#im not actually very attached to the usual suspects because i got really into party comps early on

[atissi]

how usual

[wastelandcrown]

logan lark’s adventures in trying to appease his parents

CHAPTER 6: don’t lose ur head (the terrifying tales of the grimm monarchy)

Summary: Logan Lark is a fairly average high school student. By all means, he should be impressing his parents on all grounds. Except...he doesn’t exactly have a social life. So after his parents give him puppy dog eyes, he decides to join the local theatre's youth production. Good grief...His life is about to get weird isn’t it?

Warnings: Potential ooc behavior, Roman is a teenager who makes bad choices EXTREME edition, Remus being Remus, Intrusive Thoughts, Minor Bad Parenting, so much swearing it’s insane (If I miss something please tell me!)

Notes: This fic is based off an idea from @under-the-blue-moonlight. If you wanna be tagged in chapters, please ask!! I love this freaking chapter SO much but I’m really scared of how it’s going to be received. All feedback is extremely welcome!! 

Pairings: Intrulogical, Eventual Rociet, One-Sided Logicality, Platonic DRLAMP

Tagslist: @under-the-blue-moonlight @why-should-i-tell-youu2 @im-actually-ok @hauntedturkeycalzonedreamer @croftersjam15 @rainbowsixth @snaketho @wasinotwantedatthisexactsecond @a-soul-among-the-stars @sweet-razz-tea @the-cactus-lord

Over the course of the next month Logan learns that despite their reputations, Roman and Remus are the opposite of what everyone thinks of them.

Logan is the smartest person he knows, there is no way in hell he’d ever miss Roman’s multiple attempts to sabotage his role as Hamilton. Smart, and yet so oblivious. Each time Roman had tried to mess with Logan after he began cultivating a friendship with Remus he was miraculously saved from the torment at the last second. Remus is a hundred percent certain that Logan has no idea that he’s fighting off his brother at each and every turn. He’s not certain of much, so it’s saying a lot. There is a beautiful dichotomy in Logan’s logs of the events and the stories Remus tells about his brother’s scourge against his brand new ‘enemy’. On a page labeled ‘Roman Incidents’ in Logan’s succinct handwriting documents every incident through the month when Roman attempted to sabotage him.

July 20th - Roman tripped near my things in the drama room while holding coffee. When I went to check on my things, someone had removed the contents of my bag and filled it with around six pounds of glitter. If this happens again, throw the bag away. Glitter makes anything unsalvageable. You will keep finding it everywhere. 

Remus knew Roman had been planning something. Of course he did. Though they didn’t share a room anymore, sneaking into it had never been exceptionally hard. Neither had eavesdropping, when it counted. It counted now more than ever because Remus had become unreasonably attached to Logan and when he heard Roman talking to himself and mentioning the name of his favourite little nerd badly he knew it was now or never. It took two excruciating hours of sitting still and listening to get the juicy stuff. He almost got caught by their mother twice. She’d only been home for three days and she’d checked on Roman twice in one night. If Remus told her about the amount of effort he was putting into something she might keel over dead from shock. 

What a funny sight that would be to him. His mother, dead from the shock of his hard work to do something good, thumping onto the floor. He laughs a little, quiet enough to keep Roman from hearing. His brain supplies the rational next step of Roman running out of his room and distraughtly cradling their mother’s head in his lap. Roman sobbing. Roman blaming him. Roman screaming about how it was his fault. And it would be, if she died like that. Remus doesn’t think it’s all that funny anymore, but once the train of thought starts it can’t be stopped. He decides that eavesdropping isn’t fun anymore and makes his way to the kitchen, trying to shake the idea of his brother cursing him out for killing their mother out of his mind. 

It doesn’t really work, but he tries anyway. The kitchen is full of distractions, good and bad. The knives in the block look so enticing to his self-proclaimed ‘shitty-dick-wad brain’, but the cookies he nabs from the cupboard are so easy to shove into his mouth that he figures it evens out. He sits at the kitchen island and doesn’t even bother to turn on the light. It takes six cookies in his mouth at once before he can direct his thoughts somewhere else momentarily. How in the hell is he going to combat Roman’s plan? He spits all the cookies onto the counter as his brother walks in, flicks on the light, and sighs deeply.

“You could at least do that onto a plate.”

Remus just shrugs, so Roman speaks again, “How’s your evening been?”

“Before like...five minutes ago I was really liking it.” Which was true, Roman slides into the seat next to him and picks a cookie from the box.

“What changed?”

“Shitty brain,” He replies, “Y’know how it gets.”

“I do indeed. Do you need anything?” His voice is surprisingly soft with him, to the point where Remus has to give him a confused look before deciding what to say next. He figures out how to fuck with Roman’s plan in that moment.

“I wanna go to Party City and terrorize the night staff.” 

Roman only chuckles, Remus watches his twin put away the cookies and grab his car keys from the bowl on the counter. 

“Come on then, we can buy some of those plastic babies you like so much.”

As Remus is falling asleep later that night, his chest feels warm. He attributes it to the upcoming scheme-ruining scheming. It’s easier than admitting that that was the first time Roman had willingly hung out with him alone since elementary school. He knows the next morning that Roman is most likely buttering up because he suspects Remus knows. Which is...fair. Even if it hurts a little. They get coffee on the way to the theatre and separate. They both have important things to do. The best part about their somewhat rocky-relationship is that they always know where the other is in order to avoid each other. Remus knows that Roman has gone to see Janus and probably make heart eyes and pine over him like a dumbass. Roman knows that Remus is off drooling over his arch nemesis. Today it is more imperative than ever. During practice Remus manages to steal Logan’s backpack while he’s busy. 

He swaps the contents out with the six pounds of glitter he bought the night before and shoves Logan’s things into his bag for safe keeping. Nobody would dare look into Remus’ bag for fear of gore or weird pornography, even if he only has one in his bag at the moment. He’s shoving a small notebook in when he catches a title. “Hamilton Performance Experiment”. It takes literally all of his self-control not to immediately snoop. He makes it through, eventually meeting up with Logan and even carrying his bag to ‘be nice’ so Logan doesn’t pick up on the bag glitter. When Roman walks by with his coffee and “trips”, spilling his coffee all over Logan’s bag, Remus smiles. 

