#in which i ramble about how much i appreciate how they write eddie as a parent

[blueberrytwoberry]

eddie diaz and parenting

So, the thing is, Eddie Diaz's Parenting Skills seem to be taken to one extreme or another so often. Either he's held up as the best parent or the worst, and I don't know, I think there's a lot of nuance there, which is part of what makes him interesting as a character; there's some good, there's some bad, it's complex!

First of all, we get characters telling us Eddie's a great parent, but mostly this is Buck, and Buck has a reactive view on "good" parenting that basically boils down to Eddie being very affectionate and open and, face it, lenient with Chris. Buck thinks Eddie's the greatest parent ever, but Buck isn't looking at things empirically (I could get into the Buckley parents here, but that's a different manifesto and no one would like what I had to say, so).

And in any case! A lot of those things are good parenting things. It's a positive that Eddie is affectionate and supportive, that he cares, and that he adjusts his behaviors when an issue gets pointed out to him (the entire skateboarding thing, for example).

At the same time, man, Eddie underreacts to some stuff Chris does. Like, you know, throwing a bowl on the floor to break it and getting an Uber to someone else's house without any notification. Or sneaking around. You get the idea.

So, boundaries aren't a big thing for Chris. Which is, I think, actually a pretty realistic problem considering that Eddie was not in his life for years. He didn't get entry-level experience in setting boundaries, and then things were probably easier when he just didn't set them, and now...

Anyway, really, boundaries seem to be the root cause of Eddie's Parenting Issues, I think, because it's not just that he doesn't set boundaries for Chris, he doesn't set them for what he shares with Chris, not really, at least in regards to, well, relationships.

Chris knew far too much far too early about both Ana and Marisol. There's a reason that the experts recommend waiting around a year to introduce a new romantic partner to your child. Introducing a new partner almost right away (and moving them in and then out again, in Marisol's case) isn't great for a kid, because it throws everything into confusion, undercuts the child's sense of security, and, when/if said partner leaves, well...

So, you know, all of that put together, it's not exactly a shocker that Chris operates under the belief that jetting in and out of someone's life is the norm. It's also not a shocker that Eddie made the decisions that brought them there; it all adds up pretty neatly, even if it makes me want to shake him sometimes. You can see the steps that led to this destination and, to be clear, I appreciate that he's not a perfect beacon of parenting decisions. He makes mistakes, just like all the other good parents on the show.

And I also appreciate that, right now, he seems to be making the right long-term choice, because, well, Chris is, what, 14? That's old enough that the court system would allow him to decide where he wanted to live, if their situation went to court. Old enough that he could very easily just leave again if Eddie tried to "drag him back," doing more damage to their relationship in the long-term.

So, Eddie's letting him pick. Even though it hurts him. He's respecting that decision and you know what, good for him. Because part of parenting means respecting your child's decisions even when those decisions hurt you and even when those decisions hurt them, because children aren't an extension of their parents, they're their own people who get to make decisions that aren't always in their best interests, and the scope of the decisions they can make expands as they get older. Chris, at 14, can make a lot of them, including deciding to go live with his grandparents.

As a parent, you're there to help when your child needs it after the results of that decision and you can try to explain why it might be a bad idea, but you can't take the decision away. Parents aren't gods.

Anyway, I deeply appreciate that it's a consistent thing for Eddie. He doesn't want to force his way in. He wants a relationship where both people want to be there, which, I mean, seems like it should be a bare minimum for everyone, but in many cases, it is not. So, good for him.

And, yeah, I suspect that some part of Chris wants Eddie to swoop in and try to make him come back, but you know, that's part of growing up, too. Part of making decisions and telling other people what you want is accepting that they're going to believe you. Expecting other people to read your mind and know what you actually want out of a situation is a good way to live a life of constant frustration and heartache (also, to break the people around you, because no one can live under that kind of strain of constantly second-guessing and worrying what someone actually means forever).

I do also suspect, after Eddie's garage convo in 8x4, that the show might have him go make a grand gesture in Texas, which, fine. It'll be another layer of complexity, and I've no complaints there.

Anyway, I don't know, I've got too many thoughts in my head about Eddie and how he's not the best or worst parent ever; he's just a man who is trying his best, and sometimes his best is amazing, and sometimes it's awful, actually, because he's a human and that's how it goes, and I appreciate him so much as a character.

[steviewashere]

I am itching to write a frat boy Steve Harrington fic. Definitely modern day, no upside down, no supernatural elements. But not one where he desperately wants to leave it or he's being shunned by the other guys or where he feels like he doesn't fit in. Just one where he does stupid shit because it's funny to him.

He's got an estranged relationship with Tommy Hagan, another one of the frat boys. But they both ignite at the opportunity to get drunk, challenge each other to stupid bets (with no real reward), and party with people. Tommy's kind of a dick, but mostly a class clown kind of guy—doesn't do a whole lot of bullying, maybe some friendly teasing that sometimes goes a little too far (because he sucks at gauging his limit).

Steve's a reformed bully. He's learning to just sort of go with the flow, which is aided a lot by being loose and free and goofy and out-of-his-mind stupid at frat parties. He wants to meet as many different people as possible, maybe not become friends with all of them, but he wants to at least broaden his horizons.

He's buddies with a sorority girl named Nancy Wheeler (who also happens to be an ex-girlfriend, but that's water under the bridge), but she's not into partying—more into having a group of girls who want to see her succeed as a journalist (her sorority consists of her high school best friend, Barbara Holland, Tommy's girlfriend, Carol Perkins, a giddy cheerleader, Chrissy Cunningham, and a band geek who wants to be a conductor, Robin Buckley). I think he also becomes friends with Jonathan (although a bit reluctantly) through Nancy, and Argyle through Jonathan.

Steve becomes friends with Robin Buckley. Slowly, but surely. Adores her rambling conversations, which increase when she gets even the slightest bit tipsy with him (she never exceeds a few shots, and when he's with her, he doesn't drink more than that, either). She teases him without hurting his ego, unlike Tommy. He appreciates when she tells him that he's being a meathead, when he's out of his depth, when he's doing something even the slightest bit offensive. With her, he learns about his own sexuality (when she eventually comes out to him during a rather intense frat party—they had too much to drink this time, both loose-lipped and teetering). He learns to appreciate the more nerdy aspects of her, Nancy, and the rest of their sorority. Realizes he's more catty than he thought. Plays soccer with Robin on the weekends, though he sucks in comparison to when they play basketball together.

And through Robin, he meets somebody entirely new to him. Eddie Munson, a metalhead with a raspy voice and a cigarette addiction that Steve can get into, who charms in this weird flirtatious (though unintentional) teasing, who's beyond weird and dramatic, geeky with a touch of defensive. He's got a bite to him that Steve barks right back at, though never meanly. They get along like a house on fire, not a match, a house. Sure, sometimes they drink and party. But Eddie likes quieter things, despite his loud and boisterous personality. They smoke weed and sit on the roof and point out stars, or they talk for hours and hours until they both lose their voice, or they smoke and lay in the grass—absorbing one another's warmth without realizing.

It knocks Steve down, how much he learns to adore somebody like Eddie. Stirring something in him, something he's felt in his drunkest moments with Tommy. But with Eddie, he's completely sober. He's sober with intense emotion and want for a guy he's never expected to orbit around.

And, oddly enough, it's not Robin that tells him to go for it.

It's Tommy. He says something like, "Hey, we may not be best friends anymore, but I know what love looks like, man. And, y'know, considering all your past relationships, maybe it's time that you get something that makes you happy?" His voice is serious, unusually so. And Steve sort of clings to it, like a warm blanket on a camping trip. Tommy then adds something along the lines of, "Be stupid with me, Stevie-boy. Don't be stupid about your feelings. That gets you nowhere. And...I don't know this Eddie guy, not really, but there's something to him. Like a...one of those cloud things that Carol's always talking about—an aura? I could see him drawing you in before you had the chance to get his name."

Steve probably retorts with, "Shut up." And then blushes stupid about it. Because Tommy's never been wrong about these sort of things, no matter how much of an air cadet he can be. And he's also not wrong because when Robin first described to Steve who Eddie was, without giving a name initially, Steve was hooked like one of the fish he catches. (He goes on frat boy fishing trips and has a million photos in his phone of all the trout he's caught. Holds them up to the camera in that Straight Boy Way™️ (trademarked in case you can't see that on your dash), all proud as if the fish is his degree he's going out for.)

Also, I imagine that Steve goes to school to get a bachelor's degree in something like sports science? Or like physical education? Even something like family and human services?

So, line up of fields of study/options because now I want to come back to this:

-Nancy: Journalism -Robin: Music Education or Music Composition -Eddie: English or Music Production or Art -Steve: Sports Science or Physical Education or Family and Human Services -Tommy: Economics -Barb: English or Art History -Carol: Architecture -Chrissy: Special Education and American Sign Language (S.E. is typically a minor, but ASL is almost always a major) -Jonathan: Photography and Composition -Argyle: Neuroscience (I just feel it in my bones that he's like secretly crazy talented in sciences)

I can also think of some of the scenes being texting in group chats. And like with illustrations of Steve holding up his fish? God, my brain is on fire tonight.

[obsessedelusional]

Your Own Little Secret

parings ✦ eddie x reader

summary ✦ Chrissy asks a favor of you which somehow leads to you forming a secret relationship with Eddie Munson. When you two make it official, you decide it’s time to make it public.

authors note ✦ first time writing smut so hopefully it’s not terrible lol appreciate any feedback or reblogs

masterlist

The last three weeks of your life were spent entangled in Eddie’s web. It all started when Chrissy asked if you could meet him the woods to pick up her weekly pickup from none other than Eddie Munson. It came to a surprise to you when she confided in you that she smoked, even more of a surprise that it happened so often. She never gave off that type of vibe but you felt honored she trusted you enough to let you in on her little secret. So you reluctantly agreed which lead you to having your own little secret; Eddie.

Chrissy’s mother picked her up early from school when she had plans to meet Eddie out in the woods after cheer practice. A quick phone call lead to you meeting him in the woods. You had just left the gymnasium where cheer practice was held still in your practice cheer shorts and school branded t-shirt. Walking through the forest on a small dirt path. You had never been back here before, this area which had a reputation where students would disappear to hookup with each other. Or exchange cash for weed, apparently.

As you walk down the unfamiliar path all you can think about is how your on your way to buy weed. Your mind races, slightly terrified but Chrissy reassured you she’d done this 100 times and there was absolutely nothing to worry about. Expecting to see Eddie when the path opens up to a clear area of the forest. Only a few metal tables sat in the center. Unsure of what to do you sat down at one, looking around for any sign of him. The sound of leaves being stepped on startles you.

“Not the cheerleader I was expecting to see out here.” Eddie says from behind you, your nerves growing. He quickly walks up behind you and sits right next to you, an unsure smile on his face.

Uncomfortably laughing your hands resting in front you, “Chrissy sent me in replacement. Her mom picked her up early so she couldn’t make it. Said I could drop it off at hers on my way home. I have cash, she said twenty would be enough, is it enough?” You notice Eddie staring all while you physically can’t shut up. He must of noticed how anxious you are because his hands rest with yours. “Sorry I don’t know why I’m rambling.”

“Are you okay? You seem nervous.” He smiles causing you to smile back. Pulling away to start rummaging through the small metal tin he brought with him.

“Just slightly terrified.”

“Of?” He asks curiously, trying to read you.

“You and this whole situation.”

“Me?” He gasps grabbing his heart, pretending to be upset. Immediately you start to profusely apologizing thinking you actually hurt his feelings. Once he realizes how worked up you got he bursts out into laughter. “I’m just givin’ ya shit.”

You roll your eyes in response, slapping his shoulder. He winches like he’s so much pain, pain spreads across his face. “I’m not falling for your theatrics again.”

“Fine,” he sighs giving up on his little show. A few moments of silence fall between you two. “So she want her regular?”

“Yes, Eddie.”

“And she knows my name?” He sounds genuinely surprised.

“Of course I do.”

“That’s crazy.”

“My first day at Hawkins, my freshman year. I approached you and asked you where the office was and you so kindly escorted me. Of course I remember you.”

“Then you said you’d see me around. I never saw you around.” He sighs dramatically.

“Thats the same day I met Chrissy. We’ve been inseparable since. Sorry.” You genuinely feel bad it’s been two years since you last spoke to Eddie. It’s not like you didn’t think of him from time to time. He was constantly making a scene where ever he went, couldn’t help but notice him. Couldn’t help but admire how he was so authentically himself, never cared who was around. Also didn’t hurt that he was easy on the eyes. So when he was flaunting around the cafeteria you’d always take that opportunity to stare. Plus on several occasions you’d get Jason to back off.

“It’s fine. You can make it up to me now.” He smiles softly pulling you out of your own thoughts.

“How so?”

“Let me take you out.” He tries so hard to read you reaction.

“Really?”

“I mean unless you don’t want too.” When you didn’t instantly say yes he wanted nothing more than to disappear.

“I do.”

“You do?” Eddie can’t believe what he’s hearing.

