to greet her. Even if she did act a little weird at the party, you weren’t going to be angry at her for spending time with her boyfriend.

“Is everything okay?” Steve’s slightly concerned voice rang out. Never mind, you might just stay put instead.

“Yeah! Yeah, totally.” Everything was clearly not alright.

“I just… I feel like everyone’s… staring at me.”

You definitely noticed it. That alongside the whispered rumours, something definitely happened that you didn’t know about.

“Oh, I didn’t… I didn’t tell anyone.” Steve said quickly.

Oh, you thought, realisation kicking in. Did they…?

“But what about, like, Tommy, and Carol and them?”

“You’re being paranoid.”

Fucking Carol and Tommy. Turns out you had a fourth goal of the day.

“I had a good time.” You heard Steve say and you knew exactly what had happened now.

Was that happening while Barb was sat outside all alone? You felt a little guilt for leaving her alone like that. It’s probably why she isn’t with you or Nancy right now.

The bell rang and you gripped the poster in your hand ready to throw away, heading to your first class.

“You… you really did it?” Your best friend whispered. She was sat in your room, hugging your pillow as you told her what happened.

“Yep.” You whispered back.

“Did you… like it?” She asks, waiting for your response.

The truth is, you wanted to wait. Until you were old enough to not regret it. Until you were with someone that you actually… loved. However, when you saw the concerned look on Lillian’s face, you rethought your original reply.

“It was magical.” You put on a fake smile as she nodded, getting back out the small manual to a game she was apparently playing with people at school, one you didn’t recognise.

You wanted to at least spare her the pain of the truth.

“Hey, Y/n.”

Nancy slipped into the seat behind you, leaning forward to whisper.

“What?” You turn your head slightly, trying to concentrate on the words in front of you. You didn’t want to fall behind in History again.

“Oh.” She said, slightly taken-aback at your attitude, “Are you okay?”

“I’m fine.” You said a little softer that time. If anything, you most definitely weren’t fine. Freaky stuff was happening lately and you couldn’t find Barb.

“Where’s Barb?” She asked almost immediately as you followed her eyes to Barb’s empty desk.

“Shouldn’t you know? You were there last, I… had to leave early.” You lied. I just didn’t feel like spending anymore time with you, you thought, staring back at the pages in front of you. You hated History.

“I was… busy.” Nancy simply said, putting her head in her hand and flipping through her notes. She didn’t even want to tell you what happened.

“I know.” You muttered to yourself. You just hope Barb didn’t hate you both forever for leaving her last night.

Your teacher walked in a few seconds later, droning on about the World Wars and their impacts on the economy. You would gladly be anywhere else but here.

With a sigh, you turned your attention to the window, gently tapping your pencil onto your paper. It was a nice day outside, despite the cold weather. Leaves scattered the ground around the trees that lined the school. You found that their trunks provided surprisingly comfortable resting places for students to study. No one ever studied outside though, they either ran to the library or chose to ignore their exams.

Your pencil stopped tapping when your eyes came across a pleasant surprise. Eddie sat just beneath the tree on the far right side, drumming his hands on his knees as he jammed out to some music. Except, he wasn’t wearing headphones.

You smiled and before you really knew what you were doing, your hand shot up. Everyone else at this point was focused on some small History tasks, a lulled silence filling the room. Your teacher called you to the front, positioning his glasses back on his nose as you approached his desk.

“What can I do for you, Miss Y/n?” He asked with a monotone voice.

“I have cramps, Sir.” Complete lie.

“Oh, well, go ahead. Here’s the hall pass.” He said quickly and you walked out of the room, gripping your bag tightly. You tried your best to ignore Nancy’s confused stare.

You walked straight past the bathroom.

You walked completely past the Nurse’s office.

You even walked past the principal who didn’t even bother to give you a second glance.

You kept walking until you hit the back exit to the school that would lead you to the field, walking around until finding the familiar line of trees. You knew you wouldn’t be caught by your teacher. For one, you weren’t sure he even knew his classroom had windows and two, as long as you sat the other side of the tree, you were hidden from sight.

Approaching the tree in the far right corner, you walked around it’s base until heavily planting yourself just around the side from Eddie, immediately catching his attention and he jumped.

“Don’t let me stop you.” You laughed, stretching your legs.

“You’re really good at sneaking up on a person.” He laughed back, moving around until he was sat directly next to you.

“Why did I have to move to this side of the tree? Mine was much comfier.” He asked, slumping down with one of his legs bent.

“I skipped History.” You said simply, resting your head against the tree trunk.

“Ah. I suppose I’m in the presence of a… rebel?” He faked shock, clasping both his hands on either side of his face.

“A regular trouble-maker.” You nodded, looking out at the field before you.

“Well, I’m glad. Can’t argue with the company.” He smirked, glancing your way. When his eyes met yours it always made your heart flutter.

“So, what were you pretending to listen to?” You asked, raising your eyebrows.

“You saw that?”

“I think everyone in my class could see it.”

“I hope they enjoyed the show.” He chuckled.

“You play the drums?” You say, mimicking his earlier solo demonstration.

“Nope, more of a guitar guy.” He had a dreamy look in his eye.

“You’re so obsessed with your guitar. I can feel it.” You deduced, laughing as his shocked face met yours.

“If you were to see her, you would be too.”

“I’ll take your word for it.”

“No, I don’t think I accept that. You will definitely meet her someday and bow to her greatness.”

