#she was convinced that if mike didn't love her then she couldn't be happy

[chirpsythismorning]

📝 💐 🛼 💔⏪️💭🧊🌄❤️‍🩹

I Will Survive by Gloria Gaynor

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[ash5monster01]

Piano Man

Chapter Two - If I Only Had the Words (to Tell You) 🎶

Pairing: Steve Harrington x FemReader

Warnings: fluff, mentions of heartbreak, abandonment issues, emotional vulnerability, heart ache, established relationship

Summary: You and Steve have been dating for nearly 6 months, all of which he’s enjoyed. Yet it has been exactly a year since Nancy told him he was bullshit. So even though he desperately wants to tell you he loves you he’s afraid you might say he’s bullshit too.

word count: 2k

One ←→ Three

Masterlist

Fall 1985

But I only have these arms to hold you

It’s a dark Fall night. The house smelling of popcorn you had popped earlier to watch during a movie. Halloween decorations had been plastered all over Steve’s home, a home that hadn’t been decorated for any holiday in a very long time. You had changed that though, changed him. You made not only this home full, but his heart. Which is why Steve lies beside you in his bed absolutely hating himself for not being able to tell you how he feels. How much he loves you, how much you had saved him these last six months.

You had been there for it all. Cheering in the stands when he graduated, taking your lunch break to visit him everyday at Scoops Ahoy, not getting jelous of his newfound friendship with Robin, taking care of him when the monsters returned and the mall burned down, and even helping him and Robin get hired at the video store where you had worked this entire time. Everytime he thought you'd leave, somehow you were still there, and he appreciated you for every bit of it. So why the hell couldn't he say it?

He knew why. He knew because everytime he looked at the plastic Halloween decorations filling his home he was brought right back to Tina's Halloween party. Right back to that very bathroom where the only girl he ever loved looked into his eyes and told him he was bullshit. It had been a year but he still remembered how devastated he was, how his heart felt as she ripped it straight from his chest. The look in her eyes was seared into his memory, devoid of any emotion but distate blazing in them. He couldn't relive that, wouldn't relive that. Especially with you.

He may have loved Nancy but with you it was different. With you, he knew you were going to be the one. The one person handcrafted specifically for him. A soul designed to match his own in a large and lonely world. Somehow he had found you and now he wouldn't do anything to risk it, he would guarantee it. It had hurt when Nancy said she didn't love him but if you did. Well that would kill him.

"What kind of candy do the kids like?" you ask in the dark bedroom, voice overlapping that of Billy Joel's from the cassette player. You're My Home played softly throughout the room and you wished Steve knew that was how you felt about him. That until now you were pretty sure you had nowhere to belong and now you belonged to him.

"Why do you ask?” Steve hums, hands reaching to run through your hair. He lived for nights like this, where you just laid here with legs tangled together and talked about things practically meaningless.

"Well I want to make them happy, I know how much they love Halloween. Dustin hasn't shut up about it all week and I want something to cheer Mike up. I know how badly they wanted to dress up as The Goonies but with Will and El gone they can't" you tell Steve, hand lacing with his own under the covers. Steve smiles softly at you and how much you care for the very kids he had taken under his own wing.

"I don't know what kind of candy they like, I'm sure whatever is fine. As for Mike, tell him we can be Andy and Brand. Maybe I can convince Robin to be Data or something" Steve tells you, pressing a kiss to your forehead. The image of Robin in the Data costume meant for Will makes you giggle and Steve is pulling you closer, chest brushing against your own.

"You'd give up our Grease costume for that?" you ask, knowing how excited he was to be Danny Zuko and wear his leather jacket.

"Yeah but don't tell them that. They'll get big heads" Steve grumbles, practically hearing Dustin tease him about how much he loves all of them. You giggle against him and Steve warms over, feeling those very words sitting heavy on his chest. If only he had the words to tell you. He knew you were waiting, wondering why he hadn't said them. If you only had time to understand why he struggled with it so much. Everyone he ever loved left, if he said these words outloud he couldn't risk you leaving him too.

"You're the best Stevie" you tell him, leaning forward and pressing a soft kiss to his nose. Steve hums in delight, not allowing you to back away as he pulls you to his lips and kisses you quickly. He knows you love him, you only said things like that to replace those very words. If he would just say it your response would have been 'I love you Stevie'. Instead he gets broad statements that he has slowly come to despise.

"Yeah, yeah, best babysitter ever" he mumbles and you giggle because even though he pretends to hate it you know how much he loves it. How much he loves those kids. If he didn't he wouldn't spend time with them. One of those very kids was his ex girlfriend’s brother and he never let any of those things stop him. He was always there for them.

"Only the best can handle six kids at a time" you tell him and Steve searches your eyes, loving how when you look at them they’re filled with adoration instead of hate. He knows not saying anything won't change your feelings and you will carry on loving him without it. He just couldn't bring himself to say it, the urge never there even though he was practically dying inside to tell you. He wished you knew how hard it is to say.

Sometimes when he finds himself even close he feels silly. I love you seemed too simple to portray the love he had for you. It was so basic, a word your heard on the radio over and over again. Every song as simple as the last. How unoriginal were his words when the radio repeats them every single day? Even with his love for Billy Joel he figures he'll never find a song to sing you. One that perfectly depicted exactly how he felt about you. He doesn't want to sing those tired words again, words he wasted on people who never loved him back.

“You ever think about having kids?” Steve asks, leaning back into the pillow and staring at his ceiling. You admire the soft tufts of his hair on his chest, the way his bicep flexes as he reaches to tuck his hand under his head. He’s so handsome and it should scare you that your boyfriend of only six months has suddenly asked you about having kids and yet you don’t seem to mind.

“All the time” you tell him earnestly, snuggling into his side and grazing your fingers along his sternum, grinning when he shivers from your touch.

“I want to have a whole bunch, make me feel better about being an only child” Steve says, his hand pressed to your back slowly sliding up and into your hair.

“What do you mean, make you feel better?” you ask, lifting your head to glance at the boys face as he continues to be deep in thought.

“I was a lonely kid, my parents never really cared to pay any attention and without any siblings or cousins I was left to my own devices. I think it’s half the reason I was such an asshole in high school” he says, almost wincing at the thought of how many people he had treated like shit over the years just to guarantee he wouldn’t be all alone.

“You were protecting yourself” you say, understanding exactly what he means and Steve nods, eyes glancing down at your form.

“I want my kids to have built in friends and even better, present parents” he tells you and suddenly you find yourself wanting nothing more than to have kids with the boy beside you.

“You’ll be the best Dad Steve, I just know it” you tell him and there are those words again, sitting on his tongue and begging to escape but he just can’t seem to let them go. He hates himself for it, looking away before you see the regret in his eyes.

“I hope so, I just wish my Grandpa was still around to see it” he says, thinking of the only person in his life who ever really liked him for him when he was growing up. The man who had heaven sent you straight to him when he needed you the most.

“He is, don’t you worry about that Stevie” you tell him, eyes fluttering close as you listen to cassette playing in the room. The boombox clicked, indicating the start of a new song. Worse Comes to Worst slowly filling the room.

“Oh worse comes to worst. I’ll get along” you start singing the melody into the dark night air, the fall breeze fluttering in from the window and brushing against the curtains.

“I don’t know how, but sometimes - I can be strong” Steve starts singing along with you and suddenly your both giggling into the night, sharing a love for one another and a love for Billy Joel. The very man that had brought you two together.

“Do you ever get sick of listening to him?” Steve asks and you know he’s asking you about Billy Joel. You shake your head softly against his chest, gazing into those hazel eyes.

“No, he reminds me of you. Makes me feel close to you no matter where I am. Yet I suppose that’s exactly how he makes you feel about your Grandpa” you say, voice humming along the boys ribs.

“Yeah but now he reminds me of you too” Steve admits and you smile before leaning up and capturing his lips in your own. When you had approached the sad boy in the record store you never would have imagined it would bring you here.

"I'm gonna try and sleep" you tell the boy, snuggling closer and allowing your heavy eyelids to close. Steve smiles softly and presses another kiss to your forehead. He knows life goes on and tonight will soon be gone. Another missed opportunity to tell you exactly how he feels. His wished he had the words to tell you but instead he only has his arms to hold you, pulling you closer into him. It's really all you can ask of any man, to be held with such love even if he won't say it.

"Goodnight Rosy" he mutters, 'I love you' he says in his head. He knows disappointment swells in your chest, having been by his side for six months and waiting to know exactly how he felt about you. The only noise in the dark room now is the voice of Billy Joel and your soft breathing. He pulls you close, relishing in the feeling of having you in his arms. When he’s sure you’re asleep he tells you.

"I love you Rosy, I really do. Just please don't give up on me, I promise I want to say it. You deserve to know just how much I adore you but every person I've ever loved has left me. I know you won't but I need time for my head to catch up with my heart. Until then, if I only had the words to tell you..."

Taglist: @slvtforstve @keerygal @goosy-goose @livsters @blckburd @loveshotzz @ohwauwdoritos @superblysubpar @southereads @amataadriana @violet2022 @mxrcjqckspnchqsc @madaboutjoe @thunderstomp-and-tequila @justdamnpeachy @micheledawn1975 @fangfatale @kingstevesgf @eddiesguitarskills @palmtreesx3 @momospeaches47 @pbs-theundeadmaggot @notlilyyyy @xuimhao @lianna75 @lvjmel @sadbitchfangirl @halflifejess @starkleila

Comment if you want to be added to the taglist :))

[reareaotaku]

My Sweet Valentine

Fuck Valentine's Day and every single couple ever! Also I know Valentine's Day has already past smartass. Leave me alone

Summary: How they act 4 Valentine's Day? Characters: Mike Wheeler, Luke Sinclair, Jane 'Eleven' Hopper, Maxine 'Max' Mayfield, Billy Hargrove, Steve 'The Hair' Harrington, Nancy Wheeler, Robin Buckley [I was going to do Eddie Munson, but I didn't want to write for him] Tw: None [That I know of]

Mike Wheeler

He was FREAKING out

He had completely forgotten about Valentine's Day, because it never was important to him, because he never had a partner before

God, he's so fucked

Throws something together last second and hopes you don't notice [You do]

He tries coming up with an excuse but, he doesn't convince you

He tries getting his sister's help, as a last resort, but she makes it harder for him

She starts scolding him for forgetting and complaining about how she couldn't believe they were related

Feels extremely guilty when you give him stuff, stuff he likes. He actually thinks about death right then and there because he knows that he's so getting dumped

Thankfully, you don't dump him [He's thrilled because he doesn't know what he'd do without you], but you do ignore him and give him the cold shoulder for a few days until he makes it up to you

Lucas Sinclair

He has been preparing for this moment all year

No way was he ending up in the dog house

He goes all out, getting you all that stupid stuff [Teddy bears, chocolate, roses etc]

He even makes a poster that has some stupid basket ball pun asking if you'll be his Valentine

Makes him so giddy when seeing you so happy to receive the gifts

Puffs his chest out in pride, because he did that

He'll be surprised when you pull out some Valentine's stuff for him

He wasn't expecting it and now you have him blushing

"For me?"

"Well, I don't have another boyfriend"

He frowns, but ultimately takes the gifts

Jane 'Eleven' Hopper

Valentine's Day? What's that?

Pretty clueless on the holiday, but when she learns about it, she falls in love instantly

She thinks it's so cute and wants to do something special with you

"What do couples usually do on Valentine's Day?"

"Well, they do a lot of stuff... You know, there isn't just one thing- You know?"

She hums, but she does in fact not know what you mean, but it's easier for her to pretend she does

"But uh, if there's something in particular you want to do-"

"I want to do it all!" She's quick and blushes because she didn't mean to outburst like that

You giggle, "I love your enthusiasm, but we can't do everything, but we can do most of it"

You both make cards for each other and she enjoys the time she's spending with you

She ends up loving the holiday and excited for next year, because she wants to do everything else that you couldn't do this year

Maxine 'Max' Mayfield

She does not give a shit about that stupid stuff

If you get her something, cool, but it's not needed

If you want to do something, you'll have to talk to her, otherwise it's just another day to her

She might give you one of those stupid Valentine's Cards, just because she sees all the other couples doing it, but it's not something she thinks about

When she's writing your name on it, she frowns, because what if you don't like it?

She knows you deserve better, so she debates making you a home-made card

^ It does not go well, so she sticks with the store bought card

She also gets you those tiny heart chocolate boxes

Billy Hargrove

You set yourself up for failure on this one, expecting him to get you something. Like do you even know him?

You'll be lucky if he even acknowledges that it's Valentine's Day

You can get him something and he'll keep it [Probably hides it, so his dad can't find it], but otherwise doesn't say much

He thinks it's cute how you act, but he doesn't understand it. It's just some stupid day and he doesn't see anything important about it

In fact, it just seems like a stupid excuse to spend tons of money for someone you might not even still be with in a month

He treasures the gifts you get him [Believe it or not]

If you make him a card, he keeps it in his nightstand

If you get him a teddy bear, it's either on his bed or in his pillowcase [When he wants it hidden]

Steve 'The Hair' Harrington

He's quite the romantic and goes all out

He loves Valentine's Day, because he can show you off and show you how much he loves you

He'll ask you to be his Valentine, even if you're already dating

He's so cheesy and makes all kind of puns and jokes

^ It actually gets annoying for you and you have to beg him to stop

Makes you a homecooked meal with wine and shit

After that, he brings you to the couch to watch all your favorite movies

He wants to enjoy your embrace and cuddle with you

[It also gives him an excuse to not spend the night alone]

You'll be so wrapped into each other, nearly about to have a moment when the phone rings and Steve wants to kill whoever is on the other line. When he hears Dustin's voice, he wants to reach through the phone and choke the young man

It's fine though, you tell him, you were still having a good time just being with him

Nancy Wheeler

Makes you home-made gifts

She wants to give you something that comes from her heart and has true meaning

She doesn't really like storebought stuff

She thinks it means more if you make it, even if it's bad

She wants to spend quality time with you

It doesn't really matter what you're doing, she just wants to be in your presence

It's a very chill day and you don't have to do anything over the top

Robin Buckley

As a dirt poor woman, she works all year just to buy you something simple

When she finally raised enough money to buy you something nice for Valentine's Day, she was overwhelmed by all the Valentine's Day stuff

What was she supposed to get you? There was so much stuff! What the fuck!?

Pretty much has a panic attack, because she's scared she'll pick the wrong thing

God, why is this so stressful???

She decides to just close her eyes and pick something at random

Is thrilled when you like the gift

[ashwhowrites]

can i please request something with eddie and cheerleader reader? i just love it so much and i basically can’t find any i haven’t already read. maybe something where the reader is judged and hurt by all his friends for being popular at first (cause i love a little angst) but obviously they come around, but really anything you want bc i’m obsessed with your writing and will be happy with anything THANK YOU SO MUCH!!

I LOVE CHEERLEADER READER

"wait...Y/N asked you out? The cheerleader? Miss popular? Rich daddy? That Y/N?" Gareth asked, Eddie stood across from him, cheeks red, apparently just got back from being asked out on a date.

"yes! I can't believe it" Eddie exclaimed excitedly, he's had a thing for Y/N for years, and he never once thought she'd look in his direction. But she was, and she was staying put.

"Eddie, are you sure that's a good idea? We know how those popular kids can be" Mike warned, eyes looking back to Y/N, her giggling with her friends. He was worried for Eddie, he didn't want him to get hurt.

"look I know she's popular and I went on countless rants about how they are here to ruin the world, but come on! It's Y/N! I've been praying for a moment like this" Eddie explained, he definitely wasn't going to say no just because his friends didn't seem convinced.

~~

Before hellfire knew it, Eddie and her were together. And always together. She was holding his hand, kissing him against the lockers, wearing his jacket, and sitting with them at lunch. She was everywhere and hellfire couldn't stand it.

Dustin liked her though. She was funny and had a nerdy side. It was easy to tell Eddie adored her. He looked at her like she held the stars personally to shine for him.

"I'm thinking I'm going to ask her to be my girlfriend, officially" Eddie delivered the news, seconds before hellfire exited the school

"really? You sure?" Lucas questioned, a worried look in his eyes

"yes. I have no doubt she'll say yes. We have so much fun together. She seems to really like me. It's been a month of dates and kissing. Why would she say no?" Eddie argued. He had his mind set on her. There wasn't any reason why she'd say no.

"it's just are you sure it's genuine? Not a dare?" Gareth brought up, all boys agreeing

"I don't think she's like that. She's going to say yes, good luck" Dustin defended. Eddie sending him a grateful smile

~~

On his way out Gareth found Y/N walking to Eddie's van, just leaving practice as she stood in his jacket.

"Gareth hi!" She cheered as he walked up

"hey, look we need to talk" he wasn't going to let Eddie get hurt, not by someone who could move on way easier than Eddie ever could

"yeah what's up?" She asked worried, swallowing herself in Eddie's jacket as she shivered against the cold

"Eddie is going to ask you to be his girlfriend," her face lit up at the news. Excitement rushed through her as she felt herself ready to break out into her own personal cheer, "but you need to say no"

"wait what?"

"it's just that Eddie doesn't belong in that popular crowd. He thinks he can handle it but he can't. He'll be insecure, uncomfortable, and he won't be himself. Do you want that? Do you want him to have to pretend to be someone else for your little crowd to accept him? " Gareth was digging up anything he could to make her second guess this relationship. He was learning fast that she wasn't quite easy to just push over

"that's not true. My friends already love him. He hangs out with us all the time at parties and sometimes he comes with to my team dinners. Even guys on the basketball team like to talk to him. He gets to be himself " she defended, she wouldn't allow her friends to disrespect Eddie or make him insecure.

"and what about what his friends think of you?" Gareth snapped, he was running out of arguments. Maybe he needed to make her insecure

"what do you mean?" Her hard face cracked slightly. She always feared hellfire didn't like her and she had a feeling it was going to be confirmed.

"we don't like you, none of us. We don't like you hanging around and being attached to Eddie's hip. Soon we'll refuse to be in the same room with you. Making Eddie split his time between his friends and new girlfriend. And that's always a problem down the road, And when it comes down to Eddie picking between us and you, who do you think he's going to pick?" With that he walked away. Smirking to himself as he watched her face fall

~~

"hey gorgeous. How was practice?" She smiled sadly as Eddie walked up to his van. A big smile on his face as he reached to grab her in a hug

She hugged him hard, allowing herself to feel his hard chest against her cheek.

"it was fine. How was the campaign?" Pulling away to look at him. He excitedly talked about it as he got in the car, and the whole way to her house. She listened closely, she loved listening to Eddie talk. He put so much time and creativity into it

Once he pulled up to her house, he grabbed her hands. She had a feeling it was coming, the way he took a deep breath and shyly looked at her

"so I've been thinking about how much I love spending time with you and I really like you. And I want to be with you, like officially. Do you want to be my girlfriend?" She hated how excited he looked. How nervous his hand was holding hers. And how his eyes were so soft. And she knew this was going to be just as hard for her to stay as it will be for him to hear.

"no Eddie. I'm sorry" she choked out, flinging herself out of the car as fast as she could. Slamming the front door behind her and racing to her bedroom.

