#my battery is drained right now and has been for a while

[ageless-aislynn]

Darn it, I ran out of time to post my WIP tonight and I won’t have time tomorrow but... Mark your calendars, frens: “Cupid’s Kiss” (Eobard/Caitlin, The Flash) chapters 3 and the epilogue in 4, coming to a screen near you on Monday, Feb 27, 2023.

Barry doesn’t look like he believes me. Well, Barry... I can’t blame you for that, lol. But I’ve legit got the draft of Chapter 3 up into AO3 at long last, which is my next-to-last step in posting it. This is where I try to catch typos, wrong words, etc. because sometimes seeing it as it’s going to look on AO3 helps those things to pop out. That’s a step we haven’t gotten to before now, so that’s hopeful at least!

This one has dragged on for so long, there might not be anybody left to read it. But that’s okay. I just want to know that I didn’t give up, even when I wanted to. Even when it hurt. I want to be able to look back and know that made it across the finish line.

“The Price” (Caitlin/Hunter, The Flash) has its first chapter very close to being done, and I’m hoping it will be the next to post. I also intend to finish “Guardian Angel” (Caitlin/Eobard, The Flash) in another 1 or 2 chapters or so.

“15 Minutes” (John/Reader, Halo) has some major stuff coming up, so I’m planning on sticking to it once it gets going again. “Recreation” (Kai/maleReader, Halo) will continue to weave in and out of “15 Minutes” as well, though will probably be pulling away a bit so that we’re not continually just being a third-party p.o.v. on something going on with John and his reader. 😉 Lastly, the Choose Your Own Spartan Adventure fic for Noble Team (Noble Team/Reader, Halo: Reach) is still in progress. Which isn’t probably a shock to anybody who’s noticed all of my Reach love as of late. I’m also going to do another GIFset or two for my Noble Team bbs because I love them so much.

I hope there will be somebody out there who’s interested in something I have coming up 🤞😣🤞 but, truthfully, I just want to get these things done. Once completed, I’ll evaluate where I’m going to go from there. 🤷‍♀️

Thanks for reading this all, if you did. Thanks especially to those who liked or replied to my previous posts about all of this, even if the fics I’m talking about aren’t in your fandom and aren’t something you’ll read. Just having some encouragement... It’s meant a lot. I’ve been struggling a ridiculous amount over all of this and honestly just seeing a simple like helps me to feel like I’m not out here all alone, in pain for nothing at all. Even if I actually am. 🤷‍♀️

Love you, frens. I hope you’re having a good weekend. 🤗

[taintedtort]

prompt ✧ reader with a drained social battery

characters ✧ itto, scaramouche, kazuha, xiao

warnings ✧ gn!reader , none!

a/n ✧ this has been in my drafts for MONTHS. finally posting cus i haven’t written in a week..

ITTO

✧ doesn’t understand the concept of ‘low social battery’ , and since you weren’t in the mood to explain it to him, you’d have to cut the visit short and go home to sit in peace for a while.

“you’re going? where?” you felt awful after seeing the frown replace his happy smile he wore seconds earlier.

“i’m tired, im gonna go home, but i’ll see you tomorrow if you want.” you cringed slightly at the way his face fell even further. he reached forward and took your hand in his.

“aw man, but we were just getting started!” he pouted. a look of slight shock took over your features. just getting started? god, you’re already completely drained right now!

“i’m sorry, we can finish up tomorrow?” your tone was questioning, unsure if you should just stick it out to save his feelings, or go home to your private sanctuary. you had to admit, the latter sounded much more appealing.

a sigh left his lips before he lazily nodded, “okay, that’s fine.” he smiled once more before giving you a kiss on the forehead.

“i hope you feel better.”

SCARAMOUCHE

✧ completely understands, he hates unwanted company too. will take you to his private office away from the crowd of people and let you sit, alone or with him, he’ll let you decide.

“what?” you heard scaramouche ask, annoyance lacing his voice. you glanced over and plastered on a fake smile, “nothing, just tired i guess.”

you attempted to shrug it off, but he quickly grabbed your wrist and tugged you off into his office. you were a bit shocked, but mostly confused.

“stay in here, i can tell you’re uncomfortable,” he grunted, gesturing his head to his office chair, silently telling you to take a seat. you obliged and plopped down with a long sigh.

“you wanted to get out of there too, didn’t you?” you questioned, a small smile playing on your lips. when he simply replied with a curt nod, you let the room fall silent as you closed your eyes, attempting to gain some energy back. when you opened your eyes to glance at him, he was staring at you. a smile twitched onto your lips.

“thank you.”

KAZUHA

✧ he partly understands how you feel, but being on a boat, there isn’t a lot of quiet places to hide. he can easily recharge by sitting and simply staring at the ocean, peacefully listening to the bustle of people. but he knows that doesn’t work for you, so he tries to help the best he can.

“are you alright, love?” he quietly asked in your ear. your head snapped up as you halted your heads that were picking at your nails. you flashed him an uncomfortable smile before shrugging.

he gently took your hand in his and lead you to the storage unit inside the ship. it wasn’t completely quiet, you could hear people walking above you and the waves of the sea below your feet, but it was better than up there. you sat down on a crate with a grunt, relaxing your body. he stared down at you with a loving smile, pure adoration in his eyes.

“should i go so you can be alone for a little?” he gently asked. you raised your face to look him in the eye before shaking your head.

“no, please stay.”

XIAO

✧ understands better than anyone. you don’t even have to ask before he’s sweeping you off your feet and teleporting to a private place where you two can be alone.

“come here.” xiao gently tugged on your hand, pulling you towards him. you made a quiet noise of shock before making contact with his chest. his arms wrapped around you before a wave of warmth engulfed you and a flash of green and black invaded your vision.

you felt two taps on your cheek before your eyes opened, which you didn’t even remember closing. you looked around, taking in the scene of a beautiful spring right in front of you. the sound of the water and the trees moving from the gentle breeze made you break out into a smile.

you felt his arms loosen around your waist, letting you slip away and explore the new area. you took a seat on a rock near the water, looking around at the peaceful sanctuary. xiao stood behind you, watching you take everything in, your eyes full of wonder.

“is this okay?” he mumbled. you turned your body to him with a wide smile. blush covered his cheeks at the adorable sight.

“it’s perfect, thank you so much.”

[krisluxxee]

HOW DOES YOUR PERSON FEEL ABOUT YOU? PICK-A-CARD

Pile (1): FALLBACK

Cards: Tower (reversed, Magician, Two of Cups (reversed) Ten of Swords, King of Wands (reversed) and the Seven of Wands and Three of Pentacles at the bottom of deck.

I was going to start off by saying “your person” however, according to the cards, it’s best to say “the person on your mind”- is feeling vulnerable at this time. I am getting Gemini, Leo, Scorpio, Sagittarius, Aquarius and or Taurus energy thus far. Anyway, I just felt like giving up while writing this. Someone in this dynamic feels powerless, mentally drained, and ultimately wanting or needing to give up. (I just got so discouraged and tired randomly) For some of you, this may be an ex that made you feel this way and the universe has brought them back into your life.

There may be an opportunity presenting itself to rekindle the relationship or a friendship though, you feel drained. For others of you, this may be someone new that you are interested in but due to past failures in relationships- you have very little energy, effort or hope that something can manifest with a potential love interest. If this is not how you are feeling, then they are. As always, this scenario is due to someone being hurt in the past and therefore, are currently unwilling to move forward or open to someone new. Another case could be that someone is fearful of being open to someone new or in general and if you are interested in someone like this- it may be a warning that your energy will become drained “chasing” someone. Intuitively, I am being told that this may be a quick lesson or REMINDER that all things happen in Divine Time, and nothing is a coincidence. Some of you, the universe is playing “games” with you. The universe knows you may want this person, opportunity or whatever but this time, you cannot control it. You are learning to not control it, therefore, if you are starting to feel drained because something isn’t going your way or pace… fall back and let go! It’s like a tease but understand it’s temporary.

Some of you may have a debilitated 7th house, 8th house, 12th house, 1st house but you don’t have to. Nevertheless, this pile doesn’t have energy. This dynamic does not have energy. The more you or they, try to manipulate this the more it becomes drained and strained. I would suggest embracing a spiritual or higher perspective and know that rejection is protection or simply, it’s just not the right time. It’s like a car engine that won’t turn on in the winter and no matter how many times you try to jump it, nothing. I’ve been in that situation before and it was only when I left it alone, found another means of transportation. Then I would try again later, and my engine would turn on. Granted, I was happy, but I went and bought a new BATTERY to be safe and sure and I suppose my story is symbolic for waiting but moving along at the same time. Funny, I shuffled more, and the Chariot card came out- no lie. Anyway, that is all I have for this pile. There’s no energy now and it may seem like a false start but there are things manifesting in the background.” Blessings in Disguise”. I feel strongly that some of you need reassurance and here it is. You may resonate with another Pile considering this feels like the beginning of a relationship or something. . .

Pile (2): COBWEBS

Cards: Seven of Cups, Queen of Swords (reversed), Hierophant, Queen of Cups, High Priestess, Wheel of Fortune, Death (reversed), Two of Cups (reversed), and Five of Cups (reversed) at the bottom of deck.

With the Wheel of Fortune present, this suggest that Astrology is involved. Something has shifted from your (or your persons) Natal birth chart, Solar Return or Progressive chart. I could also be picking up on a futuristic shift nevertheless, a time of failed relationships, loneliness, and or being distant from people/ relationships is coming to an end. The Queen of Swords is not relationship oriented, not in the 7 of cups sense that most believe “love” should be- like being emotional, sensitive, vulnerable, clingy, and OPEN. The Queen of Swords is too smart, logical, and PICKY for that. Someone may have Aquarius, Scorpio, Virgo placements that has prevented getting close and or intimidate with someone. Anyway, there’s a shift of being judgmental, picky and or avoidant to being emotional, open, and desiring a relationship.

This could be what was causing “no energy” or a delay in Pile 1 but it could be totally unrelated. Regardless, someone here is feeling very emotional and dreamy currently for what seems like the first time.  I don’t necessarily feel like there is someone solid in your life though, you may want one or are actively manifesting one. I started to shuffle to clarify the Queen of Cups and surprise, surprise- the Lovers card came out with the Three of Wands (reversed) and Eight of Cups. You or maybe the other person you don’t know yet (or well) is realizing that being emotionally distant, avoidant, and unbothered is not opening the path or doors they want in love and relationships. The Lovers card is about a choice but more so, about your masculine and feminine energy within, being in balance. When one if off, then the other cannot operate properly and in the physical, this manifest as someone having “something missing” that you cannot deal with. Example, if you lack masculine energy within and are unable to be assertive- you will then attract a man or woman who lacks assertiveness especially when it comes to you.

Or, if you are emotionally closed off and in denial that you want love etc. than you will attract men and or women who are emotionally unavailable and so forth. The Lovers card is a mirror of “as within and so without”. This further confirms my interpretation of the cards about a shift occurring within someone. Honestly, this pile feels like soulmates/ twin flames getting prepared for UNION. This pile feels like two people who may not know each other at all or vaguely, who are manifesting each other unknowingly. This pile is like two people who would tell themselves “I don’t want love, relationships, kids, a family, marriage, sex, intimacy” NOTHING. . . and yet, the cards, the energy and GOD determined that was A LIE. I clarified the Seven of Cups and the Seven of Swords (reversed), the Eight of Pentacles and Two of Wands (reversed) came through. This confirms the lies that some of y’all been telling yourselves. (the Devil just appeared also) all these lies and self-deceit. I would look at your Solar Return chart for next year because I’m telling you- something is going to POP OFF. I wanted to clarify the Hierophant because with this card comes lessons and guidance around self-esteem, commitments, hard work, and one’s values. I can see with the cards that clarified that most of you, or your person coming in- uses work and everything else to distract themselves.

I see that you have all been hurt or disappointed in relationships that may have influences low self-esteem that is covered up with LIES that you don’t want this or that lol, but 1) you were going through a challenging cycle in life 2) there’s a new shift coming soon. The Hierophant is Taurus and Sagittarius to me, so this card also represents time and learning. It’s been a long time that is coming to an end. Some of you have one more year, 8 months (and countdown) until the shift is complete. If you chose this pile, it’s time to clean out the cobwebs in your panties and boxer briefs because soon- someone will be up in there FAITHFULLY … HA! Pile One may resonate with you if you chose this pile.

PILE (3): OVER IT

Cards: Emperor (reversed), Seven Pentacles (reversed), Three Swords, Two of Wands, The Word (reversed). The Ace of Swords (reversed, Knight of Cups (reversed), Ace of Pentacles at the bottom of deck.

I felt drawn to immediately clarify the Two of Wands card and the Five of Cups came out. This suggest that there may be an ex, refer to Pile One, that you are deciding to move on from. If it’s not an ex per se than it’s indicating a behavior, belief, or habit that you are moving away from because it attracted relationships that are not in your best interest and caused pain. ANYWAY, there’s an opportunity being presented to move forward- Pile two may resonate with those who feel it’s time to get on the road again – quite literally. Some of you may feel the urge to move to a different state or country or even a new job. I feel like you may run into your life person when you do. This is obviously talking about getting out of your comfort zone- keep that in mind. I usually have more to say but not this time. It’s either move on or stay where you are.

[karoochui]

What im hearing is:

Little crow feet outside my window bcs im feeding them- that’s besides the point!

Is there magic??? His shovel looks magic and they look magic

And do give me every detail you are thinking of for the series even if its in the distant future or not that relevant but you want to share

Crows!! Cute!! Also sorry i didnt get to this sooner my laptop BROKE (still broken but usable) and my mom and i have been looking for someone to fix it. Ive been drawing with it sparingly to be careful.

YES there is magic. Of course im still working on this storywise but im getting characters designs n whatnot done right now. Dynamics n stuff. BUT i do have some refs i made before my laptop broke.

I like to draw out certain stuff so that it helps with descriptions in the future; i have the worst memory so it helps to be able to do so. (More beneath cut)

Im so excited for moon's shadow form. Oh my god. Its probably my favorite thing right now.

Fun thing about it is that in this form he can touch you but you cant touch him. Something something you can be cast in shadow but you cant take it off yk? He's still light sensitive like this though, so if the area hes in isn't dark enough or he's hit with anything too bright he just reverts back. At that point he'd just have to rely on normal hand to hand stuff and his sand lol. The shadow form is just better for sneaking and speed. Really, he's some amalgamative idea of the sandman and boogieman. I thought it fit well with his whole "naptime attendant gone wrong" thing.

Sun's design, however, is more like if you mixed a cowboy, wizard, and gravedigger together. I made it a while ago on a whim with no intention behind it but then i ended up thinking "ykw would be so awesome".

The hat dips to cover the crescent side of his face (not intentional on his part) to symbolize his resentment towards moon and how he basically damned him to an hourglass. His eyes are easier to see bc of this which could seem more trusting (eyes are the window to the soul or whatever), but the thing is thats not normal for him (as we know) so it's meant to make him look suspicious and looming to 4th wall viewers. There's also the fact that i just thought it was cool too.

He also doesn't get a second form. Moon's sneaky and weird so i thought it would fit to give him some freaky thing iykwim. Sun, however, is a pretty "in your face" kinda guy, so his look and fight style is more extravagant and boisterous. Lots of swinging amd yelling and boom bang zap! Despite the showiness he's actually a longer range fighter. Mainly because unlike moon, thousands of years ago, he wasn't often one to get violent with his hands. His weapon is just obnoxiously large too though.

They are still one animatronic and their transformation is still triggered by light. Instead of an AI chip though (which is still in there but long dead), they live through the work of a soul. They're still physically inorganic but as far as spiritually they're as close as they're gonna get to being human. Their life and functionailty is derived from the magic itself, not the machinery. Like if for some reason they lost all their magic they'd just drop dead from a battery life long since drained.

The hourglass has a carousel-like design to it purely as reference to moon's level in Help Wanted 2.

Sorry for rambling so much but this is what i've got for you so far! I have a general idea for the plot but im tryna to make it more than what it is rn, so i dont wanna share too much of that just yet in case i change or completely toss away an idea.

[swampstew]

Ok so I am basing this ask off this post:

https://www.tumblr.com/stuckinthewrongworld/754204449503870976?source=share

Could you do this with Law, Kid, and/ or Zoro please? You guys have some fun, but have to go your separate ways for a little bit, but end up in the same place again just a few months later. You've been so busy, you haven't noticed the changes to your body, only that you're more tired, but you think it's just because of everything you've had to accomplish. But he notices right away, because he remembered every little detail about you. Maybe your shirt lifts up and he notices? Or you have a tight fitting shirt on? Idk I'm so in love with this concept I NEED to read it!

-🐍

Hebi the way I had to be on life support for this....the way my uterus was like ok time to be a problem since my womb is empty from this...I could only knock out (HAHAHAHAHA) one for Kid but I plan to repost it along with Law and Zoro's POVs at a later time. Brain only light up for Punk tonight.

Summary: You have a casual relationship with Eustass Kid, a here and there type of thing. At least that's how it felt on your end. You didn't know he felt about you, the way he sees you, the way he wants you. No matter what. No bumps in the road can sway him. CW: Eustass Kid x F Reader, accidental pregnancy scenario - something short and sweet based off this post | no actual smut, all fluff and tenderness from someone so brash and violent

Kid clocks it right away. He’s so eager when he sees you, finding you on the dock instantly, and the first thing he notices are the dark circles under your eyes and your breasts look particularly perky in your top. He makes himself known, to your surprise, pulling you into a giant hug and asks you if you’re ok.

