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the-ace-with-spades · 2 years ago

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Bradley is eleven, will turn twelve in five months, his mom has been dead for over a year, and his dad for over nine.

His homeroom teacher gives him a permission slip for a school trip to some dumb museum Bradley’s probably already been to and says, “Your dad needs to sign it before next Monday.”

It’s Mav picking him up from school today — it’s Ice, usually, but he is supervising night-time flight maneuvers tonight — so Bradley gets in the car and they go over the normal, how was school today, any new grades, any homework to do, do you need to bring anything for class tomorrow.

They’ve stopped at a light and Bradley takes out the permission slip and says, “Mrs. Sanchez said my dad needs to sign it before Monday or I won’t go.”

Mav—Mav freezes. His hand grips the shift gear and he clenches his jaw, not looking at Bradley. The car behind them has to honk for him to snap out of it.

“I’m—I’m not your dad, Bradley,” he finally says.

“It’s just what Mrs. Sanchez said,” he points out. He doesn’t think it’s such a big deal — Mav’s been doing everything a dad would for years now, for Bradley, and Ice has been helping him the last couple of years. It’s a conclusion that many come to and it seems logical. Bradley is sure half of his teachers thought that even back when his mom was alive, Mav had certainly been to enough PTA meetings with her that it’d be an easy mistake.

“You can correct her, buddy, no one is going to be mad if you correct her, okay?”

They arrive at the house and Mav still hasn’t added anything. Bradley shrugs it off — Mav has these moments, sometimes, when he gets all quiet and unresponsive. Ice usually tells him to leave him alone or wait a couple of hours and try to cuddle with him. Bradley is kind of too big for that now, but it seems to help sometimes.

So Bradley asks if Mav needs help with dinner and after hearing no, goes back to his room.

Out of all that mess, he forgets about the permission slip.

He sits down and fills out all the empty lines so Mav just has to sign it — in capital letters, his handwriting isn’t that readable yet — and leaves just that last line with the date and signature empty.

He thinks, once again, about what Mrs. Sanchez said.

He doesn’t feel the need to correct her, still. He barely remembers his dad — he knows he loved them and he’ll never forget all the stories he heard from everyone but they’re, well, just stories. Mav is the one who taught him how to ride a bike and helped him make stupid macaroni projects for art classes, taught him how to count to a hundred, and how to tie his shoelaces and who would notice when Bradley was outgrowing his clothes or needed a new shoe size. Mav is there, every memory he has. Mav loves him like his mom and dad did.

Mav is his dad.

If Bradley’d really think about it, Ice is getting really close to being his dad, too. He’s making Bradley’s school lunches and helping him with his English homework from time to time, and he comes to Bradley’s matches and, even if Mav will never admit it, he’s the one who choses Bradley’s Christmas and birthday presents. He makes him hot chocolate when he has nightmares and stays with him for hours in the living room, reading plane manuals out loud, in the same tone his mom used to use to read his bedtime stories.

Bradley calling Mav his dad is as logical as people assuming he is his dad. And maybe it can be the same with Ice, in the near future, or maybe even now, if he agrees.

Bradley wants to call Mav dad.

So he grabs the permission slip and goes to the kitchen to tell him that.

“I don’t know, Ice, I just don’t know.”

He doesn’t notice Bradley there, standing with the piece of paper in his hand in the doorway. The phone’s cord is stretched across the kitchen, almost completely straight, as he talks with the handle between his ear and shoulder, slicing an onion at the same time.

“I’ve always wanted to have kids, as unrealistic as it seemed, but not like this,” he continues. “It wasn’t supposed to be like this, I’m not his dad, he’s not my son, it’s just wrong to think that, I’m not—He can’t think that.”

Bradley blinks. Once, twice, a third time. Takes a quiet step back behind the doorframe, flattens his back on the cold wall. Holds his breath.

“I mean, you’ve always said you don’t want kids,” Mav says, the knife clanking on the cutting board as he changes the hand holding the phone. “We made do with the situation, obviously, but we’re not his parents—”

Bradley doesn’t want to hear more.

Bradley was right — he’s already been to the Castle Air Museum. More than once, with his mom, with Mav and Ice, and with Uncle Slider and Aunt Sarah.

His dad didn’t sign the permission slip but Mav did.

It’s sunny so they’re left to wander around the outside display. The tour was boring — their tour guide couldn’t even answer the questions about engines and wingspans and takeoff capacity and it was so disappointing to know more than the adult that was supposed to teach them, again.

The rest of his class went with the tour guide, to see the open cockpit of the Mentor but Bradley just turned around to the F-4 that was on the edge of the display, old and partially reconstructed with cheap metal and plastic. He sits down on the grass in front of it and lets the sun shine at the modern paint that should not belong on the fuselage of a Phantom.

Mrs. Sanchez comes over, standing above him, looking at the Phantom with an appreciation that is clearly less understanding and more awe at the sight. She hums before asking Bradley, “You don’t want to see the cockpit with everyone? Maybe they’ll let you sit in the pilot seat, today. Our group is small.”

The open cockpit belongs to T-34, a piston-driven one they stopped using in the fifties. “I flew one of those, but it was a T-34C, powered by a turboprop.”

Mrs. Sanchez looks at him, tilting her head a bit, not really understanding what Bradley said, like most people don’t when he talks about planes. ”I suppose it’s not that impressive of a place when your dad is a naval aviator, is it?”

Mav told him to correct her so he does, “He’s not my dad.”

He brings his knees closer, wishing she’d go away. Instead, she sits down next to him, her white pants smudged green by the grass in seconds.

“Is something wrong at home, Bradley? Is your—Is everything okay with Pete?”

“Yeah,” he says because he doesn't want to be whiney. He’s already been enough trouble. “His dad flew one of those.”

Mrs. Sanchez looks at the plague in front of them to remind herself of the plane’s name. “A Phantom?”

“Yeah, during Vietnam War.”

“He must be really proud of Pete then.”

Bradley supposes he’d be. “He didn’t come back.”

Mav lost his dad, too, and then his mom. He met Bradley’s mom in the foster system and she became like a sister to him. Bradley probably wouldn’t even know Mav if Duke Mitchell was alive.

Bradley was in the foster system for three weeks when his mom died, before Mav and his case worker had filed all the appropriate paperwork. He was placed in a foster family in the neighboring town — the wife, Sandie, didn’t work and would take him to school every morning, and the husband, Robert, was a corporate lawyer, bent from six to five. They would take Bradley to church every Sunday with the rest of the kids even though Sundays were the only days Mav had enough time to drive out of Fresno and visit him while the paperwork was still in progress,

They were nice, he supposes, and some of the kids called them mom and dad, so they couldn’t be too bad.

“Is there a way I could go back to the foster system?”

Mrs. Sanchez looks away from the plane, clears her throat, and asks gently, “Why would you go back there?”

“I dunno, just—Is there a way to put me back there?”

“I don’t think so, no, Bradley, not unless—” she breaks off, taking a deep breath, and says softly, “I’m sure Pete wouldn’t like that.”

Maybe he wouldn’t like that but it’d make everything easier for everyone.

It’s a few weeks later. Mrs. Sanchez hasn’t mentioned anything to Bradley even if she keeps on looking out for him during recess so he doesn’t think she’ll drill the topic.

Mav and Ice have both gone to the PTA meeting which Bradley finds odd. They’ve always been very careful about their relationship — his mom had given him a talk about how he couldn’t call Ice Mav’s boyfriend when he was six, well, Bradley had called him his husband because he didn’t really know the difference back then, and he had been instructed to keep it a secret.

He’s never mentioned it to anyone, since then, especially not to Mrs. Sanchez. He used to think it was stupid because they were both his parents and they should both be allowed to come to his plays and career days and charity fairs, but now he supposes it was convenient since Ice didn’t want a kid and probably didn’t want to be included in all those parental stuff anyway.

They pick him up from Uncle Slider and Aunt Sarah’s place but they don’t say anything. Usually, they at least mention that Bradley has good grades.

Maybe he’s doing something wrong, again. He got into one fight a couple of weeks ago but Mav said it was alright as long as it didn’t happen again.

“Can you come up to the living room once you unpack?”

Bradley takes his time. He unpacks his English homework, the only one he couldn’t do but also one Uncle Slider couldn’t really help him with — Aunt Sarah probably could but she’s been sleeping the whole time because apparently being six months pregnant is making her super sleepy. Contemplates asking Ice for help with it but decides it’s probably better he doesn’t.

He needs to start doing these things alone. He can’t bother them forever.

In six years, he’s going to be in college, and he holds onto that thought.

“So, your grades are perfect and we’re really proud of how well you’re doing in school, but—But Mrs. Sanchez mentioned a couple of things about your behavior,” Mav says.

Bradley doesn’t sit down with them on the couch even though they left space for him in the middle. He also doesn’t reply anything.

They both look at Bradley for a long moment and he fidgets under their gazes.

“Mrs. Sanchez said you asked her whether we—whether we can give you back for adoption,” Mav begins. “We’re just worried about where that question came from, Bradley, we aren’t going to—”

He said we like Ice actually wants anything to do with Bradley’s guardianship.

“We love you, Bradley, we promised your mom we’d take care of you and—”

He isn’t their son. He’s a promise they’re keeping and nothing else.

“Can I go back to my room?”

“Buddy—” Mav begins again.

Bradley doesn’t want to hear whatever he has to say. He already knows everything he needs to know.

“I know you love me, I know you won’t give me back. It was just a stupid question, is all,” he says because that was the truth — they promised his mom they would love him and here they were, trying very hard to do that.

They don’t need to pretend it’s anything else.

“Okay,” Ice says, carefully. “I’ll make you some hot chocolate and we can talk some more—”

“I just want to go to sleep.”

There’s a moment of silence and they give each other a meaningful look before turning back to Bradley.

Ice notes, “It’s not even seven.”

“We painted the whole nursery with Uncle Slider, I’m just tired. Can I go?”

“You’re not in trouble,” Mav says.

“I know,” Bradley tells him even if he isn’t so sure about it. “Can I go? I still have some homework to do.”

part two/Slider POV now here

#bradley rooster bradshaw #mavdad #icemav #tgm #my fics #this was supposed to be a series but no time and too many wips #so im just posting it as it is #tho be prepared for icemav pov of this and slider pov and future post-mission hangster pov #so maybe part 2 coming?#it'll be angsty too but well ¯\_(ツ)_/¯#the ace rooster fic is being written btw bc #the mini fics are in my head and banging on the walls begging to come out #op #charlie writes

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lonesome-witching · 11 months ago

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You're Hot

An anonymously requested enemies (/rivals) to lovers ronance story. This one is also longer than my usual work, but it is quite cliché. I hope you enjoy this one.

Do you have any prompts yourself? Or do you want to dive into what I wrote before? You can read my previous prompts or send me some new ones.

Nancy Wheeler liked school. She was good at school. It was her talent. She got straight A’s since she was in elementary school. She was the best at school. It was all she had.

At least, she had been the best. Until one Robin Buckley. A girl with hippie parents and a too bright smile. She was annoying. She was worse than annoying. She was smarter. Well, maybe not smarter, but better at school. When Nancy got a 97, Robin got a 98. When Nancy got a 98, Robin got a 99. It was frustrating. Nancy hated Robin. Truly, hated her.

They only shared a couple of classes. History, Chemistry, English. Other than that Nancy was able to avoid her. And she did, most of the time. Their circles didn’t really overlap. Except for one person. Nancy’s ex-boyfriend, Steve. He was surprisingly close with Robin. Apparently, they worked together in the video store in town. They were probably fucking. But that was the least of her worries.

“For this task you will be working in duos. Your parents have been assigned alphabetically.”

Nancy repressed a groan. She preferred to work alone. Most of the students were as incompetent as they come.

“Ricky Adams and Lauren White,” the teacher announced, and a horrible realization dawned on her.

“Robin Buckley and Nancy Wheeler.” No, no, no, NO!

She looked over at where Robin sat. Those blue eyes already looking back at her. A soft smile on her face. Robin waved. Nancy turned around.

Mere seconds after the bell rang, Robin appeared next to Nancy’s desk. “I was thinking we could go to the library after class. Wednesdays might be best. Tuesdays and Thursdays, I have band practice and Mondays and Fridays you have the paper. But if you prefer the weekend, that’s fine too. I work on Saturdays, but Sundays I’m usually free. I can make time on Saturdays too if that works best for you.”

“I thought it might be best we work on this separately,” Nancy replied with a tightlipped, all too fake smile. She was about ready to choke Robin. She shouldn’t think that.

“Oh.” Robin’s entire stance changed. Her shoulders slumped. “Yeah, sure. That works too.”

Nancy Wheeler was a bitch. It wasn’t that Robin hated her or anything. It was just that… Nancy was a bitch. One with a stick up her ass. Prissy and perfect and terribly mean. Robin didn’t like her.

“I’m not even sure what to do. She just won’t talk to me despite us being paired together. You know her, right? Has she always been such a bitch?”

“Nancy is a bit uptight, but she’ll loosen up. She needs some time to get used to people. That’s all,” Steve said, leaning against the counter.

“She won’t even give me a chance.”

“Do you want me to talk to her?”

“No, please don’t. That would only make things worse. And it’s not like I need her to like me or anything. I just want to do well on this project. I’ll probably be moving before graduation anyway.”

“I don’t know. You’ve been her for over a year now. Maybe this time your parents will stay.”

Robin nodded, but she didn’t believe it. She never stayed. The exact same sob story a bunch of coming-of-age protagonists had. If only she was in one of those movies. Just minus the male love interest, of course.

The only thing that didn’t make her a walking stereotype was her attraction to girls. Girls who looked like Nancy Wheeler. Maybe if Nancy had been just a tad bit nicer, Robin would have a crush on the girl right now. Maybe it was good she was such an asshole.

“And even if your parents want to move, you are nearly 18.”

“And broke.”

“You can live with me.”

Robin smiled at how sincere Steve sounded. He was a surprisingly good friend. The best Robin could ever wish for. Hawkins probably could be worse.

Nancy couldn’t do this alone. It was one of the worst realizations she’d ever had. She couldn’t do it alone. She would need Robin’s help. She had reached a new low. She’d already called Steve and begged him for Robin’s number. It would be weird not to call now.

Her eyes were trained on the corner of her notebook where she had scribbled the numbers. They were taunting her. Making her feel inadequate, just like Robin did. She groaned but reached for the phone.

She rolled her shoulders back. “Hi, Robin. I’m sorry for calling so late. I just wanted to ask when you have time to go fuck yourself,” Nancy mumbled to herself.

“Buckley residence, how may I help you?” It didn’t sound like Robin. Her mother maybe.

“Hello, my name is Nancy Wheeler. I’m looking for Robin.”

“Just a moment,” the woman responded. “Robin! For you!”

“If you’re gonna keep calling, my parents will start to think we’re dating,” Robin laughed on the other side of the line.

“I have to say I doubt that.”

“Oh, shit. Nancy? I’m sorry, I thought you were Steve.”

