#love you christmas i love you jesus i love you cold i love you gifts i love you christmas lights i love you

[veenxys]

ITS CHRISTMAAAAAAAAAAAAAAASSSS!!!

hAPPY CRISMAS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!111!!!

[s-4pphics]

gift basket (e.w.)

kinda cont. to this :3 meep

wc;cw: 1.6k, return of pothead!ellie and her pothead gf, weed duh, parties, mention of psychs but no actual psychs lol, fluff… UNHEARD OF, flirting and a lil sexual tension, something quick bc i miss her fr

“you tryna do acid?” you call from ellie’s small dining table, rolling up for the two of you. ellie’s attention is yanked from her device, gawking from where she sits on the couch, decked in her usual party attire: all black everything from head to toe. “the fuck did you just say?” 

“you tryna do acid?” you repeat, sealing the blunt. ellie’s eyes flick around the living room, jolting down to the blunt in your hand before they lock with yours. 

“. . . why the fuck would i do that before a party?” ellie snorts, removing and tossing her reading glasses on the coffee table before returning back to some annoying show about a blue cat with bunny for a sister. neither of you are high yet and she’s already in hysterics, wildly cackling and shoveling parmesan goldfish in her mouth.

ellie.  .  . oh, ellie. 

why won’t she fucking touch you? 

after your intense smoke session on pothead christmas, your relationship has gotten strange. not strange in a bad way; she never hesitates to invite you over to spark up, pick you up for late night drives, have study sessions (where she watches you study with eyes tinted pink). everything is exactly the same, but you don’t want it to be. 

it’s been a month since she smoked you out and rambled about her sex life, since you asked — begged her to kiss you. at this point, you would accept a fucking peck, for sucks sake! but she brushes you off every time, pushes you right back into that best friend box after every hot box. you’ve given her every sign to put it down on you, and she’s receptive. the stares she gives you, the lingering touches, the seemingly doting affection that shines beneath her pupils. it’s all there and. . . not at the same time. 

but here you are again. igniting her fucking bud before you roll out to another frat house. being high and horny simultaneously is your greatest weakness. . . especially when your little crush looks this fucking good. 

“you’re so far away.” ellie lures gently from the cushions, “c’meeere, i’m cold.” 

“. . . it’s almost june.” you note flatly. she rolls her eyes and blows a raspberry, climbing over the back of the couch and sliding in next to you, eyes glued to your working hands. she pinches the blunt between her thumb and index finger. “it’s fat as fuck, jesus christ.” she mumbles in amazement. fucking geek. 

“it’s yours. say thank you.” ellie gasps in delight and throws her arms around your neck, bending down to smack kisses on your cheek, mumbling thank you, thank you, thank you! you can’t hide your smile when you throw hers in your little baggie before shoving it in her front pocket. you pat it for good luck. “don’t crush them like you did last time. i’m gonna be hot,” you scold lightly and ellie smirks against your cheek. 

“i dunno. you’re pretty hot already.” she purrs against your face. you push her away and she giggles, jogging to get her shoes on. you follow in her lead and lace up, praying to god that she doesn’t sit on the fucking bag in the uber. 

ellie can’t stop staring at this fucking lava lamp. 

it’s gorgeous, really. . . the bright colors, the holographic glitter, the fucking. . . clay balls. are they clay? they look like stress toys floating around in uncooked egg whites that've been injected with fairy vomit—

“ellie!” 

she feels like she’s underwater, but not in a drowning, i’m-gonna-die way. she feels like a mermaid as she searches the room at your call, tunnel vision centering on every drunk face until she finds yours. you're actually right in front of where she sits on the love seat. . . right in front of someone else. . . who’s directly behind you. . . who the fuck is that? 

your brows are pulled down in concern as you shout over the blaring music, asking her if she feels okay, if she wants to leave, but she’s not focused on none of that. . . her high is about to go left in a second if this bitch doesn’t stop squeezing your ass. ellie sends you an affirming look even though her blood is sizzling beneath her skin and you nod in acknowledgement, returning your attention back to whoever you’re throwing it on. 

. . . would it be fucked up if she busted this lava lamp over this broad’s head? she doesn’t think so. 

she barely registers it. the small display in front of her is nauseating. ellie’s known you forever, and never once have you accepted a rip from somebody you didn’t know. . . so why the fuck are you ripping from a bitch you don’t know? the end of the blunt sparks a bright orange with your heavy puff, the carbon you didn’t inhale ghosting in front of your mouth. smoke leaves through your nose as you giggle, the fucking. . . bum whispering something in your ear with a tight squeeze on your waist. 

you’re shaking your head like you like it, like you’re approving of this fuckery and ellie almost vomits. she stands too quickly for her legs because she plops back down like an utter buffoon, the world spinning like a pinball. her arms extend as she searches for balance while sitting and—

whatever the fuck she was going to say vanishes when your hands come down on her shoulders, comfortingly squeezing them through her sweaty shirt. softly. ellie turns to mush as she tries to read your lips. . . maybe she shouldn’t do that; it looks like you’re saying don’t be gay. . . but ellie is gay and so are you so how the fuck would that work?

she’s being scooped up by you and. . . yeah, she’s very faded. ellie’s always prided herself in having a high tolerance to the dirty green, but she’s on one tonight. what the fuck did you put in that shit? is this why you asked her to do acid earlier? because you laced her shit? she can feel her palms getting clammy as you walk her down a dark ass hallway. . . if she had that lava lamp, maybe she could see—

a door slams shut and a lock clicks. it’s suddenly bright. ellie’s convinced she made it to heaven. . . especially when her vision focuses and she’s met with the angel that you are, eyes sparkly and twinkling like fairies in a meadow. god let her in the pearly gates. . . 

“you okay, baby? needa throw up?” your hand is on her cheek, thumb gently massaging the skin. her heart’s singing. ellie’s entranced by you and her skin heats. . . her pussy also skips a beat. a little one-two. 

“. . . baby’s okay.” she mumbles. why is her tongue so heavy? you coo at her, “wanna go home?”

ellie nods, “fuck that bitch you were grindin’ on. hope she breaks her neck. . . or somethin’ crazy, i dunno.” you choke on laughter and pull her in for a gentle hug. ellie’s heavy arms enclose around your waist. tightly. selfishly. 

“you mad i wasn’t grinding on you?” 

“duh! the fuck. . .” she slurs. “i should be grabbing ass, ‘s my. . . s’mine, fuck you.” you’re giggling into her neck and she shoves a hand in your back pocket. 

“you needa bed.” you shake your head. 

“yeah, so i can dig you out in it— “

“ELLIE— “

her laughter is uncontrollable, “yeeeah, you’re fucking mine. no more hoes for you.” 

you’re burning hot when your eyes open. . . because there’s a fucking body on top of you!

you and ellie are slung across the couch cushions, party clothes still on. ellie must’ve been awake for a minute because she sighs, breath hitting your tummy, “did you try to kill me yesterday? be honest.” 

“. . . bitch. . .”

“i’ve never been that high . . . well, that’s not true— “

“exactly.” you snicker, “how long you been up?” 

she holds up her wrist to check her imaginary stopwatch, “approximately. . . three minutes and thirty-fi— six seconds— “

“i fuckin’ hate you. get the fuck off me.” 

“hmm. . . nah, i’m good right here.” 

ellie’s head shifts on your stomach and you know she’s staring up at you, “i needa fucking shower— “

“me, too. with me?” you hear the smile in her tone. you finally gawk down at her. “you’re never hitting my shit again. what’s up with you?” 

her eyes crystallize when she shrugs, “had another dream about giving you head and now i gotta do it. follow your dreams, or whatever they say.” 

your jaw is on the floor and your stomach is in knots. “ellie—“ you gasp. 

“no, i’m not still high, and no i don’t wanna just fuck. kinda obsessed with you if last night wasn’t obvious.” she speaks so casually and it’s giving you whiplash. “i almost committed murder. that’s how pissed i was.” 

“a-at me?” 

ellie’s eyes roll, “oh my god, no. at whoever that freak was from last night. . . i don’t wanna talk about that shit anymore. i have trauma.” 

her tongue rolls over her lips and she eyes you like a vulture to a carcass, “i dunno if you ever used that shower head when you sleep over but. . .  it goes crazy.” her proposal makes you squirm and she smirks, planting a kiss on the skin of your belly. followed by another. . . and another a little lower. 

“you my girl?” she whispers against your skin, staring up at you, tongue poking out just barely to swipe on the plush area. 

“. . . maybe.” you mumble shyly, and ellie’s teeth beam. she sits up to stand and pulls you with her, guiding you out of the living room and down the hallway, into the bathroom. she snags her lighter off the counter and ignites her favorite cinnamon candle, the wick nearly gone. “for ambiance.” she whispers with a grin. 

you unbuckle the belt looped in your jeans, “pulling out the big words, huh?”

“call me thesaurus the way i make that pussy talk.” she expects you to laugh, but you don’t. you almost grab your shit and leave. . . but her laughter sounds like wedding bells. 

“just take your clothes off.” you say dryly. 

-

-

-

SIKKKEEE COCKBLOCK SEASON MERRY NEW YEAR OR WHATEVER HAAAAHAAAAAAAAAAAA

[auras-moonstone]

jack christmas fic where him and reader keep accidentally getting under the mistletoe

under the mistletoe — jack champion

word count: 744

pairing: jack champion x fem!reader

summary: y/n and jack’s relationship changes when they keep on walking under the mistletoe.

warnings: none <3

author’s note: hii !!! hope your christmas was filled with food and gifts! happy holidays❤️🌲

AFTER SPENDING CHRISTMAS EVE WITH THEIR FAMILIES, the group decided to gather in a house to celebrate together for the rest of the night.

Y/N and Jack arrived at the same time, meeting at the entrance door. “Hi, Jack. Merry Christmas.” Y/N smiled.

“Merry Christmas, Y/N/N.” he smiled back, pulling her into a hug.

Once they broke the embrace, Y/N let her eyes wander up and down his body, and a grin appeared on her face. “Could you be any more adorable?” she asked eyeing his pjs, which had patterns of his cat, Butters.

Jack laughed. “Mom gifted them to me. Like them?”

“Love them.”

“Thanks.” he blushed. Jack quickly started thinking of compliments for her, but there were so many and he got really nervous so he just stood there, staring at her with heart eyes.

On the inside, the voices in his head screamed at him to do something, that she must think he was weird for staying there, in silence. But she, too, was enthralled by how gorgeous he looked with flushed cheeks and red nose from the cold.

Y/N was the first to snap out of it and took his hand to lead him inside the house. They spotted their friends on the backyard setting up the projector for the movie marathon. Once the group noticed the two walking side by side, they exchanged knowing glances as they anxiously waited for them to reach the windowed door.

Jack slid the door open and the group instantly shouted “Mistletoe!”, startling the two teens. Both froze and slowly looked up, jaws falling open, catching sight of the mistletoe above them. “Kiss, kiss, kiss!” their friends started to chant.

The friends’ eyes met, faces showcasing the nervousness that had grown inside of them, and exchanged the silent question that lingered in the air—should we kiss?

They nodded at the same time, and then Jack slowly started to lower his head towards hers, giving Y/N time to step back or move her face away if she didn’t want to kiss. But she met him halfway and they both held each other tightly because their limbs were failing them.

That kiss was even more perfect than any dream they could possibly have. From the setting—warm light of the fairy lights, the Christmas-y mood and the cozy matching sweaters—to the immense satisfaction and happiness of finally do the thing they both have been yearning for years.

“Jesus, it was supposed to be a short kiss.” one of their friends muttered. Y/N flipped them off and stepped even closer to Jack, deepening the kiss.

“Wow.” she breathed once they managed to find the strength to separate their lips.

Jack nodded, his gaze set on her hypnotic wet lips “I love mistletoes.”

In a haze, she replied “God, me too.”

AN HOUR LATER, the group ran out of snacks and they were all too lazy to get up and grab them from the kitchen, so Jack and Y/N volunteered. They had completely forgotten about the placement of the mistletoe, so when they walked through it, the group had to shout once again, making them remember.

“I guess this mistletoe is making sure we don’t keep dancing around each other, huh?” Y/N smiled as she stood on her tip-toes to press a sweet kiss on his lips.

Jack laughed against her lips “The mistletoe has spoken. You’re mine now.”

“God, can’t you two move already? We’re hungry.” Y/N glared at her friend and then kissed him once more to spite her. They all groaned and the now couple entered the house giggling like two kids in love.

“So, what does this mean?” Jack asked cautiously as they grabbed the snacks.

“I thought you said I was yours. Were you joking?” she asked as they walked back to the patio.

“No, I just want to make sure we’re both on the same page.” he answered, his face turning warm.

Y/N smiled up at him, her heart melting at his nervousness. “We are. Boyfriend and girlfriend, how does that sound?”

“Like a total dream.”

“Mistletoe, Jack.” Y/N said, stopping right under it for the third time.

“Oh, guess I have to kiss you, then.” he sighed and shrugged with a smirk on his face.

Her twinkle eyes met his and she smiled widely “Guess you do.”

One of their friends let out a tired sigh “That’s it, I’m ripping that mistletoe off or we’re never getting through this movie marathon.”

[pixiesfz]

melbourne weather k.m x r

plot: you bring your girlfriend back down to your family for the holidays to enjoy a hot Christmas but the Melbourne weather seems to disappoint you.

warnings: fluff, shitty fucking Melbourne weather (I hate living here), Australian reader!, the format is kinda just like my Christmas day soooo (ik Katie didn't win poll but an anon messaged me and I love accepting my anons requests)

You stirred in your bed as you couldn't sleep Surprisingly the air was cold and you looked at your closed blinds with a squint to see if you could see if it was still dark outside or not.

Your girlfriend Katie however was knocked out like a light, you assumed it was because out of all the games she had she hardly came off recently, she was tired so you convinced your mother last night to open morning presents around 10 instead of 9 to let her sleep in.

It felt like a normal night in North London which you hated, usually on December 24th in Australia you would toss and turn in your bed because you were too hot under your blanket but too cold when you weren't under it.

You promised Katie a hot Australian Christmas.

But you did live in Melbourne where it didn't matter what season you were in, everyday would be different.