You tell him you’re just tired from work and your social battery was pretty much drained all the time, but you are happy to see him again. His hand traces your sallow cheeks as you tell him what you’ve been up to before he decides he’s going to carry you to the nearest food stall to get you both something to eat. He holds you while you hold the bags of food, cradled against his muscular chest as he takes long, impatient strides to your home. He’s going to get to the bottom of this and he wants to do it without his crew hovering.

He tells you about his adventures while you eat, if it can be called eating since you a few bites before you looked queasy, abandoning your plate and drinking ginger ale instead. Kid pushes his plate away and brings you to your feet, bringing you to his chest as he his hands gently caress your hips.

“I’ve been gone for a while now. Has anything happened?”

“Hm? Aside from taking on more work to pass the time, not really.”

“Nothing at all? Its been three months since we saw each other.”

“What are you getting at?” you ask irately, not liking the implication of his question.

Kid turns your body so your back is resting against his torso, metal hand holding you in place while his flesh fingers spread across your lower belly. The slow strokes made goosebumps erupt along your soft skin.

“You definitely didn’t have this last time…”

“ARE YOU CALLING ME F—?!” your yell is cut off as he covered your mouth.

“Y/N! Do the math!”

When your body starts trembling, he knows you made the connection and swiftly picks you up and takes you to your bed. Waiting to see if you would start the conversation.

“We never talked about an accident like this,” you whisper.

“No, so what are we going to do?”

“We?”

“Well…yeah. Unless you don’t want me involved…”

“I-I think I want too…but…sigh…I wouldn’t expect you to stay,” you whisper.

“You’re right I wouldn’t” he snorts, “Cause I’m taking you with me, idiot. No way in hell I’m letting you do this alone.”

[strwberri-milk]

hello!!! I’ve been loving your work for a liiiitle while now. I’m hoping you can do all the LADS guys of if mc/you being of latin descent (Mexican/ Honduran, Salvadoran, etc) who loves going to gathering with friends and families (like barbecues, quinceñeras, those type) and how they would react to being in such a place, meeting your large family, and reacting to you dancing/ trying to get them to dance with you (cumbia is my fav at any party lol) would). Would love to see what you come up with, much looove 🩷🩷🩷

Xavier seems uncomfortable at first with the amount of people but it's just because he's trying to figure out how everyone knows each other and how he can fit into conversations. He doesn't want to impose himself on anybody despite how welcoming they all seem.

You wouldn't have to work hard to get him onto the dance floor but he isn't exactly the most rhythmic so he's going to try his best but that doesn't exactly look amazing but everyone can appreciate that he's very clearly trying very hard.

He'll get used to it over time but he does get fatigued very easily from the amount of social interaction big family events of yours take. You just have to cuddle him up and give him a second to breathe when the two of you get home. He likes seeing everyone though and how happy you are around them so he'll never say no if you invite him to an outing.

Zayne is very good at small talk and keeping people chatting so being in a crowd like this isn't too awful, even if he's exhausted from going to work then straight to a party. He doesn't mind keeping you company and he's already met your parents. Getting along with the rest of your family doesn't seem like it'd be too difficult a task for him.

He doesn't show his fatigue until he gets home. He didn't grow up with a large family so it'll take him a while to get used to being around so many people who seem invested in him as a person, in addition to his work as a doctor. Any advice he gives as a doctor is one that he strongly urges people to double check because there are certainly some people who are hoping to ask him to look at this or that. He does give his honest opinions and if there's anything he can see himself working with he'll try to schedule them in, telling you it's no problem and he doesn't mind helping the people you love.

He can't make it to every event but the events he misses he insists you go buy something to gift your family as an apology. He would hate for any of them to think that he's missing the event on purpose and will offer his apologies in person the next time he sees them all.

Rafayel fits right in. I've mentioned before that I think he grew up in a communal parenting/child rearing environment so being surrounded by tons of family is perfectly normal for him. He's going to go into this event with a more positive outlook than normal because he wants to get along with your family.

You were a little worried that he'd come off as rude or uptight because of how he tends to be at his own shows if he doesn't want to be there but thankfully he treats them as though he's known them for a while. You can tell his social battery is draining though but he has fun getting to know people and playing with the younger members of your family.

He definitely was exhausted when he got home but he also looked a little nostalgic. There's something in the look in his eyes that makes you a little sad. He'll appear at other events in the future but he doesn't always stay the entire time just depending on his schedule. If he misses it for whatever reason he'll tell you to apologise on his behalf and usually tries to at least pick you up so he can make an appearance and say hello.

[licorice-tea]

You Feel Right; Stay A Sec

Pairing: Trafalgar Law x reader

Content: pining, yearning, wanting, and needing <3 no smut just fluff! kissing and smooching, just one mention of “going further”! reader is a heart pirate and likes reading :)

Word Count: 1.4k

A/N: it’s been a while since i wrote something for my man (Law <3) so i had fun with this😇☝️inspired by lyrics from the song “Hostage” by billie eilish… i love writing based on songs, it’s probably bc i have music playing 24/7 in either my headphones or on a speaker, and i just love music! so it’s easy to get inspo or create scenarios while listening to it, yk? anyway, hope you enjoy! <3

I wanna be alone

Danger around every corner, piles of work, tasks demanding his attention, and crew members in need of their captain’s opinion are all sources of constant stress for one Trafalgar Law. It’s not that he doesn’t love being a surgeon; it’s his passion, nor his crew; they’re the closest thing he has to a family now. It's just that his battery in all aspects- social, mental, physical- is constantly drained.

The only things keeping him going are steaming cups of black coffee and the rare moments of quiet before he passes out on top of his comforter. And, no matter what form the momentarily relief from life takes, it most always comes when Law is alone. He prefers it that way, anyway.

Alone with you, does that make sense?

He prefers being alone, really. Which is why nothing about you makes sense. Right off the bat, Law has felt differently around you than others. He made an effort not to show that difference in opinion no matter how strong it came to be at times.

Times like now, where sleep eludes Law despite how damn tired he is. For whatever reason, all he wants is to hold something- no, someone… you. Law wants to hold you. Or maybe you could hold him, who cares about the specifics?

Law flips on his stomach and groans into his pillow. This is new territory. He’s never wanted someone the way he wants you. A partner to hold close on nights like these, or to simply be alone with.

I wanna steal your soul

He has considered, on multiple occasions, telling you how he feels. But Law would never actually do such a thing. It would be a complicated and messy affair, surely, thanks to your positions. (His as your captain and yours as his subordinate.) And he wouldn’t want you to feel like you had to accept his confession, either.

Still… he wishes you were his, in every way a person could give themself to another.

And hide you in my treasure chest

At least you’re on his crew. You’re always nearby, should he need you, which he often does. Sometimes, Law likes to call you into his office for a made up reason. “Y/n-ya,” he’d say, “give me a rundown on tomorrow’s conditions at sea.” Though you’re not the navigator of the ship, you still know plenty about seafaring, so you’d comply. Then he’d find some other trivial matter to discuss, or offer you a new book so you could later exchange thoughts on it. Just something- anything to keep you around as long as possible. It’s so much more peaceful with you.

I don't know what to do

But how to make your role in his life a more permanent one? Law hasn’t a clue. Tonight, like many others, you sit on a couch in Law’s office. Neither of you speak, but the atmosphere is calm and comfortable.

Or it should be. Law discreetly looks your way every few minutes, then every few seconds. His eyes follow the way yours scan side to side over a page of your book. From the lines of your jaw and neck, to stray hairs falling over the curve of your cheek.

The usually undetectable tension seems to be coming to a point tonight, and Law doesn’t know how to resolve it. But he wants to, almost as much as he wants you.

So, for once in his life, he moves without much planning. Law rises from his desk and crosses the room to sit beside you. He (stiffly) puts his arm around the back of the couch. Naturally, you give him a perplexed look- it’s not like Law to suddenly reach out like this, physically or otherwise.

“Good book?”

“Yeah, thanks for recommending it.”

“For sure.”

“…Is that all?”

He nods, then pulls his hat lower over his eyes. Silently, he makes a plan to abort this failed mission.

Luckily, you stop him and take the initiative.

To do with your kiss on my neck

Law lifts his arm back off the couch and over you. But, you gently grab his wrist before he can go any farther. “Law, is there… You know you can tell me anything, right?”

Again, he simply nods. A moment of silently staring into each other’s eyes passes, and he leans forwards extremely hesitantly. Your hand moves from his wrist and tentatively rests on his shoulder. Still, Law doesn’t break eye contact (for once in his life), continuing to lean forward at a painfully slow pace. So you allow your hand to travel up to the side of his neck.

“You can kiss me.”

He nods again slightly, “I know. I- I will.”

I don't know what feels true

At long last, Law places a featherlight kiss on the corner of your lips. It’s an unsure, awkward action, but welcome nonetheless. His lips linger on yours, not quite aligned for a moment. Despite your breath being held, you allow your eyes to close and savor the feeling. You want more than this chaste kiss from him, of course, but you’d take your time with it. Law isn’t the kind of man you’d want to have a touch and go experience with. No, he’s the kind the one that you want to savor. The one that you want to take your relationship slow and steady with as he wants, and as a result get to spend even longer in his company.

When he pulls away, you can’t help but smile. Law’s parted lips close into the gentle curve of a smile as well, his usual smirk appearing much more bashful. The two of you lean back into each other. Your noses are nudged and warm breaths mingle before your lips can meet again.

But this feels right, so stay a sec

Law realizes he’s never done this before; kissing. But now, he’s hooked. He still doesn’t really know if he’s doing it correctly; if you’re enjoying the experience as much as he is, but it feels good. Therefore, he must be doing something right. Plus you only pull away from him to take breaths before immediately returning your lips to where they belong (on his), which confirms his hopes.

What started as a sweet and slow kiss ends up becoming a much hotter make out session. Months of pent up attraction and feelings for each other spill over, out of your mouth into his (and vice versa.) He’s the first to swipe his tongue across your bottom lip and get you to open up, and proceeds to groan into your mouth in a way that’s surprisingly communicative of how strongly he feels. It gets to the point where, besides your hands roaming over each others backs, you feel that your saliva must also be permanently entangled.

But all good things must come to an end. You pull back completely so that you and Law are properly facing each other, rather than within kissing range. “Law, I… We should talk about this. Before we go any farther.”

His face heats up at the implication; he hadn’t even thought that far ahead, too lost in your sweet taste, warm skin, and soft lips to do so. He nods and just murmurs, “Okay, let’s just keep doing this.”

You agree and kiss him without another word.

Yeah, you feel right, so stay a sec

When you do both finally wind down, and are left as nothing but half-sleep puddles in each other’s arms, Law murmurs something unintelligible into your hair.

Silence passes, though you can practically hear the gears in Law’s head turning. Finally, he speaks his mind. “Don’t go.”

A smile graces your features. How pleasantly surprising it is to have your captain- possibly the most closed off man you’d ever known- asking for you to stay. Of course, you hum in negation. “Wasn’t planning on it.”

His arms seem to tighten around you- though whether it’s reflexively or to keep you close, you’re unsure. “Good.” Then, Law murmurs something unintelligible against you.

“Hm?” He can feel the vibration on your lips against the side of his face more than he can hear it. That’s how closely you’re pressed into him.

Law clears his throat. “You feel right.”

“So do you.”

[cryslut]

Spoiled | Fyodor D.

「 𝐅𝐲𝐨��𝐨𝐫 𝐃𝐨𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐞𝐯𝐬𝐤𝐲 」

- in which fyodor takes you out on a date

- gender neutral reader

- 2nd pov

- modern au, rich fyodor, fulfilling his husband duties as he should, gentle sweet fyodor moments

not proofread, possible grammatical errors

first time writing fluff in a long time, fyodor fluff was requested so hope u enjoy :D

↳ 𝐅𝐲𝐨𝐝𝐨𝐫 𝐃𝐨𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐞𝐯𝐬𝐤𝐲

A stream of classical music played softly in the background, your husband, Fyodor, was currently reading from one of his novels on his chair next to the window. The wind blowing softly through his hair as he takes a sip of his tea. You were scrolling on your phone, browsing through some of your favorite apps while laying comfortable on the couch nearby. A giant flat screen television was right in front of it as well as an elegant brown coffee table.

You had been on your phone for days and not outside, it made Fyodor be a tad bit concerned for you, due to the fact you did enjoy the outdoors. At least that's what he assumed, but in reality. You adored the outdoors for him mostly. It wasn't bad to you, not at all, you did love taking pictures of the beautiful atmospheric sceneries that you visited with your husband.

You two lived in a beautiful cozy mansion, having maids who cleaned and looked after the home and the both of you as well. It was something you could only dream of living in but Fyodor gave you everything, a beautiful home, expensive things such as clothing that you adored so much, precious treasures and gifts.

"Sweetheart, you've been on your phone for quite some time, why don't we go out for a while, yes?" He broke the silence that had filled the room previously, you nodded your head at him, giving him a soft smile, "Sure, I'd love to."

You swipe up on your getting rid of your apps so the battery wouldn't drain fast. Sitting up on the couch as Fyodor put a bookmark in his book setting it on the table in front of the two chairs by the window that were across from each other. He set his now empty cup of tea on the table to the side of the chair. You both standing up practically at the same time.

Both adjusting yourselves and your clothes, you fix your somewhat messy hair, "No need to bring your wallet, darling. I'll be paying for everything. All you have to do is tell me what you want," a smile forms on his lips. You comply but question his demand, "Why, are you sure?"

He nods his head at your question, "I want this day to be about you, I want to see this day uplift your mood," the same smile stuck on his lips as if he was a mere doll who couldn't move. You nod your head at him, giving him a smile in return, "Okay."

,

Arriving at a destination, you two exit a matte black limousine that constantly took the both of you anywhere you wanted to go, constantly waiting outside to drive you somewhere else. You look up once stepping out of the vehicle, a beautiful scenery filled your eyes.

A beautiful garden with lots of trees shading the area from the summers heat, some mesmerizing flowers of all sorts of colors and petal sizes and shapes scattered neatly around bushes that followed on the side of a pathway. Fyodor grabs a hold of your hand gently leading you towards the amazing sight, "Isn't this beautiful? I wanted to take you here, it's always been a favorite place of mine to relax and read."

Your gaze met his as he turned his head to look at you with an amused expression as he could tell that you were shocked from the mesmerizing sights, giving him a soft and ecstatic smile, "It's amazing, Fedya. Thank you."

"It's nothing to thank me for, sweetheart. I just want to share my favorite spots with the one I love and cherish the most," his grip tightens softly against your hand, using his thumb to caress along your skin softly, "This place reminds me of you in a way. It's quiet but it's beautiful, it has its areas where it's dark and shady due to the trees but the butterflies love it here. The flowers bloom every chance they get. You, my dear, are quite like this beautiful garden. Soft, delicate, and so sweet."

You smile at his words while your heart flutters, "You are so special to me, sweetie. I've never met a man as amazing as you," letting go of his hand, you pulled him into a hug as he caresses your back softly as he plants a kiss on your forehead, "So are you, мой милый малыш."

(мой милый малыш - my sweet baby)

(pronounced: moy-milyy-malysh)

Fyodor breaks the hug and grabs a hold of your hand leading you out of the garden, "I have other plans for us, let's go."

,

The limousine was parked outside once more, this time you two were at a mall. Not just any mall, it was a shopping center for rich people. Fyodor leading you towards a store that had clothing of your style that was also rare to get online or anywhere else, "Pick out whatever you want, darling."

You walked through each isle carefully looking at the clothes, while your husband followed behind you. Picking out whatever clothes you wanted the most. Fyodor kept on insisting to get more, pushing you to grab more clothes you liked. There was a jewelry section, you grabbed a few things, some had real diamonds and pearls on a few pieces. You picked out your favorites of all of them.

Finally walking to the counter to pay for everything. You had grabbed so many items that it all came out to three grand. Fyodor smiled and waved goodbye to the man dressed fancy at the register as you two walked side by side carrying the bags. Walking outside to the limo, the driver awaiting the arrival of the both of you, grabbing the bags from Fyodor placing them in the trunk, as well as taking them from you.

,

It was the last place of the day, it had become night time and it was finally six o clock. You were now in a super fancy restaurant, one of the best in the city. You two sat at a table the was reserved for two. You looked through the menu, staring down all the fancy looking food. The waiter had already brought you two a glass of iced cold water.

"Anything you like, dear?" Your gaze trailing up falling upon your husband, "I want this," pointing out a meal, it had a fancy display of (f/f) and a few sides. Fyodor nodded his head, once the waiter came to take your order, your husband had ordered everything for the both of you. The lady gave a soft smile to the both of you as she walked away.

"Are you enjoying this day so far, my love?" He breaks the silence, "Of course, I enjoy every moment that is spent with you. Thank you for taking me to one of your favorite spots. It was absolutely beautiful, we should definitely go there again one of these days," you smiled softly at him.

Nodding his head in agreement to your words, "Oh I'd love to take you there again, there's a few other special spots that I need to show you. I think you'd love them, one of them suits your style, the other two are quite amazing as well."

"I'd love to go with you, wherever you are, is where I want to be," he smiles at your words, grabbing a hold of your hands as you both had your arms reaching towards each other on the table.

