#sometimes i wonder if people actually like steve with the way they treat him

[momotonescreaming]

Thinking about a scene where Steve tells Dustin to stop insulting him at every chance he gets, it fucking sucks, actually.

Dustin just scoffs. Rolls his eyes. Steve can take it. Plus, Dustin's just saying things that are true. Steve is dumb. His grades were bad. He didn't get into college. He makes dumb comments and gets things wrong. Not to mention his hobbies. He says he can't pick them up from Hellfire because there's a basketball game he wants to watch, like what? He spends all his time watching sports and talking about sports and playing sports. Its either that or working on his car. What kind of hobbies are those? They're not real hobbies. Can't be much of a reformed jock if he can't even give up sports.

So Steve just tells Dustin that if he isn't going to stop being a bully, Steve doesn't want to be his friend anymore, and leaves.

And it's like a slap in the face.

[bleedingoptimism]

“I’m sorry Steve, I thought we were just having fun! I enjoyed you taking me out and paying for everything that’s all…” Is what Shelley said to him when Steve walked into the bar and saw her flirting with another guy. 

Obviously, he smiled and shook his head, said everything was okay, ‘Just a silly misunderstanding’ and left, ever so graceful. But the second he was outside he cursed, tried not to shed a tear, failed, and then started laughing. 

He probably looks like a mad man, or a drunk. But no, don’t worry people, he’s not drunk or crazy, he’s just really, really stupid. He thought Shelley really liked him, he thought they were dating. And Shelley just assumed he was just another playboy so she played him back. He’s not even mad at her. She didn't mean to hurt him. It’s not her fault Steve is just so easy to hurt. 

Sighing, he gets his phone out to get an uber and hugs himself even though it’s not really that cold outside, waiting for his car, already imagining the big, greasy burger he’s going to order when he gets home. He deserves it, okay?

The car that pulls out has definitely seen better days, but it’s clean and comfortable so Steve doesn’t think twice about getting in. He offers the driver a smile through the rearview mirror, sparing a moment to notice his eyes are big and dark, and they crinkle when he smiles back at him. 

Steve sits stiff and straight for a moment before realizing no one is there to judge him right now and he deflates, sighing again and letting himself collapse against the seat. Still hugging himself to feel any sort of comfort, he bumps his head against the window softly a couple of times. 

“Long night?” The driver asks him in a friendly manner.

Steve meets his eyes in the rearview again and shrugs, smiling back crookedly “Thought I should go home early since I already accomplished making an ass of myself for the night”

He checks the uber app for the driver’s name, doesn’t want to be rude by not remembering. ‘Eddie’ chuckles at Steve's statement.

“You did, huh? Well good job on getting it out of the way then,”

Steve chuckles back, “Yeah, I was actually thinking I deserve a treat”

He notices Eddie looking back at him a couple of times before breathing an interested, “Oh, yeah?”

“Yeah,” Steve says, “A huge cheesy burger or something” Wondering what Eddie was thinking he’d say.

Eddie laughs again, “Oh! Right of course” and just when he’s about to say something else his phone rings.

“Oh, sorry” Eddie murmurs, immediately hanging up on whoever is calling. 

“No worries,” Steve mumbles back, sitting up a little straighter again. 

“So, what’s your favorite dirty burger place?” Eddie asks him. 

Steve can tell he’s trying to distract him from the mood he entered the car with and he really appreciates it.

He sits forward and leans his forearms against the headrest of the passenger seat, “Oh, there’s so many, but…” from this angle, he can see Eddie’s face better, and he can’t help but think he’s got a really nice looking profile, long lashes, full lips, and the cutest nose he’s ever seen, “I think Benny’s the best one” he finishes.

Eddie pulls at a stop light and turns to look at him with a smile and he’s so much prettier than Steve first thought he involuntarily gasps. But thankfully Eddie is talking excitedly and doesn’t seem to notice.

“No way you know Benny’s?! Benny is my uncle! Well, he’s married to my uncle actually- you know what I mean but yeah, Benny’s is great!” 

It’s such a weird coincidence that it managed to take Steve out of his stupor and he’s suddenly just as excited as Eddie,

“Really? Oh my god, I’m so jealous right now, I wished I could live at Benny’s sometimes” 

Eddie laughs, and just when he opens his mouth to reply his phone rings again. This time he doesn’t immediately hang up and Steve sees the screen light up with the name “you deserve better” 

Ouch, he thinks, and his heartstrings tug for his cute, sweet, uber driver. Who offered him friendly conversation cause he noticed he was feeling down and has the most beautiful laugh. He doesn't really know why he feels so strongly about it, he doesn't even know Eddie… but he still feels the text is right. Whoever hurt him, Eddie deserved better.

“Hey,” He says softly when Eddie hangs up cursing.

Eddie sighs again, “I’m so sorry,” 

“Hey, no. It’s fine,” Steve replies, resisting the urge to place a comforting hand on his shoulder.

He figures, after the way his night started, he’s got nothing to lose so he says, “So much talk about Benny’s I feel like I need to go there right now.” 

Eddie let’s out a distracted “Huh?” and Steve soldiers on, “Wanna change the destination and join me? You can take me home after,”

He notices Eddie doing a double take and blushing, “Really? I- Am- I- okay” he stammers but Steve can’t really figure out why.

“Yeah, you know, that way you don’t lose time on the job and have another ride?” He finishes and Eddie laughs,

“Oh, right. Yeah That- makes sense”

They keep talking about their favorite things on the menu on the way there and soon they are sitting face to face in a booth at Benny’s.

What a pair they make, Steve in a three piece suit, jacket off, vest undone and shirt rolled up to his forearms. And Eddie with sweats and a hoodie. 

Eddie is even better looking in the shitty dinner light and the blush that adorns his cheeks ever since they came in makes Steve wanna kiss them to feel their warmth.

Benny himself comes to take their order, and Eddie gets up to hug him and introduces him to Steve. They already know each other, because Steve does come to the dinner often and Benny lets Eddie know that.

Eddie thinks it's hilarious that they both have been here so much and never saw each other before, but Steve can’t help to think it’s a shame.

“I actually would’ve loved to have met you sooner,” he tells Eddie at one point and watches curiously as Eddie’s blush turns a few shades darker.

As they eat, Steve tells Eddie about Shelley, about his hopes, about misreading the situation, about his shame. How he doesn’t even think he liked Shelley that much, but he just wanted to have something real. Eddie gets mad at him for blaming himself, tells him it wasn’t his fault, that he’s being too hard on himself. And it’s not a bad thing to consider but all Steve can think about is how cute Eddie looks when he’s mad on his behalf.

Eventually, Eddie tells Steve about whoever was calling him. 

“I met him at my last job. I thought he was so cool but turns out he was actually just cold,” Eddie shrugs, “We dated for like 6 months or something, not that long but, I was miserable the whole time and I didn’t even realize it was because of him.” 

Eddie’s hand is tearing up a paper napkin between them and Steve tentatively settles his hand over Eddie’s, who stops destroying the napkin and smiles gratefully at Steve, holding his hand back.

“The worst part is I didn’t even break up with him, he broke up with me,” Eddie chuckles self-deprecatingly, “But he still wanted to keep me around I guess… And I… didn’t want to feel lonely” 

They both stay quiet for a moment after that, and Steve stares at their hands joined over the greasy dinner table and thinks about loneliness, about how he doesn't feel it right now, with Eddie.

“So, what happened?” he asks after a bit.

“I did eventually realize he was the one making me feel like shit so I stopped seeing him but he didn’t appreciate my new sense of self-respect,” Eddie says lightly and Steve instinctively squeezes his hand protectively, which makes Eddie smile again, “I’m doing just fine now though, I told him to fuck off and got a new job. And it’s actually pretty good, ya know?”

Steve can’t help but smile back at Eddie’s cute expression, “Yeah?”

“Hell yeah, my own hours? Good money? Plus I’ve always liked driving around, it calms me. And I get to meet really interesting people…” he says, winking at Steve and making him chuckle.

“Well, I’m glad then. Proud of you for getting out of there,”

“Me too,” Eddie says and looks up as Benny walks over to them.

“Sorry to interrupt boys, but we are about to close for the night,” He says, stifling a yawn.

Steve looks surprised at his watch, it’s almost 2 A.M. He can’t believe he’s been sitting here with Eddie for hours when it only felt like a few minutes.

He offers to cover the bill but Benny fights him over it and says it’s his treat. And Eddie offers to take him home no charge. So they get in Eddie’s car again only this time Steve sits next to him instead of in the back and they talk about music on their way to his place while Steve changes the radio stations. Laughing, singing and joking around, it’s such a good time. It feels like they’ve been doing this forever, like they could do this…forever. But eventually they arrive at Steve’s building and suddenly Steve doesn’t want the night to end. 

He’s about to tell Eddie as much, maybe invite him inside, when his phone rings again, the ‘you deserve better’ staring at them. But Eddie immediately grabs his phone and hangs up, blocking the number after. 

“There, he can’t call me again,” he says with a sigh.

“Can I see your phone for a second?” Steve ventures, making a last second decision.

Eddie looks surprised but curious as he hands it over and Steve punches his phone in.

“If you ever feel like unblocking him, or calling him back… Why don’t you try calling me instead?” he says in a rush and then walks out of the car, not lingering to see Eddie’s reaction.

There’s always the positivity that he got things wrong again, got too invested too soon again and he doesn’t want to know tonight. He’ll deal with it later, if Eddie doesn't call.

🚗📱🍔💙

It takes only two days for Steve’s phone to ring, an unknown number flashing on his screen. He picks it up feeling a little out of breath for no reason at all.

“Hello?” 

“Steve?”

“Eddie, I”

“Wait- before you say anything I just want you to know that I didn’t call because I wanted to call him, or I was thinking about him. I called because I can’t stop thinking about you, I wanted to talk to you. Okay?”

“Eddie- yes! It’s more than okay, I- I was hoping you’d call”

fin 💙

☕🥐💕 coffee? oovoo javer?

[solarmorrigan]

Steve Harrington is absolutely the sort of person to become emotionally dependent on a pet. He grew up lonely and he loves taking care of things, and here's this creature that loves him unconditionally and is dependent on him for care? He's a goner

He finds a kitten in his backyard, wet and cold and alone, but in pretty good shape, all things considered. It hisses and swipes at him, but it's also mewing pathetically, and Steve can't just leave it, so he manages to get the thing inside with minimal blood loss (all his) and cleans it up and feeds it. It's a lot more amenable to the idea of Steve once it's warm and dry and full, and by the end of the day, it's curled up and purring in the crook of his neck, and Steve is already prepared to die for this thing

He does recognize that the right thing to do is to ask around and see if anyone is missing a kitten, which he does do, but no one on his street or the next one over lays claim to it, and there aren’t any kind of wanted posters going up for it, so Steve decides he is now the proud owner of a cat

He names her Baby and dotes on her accordingly. (In his defense, the name is Robin's idea; she tells him that he treats the cat enough like a baby, so the name might as well fit. Steve's always been shit at coming up with names, so he just goes with it)

Baby is the world's most spoiled cat, which Steve readily admits. But isn't that what cats are for? She's a wonderful cat and she clearly deserves nice things and Steve is going to get them for her. Toys, treats, a plush cat bed, the best food, whatever he thinks she could possibly need or want. If "I work hard so my cat can live a better life" t-shirts had existed in the 80s, Robin probably would have gotten one for him and he probably would have worn it

Of course, it helps that Baby actually does adore Steve. With everyone else, she ranges from frosty to outright hostile (she's taken a particular dislike to Eddie, of all people, which is unfortunate, because Steve really, really likes Eddie); she'll consent to be admired, and she'll accept treats, and she might even let more familiar people pet her, but in the end she is very much Steve's baby. If he's home, she's stuck to his side like a burr, curled up wherever he is and purring away, content just to be with him. She still snuggles up in the crook of his shoulder at night, just like when she was a kitten, even though she's bigger now and is a bit less easily accommodated

