#my problems will not evaporate overnight

[aalt-ctrl-del]

and Im not BEGGING PEOPLE to go out and vote.

Im telling you, if you think being dissatisfied and irritated that all the special happy good things you expected from 1 TERM of a dem hasn't come to pass with a full government presiding congress and senate shit show arguing like toddlers over who gets the last spoonful of ice-cream, has made you even more disinterested in your elected officials

YOU WILL ABSOLUTELY SUFFER UNDER ANOTHER TRUMP PRESIDENCY.

I am not reliant on an unstable healthcare system, I am not suffering financially, I am not struggling through college debt or yadda-yadda.

If you or a loved one or a dear friend or elderly family member is struggling, they will struggle 3 times harder when trump wipes his ass with all your tentative 'suggestions' of basic human rights.

Trumps only care is for himself, his ego, and his capacity to make working Americans suffer. Especially minority working Americans. Especially those in unstable situations - be in food security, health struggles, whatever.

Only rich business owners idolize trump. Only racists support trump. Only deranged idiots with self-esteem issues praise trump.

I don't praise or idolize any person I vote for. I tolerate them. Because the policies passed by the dems favor my hard work, commitment, and integrity. It doesn't mean dems support who I am or what I strive to achieve 100%. BUT AT LEAST AT TE BARE MINIMUM they are not undermining or infringing with my capacity to go out there, get a job, and work my ass off to get where I want to be.

I AM FINALIZING MY COLLEGE DEGREE. My application will be in the mail come this year end. I am going out of the higher education without crushing debt, with a job, while also supporting myself. I am struggling but I am managing, but I aim to do better with my time and my credentials going forward because I will not be taken lightly when I pursue advancements with my career choices.

If you are a student with the college applicable for voting. Do so. Don't let yourself scrap and suffer through the higher education. Don't let your work security or pursuits be undermined by a fat, festering goiter. Don't let someone with a silver spoon in his mouth and up his ass tell you he is thinking of your well being. He isn't, and none of his supporters are either. They want their donors to get fatter and richer, and they want you to pay for that fifth private jet.

[manorpunk]

Teach Me, Maria-sensei! 6️⃣

Usonia is a supranational union of states, roughly akin to the European Union, located within the former contiguous United States (often called the ‘former 48’) as well as parts of Canada. It was formed as a joint effort between the major post-crisis states (New England, the Great Lakes Republic, Texaplex, the Chicago Daimyoate, Tripartite California, etc) in the hopes that a centralized authority would bring order to the vast and ungoverned Midwest Autonomous Zone, and because the respective heads of state all agreed that it should be someone else’s problem. It remains to be seen whether the election of Sunny Roosevelt as the first president of Usonia has thrown a wrench into those plans.

+++++

Maria: So here’s the thing. All of this didn’t have to spell the end for the federal government. Zombie Covid, the Yellowstone eruption, Florida sinking… These were all bad and killed lots of people, of course, but it doesn’t necessarily follow that the government would collapse.

Sunny: Was it a straw that broke the camel’s back type of deal?

Maria: Partly, perhaps, but that’s not where I’m going with this. You see, at the time, the American aristocracy was storing a significant amount of their wealth in the form of real estate, for boring and complicated reasons. The destruction of the Polycrisis quite literally wiped a significant portion of their assets off the map. Property values plummeted across much of the nation, and hundreds of billions of dollars in wealth evaporated essentially overnight. This activated a panic amongst the billionaire class, who, fearing total societal breakdown and/or any repercussions at all for their actions, preëmptively retreated to their specially prepared underground bunkers, each containing their own small town of support staff, effectively immune from government intervention - though they were not immune to angry mobs, as they would learn in the forties.

Sunny: That’s the 2040s, because we’re in the future.

Maria: Have you seen the footage where [REDACTED] gets dragged out of his saferoom and publicly cannibalized?

Sunny: Omg my gosh, who hasn’t seen that? So bonkers.

Maria: It’s so good. But in any case, it was that withdrawal of support and psuedo-independence of the billionaire class, resulting from the destruction of property being used not for housing but as wealth storage, which ultimately broke the back of the federal government, or in other words… America died as a real estate scam.

Sunny: Callback!

Maria: In the immediate aftermath of the federal government’s collapse, the state governments attempted to pick up the slack. Results were mixed, in the sense that everyone failed at it but some people failed harder than others. The larger and more populous states had a better chance, but they were all dealing with their own problems - California was dealing with the Jefferson rebellion, Texas was caught up in the Norteño wars, and New York was being constantly harassed by the murine legions of Grunst the Rat-King.

Sunny: Didn’t Grunst run for lord-mayor of New York back in the fifties?

Maria: Indeed. Honestly he wouldn’t have even been in the bottom third of New York mayors.

Sunny: That’s the 2050s, because-

Maria: You did that joke already.

Sunny: It’s a good joke, Maria.

Maria: Anyway, the less populous states in the Midwest and Great Plains barely even managed an attempt at independent governance before any semblance of central government disappeared and the situation deteriorated into general banditry and warlordism.

Sunny: Okay, I get why all that happened, sorta, but how did it all happen so quickly?

Maria: There are two reasons. One, smaller states were more dependent on the federal government to provide funding for services like healthcare and education, and secondly… I’ll put it this way. If you had to choose who was in charge, and your choices were an ax-wielding Mad Max biker or, say, an average member of the Nebraska state government, which would you pick?

Sunny: …

Sunny: …

Sunny: …ough, that’s grim.

[not-goldy]

Hey Goldy

Love your blog ♥️

About the recent Wlives from JK and how he is been so open and so honest with Army. He wants to talk to us. He wants to tell us things related to him and his life and whenever he does that this fandom becomes so weired. Why is everyone acting like they know JK better then JK himself? He literally said he is avoiding sensitive questions but he still choose to say "JeonJimin" Out loud. Korean or not everyone in this world knows if two names are put together its because people like them together and they ship them. Its not like JK is from some diff world. The whole bird app is full of people saying how bad it was for a fan to write JeonJimin in comments. And now the people of this fandom have become some saints overnight and are teaching people how to write comments and what to say and what not to say.

Where are these teachers and these saints when Tuktukkers make noise? - Oh they are nowhere to be found.

Everyone need to understand that it was JK who choose to say it out loud while he was avoiding sensitive questions or things to say. But he still choose to answer questions about Jimin and say his ship name outloud.

I am sorry Goldy i am all over the place but i wanted to rant so i came to u. I have so mych more to say but then it will look like an essay lol anywas i am waiting for your post about Wlives happened recently and what u think about where this all is going and why was JK so desperate that he begged Jimin for a Live together for literally almost 2 mins straight. He almost risked it all. That boy needs his Jiminshii..

Love you Goldy and Love your blog♥️ You are one of the reasons for me to stay in this fandom. Thank God there is someone who actually understands boys and is not afraid to express her thoughts. Reading ur blog makes me calm and gives my tired brain some good Jikook therapy. Thank You

They just tried to ride on the wave of chaos and vitriol to express thier bigotry, anti Jimin and anti jikook sentiments but none of that works on me I'm afraid. been in this for so long I see right through their bull and it don't phase me. Not at all. Lmho.

And I'm glad he said he ignores comments he finds sensitive because we've seen them do that time and again on their lives through their pained expressions when they come across comments that are so vile and so grotesque.

How many times have we seen the Fandom akekeke over him reading YOONMIN on live or Tae Kook and explaining to Tae that's their ship name as if he was hearing it for the first time?

Look at his face reading that. Sounds like he's in on the joke to me🤷🏾

It's okay if he calls other ship name but it's a problem when he calls his own ship name- what a bunch of losers these ppl are.

Then they want us to believe this man had no idea what the fuck he was reading on that screen as if his intelligence evaporates when ITS TIME FOR HIM TO READ Comments about his own ship. LIKE GET THE FUCK OUTTA HERE

The most annoying part of it all is, sometimes these boys read ship names from comments deliberately for whatever reason. Sope do this, Jikook do this.

Some times they are happy to see fans show love to other members by asking of them in the comments especially when we all know those members are going through tough times. It's a two edged sword situation. Some times fans over do it sometimes it really show live and support and other times it's a cute way of bonding with them and having our own inside jokes and secrets etc- we just have to learn to READ THE ROOM AND NOT OVER DO IT YA KNOW.

I recall Jimin reading comments about Jungkook (this might have been at a time when Jungkook was being heavily censored as I theorized years ago) Jimin saying fans kept asking of Kook during his live pushed Hybe to produce Jungkook the next day on live which if I remember correctly was even on YouTube not weverse😆

The power play is real- not that they need it now because SOLO. But still. The fans, the platform form, the attention all of that gives them leverage and if you are going to tell him what do with his own platform then he might as well delete it like he deleted Instagram.

PEOPLE NEED TO STOP TELLING THESE MEN WHAT TO DO WITH THEIR LIVES AND HOW TO LIVE THEIR LIVES.