“So, are you saying you aren’t dating Steve?” Nancy asked. She wasn’t sure why she cared.

“We’re not. We’re just friends. Did you think we were dating? Is that why you were— Nevermind.”

“Why I was what?”

“Nothing, why are you calling?”

“It’s about the project. I’ve been working on it and well, I thought maybe we could meet up and discuss it together.” She was ready to hear Robin’s gloating. She could only imagine how awful she’d be if Robin called her like this. God, what was she doing?

“Yeah, sure. When were you thinking?”

“I know, I was the one who— What?”

“I asked when you wanted to meet up? For the project?” Robin sounded confused. Nancy wasn’t sure if it was because of her response or Robin’s own words.

“Oh, yes. What about this Sunday?”

“Alright, where?”

“My place?”

“Okay.”

“Your room is very pink,” Robin’s hands were grabbing at Nancy’s stuff.

“I’m sure yours is not.”

“Mine’s white. Boring. I don’t really care for decorating it much. You like Blondie?” She pointed at the Autoamerican poster on the wall.

“Yes, I do,” Nancy replied. She was biting her tongue, literally and figuratively. Why couldn’t they just get the work done so Robin could get the fuck out of here. She’d have to remember to kill Mike for taking the basement.

“And Tom Cruise, huh?”

“Can you please just sit down and work?”

“Ay, ay, captain!” Robin saluted before dropping down on Nancy’s bed next to her.

“Goddamit, Robin! You’re so fucking infuriating.” It slipped out. She just couldn’t help herself.

“Me? I’m sorry to say it, little miss perfect, but you’re the infuriating one. You call me to ask for my help on a project you wanted to do alone and now you can’t even play nice when I show up? That’s just rude.”

“Me? Rude? You are just flaunting. How can you be so fucking arrogant?”

“I’m arrogant? You’re the one who can barely accept help because you’re oh so much better than everyone else.”

“I’m not better than everyone else.”

“I know, but you think you are.”

“I don’t!”

“Really? Because you surely think you are better than me. Where did you get such a superiority complex?”

“You’re unbelievable! You think I have a superiority complex? You’re an asshole.”

“You’re a bitch. I can’t believe Steve ever dated you. Was it just because you’re hot?”

Nancy’s words died in her throat. Robin looked far too smug for someone who had just called her enemy hot. But Nancy could feel her cheeks burning up, so she wasn’t doing much better.

“You think I’m hot?”

“What?” Realization dawned on Robin.

“You said ‘was it just because she’s hot?’ So, does that mean you think I’m hot?”

Robin cleared her throat. “I mean, objectively speaking with the male gaze in our patriarchal society a normal person of the male specimen would probably most likely call you attractive.”

“That barely made sense.”

“I know, I heard it too. What I meant to say was that… Steve thinks you’re hot.”

“Oh, alright. So, the project?”

“The project!”

Nancy hated herself. It had been three days since Robin had sort of called her hot. And yet, Nancy had thought of nothing else. She hated Robin, and she knew she hated Robin, but it had still felt special when she had said that. Even if it was in a fit of rage. Maybe that was why she did what she did. Which was walk up to Robin and invite her to her house after school. To finish the project, of course. And hopefully trigger another compliment out of the girl.

It proved to be harder than expected. Because when Nancy wasn’t shouting at her, Robin was polite and quiet and bordering shy, with the occasional ramble on English literature. It was hard to hate her like that.

But if Nancy was to achieve her goal, she would have to dig deep and infuriate Robin. That was how it happened last time.

“You’re such a know it all, with your stupid rambles.” It felt wrong to say that.

“As opposed to you, of course. Little miss I’m so humble.”

“At least I’m not shoving it in people’s faces.” She had to force herself to shout.

“I’m being informative, you just gloat that you know more than other people.”

“Oh, c’mon get more original with your insults, Robin Buckley.”

“What for? You think you’re worth my creativity?”

“Am I not then? Who do you save your creativity for? Steve?”

“I’m not dating Steve.”

“I never said you were.”

“It was implied.”

“It wasn’t,” Nancy shouted. It was. It had been implied even though she knew it wasn’t true. She was just riling her up. It was working too.

“You know damn well it was. I’m not sure what you are trying to achieve with this? You want Steve back? He’s all yours.”

“Sure, because he thinks I’m so hot.”

“You are hot!” Robin shouted back. And there it was. Bullseye.

Nancy wasn’t sure what got into her. Why she didn’t just gloat and have her fun with it. Maybe tease Robin a bit. Why that wasn’t enough? But it wasn’t enough. So, while Robin was still fuming, Nancy leaned in and pressed her lips against Robin’s. It was an impulse decision. Nancy never made impulse decisions. Not until now. Not until Robin.

But now she was kissing this girl. Her lips were soft, softer than any of the guys she had kissed. And she tasted vaguely of cherry. It felt nice. It felt even nicer when Robin’s lips started moving against her own. Softly, slowly, gently. Nancy never wanted to pull away. She liked the feeling of Robin being so close.

It was only a few more moments before Robin pulled back. Flustered and red. She threw her hand over her mouth, eyes wide as she stared at Nancy’s lips.

“I’m so sorry, I didn’t mean to…”

“You didn’t do anything, Rob. It was all me.”

“Why did you?”

“I don’t know.”

“Alright.” Robin nodded her head.

“But…,” Nancy started, unsure of what to say. But Robin’s head perked up at the word.

“Yes?”

“I guess I would like to do it again.”

“You would?”

Nancy nodded. She would. Her tongue darted out, licking the place Robin’s lips had been mere moments ago. She could almost taste the remnants of the kiss.

Robin leaned in. “I guess we could do it again. If that is what you want.”

Nancy quickly connected their lips. She had hated Robin Buckley. Until she hadn’t. Until she started falling in love.

#prompts #ronance #nancy wheeler #robin buckley #my work #stranger things #fanfic #robin x nancy #nancy x robin

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munsonnbaby · 2 years ago

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love to see you blush

the one where eddie is a little shit, knows you like him and likes to see you get all flustered.

warnings: fluff, a little angst. reader thinks eddie doesn’t actually like her, eddies a little tease. that’s all! enjoy pretties <33.

my first eddie fic, pls leave feedback in comments and send me requests through inbox! love you mwah.

eddie munson is a massive tease. he was before, but after finding out through my “friends” that i may or may not have a massive crush on him, i knew he was going to tease me about it.

he’d gone to robin and steve two nights ago, friday night, interrogating them about why i’d be acting differently around him, he bugged them for a while and in their defence they managed to keep my secret for a while, until they broke and told him everything. and i mean, everything. they had immediately found me after they finished work, profusely apologising at my door. immediately i was humiliated, just knowing that eddie knows that i like him. i was extremely worried because how on earth am i ever going to be around him now? he probably doesn’t feel the same, because it’s now sunday night and he hadn’t come over, texted me or anything. i think if he felt the same he would’ve been excited right?

monday morning came and i’d never been more anxious to go to school. and to make it worse? first period i have english, the class where i sit right. beside. eddie. the second i walked in, his eyes were on me, an amused glint in his eyes as a smile slowly grew on his face. i sighed, furrowing my eyebrows as i quickly sat beside him in my seat. i could feel his eyes on me, so i turn to him and sighed.

“can you please forget about it?” i beg, letting out an anxious breath as my hands shake as i grip onto my pen.

“why would i wanna do that beautiful?” he said with a smirk, the nickname flushing my cheeks almost immediately. his smile widened, “look at you all flustered? damn you must really like me” he giggled.

“it’s not funny!” i say back, looking away and keeping my head down.

“you don’t need to be all shy, and you better still sit with us all at lunch” he says, reaching over and pushing a little bit of hair from my face, his thumb brushing my blushed cheek.

“stop.” i say, pushing his hand away. luckily the teacher soon arrived, so eddie shut his mouth and left me alone.

it’s bad that he knows my feelings for him, but it makes it ten times worse that he’s neither rejecting me or saying he feels the same. its almost like hes mocking me for it. i’d much, much rather he just straight up tell me he doesn’t feel the same i can go ahead and start getting over him. he knows i get shy and anxious when i’m uncomfortable, so why would he purposely make me feel uncomfortable?

much to my despair, the teacher screwed me over and said we were to pair up and research about the topic from textbooks. i turn to look at eddie, as he grins, pushing his table close to mine and scooting his chair far too close to me.

“so when did you develop this massive crush on me?” he says, leaning his head in his hand and grinning at me. i feel the heat rush to my face, avoiding eye contact with him.

“stop it, eddie” i frowned.

“i do actually want to know, because i really had no idea you felt the s-“ i cut him off,

“about 6 months okay?” i say, “now can we actually do this research?” i gulped, looking away from him as he smiles softly, nodding.

soon lunch came around, and i’ve been dreading it all morning. i walk into the cafeteria and see everyone already sat around the table. eddie, the kids, robin, nancy and steve. i frown, slowly walking over as the anxiety builds up once again. i sit in the only empty seat, right beside eddie. and immediately that shit eating grin returns to his face as i sit down, facing away from him.

“hello gorgeous” he purred, and everyone smirked at the table. “hi” i mumble, pulling out my water bottle and having a few sips. he scoots his chair closer to me, tapping my arm so i look at him. reluctantly, i do. it doesn’t help that he just looks extra good today. his skin is all perfect and glowy, his hair fresh and fuzzy pulled back into a man bun which takes my breath away, his lips look extra red and plump and soft-

“like what you see?” he says, snapping me out of my trance and turning away from him again with red cheeks. “i thought you blushing over a nickname was bad, but from just looking at me?” he grins.

“stop it, please” i say, looking over at robin and steve with a sad look. they both look so guilty, and good, they should.

“i don’t want to stop because you are extremely cute when you start blushing” he says, resting his head in his palm and smiling. i gulp, putting my water away in my bag.

“okay fine, yes i blush a lot when i’m around you or when i look at you or when you talk to me because yes. i do like you, but that doesn’t give you the right to tease me and humiliate me in front of my friends. if you don’t feel the same, i’d rather you just tell me rather than mock me for it.” i snapped, standing up and walking straight out of the cafeteria and straight to my car. i can’t handle another minute of his teasing, the anxiety too much for me.

third prsn.

“not cool eddie. not cool” steve says, shaking his head. “you know how anxious she gets!” robin adds, as the whole table stares angrily up at eddie.

“i don’t know what i did wrong?” he says, furrowing his eyebrows, genuinely confused by y/n’s outburst.

“she’s right, if you don’t like her then you should just tell her” dustin says, nodding his head at his curly haired friend.

“but i do like her! i am crazy about her! i thought i was making that obvious to her” he says, stressed out and rubbing his face. everyone is confused. “what by teasing her? mocking her? making her uncomfortable?” nancy says, annoyed at eddie for upsetting her best friend.

eddie frowns, “i didn’t want to do any of those things, i really do think she’s cute when she blushes”.

“then make her blush by telling her how you feel about her!” robin exclaims. “and do it fast because i swear if a single tear falls from that beautiful girls eyes i will not hesitate to kill you”.

eddie laughs, locking eyes with robin as she keeps a straight face. his smile dropped. “damn, okay, okay i’ll go now” he says before running out of the cafeteria and to his van.

back to y/n pov

i plop myself onto my bed, tears threatening to spill from my eyes. i held it back the whole drive home, not wanting to breakdown whilst driving. i got into my pj’s, putting on a movie and finally that i’m sat down and relaxed, i couldn’t hold them back. i feel so embarrassed. embarrassed from my feelings, embarrassed from my outburst earlier. just humiliated. my friendship with eddie is now effectively ruined, i doubt he will want to speak to me again, and i can’t be around him anymore.

i sit up, cuddling into my covers and blankets as i lean against the headboard. i stare at the tv, trying to focus on the movie and stay out of my own head.

i was snapped soon out of my trance as i hear a massive bang near my window, my heart jumping out of my chest. i hop up and fun over to the window, pulling open the curtains, seeing eddie hanging off of my windowsill, motioning towards the window. i sighed, opening it and letting him climb inside. “you know i have a door, right?”.

“well i wasn’t sure if you’d answer me” he says, standing there looking at my sad face, furrowing his eyebrows.

“look if you’re here to tease me more i’d much rather you just go home-".

“no, no no sweetheart i’m not here to do that” he says, rushing over to sit on the edge of my bed right beside me as i curl back under my covers.

“then why are you here.” i ask softly, staring at him as he scoots a little closer.

“i’m here to apologise for today, i did not want to humiliate you or embarrass you, and i most certainly wasn’t teasing you” he starts, his hand coming up to wipe away the tear stains on my cheeks. “i was just trying to, i don’t know… flirt?” he says nervously, cringing at himself.

“flirt?” i say, raising my eyebrows.

“yeah, i know. stupid isn’t it?” he laughs dryly. “clearly i’m not very good at it” he sighed. i let him continue. “when they told me you liked me, i was really, really happy. i mean i was so happy i got home and didn’t know what to do with myself. all weekend i was thinking about you and i wanted to come over but i was really nervous. fuck, i even did a whole routine monday morning, i did my hair and shit and scrubbed my face and stuff i don’t know”. he trails off of his ramble with a chuckle.

i sit up straighter, my face now closer to his. “why did you do that?” i say, fresh tears poking at my eyes. he sighed,

“because i… like you”

i widen my eyes, lips parting, staring at his pretty doe eyes. “you like me?”

he sighs and nods, “i’m crazy about you” with his own blush.

“well look who’s blushing now” i say, smiling a little with a small laugh. he rolled his eyes, “shut up” he lets out a breath, before leaning in and catching my lips perfectly in his for a soft kiss. he smiles against my lips, hands trailing down from my face to my neck, over my shoulders and around my waist. i feel starstruck, my hands on his biceps, squeezing as he presses his lips a little harder on mine. i let out a shaky breath as he pulls back for a second to look at me, before re connecting our lips.

i eventually pull back before i pass out, staring at his eyes as he looks at me a little in a daze himself.

“sooo, do you wanna be my girlfriend?” he says, looking at me with wide eyes, waiting nervously for my answer.

“yeah, yes, i do” i breath out, a smile breaking out on my lips.

“yeah?” he says, confirming it for himself.

“yeah” i say back, nodding.

“i have to go tell robin, she keeps sending me threatening text messages”.

#eddie munson #eddie munson x reader #stranger things #eddie munson x y/n #eddie x y/n #eddie the freak munson

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kristannafever · 1 year ago

Text

A Snow Angel and a Substitute

Kristanna Modern AU Rated: T+ WC: 7122

~Completely self indulgent oneshot

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

“Yo, Mr. B!”

Kristoff turned around right as the snowball exploded against his shoulder. His eyes narrowed at the three teenage boys who were busting a gut laughing.

“Get your asses to class!” he yelled, a smirk pulling at the side of his mouth as he brushed the snow off his jacket.

The boys grinned at him and took off running through the deep snow. Kristoff shook his head and resumed his work with the shovel. It was a crying shame their rural school never got the walks cleared in the morning in time, forcing parents and children to navigate the blinding white landscape. He’d seen his fair share of people slip and fall, not to mention that one time he took a tumble on the way to his truck after school.