“Yeah.” You smile. Eddie jumps up from his seat and starts cheering.

“Sorry that was lame.”

“No it wasn’t.” You laugh.

—

After a few dates around town and you two were attached. Everyday after cheer practice he’d be waiting for you, stood outside his van. You’d run up and engulf him in a hug. His hands never failing to find their way to your ass. Seeing you in those cheer shorts drove him crazy. When Friday rolled around and you’d show up to school wearing that cheer uniform, it would drive Eddie absolutely nuts. He’d watch from afar so turned on counting down the minutes till he could have you all to himself.

Today was no different when he picked you up after the football game claiming that they weren’t his scene hence why he wasn’t there to watch you cheering. It was late and knowing that you didn’t have long before your parents would be calling asking where you were. You two wasted no time. As soon as you climbed into his passenger seat, his hands were all over you. Roaming every inch of your body. You pull away momentarily only to move to the back.

Eddie laid down to which you quickly straddle him. His hand slipped under your skirt, through your underwear and between your folds. “So fucking wet for me.”

“For you.” You purr, letting your self grind down on his hand. “But I want to please you.” He didn’t argue, watching closely as you slowly lowered your self. You unzip his pants, he dick already hard trapped in his jeans. Palming it through the thin layer of his boxers. Eddie’s whole body tenses under your touch. He doesn’t think he’ll ever get used to this. Having you to himself in the most intimate way possible.

You pull his boxers down revealing his large member. Using your hand to pump him, precum slipping out of his tip. Eddie groans under your touch, giving you the confidence you need to give a sweet kiss to his tip before devouring it. Sucking up and down, Eddie’s hands finding their way to the back of your head pushing down. You gag and push up, spitting the salvia building up at the back of your throat on his member before going back at it.

He doesn’t want it to stop but he needs it to stop other wise he’ll be coming in your mouth. Which he wouldn’t mind but he wanted desperately to be inside you. He lifts your face and pulls you closer to kiss you, making out for several moments. Your tongues fighting for dominance. “I need you now.” You murmur, pulling down your panties. Aligning his cock with you cunt, sliding down slowly taking him all in.

“Fuck.” Eddie moans, his voice raspy. You start riding him, up and down. Grinding on him, his hands slip under your shirt caressing your tits. You take the hint and remove your cheer shirt exposing your chest. Pulling you closer he takes your nipple into his mouth, the other one being fondled. You become a moaning mess under his touch. The sound of your nipple leaving his mouth makes a popping sound.

Eddie comes to realization he’s not gonna last much longer but he’s a gentleman so obviously you need to come first. He helps you switch positions, pulling his pants all the way off and now he’s on top. You can’t help but whine when his cock leaves your hole. Doesn’t take long before he slams his cock back between your folds, you cry out in pleasure. His fingers start rubbing your clit as he picks up the pace. “How does that feel princess?”

Your lack of response tells him everything he needs to know. He circles your clit over and over again, the feeling of your pussy tightening on his dick let’s him know it’s near. Doesn’t take long before your climaxing. Shortly after that he’s pulling out and cumming on your stomach. He kisses you softly before reaching for a rag and cleaning you off. You get dress back in your uniform as you watch Eddie get back into his clothing.

Eddie lays next to you and you rest your head on his chest wrapping your arm around him waist and attempt to regain your composure. “You’re so fucking amazing. How’d I get so damn lucky?”

“Just being you.” You smile.

“Is that enough though?” He questions a change his tone is noted. Eddie decides in this moment to talk to you about what he’s been wondering for some time now.

“Why wouldn’t it be?”

“I feel like your ashamed of me.” Eddie sighs.

“Why do you think that?” You ask saddened by his tone. You sit up so you can see his face.

“Because I only see you after school and never in front of your friends.”

“I just figured you wouldn’t want to be around them. I tried to invite you to games and stuff but you never seemed interested. I didn’t realize you wanted more than whatever this is. Part of me thought you were ashamed of me.” You explain.

“What is this?” Eddie asks the question he’s been dreading.

“What do you want us to be?” You ask pushing it back onto him.

“I want you to be my girlfriend.” He admits.

“Are you gonna ask me?” You smile because you’ve been waiting for this moment.

“Are you going to say yes?” He’s ask.

“I dunno guess you’re gonna have to ask to find out.” You shrug your shoulders, trying your best not to be giddy with excitement.

“Will you be my girlfriend?” He asks, shyly.

“Yes of course,” you beam, “I thought you’d never ask me.”

“If I known how you felt I would’ve asked sooner. Plus I’d never be ashamed of you.” You push your self up and kiss him. Your phone starts to ring bringing you out of your moment with Eddie. You pull away groaning annoyed.

“Who is it?” Eddie ask.

“My mom.” You quickly answer and let her know you’ll be home soon. As soon as you hang up, “Can you take me home, Eds?”

“Of course, princess.”

—

The next day rolls around, you arrive early to school eager to speak with Chrissy. You find her and ask, “Can I talk to you?”

“Yeah of course, what’s up?” She smiles.

“Like alone. I need your help.” You mutter. Her face fills with concern as she follows you down the hallway. As soon as you two were alone she looks to you waiting for you to speak.

“What’s up?” She asks again, her curiosity killing her.

“Ya know how that one time I went to pick up weed for you from Eddie?”

“Yeah.” She nods.

“We’ll we’ve been kind of hanging out since and last night he asked me out like officially and I said yes.” The biggest smile grows on her face causing you to be confused.

“Finally.” She smiles, grinning ear to ear. Pulling you into a hug.

“What do you mean finally?” I ask still being consumed by her hug.

“It was a set up.” She laughs.

“What?”

“I caught you constantly checking him out and I know him from buying. So I brought you up in front of him to see his reaction and he got all flustered. Told me some story about you asking for help on your first day, been smitten with you since.” You’re shocked at all this new information but not upset in the slightest since it lead to you dating Eddie.

“Eddie knew?”

“No. It was all me,” She giggles, “What did you need help with then?”

“I thought originally he didn’t want to be public with because of me being friends with all the popular people. So I never bothered him about being public with him which made him think I was ashamed of him which obviously I’m not. I could never be. I just don’t know what to do. I want him to know I’m not ashamed. I feel like I need to make some public display of affection.” Chrissy cuts you off.

“Ask him to the dance in front of everyone.”

“But shouldn’t boys ask girls?” You ask, some what nervous at the thought of doing that.

“It’ll be prefect. It’s Sadie’s, girls ask boys. We can make you a sign and everything. Do it at lunch! Kiss him in front of everyone. Let everyone know he’s yours.” She squeezes you shoulders, getting more excited as she thinks of everything you need to do and how she can help you.

“That sounds like a great idea.” You smile nervously. She grabs your hand and drags you to the art class room.

—

You nervously shake waiting for Eddie to show up into the lunch room. Chrissy stands near by cheering you on giving you reassuring thumbs up. You glance her way and she points to the entrance where Eddie is entering.

Chrissy presses play on the speaker she brought, the Lord of The Rings music she found online and had absolutely no idea it was accurate it starts to play. Eddie looks over to where the music came from seeing Chrissy who nods in your direction, he gaze follows and sees you standing there holding the sign you made with Chrissy’s help.

It reads ‘You shall not pass… Unless you go to Sadie’s with me.’ Another thing you found online that meant nothing to you but knew it meant something to Eddie. He talked about this book several times, you we’re confident he’d love it.

Eddie’s confusion quickly turns into happiness when he realizes what is happening. A small crowd starts to form as you ask, “Do you want to go to Sadie’s with me?” You say loud and proud when you see the smile on his lips, he approaches only a few inches away from you.

“Yes,” He grins. You drop the sign and grab his face pulling him down to your level give him the biggest kiss. It takes him a moment, because he’s probably in shock, to kiss you back but once he does he melts into your touch.

You’re the one to pull away when you realize people are cheering for you two. You look to Chrissy whose cheering the hardest, like her plan came to fruition. You grab Eddie’s hand and people start to disperse. Chrissy approaches you two, “Thank you.” You say giving her a quick hug.

“What?” Eddie asks.

“I’ll explain later. I’m gonna sit with Eddie today and his friends.” You let Chrissy know before leading Eddie to where he usually sat at lunch. His friends watch in awe as you sit down next to Eddie.

“What?” You laugh.

“We didn’t believe him.” Dustin says, shock still evident. You look over to Eddie who looks as happy as he can be, you squeeze his hand tightly before speaking.

“Better believe it. You’re gonna see so much more of me.”

[jo-harrington]

Interview Prep (Eddie Munson x Store Manager!Reader)

Pairing: Eddie Munson x Fem!Reader

Summary: Reader is worried about making a change to some routines.

Previous Part: Standard Operating Procedures 1.03

Warnings/Themes: AU where the Upside Down doesn't terrorize Hawkins. Reader works at the Claire's at StarCourt. Eddie works at TapeWorld. Mutual Pining and Slow Burn, Meeting the Family, Anxiety, Fluff

Note: Special thanks to @chestylarouxx @fracturedarkness and @courtingchaos for reading my snippets, listening to my rambling, and easing my nerves with this one. It's been in my drafts since February! And it's always kind of eluded me, but it's very special so I appreciate the time you took to help me out. So so much.

You can find my masterlist here for more featuring our resident Store Manager and all of my other writing.

Please do not interact if you are not 18+.

Enjoy!

---

“…and I swear the sound is so much better than my Fender. Like a thousand times better. I’m gonna need a new amp, I think. She is way too good for that hunk of junk that Rick got from his buddy way back when.”

“Uh huh.”

“God, I wish you could come to a show to hear it. Maybe...maybe I can ask Tom at the Hideout if our set could be a little later one night so you could come out after the store closed?"

"Sure."

“And then we could get pickle and bologna milkshakes at Benny's afterwards."

"Sounds great."

"Am I boring you?” Eddie finally stopped as he hit the button on the bailer and put his hands on his hips. "You're not even listening."

“What?” You freed yourself from your thoughts and got a good look at him. "I...what? No."

It was break time, which meant cardboard got crushed and garbage tossed before you ventured into the food court for something to eat. And on a day like today when your schedules aligned, that also meant your break was spent with your closest friend--only friend--in Hawkins.

And on any other day, you would have happily listened to his story.

Hell, you actually had listened to him...for most of it at least--he boasted about his new guitar, how he named her Sweetheart, and her first actual performance outside of Gareth's garage that had occurred the night prior--before you got too caught up in your own head.

It had been a normal Wednesday when you got to the store for your opening shift. The registers were counted, gate pushed up, and you were about to confidently post the new schedule.

Then the mail was delivered.

And with it, a larger envelope from home office that contained a very hefty packet inside.

Normally a package like that would make you happy; it was a sign that one of your favorite weeks of the year was approaching: planogram week. It was, quite honestly, not only your favorite week but your favorite part of the job altogether. More than your team, more than your discount...certainly more than helping customers.

Summer was coming to an end, which meant all of the trendy accessories would make way for backpacks, water bottles, notebooks, and lunch boxes. Things that stayed hidden away for 75% of the year, but were suddenly at the forefront of every parent and pre-teen's mind as they got ready to look their best on the first day of school.

Today, however, you suddenly felt a sense of dread as you opened the package because a planogram meant that you would have to schedule an overnight shift on the one night of the week that the mall closed early.

Sunday Night.

Date Night with Eddie.

Eddie's favorite night. And yours.

Your favorite part of your job encroached on what was becoming an essential part of your life.

So you spiraled until your break because it was easier to worry and overthink than it was to just...communicate the fact that you might have to miss a Sunday and face the possibility that Eddie could be mad at you.

Unfortunately he seemed a little steamed right now because he thought you hadn't been listening to him.

His little grumpy face was cute though.

Why was this harder than having to call your team to ask if they were ok with an unexpected overnight shift? God damn it, you needed to get a grip.

“You weren’t listening to anything I said,” he repeated.

“Yes I was,” you insisted.

“What did I say then?”

“You nailed the solo.”

“And…”

“And you actually got a round of applause.”

“And?”

“And you need a new amp.”

“And?”

“Uhm… a-and…”

Shit…maybe you had delved a little bit too far.

Growing up with a big, loud family--including an overbearing mother and two annoying brothers--meant you had the innate ability to split your brain in half and listen to them while also worrying about your own shit.

However, thanks to the intensity of your worrying, that ability failed you.

You wracked your brain for a good 30 seconds until Eddie’s scowl turned into a wicked smile, and then you knew he was just being a jerk.

“You’re the worst,” you grumbled at him.

“Excuse me,” he placed a hand on his chest in fake affront and stumbled back a few steps to collapse against the side of the trash compactor. “I'm the worst? You agreed to Pickle and Bologna milkshakes and ignored your best friend. Not very metal, sweetheart."

"I just have a lot on my mind." You shook your head and sighed. "Sorry."

"Well it's a good thing that I am a great listener. Unlike someone."

Eddie pushed himself off the compactor, put his hand on your shoulder, and guided you back inside to the food court. You got your meals of choice and tucked yourselves into a table in the corner by the JCPenney entrance.