Respecting them is respecting their complexities as human beings as well and not always viewing them in two dimensional black and white way. They can enjoy the ships and the delulu and the inside jokes and mentioning other members during their lives and still be frustrated with it sometimes, overwhelmed, disrespected or annoyed with it because THEY ARE COMPLEX BEINGS.

Some times they are in a bad mood and are easily triggered, other times they just couldn't care less.

COMPLEX BEINGS.

Pretty you're alright. I'll read your essays anytime. And love you same

Now lemme push my Jimin agenda, you won't happen to be a Jm Stan would you cos I want you to listen to his letters live version at 0.41 and 0.55 whatever he's doing there has me in a trance😭😭😭😭😭😭

When I die sing it on my boat ride to purgatory 🤧

[grim-faux]

I cannot convey all the joy I have from talking writing and doing stories with my fellow writers. Especially our work in the LN-Verse where the Thin Dads seek therapy and help for their ongoing issues. No Thin Dad is without their own unique set of problems.

They're constantly opposing a persisting cycle which sees them trapped in a Tower and utilized like some sort of battery by an eldritch entity. Problems do not evaporate overnight.

[mrvelocipede]

It does at least sound like Tumblr isn't going to just evaporate out from under us overnight.

In other news, I made the mistake of reading some entries from my old Dreamwidth, and was depressed to learn that twelve years ago I had precisely the same problems as I have now, and have solved none of them in the time since then.

[beyondthetemples-ooc]

Asking for advice here.

tl;dr Should I attend a family gathering I'm only halfway enthusiastic about if it's going to snow a shit ton and I can't trust that they'll bring me home early and will instead try to make me stay overnight, thus potentially lose my job?

Alternately: Am I the asshole if I refuse to go?

And for clarification, these are genuine questions I'm seeking answers to, not rhetorical.

Full detail:

Long story short, stepmonster and dad are doing that family's thanksgiving meal tomorrow (Dec 1st 2024 for those who don't have timestamps on).

They want to see me more than I want to see them, but I do very much want to see my siblings that are coming.

But here's the thing. There's a lake effect snow warning in effect from tomorrow at noon until TUESDAY. (For those not in the Great Lakes region: Lake effect snow is NASTY. All the water takes longer to cool down than the air, so the water's warmer, it evaporates into huge snow clouds, and then snows like hell in whiteout conditions for hours at a time. It's extremely dangerous to drive in.)

I have to work Monday and Tuesday. I work even farther away from their house than my home is, so it would be approximately FOUR HOURS on the bus to get to work. (Also, my workplace is where the worst of the snow will be, but I won't know if they close the office until Monday morning. They don't often close the office for weather.)

So, back to the family. They're providing transportation to the meal/gathering because I don't have my license yet and it's too far away to be reasonable to take the bus (it's a three-hour trip each way on the bus).

So here's the biggest thing: if they don't take me home, I have to stay there until they're willing to drive me home. I might have to call off work if they decide they don't want to drive me home Monday morning, either. I might genuinely lose my job if I take unannounced, unpaid leave from work. The way my contract holder's policy goes, unpaid leave is Severely Punished because it affects how much money they get from the government (whereas PAID leave lets it stay the same; unpaid leave specifically is a Problem). I don't have any more PTO to take because I have a lot of health issues and doctor appointments I need to use it for instead of personal leave.

So I CANNOT get stuck there because "there's too much snow". If they decide not to take me home, I could genuinely lose my job.

And I've asked them if they're willing to either take me home early if it starts snowing heavily, or drive through the heavy snow regardless. (No responses yet...)

The thing is, they might SAY they'll drive me home early, but then decide ~they don't feel like it~. Stepmonster especially is about 3% reliable any given time she plans to do something. She constantly decides "I don't feel like it" and will cancel plans, cancel the re-scheduled plans, and cancel that again.

My youngest sibling is supposedly the one driving, but they've only had their license for a year or less. But they've had anxiety their whole life. I can't imagine THEY'D be willing to drive in heavy snow.

So would it be a dick move if I say I can't come over with the lake effect snow happening, or is this justified?

[tilecleaningtoday]

Birmingham Expert Details the Restoration of Neglected Quarry Tiled Floors in Bournville

A customer had recently moved into a property in Bournville and discovered an original Quarry tiled floor in the living room, hallway and a couple of quirky tiled areas upstairs. After searching on the internet for some inspiration, they came across my previous work and got in touch. Period floors like these are very popular and so they were keen to have the Quarry tiles restored.

I went over the property to survey the floor and made notes of all the floors and problems including the removal of self-levelling screed in the living room. This is often used to level tiled floors prior to the installation of another covering such as Vinyl or Carpet. It can be difficult to remove but it can be done. Another issue that would need to be dealt with was carpet glue and paint stains which I found in the hallway.

I worked out a detailed plan for the restoration work and was able to use this to create a quote for the work. Keen to have the floors restored my quote was accepted and a date set for the work to start.

Cleaning a Quarry Tiled Living Room Floor

The first day was spent removing an area of levelling screed from the living room along with a couple of repairs to the tiles. This literally has to be scrapped off the tiles by hand to remove the bulk of the screed. The whole floor was then cleaned with a strong dilution of Tile Doctor Remove & Go scrubbed in with a 120-grit carbide pad fitted to a weighted buffer machine. The resultant slurry was then extracted with a wet and dry vacuum.

The next step was to give the floor an acid rinse using Tile Doctor Grout Clean-up which is ideal for breaking down cement residues. It was let to soak into the floor for ten minutes before being scrubbed. For this the coarse 120-grit pad was switched for a finer 240-grit carbide pad. The floor was rinsed with water and extracted again to remove the slurry.

After inspecting the floor, I was pleased to see that marks imprinted onto the tiles by the previous floor covering had been removed and the tiles were looking so much cleaner. Happy with my work the tiles were left to dry off overnight with the aid of a couple of air movers.

The next day I tackled the Quarry tiled hallway which was stained with carpet glue. The started with a steamer to loosen up year’s old adhesive and bitumen along with a scraper to remove dried paint. The hallway tiles along with a couple of tiled hearths upstairs were then cleaned using the same process as the living room.

After an hour or so of drying the tiles, I applied a coat of Tile Doctor Stone Oil to all the floors and left them to dry for twenty minutes before towelling off the excess. The tiles were then left to dry off completely overnight. Stone oil is the first step in the sealing process and adds colour, texture, and generally improves the condition of the Quarry tiles after years of neglect.

Sealing a Quarry Tiled Living Room Floor

On the last day I applied a coat of Tile Doctor X-Tra Seal to all the tiles to seal them. This sealer is an impregnator that soaks into the Quarry tile, occupying its pores and thereby preventing dirt from residing there. The tiles were

This sealer will ensure that dirt remains on the surface where is can be easily cleaned away. Another benefit of the sealer is it further improves the colour of the tiles and being fully breathable it will allow moisture still in the floor to rise through and evaporate at the surface.

Once complete all the tiled floors looked so much cleaner and colourful, additionally the new sealer gave all the Quarry tiles a consistent appearance throughout the property.

My customer was very happy with the results and before leaving I took time to discuss aftercare cleaning and left them with a complimentary bottle of Tile Doctor pH neutral Tile Cleaner. This is a mild but effective tile cleaning product that won’t impact the sealer which can be the issue with the stronger products you find in supermarkets.

Source: Quarry Tile Floor Cleaning and Restoration Services in Bournville Birmingham

[senriii]

I don't know if it's the heat, or that I forgot to take the antidepressants the last couple of days, but I wish there was a middle ground between simplying things for practical day to day purposes making you unable to approach frankly whatever problems you need to face, and having so many thoughts and emotions all at once you can't hardly begin to order them. I hope I can rescue something from this tomorrow. I know these matters aren't build overnight, that you take notes and see it form before you can take some but I don't want them to evaporate before I can even begin to act. It's either too much or too little these days for me. I've being wanting to do something about my situation for some time now but it seems like I'm stuck, like I forgot how to make progress or need a guide to follow I can't seem to find. Anyway, good night 😴.

*picture stolen from newgodpho

[analiavs]

Harperverse: Moonlight Ride

Eden X Bailey

words: 2808

Warnings: noncon, drugging

Bailey tries to avoid his self-described mate.

Will post just the smut in a later post.

Link for people who prefer it on Ao3:

He’d been desperate and thought Eden would save him, but it had completely backfired. Or maybe he’d been saved too well. He tried to loosen the collar around his neck, listening carefully for changes in Eden’s breathing while he whittled away.

So far Eden had been the perfect gentlemen, but he couldn’t tell how long it would especially with a fuck moon tonight. And as a fox type he was sexually compatible with Eden’s rut. He absolutely couldn’t be here when it hit. Honestly this was just the mayonnaise for the knuckle sandwich life had been beating him with.

 So many people were on his shit list. He didn’t think he asked for much. He just wanted to do his job and Harper had ruined everything. The most insulting part was that it hadn’t even been a  power play on his part. The sick fuck genuinely thought he was curing people.

