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keehomania · 3 months ago

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MARK LEE (마크리) — BBF (DRABBLE)

✧.* MINORS DNI (18+)

there was something so appealing about having something you couldn’t. in this case, someone. you didn’t spend too much time wondering, asking why things were the way they were, you knew you had to go to the flow. maybe it was wrong, maybe you lacked morals and the right mind. maybe you just liked the chase, the thrill of it. whatever it was, you were in for it. you were so fucking in for it.

MARK LEE was insatiable. you didn’t understand at first but, then again, you didn’t pay much attention, and neither did he. you were used to your older brother bringing him around, an entire group of his friends huddled together. whether it was in his room, the living room, or outside, they were constantly there, a joint nuisance during your pre-teen years. you were just as much of a nusiance, bugging them, pestering them with whatever seemed to be on your mind at the time. you’d get a couple laughs, even if they were forced, but it was only right. you were their best friend’s baby sister, and they didn't mind you too much. they thought you were adorable, like a cute version of your brother. no matter how it seemed to you, what you felt for mark was just puppy love. it wasn’t something anybody found weird, as obvious as it was. you clung to him, laughed at his shitty jokes, and everybody found it adorable. there was nothing serious to it.

those years flew by faster than any of you had anticipated. a few summers later and you had grown into a beautiful, mature woman. you had put all the more care into your body, your studies, and your career. your brother often joked that he couldn’t recognize you, that you had grown up way too fast. he wasn’t far off, actually. you had spent a few summers away, studying abroad in greece for shits and giggles. the distance wasn’t as ideal as the progress, but you didn't regret a thing.

you came back a changed woman, and you were more than pleased with yourself. you missed korea more than anything, even the less than pleasantries that came with it. your brother was the first to greet you, embracing you in a big hug the minute you came in. he hadn’t seen you in years, and he was more than stunned with the outcome. “wow, you've gotten uglier,” he joked as he ruffled your hair. you only rolled your eyes at him, slapping his shoulder lightly. “you haven't changed at all, i see.” he mocked your words, sticking his tongue out after to emphasize one thing—just because you had changed doesn't mean everybody else did.

when it was time for his friends to come around, you realized just how little everything else had changed. your brother and his friends stuck to their usual routine, just like when they were younger. you didn’t think much of it, even though the thought of mark still lingered in your mind. you did your best to push it aside, reminding yourself that whatever it was you felt—you felt it ages ago. you were a kid, it was puppy love, and you didn't know any better.

when they finally came around, they made themselves comfortable in the backyard. your brother had informed them of your return, and they were ecstatic to see you, to see how you were doing. to see if you had changed, to see if you were dating, thought one of them in particular. the first thing that you did was dash out of the house to greet them. there were whoops of approval, a few warm hugs and handshakes, all mingling in the air with a few cheers of, “we missed you” and “you've changed so much.” you were thrilled with the feedback, taking in every bit of what everybody had to say. all but one.

mark didn’t know what exactly it was that he was expecting to see when you walked out. your brother spoke highly of your change, saying it was like you had matured overnight, but mark took his words with a grain of salt. he managed to stay afloat despite his anticipation, until you had finally revealed yourself. his knuckled turned white with the force of his fingers clutching his seat, yet he couldn’t utter a word. everyone was able to say something, to greet you, everyone but him. the words were there, he knew exactly what it was he wanted to say, but they refused to come out.

you met his gaze swiftly, failing to realize the sheer tension behind them, even as everybody quieted down. “hey, markie,” you approached him with a soft smile, standing on your toes as you wrapped your arms around his neck. “missed you so much.” he felt as if time had come to a halt, his body growing more warm and more intense with every passing second. he felt the way your arms enveloped him, and all he could smell was you. it was a familiar scent, a comforting one tinted with vanilla and cinnamon.

he finally forced himself to hug you back, his arms snaking around your waist. “missed you more, (y/n).” fuck, was he grateful to have finally said something, anything. it was when you finally pulled away that he finally got a good look at you, at what he had been missing out on for years on end. your brother had sugarcoated his praise and approval, you had changed in ways that felt vulgar to say aloud. it was the way the european sun had done you justice, lightening your hair and tanning your skin. he found himself face-to-face with said justice, the white tan lines peeking under your tank top giving him all the indication.

he saw it in the way your eyes beamed with something foreign, something that wasn’t childlike nor pure. it was something dangerous, something intimidating that forced his gaze to lock with yours, decorated by black strokes of eyeliner. it was in the way the tank top hung from your body, hovering just above your belly button—no, something hovering just above your pierced belly button. fuck, he could feel it now, in all the wrong places. it was in the way he could see your hard nipples under the sheer top, visible with the cold air brushing over them. it was in the way your short were too tight and, well, too short, hanging just an inch below your ass. he felt disgusting for looking, and he knew it was obvious.

“i’m gonna go back inside,” you announced aloud to everyone, but yours eyes never left mark. neither did the stupid smirk playing on your lips, fuck, maybe not everything changed. “it’s getting a little cold for me.” everybody murmured hums of approval, nothing too special, but mark was frozen in his spot. he watched you as you turned back around and went back inside, his eyes glazing over everything—the way your hair shifted, your shoulderblades, the curve of your back, and your ass. he felt awful, but he couldn't help himself. everything that seemed cute years ago no longer seemed cute.

“you better watch yourself, mark lee,” your brother cut through the silence as he sipped his beer, his tone accusatory in a playful way. “she’s still my baby sister.”

you were his baby sister, that was the only thing that hadn’t changed. what really changed was mark. he held it off for as long as he could, telling himself it didn’t matter, that you were both young and didn't understand what feelings were. you still didn’t understand, neither of you did, but feelings didn't matter anymore. you didn’t have to understand feelings to understand hormones.

“it’s weird seeing you drink,” you couldn't bite back the smirk playing on your face as you heard his voice. you leaned forward, arms crossed against the kitchen counter as you sipped your beer. it was like you had anticipated his arrival from the second you walked back into the house, it almost felt calculated. you didn’t turn back around, you could feel his presence, his gaze. “really weird.”

you hummed in response as you sipped your drink. you looked up at the window in front of you, locking eyes with his reflection, the smirk never leaving your face. “i’m full of surprises, right?” you practically purred, leaning forward as the straps of your top spilled down your shoulders. he felt the strain in his pants, one he prayed you wouldn't notice as his gaze flickered between your eyes and the valley of your cleavage, now all the more visible to him.

he tried to distract himself, to stop himself from giving in. his eyes fell to the floor, falling on a can of beer that either could’ve fallen to the floor, or been meticulously placed there. mark didn't know better, he never knew better. “you dropped a can,” he didn’t mean for his voice to tremble as much as it did, but it was too late. he was like a mouse in a room full of traps.

your smirk didn't falter as your gaze dropped to the can that you had placed by your feet. “you’re right,” you murmured as you sunk down. your legs remained upright, upper body bending down as you grabbed the can. you didn’t hear the way he cussed under his breath, but you didn’t need to. you saw it in his eyes as they dropped to your ass, the material of your shorts stuffed in between the mound of flesh, giving him the view he had been silently praying for. “didn't even notice.”

he wasn’t sure what it was that finally did it for him, but he had just about enough. you had turned your back to him once more, as if you were oblivious to what you were doing, but he caught the smirk on your face. it was just about enough to piss him off. his footsteps were heavy as he approached you, his breath hitching slightly as he bent down. his chest was tight, his heart thumping against his ribcage like a drum. “you’re really pushing it, aren’t you?” he spoke, his voice gruff with irritation. you scoffed, your hand grabbing his arm for balance as you turned, your clothed breasts brushing against his forearm.

you finally turned to face him, a glint in your eye. “pushing what exactly?” your tone was playful, taunting even. you had always been a tease, but now it was different. it wasn’t the same playful banter from when you were younger, it was something more, something that had his blood boiling.

his eyes searched yours, looking for any semblance of innocence he might've missed. he found none. “you know what i’m talking about,” he breathed, his hand hovering over your arm for a second too long. your skin felt hot under his touch, and he knew you felt it too. “gonna do something we’ll both regret.”

you leaned in closer, your breath grazing his cheek. “you think?” your voice was a whisper, filled with challenge. “i’m not a little girl anymore, mark.” your hand found its way to his chest, feeling the thump of his heart beneath his shirt. his eyes narrowed, the reminder hitting too close to home. “you're my best friend's baby sister,” he practically snapped, his frustration reaching a peak. his anger was misdirected, and he was aware of that. what he should’ve done was remind himself of the facts, the same facts that seemed to fight the tent in his pants. you stepped back, feigning innocence as you sipped from your can.

his gaze dropped to your mouth, watching the way your lips wrapped around the can. he could feel his resolve slipping away, his body begging him to do something, anything, to get closer to you. “it’s wrong,” he said, the words feeling foreign as they left his mouth. you set your beer down, a knowing smile playing on your lips. “is it?” your hand reached up, playing with the strands of your hair.

his hand shot out, grabbing yours before it could reach your hair. “your brother,” he began, his voice strained. “your brother would kill me.”

you stepped closer again, your hand still in his grasp. “he’ll never find out,” you whispered, your eyes never leaving his. you leaned in, pressing your body against his. “no one’s gonna find out.”

his eyes darkened, his grip on your hand tightening. “we shouldn't,” he warned, his voice barely above a whisper. “you're playing with fire.” you leaned in even closer, your tits pressing against his chest. “maybe i like getting burned,” you murmured, your other hand reaching up to trace his jawline.

his control snapped. he crushed his mouth against yours, his tongue delving deep, tasting every part of you. his hands roamed your body, feeling every curve and dip. you moaned into his mouth, your body responding instinctively to his touch. the kitchen floor was cold under your bare feet as you stepped out of your shorts, his eyes dark with lust as he took in the sight of you. “mark,” you whimpered, pulling him closer. his response was to lift you onto the counter, your legs wrapping around his waist. he didn’t hesitate, his hand reaching into your panties, feeling the wetness that had been building up since you saw him again. “so eager,” he murmured against your neck, his teeth grazing your skin.

you pulled his shirt over his head, tossing it aside, revealing his muscular chest. your hands roamed over his biceps, taking in the warmth of his skin. “fuck,” you breathed as he kissed down your neck, his teeth scraping against your sensitive skin.

his hand found your tits, his thumb flicking over your hardened nipples as his free hand worked on your panties. you arched your back, pushing yourself closer to him. “mark,” you repeated, your voice needy. his mouth found your nipple, sucking and biting gently, making you gasp. his other hand found your clit, rubbing it in slow circles. “shit, you’re so wet,” he murmured, his voice filled with disbelief as your juices coated his finger, leaving his nail slick and shiny.

you were lost in the feeling, your hips bucking against his hand. “please,” you begged, your voice a desperate whine. he complied, his hand moving faster, his teeth biting down harder. then, he pulled away, leaving you panting, your eyes glazed with desire. “not yet,” he said, his voice low and commanding. “i wanna see all of you.”

you didn’t argue, letting him pull your tank top over your head, revealing your bare breasts. “just like that, fuck,” he murmured, his eyes roaming over the flesh of your tits, stopping at the sight of the metal piercing that clung to your belly button. every bit of it helped him see you in a different light, a light that made his cock painfully hard in his pants. he took in the sight of you, so needy, messy and on display for him. it was wrong and he knew it, but he was too entranced to care anymore.

his hand snuck up to your mouth, his thumb pressing into your lower lip as he stared into your eyes. “you're so fucking tempting,” he groaned, the words slipping out despite his better judgment. you took his thumb into your mouth, sucking lightly before speaking, “so are you.” it was all the invitation he needed.

his hand moved down to the button of his pants, the sound of his zipper echoing through the kitchen. he stepped closer, his cock springing free, thick and long. you took in the sight of him, licking your lips, your eyes wide with anticipation. “are you sure about this?” he asked, his voice hoarse with desire. “more than you’ll ever know,” you replied, your voice just as breathless.

his hand moved behind your head, tangling in your hair, pulling you closer to him. your eyes never left his as he guided his cock to your mouth, the tip teasing your lower lip. you parted your lips, letting him in, feeling the warmth and hardness of him on your tongue. his grip tightened, his hips bucking slightly as you took him in deeper. your eyes watered slightly, but you didn’t care. you liked the way he felt, the way he filled your mouth. you liked the way his breath hitched, the way his eyes rolled back.

you moved your head back, letting his dick fall out of your mouth with a wet pop. “so fucking pretty like this,” he murmured, his voice strained with lust.

his hand left your hair, moving to the small of your back, pressing you closer as he kissed you again. you could feel his length pressing against your stomach, leaving a wet trail against your belly button as it slid down to your pussy. your hand found its way to his cock, stroking him gently. “you’re gonna get me all dirty,” you murmured against his lips, your voice teasing. “you want it clean?” he responded, a hint of mischief in his tone. “maybe later,” you replied, your hand moving faster, your thumb smearing precum over the tip of his cock.

his hands moved to your ass, cupping the flesh, his fingers digging into your skin as he pulled you closer. you could feel his cock sliding through your folds, the head brushing against your clit. “mark,” you moaned, your legs tightening around his waist. “i know,” he murmured, his breath hot against your ear. “i know you want it.”

he didn’t wait for you to respond, didn't wait for permission. he pushed into you, filling you in one swift motion. you gasped, your nails digging into his shoulders. “fuck,” you whispered, the pain mixing with pleasure. he stilled, giving you a moment to adjust to his size. you took a deep breath, looking into his eyes. “more,” you demanded, your voice needy.

his thrusts grew deeper, harder, his cock sliding in and out of you with ease. the kitchen counter was cold against your back, but you didn’t care. all you could feel was the heat between your legs, the way his cock filled you up, the way his hands held onto you like you were his. “you're so fucking tight,” he groaned, his hips moving with a ferocity that had you seeing stars.

you met each of his thrusts with your own, your body moving in sync with his. “fuck me harder,” you begged, your voice strained. he complied, his hips slamming into you, the sound of skin on skin filling the room. you could feel yourself getting closer, your orgasm building like a storm inside of you. “mark, i’m gonna—"”

his hand came down, colliding with the flesh of your ass, the sound echoing through the kitchen. “not yet,” he grunted, his rhythm not faltering. “i’m not done with you.” you moaned, your body responding to his dominance. he reached around, his thumb finding your clit, rubbing it in circles as he fucked you. you knew it was risky, but the thrill of it only made you want it more. he was lost in the pleasure, the morbidly amazing feeling of your cunt milking everything he had to give you. his cock was big, hitting all the right places that had you clawing at his back. he held you in place, arms draped around your waist as he drilled into you. he made sure one hand toyed with the flesh of your ass, gripping and probing hard enough to paint bruises. his other hand roamed over your tits, kneading the flesh as his thumb tugged at your nipples, but his curiosity got the better of him.

he couldn’t help the way his hand dropped to your stomach, fingertips tracing the piercing. he loved the way the light adorned the material, it was like eye candy to him. he kept his hand there as he pounded into you, the realization of just how big he was compared to you dawning upon him. it had to do with how your cunt struggled to take him whole, the outline of his cock practically under the skin of your stomach. he was entranced by it, thrusting into you just a little harder to really see it. you were so small compared to him, yet there you were, taking him whole. he placed his palm ovee your stomach as he continued to tear your pussy apart, his hand clasped over the outline of his cock. it was like he was jacking himself off, while he was inside you.

the pressure grew as his pace quickened, your body tightening around him. “please, ’m gonna cum,” you whimpered, your voice a mix of pleasure and pain. “do it,” he urged, his hand pressing down harder on your stomach. your eyes squeezed shut as your orgasm crashed over you, your body shaking with the intensity of it. he groaned, his thrusts growing more erratic as he chased his own release. “gonna fill this pussy up,” he warned, his voice strained. “please,” you moaned, your cunt clenching around him.

his cock swelled, pulsing as he came inside you, his cum filling you up. your legs tightened around his waist, your body trembling with the aftershocks of your climax. your breath came put ragged and harsh, your chest heaving as his cum spilled down your thighs. he leaned into you, his forehead pressing against yours.

you could feel his heart racing against your chest, his breath hot and ragged in your ear. “what now?” he whispered, his voice filled with uncertainty. “now, we clean up,” you replied, your voice low and sultry, your hand reached down, wrapping around his still hard cock. “and maybe we do it again,” you suggested, your eyes never leaving his.

his eyes searched yours, looking for any sign of regret or hesitation. what he found was a spark of excitement, a challenge. “you’re insatiable,” he murmured, his voice filled with awe. “a little bit,” you replied, your smile widening. “now, get me off this counter before i get a bruise.”

he chuckled, his grip on your ass tightening as he lifted you off the counter. your legs wrapped around his waist, your arms around his neck. “where to?” he asked, his voice still thick with lust. “my room,” you murmured, your eyes half-lidded. “we have all night.”

✧.*

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thewritetofreespeech · 2 months ago

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Night 162: Children

words: 1131 rating: G pairing: Gale x Tav summary: Gale & Tav return from the Reunion for an afternoon of tea and interrogations from his mother.

Ao3 - 1000 Night Series

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Summers in Waterdeep were some of the most beautiful and peaceful in Faerûn. Or so Tav had come to realize.

Baldur’s Gate was nice, with its coves & sunlit ports, but it was nothing compared to the cool breeze off the ocean. The smell of salt in the air. And, of course, the spontaneous evening trips to the shoreline to dip ones feet in cold water and warm sand her husband.

Not that Tav didn’t miss her old home of the Gate. She enjoyed visiting and catching up with old friends. Extending the trip for the party to stop in on the way back to catch up with those who had not been able to attend. The couple had actually just gotten back from their vacation a few days ago, and Gale was regaling his mother on his latest find at Sorcerous Sundries.

“Can you believe it mother?? A real, genuine first edition Arcana Archivist Annals. Practically mint condition!”

“I suppose it helps to know the proprietor, and have his life indebted to you.” Morena remarked as she finished pouring the tea and handed Tav the first cup.

“The 10% educators discount doesn’t hurt either.” The two of women chuckle as Gale huffed and flopped back into his mother’s patio chair with a ‘no one understands me’ sulk.

“And how was the rest of your trip, dear? Surely it wasn’t all books.”

“If Gale had his way….” The man in question glared playfully at her. “But no. It was good to see how the city has grown after the rebuild. It’s odd. It’s all brand new in most cases, but strangely the same. Wyll and his father have done a splendid job of reworking the internal structure of the city as well. He’s done well as Grand Duke.”

“Good to have friends in high places. Not just book shops.” The trio laughed at Gale’s quip this time. Not just at him.

“And there’s…..nothing else to report?” Morena asked inquisitively. Which peaked Gale’s interest.

“No. Unless you want to know more about the weather.” He remarked before collecting his tea. “Is there something specific you wanted to know about our trip, mother? It’s not like you to be coy.”

“Very well. I was hoping while you were away for some time, you might return to tell me your pregnant.” Gale choked hard on his tea and floundered with the fine china for a moment. “I guess not….”

“Pregnant!” Gale replied aghast. “Why would you think we’re pregnant!?”

“Not really thought so much as hoped.” Morena clarified. “I’d very much like a grandchild.”

Gale turned to Tav in a manner for some sort of help, but she was too stunned as well by the conversations to offer any. “We…We haven’t been married that long…”

“Your father and I were married about as long as the two of you when you came into the picture.” The older woman noted. “Besides, it’s not just that. The Dekarios family needs an heir. Surely, you’ve thought about the future of our line.”

Gale shifted from flabbergasted to embarrassed. “Well, I uh….”

“Gale!”

“Well, I’ve been a little busy mother. Saving the world from an Elder Brain and trying not to turn into a mind flayer. Now trying not to get my head blown off by pre-teen wizards. Teaching children does not really rally one to the experience.” Tav had to agree there.

Gale sighed and sat back in his chair again. “What brought all this on mother? This is a lot to…spring on a person.”

“Well, I was thinking about it while you were away and thought I’d ask about your future plans. Neither one of us is getting any younger, dear.” There was a lot of secret conversation going on between the Dekarios kin in that moment as Morena sipped her own teacup. “The two of you should really start thinking about it. Children are a blessing.”

“I agree with Mr. Dekarios.” The people at the table turned as Tara floated onto the patio. Landing delicately on a pillow that was clearly always there for her. “Children are loud, destructive, and impatient little creatures. Like imps, but with better table manners. Or at least one hopes.” The Tressym licked her paw as if to make a point. “You shouldn’t have them.”

“So the Dekarios line just ends with Gale?” Morena asked as a counterpoint.

“Certainly. Better to go out with a bang. Oh, apologies. Was that insensitive?”

Gale groaned and stood up from his chair. “If this conversation is going to continue, I’m going to need something stronger than tea to get through it.” He walked back into his childhood home and straight for the bar.

Tav followed after him while Morena & Tara talk. Her presence in the discussions of their futures seeming not to be a requirement at all. “Are you ok?”

“Hm? Oh. Yes. I’m fine. A little taken aback though.” Gale commented as he inspected one of the bottles and sat it back down. “Don’t worry. I’m not rattled enough to be driven to drink. Just needed to get away.”

“I can certainly sympathy.”

“But my mother….Gods! Springing that on us like that. To force our hands to make a such a decision over biscuits. I never realized she was so cunning.”

Tav chuckle at his remark, but then got serious for a second. “You know….we’ve never talked about it….”

Gale turned to her with an inquisitive, then surprised, look. “Oh…I mean do you want…do you want to….”

She shrugged. “I’m not against children.” What seemed like eons ago, the former adventurer thought about a life long in the future where she would be settled with a family, including children. With everything that happened that dream was lost until she could catch her breath. Now that she had, Tav wondered if it might be time to take that dream off the shelf again. “I don’t think right now. But….yes.”

Gale seemed taken aback for a moment, but only a little. He then seemed to think on it, nod, then gave her a smile. “I feel that way too. Not now, of course. But not never.” The two of them reach out to take each other’s hands. “I quite like that it’s just the two of us right now.”

“I do too.” Tav agreed.

“That is not what I meant at all Tara! You are twisting my words!”

“Your words are already twisted with that harpy’s tongue of yours Morena!”

Gale sighed as he looked towards the open door. “Well…almost just the two of us….”

Tav snickered and squeeze his hand a little tighter. “Come on. Let’s break them up before they say something they don’t mean.”

“Tara just implied my mother was a harpy. I think that ship has sailed.”

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shadowtriovibes · 1 year ago

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Hello,

Can you write some shameless pre-relationship Sebastian x mc flirting? Like pining, comparing hand sizes, teasing about height, all that cringe cute stuff! Just go off on that however you like!

hello anon!! here's a quick 1.5k pg-rated words for you because i'd just started a little drabble of MC working at j pippin's for the summer and it turned into two goofy teens in love 🥹

edit: i felt like this deserved a name so i'm calling it "the potioneer's apprentice" and i personally love a potion-loving MC characterization very much so i may return to this 'verse later on xoxo

"I happen to know that you can make a perfectly good batch of Wiggenweld yourself," you point out. Sebastian watches distractedly while you untie your hair, shaking it loose as it falls down to your shoulders. "W-well, yours is better," he insists. "Always has been, even Sharp said so." "It's even better now," you say proudly, pulling one of the bottles out of your bag to hand to him. "...You're not actually hurt, are you?" "No, just bored," he admits. "I wanted to see you."

Staring down at the order slip in your hands, you bite the inside of your cheek to keep from smiling.

Mr. Sebastian Sallow Feldcroft Hamlet

x3 Wiggenweld x1 Focus x1 Felix Felicis

“Simple enough,” Parry Pippin says cheerfully, tucking a knut into the pocket of the postal owl that had just dropped off your latest order. “I’ll put together the Liquid Luck, I know that’s a tricky one.”

Bustling over to his potions station, he adds, “I trust brewing the Wiggenweld and Focus draughts should be no problem for you?”

“Of course,” you say, quickly tying up your hair before lighting a fire beneath the cauldron at your own station.

You’ve been an apprentice at J. Pippin’s Potions for just over a month, refining your potions skills over the summer break – and helping keep an eye on things in Hogsmeade. In that time, your brewing skills have improved significantly, and Parry is more than happy to pass on some of the simpler potions to you.

Attempting to be casual, you ask, “Will this be a delivery?”

“Oh, I should think so,” Parry confirms. “Though it’s not exactly my neck of the woods.”

“Would you like me to drop it off?” you offer hopefully.

“How about this,” Parry offers. “I’ll send you down to the hamlet to drop these off, and then you can call it a day.”

“Thank you, Mister Pippin,” you say with a grin.

Your boss smiles approvingly as you carefully pour some horklump juice into your cauldron, precisely tapping the side of the bottle as he’d taught you.

“Besides,” he says cheekily. “I think this is the third time this month that young mister Sallow has ordered from my shop and requested delivery, even though Fatimah’s shop is much closer.”

You nearly spill the entire bottle.

“Any idea why a Hogwarts student on summer break would need so many potions?” Parry asks, smirking to himself as he pours some lacewing flies into his cauldron.

“W-well, I – I suppose he could be clumsy,” you mumble unconvincingly. “O-or stocking up, perhaps. We’ve got N.E.W.T. classes next term, some of these spells are quite challenging, a-and the beasts, we’ve got Grindylows to examine, you know how they bite…”

You trail off feebly, blushing a bright red. The Wiggenweld potion in your cauldron signals its completion with a puff of smoke, offering a welcome distraction.

“Aye, of course,” Parry murmurs, sounding very much like he doesn’t believe you in the slightest. “In any case, as soon as you finish that Focus potion I’ll send you on your way.”

Quickly ladling three portions of Wiggenweld into Parry's glass vials, you scrub out your cauldron and prepare the last draught, wrinkling your nose at the smell of dugbog tongue. Once it starts to smoke and bubble, you measure out a generous portion and collect the Felix Felicis from your boss, tucking the lot into your satchel.

“Please thank young Sebastian for his order, and tell him I said good day,” Parry tells you with a wink. “And to kindly stop pilfering my apprentice so often.”

“Yes, sir,” you reply sheepishly.

Outside the shop, you trek outside the boundaries of Hogsmeade to hop onto your broom and head south toward Feldcroft. It had been more than a week since you’d seen Sebastian, which felt like an eternity compared to how often you saw him during the school year.

One month into your break and you feel like a simpering wreck.

You miss him like crazy – not that you’d tell him like that, of course. He’s your closest friend, and the two of you have been through so much together in the past two years. You aren’t about to ruin it by confessing that you’re hopelessly in love with him.

—

Sebastian is not moping.

And even if he was, why shouldn’t he mope? He’s alone, it’s swelteringly hot in the hamlet and he hasn’t seen his best friend in a week.

He’s bored, and when Sebastian gets bored, he gets creative.

Really, it’s almost too easy to summon you to Feldcroft. All it took was a quick trip to see the owl post stand and another superfluous order for some potions (with a little bit of Liquid Luck thrown in on a whim), and he knew you’d arrive by the time the heat broke.

He conveniently manages to be tending to his small garden when you touch down beside the Sallow home, his sleeves rolled up past his elbows while he pats some dirt around a sprig of fluxweed.

“Sallow?” You call out teasingly. “I have an order here for Sebastian Sallow?”

“Must be a lazy bloke, ordering all those Wiggenwelds instead of making them himself,” he answers, sitting back on his heels and wiping some sweat away from his brow with the back of his wrist. “Or perhaps just daft.”

“I happen to know that you can make a perfectly good batch of Wiggenweld yourself,” you point out.

Sebastian watches distractedly while you untie your hair, shaking it loose as it falls down to your shoulders.

“W-well, yours is better,” he insists. “Always has been, even Sharp said so.”

“It’s even better now,” you say proudly, pulling one of the bottles out of your bag to hand to him. “...You’re not actually hurt, are you?”

“No, just bored,” he admits. “I wanted to see you.”

If Ominis were here, he’d likely pick up on how those words make your heart race a little faster, but mercifully, Sebastian does not.

“Here I am,” you say. “And I’m all yours for the day, Mister Pippin gave me the rest of the day off.”

“Oh, really?” he replies, brushing some stray dirt off of his trousers as he stands up. “Whatever could we get up to with an entire afternoon?”

You blink in surprise as he stands, realizing for the first time that Sebastian has gotten taller.

“What?” he asks, catching your gaze.

“You’ve grown,” you say dumbly. “I – I mean, you’re tall.”

“Am I?” he asks, a teasing smirk on his lips. “Perhaps you’re just short.”

“I am not short,” you protest, following Sebastian as he leads the way into the old Sallow home.

It feels different now, obviously. Less like a family home and more like a chaotic bachelor pad, Sebastian’s strewn-about books and haphazard notes covering up a distinct lack of coziness.

It’s only for the summer, Sebastian had told you the first time you’d seen it.

(You know he doesn’t really have anywhere else to go anymore, what with the Gaunt household becoming more toxic by the day. You wouldn’t be surprised to find Ominis squatting there as well by the time July rolls around.)

“You’re practically pocket-sized,” Sebastian teases, closing the door behind you to keep some of the midday sun out. “I think it’s why you’re so powerful – it’s concentrated, your magic.”

You scoff and shove at his shoulder, wondering to yourself when he became so broad.

It had only been a few weeks since school had let out, hadn’t it? And suddenly Sebastian was walking around in a man’s body, one you were sure wasn’t there in Charms class in May. Or maybe it was, hiding beneath his suit jacket and his robes…

You blink rapidly to clear your head.

“Um. Your potions,” you mumble, pulling the rest of the bottles out of your satchel and placing them on the front room table.

Then you can’t help but ask, “What’s the Felix Felicis for?”