It goes without saying that Baby is strictly an indoor cat. Steve lives right up against the woods and there are predators out there, and people in town drive like assholes, and Steve won't take the chance of her being eaten or run over or meeting some other horrible fate. He really doesn't think his heart could take it

But of course, because all cats are terrible bastards at heart (affectionate), Baby darts out the back door one day as Steve is coming in off the patio, chasing after some other small animal that Steve can't even see, and she's out of the backyard and up towards the trees before Steve can do much more than make a grab for her

And Steve, who has survived interrogations and monster attacks and many situations objectively much more stressful than this, does not panic. He does spend half the night wandering around in the trees with a flashlight, shaking a bag of cat food and calling for Baby, but that's not panicking, that's problem solving

He eventually gets too cold and too tired to keep going and has to pack it in for the night. He holds onto some shred of hope that she'll be waiting by the back door when he wakes up, wondering why the hell it's taken so long for him to come let her in, but apparently that's not the way life works, because the patio and all areas around the house are still distinctly catless come daybreak

Eddie shows up sometime mid-morning, just as Steve is preparing to head back out and look for her. He has genuinely never seen Steve so upset; he looks like he might actually cry if he doesn't find that damn cat, which just isn't something that Steve does. But he's actually fucking distraught, and Eddie simply can't have that, even if Baby is his nemesis, so he goes to the phone and makes some calls

He cashes in on favors, he makes promises, he actually agrees to pay Mike ten bucks to show up, but he gets the kids, all the older teens (the only reason Robin hadn't been there already is because Steve hadn't paused long enough to tell her what was going on), and even the Corroded Coffin boys up to Steve's house to comb the woods for Steve's damn cat

It's Eddie who finds her in the end, a shock of pale, mewling fur actually stuck in a fucking tree. The cliche nearly kills him – either that or trying to climb down a tree one-handed while holding a cat. He's surprised she actually lets him pick her up, but then again, she's been out here all night, she's cold, and at least she recognizes Eddie. Maybe this is the beginning of a truce

Or, she might go back to hissing and swiping at Eddie any time she the mood takes her, but Eddie doesn't even care, because Steve is elated to have Baby back, so fucking happy that he doesn't even seem to notice that she's digging her claws into his arm as she clings to him for dear life all the way back to the house. Eddie will deal with anything that Steve loves that much

Steve pays for pizza to thank everyone for putting their Saturday on hold to search-and-rescue a cat, and everyone warms up and eats their fill before slowly filtering back out of the house. And later, after Baby's been cleaned up and fed and properly doted on and is purring away curled up over a heating vent in the living room, Steve takes Eddie upstairs to show his thanks in a much more thorough manner

After all – Baby is very important to him, and he's more relieved than he can say to have her back, but she isn't the only thing that Steve adores

[listofwhyyouloveher]

Hi! I was wondering if you can do a platonic Curtis gang with a fem!reader who’s believes in like witch craft and the devil? Like the whole town thinks she’ll sacrifice them but she genuinely nice and sweet?🫶 (also if it’s not a problem can it be hc’s?)

Summary: The Outsiders x Witchcraft!Reader

Warnings: strong religious and non-religious context

Author's Note: one of my friends was really into witchcraft once and it looked so fun + I have a deck of pink tarot cards (w?!)

PONYBOY CURTIS

Ponyboy thinks the witchcraft stuff that you do is really sick, he's actually really interested.

He thinks it's cool how you make spells and stuff but he doesn't necessarily believe it.

He's never been a religious person and finds himself not really believing in anything.

However he never fell for the rumors that you were going to kill everyone in Tulsa because everytime he saw you at school you were happy in your own little world.

JOHNNY CADE

Johnny has extremely religious parents and they're always warning him about you, kindly and unkindly.

They tell him things like you're gonna eat his soul and he's gonna go to hell, but he doesn't take anything they say seriously

He's approached you a couple of times out of spite and he actually thinks you're really sweet

You give him gifts sometimes and he proudly displayed them in front of his parents

SODAPOP CURTIS

Sodapop is a little scared of you, he kind of fell for those rumors about you wanting to sacrifice people

Once he went up to you and asked you if you sacrifice people, but he had such an innocent look that you couldn't blame him for falling for the rumors

You toyed with him and said you only sacrificed cute boys and to use that information as he willed

He always thought he was a "cute boy" but the way you said it made him feel like he wasn't so he was so confused and pestered you for a while about it.

STEVE RANDLE

Steve is like Soda but he puts more of a "tuff" front up about it, so he's approaching you a lot when people dare him to.

He pesters you quite a bit, so much so that you get really frustrated. Once you told him to stop annoying you it was getting old and he saw you in a new light.

He realized how you were mostly poked at and not treated like a normal person and he felt as if he could relate because he was a greaser

He hung out with you a couple of times and he's really enjoying your company, he also got a couple of tarot readings done by you.

TWO BIT MATHEWS

Two os the most respectful out of all of them, except maybe Darry. He's kept his distance but he doesn't try stuff on you

The first time he talked to you is when his sister ran up to you because your outfit was so pretty

He apologized because she latched onto you and you got to talking, he was actually really surprised at how nice you were

He said that, if you want, he could take you out to coffee sometimes and that

DARRY CURTIS

Darry doesn't engage in the childish discussion that the rest of the gang does, he's to "mature" though

He tells Sodapop and Pony to stop judging people when he overhears their conversations about you.

Truthfully he remembers that when he was in 5th grade he was your "older buddy" in the schools buddy program.

He knows you were always had it rough as a kid but you were always kind so he wants to stick up for you

He also sought you out later and took you out for some food.

DALLAS WINSTON

Dallas is one of the people that say you're gonna sacrifice everyone in the town, he's not afraid of you but he doesn't like you.

The whole rumor started because he was offered a bet to get with you but he knew he couldn't (mainly because of Darry) so he said no because you'd sacrifice him

He's always watching you though, everytime he sees you he observes you because he finds you intresting

He'll never talk to you though, he has a reputation to uphold and being seen with you is apparently really bad even though he always pays attention to you.

[derythcorvinus]

🧠🪱Wiggly Wednesday 🧠🪱

Thank you for the tag @wheneverfeasible 💚

Alright so last week's was about Steve, but today we got an Eddie brain worm wriggling around. Or two, really.

I actually head cannon that Eddie is versatile. He can and will bottom, but he prefers to top. He can and will sub, but he prefers to dom. The reason being is simply because he enjoys having people put that trust and control in his hands. And it's so much harder for him to give all that up to others. There's also just something about watching someone slip and settle into subspace.

But that's so thing he craves sometimes. He wants to be put down like that, he wants to feel fuzzy and floaty. He's just terrified that he'd be treated wrong so he doesn't let that side of him show.

With all that said, he's learned how to be a damn good dom. Aftercare is his favorite thing. He gets to watch his partner just revel in the afterglow, satisfied whether they have a tear stained face or not.

Now let's go back a few years when Eddie had his first hangover. He was miserable and bitchy, snapping at Wayne while he tried to curl up underneath blankets. Wayne leaves for a while and Eddie starts to wonder if he really messed up this time, but then his uncle comes back, spends some time in the kitchen making (in Eddie's opinion) too much noise.

Then the blankets and sheets are being ripped off of the unsuspecting Eddie, and a glass of what looks like water is being held out towards him. There's also a sandwich, but Eddie forgoes that and takes a sip of the drink. His face scrunches up and he stares at the glass in his hand, asking Wayne if he just made him drink salt water. Wayne laughs and tells him that it's unflavored Pedialyte. Eddie feels better than he thought he would after a few glasses of the Pedialyte.

Now Eddie's go to drink of choice for his subs after intense sessions? Pedialyte. It's got less sugars than most other electrolytes replenishing drinks. He sticks with the unflavored Pedialyte, just to be safe, and explains what it is before the sub drinks it.

Then he and Steve start a Dom/Sub relationship. Steve kind of laughs at the Pedialyte thing at first, not in a mean way though, it's just surprising and thoughtful. He gets used to the unflavored one. But in passing, he mentions he likes strawberry flavored drinks, and after their next session, his drink is pink and has a hint of sweetness from the strawberry flavoring; opposed to the normal clear and flavorless liquid.

And, just like every other time they've done this, Eddie makes sure Steve drinks the entire glass before he's allowed to do anything else.

And some time later, when their relationship develops into something with more feelings, Eddie learns to trust Steve with a role swap. Eddie experiences subspace for the first time, finds out just how well his aftercare tactics are when Steve does everything Eddie had done for others. And yeah, it's probably changed up a little bit to be authentic to Steve, or maybe he develops his own aftercare routine over time.

But he always makes sure that Eddie has a glass of apple flavored Pedialyte after. And he always makes sure Eddie drinks the entire glass.

I don't care if the apple flavor Pedialyte didn't exist in the 80's, it exists for Eddie in my mind. The whole Pedialyte brain worm happened because I was drinking Pedialyte last night. I did do some research on it to see when it was invented, I ended up finding out that people use it for hangovers and that's why they started marketing it towards adults. Don't know if it's true or not, but I think that's neat.

[ghastlybats]

Anatomy of a Ghost

Steddie, Steve Harrington POV, angst, not actually that steddie-focused but its there

(this is sort of angst with ambiguous ending, I just have a lot of thoughts about the way people treat Steve in regards to Barb's death, and the possibilities of Steves own misconceptions about it and his lack of support system. Honestly I could write an essay about this.)

wc: 1,859

cw/warnings: themes of survivor's guilt, some of this could be dissociation idk

summary: there's a dead girl standing at the edge of Steve's pool, and he's convinced that his house is being sucked into the water. he hasn't slept in a while.

There’s a dead girl outside, and the house is being sucked into the pool. 

Every night, Steve sat on the floor in front of the sliding glass doors and stared at it, watched the pool get closer and bigger. He didn’t need his bat, Barb never moved. She always stood in the exact same spot, right there in front of him on the other side of the eerie blue water. Her clothes were always dripping. He would watch the puddle below her grow with each droplet. 

When it all started, he might have shrugged it off. Steve used to think he was a reasonable, logical person. Maybe not smart, but he was pretty sure, once, that his house could not possibly be sucked into his pool. The pool was too small to hold the whole house. 

Actually, though, there wasn’t much in a house. Mostly drywall and spongy insulation. Some wood, some granite countertops. Metal, glass. Shag carpet and kitchen tile. Maybe his whole house could fit into the pool after all, once it had collapsed and broken. And as he watched the pool, night after night, the truth became undeniable; like a black hole, the pool was pulling him into it. 

Somewhere in his mind, he knew that the moment he stepped out into the yard, he would be dragged under the water. So instead, he kept the doors closed and locked and he sat on the Persian rug, picking at the fibers and staring out at the pool, knowing that there would come a day that it devoured him. 

Barb knew it too. She stood at the edge of the water and looked down at him. Even when he tried to talk to her, he could find no words, and so he never did. It seemed like she was alright with that arrangement, because she never tried to speak either. She wasn’t the one making his house collapse into the pool. She was just a bystander, the same as Steve. Sometimes, he thought she might be looking at him in pity. 

That night, it was storming. The pool was closer than ever before. It was two forty-seven in the morning, but Steve didn’t know that. Upstairs, his walkie-talkie has been going off constantly for the past three hours, but he didn’t know that either. The rain and the crash of thunder masked the sounds of the house. He couldn’t hear each droplet of water that rolled off of Barb’s hands like he usually could. He didn’t hear the knocking on his door, or the shouts of his name. He did not hear the turning of the lock. 

That night, the edge of the pool was mere inches away from the doors. Steve was wondering what it would feel like to drown. He had actually considered asking Barb about it. He hadn’t bothered, though, had figured she wouldn’t hear him over the sounds of the rain. 

There was a flash of lightning. Silence for several seconds before the roll of thunder. 

“Steve?” Said a voice from behind him. 

Steve flinched violently. For the first time in maybe weeks, in the dead of night, he pulled his eyes away from the pool to look at Eddie. 

“What are you doing, man? Are you okay?” Eddie stood in the doorway to the living room, hair damp and face pale in the lightning that flashed again from outside. That split second of light was enough to see the concern on his face. 