“Oh! Logan I’m so sorry! What a terrible accident!” Roman cries, ever the actor. 

Logan looks downright frantic as he lunges for his bag and rips it open. Glitter goes everywhere. Logan’s hair, Roman’s shoes, the entire dressing room floor. The look of distress fades from Logan’s face momentarily, returning full force when he realizes his things are missing. 

Remus pulls them out of his bag in secret, walking to the corner of the room, walking back and exclaiming, “What a good prank Roman! You must be taking some tricks from my book!”

When he hands the things back to Logan, Logan smiles. He decides not to ask about the notebook. 

July 27th - One of the props from the prop room was moved in with my things. I suspect Roman because of the look on his face when Remus took the fall for me. 

Just because he didn’t ask about the notebook does not mean it left his memory. By the time he gets in the car alone with his brother he realizes that Roman is pissed off at him.

“Couldn’t you have left it alone? How did you even find out!?” 

“I have my ways. Now shut up about it before I tell mom about that time in 8th grade-”

“Okay! Okay! I’m shutting up!” 

And he did. However that included no longer voicing his plans out loud. Which meant Remus had to get creative. He was very very good at getting creative. 

Dinner with their mother was much more quiet that week. Both twins brooding and not speaking with each other, their mother only prompting Roman to talk. It was too familiar in the worst possible ways. Remus despised his mother, but he knew how much his brother loved her. She was...well she was beautiful, intelligent, a very influential fashion designer, extremely supportive. Roman would go on about how perfect she was for hours. Sure, Remus could concede that their mother was beautiful, intelligent, and a very influential fashion designer, but whenever Roman talks about her he never says she’s at all a good mother. Especially not to him. He watches her laugh breathily at one of Roman’s shitty anecdotes from practice and decides he’s had enough of family dinner. He gets up and dutifully cleans his plate and places it in the dishwasher. The chef gives him a smile, and he smiles back. 

“Remus, dear,” His mother begins in her shrill voice, “If you’re not going to eat with us, at least go and shower. Your smell is unbecoming.”

Then she turns back to her food like she didn’t just attempt to insult him. Jokes on her, it takes a lot more than that to hurt his feelings. He still ends up forcing himself into the shower for thirty-five minutes that night.

The rest of the week he’s more tired than usual, which the others notice. He makes an effort to not be, he really does. When his mom is in town, everything just sucks. He hangs out with Janus three times and Virgil once to get out of the house and away from his family. The other nights he spends sitting outside the convenience store with a monster or two. He ends up calling Logan one of those nights out of need for company. Logan chuckles when Remus makes up a silly reason for calling that he can’t even remember now, but he can remember Logan’s laugh. He listens to Logan talk about the book series he’s been reading and he feels a little lighter. He never ends up finding out what Roman has planned, but it’s so easy when it’s happening right in front of him. Despite his lethargy lately, he feels a fire lit in him when the missing prop is found with Logan’s bag. 

Virgil and Janus are the only two teenagers with keys to the prop room. If Logan stole the missing prop, he would have had to steal the key. No one but the twins even knew Janus had a key, and Virgil was dead set on not letting a soul into the prop room. The idea that Logan, precious little innocent fucking lamb Logan, committed theft not once but twice enrages Remus. When they find it with his things, Logan is utterly baffled. Then he realizes the implications and his face pales. Roman calls for Thomas, spouting off about how Logan stole the prop and he should face consequences, when Remus laughs as loudly as he can. 

“Hah! You guys are so funny! You think specs could ever!? Guess my prank worked out pretty damn good if you actually think Mr.Goody-Two-Shoes could commit such a heinous fucking crime!” 

Thomas sighs, tells Remus to just ask next time, and leaves. Roman stares at his brother for a solid minute with his mouth slightly ajar. Janus and Virgil are both looking at him like he’s insane because it’s so obvious to them that Roman did it. Patton is looking not at him, but at Logan, with so much concern. And Logan...Logan stares up at Remus with the look of a small and confused animal.

“Did you really do that?”

“Of course I did! I’m the resident rat bastard, I have to cause a little recreational chaos.”

He’s pretty sure Logan believes him until they’re leaving for the day and Logan whispers a ‘Thank you’ to him as he walks by. He would have melted into the floor if Janus hadn’t put a hand on his shoulder and pulled him down to whisper to him.

“Why the hell did you let Roman get away with that?” Virgil is on his other side now with a scowl.

“Don’t know what you’re talking about JJ! I committed a very heinous crime!”

“Then why did Roman ask to borrow Janus’ key earlier?” Virgil asks, and Remus drops his smile to replace it with an annoyed look. 

“He just fucking asked for it!? I can’t even believe I’m related to that half-witted twit.”

“Yeah,” Virgil scoffs, “Not really the sharpest sword in the armoury, is he?”

“Please, we’ve known that for years. What I’d like to know is what are we going to do about it?” This quieted Remus, but made Virgil smirk a little. 

Janus continued, “After the backpack incident, and now the stealing incident, I’m half-convinced we have a brand new chaos demon in the group.”

“At least Remus’ chaos is fun sometimes,” Virgil mutters, “Roman’s just an ass.”

Remus gets away with being quiet as they talk until they get into Janus’ beat up old van. He doesn’t call shotgun, doesn’t slap the car's ‘ass’ as a joke, he just climbs into the back and sits there. He’s so quiet that Janus and Virgil are a little shell shocked. 

“Remus?” Virgil asks quietly and pensively, it sounds just like that soft tone Roman used with him last week. 

He’s quiet, Janus starts the car and clicks his tongue, “I’m going to shove Roman down a flight of stairs.”

“Don’t.” He manages, and the boys in the front seats go quiet. Virgil passes him the aux cord. 

He plays “Call Them Brothers” by Regina Spektor and Janus and Virgil know that tonight will be a very quiet outing. 

They’re sitting at IHOP drawing dicks on their pancakes in syrup when Remus’ phone rings. Janus and Virgil know who’s calling the second Remus sees the caller ID and smiles. 

“Evening Logie-Bear, why do I get the pleasure of hearing your devilishly sexy voice in this IHOP tonight?” Remus says and Janus groans loudly.

“You’re at IHOP?” Is the first thing Logan says, which makes Remus smile even brighter.