“Not sure yet,” Sebastian admits. “But I’m sure it will come in handy at some point.”

You hum under your breath, picking up the delicate vial and examining it in the light.

“Hand it over,” Sebastian demands with a laugh. “I don’t like the way you’re looking at that bottle, I know what temptation looks like on your face.”

Blushing, you place the vial in his outstretched hand, letting your own hand linger a beat too long. Sebastian quickly catches your wrist, turning your hand palm-side up.

“Merlin’s beard, your hand is small,” he observes.

“Not this again,” you groan.

“I’m being serious, you hold your wand with this tiny thing?” he jokes. “Poor Ollivander had his work cut out for him.”

“Let’s see yours, then,” you insist, holding your hand up to him. “Go on.”

Sebastian presses his palm against yours and you raise your eyebrows. His hand dwarfs yours to the degree that he could wrap the tips of his fingers overtop yours if he wanted to.

“See?” he says, his voice suddenly much quieter in the empty home. “Tiny.”

“And yet I can still beat you in a duel,” you retort, trying to calm your racing heart.

Just like that, the tension in the room dissolves away and Sebastian lights up.

“A duel, hmm?” he echoes. “Is that an offer?”

“Seriously? That’s what you want to do today?” you laugh. “It’s thirty degrees outside and you want to duel?”

“We could practice on the training dummies,” he offers hopefully. “You know you want to.”

…Damn him, he’s right.

“Fine,” you relent. “But if I sweat through this chemise, it’s your head, Sallow.”

Sebastian tries very hard to not think about you in a sweat-soaked white shirt as you lead him back outside, and if he trips over the doorframe on his way out, he’s happy to let you continue to assume it’s just his clumsy streak.

#hogwarts legacy #hogwarts legacy fic #sebastian sallow #sebastian sallow x mc #sebastian sallow x reader #sebastian x mc #sebastian x reader #requests #my fic

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jamesandthedog · 1 year ago

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"She's cute, right?" James asks.

He's staring across the room.

Sirius moves his knight on the chess board and follows James' gaze. He laughs when he sees the red-head Lily Evans chatting with her friends on the other side of their common room.

"What?" James asks.

Sirius glances at him.

They're thirteen and it's the first time James really talks about girls. And even if girls and dates and kisses are new and not particularly something Sirius is interested in, he knows the rules. He was taught before he even understood what dating a girl meant.

"She's a Muggleborn," Sirius shrugs as he states the obvious.

"So?"

There's defiance in James voice, it reminds Sirius of the times he used to refer the likes of Lily Evans with much worse vocabulary. It was James and their friends to make him change his ways.

Sirius sighs.

"It's fine by me," he says, honestly. "But I doubt your parents would approve."

James frowns. At first Sirius thinks he's acknowledged the problem and trying to come up with a way to pursuit his crush without his parents ever finding out. And really, how could they, James doesn't have cousins to tell on him.

But it's not that. James looks at him the way he does when he's trying to read deep into his mind. Like James did when they had their first discussions about blood supremacy. Or when Sirius was walking funny after last summer break. He had hurt his back falling down the stairs after an argument with his mother, but that wasn't the sort of thing to discuss with... Anyone really.

James' expression clears, he leans back and makes his move on the chess board.

"Your parents want you to marry a pureblood," James states.

Sirius shrugs.

"Of course. Yours don't?"

"Dad would probably prefer if I'd marry a Muggleborn. She could teach him how to use the Muggle box he bought for warming up food," James says.

Sirius stares at him, and it has nothing to do with the said Muggle device. He'd look more surprised, but he learned to hide his feelings years ago.

He knows James' family thinks Muggleborns can do anything a pureblood can. But it's one thing to treat people equally on the streets, another to break something as holy as the pure bloodline.

Sirius had thought marrying a pureblood was given, a duty, a fact, something every pureblood did. But here he is, looking at the heir of the Potter family - an heir who clearly doesn't follow any of the rules Sirius had been taught since the day he was born.

As Sirius looks at James, he realises it looks like freedom. Not that Sirius even really cares about girls and marriage, but for the first time he sees that James truly has everything. Money, brains, parents who send him sweets and chocolate even when he doesn't ask for it. But more than that, James has options. He can choose his future.

"Are you ok?" James asks bringing Sirius back from his thoughts.

"Yeah." He answers before focusing on the chess board again. "But if I have to marry someone like Carrow and you get to choose, the least you can do is to lose the game!"

His knight eats James' horse.

"Hey, it's not that bad." James says comfortingly and moves his queen out of the way. Then he grins and Sirius knows he's up to no good.

"You can choose too. If you don't want Carrow you can always take one of your cousins," James suggests as sincerely as a mischievous pre-teen can.

The sofa cushion hits James before he has time to dodge, and then the chess pieces fly around as Sirius reaches over the sofa table to James.

When Remus Lupin descends to the Gryffindor common room a few minutes later, his two friends are a messy, wrestling and laughing pile of loosened ties and wrinkled ropes on the floor.

He shakes his head and sits on the sofa after removing a few misplaced chess pieces. He takes a fat book out of his bag and continues his day as if two wrestling thirteen-year-olds in his feet were nothing but an ordinary day.

As he reads Sirius launches from the floor to find a safe haven next to him - James knows better than to bother his reading. When the long haired boy leans his head against Remus' shoulder and shows his tongue at James, something extraordinary happens. Nobody notices, but the corners of Remus Lupin's lips turn into a smile behind his book.

Sirius Black has many things to learn and unlearn during his Hogwarts years. And dating girls - or not dating them - is definitely one of those.

#sirius back #james potter #remus lupin #marauders fanfic #short story #hp fanfic #marauders fanfiction #wolfstar fanfic #wolfstar #wolfstar fic #my writings #writings

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archangeldyke-all · 9 months ago

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Domestic!Sevika having possessive and very horny sex with Reader because she’s the mother of her children and she just loves her to death and is so happy they have a family together?🫶🏽

as much as i don't want kids i'm such a sucker for sweet domestic girldad sevika requests <3

men and minors dni

it's jinx's birthday. born smack dab in the middle of summer, it's been tradition for her birthday to be celebrated with a huge barbecue party in silco's backyard-- slip n slides and inflatable pools out for the kids, and cold drinks out for the adults. it's always a great time.

little fucker, only four years old, is jinx's favorite thing in the world. the feeling is mutual-- your daughter adores jinx, always asking when she can see the pre-teen next.

right now jinx is running around the back yard, your daughter hanging on her back, both of them armed with water guns as they scream and laugh and dodge water balloons the boys are lobbing at them.

jinx is pretty slowed down with little fucker clinging to her, but violet's taken it upon herself to defend her sister and her god-sister, escorting them behind the pool before throwing a bucket of water on claggor, mylo and ekko. they all squeal.

all the kids are laughing, but you can hear your daughter's loudest of all, and your heart swells.

beside you, sevika nudges you. you look over at her, sprawled out in the lawn chair beside yours, and she grins.

"what're you smiling about?" she asks, handing you another drink.

"our kid." you say, gesturing to your daughter where she's trying to throw a waterballoon at violet.

she's still too small to put much force behind her throw, and it bounces off of violet's stomach and onto the concrete where it pops. violet laughs, and your daughter pouts, then turns to look at you and sevika, tears in her eyes. you both coo.

she comes running over, a worried violet following after her, and she launches herself into your arms, muffling her cries into your shoulder. you start stroking her back.

"i'm sorry!" violet says, cringing. you laugh and wave at her.

"not your fault, right baby?" you ask your daughter. she cries but nods into your shoulder. "she's not upset at you. she just gets frustrated."

"wanna be strong!" she cries. "'s no fair!"

beside you, sevika snorts a laugh, reaching over to ruffle her hair.

"you will be!" violet promises your kid. "you're only four!"

"i wanna be twelve!" she whines.

"w-why twelve?"

"it's when sevika promised she'll start training her."

"in boxing? but aunt sev-- you started training me when i was--" you both glare at violet and she trails off, blinking. "uh. i mean. they didn't let me start until i was twelve, too." she says. you nod and mouth a 'thank you' to violet.

sevika had violet in the ring by the time she was ten. but now that it's her own kid-- sevika gets nauseous at the thought of her baby maybe, someday, potentially getting hit.

"see kid? rules are rules." sevika says. your daughter huffs.

"c'mon, i'll teach you some moves right now, kid." she promises, holding her hand out for your daughter. she gasps.

"really?!" she asks. violet laughs and sevika groans.

"yeah, hurry up though, or your mom's gonna try 'n tackle me." she says, giggling at sevika's angry expression. your daughter squeals, her tears forgotten as she launches herself out of your lap and takes violet's hand, before the two of them take off across the yard.

"if you hurt my fucking kid vi--"

"i got it aunt sev, relax!" she laughs.

sevika huffs and you reach out to hold her hand. she looks over at you, her worry melting as she clinks her glass against yours. you both take a sip, sighing as you relax in your chairs.

"do you know how fucking hot you are?" she asks.

"you've been a lightweight since we had a kid." you say, chuckling.

"fuck off, i'm serious." sevika says. you giggle.

"i didn't say you weren't!" you say. "i'm just saying you usually don't tell me those kinds of things in public unless you're drunk."

sevika pouts. "i guess i need to change that, huh?" you giggle.

"no, please don't, we'll never be able to get anything done if you're constantly letting your mouth run."

"oh, so this is doing something for you?" she teases, squeezing your hand. you shrug, biting back your smile.

"what if it was?"

"if it was, then i'd tell you that i felt my dick twitch a bit when you came out of the bedroom wearing this today." she murmurs her fingers playing with the flouncy hem of your sundress. you bite your lip even harder-- you wore it for her.

"yeah?"

"i'd tell you that i've had a half chub since we got here, and that watching you bein' such a good mom just makes me wanna give you more kids." she whispers, her breath tickling your ear.

you shiver in your seat, clenching your thighs together. sevika smirks at the obvious sign of your arousal, and you take a big sip of your drink, licking your lips and trying to collect yourself as she eyes you.

for a moment, you just look at one another, locked in a lust-fueled staring competition.

the kids are laughing and splashing in the pool, benzo and vander are arguing over the grill, silco's talking to some of his neighbors across the fence, dogs are barking down the street and crickets are chirping-- but you can barely hear them over the sound of your heart pounding in your chest.

sevika's hand is slowly creeping up your thigh, the hem of your skirt rising higher and higher. you bite your lip and spread your thighs just an inch, and sevika grins.

a scream brings you both back to reality. you pull away from each other, looking over at the kids where jinx is being thrown into the pool. you sigh, and sevika huffs, and before you know what's happening she's tugging you out of your chair by the wrist and dragging you inside the house.

you're giggling and squealing as sevika runs in front of you, pulling you through the kitchen, down the hall, and into the spare bedroom where she slams the door shut behind her.

"s-sevika!" you screech as she slams your body onto the bed. she grins as she crawls on top of you.

"god i love you." she says. "can't believe you're mine. fuck i'm so lucky."

you're tearing at her clothes, tugging on her khaki shorts and shoving her muscle tee up her abdomen. she laughs as she helps you strip her, throwing her clothes behind her shoulder until she's naked on top of you.

well, naked except her tented boxers, already stained with a wet spot. you lick your lips.

"your turn." she says. you smirk and shake your head no, grabbing her hands. "no?" she asks.

"flip over." you demand. sevika grins.

"yeah?"

you nod. sevika tumbles off of you, laying flat on the bed beside you, tugging at your hips as you straddle her waist. you grin. "keep your hands here." you say, squeezing her hands with yours. she nods.

first, you slide the straps of your dress off, pulling it down over your tits, and sevika groans as they're revealed to her.

then, you reach under your skirt, pulling sevika's dick out of her boxers, and sinking down until you're grinding against it.

sevika's eyes bug out her head and she groans.

"f-fuck!" she cries. "you're not--"

"i'm not what?" you tease her, continuing to grind against her. your cunt is hot and wet, your lips parted on either side of her cock, your clit nudging her head with each of your thrusts.

"where're your panties?" she whines. you smile.

"didn't wanna wear any today." you say, shrugging. sevika gulps.

"oh my god-- this was a set up! y-you've been trying to get me fuck you all day!" sevika accuses. you laugh.

"are you mad?"

"i'm honored." she sighs. you giggle.

"remember when jinx turned five? before we had the rugrat?" you ask. sevika nods.

"wonder if this is the same bedspread." sevika giggles, one of her hands coming down to claw at the blanket beneath her. you grin.

"it's not, that one was green. you had my face pressed to that thing for forty minutes-- i remember it very well." you say. sevika laughs.

sevika's head catches on your hole, and you both whine. she tries to buck up into you and you reach down between your legs to help guide her inside of you.

"oh fuck, baby!" she whines. you giggle.

"feels good?" you ask, planting your hands on her tits as you start to slowly rock back and forth on top of her. she shudders.

"oh my god i'm gonna give you twins." sevika mumbles, staring at the ceiling in awe. you giggle, then lean forward to plant your lips on hers. she hums against you. with each rock of your hips, she lets out a sweet 'mm, mm, mm' sound in her throat.

you pull away from her mouth, gasping for air, and she stares up at you with stars in her eyes.

"i love you so fucking much." you say, stroking her cheek. sevika's hands claw at your hips as she tries to thrust up into you, your pace quickening.

"i love you too." she whines as she leans up, sucking your swaying tits into her mouth. you shudder.

the sound of slapping with each of your thrusts start to echo in the room. sevika's sucking on your tits while she bounces you on her cock, and you whimper.

"w-wore this just for you." you admit. sevika groans. "glad you like it."

"love it. love anything you wear. fuck-- but your tits sit so pretty in this one."

"'s your favorite color." sevika whines.

"fuck, fuck, yeah it is."

"you know why?" you ask. sevika's close, you can tell. her abs are twitching, her thighs are shaking, and her feet keep slipping out beneath her where she tries to get some traction on the sheets to thrust up into you.

"w-why?"

"'cause i'm yours baby. i'm all yours."

"fuck-- mine." she grunts. you nod down at her, your noses bumping. you reach back, tapping her hands still clutching at your hips.

"touch me. however you want-- whatever you need-- just cum deep inside this pussy 'n claim it, honey."

sevika growls, and with your permission, she shoves your shoulders, pins you to the bed beneath her, and spreads your legs out wide. your dress is bunched around your waist now, tits and cunt both on full display, and sevika smirks, spits on your clit, then starts hammering you.

each thrust is accompanied with a 'mine' from between her lips. sometimes, it's a 'my love', sometimes it's a 'my wife,' and when you tug her hair it's a howl and a 'the mother of my fucking children.'

when she bites your shoulder, you squeal, shakily trying to cover your mouth with your hands. sevika beats you to the punch, leaning down and shoving her tongue down your throat to muffle your cries.

you claw at her ass, and sevika pulls away from your mouth with a low, husky moan as her hips still, pressed right against you.

you never get tired of the way it feels for sevika to cum inside of you. the way she fills you so with warmth-- the way her dick twitches and jumps, the way she tries to grind closer and closer against you, until she collapses on top of you and her cum slowly trickles out of you.

oh fuck. you think as sevika grunts and slumps on top of you. you shove her shoulder. "shit-- sev." you say. she hums against you. "sev, you can't-- i don't wanna stain this dress but i don't have any panties, you gotta get up so i can--" sevika cuts you off with a kiss.

"lemme clean you up." she says. you whine.

"f-fuck, yes please."

sevika grins, her hand coming up to gently toy with your clit as she looks between your bodies. you groan.

"quit it! the second you pull out it's gonna be a mess and--"

you gasp as all at once sevika pulls out and ducks down between your legs, shoving her tongue back inside of your clenching hole. you groan.

"oh fuck!" you laugh. sevika grins at you, her eyes sparkling as she looks up at you.

she eagerly eats her cum out of you, moaning at the taste of her and the taste of you combined. she's not being effective in cleaning her mess-- if anything she's making it worse-- but with the way her tongue is pushing against your g-spot, you can't find it in you to care.

"fuck, i love you." you sigh. sevika whimpers. "i love you so much baby. you take such good fucking care of me-- you're so good with our girl-- you're perfect, honey." you say.

sevika's eyes are closed shut, a furrow between her brows. if her mouth wasn't busy, she'd be scoffing at your praises. but you've found that she's better at taking compliments when she's got her mouth full.

you reach down to trace the little wrinkle and she relaxes, blinking her eyes back open to look up at you. you smile at her.

"you're perfect." you repeat. sevika nods, her nose grinding against your clit. you shudder. "so perfect baby. gonna make me cum-- fuck, keep going." you cry. sevika reaches up to grope your tits, sinking her fingernails in the tender flesh. you groan. "my perfect wife." you sigh. sevika shivers beneath you, and you smirk, tugging on her hair.

"mine, huh?" you ask. sevika nods against you.

"mmhm." she moans.

"my wife. my baby. my lover." you whine. your thighs start to tremble and sevika's eyes are hopeful sparkling as she blinks up at you. "all mine-- a-all mine."

sevika moans again, and the vibration of her voice against your clit is what ends up tipping you over the edge.

you gasp, and before you can scream in pleasure, sevika's smacking her hand over your mouth, muffling your cries.

she doesn't let up on your cunt until you're shivering and pushing her away from you, and when she finially rises to hover above you, she's grinning.

her face is covered in a mixture of yours and her cum and her spit. her hair is a mess. you're no better-- you've got claw marks on the tops of your tits and a bite mark in your shoulder. sevika laughs down at you as you smile up at her.

"i love you." she sighs. you smile.

"i love you too." you say. she presses her lips to yours and then rises, pulling a wad of tissues out of a box on the bedside table before she gently cleans your thighs and cunt for you.

you help her redress and she helps you-- tucking your tits back into your dress and straightening your straps for you.

as you straighten out the bed spread, sevika smacks your ass.

as she leaves the bedroom, you smack hers in revenge.

you're both giggling, hand in hand as you leave the house and enter the heat of the summer again.

nobody seems to have noticed you were missing. the kids are having blast-- splashing in the pool. little fucker's sitting on claggor's shoulders, controlling him with her hands gripped in his hair.

you settle back into your lawn chairs, your abandoned drinks are warm now but still refreshing after the little work out you've just had.

sevika wraps her arm around your shoulder, and you sink into her side. the smell of cooking meat is floating across the yard, laughter and music and chatter surrounding you. you sigh in satisfaction against your wife, and she presses a kiss to your head.

(later in the night, when the kids have all slumped to sleep in the living room and the adults are gathered around table reminiscing and smoking and drinking, silco calls you out about the new bite mark you've acquired since the party started. you just shrug, smiling as sevika tries to hide her embarrassed face against your shoulder.)

taglist!

@fyeahnix @sapphicsgirl @half-of-a-gay @ellabslut @thesevi0lentdelights @sexysapphicshopowner @shimtarofstupidity @love-sugarr @chuucanchuucan @222danielaa @badbye666 @femme-historian @lia-winther @gr0ssz0mbi3 @ellsss @sevikaspillowprincess @leomatsuzaki @emiliabby

#sevika #sevika imagine #sevika arcane #sevika x reader #sevika x you #soft sevika #sevika smut

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justsomerandomfanfic · 10 months ago

Text

Falling, Falling All Over Again - Steve Harrington X Female Reader

Title: Falling, Falling All Over Again

Steve Harrington X Female Reader

Additional Characters: Robin, Nancy (Mentioned), the Wheeler family (Mentioned), Steve's parents (Mentioned), and the Reader's parents (Mentioned)

| Read Part 1 |

Requested by: Anon!

WC: 3,985

Warnings: Pre-Season 3, very brief mention of what happened in Season 2, banter, teasing, flirting, cursing, friends to lovers, reunion, and a lot of fluff

Today has been a slow day. Which was a bit odd for a weekend during the summer. The school - both of them - had been out for a couple of weeks at this point, and since then, Scoops Ahoy had been practically overflowing with teens excited about summer or little kids begging their mothers for ice cream at the new shop in the new mall. So, it being a weekend, during the summer, Steve thought that it would be another shift of chaos, but it was the total opposite. Around three hours into his shift, only thirteen customers had ordered their sweet-coned desserts from him. And that included Robin serving.

It was boring, and Steve knew that it was going to be when he applied for the job. The only times that it wasn't boring was when cute women were ordering from him or it was so busy that Steve's brain couldn't think about anything else but serving and scooping ice cream. By then, the word 'boring' was kicked out of the window and the wonderful word 'chaos' walked right on in.

But today, as said before, Steve was bored out of his mind as he stood behind the counter, he leaned on his open palm, his elbow resting on the said counter; bent at the waist, staring off at nothing. His eyelids were drooped, mind elsewhere, away from his boring job, in his usually boring life, that he was thankful for, but he was so bored. It was practically killing him.

Robin slammed open the small window that separated herself in the breakroom from Steve, the sudden loud noise making Steve jump out of his skin a bit. Rapidly blinking, he pushed himself up to a slight slouch, turning his narrowed gaze towards her.

"Bored?" Robin asked, a grin on her face as her tone sounded more teasing than she actually meant to.

"Bored stiff," Steve replied. "I hope you're enjoying your break." He continued, but his own tone held no actual interest, more or so just annoyance towards the young woman; which was usual in their friendship.

Robin just continued to grin, raising her hand to show off the book in her hand; open, a couple of her fingers marking the page that she had been on. "I brought a book. So, yes, I am enjoying my break." Though, halfway through her sentence, her blue eyes strayed from his brown ones to look around the small soft-serve ice cream shop. "Got any more customers?" She asked with a small frown, only to continue, "Or have you been scaring them away?"

Steve huffed, rolling his eyes as he crossed his arms, "I'm not scaring them away," He defended himself, "No one's come in for the past hour." He exclaimed. At this point, the irritation that he had previously been feeling turned into mild irritation, and the frown grew deeper into a scowl as he spoke.

Robin snorted. Her lips quirked upwards into a tiny smirk. "I would think that this would be great news, for you, that is. You know, no customers for you means that you can just let time pass you by before going home."

"No customers means that we won't get paid well this week," Steve muttered, though he didn't care that much about the paycheck he'd be getting, he was, though, a bit upset that there weren't any pretty ladies coming in there for a sundae.

Robin hummed shortly, pressing her hands against the windowsill, a thoughtful look on her face before her slight pout turned back into a grin, "Well, my board's gonna get all dusty if this keeps up."

Steve groaned, that board. That board, a small whiteboard that Robin kept in the break room that nobody used, was his doom. His rack and ruin. Just thinking about that board, Steve felt as if the sun was beating down on him. As if the heat radiating from his skin could melt him, searing the words 'you suck' onto his back until they were burnt and melted completely into his flesh. Because if he had to deal with that stupid board one more time, he might go insane. Okay... Maybe he was overreacting, but it did get him down sometimes. He wanted to show Robin that he could win himself a girl, with his charm and good looks.

"I don't know why you insist on using that dumbass whiteboard." Steve spoke up, leaning back against the counter, his arms still crossed, as Robin just shrugged her shoulders.

"It's fun to mark down your progress." She answered, "Well, not your progress, since, you know, you haven't gotten a date yet."

"Just because the five or so-"

"Six." Robin interrupted, but Steve waved her off.

"Whatever. Just because I couldn't get a date in those six or something situations, doesn't mean that the next girl that walks in here won't fall for my foolishly good looks." Steve argued, running a hand through his hair as Robin let out a mixture of scoff and laugh. "I've told you before, I've had tons of girlfriends, and a hell of a lot of girls after me back in high school."

"Mhmm, but you're not in high school anymore," Robin answered, and she did have a point. Back in high school, Steve was very popular, everyone wanted to be him, date him, whatever. King Steve. But, after everything that happened, that all changed. Steve changed. For the better. "And I hate to burst your bubble, but I've seen the way you act around girls... You're hopeless. I don't know how you survived so long in your last relationship." As she finished her words, Robin winced, obviously upset with herself at how harsh she suddenly sounded. "Sorry, that was a bit rude."

Steve shook his head, waving her off once again "Nah... It's fine. I get it." Looking down at his shoes, Steve shrugged, "I don't know how we had last that long either." He muttered.

"This is going to sound all... Mushy... But," Robin began, "Were you in love with her... Nancy?"

Robin's sudden question made Steve think for a moment before he spoke, "I think I was in love with the idea of her. She was fun and liked taking risks... Like me..." Steve sighed, "But yeah, I think I was in love with the idea of her... And yeah I was still upset when we broke up, and I'll always care about her, but I think that ship has sailed." At that last part, Robin snickered, making Steve look up at her, his eyebrows furrowed. "What?"

"You said 'ship has sailed.'" She spoke, placing her free hand to cover her mouth slightly as she laughed lightly, "With you in that outfit, I just can't..."

Steve let out a dramatic huff, though, he was unable to stop the small smile from growing on his lips. "Anyway, if we're continuing with this mushy shit... I believe that I have been in love. Once. A long time ago."

This seemed to pique Robin's interest, leaning against the windowsill slightly as she tilted her head. "Oh, mysterious... Do tell me more."

Steve scoffed, shaking his head slightly, "Don't you have to get back to that book?"

"Nah," Robin answered quickly, pushing her book to the side, giving him her full attention, "This sounds so much more in-depth than any other romance novel that I've read, I'm dying to know about this girl that stole your heart back in Kindergarten."

For a moment, Steve stared at her with wide eyes, a small shocked expression forming on his face. Then, slowly his mouth formed an amused smirk. "It was in third grade. If you must know. She was new." As the sudden memories of you began to rush up to the forefront of his mind, Steve took a deep breath. He hadn't thought about you in a long time, maybe years. He wasn't sure. Swallowing thickly, Steve pulled at the collar of his sailor outfit before speaking, "Uh, well, the first memory I had of her was when she was introduced to the class. I remembered that she was super shy..." A small smile slowly tickled the corner of his lips, "She had been wearing two pink bows in her hair."

Robin mimicked the smile, resting one of her hands on her cheek, leaning onto it, "What was her name?"

Steve paused for a moment. Not because he forgot your name. No... He could never forget your name. Or you in general. Your name just reminded him of the past too much. Of the things that you were to him. "Her name was Y/N." Steve breathed out, swallowing, "We became pretty fast friends. We played together, she'd come to my house during the summer, we spent a lot of time together." Ducking his head, he looked to the side, his eyes glazing over as he remembered you, "Once we got to seventh grade, that's when I knew I wanted to marry her. We used to joke about it all the time. I have no idea if she felt the same or if it was all to play around, but she used to call herself 'Mrs. Harrington'. We'd play house..."

"I bet that was a great ego boost."

Steve rolled his eyes. "Shut up, I'm pouring my heart out here." A little laughter escaped from Robin's lips, but Steve continued, "Anyway, we were really close. She was my best friend. She was... Everything..." Letting out a small cough, Steve pressed his fist to his mouth for a moment before awkwardly looking up with a grin that didn't really reach his eyes. "Uh, yeah... She was great."

He was trying to play it all off, not really used to spilling his feelings out. Not like this anyway. It was a bit embarrassing for some reason unknown to him. But it was nice to get to talk about you. He really missed you. A lot. You have helped him in so many ways. Being there for him when he was lonely and his parents weren't paying him any mind or were off on another business trip. You were always so bright, always smiling, seeing the beauty in everything and anything. It didn't seem like anything could bring you down. And even in your young teens, you had this power to bring Steve out of whatever darkness was holding him down. He missed your bright smiles, he missed your warm hugs, he missed your touch. It made his heart ache strangely like it was being tossed in a tornado, and it hurt, badly.

Robin hummed, narrowing her eyes slightly, "Hmm, she seemed to mean a lot to you. Whatever happened to the both of you? Fight or something?"

"No, uh, she moved away before we got into high school. I have no idea where she is now or what she's doing." Steve frowned slightly. "Probably living in New York somewhere. She loved the idea of New York." A sigh left his lips, as he shook his head, "It's been a while since we last saw each other... If she remembers me at all."

Robin gave a sympathetic smile, "New York huh? Better than here. Bustling cities, tall buildings, noisy taxis, and people everywhere." She hummed thoughtfully.

"Yeah..." Steve agreed softly.

Robin smiled faintly, before she cleared her throat, snapping Steve from his thoughts once more as she shifted slightly, her eyes glancing to the side and back to the older teen. "We finally have a customer. I'll let you handle it. Good luck." She gave him a quick grin before shutting the small window.

Sighing, Steve let out a breath from his nose, shutting his eyes and squaring his shoulders. Running a hand through his hair, he turned, "Ahoy thereeee..." Steve's voice trailed off, his eyes now open and wide as he stared right at you.

You looked a bit different. Your hair was different, sense of style... But the way you smiled and that shine was in your eyes, they were still the same. Still you. The feeling that Steve had from earlier returned with a vengeance, along with something else, and you couldn't help but let out a small chuckle, absolutely loving his reaction. "Hey there, handsome. Long time no see."

"Y/N?" Steve replied, still shocked - that you were there, in front of him, and that you remembered him - his brown eyes flickering rapidly over your figure before settling back to your eyes. He's got to be dreaming.

"Yeah, it's me. In the flesh." You tilted your head. "And look at you, Steven, all grown up." You then gestured with a hand, "You're even taller than me. And I thought I'd stay the tall one."

Steve was still in shock, mouth hung agape as he stared right at you. The words that were running in his head seemed to dry up upon reaching his tongue. God, your voice... You were breathtaking. You always had been, but now even more so. His heart was beating loudly in his chest as he stared at you, threatening to burst past his ribcage and out into the open. He felt his knees become weak, his hands feeling heavy, and his vision blurring slightly. It was like he had forgotten how to breathe. Like time itself had stopped, and he was suddenly transported back to before high school - a time when you were practically with him twenty-four-seven. But you were here. Staring right back at him. "Y/N... What..."

