#love and light to luca we were all like. okay why the hell would you do that my guy. to what end.

[moonshynecybin]

I wasn't on here when it happened but how funny was it when the news came out that Luca went to Honda while Alex had been banned from Yamaha

well first of all i’m pretty sure i remember MARC being the one who basically confirmed the news to the press. and part of me thought he was JOKING

[artiststarme]

The Kids Grovel for Steve's Forgiveness

Part 3 of the "The Party Forgets Steve's Birthday" fic! I hope you guys like it and please leave your thoughts in the comments!

~*~*~*~

There was something off with Steve and Eddie lately but Dustin couldn’t quite place his finger on what it was. They’d both been distant for the past few weeks for unknown reasons. Steve hadn’t been answering any of the Party’s phone calls and he’d refused to drive any of them anywhere. The times he did interact with them, Eddie would swoop in and take him elsewhere. He was acting as a blockade of sorts, preventing any member of the Party besides himself from getting close to Steve. The last time any of the kids had spoken to him uninterrupted was weeks ago when Steve refused to let them rent a rated R movie and if anything, the kids should be mad at him, not the other way around.  

Perhaps most concerning about the whole situation was how Eddie was postponing sessions for the campaign. He’d canceled Hellfire club two weeks in a row, an action he once called “blasphemous and unjust”. Everyone was really worried about his change of heart and Dustin was determined to get to the bottom of it.

Everything came to a head at Friday’s session, the first one in weeks that Eddie hadn’t tried to postpone. He was unnecessarily brutal at this session and was doing his darndest to kill everyone like some sort of fantasy nerd serial killer. The session was supposed to continue from where they were recuperating at an inn in a small village and all of the boys were looking forward to some light humor in these confusing times. What no one was expecting was for the evil gorgons and their tamed serpents to attack the town in an effort to kill their group in an act of revenge. 

They were supposed to be having a fun time playing a campaign for DnD but Eddie seemed more malicious, more hostile than usual. Only two hours in and half the Party was dead, the rest low on hit points, right on the verge of death. 

“Okay, what the hell?” Dustin shouted as Gary the Great turned to stone after being caught in a fire and cornered by a gorgon.

“What?” Eddie asked him, his expression a careful mask of neutrality. 

“What’s your problem? We ended the last session safe at an inn, what the hell is this?” The other guys nodded their agreement with his outburst. No one was expecting to get their favorite characters murdered so ruthlessly, at least not so soon in the session. 

“The inn burned down and the town is under attack by merciless gorgons. That’s not my fault,” Eddie told them all. 

“Yes it is, you literally wrote this! This session was supposed to last ten hours. We’re two hours in and most of us are dead! Why are you doing this?” Dustin’s voice was embarrassingly shrill but it got his point across just fine. 

“It’s not my fault your strategy sucks, Henderson! Maybe you should try a little harder to stay alive!” Eddie yelled back.  

Will piped up then, “we should ask Steve for help, he’s good at strategy!”

“You will not! Do not bother Steve,” Eddie pointed at him. 

“Why are you being so neurotic today? And why are you gatekeeping Steve? We want answers!” Dustin yelled again. The other kids voiced their agreement as well. 

They heard a crash in the Munson kitchen and everyone jerked to look at Lucas standing in the doorway. He held up a small Polaroid picture dated from a few weeks ago with a small ‘Happy Birthday, Stevie-poo! I love you’ written in the corner. “What is this?”

Mike scoffed, “who cares about Steve right now? I want to know why Eddie’s been so weird lately.”

His comment must’ve thrown Eddie over the edge because he jumped up from his seat and started screaming at them. “You fuckers forgot his birthday! Steve’s been your friend for at least three years and you’ve never even done as much as tell him happy birthday! So now he’s hurt because he doesn't think you guys care and I think you’re all jackasses that shouldn’t get to be around him anyways! Nice going assholes, you pissed us both off.”

Jeff, Grant, and Gareth looked around the room before standing up from their spots on the couch. Jeff awkwardly clapped his hands and started moving towards the door. “Well guys, there seems to be some friction today so we’re just going to head out for now. We should probably just pick this up next week, that way we have plenty of time to make new characters.”

Eddie nodded at him before sneering at the rest of the Party. “That’s a good idea, Jeff. The rest of you can get the hell out.”

Then he dramatically whirled around and stormed into his room, slamming his bedroom door behind him. Jeff, Grant, and Gareth shook their heads at the kids before leaving, which left Dustin, Lucas, Mike, and Will to consider the gravity of what they’d done. None of them had ever even thought about Steve’s birthday, it had never come up in conversation and they’d never noticed a lack of celebration. Dustin felt particularly guilty as he picked up the DnD table in the Munson living room. Steve was practically his brother, he of all people should’ve known his birthday. 

Nearly twenty minutes later, they heard the bedroom door down the hallway open and paused in their ministrations. Eddie was either coming out to apologize to them or to yell at them some more and while they were all nervous, they were prepared for either option. They deserved it. But to their utter shock, it wasn’t Eddie that came out. No, instead it was a sleep-rumpled Steve, shirtless, with glasses on and his usually immaculate hair in disarray.

He squinted his eyes at them in confusion before making a double take. “What the- what are you guys still doing here?”

“Steve! What are you doing in Eddie’s room and why are you shirtless?” Lucas asked him. 

“Uh, I was taking a nap.”

“In Eddie’s bed? Why wouldn’t you just sleep at your own house?” Mike sneered at him.

“What’s with the interrogation?! Stop asking questions you don’t want the answers to and let me live!” Steve yelled at them.

So Steve was still mad. But now, Dustin understood why. “Steve, we’re so sorry! We didn’t know it was your birthday so we know why you’re mad and we don’t blame you. But-”

“Dustin, I’m not mad, I’m disappointed,” he said. Oh shit, that was worse! “But it’s fine. I shouldn’t have gotten my hopes up, that’s on me.”

“Steve, we should’ve done something and we’re sorry. You’re one of our best friends and we’ll do better,” Lucas told him. He patted his bare shoulder to emphasize his point. 

Mike nodded at his words but said nothing in further agreement. Dustin felt awful. After everything Steve had done for them, they’d forgotten his birthday. And then he had the nerve to say it was his fault?! What was wrong with this guy?

“Steve, you didn’t deserve that. We’ll make it up to you somehow. We’ll wash your car and bring you lunch when you work, and we’ll never forget another one of your birthdays, we promise.” He promised him earnestly.

Steve pulled him into a hug and messed up his hair despite his squawk of outrage. “I forgive you guys. Really, it’s not a big deal. I haven’t celebrated my birthday in years so it’s fine.”

“You will not forgive them!” Eddie stormed down the hallway to pull Dustin out of Steve’s embrace. He wrapped his own arms around his… Steve, and pointed an accusing finger at them. “He’s not just going to drop his hurt feelings to make you assholes feel better. You bitches better grovel if you want Steve and I to forgive you. Now scram, why are you still here?”

~*~*~*~

For the next two weeks, the kids made it their mission to prove to Steve how much he meant to them. Eddie told them to grovel and grovel they did. 

Dustin brought him a homemade lunch from his mom to Family Video every shift he worked. He cleaned his car (technically he just bribed Nancy to drive it through the car wash but still, the thought was there). And he taught him how to play DnD so he could join the next campaign with his own character. 

Lucas went over to the Harrington house to clean the pool every week and mowed the lawn while he was over there. Steve looked shocked when he came home to that but Lucas was reasonably sure he was happy. He also played basketball with him at the park and listened to all of Steve’s mostly helpful tips. 

Mike just eased up on the glaring and brought him a Slurpee once. He also made sure to take his anger out on Nancy instead of Steve as he usually did. 

When they told Robin shortly after their odd interaction at Eddie’s, she was horrified. She immediately ditched Vickie to devote all of her time and best friend-ness to Steve as she should’ve done in the first place. She bought him dinner, stole movies to watch at movie nights with him, and bit her tongue when she saw Eddie kiss him in front of her. She would be the best friend she should’ve been initially and wait for Steve to come to her (which he did a few hours later). 

Needless to say, Steve was freaked out for a good month. People were being too nice to him and it was like he slipped into a parallel universe. Everything looked the same and the rest of the town seemed the same but his friends couldn’t be more different. After multiple panic attacks and burnouts, Eddie told the Party to ease up or deal with the consequences. 

What finally got things back to normal was Hopper organizing and hosting a belated birthday celebration at the Hopper-Byers’ house. All of his friends came together to celebrate him turning 20. Eddie obtained another cake from the bakery and decorated it himself, as per usual. This time, he had more room and was able to write a grotesque “BIRTH STEVE, Another year gone”. The adults of the Party were of course horrified at the dripping red frosting of the lettering and the spattering of rainbow sprinkles but Steve had never felt so touched. 

The Party sang him happy birthday in a myriad of too-flat notes and screeches but it was special nonetheless. Especially when Hopper threw an arm around Steve’s shoulder to tell him that it would happen every year. And from that point forward, it did. 

The End

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[hockeyandhrsepwr]

With the homies

Luke Hughes x college vlogger!reader

Series masterlist

yourusername

liked by adamfantilli, user90 & others

Yourusername my love language is coffee shop dates 🫶

view all comments

Dylanduke.25 love you a latte!

Yourusername you just get me Dyl 🫶

Luca.fantilli so if I bring you coffee can we call it a date?

Yourusername sure Lu

Adamfantilli Luca’s getting a death glare now

Rutgermcgroarty oh yeah, he’s dead

User83 ranking AA coffee shops vid?

User62 Yes!! Would love to know 

Yourusername oh, I like that. It’s an area I’m very familiar with

sholtz_024 doing schoolwork on a date? He must not be that interesting

Yourusername nah, he’s pretty cool & he feeds me so 👍

Yourusername

liked by bestie, jackhughes & others

Yourusername quick visit to Bestie at smart kid school!

Vlog coming tomorrow! #suphomies&wecomeback

📍NYC

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Bestie fun was had, smarts weren’t used

Yourusername true 

Friend4 aint that the truth 

Friend9 wild weekend!

Jackhughes you were in NYC?! 

Yourusername yes

Jackhughes and you didn’t tell me?

Yourusername why would I

sholtz_024 you say that as if you aren’t crazy smart too

Yourusername yeah, but I’m not Columbia smart

sholtz_024 I’m pretty sure you are

Yourusername no, I’m literally not. They rejected me

User84 Mich is better anyway!!

yourusername hell yeah it is

jacobtruscott_20 concrete jungle wet dream tomato

Edwards.73 There’s nothing you can’t do

Dylanduke.25 now youre in New York

mackie.samo these streets will make you 

Markestapa feel brand new

lhughes_06 big lights will inspire you

Pplapointe_22 lets hear it for New York!

Yourusername can y’all do karaoke somewhere else?

Dylanduke.25 rude

User83 new tattoo? 

Yourusername gotta get the matching ones <3

User02 how many do you have? 

Yourusername this makes 10!

User83 tattoo tour? 

Yourusername maybe!

lhughes_06

liked by yourusername, markestapa & others

lhughes_06 with the boys

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User939 and a mystery girl👀

Edwards.73 what a stud

thombordeleau_ he’s got rizz

Markestapa hey thats my line!!

Dylanduke.25 swaggy swag

JackHughes Luke being a gentleman? 

_quinnhughes I taught him well

nolan_moyle how sauced are you?

lhughes_06 yes

mackie.samo there’s your answer

yourusername is that hat surgically attached to Duker head or something?

dylanduke.25 I just like it okay?!

yourusername

liked by Edwards.73, user84 & others

Yourusername the week vs the weekend

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sholtz_024 dont be fooled its Saturday night & she’s been camped out at the library since this morning

Yourusername I like to pretend I’m cool okay? 

lhughes_06 dont lie, you’re normally at the arena

Yourusername okay well this is a typical non game week Hughes okay?

Bestie study hard, party harder

Friend7 retweet

Yourusername thats right baby!

BigBro are you wearing pants in that pic?

Yourusername yes 🙄 ever heard of shorts?

BigBro you do know its March?

Yourusername its for the aesthetic bro

User03 show us his face bestie

Yourusername its sholtz_024 

sholtz_024 dont bring me into this!

xxx

[the-himawari-otome]

[Shuuen no Virche] Birthday Short Story - Mathis Claude

The birthday celebration of a certain young man who's fond of books

<Original post here>

･ﾟ･:,｡★ translation under the cut ★,｡･:･ﾟ

Lucas: Happy birthday, Mathis. I am overjoyed from the bottom of my heart that you were born on this day.

Adolphe: She's going to be joining us later. But she also said she wants to congratulate Mathis with all her heart.

Ankou: Considering it's Princess we are talking about, I am sure she will have some wonderful words to share with you.

Mathis: T-Thank you, everyone! This is my first time having so many people celebrate my birthday...!

Jean: That's right, young master. To think you've made so many friends... I myself am delighted as well.

Yves: Oh, really? In that case, we have to have lots of fun day, right? First thing's first—.

Yves: On that note, I've prepared plenty of my homemade food that Mathis told me he loves so much!

Mathis: Wow, it look delicious! *Drools*... I-Is it really okay to eat such a grand meal?

*.........*

Jean: ...The light left everyone's eyes in an instant. Are you alright?

Scien: There's no way in hell we'd be alright in the face of tragedy.

Adolphe: You got that right. This sight is bad for our hearts even though we let the food slide since it's Mathis's favourite...

Lucas: So Mathis, have you always been spending your birthdays with Jean?

Mathis: Yes! On those occasions, Jean also tries his hand at making dishes that he's not so great at. I enjoy Jean's homemade cooking much more than food bought at Marché.

Jean: I told him that it would be better to purchase some more proper food—however, he wouldn't hear it, saying he prefers this...

Yves: Ahaha. The two of you really do seem more like a real family than just a boy and his butler.

Mathis: Ehehe. I'm glad if you say so.

Mathis: Oh right, Jean. Why did you leave a present by my pillow this year? I was surprised when I saw it there when I woke up in the morning.

Jean: Oh, was it not to your liking?

Mathis: Oh, no. I was really happy. But I was wondering why you started doing that this year...

Jean: ...Well, there's no particular reason. I simply thought it would be nice to celebrate your birthday "for real" once in a while.

Mathis: ...??

*CLICK*

Ankou: My, my. It appears our long-awaited Princess has arrived, Mathis Claude.

Adolphe: Come on. Go ahead, Mathis.

Mathis: Ah, w-welcome! Thank you very much for coming to celebrate my birthday today...!

Mathis: I'll do my very best to entertain you so you have an enjoyable time—.

*Rustle, rustle*

Mathis: ...Hm, what's this? ...A gift that you were tossing and turning over until the very last minute? And you prepared it for me?

Mathis: T-Thank you so much! ...Um, can I open it?

Mathis: ...Wow! It's a bracelet with a beautiful gem!

Mathis: It's filled with your prayers—that I'll be able to continue writing the novels that I love?

Mathis: ...Err, ah, haha... what should I do? I'm so happy that I feel like I'm about to cry.

Mathis: This shouldn't be the first time I've had someone celebrate my birthday. Yet I wonder why I'm getting so emotional...

Jean: ...

Mathis: Thank you very much. I'll treasure it...! And I promise on this gem that you've given me.

Mathis: I'll write tons of stories in my life to come—and I'll ask you, who's special to me, to be my very first reader!

And someday. I hope—I'll be able to convey these feelings to you through the words I've spun myself.

---

[DO NOT USE OR REPOST MY WORK W/O PERMISSION, THANK YOU]

[horsetailcurlers2]

YET ANOTHER long and obnoxious stream of my thoughts while watching greys anatomy for the first time (S19 bc i’m finally caught up, babey!!!! (phew))

-i hope this new class of residents isn’t as one dimensional as the last one

-“you say please to bhokee!” hell yeah you do schmitt. (i love that she did say please he was just so ready to jump down her throat about it lmoa)

-DEREK’S NEPHEW ?????!!! WHICH SISTER? my money is on nancy bc i always thought she was the oldest so she would have the son old enough to be out of med school

-okay i’m too curious (for some reason i’ve always just been curious about the shepherds) so i’ve gone back to S15E21 (good shepherd) to see if i could get a better look at nancy’s wall of family photos. i see one of nancy with a young curly haired girl, kathleen with a light haired child, and two photos that are just groups of kids. my assumption is that these two are all of nancy’s kids because if she had photos of her nieces and nephews i feel like they would include their parents. both photos show two boys and two girls. it looks like the same four kids just at two different ages. the oldest (or at least the tallest) in both photos is a boy with dark hair. this may support my theory that nancy is lucas’s mother. the rest of the photos aren’t very clear. the only thing is that all of the kids look very fair and lucas is not. they also clearly wrote this episode way after they shot the scene with amelia looking at the photos so they may have not even bothered with details that were meant to be sort of irrelevant at the time.

-okay this is a very tragic story with (griffin??? griffith??) and makes her lateness and weirdness understandable but am i the only one who thinks it’s insanely bizarre to be sharing your tragic life story to your superior on your first day?

-idk about this season yet. i feel them trying to sort of mirror season one in some ways, focusing more on the interns (which i think i like), trying to connect back to old characters, but it feels a *little* forced so far

-i like mean and snappy teddy

-have we ever seen this library before?

-“i tried to implement similar changes at various times and was always met with resistance” ???? when did bailey try to implement those changes to the residency program? she implemented changes but they for sure weren’t these ones

-why is it better for them to think he’s sleeping with her????? jfc lucas

-ADDISON LOOKS SO HOT. i like this costuming for her. very reminiscent of her private practice wardrobe

-i really like baileys braids this season btw. and i like that she has a special scrub cap that can cover them all

-lucas’s dad is from barbados. idk what to do with that but it is another clue lmao. if nothing else, i’m hooked on this season just to find out who his mother is

-no comment on the dancing

-helm looks really cute as a bartender

-owen when teddy isn’t super happy and content with him after he fucked them over and put their children’s well-beings at risk: 😯

-addison and tom should have met

-oh my god just tell them you’re a nepo baby!! they think you’re fucking your aunt!

-it made complete sense to bring addison back for this storyline. i hope they explore it a little more and keep bringing her back.

-i’m so confused about lucas’s whole complex. wouldn’t he have grown up with his dad’s last name anyway? why has this been an issue “all his life”??? and until he went to med school i doubt anybody even knew the significance of him being a shepherd

-what planet is owen living on where he thinks they would let him be chief again rn

-i can see myself shipping mike chang and mary queen of scots once they develop their characters a bit more. simone and lucas i like in theory but idk about the chemistry

-“i am not going to beg you to love me” good meredith bc that didn’t work out so well the first time u did it

-intern house is back!!! i really like that actually

-a full time administrative assistant is completely reasonable. richard had patricia when he was chief

-looking very hot for having just been hit by a car

-winston definitely had a point at first but at this point he’s pissing me off. it’s reminding me of that big meredith and cristina fight in the sense that it feels like he’s deliberately taking everything she’s doing and saying in the worst possible way.

-richard and addison’s dynamic is so underrated

-this is incredibly random but it just popped into my head. it’s so weird that amelia has never brought up her friend michelle on greys. you know, her friend from pp that committed suicide bc she had huntingtons which ultimately kickstarted amelia’s relapse. i feel like it could have been relevant to a few cases

-pru is so fucking cute

-so many people keep leaving i don’t really have a reaction to it anymore. but i will very much miss maggie. ik a lot of people don’t like maggie (prob bc they thought she was trying to fill the spaces that lexi and cristina left behind) but i really liked her. i think i found her very relatable in a lot of ways. even/especially when she was a little annoying lol

-why is this guy specifically requesting bailey? (not that she’s not great at her job it just has suspicious vibes) is he one of the anti choice harassers? nervous for that especially since addison is here so i feel like it will be about that storyline

-jesus christ i knew it. bc it’s so “pro life” to threaten a child!!!!!! go kwan though. and teddy!

-JUJU!!!

-yasuda x helm <3

-cristina mention !!!!

-i really like that there’s no intern/attending relationships lately

-i’m doubling down on thinking lucas is nancy’s bc i think if he has adhd, kathleen likely would have noticed bc she’s a psychologist. obviously it’s possible she wouldn’t have, everyone has blind spots but i think this makes the most sense still. and ik he could still be liz’s but i’m still unsure on if the ages work out and i think they were banking on which actress would be more likely to make an appearance later on and neve campbell is less likely to come back than the others.

-uggh why do i HATE simone’s wedding dress.

-omg i’m a terrible person i didn’t realize it was her late mother’s. i’m so sorry the fit of it just looks off

-i wonder how they’re going to ruin/derail this wedding? they’ve already done leaving at the altar, objections, elopements. maybe the twist is that she actually goes through with it?? or they’ll just be boring and so the same thing they’ve done before

-i like that they still call it “joe’s” even though we never see joe anymore

-winston is getting on my nerves. he always starts off having a point and then he gets all immature and petty about it

-dude that is not how a DNR works

-aww yay for bailey

-side note amelia looks great

-TEDDY!!!

[crappymixtape]

something infinite • part six

SOMETHING INFINITE • PART SIX A N D I T ‘ S S U C H A S H A M E

part six of something infinite – ferris wheel at 8 and another chance to see where this thing with steve is taking you, but when his friends find out will he be able to handle it? | ( 4k, fluff, lots of angst, enemies to lovers, steve x you, steve x reader – find the rest of the series and more here and find the series playlist on spotify here )

J U L Y 1 9 8 7 🎶 cold and holy, mono moon

You could see lights and hear the music from the Hawkins Fourth of July Celebration all the way from your aunt’s house. The field was close enough you could walk and everyone had decided to meet up there before leaving together.

“Jonathan don’t forget, Will needs to be back after the fireworks!”

“I know mom, I got it. After the fireworks.”

“And if you go back out just be safe, make good decisions?”

“Yeah, of course mom. Good decisions.”

“Hop’s on his way down there, so if you need anything–”

“Mom, we’ll be okay.”

Listening to Joyce give Jonathan the usual going-out lecture, your leg jiggled nervously as you sat on the porch swing waiting for her to just let you all go already.

Steve hadn’t come to eat dinner before and you couldn’t blame him. You didn’t think Hop would kill him, but if you were Steve you probably wouldn’t have tested that theory, so you’d spent the entirety of the evening asking Robin the time. Yanking Dustin’s arm to look at his calculator watch. Getting teased by literally everyone there.

“Are you afraid of heights?”

“What if it stops while you’re at the top??”

“Is he a good kisser?”

“Did he–wait–what, Max?”

“What? It’s a legit question.”

“Dude, are you kidding? I’m not gonna tell any of you anything,” you shot back to a chorus of groans and swear words. Eddie shot you a grin as Lucas asked Max again why she needed to know if Steve was a good kisser and then Robin’s hand suddenly slapped the top of your thigh.

“Chill. You’re gonna, like, take off into space.”

“I am not, I’m fine.”

“Yeah, okay. You’ve only been checking the time literally every minute. We’re gonna get there on time. Promise. You won’t miss out on round two with old Stevie boy.”

You fixed Robin with a look and let out a small sigh of relief as finally Jonathan came out to the porch, “Okay, let’s get outta here–wait! Will! Mike! You gotta stay close!” He didn’t hardly get a word out before the younger kids all took off and he and Nancy chased after them, leaving you, Eddie and Robin to bring up the rear.

“I’m not gonna lie, I’ve never seen Steve like this before,” Robin said giving you a grin, but it softened the longer she looked at you, “It’s nice.”

“It is nice, isn’t it,” Eddie repeated like he’d just had an epiphany. “God, he’s like himself around you. Sweet Stevie. The one we all love,” Eddie said giving your arm a squeeze, his fingers shining all silver in the moonlight.

“Oh great, no pressure,” you joked, trying to make light of the situation, but they both gave you a look and you felt your cheeks flush. “Alright, it’s not like we’re sending out wedding invitations,” you mumbled, but you couldn’t help the little flicker in your chest that was growing by the day. The one you held for this boy. This brown-eyed, messy-haired, obnoxious, beautiful boy.