“I’m keeping an eye on things,” Steve told him. Thunder. Eddie stepped farther into the room, until he stood just at the edge of that glowing rectangle of light seeping in through the windows. 

“Don’t want to disturb her, so I leave my walkie upstairs.” Steve turned his gaze back to the edge of the pool. Eddie followed suit. 

“Disturb who, Steve?” He asked. 

“Barb. You’ll see her when the lightning strikes again, she’s kind of hard to make out in the dark,” Steve explained, matter-of-factly. 

The lightning came again. 

“Steve, I… I don't see her. I don't think…” Eddie said quietly. The thunder rumbled. 

“Just wait. Maybe you missed her.”

Eddie didn’t speak. Steve didn’t look at him. The pool was still only inches away. 

“Have you been doing this every night?” 

Steve began picking at the rug again. “The house is getting sucked into the pool,” he explained. 

Eddie said nothing. 

“It’s not her fault, she’s not the one doing it. The pool gets closer every night. Its only a few inches away now.” 

“Steve, it's… it's the same as it always was.” 

Steve’s brow furrowed. “No. It’s— I can see it getting closer,” he insisted. 

“Sweetheart, when was the last time you slept?” 

Steve didn’t have an answer for that. Days kind of started blurring together, he hadn’t kept count of nights.  

“If the house is collapsing into the pool, then we need to get you out, okay? Let’s get you some clothes and a toothbrush and you can come stay with me for a while, the van’s outside and it should even still be warm,” Eddie murmured, and put a gentle hand right between Steve’s shoulder blades. 

“I can’t leave her this time,” Steve said. 

“Do you think she wants you to die?”

Steve stared out at the girl across the pool. 

“I don’t know. I think that if I was her, I would.”

Lightning. 

“Why?”

Thunder, loud enough now to shake the fine China in the cupboard to their left. 

“Because it's my fault she died. It’s my pool she died in.”

Eddie was quiet for a moment. 

“I don’t think it was, for what its worth. You couldn’t have known, Steve. Nancy brought her to your house, Nancy was the one to pick you over her. You had no connection to Barb, right? That’s what you told me,” Eddie said. He paused to gauge Steve’s reaction. 

“It was my pool,” Steve said again. 

“Jonathan was the last person to see her alive. Why shouldn’t he shoulder this guilt?”

Steve had nothing to say about that. 

“I’m not blaming someone else in your place. All I’m saying, Steve, is that this burden never should have been yours. And you know very well how I feel about Nancy putting it onto you.” Eddie sighed, and stood. “I’m going to pack you a bag, alright? You’re going to sleep at my place tonight, and when you wake up, we’re going to figure out what to do next.”

Steve didn’t respond, again. He heard Eddie walk away, his Reeboks squeaking against the hardwood floors of the entryway, then the quiet thumping of footsteps as he climbed the stairs and headed into Steve’s room. 

For the first time, Steve was having trouble making out the shape of Barb in the darkness. He stood and, holding on tightly to the doorframe, unlocked the glass door and pushed it open. 

He wasn’t dragged immediately into the pool. He was careful, very careful, as he walked around the odd shape of it, to not slip on the narrow ledge. Only a few inches between the house and the pool. It felt like miles on the other side. 

Now, he stood opposite to the house, between the pool and the woods, rain soaking his clothes and chilling his skin. It was darker there, he felt. He reached out into the darkness, and found nothing but rain. 

Panicked, he stumbled forward and again, found nothing. He stood exactly where Barb would have been standing, should have been standing, and looked back to the house, and the open glass door, and the single lit window just above it where he saw Eddie rushing back and forth in his room. His hair was plastered to his forehead now, his hands hung limply at his sides and he felt the droplets running down his arms, drip-drip-dripping off his hands. The sound of it overpowered the rain and thunder. He hadn’t even noticed the lightning strike. 

He felt stuck to that spot, staring in through the door at the spot he had occupied on the floor, god knows how many nights he spent there. He wondered if maybe, one of those nights, he should have offered to let Barb come inside. 

Eddie was at his side again, Steve vaguely registered seeing him come back downstairs, watching the fear overtaking his face when he saw the open door, and then the way he hid it when his eyes fell on Steve outside. He was steering Steve back towards the house, and they weren’t being careful on the narrow ledge between the house and the pool that time but they made it inside nonetheless. There was a large duffel bag on the ground, stuffed full. Eddie closed and locked the sliding door again. The drip-drip-drip became muffled by the carpet, but he could still hear it. 

There was a towel wrapped around him, gentle hands drying his hair and soaking as much water as possible out of his t-shirt, his pants, brushing the rivulets off his hands and feet. His skin stung with the removal of the constant chill, but he was handed clean, dry clothes right out of the duffle bag, and when he didn’t move to change, Eddie took care in removing his shirt and drying him off again, replacing it with the new one. Then pants and underwear, in a reversal of the way Steve had once looked after Eddie, in the weeks after his death and revival, and long hospital stay. There were no secrets between them, anymore, not really. 

The dry clothes did nothing to soothe the sting, but Eddie wrapped a blanket around him, a fluffy throw from the couch, picked up the bag, and with a hand on the small of Steve’s back, walked them to the door. Steve turned back only once, and even in the bright flash of lightning, Barb was nowhere to be found. The pool was getting farther away again, but it might have just been a trick of the light. 

The drive to Eddie’s wasn’t silent, but Steve didn’t remember Eddie ever keeping the volume of his radio so low. Whatever tape was in the deck was nothing more than a quiet hum over the rain and the rumble of the engine. 

Then they were there, and Eddie was leading him inside with that hand on his back again, and he was being made to lay down on Eddie’s bed, and he tried to ask where Eddie was going to sleep, but he just got a shake of the head and a murmur of assurance, that Eddie would be alright. 

For the first time in what must have been a very long time, Steve began to feel sleepy. Eddie was talking quietly, none of the words meant much of anything, but his voice rumbled like the thunder, now far in the distance, and the rain battered the roof of the small bungalow which Wayne and Eddie called home, and the room smelled like smoke and the sheets like sweat. Steve didn’t dream at all, but that blackness of sleep must have lasted forever.

[fandoms-in-law]

To the Past Versions

Summary: Steve gets pushed to write letters to his past by Dustin, and then Robin when he isn't nice in the first. It does eventually help him.

Authors note: I am ever confused when words fall easily. I write constantly so it happens often enough, but if I have a prompt I expect to get stuck. Today I did not, happily so.

The idea for this fic: Dear self esteem* as a Steve fic except he's really just writing to memories, wondering when he stopped feeling like he could do anything/be anything

*A sanders sides fic I wrote a while back

/\/\

Attempt 1:

Hey Steve,

So Dustin has it in his head that we all need to write to the past to get mentally healthy or something, sounds like bullshit, which is what you are, so I picked you to write to.

You’re so wrapped up in yourself, you don’t even realise how much of an asshole you are. You Don’t treat Nancy right now, and barely get better after you sleep with her. You’re a complete jackass, who I and everyone I’ve basically ever met hates and that’s without knowing you most of the time.

Literally, I meet people I thought were complete strangers, or maybe classmates I never interacted with, and get told how horrible you are. That’s how bad you are. You’re worse than complete garbage and trust me, I’ve met men like that enough to know.

Get your head out of your ass, stop bullying people for no reason and fucking learn money solves basically nothing. It just lets you pretend the problem isn’t there until you run out of it.

Thanks for nothing, And better grovel for Nancy to help you learn to be better, you useless prick.

Steve.

Attempt 2:

So, somehow Robin found out about my first letter and got mad about it? She’s telling me to right to a past me that I actually like and seems set on doing so until she thinks I’m healthier. There were threats to show it to Dustin involved and I do not want to know how he’d react. He’s already acting oddly, along with the other kids since Robs found it. I think she spoke to them too.

Sorry for the ramble, Steve, hello.

You’ll meet Robin soon so don’t worry over having no clue who she is. The kids have already inserted themselves into your lives and I still agree that you’re better for it.

I think the first time I actually liked myself was because of those kids. For once I wasn’t a Harrington, or a basketball player; I was a guy who could help them, protect them in a way Nancy never let me feel like I had done. (We both know I was the one who won against that demogorgan not her or Jonathan though)

Times are shit for you outside of the kids though, but I miss those days. Even if Billy liked to lord over me that he was king now, it was nice to be in the background at school, and stand a chance of learning in lessons instead of Tommy yanking me into parties or rubbish that I never enjoyed. Heck I even enjoyed a few of the classes that year. Who knew I could be interested in that stuff?

Life gets better though, even if it comes looking like horrid situations sometimes. And the kids will be there nagging you through it all. I love those shitheads.

Keep going.

Steve.

Attempt 3:

Hey Steve,

Erica would have gotten involved regardless. It might be horrible that you and Robin were the ones to do it when she was so young, but I think it was better for her. This last time was the worst and I’m glad she wasn’t trying to understand it all without something to get out of it. You don’t have to carry that guilt forever. At least share some of it with Robin since she was the one who came up with the idea and acted before asking me or Dustin if it was sensible to try.

I wish you had done that ceremonial burning of the scoops outfit though. You and Robs joked about it so much in the weeks after the fire but here I am, with Eddie fucking Munson begging me to wear it again just so he can see the old uniform fully assembled.

Seriously, go burn it now whenever you don’t get a letter from the future appearing

Steve

Attempt 4:

Dear Steve,

Kiddo, you know these people you think are friends aren’t. I wouldn’t call the kids I look after kiddo but somehow it works for 13yr old me. Popularity isn’t friendship, it’s people pretending to like you because they think that’ll get them something; I wish you weren’t so desperate for friendship and connection you fell into it.

This is the last year I remember trying to stop someone insulting another person. You got called a bleeding heart for months and if you even grimace at the worst bullying happening around you Tommy or one of the other people hanging onto you would turn everything onto ‘bleeding heart Harrington’. The poker face you develop because of it still hasn’t been broken when Eddie decides everyone should play cards.

Steve, you have hell coming before you, and despite the monsters and location that matches that name better to most people, for you that is high school and being forced to the top all because you wanted friends. You get through it, you find monsters and discover what real friendship is after all of that. I think someone in history class said something about if you’re going through hell keep going and that’s what you need to do, what I did.

But, kid, still keep trying to be kind when you can. I know it feels precarious, dangerous, to have everyone looking at you and see the bullying they do to anyone shown to be human. I know how scared I felt that it’d turn on me if I refused any of those people I thought were friends too much, but you try, I tried, as much as I could for as long as I could, until I got here.

You’re going to be lonely for a while, Steve, but not forever, I promise you that.

I’ll see you in my reflection when I get stunned by my friends. They’ll find you eventually.

Steve

Attempt 5:

Dear Steve,

I dug out a picture to write this. One mom took just before leaving saying she’d get it developed so she could never forget her darling boy. Two promises broken at once because I found that camera, and the film still inside it a decade later, the picture still undeveloped until I asked Jonathan if he could.

Dustin was right when he read somewhere that writing to our past could help us feel better, but he was wrong too. He suggested times I could write to for stupid things or times following what he thinks are the big traumas, but those are easy. I knew more of the world then, but you’re just a kid, younger than Erica was when I got to know her and needing far more protection than I think she’s ever done.

If Robin had brought you into the back room of Scoops that day I might’ve done the most sensible thing ever and just driven out of Hawkins, you and Dustin packed into the back seat to try and figure out how to survive. Until Mrs Henderson took Dustin back because she loves him so much.

Sometimes it hurts to witness that, because of your year, 8yrs old and absolutely sure I was a big boy who could cope with a few nights home alone because mom wanted to go with father on a short trip. You shouldn’t have been, have needed to be, and for a long time I’ve been sad about that.

Mom and father were home last week and she found the picture, said she didn’t remember getting it developed. I didn’t correct her. Because you were lonely, scared, for so long, and now I’m mad.