Pressing one of your palms against the counter, you leaned forward. Reaching out, you pressed the pads of your pointer and middle finger under his chin, gently closing his mouth, "I hope I didn't break you. You've hardly gotten a word out." You leaned back, feeling a bit awkward now. "I was hoping you'd be happy to see me..." Your words trailed off as you fiddled with the hem of your shirt, taking a couple of steps backward - only now a couple of feet from the counter.

Snapping out of it, Steve shook his head, springing himself over the counter; not even bothering to walk around the damn thing. He just needed to be close to you, the fastest way possible. Before he could say anything, he wrapped his arms tightly around your waist, pulling you as close as he possibly could. Your body tensed up immediately at the sudden contact, letting out a small squeak of surprise, but your body relaxed and your eyes fluttered closed almost instantly.

Steve buried his face into the crook of your neck, inhaling your scent deeply, "God, I missed you."

You swallowed hard. The only reply that came out was a quiet "I missed you too," which was enough for him to hear, your hands quickly wrapping around his waist, holding onto him just as tight.

Robin, hearing the small commotion that sounded from Steve's sudden bounding over the counter, couldn't help but be curious and walk out of the breakroom. Upon seeing Steve, holding onto some stranger, Robin paused before rushing over. "I'm sorry, but is he bothering you?" She asked you, making you lift your head from Steve's chest. Instead of the fear in your eyes that Robin was prepared for, she was met with your bright eyes and equally bright smile.

"He's fine. I was expecting something like this..." You wiggled slightly in Steve's hold, offering your hand out to the dirty blonde. "I'm Y/N. Steven's best friend."

Robin's eyes widened, her shock quickly being covered with her excitement. "Y/N? Really? We were just talking about you!" She exclaimed, making you raise an eyebrow. "I finally got this one to break and tell me a bit more about his past. I'm Robin by the way. I love your shoes!" She continued, taking back her hand after the handshake before gesturing to your red Converse.

"Thanks, I like yours too." You returned your hand around Steve's side, "I've never dared to doodle on mine. I worry I'll mess up or something." You chuckled lightly, making Steve's heart soar. He loved your laugh.

Steve glanced up at you, unable to take his eyes away from you. There were so many things that he wanted to say, ask you. But instead, he remained silent. He had missed you more than he thought possible. As you continued to talk to Robin, head resting on his chest, Steve slowly raked his fingers through your hair, marveling over how soft it felt beneath his fingers. His heart began beating faster again as he ran his fingers through your hair, his gaze lingering on the strands that fell back into place perfectly. Steve could feel the faint blush creeping across his cheeks as he sighed contently. You were here.

"Stevie, you're gonna put me to sleep if you keep doing that." Your melodic voice spoke to him, making him freeze, his hand then landing on your waist. His eyes finally met yours, softening as he took in the look on your face, the happiness that was shining in those gorgeous eyes of yours. "Is everything okay?"

"Huh? Oh, yeah. Yeah, everything's good. Everything's perfect." He responded, giving you a small smile, "Just really glad to see you."

Robin looked between the both of you, really taking notice of the way Steve was looking at you, making her smile. Steve's brown eyes were soft, and slightly lidded as he smiled warmly at you. The way he held you, close to his chest, the way he looked at you... Yeah, he did love you. Robin saw it. It was obvious. And never had she seen him act so... So... Soft. Not to mention the fact that the two of you looked at each other as if you were the only two people in the world. The love that was radiating off of them, it made her heart swell.

Silently, Robin headed back to the breakroom. Pushing the window open, she glanced back over at you and Steve as she opened the cap of the whiteboard marker, and without a second thought, she drew one line under 'you rule.'

"I missed you so much, Y/N/N," Steve muttered, his hand coming back up to cup your warm cheek, "I never thought I'd see you again."

"Me neither," You admitted quietly, leaning against his touch. "My father got a job back here in Indiana. We live a town away. But I had to come see you. I didn't know if you'd still be in Hawkins. I checked everywhere. And I found you."

A fond smile crossed Steve's lips as he watched you lean against him. His gaze lingered on you for another moment before he sighed softly, tightening his grip on you as he nodded slowly. "You found me..." Steve murmured, his thumb brushing your bottom lip. "I knew you would someday."

"I'm glad I did today..." You answered, looking up at him from beneath your thick lashes, almost nervously giving him a small smile.

"Why's that, sweetheart?" Steve asked, pressing a kiss to your forehead.

"Well," You paused for a second, flushing at his sudden sweet touch, "I'm glad I found you today because..." A mischievous sparkle appeared in your eye as you looked up at Steve, a look that Steve knew well. "I get to see you in this cute little sailor getup you got going on." You winked, causing a deep red flush to spread over Steve's cheeks.

"Sailor getup?" He raised an eyebrow, feeling a bit embarrassed since he hated the outfit with every fiber of his being.

"Mmmhmm," You nodded. "It brings out your eyes."

"Oh, does it?" Steve teased, glancing down at himself briefly, "You really like it?"

Biting your lip, you briefly glanced down at him, letting your eyes rake over his body before meeting his eyes one more, "Absolutely, Steven." You muttered, reaching up with one hand to grab the red ties of his flap collar. "I love my men in uniform." Your words caused Steve's breath to catch in his throat as your fingertips then slid along his jawline; his own eyes locking onto your lips. But before he could even fathom coming up with anything to say in response, you reached up with that same finger and booped him right on the nose. "Boop!" You exclaimed happily, giggling a little at the surprised expression that flashed across his face.

"Hey! Stop that!" He complained, his heart beating rapidly as his stomach filled with ten thousand more butterflies - joining the million that were already in there.

But you just laughed even harder, burying your face into the crook of his neck as tears filled your eyes. "That wasn't very nice of me, was it?" You cooed, chuckling.

Steve gave a slight shake of his head before letting out a sigh, "So mean to me..."

"Oh, you love me." You added with a grin, lifting your head back up to look at him.

Shaking his head, Steve chuckled. "Don't put words in my mouth." But he knew it was true. He knew he had no choice but to fall in love with you. Let himself fall back in love with you. And Steve didn't hesitate, nor did he take a moment to think about it. Even though his heart ached a little, knowing that you were right in front of him, he would gladly lay down his life for you. Because even after all these years, and especially now, you were the most important person in his life. "How long will you be staying for?" He questioned after a few moments of silence.

You shrugged your shoulders. "Not sure yet. I'm not ready to go back home just yet." You replied honestly, "I'm staying at the Wheelers for the time being." You continued, Steve inwardly cringing at your words.

Why? Why, world, why?

You notice the slight hint of discomfort that washed over Steve's features, making you raise an eyebrow but you don't question him. Fidgeting with the red tails of his collar, you pouted lightly, looking up at him. Even after all these years, after five years, Steve still looked breathtaking. His eyes were still the beautiful chocolate brown that you adored, the strong jaw, the broad shoulders, the amazing brown hair. You couldn't get enough of him. He was simply too perfect.

And it was plain to see that over the years, Steve had changed, and so did you. It was inevitable. Over the years, you were able to hide most of your feelings, and you felt as if it was the same for Steve. But for you, for both of you, it was so easy to just let your walls down. It always has been. Ever since the day when you first met.

"Well," You sighed out, looking up at him with a small smile, "I'll let you get back to work. I still have to unpack." You finished, as Steve stuck his bottom lip out in a pout.

"Don't leave me." He muttered, his hands tightening on your waist, "I just got you back."

"I know, Stevie-pie," Oh, how he missed that nickname. "But, I think I'll need someone to be my tour guide for when I go around and see all the new things that this crappy town has to offer." You returned his pout with your own, "Think you'll have enough time out of your very busy day tomorrow for little ol' me?"

Steve shook his head with a smirk, his lips curving up into a genuine grin, "Always got time for you, Y/N."

"You're too good to me." You sighed, reaching your hand up, taking off his little sailor hat to run your fingers through his hair once, and the one movement made Steve shiver from head to toe.

"What can I say?" Steve leaned forward and pressed a light kiss to your forehead. "You bring out the best in me."

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Main Masterlist | Stranger Things Masterlist

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Should I make a part 2? Let me know! <3 Thanks for reading!

168 notes · View notes

bvtbxtch · 1 year ago

Text

Checkmate. | Eddie Munson x Fem!Reader

Summary: You thought your night couldn't get much worse, until a certain metalhead makes you an offer you can't refuse.

Pairings: Eddie Munson x Fem!Reader, Fem!Reader x Original!Jock!Character, minimal usage of Y/N.

Series Warnings: MDNI!!!! 18+ smut, fluff and angst, mentions of drug and alcohol use, Eddie and Reader partake in substances and he drives, both give consent under the influence but no one is so intoxicated they don't know what they're doing, mentions of physical harm towards reader and domestic violence if you squint. Ageless or minor blogs will be blocked.

Word Count: 9.8k (Shes a mammoth, of course)\

A/N: Hello my babies thank you for coming to my ted talk. Here is my next series and I have no idea how long it will be thank you kindly. This man has just had a chokehold on my brain. This fic was inspired by the song Sex by the 1975 and Checkmate by Conan Gray. I want to say a special thank you to @darknesseddiem for being my sweet angel baby and chatting with me through some hard shit!! Love you lots! I hope you all enjoy!!

Going to tag some mutuals and my fave blogs because I would love feedback and ideas on what you would like to see next!!

@andvys @eddiemunsons-missingnipple @eddie-munsons-mullet @ali-r3n @lovebugism @trashmouth-richie

“Fuck” you gasp as you frantically look in all of your jacket pockets for any remnants of a cigarette. Your eyes clouded with tears as you tried to take deep breaths. You wish that the ground would swallow you whole as drunk teens climbed over you on the front steps of whoever’s house was hosting this weekend’s rager. You wished you talked your boyfriend out of this party - hell you wish that you were at home alone. That way this mess would have been avoided, or it could have happened in the comfort of your own home - or without being humiliated by most of the people you went to highschool with.

You laid on Billy’s unmade bed, pulling back on your shirt and fixing your panties that had been hastily pushed to the side.

“So, is that really what you’re wearing tonight?” the blonde studied you through the mirror on his wall. He had pulled his old Hawkins tee over his curls and smoothed it over his toned stomach.

“Wha- what’s wrong with what I’m wearing?” You peered down at your bare legs and suddenly felt self conscious. You had picked out Billy’s ‘favorite’ plaid skirt (for easy access) and paired it with an oversized one shoulder tee. Your previously perfected curls stood in a halo of frizz after your pre party escapades (which if you were feeling honest with yourself, were more pleasurable for one of you).

“It just, is like the same thing you always wear, babe. Show off that bod you got, you look like a prude” Billy sneered. You rolled your eyes as you readjusted the shirt you had donned.

“Maybe I shouldn’t go tonight,” you mumbled.

“What are you talking about?” the mullet of curls whirled around and glared at you. “This is the biggest party of the summer and I need to make an appearance. You know people will ask questions if you aren’t there.” He stalked up to the bed and stood over where you sat. He grabbed your chin and pressed a chaste kiss to your lips. “Plus what happens when I get too drunk and need to relieve myself in the bathroom, huh?” He snickered as he grabbed your hands and pulled you up. “Now get out of that pretty head of yours and get ready to have fun. It's like all of our favorite things. Booze, friends, music, me…” He pulled you to the door and smacked your ass as you left, you let out a yelp and a sigh as you walked to his front door.

“Those sound like all of your favorite things.” You mumbled, but the boy did not hear you. The two of you pulled out of his driveway and raced through the sleepy streets of Hawkins.

“Who’s all gonna be there tonight?” You asked. You weren't necessarily miss congeniality when it came to the Hawkins High population. You often found solace of the likes of Steve Harrington and Robin Buckley; Steve being your neighbor since you moved to town, and Robin hardly ever leaving his side. They were the few other people who you felt fully comfortable being yourself around.

“Well of course all the boys are gonna be there, I think Harrington said he might show up, and Chrissy and the cheer girls will probably go, and… Heather will be there”He stuttered on Heather’s name, which made you look over at him. His cheeks cast a light pink glow and he glued his eyes to the road. He had never mentioned her by name before. She had always been a part of the ‘popular girls’. You were a secure person but you had a knot in your stomach. You hadn’t seen as much of your boyfriend lately, apparently going to show his alumni support at basketball games, or out with the boys. He had come back to your bed with a few suspicious looking marks on his chest and neck that he had shook off as bruises from golf with the guys. You weren’t dumb; you had your suspicions, but you found it easier to not confront him now. College applications had just gone out, and you had heard back from few. You were ready to leave Billy Hargrove and this shitty town, but the prospects were dwindling and even if you didn’t have a future, you would have someone to be with in town. You felt the stomach acid rising in your throat, making you feel sick.

“Heather, huh? You haven’t mentioned her before”

“Yeah, she has been at a few shindigs before… do you not remember?” Billy’s voice was hoarse, he was getting defensive. “Why are you getting so jealous?”

“Whatever, Hargrove. Let’s just drop it.” You had minimal energy to fight with him.

“No seriously, do you have a problem with her? Like, she’s just a girl, we’re dating. Do you seriously not trust me? Because I’ll stay stuck to your side all night if that’s what you fucking want.” His voice continued to rise as he babbled.

“Jesus fuck! I don’t care that much! You just haven’t mentioned her before. Just drop it” You scowled and turned your body to stare out the window.

“No, you look at me” The man grabbed your arm and pulled you hard towards the console of his car. “Do you fucking think I’m stupid? I’d drop your sorry ass before I went on to someone else - and this kind of shit makes me want to drop your ass so you better fucking behave because you know what happens if I fucking dump you.” His eyes were now fixed on yours instead of the road. You pulled your arm away with no avail

“Jesus, fine, I get it! Now let go, you’re hurting me” He let go of your arm as you threw your body towards the car door. You let a small ‘asshole’ slip out of your mouth, but he did not hear you. You rode in silence to the party. When the car stopped you opened your door and slammed it shut, leaving Billy to scramble out of his car after you. He caught up to you and grabbed your wrist.

“Baby, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to hurt you.” He pouted

“Yeah whatever, let’s just drop it, okay? We’re here for a good time” you mumbled. You would do anything to get out of his grip. You needed a drink. He pulled you into his chest and planted a sloppy kiss to your mouth. He tried to stick his tongue in your mouth to deepen the kiss but you pulled away from him and led him inside with a tight lipped smile.

As the hours bled together like the alcohol on the linoleum, your brain begins to go fuzzy. Your boyfriend who was, at one time, hanging off of you, was nowhere to be found. You excuse yourself from the flip cup tournament occurring in the dining room to go to the bathroom and ground yourself from the alcohol that you had consumed. You came face to face with a girl with beautiful brown locks and big brown eyes. As soon as she looked up at you, she cast her gaze to the floor and scurried past you, a guilty smile plastered to her lips. As you made it to the end of the hallway, you were met with your boyfriend's figure. His eyes bulged out as you now stormed towards him; his hands flew to his neck.

“What the fuck is this?” you clamor, the alcohol fuelling your courage and anger.

“What are you talking about?” You pushed Billy into the wall and grabbed his wrists. When his neck was freed, you were met with sprinkles of violet bruises and lipstick.

“Are you fucking kidding me” you laughed dryly. You pulled Derek’s shirt up to see the marks lead down his stomach and disappear at the hem of his jeans. You let go and your hand wound up to slap his cheek. He takes the hit and stalks after you as you trudge back to the party.

“Y/N wait!” Billy’s pleas garner a crowd, drunk party goers begin to form a snickering gang around the two of you.

“Tell Heather I say hey, and stay the fuck away from me okay?” You turn on your heel and head for the front door.

“You want a puff of mine?” You hear a familiar voice ask you. You feel a soft thump and warmth beside you. You look over and you are met with dazzling chocolate brown eyes, a mop of curly bangs and a lopsided smile. The boy has a joint pinched between his fingers and is holding it between the two of you. You can smell the alcohol and weed radiating off of him, but unlike most of the people here, it brings you comfort. You don’t condone taking anything from strangers but tonight you needed it - and he wasn’t a stranger. Not really.

“Thanks” you whisper as you take the joint from his hands and place it in your mouth. The boy flicks his zippo and holds it to the joint in your mouth. When he pulls away, he spends what seems like hours studying your face. Your face was flushed, but you were pale. Your brows were furrowed in (what he thought was) the most beautiful way. Your lipstick had left a distant stain on your mouth and your mascara had just begun to smudge under your eyes. You looked tired, and you had obviously been crying. Eddie thinks you’re the most interesting and beautiful person he has seen tonight. He had thought you were beautiful when he had bumped into you in the hallways, or shared a friendly wave under the bleachers during a smoke break; but seeing you up close was worlds different. He feels addicted to your face already - maybe it was the beers and weed talking, but he couldn’t look away.

“How much do I owe you, Munson?” you mouthed through the joint.

“Owe me? Princess, you wound me! This one is free of charge.” Eddie quips as he throws his hands to his heart. He smiles as he plucks the joint from your lips, takes a puff, and places it back in your mouth. As little as you had talked to the metalhead in school, you remembered always being intrigued by him. Your gaze often rested on him as he made an ass out of himself. You often caught yourself smiling with him. His face always felt so kind and welcoming, a welcome change from the cruel judgmental stares of the population of Hawkins High. The only reason you weren’t eaten alive was because of Billy. Without him, you would have been the freaky new girl. But you also knew that Eddie Munson’s reputation preceded him: although he was labeled the freak, he was one of the few drug dealers in Hawkins, which also made him a hot commodity with the female population - and was masterful with skills that pertained to them (apparently).

“Totally free, huh? No strings attached?” you teased as you knocked your shoulder into his.

“Nah, pretty girl clause. I don’t charge for them… especially when they’ve been crying” His smile fell as he examined you. You met his eyes briefly but you couldn’t keep his gaze.. You glued your eyes to your sneakers. Eddie grabbed your chin softly and raised your face to meet his.

“Pretty girls like you shouldn’t be outside of a party crying, you should be making the boys inside cry” he thumbed at a rogue tear that fell down your face, then grabbed the joint from you again. Your breath hitched as he blew smoke back at your face.

“Tell me what’s going on.” You have no idea why, but you trusted him with your predicament.

“My-my boyfriend… I just caught him with another girl.” You laugh at yourself as the words fall out of your mouth. You never thought you would be the pathetic girl babbling to someone about her shitty life, but here you are. Eddie’s eyes harden and he begins to tense his jaw.

“Who’s your boyfriend?” he growls.

“Umm, his name is Billy”

“Fuck- no way, Billy Hargrove did this to you? What a fucking prick! What are you gonna do?”

“Nothing tonight. It’s not even worth it.” You slump. Wiping your eyes, you look back up to Eddie and smile. “Sorry, don’t mean to be a buzzkill. You can go back inside if you want, Eddie. I shouldn’t be bothering you with my shit.”

“Sweetheart, wherever you are feels like it's the most interesting place to be… now if I go inside, I would really hope that you would join me because the two of us can’t have much fun at this party if you’re out here alone, now can we?” Both you and Eddie blush furiously. His words went straight to the pit of your stomach. You didn’t know what you deserved for him to be so nice to you, but you hope that it doesn’t stop. Eddie jumps up onto his feet and stands in front of you, his hands reaching out to yours to pull you up. For a split second, you felt unsure of yourself. You stopped before Eddie led you back up the porch steps towards the house.

“You aren’t being nice to me just to get in my pants are you, Munson?” Although you try your best to hide it, insecurity seeps through your voice.

“Normally I would be flattered, but I can tell that’s the opposite of what you need right now. If you would let me, Y/N, I would love to go shotgun a beer with you and have fun at a party, that’s it.” Eddie’s smile is genuine. His eyes are soft and he smiles warmly at you. For the first time in what seemed like hours, you smiled a genuine smile. With a small ‘lets go’, you let Eddie lead you back into the party.

After a few more drinks, you find yourself across from Eddie in a circle of drunk teens. A beer bottle centered between all of you. You were never one for drinking games like this, but tonight you need a change, you want to do something you normally never would, thanks to your new drinking companion. What you don't anticipate is your boyfriend entering the circle, Heather not far behind him. Your gaze hardens as you see him fold his legs into a seated position. He looked angry at you, which fuelled your rage even more - how the fuck could he be mad at you? Your eyes peel from his form, to the lanky metalhead sitting across from you. He mouths the words ' it's okay’ then sends you a wink, your posture relaxed and you focus all of your attention at the mop head across the circle from you, not the boy you thought loved you.

A few rounds of the bottle, a few rounds of kisses, a few rounds of laughs. You are enjoying reacting to what was happening in the game of spin the bottle until the glass in the center lands on you. Time seems to stand still as you feel your heartbeat in your ears. Eddie’s face drops as he watches you, sensing your panic. He looks down at his hands and picks his thumbnails, not wanting to see the hot mess that was going to unfold in front of him. He was too pissed at your boyfriend to watch you - a literal angel - kiss someone who had hurt you so bad.

You felt your eyes beginning to well up with tears, feeling like you only had one choice in the circle full of strangers. You could hear some of them laughing at you - obviously knowing of what had transpired between you and Billy before. You look around desperately, hoping there is some way you could take your leave, then you make eye contact with the boy that had his stare trained on the floor. Your heart pounds harder as you unravel your legs and crawl across the circle - in the opposite direction of where your boyfriend was sitting. There are gasps and oohs escaping the crowd as you inch your way closer to the boy you were going to kiss. Eddie looks up at the commotion and instantly turns flush as his stare meets yours. You seem calm, but Eddie’s hands begin to shake. He makes the mistake of glancing over at Billy, who is bright red and clenching his fists. Was this really happening?

Eddie uncrosses his own legs and leans back on his hands, ready to receive you. As you meet his legs, he holds his breath. You slink up his body and when your face was close enough for Eddie to feel your breath on his face, you part your legs and sit into his lap. Eddie’s breath immediately hitches as everyone in the room falls silent. His arms fly to hover around your waist as your arms wrap around his neck. You gently lean in and close your eyes, giving Eddie a chance to pull away if he wanted to (but lord knows he didn’t). Your lips meet softly and you feel everything around you still. Eddie’s lips are chapped, but still feel soft against yours. You move your face to the side slightly for Eddie to deepen the kiss. His tongue glides across your lip as a permission to deepen your embrace further. You hum into him and he takes advantage, his tongue softly roaming the inside of your mouth, battling your own tongue. Your stomach backflips as Eddie grabs the side of your face, your squirm in his lap causes him to moan softly into your mouth. Everything felt spinny in the best way possible, you grab onto Eddie as you are afraid the euphoria was going to send you floating away. Suddenly, you feel a tight grip on your arm and you are being pulled to your feet from behind. You’re separated from Eddie with a smack of your mouths, and you are left to gaze at him in total awe as you are dragged out of the room backwards.The grip on your arm pulls you around the corner and it wasn’t until Eddie was fully out of sight that you felt any sort of panic.

Your back hit the wall with a thud and you were instantly trapped between two large biceps. You stare up at furious baby blue eyes glaring back at you. Billy’s hot breath fans over your face.

“What the fuck was that, Y/N? Are you fucking kidding me?” he slurs through gritted teeth. The vein on his neck was beginning to pop out. You’ve seen this vein many times before. The alcohol and intoxicating kiss were going to your head and the idea of your hypocrite boyfriend getting mad at you for a stupid spin the bottle game after he had fucked someone else gave you the giggles. You let a small one slip past your lips. Billy slams his hands against the wall that leaves a ring in your ears and your chest tightening. Your giggle fades and smile drops instantly.

“Fucking humiliate me like that again and I will fucking ruin you. You got it? You wanna do anything in this town, you want to see anyone, I’ll make sure you can’t. University? That fucking gross record store you work at? Gone. I’ll fucking own your life if you do that shit to me ever again. I can’t believe you would do something like that to me.”

“Oh you’ve got to be kidding me, right? You’re the one that’s mad at me?” you sneer. Derek takes a step back like you have punched him in the gut. “Go cry on Heather’s shoulder, because as far as I’m concerned, I’m single tonight. Fuck my life up just as hard as you fucked Heather in the bathroom.” The furious figure's hand forms a hard fist at his side. He looks like he is getting ready to wind up and hit you and you wince prematurely in anticipation…

Eddie sits in the circle completely stunned; your lips still burned onto his. It took him several seconds for his breathing to steady and for him to realize where he was: in front of a crowd of drunk teens that now look at him wide eyed, saying nothing. It also took him moments to realize that you were in fact sitting on his lap, but now were not. He runs his hands through his curls and offers his audience a tight lipped smile as he leans over and spins the bottle again. He rises from his seat and sets off after your figure, which had just disappeared around the corner. He floats over to where he could see your shadow, knees still shaky from going weak underneath your body. What he is greeted with snaps him out of his daze.

“Hey, is this dickhead bothering you?” a welcome voice rang in your ear and saves you in the knick of time. You look over to the side and see the once soft and dazzling brown irises are cold, his lopsided smile curved into a frown and his jaw was tense. Billy’s eyes meet with Eddie’s and you swear you see smoke coming out of his ears.

“Fuck off, Munson. This is between me and my girlfriend , so why don’t you find some other desperate slut to take home and leave her alone, okay?” He pushes two fingers into Eddie’s shoulder.

“Woah, what the fuck is that supposed to mean?” you snap.

“It’s alright, sweetheart. The meathead needs to take his aggression out on someone, apparently the fuck in the bathroom didn’t do it for him” Eddie snarls, puffing his chest out, inviting Derek to make a move.

“Sweetheart? I’ll fucking-” Derek goes to swing at the metalhead’s face but you insert yourself between the two of them.

“Both of you, back the fuck up. I am so not in the fucking mood.” You push Eddie away, towards the front door. Eddie’s eyes are trained on the enraged boy, ensuring he stays planted in the hallway. Your boyfriend’s hands are held in fists so hard that you imagine there’s crescent shapes etching into his palms. Once you were a safe distance away, Eddie’s gaze shifts to your hands pushing on his chest. He grabs them and pulls you to the entryway of the house. His eyes soften when they land on you, his face now painted with worry.

“Are you okay? He didn’t hurt you, did he? I’ll fucking kill him if he-”

“Relax, Munson. I’m okay. He’s pissed. I guess he has the right to be.”

“Are you kidding? You have every right to be pissed at him! The way I see it, you just got revenge - which I am happy to have helped facilitate by the way.” To Eddie’s surprise, your retort to his comment was a wholehearted chuckle. He looks at you in amused bewilderment as you give him a hearty laugh. Your nose scrunches up and your eyes begin to water. Eddie’s heart soars, he thinks he could get used to seeing you like this. He takes a mental picture that he hopes will last him forever. Your laugh is infectious and soon he joins you. Your head leans into his chest and he is holding you to ground himself as well - feeling like he was going to explode with glee just being around you. Your laughing settles and you peered up at your savior, your eyes becoming cloudy with anxiety.

“Hey, this party kind of blows” he scoffs. “You wanna go?” he rubs circles into your shoulder comfortingly. You lean into his touch and smile softly.

“Yeah, I am ready to get the fuck out of here. Walk me home?”

“Oh, sweetheart. I’ll do you one better.” Eddie grabs your hand and leads you to the door. As you shut the door behind you, you make eye contact with Heather, who is staring wide eyed at you. You felt sorry for her. As difficult as it felt, you let the thought of her marks down your boyfriend’s body disappear with her figure behind the door.

You shiver in the damp summer twilight. Hawkins had been blistering hot during the daytime, but the nights were a welcome pause. You take a deep inhale of fresh air as you catch up to Eddie at the end of the driveway. You walk with him in comfortable silence. The streetlights encapsulate Eddie in a halo of light, his pale skin glowing and eyes shining. The more you study the mop headed boy, the faster your heart beats. Once you have rounded the corner of the sidewalk the boy grabs your hand. You flinch, but squeeze his hand tightly in appreciation. Why was he being so nice to you today? Are you just a lay for tonight or is he genuinely interested in you? As much as you wanted it to be genuine, you remind yourself that anything to distract you from this night was welcome. And he was in fact a pretty cute distraction.

“I’m sorry your boyfriend’s a dick” he utters. He bumps his shoulder with yours as your eyes turn to the pavement beneath your converse.

“Yeah, it’s okay I guess.” Eddie could feel you shutting down. Your grip loosens on his hand.

“You don’t deserve that, you know?” Eddie stops walking and pulls you to face him. You roll your eyes and scoff at him.

“Alright, Munson. Take it easy, if you keep this up I might think that you like me or something”

“But, I do like you.” Eddie retorts. His answer blindsides you. He can’t mean he likes you like that. Plus you have a boyfriend.

“You don’t even know me.”

“Well, I know that kiss wasn’t just a normal kiss” Eddie’s eyes bored into you, full of a comforting darkness that was unfamiliar to you.. A coldness ran through your veins and you felt your breath catch in your throat. “Here’s what I’m thinking. We give you some matching marks that your boyfriend has. We can have fun tonight and you can forget about what you saw at that party. Or we enjoy the ride back to your house and we say goodnight and I still go home feeling like the luckiest guy in the world because I got to kiss a really beautiful girl tonight. What do you say? Van’s right here.”

Your cheeks are hot and the butterflies in your stomach feel like they are going to fly out of your body. Your mouth feels dry and your head is spinning. Did he really just offer to sleep with you to get back at Billy? Would you even be able to bring yourself to do it? But the kiss… You couldn’t stop picturing the kiss. It felt perfect. It felt like he was the only person that you were supposed to kiss. If your shitty boyfriend was off with someone else, why shouldn’t you have fun too? You stand in contemplative silence for a moment, then look up at Eddie with your big doe eyes. He feels like he could fall apart right then. You nod feverishly at him. He studies your face closely to make sure there was no hesitation, then his eyes darken with excitement and something that you could not read.