"Alright," he started with his mouth full of fries. "Tell dear old Eddie what's bothering you."

You swallowed a mouthful of food and took a deep breath.

It was now or never.

"Well...there's this big thing coming up at work...planogram...uh...floor set," you began. "And it's really important and after it's done...we'll get visitors from corporate and my boss will probably make a few visits to see how it's going. I just want to do really well."

"Well, you've been doing a good job so far right?" Eddie shrugged. "Why wouldn't they think so now?"

"I don't know, I don't wanna mess it up," you admitted. "I'm a new store manager. And a lot of the team never worked retail before. I literally cried my first floor set as a sales associate. It's tough."

"You're just giving yourself the yips. I do it all the time when we add a new song to the set list."

"Don't just say that to make me feel better."

"Last week I forgot how to do a G-chord," he crossed his heart. "Scouts honor."

"You were a Boy Scout?" you asked skeptically.

"Stop distracting me." He popped another French fry in his mouth in an exaggerated fashion. "What else?"

"Well...we have to schedule floor sets on a Sunday."

"Ok."

"After the store closes."

"...Oh."

"Yeah."

Eddie sipped his drink thoughtfully and stared at you with his abyss-like eyes; they didn't betray a single thought going through his head and it made you nervous.

And nervous meant that you didn't shut up.

"I mean I don't want to have to cancel our night out," you started with the word vomit. "It's just the way things are always done and you'll see one day if you still work at Tape World for long enough, that's one of those things that...I don't know, if you try to do things differently it always comes back to bite you in the ass.

"And I'm young and whenever we have a conference call to talk about sales...my DM doesn't let me forget that I'm a baby compared to everyone else and it's so frustrating because I feel like I can't even suggest anything new because it immediately is dismissed as naive. It's like they keep waiting for me to fail. So I wish...I wish I could make a change so we could keep our plans. Like if it was anything else I could make it work but I...this thing I just can't, you know?

"But...but...b-because I would have to work on Sunday overnight I would probably be off another day so if you're ok with it we can do something else? Maybe on...I don't think I could get Tuesday off because of everyone's availability...maybe Friday if your friends are cool with me crashing your club night. Or...you open on Saturdays. We could do Saturday night instead?"

The punctuation to the drawn out sentence was your labored breath and Eddie noisily sucking the dregs of his soda through the straw. Shithead that he was didn't even have the decency to do anything but continue watching you with his big dumb cute eyes.

"Weeellllll..." he started in a sing-song tone and then paused and sucked at the straw some more.

Could he just tell you to fuck off already so this wouldn't be as painful as it was?

"That really sucks you need to work overnight," he finished his thought with a grin and shoved his cup to the side. "Being in the mall after hours...sounds kinda creepy. Do you think there are ghosts?"

"Are you kidding me right now?" you deadpanned. "You let me go on and on like that for nothing?"

"It was funny."

"I hate you."

"You cherish me."

"It was painful." You groaned. "Like I think I'm sweating. My heart hurts Edward."

"Don't act like you've never let me do that before," he scoffed and rolled his eyes in an exaggerated fashion. You threw a fry at him. "Don't start what you can't finish sweetheart. One fry can turn into a food fight and I would hate to find out the hard way why I'm Hawkins High's food fighting champion."

"Ok so...Saturday night?" you asked. "This Saturday...are you doing anything?"

"Uh..." Eddie hesitated and sat up a little straighter. "I mean...no hot dates or anything. What did you have in mind?"

"Maybe just what we normally do?" you suggested. "Drive around, eat a bunch of junk food. Or if you want to come over to my place and I--"

"So, I have a confession to make," he interrupted you. "I actually do have plans on Saturday. More like...standing plans than anything. My uncle Wayne is off on Saturdays and we've always watched reruns on TV and ordered pizza. Family night or whatever. My mom used to do the same thing so...Wayne thought it would be...I dunno, good for stability or something.

"It's silly but I don't want to just ditch him without asking," Eddie explained and your heart melted.

Of course you didn't want to take time away from his family; you knew how important his uncle was to him.

"Oh...well that's ok...we can rain check for another day then or--"

"Why don't you just come over?" Eddie asked. "He won't mind. I am opening this Saturday so I'll be done by 5; you can get there in time for Wheel of Fortune. That way he can't yell at me when I try to solve the puzzles with lewd words." He mimics, what you assume is, Wayne's voice.

Eddie looked so eager that you immediately agreed.

Your heart stopped in your chest though.

Come over? And meet his uncle?

Sure...you'd already met Benny a few weeks ago...and yeah you'd thought of it like meeting someone from Eddie's family but...this was his actual family. What if you insulted his uncle or...or made yourself look stupid.

You needed to put your best foot forward. Make a good impression.

"How about..." your mouth started moving before your brain could catch up. "...instead of ordering pizza, I cook for you guys instead? I'll be off Saturday since I'm doing the overnight on Sunday. I can just bring everything over."

Eddie's eyes lit up and as he teased you about the impressive cooking skills that you had supposedly boasted about previously, all you could think was...

How did this situation get even more stressful?

---

The rest of the week leading up to Saturday had been overwhelming to say the least.

To you, food was life. Cooking for someone was everything that you could do to show them that you cared. How many hours had you spent with your grandma making cookies for neighbors at Christmas, or freezer meals when a distant relative had a baby, or a tray of something after a friend of the family had passed.

Food was love and friendship, and as much as what you had done for Eddie with the guitar had been a show of friendship...this meant so much more.

So you needed to hit a home run...or a bullseye...or whatever sports terminology signified that you won.

Which meant you'd spent some down time flipping through your grandma's old recipes that she had gifted you once upon a time--a thin, pocket-sized spiral notebook with a purple cover that was filled with her illegible handwriting and personal shorthand--and thinking of ideas that would be both impressive and hearty. You'd already changed your mind twice, and had made just as many trips to Bradleys for extra ingredients.

You'd also pestered Eddie several times through the course of the week to get his input without giving anything away.

"Does your uncle like cheese?"

"Of course he does."

"Some people don't."

"Would we get pizza every Saturday if we didn't like cheese?"

"There's some pizza that doesn't have cheese."

"Why the questions? Are you nervous sweetheart?"

And that was when he started to tease you. Every chance he got. Lunches, breaks, passing you on the way to the employee lot as you started a shift and he ended one.

He asked if you wanted their phone number so you could call Wayne and make kissy noises at each other for hours, if you wanted him to bring love letters home to save on stamps, and if you were planning to dress really nice for your date with his uncle.

"I'll be sure to grab extra chapstick for him so his lips are ready for you tomorrow," he laughed and leaned closer to make the biggest, noisiest smacking kiss noise in your ear as you waited for your break time cookies.

"You're an idiot," you rolled your eyes after he uttered the last one. "I don't want him to hate me because...what if he doesn't want me to hang around you anymore. I'd kind of lose my mind."

"Oh, uh," Eddie backed away a little bit and rubbed the back of his neck, then shoved his hands in his back pockets. "Wayne wouldn't do that. He's...a little bit of a grump, but he's harmless."

"Guess we know where you got it from," you muttered.

"I didn't know you were...actually worried," Eddie continued. "I'm sorry. But it'll be ok. Even if you...wore a potato sack and brought canned beans that we had to heat on the stove for dinner. He'll think you're great. Because you are."

You were both a little silent after that, Eddie staring at his feet bashfully as you felt your heart race and your head spin.

You finalized your plans that night when you got home and immediately started on your dessert, sure that it was all gonna be a hit with both Munsons.

It was gonna be great. Because Eddie thought you were great.

And Saturday, the doubt didn't creep on you at all. Not while you cooked, not as you packed your casserole dish and Tupperware into a large cooler bag, and not even as you drove across town, following Eddie's directions to Forest Hills without getting lost once.

It wasn't until you stepped out of your car and stared at the front door that you felt your stomach drop a little.

Those four cement steps might as well have been a thousand.

But...your sneakers only needed to crunch on the gravel before the door was thrown open and a slightly-breathless Eddie smiled at you...and then all the worry disappeared.

"Hey," he greeted. "D-did you need any help?"

"Yeah, if you don't mind," you shrugged.

He jogged down the steps in socked-feet and crossed to the passenger's side door of your car, talking a mile a minute as he reached in to grab your things.

"I, uh, got home an hour ago," he rambled. "The A/C at the store conked out...and then Paulie had me make a trash run before I left. Had a big shipment today. So if I'm still a little sweaty...that's why."

"You're fine," you laughed.

"Sorry."

"Don't worry. I've been cooking so I'm probably a little sweaty too. Lasagna and July...sort of don't go together that well."

He raced up the steps and held the door open for you.

"Lasagna? Oh the old man is gonna love you," Eddie chuckled.

You entered the Munson abode and were immediately hit by the strongest sense of home that you'd felt since...well, since you'd still been at home. Not necessarily that it was a place where you belonged, but...it was a place of belonging.

Mugs and hats and other memorabilia lined the walls, reminiscent of the tchotchkes that your mother stacked to high heaven on every available surface. The couch was a little faded but looked comfortable and soft as though you could sink into the cushions and disappear into a soft nether-realm.

Your grandpa had a couch like that. His spot sunk to the shape of his body. It was still your favorite place to sit when he wasn't already there. It was like a hug.

That was when your eyes found the armchair, molded around the shape of the man seated in it. He was older, a little weathered and greying, hairline receding, and even though he isn't smiling right now, the lines around his mouth were indication enough that he smiled quite a bit.

Just like his nephew.

"Uh, Wayne this is my friend from the mall," Eddie introduced you as he juggled your cooler bag and your large Tupperware to the kitchen counter. "The one I told you about. Works at the jewelry store."

"Nice to meet you," you smiled and held a hand out to him to shake. He took your hand in a firm grasp and as you shook his the way your grandfather taught you--to command respect and trust--his eyes narrowed.

"I had to hear about you through Rick, who heard about you through Benny," Wayne started. "And I haven't the slightest idea why my nephew thought he needed to keep you a secret; not the first girlfriend he's brought around--"

Eddie groaned something unintelligible from the kitchen and you fought the urge to break eye contact with Wayne so you could look at him.

"--but I just watched him run around for the past hour tidying up. And he's never done that before. So if you can help him keep the habit, you're alright in my book." Wayne smiled widely and let your hand go.

"Thank you," you chuckled nervously, suddenly realizing how silly it had been that you were even worried in the first place.

Eddie had been right.

You could never admit that to him.

"Even did the dishes," Wayne looked past you at Eddie. "He never does the dishes."

"W-we're having dinner," Eddie whined. "Gotta have clean plates."

The two of them bantered back and forth comfortably and you joined Eddie in the kitchen to get everything plated. There was a salad, buttery mashed potatoes, and of course your still-warm and gooey lasagna.

Eddie explained that it was Wayne's favorite that he rarely got to have homemade--

"Stoffers will do in a pinch," Wayne explained.

--and that you were already more loved than he was simply for making it, to which Wayne agreed. And he even pointed out the well-loved Garfield mug that he had gotten Wayne for Father's Day one year for that fact alone.

Eddie tried to protest when you took the dessert bowl from him to stow it away in the fridge until it was the appropriate time.

"I didn't even get to have cookies with you today," he reasoned. "Or a soda. See? I suffer when you're not working. How am I--a growing boy--supposed to reach my fullest potential without proper sustenance?"

You snorted and brought the plates out to the living area while Eddie trailed behind you.

"He's just grumpy because you're making him eat vegetables," Wayne chuckled as he took his plate. "A feat I have yet to achieve in 8 years. So if you weren't already in my good books, you are now."

Dinner passed relatively uneventfully at first. You and Eddie sat on the couch--which was just as comfy as you thought it would be--as Wayne occupied the armchair. They inhaled their first helping and showered you with compliments. Eddie begrudgingly admitted that your cooking was as good as you had bragged, and even said the dressing on your salad "wasn't Ranch but was still pretty tasty."

As Eddie had told you days ago, Wheel of Fortune started promptly at 7:30 and he and Wayne tried to solve as many puzzles as possible around mouthfuls of food. They teased each other when their guesses were particularly ridiculous, and celebrated when they got one right.

You solved a long puzzle correctly--your only contribution to their little competition--before there were very many tiles revealed on the board and Eddie patted your thigh in praise when you got it right with a soft "that's my girl" that nearly had you drop your plate.

When Wheel ended, Wayne stood up to grab seconds for himself and Eddie and a couple of beers for you all. Before he sat back down he grabbed a tape from a basket beside the television and popped it into the VCR.

"I hope you don't mind," he said sheepishly. "I like the background noise and Love Boat doesn't start til 9."

As the static on the screen cleared, you were treated to a good look of a Map to Illustrate the Ponderosa in Nevada.

"Mind? I love Bonanza," you laughed, and Eddie groaned beside you.

"No I already have to endure Wayne and Rick and their western reruns, and now you too?"

Conversation then turned to you. Turned to the usual stuff that you talked about when you met someone new. And you really...didn't like talking about yourself. The middle child and the only girl with two strong-willed brothers and parents that liked to pick and pick and pick at every imperfection; it was ingrained in you.