The waiter brings two large plates of a delicious fancy looking dinner to you both. Beginning to chow down the second she leaves, enjoying every last bite, savoring the amazing taste. After moments and moments of you two enjoying your meals together, while talking about all sorts of things, the lady brings the check. Fyodor pulls out his wallet, ready to pay whenever you two leave.

Fyodor hands her the money that is owed as you two got up to leave to go back home where you two spent the rest of your night, watching a couple of movies together.

─── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ───

i'm sorry if that felt rushed. fluff is not my forte so i hope this wasn't so bad

if u would like to support this work and also my other works be sure to also follow me on wattpad. i publish everything there and im currently working on a yandere bsd men x reader.

link: https://www.wattpad.com/user/cryxans <3

[rabesbabe]

intertwined, sewn together

Cassandra Webb x Reader

Summary: Your girlfriend, Cassie, has been away from you for too long. And now that she’s finally back around you she feels like you’re not giving her the attention she deserves. (alludes to smut but no actual smut)

Requests: Open!

A/N: I wanted to write a little bit of some insecure Cassie soo here’s that. Readers a little idiot in this but they get better towards the middle I swear. I hope you guys like this sorry for my shitty writing as usual!

Cassie rolled her eyes. She sat on the couch in the apartment you and her shared. She sipped at her wine while watching you laugh at a joke your friend, or so you said, made.

Your friend was gorgeous, she had brown eyes, freckles, blonde hair and somehow always looked like she came straight from the beach. So basically the exact opposite of your girlfriend, Cassie Webb.

Deep down Cassandra knew she shouldn’t be jealous. You were deeply devoted to her and she knew you’d never do anything to ruin your relationship. But, her surface feelings were greater than what her mind was telling her.

I mean, she had just gotten home from a week long trip to Peru and the most you had said to her since your friend arrived was “Good Morning”.

She couldn’t stand the sight of watching you two giggle while drinking wine and talking. Maybe she could’ve tried to join in the conversation but instead she got up suddenly and went into your shared room. She’d rather not watch her girlfriend be stolen away from her. So, instead she decided to go to sleep.

“Is she okay?” Your friend, Grace, said. You slightly raise your shoulders as if to shrug. And you look at her with a puzzled face. You had no idea why Cassie walked off so abruptly.

“It is getting late i’m sure she’s probably just tired,” You say looking down at your wrist checking the time.

“You’re right I should probably go home anyway.” Says the blonde.

“Sounds good i’ll see you later Grace.” You give her a sympathetic smile goodbye as she exits your apartment.

As you clean up the left over dishes you smile at the thought of finally being able to go to sleep next to your girlfriend after her being gone for so long.

But first you had to make sure she was okay.

Cassie has never really been a people person. So, you just assume that maybe having company drained her social battery faster than usual.

You walk over to your room to check on her.

“Cassie?” You say lightly before entering the room.

You take in the sight of her. She’s basically buried under the covers with just her head peaking out. She looks cute and you almost wish you could take a picture of her, but you knew better.

You sit down on the bed next to her and lift the covers up. “Are you okay babe?” You ask, while reaching over to fix her lopsided bangs.

She pushes your hand away from her face and mumbles out a barely audible “Yeah.” She turns away from you and pulls the covers back over herself.

You frown at her reaction and wonder if maybe she just doesn’t want to talk about whatever’s bothering her. Sometimes it takes her a while to open up and you wanted to respect that.

“Do you want to watch a movie maybe?” You ask hoping that maybe the topic change and the idea of relaxing together would cheer her up.

To your surprise she sits up and moves from under the covers. Glaring at you she snaps out, “Why? Wouldn’t you rather watch a movie with your friend Grace? I wouldn’t want to interrupt you guys ‘quality time.’” She says emphasizing the words quality time.

You widen your eyes at her accusation and even though she’s upset she moves closer to you silently begging for your attention. You finally start to realize that maybe, just maybe she was jealous.

You smile at her in a teasing way. She rolls her eyes at you, “What?” She says, struggling to stay mad at you when you have such a goofy smile on your face.

“Are you upset? About Grace and I hanging out?” You ask.

Cassie sighs and looks down realizing she was a little bit harsh. “No, It’s not her fault,” She shrugs “I guess I just wished you were paying attention to me and not her. I mean I haven’t seen you for a week. It’s like you didn’t miss me at all.” She admits running her hands through her hair.

“Cassie,” You whisper, not knowing what to say to her. You look at her and frown at how sad her beautiful blue eyes look. “I didn’t mean to make you feel ignored, you know I missed you. I spent the whole week thinking about when i’d be able to see you next,” She looks up at you, hopeful.

“I’m sorry my love. My focus should’ve been on you tonight.”

You lean into her for a hug and she opens herself up to you, accepting your apology.

She softly kisses you and when you pull back you notice a small blush over her cheeks.

“I missed you so much.” She admits.

“I missed you too Cassie.” You say and you lean back in to kiss her. This time more passionate than the last. She moves her hands down to your waist. Lightly trying to move your shirt up and you giggle. You pull away from her. “Ohh so you said all of that just to get lucky huh? Wow.” You say sarcastically.

She looks at you and laughs, slightly out of breath from kissing you. “You’re such an asshole.” She says, smiling through bruised lips.

“I know.” You say with a smile.

[winsmoke]

Inspired by Chanyeol’s “Tomorrow,” afab y/n x jaehyun, stand alone idol au, <1k of longing and pining, tiny angst & smut; minors dni

Jaehyun’s eyes follow you. Follow your eyes. Why aren’t they on his?

Somehow, amongst the high pitched chatter and glitzy music on the rooftop bar, you sense his gaze and within a minute, you approach him with a wobbly smile. It’s easy to tell that you’re trying to hide your excitement.

“Jaehyun,” you greet, covering your grin with your hands.

Jaehyun takes your hand in his. It’s warm like his.

He gently lifts your wrist, bringing the back of your hand up to his eyes. “Still wearing green nail polish?” he comments.

“Still blind?” you respond.

Jaehyun can’t think of what to say. He’s just smiling dumbly.

It’s been a month since he’s last seen you. It’s never often. And even when he’s lucky, and he gets a few days with you, it’s not enough. But you always come back to him. Whether it’s in his instagram comments or his dreams. You walk in and out of his life like you’re wandering around the world just to return to him.

He takes in your beauty and longs to slip his fingers between yours but there’s too many people around.

“Walk me out?” you ask, casually slipping your arm around his.

“You’re leaving already?” Jaehyun asks.

“Social battery’s drained,” you admit as you look longingly towards the doors.

“Let’s go somewhere quieter,” he suggests. “Catch up.”

You shake your head slowly, your tired expression surfacing. “It’s been a long day.”

In the elevator ride down, Jaehyun does his best to convince you otherwise.

Stay with me, Jaehyun tries to say while trying to tempt you into getting ice cream with him. You’ve always had a sweet tooth but you’re quick to refuse. You’re sad but firm.

In the flash of darkness as the elevator doors pull part, Jaehyun watches as your eyes squeeze together. As if getting yourself ready to leave him.

But he bites back the disappointment and watches your Uber drive away.

“Tomorrow,” you had promised before getting in the car. “I’ll text you tomorrow.”

Tomorrow, Jaehyun thinks solemnly.

Tomorrow’s another full day. Carted to SM headquarters for meetings, dance and vocal practice until exhaustion takes over and then he’s carted back. Another day of being monitored, of monitoring.

That’s what makes you so special. Somehow so separate from all of that. No one knows about you.

My secret. Mine without being mine.

There’s these small windows of escape that you provide. And tomorrow with you promises another day of escape.

In his bed, Jaehyun wonders what you’ll text him. He wonders if you’ll continue to unravel him. He wonders how much he’ll allow to be unraveled.

If he could just let go, you could be his. If he could just let you in, you’d be in his arms right now. How can he tell you how much he needs you when he doesn’t know himself?

If only he could admit how much he misses your voice and how wonderful you sound when you’re humming your favorite songs. How he adores your ranting and your strange way of sneezing.

Your birthday and christmas cards on his nightstand, he touches them the way he wants to touch your cheek.

He can imagine how it’d be living with you and not with his members. There would be no closed doors, no privacy.

He has the feeling that you’d want to be naked all the time. That he’d want you to be naked all the time.

Jaehyun longs for the body that isn’t his. He claws over your body in his mind. Thinks about how he would make out with you for hours, raking over your ass, hips, boobs, and thighs until they’re shivering with need. He thinks about teasing you endlessly until you’re begging to be filled. Tasting you and fucking you until neither of you can think.

He knows you want him. You know he wants you. But for now, his imagination has to be enough.

He imagines you giving him head in the shower. Thinks about bending you over the bed. Jaehyun tries watching porn but what gets him off is thinking about how’d you moan for him.

He’s reaching for his phone, reaching for you. He needs to call you, needs to hear your voice. But what would he say?

Finger lingering over the FaceTime button, Jaehyun imagines you asleep in your achingly empty bed. You’d be cranky if he calls now. But he likes you when your cranky. But not quite like.

Jaehyun sighs, letting his phone fall next to his shoulder before closing his eyes.

Maybe tomorrow. He’ll tell you he loves you then.

[n04hfiction]

Dating Loona Headcanons

Content/Warnings (If applicable): Sexual Content (MDNI, there’ll be a split between the NSFW content!), Profanity, Implied!Male Reader (Usage of “guy” once), OOC(?) Loona

Proofread: ✅

SFW:

Loona spent years in the adoption center, infact, a good chunk of her life, and she had only been with Blitzø for a few years now, so it’s safe to say you’re her first partner

She was most likely very awkward during the talking stage, she doesn’t talk to many outside of IMP, so honestly, it may not be easy for her at first

A talking stage with Loona consists of her being extremely awkward and nervous, borderline geeky in a sense, whether you realized it or not. She probably found you attractive from the start, like before you guys ever properly spoke, so it’s not even like she had something to start off of with you.

Going back to her life in the adoption center, we can tell that she wasn’t seen as something or someone important, and let’s be real here, she probably knew they thought that — So I can see her love language being words of affirmations, after so many years, the only thing she really needs is to be told she is enough

I can also imagine Loona’s love language in terms of giving being physical affection, she’s probably very clingy after her years in the shelter, and she just wants to hold you and never have to let you go, because she feels like if she does she might lose you forever

In terms of petnames, I can see this going two ways, Loona won’t really call you petnames aside from “babe” or maybe “hun” cause she feels like a lovesick teenager otherwise, but if you call her something she absolutely FOLDS!! Loona really gets into it whenever you call her something with “my ____”, or anything with “dear” or “sweet” - Which might surprise you, because she doesn’t use petnames BECAUSE she thinks they sound cheesy, but when you call her the cheesy petnames, she folds like a piece of paper!

An ideal date for Loona would be staying in and just cuddling while watching a movie, as much as Loona is down to party, her social battery can get drained pretty easy, so she’d much rather stay in with the one person she knows gets her - Except at your place, she’d rather die than cuddle with you infront of Blitzø

Speaking of Blitzø, she’s hesitant to introduce you both, she knows how Blitzø can be, especially when it comes to her and a guy, but she knows she has to have you both meet at some point.

Blitzø is protective (as well as defensive) at first, which honestly, is fair enough, but once he gets to know you he ends up liking you just fine! Especially if you let him ramble about his horse fantasies, he’ll really like you then!

This might be a surprise, but Loona isn’t much of a hand-holder, it’s just not her thing — and she really only kisses you in private, but she loves hugging you! This girl loves hugs! She hugs you goodbye after every date, she hugs you as her way of saying thank you when she can’t form the words quite right, she loves hugging you

NSFW:

Along with being Loona’s first partner, you are also her first time, which comes with a few different things to unpack here.

Firstly, Loona is very insecure when it comes to sex (at first), and she hardly ever even touched herself before you. The first few times of even attempting sex she’ll back out, she’s really insecure and overall scared of being abandoned, the shelter really did do a number on her.

I also personally headcanon that Loona has body-image issues, she’s a bit thick in certain places, and she’s covered in fur - So if you’re not covered in fur, she’ll get very anxious about how you’ll choose to handle it. (Occasionally she’ll slip into her human disguise specifically for sex, because she is terrified of you getting annoyed by her fur for whatever reason).

Loona is very subby for the first few months of having sex with you, but as she starts to grow and get used to it, she can definitely start to dom, maybe even lean towards it, I see her as a softer but also teasing dom, but I can also see her being rougher when and if the situation calls for it

She fucking thrives off of anything to do with her clit (fingering, eating out, ect) - It’s also probably her more sensitive area. Making out with Loona while fingering her and fondling with her breasts is probably one of the things that gets her off the most, and (as long as you’re not opposed), she is definitely into the idea of riding your face

In contrast to her love language, she definitely has a degradation kink, she gets the biggest kick out of being called a whore or slut or a bitch or anything of that sorts (even if in non-sexual situations things would be much different)

Another thing, Loona isn’t one to cry or get overly vulnerable in a relationship (although she does from time to time), making her cry during sex is definitely something you do a lot (in a healthy and consensual way, ofc)

[x0x0josephinex0x0]

hi okay so idk if your reqs are open rn (if not oops im really sorry) but pls plsplspls could you do svt with a socially exhausted introverted s/o (just coups if not svt) (this is totally not based on me and how absolutely tired i am of social gatherings) please only do it if you are inspired and have time! Dont force yourself!!! Also lysm youre doing great

ABSOLUTELY I will do this for you (also hi very rude of you to call me out like this, i am ur resident socially exhausted/overstimulated introvert gf) but since you brought up cheol I can't stop thinking about it for him and it fits so well! so here you go my lovely!! so: cheol with his socially exhausted s/o, or you can't filter your thoughts when you're peopled out and accidentally tell seungcheol you want to marry him (and maybe have his kids) gn reader, this is all meant to be comforting and cute, there are mentions of gambling at the beginning, pet names are used (baby, honey).

It's seven in the evening and Seungcheol has to settle a bet.

"Sorry guys. It's over." He throws in his cards, tosses some spare bills onto the table, and grabs his coat while the other boys groan.

"You owe me $50," Vernon says in English to Joshua, who shakes his head in disappointment.

Seungcheol decidedly will not be telling you about how the guys had bet how long you'd be able to last at your social engagement before texting him to come get you. Almost nobody had had any faith in you, and Seungcheol privately hoped they were right because you'd been so busy lately and he'd been missing you, but he knew that you'd be grumpy about people betting against you.

He's almost giddy, skipping to his car and humming along to the music as he drives to come pick you up, but that all changes when he sees you. Normally, not even your introverted nature can keep you from lighting up when you saw Seungcheol, but all you can manage is a tired smile and a wave as he pulls up to the curb where you're waiting.

"Hey baby," you call to him as he hops out of the car to open your door. "How was game night?"

"Boring," he says, wrapping you up in a hug, partially because it's true and partially because he knows how guilty you'll feel if he tells you he was enjoying himself and you pulled him away. (Never mind the fact that he'd leave his own presidential inauguration just to pick up a flower you liked.)

Seungcheol feels you slump against him, and he chuckles. "Tired?"

"You have no idea." This has been a busy and demanding work week for you, not to mention that your family recently moved closer to spend more time with you, and while you're very close, your sometimes demanding social battery is drained, leaving you exhausted, more irritable and emotional than normal, and prone to long episodes of dissociation in public. Even now, you can feel yourself begin to tear up. "I'm sorry for stealing you away."

He sighs, exasperated. "Let's get my baby home to rest."

He keeps one of his hands in yours as he drives. "Thanks for coming to get me," you say as you lean against the side of his car.

"Of course, honey," he says, keeping his eyes on the road. "Thanks for calling me."

If there's one thing Seungcheol will always do for you, it's unconsciously erase all of your anxiety around being a burden. It was one of the reasons it was so easy for you to be around him -- you felt so safe with him. He never made you feel like any favor you asked of him was too much, and he always made it seem like such a privilege to love you the way he did, without you ever even having to say anything. It's this thought that has you smiling at his profile, watching him as he drives until he gives you an uneasy look. "Are you okay?" he asks.

"Yes," you reply easily. "You're a fine man, Choi Seungcheol."

"Did you drink tonight?" he asks.

You swat his arm. "No, I'm just too tired to filter my thoughts. And my thoughts are saying that you're really pretty."

"You are pretty," he says quietly, smiling to himself. "But thanks."

"You're welcome," you say, settling back into the seat and closing your eyes.

By the time you arrive home, you're feeling calmer and less scattered. After parking in the driveway, Seungcheol comes around the side of the car to open your door again. "Can I carry you inside?" he asks hopefully.

"Now?" He's been asking this since you moved in together. "I'm okay, really."

"You look reeeeeeeeeeeally tired," he begs. "What's the point of all this gym stuff if not to carry you across the threshold of our shared residence?"

"Save it for the wedding night, Seungcheol," you tell him, and then the both of you freeze.

Because really, that is the reason you haven't let him yet. Of course, you hadn't planned on telling him that until much, much later, but once again, your social battery being on 5% has gotten you into trouble.

But Seungcheol doesn't seem worried -- in fact, he seems kind of...proud? "Okay," he says staunchly, his chest puffed out. "I will save it for the wedding night. Amazing idea, baby."

You groan as you take his hand to let him help you out of the car. "Forget I said that."

"Not a chance," he says. "Don't worry though. I know you're tired, so I'll wait until tomorrow to ask you about wedding colors."

"Shut up," you giggle.