“Okay, but like, when you do send them, we’re both invited right?” Robin asked, face all serious and you shoved her.

“Shut up.”

“Love you.”

“Love you too, dingus.”

“And love me too?”

“Yes. Love you too, Eddie.”

“Good.”

The fair was bright and loud and full of screaming children and sugar highs and summer and you felt your nerves creeping back in as the ferris wheel came into view.

“What time is it?” you asked Dustin again, grabbing his wrist, but this time he yanked it back.

“Time for you to get a watch. God. You have like five minutes, get the hell out of here,” and he gave you a gentle shove away from the rest of the group.

Max and Lucas made kissy faces at you. Mike and Dustin had gotten wrapped up talking game strategy, but Will and El each gave you a thumbs up. Eddie and Robin, well, they were less than appropriate as Jonathan and Nancy struggled to pull them away from each other and you couldn’t help laughing as you walked away. Walked toward the ferris wheel. The damn ferris wheel.

You have like five minutes.

How long did it take to get over there? Was he waiting for you? Was your outfit okay?

Your feet did all the work for you as your brain ran through every horrible scenario that could possibly happen and when you finally looked up from the ground you realized you’d reached it. Your meeting point.

The ride towered over you and you felt your stomach sink as the music playing on the old, shitty speakers tried to project happiness and joy, but all you felt was dread. It was so high up. Taking in a breath you attempted to reassure yourself, but a voice behind you made you jump, your moment of peace shattered.

“Hi,” Steve was grinning at you, holding cotton candy in one hand and a giant soda in the other, just like he’d promised.

“Hi,” you shook your head and gave him a tiny scowl, “Scared the shit out of me.”

“Oh, sorry. Did you need to hit the bathroom first, or…?”

“Shut up.”

Steve grinned, “Kidding. Here. Blue, just like you asked and 7-Up.” He held both things out to you, giving you the option, and you felt your own grin tugging at the corners of your lips.

“Big spender, huh?” you took the cotton candy and wrapped a tiny blue cloud around your finger.

“Had to. It’s your first fair. If we fuck this up we can’t go back,” he said seriously, taking a drink of soda, tentatively resting his hand on your lower back. When you didn’t shy away you caught his grin soften into a smile as he looked up at the ferris wheel and you felt the flame in your chest flicker again. God, you really liked this boy.

“Off to a decent start,” you teased, leaning into him and taking another tiny pinch of cotton candy, but this time you stayed close as he pulled you into line.

“Okay, so it’s the easiest thing ever. You just jump into your little carriage thingy and they close the gate and then it turns around super slow for, I dunno, five minutes? Thrilling,” he explained, wiggling his brows at you and pointing with the giant cup of soda in his hand.

“Sounds like it,” you laughed, but the longer you looked at the ride the more the knot in your stomach twisted. Clearing your throat you tried to sound casual, but your apprehension was obvious, “We won’t like…get stuck up there. Right?”

Steve looked down at you, all joking aside, and gave you one of his warm smiles, “No. And even if we do, you got me up there with you so. It’ll be fine.”

“Great. Perfect.”

“Hey,” he tapped a finger on your nose. “We’re not gonna get stuck, Princess. I promise,” and as he pulled you in closer at your waist you believed him.

The metal clanking of the ferris wheel turning to life shook the pod you sat in, thigh to thigh next to Steve, and as it started to lift you up into the air you felt your heart going with it. The stars were like countless glittering pin pricks in the inky black sky and you let the feeling wrap around you all hazy and bright.

Your pod swung jerky for a minute as the giant wheel moved along and your hand flew out to grab hold of Steve’s arm.

“S’okay,” he gave you a little grin, hand finding yours to tangle your fingers together. If your stomach hadn’t already flipped over from the loss of gravity it did then at his touch.

“I’m fine,” you tried to sound brave, but it was a miserable attempt.

“Oh. Okay. Well, if you need anything I’m literally right next to you, so…” his grin softened and you could feel him looking at you. You decided to look back, but only as a distraction from how high you were climbing into the air.

“Lucky me.”

“Yup. So, how is it? Everything you dreamed of and more?”

“And more,” you attempted a joke, but held your breath as the pod stuttered and Steve squeezed your hand again. “Cotton candy is top notch, soda isn’t too bad, and this ride hasn’t killed me yet. I do have one complaint…” you let out a tiny exhale and tried to give him a grin.

“A complaint?” nerves flickered on his face for a second.

“Yeah. I didn’t get a bear yet. And I feel like that’s a pretty integral part of the fair experience.” Steve bit back a laugh and then took on a very serious expression.

“So sorry to hear that,” he started, trying very hard to maintain his concern, “We’ll fix that right away. Just so happens your date holds the record for most free throws in a row, so, should be able to get you a bear in no time.”

“Most free throws in a row?” you broke first, a skeptical smile cracking your face and he huffed a laugh.

“What? I do. Why’s that funny?”

“You’re a dork,” you say back, but it doesn’t hold any bite and when you glance away you realize how far away the world has fallen, all the little people below milling around like tiny ants, your soda and Steve’s flannel waiting for you all the way at the bottom. You swallow thickly and screw your eyes shut, taking in a steadying breath. Steve squeezes your hand again.

“Hey. We’re okay. Here, look at me,” his fingers gently tucked under your chin to lift it and when you finally opened your eyes he was smiling at you so sweet and soft and you felt the anxiety that had been clutching at your chest melt away. “See?” his eyes were warm, flecks of gold swimming in honey, and you felt like you were going to float away.

God, he was so pretty it hurt.

You knew what you wanted to say, the words were loaded and ready to fall out, but you couldn’t find the bravery. The look in his eyes was making your brain feel all mushy, but when his hand dropped away you ached for his touch and it was all the motivation you needed.

“Kiss me.”

Biting in a grin his hand moved back to your chin, holding it gently between his thumb and forefinger, tilting it just so. “Second time is usually better,” he quoted you, voice low and warm and the air crackled between you, electric, like sparks from a fire.

“Usually,” your voice was a whisper as his eyes closed, long lashes sweeping against his cheeks, and you felt yours fluttering shut too as he pulled you in to catch your lips with his.

The first time had been curious. Tentative. New. But this was braver. Bold. Wanting. Faintly familiar. He tasted like cotton candy and soda, like spearmint gum and summer and you wanted more. Twisting in your seat to face him, he took the cue and wrapped his arms tight around your waist, tugging you impossibly closer. A tiny gasp escaped you as he pulled you in, taking you both by surprise, but Steve recovered and grinned into the kiss, letting your bottom lip go with a small pop.

“Get a room!” someone in the pod above you laughed and you felt your cheeks flush, but you were grinning just as stupid as Steve was.

“Better?” he asked, smug and already knowing your answer.

“Hmm. Yes, but you’ve set the bar pretty high for yourself, genius,” you teased.

“S’fine, I like a challenge,” he lifted a hand to tuck a couple of flyaways behind your ear, still pressed into you as the ferris wheel slowed, creaking and protesting against the ceasing of movement. You wished you could stay close like that forever, but a voice shook you back to reality.

“Alright, everybody off!” the grizzled ride operator appeared at your gate. Rolling his eyes at the state of you both he undid the lock, hurrying you out for the next group of impatient couples who wanted what you’d just had.

“Jeez, maybe you should give him a kiss,” you muttered as the operator walked away and Steve poked at your ribs.

“He wishes.”

As you left the platform, Steve scooped your giant soda off the railing and handed it over, “Here, hold this for a minute, I’m gonna grab my flannel.”

You took a sip and turned to get out of the way of the growing line of people when something, someone, ran smack into you. With a Pop! the giant cup of 7-Up in your hand busted open, spilling all down the front of your shirt.

“Shit,” you sucked in a gasp, the cold soda soaking through to your bare skin, shirt ruined, but before you could say anything else you heard laughing. Not I’m-Having-Fun laughing. More like What-A-Fucking-Mess laughing and you glanced up to see a brown haired boy looking down at you.

He was tall, cheeks smattered with dense freckles, lips twisted up into a smirk as he laughed and you felt the knot in your stomach tighten.

“God, freak, watch where you’re going,” he snarked.

“Didn’t know there’d be a wet t-shirt contest,” another boy behind him snickered, blonde hair set across his brow just-so, and he elbowed his friend with a wicked grin.

“Gross,” a red headed girl next to them quirked a judgmental brow at you, nose crinkled up in disgust.

Cheeks burning you wished the ground would open up and swallow you whole. You didn’t know who these assholes were, but somehow they’d devoured every bit of your confidence in that moment just by looking at you.

Soaked and feeling the soda drying in a sticky mess on your bare skin you glanced over your shoulder for Steve, but you didn’t have to look far as he walked up on the four of you.

“Hey, sorry that guy tried to give me someone else’s–” but when he looked up from the ground the color drained from his face. “Tommy?” fell out of his mouth.

Tommy. Your stomach dropped.

“Harrington? What the fuck are you doing here with a Byers?”

Steve’s eyes flicked from Tommy to you and back again, his fingers fumbling with the flannel he held in his hands. It was like he was stuck, short circuiting, debating.

“Harrington?” the blonde boy repeated and it seemed to shake him.

“Oh, hah, yeah that asshole at the ferris wheel asked me to give this back,” he hastily shoved the wadded up fabric into your sticky soda hands making you fumble the empty paper cup to the ground.

“Always taking on the charity cases, Steve. C’mon. We’re supposed to go to Kyle’s. His brother got a keg,” the girl gave you another disapproving look and rolled her eyes.

You were frozen in place as you listened to the exchange. As if you hadn’t just kissed like you were the only two people left on earth. Like he hadn't just promised he'd be there for you. Like you hadn't shared everything over the last month. Like you hadn't shared you.

The shift in Steve’s body language made your insides hurt, made you want to throw up, made you want to go home and scrub him off of you. He’d turned away, shoved his hands into his pockets instead of reaching for yours, and you could see his tongue darting out to lick at his lips nervously.

“Give this back?” you repeated, tone edged with venom, “Charity case?” Steve finally looked down at you as spat your words out and the cool facade he’d tried so hard to put on cracked a bit, driving you further. “I’m sorry, we’re on a date,” you clarified for everyone and silence lingered for a moment before everyone but you and Steve burst into laughter.

“A date? With Harrington? No fucking way.”

Silence.

“Wait, seriously?”

“I–what I mean is–we didn’t–” Steve fumbled over his words and something in you snapped.

“We didn’t what? What was that then?” you threw a hand back over your shoulder at the ferris wheel, “What was that?”

“Oh shit, someone’s pissed,” Tommy laughed, high-pitched as he watched your face turn sour and Steve stayed silent. You practically shoved him over with the force you used to drive the flannel back into his stomach and started to walk away, throat tightening as you fought back tears.

Steve seized up again as he listened to Tommy squealing, listened to Kyle wolf whistle after you, listened to Carol drawl on in her nasally, annoying tone.

“Bye, freak!”

“God, what a mess.”

“Fucking weirdo.”

Something in him swelled, was building to a peak as they yelled after you and laughed and snickered and god he couldn’t take it anymore.

Steve broke.

“God, shut the hell up, Tommy! Just. Shut. Up,” Steve hissed, rounding on the other boy and getting right in his face. Kyle and Carol both stopped, mouths dropping open into little ‘o’s.

“The fuck is wrong with you?” Tommy shook his head, a mixture of irritation and confusion on his face.

“You. You’re what’s wrong with me. You’re such a dick. All the time.”

“Me? Oh that’s rich, Harrington. Why don’t you tell me how you really feel?” Tommy took a step closer to Steve. His tone held an edge to it, dangerous, like it could tip one way or the other and it hinged on what Steve said next.

“Yeah? Okay. I’m tired of your shit. I’m tired of the way you’re always dragging everyone, including Kyle,” Kyle’s face shifted in shock. “You’re so hung up on stupid shit that doesn’t matter. We’re not on the basketball team anymore, Tommy. We’re not in high school. It’s over. And you cheat on Carol pretty much anytime she’s out of town.”

“You what?” Carol looked like she could kill Tommy and Tommy’s face was burning, fists in balls at his sides.

“You’re no saint,” Tommy snapped at Steve, “You’re always talking shit about Carol. Telling me Kyle’s a little bitch. Have since we were Freshman. King Steve right? You’re the worst out of all of us!” Tommy thrust his hands up into Steve’s chest, grabbing fistfuls of his shirt, and pulled him in close. “Don’t fucking tell me I’m the one to blame.”

It was like an instinct, Steve’s hands flinging into Tommy and shoving him away, following after as he stumbled backwards. Tommy started laughing again.

“What’re you gonna do Harrington? You gonna hit me?”

“Yeah. I am,” and as Steve walked up on the boy he loosed a punch into Tommy’s jaw, the smack of skin on skin loud against the fair music.

“Shit,” Tommy hissed, fingers gingerly touching the spot on his face where a bruise had started to bloom and when he looked back up at Steve he had fire in his eyes. Picking up a sprint Tommy lunged at him, grabbing Steve around the knees and shoving them both to the ground. He threw one, two, three punches – Steve’s nose, his jaw, his cheek.

“Tommy, stop! Hopper’s coming!”

And it was over as quick as it started. Tommy clambered off Steve, Kyle and Carol hot on his heels as they took off into the crowd. Hopper shoved past the last two people in his way and let out a grunt of frustration.

“You shits! Get back here! God dammit,” stopping where Steve was still laid out in the grass he shook his head, grumbling curses under his breath. “Alright, kid?” he offered the boy a hand.

“Not really,” Steve touched his lip and brought away blood on his fingers as Hop pulled him onto his feet.

“Yeah, you don’t look great. I’d say you should get home, but if I were you I’d fix that first,” Hopper pointed to your figure, still walking to the edge of the field and Steve didn’t need any convincing as he took off at a sprint.

“Hey! We were just about to get a spot on the grass–” Eddie saw you coming up on them at the edge of the fairgrounds, but his words cut short when he saw the look on your face. “Damn, are you okay, sweetheart?” he asked, but you walked right past him, Steve not too far behind.

“What the hell, Steve?” you heard Robin snap at him as your feet carried you further away, and then everyone joined in.

“Oh shit, what happened?”

“Who did that to you?”

“It was Tommy–” Steve tried to get a word in.

“Tommy? I’m gonna kill him!”

“Go fix it!”

“Jesus. I know! I’m going!” Steve scrambled across the ground, shoes slipping against the unkept grass, hair wild and heart pounding in his chest.

You should’ve started running too, but he was too fast and you could hear him sucking in breaths as he closed the gap between you.

“Wait, wait, wait. C’mon. Please wait,” Steve’s hand tried to wrap around your wrist, but you flung it away.

As you turned around you saw his split lip, the lilac bruise that crept across his cheek and jaw, all jammy and purple like plums in summer and worry tugged at your heart, but you tried to shove it away. Tried to keep hold of your anger.

“Who did that to you, Tommy?” and Steve kept his mouth shut, frame crumpling a little as you took him in. “Did he?”

“Yeah.”

“God. Why?” you said under your breath, but then he grabbed your hand and your heart stuttered.

"Please.”

Your eyes traced a path from your hands, up his arm, across the moles dotting his cheek, hair all messy and swept across his forehead. When your eyes finally met his, deep and hazy and brown, your heart ached. The look on his face wrecked you. Broke your heart into tiny little pieces and when you spoke again it was wobbly.

“What, d’you want to pile on? Get a good laugh in?” the sob that was clawing up your throat tried to strangle you, but you fought it back. Determined to not let him see you cry.

“No, no it’s not like that, I–”

“What are we, Steve?” the first time you said his name and it was like a curse on your tongue and it hurt.

“I–I like you. I want you.”

“And your ‘friends’?” it was like you’d sucked the air out of his lungs.

“Tommy just gets worked up–”

“No. Tommy? Your ‘friends’? Are assholes. They treat you like shit,” he looked like you’d just punched him and you felt guilt creeping in, but you had to keep going, “It’s simple. You’d rather fit in, be ‘popular’ or whatever. And that’s fine, but I don’t want to get dragged along for the ride. I can’t.”

You left out how your heart felt like it was being crushed in a vice. Left out how much it hurt to watch him just stand there while Tommy and Carol and Kyle laughed. Left out how much it sucked getting lied to.

He’s our dingus. He’ll come around, you’ll see.

Just give him a chance.

He’s got a big heart, he just needs someone who isn’t going to break it.

Steve let your words sink in, standing there in the wheat field while stale fair music played in the background, mocking the weight of the conversation, making everything that had happened before seem like a joke. What was he supposed to do, tell you his friends were ‘just acting up’? Pretend like they weren’t assholes? Pretend like he hadn’t deserved it?

He couldn’t justify his actions or words just by telling you he got his ass kicked for speaking up after you’d left. Couldn’t tell you it was all even now, because it wasn’t and he knew it. He owed you more than that and you weren’t ready for it.

So he shut up and kept his mouth closed.

And your feet moved you away from him.

You could hear the fireworks starting behind you, but you didn’t dare turn around. The tears were coming faster now, your shoulders shaking as your walk turned into a jog and then a run. Long stalks of wheat whipped against your thighs, whoosh whoosh whoosh, Steve’s voice fading away in the distance as he said your name over and over into the dark.

SOMETHING INFINITE SYNOPSIS: hawkins, indiana, 1987 – your mom is out of town for the summer on business and she sends you to live with your aunt joyce and her husband jim in hawkins while she’s gone. joyce works at the library and jim is the town sheriff – the kids, will, jonathan and el slowly warm up to you and it’s after you get in with them that you really start to feel at home, but there’s one person who just annoys you to no end. one person you’d love to just boot off a cliff – steve fucking harrington. ♥️ find the rest of the series and more here and find the series playlist on spotify here.

[mirkwoodshewolf]

Turtle doves; Eddie Munson x reader

*Author’s note*

Okay in light of the fact that Christmas is just one week away (and that I missed both Halloween and thanksgiving fic ideas I could’ve done), I figured now was the time to do a Christmas theme fic for this beloved metalhead who stole my heart this year. At first I was gonna do a mistletoe one but I’ve been seeing a lot of them lately but after re-watching Home alone 2 and I saw the turtledoves I thought BINGO DING DING DING DING!

Not much warning except maybe some swearing, insecure Eddie and TONS AND TONS of fluff!!! 

Taglist:

@plethora-of-things​

@waddles03​

@psychosupernatural​

@queen-paladin​

@queensdivas​

@jd-johndeacon-or-jackdaniels​

@gay-and-ready-to-cry​

_________________________________________________________

Up in Indianapolis, the city was bustling with excitement but also chaos because it was that time of the year again, Christmas time.  Hundreds among hundreds of people crammed into the stores to not only get the best deals, but also get the gift before their fellow man can.  The airports packed with families waiting for the arrival of extended family or friends.

“Eddie? Oi Eddie!” Dustin snapped Eddie out of his trance.  Eddie shook his head and looked down at his favorite (even if he thinks he’s a little shit at times) freshman member of his Hellfire club.

“What?”

“You were miles away. Thinking about (Y/n) again?” Dustin teased.  Eddie smacked the boy in the back of his head and said.

“You wish Henderson.”

“You are like bright red in the face right now.” Laughed Dustin.

“Shut your mouth Dustin. That’s your final warning.” But Dustin wasn’t wrong.  He was thinking about said girl, in fact he’s thought about her all year.

Ever since she took that study abroad program for her Animal Biology major in college, she hasn’t had much time to talk with Eddie. Letters were scarce and phone calls were even rarer.  And even though he was happy for her going all around the world studying wild animals, he wished that she wouldn’t be so far away from him all the time.

Eddie Munson and (Y/n) (L/n) had been friends since they met in the 6th grade when Eddie had his bike stolen by some asshole 8th grade jocks and (Y/n) threw sticks at them to get them to retreat. There she shared his first animal facts that chimps in the wild would throw sticks and stones at pythons to dive them away from their territory.

(Y/n) had always loved reading and learning about animals and she dreamed of one day venturing out into the world to study them and see how they behave up close.  That’s why Eddie always called her his venturous She-elf.

When she got to graduate in 84 and he didn’t, it didn’t deter their friendship.  Every weekend and holiday she visited him and would tell him all about how college has been treating her and what she’s learned that she hadn’t before.  But Eddie had been harboring a secret that not even she knew of.

Since the start of their high school years, Eddie had fallen in love with his adventurous Elf.  Not only for her looks but for her passion for what she wanted in life. Like him, she had a goal and she was reaching it, achieving it, and trying to own it.  She was indeed a darer but he feared that if he ever told her how he truly felt, he’d be holding her back.

Hell he couldn’t even graduate from High school, twice! What could he ever offer her?

“Eddie?” Dustin said trying to get his attention.  “You okay?”

“I’m fine. Just wondering what stories she has for us this year.”

“Oh yeah. I hope she brought home some cool souvenirs. Like this one time when her and her family went vacationing in Nepal and she got me this really cool face mask of an elephant. I still wear it to scare Lucas every now and then.”

“Thanks for the leverage Henderson to use against him next time he ditches us for his laundry baskets game.”

“You know I still can’t believe that you and (Y/n) know each other.”

“We do have lives outside of you Henderson, the world doesn’t always revolve around you yah know.” Soon their eyes caught sight of her plane landing and Eddie’s heart started to beat a little faster than normal. As quietly as he could, he took a deep breath before exhaling and they waited a few minutes as the passengers all began to depart the terminal gate.

Soon they spotted a young woman with (h/c) hair and prescription glasses on the bridge of her nose.  She rolled out with her carryon to see two boys holding up a sign that was decorated and spelled out: WELCOME HOME LADY TAURIEL, her D&D’s character name. She smiled and came up to them and first embraced Eddie.

“Well this is a surprise, I thought I’d have to get a cab to your trailer.”

“What and leave you in this craziness by yourself? Absolutely not.” Eddie said as they parted but they both kept their arms around each other just a little bit longer.  Dustin began to notice not only the lingering embrace they were doing, but also the look in both their eyes as they looked at each other.

“So what am I (Y/n)? Chopped liver?” asked Dustin.  The two young adults separated from each other and (Y/n) shook her head.

“You would think all the times I spent babysitting you would mellow you out Henderson, but you’ve gotten an even bigger ego than when I left.” She said.

“It’s his tone right?” Eddie asked her.  Dustin grumbled as he crossed his arms.  (Y/n) shook her head laughing as she walked over to Dustin and embraced him before giving him a kiss on the cheek.

“Eww! You know I hate it when you do that!”

“Whatever you little shit. Now let’s get the rest of my bags and back home. Being on a plane for over 24hrs is not as enjoyable as it sounds.”

“Right this way then, Lady Tauriel.” Eddie said with a gracious bow.  They went over to the baggage claim, gathered up all her bags and then headed on out to Eddie’s van to drive back to Hawkins.

It was a bit of a drive thanks to the traffic and the snow starting to fall, but they managed to reach Hawkins safe and sound.  After dropping Dustin back at his place, Eddie and (Y/n) finally arrived at his place.

“You sure it’s okay for me to stay here? Mrs. Henderson offered me one of the spare rooms over at their place.”

“As sweet as the old lady is, how could I live with myself knowing you’d be stuck with Henderson 24/7. Plus I know you do have something for him that he says he’s been dying to see.”

“True. It’s just….I don’t want to run you out of house and home.”

“You aren’t. Besides Wayne’s been asking about you, I swear he loves you more than he does me.”

“Shut up Munson, Wayne loves you with all his heart.”

“Yeah I know. Well let’s get inside before the snow really starts piling up. Weather man’s been saying it’ll be the heaviest snowfall in 10 years.”

“Even though I’ve grown up with Indiana weather, it’s nothing compared to Nepal, or Tibet, or even Antarctica ugh. Never will I go down there again, even if I wanna see the cute penguins. I’ll take the ones in South Africa.”