You sat up to check behind the blinds in curiosity but Katie must have noticed the weight change in the bed and grabbed out to you "Come back to sleep" she mumbled into her pillow "weather will change" she mumbled again as she remembered all the changes in weather during the world cup that Australia and New Zealand had hosted.

You nodded your head as fatigue came over you and lowered back down to which you snuggled into Katie who pulled you even closer "I love you" she whispered into your ear as you smiled "I love you too".

When 10 eventually came your father was quick to blast music to wake you, Katie and your siblings up.

When Mariah Careys 'all I want for Christmas' seemed to get louder and louder as your dad came up the stairs you grabbed a pillow nearby and grabbed it, ready to throw it at him but Katie laughed and pulled the pillow down "let's get up c'mon"

You all opened your presents downstairs as your mum took pictures left right and center but your thoughts were stuck to the windows outside as the clouds grew grey and there was no sun in sight.

You watched Katie open your last gift to her as she revealed a locket necklace, she smiled at you in amazement, it was the same colour as her claddagh ring so it would match "Open it" you encouraged.

When she did you smiled brighter, it was a picture of you two from when you first met and on the other side was her family.

"When you're on camp and you miss me and when you're in London and you miss your family" you explained and Katie brought you into a hug.

"I love it" she assured you and pecked your lips.

Then you all got ready for the rest of your family to come over as Katie set the table with your mum.

"You make her really happy," your mum told Katie who was concentrating on making sure the forks and knives were equally close to each other "She makes me very happy" Katie smiled at your mum before a comfortable silence followed.

"I don't want to intrude but I saw the ring" your mum admitted to Katie as she popped her head up "I was going to get permission from you guys first I promise-" "Katie" your mother assured her, "I think we gave our blessing when she first brought you home to meet us" she laughed and Katie felt her heart grow.

Your mum looked out the window "she's going to hate this weather, she wanted you to experience a hot Christmas day, all she talked about when she told me she was coming home for the holidays"

Katie looked down as she heard footsteps come down the stairs, it was you. You wore a long white linen dress your mother had bought for you and you wore your birken stock shoes that Katie liked to call 'Jesus shoes' but she looked at you in admiration.

"Katie you better start getting ready" you told her as you looked at the time "you look beautiful in white" your mum told you as she walked by and gave a wink to Katie who was still looking at you.

You walked down the stairs and grazed your hand over the locket she now wore. "I knew the colour would match you well" you smiled, proud of yourself.

But you frowned now that rain had started to fall "I'm sorry" you said as Katie furrowed her brows "For what baby?" she asked and you shook your head "I wanted you to experience the hot sun that Australia had to offer on a Christmas day but apparently it decided to give us shit weather" you pouted as you looked out "It doesn't matter" Katie said as you turned to her "of course it matters" you said

"We have many more years we can experience it," she said and you blushed "Many more?" you asked and Katie nodded "Of course, I don't plan on leaving do you?" she asked with a smirk "Never" you smirked back before you heard your dog barking as a car arrived "okay now you really have to get dressed" you stressed before pushing her up stairs to your childhood bedroom where you two were staying.

As more family members arrived and Katie got dressed into her own outfit you all laughed at memories being thrown around and you cringed when Katie shared a story of you accidentally cheering when the other team scored a goal so you got her back by counting how many yellow cards she had received in the past season.

The day past as your auntie and uncles and cousins bought you gifts such as plates and glasses for your home in London "not sure how we're going to get these on a plane but cheers guys I love you all" you smiled as they laughed but Katie whispered in your ear "seriously how are we going to get these over to London".

You had all changed into comfortable clothes as Katie nudged you "wanna go on a walk to see Christmas lights?" she asked and you looked outside "It's still raining" you complained and your father scoffed from the couch "toughen up y/n" (my dad would do this)

Katie pointed at your father agreeing with him before you nodded your head again "Okay let's go" you smiled before grabbing an umbrella and saying goodbye to your family.

On your walk you noticed Katie looking nervous so you grabbed her hand into yours "You okay?" you asked and she nodded. There wasn't many people looking at Christmas lights as many people were still out with families but there were 1 or 2 families nearby "Yeah I'm okay" she reassured you but it was clear you weren't convinced.

"Katie" you said as she turned to you "I wasn't lying when I said we have many years to experience this" she said seriously as you smiled "I know" you said with a smile but Katie was still serious "Katie what's going on?" you asked

Katie looked like she was fighting a battle in her head before she put her hand in her pocket, you tried not to think straight to a proposal as you had thought that many times in the past year so you closed your eyes in fear "Why are you closing your eyes?" Katie questioned as you kept them shut "Cause I'm scared" you admitted as you heard her laugh "open them love" she said and you slowly opened them to reveal Katie on one knee with a ring box opened in her hand that held a beautiful silver ring that the Christmas lights shined on.

A gasp slid of your tongue as your hands went to your face "don't act to shocked you knew it was gonna happen sooner or later" Katie smiled "I want to be with you for every holiday, no matter what weather y/n" she said as you lowered to your knees to be level with her.

"even shitty melbourne weather?" you asked

"especially in shitty melbourne weather" she smiled

[kookygranger]

Fairytale of Hawkins: Part Two

Eddie Munson x Fem!Reader

A cheesy hallmark Christmas fic inspired by @bettyfrommars's tow truck!Eddie and prompts #1 & #6 from Betty and @allthingsjoeq's Holiday Prompt Party

Summary: A petting zoo, Secret Santa and mistletoe never being around when you need it.

Warnings: reader doesn't have family, reader and Eddie are in their late 20s/early 30s, swearing

Word count: 5.3k

Author's note: Okay, it's 11:54pm on Christmas Eve where I am and this is far from perfect, but I wanted the people who enjoyed the first part to have this for Christmas so here it is. I hope you're all safe and you get moments of peace and joy these holidays.

Part One

You were handsome You were pretty, Queen of New York City When the band finished playing They howled out for more – Fairytale of New York, The Pogues/Kirsty MacColl

3 Days 'Til Christmas

“So uh, what’s goin’ on with you and Robin’s friend?”

Hawkins town centre is frosted with a light dusting of snow that fell in the early morning hours. Picture perfect, like a Hallmark Christmas card. The hum of festive cheer in the crowds doing last-minute gift shopping and partaking in the charming small-town seasonal activities is mostly drowned out by an argument between Dustin and Lucas, Max and the younger Sinclair sibling rolling their eyes in annoyance. They sit, impatiently waiting for the rest of the party to show up, on the edge of the fountain frozen over with the cold snap that swept through town at the beginning of the week.

Steve’s perched on the back of a bench a few feet away, ignoring the squabble as Eddie toes the ground in front of him.

“First of all, I know you know her name. And B, nothing is going on, she’s a great girl and a really good friend to Robin.” Steve shrugs, “We both told you you’d like her.”

Eddie squints, his leather jacket opening to reveal a dark red sweater as his pocketed hand gestures in question, “Why me specifically?”

Steve shrugs again, “Rob and I both thought you’d hit it off. It just feels…right. Don’t you think?”

“I mean yeah, yeah she’s beautiful. Cute as hell when she gets flustered. But she’s a city girl–used to more than this, right?” He looks around at the small-town square, filled with little kids dressed in matching sweaters and flustered mothers pushing prams with clenched smiles. “She’ll be gone well before the ice on the road thaws.”

“So? What’s wrong with having a little holiday fling?”

Eddie sucks his teeth, “I don’t think I can.”

Steve lets out a low whistle, “You’re that head-over-heels already?”

“No.” Eddie shakes his head, cheeks flushing pink from more than just the bite to the wind, then sighs. “Think if I have a fling I might just get there though. This is Robin’s fault she shouldn’t’ve talked her up so much!” Steve chuckles at his friend’s distress. “Doesn’t help that she looks like a damn angel when the snow’s kissing her eyelashes.”

Steve rubs his face, “Jesus Christ.”

***

You and Robin had vowed to hold off drinking for the rest of the holidays after your night at The Hideout, which was followed by a day spent on the couch, groaning about loud noises as Gremlins beamed across the TV in the darkened living room. When you’d finally managed to peel yourselves away from the nest you’d made out of blankets, large diet sodas and greasy fries from the drive-thru, you decided to cross off making Christmas cookies from Robin’s list of “holiday activities that could make the grinch’s heart grow.” She assured you weren’t the Grinch in this situation but it certainly felt, pointed.

The misshapen sugary treats weigh down your tote bag as you walk arm-in-arm with Robin towards the designated meeting spot.

“I keep making a fool of myself in front of Eddie.”

Robin smirks, “You’re doing fine.”

“I can just be so,” you hold out your hand in a vague gesture and grimace, “sometimes, you know?”

Robin laughs, “Oh, I know.”

“Thanks.”

She squeezes your arm that’s wrapped around hers and shakes her head, “Everybody loves you I promise. And if they don’t yet, they will.” You both round a corner, the fountain and a group of animated college kids coming into view. Steve waves from across the street, Eddie turning his head in your direction then away again quickly when you make eye contact.

“Right.”

***

“C’mon now everyone keep up.” Steve claps his gloved hands together, his cheeks pink and his brows furrowed in faux admonishment as he leads the group towards the petting zoo set up for the weekend in the parking lot of Bradley’s Big Buy supermarket. You can tell by the glisten in his eyes how much it means to him to have all of his found family in one place.

You laugh softly when he claps Dustin on the back and the younger boy tries to shrug off his embrace.

“He’s in his element this time of year.” Eddie falls into stride next to you, the both of you now bringing up the rear of the boisterous group.

You nod, a small smile permanently etched on your face from the company. “I can tell.” You walk the rest of the way in silence, watching the antics of the strange mix of personalities in front of you with a distant bemusement as you tried and failed to come up with something to say. Had you called him sexy at one point the other night or did you dream that?

The stench of hay and something less savoury wafts over you as you all enter the car park under a bright red banner with ‘Petting Zoo’ written in white cursive on it. You’re about to ask Eddie if they did this every year when a middle-aged woman stops you with a brochure held out in front of you.

“Have you found Jesus?” She’s standing by the entrance in a matching woollen navy-blue coat and skirt, heels on her stocking-clad feet and hair quaffed perfectly in a bob accentuated by the pearls on her ears and neck.

You don’t even think about your response before it slips out, “Oh, I’m so sorry, I didn’t realise he was missing.” You can see Eddie smirk out of the corner of your eye. It was just meant to be a light-hearted joke, but the woman clearly didn’t see the humour.

She purses her lips in a thin line and snatches the brochure back out of your reach. “I should’ve known you were one of his type.” You keep walking along, her voice changed back into a sweeter version as she asks the next person the same question behind you.

You turn to Eddie, his eyes downcast and shoulders higher than they were a second ago. “What type are you?”

He rubs the back of his neck underneath the black knitted scarf that matches his beanie. “Uh, devil worshipper according to this town.”

“Oh, I’m actually lapsed. Found all that sacrificing was getting in the way of my day job you know?”

The smile that catches at the corners of his mouth makes your tummy flip.

“I know whattya mean.” He nods, all dramatics with his feigned seriousness, “So much laundry with all those blood-stained clothes.”

“Right? Such a hassle.” You both laugh as you look at each other. “Do they actually think that?”

Eddie shrugs, “It was worse when I was in high school, but I still get the odd bit of holy water thrown in my direction.”

“Why?” You shake your head and frown, serious this time. “Just because you listen to Motorhead?”

“That and I was the leader of the Dungeons and Dragons club in high school. It’s a game for nerds really, but it kinda got swept up into the satanic panic that was going around at the time.”

“That’s so…dumb.”

He huffs a laugh through his nose, watching your feet walk in sync together. “Yeah, I guess it is.” His head snaps back up, “Wait, how do you know Motorhead?”

“Why wouldn’t I?” You bump his shoulder and scoff, “Did you just judge a book by her cover Eddie the devil worshipper?” He opens his mouth to speak but his reply is cut off by an animalistic snort that has your head turning in curiosity. You gasp as you spot the furry brown creatures leaning into patting hands over a wooden fence, “They actually do have reindeer here!”

Eddie grins as your face lights up. “Did you think they were lying?”

You shake your head, “I thought they’d just be regular deer. I’ve never seen–“ You grab Eddie’s leather-clad arm in your excitement and he looks down at your touch before you bound off towards Robin who’s laughing at your reaction.

El and Max have to coax you into actually patting one when you get closer, the antlers much more intimidating in person. They giggle as you squeal and pull back your hand when a cloud of condensation escapes from the deer’s nostrils as it huffs loudly.

You turn to laugh with them, distracted as the reindeer leans in closer, your body tensing when you feel its hot breath on the back of your neck before it snatches your scarf from around your shoulders. The girls yell as you whip around to see it trot off, barely processing what just happened when you feel a warm hand on your back, Eddie’s frame coming into view as he slips past you and jumps the fence. He’s able to grab the scarf out of the creature’s mouth and sneak back onto your side of the fence before anyone who works there even notices.

You’re speechless as he hands your scarf back to you, El and Max cheering along with Robin and Nancy who’d noticed the commotion.

The younger girls are giggling again when Max interrupts the silent look you and Eddie share while the scarf is held in between the both of you. “You’re a real knight in shining armour this week Munson.” He looks up at Max as she and El walk away, looking for their boyfriends to ask if they’d brave a reindeer pen for them.

“Thank you, Eddie.” You take the scarf from his hands, grimacing at the wet patch on the light fabric. “Don’t know if you can get reindeer drool out of cashmere though.”

He snorts, “Maybe you shouldn’t have worn something so expensive to a petting zoo, princess.”

You brush off the nickname, not entirely sure if it was meant in jest. “You know I’m a feminist, I’m gonna need you to stop coming to my rescue Eddie.”

He smirks, “I don’t think that’s feminism, I think that’s stubborn independence to the point of detriment.”

He was taunting. Flirting really, but Eddie forgets it takes time for people to figure out he’s not just being grumpy all the time. That he isn’t as mean as his initial wariness of people might suggest. For a second he forgets that you haven’t always been a part of this group – that you don’t know him like the others do.

The awestruck look that had graced your face drops. “Jeez okay, I didn’t realise we were reading each other.” His eyes go wide as you shrink into yourself. “You know, I realise you probably don’t like me very much and you might feel like I’m ruining your time with your friends at Christmas, but I am trying Eddie.”

He hates the way your eyes begin to water.

