#reminds me of that time i fell off a slide and thought i got ketchup on my face when it was actually blood
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kenkamishiro · 6 years ago
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Ishida’s Q&A comments from YJ compilation, Part 7
More of Ishida being snarky, plus that time he got hit by a car.
For anyone who doesn’t know about the relevant Questions to Ishida contest, please read here. You can start from Part 1 here.
The recent set of zakki:re and interview translations take a lot of time and effort, so if you enjoyed it please reblog or leave a like. Thank you!
2015
No. 1
What was the most unexpected thing that happened to you this year?
When I asked my friend, “Did anything unexpected happen to me?”, he suddenly handed me 6 mini four-wheel drives, which I was not expecting.
It was made by all the staff members.
No. 2
What present did you get from Santa that you were happy with?
DQ, probably. I feel like it was both my Christmas and birthday present wrapped in one.
I was in despair that time I got a mysterious transformers toy.
[T/N: DQ is the short form for Dragon Quest.]
No. 3
Sensei, what do you think is the face of 2014?
Jibanyan.
Gave a random answer for that one.
No. 4-5
December 24th is Christmas Eve! Now then, please share with us a gift that you want now as an adult!
Nothing since I’m an adult.
Like hell you’re an adult.
No. 6-7
Who or what are you most anticipating for 2015?
I’d be thankful if a 64-bit version of SAI was released.
It never came out! But I ended up going back to SAI in the end.
No. 8
Please share with us your goals for 2015.
I want to start oil painting.
I dabbled in it a bit in 2017.
No. 9
A hero that you admired when you were a kid?
The Jedi.
I still admire them.
No. 10
What’s a fictional vehicle you want to ride?
The Millennium Falcon.
Doraemon’s time machine.
No. 11
Who has had the greatest aura up to now?
The Kanou sisters.
They’ve stood in the countrysides of Fukuoka.
No. 12
Please share with us a person or character you think will be popular.
I think Iseya Yuusuke is really cool.
I don’t concern myself with those kind of things.
No. 13
What do you want to graduate in?
Excessive sleep.
I’m already giving up.
No. 14
Please tell us about the 18th time you went to karaoke.
This and that...I like to sing.
I do like to sing.
No. 15
What would you most like to receive right now?
Chicken.
Wouldn’t that be a hassle though, receiving chicken out of nowhere...
No. 16
What is your favourite CM?
I haven’t watched any CMs recently.
Even now I haven’t watched any.
No. 17
Who’s a person from the same generation as you whom you respect?
She’s younger actually, but Ooima Yoshitoki.
I think there are a lot of amazing people younger than me.
[T/N: The mangaka of A Silent Voice/Koe no Katachi.]
No. 18
Do you have a school uniform or some other kind of uniform you want to wear?
A military uniform.
The one from McDonald’s.
No. 19
Any memorable stories that take place in a school setting?
Lesson of the Evil.
Battle Royale.
No. 20
Is there a hairstyle you want to try once to challenge yourself?
I want to dye my hair an ash colour.
Yeah, I understand.
No. 21-22
What volume would you recommend to children?
“The Gentle Lion.”
It would depend on the nature of the child reading it.
No. 23
What ghosts or monsters would you never want to encounter?
Deidarabotchi.
Actually, just all ghosts in general.
No. 24
It’s that time of year when the May blues start showing up, but Sensei, what do you do to cheer yourself up?
I’ve been eating hanpen recently.
What’s “It’s that time of year when the May blues start showing up” supposed to mean...
No. 25
Are there any penalty games you want to try?
I don’t want to try any.
I can’t even think of any penalty games in the first place.
No. 26
Which famous person would you be happy with if they lived next door to you?
Robert Knepper.
If a famous person lived next door to me it’d be such a hassle.
[T/N: Ishida did a sketch of him a few years back on his twitter.]
No. 27
What robot would you like to pilot?
The White Glint.
A Gundam.
[T/N: White Glint is from Armored Core.]
No. 28
What song do you listen to when you’re reading your own manga?
For instance, you can listen to Ling Tosite Sigure, People In The Box, the cabs, österreich, and amazarashi.
That’s right.
No. 29
What fictional city or house would you like to live in?
Pallet Town.
But that town is like, empty.
No. 30
Who would you say is the ideal father?
Darth Vader.
How?
No. 31
What nickname do you want to call yourself?
The hikikomori of Hakata.
God.
No. 32
What wish did you write on your Tanabata slip a long time ago?
I don’t remember.
“I hope to live forever.”
No. 33
If you had a side job besides being a mangaka what would it be?
Being a ghost writer.
Just how much are you planning to work?
No. 34
Sensei, please tell us about a letter that you remember!
I don’t remember any, but I like getting letters.
It’s hard to remember just one because I get so many.
No. 35
Please tell us about any person or thing that’s greatly flourishing around you recently!
Ginger ale.
Music player I use for running.
No. 36-37
Sensei, please share with us one of your old memories.
I slammed my face into the slide.
Oh, so that explains things.
No. 38
Please share with us a memory of you when you were back in grade school during the summer.
I was writing a manuscript.
Probably when we painted our bodies and danced half-naked deep inside the mountains of Kurume.
No. 39
Please share with us a special dessert!
Tapioca coconut milk.
Brulee.
No. 40
Now then, what would you do if the world ended tomorrow?
Sleep.
Get flustered.
No. 41
Please share with us a “taste of autumn” that you’d like to eat this fall!
Japanese pear.
Pacific saury, probably.
No. 42
Please tell us one character that you’d like to house-share with!
Umaru-chan.
Why Umaru-chan?
No. 43
Please share with us one subject you weren’t good at in school!
Nothing in particular.
I wasn’t really interested in social studies, but now when I study it now it’s interesting.
No. 44
It’s time to change clothes for the season! Sensei, please share with us what you usually wear!
Going barefoot.
Going barefoot...?
No. 45
It’s Reader Autumn! Please share with us a volume you want to read this fall!
March Comes In Like A Lion.
Putin: A Diplomatic Study. I’ve been fascinated with Russia recently.
No. 46
Please share with us a memory of a trip you’ll never forget!
The trip to Oita I went to the day before an exam.
Ah, I remember that.
No. 47
Please share with us one famous person’s future you’re watching out for!
Morohoshi Sumire-san.
I wonder if she’s doing well.
[T/N: Aka Hinami’s voice actress!]
No. 48
Please share with us a memory of you related to cars!
When I was in 2nd grade of elementary school, I was hit by a car.
I don’t really have any memories of those few following days after I was hit.
No. 49
Please share with us one TV program that you want to or wanted to appear in!
Terrace House.
I really wanna appear in it.
No. 50
Please share with us a flavour that you’ll never forget!
An onigiri that was given to me.
The squid from the sushi that was given to me to eat before my serialization was delicious. And that was how I became able to eat sushi.
No. 51
Please share with us something you want to learn how to do now?
Play the drums.
Drawing, learning English.
No. 52
Please share with us one of your favourite writing utensils!
A ballpen.
At the time I was addicted to drawing rough sketches with a ballpen. Now I use a mechanical pencil.
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luci-in-trenchcoats · 4 years ago
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If I Fell For You (Part 15) - Trouble In Paradise
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Summary: The reader is enjoying settling into her newfound children’s book career and shares how important the bracelet she gave Jensen is to her. A rainy day allows the reader to enjoy her shift into motherhood despite all of the bumps that go with it. But not everything is smooth sailing for the happy couple...
Masterlist
Pairing: Jensen x nanny!reader
Word Count: 5,600ish
Warnings: language, angst, mention of past abuse, nightmares, major angst
A/N: Uh oh. Big uh oh. Please enjoy and let me know what you think!
________
Two Weeks Later
“Honey bun,” sang Jensen as he stepped into your home office you’d set up in the small reading room in the house. “Must you work today?”
“I do occasionally have to work on that drawing thing,” you said. He pouted and laid out on the daybed, picking up a copy of the third book. “Give me another hour to finish with these pages.”
“Can I hang out and watch you draw?” he asked.
“Knock your socks off,” you said. You picked up your stylus again and went back to your pad, Jensen sitting up and watching from the other side of the room. “You can sit closer if you want.”
He got up and pulled over a chair, crossing his legs in it.
“I basically draw using my stylus and this pad and it shows up on my laptop screen,” you said.
“We could get you a better screen, like your own separate work computer. I know your stories are picking up a lot of steam.”
“I’m okay for now. All I need to do is finish illustrating this book and my five book deal is done and ready for print,” you said.
“Can I make a request?”
“I would love to put in a giraffe for Zepp but the story takes place in the woods,” you said.
“Baby giraffe? Maybe just in the background?” he asked.
You backed out of your current page and went to the last two where the foxes and wolves were playing with their friends. You tapped on a tree and erased it, sketching out a loose shape.
“Look up a giraffe for me?” you asked. He tapped away on his phone and pulled up a picture. “Thanks.”
You drew a picture of a rough giraffe, softening it some before adding colors.
“You’re really good at that,” he said.
“The characters are easy. Backgrounds can get boring,” you said. You went back to your original set of pages and worked quietly, Jensen watching carefully. “Yes?”
“Just wanna spend time with you is all,” he said, resting his head on your shoulder.
“Okay, baby,” you said. You worked for another hour, Jensen asking the occasional question but mostly staying silent and close by. After you sent off the pages for review you turned to him, Jensen offering a soft smile in return. “All set with work for the day.”
“Awesome,” he said.
“Where’s the munchkins?”
“A movie,” he said. You ran your fingers through his hair and he leaned into it. “Tell me a secret.”
“A secret? I don’t think I have too many of those left from you,” you said. He opened his eyes and looked at you through his lashes. “What?”
“You said you got this on vacation,” he said, holding up his wrist, the bracelet you’d put on him two weeks ago still there. “When we were down there, I was talking to Ray and he kinda implied it wasn’t just a souvenir.”
“I was upset that day when he bought it for me. It meant I was safe was all,” you said.
“How long after did your mom…”
“A few months. She went on bed rest after that trip.”
“Y/N, I know when you’re holding back, honey. I would never judge or tell anyone anything. You know that.”
“You got hurt because you lost someone and you got hurt and it sucks right? But it’s kinda like something happened and then you heal from it right?”
“Yeah…” he said. “What don’t I know?”
“You know how anxious you were to get in the car and drive down to the beach?” you asked as he nodded. “You’ve never been afraid of a person, Jensen. It’s like that feeling...but everyday and you’re expected to live your life normally when you constantly have that over your head.”
He was quiet, glancing past you as the room grew darker from some passing clouds outside.
“Canada wasn’t the first time you saw your father since you were adopted, was it,” he said.
“You wouldn’t believe what a good lawyer and shitty laws will do for a piece of shit like that,” you said.
“You were a kid.”
“With zero physical evidence. Everything was circumstantial. So he got out and he came to apologize or some bullshit and Ray decked him.”
“The more I learn about Ray, the more I like him.”
“My mom kicked him in the nuts.”
“I really like that woman,” he said. You smiled and he moved his chair closer, pulling you into his lap. “I don’t mean to make you talk about your dad. I was curious was all.”
He went to take off the bracelet when you put a hand over it.
“I don’t want to remind you of something bad, sweetheart.”
“Like I said, I was upset. Very upset and in public and I went down to the beach to try to hide away. Ray bought that for me and told me I was safe when he put it on me. All it means to me is that you’re safe.”
“What about you? What do you have?” he asked quietly. You cocked your head and moved your hand to rest over his chest. “Alright, sort of a dumb question.”
“Not dumb,” you said, trailing your fingers down his chest.
“Guess you’ll just have to stay as close as humanly possible.”
“I don’t have a problem with that,” you said.
“Do you have a restraining order against your father?”
“No but that’s only because Ray managed to get him kicked out of the country. He found some loophole law. He was born in the Yukon so technically he’s not American and he got him kicked back.”
“Scratch that. Ray is my new favorite person,” he said. “If only we could send him someplace we’ll never visit like...a deserted island. Or Hell.”
“I appreciate the thought but I’m not scared of him anymore,” you said. “I am however afraid our plans of lunch at the brewery are going to get rained out.”
“We can enjoy ourselves right here. I’ve never heard a complaint yet about my grilling.”
“You know what? I got the perfect idea.”
“Okay,” said Jensen, sliding the foil packet off the grill and onto JJ’s plate. You’d decided to have lunch on the grill, sitting out under the covered back patio off the playroom. It was pouring rain but you were plenty dry there. “Chicken, marinara sauce and cheese. Then we got chicken, ketchup and baby carrots for Arrow. Zeppy wanted to try barbecue sauce and onion which sounded good to me and then Y/N went for the salmon and lemon.”
You helped the twins open up their foil packets and get their food on their plates, dicing up the chicken for them before going to your own plate.
“Daddy,” said Zeppelin while he chewed on a big piece of chicken. Jensen hummed and worked on his own food. “Can we play race cars after lunch?”
“Sure,” he said, JJ shaking her head.
“I don’t wanna play cars,” she said. Zeppelin stared at her and his bottom lip wobbled. “You’re a cry baby.”
“JJ, that’s rude,” you said, Jensen glancing at you and nodding. “Apologize to your brother.”
“Sorry,” she mumbled. 
“We’re gonna play cars after lunch and you’re welcome to join,” said Jensen. “Your brother goes along with what you girls want to play quite a bit so I think you can do the same for him.”
“I still don’t wanna play cars,” she mumbled.
“You play cars with the Padalecki boys all the time,” you said.
“Not little kid cars,” she said. “He doesn’t know how to play right.”
You saw Zeppelin getting upset again and sighed.
“There’s no wrong way to play,” you said. “Zepp’s littler than you. You gotta be the big sister and do what he wants sometimes.”
“Mom would have played dress up,” she grumbled. “Not stupid cars.”
“Enough,�� said Jensen. “You’re old enough to know better.”
“I didn’t do anything wrong.”
“Your brother wants to play cars. We played horses all morning long and you barely let him have a turn at that so like I said, we’re gonna play what he wants and you are welcome to join us but if you don’t want to, you can play something else,” he said. 
“Baby,” she said under her breath. Jensen didn’t catch it but you did.
“JJ you’re in timeout after lunch. Ten minutes,” you said. 
“I didn’t-”
“You just called him a baby. You want to make it fifteen?” you asked.
“You’re not my mom! You can’t give me timeouts,” she said.
“Half an hour now,” said Jensen. She stared at him and he shook his head. “Eat your lunch.”
Zeppelin spent half of it crying quietly and JJ barely touched hers before she was following Jensen inside. You threw your head back and sighed before you went inside to get some tissues. When you came back out Arrow was hugging him tightly.
“Let’s clean you up, buddy,” you said as you squatted down beside them. She let go of him and you wiped off his face and helped him blow his nose. “Feel better?”
“We can play dress up,” he said. You picked him up and hoisted him on your hip. 
“We’re gonna play cars. Arrow, do you want to play with us?” you asked. She smiled and nodded. “Hey how about you go wash your hands and then you can bring out the bucket of cars and we’ll play out here. How’s that sound Zepp?”
“Okay,” he said. Arrow went inside and you carried him around as you collected the trash and threw it in the bag you brought out. You tied it up and left it in the corner to put in the bin later before you you walked to the edge of the covered patio, rain coming down at a decent rate. “Y/N you’re my mom right?”
“I’m one of your moms,” you said. “I’m gonna adopt you that way everybody can know I am though.”
“Cool,” he said softly, resting his head on your shoulder. “Mom can we play in the rain?”
“Hear any thunder?” you asked. He shook his head. “See any lightning?”
“Nuh uh,” he said.
“Then we can play in the rain all you want,” you said. You walked out to the grass and spun around with him, getting a giggle out of him. “Did you hear that?”
“Hear what?” he asked. You spun around again and he laughed.
“There it is again!” you said. He giggled and you spun around a few times until you were dizzy and took a seat. He hugged you and kissed your cheek as you noticed Jensen leaning against the post of the patio. He was smiling and you hopped up with Zeppelin, waving him around in the air until you were back under cover. You set him down and he ran over to Arrow, picking out his favorite cars from the bucket and handing her some. 
“Well that might have been one of the cutest things I’ve ever seen,” he said. 
“You took a picture, didn’t you.”
“Oh several,” he said. He glanced back at the twins and then at you. “It clicked for you just now didn’t it.”
“Being a mom? Yeah.”
“You didn’t look to me on how to discipline JJ and you made him feel better and you made him laugh. You went full mom there and I’ve kinda been waiting for that.”
“I know it’s just playing they’re arguing over but I just hate...there is so much of you in him,” you said.
“I know and that feeling will never go away but it means you love ‘em and loving them is my only requirement for us working so this was actually a really good thing.”
“Those two are so sweet,” you said.
“It’s the twin thing. Oh what fun we have to look forward to when they are teenagers and they lie to us for one another,” he chuckled.
“Yeah but I’ll take it. Did you really give her a half hour timeout?”
“Fifteen minutes. She needs to share more and he doesn’t like confrontation so he goes along with what she wants but it’s not her road or the highway.”
“She’s been a little…”
“I know. Since we told them about the engagement,” he said. “We gotta talk to her on her own.”
“Let me take a crack at her first?” you asked.
“You got a hunch?”
“I don’t think having a mom again is a problem. I think the idea of losing a mom again is.”
“That makes sense considering she was attached to your hip before all this.”
“I’m gonna go see if I can get to the bottom of this. Now go play cars,” you said. He kissed your cheek and you headed inside, drying off some with a towel in the laundry room before you went up to JJ’s bedroom. You knocked and cracked open the door, catching her splayed out on her bed. “JJ. Can we talk?”
She rolled and put her back to you. You sat down on the edge of her bed and took a deep breath.
“You know your brother did what you wanted all day. You have to share,” you said. She didn’t say anything and you lay back on the bed, turning your head. She rolled back the other way and you sat up. She rolled again and you tilted your head back. “JJ do you want me to be your mom?”
“No,” she mumbled. 
“Are you lying?” She didn’t move and you sat back, her face scrunched up. “Are you scared if I’m your mom something bad will happen to me?”
“I don’t want two dead moms,” she said. 
“I have two dead moms,” you said. She blinked her eyes open and sat up. “My first mom, I never met her. She died giving birth to me.”
“You only had a dad when you were born?” she asked. You nodded and pulled her into your lap. “Did he get married again?”
“No. My dad was very mad my mom died. He took that out on me. He was a bad guy. He went to jail and I got adopted by my mom when I was your age. Ray was her boyfriend. He acted like he was my dad in a lot of ways. I was sixteen when my mom died. I understand it hurts, sweetie, and that it’s scary and you don’t ever want to feel like that again.”
“I thought if I was bad you and daddy wouldn’t...and then I don’t have to feel bad again.”
“I am so sorry honey but you can’t stop that feeling from never coming back. The only way you could not get it would be to not love anyone or anything and that’s not a life at all. It’s the price you pay for loving someone. Your mom was an accident. But Daddy is young and I’m even younger and I promise you will not have to feel that way about me for a very, very long time.”
“How long?”
“How about fifty years?”
“Fifty years? That’s forever,” she said. 
“I’ll give you fifty years if I can be your mom and you stop picking on Zepp. Deal?”
“Okay. I’m sorry I made him cry.”
“I’m not the one that needs an apology,” you said. “Now do you want stay in here all by yourself or do you want to come play with us?”
“I can play?” she asked.
“Absolutely,” you said. You got up and carried her down on your back, setting her down to let her run off out to the porch. Jensen got up from his seat and held up a finger, ducking back inside to where you were.
“That’s what I like to see,” he said as she gave Zeppelin a hug and he handed her a car.
“I did have to promise not to die for fifty years.”
“Fifty? You got off easy. I had to promise a hundred after the accident,” he chuckled. “I should have noticed she was scared.”
“I have more experience being a scared little girl than you do. I got experience with letting people get close again too,” you said.
“How’s that working out for ya?” he smirked.