Seungcheol ushers you into the house and locks the door behind him, following you into the living room where you collapse on the couch. He laughs at the way your face is smushed into the couch cushions before padding into the bathroom and starting the water. You listen as he bumps around the bathroom, too tired to move your head to look at him, but a few minutes later he comes into the living room and crouches beside your face. "Come on, honey," he says quietly, his eyes overwhelmingly kind.

So you take his offered hand and let him lead you into the bathroom, where there is a candlelit bath with rose petals waiting for you. "Is the water okay?" he asks, a little nervous as you test it with your finger.

"It's perfect. Thank you."

"You're perfect," he says softly before leaning in to press a soft kiss to your nose. "I'll be waiting in bed for you."

Seungcheol closes the door quietly behind him as he leaves the room. You, for your part, are once again wondering where you found a man like him as you strip down and slip into the warm water, letting yourself fully unwind for the first time in a week.

You stay in the bath for nearly an hour, but it pays off -- you leave feeling much less frazzled and drained. You're still tired, though, and you're sure Seungcheol can see it on your face as you enter your shared bedroom clad in your pajamas, because he opens up the covers he's already under and motions for you to come into his arms.

You comply, nuzzling your head into his chest like a cat with its favorite patch of carpet, and he brings a broad hand up to cradle the back of your neck -- the spot where he knows you get your tension headaches, which he massages for you on days like today.

"Feeling better?" he asks softly, kissing your forehead.

"Yeah," you say. "Thanks."

You just lay there quietly for awhile, relishing the feel of his hand rubbing firm circles into your neck. You appreciate that he refrains from asking about your night, knowing you may need some time to process before you'll be ready to talk about it. But you know he's wondering, so you decide to give him something, even if it's not much. "It was really fun," you tell him. "It's just been a long week."

"I know, baby." He kisses your forehead again. "I'm impressed with you for going and for how long you stayed. And it's good progress that you called me before you got too overstimulated."

You chuckle. "It was either come home or start throwing things and maiming people."

"You made the right choice," Seungcheol says, and you can hear the grin in his voice.

The moment is so perfect you want to freeze it in time: this man with his arms around you, in the low light of the bedside lamp, and the way you can just be around him without any demands. Your damaged filter, on the other hand, has other plans. "I don't know what I'll do when our kids just want me to be around all the time," you worry aloud.

Seungcheol's arms tighten around you. "Our kids?" he asks quietly, and you cringe.

"I'm exposing myself majorly tonight," you say.

"No, no, it's alright," he says, obviously trying to conceal how gleeful he is. "This version of you is...something else. I really like it."

"I'm sure you do," you grumble, but you muster the strength to look him in the eye. "Just so long as we're on the same page, I don't really mind you knowing I want to marry you and have your kids."

"We are most definitely on the same page," Seungcheol states firmly, leaning down a bit to kiss you. "I was on that page forever ago, so I'm glad you finally caught up."

And as he kisses you again, you think that as long as you've got him to love you whether or not you're capable of controlling your thoughts, any potential bumps in the road you might experience will be alright.

[last-herondale]

You Belong Here, With Me

Loki x FemReader

Angst, fluff, hurt/comfort

Tw: None that i can think of

A/N: I had an idea for a scene where the reader is hidden on Asgard while the Avengers fight a threat for her back on Earth. Loki is stuck being the host, but he really doesn’t mind. She doesn’t feel like she fits into Loki’s world, but Loki has a different opinion.

Enjoy 🤘🏼

It had been a miracle that you managed to slip away from the celebration. While the Asgardians certainly knew how to throw a party, your social battery had been drained from the past few weeks.

You had agreed, when the team suggested you lay low for the time being. Earth was too chaotic, too unsafe for you right now. The largest target was on your back, and the only way to keep the people you cared about safe from harm was to leave.

Carol had many planets she offered to take you to. One where it was summer all year long, and the beaches were the most beautiful in the galaxy. You had declined. When Quill offered to pick you up for a time to travel with the guardians, you declined. But when Thor offered to take you to Asgard and have Loki stay to keep you company…

You shook your head at the memory. How stupid it seemed now.

You had slipped out of the ballroom, taking great care to not be followed. It was difficult adjusting to the Asgardian fashion. Frigga had sent up many fine dresses of various fabric and color. Tonight you selected an elegant royal blue dress that exposed most of your back and shoulders. You had a long silk shaw to match, and the ends of it billowed behind you as you hurried down the hallway towards your room.

You could still hear the music and laughter pouring from the ballroom as you shut the door right behind you. Immediately your body relaxed. You kicked off your shoes and meandered your way to the vanity table. You began to undo your earrings when you heard the door click open.

“Turning in early I see,” Loki said, shutting the door as he entered. You watched him from the mirror, and were struck by the beauty of him in his green and gold clothes. “I do believe the party was just getting started.”

“Leave me be,” you muttered. Loki rolled his eyes and made his way toward your bed. He sat on the corner closest to you.

“What kind of host would I be if I left you unattended during a party?” He kept his voice playful, but there was concern ridden in his blue eyes. It had been a strange few weeks. The two of you agreed it would be best to keep this relationship, or whatever it was that had grown between the two of you on Earth, under wraps while in Asgard. Loki had his reasons, all in good nature, he had promised, but still he was tight lipped about it all. You wondered what kind of customs Asgardians practiced when it came to intimacy, and you were too embarrassed to ask.

You sighed as you removed the rings and bracelets from your hands. They had been gifts from him, far too beautiful for the occasion. Your hands began to move towards your neck to unhook the maze of necklaces, but Loki was up in a flash.

“Allow me,” he said. He pushed your hair aside to one shoulder in a delicate motion. His hands were cool on the back of your neck, and you had to stop yourself from shivering. Carefully, began to unclasp each necklace and place them on the vanity.

“Tell me what troubles you, my love,” Loki said. He looked at you through the mirror's reflection. You stared at each other for a moment as Loki undid the last necklace. His fingers seemed to linger a bit on your shoulder, giving you the smallest of caresses.

The touch heated your blood and you stood from the vanity, turning to face him. His eyes searched yours, all amusement gone from his expression. Moonlight pooled in from your window, casting a beautiful pale light across Loki’s features. He was so ethereally beautiful that it hurt to look at him sometimes. You longed to touch him. To be able to openly touch him and love him as unabashedly as you had on Earth.

“I would prefer not talk about it tonight. Please, leave.” You whispered. You hated turning him away, but your heart and mind were too muddled and weary to feel anything else.

Hurt flashed across his face for a moment, but he quickly composed himself and simply shrugged. “As you wish.”

He strode a few steps forward, leaving you where you stood. You turned away, waiting for the door to slam shut after him but it never came.

“Have I done something to offend you?” He asked, facing the door. He slowly turned around as you looked at him. “If I have done anything, y/n, please let me correct it. You know I hate it when you're angry with me, darling. Please, tell me what I've done.”

His words rattled your resolve. You bit your lip to keep it from trembling. Your emotions from the past few weeks began to overflow, and it took all your strength to keep the tears at bay.

“It’s not you, Loki. It’s me,” you said, your voice cracked on the last word. Loki’s gaze softened immediately, any facade of anger or amusement gone. He stepped forward, placing his hands on your elbows.

“Y/n-“

You stepped back from his grip and began to pace the length of your room.

“I don’t belong here, Loki. This whole thing was a mistake.”

“What?” Loki ask incredulously. “Who the hell told you that nonsense? I shall have their tongues removed-”

“No one- I told myself that. Because it’s true. I don’t fit in here.” Tears brimmed the edge of your eyes. You silently cursed yourself for being so emotional. Why should it matter if you didn’t fit in here? Why did you care so much? It wasn't as if this was a permanent situation. You would be leaving just as soon as things settled down on Earth. Why did the idea of leaving hurt just as bad? They were answers you hadn’t been able to find in the time you had been on Asgard.

You expected Loki to laugh. It sounded ridiculous enough in your head and saying it out loud didn’t give the words anymore validity. But still, your heart twinged at the thought. But he didn’t. Instead he just stood there, looking thoughtfully at you, as if he understood.

“You are unhappy here…”

You winced at the sadness that lingered in his sultry voice. You stopped pacing and took refuge by sitting on the edge of your bed.

“It’s not that I haven’t enjoyed my time here. Truly, your home is beautiful- it’s magnificent. Everyone here has been nothing short of generous, especially your mother, but I just-“

You took a ragged breath. “I’m just a human. A human that made a very big mistake to have to be hidden away. I’m a mess. I don’t fit in here- amongst gods in their golden palace. I’m not like you Loki.”

“I believe you and I are more alike than you’d care to admit. And you are so much more than just a human.” You blinked at him, shocked by his response. He didn’t seem angry, or even the slightest bit annoyed by your explanation. Instead, a hint of playfulness danced in his eyes. He moved closer to you extending out his hand.

“May I show you something?” He asked. You opened your mouth to object but he just clicked his tongue, cutting you off. “If you still wish to leave afterwards I will have Heimdall take you anywhere you’d wish to go. Just- humor me for a moment. Please?”

You gave him an uncertain look, but the small grin on his face made your heart lurch in your chest. You placed your hand in his and followed him as he led you out of your room.

“Loki- my shoes…” you began as your bare feet hit the cool marble walkway outside of your room.

“Don’t worry, darling, you won’t need them. Come, quickly before someone sees us.”

The two of you ran through the palace. Loki kept the two of you close to the dark passage ways, making sure to stay clear from any other person that lingered the halls. Music from the ballroom could still be heard across the palace. It’s fast tempo gave the ground beneath your feet a heartbeat.

Loki held you close, never letting go of your hand as the two of you ducked into a single spiraled stairwell. Unexpectedly, he swept you off your feet and began to carry you as he ran up the stairs. You let out a swell of laughter as the two of you ascended, wrapping your arms around his neck for support. You fought the urge to kiss him, biting your bottom lip as you held him.

Once you made it to the top, Loki gently put you down and took your hand again. He walked with you this time, following the corridor until the entrance arched into a beautiful awning. Your eyes widened at the sight of Asgard in the starlight. The city seemed to dance underneath the moonlight, and the glow from the Bifrost glimmered in the distance.

You leaned on the stone edge balcony, letting the ends of your shawl blow loosely in the wind. Loki stepped closer beside you, the left side of your body felt warmed by his presence.

“It’s beautiful,” you murmured.

“As are you,” Loki said. You felt your cheeks burn as the compliment. “Do you know why I offered to bring you here?”

The question stunned you. The whole time you had assumed your placement here had been Thor’s idea. Loki took your silence as an answer and continued.

“I wanted you to come here because I could not think of any other place you deserved to be.”

Loki looked out onto the expanse of Asgard. His eyes grew soft at the sight of his home. “When I found out the truth of my past, I felt exactly as you feel now. Unworthy. And then when I continued to make mistake, after mistake-“

Loki’s voice broke. You placed your hand on top of his and held on tightly. He gave you a small smile and ran his thumb over your fingers. It was the most contact you two had since your arrival. Loki had been called away on official duties, standing in for Thor in his absence by attending meetings with Odin. But even this simple touch seemed to sustain the both of you.

“Asgard is a difficult place to call home. Especially for those of us that were not born from its glory. I have fought bitterly for my place here. I have hurt many who loved me for the sake of it, and have worked tirelessly to amend these wrongs and yet it often does not feel enough.”

Loki turned to you, taking both of your hands in his.

“I do not deserve it, but I am a son of Odin. I am a prince of Asgard, despite it all. And you,” his fingers tipped your chin up gently, moving your face closer to his. “From the moment I met you, I knew you belonged here. Even on Earth, in those quiet moments we shared together, your mind- your soul, you always reminded me of home.”

Tears were falling down your face now. Your body hitched with a small laugh as Loki wiped a tear away.

“I hoped you would fall in love with Asgard. Hoped that I could share with you one of the few parts of my life that I am actually proud of. I never wanted it to make you feel less than you are. And to me y/n, you are everything.”

Loki pulled his hands away for a moment. He held them out before you as magic illuminated around his palms. A thin silver crown made of silver vines appeared before Loki. Flecks of gold spilled around the silver, making the crown glimmer in his hands.

Loki looked at you, his gaze as steady and as sure as you’ve ever seen him. Before you stood a god, one that looked as if he would burn the world down for you, and you alone.

"There is beauty in the starlight of every corner of the galaxy, but I have found the one who for me, holds the stars."

"Loki?" you asked breathlessly.

Loki gave a small smile. "I was going to ask you tonight, before all of Asgard, if you would marry me. But as always, you made me change my plans when you left the ball early. "

"Marry you?" you whispered. Loki nodded, his pale blue eyes lit up his face.

“That’s why I was away these last few days. I spoke with my father, my mother, even Thor before we left, to ensure that if you were to accept- you would have your rightful place here with me, as a Princess of Asgard.”

“And-if Asgard does not make you happy my dear, then we can live on Earth. We could live anywhere- wherever you want. As long as I have you, I know I will be home.”

Words seemed to fail you. Tears continued to fall down your face as Loki looked at you with unbearable gentleness. “You would have me then?” You asked. “Despite everything..?”

Loki gave you a heartbreaking smile. He placed his hand on the side of your face and stroked your cheek. “Y/n, love,” he murmured. “I wish you could see yourself as I do. But I will spend the rest of our lives showing you how much you mean to me. I will be there, no matter what else comes your way. I will fight for you, and all you hold dear for the rest of my days."

You smiled as tears ran down your face. The wind blew tendrils of your hair around. You put your hands on Loki’s face, pulling him closer until the tips of your foreheads touched.

“Yes,” you whispered. "Yes, I will marry you."

Loki gave a soft, almost relieved, laugh. He used his free arm and wrapped it around your waist as he brought your body closer to his, until there was mere inches between you. His hand splayed out on the bare back of your dress as he brought you in for a kiss. You wrapped your arms around his neck and let him deepen the kiss, wanting to be consumed by him in every way. He broke apart, making sure to pepper your tear stained cheeks with light kisses.

He brought up the other hand that held the crown. You rolled his eyes at him as he spun it around his finger.

“A ring would have sufficed,” you teased.

“Not for you, my dear,” he murmured as he gently placed the crown on top of your head. “Nothing in the cosmos could suffice.”

The crown was light on your head. Loki took a step back to get a good look at you and his eyes seemed to darken as he took you in. You felt your face flush as you reached out for him to come back to you. He smiled as he spun you around, causing your dress to twirl in the moonlight. He kissed you again, holding you tightly against the backdrop of the Asgardian moon.

“Does this mean we have to return to the party?” You asked teasingly against his mouth.

“It is technically our engagement party. It would be rude to keep them waiting all night. I believe my mother had a cake made for us.”

He kissed the length of your neck, taking great care to give every exposed part of your skin attention. You smiled and tipped your head back, happiness radiating from every pore in your body.

“Can we wait- a few more minutes?” You asked breathlessly. Your hands traveled up the back of his neck, entangling into his hair as he kissed your collarbones.

“Darling,” he growled into your skin, “if you keep touching me like that, we may never make it back to that party.”

You laughed, letting yourself forget all of the doubt you had held in your heart. Playfulness danced in your eyes as you tipped Loki's face up to yours.

"No rush, or anything dear," you murmured. "But I did leave my shoes in my room."

Loki chuckled, giving you a wicked grin. With that he lifted you into his arms. "Let us make haste then to the bedroom- to retrieve my dear lady love's shoes, of course."

〰️

[jangofettjamz]

Meds

Jenna ortega x Autistic!Male!Reader

Summary: Jenna sees that you're anxious and encourages you to take your medication.

Words: 871

Jenna POV

Y/N and I just got back from the Doctor to get his prescription for his anxiety meds. He doesn't like taking them, as goes for any medication he has to take, but he needs them in times like these.

He's done so well with going to his appointments, even if he's not confident to go to them by himself he still makes the effort because he cares and wants to look after himself.

However, he can be a little stubborn despite what he'd tell you. He'll refuse to take them sometimes, says the meds make him drowsy, I don't blame him to be honest they do take a lot of energy out of him.

His social battery has practically been drained from having to talk to the receptionist, doctor and pharmacist so talking was gonna be kept to a minimum, which isn't a problem at all because I'm proud of how far he's come to even do that.

He's sitting on the couch playing with hands, he needs his meds but getting him to take them is a different conversation entirely. I'll have to be patient and convince him that it's okay to take them, he's always skeptical about taking them.

I walk up to him and try to get through to him. "Honey you alright? You're fidgeting a lot there, what's on your mind?" He shrugs; like I said his social battery is drained.

"You feeling anxious?" I ask being careful of what to say. He nods his head shyly keeping his hands in his sleeves.

I decided that getting an idea of how anxious he is would determine whether he should take them or not. "Can you tell me how anxious you're feeling right now on a scale of one to ten?" His mouth opened but no words formed, only exasper gasps; he's non verbal.

He immediately hides his face out of embarrassment, he hates being non verbal; finding it extremely frustrating when he can't say how he feels.

"Hey hey hey, that's okay if you can't speak right now babe, can you use your fingers to tell me how bad it is out of ten?" He nods and begins using his fingers to tell me his level of anxiety.

He held up seven fingers, I'd say that's high enough for him to need his meds. "Let me feel your pulse, sweetie." I felt his jugular pulse and it was going quite quick, so was his breathing.

"Your heart's a little fast sweetie, so is your breathing. Are you panicking a little?" He nods.