You smiled shyly at that. That had to mean something, right?

“What about you? Any instruments? You could join my band.”

“Uh no, not really, but you have a band?” You ask excitedly.

“Yeah!” He smiled, sitting upright. “We’re called, uh, Corroded Coffin.” He added quietly, scared of your response.

“That’s… so freaking cool.” You admitted, giving a bright smile at his band name.

“You think?” He grabbed part of his hair and hid his face, reminding you of your previous conversation. He always did that when he was a little shy about something.

“Definitely.” You assured, earning a wide smile from Eddie, his big brown eyes staring back at you.

“Wait, Metallica?” He said excitedly, spinning around the grass so he was sat directly in front of you and pointing at your shirt.

“Ah, yeah, I found it earlier this year when I was shopping with Nancy. She didn’t really like it but they just came out with their album ‘Kill Them All’ and I understand it’s not really her kind of music but once you start listening it’s so hard to stop.” You ramble, excited someone noticed your shirt. It was the first thing you’ve really bought for yourself that you loved.

“Favourite song?” He questioned, as if he were testing you.

“Phantom Lord.” You replied immediately.

“Good choice.” He nodded. “I didn’t think you listened to that kind of music.”

“I listen to basically every kind of music. Growing up in a house where everyone had different music tastes will do that to you, I guess.” You laughed. Your smile faltered at the mention of your family.

“So you get the best of everything. It’s a sweet deal.”

“Yeah, until I spend all my money on cassette tapes.” You laugh softly. They currently all sat in a box under your bed.

“Any you think I would like?” He asked. He was looking at you now, not even distracted by the sound of bell as students rushed around to get to lunch.

“Hm, I’ll think about it.” You smile, already knowing of the perfect ones.

You stood up, unaware that Eddie mirrored your movements. He picked up your bag and handed it to you and you both walked to the cafeteria, exchanging songs you loved from various albums.

You were both in your own little world at this moment, growing closer as you talked. Usually, you would avoid the cafeteria in hopes of truly avoiding people like Tommy or Carol but you didn’t care. Eddie led you to a free table, and you sat opposite eachother, still talking about music when laughter erupted in the cafeteria you both looked over to the table sat two rows in front of you, seeing familiar faces.

“Oh Steve!” Carol was moaning while Tommy proceeded to make clear gestures to their joke. Nancy was looking as if she was willing the ground to swallow her up with Steve sat beside her trying to shut them up.

You scanned the table you were sat at, seeing someone’s now deserted plate (they were far more intrigued with the display in front of them than their food) and grabbed an apple, launching it across the room so it hit Tommy in the centre of the back. The show came to an end as he turned, scanning the crowd for the culprit. At this point, you and Eddie had ducked down, avoiding his gaze.

When you both popped your heads back up, you looked at eachother for a moment before bursting into laughter.

“Nice aim.” Eddie laughed, looking over at Tommy now rubbing the sore spot on his back.

You went to reply when you caught Nancy smiling over at you and you nodded to her. You might still be a little pissed about last night but you were always going to have her back.

And then another set of eyes met yours from across the room. Steve.

He was now looking back and forth between you and Eddie, eyebrows furrowed and you saluted him. He shook his head and tuned back into what Nancy was saying. What was that about?

“Are you free later?” Eddie broke the silence, discarding the crust of his sandwich onto someone else’s tray.

“Yeah! I mean, no. I’m not. I have plans today.”

“Oh.” He said, his face dropping slightly.

“But I’m free tomorrow.” You quickly add and you saw the corners of his mouth twitch upward.

“Well, did you want to... hang out?” He seemed reserved now, like he didn’t want to say anything wrong.

“Definitely.” You grinned as you looked through the double doors of the space, seeing Jonathan scan the room before walking past.

“Uh, I’ll see you tomorrow then? I have some stuff I need to sort out.”

“See you tomorrow.” He smiles and at that same moment, one of his friends run up behind him, causing a riot of laughter and you silently left, following Jonathan.

You were ready to enter the photography red room when the door swung open, almost hitting you in the face but missing ever so slightly.

“Y/n!” Jonathan said, carrying freshly printed photos messily in his hands.

“Here, let me help.” You reach toward them but he snatched the photos away quickly.

“What- wait. Are those the photos from last night?” You ask, stepping closer.

He just nods and tries to walk away but you’re quick to stop him.

“Not so fast, what are the photos? Show me.”

“What? No, it’s-”

“Jonathan.” You said with such authority that he stops and reluctantly hands you the photos.

You begin to shuffle through them, seeing images of you cleaning up, some of Tommy and Carol glaring at eachother. There was a sweet photo of you and Barb laughing together and another of Barb sat by the pool. The photo of Barb caused you to stop for a moment before moving to the next and your breath hitched.

Nancy in the window, topless with only her bra.

“Why did you print this?” You whispered harshly, waving it at him.

“I don’t know!” He panicked, pacing back and forth, “I- I seriously don’t know what came over me!”

“Okay, look. I get that, but this isn’t right. You didn’t have her permission, you know, you could get in serious trouble for this!”

“I know.” He quietened, looking at the photo.

“Are there more?”

“On a separate film but it’s in my car.” He admitted. At least he wasn’t arguing with you on this.

“Okay, take me to your car and we’ll sort this out.” You’d burn the film if you had to.

“This way.” He started heading to the exit.