“There aren’t any penguins in Africa!” Eddie objected as he grabbed one of her suitcases as they both exited the car.

“There are too and I’ve got the pictures to prove it.”

“You do not.”

“I do so!” the two of them continued their playful banter as they unloaded the van and placed all her things in Eddie’s room.  “I’ve noticed you guys decided to do some indoor decorating this year.”

“Yeah. Wayne’s come into some really good money lately, and with some of the paid gigs the band and I have done, we decided why the hell not?”

“So it would seem my own personal Grinch finally found the Christmas spirit again ehh?” she teased as she poked his belly making him curl inward.

“I never lost it!”

“Mm-hmm.” She hummed skeptically.

“That’s it! C’mere!” he lunged at her, the two of them falling onto his bed and he proceeded to tickle her sides making her thrash around in laughter.  “You know I think I finally know where Henderson got his sass from. After all, you’ve known him longer than either Harrington or me. We have you to blame for his behavior.”

“Nohohoht mehehehe!”

“Yes you! Now admit it or the tickling continues.”

“I don’t…..stohahap! Please!”

“Nope. The begging and puppy dog eyes won’t work on me this time.” As (Y/n) continued laughing, a voice soon called out.

“Eddie? You better not be killing someone in there boy.” Eddie was forced to stop as his uncle had arrived home earlier than normal.  He got off of (Y/n) and said in a low, menacing yet playful tone,

“Saved by the old man. But don’t think you’re getting out of this just yet missy.” (Y/n) shoved him back to the bed and Eddie let her do it as she went out and said.

“Sorry Wayne. But if I had to be killed, death by tickles wouldn’t be too bad of a way to go.”

“Well as I live and breathe. Ms. (Y/n) (l/n) back from her time around the world.” (Y/n) smiled and walked over and asked Wayne.

“Permission to hug?”

“Permission granted ma’am.” The two of them embraced each other and after awhile he let her go.  “Bout time you got here, Eddie wouldn’t shut up about how many days left till you arrived.”

“Wayne!” Eddie groaned from his bedroom door. “Why are you home so early? Usually you don’t get off this early unless it’s a holiday and Christmas eve is 2 days away.”

“The weather son. Boss decided it’d be best for us to all head home so that we wouldn’t get snowed in.”

“Well that was nice of him. Oh speaking of which, I have a surprise for you Wayne.” (Y/n) said as she raced back into the bedroom and grabbed both her scrapbook and a neatly wrapped present.  “I was almost worried I wouldn’t be able to give this to you, or see your reaction when you’d open it.”

“Ain’t we supposed to open presents on Christmas though?” he asked her.

“Normally yes but this really isn’t a Christmas present. I saw it when I was in Tanzania and I thought one person had to have it.” Wayne took the box and unwrapped it before opening it up to reveal a beautifully hand-crafted and painted bowl.

The background was painted like the African sunrise with Mt. Kilimanjaro in the background and up front and center was a large African rhino (his favorite animal).

“I know it’s not a mug but it was the closest thing I could find to a cup.”

“Don’t go saying things like that, I love it. Thank you sweetie belle.” He wrapped an arm around her bringing her in for a one armed hug.

“Don’t I get a present too (Y/n)?” asked Eddie.

“Yes but you have to wait until the Christmas eve party at Steve’s. It is still happening there, right?”

“Yeah. You know Harrington.”

“Now go easy on that boy Eddie, sure he may have started off as a jerk to yah but you two really have become good friends thanks to that kid of yours.” Eddie waved it off before going to the kitchen to find himself something to eat.  “So darling, what do you think of the decorations we got up?”

“I love it. I especially like the light up penguins over there by the tree.” She said pointing to the small decorated Christmas tree and by the nightstand stood a lit up penguin lamp.

“Eddie said you’d like it. In fact this was all his idea to begin with that we’d decorate the place special for you.”

“Oi Wayne! Since you’re here how’s about you cook dinner for once instead of having to do fend for yourself night!?” Eddie shouted trying to change the topic.  Wayne rolled his eyes getting the hint of what his nephew’s behavior meant while (Y/n) was left perplexed.

Did—did Eddie feel the same way as she did? Did she hear that right? Or is this just Eddie being Eddie? One thing’s for sure, she was gonna try and tough it out and admit her feelings for her best friend at the Christmas eve party and hope she doesn’t humiliate herself doing it.

Two days later and after clearing up the roads after the snow storm they had when she first arrived, the gang was all gathered at Steve’s place for the party.  Now this party was extra special to the group because throughout the entire party, each guest would present a tradition that was done with their families on Christmas day.

As per Robin’s family tradition, everyone had to come in wearing the ugliest Christmas sweater they could find.  And the first activity was Christmas musical chairs as per Wheeler tradition.  Mike decided to be the DJ and as Chuck Berry’s ‘Run Rudolph Run’ played over the speakers the rest of the gang began to circle around the chairs, and the first one to be out was Steve.

“Wait hold on that’s not fair! Munson kept stopping!”

“Just take the loss with pride Harrington.” Eddie told him. Steve rolled his eyes but took one of the chairs after everyone stood back up and the game resumed.  One by one the rest soon began to fall until the final three came down to Dustin, Eddie and (Y/n).

“Remember, third place gets this giant Hershey’s bar.” Nancy said holding out the fairly large chocolate bar.  A decent prize but it’s nothing compared to the giant family/party size M&M bag that was up for first prize.

The music started up and all three of the remaining players began to fake the other out by either pausing in front of the chairs before moving again, or trying to sit in the chairs while the music was still playing before moving on again.  The song stopped and Eddie and (Y/n) ended up being the final two.

“Aww nice try Dustin but you still get the chocolate bar.” Nancy said.

“That’s fine.” Dustin said taking (Y/n)’s chair away and as Eddie and (Y/n) stood over the final chair, they stared each other down.

“That bag of M&M’s is mine Munson.” Boasted (Y/n).

“Don’t make me laugh (L/n). You know I kill for m&m’s. The only thing you’ll be getting is the three musketeers packet.”

“Alright enough flirting you two, get to walking!” Mike groaned as he started the music back up and the two friends began to battle it out for the chair.  Once again the pair would stop in front of the chair trying to delay the other before racing around it, taunting the other to distract them from the song, until finally the song stopped and after a squabble that lasted for what felt like a minute, (Y/n) won the pot!

“Yes! Yes! Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes! Ha! In your face Munson I won the pot haha!” (Y/n) rejoiced as she claimed her prize, a full year supply of M&M’s while Eddie was given the three musketeers bag. Even with his wounded pride, he accepted the prize and was happy that his girl got the big prize.

The traditions continued with watching ‘A Charlie Brown Christmas’ and ‘How the Grinch stole Christmas’ (Sinclair tradition), playing a few Christmas songs (the Munson tradition), and acting out a chapter or two from ‘A Christmas Carol’ (a Henderson tradition).  Next up was (Y/n)’s family tradition, ‘Santa Exchange’ as the gift opening was about to happen.

“Okay let’s see. This here is for Robin.” She said holding up a beautifully wrapped gold and red box with a red bow.  Robin took her present as (Y/n) grabbed the next one when another hand reached up and grabbed a snowman packaged present bag.  She looked up to see Eddie and he said,

“Figure Santa needs a little helper?”

“Santa appreciates it, thank you.” Soon the two of them worked together passing out all the presents to everyone until they were all set up in their own areas throughout the living room.  “Okay so every year my family mixes up the order in how we each open up our presents so this year I say we go from oldest to youngest. Sound good with everyone?”

“Yep. Yeah.” Everyone answered.

“Alright, but before we start that, I want everyone to take my gift to you and open it. It’s all the same thing that I had done when I was in Japan.” Everyone went through their gifts until they found (Y/n)’s gifts and they all began opening them.

When everyone opened their gifts, it was revealed to be a traditional, authentic Japanese painting of her friends.  Not only were they in the picture, but next to them was an animal she felt like was their spirit animal.

Nancy had an crane on her picture, Steve had a dog specifically the Japanese breed Akita, Dustin had a tiger, Robin had a white cat, Lucas had a phoenix, Mike was a koi fish, and Eddie had the traditional Japanese dragon.

“I found a traditional Japanese artist and in the span of the 4 months I was there with my team filming the Japanese Alps, I asked him to do this for you guys.”

“Wow (Y/n) this is—incredible.” Robin said admiring her painting.

“Easy for you to say, I’ll bet none of you are a fish.” Mike whined to which Nancy hit her brother in the arm making him exclaim in pain.

“It’s wonderful (Y/n), thank you.” Everyone else soon thanked her for her gift and she smiled as she sat back down at her area next to Eddie.

“Now that that’s out of the way, Eddie why don’t you start us off?”

“Yes!” Eddie softly cheered as he grabbed the first gift he spotted which was from Dustin.  He opened it to reveal the new Led Zeppelin cassette.  “Ha-ha! I knew you’d come through for me Henderson!”

“You’ve only been talking about it since Halloween. But I knew you’d like it, Merry Christmas Eddie.” Eddie continued to open up his gifts and he got some more cassette tapes, some new pins for his jacket, a new red flannel, and the new D&D manual book that had recently came out.

Up next was (Y/n).  She opened the first gift that was from Steve and Robin.  She unwrapped the paper before looking at the box to reveal what exactly it was before opening it.

“Oh my god, you guys.” It was the new Panasonic VHS camcorder.

“We figure you might wanna record some of your trips instead of just taking pictures. 3 hours of film this thing can do.” Steve said.

“This must’ve costed you guys a fortune. And I knew Keith don’t pay you much.”

“Worth every penny. Besides I expect some videos of tigers with that camera next time you go to India.” Robin said pointing at her.

“Alright, it’s a deal. Thanks you guys.” Seeing that camcorder made Eddie sick to his stomach.  He wasn’t rich nor did he have enough money to buy her expensive gifts, all he had was his small little surprise that he had made for her.  But he began to second guess himself, would she even like it? His stomach continued to turn in knots as she grabbed the next gift which was a new scrapbook from Nancy.

“Figured your old one was getting full so I figured it’s time for a new one. There’s also some little stencils in there so you can decorate it as you wish.” She told her.

“Aww I love it, thanks Nancy. Okay whose next?” she hovered her hand around the remaining gifts until she picked up Dustin’s.  “Henderson’s next.” She unstapled the bag and pulled out the green paper stuffed inside and pulled out a journal that read across the cover (Y/N)’s ENCYCLOPEDIA.

“My encyclopedia?” she asked him.

“Thought it would be cool to get real animal biology from a real animal biologist. Someone who actually knows the facts and doesn’t keep editing it, I swear you’re smarter than any science book that talks about animals and how they behave and operate.”

“Is this some excuse to help you with future science homework?” she teased.

“What? No, no! No way! I just wish for you to write down what all you know and what you didn’t know before about all the animals you help document and study.”

“Well that’s sweet of you Dustin, thank you. Okay Michael, you’re up next.”

“Why must you insist on calling me that?”

“Cause I know it embarrasses you. And as your former babysitter it’s my job to embarrass you.” She opened up his gift and it was a small animal calendar.  “Alright! Now I’ll be able to see what day it is. I swear those guys don’t carry calendars with them like at all. They tally the days like cavemen in their journals. Thanks Mike, really I appreciate it.”

She then went for Lucas’ present and he got her a mini-figurine that his sister made of her character Lady Tauriel.

“Now Erica would claim she made it all herself but I was the one that bought the figurine in the first place and I told her your description of her. She painted it and that’s all.”

“It’s a team Sinclair effort and I love it. Tell your sister when you see her thank you too.” She placed her D&D character back in the container before saying. “And last but not least, Eddie—” but as she reached out for it, Eddie snatched his gift back and pocketed into his leather jacket.

“Dude what the hell? You can’t just take back your gift.” Steve said.

“Shut up Harrington!”

“Eddie what’s wrong? I want to see what you got me.” She asked him.

“No you don’t. it’s not even ready.”

“Why would you give her an incomplete gift?” Mike asked.

“Hey Mike cool it, I’m sure Eddie has a good reason. Final exams were a bitch this year so I can see why he wouldn’t have time to finish his gift.” Dustin said trying to get Mike off Eddie’s back.

“It’s nothing like that Henderson, and I can defend myself thank you very much!” but his tone was harsh.

“Geez Eddie no need to snap. I know Dustin can be a bit much but there’s no need to go that far.” Said Robin.

“Will you guys just leave me alone alright!? God this is why I hate Christmas! Everyone making a deal about presents that just end up in the trash a couple weeks if not the day after Christmas!” he soon stormed out of the room and the house echoed a loud slam from the front door.

“I’ll go talk to him.” (Y/n) said as she got up and followed after him.  After putting on her coat, boots and gloves, she followed Eddie who was leaning against his van smoking with a furrowed brow.  “You’ll catch your death of cold if you stay out here like that.”

“I’m fine. Never bothered me anyway.”

“You may have everyone convinced that you’re this stone, cold metalhead but not to me. Sure you’re a metalhead but you’re not stone cold.”

“Well you wouldn’t know considering you haven’t even been here for over a year and a half!” he snapped.  It shocked (Y/n) to hear Eddie snap at her like that but as soon as he looked at her shocked expression, he sighed heavily and stomped out his cigarette.  “I’m sorry I shouldn’t have shouted.”

“I know.” She walked up to him and took his hand between hers, not only in comfort but to warm them up.  “You wanna tell me what’s really going on in that squirrel brain of yours?”

“I don’t have a squirrel brain.”

“Yes you do. You always have a million things going through your head, and its twice as intense when you’re stressed or upset about something. So c’mon tell me. We’ve always been able to tell each other everything.” Eddie looked into her soft, gentle (e/c) and he felt his heart melt but also grow heavy into his stomach.

“Everyone else got you such amazing gifts. Gifts that’ll either help your future career or that you can personalize. Hell the Sinclair’s made your D&D character come to life, and all I got you was……this.” He took out his gift which was just a plain old small white box with a golden ribbon tied to it.

He couldn’t even look her in the eyes as he held it out to her. Once he felt her take it from his hand, he crossed his arms over his chest as his breathing grew sharper and heavier and she could see just how fast it was from the cold breath that escaped his lips and danced into the air.

She looked down at the plain white box and untied the ribbon before opening it to reveal inside two chain necklaces and attached to them were what appeared to be hand-carved wooden turtle doves.  Or that’s what they seemed to be, it was a bit mish-mashed but even with the faults in the sculpting, she knew it must’ve taken Eddie a long time to do these twice.

“They’re supposed to be turtle doves. I know they look shitty, the woodshop instructor couldn’t teach me for shit and the chain is nothing special. Just from some old chain necklaces Wayne doesn’t wear anymore so I got rid of what was on those and he helped me attach the birds to the chain.”

Tears formed in her eyes as she pulled the necklaces out of the box and held them in her palm.  She looked up at Eddie and immediately embraced him tightly, burying her face into his shoulder blades.

“What?”

“Eddie,” she released him so she could come around and cup his face which was already turning red from the cold, and even his nose was starting to go a bit red.  “This, this is the sweetest, most thoughtful gift anyone has ever given me.”

“Really?” he asked insecurely.

“Really, really. And knowing that you did your best, I don’t care if the turtledoves look perfectly hand sculpted or like a woodchipper went to town on them.” They both softly laughed.  “But there is something that is wrong with this gift.” At hearing that statement, Eddie’s brief moment of happiness once again turned back to fear. He felt her take his left hand and she placed one of the turtle dove necklaces into his palm before closing it up. “You need to keep one, so that way we each have one, and that we’ll always come back to each other.”

“Each other?” he asked her.  She nodded as she slowly got closer to him whispering.

“Together forever, meleth nin.” She then took her chance and kissed her best friend/secret crush.  When she felt him tense, she feared that maybe the kiss was too much and began to pull away but it wasn’t until she felt Eddie’s arms wrap around her waist pulling her close and even lifting her up.

She was stunned but wrapped her arms tighter around Eddie’s shoulders as their kiss slowly deepened until he set her down and they separated for air.

“My Christmas wish came true this year.” She whispered lovingly.

“Agreed. I’ve only dreamed of this a thousand times since middle school. Merry Christmas Lady Tauriel.”

“Merry Christmas Lord Beren.” They smiled at each other lovingly before they hugged each other so tightly it was like their bones would pop, before they looked at each other with their noses brushing against each other’s and their lips met in another sweet kiss.

“ABOUT DAMN TIME!! I’VE BEEN SEEING YOU MAKE GOO-GOO EYES AT EACH OTHER SINCE SHE GOT HERE!!” Dustin’s voice exclaimed in the night air. Eddie rolled his eyes before bending down and grabbed a big chunk of snow and quickly raced towards Dustin.

He let out a scream before racing back inside with Eddie at his heels holding the snow patch in his hands.

“No! NO don’t you dare stuff that down my back!”

“Get over here Henderson!”

“HEY NO SNOW TRAILS IN MY HOUSE GUYS!!” (Y/n) shook her head as she went back inside and closed the door as the chaos continued with Dustin exclaiming and trying to get the snow out of his back, Steve trying to mop up the wet patch of water from said snow that had been dropped on his good carpet, and Eddie and (Y/n) sitting close to each other exchanging kisses every now and again.

[ladylooch]

Willa definitely likes Luca. Maybe there’s a party and Liv went to surprise Luca and Willa try’s to kiss him but Luca pushes her away. But Liv sees and doesn’t realize he pushed her away. He sees her run off. And Liv is just a emotional reck.

The excitement around Liv’s arrival in town was a bit short lived. Luca forgot about an apartment “around the world” party he agreed to host a country with Willa the same evening.

“We are Sweden.” He tells her as he roughly chops parsley. 

“Not Switzerland? No fondue!? Why are you more Swedish sometimes than Swiss?”

“Because my dad spent a lot of time there and his teammates were all Swedish.” He stirs the parsley into the Swedish meatballs. “Don’t tell, but I got these from Ikea.” Luca chuckles. “My mom taught me putting fresh herbs on pre-made meals makes it seem homemade.”

“Your secret is safe with me.” Liv jokes. Luca comes between her legs where she is sitting on the counter, pulling her in for a smooch. “I’m sorry you have to share me.”

“I didn’t exactly give you time to prepare.” Liv murmurs, leaning into his chest. He wraps his arms around her, holding her to him. They both sigh into their embrace, thrilled and interested at each other being so close. “Babe?” Liv whispers.

“Hmmm?”

“Once wasn’t enough.”

“Not even close. Hang on!” He swoops her off the counter. Liv laughs loudly, locking her ankles around his waist as he rushes them back to his bedroom.

Liv is still floating on her high when the party begins. She is so glad she came to see him. It’s filled in all the cracks the distance had been creating. She has a new outlook, believing everything is going to be okay with them. She is particularly enjoying mingling with new people, especially when their faces light up when they see her.

“Liv! We have heard so much about you!” They tell her. Liv loves that and the way Luca smirks at her, like ‘see, I love you so much’.

Liv is talking to Veronica and Billy, Luca’s across the hall neighbors, when she sees Willa and Luca step out of his bedroom. Shock jolts Liv as she watches Willa go onto her tiptoes. She kisses his cheek. Luca looks at Willa, turning his face until their lips practically line up. Willa curls her lips into a smile, wrapping her hands around Luca’s waist. Liv looks away before she can see anything else. She abruptly excuses herself from the conversation and the apartment. 

The gray, striped walls blur together as she walks, stunned and confused about what she just witnessed. She finds herself in the communal room at the end of the hall. Still dazed, she lowers herself onto the leather couch. A numbness washes over her as she lays down completely, curling her knees up to her chest. She doesn’t have her phone, nor does she move from her spot on the couch. Liv isn’t even sure she thinks the few hours she is in there. It takes Luca a long time to find her. It’s dark out when the door opens again, flurries swirling in the lights outside the window.

“Baby, there you are! I’ve been calling you. What happened? I thought…” Luca trails off when he sees her red eyes and splotchy cheeks.

“I thought nothing was going on with you and her.” Liv whispers, sadness drenching her voice.

“Nothing’s going on.” Luca confirms, cupping her cheek. Liv flinches away. “No. Hear my words.” Luca mumbles. “Livy, nothing is going on.”

“Why were you in your bedroom with her?”

“I was grabbing my phone. She followed me in there.”

“She kissed you.”

“She tried to. I stopped her. I would never do that to you.” He leans down, kissing her cheek softly. Liv closes her eyes, bringing her hand to the back of his neck. She trembles beneath his mouth and hands. Luca curses internally, pissed as hell that Willa overstepped so openly. Embarrassed too. He knows how insecure and uncertain Liv gets when she is hurt. How could he let himself be in this position? “Everyone is gone, including her. Let’s take a shower and cuddle in bed.” 

Liv believes Luca. And she trusts him. He assures her the entire walk back to his apartment that he won’t be spending anymore time with Willa. She senses Luca is telling the truth.

But what Liv cannot forget about tonight is how easy it would be for someone to take Luca from her. In the heat of the moment. In a weak night in their relationship. On a random Thursday night in the middle of the winter. Something could happen and she would lose him. Truthfully, she’s not quite sure how she’s going to survive the rest of this long distance knowing that.

As Luca tugs her t-shirt off in the steamy bathroom, he gives her a reassuring smile, thinking they dodged a bullet. On instinct, Liv smiles back, ignoring the nagging voice in the back of her brain that reminds her losing him would kill her.

[mylesstories]

incorrect quotes !!

==========

mari: wake me up-

marco: before you go go

julia: when september ends

caleb: WAKE ME UP INSIDE

==============

mari: you know, marco gives caleb flowers everyday, i wish you’d do that too.

julia: okay

*later*

julia: *gives caleb flowers*

caleb: ???

julia: i don’t know, i’m confused as well

==============

caleb: stop doing that

marco: doing what?

caleb: saying things that make me wanna kiss the hell out of you

==============

marco: be a better person!!

caleb: why?!

marco: because someone needs to have morals in this relationship, and it sure as fuck ain’t gonna be me, sweetheart!!

==============

marco: i owe you one

caleb: that’s okay. you can just date me and we’ll call it even

==============

marco: would you slap lucas-

mari: yes.

marco: i didn’t even finish!

mari: sorry, continue.

marco: would you slap lucas for $10?

mari: i would do it for free

lucas: rude…

==============

caleb: you get turned back into a baby, but you retain all your skills and memory. what do you do?

mari: eat a nickel

caleb: a reminder: you have retained all your skills and memories

leo: eat a nickel

caleb: okay.

==============

lucas: hey, do you know anyone who can teach me to play the trumpet?

marco: why?

lucas: i want to wander around playing it to annoy leo

marco: technically, you don’t actually need to know how to play the trumpet well for that

lucas: marco, you have opened my eyes

==============

caleb: julia doesn’t look very happy

mari: that’s her happy. she’s just a bitch

==============

leo: hey, you want a tarot reading?

caleb: those are pokémon cards

leo: you got a magikarp

caleb: …

leo: it means “fuck you”

==============

mari: i’ve been dropping her the most insanely obvious hints for, like, a year now. no response

julia: wow. she sounds stupid

mari: but she’s not. she’s really smart, actually. just dense

julia: maybe you need to be more obvious? like, i don’t know… “hey! i love you!”

mari: i guess you’re right. hey julia! i love you!

julia: see? just say that!

mari: holy fucking shit

julia: if that flies over her head then, sorry mari, but they’re too dumb for you

mari: julia.

==============

mari: i am so cool. i am an absolute chad. i am the epitome of coolness and awesomeness-

julia: hi!

mari: *melts down in a flustered heap of softness*

==============

julia: being gay is a constant battle between “i wish to sit on a window bench with my girlfriend, our legs tangling as we listen to the birds” and “hey, let’s go throw rocks at fascists” and i think that’s very sexy of us

mari: if the window’s open and you time it right, you can do both

==============

“you’re straight”

caleb: the fuck, no i’m not

leo: excuse the hell out of you?

lucas: ding dong, you are wrong!

julia: who told you that? and why did they lie?

mari: rude

marco: *punches the person*

==============

caleb: marco and i were crossing the street, and this man drove by and honked at us

julia: what did you do?

caleb: he chased him to the next red light, and reached into his window and-

marco: *walking in* who wants a steering wheel?

