#maybe it’s just about a weird freak and a creature and a teenage girl maybe that’s just it

[gaylittleguys]

saw cuckoo with my sibling it could have been weirder but was fun!

[ameliathornromance]

Are you the Final Girl?

Slasher!Orc X Reader

Chapter 2

Masterlist <--- Check for TWs

The rest of the day went without incident, despite the bubbling anger in your stomach.

You didn’t speak to Jennifer, Jack or Sydney for the rest of the day and turned your phone off the moment more of those horrible texts started coming in from your Instagram. You never read them anymore, they were all along the similar lines of ‘you’re awful, why don’t you just die.’

Classes passed by quickly and before you knew it, they were over. As you left the lecture hall, you turned on your phone. As soon as it had loaded in, your phone was a buzz with texts from your acquaintances. They were mostly from Jennifer.

She was begging for you to talk, to arrange a time to call so she could explain herself. A part of you was inclined to tell her no, that she needed to sort her own shit out before she spoke to you again.

But, your long history together is what made you believe you should text her back.

So, you did. There had to be some kind of explanation for this, right? Malike was a quiet kind guy, he’d never so much as hurt a fly. Maybe there was some other reason that Jennifer had taken such a strong dislike to him. You had never heard her talk badly about other creatures on Campus before, let alone Orcs.

You called Jennifer the moment you got back to your dorm room.

“Hey.” You said, as Jennifer picked up the phone.

“Hey.” She said back. Her voice held a resigned tone, as if she was a scolded child. “Listen, I… just wanted to say sorry about what I said earlier.”

You fought the urge to tell her that it isn’t you she should be apologising to. But Malike, who most likely overheard her in the park.

“...I never told you this before,” She continued as you set your bags down beside your desk. “But I grew up in the same town as Malike. Everyone knew him.”

“Really?” This surprised you. But when you thought about it, it did make sense. You met Malike and Jennifer at the same time, since they were standing beside each other and talking to each other in quiet toned voices.

“Hmhm… I knew he was a nice guy and everything, but there were… rumours back home.” Jennifer’s voice became hushed, as if she was worried she may be overheard. “That Malike liked to pull apart bugs as a kid. Like spiders and things like that… but he was a child, and kids do weird things like that right?”

“Of course,” you agreed.

“Well, according to some people I knew at home, when he was a teenager, apparently Malike had strangled a squirrel with his barehands… and that he’d had a smile on his face the whole time. His mum caught him doing it.”

Your eyes widened. “Are you serious Jen?”

“Yeah. That’s why I was a freaked out when you rejected him. I knew it had been a long time since any of that stuff happened, but I didn’t know what he was going to do. If he’d happily kill a squirrel… then who knows what he’d do to another person.”

“Why were you hanging out with him on the first day if you knew this?” You asked.

“Well, I didn’t want to believe any of the rumours, so I thought I’d get to know him. But… I don’t know, when you told me he asked you out, all that gossip I heard came flooding back to me and I felt like I had to get him away from you.” Jennifer explained.

You looked over your shoulder, as if there was a presence standing behind you. “Does anyone else know about this?” You thought of Jack’s harsh words about Orcs too.

“No. Just me and him, most likely.”

“I… I didn’t realise he did any of that stuff.” You admitted, lamely. “But, you can’t just brandish all Orcs with the same brush like that.”

“I’m sorry about that too. I had no idea what I was thinking when I said that. Malike’s mum’s an Orc and she’s so nice. She used to do charity bake sales and everything when we were younger. I don’t know how Malike turned out to be so creepy.” Jennifer’s voice shuddered through the phone.

“Well, thank you for the explaining.” You said, truthfully. “I had no idea about that stuff Malike did as a kid. That’s psychopathic behaviour.”

“Definitely. So, you’ll stay away from him from now on, right?”

You hesitated. Jennifer sounded like she was telling the truth and, you really didn’t want to believe that she would lie about something so serious as animal cruelty just to get you to believe her.

And if she wasn’t lying about what Malike did as a kid, then you could get yourself into a lot of trouble if he ends up approaching you again. Perhaps it is best to stay away from him.

“Yeah, I will. Thanks for telling me Jen.”

“Okay, good.” A sigh of relief breathed down the phone. “I’ve got to get going to my night class now. They want us to go to a runway show to see how the make up gets done on models in a rush, so I’ll probably be sleeping in late tomorrow okay?”

“Alright. Have fun Jen.”

“Will do, sleep well (Y/N), goodnight.”

And with that, you hung up the phone. You bit your lip.

Malike didn’t have any other hidden tenancies like that… did he?

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[dragonflylady77]

the bit that mattered

a Harringrove Corner Pride fic (all told in Robin's POV) and a present for @whenyouwishuponastar7 and @discodeviant

I was given the prompt 'enemies to soulmates' and then I stumbled upon this post by @imsodishy with tags by @gravegroves and I knew I had a winner. Also, as a matter of interest, I found the doodle by @ihni from the same post...

Oh and this other post by @ihni also inspired a scene in the fic.

Harringrove & Buckleway | 7.2k

Tags: enemies to soulmates, Robin POV, Billy and Robin are secret queer besties, fake dating to throw parents off the scent of queer teenagers, Steve's bisexual awakening

Robin helps Steve realize his soulmate was under his nose this whole time, he just had to give a guy a chance...

“Can you run that one past me again, dingus?” Robin couldn't believe the sob story Steve was telling her. She’d heard about the fight back in November, of course, because the rumors had made the rounds at school for over a month. But listening to Steve recount his version of what had happened was leaving a bad taste in her mouth.

“Really?” He sat on the metal stool they kept behind the counter for when they were the only ones on shift. Standing around in an empty store was murder on the feet.

“Come on, Steve, humor me,” Robin said as she refilled the container of sprinkles.

They’d been working at Scoops Ahoy together for a few weeks now, and Robin was pretty sure she was Steve’s only friend who was his age. Those kids of his kept coming in for free ice cream, and so he could sneak them into the movies via the back corridor, but Robin knew Steve didn’t consider them his friends. Not really.

Heather Holloway had come in after her shift at Hawkins Community Pool, and Robin had managed to serve her that one scoop of strawberries and cream without blushing too much. Heather was so pretty with her long dark hair and her big brown eyes and bright red lips… Whenever Robin dreamed about meeting her soulmate, it was usually a girl who looked like Heather. She’d never told anyone about it, and kept the soulmark on her right wrist hidden under the band of her watch. 

Heather had asked the guy who was with her if he wanted something but he’d said no. Robin had seen him around before, at school mostly. She’d briefly wondered if maybe he was dating Heather but the way he kept sneaking glances at Steve made her think that it was more likely she was not the only queer teen in Hawkins. She was pretty sure Steve had no idea, about her or about the guy, whose name, Steve had said with the utmost rancor, was Billy Hargrove. 

“I’m waiting,” she said, glancing at Steve before she checked on the glace cherries. He’d already told her all about the Upside Down, and while she hadn’t seen any proof, she knew that weird stuff happened in Hawkins, so Steve’s story about monstrous creatures from another dimension, and a girl who could move things with her brain, made as much sense as anything else she’d heard. 

Steve groaned but he complied. “Fine. Mrs. Byers, Nancy and Jonathan took Will to the chief’s cabin. Chief Hopper and El went to the lab to close the gate and I stayed behind at the Byers house with the kids because someone had to. Then Hargrove showed up. Max freaked out, she said he was gonna kill her, so I went outside to talk him down, and like, make him leave.”

“He came to get his sister, must have had a reason, you didn't think of that?”

“She was terrified, Robin. And she was right. I mean, he shoved me to the ground then went into the house and attacked Lucas.”

“From what you said to me, he asked about his sister and you lied to his face.”

“Well, yeah, but…”

“Do you not see the problem here?”

“No! He attacked Lucas so I punched him then we had a fight and he broke a plate on my head. A plate, Robin! I still have a scar!”

“Uh huh,” Robin deadpanned, because she knew Steve enough to know he had a flair for the dramatic. That said, he had shown her the scar. It was nowhere near as big or noticeable as his antics made it to be, but she wasn’t about to tell him that.

“And then he used me like his own personal punching bag until I passed out from the pain. The kids told me Max stabbed him in the neck with that syringe she found on the dresser and told him to leave us alone. Then we went into the tunnels to help El.”

“And you took his car.”

“Max drove his car, yes, but I had nothing to do with that, I was unconscious in the backseat for most of the ride.”

“I will grant you that one.”

“Oh thank you, o wise one.”

“Don't get fresh with me, Steven. You really don't see how wrong that whole situation looks from the outside?”

“What are you talking about? Hargrove is the one who showed up and attacked us. He gave me a concussion, Robin. The guy is a psycho.”

Robin lets out a sigh. She felt like getting the whiteboard out to help Steve understand how wrong he was, but the You suck/You rule tally was ongoing. She looked around but the store was still thankfully devoid of customers. Mondays after lunch were mostly dead, affording her and Steve much needed bonding time. “Okay, so, let's recap, and please do not interrupt me.” 

“Fine.”

“The guy shows up looking for his thirteen-year-old sister at a house he doesn’t know, in the middle of the woods. The only people there with his sister are a bunch of thirteen-year-old boys and Steve ‘the Hair’ Harrington. The same Steve Harrington everyone knows is a hit with the ladies and who is rumored to have slept with over half the female population of Hawkins High.”

Steve opened his mouth but Robin glared at him and he closed it again.

“I said do not interrupt me. I know neither of us has siblings, but I have girl cousins and I know that my aunt would not take it well if one of her daughters was alone in a house filled with teenage boys, my uncle even less so. You lied to him about the sister he was looking for, you antagonized him, and then you threw the first punch. Is it any wonder he fought back? And don’t answer that, it was rhetorical. That means it doesn’t need an answer.”

“I know what it means, thanks. I did graduate from high school.”

“Good for you, now shut up. From what I’ve heard your children say when you illegally let them into the back corridor, Max’s stepfather seems like a total hardass, and she’s sneaking around a lot. Which leads me to believe her big brother, the aforementioned Billy Hargrove, may well have been under orders to bring her back, or he was trying to get her home before their parents came back. Either way, it seems likely that the older sibling would have been left in charge of the younger one.”

“You don’t know that for sure. I mean he—”

“Steven MiddleName Harrington, I swear to the goddess…”

“Sorry.”

“So, in all likelihood, Hargrove was left in charge of Max, and she left without telling him, and when he came looking for her, it didn’t go well for anyone, then Max shot her brother up full of some unknown drug from a syringe left unattended—not very safe, but whatever—and you, what, just left him unconscious on the floor while you guys stole his car?”

“Um, yeah, I guess… when you lay it out like that, it sounds really bad.”

“Dingus, that is what happened. Bet his dad was super impressed with him when he got home with no car and no Max.”

Steve groaned, leaning on the counter and resting his head on his folded arms. Robin took pity on him. She put her hand on his shoulder and patted it awkwardly a couple of times.

“I remember that both of you looked rather beat up when you came back to school, though you came back a few days before he did.”

“I did?” Steve sat up and stared at her.

“Oh yeah. I told you before, I’m very observant.”

“Riiiight.”

Robin lightly punched Steve on the shoulder, as punishment for his disbelieving tone. She was way more observant than him, that was for sure. “So, what happened after that?”

Steve shrugged. “Nothing.”

“What do you mean nothing? I thought you said he apologized?”

“Oh, well, yeah. He drove up in his car while I was waiting for Dustin at the arcade, and he said he was sorry about the fight. That’s it. Max said he apologized to Lucas as well.”

“And?”

“And he’s been staying away ever since, like he told Max he would, the night of the fight.”

“After she threatened to pulverize his boy parts with that nail bat you keep in the boot of your car, right?”

“Yeah, well, I don’t really remember that part, cos, yanno, concussion from that plate he smashed on my head, but Dustin told me about it in great detail, many many times.”

“That kid needs to learn to shut up, I swear.”

Steve chuckled. “He grows on you.”

“Yeah, like mold,” Robin deadpanned, making Steve cackle.

*****

Three days later, Robin was deep in the stacks at the library when she bumped into someone, causing them to drop the handful of books they were carrying.

“Shoot, sorry, I wasn’t paying attention,” she said, crouching to help.

“It’s okay, Buckley. I got it.”

Robin fell on her ass from the surprise. “You know my name?”

“Uh, yeah?” Billy Hargrove said, straightening up and offering her a hand up.

Robin accepted the help, still in shock, then followed the guy to the closest study table where he’d left his messenger bag. She sat across the table from him, her eyes never leaving his face.

“You gonna say something or you just gonna stare at me for the rest of the day? Only I have a shift at the pool in a bit.” He lifted an eyebrow at her, daring her to speak up.

“Oh, um, sorry. It’s just… how do you know my name?” She really, really, needed to know.

“You’ve been in my AP English class since I moved here and you play the French horn with the band every time we play a home game. Course I know your name.”

“Oh.”

“And…” Billy leaned forward, gesturing at Robin to do the same.

She complied, and watched, confused, as Billy looked around to see if anyone was near, before he whispered, “I’ve seen the way you look at Hank, and I can help, if you want.”

“Hank? I don’t…” Robin shook her head. The conversation was taking a surreal turn.

“Sorry, Heather. Holloway.”

“Oh.” Robin felt her cheeks heat up and it was her turn to look around, fidgeting with her rings.

“Don’t worry,” Billy whispered, both hands flat on the table. “I’m not gonna out you to anyone. I may be an asshole, but I wouldn’t compromise someone’s safety like that.”

“Ho-how did you…?” Robin stammered, glad she was sitting down. She felt like a breeze would have knocked her down. She hadn’t even told Steve, and he was her best friend. Maybe.

“Let’s just say you’re not the only one who has to hide who they truly are, for fear of repercussions.”

“When you say repercussions…?” She had to know. She had an inkling about Billy’s dad from some things she’d heard Max say but having confirmation she was right would be vindicating, especially the next time Steve brought up The Evil Billy Hargrove...

“Let’s just say I like being alive, Buckley, and leave it at that, ay?”

Ouch.

“Robin. And you must be joking. Please tell me you’re joking.”

“I had to tell the doctor I fell down some stairs and broke my wrist because Max told my dad she’d seen me sitting with a guy in the library at my old school, Robin, so you tell me. I was tutoring the kid in math but Neil didn’t give a fuck. Right after that, he moved us to this podunk town in the middle of fucking nowhere. Wasn’t fun driving with a cast, let me tell you.”

“Is that really why you moved here?” It seemed a bit far-fetched to her, relocating an entire family because of a misunderstanding like that.

“Well, Susan’s sister lives in Indianapolis, but Neil was more than happy to move me across the country to a less… permissive state.”

“Is California really better for, yanno, people like… like us ?” Robin whispered, elated her hunch had been correct and that she suddenly had someone her age to talk to about these things. 

“Oh yeah. Well, I mean, it can still be dangerous, but, fuck, dude, me and some friends drove up to L.A. last year for the Pride parade and it was fucking amazing.”

“Oh my goddess… You have to tell me all about it, please!”

“Another time, friend. Right now, we need to come up with a plan for you, before I go to work.”

Robin’s cheeks were heating up again. “Oh, um, no, no, it’s okay, there’s no need.”

“Buckley, why do you think that Hank drags me to the stupid mall after every shift? It’s not for the ice cream, because her parents are loaded and she’s got a freezer full of nicer ice cream than your strawberry and cream at home…”

“Maybe she’s just your decoy so you can enjoy the view…”

Billy laughed and Robin startled. She didn’t remember ever hearing him laugh. They received glares from the librarian and a forbidding ‘shhhh’ that made them both silently snicker.

Billy sat back in his chair, the mirth now gone from his eyes. “The difference, dear Robin, is that the view I enjoy hates my everliving guts and I have zero chance in hell to ever close that deal, due to said view’s inclinations, while you, my musically inclined friend, don’t even realize how close you are to getting what you want.”

“You think so?”

“I know so.”

Billy’s watch started beeping, earning him another glare from the librarian, even though he silenced it quickly. “That’s my alarm. Need to get to the pool for my shift. I’ll catch you later. Think about what I said.”

Robin watched Billy leave, marveling at the absolutely unexpected yet terribly exciting turn her afternoon had taken.

*****

Steve looked like he hadn’t slept since their last shift together two days ago and Robin wasted no time telling him as much. He threw a dark look her way but said nothing.

“Aw, come on, dingus, don’t be like that. What’s keeping you from your beauty sleep?”

“This is all your fault, you know,” Steve bit out as he moved to refill the next container of sprinkles. 

Robin didn’t understand why the store only offered sprinkles in the colors of the flag, but that might be because she didn’t really have a patriotic bone in her body. “How is it my fault?” she said, holding the jar of red sprinkles for Steve.

He glared at her as he put down the white sprinkles and picked up the red ones. “You made me feel guilty for something that happened over six months ago.”

“And? I didn’t realize there was an expiry date on figuring out you did something shitty and taking steps to fix it.”

“Oh, now I have to fix it as well?” Steve argued, spinning so fast the Scoops hat fell off his head.

Robin bent down to pick it up and put it down on the counter with a sigh. “Steve…”

“Robin. I draw the line at one concussion a year, thank you.”

“Oh my goddess, Steve, Billy isn’t going to punch you if you apologize for lying to his face.”

“One, you don’t know that, and two, since when are you on a first name basis with the guy? Pretty sure you didn’t even know his name when you made me tell you about the fight over and over the other day,” Steve said, fixing her with a stare that might work on his kids but didn’t work on her.

All the same, Robin was happy to be saved from answering by a slew of customers that kept them so busy they had to take their breaks at different times. Steve finished his shift earlier than her and she was only too happy to wave him off. The look he gave her before he walked out the door told her that he would demand answers the next time they saw each other.

Walking to the bus stop after her shift ended and cursing herself for asking her mom for a ride to the mall earlier that day instead of taking her bike, Robin startled when a vaguely familiar blue Camaro slowed down alongside her.

“Hey, Buckley. Fancy a ride home?”

Robin stopped and looked through the open passenger window with a grin. “Hargrove. Are you stalking me?”

“You should be so lucky. Get in, we need to talk.”

Dropping her bag in the back before settling into the passenger seat, Robin angled her body towards Billy. “Well?”

Billy threw the butt of his cigarette on the road then pulled away from the curb, waiting until they were back on the road into town to open his mouth. “Dropped off Hank at the mall after our shift, her mom is getting her a new outfit for our date on Saturday.”

What? Robin’s fingers dug into the leather seat under her. “A date? You’re going on a date with Heather? But I thought—”

“Relax, Robin, I told you I would help and I’m gonna. Me and Hank had a chat the other day after I saw you at the library and we came up with a plan.”

“Oh?” Robin wasn’t sure what else to say. She didn’t like feeling confused and so far both her interactions with Billy Hargrove had left her on the back foot.

“Yeah. Thing is, we figured if her parents, and my dad, think we’re dating, it will get them off our backs.” 

“Okay…” That made sense to Robin. Being a queer teenager in small town America was scary if your parents weren’t accepting, and Robin knew she was lucky in that respect. Her parents were soulmates and they’d always told her they loved her and would love whoever her soulmate turned out to be. 

“So the idea is that on Saturday night, I'm gonna pick her up, then pick you up, and we're gonna go over to the drive-in in Marion, and then I'll make myself scarce until the movie is over.”

“Oh god. You’re gonna… you’re… and she… oh god.” Robin couldn’t breathe. This was really happening. She was going on a date. With a girl. With Heather . 

She didn’t realize Billy had stopped on the side of the road until he was crouching on the ground next to her, holding her hands and telling her to breathe.

“Deep breaths, Robin. That’s it. You got this.”

“I…I… oh god…”

“Hey. Calm down. It’s gonna be okay, you know why?”

“Why?”

“She likes you. She really likes you.”

“She does…?”

“Yeah. And you know what else?”

“No.”

“I’ve seen the way you look at her, and I’ve seen how animated she is when it’s just the two of us and she won’t stop talking about you. And I wonder…”

“What?”

“Your soulmark wouldn’t happen to be a flower by any chance?”

Robin eeped and she took her hands back to clutch at her right wrist. What the fuck was happening right now? She must be dreaming, there was no other explanation.

“No, dude, you’re not dreaming” Billy grinned. “I show you mine, you show me yours?”

Robin nodded because she couldn’t trust herself to keep her thoughts out of her mouth. Her eyes bugged out when Billy removed the watch he kept on his right wrist. His skin wasn’t as tanned under the strap and she immediately spotted the five point crown lightly etched on the inside of Billy’s wrist.

She scrambled to take off her own watch and share her own soulmark. “I’ve never shown it to anyone, not even my parents,” she said, her eyes tracing the familiar lines of the small violet. It had felt too private to share with anyone, not that she had many friends anyway.

“My friend Argyle back in Cali is the only one who knows about mine. Doubt Neil would take too kindly to this confirmation his useless son is a fa—”

“Don’t say that word,” Robin urged him. Then she remembered something Billy had said at the library. “Ooh!” She slapped a hand on her mouth then slowly let it drop. “A crown. I get it now. You think Steve is…”

“I don’t think, I know.” Billy sounded so defeated it broke Robin’s heart.

“How can you be so sure?”

“Basketball practice, Robin. Communal showers don’t hide much, even if you’re doing your best not to look.”

“Crap.”

“Exactly. So let’s focus on getting you and Hank together instead, alright?” Billy said, standing up again and putting his watch back on.

Robin did the same and waited until Billy was back in the driver’s seat. “Billy?”

Billy glanced at her then back at the road. “Yeah?”