I know you get through it, become the best cook to start taking home economics and almost kill yourself mixing cleaning products enough times you didn’t need chemistry class to tell you what makes poisonous gases. You get to become me eventually, but you shouldn’t have. I could never imagine leaving one of the kids I look after home alone in the way you were, and that’s on our parents. They failed you, even before now, but at 8 was the first time you wondered it. You didn’t need to correct yourself then although I know you did. Mom and father failed you.

We make it, and they will realise they’ve been strangers my whole life when they come home to emptied rooms, bills unpaid and no forwarding address. I move out next week to an apartment with friends.

You will have company again.

Steve

Attempt 6:

Your majesty, King Steve,

Eddie is pretty funny and I think I need his flavour of madness right now. Last time I tried to write to you I got mad, at myself more than at you. Then Robin both got mad and started paying attention to how she and everyone talks to me or about who I’ve been. She’s still mad but at herself and others now.

You aren’t good, Steve, but you weren’t as horrible as I began to think. I mean, even at what everyone thinks is my worst I went back to save Nancy. Robin pointed that out to me, sat down and dissected things I was sure I did at my worst, before Nance and I were officially dating.

Some things surprised her and I like knowing that I was a good friend, even to people who weren’t, because you are. You are there giving Carol pudding pots when Tommy ruins hers; there checking no one on the swim or basketball teams gets too hurt by teasing; there trying to make sure everyone claiming to be your friend has what they need.

Those aren’t things a bad person would do, just someone so caught up in protecting themself from the pain of loneliness and isolation that they compromise themself for company. Okay, Robin told me that too, but it tracks.

Most importantly, when I get the chance to be better, to know real connections, I take it. That’s pretty great of you.

Thanks Steve. You take the biggest step for us.

Attempt 7:

To Myself,

It’s been a long journey and I never thought I’d write to myself half so much as I have.

I’ve been popular, lonely, both at once, heartbroken, loved and to hell only to come out fighting. Concussions are far too familiar a sensation and I could probably make do living in the woods with the ways I learnt to cook.

Life is a trip and apparently I don’t get a choice about living it. But in all the letters to our past I’ve written there’s one thing I realised I’ve wanted someone to tell me for years and that’s that it’s okay to mess up. It’s okay if I wasn’t always the nicest person, or that I’m not smart, hardly perfect and have very little will to fight for myself or against other people. I don’t need to be perfect because with the right people we can make a wonderful imperfect family.

To us, Steve. To being myself, as best I know how.

[3mcwriting]

Check You Out

He was back again, Captain America.

Though that's not how you actually knew him. You knew him as the shy man that always said please and thank you when checking out his books. The man who would sit in the corner of the library, reading World War II books until you finally recommended some other types to him

He came often, at least 5 times a week always greeting you with a, "good evening, ma'am" or a, "how are you, miss?" Always waiting patiently for a response and smiling shyly at you.

And whenever he picked out a book he'd ask you if you had read it. Oftentimes, you had, but sometimes it would be a book you hadn't read and he would ask, "Well, if you'd like, ma'am, you can read it with me?" His voice would be unsure but always polite.

And on days when there weren't many people, you would accept, sitting with him at the window seat and flipping through the book. And the first time he forgot about his shyness was when your friendship was finally solidified.

He had been checking out a book about medicine.

"I'd like to check out this book, please."

"Of course, so you're interested in the medical field?" you asked him, scanning the book and handing it to him.

"Yes, ma'am, when I was younger we didn't have all this stuff and it's interesting. I had a couple of illnesses that weren't really treatable then and now they are so, it's amazing how much knowledge has been gained." He stopped, looking sheepish. “Sorry, I'll stop. You probably don’t want to hear me ramble.”

"What? No, don't stop. It's nice to see you so passionate about something. Normally you just sit in a corner and read your book, you're very reserved sometimes. Also, I think it’s an intriguing topic."

"Oh, are you interested in medicine too?"

"I'm actually in medical school right now, so, yeah, you could say that."

"Wow…” he breathed, looking awestruck. “That's amazing, so do you think..."

And you had spent the afternoon talking about the wonders of healing people. He was genuinely fascinated by it, seemingly in awe at the possibilities of how a person could heal others.

"So why do you come here?"

"Huh?” he asked, face screwed up in confusion.

"Well, this library is kind of out of the way and there are closer ones to Stark tower."

He gaped, making you laugh. "What? You think I didn't know you're Captain America? The shades and hood don't really hide you all that well."

"I just though since you didn't treat me any different than anyone else you didn't know." He looked embarassed.

"Well I assumed you didn't want to be, you came here to read just like anyone else here so why should I treat you different. But back to my question, why do you come to a library so out of the way?"

"I used to go to this library when I was younger," he said hesitantly.

You nodded. "Has it changed much?"

"Not really, everything is in the same place except the computer tables used to be just more bookshelves. Oh, and the lighting is new," he said, looking around.

Since then, he would always asks for recommendations, and often would stay until you closed up.

You snapped out of your thoughts, looking at the man in front of you. "How can I help you?"

"I'm so glad you asked. Why don't I take you back to my place and you'll find out. How's that sound, baby?"

You wrinkled your nose at the scent of alcohol and BO. "If you're not going to get a book, please leave."

"Oh, don't be like that honey I'm sure we can work something out-"

"She said to leave." An angry voice was heard.

"Chill,man, why do you care? Is that bitch yours? Damn you tapped that ass, you lucky-"

He stopped when a fist collided with his jaw, throwing him to the floor. Steve stood there, glaring at the man with rage in his eyes. "Don't ever call her a bitch and you better not ever go anywhere fucking near her or you'll end up with something worse than a broken jaw."

The sleazy man ran out of the library so fast he tripped out the door, all while holding his jaw and cursing Steve which only made him curse more when it hurt.

"You know, I had that covered. But still, thanks.”

Steve said. “I just can’t believe that after all this time people still feel like they can treat women so lowly. I know you had it covered though, so I’m sorry for making a ruckus in here. It’s just makes me angry.”

"Yeah, I noticed, I've never heard you swear before." Even on the days when he came back after missions and he was clearly stressed he never lashed out.

He flushed. "Sorry about that."

"Don't be, it was amusing. Plus that guy definitely got what he deserved, I'm not the only woman that's been hit on by him while he's drunk off his ass and is about as crude as a caveman."

"He's done that to other women too?” His voice got even angrier.

"Yeah, he's a sleaze."

He was clearly about to go out there and beat the man up, so you grabbed his wrist gently. "If you beat that guy up I'm going to have to suspend you from the library and I don't want to lose my favorite regular."

He blushed, almost forgetting about his previous angry thoughts when you said he was your favorite.

~~

"So, what will you be checking out today?" you asked Steve, stepping behind the counter.

"You." He blurted out, eyes widening when he realised what he had said. "I-I mean, uh I meant-"

You laughed. "Calm down, Rogers, it's ok."

He flushed, rubbing his neck sheepishly. "Well that wasn't how I wanted to ask you out." His eyes widened again, realising yet again what he had said.

You grinned at his expression, "Well how about you ask me out the way you wanted to?"

His jaw dropped, you laughed. This man just couldn't get a break from being shocked. And to you, it was extra hilarious because here was Captain-freaking-America looking like a shocked toddler.

He cleared his throat. "Would you go out with me?"

You winked at him, "I thought you'd never ask."

[drabbles-mc]

Get a Grip

Steve Murphy & OC Maristela Fernandez

Written for my beloved @garbinge for the 2024 Trick or Treat Exchange!

Warnings: 18+, language, alcohol, light angst, emotional hurt/comfort

Word Count: 3.3k

A/N: obsessed with these two actually. i've written a fic where they're exes. this is a fic that happens before they date. their real relationship exists only in my mind palace lmao

Part of Mari wondered if Steve had always been a night owl, or if that was something that was born out of necessity after getting placed in Colombia. It was hard to imagine him as anything else considering so much of their time together was spent when the rest of their apartment buildings were fast asleep. Even before they reached that level of comfort, intimacy even, with each other, they were sat at their respective desks on the base with no one else but them in the building.

Sometimes it was all three of them—her, Steve, and Javi. But there were some nights, most nights if she was being unforgiving, that Javi was whisking someone away for the night to keep himself busy and leaving Steve and Mari to their own devices. And usually all that meant was the two of them agonized over things that couldn’t get solved in a night, but at least they were agonizing over them together. The old adage about misery and company certainly seemed to ring true for the two of them.

She was one of the only CNP officers who even pretended to have any use for Steve and Javi. They were all outcasts in different ways but each in their own rite. She didn’t have to carry the brand of being an American in Colombia, so she at least had that going for her where Steve and Javi didn’t—but she was still a woman, and that was something that the two American DEA agents didn’t need to worry about when they walked into a room. It hadn’t been a smooth start for the three of them together, and some days it still didn’t feel all that smooth, but they had each other’s backs at least. That was something, even if some days they were still snipping at each other, Mari and Javi ping-ponging back and forth between Spanish and English and Steve just trying his best to keep up with all of it.

It was one of the rare nights when they’d each gone home somewhat early that the phone in Steve’s apartment started to ring. There was a very short list of people who would be calling his Colombia apartment at all, let alone outside standard business hours. Drink in hand, he got himself up off the couch to go and answer the call.

He was leaning against the wall as he brought the receiver to his ear, coiled cord swaying slightly as he spoke. “Murphy.”

“Hey.”

Steve’s brows pulled together. “Mari?”

“You free for a drink?”

Steve blinked slowly, trying to fit the words together like jigsaw pieces in his head. Sure, the two of them sometimes dipped into the bottle that Steve kept in his desk when they were working late, but it was never a formal invitation. It was always about work in some regard. This didn’t feel like that.

“Uh, yeah,” he finally got himself to speak. “Got someplace in mind?”

“Your place,” she answered, faster than she meant to, “or mine. Doesn’t matter.”

He was shaking his head like she could see him. “The hell’s goin’ on with you? You alright?”

She huffed. “I don’t fucking know, Murphy. That’s—that’s why I’m calling.”

He frowned in thought, trying to figure out which of the options she presented him with was a better one. Looking around his apartment, he quickly decided that however her place looked, it was still probably in better shape.

“I’ll come over.”

Even though she had been the one who told him to come over, Mari still found herself flinching when she heard the knocks at her door. Standing up from the tiny table in her kitchen, she quickly and quietly padded over to the door. There was one more knock and even though there was very little likelihood of it being anyone else, she still looked through the peephole to make sure that it was really Steve on the other side.

She flipped the deadbolt and undid the chain lock on her door before pulling it open. Steve looked the same way he always did, except with maybe more confusion in his features given the circumstances, although she also had to admit that confused wasn’t exactly a new look on him either. Even with that being the case, she was certain that she’d never been so relieved to see him.

“Hey, thanks for—” She stopped herself short when the door of the apartment down the hall slowly started to creak open. Mari would’ve known who it was even if she couldn’t see the woman’s face in the sliver of space in the door. “No te preocupes, Señora Sanchez,” she called out, loud enough to make a point but not so loud that it would disturb their other neighbors. Grabbing Steve’s arm, she angled his body so that he was facing the doorway of her neighbor. “Es mi colega.”

Steve felt a little strange being put on display like that in the middle of Maristela’s hallway, for her neighbor who looked as though she must’ve been nearing seventy years old at least. However, Steve didn’t let the woman’s long grey hair and short stature fool him when he could easily see the hefty wooden broom in her hand. He did his best to give as disarming of a wave as possible as he said, “Buenas noches,” with the thickest American drawl both Mari and Señora Sanchez had ever heard.

It must’ve been satisfactory to some degree, because the woman gave a tight nod before pushing her door shut again. In the eerie silence of the hallway, both Steve and Mari could hear the clicking of all the woman’s locks sliding back into place.

“Neighborhood watch?” Steve asked with a half-hearted chuckle, gesturing back over his shoulder with his thumb as he crossed the threshold into Mari’s apartment.

Mari smiled briefly and nodded. “Señora Sanchez is the nosiest woman I’ve met in my life besides my own mother.” She shook her head and walked towards the kitchen. “She’s earned it, though.”

