#not to buy anything. just to hang out and look at cool old stuff. I have no money.

[continuousmeowing]

I should start posting about my love for medical history & science more…..

[kawowoa]

info : gn. reader, mechanic!toji, disabled!reader, reader has a missing leg n wears a prosthetic, fluff like a lot of it

mechanic!toji who typically only works on cars and motorcycles until you came along. he was surprised when you walked into his tiny shop with no car or anything; just you, your crutches, and a duffle bag that was testing your balance.

he was taken aback by your missing limb, but who was he to judge? he offered you to sit on his bench after making a small clearing—this was probably his wake up call to buy a chair.

mechanic!toji who questions why you’re in his shop. his first assumption was that you’re lost, his next was that your car was outside but you should your head, opening the duffle bag.

“the hell is this?”

“‘s my prosthetic leg! it fell apart on my run and this was the closest place. you do cars ‘n stuff right? you think you can fix it?”

mechanic!toji who just scoffs with a head shake, begrudgingly taking your duffle bag and pulling out the broke pieces of your prosthetic. it wasn’t a difficult fix, only a few screws missing that held the leg together and a few dents.

it didn’t take long for toji to finish, even in adding a few tweaks that made the mobility smoother. he didn’t charge you, even though you insisted. the whole process would’ve costed you a pretty penny, but he wouldn’t tell you that.

mechanic!toji who would help you every time you came back—which was a lot. he deducted you were clumsy as hell, or you just wanted to see him again which he didn’t mind.

“this y’er fourth visit this month. you scammin’ me or are ya just clumsy?”

“hey! my leg is just old, it breaks easily and i offer to pay each time but you refuse!”

mechanic!toji who makes you a new prosthetic leg that worked ten times better than your old one. it had more joint mobility and a cool cyber punk feel to it. he surprised you with it the next time you came with an issue with your old one.

mechanic!toji who starts dating you shortly after. you would always hang out at his shop, sitting on his bench—he still didn’t buy the chair—while you watched him work.

mechanic!toji who would try his best recreating different looks you show him from your pinterest board. as for payment? you just had to love it and give him a pretty smile.

“how’s this?”

“oh my god toji, it’s amazing! thank you so much, i love you!”

“yeah yeah, whatever. i love you too.”

[hurtspideyparker]

One night in the lab Peter finds an old prototype of the EDITH glasses and puts them on.

"Look Mr. Stark! I am Iron Man," he says with a deep voice.

"C'mon kid, that's the best impression you got?" Tony says before looking up.

He sees Peter with those rectangular frames and big grin. For a moment he thinks he's looking at old publicity photos of himself. A confident Tony Stark, tinted glasses and cocky smile, hair fluffed up and oozing manly charm.

Tony's easy smile drops a bit at the thought of Peter being anything like who he used to be.

"Oh sorry for talking over you Ms. Potts I just like the sound of my own voice more than hearing about the safety of our company. I'm too cool to apologize so I'll buy you a zoo for endangered species later honey," Peter tries again with the mocking deep voice.

Tony is quick to recover from the odd deja-vu feeling of seeing the teenager in the frame of a mirror, focusing back on his hologram.

"Yeah because I call the love of my life by her last name. And for your information it was an alpaca sanctuary, and she loved it." Tony corrects, pointing a pen at Peter in rebuke without looking up from his work.

"I chose to be respectful over accurate. Also I saw those alpaca photos and one of them was trying to chew on her skirt, she didn't look very impressed." Peter replies with a matter of fact press of his lips.

Tony glances back at the boy only to find himself unable to look away. He can't help but hear echoes of "I just wanted to be like you!" when he sees the boy wearing frames reminiscent of Tony's classic fashion sense.

Tony thinks about Howard, how he used to run laps to prove he was good enough, better than, worthy of being his son.

He was never enough for Howard.

"You're always better at remembering that kind of stuff than me anyways kid."

Peter is taken back by the earnest tone the older man suddenly possesses. His mouth opens but no words come out in reply, Tony looking at him as if he can see right through the spiderling.

"Now stop playing with my old crap and c'mere, we have some important decisions to make," Tony waves him over to look at something on his phone.

When Peter gets close enough he sees that it's a food delivery app, Tony's fingers hovering between an Indian and Thai restaurant.

Peter shoots him another grin, "I vote for samosas!"

Tony rolls his eyes but clicks on the Indian restaurant anyways.

Peter notices in the reflection of the phone that he still has the glasses on, reaching up to remove them before Tony puts a hand on his wrist to stop him.

"Keep em on, it's the first time you've ever looked cool enough to hang out with me. The tech in those is useless anyways, they're just a pair of sunglasses now."

Peter looks up at his mentor with such awe and admiration that Tony nearly melts like butter under the sun.

Tony may not do many things right when it comes to people, but he knows that even when he was still young and naive he'd known better than to ever look at Howard like that.

So maybe there's one thing he hasn't screwed up.

[acepalindrome]

SDV QoL Mod Recommendations

(1.6 Edition!)

Some years ago I made a big list of some of my favorite Stardew Valley mods, because I am a mod gremlin and there are so many fun and cool things you can do with your game! Modding has changed a lot since then. Some of the old mods have been abandoned and aren’t compatible with 1.6, and lots of new ones are popping up all the time to help keep this 8 year old game fresh and interesting! So I’ve put together a list of mods that currently work with 1.6. Since there are so, SO many mods, I’m just going to list quality of life mods for now. Let me know if you guys are interested in recommendations for expansions, cosmetics and other fun stuff!

Firstly, if you’re new to Stardew modding and don’t know how to start, I highly recommend checking out Salmence’s How to Add Mods video on YouTube. He walks you through all the steps and makes it very easy to get the hang of it! And without further ado:

The Mods

UI Info Suite 2: I’m new to this mod, but now that I’ve got it, I’m not sure how I lived without it! It does so much! It shows your daily luck, any birthdays, if it’s going to rain tomorrow, when tools are ready with Clint, when the traveling cart is in town and more! It also shows the range of your sprinklers, scarecrows, bee houses and junimo huts, and if you mouse over your crops, it shows when they’re ready for harvest! Super useful, and the daily icons are small enough that they don’t feel intrusive. I usually get all my mods from Nexus because it’s easy and reliable, so I had put off trying this one since it’s only on GitHub. I absolutely should have tried it ages ago.

NPC Map Locations: Shows where everyone is on the map. No more running around trying to figure out where someone is to give them a birthday gift! This is an essential mod for me, it’s such a simple but good improvement!

Look Up Anything: This one basically eliminates the need to have the wiki open in another window. Virtually everything in the game can be clicked on to give you more information. Mouse over Shane and press a button to see his birthday, how many hearts he has and how many points to the next heart, and all loved and liked items (with items you have on hand highlighted!) Select the hardwood in your inventory to see how many you have total (including storage you don’t have on hand,) everything it can be used for and how many you need for each thing, so you know how many you need! Almost everything can be selected to give more information!

Visible Fish: Useful AND pretty! It shows all the fish currently available to catch swimming in the water, so you don’t spend ages trying to catch something that doesn’t spawn at a certain place or time! Also it just looks really nice. I love seeing the fish in the river when I’m just passing by!

FriendsForever: Eliminates friendship decay, so people don’t hate me if I forget to talk to them for half a year! Also works on animals, so I can ignore my pigs all winter and they still love me.

To-Dew: You can make a to-do list that will appear on the screen and can be marked off as you complete different tasks. No more will I take a trip to town for seeds and forget that I also wanted to donate to the museum and give Caroline a daffodil! You can also set items to be reoccurring on certain days of the week, if you want to remind yourself to look for forage on Saturday, or make Thursday your designated day to empty and refill your kegs. Very customizable! I also like to make lists of all the seeds I want to buy every season.

TreeTransplant: Robin can now move trees around your farm just like she moves buildings! I’m really bad at planning my tree placement, and it’s so frustrating to have to cut down full grown trees to change my farm layout. Now you can move trees anywhere!

Fishing Made Easy Suite/Combat Made Easy Suite: I love these mods over others that make fishing/combat easier because you can decide the exact degree you want to make things easier! You can make fishing anywhere from 5% easier to 99% easier, if you want to just take the edge off the difficulty, or make it impossible to fail a fish. You can take just a little less damage from monsters to make the Skull Cavern less daunting, or become unkillable and oneshot everything. They also have options to do fun things like put legendary fishing in fish ponds or craft magic rock candy. You can also make things harder, if that’s what you want!

Automate: Machines can pull items from chests, process them, spit them back out into the chest and pull in the next item automatically, without you having to do anything! It can be a little op early on, but it’s super handy when you have a million machines to keep track of. I especially like it for things that have shorter processing times. I can stick a chest of ore and coal next to some furnaces and let it do its thing! Or put a bait machine, recycle machine, crab pot and chest all together. The crab pots will empty and refill every day from the bait generated by the bait machine, deposit fish and trash into the chest, and any trash will be processed by the recycling machine! There are tons of fun ways to combine different machines!

TimeSpeed: Lets you stop, slow or speed up time! You can select time to freeze at certain locations (I like time to stop when I’m inside a building, like in old farming games,) set time to move slower or faster in general, or press a button to change it on the fly!

That’s all I have for now! Links will be coming in a reblog because tumblr is weird about posting links sometimes. Let me know if you’d like recommendations for other kinds of mods, like cosmetic mods, expansions, stuff that adds items or changes dialogue! I love to share the cool mods I find!

[seat-safety-switch]

Kids these days may not think it's "cool" to hang out at a municipal building at all hours. Bribery is way down nowadays, and so is journalism, so there's no supply nor demand for lurking in the parking garage all night just to catch a glimpse of a package stuffed with cash changing hands. Most of that stuff is fake internet money now, anyway, like flooz. Where do you even buy a manila envelope these days?

The thing is, political scandal hasn't gone away. Believe me, I'd like to think it is. Whenever I work for The Mayor Hisself, it's easy to overlook the large quantity of favours rendered to himself (and very infrequently, to me) in exchange for some small judgment or gentle steering. Surely his friends would have been just as generous with money, business partnerships, and fresh-off-the-lot Porsches if he did nothing at all for them? Of course they would. That's what makes them true friends and not seedy business associates that I'm around just in case one of them needs to be put back in line.

Now, you might think it's easy to monkey-wrench a homebuilder or someone who owns a used-car dealership. It is, but that's not the point. You have to be subtle about it: it doesn't make re-election look good if The Mayor's somewhat-esteemed childhood maybe-friend gets caught on camera using violence. No, you have to get creative about it. Deniable.

One of my favourite not-confessing-to-anything techniques is what I like to call the "smoke-out." You may remember some articles in the news recently about how Volkswagen got in trouble for making cars that produced too much exhaust. They were just running regular old passenger diesel fuel! The fumes off that stuff won't even make your eyes burn, not like high-test nitromethane being shot out the hood-exit exhaust of a half-fibreglassed Dodge Ramcharger doing donuts on your lawn. Sometimes I didn't even have to do a full spin: they'd be on the phone, tearfully apologizing to The Mayor, just because their wallpaper started to melt!

In my own day, they used to make corrupt business people tougher. A higher class of manufacture. That's why I think today's kids need to get involved. Build a new and even more dirtbaggy semi-organized semi-crime architecture, because these folks are just getting lazy with it.

[safety-pin-punk]

Hi there!! So uh, i was wondering (as a baby punk/goth) if you have any suggestions as to how to subtly dress more punk?? I would love to go full out with it, but i couldn’t without getting into an argument, so if you have any tips, let me know :] thank you!!

Ideas for subtly adding alternative elements to outfits:

Safety pins. Add them any and everywhere. I have them on the lapels of almost every jacket I own, and up the back of a pair of converse (possibly being used to keep said pair of converse together). But adding them to bags or as earrings (or hanging from earrings) works just as well!

Band t shirts. You can buy them anywhere and pair them with anything. Simply jeans and a band t shirt are fairly common even for non-alt people

Start adding some black and other dark elements to your outfits. Even if its just a black friendship bracelet. Maybe it has beads on it that spell out a band name?

Learn how to do simple sewing and mending. The more times something is repaired, the cooler it looks in my opinion. AND thats something that is honestly a life skill and everyone should be able to do if they are physically able

Ladder lace your shoes (I have a how to here), its subtle but can tell someone who knows what they are looking for a lot

Ripped jeans are in fashion. Just make your own out of an old pair, it will look more alt and be cheaper. And you can tell your parents that you were just saving money and making ‘cooler jeans than the people who get them pre-ripped’ should work cause a lot of older people seem to have beef with pre-ripped jeans

Go just a *little* heavier on the eye make up (but not so much you get in trouble). And if anyone says anything about it, there are plenty of more mainstream artists you can say you drew inspiration from (Kiss, Mick Jagger, Prince, David Bowie. All musicians that parents are likely to have listened to)

Choose boots, converse, or vans over other options if you have the choice. Other options are fine (and probably cheaper unless you thrift them) but it’s undeniable that those shoes are staples of alt fashion

Simple chain necklace. Get it from a craft store. Its small, its subtle, it can be hidden under your shirt

If you or your family is religious (specifically christian here), get a stylized cross to wear. I have a cool looking metal one made out of nails. You could always claim that it represents something about Jesus’ suffering or something

DIY in general, even if it doesn’t look punk/alt. The fact that it was DIY basically makes it punk/alt

I’m not Goth, nor do I know *much* about Goth fashion, BUT, I think lace is pretty common? And not exclusive to alt spaces, soo you can just say you think its pretty

Any other ideas or tips for anon are welcome of course!!! (Especially on the goth stuff here lol)

[glittter-vamp]

Ohio Is For Lovers | J.B

CHAPTER 8

Joe Burrow x Reader.

Warnings: 18+ MDNI. Mention of pregnancy. Explicit language. Mention of cheating.

Word count: 3.4K

Two weeks later:

It's been a few weeks now since you went over to Joe's after seeing him with his suppose baby's mother. It was Valentine's Day today and your office was covered in people receiving flowers, teddy bears, balloons, chocolate you name it. You weren't bitter about it, you always appreciated people showing love towards one another but what got annoying was people asking why you hadn't received anything as if you weren't painfully single and have been the entire time you'd been working there. It was finally the end of the day and you were going to get into your car and pick up some Chinese before heading home to drink a nice bottle of wine you got for Christmas from a coworker a few months ago.

All your friends, even Peyton had plans today which was a bit of a shocker because Peyton never seemed super interested in relationships but you were happy for him that he was going to spend Valentine's Day with a special someone. As you drove in traffic blasting Jonás Brothers as if you were 16 again a call came through. You looked at your radio screen and saw it was Joe. The guy hadn't left you alone since you went over his house that one night. He's called you everyday after work and texted you in the morning before his workouts and even at lunch.

"Hello?" You answer on the car Bluetooth. "Hey, you out of work?" Joe asks. "Yeah just sitting in traffic, what are you up to?" You ask. "Nothing much, I just wanted to see if you wanted to maybe come over and hang out? It's Friday and I've been so bored all week." Joe says. "It's Valentine's Day, shouldn't you have plans?" You smirk. "With who, Tee?" Joe says making you laugh. "I mean, girls have galentines why can't two bros do it?" You say and you hear Joe suck his teeth. "C'mon, yes or no. I wanna order food before it gets too busy with all the Valentines crap." Joe says. He definitely wasn't for the hallmark holiday. "Sure, just let me go home and change." You say. "Cool! Is Chinese okay?" He asks. "You read my mind." You nod as if he could see you. "Great, I'll see you soon." Joe says before he hangs up.

After going home to shower and change, you make your way too the nearest grocery store to buy some junk food. Knowing Joe is always on his health stuff and you wanted some double stuffed Oreos, candy and chips. After stopping at the store you head on over to Joe's. Things were a bit odd between the two of you after he told you how he felt about you but you knew he needed a support system right now and you just couldn't ignore him.

Parking in Joes driveway, you grab you things and head towards the door ringing the doorbell. After a moment the door opened. "Nice, you waited until I actually rang the doorbell this time." You smirk at Joe and he rolls his eyes letting you in. You notice he had a bit of a scruffy look going on and honestly, you thought it looked really good on him. It was too bad you coudln't do anything about it. "What do you got there?" Joe asks as you take off your shoes by the door. "Snacks." You say. "I have snacks." Joe says looking at you weird. "You have stuff 78 year old people eat to control their cholesterol and make them poop. These are real snacks." You say and he snatches the bag out of your hand to look at it and you snatch it back. "Rude!" You scoff. "What's rude is you basically saying my snacks suck!" Joe defends himself making you chuckle.

"Well, then get better snacks." You roll your eyes and he scoffs. You set the snacks down in the kitchen and see that the food was already there. "I got us a bit of everything since I forgot to ask what you liked, hope that's okay." Joe says taking stuff out the paper bags. "I'll eat anything! I skipped breakfast and lunch today." You say as he hands you some chicken and broccoli. "You should of texted me, I would of brought you some food." Joe says. "That's sweet but I wouldn't even had time to do that, I was running around all day." I shake my head.

You two serve yourself plates of food and head to the living room to sit down, watch a movie and eat. "So anything new with the baby?" You ask Joe and he sighs as he chews his food. "My publicist pretty much gave me a heads up the other day that the internet was speculating on Emily and her pregnancy. Someone caught her shopping in the baby section at some boutique and she's started to show more but was wearing a jacket so they couldn't really tell." Joe says. "How come she hasn't been more open about it? From what Mariana told me she seemed pretty into her social media and share a lot about her personal stuff. Why hide the baby?" You ask. "She's embarrassed. There's a big chance everyone will know the truth about how she was unfaithful to me in our relationship after she played it out to be the opposite with you and me." Joe says.

"Speaking about that...who might be the other dad if you don't mind me asking?" You ask him genuinely curious to that answer. "Some retired NFL player who got injured and never returned to the sport." Joe shrugs not giving you more information than that. It still clearly bothered him talking about them which you understood. "Wonder how he's taking all of this" You mutter taking a bite of your food. "I know they live together so I'm guessing pretty well." Joe shrugs and you just nod not wanting to push any further on the topic.

"How's work?" Joe asks picking at his food. "It's alright, they're opening another branch in Rhode Island and offered me a position there." You nod taking a sip of your water. Joe pauses and looks at you. "Are you... taking it?" He asks. "I don't know, I still have time to choose. Until late March or so." You shrug taking a bite of the an egg roll, you could sense that he didn't like what you had just said and was keeping his two cents to himself. "Why do you ask?" You ask, you don't know what it was about you that you always needed to shake the table with stuff like this, but you always did.

"No reason, just asking." He shrugs taking a bite of his food. God was he such a bad liar. "You seem like you have something to say." You push on and he sighs. "Rhode Island is kind of far, would suck to see you go." He says. Hearing that was more of a punch to the gut than you had hoped for. "It's like a 3 hour plane ride, if that and I'd visit every now and then. My family does live here and my friends are all here." You nod. "I know, I'm just saying it sucks that we won't have a lot more nights like these cause we'll be so far from each other." Joe says. "You never know, I'm sure Mariana will find away to fly me out over here for games and what not." You chuckle. "You know she's always up something." You smile.

 "Now that you mention her... I sort of have to talk to you about her." Joe says hesitantly. It seemed serious which made you uneasy. "What's up?" You say setting your plate of food on the coffee table giving him your full attention. "I went to my lawyers office the other day to meet over this whole paternity test thing just to know what I can do and know my rights and stuff..." he says and you nod signaling to keep going. "When I was leaving the building and headed out to the parking lot... I saw her in the car with another guy and it looked to me like they kissed before the man got out and walked into the building." Joe says and your heart drops. "Are-are you sure it was her?" You ask confused. "There's not many people here in Cincy that drive a powdered blue G wagon..." Joe says and you sigh. "Fuck Mariana..." you sigh leaning back on the sofa. "I'm sorry." Joe says. "It's not your fault...I've just been here before." You say staring at the ceiling. "What do you mean?" Joe asks confused and you sigh before looking over at him.

"Before Ja'Marr... Mariana dated this guy named Cole, they were college sweethearts I guess you could say and she got caught up with a lawyer when she interning at some company early on in their relationship. They moved on from it, so they said but the relationship was never the same again. They fought a lot, one night I even had to go pick her up in the middle of the night with the gang because he had thrown her out of their apartment & he kept accusing her of cheating but he couldn't prove it. So they broke up. She stopped talking to the lawyer, or so she said and now she's been with Ja'Marr but it seems like she still hasn't cut ties with that lawyer. after all" You say rubbing your temples.

"Wait, so this isn't anything new? Why not tell Ja'Marr?" Joe asks. "She promised me it was over and seeing how into Ja'Marr she was I believed her. The lawyer dude is married himself." You say and Joes jaw hangs when I tell him that. "What the fuck." Joe says processing everything. You grab your phone and decide to text Peyton and Sasha your infamous "Code Law" text that you guys used when Mariana was going through something with the lawyer.

"Who are you texting?" Joe asks. "Sasha and Peyton, you just opened up a can of worms that we tried burning years ago." You snort and Joe looks at you a small kid who broke something. "Have you told Ja'Marr?" You ask Joe setting your phone down. "No, cause what if I saw wrong." Joe says shaking his head. Pretty quickly your phone dings with the responses of your friends.

Peyton:You're fucking kidding me!?

Sasha: HOW?! WHEN?!

"Is that them?" Joe asks and you nod. "They're probably gonna ruin our night here." You say to him and his chuckles. "Tell them we have food." Joe says making you chuckle.

******************* "I came as quickly as I could!" Peyton says walking through the door of Joe's house. "Nice hickey." You mutter seeing a big red purple splotch on his neck and he rolls his eyes. "Hush! Is Sasha here yet?" Peyton says as you close the door. "She's on her way." You shake your head. Joe comes out of the bathroom and says hello to Peyton. "Nice place you have here." Peyton says. "Thanks, make yourself at home." Joe nods. "Oh I will." Peyton says taking his shoes off by the door making you and Joe chuckle.

"If you're hungry Joe ordered a ton of Chinese food, it's in the kitchen." You say to Peyton. "Sure, thanks." he nods. You all make your way to the kitchen and Peyton speaks up. "So, how bad is the Code Law". Peyton says. "Wait, code law?" Joe asks in confusion. "It's something we came up with when Mariana was back on some shit with the lawyer." Peyton says to him and you nod in agreement. "This isn't going to end well is it?" Joe sighs leaning on the kitchen island. "Not at all, but to answer your question Peyton...i'd give it a 6 out of 10." You sigh. "I'm not bailing anyone out of jail, y'all have the money." Peyton saying making you laugh. "Y'all is a lot of people." You scoff. "Wait what? Jail?" Joe asks confused and Peyton chuckles. "He hasn't been around a lot of gay men has he?" Peyton says and you just shrug. "He's just being dramatic and joking, I'm sure no one will go to Jail." You reassure Joe.  