“I, um, I was talking with Steve the other day at work, about that fight you guys had last November, at the Byers’ house, and I may have impressed upon him how wrong it looked for your thirteen-year-old sister to be alone in a strange house with a bunch of teenage boys, and, um, there is a slight chance that he might decide to apologize for lying to you and throwing the first punch, and yanno, taking your car while you lay full of unlabeled drugs on a dirty floor. Or something.”

“I’m sorry, what?”

“You heard me. So if he does, could you… not punch him? Maybe?”

“If, and that’s a big if, Steve comes to me to apologize, I promise to hear him out.”

*****

“Hey, dingus?”

It was Friday night, and Robin was lying on Steve’s couch eating popcorn from a giant bowl on the floor. He was sitting next to it on a cushion. Robin wasn’t really paying attention to the movie Steve had put on, too keyed up about the motherflippin’ date she was going on the next evening. 

Billy was being the perfect wingman so she wanted to return the favor, and that started by testing the waters.

“Yeah?” Steve took a sip of his cola and turned his head to look at her.

“You ever think about what your soulmate might be like?”

“I used to. I had all these grand ideas about all that stuff, and for a bit, I even believed Nancy might be my soulmate.”

“Oh?”

“Yeah, but our soulmarks didn’t match, not even a little bit. And after that, I just… stopped.”

“Stopped what?”

“Looking. Hoping. If there’s a person made for me out there, I doubt they’re stuck in Hawkins, yanno? And since I’m never getting out of here…”

“Aw, Stevie, don’t be like that…” Robin patted Steve on the shoulder. “We’ll get out of this place, and you’ll find them, whoever they are.”

Steve let out a disbelieving snort. “Sure… As the person who started the You Rule/You Suck board, you know very well that my chances of that are about as high as my chances of getting into college.”

“What do you think they look like?” Robin asked, shushing him when he groaned his displeasure at her pushing it. “Come on, indulge me.”

“What don’t you tell me about your soulmate instead?” Steve pushed back.

“Um…”

“Ha! Not so keen to share now, are you?” Steve turned around to face her, his back to the TV, movie completely forgotten.

Robin sat up. This would make or break their friendship. She took a deep breath and threw herself into the deep end. “I’ve had the same image of who my soulmate is since I started middle school. I’ve always imagined her with long dark hair, brown eyes and—”

“Shiny red lips that match her work uniform and a first name that starts with H?”

Robin felt the tip of her ears heat up. Steve was watching her with his usual smile, and he wasn’t ordering her out of his house.

“I know I’m not the most observant person, but even I noticed how often Heather comes in for one scoop of the least interesting flavor we sell. And she’s hated my guts since kindergarten so…”

“I’m sorry I didn’t tell you before. I wasn’t sure how you’d react, learning I’m into… you know… girls,” Robin whispered the last word, even though Steve admittedly already knew and they were alone in his house. It still felt like something she should hide; less so when she was hanging out with Billy, which seemed to happen more since that day at the library. They’d started spending their free periods together at the same study table of the seniors home room most days.

“You’re my friend, Robin.” Steve said. “Pretty much my only friend. And I’m not gonna risk losing that because we both like boobies.”

The serious way Steve said it launched Robin into a laughing fit and Steve joined her. When it ended, they were both sitting on the floor, her legs on his lap, the TV screen a flurry of static.

“Hey.”

“Yeah?”

“Can I see your soulmark?” 

Steve shrugged. “Sure.”

To Robin’s surprise, Steve whipped off his shirt, dropping it on top of her legs, before lifting his left arm. He angled his head.

“It’s right there, on my ribs, by my armpit.”

Robin peered at the area Steve had indicated and, sure enough, there it was. A crown with five points, matching Billy’s perfectly. She couldn’t quite silence the ‘eep’ that escaped her and Steve frowned at her as he put his shirt back on.

“What?”

“Nothing. A crown for King Steve. Fitting.” She moved her legs off Steve and got back up onto the couch, her mind going a mile a minute. She needed to find a way to plant a seed in Steve’s mind, to help him open his horizon to a different possibility. She knew you couldn’t make a person queer, of course, but the universe had decided these two boys were soulmates, so she had to do something to help. 

She tuned back into what Steve was saying.

“...left that king bullshit behind in high school when I realized I wanted to be a better person.”

“So it wasn’t just because you wanted in Nancy Wheeler’s pants?” Robin couldn’t help the snide remark, grinning as she said it.

“Oh my god, Robin!” Steve shoved her shoulder. “What about you? What’s yours?”

“A flower, on the inside of my wrist,” she told him, thinking how odd it was that two boys linked by fate had asked her the same question within a few days of each other.

“Dainty,” Steve said with a snort and it was Robin’s turn to shove him.

Still laughing, Steve stood to go put another movie on then took his spot in front of the couch again. “Hey, you wanna go for a milkshake tomorrow after work? My treat. You can help me figure out how I’m gonna apologize to Billy Hargrove without getting punched.”

“For fuck’s sake, Steve, stop making him out to be such a monster.”

“Sorry, I forgot you’re president of his fan club now. My bad.” Steve’s posture went all rigid and he kept his eyes on the screen in front of them.

Robin took a deep breath before she replied with something she would for sure regret. She forced a smile and slid onto the floor next to Steve, resting her head on his shoulder. “Dingus, you’re my best friend, you know that. But I think we’d both benefit from having more friends our age, and unless you really want to hang out with your ex and the guy she dumped you for, our options are limited.”

“But Billy, Robin?”

“Yes, Billy. He’s funny, he’s one of the top students at school, he drives a cool car, and he’s objectively, and by any standards, extremely good looking.”

“I thought you only liked girls.”

“I’m a lesbian, Steven, not blind.”

“I don’t know…”

“Well, I do, and I’m sorry, but I can’t go for a milkshake tomorrow.” Robin paused then whispered, “I, um, I have, um, a date.”

Steve spun so fast Robin fell over onto the carpet.

“A date! Oh my god, Robin! Is it with Heather? How? Wow! What the fuck!”

She sat up, rubbing her elbow that had taken the brunt of her fall. “Ow.”

“I’m sorry! You can’t just spring this on me like that! Spill, lady! I want details!”

“Yes, it’s with Heather. And, uh, it was set up by, um, a mutual friend. We’re going to the drive-in over in Marion. I’ve been kinda freaking out about it, to be honest.”

“A mutu—Oh. I see.”

“Do not start this again, I need my best friend right now, not King Steve’s high school vendetta.”

“Okay, okay, sorry.”

“Tell me something, why does he get under your skin this much?”

“I’m not sure what you mean.”

“Oh please, the mere mention of his name gets your hackles raised like no one else does. From what you’ve told me, it predates the fight you guys had at the Byers’ house. Did you seriously never wonder what it is about Billy Hargrove that makes you react so strongly?”

Steve’s eyes widened but he didn’t say anything. Robin patted Steve’s knee before standing up.

“I’ll get us another drink if you rewind the movie. I missed everything that happened in it so far.”

Steve nodded and moved to the VCR as Robin left the living room for the kitchen. She figured she’d done enough pushing for one evening. 

*****

“Earth to Robin, need you out here, dude.”

Steve’s voice pulled Robin out of her daydreams. She checked her watch to see her break had ended a few minutes ago. She hurried back into the main part of the store and went to work, scooping ice cream like it was her calling while Steve rang the orders on the temperamental till.

Once the after school rush had died down, she picked up the mop and did a quick pass on the blue and white checkered lino while Steve cleared rubbish and wiped melted ice cream off the tables.

“You’ve been spacey all day, Rob. Are you okay? I hope it means you had a good time on Saturday night.”

Robin smiled as she finished cleaning then took the mop back into the back room. She waited for Steve to join her, keeping an eye on the main doors through the small window behind the counter.

“So? How did it go? What movie did you see?”

“I have no idea what the movie was, we were too busy making out in the backseat of the Camaro,” Robin said with a happy sigh. “Best night of my life so far.”

“Camaro? Hargrove’s Camaro?”

“Yes, Stevie. I told you Billy set it up. He picked Heather up first, to make it seem like they’re dating, and get Billy’s dad off his back, then they picked me up. When we got there, he parked the car and went to read his book at the diner on Main Street.”

“That was very thoughtful of him.”

“I don’t know why you’re so surprised. He’s a good guy once you get to know him. Sure, yes, he’s got some anger issues, but anyone would, with a dad like his.”

“Like what?”

“Are you seriously telling me you’ve never heard Max talk about how much of a controlling hardass Mr Hargrove is? I only see your kids when you sneak them in and I’ve heard it enough times.”

“Um, no, I tend to just tune all their chatter out. So he’s bad news?”

“He’s the kind of guy who’s only got bad sides.”

“Oh, okay. Yikes.”

“I probably shouldn’t have told you, because it’s not my story to tell, but I needed you to understand.”

“Thanks. I mean it. I’ve, um, I’ve been thinking a lot about what you said, and I’m gonna apologize to him for my part in that stupid fight.”

“I’m glad to hear it, because he and Heather are coming over after their shift at the pool. We talked about going for burgers and I think you should come with us. It will help sell it a bit more if it looks like a double date.”

Robin chuckled at Steve’s impression of a deer in headlights. “Don’t worry, dingus, we don’t have to hold hands or anything.”

Thankfully, Steve had recovered by the time they closed the store for the day and met Billy and Heather in the food court. Steve took Billy aside briefly and got through his apology without getting punched, like Robin had predicted. The look Billy threw at her when they rejoined her and Heather was filled with new-found gratitude and Robin felt a bit like a miracle worker on a mission from the universe.

They headed out in pairs, Robin giddy with excitement, as Heather’s fingers kept brushing against hers as they walked out of the mall and into the carpark. Neither boys were keen to leave their cars there so they traveled separately to the diner.

They piled up in a booth, Steve and Robin on one side, Billy and Heather on the other, and ordered. They made small talk about the highs and lows of their day at work as they waited for their food. Robin was vibrating with excitement. Heather kept smiling at her as they ate, their ankles locked together under the table. 

When Steve excused himself to go to the bathroom after they’d ordered dessert, Billy leaned forward across the table and smiled at Robin.

“I don’t know what you said to him, but thank you.”

“You deserve better, Billy,” Heather said in a clipped tone, red lips around her straw as she finished her strawberry milkshake commanding Robin’s attention.

“Hank, this is more than I thought I’d get, as little as it is. At least he’s not glaring daggers at me anymore.”

“I’d say you’re welcome,” Robin told Billy with an encouraging smile, “but I’m not done trying.”

*****

Things got better slowly over the next few weeks.

Billy told Robin about Steve showing up at the quarry and how they shared a couple of beers as they smoked some weed and talked.

During another double date at the diner, Steve and Billy got into a very animated conversation about Dune, Billy arguing the book is better, while Steve defended the movie, despite the fact that he had absolutely not read the book. Robin and Heather escaped to make out in the bathroom.

As summer turned to fall, they left Scoops Ahoy to go work at Family Video, and Steve lived through another one of his father’s lectures about his future. He moped around for days afterwards and Robin wasn’t sure how to help then one night, Billy showed up. Robin left them to it and heard later about how they’d raided Mr Harrington’s liquor cabinet and got so extremely drunk they’d passed out on the floor in the den, and woken up cuddling. 

Billy told her he’d pretended to be asleep until Steve went to the bathroom, then he’d gone to the kitchen to make coffee and pretended it hadn’t happened.

Steve hadn’t mentioned it at all. Robin said nothing but took mental note of the daydreaming look on Steve’s face that appeared more often the day after he spent time hanging out with Billy.

Then one day, she arrived for her after school shift at Family Video and headed for the break room to dump her backpack and her jacket, and Steve followed her. He seemed flustered, unusually so.

“You okay, dingus? Did something happen? Mrs. Wheeler get too close again?” Robin asked, a shudder of distaste at the memory of seeing Nancy’s mom seductively running a finger along Steve’s hand as she’d picked up her change a few weeks ago. Steve had washed his hands for like an hour afterwards.

“You!” Steve started, pointing his finger at Robin and pacing the small room. “This is all your fault!”

“What did I do now?”

“You told me to give Billy a chance. You told me I needed to have more friends my age. And I listened to you, and we’ve been hanging out, and talking. About all sorts of stuff. And let me tell you, lady, you now have serious competition for your best friend spot, just saying.”

“Okay…” Robin still didn’t see what about that would warrant the state Steve was in. “I fail to see how any of this is a bad thing, dingus.”

Steve collapsed onto the rickety chair that sat by the equally rickety card table Keith had installed in one corner. Robin cringed at the loud creaking noise it made when Steve’s knee started bouncing in time with Steve running his fingers through his hair.

She knelt on the floor next to Steve, and reached up to get his hands free from the now tangled mess on top of his head, really concerned now. “Sweetie, what happened?” she asked softly, cutting through his mutterings.

“Dreams, Robin.”

“What kinds of dreams, Steve?”

The look he gave her was enough of a clue. “Oh, okay… It’s normal to have, um, graphic dreams, you know that, we learned about it in Sex Ed class.”

“Sex Ed classes didn’t exactly cover having graphic and detailed sex dreams about your male best friend, Robin,” Steve told her in a rushed whisper.

“Well… no, they did not. But there’s nothing wrong with having dreams.”

“But what does it mean?” He sounded haunted by it and it broke Robin’s heart.

She wrapped her arms around his shoulders and gave him a rare hug before sitting back down. “It doesn’t have to mean anything. Or it could mean that you like both, girls and boys, I mean. Or…”

“Or what?”

“Remember when you asked me about my soulmate and I pretty much described Heather?”

“Yeah.”

“Well, as it turns out, her soulmark is the exact same flower, only in a different spot.”

“I’m happy for you, I really am, it’s great, but that doesn’t help me much right now. I need the dreams to stop. I am going crazy. I can’t sleep, because every time I close my eyes, I…”

“Steve, sweetie, maybe the universe is trying to tell you to stop fighting it.”

“Fighting what?”

“You know that crown on your ribs?”

Steve closed his eyes and shook his head. “Don’t say it.” His knee was bouncing again, faster than before.

“Steve...”

“Don’t say it, Robin.” Steve opened his eyes again and he looked about to cry.

“I’ve seen its match.”

“You’re telling the truth, aren’t you?”

“I would never lie to you, dingus,” Robin told him earnestly. The ding of the counter bell interrupted her train of thought. “Fuck. You stay here, take the time you need, and I’ll go deal with the customers.”

“Thank you.”

“It’s gonna be okay, Stevie. You’ll see.” 

She left him there, closing the door behind her as she stepped into the area behind the counter. Her eyes narrowed when she took in the gaggle of Steve’s children gathered on the other side. She let out an exaggerated sigh so they’d know she didn’t have the patience to deal with them.

“What do you lot want?”

The annoying kid who never shut up glared at Robin. “We need to talk to Steve.” 

“Well, you can’t. He’s not here.”

“His car is outside.”

Robin shrugged. “Dunno what to tell you. I’m not his keeper. He’s not here and if you’re not going to rent videos, you can leave. Shoo.”

She stared them down until they left, grumbling as they filed through the door.

“Hey.”

“Jesus!” Robin startled, not expecting Billy to appear in front of her. “Oh my god, wear a bell or something. I nearly had a heart attack.”

Billy chuckled and leaned onto the counter. “Sorry, Rob. Didn’t mean to scare ya. Is he really not here or were you just trying to get rid of the weird kids brigade?”

“Oh he’s here. He’s having a major freak-out in the break room.”

“Fuck. Is he gonna be alright?”

Robin and Billy had become pretty close over the past few months, as they bonded over shared interests and her secret relationship with Heather had progressed. She knew he’d made his peace with being nothing more than best friends with Steve, despite their matching soulmarks or his own feelings for Steve. She loved how much he cared for her favorite dingus, and she wasn’t about to start lying to him about Steve.

“I’m not sure. He was pretty shaken up.”

Billy groaned and rested his head between his arms on the counter. “It’s probably my fault.”

“What do you mean? What happened?”

He lifted his head and stared at a spot on the wall. “Last weekend, at the quarry, I stupidly mentioned soulmates. No, not like that , I just… asked him if he ever dreamed about his. Then he asked about mine. I stayed vague, for obvious reasons, but he kept asking and I may have snapped then driven off.”

“What the hell, Billy?”

“I know, I know, but I felt cornered, okay?” He ran a hand over his face then finally looked Robin in the eye. “I don’t know how much longer I can go on pretending he’s not everything I’ve ever wanted.”

Robin heard a click behind her and noticed Billy turning deathly white and frozen on the spot.

“Billy?”

At the sound of Steve’s voice, Robin turned around to find him standing in the doorway.

“Hey, dingus,” Robin called out with extra cheer in her voice. “Feeling better?” 

Steve ignored her, his attention on Billy whose eyes hadn’t left his.

“Do you think we could talk?”

“Of course, pretty boy.” Billy cut himself off, and Robin spotted his cheeks getting pink under his tan. “I mean, sure, here, or…?”

“Here is fine.” Steve half turned, looking at Robin, a question in his eyes.

“I’ll cover for you, no worries.”

She motioned for Billy to follow Steve, and she’d never seen him look so scared. She closed the door behind Billy and turned the music up a couple of notches, just in case…

When they came out of the break room forty minutes later, they both looked disheveled and Steve was sporting a rather damning hickey on his collarbone.

He came to stand next to her at the counter and they both watched Billy walk towards the exit, though Steve’s eyes strayed decidedly lower than Robin’s. Billy pushed the door and turned to give them a little wave before he stepped onto the sidewalk.

“Not a word, Robin. Not a word.”

Robin mimed zipping her lips together but that didn’t stop her smile. She bumped her shoulder into Steve’s and he bumped hers back.

A large group of customers entered the shop and the two of them got to work, dealing with returns that needed rewinding, and issuing new movies. The job wasn’t exactly rewarding, they didn’t get paid much, but all that didn’t matter, because working together had led them both to find their soulmates.

And that was the bit that really mattered.

[thecoolnauta]

GENSHIN WITH A TEEN!CREATOR WHO IS LIKE LUZ NOCEDA

So yeah, just some brainrot I though while (crying) doing homework

TW: gn reader, teenager reader (ALL IS PLATONIC), some mentions of bullying but not that many, maybe sm angst and a lot of spoilers abut the archons missions

ALSO VERY BAD ENGLISH, IT'S NOT MY FIRST LANGUAGE PLEASE DON'T MIND IT (also I have this feeling that this is gonna be long so maybe it would be part two)

So yeah, you are just some neurodivergent kid, trying to vibe with your especial interest but classmates are being mean like they got pay for it and not very friendly stuff

your dearest tutor (I didn't know If put mother or anything else) decided without telling you first to put you on a weird camp were IN TEXTUAL WORDS: "they will make you think inside the box"

And yeah you weren't doing that shit

Luckly you! some weird... random- CREATURE stole your (insert product of your special interest here) and ran away to a very old wood house you never notice before.

... SCREW THAT YOU ARE GETTING BACK THAT THING

You enter no the house without actually looking back, not minding at all the fact after you cross the old door you ended up in a wild life forest.

When you tried to get back to your city you found out that the door was gone, all the freaking house was gone.

"Don't panic, don't panic, QUENOCUNDAELPANICO, maybe the house had some uhhh… halogenous spores that are making me hallucinate hehe" you said before shouting your lungs out when you bite your arm and hurt... and bleed gold.

You weren't hallucinating, you were in a real place and your blood looked like liquid stars..

"carajo"

Trying to find someone to help you probably run all over the forest you went trap, finding that the animals really liked you and the flowers pratically flourished faster when you were around.

"Heh, this place is kinda nice, maybe I could stay a little longer"

It was night you rested your head over a wild boar who very cheerfully offered to be your pillow, some bunnies cuddle you and a little mockingbird started to sing for you to sleep.

You actually can get used to this, felling so warm, so loved by an unkown earth who seems to let you know all it's secrets...

"WHAT DO YOU MEAN THEIR PRESENCE IS GONE?!"

"IT'S GONE"

All Teyvat (except for you) heard the cries of the Traveler and their rare pixie

After finding out the secrets of the Hydro archon of Fontaine, they decided to get a little walk before doing missions all over again.

BUT when Aether was resting their head and body on a tree, he felt the divine power and the warm scaping of his body like an armour being destroyed after a very rough battle.

You were gone, you abandoned him.

He almost fall into the sea, if It wasn't for Paimon that grab thim of the braid with all her little strength.

After that he just started to panic and cry all loud and to attack everyting that moves a bit to close to him.

(Paimon had to kick him into his face to stop him but shhhhh)

When he managed to splain himself, It was the turn of Paimon to get panic, only after Ather giving her a berry he had on his pocket she calmed down.

"...So what we do now, Do we tell the others?" the Traveler asked

"Paimon doesn't know, maybe we could them the Archons to-"

"Paimon, look at my eyes and repeat that again"

"Maybe we could..." she stayed quite a long time "yeah maybe they won't fully help us"

"What If we tell Albedo? He knows a lot of things about the Creator!"

"You're right! But we still have some missions to do here..."

"We do them as soon we can, also, we can wrote a letter to him so he would have time to investigate this more" he decided.

"Paimon needs to know now, let's do the request now!"

The flying girl disapeard and the yound boy stayed with a frown.

He could fell Teyvat, It felt different than before, even before he got trapped by the unkown godness.

It feel completed.

Aether just hope that nothing bad happends to all the persons he had the chance to meet. He hoped nothing bad happend to you.