If his henchman hadn’t abandoned him after the first orgy he probably could have maintained the status quo. But when money’s value evaporated overnight he hadn’t had anything to keep them satisfied. Well anything he wanted to give up.

With his protection gone, his debtors felt more inclined to fight back. And even some of the townspeople tried to get some action. Brandishing his gun was usually enough, but he’d run out of bullets not too long after the fall. He couldn’t imagine what would happen if that got out.

As a result he’d been relegated to hiding in his apartment and sneaking around for scraps. He tacitly refused to participate in Briar’s new fluid based economy and had nothing he was willing to barter. He’d come to somewhat rely on Eden for meals, so he hadn’t thought it’d be a problem when he asked him to help deal with experiment 1.5. That ungrateful bastard looked like a savage minotaur, even if his bodyguards hadn’t abandoned him they probably would have been beaten by him. Eden was strong and armed, so he had a chance. 

He hadn’t expected to get kidnaped. If he’d been less picky finding Eden a spouse maybe this could have been avoided. At least Eden fed him dinner before going to bed. He heard his captor’s breathing start to change, so he quickly flopped down like he was sleeping. 

He kept his eyes closed and listened while Eden got up and stretched. He pretended to be asleep while Eden made himself breakfast. He heard his useless stomach growl, but kept feigning sleep. Eventually Eden came up and shook him. 

“Wake up, I made breakfast. Just eggs, but I’m going hunting today. We’ll eat meat tonight and bask in the moonlight.” Eden smiled at him. He reached for the plate.

“...thank you for the food, but Eden you can’t keep me here. C’mon you’ve literally chained me to-” Eden slammed his fists down onto the table making him flinch back. 

“So you’re just like the others huh? Think you're too good for me. I provide and protect, all I ask for is comfort and company! Well tonight I’ll be sure to show you you belong on my knot.” The anger radiating from him left him cowering. How many people had Eden kept like this? Suddenly his appetite had disappeared too. 

“I have your scent so if you escape I’ll just hunt you down.” Eden smiled all teeth, 

“In fact if you leave you’ll be my prey tonight. But it’ll be easier on you if you just stay in here.” Eden yanked him over, taking the collar off him. Instantly he bolted out the door. Eden laughed behind him, 

“I’ll see you tonight!” Fuck he kept running, ignoring Eden. At least he hadn’t tried to stop him. But he needed to get far away from Eden and the woods. He ran for hours back to the edge of the woods. The branches seemed to come alive tearing at his clothes. His shirt got ripped into shreds,but at least his pants were still intact. He panted, catching his breath. He glanced around making sure no one else was around before scurrying down the road.

He felt more fearful than usual. Maybe Eden or the transformation was getting to him. It didn’t matter he snuck back to the flats without any interruptions. People were likely getting ready for the fuck moon. He’d have to worry about prowlers and Eden tonight. 

He made it back to his apartment and saw that his door had been battered open. Shards of wood scattered onto the ground, he looked in and saw that what was left of his furniture was strewn everywhere. He felt numb staring at into his wrecked apartment. He could smell cum and paint too. 

He’d only been gone for a night, he couldn’t believe his eyes. He went to his wardrobe and saw that the drawers were thrown everywhere and whoever had broken in had obviously helped themselves to his clothes too. 

He jumped when he realized that his gun might have been stolen too. He went to his safe and saw that it had been bashed open too. He fell down to his knees. He could cry, his den had been destroyed now where was he supposed to hide from Eden. The upheaval had taken everything from him. He heard someone laughing behind him. He turned back to see experiment 2.5 looking down on him with her little entourage standing behind her. She forced a hug on him. He tried not to shiver and told her to fuck off. 

“Aw, daddy don’t cry I got something for you.” She sing-songed, he tried to move away when a hand rubbed one of his ears. He squeaked before telling her to fuck off again. He tried to move away from her when a hand grabbed his neck, and made him go limp. He had no idea why a hand on his neck immobilized him, he kept his face blank but inwardly he was panicking. 

“Don’t tell me what to do, let me have my fun or you won’t get your present.” She hissed into his ear. No, not again. What the fuck was wrong with his wards? He definitely hadn’t raised them to be like this.  

“I don’t want your fucking gift! Get out of my apartment and leave me alone! Stop touching me…” His voice shifted to a whine when she found a particularly sensitive spot on his ear. He went silent unwilling to give her the response that she wanted.

“Always so sensitive, don’t worry I’m not gonna collar you I’m not into gilfs. So just give in to the pleasure.” She kept petting him and eventually against his will his body began to relax. He could feel the tension leaving his body as she kept petting him.

“That’s it, a little birdy told me the woodsman got you. I figured it wouldn’t be long till people came to loot your room, so I was nice and saved your gun for you. To be fair no one else has escaped that psycho on the same day.” She cooed. He couldn’t stop the small sigh when she scratched his ears gently. Not long after something dropped on his lap pulling him out of the trance. It was his gun, he couldn’t stifle his reaction in time and grabbed it quickly sliding it into his waistband. 

“Thanks…” He might as well show his gratitude. She patted his head a couple times before going to stand next to her little friends. When had his neck been released. He ignored the heat on his face and stared at them in confusion. She giggled,

“Alright, I’m just gonna say it. We were planning on fucking on your bed so you gotta skedaddle.” She didn’t even look ashamed to say it.

“What! You insolent litte! I should punish you for this-” He tried to think of anything he could say or do to regain his power over her.

“C’mon what are you gonna do, spank me? Shoot me? With no bullets?” She laughed. 

“Run along now little foxy before I set my dogs on you.” She shooed him away. Her dogs stood behind her trying to look intimidating. They looked stupid, but he honestly didn’t have the energy to fight. He tried to ignore the humiliation of being forced out of his already ransacked apartment. Well at least he still had his gun. He would find a way to get his get back. He heard exaggerated moans starting up as he left the hallway. 

Maybe it was for the best his apartment might be the first place Eden looked. As he walked through town trying to find a good hiding spot he felt the energy start to shift. It was only about midday and the town was already starting to thrum with lust. He merely flashed his gun at anyone who tried to get handsy and they backed off. At least all the walking helped clear his head.

He’d heard the temple was taking in people resisting lust under experiment 2.0’s leadership, maybe he could manage to sneak in. Then, he’d be safe from Eden at least for the night. He made it there by midafternoon. He entered the temple, unsure what to expect. Inside there were many people praying, and angel types working around them. At least no one noticed him slip in. 

He was on edge half expecting someone to start a scene but it was peaceful. By now his exhaustion was starting to peak, so he found a hidden corner to curl up and take a nap. He woke up to 2.0 looking down on him with contempt. 

“This is a refuge for the lost, the desperate, and the fearful, what right have you to sully sacred ground?” Her angelic pose was juxtaposed by her expression. She was being careful to hide her face from her followers. Damn it, another psycho. 

“I just need a place to spend the night, I’ll leave in the morning.” He kept his face neutral. He wasn’t going to beg for her salvation or feed into her delusions of grandeur. 

“I’m sure the brothel would be happy to provide accommodations for the night. Someone like you is undeserving of the temple's light.”

“...C’mon what will your followers think if you turn me away?  I’m not one of those sex-crazed bastards, I am your caretaker. I gave you food and a roof over your head and this is how you repay me?”

“Yeah, take that tone. The Farm wants more cattle and the brothel wants more foot soldiers. They’ll give you food and shelter. Or better yet, let the woodsman catch you.” She smiled at him. 

“You’ll find no refuge here, leave now or be escorted out.” With her acting like they were having a regular conversation causing a scene would only net him more trouble.

He grit his teeth and left with as much of his pride as he could salvage. She didn’t even follow him out. When he stepped outside he gasped, it was evening. The sun was going down and soon the moon would be up. She must have known and waited to kick him out.

He was cornered, he controlled his breathing.  He hadn’t slept that peacefully since the fall, 2.5 must have let him sleep until evening. Now the town would be full of lust drunk people searching for prey.

His only hope was to make it to the lake and wash his scent off. He ran into the woods, the sun following him. He could smell the water when he heard a deep howl emanating from the woods.

Instinctively he froze, it was Eden. Without thinking he bolted off in the opposite direction of Eden’s howl. From his rudimentary understanding of courtship under the curse, the hunt was on. 

He ran in a zigzag pattern, threw himself desperately into rivers all in the hopes of getting Eden off his trail. Even as his lungs became too worn out to draw air in he ran. He was soaked and freezing but he kept running, he’d never been so desperate in his life. He cursed his wards with every fiber of his being. 

He wasn’t sure how long he’d been running when he heard branches shattering behind him. He forced all his energy into a last-ditch sprint, but Eden was faster. He heard him gaining on him and with a snarl he was tackled to the ground.

“I’ve caught you at exactly midnight that makes you my mate.” Eden growled, humping his back. He used one big hand to hold his arms behind his back. He kicked and struggled trying to break free, but Eden’s strength was overwhelming. 