It was the first time that Steve had been really inside her apartment. First time he was doing more than just dropping her off after a bad day. Usually he didn’t make it past the doorway, just made sure that he stood there long enough to hear the locks click and then he was on his way. Everything about this felt different. Almost intimate, almost comfortable. Steve wondered if, now that he was standing there with his hands shoved into the pockets of his jeans, Mari was feeling the awkwardness about it too. At least it was her apartment—home field advantage and all that.

“Drink?” she offered, already making her way towards the kitchen because she knew the answer.

Steve nodded, then noticed the mildly chaotic pile of shoes beside her apartment door. He got around to giving a real answer as he crouched down to start undoing the laces on his shoes. “Uh, yeah. Whatever you’re having’s fine.”

She chuckled, a dry and tired sound. “Good, because that’s all I’ve got.”

Steve’s shoes looked out of place amongst hers for a couple reasons, but the most noticeable of them all was the fact that they were placed very nicely next to each other while all of hers were more or less piled on top of each other.

He didn’t feel right going to her living room and sitting down on her couch, so instead he made his way over to the kitchen. She was just putting the cork back into the whiskey bottle when he stopped next to the counter. She slid the glass bottle against the smooth countertop with an amount of force that had Steve wondering if it was going to crack against the backsplash. It didn’t, and the way that Mari didn’t even give it so much as a cautionary glance had Steve thinking that it was far from the first time she had taken her frustrations out with alcohol in more ways than one.

“Hm?” She offered him the glass, eyebrows lifted expectantly.

He took it, murmuring out a quick, “Thanks,” before taking a long sip. When she mirrored his actions and didn’t make any move to head towards the living room, or start any kind of conversation about why they were in the situation they were in, Steve started it for her. “Something happen?”

“Qué?”

He sent his glass back down on the counter, making a point to do it gently. “C’mon, Mari. You’re not gonna stand there and tell me that you called me over here because you just wanted to spend some quality time.”

It got a smile out of her, even if it was a weak one. “Wouldn’t buy that, Agent Murphy?”

“Might be more believable if you weren’t still callin’ me Agent Murphy.”

Her smile softened a little more even if it didn’t take the exhaustion out of her eyes. “Steve.”

He nodded, picking his glass back up off the counter and lightly clinking it against hers before taking another sip. “Mari.” He paused a beat before asking again. “So? What happened?” He cracked a tiny grin like he knew he was being ridiculous but wasn’t going to be stopping himself regardless. “Qué pasó?”

She couldn’t help but laugh, what little Spanish he did know still coming out so stilted and laden with his drawl. “Don’t hurt yourself—I understand English just fine.”

She let out a deep sigh, staring down into her glass for a moment as she tried to figure out how she should explain to Steve why she called him and asked him to come over. She wasn’t really even fully sure of the reason herself. But she knew that she had to be careful, she knew how easily it could start to sound like something that she didn’t mean at all.

“I was on the phone with my mother earlier,” she finally started. “And she never,” she shook her head, “never asks about work. She doesn’t want to know.”

“Would you wanna tell her if she did?” Steve asked before he could stop himself. He was vaguely aware of the fact that he was probably just supposed to be listening, but this was officially the most he’d learned about Mari in a non-work capacity and he couldn’t pretend that he didn’t want to know more.

She laughed. “Fuck no. But it just feels, I don’t know,” she swirled around the whiskey in her glass, “it feels a little like she pretends that it isn’t real. My father, he doesn’t like talking about it either, but I know that he understands what’s going on, how real this all is. Pero, mí mama…it’s like she’s ignoring it all.”

Steve felt like he should be saying something but this was well outside his wheelhouse. If his parents had it their way, he’d be spilling government secrets out over the phonelines all the way to West Virginia. They didn’t ignore anything. He did his best to venture a guess. “Freaks you out?”

She nodded. “Yeah, yeah it fucking does. Acting like none of this is going on when we can barely get enough of a grip on this motherfucker to try and say that he won’t show up knocking on her fucking door?”

“He’s not—”

“That’s not the point,” she cut him off. “You know what I mean.”

He sighed, nodding. “I know.”

“All those late nights and listening in and, and for what? I feel like we don’t even have anything to show for it.”

Steve couldn’t stand there and pretend that he hadn’t been feeling some of those same things over the last couple of weeks. It’d been feeling like they were running a marathon but the finish line just kept getting moved farther and farther away. He hadn’t stopped to think about how that felt for Maristela though, someone who had her entire family in Colombia, living in the thick of it all. Every shoot-out and bombing, in the back of her mind she was always waiting for it to be happening on her parents’ street.

“We’re gonna catch a break soon.”

She let out a hum that was adjacent to amused. “You really believe that or are you just bullshitting me?”

He laughed. “I don’t know. Just don’t think I’ve ever seen you sweatin’ any of this before. It’s freaking me out a little.”

There was something simultaneously annoying yet the slightest bit endearing about the admission. “Well get a grip—we can’t all be losing it.”

He nodded as he brought the glass back up to his lips again. “Yes ma’am.”

It wasn’t supposed to turn into a late night of working. When Maristela had dialed Steve’s number, it was just because she wasn’t quite sure where else to turn, and the only person she knew for a fact would be up late and willing to talk was Steve. Part of her hadn’t even really expected him to agree to show up the way that he had.

But once he was there, and once they got talking about work, it was a quick and slippery slope into really getting back into work. Despite knowing that bringing things home with her wasn’t going to do her any good, Mari still had a habit of stuffing things in her bag whenever she’d leave for the day just in case an idea struck her at an odd hour, if dots decided to connect in the small hours of the morning.

So that was how they ended up sitting on Maristela’s sofa, her legs stretched out on the couch while Steve’s were propped up on the coffee table. She had a headset on, playing back one of the tapes that she’d brought home with her to see if she could try and glean anything from it. Meanwhile, Steve was sifting through photographs that he’d taken, ones that other officers had taken as well. Both of their empty whiskey glasses were on the coffee table, the warm light of the lamps in her living room giving them just enough light for them to see what they were doing without it feeling too bright or too harsh.

Steve didn’t remember either of them falling asleep. However, when he woke up it was to daylight streaming in through Maristela’s apartment windows. His legs, still propped up on the coffee table, were stiffer than boards as he tried to pull them back towards himself. He still had photographs piled in his lap, some of them drifting to the floor as he tried to grease the gears in all his joints again.

Turning to look at Mari, he smiled involuntarily. She was still fast asleep, head nestled in the crook where the arm of her sofa met the back of it. The headset she’d been wearing was cockeyed now, only one side still resting over her ear. It was no longer playing anything yet managed to act as a bit of a headband, keeping her thick dark waves of hair back out of her face. Still, though, she was clutching the tape player tightly to her stomach even in her sleep. She almost looked relaxed—it was the most relaxed Steve had ever seen her, at least.

Leaning forward, Steve propped his elbows on his knees so he could run his fingers back through his hair, pushing it back out of his face. Letting out a deep sigh, he tried to figure out what exactly he was going to do next. He didn’t think that Mari would really care all that much if he just took off—it wasn’t like he was supposed to be staying over anyway. Something about it still felt wrong though.

Slowly getting up off the couch, trying not to think about the popping in his knees as he did so, Steve did his best to straighten up the mild mess the two of them had created the night before. He neatly stacked all the photos he’d been looking at, tucking them back into their respective folders before setting them back on her coffee table. He took the glasses they’d been drinking of and slowly brought them back to the kitchen.

It wasn’t until he sat back down on the couch to put his shoes on that Mari woke up. Her awakening was slow and ungraceful, and Steve didn’t even try to pretend that he wasn’t watching her with complete and utter amusement.

“Fuck,” she grumbled out as she blindly peeled the headset off and rubbed at her eyes. She was still slouched over the arm of the couch.

Steve chuckled. “Well aren’t you just a ray of sunshine.”

Getting herself to sit upright, she finally opened her eyes all the way. She studied Steve’s face for a moment, like she was trying to figure out what exactly she wanted to say to him. He didn’t seem fazed by their situation, and she wasn’t quite awake enough to feel any type of way about it one way or the other.

“Coffee?”

He looked up from lacing his shoes. “Offering or asking me to make it?”

She smiled tiredly. “Offering, but if you’re offering…”

Steve let a long pause settle between them before cracking a grin. “I’m not.” He stood up, laughing as she rolled her eyes at him. “Nice try though.”

She tossed her headset onto the coffee table before getting up off the couch herself. Walking by Steve, she brushed her shoulder against his own with a purposeful shove. “Malparido.”

“I know that one,” he joked.

She tried to hide her amusement as she retied her hair, getting the sleepy frizz of it all as under control as she could. “Nice to see that all your months in Colombia are finally paying off.”

Steve followed her lead as she started towards her apartment door. There was no discussion needed really about what was happening next. Steve still had to go home, shower, and change before heading back to Carlos Holguín. Mari had to do the same. And neither of them wanted the other to be around for any of that.

Still, before she started undoing the locks on her door, Steve asked, “You good?”

She looked back over her shoulder at him. “Besides the knot in my neck from sleeping on the couch?” She shrugged. “I’m fine.”

“I just—”

She waved him off as she pulled the door open. “I’m okay. Promise.” She leaned against the doorframe and the smile on her face had a genuine air to it that Steve didn’t think he’d ever seen from her before. “Thank you.”

He wanted to say something else, but he wasn’t sure what. He managed a nod. “Yeah. No problem.” Clearing his throat, he found himself shoving his hands back into his pockets once more as he stepped out into the hallway. “I’ll see you at the base?”

She nodded. “Yeah.” She let him get a stride and a half away before saying, “And bring me a coffee.”

He laughed and shook his head, but didn’t turn around to look at her as he continued making his way out. Maristela watched him go, an upward curl to her lips as she did. He was hardly out of her eyeline when the door down the hall opened up to reveal Señora Sanchez. She looked extremely ready for the day, like she’d already experienced an entire morning as opposed to Mari who was barely this side of conscious.

Mari raised her eyebrows, waiting for her neighbor to say something. She shook her head at Mari, sarcasm in her tone, almost borderline mockery as she said, “Tu colega.”

Mari sighed, slouching against her doorframe. “Señora, es demasiado temprano para esto.”

The veil of judgment faded from the woman’s face, an odd brand of amusement in its place. The kind that women who had seen enough to know what’s coming tended to have. She smiled at Mari, gave a small nod as she went to slip back into her apartment again, leaving her with, “Buen día y buena suerte.”

She laughed, and even though the woman’s door was closed, Mari still said, “Gracias,” before heading back into her own apartment to get ready for the day.

(divider by @silkholland 💞)

Narcos Taglist (if you'd like to be added to any of my taglists please let me know!): @ashlingnarcos @narcolini @hausofmamadas @winchestershiresauce @cositapreciosa

@sizzlingcloudmentality @justreblogginfics @supersanelyromantic @padbrookcottage @mysun-n-stars

@raincoffeeandfandoms @proceduralpassion @artemiseamoon @nessamc

[therosebunpost]

Rudolph The Red Nose Demon

Apparently, you and Eddie are regulars at this thrift store.

-

CW: Reader has the nickname Bunny, but otherwise is un-named. This is from Steve’s POV, and there is mention of demonic singing reindeer. Reader uses Fem pronouns, is mute, has a distinct fashion style, but otherwise is as inclusive as possible!

————

Apparently, you and Eddie are regulars at this thrift store. You two come in nearly every week. Sometimes just to buy something you need, other times it’s like you two are on some kind of date.

Those days always make Steve’s heart hurt the most.

It’s just awful watching the two of you galavanting around, showing each other all the weird shit Hawkins had to offer. It’s not like either one of you are disruptive, well you weren’t, but it just made him sick watching how sweet you both were to each other. How you just relished in the strange.

There was one time Steve was stuck watching Eddie come up behind you, holding a stuffed animal version of that claymation reindeer he’s seen during Christmas. With a flourish, Eddie presses the button on the toy and the most demonic version of Rudolph The Red Nosed Reindeer plays. All garbled, and tinny. The ending notes make him think of those music boxes in horror movies.