“He’s lucky he’s hot,” you said. He threw his arm over your shoulders and grinned. “Do you want to get married in the fall?”
“This fall?” he asked.
“Can we pull it off that fast?” you asked.
“Yeah. We don’t have to book a venue which is the hardest part. I don’t see why not. What’s the rush?” he asked.
“It’s easier to adopt them if we’re married,” you said. “I don’t really want to wait longer than we have to if that’s alright.”
“I’d say let’s go drive down to city hall and get a justice of the peace right now if I knew my mother wouldn’t kill me for it. How about I call up the lawyer and ask him to start prepping the paperwork as if we already were so it’s all set to go,” he said.
“You have a lawyer?” you asked. “They’d do that?”
“Y/N, honey. My taxes alone frighten me not to mention I own a business with employees and what qualifies as a business write off still confuses me and wait you don’t have a lawyer for your book deal?”
“Should I have one?” 
“Greg is your lawyer now,” he said. “He’s good. He’ll do all the paperwork for us.”
“Oh good cause all the forms online were confusing the hell out of me,” you said. He shook his head and pulled you in close. 
“Silly goose,” he said, a loud boom of thunder shaking the house. “Let’s get the crew inside before it pours.”
“Who wants to build a fort?” you asked that afternoon. JJ jumped up and down on the couch and Jensen walked in with an arm full of blankets and sheets. Three little hands shot up and Jensen lazily tossed the blankets on the couch, covering the three of them.
“Hm, where’d those three munchkins run off to…” he said, Arrow ducking her head out first, hair all in her face. Jensen giggled and she rolled her eyes, the other two climbing out. “Alright. I’m gonna grab clothes pins and a few more things. You guys start designing.”
You stood back and let JJ organize, figuring out her first choice of blanket for a roof was too small. Jensen returned with a bag of clips, some twine and the step ladder, wrapping his arms around your waist and resting his head on your shoulder.
“How they doing?” he whispered.
“Picking out the roof,” you said, Arrow rushing over and grabbing his hand as Zeppelin climbed on JJ’s back and held up a sheet over the two of them with one hand. You smirked and she let out another eye roll.
“Daddy, can you pick up Zeppy so then he can put the blankie up? I told them they’re too small,” she said.
“Sure,” he said. “Tell me where you want it to go.”
Twenty minutes later the family room was covered with sheets, tied off to the stairs, chairs, the ceiling fan after Jensen broke out the larger ladder to get up there and assured you it wouldn’t bring the whole thing crashing down. 
“Can we sleep in here tonight?” asked JJ. 
“I don’t see why not,” you said. “There’s plenty of room on the couch. We’ll bring down your comforters when it’s bedtime,” you said.
“Can we watch Cars?” asked Zeppelin, glancing at JJ. 
“Okay,” she said. She gave him a hug and picked him up, Jensen smiling to himself as he looked on.
“Can we get pizza for dinner like a real sleepover?” asked Arrow. 
“We did cook up all the chicken at lunch,” you said, giving Jensen a side eye.
“Yeah we’ll get one,” he said. “Why don’t you turn on your movie okay? We’ll be right there.”
You let Jensen pull you into the kitchen, smirking as he picked you up and sat you on the counter.
“Seems like today’s crisis has been averted,” you said.
“I’m sure they’ll go back to tormenting each other tomorrow but I’ll take it,” he said, reaching into the drawer next to you, pulling out a menu. “So. You interested in pizza?”
“Oh that looks interesting,” you said, taking the pamphlet out of his hand and tapping at a special. “One cheese, one speciality, boneless wings and garlic bread? My little carb loving heart is in love.”
“She’s not the only one,” he said, leaning up on his tip toes and kissing you. 
“Are you coming?” groaned JJ from in the fort. You shook your head and Jensen kissed your neck, even nibbling before he pulled back. You smacked his chest and he set the menu down, giving you a wink.
“We’re coming in right now. Don’t wait for us kiddo.”
You woke up sweating, Jensen shushing you, arms wrapped around you. You took a deep breath and caught the clock said it was almost three. You turned in his arms and buried your head in his chest, his hand rubbing up and down your back.
“You’re okay. Bad dream is all,” he said softly. You nodded and started to relax, flinching when there was more thunder. “Hey, it’s okay. Nothing’s gonna get ya.”
The thunder shook the house and you tensed up. Jensen pulled the covers over both your heads and you crammed in as close as humanly possible when more thunder hit.
“Honey look at me. Please look at me.” You lifted your head and saw a horrible face in front of you, a scream ripping out of your throat.
“Y/N,” you heard as you woke up absolutely drenched, Jensen’s hands on your face. “Honey, talk to me. Can you hear me?”
“Night terror,” you said quietly. 
“Yeah, JJ used to have them. I didn’t know adults could get them,” he said. 
“Can I have a cold washcloth? And some water?” you asked. He got out of bed and padded into the bathroom in his boxers, settling back into bed and handing you the water. You drank it down while he wiped off your face and neck, running it over your head. “Thanks.”
“You okay?” he asked. 
“Mostly feel embarrassed.” He frowned and you put the glass on your nightstand, staring down at your sweaty shirt. 
“Should I call Ray?”
“It was a stupid nightmare. I’m fine,” you said.
“You were sat up eyes wide open and talking and shouting and I couldn’t wake you up,” he said. “I know adults really shouldn’t be getting night terrors so maybe something triggered you or something during the day.”
“I know my triggers and I know when it’s just a stupid nightmare. Back off,” you said. You got out from under the hot covers and went outside to the balcony, the air nice and cool from the storm earlier. The slide of the door was loud in the the quiet and you rubbed your arm. “I’m sorry.”
“I’ve seen you have nightmares. That was a lot worse,” he said.
“I thought I saw someone watching the house earlier.”
“What?”
“It was the neighbor’s kid, the teenager. It was his friend and he came over late but I thought...it freaked me out. That on top of thinking about the fact my father is not rotting in a jail cell most likely sent me over the edge,” you said. He walked in front of you, resting his hands on your arms. “I’m okay. Needed some air was all.”
“Alright. Tell me if something like that happens again?” he asked. You hummed and he gave you a kiss. “Okay, sweetheart. Let’s head on back to bed.”
“What do you mean?” you growled into the phone the next evening. Jensen lifted his head from his book in the family room and you walked away, stepping out to the private patio area on the side of the house. “That’s not possible.”
“It’s been fifteen years. He has every legal right to be in the country.”
“In the country! He got an apartment seven minutes from where I live!” you said. “I have little kids here, Finn. Tell me there’s something I can do.”
“I can get a restraining order-”
“That doesn’t mean shit to him. I need him fucking deported. I need him gone.”
“Y/N, you know me. I have never agreed to it but he paid his debt as it was assigned and he quietly followed the law. He did what he was supposed to and I’m sorry but until he does something, I can’t do anything besides help you and your fiance’s family get a restraining order.”
“So until he does something horrible again, I can’t do anything about it.”
“Y/N.”
“No Finn. I appreciate the heads up but...I have to go.”
You hung up and squeezed your phone tight. He knew where you lived. He was minutes away and there was absolutely zero help until something went wrong. You sat on a bench and bounced your leg. Nothing could go wrong. You couldn’t let anything go wrong. Who knew what the son of a bitch would do to any one of them.
You stopped bouncing your leg just as you heard the door open. You lifted your head and stood, spinning around to Jensen standing there.
“Everything alright?”
“Actually no.”
“Who was on the phone?”
“My ex,” you said, swallowing. You crossed your arms and thought of the things Jensen had told you about acting and getting in character and all that. You were gonna destroy him. Fuck you were going to end up shattering him into a thousand pieces he’d never put back together. 
You couldn’t really lie just to keep them away from him, could you? 
You saw Arrow run past in the house and made your face hard. Broken heart but safe kids was worth it.
“I thought you didn’t talk to him anymore,” said Jensen. You turned up your chin and he smiled. “You are the worst actress in the world. Who was it really?”
“I think we’re moving too fast and I want to take a break and I would appreciate it if you gave me my space to figure this out on my own.”
“Uh, what?” he said. You brushed past him and he followed you in, all the way up to your bedroom. You got out a bag and he flipped it shut. “What the hell is going on? Who was on the phone?”
“My boyfriend,” you said. He stared at you and you sighed. “You’re a great guy but I’m sorry. I can’t do the house and kids thing. I want to go see the world and not be tied down and you’re just...you’re too damn old for me.”
“I don’t believe you.”
“Maybe you should have trusted your first instincts when you saw me and Doug,” you said. He stared at you while you shoved some clothes in a bag. You slung it over your shoulder and he caught the backside of it. You took off your ring and put it on the table by the door, Jensen dropping his hand. “I just can’t do this anymore. It wasn’t you. I’m sorry. I really need to go.”
______
A/N: Read Part 16 here!
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usaonetwothree · 3 years ago
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First of all thank you thank you thank you so much for the johnny whump!!!
Also wondering if there's any chance you will be writing any johnny whump featuring more johnny/Carmen? Maybe an extension of that part of The Agreement where she's examining his injuries? The thought just gives me total whumperflies!
Thank you so much for the message, Anon!! And you're most welcome! The show is just teeing it up so nicely. I'm really just continuing what they started :)
I hadn't thought about an interlude to The Agreement, but now my plot bunnies are going. Give me a few weeks to see what I come up with! I'll post it here for sure, and if it's long enough, I'll copy it over to ao3 as a second chapter.
In the interim, I have the start of a whumpy two-chapter fic that I don't know if I'm going to finish. Working summary is "Johnny doesn't have time to get sick. Besides, it's just food poisoning... right?" I'll post the completed first chapter below, and the plan for chapter two would be from Carmen's point-of-view from the ambulance ride through surgery and Johnny finally waking up. I wrote a lot of the ideas I had for her part into Conflict, which is why I think I'm stalled on it here in coming up with something different. I don't know how long it'll take me to figure that out (if ever) but at least you'll have the first chapter. Hope you enjoy!
Thank you again for the kind message!
Pain exploded in his side, worse than he’d ever felt before. He had reference for this: he’d torn, strained, bruised, strained, dislocated and broken many things in the past. This pain blew them all away. It was he’d been stabbed with a hot knife up to the hilt, and someone was twisting it around in his guts.
His hand went to the area, came away warm, but he wasn’t bleeding. Felt like it. Felt oozing and wet and raw.
Somehow, above the nausea, above the stabbing ache in his head, he knew this was serious. And he needed help.
He couldn’t remember where his phone was. Didn’t have time to stop and think.
With every inch of his skin on fire, he leveraged himself off the couch and almost screamed as utter agony raced up his side. His knees buckled but he didn’t let himself fall. If he did, he knew he wouldn’t get back up.
Partially hunched over, he stumbled forward, careful not to jar his torso. He caught the door before the handle, barely cracking it open before he almost fell through. He jabbed his right elbow into the stucco wall, used that as a guide.
Elbow on the wall, left hand on his abdomen, trying to hold whatever was wrong in. One foot in front of the other.
It was the only thing going through his head.
Left.
Right.
Left.
A chill tore up his spine. His brain went fuzzy for a second and his elbow came away from the wall.
He almost went down again, caught himself at the last second. Leaned so far right he almost bashed his head into the stucco.
But he was vertical again.
He kept going until he hit another door.
The door that could help him.
Everything hurt now. He was sweating, burning up. His eyes felt like they were bulging out of his head, and his limbs were trembling.
He tried to knock, lost his balance. Went down in a heap of limbs.
His side crashed into the ground and fire tore through his abdomen, pain so sharp and intense he couldn’t speak—couldn’t breathe—couldn’t think.
He thought he smelled something familiar. Heard something close. Felt something against his forehead.
But it was lost in a wave of blackness.
A * A
Twelve hours earlier…
Daniel LaRusso walked into Miyagi-Fang to hear a sound he was uncomfortably familiar with. As his own stomach churned in sympathy, he stepped closer to the small wood door leading to the bathroom and rapped on it.
“Everything okay?” he asked, scrunching up his nose as the stench filtered out into the dojo.
“Fine,” a thin voice gasped.
“Johnny?” Daniel rapped harder on the door. “Let me in.”
“‘m fine.”
Daniel then heard the toilet flush and someone heave themself upright, before the faucet was turned on.
“Johnny, what’s wrong?” The worst-case scenarios were flashing through Daniel’s head: Johnny had gone after Kreese and gotten his ass kicked, he was drunk and trying to sober up before class…
But when the door slid open and a pale-faced and miserable Johnny stepped out, Daniel knew both were wrong.
“Are you sick?”
Johnny shook his head, then winced. “Don’t think so,” he said as he shuffled to the inlaid bench and sat down, propping his head against his hands with his elbows braced against his knees. “Bologna might have turned."
“I told you you should stop buying that stuff,” Daniel said as he fetched a water bottle from the small fridge and sat down beside Johnny, sliding it between his side and forearms.
“Then what am I going to have for breakfast?” he groaned, ignoring the bottle of water.
Daniel lightly wiggled it so it tapped Johnny’s arm and side. Groaning, the other man straightened up so his head was leaning against the paneling and took the water. “Cereal.”
Johnny took a small sip of the water and grimaced. “Milk goes bad,” he said faster but in a much steadier tone.
“Drink it faster. Or have eggs and bacon.”
Johnny groaned and clenched his jaw as his chest heaved painfully. “No more… food talk,” he ground out.
“Duly noted.” Daniel stood again and grabbed a towel, wetting it in the sink and laying it over Johnny’s forehead as he sat back down.
At first, Johnny pulled back in surprise, the towel slipping, but then he caught it and visibly relaxed.
“Thanks,” he muttered, closing his eyes and resituating the towel.
“How are you going to teach like this?”
“It’ll pass.”
“Uh huh.”
“Weren’t supposed to... be here this early,” Johnny mumbled as he shifted in his seat. He winced again then slowly lowered himself so he was lying on the bench, bringing his socked feet to rest on the wood as well. Daniel, who had originally been in the way, just shifted so Johnny could lie down unimpeded.
“That’s not making me feel a whole lot better.”
“’ll be fine by four,” Johnny replied. “Got like... an hour right?”
“Thirty minutes at best, and you know Miguel is always early.”
“’ll be fine by then,” Johnny repeated, somehow sounding so sure that Daniel found himself believing him.
He stood, then lowered the singular shade over the window. “I’ll come get you before class starts.”
Johnny just shook his head, though Daniel had yet to see his posture actually relax.
And yet, twenty minutes later, Johnny was standing in the backyard, dressed in his gi, looking… surprisingly normal. He was still a little paler than usual, but had clearly tried to push some color back into his face, judging by a few fading streaks on his cheeks.
“How?” was all Daniel could ask. The last time he’d had food poisoning, it had taken him four days and a trip to urgent care before he could leave his bedroom without puking.
“Mind over matter,” Johnny mumbled, straightening up as the kids began to stream in through the door.
That was… bullshit? Unbelievable? Incredible? But at the core of it, so very Johnny.
The kids were so caught up in the latest non-karate drama at the high school that none of them shot Johnny another glance. He did look at Daniel, grinning genuinely, and mouthed, “Thanks.”
Daniel just nodded, then set out doing the last bit of preparations for class.
A * A
If Johnny was being honest with himself, he should have known something else was wrong. His stomach had been hurting all day, even though he’d barely eaten anything since dinner yesterday: fried bologna, ketchup and some leftover rice Carmen had brought a few days ago.
But there was too much going on for him to be sick. There was getting the kids ready for the All-Valley, so they could once and for all remove Kreese from Cobra Kai—not that Johnny would be reinstating that name anytime soon anyway; his budding relationship with Carmen—which Miguel still did not know about; and the knowledge that Robby and a handful of his other students were doing who-knew-what under Kreese’s command.
There wasn’t any time for his problems.
So he’d taken a Tums last night, not really understanding how that had shown up in his medicine cabinet, and tried to sleep it off.
He’d shot awake somewhere around two, tangled in a thin sheet, sweating so badly it felt like he’d just come in from a run. But something else was wrong. His face felt too hot, the skin too tight, and his stomach continued to flip lazily, despite him begging it to stay where it was.
He’d cranked up the fan, and sipped some water, which was a mistake.
His stomach had rolled and he was puking up his meager dinner not long after. He sat there for a long time, head leaning against the cool seat, until he’d fallen asleep. He’d woken again when his forehead slid off the toilet and thudded into the vanity.
He was cool this time, freezing, and shit, that was signs of a fever. That much he knew.
He did not have time for this.
Still on his knees, he managed to reach the shower dial and turn it on. Then he crawled into the tub, clothes still on, and sat there, letting the cool water beat on him while he shivered uncontrollably.
He could not get sick. This had to be a twenty-four hour thing. The kids all came in with their runny noses, who knew what they got into at school. Maybe it was time he caved to LaRusso wanting hand sanitizer stations on the way out for those germ-minded kids.
Eventually the freezing water had become unbearable and he barely managed to reach back high enough to turn it off. Then came the more difficult task of stripping off his wet clothes, which he ended up doing still sitting in the tub, because the act of fighting with his clothes while standing seemed rather exhausting.
But then, he did have to get up, and it took everything he had to stay that way. His head swam and his stomach lurched.
That was when he felt a stabbing pain in his stomach around his navel.
No way this was some sort of flu.
He was reminded of Miguel pulling the package of bologna out of the fridge and frowning at the date. “This is over a week old, Sensei.”
“It’s fine,” Johnny had said.
Miguel had looked a split second away from pitching it, but had put it back in the fridge and chosen the bag of pretzels on the counter instead.
So this was food poisoning. It had to be.
He’d be in for a rough night, but it should be over by tomorrow, when he needed to be at the dojo, when he needed to be on.
The knowledge didn’t make his illness any easier, but it had made it manageable. He’d thrown up a few more times; felt his stomach cramp so severely, it doubled him over; and had eventually fallen asleep on the bathroom floor, ankles bracing the toilet, head leaning back against the far wall.
He didn’t feel better, per say, when he woke, but good enough to haul himself out of the bathroom, change into a loose shirt and sweats, and into the kitchen where he sipped at some OJ, literally the only thing in his entire kitchen that didn’t send his stomach rolling again.
At some point, he’d passed out on the couch watching TV and had jarred awake two hours before class.
He had to be there.
So he’d dry swallowed some aspirin and chewed another Tums, begged whoever was up there to keep them down, and headed out with the OJ tucked under his arm.
He’d barely made it to the dojo when his stomach began to cramp again, induced by the shifting horizons while he was driving. LaRusso found him and his once-nemesis had been surprisingly gentle. When he was better, Johnny owed him more than just a quick thanks for being decent about it, instead of leaving him to suffer on his own.
He’d had to pull over on the way home to puke again. Though he didn’t know what he was bringing up at this point. It was all acid and gunk from what he could see.
He was less than a mile from his apartment complex and he sure as hell wasn’t walking, so he slid back into the car, focused with all his remaining energy and went approximately ten miles an hour in the righthand lane the remaining way.
His fever was kicking up again as he parked, and his stomach began to ache with new intensity. He barely made it to the couch before he was retching again into the bowl he’d so left there earlier for just that purpose.
His head was pounding, his ears ringing, and the pain in his stomach had shifted so it was on his lower right side. He’d bruised a kidney before and it’d hurt in its own way, but it had been nothing like this. He hadn’t even fought anyone since Kreese. Couldn’t risk injuring himself and getting benched. Not with everything that was at stake.
It felt like he was getting the massage from hell, but inside, down in his guts. They were churning, dancing, twisting, oblivious to the pain they were causing. His actual organs hurt, however that was possible.
He sipped at the water, and immediately retched it back up.
Somewhere deep down he knew that was bad. Knew he needed to stay hydrated. Knew he hadn’t drunk enough the past eighteen hours. Knew he could replenish some of it from the shower, but it was so far away.
He just leaned his head against the arm rest, shifting until he found an angle that didn’t make him violently nauseous, and must have passed out.
It was only when he woke up that he knew something was seriously wrong, and that he had to get some help, and ended up passing out again in front of Carmen’s door.