“Wait. Put these in your bag! Let’s try not to be caught walking around with half-naked photos of people, huh? Actually, throw that one out, rip it up, I don’t care. We’ll just take care of the other ones.” You whisper as you both shoved the photos into his bag and made your way out. You didn’t notice when he slowed slightly out of your view and slipped the provocative photo back into his bag.

It was wrong to take photos without permission. Sure, a candid photo can be nice. But that’s if someone is sat on a bench reading, not if someone is taking their clothes off in private.

You thought you saw Jonathan’s car before noticing four people sat on it, your brain telling you that it mustn’t be his. You scanned the other cars but you knew the first was his. You’ve ridden in it many times, there was no denying that it was definitely his. It was just a shame that it was being blocked by so much hair.

“Harrington.” You breathed, exchanging a look with Jonathan before walking over. This wasn’t going to be fun.

“Hey, man.” Steve said, jumping off the back of his car. He was completely focused on Jonathan that he didn’t even notice you were there.

“What’s going on?” Jonathan asked warily.

“Nicole here was, uh, telling us about your work.” Steve said and your face fell. Shit.

“We’ve heard great things.” Carol smirked, folding her arms.

“Yeah, sounds cool.” Tommy added, an arm around his girlfriend.

“And we’d just love to take a look. You know, as… connoisseurs of art.” Steve straightened up, eyeing his bag. You kept quiet, hoping to find the right time to intervene.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” Jonathan sighed, attempting to reach his car door when Tommy swiftly snatched the bag off his arm.

You had currently made your way to the passenger side at this point, slowly placing your bag on the ground in front of it. You didn’t need your books weighing you down if things turned out like they did yesterday.

“Please just give me my bag.” You heard Jonathan say. They were going to find the photos.

“Man, he is totally trembling. He really must have something to hide.” Steve had the bag now and was turning around, still too fixated on his mission to notice you stood there.

“Ah… here we go.” He pulled out the photos, turning back to Jonathan.

“Let me see.” Tommy chuckled, taking some photos from him as they all crowded around to look. In all honesty, you didn’t know what you were meant to do.

“I was looking for my brother.” Jonathan tried, like he had said to you that night. You believed him.

“No. No, this is called stalking.” Steve glared at Jonathan. You knew where this was going.

“What’s going on?” Nancy joined them, oblivious to what was happening.

“Here’s the starring lady.” Tommy laughed.

“This creep was spying on us last night.” Carol said, disgusted.

“He was probably gonna save this one for later.” She handed Nancy the photo and you shook your head. You told him to throw it out.

“See,” Steve clicked his tongue, “you can tell he knows it was wrong, but… man, that’s the thing about perverts. It’s hardwired into ‘em. You know, they just can’t help themselves.”

Steve ripped up the photo in his hand and Tommy started laughing and you were so close to giving him a matching bruise on the other side of his jaw.

“So… we’ll just have to take away his toy.” Steve walks back over to the bag.

“No, please, not the camera.” You heard Jonathan panic and you reached over to grab the bag before Steve could.

“Y/n?” Steve’s eyes widened, “Don’t tell me you’re actually letting this creep get away with it?”

“Look, I get it. It was not okay for him to do it. That’s why we’re getting rid of all the photos, okay?" You hugged the bag tightly to your chest. Jonathan’s camera was pretty much all he had left at the moment. With his brother missing and his mum spiralling, it was his last comfort. "Trust me.”

“Give me the camera, Y/n.” Steve was deadly serious, looking at the bag and avoiding your gaze.

“Steve, just listen.”

“Give. It. To. Me.” He had made his way around the car and was directly in front of you know, his height only adding to his intimidation. It wasn’t going to work with you.

“No.”

“No?” You heard Carol laugh from behind you and before you could react, you felt a sharp pain in your head.

Carol had grabbed a handful of hair and pulled. Hard. You dropped the bag on instinct and Steve simply picked it up, letting Carol hold onto your hair. You couldn’t move from the position you were in unless you wanted part of your scalp ripped out.

“It’s okay.” Steve said to Tommy who was currently taunting Jonathan.

“Let Y/n go, she was trying to help.” Jonathan pleaded, looking over at you. You caught Nancy’s eye and were shocked just to see her stood there, not even trying to help you.

“Here you go, man.” Steve held the camera out to Jonathan before letting it drop to the ground. The smash of the camera made you flinch. Jonathan just stared at the ground.

“Come on, let’s go. The game’s about to start.” Steve and Tommy walked away from the scene, Carol taking her cue to let go of your hair before she shoved you away from her, laughing.

The photos were now scattered on the ground in pieces. I guess that took care of that problem, you thought.

“Y/n, are you okay?” Jonathan asked, seeing that you were clutching the back of your head.

“I’ll survive.” You made your way to the camera and silently helped him pick up the pieces.

You could understand Steve’s reaction. He was upset for a good reason. But the way he was acting was… strange to you. Mean. Sure, he was a bit of an ass sometimes but you saw a new side to him today.

“Hey! Nance!” Steve called out from a distance.

You then saw that she was crouched beside you, gathering some pieces of a photo she spotted. When she looked at you, you assumed she would apologise for what they did, or at least ask if you were alright. But instead, she took the pieces and ran to Steve.

“I guess that friendship’s over.” You muttered.

The wind picked up and the photo remains were thrown everywhere, taken away by the natural force. You sighed and grabbed the smaller pieces of Jonathan’s camera, handing them to him.