More students filed off the buses, stepping around him as he resumed shoveling the snow. It was a long walkway along the front of the school to the bus loop, and he was going to have to hurry back inside to make it in time for the second bell to teach his class.

*****

“There he goes again.”

Anna looked up from where she was sitting at one of the tables in the staff break room. There were four other teachers, all ladies, looking out the window at someone. This was a new school for her and her first time substituting at it; if she knew the other teachers better, she might go see that the commotion was about.

“He’s such an angel for doing that,” one of them said.

“Every time it snows. And he always has a smile on his face,” the first one who spoke answered.

“If I wasn’t married, I would be all over him,” another woman said through a dreamy sigh.

“Ha. Get in line. Almost all of us single ladies have already tried and failed to get a date.”

Anna had no idea what they were talking about but curiosity got the better of her and she got up and approached the window. Outside was a tall man, his blond hair decorated with snowflakes, shoveling the walkways around the school.

The one who spoke first turned slightly, noticing Anna’s presence. “Oh, you’re Miss Arendelle, right? The sub for Mrs. Gleeman’s class?”

“That’s me.” She smiled. “I’m Anna.”

“I’m Tracy. Welcome to the school.” She offered her hand and Anna shook it. “You get a good look at Mr. B out there?”

“Mr. B?” Anna asked.

Tracy gave her a wicked smile. “Mr. Kristoff Bjorgman. He teaches science in the junior high wing. You’ll see once you meet him.”

Anna was certainly intrigued. She imagined she’d have a chance to bump into him since she was taking over the Junior High’s English period in the same wing for the entire month while Mrs. Gleeman recovered from knee surgery.

The rest of the teachers introduced themselves and Anna found them all to be warm and inviting. They included her in their conversation about the goings-on of the school until the first bell rang and all the women broke up to head to their classrooms.

Anna headed to the classroom that the principal had shown her when she’d arrived, and turned the corner to come face to face with a very snow-covered blond man whom she’d been looking at only moments before.

“Oh, hello…” he said, shaking snow off his hair and then brushing it off the shoulders of his coat. “You must be subbing for Mrs. G.”

Anna was immediately enamored with the pink hue of his cheeks from being out in the cold and exerting himself with the shovel. “I am,” she said with a smile. “My name is Anna.”

“Kristoff,” he said, and offered a hand. “Kids call me Mr. B.”

Anna shook it, expecting it to be cold, but instead it was delightfully warm. “Nice to meet you, Kristoff.”

He gave her a tiny smile. “Have a good morning.” Then he walked around her and straight to the classroom beside hers.

Anna paused at the door to her classroom and took a deep breath. It was always nerve-racking teaching in a new school she wasn’t familiar with, and grade seven was by far the most ruthless grade she’d ever taught for. With any luck, she’d get through the day without having a nervous breakdown.

-----

So far, the morning had gone off without too much issue. There were some rowdy boys in the class to be sure, but none of them did anything too rash beyond talking when they weren’t supposed to be. The biggest distraction of the morning happened when the classroom next to theirs erupted with noise.

Her students had been reading quietly to prepare for the book report they were going to do on their chosen book, when there was a whooshing sound, a class full of teenagers oohing and ahhing, and then ruckus laughter. It filtered through the wall with remarkable clarity.

“I can’t wait for science,” whispered one of the boys in the back to his friend.

“Me either,” his friend responded. “Mr. B is the best!”

That brought hushed murmurs of agreement from other students and within seconds they were all talking. Anna looked at the clock, and with only five minutes left in the period, she figured she’d let them be. In the meantime, she took the opportunity to look up this Mr. B on line, only to find that he had no presence there beyond being listed as a teacher on the school’s website.

The bell rang and the kids filed out to head to their next class. Not long after the grade eights filed in, talking and laughing. Anna had read over their curriculum and was prepared. That class went a little quicker since they were discussing their upcoming biography projects and Anna had to answer a lot of questions before the bell rang for lunch.

Anna lingered a moment to gather her notes for the grade nine’s she would be teaching after lunch, then grabbed her bag and headed for the staff room. Walking passed Mr. B’s classroom, she noticed him out of the corner of her eye. Pausing, she turned towards the open door and leaned against the frame.

“Do all the teachers eat lunch in their classrooms?”

His head remained still but his eyes looked up from the book he was reading, a sandwich paused half way to his mouth in his other hand. He blinked at her and finally brough his head up, setting his lunch down. “Um, no. But I do.”

“Oh?” Anna cocked her head to the side. “Is everyone here that insufferable?”

A smirk played out on his lips and he set his book down, looking away from her eyes. “No, nothing like that. I just like peace and quiet.”

Anna nodded slowly. “I get it. Sometimes I need a breather from all the talking and listening to the students.”

Kristoff looked back and smiled at her but didn’t look like he was going to say anything in response, so Anna told him to have a good lunch and headed to the staff room.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Kristoff was out there again the next morning, shoveling the snow that had fallen overnight. The school district crews had been there in the afternoon to clear the accumulation from the day, but everything was once again under a blanket of snow.

Anna walked into the staff room to a nearly identical scene from the morning before, only this time where were five other female teachers lined up at the window. She didn’t bother to join them since it seemed a little juvenile. Not that she didn’t understand; he truly was a very handsome man, but why bother ogling when he wasn’t interested. Anna certainly would have joined him if he’d offered her to eat lunch with him yesterday. Only he hadn’t, so it was fair to assume there was no interest for her either.

She put her lunch in the fridge and headed to her classroom. There were already a few students milling around in it, and she got everything set up for the day. Then the junior high door opened and shut and the sound of someone stomping boots on the mat came down the hallway. Kristoff breezed by her open door a moment later on his way to his classroom without sparing her so much as a glance.

“Yo, Mr. B!” came through the wall a moment later, and the sound of kids bombarding him with comments and questions was drowned out by the second bell.

The day progressed much like the day before, only with the other grade seven and eight classes. Then the lunch bell rang and Anna headed to the staff room, glancing briefly in Kristoff’s classroom to find it empty. As soon as she entered the staff area, she could see why. He was digging around in the fridge, bent at the waist, with every single pair of female eyes staring at his wonderfully shaped back side.

Anna fought with a smile and the urge to break out with laughter. These women were worse than love struck teenagers.

Kristoff pulled out a brown paper bag and shut the fridge as he turned in her direction. He almost slammed right into her, and had to stumble back a step. “Oh, sorry. Didn’t mean to almost run you over.”

“No worries.” Anna smiled at him.

The side of his mouth curved up in response but he walked around her and said, “Have a good lunch.”

“You too,” Anna said to his back as he left the room.

Silence stretched on for a moment when Tracy piped up. “He is so fine.”

A male teacher sitting at a table guffawed at her comment. “Put it back in your pants, you cougar. He ain’t interested.”

“I know that,” she snapped at him. “Doesn’t mean I can’t appreciate that fine form. Not to mention that perfect ass.”

Some of the ladies in the room giggled while the male teacher rolled his eyes with comedic drama that told her the ribbing was all in good fun. Anna turned away from the group and grabbed her lunch and found a spot to eat while conversations turned away from the attractiveness of co-workers.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Kristoff never had to shovel the next morning, which disappointed him just a little. He liked doing it, getting out in the cold fresh air and making life a little better for the parents and students. One of the gym teachers used to do it, but the guy only shoveled the entryway to the front doors, so when Kristoff got to the shovel before him one morning, he never made a move to grab it again. It was for the better. This way the entre walkway was free and clear of deep snow, and Kristoff always got the de-icer to sprinkle if there was ice left on the walks.

One of the good things about not having to shovel at least was not seeing a bunch of faces staring at him from the window of the staff room. Some of those ladies were relentless.

At least it was hump-day and Kristoff was excited to dazzle the kids with another experiment. He put his lunch in the fridge, ignoring the stares, and went to his classroom to organize his day. As the kids filtered in, he was greeted warmly.

He tried not to listen to much of what they were saying, especially when he heard a swear word or two fall out of their mouths, but one of the boys talking caught his attention when he mentioned ‘Miss A’.

“… is so awesome. She’s so chill. I like her.”

“Dude, she’s hot!”

“Jackson!” Kristoff warned, not bringing his eyes up from the quiz he was grading. “Inappropriate.”

“Sorry, Mr. B,” Jackson responded sheepishly.

Kristoff went back to his work. He understood these kids had hormones fucking up their brains at this age. Hell, he’d received googly eyes from plenty of the girls over his years teaching. It was natural for them to feel those feelings. And of course, not one of them ever acted on them. Which sadly, couldn’t be said for all teachers.

He’d worked with a guy before who’d crossed the line with one of his students. Kristoff laid him out with one punch when he found out, and got him fired on the spot. The girl was consenting and technically eighteen, but it was still so fucking wrong.

He saw a flash of colour scurry past his open door and met Anna’s eyes for one brief second as she hurried down the hall. Kristoff stared at nothing for a moment, regretting not thinking of something better to say to her when she’d stopped by his classroom that first day. Truth is, she was hot. And he was instantly captivated by her eyes and her easygoing smile.

The noise level in the room was getting out of hand so Kristoff had to rein in the students and begin class. The morning flew by, and before he knew it, the lunch bell was ringing and he was swiftly left alone in his classroom. He hurried to grab his lunch and managed to get out before too many people came in, and was once again alone in the solitude of his classroom a moment later.

Mid way through unpacking his sandwiches, a familiar voice came from his open door.

“How do you do it?” she asked.

Kristoff looked at her, those clear blue, intelligent, eyes, and felt a jolt of longing. He hadn’t really ever felt an attraction like this before, and it went well beyond her looks.

“How do I do what?”

“Get them to love you so much,” she said with mock exasperation as she took a couple steps into the room and threw her hands up dramatically. “Those kids adore you.”

He felt his cheeks warm instantly, and shrugged to her. “I just like teaching science.”

She shook her head and crossed her arms over her chest. “Nuh uh. It’s more than that. You have a natural talent for reaching these young people. They look up to you, and they listen to you, and most importantly, they learn from you.”

The heat in his face deepened and he had no idea what to say.

She sighed. “We all had those teachers growing up. You remember, right? The one, or if you’re lucky, two, that really make a difference. The one’s that leave an impression. You are one of those. How do you do it?”

Kristoff was at a complete loss for words. No one had ever said anything so flattering to him before. He was further taken with her.

“Well, I’ll leave you to it then.” She uncrossed her arms and turned back towards the door.

He had a moment of panic, wanting this conversation to keep going only his mind was still drawing a blank. She was almost out of sight when words finally came to him and came out with halting awkwardness. “I don’t really know how… I just love science.”

She turned back and looked at him with curiosity. “You really don’t have like, a secret, or something?”

He shook his head. “No. Not at all. In fact, I’m actually a really quiet person. I just… like talking about science.”

Anna stared at him, making him a little uncomfortable. “So you’re basically a unicorn,” she said finally.

The absurdity of the statement made him laugh. “What?”

She waved her hand in front of her face. “Never mind. Just means you’re a rare individual.” Then she turned and disappeared out the door before he could utter another word.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

He was tired as hell, and shoveling the dump of snow that had fallen overnight was hard work. By the time he stomped his snow-covered boots on the mat and changed into his school sneakers, he was ready to call it a day and go home. Only the day was only just starting.

The reason he couldn’t sleep, appeared rushing to her classroom as he approached his door, and she threw him one of those breathtaking smiles as she passed him.

All morning, he struggled to concentrate, leaving his kids quietly passing silent glances at one another. He finally had more than he could take and told them to just take out their textbooks and read over the material in their unit to study for the upcoming test next week. While they silently worked, he stared at his computer and tried to make himself work.

He almost dozed off and the bell ran, startling him, which was embarrassingly noticed by almost all of his students. They filtered out of the class throwing him questioning glances and his next class sauntered in. He managed to hold it together a bit better, then he looked at the clock, realized how much time was left, and told them to do the same as he did with his other class.

Miss A… Anna… was thoroughly under his skin.

By the time the lunch bell rang, it felt like eight hours had passed instead of four. He went to the corner of his desk where he’d thrown his lunch bag when he came in. He was too tired to put it in the fridge and he pulled the items out without really thinking about it and started to eat his first sandwich.

Then she was at his door again.

“It’s noticeably quiet over here today.”

“Pardon?” he asked, his tired mind trying to understand.

“Your classes are kind of loud,” she said, walking into the room and right up to his desk.

He swallowed the sudden thickness in his throat and maintained eye contact with her. “I’m sorry. I don’t mean to be a disruption.”

She gave him a brilliant smile. “That’s not what I’m saying.” Anna grabbed a nearby student chair and pulled it towards his desk, sitting across from him. “I just mean the kids seem a little less upbeat today. And… so do you.”

Did that mean she had been watching him while he was shoveling? Did she notice that his enthusiasm was not what it was at the beginning of the week?

“Just tired…” was all he could think of to say.

She stared back at him with eyes that were more knowing than anyone else he’d ever met. “I get it. We all have those days. That’s why the kids seem quiet. They feed off your energy, and when you don’t have it, they worry.”

He frowned. “You think they worry about me?”

“Of course they do! That’s all I heard murmured when my next class came in. They come straight from you to me.”

“They noticed,” he said more to himself than Anna as his gaze fell to his desk. He was a little taken aback, as this had never really happened to him before. Upon reflection, he supposed he was pretty constant with his attitude. No wonder the kids were thrown off.

She nodded. “Don’t worry, no one is saying anything bad. Just that you look tired.”

He looked back into her eyes. “Yeah, I am tired.”

“Why?”

Shit, if his tiredness was throwing his kids off, her question as to why certainty threw him off. “Just a restless night,” he said carefully.

“That’s too bad.” She frowned. “Everything okay? You need to talk about something?”

The fact that the reason he couldn’t sleep was asking him why, was amusing his tired brain. “No, it’s all good. Just couldn’t stop thinking.”

“Ah, I have those nights once in a while.” She leaned back in the chair. “Definitely no fun.”

He shook his head slowly, watching her eyes as they flicked to the clock and then back to his desk, before finally coming up and meeting his gaze. It was all over her face; she was going to get up and leave him to his solitude and join the masses in the break room. All he had to do was say the words. She stood and it came out of his mouth.

“If you want, you can bring your lunch here and we could talk.”

A slow smile spread across her face. “Sure. I’ll be right back.”

Kristoff watched her leave the room and caught her eyes as she looked back at him. That was a good sign.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Anna had a restless night, and now she had a better understanding of why Kristoff had looked tired the day before.

The talk they had over their short lunch, had opened up something between them. It was there, and real, and she could feel it. Kristoff could too, she could tell. His eyes bored into hers as they talked, taking her in in the way she was taking him in with hers. And then the bell rang way too soon.

Anna went back to her room feeling fluttery and light. She even lingered a moment after class, and waited until she saw him walk past her room, looking in and smiling. She’d called out that she’d walk to the parking lot with him, and he waited while she put on her coat and grabbed her purse. The talk was brief, but she was suddenly desperate to find out everything about him.