==============

lucas: can you cut me some slack, leo? i’m sort of in love

leo: i’m sorry, but that’s not really my problem

lucas: i’m in love with you

leo: *blushes* oh. that brings me in the loop a little

==============

leo: count me in!

mari: who the hell are you?

leo: oh, you know my brother! he worked at wendy’s

mari: oh yeah, caleb! how is he doing?

leo: oh yeah, not too good. he’s been dead for the past month

lucas: what the hell, he didn’t tell us!

==============

marco, wearing shades: rule one of destroying the world

marco: *does finger guns* you gotta look good while doing it

==============

lucas: do you want to explain this text you sent me last night?

leo: it was autocorrect

lucas: autocorrect wrote “you’re so hot. please step on me”?

leo: yes.

==============

caleb: being gay isn’t a choice. it’s a game and i’m winning

==============

marco: yeah, well, i’ve never died so how do i know that god is real

==============

caleb: ugh, crushes are so dumb

marco: i know. whenever i’m near the person i like i just start acting stupid

caleb: but you’re always acting stupid?

marco: …

marco: yeah, don’t think about that too hard

==============

lucas: my level of gay has reached “sighing deeply whenever anything extremely heterosexual happens near me”

==============

marco: i’m gonna nickname my hypothetical child “lil bitch”

julia: i see you’re passing on your name

==============

marco: i know you love them

leo: i am not in love with lucas!

marco, staring at leo: i never said who…

leo: *realises*

leo: shit. well, anyways-

==============

julia: i’ve invited you here because i crave the deadliest game

marco, nodding: knife monopoly

julia: i was actually gonna play russian roulette, but now i’m really interested in whatever knife monopoly is

==============

julia: italics

marco: yeah, italians

==============

caleb: i’m an expert in identifying birds

mari: okay, what about those ones flying over there?

caleb: yeah, they’re all birds

==============

lucas: my life is a little too much panic and not enough disco

marco: my life is a little too much fall and not enough boy

mari: my life is a little too much chemical and not enough romance

leo: my life is a little too much imagination and not nearly enough dragons

==============

mari: you know what i asked santa for this christmas?

julia: if you say me, i swear i’ll-

mari: you? what? no, i asked him for that cool ninjago set we saw in target!

==============

mari: i think we can all agree i’m the ten amongst these threes

==============

lucas: i started school with straight a’s. now i’m not even straight

==============

caleb: do you guys hear something?

mari: i hear the sound of you shutting the fuck up

==============

marco: i don’t need to go to bed. i’m not tired, i’ll be fine

caleb: but, darling, i’ll be so lonely without you. come curl up in my arms so i can feel whole again

marco: o-oh. well. are you trying to seduce me into healthy sleeping patterns?

caleb: is it working?

==============

lucas: i believe in you, julia!

julia, to herself: god, i must suck. the nicest thing lucas can think to say to me is that he doesn’t doubt my existence

==============

noah: go to sleep or you’ll hate yourself in the morning!

leo: i’ll hate myself in the morning regardless

==============

caleb: let’s all agree that going up the stairs on all fours is actually the best experience on earth

noah: conversely, going down the stairs on all fours is actually the most terrifying experience on earth

==============

*marco and lucas enter a dive bar*

marco: look, i know you’re disappointed but could we at least have a drink

lucas, in a scuba diving suit: i would like to leave, please

==============

lucas: guys! i found a 100 dollar bill!

lucas: *looks around* … should i keep it?

julia: lucas, just do the right thing

noah: and put it in your bag

julia: no—

==============

leo: *spits a mouthful of blood onto the floor* you’ve become far more powerful since we last crossed paths

dentist: please stop, there’s literally a sink right next to you

==============

mari: where are you going?

marco: hell, eventually

==============

lucas: wanna head some dark humour

mari: yeah, i love dark humour

lucas: alright

lucas: *turns off the lights*

lucas: knock knock

mari: turn the damn lights back on

==============

lucas: im bored, any suggestions?

julia: sleeping is nice

lucas: i acknowledge your suggestion, and i’m deciding to ignore it

==============

marco: you remind me of the ocean

mari: because i’m deep and mysterious?

marco: no, because youre full of salt and you scare people

==============

julia: can i have your number?

mari, visibly texting: i don’t have a phone

==============

noah: here you go, mari, a nice hot cup of coffee!

mari: it’s cold

noah: a nice cup of coffee

mari: it’s horrible!

noah: a cup of coffee

mari: im not sure if this even IS coffee

noah: c u p

==============

caleb: i’ve been described as a “heartless villain” and a “little shit”, but i prefer… “has alternative ways of having fun”

==============

julia: team a will consist of myself, marco, mari and lucas

julia: team b will consist of caleb

==============

marco: *dies*

julia: timer starts now! when is he coming back? i say two months!

lucas: bullshit. one month

mari: nah, half a month

noah, sobbing: WHAT ARE YOU DOING? MARCO JUST DIED!

caleb, scratching his chin in thought: one week

==============

marco: did you wash the dishes?

leo: i thought you wanted to do that…

marco: *chuckles* you were WRONG

==============

lucas: why does julia always do the laundry so loudly?

marco: so everyone knows that no one helps her out in the house

julia, in the distance: *slams the washing machine shut*

==============

caleb: if i had a face like yours, i’d put it on a wall and throw a brick at it

leo: if i had a face like YOURS, i’d put it on a brick and throw a wall at it

==============

lucas: so, according to my university, it is, quote, “my responsibility if there is an internet outage to contact the faculty and the department”

lucas: now, if you’re a critical thinker like me, you might be wondering one thing

lucas: HOW THE FUCK AM I SUPPOSED TO EMAIL THE DEPARTMENT?!?!?!

==============

noah: if julia and i were drowning, who would you save?

mari: you two can’t swim?

noah: it’s a hypothetical question, mari! who would you save?

mari: my time and effort

==============

leo: julia, take out the trash

julia: sure, noah, will you go out on a date with me?

==============

caleb: remember everyone, violence is never the answer

noah: you’re right, caleb… violence can’t be the answer

caleb: correct, noah. now, onto the next lesso—

noah: violence is the question

noah: and the answer is yes!

caleb: noah, no!!

==============

leo, upon learning how julia did a magic trick: so you’re not magic?

julia: well, not really

leo: you’re just a liar

==============

caleb: quick! you must come with me! you’re in great danger!

mari: why?!

caleb: because i’ll kill you if you don’t

==============

mari: what are your three best qualities?

julia: i’m hot, i have soft hair, and sometimes i cry because i love my friends

==============

leo: are you trying to give me a fucking aneurysm?

caleb: pretty sure we all are

lucas: i wasn’t

marco: i was

mari: i was trying to stop him, for your consideration

julia: i just cause aneurysms naturally

==============

mari: what do people in relationships even do?

marco: care about someone with your whole heart and dedicate your life to making them happy

mari: okay. didn’t ask

julia: asks question

julia: “didn’t ask”

mari: thanks for the play by play, captain fuck

==============

noah and marco: *speaking spanish*

noah: i know, i know

mari: you speak spanish?

noah: no, i just know the phrase “this is all your fault” in every language marco speaks

==============

julia: i am 39 cheetos tall

leo: why… are you measuring your height in cheetos?

julia: because we’re out of doritos

==============

noah: do you love marco?

caleb: yeah, i do

noah: julia! i told you i knew it! you owe me 100 bucks!

julia: we all love marco. you should’ve asked if he was IN love with him

caleb: i thought that was implied

julia: …

noah: …

caleb, looking straight at julia: congrats noah, you just won 100 bucks

==============

marco: can you PLEASE peer pressure me into doing my project?

noah: do it or you’re straight

marco: i said peer pressure, NOT THREATEN!

==============

lucas: would you rather kill julia, or—

leo: yes, kill her

lucas: i didn’t say the other thing—

leo: i don’t to hear it

julia: … i’m feeling a little unsafe

==============

julia: i’m proud to identify as morosexual. i’m attracted to dumbasses and dumbasses exclusively. someone asked me what the spanish word for “tortilla” was once, and now i dream of kissing them under the moonlight

mari: what kind of animal is the pink panther?

julia, already taking off her clothes: god, mari, you’re so fucking stupid

==============

leo: hand me the people opener

caleb: …

caleb: pardon?

leo, annoyed: the…— just hand it to me!

caleb, stressed: WHAT THE FUCK IS A PEOPLE OPENER?

leo: how do you not know what a people opener is? it’s pointy- you know? with a handle?

caleb: knife. it’s called a knife

==============

caleb, about marco: can i tell him he looks nice?

noah: sure

caleb: can i tell him i respect him?

noah: maybe, if he asks

caleb: should i show him an oil painting i made of us surrounded by our three cats and four dogs?

noah: …

noah: i’d save that for later

==============

lucas: i thought i told to you to stop reading my emails

marco: well, i thought i told you to stop keeping secrets!

==============

caleb: well, mari, is there anything you would like to say to noah?

mari: how do i put this delicately? you’re a horrible roommate and no one likes you

caleb: how about we frame our statement with “web you do this, it makes me feel this”?

mari: when you live here, it makes me angry. because you’re a horrible roommate and no one likes you

==============

the squad: *walking to the mall*

marco: hey, have any of you guys seen mari? they’ve been gone for a while

lucas: eh, nope

noah: no, i haven’t…

leo: probably ran off to mcdonald’s or something

mari: hey

marco: ooh, there you are—

lucas: what the fu—

leo: i— where were you?!

mari: walking right behind you guys

==============

julia: hey, thanks for checking in, im ✨still a piece of garbage✨

==============

marco: i just got the best idea i’ve ever had in my entire life!

*later*

lucas, to marco: that was the worst idea you’ve ever had in your entire life

==============

lucas: you’re mean!

julia: you’re meaner!

lucas: yeah, well, you’re ugly too!

julia: you’re uglier!

lucas: you’re a dumbass!

julia: you’re a dumberass!

lucas: you think “dumberass” is a good insult!

==============

mari: julia’s refusing to wear her glasses!

julia: mari, look, i wore the glasses for a day. my eyes are much better now. watch

julia: *points to marco* marco

julia: *points to noah* noah

julia: *points to caleb* sasquatch

==============

caleb: thanks for opening my message and not responding

lucas: all good dude, any time

caleb: fuck you

==============

julia: why do you think i don’t like you? i do. i would kill for you

julia: ask me to kill for you

mari; … first of all, calm down—

==============

caleb: i can’t take you seriously wearing that

marco: aw, you take me seriously at all?

caleb: fair point

==============

mari: alright, listen up you little shits

mari: not you noah. you’re an angel and we’re thrilled you’re here

==============

julia: *sees someone doing something stupid*

julia: what an idiot

julia: *realises it’s mari*

julia: wait, that’s MY idiot!

==============

mari: i’m sorry for being annoying

mari: it will happen again

==============

marco: underestimate me. that’ll be fun

==============

noah: how late were you up last night?

marco & julia, in tandem: me?

noah: no, not you two. you stay up late all the time

noah, to mari: you

==============

julia: can you be serious for five minutes?

caleb: my record is four, but i think i can do it

==============

mari: hey, do you know anyone who can teach me to play the trumpet?

julia: why?

mari: i want to wander around playing it to annoy caleb

julia: technically, you don’t actually need to know how to play the trumpet well for that

mari: julia, you have opened my eyes

==============

mari: please confirm to your knowledge that you are not a fully robotic being, were born an organic creature, and do in fact posses what many cultures would call a soul

julia: what? “to my knowledge”? do a lot of people not know if they’re robots?

mari: thank you for your confirmation

==============

caleb: can we get a birthday cake?

leo: it’s not our birthday

caleb: the cake won’t know!

==============

lucas: the best part of an oreo is the cookie part, not the frosting. deal with it

mari: darkness without light is an abyss. light without darkness is blinding. you cannot have a coin with one side

marco: YO SOCRATES! IT’S A FUCKING COOKIE!

==============

caleb: could you be any more annoying?

mari: yes

==============

caleb: i don’t even use tubberware anymore

julia: what are you saying? say it again

caleb: tubberware

julia: say it again. slow

caleb: tubberware

julia: slow, very slow — actually, say the first syllable

caleb: tub

julia: wrong

caleb: what do you mean, wrong?

julia: i thought i caught that. you’re saying tub. it’s p

caleb: what are you talking about?

julia: tupperware. tupper

caleb: it’s tupper?

julia: it’s tupper, always has been, always will be

caleb: i thought it was tubberware because it kind of looks like a tub

==============

lucas: you have any sunscreen?

leo: you can’t get sunburnt from a bonfire—

lucas: it’s for my marshmallow ya dummy

==============

caleb: can i go to the pool?

noah: sure, we’ll go as soon as i’m free

caleb: no, can i go by myself?

noah: you don’t want to go with me?

caleb: you just go around challenging random people to cannonball contests

noah: it’s the only way to establish dominance

==============

mari: why are you doing this?

caleb: same reason i do everything, mari. to get someone to like me

==============

caleb: truth or dare?

julia: truth!

caleb: do you—

mari: i dare you to kiss me

julia: *kisses mari*

caleb, to lucas: she said “truth”, right?

==============

mari: *sighs* i have no friends…

lucas: …

lucas: *coughs* bitch, what am i? a roach?

==============

noah: *closes a cabinet*

*a crash is heard behind the cabinet door*

julia: what was that?

noah: the sound of someone else’s problem

==============

lucas: look, leo, if you can fit your head down the gun’s barrel, you can assume it doesn’t have a non-lethal setting

==============

lucas: money… is like president trading cards

==============

mari: ew. what kind of tea is this?

marco: i boiled gatorade

==============

lucas: what’s your greatest weakness?

leo: interpreting the semantics of a question, but ignoring the pragmatics

lucas: could you give me an example?

leo: yes, i could

==============

marco: you’re a lying piece of shit!

mari: oh yeah? you’re the idiot that thinks you can get away with everything you do, WELCOME TO THE REAL WORLD!

leo: i’m leaving and i’m taking lucas with me!

julia, gathering cards: aaaaand that’s enough monopoly for today

==============

mari: look, i’m glad everyone’s on the same page

mari: but it’s the last page in a book titled “we’re all going to die”

noah: that’s not even clever

==============

leo: slams books down in front of marco*

leo: boils up some mountain dew. it’s gonna be long night

marco: you could of said literally anything else

leo: cauldron boil and cauldron bubble, baja blast to fuel my trouble

marco: i’m going to just stop challenging you when you say random shit. i won’t win. i realise this now

==============

mari: impossible burger? please

mari: through christ, all things are possible

==============

noah: ask me anything. go ahead, i’ll give you a straight answer

marco: why are we so fucking awesome?

noah: that’s the best fucking question anybody’s ever asked

==============

mari: let me copy your homework

caleb: i was gonna copy yours

mari: well, shit

caleb: guess i’m not doing it

==============

noah, texting marco: roses are red, tony hawk is a skater

marco’s phone, auto-replying: i’m driving right now—i’ll get back to you later

*later*

marco, texting back: fuck you

==============

leo: mari has never seen star wars? lucas, the only people in the universe who haven’t seen star wars are the characters in star wars and that’s cause they lived them, lucas! that’s cause they lives the star wars!

==============

mari: hey marco, have you seen the photographer?

marco: nope. have you seen the meat tenderiser?

mari, confused: what?

marco, grabbing the meat tenderiser out of the drawer: no reason, cute guy things!

==============

julia: i have a problem

marco: kill it

julia: can you chill for like, two seconds?

==============

caleb: there’s no i in happyness…

mari: there is if you fucking spell it right

==============

marco: why is noah making me do the dishes again? you haven’t washed them in a week, julia!

julia: it’s because i’m noah’s favourite

marco: i hate you

==============

leo: so, julia and marco

leo: according to this, you two are being accused of: armed robbery, vandalism, drug abuse, grand theft auto…

julia: we had a bad day

leo: and… MURDER?!

marco: it was a pretty bad day…

==============

julia: you’re a horrible person!

marco: maybe. but i’m rich and pretty, so it doesn’t really matter

==============

noah: rules were made to be broken

lucas: they were made to be followed. nothing is made to be broken

caleb: uh, piñatas

julia: glow sticks

marco: karate boards

mari: spaghetti when you have a small pot

noah: rules

lucas: …

==============

mari: are we fighting or flirting?

julia: i’m pinning you against a wall with my hand around your neck—

mari: your point?

==============

julia: you want to know why people are so afraid of clowns? well you know what people say about how their feet aren’t the only thing that’s big? and how people who drive really big cars have small dicks? well clowns are out there with their big feet and tiny cars…

==============

julia: how gould you like your pancakes?

caleb: plain

leo: with sprinkles!

mari: chocolate chips

lucas: potatoes

*caleb, leo, and mari look at lucas*

lucas: what? they’re good

==============

noah: that’s greatly offensive to my people

leo: college dropouts?

==============

leo: so we’re gonna read what we wrote down so we can tell everyone in the class something about ourselves

noah: okay, my name is noah but you can refer to me as lord farquaad

leo: okay tha ts not happening— how about you!

mari: i’m mari and i like the movie white chicks!

leo: … okay… whatever, i respect that

caleb: my name is caleb and i hate this place, it actually sucks here…

leo: okay… and you…

marco: *nervous* uhhh my name is marco and my favourite colour is… math

==============

leo: what does a winner to when life gives them lemons?

lucas: um, make lemonade?

leo: no, they squeeze them right back into life’s eyes!

==============

lucas, dramatically: they called me a fool

marco, sick of lucas’s shit: they weren’t wrong

==============

mari: but who gets which pencil?

julia: since they’re my things, i get the good one, leo gets the broken one and you don’t get one because fuck you

==============

mari: okay, but what if we went to dinner not as friends this time?

julia: AS ENEMIES?!

mari:

==============

caleb, smugly, fate security arrives to escort leo and marco out: to, do you wanna walk out of here or do you want to be carried out?

leo, in defeat: let’s go

marco: wait

leo: what?

marco: i’d kinda like to be carried out…

==============

caleb: hey, if you type in your password, it’ll show in stars

caleb: ********* see!

lucas: hunter2

lucas: doesn’t look like stars to me

caleb: lucas: *******

caleb: that’s what i see

lucas: oh, really?

caleb: absolutely

lucas: you can go hunter2 my hunter2-ing hunter2

lucas: haha, does that look funny to you?

caleb: lol, yes. see when YOU type hunter2, it shows to us as *******

lucas: that’s cool. i didn’t know this site did that

caleb: yup. no matter how many times you type hunter2, it will show to us as *******

lucas: awesome

lucas: wait, how do you know my password?

caleb: er, i just copy pasted YOUR ******’s and it appears to YOU as hunter2 cause it’s your password

lucas: oh, ok

==============

mari: you’re ignoring all your problems

lucas: i know

mari: you also know it’s an unhealthy coping mechanism?

lucas: i’m ignoreing that fact as well

mari:

==============

caleb: due to personal reasons, i will be fucking sinking to the bottom of an ocean in a large metal box

lucas: did marco say “i love you” and you said “thanks”?

caleb: THE REASONS ARE PERSONAL—

==============

julia: my only talent is being stress

lucas: don’t you mean stressed?

julia: no

==============

lucas: wow! leo made you cry?

marco, tearing up: yea, and he said some really mean things that are only partly true

==============

marco: *yawns*

caleb: yeah, being that pretty must be tiring

marco: then you must be exhausted

leo: will you two shut up? some of us are lonely

==============

lucas: have you heard about murphy’s law? the one where if something can go wrong, it will go wrong?

caleb: yeah, i have

lucas: have you heard about cole’s law?

caleb: is this a joke about coleslaw?

lucas: … maybe

==============

lucas: hey, caleb, where are you going?

caleb: well, it depends. when i die, probably hell

caleb: but right now i’m going to mcdonald’s

==============

marco: how do you connect with a fictional character?

caleb: what?

mari: what?

lucas: what?

leo: *pulls up a 500 slide presentation* i’m glad you asked

==============

mari: do you take constructive criticism?

caleb: not without crying

==============

caleb, teaching julia to drive: okay, you’re driving and mari and noah walk into the road. quick, what do you hit?

julia: oh, definitely noah. i could never hurt mari

caleb, massaging his temples: the brakes. you hit the brakes

==============

mari: you know what bothers me? bats. why can bats fly?

lucas: not again!

mari: no. seriously, who gave them the right, they’re mammals! mammals walk on land, no exceptions

julia: just wait until you hear about whales

mari: what now?

==============

marco, knocking on the door: leo, open up!

leo: it all started when i was a kid

marco: that’s not what i—

mari: let him finish!

==============

marco: i’m so happy two of my favourite people are getting along

leo: uh, julia and caleb are not getting along

marco: they’re not trying to kill each other

leo: you may have a point

==============

caleb: if i say i love you, will you say it back?

marco: yes

caleb: i love you

marco: it back

*later*

noah: why is caleb crying face-down on the floor?

==============

*leo is reading a clifford the big red dog book*

julia, watching: how did he get to be so big? do they ever explain that?

leo: well, emily’s live for him grew, and so did he

julia: well, your dog is pretty small. guess that says something about you, huh?

leo, angrily shutting the book: YOU’RE SMALL! WHAT DOES THAT SAY ABOUT YOUR PARENTS?!?!

==============

marco: mint is just cold spicy

his friends: …

mari: what the actual fuck is wrong with you

==============

noah: okay! let’s play kiss marry kill!

noah: first who would you kill?

*leo points at marco*

*julia points at marco*

*caleb points at marco*

marco: *shrugs* i would kill me too

==============

julia: remember, if you die in the simulation—

lucas: yeah, yeah, i know, if you die in the simulation you die in real life

julia: what? no! you need to reset the simulation with the terminal! what is WRONG with you?!

==============

noah: how did you break your leg?

mari: do you see those porch stairs?

noah: yes

mari: i didn’t

==============

julia: tell me a little about yourself

lucas: i’d rather not, i really like this group

==============

marco: *holds a gun out to leo*

leo: i-i don’t believe in guns

marco: well, trust me, they’re very real. now take it

==============

marco: leo? i mixed redbull with coffee and now i can see sounds, should i worry?

leo: marco, i swear to god—

==============

julia: you know what they say: you snooze you lose. and it looks like you snost and you lost

==============

leo, watching noah: ah yes. the mysterious and beautiful noah, so demure…

leo: … i wonder what sort of melodic sounds this wonderful being makes

noah: *screaming*

==============

caleb: i wanna die

leo: we all do, you aren’t special!

==============

mari: cool, any other secrets?

noah: i still sleep with the blanket i had as a baby

mari: aww—

noah, stern: i use it as a gag when taking peoples pets hostage

mari:

mari: there’s no punchline ‘cause it’s not a joke isn’t it?

==============

noah: the path to inner peace begins with four words… not my fucking problem

==============

marco: what is everyone for halloween?

leo: i’m superman

lucas: a clown

marco: so i’m guessing we don’t need to get you a costume then?