“Yes, sir! I’m with Virge and Janny too, you wanna say hi?” 

Logan sounds a bit contemplative when he mutters, “I was hoping you’d be alone...”

Eavesdropping Janus and Virgil make surprised faces, Remus smacks Janus in the arm, “Oh you were, were you? Why? Phone sex?”

“I wanted to ask for an opinion on a predicament.” Virgil smirks and Janus nabs his phone to speak for Remus.

“Remus would love to-Remus let me talk-You should come have some pancakes with us-Ow, watch the face!-and tell us all about how your science is going.” Janus can hear Logan hiding his laughter through the phone as Remus wrestles with him in the booth. 

“It’s more of a philosophical predicament.”

Janus nearly sees red, eyes widening and making Remus cackle,“Why in the world would you ask Remus Grimm about phi-”

It’s silent for a few moments then Logan hears a familiar voice. “It’s Virgil, we’re at the IHOP on 81st and Green.”

Logan laughs brightly, “I’ll be there. Order something for me.”

They spend the evening with breakfast for dinner, and the four get into a fairly heated friendly debate about moral ethics. Janus isn’t sure he’s ever had more fun in his life. When he’s driving away from Virgil to drop Remus off at home, he can’t help but smile at Remus’ improved demeanor. 

“Remus,” He starts after they’re alone, “I thought you and Roman were doing better, did something happen?”

“He tried to sabotage Logan twice for entirely selfish reasons, I wouldn’t care if he dies!” Remus dramatically cries.

“You and I both know that’s not true.”

They’re quiet the rest of the ride, and Janus gets out to give Remus a hug before he goes in. Remus ignores Roman’s questions about his whereabouts and locks himself in his room to try and keep his mood up. It doesn’t work, but he tries. He does. 

August 3rd - Roman gave me a “peace offering” in the form of lunch. I am led to believe he was attempting to give me food poisoning, as Remus ate the lunch and has now come down with food poisoning.

His mother leaves for her office in Paris on August 1st. Roman cries and hugs her, says he’ll miss her, goes on and on about how it’s so terrible how she’s never home. He does this every time their mother and father leave, he has since they were young. Remus couldn’t give less of a shit. His plan now was finding out what Roman’s next move was. Which was hard because they were back to avoiding each other like the plague. They’d spent a few months getting better at being brothers, then one of their parents shows up and ruins it. This time it was great, Remus would never admit it, but it was. Roman made an effort when their parents weren’t around, a few months ago he started doing things like making dinner for them both and bringing it to him, offering to do a load of laundry for him while he was doing it, being mindful of his volume when practicing his singing and acting, all these little things. 

He’d even started initiating physical contact again, which Remus couldn’t get enough of. Literally. An occasional pat on the back, a grab of his hand to pull him somewhere, a light slap to his knee or arm when he said something distasteful. Giving physical affection to Remus was something that seemed to be unique to Roman. It had always been like that when they were younger, and Remus didn’t think he wanted it to stop. Any time he thinks about it he always drifts back to his head against Roman’s knee a few weeks ago when Roman had carded a hand through his hair and then a few minutes later practically tackled him to douse him in perfume The shit smelled awful, but afterwards Roman had slung an arm over his shoulder and gave him a squeeze. That and the closeness with Logan kept him buzzing for the next two days. 

Now there was nothing again. It was like Roman could turn off his affection for Remus and pretend he didn’t exist. Remus tried not to be angry about it, he really did, but he couldn’t stop the fire that he felt when the other people on stage got his praises and affection. Both of them were incredibly clingy, but Roman was so much worse at hiding it and it made Remus nearly scream. He piled all of his affectionate behavior onto Logan, and Logan never really minded. He’d place his head on Logan’s shoulder, hold his hand on stage, sit pressed up against him offstage. He loved it, he did. He loved protecting Logan, talking to Logan, existing in the same space as the dork was exhilarating. He hated having to protect Logan from his brother. There was no way in hell that Remus would let anything terrible happen to Logan, but there was no way he would ever let his brother’s stupid selfish decisions fall back on him. He knows he shouldn’t give a single shit, but he does. 

His tiredness fades with his mother, but he’s still exhausted because Roman keeps trying to fuck with Logan when he knows damn well Remus won’t let him. The selfish ass. This time, Roman has the gall to pull his entire scheme in front of Remus. 

“Logan,” He starts, his affected air is slightly dim today and his hands are hidden, “To apologize for my unkind actions, I have brought a peace offering.” 

Roman hands Logan a little bag from a restaurant Remus swears he recognizes. 

“Oh, thank you.” Logan says quietly, opening the bag and pulling out a wrapped burger. 

Logan takes it out and inspects it as Remus wracks his brain trying to remember where he knows the packaging. It hits him right before Logan takes a bite. This burger is from the restaurant that gave Roman food poisoning a few months ago. It looks like the same burger too. At this point, Remus is half-convinced Roman is taunting him. He’s in a bit of a panic and doesn’t think before he snatches the burger and shoves it in his mouth.

“Remus!” Both call out, the wrapper is still on the end of the burger so he pulls it out then chews and swallows the thing whole. 

He coughs and sputters for almost two minutes after, then shoots Roman an awful glare. 

“What just happened?” Logan asks, extremely puzzled. 

Roman is gawking at Remus again, “Why did you eat that!?” 

“Fuck you that’s why, you horsefucking shiteating egomaniac bastard.”

Roman walks off in a huff, Remus lays on the floor. 

“Are you alright?” Logan questions, handing him a water bottle.

Maneuvering onto his side, Remus takes a sip and his throat feels miles better, “I just straight up ate a burger whole like a fucking snake, how do you think I am dipshit?”

“Hm,” He pauses to think, “Bad.” 

Both boys laugh, and Logan joins Remus on the ground.

“I am beginning to believe your brother has a vendetta against me.”

“No shit, Sherlock.”

Logan pauses, looking at Remus who is still occasionally wheezing.

“Are you alright...emotionally?” Remus wheezes and laughs at the same time, sounding something similar to a goose. 

“‘Thought you didn’t know much about those, poindexter.”

“I do not. However, as your friend I feel like it’s important to ask.”

Remus just sighs, closes his eyes, and blows a raspberry at the ceiling.

“Me and Roman are complicated.”