I WOULD DEFINETLY NEED MORE FOR FINISH THIS

[velvetvexations]

the fact two things you're known for is being male and having big boobs is so insanely hot of you

I've been having a lot of thoughts about this ask all day.

We're a system and one of us, Aleph, is a cis man and he is in fact the one with almost all the chest dysphoria. Kuroko also wants big tits but could do without as well. With Aleph, it's like, a painful pressing emotional wound in his (and thus our) heart that he doesn't have ginormous boobies. He also identifies as gay, and has a kink for cis men, specifically, with large breasts but, it's less "I want to fuck him" and more "that me." Like he likes guys in general but a cis man with boobs, that in particular gets him off because it's kinna a representation of who he is and wants to be. He's kinna an AGP/AAP, one of the two or maybe both. He loves the idea of walking into the room and always having the biggest boobs in spite of the fact that he's a cis man. Like, he wants a trophy for it.

Then Kuroko's thing is that it's gender is essentially the act of being misgendered. Weird, I know, this is actually the first time we've ever thought about it this way, the hill you've pushed our brain down has snowballed into a really complex exploration of what being a male with big boobs means for us. Anyway, right, Kuroko, it's an it, it's the one with all the misgendering stuff, it wants to be seen as a super clocky man and/or creature in women's clothes, it's almost a personification of the fear a trans girl might have of "always being male" do you understand me? Because trans women aren't male, unless they want to be, but can you imagine being a teenage trans girl in high school, desperately trying to pass but slowly coming to the conclusion that you'll always just be a perverted freak playing pretend? Kuroko is the embodiment of that exact scenario. If deathly anxious and depressed transfem teenagers had a Persona 4-style shadow self, that's Kuroko.

And then there's Jasper, who is a trans girl in an extremely uncomplicated and basic way who thinks Aleph and Kuroko are both weird. She does not identify as "male" at all, she's just a trans girl, that's it.

But she does put emphasis on being trans and also wouldn't want to "pass", she's got a mix of butch and fem traits but the big beefy muscle girl stuff like part of what we see in Rhea Ripley comes from her, So when you combine that emphasis on being a trans girl with their weirdness, the natural result of that fusion - a compromise, you might say - is that I (Vasiliki Velvet) am fully, one hundred percent a girl* but a male** girl.

All this is to say, yeah, hey, it IS pretty hot!

*which otherwise would be misgendering and invalidating for Aleph and Kuroko

**which would otherwise be misgendering and invalidating for Jasper

[saiiboat]

top 5 bleach characters

1. ichimaru gin. who do you think i am. hes my freak. guy with every issue. what if you wanted to get back a piece of your best friends soul that was stolen from her and so you become the right hand man of the man who stole it from her. and you let her think you betrayed her so you could keep trying to get back that piece of her soul. and then you died while trying to get it back and shes crying over you as youre dying and your last thought is "im so glad i got to tell you im sorry". what then. what fucking then.

2. hirako shinji. hes my other freakazoid. what if you were some weird freakish guy obsessed with jazz and your best friend is a 12 year old girl who lives to kick in your stupid face and call you names. and you have a psychosexual relationship with your lieutenant who you know is going to try and betray you at some point but you keep him close so you can keep an eye on him. and then when he does eventually betray you and turn you and your friends into monsters he tells you that he was only able to do that because you never got to know him. maybe if you fucked that freak none of this would have happened, shinji

3. kuchiki rukia. what if you were so full of grief and guilt but you were also a silly little creature obsessed with the wonder of juiceboxes and other human oddities and drew bunnies and lived in some teenager's closet. and then you are given the death penalty.

4. hitsugaya toushirou. what if you were twelve and in the military and because your stupid military captain disappeared or died or something you were unlucky enough to be the next in the chain of command to be a military captain. also your older sister's captain is murdered and she goes insane because someone forges a letter from her dead captain and tells her that YOU killed him and now your older sister is trying to kill YOU and youre just trying to protect HER and then it turns out that her captain is ALIVE and trying to KILL HER and then he almost kills YOU and the last thing you do before falling unconscious is reach for your sister

5. Kira Izuru. what if you were so loyal to your captain but some stuff starts to happen and hes definitely involved in it and he tells you that if you just follow along he'll promise not to hurt your friend who you love. but stuff keeps getting worse and it scares you and HE scares you but the only positive trait you see in yourself is your loyalty to him as his lieutenant so. well. as long as your friend is safe, you'll follow him. but then you hear that he's betrayed everyone. he's betrayed YOU. your friend got hurt and he didn't protect her like he promised that he would. and you go to talk to your captain's old friend who is also dealing with this betrayal and you get drunk and you cry and you laugh and when thats all said and done you don't let anyone say his name in front of you. it physically hurts to think about him.

[bewitchingbaker]

"Be hones'..." she says as she stands beside one of the work tables, grinding down dried herbs for one of the many ointments and oils she will eventually make. Beth doesn't often practice her craft in plain view, even though she doesn't fear Chris or worry about keeping secrets from him. It's simply the way she was taught. "...You t'ink if you had one chance, you would give up ya powers jus' for da sake of bein'...'normal'?"

A focused frown rests on the baker's face, eyes locked on the chair before him. Despite making the chair look miniscule, he still remembers his initial struggles as a child lifting the silver seat. He takes a breath.

"1"

"2"

"3!"

With a huff, he lifts up the chair with no effort.

Could he use his magic? Sure. But it was part of his routine for closing the bakery. Stack the chairs, wash the dishes, unplug the tv, take refill the drink machine. Same schedule from his childhood, though he often left the tv on at this time since re runs of Yo soy Betty, la fea were usually on at this hour.

As much as it annoyed him to be on closing while his family was out, Chris was happy to have the company of Beth.

Like so many years ago, the baker would sneak glances at the nurse as if this was his first time seeing her. Still blushing like his childhood days. It was amazing how she made the simple task of grinding herbs look angelic. He was so distracted he was snapped back to reality by almost bumping into the refrigerator full of name-brand beverages.

He leans against the beverage machine, praying to the Gods that she didn't see that. Judging from her focus, he was hopefully right. Real smooth.

Chris kneels down and begins the final task of the night.

Out of his peripheral, he listens to her question. Nodding with each word until he hears the final half of her question.

"Normal?" He echoes."Hmmm..."

The baker ponders over her question for a bit. Memories of his time before he discovered the strange side of life. As much as Chris loved getting into teenage shenanigans with Jess, there was always a bit of a disconnect. It was if he was missing an important. Like...he was somewhere else.

It wasn't until Camillo and Abuela showed him magic that he felt something click. The simple yet oh-so-beautiful way their brown hues slowly filled with the Luna's violet aura left him in awe. The young baker would remember his mother's words of the world being much bigger.

Back then he just thought there were more people than his family but after seeing the family's magic he finally understood what she meant.

Even with Luna's warnings against getting too deep into the paranormal, Chris felt at home within the nonhuman world. What often scared others, brought comfort to the baker.

Discovering Dee was closer to something closer to a Lovecraftian creature than a cat? No fear. Adopting a lost hellhound? Just another member of the family. Even when he found out the quiet girl he loved bore a pair of teeth that could leave him maimed simply brought a smile to his face.

But would he give it all up?

"Honestly," he finally speaks. "No. This might sound weird but...well all the strange stuff feels normal."

He turns to Beth with a small smile.

"If I woke up and Dee wasn't always changing forms or Quas couldn't speak I'd freak out. Maybe it's cause of those stories I grew up reading or maybe hearing how my mom loved being in this world made me cozy in the strange. Honestly, if I didn't have my powers and I was just a regular human I'd still want to be in this world."

A small pause as he remembered the look of fear in her eyes when she gave him the faint scar on his lips.

"Would you want to give up your powers to feel normal?"

[ @brooklynislandgirl ]

[rmhashauthor]

I grew up feeling very ugly and unlovable. I was a weird kid (thanks undiagnosed adhd and autism) and had what I call an allergic reaction to adolescence - when I hit puberty my weight ballooned and my self-esteem ceased to exist. I had almost no friends, and the few I had didn't have the social and emotional issues I had, so when I was doing my thing they distanced themselves. I internalized that as "I suck, everyone hates me, there's something fundamentally wrong with me, I'm broken and I don't understand why or how to fix it." Middle school made it worse, I was a "freak" and a "weirdo" because I was always by myself, reading a book that was way above my age group or writing increasingly disturbing (and absolutely horrible) poetry about death and pain and how sorry I felt for myself. Throw in the aggression and confused anger of a teenage girl with RSD and being WAY too smart for her own good, and you have a recipe for disaster. Hi, it's me, I'm the disaster.

Werewolves were my first "love" because they were powerful and fast, they were dangerous and beautiful, they were everything a fat, ugly, weird, self-destructively lonely fourteen-year-old girl couldn't be. A werewolf could be a normal person who could go to school, work, and live their life during the day and become a wild, uninhibited nightbeast and no one would be the wiser. When I got into more adult interpretations of werewolves (paranormal romance books), werewolves became an outlet for all my rage and frustration that I couldn't be "normal". Monsters, specifically werewolves, made the ache bearable - if werewolves could be monsters and still have someone love them, maybe I could be a monster too. Instead of me loving monsters, I wanted to BE the monster who was loved. And if being the monster kept away the people who didn't understand or didn't accept me, then being a monster was safer than trying to be the normal I wasn't.

I'm a LOT better now, thanks to time and getting some distance between where I was at 17 and where I live now. It still hurts to think about all that, but I've never let myself forget how it felt to "be the monster." All that emotional hurt and self-harm has turned into intense compassion for everyone who has been Othered for whatever arbitrary reason - religion, ethnicity, disability, neurodivergency, something as simple as having a weird nose or a unibrow. I won't say I'm immune to the human tendency to group people based on behaviors or appearance, but my own experience as an Other definitely makes me more sensitive to the idea of monsters (and aliens) dealing with the same feelings of "I'm wrong, I'm broken, I'm different in a bad way and I don't understand why." It's also probably the reason I'm more attracted to odd-looking and odd-behaving people like my husband, who we're pretty sure is also autistic (and my own personal Weird Dude 😁). I can honestly say finding my own monster lover has been a transformative experience, not just as a person but as someone who writes about Othered people. Writing about aliens and creatures is writing about my own life dealing with stuff I clearly wasn't equipped to handle, and I hope that by writing my silly little stories I might save another young person who feels like they'll never be loved because they're different.

Hey guys conducting research for the monster dating sim again !

So here’s my question:

Why do you like monsters ?

(Obvi we all think they sexy but is there anything specific about them you like ?)

[godlessandwrecked]

pas de deux | e. munson

a chance encounter sparks up an unexpected friendship, and suddenly, eddie is thrown into your world of shades of pink, tulle and classical music.

PAIRING: eddie munson x fem ballerina!reader

WORD COUNT: 7k

CONTENTS: suggestiveness, friends to lovers, cutesy girly ballerina reader, a bunch of clichés, eddie being a flirt, absolutely no knowledge about ballet, only the first little bit in eddie’s pov the rest is reader’s, no upside down just vibes x

A/N: this is literally 7k words of pure fluff, which is not my forte, but it’s very much needed….for obvious reasons…. you’re welcome <333

He hadn’t meant to pry on you, staring at you from the shadows, unannounced as he was, but…he couldn’t help it. He was stuck to the place the moment he laid eyes on you, unable to move a single digit or rip his gaze away from your dancing form.

He’d been roaming the school hallways during his free period, making his way out towards the woods, when he heard the music coming from the gym–that sad, melancholic weeping of strings. The door was slightly ajar, enough for him to peek in, and he just had to take a look, too curious in nature to go on about his business.

And there you were, floating above the wooden floor like an apparition. For a second, he thought you were a ghost. He could have sworn there was a white mist surrounding you, some kind of shimmering aura covering your body, tangling around your outstretched limbs and twirling form.

Eddie had never seen such a thing. It was painful to watch, really–such a tragic and beautiful thing–the way you glided gracefully to haunting violins, the music emitting through the battered speakers of a cassette player.

Standing on your tiptoes and spinning around seemingly effortlessly, your expression was saying everything that couldn’t be put into words. You were moving with so much passion, he was almost brought to tears, struck with an overwhelming emotion and an incomprehensible heavy chest. He felt like he was in a dream, so sure he was seeing some type of magical creature straight out of a fairy tale; some kind of sorceress, messing with his mind, right there, in front of his eyes.

He didn’t know how long he stood there for. He only became aware of his surroundings again once the music died down, as you came to the end of your routine, stopping in your tracks to hold a perfectly poised pose, your chest heaving up and down. And that’s when, unfortunately for Eddie, you noticed you weren’t alone in the gym.

You caught his reflection in the mirror behind you, letting out a startled gasp and a slight jump when you saw him. Eddie quickly turned away as your eyes locked with his, and was about to turn around to run out of the room when, “Hey!”

Eddie cursed himself under his breath, damning his stupid curiosity. Now he would have to come up with some explanation as to why he was watching you, and assure you he wasn’t a creep–even though he was being a creep–and make sure you understood he didn’t make a habit out of spying on teenage girls.

Great. Another tally on the board of why Eddie The Freak is, indeed, a freak.

“Sorry. I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to creep on you, that was weird,” he admitted, stepping into the room and approaching you in small, careful steps.

“Didn’t see you there. Were you watching for long?”

He frowned.

You were smiling.

“Not really,” he scratched his head. “I was just passing by and I heard the music, s’all.”

“That’s okay. I’d be curious, too.”

You weren’t mad? Okay, maybe he was dreaming.

He wasn’t used to talking to pretty, popular girls, and even though he always seemed to know what to say, he was at a loss. He knew who you were, your social circle made up of cheerleaders and basketball jocks, and the chances of weirding you out by saying the wrong thing were plenty. You were like a mythical creature, and he guessed it was hard for a mere human like him to know what to say to a unicorn once you were face to face with one.

The appropriate thing to do would be to apologize again and make his exit, but Eddie had never been the appropriate kind, and his tongue worked faster than his brain. “I had never seen anyone dance like that before. It’s beautiful.”

“Thank you,” you coyly smiled, looking down slightly embarrassed. You seemed taken aback by his honesty–even he was surprised by his own confession. “That’s very kind.”

“You looked like one of those little figurines in the music box thingys, you know? With the spinning-” he wriggled his finger.

You let out a genuine laugh, one that made Eddie instantly smile. “Like a ballerina, yeah,” you agreed. “I try.”

He felt lighter now. You weren’t angry or disgusted, you hadn’t freaked out and ran away screaming the weirdo of Hawkins High was stalking you. You were smiling, and playing into the conversation, laughing at his stupid joke.

“I’m sorry, again,” he apologized once more, just in case. “Didn’t mean to freak you out. You should continue, I interrupted you.”

“It’s okay, I swear. I was done anyway,” you said, bending down to reposition the legwarmers that were falling down your calves. And only then did Eddie notice what you were wearing.

And fuck him because you looked adorable.

In your tiny powder pink skirt and tights, matching pink leotard, exposing your shoulders and neck and the dainty silver chain resting on your chest, adorned with a little charm of a pair of ballet shoes. He’d never particularly cared for pink, but maybe he loved it now.

He must’ve looked like a fish, staring dumbfounded with his mouth halfway open. He just hoped he’d closed his mouth shut before you even noticed he was gaping at you.

“I should leave, ‘cause I’m sweaty,” you grimaced, looking down at yourself.

“Sure, sure,” he mumbled, moving to the side so he wouldn’t be in your way.

“But, Eddie…” you looked back at him with a shy smile, the sweetest thing he’d ever seen in his entire life. “Next time you want to watch, just tell me. I’ll put in a little extra effort.”

And with that, you left the gym, leaving him standing there, completely caught off guard as he tried to process what had just happened. The way you’d turned around to face him as you made your exit, the way you’d smiled at him; the way you’d left him there, with his cheeks heating up and a smirk on his lips. And you knew his name?

What had he just gotten himself into?

•

•

•

“Earth calling!”

Fingers snapped in front of your face, startling you out of your daydream. Chrissy was looking at you from her side of the table, the furrow on her brow almost hidden by her thick fringe.

“Sorry,” you shook your head, turning back your attention to your half-eaten meal—already cold—and trying to avoid her inquisitive eyes. “You were saying?”

“Are you okay?” she asked, genuine concern on her face. Chrissy–sweet as cherries. “What’s got you so distracted today?”

You took a deep breath.

Eddie. Fucking. Munson.

That’s what. But of course, you weren’t about to tell that to your best friend, head of the Hawkins High cheer team. Not if you didn’t want her to run off scared, claiming you’d been possessed by the actual devil.

Eddie was sitting not too far away from your table in the cafeteria. Clearly the life and soul of his group of friends, everyone sitting around him was dying laughing every time he opened his mouth, his eyes lighting up when they did. And you just couldn’t stop staring.

A few weeks ago, you wouldn’t have looked his way twice, wouldn’t have watched him long enough to notice the things you did now.

Sure, you’d seen him before, many times, through the school hallways, with his chains and leather jacket, and that smile plastered on his face, as if he knew something no one else did. And now you realized just how not scary he was. If you knew what to look for, if you looked past the facade, it wasn’t hard to see him at all.

Eddie in all of his glory. Unapologetically him.

Days after that encounter at the gym, you’d stumbled upon him in the parking lot after school one evening. More like, he’d stumbled upon you, saving the day.

You’d been frantically searching through your bag for your car keys, running late to your ballet class since your tutoring lessons with the juniors had run long. But they were nowhere to be found, and you were already counting your lucky stars that your instructor would be in a strangely good mood that day, because you were most likely not making it in time.

Eddie, who was waiting for his friends to show up for their D&D campaign, had seen your distressed form from his van and walked over to check on you. He offered to take you to the studio, assuring you it was no problem and he had plenty of time to spare.

You’d agreed.

The whole car ride, you couldn’t stop laughing, delightfully surprised by him and his sense of humor and how sweet and nice he was. You’d already gotten a taste of it back at the gym, but he seemed more comfortable now, with a heavy tune playing in the background through the speakers of his van, his big eyes fixed on the road as he listened to you talk.

He seemed interested about what you were telling him, eagerly asking questions and attentively listening to your answers. No one had ever cared so much about what you were passionate about before, not even the people you considered your closest friends, and it felt like a fist wound tight around your heart, squeezing painfully.

You wondered if this was what real friendship felt like. Tender, easy, uplifting, supportive.

Your friends’ influence was heavy on you, and under any other circumstances you wouldn't have given Eddie a second thought. But after he’d dropped you off and you’d bid your goodbyes, you couldn’t stop thinking about him and his smile and his witty quips and how easily he seemed to put you at ease.

Eddie, who so many people claimed was “scary” looking, with his tattoos and long hair and heavy metal. Eddie, who played some weird board game about fantasy creatures you hadn’t even heard of before and listened to all those bands your father deemed inappropriate and horrifying. Eddie, who did not seem to care about fitting in, who wasn’t afraid to stand out–who thought your dancing was beautiful.

“I’m okay,” you said now, trying to get out of Chrissy’s questioning. “Just…tests. And dancing. There’s a lot on my mind.”

“Of course.” She placed her hand on yours on the table. “If you need any help just let me know, okay? We can study together, if you want.”

You smiled at her appreciatively and nodded, relieved when she dropped the topic and moved onto another conversation with the rest of the group sitting around you. Your gaze inevitably diverted back to Eddie’s table, but he was gone, his seat empty even though his friends were still there.

It didn’t come as a surprise. The note you’d found in your locker that morning was very clear. Our spot after lunch. Unsigned, but in that familiar and messy scroll. You’d been looking forward to it all day.

Quickly, you made up some half-ass excuse that went mostly unnoticed, and got up from the table, practically sprinting through the hallways towards the woods behind the running track, to a spot where you knew business was made. A lot of the guys in the basketball team bought from Eddie there, you’d seen them sneaking away plenty of times, they just would never admit it, the bunch of hypocrites.

Eddie had asked you to meet him earlier than usual today. Supposedly, you were there to study, help him out with some of his classes, but it had been a few days since you’d touched a book, too caught up in talking about anything and everything to even bother.

And like every time you met him in that same exact spot, beneath the trees in that clearing that was now yours, your heart started beating faster, hard and loud enough that you could feel it pounding in your ribcage.

“I’m skipping physics for you, I hope you’re happy.”

Eddie was leaning against the wooden table, one leg casually propped up on the bench, all unruly dark curls shining under the March sun, denim vest over his leather jacket. He looked up at the sound of your voice, his eyes lighting up when he saw you.

“Skipping class? For me?” He placed his hand on his chest, his eyes wide. “Oh, I’m a terrible influence. You should drop me before I corrupt you.”

“Shut up, Munson,” you said, a smirk making its way onto your face, albeit your cheeks were heating up.

“No, seriously, are you okay? You sure you don’t have a bug that’s affecting your brain or something? Let me check-”

“Eddie! Stop it!” you laughed, catching his hand directed towards your forehead. “You’re making me seem like a loser.”

“Are you kidding? You’re the coolest person in this whole town.” You batted his hand away from your face when he tried to poke your cheek, but kept your hand in his, his fingers lacing with yours. “I’m serious. You do some weird twirling dance and wear pink tights and listen to fucking… I don’t know, Tchaikovsky? It’s weird. It’s cool as fuck.”

“Weird twirling dance? Jesus,” you scoffed.

He was looking at you fondly, with a smile on his face, the kind that made you jittery. His gaze felt as warm as his hand in yours as he played with your fingers, absentmindedly. And you just stood there, reveling in his touch and his words like a dumb school girl, when you should be in Mrs. Harris’ class, listening to some boring lecture on thermodynamics.