“Robins told me so much about all of you, I know how much you all mean to each other and I really didn’t want to intrude on that, but she insisted that it would be okay. She’s letting me spend the holidays with her family because I don’t have one, and I don’t want her to regret that.” You look down at your feet, “I’ll make sure to stay out of your way from now on.” 

Eddie clenches his eyes shut as you walk away to find Robin or anyone else who won’t mind you joining in.

“Nice work Munson.”

***

Once the group have had their share of reindeer petting and eaten the cookies you and Robin had brought along with some hot cocoa from a nearby stand, everyone gathers in the town square again for the annual Secret Santa. You’re huddled together with Robin, head leaning against hers as you steal each other’s warmth and the group gathers in a circle, Steve tossing pieces of paper with everyone’s name written on them into his beanie.

Eddie keeps stealing glances at you as Steve goes around the group, dramatically holding a gloved hand to each of the teens’ eyes and yelling, “No peeking!”

Eddie feels shit. He can’t believe he’s made you feel unwelcome. Well, he can. He knows he can be guarded when it comes to letting new people into his life, but you’re one of Robin’s best friends – spending Christmas with her because you don’t have anywhere else to go and he’s made you feel like he doesn’t want you here. Asshole.

When Steve gets round to you and Robin, he holds the hat out to her then moves on to Jonathan and Argyle next. You figure you’re too new to the group to partake in this tradition, which seems fair. Steve rounds out the wonky circle with Eddie, dropping the beanie with a “whoops” before fumbling on the ground with it, then holding it out to Eddie. You notice him squinting his eyes in suspicion, wondering what’s going on between them when Steve comes back to you.

“Lucky last,” he smiles that charming cherub grin of his and you reach into the beanie to pull the last piece of paper out.

Of course it would be.

Steve reminds everyone of the budget and secret part of Secret Santa with a pointed look at Mike, who frowns in offence before the group starts heading off in different directions.

Robin moves to stand in front of you. “Who’d ya get? Do you need help? I can bend the rules for you seeing as you don’t properly know everyone.”

“Yeah, I feel like I’m a bit disadvantaged.” You laugh nervously, “I uh, I got Eddie.”

“Oh great! He’s easy. Big nerd, you know what he likes.” She starts counting off on her fingers, “Music, DnD, Lord of the Rings and all that fantasy stuff.”

“Yeah, I guess.” You shrug.

She hooks her arm with yours again, “C’mon let’s go together, I got Nancy. I feel like you’ll be better at picking something for her than me.”

***

After an hour and a half, you’re about ready to give up. You helped pick out a faux-leather journal and fountain pen set for Nancy from Robin, but you haven’t been able to find anything remotely good for Eddie’s gift. Everything feels impersonal like something he could’ve just picked up himself and the last thing you want is for him to be disappointed that you got him for the gift exchange. Just another friend-only activity that your presence has ruined.

You’re currently browsing through a second-hand bookstore, hoping to find something you can curl up on the couch in your apartment with during the rest of the holidays, while Robin’s popped into the bath and body shop across the street to look for a gift for her aunt.

Your eyes scan the hardbacks in the fantasy section, fingers running lightly across the spines when they come to a stop on a light green book. You tilt the book from the shelf, admiring the mountains and dragon carved in navy blue adorning the border. This could be perfect. Carefully opening the worn cover, you find an inscription written in the yellowed pages that makes you smile. You close the book softly and head to the counter to ring it up. Maybe he wouldn’t be disappointed.

Dear Henry,

In celebration of our mutual liking – I hope Bilbo becomes a friend as well.

Happy Birthday,

Love, your Arwen

***

Christmas Eve

The butcher paper wrapped gift sat heavy in your palm as you’re greeted by Steve in his living room when you and Robin walk in. You hold up the present in question, keen to get rid of it before your clammy hands ruin the red satin bow decorating it, and Steve points you in the direction of the pile under the colourfully lit tree. You take a moment to admire the personal ornaments, the glint of a red 20-sided dice reminding you of the other inhabitant of this apartment.

The famous Harrington Christmas Eve party had been talked up by Robin for months. In her attempt to get you to Hawkins, she promised you a preview of the King Steve you’d heard her tease him so much about (which he vehemently denied was a thing), potently spiked punch (which you would not be partaking in) and impromptu games out on the street that would cause noise complaints from the neighbours.

And now that Steve and Eddie shared an apartment? Apparently, rowdiness was a prerequisite.

You’re more nervous than you should be as you settle in, taking solace in Jonathan and Will’s quiet company on the couch as you sip on a non-spiked mug of egg nog. It isn’t until half an hour later that Eddie even shows up, despite this being his apartment.

He walks into the living room, cheeks red from the cold, snow still sprinkled on his shoulders and in his hair. He’s followed closely by Dustin who’s rugged up in an assortment of knitwear that looks like it was definitely made by a doting family member, and grins when everyone greets him.

“Finally, you two.” Steve walks in from the kitchen with a bowl of freshly poured potato chips. “Everyone’s here, we’re getting ready for Secret Santa.”

Eddie just nods at him, offering you a tight-lipped smile when you catch his eye before he walks over to the tree to place something under it with his back turned to you.

While everyone gathers in the living room, he ducks out. Returning without all the extra layers, his crisp white t-shirt takes you by surprise and your eyes wander to the silver chain around his neck.

Pull it together, honestly.

“Okay, I’m first!” Robin walks across the room to the tree by the front window, only to be stopped by Steve’s arm.

“What? Why are you first?”

“Well, someone has to be dingus. Why not me?” 

“Uh, maybe we should let our guest be the first?” Everyone turns their head towards you and the attention makes you sink further into the couch.

“Oh, no Robin is always first.” You wink in her direction, then frown. “Wait, did that sound weird?” You look at Jonathan and Will who both chuckle, the older boy giving you a shrug.

After Robin tears through her present the decision is made to go anti-clockwise around the room. The closer it gets to Eddie who’s sitting on the couch opposite you, the more your palms begin to sweat. You don’t think your heart could take him being indifferent to his gift, and you hated that you cared so much about what he thought. What was this town doing to you?

When Steve hands Eddie his gift your back automatically straightens, perched perilously on the edge of your seat you grip the mug of egg nog in your hands. He takes his time with unwrapping, not diving straight in and tearing like you would’ve expected, even draping the ribbon around his neck once he’s untied it. When he gets to the gift the room is mostly silent, save for the Christmas carols playing from the stereo in the corner. You’d already clocked The Kinks, The Damned and Ramones – sure that the boy who held your last ditch gesture in his hands had picked the tunes.

Eddie’s face is stoic as his fingers run along the cover of the book. When Dustin and Mike, sat near him spot what it is they share exclamations of “Sick”, but you’re more interested in the metalhead’s opinion. You take in a deep breath as he opens the well-preserved cover and you watch his eyes read the inscriptions.

After much back and forth you’d decided to leave your own message next to the original one. Writing in pencil in case he wanted to erase it.

He rubs his freshly shaven jaw then his eyes find yours across the room. They’re soft. Pools of awe that match the tone of his quiet voice.

“Thank you.”

You offer him a small smile, “You’re welcome.”

“How did you know it was from her?” Dustin pipes up from his seat on the floor.

“Lucky guess.” His eyes hadn’t left yours until then, and you watch him scan the message again.

Dear Eddie,

I know you’re already well acquainted but I thought what better company on a long winter’s night than the second best party to go on adventures with (second only to your own of course).

Merry Christmas,

C.G.

xx

You feel his eyes on you as the rest of the gift-giving takes place around you. Wiping the sweat off your palms now that the moment was over, but the tension you’d felt hadn’t lifted from your chest – only tethered itself to the cause that was sitting across the room lightly brushing his thumb over your offering.

You’re the last in line to open your Secret Santa, but the attention of the room has been caught up in the gifts that have already been revealed. You’re admiring the new camera bag Jonathan is turning over in his hands when Steve taps you on the shoulder. He holds out a small parcel that fits in the palm of his hand and winks at you when you take it, before walking over to sit by Dustin.

You look down at the parcel wrapped in shiny red paper, tugging at the twine tied around it when you feel the weight of the couch shift beside you.

Eddie takes up more room than Jonathan who’s now sitting on the arm of the sofa across from you with Nancy’s arm draped over his leg. He’s manspreading a little, but the only reason you notice is because of the close proximity of his knee to yours.

“You got me,” he gestures to the gift in your hands, “I mean I got you. Well, I guess both are true.” He holds up his new copy of The Hobbit and smiles softly.

You look down at your lap again and begin to unwrap your present, Eddie’s leg bouncing next to yours. A glint catches your eye as a pair of dangly ruby earrings is revealed.

“They’re not real obviously,” Eddie scratches his jaw, “and Robin said you’d be happy with anything, like a snow globe or candy but I saw these in the drugstore and thought they’d look good on you.”

You smile, “Eddie they’re really pretty. Thank you so much.”

He blows out a puff of air, “You like them?”

“I love them, honestly. Oh, look we match!” You hold out the earrings next to the ring on his finger sporting a small ruby stone.

His cheeks are dusted in pink as he smiles, “Yeah, I guess we do.” You ask him to hold the earrings you had in before as you swap them. “You don’t have to put them on now.”

“I know, I want to.”

His tongue darts out to wet his bottom lip, mesmerised as he watches you put on his earrings. “What does C.G. mean by the way?” He opens the book in his lap again.

“City girl.” The frown on his face troubles you momentarily before he speaks again, doe eyes pining you down once more.

“Thank you. It’s really special. You’re really–“ He trails off, eyes searching yours as you wait for him to finish his sentence. But he doesn’t. Instead, he gets up so abruptly that you flinch. “I gotta uh, find something…I’ll be back.”

You turn to Will who had been not so subtly watching the whole exchange from the other side of the couch and gives you a sympathetic smile when you say, “I still don’t know where I stand with him.”

***

For the next twenty minutes, you only see glimpses of Eddie as he darts in and out of rooms. Stomping around like he’s on a mission, a crease etched deeply in his brow. While Nancy and El are admiring your earrings in the kitchen, you hear a squeak of shoes on the linoleum before you see a blur of brown hair disappear around the corner.

You excuse yourself, finding Eddie alone in the hallway, leaning up against the wall with his arms crossed and head tilted to the ceiling.

“Eddie, are you okay?” He shakes his head and huffs out a bitter laugh. “What’s wrong?”

“There’s always goddamn mistletoe at these things. Steve always gets drunk and tortures people with it, but then this year? Of course there’s none!”

You step closer, now standing in front of him but he doesn’t meet your eye. You’re confused. “Why do you need mistletoe?”

“So I have an excuse to kiss you.”

Oh.

OH.

Wait, what?

“Why don’t you just…kiss me?”

His head snaps down, eyes flickering back and forth between yours with a frown. “Can I?”

You bite your lip to stop the enormous smile threatening to creep onto your face. “Yes Eddie, you can kiss me.”

He pushes himself off the wall, crowding your space and reaching a hand out tentatively to touch your face, thumb gently stroking your skin like he had the book. He searches your eyes for any hesitation before he leans in slowly until your fluttering lashes tickle his cheek and he can’t take it anymore. The kiss is as soft as the snow falling in flurries outside, one elongated peck before you're both leaning in for another, and another. Turning tender as he reaches his other hand to pull you closer by the waist. You can taste peppermint on him, probably from one of the candy canes hanging on the tree, but it’s the warmth from his chest and the heady scent of his cologne and smoke that clings to his shirt that has you lost in him. So lost that when his thumb gently pulls down on the side of your mouth, you let him in with no hesitation, his tongue now spreading his warmth from the inside.

“Wow, that got R-rated really quick.” You jump and lean back, not moving far with Eddie’s grip still on your waist. You look down the hall and catch Robin nodding with a look of slight disgust on her face next to a smirking Steve standing there with his arms crossed.

Eddie bows his head and sighs, “Really? Think you can maybe take the commentary somewhere else Harrington?”

He holds up his hands in defence, a leafy twig with white berries hanging from his hand. “Hey, I was just coming to give you two a push, but it looks like the party’s already started.”

Eddie pinches the skin in between his brows, “For fuck sake.” You cover your mouth with your hand at the sight of the deep blush creeping into his cheeks, which deepens even further when you both hear Dustin yell from the other room.

“Did he kiss her yet?!”

Eddie groans and moves his hand to the small of your back to guide you out the door, flipping off the audience at the end of the hall before grabbing your coats off the hanger. He helps you into yours and leads you outside the apartment building by your hand.

For the first time since you arrived in Hawkins, you don’t notice the cold that greets you, focused entirely on Eddie’s warmth as he crowds you against the brick wall of the building. He holds one arm above you, almost enveloping you in his soft waves when he leans in.

That intense gaze has you shying away again, opting to play with the zipper of his jacket instead of looking back.

“You really liked your gift that much huh?”

“I really like you.” He tilts your chin up.

“I didn’t think–“

“I’m sorry if I made you feel unwelcome,” he frowns. “I have trouble letting people in.”

You shake your head and he moves his hand to stroke along your jaw. “It’s okay, this is a very special family I’ve walked into. I understand why you’d be wary of anyone disturbing that.”

“You fit right in. I promise.”

“Thank you, Eddie.”

He smirks, “Also, I’m just really, really bad at flirting when it comes to drop-dead gorgeous city girls.”

You grin, “I think you’re probably better at it than you think.”

He leans in, lips a breath away from yours, “Yeah?”

“Yeah.”

***

Christmas Day

The screen door shudders under your touch as you knock on the trailer, your gloved hand coming back to wrap around the translucent cake plate tucked into your chest. You hear muffled footsteps before the inside door swings open to reveal a beaming Eddie on the other side.

“Hi,” you smile.

You step back to let him open the screen door and he meets you with half a step out, grabbing the plate from you before placing a gentle kiss on your lips that has you desperate for more.

“Hi, sweet girl. C’mon in.”

You follow his warmth, “There’s only half left of the cheesecake. I’m sorry Robin and her family already ate most of it, then I kind of hid it when I realised I didn’t have anything to bring over – I think it tastes pretty good though. And I brought this wine, which is all they had left at the store and it only came in this gigantic bulk size, I think it might be half water–”

You feel Eddie’s smile as he presses his lips to yours again, “It’s okay sweetheart. You didn’t have to bring anything.” “I know, but I wanted to make a good first impression and we both know that I…don’t.”