“I can tell.” Remus laughs, Logan really is something else. 

It’s quiet when Remus asks, “Do you hate him?”

“No,” Logan’s response is measured and confident like he’s asked himself this question a hundred times, “I don’t hate him. I think he’s got some things to work out, and is taking out his frustration on me as of late.”

He keeps talking, Remus covers his closed eyes with his arm, “More importantly, do you hate him?”

He almost rockets to his feet when Logan says curiously, “Or, more interestingly, do you love him?”

It takes him nearly two and a half minutes sat up and sipping water, watching Logan pack his things, to muster up the will to tell the truth. 

“Of course I love him. Nobody else is gonna fucking do it.” 

He could barely comprehend Logan’s response to his admission so he shoved it out of his mind with all the force he could muster, then waved a goodbye to him when he parted and left Remus with his mind. 

He ends up going home early because his awful decision ended up actually giving him food poisoning. He takes a sick day the next day, and spends most of the time feeling like shit physically and emotionally. His brain has kept tabs on all the shitty feelings and thoughts he’s had and is now playing out a full length shitty horror movie about his life and his dumb brother and his shitty summer crush. Then there’s that conversation with Logan. The last sentence is running through him over and over again. He keeps coming back to it, though he’s sure Logan didn’t even mean anything by it. Seventeen words and his world was sent spinning. 

“Ah, I understand, it’s hard to love somebody when they don’t act like they love you back.” 

Logan doesn’t even know the half of it. 

August 20th - Roman asked me directly to leave the production. Though I admire the effort, all it achieved was a quite awful night, and an angry lecture(?) of sorts from Janus. I do not believe Roman will be trying this tactic ever again.

Roman tries to apologize multiple times, but something angry and petty in Remus doesn’t accept any of them. They’re both getting more and more frustrated by the minute. By the time the thirteenth of August rolls around they aren’t on speaking terms again and everyone can tell that it’s taking its toll on them both. Remus acts out more than usual against people he doesn’t usually target. He scared an ensemble girl one too many times, to the point where she ended up slapping him. He deserved it, but it still stung. Roman poured himself into his role more than ever, but it only ended up stressing him out even more than usual. When his voice so much as wavered on stage it shattered his confidence. 

It affected their friends as well. Roman spent more time with Patton and Emile, avoiding Remus and Janus as much as he could possibly manage. Janus rolled his eyes but just resigned himself to the tech booth with Virgil, Remus, and Logan. The only good thing that was happening lately was Janus’ newfound attachment to Logan. The pair's insane intelligence and love of debate meant one was nearly guaranteed every other time they were in the same room. It was exhilarating to watch, and probably exhilarating to take part in. Remus didn’t much care for debates, but watching Janus and Logan go at each other with an occasional snarky comment or new suggestion from Virgil was making him grow a fondness for them. At this point there was barely anybody in the theatre who didn’t adore Logan.

The staff, the cast, the tech. Everyone adored him. He was smart, diligent, and hard-working. He asked questions, didn’t undermine others, and respected the entire cast's talent at what they did. It was magical to watch everyone in the auditorium drift under Logan’s thumb. Remus was included. They were saving Say No To This until near last because of the lack of dancing involved, but it didn’t even matter. Say No To This was not needed in Remus’ seduction plan because Logan seemed to gravitate towards him with ease. He is a damn good friend and Remus is determined to make that boy his bride. 

Despite his growing lack of sleep and reliance on caffeine, Remus is skating by just fine without anything bad happening. Until his brother decides to fuck with his life again. He’s on the thin line between being shitty in secret and full-on breakdown, Roman really isn’t helping his case. Remus is lounging on the floor while Logan reads in a chair next to the makeup mirrors. He hears someone enter, but isn’t bothered enough to move. 

Ever the polite, Logan greets the newcomer “Ah, Hello Roman, how are you?”

“I need to ask you something.” His brother asks, and Remus turns his head away from the noise. 

“Alright, what is it?” Logan sounds so measured and calm.

There is a long pause, “What is it going to take for you to realize you should quit?”

The calmness in Logan’s voice wavers, and Remus can hear it wobble, “Excuse me?”

“You heard me! I mean, it’s obvious I've been trying to get you to leave, so what’s been keeping you!?” Roman raises his voice near instantly, that same childish selfishness burns from his tongue. 

“It is none of your business.” There’s a dignified fire raging under his voice now, it’s like he’s been practicing for this. 

“You’re not even a good actor! From what I can tell, you’re entirely uninteresting and way too intellectual to be here!” Roman continues, Remus feels the urge to get up but he can’t find the will to move. 

“Roman, please think before you say something you regret.” Remus knows what Roman is going to say before it happens.

“No!” His brother is so typical, “You have no idea what this role means to me, why can’t you just leave!?”

That’s typical too, Remus opens his eyes and looks at the pair. Logan looks pissed off, Roman looks pissed off, and Janus is watching from the doorway. 

“I try very hard to give you the benefit of the doubt in regards to your debilitating egomania, but it is beginning to appear as if your whole sense of stability and purpose is built upon some false reality where you need to be the star at every possible moment. Go to therapy about it, and leave me alone.” Logan spits this in Roman’s face, then turns back to his book. 

Clenching his fists and staring at the ground, Roman looks almost defeated until he catches Remus staring and his face morphs into something so bitter he has to force himself to look away. 

“No. I will not leave you alone until I get this part. None of you have any idea how much I need it.” 

“Roman-” Janus speaks up daringly from his spot by the door, his tone is enough to warn him to stand down. 

Roman’s eyes are squeezed shut, his fists are clenched, “I know we have the same face, but I’m not a failure like my brother.”

That sends Remus to his feet and out the door before anyone can say a word. As he passes Janus on the way out Janus tries to stop him but he pushes past him, past everyone, and out the front door of the theatre. 

Janus turns on Roman in an instant, walking slowly into the room and shutting the door with purpose. Roman’s eyes are sewed shut and all the guilt he tries to push down floods him when he makes eye contact with his pissed off friend. 

“Roman, we need to have a talk.” 