And then he was on her mind all night long.

The next morning, it hadn’t snowed and the forecast was for clear skies, so Anna went into her classroom early, not surprised one little bit that Kristoff was in his. She stopped by his door and noticed there was only one kid there so far, reading quietly at his desk. She was hoping for an empty classroom but this was going to have to do and the student in question was a quiet one. Not that this wasn’t going to start a rumor.

She approached the desk where he was going through some papers. “Morning, Kristoff. How are you?”

He looked up quickly and have her an even quicker smile. “Morning! I’m Good, how about you, Anna?”

“I’m good. A little tired, but you know… pretty good.” She suddenly felt a little flustered in his warm brown gaze.

“Hmm. Didn’t sleep well?”

“Not really.”

“Seems to be going around.”

Anna did not miss what he meant by that and by the way he was looking at her. “How about you? You catch up on your rest?”

His smile widened and he chuckled low. “Went to bed at eight, so yeah. Got nine hours in.”

“That’s great! I imagine your class will be lively again today.”

“With the experiment I have planned to show the kids, we’ll definitely be disturbing you.”

Anna grinned at him. “Wonderful. I love hearing the kids have fun.”

“If it gets too loud though, please let me know. Mrs. G complained to me all the time.”

“I promise it won’t,” she said, noticing a few kids filtering into the class behind her. If she was going to go for it, she better get it out now. “Have a fun morning, and if you want, you can join me in my classroom today for lunch?”

One eyebrow twitched up ever so slightly. “Sure. I’d love to.”

-----

Despite Anna’s attempt to keep things low key, she was already hearing kids talk rumors. And it had only taken a matter of hours for the gossip to spread. The kids were apparently tickled pink with the idea of Miss A and Mr. B getting together and going on a date. Now all Anna had to do was get Kristoff to ask her out on one.

Kristoff showed up for lunch before all the kids had left the room, which she knew would further stoke the flames of the chatter. Not that she really cared.

He asked her all about how she got into teaching and she had a great time talking to him, then the bell rang and they finished teaching out their day and walking to the parking lot together again. He bid her a good night but did not ask her out. It had disappointed her, but Kristoff seemed kind of laid-back to her, like he just rolled with it, so maybe he just had no presence of mind to rush things. Unlike Anna, who had already pictured kissing him, among other things, about a dozen times.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Kristoff parked in the staff lot and lingered in his truck a moment. There was no snow to shovel, so no real reason to hurry into the school so early. That, and Anna’s car wasn’t there yet.

He was going to ask her out on a date, of that he was certain. What he wasn’t so certain about was whether or not it was a good idea. He’d already heard the kids whisper about them, and it bothered him. He was very careful to maintain professionalism in the workplace, and while there were absolutely no rules about dating a staff member, the fact that the kids were so into it was weird to him.

He decided to let it go when he saw Anna’s car pull of the main road and made a show of slowly grabbing his bag and getting out of the truck so it wasn’t obvious that he had waited for her. She parked beside him with a bright smile while he shut his door and lingered. Her head popped up over the roof of the car a moment later.

“Morning, Kristoff. Walk in with me?”

He smiled. “Sure.”

“Just a sec…” She disappeared back into her car to gather her things.

“No problem.” It took her a moment, making him smile a little more. Finally, she gathered her bag and her purse and shut her door.

“TGIF, am I right?” She laughed, falling in step beside him.

“Definitely. Any plans for the weekend?”

“Eh, not really. Call my sister on Sunday, but that’s about it. Maybe some Christmas shopping. I like to get that done early.”

So did Kristoff. In fact, he was already done.

“How about you?” she asked, as they rounded the bus loop and headed towards the front doors.

“Oh, not too much. Go to my folks for dinner on Sunday.” He took a quick breath and went for it. “Maybe take you out for dinner tomorrow night?”

Anna stopped in her tracks only feet from the front door and Kristoff resisted the urge to look at the staff window to see who was spying on them. That was the whole reason he wanted to ask her when they were alone. The gossip among the staff was sometimes worse than the children.

She smiled at him in a way he hadn’t yet seen, and it made his stomach do little flips. “Sure, Kristoff. I would love that.”

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

On Monday morning, Anna was accosted by Tracy in the staff room.

The woman had her hands on her hips. “So you and Mr. B went on a date this weekend?”

Anna bristled at the stern look from the older woman. “How in the hell did you hear about that?” She’d been careful not to let the kids know about their date plans, and no one had been around when he’d asked her.

“Janice, the kindergarten teacher, was at the restaurant that night and saw the two of you canoodling over dinner.”

“So? Two consenting adults going on a date isn’t a crime.”

“It is when the man is that fine,” Tracy said, arching and eyebrow and giving Anna and evil smile. “Good for you, girl.”

Anna smiled and giggled nervously with no idea of how to respond to that.

“I’m just joking with you, Anna. Relax.” Tracy left the staff room laughing to herself and Anna’s cheeks were on fire.

She quickly grabbed another coffee and rushed to her classroom, stopping briefly by Kristoff’s open door to smile at him. Their date, had been magical. Kristoff was wonderful, kind, honest, intelligent, and sexy as all get out. He was the man she’d been looking for her entire life. The sparks flew, and yeah, she supposed they were canoodling over dinner.

Then Kristoff dropped her off at her place, declined the invite inside, then kissed her in the most wonderful, yet chaste way, leaving her weak in the knees. She was already head over heels about him and could not wait to go on their next date. If all went well, they’d be spending more of the weekend together than just their Friday night.

*****

Kristoff went on with explaining the science projects that the kids were going to create and test, but his mind was completely occupied with thoughts of Anna and how he already knew that he was going to fall deeply in love with her.

She ignited things in his soul that he didn’t even know were there. Time with her was some of the best of his entire life. And the best part was, he could feel the same kind of energy coming from Anna. She had wanted him to come into her place when he dropped her off, she made that very clear. But Kristoff was raised with respect and somehow, he managed to decline despite what his body was telling him. They were going out again this Friday and he knew she was going to ask again for him to come in after their date, and while he planned to say no, wanting to hold out for the third, he had to wonder if he’d have enough strength to deny her again.

SIX MONTHS LATER

It turned out that Kristoff did not possess the strength to be able to deny her again, and after their second date, him and Anna made love for the first time. They were inseparable after that.

Anna had been set to leave the school when Mrs. Gleeman returned, only to be informed that the healing was taking its toll on the much older woman, and she’d need another three to four weeks of recovery. Kristoff was sad that Mrs. G (even as grouchy as she always was to him) was having a hard time, but happy that meant Anna would be at the school a little longer. And with the thought of her eventually leaving the school looming in his mind, he asked her to move in with him only five weeks after their first date.

His home had never felt like home until Anna had moved in. She made his life so much better, and they did absolutely everything together. Except, at school it was business, and they kept the fact that they were so involved, from everyone there. Even Tracy had stopped pestering Anna after not getting the information she wanted. The kids still talked, because Kristoff and Anna still took turns eating lunch in each other’s classrooms, but with no ammo besides a healthy friendship, the murmurs soon ceased.

More time went on and Anna had been getting genuinely depressed when it was looking like she’d have to move onto another school to substitute at, when low and behold, Mrs. G showed up one morning to meet with the principal and Anna.

Mrs. Gleeman’s daughter, lifelong friends with one of the mothers who Anna taught, had commented about her improvement in her child’s grades and the fact that she was genuinely having a better time at school. Apparently, Anna’s sharp ears, zero tolerance for bullying and taunting, and constant encouragement to be kind and to help one another, had put an end to her friend’s daughter getting picked on. Now she even had a couple of good friends and raved about what a great teacher Miss A was. And apparently, they were not the first parent to comment on the positive changes in their children.

By the end of that meeting, with Mrs. Gleeman’s plans to retire early and her encouragement, Anna had a permanent job teaching junior high English. She had thanked the older woman and the principal profusely, and went back to her classroom weeping with happiness. Her students, shocked to see her in such a state, inquired to her emotion. Kristoff had never heard such a ruckus roar of approval coming from her classroom as she told them she wasn’t going anywhere. By the end of that day, it was all the kids who entered his class could talk about.

Then, the inevitable happened. Him and Anna were out bowling on a date in town, when one of their students happened to be there at the same time. Neither he or Anna had noticed the kid until after a bunch of PDA, and by then it was much too late. They decided to pretend the student wasn’t there and went about their date. And as they expected, the following Monday, tongues were wagging among the kids, and they had not stopped for over a week. Therefore, by that second Friday since that date, Kristoff had an idea to put that to rest once and for all.

He had to put his plan together quickly, informing the principal and other junior high teachers for approval before getting the most important part of his plan. He was a little nervous, having only been with Anna for six months, but knowing beyond a shadow of a doubt that they were meant for each other.

The morning finally came, and all the junior high students were called into the gym to address the rumors that had been flying around for the past couple weeks. Kristoff watched them all file in, shaking with nerves. He couldn’t believe he was about to do this, but having Anna stand by his side, filled him with confidence.

“How could they not have given us a heads up that we had to address this?” she asked him, leaning over to speak low as the remaining kids and teachers came into the gym. She’d been informed by the principal at the same time as her class that they were all about to meet to talk about two teachers rumored to be in a relationship.

“Uh, actually, this was my idea.”

Anna’s head snapped in his direction and she looked at him with wide questioning eyes. “And you didn’t tell me?”

Kristoff pursed his lips but didn’t answer her. The door to the gym swung shut with the last teacher ushering the kids in and he decided to just go for it.

“Hey, hey!” He held up his hands. “Quiet down.” The kids were too excited and the volume didn’t drop one bit. “Quiet down, please!” he said, louder, repeating himself a few times, and finally the murmurs died down.

He spared a glance at Anna standing beside him, her cheeks alight with embarrassment and looking over all the kids to the back of the room. He felt a pang of regret, like this was suddenly a really bad idea, then he looked back at the kids and found renewed strength.

“I’ve had several students mention something to me,” he started. “Raise your hand if you’ve heard a rumor about Miss A and I.”

Every single student raised their hands and started to giggle and talk. The noise level took off again and Kristoff had to speak over the din. “Hands down. Okay! Hands down, quiet please.”

The students all quieted and Kristoff resumed his speech. “There is a rumor going around that Miss A and I are dating. So I think it’s about time that we address that rumor, and confirm that the answer is… yes, Miss A and I are dating.”

The kids freaked out. They all shouted with genuine glee and Kristoff looked over to see Anna smiling despite the fact that her face was now crimson. She looked back at him still shocked and wondering what in the hell he was doing given the fact that he had not mentioned this to her beforehand, but also looking a bit more relaxed about the whole ordeal.

It took him a moment to settle the kids back down, all the while his heart hammered away in his chest. Once the students were finally settled again, he went for it.

“The truth is, we are a little more than dating…” The murmurs began so Kristoff talked over them to get it out and not prolong this any more than it already had been. “Because I am completely in love with her.”

The kids gasped and started to cheer again and Anna had started to get emotional at the clear delight and support from their students. She wiped at her glistening eyes as she looked back at Kristoff, and he raised his hand, waiting a moment to get enough of the chatter down to finish this.

“Quiet, please,” he said loudly, his hand slipping into his pocket. “Quiet down!” The noise died and Kristoff took one last nervous swallow, slowly turning to Anna and sinking to his knee. “I was wondering if Miss A, would like to become Mrs. B?”

Anna’s hands flew to her mouth as the gym erupted with excited screaming. All Kristoff could do was look at her in question as his words would be drown out by the excited teenagers. She nodded an enthusiastic yes before offering him her hand to slip the ring onto. As soon as it was in place he was up on his feet, pulling her into a protective hug while the students carried on their joy for their teachers. He knew she was going to be shocked, made evident to him in the way she was shaking in his arms, but he knew she would appreciate his plan.

And she did. Later that night, after a celebratory dinner, she confided in him how wonderful his gesture was to include their kids, and how special she felt.

Then they made love and fell asleep in each other’s arms.

THE NEXT WINTER

“Yo, Mrs. B!”

Anna turned around and ducked anticipating what was about to happen. The snowball sailed over her head and she gave the now eighth graders a stern look, even though she couldn’t help but smile. “Get your butts to class, gentlemen!”

The boys laughed and took off to their door with Kristoff chuckling beside her. “Seem’s like I’m just chopped liver to them now,” he said. “Those snowballs used to have my title on them.”

Anna laughed. “Don’t worry. It’s the first snowfall of the season. I am sure the next one will have Mr. all over it.”

Kristoff hummed his amusement and him and Anna continued to shovel the walks. They decided to do it together since it would get done faster, and Kristoff mentioned to her that he was genuinely relived not to see a bunch of faces watching him from the staff room window anymore.

The whole junior high body was invited to their wedding ceremony. Not to it proper, of course that would have been crazy, but to watch the live stream if they were so inclined. After the first couple days of their honeymoon, Anna had checked and was surprised to see how many people had actually watched it. There were tons of wonderful and supportive comments.

Those first two weeks of newlywedded bliss exploring the fjords of Norway, had been the best of Anna’s entire life aside from the day she married her best friend. Kristoff was the most wonderful person she had ever met in her life, and she was thankful to be able to call him her husband.

They finished shoveling and returned to their classrooms to begin preparing for the day, when the principal made an announcement that he would like all the junior high students to assemble in the gym. Anna ushered her kids out of the classroom and received a concerned and questioning look from Kristoff when she met him in the hallway.

She shrugged her shoulders and kept back the smile that was fighting to form her lips. Anna had truly adored the way that Kristoff had proposed, but still vowed to herself to get him back.

The teachers gathered in the corner while the kids huddled together, sitting on the floor and waiting for whatever they were about to be told. The principal came in, greeted everyone, and got the ball rolling.

“Quiet down, please,” he said, gesturing with his hands for the kids to settle. “I’ve called you all in her to receive an announcement from one of our teachers. Mrs. Bjorgman, you have the floor.”

Kristoff’s head whipped in her direction and he stared at her with shock, so Anna decided to get it out while she still had the nerves.

“Well, I have to say that I am going to be taking a leave of absence.”

The students started to murmur with concern and Kristoff went so far as to reach out and grab her hand.

“Anna?” he asked quietly, his tone full of worry.

Anna looked back at him, gave hum a gentle smile, and returned to the kids. “I will be taking leave of my position at the end of April.”

Hands shot up with questions and Anna felt Kristoff squeeze her hand firmly but did not look over at him yet. She picked Brie, since she was sitting in the front row. “Yes, Brie?”

The grade sevener frowned. ““Are you coming back?”

“Yes, of course.”

The students started to murmur louder and Anna picked another kid with their hand up. “Yes, Brandon?”

“How long will you be gone?”

The students quieted down immediately to hear the answer. “A year.”

More hands shot up and Anna felt Kristoff squeeze her hand again. She picked another student. “Yes, Samantha?”

“Why are you leaving?”

Anna finally looked at Kristoff, and his expression was in awe. She knew he was too smart not to figure out what she was going to say next, and she smiled at him, eyes welling up with happy tears.