He chuckles, “Trust me, I was blown away as soon as you stepped outta that car.”

You roll your eyes, snappy reply dying on your tongue when you hear a door open and an older man walks down the short hallway towards you. “Hi, Mr Munson.” Eddie squeezes your shoulder as you step forward with your hand held out and introduce yourself. “Thank you so much for having me, I hope I’m not intruding on your Christmas.”

“Nonsense,” he frowns at you, the resemblance uncanny, and brings you in for a tight hug. “Please call me Wayne, darlin’. Honestly, Ed’s been bouncing off the walls waiting for you to come so you might be able to do me a favour and get him to sit still.”

“We were just watching Gremlins.”

“Oh, I love that film! I didn’t get to appreciate it the other day because I was hungover–I mean…we were busy baking cookies.” You feel Eddie’s chuckle on the side of your face.

“She brought baked goods and wine, Wayne. All for lil’ old us.” He squeezes your shoulder again.

“It’s not any good.” You hold out the cheap bottle to Eddie’s uncle.

“Oh hell, anything you can uncork, uncap or unscrew, I’ll drink it.”

You laugh, shoulders relaxing under Eddie’s subtle massage.

***

You feel light.

Floaty and fuzzy with the laughter coming from beside you, your body sinking into the worn couch and Eddie’s gentle stroking of the back of your hand grounding you in the moment. The Munson’s, like almost everybody else in Hawkins had welcomed you into their home with open arms.

It was Christmas and you were curled up on the couch with a boy who meant something to you. Allowed to be a part of a family if only for a short period.

“So little miss, you headin’ home tomorrow?” You turn to Wayne, who’s sitting in his armchair, eating a piece of the cheesecake you plated up for him with Eddie’s help.

“I was planning on it, but you know the airport gets so busy during the holidays and Robin’s still gonna be here so…I think I might just stay till New Year, actually.”

Eddie’s head snaps from the TV set towards you. He grips your hand a little tighter to get your attention.

“Is that right?”

You turn to him, “Yeah. Are you–are you gonna be around?”

“No,” he shakes his head, frowning in that way that’s starting to make your heart flutter, “I gotta work. Lotta damsels in distress needin’ me to rescue them from the side of the road.” You feel the heat creep up your neck as Wayne rolls his eyes at his nephew.

“Wanna ride shotgun?”

~ THE END ~

Tagging: @eddieslooneymoonie, @micheledawn1975 – thank you for asking!

[izzywantscheesecake]

the gingerbread competition

Pairing: Hobie Brown x GN! Reader 🕸🕷🎸 Quick Synopsis: Hobie and Y/N compete with Miles and Gwen to see who can make the best gingerbread house. Tags: Use of Y/N, no specific physical description of the reader, reader can be male/female or none, friends to lovers, Romantic tension between Hobie and Reader, Implied MilesxGwen, fluff, Christmas themed

Hobie Brown didn’t celebrate Christmas.

He didn’t hate Jesus or was part of a different religion, in fact, he preferred to keep himself unlabeled in terms of his religious ideology, but he just thought the meaning of Christmas had lost its definition in the past few decades.

Essentially, Christmas existed to celebrate the birth of Jesus by sharing thoughtful gifts and spending time with loved ones. 

But the ‘spending time with loved ones’ part had been erased and the holiday was dumbed down to seeing whoever could get another person the most expensive gift without any thought.

So he didn’t fully celebrate it.

Sure, he’d make his friends a handmade gift they were sure to like and he wouldn’t be rude and reject a gift, but he would never partake in the usual activities like hanging the mistletoe, buying a christmas tree, or building a..

“..Gingerbread house! Let’s make gingerbread houses! And it can be a competition, too,” You grinned.

It wasn’t actually Christmas day, it was two days before. But this was the only day all of you could hang out before attending to plans you actually had on ol' Christmastide.

It was just you, Hobie, Gwen, and Miles, sitting on Hobie’s couch at his flat in his dimension. He mainly resided in his boat, but it was too cold to stay there that month.

“I don’t know, Y/N. I mean, those gingerbread houses are usually super expensive to buy at the market,” Hobie said, crossing his arms.

“Yeah, they are. So we can just make them ourselves. I mean, you practically got everything we need in your pantry besides frosting and candy.. Okay, maybe we will have to go outside and get some supplies,” Gwen shrugged.

“Ugh, really? It’s mad brick out, don’t you see all that snow?” 

Miles pointed to the window, showing everyone the winter wonderland that once used to be the streets of Camden Town.

“We got coats, we’ll be fine. So, all in favor of making gingerbread houses, raise your hand!” You said, lifting up your hand immediately.

Gwen and Miles both raised their hands, albeit Miles more reluctantly. Hobie kept his arms crossed, scoffing.

“It’s three against one. We’re doing it.”

Hobie dropped the pose. “Fair, I guess. But I get to pick the movie we watch once we’re done.”

“You’re gonna pick Freaky Friday, and not even the Lindsay Lohan version,” Gwen sighed.

“Who?”

“Anyways, to save money and dishes, don’t you think we should be in teams of two?” Asked Miles.

The four of you decided on your team names. You and Hobie would be "The Barely Adults" vs Miles and Gwen with "Stuck in Algebra II."

There were many different stores along the main streets of the neighborhood, so your group and the other group spread out, agreeing to stay in the neighborhood.

You and Hobie stepped into a candy store a few blocks away from his flat, and were immediately greeted by the warm air of a fully heated establishment and the scent of various confectionaries and ice cream.

A happy looking woman sat by the front counter, reading the daily newspaper. She made eye contact with Hobie, and you watched as the wrinkles in her face became more prominent the bigger her smile got.

"Hobart? Is that you? My, my, you've gotten so tall!"

You snorted, noticing the slight embarrassment that had planted itself on Hobie's face. His expression quickly shifted into a smirk.

"Mrs. Winters.. You just saw me at the farmer's market a few weeks ago."

"I know, I know. But every time I see you, you get bigger. It feels as if just yesterday I was making you and your mates stay behind and sweep my store for stealing all the gobstoppers."

"Well, that's not surprising," You inquired out loud.

"Whatever. We were jobless, rambunctious kids."

Mrs. Winters turned her attention to you, still keeping that friendly smile she had on her face when you walked in.

"And who's this lovely person you've brought in with you today?"

Hobie slung his arm around you, crouching down slightly to meet your height. His face was dangerously close to your right cheek.

"They're my friend, Y/N."

Mrs. Winters stared at the two of you skeptically.

"Oh. Well, alright, dearie. It's a pleasure to meet you, Y/N."

"Nice to meet you too, Mrs. Winters, was it?"

"Mhm."

She turned to the giant selection of candy behind her. There was practically every sweet you could think of stored, from jellies, taffies, licorice, rock candies, chocolates, and even freezers full of whipped cream and frosting, which was convenient.

"So, what do you feel like buying today?"

"Anything that would make a gingerbread house taste good."

"We should get candy corn."

You stuck your tongue out in disgust. "The hell kind of suggestion is that? You eat gingerbread with candy corn?"

"Yes. I like to be unconventional."

Mrs. Winters snickered. "Well, if you guys are making a gingerbread house, I'd say just get the regular bunch, like gumdrops and whatnot."

You and Hobie walked out of the candy shop with a tub of frosting and random ziplog bags full of different candy. Some of them you were going to put on the house, and some were just gonna be sitting at Hobie's place in general.

When you got back to his flat, Miles and Gwen weren't anywhere to be found.

"Huh? Where are they? We just said to get candy and come back."

"They're kids in love. They're probably using this time to have a de-facto date."

"Well, that makes it easier for us to win. I guess you could say we're also having a de-facto date, right?" You joked.

Hobie turned to you with a sensual grin on his face before setting his boots to the side and walking towards the kitchen.

Before you left the store, Mrs. Winters had given you and Hobie a recipe for gingerbread houses, as none of you were going to buy the cheap ones that always tasted like plastic.

-

"Okay, preheat the oven to about 375 degrees fahrenheit." You said, reading off the sheet of paper.

"Celsius, please."

"Oh, yeah. Sorry. Um, that'd be around.. 190? Yeah. That sounds about right. And keep it in there for three to four minutes."

"Mhm." He closed the oven door.

On the corner of Hobie's mouth was a small patch of frosting, it presumably got there when you two tried to open the package at first and it exploded.

"Hey, look at me. You've got something on your face."

You moved closer to him, using your thumb to wipe the frosting off. Once it was gone, you stopped cupping the side of his cheek, and now you were both looking at each other, face to face.

You stayed like that for a few seconds, watching how his eyes softened the longer you two stayed in that position.

Suddenly, the door kicked open.

"We're back!" Miles yelled. You heard the shuffle of multiple bags and quickly moved away from Hobie to see what was going on over the counter.

Gwen was holding a bag from a candy store on one arm, and on the other arm were bags definitely acquired from a boutique.

Miles also had a candy bag, but held a bag from a Nike outlet in the same hand.

"So I was right. You two did go on a side quest. Thought we agreed to stay in the 'hood."

"I mean.. Technically, we did stay in the neighborhood... The outskirts of it."

"Hey, did you guys already start without us?!"

"What else were we supposed to do? Sit and talk?"

You and Hobie laughed in unison, as Gwen and Miles scrambled to put everything they bought away.

-

After a few hours, both teams had finished their gingerbread houses. Miles and Gwen had opted for a cutesy, traditional design, while the architecture on your house was flimsy, and you ran out of gumdrops at some point.

Hobie also used black food dye to create makeshift graffiti on the walls.

"So, how are we gonna judge who won?"

"Shit.. I never thought of that."

"Wouldn't it be whichever one tastes better?"

"Then ours totally won!"

"You didn't even taste it yet.."

"Guys, guys. Let's all agree that the true winner here was the power of friendship."

"Bro.."

"I'm playing!"

In the end, unfortunately, Miles' joke had some truth to it. There was no winner, no prize, no anything. But everyone all had fun that day, just bonding over making a confectionary house.

After being forced to watch the 1976 Freaky Friday, Miles and Gwen pretty much were knocked out.

They laid down across from each other on air mattresses in Hobie's living room.

As for you, you decided to take up the couch.

You were in Hobie's bathroom, brushing your teeth, when you saw him standing behind you, leaning his lanky body on the doorframe.

"Hey."

You rinsed your mouth out, drying yourself with a paper towel, before turning to face him.

"Hi."

"Did you have fun today?"

"Yeah, of course I did. It's always fun doing Christmasy stuff. You get the hype now, huh?"

He smiled, a genuine smile. "Mhm. We should bake more together."

"We?"

"Yes, we."

You walked away from the sink and stood across from him in the doorframe.

"Look what we're standing under."

He looked up, surprise evident on his face.

"Did you put that there?"

"No, I think it was Gwen."

He sighed. "Well, I ain't even brush my teeth yet. I don't want to do that to you."

You felt your heart twinge slightly, though he was right.

"Oh, no no. It's fine."

He nodded.

As soon as Hobie closed the door, you were out. You got onto the couch as quickly and quietly as you could.

You were mortified as to what you tried to do.

You thought that it was the perfect timing and all your questions had been answered, but you guessed they weren't.

Without moving an inch, you listened to every little movement coming from the bathroom and faced your head away from the hallway when you heard the lights turn off and the door open.

However, instead of Hobie's footsteps turning to the left, closer to his room, you listened as he walked down the hallway towards the living room.

His footsteps got closer and closer, until eventually, you were able to recognize him standing right in front of you.

He leaned down slowly, placing a peck to your cheek.

"Night."

A/N: i'm gon be on life support for the next two days cause why did this take 7 hours for about 1759 words :sob:

[sidekick-hero]

to the rhythm of eternity

(steddie | explicit | 16.8k | tags: Modern Setting, Meet-Cute, Established Relationship, Long-Distance Relationship, Tooth-Rotting Fluff, Smut, Christmas Fluff)

This was written for the STuad server gift exchange as a gift for @scarcrossdlvrs 💜 I hope I did your 'Long Distance' prompt justice, Bee!

December 2023

"I can't wait for you to get here, Stevie."

Eddie's voice sounds muffled through the headset, almost too quiet with all the noise around him. The video quality is shitty too, because while it's not even noon for Steve in Chicago, the sun has already set in London and Eddie is walking to the Phoenix Theater to start setting up the sound for the evening show. Steve can see the streetlights in the background casting shadows across Eddie's face. It's a busy street Eddie's walking down and people keep bumping into him, the chatter around him mixing with the sound of passing cars. From the looks of it, it must be Piccadilly, which means Eddie is almost at his current place of employment.

"Me too. God, I miss seeing your stupidly pretty face outside of a tiny screen with a shitty solution." Steve's sigh is tinged with longing instead of annoyance. It's not Eddie's fault that he had to cut back on the bandwidth for their video calls when he was out. The six-hour time difference only made it more difficult for them to both be home with decent broadband to talk. Or do other things.

Eddie grinned down at the screen, and even with the poor solution and bad lighting, Steve could see the pleased expression on his boyfriend's face. "Aww, you think I'm pretty? Stevie, I had no idea." Eddie coos, making it sound like a joke. Steve knows it's not, not really. Which is stupid, because Eddie is one of the most attractive guys Steve has ever seen, with his big brown doe eyes and full lips and interesting nose, tattoos littering the skin of his lithe body. If Steve were there right now, he would grab Eddie and kiss him silly, showing him exactly how pretty Steve thought he was.

"Baby, you know how beautiful I think you are. And how sexy and sweet and funny..." Steve teases, keeping it light, while reassuring his boyfriend that for Steve, Eddie is the best thing that has ever happened to him.

"Okay, okay, big boy, I get it. I guess I just need you to show me when you get here." He waggles his eyebrows suggestively and winks, looking like the biggest dork in existence with his giant headphones and his nose red from the cold and that beloved toothy grin that Steve needs to kiss, like, yesterday.

He quickly scanned the hallway outside his office to make sure no one was coming in before lowering his voice to that deep, seductive tone he usually only uses when they're both under the sheets with their cocks on their hands. "Oh baby, believe me, when I finally get my hands on you, I'm going to show you as many times as you can take it. And then some if you're good."