Eddie lunges into you like you are his prey. His hands fly to your hips and he pushes you onto the side of his van. Your mouth opens to let him deepen the kiss and he hums into you. Your butterflies move from your stomach to your core as Eddie puts his knee in between your legs. You break the kiss to catch your breath, giving the brunette prime real estate at your neck. He traces kisses from the side of your mouth to your pulse point, then he bites down hard - garnering a sharp gasp from you. You feel Eddie chuckle against your skin. He drags his tongue against the new bruise that was forming to soothe the dull ache.

“Eddie” you gasp, feeling the strength slipping from your legs, you needed more from him. Eddie raises his head from your neck. His golden eyes bore into you with pure lust and passion, but he is considerate; he studies your face closely, looking for any trace of hesitancy. He pushes his weight off of you and gives you air.

“You okay? This is okay right?” God, you feel as if you were going to drown in his eyes. His voice is saccharine sweet and you want to melt into him. But there was a sickly pang of guilt, knowing that you were doing all of this behind your boyfriend’s back. No matter how shitty he was, you couldn’t help but feel bad. But Eddie making you feel this good was too difficult to ignore; so, you decide that you can feel bad later - now it was time for you to give in to what feels good.

“Yeah, we should get going,” you pant. You pull at the lapels of his vest so he is back on you, your lips feeling lonely without him. You feel Eddie pawing at the passenger door of his van to the left of you. Once he gets it unlocked, he lifts you by the hips and sits you on the passenger seat, but instead of detaching himself from your lips, he grabs at your thighs so they wrap around his lean waist. A shock wave of pleasure shoots straight to your core as you feel Eddie’s calloused hands trace up your thighs. His cool rings send shivers down your spine and spread heat to your core. You push your body closer to Eddie’s, which warrants a moan into your mouth. Eddie’s beginning to sweat, he feels like he could explode any minute. The feeling of your core just a few layers of where he wants you the most drives him wild. His hands wander to the hem of your skirt and up the top of your thighs. You use his infatuation with your legs to mouth at his neck. You pepper soft pecks to his Adam's apple, pulling a hard gulp from the boy. Your heart felt like it was going to beat out of your chest in anticipation of what was going to come next. You spread a blotchy galaxy of bruises across his neck, but when you bite down on his pulse point, you hear a growl in the back of Eddie’s throat that takes your breath away.

“Fuck, sweetheart. You’re driving me crazy, you know that?” His hands travel further up your legs and rest at your hip, toying with the hem of your panties. You wiggle your hips as silent encouragement. Eddie hooks his fingers around the soft cotton of your underwear and pulls them down cautiously, giving you plenty of time to stop him if needed. The summer breeze hits your core and you shiver. Eddie gasps once he has your panties in his hand.

“Cute underwear. This all for me? You’re so wet already” he coos as he scrunches the fabric into his hand. “I’m gonna have to take these as a souvenir, if you don’t mind” You roll your eyes and laugh, but your smile fades as Eddie drops to his knees in front of you, never breaking eye contact with you.

“E-Eddie, what are you doing? We can’t do this in the middle of the road” you protest, pulling your skirt down and tugging your knees together.

“Then you better be quiet so we don’t get caught”. Eddie returns his hands to your thighs and traces over your knees so he can pull your legs back open. With a sigh, you give in. Eddie gives you a reassuring smirk, then presses a kiss to your knee. It feels like it is getting harder and harder to take steady breaths as you watch the beautiful boy beneath you plant chaste kisses up your thigh. You felt like you were going to suffocate the closer he got to where you wanted him the most, the anticipation strangling you like a noose. You wriggle in the seat, head pulled down to examine what the metalhead was doing beneath you.

“Such a pretty pussy, baby” Eddie's praises went straight to your core and you let out a strained moan. Eddie sent a pointed look up to you, warning you to keep quiet. You bite down on your lip as the boy disappears under the small amount of skirt left covering your decency. Eddie presses small kisses around your cunt, making you twitch with every move. You’re getting desperate for some release and Eddie could tell. Your hips subtly thrust towards his face and you can feel a smile on the next teasing kiss.

“Eddie, please, please,” your calls sound like prayers to him and he could get used to hearing the hymn coming from you. He decides to relieve you from your distress and takes a long swipe along your folds. You wrack out a mewl so sensual Eddie felt like he could cum right then. His tongue felt euphoric and he hums praise into you as he takes another swipe.

“Pussy tastes so good, princess. You’re so sweet” Eddie says before his lips bare down on your clit, sending your head jolting back in ecstasy. One of your hands flies to the roof of the van, the other in Eddie’s hair. As you claw at his scalp, Eddie doubles down on your heat, sending you closer and closer over the edge.

“Eddie, please, I’m so close” you pant.

“Come on, Y/N. Cum for me” Eddie encourages, probing a finger into your throbbing core. Eddie fixates his tongue on your clit, ensuring his eyes can watch your face as you fall apart over him. His finger curls expertly inside you, encouraging your orgasm to radiate through your body. Before you can register what was happening, your chest grows tight and you lose all feelings in your legs, a euphoric sob is pulled from your lungs and you couldn’t help but tighten your grip in Eddie’s hair, to his delight. Eddie moans into your core as he works you through, feeling hardly able to control his own high as well. When you moan again, Eddie detaches his mouth from you and swiftly raises to his feet. His hand cupped over your mouth as he continued to pump in and out of you, pushing you to overstimulation. You mewl beneath Eddie’s hand and he scolds you.

“Now, this is how you get us caught, sweetheart.” Eddie peers down each side of the sidewalk, luckily no one had seen the two of you. Eddie pulls his fingers out of your cunt and takes his hand off of your mouth, giving you an opportunity to catch your breath. Chest heaving, feeling high solely off of your orgasm, you swoon as you watch Eddie take the fingers that are covered in your essence and pop them into his mouth, sucking them clean.

“Get in the back, pretty girl” Eddie demands. You shake your head as you hop off the seat, legs wobbly and head spinning. You take Eddie’s hand and climb into the now open sliding door, giving Eddie a beautiful shot of your glistening pussy under your skirt. He curses to himself as he climbs in after you.

You take in the sights of the back of Eddie’s van and although it isn’t necessarily clean, it is cozy and you immediately feel comfortable being there with him. There are a few throw pillows tossed haphazardly in the corner, along with a few blankets strewn out on the floor. Cassettes littered whatever area they could claim and various metal posters decorated the walls. To your surprise, a line of wrapped condoms sat in one of the cupholders.

Eddie’s mouth was back on you as soon as he closed the door. The taste of your own essence and the weed you had smoked earlier made you feel high all over again. Eddie sits back against one of the van’s walls and guides you by the hips into his lap. The feeling of his rough denim on your bare core riled you up and again you were a mewling mess on his lap.

“Take this off, I wanna see you” Eddie mutters as he fumbles with the hem of your T-shirt. You fling off your shirt as Eddie ogles at your figure. His hands drift to your breasts and he moans in satisfaction.

“If I take mine off, you gotta take yours off” you tease. Eddie happily obliges you and pulls his shirt off. You were finally able to fully take in the boy's beautiful alabaster skin. You admired the dark ink that danced along his muscles and the neat lining of hair that leads to where you want to see the most. As much as you appreciated the distraction, you did find yourself truly appreciating Eddie for his looks as well as his sexual prowess. He truly was beautiful and looked even more so looking up at you with a fucked out stare, eyeing you like you were his whole universe. Eddie mouthed at the edge of your bra as he reaches around your back to unclasp your pesky straps. Your moans and breaths invigorate him even more and you could now feel his erection growing furiously hard beneath you. When your bra falls from your shoulders, Eddie captures one of your nipples in his mouth, while pawing at your other breast. You wanted his mouth to become a permanent fixture of your body. He felt so natural being there, and you couldn’t get enough. Your hands land on Eddie’s pecs, feeling the muscles moving beneath you, you claw down his stomach. Eddie hisses into your skin, loving the pain. You fumble with his belt beneath you, impatient to get his pants off. Again, you feel Eddie’s smirk against your skin. He separates himself from you to assist you in unclasping his belt and pants.

“Impatient girl,” he teases.

“Just get your pants off, Munson” You want your response to sound confident and sassy, but you are getting desperate, and your voice sounds whiny and breathy. It made Eddie laugh in confidence. He could ask you to do anything for him and you would do it right now, he knew that.

Eddie grabs your wrists that were still frantically trying to get into his pants and he pulls them away. You wriggle off of him and watch with bated breath as the boy peels off his jeans. Your eyes widen at the erection that Eddie is sporting. You couldn’t help yourself - you reach to him and run your hand across his bulge, eliciting a hiss from the boy. You flinch, but return your hand.

“Is this okay?” you question with sickly sweet care. Eddie could cum right this second.

“More than okay, princess,” he sighs. “Feels so fucking good already”. You place yourself between the boy’s legs and continue to rub at him, squeezing his length and rubbing your hands over his sensitive head every few strokes.

You understand how Eddie could get off by pleasuring you, because the sounds he was making sent heat straight to your core. His sighs and praises left you with a bewildered smile on your face. Your fingers curl beneath Eddie’s plaid boxers and he held his breath. You share a look, ensuring each other that you were both okay with going forward. You free Eddie’s cock and it flexes up towards his bellybutton. He is large - both exceptionally long and girthy. His veins trace the underside of his cock and lead to his weeping, pink tip. You feel your mouth watering as you lower yourself to Eddie’s waist. Your eyes peer up at him as you take one long swipe at him with your tongue. Eddie's eyes roll to the back of his head as he lets out a groan. You tease his tip, taking it into your mouth and swirling your tongue around his slit. Eddie’s hand finds purchase in your hair, stroking and pulling softly to ground himself. He was desperate to cum, he could just let himself go in this second, but then he wouldn’t be able to take full advantage of the time he has with you.

“Fuck, babe. You feel so good on my cock” Eddie’s praise encouraged you to take as much of Eddie that would fit in your mouth, and sucked back up his length. You bob on his cock until your eyes are watering. You milk Eddie for all of his sweet sounds and touches. You take a moment to look up at the boy and you are met with one of the most beautiful sights you have ever seen.

Eddie’s mouth was parted slightly. His bangs were beginning to stick to his forehead from the heat in the van. The rest of his hair settled on his shoulders, curls beginning to frizz. His brows were perfectly furrowed in concentration. His eyes pressed shut. A red flush formed on his face. He looked angelic. You could get used to looking at him like this: a moaning mess underneath you. You push Eddie’s cock further into your mouth and hold it there. Eddie’s eyes fling open in ecstasy and he looks down at you. He also thinks this is one of the best sights he’s ever seen. Then he feels you gag and he feels like his soul has left his body.

You moan into him then you gag, pulling back to catch your breath. Suddenly, Eddie is pushing you back against the opposite wall of the van.

“Eddie wha-”

“As much as I love seeing you choke on my cock, I can’t fucking hold on anymore. I need your pussy,” Eddie pleads as he undos the zipper on your skirt. You assist him in pulling it off as he reaches into his cup holder and grabs a small silver foil. He rips it open with his teeth and hisses as he slides the condom onto his penis. You felt a pang of nerves now. Being so close and intimate to Eddie felt so evil - he wasn’t your boyfriend. But it felt so right. Your pussy quivered just thinking of him being inside you. Eddie positioned between your legs. He rubbed his head between your folds, evoking moans from both of you.

“Fuck, you’re still so wet. You like sucking my dick, huh?” Eddie quips.

“Unff. Eddie, I love it.” You jolt as his head rubs at your clit. “Please, Eddie. Need you”

Eddie's eyes drop to where you are connected and he lines himself up with your entrance. He slowly presses in with a low growl.

“Fuck. You’re sucking me in”

“So big Eddie. Fuck” You pant. He had gotten barely half way and you felt deliciously full already. The stretch, mixing pleasure and pain. He is a perfect gentleman in taking his time with you. You admire his self control. You could tell going slow was not easy for him. His brows were furrowed even harder than before, his breath short and raspy. Finally, Eddie bottoms out. You felt like you were going to lose control too. You whimper underneath the metalhead.

“It's okay baby, you take my cock so well” Eddie’s hand came up to stroke your face gently, a brash juxtaposition to the lewd act you were both participating in. You turn your cheek and open your mouth on Eddie’s thumb. You look up at him with your watery eyes and suck down hard. Eddie thought he was going to collapse right then and there.

Eddie pulls himself all the way back out of you, instantly making you feel empty. You’re overwhelmed with fullness and pleasure as his cock rams back into you. You can’t help but yell out in pleasure. You bite your lip and cover your mouth with your hands. Eddie begins fucking into you at a ruthless pace. He pulls your hand from your mouth .

“Don’t stop those noises. I wanna hear you” he coos, pulling a sob from you. His cock hits just the right spot and you could feel yourself hurling towards the second orgasm of the night.

“E-Eddie… m’close. Please don’t stop” you whine. Eddie smiles down at you, quickening his pace. His hand flies down to where the two of you meet and while muttering endless praises, rubs precise circles on your clit. You feel Eddie’s hips stutter as he watches your eyes roll to the back of your head and gasp as your orgasm falls on you. Your pussy has Eddie in a vice and he could barely hold back his own finish, but he was determined to work you through your climax, to make you feel as good as you can for as long as he could. He can feel your legs shaking beneath him and sees tears well up in your eyes. As you push his hands away from your sensitive clit, he puts his hands beneath your back and pulls you into his lap. Your hands fly to the wall of the van. Eddie fucks into your pussy at a dizzying pace, so hard that you felt that you could barely hold on.

“That’s right baby, bounce on that cock like a good girl. Take it” You whine at his words while your pussy throbs from your ebbing orgasm. You look around and suddenly feel a pang of jealousy. You wondered how many girls he had done this with in the back of his van - hell, anywhere. Were you just another conquest? What makes you different? Eddie saw an opportunity and he took it; and as hypocritical as you were, you hated thinking that he was going to leave the party and go see someone else. You look down at Eddie, his hair surrounding him like a halo, his cheeks fully flushed and sweat dripping down his face.

“Come for me, Eddie.”

“Wha-”

“Come for me. Come on, I wanna see you cum” Your eyes darken with lust and never left his face. You could feel his dick twitching inside of you and his breath shallowed. With a grunt and a few hard thrusts, you could feel Eddie’s cock being milked for all it was worth. You almost wish that he wasn’t wearing a condom so you could really feel him. His hips settle and you put your weight down on Eddie’s body, both heaving and sweaty. You let out a small giggle but Eddie studies your face closely, something is happening behind your eyes. Something’s wrong.

“Hey” , his voice was soft and tender. “Everything okay?”

“What? Of course. That was… that was great” you sigh, but Eddie doesn’t seem convinced. You roll off of him and lay to his right, looking into his beautiful brown eyes.

“If you regret it we don’t have to do it ever again and you can pretend like you don’t know me” Eddie’s eyes darted from yours and a dry laugh left his lips. Was Eddie Munson insecure?

“Eddie, that was the most fun I’ve had in a long time. I don’t regret it at all” you smile at him. You can feel his muscles relax beside you and his face sank into his usual dopey smile. You weren’t lying. Things with your boyfriend had been… tense to say the least.

The movie playing out of Billy’s old pick up truck was drowned out by wet smacks against your neck. As usual, your boyfriend ignored your requests to not be marked up and was in the middle of gnawing at you when his hands started to migrate to your thigh. You nudged his hand away, but he persisted, swatting your hand away from his. This time, he wrapped his strong arms around your waist. His kisses traveled down to your collar bone and he played with the hem of your shirt.

“Babe, we’re in public.” You scolded him, pushing him off of you. You had begun to feel like everyone around you was aware of what you were doing. You weren’t afraid of taking some risks, but you were just not feeling it tonight.

“Yeah, and the public is watching a movie, so relax.” Billy presses his kiss-swollen lips to yours and forces his tongue into your mouth. You took your hands and pressed against his pecks to push him off.

“I don’t want to do this right now, Hargrove. Seriously.” You turned your whole body against the door, away from him. He scoffed at you and you could feel the heat rising to your cheeks.

“So you wear a skimpy little dress like that and you agree to come to the drive in with me just to actually sit and fucking watch a movie? Or are you dressing up for someone else? Andy works here right? Is that who it’s for?” His voice raised with every word he spat at you. You could feel the tears starting to prick at your eyes. But you wouldn’t cry for him - you didn’t want to give him what he wants. You’re pulled out of your thoughts as a death grip engulfs your bicep. Billy pulls you to him, so close that you can feel his breath fanning on your face. Your breath gets caught in your throat.

“Don’t joke like that, Billy. I would never.”

“Prove it to me then.”

“Wh-what” you whimpered.

“Prove to me how much you love me.”

“Billy… please”

“Prove. It.” he seethed. He let your arm go and pushed you towards the passenger door. He leaned back and undid his jeans.

He raised his arms behind his head in satisfaction as you held back tears. You opened the truck door and slammed it, trudging towards the small concession to ask Robin for a ride home.

You and Eddie wrangle your clothes, sharing small laughs and pleasant conversation. You both share another joint as you both stall ending the night. Finally, the conversation lulls and you’re afraid the time has come for you to go home. Eddie lets out a lazy yawn and you can’t help but admire his treasure trail that peeks out over his jeans as he stretches his arms above his head.

“You getting tired?” he inquires, fidgeting with his rings.

“Yeah, I could sleep,” you admit. It was close to three in the morning and not only had you been up for almost 24 hours, you were so emotionally exhausted, feeling whiplash from your eventful evening. “I can let you go home,” you get up to open the van door, but Eddie grabs you by the waist and pulls you back into him. You giggle giddily. It’s been a long time since you have enjoyed being manhandled, but all of Eddie’s intentions seem so sickly sweet you couldn’t help but blush.

“Woah woah woah. You think I am going to let you walk home looking like that” He snorts.

“Looking like what?”

“Fucking gorgeous, and fucked out’. Eddie’s eyes rake over your figure again, sending heat back straight to your core. “Plus, I still have your underwear and there’s no way in hell you’re gonna walk home without those.”

“Well, you could give them back then,” you retort

“Not a chance in hell, sweetheart” He lands a chaste peck on your cheek before unwrapping his arms from you. He swings open the sliding door and hops out. Galivantly, he spins on his heel and offers his hand out to you. You take it and hop down onto the sidewalk. He opens the passenger door for you and helps you in. Once you are settled, he entraps you between his arms and leans his face close to yours. His eyes flicker between your mouth and eyes and he licks his lips. Suddenly, both of your movements feel more intimate. You meet him in the middle and lift your hand up to his cheek, he flinches at your touch, but quickly melts into you. Your mouths meld together perfectly and you would be content with staying like this forever. Eddie pulls away and rests his forehead against yours and offers you a sweet smile. He closes the door, leaving you for moments of silence. You can’t help but smile into your lap and touch your lips, still burning with the metalhead’s kiss.

He turns the ignition and turns the radio up, Black Sabbath ringing through the van. You tell Eddie your address and he turns off of the low lit neighborhood road. There was a comfortable silence between the two of you but you saw Eddie’s hand twitch a few times. He wanted to reach out and touch you so bad, already feeling so starved of your energy. His Adam's apple bobs and he slowly reaches out to touch your knee. Eddie’s warmth sends butterflies to your stomach. Never have you felt so cared for by someone, let alone a random revenge hook up. You feel conflicted. As you stare out the window you couldn’t help but feel like a bad person - not for sleeping with Eddie, but for sleeping with someone with the intent to hurt your boyfriend. At least when Billy did it, you thought, it might have just been a mistake or getting caught up in the moment. You went out and sought out an action to hurt him on purpose. But fucking Eddie felt too good, and from the conversation you had after spin the bottle, it was clear to you that you were just an object for Billy’s interest. When he was done with you he would move on and get what he wanted from someone else. So, should you feel bad about finding something - someone you like being with? You couldn’t break up with Billy, you wanted to forget about this whole night but his words will ring out in your brain and heart forever. You let out a deep sigh and relax into Eddie’s seat.

“What’s eating you, sweet thing?” Eddie squeezes your thigh and you flash him a tight, but kind smile.

“It’s just been an… interesting night.”

“Listen-” Eddie turns down the radio so Ozzy Osbourne is a mere whisper. “I don’t want you to feel bad about what we did. I don’t want you to be upset at yourself for that. So, if you want to forget this thing happened, I do understand. Really” His puppy dog eyes flickered between the road and your face, looking for any clues to what was going on in your head. You are such a mystery and he so desperately wanted to continue figuring you out, but, like you, your boyfriend seemed to be the only thing on his mind. You rub your lips together, deep in thought.

“Eddie, I don’t regret what we did at all. But, I mean I do feel bad. I cheated on my boyfriend… but he’s a piece of shit” you mumble. “I don’t want you to feel bad either. I had a lot of fun tonight. I was being honest when I said this was the most fun I’ve had in a long time, I promise.” You grab the hand resting on your thigh and give it a squeeze.

Eddie’s heart could beat right out of his chest. There was a twist of guilt in your voice but you seemed… different. You aren’t sad. You don’t seem angry. You seem similar to Eddie: enamored with the person you are looking at. It gives him hope that he could selfishly go home and think there is a chance that he might see you again. A comfortable silence falls upon the two of you, both giddy at the contact and reassurance you have both received, but your eyes stay cloudy. Even though Eddie doesn’t know you well, he can tell you are still deep in thought about something. It makes him nervous not knowing what about. Did he do something wrong? Are you going to tell him that this was all a joke and you never want to see him again? Eddie dreads turning onto your street, he’s not ready to say goodnight and potentially goodbye. He begrudgingly pulls into your small driveway and turns the key in the ignition. The console light illuminates your faces and Eddie is sure he is looking at an angel. Your soft eyes peer at him through thick lashes and you bite your swollen lips.

“I, umm, I had a thought” you peep. Eddie nods at you in encouragement to keep going.

“I mean… If my boyfriend is going to fuck around behind my back, why can’t I do the same, you know?” You fiddle with the rings on Eddie’s fingers that are still in your lap. “I mean, he’s practically holding the relationship hostage so why can’t I have fun behind his back too?” You peer up at the boy whose eyes soften when you do. He could tell you were nervous to say this to him, scared of being judged. Little did he know, you were also worried that this was just some random fuck for him too.

“Eddie, I was wondering if you wanted to make an… arrangement” you stop fiddling with his rings and your eyes bore into him; full of hope and desire. A smile quickly spread across Eddie’s face.

“Hmmm, yeah, sweetheart. I think we could make that work.” You smile down at your hands, worried that if you look too hard into Eddie’s eyes, there would be no way you would ever make it out of them. Your eyes spot a sharpie laying on the floor of your seat. You reach down and pick it up. Eddie shoots you a questioning look but lets you grab his hand anyway. Trying not to shake too badly, you neatly scribble your phone number on his hand. When you let go of him, Eddie looks at his hand in awe, like he has just won a million dollars. The truth is he felt like he had. He would tattoo your number on his skin if it meant that he would be able to see you again. You bombard his internal celebration with a peck on his cheek.

“Thank you for the ride, Eddie.”

“Which one?” He quips. You smile but roll your eyes as you regretfully pull away from him and hop out of the van.

“You better call me tomorrow.” you warn

“Sweetheart, it's gonna take everything in me not to call you as soon as I get home.” Eddie’s smile was from ear to ear. Heat rises to your cheeks and your heart feels like it’s going to beat out of your chest. You turn and walk up the driveway with a matching grin. This night went from bad to worse to the best night you think you’ve ever had.

Like the perfect gentleman, Eddie waits until he sees your door close before he pulls out of your driveway. When you close and lock your door you are met with silence and darkness, but you felt as though your joy could light the whole neighborhood. You slide down your front door and pull your knees to your chest. You let out a content sigh, followed by a giggle. If Billy wants to fuck around. He’s gonna find out. He thought that you would sit around and be walked all over? Absolutely not. He might think that he’ll win the heartbreak, but with your new arrangement with a beautiful brunette? Checkmate.

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jamdoughnutmagician · 5 months ago

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Summer Lovin'

Steve Harrington x Reader (smut)

Word Count: 2,429

The blazing heat of the Hawkins' summer sun becomes too much for Steve to bear, especially when he's got you in his pool looking like every inch of his filthiest fantasies come to life.

Warnings:Smut, Steve fantasising about the reader, masturbation, hand-jobs, confessions of love, little bit of cutesy romantic fluff (I couldn't help it sorry!!) Don't hesitate to let me know if I've missed something that you want tagged!

Steve Harrington Masterlist // Masterlist

It wasn’t unusual for everyone to be gathered at the Harrington’s sprawling house, to take advantage of the sizable pool in their back garden when the midday sun of an Indiana summer became too much to bear. You and Robin wasted no time in jumping straight in, whilst Eddie laid back with his dark shades covering his eyes as he lazily floated on inflatable sun-lounger, completely unbothered by yours and Robin’s antics. The younger kids all took it in turns to dive into the pool to see who could make the biggest splash. Yes, with George and Bridget Harrington away, no-one was here to stop their only son inviting whoever he wanted to his house. Without the disapproving glare and sneer of his judgy parents, looking down at him for the company he chose to keep, Steve was free.

But what he forgot to factor in was that in inviting you over for a pool party, he would be forced to look at you in your swim-suit, and suddenly the little crush on his childhood best friend that he had been nursing for the better part of his pre-teen years and beyond, was a lot harder to ignore than it ever had been before.

It was wrong of him to want you as badly as he did. Wrong of him to think of you in his most solitary moments of pleasure, you were his best friend for crying out loud! The person who had been there for him through everything, thick and thin. And yet he couldn’t help himself as he secretly watched you from behind his dark sunglasses from the comfort of his stretched out sun-lounger. Watching as you innocently splashed around in his pool with Robin. From the way the water droplets rolled over your sun-warmed skin, to how your matching floral two-piece bikini hugged your curves so perfectly, even down to the ever so enticing way that ties of your bikini’s strings were practically calling out to him, daring him to be the one to untangle the knot, to reveal every inch of soft skin.

His ears are treated to the high-pitched squeals of laughter that if he thought about it enough could almost imagine that they were squeals of pleasure, keening whines that would tumble from your kiss-bitten lips, and there isn’t one part of him that doesn’t wish that it was him that could be the one to pull those sounds from you.

He prayed to whatever gods that were listening that the bulge of the semi he was beginning to sport was not as painfully obvious as what he felt it was. Strategically placing the long-ignored book he had been reading over the crotch of his swimming trunks, better to be safe than sorry right?

For lack of a better word Steve Harrington was well and truly fucked.

“Hey Dingus! What are you doing all the way over there? It’s your pool, why don’t you get in?” Robin shouts.

“I'm alright Rob,” he shouts back before speaking up once more. “Actually I'm going to head in, I think we're running low on drinks, don’t wait up for me okay?” He says, nodding his head towards the cooler box of beers sitting on the garden table.

They weren't running low on drinks, far from it actually, if the fully stacked cooler was anything to judge by, but Steve had to get away. Perhaps he could slip inside, race to his bedroom, get himself off quickly and be back before anyone would be any the wiser.

All he knew was that his growing erection was about to be a much larger problem if he didn't act soon.

“Did Steve seem off to you, or is it just me?” you ask, turning to Robin.

“No, he was definitely acting weird. Who knows what goes on in that boy’s mind.” She chuckles with a dismissive shake of her head.

“I think I’m just going to go check up on him, see if he’s okay.” you say to Robin, pushing up on the pool’s edge before grabbing your towel and wrapping it around yourself off and heading inside in search of your best friend.

Steve hot-foots it up to his room where he slams the door behind himself with a hurried huff of breath.

Reaching down, Steve pulls the waistband of his swim trunks down just enough to free his straining erection from its confines. He brings his open palm up to his lips before spitting crudely in his hand, and reaching down to glide his spit-slick fist over himself in a costing stroke over the length of him. A shuddering moan falls from his lips as his hair falls down over his eyes, squeezing himself with a light pressure when he reaches the sensitive head of his cock.

With his cock in his hand, Steve’s thoughts, as they often did in these moments, turned to you. He thought about you and how pretty you looked in your bikini, the way the wet fabric clung to every soft curve, the way your tits were pushed together so enticingly, and how the golden glow of the hot august sun shone down on your skin. He couldn’t help but think about how you and how perfect you would look on your knees for him, eagerly awaiting the feel of his pre-cum glazed tip tracing your lips.

You wander around the Harrington’s spacious kitchen, only to find it empty. Weird Steve said he was getting drinks, he should be here. Your feet carry you further into the house, quickly poking your head into the living room door, only to find it empty.

Steve must have gone upstairs, so you follow suit, but as you reach the last few steps you can’t help but hear a strange noise coming from Steve’s room. You make it outside his room, knuckles poised over the door ready to knock when you realise all too quickly that’s the deep groaning noises of pleasure coming from the other side of the door. You weren’t stupid, you knew what went on in the privacy of a boy’s bedroom, and you were about to pull away, to allow Steve the privacy he so clearly needed, but that’s when you heard it. A growled moan of your name.

Maybe you were hearing things, maybe it was a figment of your imagination, maybe some hopelessly horny part of you was hoping to hear your name falling from Steve’s lips, but then you hear it again.

“Yeah, you'd take me so good wouldn't you, Honey. Always teasing me, you'd be so good for me, just wish you were my girl” his voice stutters out with another moan of your name.