“You didn’t have to do that. Stick up for me?” Jonathan’s head was low, both of you still crouched opposite eachother.

“Well, they didn’t have to do that.” You pointed to the camera, shrugging.

“Y/n is quite the hero type.”

You looked up to the voice and saw Eddie smiling at you, noticing the patch of your hair that was most likely in a tangle behind your head.

“What happened?” He questioned, looking at Jonathan who did everything to keep himself busy.

“Harrington happened.” You say, standing up while attempting to straighten your hair.

“Ugh. I hate that guy.”

“You do?” Jonathan asked surprised, looking at the boy who currently had his hands stuffed into his jacket pockets, a metal chain on his jeans jangling as he moved.

“Yeah. All that hair? Nothing but ego and asshole-ry.” He laughed.

“Agreed. I’m gonna head home, thanks Y/n. Do you need a ride?” Jonathan looks at you as he stands and you notice Eddie shift uncomfortably.

“Yeah, actually, can you drop me of just outside the route to the power lines? I’d go straight to the Wheelers but I figure Nancy’s heading there with Steve…” Your voice trailed off as he nodded. Jonathan says a small goodbye to Eddie, you had no idea if they’d ever met, and started up the car.

“I’ll see you tomorrow, Eddie.” You smile at him, giving a small wave.

“Yeah.” He raised his shoulders and walked back to his group that were all patiently waiting by a van, not really meeting your eyes. That was weird.

You glanced down at your wrist and realised you had given your watch to El earlier that day.

“Hey, do you have the time?” You asked Jonathan as you got into his car.

“Uh, yeah, it’s 3:20.”

“Damn. Any chance you can get me there quick?” You look at him with pleading eyes.

“I’m not even going to ask.” He simply said, reversing the car out of the spot.

“Good choice.”

You had managed to sneak around the back of your house without anyone spotting you as you grabbed your bike and made your way through the trees, heading to the power lines. You hoped that they had at least waited for you before disappearing.

When you approached, however, you only saw one of the kids stood there. Pedalling closer, you saw El stood petrified by a cat that lay on the other side of the fence. You could hear it’s evil little hisses as you dumped your bike on the ground and jogged over.

“Shoo! Get out of here!” You stomped your foot and the cat ran. Looking over at the girl, she took a deep breath and met your eyes.

“Three-one-five.” She showed you your watch that looked much bigger than it was on her slim wrist.

“I know, I’m sorry, I had to deal with something.” You said, crouching down to meet her at eye-level.

“Deal with something?”

“One of my friends was being hurt.” You said and her eyes widened.

“He’s fine!” You added quickly, smiling.

“El!” You heard Mike yell as he and the other two boys pedalled closer.

“Y/n!” Dustin grinned and you walked over. You both executed a quick secret handshake that was created ages ago when Nancy and Mike left you alone. It was now a necessity to do whenever you greeted eachother.

“So, what are we doing?” You ask, glancing at each of them before walking over to your fallen bike.

“Just follow us.” Mike said, giving no help at all, and he turned to El, “Hop on. We only have a few hours.”

With no point in asking any more questions, you all biked your way through the forest, making sure to follow behind them so you could keep an eye on each of the kids.

'Danger, danger.' Mike’s words replayed in your head. You just hoped that danger wasn’t where you were headed today.

After a while, the forest came to a steeper incline and you all decided it better to walk, not wanting to completely destroy your legs. You walked with Lucas and Dustin while El and Mike paired together just ahead of you. It was kind of sweet how close they were. Gross. But sweet.

“So… why were you late to meeting us, huh?” Dustin asked, putting on a fake frown.

“Me? I got there before you nerds.” You pointed a finger at him and he surrendered.

“We were…”

“Dealing with something!” Lucas nodded at Dustin who followed his lead.

“Yeah? Well me too.” You said and you walked in silence for a bit.

“What was your thing?” Dustin smirked. You’ve known him two years now and you still didn’t know if he just liked conversation or was incredibly nosy.

“Why do you want to know?”

“Because.” Well, you couldn’t argue with that logic.

“Harrington and his goons were harassing Jonathan.” You said simply, hearing groans from the boys beside you at the mention of Hairy's name.

“Why?” Lucas asked, “Jonathan’s always just been quiet, right?” He was remembering the times he spent at the Byers’ house.

“That’s not important. What’s important is that he’s okay and Harrington sucks.”

“Here, here!” Dustin said, shaking his head.

You all caught up to the other two and were directly behind them, in full earshot of their ongoing conversation.

“I was tripped by this mouth breather, Troy, okay?” You heard Mike say with a sigh.

“Mouth breather?” El questioned, not familiar with the term.

“Yeah, you know, a dumb person. A knucklehead.” Mike said, not explaining very well.

“Knucklehead?” She was very confused now.

“Someone who is mean. And not very smart.” You tried to explain as simply as you could, earning a knowing nod as she finally realised what Mike was talking about.

It was sad that the boys had to deal with their bullies day after day, it made sense that Mike didn’t want to tell El. He probably felt embarrassed. You’ve had your fair share of bullies. But after a while, you found ways to ignore them. Then again, you weren’t doing so well at that anymore. You were involving yourself in more fights than you could handle.

“I understand.” El smiled at him. It was adorable. But it didn’t stop you, Lucas, and Dustin mime retching at eachother.

“Anyway, what are we doing out here?” You ask again, hoping someone will actually answer you this time.