You love it. Your smile lights up the entire store and Steve is blindsided by it. You play the toy for him when you come up to check out, and Steve can’t help the smile on his lips. Still fucked up, but…maybe it was kind of cute. Maybe you both were kind of cute.

It wasn’t just you Steve was watching, though. He found himself paying more attention to Eddie as well. At the way the metalhead treated you with such love and tenderness. At the way he grinned when he found something he liked, or something you’d like. While you were a technicolor oddity, from your clothes to the little notepads you carried with you, Eddie was your achromatic counterpart. His clothes may not have been the most colorful, but he glimmered silver and sometimes the jingle of his chains reminded Steve of bells.

“Steve, are you gonna help me put these hangers away, or are you just going to moon over Munson and his girlfriend?”

"Im not- Im not mooning." Steve huffs, turning towards her and grabbing the pile of hangers from the register beside him. "They just draw attention, hard not to stare."

"Well yeah, I mean Munson's girlfriend is gorgeous but we have work to do.” Robin shot back, jabbing him in the arm with a hanger. “Cari is coming in soon, so you want to start putting away those hard lines with me? Maybe you’ll run into them.”

Grabbing a few board games and craft supplies, Steve cautiously moved through the isles. He got stopped a few times, people wanting to find certain items or asking what the sale was for that day.

“Harrington!”

Jumping at Eddie’s yell, Steve swung around and nearly dropped the items in his arms. You approached him, gesturing with your hand before messily scribbling in your notepad. It was macaroni themed, and it matched the macaroni and the pasta noodle necklace combo you had wrapped around your wrists and throat.

‘Sorry to scare you!’

Steve shook his head, and placed the stack on the shelf. “It’s alright, what’s up? Looking for more macaroni?” He jokes, which brings a smile to your lips and your shoulders shake a little with what he hopes is laughter.

“Close. We’re actually hoping to snatch that box of dice and wooden beads from you.” Eddie says, reaching over and grabbing the two items. “Hey, do you guys ever sell those tiny screw-in pins?”

Steve starts putting the rest of the games away, “Maybe? I’d check the hardware section. What are they for?” Briefly he wondered if it was for that game Dustin raved about. “Are you like, using the beads as rocks to throw at people in your game?” He turns to look over at them, momentarily taken aback by the surprise in Eddie’s eyes. The metalhead is quick to recover, tossing the packet in the air and catching it on the other side of Steve.

“Thanks for the idea Sunshine, but nah. My sweetheart’s got the great idea to make another dice belt. This time fruit themed.” The nickname flusters you, and Steve’s heart flutters at the sight of your bashful smile. “So, you make all the things you wear?”

For a moment Steve is bold. He reaches out, his fingers gently nudging your macaroni earrings. The clack they make is loud in the bustling store. You look up at him, eyes wide. For a moment Steve thinks he’s just blown it all, but your written words soothe him.

‘We do! Do you want to join us sometime?’ The hope in your eyes wares at his uncertainty. Steve bites the inside of his cheek, the slow bloom of a migraine rising in his skull. It wasn’t that he didn’t want to, he did, but well…

“I don’t know, I don’t think I’m all that good at that kind of stuff? I mean, I haven’t done any art classes since elementary school…” Surrounded by smart, creative people really highlighted how much of that Steve lacked in that department. Hell, he didn’t even make his bat. It was Jonathan’s first that he just adopted.

You and Eddie are quick to disagree though. “Steve, my stuff looked like shit when I first made it. The first thing that I liked was this.” Eddie reaches into his shirt to pull out a guitar pick on a chain. “And well, now look at me.” He makes a dramatic turn around for Steve, showing off the things he’s made. He even shoves off his vest, only hesitating for a moment before tossing it to Steve. “See how fucked the stitching is over there?” He points to the edge of his Dio back patch. “I was high as a kite, nearly jabbed my fingers off, but it worked. It’s on there.”

Steve let his fingers run along the edge of the denim. “….Is that…floss?” He blinked, poking at the thick, white thread holding one of the patches together. He looked up at Eddie, who snorted. “Yeah. The thread I was using kinda sucked, so this one,” he made a proud gesture towards you, “suggested we could try some floss. That shit is strong.”

You hold up your notepad, grinning. ‘I got the idea from a friend of mine who’s into Punk stuff. She showed me how she put patches on her bag with it.’

Steve hummed, and handed the jacket back over to Eddie. “I wouldn’t even know what to make. I’d just be sitting there. Besides, I might make it and then never wear it."

'You don't need to wear it,' you scribble with determination, 'it's just for fun, you know? Something for us to do! We really want to hang out with you, Steve. :)'

Steve liked the way you wrote his name. The curve of your writing, the smiley face right next to it. Eddie chuckles next to him, and Steve's cheeks burn with heat.

"Maybe you can invite Buckley too? Think she might be interested?"

"Interested in what, Munson? In knowing why your holding up my co-worker when he's supposed to be helping me? Yeah, I'd say so."

The three of you jump at Robin's words. You end up laughing again, turning towards her and scribbling into your book. Robin breaks out in a smile. "Yeah, I'd love too! Did you manage to convince Steve?"

You pout, shaking your head and looking over at him with big, soulful eyes. He makes a show of hiding himself behind a hand. "Oh thats not fair-"

"She does it to me too, dude. It's a weapon." Eddie chimes in and you make a shooing motion at him, which only prompts him to catch your hand and kiss the back of it. A goofy grin on his lips. "Didn't mean to upset you, m'lady~"

Robin groans and Steve suppresses his yearning.

————

Taglist: @ali-r3n

—-

—

[missacidburn928s-heathenhideaway]

LUNATIC Prologue

Banner by @cafekitsune Divider by @unowakot

Nyx, a fucked up, savage little sweetheart with a penchant for mayhem and draining abusive individuals of all their blood has found herself on the Avengers radar after she makes quite the mess of one Brock Rumlow, the waste of space who made the mistake of assaulting her best friend at her place of work. Granted that place of work is a sex club. But hey sex workers are still people and deserve to be treated with respect not used and abused, okay.

Really, it's a hot button topic for her and she tends to have a hair-trigger on her temper. Plus she looks really good in crimson, just ask Wade. How that Merc with a mouth became one of her ‘besties’ is beyond her. He found her slashing a man to shreds in an old warehouse one night and has followed her around like a lovesick puppy ever since. It was love at first bloodbath for him. 

She doesn't mind him much. She finds him quite funny actually. Plus who is she to judge, she works at a sex club for a living and quenches her blood-lust draining deplorable human beings. They oddly fit together, although try as he might Wade will never actually get in Nyx’ pants. She does allow him to feed his voyeuristic needs though, both of the flesh and blood. Sometimes even at the same time. 

She has that same Merc with a mouth to blame for her snagging the attention of the Avengers. He was hanging around the tower one night, you know checking in on the band of misfits and found himself asleep in one of Clint’s little nests in the vents. They're surprisingly comfy.  Upon waking up he made his way to the exit and happened to somehow fall through the ceiling onto the conference room table while the team was having a meeting. 

“Oh hey guys! Don’t mind me. I was just on my way out.” He says as he dusts himself off.

“Wade what on earth are you doing up there or even here at all for that matter? Don't you have your own hideout or something?” Nat grilled him. 

“Blame bird boy. His nests are comfy.” He shrugs. 

“Damn right they are.” Clint proclaimed. 

“Well we're gonna need ya to get the hell out of here. We have a mission to prep for.” Nat says. 

“Oh really! Who ya goin’ after this time?” Wade turns around to glance at the hologram projection. “Hey, that amount of carnage looks familiar. She really did a number on him. Wonder what he did to deserve it.” 

“She? Wade, do you know who is behind this?” Steve asks.

Knocked out of his daydreaming he answers the good Captain. “Well yeah. That’s my girl Nyx’ handy work. He must have been a truly horrible person for her to rip into him like that. That’s brutal. Even for her. Who’s the guy anyway?”

“Wait, you know this person in real life?” Bucky quanders.

“Mmmhmm. Hot little thing that gets off on blood and mayhem. She works at Sins. Kinda my bestie. I can introduce ya if you want. Even though I’m pretty sure she will maim me for it. She’s not really your biggest fan. Well if you exclude the Viking, Winter and Red of course.”

Nat and Thor smirk as Bucky just shakes his head. 

“You’re telling me that a woman did this and that you are ‘besties’ with her?” Steve, still unsure that a woman could possibly do this, inquires. 

“Righty O Captain Obvious. Do you want to meet her or not because I really should get going if that's not happening.” He climbs back onto the table.

“She works at Sins you say?” Tony pipes up with a grin on his face. “Yeah, even if they don't want to, I need to see this woman for myself. I know what caliber of women Sins employs. She’s got to be gorgeous. I’m curious about if or what she performs. Set it up Checkers.”

“Oooh this is gonna be fun! Meet me there tonight at 10. It’s Thursday so I believe electro play is on the table.” He looks at Thor who is smirking. “Figured you’d like that big guy. Well I’ve wasted enough time. I best be on my way.” And with that he exits the way he came in.

[witchthewriter]

𝐬𝐡𝐢𝐩 𝐟𝐨𝐫 @moonyssmommyy.

𝐒𝐓𝐑𝐀𝐍𝐆𝐄𝐑 𝐓𝐇𝐈𝐍𝐆𝐒

𝑫𝒆𝒔𝒄𝒓𝒊𝒑𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏

𝐼 𝑠𝘩𝑖𝑝 𝑦𝑜𝑢 𝑤𝑖𝑡𝘩 𝑆𝑡𝑒𝑣𝑒 𝐻𝑎𝑟𝑟𝑖𝑛𝑔𝑡𝑜𝑛 𝐴𝑁𝐷 𝐸𝑑𝑑𝑖𝑒 𝑀𝑢𝑛𝑠𝑜𝑛. THE BEST OF BOTH FREAKIN' WORLDS! They both treat you like literal royalty, no doubt about that. You're the passenger princess, the one who is always in shotgun with one of their hands on your thigh, driving you wherever you need to go.

I matched you with both of them because I thought they both matched with you in one way or another. Both would adore your intelligence, your introverted nature. They both revel at your bluntness and ability to say the truth with no grace (even though you don't mean to.)

𝑯𝒆𝒂𝒅𝒄𝒂𝒏𝒐𝒏𝒔

Steve is an early bird, the first one awake. He's always bringing coffee to your place, with Eddie (he picked him up along the way - but not without grunts and groans of disapproval.)

Eddie has introduced you to Wayne, and on multiple occasions, you've sat down with the old man and played a few board games before either boyfriend arrives. He's a very wonderful man, he's actually taught you a lot.

Steve has no idea what the DnD stuff Eddie talks about means, but if it's important to you than he'll do his best to understand it ( and by that I mean scower every library to find every resource and learn every goddamn bit of it).

If there are sleepovers, you're always in the middle, with Steve being the big spoon, and Eddie curled up in your lap or asleep on your chest.

Steve's nicknames for you are, "babe," "sweetie-pie," "honey-buns," "my love." While Eddies are "sweetheart," "hot pants, "sexy face,".

𝑻𝒉𝒆𝒎𝒆 𝑺𝒐𝒏𝒈

Say Yes To Heaven by Lana Del Rey

𝑹𝒆𝒍𝒂𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏𝒔𝒉𝒊𝒑 𝑻𝒓𝒐𝒑𝒆𝒔

Makes A Mess (Eddie) x Cleans The Mess (Steve) x Is A Mess (You)

The Impulsive (Eddie) x The Hyperactive (You) x The Unheeded Voice of Reason (Steve)

Moon (Eddie) x Eclipse (You) x Sun (Steve)

𝑷𝒍𝒐𝒕 𝑻𝒓𝒐𝒑𝒆

Started Out As Fake Dating But Then You And Steve Realised You Actually Like Each Other, And Eddie Had Fallen In Love With You By Now So You All Said Fuck It...

𝑻𝒉𝒆𝒊𝒓 𝒇𝒂𝒗𝒐𝒖𝒓𝒊𝒕𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒂𝒃𝒐𝒖𝒕 𝒚𝒐𝒖

Steve: That you aren't fake. You let people know when you don't like them. You aren't a push over like some friends he's had in the past.