Only it hadn’t been Carmen who answered.
“Sensei!” Miguel shouted, trying and failing to catch the older man. “Mama! Yaya!” he shouted as he dropped to his knees beside his Sensei, whose face was red and flushed but otherwise seemed uninjured.
“Sensei, please.” Miguel begged, tapping Sensei’s face and feeling the heat radiating off it. “MAMA!” he yelled again as he jabbed his fingers into Sensei’s neck, finding a thin pulse.
Then arms were on his shoulders, pulling him away, as his mom replaced him.
“¡Llame una ambulancia!”
Yaya was telling him to back up, was shoving her phone into his hands.
He didn’t remember making the call, but he must have. His mom was trying to rouse Sensei, had unbuttoned his shirt, and was swearing.
“Qué pasa?” Miguel demanded, but she didn’t answer.
“Ice, Miguel,” his mom was ordering, still bent over Sensei. “Quick!”
His feet were moving, grabbing whatever frozen vegetables they had in the freezer and handing them to his mom, who was placing them around Sensei’s neck, under his arms, around his groin.
Sensei groaned, flinched, but didn’t rouse.
“What’s wrong?” Miguel heard himself ask, but his mom was telling Yaya to take him in the apartment instead of responding.
“No!” he shouted, planting his feet. “I'm not leaving.”
His mom turned to look at him, a bit of panic in her eyes before she could hide it. “Go inside, Miggy. Please,” she said very carefully.
As much as Miguel didn’t want to, he did. Until he heard the sirens. Then he was outside the door again, watching as the paramedics swarmed Sensei.
They were asking his mom a bunch of questions and she was rattling off the answers. Then Sensei was on a gurney and they were rolling away and his mother was climbing into the ambulance with him, and then they were gone.
Miguel felt Yaya’s arm wrap around his upper back, not tall enough to reach his shoulders, and he turned and buried her head into her shoulder, letting the tears fall.
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citygirlinschool · 3 years ago
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Breaking Bad
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Read it on Ao3
Original bingo
~
“Are you sure you don’t want to come?” 
“I have got two research papers pending, I am falling behind on my thesis and I have to submit Mr D’s essay on Monday. So yes, I am not coming.” Frank resisted the urge to physically pick up the boy from his bed and throw him out. 
He could if he wanted to. Leo was a tiny slip of a thing, all wild curls and ADHD. And gods did the boy tempt him to do some serious bodily harm to him.
“Come on man you haven’t come to a single party since well... ever. This one is supposed to be real rager.” 
With a jerked motion he stood up from his desk, threw his door open and marched towards the kitchen. 
“Is that supposed to be a No?” There was ruffling of sheets and Oh my Gods he was wearing shoes the whole time.
His eyes twitched and he slammed the glass on the counter with more force than necessary. A drink, that’s what he needs.
“Mixed signals buddy.” And there he was in all his flannel glory, and those hideous pun t-shirt (Never trust an atom, they make up everything). Never would he have guessed the devil would be a elf in science pun t-shirts. 
“No, Valdez. I am not coming to your rager party.” He made towards the refrigerator.
“Whatever man your loss.” 
There was an audible slam of the door as the fridge door fell of it’s hinges and over a startled Frank, followed by a crash of food spilling on to the floor.
“LEO!” 
~
“So, what was it this time?” 
“He broke the fridge.” Frank stabbed his food gloomily.
“And?” Percy waved a ketchup covered fry.
“He fixed the AC.” Frank mumbled.
“That’s good right?” 
“After he broke it.” He snorted.
Percy was in the year above him. Swim team captain and marine biology major. They met by accident and hit it off immediately.
They made it a point to meet in the dinner near the college campus once a week, or when they could.
“What else?” he drawled lazily, and Frank would feel guilty about turning all these meetings into venting sessions, except Percy wasn’t the type to entertain people just because it’s polite, so he probably didn’t mind.
“He brought someone back to the dorm. Again. Some blondie, Maria. This is the third this month. And it’s distracting, and I have told him clearly to bring someone when I am gone… How does he even land these many?” 
“He is kinda cute?” Percy shrugged.
Frank pulled a face. “He has a horrible track record. Can you believe he flirted with Ms Grace?” 
“To be fair he flirts with everybody. I don’t think it counts.” 
“Still. That’s the Thalia Grace.”
 “Touché. Talked to the Dean?” 
“Jason said, only Octavian is vacant. And that guy is… creepy.”
Percy nodded solemnly. “Heard he guts plush toys to some cult god he worships.” 
Frank looked at him wide eyes, and just like that Leo was forgotten. 
At least until he reached back to his dorm. 
“Frankie! You are back.” Leo flashed him his infuriating smirk that he knows gets on his every nerves. “Hazel was just leaving.” And that asshole turns to her, “Until you changed your mind and decided to stay.” 
He flirts with everybody; it doesn’t mean anything. Percy’s voice echoed warningly in his mind.
Hazel flushes, and looks down. Those flawless curls hiding reddened cheeks. “Thanks for the offer but I can’t stay past curfew.” 
“Aw.” Leo leans forward, “That’s not a no.” he wiggled his eyebrows. “Don’t be stickler for rules, get that enough from Frankie boo here.” 
This time Frank’s cheeks heat up. “Leo.” He hopes he would stop.
“Fine, Fine. Goodnight, Hazel.”
“Bye, Leo.” She presses her books to her chest, and Frank shuffles hurriedly to the side as Hazel moves past him.
He slams the door once Hazel is past. 
“So,” Leo straightens from where he was leaning against the wall. “Somebody has got a crush.”
“Don’t.”
“Cant blame you, she is a real looker.” 
“Oh, come on, don’t play.” He stalks back towards his room, his back toward the Latino. “You already knew that.” 
“I did?” there it is again, the annoying mocking tone he didn’t bother dignifying with a reply. But that didn’t deter Leo from barging in his room behind him either.
“I mean, were all those lectures ignored in the favour of staring at the back of her head, and doodling H+F in the back of your notebook, did give me an inclination but thought they stood for Himbo plus- “ 
“Shut up, asshole.” He whirled around. “You know I freaking liked her.” He stalked towards him. 
“Oh yeah like how you knew my Chatelier’s experiment made twelve percent of my grade?” 
“I apologized for it.” He spit back in his face, grabbing his forearms. 
“That doesn’t make up for it, jerk.” He hissed back.
Blood roared in his veins, drowning out any further jabbing remarks from the squirming boy in his arms.
Gods the things he would do to shut him up. 
“-and would you please let me go, I am pretty sure this counts as phys- Mmph! ” 
He kissed him. That annoying fucking mouth, with those pretty fucking lips. He bit on his lips tugging at them, pressing that tiny body against his.
He kissed him. Fuck.
Frank stumbled back in horror. “Shit I am sorry, I didn’t- “ 
“Oh no.” Leo lunged at him, and he stumbled back in surprise, catching his hips. “You would be sorry when I am done with you.” 
Harsh demanding lips pressed against him, a sharp nip and the metallic tang of blood spilled on his tongue, making him curse.
The heels of Leo’s feet dug in his back, “Bed, bed, bed!” He panted, slim but strong fingers tugging at his hair painfully, tilting it back. He grabbed his lips in another kiss that had his dick aching in his pants.
Frank stumbled blindly towards his twin bed, his hands groping the Latino’s ass, as they both fell on the congested bed in tangle of limbs.
Leo’s hand left his hair and trailed over his collar, clever fingers making a quick job of his shirt, hips shamelessly grinding in his abdomen. 
“Come on, man, get naked.” He ran his fingers over his chest, tweaking his nipples.
“Leo.” He pulled back, “Aren’t we going a bit fast.” 
Leo’s lips pulled back in a condescending sneer, “You sure you wanna be a cock blocker.”
His hand snaked down to the bulge in his pants, and he involuntarily humped forward into the pressure.   “I already hate you enough.”
That was a reminder enough. The clothes were gotten rid of in a flurry of uncoordinated limbs, and broken buttons, until a very naked Frank, had a very naked Leo in his lap. 
He dug his teeth into the hollow of his collar bones, and Leo hissed, but didn’t stop the wild rhythm of his hips. Frank’s hand squeezed the ample flesh in his hands and parting them. 
The head of his cock slipped between them, sliding over the fuzzy hole.
Leo’s hips stuttered, and he exhaled shakily, fingers digging in his shoulders hard enough that Frank knew they would leave welts.
“Lube? Tell me you have lube” his voice was so deep; it had his cock twitching.
“Top drawer, in the back.” He mumbled, leaning back until he was laying down as Leo stretched over him, searching his drawer.
He couldn’t help but mouth over his well formed abdomen, for his deceptively short stature he was strong. Lithe muscles and surprisingly broad shoulders. 
Fuck he hated him so much.
There was a click of lube opening, as Leo pulled back, his fingers dripping with lube.
He leaned forward, one hand beside his head while he reached behind him.
Frank knew the exact moment Leo’s fingers breached him. His eyebrows furrowed, jaw clenched and his breathing became a tad bit heavier. 
He reached up, pressing a sweet almost a innocent kiss against his lips, and for a moment Leo let him. 
“Let me do it.”
And just like that Leo pulled away. 
His weeping cock bobbed proudly between his supple thighs, his dusky nipple looked raw and abused, there was a myriad of hickies littering his chest and his hair was wilder than usual. 
Yet, that jerk had the audacity to smirk mockingly at him.
“Not your girlfriend, Zhang. So don’t treat me like it.” he must have done something inside him cause his eyes fluttered for a moment. “Besides- Ah” his back arched, “we are doing this by-mmh- my rules, cause clearly you are as clueless in this-Ah!”
“What is your problem.” Frank had jostled his fingers out of him as he flipped them over. “I am just trying to be nice.” He snarled.
“No what you’re trying to do.” A lube covered finger smeared across his neck, “is fucking coddle me.” He spat.
“I am not coddling you.” He glared indignantly at the infuriating boy underneath him.
“Oh yeah? What is this? Fucking me? Please, you are not even in me.” He sneered mockingly.
“I am- I don’t –” Leo mercifully cut his spluttering off with a kiss.
“God I didn’t know I had to just spread my legs to get underneath your skin.”
He would have tried replying, except Leo had wrapped his lubed up hand around his dick, slicking it up with quick efficient strokes, and Frank had been so painfully hard all this time all he could do was helplessly jerk forward into the warm wet hole, until Leo tightened his grip. “Don’t come.” He warned, as he guided him to his stretched hole.
Frank to his dying day would deny the sound he emitted when his head slipped in.
A loud unashamed sound, as his head dropped onto Leo’s shoulder, as he panted harshly. Leo was tighter and hotter then anything he had ever felt before. And so deliciously soft.
He wouldn’t have been able to stop the unrelenting rolls of his hips as he pushed deeper if he wanted to.
Like he had no control over his hips, he pushed in inch after inch, as Leo’s back arched off the bed until Frank bottomed out.
For a moment Frank could just lay still and shiver so as to not bust a nut, Leo as so tight around him, it was probably painful for him.
“Move, move, move, jackass.” Or maybe not.
“Oh, gods fuck me, or I am gonna fuck up your laptop and not repair- Oh yesss!” Leo’s eyes rolled back in his head, as Frank pulled out almost all the way and then pushing in rapidly. 
“Why can’t you shut up for a moment.” Frank picked up his pace. “For once –mmh” his nipped at his ear, “just shut up- ah fuck- and moan.” 
“Maybe- mmph- Maybe if you put all that beef - oh Dios- and man boobs (he gripped said boobs) to use than I will.” 
Frank dug his teeth right below his ears, just shy of tearing skin, but definitely marring the skin, as he readjusted his grip, hooking his hands underneath his knees and practically folding the twink (because that’s what Leo fucking Valdez is and Frank is tired of lying) in half. 
He must have hit his prostrate with the deeper angle cause Leo made a he- would- never- admit- it- but- adorable high-pitched sound, his hands flying between his legs, except Frank slapped it away and wrapped his own hand around his flushed, almost painfully purple cock.
Much to his pleasure Leo hooked his own hand underneath his knees, holding himself open.
“Didn’t know” he panted, “all it took was a good dicking down to shut you up.” 
Leo’s eyes opened up to slits, in what he thinks is a glare, but it is hard to take him seriously on good days, even harder with his cock stupid bambi eyes, and drool covered chin.
Fuck! This is the hottest thing ever and Frank hates him so much.
Frank lost his carefully maintained rhythm, finally rutting in abandon. The bed creaked threateningly, the headboard banging fiercely with the force of his thrusts.
Paired with the slick sound of where Frank was jerking Leo off, slap of skin against skin and squelch of Frank fucking Leo, it sounded like a cheap porno.
Harsh breathing was littered with moans and litany of curses. There tongues ran sloppily against each other, Leo tweaked his nipples, clenching down on Frank as they both hurtled toward the peak like freight train.
The orgasm was a bang.
Literally. 
In hindsight, two fully grown men fucking on a barely hanging on twin bed was not the wisest plan. But what can he say? Leo brings out the worst in him.
“Did it?” Frank muttered tiredly. All he wanted to do was sleep.
“Get off.” Leo’s voice was slurred and strained, “You are suffocating me. And you are sleeping on the couch.” 
~
“What was it this time?” 
“The bed.” 
“Leo broke your bed?” 
“Something like that.” Frank mumbled.
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vannahfanfics · 5 years ago
Note
Could I request hearts for Nalu please? ❤️😊
Here you are, dearest! I hope you enjoy! 
Strawberry-Lemon
Natsu’s nose twitched as a heavenly scent wafted up his nose, and, like a demon preparing to rob a baby from its cradle, he squatted on all fours in the frame of Lucy’s window, salivating shamelessly as she aroma drifted in through the entryway of her kitchen. If he had a tail, it would be wagging non-stop; whatever she was baking in the kitchen smelled absolutely delectable, and it was making him ravenous. The instant he had caught wind of it on the street, he knew he had to have it. Really, Lucy was all but inviting him in; why else would she leave the windows open and allow it to spill out into the cobblestoned streets? She would’ve known that Natsu would come pestering her on a Saturday; it was ritualistic at this point. Well, Natsu wasn’t about to refuse a downright open invitation for food, now was he?
Lithe as a jungle cat, he hopped down from the windowsill to prowl across the laminate floor of her apartment, swiping his tongue across his lower lip and taking a second to suck up some of the drool leaking from his grinning mouth. Lucy wouldn’t like it if he slobbered all over her floor like a hound dog. His stomach was twisting into knots at the anticipation; it was baying like a hound itself, and he put a hand over his belly, drawing his abs tight in a vain effort to silence its greedy howls. He had no idea what exactly she was making; he only had a clear view of the kitchen table from his perch, not the counters or oven, so he was literally vibrating in suspense. Natsu liked meat best, but sweets were a close second. Could she be making a cake? Cookies? Pastries? Ugh, he had to know and then sink his teeth into whatever it was!
His footfalls were silent as he snuck down the hallway. Just as he had arrived in the entryway, nearly panting like a dog with his pupils shrunk down in voracious desire, his belly gave a particularly adamant yowl of demand. He froze as the gurgling sound echoed in the quiet apartment, staring at Lucy as she jumped and whirled around. She was holding a plastic spatula coated with some pink batter, and it splattered across the countertop and floor with her sudden movement. Natsu’s face slowly turned the color of his hair as he gawked owlishly at her, one leg still hiked up in a tip-toe and his arms held out wide on either side to maintain his balance.
“You didn’t have to sneak in here, you know,” she said finally once she realized it was the dragon-slayer who had come calling. She jutted out a hip, resting her prim little hand on it as she puffed out her cheeks indignantly. “I left the window open for a reason! Jeez, you’re gonna give me a heart attack one of these days.”
A stupidly giddy smile split Natsu’s face at the fact that Lucy had indeed left the window open just for him. His foot fell down to the floor in a happy little scamper. He pranced like a baby deer up to her, green eyes alight with glee as he peeked into the bowl of pink batter she had been stirring before he startled her. His nostrils flared as he breathed in deep, his heightened senses allowing him to discern that the delicious scent he had been so enraptured with was strawberry. No wonder he had been gripped with an overwhelming need; strawberries reminded him of Lucy’s smell. Hers had a slight undertone of lemon, though, which made for an interesting combination that made Natsu’s tongue tingle a little bit every time he caught a whiff of her.
“What are you making?”
“Cupcakes!” she answered jovially with another twirl. She jabbed the spatula back into the bowl of batter to resume stirring it with gusto. “Valentine’s Day is coming up, and so I thought that I might make cupcakes for everyone at the guild.”
“That’s gonna be a lot of cupcakes,” he frowned thoughtfully as he tried to do the math in his head. It proved too daunting a task. It seemed he had arrived before any of the cupcakes were finished, so he walked over to her kitchen table to flip a chair around and straddle it, resting his crossed arms on the chair’s curved back and propping his chin down on the meat of his forearm.
“Where’s Happy?”
“He’s with Wendy and Carla. We were walkin’ and happened to run into ‘em, and they said they were going shopping, so he went with ‘em because Wendy promised to take him to the fish market.” Lucy laughed and said something along the lines of “sounds like him.” Natsu had stopped listening because he was enthralled with the way her body moved as she repeatedly swirled the thick batter around, her arms flexing with each turn. One wouldn’t think it when looking at her, but Lucy was toned; his keen green eyes flickered as he watched the tendons subtly stretch beneath the milky skin of her arms. Her hips bounced a little too as she dug into the batter, trying to eliminate any remaining chunks of powdery batter. Sexy… he thought absentmindedly.
Natsu’s face immediately blazed with a fiery blush again, and he hurriedly jerked his gaze away to the much less interesting bag of flour beside her. Natsu really didn’t know what to do when it came to Lucy. He liked Lucy, a lot; he probably even loved her. He just didn’t understand it all that well. He had never been in love before. He knew that platonic love and romantic love were supposed to be different, but he didn’t know how to act differently to express how he felt. He was handsy and made off-handed comments and such, thinking Lucy may get the hint, but so far it seemed to him that she thought they were really, really good friends. That was true, of course, but it was frustrating because Natsu wasn’t sure how to upgrade.
“There. That oughta do,” Lucy said to herself. He looked back to see her grab a nearby baking ban for heart-shaped cupcakes. With a small grunt, she hoisted the heavy bowl of batter up and began spooning it into the holes. She had clearly made double or even triple the recommended amount in order to feed the whole guild, because the bowl was nearly spilling over with the frothy pink stuff. Natsu’s eyebrows quirked as he noticed her arm begin to tremble violently with the strain of hefting it up, and she began to grow red-faced and out of breath. Wordlessly, he slung his leg over the chair to push himself up and tottered over, easily hooking his arm behind hers to push the bottom of the bowl up with the flat of his hand and reduce the strain on her. “Oh, thank you, Natsu!” she cried, throwing him a grateful, beaming smile. Natsu felt his heart constrict in his chest, and the twisting pain almost made him drop the bowl. God, he loved it when she smiled. It was so gorgeous that it was enough to make a man’s heart halt in his chest.
Lucy filled the pan and they eased the bowl back down onto the counter. Natsu had to try real hard not to stare at her behind as she walked over to the oven to slide the pan in. Natsu didn’t want to figure himself a pervert, but it was so hard when she bent over and it was just… right… there. Oh, God, now he wanted to slap it. Biting down on his knuckles hard enough to draw blood, Natsu whipped around so he wasn’t looking at her anymore, eyes shaking as he blushed hard enough to pop a blood vessel and get a nosebleed. God dammit, why did she have to be so stupidly gorgeous? If she ever got an inkling of the kinds of thoughts he had in his head, she would slap him silly.
“Natsu? You okay?” He nearly jumped a foot in the air as her innocent voice rang over his shoulder. He couldn’t look at her until his blush quieted down, so he just laughed nervously, zooming to the fridge to begin rifling through it without thinking of what he was pretending to look for.