Eddie stared at the empty passenger seat for a good few minutes before his brain understood what happened. She said no? She actually said no. He swallowed down the bitter taste and reversed out of her driveway. Guess him and Dustin were wrong.

~~

"how did it go?" Dustin asked excitedly as Eddie walked into the lunchroom, finally seeing him

But as he took a closer look, Eddie seemed sad. He didn't have the energetic aura or the childish smile

"she said no"

The table went silent, everyone looking at him and sneaking a look to where she generally sat before she met Eddie

Eddie looked to her table, watching as she played with her plate, looking down

"I'm sorry man" Gareth comforted, laying a hand on Eddie's shoulder

"I just don't know why. I mean we've been together every day for a month. If she didn't like me why would she be around me for so long?" It didn't make sense to Eddie. She looked sad when she said no, and she ran out of the car like it was on fire.

"cheerleaders man" Gareth scoffed

~~

It probably was smart to always be looking at him but she couldn't help it. It's only been two days and she missed him terribly. She hated that she couldn't walk up to him and ask him about his day. Or kiss his lips. Or sit in his van and listen to his music.

He always stared back. Questioning her for saying no but spending her time staring at him.

But she did it for him, she wouldn't make him pick and put his friends in that position. They knew him first, and that's just how it was

~~

Gareth's intentions didn't work out well for him. Eddie was sad and snapping at everyone. He grew even more insecure, his confidence was taking hits and he just shut down.

"I mean I know she's way out of my league but I just thought maybe you know? God I'm an idiot. I'm a freak and live in a trailer, of course she didn't want to be official. Probably embarrassed to call me her boyfriend. Meet her family"

Gareth felt guilt eating at him the more Eddie talked. He just made Eddie doubt himself even more about everything.

He needed to fix what could have been amazing.

~~

Y/N was walking out of the gym when she spotted Gareth, a small smile on her lips as she began to walk passed him

"wait! Can we talk?" She tensed at his voice, turning around

"about what?" She asked quietly. She needed to go home before she saw Eddie. It's been getting too hard

"I wanted to apologize. I made all that shit up. Eddie is my best friend and I just wanted to protect him. But all I did was hurt him and hurt a girl that seems to really care about him" Gareth apologized

"thank you for your apology" she said with a nod, going to turn back around

"wait! Please talk to him. He really likes you and he's hurting"

She kept her back to him but nodded her head, walking away

Gareth felt himself smile when she turned to left, not the direction of the parking lot

~~

Eddie cleaned up the remainder pieces of the campaign when someone knocked on the door

"open"

He didn't bother to look up, zipping up his backpack when a hand touched his arm

He snapped his eyes up and was across from Y/N

"hey Eddie" she said quietly

"um hey" he whispered, his body was on fire from the smallest touch. He didn't know why she was here but he didn't want to ask her to leave

"I have a small confession about why I said no"

Her eyes were soft but he felt like her words were a punch to his gut. He was once again reminded she said no. She didn't want to be his girlfriend

"do tell" he smirked, trying to lighten the atmosphere, make it less serious and tense

"Gareth kinda pressured me into saying no. He admitted that none of your friends like me, which I get being popular and all, and he said it would divide your time. At the end of the road you'd have to pick so I just thought it would be easier to beat you to the punch. I'm sorry, you don't know how bad I wanted to say yes. And how bad I still do. But hellfire is your main source of happiness, I couldn't ruin that" her hand made its way to his hand, holding it loosely giving him the chance to let it go. But he gripped it harder.

"I never knew he did that. I'm sorry. You are nothing like what they think you are, that's why I like you. At the end of the day I want to be with people who want me to be happy. If they can't accept you or be happy for me then they aren't as good of friends as I thought they were. Gareth and I are best friends, we'll make it work. But I'm not going to let another person decide for us" he cupped her jaw softly, smiling down at her

She smiled at his words, finally feeling something other than sadness from the last few days

"should we do this thing Munson?"

"oh definitely" he laughed, kissing her softly, moving his lips gently against hers

He pulled away with a quick peck

Speaking against her lips, "I'll deal with Gareth later, right now I need to scream in the parking lot that you are my girlfriend"

Tags!

@bmunson86 @mxcheese @ladymunson @michaelfuckinglangdon @z0mbie-blah @biittersweet @mirrorsstuff @slightlyvicked @micheledawn1975 @ago-godance @magnificantmermaid @tlclick73 @hargrovesswifee @cityofidek @manyfandomsfanvergent @silky-luxe @lokiofasgard616 @loving-and-dreaming

@eddiemunsonsbitch69 @thegemaqua @ashlynnkennedy @strangerthingsstories5255

[gayofthefae]

Here it is. The Mike Wheeler Playlist Post.

So I finished it. What seems to be the end of season 4, at least. I am avoiding spoilers for myself. All 28 songs from Smalltown Boy to Mad World. Here is what I have deduced:

Mike got over El after she left and started liking Will, but when she came back, he got with her motivated by the grief of “what could have been” but once they got together he felt that the relationship was aimless, only staying because it was familiar. He pursued getting back together with her because he didn’t want to lose her, despite feeling that the spark wasn’t there anymore. His fight with Will makes him question their relationship again but he ultimately doesn’t believe Will reciprocates and regrets even going back down that path. He doesn’t know what he’s going to do when Will moves. He can’t get Will out of his head and, though secrecy is the only safe thing, he’s getting worn down with it and is increasingly considering taking action in his relationship with El because his feelings for Will make him happy and don’t seem to be going anywhere. He’s getting anxious as it gets closer but Will talking to him in the van gives him a lot of security, but then the moment comes and he lies and feels absolutely horrible about it. He feels like he’s just running in circles. More inaction. Over a year now of just inaction.

There are 19 songs left which feels like a lot for one season as I've said before but in defense of that on top of just the consistent alignment with plot points in the playlist this far, season 5 is going to go back in and reveal a lot of this stuff with some very complicated emotions and much more focus on him, his feelings, his trauma, and his overall relationship with Will. So there IS a lot there to fill songs with. If you would like to read my original semi-chaotic notes from the past 5 hours(you read that correctly. You're welcome. And yes I know the full playlist I didn't even finish is only 3.5 hours) listed by song and including bits I skipped over so that it wouldn't be horribly long, lyric quotes, and one link to a cover analysis, you can do so under the cut.

Scared closeted gay kid in a smalltown in the 80s (confirmed by the songwriter, widely known in this fandom)

He sees Will everywhere.

This girl’s really cool and knows about things I don’t

Alien abduction - ET Parallels.

This song is an instrumental but the title “In The Face of Evil” is self-explanatory

El heroically sacrificed herself for everyone. She is a hero because she is the type of person to make that choice.*sweet that his love isn't hero worship, that's just how he conveys it.

He’s haunted by the memories of El, seeing her face everywhere.

Over time, “absence makes the heart lose weight” and his feelings for her fade

He’s starting to experience a new and scarily tempting, intoxicating kind of love. (based on context…for Will)

This song is an instrumental but the title is “Beta Girl Lost in Forever”. There is a great cover art analysis by @digestionsack at #20 of the post linked here but I could not find anything on the original meaning of the song or album. I couldn't find like anything else on Google of this one's meaning there were under 300 results when I searched in quotes.

This song is a duet that looks back on the relationship of a boy who helped lift up a girl from a very low and helpless place but the girl is now gone and he wants her to need him again and a girl who always had ambitions not dependent on him from the start and appreciated the time they spent together but needed independence now.

He feels an uncontrollable love that’s taking all his focus that he “can’t shake” but “makes [him] feel so blue” (for Will given the last love song)*this is to say nothing of his self awareness. (though could have convinced himself he got over it as opposed to never having known? *consistent with the s3 fight words)

A song about teenage love. Kinda horny.*He's in love and a little bit horny in the season checks notes...without El?

It’s “Ghostbusters”. It makes sense in a literal context but for the record this song is actually very 80s-under the radar-horny like “Barbie Girl”. Probably literal in this case but I’m sure the Duffers know about the second meaning and so maybe it shouldn’t be put right after Teenage Kicks if they aren’t trying to make me at least consider the possibility that they’re meaning to say Mike is jerking off to Will, possibly while he’s possessed. I didn’t need that, Pete Duffer. (Although 13-year-old boys definitely do. I remember the back of the bus conversations on middle school jazz band trips. I'm all for openness and sex education but I know too much about your masturbatory habits, Ben.)

El comes back and he reflects on how their relationship ended so suddenly and she branched out into independence but now that she’s back he’s not gonna let her get away again.*seems like he wants to fix the past vs take action in the present. What could have been. Acting on behalf of his past self.

Their relationship feels aimless to him, but he stays because it’s familiar. “I’ll carry on with what I know”.*her dumping HIM was an important push for him.

Making mistakes is human and a natural part of relationships. He stays in the relationship despite the spark dying out of a larger, more general love for her and because he doesn’t want to lose her. “If not so in love, it’s not so wrong, we’re only human after all.”*feeling an obligation to get her back because while not dating, she's gone completely (at first)?

He left Will/his feelings for him behind but he’s reminded of them by their fight (“little deals and S.U’s”) and he questions the nature of their relationship again but he doesn’t think that it means to Will what it means to him. “A sly touch at times; I don’t think it meant anything to you”. He regrets even going down that road again. “And I should never have tried”.

He’s going to miss them when they move, seeming to specify Will with “seven years went under the bridge”. He doesn’t know what to do without him now.*this song might sort of also explain why he didn't call if he didn't but it's not sure and there are no other songs about it, so he still could have called("if you leave don't look back, I'll be running the other way" but not every lyric has to apply and it could mean something else)

He’s now set/stuck in his desire for Will and can’t get him out of his head. (I considered an angle of this being for El, but the constant thinking about the lover + the interpretation of unreciprocated a love/a pursuit didn’t fit)*one of the interpretations I read also said they think it's about a gay guy which is a great addition, though not an "official" interpretation.

He feels safest in isolation/secrecy (car=closet?) “It’s the only way to live” but he’s wearing down and feeling lonely/alone in this state so he’s starting to consider “leaving” it.

He definitely still has feelings for Will that don’t seem to be going anywhere. They’re kinda…baffling “You got me so I don’t know what I’m doing”. He’s losing sleep over them. But…he’s not mad at it “don’t ever set me free”.

He criticizes himself for his inaction and starts to seriously think about making decisions for himself.

He’s in love. (very simple lyrics: “I saw your eyes, and for a little while/though it took a while, I was falling in love” repeatedly with minor variation)

He’s worn and broken down but still wants love. He’s holding onto Will in the chaos of his mind and the world and trying to keep out of preying eyes. Also it is apparently written as tribute to Stranger Things after season 1, which is cute. “Just stay close” “You can’t stop this feeling.” “They won’t pull us down”. This song is also called “Vale of Shadows”.

Instrumental Synth called “Dead of Night”

He’s full of uncertainty as seeing El gets closer but Will talking to him in the van comforts him and gives him more security; Will’s love makes it all better. “And she pulling the strings” definitely fits this idea of the situation with Will (especially if he is aware)

He feels horrible about lying to El (The song is “Mad World”). He feels like he’s just “run[ning] in circles”.

Notable lyrics: 

[pre-season 2-season 2]

When Love Breaks Down "Absence makes the heart lose weight yeah, til love breaks down, til love breaks down" "When love breaks down, the things you do to stop the truth from hurting you. When love breaks down, the lies we tell, they only serve to fool ourselves." I really thought it would say “grow fonder”, which fit and was cute and I was fine with, but nope. And my jaw went slack and it made me want to write this whole thing.

Love is a Stranger "Love is a stranger in an open car to tempt you in and drive you far away." "Love is a dangerous drug. You have to receive it and you still can't get enough of the stuff." "Comes in like the flood and it seems like religion" "And I want you so, it's an obsession. It's guilt edged."

[season 3]

Something About You “If not so in love, it’s not so wrong. We’re only human, after all.”

Are ‘Friends’ Electric “A sly touch at times. I don’t think it meant anything to you.” “And I never should have tried.” “For you see, it meant everything to me.”

[season 4, volume 2]

Mad World “When people run in circles, it’s a very, very mad world.”

[aishnico]

#𝙅𝙀𝙍𝙍𝙔 𝘾𝘼𝙉𝙏𝙍𝙀𝙇𝙇: 𝘵𝘩𝘳𝘰𝘶𝘨𝘩 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘤𝘬 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯

» summary: you promised to be by your boyfriend’s side, even though you weren’t together anymore (?)

» word count: 3k

» warnings: fluff, major angst towards the end (w/a happy ending, i guess?), alcohol & drugs, grammar issues

— 1988

"come onnn, you should definitely go with me. they are all amazing, i'm not saying these because my brother is in there." your friend, melinda, was trying to convince you to go to show of her bassist brother mike's and her drummer boyfriend, sean's new band.

"i don't know, mel, tomorrow evening i will be hella exhausted from work and i don't think i will have enough energy to go see them."

"i can take you there with cab after work!" she suggested. you shrugged. "then, maybe..." she didn't even let you finish and hugged you. "you won't regret it! you know how good my brother is at bass, and this guy, layne, oh my god... you would be fascinated by him i swear. and the guitarist, jerry, he's—"

"okay, okay. let it be a surprise to me."

like you told yourself, you were exhausted as hell. gladly you saw melinda inside a cab and she was waving at you. you smiled and entered the cap, sat next to her.

after about 40 minutes you arrived at the place. you grabbed drinks for you two and stood close to the stage. you really wanted to go and rest, or sitting somewhere here, at least

a couple of minutes later, the show started. melinda was right, you were fascinated by their frontman's voice. he was a brunette man with big, blue eyes. his voice was just, so unique and powerful you couldn't even describe it.

then you laid your eyes on the blond guitarist with blue eyes. he was wearing a white vest and revealing his torso. you first watched how his fingers were moving on the neck of his guitar. he was absolutely talented. you then looked at his face. damn, you thought. his platinum yellow hair was looking majestic while he was headbanging. your cheeks flushed and you felt melinda's smirk on you. you shake your head and start to pay attention to the rest of the band.

after about 30 minutes, the show ended. you clapped at them loudly like everyone else. they really were something else. you felt like they were going to be an impactful band in the future.

"come on, you already know mike and sean. let me meet you with layne and jerry." you wanted to protest at first but she was already dragging you backstage. when you two approached the guys, melinda hugged everyone except her boyfriend, sean. she kissed him and you saw mike's gaze at them. you then hugged mike and sean. melinda then coughed. "jerry, layne, this is [name]. a good friend of mine and mike's."

"hi, nice to meet you!" layne smiled at you. you returned the smile at him. "nice to meet you too. i, i don't know how to say but i've never heard a voice like yours, you're very talented." you saw his cheeks get slightly pinkish and responded with a cheerful thanks.

"let's get some drinks!" you heard sean's voice and started to follow him. jerry was walking beside you. "hi," you muttered to him. "what's up?" he responded. "nothing much, i should ask you this. how do you feel after your first show?" he yawned. "it wasn't my first show but today was great." you pressed your lips together. "okay," you simply answered and found nothing to talk about.

you never talked again, or let's say when you would encounter, you would talk 2 sentences. you thought he didn't like you, or you were just boring to him.

it was until one day, you were at a vinyl shop, the owner of the shop let you put rumours by fleetwood mac on the phonograph. you were dancing and care less about the people who were watching you. you then met with jerry's crystal blue eyes and his smile.

"you like fleetwood mac?" he asked.

"i love fleetwood mac." you answered while smiling at him.

that's how you become close. you talked about your favorite bands, and you learnt that you and him were listening to the same bands mostly. when he asked you what other music genres you're listening to, you told him that you like country music. and he immediately knew he wanted to know and meet you more.

the guys were shocked. because they thought you two didn't like each other. and look at you two now, you were sitting next to each other. you were playing an old, country song on an acoustic guitar while he was singing the lyrics with his angelic voice. layne sure had a powerful voice, but he couldn't sing peacefully like jerry right now, you thought.

sometimes, you would invite him over to listen to your favourite bands, he then either would sing, or play the song you wanted on acoustic guitar. music was the most important thing to connect you two.

you later discovered that he was great at arcade games you were great at too. so you would challenge him often. and the person who lost had to either buy a drink or food.

it came to the point where you would just invite him over and cook for him, or he would take you out to a good place (one day, he invited you over to their apartment and tried to cook for you, but it didn't result good. so when he would come over to you, you would teach him how to cook properly.)

after a while, you decided that you had mixed feelings about him. he was silly, talented, creative, and a good person. you loved his presence. and you loved him. but did you love him as a friend, or as a lover?

eventually, you decided you loved him as a lover.

two years later, they released their first album, facelift. it had a huge impact on the grunge scene for sure. you knew it from the beginning. you all met at your usual bar, celebrating their success. you then realized jerry was quieter than usual. you wanted to talk with him after.

everyone was either asleep or drunk. you were the only sober person there. when you looked at jerry, he was tipsy. "jer, is everything alright?" you asked him worried. he gulped and then looked at you.

"i, i don't know where to start." he mumbled softly. you then caressed his hands. "it's okay, take your time. you know i won't judge you." he nodded.

"i believe we did something really explosive. and i don't know what our way is going to be after this. i always wanted to be a rockstar. but this rockstar life makes me wonder about our future. what if some of us die because of alcohol or drugs? i don't want that, i want all of us to be together in the future." he then stopped and caressed your hand. this action made your cheeks flush.

"and i want you by my side too, now and ever. i love you, [name]" he said looking deeply into your eyes. you couldn't help but smile to yourself. "i've loved you first." he leaned close to your face. "but i'm pretty sure i've fallen in love with you harder." he smiled at you, your foreheads then touching.

"i promise to always be by your side, even if we break up in the future."

he grunted. "and i promise, i won't let it happen."

and before he could, you connected your lips slowly. he wasn't surprised so he kissed you back. after a couple of seconds, you heard someone's whistle. it was layne, he was smirking at you two. you didn't pull still, you didn't want to.

— 1996

promises were made to be broken, you thought. both of you couldn't keep your promises.

after releasing their first album, they got hella popular. they've attended various shows and tours, made friends from the music world. and besides their drinking habit, they've added drugs into their habits. these wouldn't reflect their career at that time, though.

but things got serious then. mike already had his drug habit before the release of facelift. and it got worse. in the beginning of 1993, he left. (or should you say 'fired'?) their new bassist's name was also mike. you liked him, he was talented and a humble guy. but the thing is, he kinda looked like old mike and it made seem pretty weird to you, at least.

you didn't even realize how your relationship with jerry got into after the release of jar of flies. he would come back to your arms again after an exhausting day, but he started to barely talk to you. you thought maybe he was just exhausted. but no,

not only that, when you two would go on dates, he would look soulless, or bored. you knew he was having a busy and hard time and you were trying to make him happy in the simplest ways. but you felt like it was going to nowhere. you were tired of picking up him from bars, being his trip sitter, and begging him to stop all of this. you were having a hard time in your work too. eventually, you got fired.

words could not express how furious you were. you were furious at your life, job, boss, and even your boyfriend. and seeing him after a rough day with a blonde girl, lying on his chest in your shared house, absolutely didn't help your problems.

