#the options are plentiful. Just a short drive away

[sim0nril3y]

Meet the Family

Pairing: Simon 'Ghost' Riley x Civilian!Reader Scenario: Simon has the joy of meeting your family and finding out why don't you see or talk about them all that much. This brings up some unwanted memories and feelings for him too. Warnings: No mask Simon (It's my personal headcanon in his regular life he probably wouldn't wear it), family drama, shouting, very small mention of Simon's childhood, family disapproval, family arguing, reader has family, reader has siblings, family names are established but no descriptions, canon-typical swearing.

It appeared that your phone was making more of a ruckus than usual later. It seemed to buzz and beep much more frequently, each time your eyes cast down to check it they narrowed, then rolled before you pushed the device far, far away from where you had to interact with it. Yet still it actively vied for your attention. “Everything okay, babe?” Simon quizzed, pulling the cork out of the wine he’d chosen and beginning to pour you a glass. “Fine.” You short answer replied, picking up the glass and taking a large gulp.

Taking a seat opposite Simon battled internally about whether to push this conversation anymore. He wondered, if the situation was reversed if you would have tried to get more information out of him. Bloody hell. You would. “I just couldn’t help but notice you seemed a little… upset by your phone.” Nodding his head in the direction of the device. “Is something up?”

For a moment you paused, mauling over the situation for a moment before letting out a low huff and answering. “My sister is having a ‘get-together’ for her anniversary…” You announced with a heavy amount of disdain in your voice. “We’ve been invited.” Of course, you’d mentioned your family before but until this point Simon had never met them and the opportunity had never been there. “Honestly, I’m surprised I’m invited Anna said it’ll just be close family…”

“Well, I guess you count as close family considering you’re her sister, love.” Simon pointed out and you let out a low huff again. “Who else is going to be there?” “My mum and dad. My little brother Peter. Obviously, my older sister Anna, her husband Barney and their son Hunter.” Simon couldn’t help but frown at that. It would be a lot of your family to meet at once. “And do you… want to go?”

Again, you didn’t have a response right away, eyes darting away before back towards him. “I… I don’t know…” Then shaking your head. “Anna is begging me to come, but I know that is only to get the heat off her because if I’m there then all my parent’s attention will fall to me and they will explain exactly where I’ve gone wrong with my life.” Simon couldn’t help but frown at that comment, he didn’t like the thought of your family speaking poorly of you. A heavy sigh escaped your mouth. “Would… you want to go?” The question came out tiny and vulnerable, like you might scare him off with that alone.

“They know about me?” Simon quizzed, he’d never met them and he’d never really pressed to do that, he was in love with you and that was all he needed in his life. “They do…” You replied evenly. “They don’t approve... It isn’t because of you.” You quickly add with wide eyes. “They don’t approve of anyone outside of the family. They hated any girl that Peter brought home and they tolerate Barney, but that is only because they gave them a grandchild to fawn over.” You explained before frowning. “Si, I wouldn’t blame you if you didn’t want to come…”

For a moment he mauled over his options, he could go and accept whatever snide comments and berating came from your family, or he could send you to the wolves and stay home like a coward. Simon Riley was not a coward. “Tell her we’ll be there.” He leaned over to clink his glass against her own.

It was a bit of a drive to Anna’s home she shared with her husband and their son, but that gave you plenty of time to fill in all the dirty details about your family. You had started with your older sister, she was seen as the golden child and your parents bragged about almost everything that she did, her perfect marriage, her perfect children, her perfect house and her perfect holiday home. You explained, Anna had gone to a top University to study finance, but during her gap year galivanting about the US she’d met Barney who’d promptly fallen in love with her and got her pregnant. This wouldn’t typically be too big of a problem, apart from the fact that Anna been engaged before setting off and in a desperate need to escape the monotony of her relationship and her perfect life she’d thrown it all away from another lad.

It was a blow to her parents that their perfect eldest daughter had this mishap, however the fact that Barney came from an incredibly wealthy family and owned his own tech company certainly helped ease him into the family. Then their grandson Hunter came into the picture and everything was a perfect ending from there.

On the other hand, there was your younger brother Peter who had barely scraped by in his school and your parents had to persuade Universities to accept him. He spent more times in clubs than in his classes. Your parents saw him as a typical boy, causing some trouble and chasing the ladies. Boys will be boys; they’d excused with a hearty laugh as Peter would be trotted to the cells for indecent exposer or public indecency. Still even after all the trouble he’d caused Peter was still the apple of their eyes, your mother fawned over him and your father tried moulding him into his protégé.