You had the inkling that Eddie always meant every word he ever said to you, and it was so foreign, to have someone be so honest and so…nice. When Eddie looked at you, he saw you, right through, and even though it was daunting to feel so vulnerable, you ate up every bit.

You couldn’t stand the tension between you, but you couldn’t break his gaze nor let go of his hand either. “So,” you exhaled. “What did you want me to meet you here for?”

“Oh, I’m sorry,” he frowned. “Did I need to have a reason?”

“I can’t just skip class without a good reason.”

“Okay, maybe you are a loser – OUCH!” He rubbed at his arm, where your fist had just collided with his bicep. “That hurt! You pack a punch.”

“Yeah, I know,” you grinned.

Eddie liked to tease you, and if any of his playful provocations came from anyone else but him, maybe they would have bothered you. But you understood his humor now—and his heart—and even if you sometimes couldn’t tell when he was being serious or messing with you, you took it gladly, because it meant he was comfortable enough with you, and you loved that.

That didn’t mean he didn’t deserve a light swat on the back of his neck when he poked fun at you every time you got a little serious. And every time, he got extra dramatic, like a little kid, as if you’d wounded him terribly.

The pout in his face was adorable, and you couldn’t help but lean in closer, and press a hesitant kiss on his right cheek.

Every bone in your body told you to linger there, see what would happen if you pulled away slowly, enough for your eyes to meet, inches away from his lips. But an irrational fear settled into your bones, one that was whispering in your ear that it was too soon, to not be stupid, to not fuck up. So you pulled away with the most confident smile you could muster, as if your closeness and the feeling of his warm skin against your lips hadn’t affected you in a way you hadn’t expected.

The look on Eddie’s face didn’t escape you, though. There was surprise there for a second, but then a triumphant, shit eating grin settled on his face. “Okay, I forgive you.” Then, a beat after, “You have to stop doing that, because it’s fucking adorable.”

“Doing what?” you asked confused. Not like you’d made a habit out of kissing his cheek, but maybe you were about to if he found you fucking adorable.

“That. That little smile, and the tilted head.”

You instantly repositioned your head straight, noticing how you were, in fact, doing exactly that. You hadn’t even noticed. “I’ll stop,” you nodded with a giddy grin.

“Please don’t,” he said, amused at you and giving your intertwined hands a squeeze.

“Okay? We should study,” you suggested, squeezing his hand back. You were done with the conversation. Best if you buried your nose in a book, just so he’d keep his mouth shut for the few minutes you could convince him to spend on school work instead of on riling you up. You could only handle so much at a time.

“Definitely,” he said, catching you distracted and finally managing to poke your cheek with his finger.

You swatted his hand away and let out an annoyed huff, sitting opposite him on the table, at a good arm’s length, with a poorly faked stern look. He opened up his book as you did the same, settling into a comfortable silence as a smile threatened to spill out.

You couldn’t keep letting him get away with the way he made your cheeks heat up. You just couldn’t.

•

•

•

The moment you saw Tyler Watts doing body shots off of his girlfriend’s belly button for everyone to see, you knew you shouldn’t have come to the stupid party. You’d already been doubting your decision before—mostly when half the cheer team gave you dirty looks as you walked in, hand in hand with Chrissy—but she’d been so insistent that you couldn’t say no to her adorable pout.

Any excuse was a good one to throw a party in Hawkins, and everyone had showed up in celebration of the beginning of spring break. The floor was sticky, the air thick with cigarette smoke, and it seemed like the whole of Hawkins High was there, the house crowded to a full, all jam-packed like a tin of sardines.

Chrissy, who’d been holding onto your arm just a while ago, was nowhere to be found, and without her there, you were starting to get that familiar feeling that you no longer belonged there. Not without her there, not after your big fallout with who you thought were your friends.

You hadn’t explicitly told anyone you were hanging out with Eddie, but some people had seen you together, and rumors had spread like fire around the school. When some girls from the cheer team you used to hang out with confronted you about it, as if you were doing something wrong, you mustered all your courage and tried to channel Eddie’s spirit, and told them to fuck off. Eddie was your friend, and if they weren’t okay with that, then they were never your friends at all.

He was sweet, and kind, and considerate, and he always made sure to check up on you. He always took every bad word aimed at him with a smile, and never allowed anything to drown his spirits, or at least, he didn’t let it show, just to not give anyone the satisfaction. Eddie was unapologetically him, and you weren’t aware of just how much you needed him until he came into your life.

After very little consideration–it was honestly embarrassing–you could admit it now. You loved it. The stupid leather jacket, and the rings, and the tattoos, and the long hair, and the guitar. Even the damned cigarette smoke that seemed to linger on his skin and now was so comforting to you. Eddie was so unlike everything you’d ever known, you were polar opposites in many aspects, and yet, you felt like he was meant for you.

Inevitably, you were thinking about him, and how much fun he was probably having doing whatever the fuck he was doing on a friday night. It didn’t matter what, you were sure you’d be having fun with him too. You always did.

The party was in full swing. People were way too drunk, dancing away to the poppy music blaring through the speakers, and whoever’s house this was, was already in shambles, even though it was barely 9pm. The night was going to be long, and all you wanted was to go home, curl up in bed, and listen to the mixtape Eddie had made for you.

Instead, you were stuck being miserable, sipping on stale cola, not comfortable enough to drink alcohol around anyone at the party. But maybe someone had spiked your drink because, was that Jeff? Jeff, as in Eddie’s friend? Since when was Jeff a party kind of guy? And was that Gareth next to him?

You frowned.

They were by the pool outside with a few other people. You could see them through the kitchen window, and you were sure it was them. Gareth was unmistakable, in his signature plaid vest.

You walked through the sea of bodies spread out all across the living room to get to the patio doors, bumping shoulders with various people. The rumble of laughing and yelling over the music got louder in your ears before it quieted down, as you slid the door closed behind you, the cool midnight air welcoming you and soothing your heated skin.

The moon was glowing crescent behind a veil of mist, barely illuminating the yard and making the dew on the grass sparkle like little diamonds. There weren’t many people outside, just a few strays chatting or smoking, and in the corner, Jeff and Gareth, propped up against the stone fence, laughing at whatever joke someone had made.

Just as you were making a beeline to Eddie’s friends, your gaze focused on them, you slammed hard against someone, crashing against a firm form. You let out a little yelp, and hands caught your shoulders, steadying you on your feet before you tripped and fell.

“There you go!”

You looked up to meet big brown eyes, staring you down from behind a curly fringe.

“Eddie?”

Eddie Munson—who very openly resented the party scene—was definitely the last person you expected to ever see at a Hawkins high school party.

You’d been thinking about him just a few minutes ago, and to see him there shocked you so greatly, that for a second you thought you were imagining him. But he was there, his warm hands on your shoulders as proof.  “Didn’t expect to see you here.”

He chuckled. “I’m gonna be honest,” he said, dropping his hands from your shoulders to place them in his pockets, and looked down at his shoes, as if debating with himself. Then, he looked back up at you. “I just came because I knew you’d be here.”

Oh.

You tried to hide the surprise on your face. Really, you tried, but there was no masking the smile that was threatening to spill out. Damn him. He was so cute.

“And you dragged your friends here too?” you asked, dumbly. Not like he’d ever think you were dumb, but… you felt dumb. What were you supposed to say to that?

I’m glad you came, then.

“It looks like they’re having fun, so,” he shrugged. He stuck his tongue out–a nervous habit–his gaze moving away from his friends and back to you. “I got it bad, don’t I?”

You let out a small chortle.

Eddie was showing up at parties he didn’t even like just to see you.

Eddie.

Sure, he had it bad, that much was obvious, but in your own honest opinion, you were much worse.

When had you ever felt like this before? Never in your life. Not with any of the crushes you’d had before, which now, compared to Eddie, seemed so silly and trivial. Had you even really liked them? Attraction seemed like nothing compared to what Eddie made you feel with his stupid witty remarks and flirty comments.

You were just waiting for your feelings to overflow, for one of you to go for it and jump in, the clock slowly ticking until one of you made the first move, dancing around each other like Odette and the prince in Swan Lake.

You knew people were watching your exchange, could feel their eyes boring into the nape of your neck, but you couldn’t find it in you to care. Eddie was smiling triumphantly, satisfied with himself now that he’d but confessed to you that he liked you, in his own cheeky way.

You were more than ready to lunge at him and kiss him dumb in the middle of some random kid’s backyard. You were. Luckily for you, he kept talking, “Are you having fun?”

“Honestly?” you grimaced. “Not really.” Now that you’re here…maybe.

He hummed, grabbing your half full glass from your hand to place it on top of the stone fence. “Wanna ditch?”

“I thought you’d never ask.”

•

•

•

“Wow. A castle, for a princess.”

You twisted the key inside the lock with a roll of your eyes, popping the door open and stepping into your house as Eddie followed suit behind you, instinctively wiping the soles of his shoes on the doormat. It was dark, the street lights illuminating the framed pictures on the walls, but it was familiar enough that you didn’t bother turning the lights on as you guided Eddie through.

Your parents weren’t home for the weekend, trusting you to take care of yourself and be responsible—as you’d always been—but now you were doing exactly what they wouldn’t have guessed in a million years. Bringing a boy home.

And not just any boy. You couldn’t even imagine the look on your father’s face if he ever found out you’d brought the Munson kid home. It was weirdly amusing.

“You have a swimming pool?!” Eddie exclaimed as he climbed up the stairs behind you, his hand in yours.

“What swimming pool, you goof?” you laughed. You didn’t have a pool, and even if you did, he wouldn’t have been able to see it from the stairs, where there were no windows.

“And a pet tiger?! Rich people…”

“What are you talking about?” you looked back at him, to find that silly, playful smirk on his face. He just squeezed your hand and kept walking behind you, uncharacteristically careful to not bump into anything in the dark as you led him through the hallway to your bedroom.

“Aw! Of course your room is all pink.” Eddie stood by the doorway as you walked into your bedroom, leaning against the doorframe and looking around with his big curious eyes.

You knew he was probably itching to touch and inspect everything in sight, but he kept back and watched you as you turned the light of your bedside table on and took your jacket off, going about your business almost methodically.

You’d imagined him in your room before, just a late night fantasy you’d never talk about out loud, but this was different. He stuck out so sorely, in his Dio t-shirt and leather jacket amidst all the powder pink and flowery wallpaper, standing by your makeup vanity—but somehow, he didn’t look out of place. In your eyes, he fit in perfectly.

“Hey! Pink is the superior color,” you retorted.

“I like pink,” he shrugged. “Where are the Tchaikovsky tapes?”

He walked further into the room, the first pang of fear of overstepping gone. Eddie was always respectful of your personal space, a master at reading your energy around him, but as soon as you sat back on your bed, popping your shoes off to sit cross-legged, he understood you were welcoming him in. Now he was examining and sniffing every little bottle and container on your dresser, like a detective in some cheesy late night tv police drama.

“For the last time, Eddie,” you said exasperated. “I don’t listen to Tchaikovsky.”

“But you do! You hum it under your breath sometimes.”

You frowned.

You were guilty of going over choreographies in your head often, especially in the past month, Aurora’s variation in act 3 from The Sleeping Beauty replaying in your head over and over again in preparation for your next recital. You didn’t know you actually sang along to the music out loud, but apparently you did, because Eddie had noticed.

He noticed a lot more things about you than you realized.

“I was thinking,” he hummed, a cheeky smile on his face. “The only time I’ve seen you dance was that one time.”

“The one where you were creeping on me?”

“I wasn’t creeping! I was… admiring.”

“Sure, you weren’t,” you laughed. “If you wanna see me dancing, you’re gonna have to come to my recital.”

He groaned, “Can’t I get a private performance? Just to get me through.”

A private performance.

You grinned. It was so easy for him to make you jittery with just a couple of words. He just had that ability, to say exactly the thing that would make you tick at exactly the right time. But two could play that game, and you were starting to catch up.

An idea popped into your head. “Only if you dance with me.”

“Dance with you? I can’t dance for shit, sweets.”

“Come on! You don’t have to do much, just aid me in some steps.”

“I’ll look like a drunk duck, sweetheart,” he shook his head. “Look at me! I have two left feet.”

“Don’t be dramatic, you’ll do just fine. Come on, I’ll show you.”

You got up from your bed, dragging Eddie along with you in front of the full length mirror. You were barefoot, a long stretch from your pointé shoes, and wearing a too short skirt, no tights, but it would have to do.

“You’re gonna have to get a little closer,” you giggled as Eddie awkwardly stood behind you, his frame towering over you.

Reaching back, you grabbed both his hands on yours, and placed them where your waist met your hips. You could tell he was hesitant about touching you by the way he didn’t meet your eyes in the mirror, but he still did as he was told, scooting forward just a little more.

It surprised you, really, that he was always so willing and quick to make you embarrassed with his flirty comments, but was now battling with himself about getting a little too close; exactly when this was the perfect opportunity to drive you insane. And it surprised you even more just how eager you felt about having his hands on you.

“Eddie,” you whispered, your voice low in the dim, warm light of your bedroom, painting the walls a darker shade of pink.

“Yeah?”

“Closer.”

And he did get closer. To where there were no inches between you, his body practically flush to yours, his hands on your waist. You took a deep breath and straightened your stance, inevitably getting into a dancing mind frame even though you were just messing around. You were going to need it if you were to survive this.

You got on your tiptoes and lifted one leg, the carpet soft under your feet, not allowing you much movement or glide, but just enough to give Eddie a little demonstration. ”Just spin me around as I twirl. It’s easy.”

He tried his hand, shifting his hands on your waist and rotating your body as you spun slowly but easily with his help.

“See? Easy.”

Moving onto a different position, you came back to your center and stretched your leg out into an arabesque, as much as your skirt would allow you without making it too awkward, letting Eddie support your stance.

“Hold my hand,” you instructed, wriggling your stretched right arm so he’d know which one.

His hand brushed along the length of your arm, igniting goosebumps on its way, until he found your hand, holding it delicately in his. You lifted your arm up with his even further, letting him twirl you slowly in front of him; like a ballerina in one of those music boxes, just like he’d said that first time you met.

Eddie was silent, weirdly so, considering how he never seemed to shut up, always having something to say or point out. But he was just observing, focused on you, and the timbre of your voice as you guided him through the dance, careful about where he placed his hands, hesitant in his touches and not allowing them to linger for too long.

It was such a tender moment, letting Eddie have a first hand taste into your world, and it made you giddy and weirdly prideful, your stomach filling with butterflies. There was a slight smile on his face as he watched you, biting back a broader one that would show a little too much. You were smiling too, soft laughs emitting from both your mouths as you danced, slowly spinning in his hold.

He was nervous, that much you could tell. But you could also tell the slowly growing tension that was building between you, how it seemed to stretch on tighter the longer his hands remained on your waist. And you were dying for it to just snap.

And then he did something unexpected, something that basically turned you into a puddle, slowly melting onto the floor. He leaned closer and placed a soft kiss on your temple, as if he couldn’t help himself, and then you met his eyes in the mirror. They were soft, but darker than usual, and you couldn’t really tell if it was a trick of the light or something else.

What if… no no no no no. But what if…?

His hand was resting on your stomach, just over your belly button. You grabbed it in yours and guided it lower down your body, slowly inching down towards your hip, and even lower, where the end of your skirt met your upper thigh.

His breath was on your neck, his hair tickling your skin, and you understood what a dangerous game you were playing. How poorly it could go if you had somehow misunderstood the situation, misunderstood your connection; the tension you felt between you. But you just couldn’t stop.

Eddie was like a drug. All of him, absolutely intoxicating and so, so addicting. From the moment he’d spoken the first word to you, you’d been hooked, unable to think about anything else but him and his sunshiney smile that didn’t suit his looks but was somehow so perfectly him.

But right now you couldn’t think about much more than his fingers, slowly moving down your body, and the goosebumps arising all over your skin. They felt a little too good, a little too close to heaven. Thankfully, Eddie didn’t seem to mind, keeping his hand steady, his head buried in your neck.

The coldness of his rings on your inner thigh sent shivers down your spine. Your breath was caught in your throat, a lump that wouldn’t let you fill your lungs with the air your body needed but your mind refused, too busy in other more carnal needs to bother about your mortality. You felt like your legs were about to give up any minute now, the challenging years and years of dancing and endurance reduced to nothing as his fingers brushed the bare skin of your thigh.

Your fingers were tingling, your core vibrating. Your eyes fluttered shut. All of your senses were overwhelmed by his presence and his touch, his chest pressed against your back, his hair tickling your neck. It was all too much for you, who had barely even kissed anyone before, and was now tangled in the wonder that was Eddie Munson.

“Eddie,” you sighed.

Suddenly, he spun you around, making you face him, so quickly and catching you so unprepared it almost made you dizzy. You slammed against his chest, gasping in surprise as you met his eyes, his face much closer than you’d anticipated. Your hands held onto his biceps, the leather of his jacket soft under your fingers.

“Hi,” he grinned.

“Hi.”

The urge to giggle like a maniac was strong, but you reckoned it would ruin the mood, so you bit down on your lip instead. He was so close, your noses were almost brushing, and he was so damn cute.

“Eddie.”

“What?” he said, voice soft, both of you moving in whispers, too afraid any loud noise would break the spell.

You were melting into each other, with his hands planted on your waist, at the band of your skirt, pulling your body flush to his. Whilst they had been hesitant at first, now they were firm and decided, like they’d found a home there, like they fit perfectly. Just as you had thought the first time you held hands, and then it became your thing; to tangle your fingers with his, just because there was no other way to be around each other but to be holding hands, because it was as normal and regular and constant as breathing.

“Eddie,” you said again.

“What is it, princess?” he smiled at your insistence. Not that he minded hearing his name on your lips over and over again. “What do you want, doll?”

“Kiss me.”

He didn’t need to be told twice.

The kiss was tentative, a press of lips on lips, barely lasting a few seconds, scoping it out, treading through undiscovered ground. Shy, and inexperienced. But as soon as you pulled away, all it took was the beat of a heart of looking into those big brown eyes for you to lunge back in, as if his lips were the air you needed to breathe, to keep you alive.

Your hands were holding onto the lapels of his jacket, holding him against you, and you were suddenly drunk on him. Frankly, it was slightly awkward, and frantic, bordering on desperate, but it was perfect, because it was Eddie you were kissing. You’d longed for it, longer than you cared to admit, like a silly high school girl, and you couldn’t quite believe it was finally happening.

It didn’t take long of his mouth moving against yours, his ring clad fingers on your cheek, for you to realize what that feeling burrowed in your chest was.

Love. It was love.

You were in love with Eddie. Madly, to a point where it was embarrassing just how obsessed you were with all that was him. His big brown puppy eyes, and the boyish smile, and his goofy persona, the one that flowed easily when he was comfortable and at ease. Because he was good, so good, and for the few minutes you were in his arms, he was yours.

He’d dived head first into your world, just as he’d showed you his, with no fear and no judgment and all the interest and the intent in the world. How were you supposed to not love him?

A low grumble tumbled out of his throat as your hand tangled in his mane of curls, pulling slightly, if anything, to get him as impossibly close to you as you could. His thumb was digging into the side of your face, just above your jaw, and you just hoped it would leave an imprint, just so it assured you later that all of it had actually happened.

You couldn't help it, you smiled into the kiss, a giggle inevitably escaping your mouth, making Eddie pull away. He studied you, his hands on your face as you laughed.

“What?” he laughed with you. “That bad, huh?”

You smirked, deciding to tease back, “Are we talking about the kiss or the dancing?”

“I hope neither,” he shook his head, a fake aggravated look on his face. “You’re hurting my feelings.”

“I don’t know,” you wondered. “Can we try again, just to make sure?”

“Wow. You're starting to sound like me. Take it back.”

You chuckled and smacked your lips against his, not letting him finish his soon-to-be self-deprecating banter, swallowing his surprised yelp instead. “Yeah, this is terrible,” he hummed into your mouth as you darted your tongue across his bottom lip, his hold getting tighter, your arms wrapping around his shoulders.

“It’s really bad,” you mumbled back.

“No good.”

You played with the hair at the back of his neck as his lips moved eagerly with yours, making him sigh softly into the kiss as you walked backwards, until the back of your legs hit the edge of your bed.

He hunched over you as you sat back, pulling away from the kiss to smile like two fools.

“You're doing it again!” You looked at him with a frown. “The tilted head thing. You better stop.”

His fingers held your face, squeezing your cheeks into a pout. “That means you want me to do it all the time?”

“That’s exactly what it means, my little dancer.” He placed a kiss on your naked collarbone, then your cheek. “You’re beautiful.”

You grabbed his hand and pulled him into you, making him fall onto the bed next to you. You laughed quietly, your nose brushing against his stubbly cheek as you tried to hide your embarrassment at his sweet words. “I’m gonna kiss you if you don’t shut up.”

Not that you minded, but you guessed that feeling was never going to go away as long as you were by Eddie’s side. He would never fail to make you feel that way. It’s just who he was.

“Have I told you that I love it when you threaten me?” he said as you pinned him down to the bed, your mouth already on his, his hand on your lower back, slurring his words between your kisses. “So romantic.”

[multi-writer]

Love in the past: Chapter 5 - New Friends

Eddie x 2022! Reader

(time travel reader)

Chapter 4: Old Movies > < Chapter 6: The Crazy Van Dude

Summary: who would have thought that a simple investigation of events that happened more than 30 years ago would lead to an unforgettable and somewhat bizarre journey?.