“Yeah, um, I’m just, really thirsty!” he lied quickly as he grabbed random things that were definitely not made for drinking, like a bottle of ketchup and a jar of pickles. Lucy watched him with knitted eyebrows until he picked up a bottle of water and his frazzled brain successfully registered the fact that it was a beverage, in fact made for drinking. He slammed the fridge closed and bolted upright, laughing again before guzzling the entire bottle in about three huge gulps. “Ah, that’s better!” His voice was several octaves higher than normal due to his heightened anxiety. He tossed the bottle at the trashcan, thinking maybe he could look cool after a whole minute of looking like a freak, but it bounced off. He watched with big green eyes as it bounded across the floor only to land right back at his feet. “Goddammit,” he sighed and plucked it up to deliver it to the trashcan like a normal human. Lucy giggled, doing that thing where she held her hand up to her mouth, and Natsu thought he might die.
“Heehee, anyway, would you like to help me make the icing, Natsu?” She waited patiently with an expectant look as his fried brain struggled to process the question. “Yes,” “yes,” you want to say “yes,” Natsu, he reprimanded himself after a moment too long of consideration.
“Er, yeah, I’d love to!” he responded jovially. As she turned around, he shrunk back into himself, biting on his nails. Did he look too excited? It was just frosting, for crying out loud. Lucy didn’t say anything, so he sighed in relief, thinking that she must not be thinking anything of his excitable behavior. He walked back over to stand over her shoulder, watching with curious eyes as she piled the frosting ingredients into the bowl.
“Here! Stir this!” Natsu jumped back as she suddenly whirled around to shove the bowl and a whisk into his hands. He had been standing right behind her, close enough that his breath was puffing over her ear, and if it hadn’t been for his reflexes, the bowl would’ve tipped, and the stuff would’ve gone spilling all down his front. He grabbed the bowl in a white-knuckled grip and began whisking it, trying to keep his cheeks from turning pink again. For a second, he thought Lucy’s cheeks might be pink, too, but she spun around to go check on the rising cupcakes for him to be sure. “Mhmm, they smell so good,” she admired breathily.
“Yeah, I can’t wait to sink my teeth into ‘em,” Natsu growling in appreciation as he continued to lackadaisically swirl the frosting mixture. It was thickening rapidly into a white, gluey paste, requiring him to put a little more backbone than he would imagine putting into whisking frosting. Man, and Lucy does this a lot. This is hard work! He thought as she came over to peek into the bowl. He lowered it so she could inspect it properly.
“You’re doing good.” It was a light compliment but Natsu gushed like a teenage girl about it anyway. “By the way, you only get one! I want to make sure there’s enough for everyone,” she warned him firmly, waggling a finger in his face. He scowled slightly; one measly cupcake wasn’t enough to satiate his rapturous hunger, but he didn’t want to see Lucy upset after all the hard work she was putting in for everyone. “Promise me!”
“Yeah, yeah, I promise, sheesh,” he huffed as she took the bowl from him and set it on the counter. He poked out his lips in a childish pout. “But I’m starving, Lucyyyy…”
“I’ll make you dinner after this is done, okay?”
“Woohoo! You’re the best!” he howled in glee and threw up his arms into the air. She looked over her shoulder at him with a smile and an amused huff. By this time, the cupcakes had finished baking. Lucy removed them from the oven and set them on some potholders, allowing them to cool a bit before plucking them from the molds. They filled the pan with another batch and slipped it into the oven before returning to the next task, icing the cupcakes. Natsu kept fluttering around her, asking if they were ready yet, and she kept barking that if they didn’t cool enough the icing would melt all over the place. It was an agonizingly long time until she allowed him to pick up a butter knife and begin smoothing the creamy mixture over the rounded tops of the cupcakes. He found it a task that required more delicacy than he imagined, as he kept doing it sloppily and getting icing all over his fingers. Not that he cared, because that just meant he got to lick it off. Lucy made him wash his hands every time, though, saying that no one wanted to eat his spit.
After that she let him douse the cupcakes in pink sprinkles. Lucy showed him a neat trick where she filled a bowl with the sprinkles and dunked the cupcake into them, coating the icing evenly in sprinkles. Natsu marveled at her ingenuity, and she got all flustered when he called her a genius and lavished awe on her. After about an hour of repeating the process, Natsu was now salivating at a big red serving plate laden with their masterpieces.
“They all look so delicious… I don’t know which one I wanna eat,” he said as he crouched down so he was eye-level with the treats, inspecting each on critically with his eager fingers drumming on the table. Lucy laughed from where she was washing the dishes at the sink.
“Choose wisely, because that’s the only one you’re gonna get until tomorrow.” Natsu whined loudly at the impossible task before him. They all looked so perfect! After a few minutes of deliberation, he plucked one that looked particularly delicious and stood up, turning to her. She was just finishing, wiping her hands off on a dish towel.
“Here, Lucy. You try first!” he grinned and shoved the cupcake against her lips, smearing a little of the frosting on the underside of her nose.
“What? I thought you wanted to eat it!” she cried, voice muffled by the spongey cake smooshed against her lips.
“You worked so hard to make these! You deserve to get the first one!” he insisted. Natsu’s stomach was yowling and scratching at his insides in angry protest, but Natsu knew that was the right thing to do. Shyly, Lucy opened her mouth to take a dainty bite of the cupcake, chewing thoughtfully when she drew away.
“Yummy!” she beamed. “We make a great team!”
“What? We knew that already,” Natsu laughed and proceeded to pop the entire cupcake into his mouth. It made his cheeks bulge out like a chipmunk’s. He instantly melted into the chair he had been sitting in, the mute tang of strawberry mixing with the divine cream frosting making him ascend into blissful nirvana. “Ahhh… That’s so good,” he said as he smacked his lips and continued to work at the thick frosting coating his tongue. “Now I’m sad I only get one,” he moped with a longing look at the cupcakes.
“You should’ve savored it instead of eating it whole!”
“I was so hungry though,” he pouted, but he knew better than to test her ire by attempting to sneak another one. She enclosed the serving tray with the matching lid before picking it up and putting it on the counter to deliver to the guild the following day. He could tell she was beat by the way her shoulders sagged and she sighed every few minutes and her eyes drooped. Nonetheless, she was tying a new apron around herself and pulling out pots and pans.
“What do you want for dinner, Natsu?”
“… You don’t have to,” he refused suddenly. She looked up at him wide-eyed from her spot on the floor, half-way through pulling a skillet from her cabinet.
“What? I thought you were hungry.”
“Well, I am, but,” he scowled as he fought his ravenous belly, “you look so tired after baking all those cupcakes… All this cooking is hard work… It’s not cool of me to impose like that.”
“Oh, now you grow a conscience?” she laughed teasingly before standing up, skillet in hand. She flipped it around before plunking it down on the stove. “I don’t mind,” she told him gently, and the way her expression softened made him bolt upright in his seat. She was looking down at the empty skillet with an almost… loving expression. “Cooking for the people I care about isn’t a chore. I don’t mind at all, Natsu.” She flipped her head around, tossing her lovely blonde hair, and Natsu was hit with a wind of that lovely lemon-strawberry scent that made his nerves go wild. “You don’t have to answer. I’ve got a recipe I’ve been wanting to try out,” she chirped, turning her back to him again as she tried to reach up above the stove where her shelf of recipes sat. She pursed her lips as she accidently shoved it back, out of reach of her wiggling fingers. “Oh, dammit, let me get a chair.”
Natsu was behind her suddenly, with no recollection of even moving, reaching up to easily pluck the book she had been grasping for from the shelf. She tilted her head back to stare up at him as he lowered it into her waiting hands. “Oh… Thanks, Natsu.” She gawked at him as if expecting him to retreat. His body was caging her against the stove, his chest just barely pressing against her back, arms slowly reaching around to grip the stove on either side of her body. His nostrils were flaring as he drank in that scent of her, the tangy zest of lemon-strawberry, his nerves singing with every puff of it that wafted up his keen nose.
Natsu didn’t know what to do about Lucy, but his body did.
He was suddenly aware of how big he was compared to her when his hand slid underneath her chin, fingers stretching all the way to the undersides of her ears as he gently turned her face over her shoulder. Lucy did not resist; like a puppet to his will, her body folded for him, allowing him to maneuver her as he wished. He scanned her wide brown eyes for any sense of fear or discomfort as his face hovered over hers, only a few centimeters away. She didn’t seem scared; her eyes were blown wide, shaking, but Natsu could discern the unmistakable glimmer of excitement and anticipation brimming in the rich brown depths.
Still, he wanted to be sure.
“Can I kiss you, Lucy?” His voice was husky, raw with months of suppressed desire. Her eyelids twitched as if she were a doll suddenly springing to life. She blinked once, twice, before looking at him in mild surprise.
“Of course you can, Natsu.” She phrased it as if he should know, which made him flush lightly in embarrassment. Who knew how long she had been waiting for him to pull a move? He squirmed uncomfortably, all the confidence he had just had in the moment dissipating like it had drained out the soles of his feet. Lucy giggled that little giggle that made his soul light on fire and reached up to thread her fingers into his cotton candy-colored tufts of hair. “Kiss me,” she demanded in a breathy whisper. Natsu felt a pleasurable shiver sing up his spine. Dammit, she was sexy, looking at him through lidded eyes and ordering him around like that. Hot damn.
He didn’t keep her waiting any longer. With a wolfish smirk, he dove down to smooth his lips over her own. He relished the way her nails scratched along his scalp as soon as he made contact, and the contented hum that vibrated against his moving lips. His thick arms encircled her waist to tug her against his body, because it felt like she simply couldn’t be close enough to him. Their noses bumped a little as he passionately kissed her; it felt like his hunger for food had morphed into a hunger for her mouth, because he couldn’t get enough, not nearly enough. His tongue kitten-licked at her lips, begging for entry, and when she parted her lips for him and he got a taste of her he nearly collapsed on the spot. Strawberry cupcakes and icing and lemon-strawberry bliss, that’s what she tasted like. It might as well have been alcohol because he was drunk on it.
They separated but only just. Natsu’s eyes flickered down to watch the string of saliva snap between their moistened mouths. Hot damn. It made him want to kiss her once more so he could see it all over again. Her fingers were lovingly threading through his messy hair, and her head fell back against her shoulder as she opened up her eyes to gaze at him with a feeling so powerful that Natsu wanted to cry. “I love you, Natsu.”
“I love you too, Lucy.” He smiled and hugged her as he nuzzled his cheek against hers. She made a happy purring sound that had his veins humming with unbridled glee. He had never heard the sound before, but dammit if he didn’t want to hear it more, every day for the rest of their lives. She allowed him to hold her for a moment before she straightened up and began grabbing random implements to cook.
“Natsu, do you want dinner or not?”
“Yeah, but I don’t wanna let go,” he said as he buried her face into the crook of her neck and breathed deep. Lemon-strawberries tickled his nose alongside the fine blonde hairs. He had spent so long wishing to hold her like this; he was gonna get his time’s worth. Lucy exhaled deeply in resignation.
“All right, all right, but I have to go to the fridge,” she said. Natsu shuffled his body along with hers like a male penguin toting about its young. After a second, a thought occurred to him.
“Hey, Lucy.”
“Hmm?”
“Next time you should make lemon frosting.”
“Like strawberry lemonade cupcakes? Now that’s an idea,” she said, pausing from the chicken was slicing against the cutting board. Natsu grinned to himself, burying his face further into the warmth of her being.
No… Like Lucy.
Enjoy this oneshot? Feel free to perusemy Tableof Contents!
Tag List: @deliathedork
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0kayblue · 5 years ago
Text
A Peace Offering
Summary: You’ve graduated from Hawkins High and summer has officially begun, bringing new beginnings with it. You’re focused on turning over a new leaf and becoming an actual adult, putting your Queen of Hawkins High title behind you.
So far it’s turned out in your favor. You’ve got a job, your parents almost off your back about college, and a best friend who works for the ice cream shop up stairs.
Adulthood is proving itself to be pretty fruitful, but one day when you go to visit your best friend, Robin, you cross paths with the former King of Hawkins High, Steve Harrington. You and Steve were most definitely not strangers but you wished you were as memories flood both yours and Steve’s minds
Word count: 10k
Notes: Anything written in italics is a memory. It is either a memory from you, Robin, or Steve. I understand how that can be pretty straight forward as you read, but the groundwork for this piece is the memories.
Character Relations: Robin x reader (best friend), Steve x reader (romantic interest), Billy x reader (close acquaintance)  
A/N: Hi! This isn’t the first imagine I’ve ever written, but it is the first Stranger Things centered one. It’s also one of the first imagines I’ve ever even posted. I really enjoyed writing this and I also feel a little accomplished, lol. There might be a part two? I haven’t decided if I really want to dive deeply into this or not yet. Anyway, if you read thank you so much! Critiques and comments are welcomed with open arms!
WARNINGS: Cursing, lots of cursing. Fluff? Angst? A mix of emotions.
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As you flashed an obviously fake smile at the dusty blonde man who “complimented” you on your ruby red lipstick, you felt the urge to jump across the table and strangle him.
“Well, I thank you. It’s a new shade I’ve decided to try out. Now, is that all I can grab for ya?” You said with a tone too sweet to indicate how venomous it actually was. The fake twang seemed to echo in your head and you wondered how anyone with a natural accent could handle the sound of their own voice.
“Ah, no thank you dear. I’m afraid that’ll be it.” He smirked and you simply nodded as you turned and walked up to the diner window. Your cheery facade fading as you glared at the cook behind the open order window.
Sal, the cook, chuckled as he analyzed how upset you were starting to get. You weren’t a stranger to the irritation you felt every time you stepped foot in this damn diner.
You clipped the order onto one of clothespins and let out a deep sigh as you rested your head on the cool smooth steel counter. Sal just smiled as he threw a hamburger patty on the grill. You looked up at him and he just continued to chuckle.
“Y’know I think you should drop that fake twang, you might be less miserable.” Sal was a bigger built man, he reminded you of your father, just bald.
“I might be less miserable if I didn’t have to wear scratchy outdated themed clothes that do nothing but irritate the irritable.” You huffed out laying your head flat on the counter.
“Mhm.” He just groaned out. “Only way you are getting rid of that poodle skirt is if you quit.” You groaned in defeat knowing quitting was not an option.
“Then it’s empty pockets.” You said as you stood up straight, the snickering of table five being overheard. “Damned if I do, damned if I don’t.”
“I’m serious, kid. I don’t know why you are here. You should be enjoying your summer and going to college in the fall. You’re smart enough for it.” You rolled your eyes.
College seemed to be the only thing that people wanted out of you. A nice college education and maybe you could make something out of yourself. You couldn’t help but scoff and give Sal a look of distaste.
“I’ve been over this with you. And my parents. And my grandparents. And basically everyone. I don’t want to go, at least not yet. I want the experience of working first.” This wasn’t an exact lie per say, it was more of a beefed up truth. You didn’t want to go back into the school system mainly because it just made you feel like shit, and you believed knowing all sides is better than just one. So an honest job was not only a way to get experience and out of college pressure, but to also to hold onto to this fleeting feeling of youth.
“Besides, this is also to fund potential college endeavors.” You smiled as he placed two plated burgers on the counter in front of you.
“Yeah, right. You better take this to table five so you can take your break.” You rolled your eyes as you picked up the plates and walked over to table five with a painful fake smile.
“One double cheeseburger with fries and a single hamburger with extra ketchup and fries.” You sat the plates in front of the correct recipients of their order. “Is there anything else I can get ya? Refills, maybe a milkshake?”
“A strawberry milkshake, but only if we can share, doll face.” You looked at the black haired man as the blonde across from him stifled a laugh. You bit your inner lip taking a deep breath and tried not to break your smile.
“So you won’t be needing anything else. Wonderful.” You reached into your apron pocket and pulled out your order book. You ripped out their order and lightly slammed it on there table. “I’m afraid I won’t be able to check you out due to the fact that my break is about to start, so just take your receipt up to the register and Sal will check ya out.”
The black haired man sent a glare but quickly recomposed himself with a smirk. “No problem, doll. A milkshake tomorrow, then?” You unwillingly bit your tongue and just smiled.
“We’ll see.” You said and turned. You tried to not stomp as you walked back and pushed open the kitchen door, but it didn’t work. You could hear them laughing as you yanked your punch card off the wall.
“Don’t let them get ya.” Sal said as you went ahead and punched your time card into the machine signaling you were officially off the clock. You yanked off your apron and threw it on the clean counter by the freezer.
“Yeah, uh huh, I’m headed to Scoops. You want me to bring you back anything?” You said as you took your hair out of that headache inducing high ponytail. As you fluffed your hair out you took a deep breath and exhaled, clearly exhausted from working the morning and afternoon shifts.
“No thank you. Watching my figure.” You chuckled as you walked past him patting him on the back.
“Suit yourself.” You said as you walked out into the nearly dead mall. You figured the heat index was keeping everyone either inside or at the pool, but you honestly didn’t expect the mall to look this empty. It was weird to only have to walk past people and not forcefully push your way past.
Starcourt was Hawkins newest addition and it’s busiest. Which was sort of sad as you saw local businesses close one by one. You overheard of a scheduled protest to take place on the lawn of City Hall, but other than that, nothing was really being done to help savage Hawkin’s local flare. You weren't doing much to help it either, I mean hell, you worked for Starcourt. There wasn’t anything you could really do, you tried to get a job down main street, but alas no one would hire you. Mainly because they couldn’t afford to pay you for any work you might actually stumble upon.
So, naturally, you ended up working in Prime Time 50s Diner on the first floor right across from Hot Dog On A Stick. Which was just as depressing as it sounded. Hot Dog On A Stick was busier than the diner nine times out of ten and you legitimately thought about moving across the way just for something more to do.
As you stepped on the escalator you spotted the bright flashing bulbs of the big Scoops Ahoy sign. You enjoyed ice cream and even though you had ice cream at your job you couldn’t resist the getaway from the smell of greasy cheeseburgers and the constant repeat of the same old songs. You walked your way into Scoops Ahoy glancing at the few people eating ice cream inside. No employee in sight as you approached the front counter. You smirked and began to ring the front bell in front of the register rather obnoxiously. You loved this stupid little bell it was a great way to get under Robin’s skin. You stopped ringing the bell and just stood there for a split second and rang it one more time. You snickered and headed over to look at the ice cream flavors they had today. Contemplating on trying something new or not, you wouldn’t, but it was always nice to look.
Your ears perked up as you heard shuffling to the door, a thud, and then a sliding window open.
“Ahoy!” Robin said with a tone of annoyance in her voice. Her face sarcastically fell realizing it was just you and you smiled. A slight smirk found her face when you giggled at her.
“Ahoy there!” You said as you lazily gave her a two finger salute. You both let out a laugh and she walked around and met you on the other side of the counter.
“What are you up to?” She asked and you just shrugged.
“Same old, same old.” You smirked as you saw Robin grab your favorite flavor. “You know I could’ve changed my mind, I could’ve wanted the U.S.S. Butterscotch.”
“As if.” Robin said as she rolled her eyes. You always knew of Robin, you, of course, went to high school together and knew each other through passing. But you never were friends. You simply just knew of each other and that was that, until one day during your lunch break you guys started talking.
The food court was packed and almost every seat was filled, except for two right across from each other. You sat on one side and Robin sat across from you on the other side. You started friendly conversation not expecting much of anything to come from it.
“So, you work at the 50s place?” She asked trying to keep her gaze towards you limited. You wondered what she actually thought of you. You hoped that you never did anything to offend or hurt her in high school because she was proving to be pretty cool and not just the band geek you originally thought.
“Yeah.” You said with a friendly smile, wondering how much she remembered of you from high school.
You were the Queen of Hawkins and the ruthless truth rang down the halls as you called people out on their bullshit. If they started something you would sure as hell would end it. Not in any physically violent way, but words do cut like knives.
You understood that, but you couldn’t stop yourself once the thought entered your brain. People liked seeing you be a bitch, so you were a bitch. For six hours a day five days a week, you were Queen of Hawkins High, the Bitch of Indy, not (Y/N).