His words have the desired effect, as Eddie pauses for a moment to put a hand to his face before pressing his phone to his chest and turning the screen black. Steve can make out the faint "jesus h. christ" over the noise, probably because he knew how Eddie would react after two years with him.

Eddie doesn't stop for long though, pushed forward by the crowd around him. "You're a menace, Harrington. A bloody menace, I tell ya."

"Oh, baby, I love it when you talk British to me." It's said in a teasing voice, but there's some truth to it. Eddie's accent had been one of the first things that had piqued Steve's interest when they first met. It's no secret that he loves it when his boyfriend uses it to rile him up even more.

"You've got some weird kinks, Stevie."

"Only for you," Steve says and then adds with a voice that is only for Eddie's ears these days, "I can't wait to show you all the dirty things I think about when I'm alone in bed with my hard cock in my hand, wishing it was your hand or your mouth or, fuck, your ass gripping it tight." He doesn't have to play up the moan that follows, because it's been five months since they last saw each other, and Steve is almost certain he's going to come in his pants the moment Eddie gives him a hug.

"Bloody hell, I'm in public! You can't just... There are rules, Steven. Rules." Judging by the edge of desperation in Eddie's voice, he's not alone in his need.

"Guess you'll have to punish me then, huh? Show me my place."

"Oh, look, I'm at the theater. My place of employment. Guess we'll have to table this lovely discussion until you get here and we have some privacy to talk this over more thoroughly."

"Can't wait, baby. Love you."

"I love you too, sweetheart."

Only one more day before he can hold Eddie in his arms again. Despite all the dirty talk, that's what Steve is looking forward to the most. He can almost feel the comforting weight of Eddie against him, the solid and warm body wrapped tightly in his arms, Eddie's breath on his neck and Steve's nose buried in his dark curls.

With another longing sigh, Steve looks at the clock on the wall before picking up his pen again to go over the remaining paperwork on his desk. Eight hours until his flight to London, he might as well get some last minute work done before he takes the rest of the year off to stay with Eddie.

READ THE REST ON AO3

[lolahasmoxie]

our story will be different - E.M.

Pairing - Eddie Munson x y/n

Count - 988 words

Warning - angst, but ends in fluff.

Notes - Popped into my head and wouldn't go away. Also, thanks for loving the last couple of head cannons I wrote. You sure do know how to make a hyper-fixated gal feel special.

Cold sheets woke Eddie up at the ungodly hour of 3:27 am. He grumbled to himself as he got out of your warm bed. Peeking his head out of the bedroom, he could see a faint light in the kitchen. Well, that was one mystery solved. Usually, you slept like the dead; once you were out, you were out until the sun's rays started to burn into your bedroom.

He silently padded down the hallway, not wanting to startle you, and felt a slight smile on his lips as he spied on you. You were seated at the small table, a mug of steaming tea in your hand. You were wearing his old boxers and an oversized shirt you had stolen from your dad when you were a pre-teen. On your feet were the slouchy socks Wayne had gifted you for Christmas. His heart felt like it could burst; anyone who saw him would immediately peg him for the love-dumb fool that he was.

His happiness at seeing you was shortlived when he noticed the thousand-yard stare in your eyes. You didn't have that look when you came home, even though he could tell something was off. You had been out with some of your girlfriends. Your best friend had received a new promotion, and it had been a while since you'd all had the chance to let loose and catch up. You had come home shortly after midnight, buzzed and adorably affectionate the way you were when you had one too many. You had quickly given him the highlights of your evening, and after a short makeout session, you had both gone to bed.

"If you stare at that wall any harder, you're gonna put a hole through it," he said softly as he approached the table. His worry grew when your lips quirked up, but your eyes stared straight ahead.

"You should be in bed; it's late."

"Could say the same about you," he said as he sat beside you. He studied you briefly with an elbow on the table, chin in his hand. Messy hair and a sad expression on your face, he worried about what could be hurting you at this hour. "I didn't do something, did I? Cause if I did..."

"No, baby," you interjected quickly. Your eyes finally met his, and you gave him your best happy smile as you took his hand in yours. You brought his hand to your lips, gently kissing his knuckles before placing it back on the table but not letting go. "Just a lot on my mind."

"You wanna talk about it?" he asked. You knew he would never press you for information, and you sighed heavily before casting your eyes down to your joined hands.

"Kai thinks that Chris might be cheating on her."

Eddie let out a heavy sigh at the news. Your best friend had been with her boyfriend for five years, and they had been engaged for almost a year and were planning the wedding. Eddie liked Kai; she had always been kind and friendly to him, but he loved how protective she was over you.

"Jesus," he murmured.

"She's figuring out how she wants to confront him. I knew they'd been having some problems, but I never thought he would actually do something like that to her. I mean....". Your voice drifted off.

"What?" he asked gently. You paused, the intrusive thoughts plaguing you all night finally coming out.

"What if that's us?"

"Baby," he said as he gently squeezed your hand. "No way, that will never be us."

"You don't know that," you said, your voice on the cusp of crying. "I used to think that Kai and Chris were the one couple that would never break up, and now, shit, if they can't make it, what's to say that won't be us in a year?"

"It'll never happen," Eddie said, his shaggy hair moving as he shook his head.

"You have psychic powers I don't know about?" you teased.

"Don't need them," he said with certainty. "First off, we aren't Kai and Chris; we are us, and we will never end up like them."

"Fucks sake, you play guitar in a band, Eddie. You expect me to believe that you would never cheat?" Eddie chuckled as he scooted his chair closer to you.

"Princess, all other women became pussy non grata the minute I asked you to be mine. I love you, and only you." This time he was the one to raise your joined hands, and you felt your heart melt when his lips touched your knuckles.

"Really?" You should have known that Eddie's dramatic ass would never give you a simple answer. Your breath hitched when he got down on both knees before you, taking your hands in his.

"I would love you even if you were a worm. I will love you when we're old gray farts telling everyone about our grandkids. I will love you until there isn't a breath left in my body. I'll love in this life and the next. Understand?"

"Fuck, you really know how to make a statement," you said as you sniffled at Eddie's assurances. He gave you that boyish grin that made your heart swell as he reached out and brushed an errant tear from your cheek. He quickly stood up and held a hand out to help you up.

"Only the best for my baby," he said with a grin. "Now, I know it's late, but since we don't have to work tomorrow, maybe you could let me show you how much I love you." You couldn't help but giggle as he wiggled his eyebrows at you. How could you say no to him?

So you didn't. You simply let him lead you back to your bedroom and let him cover you like the night. He was right; your story was going to be different.

[icequeenbae]

Winter Outside (m) BBH

Part of Series: Love Coach [Lev.1] (m)

Full Masterlist: Love Coach series masterlist

Pairing: Baekhyun x Reader

ITnerd!Baekhyun, established relationship, slice of life, fluff domestic af, smut

Warnings: explicit content, unprotected sex, s o f t

Word Count: ~1.8k

Author’s Note: Well HELLO my dear sweetheartsss~ I know I took a while BUT I am finally coming with an early Christmas gift to all of you LoveCoach!Baek lovers!! Trust me, it was worth waiting for winter to get this 🔥😊 Also yay for the 500+ of you following my crazy little blog, I'm very happy to welcome each and every one of you here. Lots of other things coming, so stick around and let's go along this journey together 💕 Also just 1.5 months until Baek comes back, what in the world am I gonna do?? Spontaneously combust??

P. S. This story is part of series tagged above. I recommend starting with the series, however, you can probably enjoy this as a separate piece:)

© Please do not copy/ post on other platforms without permission.

Summary: Working from home would be much more comfortable if it wasn’t so damn cold in your apartment. But there’s two of you, and multiple ways to keep warm.

Network Tags: @superm-net @bbh-net @exo-writers-net

‘It’s not working, why isn’t it working?’ You grumbled, kicking the small heater with the tip of your fluffy house slipper.

An ‘ouch’ followed, and Baekhyun lifted his head to watch you jump on one foot.

‘Baby,’ he scolded, readjusting his computer glasses. ‘I told you, it’s out for good. The new one will arrive tomorrow.’

‘Tomorrow is a day too late! I’m going to freeze to death today,’ you exclaimed, still eyeing the non-functioning machine. ‘I haven’t been this useless since my intern years. We’ve spent what, half a day trying to fix this thing? Ugh!’

Turning around, you met his grinning eyes.

‘It’s not funny,’ you pouted, still stepping closer to him, as if he had a magnetic field around him. ‘You know I hate when it’s too cold.’

‘I know.’ He confirmed, lifting the heavy duvet off of his shoulder to invite you to his little cave. ‘You’ve been groaning all day.’

‘Damn right!’ You huffed, diving forward and sinking into his side just as he wrapped the comforter around you. ‘Oh my god, you’re so warm…’

He grunted as you curled into him, icy fingers digging into his waist.

‘Agh- do you have any blood flow in there?’ He nagged, putting his laptop down to cover your hands with his warm palms.

‘No,’ you mumbled, nuzzling the crook of his neck.

The ice-cold tip of your nose gave him a start.

‘Jesus, Y/N! Why are you all frozen already?’

You bellyached, digging deeper into his body in a quest for revitalizing warmth.

‘I told you, I can’t deal with these temperatures… And you’re a living heater,’ you added softly, pressing your lips to his hot smooth skin.

‘Y/N…’ Baekhyun sighed, glancing at his laptop. ‘I need to finish something real quick-’

‘No.’

You protested firmly, attaching yourself to him like a giant snuggly koala. The sound you made was probably just as scary.

Your boyfriend’s palm ran up and down your back slowly, and you shivered from the pleasurable sensation.

‘I promise to carry on my service as your heater right after I send out thi-’

‘Baek-hyun-n.’ Your voice was low, and he gulped, looking at his desktop almost in desperation.

The screen reflected in his lenses.

‘But this is important-’

‘Aren’t I important?’ You counterattacked.

It wasn’t that you had no respect for his job. But you knew he was way too responsible, and the prototype he was finishing up was probably due in another week, if not two. He could take his sweet time perfecting it tomorrow, after your heating was back up. Today, however, with your working hours well over, he needed to drop his bone and focus his attention on something else.

‘You’re the most important,’ he responded without hesitation, and you couldn’t help but smile in satisfaction. ‘But can I just-’

‘I need you,’ you muttered through a pout, and Baekhyun’s cache instantly cleared, all things IT erased at once.

It was a dirty trick, yes, but you didn’t care since your survival was at stake here. If he was the main source of warmth in this house, you weren’t going to share him with his laptop anymore. Letting him ‘finish up’ was out of the question as well. Knowing him… he’d stay on it for hours until he’d be ready to send it to his supervisor.

‘What is it, my little cinnamon bun?’ He snickered as you pinched his side for the mockery.

‘Make me warm,’ you demanded, arms still tight around his waist.

If there was a way to tangle, or melt yourself deeper into him, you would’ve gladly tried it.

Baekhyun shut his work laptop, barely able to move it to the nightstand with you gripping him with all you got. As soon as his precious PC was safely tucked away, his attention was on you again, and you felt his lips press to the crown of your head.

You murmured in response, moving your cheek up to look at him. His gaze met yours with more warmth, and you slowly sat up, braced by his arms. Not saying a word, you lifted your hand up to trace the rim of his glasses before removing them.

Baekhyun licked his lips in meek anticipation and stayed silent. His palms continued stroking your back leisurely, not allowing the cool air outside your cocoon to bite your skin.

You caressed his face before placing a playful smooch onto his cheek, eliciting a giggle. His arms were so snug and comfortable that you almost forgot about the winter outside, breathing his calming scent in and planting more featherlight kisses onto his skin.

‘Mmh, what’s this…’ Baekhyun’s question trailed off as your lips made contact with his, not colliding fully, only teasing.

His face followed yours, trying to gain more contact, and you moved down his jaw to leave a small mark on his sensitive neck. Soon giving into his attempts to catch your mouth, you leaned in for a kiss. An array of goosebumps ran up your spine while his tongue danced with yours. Your kiss was slow, dragged out, and you were almost sinking into this cozy mess of you and him and the thick warm covers around you.

‘B-Baek-hyun…’ You stuttered impatiently, inviting him to take matters into his own hands.

Lying back on the pillows with you still on top of his thighs, he lowered his hands from your back to your hips. You jerked them forward, pleasantly surprised by the flutter of his lashes and the hazy look in his eyes. He was always so quick to be affected.

‘Come ‘ere,’ Baekhyun whispered, and you bent forward to meet his lips again before he took his turn grinding on you.

This time, however, he held your hips steady to increase the friction. You let out a tiny whimper that nearly made him lose his mind. Noticing how strong his grip on you became, you swayed your ass again, amplifying the effect of his movements.

If you were to pay attention, you’d have noticed the instantaneous spike in temperature caused by your heated bodies. But at that moment, you were consumed by the firm grind of your hips and Baekhyun’s panting.

‘Shit,’ you gritted, biting your lip as you noticed the flush in his cheeks. ‘I really want to get down to it… But won’t we get cold without clothes?’

Baekhyun chuckled.

‘You think I won’t make you break a sweat without this hoodie?’ His hands, as if wanting to prove a point, quickly rid you of said clothing item.

Giving him a skeptical look as you fixed your hair afterwards, you shook your head.

‘The tee stays.’

‘As you wish,’ he agreed, coercing you into lying down next to him. ‘But the pants have to go.’

Gasping at the loss of your clothes, you quickly wrapped yourself around your loveable heater.

‘Babe, I need to take them off too…’ Baekhyun murmured as you nuzzled his neck again, trying to collect his warmth.

‘Just roll them down, who cares? I don’t care,’ you muttered, melting as his plump lips examined your skin.

‘Hm? I thought you hated clothed sex,’ he teased, reaching down to get rid of his sweats.

‘Now I’m preserving my life. Otherwise… who’d want to keep clothes on when their boyfriend has a body like that?’

‘Stop teasing,’ Baekhyun pouted, kicking his pants off under the duvet. ‘You know I haven’t been exercising properly while working remotely. And with the delicious food you’ve been feeding me…’

‘So? I’ve gained some weight too. More than ‘some’, even.’

Your hand found his length, making him gasp.

‘Not a fair comparison. It only made you… sexier,’ he sighed, and you snickered.

‘You think I don’t find you sexy?’

Squeezing his already hard cock, you watched him run his hand through his hair frantically. He was so easy.