“C’mon Eden please don’t!” He tried to reason with him. He’d been able to avoid being in such a position for decades and now he was trapped. He kept struggling, but Eden just held him down. 

Try as he might to resist his instincts and the moon, he felt his body beginning to yield to Eden. His struggling turned into humping and his pleas started to sound more like moans.  

“You’ve finally accepted you’re my mate…” Growled Eden nipping his neck. When he tried to keep pleading his case, his words started changing ever so slightly.  

“Knot me… knot me please.” He felt Eden taking off what was left of his pants. He breathed in. Eden’s musk was all-encompassing. Even if he tried to fight it, something inside him called him to Eden.They grinded against each other. He usually would never succumb to lust, but the moon and the pheromones were all too much. He felt Eden’s dick pressing against his hole, rubbing insistently. 

“Mine, now and forever.” Eden said, he licked his neck and thrust his dick in. He squealed from the pain. Once he was inside him, he felt Eden pull him by the hair down onto his dick. The pink light off the moon reflected down onto them.The lust inducing effect left him shaking. 

He felt Eden’s hips on his ass. His dick was so thick, he trembled. When the thrusting started he bit his lip to keep from making any noise. He tried to focus his eyes on a tree in front of him, but as Eden started finding his rhythm he started increasing the pace of his thrusts. He was practically a fleshlight as Eden jackhammered into him. Eden’s grunts were a bit of a turn on. 

He couldn’t focus. The pleasure was too much. Despite his resistance, a few moans escaped him. His vision lost focus. He gripped the dirt trying to stabilize his body and started thrusting his hips back to meet Harper’s thrusts. He would go along with it just until he could get rid of the heat in his body. Fuck them and leave them, that was no issue. He just needed to put Eden to sleep. 

It probably wouldn’t be hard. For someone with such a huge dick, Eden really had no idea how to use it. Seriously, just thrusting wildly wasn’t pleasurable. His only saving grace was that his dick was big enough to hit his prostate. He thrust back with intent, and timed squeezes with Eden’s thrusts. Instead of grunting, Eden was starting to moan now. Perfect now it was time for his secret move, 

“Mate, let me make you feel good.” He ground onto Eden’s dick like he was in a frenzy, forcing him onto his back. He turned to face Eden while he rode him. Just to keep an eye on him. He bounced up and down, watching Eden’s face contort with pleasure. Eden thought he would be the one controlled by the flesh, preposterous. He wrote his name on Eden’s dick just to see what would happen. Predictably, Eden spasmed practically screaming in pleasure. 

“Bailey ah! So good.” He didn’t say anything, just smirked and kept bouncing. From the way Eden was drooling it wouldn’t be long until he came. He tried not to laugh and ground down onto Eden’s dick. Then started bouncing again. He could feel the moonlight reflecting off his back, emboldening him. He was just starting to feel it when Eden howled and grabbed his hips. He pistoned in and out intensely before forcing him down onto his knot.

He kicked Eden reflexively from the pain but once his dick was locked in he was stuck. At least Eden fell asleep. He sighed, waiting for Eden’s knot to finally give out. It was a long hour, but he finally got loose. Eden was snoring. He ignored the cum dripping down his legs. He looked down with disdain, Eden was a stupid selfish lover. He jacked off onto Eden’s face. Once he’d covered Eden’s face with cum, he found his gun on the ground and ran off.

[malstermonkey]

Eye drops

Daughter -- yup the one making her career as a professional cyclist/triathlete-- insisted on a 04:30am alarm: while she went off and pounded the Mascot street I totally smashed the gym (......ok not), but I do feel smashingly good right now (let’s see what the outlook is when the endorphin kick fades).....

5hrs sleep feels about par for the course and, anyway, half-slumbers now allow for less fraught thoughts about my ExcFriend (though I’m now doing some worrying on her behalf!).

So that last sentence was written a couple of hours ago............probably a good thing too that I got interrupted, the opening 2 paras of this blog would only spur, were I the reader, to stop.

My eyes feel like the want to drop out of their sockets, it’s as if overnight a heavy metal has developed within them? My capacity for logic is extremely pedestrian and my ability to concentrate has evaporated altogether. What was I doing right now?

Ah yes, random thought on how I’d rather be breakfast buffetting in KL right now as the paltry offering at this hotel doesn’t even  deserve to be named a “breakfast spread”! the other problem is that, having been up since well before the crack of dawn it feels like lunchtime now.............

Coffee will, for today at least be my absolute best friend (sorry you!).

More later, but only if I can muster a vague sense of wit and whip up something interesting?

Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaargh.

[grumpyaxolotl]

feeling weird as all hell. ive been struggling financially for the last year or so and my mom just like. decided to help me out, almost out of nowhere. and i feel like i should be happy but i just feel so lost and adrift. i dont know why i feel like this. almost all my problems evaporated overnight. and i still feel so lonely and my life feels really absent of love. and i dont know why. i feel like all the time i was fighting to survive i was fighting for nothing. what was i even doing??? did it even mean anything at all??? why can't i be happy that it's over now instead of feeling like i just lost a year of my life for no reason other than my parents' selfishness? why do i feel so lonely even though i have great friends? why do i feel so disconnected from everything? how do i even stop feeling like this. i feel like i just won a battle only to find out everything i fought for is gone. what am i even doing. i should be celebrating, but i feel like crying and crying and crying for days on end. nothing feels right

[thaylepo]

The promised updates follow:

This photo was taken yesterday morning, day seven of the seed being in water and day five after sprouting. By that evening, Audrey II had reached the top of this small jar.

This is a problem because apparently, once she starts leafing above the water, she won't accept being planted in water any deeper, and from what I've read a lotus of her expected size needs at least a depth of 12 inches. That much depth will also help in keeping the water from drying up too fast, since it's dry as satan's nutsack here and standing water evaporates very quickly.

So Audrey II was moved to a taller container yesterday evening, which is nice cuz with so much more water I won't have to change it every single day to prevent bacteria growth while she's in this delicate stage. This former pretzel bin from costco is about nine or so inches tall, and Audrey II's main sprout was just over three inches. Great! I've bought mysef a few days, right?

Right?

Audrey. Audrey please.

Note that in the previous pic, her sprout was barely as tall as the second 'K' in 'Kirkland'. This morning, she'd matched the top of the 'L'. That's an inch of growth overnight, and another expected inch by this evening if she continues this way. Blocking her jar from direct sunlight only seemed to speed her up.

So this evening I'll be heading out to get an 18-inch bucket and some sandy-clay aquatic plant soil. It's clear she's on a roll and my feeble attempts to keep up with it in stages is too short-sighted.

I knew I shouldn't have give her that drop of my blood.

hubris

I've been super into repotting all my propogating houseplants and growing seeds from grocery store fruit for shits and giggles this summer.

Pictured are my many lil jade plant babies, my red currant tree that has survived and regrown from someone (not me) putting it into a storage unit for winter while it was still green and leafing (pro tip: make sure ppl caring for your potted trees while you are off in a different town for college know not to heckin do that), and my lil baby dragonfruit cacti in their Humidity Bins because it is dry as a popcorn fart where I live.

(Another pro tip: don't forget to open the bins, as pictured properly here, when placing them outside in the morning sun for some good good UV -- this avoids literally steam-cooking your poor innocent baby cacti. That one's on me. I won't show you a pic of the resulting carnage, but suffice to say about half survived. Luckily dragonfruit seeds are super easy to germinate like this and can be bought in the literal thousands for the low low price of 7.99 per a single fruit at safeway.)

But by far the most consequential of this summer's fucking around and finding out is this:

Context: So the downstairs bathroom where I live has a dried flower arrangement in it (i live with a lady in her 60s, it is her house). Said flower arrangement includes these:

(apologies to anyone with trypophobia.)

These are lotus seed pods, for those who do nor know. Large ones. These ones are only a bit smaller than the palm of my hand, and they come from this flower:

(Unsourced pinterest photo with live human being for scale. Note the corresponding palm-sized seed pods.)

Five days ago I found one of the seeds from these pods on the bathroom floor, idly looked up some how-to instructions, and I think you have all you need to put the rest of this story together.

After only two days in water, I was forced to confront what I, primarily a succulant and cactus grower, might have gotten myself into.

Some people are born great, some acheive greatness, and others fuck around with seeds from a tropical water plant that have been known to still germinate after 200 years without thinking of what exactly they'll do if it actually grows, and find themselves unprepared for the responsibility of what will become the water-garden version of Jack's fucking beanstalk.

I'm naming it Audrey II. Updates will follow.

[avidfics]

Bratty Behavior to Get Riri's Attention

Pairing: Riri Williams x Reader

Summary: Reader has been attracted to Riri for awhile and wants to get her attention.

Contains: fluff, bratty reader, smut

A/N: I just wanted to write a reader thirsty for Riri.