==============

caleb: i’m not superstitious… but i am a little stitious

==============

julia: i’d make fun of your height, but there isn’t enough to make fun of

==============

lucas, on the phone: uh… hey, noah, i uh, i’ve been stabbed

julia: WHAT? WHERE ARE YOU?

lucas: wait— you aren’t noah. sorry— i didn’t mean to call you—

julia: NO, WHERE ARE YOU? IM COMING THERE. IM NOT GOING TO LEAVE SOMEONE ALONE THATS BEEN STABBED

==============

caleb: evil never sleeps!

marco: but ugly gets plenty of rest

==============

lucas: who would you swipe right for? caleb or noah?

julia: i would delete the app

==============

noah: if it pleases the court i would like to say that my opponent is TALKING SHIT!

lucas: …

==============

lucas: i’m going to get myself some soup

noah: be careful not to burn yourself, it’s hot

lucas: pfft, i won’t burn myself

*30 seconds later*

lucas, entering the room: i burned myself

==============

marco: i haven’t slept in 72 hours…

julia: i haven’t slept in 80. i’m the insomnia queen!

caleb: ha! i haven’t slept in 90 hours, i’m aiming for an even 100

leo: what the fuck is wrong with you people

==============

noah: if i die, my funeral will be the biggest party ever and you’re all invited

marco: “if”

leo: great, the only party i’m ever invited to and they might not even die

==============

mari: yeah, i don’t like people

marco: oh, well now that’s not fair mari. have you met all of them?

mari: i’ve met enough of them. people. what a bunch of bastards

==============

caleb: so, marco, do you have a crush on anyone?

marco: the only crush i have is this crushing anxiety

==============

marco: time freezes for everyone but you one day. what do you do?

caleb: oh… i’d mildly trouble everyone

marco: alright, so what would you do?

caleb: i’d shave a one inch thick line in every thick beard i saw

caleb: i’d twist all the lightbulbs just a little bit so no one would know when they aren’t working

caleb: id make every wing on girls eyeliner just a little bit higher than the other one

caleb: and i’d tie everyone’s shoelaces together

caleb: and then lastly, i’d snip a little hole in every tea bag

marco:

marco: remind me to never allow you to have power

==============

leo: good morning!

lucas, checking his watch: correct

==============

mari: where is noah?

leo: i’ll do you one better, who is noah??

julia: here’s a better question, why is noah?

==============

caleb: i did it! i memorised everything in the book! i’m gonna ace this test!

noah: ok, caleb, i’ll give you one more question before you go. what ended in 1918?

caleb: 1917

noah: … you’re ready

==============

marco: i’m a witch. i mixed some herbs and crystals together and now my cat knows the f-word

==============

julia: *points at leo* a human turtleneck, *points at lucas* a narcissistic monster, *points at noah* and literally the dumbest person i’ve ever met

noah: and who am i? describe me now

==============

julia: there’s beer in the cooler

leo: what about for the children?

julia: you can get water from that water fountain and use it to water down the beer

marco: why don’t we just give the kids water?

julia, angrily: i suppose you could do that!

==============

leo: go fuck yourself

lucas: come over here and fuck me yourself you coward

==============

noah: life is like julia. it’s short

==============

julia: caleb! i thought you were dead!

caleb: no, just in deep cover

julia: … but it was an open casket

caleb: it was very deep

==============

noah: you think that’s cringe? moms around the world wait 9 months just to end up naming their kid leo

leo: hey, fuck you

==============

lucas: why is marco crying on the floor?

mari: he’s drunk

lucas: and?

mari: he saw a picture of caleb’s husband

lucas: but he’s caleb’s husband

mari: i know

==============

julia: *writing a letter*

julia: dear santa, i’m writing to let you know i’ve been naughty… and it was worth it you fat, judgemental bastard

==============

lucas: did you bring marco?

mari, gesturing to noah: no, but i brought the next best thing

lucas: noah? the next best thing would be julia

noah: i would be offended, but julia is freakishly strong

==============

lucas: i think leo is in trouble

caleb: alright. struggling to give a fuck, if i’m honest

==============

marco: if i’m extra sarcastic with you it probably means i’m flirting with you or you really annoys me and i can’t handle your crap… have fun figuring out which one

==============

lucas: what do you call disobeying the law?

the friendgroup: a hobby

lucas: *crosses his arms*

the friendgroup: that we do not engage in

==============

noah: it’s not that i don’t trust leo, i just… don’t trust his impulse control

==============

marco: lucas! what did i tell you about lying?

lucas, looking down: … that it only works on caleb

==============

julia: you have you’re weirdly sincere humility

leo: i prefer the term “self-loathing”, actually

==============

caleb: if i fall down these stairs, i’m just going to lay down and accept my fate

==============

marco: don’t weep for the stupid. you’ll be crying all day

==============

mari: which country has the most birds?

mari: portu-geese!

marco: that’s a language

mari: portu-gull?

marco: good recovery

noah: don’t you mean good re-dovery

julia: TURKEY. HOW DID WE MISS TURKEY?

==============

leo: editors note: what the fuck?

==============

marco: silence is golden

julia: duct tape is silver

==============

leo: we’re going to defeat you with the power of friendship

mari: we’re not friends

leo, holding an axe: we’re going to defeat you with the power of incredible violence

==============

julia, entering the room: *sees caleb and leaves*

caleb, watching julia leave: there’s my monthly dose of julia

==============

julia: good news!

noah: you found where i hid your phone?

julia: …

noah: you found your phone?

==============

lucas: do dragons fart fire?

caleb: i don’t know

lucas: i thought you went to college

==============

noah: what’s the most efficient way to burn calories?

marco: exercise more!

julia: set yourself on fire

leo: there are two kinds of people

==============

julia: if you think i’m playing favourites, you’re wrong. i love all of you equally!

julia, earlier: i don’t care for caleb

==============

marco: just a minute. i need to go take out the trash

caleb: oh. we’re going out?

marco: wh…

==============

caleb, texting: answer your phone

marco, texting back: wait a minute, i can’t find my phone

caleb: understood

caleb, 5 minutes later: you’re a terrible person. you know you’re killing me. you’re killing me, marco

==============

lucas: i am convinced marco and mari share a braincell

julia: and it’s not in use very often, it seems

==============

mari: can i offer you a nice stick in this trying time?

==============

mari: i feel so burnt out

caleb: don’t worry, it’ll be over soon

mari: are you gonna… assassinate me?

caleb: well not if you’re expecting it

==============

caleb: do you support gay rights?

mari: i’m literally gay

lucas: she’s avoiding the question!

==============

lucas: hey, are you okay with swearing? asking for a friend

marco: yeah?

lucas: bitch

==============

[darling-i-read-it]

The Rowboat

Eddie Munson x fem!reader

Word Count: 1.3k 

Warnings: SPOILERES FOR STRANGER THINGS SEASON 4, major plot spoilers!, violence, some gore 

Author’s Note: yall loved my shitty first fic for eddie so here is one i actually liked lol! Steve and Billy content coming soon! 

Summary: You go to the boathouse to get eddie after hearing people are after him 

I don’t own these characters. They belong to author/director/creator

(not my gif)

“Wait Lucas slow down slow down. You’re saying the basketball jocks think that Eddie killed Chrissy? My Eddie? Eddie Munson?” 

“Repeating his name back to me does not make it any less true! They’re trying to find him right now! I’ve gotta find Dustin, they think he knows where Eddie is.” 

You were standing in the doorway of your house, staring down at Lucas Sinclair. He had just told you that his ‘friends’ were dead set on doing something to Eddie for what happened with Chrissy. You had been waiting at your house in case he decided to come around for some shelter or something but no such luck. You hadn’t really been let into the loop. 

“I don’t know where he is though. Eddie or Dustin,” you explained. 

“Well then we have to find them. I can radio Dustin and he can send you directly to Eddie to hide him somewhere safe.” You nodded quickly. You grabbed a coat and shut the door, not bothering to tell your parents where you were going because you really had no idea. Your keys were already in your pocket and you unlocked the door. 

“Radio him then. We probably have to be fast. Those jocks have one mind between the four of them.” 

-

You dropped Lucas off at the school and sped towards Reefer Ricks. You had only been there one time but you remembered the way. Eddie didn’t like to take you around there, he said it was bad news. You tried to tell him that he seemed to be there all the time but he was having none of it. You were not to get mixed in with anything dangerous, no matter how close to him it was. 

If only he knew why you were going there now. 

You made a sharp turn into the gravel road and quickly came to a stop. You looked into the house, noting that all the lights were off. You pursed your lips. If you were Eddie, where would you be hiding? 

You locked your car and walked slowly up the steps only to catch the lights on in the garage/boat house. Your eyebrows flattened. Dumbass. 

You half jogged half walked over and knocked on the door, just to let him know someone was there in case he wasn’t hiding already. You opened the door slowly, peeking around the mess. 

“Eddie? It’s me!” you called into the seemingly empty room. You shut the door behind you and surveyed the mess on the table of food and the one light on in the middle of the room. Underneath the boat tarp rose your boyfriend, scaring the hell out of you. 

“What are you doing here?!” You held your chest, shaking your head. 

“Helping you! Why didn’t you call?!” He climbed out, stumbling and then almost falling onto the ground. You grabbed his arm to keep him steady. 

“Because I didn’t want you mixed up in this,” he muttered, shaking his head. “I don’t even know what this is!” 

“Dustin told me,” you said softly. He looked more scared then you had ever seen him before. Eddie was usually easy going in the worst of situations. You had no doubt that whatever he had actually seen had been traumatic and awful. “Lucas also says the fucking basketball jocks are coming to get you. We have to move you somewhere safe.” “This is safe,” he argued. “No one found me yet.”

“Except Dustin and Steve and Robin and me and-”

“Okay I get it I get it. You have any ideas sweets?” He let out a tired exasperated sigh. 

“Anything is better than your poor excuse of a hiding spot under that tarp. Maybe we should just drive and keep fucking driving,” you suggested. He scoffed, scratching the back of his head. 

“Not a bad idea.” You could hear gravel upturning outside. You both turned around and reached for each other. You had grabbed his left elbow and he was clutching your side for dear life. “Shit. Shit shit shit. You have to go. Run. I don’t care, go, get, scat.” He was shoving you out the door like they wouldn’t see you leaving. 

“Eddie I’m not just gonna leave you.” 

“Yes you sure are. Go before they find you here.”

“They already saw my car. They know I’m here.” He shook his head aggressively, pointing a finger at you, something he usually never did. 

“You are not going to be found by them. Jason Carver thinks I killed his girlfriend. You’re my girlfriend. You think about that?” Truthfully, you hadn’t thought about that. But in the moment you were much more worried about Eddie than about you. 

“We’re taking the row boat.” “No we’re not.”

“Yes we are.” 

You took the tarp off and he hoped inside, realizing this was your best and probably only chance. You got in and grabbed an oar, shoving it against the dock so that you would move away. 

“Let me,” he said, taking it from you so he had both oars. “We don’t have time to argue about who can row straight.”

“It’s obviously me,” you said, trying your best to lighten the mood. You look at the shore as you moved past it, not nearly as fast as you would have hoped. You breathed heavily, watching helplessly as the flashlights flitted around and eventually made their way to the boat house. 

“That tarp isn’t looking so bad now is it?” he hissed. 

“Well driving to California was my option!”

You could tell that Jason had seen you. You cursed under your breath and grabbed an oar from Eddie. 

“I’ll hit the guy.”

“With the oar?” 

“Yes with the oar!” You raised it above your head, watching as he started to swim. 

“Yo sweetheart violence for you is not the answer right now! Hand me the weapon!” Jason was getting closer. Your heart was beating faster. “Maybe we should just try and swim across!” 

The boat rocked. You gasped, almost dropping your weapon. Eddie grabbed onto your hip again, something he did whenever he had the excuse. The boat rocked again. 

“It's gonna get Jason,” you whispered. 

“I love you!” Eddie exclaimed. You turned to him, seeing true fear in his face. “I love you so much. You’re the only thing I’ve ever really loved. And dungeons and dragons.”

“I love you too, Eds. We’re not dying right now we’re just-” 

You were cut off by one of the boys being risen into the air. You stumbled back, right into Eddie causing him to tumble into the water. You gasped, no longer paying attention to the floating boy and suddenly keenly aware your boyfriend could easily get hypothermia. 

You reached into the water to pull him up, glancing behind you worriedly, just in time to see bones crack and a body fall. 

Eddie was shivering and you were rowing and Jason was screaming. 

“Let’s go to skull rock,” Eddie said quietly. 

“What?” you whispered, voice no louder than his. 

“It’s out in the woods. It’ll hide us until Dustin and his friends get here.” You pursed your lips and nodded. 

“Okay.” His clammy hands grabbed your knee and then he put his forehead on his hand, taking the moment to breathe.

(again not tagging anyone quite yet since the season is so new!)

[blueeandyellowmakesgreen]

kicking my feet grinning like a maniac imagining a mike gets vecna’d scenario ahahaha

imagine mike sobbing, screaming, and desperate for someone to hear him to get out of his trance but all hes greeted with is the sound of his own voice echoing back at him. he retreats to a recluse place in the UD covering his ears as he hears demobats near his proximity, shaking like a leaf and whimpering to himself ‘get it together, wheeler. this isnt real.’’ he considers thinking about a light memory like what lucas told him how max did. then he thinks. when was the last time he even felt… safe? his household is hopeless. school is living hell, so screw that.

so he thinks of eddie and hellfire. it works, and he stays for a while, because it truly was the lightest he’s been. he lives the memory and plays the game like he remembered it. not until the memory gets distorted, knowing eddie died and his friend’s corpse starts rotting in front of him. with a distorted voice he screams in desperation, ‘’where were you mike?’’. clearly he couldnt have done more. but mike always prided himself of being the leader, the protector. the.. heart. that’s who he was supposed to be. and knowing eddie led himself to a sacrificial death made him feel worse.

mike runs away from the memory. new plan, he thinks of the party instead. lucas, dustin, max, el…

.. and will. mike feels himself smile at the mention of his name to himself.

okay. it was working. no sense of dread so far, just happy memories. he jumps to the memory with lucas. it was a memory of them fighting for an orange popsicle when they were younger. after a while, lucas stares at him, giving an unreadable look.

‘’youre a bad friend mike.’’

‘’w-what?’’ young mike stutters. present mike feels himself ask the same thing.

‘’you stole my popsicle.’’

young mike laughs nervously. ‘’hey i won it fair and square!’’

lucas continues staring, making mike feel more uneasy. ‘’look. we could always buy you another-‘’

‘’how many times are you going to let me down? i lost count at this point, you know. and knowing in the future, you dont go to my game? you knew it meant the world to me mike, and yet you dont care. all you did was go against me, and you never support me. what kind of friend does that?’’ young lucas steps closer to young mike, every word penetrating more and more as lucas pokes his chest harder until he falls to the ground. as young mike looks up, young lucas is replaced with older lucas in his basketball uniform.

‘’yeah mike, what about me?’’

mike hears a voice from behind and its older dustin. ‘’you clearly dont give a shit about me either. you didnt even bother to look or ask where i was when i was gone with steve, even after days. i could have been DEAD but all you cared about was being with your stupid girlfriend. leader of the party, my ass.’’

all mike could do was whimper. he never felt so cornered in his life. ‘’d-dustin i said i was sorry about that..’’ his voice comes out weak and croaked.

‘’im glad you ignored me, mike.’’

he turns again, and this time will is in front of him. sweet, lovely will. his best friend, the one who could never do him wrong. ‘’im glad you ignored me. because of that, i realized im better off without you.’’

mike feels his words like a knife stabbing through him each time. ‘’will? y-you don’t mean that..’’

‘’i do. when i moved to lenora, i felt so much better without you. i made new friends who cared about me. i felt free, and i didnt think of you once. i even met someone! now i have someone i can dedicate my art for. because let’s face it, that painting was not worth the effort. why would i waste my talent on you?’’

mike reaches out for will, desperate. ‘’will, please. im so sorry. i know i’ve been nothing but an asshole but i promise, it’s not you, it was never you! it- it was just.. i..’’

‘’you dont love me, mike.’’

mike flinches at the voice behind him. ‘’el.. of course i love you! i always had; i told you, remember?’’

‘’no… you could never love me.’’

‘’i do! i said it, didn’t i?!’’ mike yells, maybe too loud. he looks around, his friends surrounding him. they all look down at him with shame in their eyes. mike was still on the ground. ‘’i do love her!’’ he yells again..even if no one was asking him to affirm it.

dustin leans to him. ‘’i dont believe you. i dont trust you. your phrase ‘friends don’t lie means nothing when all youve done to us is lie.’’

‘’it’s..’’ el’s gentle voice begins.

‘’..bullshit.’’ lucas finishes with venom in his words.

‘’what are you hiding?’’

mike’s pupils shrink.

lucas leans down mockingly, joining dustin. ‘’yeah, mike. what are you hiding?’’

‘’guys, im sorry…’’

‘’mike, please tell me what you’re hiding.’’ el walks closer, surrounding mike more and more.

‘’tell us what youre hiding!’’ lucas and dustin chorused. as their voices adjoin, mike and will make eye contact.

will simply walks away from the scene, not bothering to even say a goodbye.

‘’im sorry, i…! i cant.!! i cant…Will…!!’

mike pushes past the three and runs to will. but the more he ran, the farther will seemed to be. he screams for will’s name until his voice hurt, running until his legs give out and reaches out. his vision blurs to will’s figure being shrunk to a speck, as several echoes taunt him. will disappears from his line of sight, and mike collapses on his knees. he screams of frustration. his screams then led to fits of crying. his shoulders shake with his head buried under his arms. mike slams his fist over and over on the cold slimy ground he finds himself in and wraps his hands around his hair, pulling on it harshly. he just lost his best friend. the one he loved.

and it was all his fault.

[angelguk]

so much happens in this it’s such a huge mess omg. the return of the angst plot line of jock!jk (aka pretty boy universe please check ml for the other parts). this time featuring: Angst (with a capital A), miscommunication that makes you want to scream, chayoung’s true nature, namjoon catching stray bullets (figuratively), and lucas being a gem. also jungkook is somewhat semi-violent in this one (in terms of thoughts and some actions but no one gets hurt) so please don’t read this if that makes you uncomfortable. in general just an angry heartbroken boy. also oc is finally doing something good. listen to mess it up by gracie abrams + if we were made of water by banks + i will by mitksi + save room for us by tinashe. roughly 4.2k

titled — old friends, new foes

The spring scavenger hunt is an enormous success, all thanks to your careful planning and Bina’s much needed support. While you excelled at organising, you heavily lacked in the social aspect, something Bina fulfilled with smart marketing and a bright personality that drew in a larger crowd than you thought would appear. It's partially expected–she was head of the Events Committee for a reason–but it felt a little strange to lean onto her instead of Jeongguk. He was the one who usually spearheaded that side of your event plans, more than anyone else, and while planning this one you felt his absence tenfold. Like a gigantic gaping hole excavating through your chest and leaving behind a lonely hollow.

That hollowness surges when you spot him meandering towards the third location at the university courtyard, his fingers tangled with Hyeri’s. You slowly turn away from them, heart aching with each thud against your ribs, hoping they haven’t seen you. Maybe Bina sees the fall on your features because she’s gently tapping your arm, leaning in with a graceful brush of her amber locks over her shoulder.  

“Are you okay?” Her voice is soft, feathering through the late afternoon breeze to reach your ear. 

You’re about to say it, the pained ‘I’m fine' that had become a part of your routine. But then you hear him, loud effervescent laugh hitting the air, the sound striking your false demeanour down. Your vision blurs before you could choke the word out and suddenly Bina’s arm is firmly around you, guiding your heavy feet far away from the presence evoking your pain. 

“I’m fine,” you finally manage to choke up, folding into yourself in the middle of a bench. She stares at you for a moment, before taking a deep breath and sharply clicking her tongue.

“You’re not.” Her eyes are gentle despite the harshness of her words. “I know this isn’t my place, but I do know why you stopped coming to committee meetings.” 

The scoff you let out is instinctive. The jarring sound is a stark contrast to the action of your hand hurriedly wiping away the stray tears staining your cheeks. Of course, you’d avoided committee meetings – why the hell would you go when the president was your ex?

“And,” Bina continues, pointedly ignoring your reaction. Her hand reaches out moving to intertwine your fingers. You focus on the image of her sharp stiletto shaped nails that glitter under the glow of the sun settling on your lap instead of the thumping of your heart as she speaks. “Judging from what I’ve seen, it hasn’t been easy for him either. I know you’re probably thinking that you were the only one who cared about him–about your relationship, but I’m pretty sure he did too. So it’s perfectly okay for you to feel like this, no matter how long it’s been.”

Two months and three weeks, you mentally add. A lifetime and a single blink simultaneously. 

“I didn’t need to know that,” you say, hoping to kill the hope fluttering in your heart. Bina squeezes your hand instead and gives it wings.

“You did. Also, Jeongguk’s kind of an asshole. Sorry if it’s too soon.”

It’s not, and you can’t help the tiny laugh that escapes from your throat. You glance up at her then, suddenly glad for the dazzling glossed coated smile that greets you.

“But,” she continues. “You’re doing the wrong thing too. I know you’re dating Lucas and it’s not fair to him when you’re still hung up on Jeongguk.”

“I know,” you admit. “And I’m going to fix that.”

She beams. “I hope you do. Don’t let him make you pick the wrong choices. You deserve better than that.”

Perhaps it was her words of reassurance that aided in getting you out of the house tonight. (Or it was Bina gingerly whacking your arm and insisting you needed to reward yourself for working hard). But a minuscule part of you is glad you heeded her advice. The music is louder than the words bouncing around your head, sound shoving your sorrow down as Chayoung hands you another drink. Everything is fast, bodies shifting wildly around you and the faint sound of a beer pong game capturing everyone’s attention. For a moment, you begin to forget. But then Lucas’s looming head materializes before you and guilt swarms your heart.

“Hey,” he offers, deep timbre sinking into your bones. You might just throw up.

You haven’t told him about Namjoon. You can’t bear to. But there’s something else more urgent that you need to say to him first.

Chayoung watches through narrow eyes when he leans forward to brush a light kiss on your cheek. He’s so sweet it makes your mouth turn sour. 

“Haven’t seen you around,” Lucas continues, slipping beside you. A steady hand settles at the base of your back. You almost jolt away. 

Chayoung’s face is hard, expression carved out of marble as she stares you down. You know she’s mad at you, rightfully so. Even Sieun hadn’t said anything for a few days after you’d told them about Namjoon. You were mad at yourself too. For what you did–for what you need to do to fix it.

“Been busy. Planning the scavenger hunt and all,” you say, gaze glued to a random lamp at the opposite side of the room. It’s easier than staring at Lucas, who’s still so warm and bright. Practically glowing like he’s got the Sun living in his chest. 

You hope you don’t leave him cloudy.

He weaves his hand into yours, a pleasant noise escaping past his lips. “I know. Great job, by the way. You should be proud.”

Chayoung slinks away at that, the glower on her features burning your blood. You haven’t told anybody yet because you don’t want their advice on this. But you do need to end things with Lucas. It wasn’t fair to him. Yet, it feels nearly impossible when you tear your eyes off the fading figure of your friend and glance up to find him staring at you with the softest smile.

All you do is hurt good people. 

It’s a terrible realisation but it forces you to croak out the words, a rip forming inside of you when that soft smile slips off his face at the sound of them.

“We need to talk.”

But the second they are out you feel something in the world click into place like you’re finally making the right steps toward the correct path even though you need to step on the hearts of others to get there. 

Lucas lets you lead him in silence, the weight of it sinking onto your shoulders when he closes the door behind him, the music giving way to the noise in your head. When he turns to face you, watching apprehensively as you perch yourself at the edge of the bed in the room, it all begins to feel like deja vu. Except you’re on the other side.

“So,” you start, eyes on the wall. The feeling of the mattress dipping as Lucas descends beside you pulls your gaze back to him, heartstrings thrumming when the moonlight leaking through the opened curtains pools into his eyes.

How could Jeongguk have done this?

“We need to end this,” you say, realising as the air leaves your lungs that he did it like this. Like he needed to breath. It feels like cutting an anchor off your ankle, head breaking through furious waters to finally find air.

Lucas pauses, blinking slow. You don’t fill the emptiness with more words, afraid you’ll pour salt into an open wound. He lets what you said ruminate, eyes shifting to the scene around you. A random room, bathed by the glow of the room, and two hearts opposing each other–one already poised to leave. One that was never really there.