The doorbell then rings and Joe goes to answer this time. "Girl this house oh my god, I see why you're ignoring the baby thing!" Peyton snickers at you and shush him. "We're just friends." You roll your eyes. "I would second guess that but we are over here on valentine's day when he should be blowing your back out right about now." Peyton says checking his watch and you slap his arm. "So, what the actual fuck is happening right now? Also thanks for the Code Law, that date was going horrendous. The guy kept talking about landscaping...you literally saved me." Sasha says coming into the kitchen and hugging you guys. "Grab yourself some food and meet us in the living room so we can all talk about this." You tell them both and you and Joe head to the living room. "You guys take this serious." Joe says as you sit on the floor around the coffee table. "We're just a bit traumatized from the last time...Mariana spiraled out of control." You sigh leaning back on the couch. 

"Okay so spillllll what is going on!" Sasha says as her and Peyton sit down. "Joe just told me that the other day he was leaving a meeting and when he was walking to his car, he spotted Mariana and she was with Julian and he saw them kiss before he got out of her car." You say and Sasha and Peyton look at each other. "Are we sure it was her?" Sasha asks. "Positive." Joe nods. "Was the guy tall, white, brunette with a beard?" Peyton asks and Joe nods again. "Fuck." Peyton sighs. "Not this shit again...I'm sorry but once might be a mistake this is just her being a cheating bitch." Sasha says and you couldn't argue that. Mariana was your best friend but it sucked seeing her do this to her relationships. "Does anyone else know?" Peyton asks. "I haven't told Ja'Marr if that's what you're asking. I don't know how to bring something like this up to him." Joe says biting his lip looking anxious. "I don't know how I feel about being with friends with a serial cheater and if we go to her and ask.... she's going to deny it." Peyton says and you sigh knowing he was right too. "Guys, I didn't mean to like ruin a friendship here or anything. I just told Y/N what I saw because I couldn't keep it to myself any longer." Joe says seeming worried. "Oh this isn't your fault, you're real for telling us because Mariana definitely wouldn't." Sasha says and you nod agreement. 

"We have to figure out a way to obtain concrete evidence and go to Mariana with it. It's the only way, and if she denies it. We go to Ja'Marr. with it" You say looking to Joe who takes a deep breath. "Talk about being at the wrong place, and the wrong time." He says.

*************************************************

Peyton and Sasha left from Joe's pretty late. After trying to brainstorm a plan of finding out more about Mariana's affair, you guys just hung out. You thought it was actually pretty nice, Sasha and Peyton got to know Joe better and it was nice seeing them three get along well after all the drama you and Joe had. "I should probably get going to, I've had a long day." You yawn as you help Joe clean up whatever was left of the food. "Or...you could stay." Joe smirks. A smirk you knew to well at this point. "Joe- Joe nothing...come on. It's almost 1am, you live across town and I don't want you driving tired." He says pulling you towards him. "What happened to just being friends." You say to him and he shrugs. "Friends can still do this." Joe says kissing your neck sending shivers down your spine. You were beginning to hate the effect Joe had on you. Your ability to say no to him had become pathetically non-existent. "So you do this with your homeboys?" You snort and Joe sucks his teeth making you giggle. "Just go upstairs, I'm gonna make sure everything is locked up." Joe says letting you go and you nod grabbing your phone and making your way upstairs. Walking into his room you start thinking about what was going to end up happening between you two, with the baby being born soon and now that Mariana is back on her bullshit. You think about how you maybe should of just cut things off completely when you found out about the possible baby. 

Taking your hoodie off and pants, you were left in a cami and underwear. It wasn't like Joe hadn't seen any of it and more before. You throw your clothes on a chair he had in the room and make yourself comfortable on his large bed. "For someone who wanted to leave, you sure made yourself comfortable pretty fast." Joe says coming into the room and shutting the door behind him. "I could always leave, you're the one begging me to stay." You yawn. "Yeah, you'll probably fall asleep half way down the stairs." Joe says and you flick him off. "I'm gonna shower really quick, light or no light?" Joe says going to flick the lights off. "Off please." You say and he shuts the light off. Joe makes his way to the bathroom and leaves the bathroom door ajar. You noticed he always did that, you wondered if he did that for ventilation or in case a burglar came in. Either way you found yourself peeking through from the bed and you get a perfect back view of him as he went to turn the shower on. "That ass tho!" You say loud enough for him to hear and he quickly snaps his neck to the side and gives you a look. "Aren't you supposed to be sleeping?" Joe asks clearly embarrassed. "I was enjoying the show, don't put it on if you don't want anyone peeping." You answer back and you hear him suck his teeth. "Perv." You barely heard him say. "Only for you." You answer back before you see him step into the shower. "Sleep!" He barks back making you giggle. 

You doze off for a bit before you felt Joe get into bed and spoon you. His body still warm from the shower. "Friends don't sleep like this." You mutter and he hums. "I could take the couch." he says. "Mkay..."You say and he sighs taking off the comforter making you smile. You grab his arm and pull him to you again. "Stop being dumb. Keep me warm." You say to him. He pulls the cover over you again and feel him kiss your shoulder giving you goosebumps. To you it felt like he was soaking you in which felt nice but also sucked because you both knew this could all soon end. 

*****************************************

The next morning you woke up hearing the sink in the bathroom run. You looked at your phone and saw it was 7am. Of course Joe would be up this damn early you thought to yourself. You noticed a message from Mariana that she sent at 4am. You thought why she would sent something late but you remembered she was in Hawaii with Ja'Marr. You open the picture and see it was a picture of a huge ring on her finger and her smiling face behind it with the text that said "I said Yes!!". You freeze for moment in complete shock. "Joe!?" You call out and Joe quickly runs out of the bathroom with his toothbrush in his mouth. "Huh!?" He asks startled by the way you called him. "Look!!" You say jumping out of the bed and handing him your phone. He takes your phone confused and then realization strikes. "She sent you this?!" Joe asks with his toothbrush still in his mouth and you nod. "Hold on." He says going back into the bathroom. He comes out after finishing brushing his teeth. "Did Ja'Marr ever say anything about proposing?" You ask Joe. "We went out after our last game to drink our sorrows away and he might of mentioned something but definitely not for valentines day." Joe shakes his head. "This just got a whole lot messier." You sigh and Joe nods. "Code...wedding?" He grimaced.

*****************************************************

A/N: Decided to post this today instead of tomorrow so, surprise!! I hope this chapter wasn't too all over the place and you guys enjoyed! I've recently gotten a lot love from you guys over this series and I could not be more happy to see it! Thank you all for reading and supporting the fic, it means sooo much to me!! Much Love, Kay🖤

[geekfanficwriter]

Free-Spirited- Steve Harrington x Fem!Reader

Summary: You’ve always been a free-spirit next to Steve and he wonders how you can be so casual about things. Words: 3.1k Warnings: SMUT (18+, minor dni), p in v sex, slight angst, drug use

You stood in the back room of Family Video, sorting out a new shipment of videos that had just come in. You could hear Steve standing outside, talking to some customers and you wondered what exactly he was talking about. You had seen the girl he was talking to come in, she was pretty so you imagined that he was currently flirting with her. Hoping to get another date. You chuckled slightly as you figured out what videos go where. ‘Hey, you need any help?’ Steve asks appearing in the doorway of the back room. ‘Nah, I’m good.’ You say grabbing a video out of the box. ‘Here I think you’d like this one.’ You chuck the video at him, laughing slightly as you do. ‘Thanks, Y/N, real mature. You know I don’t need porn, right?’ He says, looking down at the video in his hand. ‘Why? Not like you’re getting laid. How did it go with that girl out there?’ ‘She asked me on a date, I turned her down. Not my type.’ He shrugs while you frown. ‘How is she not your type? She was pretty and interested in you. Then again you usually go for girls that aren’t interested in you.’ You stick your tongue out, joking around. ‘Hey, that’s cruel.’ Steve mimes throwing the video in his hands at you and you brace yourself for the hit but it never actually leaves his hand. ‘Hey! That’s abuse!’ You yell, a frown on your face, while Steve laughs loudly. You hear the bell chime over the door and Steve sticks his head out. ‘Oh, hey Munson.’ Steve says, walking over to the counter. You come out of the back room, waving at Eddie as you do. ‘Hey Ed, have you got the stuff?’ You ask, going round to the other side of the counter. ‘Y/N, you are not buying drugs at work?’ Steve groans as you smile at him. ‘You don’t know that. Plausible deniability, Stevie. Come on Ed, let’s go over to your van.’ You and Eddie both walk out of the shop and Steve runs his hand through his hair. He enjoyed working with you, you were fun and completely different from Robin but sometimes you were a complete handful. You seemed to have no care about anything which frustrated him but he also liked that about you. He liked that you were free-spirited even if it was annoying. Not too long later you walked back in, your black boots skidding along the floor as you headed around the back again to continue your previous task. Steve heads to the back as well, hovering near the doorway in case customers come in. ‘You going to keep standing there or are you going to help?’ You ask, looking up at him. He nods and steps into the room, sorting through the videos along with you. ‘You look stressed, Steve. What’s up?’ You ask, looking up at him. ‘Nothing, just life, you know?’ He sighs. ‘Well, I just so happened to buy something that’s great at helping people relax and I’m willing to share.’ You say in a sing-song voice. ‘I’m not going to go and smoke weed with you.’ He runs his hand through his hair and tugs on the ends. ‘Come on, I know a great spot and we can grab some beers, just hang.’ You ask, practically bouncing off the walls. ‘So you want to go get drunk and high in the woods? I thought we’d already graduated.’ He replies sarcastically. ‘You’re no fun, Steve Harrington. Just because you want to be in bed by 9 pm doesn’t mean all of us do.’ You pout at him, clearly not giving in. ‘I think it’s all the kids you hang around with, it’s turned you into a boring, old mother.’ ‘Hey! I’m not boring. I do fun stuff like go to the cinema and you know… other things.’ Steve protests, trying to think of what he actually does with his time. ‘You know what, I don’t need to prove to you I’m cool.’ ‘No, you’re right. You don’t.’ You shrug, going back to work. For some reason, your lack of concern bothers him. Like he feels the need to prove to you that he can be adventurous and reckless. ‘You know what fine. I will go smoke with you.’ Steve says crossing his arms. ‘You sure?’ You ask looking up at him. ‘Thought you didn’t need to prove that you were cool to me.’ ‘I’m not doing this to prove I’m cool. I just simply want to spend time with you.’ He lies. Well, the second part is the truth but the first is almost definitely a lie. ‘Okay, we’ll go after work.’ You say, smirking at him.

At the end of your shift, you head into the back, grabbing your leather jacket and heading out to Steve’s car alongside him. Once in the car, you directed Steve to a spot near lover’s lake where no one goes except for you and Eddie. You climb your way out of the car, jumping up on the bonnet and grabbing one of the beers you had stopped to buy. You hold one out to Steve who has sat down next to you and he gratefully accepted it, taking a drink from it. ‘Okay, I have a question for you.’ Steve asks, tapping on the top of the can. You shrug, letting him know he can go ahead. ‘How are you always so carefree? Don’t you get worried about anything?’ ‘Of course, I worry about things, I worry all the time. But I just don’t let others see it. It’s just different ways of dealing. You remain tightly strung but let your emotions be seen, I hide them from the world in a free-spirited persona.’ You say it as if it’s the easiest thing in the world. ‘Okay, so what do you worry about?’ Steve asks as you pull a cigarette out of your pocket and light it. ‘Everything. What I’m going to do with my life. If I’m really going to make anything of myself. If I’m going to die alone. You know, casual stuff, nothing big.’ You say that last part sarcastically. ‘Wow, that’s a lot. Okay so maybe I could stand to be more like you, you know more chill or whatever.’ He smiles at you as you offer him the cigarette in your hand. He takes it from you and takes a drag before handing it back over. ‘Okay, one more super personal question and then I’m done,’ Steve starts up. ‘Why aren’t you and Eddie dating? I mean you dress the same, you like the same music, and you’re both ridiculously reckless wouldn’t you be perfect for each other.’ ‘Sounds like you’ve put a lot of thought into me and Eddie dating. First of all, me and Eddie don’t listen to the same music, I listen to punk and he listens to metal and yes those are different before you ask. Second of all, I’m not Eddie’s type, his type is pretty girls.’ You consider mentioning that pretty boys are also his type but keep quiet about it. ‘What you’re pretty.’ Steve frowns. ‘Thanks, Steve but not what I meant by pretty girls. I meant like those perfect girls who never have a hair out of place and their lives completely sorted out. Those sorts of girls. I think it’s a kink or something.’ You say the last part with a grin on your face. You often mocked Eddie for his taste in girls and he did the same to you. ‘So what’s your type then?’ Steve asked carefully. ‘Oh, I don’t really have a type. Choosing people based on some sort of type or something is ridiculous in my opinion.’ You made a face as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. ‘Yeah, I get what you mean. I mean I thought I had a type but now I’m not so sure.’ Steve said rubbing his chin. ‘Okay, I think I want some of that weed now.’ Steve laughs slightly as you pulled out the little bag of weed from your backpack, pulling out a pre-rolled joint. ‘Luckily, Eddie knows I’m lazy so he rolls a few joints for me.’ You say, lighting the joint and taking a toke from it, before passing it over to Steve. ‘So why did you stop partying and become all mature? And don’t give me that ‘we’re not in high school anymore’ bullshit.’ ‘To be honest, it’s to do with Nancy.’ Steve admits, looking slightly uncomfortable. ‘Oh, you don’t have to tell me then.’ ‘No, it’s just we went to this party for Halloween and she told me our relationship was bullshit. Sort of went off partying after that.’ You looked at him with pity in your eyes. Robin had told you the basics of what had happened, how it had really fucked him up. ‘You don’t deserve that. I hope you find someone who really cares about you.’ You tell him, hitting your shoulder off his affectionately. ‘Yeah unfortunately it hasn’t happened, all these girls they just don’t feel right.’ Steve takes another hit of the weed, looking up at the sky. ‘Well you’ll find the right one and until you do we can just get high in the woods together, or drunk, whichever one you want.’ You laugh, taking the joint from him. ‘Yeah, you’re a terrible influence.’ Steve tells you, laughing slightly. ‘What you talking about? I’m not even real, I’m a figment of your imagination.’ You say waving your arms about dramatically until you fall off the hood of the car with a small scream. Steve lets out a swear and jumps off the bonnet, holding his hand out for you. You thank him and take it, letting him pull you up off the floor. ‘You all right?’ Steve asks, looking at you with concern. ‘Yeah, I’m fine. The joint however is dead.’ You say throwing the half-smoked joint that is now covered in mud on the ground. ‘You have a leaf in your hair.’ Steve tells you and you reach up to try and find it. ‘Here let me.’ He grabs your hair lightly and pulls a leaf out of it. You look into his eyes and feel a slight fluttering in your heart as he stares at you, his hand hovering near your face. You’re not certain who leans in first but the next thing you know you’re kissing each other desperately. You wrap your arms around his neck and pull him in close as his hands grip tightly on your waist, bunching up your shirt in his hands. You curled your hands in his hair, running your fingers through the soft strands as you did so. Steve let out a light groan as you pulled slightly on his hair. ‘Back seat.’ Steve mumbles against your lips, pulling the door open. You climb into the back seat, Steve climbing in straight after you. He pushes you down in the back seat, his lips reconnecting with yours as he hovered over you. His hands rested on either side of your head, keeping him from pressing his full body weight into you. You move your leg and wrap it around his waist, pulling him in close to you. You could feel his hardness pressed into you. You start grinding your hips into his, making him moan into your mouth. You pulled away from him, leaning up to press kisses to his neck, sucking as you reached his jaw leaving a bright red mark. You feel his hands slip under your shirt and you shiver at how cold they are, making their way up your stomach until he’s grabbing your breasts through your bra. You let out a quiet moan as you move your hands down to his belt buckle, quickly undoing it. ‘Fuck, we don’t have a condom.’ Steve says, sitting up slightly and running his hands through his hair. ‘Front pocket of my bag.’ You tell him and he nods, getting off you and climbing out of the car to grab the condom. While he digs through your bag, you quickly pull off your jacket, followed by your trousers and underwear, pulling them down to your knees. Steve reappears with the foil packet in his hand. He looks at you with pure lust in his eyes, palming himself through his undone jeans. You smiled at him and sat up, pulling him back into the backseat and pressing your lips against his. You gripped his shirt tightly as he moved his own hands down to rub your clit lightly. You groaned into his mouth as he moved his fingers in circles. ‘Fuck, Steve.’ You whined out, moving your own hands down and pulling his jeans and boxers down to expose his leaking cock. You jerk him a couple of times before grabbing the condom out of his hand that wasn’t on your clit and ripping it open before rolling it down his cock. You lift up your leg, wrapping it round his waist and pulling him in, letting him know what you want. He removes his hand from your clit and lines his cock up with your entrance before pushing in. You let out a small whine, gripping the back of his shirt as you feel him stretching you and filling you up. Once he’s fully inside you, he keeps his hips still and buries his head into your neck, giving you both a chance to adjust to the feeling. He eventually starts moving his hips slowly, groaning quietly into your ear as he does so. You continue to grip his shirt with one hand while you move the other one to wrap in his hair. ‘Steve, faster.’ You whine and he obliges you, moving his hips faster, gripping your leg that was wrapped around his waist tightly, leaving bruises on your bare skin. You use the hand that’s gripping his hair to pull his head away from your neck, pressing a hard kiss to his lips. It was a messy kiss, full of tongue, both of you moaning into each other’s mouth. Steve removes the hand that was holding him up from the seat cushion, returning to rub your clit as his full body weight presses into you. You let out a loud moan throwing your head back as you feel your orgasm building. ‘Fuck, you feel so good.’ Steve moans out, pressing his lips into your neck. You feel the knot in your stomach building as Steve keeps pumping into you while rubbing your clit. You start to squeeze around Steve’s cock, letting out louder and louder moans until you come undone, orgasming with a loud moan. Steve isn’t far behind you, thrusting into you a few more times before coming into the condom with a groan. He collapses on top of you and you both lie there for a moment, coming down from your orgasms. Once the fog clears, Steve starts internally panicking. He couldn’t figure out what this now meant for the two of you. Did you want to go on a date with him or was it a one-time thing? He wanted to ask you but was afraid of asking the question. With any other girl, he would assume they were interested in him but with you it was different. You were so free-spirited that he couldn’t imagine you being held down by a relationship. ‘Steve.’ You spoke, snapping him out of his thoughts. He looked at you, a content grin on your face. ‘You’re still inside me.’ You giggle slightly. ‘Shit, sorry.’ He says, blushing as he pulls out of you. He pulls off the condom and pulls his jeans back up before climbing out of the car, not wanting to look at you. You frown slightly as you pull your own jeans on and grab your jacket off the car floor before making your own way out of the car. You see Steve standing outside the car, looking tenser than you’ve ever seen him. You make your way over to him, wrapping your arms around his waist from the side. ‘What’s wrong Steve?’ You ask, resting your chin on his shoulder. ‘Hmm, nothing.’ He mumbles, not looking at you. ‘Okay, well do you-‘ ‘I can take you home now.’ Steve cuts you off, pulling away from you and heading over to the driver’s side. You frown slightly as he walks away. ‘Umm, yeah.’ You shake your head, grab your bag off the forest floor and climb into the passenger seat. The whole drive home Steve doesn’t talk to you as you wonder what you did wrong. You hadn’t planned on sleeping with him but he just looked so good, but maybe he felt like you made a mistake. Maybe you had ruined everything with him. He eventually pulls up in front of your house, still not looking at you. You turn to face him in the car and reach over, turning his face to look at you. ‘Steve, can you please tell me what’s up?’ You beg him, your eyes big. ‘Nothing, just we shouldn’t have done that.’ He sighed, feeling incredibly guilty as your face fell, your hand falling from his chin. ‘Oh, right. Did you not enjoy it?’ You ask, looking down at his hands. ‘No, I did. It’s just we work together, you know.’ Steve ran his hand through his hair. ‘And I don’t really want to do the whole sleeping around thing, I’m looking for something more than that?’ ‘Wait, what?’ You say looking up at him. ‘And you think I’m not?’ You’re not offended by the assumption, more shocked. Steve was a friend, someone you cared about, you wouldn’t sleep with him if you didn’t think it meant something. ‘No, it’s not that. It’s just that you’ve never mentioned wanting a relationship before.’ ‘I might’ve never mentioned a relationship but that doesn’t mean I don’t want one.’ ‘Oh, um, do you want one with me?’ Steve asks cringing at his own words. ‘I thought it was pretty obvious that I do.’ You chuckle slightly. ‘Date Saturday after work?’ ‘Fine but I’m taking you somewhere proper, we’re not just going to the woods.’ Steve laughs, smiling over at you. ‘Damn but that’s the only good place in Hawkins.’ You joke as Steve reaches over, cupping your cheek. He leans over the centre console and presses a small kiss to your lips, before leaning back. ‘So, I’ll see you Saturday, then.’ He smiles at you. ‘Yeah, I’ll see you then.’ You grab your bag and climb out of Steve’s car with a big smile on your face.

[sensei-venus]

Omg for the social anxiety Reader what if Hawk's is the one to approach her and help her out? I need to know how he'd react to someone like that having been a shy bullied kid himself. If you want to ofc

(Unedited) (Route Post To This Post)

Reader felt herself freeze up as the new voice seemed to loom over her. A shiver ran up her spine as she slowly looked up at the person. Her heart speeds up a bit from being so close to a stranger.

Her eyes slowly glanced up to find a boy around her age looming over her. He wears a short mohawk and crystal blue eyes that seemed to glare into her soul. Her mind started to race as she thought about all of the things that could happen in that very moment. She felt her lip tremble a little.

“Uh you want this or not? I'll take it if you don't, I have been looking for a new hoodie.”

“No...no ill take it, thanks..” Reader was quick to take the hoodie from the boys outstretched hand. He difby seem to care that she basically snatched it right out of his hands.

He raised a brow as he looked at some of the shirts on her arm. A few band tees called out to him. Stuffing his hands into his pockets he said “You listen to them?” he points to one of the shirts. Reader looks down at the shirt he is pointing at and simply nods.

Her face is already starting to get hot, she didn't want to be here. Why did some attractive guy in the middle if the mall have to see her struggling to get a stupid hoodie out of all people. She wanted to but her tongue and run right now.

“Iv been trying to find their album for months now, it's sold out everywhere. Like I could just pull out my phone and listen to it but I would die for a hard copy.”

“Have you tried Tip Top records, over by the old roller rink? They sell CDs too and they tend to have a lot of sold-out stuff because like no one goes in there. It's like a hiding hole these days.”

Reader clamped up, eyes wide.

Was she really talking to some stranger right now with no issue?