For the tenth time since you sat down for class, you eagerly checked the time on your phone. Two minutes till 4 o clock. Your leg shook in anticipation. As you recheck the time, out of the corner of your eye, you see her, walking in right on time, Riri Williams.

You're not sure when your infatuation with her started but you can guess the reason why. She glided into the room, smiling at some of her friends, and dabbing up others. She was hot, smart, and made your head turn to mush whenever she looked your way, which wasn’t as often as you craved. Even though you shared an apartment together.

Hyping yourself up as she walks up the steps of the auditorium you prepare to say something nice and polite as she sits in the row below yours. Her eyes, pinned to her phone, flicks up to you and you say the first thing that comes to your mind, “Surprise you showed your face after you bombed the midterm.” Yeah, you were a slight dickhead who wasn’t good with pleasantries. You smile sweetly up at her, “Thin walls and all.”

Riri stops at the seat in front of you. One side of her lip raised with a smirk. “Go ahead and gloat love, this feeling must be rare for you so I’ll allow it.” Her bookbag lands with a thud on the floor, startling you. “But I didn’t know you cared about me so much as to spy on me.” Your whole face heats at the accusation because it’s spot on. Somehow your gusto evaporates as you try to keep eye contact but her gaze is too demanding.

“Y-Yeah right.” You cough into your hand just because you can’t hold her eyes. “Maybe if you had fewer guests over throughout the night I wouldn’t have surpassed you.” You nervously play with your pen. But your eyes widen as her warm hand lands on yours. A thrill rakes through your body at the contact. “Do you not like me having overnight guests?” Her fingers graze your knuckles, dragging down your fingers.

Your eyes dash from the professor back to Riri, frantic for this to end before you passed out. “I don’t care who you have over I just rather not hear it… you know…late at night,” you drag off, feeling more exposed the more you talk. SO freaking embarrassing.

Sneaking a peak at Riri, her eyes sparkle down at you, clearly amused. She takes the pen you’ve been fidgeting with and twirls it through her fingers. “No worries, love, I’ll limit my loud sleepovers. But if you’re sooo concern for my grades, maybe we can have a sleepover of our own. You know. To study.” Turning away with a self-satisified smile, she sits, already absorbed in her phone, scheduling tutoring sessions. Leaving you feeling naked, unraveled, and without a freaking pen.

++++++++++++++++

Not until you were back at your apartment did you realize Riri totally played you like a fiddle. Whenever you had the upper hand, Riri waltzed in and totally made you eat out of her hand. But tonight would be different. You got the impression from the earlier conversation that Riri wouldn't bring a girl back tonight. So maybe you would finally have her undivided attention.

In your shared kitchen, you think about cooking for you both when the front door opens. Your whole body straightens, but your smile crumples when she comes in, wrapped around an unfamiliar girl.

The girl grins at you. “What’s up, you must be the roommate.” Your bitch tendencies rear its ugly head as you slam the fridge door closed, grab your trusty bottle of wine and go into your room.

Riri’s hand catches you before you open your door. “Yo, what’s your problem?” Irritation crinkled her face, demanding an answer but you didn’t have one. Rolling your eyes, you push her away and slam your door close.

You was angry and mad at yourself for being angry. So you started to drink and do your homework (not a productive combination) and forget about how good Shuri looked in her sleevless halter top and jeans. You wanted her so bad it hurt.

The lewd noises came just 30 minutes later. Fuck you could hear Riri's voice and it made your body hot and achy. Through the thin wall, you heard the nameless girl moan out Riri’s name and Riri's murmured commands. “What was that ma? Tell me what you want. Speak up.” God her voice alone could get you off.

But this night would be different. Taking another swing from your wine glass, you decided to have some fun. Going to your Bluetooth speaker you turned the volume all the way and Friday by Rebecca Black blared through the room. Grinning, you start singing along, bottle in hand, bouncing on your bed to the lyrics. “GOTTA LOOK FORWARD TO THE WEEKEND!”

Hard, flat bounding against the wall has you crackling. You could just imagine Riri ticked off, banging on the wall.

Satisifed, you strip your clothes off and hop in the shower, leaving the song on loop and the satified banging of fist against the wall a melody to your ears.

You thought the water would cool you off, but it did the opposite. Riri’s voice echoed in your head as the water caressed down your body. Arousal making your nipples pebble and your pussy slick.

Shit.

Wrapping a towel over your body, you change the song and take another drink. The Litte Einsteins theme song rackets in the air and you start dancing. “GOING THROUGH THE SKY, LITTLE EINSTEINS!”.

A loud argument stops your dancing, and a heavy door shakes the entire apartment. Your heart pounds when a deceptively soft knock comes from your door. With an ill attempt, you try to hide your grin as you open the door. Riri's jeans and top were off and was now only wearing navy boy shorts that cupped her ass so deliciously your mouth watered. It didn’t help that she had on a matching sports spa with absolutely zero padding.

Her body distracted you so much that you forgot you stood in just a bath towel. She chuckles but there’s zero humor behind her eyes as she walks into your room, clicking your speaker off. “How fucking childish are you?”

You shrug, enjoying the way her eyes follow the slight shift off the towel around your breast.

“Really love? You weren’t speechless a fucking minute ago when you were singing Caillou.”

“It was the Little Einsteins.”

Her eyes flash in warning. Shaking her head in disbelief she stalks around you, examining every inch of your exposed skin. “Your completely insane love. You know there's this thing called communication. It’s what sane people do when they want something.” Her words hit the back of your neck. Your eyes widened when a soft kiss is pressed to the ticklish part of your neck, weakening your knees. “This brattish meltdown ain’t gonna work for me. I really shouldn’t reward you ma.”

You don’t mention that your so-called ‘meltdown’ successfully made her come to your room almost naked. 

Turning around you push her to sit on your bed. “So let me earn my reward.” With her in direct eyes level with your covered breast, you tug at the towel, and it collapses. Her pupils dilated, appreciating your body. Both of her fists flex against her knees.

Never had being so exposed felt so exhilerating. “I just want a taste,” you whisper. Kneeling down, she helps you take off her shorts.

Some of the anger seemed to have left Riri as she leaned back on her forearms. Her gentle smile returns. “You know Alexis was really upset when she left.”

“I’ll send her a fruit basket to apologize.” Grasping both her toned, smooth legs, you press kisses up her calf, and send a sharp bite behind her knee. “Stop thinking about her.”

You can hear her laughing from up above. “Oh baby did I make you mad?” her breath hitches as you begin sucking hard along her thighs. “Hmm. Okay ma, stop playing around.” The joking tone finally leaves her voice, but you’re have fun letting your lips touch everywhere but her pussy. You hover over her pussy, letting your plump lips lighly move along her lips.

Riri’s hand firmly grasp the back of your head, making you rub against her clit. “Baby, please fuck me.” Your eyes roll to the back of your head at her pleading. You give in and sloppily begin licking her pussy, completely enthralled with the taste, feel, and the headspace of submission. Your pussy throbs as you erratically move your head up and down, just wanting and thoroughly enjoying her taste.

“Shiiit.” Riri drags, panting. “That’s right love. You’re doing such a good job,” she praises. Wanting to see her face, you replace your tongue with a finger and drum it in circles against her clit. Your eyes hood over at the look of pleasure tensing her face and body. Sweat dampens her chest and you can’t help but to lean over and take her breast out from her sports spa, groaning around each nipple. Riri cups your head, impatiently pushing you back down. “I need your mouth love.” Happy to comply, your tongue flicks at her clit in a rhythm that has her back levitating off the bed. As she starts to reach a peak you press two fingers in her. You look down at your fingers thrusting in and out of her, and moan at how wet she is. Your tongue and fingers has her hip moving erratically and throws her over the edge, calling your name. You keep licking her as she comes down, enjoying the way her body shakes and keep tasting her until she pulls you up her body with a groan. 

You grin down at her, licking her juices off your lips. “I’ve been thinking about doing that during each class we’ve had.” 

Riri brings her head up to kiss you, chuckling. “How am I supposed to pay attention in class now.” 