Thankfully, Eddie seemed to really like to talk to you, at you, about you.

"I work at Claire's. We do like...ear piercing and cute accessories for kids."

"She works there? She's the store manager. And the youngest one in the company. Right? Is that...no...in the district. Anyway..."

And where you faltered, he picked up the reins.

"I mean it's just community college. Everyone graduates. I'm not smart or anything."

"Are you shitting me right now? Sweetheart I can't even graduate high school."

Eagerly.

"And there was this one time, I shit you not Wayne," Eddie's hands mimed as he tried to tell his story. "She literally balanced on one foot on the top rung of a ladder. Had to have been...20 feet high...to get this kitten that was stuck on top of the bailer. How it got there? I couldn't tell you."

"It was not the top rung."

"It was."

"It wasn't 20 feet!"

"Let me tell the story."

"I'm supposed to be telling the story," you laughed at him.

"Ok, you're right, but you weren't telling it good enough," Eddie argued. "You have to emphasize."

"He means fib," Wayne clarified.

"I mean...bend the truth for entertainment purposes only," Eddie explained rapidly.

Eventually dinner was done and it was time for dessert, which Eddie eagerly followed you into the kitchen for.

"How am I doing?" you asked nervously as you rummaged in the fridge.

"You're doing great. How many times do I have to tell you he would like you?" he huffed good-naturedly.

"I don't know, I just needed reassurance."

"Are you kidding me?" he scoffed. "You're doing great. I'm sure he'll be asking me when the next time you'll be over is so he can maybe get some more lasagna. He doesn't just let anyone watch A Rose for Lotta with him. You're special."

"Am I?"

"You're special to me."

You looked up at Eddie a little shocked and he smiled sheepishly and shrugged.

You couldn't get your hopes up. You just...couldn't.

"What's taking so long in there?" Wayne asked as he ejected the tape from the VCR so he could flip to ABC. You both looked over and found him watching you with a smirk and a twinkle in his eye.

"I dunno," Eddie replied petulantly. "Someone's withholding my reward."

You rolled your eyes and grabbed another set of plates from the drying rack by the sink. You opened your container to reveal the fluffy green mounds of pudding and whipped cream and marshmallows studded with bright maraschino cherries.

"Sweetheart, you didn't," Eddie grabbed you by the shoulders and leaned over to look into the Tupperware.

"I did," you beamed.

The perfect end to a great night.

Because you might not have known that lasagna was Wayne's favorite.

But you knew that Watergate salad was Eddie's.

---

It was late by the time Eddie walked you out to your car, way past your usual bedtime, and later than you should have been up especially considering that you would be doing the overnight tomorrow.

The dessert had been consumed in its entirety; once you and Wayne had your fill, Eddie ate the remainder out of the bowl looking, quite literally, like a kid in a candy store. And as Captain Stubing and Doc Bricker bickered aboard the Pacific Princess, you began dozing on Eddie's shoulder.

He shook you awake and you said your goodbyes to Wayne.

"You're welcome anytime," he insisted as you headed to the door. "Lasagna or no. Don't let Ed trick you into spoiling us. He's still young but my waistband can't handle it."

And now you were standing with Eddie, the driver's side door between you as you sort of refused to get in and drive away. It was a real Midwest Goodbye.

"I'll see you at work..." you fumbled over your words as you tried to think of the next time you'd actually get to see him. You had the overnight tomorrow, and you'd be off Monday. Eddie would be off Tuesday which meant... "Oh god, well...Wednesday? That seems so far away."

"It doesn't have to be Wednesday," Eddie shrugged. "What if I brought you breakfast on Monday? After your floor set is over?"

"God that's gonna be so early for you," you dismissed his idea.

"So? You just made us the best dinner and there's leftovers for a few days, which you didn't want. Let me get you breakfast."

"I don't want to put you out."

The two of you bickered back and forth for a minute before you put your foot down and told him to sleep in because he had to close on Monday night.

"Thanks though," you said. "This was nice. Family dinner at home. It was really nice. Makes me a little homesick but...I guess Hawkins is my home for now."

"Hey, of course, any time," Eddie replied. He looked pensive for a second and then turned so he didn't have to look at you. Like he was hesitant about what you would say or think. "We don't...I mean I guess what I mean is...I really enjoy hanging out on Sundays and I know this is sort of a one-off thing. But...you know we don't only have to hang out on Sundays. We can do...I mean...have dinner again sometimes or meet you after work even if I'm off...or see a movie again...get something from Family Video or..."

"You wanna hang out with me more?" you cut into his rambling.

"Yeah, why not?"

"Friends hang out all the time but..." You shrugged. "Don't...skip out on...I mean I guess I don't know what it is you do with the guys outside of band practice and DnD. Don't skip out on them just for me."

"No, hey now, wait," Eddie held his hand out to stop you. "Those turds already see me all the time and are gonna see me more once school's back in session. And...I'll probably work less so...I'll take any time with you now that I can get."

"Alright." You beamed.

"Alright." He mirrored you. "More non-Sunday hangouts."

You agreed and he held out his pinky. You immediately hooked yours into it.

“See you Wednesday sweetheart,” Eddie said his farewell. “Don’t dream of me too much.”

---

"Alright guys, it's almost 7am, time to clean up," you announced to your overnight crew with a clap of your hands.

It had been a fun but trying night, but ultimately successful.

Saturday had been perfect but your whole Sunday routine had already been thrown off and you spent a majority of your day sleeping and cleaning and wondering what Eddie was getting up to at work.

As you predicted, everyone was more than a little confused by the planogram booklet but you were a patient teacher. Everyone thought they had an eye for store layout until they were faced with twenty shipment boxes of pencil cases and locker decor. You had to talk a few of them down from near-panics several times throughout the night.

Over the course of the floorset, side ponytails became even more askew than normal, a few pairs of shoes got kicked into a pile by the gate, and everyone turned into tired, sweaty messes.

To keep morale up, you had insisted on everyone bringing a favorite tape that alternated in the shop radio and you had stocked up at Bradley's with an assortment of sugary snacks and drinks for the break room. Thankfully, the treats had prevented anyone from bursting into tears or threatening to quit, as you had witnessed countless times during your time working in retail.

You really channeled Eddie's sweet tooth when making your choices and it had paid off.

But after 12 hours of unpacking, stacking, dusting, shifting, and sliding, you were all ready to go home.

You ushered everyone out of the store and locked the gate behind you, and as the group walked toward the employee exit, excitement had returned. Pride for a seemingly-impossible task completed.

"The store looks so good! Mindy is gonna shit herself when she comes in to open."

"Oh my god, do you think we're gonna have a store visit? Can you let me know what they think of the hair wall?"

"We're gonna make so many sales! Who can say no to that unicorn backpack?"

You entertained their conversation but when you set foot outside and saw a familiar van parked next to your car, you lost all ability to speak.

He had said he was gonna surprise you with breakfast...but you told him not to. Of course he didn't listen; it had you rolling your eyes in annoyed amusement.

God you knew everyone was a gossip, this was gonna get to Mindy and then she was gonna give you an earful. She already let you have it when she heard about your invitation to dinner.

You quickly thanked your team and ushered them to their cars before you meandered towards yours. You ignored the questioning looks that they shot you as you hesitated to get into your car but you waved goodbye as they drove away.

When the last car left the lot, you immediately stormed over to the passenger's side door of the van and threw it open to find a McDonald's bag on the seat, two coffees in the cupholders, and a tired-eyed Eddie in the driver's seat. His fingers tapped on the steering wheel in time with Kiss's Beth.

"I'm always somewhere else," he turned his upper body towards you dramatically and began serenading you. "And you're always there alone."

"Unbelievable," you scoffed at him.

"Just a few more hours and I'll be right home to you. I think I hear them calling. Oh Beth what can I do?" He slapped his hands against the steering wheel dramatically. "Beth what can I do?"

You climbed into the passengers seat, closed the door behind you, and opened the McDonalds bag to the delightful smell of hot, fresh, crispy hash browns and egg McMuffins.

"If it's not obvious," Eddie announced as he reached across the van to shove his hand into the bag for a hash brown of his own. "I'm Beth in this scenario because you left me alone for hours and hours and hours last night."

"Oh yeah?"

"Yeah I got into all sorts of trouble."

“I told you not to bring breakfast.”

“I wanted to surprise you.”

"You didn't need to come if you were tired."

"I wanted to and I pretty much do whatever I want anyways," he insisted, and then thankfully focused on his food as you felt your face heat up.

"Well, if you'd like to know, me and the boys were not actually playing all night," you remarked and dug the sandwiches out of the brown bag. You handed one to Eddie, whose mouth was already full of salty, potatoey goodness after he'd shoved the hash brown in one piece. His cheeks were all round and full like a chipmunks and you held back a giggle.

God he was too cute. And he brought you breakfast after a long overnight shift. And he had called you his girl and told you you were special. How were you supposed to stop yourself from having a crush on him if this was...just how he was?

The two of you got to talking about your night, about his Sunday shift, about what you did before work, about what he did after it. And it was nice.

And as you sat there watching him slurp the hot coffee and watch the sparse traffic around the mall dive, you finally found the right words and the strength not to make an absolute fool of yourself.

"This was really nice of you, Eddie. You're wonderful."

He put his hand on his chest and looked a little sheepish.

"I'm wonderful?"

"You're wonderful to me."

---

Next Part: Corrective Action

The tag list is currently suspended.

[spitdrunken]

currently i'm really busy with writing for my thesis, which unfortunately leaves me with little creative juice... ive been engaging with other people's creations a lot more rather than writing for myself, but have some assorted thoughts on things ive enjoyed recently below, for anyone who is interested. feel free to send me asks about anything that's mentioned, but because of the above, might take me a bit to get back to u <3!

these aren't really x reader thoughts, just rambling! if you read this, thank u, i am giving you a kiss on your forehead/hug/fistbump/handshake/whatever words of affirmation you have been wanting to hear today. pick your favorite!

(Pokephilia mention) Pokémon Legends Z's announcement!! It'll be forever until it's released (which, as a true Pokémon fan, I'm very happy about BAHAHAH), but I'm so excited! Very curious how they are planning to implement, what seems to be, citybuilder elements... If Emmet shows up in this game, I'm going to be super delighted, but I honestly doubt it. Either way, it's made me think a bit more about the twins, and Poképhilia stuff in general as well! It's such a shame/pain the main tag is blocked... one day I will start and stick to my intention to write, like, porn about all the Pokémon, haha. A dream...

(cannibalism(????) monster eating??? mention. consensual!) Dungeon Meshi really was as much fun as everyone mentioned! Don't really see myself writing fic about it, except for a very specific idea I had... I like the thought of Laois 'obsessed with eating monsters' Touden got to meet a monster (AKA Reader) who is equally obsessed with the idea of being eaten!! Maybe a mermaid, or something like that? It's his one chance to eat a humanoid monster! Though the others probably won't believe him when they tell him that it was 100% consensual, and are judging him harshly LMAO

Welcome Home updated! Very happy about this. Though I don't connect them publically, I actually have written quite a bit of WH fic and my sfw sideblog for it used to have more followers than this one LMAOO. Maybe one day I'll write NSFW works for it, but I dunno if there's interest... Plus, I very much fall underneath people the creator would consider 'unwelcome' in their squeaky-clean fandom or whatever, but they have like a quarter million followers now, lol. Anyway, Wally is, as has been said many times before, the Most! He draws me in <3

And also, poor Eddie, lmao. It's very interesting to me, with the inclusion of the Narrator, that the characters seem to be forced to steer in a specific direction, if that makes sense? To upkeep a certain mask. I wonder if 'as above, so below' is a reference to that, in the sense that whatever is dictated by the stronger forces of narrative, is what shall occur 'below'-- In their world. Like, the animosity some of these puppets have for each other!!!!! Some of them are just straight up Not Friends, lmao.

I need to play more of it, but if anyone is reading this, go play I Was A Teenage Exocolonist. I expected it to be waaaay more popular, especially on Tumblr, but it's so underrated? The writing is wonderful, the characters are well-defined, and the art is breathtaking! Please take a look at the trigger warnings, cuz there are a few that are definitely applicable, but it's soooo good... If it has to be said, I romanced Dys first, lmao.

I am watching The Apothecary Diaries right now, just started today, and can I jsut say... I'm such a fan of all the women in this show!! I love the perspective it gives on court life a lot! Maomao definitely is pulling in all the men AND women, huh.... i appreciate that. Jinshi also 100% wants to get degraded by her, huh. Maomao is the sexywoman of this show.