You push on the door, finding it unlocked as it slowly swings open and your eyes are treated to the most spectacular view of Steve sitting on the edge of his bed, his thighs spread wide and tensing whilst his fist strokes over his thick cock.

The creaking squeak of the door gives you away, causing Steve’s head to whip up and he hastily tries to pull his shorts back up, hoping to god that if he closed his eyes that this would all just be a surreal dream.

And yet when he peeks his eyes open from underneath the shaggy mess of his hair, there you are, a towel wrapped around your body, your boobs pushed up by the tightly pulled starchy fabric.

“I-uh…fuck…I can explain..I think?” Steve stumbled, as flustered words fell from his lips in an attempt to save face.

And with an equally embarrassed expression on your face, your words bubble from you as you try to explain yourself.

“You ran off and I wanted to make sure you were okay and I couldn’t find you, but then I heard you calling my name and I’m sorry I barged in on you, I really shouldn’t have invaded your privacy like this” you nervously babble.

“I just needed to clear my head…amongst other things, obviously. You just looked so pretty and I couldn’t help it.” Steve begins “I tried to think of other things, I swear, but you were all I could think about, you’re what I always think about.” and before he even realises it, Steve feels his closest guarded secret unburden from his heart.

“Y-you…you think about me?” you stutter.

Well, if secrets are being spilled, it’s better to come out with the full truth, no holes barred.

Bridging the space between you and Steve, you sit down next to him on the edge of the bed.

“I mean I guess there’s no use in hiding it anymore, but yeah, I’ve had a crush on you for the longest time. I’m sorry if that makes things weird between us.” His voice is suddenly small and dejected, as if he’d already shook hands and made peace with the imminent rejection he was sure to come his way.

“Well I guess I feel a little less guilty about my secret now.” you utter, leaning your head on his shoulder. “Because I feel the same way about you. Have done for a while, considering we're being honest.”

and oh suddenly like a switch has flipped in his mind Steve looks at you, really looks at you in all your easy and effortless beauty and he can't help the smile the spreads across his rosy cheeks.

“Would I be a total dork if I asked you to kiss you right now?” He flushes.

“Lucky for you, I happen to like dorks.” You smile inching your way closer to him, closing the gap between your bodies, pressing your lips against his.

This kiss starts out innocent enough, with gentle explorative pecks, but it soon becomes apparent that it's not enough for either of you, as his tongue slips between your lips and you're moaning into his mouth. The towel wrapped around your body slipping to reveal yourself to him as his hands roam every soft curve available to him. The lingering sweet scent of your coconut sun lotion filling his senses.

It's only when you're pressed up against him so closely that you're reminded of how you came to be in your current situation. His still half-hard cock pokes into your thigh as you're making out with him. An instant press of his arousal.

You reluctantly pull away from his lips, smiling to yourself when Steve chases your lips for one final taste, before his lust-hazed eyes peek open.

“You want me to help you out with that, Stevie?” You offer seductively.

Steve feels his stomach flutter with butterflies. Stevie. It was a nickname you had called him for many years, but suddenly now it all felt different. It carried a different weight now. It was suddenly much more affectionate than it had ever been before.

“Help me out with…oh…oh..” Steve flushes even more when catches on to what you were saying. “You don't have to, I don't want to make you uncomfortable.”

“I wouldn’t have offered if I didn't want to.” you say with a cheeky smile playing at your lips.

Steve shyly nods his head and mutters a soft ‘please’ and that is all the confirmation you need before you’re hooking your fingers into the waistband of his shorts and dragging them down his sturdy thighs.

With his cock free from his confines, you crudely let a string of saliva drool from your lips into your palm to slick your hand up before you reach down to tug your fist over his length.

“Is this okay?” you ask him, continuing to softly stroke up and down.

Steve is a picture of debauched pleasure, with his flushed face, and chest rising and falling with shuddering breaths. His hair sticks to his sweat-beaded forehead as you continue to work him over.

“Y-yeah..this is good..m-more than good” he stumbles over his words. “Feels fucking amazing.”

“Good…” you coo “I want you to feel good, Stevie.” you smile sweetly, the crude, wet sound of your slick fist gliding up his cock, and his whimpering moans echo out in the otherwise quiet bedroom.

“I’m not gonna…fuck...not gonna last long…” Steve groans, the sound nothing more than a low rumble. His breaths are quicker, as he fights against wanting to buck his hips to meet your touch.

You smile deviously as twist your fist on the upstroke, lightly squeezing his glistening pink head before coasting back down his cock, grazing your thumb along the pulsing vein that runs the length of him.

“Honey, Please…” Steve wasn’t even sure what he was pleading for at this point, all he knew was that the way that you were teasing him had him just about to explode, teetering on the edge of pleasure, ready to fall over and give in to you.

“It’s okay Stevie…” you whisper, as you press your body close to his, leaving a soft kiss on his lips. “..Want you to come for me.”

And that is Steve’s undoing, your sweet whispered words of encouragement are enough to have him spilling rope after rope of cum over your knuckles.

As he comes back down from his high, Steve fusses over the mess he’d made. Suddenly embarrassed about how badly he needed this.

But you kiss away his worries with a smile, before looking into his eyes and licking up the pearlescent drops glazing your skin.

“Fuck..you can’t just do that..” he huffs with a tired smile. “You’re going to get me going again.”

You shake your head at him with a soft laugh.

“Come on, let’s head back down before things start to look suspicious.” you say standing up and making your way towards his door.

“Wait, what about you?” his honeyed hazel eyes sparkle with desire as he looks at you. “Let me make you feel good.”

You make your way back across the room where Steve is still sitting on the edge of the bed, leaning down to him to place a sweet kiss on the tip of his nose.

“I’ll let you make it up to me and then some later, I promise, right now I just wanna go enjoy the rest of my summer.” you tug him by the hand with a giggle.

Whatever had just happened between you and Steve was a new and exciting development in your relationship, and although neither of you quite knew what you were to each other yet, it didn’t matter. You had all summer to figure it out, and for now you were quite content to just have fun.

@paybacksawitch @penguinsandpotterheads @mrsjellymunson @aphrogeneias @onegirlmanytales @wroteclassicaly @rebelfell

#Steve Harrington x reader #Steve Harrington x reader smut #Steve Harrington x female reader #Steve Harrington x female reader smut #stranger things fanfiction

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buddierecs · 2 months ago

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post season 7 buddie fics

in honour of season 8 coming out in a few days, here is a list of fics that have been released over the hiatus set post season 7. all of these are general audience, teen and up or not rated (no smut) make sure to kudos/comment on these amazing works :)

ice cream before dinner (my beloved) by: cloudydaisies "gerrard messes with the team's schedules and eddie 'i just drove my son to flee the state' diaz is the only option to watch mara and jee-yun after school on tuesdays, which, shouldn't be a problem at all, right?" word count: 58k important tags: girl!uncle eddie, fluff, friends to lovers, love confessions, feelings realisation, minor buck/tommy, family feels take me home (to my heart) by: literalmetaphor "eddie and maddie end up in an impossible situation." word count: 20k important tags: car accidents, injury, hurt!eddie diaz, hurt!maddie han, maddie & eddie friendship, worried!evan buckley, getting together it's always on the tip of my tongue by: allyasavedtheday "eddie diaz vs the great romance paradigm." word count: 17k important tags: character study, therapy, emotional hurt/comfort, falling in love, demisexual!eddie diaz all my little words by: youbetsya "eddie: did you just send me an email?? buck: yeah lol eddie: why… i dont think you’ve ever emailed me actual words before. just stuff to print when your printer is broken buck: did you read it? eddie: Not yet. too busy trying to figure out why the fuck you’re emailing me buck: just read it dude 🙄" word count: 11k important tags: texting, idiots in love, getting together, eddie diaz mustache three strikes and you're out by: eightpackdiaz "buck's soon-to-be-ex-boyfriend chooses to ignore him every time the kiss cam points in their direction. eddie does the opposite" word count: 3.1k important tags: minor buck/tommy, cheating, kiss him, jealous!eddie diaz, tommy kinard bashing, first kiss a honey shade of blue by: hattalove "one toddler, two conversations, and so many missed opportunities for buck to act like a guy not in love with his best friend." word count: 8k important tags: getting together, pining!evan buckley, first kiss catatonia by: dqstcrdly "buck and eddie get into a car accident, buck thinks eddie is dead, and goes catatonic about it." word count: 13k important tags: car accidents, near death experiences, love confessions, angst, hurt/comfort, getting together, tommy kinard bashing knowing me, knowing you by: kiwibuckley "five times eddie was the better (boy)friend, and the one time he was the boyfriend" word count: 10k important tags: 5+1 things, friends to lovers, getting together, minor buck/tommy, tommy kinard bashing, eddie diaz loves evan buckley, petty!eddie diaz, pining sweet talk by: daisies_and_briars "eddie asks to crash at the loft while christopher is gone, struggling to be on his own. only problem? there's only one bed, and no couch." word count: 6.5k important tags: there was only one bed, minor buck/tommy, healing, couch theory this postcard tells you where we've been by: daisies_and_briars "eddie finds a collection of postcards buck sent to chris over his summer in el paso." word count: 3.5k important tags: getting together, first kiss, fluff, christopher diaz has two dads glass on the pavement under my shoe by: doitgently "buck takes a great big tumble. like always, eddie is right behind him." word count: 9.4k important tags: near death experience, major character injury, love confessions, angst with happy ending you'd have to stop the world (just to stop the feeling) by: wenttoafortuneteller "the eddie diaz gay realization arc we all deserve. in which bobby puts some pieces together, chimney sees something he shouldn’t, hen gets to have a conversation she’s been waiting to have for years, and buck can’t understand why his best friend is avoiding him." word count: 23k important tags: character study, catholic guilt, pre-relationship, self-discovery, self-acceptance, feelings realisation hope it hurts, burns & you finally grieve me by: dylaesthetics "eddie spontaneously visits a church and things fall into place." word count: 4.8k important tags: character study, religious guilt, angst, friends to lovers, getting together

#buck x eddie fic #buddie fic #buck x eddie #buddie fics #buddie fic rec #eddie diaz #evan buckley #911 abc #911 show #911 fandom #buddie 911 #evan buck buckley #buck x eddie fanfics #buddie fanfic #buddie recs #buddie recommendations

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jo-harrington · 1 year ago

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Interview Prep (Eddie Munson x Store Manager!Reader)

Pairing: Eddie Munson x Fem!Reader

Summary: Reader is worried about making a change to some routines.

Previous Part: Standard Operating Procedures 1.03

Warnings/Themes: AU where the Upside Down doesn't terrorize Hawkins. Reader works at the Claire's at StarCourt. Eddie works at TapeWorld. Mutual Pining and Slow Burn, Meeting the Family, Anxiety, Fluff

Note: Special thanks to @chestylarouxx @fracturedarkness and @courtingchaos for reading my snippets, listening to my rambling, and easing my nerves with this one. It's been in my drafts since February! And it's always kind of eluded me, but it's very special so I appreciate the time you took to help me out. So so much.

You can find my masterlist here for more featuring our resident Store Manager and all of my other writing.

Please do not interact if you are not 18+.

Enjoy!

---

“…and I swear the sound is so much better than my Fender. Like a thousand times better. I’m gonna need a new amp, I think. She is way too good for that hunk of junk that Rick got from his buddy way back when.”

“Uh huh.”

“God, I wish you could come to a show to hear it. Maybe...maybe I can ask Tom at the Hideout if our set could be a little later one night so you could come out after the store closed?"

"Sure."

“And then we could get pickle and bologna milkshakes at Benny's afterwards."

"Sounds great."

"Am I boring you?” Eddie finally stopped as he hit the button on the bailer and put his hands on his hips. "You're not even listening."

“What?” You freed yourself from your thoughts and got a good look at him. "I...what? No."

It was break time, which meant cardboard got crushed and garbage tossed before you ventured into the food court for something to eat. And on a day like today when your schedules aligned, that also meant your break was spent with your closest friend--only friend--in Hawkins.

And on any other day, you would have happily listened to his story.

Hell, you actually had listened to him...for most of it at least--he boasted about his new guitar, how he named her Sweetheart, and her first actual performance outside of Gareth's garage that had occurred the night prior--before you got too caught up in your own head.

It had been a normal Wednesday when you got to the store for your opening shift. The registers were counted, gate pushed up, and you were about to confidently post the new schedule.

Then the mail was delivered.

And with it, a larger envelope from home office that contained a very hefty packet inside.

Normally a package like that would make you happy; it was a sign that one of your favorite weeks of the year was approaching: planogram week. It was, quite honestly, not only your favorite week but your favorite part of the job altogether. More than your team, more than your discount...certainly more than helping customers.

Summer was coming to an end, which meant all of the trendy accessories would make way for backpacks, water bottles, notebooks, and lunch boxes. Things that stayed hidden away for 75% of the year, but were suddenly at the forefront of every parent and pre-teen's mind as they got ready to look their best on the first day of school.

Today, however, you suddenly felt a sense of dread as you opened the package because a planogram meant that you would have to schedule an overnight shift on the one night of the week that the mall closed early.

Sunday Night.

Date Night with Eddie.

Eddie's favorite night. And yours.

Your favorite part of your job encroached on what was becoming an essential part of your life.

So you spiraled until your break because it was easier to worry and overthink than it was to just...communicate the fact that you might have to miss a Sunday and face the possibility that Eddie could be mad at you.

Unfortunately he seemed a little steamed right now because he thought you hadn't been listening to him.

His little grumpy face was cute though.

Why was this harder than having to call your team to ask if they were ok with an unexpected overnight shift? God damn it, you needed to get a grip.

“You weren’t listening to anything I said,” he repeated.

“Yes I was,” you insisted.

“What did I say then?”

“You nailed the solo.”

“And…”

“And you actually got a round of applause.”

“And?”

“And you need a new amp.”

“And?”

“Uhm… a-and…”

Shit…maybe you had delved a little bit too far.

Growing up with a big, loud family--including an overbearing mother and two annoying brothers--meant you had the innate ability to split your brain in half and listen to them while also worrying about your own shit.

However, thanks to the intensity of your worrying, that ability failed you.

You wracked your brain for a good 30 seconds until Eddie’s scowl turned into a wicked smile, and then you knew he was just being a jerk.

“You’re the worst,” you grumbled at him.

“Excuse me,” he placed a hand on his chest in fake affront and stumbled back a few steps to collapse against the side of the trash compactor. “I'm the worst? You agreed to Pickle and Bologna milkshakes and ignored your best friend. Not very metal, sweetheart."

"I just have a lot on my mind." You shook your head and sighed. "Sorry."

"Well it's a good thing that I am a great listener. Unlike someone."

Eddie pushed himself off the compactor, put his hand on your shoulder, and guided you back inside to the food court. You got your meals of choice and tucked yourselves into a table in the corner by the JCPenney entrance.

"Alright," he started with his mouth full of fries. "Tell dear old Eddie what's bothering you."

You swallowed a mouthful of food and took a deep breath.

It was now or never.

"Well...there's this big thing coming up at work...planogram...uh...floor set," you began. "And it's really important and after it's done...we'll get visitors from corporate and my boss will probably make a few visits to see how it's going. I just want to do really well."

"Well, you've been doing a good job so far right?" Eddie shrugged. "Why wouldn't they think so now?"

"I don't know, I don't wanna mess it up," you admitted. "I'm a new store manager. And a lot of the team never worked retail before. I literally cried my first floor set as a sales associate. It's tough."

"You're just giving yourself the yips. I do it all the time when we add a new song to the set list."

"Don't just say that to make me feel better."

"Last week I forgot how to do a G-chord," he crossed his heart. "Scouts honor."

"You were a Boy Scout?" you asked skeptically.

"Stop distracting me." He popped another French fry in his mouth in an exaggerated fashion. "What else?"

"Well...we have to schedule floor sets on a Sunday."

"Ok."

"After the store closes."

"...Oh."

"Yeah."

Eddie sipped his drink thoughtfully and stared at you with his abyss-like eyes; they didn't betray a single thought going through his head and it made you nervous.

And nervous meant that you didn't shut up.

"I mean I don't want to have to cancel our night out," you started with the word vomit. "It's just the way things are always done and you'll see one day if you still work at Tape World for long enough, that's one of those things that...I don't know, if you try to do things differently it always comes back to bite you in the ass.

"And I'm young and whenever we have a conference call to talk about sales...my DM doesn't let me forget that I'm a baby compared to everyone else and it's so frustrating because I feel like I can't even suggest anything new because it immediately is dismissed as naive. It's like they keep waiting for me to fail. So I wish...I wish I could make a change so we could keep our plans. Like if it was anything else I could make it work but I...this thing I just can't, you know?

"But...but...b-because I would have to work on Sunday overnight I would probably be off another day so if you're ok with it we can do something else? Maybe on...I don't think I could get Tuesday off because of everyone's availability...maybe Friday if your friends are cool with me crashing your club night. Or...you open on Saturdays. We could do Saturday night instead?"

The punctuation to the drawn out sentence was your labored breath and Eddie noisily sucking the dregs of his soda through the straw. Shithead that he was didn't even have the decency to do anything but continue watching you with his big dumb cute eyes.

"Weeellllll..." he started in a sing-song tone and then paused and sucked at the straw some more.

Could he just tell you to fuck off already so this wouldn't be as painful as it was?

"That really sucks you need to work overnight," he finished his thought with a grin and shoved his cup to the side. "Being in the mall after hours...sounds kinda creepy. Do you think there are ghosts?"

"Are you kidding me right now?" you deadpanned. "You let me go on and on like that for nothing?"

"It was funny."

"I hate you."

"You cherish me."

"It was painful." You groaned. "Like I think I'm sweating. My heart hurts Edward."

"Don't act like you've never let me do that before," he scoffed and rolled his eyes in an exaggerated fashion. You threw a fry at him. "Don't start what you can't finish sweetheart. One fry can turn into a food fight and I would hate to find out the hard way why I'm Hawkins High's food fighting champion."

"Ok so...Saturday night?" you asked. "This Saturday...are you doing anything?"

"Uh..." Eddie hesitated and sat up a little straighter. "I mean...no hot dates or anything. What did you have in mind?"

"Maybe just what we normally do?" you suggested. "Drive around, eat a bunch of junk food. Or if you want to come over to my place and I--"

"So, I have a confession to make," he interrupted you. "I actually do have plans on Saturday. More like...standing plans than anything. My uncle Wayne is off on Saturdays and we've always watched reruns on TV and ordered pizza. Family night or whatever. My mom used to do the same thing so...Wayne thought it would be...I dunno, good for stability or something.

"It's silly but I don't want to just ditch him without asking," Eddie explained and your heart melted.

Of course you didn't want to take time away from his family; you knew how important his uncle was to him.

"Oh...well that's ok...we can rain check for another day then or--"

"Why don't you just come over?" Eddie asked. "He won't mind. I am opening this Saturday so I'll be done by 5; you can get there in time for Wheel of Fortune. That way he can't yell at me when I try to solve the puzzles with lewd words." He mimics, what you assume is, Wayne's voice.

Eddie looked so eager that you immediately agreed.

Your heart stopped in your chest though.

Come over? And meet his uncle?

Sure...you'd already met Benny a few weeks ago...and yeah you'd thought of it like meeting someone from Eddie's family but...this was his actual family. What if you insulted his uncle or...or made yourself look stupid.

You needed to put your best foot forward. Make a good impression.

"How about..." your mouth started moving before your brain could catch up. "...instead of ordering pizza, I cook for you guys instead? I'll be off Saturday since I'm doing the overnight on Sunday. I can just bring everything over."

Eddie's eyes lit up and as he teased you about the impressive cooking skills that you had supposedly boasted about previously, all you could think was...

How did this situation get even more stressful?

---

The rest of the week leading up to Saturday had been overwhelming to say the least.

To you, food was life. Cooking for someone was everything that you could do to show them that you cared. How many hours had you spent with your grandma making cookies for neighbors at Christmas, or freezer meals when a distant relative had a baby, or a tray of something after a friend of the family had passed.

Food was love and friendship, and as much as what you had done for Eddie with the guitar had been a show of friendship...this meant so much more.

So you needed to hit a home run...or a bullseye...or whatever sports terminology signified that you won.

Which meant you'd spent some down time flipping through your grandma's old recipes that she had gifted you once upon a time--a thin, pocket-sized spiral notebook with a purple cover that was filled with her illegible handwriting and personal shorthand--and thinking of ideas that would be both impressive and hearty. You'd already changed your mind twice, and had made just as many trips to Bradleys for extra ingredients.

You'd also pestered Eddie several times through the course of the week to get his input without giving anything away.

"Does your uncle like cheese?"

"Of course he does."

"Some people don't."

"Would we get pizza every Saturday if we didn't like cheese?"

"There's some pizza that doesn't have cheese."

"Why the questions? Are you nervous sweetheart?"

And that was when he started to tease you. Every chance he got. Lunches, breaks, passing you on the way to the employee lot as you started a shift and he ended one.

He asked if you wanted their phone number so you could call Wayne and make kissy noises at each other for hours, if you wanted him to bring love letters home to save on stamps, and if you were planning to dress really nice for your date with his uncle.

"I'll be sure to grab extra chapstick for him so his lips are ready for you tomorrow," he laughed and leaned closer to make the biggest, noisiest smacking kiss noise in your ear as you waited for your break time cookies.

"You're an idiot," you rolled your eyes after he uttered the last one. "I don't want him to hate me because...what if he doesn't want me to hang around you anymore. I'd kind of lose my mind."

"Oh, uh," Eddie backed away a little bit and rubbed the back of his neck, then shoved his hands in his back pockets. "Wayne wouldn't do that. He's...a little bit of a grump, but he's harmless."

"Guess we know where you got it from," you muttered.

"I didn't know you were...actually worried," Eddie continued. "I'm sorry. But it'll be ok. Even if you...wore a potato sack and brought canned beans that we had to heat on the stove for dinner. He'll think you're great. Because you are."

You were both a little silent after that, Eddie staring at his feet bashfully as you felt your heart race and your head spin.

You finalized your plans that night when you got home and immediately started on your dessert, sure that it was all gonna be a hit with both Munsons.

It was gonna be great. Because Eddie thought you were great.

And Saturday, the doubt didn't creep on you at all. Not while you cooked, not as you packed your casserole dish and Tupperware into a large cooler bag, and not even as you drove across town, following Eddie's directions to Forest Hills without getting lost once.

It wasn't until you stepped out of your car and stared at the front door that you felt your stomach drop a little.

Those four cement steps might as well have been a thousand.

But...your sneakers only needed to crunch on the gravel before the door was thrown open and a slightly-breathless Eddie smiled at you...and then all the worry disappeared.

"Hey," he greeted. "D-did you need any help?"

"Yeah, if you don't mind," you shrugged.

He jogged down the steps in socked-feet and crossed to the passenger's side door of your car, talking a mile a minute as he reached in to grab your things.

"I, uh, got home an hour ago," he rambled. "The A/C at the store conked out...and then Paulie had me make a trash run before I left. Had a big shipment today. So if I'm still a little sweaty...that's why."

"You're fine," you laughed.

"Sorry."

"Don't worry. I've been cooking so I'm probably a little sweaty too. Lasagna and July...sort of don't go together that well."

He raced up the steps and held the door open for you.

"Lasagna? Oh the old man is gonna love you," Eddie chuckled.

You entered the Munson abode and were immediately hit by the strongest sense of home that you'd felt since...well, since you'd still been at home. Not necessarily that it was a place where you belonged, but...it was a place of belonging.

Mugs and hats and other memorabilia lined the walls, reminiscent of the tchotchkes that your mother stacked to high heaven on every available surface. The couch was a little faded but looked comfortable and soft as though you could sink into the cushions and disappear into a soft nether-realm.

Your grandpa had a couch like that. His spot sunk to the shape of his body. It was still your favorite place to sit when he wasn't already there. It was like a hug.

That was when your eyes found the armchair, molded around the shape of the man seated in it. He was older, a little weathered and greying, hairline receding, and even though he isn't smiling right now, the lines around his mouth were indication enough that he smiled quite a bit.

Just like his nephew.

"Uh, Wayne this is my friend from the mall," Eddie introduced you as he juggled your cooler bag and your large Tupperware to the kitchen counter. "The one I told you about. Works at the jewelry store."

"Nice to meet you," you smiled and held a hand out to him to shake. He took your hand in a firm grasp and as you shook his the way your grandfather taught you--to command respect and trust--his eyes narrowed.

"I had to hear about you through Rick, who heard about you through Benny," Wayne started. "And I haven't the slightest idea why my nephew thought he needed to keep you a secret; not the first girlfriend he's brought around--"

Eddie groaned something unintelligible from the kitchen and you fought the urge to break eye contact with Wayne so you could look at him.

"--but I just watched him run around for the past hour tidying up. And he's never done that before. So if you can help him keep the habit, you're alright in my book." Wayne smiled widely and let your hand go.

"Thank you," you chuckled nervously, suddenly realizing how silly it had been that you were even worried in the first place.

Eddie had been right.

You could never admit that to him.

"Even did the dishes," Wayne looked past you at Eddie. "He never does the dishes."

"W-we're having dinner," Eddie whined. "Gotta have clean plates."

The two of them bantered back and forth comfortably and you joined Eddie in the kitchen to get everything plated. There was a salad, buttery mashed potatoes, and of course your still-warm and gooey lasagna.

Eddie explained that it was Wayne's favorite that he rarely got to have homemade--

"Stoffers will do in a pinch," Wayne explained.

--and that you were already more loved than he was simply for making it, to which Wayne agreed. And he even pointed out the well-loved Garfield mug that he had gotten Wayne for Father's Day one year for that fact alone.

Eddie tried to protest when you took the dessert bowl from him to stow it away in the fridge until it was the appropriate time.

"I didn't even get to have cookies with you today," he reasoned. "Or a soda. See? I suffer when you're not working. How am I--a growing boy--supposed to reach my fullest potential without proper sustenance?"

You snorted and brought the plates out to the living area while Eddie trailed behind you.

"He's just grumpy because you're making him eat vegetables," Wayne chuckled as he took his plate. "A feat I have yet to achieve in 8 years. So if you weren't already in my good books, you are now."

Dinner passed relatively uneventfully at first. You and Eddie sat on the couch--which was just as comfy as you thought it would be--as Wayne occupied the armchair. They inhaled their first helping and showered you with compliments. Eddie begrudgingly admitted that your cooking was as good as you had bragged, and even said the dressing on your salad "wasn't Ranch but was still pretty tasty."

As Eddie had told you days ago, Wheel of Fortune started promptly at 7:30 and he and Wayne tried to solve as many puzzles as possible around mouthfuls of food. They teased each other when their guesses were particularly ridiculous, and celebrated when they got one right.

You solved a long puzzle correctly--your only contribution to their little competition--before there were very many tiles revealed on the board and Eddie patted your thigh in praise when you got it right with a soft "that's my girl" that nearly had you drop your plate.

When Wheel ended, Wayne stood up to grab seconds for himself and Eddie and a couple of beers for you all. Before he sat back down he grabbed a tape from a basket beside the television and popped it into the VCR.

"I hope you don't mind," he said sheepishly. "I like the background noise and Love Boat doesn't start til 9."

As the static on the screen cleared, you were treated to a good look of a Map to Illustrate the Ponderosa in Nevada.

"Mind? I love Bonanza," you laughed, and Eddie groaned beside you.

"No I already have to endure Wayne and Rick and their western reruns, and now you too?"

Conversation then turned to you. Turned to the usual stuff that you talked about when you met someone new. And you really...didn't like talking about yourself. The middle child and the only girl with two strong-willed brothers and parents that liked to pick and pick and pick at every imperfection; it was ingrained in you.

Thankfully, Eddie seemed to really like to talk to you, at you, about you.

"I work at Claire's. We do like...ear piercing and cute accessories for kids."

"She works there? She's the store manager. And the youngest one in the company. Right? Is that...no...in the district. Anyway..."

And where you faltered, he picked up the reins.

"I mean it's just community college. Everyone graduates. I'm not smart or anything."

"Are you shitting me right now? Sweetheart I can't even graduate high school."

Eagerly.

"And there was this one time, I shit you not Wayne," Eddie's hands mimed as he tried to tell his story. "She literally balanced on one foot on the top rung of a ladder. Had to have been...20 feet high...to get this kitten that was stuck on top of the bailer. How it got there? I couldn't tell you."

"It was not the top rung."

"It was."

"It wasn't 20 feet!"

"Let me tell the story."

"I'm supposed to be telling the story," you laughed at him.

"Ok, you're right, but you weren't telling it good enough," Eddie argued. "You have to emphasize."

"He means fib," Wayne clarified.

"I mean...bend the truth for entertainment purposes only," Eddie explained rapidly.

Eventually dinner was done and it was time for dessert, which Eddie eagerly followed you into the kitchen for.

"How am I doing?" you asked nervously as you rummaged in the fridge.

"You're doing great. How many times do I have to tell you he would like you?" he huffed good-naturedly.

"I don't know, I just needed reassurance."

"Are you kidding me?" he scoffed. "You're doing great. I'm sure he'll be asking me when the next time you'll be over is so he can maybe get some more lasagna. He doesn't just let anyone watch A Rose for Lotta with him. You're special."

"Am I?"

"You're special to me."

You looked up at Eddie a little shocked and he smiled sheepishly and shrugged.

You couldn't get your hopes up. You just...couldn't.

"What's taking so long in there?" Wayne asked as he ejected the tape from the VCR so he could flip to ABC. You both looked over and found him watching you with a smirk and a twinkle in his eye.