Author´s note: Sorry for the delay, this chapter was supposed to be out yesterday, it's just been a busy week with personal, family and work issues. But finally, here it is. We're already in the TV series so the good stuff is coming! Hope you like it!!! <3

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The two teenagers looked worried, their breathing hitched by the speed at which they were coming on their bikes. The boy kept looking at Steve while the girl's eyes rested on you looking up and down, analyzing you.

"Have you watch the television? There's been a murder. Something else to add to the list of why Hawkins is a lousy place to live" Steve said.

"Steve, how many phones do you have?" the boy repeated.

"I don't know...two?" Robin said as she shrugged. "Three counting Keith's." The answer seemed to please the boy as he threw his backpack over the desk and then jumped over it causing a mess in his wake making Steve and Robin to let out groans at the same time. The red-haired girl next to you kept looking at you.

"You who are you?" she asked with apprehension.

"She's from the future...by the way...we don't know your name" Steve commented as he picked up several pencils that had fallen thanks to the boy who was now standing next to Robin.

"I'm (y/n) and I don't think it's wise to tell everyone I'm from the future." You commented as you folded your arms.

"Well, (y/n) this is Max and the brat with Robin is Dustin" Steve said calmly. "And don't worry, they've been with us on the weird stuff you claim to know."

"Are you seriously going to believe they are from the future Steve?" Max commented angrily, analyzing Steve's words, Max became even more upset. "You told him about what happened last year?!"

"Hey, take it easy. We haven´t say anything" Robin commented. "And if we've been up against the Russians and fighting creatures from another dimension, I don't think a traveler from the future is the craziest thing."

"Dustin what are you doing?" asked Steve frustrated.

“Eddie Munson is in danger” said Dustin.

"Eddie ‘The Freak’ Munson? Your new older best friend?" Steve said in an annoyed tone. "I wouldn't be weirded out about it, he plays D&D, those things are the devil´s work." This comment made you look at Steve quizzical and made Dustin look annoyed.

"Steve, I play that ‘devil´s work’ and believe me it has nothing to do with it."

"Really? Dustin, you're going to believe she's from the future? What if she's a spy?" Max interrupted the two guys arguing about a board game

"Max, Robin is right. Her being from the future would be the least weird thing we've ever experienced" Dustin said as he grabbed a telephone and started calling different numbers.

"Well I do believe Eddie killed that girl" Steve folded his arms.

"Cut the crap and help us find him" Dustin replied angrily.

"Besides..." Max continued. "Yesterday Eddie was weird, I heard screaming from his trailer and then he ran off scared. He took off in his van. Something else is going on besides a death."

"You guys think... something strange is going on again?" asked Robin.

"Strange? Like beings from another dimension?" you asked as you lowered your arms. However, no one answered you.

"Could be..." finished Dustin.

"No, that's impossible. Didn´t the gates or portals close or stop or something like that?" continued Steve.

"Steve, maybe Eddie is innocent" Max said quietly.

"Look, I believe in that ‘innocent until proven guilty’ thing but I do think Eddie did have something to do with it" Steve's comment made everyone look at him quizzical and frustrated. There was a few minutes of silence until you decided to cut him off.

"How can I help you guys?" Your question caused Dustin to smile and start explaining to you about Eddie and his plan in calling different numbers. You, Robin and Max began to write down on different sheets of paper any data you found about Eddie's whereabouts, any information you got was being written down. However, they were not finding much as little was known about the boy. They stayed like that for a long time until Max began to write down quickly and then hung up, making everyone to look at her.

"Does anyone know where to find a Reefer Rick?" asked Max. "They say he's someone close to Eddie."

"I think he's the one who gives Eddie some drugs to sell" commented Dustin thoughtfully.

"Wait...your friend is a drug dealer?" you asked in surprise causing Steve to open his arms.

"Thanks! Someone else who thinks Munson is a bad influence on you guys" Steve said in a motherly type, both Dustin and Max looked at him with a serious expression. Robin, seeing this, spoke up to break the tension between the teens and Steve.

"We may be able to find him in the store's database. This is where everything is recorded" Robin said as she typed something into the computer, this made Dustin and Max move closer to her. Steve just let out a sigh to approach Robin. You stood back watching them as they took away options to find out where this Rick guy was. It didn't take long before they managed to find a clue. Quickly everyone started grabbing their stuff to look for Eddie. Steve told you what his car was while he and Robin locked up the video store. Dustin, Max and you got in the back of the car while Robin rode as a copilot and Steve drove.

The only thing you could hear was the car radio, causing an awkward silence.

"So...from the future?" said Dustin. "What year?"

"2022" you said as you hugged your backpack.

"What's it like?" Max continued, apparently she was already calmer because of your presence.

"Boring, not much has changed... Well, it has, but in phones, computers and televisions. Cars still don't fly and we haven't gone extinct from an apocalypse, so it's quiet. At least, as far as I know, we don't have beings from another dimension attacking us like in 1986" You said smiling.

"That means we won against them, right?" Dustin asked smiling. You just shook your head making his smile disappear.

"No. I don't know. Nothing that happened at Hawkins right now is documented in the future. It's hard to find information about this place, especially this time" You said.

"How did you get here?" Max continued.

"The same reason there is no information I decided to come and investigate. Long story short, I walked into the lab and all of a sudden I found myself here in this year."

"Hawkins' lab? Isn´t that dangerous?"

"It was abandoned when I went in, and there was no one there when I came out, so apparently it's not that dangerous to say the least."

"It is... or was. Experiments were being done on humans there. We'd like to think Eleven got her powers from there." Dustin said.

"Eleven? Like the number?" you asked.

"Yeah, she's a special girl with powers, a great friend. She's not here right now because she went to live in California with Joyce, Will and Jonathan, other friends" Said Max seriously.

"Mike went to visit them for spring break" commented Dustin.

"Dude, may I remind you that they doesn't know the group or any person you just mentioned" Said Steve from behind the wheel.

"Well...what do you want to know about this year?" asked Dustin surprisingly.

"Absolutely everything."

"Then get ready because it's a long story."

During the hours of driving Dustin was explaining to you all the events that had happened in town since Will disappeared, how they found Eleven, explained her powers and how she disappeared. As the conversation progressed, Steve told you more about how he took care of the children and how they went upside down. Then Max went on to tell how she had arrived, how she had made friends with the boys and her brother Bill. When this was mentioned, Max just remained silent and decided to just watch the window. Finally, Robin explained about the Russians they had confronted and what had happened at the mall.

So many things had happened in town so it was even stranger why there was no information about it at all. Even stranger that all of this was only known to a smaller group of ten people. How come the rest of the town hadn't heard about all this?

When we arrived at the house that was supposed to be Rick was already getting dark, the sky was turning dark shades of blue while some stars could already be seen. The sky was so clear that you wondered if the sky would look more beautiful at this time when there was less pollution in the sky compared to the skies of 2022.

You were the last to get out of Steve's car. You walked slowly as you looked at the sky and then at the lake. It was honestly a nice and peaceful place to live. Your thoughts were interrupted as you approached your new group of friends, all looking at the house in front of you, everyone was silent until you saw something that caught your attention.

"Hey! I know that van!"

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(If you want to be tag or your tag is missing please tell me, some tags are not working and thanks for supporting this story! <3)

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[pretoriafics]

Teenage Dream

I think this one is the most fun thing I'd ever written. Maybe it can be a new series, I don't know. What do you think?

You were just reading smut fanfics about Derek Hale before sleep. When you woke up, you find that someway, you got into the Teen Wolf universe. Word count: 1.890 Pairings: Different Dimension!Reader x Derek; Different Dimension!Reader x Platonic!Scott; Different Dimension!Reader x Platonic!Stiles Contain: It's pretty fun; You dying of shame; AU Warnings: English is not my main language <3; Inappropriate language PART 2 ALTERNATIVE VERSION TEEN WOLF MASTERLIST

It was a calm night. You were lying on your bed with your bedroom in darkness. In your hand, you were with your cell phone. You had just read on Tumblr brand new smut fanfic with Derek Hale, one of your most-loved fictional characters. You found another one with Stiles - a platonic fluff fic this time -, and you will read it when you woke up. You were almost sleeping, and you are not capable of reading it now. You just have to sleep.

You put your cell phone on your bedside table and fell asleep quickly. But when you woke up, you found yourself in a different and familiar bedroom. You sit on the waitress and look around.

It was a sunny morning outside, and you were still in your cheesy kitten print pajamas. The bed, the walls... Everything sounds familiar to you: It was Scott McCall's bedroom. At first sight, you thought it was such a real dream. However, when you stood up from the waitress, you hit your little finger on the bed.

"Fuuuck!"

You sat on the waitress, holding your foot. Damn! That pain's too real for all of that to be a dream. While you grab your foot, you look around again. You could smell cologne and some low noises from outside the house. A little bit more confused right now, you stood up and walks around the bedroom. Getting close to the window, you could see a familiar jeep.

No, no, no. It was impossible. All of this is just a hyper-realistic dream.

You walk in wide steps to the bathroom and look at you through the mirror. Well, you are the one reflected there. What the hell? Should you go downstairs? Should you stay right here, waiting for something happens?

Hell no.

You take a deep breath and open the bedroom door, walking downstairs on tiptoes. Then, you heard two familiar voices.

"I don't know, Stiles! She just appeared in my bedroom!"

"How she is? Does she have scales? Fangs?"

"She's just a normal girl. We have to do something! If she is a psychopath creature?"

"Scott, I'm serious. We need to call Derek."

"No! We don't need another sociopath near us. We need to take care of it all by ourselves."

You heard Stiles let out a long sigh.

"You even know how to control yourself yet, Scott. Derek is used to dealing with strange things like this. We have to call him."

"Shh! She woke up!"

Well, you were exposed.

You finish getting downstairs and walk close to the living room frame. Scott and Stiles were in the middle of the room, and they look at you scared. Your eyes got widen, and the room dives into a weird silence for a few seconds. Yeah, you aren't crazy: Somehow, you got into the Teen Wolf series.

And when you realize it...

"Oh my gosh." You put your hands on your head, in shock and so excited at the same time. "Oh my gosh, Oh my gosh!"

Scott and Stiles look at each other with a 'what the hell?' in the eyes. You turn yourself to look around. Yeah, it was Scott's house! Your inner teenager was freaking out.

"Scott..." Stiles looks at his friend "Calls Derek."

Scott already was with his cell phone in his hands.

"I'm already calling."

Man, how did you get there?! Excited, you open the door and runs outside without care about being in pajamas in the middle of the street. Derek finally answers Scott's call.

"Derek?! Oh, thank god!"

Scott almost could hear Derek's muscles get tense.

"...What happened?"

"There's a girl who suddenly appeared on my bed, and she's freaking out!"

"What do you mean with 'suddenly appeared'?"

"Suddenly, Derek! She wasn't there in a second, and then she just was!"

And then, you saw Stiles' jeep. Oh, man, you loved that jeep so much!! Excited and freaking out, you ran to the jeep. Stiles almost had a heart attack.

"No, no, don't touch my jeep!!"

But it was too late.

"Oh my gosh!!" You touch Stiles' jeep just as if it was of gold.

Stiles run to you, and Derek starts to understand that something pretty wrong was happening.

"Scott, who's yelling? You know what? Forget it. I'm coming. Took this girl in your bedroom, don't let her escape."

Derek turns the call off, and Scott puts his cell phone in his pocket. Scott approaches you, and Stiles hasn't the courage to approach you yet. So, he was just staring at you, praying that you don't do anything with his precious jeep.

"Hey!" Scott calls you, and you look at him. His voice was hesitant, but he was trying to control things "I think you should get into the house. I mean, right now."

You blink your eyes repeatedly at Scott, frozen in your place. Yeah, you were inside your favorite series when you were a teenager, with all your favorite characters... But, you know about Beacon Hills. The city was full of secrets and dangers. Until yesterday, you could see Scott and his friends escaping from death numerous times. This time, you will be the one who does it.

And this is not good.

"...Oh my gosh."

This time, your words were not from excitement but fear. Man, you're so fucked up.

You swallowed hard and got into Scott's house. The boy looks at Stiles, confused.

"I thought that took the girl inside my house would be harder."

They got into the house, looking at your shape sit on the couch. Now, you look terrified.

"Uhh..." Stiles looks at you, trying to find out something "How did you-"

"You guys need to send me home! Something went wrong, and I came here."

Scott and Stiles look at each other. It was Scott's turn to say something to you.

"What exactly went wrong?"

"I don't know! Look, I was just trying to sleep on my bed, and when I woke up, I was here."

"What are you?"

"Nothing, I'm just human. Do you guys did something that could have brought me here?"

They denied with his heads, so confused as you. Scott and Stiles were relatively new to the supernatural world. So, they are completely lost. You bit your inner lip, thoughtful.

"Something big made it. I mean, I'm definitely not from here."

Scott and Stiles stare at you with a scared gaze. Then, you all hear a car noise: It was Derek's Camaro. He was parking in front of Scott's house. Your eyes got widened when you saw it. Oh, man, you absolutely haven't the maturity to deal with Derek. Well, first of all: You were reading smut fanfic about him last night. Worse: It was an imagine! And you even want to remember the fact that, when the show got to its end, you and your best friend made tattoos. She tattoed the McCall Pack symbol on her arm, and, well, you tattooed a small triskelion between your boobs.

Man, you were dying of shame. It is such an odd situation. Anyone would never know about your tattoo or the fanfics.

Derek got into the house, and his eyes run to you immediately, and then he looks at Scott and Stiles. You felt your cheeks burning. Such an odd situation!!

"What the hell did you do?"

"Nothing!" Scott said, too nervous "She just came out of nowhere."

Derek narrowed his green eyes to Scott and Stiles, and then he looks at you. You already knew what he could ask you, so you started to talk.

"Either do I! Look" You took a deep breath, trying to contain all that mess of feelings inside of you "I was in my bedroom sleeping, and then I woke up here. But there something pretty important you guys should know about me: I am definitely not from here. When I came from, anyone of you exists. You all are fictional characters from a tv series."

The room dives into a weird silence. Scott looks at Stiles.

"Uh... Stiles... She's not lying."

"Oh, man, I was born in the wrong dimension. Hey," Stiles looks at you "What the girls think about me? Do they like me? Do I have many fans?"

Stiles began to approach you, but Derek grabs him by his shirt, avoiding an approximation.

"We don't know about her yet, so stay right there."

"Oh, c'mon" Siles looks at him and gives a few steps close to Scott when Derek unleashes him "I'm pretty sure you're curious as well."

"I'm not. I just want to know what the hell is going on."

You narrowed your eyes to Derek. You know why he wasn't interested to know about him. So, you started to talk.

"Are you sure? I mean, everyone thinks you are the most wronged of all."

Derek stares at you, unmoved by your words. You should know he would be suspicious about you. He stares at Scott and Stiles.

"She will stay with me until we know she is not a problem. I'll investigate to know how she came here."

What?! No, no, you have no maturity for that. You felt your cheeks burning again. Man, it was just like on fanfics!

You objected.

"Hell no! I'll stay here."

Without a drop of patience and calm, Derek rolled his eyes.

"You'll stay here? With Scott and his mom? So what do you will tell her about your presence at her house?"

Okay. Your plan was stupid. Also, it was funnier when Derek was rude to Stiles. With you, it was just annoying. You cross your arms in front of your chest, not so sure about what to say. He let out a long sigh of annoyance and took your arm. You widen your eyes standing up from the couch. You look at his hand on you, and then you look at him.

"Hey!"

Derek drags you in the door's direction and looks at Scott.

"Something went too wrong for this girl to be here. Tell me if you find something else."

"Wait!" Scott gives a step forward into you and Derek's direction "She can't stay a little more? We need to, uh... Investigate."

"Let your stupid curiosity for another time, Scott."

You whine in annoyance while Derek drags you in his car's direction. A few minutes ago, you would be freaking out of getting into Derek's Camaro. Now, you are just too pissed off to care.

"Let me go! I know how to walk!"

He opened the passenger's seat door and released you. Derek didn't talk anything, just stares at you in a silent order. Pissed off, you cross your arms in front of your chest, stubborn.

"I'll not come in!"

Derek gets closer to you, giving you a deadly glare.

"Get in the car. Now."

You swallowed hard. Oh man, this part wasn't like the fanfics. It was not sexy at all. Actually, it's a bit scary.

Pissed off, you get in the car, and Derek closes the door, getting into the driver's seat. You look at Scott e Stiles through the window, thinking that maybe it would be better if you stay with them. However, you haven't a choice. All you have to do now is try not to be killed by the first supernatural threat that appears in Beacon Hills.

[five-rivers]

So first, I just want to say that I love Mortified, especially the arcs involving Ereshkigal and Innana. The whole thing is absolutely incredible, and I'm always thrilled to see an update. Second, I was rather hoping to offer you a prompt I've had swirling about my head. What if there is some sort of research facility exploring "that which is unknown and previously thought to be impossible" (i.e. magic but they don't call it that because people don't really know about magic and ghosts in this AU) and Danny's class is invited to go on a field trip there. At first, everything is normal, but just after the class leaves the researchers realize that their instruments show that some sort of Eldritch Horror is nearby and they start freaking out, but it's just Danny. I don't know where else this would go though.

Mr. Lancer chewed on the end of his pen.  It was a disgusting habit, he knew, but he could never quite get himself to kick it, especially when he had a problem to confront.  

Said problem was, presently, that enough of his students had expressed an interest in careers in ectology and paranormal science that he really had to give them a relevant field trip.  Unfortunately, there were very few reputable options for such a field trip.  The Fentons were unsafe, Axion Labs refused to give tours, the GIW were essentially a government sponsored hate group.  Most other ‘ghost hunting agencies’ were outright scams.  

But there had to be something nearby.  Or at least in the state.  Maybe not something that explicitly or solely dealt with ghosts, but something.  

Maybe...

Oh!

He shifted to sit straighter in his chair.  That would work.  He started typing an email.

.

“We got a what?” repeated Johannsson.  

“A field trip request,” repeated Deer.  

“Like... from a school?” asked Johannsson, cautiously.  

“A high school,” confirmed Deer, sounding rather stunned.  

“Do they... know what we do here?” 

“Evidently,” said Deer.  

“Like, they know we research magic and telepathy and stuff.”

“Yes.”

“And astral projection, higher-dimensional beings, alternate universes, that kind of thing?  Fringe science?”

“He says the junior class is interested in the ‘paranormal sciences.’”

“Wow,” said Johannsson, finally bringing his coffee up to his mouth and sipping at it cautiously.  “Where,” he started, “where are they from?”

“Um,” said Deer, peering at her computer screen.  “Casper High.  One sec.”  She started typing.  “It’s in Amity Park?  Do you think it’s a joke?”

“Ah,” said Johannsson.  “No, that tracks, actually, if it’s Amity Park.  We’ve got some weird readings on file from there, if you look it up.”

“It’s close,” said Deer.  “If we get readings, why don’t we have a presence there?”

“Another agency called dibs first,” said Johannsson.  “We have enough trouble.  No need to step on toes.”

Deer looked up at Johannsson incredulously.  “We fight eldritch abominations from the edge of reality,” she said.  “Is the boss really worried about stepping on toes?”

“Hey, that’s how we get funding,” said Johannsson, shrugging.  “We don’t want to end up like MKUltra.”

“MKUltra was a scam, Steve.  And also mostly illegal.”

“Yeah?”

Deer shrugged.  “Anyway, should I send this on, or...?”

“Yeah, go ahead.  The boss will probably get a kick out of it, if nothing else.”

.

“I would not have told the boss about this if I knew I’d be the one babysitting a bunch of teenagers,” said Deer through a clenched smile.  She jerked on the hem of her blouse, not used to the more formal clothes she was wearing on this momentous occasion.   

“Yeah,” said Johannsson, “but it isn’t like we get a lot of people coming into this profession for this profession.  And they’re kids.  So be nice.”

“I’m always nice,” grumbled Deer.  

“Well, look like it,” said Johannsson, elbowing her.  He caught sight of the yellow school bus.  “Here they come now.”

They waited until most of the students had gotten off the bus to approach.  

“Hi,” said Johannsson, “you must be Mr. Lancer.”

“That’s me,” said the rather frazzled-looking teacher.  “Come on kids, let’s get settled down.  Listen to our guides.  Let them introduce themselves.”

“Yeah, hey,” said Johannsson, waving.  “Welcome to the Edge Institute, where we study that which is unknown and often thought to be impossible.”

“Hi,” said Deer, frowning at one group of students in particular.  Johannsson followed her eyes.  

The trio in question didn’t seem particularly out of the ordinary.  Except...  Well, there was a reason Deer worked here.  

“I’m Steve Johannsson,” he said, getting back on track.  “This is Sylvia Deer.  We mostly work in report processing and assessment, but that brings us into contact with all our other departments, so we’re more than suited to show you around.”

Sylvia put her thumbs up.  “Yep,” she said.  

“Most of what we work with isn’t terribly dangerous, however, there are exceptions to that rule, and we have some classified projects, so don’t wander off.  Stay within view of us at all times.”

“What if we need to use the bathroom?” asked a student.

“Well, that’s different,” admitted Johannsson.  “We’ve got a couple scheduled stops, so make sure you go at those times.  Other than that, don’t go through any doors we don’t open for you and don’t touch anything without asking first.  Got it?”

There was a soft murmur of assent.  

“Come on, kids,” said Mr. Lancer, clapping, “he asked a question.”

The murmur became slightly more unanimous.  

“Right,” said Deer.  She jerked her head towards the building.  “Let’s go.”