[aloneinthehellfire]

For the RH Reader Version can we pretty please get the scene in RH4 where reader faints in the Upside Down (she wakes up in Eddie's arms)? I've been longing to find out what happened in between, like with character interactions and how she ends up in Eddie's lap? Love u and ur work btw 💜

ooh you won't believe this, but this has been saved in my drafts from where i had started writing scenes for (eddie's version) and now i get to share this with all my eddie loves <3

RAINING HELLFIRE (READER'S VERSION)

Word Count: 2.3k

Warnings: swearing, mentions of blood/death, not proof-read because i wrote this on a lunch break from uni

Set in RH4: Chapter 12: Riding To Freedom

Find all Raining Hellfire works here <3

Summary: Just when Eddie started thinking they'd never find you, you quite literally show up at their door... sporting a knife and a terrified expression.

[A/N: Whilst we are all aware that Eddie isn't the endgame, I hope we can still appreciate that they have a bond that could never be broken, even if it isn't romantic]

RH4: THE THIRD TIME EDDIE THOUGHT HE LOST YOU

When you had come creeping in through that door holding a knife, that petrified look on your face, Eddie felt so… weak.

His heart had jumped at the sight of you stood there, alive. He was so afraid when he found Steve in the Upside Down alone, rambling about you being dragged away. Part of him always knew you would survive. You were strong. Stronger than him, at least.

But now here you were, staring at them like they weren’t real, a shaky hand aiming the knife at your friends. You thought this was all in your head, you were doubting yourself, that strength he had grown so accustomed to shattering your armour into pieces. He wasn’t going to let you lose control so easily.

“Queen of the Demogorgons.” Eddie suddenly blurts and everyone looks to him, confused. He makes sure he’s in your line of vision before continuing. “That’s the name I gave you when you stopped that fight with Tommy. You… You called me King of the Freaks. Would Vecna even care enough to know that?”

You stand there for a moment, pondering the thought. He waits in bated breath for you to believe him. For a moment, he thought you wouldn’t, and then you were letting out a shaky breath and lowering the knife until it slipped from your fingers and clattered on to the floor.

“Thank god.” Robin mumbled under her breath behind him and he feels his shoulders relax.

“You okay?” Nancy asks tentatively, being the first to move toward you. Eddie watches in silent disdain as you wipe a tear from your eye, a strange look on your face.

“Um… actually…” You try, but then you’re blinking rapidly and his stomach drops.

“Y/n?” He takes one step forward and suddenly you’re on the floor, eyes fluttering shut. “Shit.”

He runs over, still calling your name. But you’re not responding.

“What happened?” Steve asks to no one particular, crouching beside you as well as Nancy shakes her head in disbelief.

“I don’t know, I don’t-” Her words are cut off and Eddie whips his head to her, following where her trembling hands hovered. Your stomach was covered by a dark red jumper. Which, to Eddie’s sudden burn of panic, he realised it was never the original colour.

“Shit, okay, shit-” Steve spits out, suddenly spinning around to where Robin stood, her eyes wide. “There could be a first aid kit around here somewhere, maybe the kitchen-”

“Bathroom.” Nancy nods, her hands already applying pressure on your stomach. “Upstairs, to the right.”

“Okay.” Robin nods quickly, flailing her arms as she finds the staircase and starts sprinting her way up, barely balancing herself.

“What do we do?” Eddie asks in a whispered voice, not liking the way your lips looked paler. He was scared, way too scared to be able to help you when you looked like this.

“We need to wrap the wound.” Steve states, much more confident in his decisions than Eddie could ever be. That’s probably why you picked him in the end.

“I don’t have…” Nancy glances down at herself, frowning. Her eyes start darting around the room. “Maybe the curtains, or the… I don’t know. I don’t know.”

As she and Steve debate over various materials, unsure of if it would only add an infection if they pressed something from the Upside Down against it, Eddie took look at himself and already knew what he needed to do.

“I got it.” Eddie decides, standing up and slipping his jacket off. Nancy looked surprised, but nodded nonetheless and started peeling away the jumper from your wound.

“What’re you doing?” Steve frowns up at him as Eddie slips his Hellfire shirt over his head. He chucks it over at him.

“Rip that up.” He orders, already slipping his jacket back on. “I don’t care how much you use.”

Steve stared at him for a minute, an unrecognisable expression on his face.

“Steve.” Nancy snaps him away from Eddie and nods, making quick work of ripping up the one shirt Eddie held dearest to him. It was Hellfire, the decision that changed his high school life forever, his way of being a hero to all the sheep in need of their shepherd. But you needed him right now. And that trumped everything else.

He’s not sure what else he can do as Nancy hisses at the blood pouring from your stomach. The wound matches those currently scattered across Steve, who was currently looking like it pained him to realise.

“She tried saving me.” He says and Eddie looks at him, noting the way Steve’s eyes never left your face. “Using those… powers. If she hadn’t, maybe Vecna wouldn’t have found her.”

“Vecna took her?” Eddie frowns. Steve didn’t inform them of this the first time he explained your disappearance.

“I think I heard him.” He nods slowly, finally meeting Eddie’s eyes. “He’s not gonna stop until he has her. We need to get her out of here before he tries anything again.”

Eddie can’t help his eyes drift to the darkened table behind him, your scratched but still worthy Walkman laying there. He had picked it up from where it had been abandoned in that dried up lake, using it to grasp onto that hope that you were alive.

“I got it! I got… it.” Robin jumps off the bottom step before focusing on them. “Why have you got your shirt off?”

Eddie glances down before slowly zipping his jacket up to hide his bare chest. “Bandages.”

“Uh-huh.” She dismisses, crouching beside Nancy and handing her the bag. “Here.”

“Thanks.” The girl breathes out, rooting through. “Shit.”

“What?” Steve frowns.

“It doesn’t have the stuff I want….” She mumbles before shaking her head and pulling out a bottle. “It doesn’t matter, I’ll use what I can.”

“She’s gonna be okay, right?” Robin asks, eyes shifting between each of their faces. “I mean… it’s Y/n. She always bounces back.”

“Yeah.” Steve says with certainty, but his expression was telling a different story.

“I did what I can, but....” Nancy leans back, your stomach now wrapped in black and white bandages, a splash of red from where Eddie’s logo was peaking through. “I don’t know what else to do.”

They didn’t have time to think about what to do next when something started humming in the walls around them.

“… hey… guys… there?”

It was indistinguishable until Dustin’s voice blared through and Nancy jumped to her feet. When Eddie looked over, he was surprised to see her eyes already on his.

“They got your message.” She smiles and Robin sighs in relief.

“What now?” She questions and Nancy’s eyes are light.

“Now we find a way to communicate.”

Eddie sat on the floor with your head on his lap as the others rushed around him, desperately looking for a Lite Brite that was apparently going to get them home? He wasn’t entirely paying attention. His only focus right now was you.

Nancy was quick-witted, immediately figuring out the best course of action. With a little yelling back and forth, picking up on some words, they managed to decide that they needed to go to her room.

Steve had offered to carry you up, and he would have if Eddie hadn’t suggested that his bites, while they were cool, would make it a little difficult. So Eddie took you instead.

“Got it!” Steve shouted up from the stairs, Eddie paid no attention.

Every so often he would slip his finger to the pulse point in your neck, reassuring himself mostly. He didn’t want to lose you again. Especially not like this.

The first time Eddie lost you was when he decided his pride was more important than your friendship. That night on your porch steps, the look of defeat in your eye when you realised he wasn’t going to let you keep your secrets. He walked away from you, then, knowing he had lost the only person that truly cared about him.

The second time ended with a kiss, thinking it was going to be the last time he saw you. Part of him wishes he hadn’t done that. Kissing you only made each day you were gone that much more painful. He didn’t have someone to laugh with, no one to argue over Lord of The Rings, or even sit and watch those long practice sessions with Corroded Coffin. He thought he would miss your lips, your touch. Turns out, he just missed your presence. He missed his friend.

And now he thinks he might be losing you again. He’s tried so many times to wake you up, subtle to avoid suspicion from the others. They assured him you would be fine, recollections of a fainting that happened three years ago. But he wouldn’t be assured until you were awake and talking.

“How’s she doing?”

He looks up to see Steve stood there, running a hand through his hair as he stares woefully down at you.

“Um… still breathing. Hasn’t woken up yet.” It was stating the obvious, but Steve looked grateful anyway. When he doesn’t move, Eddie frowns. “You good, man?”

“Yeah. Yeah, I, uh…” He stops his thought and does something Eddie didn’t think he would. Steve gestures for him to step aside with him and he’s so confused by the matter that he does exactly that.

Carefully laying you back down, and making sure Robin gave him a thumbs up when she could see he was leaving, Eddie follows Steve out into the hallway.

“What’s up?” He asks sceptically.

Steve leans against the wall, looking like he hadn’t thought it through. It was silent for a few seconds before he finally sighs. “I’m sorry, man.”

Eddie shifts from his position, unfolding his arms. “For what?”

“I…” He begins, tightening his lips. “I know why you and Y/n broke up. I… I only found out last summer but, I, uh… I’m sorry if I ever…”

Is Steve Harrington apologising to me right now? Eddie ponders as he struggles to find a response.

“No… worries.” Eddie frowns and Steve lets out a breathy laugh.

“No, I- I genuinely am sorry.” He persists, checking with a glance that no one was at the door listening in. “I never meant to get between you. And I knew how much she cared about you, still cares.I, uh, I had that happen to me once. I know how shit it feels. If I had known, I swear to you I would never have- shit, I don’t know. I’m just sorry.”

Eddie lowers his head. This feud he had been having with Steve had apparently been completely one-sided for the last two years. He just assumed Steve knew, that you had told him everything you’d argued about, right down to the grit of it. But you hadn’t said anything. And, judging by the look on Steve’s face, you had never said a bad word about him at all.

“It’s not your fault.” Eddie sighs, running a hand down his face. “We weren’t, uh… it wasn’t gonna end well either way. Even if you weren’t there with her that night, we… we probably would have broken up anyway. I was the one that messed up. Not her. Not you.”

“What do you mean?” Steve’s brows pinch together and Eddie lets out a breathy laugh.

“Come on, I’m- I’m resident freak. I snuck around her back, hell, even my uncle’s back for months. And I was so scared of getting found out that I just used the first excuse I could find.” He admits, starting to feel a little overwhelmed by the amount he was sharing. So, he clears his throat and straightens. “I should…”

Steve merely nods and Eddie is free to walk away, back to where Robin was crouched beside you, returning to his post.

“What were you boys whispering about?” Robin asks with raised eyebrows. “Guy stuff?”

“Guy stuff.” Eddie responds with an amused grin. “Don’t you have some weird light shit to get to?”

“Okay, okay.” She raises her hands in surrender and pushes herself to her feet. “I get the hint.”

He didn’t bother looking up when Steve eventually returned to the room, running a hand through his somehow still perfect hair and helping the girls with their set up. I knew how much she cared about you, still cares, he had said. Eddie couldn’t deny how that made his stomach flip just a little.

When you had left last summer, he had expected you’d call, or write, or anything. He expected something. But you hadn’t. It invoked this deep-seeded fear that maybe you realised how much of a screw-up he was. One of the last things he had said to you was that he was dealing drugs, of course it would make you rethink everything. Him. So rather than spend each miserable day laying on his bed and smoking until the marijuana kicked in, he tried to forget you. It was sad. But it was true.

All it did, however, was make him look back on the past three years. You and him meeting, getting off on the wrong foot. Discovering mutual interests, sharing something he hadn’t shared with anyone ever. He loved being around you simply to be around you. He cherished that, and after eight long months he finally realised he wasn’t in love with you anymore.

He just didn’t expect to be thrown into the Upside Down and start questioning everything again. Why the hell was he reminiscing romance when a few short hours ago it never once crossed his mind?

You stir in his arms and he tenses, eyes wide.

“Y/n?”

A soft groan leaves your lips and he’s never been happier to hear it. Your hand instinctively moves to your stomach but he’s quick to stop you, just in case the pressure will cause you pain.

A warm smile stretches his lips when your eyes finally meet his once again, his name falling from your lips. The heavy weight of dread finally lifts from his chest, letting him breathe in the relief that you were okay.

if you would like to request a new pov scene for the Raining Hellfire universe, please feel free to put it into my ask box and I'll get to it when I am available :)

[trashm0uth]

with this year coming to an end , i really just wanna take a minute to be sappy as fuck on main . this year started out completely fucking awful , my anxiety at its actual worst , & to be honest , that headspace is exactly where i'd still be if i hadn't rewatched this stupid clown movie & attached myself to this obnoxious little shit the way i have . i am SO appreciative of all of you that follow me / write with me / yell about shit with me on a daily basis . ringing in the new year with me rambling about how much i adore all of you . i hope 2023 is nice to all of us .

@godwrth : esssy , i really and truly love you so bad . we've been through so much together and we're going into our FIFTH year together which is so insane to me ! you've been here for me through some of the worst times of my life and i really don't know what i'd do without you , you're stuck with me forever . all of our ships and plots and late night screaming about any and everything means so much to me . you mean so much to me ! thank you for everything .