Then there was you. With a sister that was perfect and a brother that they dotted on that left very little time or energy for you. It seemed like you just slipped through the cracks. Even when they did have time spare for you every decision, you’d made they hadn’t approved. In their eyes, you were simply the wild little fuck-up. It pained and riled Simon that anyone thought of you as anything but perfect and good and kind.

Once they arrived at your sisters’ home Simon was surprised to find that it was an expensive looking townhouse that had been renovated to have some modern features. This strangle matched the dreamhouse that you’d muttered to him one night in your post-sex chatter, it made Simon wonder who had desired the house first, maybe it was you and Anna had simply stolen that dream to taunt you. Approached the modern frosted glass door, it opened and out stepped an older woman with a disguised smile on her face, dressed in a smart, conservative dress with sharp kitten heels. Your hand squeezed his own as you approached, announcing nicely. “Mum…” Ah, your mother, Cynthia…

“Hello darling.” Her voice was soft but hiding something, like a sickly sweet venom that was encasing you both. You had mentioned that she was high strung and highly critical, that remained to be seen. If there was one thing that Cynthia enjoyed in life it was gossiping, followed by bragging about her family, or at least some of her family members, certainly not you, you’d joked to Simon but there was a pained reality to that snide remark. “Look at you, that is certainly an interesting dress…” She observed, cupping your face then. “You look very tired, are you sleeping well?” The snide remarks had already begun, Simon observed.

You complained lowly. “Mum…” Then looked towards Simon, eyes pleading for some form of help or safety or escape but only found his own dark set that matched your own fear. “This is-” Cynthia cut you off and turned her viper grin towards at him, those dangerous eyes scanned him and searched for any little weakness or vulnerability. “This must be Simon.” Cynthia let out an almost cynical laugh. “Now, I must ask your sister to set another place, we weren’t sure that you were real…” It was another little dig that made you wince.

Cynthia then allowed the two of you to follow her further into the house, a lounge area stood before them and three men lingered inside of it. An older man sat on the sofa, drink in hand and head drooping, another around Simon’s age stood behind a small make-shift bar, cleaning glasses and straightening bottles of the labels faced out and proud and then across the room a younger man was texting on his phone. “Simon, make yourself comfortable with the men. That is my husband, Harold. This is my son-in-law, Barney.” Cynthia even gifted him a snide smile, the same she had done to Simon, they were outsiders after all, not as important as blood, simply there to give her grandchildren. “And that is my son Peter~”

Turning to you and lowering her voice, Cynthia said. “Darling, don’t worry that you didn’t bring a present, your sister understands that you don’t make a lot of money-” “N-no, I just left it at home.” You attempted to explain but your mother just chortled lowly and squeezed your shoulder. “Oh, I’m sure… just like how Peter ate all your Christmas chocolate when you were 10, hmm?” Then she poked your tummy in jest. “But I think we all know where it went.”

Simon forced himself to grit his teeth, looking between and watching you purse your lips, accepting the vicious attack with a tight smile and glossy eyes. “Now, don’t make that face~” Cynthia smirked directly at you, as if knowing she was pushing your buttons. “Come, your sister will want some help in the kitchen, I’m sure you’ll survive being apart from your boyfriend for five minutes, hmm?” Then looking towards Simon and asking. “You won’t mind if I borrow her, will you?”

More than anything he wanted to deny her, snatch you up into his side and away from anymore of her cruel remarks, but her claw-like hands were already circling you and tugging you from the room before he had a chance. The next moment, a presence walked up behind him and Simon turned to see a very happy looking man stood there. “Hey man…” A thick American accent rolled from him. “My name is Barney, you must be Simon, right?” He was quick to shake his hand and comment. “Quite the grip there, you play golf?”