"[name], please listen to me." he was trying to talk to you with a pleading and tired voice. but you just kept ignoring him. you were trying to find an empty cap on the busy roads of seattle.

"she's my cousin, god damn it!"

"cousin, my ass! why you didn't ever tell me about her then?! are you keeping things hidden from me, is this what we became now?!"

"i haven't seen her for almost 20 years! i only have her picture from our childhood, and i'm pretty sure i showed her before. i swear!"

you just rolled your eyes, not even looking at him. to your luck, an empty cab approached you. he grabbed your wrist and made you look at him. his eyes were bloodshot now. you didn't know if it was from cocaine or something else.

"i'm sorry, jeremy. i promised to be always by your side, but i don't think i could keep this promise anymore. i'm sorry, i'm sure that you'll find your true one." you said before entering the cab.

you came to pack your things from your house the next morning when you broke up with jerry. you found him wasted on floors. when he woke up, he held your leg, refusing you to leave and begging you to stay with him. you felt sorry for him, but you were tired of all of this. you had to leave even if he was right. and you hated yourself.

you then moved and found a new job in new york. you felt so lucky and you worked your ass hard not to lose your job again. in summer, you saw alice in chains on mtv unplugged. when you looked at their faces, you thought they were so done, so done with all of this. they weren't looking full of enthusiasm like in the old days.

and layne's girlfriend, demri's death absolutely didn't help to this situation. she also was your friend so you wanted to attend her funeral. but guess what? you were already on a business trip so you couldn't go. you could manage to go there after a couple of days. and when you went to see layne, well, you actually couldn't recognize him first. he was screaming and crying. his eyes got bloodshot. you felt so bad for him.

you then went to see the rest of the band. they were looking helpless. you hugged sean and mike but hesitated to hug jerry. you stayed with them for a while. you tried to support them as emotionally as possible you could. layne was yelling at all of you. he was yelling at guys that they didn't care about him, they cared about their frontman. and he was yelling at you for leaving them years ago and not attending her funeral.

it wasn't true, you thought. they all loved layne. especially jerry, he was his best friend after all. you knew it was making his heart broken when he saw him like this. you felt like you needed him to talk personally. you saw him at balcoon all alone, so you made tea for both of you. and went next to him.

"i hope this eases you even for a little." you said looking outside. "nothing can ease me right now." he responded. his voice sounded raspy. from cigarettes and some other shit, you thought.

"you just need to be by his side, he eventually will understand the truth."

he didn't say anything for a while. "then why did you leave me at that time, i really needed you."

"you know why i left, jeremy. i can't keep up with your shitty habits. not only is it killing you, it also kills me." he again didn't say anything. "are you happy there?" you shaked your head. "not even a little. two years have passed and i still feel like i don't belong there."

"then move here again, i don't ask you to be with me again. i just need to be around you again. didn't you say you would be by my side even if we broke up in the future, keep it again.”

you chuckled and turned your head at him. "i already broke it, i'm a shitty girlfriend, i guess." he chuckled too. "if you think that you're a shitty girlfriend, i don't imagine myself how a boyfriend i am." you two laughed. he then gently caressed your hand. "please, i need you." you thought about it. your new company's branch office was here too. maybe you could talk with your boss about it. "i'll think about it." you said while smiling at him.

your boss was kind enough to assign you in seattle. you started to set things to right again. guys helped you too. and you started to hang out with them like usual. but you started to see layne less and less.

you saw him again when jerry released his debut album. he looked more unrecognisable to you. even though he continued to live, he couldn't move on from demri's death.

— 2002

they had been on hiatus for the last 6 years now, everyone was at different projects, except layne. you didn't know what was he doing right now. you would check on him yourself or with jerry often, but he would always not have the energy to talk with you. he was like a walking dead.

in 19th of april, it just became dead. he actually died two weeks ago. you couldn't describe how you and others felt.

it broke all of you. you lost your best friend now and ever. you wish you could force him to go to rehab. you would try to convince him but he was just not listening to you. it felt like you were stabbed from your heart. nothing would make him come back.

the guys were more broken than you. they were closer to him than you were to him, after all. they lost their layne, their star, their soul... even though you were broken such as them, you still needed to be by their side.

you went to the funeral. the other thing that broke you was layne and demri were actually supposed to marry here. his family, his bandmates, and other friends from the music world were there. you hugged his mother, nancy, and the guys too. you couldn't find jerry.

you sat with them for a while. trying to support them with your words. then, you saw jerry outside. he came here from his tour.

"hey..." you approached him and touched his arm. he didn't look at you. he didn't say anything. but you knew, you knew he wanted to cry however much he wanted.

"i know you two were best friends. you were everything to him, so he was to you. so it's okay to let your emotions out. nobody would judge you, jer." you then opened your arms at him. he looked at you slowly and you tried to put a smile on your face. but you felt like your eyes got filled. his eyes too,

he then quickly hugged you. he was sobbing and mumbling this like "i've loved him so much, i wish he listened to us when we offered him to go to rehab. why do i have to lose the people i love the most? my grandmother, mother, layne..." he then continued to cry.

you caressed his back gently. after a couple of minutes, he calmed down for a bit. you held his hands.

"you won't lose anyone, you won't lose sean, the mikes, and your other friends. well, i can't promise it. but i can promise you one thing, you won't lose me. and i want you to promise me too, promise me i won't lose you. get clean, i beg you. my heart can't take it anymore." you didn't realize but you were crying too. he hugged you tightly.

"i will, i promise." he then kissed your cheek and then connected your foreheads.

"thank you, [name], for being by my side" you smiled at him. "always," you responded. "i know it's not a good time to ask but, do you think we can try again?" he asked.

you just smiled at him and took his hand to yours. "we will talk about when you'll come back after your tour." you leaded together to the stage where nancy and chris from soundgarden were singing ring them bells and wild horses together. it was a great tribute.

and you couldn't wait for his return, to talk with him about getting together again.

[light-lanterne]

birthdaygate au where everyone's forgotten will's birthday except will himself,,, and mike, whose love for will is so strong that vecna couldn't make him forget.

when he gets to lenora, however, no one is saying anything about it. jonathan is lost in his own world instead of making jokes or reminiscing of the past, as usual,,, el said the day was about her and mike and has made no mention of the date, when she's usually very enthusiastic about birthdays,,, even will is quiet and grumpy when he'd normally be a bit cheerier and sure, mike ruined their reunion a bit (he just got nervous, okei ? >.<), but it's rare that will gets to this stage so quickly. it usually takes a lot longer for him to get fed up.

alas, that's the current stage of things and mike opts to remain quiet for the time being. maybe the byers have a big surprise "party" planned for later ! or maybe,,, maybe will just wants to spend the day with whoever the painting is for >:(

in fact, as the day goes on and will's mood continues to deteriorate, mike is more and more convinced that this is the case. will had probably asked his family earlier to take things easy (because he's not a child anymore) and had probably been excited to spend the day with some girl, growing progressively annoyed the longer she took to show up.

and mike is upset. because it made sense that will had grown up and found someone he liked, and mike doesn't blame him for it (well, maybe just a bit),,, but is he that bad? they'd spent almost all their birthdays together ! will seemed to have fun in the past ! why is he so pissy that mike is there for his birthday? are the last nine birthdays (eighteen between the two of them) they'd spent together not good enough for will? is the idea of being around mike so tortuous now?

he's upset. and confused, because apparently the girl is actually an asshole, now that she finally showed up.

ultimately, mike doesn't have much time to think about birthdays anymore because el just decked angela in the face and things are very tense between them all now.

it's until they arrive at the byers that he thinks about it again. because even when things were at their worst, and even when will didn't want it, joyce has always insisted on decorating the house a little for each birthday (including mike's own) and right now, the house is pristine. not a single balloon or banner, no cake or bowl of sweets. nothing. not even a "how was your day, sweetie?" over dinner, or a "happy birthday, will" as they all left the dinner table and said goodnight.

mike is very confused. and he wants to ask will about it, maybe give him his present or the damn letter he's been carrying around all day.

but things are awkward between them and mike is a little drained from their argument earlier and will seems like he needs some space.

he'll ask about it tomorrow, once he smooths things out with el.

it'll be okay then.

- the end -

(another silly idea. it wouldn't be me if i didn't write some angst x.x)

[strangeswift]

I always thought the monologue was there to show El that the kind of love Mike has for her is not the way she wants to be loved, and that their relationship couldn't be saved by him saying "I love you" because they had bigger issues than just him not saying those words. El's whole arc this season is about how she can't be put into a box with the words 'monster' and 'superhero' and yet in Mike's monologue he once again refers to her a superhero, which to me is setting up a conversation where El calls out Mike for loving the superhero that he thinks she is rather than the person that she really is, and she will break up with him because she wants to find out who she is without all of that pressure and those labels.

Two of the most prominent memories used when she revived Max were "there's more to life than stupid boys" and "not Hopper, not Mike, you," and I think that is setting up El's independence era where she realizes that she doesn't need a boyfriend and wants to focus on herself, especially now that she has to deal with Hopper's return, the fallout of Max's coma, and the impending fight against Vecna. She'll realize that she cares about Mike deeply but being with him romantically is not what she needs for herself.

Also this is just me and I think most Bylers will heavily disagree but I think they're going with Bi!Mike (who is aware on some level that there's something different about Will but doesn't know at all that he loves Will yet) and doing the misattribution of feelings trope where Mike was only able to say "I love you" because he fell in love with Will's feelings in the van and believed he loved El because of how those words made him feel. He says "I love you for exactly who you are" to her but it's clear that this is going to fall apart soon because the "exactly who you are" that Mike believes in is not El - she never said any of those things that made him feel so loved and so valued. That person was Will.

I think that once Mike finds out about the painting and Milkvan breaks up due to Mike realizing that El didn't say any of that "you're the heart" stuff, Will is going to confess to him as an explanation for why he lied and Mike will 'platonically accept him' at first and they will be closer than ever. Then after the timeskip, as they work together as a team to defeat Vecna, we're going to see Mike realizing that he has feelings for Will too and they'll probably kiss towards the very end of the show. Mike probably won't get an explicit bi label but they'll show him being in a happy relationship with Will.

I don't see a convincing way to do Gay!Mike at all after the monologue but I think implied Bi!Mike - where he thought he loved El due to the van speech but eventually finds out that those were Will's words, which jump-starts their romance arc - is very possible.

(The only line that truly bugs me in the monologue is the 'my life started the day we found you in the woods.' We as an audience know it's bullshit bc Mike did not love El immediately and he also said befriending Will in kindergarten was the best thing he's ever done but idk how they're going to explain away that one in-universe. But the rest of it is fairly easy to debunk imo and actually serves a purpose for both El's arc and Mike's realization of his feelings.)

Warning for mild By1er doubt

Very good points and well said.

To the gay Mike vs. bi Mike point, I definitely think he's going to be unlabeled in canon. Personally I am a gay Mike truther primarily because "It's not my fault you don't like girls" reads as projection to me which only makes sense if Mike does not, in fact, like girls. And I think they could do gay Mike in a convincing way. (Here's my thoughts on what is going on in Mikes head during the monolgue, which I wrote from the perspective of him being gay, though it doesn't have to be read that way.) BUT I don't think they will do gay Mike, in canon he'll definitely be unlabeled.

To the point about the "my life started the day I found you in the woods" Yeah that line bumps me too. I know a lot of people use it as evidence that Mike is obviously lying through the whole monolgue. But I don't really think he's intentionally lying? So that doesn't explain it away for me. The pessimistic part of me just thinks maybe the writers just didn't expect people to read into it that much so they didn't concern themselves with the fact that Mike canonically was going to let El be sent "back to Pennhurst or wherever she came from." But I honestly don't know what to think about it. (I do have a theory about this line but I don't know how much merit to put into it, I'll probably make a separate post about it.)

Anyway, you made extremely good points. As I said before, I'm a massive pessimist, so everything I say regarding S5 predictions should probably be taken with a grain of salt for that reason. I have a hard time trusting the Duffers because I have a hard time trusting anyone.

For example, I am sort of afraid that they're still going to lean into the Superhero thing for El now that she has her powers back. It is possible that El was only upset at being called that because she didn't have her powers at the time. That's not the way I choose to interpret her character, I think she doesn't want to be a "superhero" regardless, BUT I worry that we're all misinterpreting it and the Duffers are going to be stupid idiots. But I won't dig too much more into the things about the monolgue that worry me, because that's depressing and I don't want to talk about it anymore.

Thank you for taking the time to share your thoughts anon, you said it well so I don't have much else to add. I sincerely hope that you are 100% correct and this is exactly the way the Duffers intended it to be interpreted.

[violetrainbow412-blog]

Eddie the Banished

Eddie Munson x Byers!fem reader

Word count: 6k

Summary: Eddie helps you have a great time with your little brothe

Part 2 Part 3

A/N: this idea had been in my mind for a long time, because I love Will and I hate how his friends treat him, lol

There's no Vecna incident here at all, it's just the Byers going on vacation back to Hawkins.

You were still looking toward the entrance with slight nervousness, waiting for the night bus to arrive at Hawkins. Everything had been very difficult since the Starcourt mall fire and it had taken you a long time to find a decent rhythm of life again. Your mother, brothers, and your now new sister had gone to live in California, but no matter how hard you tried, you couldn't leave your life in Indiana. Jonathan had no problem with changing schools, but for you it was very difficult; You were in charge of the literature club. And I mean, to a lot of people it might seem silly, but you'd been fighting hard for that position since you entered high school and you weren't about to give up. Besides, that same passion for writing had gotten you a job at the Hawkins Post (now without those awful men who mistreated Nancy so badly) and you couldn't deny that the pay was decent.

You don't even know how you convinced your mom, Joyce Byers herself, to let you stay in town for the rest of your year of high school.

Although she would never admit it out loud, Joyce took pride in you. From a very young age you had been independent, hardworking, and great support for her, so when you asked her to let you stay in the house, she couldn't say no. After all you were 18 years old and the sooner you got used to adult life the better it would be for you.

It was difficult, more than ever, because not only did you have to study, work and take care of the home, but also because now you were alone every day. It used to be comforting to come home and get a hug from your mom, fight a little with Jonathan, or watch movies with Will.

But hey, everyone had to grow up at some point and you were no exception.

“Y/N!” you heard in the distance You saw four people waving at you in the distance and almost fell on your face as you ran to meet them, completely excited.

"Will!" you laughed, looking at your little (not so little anymore) brother. He hugged you tightly as soon as he saw you and you reciprocated.

“I missed you so much” he confessed. You felt like you might cry at that, happy at the thought that, at least for a few days, you'd have your adventure partner back.

"I missed you more"

"Hello! Do you remember that you also have another brother?” Jonathan sneered from his place, annoyed that all your attention had gone to the minor. He wasn't going to admit it, but he had missed you too. You laughed and broke away from Will to punch your older brother in the shoulder, followed by a hug. Your mother saw the three of you with a smile and it didn't take long for you to surround her in a hug as well, now feeling a couple of tears slip down your cheeks.

"I'm so happy you're here" you exclaimed. Out of the corner of your eye, you saw a shy girl and noticed that it was none other than Eleven, who, like Will, had grown and changed too much. You also pulled her in for a hug and asked her if she minded being called her sister, to which she said no. She was happy to have a feminine figure like you in her life.

"Mike didn't come?" she dared to ask, with that tone that still sounded a little different.

"He promised to come to the house tomorrow to see us, today it's too late" you explained "And Nancy too" you added. Your two brothers smiled at that, after all he was supposed to be his best friend and his girlfriend who you were talking about "But well, we have to put the luggage in the car and go home"

“Do you have a car?” Will asked, quietly, a little surprised. You winked at him.

"It's my dear Steve's car, but don't tell Johnny I borrowed it from him" you laughed and he did the same. You walked next to your mother while carrying some bags and you smiled again when you realized that your family was indeed with you.

Finally your house would feel like a home again.

Frankly, Joyce was shocked when she got to the house. The house wasn’t remodeled, but there was no apparent damage either. It was still clean and tidy, with just a couple of your belongings. It didn't look like the place someone your age and on your salary would live, but in some extraordinary way you had made it work.

You agreed to let Eleven stay with you in the room, claiming that you could start getting along like sisters at last, and there was hardly any time to chat the night they arrived, as they were so tired that they went straight to sleep.

The next morning you found that your mother had gone down to the kitchen to prepare breakfast and you couldn't have been more grateful to her.

"So you have two jobs?" Jonathan asked once you sat down to eat breakfast at the table.

"That's right. Hawkins post in the afternoon and I'm a waitress at night. During the holidays I will also work in the mornings”

"And isn't it dangerous to work at night?" Joyce asked, to whom you had never told about this second job. Well, technically you had three jobs, but you were going to save yourself any illegal details for now.

"Not yet, the owners are good people and pay well, so I can't complain," you said, while you shrugged your shoulders.

"And do you study at school too?" she asked, now Eleven, dumbfounded by your occupations. You kindly nodded and she gave a soft 'wow' at that. At some point the conversation turned to them, as expected, and you found out about everything they had been doing both at school and work. You knew a thing or two from your weekly calls to Lenora Hills, but there was nothing like discussing it in person.

The doorbell rang as you were finishing your second course and then all chaos broke loose. It was, of course, the Wheelers, along with Dustin, Lucas, and Max. Everyone was there to greet your guests and you took advantage of some point in the confusion to go up to your room and change into the uniform of the bar where you were going to work.

"Are you leaving so soon?"

"Duty calls, mother" you joked, approaching her and kissing her "I'll be here by meal, I promise"

“Take care of yourself,” she asked you, worried, like any good mother, that someone in that bar was disrespectful to you. But hey, after facing a monstrous threat of death a couple of drunks seemed like a simple thing.

You quickly said goodbye to everyone and walked out the front door, ready to go about your daily routine.

“Welcome to The Hideout, how can I help you?” you hummed as you did with all the customers lately. It wasn't until you looked up that you realized who it was. Pretty smile, curly hair, and sparkling eyes "Oh our beloved rising rock star" you exclaimed, watching Eddie Munson sit across from you "What brings you here?"

"I wanted to have a beer and say hi too," he replied, his flirtatious grin never leaving him for a second.

It was funny how you met Eddie. You were in the literature club and previously had your own room for meetings, but due to cost cuts, you had to share space with the drama club. So it was that, at the beginning of the year, you found out that another club was operating in the prop warehouse, one called the “Hellfire Club”. You had heard of that before, but you thought it was just a prank to annoy the teachers, but it turned out that it was something formal and that it was a club where they met to play Dungeons and Dragons. You almost screamed when you found out and you were extremely sorry that due to time and availability issues you could no longer join that club. Still, you didn't avoid running into the guy a couple of times in the classroom, and soon after you got the job at The Hideout and found out he had a band that played there every Tuesday. How small the world was.

Thus you established a solid friendship with the boy, and as you got to know him you liked him better. One day you found out that he was selling drugs and Eddie was so worried that you might say something that he offered you to go into the business. You were surprised that he considered this the best decision, but that had been a difficult time and it suddenly seemed like a good idea. It was then that he went from being a complete unknown to being your co-worker and business associate.