“Why?” It’s said lowly. You know why. You owe him this admission, after dragging him around on a sinking ship. But the words refuse to part from your throat. 

“I’m not right for you,” you say instead, hoping he understands. By the flicker across his eyes, he doesn’t. “Like,” you try, your eyes dropping to where his heart lies. “You’ve got a lot of good in you and I don’t. We don’t match.”

Lucas cocks his head, staring at the ceiling. And this his gaze careens to you.

“You don’t think you’re a good person?”

“Well–” you splutter. But Lucas isn’t having it.

“You’re a lovely person, Y/N. With a lot of good in you too. You are kind of shitty for this though but every good person does shitty things.” It’s said factually like he needs you to understand this.

“I know that–”

“You don’t. You put yourself down too much. Why do you think Jeongguk loved you?”

Oh. That seizes that air from your chest, Lucas’s gaze slamming into your own with a surety that stings. 

“Why do you think I like you?” He adds. You don’t know what to do, nervous system spazzing at this information assault. “And I know why you want to end this. You could have said it. I understand, though. The two of you did fight together so well.” He gets up then, towering like a God dictating judgment. “I didn’t expect you to stop loving him immediately, you know.” He’s near the door now, not fleeing but parting a new path. There’s a weird smile on his lips, like the forging of his steps hurts as much yours does. It’s like it’s been hung there, not pulled from his heart like you’d grown used to seeing. 

“What did you expect?” You can’t help but ask.

He pauses, the door half-open. You could tell him to shut it, you could tell him to stay. 

You don’t want to.

“That maybe one day you would love me more than you loved him,” Lucas whispers. He sees the fall on your features, knows the answer on your lips instantly. “But it’s okay that you never could.”

And then he’s gone, honey blonde hair swallowed by the crowd even with his impossible height. He leaves the door ajar, the music seeping into the room. But this time your head is louder, surer. Because Lucas just let you know something you weren’t even aware of yourself. There was no room for anybody else except Jeongguk. And it truly wasn’t fair to offer him your heart when it was half a world away.

—

Half a world away is apparently glaring at the shrubs flanking the back garden. Jeongguk doesn’t know who’s house this is. He doesn’t care either because at the moment he’s considering burning it down. He’d just seen you amble into a room, Lucas trailing behind like a stupid dog and his heart clenching hard in his chest. It took two seconds after the door shut for him to shove Hyeri off his lap and mumble something about needing air.

(What he needed was you).

The coolness of the night ebbed at his boiling blood, but nothing could ease the ache. 

“You look like you need a drink,” Chayoung’s voice feels alien, creeping up his back. He turns to look at her, a polite comment on how he’d like to be left alone hanging on his lips. She interrupts it by handing him a cup, a tender smile gracing her lips. Jeongguk accepts it with a shrug, hoping the burn in his throat will be a distraction. It isn’t. But he forces another sip down as Chayoung slithers outside too, the room behind her glowing as if the building was on fire.

What store sells matches and lighter fluid in the middle of the night? And won’t ask incriminating questions? 

“Why the long face?” She asks, peering at him from the corner of her eye.

Jeongguk shrugs, the words in his head refusing to form into understandable sounds.

“Hyeri not cutting it?” Chayoung murmurs. His eyes snap to her, but she’s not staring at him, her gaze fixed on the dark sky. 

“What do you mean?” Jeongguk is baffled say the least. He thought his act with Hyeri was a little bit more solid proof. He liked her–somewhat. 

Chayoung turns slow, almost sinisterly, a glint in her brown eyes that unsettles him. “I just don’t think she’s in your league.”

The scoff that leaves Jeongguk’s throat burns. He hated that stupid idea of leagues. You should like a person for who they are, not where they stand in foolish social hierarchies. But Chayoung reads his response wrong, suddenly impossibly close, a stray finger trailing along his shoulder. Her nails are talons. He shudders, trying to hide it by leaning away. Chayoung just leans closer, alcohol tainted breath grazing his own. For a moment, Jeongguk considers fleeing back inside to come ask you to collect your drunk friend (a perfect excuse to finally say something to you after months of radio silence) but then he remembers that might potentially end with him walking into the room and finding you with Lucas’s tongue down your throat.

And that would suck. A lot.

But before he can think of another solution Chayoung’s fingernails are scrapping his neck, leaving his skin prickled.

“But then again, do you seem to always pick the wrong ones.” That bristles him and his eyes are suddenly hard and narrow.

“What do you mean by that?” He spits it out, a spark igniting in his chest when Chayoung shrugs. The smile on her face disgusts him.

“You know what I mean.” Her finger is sliding down his shirt and Jeongguk feels branded even through the material. “When you look like this, running around girls like that is honestly a little sad.”

“What the fuck are you talking about?” He’s hoping he’s hearing this all wrong. That she’s just drunk and acting stupid. But when her eyes lift to him he knows she means it. Every word of it.

“You could do better, Jeongguk. So much better.”

“Chayoung you need to shut the fuc–”

Her lips taste like vodka and cherry lip balm, which is sickening because that’s what you taste like–sans the vodka. Cherry lip balm was your brand. It always was, you’ve got like five of them scattered around your room and a couple more hidden in Jeongguk’s. He recoils instantly, acid climbing up his throat as his hands find something–anything to push away. What he finds are Chayoung’s shoulders and when he pushes he pushes hard. They break apart and the floor beneath Jeongguk cracks wide open, his head spinning violently.

“What the fuck is your problem?” He doesn’t know what else to say, the circuits in his brain frying. Chayoung’s tongue skips over her lips, now wet and a little plush from the force she used to slam her mouth into his. 

“Showing you that you can do better.”

He blinks, taken a large step back when Chayoung moves forward, a little sway in her feet. 

“You’re drunk and acting crazy. I think I should call Y/N to com–”

“Oh fuck Y/N. Such a whiny bitch. Do you really think she deserves you? After all the shit she’s put you through?” Chayoung’s eyes feel like knives, sharp and striking deep with every word. 

“Aren't you her friend? What the hell is wrong with you?” Jeongguk needs this to de-escalate. Chayoung wants to throw gasoline on an open flame instead.

“No–what’s wrong with you, Jeongguk? Moping around for a girl who never realised what she had when it was right in front of her? C’mon now.”

“You seriously need to shut the fuck up. You’re not gonna talk about her like that in front of me.”

“Why not? Cause you still love her? Even when she’s fucking Lucas?”

That stings, his heart bursting in his chest because Jeongguk didn’t know you were sleeping with him. He thought it would just be kisses or something. Not that–not Lucas touching you like he used to. But then Hyeri’s face flashes in before his eyes and he wilts. He can’t blame you for anything, not when he’s been doing the same horrible shit to you. And that makes him pause, the sudden realisation that he’s been hurting you smashing into his head. He didn’t want to hurt you–never. Not even if you were hurting him. He just needed a distraction, something to ease you off his mind. And maybe you did too, but all left you both with was gaping wounds that would never heal. And with other people hurt too.

God, this was a mess. And it dawns on Jeongguk that’s he’s made the worst mistake he’s ever made in his life. 

“You should hate her,” Chayoung continues, venomous. 

“I don’t,” Jeongguk returns, voice levelled. All he hates right now is himself. And Lucas (which is fair). Chayoung blanches, shaken by his firmness. “I really don’t, in fact, I need to talk to her. Right now.”

He moves fast, foot already past the threshold when Chayoung speaks again, her words aimed with intent to kill.

“She kissed Namjoon.”

He feels the nerves in his legs still instantly, before they nearly give way entirely, his grip on the door frame the only thing holding him up as his heart tears out of his chest. 

“I thought you should know,” Chayoung adds. And he hears it then, that vile smugness in her voice. She’s lying. She has to be. You wouldn’t do that to him. And he says that, storming back to Chayoung with his chest ripped open, his body thrumming with barely concealed rage. And fear. Jeongguk feels so scared right now because if you did that means everything he felt–everything he feared–could be true.

“She did.” Chayoung is immovable, standing tall and staring him down. “I’m not lying to you. Go ask Namjoon if you don’t believe me.”

Which, Jeongguk realises as his eyes fall shut that is going to absolutely do. And possibly break a nose in the process. He turns, trying to blink away the blurriness in his eyes, before Chayoung stops him with a single sentence again, this one said a little softer.

“Jeongguk,” she starts, eyeing him down, her brown eyes aflame under the moonlight. “I mean it when I say she doesn’t deserve you.”

—

Someone is attempting to break down Namjoon’s door. Which is bizarre considering it’s almost three in the morning. He has to drag himself out of the comfort of his warm sheets to figure out which maniac is attempting to smash through solid wood with only their fists because it seems like they’re almost succeeding. 

The maniac in question is Jeon Jeongguk, standing rigid when Namjoon swings the door open, moonlight bleeding over his features. He’s mad, staring at Namjoon like he wished his head was rolling on the ground instead of stationed square on his shoulders. But there’s something else there, doe eyes glossy.

“Jeongguk? What the hell are–”

“You kissed her.”

Everything stills, the two men fixated on each other. Jeongguk is so still he could have been mistaken for a statue. Almost as if he was waiting for the words that would break this moment, ease the tension seizing his muscles, tell him what he wants to hear. Namjoon can’t do any of that. Instead, he sighs, a muted, “Oh”, floating from his lips.

Jeongguk snaps the second he realises it’s true.

“Oh? You kissed her and all you have to say is oh?” Hands are digging into the soft cotton of his nightshirt and Namjoon’s feet are no longer on the ground. He’s apparently levitating, lifted solely by this hurt angry boy invading his apartment. His back hits the nearest wall with a thud that vibrates through his bones. When the hell did Jeongguk get this strong?”

“Whoa–relax,” Namjoon wheezes, his strong fingers guiding Jeongguk off him. But heartbreak tends to be enough fuel because Jeongguk pushes back with an ease that unnerves him. “Jeongguk, you seriously need to relax. Let go of me and we can talk about this.”

“Why did you do it?” That is what he gets in return. Jeongguk’s voice wavers, coloured a violent red in the velvet of the night.

“I didn’t do anything,” Namjoon returns, the words delivered gingerly.

“No–no you did. You kissed her. You–”

“She kissed me, Jeongguk. And I can seriously explain all of it if you just relaxed and we talked about it–”

“No, she didn’t. She wouldn’t do that to me–she wouldn’t.” And Oh God No, Namjoon thinks he just heard the sound of a heart breaking. It sounds like a weird mangled bird collapsing from the sky and its wing hitting the ground with a funny wet smash, fragile bones snapping like twigs. 

Jeongguk’s fingers peel from his shirt and bury themselves in his hair, yanking at the cropped strands as his face twists. 

This is far too much emotion for a single person to deal with in the middle of the bloody night.

“Hey–hey, calm down. It was a mistake, I promise you. She was just feeling a little all over the place and made a bad choice–”

“No–that’s the fucking point! She made a choice. She chose you.” Jeongguk’s staring at him in a way that hurts, like he’s attempting to transfer all the pain that’s writhing through his body into Namjoon’s from sight alone.

“What? What are you talking about?” 

Jeongguk is frantic, almost like he’s trying to stop himself from pouring out onto the floor. A flood barely contained. “She chose you first. I was there–I was always there. But then you waltzed in and she saw something in you that she didn’t find in me and she chose you.”

Namjoon cocks his head, staring hard at Jeongguk’s round wide eyes, slowly coming to realisations that he was surrounded by idiotic people.

“I still have no idea what you are talking about, but I have to ask, don’t you remember a single thing I told you the last time we spoke about Y/N? You’re the reason we broke up.” That halts him and Namjoon takes that as a moment to press onward, somewhat tired of being dragged into this awkward mess. “And I’ll say this in the nicest way possible but you’re an idiot if you think Y/N wouldn’t pick you over me any day–over anyone really. I could be drowning and you could have a scrapped knee and she’d check on you first. We broke up because I realised I was just a placeholder until she felt brave enough to tell you she liked you. You were rather intimidating for her to approach. Or have you forgotten your track record of girls? It wasn’t easy for her–especially when she was risking losing her best friend.”

The silence that follows aches, Jeongguk’s eyes flashing like he never considered that in the first place. 

“But why the other guys then? Why not just tell me after you?” 

Namjoon’s going to bang his head into the wall. “You’re her best friend–what about that are you not getting? What if you didn’t like her back and it ruined the most important relationship in her life?”

“But I did–I always liked her.”

“No,” Namjoon nearly groans out loud. “You didn’t. If you liked her you wouldn’t have fucked Chaerin in the back of your car and then gone to report it to Y/N with a grin on your face.”

“Oh.”

“Yeah,” Namjoon returns. “Oh. That’s the exact day we broke up too. Such a stupid fight because she was crying and that’s when I put two and two together and realised I was never going to take precedence over you.” 

“I didn’t know I was hurting her,” Jeongguk murmurs, almost distraught. 

A strangled noise erupts from Namjoon’s throat. “You’ve hurt her a lot more than you’ll realise.” But the second he says that and Jeongguk’s face twists into something unrecognisable he wants to take them back.

“She’s too good for me. Maybe we are better off apart.”

“No, no. You’re so wrong actually. This break-up thing has been miserable to watch and I’m not even in the centre of it. I’ve just caught a bunch of stray bullets.”

“You’re not getting me,” Jeongguk’s eyes swing to him. “She came to you at the end of it all. Maybe we are better with other people. Maybe you’re better for her.”

“She came to me because she missed you. She just needed someone to lean on during your absence. I wouldn’t have to do that if you were there. You know, you should just talk about this with Y/N.”

“I can’t, she’s happy with Lucas. I think.”

Namjoon wants to bang both your heads together so bad. Maybe finally the fact that you love each other would get through your thick skulls then. 

“She doesn’t,” he says, instead. “And I know that for a fact. You should really go talk to her. Figure this whole mess out. And also finally get out of my apartment.” Jeongguk’s gaze withers. Namjoon shrugs in return. “It’s the middle of the night and I have a meeting in the morning. I really need to sleep.”

“Oh, fuck, I’m sorry.” He’s so meek like this, nursing a shattered heart and a confused head. It’s slightly jarring to the image he usually presents, so self-assured and unfazed by whatever gets thrown at him. Never exposed like this, every emotion he holds inside displayed across his face. 

“It’s alright. Just think about what I said and talk to her. Honestly. Not skirting over shit like the two of you tend to do. Okay?”

“Yeah,” he says, trailing towards the open door. Namjoon had registered a breeze billowing in, but he’d completely missed the fact that the door of his apartment was swung wide open. Jeongguk abruptly stops just as Namjoon’s sense of bearing returns, turning to face him with his face pulled down by shame. “I’m really sorry. For this whole thing. I shouldn’t have grabbed you like that I was just–”

“I get it. You love her and it feels like she’s slipping from your fingers. Just don’t do that shit again and stop trying to push her away. I’ll say it again–you were always her first choice.” He sees it then, a slight flutter through Jeongguk’s chest. A broken bird mending. 

“Yeah,” Jeongguk breathes. “Thanks.”

Namjoon sighs, offering a tight smile and shutting the door firmly when Jeongguk finally drifts out. He needs a drink before he hits the sheets again. A strong one.

[damiano-mylove]

Condescending Bitch

Pairing: Thomas Raggi x reader

Wc: 2.5k

Cw(s): swearing, kissing, crying, probably typos (as per usual, tell me if it sucks)

Summary: Reader breaks up with their boyfriend and Thomas consoles them.

Masterlist

If honesty be a virtue, you'd be virtuous to plainly say you'd fallen out of love with your boyfriend and you had done so a while ago. It wasn't deliberate, it was a gradual fizz wherein you found your heart warming for someone else. You felt horrible about it and that guilt had been eating at you. There was no cheating, but you didn't think you'd be able to avoid it for much longer. Not to mention, it wasn't only the non-existent feelings, Luca was just an asshole when you weren't blinded by love.

There comes a time where one must throw in the towel, and now was that time for you.

You couldn't do it at a restaurant; knowing Luca, he'd cause a scene. You couldn't do it at some meeting place; it would ruin that place forever and ever to both of you. And that shit's just not fair.

In the end, you couldn't make the decision. So you put every single item of Luca's clothing in a bag (and a couple things he'd left around your flat), and drove over to his house while you still had the nerve. You'd gathered and lost the nerve a couple times before, but the plan was already in motion now. Hell, there was no plan, but whatever you were raring to do was up and running.

You drove straight to Luca's mother's house in record time. Time flies when you're laser focused.

"Y/n!" Luca's mother exclaimed joyfully as you entered the kind looking house. How someone like Luca came out of Mrs. Batali was a wonder in and of itself. Once Mrs. Batali spotted the bag in your hand, she frowned. "Has something happened, Bambino?"

Somehow, the hardest part of this breakup would be bidding goodbye to Luca's mother, and not Luca himself. You sighed, "I'm sorry, Signora. Luca and I have been having issues for a while now."

"Oh, don't be sorry, Bambino." The older lady's kind smile returned to her face, which struck a heart string you hadn't even known existed. Mrs. Batali swayed toward you, in all of her vanilla scented goodness. She hugged you around your neck loosely, which you returned around her wide hips. "You're always welcome for dinner and a roof. Don't let the stupid boy stop you from seeing me."

God gave two gifts to this world; one of them was Mrs. Batali.

A smile cracked across your face as your chest continued to tighten and hurt. You loved this family like your own, and you loved Luca at some point. So many memories were made in the throws of this relationship, and it was all going to be thrown out the window by you. But it was too late now.

"Ti amo." Mrs. Batali placed a kiss to your forehead which made your smile even more genuine. She patted your shoulder, finally releasing you from her motherly grasp. Sadly, she raised her arm to the stairs to Luca's bedroom. "I'll be down here, if you need me."

You smiled once more to the older lady and bowed your head in silent thanks. If you uttered a word, the word would lead to tears. It seemed the two of you knew this.

It was the last thing you wanted to do right now, but you had to seal the deal.

Without your consent, your feet began moving toward the stairs then up the stairs. Your heart beat in sickening rhythm with your footsteps, but your heart seemed more heavy than your feet. It was ridiculous. You were ready to throw up, pee, or meltdown - you didn't know which one, if it was one at all.

At long last, after walking down the longest hallway of your life, you stood in front of Luca's closed door. You remembered all the times you'd breeze in, going straight into Luca's arms for a kiss. His breath wasn't always good and he was a bad kisser, but he made you feel infatuation. Now it only seemed a fraction of what you felt for the other person. Yes, God, that was why you had to do this.

You knocked. Your heart was deafening.

"Come in!"

Fuck. Fuck. Fuck.

You pushed open the door, feeling like you were having a heart attack. Luca smiled brightly at you from the light of his computer. Then he laid eyes on the bag. Don't know how, it was dark as fuck in the room. And smelt of cheap body spray and dirty clothes.

"Hey, Babe, I wasn't expecting you," Luca smiled, trying to act off the bag of his clothes and gifts in your hand. You flicked on the light as he stood up to close the door behind you.

This room is fucking disgusting. It was truly noxious.

"Alright, Luca, sit down, we've got to talk," you told him, putting on your bravest and thickest voice. It worked because the air in the room changed. The air grew thick and impossible to breath. It could've been cut with a knife. Luca sat on his bed, hands in his lap. You placed the bag on the ground and sighed, "We're breaking up."

For a second, he was unresponsive. Luca didn't say a word until he looked you in the eye, what felt like a full minute later. His bottom lip quivered. "You're dumping me?"

"You can tell people you dumped me, I don't mind," you quipped, trying to make the situation better. You did not, in fact, make the situation better. You potentially made it about thirteen times worse.

"No, you're not." Luca stood up again. Your breath caught in your throat. "We're not breaking up."

He took a few quick steps to you. You stood your ground, trying to be as brave as possible. Your mask was slipping. The last thing you wanted right now was for Luca to see that you were cracking under his gaze. That would be fucking horrendous.

All of a sudden, Luca barked out a laugh. He looked like a madman. "This is about that Thomas bitch, isn't it?" You didn't answer, and your facial expressions gave nothing away. Then Luca snapped, "Isn't it?!"

"If you want to fucking shout, we can shout," you seethed. Luca blinked angrily at you. "We're adults - act like it."

"You're a condescending bitch."

"And you're an ugly prick, but I've never complained about that. You've called me a condescending bitch about 3 times and a flat-out bitch more than a dozen," you recalled quickly, with venom dripping off each syllable. It shut Luca up. However, he began to cry. You felt nothing but hatred now. "You're one pathetic bitch to be crying over the girl who you treat like a fucking doormat." Luca only cried harder. No sympathy. You spun on your heel and opened the door.

Without a glance back, you left.

Mrs. Batali smiled at you on your way out and gave you a freshly baked bun, which you thanked her profusely for.

It didn't take long for reality to set in, however. The adrenaline faded as you drove back to your flat complex. You began crying at the wheel and completely broke down in the car park. Tears streamed down your face like rivers, snot clogged your nose. Your mouth tasted horrible so you started to eat the bun Mrs. Batali had baked. It was so good that you started crying harder.

How the fuck could you do that? At this point, you were too sad to give a fuck about sobbing in a car park at 6 in the evening. You just threw in the towel of a year long relationship, in the blink of an eye. Like it was nothing and meant nothing to you whatsoever, which wasn't true at all. You felt like a horrible person.

Your chest clogged up with emotions and stale air, your throat grew a lump that you couldn't swallow down. Now you were the pathetic one. Crying in a shitbox car over your ex while eating fucking bread.

A tap on the window scared the Jesus out of you.

When you looked at the source, the other person was looking right back at you, looking worried and confused. Leave it to Thomas to look sad just because you were sad. Thomas looked so fucking good even though a blur of teary eyelashes. He made the hand crank motion, so you rolled down your window.

"Are you okay?" Thomas asked. You just started laughing. What a stupid fucking question. Thomas began chuckling, realizing how stupid it was himself. "Fair enough. Fancy a cup of tea and a chat or shall I leave you to your car bread?"

How the fuck could he make you laugh in times like these?

You smiled then shooed him away from your car door so you could open it. He obliged and moved back, for you to get out, still with bread and keys in hand. Thomas furrowed his eyebrows as you two began walking back to the flat complex you both lived in. "Aren't you going to roll up the window?"

"How the fuck is anyone meant to steal it when all the windows are up?" It was your turn to earn a laugh from Thomas. Thomas' laugh hit your ear like honey. The sort of honey that your mother gave you to cure your sore throat before nursery. It was soothing and just the right thing for the situation.

As you walked up the stairs with Thomas, you realized he was taking you to his flat. To be fair, he was the one who offered you tea. What's he going to do? Offer you your own tea?

Thomas unlocked the ugly blue door of his flat that everyone in the building had a copy of. The second you both walked into the flat, warmth enveloped you, along with sandalwood and spices from Thomas' extensive spice cabinet. He must have been cooking earlier because it smelt Heavenly. Everything was in perfect place with just the right amount of mess and disorganization to make it seem like a home.

"I'll put the kettle on, sit anywhere," Thomas instructed after you both took your shoes off. You were wearing ratty trainers while Thomas was wearing perfectly clean Vans.

You nodded and flung yourself on one of his couches with a sigh. The couch was soft, warm and welcoming and you felt tired from crying and yelling and just the day in general. It was a shit day, that started with your toast burning and ended with this shit. A nap would really do good.

However, Thomas had other plans entirely. He placed a purple mug, full of tea with what looked like your golden ratio of milk and sugar. Thomas was your best friend, of course he knew your golden ration. You knew his. With a smile, you sat up which allowed Thomas to sit beside you and drape his arm over the back of the couch.

"Feel like telling me why you were crying in your car?" Thomas asked. You laughed lightly and sipped the piping hot tea.

"Broke up with Luca about-" you checked a clock. "-30 minutes ago."

As horrible as it sounds, Thomas' face lit up. His facial features remained the same but his beautiful green eyes lit up like candles in a dark room. "Is that so?"