“Really? Never even thought to go into that place but that definitely makes sense. I don't hear about anyone going to that place let alone buying anything from there.” The guy nodded and smirked. His teeth were bright and full as he looked her way.

“Oh yeah the names Hawk by the way.”

“Uh Reader.”

Reader didn't know why this guy was making her smile so hard right now. Any other day she would be running away to get out of this situation. She wouldn't even be able to get a few words out. But some how this guy was making her talk with no problem. It felt so weird and new to be able to talk to someone like this. For once she felt like she was having a normal conversation with a stranger.

Her heart was beating hard but not out of anxiety, there was a new feeling. The initial anxiety was slowly trickling away and new feelings were bubbling up inside her. For once she wanted to continue talking to someone new. Her stomach felt weird in a good way, she wanted to keep feeling that way. Talking to “Hawk” seemed to make her anxiety slip away.

“Hey I don't know what you're doing right now besides shopping, but some of my friends are going to go hang out in the court yard. Probably just get something to eat and chill. Why didn't you come? You don't have to talk or anything if you didn't want to....it would be cool if you just stuck around.” Hawk scratched the back of his head. His eyes lazily rolled as he threw a thumb behind him, a group of other teens was in the back laughing about something on a shirt. Those must be the friends he's referring to.

Reader looked around him and just stared at his little friend group for a minute.

“Trust me they're cool and if you feel uncomfortable or something, just let me know. I'll make them shut the fuck up real quick.”

She wanted to laugh at that but she could tell by his tone he was serious. Clearly, he didn't find the idea of his group of friends making her uncomfortable to be very funny. He watched for her reaction but didn't try to state her down anymore. He seemed to understand her nervous posture by this point.

Taking a deep breath Reader held the new hoodie close to her chest. Cheeks burning with nervousness and embarrassment. Slowly she looked at Hawk with a small smile.

“I would love to hang out with you and your friends. But I will warn you that I'm not much of a talker.” Reader mumbles out. Hoping she didn't chase off the new guy with her anxiety.

She was shocked when he just grinned and laughed saying “That's completely fine. Trust me when I say that most of my friends talk like crazy. They basically entertain themselves at this point. I would just enjoy it if you were there.” she sheepishly nodded at him.

The fact he wasn't pushing her to talk made her breathe a sigh of relief.

“Just uh meet us at the food court in a few minutes ok? It's not hard to sport up. See you later Reader.” he smirked and gave her a small wave before turning and walking off. He walled back to his friends who just slapped him on the back and went back to talking. The whole time he wears a smirk on his face.

Occasionally he turns his gaze back to her, just watching to see if she has run off or not. The whole time her cheeks feel like a lit furnace.

She quickly turns around and makes her way to the register. Clenching her shirts and hoodie in her arms.The smile that took over her face was huge and weird to her. For once she couldn't wait to go hang out with people, especially strangers at that. As she started to check out her stuff with the cashier she looked back toward where Hawk was standing before.

For a split second, she caught his eye and they just stood there looking at one another. Reader gave a small wave. Unexpectedly Hawk also gave a small wave, making sure none of his friends were watching him. He grinned at her before turning back to them.

Maybe meeting new people wasn't so bad when it was people you felt drawn too.

Maybe she could give it a try.

[discobrainrot]

did you say to ask for more harrykim hc? bc i want some more!! it can be canon or au (any of your choice) im not picky

LET'S GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!

You're getting Canon Kim and Harry this time, but if someone sends me another (without specifying) I'll probably do Swap AU stuff!

1. It's not just Harry who's in love with Kim - it's Harry's Skills.

Whether they're something that occurred because of Pale Exposure or a symptom of something else, they're a part of him. His Skills are how he experiences the world. It's just as much them romancing Kim as it is him.

So when Harry falls in love, every Skill falls hard and fast, too. The INT Skills, particularly Logic, are taken with Kim's mind. The PSY Skills admire his dedication (to his passions, to the RCM, to his partner), and Volition is relieved that they've been drawn to such an (outwardly) stable force.

The FYS skills got it bad - Shivers sees how Kim fits into Revachol's greater puzzle like a missing piece. Electrochemistry has... a lot to say.

But the MOT Skills? Oh god. They're obsessed. Kim is cool, calm, and collected. He loves machines. Even with his eyesight, he's still a damn good shot. He's so suave. They. Want. Him. So. Bad.

At the end of the day, Kim is romancing one person in 25 parts. It's all-encompassing, and at first, it's strange. But after a time, he can't imagine being loved another way

2. Kim didn't expect Harry to stay interested in him.

Look, I can't picture Harry as anything other than a scatterbrain. It's partly because of my scatterbrained way of playing the damn game, but it's my headcanon, and I'll cry if I want to.

So, when they first met, Kim watched Harry flit around Martinaise like a speed fuelled (or until-recently-speed-fueled) bumblebee. He buzzes around, finds something, pursues it for a while, then sets it down and forgets. Kim watches Harry blow past his old partner without a word and worries that he might be in Jean's place one day.

Well, almost Jean's position. Maybe a worse one. It's not a stretch to imagine Harry getting distracted or bored of Kim. But this is the happiest he's felt in a long time, so he decides to ride it out. Take the joy where he can. He'll deal with the hurt when it comes.

But then Harry doesn't get bored of him. Instead, he wants more. And more. And more.

And then Harry stays over at Kim's place on weekends.

And they're investing in more board games. And Harry knows just the way Kim likes his coffee. And he makes dinner whenever he comes over. And, oh, Harry's lease is almost up, so he might as well move in. And he buys posters and photos to hang up. And he paints "This Is Something Beautiful" on their bedroom wall. And Kim knows he won't get his deposit back, but he doesn't fucking care.

And then it's been a year, and Harry has some of his old memories back, but mostly he's been making new ones. And anyone who matters to them knows what's happening, but no one says a word. And they don't hold hands in public, but the look Harry gives Kim lets him know how badly he wants to. 

And then it's been a few more years, and they move to a different apartment. And the heaters don't work, but that's okay because they keep each other warm in the winter. And Harry holds Kim close as they dance in the kitchen. And Kim's vision is getting worse, and Harry's got a bad heart, but they live the best lives they can. And they plan a wedding that they know they'll probably never have.

And Kim pretends he doesn't hear the city as she speaks into his heart.

And Harry pretends he doesn't hear Kim cry when he realizes they can't stop what's coming.

And then it's been so many years that their grey hairs outnumber all the others. And Harry doesn't talk about La Retour, but Kim sees how much he thinks about it. And he holds Harry's hand in public because it feels like the world is ending anyways. And the corners of Harry's eyes crinkle when he smiles, and it still makes Kim's heart swim even after so many years. And Harry still sees a halo behind Kim's head.

And they dance between detritus and rubble as an old radio plays. And they remember their kitchen. And they say the names of old friends. And far away, someone smiles and says theirs.

And La Revacholiere holds them in her broken arms and cries. And they hold her in their lungs. And they cry with her because of their loss. And they cry with her because they've survived.

And they love.

And they love.

And they love.

3. Harry has, like, big I'm A Bottom energy, right?

Right???????

[jackfrombaskinrobbins]

clint barton as your older brother headcanons :)

type of writing: headcanons / scenario

word count: 685

request: yes / no

original request: "Hi! I love your teen avenger series so far, it's amazing! Do you think you could do headcanons for being Clint Barton's younger sibling? Thanks ❤"

dynamic: clint barton x younger sibling!reader

characters: clint barton, a little barney barton as well, maybe some kate bishop, lucky the pizza dog ofc

a/n: THIS TOOK ME SO LONG IT'S NOT EVEN FUNNY IM SORRY :( but tysm for it!! gotta love clint barton :D also, requests are open, so send an ask any time!

taglist: @thecloudedmind @nutellani

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having clint barton as a big brother really prepared you for anything

and when i say anything i mean anything

he once snuck up on you while you were at the grocery store

IT WAS SO MEAN OMG

like he literally hid behind one of those displays of chips

and then jumped out when you passed him

he was fr laughing so hard

then this old lady told him that he was rude so he got what he deserved

when it was just clint and barney, barney made clint learn sign language so that he would communicate with him

and so when you were born, barney was determined to have you learn it too

little did he know, clint had discovered bad words.

one thing led to another, and let’s just say the sign language clint taught you didn’t exactly mean what he told you it meant

barney was so mad omg but it was so funny

i feel like clint likes to invite you and barney over for dinner

not that barney comes bc that man is out doing who knows what

but he always gets pizza

like every single time he gets pizza

and he buys way too much

you once asked if he could get something else

and then once you got to his place, there was pizza on the table

smh

an important part of your relationship is that whenever you’re around, lucky ignores clint and only listens to you

and he gets super annoyed

like he’ll try EVERYTHING to get his dog back

but it doesn’t work :) 

you also have a really good relationship with kate

the two of you meet for coffee every once in a while just to gossip about clint

because let’s face it, the only person who has more blackmail on that guy is barney

i think clint would be a pretty protective older brother

he definitely calls just to check in on you

except sometimes he’ll call and do voices

i feel like clint would do a lot of voices

like celebrity impressions or accents

and so you’ll answer the phone and he’ll be trying to sound like bruce springsteen or something

and it’s always a really bad impression too

but he’ll try to have you guess and then he’ll tell you what it was after

and you always go “oh ok. i definitely heard that. yep.”

and then he just hangs up.

but he always calls back don’t worry :) 

clint also frequents antique shops.

but he doesn’t buy stuff for himself because he knows he’ll break it

so he swings by your place a lot with the most random stuff

sometimes it’s cool

like one time he gave you this lamp that looked like a taxi sign

but then once he gave you one of those really creepy baby dolls

from like the forties or something

and he just dropped it off by your door and ran away

and then he sent you a text like “check the front door…”

IT SCARED YOU SO BAD

you called him to yell at him but he wasn’t listening because he was laughing so hard 

you have a lot of eating competitions

barney used to take the two of you out to eat when you were younger, and you would both get four ice cream sundaes

and barney would just roll his eyes because he knew what was coming

you’d try to eat them as fast as possible

it usually ended with someone getting sick or with ice cream all over their clothes

and barney would just be sitting there, eyes closed, wishing he didn’t have such weird younger siblings

but don’t worry, he secretly loved the two of you :)

i like to think you knit and crochet stuff for clint a lot

and at the time he won’t look that excited but then he’ll wear it every chance he gets

you made him this purple hat thing and he literally won’t take it off

but he has to find something wrong with it, so he says it’s not warm enough

but you know that’s a lie!!

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[mylevisdontfitanymore]

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFF your last few fills are brain scrambling thank you for your service

Tbh I have been thinking about the fat himbo Bucky concept w the WG denial and then saw the recent curse one with clothes ripping and my brain said‼️

So: Any thoughts on himbo Buck just pouring out of his clothes and being like “Steve why did you shrink all my stuff in the wash🥺” since you wrote he was a former athlete just imagine some old teeny workout shorts w that stretch marked belly & lovehandles hanging out🥵plus hims poor ass about to rip the shorts in half. Meanwhile Steve probably has a coronary like “alsnsnsbd babe sorry bABE we’ll have to buy new ones” while totally stretching the daily peep show out until everything is impossible to fit Bucky’s fat ass steadily growing…hoo boy

If you want to write anything yeehaw but whatever you wanna do, if not I hope my horny ramblings were entertaining

Oblivious heavy himbo Bucky + Bucky's rapid weight gain curse

Thanks! ❤️

I am always happy to make people’s brains malfunction 😂

Also YES! That’s such a good combination 🤌🤌

Hell yes, himbo Bucky cursed to burst out of all of his clothes 🥵

I have to say though, as much as I love fast, super intense rapid weight gain… I think for himbo Bucky it would be really hot if he somehow gets cursed with a slower weight gain curse. Like, it’s still much faster than he would ever be able to put weight on irl, no matter how much he stuffed himself every day, but it’s not the instantaneous gain either. The curse is just slow enough that Steve can see Bucky expand if he keeps looking at Bucky for more than a few seconds. This also means that the curse is slow enough that Bucky doesn’t notice it - keeping on theme with the weight gain denial a little bit. Bucky isn’t paying enough attention and isn’t smart enough to notice there’s anything wrong.

Not right away.

Maybe Steve bought a charm off of someone claiming to be a witch... Maybe Steve had a sorcerer put a mild curse on Bucky that they promised would wear off after a little while... However you would like to imagine the curse came about, Steve knows that Bucky is growing much faster now than he would without some help. But, still, he isn't growing so fast as to give away the game.

So, how long will it take Bucky to notice? Such a pretty, sweet, and stupid boy. Place your bets now!

Stucky belly kink ahead! Be warned! It’s unbeta’d and there’s also some dub-con elements in it because Bucky doesn’t know, at first, that he’s been cursed and gaining weight. Otherwise, it’s the usual belly kink with stuffing, weight gain, tight clothes, etc.

Throughout the day when it kicks in, Bucky asks a bunch of stupid questions, like:

“Why are you looking at me so much, Steve?”

When Steve can’t help but zone out on Bucky. He’s watching Bucky chow down from across the kitchen island. Right now, Bucky’s happily munching on his fifth bowl of cereal. His fifth bowl even after Steve woke him up with the smell of bacon, eggs, and pancakes. Steve had a protein shake, perfectly caloric and with the appropriate macronutrients. The traditional, sweet, and savory breakfast foods were all for Bucky.

And Bucky scarfed it all down plus, obviously, then some. Hence the five bowls of cereal.

Steve has been trying to keep his cool while watching Bucky’s double chin get thicker and thicker. He’s been trying not to lunge across the kitchen island to bury his face in between Bucky’s tits. Why does Bucky have to sleep shirtless and have breakfast shirtless? It’s killing Steve! 😫

Bucky’s tits have always been soft and tempting since he began gaining but watching them get plumper and plumper by the second is awful. Steve has to chew on the inside of his cheek to keep from reaching out and sinking his teeth into those tits. Or, Christ, his nipples. As he gains, slowly but surely, his nipples are getting bigger and bigger. Softer and softer looking. Pinker and pinker. Steve is dying to know if they’re any more sensitive now than they were last night before all this started. They have to be. Right now, his nipples look so hard. Steve wants to put his mouth on his lush tits so fucking bad.

Steve shakes his head, trying to be normal and throwing on a cheesy grin, “what? A guy can’t look at his best pal?”

Bucky slurps another spoonful of milk and sugary cereal and grins sweetly. His face is already fatter, oof, and his chubbier cheeks turn the prettiest pink at the compliment. He waves a hand as if to say, stop it! But he keeps eating and he keeps letting Steve stare.

Steve looks for a little while longer until Bucky squirms in place under his appreciative stare. When he squirms his tits jiggle. And Steve can’t take it. He’s sweating. He can’t even imagine what’s happening to that tummy of his under the kitchen counter between the curse and all the food he’s eating.

Steve rasps, “I’m gonna go shower.”

Bucky nods and reaches for the box sitting next to his bowl on the counter, pouring himself another bowl.

Oh, God.

Steve rushes off to the bathroom but he makes the mistake of looking back. And he’s presented with a way-too-hot view of Bucky’s ass and love handles slowly creeping wider and wider. He’s growing out of the kitchen island bar stool right in front of Steve’s eyes. If he sits there for the rest of the day… will the stool eventually break? Will he get too big? Will his ass get two, three, four times wider than that stool?

🥴🥴🥴

Steve is-

Steve is going to shower.

Steve is going to take a very long, very hot shower because… because his muscles hurt from his run earlier this morning. That’s. That’s also why he’s so sweaty. He went on a run before breakfast. Mmm-hmm. That’s it.

“Steve, why are my clothes so tight!?”

By the time Steve is done in the shower and has changed into his comfortable, I’m-not-leaving-the-house-today clothes, Bucky is sitting on the couch, still in his own PJs. Steve trips over nothing in the hallway. Turning the corner to reveal Bucky reveals that he is still eating. He’s got the second box of their cereal out (he must’ve finished the first already 🥵) and is putting handfuls of it right into his mouth. Not caring that it’s dry. Just. Hand-to-mouth. Feeding himself. Like he can’t stop. Almost like he doesn’t know he’s doing it.

“Huh?” Steve says intelligently.

Bucky pulls at his little workout shorts. Not basketball shorts but tiny, little shorts. Like the kind you see women running in these days. Like the kind of shorts that men wore in the 1980s. Hiding nothing.

And when Bucky pulls at his shorts - the ones he wore in college when he actually fit into them - he doesn’t pull at the waistband of the shorts. He can’t. It’s buried under his tummy. Instead, he pulls at the bottom hem of them. The bottom hem has ridden up to the very, very top of his thighs, sitting down the way he is, showing off the way his pale thighs spread on the sofa.

“My sleep shorts don’t fit anymore,” he pouts.

How did Steve not notice before that even his thighs are covered in little stretch marks? Sure, they’re light. But. They’re still there. How could he miss them!?

Steve might faint. He just… just had some alone time in the shower, how does he already need more?

Steve really wants to turn right back around so he isn’t completely overwhelmed by how fucking hot Bucky is but also he wants to go right up to Bucky and he wants to fall to his knees between his legs and he wants to sit there forever. He wants to watch Bucky grow bigger and bigger and bigger. He wants to touch him as he gets softer and softer, heavier and heavier, larger and larger. Steve does neither, instead, he comes up behind Bucky on the couch, pressing himself to the back of the couch for no reason (it’s definitely not to get a little friction and pressure against himself, nope) other than to be able to massage his shoulders. An excuse to touch him, to soothe him, and to say, “sorry, baby, I probably messed up the dryer settings. They must’ve shrunk last time I did laundry.”

Bucky crunches thoughtfully on his cereal.

Steve keeps massaging his shoulders, disbelieving his hands and his eyes, how can someone’s shoulders get fat? Fuck. 😮‍💨

“It’s okay,” Bucky says once he swallows. “Can I get more?”

“Of course.” Steve’s mind catches up to his mouth after he answers, “although… maybe not today.”

“Why not?” Bucky asks, “we’re not doing anything, right? We could go shopping?”

“Eh,” Steve shrugs and can’t help but stroke his fingers down Bucky’s throat as he swallows again. He gets goosebumps. “I just don’t feel like shopping today. Wouldn’t you rather relax all day anyway.” Standing over Bucky the way he is, Steve can see two kinds of progression - he can see the way Bucky’s belly makes slow, steady progress over his thighs, pushing farther and farther out, and he can see the way the amount of cereal in the box gets lower and lower.

“I do like doing nothing.” Bucky says, all sunny.

“I know, baby,” Steve pats his head and he thinks and you deserve to do nothing. Do nothing but get bigger and bigger. But, for now, he walks away. Only throwing over his shoulder, “are you gonna shower, Buck?”

“Eventually.”

“Steeeeve how come I’m so hungry? I’m hungry all the time but why am I so hungry today? Can you hear my stomach growling?”

It’s only an hour after Bucky had an early lunch when he asks that. He’s snacked more before lunch and he’s also showered by now.

(Steve may have mourned the loss of getting to keep an eye on Bucky’s growth while he was showering, singing carelessly and loudly and off-tune as he cleaned up, but that all dissipated when Bucky came back out with a few extra inches. Asking, “did you wash these clothes too, Stevie? They’re tight too. Tighter than my shorts!” And Steve can tell. The clean clothes he’s stuffed himself into are his own lazy day clothes. An old, college t-shirt that’s white with their navy blue college logo stretched over Bucky’s bigger tits. The bottom of the shirt doesn’t even come close to covering his gut. Half of it is just hanging out, showing off his thickening waist. Showing off how his poor shorts, another pair of little ones because, of course. They are being crushed under the weight of his tacked-on belly and chunky love handles as well as being stretched across his fat ass.)

And…

Can you hear my stomach growling, only an hour after I’ve stopped forcing food into it?

Steve totally can hear it growling. Gurgling. All that food shifting around inside him. Accelerating his growth.

Steve might also be able to hear it stretching. All that plush fat struggling to grow around the mass of food packed into one overtaxed stomach. Steve can’t describe the amount of hunger he suddenly feels himself. Is it wrong to want to bite him? He’s just so fat and plump and-

Steve licks his lips. If he didn’t close his mouth he might start drooling. He wouldn’t eat Bucky, obviously, but he does want to devour him. Y’know?

“Yeah,” Steve breathes in and out. Slow. Like Bucky’s never-ending growth. He doesn’t want to faint. “Yeah, you’re alway hungry, Buck. An’, yeah, I can hear your stomach growling. Are you sure you ate enough, baby? You gotta be hungry for a reason.”

Bucky pouts, “I thought I did eat enough!”

“Do you want some more?”

“Oh, please,” Bucky moans. He moans. And. Doesn’t even seem to notice. He’s so effortlessly hot. Steve can’t stand it. He walks to the fridge to pull out more leftovers to reheat but also to stick his head in the cold. While his back is turned, Steve also bites into his fist and lets out a moan of his own. He didn’t anticipate this being so hard on him. Bucky isn’t struggling like Steve is. Bucky is just enjoying himself. Ignorance is bliss. Stupid and so, wonderfully happy. It’s sweet. Steve can’t stand it, it’s so sweet. Like, why does even that turn him on?

God, he’s a pervert. 🥴😵‍💫

“Am I always this big Steve?”

Hdhfhdjs, Steve’s brain provides helpfully. He’s too stunned by the question to add anything right away. He can’t answer! For the last two hours, he’s been trying his best to not tear through the throw pillow he’s had in his lap with his hands fisted in it to keep himself from grabbing Bucky and giving up the game and also leaving it in his lap to hide how much he’s into what has been going on right under Bucky’s nose (more like under his double-chin and past his g-u-t 🥵).

Also for the past two hours he’s been swiveling his head between the TV playing some reality TV show that Bucky enjoys to Bucky himself.

Over the past two, maybe three, hours Bucky has been munching. Steadily getting more and more snacks from the pantry. Filling himself beyond full. Stuffing himself. Steve isn’t sure if he isn’t aware he’s full, not noticing the signals from his body while being so absorbed in his show, or… maybe the curse keeps his stomach growing as well as his fat? Like, he really can’t get full, his stomach getting larger and larger, or maybe all the calories are instantly being digested and used for more fat so, he has to eat to keep up. Steve doesn’t know. It doesn’t matter though.

All the matters is not exploding.

He’s all sweaty again and very turned on and paying way, way more attention to the sounds Bucky is making than anything else. His noisy tummy. His clothes creak - the seams scream under the pressure. His little huffs and puffs and satisfied moans. His “oofs” when he drags himself up, off the sofa. His laughter at himself, nearly unable to hold his balance under the weight of his always bigger body. His hiccups when he eats or drinks faster than his body knows what to do with and the following groans of overfullness along with the sound of his hands caressing his pregnant, over-due looking gut sitting in front of him.

“Steve?”

“Y-yeah?”