“Anyway,” said Johannsson, “this is reception, which is the only part of the building freely open to the general public.  If you do need to go to the bathroom, they’re right there.  We’re going to hang out here for a few minutes, get everyone taken care of.”

Most of the students made their way to the restrooms immediately, however, that one trio stayed put.  

“Hey,” said the smallest of the group, “do you guys hear that?”

“Hear what?” asked Johannsson.

“Um,” said the boy, slightly rocking forward on the balls of his feet, “there’s, like, an alarm or a siren going off?  It’s really faint, but is everything okay?”

“We’d get a text,” said Deer.  “Not to mention an announcement on the PA system.”

“And the radios,” said Johannsson, tapping his.  

“Right,” said Deer, nodding.  “Maybe you have tinnitus or something?”

“Isn’t that recurrent, though?” asked Johannsson.  “He’d know if he had it.”

“I do not have tinnitus,” said the boy, firmly.  “I really think there’s an alarm going off.  Or maybe someone has a mosquito ringtone.  Gosh, I hate those...”

Johannsson glanced at Deer and noted that she, once again, was staring at the children rather intensely.  Mostly at the boy, but that made sense since he was the one speaking.  

“Danny has good hearing,” said the girl, who was decked out in an array of gothic and mystic symbols.  One which, on closer inspection, would probably be fairly effective at passive protection.  

Johannsson wondered if that was the result of research, intuition, or sheer luck.  

Perhaps that was why Deer was looking at them like that?

“Maybe I’m just imagining it,” said Danny, shaking his head.  “Let’s go to the bathrooms.  There’s probably a line by now.”

Once the kids were gone, and Johannsson and Deer were more or less alone in the entry hall, Johannsson turned to Deer.  “Think we should call Detection?”

“Yeah,” said Deer, pulling out her phone.  “There’s something not right, here.”

“Maybe he’s a sensitive?” suggested Johannsson.  “He could be picking up a project.”

“Or maybe he’s like you and he’ll break every piece of tech invented in the last twenty-five years as soon as he touches it.  Or he was cursed by a goddess, like Vicky in Containment.  Or maybe he just has tinnitus and is in denial.  I still don’t like this.”  She finished dialing Detection and brought the phone to her ear.  “Hey, I-”  She pulled the phone away, glared at it and cautiously brought it back.  “What’s going on?  An incursion?  Then why aren’t we on lockdown?”

Johannsson’s blood ran cold.  “An incursion?  How big?”

Deer held up a hand.  “That doesn’t-  You know we can’t detect everything!  It doesn’t matter if nothing else gets triggered, the protocol is lockdown until we can determine- If you had done your job, the kids would still be on the damn bus!”

At this point, Deer’s shouts had drawn the attention and worry of Mr. Lancer and several of the students who had emerged from the bathrooms.  

“Is everything alright?” asked the man.  

Johannsson glanced at Deer.  “No,” he decided, just before the security shutters slammed down and the emergency lighting came on.  “I’m really sorry,” he said, “but it seems like some of our colleagues were overly excited about your tour and didn’t, er, follow proper procedure following a, uh, event.  So-”

The PA system stuttered into life.  “Attention.  A level seven entity has been detected.  All nonessential personnel, please proceed to the nearest shelter.  Repeat-”

“Seven?” echoed Johannsson, starting to sweat.  “Seven?”

“It’s probably a false alarm,” said Deer, putting away her phone and smiling in the way only people who feel very ill do.  “None of the other incursion detectors went off.  No radiation associated with dimensional breaks or anything.  We should still get everyone to a shelter.  Maybe you can round up everyone from the bathrooms?”

“Right,” said Mr. Lancer, who was enviably calm.  

“Is an entity like a ghost or something?” asked one of the kids, who clearly weren’t grasping the gravity of the situation.  “How strong is a seven?”

Level seven entities couldn’t be described in terms of strength alone.  They were eldritch, uncaring gods that tore at the fabric of reality with their very presence, creatures that had no business being on the material plane.  They shed bright magic and dark science in their wake, leaving those unfortunate enough to see them grappling with madness that was not.  

He really wanted to know what was happening in Amity Park (ghosts?) that made these people so blasé about the alarms, flashing lights, and security shutters.  

Wait a second.  

He unclipped his radio from his belt.  “This is Johannsson, calling detection.  Can you describe the signal to me?  Over.”

The radio crackled.  “Slowly rising over the last thirty minutes, peaking and plateauing in the last ten.  Why?  Do you have something?  Over.”

The bus had arrived ten minutes ago.  Johannsson closed his eyes.  “Maybe.  Will inform.  Over and out.”

He looked over at the bathroom where Danny and his two friends were emerging.  Danny had his hands pressed over his ears.  Whenever the overhead lights flashed off, the boys eyes reflected green.  Just for a second.  

Yeah.  Johannsson had something.  The question was, what was he going to do about it?

[suckerfordylansstuff]

New Journey (S.H.) Chapter 5 Season 3

Pairing: Steve Harrington x reader!henderson

Summary: After Y/N graduated Highschool and was ready for the next steps in life, she definetely wasn’t ready to be dragged into more messy situations.

Warnings: swearing, mentions of blood

Notes: So I decided to post the next chapter on my birthday, like a little present from me to you. Tell me if you would like them to be longer or shorter (so they’d be more frequent). Stay happy and healthy! Hope you enjoy! 💖

Gif not mine

Chapter 4 << New Journey Masterlist >> Chapter 6

You were all sitting on the Mall’s rooftop looking over at the entrance of the mysterious door. Well.. All except Erica.

“ Erica do you copy?” Robin asked clicking the walkie talkie. The other one was with Erica, so you could make sure that she didn’t suffocate in those vents.

“ I copy. You nerds in position or what?” she replied with her usual bitter humor, which made all your eyes roll. You were between next to Robin this time, far from Steve. Ever since the moment you two had earlier it’s been weird being alone or close to him. Not in a hated way, but more of an ‘I can’t keep my self off of you, but I can’t do that cause you’re not mine’ kinda way.

‘Teenage drama’ you thought and sighed to yourself.

“ Yeah, we’re in position.” Robin reassured her, shortly looking over at you “It’s all quiet here, so you’ve got the green light.”

“ Green light, roger that. Commence ‘Operation Child Endangerment’.” Erica said over the walkie talkie and you groaned.

“ I have an objection.” you said rubbing your temple.

“ Can we maybe not call it that?” Robin asked, sharing the same thoughts with you once again.

“ See you on the other side. Nerds.” Erica said her last words, before she started her little andverture.

Now you were waiting in silence, your mind filled with thoughts. Good and bad.

“ We’re doing the right thing.. right?” you questioned and looked over at your friends.

“ Of course we're doing the right thing, sis.” Dustin reassured you “We're gonna be heroes after this! Can you imagine?” he said excited, still looking down at the door with his binoculars.

“ It's not about being heroes.” Robin said.

“ If we even get to be that.. We're gonna get ourselves killed by evil Russians.” you sighed.

‘ Why am I so nervous?’ you thought. You weren't even feeling this fear when you had to deal with creatures from another dimension. But then you had help. You had Eleven. Now you're just two High school graduates, your geek brother, a super smart girl and the sassiest child you've ever met against tall, muscular and armed Russian spies.

Maybe it's because third time's the “charm”. Maybe this time you won't make it. Or Dustin. Or Robin. Or Erica. Or Steve.. God, you can't even think about that. You have this feeling in your gut.. Something is gonna happen this time. Something really, really bad.. And you don't think you're ready to face it.

“ Hey, Y/n... It's gonna be fine, alright? We're not gonna get killed by anyone. Not on my watch.” you looked up and saw Steve looking you straight in the eye. Your breath hitched. His eyes showed you he wasn't joking and you couldn't bring yourself to look away. You felt his hand reach for yours and you held it tightly. If it wasn't for Robin coughing (since she was stuck between the two of you) you're not sure if you would have stopped.

“ Okay.. Nothing bad is gonna happen everyone. We’re just gonna see what the hell is in these boxes and then we’re going to call the police if it’s something serious. Nothing to freak over.” she looked over at you and you gave her a small nod.

A few minutes later the silence was once again broken. This time by Erica.

“ All right, nerds. I’m there.” her words made you almost jump, all of your attentions were on her now.

“ Do you- do you see anything?” Robin asked her with urgency.

“ Yeah, I see those boring boxes you’re so excited about.” she said sarcastically and you let out a soft chuckle.

“ Any guards?” Robin continued.

“ Negative.”

“ Booby traps?” she asked with a small smirk on her lips. The question shocked you and you looked over at Steve to see the same preplexed expression as yours.

“ If I could see them, they’d be pretty shit traps. wouldn’t they?”

“ Thank you for that.” Robin said and you mumbled a quite ‘what’ under your breath.

“ I’m in.” Erica announced and you took a deep breath.

“ Oh, God..” Steve said the words you were thinking. A moment later you saw the metallic door opening and Erica standing behind it.

“ She did it..” you said realising the breath you were holding. 

“ Free ice cream for life.” she said for you all to hear a smirk appearing to your and Robin’s faces.

“ You better give her all the ice cream she wants. Let’s go.” you chuckled and got up to head over at Erica.

___

You were standing around a box Steve had just cut open, your eyes wide open.

“ That’s definitely not chinese food.” Steve said. Inside was another metal box, which held four small tubes that were letting out a weird steam. Steve was about to grab one when he looked over at us. Robin was next to Erica and you had your hands on Dustin’s shoulders, behind him.

“ Uh, maybe you guys should, you know, stand back.” he motions for you four to step back. Robin and Erica listened, but you and Dustin didn’t move a muscle.

“ No.” you brother insisted.

“ Just- just step back, okay? Come one, Y/n.” he looked over at you for help, but you couldn’t help him.

“ We made a promise once.. I still stand by it.” you looked him deep in his eyes.

Steve knew what you were talking about. The promise he gave you at the beginning of your friendship last year. He never thought that such promise would mean so much to him, but you meant so much to him.

“ If you die, we die.” Dustin said after you. Even though the thought itself terrified you, you also knew how stubborn Dustin really is and how much exactly he loves Steve - even if he wouldn’t admit it to him - so there was no point in talking sense to him, if you wouldn’t listen as well. Dustin always looked up to you and he wouldn’t stop now.

Steve exchanged looks with the both of you, before shrugging “ Okay.” he agreed and you both took a step closer to him. You moved your one hand from Dustin’s shoulder to Steve’s. He took a deep breath. before turning the tube and pulling it out. He held it up and inside you could see a green liquid.

“ What the hell?” Steve questioned. You leaned in closer to get a better look.

“ What the heck is that?” you said and right after the room rumbled. None of you moved, shocked of what just happened.

“ Was that just me, or did the room move?” Dustin said and leaned in closer to you and in instict you wraped your arms around of him.

“ Booby traps.” Erica whispered, the first time you ever heard her being scared and it scared you even more. 

The room continues doing mechanical sounds and you all were done with this thing “You know what? Let’s just grab that and go.” Robin grabbed the tube from Steve’s hand and opened Erica’s bagback to put it in. Dustin moved from your hold and headed to the box on the wall, where all the buttons were.

“ Which one do I press, Erica?” he said, the panic evident in his voice.

“ Just press the damn button, nerd.” she replied.

“ Which one? I’m pressing the button, okay?”

“ Press ‘open door’.” she yelled back.

“ I’m pressing ‘open door’!” he protested back.

“  Just press- just press the other button!” Steve made his way over to Dustin to try himself. Right about now everyone was yelling except you. You just watched in shock at the scene before you until you had enough.

“ Stop it!” you yelled and it wasn’t you that made them stop, but the door before you that appeared from the ceiling and started closing, locking you in. You were all silent, then screaming errupted.

The room started falling at full spead.

“ Oh, shit!” Steve yelled and grabbed on at the boxes in front of him, you next to him.

“ Shit! Shit!” Dustin shrieked and you saw him repeatedly hit at all of the buttons.

“ We’re going down! We’re going down!” Steve screamed and it almost made your ears bleed.

“ Yeah, no shit, Harrington!” Robin yelled back.

“ Not helping!” you said and looked back at your brother and now Erica, who was standing beside him.

“ Press the button!” she said to him and started pushing it herself.

“ Guys you should grab onto something!” you shouted over at them, but they continued arguing. You groaned and moved over at them and took them into your arms right at the moment the room stopped moving, bringing you all to your feet. You were glad you were quick enough to help Dustin and Erica, but that relief left the moment you felt the sharp pain on your left arm.

When you grabbed onto Dustin to pull him into you, was the moment you fell from the force of the room stopping. As you fell down, your arm must have hit something sharp, resulting to the scratch that you now had. You hissed and grabbed it with your good hand. It wasn’t that bad, so you didn’t want to worry the others. It still hurt though.

“ Ugh! My groin. It fell on my groin.. Dustin!” Steve yelled for Dustin to go help him. You heard Robin grunt too and you looked up to see her grabbing her head in pain. You guessed those shelves weren’t so gentle with her. You turned to look at Erica and luckily, just like Dustin, she looked okay.

“ Is everyone okay?” Robin asked right after you all had the strength to get up, you still holding onto your arm.

“ Yeah..” you said, though you didn’t sound do convincing.

“ Yeah, I’m great! Now that I know that Russians can’t design elevators!” Steve yelled once again and pushed Dustin out of the way to look at the buttons again.

“ I think we’ve established that those buttons don’t work.” Robin said annoyed.

“ They’re buttons! They have to do something!” he said and as you looked at the buttons for the first time up so close, you understood what was happening.

“ If we had a keycard.” you said with a sigh and everyone turned to look at you.

“ A what?” Steve asked, his breaths were becoming short with anxiety over the situation you were trapped in.

“ It’s an electronic lock.” you walked over at him and pointed at the keycard slide with your good hand, forgetting that now the blood you were losing was evident.

“ Same as the loading dock door..” Robin said in realisation and you nodded.

“ If we do-” you began to speak before a hand grabbed your right palm.

“ Why is there blood on your hand?” Steve looked down at your hand, fear in his eyes.

“ Wait what?” Dustin walked over at you and took a look for himself.

“ It’s nothing. I just got a scratch from the fall.” you lifted up your left arm “It’s really not that bad, the bleeding has already stopped. It just hurts a little, I’ll be fine.” you smiled over at your brother to avoid the intimacy you felt towards Steve right now. That didn’t stop his worrying looks though, only increased them.

“ Well, you’re not gonna be that fine. We all are not gonna be fine, considering we’re stuck in here.” Robin said and walked next to you and took a look at your hand, before you yanked it from her hold and moved to let your back rest on the wall, moving your good hand back to the scratch.

“ Thanks, Robin. We hadn’t realised.” you said sarcastically and she rolled her eyes at you, then stood beside you, sighing deeply.

“ Just so you nerds are aware, I’m supposed to be spending the night at Tina’s and Tina always covers for me. But if I’m not home for Uncle Jack’s party tomorrow and my mom finds out you four are responsible, she’s gonna hunt you down, one by one, and slit your throats.” Erica pointed out and you tried to stop your remarks, because this wasn’t even her fault. But someone else couldn’t contain themselves.

“ I don’t care about Tina! Or Uncle Jack’s party!” Steve spoke up, hitting the box he was leaning in, which startled all of you “Your mom’s not gonna be able to find us, if we’re dead in a Russian elevator!”

“ Hey!” you yelled the moment he stopped and turned to look at you surprised “Don’t yell at her. It’s not her fault she’s here, she didn’t agree to this. We dragged her here.” 

“ So you blame us?” he questioned, not expecting your words.

“ No! I blame the Russians! And if by any chance I see them, I’ll give them a piece of my mind. But right now we can’t continue fighting.” you begged them.

“ Y/n’s right.. We have to find some way out.” Robin backed you up and tunred to look at the buttons once again.

“ What if we climbed out?” Dustin said all of a sudden and pointed at the ceiling. You followed his gaze and saw a small door that was leading outside of the elevator. Without speaking you made a small ladder out of the boxes that were there so Dustin and Steve could climb and see what was going on up there.

After they got up there and they didn’t say anything, you got impatient “So?”

“ We’re too deep. We can’t climb that.” Steve said and started making his way down again. You sighed and Robin cursed under her breath.

“ So what do we do?” Erica asked the dreadful question.

What do you do?

___

“ Hey, Y/n?” 

You opened your eyes and adjusted them for a moment to the lighting of the room. Given the fact that your tiredness didn’t let any of you think straight and you couldn’t form a plan, you called it a night, to try and gain some strength. Erica was the first to fall asleep, surprisingly, in Robin’s lap. That girl wanted to seem tough, but deep down you knew she was a big softie.

Next to go to sleep was Dustin. He had his head on your shoulder and he was holding tightly his hat. You had placed your hand on top of his as you were trying to fall asleep, to feel a little bit safer.

But after an hour or so of trying to convince your brain you wanted to fall asleep, you were done. There was no way you could sleep tonight and you decided to embrace that. You still had your eyes closed and you let your mind full with thoughts. You had quessed that Robin and Steve had managed to fall asleep, but the latter proved you wrong.

“ You still awake?” you whispered back at Steve as you turned your head to look at him. He wasn’t that far away. You were sitting right beside the closed door and he was leaning at the shelves on the wall a couple meters next to you.

“ Yeah.. Can’t sleep.”

“ Me neither..” you said back, not exactly knowing how to continue the conversation. You watched as he rubbed his hands together, probably trying himself to find something to say.

“ I, uh.. I wanted to apologize for raising my voice earlier with Erica.. I know it’s not her fault, it’s just sometimes she can be so..” he stopped and tried to find the right words.

“ Irritating?” you ended the sentence for him.

“ Yes!” he whisper-yelled and you let out a soft chuckle, careful not to awake Dustin.

“ Yeah, I know, but if you give her time, she is actually really sweet.” you said with a soft smile.

“ That’s pretty hard to believe.” he said playfully and you tried to contain your laughter.

“ She is, when she wants to. And I know you didn’t do it purposefully.. Being trapped in here isn’t the best thing about someone’s anxiety.” you said and watched as he slowly started making his way towards you, sliding on the floor.

“ About that.. Any ideas in that pretty little head of yours about what we’re gonna do?” he said, placing his hands on his lap as he was now sitting next to you. You didn’t mind. You liked the comfort. And if these were, by any chance, your last hours on earth, you wouldn’t want to spend them away from him.

“ Nope.. A million thoughts have crossed my mind, but not really anything useful.” you sighed and looked straight ahead.

“ Like what?” he asked.

“ Uh.. Anything.. My mom, if I’m gonna see her again.. My friends, the kids, Dustin.. About us.” you finished your sentence quietly, not knowing if you wanted him to hear it or not.

“ About us?”

‘ Too late now’ you thought, before softly clearing your throat to continue speaking “Yeah.. I was trying to find some good memories to relax me and ours were the only thing I could think of..” 

Steve was watching the side of your face. Even if your hair was a mess, your forehead covered in sweat and there were dark circles under your eyes, you were still the prettiest human being he’s ever laid eyes on. He wanted to tell you that he couldn’t stop thinking about you, but he didn’t want to put more problems inside your head. For the time being he was happy he could provide you some sense of comfort without knowing it.

“ Yeah.. It helps me too.” he told you and you let your tense shouldlers relax at his words.

“ Remember- remember the time you threw dough on Hopper?” you said between giggles. You were ‘babysitting’ the kids on a Saturday night at El’s place (since Hopper didn’t really let her go out) and they had a craving for chocolate chip cookies in the middle of their campain. So as responsible soon to be adults you had decided to make them some, but your inner child behaviour soon showed. You ended up throwing flour at eachother, making a mess in the kitchen and also throwing a couple chocolate chips at the kids to annoy them (Mike really got annoyed). 

When you were making the cookies and placing them in the tray to then put in the oven, you decided to keep some dough aside, since that was the best part. But as you got up after putting them in the oven, you saw from the corner of your eye Steve grabbing the dough and throwing it at you. You were quick though and dodged it. It had to hit something, though, and what it hit wasn’t happy.

“ How was I supposed to know he would walk in at that exact moment?” Steve whispered and chuckled himself “It’s like he did it on purpose.”

“ Why did you decide to throw me the dough? We were supposed to eat that, you know?”

“ I know.. But the thought came to mind and I thought it’d be pretty funny to see you with dough in your hair.” he send you an ‘innocent’ smile and you just rolled your eyes.

“ Yeah, it was really funny when Hopper was ready to kill you. I will never forget his face, it was priceless.” you tried to catch your breath, not being too loud, as the memory of that moment always made you laugh.

“ Oh yes, it was priceless. Just like all the chores I had to do after that.” he said sarcastically.

“ You threw dough at him, it was your fault.”

“ It was okay.. I made you guys laugh, so it didn’t matter.” he said and it made your heart swoon.

‘ Damn his charms.’ you thought as you turned to find him looking at you. You sent him a smile. 

“ How’s your hand?” he said after a moment or two looking into your eyes. He wanted to keep going, but you were having a nice conversation, no weird feelings, just remembering moments and appreciating the time you still had.

“ Better.. Just hoping it doesn’t get infected.” you whispered and traced the dried blood with your index finger.

“ We’ll find a way to get out.” Steve said confidently after hearing your sigh “I’m sure of it. We got more brains with Robin here, I’m sure we’ll figure something out. We get out of this together.” he softly took your hand and you placed your head on his shoulder, closing your eyes.