“You should stop by, it’ll be on me.” You smiled honestly wanting to give Robin a chance. You were tired of being lonely and pretending. You wanted a friend, an actual friend, something you haven’t had in a long time. It was time to be an adult.
Robin’s head shot up as her eyes meet with yours. There was some sort of gleam in her eyes, like she was finally able to hang out with the popular girl. Your eyes met hers with a shared excitement.
Now, this was something new and you planned to just let the walls you built crumble a bit and you were genuinely excited. High school was over and you could be who you wanted to be, who you should have been.
“Maybe tomorrow, lunch?” You questioned and she nodded. You stood up and apologized due to the fact your break was over. “Great. I have to get going. I’ll see you then.”
“See you then.” Robin said with a smirk as she returned to her Chinese food.
The next day she met you for lunch and you gave being open a chance. You didn’t expect Robin to stay after that, but she did. She put up with your stubbornness and your tendencies to shut down, and actually stuck around and helped you out of that hole you were stuck in for so long.
You told each other everything and you both knew everything about each other. Even Robin’s biggest secret which was actually pretty funny because you thought she was dying when she very mysteriously “had something she needed to tell you before your friendship could continue”.
“Seriously? That’s it?” You questioned.
“Yeah.” She said shakily and she was so nervous. “I’m a lesbian and I understand if that’s a problem and you don’t want to be friends-.”
“Robin.” You cut her off abruptly. “I thought you were dying. Dying. You being gay doesn’t matter to me. As long as you are happy I will always support you. You are my best friend and I have no idea where I’d be without you.” You pulled her into a hug, holding back tears. Robin let a few slip, but would never admit it. As you parted you put your hands on her shoulders.
“Movie night?” You asked smiling.
“Movie night.” She affirmed.
“What are you up to tonight?” You asked her.
“Not much of anything. Movie night?” She asked as she handed you ice cream and as you took it you nodded. You shoved money into the tip jar knowing that she wouldn’t take it. She rolled her eyes and you heard another thud from the back. You raised an eyebrow and tried to glance around her. She quickly fidgeted so you couldn’t take a peak, not that you’d be able to see into the break room that was down the hall.
“What is going on back there? Did they finally hire some help?”
“Just some shelf assembly.” Robin said and you raised an eyebrow quizzically. What type of shelf was being put together? What idiot was assembling it? “But, yeah they finally hired help. What movies are you thinking of for tonight? I was thinking maybe a classic or something along those lines.” She tried to gently ease the conversation away from the noise that came from the back. You just shrugged.
“Anything works tonight.” You said taking a lick from the ice cream cone as you studied Robin. She’s hiding something and it didn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out Robin knew something you didn’t. “Who is your new co-worker? It isn’t Tommy is it?” You stifled a laugh picturing Tommy in the sailor uniform. You leaned against the counter continuing to eat your ice cream.
“Ah ha, no. So, about this movie how do you feel about Dargonslayer, I heard-.”
“So you are avoiding the co-worker conversation.” You cut her off and grinned. “Do I know them? Is it Tammy? C’mon just tell me-.” You went to finish but was cut off by the loudest thud thus far.
All conversation stopped in Scoops Ahoy as you and Robin made desperate eye contact before you both ran into the back. As you both took a sharp turn into the break room your eyes locked with the complete and utter idiot who was laying underneath the poorly constructed steel shelf.
“Harrington?” You spat, your actions not correlating with your wicked tone as you went to pull the shelf back onto its four legs.
“(Y/L/N)?” He questioned his eyes not leaving you as he pushed the shelf off of him as you pulled it up. The shelf wasn’t completed therefore it wasn’t that heavy but it was in fact tall. When you had it back and up straight you crossed your arms as Robin gave Steve a helping hand up.
You crossed your arms and glared at him.
“What are you doing here?” He asked as he dusted himself off. Robin chewed the inside of her cheek knowing it was only a matter of time before you and Steve crossed paths.
“Why are you failing to assemble a simple shelf?” You questioned and he mocked you. You could cut the tension in the room it was so thick.
“Ha, well I think it’s time for you to scurry out of here. Besides you aren’t supposed to back here anyways..” Robin said with a clap trying to relive some of that bottled up tension, being no stranger to the rocky relationship you and Steve had.
“Yeah, Scoops Ahoy employees only.” Steve said as he went back to the shelf and its instructions. Steve wanted to continue to look at you, but knew it was best to turn away.
“Right.” You said not wanting to hang around anyway.
“Right.” He said as he picked up a screw driver.
“I’ll see you tonight, Robin. 7 as usual.” You said as you left. You took a lick of your ice cream cone and shuttered. It no longer tasted as sweet nor as refreshing as it usually did. You couldn’t believe that Steve Harrington was the newest Scoops Ahoy employee. Throwing the ice cream in the trash you left Scoops Ahoy with mixed emotions.
Robin went to call after you but decided to let it go. She glared at Steve and Steve just looked back at her somewhat confused.
“What did I do? Are you guys friends?” Steve asked as he put the last screw into the shelf to make it sturdy. He was clearly disgruntled, something Robin hasn’t really seen on Steve. He was just fine not too long ago, going on about how Dustin was to be coming back from camp soon.
“What is with you two? You guys have been bickering back and forth, since, well the whole King and Queen thing started.” Robin said as she began to help Steve by putting boxes of plastic utensils on the newly constructed shelf. You never told Robin the real reason you and Steve were at each other's throat, she asked one time, but didn’t get anywhere.
“Some people just don’t get along.” Steve grunted, a hint of sadness lingering. It was out of character, well as far as Robin was concerned, to see Steve get so upset so fast. Not to mention stay upset about something.
“Something has to have happened. I believe you guys were fairly close in middle school.” Robin said and Steve just sighed.
“Harrington!” You yelled from the end of the middle school hallway as kids tried to rush past you and out the school.
“(Y/L/N)!” Steve yelled back as he shut his locker and lightly jogged down to the end of the hall to meet you. As he met you with a smile you both walked out of the school and continued on the way down to the end of the street. You and Steve both walked home and went in the same general direction, so it just made sense to Steve for you both to just walk together. Thus, a friendship was born.
“Did you see Mrs. Karly today? What was the deal with those glasses? They made her look like an owl.” He said and you both laughed picturing the big bright orange circular glasses on Mr. Karly’s thin and brittle face.
“Well it was nothing compared to Carol’s new braces.” You chuckled smiling at Steve as both your laughter died down.
Once you guys where further away from the school you sighed and your head fell. Steve could sense that something wasn’t quite right with you and he playfully pushed your shoulder.
“Hey, what’s wrong?” He asked as he could feel a type of fear grow in his stomach.
“It’s nothing really. I think I’m just worrying for no reason…Maybe?” You questioned facing him.
“Spill the beans, (Y/N).” He said and you just sighed.
“Do you think we will still be friends, Steve. In high school? I mean we only have one more semester of middle school, one, and then a new cycle of everything begins.” You let the words fall from your mouth as you tugged on your back pack straps.
Steve looked at you baffled wondering why you would think he’d leave you. Steve really liked you, really liked you. You were funny, and honest, and not to mention very pretty. What would bring him to not have you around him in the slightest had to end.
“Of course we will.” He said in a stern tone unsure of how to exactly convince you he didn’t want to be anywhere you weren't. You laughed and the way he looked at you with such seriousness made your checks warm.
“Yeah, of course, we will.” You said with a smile as you looked at Steve. He coughed and looked away as a hand found the back of his neck, his body temperature rising causing him to flush red. You laughed and punched him in the shoulder and you both just died of laughter.
When you both parted ways that night to your proper houses, you both had a lot to think about.
“Just forget about it.” Steve said, clearly cranky and an out of place redness to his face. “She’s your friend, why don’t you ask her.”
“After how upset you just made her, with only saying, what, eleven words in total to her. I’m clearly afraid to ask her anything.” Robin and Steve finished putting the multiple boxes from the floor onto the shelves. “So,  go on, what exactly happened? High school is over, right?” Steve rolled his eyes and pulled out a chair from the break room table and sat down. Steve hasn’t really talked about you since his last rant about you to Nancy Wheeler.
“I just don’t understand! It’s like she’s lost her goddamn mind! What is she thinking getting between Carol and Tommy like that?” Steve exclaimed to Nancy. Nancy was listening to Steve, but her mind was also going elsewhere with thoughts of Barb’s parents and how her and Steve had to cancel dinner, yet again.  “She’s not stupid, Nance. She has to know that Carol isn’t taking this lightly.” Steve said with frustration as he ran his hand through his hair. Nancy just nodded making a noise of affirmation.
Steve was trying to focus on the road and wrap his head around your actions and why all of a sudden you chose to mess around with Tommy. Tommy, of all people, Tommy. Really? It made the hairs on the back of his neck stand up and his blood boil at just the thought of Tommy.
He was a giant prick! If anyone knew that, you did! You constantly reprimanded Tommy. He couldn’t believe it when he first overheard some people in the hallway gossiping about it. You hated Tommy, you have since fifth grade. Tommy! Who’s next, that new guy, Billy? Steve’s hand moved from his hair as he put it out of the car window. Steve grunted as subconsciously his foot put more weight on the gas.
Why are you fucking around and acting like a child? Is it because he hasn’t apologized for what he said at that party junior year? Is it because you needed some type of drama? What ever happened to Michael McEvers? Were you just lonely and would just take anyone? What was he chopped liver?!
“Steve!” Nancy shouted and Steve brought his full attention back to the road and the stop sign fast approaching. Steve’s foot slammed on the break as he watched the blue Camaro race past their four way stop. Steve and Nancy both caught their breath and looked at each other. Steve took a deep breath and just slammed his hands against the steering wheel. Nancy, finally pulled out of her own thoughts  of guilt began to comfort Steve as he laid his head against the steering wheel and sighed.
Somehow, he managed to make it through a lecture from his father this morning, starting yet another college application, a rough basketball practice with Billy joining the team, and a deep conversation with Nancy that nearly avoided a break up. And this, this was just the icing on the cake. Steve’s eyes started to water.
“Steve, honey, it’s okay.” Nancy’s brows furrowed as she cooed and rubbed Steve’s back.
“She just-. I just-.” Steve began but kept getting cut off by his own sobs. “I should’ve stuck around. I shouldn’t have blown her off. I kept meaning to call. I keep meaning to show up at her door and talk with her. I should’ve been there for (Y/N), Nancy. Why wasn’t I there?” Steve sat up and put the car in park. “O-Oh yeah, that’s right I was too busy being an absolute a-ass.” Steve sniffed trying to pull it together. Nancy leaned against Steve’s shoulder and ran her hand up and down his arm.
“Steve, things happen. People get busy, especially after what we just went through. You can’t let yourself be responsible for everyone. It’s okay.” Nancy said as she placed a kiss on his cheek and genuinely felt bad for Steve. Steve just sighed out a chuckle and shook his head slowly. He could’ve fixed things with you. Steve took another big sniff and without even thinking he just started speaking.
“I just miss (Y/N), so much, Nance. If I could go back and get her, I would. In a heartbeat.” Steve rubbed his red and irritated eyes and his mind just focused on you.
They sat there as Nancy seriously began to contemplate on her and Steve’s relationship, and the relationships they didn’t take.
Steve regretfully looked at Robin as she sat on the edge of her seat. Steve sighed and took a deep breath.
“We just got into a fight. That’s all.”
“You can’t just leave it at that. I need to know the details.” Robin said with a raging curiosity in her mind. Robin knew that you would tell her in your own time, but she wanted to know now. It was hard to admit but Steve’s goofiness was growing on her and the fact that he actually did stuff at Scoops and she wasn’t alone anymore made her life a lot easier. Robin looked furiously at Steve and he just sighed.
“Take a seat.” He said and gestured to the other seat. As Robin took a seat, Steve thought about where to begin. It’s funny how you can recall things in such vivid detail and once someone asks you what happened you can’t find the words to say to describe it.
A laugh escaped both yours and Steve’s lips as you flopped down on the king sized bed that belonged to Tammy Thompson’s parents. You both laid next to each other on the bed. Neither of you were drunk, just a little tipsy. You both had drunk enough just to find each other and sneak off together.
As you stared at the ceiling Steve’s eyes were glued to you. He took in the way your hair fanned out onto the bed and how it looked against the dark purple comforter. He wondered what was going on in that head of yours and how he could work his way in there and take up as much of your attention as he could.  
As you rolled your head over to look at him and you had a big goofy smile on your face. A redness started to become present on your cheeks.
“What?” You questioned as you playfully punched him on the shoulder. You focused on blinking as if your eyes were cameras taking pictures of this moment and capturing it so you could put those pictures into a scrapbook.
“You are beautiful, (Y/N) (Y/L/N).” He said with rose tinted cheeks that he blamed the booze on. He also blamed the booze on this need to be close to you, this need to tell you how wonderful you are, and how he had to be touching you. As his hand laid against yours his eyes studied the way your lips looked, and he couldn’t help but wonder what flavor chapstick they tasted like.  
“Shut up, Steve. You’re drunk.” You stated as you snuck a glance at his lips telling yourself not to linger for too long. You couldn’t make that mistake tonight, even though the thought of both your lips synchronized in harmony against each other warmed you to your core.
“What, and you’re not?” Steve asked as he looked into your eyes. You bit your lip, like a tease, and Steve swore on God that you were going to be the death of him. He wanted your body pressed against his, he wanted his hands to roam over every square inch of your body, he needed to know how your lips felt against his. As his thoughts drove him insane he came to the conclusion that tonight, wasn’t the night for that. Not while you both of you were almost off your asses, you deserved better. He wanted to give you better.
You turned on your side as you propped yourself up you began to think about that one conversation you had on that one walk home from school. Your mind quick to distract yourself from the intrusive thoughts of Steve.
“Why didn’t we stay friends, Steve?” You questioned sadly, not exactly wanting to take that road. It was too late now and now you had to know.
“We still are friends.” Steve lied looking up at the ceiling and away from you. Steve couldn’t look at you and lie, he couldn’t handle the way your features settled into disappointment.
“Bullshit. We really aren’t, Steve. This is the first night in, like, forever that we have had an actual fragment of a conversation.” You said exasperated, beginning to get annoyed.
“(Y/N), can we not, can we just-.” You sighed and sat up. As sadness filled the room where drunken laughter once rang out. Steve followed you quickly and reached for your wrist. “Hey. C’mon, (Y/N), what does it matter?  We are friends right now. Stay with me.” You yanked your arm away from his gentle grip.
“What does it matter?” You said standing up and Steve sighed. Your heart broke. Steve sat up straight up as he felt the consequences of what he said.
He fucked up, he royally fucked up.
“It matters because I’ve tried calling and everytime I did your mom answered and said you were out. Or that- that you had a friend over to help you study.” You said putting air quotes around the words “out” and “study”.
“I’ve been busy.” Steve said, and he has been. Trying to navigate his way through his feelings and thoughts. Evaluating what he wanted and building a reputation along the way. You just chuckled and Steve stood up annoyed. “Like you haven’t?” He questioned with an edge to his voice. Trying to keep the volume down not wanting anyone to overhear.
“What is that supposed to mean?” You questioned and Steve stood there dumbfounded. You weren’t with him, therefore you had to have been busy.
“You know what it’s supposed to mean. I’ve seen you around with Michael and his crew of football cronies!” His voice raised and stern, any thought of keeping anyone from hearing gone. You let out a sharp laugh. “Which has apparently given you a complex to just go and call anyone out. You yelled at Tommy just this past week.”
“Tommy needed to be yelled at! He was ogling up Barb and Nancy like they were greasy hamburgers fresh off the grill!”
“That’s what Tommy does! He’s harmless!” Steve bickered back.
“So that’s supposed to make it okay?” You questioned raising your brows and looking at him in disbelief.
“What? No, of course not!” You just shook your head and rolled your eyes.
“Then why don’t you say anything? Why don’t you call Tommy out on his bullshit? Ever! You just stand there with this look on your face. It’s like you know what you are doing is wrong but you don’t do anything about it! You just stand there with this shit eating grin and it’s not you! It’s not you.” You yelled and Steve was left speechless. He didn’t know what to say and even if he did, he wouldn’t know how to say it. Tears were threatening to start to pour, but you just sniffed refusing to start crying.
Steve wanted to apologize. Steve knew you were right. Steve understood that his actions weren’t a true reflection of who he was. He was just lost and the attention he was getting wasn’t something he wanted to give up, yet. So as most things go.
“Not me? (Y/N), you don’t know me! You don’t know shit about me and you can’t stand here and lecture me when you have your own title you don’t even live up too! Queen of Hawkins my ass! You show off this fake face to everyone and feed into their obsession of seeing if they can please you or not. They see this mean character that you mask around as and you love it!” He yelled and you just laughed because you knew he was right to a point.
“Yeah, well, at least they get honesty from me!” You shouted back at him.
“Do they get the complete honest you, though?” Steve asked his voice lowering, selfishly hoping that he was the only one that knew this you. The real you. You stood there refusing to give him the ‘no’ he wanted and you gritted your teeth as you headed for the door. As your hand gripped the door knob you took a deep shaky breath and then exhaled. As you faced Steve with a couple tears leaking out of your eyes. Steve’s demeanor softened and he regretted everything he just said. He went to bring you into a him but stopped as you flinched away from him. You longed for his embrace but you knew it would shatter your already broken pieces. Steve stood frozen, broken, and hesitantly awaiting for you to say something. Anything.
“Like you said, ‘what does it matter’? We all put on these facades and we don’t get hurt. I don’t get hurt.” You said as strongly as you could as you opened the door and began to walk away from the room as quickly as you could without alerting the rest of the party that something had happened in that room. Steve just looked at the empty doorway and his jaw tightened. He paced the length of the bed thinking.
“Shit.” He shouted frustrated with himself. What was he doing? Maybe it wasn’t too late to change. Maybe he could fix things, fix this. Steve took strong strives out the door and he began to scan the hall for you. His pace quickened as he repeated your name.
“(Y/N).” He tried to say audible enough for you to hear over the blaring music as you made a beeline for the stairs.
“(Y/N)! I need-!” Steve was cut off by a sharp hit on his shoulders. It was Tommy.
“You slept with (Y/N)?” He asked with a sinister grin and a light laugh.
“What? No, Tommy I need to get-.” Steve went to begin.
“You dog!” Tommy shouted. “King Steve! King Steve! King Steve!” As Tommy began to chant the whole party started to join in. With their chants getting louder and louder you turned and glared at Steve.
Steve’s heart broke and your glassy eyes told him enough. You stumbled down the stairs and away from the chanting upstairs.
“(Y/N), wait!” Steve shouted as he began to take off after you. The chanting followed Steve down the stairs, Tommy sinsterly lurking behind him. His eyes glued to the back of your head as he tried to get as close as he could to you. He didn’t want to let go, he wanted to fix this.
As you were almost out the door you tripped over the now stained welcome mat and into Michael McEvers arms.
“(Y/N), are you okay?” Michael asked concerned pulling you up and you just nodded while trying to dry your eyes and sniffling. Steve was so close to touching you when Michael’s eyes met Steve’s he knew Steve did something. “Get away from her, Harrington!” Michael shouted as he pulled you out into the porch and slammed the door behind you. Steve went to go after you to make things right but Tommy’s hand found Steve’s shoulder holding him back.
“Let the slut go. C’mon we can get you another.” Tommy said wrapping his arm around Steve’s shoulders.
Maybe it was best that he let you go. He’d only say the wrong things and hurt you even more. He couldn’t fix this, he couldn’t make things right, it was just too late. He had to accept that. Michael was a good guy anyway, he could give you things Steve couldn’t. Steve took a deep breath furrowing his brows as a headache started to form.
“Let’s get you wasted.” Tommy said as he went to go get Steve a drink. Being wasted and feeling as light as air sounded a hell of a lot better than how heavy and broken he felt now.