“Have I gotten bigger?” He asks, turning towards Steve, bringing one of his thick legs up onto the couch, and, oh, God, running a chubby hand over his enormous belly. “Or am I always like this?” To emphasize this he wiggles, just a little. Just enough to sway his belly back and forth which is better to Steve than any perfect, sinful strip tease could ever be. His big, fat, pale gut wobbling. All that lard hanging out, thick and round, from his t-shirt that might as well be a bra at this point, straining around his full breasts, the seams bringing to pop under his fat arms. His shorts have ridden up every time he sits back down on his fat ass, and have been pushed down by his growing belly until Steve can only see little peaks of them around his fat. They’re beginning to break too.

Does Bucky even know?

Does he know he’s practically naked?

Does he know he’s rapidly gaining weight yet?

Steve’s head is spinning, watching Bucky as he continues to touch himself.

“No,” Steve finally replies, breathless.

Bucky’s eyebrows come together. He obviously doesn’t understand. Sweet, stupid boy.

Which means Steve has to explain what’s going on. Bucky’s face, as he learns what’s been happening to him, is practically orgasmic. He loves it. Then, it’s Steve’s turn to ask a question, “so, you’ve been getting fatter all day, Buck, did you seriously not notice?”

Bucky shakes his head. He grabs an overflowing handful of blubber at the side of his ballooned belly - wide and fat and impossibly heavy, sticking out in front of him. And he leaves his hand there for long enough to feel himself growing.

Expanding.

Larger and Larger.

Bucky bites his lip, just feeling himself for a moment. Not even trying to put on a show for Steve but putting on the best possible one anyway. Especially when he seemingly can’t take it anymore, letting his head fall back with a ragged moan. Shifting his hips and murmuring, “no wonder I’ve felt so good all day, Stevie. I love getting fatter.”

It flickers through Steve’s mind to say, I know, it’s why I did this. I did it for you, sweet boy. But no thoughts are sticking for long in Steve’s head.

Besides, Steve can’t take it anymore, and he doesn’t have to. So, he pounces. Lunging forward and plastering himself around Bucky’s rotund gut. It feels so much better than it looks. It feels pornographic to have Bucky’s fat balloon against Steve’s own body, slowly working to push Steve out of Bucky’s crowded lap.

🥴🥴🥴

I hope you enjoyed!

[cheemken]

Have some more Unova kids hcs bc why not the brainrot is real

•okay but fr tho "*didn't ask for pickles but is too shy to tell the server*" w Hilbert, Bianca, and N, and "excuse me, but they asked for no pickles" w Hilda, Iris, and Cheren

•they would play every co op game under the sun, I just know it, that's how Iris got her love of fps games cause she gets to play it w her friends

•they def play pkmn unite tho

-tho when they do play unite, the others always separate Iris and Hilbert as the two are like pros, so it's always three on one side and three on the other when they do a pvp tournament w each other

-usual teams are Hilda, Cheren, and Iris, and then N, Hilbert, and Bianca

-surprisingly enough, N is good at that game, and got every pkmn at least the green ribbon bc he wanted every one of his friends to have one

-Zoroark got a gold ribbon tho let's be real, he only ever uses Zoroark in that game it's insane

•as much as the others tease Cheren that he's like a teacher now, they do actually listen to his lectures, and would oftentimes hang out in his gym whenever they're free

-whenever he's not around, the others would always tell his students how cool and strong he is, and the kids would be so amazed bc ofc, the two Heroes and the Champion looking up to their teacher? Their Gym Leader? Ofc they'd eat that up, and they'd listen more to Cheren cause they wanna be strong like him now too

•Iris and N having that solidarity that they never had much friends, or rather didn't really have friends, when they were younger and the Nuvema kids mean so much to them bc it's the first ever friend group they had

-and really the first friend group that doesn't make fun of anything abt them and how odd they are

•Iris is that rich friend let's be real, she's Champion and her grandpa is the mayor of a city, ofc she'd have that money, and she'd just spend most of it buying lil gifts for her friends, usually Dragon themed stuff, or things that she thinks they'll like

-shes the one that goes all out during their birthdays and Christmas, saying how she's only getting the best for her friends

•N is staying w Alder now, as the others didn't just want him to fly around Unova or stay inside Plasma's old castle, and hey they all wanted to let N stay w em, but N decided to just stay w Alder instead and Alder was more than happy

-he also helps Alder in teaching the kids more abt Pokémon, it makes him happy how patient the children are and how understanding they are when it comes to their partner pkmn

-it makes him miss his own Pokémon sometimes, but he knows they're happy wherever they are

•altho Bianca would often say she's the weakest of the bunch, she's actually a really capable trainer that she got to the semi finals in the PWT

-the others did help her train, as they didn't want her getting hurt while running errands or doing research stuff

-yknow what, Bianca's Serperior deserves to have Contrary, so hey her Serperior's ability is now Contrary, as a treat

-bonus tho, Hilbert's Emboar has Reckless as an ability

•Zekrom, Reshiram, and even Kyurem would listen to Cheren, Bianca, and N's commands

-pls ur honour they trust each other so much that even their legendary pkmn would listen to the ones that aren't even their actual trainers

•Hilda and Hilbert could impersonate each other really well when they were younger, ofc now they have different body types they couldn't anymore, but they could still somewhat mimic each others voices that it honest to god still scares Cheren

-Cheren had told N and Iris that the twins always did that back then to mess w them, and "it seems you two didn't grow out of it."

"oh cmon, Cheren, it's fun!"

"you say it's fun because you two can mess with people online with it."

"yeah no shit—"

[yuukei-yikes]

Do you have any headcanons about Hibiya's relationships with the rest of the Dan after the series? I was always a little disappointed we didn't really get to see him interact much with anyone besides hiyori, konoha, and momo. I would have loved to see him properly integrated as a member of the group and hanging out with them 🥲

YESSSSS I'VE ACTUALLY BEEN MEANING TO DRAW HIBIYA HANGING OUT WITH EVERYONE SEPARATELY TO LIKE POINT OUT DYNAMICS but then i never did 💔 i still will at some point

hibiya is the mekakushi dan's little brother.

0. ayano's big sister radar goes off incredibly fast when meeting hibiya. she spoils the hell out of him because hibiya is largely independent and already has momo as a big sister for emotional stuff so when ayano's like WANT ME TO PATCH UP THE HOLE IN UR SHIRT hibiya's like what. i know how to do that myself. and ayano's like fine i will buy your love if i must. so she's always taking him shopping and asking if he needs anything new. he comes back every summer to the city with broken ass sandals and ayano's always sending him back with shiny new ones. he still rly enjoys having her around but he looks at her more in a motherly light than sisterly. he'd DIE before admitting it tho

1. srry to play the cooking card with kido again but. hibiya and kido cooking together :) i think kido is very impressed with hibiya's cooking and hibiya is SUPER used to being taken for granted so when they point it out to him he almost bursts into tears. i think hibiya is always looking for compliments from kido bc kido is super cool and The Leader and they kinda have a teacher's pet dynamic LMAOO hibiya is always asking kido if he can help with any chores so of course it works and he's kido's favorite student. if this was a class which is not. so he's just a rly helpful kid kido enjoys having around and hibiya loves that kido is really normal. also kidomomo. yeah. hibiya and his lesbian moms. also kido teaches hibiya how to bind. ratio

2. with seto... i remember reading this fic in ff/net back in the golden days of kagepro (so like. 10 years ago) that was like hibiya resenting seto bc he was still hurting abt hiyori and while everyone died with a loved one seto lost a DOG. i thought it was so funny bc it's so immature but seems so in character for hibiya. also in the novels when hibiya is unconscious he's taken to seto's room. i think hibiya thinks the whole dan act like fools (bc they ARE) but kind of respects and looks up to seto because hibiya is 12 and according to my intensely calculated family headcanons was raised in a toxic masculinity household so he sees this Buff Guy getting up at 5am everyday and holds more than one job for his family...he's like (nod nod nod) and he also really respects how seto refuses to use his eye power because of its. erm. unethical nature. hibiyas like UGH SETO IS SO COOL SUCH A MAN'S MAN. seto is mostly oblivious to this and always always always ruffles hibiyas hair. everyone does this but seto is the only one hibiya doesnt yell at

3. i think kano would go easy on hibiya cuz he's a kid but not entirely bc if kano isnt totally insufferable to everyone he knows at least once a day he gets sick and dies. i think kano tries to do the big sibling thing abt convincing the little brother of a total bullshit lie like basically his hobbie is gaslighting hibiya for fun. hibiya goes screaming for kido to make him stop lol. also kano's the one who's always saying shit like hibiya is 8 years old. even when hibiya's an adult kano's like how old are u again. u turned like 15 right

4. man mary tries acting SOOOO GROWN UP to hibiya she's like desperately trying to seem like a cool older sister but on purpose. with everyone else it's kind of natural but she is actively trying. momo bestie so also around a lot and sees how momo (hibiyas big sister #1) acts around him and tries doing the same and hibiya's like. this is pathetic. but still endearing and accepts it LOL he's also respectful of mary bc he's well aware of her role in their survival so he's like SIGHS okay

6. takane is everyone's demise because she introduces hibiya to smartphones and gaming. like hibiya rly wanted a smartphone right and then he makes all these friends and has to go back to the village so he takes an intensive course ran by takane abt how to use a phone. which is all good. but the thing is she is ALSO like ur so weird kid. here. play some amongus. this is how amongus hibiya can still win. everyone like vinnie hibiya cant be a fortnite kid bc he has no idea abt gaming he doesnt even have a phone WELL i got news for u buddy my fave character is takane and im also totally delusional. she is the reason hibiya is texting the gc in total typos asking if anyone wants to among us. and he's so thankful to her he expresses his gratitude thru sending her amongus and minecraft memes he finds around that she's seen a thousand times but it's rly endearing. also hibiya is shintaro coded so takane knows how to handle him sorry im so delusional abt their friendship (holds their chapter together from novel eight close to my chest)

7. eheheheheh. like i said. hibiya is shintaro coded like in canon both momo and takane say hibiya reminds them of shintaro like he's a little shin. and momo adopting hibiya means shintaro gets little brother by default too. his ass is always at HIS HOUSE!!!! i talked abt this in a post once abt how seeing hibiya and momo together makes shintaro want to try a little harder at being a big brother. i think they like each other and shintaro always lets hibiya sit in his room if momo is being too insane, and hibiya sometimes is like well shintaro's actually pretty normal!! (immediately sees him act a fool bc ofc he does) eugh. also shintaro helps hibiya with his summer hw, i think hibiya's a good student but appreciates the help and tells shintaro he thinks he'd make a rly good teacher and continues writing down on his hw all casually while shintaro has to act like he didn't get all choked up hearing that

9. i've talked abt the haruka and hibiya shitshow lol but again i love the idea of hibiya just totally refusing to acknowledge konoha's gone and keeps kicking and screaming abt it. bc if konoha is rly gone then it means he regrets everything bc he was so mean to it and its bc of it hiyori is alive (hiyori doesnt act this way bc she's well aware of it) and that SUCKS. so hibiya largely avoids haruka and isn't all that into how hiyori is really accepting of him and all. and haruka is also like. awkwardly trying to approach him because it's the least he can do in konoha's memory but hibiya's like hissing at him. eventually hibiya would accept it after a couple breakdowns. i think momo also punches some sense into him. i want hibiya to lash out at haruka and scream all sorts of things at him abt how it's not fair konoha is gone and like who even is he and just overall say all the things haruka is already super insecure about but then it ends on hibiya sobbing in his arms abt how much he misses konoha. and haruka can only hug him back and apologize :(

[turnonyrlovelight]

HERE IT IS.

THE BLUES BROTHERS BAND [+ FAMILY] AND WHAT PETS THEY WOULD HAVE:

JAKE:

jake seems like a classic dog guy, but at the same time i would absolutely see him with smth really fucking weird like he brings a snake in n is like "this is jake jr." would be mixed on walking a dog every single day.

ELWOOD:

he likes loud but doesn't at the same time, dog mayb ?? no, he would absolutely get like a fish or a cat- maybe both just for funsies. he wouldn't exactly get a pet tho officially, he would find smth in an alleyway that vaguely looks like a cat n go "hell yeah"

MACK:

DOG. BIG FLUFFY DOG. CRUSTY EYED WHITE DOG YOU NAME IT THIS MAN WOULD GET A DOG. fun n absolutely whimsical like him ! not much 2 say abt him unfortunately, but i am absolutely certain mack is a golden retriever dude

CURTIS:

i don't really think he'd actually get a pet ? curtis has lots on his plate already and pets are a lot to handle, but he probs has smth nice like a fish. fish are complicated yes, but he thinks he has the gist of it, likes to come down to the basement after a long day and put on a record, watch the fish swimming around and talk to it. has a fish care routine

BUSTER:

something ridiculous. elwood and sister mary do not trust this creature with animals so the closest thing would be some real "my first pet !!!1!1!" stuff like a hamster who gets lost in the bluesmobile on the way home from the store and is never found again. that or a skink he found in a puddle and decided was cool

CAB:

most likely a cat ! something sleek, smart and sort of mirrors him in a way. he likes how mischievous cats are along with the history and such of cats being worshipped and decides cats are pretty neat. absolutely not an animal person but warms up to the cat after a while and then devotes all of his possessions to it

SISTER MARY:

turtle. that's it. turtle. specifically the really angry one from the amazing world of gumball. yeah, the one that dried up but somehow lived ?? like cab, the turtle mirrors her in a way where it looks alright but will bite you if you come toward it. she has to feed it with a pair of tongs

ALAN:

a fish, just one though, and just one he will have. he watches the other bandmembers pets from time to time and doesn't exactly mind animals, just does not have the time or energy to be taking care of anything but himself at the moment with such a busy schedule being in the band and having like, every job ever in the highbrow end of town

TOM:

gerbil- i have no idea !!!! a rodent that's really strange looking but he absolutely adores it, shows it off to everyone and sacrifices things to it. the rodent is insane and tom doesn't keep it in an enclosure or anything overnight or if he's out so you just have to hope and pray u have not let the gerbil out into the street to commit mass crime

LOU:

doggie :] that or !!!! a bird :]]]] something whimsical like mack's animal choices. lou probably enjoys walks outside, song and something that finds interest in everything like a bird or a dog. even though you can't exactly walk a bird he will absolutely try, he will buy a little baby harness and take that bird for a walk down the street.

MURPH:

this man is a farm, he goes to pet supply stores just to take the crickets home [he has no animals that eat crickets, he just wants crickets], will get everything he sees. has a little crusty eyed white dog that he dresses up and goes full old lady mode on. ur honour murph is just a little old woman leave him alone in his farmhouse with his little creatures

WILLIE:

willie is absolutely strange and outspoken and i love him. he gets a spider, a cool little jumping spider that he hangs out with- it takes him a while to warm up to it as well, like others, but he ends up really appreciating insects n bugs more when he spends time watching his spider or letting it crawl on his hands, a desk or just around in its little house

STEVE:

this man gives off country boy cowgirl cowboy girl boy horsegirl energy and i will NOT accept anything else. steve is a horsegirl he goes to the stables n specifically choses this one horse to hang out with so much that it's straight up his horse now. country boyyyyy i loooove uuuuuuuu

DONALD:

crusty eyed white dog. this came up before with murph but istg he would be such a crust dog defender. "it's cute ! stop it !!" he can't even bring it to band practice anymore because the band think it's a creature from the underworld. his problem is he keeps getting them. he has one in the 70s that freaks the entire band out and then again in the 90s he's like "hey guys" and pulls out a CRUST DOG

MATT:

a bird :] something like lou but i think i'm leaning toward bird because birds are fun, annoying, musical and are great for loneliness. mrs. murphy hates the bird but matt will not take bird slander, tries to teach the bird to talk and has little conversations with it. animals in general trust him with just a look from how idk. trustworthy matt looks - i would trust him with my drink 100%

[boogiewrites]

Seeing Stars Part 13 | Eddie Munson

Summary: The one where Eddie realizes he's in love. Star's birthday leads to a night Eddie will never forget. Star feels something growing between them, but her conscious self isn't ready to unpack that yet. Fluff, banter, gifts, guitar, and two goobers healing each other.

Part 1 if you missed it!

NSFW - CW: use of gay slur in reference to being called that,  conversations about sexuality, p in v sex, use of pet names, mentions of past abuse/trauma from a bad relationship (not in detail), drug use.

The cold was starting to steadily set in, moving into November. The days were short and the general energy was that of a post-Halloween lull. The group in their hoodies and sweaters were eating the last of the clearance Halloween candy they’d all nabbed around the lunch table.

“Is there anything going on this weekend?”

“No. Nothing until after Thanksgiving.”

“Any movies come out?”

“I don’t know if I can watch Nightmare on Elm Street 2 again, I’ve seen it twice in a week.”

“There’s that Transylvania one coming out I think?”

“You wanna go see that?”

“Is there anything besides going to the movies? I’m broke.”

“I miss when Steve worked at the mall.” Dustin sighed.

“I miss never paying to see a movie,” Mike added.

“And getting into the rated R ones.”

“He worked at the movie theatre? And now family video? Does he have a thing for film?” Star asked.

“No, he worked at the ice cream place in the food court.”

“Scoops? With the boats and the sailor uniforms?” Star pouted at the cuteness of the mental image.

“I miss the free ice cream too.” Mike groaned.

“That is too cute.” She cooed. “Steve in that little sailor get up? Ugh, I’d pay to see that.” she giggled.

“You’ve been to the mall?” Eddie asked, quickly side-lining her thoughts of how Steve’s body might look in tight polyester.

“Uh yeah duh.” She said obviously.

“You’ve never told me you’d been to the mall.”

“I’m not going to take you with me when I go buy underwear, Eddie.” She chuckled and the group mirrored her response. “Or talk to you about it.”

“You should. I’ll go. Happily.” He flirted shamelessly and she snorted.

“Guys are bored to tears waiting on girls when they shop.”

“Nothing is boring about the combination of girls and underwear,” Jeff added in with a laugh.

“Really?” Star turned with genuine confusion on her face.

“You sound surprised?”

“Well,… an ex did nothing but gripe and complain the whole time. Even in Victoria's Secret.”

“If you ever want a guy around that would NOT be bored by that, I volunteer.” Garrett grinned. Eddie shot him a glare and Star rolled her eyes.

“I think Eddie called dibs,” Star smirked at him, snapping his head her way with the mildest flush to his cheeks.

“I did?” He rapidly blinked “ I did.” He agreed. The range of emotions quickly passed over his face and everyone at the table watched him lose his cool and fumble the opportunity to flirt. “I would but there is something already happening this weekend.” Star looked at him with a raised brow. “I know I’ll be busy because it’s someone's birthday.” He leaned in with a cheesy grin.

“Yeah! It’s Robbie’s birthday!” Star quickly said, lightly kicking Eddie’s leg under the table. He swished his head towards her, confused.

“You’re… hanging out with Star’s older brother for his birthday?” the guys were suspicious.

“Robbie got a… old junker he wants to fix up and he thought it’d be a good opportunity to teach Eddie some stuff. Right?” Star leaned towards him, staring intensely into his eyes.

“Y-yeah. Right. I needed some uh, experience working on something besides my van and Uncle Wayne’s truck ya know?”

“Your brother wants to hang out with Eddie? On his birthday?” A flat question.

“It’s just any other day for him. He’s never been big on birthdays.”

“Must run in the family,” Eddie muttered.

-

“Why wouldn’t you tell them it’s your birthday?” Eddie hissed to Star in the hallway.

“I don’t like it when people make a big deal about it.”

“Bullshit.” Eddie scoffed.

“I don’t! I didn’t want to entertain or anything on my birthday, I wanted to enjoy myself and my few precious days off of work and school.”

“Oh.” he didn’t do a good job at hiding his disappointment. “I uh… thought we’d do something together actually.” he sheepishly added, looking to the ground as they walked through the hall.

“We can do something,” she stated evidently.

“But you said-?”

“I meant the whole group or having to play hostess, you know? I don’t feel like I have to keep you entertained when you’re around. It’s not work.” she explained with an animated hand.

“Weird way to call me easy.” he quipped with a smile.

“I can always jingle some keys in front of your face if you get bored. Or throw a cat toy across the floor. That’ll keep you going for a good half hour.” she smirked.

“You’re lucky it’s almost your birthday or I’d make you pay for that remark.” -

Eddie awoke with a moan leaving his throat he wasn’t sure he’d ever heard from himself before. It reminded him of a sound Star might make. His thoughts turned to her as they often did nowadays. He quickly recalled the dream he’d been having, lifting his covers to find himself painfully hard and tacky under his sheets. He looked at the dim light coming through the window covered by his band’s show banner. He frowned at the car that was now running whose backfiring had woken him up from one of the best dreams he’d had all year. In the daze of half sleep, he felt like he could still smell her, some intoxicating mix of patchouli and vanilla. Instead of laying on top of her, face buried in her tits and her limbs wrapped around him like a snake he was face first in his pillow, his hand with her panties still tangled in his fingers the same way he’d fallen asleep after jerking off.

It was early for Eddie to be awake and even earlier for a Saturday. But he had things to do today. He peeled himself out of bed, the well-loved pair of Star's panties going back into their hiding place of shoved into the back of his nightstand drawer. His dick taunts him with its proud sway as he sits on the edge of his bed and rubs his face. He let out a wail and smacked his cheeks.

“Guess I gotta kill you before I can get anything done.” He said to the pulsing attention whore between his legs. He needed to behave today, it wasn’t about him or what his cock wanted. He’d jerk off in the shower. At least he wouldn’t have to clean anything up that way.

-

Star awoke to Moon meowing in her face, perched on her chest. She opened one eye and then glared before shutting them tightly again.

“I was having a good dream.” She complained.

“Mrow.”

“What do you care what it was about?”

“Mrow.”

“Maybe it was about him.”

“Mrrrrl.”

“Yeah again,” Star answered defiantly, finally opening her eyes and giving up her fight against slipping back into the steamy dream.

“Merp.” Ozzy chirped in from the floor, big eyes looking up at his adopted mother.

“Don’t you start. I thought you liked him.”

Moon purred, leaning her head to bonk it again Star's face.

“Yeah, you’re cute. I know. I’ve left you inside with uncle Robbie a lot.” Star sighed and pet the cat to return the affection. “It’s cold out here and I don’t want you alone without heat for too long.”

“Mrow. Awow.” Moon sassed back.

“What? I can’t cuddle up naked with a man and keep warm? You’ve got Ozzy.” The black cat with a chip in its ear let out a loud meow and walked back and forth next to her bed. “You don’t get to judge me for keeping warm by my own methods out here while you’re in there with a damn fireplace getting your butthole licked. ” Star talked to the fat white fluff of a cat in her hands, her paws dangling.

“Mrrrrrr.” She swished her tail but made no attempts to move.

“Maybe I am jealous.” Star laughed. “Speaking of.” Star plopped the cat into the floor. “I guess I need to get this birthday started right.”