Shaking his head Simon followed him back to where he’d been lingering (or probably hiding) behind his bar. “Do you drink, man? What’s your poison?” Barney asked enthusiastically, very proudly gesturing to the array of bottles that were placed behind the bar, squeaky clean but hardly used. “Whiskey. Neat.” Then leaning against the bar and waiting for it to be made. Another approached, this time your brother, tucking his phone away into his pocket as he sidled up beside him, elbows resting on the bar too, matching him stance for stance. “Simon, right? The latest addition to our fucked up little family.” Peter commented, his tone just as snide as his mother’s – the apple didn’t fall far, he supposed. “I’m sure my sister told you all about me…”

“She mentioned a few things…” Simon answered evenly, reaching out to take the offered drink from Barney, drinking it down a little too quickly to appear casual. Bloody hell, he’d been on battlefields and felt less anxious. “Well, I’ve got a few stories about my sister that I’m sure you’ll want to hear too~” The young lad began before Simon glanced in his direction, testing and bothered by his presence.

Sensing the impending tension Barney let out a hearty chuckle and said. “Maybe another time, huh?” Then giving Peter a pointed look. “Simon… what do you do for a job?” He asked in a friendly enough way, this seemed to catch the attention of Harold who actually glanced in his direction, quietly accessing and judging, it felt like you were the only normal one to actually come out of this family. “I’m in the special forces.” Simon explained, keeping his answers short and sweet, not allowing too many details to slip out, it wouldn’t be professional. They all had different reactions to this little piece of information. Peter quirked a brow whilst Barney grinned and nodded. “That’s tight. Respect, man.”

“A solider…” Peter muttered. “Lieutenant, actually.” Simon corrected in a sharp tone. There wasn’t many things in life he was proud about but you and his career were among the only few.

Again, your brother seemed to stir from beside him. “So…” Looking at him, wanting to judge Simon’s reaction. “How many people you killed?” The question was so crass that it actually made Barney gasp before letting out a nervous laugh and saying. “Pete, I’m not sure you can ask questions like that, man…” Then another laugh before giving his brother-in-law a soft punch on the shoulder, followed by a pointed look, don’t push.

There was this clear power struggle that Peter was trying to win. This happened often with rich boys like your brother, they saw Simon as a threat because he was physically much more impending than them, feeling even worse when they discovered that Simon wasn’t as dumb as they thought he looked.

“Not something that I keep count of…” Simon answered keeping his face straight, remaining unbothered. It was a good answer, it was formal and dignified, not to mention filled with some honesty. It wasn’t like Simon could even keep count anymore, even if he had wanted to. Peter seemed unimpressed with that answer and simply huffed before saying. “Bet you could think of at least five different ways to kill me in here, right?” Again, this spiked the interest of Harold, glancing in their direction.

Another challenge. Another prod. Another opportunity to attempt to make Simon look unhinged. Attempting to break the tension Barney laughed awkwardly. “This joker-” “I could think at least ten.” Simon retorted, dark eyes watching Peter to see that smugness falter for just a moment as true fear sank in. From across the room for just a split second Harold smirked then it washed away as he finished his fifth drink of the night.

The room was thick with an air of tension as you stepped inside looking completely flustered. “It’s uh… it’s time for dinner.” You informed them, frowning as you tried to access the atmosphere, approaching Simon to rest a delicate hand on his forearm, wrapping yourself around the limb. The room cleared out as Barney escorted his in-laws to his dinning room. Gazing up at Simon, you asked. “You alright?”

Simon’s eyes seemed to focus on where Peter had been escorted from the room, watching that area on alert for a few moments before his gaze flittered back in your direction. “Told your brother I could think of ten ways to kill him in this room alone…”

You blinked. Slow and calculating. Attempting to understand the words that Simon had just rushed in your direction. “Excuse me?” You muttered, staring up into his eyes in confusion. “Why… why would you say-” “He was pushing me.” There was an edge of frustration to his tone. You brother had gotten under Simon’s skin a lot more than he was willing to admit aloud. Reaching up you cupped his face and looked into his eyes with such care and sincerity, it really did pain you to witness your family treating him in a way that left him so anxious and wound up. “I believe you.” You whispered. “I believe you. I’m sorry. I’m so sorry. My fucking family… It’s my family, they make it their mission to push and prod and make your life misery. I’m sorry-”

A short huff came from Simon, leaning in to kiss your forehead gently and replying. “You don’t ever apologies for any of them.” He told you, voice firm and sure. There was no part of this that was your fault. You were born into a family of cynical fakers, wanting to make everyone else’s lives as miserable as their own. He hadn’t even been around them for an hour yet, but Simon could see that you were the only good thing to come from your family. He could force himself to survive the rest of the dinner party for you… but when this was over, he never wanted to see these people again.