@finalhorrors : ghost .... the eddie to my richie . i'm really glad we both decided to give this hellsite another chance at relatively the same time because if we hadn't , we would've never met , and my life would not be the same right now . dull , even . certainly wouldn't have as much fanart to cry over . with all of the verses we've come up with in such a short amount of time , you've really inspired me in terms of my writing and developing my characters . it's also just been fun to bully you for almost three months now . it's my love language and yes , i love you a lot . get over it . :/

@wizardslays : MAK . i am so glad i made that silly little post about somebody going to the goddamn arcade with richie . you are so important to me . mike and will are so important to me , and ESPECIALLY richie and will are so important to me . it really doesn't even feel like it's ONLY been barely three months bc wtf do you mean i HAVENT known you and ghost for fucking years ???? sounds so fake ://// i love talking to you everyday and ruining our lives with all of these sad ass plots and maybe i just love you a whole lot :/

@ghostofaformerself : PAIGE , i've already said it once but i'm repeating myself for good measure . I LOVE YOU . it truly means so much to me that picking up with you after i abandon this hellsite for the 443293 time is as easy as it is . all of our ships are SO important to me . thank you for always being here . <;3

@fangedbrbie : CHARLI !!!! i absolutely hate the circumstances in which we befriended each other , but i'm also so grateful that you're now a part of my life . i genuinely do enjoy talking to you and i really can't wait to write more with you ! 2023 better be nicer to you or ELSE .

OTHER NOTABLE MENTIONS / PEOPLE I ADMIRE FROM AFAR . I LOVE YOU ALL SO BAD . :(

@mikewheelertm / @amputeer / @kschmidts / @feralsmile / @wiredsmile / @serendpitous / @voidsight / @chrissycunningham / @dehddie / @dehvils / @belasso / @couldfight / @breakthings / @de2thletter / @notcruel / @zoomingupthathill / @riteout / @r4chelamber / @obsessher / @greenscrunchy / @bej3weled / @1nfamed @rebelcliche

[staceymcgillicuddy]

🌙, 🌝 + 🌈 for soul! I was intrigued by a comment you made about how the fic you're writing is different than what a lot of people are reading, so I'm curious about your thoughts on it.

THANKS PAL. I remember that comment and what it was about so hopefully I can elaborate in this, my addled state of mind.

🌙  What time of day do you prefer to write? Why?

First thing in the morning. If I let the day get in my head, then I find I can't focus, or get in the right headspace. I write with noise canceling headphones on, in fullscreen mode on Scrivener, with one of those binaural noise apps playing white noise in my ears. I'm capable of writing anywhere, but I prefer when I can focus and drown out the world and just grind out a couple thousand words in an hour.

🌝 Who is one character you haven’t yet written for that you would like to?

Robin! A long time ago, post season three I started a Robin/Tammy thing that never went anywhere, so I guess I can't say I've never written for her. But I've never written anything long, and I've never posted anything for her. I would like to, though. I like Ronance, and I think there's something there I could play with, but I also like the idea of giving her an OC love interest, or someone out of left field like not-dead-Barb or not-dead-Heather (so many not dead ladies), or Eden or Kali or another character that hasn't been super developed.

🌈 What inspired you to write to get my soul know again?

Ooh, ooh! Okay, so, one of my favorite things to do as a fic writer is write mundane AUs where I spin out the most realistic possibilities I can come up with for characters from supernatural shows or superhero shit or whatever. I don't know why, but it turns my crank. So after a brief (BRIEF) dip into the uh... other Eddie ship... (they don't know me and I don't go there anymore)... I decided I wanted to try my hand at Hellcheer. I'd been reading it since the show launched and my beta and I were like "HOLY SHIT THE CHEMISTRY" but hadn't actually tried writing anything.

So I did my usual "what's a logical future for these goobers?" brainstorming, and the idea of Eddie getting out of Hawkins with his CDL jumped out at me almost immediately. Chrissy was a little harder, but the part of me that was raised around a lot of guys like Jason wanted to lean into the darker, nastier sides and play with what happens when a guy like that finds out he's not special. Much like in the show, where Jason's nice guy veneer shattered when faced with Chrissy's death.

I mashed those two ideas together, and I got something where I knew I wanted to tell the story of Chrissy's recovery mingled with Eddie's figuring out who he wants to be as a man, and how he can emulate Wayne's steadiness while also remaining true to himself.

Going back to my comment, I think that a lot of times in stories about an abusive partner--many of which I've read and, well, enjoyed seems the wrong word, but appreciated--there's this constant threat of that abuser popping up and ruining things. Which, I think, a lot of people were expecting to have happen early on in Soul. Like, when is Jason going to pop out from behind the bushes with a gun? Is he going to steal Chrissy back? Is he stalking them? But I knew from the start that this wasn't about re-traumatizing Chrissy with Jason's bullshit. I want her to heal, with Eddie, on a road trip where she rediscovers the parts of herself she's been keeping locked away. Which, ultimately, makes it a different sort of story than what a lot of "running from my abusive spouse" narratives end up being. Which isn't to say that Jason won't be in the story--he will--but not in a way where he eclipses the narrative, or is allowed to cause significant damage to Chrissy's healing.

I hope that giant, intoxicated ramble made some semblance of sense!

[matan4il]

Hello Alice,

it’s miya again :) I hope all has been well with you. I really loved your meta this week & it made me realize the reason I appreciate your analysis so much. You write about buddie but you write about them as buck AND eddie and not like they are one combined single unit. buck and eddie are their own people with different personalities and i think people forget that sometimes when it comes to talking about them together.

I love how the focus of your analysis was eddie and his clear childhood/adolescent trauma dealing with traditional parents who believe in only one way of doing things. I feel like people kinda missed that when talking about eddie & his performing. i know people interpreted the performing line as literal but it’s much deeper than that and you pointed that out very well. it all goes to show you we look at things through so many different lens but i love your focus point so much. you honestly make me want to get better at my own writing and analysis for this two lovers.

I wanted to ask you though on your thoughts about buck downplaying his brush with death. He never has explicitly said out loud “i died” & I do think that moments coming soon. I just found it interesting that everyone keeps reiterating that to him & i wonder if he’ll snap the next time someone says it. Buck has not processed or accepted that his trauma happened. him referring to him literally dying as “an accident on the job” breaks my heart cause you can tell he wants people to stop making a big deal of it, despite it being very serious. he is suppressing his trauma which i understand as someone with ptsd. anyways sorry for my rambling. buck is my favorite & character i connect to the most so i tend to babble a lot lol. hope you have a lovely rest of your day/evening/night whenever you see this ❤️

Miya, you darling! :D I'm always so happy to hear from you! I've had a very challenging week (which is not yet over... when you read this, I'll probably be recovering from another double shift), but the feedback on everything that I was most stressing out about has been amazing, so I'm exhausted, but very satisfied! How are you? Well, I hope!

Awww! Yes, that's exactly it! I think I even explained it in one of my earlier weekly meta posts, that I'll be writing about Buck, Eddie AND BuckandEddie. So I'm glad that's something you not only noticed, but also enjoy! ^u^ Thank you SO MUCH for the kind words! And I'm particularly please to learned you liked my POV on Eddie in my 614 meta. I know I've spoken to a very perceptive friend of mine back when... I think it was still s3 airing? Or possibly start of season 4, and despite how smart and insightful she is, she had missed the bit about Eddie's conversation with Bobby back in 217. So yeah, I think a lot of people might have? We all miss something, since 911 serves us with so much goodness. And I'm glad if in this case, this is something I can add to the table.

I fully agree with you, Buck is not really coping with what happened, given the fact that he's not yet said it out loud, and other characters have to remind him of it repeatedly. I also wondered this week if his PT scores being low is also a reflection of him still struggling with the lightning strike and how to recover from it. Because remember in 301, when he was coming back from the fire truck crushing his leg? He still aced his re-qualification exam. Even after he also suffered a pulmonary embolism during that very same period of time AND survived (and rescued others during) a tsunami, we never got any indication that his physical ability to bounce back had been diminished. So that suddenly changing? It could be a sign of the gravity of the matter, and how this is different, and Buck has to wrap his head around it, but because he hasn't yet, his full recovery is also stalling. I don't wanna get too much into spoilers, but based on the little that we do know about the finale, I feel like if this isn't addressed before the end of the season, then it should be in its very last ep. The themes seem like they would easily lend themselves to it, in any case. I hope that's what happens! If it also leads to some breakthrough with Eddie, one of them finally, finally ADMITTING what the other one means to them, I would be ecstatic, but I would absolutely take the win if we simply see Buck starting to actually face the trauma he had just been through.

Thank you again for your wonderful ask! I hope you're having a great day. As always, my ask tag. xoxox

[manicpixiedreamcurl]

I'm answering here to keep the worlds of my blogs apart lmao (idk why you can't submit here I'll have a gander at my settings) and also I want to publish this cause you've for sure hit a couple things I always have going in the back of my mind.

Yeah for sure like I've said in my authors notes a couple times 'we romanticise codependency here' and that is reader's personality to some extent. She has the people she likes and she puts everything into that. Like with what's happening with May and Heather even, in some ways it's a natural progression: the two of them are different from who they were when they were ten and aren't so close anymore but with reader she doesn't want the most perfect relationships (your friends when you're pre-pubescent) to go anywhere, so she's clinging on regardless of how they treat her. And with May in particular, to reader she was the first person who genuinely liked her so there's a naturally intense feeling there that yh personally I'm always thinking is a lil gay. I'm not leaning into it so much cause I'm trying to make it that reader can be anyone up to a point but certainly I want it to be clear that reader loves May.

And with May like yeah it wasn't my plan entirely to have her have a kinda crush on reader but I <333 that interpretation tbh. I am plannning on having May talk about how she thinks about boys, which is essentially 'they only want one thing and it's fine to give that to some of them but not others.' So from her perspective she's just thinking why not just give Andy what he wants and make life easier for yourself? And having reader more incorporated into the popular group might make both their lives easier, so just do it, ya know?

There will be more jealousy as she realises like no actually reader really really loves Eddie but I think she does truly believe reader is making a huge mistake. Like female friendship can be so weird and intense and she's used to guiding reader through things so reader going off on her own and dating Eddie just flies in the face of everything she thought about their friendship. Also the fact that reader didn't tell her. Like she is genuinely hurt by that, but she almost puts that to the back of her mind, preferring to lay into the particular choice of Eddie.

I've rambled at you so much, but really thank you. I love taking about tmyg honestly cause I do think about it all the time (even when I'm not writing it lmao) and it's such a joy to know the little things I'm trying to get across are doing what they should. And that there's things I might not even have planned that people get from it, I love that. It's an Eddie story first of course, but I do want it to be about reader realising how she should be treated and finding her own kind of confidence. It's nice that people appreciate that underlying theme, it's not for everyone, I know the appeal of wham bam smut. But yeah, thank you so so much, genuinely made my day with this <3

[ghost-proofbaby]

Hi! I saw your 1k post, congrats!! I was wondering if I could get a ship and song if that's okay?

♡ sunset orange: tell me a lil about yourself, and i'll ship you with one of the characters i'm writing about this time around and give you a song that would be "your song" for the two of you!

I'll try to keep it short but hopefully give you enough to work with! I would say I'm fairly alternative - I currently have purple hair with a neon pink fringe (I've had pretty much every colour at this point, last colours were acid green and purple for Halloween, blue in the summer, etc), I have a few facial piercings and currently working on getting more tattoos. At the moment I have a finished half sleeve of anime/gaming/manga characters, a big thigh piece of one of my favourite anime characters and a few small random ones (faves are a cartoon skeleton with a party hat and a reference to My Chemical Romance because they're one of my all time favourite bands). As youve probably guessed I love all the stereotypical nerdy stuff, I'm huge in to RPGs (currently replaying cyberpunk 2077!!) and general story based things I can get lost in. I work as a mechanical engineer which is basically a fancy way of saying I do a lot of maths and problem solving. I LOVE going to concerts, music wise I listen to pretty much anything but at the moment I'm leaning more to heavier genres like nu metal (mainly stuff like Korn, Deftones, System of a Down, Sleep Token) as well as classic bands like Black Sabbath, Led Zeppelin, etc. but I'm an absolute sucker for bands like Pierce The Veil, Fall Out Boy, All Time Low, Blink 182 and some classic trashy 2000/2010s bangers. I have a tendancy to ramble (clearly) but I'm usually quite shy and awkward around people until I'm more comfortable with them.