You didn't even want to think about what your mother would say if she found out that you were keeping drugs in your house for the city freak.

"Dark beer, right?"

"You know me well," he exclaimed, with a goofy grin. You and Eddie had kissed a couple of times (nothing formal) when you found out it was a great stress reliever and he just because he was fascinated by you. Those encounters hadn't disturbed your friendship in the least, but sometimes you couldn't run away from those heart-eyed looks Eddie gave you. "I heard your family is here."

"Where did you hear that?" you asked amused. It was obvious that your family wasn’t famous and Eddie was only justifying his excessive attention to everything you said to him since you had only commented on it last Tuesday.

"A little bird over there" he exclaimed, brushing it off. You put the beer in front of him and leaned against the counter to finally see him properly.

"Well, it's true, they're here" you replied happily "And I'd still like to collect that favor you owe me"

“You just say the day and time, doll. I am available to you whenever you want,” he said politely. You smiled widely when you heard it and nodded, hoping that your day off would finally come.

You were just hoping the surprise would be nice for your little brother.

"What do you say we have fish for dinner later? I have some in the refrigerator and we brought vegetables"

"We just ate" he complained "Besides I don't like fish, you better order a pizza"

"Willam Byers, if we keep eating pizza like this, we're going to end up dead from diabetes or some shit" you laughed, as you maneuvered to open the door with shopping bags in hand.

"Diabetes is because of sugar, silly" he replied between laughs. There was nobody at home; Joyce had gone to whoever knows where, Jonathan was with Nancy, and El, obviously, with Mike.

Perhaps it was very childish behavior on your part, but you could tell without hesitation that you had contempt for Mike Wheeler. You weren't the best of friends from the start, but your feud was cemented a year ago, when he turned out to be a complete jerk to your little brother. You knew that maybe it was just adolescence and hormones that forced him to leave Will aside to dedicate his attention to Eleven, but it didn't justify the hostility with which he had treated him either.

That's how you built up that resentment and it ended up to the point where you practically couldn't stand to see it.

"Did you leave the light on?" he asked, looking around the room in confusion. You kept your composure and imitated the boy's face.

"I don't remember" you lied. Suddenly there was a crash and Will jumped in his place, almost dropping the bags that he had in his hand. You took them off and placed them on the kitchen counter, moving with mock wariness to check the living room, followed by Will.

You almost let out a genuine scream as you see a cloaked figure standing right in the middle.

"I finally found you two!" the person yelled, pointing a finger at you. His voice sounded slightly desperate "I've been looking for you for so long"

"Who are you?" you asked, looking him up and down; completely black clothing and his cape were bright red. You had always thought that red-suited him wonderfully and today you were checking it out.

“My name is Eddie the Banished and I am a poor exiled warrior who comes in the hope that you will help me save a home that disowns me” he explained to you. Will, who you hadn't seen until then, looked surprised rather than confused "Y/N the Lost" he called to you, approaching and gently taking your hand while looking at you with pleading eyes. Not for nothing was he at the drama club. "And of course, Will the Wise," he continued, now turning to your brother.

“No way,” he exclaimed, his gaze alternating between you and Eddie. For a second, you both grinned at him and it was only then that he thought to look further, only to notice a table neatly laid out with D&D items.

"What's the matter, Eddie the Banished?" you asked, stepping into character and grabbing the boy's cheeks as if you were genuinely concerned and he was devastated. Will was looking at you with a mixture of curiosity, amusement, and surprise.

"A disciple of Nuitari has been consumed by dark magic and wants to kill as many as he can to strengthen his powers and offer their souls as a sacrifice to his God," he said. You were amazed at the creativity that Eddie had to create the most wonderful plots and you fought not to smile. You were supposed to be in character, it was a time to worry "You have to contain him before it's too late and he manages to gather more of his people"

“But even I who am a good warrior cannot fight against dark magic.”

"I can," Will interjected, looking at both of you. You felt like you would scream with excitement.

“It will be dangerous”

"We have to do this, sister, we can't leave these poor people unprotected," he argued. He was in the story, as you had seen him so many times when you were little "Eddie the Banished, guide us to your village"

"Praise all the Gods, I knew that a couple of heroes like you wouldn’t deny a call for help" he thanked. You were about to say something else when he spoke again "But you can't go dressed like that" without giving explanations he went to the table and picked up a basket in which you used to put dirty clothes but now it contained something else: your old green cape and a robe full of stars, as well as a hat with the same print. Will's eyes glazed over a little at the fact that you had so carefully guarded that costume your mother had made for him so long ago, thinking that as he got older those games would become a thing of the past and he would have to 'mature' as everyone told him to do.

And then there was you and that crazy stranger you had acquired, both of you offering him one last adventure that would remind him of the happiness he lived when he was just a child.

“You don't have to do this if you don't want to,” you said, suddenly feeling fearful. Perhaps you had misunderstood everything and Will had changed his tastes and hobbies.

But he simply took both pieces of cloth and held yours out to you, making you see dark green velvet and purple satin with silver stars shimmering in the artificial light.

“This man has come looking for our help and that is what we are going to do; help him”

Eddie saw the most beautiful and brilliant smile of all on your face while you looked at the boy and he did not hesitate to hold your hand and Will's to pull you to the chairs.

You started listening to the backstory carefully, watching Eddie make all sorts of signs and lost yourself in his voice after a few minutes. It wasn't supposed to be such a complex adventure, but still, the world was down to the three of you in that room for the next few hours.

You had to admit that even though you knew his campaigns were good, you didn't think they would be that good. He was creative, taking it upon himself to give you challenges that only made you care more, but always keeping just the right amount of fun to continue an entertaining game.

“Garzag has Y/N!” Eddie said to Will after you tried to attack your opponent and failed monumentally; a fucking 1 in D20 got you there. The atmosphere had already heated up and by that point you were yelling, flailing, and making all sorts of complaints “He's lifting her off the ground without even touching her, putting all his effort into casting enough magic to squeeze her body to death. She whimpers, gasping for air to breathe, blood dripping from her wounded forehead, as she looks up at you” There was a dramatic pause and you could see real concern in the boy's eyes. "You're tired and hurt; you can just walk away and leave her to die. Or you can continue fighting and risk dying too… What do you want to do, Will the Wise?”

"Garzag's hurt too and he doesn't have many points left," Will mused. He shared a brief look with you, the kind that tells you that he won't leave you alone "So I'm going to send him back to hell where he belongs and save my sister"

"I'm warning you; you need the highest score to land a powerful enough blow," Eddie exclaimed, looking at him and then back at you. "If not... then it's all over for you two”

“Didn't you hear me? I'm going to kill that son of a bitch!" Will half-shouted, ecstatic on the adrenaline of the moment, making Eddie laugh out loud. He took the D20 without thinking twice and shook it for a few seconds in his hands, before throwing it on the table. You would swear that time stopped for an instant, as did your heart, and then the dice finally rolled out the score.

Twenty.

"That's it!"

"Will managed to cast a spell on Garzag!" Eddie announced, totally shocked “He doubles over his abdomen at the feel of it and carelessly drops Y/N to the floor. He is feeling how all the magic escapes from his body…” the boy began to imitate the movements that Garzag was supposed to be doing, holding his stomach in desperation “This is impossible! he yells, incredulous that anyone could have beaten him. He falls to the floor on his knees…” Eddie did it “and he begins to feel how little by little all the vitality of his body leaves him. The spell would leave only the pure parts of his soul and with nothing left he begins to turn to smoke, screaming in pain and writhing from the sensation” again, Eddie exemplified what he was saying “Curse the people and curse the heroes who have managed to defeat him, promising to return in another life and collect their revenge. Everything becomes a mess of screaming and the smell of putrefaction as he disappears, leaving only a black stain on the floor in front of the two of you. The irrefutable proof that you have managed to eliminate the evil and that now the village is safe”

When he finishes, you can't help but clap your hands. And by consequence, Will does too. You really do feel like a couple of heroes who have just fought one of their worst battles and it's all thanks to the brilliant and imaginative mind of the person you're acknowledging.

"That was amazing!" he says happily. Eddie gives a mocking reverence that causes his hood to fall off, exposing his pretty, crazy hair.

“You did all the work”

"Yeah, we kicked that asshole really good," you complimented, giving Will a high-five.

"Why didn't you tell me you had all this planned?" he said, now towards you. You just shrugged with a smile.

“Well, I thought it would be nice to surprise you. That's why I took you out shopping and let Eddie do all his magic."

"No offense, but how did he convince you Y/N to do this?" he insisted. There had been no time for introductions before playing and he was extremely intrigued to meet who had just put together the shortest and best campaign he had ever played.

"I'm the biggest nerd when it comes to D&D, so she barely had to say a few words to drag me here" replied Eddie, smiling at him "She wasn't lying when she said you have spirit, I've never had a couple of players that enthusiastic"

"The part where Garzag started attacking us with those flying demons was crazy, I never expected it" you confessed, getting back into the conversation.

“But did you see how we took them down? Just for one point…” Suddenly you found yourself involved in a heated discussion of the tensest moments, as well as occasional re-enactments of said events.

You were screaming and laughing so hard you didn't even notice when the front door opened.

"Okay, but hear me out: the way Will escaped Garzag’s finger of death was a miracle, I thought he would die and we would finally be done!"

"It takes more than a simple spell to kill a Byers!" you laughed out loud, watching Will do the same.

"Eddie?" someone behind you asked. From the corridor your mother, Eleven, Jonathan, and (the most surprised of all) Mike were looking at you "What are you doing here?"

"Oh, hello! I came to play a bit with Y/N ​​and Will” he answered as if he was the most obvious thing in the world.

"It's good that you're back," you said nervously, towards your mother and brother who were looking at you confused. You got up from your chair and yanked Eddie out of his, practically pushing him to face Joyce. "Mom, this is Eddie, my…" What was the correct term? Friend? Partner in the sale of drugs? Buddy I make out with occasionally when we're both stressed? “Co-worker” you ended up saying, but the downtime while searching for the term did not go unnoticed.

“It's nice to meet you, Mrs. Byers. Y/N has told me a lot about you” He smiled. You and Mike looked at Eddie in amazement, for he had never displayed such manners before.

"Hello! Nice to meet you too. I see they were playing a bit while we were gone”

"You should have been here, mom, it was a super crazy and cool thing," said Will, excited. It had been a long time since he had smiled that way and Jonathan smiled the same way when he saw him "Eddie is the best dungeon master and he has an official edition of the game, with figures and everything"

"I'm so happy to hear that, my love" Joyce replied, just as happy as her eldest son for the joy that suddenly invaded the environment "You also dusted off your robe and your hat"

"Y/N kept them all this time, can you believe it?"

"Why didn't you tell me you were going to play?" a different voice asked. It was Mike and he seemed really offended, but you couldn't feel any empathy. You knew that he wasn't interested in being with your brother but with Eddie, for whom he seemed to feel an exaggerated kind of admiration "He could have come"

"Oh, come on. When I still lived here you were never in the mood to play, we were spared the pain of you saying no” replied Will, his voice firm and even a little venomous. Everyone remained silent and you held back from laughing widely amid the awkward moment, happy that your brother had finally given the black-haired boy what he deserved.

"Besides, you're not that good, Wheeler," you added, with a smirk. You didn't want to get into a fight with a teenager, so you spoke again before he could, "Mom, sorry, but I lost track of time and I haven't made any dinner yet..."

"We'll order pizza," Jonathan informed you, causing you and Will to share a look before bursting out laughing. “What?”

“Nothing, Johnny. Pizza sounds great”

“I… I think it's time to go,” reported Eddie, who had been watching the scene in silence as he fiddled with his rings. You had learned that he did that when he was nervous and personally you found him most tender.

"Don't you want to stay for dinner?" your mother chimed in, kind as only she was.

"I wouldn't want to be a bother"

"Nothing of that! We'd like to meet you, Y/N doesn't introduce us to many friends."

“That's because she doesn't have any friends,” Jonathan scoffed and you took a couple of steps to punch him in the arm, hearing him groan. Most of those present laughed at the exchange.

"Huh, well..." Eddie hesitated. You had never seen him so shy and the reason why he was like that intrigued you "if it's no problem, I guess I can stay"

“Wonderful,” Joyce smiled, looking at you and then back at him. “Y/N, clear the living room table so we can have dinner there, please,” she said and you nodded. You grabbed Eddie's wrist and you could almost swear you saw him blush.

"Come on, we have to save your pieces"

"I help!" Will muttered and for a second you heard again that happy 12-year-old boy you thought was gone forever.

He didn't even care about Mike's angry look and you were too busy to notice the knowing smiles your mom and older brother shared.

"Are you sure it's okay for me to stay?"

"Of course, Ed" you answered, taking the figure of a warrior to put it in the box “Jonathan's right, I don't have many friends” you joked, hearing Will laugh at your side.

The three of you continued to chat for a while and when the rest joined in you sat down on a couch. You noticed that you were still wearing your costumes and blushed, offering to leave them in the laundry basket they had been in earlier.

"So you work with Y/N?" your mother asked, in the boy's direction. She wasn't a prejudiced woman, but you understood her reasons for doing some research on the metalhead you had brought into the house and with whom you seemed to have a bond.

“Something like that. My band plays at the bar where she works and we met there”

“He ordered a beer and I told him I liked his music and that's why we started talking”

"And what instrument do you play?"

“The guitar” he replied, again with that shyness that wasn’t natural to him “Y/N told me you guys live in California now, right? How is it over there?" he asked politely. You knew Eddie well enough to realize that he was looking to make a good impression and it made you smile.

The four of them began to tell a few things about Lenora Hills, which Eddie listened to carefully, feeling comfortable after a while. When the pizzas arrived and dinner went on nicely, with the two of you (and occasionally Mike, who seemed to be in a terrible mood) telling each other the latest about Hawkins and the rest talking about a town you didn't know.

"And Will still has no one to exchange saliva with?" you asked at some point, hearing a scolding from your mother for the term used to refer to a couple.

"I ask the same, oldie,” he said with a mocking tone, while he crossed his arms "You'd better get a couple of cats”

"Shut up!" you laughed, hitting him gently.

“Don't you want to take her, Eddie? She doesn't eat much and doesn't snore at night, we can give her to you” said Jonathan. Contrary to what you expected, he laughed out loud and looked at you while he licked his lips, as if he was really considering it.

“What a pair of brothers I have” you complained, pretending to be hurt “El, you are the only one who will receive a gift from me this Christmas”

"Now, don't fight" warned your mother, with a smile, but knowing that things could get violent from one moment to another. It was better to intervene when you were still joking in a good way "Better clear the dishes so you can go to sleep, it's late"

"I can help you before I go," Eddie informed him, taking the plate from your mother's hand and taking the rest into a pile. He took care of that and Will followed him to put the cups and pizza boxes in the kitchen trash.

“Your boyfriend is a real gentleman”

"He is not my boyfriend!" you hissed in Jonathan's direction. It wasn't because you didn't like the idea, but because you didn't want him to have a reason to bother you.

“And you don't want him to be? He seems to be a good boy."

"Mom!" you complained now, smiling out of sheer nervousness. You liked Eddie, a lot, but it was different kissing him a couple of times than now your mom and brother were trying to match you.

“And think about it, if you become his girlfriend, he will also be Will's friend. You kill two birds with one stone” argued Jonathan. You didn't have time to answer him, because Eddie and your little brother were already in front of you again. They seemed to have had their own conversation and proof of this was the blush that appeared on the curly-haired boy's cheeks.

"I say goodbye, I was very pleased to meet you and I thank you for dinner"

“You can come anytime, we were glad to meet you too,” Joyce said kindly, hugging him to say goodbye. My God, your mom was doing her best to embarrass you or maybe she just wanted to secure her new son-in-law.

“See you, Will the Wise,” she said, now towards the aforementioned, while extending her fist to bump him “Goodbye, Jane. And my condolences”

"Why?"

"Because a girl like you has a boyfriend like this," he answered, hearing Mike blurt out a swear word and hearing you laugh. Even Eleven laughed at the joke "Hope I don't see you soon, Wheeler."

"I'll walk you to your van" you exclaimed with a smile. The two of you walked to the exit and then to where the van was parked, where Eddie turned to look at you.

“Here we say goodbye”

"Thank you very much for coming"

“Are you kidding? I had a great time. The pizza was delicious and your family is very nice” he said happily. The truth was that he had enjoyed everything, but what caused him the most happiness was having spent an entire afternoon with you. 

"Everyone liked you very much, especially Will," you confessed. Eddie giggled that didn't seem to be because of what you just said and it made you curious.

He wasn't going to tell you, but when Will walked him into the kitchen, he joked that he wouldn't like to become his brother-in-law and that hadn't left Eddie's mind ever since. I hadn't been in a serious relationship in a long time, and the warm reception from your family (even without knowing him) only confirmed that you were a pretty good fit.

"I guess I'll see you around"

"On Tuesday, don't forget" you smiled "I'll even treat you to whatever you want to drink, as a thank you"

“First of all, remember that this was to pay you a favor and I think I ended up owing you. And secondly, better reconsider that because I can drink like I'm a bottomless barrel when I put my mind to it” he warned you, making you laugh “What do you say we better have dinner together that day? French fries are okay,” he suggested. All your brain heard was 'date'.

"I'd love to"

"Cool," he smiled, trying not to look more excited than he should.

"Have a good trip, Eddie the Banished" you said gently, as you put a hand on his cheek "May the gods protect your path and arrive safely wherever you go"

"Does this mean a goodbye?"

"A see you later" you answered, while both of you laughed at the slip towards the interpretation of your characters. Then you noticed the short distance between you and the evident tension that had been installed, especially because you were holding his face and he had accommodated a hand on your waist.

You saw him lick his lips, another habit that you had begun to know about him, and you also felt his gaze diverting for just a second to your mouth. But that was enough for you to understand what was going through his mind.

“Can I?” he asked, knowing that you already knew what he meant. You didn't think the day would end like this, but you let him lean into you a little and brought your lips together in a gentle kiss. It was different from what you were used to, because the times you had kissed had been between smoke, sweat, and the influence of beer. But although it was different, you could get used to it.

One of your hands managed to get tangled in his hair and bring him closer to deepen the kiss just a few seconds before letting go.

“Come on, go home,” you said, not because you didn't want to kiss him but because you knew that you wouldn't be able to stop if he was still there. Eddie smiled and stole another kiss, shorter and louder, before pulling away and climbing into the driver's seat.

"We'll meet again, Y/N the beautiful," he murmured goodbye, starting the car and heading down the road in the dark.

When you returned to the house, with a huge smile and the most obvious blush of all, you noticed that Jonathan was taking five dollars out of his wallet to hand it to Will reluctantly.

"Why is that?" you asked confused. Eleven and Joyce shared an amused look that made you uneasy.

"We bet five dollars that you and Eddie would kiss"

"And I lost," Jonathan groaned. Your face only turned redder than it had already been upon arrival.

“You guys were spying!"

“I didn't see anything," your mother defended herself, but your three siblings roared with laughter and even Mike cracked a smile.

“We have to take care of our sister” Jonathan justified himself.

"Ugh, I can't wait for all of you to go to California again," you complained, flopping back against the couch and crossing your arms in a fake tantrum.