“Mike thinks that El is some sort of compass for finding Will.” Lucas rolled his eyes. At least he still came.

“Because she recognised his photo?” You look at Mike who nodded.

“With any luck, we find Will, rescue him, maybe beat up a few bad guys along the way, and return home heroes!” Dustin said triumphantly.

“See what I have to deal with?” Lucas said to you, shaking his head in disbelief.

This wasn’t exactly what you planned for a Thursday night but then again you couldn’t really complain; you never had plans.

You all walked for what seemed forever and soon the sun began to fade, plunging your quest into darkness. At least they weren’t out here alone.

“You have got to be kidding me.” Lucas muttered under his breath as you all slowed to a stop.

“Here.” El said, turning to Mike directly.

“Yeah, this is where Will lives.” Mike said, a little confused.

“Hiding.” El tried again, her voice a little quieter.

“No, no, this is where he lives. He’s missing from here. Understand?” You could sense Mike’s patience slowly fading.

“What are we doing here?” Lucas asked. His patience was already gone.

“She said he’s hiding here.” You say, looking at the house in front of you. Considering that El had no idea where Will lived, this was weird.

“Um… no!” Lucas said, looking at you as if you were mad.

“I swear,” Dustin spoke up, “if we walked all the way out here for nothing-”

“That’s exactly what we did.” Lucas threw his hands up in exasperation. You were still looking to the house, trying to figure it out. “I told you she didn’t know what the hell she was talking about!”

“Why did you bring us here.” Mike’s voice was stern.

“I-” El stammered.

“Mike, don’t waste your time with her.”

“What do you want to do then?”

“Call the cops, like we should have done yesterday.”

You took a few steps toward the Byers’ when you saw strange lights flickering in the house in an assortment of colours. What was going on?

“We are not calling the cops!”

“Hey guys?”

Your head spun around at Dustin’s call for attention, noticing why there was worry in his voice.

“What other choice do we have?” Lucas was shouting at Mike now, trying to make him see sense.

“Guys!” You and Dustin raised your voices at the same time and soon you were all looking to the road, multiple sirens racing past.

“Will…”

The sirens were blasting so loudly, so out of tune with eachother that it made your head spin. You wished it was just because of the alcohol.

An officer was attempting to get you to talk, but you just stayed there, kneeling in front of the pool. Blood was on your hands now, some smeared onto your dress.

Your eyes fixated on the body floating in the water.

You had all rushed to your bikes, following the sirens. Your heart was racing, unsure of it’s speed. Yes, you were pedalling fast. But the fear was overwhelming.

The wind was whipping at your skin as you all rode in terrified silence. The cops had found something. Judging by the amount of cars and ambulances, it was definitely not good.

The final destination was the quarry. A pit of mud and water that you would see some days when walking past the cliff that overlooked it. In the day, it was nothing. At night, it was the most eerie thing you have ever seen. You had never been nearer to the water edge.

You all kept your distance from the Sheriff’s Department as you all looked out onto the scene, breathless.

Please, god, no.

You prayed silently. Your hands were shaking.

I should get the kids out of here, you thought. But you were too late. They had found something in the water.

The kids ran to hide behind the fire engine before you could stop them. Rather than going with them, you were frozen to your place. You didn’t need a closer look. The small body that now appeared on the shore clearly belonged to Will. Fuck.

“What is wrong with you?!” You heard the painful shouts of anger coming out of Mike’s mouth. You winced. His voice had somehow merged with the voices of your parents.

WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU Y/N?!

It wasn’t until Mike pedalled past you that you snapped into action. The boy was already too far for you to deal with so, instead, you ran over to Dustin and the others.

As soon as El saw you, she cried. Dustin and Lucas were on the verge of tears. You wordlessly took them all in your arms with no objections, holding them until their tears stopped.

“Come on, let’s get you out of here.”

You all rode back in silence, El’s grip tight around your waist. You really wished you had stopped them from seeing that.

Since you lived next to Mike, you took them all to your house. Their parents already assumed they were over his for a sleepover so you didn’t need to call anyone. Mike needed time to cool off, you knew that. Aggression was something you could deal with.

Dustin and Lucas thanked you for the pillows and blankets as they set themselves up in the living room. Your uncle had left you a note saying he wouldn’t be back until the next day anyway.

You set El up in your bed, letting her borrow some clothes that were too big for her, and tucked her in. When she fell asleep, you set yourself up on the floor. You knew you weren’t sleeping tonight. How could you sleep after all that?

Will was confirmed dead. That small, sweet boy was gone and there was nothing you could do.

After a few restless attempts at finding the right position, you gave up, quietly making your way to the kitchen to get yourself a drink of water. When you shuffled onto the tiled floor, your foot kicked something to the side. Another beer can.

You sighed, picking up the littered object and opening the back door to the trash-cans. With each step down from the small porch, your heart ached just a little more. You’ve experienced so much death. Death of people who never deserved it. One more, and you thought you might go crazy. But you needed to be strong. For the boys and El. You made a promise to stay with them and you weren’t looking to break it anytime soon.

“Rest in peace, Will.” You say softly to the sky. Acceptance was always key in these situations. It was something you had to alone.

At least, you thought you were alone.

A low growl echoed from the darkness of the path between the houses, the goosebumps prickling on your skin in response. Without a second thought, you took a step closer. Maybe it was just a cat. One step, then another. The growling continued.

A third step, and it all went silent. Your breath formed a cloud in front of you. Everything in your body was telling you to move. Run.