“Mew.” Ozzy kindly requested.

“Yes, your food first then the manifestation orgasm. I know.”

-

Eddie was greeted with a friendly scent of nag champa, one he could recognize because of Star. A jingle of bells announced his presence.

“Hello again, Eddie.” The woman with a warm demeanor and motherly smile said from across the shop, looking up from her book. “How’s that lapis working out for you?” He walked among the imports, the pipes, and stones to the small worn counter in the back where a register older than him sat.

“How do you remember that?”

“Not many guys that look like you come in for crystals. They mainly want pipes.” She grinned.

“I’ve bought both.” He chuckled.

“And you’re a good customer so of course, I’d remember you.” She reassured him.

“I wanted to get both today actually.”

“Sure I didn’t give you pyrite on accident?” She asked with a wink. “Big spender today, huh?”

“Pyrite.” He stopped to think, his eyes wandered as he thought. “Pyrite. Pyro. Fire. Shiney. That’s the gold-looking one for money.” He finally finds his answer. “Oh, I get the joke now.” He nods in understanding.

“You’ve been studying?”

“Kinda. I’ve mostly looked at Star’s collection. She’s got one in her money bowl. So it’s easy to remember.”

“Tell her to buy one from me and it’ll work better.” She joked.

“I’m seeing her today. I will.” He gave one of those soft genuine smiles she liked seeing on anyone. Eddie had deep, good energy. “This is my first stop because I know it'll be my most expensive.”

“What are we thinking? Is the lapis working out? Need any more selenite? I’ve got some full moon water if you’re interested.” He could tell she was excited to be talking about her work, Star did the same thing when he’d listen to her.

“I'm just a baby here I’m not ready for all that.” He chuckled. “I’m here, trusting my choice of what to buy Star for her birthday. I finally figured out what to get her so I guess that’s a good sign.

“I’d say so. I always struggle with figuring out what to get people.”

“I’m starting with a pipe. I already know which, the sunflower one.”

“The lapis is certainly working.” She declared happily and moved to pull the glass yellow sunflower-tipped smoking pipe from the case. “She’s mentioned this one being cute before.”

“That or I’m around her so much I just know her now.”

“Either way it’s intuition. What else?”

“Rose quartz. For sure.” He nodded.

“Lovely love stone.” She lilted and grinned.

“She mentioned something the other day and it was…. Well, it was something bad about herself. So I wanted to get something to help her with that. She gets too hard on herself.”

“That would definitely help.” She almost floated across the divider and went to a very pink section of the wall. “Are we thinking statue? For the altar? We’ve got jewelry of course. Rings?” She perked up. “Or is that a little too on the nose?” She winked. “Lots of choices.” She stood proudly in front of the selection and watched Eddie’s borderline pout appear.

“Guess this is the real test of intuition.” He sighed.

-

Eddie smelled his cologne as he hopped out of the van. He stopped to look at his shirt and wonder if he’d put on too much. Maybe the entire outfit of freshly washed clothes was weak compared to the built-in cigarette smell of his usual jeans. He couldn’t exactly pinpoint his motive for cleaning up today. He figured it was better safe than sorry. After all, his current jerk-off fantasy where Star asked him to do nasty shit in bed as a birthday favor could happen. Right?

He looked at himself in his rearview mirror, sighing when he wasn’t sure what he was trying to fix precisely as he fussed with his hair. He threw his backpack over his shoulder, fetched his guitar, and headed towards the vibrating air stream trailer.

The small window provided a clear view from the right angle. It wasn’t the first time Eddie had been sneaky and watched Star before knocking. The bass was unmistakable, Sunshine Of Your Love, one that even he’d learned on the bass. He watched Star turn into view, singing and dancing as she always was it seemed. She checked her earrings, her hair teased up and fluffy. She tossed it behind her shoulders in time with the music, leaning one toward her mirror and then the other to the beat. Her collar bones flexed, and Eddie’s eyes quickly moved down to see the black dress she was wearing. He wanted to press his face to the glass to see how it looked past her hips. She moved sultry to the psychedelic groove, hips moving like a pendulum, and Eddie was enchanted. That was until the song winded down and she shook her head back and forth to the beat of the drum. She laughed and smoothed her hair, lighting what was either a cigarette or a joint. She smoked and sighed, hips wavering to a keyboard-heavy witchy-sounding song Eddie didn’t know.

He knocked and heard her call him in.

“It’s unlocked!” She smoothed the front of her dress down, wondering how she should stand, and promptly forgot how she would normally. She scrambled until the last second when his eyes landed on her and she’d chosen a hand to her hip and a joint to her shining lips.

“Hey.” He stuttered out, looking at everything but her face. His word was short and cut off. Her heart raced as she waited for more but it didn’t arrive. She couldn’t read his expression and the lingering quiet as she’d turned down the stereo made her feel nervous. “Uhm.” Eddie rubbed the back of his neck, his face contorted into what she thought was a disappointing wince. “You-uh that dress is…” his eyebrows went high and she felt so small.

“It’s too much isn’t it?” She looked down and he saw her face sink as much as his heart did as he watched her confidence drain from her lightly painted face. “I like to get dressed up on my birthday and I thought it looked so good on Madonna when I saw it.” she spoke so fast her words fell on top of one another, rubbing together as she swallowed audibly and took a little gasp of breath. “-so I tried to find one like it as a present to myself, you know, and I thought it’d look good on me. But it looks dumb, doesn’t it? It’s not me. I knew black and lace were too hard. I’m not edgy I shouldn't be such a try-hard.“

“WOAH Woah.” Eddie approached her with open palms, lowering his bag and sitting his guitar in the kitchen booth. “Slow down sweetheart.” He put his hands on her bare arms. “You look amazing.” He said with a hard brow.

“Oh.” She blinked with wide eyes and Eddie tried to look into the depth of them to understand why she switched modes so quickly. “You looked like you didn’t like it or something.”

“Why do you give a shit if I like it? You like it right?”

“Yeah. I was - AM a little nervous about it. I don’t usually wear all black and anything lacey and silky except my nightgowns.”

“If you like it it doesn’t matter what I think.” He reminded her. He saw the recognition come across her eyes and she nodded, chewing her lip.

“You’re right.” She frowned and looked down at herself. “Sorry, I-“ she shook her head, trying to pinpoint where the trigger had come from. She quickly realized it came from the same place most of them did. “It’s… an old habit.” She sighed. “I used to get dressed up a lot. For no reason. And I loved it. I still do.” She admitted. “But then I had it used against me and it turned into me feeling bad every time and I stopped.” Eddie let his hands leave her arms as he nodded knowingly. “I think I’m doing so well and then something like this happens. Also, my birthday is an emotional day in general so maybe I’m just… wound tight?” She looked to the joint in her hand. “That’s why I’ve got this.” She chuckled and took a drag.

“You look great. You always do.” He quietly comforted her. “And this year you don’t have to feel bad on your birthday. Happy Birthday, by the way.”

“Thanks.” She gave him a soft smile and he saw her shoulders start to relax. “We’re the same age for a few months.”

“Getting old on me.” He grinned and she playfully shoved him. “Getting wiser.” He bobbed. “Which is what’s really important.”

“When you’re my voice of reason I don’t know how I feel about it.” She kidded.

“Ah but I am also an enabler!” He grinned and moved back to his backpack, sitting it on the kitchen table. “Of bad decisions!” He beamed as he held out a baggy of weed and dropped it onto her kitchen counter. “That’s some good shit from California.” He pointed to the baggie.

“I’m waiting to see the bad decision?” She picked up the baggie to look at the bright nuggets inside.

“You want your presents now?” He asked with an eager gleam in his eye.

“You got me presents?” She pouted adoringly.

“Of course I did!” He sounded slightly offended.

“I’m so impatient. You know this.” She held out grabby hands.

“Okay so- first.” He held out a tube-shaped wrapper. It was painted newspaper, she’d seen it before. A yellow ribbon wrapped around it. A bow with tendrils tickled her fingers as she unveiled the mostly yellow sunflower bowl.

“This is from town!” She said excitedly. “This one is so cute! Is this for me?”

“If you’re the birthday girl it is.”

“I am!” She cheered. “Thank you, you didn’t have to. Really.” She cooed and moved to wrap her arms around him. He smelled good. She pressed her nose into the soft flannel of his shirt.

“You’re welcome but I’m not done yet.”

“Is the next present telling me what you’re wearing because it’s very nice.” She said distracted, looking at the place on his shoulder she’d just left.

“It’s uh some black bottle. And some of that oil you gave me.”

“I’m a genius.” She smiled and he returned the expression as he saw she was back to feeling like herself. “You might smell as good as I look.”

“Never.” He choked out a laugh. “Not possible.”

“Go on.” She rolled her eyes and flung a hand at him.

“I also got you- US wine.” He held out a glass bottle like pulling a rabbit out of a hat. “I don’t know shit about it. I got this one because it had a yellow label and you like yellow.”

“I do like yellow. And wine. I haven’t had any since I moved.”

“I don’t know if you remember it but you talked about at-“

“Our Halloween party yeah.” She smiled warmly, holding the bottle and looking it over. He paused for a moment to sit in the odd fuzzy feeling he got from her referring to the party as “our”.

“I’ve never had it. I don’t know how old grapes could be good so I also got a 40.” He yanked the familiar cheap bottle out and moved to the fridge.

“Oh my god, Eddie you spent too much. You didn’t need to get all this stuff.” She whined as he took the bottle from her hands to place it in her small refrigerator.

“Save it you martyr, it’s your birthday. I get to spoil you for once. You’re the working girl and always feeding me and funding our bullshit and it takes a hit out of my masculinity so let me do something nice for you.” he walked past her and tapped the button of her nose and she demurely smiled.

She liked the idea of someone spoiling her.

“Besides- the next few things-“

“Few? As in multiple? EDDIE!” She quickly shifted back to scolding.

“If you’d let me finish I was going to say the next few things didn’t cost anything.”

“Good save.” She muttered with a faux judgemental smirk.

“First. A new mixtape.” He smacked it into her hands in its decorated case. ‘Nov. 84-85’ it read with flowers and stars doodled. A tiny rendition of her D and D characters' great club and face adorned the inside jacket. “I know we didn’t meet until July but, I put my favorite songs that came out from your birthday last year to today. Since you didn’t have me around to show you good music for the first half of the year I figured I’d make you a tape with all the stuff you would have loved if you’d moved here sooner.”

Star felt a flip in her stomach. Eddie felt the same as he saw the way she looked the tape over, smiling at his drawings and being so gentle as she touched it. He then felt the same thing she had earlier, a concern he’d fucked up when she looked like she might cry for a split second.

“You know…” she let out a noisy exhale. “Sometimes I wish I’d moved here sooner.” She confessed. She kept her eyes on the cassette and its scribbled tracklist. She didn’t know what to say. She wasn’t used to someone being so thoughtful when it came to her. Not someone like Eddie. Not someone she cared about like she did him. She didn’t want to say aloud she wished she’d met him sooner. Or wished she’d not had to have gone through the last year of her life. Everything felt so much harder before Eddie came along. She realized she’d been quiet for too long.

Eddie hadn’t noticed the lingering silence. He was too busy having his own rivaling inner crisis to the situation he’d introduced. If they weren’t avoiding eye contact with one another they’d have seen the mutual expressions of fear and curiosity. Eddie was sweating, his mind falling down a rabbit hole. Where would they be if she had been here a year earlier? What would she be like if she hadn’t gone through… whatever her ex had done? Would she even like him if she hadn’t gone through that? Was it for the best things worked out this way? Would he have graduated? Would they even be friends? Would they have dated? Would it have been a mistake that ended in flames? Were they better off as friends? Could they have been the exception to The Munson Doctrine which states no relationship can end well? Was he even thinking about this in the past tense anymore?

“I feel like I missed out on a lot.” She held up the tape. “You know, without your divine guidance and all.” She smiled, avoiding eye contact.

“Yeah.” He huffed out, his spiraling stream of thought forced into stability again. “That was the idea behind it.” He bobbed and looked to the floor. “Next year the whole playlist can be our favorites instead of just mine.” The sentiment was felt and appreciated. But unfortunately not explored.

“I’m already looking forward to it.” She said without even the slightest allusion to sarcasm. Their eyes finally met, neither was brave enough to hold it for too long. She tucked a hair behind her ear and looked away. “You mind if I put it in now?”

“No, please do.” He shooed her in the direction of her stereo with his hands. He took a deep breath, rubbing his face. A smack to the forehead told his brain to get its shit together while she had her back turned.

“Metallica. Nice” she bounced in approval, moving back to the kitchenette booth, her hands in front of her as she picked her nails.

“Creeping death ep was released in November last year. Their new album comes out early next year. I’m so fucking stoked about it.” He was immediately distracted by a musical hyper fixation from his emotions.

“I know. It’s only the 100th time you’ve mentioned it.” She gave him a gentle smile, seeing his eyes widen and his posture perk up.

“I’m doing that thing again aren’t I? Shit,” he muttered. The thing in question was not being able to shut up about his interests when he was excited. They were both guilty of it from time to time so both understood the compulsion.

“You know I don’t mind. It’s cute when you’re excited about something.” she shook her head, dismissing his concern he was annoying. Her eyes grew a bit more half-lidded, the joint almost half gone working away at it on her own. The high was fuzzing around her and he could tell.

“Maybe I’m not annoying you because you’re high,” he suggested.

“It helps.” she shrugged, a face not giving her playfulness until it finally broke with a giggle. “You’re also bestowing gifts upon me. What am I gonna do? Be a dick? No.” she leaned against the booth’s edge. “Like I said. It’s cute. I like it. Please continue.” she bowed forward, a hand sweeping out. He couldn't help but smile, as he noticed her picking up on his mannerisms and using them for herself. She put him at ease, a rustling in his stomach he still felt afraid of, but the smile on her face distracted him enough to continue without feeling like an awkward nerd.

“You like me being awkward or the gifts?” he leaned forward to clarify but a smile twitched in the corner of his mouth breaking his attempted seriousness.

“Both.” she nodded after a pause of consideration.

“Okay because this next one is a combination of both.” he gave a forced smile and wide eyes. She observed him pull his wallet out, her brow lowered with curiosity. Her expression only deepened as he pulled out an orange card. He held it between his teeth as he put his wallet back up before holding it up on display. She recognized it as a monopoly card.

“Get out of jail free card? You know those don’t work in real life, right?” she started to giggle.

“No shit.” Eddie gasped. “Wayne and I started this thing when I was younger. It’s a favor. Whoever has the card, gets to ask a favor of the other person, and they can’t say no. But you have to give over the card when you ask for the favor.”

“That’s the cutest shit I’ve ever heard.” she pouted as if mocking him but she was entirely serious. “I get my own card?”

“Yeah, this is a new one.”

“Where’d you get it?”

“I stole it.” he grinned.

“From where?”

“A monopoly set.” She put her hands to her hips.

“No shit.”

“From school. Don’t worry about it.” he flicked her nose with the card.

“Do you have the one you use with Wayne?”

“He’s got it right now.”

“Oh! What was the favor you asked?” her eyes lit up.

“Jesus, so many questions. None of your beeswax, Ramona.” he laughed.

“Who the hell is Ramona?”

“Did you not read as a kid?” it was his turn to put his hand to his hips.

“Not especially.” she shrugged.

“It’s from a book, don’t worry about it.”

“I feel like I hear that a lot from you.” She pursed her lips.

“Focus Star!” he laughed, shaking the card in her face.

“Right. This adorable, wholesome, heartfelt PBS level shit.” she attempted to snatch it from his hand and he yanked it away, a teasing smile on his face when she scowled. She put the joint out and held out her hand. “I’m glad I’m super high because I would be emotional otherwise. This is… honestly adorable doesn’t do it justice. Thank you. I feel like I’m a member of the Munson family now or something.” There was no sarcasm to be found when she took it and looked it over.

“Not quite.” a quick nervous huff escaped him at the embarrassing thought that popped into his head as he heard her words. “I’m sure I’ll regret it. But when you don’t have a lot of money you get creative.”

“You probably will.” another giggle, her tongue peeping out of her mouth as she smiled. She tucked it away into her wallet and returned to Eddie. “It’s perfect. I can’t deal with you when you’re so… fuckin’....sweet like this. I don’t know what to do with you.” She walked up to him, putting her hands to the sides of his face in a fluid motion, with no hesitation. “I love it when you let that big brain of yours get creative.” she shook his head and he openly swooned, a happy sigh as he leaned into her hands.

“You’re so nice when you’re high.” he dopily smiled.

“I’m always nice.” she scrunched her nose then leaned in to bite his.

“You’re always weird.” he laughed and rubbed his nose. “You feral child.”

“You love it, shut up.” she smiled and pulled the zipper of his backpack to look inside it.

Eddie opened his mouth to speak, he did love it.

“What else is in your bag of tricks Mary Poppins?” her eyes dilated dark when she looked up at him. The red from being stoned in the whites somehow made the green in her eyes even brighter. He shut his slack jaw before proving himself more awkward.

“I might’ve got Steve to look up your most rented movies for me, so I have those to watch.”

“Invading a girl's privacy.” She chuckled as he dug to pull them out. “What if I’d had some nasty pornos on there? I might not want you to know what I’m into in secret.” Her tone was entirely not serious.

“They don’t have pornos at Family Video” Eddie snorted. “Besides you “borrow” mine so I know exactly what you’re into.” He leaned down into her face to give her a goofy smile.

“I don’t know. I might have some things you don’t know about.” She piped.

“You expect me to believe a girl who rented The Muppet Movie SIX times is into some dark immoral kinky shit? I don’t think so.” He held up the video to mock her.

“It’s my comfort movie! I loved it as a kid.” She grabbed it away and hugged it to her chest. “I do feel a bit exposed now. For real!”

“At least Spinal Tap and the Dark Crystal are cool.”

“I like Jim Henson.” She sulked. “The way they make the puppets is amazing!” She declared defensively.

“I’m not shitting on Jim Henson, I like the Dark Crystal too, you won’t hear any complaints from me about it.”

“Don’t you have comfort movies from when you were a kid?”

“Of course.”

“Like what?”

“The Hobbit.”

“That feels obvious.” She giggled.

“I read more than watched stuff as a kid.”

“I do know you like Disney movies.” She teased.

“Yeah, it turns out I have a heart and animated animals make me cry. And you like puppets and anything Don Bluth has touched makes you cry. Turns out we’re both human after all.”

“He’s a genius.” She said with conviction and wide eyes. “We should watch-“

“No. I’m not watching The Secret of Nimh again Star, you’ve bribed me into watching it 4 times already.”

“But it’s my birthday!” She moped.

“Fuck.” He groaned. “I am willing to watch The Muppet Movie.” He said with a chop of his hand. “I know you’ve watched Nimh recently. Would you really rather watch it?”

“Since Nimh would annoy you more I kinda want it.” She scrunched her nose and laughed like a goblin.

“I have to bend to your whims today. That’s how it works for you, right? I’ll watch the damn movie again.”

“I’m just fucking with you.” She poked his stomach. “You’re fun when you’re all flustered.”

“Fun for who?” He laughed with bewildered eyes.

“Me.” A swift response. “Your cheeks get all pink and your hair moves around a lot and gets those fuzzy flyaways.” She reached up to straighten one out and he smacked her hand away which made her laugh. “And your voice cracks like you’re going through puberty. I find it very amusing.”

“You’re the devil.” He said bluntly and she fell into a fit of giggles.

“Good thing you’re a satanist then huh?” She came back with a wink. “Since it’s my birthday you’re worshipping me today too so bow down mother fucker!” She cackled.

“I won’t waste my time pointing out the inaccuracies of what you just said because I KNOW you know you’re wrong.” His cheeks were warm as they fell into their playful banter of fake anger. “And you’re fucking with me because you want to get a rise out of me!” He grabbed her sides to tickle her and she screamed and bolted for her bed. “You find it amusing when I’m annoyed? What if I find it amusing to tickle you until you piss yourself?”

“And I thought I had the secret kinks.” She wiggled her eyebrows and stuck out her tongue, her soft body still bouncing from her leap onto her bed on her knees.

“That’s not-! Star!” He griped and she started another round of stoned laughter. “You’re so god damn ridiculous.” He declared as he laughed.

“I know.” She sighed, wiping the corner of her eye. “It’s one of my favorite things about myself now.”

“Mine too.” He replied warmly, still chuckling as he dug through his bag for what he wanted to show her next.

She hummed contently, sitting on her knees. Eddie made her feel so pleased when she was high. She wanted to pinch his cheeks for being so sweet. She felt a new compulsion to squeeze him until he popped when he would compliment her. She didn’t quite understand it.

“This. This isn’t a birthday present for you. But it is important and exciting all the same because it’s how I planned to start our evening. Smoke while we order some pizza, then eat ourselves stupid and drink and watch puppets. Or whatever you wanna do because it’s your birthday but- that was the loose plan.” He saw her tilt her head as he spoke. “The record store FINALLY got my order in!” He held out the cassette like he was shoving a sword. “Iron Maiden. Live After Death. Recorded during their World Slavery tour in California and London. Over an hour and a half of pure face melting metal!” He was so excited it took him a moment to register Star's expression.

“Oh!” It sounded as forced as it felt in the moment. A knee-jerk reaction she immediately regretted. “That’s what we’re doing tonight?” She asked, brows high and hiding her disappointment. Not as well as she thought. She tried to cover. “That's… finally came in, huh?” She said with a bounce and a smile.

She watched Eddie falter, the pure joy fading as he witnessed her reaction. She felt her stomach drop.

“You’re disappointed.” He said without meaning to be so blunt about it.

“No! I’m just… surprised.”

“You don’t want to listen to this do you?” his voice deepened and his face fell expressionless.

“Of course I do.” That was a genuine answer. He interrupted her and she closed her mouth before continuing.

“Shit.” He muttered, looking at the cassette and she rose to stand again, not being able to handle Eddie’s dejected face.

“Eddie I really don’t mind.” It was true. She didn’t.

“I’m so stupid.” He sighed, his hands falling to his side.

“What? No, you’re not.” She squeaked in offense.

“It’s your birthday. Look at you for Christ's sake. You’re all dressed up. I’m so stupid I should’ve known you’d wanna go OUT or something.” He was frustrated for real this time, rubbing the bridge of his nose. “I got so excited about getting this in and getting to listen to it I didn’t even-“ he took a deep breath and noisily exhaled. “You don’t want to spend your 19th birthday holed up with me listening to one of MY favorite bands while you look like a fucking movie star and should be out getting shown off and spoiled.” Star's chest ached at his words, the way his shoulders fell and his back hunched. “You said you wanted to do nothing for your birthday. You didn’t want to host and wanted to enjoy your time off but I took that too literally didn’t I? You like to get out and party and I’m not used to thinking like that. I’m sorry, Star. I fucked it all up.”