Thank you so much!! Obviously no pressure and I hope you have a lovely day/evening 💖

okay first of all... can we be friends? i think we're friends now. it's done, i've decided it. <3 you literally sound like such a goddamn cool person in all seriousness.

which is why it's no surprise that i ship you with eddie munson.

you probably know the drill by now, but please, let me explain.

when it comes to eddie, it's just a bit obvious, isn't it? you literally described yourself as his dream partner. someone who shares his music taste, someone who is just as nerdy as he is. you're incredibly badass with your dyed hair and tattoos, and from the moment he met you, he was a little bit intimated. but then he talked to you, and he was just an absolute goner. because you weren't intimidating, you were bright and wonderful, you were sweet and kind and god - yeah, he was a goner after that first conversation, especially when you just laughed gently after he made an absolute fool of himself. he'd love to help you dye your hair, and if you ever asked him to help you decide on a color, he would take it very seriously. at some point, you might even convince him to dye a matching strand, who knows? he'd love to spend his days laying in bed with you, the two of you taking turns pointing out each other's tattoos and listening to all the stories behind them. he'd love to hear all of the lore behind your favorite games and animes, just watching your rambles with big eyes and a lopsided smile as his chest fills up with so, so, so much love for you. he'd always be in awe of the way he finds you so much smarter than him, not understanding a word of the math involved in your job but just happy to see the way you explain it all to him with such passion. he's your shoulder to lean on whether it be a good day or a bad day, he's your number one supporter through it all. if you ever flipped the script on him and started gushing about his creative talents, how it makes his mind just a wondrous as yours, he'd get extremely blushy and shy in a heartbeat. secretly, though, he loves it. he loves being in love with someone who appreciates him just as much as he appreciates them. and don't even get me started on the music - you'd expose him to bands like Pierce The Veil, Fall Out Boy, and of course My Chemical Romance, and he'd just be a fiend. he wouldn't hesitate to buy tickets to those shows with you. get tickets now, figure out how the hell the two of you would get there later. it's all a little different from what he usually listens to, and he'll still love his classics like Metallica, but he loves them because you love them. because every single one of those songs somehow lead him right back to you, the best part of his life.

especially emergency contact by pierce the veil. it was the obvious choice for your song, considering you're the one that has had to come pick up eddie from the ER far too many times when he hurts himself doing stupid shit.

1k celebration - requests for this are now closed, but you can still send in general requests! just check out my rules first <3

[freaksun]

Ok so i was considering continuing this where she makes him wash his hair in the sink but, i figured it was already way too long, but i wanna write it so oh well.

He sets you down after a moment, staring at you with the most loving and sincere eyes.

“of course eddie. thanks for letting me.” you smile, petting the strands of hair that frame his face. he almost kisses you then but hes scared to ruin something so good.

“we should wash it.” you decide then. he always liked that about you. you could often be bossy and assertive but it was obvious it came from a place of love, care. so he always goes along with it. he smiles excitedly, more than ok with letting you wash his hair

“lets do it” he agrees with a wild smile. you bend him over the sink, gathering all his hair in your fist.

“you comfortable?” you run the water, using your other hand to check the temperature as it warms up.

“mm-hmm” you hardly hear him over the running water, quickly getting warm enough for him.

“okay, im gonna start then. just tap my leg if you wanna stop, ok?” you hear his boyish giggles clear as day.

“yes mistress.” you roll your eyes, smiling and blushing but youre happy he cant see that. you get all his hair wet, massaging it gently. he feels so comfortable, more comfy than hes ever felt, other than in the hands of his mother. you squirt a dollop of shampoo on your hand and work it in slowly. he sighs contently, trying to be quiet, like he didnt want you to know how much he was enjoying himself. the warm water, the gentle massaging from the girl he loves. once his hair is all soapy, you try to rinse it all out, but it takes a minute since his hair is so voluminous. you dont mind.

you then realize the conditioner is still in the shower, a few steps away from you both. you have to awkwardly manoeuvre, one hand holding his hair and him in place, standing on one foot leaning over him, reaching for it. you eventually get it, but not without practically splaying yourself across his, now wet, back.

“sorry..” you mutter, staring at the splotches of water adorning his white tee. you dont get a response. which is odd, cause again, he never shuts up. always taking the opportunity to crack a joke, or make you feel appreciated, or both.

“eds?” your wet hand shakes him a little.

“mm” he groans in response. you stifle a giggle at his extremely relaxed state.

“nothing, just got you a little wet, sorry.” you rub conditioner on each of your hands, probably a little more than you needed but you wanted it silky soft. for him, of course, and totally not for you to touch.

again, you hear him giggling. it subsides, though, as you work the conditioner in. he moans, youre now massaging his head a little rougher than before. his hand rubs your leg in appreciation. you figure he hasnt been taken care of in a long time, and you certainly dont mind being the one to love on him.

“feels good?” you giggle, with zero malice. you hear another groan of appreciation and giggle again. youre almost done, but honestly you dont want it to be over, working his hair a moment longer than needed before rinsing it out again.

you sigh “alright, im done. just gimme a second” as you reach for a towel. you squeeze the extra water out of his curls before drying your hands and wrapping a towel around his head.

“up” you order him, sweetly of course. hed do anything you told him, cracking his back as he stands up. he could do it himself, you both know, but still you dry out his hair for him, reaching just a little since hes so tall.

he shakes out his hair like a dog after and you squeal, holding your hands up to sheild the raining water.

the two of you go back to his room while it dries, he goes back to yapping about his campaign with the boys, and youre actually listening this time.

he talks so long it finally dries, you excitedly interrupt his incessant rambling to tell him, and you both run back to the bathroom.

he freezes when he sees himself, wide grin splitting his gorgeous face.

“I look fucking pretty!”

eddie doesnt let anyone touch his hair. ever.

it reminds him of his late mother, who had the same gorgeous untamed curls. She used to comb his hair when he was little, being ever so gentle and taking her time brushing out the knots.

his father made him feel less-than for just about everything about him, including his gorgeous mane. Called him awful names and always told him to ‘cut that fairy shit’ when it grew too long.

so, ever since she passed, and his father went to jail, hes been growing it.

unfortunately, she never taught him how to take care of it, she’d always just do it herself. So, he doesnt put product in it, he doesnt cut it, he doesnt even brush it. And, stubborn as his mama, he doesnt let anyone else touch it either.

then you come along, happy and sweet, always loving to everyone. he falls in love with you so fast he hardly even notices. you certainly dont either.

one hot summer day you’re both in his room, you on his bed, him pacing, frantically explaining some sort of nerdy campaign idea. you dont know, you havent been listening for a while, too distracted by the way he keeps wiping sweat from the back of his neck. you cut him off rudely, he doesnt mind

“hey eddie?”

“sweetheart?”

“whens the last time you got a haircut?”

he freezes, silent, which is very out of character, dude never shuts up.

“uhh. like a few years ago. why?”

its your turn to be quiet, suddenly all coy. he finds you absolutely adorable as you stare at his floor, trying to find a way to ask him without startling him. as if he were some wild animal, which, he basically is.

“just.. immm noticinggg its kinda matted in the back…”

you try to sound the least accusing as you can. he doesnt seem offended but you can tell hes thinking.

“well, yeah, i. i guess i just havent touched it since. well my mom used to do it for me”

you feel like an ass, touching on something you shouldnt have, making him all quiet and sad. you backtrack.

“jesus, eddie, im sorry i didnt mean to-“

“its okay angel, i know”

he sits next to you. you give him a nervous smile, still sweet, hesitantly reaching for his curls. you can tell he’s hesitant too, but he nods, granting you permission. you take a single strand between your fingers, twirling it.

“Its so pretty, eds. ..would you let me? take care of it, i mean?”

hes scared. but youre so sweet and youre asking so nicely. a part of him is scared if he lets you, he loses another part of his mom. but the other part is staring into your eyes and seeing nothing but genuine affection.

“i.. i guess you could.. try.”

his heart pounds in his chest. You absolutely beam, thanking him immediately and bouncing around the room, looking for a brush. he laughs, shaking his head. you watch as he rummages through his closet, before handing you a light pink brush. you think about teasing him for it but he already looks vulnerable. you smile sweetly instead, taking it from him.

“sit” you point with the brush. he does as you say, running his hands up and down his thighs in a self soothing motion.

“its okay eds, you dont have to be nervous.. ill be gentle i promise” he gives you an unconvincing smile. you return with a guilty one, downturned. you kneel in front of him, in between his knees, brushing his bangs with your fingers.

“we can stop whenever you want, okay?” his cheeks are bright red as he nods timidly

you move to sit behind him, and run your hands through his curls gently, admiring it. you take a part, hold it at the root, and brush gently.

“that feel okay? tell me if it hurts” ever so sweet.

“mm-hm” you can feel his nervousness. “you- you remind me of her, y’know”

youre pretty taken aback, but honoured nonetheless. you keep brushing through the mattes in his hair as you talk.

“Yeah? Wanna tell be about her?” youre not sure if its the right thing to say, but you figure he probably hasnt told anyone about her. you can practically feel his energy shift.

“she was sweet. loving and kind to everyone, like you.” you both smile. “and she was pretty. beautiful. i really miss her.” you stop, rub his back a little.

“i can only imagine.. im sorry eddie.” he turns to face you, smiling.

“s’alright sweetheart. thanks for letting me talk about her” he hugs you. you hug him back, tight.

“hows the ole hair going?” He asks when he pulls back, a joking tone to lighten the mood.

“good!!! ive gotten the mattes outta this chunk here, it looks good. your hair is really beautiful, eds” youre ecstatic and it travels to him.

“thank you. my mom had the same hair.” he smiles, turning back around to let you continue.

“i bet she was really gorgeous.” youre extra-extra gentle. He keeps talking and you keep working. He tells you about how she smelled, the softness of her voice, his favourite memories with her. he tells you about the last time he saw her. he tells you all the things hes been holding inside, everything he never got to tell anyone, never trusted anyone enough. and when hes done, his hair is untangled and soft.

you smile proudly, running your hands through his hair, marveling at your work.

“its done” he whips around, looking at you with wide excited eyes

“really??” you nod, smiling wide. he runs over to the bathroom to see for himself. You stand behind him, peeking over his shoulder in the mirror. Hes surprised, looks like he might even cry. you wrap your arms around him, leaning your head against his arm.

“do you like it? Its a little poofy, but you can wash it out and it’ll look be-“ he cuts you off by turning around and hugging you. he hugs you tight, lifting you up.

“thank you.” you can tell he really means it.

[empress-of-snark]

Hey, love the new chapter! Don’t pay any mind to people complaining about the slow-burn. People love reading slow-burn fics but not as many people have the patience to wait for them to be finished I guess lol. It makes the best sense for Eddie and Chrissy in this AU anyway, they both have a little while to go to be ready for each other and there’s nothing wrong with that. Also, Hellcheer aren’t the only characters or couple in this fic. Jancy, Steve, and Robin have their own storylines here that deserve attention. If anyone is here only for the Hellcheer or only for the Jancy and gets annoyed by ���distractions” then there are plenty of other stories that only focus on one couple. Look: anyone who’s ever read a wip knows it can be difficult to stay patient especially with a longer one, but how cool is it to actually go behind the scenes and even be allowed to suggest ideas and headcanons that could actually show up in the fic later on? I think that’s pretty damn cool, and you can’t get that with a short + finished product. Besides, quality > speed. Anyway, you’re doing a great job so far and don’t let anyone try to deviate you from telling the story you want, the way you want to tell it. ❤️

Thank you anon ♥️

I wanna say again that the person who left the ask did apologize and said that they were taking out their frustration with another issue on me. Also, the only reason I made a post about it was to let them know that there were no hard feelings—I wasn’t fishing for messages, I promise lol

But I appreciate this! You’re probably right that this is just something that comes with the territory of writing a long fanfic, and it’s something I’ll have to keep in mind if I ever do another one. I also think that a lot of Hellcheer readers are used to fics that focus almost exclusively on Eddie and Chrissy and have them getting together/having strong feelings very early on. Which is great! It’s just not the story I’m telling.

One of my favorite parts of writing this fic has been all the lovely asks I’ve gotten over the past few months. I’ve said it before, but I’m not used to getting so much feedback on my fics. In the past, I’ve only written occasionally, and for shows that have either been off the air for 10+ years, or had a fandom of about twelve people (shout out to my Zoo peeps—anybody else miss that show?). Having so many asks in my inbox is a little overwhelming at times, but it also makes me so happy that so many people enjoy my writing.

Anyway, I think I’m rambling lol. Thank you again. I appreciate the encouragement ☺️

[mischiefwithmilo]

You've only just started this account and I already love your stuff sm ❤️

Could you write a little something about the reader being obsessed with Eddie? A little turn tables for the soul

Spare time

edward nashton x reader

A/n:oh my lord I love this idea so much aahhhhhh! thanks for sending the ask, i really appreciate it, love!

Contains: Stalking, Mention of murder and canon-typical violence.