“Come on, now…” Your mothers voice entered the lounge and she lingered in the doorway, big fake smile on her lips and glass of wine in hand. “You were late to the party and now you’ll be late for dinner too…” Cynthia chortled, clearly still holding that grudge. “I swear, my darling girl would be late to her own funeral too…” The comment was made as she swayed down the hallway towards the dining room, Simon simply grit his teeth and continued to bite his tongue. A few more hours, he reminded himself constantly.

The dinner that was severed was nice enough. Honestly, the only cooking that you actually enjoyed nowadays was anything that Simon served up for you and it was something he was more than happy to take care of for you. It was mundane and simple and peaceful, just for some time he could force his noisy brain to shut off, it simply wasn’t warfare.

You sat beside him, food pushing around your plate, probably each little biting comment from your mother stripped away any hunger from you. Cynthia had persuaded your siblings to list all their recent achievements to you, which they seemed all too happy to do. Maybe they knew that if all that vitriol that poured from your mother was aimed at you, then they’d continue to escape it… or maybe they enjoyed it because they were just as cruel as she was.

“Are you enjoying the food?” Cynthia quirked a soft brow at Simon, it was a strange observation but Simon noted that your mother wore a face so similar to your own, maybe more than the rest of your siblings but not even one of your expressions matched. There was so much pure and true joy and easiness in your smile, but each time your mother did the same it seemed like it might crack her face into tiny pieces. “I’m sure you aren’t used to a good homecooked meal, hmm?” Then laughing lowly. “Especially with this one’s cooking…” Pointing a fork in your direction.

“It’s fine.” Simon responded evenly, clearly not to exaggerated praise that your mother had been expecting, simply narrowing her eyes and taking back another gulp of wine. “I like to cook for us…” His hand then rests on your knee beneath the table, reminding you that you weren’t alone facing your horrid family, but that Simon had your back. “Between the two of us, I have more time to cook, anyway.” Then he shrugged, gazing in your direction and seeing your desperation to find safety and warmth within him. “With all the hours that she works and then the time she spends on her art, I like to keep her fed…” Too afraid to continue aloud, Simon thought, keep her warm, provided for her, keep her happy, keep her satisfied. Just… keep her.

A deep scoff came from Cynthia then, another big glug of wine until her glass was empty. It seemed that Simon had given Peter the opportunity to speak then, smirking from across the table. “Speaking of work…” Those dangerous eyes loomed as you sat a little straighter in your chair. “Heard from a friend that you missed that interview dad set up…” The comment was thrown out there so casually but you were left reeling as you knew the chaos that simple comment would cause. Besides, how did he even know that? There wasn’t a chance in the world that Peter had friends to be able to tell him that information, so what? Was he following you? Keeping tabs on you? Before you even had the chance to interrogate him Cynthia spoke first.

“No, no…” Placing down the wine bottle onto the table with a heavy thud, eyes fixed on you. “Please tell me that isn’t true.” Raising her brows, as if waiting for you to deny Peter’s allegations but you remained sheepishly quiet. “You lied to me.” There was a fiery rage in her eyes now and you knew that you were in for it. “You told me that you went. I can’t believe you would lie to your own mother…” Your mouth opened then, as if to defend yourself but Cynthia was much too quick to continue her tirade. “We have spoken about this again and again… I made it clear it is time to give up on this silly little fantasy that you’ve been holding onto. It is time to grow up and join the real world. You need to be more like your brother and your sister…” Gesturing wildly to them as Anna sat almost ashamed with her gaze down to her lap and Peter sat there with a smarmy smile the instigator of this.

Again, you opened your mouth, but her hand came up sharp in your direction. “Do you know the strings your father had to pull to organise that interview?” Then gesturing towards Harold who seemed completely unphased, cutting his steak into another bitesize piece whilst his wife continued to berate their daughter before the audience. “You are such an ungrateful brat and you always have been. When will you understand? You have absolutely zero desirable qualities so finding a decent job will be very difficult for you… who in their right mind is going to want to hire someone like you, hmm?”

Everyone apart from Cynthia and Peter appeared mortified, Anna looked to you with horror on her face and then Barney spoke, careful smile on his face. “She still had plenty of time to figure out what she wants to do, right? Anna took a gap year during college… Pete did the same… So, she isn’t going abroad or whatever, instead she’s trying to… to… figure out if she can follow her passion, I think it’s-” “Be quiet.” Cynthia growled at him then, teeth grit. “Don’t talk such nonsense… Peter and Anna were working hard at college and needed a break to find themselves and after returned to college and get their degrees. What does she have? Nothing. I couldn’t even convince her to apply to any colleges… She is a lazy, stubborn, silly little girl and you are chasing a hopeless dream-” “Enough.”