You sprinted back to the porch, rushing inside and slamming the door shut. Behind it, you heard the trash-cans clang to the ground. But that isn’t what scared you.

As you crouched down with your back against the door, you could almost feel the long nails against the wood, clawing away. You could see the glow of the flickering porch lamp cast onto your kitchen floor, beaming through the curtain’s fabric. All you could hear now was your heartbeat, growing louder with each bone-chilling scratch to the door. Whatever it was, it wanted in.

And then, it didn’t.

Everything stopped. You reluctantly stood up, using your shaking hand to peer through the curtain of the back door window. As your eyes adjusted to the night outside, you saw… nothing.

Not wanting to chance fate, you locked the door. Walking as quickly as you could, you checked and locked up the entire house. Dustin and Lucas were sound asleep. With a sigh of relief, you made your way back to El.

Opening the door, you saw the girl now sat up in your bed, her arms wrapped around her legs as she stared at you. Words finally escaped her lips, a wave of terror flashing through your body.

��They’re coming.”

Chapter 4: Maybe We're Not So Crazy ->

taglist: @gnnnne / @beepisbeep / @paintballkid711

comment below if you wanna be added to my taglist!

#x reader #stranger things reader insert #eddie munson x female reader #stranger things x reader #eddie munson x y/n #jonathan byers #nancy wheeler #steve harrington #fruity four #dustin henderson #eddie munson #lucas sinclair #mike wheeler #eleven #el hopper #eleven stranger things #fanfic #fanfic series #stranger things

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lighthouseas · 2 years

Text

the beating of our hearts is the only sound

Mike is going to a wedding. His favorite part isn't the food, or the actual wedding part. Oh no. His favorite part is the dancing. Why? Because Will is there, of course. And he is going to ask Will to dance perfectly normally in a very romantic and cute way. Hopefully. Probably.

TW/CW: swearing

Words: 2.7k

ahaha byler at a jopper wedding and mike being awkward enjoy

the beginning was inspired by a tumblr post by @imyoursgiogio !!

Alright, you can do this.

Mike straightened his tie, which, weirdly, was starting to feel like it was strangling him. He stared straight ahead with a look that was…seductive? But also cute. And inviting. And wow, was he already completely failing at this.

“Hey,” Mike offered a half smirk, “wanna…” he paused, motioning around his room, eyebrows quirking up, “y’know?”

Oh my god.

Internally, Mike slapped himself in the face. He scanned his appearance again, in the mirror, and immediately felt as though he looked like he’d just rolled out of bed. His stomach was in knots. Okay, again.

Mike cleared his throat, offering his mirror finger guns and making an odd clicking noise with his mouth. “Hey,” he whispered, “wanna dance- oh god, that’s even worse.”

Again.

“Hey, I was just wondering, y’know, there’s music, and stuff, and we both don’t have dancing partners, and like, it’s a wedding, you kind of need to dance- goddamnit.”

Again.

“Dance with me? Like, now?”

FUCK.

“I love you and I want you to put your arms around me and-”

“Mike? Who’re you talking to?”

And just like that, Mike saw his entire life flash before his eyes. He turned around, trying not to implode. Holly tilted her head curiously back at him. Mike could’ve sworn he saw the hint of a smirk flash across her face, but he hoped that maybe he just imagined it.

“I- uh- no one.”

“I heard you talking. You were trying to ask someone to dance.”

“Just…uh…practicing.”

“For what?”

“Nothing,” Mike sighed, rubbing the back of his neck awkwardly. Sometimes he forgot he had a little sister who was more than happy to barge in on him anytime she pleased. “Why are you in here, anyways?”

“Mom says it’s time to go. The wedding is starting soon and you’re taking forever.”

“Right. Fuck. Sorry. Shit, shit, shit…” Mike straightened his tie absentmindedly before bolting out of his bedroom, leaving Holly in the dust. His stomach was in knots, and he was so nervous that he neglected to think of the fact that he just accidentally taught Holly two new swear words. He’d definitely be hearing that from his mom later.

***

The ride to the venue was, in Mike’s mind, terrifying. Holly was staring into his soul and he was fidgeting in his seat and if he could’ve jumped out of the car and ran there himself he would have. He didn’t have a plan.

“Mike, are you okay, sweetie? You look…pale,” Karen commented, looking nervously into the passenger seat where Mike sat.

Mike snapped out of his nervous daze, whipping his head around to look at his mother. “Fine! Just excited!” His voice was about three octaves too high, and Karen definitely noticed. She removed a hand from the steering wheel, using it to place a hand on Mike’s shoulder.

“Hey, it’s okay if you’re a little nervous. It’s been a hard year… years, for all of us.” Karen looked at both Mike and Holly, offering them a soft smile. “But I want both of you to have fun today, alright? It’s a big day for Joyce and Jim. And Will, and Jonathan…”

Mike’s mother kept talking, but he neglected to actually hear what she was saying. His stomach was currently doing backflips.

How is everyone else so calm about this?

Oh right. That’s why.

As the Wheelers stepped out of the car, Mike took notice of the Party standing on top of the hill. Everyone was there.

Ranger, Mage, Bard, Zoomer…

Wait.

“Hey, Mike.”

Fuck.

Mike coughed awkwardly, trying his best to look Will in the eye. “Hey.”