[slashersteve]

Can’t Cheat Fate [5]

pairing: Steve Harrington/Female Reader, slight Jonathan Byers/Female Reader || Fake Dating! Au

series summary: After years of pining after the same guy you finally decide to tell him, but unfortunately you waited too long and he’s found someone else. Luckily, Steve Harrington offers to help you get him back if you’re willing to help him win the girl of his dreams.

warnings: none I don’t believe oof || word count: 1.2k+

Note: sorry for the wait, honestly if this happens again just yell at me im the worse kind of writer lskjfkldkds this chapter is much shorter than the rest- so therefore Chapter 6 will be out soon and THEN THE REAL FUN STUFF HAPPENS 

| Check out my other works! | Can’t Cheat Fate Masterlist |

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***

Steve was laughing until the very next day about your horrible advice, he just thought it was funny, especially coming from you. He came to school the morning after, the same time he usually got there. He wasn’t sure if you’d arrive early or not, it was a mystery, so to stay on the safe side he arrived early, chatted with a couple of his friends- then headed to the library where Nancy already was. 

It was a whole thing now, Steve would sit and talk with Nancy and her friend Barb every morning before you showed up. 

Steve actually felt refreshed about his relationship with Nancy after finally talking to someone else about it that wasn’t his normal friends, that he finally got it off of his chest even if you were no help. You were still listening to him, and trying. That’s what mattered to him anyway. 

But that advice was just too funny and ridiculous, he couldn’t help but chuckle to himself and couldn’t wait to see you again to tease you about it. 

All night he’d been thinking about what to do about it all and came to the conclusion that he should get Nancy to give him a real reason as to why she won’t be his actual girlfriend. Nearly everyone knows or suspects something between them- and she clearly is very interested in him. It’d been bugging him all night that he wanted to ask her now, but there were too many people, so he opted to wait until after 3rd period. A usual meeting time for them. 

He had her pushed up against the wall of the empty restroom, lips attached together. Nancy had one hand tangled on the hair on the back of head, while his were flat on the wall on either side of her head. 

“Steve- come on, we have to go now,” she said, “I’m supposed to meet Barb.” She didn’t attempt to push him away though, choosing to stare up at him with this cute look on her face that Steve loved. Steve sighed. 

“Come on- she knows about us, almost everyone does,” Steve said cheekily, then pecked her on the lips. Nancy giggled softly. 

“They do not- well not everyone, now come on,” now she put her hands on his chest and pushed him away. Steve complied, stepping away from her and watching her fix the clips in her hair. Steve crossed his arms over his chest.

“Why don’t we just tell everyone then?” he suggested, she stopped for a moment to look at him through the mirror, then back to putting the clip in. 

“Why would we do that? We’re not dating,” she said, Steve pursed his lips together and let out a breath.

“I mean like- how about you be my girlfriend, like officially?” Nancy frowned suddenly, and turned to look at Steve, “You know so we wouldn’t have to sneak around like this…” Steve trailed off. Nancy walked over to him, the frown still on her lips and this glint in her eyes. 

“Steve we talked about this…” Steve shook his head.

“No we haven’t you just said no, I just want to know what’s up Nancy? We’ve been doing whatever this is for months now, I really like you, and I know you like me too, so why not just...make this relationship official?” Steve didn’t mean to sound so impatient, but he just really liked her and wanted to be with her. 

Nancy took a deep breath, “Okay Steve- here’s the truth...I like what we’re doing okay? And I do like you, but I just don’t want to date anyone.” 

“Date anyone or just me?”

Nancy licked her lips nervously, and then sighed once more, “Steve...okay to be honest- I just don’t see you as actually being my boyfriend.” Steve raised both brows, and then uncrossed his arms, taken back by that sudden confession of hers. He laughed bitterly, and Nancy looked at the ground. Steve pointed at her, about to speak- but then he laughed once more, hands moving down to rest on his waist. 

“So you’re saying...I’m not boyfriend material?” Steve asked, Nancy shook her head. 

“No! That’s not it! I was just saying that I don’t see you being my boyfriend,” she tried to explain, but Steve didn’t find that to be any better. In fact, he actually felt like Nancy just shot him right in his heart. 

What does that even mean? He could be the boyfriend to anyone else but her? Steve wasn’t very clear on the meaning behind her statement, but Nancy was already picking up her bag and books. 

“I’m sorry Steve, I really am,” she said in a genuine tone, Steve smacked his lips together and just shrugged, not sure what to say. She shot him another apologetic look before she quickly left the bathroom, leaving Steve to stand there all alone with his suddenly half-broken heart, and very confused mind. 

The day went on, Steve didn’t talk to Nancy again, or even wanted to talk about her- he had planned that maybe he should talk to you about what happened, you were really the only person who listened and didn’t make any crude comments. You just were bad at advice, but he wouldn’t be able to get you alone until the next Tuesday at least and today was Friday. He wondered if you were busy this weekend...

“Hey Harrington- are we still going to the Football game tonight?” his friend, Tommy H. asked, Steve snapped out of his thoughts, not realizing he wasn’t even eating and just lazily poking at his food in his lowkey depressed state. 

“Huh- oh yeah I guess,” Steve said, not even looking at him and back at his food. Tommy raised a brow, then looked over at his girlfriend Carol. She snickered, and mouthed ‘Nancy’ He laughed mockingly and stuck out his bottom lip. Steve saw him do it, but wasn’t in the mood to call him out for being a douchebag. 

He simply looked up, catching sight of Nancy entered the cafeteria with Barbara next to her, she was smiling and laughing at something her friend said. Steve sucked in a breath, and then right behind her, came you and that distracted him from Nancy for just a moment, a moment he was grateful for.

You looked like a mess today, your hair was clipped up from it being so messy and you were wearing a large grey hoodie, rolled up jeans and two mixed-matched socks. For the first time since Nancy rejected him again, he smiled. Even if it was a small smile, it was there and it was because of you and you didn’t even know it. 

He was reminded again upon seeing you of your advice, and he scoffed lightly and took a bite of his food. 

Although, even though his initial reaction was to laugh, a new thought actually entered his mind. 

“You don’t know if you don’t try” is what you had told him the day before about the whole date someone else, and maybe Steve wasn’t thinking logically, but you were right. He didn’t know if he didn’t try. If he dated another person like her, and proved to be a good boyfriend- then Nancy would have to see that he can be a good boyfriend to someone like her. Steve’s eyes lit up at that idea, but then it quickly faltered when he thought well there’s no one like Nancy, she’s one of a kind.