[rogueddie]

ok so i’ve always had this plot in my head, born out of spite where post-season 4 after they’ve defeated vecna, everyone’s fine-ish, nancy, and jonathan break up but like steve doesn’t know that they’ve broken up all he knows is that they are having issues and he notices ronance getting closer and because steve knows what nancy’s like when she has a crush he immediately clocks her and he just like, he gets really really pissed off because as far as he knows she’s still with jonathan and he thinks that history is repeating itself. so he just gets really really passive-aggressive towards nancy, i’m talking about the season 1 scene in the alley except with no homophobia and he’s constantly in bitch mode and just incredibly standoffish to nancy. everybody clocks his behavior and they’re like, “what’s wrong with steve?” and they think he’s doing it because he either has a crush on nancy and is jealous of robin or he has a crush on robin and is jealous of nancy. (and it’s up to the writer if robin is aware that it’s his protective streak and she just doesn’t understand why he’s being extra hostile to nancy or if she also thinks that he’s jealous). but either way, steve is just being completely brutal to nancy, and it’s just like any form of like friendship between them just evaporated overnight. and i want a scene where it all comes to a head and literally, anybody can be there but the spicy six, all six of them have to be there. and let’s say he sees ronance having an intimate moment or maybe they’re planning a road trip and steve knows what happened the last time nancy went on a road trip with someone while she was on the outs with her boyfriend, so he just gets incredibly pissed at them. maybe he walks away or he says something snippy and nancy can’t take it anymore like it has been days, weeks, months of this and she’s just tired and she just like calls him out, and she’s like “what do you want? what is your problem? why are you acting like this towards me?” and steve is just like incredulous like, “are you seriously asking me what the problem is when you know very well that you are the problem?” and he just goes off on her and he’s like “this is the second time you will be pulling this shit with your partner where you guys argue and instead of maybe i don’t know sitting down and talking about shit you run off with the next available person and the next thing you know that’s your new partner. how am i supposed to trust you with robin when you have done the same thing to me and now jonathan? because this is your thing now and if you think i’m going to let you do this to robin, you must have inhaled too much of the upside down because clearly, you are delusional.” steve realizes that he’s probably being unfair to nancy but he legit doesn’t care are in that moment because he is so filled with rage at nancy’s audacity to pull this shit again and with his fucking platonic soulmate at that. and he just unloads all the anger that’s been festering from 1984 on her and that’s when everybody but mostly her and jonathan realize that oh shit the breakup fucked him up more than they realized and robin, who was under the impression that steve was mad at her for dating his ex realizes that he wasn’t mad at her he was mad for her and steve also realizes that nancy wasn’t cheating and he feels a little sorry, but he also feels so much better after his rant so he’s not that sorry. and then, in the end, everybody goes to therapy, and everybody deals with their stuff, and ronance get together, and jargyle get together, and steddie get together and everybody’s happy and in love, and they all become besties. this isn’t to like bash nancy, i’m just tired of seeing people having steve move on like that from the whole “bullshit” thing with little to no apologies, and i wish people would stop having him be okay with ronance right from the jump. but most of all, i just want steve to be petty with nancy and jonathan as a treat.

I don't know what it is about this ask but every time I try to read it it's like it goes in one eye and out my ears. Sorry, I think it's the wall of text that's just making my brain shut down.

It's just- to your last point; YES. I do love ronance but I specifically love the fanon version. Like, the Nancy that takes care of Robin or the Nancy that finds her rambling cute. It's very lovely and their personalities would vibe very well.... if only we didn't know what Nancy is canonically like with Robin... Or Steve... Or Jonathan.

I love Nancy, that's my girl and I do indeed support womens wrongs... but she should not be in a relationship asdfdsasd. Jonathan maybe but even they need couples counselling.

There's also like literally no way that Robin would even think about Nancy at all without having a very long, very drunk, bathroom talk with Steve. And even then, if she sees that Steve is still hurt by the bullshit thing? Or actually hears the real and full story? Bro code trumps all, she would drop Nancy without hesitation. Not even friends. They're enemies now.

Steve is her soulmate, they're ride or die.

Sorry for going off topic probably but like... as much as I do adore ronance, I do have to ignore Steve to ship them. If I start thinking about how Nancy is in canon, with Steve and Robin? I just cannot ship them at all. It's either completely fantasy fanon fluff or nothing. Robin deserves to have a girlfriend who would canonically treat her the way she deserves (like VICKIE, her CANON GIRLIE? (but also chrissy bc she's a sweetheart))

[letshearitforthespacedads]

Twin Flame - Pt 2 All That Glitters Is Not Gold

Twin Flame: Pt 3

Being Steve Harrington’s twin had its perks. Okay, there were a lot of perks to being a Harrington. One downfall though was somehow getting involved with a group of Pre-Teens with a knack of finding trouble, a girl from the Hawkins Lab with superpowers, and whatever the hell just came out of Jonathan Byers’ wallpaper?! God, you were just trying to get through your Senior year. Who would have expected the biggest surprise of the year would be falling for Eddie Freaking Munson.

CW: Playing it fast and loose with the timeline baby, Twin!Harrington, gratuitous use of the devil’s lettuce, High Schoolers are jerks, lots of plot and dialogue (sorry, but I wanna see Eddie and Reader fall in looooove), mentions of past trauma, hints that reader has some PTSD from S1, even though Steve dresses like a sailor reader has the mouth of one, not Beta read, eventual SPICE, Minors please advert your eyes and hit the road–this one isn’t for you, time jumps, tried to write reader as GN! as possible but I think some things slipped by me, Story starts in-between S1 and S2.

Gif not mine. Credit to the creator ;)

It had all started a week after all the nightmarish events that had almost cost countless lives. You hadn’t slept much. You hadn’t eaten much. You barely spoke to your parents, or to Steve.

Your grades were slipping. Your crush on Josh had completely evaporated overnight and you had continued to dodge his calls, you guessed perspective had something to do with it and just weren’t horny. Especially when every time you closed your eyes you thought of the monster.

The monster hunched in Jonathan Byers living room. The thing that was dripping and oozing god knows what. The thing with rows of teeth just ready to rip you and the others apart and damn, had it tried. 

You felt like you kept seeing them everywhere. The things from the Upside Down, the Demogorgon’s, as the kids had also coined them. Where did they even come up with this stuff? 

The Demogorgon’s were everywhere in your peripheral, you felt like you were going crazy. You felt like not only were the eyes of the other High Schoolers always on you as most had also noticed a change in you and had started keeping a wider birth. But that something from the Upside Down had escaped, or maybe had never left at all and it had its eyes on you, on all of you.

It gave you the chills. You were freaked out. Totally freaked out. 

After your third unsuccessful attempt to get into your locker, you let out a defeated groan and let your forehead collide with the frustrating contraption. “Jesus Christ, just open you piece of shit.” You mumbled weakly striking the ugly blue painted metal with the flat of your palm.

“Problem Harrington?” A familiar voice asked from next to you. Followed by the sound of them easily unlock and gliding their own locker open.

You jumped, heart skipping at least two beats maybe even three. Your exhaustion getting to the point where you had lost touch with your own reality and didn’t even know he had walked up next to you. Great! Totally ready, alert, and prepared for another Demogorgon attack.

“Shit!” You gasped, looking to the locker next to yours. Eddie Munson standing there in all his glory, signature lopsided grin on his face as he stuffed a large notebook into his bag.

“God, Eddie! Don’t sneak up on me like that!” You squeaked. You readjusted the bag hanging off your shoulder. You turned back to your locker, trying to hide how hot your cheeks were by staring hatefully at the locked door in front of you.

“Sneak up? By sneak up do you mean, calmly walking to my locker before lunch. You know, I have a useful spell that could help you.” Eddie continued smiling at you, leaning casually against his locker after closing it shut. Moving his whole body to face yours.

You couldn’t say the two of you were friends. But you had always been friendly. You had started sharing small talk throughout the day once Senor year had started since your assigned lockers ended up being next to each other. Occasionally the small talk would turn into flirty one-liners, trying to see who could get the other to laugh first. You had also shared a few classes together. But never seemed to take that next step into friendship. You guessed Eddie wouldn’t want a friend like you, someone associated with Steve, or Tommy H, or Carol. The school bullies and you couldn’t fault him for that. Not like they made it easy for him, like ever.

“Yes ass, that’s exactly what I mean. What are you doing at your locker anyways? Don’t you like, never use it” You teased attempting to get into your locker again, at this rate you would just have to skip lunch probably.

“Not for school this time. We’ve got a game this Friday and I needed to check the campaign one last time. Can’t make it too easy for my sheep.” He paused for a moment, looking you over. “Hey, not to sound like some kind of dick. But ugh, you don’t look so good Harrington.”

“Thanks Eddie. Just what everyone wants to hear.” You mumbled. God, this was embarrassing. Is this what everyone at school thought? You were never one to care about anyone’s opinion of you, but you were vulnerable right now.

Your skin felt rubbed raw and sensitive to the touch. Everything just felt wrong. You especially didn’t want Eddie to think that about you. You didn’t know why, but you actually cared what he thought.

“No, I mean, you look sick? Do you need to go to the nurse? I can walk with you if you want?” He offered. Eddie had always been so kind, you never understood why everyone was such an insufferable jerk to him. 

“Not necessary. I’m fine, really. Just haven’t been sleeping well, or at all. I feel like Nancy from Nightmare on Elm Street right now.” You lied. You were not okay. And honestly you felt a little bad for lying to Eddie just now. You wanted to tell him exactly how you were feeling.

“You know I can help with that?” Eddie offered quickly, his eyes darting around the schools hallway that had mostly cleared out due to the lunch period starting.

“Oh yeah? How? And PLEASE don’t say anything super corny, I might just die. I’m already close.” You joked giving up on your locker completely for right now. You turned to face him, readjusting your bag again.

“Weed.” He said, wiggling his fingers like a magician who had just pulled the rabbit out of his hat.