"He called me a condescending bitch."

"So he hasn't gotten a new script," Thomas smiled. You chuckled lightly and sniffed. Your nose was still clogged from all the crying. You just didn't feel like blowing your nose like an elephant in front of Thomas right now. "He'll never get the chance to get a new script for you now."

"Thank God above," you sighed out with a laugh to your words. Thomas smiled. "I'll miss his mum though. Wonderful lady."

Thomas sipped his own tea and you discretely moved closer to him. It wasn't as discrete as you'd thought because Thomas picked up and moved a bit closer to you with a stupid smile on his face. "So how'd it go down?"

Like friends do, you told him everything, down to the detail. All but Luca being right, with Thomas being the other man who'd stolen your heart. That wouldn't be a key detail here because the last thing you needed today was to dump your boyfriend then directly after scare your best friend away from you forever.

But he wasn't scared off by you telling him Luca though you were leaving him for Thomas. Thomas actually smirked at that part, like the thought amused him. You didn't think anything of it actually, except for how cute Thomas was when he was smirking.

Eventually, the conversation faded and you were hip to hip with Thomas. With a sigh, he rested your head in the crook of Thomas' neck. His feather soft hair tickled the side of your face but you wanted nothing else for the moment. The scent of Thomas' cologne was prominent when you were this close to him, but you weren't going to complain about that. His arm fell from the back of the couch to around your shoulders.

Feeling Thomas' head turn to you, you looked up at him. Thomas' hand lightly squeezed you arm. Your breath hitched in your throat as you thought you were imagining Thomas observing your face.

Those gorgeous green eyes that you could stare into all day were scanning your face gently. They landed on your lush lips, then back to your eyes. All it took was a small nod for Thomas to lean in.

It was slow. It was slow, but undeniably sweet. The passion was palpable the minute your lips met his, just as you had been dreaming of for months now. His pillow-like lips were perfectly moisturized, but not over-saturated. The lip balm he used was strawberry flavoured and you'd never admired strawberry flavoured lip balm as you were in this moment.

As suddenly as it began, it ended.

Thomas leaned back for a second, looking guilty. "You need time to get over Luca, this is wrong."

"I've been over Luca for months." You placed a kiss to his lips, which Thomas accepted for a second, then backed out of again. You groaned. "Thomas, Luca was right. I'm in love with you."

In a stunned silence, Thomas' cheeks turned bright red. A broad smile grew on his face and you felt confident in your confession. You meant it, surely, but now you were confident that you did the right thing in telling Thomas.

"I've been in love with you since we went to the Capitoline." Thomas' voice cracked as he made his confession. Your heart bustled with warmth. He'd been pining for you all this time just to watch you run with Luca.

You couldn't take your aching heart. Grabbing Thomas' face gently, you pressed your lips to his again. He gladly returned this kiss with fervour and renewed zeal. Nothing else mattered while your lips were joined with Thomas' lips. Nothing would ever be able to induce the utter happiness and peace you'd felt in this moment.

After the kiss lasting for a while, Thomas pulled you to sit on his lap. He cupped your sweet face gently and smiled into your brilliant eyes. He kissed your nose. "May I tell you something else, Y/n?"

"Anything."

"I don't think you're a condescending bitch."

[instasiswetrust]

"Guys! Oh, I'm so glad you're here!" Dustin risks bowling over Mike, Lucas, and Will with the exuberance of his hug but there's no way he can keep quiet about this. Not after what he had done the night before. "I have a secret and I'm dying to tell somebody else."

They all seem confused for a moment before Lucas' eyes widen.

"You got Suzie pregnant?"

"What? No!" He makes a face, jokingly punching his friend on the shoulder. "Jesus, Lucas, why would you even think that?"

"If it's not that then what?" Mike sounded annoyed but then again, he kind of always sounded like that.

Dustin wasted no time in pulling out the leatherbound journal he had found the night before, leading his friends to an outcrop near the docks, shadowed by trees. He opened it to the first page, where Steve had scrawled his name in neat calligraphy.

"Is that Steve's diary? Dustin, what the hell?"

"It's from the summer of '85 guys! You know what that means?"

"Uh, that you shouldn't be reading your older brother's teenage thoughts?" Lucas fixed Dustin with a light glare, which he ignored.

"No, idiot. Summer of '85 was the last time Steve ever dated someone! You know, the same year he moved here? When mom took him in?"

"I'm not following. What does this have to do with your wedding?" Mike crossed his arms over his chest, Will peeking over Dustin's shoulder to scan the pages.

"Well, wouldn't it be nice if Steve got to be happy too? He's been taking care of me since my mom died. He's the only family I have and if Suzie and I leave the Villa, who will help him?"

Lucas and Mike don't seem convinced with Dustin's reasoning but at least they stop glaring accusingly at him. In the end, is Will who breaks the staring contest between the three of them.

"So what did you find?"

"Uh, okay so listen to this." Dustin flipped some pages from the journal stopping at a page and grinning.

I keep being surprised when Mama doesn't show up to the important events in my life but I guess I should be used to it now. Robin insists I forget her, Nancy asked if I was planning to go back, and that's when I told them about my plans. Both of them are sad to see me go, we're the Dynamos after all, but they were supportive and saw me off at the airport.

My flight did a stop in France. I met Tommy there when he confused me for one of the staff workers. He's kind of a dick but in a charming way, and he's got this adorable smattering of freckles covering his face. He told me about growing up in London and how his dad was a banker, how his mom had his whole life planned out for him as soon as he graduated from college.

We went out for a few drinks and friendly banter turned into drunk 21 questions. Tommy told me how he's always wanted to but he's never been with another guy before. And look, I'm never like this! But we were pretty drunk, and I was curious if those freckles went all the way down! So one thing led to another and we ...

"I'm not sure if I wanna keep listening to this," Lucas said, making a face.

Mike, on the other hand, took a seat next to Dustin trying to see what was written on the journal. "Well, I do."

"What's dot dot dot?" Will asked, eyebrows furrowed.

"Oh, that's just a euphemism for having sex," Dustin said waving a dismissive hand as he flipped through more pages. "Okay, okay, now listen to this."

After almost missing the ferry, I finally reached Scopello this afternoon. The turqouise waters and the approaching sunset must have been one of the most beautiful things I have ever seen in my life. I think, that maybe I could stay here. Forever. Oh, but I'm not sure, it would mean rarely seeing Robin and Nancy, dropping all dreams of singing in the big stages, all those dreams...

I don't want to worry about this now. This place is too beautiful and I want to make the most of it.

There was a storm the other night. I've been staying on a rundown farm at the edges of town and during the storm heard a loud sound downstairs. There was a horse there, probably scared from the thunder but the ceiling collapsed and I couldn't get to it. I wasn't really thinking when I decided it would be a good idea to try and run back into town to get help. Luckily, this guy had been out driving (who rides out a Camaro in a thunderstorm??) and he helped me get to the horse and calm him down.

His name is William, Billy for short (the guy, not the horse), and I've never met a guy more infuriating than him. Or as hot, either. Good gods, he looks like he walked straight out of an art museum or something.

We’ve spent this whole month together, going out to swim at the beach (he tried teaching me to surf and I almost twisted my ankle on some rocks), then to a local bar (I actually got a new job singing there, who would've thought?), some picnics. It's been awfully romantic despite Billy’s brazenness and cocksure attitude.

And I think that I... I think that I might love him.

"But if they were so into each other, what happened?" Will pipes up again, a frown on his face as he tried to read over Dustin's shoulder with little results.

"I still think you shouldn't be doing this, dude. What if Steve finds out? He's going to be so mad at you!" Lucas interjects, picking another rock from the sand and making it skip over the surface of the water.

"He would kill me for sure," Dustin shrugs, offering a toothy grin. "But only if he finds out."

"Dustin, c'mon! What happened next?" At this point Will looks like he's about to rip the journal out of his friend's hands and read it himself.

"Jesus, you're pushy. Okay, so-"

Billy's engaged. Didn't even tell me, I had to find out for myself while I was making him breakfast and accidentally stumbled over some documents he had left laying around. My chest hurts, and I haven't stopped crying since he left this morning but I'm just so angry!

Fuck, I feel so dumb. This is all my fault. All because I was being a stupid reckless little slut.

Ugh. I sound like my mom. At least Robin and Nancy called to say they would arrive this week. I've truly missed them, can't wait to see them.

The girls came to see me during one of my shifts at the bar where I was singing. Robin couldn't stop laughing at Nancy's surprised face. She thinks I've changed a lot since I left but in a good way. I don't really believe her and I think she knows that. With them here, at least the ache from Billy's departure barely makes itself present.

Oh! Before I forget to write this again, today I saw Jonathan again. He was this nice photographer who slowed the ferry's departure so I wouldn't miss it. We talked a lot on our way and he's such a nice guy. He came to the bar today and we got talking again, he asked if I would be okay with modeling for him tomorrow. Nancy and Robin insisted that I tell him yes, as a chance to try and forget Billy by "getting some".

I told them it's an awful idea but I accepted Jonathan's offer either way. He's quiet but caring, and I really enjoy talking with him. We talked about his family back in America, his mom and his little brother. Honestly, if something were to happen tomorrow, I wouldn't be opposed to it...

"Wait." Will leans back, a confused expression on his face that slowly morphs into astonishment. "Dustin, does Steve ever say the last name of this Jonathan guy?"

"Uh," Dustin frowns, flipping through the pages. "Yeah, they are here somewhere. Let me look for them."

"Will, you don't think-" Mike starts, having caught onto his best friend's train of thought.

"Jonathan took a trip to Italy when I was fifteen." He says simply, biting on the pad of his thumb.

"Oh shit." All eyes turn to Dustin who's got his eyes fixated on the journal in his lap. "Byers. The guys last name is Byers."

"Holy shit Will, your brother hooked up with Dustin's brother." Lucas tries to tamper down his laughter but it's a futile endeavor, his lips curling up before he can control them. "I can't believe this."

"But wait," Mike turns to Dustin who's expression has turned troubled. His eyes narrow. "You still haven't explained what this has to do with your wedding. What did you do?"

Dustin stays quiet for a minute or two before he lifts his gaze to his friend's, a sheepish smile on his lips. "I uh, I invited all three of them to the wedding but made it look like Steve sent the invites. And they uh... they all said yes?"

This time Lucas doesn't even bother hiding his laugh, doubling over as he nearly cackles at the stupidness of this whole situation.

"Dude, you're so fucked when Steve finds out."

[sunnyoldbear]

Luca Headcanons Part 3!

I can’t fucking stop please someone help me

Luca:

All seamonsters have a lot of fish qualities and different sea monsters take on different fish qualities, even within a family.

While Luca isn’t as equipped to handle the deep as his uncle is, his father does have some traits that would help him out. Luca doesn’t know this, but he can survive deeper pressure than most others can. Like, significantly deeper, but not to the point of the Deep. He’s have to get accustomed to it and he might not have even survived.

His species can also echolocate! He also doesn’t know he can do this even though it’s from his mom’s side. He just thinks he clicks and squeaks when he’s happy, he doesn’t know he can also echolocate. Since, again, he hasn’t been to the Deep, the ability is very diluted and he can’t locate things very far but… he can, if he tries hard enough. He won’t, though, cause he just thinks his clicks and squeaks are just that.

He loses his shit when he finds out about dinosaurs. He loves them.

If you even mention a museum he will practically beg to go and he will be in there from opening to closing and still come back for more. He takes in every bit of information he possibly can

He doesn’t flip people off, he just sticks his tongue out

Cloud watches! He thinks it’s cute :)

Is cold blooded. They found this out when he passed out in the middle of class one day during the winter. Winter months are very hard for him at school because of it, so he treasures the break and stays under a bunch of warm blankets.

Talks with his hands a lot

One day when he was swimming to the surface after seeing his family, a fisherman who wasn’t too approving of sea monsters tossed their harpoon at him. It grazed his arm and it hurt like hell, but he still tried to hide it. Of course, since he was clutching his arm and there was blood between his fingers, the Marcovaldos panicked and healed him tot he best of their ability, but Luca simply smiled, turned to Alberto, and said “look, we match now!” (If you see Alberto standing beside Luca so that their scarred arms touch since they’re on opposite arms, no you didn’t)

He finds out about bubble wands and thinks they’re the coolest thing!

Avoids every kid named “Bruno” at school like the plague because he doesn’t want them to think he hates them

Whenever something cool happens he instinctively turns to tell Alberto and his face drops when he doesn’t see him

Definitely the kid to accidentally say “mom” (and)or “I love you” to a teacher and then stare in horror

Grabs Alberto’s arm, wrist, or hand when they’re doing something together if he’s not grabbed first just so they don’t lose each other. It’s just instinct.

Once sobbed for an hour because he saw a dead frog in a pool

Falls asleep if his hair is played with

Still gets made fun of for smelling like fish but due to being a fish he can’t really bathe so Giulia and her mom just spray him with perfume. It makes him feel better.

Forgives Guido and Ciccio with no hesitation, will never forgive Ercole. In fact, he’s terrified of Ercole.

Technically canon, but he is the biggest mama’s boy. She learns from her mistakes and fixes her relationship with him and he becomes super close to her

Only lets those close to him call him “Bubble” like his grandma does

Loses his mind when he sees fireflies

He keeps his hair pretty short

Refuses to eat fish

Is more of a prey fish

That being said, he develops a few survival markings, such as a spot on one of his fins to look like eyes

For some reason I feel like he’d be like clownfish and be able to swim through anemone without getting zapped

Was never good at making friends. The Branzino kid often tried to befriend him but he was too scared of disappointing his parents since Daniela and Mrs. Branzino don’t get along

Wears a seashell anklet

His grandma taught him to read secretly when he was little

Never stops talking. Never.

In class, he’s always the kid raising his hand, even if he doesn’t know the answers, just because of his eagerness

Calls Alberto all the time, more than he calls his family

Carries Alberto’s drawing with him everywhere. Used to be in his pockets and then transferred to his wallet.

Is definitely more of a writer than an artist! With his vivid imagination he can write for days, and Alberto is more than happy to draw them out for him

Lets his hair grow out a bit towards the end of his final school year. The stress of school means he doesn’t quite care for his appearance

Can’t sit still. When he’s at school he’s always fiddling with something but when he’s in Portorosso he just grabs Alberto’s hand and plays with his fingers

Definitely a teacher’s pet

Gets bullied a lot. You can’t expect the world to just be okay with sea monsters overnight. A lot of the world will never accept him. There are kids that make his life a living hell at school.

As much as he loves school, he aches to be free sometimes

Gets super flustered super fast

Sits at Alberto’s side and talks about anything and everything and Alberto will sketch it

His scales are more like a duck’s water-resistant feathers. Water rolls right off.

Loves taking Nerone for walks

Definitely wears skirts and dresses in secret! He just thinks they’re neat :)

Loves romance movies but will never admit it

Literally bites his tongue to hold back from rambling. Giulia and Alberto constantly have to tell him it’s okay and he can talk all he wants, but he’s bullied so often for talking too much that he still holds back if he catches himself

Alberto:

Similar to a Betta Fish! His kind of sea monster aren’t known for bonding well and tend to fight.

When healthy, his scales are long and gorgeous just like a Betta’s! (Giulia is mesmerized by them)

You know how dolphins get high with puffer fish? It’s not just dolphins.

His teeth are a little sharper than most other sea monsters. Yes, he bares them at Ercole every time they see each other. No, he won’t stop

Definitely the “he ask for no pickles” friend

No one knows what he’s talking about half the time except for Luca, Giulia, and (sometimes) Massimo. They just kinda go with it.

Has his own words for everything. Only Luca and Giulia know what he means.

He’s actually super, duper close to Giulia, but they do fight pretty often. They’re siblings.

Likes to put his hat on Luca

Everyone thinks he’d be a bad flirt/get flustered super easily but the opposite is true! He’s a big flirt! He just knows what to say to make others fluster around him! Even if he’s not into you, if your his age or he’s trying to charm you, he’ll flirt up a storm. Living on your own from such a young age means you need to pick up survival tactics, and charm and streetsmarts were the ones he picked up.

Sometimes he faces small boats he sees just for the fun of it

He also sometimes grabs a rope or a net from Massimo’s boat when they’re fishing and just zooms to land to get them there quicker

Loves playing games with the kids when he’s on lifeguard duty, even if it can get him in trouble with his boss

You better bet he makes fun of those school uniforms. He laughs his ass off. He thinks they’re the funniest things.

If he sees or hears even a hint of danger, he is shoving his loved ones behind him and will protect them with his life.

Prefers to be barefoot

Heals surprisingly fast. Something about them fish genes.

When he’s fifteen he jokingly tells Luca he should become a teacher and then Luca’s eyes get all big and excited and Alberto regrets opening his mouth. But he still supports him every step of the way.

Whenever he hears Luca click or chirp, he calls out for him if he’s a distance away or grabs his hand since he recognizes it as echolocation before Luca does

More of a predator fish

Keeps his hair long and growing

I think he’d probably grow a mustache. Giulia hates it so much which is why he keeps it. Okay, he kept it to annoy her, but then he actually started to like it. But when Luca said he liked it, that solidified it

He’s so strong it’s kinda scary. Definitely stronger than the average fisherman, but was stronger even beforehand.

Sometimes just eats fish live and terrifies those around him

He’s super fast! Since he’s based on a tuna or swordfish, he’s pretty quick

Unlike Luca, he’s warm blooded. So when he heard Luca has to keep really warm during winters, he offers most of his clothes

His father abandoning him may seem cruel, but for his kind of sea monsters, it was what had to happen. Still, Alberto is a child and it shouldn’t happen.

Mainly a night eater

Can see further than most of his fishy friends

Good night vision too!

Was taught to read and write as a kid by his father but it’s not perfect so he asks Massimo to do it

Loves playing cards

Fins are sharper than average

Squishes Luca’s cheeks

Sword fights with Giulia except they’re sticks

Whenever Luca falls asleep on him (often), he just stays still and refuses to move

Scoops Luca up sometimes

Grabs Luca’s face and blows raspberries instead of kissing it. (Can be interpreted as platonic or romantic!! Italians kiss on cheeks as greetings)

Protectively wraps his tail around those he loves

Water clings to him a bit more since his built-for-speed scales are less water repellent

Every year he gets scared Luca won’t return

Paints the Hideout to look like Luca’s dream fish-stars after he’s told about it. The ceiling, anyway. Don’t ask how he did it, no one knows.

Changes his last name to Marcovaldo

Thinks pet fish and aquariums are hilarious and will poke fun at the fish (“haha, losers! No freedom!” “Alberto!” “What?!”)

LOVES DINOSAURS

He and Luca share a bed when Luca comes over!

The Vespa poster hangs in his room on his door

Calls Luca’s nightlights “light fish” as a nod to stars

Has Giulia and Luca’s names tattooed onto him because they’re his best friends

Tried to take Caligola and Machiavelli on walks… yeah that goes as well as you think

Giulia:

Is a fast reader

Isn’t a massive poetry fan but does have a few favorites

Also keeps a few drawings from Alberto in her folders

Also scoops Luca up randomly

Can and will bite you

Wears dresses as much as she does shorts

Ties her hair up when serious

Rubs her nose against her family’s as a sign of love. It’s just something she did as a kid, so sometimes she’ll just rub her nose against Alberto’s and he gets really confused

Is low key a little jealous of her brother and best friend being sea monsters

Is a bit of a builder! She makes a bridge from her room to the treehouse

Rarely starts fights with Alberto, but she’ll sure finish them

Half regrets teaching Alberto to swear

Though she seems pretty calm, she’s gotten into her fair share of fights at school. Mainly punches kids who bully her and/or Luca. Also sexists.

Although this is 1950/60s Italy, I imagine she’d be very accepting of homosexuality and not hide it, even if rumors of her being one start spreading and she gets hurt. She has a strong sense of justice and she doesn’t care about consequences.

She’s the only person allowed to make fun of Alberto. No one else is. She’ll quite literally attack anyone who dares.

Her parents were surprised she didn’t take after them in fishing or painting

Honestly I can see her mentoring the kids for the race every summer! Once she hits 18 and is no longer able to compete, she holds practice sessions and loves seeing the kids have fun

She definitely runs the race when she’s older. She moves to Portorosso since her marine biology career is helped by her sea monster brother and the town’s closeness to water

Teaches the boys to make sandcastles

Holds such strong resentment for Alberto’s father and Daniela. Lorenzo and Luca’s grandmother she’s fine with, but Alberto’s biological father abandoning him pisses her off more than she can put into words, and Daniela manipulating her son and sending him away makes her want to break something.

Her “santa (cheese)!” comments slowly change into “Santa (fish)!” exclamations. Like, “Santa Goby!” for example. 

Is more close to Alberto than he wants to let people know. She can read him like a book. He’s honestly her best friend. She tells him everything, they go to each other after nightmares, they share everything, all the fun cute stuff that Alberto would rather die than admit.

Still has no idea what “Silenzio Bruno” and “Piacere, girolamo trombetta” mean and at this point she’s too afraid to ask

Though she loves the Portorosso kids, she’d rather die than be a mother. Her parents understand, but secretly hope she changes her mind so they can spoil a grandbaby. 

Begs Massimo to coverup his sea monster tattoo, which he does

Also a “he ask no pickles” friend!

Is super patient with Luca and Alberto’s adaption to the human world (though she doesn’t like it when Alberto shoves his feet on her-which he loves to do because it pisses her off)

Secretly saves money up for the boys to get a Vespa

While she isn’t the best cook, her pasta meals are pretty damn good! 

Has the trophy from the Cup in her room next to a picture of the three of them on the Vespa

[moral-turpitudes]

Trust Issues:

Trigger Warnings: Lil bit of /implied/ Smut, Fluff, Angst, Fighting, Swearing, Blood, basically everything that makes the Peaky Blinders the Peaky Blinders.

Word Count: A lot...5,447 (I’ll be adding it to the masterlist under requested fics because it’s long as hell lmao)

Characters: Finn Shelby x Female!Reader

Request: “Hey can you make one with Finn where they dating for some time but the Shelby family doesn't know much about her/her family so they don't trust her but them she receves a black hand and Luca goes after her trying to get her to betray the family and she pretends to agree just to tell them a Luca is up to and just how her relashionship becomes better with then and how Finn just love her more and more. angst/fluff maybe smut idk”

Requested by: Anon

Summary: Y/N worries Finn’s family won’t trust her, but she gains it in an unexpected way.

“I’ve told you a hundred times Finn, your family doesn’t like me! It’s no secret.” Y/N stated, pacing around her room that Finn ventured to almost every night.

“They do too! They’re just...horrible at trusting people really. That’s all.” He said, stopping her from frantically pacing by placing his arms around her when she got close to him.

“Let me go!” She yelled, giggling as he picked her up and placed her on the bed. 

He hovered over her like so many nights before, kissing her neck as she whimpered quietly in her barren apartment. His hands trailing down to her hips as she pulled him closer, their movements slowly breaking her out of her worries.

“When you-“ Y/N began, but was interrupted by Finn kissing her passionately.

“Stop worrying. We’re seeing them tomorrow whether you want to or not. They know how important you are to me, they just haven’t gotten to know you that well yet.” He said, continuing his actions as she moaned into his lips as his hands traveled further down.

Later that night, they lied there tangled in each other’s arms. Breathing ragged as they came down from their high.

“Can you believe we’ve been dating for a year, love?” He asked, looking up at the aging ceiling.

“Dating in secret for 6 months, dating in public for the other 6, it doesn’t feel like a year.” She said tersely.

Finn sighed as she spoke, preparing himself for another mini-lecture.

“My family can be a bit much Y/N, I’m sorry I kept you a secret from them for so long. There’s just...a lot of things about them that are-“ He started before Y/N interrupted him.

“Dangerous. I know.” She said sighing as she cuddled into his chest.