But either way, Nancy likes him, she said so herself, so if he dates someone similar to her, see how he treats them, how much a good boyfriend he is, she’d probably realize she shouldn’t of let him go. It was fool-proof, completely fool-proof. Steve sat up in his chair, ignoring the looks on Tommy and Carol’s face before they returned to talking quietly to each other. 

He began to look around, trying to find someone he could possibly date. His eyes scanned over where his ex-girlfriend Tina sat, she was for some reason already looking at him, and Steve had to quickly avert his eyes elsewhere. There were a lot of girls willing to date him, he knew a few girls who harbored a crush on him, and while it should be easy to find someone to date just for the time being- Steve realized that would be totally unfair to them. He couldn’t just date a girl to get Nancy jealous, it would break the other girl’s heart. 

Steve took a deep breath out of frustration and let his eyes rest on where Nancy was once again. Now she was sitting facing him, but her head was turned to the left, talking to someone else that wasn’t Barbara. Steve was surprised to see you there, you were sitting right next to Nancy, talking to her, and even smiling. 

Huh, Steve thought. 

You and Nancy were kind of apart of the same group, you were both smart, nice- a bit in your own bubble. In a way, you two could be the same people if Steve hadn’t known both of you personally to see you weren’t. And you know about Steve being completely whipped over Nancy and he knows that you’re completely whipped over Byers. 

His mind worked fast, faster than it’s ever worked before in his life, and he quickly came up with the ways a “relationship” would be beneficial for both parties- you and Steve. He slapped his hand against the table, startling his two friends. Steve didn’t look at them, practically ignored them as he decided right then and there that oh yeah oh yeah this was probably his best idea yet.

He watched as you began to get up from your spot, pulling a couple of coins out of your pocket, probably going to take a trip to the soda machine and Steve quickly shot up, and followed you there. 

Steve stopped right behind you, and tapped your shoulder. You jumped slightly, and turned around as you said “Jeesh I just got here could you wait?” annoyed, but you quickly swallowed your words when you saw it was Steve.

“Oh it’s you- what’s up?” you asked, and Steve put his hands on his waist and just said it. 

“Will you be my girlfriend?” 

[voltagefangirl19]

MC as a hitwoman hired to kill the bidders (his POV)- Soryu Oh

I think this is one of the longest and hardest hc/fic (I don’t even know anymore Dx) that I’ve written, I don’t even know if its okay, but if even one of you enjoy it then it’s worth it :D part 1   part 2 Eisuke’s version  story: written, brain: dry, quality: low Im forcibly removed from the fandom

I was in my office, exchanging anxious glares between the document I had in front of me and the phone, like the past two, almost three weeks now, waiting for Samejima to tell me if ______ was alright. I knew from the second day of the month, that I was being targeted, although I didn't know by who, whoever was stalking me must have been stalking _______ as well, so I assigned her a pair of my subordinates as bodyguards. The first day that happened, both guys came up to me with an unbelievable story: supposedly, ________ was chasing me and protected me from a guy that was going to kill me before they could intervene, I didn't believe it at first and I wanted to ditch that thought, but it kept bothering me so I started my research, and I realize that there was a dark part of her that I didn't know...: she was a hitman, a hitwoman more accurately. 

I had to avoid her for an entire day for the information to sink in, after all, how could a girl so sweet and nice as her be a killer? How was it possible that the only woman who cared for and treasure me, my only sunshine, be a murderer?, I thought that it would take an eternity for me to accept that my beautiful and nice girlfriend wasn’t as innocent as I thought; but then I realized that I missed her, that I was now attached to her, it was a very odd feeling, a very needy one, so I made up an excuse for not contacting her. I was a little hurt that she didn't tell me anything, but as much as I love her, I would wait for her to tell me everything her heart desired. At least that was what I tried to do.

While I was at the office, I made my own little research about her company, a very famous one in the underground actually, and apparently, ________ was one of the top killers, honestly I didn’t know how to feel with that, in a way I was proud, but... ever since I knew her and knew that I was in love with her, I wanted her to be as far away as she could of the evil and darkness that was surrounding me, yet there was the probability that I was wrong, since I didn’t know since when she had joined that company, there was a high chance, no, it was almost certain that something happened in her life that made her took that path. 

In any way I was ready to support her and to tell her what I knew, so during the second week I went to visit her to her room in the Tres Spades’ staff dorms, I wouldn’t lie, I was pretty excited to see her, since seeing _______ somehow made my day worthy, yet when she opened the door, the bandage in her arm caused my heart to sink with concern, I didn’t know why but she was still trying to protect me; that only thought changed something in me.

“I know” was what I said that day after we drank the tea that she made for us

“What?...”

“I know about your secret life” I made a pause, I could see the panic in her eyes, how a person so easy to read as she could be a killer? “I know about your job as a hitwoman” I saw ______ literally freeze for a moment, so I knew that I had to keep going before any misunderstandigs could take place “I want you to know that that doesn’t change my feelings for you nor my intention to marry you in a near future” her expression relaxed but was still tense, my eyes went straight to her bandage, she followed my gaze “What happened? and please don’t lie now” she sighed in a defeated way

“This is a scratch, but it was made by a sharp USMC razor blade” she made a pause, probably trying to sense my response, it was an odd feeling to hear her talking about weapons, but as I kept my focus on the wound, I was more determined, so I decided that I had to get used to it “A month of fighting and to kill the former customer, the one who asked me to finish you, those were the requirements my boss gave me to resign” she said

“Do you need help with the last one?”- I asked by instinct, but at the same time, somewhere deep inside me, I already knew the answer

“That’s… already done” her apologetic look took me by surprise, more than the fact that the girl I believe was completely innocent had just admitted killing a man

“I see” that was the only thing I managed to say

“I… have one week left until I can send my resignation and to finally be free” she made a pause, then she took her purse and took out a locket with a symbol that I didn’t know, ____ gave it to me, it was cold but somehow I knew that it had sentimental value for her, she watched me observing it and then she kept talking “It’s a coat of arms…. The symbol, it belongs to my family, a family of killers” she looked at me with a bit of self-pity in her eyes “I was trained since birth to be a hitwoman, I don’t even know how to do anything else, still, I wanted to have a normal life, so I started off as a maid here in Tres spades, I… was able to live like this because I was the best, top of the class, one of the best assassins in the organization, etc. Let’s say that the freedom in which I have been living until now is the result of my hard work, I didn’t mind but then… someone asked me your head, refusing would’ve to mean putting all of you guys in danger, so after a long time of negotiation I got the best deal I could, sorry for not telling you anything earlier, but…” her voice cracked, and my hand got on top of hers instinctively