But honestly, you loved having your family in Hawkins.

TAG LIST: @sweetdayme4427

[reallyromealone]

I’m not sure if you’re doing requests but could you maybe do a fic where reader is trying to convince eddie to have another baby?

Yes my requests are open, it says so on my header lol

And I gotchu

X

(Name) wanted another pup.

Bad.

Not that he didn't love their beloved baby boy, he just didn't want him to not be lonely and having a brother close in age would be good!

They had the space, the current nursery was large enough come time to put in a bunk bed and the current crib turns into a toddler bed and Eddie had just opened a second store in Chicago and expanded the variety to include music and merch so it's not like money was an issue.

Currently (name) was making snacks for D&D night as (sons name) hung out in his circle walker watching (name) make enough food for an army and at the rate the others are he might as well be.

"Do you want to be a big brother duckie?" (Name) asked his son softly as the babe just bounced happily "we just gotta convince papa"

"Babe! I'm back!" Eddie yelled and brought in two cases of pop in hand "excellent, set the over there!" (Name) said as he walked over to Eddie and directed him to the coffee table "you really don't have to make all this baby" Eddie said sweetly as he set down the cases but (name) just stared at him with a blank expression "and have you vacuums eat all my secret snacks? Absolutely not"

Eddie just cackled at this and pulled his Omega close "Eddie I was thinking... I want another pup" (name) said softly as he fiddled with the collar of Eddie's leather jacket and looked up to meet his studded expression "...Eddie?" (Name) asked worried but before the brunet could reply rapid knocking came at the door signifying the party was there "we will talk about this after alright?" Eddie said earnestly and (name) nodded before quickly going back to the kitchen to go and grab the snacks and check on their pup.

Eddie wanted to go and grab his Omega and finish this conversation, he was shocked to say the least but answered the door anyways where the Gremlins were waiting impatiently "Jesus what were you doing? Finding Atlantis?" Mike grumbled as the teens came in along with Erica who threw Mikey an annoyed look before noticing (name) with (sons name) and perked up a bit and went into her bag and pulled out Rice crispies "my mom wanted me to give you these" she said simply, never mean to (name) like she was to the others in the sort of pack, she respected him to much for that.

"Thank you sweety" (name) said gently pinching her cheeks "I made sure to make those chocolate dragon cookies you like" (name) watched the young girl perk up at this and ran off to the kitchen "move!" She yelled to go grab them before the others got to them and honestly fair.

Eddie and (name) glanced at each other before (name) looked down in submission, worried Eddie was mad with him even though he knew it was dumb to think that but just a a a.

He wanted to talk about it now!

But he didn't need the ducklings input on this.

The party went and had their game but Eddie and (name) were both very much thinking about earlier as (name) cuddled his sleeping babe and just admired the spitting image that was Eddie with a few of his features and really hoped Eddie wanted to have another pup.

He was fine with just one but he did want another.

He wanted his little pup to have his own dusty.

When the session ended (name) had long brought their pup to bed, Eddie walking in to see his Omega in his nest "hey pretty" Eddie said softly infront of the nest as (name) sat up "hi alpha" (name) said with an equally soft tone "so wanna talk about earlier?" Eddie's voice soothed (name) who nodded "I want another pup"

"Yeah?"

"Yeah"

"Well we're gonna have to get another crib and wait till your next heat but...we can start practicing whenever baby"

(Name) perked up as he registered his words and ignoring his perverted comment "you want another pup?" He looked so happy and Eddie couldn't help but smile "of course, I want a whole pack with you baby" Eddie said teasingly and watched (name) practically burst into fireworks with how happy he was before pulling Eddie into his nest and cuddling him and Eddie just held him close.

They couldn't wait to expand the pack.

[thranduel]

they wanted mike and el to be together? fine.

they wanted them to have a relationship where they constantly lie and can't be themselves with each other? fine.

they wanted to introduce a storyline where they argue because mike can't say he loves her? fine.

they wanted mike to end up saying he loves her during a monologue? fine.

they could've easily done all of this WITHOUT involving will and messing with his feelings, but they didn't.

they could’ve avoided making will be in love with mike since the beginning, but they didn’t.

they could've given will a different love interest (and i mean a proper, well-developed character who was introduced a long time ago, not some random person in the last season that we barely know) and let him have at least one moment of peace and happiness while being in love, but they didn't.

they could've made mike and el sort out their own relationship problems themselves and actually communicate with each other properly and have a healthy relationship instead of constantly lying to each other, but they didn't.

they could’ve avoided using a gay child’s feelings and heartbreak to push another ship back together, but they didn’t.

they could’ve avoided including will in EVERY single mike and el scene (except their big fight in 4x03), but they didn’t.

they could've made it 100% clear that byler wasn’t happening instead of keeping it ambiguous with so many unanswered questions, hyping it up and teasing it, dragging it out and giving people hope, but they didn't. (and no, mike telling el he loved her doesn’t confirm that byler can’t happen. he lied throughout the entire monologue and only said it because of will’s confession and painting and because he was under pressure and trying to save her. will put a false image of el into mike’s head and convinced him that she needed him and that he doesn’t make her feel like a mistake, but we know that isn’t true. el literally told mike she felt like a monster because of him just a few episodes ago during their big fight when he couldn’t even tell her he loved her while she was crying. then she made the decision to leave him even though owens warned her she might not see him again. el doesn’t need mike, will does. will was talking about himself the entire time in that scene. that’s why mike needs to find out the painting and monologue was from will because it’ll change everything).

they've already done too much now and they can't just suddenly go back and say "haha so we just took advantage of a gay character’s suffering for extra drama and used his feelings for mike as a plot device and turned him into a couple's therapist for mike and el. but guess what? he's going to end up lonely and suffer again, like he does every season, instead of ending up happy with the boy he’s loved for most of his life". nope. absolutely not.

they chose to involve a young gay child who has been suffering his entire life after being abused, bullied, outcasted, excluded, kidnapped and possessed. they chose to make will be in love with mike from the very BEGINNING and then forced him to watch him start dating someone else right in front of him (and to make things worse, mike couldn't even remain a good friend to him?? he completely changed. he started excluding him and pushing him to the side because he can't even be himself with his own girlfriend. this isn't healthy or fair to anyone involved). then they chose to introduce will's love for mike directly in season 4 with will's car monologue, the painting and all the other scenes where they're staring at each other with heart eyes. noah has also confirmed will has been in love with mike since the beginning. it's not a little crush. he's not confused. will byers is gay and has been IN LOVE with mike wheeler since the beginning. he even told him that he will ALWAYS need him. they also chose to use will's painting and feelings for mike as a plot device to force mike into telling his own girlfriend he loves her because he couldn't even say it (or write it on paper) when she was crying and begging to hear it. there was no reason to do all of this unless it’s intentional and going to be brought up again.

if this doesn't end up with mike finding out the car monologue and painting was from will so that he ends up realising his own feelings for him AND we find out he was struggling with repressed feelings and internalised homophobia (which would explain his weird behaviour towards will, like not being able to hug him at the airport), then all of this would be so cruel and unnecessary. it would just be horrible writing too because mike has had no character development at all, constantly lies and contradicts himself and has been reduced to el’s boyfriend. it’s also disgusting if they used a gay character’s suffering and heartbreak for “extra drama” and to force another ship back together.

if they wanted mike and el to stay a couple, they should’ve never brought will into this.

[m-jelly]

Hellooo! I've been reading your works and I've been a fan every since! I want to try to ask for a request but I don't know how to start.

So I guess it kinda goes like this.

The reader is able to control and create ice and she was born with it (it's like a family thing). But then no one knows about it, even her boyfriend levi.

So when they went on an expedition, something went wrong and there were a lot of abnormal titans and they were outnumbered.

So basically she has no choice but to use her powers in order to save the rest of the scouts. While she's fighting the titans using her ability, the rest are just gaping at her, like they're just so shock including the rest of the veterans (mike is also there, he's not dead yet).

So like after that, they confront her about it but since a lot of the other soldiers saw her ability, they have no choice but to put her on trial and levi is just sad, angry, and betrayed that the reader hide it from him.

But in the end she gets to stay in the scouts as long as she use her ability for helping humanity. And she makes up to levi and it's just a happy ending.

Got it Anon. Gonna change it a bit with how Levi reacts. Also, this will all take part before Eren is revealed to be a shifter.

@kenkopanda-art wonderful banner

Melting

Pairing: Levi x Reader

Genre and tags: canon world, time before eren shifter storyline, ice abilities, romance, love, forgiveness, happy ending.

Concept: After shocking the scouts with your ice ability, you are put on trial. As you listen to people talk about how to dispose of you or kill you for days on end, you face your boyfriend in your cell. You and Levi talk about why you didn't tell him about what you can do. Levi shows you love and forgiveness quickly because he wants to understand. Erwin and Levi save you in the end by convincing the court you would help the scouts against the titans.

Trigger warning: Mentions of the reader being tortured, Levi saves you.

Levi stared at you from the docks as tears rolled down your cheeks, but you never made a sound. He eyed how your hands were encased in metal and chained to the floor behind you. He could see on the skin that he used to lovingly caress was raw from torture and punishment. His heart stung the most at signs of you being burned.

Your scream filled his ears. He closed his eyes and saw you stood on the grass with him and Erwin behind you. Titan's hands were reaching to take both men, but you appeared in front of them. You screamed no as your reached out. Ice shards had grown up and pierced through the titan's necks and taken all five of their heads off.

"Levi?"

Levi opened his eyes and looked up at his blonde Commander. "Tch, what?"

Erwin nodded to you. "They're moving her back to her cell again." He glanced down and studied Levi with his judgemental blue eyes. "You should talk to her."

"I tried before. The guards won't let me."

The Commander let out a long sigh. "Then make them. You have the right to talk to the woman you love." He leaned on the wooden railing and watched you get dragged away. "We all have secrets, Levi." He looked over at his strongest soldier. "We keep them to protect others. Please, keep that in mind."

Levi knew very well what his friend was talking about. He wasn't mad at you for not saying anything, he was more sad that you felt like you couldn't tell him. He could understand the reasoning behind why you wouldn't tell him. He just wished he could be someone you could trust enough with something like this.

"Sir?"

Levi blinked a few times and realised he'd walked down to the cells. "I'm here to see the prisoner who makes ice."

The guard shook his head. "Not possible. She's not allowed visitors."

Levi hummed in thought. "Right." He grabbed the guard's shirt and slammed then against the stone wall. "Tch, give me the cell key and the key to her chains, now."

"Y-Yes, sir! P-Please don't hurt me!"

He dropped the lad and yanked the keys from him once they were offered. He stormed down the hall as his nose wrinkled at the damp smell in the air. He ignored the begs of prisoners as he went. His heart thumped in his chest with each step more questions and worries popped into his mind. He felt his darkness creep up on him and wrapped its arms tightly over him. He felt shrouded in a suffocating blackness.

He paused a moment when heard you whimper and gasp in pain. He raced down to you and felt his stomach drop when he saw how they were treating you. You had your arms chained up above you and your ankles chained, but your ankle ones were short so you were at a 45-degree angle over a fire.

Levi unlocked your cell quickly. He took his jacket off and used it to drag the pit away from you and to the corner of the room. He called your name as you cried. "I've got you. I've got you."

You shook as Levi walked behind you and unlocked your ankles. "Stop, Levi. Stop. I deserve this. I'm a freak."

He ran in front of you and dragged a stool over. He stood up and unlocked your hands. "Don't say that."

You sniffed a little. "I hurt you. I hurt everyone around me."

Levi caught you before you collapsed. "Tch, shut up. Don't say that shit." He climbed down off the stool and carried you to your bed. "Fuck, what have they been doing to you?"

You were conflicted as you lay in Levi's arms. You wanted to pull away and curl up into a ball, but at the same time, you wanted to stay in your lover's arms. "It's what I deserve. I lied."

"Why did you lie?" He frowned a little. "Why didn't you tell me?"

You pulled from Levi's arms and sat up. "Would you have believed me?" You looked at him. "Even if you did, you knowing would put you in danger." You winced at the burns on your skin. "You'd be in that cell next door to me."

"At least I'd be next to you."

You smiled at him as tears rolled down your cheeks. "I know, but sometimes people do things with the best intentions. Love was behind all my actions. I didn't want you in another cell, I didn't want to put you at risk." You sniffed. "Like you want me to leave the scouts for my safety. You fear me being eaten by titans, so you wanted me to leave the scouts."

He furrowed his brows when he reflected on the little fights you both had over you leaving and staying. "An act of love."

You put your hands out with your palms up. You smiled softly as ice danced up and formed a small ice Levi. "I did what I thought was best for you. I didn't tell you to protect you. You would have been charged with treason. The scouts would have lost you as a soldier." You smiled when you rained down heart-shaped snowflakes on the little Levi. "Or worse, you could have been executed." You shook a little as you thought about Levi's death causing the ice Levi to disappear. "The world needs you." You hung your head and choked your words out. "It doesn't need me."

Levi's voice almost broke when he spoke. "I need you." He angled his body towards you as you turned and looked him in his eyes where tears formed. "I'll always need you."

You laughed a little through your tears. "Don't say that, please don't."

He leaned over and kissed you. "I will never stop loving you."

"I lied."

He hummed. "I know, but you did it to protect me. I was...upset at first, but we all keep secrets to protect the people we love."

You frowned a little. "You have secrets?"

He rubbed the back of his neck. "Tch, yeah. Mine is umm...I have touched myself while thinking of you before we were a couple and I have after."

You gasped at the information before laughing. "I've done the same about you."

He shuffled closer to you. "I told you I was from the underground city, but I never told you fully what I did. I was a terrible criminal there. I broke people and probably killed some with the injuries I gave them. I was a very bad boy."

You sniffed and laughed a little. "You know, I'm not surprised." You shook a little and hugged yourself. "I don't want to die."

Levi pulled you onto his lap and held you. "I won't let that happen. I'll do everything I can to protect you and I know Erwin will do the same."

"I will." You both looked up at Commander Erwin Smith with a jug and cup in hand. He smiled a little. "I thought you would need some water."

You reached towards Erwin. "Thank you."

He walked into your cell and poured you a drink. "Here." He placed the jug down and sat on the stool Levi had used to stand on. "Do you want to kill us?"

You shook your head. "No, never!"

He leaned his arms on his thighs. "Were you experimented on?"

"No, I was born with this. It is passed down in my family."

He let out a long sigh. "Would you be willing to be a prisoner of the scouts and help us kill titans?"

You nodded. "Yes."

Levi moved you behind him and protected you. "Wait a minute. She is not going to be turned into some slave. She is the love of my life."

You held Levi's arm. "Levi."

He turned to you. "I don't want this. I want you to be happy and free."

"I knew the moment I revealed my powers that I'd never be free again." You squeezed his arm. "I'm okay with it because even if I'm chained up at the scout base, I'd still be able to see you every single day." You looked over at Erwin. "I'll do anything."

Erwin stood up and opened the cell door and looked at someone. "I told you she would work with us."

Darius Zackly stepped out and stared at you. "You've made your point. I expect Levi to be her keeper as well, seeing as she will do anything for him."

Levi stood up. "I swear."

"Good." He smiled at you. "I do hope you help us all because if you don't..."

You bowed your head. "I understand."

"She's all yours and make sure you keep her in a base away from the towns and cities, I don't want fear being spread."

Erwin saluted. "Thank you, sir."

Levi picked you up like a bride. "Come on, let's get you home and tended to." He carried you through the cells and up out to the carriage waiting. He sat down to see you were asleep. "I want Hange to look at her. She needs healing. She's been burned while in her cell."

Erwin sat back in his seat. "We'll get it done."

"Are you really going to treat her like a monster?"

Erwin gazed at you. "I've known her just as long as you have. I know her. She's a good person and she hates the titans just as much as we do. She's a scout and always will be a scout."

"Thank you."

Erwin smiled at his friend. "If I treated her badly, I know you'd run off with her and I'd never see either of you again. I'd rather not lose my two friends who are the strongest soldiers I have and my best hope at beating the titans."

Levi squeezed you. "Thank you." He kissed the top of your head. "Thank you." He smiled when you snuggled against him.

[watchtheworld-burn]

WILL BYERS

Obsessive and possessive! Will Byers x Male! Reader

Stranger Things

Genre: Thriller

Pronouns: He/Him

Status: Series

Warning: Cursing, Character are little OOC, Homophobia, violence, spoilers.

Author's note: .......

EPISODE 4: THE BODY

Mike was looking at the drawings that Will gave him, he was upset that Will died. He then heard El messing with his walkie talkie. He stop looking and looked at her. "Can you please stop that?" Mike told El, obviously annoyed at her. He then continued to look at the drawings again but it seemed like El didn't listen and continued on what she was doing.

"Are you deaf?" Mike yelled at her. "I thought we were friends, you know?" He exclaimed and El looked at Mike. "But friends tell each other the truth. And they definitely don’t lie to each other." He told her. "You made me think Will was okay, that he was still out there,

but he wasn’t. He wasn’t! You know, Will is a very important person to M/N. He believed you when you said he was alive. Imagine how upset he was when he learned that Will died!" He said.

"Maybe you thought you were helping, but you weren’t.

You hurt me and M/N. Do you understand?" Mike said. "What you did sucks. Lucas was right about you. All along." He said. Then he heard a static then he heard someone. Someone very familiar. "♪ So come on and let me know ♪" Will sang. It was the song M/N and Will loved.

"♪ Should I stay or should I go? ♪

♪ Should I stay or should I go now? ♪" Will sang. Mike ran to El and she gave him the Walkie talkie.

"♪ Should I stay or should I go now? ♪

♪ If I go there will be trouble ♪

♪ If I stay it will be double ♪" Will sang. "Will, is that you? It’s Mike! Do you copy? Over." Mike exclaimed but it seems like Will couldn't hear him. "Will, are you there?" Mike asked. "Will!" He repeated but he was met with a static.

"Was that... Was it..." Mike asked her.

"Will." El replied.

WITH YOU

You were sitting on your bed looking at the picture of you five. It was a picture of you guys at the amusement park, there was various pictures of it. You remembered that Will's mother didn't agree on going there because it was expensive if there were too many people.

You begged her to join, you even told her that you will pay for the three of them. [Joyce, Will, and Jonathan.] But it didn't work so your mother convinced her to join and told her not to worry about the money. When she said yes, you remember how happy you and Will were.

Despite having a lot of pictures of you guys in the amusement park there was one special picture. It was you and Will giving each other the prizes you two one and you bragged to Lucas, Dustin, and Mike about the prize Will gave you. You looked at Will, the way he looked at you was weird. He seemed lovestruck.

You sighed and placed the picture back. You should sleep that was until you heard something. Someone was singing. You were the only one home. You followed where the sound came from, it came from your walkie talkie.

"♪ So come on and let me know ♪ ♪ Should I stay or should I go? ♪" You heard Will sing the song you two liked. You almost teared up. "Will..?" You said softly. "♪ Should I stay or should I go now? ♪ ♪ Should I stay or should I go now? ♪ ♪ If I go there will be trouble ♪ ♪ If I stay it will be double ♪" You didn't even bother trying to talk to him. You know he wouldn't hear you anyway. You took the walkie talkie and placed it on your desk beside your bed. It was better this way, you slept and tried to dream about Will.