“Seriously?” You couldn’t help but smile, your eyes joining his to look for any possible ease droppers in the hallway.

“Helps me sleep.” He said matter-of-factly. His grip growing a little tighter on his lunch box.

“I don’t know of any parties this weekend to be able to score. Guess no one wants to party after all the…disappearances.” You said weakly. Disappearances is what the suites wanted Hawkins to believe, and they made that very clear to you and your brother that night. Or else. You didn’t want to know what ‘Or else’ meant.

“Lucky you have me as a locker neighbor.” Eddie smiled, his chest puffing out slightly in a confidence you were used to seeing on him.

“Oh yeah? And what makes me so lucky?” You played along.

“I know exactly where you can score” Eddie smiled, lifting his lunchbox your eyelevel.

______________________________________________

You hit Eddie’s joint again, trying to keep the smoke in your lungs as long as humanly possible, before letting out a harsh and very unladylike cough. You weren’t a stoner but had dabbled from time to time during social occasions. Eddie was sitting in the driver’s seat of his van laughing hysterically at the story you were telling him, at Steve’s expense of course. 

“And then what happened?” He giggled, leaning back in his seat. Big brown eyes on you, completely absorbed in your story.

“Oh shit,” you coughed a bit more before continuing. “Well, our dad came home like, literally 30 seconds after that, and lost it. Like totally lost it. And once he saw the dog, I swear, it was like a cartoon, you could literally see the steam coming out of his ears. Then he started chasing Steve around the backyard. Steve stayed in the treehouse for like, 4 days before he agreed to come down. Oh my god, it was priceless.” 

“Who knew King Steve was such a badass little kid.” Eddie said before taking the joint back from your offered hand.

“Ooooo he was soooo bad.” You giggled. 

The two of you settled into a comfortable gap of conversation as Eddie took another puff of his joint. Dio was playing over the radio; the volume had been turned way down as you could properly tell Eddie your story. This was the first time in over a week, you actually felt at ease and comfortable. Eddie was so right.  

“You have a nice laugh.” He said, offering the joint back to you.

You declined his offer of the joint with a quick shake of your head. You were at you limit, anymore and the paranoia would set in. And you already had enough of that.

“Really?” You asked feeling a little self-conscious. “It’s not like, screechy? Steve always said I laugh like the Garbage Queen from Fragle Rock”

“Well, now that you mention it.” Eddie teased while he wiggled his eyebrows at you playfully, taking more puffs from the joint.

You gave his arm a gentle shove. “Don’t give into the dark side Munson.”

“It’s funny, ya know. You’re really nothing like your brother, but it you two seem close.” He observed, finally snubbing out the joint in his cars very overfilled ashtray.

“Yeah, we’ve always been close. Guess it’s a weird twin thing.” You offered.

“Most definitely a weird twin thing,” He agreed. He smiled at you slowly and you actually had to admit that damn, he had a nice smile.

“So, what about you? Any brothers or sisters?” You offered, trying to think about anything other than Eddie Munson’s smile right now.

“Nah, only child.” He answered. His body language changed, and he seemed uncomfortable. He tried to play it off by suddenly looking through the pile of cassettes stuffed into the van’s armrest. His smile now gone.

You immediately got the hint he didn’t want to talk about his family and decided to change the subject, quickly. “I’m not to lie to you Munson. I might be too high to go back to school.”

“Wanna ditch?” He suddenly looked up to you, there it was. The smile was back.

“Aren’t you at your ditch limit for the year?” You crossed your arms and quirked an eyebrow at him smile on your face growing bigger.

“I’m already going to fail Mr. Anderson and Mrs. Robertsons classes. It’s cool.” Since you hadn't said no outright to his question, he started his Van and threw it in reverse. When you didn’t say anything again to stop him or protest, he started backing out of his spot.

You didn’t mind leaving and spending more time with Eddie. Especially since you had also Mr. Anderson next period. You made a sour face thinking of the teacher before adding. “Mr. Anderson is such a dick. I swear he looked up my skirt last week.”

“He definitely did.” Eddie said while using his rearview mirror to reverse.

 “You saw!??” You squealed in shock. Your arm shooting out to grab the loose fabric in the sleeve of his denim jacket.

“Up your skirt? Or Mr. Anderson looking up your skirt?” He threw the Van back into drive but looked at you before hitting the gas to leave.

“Both? Either?” You asked, your cheeks burning hot with embarrassment. OH MY GOD.

“I don’t make it a habit to look up girl’s skirts if they don’t want me too. And yeah, Mr. Anderson is a total creep. Why do you think I stood on my desk and started reciting ‘The Raven’?” He questioned; eyebrow raised like it hadn’t it been the most obvious thing to do at the time.

“Oh my god, he gave you like two weeks’ worth of detention for that!” You yelled, turning your body completely in your seat to face him as he exited the Hawkins High parking lot.

“It was worth it, what he was doing was not cool.” He said simply before pulling a cigarette out of the pocket of his denim jacket. He placed it between his teeth and lit it with one hand, as the other kept driving.

Your grip on his jacket loosened as you moved your hand to his shoulder. “Thank you, Eddie. I uh, I really appreciate that.” You said sincerely. Besides Steve, no guy had ever stood up for you like that.

“Anytime Harrington. But let’s not hope more pervy old men try to get a look at the goods.” He laughed, offering you the cigarette.

“And a totally sweet moment, gone in the blink of an eye.” You made and exploding gesture with your hands before declining the cigarette.

“So where to? Movies? Book store? Record store?” Eddie offered, bringing the cigarette back to his lips.

“Record store, Mr. Freedman who owns the Movie Theater would absolutely snitch to my parents if he saw me skipping class.”

“Must suck that everyone in town knows your parents.”

“It’s the worst. Not the literal worst, you know? Because there’s kids starving all over the world, and there’s the AID’s epidemic, and War like, everywhere at the time. But damn, for my small-town rich kid ass, it SUCKS.”

“I don’t care what anyone says, you are definitely the cooler Harrington.”

You smiled leaning back into your seat, “I know.”

 AN: Do we hate it? Do we love it? Let me knowwww. Like, comment, reblog for a piece of my heart.

[heliads]

Secrets Kept

Based on this request: “thomas x reader and one of the other people are being rude and they slap her and they get all worked up and mad? (maybe the person is making fun of her because she got attacked by a griever (she’s a runner) and minho had to help, but minho also stands up for her)”

masterlist

You’ve been running in the Maze for maybe an hour, maybe more. It’s not long enough. It’s funny how every morning, you wake up and manage to convince yourself that being a Runner is easier than you think, that you’ll be able to keep moving endlessly and never have a problem with it. You seem to forget how hard your job is overnight, but you’re reminded of it every single morning. To be honest, you’re not sure what you expected when you signed up to be a Runner in the first place, but the constant exhaustion is just one of the side effects.

That being said, you wouldn’t trade this job for anything. A slight grin appears on your face as you look around you, tilting your head up to feel the breeze whipping around the corners of the Maze. Your mind is turning, thinking of ways to remember every hall and corridor that you cross. Beside you, your running partner turns to you, eyebrows raised over your apparent delight. This causes Minho’s attention to be focused solely on you, which is why he doesn’t notice your boyfriend, Thomas, appearing down a nearby corridor.

Your eyes widen imperceptibly. Thomas isn’t supposed to be here, not at all. You joined the ranks of the Runners a long time ago, way before Thomas even showed up here and wanted to risk his neck with the rest of you. That meant that he would be a part of a different pair of runners, one that wasn’t you and Minho, and that he would be assigned a completely different part of the Maze to run for today. Ever since the Gladers discovered that different sectors of the Maze opened at different times, they carefully divided each sector into runnable routes that were parceled out to the various pairs of Runners. Basically, all of this means that you shouldn’t once see Thomas during the entirety of your daily run, yet here he is now.

You think you know why he’s here, though. Your theory is proven when Thomas stumbles to a halt mid-step after realizing that Minho is seconds away from discovering you, and quickly stumbles behind a wall of the Maze for cover. When he peeks out again, he’s got a smirk on his face that tells you that the added danger of getting caught is only making him more willing to risk discovery.

Why is he here, then? Well, it’s probably because you’re dating Thomas, or at least you have in secret. Once you showed up to the Glade and became the first girl to add to their numbers, Alby set in motion a rule that none of the boys could even come near you. They could be friends all they wanted, but the second they looked at you with a desire for something more, they’d be thrown in the Slammer before they could say ‘I escaped the friend zone’. 

You’ve been perfectly fine with this rule. There are enough gaping boys in the Glade that make you more than alright that Alby gives any flirting slintheads a death glare. However, when Thomas showed up, you just couldn’t stick to the plan. He was kind to you, and it seemed like he was the first one to truly listen to you for a very long time. When you spoke about anything, when you even so much as sat next to him, Thomas would look at you with this soft smile that made you want to reach over and kiss him right then and there.