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you didn't have much to do. it was obvious through the amount of time you spent watching him. the riddler.

harmlessly scrolling forums turned much darker, leading to a rabbit hole of conspiracy and lies. corrupt politicians, broken promises, and so much more all revealed by the riddler. you had never though about the injustice until he opened your eyes to it.

you tuned into every stream of his, even if it was just a quick message or hours and hours of him rambling and yelling. your feelings quickly turned into something more, him stealing a special space in you heart.

his voice, even with the modifier was enchanting. his eyes were a sparkling green, but hid an insanity behind them if you looked close enough. you liked the way he got flustered when someone would leave a sweet comment for him, which was rare considering the crowd he drew in.

you woke up november first to a pleasant surprise. he'd finally gone through with it. "gotham mayor killed in his home" ran across the headlines of the news. you grinned. even though it was wrong you were proud of the riddler. all your common sense had been left behind ages ago.

his next stream spoke of actions. he told his veiwers how this is the beginning of his plan to purge gotham of the wickedness that runs rampant. you were giddy.

days blended together waiting for his next stream. even though it was only a few days, it felt like years to you. all you could think about was him. you barely knew him, but you would do anything for him.

finally, you got the long-awaited notification that he was streaming again. filled with joy, you joined quickly, eager to hear what he had to say. he explained how he was going to kill the commissioner, pete savage. "he deserves everything coming to him!" the riddler shouted. "mr. savage has been buying drops, EVEN THOUGH, it is his responsibility to protect our city." you agreed with every word he said. the city needs the justice he brought to it.

running late night errands wasn't something you usually did, but you were craving your favorite snack and decided to treat yourself. walking the sidewalk, you made your way back to your apartment. you zoned out for a moment, until you heard footsteps behind you.

a man, with a large bag, walked nervously behind you. he had a boyish face, sandy brown hair and green eyes. you didn't think much of him, until you heard him speak.

just the small "excuse me" that slipped past his lips walking by a crowd of people, you instantly recognized him. it was him, the riddler. it had to be him, the more you thought of it, the more it made sense. his bag must contain his iconic green coat and mask. maybe even a weapon. the thrill of it all was almost to much bare.

you quickly swerved into the nearest alleyway, making way for him to walk past you. you watched him unknowing hurry past you, suppressing a giggle. you'd finally found him.

you were sneaky following him back to his apartment. you watched from outside of the buildings windows, he entered his apartment and started to unpack his bag.

you were a bit proud of yourself being so clever, realizing that it was him and being so quick-witted to make a plan. his apartment was on the corner of the 3rd floor, so you knew which room was his and it'd be easy to go there right then and there.

but you decided against it. why? you weren't gonna make it that simple. you walked into the lobby of the building, up to the front desk. "excuse me," you asked the young woman who sat there. she was obviously tired working such a late shift. "who lives in the apartment up on the third floor in the corner, the window faces the front of the building?" you pointed in the direction of the room.

maybe the woman was too naive to see how suspicious a request like that is, or maybe she was too out of it to care. either way, she pulled up something on her computer and read it aloud. "edward nashton." she told you. "alright, thanks!" you quickly told her and left.

edward nashton. his name stayed in you mind as you walked to the nearest connivence store. it seemed a bit strange to you that someone like him would have a name so plain if you were being honest. it suited him in a way though. you liked it.

as you entered the store, you knew exactly what you were looking for. you found a small shelf filled with self-help books and bibles, and also the reason you came here. "Book of 100 riddles" you picked it up off the shelf to examine it.

you knew it wouldn't challenge him. he'd complete all of them in an hour at most, but that wasn't the point. after you had purchased the book you took a pen and wrote a message for him. you couldn't wait for him to read it, to know that you know who he is, who he really is. you've been thinking about him for so long and now he was finally in your grasp. this would be fun.

edward woke up from a less than restful sleep. his room cluttered with newspaper clippings, photographs, polaroids, and various weapons. he thrived in the organized chaos of it all, though most people would call it hazard.

he laid in bed, staring at the ceiling while his brain churned, thinking all sorts of things. how his plan had finally started to come together. after a while, he decided to get up. he got ready for the day, which was rare, considering the fact that he mostly spent all his time locked away in his apartment.

today he would run some errands, just to get some supplies and maybe some food. as he left his apartment, he almost tripped over an unfamiliar object. as he looked down at it he realized it was a book of riddles. he titled his head just slightly, amused and nervous at his discovery. he picked up the book and flipped through the pages, stopping on the inside of the cover.

"edward nashton, i know you. the real you. i've seen the things you've done, i can't wait to see more. - your secret admirer." the cryptic message was written with a heart next to it. curiosity turned to panic as he read it. how would they have know where he lived, his full name, the things he's done.

you edward glance around as you peered through the window. you wondered what was going through his mind right now. was he scared of you, or maybe even impressed by your cleverness. you had even already started fantasizing about how he could find you and praise you for your smarts. you knew the two of you would meet eventually, and you couldn't wait for it. it seemed like you had a little too much spare time for your own good.

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i didn't proof read this so srry for any spelling or grammar mistakes!!

[burdenedreverance]

Lately I’ve been wanting to reach out to people more, real life has been stressful. Gonna take a second to peel back the curtain. Leaving my family next month to be going back to the army for an indefinite amount of time. Which is whatever, I signed up for this. I want this.

Complications arise because my sister is suffering from an intense mental health issue. Intense paranoia and delusion, and I took her in for the past few months. Been caring for her and my grandma; while making it clear to my family that someone will need to assume this role once I leave. But more important that my sister gets to a mental health institute to get checked out properly. It’s been.. rough dealing with her.

We haven’t been able to convince her to willing to go. So we have to get a mental health warrant. Tonight was a rough night, I had to get out and clear my head. It’s just rough, juggling my obligations to my family and my career. None the less; I don’t need advice or anything. Mentally I’ve been through the ringer but I’ll be alright.

I just have been trying to escape into my writing. I really do enjoy this hobby. I think I’ll write a book one day. I appreciate everyone who’s ever reached out, been there to plot with me or grown a deeper friendship. Even if we fall out of contact, never think it was out of dissatisfaction. And to my newer friends, my newer mutual, I hope my messgaes when talking about my excitement to write don’t come off as overbearing. And to those I’ve yet to get around to, I hope my silence isn’t taken as any less enthusiastic.

I will get my inbox cleared before I do drafts. Got about 8 asks and 15 drafts. Don’t know how much I’ll do tonight due to my change in scenery. This was kinda a ramble. Just late night musings. Feel free to reach out and shoot the shit anytime.

-Eddie

[elvensorceress]

2021 fic year in review

Tagged by the Lovely and Incomparable @reallysmartladymariecurie thank you, darling! 💕

Total Number Of Completed Works: 14 (is what we’ll call it even though I have a few WIP series)

Total Word Count: ~335,000 (side note how in tf)

Fandoms I’ve Written In: 911 and a teensy bit MCU

Looking Back, Did You Write More Fic Than You Thought You Would This Year, Less, Or About What You’d Expected?: Waaaaay way way more. I have never ever written this much for anything. And given as I had never seen an episode of 911 before May of this year, didn’t exactly expect that at all. (but omg how I love them 😭)

What’s Your Own Favorite Story Of The Year?: So hard to pick because they’re all pretty different? My Heart series was a complete labor of love and an unintentionally massive love letter to all of Buddie fandom (and their story up through s4) because the sniper incident was what got me into the fandom. So of course this story is very special. I am still not sure how I wrote 137K in four months. still over here going hOOWWW????? I am also very very fond of The Aftermath of Liberation and Love Confessions. Who doesn’t love sassy petty Eddie? 

Did You Take Any Writing Risks This Year?: idk just writing in general and pushing myself to stay with it? Which isn’t really a “risk” per se but putting anything out there kind of is? I also like to play around with prose in general. I think it’s fun, especially in moments where a character is completely out of it or blindsided by something, to make the narration more poetic or lyrical? With repetitive lines or lack of punctuation and things like that.

Do You Have Any Fanfic Or Profic Goals For The New Year?: I do have a few series to finish. I was going to work on my alternate canon s2 Buddie series during hiatus but then I got started with a post 5a fic of pain (I’m fixing them I promise we’re working on ittttt) that I’m really enjoying and I’m really excited about what’s coming up in the next chapter.  Also, I have to finish Bannerella at some point because I’ve been working on it off and on for almost 10 years and it’s just ridiculous at this point. 

Most Popular Story Of The Year?: Technically? Based on kudos, it’s Plus or Minus, which I sort of figured might be the case? It was an idea that a lot of people seemed to theorize about (T*yKay gets a job offer and asks Buck to go with her) but I hadn’t seen any fics about it where that was the whole premise? (Totally could have missed them. So sorry if I did!) So I think it got quite a bit of traction just because people wanted to see that play out. But if we’re being honest, I think it’s one of if not my weakest piece. I do love the two scenes with Eddie (and Christopher) and the whole Eddie stress cleaning because it’s apparently A Thing lol. But overall, I’m still pretty meh about it. *insert shrug emoji*  However, if we go by some responses and reactions that I received, I’d say Aftermath (and even my What I Did for Love fic) seem more popular to me. Though if we go by number of bookmarks, it’s my Heart series.

Story Of Mine Most Under-Appreciated By The Universe, In My Opinion: Okay, I’m going to ramble here because I think I either didn’t summarize this one very well or I posted it too late and people were over Halloween, but I really really loved, In the Darkest Time of Year, and I swear basically no one read it. It’s kind of like Aftermath in that it’s sort of a holiday fic? But not really? It’s also an Eddie POV story in which we are tormented by repression and go through a whole Halloween shift of spookiness and emotions to get Eddie to confess his feelings. The goal was to really break him down and threaten him with losing Buck forever if he didn’t come to terms with everything he’s been holding in. 

There are sweet scenes with Eddie and Hen working together and being friends! (and I wanted them to have that whole sexuality conversation without being super straightforward about it?) and there’s mutual pining and longing with Buck, and not one but TWO scenes of Eddie vs T*ylor ethical conflict snarky fighting showdowns (including one right in front of Buck 👀) plus it all has this maybe magical realism, maybe mental breakdown hallucination sort of things that I thought gave it an interesting twist. Also has the tragic gay cheerleaders 😭 and I had a lot of fun hinting at these mythological figures and giving them personalities. Oh plus??? I somehow got into making it a kind of Orpheus/Eurydice type story only the twist is that Eddie is Eurydice because Buck pulled him from death, but they’re both still stuck in that moment of the sniper shooting so Eddie worries that he will be trapped in death and the underworld.

Anyway! I would love you forever and ever if you went and checked it out! 

Most Fun Story To Write: Hands down. Aftermath of Liberation and Love Confessions. Snarky sassy petty Eddie! Buck getting roasted for the lame T*yKay love confession! Ravi being adorable! A couple super fun OCs who were inspired/based on my late grandparents. Oh, and let me tell you that Buddie kiss? Was one of my favorites to write. Also, I didn’t get to do this for a couple of fics where I think it needed it? But I got to slow down the ending for this and give them some time to figure things out. Which meant you got to see them be cute and together after their big confessions and I really liked that. 

Most Unintentionally Telling Story: Also, Aftermath. Eddie’s whole confusion about defining his sexuality and his coming out scene. I feel that so hard. demisexual!Eddie my beloved 😭 Plus, obviously the two OCs (Larry and Patricia) are very special to me. It was fun bringing them back to life in a sweet, ridiculous, silly way. All the love confessions, too, and having everyone essentially tell their own love stories hit very close to home because every single one is inspired by my own wife and how much I love her and how important she is to me. 

Biggest Disappointment: I think I already rambled too much about that lol. But In the Darkest Time of Year

Biggest Surprise: Writing this much at all? Falling so hard for this pairing and their little family and weirdly identifying so much with both of them but in different ways? Also, I am still surprised by the reaction I received to Aftermath. I wasn’t sure people would like it! But it was so much fun to write and I loved it so so much. So, if anything, I’m very grateful people loved it :) 

My Favorite Part Of Fandom This Year: Oh gosh. I’ve been enjoying all the amazing writers and meta-ers and gif makers and artists! You are all so incredible and so talented and I adore all of you. Also, I have to agree with @reallysmartladymariecurie because I joined the fandom between 4x13 and 4x14 and omgggggg was that wild. I’ve met such kind and wonderful people who just amaze me every day with their friendliness and enthusiasm and I just really love all of you. It’s been a long time since I was so excited about a fandom and it’s largely because of all of you. 💕💕💕💕💕 Giant hugs and love for you all! 🤗💕

I’m going to add a few here, too because they just need to be mentioned!

Most Memorable Scene to Write: There are some scenes from Heart of Flowers/Heart of Gold that I just really lovelovelove and feel they had to have happened in canon in some form but we just didn’t get to see them. But the one that really sticks out to me is basically a 4x04 addition where Buck goes to Eddie and Christopher’s after the “love me anyway” dinner with his parents and has a breakdown in the key of, “what did I do wrong/why can’t anyone love me.” And his boys smush him in a hug and snuggle him. It’s still one of my all time faves. Also? When Eddie’s parents call and not only does he get to tell them off but he has to argue that he (and Christopher) deserve love? Oh, that was fun. 

Favorite Kiss: The overall story is still in progress, but I think the beginning can still be a standalone. So, if you want to know my all time favorite Buddie kiss that was just the most fun? It’s from Reset the Clock. Also the love scene near the end of Heart of Flowers/Heart of Gold is 👀👀👀👀 just saying. 

tagging: anyone who wants to do this! I am not sure who has already been tagged but I want EVERYONE to do this pleasseeeee

@ashavahishta @swiftiediaz @evcndiaz @finduilasclln @mansikkaomenabanaani @oatflatwhite @morganofthefairies @adamsparirsh @fleurdebeton @hmslusitania @oldsouldreamer85 @capseycartwright @kitkatpancakestack @matan4il