Eddie: Wit, sarcasm, rebellious nature. Sometimes he looks at you and thinks you're a literal rockstar.

𝒀𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒃𝒆𝒔𝒕 𝒇𝒓𝒊𝒆𝒏𝒅

Is Robin! She finds your relationship incredibly brilliant. "YOU GOT TWO FOR THE PRICE OF ONE OH MY GOD, YOU'RE A GENIUS!" She shouted once, and you had to jump on her to get her to stop. She's one of the people who really bring you out of your shell. No matter where you are, you know you'll have a good time with Robin.

𝑾𝒉𝒊𝒄𝒉 𝒄𝒉𝒂𝒓𝒂𝒄𝒕𝒆𝒓 𝒚𝒐𝒖'𝒓𝒆 𝒎𝒐𝒔𝒕 𝒍𝒊𝒌𝒆

A mixture of Max, Nancy and El. I think you can be very introverted, but once you feel comfortable around someone, you open up - basically blooming for them. And once a friend, you'll be loyal to them forever. You're also very intelligent and forthcoming and I think those are traits that perfectly describe these girls.

𝒀𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒑𝒆𝒕

A wolfhound, a very large wolfhound that you found on the side of the road, shivering and aching for food. With your heart, you couldn't leave it by itself to die, so you rescued it... and tried to keep it a secret from your family... but these guys grow BIG.

𝐇𝐀𝐑𝐑𝐘 𝐏𝐎𝐓𝐓𝐄𝐑

𝑫𝒆𝒔𝒄𝒓𝒊𝒑𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏

𝐼 𝑠𝘩𝑖𝑝 𝑦𝑜𝑢 𝑤𝑖𝑡𝘩 𝐷𝑟𝑎𝑐𝑜 𝑀𝑎𝑙𝑓𝑜𝑦! I think the two of you would understand each other on a deeper level. He's very multidimensional (yes I know everyone is,) but with his upbringing (which brought along his trauma), I think you would have the patience to help him change, to grow and understand himself.

𝑯𝒆𝒂𝒅𝒄𝒂𝒏𝒐𝒏𝒔

It was a difficult friendship. At first you were forced by Snape to help Draco on one of is projects. You couldn't have rolled your eyes more whenever he spoke.

It took three sessions before you started talking to each other like normal beings and not insulting the other. But Snape wouldn't budge on the assignment.

It was during that project that your friendship grew, and it stayed growing throughout that year - until you realised he had taken the Dark Mark.

It wasn't until after Voldemort had been vanquished that your relationship started back up again. Draco wanted to make amends, but the only person he knew who could reach the other students was you. So once again, he needed your help.

It took a lot of convincing but you agreed, and on you both went on your quest - to make amends, fix Hogwarts and undo what had been done by the Death Eaters and Voldemort.

𝑻𝒉𝒆𝒎𝒆 𝑺𝒐𝒏𝒈

R U Mine by the Arctic Monkeys

𝑹𝒆𝒍𝒂𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏𝒔𝒉𝒊𝒑 𝑻𝒓𝒐𝒑𝒆𝒔

Bully Turned Puppy Lover

Character (Draco) That Doesn't Believe The Other Could Ever Love Them Back But They Do

Places His Wife Above Everyone

𝑷𝒍𝒐𝒕 𝑻𝒓𝒐𝒑𝒆

Rivals to Friends to Forced Proximity to Lovers

𝑻𝒉𝒆𝒊𝒓 𝒇𝒂𝒗𝒐𝒖𝒓𝒊𝒕𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒂𝒃𝒐𝒖𝒕 𝒚𝒐𝒖

Your bluntness, your intelligence and how you handle yourself. You truly are your own person. He really admires how you don't let other's push you around or tell you what to do. He hasn't mastered that yet, he's doing his best though.

𝒀𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒃𝒆𝒔𝒕 𝒇𝒓𝒊𝒆𝒏𝒅

Is Hermione Granger, Harry Potter and Pansy Parkinson; even if you like Harry Potter, you still belong to the Slytherin House and have found a happy medium. Well, to you - the others don't see your interactions with the other.

Your friendship with Hermione blossomed when you helped each other with homework. When you knew something she didn't, there was a spark in Hermione's eyes and you realised she could have been placed in Slytherin herself.

Harry Potter looked lonely one afternoon, it was your fourth year and he was in a fight with Ron. You felt so bad, you hate seeing others left out. And he didn't ask for all this, so you befriended him. And somehow twisted Draco's prank so that even he thought it was too embarrassing to wear.

𝑾𝒉𝒊𝒄𝒉 𝒄𝒉𝒂𝒓𝒂𝒄𝒕𝒆𝒓 𝒚𝒐𝒖'𝒓𝒆 𝒎𝒐𝒔𝒕 𝒍𝒊𝒌𝒆

A mix of Pansy, Ginny and Neville. I think you have many sides to you, which is normal, but you've grown to love certain parts. You have passion for things you care about, and want to do what is right by the people you love.

𝒀𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒑𝒆𝒕

You took to Hogwarts a cat, from the list of what you could choose from. Your family had three owls, so you wanted something different.

𝐇𝐎𝐓𝐃

𝑫𝒆𝒔𝒄𝒓𝒊𝒑𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏

𝐼 𝑠𝘩𝑖𝑝 𝑦𝑜𝑢 𝑤𝑖𝑡𝘩 𝐷𝑎𝑒𝑚𝑜𝑛 𝑇𝑎𝑟𝑔𝑎𝑟𝑦𝑒𝑛, I was going to add Aemond but either man wouldn't like sharing. Their partner is THEIR partner. And Daemon is enough for any person; he's all-encompassing, he never lacks in anything and is always there for you. Especially during times when he knows it's hard for you.

𝑯𝒆𝒂𝒅𝒄𝒂𝒏𝒐𝒏𝒔

Very possessive of you; no one else that he deems dangerous is allowed to be near you. He has two of his own personal guard trail you when you visit King's Landing. He doesn't trust anyone there.

But not only is he possessive, he's also incredibly protective of you and always has a personal guard for you whenver you visit King's Landing (he's never seen it as his home).

If he isn't in your chambers when it's time for bed, he sends a note, always ending with "I love you, dearest."

Flying races with your dragons were actually what truly bonded you to your husband and vice versa. Not a lot of people will feel how it is to sit atop a dangerous flying beast and go anywhere you like, do anything you want to do. But Daemon is one of those few people that can.

Caraxes was so happy to make another friend (not that he's desperate for them). But you could tell. You didn't tell Daemon that of course, but the spice noodle nearly squealed in delight when you brought Meraxes with you - another friend!

𝑻𝒉𝒆𝒎𝒆 𝑺𝒐𝒏𝒈

O Amore by Sangre de Muerdago

𝑹𝒆𝒍𝒂𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏𝒔𝒉𝒊𝒑 𝑻𝒓𝒐𝒑𝒆𝒔

Acts Then Thinks (Daemon) x Thinks Before They Act (You)

The Sarcastic Duo That Can Finish Each Other's Insults

"I've been such an asshole for so long but because of you I want to be a better person" (Daemon to You)

𝑷𝒍𝒐𝒕 𝑻𝒓𝒐𝒑𝒆

"Being With You Makes Me Better"

𝑻𝒉𝒆𝒊𝒓 𝒇𝒂𝒗𝒐𝒖𝒓𝒊𝒕𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒂𝒃𝒐𝒖𝒕 𝒚𝒐𝒖

Your bluntness, combined with your intelligence makes Daemon swoon over you. He loves that he never has to guess what you're thinking, he can ask you and you'll be totally up front about it. That's how he knows he can trust you.

𝒀𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒃𝒆𝒔𝒕 𝒇𝒓𝒊𝒆𝒏𝒅

Is Aemond Targaryen. Yes, a bit shocking since you're on the side of the Blacks. The two of you grew up together, and understand each other like no other. However, he always had a crush on you, but didn't know how to tell you. So now he has to watch on as his enemy falls in love with his best friend.

𝑾𝒉𝒊𝒄𝒉 𝒄𝒉𝒂𝒓𝒂𝒄𝒕𝒆𝒓 𝒚𝒐𝒖'𝒓𝒆 𝒎𝒐𝒔𝒕 𝒍𝒊𝒌𝒆

A mixture of Rhaenyra, Alicent and Laena; intelligent, curious, determined, formiddable, loyal, cunning, loves fiercely, not very good at showing how you truly feel.

𝒀𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒑𝒆𝒕

𝐌𝐞𝐫𝐚𝐱𝐞𝐬

One of the dragons during the Conquest of Westeros, Meraxes once belonged to Rhaenys I Targaryen (the sister-wife to Aegon Targaryen).

You're an INTP, Slytherin, with the zodiac placements of Aquarius Sun, Aries Moon, Scorpio Rising, and Pisces Venus. And I think this links up the most with Meraxes.

She would definitely be in tune with you, understand when to push you and when to back down. She's incredibly loyal, and is always ready whenever you need her. She isn't fickle like some dragons, in fact, she can rough it like no other.

[usuallydeepcoffee]

Hi! 😄 Love your blog! 😄

And I love violence, so for the ask game, could you please answer to: 2, 8, 10, 17, 22.

Hi! :D

2. a compelling argument for why your fave would never top or bottom

Already answered that here. I'll add this tho: I'm kinda picky when it comes to Steve's characterization while getting dicked down, because sometimes it feels like he loses some of his personality.

(*taps sign* in want of good Steve Rogers content, and inevitably disappointed by fandom)

8. common fandom opinion that everyone is wrong about

I hate how fandom treats Fury as an antagonist who exists just to exploit the heroes or steal their secrets and create "tension". Idk if it's still a trend, but I remember a ton of fics where Fury was either preying on Tony's tech, so it was okay to bash him, or he was manipulating Steve, uncaring of how depressed he was.

Such a lazy plot device. And also a disservice to the guy who actually wanted the Avengers to be a thing, and the one who had a connection to Steve well before any of the other Avengers. (and lol Steve and Fury obviously respect one another, they even banter together but god forbid Steve has any type of relationship with a non-white man)

10. worst part of fanon

Already answered that here, but ugh, I also hate the way fans treat Sam. Glad as I am that he seems a little more popular now since his show came out, because he has a more substantial relationship with fandom's favorite white boy I can't forget the days when Sam was always suspiciously missing from art and fics even though he and Steve always ended up side by side at the end of all the movies they were in. Or, when people used his and Steve's line for uh... other characters. I see all and remember all.

17. there should be more of this type of fic/art

Time.Travelling.Steve!!

You know, for a fandom that loves to complain about Steve's ending being ooc and would rather imagine him stuck somewhere in time, why not take full advantage and imagine him time-hopping to your favorite events. Are you a fan of dinosaurs? Have him befriend a scary t-Rex (which uh... kinda canon in the comics?) You like Ancient Egypt? Have him take a bath in the Nile while the Pharaoh has a cartoon-esque reaction to the water glistening off his body! You like the Plague? Have him... beg everyone to please wash themselves?