She turned back to the kids. “Mr. B and I are going to have a baby.”

Much like Kristoff’s proposal, the kids cheered for them, and Anna let the tears come as Kristoff pulled her into a protective hug.

“Anna, I am so happy,” Kristoff said, his voice wavering with emotion. “I can’t believe you’ve kept this a secret for four months.”

Anna laughed, not at all surprised Kristoff had done the math. She pulled back to look at his glassy eyes and happy smile. “Well, I had to get you back for that surprise proposal. So… surprise!”

He chuckled, and pulled her into another hug, the volume of the kids rising as they began talking excitedly. “This is the absolute best surprise,” he said in her ear. “Thank you, Anna.”

Anna hugged him back tighter. Her heart was happy and full, and she could not wait to meet their first baby in the spring.

#A Snow Angel and a Substitute #Cee wrote this mess #Kristoff #Anna #Kristanna #Kristanna modern au #oneshot #meet cute #end half is inspired by a repost of a cute teacher proposal on TikTok - Kudos to that op #also yeah the title is kinda stupid but I wrote this really quick wanted to share and honestly can't come up with anything else LOL

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sabo-has-my-heart · 2 years ago

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Second Time Around

The second part to 'How Cliche'

Warnings: angst, fluff, hurt/comfort

Word Count: 1910

Taking a deep breath, you entered your old high school. It was going to be weird, going to high school again. Especially since you remembered everything from the first time. All the things you learned, all the mathematics, english, and history courses, everything was still up there in your brain. You could get top grades without trying! Maybe do some college prep courses to advance your college career? It couldn’t hurt and it might save you some money when it came time for college. Dodging around other students, you smiled to yourself. While this hadn’t been what you’d wanted, it did have some benefits. Like avoiding accidents, changing your life for the better, and keeping good on your promise not to fall in love with Ace again. Taking a deep breath, you turned a corner. You’d originally gone straight, heading for the cafeteria because you’d forgotten to eat breakfast. This time, you’d woken up early, had breakfast, you could skip that this time. It was where you’d met Ace, bumping into him when he’d hurried to grab some breakfast. Apparently he’d slept in that day as well but could eat enough for 5 full grown men! After he’d accidentally caused you to spill your breakfast, he’d paid for a new one for you. He’d been so nice to you, and after finding out you had the same homeroom, you’d become fast friends. But you were going to change that this time. You weren’t going to get involved with him, you weren’t going to make friends with him, you weren’t going to fall for him. Entering your classroom, you scanned the seats. Ace liked to sit next to the window so he could look outside or enjoy the fresh air. Walking to the very opposite side, you sat down, taking out your things. It was a short while later that Ace entered the room, looking around, an excited look on his face. Glancing over at the windows, his smile dropped before doing one more look, smiling as his eyes landed on you. Walking over, he set his stuff down on the desk next to yours, surprising you. He… he always sat at the window. After rummaging through his things, he turned to you.

“Hey uh, sorry to bother you, but I think I lost my pencil, you got an extra?” he asked, giving you that same sunny smile he’d given you in the past. Sighing, you reached into your bag and handed him one without a word. He’d lost his pencil the first time too, making you giggle when you’d handed him one the first time. Ace grinned as he gently took it from you, his hand gently brushing against you, only for you to pull away suddenly, as if his touch burned.

“You should be more careful with your things.” you said, getting out the things you’d need for the class.

“Heheh, yeah, my brother’s always saying the same thing. I’m Ace, by the way.” he said, holding his hand out to you. You glanced down at it before looking back up to him.

“Y/n.” you said simply before turning away, missing the disappointed look on his face. You silent thanked whatever power that be that the teacher chose that moment to walk in and start class, forcing him to focus on the class instead of on you. All you could hope for now was that he’d leave you alone.

Walking down the hall, your eye twitched with irritation.

“So then my little brother, Luffy, he’s adorable, but he’s such a dumbass, so he-” “Don’t you have somewhere else to be?” you asked, cutting him off, surprising him. He’d been walking in front of you, his hands behind his head as he walked backwards, seemingly without a care in the world. Then again, Ace never seemed to have a care in the world. Sure, that was mostly just a front he put on, the young man actually having a number of insecurities, but to anyone who didn’t know him, he was simply a carefree young man.

“Oh, uh, no, not really. I was um, I, uh…” Ace stood there, his words lost as he stared at you. Perhaps it was only natural. Most people were so nice to him, he had so much charisma, people either flocked to him, or were at least nice to him, but you seemed to be pushing him away, “I uh… sorry… sorry for bothering you.” he said softly, stuffing his hands in his pockets and walking away, looking rather dejected. Sighing in relief, you continued on to your next class. You didn’t know why he seemed to be trying to be your friend, but it was annoying you how much he persisted despite how cold you were to him.

This continued on for months, the young man always trying to sit next to you. If you were by the door, he was by the door, if you were at the window, he was at the window. If you were up front where the teacher couldn’t ignore you… he wasn’t able to fall asleep without the teacher getting on his case. But it couldn’t end there, oh no, he followed you everywhere. Lunch? Well, guess he’s not eating with his friends. Roof top, classroom, cafeteria, front lawn, he’d even sat near the girl’s bathroom! He’d made sure not to sit too close so as to not look like a creep, but he was still there! On your way home? Well, to be fair you did live in the same direction, but if you walked, he walked, if you took the bus, he took the bus, if you called a friend or your parents for a ride? Oh, his poor sick brother needs him home right away. Lying little shit. Looking down at the valentine’s day rose and chocolates, you couldn’t help but tighten your hold around it, the stem bending in your fist as your eyes filled with anger. They’d been inside your locker, a cute pink card attached to the box of chocolates. It wasn’t hard for you to recognize his handwriting and the little fire stickers were a dead give away. What was wrong with him? He’d never paid this much attention to you the first time! It took all you had to not break down into tears as you slammed your locker shut before heading to the girls bathroom. Despite your promise to not fall for him again, you found the pain of your feelings for him persisting. Part of you still cared for him, still yearned for him, but you couldn’t go down that road again, it only led to pain. Wiping the tears away, you tried to put yourself back together, tried to make it look like you hadn’t been crying. Why was this happening? You’d been cold to him this entire time, why was he still chasing after you? Once you’d gathered yourself together again, you left the bathroom, heading for your classroom. You honestly didn’t want to go, but you didn’t have many options, so you reluctantly entered the room, finding the only available seat being next to Ace, almost as if he’d saved it for you. Sitting down, you gave a dejected sigh. You really weren’t in the mood to deal with him, but it looked like you had no choice as he smiled at you.

“You know, today’s Valentine’s day.” he said sweetly, giving you a soft smile. It wasn’t his usual large, sunny grin, but there was a gentle compassion in it that you’d never seen from him before.

“Yeah, I know. Some idiot left me a lame rose and chocolate. They even broke into my locker to do it.” you said, glancing at him out of the corner of your eye. He looked crestfallen as he stared at you for a moment.

“Really? I think it’s kind of romantic? I mean, yeah, breaking into your locker probably wasn’t the smartest move, but they clearly feel something for you.” he said, his smile returning as he tried again.

“Yeah, well maybe I’m not interested in anyone right now.” you said bitterly. Ace’s heart clenched at your words.

“Oh come on, there’s got to be someone you have your eye on.” He pressed, making you grip your pencil tightly.

“No, actually. In fact, the last guy I liked turned out to be a jerk who never liked me back. Now leave me alone.” you said, even colder than usual. Ace was quiet for the rest of the class, the rest of the day, really. It was a couple weeks before he tried again, a note slipped into your locker, an apology. Repeated lines of ‘I’m sorry’, apologizing for thing after thing, the ones at the bottom were the ones that had you here, in front of the door to the rooftop. ‘I broke your heart once, I thought this might be my second chance to correct things, to show you that I love you more than I realized. The day you were hit was the day that my world crumbled and I realized what I had lost. I know you’re mad at me and you have every right to be. I was an ass who didn’t appreciate the girl who was right in front of me, but please, please meet me on the rooftop. If this is truly it, then let me have one last chance.’ Opening the door, you took a deep breath, looking over at the young man looking out at the school yard below. He was leaning against the fencing that surrounded the roof, a melancholy look on his face.

“Hey… thanks for… thanks for coming.” he said softly, not even turning to look at you. His fingers tightened around the steel of the fence, the look in his eyes far away, “I know you remember too. You wouldn’t have been so cold to me if you didn’t remember. I thought… I thought I could make it up to you this time. I could show you how wrong I was, but you pushed me away… and you have every right to do so. But please, I’m so sorry. I was an idiot the first time around. I… I didn’t realize until you were gone, until you weren’t by my side anymore, but I love you, Y/n. I love you so much. Please… please don’t push me away anymore.” Ace turned to look at you, a few tears running down his cheeks. You stared at him for a moment, your heart pounding in your chest. This was everything you’d ever wanted the first time and everything you swore not to fall for this time, yet your feet seemed to move on their own. Caressing his cheek, similar tears ran down your own cheeks. Your heart ached, but you couldn’t stop it, you’d thought that the feelings had gone away, but here they were again as you pulled him to a soft, sweet kiss. His arms wrapped around your waist, holding you as if you’d disappear. Nothing was said between you two, nothing needed to be said, not yet. Right now all either of you needed was the other’s embrace. Just like those stupid romance novels, a girl had sworn not to fall for the male again, only to find herself in his arms. That was okay though, you didn’t mind, it was just nice to hold him like this. To have him hold you like this.

#one piece #one piece ace #portgas d. ace #fire fist ace #portgas d ace #ace x reader #fire fist ace x reader #portgas d ace x reader #op Ace #hiken no ace x reader #hiken no ace #hurt/comfort #angst

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somefanchick · 1 year ago

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-Deuce’s Winter Break-

(This story is from Deuce's perspective during the events of book four. I only know information from the English server story and events so sorry if anything is terribly out of character. This fic is platonic and is cannon for my female Yuu-sona, but I do just call them Yuu in the story. Yuu uses she/her pronouns. Hope you enjoy! Ps. There is a little bit of cussing. Found the pictures in a post by @ naruryun, they are not mine.)

“We should trade Magicam IDs now that you've got a smartphone,” Ace pulled out his phone and began typing out Yuu’s account in the search bar, “Y'know, in case something comes up.”

I smiled as I pulled up the app on my own phone, “Oh, good idea. I'll share mine, too.”

Yuu’s ID was a play on the fact that the headmaster called her “Beast Master” after we got back from the dwarf’s mine. I could always tell she was secretly proud of that title.

Ace finished adding her, “Feel free to hit me up if you get bored over winter break.”

She smirked, which was her form of a smile, “Thanks, I'll do that.”

“Man, you take everything I say so seriously Yuu,” Ace chuckled, “I was joking.”

I glared, “Then it was a lame one,” I then turned to smile at Yuu as I added her, “Anyway, feel free to reach out if you need anything at all,” I quickly tucked my phone in my pocket and grabbed my bag, “My mom's probably waiting on me, so I'd better go,” I began walking towards the Dark Mirror, “Happy holidays guys.”

I could hear Ace behind me, “Yeah, I'll do the same. See you next year!” I could hear him running to catch up with me, but I was already whispering the name of my street and stepping into the murky abyss.

It was hard to see my mom among the other kids meeting their families. Children cheering as their older siblings came home from their schools, parents hugging their grown babies and fussing over their bags of laundry, and the students basking in the attention that coming home brings.

I looked through the crowd and found my mom. My grandmother always said I was the spitting image of her. She had straight, navy blue hair cut into a bob, blonde streaks weaving into a larger mass of hair. Her eyes looked gray in the afternoon sun, but I knew they were really cyan.

She caught my eye and lit up, “Deuce!”

I ran over to save her the trouble, “Hey Mom.”

“Let me get a look at you,” Mom gently grabbed my face and moved me around, “I can barely believe that’s my son.”

I pulled back and put my hand behind my neck, “I guess I’ve changed a bit since I left.”

She smiled, “You have no idea how proud I am of you.”

I flushed under her gaze, “Let’s head on home.”

She giggled, “As long as you tell me all about school.”

I gathered my bag under my arm, “Fine.”

Home was the same as it had been when I left. A small apartment with blankets piled on every chair and letters piled on the kitchen counter. I set my bag in my room and then moved to the kitchen, where Mom had begun fixing dinner.

“I’m making folded egg sandwiches,” Mom had her back turned to me, “Is that alright?”

“Yeah,” I sat down at the dining table, “So what do you want to know?”

“Everything,” Mom moved to the stove, “I haven’t heard anything from your teachers.”

“Well I’m doing okay in class, but that might just be because Trey, Riddle, and Yuu help me out.”

“Who are they?”

“Well, Trey and Riddle are in Heartslabyul with me. Trey’s the vice-housewarden and he’s like the dorm mother hen. He’s done most of the tutoring, but Riddle helps him sometimes. Riddle’s the housewarden and he’s ridiculously strict.”

“Oh really?” Mom started grating cheese, “And who’s this Yuu person?”

“Yuu is one of my-” I tried to think of the right word. Our group never calls ourselves ‘friends’, but that seems to be the only word to describe how we are. Yuu calls us “Dumbass Beasts”, but I don’t want to tell my Mom that.

“She’s one of my best friends.”

I could hear Mom’s eyebrow raise, “‘She’? Isn’t Night Raven an All Boys school?”

“That surprised me too, but Yuu’s an exception to a lot of rules,” My phone vibrated with a message, I spoke as I went to pull it up, “She doesn’t have magic, she’s only half a student, and she isn’t even from this world.”

Mom grabbed the bread from the breadbox, “I’m going to need you to explain all of that.”

“I wish I could.”

The message was from Yuu; Cater has been tagging me in his old photos for the past two hours. How did he even know I got a Magicam account? I couldn’t help but laugh.

Mom scooped the folded eggs onto the bread, “At least explain the ‘half a student’ comment.”

“Well,” I sat my phone back on the table, “Since Yuu doesn’t have magic she and this monster named Grim share a single enrollment. But Yuu’s in charge of him since she’s the Ramshackle dorm prefect.”

“Ah,” Mom set the plate down in front of me, “Is that all your friends?”

“Nah, I’m friends with Ace too,” I got up to get something to drink, “He’s one of my roommates.”

“Ace Trappola?” Mom began making her own egg sandwich, “I think his father works at your grandfather’s company.”

I poured a glass of orange juice and made my way back to the table, “The four of us have done a lot in one semester.”

“Like what?”

“Well Ace and I challenged Riddle for his title.”

“What?”

“Yeah,” I took a sip of my juice, “Ace got in trouble for eating Riddle’s tart and then it became a huge deal. Riddle ended up overbloting.”

I swear Mom’s eyes bulged out of her head, “Overblot!?”

“Yeah. Yuu led all of us into battle to keep the other student’s safe and to keep Riddle from destroying himself. But that was only the first overblot.”

“The first?”

“Yeah don’t worry about it,” I took a large bite of my sandwich, “Yuu always has it under control. Even if she’s just directing us. It’s amazing.”