Every set of eyes then turned to look at Simon who sat with a furious look present on his face. At the beginning of the evening, he could maybe accept those biting little comments, he could certainly accept the way that Peter had provoked him, Simon could even accept the way that your mother had sat there bragging about your siblings but he wasn’t going to allow her to utterly humiliate you like this. “You don’t fuckin’ talk to her that way.” Carefully from beside him, you muttered his name, a soft plead to try and calm the fight that seemed inevitable now. “No.” He told you firmly, quietly, gazing down at you with a set jaw and narrowed eyes. “I won’t just sit there and let her fuckin’ talk to you like this… I wont… I can’t…”

It wasn’t like Simon had grown up in a good household. It was clearly different from your own. Simon had witnessed his father completely decimate any good in his family and he was too young and too small and too scared to stop him or do anything. This is why he is the man he is today; he wouldn’t allow that again and seeing your family ripping you to shreds, tearing apart any good and hope and light inside of you was too much for him. Not you. Never you.

“Simon, please. You simply don’t understand...” Cynthia began. “My daughter lives in this word of make believe where she thinks she is going to become and artists and be able to make money and buy big houses like her sister. It’s just ridiculous. I’ve tried getting through to her, but-” “Your daughter is a fuckin’ adult.” Simon growled then, leaning into the table slightly so he could talk across at her. “She doesn’t need you to find her a job and she doesn’t need you to approve the choices that she makes in her life.” Simon growled, feeling this need to protect you and keep you safe, that very same one that had grown for his mother in his childhood. Different, but… the same. “Your daughter… your daughter is fuckin’ amazing. There isn’t a thing about her that needs to change. She’s intelligent and she’s soft and kind and she’s really fuckin’ talented and I wonder how all of that managed to happen when she grew up around you cunts-” The entire table seemed to gasp in unison.

There seemed to be this stunned silence before everyone erupted, Peter almost fell off his chair laughing, whilst baby Hunter wailed from the commotion. Cynthia stood stark upright, jabbing a finger in his direction. “Unacceptable! Disgusting! Unacceptable! He’s an animal! He’s feral!” Stalk through the house on a tirade of insults aimed in his direction with her husband trailing behind her. Anna was trying to hopelessly clean a puddle of wine from where it had teetered over onto the table. “It’s fucking vintage!” There were real tears in her eyes, much to Simon’s surprise.

Just then Barney stood up, bouncing his son in his arms and looking between you and Simon. “I think… I think it would be best if you guys left.” There was sorrow in his eyes as he suggested it, not wanting to be unkind but just not wanting anymore drama. It was probably for the best even if Simon did have a few more choice words for them.

The entire car ride home you were unusually quiet beside him. He was actually a little lost on how to handle this situation. There weren’t a part of him that was sorry for what he’d said to your family, or more specifically your mother. Simon just couldn’t handle the fact that she could talk to you in such a vile way. There was only so much that Simon was willing to take and he’d lost it. Fuck, had he scared you? Were you mad at him? Were you sad for causing a rift in your family? Had he even caused a rift? Clearly, they hadn’t thought very much of you before he’d been there…

A small sniffle from beside him caught his attention, glancing in your direction and under the glow of the streetlamps Simon saw your face wet with tears. Without hesitation Simon signalled and pulled his truck onto an empty road, clambering from the driver’s seat and around to yank open your door. A moment later his arms were around you, hand supporting the back of your head burying your face into the crook of his shoulder. “You’re alright. Shh. You’re alright, babe.”

After a few moments of allowing, you to just sob into his shoulder, your voice muffled against his shirt. “Don’t ca-care what they s-say about me-” “Well, I do.” There was a thick edge to his voice, pulling back to cup your face and looking for any sign of fight towards your family but you seemed defeated, you seemed emotionally drained. Where was that witty girl that had corned him on a night out? Where was the one that had to almost twist his arm to open up? Where was that fight for her own pretty self? “I care about what they say about you because they are dead fuckin’ wrong, babe. No one deserved to be talked to like that. I won’t allow it.”