You’d been afraid to do something, at first. What if you misread something and suddenly it was you crossing his boundaries as opposed to any one of the Gladers with you? Then, one night at the Bonfire, Thomas had been walking you back to the Homestead when he’d turned to you with this look in your eyes, one that made you shiver slightly despite the heat of the dark hour. He’d asked if he could kiss you, voice low and rumbling in the shadows, and you’d barely been able to nod your head yes from the thrill of it.

Ever since then, you’ve been happy enough to consider him your boyfriend. The problem is that Thomas still technically isn’t supposed to be seeing you, and the only way you can kiss him is if the two of you sneak out to the Deadheads or find time when nobody is around to reach over and wrap your arms around him. These come with an unsurprising rarity, as the Glade is practically overrun with shanks with little to no concept of personal space and privacy, so you have to make do with what you have.

This means that on days like today, when Thomas had been held back from seeing you even into the late hours of the night, he’s willing to stretch some rules and come find you himself. So, you turn to a still unsuspecting Minho, and gesture for him to go forward without you. “Tell you what, I’m going to fix my shoe. I think there’s something in it.” Minho starts to say something about how he’ll wait for you, but you hurriedly wave his concerns away. “I’ll be fine, don’t worry about me. You go ahead and I’ll catch up.”

Minho hesitates one last moment then shrugs, turning to keep running. You watch him go, afraid to make the slightest of motions towards the general area behind you where you spotted Thomas, lest your running partner suspect something and come back to you. Minho’s just disappeared around a corner when a pair of hands descend on your hips, spinning around to come face to face with Thomas, who’s wearing a particularly proud grin at the look of surprise on your face.

You reach forward to smack his arm. “Slinthead. I thought a Griever was sneaking up behind me.” Thomas just laughs. “I don’t think Grievers look this good.” You try to hold back a laugh of your own. “Good to know that your pride hasn’t been hurt by you bending the rules all the time. We could get caught, you know.” Thomas just lifts a shoulder in dismissal. “I’m dating the prettiest girl in the Glade. I’d say that’s worth going behind Alby’s back.”

You fight to keep heat from rising to your cheeks. “The prettiest girl in the Glade? Thomas, I’m the only girl in the Glade.” Thomas smirks. “Doesn’t mean it’s not true. Just accept the compliment, Y/N.” You open your mouth to protest, but you’re effectively silenced when Thomas leans forward to kiss you. Suddenly, all of your complaints are evaporating into the hot air of the Maze.

You allow yourself a few minutes of this before you reluctantly bid Thomas farewell. Despite being able to throw Minho off your tail for a little while, you can only ‘fix your shoe’ for so long before the boy starts to suspect something. When Thomas finally lets you go with a goodbye kiss and you jog down the labyrinthine corridors in search of your running partner, you do so with a smile. How’d you get this lucky?

You find Minho after a little while, who offers up a few joking criticisms about how long it takes you to tie your shoes. You bear these with a smile, knowing that your real reason for being late is something that far outweighs any of Minho’s sarcastic comments. The two of you run for a little longer before heading further into the center of the Maze. It is only there, once you’re as far away from the Glade as you could possibly be, that you realize that something is wrong. It feels as if you’re suddenly not alone, that you and Minho aren’t the only ones lurking in these corridors.

Seconds later, something heavy comes to an abrupt stop in front of you. You and Minho rear back in identical shock, staring at the Griever, the one that’s just jumped down from the walls of the Maze to land a few feet ahead of you. You gaze at it unthinkingly, unable to move a muscle despite all of your body screaming for you to run. “How is it here? I thought Grievers weren’t supposed to come out during the day!”

Minho gulps beside you. “They’re not, but this one’s here anyway. Run!” That’s all the incentive you need for your legs to start working again, and the two of you turn and sprint in unison. Your feet are pounding down the ground, your body focused on the sole goal of surviving. You thought you were tired before, but all of that exhaustion is gone now, replaced by an intense adrenaline rush that leaves you feeling as if you’ve got all the energy in the world.

You race around corners and down straightaways, your breath coming hard in your chest. Despite the fact that you’re running as fast as you can, you almost get the feeling that the Griever is toying with you, not going after you with as much force as it could truly muster. Indeed, once you’re almost to the final corridors separating you and the Glade, it seems to draw back, disappearing into the halls of the Maze once more.

You turn to Minho, gasping for breath after your abrupt sprint. “What was that about? Why did it stop?” Minho shrugs, hands on his knees for any kind of support. “I don’t know. Maybe it wanted to stop us from going too far. Maybe we were going to see something that it didn’t want us to see. All I know is that I’m pretty shucking happy that we’re still alive.” You manage to limp over to him, slapping him on the back. “You can say that again. Let’s go tell Alby that we’re the two unluckiest shanks in the Glade to stumble upon a Griever in the middle of the day.”

Alby is, unsurprisingly, stunned by this news. This contradicts everything you’ve thought of the Grievers and the Maze before today. No matter how strange your living situation in the Maze is, the rules have never changed- Grievers come out during the night, and the night only. No one has any idea what to think now that this has changed, and to be honest, no one really wants to think about what happened. In the end, Alby decides that there’s nothing you can do about it except tell everybody to be careful.

As a result of this, you see a lot of somber faces around the Glade that afternoon. Everyone’s clustered into tight groups, talking in hushed voices about obviously critical topics that no doubt revolve around your little Griever incident. When Thomas comes back from his run in the Maze, you see his face fall in an instant when he hears what happened. He starts to come your way, expression twisted with concern, but you shake your head once. Technically, you’re not supposed to know Thomas that well at all. Let Newt handle him- despite everything, you still can’t blow your cover and reveal to everyone that you’re dating.

Still, the anxious mood persists around the Gladers. Gally eventually gives in and asks Alby for a Bonfire Night, which the older boy approves. This is basically just an excuse to light things on fire and pass around Gally’s suspicious brew, but everyone’s so keyed up over what just happened that Alby decides everyone needs a night to have fun. Once the glasses of amber liquid start getting passed around, though, you begin to think that it might not have been such a good idea after all.

Once fear mixes with Gally’s concoction, people start getting louder, their friendly punches in the fighting ring less charming and more antagonistic. You decide to leave early, already tired of the signs pointing to the fact that this night will not be going well. However, you’re barely taken a few steps away from your seat before one of the more drunk Builders stops you in your tracks.

“Where are you going, Y/N? Running away again?” You raise an eyebrow. “Excuse me?” The Builder scoffs. “We all know what happened with the Griever. You saw it and ran away. Big bunch of nothing for someone who’s supposed to be one of the bravest Runners we’ve got.” You fold your arms over your chest incredulously. “Then feel free to take my job. I’m sure all of your experience stacking bricks will help you deal with a monster as tall as a house.”

The Builder’s smug smile drops. “Are you calling me a coward?” You snort. “I’m calling you weak. Get out of my way, I don’t want to deal with you tonight.” You move to walk past him, but the Builder just shifts to block your way again. “Like shuck. You don’t get to call me weak.” You stare back at him, feeling anger starting to rise up in your chest. “And you don’t get to call me a coward. You wouldn’t know bravery if it hit you over the head.”

This is probably a bad idea, you know that. This thought is proven correct when the Builder’s hand moves in a blur across your field of vision, and seconds later, your hand is coming away from your nose. There’s a streak of red across your fingers that tells you that he’s hit you hard, harder than he should have for what was supposed to be a friendly bonfire night.

Already, there are outraged shouts coming from around you, Gladers already starting to come to your defense. The loudest one, though, is from the boy who’s already by your side. Somehow, you’re not surprised that Thomas is already here. He probably would have punched the guy already, were it not for the fact that Minho and Newt both are holding him back. “Don’t you dare hit her. Don’t you dare.”

The Builder chuckles, although you can tell that he’s afraid. “What are you going to do? Hit me? We’ll just be together in the Slammer.” Thomas stops fighting against Minho and Newt, fixing the Builder with a death glare that makes the boy flinch. “You wish. Were it not for the fact that I actually give a damn about what’s supposed to happen around here, you’d be on the ground, trust me.”

The Builder raises an eyebrow, trying to add to his tough-guy demeanor in the hopes that it’ll cover up for the fact that he’s slowly trying to back away. “What do you care about what I do? This doesn’t concern you.” Thomas takes a step forward, and the Builder practically shrinks back. “Actually, it does. Y/N’s braver than you could ever dream of being. Do you know what it’s like to come face to face with a Griever? The fact that she’s not dead should tell you something about how tough she is. And yes, this does concern me, because she’s my girlfriend.”

Silence falls around the Bonfire at Thomas’ words. He glances over at you now, realizing what he’s said. “Surprise.” You laugh in spite of yourself. “Well, it was going to come out eventually.” You reach over, slinging your arm around his shoulder. “Come on, let’s let Alby deal with this slinthead. We’ve got better things to do.” Thomas allows himself a grin, moving away with you. “That we do.”

maze runner tag list: secret bestie @underc0vercryptid​, @ellobruv​