“Eddie, honey. You are being entirely too hard on yourself. As usual.” She voiced before reaching him and taking his hands into hers. “Now listen to me. The only thing I’m upset about right now is that you’re so upset. “ she squoze his hands. “I did think we’d go out and do something.” She frowned slightly but it was quickly covered with conviction. “Nothing significant though. Like… Maybe ice cream or a movie or the thrift shop. Eddie, you get so hung up on thinking buying me things or experiences is what I want.” He met her eyes then. She saw right through him. “ But it’s not. I get it, I do. You don’t think all I want is to buy you the things that make you excited too? Guitars and cars and concert tickets?” She smiled and took his face into her hands. “But I can’t. We can’t. Because that’s not our life. And that’s okay. We know the value in other things don’t we?” He fluttered his lashes and felt his cheeks burn. He nodded ever so slightly. “I get dressed up every birthday now. It’s a… sort of ritual I do to celebrate myself. Whether I knew we were going out or not I’d be dressed like this, okay?” She waited for another nod as his glassy eyes stayed to hers. “And you’re wrong about another thing.” She smiled and mushed his cheeks. “There’s not much I’d rather do than be holed up with you. I don’t need to go out to have fun anymore. Not since I met you.” His stressed-out expression faded with every delicate word she spoke. Her bright eyes bore into his dark ones, asserting herself. “I didn’t know you could have fun doing nothing until I met you. Then all of a sudden I understood why people wanted to stay in and hang out. Why people enjoyed others' company so much. I’ve never had someone like you before. I’ve never had someone who just fucking GETS me, you know? And I don’t want you to think that I would EVER prefer the life I used to have of partying, fake friends, and bad decisions over doing anything with you.” Star's words hit them both hard. Poor Star had realized she’d never had a real friend before.

And Eddie, he felt so seen it was like he was stripped bare. She was right. They’d never had someone before that felt like they truly understood them. She saw his shame of being poor, and she didn’t pretend like it didn’t exist or give him the bullshit of oh one day you’ll not be poor anymore. There was plenty magical and whimsical about Star, but her outlook on what the world was and the place people like them had in it wasn’t one of them. And he loved her cynicism for such things. Her dark humor and her ability to be uncomfortably real with him. Just like she was right now.

Star was compelled to take Eddie with his big sad cow eyes into her arms. She wrapped around his neck and pulled him close. She could feel something in the way Eddie's hands gripped across her body before wrapping her up against him and raising her to her tiptoes. He'd needed the validation.

“I’m not upset. I promise.” She kissed the side of his head and squeezed her arms tight. “I assumed something and I made an ass of u and me.” She chuckled. She felt him weakly smile against her. She let him go and he released her, leaving his hands on her hips as she left hers on his chest. “And don’t ever let me hear you call yourself stupid again.” She pinched his chin. “Got it?”

“Yes ma’am.” He nodded as she held his chin. “I didn’t mean to be so dramatic.” He muttered. “I just get so… my mood shifts so fast sometimes. I thought I’d fucked up your birthday. You trusted me with spending it with you and figuring out what to do and I just-.” He blew a raspberry with his tongue.

“I know, hun. You've just been around my dramatic ass too long.” She gave him a quick soft kiss that made him sigh and close his eyes. “If you’re involved it can’t be that fucked up.” She reassured him. Despite the draft from around the door he stood close to, he felt warm all over when she looked at him. “Let's start the evening by getting you good and stoned so we can both be chill and happy again and we’ll listen to Iron Maiden and do fuck all. Sound good to you? Because it sounds great to me.“

“Sounds perfect.”

-

Full of wine and pizza Star was sat on a blanket and pillows on the floor with crossed legs. With a full stomach, she’d forgone the dress sooner than she’d wanted to. But the stomach wants what the stomach wants. And being extended from pizza and alcohol was what she wanted tonight. She’d compromised with a black silky nightgown that looked similar enough to the dress but was loose and soft. Stars priority now lay with being comfortable. A smoking ashtray sat between her and Eddie, the bowl he’d gifted her being used already. He’d taken the bed, sat on the edge, guitar on his legs. He was rewinding the Iron Maiden cassette they’d just listened to and he’d picked away on his guitar the whole time. Star had enjoyed watching him and getting drunk.

“I wanna do somethin’.” Her half-baked thought tumbled out of her mouth. Eddie stopped and his hand naturally returned to his guitar. He blinked slowly, waiting for her to continue.

“I can’t read minds. I wish I could. Or wait no, Ew, I take that back.” The flow of thought from being high and sipping away at a 40 made an unfiltered appearance.

“It’s my birthday you have to say yes.” She wore a mischievous smile, and leaned back on her hands, holding herself up with locked elbows.

“I can’t agree if I don’t know what to.”

“That’s the catch.”

“Or you could tell me?”

“Say yes and I’ll show you instead.” She wiggled her brows at him, sticking her tongue out ever so slightly.

“Mmm.” A deep chesty hum. “This feels like a trap.”

“Move your guitar to the side for a second.” She wiggled to her knees and scooted towards him.

“One second? That’s the faith you have in me?” He smirked.

“I’m not fucking you, silly.” She shook her head and stopped between his legs.

“Does it rhyme with fucking?” His brows went high as her hands rest on his thighs.

“No.” She shortly answered before reaching up to touch his hair.

“If you’re gonna touch the merchandise you gotta pay sweetheart.” He held his hands up.

“I want to see your hair pulled back.” she took a spare scrunchie off her nightstand.

“Why?” His chin pushed back into his neck and he made a disgusted face that unintentionally made Star laugh.

“Because I’ve never seen it!” She raised her voice slightly.

“You can see my face. There’s nothing special going on under there.”

“C’mon.”

“Let me see you with your hair pulled back then!”

“You have seen my hair styled every sort of way, Eddie. Don’t you want it out of your face while you play?”

“Doesn’t bother me.” He shrugged. “You don’t gotta mess with it.”

“You love it when I play with your hair.”

“Playing with it and putting it up are very different.” She leaned in and put her lips to Eddie’s with no pressure.

“Lemme do it.” She demanded with a playful growl.

“Ugh fine. Happy Birthday. You don’t get any of the other stuff I had planned for you.”

“You’re a dirty bitch pulling that on me.” She said sassily as she began gently pulling his hair back. Her response made Eddie laugh hard and it quickly turned into a cough.

“Views nice I gotta admit.” He grinned with his face directly in Star's chest as she raised her arms to pull his hair up into a messy bun on his head.

“I’ll whip 'em out and distract you next time so you won’t be such a baby about it. I’m already done!” She leaned back and Eddie snapped at her chest with his teeth as she pulled away.

“Should’ve asked for tits in return.” He tsked.

“Next time. I get a freebie on birthdays.” She sat back on her feet and looked him over. He blankly stared back. “Ugh.” She finally said, shaking her head.

“I don’t have to let you be mean because it’s your birthday.” His brow furrowed as his hand moved to tear the bun out.

“No!” She grabbed his wrist. “I wasn’t insulting you! I’m annoyed at how good you look. I wish I looked that good with my hair pulled back.” He blinked in surprise with a look of suspicion on his face. “I’m serious!” She pulled down a few stands and ruffled his bangs. “You’ve got a nice long neck and flat ears. Solid jawline. You’re pretty, pretty boy.” She smiled looking into his eyes after pulling curls down around his hairline.

“You’re drunk.” He grinned.

“So?” She started giggling. “I’m high too what about it?” She challenged back with her nose to his before laughing and pulling away. “I wish my neck was that long and my ears were nice and flat. Mine stick out.” She tucked her teased hair behind her ears and he’d never noticed them being prominent before. “I’m jealous.” She admitted.

“Fuck off.” He grinned and rolled his eyes.

“I am!”

“Have you SEEN you?” He leaned forward and barked back at her.

“Every day of my life! And I’ve always thought pretty men were just so, ugh I don’t know. I just want to BE like that, ya know?” She moaned. “If I were pretty like you I’d be dropping panties left and right.”

“I am historically documented to be not good at getting women.” He laughed.

“What’s your reject rate for girls? Like 50/50 at the worst?”

“0 for 0.” He grinned. “You can’t lose if you don’t play.” He tapped his temple.

“You’re full of shit.” She groaned loudly.

“What about you?” He quickly talks over her.

“My rate? For girls?” She wiggled and bat her lashes.

“Oh yeah tell me about all the girls you’ve been with.” He joked.

“Only a few have said no, actually.”

“Well, no shit look at you. What guy would say no to you?”

“No.” She shook her head. “With girls.” he leaned her head forward to emphasize what she meant.

Eddie rapidly blinked and made sure he was not more inebriated than he thought.

“With… girls. Like with girls?” He stumbles around his words.

“Yeah? Girls are nice. At a bar, you usually know you’re there to fuck anyway.” She said it so casually his face contorted in confusion.

“You’ve… fucked… girls?”

“Yeah haven’t you?” She mocked.

“You’d know.” He nervously laughed. “But seriously?”

“Why is that so hard to believe? I know there’s more out gay people in Chicago than here but you aren’t small-minded you know girls fuck girls and guys fuck guys.”

“I just didn’t…. Think about it I guess.” His thousand-yard stare went past her as his mind swirled around behind his eyes.

“You’re gonna now though aren’t you?” She smirked and a bright smile lit his face back up.

“Yeah probably.” A deep dumb laugh escaped him. “So you're at a what-? 80% yes rate with girls.”

“I’d say more like over 90%.” She nodded.

“Christ. You got me beat.” He admitted. “What about guys? It has to be-“

“Does it count if the guy was gay and I didn’t know?” She interrupted.

“Nope.”

“Then like 99.9999%.��� She nodded enthusiastically. “What about you?”

“I can’t compete with that. You’ll know what a loser Virgin I am if I tell you.”

“I already know what a loser Virgin you are Eddie.” She chortled with an adorable scrunched nose.

“That’s what you wanna hear from the girl you’re fucking.” He said in a self-deprecating, sarcastic tone.

“You KNOW I’m joking. I hope. You get all squirmy if I talk about how sexy I think you are or say nice things about you. Figured you’d prefer I call you a loser Virgin since it’s the opposite of what you are.”

“I am a loser but not a virgin. I’ve not slept with that many people though.” He admitted shyly.

“Nothing wrong with that. I guess it’d be higher if you didn’t get rejected as much?”

“Ouch.” He grabbed his chest.

“You said it!” She laughed.

“I know but I can say that! You can’t!”

“What is it then? Do you have a 1% success rate? How bad could it be? You don’t ask a bunch of people out so you’re picky I guess. Couldn’t be that many.” She tried to stroke his ego a bit.

“Okay like 50/50. Well… maybe more? Some came onto me so how do I count that?”

“As a win, you whore.” She laughed.

“Okay then like 70%?”

“SEE! Told you!”

“You’re only right because it’s your birthday. Shut it.” He palmed her face and pushed her back gently.

“What about your rate with guys then?” She again said things so casually he barely even thought silently to himself. If he’d been drinking he would’ve choked.

“W-me? Guys?”

“Yeah?” She tilted her head like a puppy. “I told you both my girl and guy scores.”

“I uh-“ he looked down and his cheeks turned bright red. The smile on Star's face grew painfully large.

“You HAVE been with a guy!” She jolted up in posture with her eureka moment.

“I- I said nothing.” He shook his head defensively.

“Are you embarrassed? Oh, you sweet boy don’t be embarrassed!” She cooed and held his face to make him look at her. “Is it a secret? I guess it has to be. Oh my god, do I know him? Is it one of the Hellfire guys? I mean Gareth would be pretty cute if he wasn’t such a little shit.”

“No! No not any of them.” He quickly shook his head. “But I don’t… nobody talks about this stuff as openly as you do. I don’t want anyone to know. I guess I didn’t want you to know either. I didn’t want you to think of me differently or think I was gay or something?” He looked so confused she couldn’t help but kiss him right on the lips.

“It only makes me think more highly of you to be perfectly honest. I know what it’s like being attracted to both. I like that you know that too. And I never thought you were gay… not with how you fuck me.” She laughed with her chest and put her forehead to his. “But I’ll keep your secret. Don’t worry.”

“Thank you. I don’t talk about it. I get called a fag enough as it is ya know?”

“I thought you liking Accept so much was suspicious, to be honest.” A nervous laugh left Eddie and he blushed again.

“I mean I like the music. It’s not just about-“

“Leather daddies?” She smirked.

“Yeah, that feels a bit on the nose doesn’t it?”

“Just a bit.” She taunted. “I’m glad you got to experience that. I think more people should. Don’t knock it til you try it.”

“I mean I didn’t… do IT.” He hunched over and lowered his voice.

“Even though it’s my birthday you can say no... but can I ask about it? Was it one time? Aw did you have a boyfriend that'd be so fuckin cute."

“No.” He huffed out a laugh and looked away, cheeks pink again. “A guy at show up north. Eyeballing me and it just sorta happened. He looked at me like he knew. He was older. We got in the back of his band's van while they partied and we… fooled around.”

“That’s hot.” Star nodded.

“Hot?” His voice cracked.

“You being the blushing bride and having some- I’m assuming an attractive guy feeling you up in the back of a van all lusty and horned up with adrenaline after a show.”

“When you say it like that yeah. I guess it was… hot.”

“I mean I know I wanna fuck you after watching you play. I swear your guitar neck is connected to my pussy sometimes.” Eddie’s eyes grew wide watching Star speak without a filter. The wine and California weed were working. "And you look so mean and bad and focused and ugh your focused face is so sexy. Have I told you that? I should. And your fingers are just straight up fucking that guitar and Christ.” She fanned herself. “And you’re all sweaty after and your hair gets curlier and black and ugh, you’re so happy. And I just wanna tear you to pieces! Drag you somewhere dark and secluded like some cheetah and sink my teeth into you.” Eddies eyes go black as he watched her sigh and flutter her lashes while she openly fantasized about him, to him.

“You should.” His dry mouth blurts out.

“I should, shouldn't I? I should probably do a lot of things I don't. I’m wasted enough to say this all out loud. Whoops.” She sat back and had a fit of giggles. “Holy fuck this weed is good.” She panted and fanned her nightgown. “Is it hot in here? Or is it just me?” She snorted. “It’d be both of us to be fair.” She turned to lower the space heaters output. “I’m here talking about my wet dreams and you were being serious I’m so sorry. I know it’s bullshit when someone says sorry I’m just drunk but fuck I’m a bit- a lot very much not sober.” She nodded and blinked with a blank stare at nothing in particular. “But I’m having a great time!” She perked right back up.

“You could tell me any wet dream, fantasy whatever the hell you wanna call it anytime sweetheart. I’ll never complain.”

“Getting me wine is the way to do it. I’m a whore on the wine. The W stands for whore.”

“Wouldn’t that just be alcohol in general? He smirked.

“Nope. I can get sad or cry or fight or get horny or sleepy too.” she counted off on her fingers.

“Fair point, I think I’ve seen all those sides.”

“Bet horny is your favorite.” She wiggled her tongue at him.

“I like this right now actually. You just… saying things you normally don’t.”

“Talking about sex is fun isn’t it?” She wrinkled her nose as if she was being naughty. “What about you? You got any juicy fantasies to share? Anything you wanna get off your chest big boy?”

“I don’t know if I like you calling me that or if I think it’s funny.”

“I could call you horse cock instead if you like.” They both cackled and fell on each a bit, her arm and face on his leg and him hunched over her.

“Big boy is fine.”

“Good. I like it. And pretty boy. Ohhhh and puppy. Oh! Speaking of, how do you feel about collars?”

“Collars?”

“You know, leather and a buckle. Around your neck? I saw those handcuffs in your room you bad boy don’t act like you don’t know what a collar is.”

“When did you find those?” He smirked.

“When I was looking for some cassettes.” She shrugged

“Sneaky girl.”

“A little.” She smiled broadly with a hum.

“I’m cool with collars. Are you?”

“Never tried it but I want to.”

“Noted.” He smirked. “What else are you into?”

“I think it’s your turn to answer. I’ve blabbed enough. Your turn.”

“I would like to use the handcuffs on you.”

“I’d like that too.” she giggled and bit the end of her finger.

“Have you before?”

“Nope.” she popped the word out of her lips.

“Blindfold?” He inquired with a raised brow.

“Haven’t done it before but wholeheartedly a yes.”

“You done any bondage?”

“Not really no.”

“That’s surprising.”

“Why?” She tilted her head curiously.

“You come off so confident and experienced I guess I assumed you had done more than I had.”

“I do that on purpose.” She nodded. “Apart from the more basic BDSM like - we know I like the spanking and light choking and general roughness. But no tied up or uh the power play stuff? I knew people who went to the BDSM clubs but I was too chicken shit. Gimp suits are scary.” Eddie laughed at how her eyes were wide and large.

“Yeah, that’s a lot. I like a good power struggle. Either way.”

“Is there anything you haven’t done?”

“Oh tons. I’ve only dipped a toe in BDSM. Mostly as the person being tied up. Had a few girls that wanted to be tied to the bedpost, that whole thing ya know? And it’s fun. Turns out I like inflicting pain.”

“And I love having a red welted ass the next day.”

“I won’t lie I was so god damn happy when you asked me to hit you- spank you like that.”

“Thank you for obliging.” She winked and pouted her lips with a kiss sound. “I’d be down to play sometime. With the spanking or any of the other stuff. I’d love to try it.” She sounded like someone talking about going out to try a new restaurant. He was again fascinated by how she openly discussed things that he hadn’t known he felt internalized shame about.

“Then we will. You seem to like to be hurt and I like to give you what you want.” He smiled in an oddly wholesome way. She immediately returned it.

“Tell me a secret, Eddie. A sexy one. Call it another present.”

“Trying to get the good stuff huh? BDSM not enough for you?”

“It’s plenty but I’m curious. I wanna know everything about you. I find you fascinating.” She said earnestly.

“You want a real secret? As in something I’m ashamed of or-?”

“Oh god please yes I would love that.” He chuckled at her exaggerated reaction. “I’ll share one of mine if you share one of yours. Make it even. But it has to be a GOOD one! I’m not saying my thing without something good from you.” She insisted with a pointed finger.

“Okay. I can do that. Deal.”

“On the count of three?”

“At the same time? We’ll just talk over each other.” He laughed.

“We say it then discuss. Get it out there first.”

“Okay deal.” Star proceeds to do a Rock Paper Scissors style count down with her hand.

Eddie blurted out with a wince, “I use a pair of your panties to jerk off.”

Star hid her face and quickly said.

“I like anal.”

“WHAT?!” They both shouted.

“You WHAT?” Eddie’s smile was so big.

“You took my-!!” Star was both elated and annoyed. She gasped and got in Eddie's face. “You pervert.” Her tone was not that of someone mad at the news.

“Me?” He held his hand to his chest. “Little miss butt stuff over here.”

“When you cum so hard your eyes cross from me fingering your asshole I’ll remind you of that!” She laughed, her eyes bright and her voice loud. “Take a thumb in the ass while you’re getting railed and then judge me, bitch.” She said inches from his face and he dissolved into laughter. “You panty raiding sonofabitch. I was wondering where they went! And you’ve been…” she smirked. “Oh, you’re naughty!” She tsked and tapped his nose.

“You’re not mad?”

“No.” She lilted. “You see the thing is, I’m also a dirty little pervert so thinking about you jerking off with my panties strangled around your dick is doing it for me. Dirty birdy.” She cooed and wiggled her hips. “That suits you so well. Squirreling away with my panties and hiding them.” He’d blushed more tonight than he had the whole time he’d known her. “Do you wrap them around your dick or do you like to smell them and jerk off?” She leaned into his personal space, something Eddie was usually guilty of.

“It started with just taking them to be bad. If you found them I thought you’d be really cute, all mad about it. But yeah, I smelled them at first and jerked off. Cause fuck, you smell so good to me Star. Then they stopped smelling like you and I started cumming in them.” Star eyes drifted dreamily across his face as he spoke.

“You are making me discover all sorts of new things about myself, Eddie.” Her voice was breathy as she watched him lick his lips.

“I-I liked cumming inside them at first because it was like I’d finished inside you and I’d seeped out of you while you wore the panties. Like you’d taken them off and given them to me to show me how much I’d filled you up.” Star's mouth hung open and she gawked. Her bloodshot half-lidded eyes watched Eddie's plush lips say the most erotic things she’d ever heard a man say to her. This was more intimate than dirty talk and she was floored. She eventually blinked out of her trance as Eddie gazed at her lustful face.

“Holy shit.” She leaned away and took a deep breath. “The more you let me inside that big brain of yours the more I like it.” She whispered. “I think that’s the sexiest thing I’ve ever heard. I’ve never thought of that before.”

“Really?” He quietly asked. Still feeling a hint of uncertainty about how honest he was being.

“You liking my smell that much. I love the way you smell.” Eddie saw her eyes involuntarily roll back when she spoke. “I’ve whiffed your shirts while you’re not around. Right in the armpits. I don’t even care. You smell like a man and I can’t explain it but it makes me feral and knowing you’re just as nasty as I am is….” She let out a tiny whimper as she sighed. “Fuck it’s good. You could’ve only told me this for my birthday and I would’ve been happy, to be honest.”

“You’re a cheap date.” He smirked and she smiled something more wholesome.

“I never claimed not to be.”

“I can stop here. And not give you any of the other things I had planned.”

���More? Maybe an orgasm? From a thumb in my ass while you fuck me from behind?” She smirked.

“We are both too wasted for that right now.” He snorted. “Remember the last time I tried to make you cum after you’d drank too much? You fell asleep before it happened and my hand and jaw were sore for two days.” He grinned and she again bent over with giggles.

“I do vaguely recall that.” She nodded. She sighed, composing herself as she smiled softly up at Eddie.

“This would be a good time to drink water.” He nodded and slapped his thighs with his hands. “Have a cigarette. Smoke some more and then I’ll finish you off.”

“Hmm?” She perked up.

“Finish you off with your present for tonight?” He cheesed as he stood and she pouted. He took a large step past her and she bit his calf through his denim. “Feral woman! Found in the woods! Raised by raccoons!” He declared loudly as he cackled, she held his leg and kept her mouth on him as he shook his leg, holding onto her counter. “Release me, foul beast!” He boomed between laughter. “Back! Back I say!” She growled and made a high-pitched sound much like an angry cat. She took her mouth off him but promptly wrapped her arms and legs around his one leg. He drug her across the trailer floor as they laughed until happy tears fell down their cheeks.

-

Two movies and the rest of the pizza later the night was growing old and it was hours past Star's birthday. She sat on the floor again, her little nest now filled with pillows and blankets. She sat at Eddie’s feet with her hands around a steaming mug of tea, her eyes closed with a peaceful smile as music played. They were winding down, Eddie with the biggest glass Star had full of water as he watched her sway away back and forth. He had one move left for tonight. He wasn’t going to tire her out the usual way.