"I dunno," Eddie replied petulantly. "Someone's withholding my reward."

You rolled your eyes and grabbed another set of plates from the drying rack by the sink. You opened your container to reveal the fluffy green mounds of pudding and whipped cream and marshmallows studded with bright maraschino cherries.

"Sweetheart, you didn't," Eddie grabbed you by the shoulders and leaned over to look into the Tupperware.

"I did," you beamed.

The perfect end to a great night.

Because you might not have known that lasagna was Wayne's favorite.

But you knew that Watergate salad was Eddie's.

---

It was late by the time Eddie walked you out to your car, way past your usual bedtime, and later than you should have been up especially considering that you would be doing the overnight tomorrow.

The dessert had been consumed in its entirety; once you and Wayne had your fill, Eddie ate the remainder out of the bowl looking, quite literally, like a kid in a candy store. And as Captain Stubing and Doc Bricker bickered aboard the Pacific Princess, you began dozing on Eddie's shoulder.

He shook you awake and you said your goodbyes to Wayne.

"You're welcome anytime," he insisted as you headed to the door. "Lasagna or no. Don't let Ed trick you into spoiling us. He's still young but my waistband can't handle it."

And now you were standing with Eddie, the driver's side door between you as you sort of refused to get in and drive away. It was a real Midwest Goodbye.

"I'll see you at work..." you fumbled over your words as you tried to think of the next time you'd actually get to see him. You had the overnight tomorrow, and you'd be off Monday. Eddie would be off Tuesday which meant... "Oh god, well...Wednesday? That seems so far away."

"It doesn't have to be Wednesday," Eddie shrugged. "What if I brought you breakfast on Monday? After your floor set is over?"

"God that's gonna be so early for you," you dismissed his idea.

"So? You just made us the best dinner and there's leftovers for a few days, which you didn't want. Let me get you breakfast."

"I don't want to put you out."

The two of you bickered back and forth for a minute before you put your foot down and told him to sleep in because he had to close on Monday night.

"Thanks though," you said. "This was nice. Family dinner at home. It was really nice. Makes me a little homesick but...I guess Hawkins is my home for now."

"Hey, of course, any time," Eddie replied. He looked pensive for a second and then turned so he didn't have to look at you. Like he was hesitant about what you would say or think. "We don't...I mean I guess what I mean is...I really enjoy hanging out on Sundays and I know this is sort of a one-off thing. But...you know we don't only have to hang out on Sundays. We can do...I mean...have dinner again sometimes or meet you after work even if I'm off...or see a movie again...get something from Family Video or..."

"You wanna hang out with me more?" you cut into his rambling.

"Yeah, why not?"

"Friends hang out all the time but..." You shrugged. "Don't...skip out on...I mean I guess I don't know what it is you do with the guys outside of band practice and DnD. Don't skip out on them just for me."

"No, hey now, wait," Eddie held his hand out to stop you. "Those turds already see me all the time and are gonna see me more once school's back in session. And...I'll probably work less so...I'll take any time with you now that I can get."

"Alright." You beamed.

"Alright." He mirrored you. "More non-Sunday hangouts."

You agreed and he held out his pinky. You immediately hooked yours into it.

“See you Wednesday sweetheart,” Eddie said his farewell. “Don’t dream of me too much.”

---

"Alright guys, it's almost 7am, time to clean up," you announced to your overnight crew with a clap of your hands.

It had been a fun but trying night, but ultimately successful.

Saturday had been perfect but your whole Sunday routine had already been thrown off and you spent a majority of your day sleeping and cleaning and wondering what Eddie was getting up to at work.

As you predicted, everyone was more than a little confused by the planogram booklet but you were a patient teacher. Everyone thought they had an eye for store layout until they were faced with twenty shipment boxes of pencil cases and locker decor. You had to talk a few of them down from near-panics several times throughout the night.

Over the course of the floorset, side ponytails became even more askew than normal, a few pairs of shoes got kicked into a pile by the gate, and everyone turned into tired, sweaty messes.

To keep morale up, you had insisted on everyone bringing a favorite tape that alternated in the shop radio and you had stocked up at Bradley's with an assortment of sugary snacks and drinks for the break room. Thankfully, the treats had prevented anyone from bursting into tears or threatening to quit, as you had witnessed countless times during your time working in retail.

You really channeled Eddie's sweet tooth when making your choices and it had paid off.

But after 12 hours of unpacking, stacking, dusting, shifting, and sliding, you were all ready to go home.

You ushered everyone out of the store and locked the gate behind you, and as the group walked toward the employee exit, excitement had returned. Pride for a seemingly-impossible task completed.

"The store looks so good! Mindy is gonna shit herself when she comes in to open."

"Oh my god, do you think we're gonna have a store visit? Can you let me know what they think of the hair wall?"

"We're gonna make so many sales! Who can say no to that unicorn backpack?"

You entertained their conversation but when you set foot outside and saw a familiar van parked next to your car, you lost all ability to speak.

He had said he was gonna surprise you with breakfast...but you told him not to. Of course he didn't listen; it had you rolling your eyes in annoyed amusement.

God you knew everyone was a gossip, this was gonna get to Mindy and then she was gonna give you an earful. She already let you have it when she heard about your invitation to dinner.

You quickly thanked your team and ushered them to their cars before you meandered towards yours. You ignored the questioning looks that they shot you as you hesitated to get into your car but you waved goodbye as they drove away.

When the last car left the lot, you immediately stormed over to the passenger's side door of the van and threw it open to find a McDonald's bag on the seat, two coffees in the cupholders, and a tired-eyed Eddie in the driver's seat. His fingers tapped on the steering wheel in time with Kiss's Beth.

"I'm always somewhere else," he turned his upper body towards you dramatically and began serenading you. "And you're always there alone."

"Unbelievable," you scoffed at him.

"Just a few more hours and I'll be right home to you. I think I hear them calling. Oh Beth what can I do?" He slapped his hands against the steering wheel dramatically. "Beth what can I do?"

You climbed into the passengers seat, closed the door behind you, and opened the McDonalds bag to the delightful smell of hot, fresh, crispy hash browns and egg McMuffins.

"If it's not obvious," Eddie announced as he reached across the van to shove his hand into the bag for a hash brown of his own. "I'm Beth in this scenario because you left me alone for hours and hours and hours last night."

"Oh yeah?"

"Yeah I got into all sorts of trouble."

“I told you not to bring breakfast.”

“I wanted to surprise you.”

"You didn't need to come if you were tired."

"I wanted to and I pretty much do whatever I want anyways," he insisted, and then thankfully focused on his food as you felt your face heat up.

"Well, if you'd like to know, me and the boys were not actually playing all night," you remarked and dug the sandwiches out of the brown bag. You handed one to Eddie, whose mouth was already full of salty, potatoey goodness after he'd shoved the hash brown in one piece. His cheeks were all round and full like a chipmunks and you held back a giggle.

God he was too cute. And he brought you breakfast after a long overnight shift. And he had called you his girl and told you you were special. How were you supposed to stop yourself from having a crush on him if this was...just how he was?

The two of you got to talking about your night, about his Sunday shift, about what you did before work, about what he did after it. And it was nice.

And as you sat there watching him slurp the hot coffee and watch the sparse traffic around the mall dive, you finally found the right words and the strength not to make an absolute fool of yourself.

"This was really nice of you, Eddie. You're wonderful."

He put his hand on his chest and looked a little sheepish.

"I'm wonderful?"

"You're wonderful to me."

---

Next Part: Corrective Action

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#eddie munson x reader #eddie munson fluff #store manager verse #stranger things fic #Eddie munson fic #stranger things Eddie munson

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luvrsbian · 2 years ago

Text

𝐏𝐀𝐑𝐓 𝐎𝐍𝐄: 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐌𝐄𝐄𝐓 𝐂𝐔𝐓𝐄

A/N: she's finally here!!! this was initially supposed to be a one shot but has kinda turned into a draft up of a pretty plotless, sweet, fluffy mini series. it follows canon for the most part minus eddies death ofc but because im bad with canon lore and science shit, its not heavily mentioned (some minor canon lore was changed but it's not super important.) this is a fem!reader, no use of y/n, set in 1992, 4k words, and i've kept reader pretty vague for inclusivity minus some background lore. this series is not 18+ (yet) but my page is, so please do not follow if you are a minor. thank you sweet baby mona @enam3l for beta-reading for me (ily)

MASTERLIST ✿ PART TWO

Eddie Munson liked his life. He liked his friends, even if a lot of them have now dispersed across the continental United States for school, jobs, general life (minus Robin who has somehow managed to make her way to Australia doing God knows what.) He liked his home, a house on the edge of town – slightly bigger than the old trailer – which he still shared with his uncle. He liked his style and hobbies and taste in music and movies that haven’t really changed much in the last 5 years since his final senior year.

He really liked his job.

Which felt odd for him to admit to himself.  It wasn’t anything like what he thought he would be doing. A younger Eddie Munson would imagine himself traveling city to city, adored by fans, living creatively and free spirited. 

But a middle school janitorial gig kept him young. One could argue 26 wasn't even that old, however, compared to his friends (who he'd already been older than) with their careers, relationships and growing families, he felt like a lonely old man. So, yeah, the awkward, funny, and extremely honest pre-teens made him feel young. 

Initially he thought the job would be lonely. It’s a small town with even smaller schools. Besides him, there was only one other night janitor that he alternated weekend cleans with and only really ran into during day-to-night shift changes. Ron was nice enough, older than Wayne, with a far higher patience for children. Unsurprisingly, behaviours from high school died hard and the teachers and administrative staff all kept to their own little cliques. Resulting in Eddie keeping to himself, rarely speaking outside of his custodian duties or the occasional faculty meeting.

He didn’t even think he’d interact with the students aside from cleaning the odd vomit or getting stuck balls out of the gymnasium rafters. He unintentionally found himself yet again the outcasted mother goose to a small hoard of pre-teen metal heads when their unofficial leader, Matty Sherman, caught site of the various posters Ed keeps hung up on his office (custodial closet) door. The seventh grader quickly forcing himself under Eddies wings and refusing to budge. Matty was a good kid. Reminded Eddie a lot of himself at that age. He was loud, abrasive, and way too confident for such a gangly frame in ill-fitting clothes. Matty had hair though which 13-year-old Eddie couldn’t relate to.

There was also Ms. Virginia Wagner. The eccentric, nurse who has been working at Hawkins Middle since Eddie was attending. Maybe even before that, he wasn’t quite sure and whenever he asked anything close to finding out her age, she quickly shut him down. She was sweet. She was funny. She was also a mean old hag sometimes, but God did Eddie love that about her. If he was just 20 - or more realistically 40 - years older and wasn’t almost certain she swings the other way, he’d shoot his shot. 

The Summer season was extremely uneventful for Eddie. Due to the kids being out of school, his hours were cut in more than half with only the yearly repairs and deep cleaning needing to be done. He went into work about 3 days a week, spending the extra free time to do some manual labour gigs here and there around town. When he wasn’t working, he was hidden away at home watching movies, listening to music, trying to plan out ongoing and future campaigns for Hellfire meetings that have begun to be fewer and far between now that everyone has dispersed. On some rare occasions when he didn’t feel like a complete shell of a person and was able to leave the house to socialize outside of life obligations, he met up with the few friends that remained in the Hawkins area (which at this point in time was really only Steve Harrington and Gareth Emerson.)

It was now the Monday of the week before students would return back to these fluorescent lit halls. That meant all other faculty were now gracing the school to prepare for the year ahead. Organizing and prepping and finalizing lesson plans and class rosters. 

Eddie had a slight pep in his step as he walked through the halls, scuffed up sneakers squeaking on the shiny, extra polished tiles. He whistled a silent tune that clashed with the jingles of his keys that he swung around his middle finger. Getting to the janitors closet to put on his navy coverall and put his hair into a low bun. He zips up the stiff material, covering the self-altered muscle tank top that had the logo for some local band down in Indianapolis he saw a few years back before things went to shit. A cracked and stained mirror hanging up over his work sink being used to make sure his hair looked casually messy in the bun. With a final once over, he hooks his keys to the belt loop of his coveralls and preps for the day's work. A glance at his wristwatch, the one that has somehow survived hell and back just like him, reads 7:58. Just 4 hours and 2 minutes until lunch. 

He couldn’t wait.

Eddie used those 4 hours and 2 minutes to check each stall in all bathrooms were fully stocked with toilet paper and the likes, clean the actual toilets themselves, and make sure the water was running properly in every sink. Once that was taken care of, he began on his biggest task of the week of dragging desks and chairs out of the back storage building to be put into classrooms. Sheryl from the administrative team having left the small packet of papers indicating how many seats each room would need for the coming year. 

He could move the chairs in stacks at a time but could only really stack two - maybe three if he was careful - desks on his hand truck before it became a safety problem. Once moved into the main building, he had to wipe them down, tighten any loose screws that could make them wobble, and make sure they were still in usable condition. Eddie had completed almost 3 of the 32 classrooms before lunch finally rolled around. 

He grabbed his lunch sack from the custodial closet and whistled on his merry way to the nurse's office. He’s been eating lunch with Virginia for as long as he can remember. Of course, there was those 5 years of High School and then the year of recovery following the events of his second senior year, and the summer breaks of course, but besides all those he’s been eating with her for a good 7 years. 

This ritual beginning in his 6th grade, the first year he moved in with Wayne, all sad eyed and past aside due to events outside of his control. Kids he had grown up with suddenly not wanting anything to do with him. He wouldn’t really make any friends again until 7th grade, and his first band of misfits was created, Corroded Coffin. 6th Grade was the worst year of his life until 1986 and now it’s about tied. 

Sadly, in middle school who you ate a meal with or gave the time of day too was so integral into maintaining the hierarchal balance of the ecosystem. It was bullshit. With everything that happened that lead to his father going to jail and him burdening his uncle, the kids of Hawkins middle school decided Eddie wasn’t worth risking their own reputations. He doesn’t remember exactly how it happened, his brain kicking the memory out at some point to make room for more important stuff like D&D lore. But he does remember he went from eating lunch in the bathroom to eating it in Nurse Wagner’s office. 

Even after being integrated back into the Middle school social circle, he couldn’t just leave her to eat lunch by herself. She needed him with his alternative music education and retelling of the fantasy books he’d been reading lately and his strong headedness that could keep up with her dry and sarcastic quips many interpreted as rudeness. Although Eddie would still refuse to admit it, in actuality he probably needed her more than she needed him.

He doesn’t knock, just moseys his tall frame into the nurse's office, wide dimpled smile on his lips as he hears rummaging coming from the actual office area that was blocked off by a wall. He looks at the two plastic-y beds covered in paper sheets, inhaling that antiseptic smell that can only seem to be found in medical settings. No fluorescent lights were on, only natural light being let it from the two big windows. 

There are curtains on them now which surprises him. Floral pinks and yellows with lace on the edge that really fit the grandma vibes Virginia has but refused to acknowledge. The windows all have blinds, but curtains were deemed a non-necessary commodity by the school board budgeting team, meaning if you wanted curtains, you’re gonna have to fork money out of pocket for them. Eddie had asked Virginia about it once, commenting about how it would help spruce up the place. Make it look a little less sterile. She told him to go to hell, that she’s a nurse not rich. Any out-of-pocket money she spent on work only going towards things that actually matter, like the allergen friendly laundry detergent and the nicer, name brand candy for the candy bowl.

Putting his lunch on the side table of the first bed, he lays down in a relaxed position. Hands behind his head, legs crossed, eyes closed, he lets out a relaxed sigh.

“Virginia, dear, I really love what you’ve done with the place,” he calls out to her, hearing the close of the filing cabinet and footsteps soon following, “feels all homey now, dontcha think.”

The footsteps stop.

“I'm glad you like them. You feelin’ comfy there?”

That was most definitely not Virginia Wagners voice.

Eddie jolts up, eyes wide and cheeks red. He’s not one to get embarrassed easily but since recent events he’s been a bit more reserved in how comfortable he gets around strangers. And you were most definitely a stranger. A pretty stranger. A very pretty stranger in a teddy bear patterned scrub top and an oversized cardigan with embroidered sunflowers. You’re a disorienting mess of patterns and colors but you’re also, like, really pretty and Eddie isn’t sure how to go about this.

“You’re not Virginia,” is all he can get his voice to come out with.

“I’m not Virginia.” You give a chuckle. A positive response, Eddie thinks.

“Where’s Virginia?”

Eddie is now standing away from the bed and closer to the door, ready to run from the situation if needed (something he’s learned to embrace in the last few years.) You give him a friendly smile, hands in your cardigan pockets, the sleeves bunched up. You look cozy. 

“Florida. She’ll be in the Caribbean by the end of the month,” you supply. He can tell your fingers are fidgeting in your pockets. His hands are fidgeting at his waist, pinching at the material of his coveralls. 

“Why?”

You shrug your shoulders, “Retirement.”

“Oh,” Eddie sighs, eyes breaking contact with yours for the first time since standing, shifting to look at your white - almost pristine - sneakers on the tile floor her spent all summer mopping and waxing and removing scuff marks from. “That sucks.”

You snort. Teeth biting your bottom lip to stop from laughing at him further during this awkwardly endearing meeting. Your own eyes looking him over now that he isn’t completely focused on you. He’s cute. His cheeks stained your favourite shade of pink once he realized you weren’t the now retired nurse he had been so fond of. Hands covered in jewlery. His inability to stay still so natural it makes you think he doesn’t even realize he’s been shifting his body weight back and forth from his toes to his heels this whole time. Tall, lean, maybe with some extra fluff hidden under the baggy attire. He’s got some shadow of hair on his cheeks. And if you weren’t a civil person and he wasn’t a stranger, you’d be begging to kiss at the column of his throat.

Your gaze moves to look around the waiting part of the office to avoid thinking even more things about this guy. A brown paper bag chicken scratched with the words ‘ED LUNCH’ catches your eye. Before you have a chance to speak yourself, he starts his interrogation again.

“Who are you?”

Your attention cuts back to him quickly. With a smile that shows all your teeth and a hand leaving your pocket, held out for him to shake, you give your full name.

He takes it with his own reserved smile. His hands and rings are warm, but they still tingle your skin from the unfamiliarity of the metal. You enjoy it you think. Before he can introduce himself, you beat him to the punch.

“You must be Edward, right?”

He grimaces, “Just Eddie,” your handshake falls. His hand back to his hip and your hand back into your pocket, “Just Eddie is fine. More than fine, actually. Preferred, really.”

Another chuckle from you. Eddie knows he’s funny when he wants to be but if it’s this easy to make you laugh, he doesn’t ever want to stop.

“Well, just Eddie,” you smirk at his eye roll, “you can join me for lunch if you’d like. I feel like my presence may have ruined your initial plans,” you let out a huff of a laugh and gesture to the lunch sack by the window. He grimaces again at your wording and shakes his head.

“It didn’t ruin any plans just was shocking ‘sall,” his hand moves from his hip to rub at his slightly scruffy chin, pretty brown eyes back on yours, “but um, yeah. Yes, I’d love- like to join you for lunch.”

You smile. He smiles back.

Eddie has sat in this chair, in this office, and eaten his lunch for years. Today it feels awkward and unfamiliar. 

It might have something to do with you sitting where Virginia used to sit. Same chair, same desk, same office, but completely different. Virginia didn’t decorate her space, leaving it functional and impersonal, if people wanted to know about her life they could ask her. She wasn’t going to flaunt it. 

You were very different. An orange, gaudy looking vase filled with fake flowers. A matching candy bowl with various sugary, little treats. A picture frame of you and what he could only assume was your family based on the similar features shared between each person. A decorated Coke can with the top cut off and trimmed with glued on lace and covered in holographic stickers of vibrant cartoon animals, sparse enough to still see the iconic red drink logo, was now holding an assortment of colorful gel pens. 

Even the chair wasn’t safe from your interior decorating, a purple knitted blanket folded over the top of the rolling seat. The seat itself now adorning a red, white, and black cushion of an ugly faced bulldog with a spiked color and cap with the letter G, the words ‘GEORGIA BULLDOGS’ splayed above him. A sports team he assumed. 

The conversation hadn’t started back up since the introduction in the sick room. Both of you taking your respective seats in the office area, opening your lunch bags and digging in. 

Eddie being a creature of habit brought his usual bag of pretzels, a can of Pepsi, and a sandwich made of whatever he could find in the kitchen. Today it was two slices of whole wheat, mayo, lettuce, the last piece of deli ham, and shredded cheese. 

Your own lunch seemed much more put together. For starters, you had an actual lunchbox, a bulky and vibrant plastic thing with Snoopy sleeping on his dog house on the front. Inside, there was your own ziploc bag of green grapes, a can of Coke, and a sandwich cut into triangles. White bread, crunchy peanut butter, and grape jelly. A Little Debbies Swiss Rolls pack sitting on the corner of your desk for dessert.

He’s mid chew on the final bite of his sandwich, half his Pepsi left, his pretzels being the first thing devoured, when you speak up. Your own sandwich having on triangle section left, grapes gone, and Coke untouched.

“Have you always lived in Hawkins?”

You’re wiping your mouth with a folded paper towel, curious eyes focused on him. You’re very good at that, he’s realized. Eye contact. Focusing on your center of attention. Eddie has never been good at it, having to remind himself to look at the person talking to him. It’s polite, Wayne would say, shows people you’re listening and interested in what they have to say. Eddie gets so worked up in remembering to seem focused, he loses it and doesn’t hear what’s being said. He hasn’t had that problem with you so far. He thinks he could look at and listen to you all day if you let him.

“Born and bred,” he swallowed his bite and shrugs his shoulders, rubbing his hands together to get the crumbs off, “you’re not though, are you. Feel like I’d remember you,” he raises an eyebrow. Feeling a little more confident in himself, especially with the obvious signs of you not being a local, and gives a playful smirk.

“You got me,” you hold your hands up in mock surrender, moving your arms back to rest your elbows on the edge of the desk, “I’m from Georgia.”

Eddie nods, the seat cushion making sense now. It’s your home team for… sports. A sport. Probably football. Eddie mentally pats himself on the back for guessing it was a sports team. Good on him for knowing sports. (Eddie doesn’t know sports.)

“So,” Eddie lulls, small talk never being his forte. Much more interested in getting into the nitty gritty of conversation when interested in someone but he doesn’t know you yet. He needs to find something to relate with you on and he can’t do that with tidbits he may know from growing up in town like he could other people his age or older here. “You’re like a southern chick,” it was your turn to grimace. 

“You’re really bad at this,” you snort and shake your head, finishing up the last of your own sandwich. Tidying up your desk, throwing away the ziploc bag and sandwich wrapping and paper towels. Opening the coke can and moving the swiss rolls pack to in front of you, looking back to Eddie. With a tilt of your head and saccharine grin you ask, “Splitsies?”

He nods at the opportunity to get a sweet little treat before addressing your initial comment, “Small talk requires talking and I just don’t really do that anymore with people who don’t already know me or just have a preconceived idea of who I am,” he shrugs his shoulders again, voice softer, slight regret in being too real. Eyes watching your fingers open the package, folding another paper towel (which he has now realized are coming from a roll kept in the lowest drawer of your desk), and setting one of the processed roll cakes on the indented paper before placing it in front of Eddie’s seated and slouched body. “Thank you,” He looks back up to you and you’re already looking at him.

“Virginia told me a lot about you,” you smirk, lifting your own cake to take a bite. Your eyes not leaving his except for split a second to give an appreciative glance and hum to the cream filled ‘pastry.’

“We’ve been corresponding for months,” you snicker at your own use of the word, making you feel like some sort of 18th century countess or captain, rather than a young nurse taking over the position of an older nurse. 

He looks panicked at this reveal. Which is cute considering he had a bit of white cream on his upper lip. Although he looked so pretty when his brow furrowed, it was clear he was frightened so you were quick to reassure him.

“All good things, of course. I think she’s just worried about you. It’s cute, really, just really cute.” Another kind smile on your lips and your hand holding out the paper towel - his now eaten roll was sat on - as hint for him to clean his mouth off.

Eddie knew Virgina wasn’t one to gossip but the prospect of a rare new person in town he’s actually interested in, being privy to all his shit-uations without him telling them himself, scared him. But Virginia did love to meddle and that may be worse. She was a big supporter of Eddie needing friends his own age. 

Letting out a sigh of relief that his tragic history had yet to be exposed, Eddie returned your smile with his own half one. You reach into your desk again, pulling out a letter instead of paper towels this time. ‘Edward’ scrawled in a familiar, loopy handwriting with blue ink on the white envelope caught his eyes. Eyebrows furrowed in confusion and intrigue. 

You hold it out for him to take like it was something precious, “This is for you.” From Virginia, is unspoken but recognized between the both of you. Who else would it have been from. Eddie flushing as he realized, Virginia never told him about you. Virginia never even told Eddie she’d be leaving. They didn’t speak much, or really at all, during the summer unless they happened to run into each other outside of these brick walls. 

Callused finger pads grazed your palm when he took the letter from you, he kept his eyes focused on examining the letter. A sad smile on his lips appreciating the loops of the E and W and curves of the D’s. Realistically he knew Virginia probably wasn’t gonna be gone from Hawkins forever, she had roots here. A son. That’s son kid or maybe kids now, he wasn’t sure, hadn’t checked in on Rick since he got out of jail in ‘88. But it still hurt that she was gone, without a word, and was happy enough to talk to her replacement about him but not to him about her. You.

“I’m gonna read this later,” he mumbles and puts the offending but appreciated letter in his deep pocket. A quick glance at his watch read it’s been about an hour since making his way into the nurses office, lunch was over. He threw his trash out in the bin by your desk and gave you a friendly smile, standing from the seat in front of your desk.

“Maybe we could do this again sometime,” eyes shifting around the office again, not really taking things in, just needing to not get trapped back into your gaze. “Ya know, with my lunches free now and everything,” he humorlessly chuckles.

“Eddie,” you spoke softer than you had before, a more sympathetic smile on your lips, “I’d really like that.”

He looks at you now. You have really shiny eyes. What a weird observation, Eddie thinks, but it’s true. With a quick wave of his hand before retreating them back into his pocket, fingers playing with the paper edges of Virginias letter. He begins his trek out the door. 

“Hey, next time though,” he stumbles in a spin to walk backwards while speaking, “We’ll speak more about you than about me. Feel’s like you know too much about me,” he huffs with a smug smile before spinning back to look forward. “See ya, Peach.”

Your sweet laughter follows him out into the hall. You call out, “See ya, Eddie,” to his retreating back, watching the door long after he’s left. 

“Peach,” you snort and shake your head, teeth tugging on your bottom lip to stop from smiling too wide.

the clean up crew (taglist): @avobabe87 @bakugouswh0r3

comment or ask to be added to the clean up crew!

#ʚ by gwen ɞ #eddie munson x you #eddie munson x reader #eddie munson fanfiction #joseph quinn x reader #joseph quinn x you #joseph quinn fanfiction #stranger things x reader #stranger things fanfiction #tcu #school janitor eddie x school nurse reader

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nimonabigbang · 25 days ago

Text

I was busy with the stars (you were looking at me)

Written by @remarkablebookbean

Art by Tucan JM | @sonsuzjm | Instagram: tuc4n_ | TikTok: tuc4n_jm

“You know you’re not sneaky right?” A grin bordering on shit-eating crosses her face as the shorter person jolts. It's not funny when you’re the one being scared is it Nimona? Gloreth chuckles. But I could get used to being the one scaring her for once to be honest. “Jesus Christ Blondie, I think you stopped my heart for a second.” The shorter girl dramatically holds her hand over her chest as she tries to regain her pride. Gloreth looks over their messy locks down to their scruffy boots, her smile drops as she notices new scrapes and what looks like a fresh bruise on their cheek. [...] “Why are you here anyway?” Gloreth asks, her gaze piercing in contrast to her softer tone. She gives Nimona a look that makes it clear that brushing this question off wasn’t an option. They sigh and run a hand through their hair. “Wanna get out of here?” or a Gloreth/Nimona Small Town AU where they spend a summer night together at the lake. They are very gay and bad at expressing that.