“ Together..” you repeated, thinking how if you made it out alive, you wouldn’t leave Steve. Never again. You just hoped he would take you back.

~~~

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[nothing-at-the-moment]

Rewrite The Stars V

Pairings: James Potter X Hufflepuff!reader

Bold: James’s thoughts

The biggest mystery of Hogwarts is not how the staircases move. Neither is the biggest mystery that why wizards use quills and parchment when they can use simple pen and paper and owls instead of telephones. Neither is the complete illogical concept of interbreeding between a wizard and giant resulting in the conception of a half giant.

The biggest mystery of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry is; why is there a random giant squid in the middle of the Black Lake?

Of course there were some theories.

Dumbledore is an animagus who turns into the giant squid whenever he doesn’t want to deal with being the headmaster. Or maybe Godric Gryffindor himself is an animagus and watched over the kids in the form of a squid. Or maybe the Black Lake was a portal to a muggle ocean from where it comes.

The theories were endless. Not even Dumbledore knew.  

Only three people in the whole world did.

Newt Scamander. Rubeus Hagrid. And Y/N L/N.

In the year 1946, Newt Scamander, who had once been expelled from Hogwarts had returned to its grounds with a mission. A mission he had vowed his life to. Protection of magical creatures.

Now he had sneaked into the Hogwarts grounds with a very small-almost as small as a human baby-baby squid in his arms. He had to hurry because these magical squids couldn’t survive out of water for long, not more than two hours.

He knew he had somebody he could trust to take care of his baby squid. Rubeus Hagrid. Hagrid, a mere teenager at that time, had idolized Newt Scamander and they had quickly bonded over their mutual affection and care for all sorts of magical creatures. And he knew he had Hagrid to keep this little secret.

So Hagrid sneaked Newt and the little bundle he was carrying under a cloak into Hogwarts and he knew the best place for this little beast.

The Black Lake.

Newt and Hagrid had sat around the lake shore for a little over an hour as they watched the baby squid slash around and Newt gave all the necessary information that Hagrid would need to take care of her.

“What’s er name, eh?” Hagrid had asked.

“Calypso.” Newt gave a small smile to Hagrid and a longing look to Calypso and sneaked out of Hogwarts with his little baby Squid, now in the care of Hagrid.

Y/N L/N, being a close relative of the Scamanders was not unfamiliar with magical creatures of all sorts. Her uncle, Newt, would take her on numerous adventures around his suitcase. Y/N couldn’t help but grow attached as her curiosity and love for magical creatures grew.

Seeing her passion, Newt had decided to trust her with the secret of Calypso, hidden in the depths of The Black Lake at Hogwarts.

Y/N couldn’t be more ecstatic.

So from her very first night at Hogwarts as an eleven year old, she had become best friends with the now Giant squid residing in the lake.

She would visit her every other with treats for her that Newt had himself cooked up. And tonight was no different.

With being an animagus came consequences. Consequences in the form of impulses and instincts that James had been familiar with for ages.one of the said instincts was the peculiar urge to take a stroll and graze.

So that’s what James Potter was doing in the middle of the night today. Grazing around the edges of the Forbidden Forest.

Sirius would usually accompany him as Padfoot but he was busy tonight with comforting a heart broken Remus. James would’ve stayed too, he wanted to. But Sirius had kicked him out saying that because he sucks with dealing with emotions, he would rather not have James make matters worse

It all made sense now, why Y/N was crying in the courtyard today and why she freaked out when he asked to get Remus. He would be too if that had happened to him.

But what made him really lonely tonight was the lack of thoughts his soulmate had directed to him today. Soulmates could control their thoughts and send only the ones they want to send to their soulmate. Mostly it was involuntary. But if a person tries very hard, they could stop their thoughts from being reflected to their soulmate.

So, James was worried. A lot.

What could be so personal to his soulmate that she couldn’t even have him know it?

He was worried, but also a little hurt, knowing that his soulmate didn’t trust him enough with it even though he has never hid anything from her.

While James was thinking about it, he saw a figure sitting with her legs in the lake water playing with a…something.

He couldn’t make out what he was playing it but he was curious and lonely and way too confident for his own good. So he, of course went closer.

Thinking that he was in his animagus form, no one would recognize him, and he went and sat next to the figure that turned out to be Y/N…playing with a giant tentacle.

The stag that came and sat beside her stared at her with big Bambi eyes (pun intended) and then shifted his eyes to Calypso’s tentacle.

Y/N gave a gentle smile to the stag and James visibly relaxed when he saw that the tentacle of the Giant Squid was not harming anybody.

Why was Y/N playing with The Giant Squid? Is that allowed?

“Hello. I’m Y/N. And who might you be? I didn’t know the forest had stags. Do you have a name?” James just stared at her and at the hand curled around the tentacle.

“I have a little something you might like.” She rummaged inside the satchel around her shoulder and pulled out a few berries and laid them down in front of the deer.

James hungrily gobbled down the berries.

Y/N chuckled and James would’ve smiled at the sound of her laugh if he was in his human form right now.

“How about I name you Rudolf, eh? No? Too long. Not original even. How about Rudy?” James was too busy marveling at the gentleness with which she was dealing with him and the gentleness of her hand that was still caressing the tentacle.

“Rudy, this is Calypso. She’s a giant squid. Calypso, this is Rudy.” The tentacle moved from Y/N arms and tapped Rudy’s on the head between his prongs twice.

James, for a lack of a better word, was taken aback.

The Giant Squid was girl?! Rudy?!

Needless to say, James was mostly confused.

“I come here every other night when I need to think. Also to feed Calli with treats my uncle makes for her. She’s great company. You’re welcome to join.”

James was positively curious. He has never had any encounters with the Giant Squid except that one time Peter felt something brush against his back when they all were swimming gin the lake. To know that Y/N, had almost daily encounters with her, and fed her too, baffled him.

Guess The Giant Squid was not Dumbledore after all.

“I was just about to tell Calypso what a crappy day I had. It was all good till last night. I was having a blast with my soulmate. He was tutoring me and helping me with my homework till late. Now I thought it was Remus who I was talking to last night but when I went for breakfast and I thanked Remus for his help, he told me that he doesn’t take the subject with which my soulmate helped last night.”

James was listening very intently.  Many soulmates help each other with homework till late, right?

“I couldn’t bear to be with Remus after finding out. I have always wanted him to be my soulmate and I was so happy when I thought he was but then…this happened. Merlin, fate’s such a bitch. But that’s not even the worst thing that happened today. Because I found out who my actual fucking soulmate is. And he couldn’t have been worse.”

James’s curiosity was bubbling in his chest. He had a weird feeling in his stomach as he waited for her to reveal her soulmate’s name.

“I was crying in the courtyard after Remus. It was raining. Apparently James Potter thought I was dead so he came to help me and after I sat up, I burst on him. Merlin, that was so embarrassing. He too was so awkward through all of it. I hate him so much.”

James let out a guttural sound from the back of his throat in protest. He was not used to people hating him. Y/N just thought he was hungry and gave him a few more berries. James didn’t mind.

Calypso’s tentacle now rested on her shoulders as if she was trying to comfort her. Y/N felt like Calypso knew where this was going.

“To cheer me up, he was telling me some random octopus fact. The thing was that, I already knew that octopus eat themselves when they get stressed. The idiot forgot that not all octopuses do it. It’s a disease, an infection of sorts that attacks the nervous system sometimes when octopuses get bored or stressed out because of captivity. He knows that but forgot. Moron.”

James was growing more curious and scared and suspicious at this point. The thing about the octopus was not a commonly known fact and his soulmate had told him that she’s sure no one but her knows that at Hogwarts.

A thought occurred in his head but he quickly brushed it out. It couldn’t be. Could it?

“He told me that his soulmate had told him that fact. I was getting really scared because not too long ago, I had told my soulmate that fact. He was going on about his soulmate. About the things she had told him. And I realized that I had told my soulmate all those things. Lobsters, Basilisks, my unicorn and giant dream that I had a week ago. The fact that I want to be a magizoologist. It didn’t help that this morning my wrist was showing some dude riding the latest broomstick model and throwing Quaffles.  James Potter is the Gryffindor captain and a total Quidditch maniac!”

James was not being able to process everything being told to him. He had had that exact dream today. It was too much for him to take in. Unbelievable.

“James Potter is my soulmate.”

As soon as she said it, it sank into James’s mind. But he still couldn’t move.

“When I realized it, I ran away. I have been blocking my thoughts the entire day. I don’t want him to know. He’s been obsessed with Lily Evans for four years. He’s not anymore, she’s with Xander, but I can’t. I have hated him for three years. He has hated me for three years! This has to be a mistake…”

Only one thought ran through James’s head. Y/N looked down at her wrist as it tingled reflecting the one thought. James looked at her wrist to confirm it.

Holy Shit.

As soon as he saw that on her wrist, he did what his soulmate had done the same morning.

He blocked his thoughts and ran.

[nei-ning]

Yet again I had a dream where, at the end, I screamed so that my sis came to wake me up.

This was weird and confusing dream. The dream started with this single father trying to find his daughter. It was during medieval times or so it felt. Eventually he found her, she being 6-10 years old.

I was either with them or in one of them. Maybe in sad, actually. It feels more right. We were being followed by this very solid black human shaped spirit being. The shape was like a woman with long wavy hair which floated in the air. She didn't look bad or horrible at all, but MY GOD the energy of hers! It was absolutely horrible! It's been a while when I've sense something THAT bad!

She stood on top of small green hill near the road as the father tried to escape with his daughter. I don't know did she do something but I, inside father, fell suddenly on my left side on the ground, ending up in this dark place. I couldn't move, but I started to hear most hidious sound in the darkness.

It was low, echoing moan. Kind of "oooo" sound which also vibrated. Absolutely horrible, horrible, horrible, horrible! Then near my head appeared this anime styled wide face. It was definitely a ghost of a teenager girl. Her left eye showed from her hair which covered the right eye. Her eye was unnaturally big, just like her head overall. Her eye moved fast and weirdly as she scanned me before starting to pull back. That absolutely sickening sound returned and I realized it was her doing in a way.

When she was gone, I managed to turn my head upright. I saw low ghostly gray brick buildings right there, small path going between them. I didn't see much of the building on my left, but I saw well enough the building on the right. It was definitely old, maybe from WW2, and there was tall but thin doorway without a door. It just kept reminding me of "burning oven" so to say. I can't describe it better than that. But something bad had happened there for sure, many times! As I looked at it, this all happened in few seconds only, from that doorway emerged unnaturally huge skeleton skull with unnaturally wide eye holes. It also had small white dots as pupils.

Upper body was human skeleton but as it came out a bit more and the wall became invisible, the lower body was fleshy horribly mutated... Mass which tried to look like a horse's body. I like to think it as human/animal test breeding (or something) since it was not looking like normal centaur at all.

It didn't make any sound even that it looked like it hissed at me before pulling back in the building. It couldn't leave it for some reason. That horrible "oooo" sound was there all the time, this weird anime girl ghost lurking in the shadows near me and it was freaking me out. I honestly have heard all kind of horrible sounds, but this is the worst! I keep getting shivers all over me when I write and think about it.

I wanted it to stop, wishing anything to come to help me. Suddenly, above ground, I had a vision where this huge spider creature ran at the line of harpoon looking spears which had been hit on the ground, sending them flying down in this darkness where I was. It helped!

I was back on the road at the small green hill. For a second I could relax and breath, but that horrible sound was back, following me from the darkness. On top of it, behind the hill top, started to emerge that black lady. I freaked out when I saw the top of her head.

Her horrible, heavy, dark and hell creepy energy / aura combined to that horrible (and loud) moaning sound... I just wanted it to stop! So I tried to scream and then I woke up, sis shaking me awake by the elbow.

I don't know for sure what this is. Is it just a nightmare? Doesn't feel like one, tho. Is there something bad cleansing away from my energy or subconscious mind? Has something got attached on me because, way too often, I forget to bless and protect myself before going to bed? Were these partly some past life memories in a way?

[dp-marvel94]

Face to Face- Chapter 32

Summary: When Danny went through the ghost catcher, he expected to be cured of the ghostliness that had haunted him since the accident, not to wake up on the lab floor with his parents saying he’d been overshadowed but everything’s back to normal now. But why does Danny Fenton cry himself to sleep to then dream of flying? Why does Phantom, the ghost who was supposedly possessing Danny remember a life that wasn’t his? Most of all, why do both the human and the ghost feel that something vital is missing, in their very soul? Or: Trying to cure himself of his powers one month after the accident, Danny accidentally splits himself but neither his ghost nor his human half know that that is what they did

First -> Last -> Next

Word Count: 6,098

Also on AO3 and Fanfiction.net

Note:What is this?! Another Face to Face update. I'm still struggling through my first phic phight story and hoping some comments on this will encourage me. Thanks for reading as always!

Phantom stayed still for a long moment, looking out over the Ghost Zone. He took a deep breath and  watched the floating rocks, the swirling clouds, and the purple doors. He braced himself and slowly floated to his feet. He needed to head out there. Tentatively, he reached out with his mind and plucked at the line. Like Fenton said, it was there, the link between him and his other half. And….a moment later, he received a tug in kind. His confidence grew. Yes, he could do this. He could find his way home.

With that, the ghost flew. He carefully followed the line, over islands and past doors. He slipped between rocks and paused, looking upward to what looked like a river suspended in mid-air and flowing downward. Phantom’s eyes widened in awe at the sight but he kept going. All the while, he looked around with keen attention. It wouldn’t do, to be attacked by another ghost again. Luckily, he didn’t see or sense anything large or notable. Instead, his brow wrinkled as he flew past a small group of what looked like globs of ectoplasm with eyes. One of the little ghosts (at least he thought they were ghosts) looked at Danny. It blinked slowly before letting out a chirp and darting away with the others. 

Phantom watched for a moment as the small creatures flew away. Then He sloped downward, below a tree covered island. He gaped at the sight. Trees?! There were actually trees here, even though there didn’t appear to be any sun, moon, or stars. So...wait...where did the light come from? And were those the ghosts of dead trees or-

The ghost shook his head, clearing the questions about his surroundings from his mind. It really was incredible being here, even if the circumstances were...not so great. He might just have to come back, after everything was sorted...assuming that things could be fixed with Mom. The boy bit his lip. He couldn’t worry about that, not right now. 

“Focus, Phantom.” He chided himself. He had to follow the line, get back to the real world.

The ghost boy’s brow then furrowed, eyes falling on something in the distance. A rectangular shape. White, standing out in stark contrast against the green atmosphere. And…. he tugged the line again….the way home was in that direction.

Less than five minutes later, the object became clear in his view. “It’s...Casper High?” Phantom muttered.

There in front of him was a black and white version of the school, complete with the American flag and the name plastered above the door in big letters. It was strange, bizarre. Why would there be a version of his high school in the ghost zone? And….he frowned, feeling his tether. Why did the path he was following back to Fenton lead him here? Phantom furrowed his brow. He hadn’t come this way before; he would have remembered seeing this weird building. But…. yep, the line was leading him here and...he could feel he was really close.

The ghost straightened, bracing himself. Cautiously but with forced confidence, he floated up to the doors and slowly pushed them open to find…. an empty hallway, identical to the front hall at Casper, even if it was in monochrome.

“Hello?” He called quietly as he crossed the threshold.

No reply came as Phantom continued onward. His core pulsed nervously at the silence of the eerily familiar space. It was strange, seeing it so empty and quiet. And it was fittingly haunting for a ghostly double of his school. But why was this here? Why did it look like Casper High? And why was it in black and white?

The ghost boy swallowed, pushing the questions away and floating down the hallways. He looked side to side, watching for any movement. His ghost sense hadn’t gone off, but being in an enclosed space was making him anxious. But at the same time….he was so close to….something. Something that would lead him home. But what?

Suddenly, the doors he’d come through slammed shut, earning a gasp from Phantom. “Who’s...who’s there?”

Something flickered at the edge of his vision. Head jerking to the side, he turned to find...nothing. The boy frowned, opening his mouth to call out. Then there was a bang behind him. Startled, Phantom wiped back around to find locker doors banging open and closed on their own.

“I don’t want any trouble.” The ghost boy started, voice wavering with fear.

Again, something flickered beside him. There was a staticy laugh. Phantom turned again and…. His heart would have skipped a beat, if it was in his chest. There was a monochrome teenager, a buff looking guy with slicked back hair and a leather jacket. He reminded Ghost Danny uncanningly of Dash. The figure opened his mouth, static exiting. Then he pushed the ghost boy. 

Phantom stumbled, letting out a surprised cry as his back hit something solid. He turned, looking up at a scowling girl in a poodle shirt. She turned up her nose, pushing the ghost boy away. “Wait! Stop!” His eyes widened as he fell forward again, this time hitting another jock. “I don’t wanna fight!” The other teen, in a letterman, grabbed Phantom’s arm and shoved him to the floor.

The ghost boy hit the ground with a start, the impact knocking the air from his only semi-illusionary lungs. He rolled onto his back, paling at what was around him. A crowd of black-and-white teenagers, all wearing retro clothing, maybe from the fifties? They towered over him, scowling and jeering down at him. 

“Stop! Please!” Phantom covered his ears, wincing in pain at the sound. It was static, hundreds of voices speaking over each other. And they were laughing, mocking. It was years of insults. Freak, coward, geek, nerd, weak, worthless, dead, wrong, unnatural, monster. 

The ghost boy curled in on himself. “Please! I’m lost...I’m sorry I…” 

Don’t belong here...Don’t belong. Invader. 

“I don’t….” 

Trespasser. Invader. Leave! Leave, freak! 

“I… I know I’m not supposed to be here. I’m lost..I…” 

Leave! Dead! Go! The voices hissed. Don’t belong, monster! 

“Please! Stop!” Phantom begged.

The words pressed down on him and his chest heaved with panic. He whimpered as the volume rose, growing into a roar. Phantom bit back a cry as he pressed his hands to his ears, like he could block out the noise, keep out the words. He wanted to move, like the voices were demanding but he couldn’t, too frozen in fear. Instead he sobbed. “I just wanna go home.”

“Enough!” A single voice shouted. There was a whirl, a sound like gall forces winds. And then silence.  “You can’t just barge into someone’s lair!”

“I...I..I’m sorry.” Phantom fixed his head down, whole body shaking. “I just...I got lost and was trying to get home but I ended up here ‘cause-” His words cut off as his ghost sense billowed out of his mouth and he coughed.

The ghost boy paled, looking cross eyed at the mist. He slowly looked up, eyes falling on the speaker. Like the other teens, he was monochrome but looked like a stereotypical nerd, with coke bottle glasses, a bowler haircut, a polo, and a bowtie. He fit the same fifties aesthetic yet somehow...there was something different about him compared to the other. He was more vivid, more solid than the others, almost like…. 

“Are you gonna say anything buster?” The crowd around them was still and silent even as the nerd floated half a foot closer, his fists balled.

“Yeah..Umm...Sorry, I..” Phantom stuttered. His eyes then widened as his ghost sense billowed out of his mouth again. That had only happened once this singular figure showed up, not before and not by the others. The others that had stopped when the nerd told them too. “You’re a ghost.” Ghost Danny whispered, meeting the glasses-covered eyes.

The other ghost scowled. “You don’t say.”

Phantom averted his eyes again, blushing. “No...sorry...I..I mean..you’re not...you’re not like…whatever these are.” The ghost boy motioned to the crowd around them, shivering. “You’re an actual ghost.” He whispered the last part, before glancing up, at the other, now confused looking ghost. 

The other ghost’s brow furrowed behind his glasses. He raised his hand, making Phantom flinch. But instead of swinging his arm to punch or lighting his fist with ectoenergy like Ghost Danny expected, the nerd snapped his fingers and commanded. “Leave us.” 

With that, the teenagers around the ghost boy seemed to flicker, their outlines wavering. Without any movement, the crowd disappeared, leaving Phantom and the other ghost alone. The nerd lowered his arm, his fist relaxing.

That did little to comfort Phantom. His pulse pounded in his head as he wrung his hands. “So...okay...we’re alone now. And...you said this was your lair? I...uh...don’t know what that means but...I can leave...I can leave now since those guys didn’t seem to want me here-”

“Sorry about that.” The quiet words interrupted the ramble. 

“What?” Phantom blinked, looking up at the other ghost.

The nerd didn’t look angry anymore but instead almost….bashful, holding his hand out. “My shadows got out of hand. They aren’t supposed to be that cruel.”

The ghost boy just gapped, looking between the offered hand and the other ghost’s face. His mind raced, wondering what was going on. What was with the sudden change in attitude? He bit his lip. The other ghost wasn’t attacking him or...using those not-ghosts (he called them shadows?) to attack him. Maybe that apology was authentic. 

Phantom took a deep breath and chose to be brave. Tentatively, he took the offered hand and allowed the other ghost to pull him up.