"Here hold my hand, squeeze if you need to. Take deep breaths with me, in *inhales* and out*exhales*. Good job baby, keep up with those deep breaths for me."

I sit him on my lap and hold him tight with his head on my shoulder, his legs wrapped around my waist as I rock him from side to side as a grounding technique. He was shaking slightly from his oncoming anxiety.

"Oh my sweet baby, I'm here. I'm here for as long as you need me for. I know today was a lot and I'm gonna help you get through it, okay? Just relax in my lap love bug, shhhh." I rub his back while giving him head scratches, that always calmed him a bit.

"I'm your safe space remember, nothing can hurt you when I'm with you. You're safe honey, you're always safe with me." His breathing began to slow and my rocking stops to look in his beautiful eyes.

"Do you wanna take your meds for me?" He shrugs again, atleast it's not a no so this might be easier than anticipated.

"How about this, we give you your meds and we can cuddle for as long as you want, your gonna be really tired after taking them so you may aswell rest with me. Does that sound good?" He nods and gets off my lap so I can prepare his meds.

I prepare a glass of water and bring it to the living room where he is. "Here you go babe" I say handing him the pills. I hold up the glass of water to his lips and he swallows the pills while I help him drink the water "drink up baby boy, you're doing really good" he hates taking pills.

He finishes his water and his pills are swallowed. "All done, good job babe." I coo and kiss his forehead. I seat him back in my lap and lay down on the couch with his head on my chest.

After about 10 minutes he begins to yawn and his eyes become droopy, indicating his sleepiness. "Feeling sleepy, sweetheart?" He nods and I rub his back and rock him to help lull him to sleep.

"I'll hum you a lullaby, just drift off in my arms bubs, it's okay shhhh." I kiss the top of his head with love. The shushing, kisses and rocking made his head woozy and he closed his eyes, my humming was enough to lull him into a deep sleep.

I sighed with contentment, he was wrapped in my arms, light snores filling out the silence. My eyes slowly shut as I followed him into sleep with him snuggled up in my arms.

[jo-harrington]

As Above, So Below - Chapter 5: Via Domus

Previous Chapter: Chapter 4 - Malum Malus

Summary: You wake to find yourself in the Upside Down and discover a world-altering revelation.

Word Count: 13.8k

Pairing: Eddie Munson/Fem!Original Character (Written in 2nd Person POV - You/Your - No Use of Names of Physical Descriptors)

Warnings/Themes: Van Helsing Inspired, Kas!Eddie, Religious Themes, Criticism of Religion/Catholicism, Fate vs. Free Will, Death and Injury, Graphic Depictions of Violence, Mentions of Major Character Deaths, Grief, Mourning, Yearning, Discussion of the Upside Down, Supernatural Encounters, Angst, Smut, Fluff, Unprotected PinV Sex (he's undead it doesn't matter), Oral Sex (F Receiving), Bloodletting, Biblical and Other Literary/Media References

Note: Sorry this is a little late but this snow storm had my internet down right as I went to post. There isn't much to say but...this moment has been one 10 months in the making and I might not have edited it...but I don't care, I'm literally the proudest I can be. I'm sure there's people to tag and thank for their support. I'm so ready to sit back and reread this. I didn't write it; it just came through me like a prophecy. And that isn't condescending, it's the truth.

This series will not be for the faint of heart, nor is it something that was written with a general audience in mind. Please check the above warnings and ask yourself if you are in the correct headspace to proceed. I am happy to answer any questions via PM or Ask.

You can find my masterlist here.

Please do not interact if you are not 18+.

Enjoy!

“The devil doesn't come dressed in a red cape and pointy horns. He comes as everything you've ever wished for.” - Tucker Max, Assholes Finish First

November 6, 1983 October 15, 1987

Everything was wrong.

From a dreamless sleep, consciousness hit you like a freight train and drug you to the land of the living under its wheels, one painful mile at a time.

You were aware of every nerve, every bump and bruise, every cut.

Every bite.

Because surely there were more than just the ones on your throat now.

And when you finally opened your eyes, you burned.

Not just your body; the very essence of you sizzled and popped like hot oil in a pan.

It was overwhelming, overstimulating.

There was both an absence of feeling--of being--and an abundance of it.

Images flashed through your mind. Memories. And not just yours.

Leaving Hawkins the first time.

Kas, the brides, and their seduction and subsequent attack of you.

Billy--a different one than the one you knew now--screaming and clawing his way up a rickety wooden staircase while a creature lurked just out of sight below.

A man in tattered and bloodied white clothes, his skin burned and mottled. Blind in one eye. And a creature that met him and allowed him to--

The smell was next as you finally remembered to breathe. You swallowed great gulps of air then choked as they burned your lungs and tasted like a mix of wet, cloying mold and dry, putrid battery acid.

Finally, a high pitched ringing as your spirit finally settled back into yourself. You clenched and unclenched your hands--stretched your fingers and toes--to regain some kind of recognizable feeling back into them.

As you tried to recognize who you were now, in this body.

In this world.

Everything was wrong.

No...when you woke up, everything was different.

The first coherent thought through your head was that you were dead and this was surely hell. Proven not only by the pain and the affliction of your body and mind, but because the skies overhead flashed and burned bright red with infernal lightning.

The brides had drained you dry and this was your eternal punishment. It was the only explanation.

If you steeled yourself and turned your head, would you see your father's face--frozen in an eternal scream--staring at you?

You wrenched your eyes closed for a moment, steeled yourself to test the theory, and you winced as the bites on your neck pulled and stretched.

When you opened them again, you screamed. It was a weak, strangled sound, and echoed as you shuffled away as much as your sore body would allow.

It was not your father's face that you found beside you, but it was a face nonetheless.

Petrified.

Screaming.

Flesh half-rotting off a skull, petrified golden hair layered with soot and muck. There was a neck and torso too--arms--and the further you dragged your eyes down the body, the more decayed and damaged the bones became. The skin and flesh sloughed off.

Until they all tapered off--melted off--into bone, then into nothingness, where the ribs ended abruptly in a half-jagged, half-charred state.

It was where the ground ended too, the body teetering on the precipice.

"Mother...fuck..." you hissed and swallowed thickly.

You weakly melted into the ground again; your eyes slid shut so you could take stock of yourself once more.

Sluggishly, you returned to your senses. Head, torso, limbs all accounted for, even if they were a little worse for wear. You'd survive. You'd heal eventually...hopefully.

Before long, your abilities jumpstarted from cold at the proximity of a dead body. Great. Though you supposed you'd almost considered yourself grateful that they were returning, if not for the phantom fingers that scratched at the back of your mind; the lingering spirit that belonged to this body wanted to communicate but didn't quite know how.

You didn't have the patience to ferry the remnant of someone's soul closer towards consciousness right now.

But it was a reminder.

There were no bodies in Hell. No death in Hell.

For all intents and purposes, the damned would be considered alive.

So no, this wasn't Hell.

This was--

You forced your eyes back open and stared at the gaping, mangled maw of jagged walls that stretched and reached into the roiling, starless sky.

--an attic.

There were visible slats and support beams, boxes and furniture covered in sheets, and burnt, decayed vines clinging to the walls and along the floor. Most notable was the fact that the structure--this house--was simply broken. Shattered. Not only was the roof broken, as though a giant had torn into it--peeled the slats and shingles open and left them rent and tattered beneath their hands--to curiously peer inside, but the whole structure was as well.

The side of the floor you and the body were on tilted at an awkward angle; not unnavigable but still odd as you found the strength to hoist yourself to your feet and stumbled at the unevenness. Once you were upright, you could see the other side; across a strange valley that revealed broken beams and wide structural mouths that promised rooms below, there was a set of stairs that led downwards.

Uneasy with the minimal strength you currently possessed, you used your power to send some sort of signal down through the jagged, rotten foundation to ask the earth for help. And not just help, you asked for a sign of where you were and what happened to you. However, you were immediately turned away. A hiss at the back of your mind, that settled adjacent to that incessant scratching, warning you from trying again.

This earth was not like the earth you connected with regularly. It was incompatible with you, but only just so.

There was a blink of a thought in your head that you could make it bend to your will if you really wanted. If you were tempted enough.

But temptation was what got you here, wasn't it? Your jeans were still unbuttoned and you felt some kind of internal, medieval shame as you fixed them and fastened them back up. Shame, not only because the brides had fucked you if you could call it that, but because they'd gotten the better of you. They'd used your weaknesses against you--used Eddie against you--and now they'd stolen you away to the Upside Down.

That's what this place was right?

And it wasn't a stretch to guess the why's here either.

Kas had used them to bring you here so he could finally be rid of you.

Well, you weren't going to sit here and wait for your death like a lamb to the slaughter. If Kas wanted to kill you, you were gonna put up a fight.

The fires of wrath were stoked inside you and you let them restore your strength and fuel your journey onwards. You readied yourself to make the jump across the broken floor.

Suddenly, the scratching at the back of your mind got horribly loud. A voice, a young man's voice, strained and croaked inside of you.

"Help me. God, please help me."

The broken remnants of the being you'd woken beside finally found its voice.

You scowled as resentment decided to mingle with your wrath.

"No one's going to help you," you grunted and shuffled your foot into the side of its rib cage. You kicked the body into the gulch below and as you took your leap, you delighted in the sounds of the bones shattering as it impacted the ground below. "God is dead."

The descent was precarious.

Despite the strength you had gathered, your body ached and your movements were clumsy. It was like you left a part of yourself behind and struggled to continue without it. Additionally, as you progressed along the path, you found that the house itself was broken in ways that defied logic.

Hallways switched back upon themselves or dropped down into a deep burning abyss, floors tilted upwards and then stopped abruptly, doors opened to brick walls, and then, your favorite, a ticking grandfather clock seemingly floated in the air on its own.

Did physics exist in the Upside Down? Gravity? Or was it like Superman, where differences developed without the interference of a certain color sun?

Eventually you made it to what you believed to be the ground floor, and although there was a looming sense of dread that only got worse the further along you walked, your footsteps felt sure and stable. It felt better, safer.

There was a crack in one of the walls you passed where you spotted the shadow of tree limbs, and just up ahead you could see the sky over a half-demolished wall.

Once you rounded this corner and that to reach your supposed freedom, you found yourself faced with what could only be described as an altar. Some site of a wicked ceremony. The walls of the house split open and revealed the expansive red and grey waste of the outdoors, but instead of finding dead grass and trees like you thought, there were structures made of stone and vines and twisted tentacles, just like you remembered from the tunnels.

Towers.

Stalagmites.

Pillars.

Something rustled behind you and you turned on your heel to find the source of the noise, only to find the dank hall you'd just exited empty. It rustled behind you again and you spun back to face the pillars, but you were still alone.

You were being taunted now, teased. Surely that was it, wasn't it? This was a game; you survived the pitfalls and traps of this nightmarish house and now the hunt was truly on?

"I know you like to play with your food motherfucker," you hissed aloud. "Let's play."

You progressed confidently, unwilling to let yourself falter as the ground underfoot transitioned from wooden floorboards to decorative checker tile to uneven earth and the air became heavy with ominous anticipation.

Despite that, you took a moment to inspect the pillars as you passed them, only to be met with an even stranger sight.

Chrissy. Fred. Patrick.

They were eerily still, petrified even; faces serene, as though they were sleeping. The pillars seemed to encapsulate them; a wing melted into the stone here, claws elongated into branches there.

There were four pillars...but three Brides.

You vaguely recalled a flash of Max's memories, of her running through a red landscape almost exactly like this; you took the chance and reached out to touch the empty pillar, only for your suspicions to be confirmed. It was meant for her. The pillars were the final resting places for all four of the victim's of Vecna's curse.

A place for their bodies to be displayed like trophies, signifying his triumph.

It was a sickening thought, but brought about further revelation that this place didn't belong to Kas, but the Lich himself.

The Creel House.

"I was right," you huffed a small laugh of victory. Your hunt for Kas had led here; if only fate hadn't tempted you off the path to the cemetery, you would have been that much closer to defeating Kas now.

Fresh off a small win and with your body primed for psychometry, you moved and touched each pillar curiously. You witnessed each Bride's transition from the husk of a body to the monstrous beings they were now. They hadn't meant to be the puppets of an atrocious master when they were resurrected; it had all been done in an act of defiance. Their forms had been carefully crafted by his clawed hands, and life breathed back into them by a hopeful heart.

That heart was broken here too; those same clawed hands were formed on the very floor behind you...

"No," you tried to shake the thought off you. You didn't want that; didn't need that. Didn't need to empathize with Kas...right?

Still...the intrusion continued.

You wanted to connect to this earth didn't you? So you must gain all manner of information, whether you want it or not.

More images flashed against your will; you didn't need to touch the silt and soil beneath your feet for it to reach out and touch you. The blood that soaked this ground leeched up from the depths to provide you hair-raising clarity of the brutality committed a mere few feet from where you stood. No care had been taken when a body on the brink of death was implanted with bones and teeth and claws. You watched the flashes in unblinking horror until screams suddenly echoed in your ears, terrible and ear-splitting; you were witnessing a transformation--a metamorphosis--from something to nothing then back to something again.

"No!" you shouted and your voice echoed, into the eerie night. Wings flapped and a creature roared in the distance. The images fled along with them, and you heaved several labored breaths as you settled back into yourself.

There was a rustle behind you again, and you froze; you were so lost by the intrusion of the birth of a monster in your mind that you didn't notice said monster approach you.

This was it.

You'd faced monsters before, countless times. Of course, you'd always been armed with weapons, your powers. Now you'd been stripped bare; the brides had rid you of your weapons, and this dastardly dimension had denied you access to many of your abilities as you recovered from your weakened state.

Unless they were useful to the Upside Down itself, so it seemed.

Still, your eyes honed in on a glint of silver beside you. Brilliant amongst the squalor of the Upside Down and folded neatly in Chrissy's claws that rested across her chest:

Your crucifix.

Your hand shot towards the cross of its own volition, but as your fingers caressed the carved hyacinths, you suddenly doubted yourself.

Was Chrissy's grasp on it truly that strong or was it just a trick of the mind? If you couldn't even resist her and Patrick...how could you possibly fight Kas?

Except, you'd already fought Kas hadn't you? Already got the one-up on him. That's why he'd relied on so many cheap shots to get to you. You would make it through this, with your teeth gnashing, your bare hands, and your raw faith. Or you would die trying.

"Lord, I am not worthy to receive you," you whispered as you pried the relic out of the harpy's hands. "But only say the word and my soul shall be healed."

Footsteps slunk closer to you, audibly clearer now, and you readied yourself, focused on all the holy light within the sludge of your corruptible human body. When they finally stopped just inches behind you, you could feel cold breath cascade over you, and you knew it was time.

You pivoted on your heel, sneakers crunching the ground beneath them into dust, and you raised your hand to brandish your cross at your assailant. His hand clashed against its other side and stopped it dead between both of your faces; your eyes went wide as he gripped it tight and it burst into flames in front of your eyes.

You wrenched your hand away and backed into Chrissy's body as Kas let out a mighty, wretched wail.

You were so singularly focused--horrified--as you watched the symbol of your family's legacy burn and melt in his hands, so expectant of his form being consumed by holy flames as he crumpled and bent at the waist and screamed in agony, that you didn't really look at him until it was too late.

The fire extinguished suddenly and Kas flung the remnants of your crucifix to the side, and as he stood, you could feel all the blood rush to your head. There was a buzzing in your ears and you swore the dark circles that crowded your vision were only to spare you from the sight.

Whatever vision you had in your head of Kas was gone...and in its place was suddenly something both old and new at the same time.

There was a smirk carved into his face, so smug and triumphant, and made only more pronounced by the deep scars that went from the corners of his mouth and back along his jaw towards his ears. Still, his enticing lips twitched, failing to bely a smile. His deep eyes were locked with yours, abyss-like, but warm and welcoming in this otherwise unforgiving world as he stared at you with a fondness that you couldn't fathom.

He was tall--taller than you remembered--and even taller still as your legs failed you and you collapsed to your knees before him; he took two rapid steps forward, hands stretched out as though he would try to catch you before you hit the ground. All you could focus on were the sharpened, blood-stained points of his fingers though, and when you flinched as they got too close for comfort, he stopped in his tracks.

Your breathing got heavy and your shoulders and chest heaved the longer you witnessed him. Because it truly was the witnessing of something beautiful and terrible, wasn't it? Something you'd wished for over and over again until you simply couldn't take it anymore.

"No, no, no," you couldn't stop your mouth from its fumbling repetition. "Nononono. No. N-no, no, no!" Over again the word erupted from you until you were shouting. Until you were sobbing.

You covered your eyes with one hand to stop yourself from seeing, and your mouth with the other to keep what remained of your soul from spilling out.

You shook with grief--three years worth of grief that only became more surmountable with each day that passed--then anger.

How dare he, how dare Kas use this final thing against you, how dare you let him?

But that was just an excuse wasn't it? Some kind of excuse so you wouldn't have to face the reality that was just on the other side of your hands. One that you would cling onto to help your poor heart survive.

You would deny it, until you couldn't any longer.

"Sweetheart." You shook your head at the decadent rasp of his voice; your ears strained to catch more but you couldn't handle it. Tears began to leak from your eyes and collect in the creases of your fingers as you pressed them harder into your face. "Angel, please."

The urge to roll your eyes at the ironic nickname battled against the need to bask in it.