Without realizing he was doing it, Mike looked Will up and down, taking in his full appearance. He was wearing a suit and tie that fit him really well, and his usual bowlcut was styled in such a way that made Mike’s heart nearly stop beating. It was tousled, and clearly had some sort of hairspray in it (Mike half wondered if Steve had helped Will out) and wow, Will looked about a thousand times better than he did.

“C’mon. Everyone’s waiting for you. Nancy was getting worried.”

“Right.”

Will began walking up the hill towards the Party; Karen was busy talking to Lucas’s mother; and Mike was frozen in place.

“Mike. Are you just gonna stand there?”

Mike flinched, looking down at his little sister, standing, forgotten, by his side.

“What- oh- yeah.”

Holly smirked, giving her brother a playful shove. “I hope you get to dance tonight. Wouldn’t want all that practice to go to waste.”

Mike seriously wanted to die.

***

So far, the night was going smoothly.

So far.

It’d only been about an hour. The procession had started, and Mike was sitting amongst the Party minus Will and El due to the fact that they wanted to sit up front to see Joyce and Hopper. Everyone looked beautiful, and Mike knew he was supposed to be staring at the bride and groom and the pretty dresses and Erica who was scurrying down the aisle and throwing flowers on everyone (mostly Lucas- she’d used up half her basket of petals dumping them on his head) but he couldn’t manage to tear his eyes away from the brown haired, hazel eyed, absolutely stunning creature that was Will Byers (nearly Hopper-Byers) sitting up front.

His heart wouldn’t stop pounding.

He must’ve stared off into oblivion because the next thing he knew he heard “you may kiss the bride!” and a lot of clapping and cheering. And some crying (he could’ve sworn it was coming from Max but she was sure to wipe the tears away before she thought anyone would notice). Mike shook himself, clapping and cheering along with everyone else. He was happy for Joyce, and Hopper, and El, and Jonathan, and…

Will turned around. For a moment, everything around Mike seemed to slow as hazel eyes met brown. Will was smiling, and it seemed as though all of the sunlight that had bathed the wedding was coming from him. His eyes glistened as he looked at Mike, and he felt so close. So close that Mike could reach out, pull him in, and wrap him in a tight embrace that lasted for an eternity.

Then, just like that, the moment was over.

Will sat down again, and Mike’s heart stopped racing. He swallowed hard, sitting back down. He felt very hot, even though it was a rather cool evening.

But, despite this- he felt better. Stronger.

Just a few more hours.

***

Mike was beginning to regret where he had decided to sit for dinner.

He figured it wasn’t that big of a deal. It wasn’t a super big wedding dinner like rich people always had. Just a buffet with various foods to choose from and then some tables to sit at. Easy. Plus, Mike was hungry.

Nancy had decided to go sit with Jonathan, Steve, and Robin. Max and El were in a corner, giggling about something while El bit into a waffle that she had gotten from who-knows-where, Lucas, Dustin, and Erica were having an intense conversation about DnD in another corner of the room, his mother was off fawning over Joyce, and Will…

Well, he was standing. Alone. And Mike was sitting by himself, playing with his food and unable to focus. He inhaled sharply through his nose, glancing over in Will’s direction. His gaze met Will’s, and oh my god this lighting makes him look so pretty, wait, stop, shut up, and without thinking, Mike motioned him over to the table. Will gladly complied, plopping down in the seat across from Mike- far enough across that it wasn’t, for lack of a better term, weird.

“So, uh,” Mike mumbled, poking his chicken with his fork, “how does it feel?”

Will raised an eyebrow. “How does what feel?”

“I dunno. Your mom marrying Hopper. How does it feel?” Mike was normally very good at making conversation but now he was failing miserably, and he wanted to choke on his food so he had an excuse to leave the room.

“Normal, I guess. It’s not much different from before, when they were just dating. I just thought the whole wedding scene was…I guess…a little boring?” Will chuckled at the last part.

“Oh, yeah. I get that. I totally zoned out for most of the ceremony.” Mike instantly regretted saying that, as he had conveniently left out the part explaining why he’d zoned out.

Will laughed at that. “Shouldn’t have expected anything less.”

“Ha. Yeah.”

“Yeah.”

There was an awkward silence between the two of them, and Mike fidgeted uncomfortably in his seat. He needed to find something to talk about. Now.

“So…uhm…when does the dancing start?”

Will gave him a questioning look. “After dinner?”

“Great. Cool…that’s, like, my favorite part. Of this- stuff. Like, the music, and the lights, and…and…dancing…stuff...” with every word, Mike had the increasing urge to launch himself off the top of a building.

“Right,” Will replied, suddenly having gone a rather deep shade of red.

The rest of dinner was spent in uncomfortable silence, with Mike occasionally breaking it to talk about the “great food” and Will simply nodding along. Mike felt like slapping himself.

This was so much easier with El.

He supposed years of repressed, and then, eventually, open pining could do that to a person. Make them suddenly awkward and about as smooth as a jagged rock. If Will was picking up on Mike’s poor attempt at flirting, he was definitely not showing it, and Mike didn’t blame him. Or maybe he just wasn’t picking up on it. Maybe Mike was stupid to think he should make tonight all about him and Will. He felt like Will was suddenly judging him and he couldn’t handle it.

“I’ve gotta go to the bathroom.” Mike had barely taken any bites of his food, but he didn’t really care. He just needed to hide. Immediately.