Then there was silence. The ghost Danny shifted nervously in the air as he studied the other ghost. And the other ghost studied him, his expression curious yet vaguely sad.

Phantom finally coughed, pointing back the way he came. “I’ll just...I’ll leave now. Sorry again for barraging in. And uh…bye.” Slowly, he floated backward, keeping one eye on the other ghost.

“Wait.” The nerd reached forward. “You’re new, aren’t ya?” The ghost boy stopped, turning more fully towards the other ghost as he continued. “You haven’t been a ghost for a long time.”

Phantom’s eyes widened, his mouth opening and closing. “Um..uhh...yeah… I haven’t been...like this very long.” He swallowed. “How did you...how did you know?”

The other ghost’s expression softened. “You’re still trying to breath.” At the words, Phantom reflectively stopped, holding his breath with wide eyes. “It’s alright. That’s a tough habit to break.” The other ghost held out of hand, as if to shake. “I’m Sidney Pointdexter, by the way.”

The other ghost blinked at the hand. After a long pause, he grasped it. “I’m Danny….Danny Phantom.”

“Phantom.” The nerd nodded. “So you already picked a name.”

“Yeah?” So apparently, that was a thing? Phantom rubbed the back of his neck. “You can call me Danny though.” 

“Danny.” The other ghost half-smile. “You can call me Sidney then.” Sidney’s expression then turned more serious. “Obviously you didn’t know but... if you want to go inside someone’s lair, you need to announce yourself and ask permission to enter.”

“Oh, okay. Sorry” Phantom blushed. “I’ll...I’ll do that next time.”

“Good.” Sidney crossed his arms. “You’re lucky you barged in on me, mister. If it’d been Skulker, he would have skinned you.”

The ghost boy swallowed, suddenly anxious. His eyes bulged. “Really?!”

The other ghost nodded. “That hunter can be very possessive and mean.” Sidney then scowled. “But I’d never do that. I’m not a bully.” The other ghost then shook his head. “Anyway...why did you come here?”

Phantom’s core pulsed awkwardly at the question. “I..uh…” It wasn’t said with any anger or accusation, but innocently curious. But still, the ghost boy struggled to explain why he’d come inside. The line connecting him to his other self had led here but...how could he explain that? He swallowed. “This looks like my school, Casper High.”

Sidney blinked, eyes widening. “You went to Casper?” The corner of his lip turned up.

“Yeah.” The ghost boy bit his lip, not knowing what to say. Instead, he turned towards the door and pointed. “Yeah...thanks for the advice but...I should go so…”

“You don’t have to yet.” The other ghost’s eyes were slightly pleading. “Why don’t you rest for a bit? And I get you something to eat and drink? You look like you need it.”

Phantom blinked. “Ghosts eat?”

Sidney frowned, slightly alarmed. “Yes? Come on.” He grabbed the other boy’s arm. “That’s it. I’m making you some tea and a sandwich. I think I still have some cookies too.”

The ghost boy didn’t resist, instead gawking as the other ghost pulled him down the hallway and towards the cafeteria. His mind sputtered, trying to overcome the emotional whiplash. Seconds later, the pair floated in the cafeteria’s kitchen. Sidney grabbed a tea kettle off the stove, filled it with what looked like water from the sink, and placed it on the burner. Then he opened the fridge and pulled out what looked like slices of cheese and luncheon meat.

Phantom just stared in disbelief. Sidney turned back towards him. “I have some tiger fruit too. I grow it in the courtyard. Do you want to try some?” He held up a round, stripped fruit, the orange and black standing out in bright contrast to the monochrome environment.

The ghost boy wrinkled his nose. “What is it?”

Sidney looked down at the fruit. “It kind of tastes like an apple. It’s native to the Infinite Realms though. I don’t think it has a Material World counterpart.” He smiled. “It’s really delicious.”

“Alright?” Phantom shook his head. There was a lot of information there. Then he shrugged. “Sure.”

The other ghost nodded, quickly preparing a plate and two cups of tea. He turned back to ghost Danny. “Let’s sit in the cafeteria.”

Without question, Phantom followed. Nervously tapping his hand on his leg, he sat down and took the steaming cup offered to him. The ghost blinked, studying the liquid. It actually felt warm in his hands. He moved the cup, closing watching the liquid sloshing in the cup like water. It did actually look like tea. Tentatively, Phantom looked up, glancing at the other ghost who was sitting across from him. Sidney was blowing his own cup before taking a small sip. 

It was only then that where he was and what he was doing actually hit the boy. He was sitting in a ghostly version of his school cafeteria, with the ghost of a teenage boy who died in the fifties, based on his appearance. Phantom looked down at his plate again. And there was weird, slightly glowing ghost-food in front of him. 

Sidney’s words drew his attention. “Go ahead. Try the tea. It’s not poison” The nerd half smiled at Danny with a nod. 

Phantom looked down at his cup again, doubtfully. His stomach flopped as he considered. He was wary of trying the beverage. What actually was it? It couldn’t be actually tea, like his sister liked to drink. Could it hurt him? Weren’t there myths or something about how if you eat something in the land of the dead you can’t leave? Or was that fairies? Or...wait...did that only apply to humans? He wasn’t exactly human right now; he was a ghost. And this was food meant for ghosts. And….

“It won’t hurt you. And it’s good. I promise you’ll love it.” The other ghost encouraged patiently.

Phantom picked up the cup, again noticing the comforting warmth. It was still softly billowing steam. And it smelled so good, sweet and citrusy. Tentatively, he blew on the cup to cool it. He really did want to try it. Ignoring his doubts, ghost Danny finally took a small sip.

Phantom blinked rapidly, taking another sip. “I can taste this.” He muttered numbly before taking another sip of the fresh, lemony liquid. 

Excitement grew at the realization. He then looked down at his sandwich. Putting the cup down, he took a small bit. The savory taste of bread, cheese, ham. He took a larger bit. “I can taste this!”

“Of course you can.” Across from him, Sidney said in disbelief.

Phantom looked up, talking through his full mouth. “No I...I haven’t eaten in weeks.” He swallowed. “I mean...I tried but I couldn’t taste anything so I gave up.”

“Gave… up?” The other ghost blinked.

“Yeah. But-” Phantom stuffed a cookie in his mouth, groaning in pleasure at the taste. “But how?”

“How?” Sidney held out his hands. “It’s just lair made food.”

“Lair made?”

“Yeah, as in the lair made it?” The other ghost’s mouth fell open at the lack of recognition. “The lair basically took free ectoplasm and shaped it into food that we can eat.”

Phantom dropped the sandwich. “Ectoplasm?”

“Yes. Everything here is made of ectoplasm, even us.” Sidney answered like it was obvious. “Why wouldn’t the food be?”

At that, the ghost boy looked down at the meal with new realization. “That makes sense.”

The ghostly nerd nodded. “Yes. How don’t you know that? And why couldn’t you taste anything earlier?” His brow furrowed in deep confusion. “You said you tried food. But….you didn’t know that ghosts can eat….or need to eat?”

Phantom picked up the sandwich again, taking a few more bits to finish it. His mind whirled. “We need to eat? But we’re dead so….” He took another cookie, smiling at the taste.

Sidney gapped. “Of course we need to eat! Haven’t you been hungry?”

“Hungry?” Phantom put a hand over his stomach. No, he hadn’t been hungry in that way but...he moved his hand over his core. He’d gotten tired from overusing his powers and...he’d felt the Zone calling to him, like...like he needed to go to it for nourishment. “I have been.” He whispered. 

“But you hadn’t realized?” The nerd face palmed. “No wonder you look so sickly.”

The other ghost looked up, mouth falling open. “What?”

“You’re barely glowing. And you’re so pale. They’re no color in your skin.”

Phantom pointed. “You’re likely in black and white?!”

Sidney raised a brow, motioning down his body. “This is an intentional aesthetic.” His image wavered briefly, before the other ghost was in full color. His skin was a pale green and his eyes a glowing silver. 

“Oh.” The ghost boy muttered.

“Yes.” The other boy nodded, motioning to the plate. “Go ahead and finish. You’re lookin’ better already.”

Phantom didn’t need to be told twice. He finished the sandwich and the cookies.

Sidney crossed his arms. “I don’t understand how you didn’t realize. You should have at least been passively absorbing ectoplasm through your skin.” So apparently, that was something else ghosts could do. 

The ghost boy shrugged, taking a bite of the fruit. He paused, staring down at it. “This is really good.”

The other ghost smiled. “Isn’t it? I can give you some seeds. The bushes grow very well in lairs, if you want to plant some.” He tapped his chin. “Is your lair near here? You were trying to get back there, right? You did say that you were lost earlier.”

“I did say I was lost.” Phantom said, swallowing a bit of his tiger fruit. He then bit his lip nervously. “But...I’m not trying to get back to my….lair? I don’t have one of those, I don’t think…..Not that I’m that clear on what exactly a lair is.”

Sidney again furrowed his brow, looking bewildered. “This is a lair.” He motioned around them.

“No, I get that.” Phantom sighed. “But...what is this? Why does it look like a high school? Where did that food come from? And those people...you called them, shadows? What are those?” The other ghost was still looking at him in confusion as an idea suddenly hit the ghost Danny. “Wait...is this like your house? Like you live here. Or...err...I guess that’s not the right word. Afterlive?” His speech quickened. “If it is, I’m so sorry for barging into your house. I get why you’d be mad about that but I swear I didn’t mean-”

“Danny.” The other ghost said pointedly, making Phantom’s mouth snap shut. “It’s fine. I understand. Just…” Sidney pinched the bridge of his nose. “Let me explain?”

Phantom nodded, blushing in embarrassment.

“A lair is like a ghost’s house but...It’s more personalized. It might reflect somewhere from your life or a place you’ve always wanted to see. It’s different for every ghost but based on your subconscious desires and your obsession.”

“Alright.” The ghost boy glanced around. “So this is your school from when you were alive. But still...who were those people that...attacked me?”

“Those weren’t people. They were shadows. They’re part of the lair.”

“So you do control them.”

“Somewhat?” Sidney waved his hand in a so-so motion. “As I said, your subconscious is what molds the lair.” He balled his fists. “So those shadows are reflections of people, bullies, I knew when I was alive.”

Phantom bit his lip, nervous at the anger in the statement. And he wondered. Obviously the shadows were something of a security system. But there must be more as well. There was the anger that the other ghost had shown twice now when talking about bullies. And what was that he said about obsessions having a role?

“Alright, okay.” Ghost Danny bit his lip. “But...what about your obsession? How does that-”

“Don’t.” Sidney suddenly snapped, his eyes flashing. “Never, ever ask another ghost about their obsession.”

Phantom shrunk in on himself, his shoulders falling. “Sorry.”

The other ghost’s expression softened. “You didn’t know. It’s okay. But...that’s personal to me. I don’t like to think about it, much less talk about it to someone I just met. So...don’t ask unless someone brings it up first, okay? Other ghosts aren’t as nice as me. If you asked Ember, she would fry you.”

“Okay.” The ghost boy paled, nodding furiously. 

Sidney also nodded, taking a sip of his tea. Phantom finished his fruit, while his mind struggled to process all he’d learned. About how ghosts had to eat and about ghostly food. About lairs and shadows and not asking about obsessions. It was a lot, and there were so many more questions he could ask. But he had no idea what to ask now. 

And again, the reality hit Phantom. He was sitting in a ghost’s lair, having a genial conversation like he was just a new neighbor. Not one half of a human-ghost hybrid who was trying to get back to his other half in the real world. With that, there was a small push in the back of Phantom’s mind. Yes, right. He needed to get back to following his tether to Fenton. But again...why had the line led him here?

The ghost boy put down the core of his tiger fruit once he’d finished. That got Sidney’s attention. “You’re done. Do you want anything else to eat?”

“No, thank you.” Phantom shook his head. “Actually...I need to go home.”

“Back to your lair?” Sidney questioned.

“No, I don’t have one of those.”

“Oh that’s right.” The other ghost said, frowning. “So where are you going?”

Ghost Danny bit his lip, considering. “The...the human world or...err...I think you called it the Material Realm?”

Sidney blinked, a strange mixture of shock, confusion, and worry on his face. “What? Why?”

Phantom sighed, rubbing his head. How to explain this. Guess he’d have to start at the beginning...and keep it simple. “That’s where I’ve been ever since I…..you know…” He motioned up and down his body. “About a month and a half.”

The other ghost’s mouth fell open, his eyes bulging. “You’ve been...In the living realm?”

“Yep.” Ghost Danny nodded.

“In the living realm?” Sidney put his hands on his head. “The material realm? Really, the living realm? And….” His voice pitched up in disbelief. “For a month and a half? Since you died? Wait...you’ve only been dead for a month and a half? And...that’s where you were...the whole time...but...how? And…” He waved his arms. “No wonder you look so starved!”

“Starved?” Phantom muttered, even as the other ghost continued.

“And how did you even form in the material realm?” Sidney exclaimed. “That just doesn’t happen, ever! And then how did you get here? Portals are so rare!”

“Sidney!” Ghost Danny interrupted, causing the other ghost’s mouth to snap shut. Knowing he’d gotten his host's attention, he continued. “So...long story short. My parents are ghosts hunters and researchers. They’re scientists who made a portal to...this place. They call it the Ghost Zone. And well...I went inside their portal, turned it on, and...umm...it..well...it killed me.” Phantom looked down, his core clenching at the words and the pitying look on the other ghost’s face. 

“But...I walked out of the portal. I’m still here...even if I’m different now.” He paused for a moment, considering the words. He’d said as much to Mom earlier. And he believed them. But…

“I did...I did try to act like nothing was different for a month after that accident, like I hadn’t changed. But….it’s really obvious now. Mom and Dad know what happened and…” He shivered, recent memories hitting him. “Mom and I had a fight. I wanted to talk to her about...some very hurtful stuff she’d said but….” 

Phantom bit his lip. “It went bad. We were both yelling and Mom got really upset and said...she said…” The words sputtered to a stop as what Mom had said repeated in his head. He was supposed to be normal, human, alive. He wasn’t supposed to be a ghost.  He swallowed. “I started crying….and…” Mom’s shocked and distressed face flashed in his mind, her desperate expression as she reached towards him. “I ran away. I didn’t even think. I just flew through the portal ‘cause I just couldn’t be in the same room as her. I just had to get away but…” He put his head in his hands. 

“Now I’m lost somewhere in the Ghost Zone and Mom is probably freaking out. Dad and Jazz too if she told them.” Phantom then shivered, looking up. “I need to get back to them.” He balled his fists in determination. “I need to get back to my parents, my sister, my friends, and my hum-” 

Phantom snapped his mouth shut on the last word as doubt suddenly flickered through him. Human half, he was going to say. But...he hadn’t mentioned that little fact at all. And the idea of explaining was daunting. His insides squirmed. What would a real, actual proper ghost think of that, of him? Both human and a ghost, living and dead, at the same time. Or...half of each, somewhere in the middle. Or maybe even neither, something else entirely. He didn’t know and he was suddenly terrified to find out.

So instead, ghost Danny kept his mouth shut as he slowly looked up. He blushed. “I can’t believe I told you all that.” His shoulders fell. “I must sound so pathetic.”

“No, of course not.” Sidney said kindly. He was studying Phantom curiously, yet also oddly sad. He raised a brow, looking like he still wanted to ask about the other’s near slip up. But he didn’t. Maybe he sensed it was personal, maybe he thought Phantom would refuse to answer if asked. Either way,  Sidney didn’t press. Instead, after a long pause he finally said. “But I know why you came here now.”

Phantom blinked in surprise. “What?”

“You’re looking for a portal to the living world.” The other ghost stood. “I might have something to help you. Follow me.”

Ghost Danny’s eyes widened at the statement but he obeyed without question. He floated out of his seat and took his place behind Sidney as he flew out of the cafeteria. The pair hovered down a familiar hallway. Soon enough, they stopped in front of a rusty looking locker numbered 724. Phantom looked at the door curiously. 

Across from him, Sidney asked. “Did another ghost tell you about my portal?”

Ghost Danny turned to face the other ghost, brow furrowing. “Your portal?” He shook his head. “No one told me.” He blushed. “You’re actually the first ghost I’ve ever talked to.”

The other ghost frowned. “Then how did you know this was here?”

“I didn’t.” Phantom glanced at the door again, reaching out with his mind. He tugged on the tether connecting him to Fenton and the line grew taunt. His eyes widened. There, behind the door, he sensed...something. “But...I sensed something. It...the line...it was leading me here.”

“Line?” Sidney asked.

The ghost boy glanced back at his host, eyes widening. “Yeah..I’m...uh..I’m” He bit his lip nervously. “I’m….connected to someone in the material world...like mentally.”

The other ghost raised a brow, clearly wanting to know more.

Phantom coughed, changing the subject. “So...uh...how does this work? How do I get through?”

Sidney frowned but answered the question anyway as he opened the locker door. “The mirror is the portal. It leads to the real Casper High.”

Ghost Danny blinked, studying the mirror. “That? But it’s so small and… where’s the swirling green light?” His brow furrowed as he remembered his parents’ portal.

The ghostly nerd shook his head. “It’s not always active. It’s only open for a few minutes during the witching hour of the full moon...and on the equinoxes and solstices. But” He raised a finger seriously. “There is a full moon tonight.”

Phantom raised a brow, wondering how exactly the other ghost knew that. But he didn’t ask. Instead, he looked at the mirror again. Was it really through there, his way home? Closing his eyes, the ghost boy reached out with his mind once again. Yep, yes. He was sensing something. Fenton...Fenton was through there but…. He glanced back down the hallway, towards the way he’d come. Theoretically, he could try to find his parents’ portal or he could stay here and go through when the portal opened in a little over 12 hours….and leave his loved ones worrying for longer.

Then there was a gentle tug on the line. Something tickled in the back of his mind. The corner of Phantom’s lip turned up. He could feel Fenton’s keen interest on him. Oh yeah, he could tell or show Fenton what was happening and ask him to tell their family and friends that he was okay.

Finally, Phantom sighed. “I guess I’m waiting then.”

Sidney nodded. Then his expression turned more serious. “Make sure you’re sure you want to do this, though.”

The other ghost blinked. “Of course, I want to do this. Why wouldn’t I?”

The nerd bit his lip. “Well...I should tell you not to go through the portal. You could get trapped on the other side and ghosts that get trapped in the material realm...they starve. They get weak and desperate and angry.” He shivered. “It’s a horrible way to exist but…” He looked up. “If you think you need to do this, I’ll help you.” His eyes flickered to the floor. “If I had another chance to talk to my parents, I’d take it.”

“Your...parents?” Phantom asked quietly.

Sidney wrapped his arms around himself. “They moved away from Amity Park after I….you know.” His voice quieted. “By the time I found this portal, it was too late. They’d already moved.” He shivered. “I know it would have hurt them to see me like this but...I still wish I could have. I should have told them how much I loved them, how sorry I was that all this happened.” 

That sobered Phantom. For a long moment, he stared at the other ghost and it really hit him. This was a dead teenager, a dead kid who’d had family and friends. Hopes, dreams, memories. A life...just like him.  “We’re not...we’re not that different.” Ghost Danny muttered.

Sidney finally looked up. “No, I don’t think that we are. So…” The other ghost shifted nervously in the air. “I don’t know what all happened with your mom but….talk to her.” His voice pitched up, hopeful yet sad. Not demanding but a kind suggestion from someone with experience...and regrets. “Try to make things right with her if you can. Don’t give up yet.”

Phantom swallowed, considering. He didn’t really know what to think of the other ghost’s advice. Earlier, right after the fight, he might have been angry at the suggestion. He’d tried to make things right and had failed; it wasn’t his responsibility to try again if there was no fixing things but...Mom’s face flashed in his mind again. Her guilt, her desperation as he darted through the portal. And it was simple. She was his mom and he loved her, damnit. He couldn’t just turn that off, couldn’t stop wanting her to love and accept him. He couldn’t stop hoping that she would.

“Alright.” Ghost Danny wrung his hands. “I’ll...keep that in mind.” The way he saw it, another conversation was inevitable. Knowing his sister and dad, they would insist on talking about everything as a family. But he had a choice about how he would approach that conversation. Maybe he could approach it with the hope that things would get better, even if he’d be wary to trust again.

With that, Phantom pushed the thought away, focusing on the ghost in front of him, “Thank you for the advice. And for telling me stuff. I’ve learned a lot.” He rubbed the back of his neck. “Man, I knew I didn’t know much but...I don’t seem actually to know anything at all.”

Sidney nodded. “No sweat, pal.” He half-smiled. “This is the most exciting day I’ve had in years. We can hang out ‘til the portal opens and I can answer more questions.” 

“That would be awesome.” Phantom finally smiled. “You’re actually a really cool dude, Sidney.”

The other ghost beamed and ghost Danny was happy he’d managed to wander into this ghost’s lair. He’d be in big...err...bigger trouble if he hadn’t. He’d learned a ton about ghosts, gotten a much needed meal, and would be home in a few...hours. His thoughts trailed off at the end as he felt an excited mental nudge.

In the lair, Sidney physically nudged him. “Danny?” He questioned, pointing towards the mirror. His voice turned sad. “Is that what you looked like when you were alive?”

“When I was….alive?” Phantom turned and his eyes widened, taking in his reflection. In the mirror, he had black hair, blue eyes, and was wearing a white and red t-shirt.

Phantom! There was an excited exclamation in his head. At the same time, his reflection’s eyes widened.

“That’s not my reflection.” The ghost’s mouth stretched into a grin. He placed both hands on the mirror. “I’m here! I’m right here! I can see you.”

Across the mirror, Fenton smiled. You’re okay. The words were mouthed through the mirror and communicated in the ghost’s head.

“Yeah! I’m fine. I’m-” Phantom cut himself off as Fenton placed his own hands on the mirror, directly opposite his other half’s. Instantly, a warmth coursed into the ghost boy. His eyes widened as a wave of green passed over the mirror. “It’s open.” He muttered, sounding awed. 

Phantom didn’t quite understand how but the portal was opened. And he needed to be on the other side of it, now. With little effort, he pressed his fingers out of the mirror. He curled them around the back of Fenton’s hand as if he and his other self were holding hands.

Fenton grinned and he pulled.

Behind Phantom, Sidney called. “What are you-”

Without resistance, Phantom slipped through the mirror and right into his other self’s arms.