Mom sat down next to me, “Do you have a picture of your friends?”

I picked up my phone, “Not unless you count pictures Cater took while we weren’t expecting it. And then posted on Magicam with a dozen hashtags.”

“Maybe you could ask Yuu and Grim for a picture? I’d love to see them.”

“Sure,” I opened up Yuu’s message, “It’s not like they have much else to do at school.”

“At school? Did they not go somewhere for winter break?”

“They didn’t have anywhere to go.”

Mom set down her food, “Invite them to come here in spring. I’d be happy to host them.”

I chuckled, “Alright,” I texted Yuu; Hey my mom wants to see a pic of you and Grim. Mind sending one?

It took a moment for Yuu to respond; Yeah sure. Just let me get the weasel.

I set my phone down, “She’s gonna send a picture of her and Grim.”

“How sweet,” Mom took the moment to begin eating.

Our conversation dissolved into specific stories and the basics of our lives apart. It was weird how I felt so at home, while only feeling like a guest in the apartment. My Mom gushed and worried in waves as I talked about the Spelldrive tournament and the final exams. It was sweet to see her so happy about my actions. About who I was. I had given her a son to be proud of.

I spent the next day with my mom, meeting with other family and shopping for the holidays. But that night my phone lit up with a message from Yuu; Trapped in Scarabia, I’ll explain later.

I was up all night, waiting for my phone to buzz again, but the only notification I got was Ace messaging me to ask if I had heard anything else from Yuu.

Eight AM came around and I chugged two cups of coffee before heading out on a walk to keep my mind off of Yuu’s vague and semi-terrifying message.

“Hey Deuce!” I froze in my tracks, turning to see my old ‘pal’ Hatter, his lackey Coney trailing behind.

Hatter was the leader of the delinquents I hung out with in middle school. He called me his equal until I went straight. His appearance hadn’t changed; hair bleached a platinum blonde, green eyes that constantly had a crazed look as they dashed from victim to victim, a trailing black jacket with copper buttons, and of course his iconic evergreen tophat with the price tag sticking out the brim.

Coney matched the jacket, but he had his own brand of insane to portray. His hair was bleached to a honey blonde and his brown rabbit ears stuck out of his head with copper piercings along every furry edge. His black eyes always seemed to be watching Hatter, as if he was waiting for the signal to attack.

“How have you been, man?” Hatter wrapped his arm around my shoulder as if we had only been apart for a week or so, “Coney here was just saying how much he missed seeing you on that blastcycle of yours. Right Coney?”

Coney nodded like his life depended on it, “Yes! Yes!”

“Look guys,” I made an effort to move out of their reach, “I’m not-”

“Aw,” Coney stopped nodding, “Are you not fun anymore?”

“What?”

“Sounds like you hit the bullseye Coney,” Hatter began messing with his brim, a signal to change their approach, “I guess you were serious about that ‘going straight’ thing.”

“I am,” I felt my phone vibrate in my pocket, “And I have to go.”

“Go?” Hatter came closer, backing me into an alleyway, “But we just reunited!”

“I’m not like you guys anymore,” my hand gripped my phone in my pocket, praying that it would buzz again, “I have friends who need me right now.”

Coney’s hand drifted towards a bright blue dumpster, “You think you're better than us?”

“No way mate,” Hatter smirked and whipped his own magic pen out, “Tea Party!” My arms went flying up, my phone and other valuables making a mad dash for Hatter’s and Coney’s open hands. Hatter caught my phone and looked at the message, “This ‘Ace’ fella is.”

My heart sank, the message wasn’t from Yuu.

Coney looked over, “Oh what’s this? You and this ‘Ace’ are talking about a girl?”

“What did he say?”

Hatter smirked, “Oh? So this ‘going straight’ thing is for the eye of some lovely lady. I’m hurt.”

“No,” I marched forward and grabbed my wallet from Coney’s hand, “I’m becoming a better person for myself. I want to be an honor’s student and I’m doing a damn good job. Yuu is just a friend.”

“Sure,” Hatter rolled his eyes, “I’ll believe that,” he changed his voice to mock mine, “‘Look at me, giving up my freedom for some stupid dream of being an honor’s student.’ No way. You’re not built for that Deuce.”

My phone buzzed in his hand.

“I used to respect you Spade,” He put my phone in the ribbon of his tophat, taunting me, “Now look at you. You’re a fucking chump.”

My phone buzzed again. Something inside of me snapped like a dry twig. I could feel my body heat from the inside out, old mussels returning to their place. I didn’t reach for my pen. I just punched the bastard.

Hatter went flying back into the wall, clearly expecting to have to taunt me longer before I took action. Coney didn’t hesitate to pounce on me, knocking me to the ground under him. He fired off punch after punch, leaving the taste of blood on my lips. I kicked him off and into Hatter, aiming to get my phone back. I had to see if it was Yuu.

It all turned into a blurr. A barrage of fists coming from all directions. All I focused on was Hatter’s stupid tophat.

I got the phone back and backed away. No one followed me.

All of the messages were from Ace.

Yuu hasn’t explained. What does her text even mean?

Should we go back and check on her?

I’m going. I don’t know what’s happening but it sounds like trouble. Meet me at the bus stop in town in two hours if you’re joining me.

I cleaned off in a park restroom before running home to pack a duffel bag. Mom was immediately understanding and packed me a few sandwiches for Ace and me. She smiled and reminded me that Yuu was welcome to come back with me, as well as telling me to text her when I was coming back. I nodded and gave her a hug before running out the door.

The two hours were up and I met with Ace at the bus stop.

Ace was pacing, waiting for the noon bus, “Who just messages that they’ve been kidnaped and then doesn’t respond for twelve hours!? Yuu’s going to be the death of us.”

“Calm down,” I hid my own anxieties, “This is Yuu we’re talking about. If anyone can handle being ‘trapped’, it’s her. Plus, Grim should be with her.”

“You say that like that’s a good thing.”

“Fair enough,” I kept going, “But despite the fact that it’s Grim, he can still fire off spells. Plus he’s pretty good with fire magic. Maybe we’ll arrive to see Scarabia in blue flames.”

“Again, you say that like that’s a good thing.”

“It’s the best thing I can think of.”

The PA system cracked to life, “Bus to Night Raven terminal is now boarding on platform three.”

“Come on,” I grabbed my bags and began walking, “Our friend needs us.”

#twst #twst x reader #twisted wonderland #twisted wonderland Ace #twisted wonderland deuce #twisted wonderland disney #twisted wonderland Yuu #twisted wonderland drabble #twisted wonderland reader #oneshot #deuce spade #twst mc #twst deuce #disney twst

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mattslolita · 4 months ago

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omgg is kiwi ur real name? its SO cute!!

i finally did the replacement phone thingy. but they said they would put a hold of £799 on my dads card. which i THOUGHT meant theyd take his details and charge 799 only if we didnt send the damaged phone back within 10 days. HOWEVERRR it TOOK THE 799 AND WONT GIV IT BAK TILL WE SEND IT LMFAO! hes annoyed but yk whatever not me paying unfortunatley 😭

and school was crazy. my tutor told me i couldnt wear trianers BUT i wore the same ones last year an they look like school shoes believe it or not! so shes on my ass already 😜

then my bf came in late (idiottt) and now cuz the government FUCKING IDIOTS made a new law that if u come after 9:00 (late basically) or u dont turn up with no "valid" reason to schl this will count as a unauthorised absence. if u get 10 of those in 10 weeks you will be charged £180 PER FUCKING PARENT!!! so hes already got 1 😒

thennn it was pouring today and we had an assembly first thing at 8:30 and we had to "line up" (fuck off w ur line up we r not 6) in the rain an our head of year was yellin at us sayin we were wasting HER time. like BITCH LET US GO IN! NO TIME WASTED! my bf tried to giv me his coat cuz i dint bring one and this teacher was like "her fault she dint bring one, go bak to ur line" and my bf said no and stil gave it. SHE GAVE HIM A WARNING? meaning if he gets another 2 he gets a 1 hour detention? like what? calm tf down!

we stayed 2 hours w our tutor after assembly doing bloody quizzes like huh? we r gonna do our gcse's this year an they want us to tell em who fucking wrote "oliver twist". like what? i cant read i literally hav no fucking clue who wrote it. also never heard of the book! LMAO.

then in science we had a new seating plan 😤 an she put me next to this weird boy who keeps putting heart eyes on my tiktoks? i said i aint sittin there an cuz shes nice she let me sit next to my bf 🤗we had to walk round the room and fill in some sheet of the digestive system which was boringgggg!

english also new seating plan but i like the teacher so it was alright!

geography i sit next to some boy who doesnt shut the fuck up. hes asking me all this shit like where im from nd what languages i speak? literally english mate like do i look like im ABLE to learn another language? no!

at lunch we sat in some teachers classroom jus me an my bf and just spoke abt everything and anythinggg. my teacher said she liked my rings my bf got me🥹(cant wear jewlry to schl tho?? how does it affect my learning??????)

also more explaining to new teachers as to y i use coloured paper. like hav they NEVER seen anyone else with dyslexia?

okay imma be straight up, yo school is WILDING cs all those rules are dumb & weird. PAYING A FINE BC UR LATE TO SCHOOL ??? and i thought american schools were ass😭😭😭 its so funny to me how ur bf keeps getting in trouble tho LMFAOO like free him guys he ain't do nun to nobody !

also kiwi is NOT my real name, but its really cute & random and my bff peaches told me if i was a fruit i'd be a kiwi, so here we are 💌🥝⭐

#kiwi's love letter 💌#kiwi's moots 🥝⭐#kiwi's asks 🥝💌#mattslolita 💌#answered 💌#anons 💌#asks 💌#angvlarabella 💌

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rainbowangel110 · 1 year ago

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Guess who just rewatched the "Being not Straight" video and is starting to snowball on the "Am I Aro?"

.....

When Jaiden started talking about like how in people started talking about crushes and the fact that she didn't feel that way and choose some random guy to have a "crush" on. I did that! I did do that! People around me were talking about crushes and I never felt that way about anyone so I just went with some guy.

Cuz well, I thought he was cool! I wanted to be like, friends 2.0 with him! And well it didn't work cuz after I admitted I had a "crush" on him my "friends" at the time teased me so I stayed away. Which really hurt our relationship (he was a new kid who didn't speak much English and we spoke the same language so the teachers paired us up) and well. Yeah.

I just said I had a crush on this guy because well. I had to have a crush right? So why not?

I've had fictional crushes but, looking back at them. I just thought they were cool and would love to hang out with them and be friends really. Nothing more.

...

I wouldn't date anyone tbh.

I might be okay with a close relationship but not in a romantic sense??? I know QueerPlatonics exist yeah. It could work like that ig. I honestly don't know.

I uh, might have been trying to say something but it derailed, sorry. But I am certain of one thing.

Hi.

I'm Rainbow. And, as it tuns out, I'm aromantic and asexual.

#just posting #asexual #aromantic #aroace #can't believe it #just like that #feels like I found a missing piece of the puzzle here #Still figuring out what kind of relationship (if any) I would be okay with #but that's okay

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adandelionwriting · 2 years ago

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You as the 4th mermaid in "H2O: Just Add Water" (1st episode)

A/N: Reader will be female, and this will be a series that follows the episodes of H2O. English is not my first language, sorry for the mistakes.

Word count: 1,793

There was a project in chemistry class, it had to be done in partners assigned by the teacher, and she paired you up with Cleo Sertori. A shy girl, you never really talked, but she was not a bad person. You guys didn't become friens, but acquaintances.

"Now, 10 minutes left," she said as she looked at her watch and you looked at the clock, "We're almost done."

Mrs.Smith walked behind you, something that made you feel uncomfortable.

Ring! The school bell made the sound just as you delieverd the final project to Mrs.Smith. Everyone packed their stuff and left the classroom. "Bye" you said to Cleo with a small smile.

Days passed, and every time you saw Cleo in the hallways, you waved at her with a smile. Right now, the sun was up in the sky and shining, it wasn't too hot and there weren't clouds in the sky. The perfect day for a walk in the docks. Your hand were in the pockets of your shorts as you walked and watched all the people there. In the distance you saw a small boat with three persons in it, you didn't gave it much thought until it stopped at your side.

"Y/N!" The girl with tanned skin and a ponytail you knew was between the passengers "Come with us."

Emma Gilbert was in front of her, and Rikki Chadwick was beside her driving. You hesitated for a moment, then looked around and nodded. When you got on the boat, Rikki spoke.

"Wanna go out to sea?"

"Isn't it dangerous in a craft this size?" Emma asked.

"Chill out."

After a while, the engine stopped working. You were in the middle of the ocean, with no fuel. Rikki suggested they should paddle to the island. Emma and Cleo weren't so sure about doing that, the second girl said how it was surrounded by all kind of creatures like sharks and had other species in it. But there weren't so much options, so Rikki grabbed one paddle and gave you the other. When you four arrived to the beach of Mako Island, Emma took out her phone but there wasn't signal there.

"I'm not getting any signal. We should try and get to higher ground." She started to walk.

After some time of exploring the island, looking for a high place, you arrived to a rock that was separated by a small river from another rock.

"Mind your step." Emma jumped to the other rock.

Rikki jumped, then you did too. Cleo didn't want to because it was too slippery, and when she moved, she fell.

"Cleo!"

When you went to see if Cleo was alright, you saw a hole, she fell down it and ended up in a small place with sand in the floor. She couldn't climb back, Emma tried to help her but ended up stuck too. You wanted to help, so you went down the hole too, and then Rikki did the same. There wasn't anyone who could get you out of there, so the group got up and walked. It wasn't long until you found a pool, it was small. And when you looked up, you realized you were inside the volcano of Mako.

"Hey, we are inside of a volcano." You almost whispered.

"It's been dormant for 20,000 years. I think we're safe." Emma sat down. "Look. Tidal rings. The level of the pool rises and falls." She took off her shoes.

"So?" Rikki asked.

"So it's connected to the ocean. There might be a way out." She got inside of the pool, and swam until she wasn't seen anymore.

Emma took a long time before showing up again.

"I was right. It's about a 20-second swim to the reef outside. Straight through. Plenty of room. We can fit."

You and Rikki started to take off your shoes, but Cleo didn't. She denied the only option to get out of that cave.

"You can do it Cleo, you'll be fine." You got in the pool with Emma. "And, there is no other way we can exit this place."

Cleo confessed she couldn't swim, well, that was a problem. After some convincing and encouragement, she accepted. But when she finally was right by your side, some kind of particles started to fly around you four as the full moon was visible through the opening of the volcano cone and bubbles appeared in the water. It wasn't over, the strange event, when one by one you started to swim out and into the ocean. Few seconds passed when the water police came to your rescue.

-The next day-

You woke up at 13:00 pm exactly. It was the weekend, so you had no school and it was possible to sleep until late. Your mother was working, so you were alone in the house, except for your golden retriever Nasha. When you were walking out of your room, you saw Nasha playing with her toy.

"Hello girl." You petted her.