(these are rhetorical questions, I know why fandom doesn't, but still)

I would also take more Avengers 2.0 content. Or even better, SteveSamNat on the run after cacw, I'm not picky 😉

22. your favorite part of canon that everyone else ignores

This is probably really obscure, but I love those little glimpses of a relationship between Rhodey and Nebula in Endgame. Like when she warns him about Scott being on the compound, and she calls him Rhodey. Not War Machine, Rhodey. And then they have that nice moment during the time heist together. Idk, it makes me wonder what kind of relationship (even if it is just friends!) they might have developed between IW and EG. Plus, I think they deserve a little bit of happiness.

choose violence ask game

[tealisa]

feels like some marvel fans took the criticism of the franchise+fans reducing Black characters to serve white chara's stories/reducing/degrading them into sidekicks/"XYZ is a Good Bro"/"therapist-ing"/etc & completely didn't absorb the actual meaning of the critiques and just decided that doing that to Black personages is fine when they make it a part of an interracial ship (with a white person)

like the way Black folks' critiques of the portrayal of Sam Wilson (both in comics + live action + fanworks) just does not get soaked up at all by marvel stans and instead they argue over which white person to make him an accessory to (Steve or Bucky or even Sharon/Nat). All while ignoring the one Black woman in the cap franchise (Misty Knight) who Sam's actually connected to like that and instead put on the misogynoir and treat the one(1) BW like an inconvenience (both by fans and sometimes even official material that they quote/mine for evidence to back up their misogynoir)

the singular Black woman gets treated w/o a single thought in the quest to decide which white character gets to declare Sam the Black Best Friend and/or interracial ship material. And these fans don't put on those goggles so much that they don't realize that Sam in canon isn't attached to those white ppl like that on the contrary they often ignore the antagonism in canon to instead drown in fanon

the only exception rlly is Sam's earliest comics during that (very poorly aged) era of marvel where he was truly treated like nothing but a sidekick to a white man, but for fans to ignore all Black folks' critique over the years of the racist writing in those comics to instead view the same writing as "ship material" is so strange to me & it rlly shows how much interracial esp w white prsnjs repeat racist ideas

the type of content and "interpretations" they put out, you can tell that these fans don't listen/care what Black folks' sentiments are on these portrayals of Black prsnjs in Marvel. they didn't see how much flack 2011-2019 MCU got for their token Black sidekicks to white men (with T'Challa being the only exception, there's a reason why every1 treated him like the 1st Black hero)

no wonder back in 2021 I saw a lot of these same fans get mad/annoyed when Black writers/non-stan accounts in general critiqued the terrible racial politics of the tfatws show. back then these same fans that seem to view Sam as interracial ship material got upset at Black folks "bashing" "Sam's show" when they pointed out the respectability politics and assimilationist and imperialist apologist politics.

they didn't get why Black folks critiqued the portrayal of Isaiah Bradley as a "bitter" Black man whose suffering at the hands of America get waived away by putting a statue of him in the Captain America museum. they were too busy pretending like they got a whole show dedicated to an interracial ship (even tho there where no shippy moments in it), and then got confused when the actors and directors expressed distaste at the ship + when the ship got "broken" up by having the characters be antagonist (just like they were in the show and b4 fatws too)

so many fans don't actually pay attention to Sam's canon portrayal bc they're too busy being weird abt interracial ships that they don't even understand the politics of the portrayal and why they get critiqued

then again, fans of a franchise named Captain America having a poor understanding of politics at best is not surprising, esp when finding half-not-horrible politics in that franchise is like searching for water in the desert, but it's funny (in a bad way) seeing ppl unironically repeat "Cap represents the good version of the US" + be weird abt the Blk prsnjs + be misogynoiristic at the one(1) BW + get confused at IRL Blck folks' criticisms abt the concept of cap... like wow, the propaganda really did a number on these people

I feel like this is the time to tell you I really don't read that much Cap comics (at least not yet, I really plan on checking out Sam's appearances later); my knowledge of these characters come from their appearances in Avengers books and the Brubaker run post Civil War. That said, go off (and I feel like I know exactly which posts you're referring to; but I didn't know to what extent they were representative of this problem -- cause I'm not on that side of marvel fandom). And I do think this tendency to sideline black female characters comes from the rooted mysogynoir present in today's societies, cause I myself can be blamed for doing that once or twice -- and I'm a black lesbian!!! But yes fandoms, SPECIALLY superhero fandoms and SPECIALLY marvel fandoms have such a huge gross tendencies to ignoring racism and mysogynoir and outright attacking black fans when we call it out. I've lost count of how many times I've said "hey btw Emma Frost is a character written to perform mysogynoir and it makes black women uncomfortable to see fans and creators approach her uncritically" and people at best blocked me or called me crazy or other insults at worst. It's why I'm trying the most to keep my bubble only amongst woc and my friends who I know are real allies.

P.S.: As a lit / language student engaged w/ activist movements it physically hurts me seeing the poor media literacy these people have and seeing them acting like they know what real political thinking and activism is because they read some mid comics written by white liberals who either also have no clue what activism and leftist thinking is, or are outright cops or worse

[its-tortle]

I posted 5,252 times in 2022

427 posts created (8%)

4,825 posts reblogged (92%)

Blogs I reblogged the most:

@youhavenoideahowmuchihatethis

@queenofcrabs

@endgame-steve-is-not-real

@dontcallmebree

@musette22

I tagged 3,919 of my posts in 2022

Only 25% of my posts had no tags

#stucky - 592 posts

#no not without queue - 427 posts

#stucky art - 313 posts

#bucky barnes - 254 posts

#hilarity - 237 posts

#shut up tortle - 191 posts

#chris evans - 180 posts

#sebastian stan - 167 posts

#steve rogers - 158 posts

#bucky art - 149 posts

Longest Tag: 139 characters

#but i know that often its almost performative where even when im enjoying a novel i am reading it to finish it so i can tick it off my list

My Top Posts in 2022:

#5

stucky and cats :)

bucky is a cat person, he has been as long as he can remember. steve pretends he doesn't like cats.

they have a cat in brooklyn. sort of. it's a stray from the neighborhood, not really theirs, but bucky gave it milk once and now it keeps coming back when it's cold and it needs shelter, or even just for some pets and companionship. steve rolls his eyes, but sometimes The Cat is in the apartment when bucky comes home, and he knows all the windows had been closed. it curls up on steve's skinny thighs in the evenings, and there's a few loving sketches of it in steve's notebook. he wonders what happened to The Cat, after everything. he wishes they had given it a name.

then, in the same streets a century later, steve finds alpine. unlike The Cat, alpine is gorgeous, expensive-looking, and somewhat of a brat, so steve knows she's not a stray, or not a street cat at least. she must have lost her family in the snap, just as steve did, too. so, he takes her in, even though he doesn't like cats. he goes out of his way to get her the expensive cat food she likes and buys her a bougie bed she ignores in favor of sleeping on steve's face at night. she's for bucky, steve keeps telling himself. she's for when he comes home.

and when, against all odds, bucky does come home, it's to steve saying he's not a cat person amidst a cat-proofed apartment and a thoroughly loved feline on the window sill. and it feels like 1930, like home.

send me a ship and a word!

217 notes - Posted January 8, 2022

#4

i'm gonna cry thinking about how alienating it must have been for steve to wake up and be treated like a ninety year old instead of a twenty-seven year old.

354 notes - Posted January 11, 2022

#3

actually, bucky had more than a moment of peace in wakanda. he had time, he had kindness. days were long and bright, the world was far away. he found himself at the mercy of a scientist once again, and yet this one was not cruel, but made him laugh as she tinkered with his shoulder in a bright lab with colorful murals. he took long walks along grassy praries and up rocky mountains and through bustling neighborhoods. he filled his arms with fruits he had never tried before from the local market on his way home. he made friends. he had an assortment of teas in patterned tins in his kitchen. he had fancy conditioner and a skin care rountine. he laughed when his goats head-butted his shins and combed their fur for ticks. he was given support and people to talk to -- people who taught him that his past was not something to atone for, but something to recover from. he began to realize that he was a victim, not a perpetrator. and it was this realization, this healing, that inspired him to bravery, that made him kiss steve as soon as he stepped off of that quinjet for the fourth, maybe sixth time. when steve kissed him back, he was almost able to convince himself he deserved it. wakanda was not just peace, it was healing. it was wakanda's kindness that he came to thank for his own.

459 notes - Posted August 7, 2022

#2

i don't know who needs to hear this, but you're allowed to gain weight in your twenties. you are a grown ass adult now. your body can and should not be the same as it was at seventeen. allow it to grow along with you <3

1,568 notes - Posted October 4, 2022

My #1 post of 2022

2,469 notes - Posted January 1, 2022

Get your Tumblr 2022 Year in Review →

[the-firebird69]

Captain America: Brave New World | Official Teaser | In Theaters Februar...

A lot of people are starting to wonder who Harrison Ford is he doesn't look like George Bush Junior as much as people think and he is ornery and mean and doesn't have Ken's temperament and might not be in ken

Thor Freya

He actually says that he says you're not Steve Rogers. That is that's a Matt Crawford Mac proper and we know who it is. indiana Harrison Ford is not my character he's a spy he causes a lot of damage to the rebels and he has been and a lot of people fell for it i've been trying to get it out and here it is they treated me like a prisoner I don't get to go many places and my grand nephew has freed me a little no that's this idiot jason it did give me an idea and I do have some funds from it but not a ton and he's always after me and it's a **** **** **** needs to leave too these idiots are a bunch of **** that mean it too practically every single mankind there is a bunch of jerks they don't want you for anything they don't need you they don't do anything for you they're not friends and really they never really were I can see my grandson saying what happened to you people none of you or anyone that I know and you don't care you don't give a **** what I can do at all and it's true too you're a bunch of failures in buffoons and you're going down that way in front of the world. I don't care for what you did to him or me during that time. And you're fighting over power and taking over and you lost both sides lost it's for your master and you're ugly weaklings and your mean and you're never gonna change we have to get rid of all of you if we want to change can you believe how stupid that is from our point of view. Is supposed to be rebels you're supposed Is supposed to be rebels you're supposed to be helping out and instead sometimes the max stuff is better than yours.

Ken andyes to fight on rebels sides your inane losers go ahed leave we want you to sdamnit

A lot of people feel this way about these **** ****.**** **** themselves but OK now we're seeing them get ready to evacuate. They wanna leave they know that people are coming in with their trying to attack and they're getting rid of them meaning that they're throwing them in the furnace. It happens to some kernels a few generals and they know it but most of the people who are below them know that they get cut cut cooked. and There's a lot of it going on there using the war as cover. Right now another 400 million each side came up and we're up to about 1.2 billion each side lost so far this 400 million each side is getting roasted real quick right now and they're gonna be gone before 7:00 PM and they're gonna call more and leadership will be down right now it's at about 16% and it's going to go down to 14% in moments and the Pseudo Empires at 27% they'll be at 25% shortly and some more higher ups are coming in. And there a bunch of dirt bags slimeballs and idiots they don't know what they're doing at all. There's a lot of these people that think they can do things and they can't. Some people help a little and say that is so damn hard II can't even see straight my eyes can't open and it is horrible. They're getting a lot of trouble. Feel it and they see it and it's good. Trump can't feel or see anything he's just sitting there trying to attack her son and we're gonna get him out of there. The other idiot **** like Stan are holding there because they're stupid. Life is going to see you stupid finally. Very stupid very stupid and I'll tell you what he's a little imp a **** and he's gonna pay nobody talks to us that way 'cause they don't wanna end up dead stupid and we're talking to Stan and he doesn't get it because he's stupid. We understand you had a frontal lobotomy and you're a dumb person are you gonna pay for it what you're doing right now with your life. I'm gonna get you out of there and our son's gonna hold in and sell it it's a dump he's gonna sell it for a ton of money turn out to be his uncle what do you know. Is max hate you and they should you're a bunch of dirt bags. We anticipate they'll be gone they're gonna call another 500 million each they'll be gone shortly too will be 2.1 billion each side lost. And the neighborhood will be cut down right now still holding at 91 the 10 are getting ready and 10 more are planning on it and they're going to go to battle unless they're husband and don't care anymore. There's some more news the Eastern Hemisphere kind of gotten flattened a little bit yeah and it was the Mack Warlock who are devastated and about 10% of the pseudo empire bunkers and they got pushed out they will soon and they'll recover refill it and they'll keep dying and it's not that many people is wrong 'cause they have to try and defend it. no waste of time daniel says don't you think we think it's a waste of time and our son and daughter say no you're stupid as hell anything could do the right thing for some reason and then you have to fight and all this other ****. It's because you're **** and you're not reasonable and you can't see what's actually going on for some odd reason people give you information and you can't read or something. We don't wanna talk to you so **** **** stupid your buddies here are freaking freaks it doesn't make our job any easier no that's what we really needed they don't even know that you're so damn obtuse your father does and you're ruined him. My husband doesn't wanna see him he's a mental health guy 'cause you idiot ****. That was Hera and it's true so I'm gonna publish

THor Freya

Olympus