Content warnings and tags below the cut:

Rating: Teen And Up Audiences

Archive Warning: No Archive Warnings Apply

Category: F/F

Fandom: Nimona (2023)

Relationship: Gloreth/Nimona (Nimona)

Characters: Gloreth (Nimona), Nimona (Nimona)

Additional Tags: Pre-Slash, Fluff, Alternate Universe - Small Town, Pining, She/Her and They/Them Pronouns for Nimona (Nimona), Underage Drinking, Idiots in Love, Summer, Implied/Referenced Harassment, being neurodivergent in school and everything that comes with that, Lakes, Fireflies, Gloreth is a Gifted Kid, Gloreth ‘totally not in love with her bestie’ [surname], Gloreth POV, Nimona Big Bang 2024 (Nimona)

Words: 5,002

Chapters: 1/1

#nimona #nimona big bang #nimonabb #nimona big bang project reveal #nimona fanfic #nimona fanart #nimona movie

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profundcherrylady · 2 months ago

Text

Analysis on Mabel (Part 2)

They were both very temperamental people who were going through their own hell, and it wouldn't be fair to say one had it worse than the other, because yes, Stan did spend all those years trying to get Ford back through the portal and didn't even get a "thank you", but he had been warned about the dangers of said portal and the reason why he fell into it in the first place was because of a fight that could've been avoided in the first place. I feel like there are situations like this one where it's not a matter of who was in the "right" because pointing fingers doesn't solve anything nor does any good to any of the people involved. Which is why, getting back to the main topic, is so absurd to expect Mabel to be better than these two. I mean Stan ruined Ford's proyect being fairly older and more mature than Mabel (not for that many years, but still, they were almost in college) so how does him making that selfish decision make more sense than Mabel being an emotional pre-teen?. Mabel was a 12 year old who asked for ONE more day of summer because she was scared of being left behind, which if it did actually happen it wouldn't had caused any harm to anybody, she also didn't know what was the thing that Dipper had in his backpack or what could unleash, nor that Blendin's body was being possesed like Bill. Not even we as an audience knew at the time, so how could we expect HER to know? Things had been going bad for her all day and one more day of summer wasn't going to kill anybody, which is why she was tricked. I think it's incredible how people seem to forget that fact... she was tricked, she had been promised something harmful by someone she trusted. And besides, as it has been said, staying with Ford was NOT the right decision for Dipper either; he was not thinking clearly when he almost accepted, nor Ford was when offering it tbh. Something reasonable would've been, I don't know, tell him that they could both come back to Gravity Falls every summer and during the summer he could be his apprientance, which would have let Dipper learn a lot without taking out all other parts of his life, letting him live his life, go to school, interact with other kids his age and socialize and stay with Mabel while helping out Ford during the summer. Mabel during the weirdmaggedon is a bit different, because she had been told people were suffering out of her bubble but she still wanted to stay, but thinking back it isn't THAT crazy. Like.. she was in the one place she knew she wasn't getting harmed in the middle of the apocalypse as long she just didn't leave, which is selfish of course considering none of it was real, but regardless in a situation of crisis a lot of people would be making the selfish choices, so I don't feel like I'm in a place to judge. So in conclusion, Mabel, they could never make me hate you; she is a very complex character which is what I love about her.

#gravity falls #gravity falls dipper #gravity falls mabel #gravity falls analysis #mabel pines #dipper pines #dipper and mabel #stanley gravity falls #gravity falls stanford #stan and ford #stanley pines #stanford pines

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peach-and-bugs · 1 year ago

Note

teen nat with “You look exhausted, you know that?” ?? (maybe pre-crash)

❤️Blame Game - Natalie Scatorccio (1996 pre-crash) x fem!Reader❤️

Fanfiction master list

disclaimer: don't repost my work. I only post on Tumblr and on Ao3. anything else is stolen and should be removed immediately

GIF by gayliennn

Summary: Natalie seeks refuge from the rain (and possibly comfort) after the death of her dad...

Warnings: canon themes: dead parents, spousal abuse, guns, general angst

Word Count: 2,539

A/N: Hello Lovelies! it's been a minute. I was so busy this past semester, but I'm now on summer break and I want to get back to work on my writing with requests for dialogue prompts with characters with Yellowjackets! here's my first dabble at writing for the fandom with pre-crash Natalie! I really hope you enjoy it, and as always, feel free to leave questions or comments in my comments or ask box, and happy reading ❤️

"Nat" Natalie Scatorccio Tag List:

General Tag List: @summergeezburr

-❤️-

It had been raining for most of the afternoon by now, which you had found strange given the sun being so high when you'd left school. But the rain persisted into the night and you now found yourself sitting at your desk, scribbling away in your diary about your day and just general thought and feelings. You'd found that even when you had a mundane day, writing was still good. It helped keep up the habit for when you needed the outlet.

You started to run out of things to say and instead began to chew at the eraser of your pencil. One of your cassettes played quietly in your walkmen, but you could still hear the rain’s muffled tapping on the roof over the song. However, as you moved to start scribbling again, maybe adding doodles to your entry instead of more words, your attention was caught by a different tapping. It was sporadic and out of tune with the rain and it paused as though some other element controlled it.

Cautiously, you paused your song and listened. The tapping started again, clicking against the glass of your window. When there wa another pause you made your way over to it and opened it with caution. You paused again, licking your lips and biting your cheek. Why did this feel like the start of every slasher movie? Maybe youde watched those Halloween movies too many times.

“Hey, y/n! That you?” a familiar voice broke through the rain. Without any more hesitation, your head poked out of the open window, hands gripping the windowsill as the rain began to wet your hair.

“Nat?” you called in a whispery yell. “What the hell are you doing here? It’s the middle of the night?” thanks to your porch light you could see her fidgeting, hugging herself as she crumpled under the rain. She opened her mouth like she wanted to talk, but stopped herself.

“Can I come up?” she said instead. You hesitated again, head going back inside as you checked the time. It was nearly one in the morning by now. Your father would be furious if he found out, but it was Nat after all, it was pouring and you knew she had to have walked here. You huffed, your brows knit as you nodded, ducking your head back into the house ans shutting the window behind you before running downstairs as quietly as you could. You quietly unlocked your front door, pausing after it clicked open to listen for the sound of any unexpected movement. When nothing turned up you opened the door just as Natalie stepped onto your front porch.

“Be quiet and wipe your feet,” you insisted in a hushed voice, eyes already training on the staircase once more. You unconsciously took her hand tight and sprinted as quietly as you could up the stairs and ducked into your room, shutting it with the softest click you could mister. You shut your eyes, listening against the door for any sign you might have woken your parents, but once you felt it was all clear you relaxed with a sigh and turned back to look out on your room.

“You didn’t have to let me up if I was gonna get you in trouble,” Natalie mumbled. She’d begun to fidget where she stood, her thumb stroking over the strap of her soaked backpack. She didn’t move from where she stood and seemed to avoid making eye contact with you or anything in the room for that matter.

“It’s running outside and you’re soaked,” she shrugged, eyes turning down to her dripping shoes.

“I don't wanna put you out’s all,” your eyes transfixed on her in the quiet. She didn’t look at you for any of it but in the short time you stood awkwardly in front of you you could tell something was wrong. You knew Nat well. Well, maybe not this Natalie specifically, but you knew the Natalie from middle school who had sleepovers at your house nearly every Saturday and loved playing board games with your family and stopping for secret ice cream with you on the way home from school. That all had been some time ago, but you knew her, and even with all that she’d hanged that Natalie was still in her. You saw her right then.

“You doing ok? You seem off,” you inquired, slowly approaching her like she was a skittish dog. She looked up finally, slightly geared by the sudden proximity change, but she relaced as your reached for her fidgety hand. She let you take it, watching the tenderness in your motion. She hated being fragile.

“My dad’s gone,” she breathed, biting her lower lip. She’d been doing it for a while now. The skin of it was dry and chapped, red from repeated tearing away at the layering resulting in a swollen tenderness.

“I’m sorry. For good this time?” you weren't sure that was the right question to ask. Natalie’s dad always had a tendency to come and go, but given her demeanor either it was over or something else was going on. She sniffed heavily and let out a dry laugh as she jerked her eyes from you.

“Yeah, well seeing he put a bullet in his head I’d say it’s for good,” she pressed her lips together, sucking her teeth at the bitter sting, and exhaled hard through her nose. She swallowed hard before she shakily turned her eyes back to you. She tisked at the expression on your face and felt your hand tighten around hers. “Fuck, I'm sorry, I shouldn't unload on you like that I-”

“Hey, no it’s ok. It’s fine. I’m sorry,” you reached and grabbed hold of her other hand ans squeezed tight, forcing an awkward smile. “Do you want clothes to change into? You’re sopping wet,” she shook her head but you tisked.

“I'm getting you clothes ans you aren't arguing,” you turned from her and sauntered to your dresser, wrassling around in your drawers for anything comfortable for her to wear. Unbeknownst to you, Natalie was looking down at her hand, squeezing them into fists before she rubbed her sweaty palms against her jeans. She never liked clammy hands. You turned back to her eventually, shoving the pile of clothes in her hands. “Batheroom’s where it’s always been,” you pointed to the door that connected to your room.

“And feel free to dry off with a towel. Are you spending the night?” you rushed most of what you said, adrenaline pumping through you at an alarming rate as you tried to keep your cool. Nat eventually nodded awkwardly and made her way to the bathroom. The click of the door allowed you to let go of the hot breath that had been boiling in your stomach. Her dad was gone? Like, gone, gone. That was a good thing, wasn’t it? Well, maybe not given how upset she seemed. You never would have thought of Nat to be the type to mourn her father, cruel as that may sound. And why had she come to your house of all places? She hadn’t talked to you in years. She’d gotten so committed to the soccer team that she’d moved away from you but here she was now, dropping the bomb that her dad had killed himself.

“You alright?” Nat opening the door and talking to you had pulled you out of your head. She’d dried her hair off with a towel and was now draping it over the floor to sit her bookbag on top of it to dry. Her brown hair was tousled and knotted from what you assumed had been her vigorous rubbing to dry off. She’d folded her clothes in a pile that she added next to her bookbag and stood awkwardly barefoot in a pair of old shorts and a baggy tee shirt that used to be your dad’s.

“Yeah, I'm good,” you smiled, standing again. “You want some socks? The hardwood gets cold,” you said as you actively moved to grab a pair of fuzzy socks you'd gotten for Christmas from one of your drawers. You shoved them in her hands before she could decline. She held them for a moment, unmoving despite the gentle sway of her thumb over the cotton material before leaning over to put them on. As she did that you took her clothes and draped them over the footboard of your bed to air out.

“Are you staying over?” you asked again. You knew if she said no you'd still keep her here. You didn't want to worry about her out in the rain again.

“Only if that's alright,” you smiled with a single nod.

“Of course. It can be like before,” you chuckled, turning to adjust things on your bed. You might have caught the tiny flicker in Nat’s lips had you been looking. But you hadn’t and climbed into bed instead, shimmying under the covers to get comfortable. Nat slowly followed but lay on her back over the blankets, folding her hands on her chest. You only watched her for some time, not knowing what subject to broach, if any at all.

“You look exhausted, you know that?” you eventually murmured. Nat turned her head to you and let out a warm sigh. Her eyes seemed sunken, bags growing dark under them. You wondered how much she’d been sleeping.

“That kinda happens when-” she stopped herself abruptly.

“Do you want to talk about it?”

“No…” her voice lulled to a whisper as she paused. That pause felt like it lasted hours till she sniffled. “Maybe a little,” she swallowed thickly. You scooted in closer to her, reaching your hand out t her ever so lightly to wordlessly offer it to you.

“It was my fault,” you shook your head.

“Nat. you’re seventeen,” she sniffled loudly and quickly dried her tears just as they fell from her eyes. She didn’t look at you, her eyes transfixed up at your ceiling in a feeble attempt to keep herself together.

“I grabbed the gun. He wouldn't have had it had I not,”

“It’s not your fault,”

“He was beating on my mom again because I had a boy in my room,” frustrated disdain filled her tone. “And it’s not like anything was happening! I mean, it was just Kevyn,” she scoffed at his name. Unbeknownst to Natalie, you knew the boy had the biggest crush on her known to man. How she didn’t realize it baffled you, but that wasn’t relevant at the moment.

“But I grabbed the gun. And I left the safety on and he took it from me and fucked around with it,”

“Natalie,” you kept your voice low. Her breathing had started to flair as she fully cried now. You took her hand, squeezing it tight. She didn’t look at you but unconsciously clenched both her fists around your fingers, and brought them to her chest, pressing it tight to her in some kind of attempt to ground yourself maybe. “Natalie, Who had the gun?” she managed to get out. She sniffled again. She would have called it pitiful, but you basked in the sound. Not in a weird way, but because she could trust you with this. She shook her head.

“Did you shoot him?” her breath shook as she took a deep inhale.

“He did,”

“So, who’s fault it that?” she turned her head away, squeezing her eyes shut as she covered her mouth to suppress a sob. She let go of your hand and turned onto her side, leaving only her heaving shoulders in your view. You scooted out of bed, moving slowly behind her. She flinched as your fingertips made contact with her back, but you found she quickly relaxed under her touch as you began rubbing your hand in circles over the surface area.

“Nat, it was his fault,” you murmured. She continued to cry, curled into a ball on the edge of your bed. You weren't even sure if she was hearing any of what you said, but you didn’t feel you should prioritize that. You stayed that way with her for a while, till you maneuvered onto your side, laying behind her and wrapping your arm around her instead of continuing to massage your back. You felt her take your hand again, bringing your fingers close to her face. She seemed to bury her face in your hand in some feeble attempt at self-soothing.

Eventually, she turned around in your arms and found herself up close and personal with you. Thanks to the dim light she prayed you wouldn't see the red in her cheeks burning from the sudden proximity. She let go of your hand quite abruptly.

“Sorry,” she mumbled, eyes darting away. You only smiled and nodded, scanning her puffy, tear-streaked face. Without giving it much thought, you reached forward, brushing loose, now dry hair from her face. Your fingertips skimmed over her forehead with a delicateness Nat couldn't find herself familiar with.

“You look exhausted, you know that?” she shrugged but locked into your gaze.

“I’ve always been like that,” she forced a chuckle but found you frowning. You thumbed away leftover tears from her eyes ans found your hand lingering. When you noticed you made the motion of pulling away from her but she grabbed your hand, holding it where it was. She bit her bottom lip, her brows knitting with overwhelming consideration till she hissed out the words “fuck it” and leaned it.

She’d let go of your hand in exchange for the back of your neck, which fit quite comfortably against the flat of her palm. She’d shut her eyes hard and had kind of clumsily crashed into you, definitely taking you by surprise. For a second it was quite startling, but you didn’t panic or pull away. But once you got over the shock, you relaxed into her, smiling against her lips, which given their chapped nature left a metallic taste against your tongue.

You’re hand, which had been hovering above the covers after being abandoned slowly settled on Natalie’s hip as you shut your eyes and you felt her exhale through her nose as the air flittered against your cheek. Yet, just as fast as she’d moved in she was done, leaving your lips to chase after her. Her eyes were wide and blown when you opened yours again and she seemed to have a grimace on her face.

“Shit, was I that bad?” you sucked in a breath through your teeth. Her grimace subsided and she shook her head, now looking confused.

“No. I was more so waiting for you to be pissed with me,” she admitted. You smiled and laughed quietly.

“Why would I be mad?”

“I dunno, I kinda just did it and I didn’t ask-”

“Didn’t ask if I liked girls?”

“Do you?” she chuckled again, scooting closer to her.

I dunno, I might. I mean, I might at least like one girl,”

“That's so fucking corny,” Natalie finally smiled, letting go of a laugh in her throat.

“Yeah, but I got you to smile finally,” you squeezed her hip. “I consider that a win in my book,”

#fanfiction requests #fic request #◛⑅·˚ ༘ ♡ kay's at it again♡#yellowjackets requests #yellowjackets x reader #yellowjackets #yellowjackets fanfic #natalie scatorccio #nat scatorccio #natalie scatorccio x reader

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morning-star-joy · 1 year ago

Text

you take what you get, and you turn it into honesty

a stranger's heart without a home chapter 12

Pairing: friends with benefits Joel x F!Reader, Post-Outbreak

Chapter Summary: Spending time with your loved ones. Taking care of a certain grumpy old man.

Chapter Warnings: Mentions of Grief/Depression/Survivor's Guilt (Mention of Death of Reader's sister), Injury Treatment (Infected attack, no bites), Language

Wordcount: 9.8k

A/N: Chapter 15 up on ao3 (because I got the cutest anon ask about dropping it at midnight and it was ready hehe!)

chapter 1 || chapter 11 || chapter 12 || masterlist

ao3 link

The dog days dragged on, but even summer couldn’t last forever.

With the longest month of the season slowly dwindling to an end, the days started to get shorter, and the night breeze became cooler.

You sat on the roof of your house as the pink and purple hues of dusk cascaded across the sky, your legs swinging over the edge as you took a sip of the whiskey in your hands.

Another hand reached out in front of your face, making a grabbing motion for the alcohol, and you turned to look at your companion with a frown.

“Yeah, that’s not gonna happen,” you drawl as Dina scoffs from where she was sitting beside you, her own shorter legs swinging over the edge of the roof too.

“We live in a lawless land,” she snarks back, and you hold back a chuckle as she tries to grab for the bottle of whiskey, but you pull back. “The government is gone, there are no rules prohibiting me from drinking. Fuck the patriarchy, and give me the alcohol!”

You laughed at that last comment, unable to hold back your fond amusement at Dina’s antics. Rolling your eyes, you continue to hold the bottle out of her reach, your other hand reaching out to hold her shoulder, keeping her from falling off the roof as she kept trying to grab the whiskey.

“I don’t give a shit about the pre-Outbreak laws,” you said as you laughed again at her frown of concentration as she tried to take the alcohol from you. “I just don’t think the world is ready for a drunk Dina.”

“Just a sip?” she asked, turning on her puppy dog eyes, and you groan, resisting the Dina charm until she begins to draw out the word ‘please’ without stopping.

“Okay, okay, fine,” you snapped playfully, passing the bottle back to her just to make her stop holding out the ‘e’ sound. “Just a few sips, though.”

Dina cackled, and you began to realize you probably made a big mistake when she grabs the bottle and begins to chug it.

“Sips!” you shouted, grabbing her shoulder as she recoiled from the bottle with a cough and a gag. “Sips, Dina! Don’t just fucking down it—Jesus.”

The teen smiled brightly up at you, even as she winced at the burn of the whiskey, and you couldn’t help but return it with a soft smile of your own. She passed the bottle back to you, and you took it with a sigh, shaking your head fondly as you turned back to watch the sun disappear beneath the horizon.

“Hey,” Dina said softly once she had recovered from the drink, the word accompanied by a poke to your side, and you glanced back down at your young friend, lifting an eyebrow in silent question. “How’s your leg?”

You glanced down at your thigh at the question, where a long scar was healing underneath your jeans, and you shrugged.

“I can move fine,” you answer truthfully, taking another sip from the bottle, glancing over the street below you as the streetlights begin to flicker on. “That’s all I really care about.”

Dina huffed, and you looked back to see the girl frowning up at you.

“What?” you asked, returning her frown with one of your own, not understanding her apparent annoyance.

“You need to take better care of yourself,” she snapped, though her tone was affectionate as she pointed up at your face with an accusatory glare.

This time you were the one to huff, rolling your eyes before looking back down to the bottle of alcohol in your hands.

“I get by alright,” you mutter, sending a glare towards Dina when she outright scoffs at the words. “What? I do.”

“Hardly,” she draws the word out with an overexaggerated roll of her eyes, and you open your mouth to try and combat her accusations, but she doesn’t stop mincing her words as she continues, “I’m just saying, you don’t have to do everything alone, you know?”

You stiffened, brows furrowing as you stared down in your lap. For once, you truly felt at a loss for words.

“Do I look like I’m alone?” you finally said casually, pulling an easy smile on your face as you nudged her in the arm with your elbow. “I got you, don’t I?”

Dina smiled up at you, but it didn’t quite reach her eyes like it usually did, and your heart sank at the sight. God dammit, you hated it when she worried about you.

“You know what I mean,” she said quietly, like she was trying not to spook you with what she was saying, and you shifted uncomfortably as you got a sense for where the conversation was going. “Someone to take care of you.”

“I have Tommy, too,” you muttered, shifting your gaze away, and Dina heaved out a sigh.

“You’re our protector,” she spoke the words almost in a whisper, and your jaw clenched, grip tightening around the bottle in your hands, before her next question made you still completely. “Who’s yours?”

A face flashed through your mind, and you cleared your throat as you shoved it away again.

“I can protect myself,” you muttered, even as you could feel the phantom touch of the rough fingertips that had grazed across your thigh as your wound was tended to in the small confines of your bathroom. “I always have.”

“And you’ve never wanted to share that shriveled up heart with anybody?” Dina teased now, bumping your shoulder with her own, and you laughed at the description. It may have been a joke, but she really wasn’t that far off, even though she probably didn’t mean it.

There was no reply you could think for that either, opting to start drinking again instead of struggling for an answer you didn’t have.

“Speaking of which,” Dina said slowly, and you didn’t need to look at her to see the mischief growing on her face, because you could hear it in just her voice alone as she asked, “is your man coming around tonight?”

This time you were the one to choke on the drink, coughing as you pulled the bottle away from your mouth.

Dina made no move to help you as you choked, and you turned to watch the self-satisfied smirk on her face grow impossibly large as you sputtered, “What?”

“Your. Man.” Dina repeated, enunciating each word with a tilt of her head at your bewilderment. “About 5’11, dreamy brown eyes, graying hair but I guess you don’t care about that—”

“Dina.”

“Rough around the edges, and kind of a hardass I gotta admit, but oh so ruggedly handsome—”

“Dina.”

“Old enough to be your—”

“Dina!” you say louder, drawing the attention of the other few Jackson residents walking down the street to return to their homes as you glare down at the girl while she dissolves into a cackling fit.

“Your face!” she laughs loudly as she points at it, and you bat away her finger with a scowl, just for her to point again a second later. “You should see your face! Oh, I don’t think I’ve ever seen you so flushed before.”

You scoffed, turning your head away from her as a deep scowl sets onto your face. A hand subconsciously reaches to feel the heat on your face, your frown growing before you snap your hand back when her laughter doesn’t stop.

“I’m gonna push you off this roof,” you snap the words without any true malice, and Dina wipes at a tear in her eye, apparently unable to control her amusement at your reactions to her teasing.

“Nah, you wouldn’t murder me,” she says confidently with a smug smirk. “I’m your damn favorite person in this town and everybody knows it.”

You scoff, rolling your eyes at the brag, even as you couldn’t deny it.

“My favorite goddamn nuisance, maybe,” you muttered, and you smiled softly at her laughter this time.

Taking another much needed swig of the alcohol, you turned away, ignoring Dina’s gaze as it fell on you again. You could sense more curiosity in it this time, and that was dangerous. Because if Dina was curious about something, she wouldn’t stop until she had gathered all the information she could on the topic, until she was an expert.

“I don’t have a man,” you mutter before she could open her mouth to ask, and you look back at her sharply when she laughs. “What? I don’t.”

“Uh-huh.” Dina’s sound was unconvinced, and you sighed heavily.

“What about your man?” you turned the question back on her, hoping she would be distracted by the temptation to talk about a love-life that actually existed—her own, nonetheless. “Or is he on the backburner again?”

Dina huffed, glaring up at you as she sensed the change in topic, but she let it happen as she leaned back against the slant of the roof.

“Eh, he sucks,” she muttered, glaring up at the darkening sky, and you sighed as you looked down at her souring expression.

“Why, what happened this time?” you decided to ask, a part of you truly bewildered by how many times two people could break up and come back together.

Dina threw her hands up in the air, her face scrunching up in annoyance as she shouted towards the stars that began to appear, “He forgot our anniversary!”

You held back a sigh, able to tell that Dina was at least partially genuinely upset by the matter, and you sympathized with her pain just by seeing her go through it—even as you couldn’t pretend to understand the first thing about being in a relationship, as you had never been in one yourself.

The intricacies of romantic love were completely lost on you. Maybe there had been one time when you could have fallen in love, back in your youth, but you had left that future behind a long time ago.

In the years that followed, the possibilities of falling in love became more slim, even if you had been looking for it. Your duty to keep your family safe was your highest priority—and when you failed in that, you had no room left in your heart for love. At least, not that kind.

You pulled yourself from your thoughts back to the present, quirking an eyebrow down at Dina as her scowl didn’t let up.

“And which anniversary was this?” you asked, and her scowl lightened at your voice, even as her frown didn’t completely disappear when her gaze shifted to you.

“Six months,” she muttered, and your brow furrowed in thought.

“And is that…normal?” you asked, your voice teasing even as there was hesitation in the words, since you didn’t actually know the answer. “To celebrate a six month relationship?”

“It is to me!” Dina exclaimed, and you chuckled at her renewed passion as she swung her legs out to gain enough momentum to push herself back up to a sitting position. “He shoulda known.”

You shook your head in amusement as you tried to offer a solution, even as your lack of expertise on the topic made it sound more like a question, “Maybe you should just talk to him?”

Dina scoffed, crossing her arms over her chest in a stubborn show of defiance at the idea.

“I’m not wasting my precious time on a man any longer,” she huffed, and you laughed quietly, the emphasis on the word choice not lost on you.

There was a part of you that wanted to tease Dina about Ellie, but you decided it was best not to for the time being. Because while you could sense that there was something more between the two girls—an atmosphere that went beyond simply being “gal pals”—Dina had never explicitly told you about being attracted to girls as well as boys, and you wanted to respect that.

You figured that if your suspicions were true, she would tell you if and when she was ready. And if she did, you would make sure she knew that it changed nothing—Dina was still herself, no matter who she was attracted to. You would always accept her for exactly who she was, because not only were sexualities nobody’s fucking business, but nothing in the world could make you not care about the kid as much as you did.

“Every man left in this world is stupid,” you muttered with an over-exaggerated sigh inspired by the theatrics of the girl sitting by your side. “Doesn’t matter if he’s spent the last twenty years surviving this fucked up place—he’s still stupid.”

Dina laughed, and you joined in her laughter as you looked back at her.

“That include yours?” she asked cheekily, and you froze.

You blinked, falling into a stupefied silence as her laughter increased, and you rolled your eyes as you playfully punched her in the shoulder.

“Shut up,” you muttered, not having the strength to fight her on it anymore tonight, and she snickered as you both turned to watch more stars begin to twinkle in the night sky.

“Did you know that the stars are dead?”

You blink, turning to look down at the girl sitting by your side. Her eyes shined brighter than those above you, and you frown in confusion at the random statement.

“Huh?” you ask, and she sighs as she meets your gaze.

“They’re, like, really far away,” she explains as her small feet swing in the air outside of the windowsill where you sat next to each other. “Light years away, or something. So by the time they reach us, they’re already dead.”

You frown, looking back up at the night sky, and the few stars you could see through the light pollution in the Seattle QZ. There was something about the words that were too somber, too severe for your liking, and you searched for a way to turn the conversation around.

“Well, who needs ‘em?” you finally say brightly, turning to smile down at her as her eyes light up at your next words, “I got my Little Star right here, I don’t need any other ones.”

Your arms wrap around her, pulling her into your side as you kiss the top of her head, and she giggles as she hugs you back.

You didn’t need anything other than her.

Because with your Little Star, you were home.

The sound of your name made you blink, pulling you back from the sky above you with a start as you turned to look back down beside you.

Eyes were focused up at you, narrowed in concern, and you continued to blink a few times before you recognized them.

“Huh?” you asked, caught off-guard by the sudden memory that had taken hold in your mind, though you quickly try to cover it up by smiling casually down at Dina. “Sorry, what were you saying?”

Dina hesitated, clearly not buying into your façade, but she didn’t say anything on the matter before looking back up at the sky.

“I just said that the stars are pretty tonight.”

You looked back up at her words, swallowing past a lump that had begun to form in your throat as you watched the small pinpoints of starlight taunt you with their cruel fate from light years away.

“Yeah,” you said quietly, your hands clasped tightly around the bottle in your lap. “Yeah, they are.”

By now, it was an instinct to sidestep the few intermittent streetlights leading you along Jackson’s residential streets in the dead of night.

Your head tilted up towards the sky as you walked, the dying stars bright above you, and you frowned as you quickly glanced back down to stare at your feet as you walked the familiar path back to Joel Miller’s door.

You told those thoughts lingering in the back of your mind that there was no reason for what you were doing. It was merely a distraction, a habit, and quite a pleasurable one at that. It had nothing to do with your shriveled up heart.

Nothing at all.

A brief ache radiated through your wrist after you knocked on his door once, and you rotated it as you waited for him to answer. Enough time had passed that you were able to finally take the brace off, but it was still weaker than you would like—you would have to build the strength back up.

It was for that reason that Tommy hadn’t allowed you to go on patrol today, a decision that had annoyed you, even though you knew that it was the right one to make. You just hated feeling helpless. There wasn’t much you despised more than having to sit back as everybody else went out to ensure the settlement’s safety.

You shifted on your feet as you continued to wait for Joel to answer the door. When he didn’t, you frowned, knocking louder this time before you crossed your arms over your chest, tapping your foot impatiently.

Still no answer.

Brows furrowed, you leaned closer to the door to knock again, your mouth opening to call out softly before you decided against it. Ellie did live on the grounds, after all; you probably shouldn’t risk drawing attention to the fact that you were on Joel’s doorstep in the middle of the night.

With a huff, you pushed yourself away, realizing that the old man had probably fallen asleep after his patrol today, or something. You turned your back on the house to begin descending the steps, when something about your thoughts made you linger.

Pausing, you glanced back over your shoulder, a frown growing on your face as the or something haunted your attempt to brush it aside.

You were back up the steps before you could think twice about it, knocking on the door louder this time as you leaned in to try and hear any sound from the other side, even though it probably wouldn’t do much good. Joel’s house was way bigger than yours, and there was no way you could hear him if he happened to be upstairs, or even further within the house.

When there was still no response, your frown only deepened, your mind spiraling down a worse direction about why he wasn’t answering. Your hand began to reach out before you stopped, hesitating as you considered what you were about to do.

Surely, there was a boundary here you were about to cross. It would be best if you just let him be—he was an adult, he could take care of himself—but then you remembered how he had stepped through your front door with the bandages when you were injured, and you groaned as you pushed the door open.

The door shut behind you as you looked around, frowning as you strained your ears to try and hear if Joel was downstairs somewhere. Maybe he was in the kitchen if he had finally gotten his hands on more coffee. Or maybe he was in the living room, snoring in his armchair—you didn’t actually know if the man snored but, he was old, he probably did.

But there was no sound coming from anywhere on the first floor, and you slowly made your way to the stairs as you called out tentatively, “Hey, Miller?”

No response.

Your footsteps picked up as you climbed the stairs, pausing only when you saw his familiar, brown leather jacket discarded on the top steps.