There was something deeper simmering here behind all this. There was something that Simon didn’t want to confess or discuss. The berating. The belittling. The treatment of less than… This was something that Simon wouldn’t allow for you because he had experienced it and much worse. “You don’t deserve it.” It was like Simon was talking to all the people in his life that hadn’t deserved the fate they were given. You. Him. His mum. His brother. His friends he’d lost. The soldiers that had died in his arms. “Okay?” “Okay.”

Masterlist | Ask | 04-02-2024

[munsonhoneybaby]

Sweet Leaf | Eddie Munson X F!Henderson!Reader

Summary: Finally starting to spend time with Eddie outside of your bedroom, everybody seems to know about the two of you but Dustin. 

Word Count: 10.3k

Warnings: 18+ mdni, eddie’s never-ending pet names, frequent drug use (marijuana), smut, lots of high sex in the whole series idk what to tell you lol, tiny bit of dry humping, eddie’s fishnet fetish?, skinny dipping, fingering, p in v (unprotected but he pulls out), sex in an empty parking lot, squirting, pretty heavy subspace, not angst but crying after sex, eddie’s a little fucknasty sometimes but he worships his lady, cheesy ahh ending

A/N: just two emotionally damaged stoners trying to figure out how to love each other, what more can i say? the length of this one just kept getting away from me lol i’ve loved writing this series and even though the main storyline is over i’d love to keep writing about these two if anybody sends in blurb/headcanon requests or anything like that !! i had plenty of little ideas i had to leave out !!

part one | part two | tmic masterlist

Eddie paused in the mirror, fixing the hair laying on his forehead. He fidgeted with his shirt, trying to get it to sit right on his shoulders– it was an old Kill ‘Em All t-shirt he’d cut the sleeves off of ages ago. He huffed and did one more frantic scan of his bedroom, hands fluttering uselessly at his sides as he was sure there had to be something he’d missed. Bed made, laundry done, and messes cleared away, his room looked cleaner than he’d seen it in probably two years. Deciding it wasn’t gonna get any cleaner in the next fifteen minutes, he dashed down the short hallway to double-check that the living room was spotless.

He’d draped the nicest blanket they had over the back of the couch and even specifically bought a few candles to light around the room just for the occasion. A few pre-rolled joints sat out on the coffee table alongside the selection of horror movies that Steve definitely didn’t let him sneak out of Family Video for free; he wanted to give you options, so he settled on The Thing, A Nightmare on Elm Street, The Shining, and The Evil Dead. He would have happily taken you to see a movie, maybe even a drive-in, but you’d said you’d rather it be just the two of you.

Three knocks sounded at the door, making him jump. You were four minutes earlier than he expected. Stepping to the door, he glanced around the room again and blew out a heavy breath before he opened it.

And there you were. Black shorts peeking out under your baggy Dio tee and a bag of snacks in hand from the gas station a couple miles off, you smiled at him. “Hi.”

Eddie couldn’t help his cheesy grin as he replied, “Hey.” Something about you was so enrapturing to him. He could have just stared at you, standing in the afternoon sunlight shining on his doorstep, forever.

“You gonna let me in?”

“Oh! Uh– right.” He moved aside, opening the door wider. “It’s not exactly the Ritz, but uh–”

“Oh, knock it off. I don’t care about that shit.” You looked around, taking in the collection of hats and mugs lining the walls. The warm light outside made the closed mismatched curtains glow. “I think it’s perfect.”

He cleared his throat to overcome the warmth in his chest before he spoke. “I got a few different movies if you wanna pick.”

“Ooh, can we watch The Shining? It’s been a little while since I’ve seen it, it’s one of my favorites.”

“Sure thing,” He nodded. As he turned on the TV and put the tape in the VHS player, you found a seat on the couch and grabbed a joint off the table to light up. While you seemed totally at ease in his trailer, he was as nervous as the first time he met you. First date jitters, he supposed. You looked so comfortable curled up and smoking in the corner of his couch that, as he settled at the opposite end, he couldn’t help but feel like you belonged there.

Your legs stretched into his lap as you scooted down a bit to pass him the joint. He rubbed his free hand back and forth along your calf absentmindedly. “I don’t know how long you were planning on staying– if you wanna stick around after this movie, I could make a frozen pizza and we could watch another or something.”

“Sounds good to me,” You hummed in return.