As Steve finished his brief synopsis of your guys’s argument to Robin, guilt settled in his stomach.
“And you didn’t say anything after that night?”
“No, I figured it was best to leave her be. She didn’t need me anymore. Or at all to be completely honest.” Steve said as the bell from outside rang and he stood up pushing in the chair and working his way to the front. Robin followed him on his heels. He silently thanked whatever customer rang the front bell.
“Are you serious?” She questioned wondering how someone could be so stupid.
“I wasn’t going to waste my breath.” Steve said. He thought about making it up to you countless times. But, one time he called when he really needed you, desperately needed you, you couldn’t get to the phone.
“You are joking?” Robin was astounded with how much of an idiot Steve was being.
“Why don’t you just talk to her?” You strained out through a hick-up as you leaned against Robin’s shoulder looking at both of your reflections in the pool. Robin just laughed.
“Let me just waltz up to Tammy Thompson and say, ‘Hey! I really like you and I think you should’ve been gazing into my eyes instead of at that stupid Steve Harrington!’ yeah, you do that and then tell me how well it works for you.” Robin continued to laugh. It was a movie night and for some reason you couldn’t focus on that dumb rom-com you picked. Which lead to you sneaking some beers from your dad's “secret” stash and hiding out in the backyard wasted with Robin. Sitting on the side of the pool with your bare feet in the water and you smiled sadly. Steve, “the hair”, Harrington. King Steve. You snickered at the thought of him and you could almost smell a faint hint of Farrier Fawcett hairspray.
“What made you two go at each other’s throats all the time?” Robin just asked. You looked at her confused.
“You and Steve. You guys were always bickering and it literally made no sense. I mean you were Queen and he was King of Hawkins. Why didn’t you guys run the place together?” You nodded sadly understanding what Robin was saying.
“Yeah, I really liked, Steve. Like I mean I liked him.” You said with an emphasis on “liked”, but it was so much more than the simple like.
“Oh.” Robin said shortly understanding fully well how that stuff works.
“But then he turned into ass hat McAsserton and everything changed. He just pissed me off so much, and it wasn't him, like, I know Steve Harrington. He is such a goof and he was being someone I knew, I knew he wasn’t and I just couldn’t stand it. He’s such an-.”
“He’s changed, y’know.” Robin cut you off. “He’s lonely.” Steve had just hired in at Scoops Ahoy and Robin could tell that something had changed and for the better. You scoffed and slid off of her shoulder as you laid on the wood deck connected to the above ground pool.
“Okay.” You snorted refusing to get your hopes up.
“If you could change why couldn’t he?” Robin stated as she leaned back to joining you. “Think about it.” Robin was right as she usually was. You took a deep breath and thought about that night. You should talk to him. You should go see him. You should be there. Then maybe this weight on your chest would be gone. This summer you would finally patch things up with Steve Harrington once and for all. A creed you pushed aside in the morning once the hangover was gone.
“Well, I think you could do better than Tammy anyway.” You said as you turned your head and looked at her with a smile.
“You think?” Robin asked knowing what you were doing, but she just let it be. She wasn’t going to force you to talk about anything you didn’t want to talk about.
“Oh my god, definitely, Robin.” You both laughed as your thoughts wondered about Steve.
“Don’t you miss her?” Robin asked, her tone giving away her confusion.
“Of course I miss her, Robin.” Steve said in a matter of fact tone. “What can I get for you?” Steve asked as he pulled out his ice cream scoop from it’s holster around his waist. He twirled it in his hand as the old lady examined the flavors.
“You do understand that all of this could be solved by just talking to her. Right?” Robin said with her hands on her hips and a serious look in her eyes.
“Gee, I never thought of that.” Steve said with an airy laugh.
“How about the mint chocolate chip?” The lady said squinting trying to figure out who exactly she was talking to.
“You could have fooled me, Steve.” Steve made a ‘tsk’ sound as he shook his head and began scooping up some ice cream.
“It’s a lot easier said than done when you have that much history with someone, especially someone as stubborn as her. Also, she could come to me, y’know.” Steve said putting the ice cream into a sugar cone and taking it down to the register handing it to the old lady not even bothering to ring her up. “It’s on the house.” Steve said frustrated, what if you didn’t want him around anyway.
“Why thank you, Miss.” She said taking it and hobiling away. Robin stifled a laugh as Steve threw his hands in the air out of frustration. Today has not been his day.
“Steve.” Robin said straightening up bringing her focus back to the matter at hand. “Do you honestly think the Queen of Hawkins would go to you first? Especially when she was in the height of her high school career? Honestly? Especially after the whole school branded her a slut after that party. Which you totally should have done something about, by the way. Jumping from you to Michael when she didn’t even have a thing with either of you.” Steve stood up straight.
“She didn’t have a thing with Michael? They were dating, holding hands in the hall and everything.” Steve said feeling completely and utterly confused.
“No, dingus. Michael’s-. (Y/N) fake dated him to keep it from getting out that him and Tyler were, well,-.” Robin said not exactly knowing how to phrase what she was saying. She tried to be cautious not knowing how Steve would take the news that Michael McEvers was totally gay. “A thing.” She said with little fear while she scanned Scoops Ahoy with her prefils hoping the two people there weren’t catching on.
“Michael McEvers?” Steve questioned wondering how he didn’t pick up on it. Then again he could’ve sworn Jonathan Byers was gay, but he was currently seriously invoved with Nancy. “Wait, how do you know that?” Steve asked Robin with an eyebrow raised.
“(Y/N) told me.” Robin said quick to get any suspicious thoughts about herself away from the conversation.
“Shit.” Steve mumbled.
“Y’know I think that pale yellow looks great on you, Mike.” You said as you straightened up Michael’s cardigan.
“Really?” He questioned.
“Of course.” You said as you leaned against the lockers. “Tyler doesn’t know what he’s talking about.” Michael shut his locker as he awkwardly took your hand.
“Thank you, for all this.” Michael said quietly and you just smiled.
“Please don’t mention it.” You smiled softly as you both walked down the hall.
“Do you want to go to the movies tonight? Tyler will meet us there.”
“Yeah. Of course.” You said and Michael continued to talk. As you and Michael walked to Algebra you both passed Nancy and Steve. Yours and Steve’s eyes locked, a sadness lingering over the noisy hall. As you passed you looked straight ahead while Steve looked back.
“Steve?” Nancy questioned.
“Uh huh.” Steve said and looked back at Nancy.
“You have basketball tonight, right?”
“Right.” Steve said as he let go of Nancy’s hand and wrapped his arm around her shoulders.
“So a double cheeseburger with a side of onion rings and a large coke to go.” You read off the order to Billy while simultaneously ringing it up.
“You got it, Queen.” Billy said with a wink and you rolled your eyes. Billy had a fascination with you and he couldn’t just place his finger on what made you so different. He liked your attitude and he liked the way you handled yourself.
You and Billy never got together, together, and maybe that’s why he liked you, you weren't throwing yourself at his feet.
Usually when Billy was around you were open and gentle with him, because you could tell he was dealing with something that he couldn’t handle. You wanted Billy to know if, or when, he wanted to talk that you were here.
“What’s the matter, doll?” Billy asked before he could even think about why he even asked.
“Nothing, Billy.” You sighed as you sent the order to Sal. The diner still as empty as it was an hour ago.
“C’mon. I haven’t seen you this frustrated since I almost T-boned Harrington’s car.” Billy laughed.
“That wasn’t funny, he and Nancy could’ve really gotten hurt. Not to mention we could’ve really gotten hurt.” You said leaning against the counter facing him.
“It was an adrenaline trip and you can’t deny that. Almost had you in my lap.” He laughed and you smirked.
“You and I remember that drive very differently then.” You laughed and crossed your arms. Billy smirked trying to think of something that might cheer you up. Maybe keep that smile around.
“Do you remember that Halloween party? Do you remember Tommy being shit faced and his face just colliding with the porch cement out back. He always was a giant prick.” Billy laughed and you did to. You didn’t go to that Halloween party but you had heard about it. You were appreciating what Billy was trying to do so you just went along with it nodding and laughing.
“Mom! Get the phone, please! I’m kind of busy!” You yelled as the phone rang off the hook and you tried to paint your nails with your non dominant hand and flip a page in your magazine at the same time. The last thing you wanted to do was answer the phone to a drunk sobbing Carol asking why you weren’t at this party to comfort her while Tommy hit on anything with a pulse. Steve was also there with Nancy and you didn’t feel like feeling like shit for once. You didn’t want to be jealous of Nancy anymore. You didn’t want to see them. As the phone stopped ringing, your mom obviously not grabbing it, you just sighed. Finally, just some time by yourself. Nice and quiet-. Your thoughts suddenly interrupted by the phone ringing again.
“Mom!” You yelled as your aggravation got the better of you.
“Hold on!” Your mom yelled from downstairs as she shut the door on a couple of trick or treaters in ghostbuster costumes. As she sauntered her way over to the phone she picked it up with a friendly hello.
“The (Y/L/N) residents, (Y/M/N) speaking.”
“H-Hey, Mrs. (Y/L/N). I-It’s a- um Steve. Is (Y/N) around by any chance?” Steve choked out through tears.
“Steve Harrington?” Your mom questioned with an edge to her voice.
“Uh,-.” Steve coughed. “Yeah, Steve Harrington.” He said his voice breaking while he was hoping to God you were home. Your mom chewed the inside of her cheek as she contemplated her next few words as wisely as she could. She knew Steve and she knew that he sent you into multiple whirl winds of consent confusion.
“Mr. Harrington, if you know what is good for you, you’d leave (Y/N) alone and you wouldn’t dare to call this number again.” She threatened and hung up the phone.
Steve on the other end was a mess of tears while his heart felt like a black hole. Steve nodded swallowing back tears. His house was empty, it was just him and the mind numbing silence.
You got up from your desk and went down the stairs to see your mom glaring at the telephone and you were completely bewildered by her strange and unusual attitude. The doorbell rang and as you went to the kitchen she went towards the door.
What could that phone call possibly be about to make your mother's whole attitude change on a dime.
“One double cheeseburger with side onion rings to go!” Sal shouted and as you picked up the to go bag and coke you glanced at the clock. Only 30 minutes left to your shift then Jessica comes in to replace you.
“Well, Billy here you go.” You said as you handed Billy his to go bag of grease.
“(Y/N), if you need a time out, you know my number.” Billy said with a sly smile. His intentions were truly pure, maybe Billy was also growing old of the part he used to play. You smiled at him not breaking eye contact.
“I know, Billy. I know.” you said as Billy completely took the bag and gave you a cheeky wink.
“I’ll see you later, alright?” He said as he turned and left.
“Whatever you say, Billy.” You chuckled and waved. As you watched him leave you heard Sal whistle.
“What?” You snapped as you had a light glare targeted at him.
“You two would be cute together, that’s all.” You rolled your eyes, unfortunately a lover wasn’t on the agenda for you. But, when did your agenda ever go as planned?  
Steve was on the escalator on his way down to the first floor to grab himself and Robin a corn dog as a little snack that wasn’t ice cream. On his way over there he peered into the diner and saw Billy leaving. Steve just scoffed as he hopped off the elevator peering through the big open entrance of the diner catching glimpses of you. As he headed towards Hot Dog On A Stick he stopped. He could see your full frame as you laughed at something someone must’ve said. As he leaned against the pillar near him he examined how when you laughed your hand found your mouth. Steve chuckled as his cheeks grew pink and his stomach flipped excitedly.
He wanted to make things better and that’s all he’s been able to think about since hearing your voice earlier. Since he saw you earlier.
Steve didn’t think he’d ever even see you again. He thought for sure you’d be packed up and out on your own, away from Hawkins, away from him. College bound with the world at your feet. Maybe it was a sign? Maybe it was time. It’s been so long, too long. A peace offering. He needed a peace offering. His brain told him to move, to get going. To use this excitement that was coursing through his veins to pull something together. But his body didn’t move, instead he continued to lean against that pillar and look at you. Just look at you and the way when you really started to laugh you you would throw your head back. He just wanted to look at you for a while longer.
“I swear you just want me to leave.” You said as your laughter died down. You glanced out into the mall and your eyes unexpectedly locked with Steve’s. A light smile on your face as Steve quickly looked away and took off towards Hot Dog On A Stick. You sighed, just talk to him. He wasn’t going to bite, quit being stubborn and grow up.
“Hey, Sal, I’ll be right back. I’ve got something I have to do real quick.” You said and began to lightly jog out of the restaurant and catch up with Steve.
“Hey. Hey!” Sal called and you just waved. Sal rolled his eyes as your eyes locked on the back of Steve’s head. Enough is enough. You are an adult now. You can pick up after yourself and mend relationships. As you finally caught up to Steve and stood behind him in line, and you were about to touch his shoulder to get his attention when all of that confidence left and was replaced with doubt. What if he was still mad? What are you doing? He should be coming to you. He’s the one that fucked up, not you. Turn around and go back.
“I can help you over here, ma’am.” Said a spunky looking teenage girl in a bright and obnoxious primary colored uniform. She pulled you out of your thoughts causing Steve to glance behind him.
“I, uh-.” You began but was cut off by Steve.
“She’s with me.” Steve said quickly, praying that you actually were with him. If you said yes it would make it easier to explain the apology corn dog, if not he’d probably get cold feet and give not only your corn dog to Robin, but his own.
“Uh, um, yeah.” You said awkwardly and he smiled letting out a breath he didn’t even know he was holding. “I’m with him.” So cold feet weren’t an option. Steve had to go through with this long over do make up conversation. You smiled and the girl at the other register just rolled her eyes.
“Three corn dogs.” Said a man in front of Steve holding them between his fingers. Steve broke eye contact with you, turned, and grabbed the corn dogs.
“Thanks.” He said with a smile and handed over some cash. “Keep the change.” Steve spit out quickly as he turned back to you.
“Let’s go for a walk.” You stated not giving Steve the option to turn you down.
“Definitely.” As you both walked out into the nearly empty food court you held your hands behind your back. How did this work? How do you talk to someone you know so well, but were mere strangers with.
“This.” Steve said holding out a corn dog. “This is for you. If you want it of course. I wanted to get you one so we could start talking. Well, I could start talking to you, make it less awkward and maybe soften you up a bit.” Steve let out an awkward laugh and you just smiled. “I don’t even know if you really like corn dogs. I know you used to. I remember when we went to the state fair and you got one that was the size of your head. You said it was good, but people's taste buds change. I guess I should’ve gone with candy, or maybe flowers. I should’ve thought this out-.”
“Steve, you’re beginning to ramble.” You said taking the corn dog. Only Steve Harrington, only Steve Harrington.
“Right, so.” He said before starting in on his corn dog. God, this was hard. You both walked in an awkwardly comfortable silence and before too long Steve’s corn dog was gone. Steve’s always been a nervous eater, it was quite an adorable little quirk he had. You took a bite of your corn dog and held the corn dog closer to him, signaling you’d share yours with him.
“This is a bit weird.” You said as Steve leaned and took a bite of your corn dog. He didn’t say anything but he did agree. It’s been almost two years since you didn’t snap at him the first time you saw him and he didn’t run away. You took another bite of your corn dog and then passed it back to Steve.
“Y’know, I think the sailor uniform fits you, it’s kind of cute.” You laughed and Steve almost choked.  
“S-Seriously?” He laughed and you couldn’t wipe the grin from your face.
“Seriously.” You said with a nod as you guys continued to walk down through the food court. No idea where you were going or how much time has passed. It felt like you’ve been walking for hours, both your corn dogs gone and Robin’s getting cold. When in reality it was only mere minutes since you’ve left the register at Hot Dog On A Stick. You caught a glimpse of  Jessica walking into the diner.
“Steve, I, uh, I’ve got to go. Maybe-.” You started trying to break away from this until you had yourself together and you could put together what you wanted to say and how you wanted to say it.
“I’m sorry.” Steve blurted out. He had to say this before you left. “I’m so sorry. I should’ve listened to you. I should’ve called. I was scared you wouldn’t want to listen to me. I’m still afraid you don’t want to listen to me. I should’ve came around, I just. I thought I was-. I’m a schmuck. I was a real asshole and I’m so sorry. You looked like you had everything figured out. I didn’t think you’d want to deal with me. I tried calling one time and your mom answered, she told me to leave you alone. I mean, I couldn’t blame her, in fact I could even agree with her. I already put you through a lot. It felt wrong, but you seemed to be doing alright and I thought that maybe if I searched for you elsewhere I wouldn’t miss you as much. It didn’t work, I mean it helped, but it didn’t work.  I miss you so much. I want to make things right, I have got to make things right with you. You don’t have to stay around, I just need to know how you feel. I get it if you don’t want to see me again. I’ll leave right now if you want me too. I’ll pack up my sailor hat and I’ll-.” Steve started to speak quickly not even really thinking about the words coming out of his mouth. He just had so much to say and it was pointless for him to try and organize all of it. He wanted you to know every thought that ran through his mind.
“Steve.” You interrupted him and as he caught his breath you grabbed ahold of one of his hands. “I’m sorry too, so unbelievably sorry. I miss you too.” You smiled lightly and Steve let out a nervous sigh as his eyes traveled to your hands holding one of his.
“(Y/N)!” You heard Jessica yell from the diner. You whipped your head around.
“In a minute!” You yelled across the mall. You faced Steve and followed his eyes down to your hands. You quickly let go with an awkward chuckle. Steve let a small smile escape as he saw your cheeks go a rosy red and you playfully pushed him away.
“Truce?” He asked holding out his hand. You smirked and took it both of your hands gliding down each others wrist as your pinkies enter locked. You both had wicked smirks plastered on your faces as you both chuckled.
“You dork.” You said and Steve’s mouth hung open dramatically.
“I’m the dork? You did it too.” He laughed and you both just felt so at peace that it didn’t matter that your fingers were starting to intertwine.
“(Y/N)! Come clock out!” Jessica obnoxiously yelled from the opening of the diner.
“Look, I’ve gotta go. I’ll see you later.” You said as you began to head off towards the diner, your heart lighter than air.
“Movie night tonight, right?” He shouted.
“That’s up to Robin not me!” You shouted turning and walking backwards. “I don’t think she’s sold on you, yet!” You joked and turned back around and entered the diner.
Steve chuckled taking a bite of the other corn dog in his hand. Not sold on him, yet? How could she not be sold on him yet. As Steve swallowed his bite of corn dog he realized that Robin wasn’t going to be sold on him if he went back upstairs with a cold corn dog with a bite taken out of it.
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robinskalechip · 5 years ago
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home - chapter three
robin buckley x reader
a/n: i’ve been getting some really good feedback from the first two chapters, thank you guys so much!
warnings: smoking, language
not my gif!
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chapter three - a family reunion
steve and robin had just finished closing up the video store and took the short three minute car ride to larry johnson’s town favorite diner. robin and steve were laughing amongst themselves and bantering along until they heard a voice.
“do suppose linda will remember me?”
the two turned to see sofia, cigarette in mouth, only a couple of yards away, walking towards them. steve smiled at her and began to speak but her attention was on robin who was still looking at her with the most gentle of smiles.
“i hope she remembers you, she always gave us discounts when you tagged along. ive had to pay full price for almost three years because of you” he walked past, ignoring the two girls he was with. steve harrington had one thing on his mind and one thing only. a royale with cheese. hehe pulp fiction reference the girls broke their eye contact to then walk behind him, sofia taking the cigarette out of her mouth to throw it to the ground and put it out whilst holding the door open for robin and quickly following her to be met with upmost nostalgia.
an older woman, probably in her early 50s, began to yell from behind the counter.
“IS THAT WHO I THINK IT IS? I MUST HAVE SKIPPED AHEAD AND GONE STRAIGHT TO CRAZY!”
sofia moved past the two, lightly touching robin’s arm, causing a chill to radiate throughout her body. sofia was smiling as she walked to the woman and embraced her in a long hug. the woman released her but not before she could cup her face in her hands to see her face more clearly, despite the pain that was radiating through sofia’s body due to having to bend her spine in order to oblige. but she didn’t mind. this woman was her family.