As soon as he was in the bathroom, he was met with the mirror hanging over the sink. Mike was sweating. And shaking. His tie was crooked. He’d tied his hair back in a low, messy bun, because hey, he thought it might look cool, but now it looked lopsided.

He was going to be in here for a while.

Might as well get some more practice in.

Mike gulped, adjusting his hair and tie before extending a hand towards the mirror.

“Wanna…dance?”

Oh god.

***

Mike had been joking when he said dancing was his favorite part of weddings. Actually, this was the first wedding he’d ever been to so he couldn’t possibly have known that. He’d only really said it in order to impress Will.

But now, he was starting to think that dancing would be his favorite part.

The lighting in the venue room was absolutely stunning. It was a mix of yellows and blues and all of the colors that brought joy to Mike’s world, to everyone’s world. He watched as Joyce and Hopper stepped onto the dance floor to have their first dance. They were soon joined by several other couples that Mike didn’t know, and then Nancy and Jonathan, and then Lucas and Max, and El. Everyone was having fun. Even Dustin and Steve were having fun, making up odd dances that Erica was making faces at.

Mike searched the dance floor, looking for a particular face, but in the sea of people, he was left dumbfounded.

“Over there.”

Mike nearly jumped out of his skin. Holly smiled up at him, pointing a finger towards the other side of the dance floor. There, Will sat, slouched and looking rather crestfallen. Mike’s heart dropped.

“I know you like him. Go dance with him!” With that, Holly skipped away towards Karen, leaving Mike to stand, shaking, staring mindlessly at Will.

Over the speakers around the dance floor, Mike heard the opening sound of “I Think We’re Alone Now” begin to play. It was a fairly new song; he remembered both him and Will liking it. For some reason, it was making his heart beat even faster.

Will had finally noticed his staring, and the two locked eyes for the second time that night. At that moment, the blue and yellow lights met to make green, and Mike was filled with newfound courage. Without a second thought, he marched across the dance floor. In the midst of his determination, however, he managed to crash into about five different people and just as he reached Will, he stumbled…

And fell on his face.

Fantastic.

“Shit, Mike, are you alright?” Will quickly offered a hand to help Mike up, and Mike took it without thinking.

The two were face to face, now, and Mike was feeling very woozy. Maybe he’d hit his head on the way down. Will’s hair was suddenly looking a lot softer and fluffier and his eyes were sparkling and before he could stop himself, Mike was speaking. His initial rehearsed piece he was going to recite to Will that he’d made up in the men’s bathroom was thrown out the window. Okay, it was probably for the better, but still.

“We should dance.”

Will’s eyes widened and maybe it was the lighting, but Mike could’ve sworn he turned red.

“Like-”

“Like, together.”

“The beating of our hearts is the only sound…”

A silence befell between them, but it wasn’t uncomfortable. Will smiled softly. “Okay. Lead the way, Michael.”

The way Will said “Michael” sent Mike’s heart aflame. Mike was still gripping Will’s hand that had helped him up from the floor, and everything felt like it was a dream. Soon, they were in the middle of the dance floor, and even though people were surrounding them on every side, it felt as though they were the only ones in the room. Mike thought he’d be more nervous about this, but all he felt was calm.

“Running just as fast as we can…”

Gently, ever so gently, Mike guided his hands to Will’s waist as Will wrapped his arms around Mike’s neck.

“Holding onto one another’s hand…”

The room was dark, but Will lit it up.

“Trying to get away into the night…”

They swayed to the music, and Mike pulled Will closer to him. This felt so natural.

“And then you put your arms around me…”

Will smirked, gripping Mike’s tie and pulling him down to his height. Mike only had about two inches on Will, but now it felt like several feet.

“And we tumble to the ground and then you say…”

“Your hair,” Will remarked, “it looks good tied back.”

Mike couldn’t stop himself. “You just look really good. Right now.”

“I think we’re alone now…”

Now Mike could properly see. As Will was briefly bathed in yellow light, Mike could clearly see the blush staining his cheeks. They were so close. Yet, still, it felt like an eternity. Everyone else had melted into one, turning into the background noise that neither Will or Mike seemed to acknowledge.

“There doesn’t seem to be anyone around…”

“I’ve always wanted to do this- to dance- with you. I was trying to be cool about asking you and…sorry I kind of failed.” Mike murmured, embarrassed.

“It’s okay. We’re dancing now….and…”

“And?”

“I think we’re alone now…”

Will looked at him, the glimmer that Mike had been seeing all night filling his eyes. Mike’s heart would not stop hammering against his ribcage, but for once, he didn’t mind.

They were at a crowded wedding, in the middle of a dance floor, but they were alone. Their love was for them alone. And Mike was leaning in, and so was Will, and the music stopped, time stopped, everything froze as green light was casted upon them and their lips met.

It was clumsy, and only lasted about five seconds, but it was enough.

“The beating of our hearts is the only sound…”

Brown eyes met hazel, and for the first time that night, Mike was okay. As he swayed to the music, as he felt Will’s arms around him, he knew it was okay. The practicing in the mirror, the butterflies, the awkwardness…

It was all worth it. Because now, they were here, together, and suddenly, it didn’t matter anymore.

#stranger things #mike wheeler #will byers #byler #mike wheeler x will byers #holly wheeler #holly wheeler ilysm and yes she ships byler idc #karen wheeler #jopper #a little bit of jopper bc i love them #byler fic #byler endgame #byler tumblr #mike wheeler i know what you are #will byers is gay #📝

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