“It’s okay” I understood, even if it hurt a little to be lied, she was doing her best to protect us, the other bidders and myself “Anyway... do you need help, fighting those guys?” as usual, I wasn’t comfortable with the idea that the woman I love was in danger, yet she looked at me with a serious and confident expression

“I’m okay, after all, if I can’t do this kind of things, how could I ever be the wife of the boss of the ice dragons”

‘I really, really love this woman’ that was what I thought as I saw her cute face blushing as she just realized the things she said

-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-

The last day of the month clashed with an important business of mine, I was preparing the necessary ‘documents’ for the negotiation when a knock sounded on my door

“Come in” It was a surprise to see her there, especially with a concerned look on her face “What’s the matter? I don’t see you coming here often”

“I… suspect that there is going to be a second assassin today, I have done my research and I have evidence that supports that theory” she said and proceed to show me the multiple emails, contracts and bank accounts movements of the ones she thought were the hitmen responsible for today’s mission

“You know it's highly probable that this are fake right? With the intention of confuse you and make you think that you ahead of them” I analyze the information in front of me in full mobster mood

“That’s a possibility, but even so, the money movements of the organization as well as their GPS tracking and weapon logistics suggest that there’s going to be more than one assassins today”

“Well, you may be right about that...”

“Of course I am! Who you think you are talking to, Mr. Mob boss?” she asked with a smirk. I giggled at her sassy remark

“For a moment there I thought I was talking to Eisuke” I pat her head as she pouted

“Hey now, that’s not fair”

“No it isn’t” I smirked as well before pulling her for a kiss, when we part she was blushing ‘God how can she be so adorable?’ “So what’s the plan?” I asked as I assumed that she already had one, _______ just grinned as if she just had been waiting for that question.

-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-

According to _______’s plan, we changed the location from the other gang’s quarters to a neutral port downtown

“First let's change the meeting location, here is a good place, for the mob is a neutral zone, right? And I know the place since a few of my contracts happened there” she said “After that I’ll locate myself in this building nearby, for your safety put other two snipers here and here just in case”

“And for yours?” I asked in a concerned voice

“I’ll be fine don’t worry about it” 

‘Even if you say that…’ was what I thought

“Don’t worry boss I’ll protect you, even if it’s the last thing I do” Inui said with a dramatic voice, probably sensing my stress  

“I appreciate it Inui, but it’s not myself who I’m worried about”

“________ will be alright boss, her plan was very elaborate and almost flawless let everything in her hands” Samejima added, I simply nodded, as I saw that the other party was arriving at that same moment, we walked in their direction, there were the boss and other two subordinates, one of them carried a big stack of wooden boxes

“We brought the goods, did you bring the money?” the boss asked, Samejima opened the case he had and showed them the payment, the boss nodded in approval “Let’s exchange” Samejima walked towards them and give the man with the empty hands the case, while the man carrying the boxes gave them to Inui

“It's always a pleasure to make business with you Soryu, and the Ice Dragons of course” the mob boss said while he and his men turn around and walked towards their car, we did the same and that was when happened, three loud bangs echoed in the place as well as the scream of one of the men, we turned around at the same time that the others, we all dragged our guns “What’s the meaning of this Oh?!” the other boss demanded to know

“Why don’t you ask him?”- I rebutted while pointing the guy’s bloody GLOCK G40 on the ground, the pistol’s direction was aiming to us.

“Soryu?” I heard _______’s voice in the transmitter she gave me earlier “That man is not one of the top killers but he definitely works for the organization, I’m still looking out for any other threat that could be...”

“So here is where you were”- I heard a faint manly voice and then a series of shootings

“_________!!!!” I yelled, but the connection got cut “Dammit! Samejima, take care of the rest!” I order and ran towards the building where I knew ______ was.

My heart was beating painfully and my own breathing hurts as I went up the stairs, when I reached the last floor I started to hear them, I prepared myself to shoot 

“It was a nice work you did, but I’ll end you here and take your place as the best” the same voice that I heard before was talking now, I peek through the door and saw ________ fighting for her life against two boker combat blades, one in each guy’s hands pointing to her neck, her eyes focused on mine for a second, I didn’t even think about it and shot at the man’s back, after that she took one of the blades and stab the guy’s neck, I ran to her and hugged her, without caring about the blood in her sleeves

“Are you okay?”- I asked in a bit of panic

“I-I’m fine, thank you…although I was supposed to be the one to protect you” after everything that happened she pout just because I ended up helping her, I couldn’t restrain myself and laughed, I really loved her, she was so strong and adorable at the same time

“Let’s get out of here, finish the meeting and go home, because I really want to celebrate our victory here by having some private fun with you” I said with a teasing tone, she blushed as usual, I took her hand and lead her to the exit, as we were walking I could felt her tiny and warm hand entwine with mine and I realize that we could do anything together, I wanted to protect her so bad before, yet she saved me in more ways than one…

I could say in conclusion, that this woman was the most adorable and deadly I’ve ever known, and she was mine just as I was hers        

this was really hard to write guys, no kidding Dx so...  I’ll really appreciate any feedback you guys have for me, I hope the others are easier, it may take long but I’m still going to finish this series, thank you all for your support u,u  

[trpg-dingusmaster]

two druids and a bard almost ruin dm’s fanfiction, dm responds by being a weenie

I went to play dnd at the shop a while ago, again my friend who usually plays the unicorn in my game came with- this time there was room a the table so she joined the game. there were a lot of people missing but also one new guy? or at east one guy I’ve never seen before. he and I helped her build a character. he did most of the work since they were both playing druids anyway.

the dm this time was the guy who plays the one handed girl in edwardian/victorian england (90lbs FineCoal) campaign, and the tabaxi in the official event campaign. 