“AH CUORE MIO italian for my heart WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN”
sofia smiled as she replied, “nella città che non dorme mai in the city that never sleeps ”
“i’m so sorry about your mother, have you seen her yet?”
the woman’s back was facing robin, as they had turned when hugging, and she had a full view of sofia’s face. she saw her smile fall, taking her heart along with it as sofia responsed to the salt and pepper haired woman with a sense of dread.
“no not yet. marco is there every time i drive by the hospital. i’m trying to though i promise”
“sei troppo buono per questo mondo, figlia mia you are too good for this world my daughter, but you also need to eat, sit sit i’ll bring out your favorite”
sofia smiled as she realigned her spine, walking behind steve as he hopped into the booth next to robin. robin was a bit disappointed steve sat next to her instead of the other side but at least she had to best view in the house.
sofia fell into the other side of the booth putting one knee to her chest and the other stretched over the seat what a lesbian as the older woman returned with a strawberry milkshake in hand and a smile.
she placed the cold beverage onto the table to then ask robin and steve what they would like to drink. steve snapped out of his staring contest with the milkshake to answer, “ill have one of those.” he paused for emphasis, “exactly one of those” he then winked at her.
robin chuckled and said “can i get the same but in vanilla”
sofia smiled at the woman as she moved the shake away from steve’s reaching capability, “thanks linda”
linda kept her eye on steve as he frowned at sofia’s action, “royale with cheese and extra ketchup?” steve shook his head eagerly. “and for you my dear?” robin liked linda. she saw her around town often but never came into the diner as much to be considered a regular like steve. “i’ll take one of your smoked turkeys with everything but the onions please” she didn’t even have to ask sofia, even if she brought out the wrong thing, she’d still eat it no matter what
“coming right up”
sofia was still eyeing steve eyeing her shake, “OH MY GOD JUST TAKE A SIP” and said as she slide the cold beverage towards him to which he eagerly sipped from the side of the glass and threw his head back in the most dramatic yet unironic way possible
“oh my god i forgot how amazing their shakes were. i came here all the time during summer but i was so damn tired of ice cream, i didn’t even think about ordering one”
sofia smiled as she took back the milkshake, “yeah dustin filled me in on everything i missed” she was now fiddling with the straw and paused to look at steve for emphasis, “and i mean everything. i can’t believe he’s got a girlfriend”
steve laughed thinking about the events of the summer, “yeah none of us thought she was actually real, but im happy for him, i also need to pee, be back in a sec” he hoped out of the seat, nearly hitting robin
sophia placed the milkshake down and met robin’s eyes, “wanna try it? i know it looks like a plain strawberry shake but there’s actually a secret in there”. she jokingly looked around before motioning for robin to come closer as she whispered, “there’s also bits of peach”
she leaned back into her original position and raised her eyebrows briefly showing she meant business
robin smiled as she took the glass and took a sip, “mm never thought about that combination, i like it a lot actually, w-what?”
sofia was laughing as robin talked, “its okay its okay, i got it” she leaned towards robin once again, this time putting her thumb on robin’s upper lip, wiping off the cream that had escaped. the two looked at each other’s eyes during the moment, until sofia’s eyes fell to her lips, robin’s doing the same before she abruptly returned back to her seat, followed by steve hopping back to his place and linda following only a few seconds later. if they had been in that position just a few seconds longer..
linda placed the three plates on the table as sofia reached into her jacket pocket, taking out her wallet until she was stopped by the woman, “la famiglia non paga the family doesn’t pay”
she began to walk away as sofia gave her a warm smile and robin began to speak, “i’m confused. you said hadn’t seen your mother yet, but linda calls you her daughter”
sofia smiled, “she’s my godmother and my mother’s best friend. she’s practically my mother though. i’ve known her my entire life”
steve was already stuffing his face with the burger, mouth already jam packed, “i like sofia’s mom better than my own mom right now”
robin felt warm, but not in the physical, heated kind of way. she felt melting as sofia’s words, “that’s sweet”
“she and my mother grew up together when they were being raised in italy. ma says she wouldn’t have survived mentally if it weren’t for her”
sofia didn’t look up as she spoke but she could feel robin’s eyes on her. and she didn’t mind it.
the three ate while steve caught sofia up on all of his latest strike outs and the crazy nights she missed out on and the whole nancy thing that repulsed both robin and sofia, despite nancy being another one of her old childhood friends. sofia asked robin about her life and her interests and the two asking sofia about her life in new york.
once the three of them had finished, they all got up to leave, sofia yelling at linda on her way out, “CI VEDIAMO PRESTO MAMMA ill see you soon mom” to which linda gave her a big smile and waved to then quickly return to the table she was taking care of
as the three exited the diner, sofia asked “do you need a ride?”
robin felt a bit taken back and wanted to say yes more than anything. she would definitely not mind being in a car with sofia, even if it was for just a few short minutes to her house
“you dont have to really, my bike is in steve’s trunk and im only like five minutes away”
sofia chuckled as she walked to steve’s car and opened the trunk, retrieving robin’s bike and carrying it to her car, “get in freckles, you’re on my way. see ya harrington.”
robin turned to steve who winked at her and turned to leave, “have fun”
robin turned back to see the messy haired girl closing her trunk and getting into her car. once robin got into the vehicle, sophia turned the radio on and asked for the address.
how soon is now by the smiths was playing and robin was reminded of the way she felt earlier that morning, when she first saw sofia at school can you tell i like the smiths
the two were silent as robin looked out of the window, but it was the most comfortable silence she had ever been in. she felt at peace. despite her and sofia both resting their arms of the glove compartment, their hands only about a centimeter apart. she was felt calm; safe.
robin’s thoughts were interrupted when she felt the car stop and she turned to sofia, “thanks for the ride” as she unbuckled. sofia stopped robin as she was about to get out of the car.
“can i ask you something”
robin saw the same look on her face as when she was talking to linda about her mom. robin nodded.
sofia breathed in before speaking, adjusting her body to face robin, “i know dustin told me you and him didn’t spend that much time together but..will..how was he?”
she looked anxious for the answer
“he was okay, steve told me about everything he had to go through so i imagine he isn’t the same boy you knew but there’s probably still parts of him in there. just like any of us when we go through some shit, its takes some, it leaves some”
sofia leaned back in her seat, now feeling the guilt build in her stomach
“i should have been here.”
robin was quick to reassure her, “you didn’t know it was going to happen. i don’t know why you left but i know it was something that none of us could have stopped. everything happens for a reason”
sofia chuckled, “what a clique; the beautiful teen philosopher who doodles on her converses and reads sad love stories with injustice undertones and wears an unsettling yet attractive amount of jewelry” her smile grew more and more as she spoke to then turn to robin who was slightly blushing and smiling back
“i won’t keep you captivate much longer but can i ask you one more question?”
robin nodded again, still looking into her eyes, smiling
“you and harrington?”
robin cut that shit off Q U I C K
“OH GOD NO NO NO he’s like my brother ew no i could never.” she realized how dramatic she sounded and laughed at sofia laughing at her. “i’m sorry. to answer your question, no. harrington and i, not a thing. he’s uhh not my type”
sofia felt better with that last statement leaving robin’s mouth. she scooted closer, but her arm on the arm rest and bringing her face close to her face, almost being able to feel her breathe.
robin was taken back mentally but didn’t move a muscle, she whispered “what are you doing”
robin jumped at the sound of the door opening a tease
“i’m just getting the door for you like the good mannered person i was raised to be”, we said with a smile and moved her face a centimeter closer. robin was almost certain she was going to kiss her until she whispered again “good night freckles”
robin got out of the car and walked to her door completely flustered but still managed to turn her head to give sofia a smile. she was, in fact, so flustered that completely forgot her bike in sofia’s car trunk, but she didn’t even care.
next chapter
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andromedahawking · 7 years ago
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NaNoWriMo, Day 1
1,667 words, done! Take a looksie if you’d like. (Warning: this is unedited, first-draft quality writing. Don’t expect AO3-level stuff here.)
Today was Tuesday, and that meant one of three things was going to happen:
Maria was going to have a very bad time, because American History would be devoted purely to working on the group project due at the end of the term, and she would have to do all the work, again.
Maria was going to have a normal bad time, because History would be divided between lecture and the project.
Maria was going to have a good time, because History would be 100% lecture, and the group project would wait until Thursday.
Needless to say, she really really hoped that possibility #3 was going to come through for her today.
She walked onto campus at 9, still bleary-eyed from the night before. She sworn she was going to stop getting so drunk, what happened? It was amazing how quickly she'd ditched that resolution.
“Yo, Taylor, wait up!”
She looked back. There was Adrien. “How’s it going today?”
“Awful,” she groaned. “You remember how I said last night was going to be nice and quiet and I’d go to bed early?”
“Yeah. Didn’t go very well?”
“No, it didn’t…”
He smiled crookedly. “That’s always how it goes, isn’t it? You say it, but then when it’s time to do it, it all just sorta falls apart.”
“Pretty much,” she said. “I ended up getting absolutely smashed and fell asleep at the kitchen table.”
“Oof. That sounds rough.”
“It was fun up until about 2, then I tanked, hard.”
“Well, at least you had fun?”
“I guess.” She opened the door to the History building. “I at least got my stuff for today done before I started knocking back shots.”
“That’s good,” he said. “I know Monaca’s gonna be doing stuff that we won’t understand if we didn’t do it.”
“Does that mean there’s no group project stuff today?”
He made an uncertain noise in his throat. “Mayyybe. Maybe not. I dunno. It’s gonna be something, but I don’t know what exactly.”
“It’s gonna be ‘something’? That’s specific. Very specific.”
He smacked her arm playfully. “Don’t knock me for not knowing. It’s not like she’ll follow the syllabus to the letter.”
“If she does, today is gonna suck.”
“I hear you, sister.”
They entered the classroom. The seats were empty, but Monaca was there at her desk, feet up, book in one hand, bottle of Snapple in the other. “Mornin’,” she greeted, not looking up from the book. “How was your weekend?”
“Saturday was okay, Sunday and Monday… ick," Maria said, sitting down. “I’ve had better days than those.”
“I didn’t really have much going on this weekend, so it was pretty meh,” Adrien said.
“Anything worth going into detail about, Maria?” Monaka asked.
“Not really. Sibling rivalry, too much to drink, the usual.”
“That’s a shame. Hope today goes better.”
“Me too.”
The rest of the class trickled in, looking various levels of tired and/or hungover. Apparently there had been some sort of party in one of the dorms or something. Whatever it was, it made her feel a bit better knowing she wasn’t the only one who’s head felt ready to explode.
When 9:30 hit, Monaca put down her book. “Okay, is everyone here?”
“No, we’re missing Jackson and Hannah.”
She let out a sigh. “Okay, well, we’re gonna have to start without them, I’ve got a full class’ work for you today.” She stood up. “So, let’s start with a question: I say 2050s, what comes to your brains?”
“Mazer!”
“Mazer.”
“Energy grid.”
“Mazer.”
“Teller City.”
“Energy revolution.”
Monaca smiled. “That’s what I figured. We had two presidents in the 2050s and a bunch of history happened, but most of us really only remember a few of the big things: President Mazer, Teller City, or the energy grid. I know you guys all had US History in high school, but the first half of the 21st century is a bit, ah, fuzzier in terms of analysis than the rest of the timeline. Then, of course, anything past ’64 is just too fresh off the presses to touch quite yet, and I don’t think I need to tell you why. How many of you were born before or during 2064?”
About half the class raised their hand, Maria included.
“Yup. Thought so. In general, if the people being taught about it were alive then, it’s better to avoid teaching it.” Monaca turned on the smartboard behind her. “2050s, however, are fair game, which makes me a very happy person, because that’s what I focused on when I was in college. So, this unit will be devoted entirely to going through the 2050s, with special focus on the details of what made the big changes possible. If you guys want to know what got the energy grid started, or why Mazer was so popular, or when Teller City became a hub, this is a good time to pay extra attention in class.”
“2050s 101?” someone quipped.
“2050s 202, thank you very much,” she said, grinning. “And, don’t think I forgot, anyone—”
Oh, no. No, no no no no.
Oh, and there was the rest of the class, groaning with her.
“—the group project is due on December 1st, last day of the semester. I’m going to be very generous, and give you the second hour of all the Thursday classes to work on it.”
“The Lord giveth and the Lord taketh away,” Maria said through her hands.
“You’ll be fine, guys, don’t be so dramatic,” Monaca said. “And besides, you got to pick your partners, so really, you should be thanking me.”
“Thank you?” Adrien said.
“You’re welcome. Now, 2050! Let’s get started with 2050.”
“So basically, 2050 was 2049, except somehow even more devoid of anything important,” Maria said to Adrien as they left.
“Yeah, pretty much,” he nodded. “But it sounds like things start getting interesting in 2051.”
“I really hope so, ‘cause I’ve been a good girl and not fallen asleep in this class yet, and I don’t wanna break my streak.”
“You’re a freakin’ nerd, Maria.”
“I’m a cool nerd, you jerk, and don’t forget it.”
“Mm-hm. Whatever you say.”
“See you in English tomorrow.”
“No, German, remember?”
“Same difference!”
She waved goodbye to him, and made her way back to the parking lot. Her phone buzzed in her pocket.
Thalia: hey loser before you come back you need to go grocery shopping
Oh, so that’s how it was gonna be today?
Maria: Hey loser, when you get out of bed, you need to get in the fucking shower like I told you before I left.
Thalia: I *did*. *Gawd*
Maria: Keep up the attitude and I will kick your ass into next Wednesday. Get in the shower, now.
Thalia: I already showered! jfc
Maria: Thalia, I will not hesitate. Get. In. The. Shower.
Thalia: I. ALREADY. DID.
Maria: If you’re lying I’m taking away your computer again.
Thalia: Im so fuckin scared
Thalia: it isnt like I *showered* or anything
Thalia: unlike what my sister thinks
Maria: Keep it up, Thalia. Keep it up.
Thalia: we need cheddar and we need ketchup and we need burger patties
Maria: I hate you.
Thalia: mwah
Maria growled, shoving her phone back into her pocket. Why did little sisters have to be the most infuriating creatures on Earth?
She got in her car. “Tesla, I need to go to the grocery store before heading home today, remind me.”
“When would you like to go?” the car asked.
“No later than 15:00.”
“I will remind you at 14:00.”
“Thanks. Take me into the city, I have to meet up with John today.”
“Where are you meeting?”
“Down at that ritzy place on Columbus.”
“Giove?”
“Yeah, Giove.”
“We’ll be there in 15 minutes, with traffic.”
“Sweet.”
Giove was a nice Italian restaurant in San Francisco’s Little Italy. Maria saved going there for important meetings or special occasions. Today, with John… it was sort of both.
Thinking about it, it hadn’t been all that long since she saw him last. It was November 1st today, and she’d seen him in July. So that was, what, a few months? Not that long, in the grand scheme of things. John lived in New York, anyway, so getting out to see him wasn’t something they’d planned on happening frequently. When he’d called last week to suggest meeting up, she had offered to let him stay the night, but he'd declined. “Church stuff,” he’d said. Whatever that meant.
The fog was starting to burn off when she arrived, the sun shining through a small hole in the blanket of gray. It was still plenty cold for her taste, so she hurried inside and got to their table.
John showed up a few minutes later. He looked a bit better than last time: he’d gotten a neater haircut, and his facial hair was less unruly. He was wearing a button-up shirt this time, which was an interesting change. She wondered what he would look like in a three-piece suit.
“Hey there, Maria,” he said, sliding into his chair. “How are you?”
“Hoping to get rid of the last of my hangover with this lunch,” she said. “How about you?”
“The Hyperloop gives me anxiety, but less so than other modes of transport,” he said. “Other than that, nothing incredible is happening in my life.”
“That so?”
“Well, besides the obvious.”
“Right…” she said. “…I’ll get it out of the way, you and I are both thinking about election day, right?”
“Yeah,” he admitted. “I’m not looking forward to it. It’s going to be one of the closest in recent history.”
“Closer than ’64, do you think?”
He frowned as he thought about it. “On an electoral level, probably not, but popularly, it’s going to be very tight. It could go either way.”
“I’ve been trying not to think about it, but… it’s hard,” she said. “I turned off my WiFi in October.”
“Same here,” he said, laughing weakly.
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cajunquandary · 8 years ago
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To the Sound of Thunder (Baby’s Big 50 Writing Challenge)
Characters: Dean x Impala, and his family, past and present.
Word Count: 5200
Warnings: FLUFF. Bittersweet kill-me-now fluff. As always, canon level violence and mentions of smut.
Summary: While hunting “Bigfoot” on Flagstaff Mountain, Colorado, Dean realizes that it’s the Impala’s fiftieth birthday and decides to take her out for a scenic drive and share a cold one with the one thing that’s remained steady in his life—his home, his pride, his Baby.
A/N: This is for Baby’s Big 50 Writing Challenge; my prompt was “Night Moves” by Bob Seger. I know I joined it a little late, but I couldn’t resist! Thank you for the opportunity @butiaintgonnaloveem. The amount of daydreaming this fic inspired through the writing process was ridiculous in the most incredible ways. I hope my descriptions do the imagery even so much as a half justice. I may have laughed through tears through this experience more often than I’d like to admit.
Another note: I chose this location over all others for Jensen Ackles, who said in a recent con that he would love to see the boys go to the Grand Canyon if he could choose anywhere in the US for them to go. Thank you for the long ride here, “Dean;” I hope we have many more miles to go.
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“Bigfoot, seriously?”
“Yeah, Dean. The surviving victim swears it was Bigfoot, and that it had bright yellow eyes and claws. The park rangers claim it was a bear attack. The guy was lucky to make it. He said that it ran away after the sun started to come out.”
“Okay, so what are we thinking? Shapeshifter? Werewolf? Rugaru?”
“Well, it was a full moon, and the other victims’ time of death was estimated to all be within the last three days.”
“Well, it could be our thing. If it is, that only gives us one more night to find this sucker and gank it. Where is it again?”
“Flagstaff Mountain in Boulder, Colorado.”
Dean finally looked up from his copy of Busty Asian Beauties that he attempted to hide behind yesterday’s paper. Sam always knew though, especially when the paper (or research book or map, depending on the day) was upside down. Sam just smiled at his older brother. He’s always looked up to him and knew him better than anyone else ever had. Dean could never really hide anything from him, but Sam let him have his private pleasures without ever saying a word, even pretending on more than a few occasions that he didn’t see the those pleasures carelessly laid about when Dean thought he was alone. Instead, he would casually continue conversation, turn his back and pretend to be preoccupied with something in his hands while Dean slowly slid the items out of view.
What Sam didn’t know was that Dean knew why he turned his back. It was a game they’d played since Sammy was a little kid. Dean knew he didn’t mind but loved that he played along. It was something that reminded Dean that his baby brother loved and respected him. That’s why on days that Dean felt like giving up, losing hope, he would leave an open magazine or empty condom wrapper on Sam’s bed and initiate the game. It was never dirty, never a used condom, and always made him feel better, feel loved. After all, Dean doesn’t do chick flick moments.
“Oh really?” Dean failed to conceal his excitement as a huge, toothy grin rolled slowly across his face and his eyes grew big and sparkled. “We leave in ten!” Completely unable to hold himself together anymore, he leapt from the table and sprinted off to his room.
Sam laughed and shook his head, long hair falling slightly in his face. It wasn’t often that he got to see Dean acting like a little kid, excluding hexes and angelic manipulation (yes, we’re looking at you, Zachariah and Gabriel.) Dean’s elation was infectious, and soon Sam was bounding off to throw his bag together as well. It was a good thing that Dean had spent a few hours this morning detailing Baby. While he packed, he shot a quick call to Mary, who was hunting another werewolf with Castiel in Alliance, Nebraska.  