You were now in your dream, you walked around the place you were in. It looked like your world but it was cold and dark. There were also no people, and no sight of Will. It was like the Vale of Shadows. The Vale of Shadows is a dimension that is a dark reflection, or echo, of our world. It is a place of decay and death, a plane out of phase, a place of monsters. It is right next to you and you do not even see it.

By the way, do you know the famous quote, "Dreams have meanings."? Well all your dreams have meanings but yours was very straightforward. So what did your dream mean? You don't know. But suddenly..

You woke up. You got out your dream journal and wrote, "Vale of shadows world. 11/9/83 12:00 am." You went to sleep again.

LATER IN THE MORNING

Mike told his mom that he was sick and that he didn't want to go to school. Thankfully Karen was okay with him not going to school since Will was announced dead.

After Karen left the room, Mike immediately sat up and took his walkie talkie and called Lucas. "Lucas, do you copy? Mike asked Lucas. "Lucas, come on, I know you’re there!" Mike continued.

"This is urgent. I’m serious." Mike said. "I’m not gonna stop until you answer." He threatened. "Lucas." he said. "Lucas!" he repeated. "Lucas, Lucas, Lucas, Lucas, Lucas...Lucas, Lucas, Lucas, Lucas, Lucas, Lucas, Lucas—" He kept repeating his name so that the boy will answer.

"Go away, Mike. I’m not in the mood, all right? Over and out." Lucas said, finally answering Mike. "No, not “out.” I’m not messing around, okay? This is about Will. Over." He said.

"What about Will? You mean about his funeral? Over." Lucas said. "No, not his funeral." Mike said. "Screw his funeral!" Mike continued.

"What?" Lucas said, confused. "Just get over here stat. And bring Dustin. Over and out." Mike said.

LATER IN HIS HOUSE

You four were sitting right in front of El, looking and waiting for what she was about to do. "We keep losing the signal, but you heard it, right?" Mike asked us.

"Yeah, I heard a baby." Lucas replied. "What?" Mike said. "Mike, you obviously tapped into a baby monitor. It’s probably the Blackburns’ next door." Lucas reasoned.

"Uh, did that sound like a baby to you?" Mike asked him. "That was Will!" he yelled. Lucas rolled his eyes. "Mike..." He said. "Lucas, you don’t understand. He spoke last night. Words!" he told Lucas.

"He was singing that weird song he and M/N loves. Even El heard him!" Mike explained. "Oh, well, if the weirdo heard him, then I guess—" After Lucas said that he earned a nudge from you.

"Are you sure you’re on the right channel?" Dustin asked him. "I don’t think it’s about that. I think, somehow, she’s channeling him." You answered Dustin. "Like... like Professor X." Dustin said. "Yeah." Mike said.

"Are you actually believing this crap?" Lucas asked you. "Do you remember when Will fell off his bike and broke his finger? He sounded a lot like that." You told him.

"Did you guys not see what I saw? They pulled Will’s body out of the water. He’s dead!" Lucas yelled. "Well, maybe it’s his ghost. Maybe he’s haunting us." Dustin said. "Why would he even haunt us?" You asked Dustin. "He's probably haunting us so he can have you all to himself." Dustin said and you rolled your eyes.

"It’s not his ghost." Mike said. "So how do you know that?" Lucas asked him, getting pissed. "I just do!" Mike said. "Then what was in that water?" Lucas yelled.

"I don’t know! All I know is Will is alive. Will is alive! He’s out there somewhere. All we have to do is find him." Mike said and Dustin and Lucas looked at him weirdly. It also seemed like El had a hard time channeling Will.

"This isn’t gonna work. We need to get El to a stronger radio." Mike said. "Mr. Clarke’s Heathkit ham shack." You suggested. Mike smiled and nodded. "The Heathkit’s at school. There is no way we’re gonna get the weirdo in there without anyone noticing. I mean... look at her." Lucas said and you all looked at El.

You guys then went to Nancy's room to dress her up and you, Lucas, and Dustin chose what El should wear while Mike made her wear make up. Lucas chose a cute pink dress, Dustin chose a blond wig, You chose a bow and bracelets to make her look feminine.

After she was done dressing up she looked beautiful. "Wow." Dustin said. "She looks-" Dustin got cut off by Mike. "Pretty." he finished Dustin's sentence. And El smiled. "Good." he continued and Lucas gave him a weird look while you smirked at Mike. "You look pretty good." Mike said.

El walked to the mirror to see herself. "Pretty." She whispered to herself. "Good." She continued.

Then you guys biked to the school and walked to the AV room. "Okay, remember, if anyone sees us, look sad." Mike said. Then you, Lucas, and Dustin taught Eleven how to look sad while walking to the AV room. Mike tried to open the door.

"It's locked." Mike said. "What?" Lucas said and tried to open the door. "Hey, do you think you can open it with your powers?" Dustin asked El. Then Mr. Clarke appeared. "Boys?" He said. "Assembly's about to start." Mr. Clarke said. "We know. We're just, you know.." Mike said.

"Upset." Lucas said while smiling but immediately started looking sad. "Yeah, we're definitely upset." Dustin said while Stammering.

"We need some alone time." Mike said. "To cry." Dustin continued. "Listen, I get it, I do. I know how hard this is, but let's just be there for Will, huh?" Mr. Clarke said. You guys nodded and Mr. Clarke gave you the keys. "The heathkit is all yours for the rest of the day." He said.

"What do you say?" He said and you all smiled at him. Mr. Clarke then turned to El. "I don't believe we've met. What's your name?" Mr. Clarke asked El. "Eleven-" El got cut off by you. "Eleanor! She's my cousin." You lied. "Second Cousin." Dustin said. You sighed. "She's here for Will's funeral." You lied.

"Ah, well, welcome to Hawkins Middle, Eleanor. I wish you were here under better circumstances." Clarke said. "Thank you." El said. "Uh, where are you from exactly?" Clarke asked. "Bad place-" El got cut off again.

"Sweden." Dustin said. "I have a lot of Swedish Family." You lied. "She hates it there, because it's cold." You lied again. "Subzero." Dustin said. "Shall we?" Clarke asked. "Yep." Lucas said.

"Will Byers’ death is an unimaginable tragedy. Will was an exceptional student and a wonderful friend to all of us. It’s impossible to express the hole his loss will leave in our community. I’d like to introduce you to Sandy Sloane. She’s a local grief counselor from the church over in Jonesboro. But before she comes up here, I just want those of you who are having trouble dealing with this tragic loss..." The principal said his speech. "Look at these fakers. They probably didn’t even know his name till today." You said. You then heard Megatron laughing with his minion, Hal wannabe.

"Who is interested in this? This is so stupid. Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah..." Megatron said. You felt your eye twitching. You wanted to kill him and make fun of him dying. If murder wasn't a crime you be on a killing spree today. "Oh, he was such a great student. Oh, he’s going to leave a hole in the community." He mocked.

Your knife was finally going to be useful, but you had to calm yourself. For Will. "Mouth breather." El said. After the Assembly was done you walked to him and pushed his shoulder. "You think this is fucking funny Troy?" You yelled at him. "What did you say, L/N?" He said.

"I saw you guys laughing over there and that's a fucking messed up thing to do." You said. "Didn’t you listen to the counselor, L/N?

Grief shows itself in funny ways." Hal wannabe said. 'This fucking bitch-' " Besides, what’s there to be sad about, anyway? Will’s in fairyland now, right? Flying around with all the other little fairies.

All happy and gay!" He said and then mimicked fairies. You then punched him in the face real hard. Which made everyone in the room gasp.

Troy grunts and looks at you. "You’re dead, L/N! Dead!" He yelled just as before he was about to fight you he stopped. Then you saw something going down his pants. It was pee. "Dude! Troy peed himself!" Someone blonde said then everyone pointed at Troy and laughed at him. You then looked at El who smiled at you and wiped her nose and walked away. You smiled at her and walked by her side.

Then the principal noticed what happened. "Hey what's going on here!" He yelled. You took Dustin's, Lucas's, And Mike's wrist and ran away with El beside you.

You guys then went to the AV room. "Now what?" Dustin asked. "She'll find him." Mike said. "Right, El?" Mike said and El nodded. then the power went out. "Mom?" You heard Will on the radio say.

"No way!" Dustin said.

"Mom.."

"Please..."

You guys then tried talking to him but he didn't hear you.

"Mom...

Mom, it’s coming!"

"It’s like home, but it’s so dark...

It’s so dark and empty. And it’s cold!

Mom? Mom!" After Will said that you finally connected the dots. So that's what your dream meant. But how will you get there?

You guys then heard a monster screech and you heard someone running, who is probably Will.

Then a fire appeared, the fire alarm rang and Dustin got the fire extinguisher and used it. El fainted and you guys made her lay on a cart-like thing. [I don't know what it's called but if you know please tell me.]

Meanwhile with Hopper.

He took where 'Will's body' was supposed to be and cut it. But he was met with cotton.

THE END OF EPISODE 4: THE BODY

[rainbownixie]

could you write a short little scene on how you think mike is gonna react when el tells him the painting isn’t from her (if you don’t write that’s fine)

I LOVE THIS I LOVE THIS I LOVE THIS!!!! i've been thinking about this scene the whole day THANKS! and i'm in the middle of a writer's block so maybe this helps!!! <333

i tried to make it shorter than it actually turned out to be! i've been a writer for years i can't help myself sorry pffft and it's more fanfic-like than actually what i truly think is going to happen btw (it's more or less the same tho)

(I see Mike wanting to talk things out with El and maybe try and save their relationship, but then she tells him they aren't meant to be and that it's fine that he doesn't love her that way. Of course, he tries to convince her otherwise but she insists on them not being together anymore. Then Mike brings out the painting! Idk where they are tbh please imagine them in El's bed in Hopper's cabin or something idk)

Mike stares at the floor, trying to find something to say. Something to make her stay. "But..." Then he remembers and turns his head around, shaking his hands with anticipation. "What about the painting?" Mike asks, leaning closer to her and expecting that those few words will be able to make her change her mind.

She looks at him in confusion, frowning and slightly shaking her head. "What..." El stops for a moment, as if she's trying to remember something. Maybe she has forgotten. But she clearly knows nothing about it. "What painting?"

That question makes Mike laugh. Chuckle. Because it's a joke. It has to be a joke, right? "The painting you asked Will to make?" But she still doesn't quite get it, and Mike feels his heart sink in fear. It doesn't make sense. It really doesn't.

"I told you." She starts, with a soft but firm voice. "Will didn't let me see what he was working on." Mike studies her face, trying to look for something —anything— that can confirm she's lying. Because it can't be true. "I didn't even know it was for you until he brought it to the airport." If it's true, then Mike doesn't know what to do now. What is be supposed to do?

He looks down, recalling the whole moment in his head. The painting. Will. Will's words. The way in which his own face dropped the second Will told him the painting wasn't his idea... But what Mike remembers perfectly is how his heart started beating out of his chest when Will showed him his creation for the first time. And Mike wasn't happy because of how beautiful the painting is and how much he had missed Will's art. Mike was happy about it because it was from Will, to him.

Mike now recognizes that feeling from all those times seeing Will smile or speak. Even from only being close to him. Mike knows that feeling. His heart beating rapidly and his smile suddenly appearing without him even noticing. It's a force of habit, really. Feeling like that whenever Will does something. Anything. Just like gifting him a whole painting.

But it isn't the same, because now he has something to compare the feeling to. Mike couldn't see the difference between the ways El and Will make him feel, because he gets to kiss one but with the other he only gets to stare from a safe distance. However, he now realizes how good receiving a gift like that from Will felt —as if he was the most important person in the world— and how disappointed he got when he heard El's name coming from him.

It's not that the only thing that makes his breathing falter, though. He's always known he feels something stronger for Will. Something that can't be referred to being 'best friends' the way he is with Lucas and Dustin. Mike remembers the speech, and he can't believe Will needs him that way. He can't believe that there's a possibility of Will thinking all that stuff about himself and Mike.

He can't believe that Will thinks he's a mistake, because for Mike he's always been the best thing he's ever done.

And he feels like an idiot. He feels dumb and stupid for not seeing it before. For not noticing. For not being brave enough to act upon he's urges. The ones that tell him to hold Will's hand or kiss him. The ones that he always has to push away, because that's how he should feel about his girlfriend and not about his best friend. A guy. Will Byers.

El stares at him in silence, cautiously waiting for him to explain himself. Mike's aware that he's been quiet for too long, but he doesn't really care. He needs to fix this. And he doesn't even mean his relationship with Will. He wants to fix the way Will sees himself. He wants to make him feel like he can talk to him without lying. Without needing to use Mike's girlfriend's name to confess.

Mike realizes, then, that that's probably because of him. And he hates himself for that. It's probably his fault the fact that Will needs to hide, and he hates it. They used to be best friends, right? Even if the term doesn't really suit them because for Mike they're more than that, they are best friends.

And of course he's glad Will feels something stronger for him, but he can't focus on that now. Not when Will is out there, thinking he needs to push him away because then everything will hurt way less. Mike doesn't want it to hurt. Mike doesn't want to hurt Will. Not anymore.

And so he turns his head around to El, and she's staring at him with her worried and confused face that always makes him feel small and vulnerable. He hates feeling like that. "I- Um-" Mike stutters, not even being able to look her straight in the eyes. He doesn't have time. "I need to go. I-" He sighs defeatedly. "I'm sorry."

And somehow she understands. El always understands. "It's okay." She smiles without asking further. Mike does the same, glad that she doesn't want him to explain himself because he wouldn't know how to.

He quickly gets out of the room, knowing exactly where to go but not knowing what to say. Acting before actually thinking has always been his thing, after all. He stopped doing that with Will a few years ago, scared of what would happen if he actually let himself love Will the way he wants.

But now Mike doesn't want to think, he wants to fix everything. He wants to love Will. He wants to let him know he isn't a mistake and that his drawings and paintings are the second best thing Mike has ever gotten from that day in the swings. Because, of course, the first one is Will. It's always been Will.

[freddiekluger]

i love the "mike seeing the ghosts" idea SO much in general, so i've interspersed the main cap headcanon with some ones for the other ghosts- i love mike sm so thanks for requesting!!!

it started as a tickle in his throat, but come evening mike comes down with a serious chest infection. alison drives him to the doctor's in time to grab some antibiotics, but they've got a function at button house this week so for the most part alison has to keep her distance- can't afford for both of them to get sick, especially considering how many repairs, decorations, and vendor meetings still need to be sorted. mike pops a couple tablets before passing out.

the next morning, alison has to go out to run some errands, so mike finds himself stumbling to the kitchen for breakfast the next day. julian's already there, doing his trademark lunges while listening to the horse racing (it's become his ritual whenever the races are on- he's insufferable otherwise, so alison lets him keep the radio). they share a nod, and it's not until after mike sits down with his cereal that he realises he's just nodded at a dead politician with his balls out. between that and the phlegm in his chest, it was a rough start to the day to say the least.

after he gets over the whole "ohmygodicanseedeadpeopleholyshit" (and at least one reenactment of the hospital scene from the sixth sense), along with greeting the various ghosts he encounters on his way back to bed, via the loo (both him and mary got quite a shock when she "peeked on him at privy"), mike collapses onto the bed.

a pillow over his head, mike lets out a few substantial groans before hearing a cough that, surprisingly, doesn't come from him. he slides his head out from under the pillow and sits up to see a greying, slightly awkward figure in period military dress standing in the doorway. he assumes this must be the captain.

captain:

mike: hi?

captain: oh, hello. i was just on my way back from my morning run* and mary mentioned that you can, well, see us now.

mike: yep. [coughs] that's pretty much the deal. not sure why though

captain: oh that'll be the antibiotics you've got there. strong stuff, eh? anyways, i thought i'd stop by and say hello. hello

mike: hi. i would say nice to meet you, but [a coughing fit ensues]

captain: ahem, quite

[silence]

mike, holding up a video game casing: well, i was just gonna play this, if you don't mind?

*this is technically true. the captain is indeed, on the way back from his morning run, except his morning run finished half an hour ago, and he's been waiting for the right time to introduce himself to mike. unlike thomas, he doesn't expect anything to lead anywhere, but that doesn't stop him from wanting to be alone with the rather handsome buffoon.

mike's holding one of those war themed combat games, the kind with a vague plot but mostly battles and button mashing. the captain's temporarily distracted from staring at mikes arms, and starts quizzing him about the game itself. by the time the loading screen is done, mike's already gotten the impression that the captain doesn't want to leave for a few different reasons, and it's not like you have a WW2 army captain of hand to help you work out strategy every day, so they pretty quickly end up teaming up- long gone are mike's days of button mashing (or, mostly long gone. "sometimes it works!"). the only condition was that the captain had to stop calling mike 'michael'- mike said it reminded him of his grandad too much.

- the game has moments where your character can romance any of the other characters, regardless of gender- mike's a dirty player, the captain gets rather awkward when mike decided the best way to achieve his immediate goal is to seduce all relevant characters into giving up troop information, and mike would be lying if he didn't find it at least a little bit entertaining to watch

- in between levels, and when waiting for lives to replenish, mike asks cap about his time in the war, and the captain loves having someone to listen to all his stories (even if most of them are second hand). he keeps having to remind himself not to stare, because mike can actually notice his eyes wandering, but of course that just makes him even more aware of it and the cycle of awkward noises and obviously-not-looking continues. alison has let slip to mike that the captain is likely a bit of a bender, and is relatively flattered by the possibility of cap liking HIM (not to mention not wanting to accidentally send him into a toxic 40s shame spiral), so mike just keeps the friendly conversation going to keep cap feeling comfortable. the captain's crush migrates to the left, and by day four or five him and mike really are friends more than anything else- if there's one thing the captain couldn't stand, it would be turning into one thomas thorne, although he still gets a few butterflies when mike compliments his strategy after a tough level. (it's not every day you have the attention of a handsome man who thinks you're a genius- especially when you're dead)

- it warms alison's heart to see the captain having the closest thing to fun he's had since they arrived, and the whole ghost set up works well for her and mike- mike needs the company, and alison can't afford to get sick or fall behind on jobs

- kitty loves mike (not romantically, she just thinks he's neat!), and eventually joins him and cap for their video games. cap was dismissive of her at first (one part possessiveness over mike's time, one part disbelief that kitty could be a good player), but kitty ends up rivalling him when it comes to strategy. after one too many nights locked outside and having to break back in to her own home, she's become an expert at espionage (even if she won't admit her experience was anything other than a fun childhood game.) with cap and kitty helping him out, mike makes more progress in a single day than he had in a week of gameplay. not to mention, kitty could really use the confidence boost from mike's compliments which he gives to both of his gaming partners frequently, although he draws the line at kitty's georgian cough remedies

extras:

- fanny ignores him as overcompensation for Redding Weddy. well, i say ignore, but she's somehow always the first one to volunteer when alison asks one of the ghosts to check on him

- mike considers going down to the cellar to get a look at the plague ghosts. mike heads to the door. mike remembers the sheer amount of skeletons when they dug up the plague pit. mike pulls his blanket tighter around his shoulders and heads away from the door.