She was so entertained with the red rubber bone, so you left her be and walked to the kitchen. From the top shelf, you took a glass of water. You started to pour yourself some water from the small jug, but some spilled in the counter. It was just a little, there was more on your hand. The rag was some steps away, and when you were about to grab it, you suddenly fell to the floor. You looked back, and you saw a tail. What?

"It was orange and covered with scales. The minute I hit water-" Right now, you were in Cleo's hand. Emma and Rikki were there too. It seemed that what happened to you also happened to them.

"I was water for a second." Rikki interrupted. "What's going on? That's what I wanna know."

You went to the tv room and sat in the couch, Cleo beside you, Emma in a one-person couch and Rikki remained standing.

"Is there anyone else here?"

Cleo explained her dad was at work and her sister and mother were shopping. Then, you discussed the transformation, and conclude you were now mermaids. A knock was heard.

"Oh no. It's Lewis. I forgot. He's helping me with biology today." Cleo stood up and went to the door. When she reached it, Lewis was already opening the door.

"Cleo? Cle..." Lewis realized there were other people in the house. "Oh. Did I get the time wrong?"

"No. We said nine."

"Oh."

"But, sorry, Lewis, something has come up."

"Like what?"

"Just something important."

You were kind of preoccupied, what if Cleo talked? No, she wouldn't do that, right? You and your friends shaked your heads in 'no', hoping that a word of yesterday and today's events wouldn't come out of her mouth.

"But not so important that you need to know about it." She started to lead Lewis to the door. "Sorry, Lewis. I have to cancel."

"Oh. Maybe some other time?"

"Lewis... you're smart. Do you know anything about mermaids?"

Rikki grabbed her head with her hands in annoyance, you sighed and Emma's gaze was on the floor.

"No, not really."

"Okay. Sorry. Bye." She opened the door and Lewis left, when Cleo turned around, Emma, Rikki and you stood up.

"What?"

"You asked him about mermaids? Why? You could... expose us!" One of your hands was pointing at the door.

"Cleo, this is really serious. If anyone found out, we could be in big trouble." Emma said.

"Well, maybe..."

"Look, something very strange has happened to us. We don't know how, and we certainley don't know why."

"There is a way to find out more." Rikki raised her eyebrows a little.

"How?"

"Go back in the water."

"No way. Not me." Cleo shaked her head and sat in the couch.

"I'm going. I just don't think I should go alone. Any volunteers?"

"I'll go with you!" You smiled.

Emma decided to go to, and later that day, you were in the beach in a secluded spot. Nobody was there, so the possibility of being discovered was really low. You were in your swimsuits and about to enter the water.

"I'm not so sure about this." Emma had her arms crossed over her chest.

"It's all right. I am."

"That gives me no confidence whatsoever."

You offered your hands for the girls to hold. "To help each other." And then you walked to the ocean.

It wasn't going to be to far from the land, only where your feet were below the water.

"About ten seconds. Right?"

"Yep."

And you all started to count at the same time.

"One, two, three, four, five..." Before you reached 'ten', the tails appeared.

You didn't knew why it happened so soon, but the rest of the day, you swam. Beside the reefs and the fishes and with your friends. After some time, you were with Rikki and Emma about to enter Emma's house.

Cleo came up running to you. "Wait! You will never believe what just happened."

When you were sitted in the bed of Emma's room with her and Rikki by your side, Cleo had her hand extended with a glass with water close to it on a desktop. She moved her hand and water started to get out of the glass.

"And it grows even more."

"Where's the extra water coming from?" Rikki looked at the water getting closer to them.

"I don't know." Cleo placed her hand on her thigh, and the water was about to splash Emma, she covered her face with her hand. Her palm was facing the water, before the water ended up in her clothes, it froze.

"Did I do that?"

"It wasn't me."

"Let me try!" You furrowed your eyebrows, concentrating in trying to discover your new abilities. Your palm was upwards and your fingers were slightly bented. A few seconds later, plants started to tangle up around the freezed water. You smilled, excited.

"Okay, this is over the top. I'm getting tingles now." Rikki sat straighter. She tried different hand positions, but with none something happened. "Why don't I get to do the cool stuff?"

"I don't think 'cool' is the word. It's scary. But you should've seen the look on Zane's face." Cleo was sitting in a chair, in front of the bed.

"This isn't funny." The swimmer interrupted the chuckles. "We've got to keep this a secret. From everyone. We could end up dissected, or in the circus or something. Our secret, our responsibility. Whatever happens, we're in this together."

"Not even our families have to know." You looked at their faces. "It will be between the three of us."

"This doesn't mean we're married, does it?" Rikki joked.

"Now that was actually funny."

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livingmybestfictionallife · 2 years ago

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The Geek and the Freak

To say Eddie Munson was unmotivated was a bit of an understatement. All of his teachers for the past five years of high school continually reported back to Wayne that, "Eddie is an incredibly gifted student, however he doesn't seem to apply himself in class." He would absorb those words and regurgitate them at Eddie the second he had the opportunity to, and after a while, Wayne began to see an improvement in Eddie's educational performance. Of course he didn't go from being a straight D student to a getting straight A's, but he was able to bump up his scores in History, English, and art to B's with the occasional A. However, not matter how much complaining from his teachers or pushing from his uncle, Eddie couldn't get his math scores to jump above a D.

Maybe it was something about the numbers, or maybe it was the lack of a creative outlet in the projects. He wasn't exactly sure, but the more he tried, the more he struggled, and the more he struggled, the more he was nagged to do better, which only perpetuated the cyclical downfall of disappointment he existed in.

"You're really a bright kid, Eddie," his math teacher reassured him. "Trust me, we all want you to succeed. You deserve to graduate this year, especially after all the hard work you've put into raising your grades, we don't want this to be the thing that keeps you from getting your diploma."

"So you're going to sweep my math grades under the rug?" he suggested with a mildly sly smirk playing on his lips. His teacher laughed at Eddie's attempt to get the school to ignore his failing grade, but spoke to clear any confusion.

"How would you feel about getting a tutor?"

"I don't think my uncle can afford a tutor, Mr. Klein," Eddie said in a somewhat defeated tone. He'd heard the richer kids at school talk about how they had either a subject specific, or college-prep tutor come to their homes a few days a week to bring up their grades or to prepare for higher education. Never did he think someone would even confuse him for the type of person who would be able to obtain such a luxury. He knew he wasn't going to college unless he had a scholarship--which by his grades and lack of involvement in athletics seemed to be an impossibility. All he wanted was his damned diploma and to flip the bird to his principal one final time.

"I have a student in one of my advanced classes who has some free-time after school. If you're interested, I can arrange for you two to meet so you can work on the materials in one-on-one setting, perform some extra-credit work, and study for the last test of the year."

That's how Eddie Munson ended up at the library after school on a Friday sitting across the table from Helen McKillop. He'd known of Helen since kindergarten, but never spoke to her in their years of attending the same school. Part of it was that they never shared any classes--he was in all on-level courses while she was enrolled in every advanced course the school offered. The other reason he'd never spoken to her before was because it seemed as if she would run the other way if he so much as looked at her.

He'd always remembered her as this timid girl who avoided getting to know anyone outside of her immediate friend group. Barbra Holland and Nancy Wheeler were two of the only people in school Eddie ever remembered Helen interacting with, and after Barb's disappearance and death, she stopped talking to Nancy altogether. Her last two years of high school were spent in the background of everyone else's story. It was as if she were a non-player character that existed simply to further the plot of everyone else's high school life.

Eddie sat across from her, his metal rings clanking loudly on the table as he anxiously tapped to the drumming of his heart. His knee bounced impatiently as he waited for her to say something in regards to the notes he'd taken and the small assignment he completed in class that his teacher wanted her to look over before Eddie officially turned it in. However, her fingers continued to turn the paper over, and her eyes continued to scan his chicken-scratched writing from behind her glasses lenses.

Helen McKillop...the geek he thought to himself in a slight tone of either disgust or dread. Of course he knew that the social hierarchy of high school was bullshit, but it still existed, and people within varying stages of that hierarchy developed opinions of people in others. He knew his place among the hierarchy as a "freak" and he knew what others thought of him. He had mostly come to accept the bullshit stigma of being labeled a freak, and he embraced making the jocks feel uncomfortable. It was nice, in a weird way, having anyone be intimidated by the kid who, in elementary school, was teased for how often he cried. In hindsight, he shouldn't have believed the stereotypes and rumors that were spread about Helen, and he shouldn't have approached their first tutoring session with those in mind, but he did.

Helen had always been quiet, and she could tell her silence was beginning to drive Eddie Munson up a wall. She'd only known of Eddie in passing, but there was something about him that always made her feel uneasy in a good way. She couldn't describe it, but whenever she noticed him being his authentic self among his friends, she could pinpoint this desire and urge within herself to break out of her shell and participate in whatever shenanigans and tomfoolery he was getting into. To be honest, that urge scared her, and given the choice between fight and flight, her body would choose flight ten out of ten times. Helen McKillop didn't step out of her comfort zone. She kept her head down, didn't make a fuss, and avoided the whims of adolescence.

With a swift flick of her wrist, Helen pushed the paper back to Eddie after erasing every last pencil mark on the page.

"What was that for?" he asked abruptly as she handed him a blank page.

"I think it's better to start over with a clean slate," she admitted as a piece of her conscious mind recognized the sub-conscious decision to get over her, for lack of a better combination of words, enamored fear of the boy before her.

"Did you have to erase my name?" he grumbled under his breath as he printed E-d-d-i-e M-u-n-s-o-n back in the top right corner of the page.

With a great sense of apprehension, Helen opened Eddie's textbook to the section Mr. Klein told her Eddie's class was in. While Helen was in Pre-Calculus, Eddie was still in Algebra, so his homework was a breath of fresh air to her; however, within seconds of watching the boy before her shove his pencil into his hair and begin twirling it around a coiled lock, she quickly realized the difficulty Eddie was experiencing.

"Is it that you don't know how to do it, or is it that it seems like a lot to do and it's overwhelming to look at?" Helen asked as she studied the boy across from her.

Eddie's bottom lip was pinched between his teeth, his narrowed eyes peered vengefully down at the paper before him, and his nose was ever so lightly scrunched that it would have been impossible to make out had she not been searching for it. She recognized the look on his face--hell, she'd worn that look a number of times herself--and immediately knew the answer to her question.

"I can do it!" Eddie retorted a little too loudly and ended up being shushed by some nearby middle schoolers.

"I didn't say you couldn't," Helen quickly responded in a shy and reserved tone. She took a deep breath and found herself letting it out abruptly in frustration at Eddie's defiance. "You're a musician, right?" she pressed in hopes he'd stop being so closed off and defensive around her. He nodded in response as he continued to absentmindedly stare at the numbers and letters on the page before him. "What do you play?" her voice was what he'd expected based on the type of girl he thought Helen to be--soft and light, like a feather drifting in the wind.

"Guitar mostly."

"I take it the guitar didn't just come to you super easily, right?"

"No, things don't come easily to me," Eddie nearly hissed in frustration. Here was this girl--this nerdy, goody-two-shoes, teacher's pet girl--who probably has never had to struggle for a descent grade in her whole life, trying to talk to him about what comes easy?

"All I'm saying is, like with music and learning an instrument, things take practice. It's okay to not know where to start."

"The thing is, I know what to do, I just don't know how to make it through these damn questions without wanting to fall asleep. Learning guitar was easy because it was something that was interesting to me. I'm just taking this class because I have to."

Understanding the root of the problem, Helen silently began digging around in her bag until she found a d20. The di certainly caught Eddie's attention since Helen McKillop was the last person he'd expect to play Dungeons and Dragons.

"The good thing is, we don't have to start at the beginning and work our way to the end," she said as she rolled the di and noticed the number 12 appear right side up. "Sometimes I don't know where to start with things either, so I leave it up to chance. Chance says we start at question number twelve," she said and turned his homework over. "Focusing is hard for me, so I have to make little games of things to hold my attention."

"And so you use DND dice to decide how to do your homework?" Eddie asked with a slight laugh as he began to work through the problem.

"My parents took me to be evaluated for ADD in middle school. I've had a few years to find things that work for me. DND dice keeps school a bit more interesting, however I've found them to be more effective to add a few incentives though."

"You had problems in school?" The shock in his voice was evident as Helen anxiously bit at her lower lip.

"I never had to try on assignments," she admitted, only to have the looming judgement of Eddie Munson's words 'things don't come easily for me' echo in her ears. "When I did struggle with something I took it out on myself and thought I was just too stupid or lazy to grasp it. Knowing how to motivate myself to do the things I don't want to do helped me with my boring subjects, but also made me even stronger in the ones I liked."

"So you also just didn't try to do things you thought were too complicated to just start doing?" Eddie's voice was now gentle as he realized he couldn't have been more wrong about Helen.

"Correct," she said as her gaze lifted from where she'd been staring at where his ring clad fingers rested upon the paper in order to meet his eyes. "I promise that if you find ways to keep your brain engaged in what you're doing, you'll find it easier to get things you don't want to do done."

"You promise?" Eddie repeated her words hesitantly as he playfully yet skeptically raised an eyebrow at the girl before him.

"I do," she assured him with what had to be the sweetest, most wholesome smiles he'd seen grace another person's face.

"Well then, I guess I'll keep at it," he said with a joyful grin landing on his lips until it faltered into a coy smirk. "After all, I want to know more about those incentives you were talking about." With a curt wink, he could see her cheeks begin to flush and could feel the heat rising into his own ears. And so the freak began to fall for the geek.

#eddie munson #eddie munson fandom #eddie munson fanfic #eddie munson fic #joseph quinn #stranger things s4 #joe quinn #st s4 #eddie munson x OFC #eddie munson x f!oc #OFC #corroded coffin #stranger things #adhd eddie munson #add eddie munson #adhd ofc #adhd character #add character #add ofc

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meraki-yao · 1 year ago

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An exchange student from Canada saw me crying and gave me a tissue. We talked. He's really nice. I'm sane now.

This is going to be a full vent. This is my full story on this situation. Only read if you want to and if you're okay with it. Also warning, this is long as fuck, I really trauma dumped here.

tw: suicidal thoughts, self-harm

Backstory: High School

I was labelled as a jack of all trades, master of none. I'm naturally a more art/social science/emotion/humanities person, but I took STEM subjects in high school (Physics, Chemistry, Information & Technology/ Computer, and Calculus & Algebra), partly because these subjects had objective, standard answers, which supposedly makes getting marks in exams easier, partly because I felt like I had to as my parents are both PhD in engineering, and at that point I still thought I had to be "my parents' daughter".

So throughout high school, all my external achievements were humanities/arts related while my studies were STEM orientated. But I struggled a lot with my STEM subjects (except for Computer because a lot of that is just stuff you would know if you use one a lot), and I mean, a lot. As in failing quizzes, fucking up assignments. Thank God I had really kind teachers who cared more about my mental health than my grades and were willing to help and accommodate my needs. But there were many times when I straight up broke down during a lesson and ran off to the social worker's. I skipped several lessons because I just couldn't go to class and try to listen when voices in my head were all yelling at how much of a useless piece of shit I was. I would spend three hours on a single question, and still get it wrong. It always felt like no matter what I did, I would go nowhere. And it didn't help that when I asked for help from my parents, their response would always first be "How can you not know something so simple". By senior year I gave up and started asking my friends and the internet.