A loud “Whoohoooo!!” echoed through the bunker.
“I take it Dean’s excited,” Mary let out a soft, breathy laugh on the other end of the line.
“Yeah, he’s always wanted to have an excuse to see the Grand Canyon, and now he has one.”
“Alright, well you boys be careful. We are finishing up here and will meet you there.”
“We will, love you Mom.”
“I love you, too, Sam.” She ended the call first, as usual.
“You ready to go, little brother?” Dean popped into Sam’s room, a hand on either side of the door frame as he leaned off balance, the biggest goofiest smile plastered on his face.
“Dude, what are you wearing?” Sam started cracking up at the sight before him. Oversized dark aviators rested on pink, freckled cheeks, a woman’s straw hat the size of Texas haphazardly set on his brother’s head, a backpack with water pouch Sam had never seen before strung over Dean’s left shoulder, the typical duffle bag slung over his right. A disposable camera hung loosely from a lanyard around his neck.
“What are you… not wearing?” Dean pursed his lips in feigned annoyance as he struggled with a comeback. He had never been particularly witty with those.
Before long, the boys were loaded and ready to go, Baby’s tires leaving white smoke and black treads as she screamed forth from the garage.
The intro to “Night Moves” strummed lightly through the cab. “Alriiight! Umph!” Dean readjusted in his seat, swerving slightly, biting his lip and turning up the volume until it was nearly as loud as it could go. He drove with his knee as fisted hands danced through the air in an awful imitation of air guitar, then to the drums. Dean began to sing at the top of his lungs, Sam rolling his eyes, one arm slung over the seat, tapping lightly along behind his brother’s back, his other arm resting on the window pane. As he stared out the window, heart light in his chest for the first time in months, he flashed back to all the other times that Dean danced and sang. Every time it had been in this car.
For some reason, Dean had always felt safe in Baby. She was his, and he was hers. Sam chuckled to himself and sang along, remembering how Dean would spend hours working on her after a hunt, even if he was still bleeding and sore. She always had a full gas tank and new parts and oil, before anything wore out, even if it meant Dean went without a meal or two. Dean always put everything before himself, especially his family, and this car? This car was not a car at all. She was as much family as Sam or Mary or Castiel, as much family as anyone Dean had ever loved.
In return, Baby took care of him, of both of them. She took almost all terrain they’d trekked over like a champ, rain or shine. She protected them from demon-possessed truckers, gave Sam the strength to hold Lucifer back from killing Dean, served as a refuge from attacking demons who flipped her (on more than one occasion), even standing strong when she faced the Darkness. Both times. Sure, she’d been possessed once or twice, and even Sam had become a part of her once thanks to Gabriel. She always stood strong, a warm dry place for the boys to rest their heads when there was nowhere else to go. The Winchester Motel… if she were sentient, she’d like that. She would take pride in it. She was a Winchester.
Even when Dean beat her with a tire iron seventeen times, she didn’t flinch. She was always there for her boys. She’d known them since before they were born. She was there when both were conceived, their first heartbeats had started in her very cab. She was there when Mary’s water broke, and whisked her to the hospital both times. Dean, though, never quite made it to the hospital bed. Instead, he was born right there in the Emergency Entrance drive on the soft old leather of her front seat. His first breath was one full of her scent—the gasoline, oil, metal and leather. It was a scent that he would carry as his own for the rest of his life.
The miles raced passed, the sun setting through her front windshield. The music had since been lowered, and Sam was drifting to sleep. Dean looked over at his brother whose head was lolling towards him. Dean smiled sadly as he remembered the day he practically threw Sam in the Impala and drug him away from Stanford to work cases and look for Dad. He remembered all those pranks they’d play on each other. In fact, it was in this very position that Dean loved to put things like spoons and napkins and ketchup packets in his brother’s slack lips, only to turn the music bag up or swerve hard enough to wake him up. Sam would always sit up wide eyed and confused, usually throwing the items from his mouth back at Dean, or dish out a few solid punches to the arm. Dean would never admit it, but he wore those bruises proudly. His baby bro had grown up so strong, he couldn’t be prouder.
This time though, he let Sam rest, tapping along to the radio, sighing when commercials would interrupt. He flipped down the visor when the sun grew to vibrant in its last rays, lighting up the hood as Baby purred along. Sam sat up in his sleep, then leaned his head against the window, smacking his lips lightly and mumbling something about purple pancakes.
Dean loved it when Sam spoke in his sleep. It rarely made sense, and sometimes he could hold a conversation. Dean reached over and flipped down the other visor, Sam’s face softening in relief.
When night fell, they were nearly there. Dean looked down at the gauges again. It was a habit so ingrained in him, watching and listening to everything the Impala did to make sure she was okay. In fact, he watched her gauges more than his speed, nearly costing him a ticket a few times. Dean smiled as stars reflected off of her hood, slowly sliding across. As a child, he would stand up gripping the dashboard, small fingers holding onto it through the air conditioning outlets that seldom worked when she was John’s. He would watch with bright eyes open wide as the stars and moon passed over her black silhouette and imagine that he was in the fastest space ship. In this fantasy, he was the hero and his dad would ask him for help to defeat the aliens. He would flop back into his seat and point little finger guns out the window and say “Pew pew pew!” while shooting at invisible starships as the dark ground flew by. John always thought Dean was practicing hunting. If he had known the truth, he may not have pushed Dean so hard. You see, in John’s mind, he thought that Dean wanted to be a soldier, even though the poor kid a tender heart and hated practicing on robins. He would cry every time he killed one. Perplexed, John would always yell at him until the tears stopped coming, telling him that a soldier never cries, and if Dean wanted to be a soldier, he had to be tough, and death was just part of the job. Eventually, Dean stopped seeing the what if’s and grand imaginary scenes. He knew there were real monsters, and it was his job to beat them. But, every once and a while, Dean would fall asleep watching the night sky reflected on Baby’s polished hood, and dream of things bigger than this world he carried on his small shoulders.
Baby was more than a car back then, more than a place to sleep when John couldn’t score a motel—she was his spaceship, his escape and his redemption…
But always, she has been his trusty stead on his quest.
Sammy never felt like he had a quest or purpose. Sure, he had imagination longer than Dean, including a friend named Sully. Sully loved Baby, too. Sam would lay down on the backseat floor, his little feet touching the driver’s side door while Sully measured his height. There were tiny notches underneath the front seat, Sam adding a new one every year. He wanted so badly to be as big as his brother and father. They were giants to him, as big as the legends Sully told him about, but not bigger than the Impala. Sam wanted to be bigger than her. The notches are still there. Dean has always known about them, and made sure to keep them every time he had to rebuild her, along with her other details, like the green army man, the blocks, the boys’ initials carved into her floor.
Baby was Sam’s happy place, too. When John would come home drunk and begin to take it out on Dean, it only took one hit to send little Sammy flying into her side when he tried to intervene. It was always an accident, John only ever meant to hit Dean, but it seemed to make John calm down faster and leave them alone, so it was always worth it. Sam would pull Dean up from the ground and push him into the Impala, closing the door behind them. John would be passed out by this point and wouldn’t even notice. Sam would lock the doors anyway as Dean curled into a ball on the seat. His brother never cried in front of him, just stared up at the roof, memorizing her every curve, her silence and protection soothing him slowly to sleep. Sam would sit in the driver’s seat, both hands on the wheel. He couldn’t even see over the dash, but he imagined driving her far away, his brother by his side.
The Impala gracefully turned into the woods, gliding over every bump gently. The movement woke Sam up though, and he rubbed at his eyes, lifting the visor so he could see better. Mary and Castiel were already waiting, silver weapons ready for the werewolf. Mary had made great time and gotten a lead on it from a park ranger. Baby rolled to a stop, her rolling idle silenced as Dean turned the key and got out. The hinges on her doors squeaked a little bit as the pair shut them. Dean could easily fix it, but never would, claiming that it “gave her more character,” as if she really needed any. She had always been a beast of her own, standing out from all the rest, even covered in dust, mud, and monster blood. Dean unlocked her trunk, pulling their weapons out, double checking the magazine on his handgun and the silver bullets that it contained. His hand lingered over the rocket launcher and Sam cleared his throat. Dean rolled his eyes and shut the trunk roughly. Feeling a little bad about handling her like that, he patted her reassuringly before he joined the others and stalked off into the forest to kill the monster, his arm slung over Castiel’s shoulder and the angel walking stiffly by his side.
Baby sat there, nearly invisible in the darkness, only bits of her lit by the moonlight filtering down through the tall trees. A raccoon ambled forth from the bushes, climbing up to her hood, taking pleasure in the smooth warmth. It scampered to the windshield, picking at the wipers curiously before getting bored and going back to sprawl out stomach down over the engine. The radiating warmth of her brought the attention of an owl, a fox, and a few squirrels. The owl perched on the roof, enjoying the vantage point, mesmerized by its reflection. The fox crept up silently and slipped underneath her, snuggling up to the inside of the tire. The squirrel popped up onto the hood searching for the source of the heat, but chattered at the raccoon for startling it. The raccoon angrily chased the squirrel round and round until it expertly dodged into the tire well and into the engine bay. The fox flicked its ears and listened to the rodent as it scritched and scratched.
When morning broke and the first light touched the chrome bumper, the tired hunters emerged from the woods, Mary limping a little as Sam supported her weight. Dean found some little reserve of energy and ran over to baby, shouting about all the tiny animal prints all over her. He ranted and ranted until the energy he’d discovered extinguished. Castiel drove Mary and her car back to the nearest motel, Dean and Sam and Baby in the lead.
After a long nap and a good lunch, everyone sat around the diner table, planning their next move. Well, everyone except Sam, who almost always had his nose stuck in some article or book.
“Well, you guys can go home, I’m going to see the Grand Canyon.” Dean crossed his arms and puffed out his lips, his dimples more prominent now.
“Why do you want to see it so badly? I know John worked a case out here in Boulder once with you, it’s in his journal.” Mary wondered aloud. She and John had seen it a few times before the boys were born. It was one of his favorite places.
Dean kicked his feet under the table, eyes cast down. Castiel shifted uncomfortably in his seat, already knowing the answer.
“He said we had more important things to do.” The truth was that John had lashed out at Dean when he’d asked, yelling that the Grand Canyon had nothing grand about it and that he would never ever go there again. Dean wasn’t missing anything. When Dean had tried to ask why, he only received a black eye and bruised rib. He never brought it up again, and was so glad that Sammy had left for college already. After all these years though, he finally knew why. Mary. It had always been Mary.
Mary just shrugged in her innocence, dropping it.
Sam looked up from his paper. “Hey Dean, did you know that it’s the Impala’s 50th birthday?”
Dean snatched the paper from him, quickly locating the small paragraph dedicated to it on the bottom of the page. He grinned widely, already mentally planning out where to get some beer or booze on his way to Canyon to celebrate. And pie. There had to be celebratory pie involved. Maybe apple. Or cherry. Hmm.
Mary sighed and shook her head, still trying to grasp at the thirty years she’d lost. Castiel put a hand on Dean’s shoulder, giving him a knowing look. “Be careful.” It’s almost as if the angel could read his mind as this happened all the time.
Sam put his arms down on the table. “Alright, I’m going back home with Mom and Cas. If you get too drunk and fall into the Canyon, don’t call me,” he joked.
A few hugs and goodbyes later, Sam had pulled his bag from the back of the Impala and waved his brother off, belly laughing that Dean was wearing that silly hat, sunglasses, and camera again. He rolled her windows down, turned the music up as loud as he could and peeled out of the parking lot, turning the eye of every person and animal within hearing distance. Baby had that effect on people, even without Dean’s coaxing.
He parked her about ten feet from the edge of the Canyon, pausing for a moment after turning the key, taking in the view through the windshield. He felt so small there in his car, but so alive and powerful, like if he could, he could make his own canyon just by driving the Impala. He reached into the cooler in the back seat, withdrawing two beers. Closing the door, he was happy that he was wearing such ridiculous garb, as it blocked some of the sunlight beating down on him. His singers never left Baby, instead tracing gently along her lines as he walked to the front.  Taking his eyes from the view for a moment, he turned and looked at her, patting her hood lovingly.
“Happy birthday, old girl. You’ll always be my Baby.”
He eased himself down, her grill temporarily holding his weight as he used her for support. He spread his bowlegs, enjoying the hard earth beneath him, somehow cool even in the heat. Dean popped the caps on both bottles as he leaned back onto her chrome, tapping the tops together lightly, then tapping one to her grill and setting it under her. He drained his slowly, savoring the wind and the beauty before him, “Night Moves” still stuck in his head from the day before.
He began to sing it. He actually sang very well, and discovered this behind the wheel of Baby when John started letting him take her out alone more. He wouldn’t ever sing like this in front of anyone, he was too shy for that. He’d rather look like an idiot than admit he was good at something artsy.
“I was a little too tall Could've used a few pounds Tight pants points hardly reknown She was a black-haired beauty with big dark eyes And points all her own sitting way up high Way up firm and high”
He gazed lazily into the Canyon, watching a small canoe drift slowly down the channel. He remembered being a lanky teen, smaller than the other boys his age, but taller. He laughed, remembering the time he was trying to impress a girl by climbing a bridge, and ended up ripping his pants in the process, so embarrassed that he’d run back to the cover of Baby and drove away, never looking back at the girl who was mocking him. He’d always felt so big when he was in Baby, especially behind the wheel. She might have a low profile, but she may as well sit higher than any truck out there.
“Out past the cornfields where the woods got heavy Out in the back seat of my '60 Chevy Workin' on mysteries without any clues Workin' on our night moves Tryin' to make some front page drive-in news Workin' on our night moves In the summertime In the sweet summertime”
It came to him in flashes as he recalled picking up girls from bars when he’d get bored or frustrated during a case, taking them to dark, quiet places and giving them a thorough tour of the backseat. Summer was his favorite—something about the sweat and heat made the leather scent stronger, the shocks weren’t as squeaky, and cool night air drifted in through open windows as moans and whispers of sweet nothings wafted out. Summer nights seemed thicker, a warm blanket shrouding him as he found his release.
“We weren't in love, oh no, far from it We weren't searchin' for some pie in the sky summit We were just young and restless and bored Livin' by the sword And we'd steal away every chance we could To the backroom, to the alley or the trusty woods”
He chuckled, remembering the few times he’d caught Sam in the backseat. Always the embarrassing big brother, he’d make sure to lean into the window, knock loudly and give a huge open smile and two thumbs up next to his face then run away. Sam hated when he did that. The Impala was the perfect size for Dean. He and his lady would always fit perfectly together, neither falling off. It was just the right height for him to grip her with one hand, and the roof with the other. He even had the perfect rhythm down, to where the bouncing of the car countered his thrusts perfectly in time, so he only had to do half the work. He cringed and tried not to think of his mom and dad enjoying the same thing.
“I used her, she used me But neither one cared We were gettin' our share Workin' on our night moves Tryin' to lose the awkward teenage blues Workin' on our night moves And it was summertime Sweet summertime summertime”
The few times John had let him take Baby out when he was a young man, Dean made sure to practice truly driving her. He imagined being chased, doing the chasing, NASCAR and jumping things like he’d see in movies. He would see how fast she could take a turn, see how many donuts she could do in twenty seconds, and see how fast she could go on straightaways, always pushing her to the limit. Sure there were plenty of close calls, but Baby was reliable and Dean treated her with care and love. When he was behind her wheel, all his worries faded. She gave him a sense of freedom and breathed the life back into his tired bones. He’d scream as her tires did, sway with her down curvy roads. She was his outlet, and he took extra care and pride in her for it. He’d always dig a little deeper than John did when he washed her, notice more while digging in her engine to replace a part. He never could replace just one at a time—if anything was even close to wearing out, he fixed it. John always scoffed about how wasteful it was, but secretly was proud that his son took such great care of something.
“And oh the wonder We felt the lightning And we waited on the thunder Waited on the thunder”
The sun was beginning to set, and Dean huffed at the irony of the dark clouds rolling in. Slowly, he stood up, soaking in even more of the deep Canyon before him. He walked to the edge, peering down. At one time, this would have scared him shitless, but he’s faced everything the universe has had to throw at him and come out (mostly) alive. He sucked in his breath and stopped singing for a moment, a chill crawling down his spine and seeping through his veins. Soft echoes of thunder rolled in the distance and he lifted his gaze. The sunset was peeking out from under the storm clouds, lighting the undersides in a soft red glow as lightning gently webbed across the top. It was amazing how he could see the storm so clearly from so far away over the Canyon.
He stepped away from the edge and walked past Baby, lifting the disposable camera that his large hands seemed to swallow. He looked through the tiny glass, capturing Baby, the Grand Canyon, the storm, and sunset all in on frame. Damn, she was beautiful sitting there, almost like she belonged. Then he turned his back and focused the camera in the same spot, this time with his face in the frame. He wore a soft, thin smile and the camera reflected in his glasses. He snapped the photo just before his hat flew off in a suddenly cool gust of wind. He stepped back to the edge, watching as it rode the wind. It floated on for some time before settling on a rock by the river. It was so far at this point, Dean had to squint. It really was a long, long way down. Dean took off his glasses and reached in the back for another beer. This time, he drained it quickly.
He began to sing again as he walked back to the edge.
“I awoke last night to the sound of thunder How far off I sat and wondered Started humming a song from 1962”
Dean lifted his arms out and spread his legs slightly, making his toes flush with end of the cliff. He closed his eyes, breathing in deeply, voice louder yet softer at the same time, smoother, lined with more emotion:
“Ain't it funny how the night moves When you just don't seem to have as much to lose”
His voice cracked on the last line, but he continued, reveling in the knowledge that one gust could take him over the edge, even after all that he’d been through, all that he’d faced, wind could end him.
“Strange how the night moves With autumn closing in”
When he finished the song, he crouched down, allowing his legs to dangle freely as the sun disappeared and the stars fought the progressing clouds. He laid down, hands folding across his chest. There were more stars than he’d ever seen in his life. He wondered how many Castiel had seen up close. When the storm finally shrouded his view of the sky, and rain poured from the angry heavens in torrents, he ran to roll up Baby’s windows. Already drenched and without a soul in sight, he decided to strip down to his boxers and enjoy the feel of the rain on his skin. He leaned against the Impala. Large droplets thunked off of her metal frame and Dean listened closer. Baby was producing a symphony all her own, without her engine even purring. Everywhere a drop hit sounded different. It was magnificent. Maybe it was her who taught him how to sing—she was a force all her own, and he knew even his voice could never carry so much grace and power as that car. Even silent and still she filled the air with her voice, her music.
Now, Dean wasn’t a praying man, but in that moment, he sent a quick one to Chuck above, wherever his holy ass was, and he thanked him for Baby, and prayed for another fifty years with her. He knew Chuck could hear him, and still chose to stay quiet, as with the rest of humanity. Lightning flashed before him, raising the temperature about ten degrees, as the large bolt struck the bottom of the Canyon, thunder booming all around. In the typical Winchester way, Dean would never admit it, but he saw that as a sign and he smiled. He tugged and pulled at his wet clothes the best he could then climbed back in the Impala. She roared to life when he turned the key, pulsing beneath him. Dean revved her a few times, yelling with every raise of RPMs as she growled with the thunder. He zipped away from the Canyon, splashing through a few puddles along the way for fun, taking simple pleasure in the way the water trundled off of her windshield before it was flicked away by the wipers. Dean would definitely be back, maybe he’d make it a tradition, and drag Sam and Cas with him next year. Yeah, that would be nice.
The open beer still sat untouched at the edge of the Canyon. In fact, it remained there for a few years, the silent statue a memorial of Baby’s birthday and all the memories made in her, Dean’s freedom, and Chuck’s answer. It was there through rain and sun, summer and winter, until a lonely child wandered from his bickering family, picked it up and wondered at the empty brown glass, then found peace when he chunked it into the valley below, feeling relief as it kept fading from sight.
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All about that Dean:
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