Forty-five minutes into the movie, the first joint was gone and Eddie was focused intently on the television screen. You started to get fidgety though, foot nudging against his thigh. “What’d you sit so far away for?”

“I dunno, just thought I’d give you your space I guess? I didn’t wanna make you uncomfortable or anything.”

“C’mere.” Pinching at his shirt, you tugged until he scooted himself to you. Your legs lay completely over his lap as you rested your head against his shoulder. “I don’t need space, I came here to be with you. It’s cute you’re taking this whole ‘first date’ thing so seriously, though.”

His cheeks flushed a little pink and he fiddled with his rings over your lap. “Sorry, I just– I want this to go well.” He laughed nervously as he continued, “I want to keep seeing you outside your bedroom, y’know? I want you to come to my shows, and I wanna take you to the diner, and I wanna kiss you goodbye after Hellfire sessions.”

You gave him a little smile, turning his face toward you to plant a soft kiss on his lips. “I wanna do that stuff too, Eds. You know that you mean something to me, right? I just wanna go slow in the Dustin department. He has to be okay with this.”

“Okay,” Eddie nodded instantly, “However you wanna go about it. I swear, I’ll even ask the little loudmouth for his blessing when you want me to. I mean, I love that kid too.”

For a split second you just took in his features, and those big, earnest eyes were impossible not to believe. The material of his shirt scrunched between your fingers as you drew his lips to yours again. “Thank you for being there for him. And for me. You don’t know how much it means.”

He brushed a strand of hair back from your face with a little smile. “I think I do, sweetheart.”

“Hey, so where’s your sister?” Mike asked, shoveling a handful of popcorn into his mouth. “She’s like…always home.”

“I don’t know,” Dustin frowned, “I guess she just told Mom she was going out. Maybe I should call Robin and ask if she’s with her.”

“Dude, she’s an adult,” Lucas shook his head slightly. “She probably doesn’t need you to check in on her, I’m sure she’s fine.”

“But what if she isn’t?” As he continued, he paced the length of the basement, hands gesturing wildly with his words. “And what is she doing? ‘Going out’? What does that mean? Why is she trying to hide where she’s going? What if it’s somewhere sketchy?”

“You need to calm down,” Mike insisted. “It really isn’t that serious, she’s probably with Robin and Steve or something.”

“Right, so I should just call Robin and make sure!”

Lucas still rolled his eyes, but Dustin was already dashing up the stairs to the phone. “Great, now he’s gonna lose it if she’s not with Robin.”

“Where else would she be?”

“Literally anywhere, man. She could be at the record store, or with Nancy, or maybe with...”

“You don’t think she could be with Eddie–” But Mike was cut off by footsteps thundering down the stairs.

“She’s not with Robin, Steve, or Nancy which means I’m out of people to call which means I’m officially concerned. Do you think we should go out and start checking places? I mean, what if she smoked like– like– bad weed or something? I don’t know how that stuff works! Why wouldn’t she tell me where she’s going? She should know I’m worried sick!”

“Oh my god, would you relax? Did you talk to your mom?”

“Well, of course she thinks everything’s fine! She trusts us both implicitly when she obviously shouldn’t!”

Mike pinched the bridge of his nose and blew out a breath before he looked at him. “I seriously think you’re overreacting. Like Lucas said, she’s an adult; she doesn’t have to tell you everything. She’s allowed to have a life.”

Having returned to his pacing, Dustin halted and looked at him with an offended expression. “Are you trying to say I’m clingy? I’m not clingy!”

“I’m not saying you’re clingy! I’m just saying that you do your own shit, she probably does her own shit too. Maybe she’s taking time to herself or maybe she’s out with a guy or something.”

“There’s no way she’s out with a guy. She would tell me if there was a guy! And where would she even meet a guy? Work? She barely talks to anyone, you guys know that!” Mike and Lucas shared a glance before looking in different directions.

“Look, if she’s not home in an hour we’ll go check a couple places, alright?” Lucas finally sighed.

“An hour? It’s already a quarter after nine!” Then they heard the front door close and Dustin was racing back up the stairs. There you stood, kicking off your shoes beside everyone else’s, a smile on your face that you were trying to bite back. Until your brother and his friends burst out of the basement. “And where on Earth have you been?”

You looked at him questioningly. “Enjoying my day off?”

“By yourself? Until nine-thirty at night?” He placed his hands on his hips, scanning you with a scrutinizing gaze. “What were you doing?”