‘Y/N…’ He latched onto your hip as you pressed his leaking tip to your folds and rubbed it against them languidly.

‘What? Eager to get to your workout?’ Your teasing was then interrupted by his impatient thrust.

Whimpering in surprise, you gripped his forearm to steady yourself. Baekhyun actually liked to start slow, giving you a taste of what those hips could do, and slow worked fine for you. Still wrapped around his waist, you enjoyed the heat of his body and opted to laze about, letting your boyfriend do all the work for tonight.

The position wasn’t the most comfortable, but you endured lying on your side, unwilling to interrupt the flow. Baekhyun’s hand crept under your (actually, his) shirt, exploring the curves of your body vigorously. Closing your eyes, you tensed your leg, pressing him closer to you. This was perfect. You were finally hot rather than cold, and your lover’s sporadic breaths in your ear only made you heat up further.

But Baekhyun had a different plan for you. Pulling you up to get you on top of his thighs, he gripped at your waist to hold you in place while thrusting.

‘Baek-’ You cried out, a sudden clench in your core catching you off guard.

He was getting you there so fast.

‘Fuck-’ He gritted, eyes tightly shut as he rammed into you at full speed.

‘Shit, don’t slow down…’ Whimpering, you went along with his pace, meeting his jerky movements halfway.

‘Agh- damn, Y/N-ie, you need to come right now, or else-’

‘Or what?’ You panted, breath uneven from the hits of his pelvis.

He growled, fucking into you with no mercy now, and you could only gasp for air with your release quickly approaching.

‘A- ah, god!’ You went into high pitch as the heaviness in your lower belly went off with an explosive orgasm.

Baekhyun sighed in relief, watching you get finished off by his hips, and focused on his own sensations. Before you regained understanding of your surroundings, he was holding onto you again and flooding your insides with warmth.

Both of you took the next few minutes to just breathe and wait for the whirlwind inside your bodies to die down. Baekhyun’s hands were back to caressing your spine, and you hummed content with your cheek pressed to his chest and arm hugging his shoulder.

The silence lasted strangely long, but neither of you were disturbed by it. Being in the position you were in now, you couldn’t be bothered to maintain the after-sex conversation.

Finally warm and comfy, you couldn’t help but blink sleepily as you looked up to face him. Baekhyun smiled down at you with that soft smile of his, but then his expression faltered, letting you know he was thinking something naughty.

‘Out of all the ways to keep warm… You chose the best one.’

Masterlist

A/N: Thank you for reading!! I miss replying to your asks and reblogs, so I hope we have fun chatting after you finish this piece ❤️

[joelscruff]

What with the holidays recently occurring I was wondering if you could share your thoughts on what FOF!Joel and our gentle little lamb of reader do for holiday traditions like Christmas and New Years?

Like I feel like she loves Christmas (despite living somewhere she likely hasn’t really experienced a white Christmas with snow and cold weather). Like sure growing up it was about it being Jesus’s birthday and all that in her household and going to church BUT she really loves the lights, the decorations, making cookies, and buying gifts/making gifts. (I can totally see her making Joel a gift - and him being flustered AF).

Or for New Years Joel wants to take her somewhere special - watch the ball drop. But when they get to the hotel they just end boning nonstop and get too tired before midnight and miss it entirely 😭

all of these thoughts are so soft 😭 i agree, i think she associates christmas with a lot of pressure & guilt (as she associates a lot of things) and i don't think her christmases have ever really had that cozy and loving vibe she's always craved deep down. so joel makes it his mission to give her the best christmas and new year's, indulging her in absolutely everything she wants to do and kind of living vicariously through her happiness and joy.

i can see a moment early on christmas morning - her suddenly feeling a wave of guilt wash over her as they open presents and kind of softly murmuring to herself, "i should be at church". and joel pulling her in close and telling her that there's nothing she should be doing other than enjoying her christmas the way she wants to. and she nuzzles in and lets him hold her and after a few minutes she's okay again. and i love the idea of her making him something 🥺 is it cheesy as hell to think maybe she writes a little song on the guitar for him (she's been practicing), and he's shook because - guess what - he wrote a song for her. and then they probably end up fucking immediately afterward lbr

the new year's one sounds VERY accurate lmao. i think they'd get all dressed up to go out but she just looks so fucking beautiful that he lifts her dress up and goes down on her right then and there. and that's their whole evening gone cause once they get started....

[corrodedhawkins]

Under my Tree

Pairing: Eddie Munson x Steve Harrington

Content warnings: 18+ (minors DNI) language, fluff, mechanic!Eddie, handjobs, blowjobs, anal fingering, spit, rimming, cum swallowing, praise.

Authors note: Was I listening to the NSYNC Christmas album while writing this? Yes. So I named this after my favorite song.

Wham’s Last Christmas blares from the speakers, on repeat for the last hour, much to the neighbors dismay. Steve dances around the apartment, finishing up decorating for Christmas.

It’s him and Eddie’s first Christmas living together, and he wants to make it special. He knows Eddie didn’t grow up with much more than a tiny tree in the corner with a gift or two underneath, and he’s determined to make this the best Christmas he’s ever had.

Steve’s gone all out, buying a massive tree, fully decorated with lights and ornaments and tinsel. A large pile of presents lay under the tree, all addressed to his boyfriend.

The song ends and starts again just as Steve puts the final string of lights on the tree. He sings along loudly, not hearing Eddie come through the front door and hang his coat on the hook.

“Merry Christmas”, Eddie whispers along with the song, right into Steve’s ear.

Steve yelps, spinning around to swat at his chest. “Jesus Christ, babe! Don’t do that.”

Shutting off the music, Eddie shakes the snow out of his hair, laughing when drops of icy cold water hit Steve’s cheeks. His hands settle on Steve’s hips to pull him closer, nuzzling into his neck. “Sorry, sorry. Couldn’t help myself.”

With an unimpressed huff, Steve leans into his hold, wrapping his arms around his neck. “How was the shop?”

“Slow, got off early”, Eddie murmurs against Steve’s jaw, placing soft kisses there. “Couldn’t wait to see you.”

“Oh yeah?”, he asks breathlessly, eyes fluttering shut.

“Mhmm”, Eddie hums, hands sliding from Steve’s hips to palm his ass. “I remember being promised a present before I left this morning”

Steve bites his lip, grinding himself into Eddie, the hands on his ass gently urging him forward. “I-I have to move to show you your surprise”, he gasps.

Releasing him with a grumble, Eddie pecks a quick kiss to his lips. “Fine.”

Steve plugs the tree in and turns off the lights, standing back to survey his work. He glances towards Eddie, a small smile on his face. “So, what do you think?”

The room is illuminated by the tree, bathing them both in a warm glow. On top of the tree sits an ornate star, lit up with dozens of twinkling lights. It’s absolutely beautiful.

“Baby”, Eddie breathes, eyes shining with affection. “You did this for me?”

“Well, yeah. I know Christmas has never been special for you or anything. Wanted to make this year different.”

Eddie comes up behind Steve, wrapping his arms around him, chin hooked over his shoulder. “Thank you.” He’s not going to cry. He’s not.

“You like it?” Steve rests his hands on Eddie’s forearms, squeezing gently before turning around to face him.

“I love it.” Eddie grabs the front of Steve’s shirt in his fist, pressing his lips to his, softly at first. The kiss quickly grows heated, Eddie sucking on Steve’s tongue, shoving one thick thigh between his legs.

Steve bucks against his leg, moaning against his mouth when Eddie pulls him closer, grinding his growing erection against his hip. With one last fierce kiss, Steve pulls away, mumbling bedroom.

“Hold on.” Eddie grabs a few blankets and a pillow from the basket next to the couch, laying them out on the floor in front of the tree. “Wanna enjoy my present a little longer.”

Eddie lays back and places the pillow under his head, grabbing at him to haul him down into his lap. Steve giggles before crashing their lips together, making Eddie feel warm and loved and happy.

He smiles into the kiss, his matching giggle turning into a deep groan when Steve bites down on his bottom lip, grinding his ass down onto Eddie’s erection.

Pulling away from his mouth, Eddie fists his hands in Steve’s sweater, finding it difficult to speak. As soon as Eddie’s lips leave his, Steve is attacking his neck, nipping and sucking and kissing every inch of skin he can get to.

“Mmph, babe”, Eddie tries to pull Steve away from his neck with no luck. He sighs, flipping their positions so quickly it takes Steve a second to register what’s happening.

Landing on his back with a quiet oof, Steve looks up to find Eddie hovering over him with a wolfish grin on his face. “Are you gonna let me thank you properly for my present?”

Lifting the front of a Steve’s sweater, he bunches the fabric up to sit just under his chin, licking a hot, wet stripe down from his sternum to his belt. He sucks a bruise just below his belly button, making Steve squirm.

“I-yeah”, Steve breathes, lip bitten between his teeth.

Eddie shoots him a lopsided grin as he pops the button on Steve’s jeans, easing them and his boxers down and off, immediately wrapping his hand around Steve’s erection, leaning in to mouth at the head.

The first swipe of his tongue over his cock pulls a groan deep from Steve’s chest, pushing a few stray strands of hair out of his face. His hands bury themselves in Eddie’s messy curls, settling on either side of his head, guiding the agonizingly slow bob of Eddie’s head.

Steve does his best to keep his hips still, losing the battle when Eddie keeps his languid pace. He needs his cock as far down Eddie’s throat as he can take him.

“Please”, Steve whines, hips twitching up, hands starting to push Eddie’s head down rather than only guiding him.

“So needy”, Eddie murmurs against the inside of Steve’s thigh when he pulls off, placing gentle kisses there that make him shiver. “Don’t worry, sweetheart. I’ll take care of you.”

Nodding in understanding, Steve settles back and tries to relax, knowing Eddie’s got him, as always. His hand reaches down to card through Eddie’s hair gently, whispering a soft love you.

Eddie smiles, nuzzling against Steve’s thigh, the downy hair there tickling his cheek. “Love you too, Stevie.”

With one last kiss, he pulls away from Steve’s leg to take the head of his cock back into his mouth, sucking softly.

Steve sighs, scratching his nails gently against Eddie’s scalp, gasping when he hums around him at the sensation.

“Open.” Eddie mouths at his shaft, reaching up to thrust two fingers against Steve’s lips. He immediately sucks them into his mouth, tongue laving over the pads of his fingers.

“Good boy”, Eddie praises. He pulls his fingers from Steve’s mouth with a soft pop, pressing firmly against his hole, not yet breaching. Steve whines and squirms, trying to get Eddie’s fingertips to sink into him.

“Shh, let me take my time with you.” Eddie nuzzles against the soft skin of his balls, pressing wet, open mouth kisses to them. “Let me show you just how much I love my present.” He dips down to lick a slow stripe over Steve’s hole, punching a low groan from his chest, “let me show you how much I love you.”

“‘Kay”, Steve agrees breathlessly, mewling when Eddie does it again.

His fingers dig into the plush of his ass, spreading him so that he can watch Steve’s hole clench around nothing before he dips down again. Eddie eats him out teasingly at first, slowly spearing tongue into his hole as far as he can reach.

With a sharp cry, Steve is slapping a hand against Eddie’s shoulder, his nails digging into the fabric of his oil-stained t-shirt. “Fuck”, he breathes, head lolling back against the pillow.

Eddie’s tongue laps at his hole insistently, his hand reaching up to wrap around Steve’s cock. It lays hard against his stomach, the ruddy tip leaking precum, throbbing when Eddie squeezes his fist around him.

The flicking of his tongue syncs with the rhythm of his hand on Steve’s length, making sparks fly behind his eyelids. With a deep groan, his hips buck up into Eddie’s fist before he presses himself down onto his tongue.

Steve nearly wails when he feels the very tip of one of Eddie’s fingers breach his hole alongside his tongue. “Yes”, he hisses. “More.”

Eddie pulls back and spits on Steve’s hole, two fingers plunging in to press directly into his sweet spot.

“Hah-”, Steve whines, fists twisting in the sheets below him.

“Good?”, Eddie prompts, brow quirked curiously.

Steve nods and licks his lips, unfocused eyes shining down at Eddie. “Yeah. S’fucking good.”

With a smirk, Eddie takes the length of Steves cock into his mouth and down his throat in one smooth bow of his head. He braces for the inevitable buck of Steve’s hips as he nearly screams, holding his hip with his free hand.

Two fingers continue to fuck into Steve’s fluttering hole, the telltale signs of his orgasm approaching evident to his boyfriend. He clenches around his fingers, a steady stream of whines and moans bubbling up from deep within his chest.

“Please, honey. C’mon, cum for me”, Eddie pulls off for a second and begs, as if Steve would be doing him a favor by coming apart under him.

Steve bites his lip and nods, eyes squeezed shut as he teeters on the edge of his orgasm. “Fuck-baby”, is all he can grit out before his release crashes over him, shaking and crying out as Eddie takes him as far as he can, swallowing every drop of his cum.

When they’ve both caught their breath, Eddie crawls up Steve’s body to kiss him softly, giggling when Steve tries to follow his lips when he pulls away.

“Mhmm”, Steve hums, a contended smile on his face. “I take it you like your present?”, he jokes.

“Yes”, Eddie says, low and sincere. “Thank you.” He captures Steve’s lips in a kiss he hopes conveys just how much he loves him.

Tagging:

@latenightsimping @hellfirebabes @bayouteche @thefreakandthehair @munsonquinns @goldenbrownanddistasteful @sweetpeapod @ooo-protean-ooo

[familyvideostevie]

𝟭𝟮 𝗱𝗮𝘆𝘀 𝗼𝗳 𝗰𝗵𝗿𝗶𝘀𝘁𝗺𝗮𝘀: 𝗱𝗮𝘆 𝗻𝗶𝗻𝗲 

day nine: cookies with steve | fluff, 1k 12 days of christmas masterlist

Something you love about Steve is his determination. He often shocks you with how much he can make up for lack of skill with commitment when it comes to random tasks, like hanging the pictures in your new apartment or putting together your couch or trying to make chili. He's good at developing his own way of figuring things out and you love to watch it happen -- from organizing tapes to finding the perfect parking spot or this, making Christmas cookies with you. 