You could feel him get closer, feel his massive form invade your space. Your aura buzzed excitedly as it brushed against his with the proximity and your heart beat in your ears; your body knew what your mind refused to accept. It made you feel lightheaded.

Don't fucking pass out.

The claws worked their way beneath your fingers and you resisted as much as you could until you simply couldn't hold on any longer.

And once they were away, there was nothing that you could have done to stop yourself from responding to him.

The you that you had been just seconds earlier no longer existed. That being, forged by resentment and pain and grief and the will to succeed beyond all hope, was torn apart by those claws--gently peeled apart bit by bit--and as your eyes opened, you were suddenly the you that you were before. Or maybe, more accurately, the you that you were beside everything.

Despite everything.

The being that only existed with him.

You.

You were here with him.

Eddie.

And he was here with you.

Alone together and together alone.

No one else existed but the two of you as you opened your eyes and your gaze washed over him once again.

Lightning flashed overhead as you absorbed the sight before you.

Hands. Eddie's hands. Calloused from hours of guitar playing and scarred from that one time he got too eager pulling a stouffer's lasagna out of the oven and forgot the gloves. Only now they were scarred further, with lines along his phalanges and razor-sharp talons at the tips of them.

Hair. Eddie's hair. Soft and curled just so and sometimes shiny, but oftentimes just a frizzy mess from head banging so hard. It would get in his mouth, leaving him spitting and sputtering as he got some idea mid-headbang. Only now it was held up and out of his face by a fluffy green scrunchie, and only his bangs and a few loose pieces framed his features.

Face. Eddie's face. One that looked at you with so much relief and gentle love. Your memories couldn't hold a candle to having him here. Your eyes went blurry with tears again at the fact that he was actually here just inches from you. His eyes and lashes and his round nose and his kissable lips. Lips you needed to kiss like you needed air. Only those lips started to move to form words again and as they did, you spotted the sharp tips of fangs.

He looked the same, exactly the same...but simultaneously different in every way that counted.

Time stopped.

You thought about being in the trailer with Chrissy and Patrick, all the words that you had excused in the moment, as you allowed yourself to be tempted by Kas.

In actuality...had it really been Eddie? Words that had been borderline insidious suddenly took on a much more intimate connotation.

"You're not real." You breathed shakily, one last attempt at pulling back the veil at some trick of the mind. "I can't...I can't..."

On the other hand, you remembered the graveyard, the way Eddie had been there in a way...beyond your sight, refusing to be seen by you. Refusing to be known by you. And again countless other times. Including the day he'd...

"I can't look at you," you said weakly. "I'm not supposed to look at you."

What had he said to you then? That he'd never really left? That he would wait...as long as it took...and here he was now. That hadn't been Eddie; how could this suddenly be him? He was...

"And why not?" he chuckled gently. "I think we both deserved to see one another; I've crossed the oceans of time just to see you again."

"That's..." you stared at him in disbelief. Tremors wracked your body and his gaze went from fond to worried again.

Your mind went a mile a minute trying to come up with something, some way to deny all of this. Rapid fire, you thought. About Vecna and the Upside Down and the earthquakes. You thought about Wayne and Dustin and Max. Over and over, ideas flashed as all the pieces finally clicked together. Vampires that weren't vampires, and the Brides; the trailer and the visions and the grave and...and...and...

He was alive.

"That's..." You began to laugh, the small shakes of a giggle turning into big, bright guffaws that shook you. You grabbed his face with your hands and squished his cheeks together, gleefully watching as it smooshed and shifted in the way only his play-doh-like features could. "That's not the quote, you big dumb idiot."

Home had been an abstract concept for you for some time.

For most of your life, when you thought of home, you thought of your Nonna's house. Her flat, just downstairs from yours; you spent most nights there anyway, your father's childhood bedroom repurposed for you. You had a home in the dinners you'd cooked together and late nights where you'd watch Johnny Carson until it was time to hold hands and pray together before bed. Home meant turning the key in the lock of her door and her giving you big cheek kisses.

Tesoro di Nonna.

Her treasure. She was your treasure too, your best friend, but she, herself, was not your home. At least not anymore.

You found that when you came to Hawkins. When you met Eddie. From the moment you met him, he had been that warm place of comfort and love. When you left, and even when you believed him to be dead, going home meant returning to Hawkins.

Returning to him.

So when you both overcame the euphoria which accompanied the realization that you had found each other once again, and he said "let's go home," you knew that there wasn't far to go.

You were already there.

There was something about returning home after a long time away, though. Things changed and it didn't take very long for you to notice the changes in Eddie.

He held your hand as you walked through the barren waste of the Upside Down, and it was actually quite a long walk. Practically across the entirety of Hawkins, and you were truly in awe that it actually was Hawkins. You walked down familiar streets, through the town center that was fully intact unlike its decimated state in the real world, and Eddie even pointed out the windows of your old apartment over the deli, as if you forgot.

Very few words were shared between you at first, aside from short and fond little tidbits to reminisce old times spend together--something that you'd constantly been doing since your return; your heart ached to think that your ghost had followed him around, both in Hawkins and here, reminding him that you'd left him to this fate.

There was not much more conversation than that though, and while you basked in the sweet memories, especially being reunited, you couldn't help but wonder why he was so...uncharacteristically quiet. The Eddie you knew was never at a loss for words; why was he holding back asking you questions? Telling you how much he missed you?

You held back your own thoughts, questions, and admissions too if you were being honest. Something about being so open in this dimension, something about the strange din of silence due to the lack of life made you feel...strange.

You wondered if he felt the same way?

If you could feel the creatures that shuffled just out of your line of sight, given what you knew about the hive mind that existed between them, you knew Eddie could as well.

But if that was the case, he didn't show it. You supposed Kas he was the master of this realm; he didn't need to be afraid of it.

In fact, the more you observed him, the more you noticed how at ease he was here. He'd always been confident walking around Hawkins, shoulders straight and head held high despite the suspicious stares and whispers that seemed to follow him just because his last name was Munson. But now Hawkins--the Upside Down--seemed to bend to him the further you walked, proving his mastery over it.

Down one street, the tentacle vines slithered and shifted as Eddie led you ahead, and when you dared to look back they returned to their original places. Shadows at the corners of your eyes shifted as he pointed something out to you with a fond smile and a laugh. Finally, when you reached the woods, gnarled and dark as they were, his presence seemed to cause a group of bats that had been resting there to stir.

Instinctually, you flinched, divine sense tingling in response to their unnatural energy as they began to fly overhead; Eddie even squeezed your hand to calm you down, but your defenses were up now. You readied yourself for an attack as they circled and swooped down a little too close for comfort.

You watched, dumbstruck, as Eddie tsked and then reached up with his free hand; one of the bats got lower and its many flailing tails brushed against his fingertips before it screeched and then soared away. You felt that there was something more to it, though; there was something else there as his fingers twitched against them.

A yearning, maybe; a desire to...what? Join them?

"It's alright," he reassured you softly, an undertone of happiness in his voice. "See, they're harmless."

"Harmless?" you scoffed in disbelief, having witnessed their devastation first hand. He looked back towards you and lowered his arm, brow furrowed in confusion at your tone; you felt a strange rumble, an undercurrent, just beneath the surface of his skin as he flexed his hand around yours again. "I..."

"Sweetheart. Just trust me. What are you--"

Like that, the illusion was broken.

It hadn't taken that long. A couple of hours, mostly spent in silence and the overwhelming awe of being in one another's presence again, but suddenly you realized he was different.

Of course, you were different too.

You never really fathomed a moment like this; you'd always thought--hoped--you'd be reunited in Heaven. That everything would work itself out there. All wounds healed, all sins forgiven.

But this was not Heaven, and you'd never imagined your reunion like this.

You looked at him again, really looked at him this time. Tried to look past your Eddie, to see what had become of him here in the Upside Down. You started with his hands, the long scars you noticed just a short while ago, and you traced a finger along them. It was almost cathartic as you felt a phantom ache in your own hand, as you began to truly digest and understand what had happened to him.

Dustin had refused to tell you...and with good reason.

The ache burned through you the further you went. His arm was covered with the sleeve of his leather jacket, but still your fingers traveled, touch penetrating the worn leather; he looked and felt...bulkier somehow. Even his skin looked too tight on him. Gone was your noodley, human boyfriend and in his place...something else. Broader shoulders, a thicker torso, and a slightly elongated neck that proudly bore scars as well.

Just like your own bites, you thought, as Eddie's aches were momentarily replaced by your own. You both displayed the healed remnants of shredded, devoured flesh.

The memory of the pain they once brought him practically sang through his skin the further you went and you couldn't help but listen and absorb it. Unlike your scars, even the most recent ones from the Brides, that had been the product of your will to survive, Eddie's were the evidence of something dastardly that sought to destroy and consume. In fact, they had succeeded; you felt the burn of a thousand mouths filled with sharp little teeth ripping through flesh. Ripping through his flesh.

The longer you held on, the more you felt and understood. Mouths led to claws, consumption turned to torture, and eventually he was ripped further--pulled apart--until he was left broken, raw, and screaming.

Just like you'd seen back at the Creel House.

Vecna cut him open and emptied everything that made him him, and filled him with darkness and malice and--

You wrenched your hands away from his and rubbed them together as they tingled, suddenly numb. All of the echoes of his pain vanished and instead you just felt...conflict.

"What's wrong?" Eddie stepped closer, worry etched deeper creases into his face now. "What did you do?"

"I--" you flinched away from him and he paused.

This wasn't just Eddie anymore, your Eddie who survived a few scrapes and bruises and came out of any conflict--large or small--with a few choice words for his assailant and a story to tell.

This was Kas, forged through the burning flames of Hell to fight. To destroy.

And if not by name, then by acts.

Acts done with Vecna's influence, at first, and now atrocities in their own right.

Eddie always knew when your mind buzzed with a thousand thoughts; he'd say that you were thinking too loud. Time hadn't changed that, it seemed. He still knew exactly how to read you.

"Listen," he started carefully, treating you like a spooked animal because that's exactly what you were. "I know you have questions. We just need to get home first."

Unfortunately, you were also a stubborn piece of shit.

"Where is home?" you questioned. "What...Eddie...how?"

"I'll tell you everything," he promised. "But you're hurt...and I'm sure you're hungry. Thirsty? I could only bring you so far before--"

"Before?" you urged.

"The hungrier I get," he began. "The harder it is to control everything. Control myself. I couldn't be around you like that. But now you're awake...and I have to get you home. We need...to get home..."

You wanted him to explain it all to you; you'd seen the fangs, witnessed the Brides and other vampires feeding, it wasn't a secret that he must hunger for blood too. You just needed more. But he needed something too. There was a singular, desperate focus that edged his words--the need to get you home, get you safe--and you knew you weren't going to get answers unless you obliged his request.

If he could be patient...so could you.

You gestured ahead and the two of you continued your journey.

However, you made sure to keep your hands to yourself this time, unwilling to inadvertantly see more of his becoming, and Eddie clearly noticed.

"My hand is pretty cold," he said after a short stretch of silence. His eyes slid over to you and he wiggled his fingers. "Sure is a shame that there's nothing to warm it up."

You scoffed and your heart ached; this was how he got you to hold his hand in your coat pocket during the winter as you'd venture out and about. It was his thing, refusing to wear his gloves so he wouldn't fumble with them when he wanted to smoke, while also taking the opportunity to feel your hand against his.

It was one of your favorite bits of attention that he gave you; he was still your Eddie. You knew that, and deep down inside you only wanted to know that.

But things were different.

"Ed--"

"What? You don't love me anymore or something?" he teased; however, when he glanced over at you, there was a real worry in his eyes. "Don't want to hold my hand? Hmm? That it?"

"Come on," you scoffed. "Don't. You just said we'd talk once we got home, wherever home is. We've been walking forever."

"Well we're not there yet," he bristled and laughed; it was a bitter, condescending chuckle. One you'd never heard come out of him before; not to you, at least.

"Can't you just tell me where we're going? To...Rick's or..."

"It isn't in Hawkins."

"You can't expect us to walk to Muncie," you attempted a joke.

There was a tense pause and he turned his head downward and quickened his pace.

"Don't worry," he said, tone stiff. "We're almost there."

The confidence you'd noticed earlier was suddenly gone, and as he walked, he seemed to make himself smaller.

You really fucked this up.

You tried to reach out for him, abandoning your resolve of keeping him at arms length, but he failed to notice.

He just kept walking.

Before long, the town seemed to melt away.

Everything did.

Gone were the buildings, the trees, even the roads. Until there was a vast grey nothingness, accentuated by floating particles and a swirling, cursed sky. If you thought the Upside Down was a wasteland before, this only solidified that thought.

After some time, even looking back didn't seem to help things; there were no milestones that you could ascertain. Just flat terrain, the sky, and the horizon.

And Eddie.

You tried to stave away the hateful thoughts that this was a trap, that there really was a Kas out there and he was manipulating you again. Or, even worse, that Eddie was the one manipulating you.

What good did those thoughts do? Except negate the elation that still bubbled hopefully within you, elation you were also trying to hold back.

You were here now; he could kill you any time if he wanted. You weren't dead. Yet.

Lost in thought, you failed to notice that he stopped, and you walked right into his back. You shook yourself off and stepped around him, only to find a decrepit-looking ranch-style house. The attached carport's roof was partially collapsed, the siding a little cockeyed, and the mailbox was broken; it looked unremarkable, and still...

"We're here," he pressed his lips together and gestured towards the house. "Home sweet home."

"I don't recognize this place," you remarked as he led you forward.

"You wouldn't," he shook his head. "I never brought you here; it doesn't exist anymore, actually. They tore it down to build some fancy condos in...what...80? 81? Only place you're gonna find it now is up here."

He tapped against the side of his head and then waved his hand around.

"This is what it looked like the last time I saw it. Broken, a little sad. Right before it came down.”

"Why is it here then?" you asked.

He sighed and looked around.

"Let's just get inside."

The interior of the house was worlds different.

Well...comparatively.

It was bigger on the inside, the walls somehow taller than they had been just moments before you stepped through the threshold. You entered into an open concept living room that was attached to the kitchen, not unlike the trailer. Both rooms were wood paneled and there was a carpet that was split-pea green, making the already drab atmosphere darker.

Eddie brushed past you to get to the kitchen and you moved ahead to the sofa, weariness of the day finally catching up to you. You collapsed onto the brown faux-suede loveseat and laid your head against the granny-square blanket that was draped over the back; beneath the musty, mildewy smell of the Upside Down, you could faintly detect something lighter and sweeter.

Your mom wore orange blossom perfume just like this. Aqua Manda. Your father brought a bottle home for her on her birthday one year.

You cleared your throat and chalked it up to a trick of the mind; you were tired and hurt, of course little things like that would escape your psyche.

Eddie shuffled around in the kitchen for a few minutes and when returned, his hands were filled with packaged snack cakes, a six-pack of grape crush, a bottle of hydrogen peroxide, and a roll of cloth bandages. He fell onto the loveseat beside you and dropped his plunder between you.

"Wayne," he stated simply and gestured to everything, as though that explained it. Maybe it did, to him; on your walk you figured that everyone knew that Eddie was here and alive, Wayne included. It didn't make you as angry as you expected yourself to be. Not as angry as you'd been when you read about Kas in the Dungeon Master's Guide.

What use was it to get angry, when you just wanted answers?

You stared at Eddie expectantly, hoping that he would start talking, but instead, he moved to pick a package of Raspberry Zingers from between you. You watched, in slight awe, as he flicked his thumb against the plastic and the sharpness of his claw sliced through it quicker than any knife. He did the same with one of the pop cans, puncturing the aluminum instead of using the tab.

You, knowing these were some of his favorites and having seen him inhale more of the sweet treats than you dared count, expected him to tuck in. Instead he placed the open package and can in your hands with a longing look, careful not to touch your skin, before he went on to unwrap the bandages.

You said his name gently and he ignored you.

"Eddie," you dropped the zingers and grabbed his hand to stop him. He was the one to flinch now, but regardless, he looked you in the eye. "I need you...to tell me where we are, and tell me what's going on. Everything. We're here now...you promised."

His eyes darted between yours rapidly; if he felt that your thoughts were loud before, his were blaring right now. Broadcasting panic and worry; confusion as to what to say and where to begin.

He opened his mouth and inhaled, but his sharp fangs glinted in the low light of the room and your gaze, naturally, was drawn to them. He planted a hand over his mouth and after a second, rubbed over the scars that stretched over his cheeks.

Finally his hand dropped to his lap and he shifted in his seat; he leant back against the cushions and got comfortable.

"Before I lived with Wayne," he started, "before mom died, we lived here. It wasn't big; big enough for the two of us, a little less when my dad was still out. Everything looks a little bigger, but I guess everything does when you're younger. This...this is just how I remember it.

"That's what this place runs on. Memories. Feelings. It...generates them but also cannibalizes them. Nancy Wheeler said something...before...about it actually being 1983 here. Really, it can be any place and time you want. Henry...Vecna...showed me that. So when I started needing space...away from him, I came as far as I could past the outer limits of Hawkins and I made this place. Where he would have a harder time finding me. Where I could be alone.

"With you."

"Me?" you questioned.

"I can't explain it," he shook his head. "I can't explain any of it. It's...fuzzy. Who I am now...and who I was before...I'm not the same person.