“I had one more thing for your birthday tonight.”

“Mm?” She fluttered her eyes open from enjoying herself.

“I know you fall asleep to Fleetwood Mac a lot.”

“You do?”

“I can hear it in the background when we’re on the phone.” He grins. “So how about I play it for you instead tonight?” She sat her mug down after a big sip, out of the way on a table.

“You learned a Fleetwood Mac song?”

“Yes.” He nodded once hard. “For you, for your birthday. More than one song actually.”

“Eddie.” She pouted but it was full of admiration.

“Uncle Wayne didn’t know what the hell was going on.” He chuckled. “He eventually asked me why the hell I was playing this kind of music. He had to have heard me playing it for hours the poor guy.” He chuckled. “What do you want to hear? I’ve got all your favs off of Rumors.”

“I thought you hated them.”

“Hate is such a strong word isn’t it?” He asked dramatically. “At first they annoyed me for some reason then you loved them so I had to give you shit about it because you got so worked up over it every time. Then I listened to them and they aren't bad. The Chain, all things considered, goes pretty hard.”

“It would seem getting a rise out of me is your motive for most of your behavior.”

“I’m an asshole what can I say?”

“An asshole who learns the songs off my favorite album for my birthday.” She said it so softly she didn’t have to further explain the sentiment behind it.

“One in the same.” He bowed with his upper body behind his guitar. “How about I’ll start with this one? You do that dumb little dance to this one. You might as well stand.” He holds out his hand and tugs her to her feet. “Because I know you’re gonna dance.” She beamed at him, feet hopped up to land on the floor. The beginning of You Make Loving Fun began and her hand went to her chest. Her shoulders moved as they always did, hearing the funky best in her head. She bobbed her head back and forth, moving somewhat like a chicken to the beat.

“Sweet, wonderful you.” She sang like a bird on her tiptoes and hands open wide. “You make me happy with the things you do.” She tapped Eddie's nose and if she’d been any less high or drunk, or not so caught up in her own emotions at the moment she’d have seen the way Eddie looked at her went a little deeper than usual. She grabbed her shawl off the coat hanger and put it on, arms out and spinning, the fringe tickling her body as she bounced. She was still mostly hip as that was the way she was put together, but she hopped and tapped her toes and swayed instead of the more suggestive moves she usually did. This was her dancing for herself. It was the root of what made her happy about moving her body to music. Eddie could swear she glowed in the low light of her altar candles and incense. He could see enough to find his chords but he knew them from memory by now. He’d been practicing for weeks. “I never did believe in miracles. But I have a feeling it’s time to try.” With her hands to her chest clutching the dark silk in her grip as she sang he wondered if she ever felt like this about him when she listened to the words.

Star didn’t think much about her voice. IT hit where she wanted it but she had no aspirations like Eddie. He however loved to hear Star sing. He’d crack jokes with Robbie about her hit-and-miss high or low notes but he didn’t mean it. “I never did believe in the ways of magic. But I’m beginning to wonder why.” The song would be better suited for him to be singing to her. But he knew she wouldn’t be able to help herself. He was happily her audience as much as she was for him with his guitar. “It would be different and you know it will.” It felt different, he’d thought when he learned the words. Maybe he hadn’t been far enough in when he first listened to this music. Maybe he hadn’t been deep enough into this magic and miracles that they spoke of. “You. You make loving fun.” They seemed to know what they were talking about. He thought feeling like this for someone would be hard. He thought it would hurt and feel like work. But it was fun. Star spun, a tambourine now in her hand keeping beat to her hip. Her eyes were closed and she was lost in it. Exactly what he’d wanted. He wanted to make her happy. He did it without having to try. If she wasn’t he felt like he failed somehow. It wasn’t a burden or a responsibility to him to do it. He’d played the role of protector so many times but it never felt like this. He’d realized that wasn’t what their relationship was like he'd originally thought. He knew she was capable of taking care of herself. He didn’t think she needed him. But god, did he need her. “And I don’t have to tell you but you’re the only one.” He smiled as he watched her spin and sing, the flare of her nightgown twirling out and rising.

The song dies down and she stops to catch her breath, panting but radiating with joy he caused.

“How about one more before bed?” She bit her lip and nodded enthusiastically.

“Please.” She requested with her hands on her knees.

“Okay, keep this beat for me.” He tapped his foot and she quickly followed. Within the first few plucks she screamed and jumped up and down.

“EDDIE!” She squealed with her hands flailing, her pink painted toenails gripping into the blankets on the floor to jump up and down. He looked at the guitar, his smile hurt with the force in which it took over his face.

“Listen to the wind blow. Watch the sun rise.” Her hair was soft as she shook her head back and forth. Her whole body moved to the steady beat. Half bent she slapped her thigh, the tambourine on her hip, and stomped with one foot on the floor. She looked like she was head-banging but somehow made it her own. “And if you don’t love me now. You’ll never love me again”. She shouted so loudly it competed with the amp. Her face wrinkled with force, her hair over her face. Chorus after chorus ended, she stood gasping in front of him, hearing the bass in her head, a wicked smile that he stared right back into her fearlessly as his fingers moved quicker and quicker into the solo. She was so excited for him, shouting YES, nods turning into headbangs. She shouted the repeated lyrics and he couldn’t help but sing with her. “Chain, keep us together.” End ended with the satisfying hum of his fingers dragging across the strings through his amp. She let herself fall to the floor, chest heaving and laughing in the feedback of the amp. “I didn’t know how much I loved that solo until I heard you play it.” She panted with her arm over her head, having just pushed her hair out of her face. She lay crumpled and gazing up at him as he stood to secure his guitar and turn off the amp. His stomach flipped at her words.

“And that.” He said definitively as he stood over her. “Is the nicest thing you’ve ever said to me.” He bent over and put his hands on his knees, looking down at her.

“I am nice.” She smiled with flushed cheeks. “To you.” She added with a wrinkle of her nose. “How can I not be when you do things like this for me?” She moved to sit up on her hip. “You’re so good, Eddie. Who needs concert tickets when I’ve got you?”

“That’s… foreplay for a guitar player.” He wagged his finger at her and she grinned.

“It would get your fingers all warmed up.” He reached down his hand as he stood to yank her up into his chest. “I like it when you play me like one of your guitars. Especially if it’s your favorite. I know I could never get handled the way you handle her. That’s your wife.” She giggled. “I’m just your mistress.”

“You jealous of a guitar?” He asked with a tease in his deep, comforting tone. He brushed Star's hair back out of her face as he looked her over. Her eyes were glassy and bloodshot, cheeks and chest flushed with pink splotches. She had a sheen of sweat on her skin, glistening with joy as she spoke animatedly.

“Nah.” She shook her head. “I don’t really wanna be hung up and then only brought down when you wanna finger me.” They both let out their unique corny laughs. She snorted and giggled, he let out long exhales of sound deep from his chest.

“Yeah I don’t tuck her into bed do I?” He cooed and turned them, her feet following wherever he lead.

“You’re staying right?” He saw it. A flash of horror in her eyes at the thought he might not be staying. He craved that. Nothing felt better than seeing proof that she wanted him. He might even be bold enough tonight to say she needed him there.

“I’d course I am, sweetie.” He kissed her forehead. “I was gonna say I tuck you in instead of her.”

“Can’t tuck me in if you’re in the bed with me.” She tiptoed up on unsteady feet and kissed his cheek as he threw some pillows off the bed. Her arms wrapped around his neck as she looked at him from only a few inches away, studying him.

“Sure you can.”

“How? You gotta be out to tuck in.” She asked genuinely, watching his hands as if he was doing a magic trick she might be able to figure out.

“I’ll show you.” He bumped his forehead lightly to hers. “You get comfy, get into whatever you’re gonna sleep in.” She steadied her before he left her side. He locked the door, cracked a window, and turned down the heater. With the candles all out it was so quiet you could hear yourself breathe. “Drink your water.” He loosely motioned as she wiggled into the bed.

“Yes sir.” She mumbled and grabbed it with two hands like a child.

Eddie stripped down, chuckling when Star whistled at him as he took off his pants.

“Hubba hubba awooga.” She said as they were spelled and not as the sounds they represented. He winked and tucked the loose hairs behind his ears. He’d kept his hair loosely pulled back. “Oh don’t you wink you, dirty bastard.” She giggled as he jumped into bed on top of her, a threat to squish her before sliding beside her, his back to the wall.

“You good? Am I tucking you in now?”

“Can I ask one last birthday favor?” She looked at him with big eyes.

“Anything you want.” He answered.

“I wanna be little spoon.” Her chin nodded upward with excitement.

“Get in here.” He growled and yanked her in with a tiny oomph.

“I like holding you and having your head in my tits but I think I wanna be held tonight.”

“Sweet soft baby girl.” He teased, rubbing his nose into her crown.

“Shush.” She giggled and wrapped her arms around him, her face to his chest.

“Just have to get you situated. Are your feet covered? Not gonna lose them to frostbite? Or monsters?” She answered by bringing her freezing feet against his fuzzy calves and he made a growling sound she’d never heard before. “Jesus Christ your feet are like ice!” His voice cracked as he tried not to jerk away. “You are from the center of the rings of hell. Are you sure you don’t want socks? I was joking about frostbite earlier but now…”

“Nope. I’ve got you.” She interrupted him. “And your fuzzy legs.” She hummed happily and snuggled up, sliding a thigh between his legs. “You can keep me warm.” She murmured and he couldn’t bring himself to care about the icy talons currently rubbing his own feet and legs like a cricket. “I like it when you keep me warm.” She said tenderly.

“I like when I keep you warm too.” He said in a exhale as he started to settle, making sure she was tucked in before finally getting his arm around her body curled up to his. She was being very affectionate. Nuzzling her nose into the almost there chest hair, her hand held him in a grip he could feel. He felt her soft hand hot to his back, almost clutching him. Her other, tucked up and by her face. He slid his arm under her head and with the other felt the silk of her nightgown against his rough fingertips. only A muffled howl of the wind, a rustle of leaves heard from the outside. Inside a quiet buzzed, breathing growing slower and quieter.

“Did you have a good birthday, Star?” He asked, his face buried in her pungent hair.

“Best birthday ever.” She hummed and smiled, pressing a kiss to his chest. “Thanks to you.”

“I’m glad you liked it.” He kissed her head.

“I like this.” She mumbled.

“I like this too.” He whispered, his hand rubbing strands of her hair between his fingers as it fell down her back. She was already so still, she always shut right down when he’d hold her like this. She was out quick. Eddie stayed awake for a little while, he wanted to soak in this feeling, not willing to let it leave as he slept. The warmth of her against him, her steady breathing, and the softest small sounds he’d ever heard from her as she dreamt lulled him into the safety of sleep where he was met with dreams that for once, had a hard time rivaling how good he had it when he was awake.

-

Eddie had his turn waking up to have to pee in the middle of the night. He heard Star whine in her sleep once he removed his body from hers. He leaned down and kissed the sleeping cherub on her pouted lips. When he returned she somehow managed to keep repeating the sweetest sounds he’d ever heard. They floated in a haze of sleep, bodies heavy from it and still seeking comfort without the burdensome worry consciousness brought.

Star moaned his name softly, a plea for him in her sleep. He answered her by pulling her against his chest, his hand soaking up the warmth of her skin, not having been drained by the cold crisp air outside their sanctuary of blankets.

“M’here babe.” He answered her, again wrapping their bodies together. He kissed her neck and shoulder, burying his face there with a heavy sigh. He got to fall asleep with barely a barrier between their skin. Their dreams were deliciously indulgent and not hindered by the boundaries being awake put on them.

The rose quartz Eddie brought her was still in his pocket waiting for its moment to be shared. That didn’t stop it from influencing them. Eddie had kept it on him all day before. Thinking about it, rubbing it in his hands, worrying at it with his mouth. It was in tune with him and what he needed. And by proxy, it also assured Star was feeling its influence. It made sure they had some of the most loving, peaceful, and gentle dreams either had ever had. It gave them what they needed as they slept. It gave them each other.

Stars' dreams grew more intense as the morning settled in. Her sleep talking and moans only added to Eddie’s dreams until a cry awoke him. He’d happily incorporated the sounds of her moans and his name but even asleep Eddie came when Star called.

A gasp that turned into a deep inhale pulled Eddie from unconsciousness. He could feel Star in his arms, her body subtly moving in response to her dreams. The first thing he heard was a soft mewl from Star. What a perfect way to wake up, he thought. His arm that was tucked under the pillow she rest on bent up to join his other to envelop her. His tattooed forearm against her collar bones, the partially asleep hand clasping over her shoulder to pull her close. His other snaked under her extended arm which was straight out and grasping for something with little twitches of her fingers. Words that didn’t make it past her lips hummed in her mouth as he squeezed her, curling his body fully against hers. He pushed his face into the warm soft skin of her back and shoulder. A cuddle and a nuzzle of his nose as he breathed her in. He kissed without looking where his lips landed. Small, lingering kisses that left his lips sticking to her body, the skin seemingly caching against the fuzz of her and refusing to let go. His nose led the way as he traveled up her shoulder to her nape and buried his face with a grunt. The arm Star was laying on sought Eddie out, her dream self demanding more of him as her awake hand clasped itself around his forearm. In her dream, it was clutching with nails and desperate. But in reality, it was a soft caress.

“Eddie.” It was barely legible, only escaping from the strength of her exhale, parting her lips.

“Mmm.” He kissed her neck, his nose mashed against her as he stayed in a sleepy haze, soaking her in.

“I du-“

“What is it, baby?” His voice was gritty from sleep. He walked a trail of 3 kisses to the side of her neck, his body slowly waking up.

Her reply was a whimper that stuck in her throat.

“Sugar.” He whispered against her neck. He kissed her again, then one to her ear. “Use your words.” He felt her body shiver in his arms. He blinked his eyes open, he lifted his head to see Star's eyes moving behind their lids. He smiled, closed-lipped and deepening the lines on his face. Her face never looked softer than it did in the mornings. There were no worry lines between her brows or tension around her mouth. He saw how her cheeks rounded out and the natural shape of her lips. The late morning light seeped through the faded curtains. She looked golden with her warm-toned hair and skin. Her lips twitched and her lashes fluttered the longer he watched her. A round-tipped nose wiggled like a bunny as she huffed out sounds and almost words. He used the arm under her chin to brush back her hair off her face and neck so he could see all of her. He kissed her cheek and a sort of happy sound escaped her.

“Eddie.” She felt the warmth from the kiss in her dream.

“I’m here, sweetheart.” He exhaled onto her peach fuzzy soft cheek.

“Eddie.” She exhaled, her body losing its tension. He felt a warm fuzzy feeling in his chest when she relaxed at the sound of him.

“What is it, beautiful?” He asked her, kissing her temple.

“Fren.” Eddie smiled and looked down at her face now frowning. Just looking at her made his face hurt from smiling. Watching her like this made his chest hurt more. He didn’t recall a time before his face hurt so much as it had after she’d shown up.

“You’re dreaming baby. You’re fine. I’m here.” He quietly reassured her in her ear. Another kiss on her cheek. “Sleep.” He lightly dragged his lips up to her temple where several kisses were planted around her hairline. He savored the freedom he felt with her asleep in his arms. He was free to smooch and caress, to call her the things he longed to when she was awake. He shut his eyes, his brow creased as she whined his name. He pressed his face into her hair, feeling pain in his chest now.

“Ed.” She sighed, her face nuzzling into her pillow. “Don’t go.”

He made an involuntary sound. One light and painful.

“I need y-...” Her chest rose and fell at a slowly rising pace. “Don’t you...” she paused and a “...please.” Wrenched his heart in his chest.

“Star.” He clutched her tightly, pushing his face against her head. The presentation of the idea of her dreaming of him was enough to make him swoon. The idea she would have dreams where she begged him not to go. That she told him she needed him? It made the oddest feeling grow in Eddie’s head. He wanted to cry. Even asleep she somehow cut him down to his most vulnerable. The idea that she could need him as much as he knew that he needed her was like a punch to the gut. Eddie knew how to handle negative emotions. He could handle anger like the veteran he was of the emotion. But good feelings? Wholesome ones with pure intentions like joy and belonging he couldn’t process as well. He struggled to know how to communicate them. But he could. He had before. But love? Romantic love? The big IN love? That was a new one. It made him nauseous. That intimidating emotion he didn’t know what to do about. “Star, baby I’m here.” He kissed her ear. “I’m not going anywhere.” He shook his head, concerned that the pressure with which he pushed himself against her might hurt her. He felt like he might burst out of his skin. “Ever.” He promised.

“Friends.” She sounded as upset as he felt. “We don-“ She shook her head, her breathing picking up. “Not like that.” She insisted in broken words.

“Shhh.” He hushed her, kissing her temple. “You’re alright baby, calm down.” He cradled her and tried to learn how to deal with the emotional weight of having the girl he was in love with in his arms and upset.

“They don’t say it.” Her words came clearer. “Look!” She whimpered. “Not like that. Friends don’t. Not like that.” She blubbered and he sat up, looking down at her now distraught face.

“You’re having a bad dream, sweetheart that’s all.” He spoke so softly into her ear. “Eddie’s here baby. Calm down. It’s okay.”

“I’ll f-“ he felt her hand squeeze him back. Her other was clutching a pillow. “I’ll fuck it up.” A sob broke from her throat and Eddie’s heart dropped.

“Star? Baby wake up.” He tapped her cheek.

“Leave.” Her bottom lip quivered like a child’s about to cry. “Don’t. Too good.” She shook her head.

“Star.” He didn’t want to jar her awake. “It’s your Eddie. Come back now. I can’t take you being upset. Stop it.”

“No. Not until she listens.” She answered with an eerily sober-sounding voice.

“What the fuck? Star?” He raised his voice and she gasped awake. Her hands found his arm immediately and latched on. Wide confused eyes rapidly blinked, adjusting to her consciousness. “Are you okay?” She focused on Eddie’s face hovering over hers. He watched the fear disappear from her eyes as they met his.

Star looked up through blurry eyes to see Eddies handsome face surrounded by a halo of hair. Then she noticed he was looking at her, touching her face, his thumb rubbing her cheek.

“Mmm.” A soft smile, the opposite of a few moments ago appeared as she took a deep breath. “Eddie.” The word shaped her lips into a smile. “You look pretty.” She closed her eyes and smacked her lips, nuzzling into his hand.

“Star, are you awake?” He asked with a nervous laugh in his voice.

“Yeah?”

“You don’t sound so sure.” He let out a nervous chuckle and kissed her forehead.

“Sleeby.” She mumbled. He opened his mouth to ask what the hell kind of dream she was having to be crying upset and writhing against him and now she was a little lamb without a care in the world.

“You were talking in your sleep.”

“Oh. Sorry.” She grumped.

“Nah, it’s okay.” He quickly comforted her with a tone that was far sweeter than it had to be. “You feel okay?”

“Not bad.” She reached up to touch his face with her fingertips

“You wanna go back to sleep?” He asked her, brushing the hair that had become unruly during her struggle away from her face.

“Mmm.” She hummed again at the feeling of him kissing her fingertips as they moved across his lips. “No.” She was quiet for a moment as they both looked each other over. She made a small grunt of sound, as she leaned forward to kiss him. Her thoughts weren’t fully back to this plane of existence yet and she did it without thinking. “I had a dream about you.” She sighed as she let her head hit the pillow again.

“I had one about you too,” he admitted. The sun glinted in his big brown eyes, and his smile sparkled down at her as he watched her stretch and smile.

“Good dream?”

“The best.” He leaned down to kiss her while her eyes were closed a noise of surprise escaped her. “You have a good dream about me?”

“Very.” a mischievous lilt to her giggle forced him to kiss her cheek. She had flashes of an earlier dream, Eddie on top of her and her not having a care in the world about it. “We were back home. In Chicago. And we were in bed. Like this. And you were…” she grinned and her cheeks pinked. Eddie leaned down to kiss her lips this time.

“We were doing that in my dream too.” He confessed as they lightly, lazily pecked away at one another’s mouths.

“It was…” she took an indulgent sigh and let out a moan. “Warm.” Her head turned back to forward, laying back on the pillow as she lay on her side against Eddie.

“Like we are now?” He asked, snuggling back in behind her, a kiss on her head.

“Yeah.” She snuggled against him. “And very nice. Slow. I’ve never had it slow before.” She shook her head.

An odd mix of pity and triumph ran through Eddie. In a single sleepy sentence, he knew no one had treated her gently. He felt the rush of superiority knowing that not only could he give it to her, but he’d also be her first. He wasn’t the type to relish in the construct of virginity but his jealousy bask in the thought that he’d be the one to show her something first. That no matter what happened between them, she’d always remember the guy that touched her gently for the first time.

“Do you… want it slow?” A simple question. She batted open her eyes and he watched her think. She looked around in thought, brows and mouth giving away just how fully she was considering his question. He appreciated the rather adorable effort.

“I’ve never had it before.” She repeated. “I don’t know.”

“You liked it in your dream. What was good about it?” He was rather not sneakily trying to figure out what she dreamed about.

Star didn’t know where to begin unpacking the significance of the dream. She attempted to simplify the answer as much as she could with her not fully functional brain.

“Because it was us.” Eddie felt the pang in his chest again. “And you always make me feel good.” She turned her face to say it more directly to him despite them not facing each other.

“Do you want me to make you feel good?.” His thinly veiled attempt to have an outlet for his demanding affections wasn’t noticed by Star. She felt his hand that had been idle around her stir, moving to her chest.

“Do you want to right now?”

“I always want to.” He blurted. “But you know I’ve wanted morning sex. You’re always running away to work on me. But I’ve got you for 2 more days.” He gave a loud kiss on her cheek and squeezed her. She hummed and smiled.

“Yes, you do.” She happily let him hold her against him.

“I’ve got you all to myself.” He said with a nuzzle of his nose into her warm vanilla-smelling skin. He tensed and tried to hide it as soon as he remembered she was no longer sleep talking and heard what he was saying. He had to pull back on his honesty. He looked down to see no worry on Star's face. She hadn’t cared he said it, she found it cute. She wasn't overthinking everything like he was. “I think I might keep you in this bed with me for the next two days.” He lightly bit the shell of her ear.

“Mmm sounds good.”

“We would have plenty of time for me to take it slow.” He promised in her ear with a quiet voice.

“Do YOU want it slow?”

“I want you.” An honest that was simple as it was complicated now. “Any way I can have you.”

“You’re being cute this morning.” She pat his forearm around her chest.

“So are you.” Another kiss on her head. “Every morning.” Another.

“You’re being too nice,” she mumbled with a smile.

“I can always be nicer.” he nuzzled into her neck and let his hand seek out her breast.