“Yeah. You’re not on their bad side, but it’s easy to get there, so I just wanted to keep you safe. Those 6 months were some of the scariest of my life so far. I just didn’t want you to get hurt.” He said, kissing the top of your head.

She turned to him, not saying a word as she looked into his eyes. They were so bright and full of hope despite the things he’s seen, making her wonder how long it would be until they turned cold and sinister like his brothers.

“I love you, Finn. I really do.” She said, pecking him on the lips before lying back down to sleep.

“I know.” He said, settling down beside her, hoping tomorrow would go well.

The next morning, the mail man came by dropping off various letters, waking them from their slumber as he banged on the door.

Finn shot up, looking to see Y/N still asleep as he went to see who it was.

He grabbed his hand gun after he put on his pants, and quietly walked to the door.

“Hello sir! Good morning. Here’s the mail for Miss Y/L/N.” He said cheerfully.

“Thank you.” He said, his nerves calming as he tucked the gun in his pocket, out of sight of the man.

As he waved the man off and closed the door, he heard his girlfriend’s footsteps lightly coming down the stairs.

“Finn? Who was that? Is everything okay?” She asked, pulling her robe around her nude body tightly.

“Yeah, just the mail.” He said, running his hands through the mass of hair on his head. He hadn’t told her the terrible news yet, but he figured bringing her to the family meeting would suffice.

He watched as she rummaged through various letters from her loved ones in London, knowing she’d probably spend hours writing back as she missed them terribly. Her job at a children’s charity office had forced her to move out to Small Heath after all.

As he watched, he saw her pick up a small letter that had intricate writing on it.

Y/N’s brow furrowed as she didn’t recognize the persons handwriting.

And when she opened it, she only grew more confused as she stared at the black handprint stamped on the white paper.

“What’s this?” She asked, raising it up to him. He crossed the room in a flash and tugged the letter from her hand.

“We have to go.” He said quickly, angrily.

“Finn, wait! We have to get dressed are you mad?!” She yelled, panicking internally.

Finn stopped near the front door and pinched the bridge of his nose in annoyance, realizing he almost went to a family meeting half dressed, and leaving his girlfriend to meet them in a robe.

“Right. Ok, we have to be quick. C’mon.” He said leading her back upstairs so they could change.

Once done, they ran down the stairs, Y/N grabbing the letter and shoving it in her pocket as they went out the door.

Meanwhile at the shop, Tommy paced and checked his pocket watch as the family waited for Finn, knowing he’d probably bring his girlfriend in with him.

“So you’re telling me this fucking black hand is from the Changretta’s, Tom?” John asked, his face flushing with anger as he slammed the letter on his desk.

“Yes. They’re here and they’re taunting us. But I can’t talk about that until everyone’s here alright?”

“Oi he’s probably just fucking his, girlfriend they’ll be here soon. She has no ties to us besides Finn. They wouldn’t go after him or her, he’s not as involved.” Arthur said.

“Not yet. I know how he works. He’s going to try to run this family into the ground if we let him.” Tommy said, lighting a cigarette as the shop doors flew open, Finn practically dragging Y/N through the lobby and into the room.

“What the fuck is this Tommy! Why’s he coming for her eh?” He said grabbing the letter from her hand roughly and tossing it on his desk.

“Finn, Y/N...nice of you to join us. Everyone sit down.” He said walking in front of his desk and leaning against it.

“Why is he coming for her? Can we trust her?” Linda asked, earning a cold look from Finn.

“Shut it Linda. Yes you can trust her for gods sake, leave the poor girl alone.” Ada said.

“Since I got this letter personally may I speak? Or do I have to be pregnant or married to one of you to do so?” Y/N remarked snidely, annoyed at Linda’s assumptions. Polly smirked as she sipped her tea nervously. Tommy raised an eyebrow and nodded for her to continue, not expecting her to join in on things so quickly.

The room fell silent as she clutched Finns hand nervously.

“I know I’m not liked around here. You have no reason to like me and I’m not going to beg for anyone’s approval, but I want you to know you can trust me. I love Finn, and I’d never put him and your family in harms way, and to my knowledge he wouldn’t do so either. I can’t even begin to tell you how I got that letter, but before you call me out again, Linda. I’d like to ease some of your all’s suspicions.” She said, shifting in her seat.

“I’ve met you all a fair amount of times in the last 6 months. During that time I’ve had to readjust to a new job and move away from my family who are in London, and they have no ties to whatever the hell’s going on, therefore they don’t have ties to me either. I swear you can trust me.” She said, feeling her heart rate sky rocketing.

“Do you know about Luca Changretta?” Tommy asked, rubbing a cigarette along his lip before lighting it and taking a drag.

“No. I’ve never heard that name in my life.” She stated.

“Well, I’ve called you all here today because that is one of the men who sent us all black hands. Everyone got one, and that means he knows where we live, he most likely knows where we are at all times.�� Tommy said.

“I’m going to have eyes on you until this is over, but I need you all to promise me something.” He said, putting out his cigarette in the tray on his desk.

“Promise what Thomas?” Polly asked, putting her tea down and crossing her arms.

“If you see anything suspicious, you tell me. I don’t care if it’s a false alarm, you tell me and don’t mutter any of this to a single soul.” He said, glaring at everyone as they sat before him.

“John, Arthur, Finn, Isiah. Get ready, grab your guns and your caps. Ladies you stay here, only go out for break. Polly, keep the legal business running, we can’t have someone slipping under our noses.” He said checking his bullets and putting on his coat.

“Will you be setting men up at our houses?” Esme asked.

“Yes. Mine too, don’t worry they’ve been briefed already.” He said, walking out the door.

Finn stood up reluctantly and pulled Y/N in for a hug and she placed a quick peck on his lips before he left, putting his cap on his head and grabbing a gun.

“Now, we have to work ladies. Y/N you’re staying here. You’ll have to call in today.” Polly said, grabbing papers off Tommy’s desk.

“Okay. I can help if needed, I’ve done secretary work before.” She said.

Polly looked at her for a moment and studied her before answering.

“Alright, there’s a desk near mine that’s been empty, I think the poor girl quit but hasn’t handed in her letter of resignation. You’ll take her desk for today, I’ll give you papers to sign with the company name.” She ordered.

“Okay, thank you Polly.” Y/N said quietly, sitting down at the rather large desk. The girl must’ve quit because the desk was empty and she found no personal items there, not even a photograph.

Polly came strolling over with a handful of documents pointing at the various places to sign and explaining some of the forms to her.

“Thank you, Polly.” She said giving her a small smile.

Y/N began signing, using it as a way to take her mind off of Finn and his brothers whereabouts.

Polly and Ada discussed some other work, and Linda filed some papers while Esme typed documents up, they all worked together nicely but there was a visible underlying tension between them and Linda. And if Y/N had a bad list, she knew she was first on it.

She sighed as she blew through the papers, yearning for a break and deciding to call in for the day at her regular job.

“Hello this is Y/N Y/L/N. I’m calling in today, I have some personal matters to attend to.....alright....thank you Mrs. Johnson. I’ll be in tomorrow....goodbye.” She said, hearing the disappointment in her bosses voice as she spoke.

“Did you call in?” Polly asked, overhearing your phone call.

“Yes. My boss wasn’t too happy but it’s not something I can control really.” She said.

“Next time I wouldn’t deal in absolutes my dear.” Polly said, combing through papers.

“What do you mean?” Y/N asked, finishing the forms on her desk.

“I know we haven’t known you for long but one thing you should know about the Shelby’s my dear is that we try not to make promises or make definite plans with others.” She said.

“So you’re saying I probably won’t be coming into work tomorrow either?” Y/N asked, anxiety filling her mind as she thought of Finn being hurt.

“Yes. You never know with this fucking family.” She said lighting a cigarette.

“I’ll keep that in mind.” She said, excusing herself as she went towards the front door.

“Where are you going?” Polly asked.

“I just need some space. I’ll be right outside.” She said, she was about to promise that too but she heeded Polly’s words. They made sense but she couldn’t shake the sense of dread out of her bones.

As she leant against the cold brick building, she heard the door open as Ada walked out and stood near her.

“Did you come out here to see if I was lying?” Y/N asked.

“That and I wanted to apologize for Linda. She’s...difficult.” She said, lighting a cigarette for herself.

Y/N scoffed and lit one of her own, looking around nervously, scanning the streets for anything suspicious.

“They wouldn’t hang out right near the shop unless they want to be shot on sight.” Ada said.

“Can’t risk anything though eh?” Y/N said, taking another drag from her cigarette.

Ava smirked and nodded as she looked out at the dark, black-tinged buildings in front of them.

“We do like you, you know...we just can’t trust people very often in this business.” She said, looking at Y/N.

Y/N smiled as she stared at the brunette Shelby, her eyes less scarred by everything, kind of like Finn’s.

“Finn said that too. I’m relieved to hear that, I know it’s not easy welcoming in new people.” She said.

Ada nodded and patted Y/N’s shoulder before going back inside, leaving her out in the open.

Suddenly, a man walked near her looking just slightly out of place against the tattered clothes of the townspeople. He was tall, lean, and had a black hat on, making her tense up as he drew closer.

“Hello miss. Ya know where I can find a bar ‘round here?” He asked, looking around him quickly as he spoke, a toothpick sticking out of his mouth on the verge of falling with each word.

“No, sorry sir. Have a good day.” She said glancing at the tattoo on his neck.

“You work here?” He asked, walking closer to her.

She backed up until her back hit the wall, leaving her nowhere to go.

“No. May I ask your name? Not many men stop me on the streets and I’d like to know.” She asked, her heart racing as she tried to remain calm.

“You don’t belong on the streets sweetheart. You could join me though, I have some business I’m taking care of here, but when I’m done I can help you ya know.” He said leaning his palm against the wall, he was so close she could smell his cologne.

“That sounds suspicious you know. I’m not stupid.” She said, trying to walk towards the door of a nearby unmarked building, trying to get him away from the entrance to the shop.

He grabbed her wrist tightly as she went to yell, clasping his hand hard over her mouth and nose with a wet cloth. One whiff of the stuff and she was out, blackness overtaking her vision.

When she woke up she was in an alley, her clothes were ripped and her hands were tied to a pipe along a brick wall.

“What did you do to me?” She asked, scared of the answer.

“Nothing sweetheart, just wanted to take you somewhere more quiet, you seemed like a rowdy one.” He said, closing in around her and cutting her hands loose.

“Now, I’m going to ask you a question again. You have to answer honestly or I’ll take you right here in this alley.” He said.

“Okay.” She said sternly, trying to calm her nerves.

“What’s your name?” He asked.

“I asked you that earlier but you never told me.” She spat as he gripped her wrists tightly.

“My name is Y/N Y/L/N.” She said.

“I thought so. Mr. Shelby really needs to beef up his security around there don’t ya think?” He asked.

“Yes.” She said as he chuckled.

“You didn’t answer my question you know.” She stated, looking at his gun in its holster.

“Oh my bad sunshine. The names Luca. Luca Changretta. Wish we coulda met under better circumstances. I didn’t know Finn had such a fine woman.” He said.

“How do you know me?” She asked.

“I know all my enemies names. Ya gotta keep em’ closer than ya friends, you know the saying.” He said.

“I know you’re scared, but I just have one proposition for ya.” He continued, his eyes boring a hole into hers.

“What is it? To join your shitty hat club?” She asked, annoyed she got into this situation.

“Now that wasn’t nice miss Y/L/N. I’ll have to get ya for that one. Such a shame.” He said, flicking his switchblade out with one hand and gripping both your wrists with the other.

“If ya scream I’ll end ya.” He said. She blinked back tears as she forced her mouth shut, bracing for the pain of the blades edge coming for her face.

“You tend to run that pretty mouth of yours so let me help you with that.” He said inching the blade closer to her lips. She breathed heavily through her nose as she thought of anything to get her out of this situation.

She quickly brought her knee up, hitting him in the groin and making him groan in pain as he moved away from her, allowing her to run a couple of feet ahead of him.

“You can’t out-run a gun sweetheart.” He said, standing there with a pained look on his face as he clicked the gun, the bullets ready to fire in a split second.

“Walk back here and listen to my plan princess. I’ll let you go home after we talk.” He said.

Shaking, she reluctantly walked back to him, the alley feeling as if it was closing in on her every second.

“What?” She said, crossing her arms over her chest.

“You’re going to help me. I’m gonna send my men to Tommy’s warehouse and you’re gonna tell Tommy to meet them there with his brothers in tow...and you’re gonna blow it up. We’ve planted the bombs but you’ll push the button.” He said, a evil smirk hinting at his lips.

“You’re mad.” She said, attempting to walk away from him before he slammed her to the wall, cutting her cheek with the switchblade in the process.

“If you stand me up or tell them about the bombs, I’ll kill ya, and then I’ll kill your little boyfriend. I’m already after the rest of them. You can’t beat me sweetheart, I’ve been tracking you and Finn for days.” He said.

She touched her cheek silently as she cried, nodding along with his words as he brought her in for a hug.

“Good girl. Now, go home or back to whatever you were doing. Don’t forget ya job later, be at the wear house at 7.” He said before walking off.

Y/N smirked as the blood ran down her cheek. He wasn’t that smart, and it was the perfect way to earn the Shelby’s trust, now that their lives depended on it.

She glanced at her watch and realized she’d been out for longer than she should’ve. Knowing Tommy and the family would probably kill her themselves once she got back.

As she walked through the alley she realized she was right down the street.

“Stupid bastard, couldn’t even take me to a discreet location.” She scoffed, walking quickly to the doors and going in, walking straight to Tommy’s office. She could hear Finn yelling and Polly arguing with Ada, and the rest of the family quarreling back and forth as she walked in, not bothering to knock.

Everyone stopped to look at her as she walked straight to Finn, tears welling up in her eyes as he pulled her into his arms.

“Where the hell did you go love? You know he told you to stay here...” he said as she cried into his shirt.

“I know. I only went outside the shop. I’m sorry.” She said wiping the blood off her face with her hand and wincing at the cut.

“Where’d you get cut then aye? You weren’t at the shop when we got back. Fucking explain that Y/N.” Tommy said walking over to her as she sat down.

“That’s why I came back here. I was just getting some air outside, Polly and Ada both know that. Then a man came up to me, asking me if I worked there and if I knew where the bar was. I said no of course. Then as I tried to head the opposite way, just to lead him away from the shop, he fucking grabbed me...” She said, struggling to catch her breath as tears streamed down her face. Finn knelt beside her, holding her hand.

“That’s not all. Who was it?” Tommy demanded, the others stood around, tension in their features as they waited for her to speak.

“Luca Changretta.” She said, Finn’s eyes went dark, a look of anger settling over his features.

Tommy and Finn got up quickly, Tommy checking the guns and Finn pulling on his cap. Meanwhile John and Arthur gathered their machine guns.

“Wait! Please...” Y/N yelled, making them all stop and turn to her.

“Don’t go. Please don’t go. He-he told me he’d kill me if I told you about his plans but I don’t fucking care. If there’s a time to trust me then it’s right now because if you go after him you’ll all die.” She said, sitting back in the chair as she felt faint.

“What are you talking about Y/N?” Finn said, checking his gun as he stood near her.

“He said that he wanted me to meet him at the wear house at 7, that’s where you all were going, correct?” She asked, looking at Tommy.

“Yes.” He said.

“Don’t fucking go. He wanted me to be the one to push the button. Tommy he’s laced the warehouse with bombs. He wanted me to betray Finn. He wanted me to betray your family, but I couldn’t do it. I-“ she said, tears streaming down her face once again as Finn knelt down and pulled her into him, resting his head atop hers.

“What do we do then aye Tom?” John asked. His trigger finger growing impatient as he clutched the gun in his hands.

“We wait him out. When he sees we’re not there he’ll go after her, but he’ll come here. If he was confident enough to come here in broad daylight he’ll come here at night in a heartbeat. We’re waiting him out.” He said.

“Polly, Ada, Y/N, Linda, Esme. You go to the room in there, close the blinds.” He said, pointing to the door in his office that led to a smaller area where Lizzie usually worked. Luckily she was at home with the children, so she wouldn’t have to deal with the chaos.

The women went into the office and sat in various seats, closing the door behind them and waited quietly, all except Y/N.

“Did you hear what I said?” Tommy asked, his voice thick with anger.

“Yes. But I have a feeling he wants to see me, maybe I can-“ She started to say before Finn took her hand and led her to the office.

“You’re not staying out here. The Changretta’s take their plans seriously and he’ll be pissed when he finds out you betrayed him. Stay in there until it’s clear.” He said giving her a long hug and brushing his hand lightly over her cut.

“We’ll get them, I-“ He started to say before she cut him off with a kiss.

“Don’t promise anything. Just go.” She said, going into the office and shutting the door behind her.

Polly quietly gave her a hand gun as she came in, putting a finger to her lips as she did so.

“I’ve never shot one what are you doing?” Y/N asked.

“You may need it. Just point and shoot.” She said.

“Why me?” She asked, her hands shaking as she held the foreign object.

“You just helped the family. We trust you, and consider this your first day.” Polly said.

“Wait I still work-“ she started, Polly cutting her off.

“I’ve made arrangements for you. You’re safer with us. Besides...” she said lighting a cigarette.

“We pay better than those blokes at the charity office.” She said.

“You called my boss? When I left?” Y/N asked.

“Yes. Now do you accept or not?” She asked, finally looking at Y/N with a look more so of approval than suspicion.

“I will if we make it out of this alive.” Y/N said. Checking her watch to see the clock ticking down to 7pm.

“Finn.” Tommy said, pulling his little brother close to him.

“You’ll be answering the door. Don’t say a word, just lead them here in my office.” He said.

John, Arthur, and Isiah stood at varying points around the room, guns ready to ambush them if needed.

Tommy checked his machine gun as he saw Polly closing the blinds and shutting the lights of.

“Isiah turn the rest of the lights off in the shop, I only want mine on.” He said and Isiah stepped out to do as told, coming back a few minutes later and deciding to help protect Polly and then from inside the small office.

Finn looked anxiously at the clock as he stood near the front door. It was 15 past 7, and knowing the Changretta’s, they rented the fastest cars they could manage to get there.

A loud knock sounded on the door not long after, causing Tommy to look up from his pocket watch, a feeling washing over him similar to the moment right before The Battle of the Somme.

“Hello Finn. Show me and my men where Tommy is and this whole thing can be over. I promise you that.” He said. Finn just looked at him and led him to his office acting as if only Tommy was there.

He knocked twice waiting for his answer.

“Tommy, Mr. Changretta is here.” He said, waiting for his response.

“Send him in.” Tommy said. Finn came in and quickly stood in front of the door where the women were, reaching for the gun in his coat.

Luca and 3 men walked in, looking Arthur and John up and down as they sized everyone up with their eyes. His lips curling into a sinister smile as the toothpick stuck out of his mouth.

“I have a bone to pick with Finn’s girlfriend. She stood me up...broke my heart really. I could’ve made her night if she woulda let me.” He said, watching as Finn’s face turned into a mask of anger. He’d never been one to keep his facial expressions in check.

“I’m sorry that happened, we were none the wiser, we were going to the warehouse just now.” Tommy said, staring blankly.

“If you didn’t know about her then you would’ve been at the warehouse like we planned.” Luca said.

“Correct. But she didn’t return. We don’t know where she’s gone so that pushed us back.” He lied.

“She’s as smart as she is beautiful, and I told her to go home but I know she came here. I’ll kill her, you’ll see.” He said, walking towards the door to go look around.

“Why else are you here Changretta? You could be out finding Y/N yourself but instead you’re here. My brothers and I were just about to go deal with this business before heading home.” He said, John yawned as if on cue as he rocked back on his heels impatiently.

“If you’re not going to tell me then I’ll have to find her myself.” He said stepping towards Finn.

“Aren’t you here because you wanted to kill the family? Not just Y/N? You served us all a black hand after all.” Finn questioned, pointing his gun at Luca’s chest.

He smirked and turned towards Tommy as he nodded at his men, clearly not afraid of Finn’s gun. The three men lunged for Arthur as John cocked his gun, aiming at one of the men and shooting him in the head.

Tommy went towards one of the others who almost tackled John as Luca taunted Finn against the door.

Arthur tackled the first man down, wrestling the gun out of his hand as a bullet grazed his shoulder, Linda silently cringed in the other room at the sound of her husband in pain.

“You really thought you could take us down?” Finn yelled over the noise, shoving Luca back with the gun.

“I can, and you’ll be glad you’re dead if I tell you what I’d do to her-“ He started to say before Finn landed a punch to his face, sending him back a couple feet.

“You talk too much.” He said, going towards Luca again.

Luca smirked as Finn looked to the side briefly to see Tommy pulling a gun at the man he’d tackled. With one shot the second man was down, leaving John wrestling down the last one.

Tommy quickly ran to where Finn was and hit Luca in the back of the head with the butt of his gun, causing him to fall back against his desk, blood dotting various papers as he fell.

“Finn, go help John.” He said, before punching Luca in the face once again.

Finn shakily held the gun as he aimed at the man who was now landing punch’s to his brothers face, and shot, the sound of his body hitting the ground still causing a shiver down his spine despite him killing before.

As he stood there he heard a muffled cry coming from inside the room as he knew Y/N was watching through the cracks of the blinds, but was soon snapped back to reality as Tommy yelled out in pain.

Luca lowered his gun as he saw Tommy fall back, clutching his arm tightly.

He raised it at Finn, the blood dripping down his face and clouding his eyes as he aimed for the young blinder.

But suddenly the door opened, and Y/N came out pointing her hand gun at Luca, a tear rolling down her cheek as she did so.

“Get back Y/N. Go.” Finn said as he tried to shield her as Luca raised the gun up more, on the verge of shooting.

A shot rang out from behind Finn as Luca’s head rocked back at the impact, his body going limp as the bullet passed through his skull.

It was eerily silent after that. Finn’s ears rang as did hers as he realized he would’ve been dead if she had listened to him when he told her to go back.

Finn quickly took the gun from her and Tommy crawled over Luca’s body to check the pulse, smirking as he looked up at Y/N.

“Nice shot. How’d you get the gun?” He asked, walking towards her.

“Polly gave it to me. Told me to point and shoot.” She said, wiping a tear from her eye.

“Alright.” He said, walking over to the door and telling the others they could come out.

John and Arthur got to dragging the bodies out back, while Polly and the other women tiptoed over the blood and back to the lobby.

Finn followed them out and left Y/N standing there for a bit, staring at the blood coating Tommy’s floor.

“It feels weird the first time killing someone, you’ll get used to it.” He said, tying a tourniquet on his arm before going to clean some of the blood off his desk.

“Um...Polly said something about this being my first day. Am I to work for you now? I-I don’t know what I’d do.” She said pulling her tattered coat around herself.

“Yes. You can start tomorrow actually. Take the empty desk out there.” He said, referring to the one she worked at earlier in the day.

She nodded and walked towards the door, her hands shaking from the days events.

“Oh and Y/N?” Tommy said, grabbing a cloth from a drawer.

“If it makes things any better, I trust you just as much as Finn does. You’ll fit in here, just go easy on him eh?” He said, a small smirk playing at his usually stoic lips.

“I’ll try.” She said smirking and closing the door behind her.

“Y/N you ready to go home?” Finn called out over everyone talking. She looked around at what would be her new work, and ultimately her new family. Linda was cleaning Arthur’s arm, and John and Esme were making out on her desk. Meanwhile Polly and Ada were tidying up the place.

“Yeah.” She sighed, walking to him and putting her arm around his waist as he led her out into the cool night air.

“Does that cut hurt?” He asked, once in the car.

“Yeah, but I’ll be fine. Don’t worry about me.” She said, giving him a kiss before they drove off to her apartment. It was only mere hours ago that she was struggling to earn his family’s trust, and now she had it, and she knew she had to keep it no matter what.

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