"I was hurt so badly when you left...I thought I hated you for a while. But then...you were there, in everything I did. I had hope because you gave me hope Sweetheart. Every day I thought about getting in that van and...finding a way to find you. Some way. But I had patience and I could wait for you to come back. On the toughest days, though, you were there. You were there when the blankets on the bed felt especially warm. Or the frozen lasagna I put in the oven tasted especially cheesy. Or when I'd have a bad dream and go to get cookies out of the cupboard. You were there, and it was ok. I could hold on until you made it back to me.

"You were even out there at Skull Rock with me," he smiled. "The night...after Patrick died. I was wet and cold and so god damn traumatized and when I closed my eyes, I swore I could feel you there. I heard you tell me it would all be alright. You're the reason I didn't give up."

You knew that feeling well; more than you could really put to words.

He went on and gave you his account, his perspective and feelings, about what happened last year. Told you about witnessing Chrissy and Patrick's deaths, about running and hiding, about being hunted. He stopped to make a joke about how brave “the kids” were, braver than he was. And then his tone turned fearful and distant when he explained how he decided to be brave for them in return, brave for Dustin.

You of course knew some, but hearing all of it, especially the role he played in it all, was devastating. The what-if's returned; what if you hadn't left, what if you could have been here to save him--save all of them--what if he hadn't died. Of course the last one was void now. Still, as he closed his eyes in pain and you felt it choke you up as his emotions projected outwards again—voluntarily this time, instead of you plucking pieces off of him—you thought:

What if you could have spared him this suffering?

"He took everything," Eddie whispered. "I thought the bats were bad enough. The pain. They were just hungry but the pain. The others were supposed to kill him, to chop his head off or something, and the bats fell and the pain stopped. It was supposed to be over.

"But then he found me."

"Vecna."

"I thought I was a goner," he bared his teeth painfully, somewhere between a grimace and a smile really. "Death took forever, sweetheart. I do not recommend it. Not a bit. I don't even think I died. One minute Henderson was crying over me and the next, Vecna was tearing through my head. I always thought...well, you know when Obi-Wan tells the storm trooper these are not the droids you're looking for? I thought that I could resist that. Turns out, I was just as weak-minded as the rest of them."

He recounted his torture, the mental and the physical, and you felt it again. More acutely this time. His memories projected onto you felt fuzzy and strange, though, as if he hadn't even been there for it all himself. You recognized, through the echoes of agony, that was only so much the human mind could take, and Eddie toed the line of survival through sheer luck. He had gone through Hell, and came out alive in the end; how had he done it?

"It's because I had you," he explained. He leant in closer, voice hushed like he had a secret; he made the edges of your being feel tingly with his proximity. "Just like I told you. You were there; I know it. I held on because of you."

"Please, Eddie," you whispered. Please...what? You didn't know.

Please don't try to lessen the guilt.

Please don't try to make you feel better that you left him to this fate.

"It's true," he continued. "Vecna could take everything away. Made me hate everything, everyone. Made me kill for him. He made me his monster, his beast, his weapon..."

You swallowed painfully. How karmically poetic; a weapon of good and a weapon of evil...in love.

Fate was cruel.

"...But he could never take you away from me."

You saw it then, a flash. Some recollection of his, some coping mechanism that he'd used to survive. You saw through Eddie's eyes, felt his body; there was something quite...off about him. Shoulders broader, arms longer, fingers wet with blood.

Wings? You could feel them jutting from his shoulder blades. But he didn't have wings...

And in front of him, instead of some poor innocent soul...there you were. Strange, once again, seeing a version of you that you didn't recognize. She looked...younger...more lively than the one you saw in Billy's mind. She was smiling, eyes bright.

Speaking of eyes, you could see his reflection in your own eyes; you strained to decipher it, because it simply did not look like Eddie.

Not the Eddie of your memory. Not the Eddie who sat before you now.

You gasped and it was gone, and you were back in the living room with Eddie again. You stared at him, really took stock of him, trying to reconcile the different images of him that floated in your mind to truly accept who he was in front of you.

Broken but seemingly still whole. Alive.

Human...but not.

And that's what made you hesitate.

"Eddie," you licked your lips nervously. "Dustin said...that you couldn't leave." His brow twitched.

"I can't," he answered through gritted teeth, entire demeanor changing in the blink of an eye. He clenched and unclenched his hands, grasping at something that was beyond the fabric of reality. "I'm stuck here."

"Do you know why?"

"No. It's driving me crazy; I just want...to leave. Vecna couldn't leave either. He needed Max."

He noticed the way you stiffened at his words and his eyes went wide with fear. All of the tension that had built up within him was released again and he held his hands out to prove he was harmless.

"I don't...I'm not...I don't think that's what it is for me. The Upside Down doesn't want me to leave; I'm just not strong enough somehow. Not ready. I feel like...if I can figure out what I need, it'll let me go. I just don't know what that is.

"I did enough to save lil Red, though, twice," he ran a finger over his heart in a cross, in promise. "Not gonna just throw that all away and kill her."

"She's afraid that you are."

"Well, you'll just tell her I'm not."

"You've killed other people though," you rebuffed, almost too quickly.

It was at the forefront of your mind. Your dumb boyfriend who fed stray cats and raccoons around the trailer park...ordering an army of dark creatures to kill; it didn't make sense.

"You've killed too," he scoffed, a challenge in his eyes. "Don't act like I haven't watched you out there, angel. I've seen everything; this whole time."

"I thought you were a vicious monster," you argued.

"Who says I'm not?" That threw you for a loop. "I've told you my story, it's your turn now."

"No, we're not done with you," you reached across and jabbed a finger into his chest. "You send the bats...the Brides--nice name by the way--" You sneered sarcastically.

"Thanks," he grinned widely. "Got it all from Sven."

"--into Hawkins every day to feed. To kill."

That made him falter.

"No," he denied. "Not every day."

"Every day."

"Every three days, every week. Not every day."

"Tell me how that's possible," you narrowed your eyes. "When your friends back in Hawkins have gone out every day since I've been back for their clean up brigade, and they've been attacked every time. I've heard about it and I've seen it."

Eddie got quiet; he blinked once and his eyes became unfocused. He stared through you for what felt like ages and at some point you contemplated waving a hand in front of his face to get him to come back to you. You were about to raise your hand to do just that when a thin, opaque membrane slid sideways across his eyes, and then retracted back into the corners of them.

You thought it was a trick of the low light for a moment, then it happened again. A blink, just like a bird did with their third eyelid.

"What the fu--"

"They haven't," he interrupted you, consciousness casually sliding back into his body like he hadn't just vacated it. "They've only been leaving through the gates when I tell them to. It's been three days."

He shifted and shook the sleeve of his jacket further up his arm to reveal his wrist, then carefully unfastened the watch that sat there.

"They need to feed," he explained as he fiddled with the buttons. "I need...I need to feed again too. Otherwise I don't have control. And I need to be able to control them. They take their fill, and whatever they can spare, they bring to me. Since I can't leave. What uh...what day is it?"

"The fifteenth," you answered stiffly.

"Of?"

"...October."

"Hmmm..."

"What?"

"Guess I hadn't...nevermind." He cleared his throat. His hand shot out and grasped your wrist, then he carefully fastened the watch on your arm. "There. They're supposed to go out tonight and then you can see for yourself. Three days. Wayne will be by then too; I'll ask him to bring you your things. I know you left them behind."

"Because you...because your Brides cornered me...they...Fred...Chrissy...ugh..." You wrenched your hand from his grasp and scrubbed them over your face. "I...Eddie...I need to know why...why you---"

"I think I've told you enough," he interjected with an air of finality. "I've been trying to get to you, trying to find you, ever since I saw you back in Hawkins through their eyes. And now you're here with me where you belong, and it's time I got some answers too, sweetheart. It's been long enough. I deserve to know the truth."

So you told him.

Eddie was right, he deserved to know the truth, and you'd been itching to tell him since the moment he kissed you after your very first date.

Now was the chance to get it all off your chest.

You told him everything, and not just the condensed version that you told Mary Victoria. You bared your cursed soul to, probably, the only person on earth that had ever seen you. Really and truly seen you.

Despite all that time apart, he still saw you as though no time had passed at all.

He had no qualms interjecting when you told him about your family history and about the curse. He questioned everything and you had no doubt that if it wasn't for the conditions you were in now--if life had not been as cruel to the two of you as it had been--he would have had his Hellfire notebook open and been furiously writing ideas for his next campaign.

Better yet, he would be the one figuring out the way to break it. He would have every fantasy book from the Hawkins Library checked out and spread across the floor, just to save you.

When you got to the more contemporary parts of your story, when you filled in all the gaps in your life that you left when he first got to know you, he was pensive and empathetically quiet. He still made his little jokes here and there, tried to make you laugh at the parts where all you wanted to do was cry, and he didn't hesitate to bridge the gap and hold your hand when you needed to find the strength to keep going.

And keep going was all you did.

For hours.

You told him about every monster you faced, every demise you escaped, every person who used you as a tool and held your salvation over your head to get you to act on their behalf.

Your story couldn't hold a candle to his when it came to personal agony, but he made you feel like everything you'd endured was just as soul-splitting.

Maybe it was.

But this...getting everything out in the open...it was so freeing.

Gone were the shadowy secrets that lurked in the corners of your mind, gone was all the doubt you felt in yourself.

You cracked your chest open, pried out every rusting nail you had driven into you to keep it shut, and let Eddie see all of you--see your heart--and still he stared at you with awe and resplendent devotion in his eyes.

Just like he always had.

"Not gonna lie sweetheart," he started once you'd reached a lull in the story. "That was all, uh...pretty fucking metal."

"Fuck you," you slapped the back of your hand against his chest.

"All this time you let me go on about demons and the devil and Hellfire," his tone was teasing and a smile threatened the corners of his mouth; he couldn't fight it for long and neither could you. "And really you were out here studying the Lesser Key of Solomon and the Necronomicon for fun?"

"Not for fun. For survival" He grabbed your hand and held it against his chest, used his leverage to tug you closer. He stared at you in awe.

"My girlfriend! A real life paladin!"

"God damn it Eddie!" You giggled.

"Protecting the masses, no wonder you wanted to play as a rogue, you would have been bored as a paladin. Can you smite people?"

"I swear to--yes, I guess so."

"So many secrets! And then you told me all of your little stories and lessons--"

"Eddie I swear.”

"--let me believe you fucked the Mothman?"

"Excuse me," you erupted into a cackle. "You came to that conclusion all on your own."

He stared at you with hooded eyes and a fond gaze, humming his doubt.

You shifted the hand that he held, moved your palm across his chest from over his jacket to the thin, threadbare t-shirt he wore underneath. At first, you felt for his heartbeat, to reassure you one last time that it was really him...that he was really alive.

It was a flutter, but it was there. A soft thum pum, thum pum that transferred from his chilled skin, through the shirt, and into yours. His hand enclosed your wrist and squeezed tightly, and you wondered if he was doing the same. Feeling your pulse, making sure you were really there too.

He huffed a breath as you shifted closer; your fingers brushed against something hard that was just under the collar of the shirt as you had made your little search, and upon closer inspection, you discovered a cross on a silver chain.

Your necklace.

"You kept it?" you asked.

"Mmhmm." You shook his hand off your wrist and you ran your thumb over the tiny metal flowers; your crucifix might have been gone but this was still here. "The day you left...I was so upset I threw it. Threw it in some random corner of the trailer. When I realized that it was one of the last things I had left of you I went to try and find it, only to realize it was gone. I kicked myself, cried to Wayne...I was so fucking stupid.

"Then after everything, after Vecna was gone and I healed Max back up...I found it. Here in the Upside Down of all places. Must have fallen through when the gate opened up...but it made its way back to me. Just like you."

"You're a sap," you whispered.

"Guess what? So are you."

"I am," you laughed. You felt yourself choke up then, happiness turning to sorrow in an instant. Well, maybe it was still happiness…just the sad kind. "Hmmm."

"What is it?"

"Nothing, nothing," you cleared your throat to try and let it go, but it got the better of you and tears began to prickle at the corners of your eyes.

You couldn’t help yourself, you touched him again. You’d denied yourself for too long; you needed to be as close to him as you could for as long as you could. You touched his face. Beneath his bangs, over the crest of his eyes, ran a finger over his lips, even shoved your fingers over his fangs to inspect them, to see how dangerous they were, much to his displeasure.

“Don’t,” he hissed. “I have to feed, I could hurt you.”

”I don’t care.” The words burst from you. “I don’t.”

“Sweetheart,” he said in a warning tone but you ignored him.

“I spent all this time thinking you were dead and now here you are, right in front of me. Something I never thought I would have ever again. So excuse me if I don’t care that you might bite me. Hurt me. Nothing could compare with the hurt I felt when I lost you.”

“I get it.”

“I burnt down a building.”

“That’s—”

“Pretty metal, I know.”

“I was gonna say it sounds a little crazy,” you snorted. “Cmon? You burned down a building for little old me? With a lighter and gasoline?”

“With that smiting power you were so interested in earlier,” you explained.

“Ok well…shit. That’s pretty hot.”

“Fuck. Off.” You laughed wetly.

“You keep telling me to fuck off, I’ll leave you here.”

You could tell he was trying to make another joke but you didn’t have the patience for it.

“I’m trying to kiss you right now, Ed,” you told him matter-of-factly.

He was shocked, mouth opening and closing like a fish out of water, like the thought of actually kissing you, actually being with you, hadn't crossed his mind either. As though he hadn’t just used the brides to bring you to completion through the mental bond they shared. To be close to you, to share in pleasure and proximity, together again.

You were about to back down, about to say it was ok, especially if his hunger--fuck, you were gonna have to keep that in mind now, weren’t you--made him nervous. Instead, he surged forward, lips mashing into yours.

It was clumsy and a little painful at first. Both of you were out of practice, it was obvious, and there were, of course, extra teeth to be mindful of. Still, once you crossed the divide and settled yourself in his lap for easy access, you found your rhythm again.

It was as though you hadn’t been apart for a single minute, let alone three years.

Kissing him was nice, it always had been; tender sweetness, even in the throes of pleasure. You always used to joke that if Eddie could find a way to meld the two of you together with his mouth alone, he would; now was no different, as the plush pillows of his lips caressed and pecked at yours.

It didn't take long for the spark that was ignited between you to grow into an inferno and you couldn't really tell who was the needier of the two of you as breathing got heavier and tongue and teeth began to explore. All you knew was him. A sensory experience, being surrounded by each other again, and it was one that you had to learn all over again because it was different. Gone was the smell and taste of cigarette smoke and cheap laundry detergent and soda or bazooka bubblegum he enjoyed, and in its place something more visceral.

The bite of arctic air and nature and musk and dirt and blood.

Aside from the few times you'd bitten your tongue or split your lip, you'd never experienced the taste of blood before, and certainly not blood other than your own. Tangy, but not unpleasant. You could get used to it blooming along your tastebuds if it meant you never had to leave Eddie again.

He departed your lips then, as though he could sense the thought and didn't want you to endure it any longer than you had to. He left one, two, three pecks to the corner of your mouth before he descended down your cheek and along your jaw. He tsked as he reached your neck.

"What did they do to you huh?" he muttered and pecked and laved over the tender, ravaged flesh. He vacated one side of your throat for the other, inspecting the damage there; it was the side that Barb had bitten too, and you knew that it was surely worse. His tongue slithered out and he growled as it slowly ran along the ridges of each wound; the sound transferred from his body to yours, a rattling chittering vibration that sent chills up your spine.

"I didn't tell them to do this. When I realized..." he began an apology, but you stopped him.

"It's ok," you huffed a weak smile. "I'll heal. I always do."

"Hmmm."

He nudged his nose against yours, a soft rub of its bulbous tip, before diving back into your mouth.

From soft touches against faces and shoulders, hands suddenly moved to grip hips and thread into hair. The scrunchie was quick to go and his curls cascaded over his shoulders; you immediately buried your fingers in their depths, steering you where you wanted him to go, on the off chance he didn't already know.

His hands moved then to settle on your thighs, and gravity shifted as he hoisted you into his arms and stood. You broke away and stared at him in question. Where had this unexpected strength come from; was it more the result of this transformation in the Upside Down? You'd found unbelievable strength as your abilities developed over the years too.

Moreover, where had he found the idea or desire to carry you anyway?

You could spend as much time here on the loveseat as you wanted; it's not like you hadn't fucked on a sofa before.

"Where are we going?" you asked as he took his first steps.

"Bedroom."

"My legs work."

"They won't before long," he grinned and you rolled your eyes. Vampire or undead or whatever amalgam of an upside down creature as he was, Eddie was still your boyfriend who would quote bad porn just to annoy you.

He brought you down the short hallway to a bedroom; it was unremarkable and had a look and feel about it that was similar to his room in the trailer in some ways...but still not at all.

There was a poster on the wall, and Sweetheart sitting on an amp in the corner--had he been the one to play Sympathy for the Devil that you'd heard on the radio; you hadn't been going crazy--a stack of t-shirts and clothes sat on a broken dresser, and a dented old thermos rested on the windowsill.

He laid you down on a mattress that had been placed on the floor and was laden with pillows and blankets. He started to rid you of your shoes and your jeans, taking as extra care as he had been not to rip into them with his claws; as needy as you were, you were also curious, and you took that moment to inspect this bed of his further.

One of the pillows was stained with blood, some of the blankets shredded to ribbons, and, buried amongst a soft comforter...two long bones that were sharpened to points.

Eddie faltered in his movements as you lifted them closer to your face to inspect and he immediately pulled his hands away from you; his arms crossed over his torso and he shrugged.