On the contrary, I thrived in my language classes and liberal studies class. Even if I initially sucked due to the change in the system, I asked, I studied, I worked and I improved. I got somewhere. Effort paid off in a fair ratio. I never needed to ask my parents anything about that. I never needed to ask anyone other than my teacher. I loved doing my homework in those subjects. My writings were printed out as examples for the whole class. It was great.

Backstory: College Selection

By the time college choices rolled around I had no idea what to choose. At the same time, my mother was also suggesting I go to mainland Chinese universities for my undergrad, and I didn't want that. Going to the States or the UK wasn't affordable for my family, so I opted to stay local, to the dismay of my whole extended family.

So in the mess of all of this and no parental support because they are Chinese stereotypes who think the only courses worth studying are doctor and lawyer, my school's career counsellor suggested Bachelor of Arts and Studies to me (here's their website) a new personalized interdisciplinary degree in HKU. And I was so happy. It felt right. It felt like putting a on tailored dress. And despite my parents' protest, I put that as my first choice.

College entrance exams came and went. Overall I did pretty well. Got top scores in Chinese, English, Liberal Studies, and Computer. Got average for Chemistry, Math and Physic despite spending most of my study leave on these subjects. Just passed Calculus.

So the way the local system works (it's called JUPAS if you wanna look it up) is that by the end of November, you need to submit your 20 university programme choices, but after the public exam result is released, you're assigned 24 hours to change your choices.

And this is where everything started going to hell for me.

My parents, who in the first round of selection, compromised and let me put what I wanted, looked at my marks, and my choices, and vetoed everything. They said I'm not gonna get a job with an interdisciplinary degree, there's no career path for psychology, that the arts and science degree was created because the art, social science and science faculty didn't have that many people.

A different advisor, one who didn't know me personally suggested my current programme: biomedical engineering, which basically combines medicine with engineering. They said it's a lucrative career since health service is in demand, and with my basis in STEM subject I would do well, and that it's easier to go from a science subject to humanities if I want to do something different in post-grad than vice versa. By this time I had 2 hours left before confirmation.

If we were to completely ignore me as an individual, they're right. This would be the logical choice.

But at that point, I already knew it felt wrong. But unfortunately for me, all I could say is it felt wrong, which isn't a strong rebuttal.

With no "logical" rebuttal, two yelling parents and a fucked up head, sobbing, I changed my first choice to this programme. I cut my arm with a cutter over the myriad of scars I gave myself over the years. I told my best friend who was asking if I was ok, that I'll give it a go, and if it doesn't work I'll find a way out. I told the rest of my close friends that my undergrad will be me paying a debt to my parents, and I'd figure out my own dream in the future.

I shouldn't have caved in.

Back Story: University

University started. Immediately it felt wrong. Save for my elective (HKU has this really cool thing called Common Core, look it up if you're interested but essentially it's compulsory electives) I felt so detached from my engineering courses. I couldn't explain, just an inherent feeling that I don't belong here.

It didn't help that it was at this time that I realized I straight-up don't like biology.

Managed through year 1 first semester with average grades. Semester 2 I didn't have any courses directly related to the programme save for a probability & stats course that I fucked my way through. The rest of my grades were pretty good, even got two A- s. The feeling that I didn't belong persisted but popped up a little less.

Now: Breaking

Year 2 came, and from the moment in August when I had to sign up for courses, the feeling of wrongness came back in full force, amplified, even. It felt all-consuming.

This is from my diary:

"I don't wanna be here. I don't want this degree. I don't want this career God I don't want it. It's doesn't fit. I don't fit in this space. This isn't mind. It feels like dysmorphia. It feels like tar, black and toxic and vicious, sticking to my skin, trying to mould my body into something I'm not, to seep into my skin and dye my blood a dull shade of grey. I wanna fucking run away. I wanna fucking die. I don't fucking know what to do."

You guys kind of know the rest, because that's when I met you guys and started feeling safer here than anywhere else, and vented here. But for reference

September

October

November

December

January, January, Fuck you January

I skipped class. I got antidepressants. I binge ate and became overweight. Failed three classes. Parents didn't find out anything until the grades came out. Then they lost their mind.

Now: Not Enough

They blamed me for not trying hard enough.

They said oh failures happen, you have to learn from your mistakes and try again.

I have to set up a proper routine. Dedicate all my time and energy to staying physically healthy and studying. Spent my "free time" thinking. I even got berated for listening to music with headphones on.

Dad asked me why did I fail biochemistry. I said it was hard, the pace was fast, and I don't like the subject. He said there's no point in not liking it.

Mom said I needed to get rid of the idea that this degree is against me and accept it, that I shouldn't dwell on what-ifs from the past, and all the reasons they convinced me to choose this still stands, that learning is a fun and interesting thing that I should take joy in, that I won't be able to handle being a psychiatrist, that I used to be such a star student what the fuck happened to me, that each path has their own difficulties and I'm already on this road so why won't I just keeping going for the next two years, that if I quit and start over I'll be older than my cohort and my friends will all graduate before me and why won't I just follow the normal path dammit

SO EVERYTHING IS MY FUCKING FAULT HUH??

I don't fucking know anymore.

Now: The present

The reason I was crying earlier, was that I went to have a meeting with an academic advisor to ask about the possibility of transferring to a different programme.

There are two ways.

One, apply for an internal transfer by June. But that requires exceptional grades, and I don't have that.

Two, quit university and re-apply with my college entrance exam results. But then none of the credits I earned in the past two years will be transferred. All will expire. I went through shit for nothing except to confirm my mistake is a mistake.

I might figure something out when I'm not crying my brains out but right now neither option sounds like an option to me.

I could barely ask anything intelligent afterwards because I was trying so hard to stop myself from breaking down immediately.

Now: How I feel

I'm not supposed to feel like this. This is not normal. This is not how my university life is supposed to go. It cannot be normal to want to die every day.

The moment I realised this was fundamentally wrong was when I looked at my high school friends' social media, and saw them living their best lives: dating, joining the committee of societies, getting awards and scholarships, jobs and internships, travelling, going to parties, everything a young person should be doing. My best friend is chasing her dreams to became an actress at NYU TISHC, already getting paids acting jobs at year 1, going to prominent events, maintaining a 3.9 GPA, goes out partying all while maintaining a long distance relationship with her athletes boyfriend who is the best of the best in Asian youth, handsome, and just a great guy in general.

I'm supposed to be on the same level as them.

I'm from an elite class of an elite school in an elite city. I've been on city radio four times and city-wide broadcast television once. I was on four department/society committees, two of which I was chairlady. I wrote and directed my own play. My name was followed by seven internal awards when it was my turn to get my diploma during the graduation ceremony. I aced my classes. My drawing and writing had been in my school's anthology and yearbook. I genuinely enjoyed learning.

I'm not supposed to be this.

I'm not supposed to be this depressed, overweight person who can't get out of bed and skips classes and fails courses. I'm not supposed to be this stagnant, I was always moving. I was always giving it my 100%. I'm not supposed to not make any friends and want to stay in my bed all the time. I'm not supposed to be insomniac, or sick, or depressed, or overweight.

I was always fighting.

I don't have any energy in me anymore to fight.

I'm not supposed to turn out like this. This isn't who I want to be/ I hate whoever I am now. This isn't right.

But I'm fucking stuck, I don't know what's the truth, I don't know how valid "I don't like this" is.

A lot of people tell me to just ignore what my parents say but it's really not that simple. I only realized they can hurt me despite loving me and it's not my fault last year. And even then it's hard to stay firm on this belief. Because truthfully, I don't know what's right, I only know what feels wrong.

Fuck this. I want to fast forward until the day I figure shit out. I want to live here on Tumblr.

Fuck everything.

#personal

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yinnina · 2 years ago

Text

Sex With Eyes

I was walking around the school building, skipping third period, which was science with the cheer coach.

No teacher was out of their classroom due to lessons going on, but a few sent students out of classrooms to drop off or pick up stuff from other teachers and such.

There wasn't much we did in science anyways, so my teacher wouldn't notice me not being there, nor would she care.

I was basically her favorite anyways, and even if I wasn't, she was pretty chill.

Five minutes went by, then ten, soon fifteen minutes had passed by the second.

Nothing much was happening anyways.

Everyone in their corresponding classes, teachers doing their jobs, etc.

Well, not everyone.

"Decided to join us [L/N]?" I heard from behind me. I was currently outside of school but still in the field, looking for some peace and sympathy.

I looked back at the tall figure, noticing how much of a fool he looked.

"Go away Moose, what kind of name even is that? Your parents must really hate you if they named you after an animal. I mean, if I had a child, I would spare them the humiliation, even if I hated them." I chuckled at his face, I knew it was a touchy subject to talk about with him.

Well, not like you could talk with him anyways, the dude has little to no friends. They all talked behind his back, spreading rumors every other day.

One time, one of the guys spread a rumour that he was sleeping around with one of his teachers, and almost everyone believed it since, well, it was Moose.

"Ha! Says you! Your parents were so disappointed and humiliated that they had to move to a new town! How sad is that?!" He laughed loudly, his little minions along with him.

"My parents? Oh please, they are anything but humiliated with me, they would brag about me to their friends all the time. That can't be said the same about you though, not like your parents have any friends, but you know what they say, the kid comes from the parent. Your dad is always so drunk that he can't even talk properly. Even my little brother can do better at English than him!"

His face was flushed red, not with embarrassment, but with anger.

He basically looked like an apple, a cherry, a mad man.

But he already was a mad man.

He threw a punch, going straight to my face and managed to hit me due to the shock, but I surely didn't let that one slide cause after he tried to punch me again I kicked him behind the right leg, knowing it was his weak leg.

Once his knee hit the ground, I grabbed him by the hair and with my other leg I kneed him in the face several times.

His friends tried to grab me, but I elbowed both of them on the stomach, making them both hold onto themselves to make the pain go away, but I grabbed both of their heads and made their foreheads kiss.

I looked down to see Moose trying to stand up, trying to put up a fight again, but I left quickly as I came.

Bell had rung for fourth period, and this time I decided to go to class since I knew that Moose would try and come back again for another fight if I skipped.

"Alright, settle down! I ain't got time for this. You and your sitting partner will be doing today's work. The work is simple, just a plain worksheet. Once you are done, do whatever you would like, but don't be loud." The teacher handed out the worksheets to everyone.

I looked to my left, seeing nothing but an empty chair.

I basically had a good amount of my classes with Vance Hopper, one of the school bullies.

He happened to not be here today, much like any other day. It wasn't a complete shocker due to him spending his time in the Grab-N-Go, playing on that Pinball Machine.

I couldn't blame him, I went to the arcade all the time to play Resident Evil every time I could.

It was my dad who got me into the game anyways.

Me and Vance rarely talked, and about 80% of the time it was just us having a fight. We never got along, he was too short tempered, I was more cooled when it came to discussions, even fights, but he goes all mad, pulling out his pocket knife every time he beats kids up.

I myself beat kids up, but it was different. He does it for the fun of it, while I beat the ones who deserve it.

Things like "Girls can't do shit," or "You can't do this because you aren't white," pissed the shit outta me, and drives me nuts when people assume shit for fun.

Vance, at the very least, wasn't like that, he was just hot headed.

It was the end of school, and everyone rushed out of the classrooms, some heading home while others stayed back, talking to friends or going to their lockers.

Once I got to my locker to put my stuff up, Gabby and Gaby came up to me, talking to me about their day.

I was closer to Gabby, who was taller and much more fashionable, but Gaby was also there for me at times.

Gaby, on the other hand, was one to wear sweatpants and hoodies to school, and didn't try putting any make up on, I didn't blame her though, she herself has said that she doesn't have anyone to impress.

Me and Gabby just liked looking good all the time, Gaby was more laid back when it came to that.

We only had one class together, GYM, due to them being a year older than me, but we soon became friends thanks to Aryanah, who was in the same grade as me, due to her being friends with both Gabbie's friend, Harley.

For a little background, we all hate Harley, we stopped talking to her a long time ago.

She was talking shit about Gabby, Gaby, and Aryanah to me, and I informed all of them about it.

You could say that I made her a loner after that.

Either way, she was a pick me for sure.

"How do you tell someone you like them without telling them directly?" Asked Gabby

"Start stalking them." Said Gaby, which received a creeped out look from me and Gabby, "I was joking, don't." She said after noticing.

"Don't tell them yet, just make them confess first, problem solved." I told her, closing my locker as I carried a few books in my hands, which were less than what I had during seventh period.

"I guess... But anyways, today was Rick's last day here, and I asked him for his music, knowing that he was a first chair violin, and guess what!" Gabby told.

I looked at her, lost at words.

"YOU GOT ME HIS MUSIC?!" I yelled excitedly.

She nodded and handed me her music before I hugged her.

Some people looked back at us, but I could care less. And they shouldn't care any more than I do.

We walked out of school, going to the Grab-N-Go, hoping to buy snacks with our pocket change.

"You think he's still there?" Asked Gaby.

"Of course he is, he's always there." Gabby mentioned.

And not to our shock, he was in fact there.

Vance Hopper, like any other day, was playing Pinball at the Grab-N-Go.

"Let's just buy our shit. Are your parents home [Y/N]?"

"No," I shook my head to Gabby, "They're out on a business trip for the next month or so, so you guys are welcomed to stay over at any given time."

"Great" Both Gabbie's said.

"Want a smoke?" Gabby asked us, to which we both nodded our heads no to.

"Well, boohoo, I need it for my dad, but if we want our snacks then I won't have any money for cigars."

Gaby put her finger on her nose, and Gabby looked at me.

"I ain't got money!" I gave them an excuse. In reality, I had more money than them, but I wasn't planning on spending it on cigarettes when I could spend it on the arcade.

"Who said we need the money?"

And I knew just what exactly that meant.

"So, you got anything to do after this?" I asked the cashier.

"No, but if you want to come back to my place, then it would change it a yes." He winked at me.

I was grossed out, but I knew Gabby needed it.

I saw Gabby walk out of the store, and Gaby came in and paid for the snacks with our money.

I kept talking to the cashier for a while, but after a while I got bored so I told him I had to go, that my parents might get worried.

As I was walking out, I had to pass the Pinball Machine, which Vance was so attentive for, but once I glanced at Vance, he looked back.

I simply shrugged it off and went out of my way.

"What was that?!" Gaby asked.

"What?"

"Dude," Gabby started, "it was like you and him were having sex with your eyes!"

"I knew something fishy was going on between you two" Gaby agreed.

"You two are crazy, we didn't even talk!"

"You don't have to. Come on, I got the cigars and a few extra snacks for us."

#vance #vance hopper #tbp vance #tbp #the black phone #vance hopper x reader #vance hopper x you #vance x reader

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