- obviously, thomas avoids mike wherever possible. mike barely even knows what thomas's voice sounds like by the time things go back to normal

- mike feels bad for humphrey, and keeps trying to pick his head up and place it amongst the action before remembering he can't actually touch him. he also feels bad for screaming everytime he sees humphrey's body stumbling around. it was in the bathroom one night, and let's just say it was lucky there was a toilet nearby.

- pat invites himself to watch mike, kitty, and the captain as they tackle the final levels together, on the proviso that he doesn't make a sound. pat's rubbish at tactical planning, even if he can plan a mean scouts activity, but he's just happy to watch. it's nice to see the cap really having some fun, and see kitty included. it'll be sad for everyone once mike finishes his course of antibiotics

- thing eventually do go back to normal, and the captain misses mike's company far more than he thought he would. mike's still around, but not being able to properly talk to him is tough, and the captain realised that he was maybe more fond of mike than he convinced himself (mike will still make a thomas thorne out of him yet). mike strangely misses the funny soldier, and the georgian 'battlemistress' (kitty chose the title herself), and alison finds herself constantly passing messages between them. they're currently testing out all the ghost-communication equipment under the sun (within a reasonable price range) to see if they can find a better solution

thanks sm for this one, and so sorry for the delay! i've been battling with hardcore brain fog, so it's been difficult to create totally new stuff with words- hope this was up to scratch

[jjmaybanksbaby]

enamel pins, school dances and summer movie nights

or: alternatively, i hate everybody but you

pairing: kiara carrera x rafe cameron (platonic)

warning: cursing, underage drinking, some fighting, rafe cameron being sappy because that deserves a tw of its own

word count: 7.2k words

MASTERLIST

"I’m so glad that they’re still doing this. Keep calm. Carry on," Kiara said to the boys as she stuffed the change from their tickets back into her wallet.

It would have been an understatement to say that JJ and Pope hadn’t been eager to attend the outdoor movie night hosted by the Island Club. In fact, they'd spend thirty minutes listing all the things they would rather do when Kiara proposed the idea. She'd let them grumble about going for the better part of an hour since she knew there was no way the pogues would let her go to something on Figure Eight alone. Pogues always had each other's backs, always. Kiara figured the least she could do was pay their entry fee. Plus, she knew JJ and Pope didn't exactly have extra cash laying around for movie nights.

She would have dragged all three of the boys with her but John B hadn't been back to the chateau all day. Since the cell towers were still down thanks to the hurricane, she could only guess where he was.

"Welcome to the summer movie series. All proceeds go to...." The announcer's voice boomed over the loudspeakers as Kiara lead the boys to an empty space in the middle of the crowd.

"Back to OBX life. You know? Aren’t you guys glad that I made you come?" She really didn't have to ask, she was already sure of their answer.

"Ecstatic," Pope responded, his tone clearly lacking enthusiasm.

"My couch was pretty comfy, I’ll be honest," JJ echoed.

"We’re out of the green zone, man," Pope leaned over, commenting to JJ, out of earshot of Kiara. She didn't know about Topper's boat and Pope wasn't really interesting in bringing her in as another accessory to the crime.

"Dude, tranquilo, okay?" JJ whispered back.

"We're in the middle of Kooklandia. This is the last place I wanted to be."

"Shut up, Pope," JJ snapped, his wide eyes with warning. This was Kiara's thing, they weren't gonna let the Shakespearesque fued between Kooks and Pogues ruin her fun.

-

"Hey, uh…can I get two Pepsis, pleases?" Kiara asked the employee currently manning the snack bar.

"Sure," he replied.

Kiara slide the money for the sodas across the counter and took the cold drinks, watching Rafe slowly approaching from out of the corner of her eye.

"Hey, Kie," Rafe said. Kie felt her pulse spike at a nickname he'd originally given her. "Hey, what’s up? How are you?"

"I’m fine," she replied, intentionally angling her body away from him, her gaze resting anywhere but on him. For someone whose presence she uses to be able to relax in, now the sight of Rafe put her on edge.

"Good, good. Um...Tell your boy that we know what he did." Rafe held her stare and Kiara couldn't stop her lip from curling up in contempt.

"Sorry, what boy are you talking about?"

"Uh, he’ll know." Rafe smiled as if this conversation was bringing him some wicked sense of pleasure.

Rafe opened his mouth as to say something else but Kiara turned away from him. "Bye," he called to her as she walked away.

"Douche," Kiara said, loud enough that she was sure he would still hear her. She threw a glance over her shoulder, feeling Rafe's eyes still watching her.

-

Kiara handed Pope a Pepsi. "Just saw Rafe, and he said, and I quote, 'Tell your boy that we know what he did.' What is that?" She finished, handing JJ the second soda.

"Um...Where is he?" JJ asked back.

"Right there." Pope and JJ's heads turned around to look with her.

"Great the whole death squad," Pope said.

JJ grabbed the top of Pope's head, knocking his snapback off as he forced it forward. "Don’t stare, bro," JJ paused. "Just warning you, bro. If they corner me, I’m coming out swinging, okay?"

"Yeah, yeah," Pope agreed.

"Slice and dicin’. I’m on edge right now, okay? If that doesn’t work, I got this right here." JJ held up his worn backpack.

Fucking hell, Kiara thought. He brought the gun.

"Yeah, yeah. So, we just gotta stay in the group. They can’t come get us if we’re in the group," Pope remarked.

"Like a school of fish.”

"Stay in the school. Can’t leave the school. Stay in school," Pope repeated to himself.

"I’m sorry JJ…" Kiara interrupted. "Please tell me that you did not bring a gun here. JJ, there are kids."

"No Kie! I didn’t bring the gun. Everything’s fine, okay?" JJ assured, his frantic tone betraying him.

"Oh wow, thank you. That’s really convincing. I love that JJ." Kiara looked from JJ to Pope, trying to assess what kind of trouble they’d caused now. "Founding principle, you guys. No secrets amongst Pogues. What is Rafe talking about?"

Pope leaned it, bringing his face closer to Kiara's. "Kie, it might go down tonight."

"What does that mean?" Their vagueness was making Kiara extra suspicious. "'Might go down tonight.' What did y’all do?"

The boys look at each other, neither of supplying any answers to Kiara's questioning.

"Deny, deny, deny," JJ said quietly to Pope under his breath.

The opening score of The Addams Family cracked through the weathered speakers forcing an end to the conversation. A memory popped into Kiara’s head before she had time to stop it. This was Sarah Cameron’s favorite movie. Sarah used to mouth the lines along with the actors every time they watched it together.

There were a lot of glamorous parts of being best friends with the Kook-queen Sarah Cameron. When they walked down the shiny hallways of the Kook Academy literally arm-in-arm peoples' heads turned and watched them go by. All the mean girls with their once snarky remarks were suddenly complimenting Kiara's "unique style," begging her to tell them where she bought her clothes. (In truth, most of it was actaully thrifted since that was much more eco-friendly.) Plus there was the way Sarah swiped her Daddy's black card without a second thought. Kiara’s family lived on Figure Eight, they were a part of the Island Club but they would never have the kind of east coast old money the Cameron's had.

It wasn’t something Kiara usually minded. The whole money thing. Kiara never saw herself as less than because she didn’t wear a watch that cost as much as college tuition on her wrist. But it was more than that: Kiara never really saw herself as much of a Kook to begin. She didn’t want that lifestyle. She never had. It was her parents who pushed it on her. Her mom had grown up under the crystal chandeliers and ever-watchful eyes. She’d debuted into Outer Banks high society at the age of seventeen like every Kook at that age still did. An action which Kiara scoffed at. Her mom was fully prepared to be another success story of the ring-before-spring pipeline, returning to the Outer Banks after four years of college with an MRS degree and a husband who would be balding by his early forties.

But in a Hollywood-worthy meet-cute that involved one drunk sorority girl and her vodka-induced need for pancakes, Mike Carrera stumbled into Anna's life.

Mike Carrera was the opposite of Anna in every way that counted. His whole life had been hard work and grit, fighting for the things that were rightfully his and taking them when people still refused to hand them over. He had a pipe dream of owning his own restaurant, a borderline fantasy that he was dead-set on making sure came true. Anna loved him and he loved her right back. They eloped to Vegas the week after graduation even though own Anna’s mother was halfway through planning the wedding. They bought cheap rings and a second-hand dress since they were still living paycheck to paycheck. Though the bright lights of Vegas had made the impromptu wedding seem a bit more glamorous than it really was, they both knew deep down their love was the real thing. They promised each other till death do us part and meant it.

When Anna found out she was pregnant, she talked Mike into going back to the Outer Bank. Anna swore up and down the move was only so her parents could help with the baby. They'd live on the cut, work for what they deserved and be happy. Then Anna's parents bought them a house on Figure Eight as a wedding gift and Sunday dinners at the Island club became protocol. Anna slipped back into her life as a Kook and brought Mike with her. When the restaurant turned into the tourist hot spot, the zeros in their bank accounts started growing. The Carrera's got rich but their money could never compete with the trust-fond generational wealth of their fellow Kooks.

The Outer Banks only had one elementary school. All the kids on the island were thrown together at an age where no one yet realized the lines between the haves and have nots. Fifth grade was when it got messy. Every fall the class size heading to the Kildare County Middle School dropped by half when all the Kooks transferred to St. Andrews “Kook” Academy. A breeding ground for Ivy-league-bound eighteen-year-olds who lived with the cushions of their parents' bank accounts.

Kiara begged her parents not to make her go to the Kook Academy. She would have rather died than leave her best friends, Bea and Joey, who were both Pogues and staying at KDMS. She didn't realize that middle school would rip the three of them apart. By eighth grade, Kiara had her new friends. Pope Heyward, John B. and JJ Maybank, but he still went by Junior back then. Even if they were bothered by Kiara's status as half-Kook, in the same way Bea and Joey had been, they never showed it.

Mike and Anna didn't see the need to send Kiara to St. Andrews if she didn't want to go but as high school inched closed with every year, the whispers about the Kook in public school grew louder. The summer before freshman year, her parents offered her a deal - though it was hardly a fair one in Kiara's mind. She could either stay at Kildare County High School but she'd have to work in the restaurant in her free time or she could go to St. Andrews with complete freedom for a year. Kiara knew her parents wanted her to transfer so she caved and agreed to a year at St. Andrews to make them happy. Anna prayed her daughter would find her people at St. Andrews and that one year would turn into four but Kiara knew she had already found her people and was counting down the days till she could go back to them. It was only when Sarah Cameron decided the new girl might be cool that Kiara stopped marking each passing day with a big red x.

-

There was less than a week left in their Christmas break and Kiara was seated across from Sarah at the Cameron's dining room table bent over her practice problems for Mr. Harrings' freshman science. He infamously gave out the hardest pop quiz of the year the first day back after break and Kiara's grade couldn't take her failing it.

"What’s avocado’s number?” Sarah asked, looking up from her paper, her pen frozen in midair.

“What’s what?” said Kiara, thoroughly confused at Sarah’s question.

“You know,” Sarah paused, scanning Kiara’s face for any sign of understanding. “Avogadro’s number. Some kid in my class thought the dude’s name was avocado so we’ve been calling it avocado’s number since.”

“Ah, Avogadro’s number,” Kiara repeated, shifting her papers around until she found the one with all the formulas and constants written on it. “Six point zero two two one four zero seven six times ten to the twenty-second power.”

Sarah punched the numbers into her calculator. “Thanks, babes.”

“Of course.”

Rafe’s heavy footsteps carried through the Cameron’s massive house announcing his arrival home. He strolled into the room, a thick stack of papers in one hand and a garment bag draped over the opposite arm.

“Hey loser,” Sarah said, not inspired enough by her brother's presence to look up from her work.

“Hi Rafe,” Kiara echoed. "Where you been?"

"Being Ward's errand boy. I forgot the key to his office where I was supposed to drop off this contract so he's gonna kill me for that. But," Rafe paused digging into his pocket and pulling out a small velvet pouch. "Merry late Christmas," he finished, handing the bag to Kie. "I saw it and I thought you'd like it."

Kiara reached into the pouch pulling out a small enamel pin of the earth, shaped into a heart with the word "love" in silver written over it. Kie smoothed her thumb over the cold metal.

"You know since you're gonna save the planet and everything," Rafe added.

"Thank you. I love it!" Kiara jumped up from her chair, throwing her arms around his waist wrapping him a hug.

"No problem, Kie." Rafe said.

"Hey, I'm trying to save our planet too." Sarah pipped up.

"Shut up, Sarah," Rafe cracked. "I gave you your Christmas present last week."

Sarah stuck her tongue out at him, Rafe doing the same in return.

"What are you guys working on?" Rafe asked.

"Science," Kiara replied, reaching down to grab her backpack from underneath the table.

"Is that for Mr. Harrings' class?"

"Yeah. Yeah, it is," Kie said, half distracting by trying to decide which spot to put her new pin in.

"I think I might still have my old test from that class if you want them.”

Sarah's head snapped up at the offer. "No way."

"Sound any more surprised, Sarah. I was offering them to Kiara anyway, snob," Rafe shot back.

"I'll share," Kie assured her best friend.

Kiara followed Rafe up the grand staircase, flopping on Rafe's bed while he searched for his old work.

"Henry Spiegel was talking about taking you to a he formal in the locker room before we left for break," Rade relied from inside his closet.

"Isn't he the freshman who made varsity lacrosse?" Kiara asked back. She contemplated the idea of going to St. Andrews' Winter Formal with him. Henry was nice enough, plus he was pretty good-looking. She could stand going with him.

"I told him if I found out he'd asked you, I'd make sure he missed the next three games because of a black eye."

"Rafe."

"What? Do you really think I'm gonna let some dweeb with half a brain who only wants to get in your pants take my little sisters to formal?"

"Who am I supposed to take?” She shot back.

“I don’t know. Not him,” Rafe said, emerging, a small stack of papers in hand.

“You know Denny asked Sarah last week.”

“I know.”

Kiara paused, “You will you take?”

Rafe shrugged. “Doesn’t matter. Maybe Ashely M. Seniors don’t really go to the actual dance.”

Kie took the pages of old test for Rafe’s outstretched arm and riffled through them. His name was scribbled on the top of each one in his messy handwriting.

Her eyes drifted up to the Duke basketball poster in the corner of Rafe’s room.

“When do you hear from them?” Kie asked.

“March,” said Rafe, his voice void of emotion.

“I know you’ll get in.”

"My dad'll make sure of it.” Rafe sat down on the bed next to Kiara.

“You don’t know that.”

“I found a card addressed to Ward from the Dean of Student last week thanking him for 'the generous donation from such a valued alumni.'”

Kie's head dropped to rest on Rafe’s shoulder. “I’m sorry.”

“Yeah, well he’s a dick.” Rafe’s phone buzzed and he pulled it out of his pocket, reading the text on the screen. “I gotta go. I told the boys we’d go hit at the Club tonight.”

“Thanks again for these.” Kie held up the papers. “And for the pin," she added.

“Mr. Harrings always includes the names of the scientists from the unit as bonus questions. Don’t forget to look those up,” Rafe said as he stood up from the bed. "See you around, Kie." He placed a small protective kiss on her forehead before he headed back downstairs.

-

"JJ?" Pope slapped JJ's shin to get his attention.

"What?" JJ whispered back over the sounds of the movie.

"I gotta take a piss.”

"Hold it."

"I can’t hold it. I drank too much soda."

"It’s too exposed. They’ll totally see us."

"I gotta go," Pope pleaded. He peered behind him to see Rafe, Topper, and Kelce still parked in the same spots at the back of the crowd. "They’re blocking the bathrooms," Pope added.

JJ looked around, thinking up a Plan B. "Alright. Come here. I know where.”

"Hey, where y’all going?" Kiara asked, turning her attention away from the movie.

"We gotta wring it out," JJ responded deadpan.

"What? You gonna hold it for each other," Kiara questioned, disgusted at the thought.

JJ shrugged off the comment and lead Pope through the crowd, the two of them ducking behind a large oak tree.

Kiara turned back to the movie playing on the giant screen, leaving the boys to their own devices. Besides, they wouldn't dare start something with all the people around. They were idiots but they knew better than that.

"Crap," Kiara cursed under her breath when Rafe trailed by Topper and Kelce brushed by her, heading in the same direction Pope and JJ had went. She watched their figures disappear behind the screen before she jumped up from her seat.

JJ's gun, the thought flew her mind.

She picked up his backpack with no intention to use it but better safe than sorry. Especially when it came to those Kooks in particular.

"Hey, kick his ass, Top!" Kiara heard Rafe yell as she rounded the corner.

Kiara felt a full-fledged panic run through her body as she took in the sight. Kelce had pinned JJ's arm behind his back and was Rafe pounded his fist into JJ’s face. A foot away, Pope was barely holding off Topper. Whatever Pope and JJ had done had obviously crossed a line.

Kiara ran in without another thought, swinging JJ's backpack in front of her. "Let go of him, Topper! Fascist asshole!" She screamed at him.

Topper grabbed the bag from her, ripping it out of Kiara's hand and throwing it aside. Kiara jumped on Topper's back, desperate to distract him.

"Hey listen, Pope," Topper yelled over the sounds of the movie. "All you gotta do is accept a little personal responsibility."

"Screw you, kook," Pope spit back.

Kiara felt arms wrap around her waist, yanking her off of Topper. The too-familiar scents of Rafe's cologne filled her nose and his breath was hot on her cheek.

She kicked her legs struggling against him, "Let go of me, Rafe."

"Stay out of this, Kiara," he warned, tossing her onto the ground. His gaze fixed on her for a second before turning away. Kiara swore she saw a look of guilt flash across Rafe's face, wordlessly apologizing for tossing her away so harshly but she didn’t have time to think about that while her boys were still in trouble.

"Kie! You okay?" Pope yelled, struggling against Topper who had wrapped his arm around Pope's neck.

"Come on, man. Just admit it," Topper shouted. "Admit you did it, bitch!"

JJ's backpack had conveniently landed close to where Kiara lay. She rolled over, pushing herself onto her knees and crawling over to the backpack. She riffled through it, her hand landing on the cold mental of the gun.

"You don't mess with me, Pogue! You hear me?" Topper continued. Kiara looked up at Topper's face which showed no signs of mercy. Meanwhile, Rafe's fist smashed into JJ's face again and again. The situation was getting worse by the second. “I'm gonna give you one chance. One chance, Pope. One chance. Come on! One!"

Kiara dropped the gun back into the backpack pulling out JJ's lighter instead, two Js craved onto the surface. She had to go big to stop Rafe, Topper and Kelce. Kiara crawled over to the edge of the sheet the movie was being projected off. Fuck, this has to work.

"Finish him off, Top!" Rafe directed.

Kie flicked on the lighter, the wind blowing out the flame the first few times. Her hands were shaking as she grabbed the edge of the sheet and held the blue flame up to it. The fire lit up her face as it took hold, spreading faster than she had expected. The crowd yelped, scrambling away as the orange flames climbed toward the sky.

"Guys! Fire!" Rafe yelled, taking in the sight.