You're aiming for as many as you can frost before your arms fall off so that you can give a plate to at least all of the units on your floor. The dough and the baking were easy, but now you're got about 50 unfrosted cookies and you've been at it for over an hour already with no end in sight. You're both a little dirty -- Steve has flour in his hair and you have at leastone handprint on your ass. He's got something green on his nose and you reach over the counter to swipe it off with your thumb, but he doesn't break his concentration as he finishes frosting a snowflake. He's biting his lower lip and his brows are furrowed and you love him so much.

When he finishes he looks up, blinks a few times, and sends you a smile. "Thanks," he says, wrinkling his nose. "How's it looking?" You check out your pile of finished cookies which consists of some stars, bells, presents, a few Christmas trees, and plenty of snowflakes like the one he's working on now. His pile is a little smaller but his cookies are neater and you're honestly a little surprised at how good they look. 

"Yours look better than mine, Steve," you say. "You have really steady hands."

He smirks at you and you realize what kind of trap you've walked into. "These hands can do lots of things. Which you know," he adds, wiggling his eyebrows. You roll your eyes. 

"Seriously," you say. "Yours are almost too pretty to eat. How do you do that?" You point to the wavy pattern he's added to some of his stars and he shrugs. He puts down the knife he's using to spread green frosting on the tree and wipes his hand on his apron. It's deep blue and says MOM in bright red embroidered cursive, a gift from Dustin for Steve's most recent birthday. 

"It's just relaxing," he says. You've got the Christmas radio station playing in the background and the light of your own Christmas tree makes the apartment glow with a warm hue. It feels like you're in your own world, your own perfect place. "Just hanging out with you, listening to you sing along really badly --" you scoff and reach over to flick him but he catches your hand and entwines your fingers over the countertop -- "making cookies for our neighbors in our place."

You grin, the happiness rising you like an unstoppable wave. "Our place," you repeat. You keep hold of his hand as you walk around the counter to stand next to his stool, wrapping your arm around his shoulders. From here you can see the tree and the few wrapped presents beneath it. Sometimes you wake up next to Steve in your bed that you built together and you think you're going to burst. You never dreamed that life could be like this: good.

"I think we gotta try some," Steve says, leaning into your hip. He looks up at you and wraps his free arm around the tops of your thighs, tapping your leg once, twice, before he scoots back and stands. He groans and stretches and you press your palm to the strip of his lower back that shows where his shirt rides up. 

"Jesus!" he cries, jerking forward. "Your hands are cold." He turns and grabs your fingers. "Too cold to go shoving them under people's shirts." You laugh, a high, light sound that Steve always manages to pull from you and he brings your frigid fingers to his face and blows on them. 

"That's part of being a boyfriend," you tell him. "You have to sacrifice your warm skin for me."

"That so? Shoulda read the fine print, I guess." He nips at your fingers and you squeal.

"Weirdo," you say, pulling your hand free. His grin is unbelievably fond. "Eat some cookies, not me." He moves around you to pick one of the wonky looking snowflakes from the pan and you meet him over the stove with a spoonful of plain icing. You plop it on the cookie and he offers it to you. You lean in to take a bite from his hands and chew thoughtfully. 

"Pretty good," you mumble through the mouthful. Steve's eyes are sparkly as he watches you chew. He takes his own bite, matching up his mouth just where yours was. 

"Damn," he says. "Yum. These are really good. You sure we have to give them to the neighbors?" He holds out the last bit of cookie for you and you shake your head so he plops it in his mouth. 

"Yes, we do. C'mon, we're almost done." You take a step back to the counter but Steve gently hooks his fingers through your belt loop and tugs. 

"Hold on," he says. You look at him, ready to ask what he needs, and then he's kissing you. Steve does this all the time -- pulling you in for a kiss when you walk by him in the hallway, when you're leaving for work, when you're on your way to take a nap. You're used to it and you don't mind a single bit. So you just lean in and let him kiss you. He keeps this one fairly chaste, letting his tongue trace the curve of your lower lip before he lets you go. 

"You had some frosting...on your lips," he says, looking smug. 

"Sure I did." You lean in this time to peck him once more before pulling away. "You have so much flour in your hair." You reach up to run a hand through it and he allows it. 

"And you have some in yours." He lets out a long-suffering sigh. "Guess we have to shower together."

"After we finish frosting, Steve."

The last few cookies are nowhere as neat as his first, and he all but throws you over his shoulder once you tell him it's time to get cleaned up.

thank you for reading <3 reblog, send feedback, masterlist here!

[via-rant]

Obrumbratio Scintillae

Chapter 1:

Nico hated his life. He wished he was never born. He didn't know where he was going but he didn't care. Everyone he loved was gone. Why even be born if everything is going to be taken away from you? If you have no one? It happened days ago and it was Christmas now. He watched people come and go with bags of decorations and treats and cards and gifts. It made him tear up thinking about celebrating with his mom and sister. But he held himself back and continued walking. His legs were tired after who knows how long and he sat behind a dumpster in an alleyway where there weren't as many people.

Where he could properly cry without anyone hearing. He needed his family. He got mad at one point and kicked the dumpster. And froze when he heard a "hey".

Then the top opened, and he got scared, pulling out his sword. Some other kid came out from inside, curly hair that was poorly cut, pointy ears like an elf, dark brown eyes that looked like they could start a fire, and skinny and smelly. He looked almost 9. Nico remembered the sword and put it away as quickly as he could.

"Are you a hallucination too?" The boy asked, and Nico raised a brow in confusion.

"What?"

"The sword. Disppearing out of nowhere. I was just seeing that wasn't I?" Nico silently cursed but thought about his question.

"Um... No. It was real." Nico said, and the kid hopped out of the trashcan and started walking to him. Nico backed away.

"What are you doing?" He asked, backing into the wall, and he placed a hand on his before retreating it back in shock.

"Jesus fuck you're freezing!" He yelled and Nico noticed how he was fine. He wore no actual jacket, just a hoodie and some jean shorts.

"Says you." He said and the kid looked down then shrugged.

"Touchè."

"Whatever. I don't have time for this." Nico said and started to walk away. The other looked hurt.

"Wait!" He yelled, following him. "You sure you don't want to stay with me? We don't know each other, but you're a runaway, right? Like me? We can get to know each other. If you're okay with it." Nico wasn't sure. He seemed like a nice enough kid. Sure, he's always tapping or playing with his hair as if he had a constant need to move, and he smelled like garbage, but Nico has smelled worse. Besides, he wasn't any different with the moving part. Not always for him but a lot. Besides, the kid was small. An easy target. Nico couldn't just leave him alone. He sighed.

"Alright. What's your name?" He asked and he smiled wide, reaching out a hand, obviously holding in his excitement.

"Leo! Leo Valdez." He said and Nico took his hand.

"Nico Di Angelo. Nice to meet you." Leo squealed and hopped on the balls of his feet before hugging him. Nico rolled his eyes but hugged back, both of them hiding tears.

They spent the rest of the day with Leo giving Nico some tips about the streets. About finding street money to save up, how to trick people, how to just go along with gangs by being the jester until there's a chance to escape to avoid being beat to a pulp by them.

They stole from stores during the day, running like mad men if they got caught even though it wasn't much. Except that one time when Nico filled his jacket pockets. That was a good day. They spent nights holding each other for warmth as they told things about themselves before falling asleep.

But they got colder every day. Leo noticed Nico holding back shivering sometimes. Nico shared his jacket sometimes, but Leo hated it because he knew Nico needed it a hell of a lot more. Today was so bad they had to look for shelter but couldn't find anywhere they weren't kicked out of. It was getting worse. Nico shook so bad his breathing was shortened, and he could barely walk.

Leo was scared shitless. He was cold but this was just three weeks later. Leo was desperate. He found enough sticks and started a fire. Luckily, Nico was completely out of it, so he didn't notice at all. But the fire didn't last long because of how small the sticks were. Leo pulled him into his lap for warmth as he shook, not knowing what else to do.

Fuck it. He thought and felt the tingling in his hand. He needed to save his best friend. He needed Nico. The fire prickled his fingers and he felt tears in his eyes as the memories flooded. Then he looked at Nico.

The only exception. He thought and lit it completely. Nico nuzzled his head in his shoulder. There was no telling how scared Leo was. What if it wasn't enough? What if it was and Nico leaves him behind? It started to be the first one. Leo felt tears in his eyes lighting his other hand on fire. Nico shivered and struggled to breathe, and Leo sobbed.

"Don't leave. Don't leave me, please don't leave." He begged quietly. "*Por favor, no te vayas, te necesito. No puedo hacer esto sin ti, por favor. (*Please don't leave, I need you. I can't do this without you, please.)" He cried. He didn't notice the man approaching.

Not until he touched his shoulder. Leo flinched and put the fire out in a panic before he realized and started it again, making the man flinch back. He wanted to say something to him but his mind was racing so much, he just cried harder in fear. Nico was dying, he was cold and hungry, and someone came and saw it. They saw him. What if they attacked him? Took Nico from him?

"Hey hey hey it's okay. It's okay. I don't want to hurt you. I just want to help you and your friend." He said, crouching to his level. Leo shook his head. Too much was happening. He wanted to trust him, but he knew nothing about this guy. He learned not to trust strangers two years ago, at 9.

"You're hysterical right now. I get it. Your friend is hurt and I'm a stranger."

"H-how will I know... you won't... call the..."

"I've been missing for a while. Look it up. Luke Castellan." Leo calmed himself down and looked at Nico. He didn't know what else to do. Nico was dying and someone was offering help. He reluctantly agreed, and Luke smiled. He pulled out a yellow square and gave it to him.

"It's called ambrosia. It'll help keep him alive until we get there." Luke said, and Leo made Nico eat it. When he swallowed, his breathing slowed down a bit, and he opened his eyes a little. Leo laughed in relief and hugged him before letting Luke take Nico in his arms. He tried standing, but his legs were weak. Luke held out an arm, and Leo rolled his eyes but let him carry him anyway, across from the shivering boy. Leo grabbed his hand to comfort both of them.

"It's okay. He'll help us." He reassured when Nico looked at him, hoping he was right. He didn't pay attention to where they were going, just made sure to keep Nico alive. And he was getting tired. He tried forcing himself to stay awake, but he was so tired. So... tired.

@moa-broke-me @yonemurishiroku @pjo-hoo-toa-freakazoid @potatoman-taterdude @the-demigod-slytherclaw @im-always-lost-in-a-book @stillcarmine

[w-artie]

In Italy we have this song which is called "Tu scendi dalle stelle" literally something like "You come down from the stars". It's a Christian song, we sing it in churches around the Christmas holiday. it's about Jesus as a baby, that came down from the stars just to lay in a cold crib. it says "oh my Divine Baby, I see you shivering here, oh Blessed Lord, how much did it cost You to love me?". it is impossibly sweet as many Christmas songs are. it makes something melt inside of me every time I listen to it and to any other Christmas songs that have the same feeling, because they are all lullabies, as we were in Bethlehem with the Holy Family singing to Baby Jesus to make him sleep. it's what you do to a baby, you sing him songs that are so full of love to make him sleep safe and sound. it is how it's supposed to be.

this year those songs hit harder than usual, because everything I can think of is those mothers in Palestine that don't have any child to sing their lullaby to. they make me think about those children who won't hear those lullabies from their parents anymore. it makes me think that while I am singing to a Baby born thousands of years ago, babies born right now die before they have the chance to hear even a single note of a song. children there fall asleep with the sound of bombs and warnings, and some of them don't wake up the next day, and we don't care. this is not how it is supposed to be.

And what breaks me the most is how we go around decorating for the holidays, wearing red and exchanging gifts, we wish each other a merry Christmas forgetting the genocide happening exactly where our Lord was born. Forgetting how, if Jesus was to be born in this century, he wouldn't choose Europe or the States. He would be coming down from the stars just to lay in a cold crib of a cold hospital, without lights nor medicine, without food nor shelter. He would be shivering and starving and if He was lucky he would have just his Mother to sing a lullaby to Him, between a bomb and a cry for help.

[garbinge]

Cold

Nestor Oceteva & Galindo!Sister Reader

From these October Prompts:  “I forgot how cold it could get.”

A/N: I know myself well enough to know a prompt a day is a little ambitious but I really wanted to jump into some of those October dialogue prompts. SO I’m committing myself to a prompt a week for the month of October. Here’s week 2 out of 4. 

Word Count: 2.7k

Warnings: All my fics are 18+ regardless of content. Cursing, angst, canon-level mention of un aliving, lots of tension, heartbreak. 

Mayans Taglist: @drabbles-mc (Let me know if you’d like to be added!)

Home. You hadn’t been home in what felt like forever. As you stepped off the plane, it was go time. Pushing all your emotions aside, you moved to the baggage claim, right through to arrivals where you were forced to pause. Truthfully that was an understatement, you didn’t pause, you practically froze in your steps when you saw the sign with your name on it, more specifically when you saw the person holding the sign. The exhaustion from the 6 hour flight was making it hard for you to think clearly on how to proceed, but it seemed like the decision was made for you when eye contact was made. 

He stared at you, it was the same exact scene where you saw him last. 3 years ago. As you thought about it, that moment 3 years ago, your feet were moving towards him. He looked exactly the same. Two french braids, maybe they were a little longer now. His goatee was fuller, it hadn’t been cleaned up in a few days because you could see his beard shadow and you were still 50 feet away from him. Your eyes moved down to see the button down shirt he was wearing. Purple paisleys. The one you gifted him during the last christmas you spent here in Santo Padre with your family. It made your stomach twists in knots which is when you moved your eyes back to his face to see the one last familiar thing. Those yellow sunglasses. Those yellow fucking sunglasses.

You walked up to him and took a deep breath before speaking, “Hi.” 

Hi? That was it? That was what 3 years of time away to think on what happened resulted in? Hi?

“Hey.” He lowered the sign with your name on it and grabbed the bag that was slung around your shoulder. 

Okay, he wasn’t exactly winning any awards for public speaking either. 

Suddenly, it all hit you at once. The fact you were standing 12 inches from the man you loved and left, that you were back in the place you hated, and that your mother was in the hospital for a suicide attempt. Before you knew it you were jumping forward and wrapping your hands around Nestor. He didn’t freeze, his hands immediately wrapped around you, squeezing you just as hard as you had him. The tears escaped from your eyes and found their way to his shoulder. At some point his hand came up and cupped the back of your head. You wished you could stay in this moment forever. Which wasn’t saying much, wanting to stay in this incredibly sad moment, but moving forward meant seeing your brother, meant going back into a life you left, it also meant discussion. As much as you wished that this reunion with Nestor could solve everything that happened between you three years ago, it wouldn’t. 