"Guess I'm a little messy," he explained sheepishly. "There, uh...might be some more in here...somewhere. Be careful."

There were a million thoughts racing through your mind; where did these bones come from, what did they belong to, had he...eaten some creature? Once again, you needed to internalize all of it quickly. This was just going to come with the territory of having Eddie back, wasn't it?

"It's...ok," you swallowed thickly and turned your eyes back to him. "I can just use it to stab you in the heart if worse comes to worse."

He snorted and licked his lips to stop himself from smiling; in the end, you both failed. You were giggling and you let out a honk of laughter that you hated but Eddie adored; he'd told you so many times. You covered your face with your hands to hide from him, but he was quick to kneel down in the cradle of your thighs to pull them away.

"I want to see you," he whispered. "I need to see you."

He kissed your hands, one, then the other, and then pulled you to sit upright; you helped him remove your jacket--he recalled it had been Mickey's...and then noted that Mickey had died by his hand as he thumbed the rips in the shoulders from Chrissy's attempted-abduction of you in the square--then your t-shirt. He was extra cocky as he used those talons to slice through your bra.

"You're an asshole," you muttered as he ducked to capture your lips again.

"Remember," he pressed a kiss and then backed off to grin, "when I kept fumbling with the hooks."

There wasn't much talking after that, as you began your true reunion, your worship of one another.

He knew where to lick, where to kiss, to get the sweetest and most desperate noises out of you. Of course, he also had his favorite little places to put his hands and his mouth.

He was careful of your throat, but that didn't mean he couldn't suck a hickey to your jaw, or your collarbone, or the side of one of your breasts. He sniffed your skin and sighed dreamily every now and again, pressed his face into the softness of your chest and your belly and just rested there for a moment, before continuing his descent.

He didn't leave an inch of you untouched when it came to these new discoveries and devotions.

He paid special attention to each prominent scar he found. Whispered words of apology, of understanding, as he bore witness to all the ways you sacrificed yourself for a God who'd essentially abandoned you. Abandoned both of you.

Every nerve in your body was alight; not because he kept pulling pleasure to the surface, but simply because of the proximity. You luxuriated in having him there, in carding your fingers through his hair, in hearing the timber of his voice and feeling it as it hummed along your skin. Even when he got too carried away and his claws scratched you or punctured your skin, as blood began to pool to the surface, you found some sense of joy. The little zings of pain only added to the pleasure.

For Eddie, though, they simply seemed to test the strength of his willpower to tame the beast within.

He finally reached the crux of you, and instead of touching or kissing as you expected him to, bringing you pleasure that way--something he'd always enjoyed before--he got to his knees and began working the belt off his jeans.

"What are you doing?" you demanded breathlessly, desperately. "You were..."

"I just...I'll..." he fumbled over his words, head still ducked as his hands worked. His voice sounded muffled and he refused to look at you. "We...we'll just finish up here and then I need to go."

"Go!?"

"I want to make you feel good, baby, I just...I can't stay. I'm already hanging on by a thread as it is."

You thought that he just meant that he needed to find his own release, which was understandable, but to need to leave? He flung his belt off to the side, and as he did, you saw. Really saw.

His eyes seemed more sunken in, surrounded by shadowy-bruises, scleras bright red. His fangs, which had just been two lone points in his mouth, seemed to have multiplied; four sharp teeth, now elongated, on his upper jaw, and two on the lower.

You called his name once, then again more forcibly, to get him to stop as he shed his jacket. He froze, and then stared at you, practically ashamed.

"They'll be back soon and I'm hungry," he explained. He let the jacket drop to the ground and then stared hungrily at his hands, at the fresh blood at the points of his nails. "I'm so...hungry."

He had mentioned that, that he'd been hungry, before. Which was why he couldn't be there when you were brought to the Upside Down.

But he said that he'd fed days ago; how long had you been here?

Was it just the drawing of your blood that had him hungry again? Needing to be sustained.

You spoke instinctually.

"Feed on me."

His eyes widened in shock.

"Sweetheart--" he tried to warn you, but you stopped him.

"Chrissy and Patrick already did," you rationalized. "Barb did. You're not going to do anything that they didn’t; just...try to be gentle and don't kill me."

"I'm trying not to kill you."

"I know," you encouraged. "I trust you. Drink my blood. Feed on me."

You held your hand out and nodded to your wrist; your neck was already bitten and healing. You both would probably have a better...uh...experience if he fed from there instead.

Eddie released a long breath and rolled his head backwards, hands coming up to his eyes as though it was the most difficult decision in the world. The only decision that mattered.

But, faster than your eyes could see, he was on you, lips and tongue caressing your wrist, lavishing over your pulse. You closed your eyes for a second...until it felt like his tongue elongated and wrapped around your wrist entirely...and they shot open again.

He was too quick though. Another blur of movement, and your underwear had simply vanished and Eddie was nuzzling the softness of your thigh with his nose, smelling the path your arteries, smelling the musk of your sex. You strained your neck to watch him--settled on his stomach, half off the mattress, with one of your legs thrown over his shoulder--but you couldn't hold it for long as he caressed your slit. As he stroked his fingers through your wetness and found your clit, slowly and torturously, as his nose followed the path upwards.

A delicate caress was all it took for the pleasure to invade your senses, ready as you were from all of the foreplay. Your body was primed for more after being starved for so long and only given a taste of salvation from him and his puppets previously. He rolled his fingers over and over, bringing you higher; he was mindful of his claws with each touch and caress, still you felt the cold huff of his breath chuckling when you bore down on nothingness as he rasped the sharp edges over the softness of you just so.

It had always been a game with you, pushing each other further to see who could hold out longer and who would break first--a delicious give and take--but it seemed he was focused on one thing now: a delicious prize for the both of you.

And needed to get there as quickly as possible.

You whined as your body tingled; your pleasure climbed and he hummed, his ministrations getting quicker. Sensing you were close to the edge, he pushed a finger into your heat, then a second, and your hips bucked. If the rasp of his claws outside had created a mix of pleasure and pain, inside it made you question everything. And as he pistoned his fingers once...twice...and pressed on your clit, you found euphoria.

You found Heaven.

And so did he.

You barely registered him biting into you at first, such pleasure raced through your body, but the sting of the first mouthful of blood being pulled from you brought you back to reality.

You rapidly came down from your high, so pleasantly numb, to the sounds of his lewd slurping and gulping of one mouthful then the next. If you had the capability of higher thought, you might wonder if you'd built some sort of tolerance to being feasted on like this, but your focus was on the remnants of your pleasure...and on him.

Eddie let out a delicious groan with a particularly painful pull, and you winced. He mouth released from your thigh with a satisfying pop, and, like a predator, he turned his gaze to meet yours.

Half hidden by the slopes of your body, you could still see the way his nose and lips were stained red. He bared his teeth at you--in a smile or a warning, you couldn't tell for sure--then set his sights back on your center.

Blood made an interesting addition to your own slickness, as he lowered his mouth onto your pussy; you twitched as he licked your essence away, one hunger sated and replaced by another. Gone were his fingers, as he moved your leg off his shoulder and spread you open to feast once more. You bucked against him as he stoked the fires within you again, tried to fight him so you could grind against his mouth, but he didn't let up.

"E-Eddie," you whined and he moaned, tongue thrumming against your clit and then sliding to your entrance to collect the ambrosia that you blessed him with.

You didn't want to beg, especially when you would gladly take every ounce of attention he bestowed upon you, but you wanted him. Wanted all of him. Wanted to see him.

Wanted to be with him, as one.

And the fucker hadn't even taken his clothes off yet.

"E-eddie, please," you cried, unable to convey exactly what you wanted. "I need you."

He clearly took that to mean more and more is exactly what he gave you, enough that should have made you surrender, made you melt for him.

He rolled his tongue against your sensitive nub, let his fangs rasp over you, before he began to suckle your clit and you had to grab his head and tug to try and get him to stop.

This was everything you wanted. But maybe not everything you wanted right now. The denial would be delicious.

Your nails scraped his scalp and pulled at the long strands of his hair until he finally finally released his focus from your quivering cunt.

Both of you heaved and gasped heavily.

He cuffed a hand against his chin to try and wipe off the mix of your blood and slick and you groaned; he didn't have to look so enticing doing something like that.

"So bossy," he grinned naughtily.

He didn't have to look so enticing saying something like that either.

"I am," you told him. "Because I need you--"

"And I was about to let you come right there, sweetheart."

"I need you...I need to feel you," you told him.

"Hmmm, tempting," he inched his way up your body, pressing bloody kisses to your mound, then your stomach. He stopped and rested his chin there.

There was some spike of unidentified emotion inside of you. Wrath, maybe. Annoyance, definitely.

"Don't tell me," you hissed at him. "That you're not looking for your own release."

"I am," he nodded and kissed up. Further and further. Your ribs, your breasts, laying his head there now. You couldn't help but caress his forehead, push his bangs out of his eyes as he stared up at you like you hung the stars.

You could feel him shift, feel the hardness of him straining against his jeans as he squirmed against you.

"Don't tell me that you don't want to fuck me," you whispered. "Don't tell me that you aren't just itching to come inside of me Eddie."

He kissed once against your clavicle, once on the hickey he left on your jaw and then hovered over your lips...

"Please," he whispered. "Let me fuck you."

You grabbed him and pulled him to you, lips crashing and hungry as you took what you craved from him.

Frantic movement on shaky limbs as you both knelt on the mattress and stripped him of his clothes between the clashing of your mouths in desperation.

It wasn't until you needed to part so you could pull his shirt over his head that you paused.

Tension.

It was sudden and suffocating as you finally saw all of him. Your hungry eyes found his cock first, lengthy and hard and fisted in his hand as he rolled his head back on his shoulders with relief for the first time all night. Which was funny because he was not shy about humping a bed once upon a time; had he learned some kind of virtuous patience in the years you'd been away? It was almost impossible to fathom.

But then, your eyes were drawn to the rest of his body.

Your hand went to your mouth in horror as you finally witnessed all of him. Witnessed what came out of the other side after he'd been chewed up and spit out by Vecna and his minions. By the Upside Down.

It was the bite scars that caught your eyes first. Maybe because you had felt the ephemeral echo of the assault for yourself, maybe because they were wide swaths of mangled flesh. Layers and layers and wrinkles and valleys. A piece of his torso practically gouged out on one side, his pectoral muscle shredded on the other, nipple missing.

When he had been attacked, he had been Eddie; when the attack was over he was just...meat. And this was the evidence of that. Some parts had healed to silver or pink, both others were left angry and red. If you didn't know better, you might think he was still hurt; that they were still bleeding.

He had kissed your scars and apologized; he was truly the one who deserved the apology.

The seams were next. Down his limbs, at each of his joints; like he'd been ripped apart and put back together again. Strange lines that carved into him like a dissection. Vivisection, if the screams that you'd heard through his memories were true. There were two prominent ones along his ribs that looked...particularly vulnerable. Then again, it could have been because he bulged strangely there.

He didn't look like your Eddie anymore. Maybe it was because he wasn't.

Well, he was...all of him was. All of him...belonged to your heart. Or, more accurately, your heart belonged to all of him. Been through Hell, and survived.

You'd always thought--and you'd told him once and he'd laughed in your face--that he looked like one of the statues that you loved at your favorite cemetery back home. Carefully carved through time and patience, flaws intentional, but made to be witnessed and celebrated and have people kneel before them.

Yes he made a cocksucking joke.

Now though...he was like stained glass in the chapel. Overall whole, one beautiful piece of art that was made to let the resplendent light shine through. But so obviously complex, evidenced by the thousands of little pieces that made it up. Each one so important to the greater whole.

Different, but still beautiful.

Eddie finally noticed the state of you and he paused; you could feel the waves of doubt come off him as he looked down at himself in shame.

"I'm sorry, I should have wa--"

"No," you closed the distance between you. "Stop. It's...I just...I..."

"It's horrible," he told you. "And there's so much more that you...that you don't know."

"It isn't horrible," you replied. "We have plenty of time; all the time in the world. I'll find out the rest eventually, Eddie. But no matter what...I love you."

His eyes shifted between yours, that unsettling red tinge still there but made less intense by his feast; you knew he was looking to see if you were lying to him.

You hoped he knew that you could never lie to him. Especially about something like that.

If there was something that didn't change about Eddie, it was his smile. Sure his teeth might have been comprised of fangs, and his cheeks stretched in a slightly tense way...but the way his eyes crinkled, the way--even in the darkness--he seemed to light up from the inside. That would always stay the same.

You pulled him to you and kissed him again, soft and full of intense devotion. His hands found you and he guided you back down to the mattress, sweeping away the extra blankets and pillows and remnants of previous carnage, and he settled onto you.

Into you.

He guided himself to your center and with one last glance to make sure you wanted this--you always would, always--he slid into you, and found himself where he truly belonged.

Home. With you.

One hand held him above you and the other roamed, caressing over the slopes and curves of your body, running over your cheek and over your heart for a moment, until it settled at the crux where your bodies met. Your hands searched him as well, determined to commit all of his scars to memory--if not tonight, then one day--when they finally landed on a set of scars along his shoulder blades. Thick and deep, he closed his eyes and you could feel his body twitch with pleasure as you lavished them with attention, your delicate touch dancing over the raised skin.

His pace quickened and he grit his teeth; his fingers danced over your clit to carry you to the peaks of pleasure, caressing your cunt worshipfully as you caressed him within.

As you accepted him--all of him--over and over.

It was a marathon that tested your stamina and willpower but neither of you would let up or stop; you needed this. You both needed this, together; finally with each other.

You could feel it rising within you, your limbs tingled and you began to see stars. You refused to close your eyes, even as Eddie got desperate and ducked his head into your shoulder, hips stuttering as they chased his release, fingers relentless as they chased yours.

You couldn't blame him when he bit your throat, when his fangs slid through the already-abused flesh as you inevitably came. You couldn't be too sure that you didn't pull him into you yourself. The bite, the sting, and the pull of your blood took your rapture to an intensity you'd never experienced before.

You saw the strings of fate, floating around him in that moment, connecting him to you; sparkling lines that shifted and tangled over his skin and onto yours. It was blinding and brilliant, and it made you finally close your eyes to bask in it all.

There was some old story, that humans used to have 4 arms, 4 legs and two heads. And some God thought them too powerful, so They demanded them split for the rest of eternity; those humans spent the rest of their days searching...searching for their other half until they could be one again.

And as Eddie's hips stuttered into yours, as he lost his stamina and finally spilled his release inside of you, as he finally made you his--fully and completely for the first time in what felt like an eternity--that search was finally complete.

“I love you. Even if the Fates unraveled our destiny, I would find a way back to you.”  - Scarlett St. Clair, A Touch of Ruin

Next Chapter: Revelation

[elzifelzi]

So here are the rules of this omnitrix

Firstly concept wise and appearance wise as you'll see below it's a combination of almost every canon omnimatrix device that ben has worn in the classic continuity.

This is because #1 in my AU there is no separation between AF/UA and OV it's just one series and #2 i wanted to limit the amount of omnitrix devices that ben uses for story and convenience purposes.

Now on to what thiw omnitrix actually is.

It's essentially just the classic omnitrix with some Alterations think of the recalibrated omnitrix from af except the reason for it recalibrating is not because ben hadn't used it for awhile It's because of a device called the matrix core.

This lil thing right here...it may not look like much but it is conceptually the most powerful piece of technology in the universe.

What does it do?

It's a device that upgrades and enhances any device it integrates with almost like a portable galvanic mechamorph for example integrate it into a rocket launcher and it can have the power of a tank..integrate it into a tank and ot could have the potential power of a nuke etc etc.

Azmuth developed this device to boost galvanic planetary defenses in case of emergencies but Myaxx sent it to ben before it was completed.

He also never calibrated it to work well with the omnitrix.

After ben integrates the matrix core into his omnitrix the omnitrix recalibrates changing it's appearance and features.

It is now more gauntlet shaped with the omnitrix dial located on the back of the hand and It has an alien selection wheel like the ov omnitrix (but not the touchscreen dial)

Now since the matrix core was not perfected there are some new features as well as bugs that come with it...the mistransformation glitch is back not as often as in ov but it still happens from time to time,Ben is back to only 10 aliens at the moment some are new and some are the ones he had when he was younger with the others being locked away...he'll unlock them again at some point.Transformations use wayyy more power than the regular omnitrix forms he runs the risk of draining the "battery". And since the core was never perfected staying transformed for too long as well as switching through aliens too frequently puts a huge physical strain on ben himself.

As for Bens aliens since the matrix core upgrades technology and ben put it into the omnitrix then his aliens have also been augmented.

Now as for how the augmented forms themselves work..think of the ultimate aliens crossed with the anti trix aliens from the reboot.So the Matrix core basically takes whatever species Bens selected and evolves them the evolutions themselves aren't all exactly the same and neither are the evolutionary requirements for example alien a might be put through a simulation of the worst possible state of their planet and will be forced to evolve to adapt to that while alien b might be put in a situation where they have to evolve to overcome their predator etc

The forms also have to make some sense from an evolutionary standpoint to Ult Humungousaurs hand missles,Ult big chills Fire ice and Ult Wildmutts speaking don't count. So after the alien is evolved they remain that way as long as the matrix core is part of the omnitrix..no turning it off and on like the ultimates. So like how the anti trix aliens are constantly mutated.