"Get off of him!" Kie pushed Topper away from Pope who fell to the ground gasping for air. "Kelce, let go of JJ!"

"Let's get out of here," Rafe started, fleeing the scene. The other Kooks not far behind him.

"You good?" Kiara asked Pope helping him off the ground. "We're okay." She assured. Her heart was racing, her hands still shaking.

"You're a freakin' idiot," Pope responded.

"I saved your ass. Come on." Kiara threw her arm around Pope's shoulder, leading him away.

The sounds of the film continued to echo over the speakers as the sheet burned to ash behind them.

-

Kiara sat slumped against the wall of the St. Andrews hallway that lead into the cafeteria. The frill of her $200 dress fanned out around her. The dress, in her opinion, had been a colossal waste of money but had Sarah actually squealed when Kiara walked out of the fitting room in it. Kiara had tugged at the awkward way the skirt st on her hips but Sarah wouldn’t shut up about how perfectly the blue color fit the Winter Wonderland theme so Kiara bought it. Now, the sequins itching against her collarbone were just annoying her and Kiara couldn’t help scratching at them, making the already red marks on her skin even angrier. She was so fucked. Denny had pulled out a flash during pictures and somehow it kept ending up in Kiara's hands. The whole dance thing had Kiara incredibly anxious so she kept taking sips of the flash to keep her self busy. First during pictures, then during dinner, and in the limo on the way to the school. Now the flask was lying empty on the floor next to her and her nerves were no less settled.

She longed for her pogues so much the pain of missing them made her stomach hurt. Well, that or the alcohol. At that moment, she would have given anything to be back with them. Back with Pope and his overly nervous tendencies, back with John B. and his ideas that usually lead them into trouble, back with JJ and his flirtatious banter that left her blushing a lot more than she cared to admit. They were her family, where she belonged. Not in the gated communities of Figure Eight with mansions so big they had rooms no one entered for weeks. This whole year had been a mistake. She couldn't stand the fakeness of everybody and everything that came as a side effect to bank accounts with the kind of zeros that could seriously help if the 1% gave up being so selfish. Even Sarah's save-the-sea-turtles-with-men façade was fading away revealing another rich kid who didn’t give a shit about who she hurt. 

The doors of the cafeteria swung open, the bass of the DJ's music filling the previously silent hallway. Kiara looked up to find Rafe jogging down the hall to her.

"What are you doing out here?" He asked, sliding down the way to sit next to her.

"The room kept spinning and...uh...I thought I might throw up so I went to find a bathroom," Kiara answered.

"You know the bathrooms are on the other side of the school?"

Kiara giggled which turned into a little burb which made her giggle even more.

"Jesus, Kiara. How drunk are you?" Rafe picked up the flask from the ground. He could smell the alcohol on her breath without even getting closer over. “Who's is this?"

Kiara paused for a moment, trying to remember. "Denny's."

"Sarah's date, Denny?"

Kiara nodded her head.

"Fuck," Rafe muttered. "Okay, let's get you out of here before any of the chaperons see and write you up." He stood up and held out both hands to held Kiara to her feet too.

Kiara pulled herself, leaning against Rafe for stability. The doors swung open again and Rafe's date marched into the hallway.

"Ugh, thank God. There you are. This dance is so lame. C'mon, we're all going to Joey's."

"I'm not coming. I have to take my sister home. She's totally trashed."

The girl's eyes moved over Rafe's face, landing on Kiara. "No," she corrected. "You're my date. You have to come with me."

"Did you not just hear me? I'm taking my sister home," Rafe replied.

"Are you kidding me? She's not even your real sister. She's hardly even a real Kook. I bet she's just using Sarah and you for your family's money. Just look at her dress. It's the same one every other wannabe trying-to-hard freshman has on. Pathetic."

Rafe pulled Kiara closer into him, wrapping an arm around her shoulder protectively. "You can fucking leave," Rafe spit back. "I don't wanna hear you ever talk about my family like that again."

The girl rolled her eyes. "Whatever. I was gonna hook up with Brandan tonight anyway. He's way hotter than you." She spun on her, stalking off in the same direction she had come.

Kiara looked up at Rafe, her bottom lip shaking as tears welled in her eyes. "Are you mad at me?" She asked.

Rafe laughed. "Of course not, Kie. Ashley can go fuck herself. Or she can go fuck Brandan. I don't really care." He wiped away the tear that had slide down Kiara's cheek. "Let's go find Sarah so I can take you both home."

-

Sarah was sitting on her date's lap back inside the cafeteria turned South Pole for the night, laughing loud enough at Denny’s shitty jokes that it was throughly annoying everyone around her.

"Get up Sarah," Rafe commanded.

Sarah surprised at Rafe's sudden presence scrambled off her date's lap. Rafe reached down and grabbed a fistful of Denny's shirt. He cocked his arm back and swung his fist straight into Denny's nose which gave a definitive crack on impact. Sarah let out a gasp and rushed forward.

"What the fuck?" She screamed at Rafe, shoving him off her date.

"You're date's an ass. Kie's completed wasted thanks to him" he said to Sarah. "Let's go. I'm taking you both home."

Sarah glanced at Kiara, who was standing slightly behind Rafe feeling both embarrassed at how much she had drank and grateful for Rafe's protectiveness.

"But I wanna go to the afterparty," Sarah protested. "She has you." Sarah's eyes locked with Kiara and Kiara's heart sank. She could tell her "best friend" wasn't about to give up the rest of her night just because she was nervous and had drunk too much.

Kiara shifted awkwardly on her feet. Sarah could have a least pretended to be conflicted, considered missing the party for a second. God, Kiara missed the unwavering faithfulness of her pogues.

Kiara tugged on Rafe's hand and he glanced over his shoulder at her. "It's fine," she slurred. She really needed out of this itchy disaster of dress as soon as possible.

"You're a really great friend," Rafe said to Sarah.

"Whatever," Sarah replied, her voice almost mimicking the way Rafe's date had said the same words. "Let's go find some ice for your nose, Denny."

-

They had found the gold. It was fifty feet down a well under an ax-murders house no less but they'd fucking found it. John B's crazy plan had worked and all they needed to do was get the gold out, a job which had effectively been delegated to Pope. Of course, first they had to wait for John B to get back from his fishing trip with Ward Cameron, some twisted form of pseudo father-son bonding. What was it with men and finishing? Couldn’t they pick a sport that didn’t actively destroy the environment?

Pope sat atop the kitchen counter, a pencil tucked behind his ear, his mouth moving as he made silent calculations. JJ stood in the doorway of the chateau, dripping water from the hot tub onto the floor. Kiara had thrown off the couch cushions and was rifling through the desk draws, slamming each one with frustration when they didn't hold what she was looking for. Kiara noticed this morning that a pin was missing from her backpack. It didn’t seem like a big deal but with every passing second her panic escalated.

“What are you looking for, bro? I swear this house is like one of those Where’s Waldo? books.” JJ asked Kiara.

“Did you just make a reference to a book, JJ?” Pope chimed in from across the room.

“Just because I chose not to read, doesn’t mean I can’t Pope,” JJ replied.

“Both of you are idiots. It’s a picture book anyway, you don't read it. Can you help me find my pin, please? It's the one I've always had on my backpack. The earth, shaped like a heart," Kie explained.

"Right," Pope replied, sliding off the counter where he was sitting. “Why do you care about it so much anyway?”

“It was a gift."

“From who?”

“From someone at the Kook Academy.”

“Sarah?”

“No.”

“You had other friends there?” JJ mocked.

Kie hesitated. “Fine, it was actually from Rafe as a Christmas present.”

JJ and Pope automatically stopped and looked up at each other.

“Bro, please tell me this isn’t the same Rafe who almost beat Pope’s face in last week."

“It’s not about Rafe. It’s about the pin,” Kie said.

“That’s from Rafe,” Pope finished.

“You guys weren’t there. You don’t get it. Whatever," she huffed. “Don’t help me find it then.”

“No, please Kie. Enlighten us," the sarcasm dripped off JJ's voice.

“I said you don’t have to help,” Kie repeated.

“Hey Kiara,” Pope said, grabbing her wrist. He was always the first to tell when something was off with her.

Kiara shrugged him off, wiping away her tears with her tshirt hem before the other pogues saw them.

“There was just this time,” she started, still overturning books like the pin might have been under there. “At a dance. This senior called me a fake Kook. She said my dress looked tacky like I was trying way too hard to fit but I would never fit in because I’d always be a fucking Pogue. Which of course I don’t wanna be a Kook, I was just playing dress-up for the year to please my parents and it’s like she saw straight through. Rafe was there. Like an older brother. Told her to go fuck herself. That if she ever talked about me like that again, he’d tell the whole she had an std.” Kie paused to wipe her runny nose. “He was basically my family so when Sarah dropped me like I was nothing I was sure that meant Rafe didn’t think I was worth his time anymore too. I never reached out to him again and now he just looks at me the same way he looks at every other Pogue.”

Pope cleared his throat, clearly mildly uncomfortable with Kiara’s sudden expression of emotion. It was an almost unspoken rule among the four of them that they didn’t talk about Kie’s kook year. It had sucked, bottom line. She’d shown back up the summer after ninth grade and it was the four of them again just like middle school. No one had the guts to ask about anything that had happened that year so it never got brought up.

JJ couldn't stop himself from remembering what Rafe had said at Midsummers. Tell Kiara she looks pretty hot for a Pogue. Fucking jackass. If he'd been like a brother to Kie, of course he'd know just how to hit her where it hurt.

JJ clinched his fist, wishing security hadn't pulled him away before he'd gotten a chance to swing at Rafe that night. “I still hate him,” JJ announced. “The entire Cameron family thinks they're the shit because they eat from golden spoons or something."

"The expression is born with a silver spoon in their mouth but JJ's right. All Kook’s suck," Pope added.

-

Rafe had wrestled off Kiara's heels after she almost face-planted in the school parking lot on the way to Rafe's truck thanks to them. He'd gotten up her all the back to the Cameron's house and in the front door successfully without her throwing up. Rafe tried to get Kiara to walk up the stairs but she'd sat down on the bottom declaring she would just sleep there so Rafe had delicately thrown her over his shoulder and didn't put her down until he dropped her on Sarah's bed.

Kiara closed her eye instantly and hummed softly, pleased with the comfortable spot she'd landed.

"No sleeping yet. You gotta drink some water first. Hold on."

Rafe dashed across the hall to his own room and grabbed the bottle of ibuprofen from his bathroom for Kiara in the morning. He also snatched the half-drunk water off his nightstand. It wasn't the best option but it was something.

"Okay, okay. Sit up," he said to Kiara, setting the water and medicine down on the bedside table.

Kiara grumbled but pushed herself upright until her back was against the headboard.

"I'm so happy you're my big bro," she said, reaching out her hand to tousle Rafe's hair. "It's always just been my mom and dad and me. And my turtle, Leo, before I lost him." Kiara felt tears wetting her cheeks again at the thought of her lost pet. "I just thought he might wanna play in the yard but then he ran off." The crying made Kiara hiccup which made her cry even more. "He ran off, Rafe. Turles aren't supposed to be fast.”

Rafe couldn't stop himself from laughing. "I didn't peg you as a sad drunk," he said, putting a hand on Kiara's shoulder to calm her down. "It's okay, Kie. I'm sure Leo is just fine."

Her sniffles stopped momentarily and she looked up at Rafe through her tear-soaked eyelashes. “You know no one ever called me Kie before you did. Now everyone does."

Rafe chuckled. "Alright, drink some water and you can sleep."

Kiara accepted the water bottle and pressed it to her lips, taking a swig. "You promise you're not mad at me? About Ashely and the dance?"

"I promise, Kie. I'd much rather make you sure you're okay."

"You're getting soft, Rafe," Kiara teased as she snuggled herself under the sheets.

"Never," he replied, reaching over and clicking off the lamp on the bedside table before he stood up. "Hollar if you think you're gonna throw up."

"Never," Kie repeated, giggling to herself as Rafe left the room, pulling the door closed behind him.

-

John B's face was plastered on wanted posters up and down the island. The entire county was looking for him, desperate to be the first to claim the twenty-five thousand dollar reward. The wholesome treasure hunt John B. has advertised to the Pogues at the beginning of the summer had gone way south, like equator-level south. None of them had eaten a decent meals in days, much less slept more than few hours. The whole thing was taking its toll but the stacks were too high for them to slip up now. They all knew the odds. John B's word would never stand against Ward's. They had to get him off the island.

JJ and Kiara pulled up the boatyard, the keys to the Phantom clutched so tightly in JJ's palm that they left little indentions. He'd emerged from his house, his jaw set and only held up the keys in response to Kiara asking how it went so she decided not to push him on it.

JJ shoved open the rusty metal door of the garage. "There she be. Hey, girl," he remarked. "1983 formula four-oh-two SR1." JJ pulled the sheet covering the boat off, the sunlight streaming in through the windows making the dust lingering in the air visible. "The Phantom," JJ announced proudly.

"Mmhm," Kie hummed.

"First boat to make the run to Bermuda in under sixteen hours, Kie," JJ paused. "Forty years old! Forty. And it's still the fastest thing that Kildare's ever seen."

"It's kind of a junker."

"Really?" JJ turned to her. "She's right there, Kie. She can hear you. Let's just put it this way. You would not be smokin' weed right now if she never existed, okay?"

"I just hope it runs," Kie replied.

"Oh, no, she'll run alright. She's faster than any of the cutters the boy in blue got."

The sounds of motorcycle engines roared from outside the garage.

"Pope. Finally," Kie exclaimed, jogging to meet him. Hopefully, the Outer Banks sun had burned off any weirdness still lingering from this morning, she prayed.

Rafe appeared from behind the boat and Kiara stopped suddenly, not expecting the sight of him.

"Hey, there. What's goin' on? JJ?" Rafe said and JJ also froze at the sound of the eldest Cameron's voice. "How you guys doin'?”

Barry whistled, announcing his own arrival. "Well, well...." The sounds of a gun cocking send the blood rushing to Kie's ears. JJ raised his hands in the air, backing up as Barry pushed the gun to his chest. "See, don't think I forgot about me and you on the side of the road. I'm here because I want my motheruckin' money."

Barry grabbed the side of JJ's face, shoving him to the ground. "JJ! JJ!" Kie screamed as Rafe pulled her back from the scene. "Rafe!" Kiara struggled against Rafe’s taller and stronger physique.

"That's what I'm here for, ain't it," Barry shouted lifting JJ's head up by his hair.

"It's not you we want, Kie. Alright, Where's John B?" Rafe asked.

"I don't know," she screamed back, her hand slapping Rafe's face on instinct.

"I really wish you didn't do that.”

"Look, I know what you did.” Kie’s voice wavered.

"What? What'd I do?" Rafe's face inched closer to hers.

"You murdered Peterkin."

Rafe's hand flew up to Kiara's throat, wrapping his fingers tight around it. Kiara's mouth fell open in a silent scream as she clawed at his hand. "Don't you ever say those fucking words again," Rafe warned.

"Rafe," Kiara pleaded. Eighteen months later and Kiara could tell Rafe didn’t have a single ounce of warmth left for her. The Rafe that had protected her from handsy freshman boys and made her drink water so her hangover wasn't as bad, the Rafe that had once held a deep sibling-like affection for her was gone, replaced by someone with pure blinding disdain for pogues of any kind.

"Understood? Do you understand? Where's John B? Where's John B?" Rafe asked again, his tone growing impatient

"I don't know," Kie yelled. Rafe’s hand was growing tighter around her throat with every word, forcing tears to her eyes. Fuck this. Rafe Cameron wasn’t about to be the thing that killed her. This rich, white asshole couldn’t get away with two murders.

"Where's John B? Huh?"

"I don't know! I don't know!"

Rafe's hand fell away from her throat suddenly. "Don't touch her," Kiara heard Pope screamed, his voice full of rage as he swung a metal pole into Rafe's back. The look on his face was something Kiara had never seen before from Pope. It sent a chill down her spine.

"Hey!" Barry yelled as he attempted to throw his gun to Rafe but it landed on the ground a few feet short.

"Kie! Kick it!" JJ hollered and the gun disappeared under the boat out of reach.

JJ picked up Barry slamming him into the boat. Pope's fist continued to connect with Rafe’s face. Again and again. Crap, he wasn’t stopping.

"Pope," Kie said. "Okay, Pope. Pope! Pope, that's good! Stop!"

JJ, having thrown Barry aside, moved to pull Pope off Rafe. "Hey, Pope! He's had enough, dude."

"He's good." Kie pleaded as Pope reached for a piece of plastic tubing, pulling it tight around Rafe's neck.

"Snap out of it, man. Snap out of it, dude!" JJ said.

"Pope!" Kie yelled again. "Pope, that's too much!"

"Stop, dude," JJ added. "Dude, cmon! Stop! Stop, dude!"

"Pope! Get off!" Kie desperately tried to make eye contact with him

"Let go! Come on!"

"Look at me!" Kie screamed in one final attempt to stop Pope from going to far. Rafe's face was already turning a concerning shade of red. If Pope crossed this line, Kiara feared there would be no coming back. She already had one fugitive to deal with, she didn’t want another.

Pope dropped the tubing, eyes wide with fear.

"Shit. Oh, shit." JJ said.

Rafe coughed from the floor, blood smeared down his chin.

"Okay, we gotta go. We gotta go." Kiara announced, hustling back the car. They had to get the boat ready for John B. They had to get him off the island. Her Pope-like organizational instincts kicked in protecting her from processing anything that had just happened. Letting her forget the look in Rafe’s eyes as his hand closed around her throat. Three o’clock at the dump. They had to stay on schedule. Three o’clock. Three o’clock. Three o’clock.

-

The single yellow heart Sarah had responded to Kiara's ‘Happy Birthday!’ text with stared back at her mockingly. She closed out of her messages, opening Instagram instead. Story after story showed the party she hadn't been invited to. A shaky video of everyone singing to Sarah, her face lit up by the glow of the candles. A bathroom selfie of all the girls who Kiara had through became her closest friends, their faces flushed red with joy. She clicked the side button of her iphone making the screen going black. Kiara couldn't stand to look at it all happening for another minute. She flopped backward on her bed opting to stare at the plain, white ceilings of her bedroom instead.

She should have been, standing by Sarah's side, smiling along with everyone in a tipsy haze of happiness, not watching it happen via Instagram. Kiara knew she wasn't doing anything productive by throwing herself a pity party but God, she was pissed. She wanted Sarah to know it too. She picked up her phone from where she'd dropped it next to her on the comforter.

The line rang twice before a voice answered the call.

“Kildare County Police, what’s the emergency?”

Kiara hesitated. Sarah was sure to figure out it was her who had ratted on the party and that would be social suicide enough. But Sarah really had brought this on herself. She should have invited to Kie to her fucking birthday.

“Hello? Anyone there?” The operator asked.

Kiara brought the phone back up to her ear. “Hi, I’d like to file a noise complaint, please. Two six six St. Margaret Street.”

“Yes, the Cameron’s house,” Kiara confirmed, wiping at her tear-stained cheeks and steading her voice as she relied the rest of the information to the operator.

Happy birthday to you, Sarah Cameron.

taglist! @surferkie