You stepped away, wiping your tears and picking up your suitcase handle. 

“I’m assuming you’re my ride?” You chuckled, nodding your head to the exit. 

“Mikey’s at the hospital, told me to come get you and drop you off there.”

“It’s nearly 10 o'clock at night? Visiting hours have to be over?” You questioned as you moved outside to see two blacked out SUVs parked illegally with another two guards standing besides them. “Jesus Christ, I’m a Galindo not the fuckin’ president.” 

Nestor chuckled. “You have been away for a while.”

You thought for a minute, Miguel likely had the hospital wing blocked out which meant him and his people could come and go as desired. Now, the entourage of security was new. Miguel was cautious but this was different. This was precautionary on a new level. 

You kept your mouth shut as Nestor put your bags into the trunk of the one car you and him would be sharing. He opened the back seat door for you and you walked past it like he wasn’t even there and opened the passenger door to hop in. 

Nestor shook his head and made his way to the driver seat, he checked the mirrors twice, he locked the car immediately and when he hit the gas, both cars moved quick, like they were on a mission. 

“You gonna tell me what’s with all the extra security?” You asked and were met with nothing. 

“Alright well if not, then it’s probably time to tell you I’m not going to the hospital. I want you to take me home.” 

Nestor’s eyes danced over at you with that remark. Not for long but enough for you to notice. 

“Mikey wants you at the hospital.” His voice didn’t change in tone, he kept it level and informative.

“Have you reuped your contract?” You asked nicely and curiously. 

Nestor frowned “My contract?”

“Yes have you signed a new contract with Miguel.”

“No why?”

“Because if you haven’t, you have to take me home. You are legally contracted to override any order if given to you by a Galindo. So, I am a Galindo and you still are working under the same contract.” 

The smile that filled your face was smug as you relaxed into the seat knowing you had won. Or so you thought. 

“You changed your name.” Nestor’s voice was solemn, no emotion behind it at all. 

You practically broke your neck to look at him. His face didn’t change and he didn’t say anything else. 

“What did you say?” Your glare was harsh and your voice was pointed. 

“You’re technically not a Galindo. You changed your name after you left.” 

Your jaw was going to have to be scraped off the ground. Not only were you not expecting that response but there was no way he knew you changed your last name. It was done out of spite when you left, you were angry, you were hurt and you wanted to cut complete ties from your family and the cartel that came along with it. But you didn’t tell anyone. You didn’t even tell Emily, who was the only person you kept in contact with after leaving and that only started a year ago. 

“How the fuck do you know that?” Your body twisted to look at him, it wasn’t exactly comfortable in the passenger seat of the car but it didn’t matter. 

Nestor stayed silent, but you knew him well enough to know that he was thinking of what to say. His mind was going a mile a minute but he showed no sign of it. He was as stoic as they come. 

“You have 5 more seconds to think of something or I’m telling you to stop this car and I’m walking home.” 

“I checked in on you.” 

“You what?”

“I check–”

“Pull over.” 

That made Nestor turn to look at you. You weren’t facing him anymore you were bending over to pick up the things you had in front of you to leave. At this point you were seeing red, you had half a mind to just open the door and jump out on your own. 

“Y/N, don’t be fuckin’ stupid.” 

There it was. The Nestor you knew. Not this facade he put up as head of security of the Galindo Cartel. 

“Ah, there he is.” The smile on your face was sarcastic and it was begging for Nestor to truly start this fight. 

“You’re acting ridiculous.” His head shook and was filled with a look of disgust. 

Picking up your finger, you pointed at yourself. “I’m–I’M acting ridiculous?” A scoff left your mouth. “Fuck you. You had no right to ‘check in on me’, you lost any right to know anything about me 3 years ago.” 

“Your Mikey’s sister, I have to keep tabs.” There was the stoic tone again. 

“You didn’t look me up for your precious Mikey. You looked me up because you regretted your choice the minute I left. You just were too pussy to leave.” 

“I have a job to do here, Y/N. I couldn’t just up and leave!” You broke him. There was a part of you that was proud of yourself. He had hurt you so much 3 years ago and you never got to express that to him, you let the bitterness build up in you and this was long overdue. 

“I had a ticket for you.” It was your turn to be stoic. 

“The ticket you ripped up and threw on the floor of my apartment?” A chuckle left his mouth. 

“The ticket I ripped up and threw on the floor of your apartment because I had just found out that you poured hot grease on an innocent man.” 

“Jesus Christ.” 

You shook your head and lowered your voice, “you chose my brother everyday for 3 years. 1095 times you woke up and chose Miguel Galindo over me. You chose murdering people over me. You chose torturing people over me. You chose to be Galindo’s dirty worker. Which is fine. That was your decision but every day you woke up and chose him, you weren’t choosing me.” 

“I chose you when I went and found those guys who kidnapped you and killed them.” Nestor hadn’t been so forthcoming before but he was angry. 

“That was not choosing me. That was choosing the Galindo Cartel.” 

“You left. Not me.”  Nestor’s voice leveled. 

“Tell me one thing.” Your voice was calm, you were on the verge of losing it. “Did you ever even love me?” 

It was a weighted question, you wouldn’t have cared if he took a minute to answer, but he didn’t. 

“My answer to that doesn’t change anything.” 

Your heart dropped. Not exactly sure why, as he didn’t actually give you an actual answer. But your mind was trying to decipher what he meant. It could have been a ‘yea but it doesn’t matter things are way to far past that’ or a ‘no and I don’t want to talk about it so I’m going to say it doesn’t matter to spare you breaking down in my car’

Okay, you were overthinking, but they weren’t that far off from being real possibilities. A light from ahead caused you to look forward, and that’s when you noticed you were pulling up to Nestor’s apartment. Not home. Not the hospital. 

For a moment you felt relief knowing you scored more time where you weren’t going to have to deal with Miguel or the heaviness of just being home. You looked over at Nestor, half prepared to thank him, sarcastically ofcourse, but all in all you were ready to put whatever fight this was behind you because of his gesture. But he was quiet and still, you forgot about this part of him, the cartel side. It had clearly taken over since you left, before there was a visible line, but now things were blurred. You practically laughed as you shook your head and opened the car door as it was still moving.

Even though everything was different with Nestor, everything was exactly the same with his apartment. You walked up the stairs and picked the key up from under his front mat. It was laughable that the head of security for the Galindo Cartel was hiding his house key under the front mat but old habits die hard. 

You slammed the door, knowing he had to be shortly behind you but selling your point about how mad you were was top of mind. Without thought you moved through the living room and opened the blinds and escape to the balcony. Standing there, looking out at the view of Santo Padre you took a deep breath as it all came crashing down on you like a pile of bricks. You were home. Dita was in the hospital half burned from an attempt at her own life. The man you were in love with was acting like a dickhead. And you hadn’t even seen your brother yet. No wonder you left all those years ago. 

The sliding door opened but your head didn’t move. 

“I forgot how cold it could get here.” Your arms crossed, hugging yourself. 

“Stay.” Nestor leaned back against the railing with his arms intertwined. 

His request was laughable, and that’s what you did, laugh. 

“And do what?” You shot a glare at him. 

“Be with me.” His voice was soft now, like the man you had known to love. “Move in here, you’ll be able to check in on Dita, your brother misses you, it’s–” he was getting needy you could hear it in his voice but that didn’t stop you from cutting him off. 

“You can’t use my words on me. I asked you to be with me 3 years ago. And you know what I got instead? I got my brother’s best friend going face first into the cartel. I wanted Nestor. MY Nestor. But the minute I asked you to be with me you chose Miguel. It will always be him. You asking me to stay here, to live here, that’s not for me, that's for you. For my stupid fucking brother. You KNOW I can’t be here. I was kidnapped. I was fucking BURNED,” you lifted your shirt up to show the small part of your abdomen that was burned, not to be underwhelmed with the entire burn scar on your back. 

“And I–” Nestor pushed himself off the railing to argue with you. 

“And you went with Mikey to make it right,” you mocked him in the best version of his voice you could get. “You went with the head of the Galindo Cartel and burned innocent people until you finally got the right one. Don’t sell it for anything less than what it is.” 

“WHAT DO YOU WANT FROM ME?!” His voice was now raised and loud. Very loud.

“NOTHING.” You moved your body to face him, hands still tucked under your arms. “I want nothing from you.” You took steps closer to him so now you were face to face. “I want nothing from you, or from Mikey, or from anyone in your little fucking circle. You know what I want? I want to see my mother for what is probably the last time in my life, and I want to leave. I want to never see your stupid fucking face ever again, your stupid shades, your stupid braids, your stupid apartment, I want to live a life free of you.” The statement was long and winded and at some point tears had left your eyes. You didn’t bother wiping them, all you did was stare at Nestor. 

He took a step forward and that’s when his hand reached out and cupped your face. His lips touched yours instantly. It was desperate, and you knew it not only from the way his lips crashed against yours and he held your head tight to his but because in no time before this when you had fought had he ever kissed you. Not when you got hurt. Not even when you left. All you had were stolen moments. Glances, smiles, winks, hand holds that lingered just a couple seconds too long. But never a kiss. 

It was ironic. Poetic tragedy some might say. That your first kiss was likely to be your last. At first, you gave into it, and let the desperation flood over the both of you. You embraced it until you realized this was going to do nothing but hurt you and him so you pulled away, letting your forehead head rest against his. 

“Please just stay.” He asked you again, this time at a whisper. “Don’t you love me?” Those last words snuck out at even a softer tone but you managed to hear them as everything around you was silent. 

“My answer to that doesn’t change anything.” After using the same words he hit you with earlier, you held your position there with him for a few more beats before pushing away and leaving him alone on that balcony. Making your way through the living room, you grabbed the one bag he must’ve carried in and made your way back downstairs as you pulled out your phone. 

It was insane how you were about to call your brother to pick you up. This whole thing was full of irony. But the sooner you could get this all over with, the sooner you’d be out of here and back to a life where none of this mattered or existed. There was a piece of you that wanted to look up, get one more look of the man on the balcony but if you did there was a slight chance you’d go back on everything, and that just wasn’t a chance you could take. So instead, you called Miguel and kept looking into the dark void that was your hometown of Santo Padre.

[unfortunate-arrow]

𝒱𝒾𝑔𝓃𝑒𝓉𝓉𝑒𝓈 𝑜𝒻 𝓉𝒽𝑒 𝒮𝑒𝒶𝓈𝑜𝓃

A/N: For @hp-12monthsofmagic’s December prompt (“Merry and Bright”). Made up of two short scenes. Note the discussions of Hanukkah and Judaism may not be the most accurate, so apologies for any missteps.

One: The O’Donnell-Lee Cottage, County Donegal, Ireland, December 25, 2006

Sara O’Donnell-Lee watched the gentle fall of snow, illuminated in the color of the charmed baubles that floated outside around their cottage. Her eldest son, aged 5, was fast asleep in her lap with her fingers carding through his short red hair. Her eldest daughter, aged 7, was asleep on the floor, clutching the plush moon calf that she had received earlier that day. Sara’s younger two children, aged 2 and 7 months, had been put to bed earlier. The floor was strewn with the remnants of gifts that had been received earlier in the day, the lights on their tree sparkling. A calloused hand ran gently over her shoulder, causing her to look up.

“Happy Christmas, my love,” her husband, Barnaby, said, leaning over to press a kiss onto the top of her head.

“Merry Christmas, Barn,” Sara replied, wrapping her hand tightly around his. 

“Was this Christmas everything that you imagined?” 

“Yeah, I think it was. Dora and Declan were so excited for everything. I don’t think we’ll ever get this Ireland quidditch sweater off Dec.”

Barnaby laughed, fondly looking down at their son. Sara’s brother, Conor, had gifted their eldest boy an Ireland quidditch sweater, which their boy had quickly fallen in love with. The boy had even put the sweater on over his pajamas. 

“It was a good Christmas, Barnaby. Everything about it this year was good. Actually, I’m surprised at how smoothly this all went,” Sara said.

“Yeah. I thought it would be a lot more stressful with four. Brendan’s so laid back though,” Barnaby replied. 

“I hope you liked your gifts.”

“Those gloves are absolutely incredible. They’ll be so helpful in the cold. I love them, Sara. I really do. What about you?”

“The necklace is beautiful, Barn. I don’t know where you thought of the idea, but I absolutely adore it. Same with the little ornament with all six of our names on them.” 

Two: The O’Donnell-Lyman Home, December 24, 2016 

“Momma, why do we light all these candles?” Naomi O’Donnell, aged 7, asked, leaning over the kitchen table, watching as Ruth worked on setting out on the different candles.

“The purple and pink candles are for advent. That’s for the lead-up to Christmas. Dad can explain those better than me. The blue ones and white one are for Hanukkah, which is what my family celebrates,” Ruth explained.

“I like Hanukkah. The food is so fun and good,” Naomi replied.

“Yeah, Hanukkah has good food. We celebrate that because I’m Jewish, just like we have other traditions and holidays than Dad.”

“What’s Daddy, then?”

“Dad’s Catholic, so he has different holidays than I do.”

“Why?”

“Well, we have different beliefs from religions. For Dad, his religion says that Jesus is the son of God and very important. My religion doesn’t believe that. Only God is important, while Jesus isn’t very important and can be seen as hard to understand.”

“What do I believe?” Naomi asked.

“You can believe whatever you want to, Naomi. Dad and I don’t have any one way we want you or your brothers to believe. That’s why we celebrate Hanukkah and Christmas, Passover and Easter. We get to cover the important parts of each culture.” 

“Oh. Is that why we eat certain things sometimes?”

“Yeah, that’s right kiddo.”

The door to the kitchen opened, bringing with it a burst of cold air. Stamping feet immediately followed as Ruth looked up to her husband and two sons. Snow clung to their hair and Conor had taken off his glasses to wipe away the fog. 

“Got the potatoes you asked for,” Conor announced, lifting up a big bag.

“Conor, how many potatoes did you get?” Ruth asked.

A sheepish look appeared on Conor’s face. “Five pounds.”