The sight caused anxiety to flare up within you, your hand curling around the railing as you quickly pulled yourself up and over the last couple of steps.

“Joel?” you called, louder this time, turning around in place as you realized you had never been in this part of his house before, and you had no idea where the fuck anything was, let alone where he may be.

There was an open doorway to your left, and you began to walk towards it to check first, when the moonlight streaming through a window made something on the ground glint.

Fear spiked like shards of ice through your veins as you leaned down to get a better look, not needing long to realize what it was.

Drops of blood.

“Joel!” you shouted, and this time there was a quiet grunt in reply, a sound that you chased down the hallway to a partially closed door at the end.

You burst through it, all caution and niceties be damned, looking around wildly for the man. There was no way for you to even process the room you were in before another grunt caught your attention, and you passed by one open doorway on your right to the next one, a sharp breath escaping you as you finally saw the man you had been searching for.

“Fucking hell, Joel,” you muttered as you burst forward, dropping to your knees in front of the man as he sat on the bathroom floor, his t-shirt discarded next to him, clutching at a spot on his abdomen that you couldn’t see with his hands covering it up. “What the fuck did you do?”

The stubborn bastard just shook his head, pushing your hands away as you reached out towards the injury that he was covering.

“Nothing,” he spoke through gritted teeth, and you scoffed as you fixed him with a hard stare.

“Clearly,” you said sarcastically, though your tone was lined with an edge of worry that you couldn’t hide. “Move your fucking hands, would you?”

Joel shook his head, his gaze shifting up to you in a glare that was weaker than normal. The sharp clarity in the depth of his brown eyes was partially glazed over, and you returned his glare with purpose as you reached out towards his hands again.

“‘M fine,” he grumbled in protest, even as he couldn’t stop your hands from curling around his this time when you tried again.

Still, he kept his palms pressed firmly against whatever wound he was harboring, and a hint of desperation bled into your tone as you snapped at him, “I’m not a big fan of having to explain to Tommy why I was in your house when you bled out on the floor, Joel, so move your fucking hands, you stubborn old bastard.”

Joel continued to try and glare at you, his eyes meeting yours as you both became trapped in a stalemate. Given how stubborn you both were, it probably could’ve gone on forever. But after a moment, something shifted in his gaze as he watched you, and he sighed as he finally let his hands drop.

You sucked in a breath when you saw the gashes across his lower torso, unable to hold back a wince as you leaned in to get a closer look at the damage.

“Was this—”

“Stalkers,” Joel grunted, nodding in confirmation at your question before you even got a chance to finish it. “Up at the lodge. We didn’t even realize they were there at first.”

“Yeah, that’s how they tend to work,” you mumbled, turning to the open first aid kit by Joel’s side, the contents scattered across the floor around him in his attempt to patch himself up. “How did Tommy not—”

You paused, looking back at Joel in the middle of collecting as much clean gauze and cotton as you could, eyes narrowing as you surmised, “You hid it from him, didn’t you?”

Joel quickly averted your gaze, and you could have laughed under any other circumstance as you realized he was feeling guilty from your accusation—one that apparently hit the nail right on the head.

“I’m fine,” he repeated, enunciating each syllable purposefully this time, as if to contrast how he had slurred it before.

You rolled your eyes as you pressed the gauze against the wound to stop any gashes that were still bleeding, earning a loud grunt from the man, which you arched a brow at, as it only proved your point.

He glared at you as you reached for a cleaning solution once you got the bleeding to stop fully.

“You’re a crotchety old man is what you are,” you mumbled, though your voice held no real malice, just irritation at how his stubbornness had landed him in this situation, alone. “A few years from now, you’ll be sitting on your porch, yelling at the kids to get off your lawn.”

A laugh louder than those quiet ones you had heard from Joel before left his lips, followed by a wince as he leaned forward, trying to grab at his wound again before you slapped his hand away.

“If I make it that long,” he said quietly, and you looked up at him sharply.

He wasn’t looking at you, and you realized the words were probably meant more for himself than you, but they still caused a surge of an emotion you couldn’t name in your veins. You pressed the cotton soaked in the cleaning solution against one of the long gashes, perhaps harder than was necessary, spurred on by that unnamable emotion he had elicited from you.

Joel sucked in a sharp breath, wincing as his head leaned back against the wall behind him. The muscles in his neck bunched up as he grunted, the veins bulging under toned skin, and you looked back down at his injury as you focused on methodically cleaning each deep scrape, one by one.

“If I have to stay safe, so do you,” you muttered, brows furrowed in concentration as you refused to look back up at him, even as you felt his attention focus back on you, his gaze sharper than you would have thought in his state of pain. “That’s part of the friendship deal.”

His gaze remained on you as you carefully cleaned his wound, leaving no spot unaccounted for while you assessed how deep the damage was. Luckily, it didn’t appear to require stitches, just thorough cleaning and some tight bandages.

“Aren’t you fortunate,” you drawled, adopting your typical snark to try and lighten the situation, even as you felt the unwavering intensity of his eyes still focused on you. “You also don’t have to suffer the effects of an ugly scar from my shitty patch-up work.”

You dared to glance up at Joel, expecting his mood to lighten when you referenced his own remark about not having to stitch up your cut after the bar fight months ago.

But when your eyes met his, there was a different kind of intensity to him that you hadn’t seen before, and you found yourself freezing with your palm still pressing the cotton to the last scrape that you were in the midst of cleaning.

The moment didn’t pass like it usually did, so you forced yourself to tear your gaze away from his, clearing your throat loudly as you looked back down.

“I mean, you’ll probably still have some scars,” you found yourself mumbling awkwardly, trying to fill the silence in any way you could as you dropped the used cotton into the pile that had formed through your task, “but it won’t be my fault.”

During your fumbled attempt to defuse the tension between you, your fingers brushed against the raised edges of a more recently healed scar lower on Joel’s torso, and you paused as your gaze flashed to it.

It was long and slightly pink, a sign that it wasn’t as old as some of the other scars you could see littering Joel’s chest and arms, now that his torso was exposed to you for the first time. You frowned, letting your fingertips gently graze over it as you pondered what had left the scar.

When Joel shivered under your touch, you quickly pulled away.

You cleared your throat again, shifting as you reached out to grab some gauze.

“Sit up,” you ordered, and Joel scoffed in indignation at your commanding tone, even as he did what you told him to.

Your movements were slow and steady as you wrapped up his torso, making sure the bandage was tight enough to protect the cleaned injury. You leaned down, tearing the end of the gauze off and tying it quickly and easily.

“Well, there you go,” you sighed as you leaned back, glancing over the bandage before nodding in satisfaction at your work. “Congratulations, your life expectancy has gained a few more years.”

Turning back towards the first aid kit, you began to gather the scattered supplies and place them back in the case as you added with your usual dry wit, “I accept payments in the form of coffee and whiskey.”

Joel huffed out a quiet laugh, and you turned back towards him with a slight smirk as he drawled, “Oh, I can think of some other ways to repay you.”

Now it was your turn to laugh, the sound bright with how surprised you were by the lusty response, and you shook your head at him in amusement.

“So now you’re a horny old bastard, as well as a grumpy one?” you teased, your smirk growing as his face lit up slightly at your familiar banter.

“I never claimed to be anything else, sweetheart,” Joel drawled with an easy smirk, and your stomach flipped before your gaze darted away so fast you almost got whiplash.

“Yeah, well—” you sputtered, cutting yourself off as you pushed yourself to your feet.

For once, you could think of nothing witty to say back. When you risked looking back at him, you saw his smirk had only widened, and you scoffed.

“Stupid, smug Miller look,” you muttered to yourself, rolling your eyes at him even as your hand extended to him as an offering to help him up.

Joel paused, looking at your hand for a moment before his gaze flickered back up to you. You hesitated at his silent observation, starting to pull your hand back right as he reached up and took it.

His hand landed in yours, his grip tight as you didn’t hesitate in pulling him up to his feet, your own feet planted firmly against the ground so you could take the brunt of his weight as he staggered to catch his footing.

Once he was standing, you released your grip on Joel’s hand to drop it, but it tightened around yours before you could let it go.

You stared down at your hand held fast in his grip, at the way his palm easily enveloped yours, and your throat tightened. His gaze was on you again, but you refused to look up and meet it, not wanting to feed whatever tension was simmering there. It was that new tension, the different one, and you didn’t want to confront it, afraid of what it could mean.

After a few seconds of avoiding his eyes, Joel quickly let go, as if he suddenly realized what he was doing. His hand dropped to his side as he moved past you, but your gaze remained fixed on the hand that he had released as he left the room. You stayed there, eyes not straying from your hand that he had let slip from his grasp.

You flexed it before closing it into a fist, clearing your throat as you pushed the storm of thoughts from your mind. Turning, you left the room quicker than was necessary, only for your eyes to land on the larger room that the bathroom was adjoined to.

A breath caught in your throat as you froze, glancing over Joel’s bedroom before you quickly spun away, back towards the door you had burst through earlier.

You strode towards that door with purpose, ignoring every temptation of curiosity to look around the room, clinging desperately to your third rule that explicitly forbid that specific matter.

Nothing personal, you repeated in your mind, even as you recalled seeing a couple of picture frames on the dresser right outside of the bathroom.

No bedrooms, you scolded yourself internally, avoiding looking at the record player that you saw out of the corner of your eye.

When you passed by the other doorway on your side, the first one you had walked past on the way in before reaching the bathroom next to it, you found your feet stumbling to a halt.

Joel stood in the closet, facing away from you as he pulled another dark-colored t-shirt from a hanger. Not able to stop yourself, you let your eyes roam down his back; across an old scar beneath his shoulder blade and down his flexing back muscles as he pulled the shirt on. Your gaze lingered on the back dimples you hadn’t known existed just below where you had bandaged him up, before the shirt covered them up.

You spun on your heels, hating the heat that flooded your face as you paced towards the door that led out of the bedroom, desperate to escape the situation even as you told yourself it was only attraction, the same kind that you had always felt towards him.

No taking off clothes, you thought, your hands balling into fists as you passed through the doorway into the hallway.

“Hey.”

You really, really shouldn’t have stopped so quickly just at the sound of Joel calling after you.

Embarrassment at the realization made your cheeks heat further, and you crossed your arms, refusing to look back at him, not wanting him to see your perplexing predicament.

“Hm?” you hummed, tilting your head to show you were listening to what he had to say, even as you kept facing away from him.

Silence stretched between you, and you shifted under the weight of it. After a moment, you almost gave into the urge to look back at him, but you froze at the single word that he murmured under his breath.

“Thanks.”

Subconsciously, you grabbed the hand that he had let go of between your thumb and forefinger. You began to fight a battle within yourself, even as you didn’t understand the field, the tactics, or even the reasons behind this fight.

After a moment, the words came tumbling out of you in a quiet response, “It’s not a big deal.”

You were already moving before he could respond, your feet carrying you back down the hallway without allowing a second thought to pass through your mind, and he made no move to stop you as you descended the steps.

There was only one moment when you paused before you left.

You repeated the mantra in your head—nothing personal, nothing personal—as you folded his worn jacket that had been discarded on the stairs, moving to place it on the armrest of his couch where you had once laid your head before leaving the same way you had come in.

To say that Tommy was pissed when he found out about Joel’s injury was an understatement.

You were one of the few lucky souls present in the room to witness the Miller brothers bicker. It just happened to occur during another dinner that Tommy insisted upon continuing as a new monthly tradition, only this time Ellie had joined your small group.

Maria had asked a question that Joel wasn’t listening to, and Ellie smacked him in the side to get his attention, resulting in a very visible wince and quiet grunt from the man as he recoiled from the contact.

Quiet fell around the table as you froze, watching Joel shifting uncomfortably out of the corner of your eye as your chewing slowed.

Shit, you swore internally as Tommy leaned forward, his gaze hardening as he noticed Joel recoiling in discomfort.

It didn’t take long before Tommy’s grilling about what was wrong resulted in Joel’s irritation, and both men began snapping at each other about responsibility.

“Jesus—" Joel had started saying before he cut off, glancing around the table, and you realized with amusement that his Southern upbringing was kicking in, not allowing him to swear at the dinner table.

"Tommy, it’s not a big deal,” he finally brushed away Tommy’s concern with an annoyed huff, but that only seemed to cause the younger brother’s annoyance to grow. “I’m obviously fine.”

“Are you?” Tommy snapped, leaning forward across the table, like he was challenging Joel to meet his gaze as he continued his accusations, “Are you fine, Joel?”

“Yes—”

“Are you obviously fine when you just winced from Ellie hitting you?” Tommy interrupted Joel’s response, and the older man bristled before he glanced sideways at Ellie’s bemused expression beside him.

“She packs a punch,” Joel muttered as an attempted excuse, and Ellie’s scarred eyebrow arched in what you swore was almost amusement at the scenario that was unfolding.

“Uh, yeah, but I barely touched you,” she replied, and Joel’s eyes narrowed in a half-hearted glare that basically screamed that she was supposed to back him up, to which Ellie casually shrugged a shoulder in response. There was a twinkle in her eyes now, one that told you she definitely was enjoying this development in the Miller family dinner.

You smothered a startled laugh at the sight into your hand as a cough, ignoring Maria’s pointed glare at your own growing amusement before you distracted yourself by grabbing your glass of water.

“Alright,” the woman across from you sighed, trying to gain control of the situation that was quickly escalating as she calmly gestured with her hands, “let’s all just—”

“If you’re patching yourself up, I’m sure it’s a shitty job,” Tommy snapped, the almost childish remark making you scoff quietly before you took a sip of your water.

Guess his Southern manners were swept under the rug with that curse, you remarked internally, your eyes snapping between both brothers like the argument was a tennis match.

“I didn’t—”

Joel broke off in the middle of his agitated response, his grip tightening around the fork in his hand before he dropped it with a sigh. The silverware clattered to the dish as he flexed his hand, and you tensed as you realized that he had been about to admit he didn’t patch himself up before he quickly recovers.

“I didn’t do a shitty job,” he muttered, the swear nearly growled out as he obviously despised repeating it during dinner, staring stubbornly down at his food.

You stared at your own glass of water as Tommy began to open his mouth to make another remark before Maria interrupted, “Alright, that’s enough.”

It was impossible not to snap to attention at her commanding tone, the four of you sitting around her at the table all falling silent and looking towards her at the same moment.

“You two,” Maria started, pointing at you and Ellie before then pointing towards the living room, “In there.”

“What—”

“But we—”

“Now.” Maria said firmly, interrupting both yours and Ellie’s protests, and the two of you fell silent as you rose to do what the woman told. She turned back towards the brothers while you and Ellie began to walk towards the living room, and you heard her say to them behind you, “And you two, in the kitchen.”

“But—”

"I didn't—”

“Now," Maria interrupted Tommy and Joel in the no-nonsense tone of a natural leader, and you heard the scraping of chairs as everybody else rose from the table to head in the opposite direction of you.

So now you were standing awkwardly in the living room with Ellie, trying to ignore the muffled argument on the other side of the house.

The teen sighed as she turned around in her pacing, her arms swinging out around her as she stared up at the ceiling.

“God, this is taking forever,” she groaned, and you arched an eyebrow in amusement at her apparent boredom.

“It’s been two minutes,” you said, pointing towards the clock on the wall, and Ellie sent a glare towards you before she collapsed on the couch.

“Two minutes too long,” she grumbled as she crossed her arms, staring at the fireplace across from her as you shifted in place.

You hesitated for a moment before moving to sit on the other side of the couch, giving the teenager plenty of room to herself as you exhaled heavily.

“So…” you trailed off, struggling to find something to say to Ellie. Even though you had both gotten along well when you had first met, that was obviously before you and Joel had entered into your…arrangement.

A part of you felt incredibly awkward now, realizing that you were now sitting alone in a room with who was basically the surrogate daughter of the man who you were having casual sex with.

“So…?” Ellie repeated, glancing out of the corner of her eye at you, and you frowned as your mind blanked for a subject to talk about.

“Uh,” you hedged, shifting to cross your legs before you finally said lamely, “how’s…school?”

Ellie also shifted, her arms crossing again before she shrugged. “Fine.”

You nodded before falling silent again. She didn’t seem as awkward in the situation as you, but apparently she didn’t have any better ideas for topics of conversation as she asked after a moment, “How’s…patrol?”

“Well, I’ve been off the bench for a while,” you answered by holding up your wrist, even though it wasn’t in a cast anymore. Apparently Ellie still knew what you were talking about, her gaze flashing with something before she nodded and looked away.

“Yeah, that sounds like it sucked,” she mumbled with a wince she tried to hide by keeping her face down, and you frowned.

There was sympathy in the words, but that wince spoke volumes, and your chest clenched as you realized then that maybe Ellie was no stranger to the situation you had found yourself in.

Maybe that was what had happened in the months between their visit to Jackson and now, the reason why Ellie sometimes seemed to be a shadow of her former self.

The thought caused a brief surging of white-hot anger through your veins, but you calmed yourself down, knowing there was nothing you could do about it now. She was here now, which meant Joel had probably given at least some of them hell.

Shit, this was the headstrong Ellie Williams you were talking about—she probably gave them hell, all on her own.

Turning towards Ellie, you opened your mouth to say something when you saw she was staring intently at something. You followed her eye, seeing that she was looking at the shrine, and you felt a familiar pensiveness as you glanced over it.

Ellie shifted, and when you glanced back, you saw her brow was furrowed, a frown on her face as she appeared to be deep in thought. Her reaction caused you to frown as well, looking at the shrine again before you gestured to it.

“Did you want to light it?” you asked, and Ellie jumped, as if she had forgotten you were there. When she turned to look at you, there was confusion in her eyes, and you clarified, “The candles.”

Ellie looked back to the shrine, then back to you, hesitation marking her features as she hedged, “Can we do that?”

“Yeah,” you smiled with an encouraging nod, placing your hands on your knees to push yourself to your feet and walk over to the shrine. Picking up the matchbox, you waited for Ellie to join you at your side before holding it out to her.

She hesitated again, looking up at you with uncertainty as she asked slowly, “And you’re sure it’s okay?”

“Yes,” you assured with a quiet laugh, finding it admirable how she wanted to be respectful in the house. “I do it all the time.”

Ellie finally took the matches from you, striking a flame before lighting each candle. She quickly blew out the match, and you took the matchbox back from her to set back down in its spot as she glanced towards you from the corner of her eye and said like it was the most casual thing on Earth, “No wonder Joel likes you.”

Even without eating or drinking anything, you still managed to choke at the unexpected words that left the teen. You glanced towards her in bewilderment, too shocked to even begin to process what she meant by that.

“I—huh?” you finally managed to splutter at least one word and a sound.

Ellie snickered at your reaction, a shit-eating grin growing on her face that you were happy to see, even if it was at your expense—because it meant that maybe Ellie was settling into Jackson enough to be as happy as she used to be, or at least as close to it as she could get.

“Well, it probably means a lot to him,” she explained with a shrug. When your brow furrowed further, she added, “You know, lighting a candle for Sarah.”

You blinked, the words stirring even more confusion, even as the unknown meaning behind them made your stomach drop.

Ellie watched as your confusion didn’t alleviate, her eyes widening as she leaned back on the balls of her feet.

“I—shit,” she muttered in no small amount of exasperation, throwing her hands up in the air. “I did the same thing Maria did to me, didn’t I?”

You didn’t say anything as Ellie began swearing like a sailor beside you, your gaze shifting back to the name on the right side of the shrine, and the flickering candle that honored that life.

Too many things began to click into place all at once, your head spinning as you tried to reel your emotions back in, at least enough to control whatever reactions were showing on your face right now that were sending Ellie further into a guilt-stricken panic from revealing a secret that wasn’t hers.

Yes, you had suspected for a while now that one of the lives might have been related to the Miller brothers. And yes, there were parts of Joel, parts of his pain, that had always been familiar. But all of a sudden, it was like you knew.

That ache in your soul, the one that matched an ache in his—fuck, how could you have not realized before? You knew you had matching wounds somehow, but it had never dawned on you just how similar your pain truly was.

Have you ever lost everything?

Your own words echoed in your mind, and you sucked in a pained breath as you remembered Joel’s reply as clear as day.

…Yes.

“Hey,” you hear Ellie speak hesitantly from beside you, and you turn to see her panic had been replaced by slight concern as she looked up at you. “Uh, you good? I swear I didn’t mean to—”

“No, it’s fine,” you dismiss her worry with a shake of your head. “I…kind of figured it was something like that.”

Ellie nodded slowly, though her hesitation didn’t completely disappear as she crossed her arms and looked back towards the candles. You did the same, your brows knitted together as a tumultuous storm of emotions continued to rage deep within your heart at your realization.

You focused on reigning in those emotions, careful to keep your expression neutral as you heard footsteps echo outside the room. Ellie turned around before you did, a small smile breaking across her face, and you knew from that alone that it was Joel who had walked in.

Your head tilted towards the sound of his voice as he spoke softly to her, “Alright, kiddo, time to go.”

There was a bounce in Ellie’s step as she walked over to him, her hesitation gone as she said in a sarcastically cheerful voice, “Well, that was a shitshow.”

Joel laughed quietly, and you glanced back over your shoulder to see him fondly pat her on the shoulder when she found her place at his side.

“That is how these family dinners tend to go,” he drawled as he gave her shoulder one more gentle pat before letting his hand drop.

Ellie’s eyebrows shoot up at the new piece of information.

“For real?” she asks, looking up at Joel in interest, and a soft smile stretched fully across his lips at her curiosity—a smile reserved for Ellie alone that you had seen a handful of times before, like during your unexpected game night.

“Oh yeah,” Joel replied easily, his entire posture more casual than you had ever seen as he spoke to Ellie, and you softened at the sight of how evident his fondness of her had become. “You should’ve seen Thanksgiving with the Millers—now that was a sight to behold.”

Ellie laughed at that, her smile almost as carefree as it used to be, and Joel’s own smile grew considerably at the sound, as did yours as you watched silently from the background.

“Maybe I’ll see it for myself this year,” she joked, reaching out to elbow Joel in the side before she quickly stopped. Ellie hesitated, letting her arm drop back down as she glanced towards his injured spot and asked awkwardly, “Uh, you’re okay though, right?”

Joel chuckled quietly at her first comment, groaning playfully at the idea of having to suffer through a post-apocalyptic Thanksgiving dinner before pausing at her next words.

To your surprise, his gaze flickered over her head to where you had leaned against the fireplace mantle. You froze, embarrassed at being caught watching this little moment between them, but Joel didn’t say anything to you as his gaze flickered to the lit candles beside you, then back down to Ellie.

“Yeah, I’m okay,” he said gently, nudging her arm with his elbow before heading towards the front door. “Now come on, you’ve already skipped out on our last couple of guitar lessons.”

Ellie groaned, dragging her feet as she followed him out of your line of sight, though her voice echoed back down the hallway with her impertinent response, “I’ve been busy!”

“With what?” Joel replied playfully, and a wider smile grew on your face now that you were alone in the room, your heart warming at the sweet, father-daughter bickering between the two. “You don’t got a job, what are you so busy doing?”

You heard Joel open the front door as Ellie scoffed, “Uh, drawing. Hanging out with friends.”

“You have two friends,” Joel replied flatly, and you smothered a laugh into your hand at her playful gasp.

“That’s more than you, dude!” she snapped back, even though laughter infected her comeback. “How many friends do you have? Zero?”

There was a thoughtful pause for a few seconds, then Joel’s voice rang out behind him before the door shut, “I have one.”

You froze at the words, even as they caused an unnamable warmth to bloom through your chest, and a small smile to curl onto your lips.

With Joel out of commission due to his injury, and your wrist finally healed, you returned to your old position of being Tommy’s patrol partner.

It was a breath of fresh air, to ride alongside him outside of Jackson’s walls once more. The moments where you were heading down the trails together were filled with familiar jokes and shared laughter, and your old sniping contest made a comeback when you were sweeping areas for hunters and Infected.

When you were done with your tasks for the day, you sat side-by-side on a fallen tree trunk, enjoying the cooler breeze that marked the end of summer as you passed a flask of whiskey that Tommy had brought with him back and forth.

At one point, Tommy winced as he reached into his backpack, and you frowned at the realization he may not be as well healed from his gunshot wound as he let on.

“You holding up alright?” you asked tentatively, eyeing him from the corner of your eye after taking a sip from the flask.

A part of you had known he would brush off your concern, and you sighed to yourself when he did just that, waving off your worry with one hand while he continued to rifle through his backpack with the other.

“Nothing to worry about,” he muttered to try and dismiss your concern, and you scoffed as you arched a disbelieving eyebrow down at him.

“That’s real rich coming from you, after how you laid into Joel for saying just that,” you found yourself replying before you could stop yourself, and Tommy looked up at you in surprise at your defense of his brother before it faded into mild annoyance.

“Hey, at least I got Maria to keep my ass in line,” he huffed, frowning as he couldn’t seem to find whatever he was searching his backpack for. “Joel is too goddamn stubborn to let himself be vulnerable like that. I tried to set him up with someone, but no, he refuses to be happy…come on, where the fuck is it?”

His words made you shift, your gaze flashing back down to the flask as you considered them while Tommy began to mumble to himself in annoyance about whatever he was looking for.

Not for the first time, you wondered if you and Joel had made the right choice, continuing this…whatever the fuck this weird friends-with-benefits situation was, when he had had a clear path to being happy, as Tommy had called it.

But whenever that thought crept its way back into your mind, you had to remind yourself that you had given him an out. You had given him an excuse to leave and never come back, but he came back anyway. He didn’t take that out.

Why hadn’t he taken that out?

“Aha!”

Tommy’s exclamation made you turn back to him, your inner musings forgotten as you watched him pull a Walkman from his backpack. He grunted in annoyance at the tangled headphones, impatiently tugging at the wires to pull them apart before he passed it to you, much to your confusion.

“What’s this?” you asked, the Walkman held out in your palm like it was a bomb, and he rolled his eyes at your trepidation.

“A birthday gift,” he said cheerfully, the corner of his lips tilted up in a cheeky grin, and you scoffed gently at the words.

For some reason, Tommy had always thought your birthday was around this time of year; a suspicion that you had neither confirmed nor denied. The truth was, you didn’t care to celebrate your own birthday, so you never talked about when it was.

Still, Tommy was determined to always get you gifts this time of year, and you didn’t have the energy to try and convince him otherwise. You knew better than to try and stop him when he had his mind set on something. The bastard was just as stubborn as his older brother, if not more so.

You glanced down at the Walkman, pointing at the tape in the cassette as you replied sarcastically, “It’s not rewound all the way.”

“It’s where it’s supposed to be,” Tommy huffed as he gently nudged your shoulder with his own. “I know what I’m doing.”

An eyebrow raised in doubt at that remark, and Tommy flipped you off at your silent teasing suspicion, which drew a laugh out of you. Sighing, you pick up the headphones to place in your ears, sending him one last bemused glance before pressing play on the tape.

When the music started, an inkling of familiarity tickled the back of your mind, even as you couldn’t place it right away. You frowned in thought, trying to put a name to the song, the feeling that you knew it somehow about to drive you crazy, until the chorus started.

Suddenly, you recognized the melody, and your gaze shot back to Tommy, eyes wide with shock that you couldn’t conceal even if you had wanted to.

He only returned your surprise with an excited smile, gesturing back towards the tape as if to draw your attention back to the music, instead of him. You knew this melody like the back of your hand, even as the exact words were unfamiliar, lost to your youth before the world had ended.

Tears pricked at the back of your eyes, and you held the Walkman tighter as you tried to hold them back. Memories that you didn’t even know you still had flooded your mind; this song playing on the radio, your father’s exasperated smile at its repetition at your request, your mother’s laughter as you jumped up and down on the couch and sang along to the chorus, even though you messed up the lyrics every time.

It wasn’t until Tommy’s arm wrapped around your shoulders that you realized you were crying. The tears fell down your cheeks freely as you sniffed, and you leaned into the familiarity of the hug of your closest friend—hell, your best fucking friend—his grip on you tightening as he held you close.

Neither of you said anything. Tommy didn’t intrude on your moment as you relived the almost-forgotten happy moments of your childhood. But he kept his hold on you firm and gentle; a reminder that you weren’t alone, even now.

You knew that he would keep you tethered to this earth, that he would keep you with him for as long as he could. And despite your own determination about your fate, you couldn’t help but smile at the thought.

When the song came to an end, you let the next one start before you pressed pause. You tugged the headphones from your ears, even as you didn’t remove yourself from Tommy’s hug just yet.

“Thanks,” you mumbled, clearing your throat as your voice choked with emotion, and you felt Tommy nod above you.

“Yeah, no problem,” he mumbled, and you finally pulled back when you heard the emotion in his own strained voice, but he kept his face stubbornly turned away from you as you straightened.

Silence fell between you as you sat together, content to not say anything, because you didn’t need to acknowledge what you meant to each other with words.

Still, it didn’t stop Tommy from trying, his mouth opening to hedge out, “I…uh, you know that I…”

You gently punched him in the shoulder, your lips quirking into a soft smile as you muttered, “Yeah, I know.”

Tommy sighed in relief that he didn’t have to say it, finally turning back to face you as an equally gentle, fond smile grew on his own face.

“Come on,” he sighed after another moment, patting you on the knee before pushing himself to his feet, then reaching out to help you up to yours. “We’re burning daylight.”

You tucked the Walkman carefully into your own pack, pulling it back over your shoulders before you took his hand to rise to your feet, and you walked back to your horses to head on home, together.

#joel x reader #joel miller x reader #joel x f!reader #joel miller hurt/comfort #a stranger's heart series

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