“Mmm.” she hummed happily and let out a single huff of a laugh. “I bet you can, pretty boy.” Her voice was back to how it was when she was awake and at ease. A deeper feminine sound that he enjoyed getting to hear no matter what she was saying. “If you were wanting that morning sex, you’re going the right way about it.” a smug smile sat on her face as his lips started kissing her neck. His hand grasped her chest with intention. She moved her arm up giving him free access.

“I do want it,” he says right into her ear. His voice was deep and needy. “Can I fuck you slow, sweetheart? Like in your dream?” She answered with a nod and a push back of her ass against him. He dipped his hips just under her ass, letting his half-hard cock nuzzle right between her plush cheeks. He raised the hem of her nightgown, knowing nothing was under it. He let his hand rest on her jaw, his thumb gentle against her lips as his free arm, not under her, was allowed to roam. Still under the protection of covers, both their skin was pliant and warm. Her feet unconsciously rubbed together as she let herself relax and feel good, knowing she was well taken care of in his arms. She let the intense emotional repercussions of her dream fade out of memory, and tuned into the present.

His hand groped at her chest, not only her breasts but squeezing her ribs when he’d latch onto a spot on her neck and kiss, feeling her hips undulate against him. Every pinch of her nipples made her lightly buck back on him, eliciting a moan from them both. Eddie took only a heartbeat's time to pull down his boxers and free himself, his hand back under her nightgown and targeting her now hard and ever-growing sensitive nipples.

With the velvet skin of his cock slowly pushing its way between her cheeks he became increasingly desperate. He mirrored every sound she made, every closed mouth moan to the needful exhales of ‘yes’. She felt her body ache as he teased pressure, his precum easing his way between her legs. They found a rhythm, a smooth back and forth as he inches closer to breaking through to her pink center.

“You feel so good and I’m not even inside you.” He said through a delicate kiss to her ear. Star held his thumb between her teeth, her tongue lapping at the pad when she had the urge to kiss him.

“You’re so close.” She sighed. “I can almost feel you.” Eddie kept worrying away at her nipples, breathing into her ear and kissing her shoulder.

“You’re so soft.” He moaned, his forehead pressing into her shoulder as his hand moved to grope her chest again. His hips pushed forward harder, not faster. They kept a tantalizingly slow slide against one another.

“You’re so hard.” A deep sultry chuckle left her throat and Eddie moaned, his tongue lapping at her shoulder. She arched her back as sharply as she could manage. She trailed her hand down her body, over his veined hands that grasped at her desperately. She reached her hip and lifted her gown. With a spread hand she lifted the weight of her cheek, and Eddie slid past the barrier of external skin and into the hot wet center of her pussy lips. He stuttered and groaned. A helpless sound before she felt him start kissing her neck again. She swung her hips back and forth, covering him in her essence and making him whimper.

“Star.” He whispered, his lean hip muscles tensing as his body sought out her insides. She sucked his thumb into her mouth before she spoke.

“I’m wet from my dream about you.”

He grunted and bucked, his tongue out of his mouth as he lapped at her neck.

“I want you so bad it hurts.” Her brow creased at the throb and ache of her pussy as he teased it.

“You want me?” He asked, mashing against her ear. She reached back to take a handful of soft curls into her hand.

“Of course, I want you, Eddie.” She indulged him. He was being so loving and desperate and embodied the puppy energy she loved from him.

“Tell me?” He softly requested.

“I need you, Eddie. So bad. I’m so wet because of you. Please.”

He shuddered, pushing another finger into her mouth before his other hand slid to her hip to adjust himself to push into her. He looked down to greedily take in the sight of shining on her ass and thighs from slick. With a grunt, he grabbed himself and pressed forward. He entered her with a pleasant pop.

Star fully exhaled, her body slumping as she felt him fill her. He wasted no time pulling his fingers from her hungry mouth and pulling her tight with his pinned arm. He settled on her chest, fingers attached to a nipple again. He concealed his whole face into the bend of her neck. He kissed without any thought behind it, wet and breathy he covers her hairline and cheek with needful presses.

“That’s what I needed.” She whispered, her face turning to hide in her pillow. He let her move on her own, taking him as she pleased. He felt her relax, his pussy sucking him inside and welcoming him. He held out until she moaned, then his hips started moving on their own. Her breathing started to pick up as she focused on the feeling on his body of lean muscle flexing against her own. He pulled out as far as he could without leaving the comfort of her then slowly filled her again. He was steady and strong and it was making her weaker by the second. He came up for air, gasping as his face contorted and he let out a gritty moan. He felt Star tighten around him, a bounce back of her ass onto him, encouraging the sound. She buried her face, encouraged to indulge by her tightly gripped hand bringing him back down to her. He moved his hand to her lower stomach, holding her as he pumped his hips. “A little lower.” She giggled, raising her leg to give him access.

“Yes.” He moaned, throwing her leg behind him as his fingers dove between her legs to circle four fingers on her soaked clit. Star arched and far bed and cried out.

“Yes!” She mewled, her head arched back. He put his fingers back into her mouth and she moaned deep from her stomach as she suckled away at them. “So deep.” He kept his steady pace, he filled her slowly and purposefully. She tried turning her head to face him and she cried for more after a brief neck-stretching kiss. She wanted more.

“I can’t reach you and stay inside you.”

“Kiss me.” She pleaded, her eyes screwing shut as she felt a new kind of build of pleasure inside her. “I don’t care where just put your mouth on me.” He latched to her neck and she moaned and shuddered.

“I don’t wanna leave a mark.” He painted out, sweating from intensity but not exertion.

“I don’t care.” She cried.

“You want-?”

“Mark me up I don’t fucking care, Eddie.” She cried out and he whined into the muscle of her neck. He’d wanted to sneakily lay claim to her before. Leave a hickey, and let anyone else know she was with someone who wasn’t them. But now? He felt like an animal, some beast marking his territory as he felt his emotion surge. She sucked hard on his fingers, the tips red and spit pooling into his hand. He lapped at her like the puppy that he was, he bit and sucked and she yearned for more. “Harder.” She demanded.

“You’re gonna cum from me giving you this dick nice and slow.” He instructed in her ear. She bucked her hips with a whine of distress. He kissed her cheek before latching to her shoulder and sucking, his eyes rolling back in his head. “Loosen up for me. Take all of me. You’re so tense, sweetheart.” She took a few deep breaths, disappointed he didn’t give in but still enamored with the pain his mouth caused on her skin. “That’s a good girl.” His finger kept swiping and swirling in the mess of wetness, not even feeling friction from her soft bush of hair anymore. “Relax and get fucked how you need it. I’ll make you cum, don’t worry.” She shook again, her hand white-knuckled from the grip in his hair of her awkwardly bent arm. Her legs were spread as wide as they could, he could feel her strong hip muscle quivering from force. Her feet kneaded the bed, trying to find purchase to move, to demand a different pace but she couldn’t find it. “Stop struggling, Star. I’m not going to stop. Relax.” He said again. She caved in with a pout, letting her muscles loosen. “You’re so tight around me Star. You feel so good but I need you to open up that perfect pussy for me okay? Open up your pussy and take me, Star. Let me make you cum like this.” None of his words felt like orders but wishes he was asking her to grant.

“Ugh!” It was half cry of frustration and half of pleasure. She stopped moving, let her muscle settle, and as soon as she felt how deep he could go when she let her pussy open up. Instead of trying to stay so tight, he had to fight to get inside her, she moaned from her stomach in a new way.

“Fuck that’s it, fucking perfect. Focus on how good it feels. I’m filling you up so well, you feel it? My cock bottoming out inside you? You take my cock like you were made to, you feel it?”

“Holy shit.” She managed to get out.

“That’s my good girl, open that sweet pussy up.”

“Yes.” She wept, a tear promising to fall from her eyes. She moaned another deep unique moan.

“Open it up and take me, Star. God damn it you feel so fucking good.” He groaned out between clenched teeth.

“I am. Fuck, I am.” She pleaded, looking down to see his hand soaked and focusing on the obscene sounds her body made as he pushed into her. She pulled her hand free from his hair, slapping to her thigh to hold up and open her legs to take him even deeper.

“That’s it. You want it so bad don’t you? Tell me.”

“I wanna cum so bad.” She let out a broken sob. “It feels so good. I’m right there but I just… can’t…” he shushed her and kisses her cheek. “I need it. I wanna cum on your cock.” She squealed.

“Relax and you will.” He whispered in her ear. “Just let it feel good, it’s not about cumming. Just enjoy it feeling good.”

“Just enjoy it.” She whispered back, her brow low and again calming her body. She was so used to fast and hard and cumming being the entire point. Now she was wrapped in his arms, he pulled her onto her back more to be able to kiss her. Her leg was high and bouncing as he was deep inside her. A push in, a drag out. Two separate motions instead of the blur of movement they’d done together before. She let herself focus on the kiss. Deep and slow like his cock, their tongues explored and probed. She held his face and he helped her reach her peak by focusing on her nipples again. Soon she was floating, her body being rocked and held, kissed and caressed with care. “Oh my.” Left her mouth without her putting forth the effort. Her body felt heavy, her eyes began to rapidly blink.

“That’s a good girl. I feel you, Star. You’re doing so good. So good.” He buried his face into her neck again, he felt her startle, a hand slapped his arm as she gasped.

“Eddie?” She sounded like she didn’t know what was happening so he rose to look at her. With teary eyes, her lips trembled as she begged him for something he couldn’t place with her eyes. She nodded.

“Yeah?” He nuzzled his nose to hers, feeling the deep muscle spasms beginning in her stomach.

She nodded again and a tear fell from her eyes as she screwed them shut. She seized up, her head lifting, her forehead to his lips. Her legs came to her chest, her stomach a rock-hard muscle as she didn’t make a sound for a moment. All that could be heard was the wet squelch of her body wrenching his cock. Eddie’s mouth fell open, his eyes rolling in their sockets. It was more intense than the usual pulse and grip. He could feel her whole body as it washed over her in waves. The usual quick pulses into calm was nowhere to be found. She managed a strangled gasp, her eyes rolled back to white. She drowned in wave after wave of her whole body tingling and feeling the pleasure. Her nipples were screamingly sensitive, and her clit felt like a blood-filled beacon with how every pulse made it jolt her with pleasure.

She gasped exhaustively, her eyes moving to meet his. She was surprised and lost, he saw it in a second.

“Don’t stop.” She creaked out, her lips pouting exaggeratedly. “I’m… it’s…” she choked out a sob.

“I’m not gonna stop. You’re doing so good. Keep cumming baby.” He pumped her at the same rhythm, fighting to stay inside her as she squeezed. His fingers zeroed in and caressed her throbbing clit. He could feel her pulse under his hands. She let out a loud growl from her red face. Eddie knew enough to understand that the really good orgasms weren’t some flowery moaning lovely thing. They could hurt. They were grunts and groans and drool and tears. He watched her in awe as she struggled, he was thrilled to be the one to give her this.

She stayed there for a short while, until she cried out again, her back arching and her head hitting the pillow. With a rush she came around him again, her body tensing and pushing and it proved too much. Eddie didn’t dare ruin her moment, as he came with the same unattractive sound as she did. A stern brow was pressed to her head as she wheezed. She whimpered and whined, arms shaking and grabbing for him. He clamored gracelessly, his hips moving on their accord as they kissed filthily. Tears and spit traveled over their faces, lips sucked and tongues tasted the salt from their skin. They panted into each other mouths, as Star tapped Eddie’s arm to beg for mercy.

His hand left her puffy pussy and grabbed her face. They collided, her turning to him to wrap her leg around him and he quickly smacked her ass before sinking his nails into her smooth skin. A makeout -as rough as the sex had been slow- followed. Neither recalled having kissed someone like this, certainly not sober. Some desperation they’d both been denying bubbled to the surface.

In the haze of post orgasm, there was a clarity that hit Star. She remembered something from her dream. Something she felt in her gut as they gasped and bit and scratched and cried into each other’s mouths. Friends, she remembered hearing. Friends don’t do this. Not like this.

-

“Honey, I’m home!” Eddie announced loudly, kicking her trailer door open with arm fulls of groceries.

“Eddie!” She scolded and jumped at the intrusion. “You’ll break my door!”

“I appreciate your faith in my muscle strength but these spaghetti noodles aren’t gonna break your door.”

“Your legs are not spaghetti noodles.” She corrected with a roll of her eyes, hopping up to shut the door behind him. “Did someone say something about your legs? Is it because your jeans are tight?” She walked up to him and stood by her kitchen counter, her face looking particularly adorable to Eddie as her face frowned. “I will fight someone if they made you feel bad about wearing those jeans. You look so good in those.” She so diligently insists, looking up to see Eddie smug. He leaned in to kiss her and her face softened.

“I know you would, badass.” His tone has the same effect as if he’s ruffled her hair.

“I would!”

“I know. That’s why I said it!” He laughed.

“Good!” She nodded and looked at the things left on the counter. “We cooking now?”

“I am cooking now yes.”

“Are you sure? I can help. I’m a good cook.”

“I know you are and I’m going to prove that I can make something besides cereal for you.”

“I don’t know if the insurance is up to date on this thing so please don’t burn down my house.”

“Oh, ye of little faith. I am a one-trick pony when it comes to cooking. I can one thing really well.”

“With a block of fake cheese?” She picked up the dropped the heavy brick on the counter.

“Trust the process! Shoo!”

-

Star sat on her bed which still smelled like sex from that morning. She was still feeling pleasantly tired and Eddie had been in a great mood the whole day. He’d run out to get groceries after an argument about him being able to cook while Star had made them breakfast.

He’d barreled off in his lumbering van and picked up a bag of clothes and other things to hold him over for a few days. He hadn’t been joking about staying with her the entire time she was off. And now he especially didn’t want to leave her. He felt different. Conflicted, sure but lighter too. The truth was heavy but knowing it made it easier to carry. He was in love with his best friend. Not ideal by any stretch but with their non-traditional sort of relationship it also was a whole hell of a lot better than it could be. He knew better than to tell her. Not now anyway. Maybe soon. Maybe one day. When she didn’t seem to be so haunted by her past. He felt cautiously optimistic.

In a lame attempt to prove his worth of being relationship material he had agreed to make dinner. Eddie's confidence in the kitchen was not high. But he was capable if he could focus long enough. He’d made this meal, 100s? Thousands of times? It got him through his time alone when he was younger. It served him well now. And he proudly presented it to her steaming hot out of the pot.

“Munson Mac.” He cheerfully proclaimed as a very ooey, gooey, melty greasy bowl of bright orange noodles were poured in front of Star. Your fork, Milady.” He bowed and held it out to her to take.

“It smells good.” She waited for him to settle into the opposite side of the kitchenette booth. He stared at her for a moment. “You’re excited about this aren’t you?”

“Yes. Put me out of my misery and try it!” He scooted the bowl closer to her.

Star seriously considered acting like it was bad then psyche!-ing him. She wasn’t cruel enough to make those big brown eyes look sad on purpose. The fact that it was surprisingly good made it hard to act like she didn’t like it with how hungry she was.

“Verdict?”

“I will admit I am surprised at how good it is.”

“YES!” He hit the table with both hands. “Fuck yeah.” He nodded enthusiastically before shoveling it into his mouth.

“You even seasoned it.”

“Of course I did.” He looked offended.

“I mean, white people usually don’t.” She laughed.

“Poor people do!” He corrected with a shake of his spoon. “We can’t afford the good shit so we have to flavor the cheap stuff to make it edible.”

“That explains the block of cheese.”

“Exactly.”

He continued about how many cheeses were in it and how he used a whole stick of butter. Stars eyes got wide at the confession. That would explain why it was tasty. Eddie suspected the cheap and easy-to-get ingredients had kept him from starving sometimes as a kid. You need the calories from a whole stick of butter when it’s the only thing you’ll eat all day.

She went back for another bowl and not just because she knew it’d make him happy. He took her second empty bowl and started washing up. She sat with her extended stomach and watched him curiously.

“You do dishes too?”

“Yeah? If you don’t you get ants. Or gnats. I hate those fuckers. Oh hell, I sound like Wayne.” He laughed.

“I don’t know if… apart from Robbie I don’t know that I’ve witnessed any of my- any guys I knew do dishes without being asked. Or begged.”

“Grow up alone. Or see your mom have a breakdown or an argument over the dishes not being done as a kid. You’ll start doing it yourself to keep the peace.” He said it too casually. Star frowned at his explanation. She rolled up her sleeves and stood next to him, she took them to dry.

“You don’t have to do it alone.” She offered, using an embroidered tea towel to help.

“I know.” He looked down at her bright eyes that showed she felt bad for him “That's what I’ve got you for now right?” He nodded his chin up and the sentiment made her smile.

“I’d rather vacuum actually.”

“I’ll take out the garbage if you do laundry.” He grinned.

“I’ll wash it if you put your own up.”

“Deal.” She smiled back and they finish the dishes in silence. “You know what? There is something you can help me out with.” He said as he leaned against the table.

“Shoot.” She said, mirroring him against the counter. He ignored his compulsion to stare at the multiple hickeys he’d left on her neck and shoulder. With her hair up it was like she was teasing him. He shook his head to force out the distraction.

“I was wondering. About these crystals?” He took the ones she’d left in his van out of his pocket and held them out in his open hand. He saw her eyes go wide.

“Looks like, some black tourmaline and selenite, a rose quartz.” She said fingering the stones. “Good protection stones.”

“You wanna know where I found them?” He smirked.

“I’m sorry.” She blurted out. “I should’ve asked first but I wanted to put protection stones in your van because you drive like a maniac and I worry about you.” the words all came out fast. His smile was obnoxiously cocky. He moved over to her, put the stones in his pocket, and kissed her. A hand to her waist and another to her face before landing it.

“I know.” He whispered and grinned.

“You just wanted a confession?”

“I knew it had to be you.” He shook his head. “But when I took them to the shop downtown I asked the lady what they were and I learned a lot.”

“You did?”

“I was… I don’t know. flattered? Glad they weren't out there to kill me?”

“You aren’t mad at me?”

“Psh, no. It’s sweet really. I can use all the help I can get. We both know this.” He admits. “I learned about the stones and I mean, it was easy to get you to talk about them. So I looked into it for myself. So I figured, why not return the favor?”

“You… you’ve been learning about crystals?” Her voice cracked in her throat in a well-timed crack of honesty in her voice.

“I have.” He nodded, his hands back in his pockets. “And the moon.” Her eyes went wide as her head tilted.

“Why?” She couldn’t think of a better way to ask.

“Because you love it. Because I think you’re into something. I’m not one to follow any tenets blindly, but the magic part of LeVayan beliefs was always a little… unattainable. With the drama and the robes and the ritualistic orgies. But the way you talk about it, and do it? It makes sense to me. It’s not loud and big and showy. It’s quiet and consistent and intimate. Without the need for orgies. But if you ever need someone for sex magic, I’m your guy.” He added quickly and winked making her laugh.

“I’ll ask you first.” She nodded.

“Good. I see things happen that you talk about. The coincidence and serendipity of it all. And I thought this girl knows what’s up. This feels… for lack of a better word, it feels real when you do it.”

Star fluttered her lashes unintentionally. She fiddled with the stone around her neck nervously. She was feeling emotional at his observations and openness. Her work was sacred to her, and feeling so seen and heard was making her feel things she hadn’t expected.

“Thank you.” She quietly answered.

“Which is why I started reading, talking to the people at the shop. And I decided that if you were so thoughtful as to want to help me, protect me in some way. That I should do the same for you, you know?” He shrugged. He was pulling off the casual approach well even though his palms were sweating. “So I thought about what I thought you needed help with the most. And I don’t think I’m being… impolite when I say I noticed that sometimes you get… well, scared. You flinch at any sound or interruption. You get mad or sad over things that seem like they’re normal.” He softened his voice. “Wayne was in the war ya know? And I know what PTSD is and I know that means bad things happened to you in the past. Things so bad that they stay with you even after they’re over. And they haunt you and make things harder. They make you mean to yourself and believe things that aren’t true. And I see you get upset, or down on yourself. I know it’s something you have to heal. And I can’t do that for you, I can’t make the things that already happened to you go away. I would if I could but- I can’t.” He sighed and reached out and took her hand. She had tears in her eyes. “So I found what crystal I thought would work best for that. I know you love rose quartz but it makes so much sense to me now that I know what it does and why you have so many of them. And I know you probably don’t need another or another necklace in general but you tell me all the time that intention is everything. So I thought that if my intention with this was for you to be able to heal then I should get it for you anyway. And once I saw this one. I had to.” He held up a star-shaped rose quartz. A soft leather cord looped through a hole to make it a necklace. Star's chest heaved for a moment, holding in a sob. “Oh my god babe did I totally fuck up? I’m SO sorry!” He grabbed her face, the necklace dangling from his hand and she put her hands over his.

“You did the opposite of fuck up.” She smiled and it made tears run down her cheeks. “You’re so good to me.” The dam broke and she started crying and he pulled her against him. He fought tears of his own as she quietly cried in his arms. “I don’t deserve you.” She wept into his shirt, her arms too tight around his middle.

“You- you deserve better than me.” He rasped out. “This is what I want to help you with. You deserve the world, Star. I want you to see that.” It only made her cry harder.

“I’m sorry.”

“Don’t be sorry. There’s nothing to be sorry for.” He rubbed her back and kissed her head. “I didn’t mean to make you cry. I’m the one that should be sorry.”

“It’s good. I think I needed to. It’s been a while.” he rubbed her back as she settled. She sounded less strained as she pulled away, wiping her face with her too long sleeves. “I'm sorry. That was just… the nicest thing anyone's said or done for me. You’re such a lovely person. I can’t even begin to explain how much what you said and what-“ she looked at the necklace in his hand. “-That means to me.”

“It’s all true.” He said softly, wiping her face before holding up the necklace. “You wanna wear it?” She nodded with a sniffle. She looked down to toy with it.

“I'm never gonna take it off.” She promised, braving to look into his eyes that she found were also wet. “Oh no, honey.” She chuckled, wiping his eyes for him.

“I don’t like it when you’re upset.” He whispered bashfully.

“I don’t like it when you’re upset either. I hate it. It hurts.”

“It does doesn’t it?” He winced with realization. “We’re a mess aren't we?” He huffed out a soft laugh. She nodded and he put his hand to her face, thumbs wiping away the remaining tears.

“We are.” She laughed and nodded before he leaned in to kiss her. “At least we can be a mess together.”

“One big mess instead of two slightly smaller ones.” He mused against her lips and her laugh eased any ache he’d had in his chest. “You like it right?” He touched the pendant on her chest.

“I love it.” She said happily with the fading stuffiness of her nose passing. She held his hands and hopped to kiss him to emphasize her point.

“So do I.” He exhaled before wrapping his arms around her waist to bring her close. Her hands clasped to his jaw as they shared a slow kiss, feet raised with the force he pulled her toward him. Her toes balanced on the floor and one foot popped out as he took her breath away for the second time that day. Perhaps he’d go for a third before the night was over.

PART 14

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