This guys campaign was, I was told, a High Seas themed 5e. I had made a character for this when I was first told about it i dunno a month or two ago? 1/2 orc bard, Bassun (like a bassoon) Drun. 

it turns out this campaign is coming to an end though so it doesnt matter. I had kept missing weeks this game was going on because of work and it seems like a WHOLE LOT of stuff went on between when I made my character and yesterday. heres a few few things, and getting even this ,uch was like pulling teeth to be honest. a lot of these details lead me to believe this is some kind of kingdom hearts fanfiction? but it was never explicitly escribed as such.

-characters all have keyblades? some more than one. each having a special ability of some kind though it doesnt seen to always correspond with the theme of the keyblade? like- mine is basically just a magical electric-keyboard-guitar? thing? but is special ability is to turn into a really big gun??? unless I misunderstood?? I thought it was weird though so I never used it.

-there are Nobodies- both monsterous and humaniod I think? But the humanoid ones might be called Shamans? (but the could be a different faction?)  which cannot be hurt by any magic or attacks not done with the keyblades. and several spells that probably we shouldnt have needed to make any rolls for we had  to roll to see if they effected them or something? I think someone said it was because they can become incorporeal nearly at will? and/or because they can shift into a pocket plain as a means of travel through the material plain?

-non magic using classes get 2 first level spells or 1 second level spell with dm approval they can cast through the keyblade only, these spells are attached to it permanently and cant be changed. these spells can be used 1/long rest. spells are taken from a class list that either fits the keyblade theme or some arbitrary choice by the dm im not sure

-magic user classes can cast either all of their spells through the keyblade or the same unchangeable 2 first level or 1 second level I’m not sure. but at the very least I  know I can cast shatter with it? 

-there are things called orbs? which are collected from defeated nobodies (I think?) and theycan be used to do stuff like- get new keyblades or to do something that sounded like buying spell slots but not quite? I’m not sure.

-there are god like entities in physical form that are just?? around?? but also somethat are not in physical form?? some of them have avatars that are around doing stuff?? both god like beings and their avatars are kill able? 

Theres something called the cursed lands which seems to be some kind of separate plain seeping into and corrupting the material plain? it seems to have some natural mind effecting abilities? and is where the main antagonists are hiding out? I get the feeling its based off of some end game locations in some kh game or another.

I’m thinking maybe if I was more familiar with kingdom hearts maybe I’d have some idea about whats going on? I’ve only played 1, 2, and chain of memories so....  I dunno if any of the weird stuff here is from the other KH content or what. I suspect the ‘Sea’ is actually SPACE/multiverse and the ‘islands’ are actually distinct worlds/universes.

Also, its not really very 5e? the way the game goes is very like how the 90lbs FineCoal is played but combat sort of resembles 5e where the other doesnt.

the game was very chaotic and confusing but this time it was basically no fun, like at all. my self, my friend, and the new guy were unfamiliar with the setting and its rules and no one felt the need to explain. nearly everything we tried to do ended up being not allowed either by setting rules or just because it was too far removed from the dms expectations and thus would ruin his narrative, I assume based on what things did work.

Which brings me to how the dm was being a weenie. Instead of just explaining to us you cant use this or do that and you don’t have such and such ability because game rules, even if it wasn’t true we wouldn’t have known or just honestly saying: I cant let you do that because it ruins the story I’m trying to tell, that would have been one thing, but what he chose to do was punish characters/players for doing stuff didn’t want us to do whether or not we knew what we were trying to do was allowed, with no explanation. this ranged from giving damage or curses to characters or destroying character equipment, and even going so far as to allow players to roll for actions or saves with crazy high difficulty but disregarding the roll entirely even if it was a natural 20 ift he result didn’t work with what he wanted to happen. this was a literal exchange between a player and the dm:

-can I roll to stop that?

-you can try hehehe

-natural 20!

-...I dont care... you still fail. (no, he wasnt kidding)

here are some things that were not allowed or deemed really annoying for... reasons? (even if what we were doing should have been allowed based on what we understood of the rules we were told, like- magic cast through the keyblade effects Nobodies... except when the dm doesnt want it to because it ruins the plot)

casting identify, casting locate object, casting warding wind, casting pass without a trace, casting wind wall, casting glyph of warding, casting lesser restoration, casting remove curse, leaving an npc behind for in character plot reasons also they were a distracting attempt at slapstick comedy (this npcs weapon of choice was a frying pan) which no one wanted to bring into the end game, having in character conversation while the rest of the party participated in the plot that only they understood, wanting to start changing character alignment for the better because plot, asking how big a space was, asking how far away things were, inspiring the party (my bards equipment was broken for this). asking for explicit approval before trying to take an action. 

one guy, whos been playing this campaign since it was started got so fed up with the dm being a weenie he nearly left. It seems this kind of behavior- punishing with out explanation or obvious reason, was common throughout and it really fits with what I’ve come to learn about this guy and how he plays these games. I can only hope he learns and grows out of it.

if youre going to run a railroading style campaign or adventure, thats fine and a perfectly valid way to run a game, but please be clear with the players- ALL of them that’s whats going on and such are your expectations for the game, also if there are weird homebrew rules you REALLY need to make sure ALL of your players have some grasp on what they are.

if my friend and I, I assume also the new guy, had known more about the setting and the dms expectations we would have chosen and built our characters, or at least played them, differently. Maybe we could have been a constructive part of the group instead of three annoying piles of dead weight everyone was frustrated with by the end of the session.

or I dunno, maybe don’t have three new people jump into the tail end of an unnecessarily complicated homebrew campaign with no real context.

we could have done something else, I could have run a little one shot  at another table or helped people make characters for the murder hobo game. if I’m there the next time this game is going I might do that, because i really didn’t enjoy this. The whole thing hardly even felt like a game? It felt more like we were just being lead through the dms fanfiction. He intends to start another campaign once this is done, to stay in the rotation, I’m not sure if I’m gonna do that one either.

 I might at least give it a try once, mostly to confirm my suspicion that even though he owns a copy of the PHB and possibly the DMG I’m not sure he actually read them. I mean, look, I understand being a dm is hard especially if youre still new and learning, I’m still learning too, but that’s no excuse to be a weenie to your players. You know? You have to communicate and yeah sometimes you gotta compromise sometimes you gotta improvise, thats like, a pretty big part of games like this isnt it?