“What’s with the third degree? I stopped at the bookstore, then I went out in the woods and read for a while. Is that okay, Mom?”

“Don’t condescend to me, you had me worried half to death!”

As you replied, you ruffled his hair. “Aw, well that’s very sweet, Dusty. I’m fine though, you don’t need to wait up for me.”

“See? We told you there was nothing to worry about,” Mike chimed. When he and Lucas gave each other another pointed look, however, he knew they’d both seen the faint hickey peeking out from your shirt collar that Dustin had apparently missed.

“Goodnight, boys. I’ll make you guys some breakfast in the morning, alright?” They all called back their own goodnights as you headed down the hallway to your bedroom and they made their way back into the basement.

Later that night you were dozing off, still dressed and on top of the blankets, when you jolted back to full consciousness at the sound of the phone ringing in the living room. Grumbling a little under your breath, you rubbed your eyes.

You were halfway down the hall when you heard the basement door creak open, and suddenly you were wide awake. At half past midnight, there was no way anyone other than Eddie was calling and there was definitely no way Dustin could answer that call. Increasing your pace to a slightly-panicked speedwalk until you were in the room with him, you just barely made it to the phone before him. You pressed the receiver into your chest to muffle your voice as you practically whispered, “Don’t worry about it, Dusty, it’s for me.”

“Who is it?”

“Nancy, she wanted to talk about what I got from the bookstore but she was busy with Robin and Steve,” You answered easily. He nodded and yawned out another goodnight before booking it back downstairs. Letting out a relieved exhale, you finally raised the phone to your ear. “Sorry, Dustin almost picked up. Everything okay?”

“Shit, I’m sorry, baby. Everything’s fine. I tried not to call, I swear I did, but–” He laughed a little embarrassedly, “Fuck, when can I see you again?”

“Eddie,” You whispered through a little giggle. “You had to call about that now?”

“I mean, I could always come over so we could talk about it in person instead,” He teased.

“I just left your place three hours ago.”

“Should’a just stayed the night, babe,” He sighed regretfully.

Clutching at non-existent pearls, you replied, “Stay the night? On the first date? Eddie Munson, what kind of girl do you take me for?”

“Of course, sweet thing, you’re right. You could never do anything so scandalous as sharing a bed with me before we’re really goin’ steady.” You could picture that smirk on his face as he spoke. “Guess that means we’ve gotta plan a second date, huh?”

“Guess so,” You hummed. “Have anything in mind?”

“Well, I was thinking,” He began slowly. “Maybe you could come to one of our shows? I know that’s not a super great date idea since I’m gonna be on stage pretty much the whole time and everything, but–”

“No, that sounds great,” You interrupted. “When’re you guys playing next?”

“Friday night at eight.”

“Alright, I’ll see you at The Hideout on Friday then.”

“Alright,” He cooed back playfully. “G’night, baby.”

Standing in front of your open closet, you rustled through all your clothes in indecision. “I don’t know what I should wear.” Nancy, Robin, and Steve sat side by side by side on the edge of your bed, peering into the closet from behind you. The latter opened his mouth to share an opinion but held his tongue as your younger brother leaned in your door.

“What’re you doing?”

“Uh– just trying to find something to wear, I’m going out later.” You shrugged off his question and continued shuffling through your hanging shirts.

“Again with this ‘going out’ stuff! With who?”

“Us,” Nancy interjected casually.

“Thought we’d go check out Eddie’s show at The Hideout tonight,” Steve added. “Show him some support since it’s usually just the drunks there.”

Dustin eyed you for a split second but seemed to move on from whatever suspicion he had toward you quickly. “Cool, I’ll let Mike and Lucas know. We were gonna hang at Mike’s, but we can all go to the show together instead.”

“You can’t come, Dusty. That’s not a kid-friendly environment,” You told him apologetically.

“What? Come on! We’re not kids, we’re in high school! We wanna see Eddie perform too, he’s our friend!”

“Oh, so now he’s just your guys’ friend,” Steve chimed. “Before, you were practically begging us to get along.” He stood and crossed the room to ruffle Dustin’s curls. “Seriously, dude, your sister’s right. This place is nothing but adults drinking, I doubt they’d even let you stay if you came in with us.”

“See? Your mother says no,” You confirm. “Sorry, Dustin, really. Maybe we could all do something together as a big group though soon, yeah? All of us and the Hellfire club. We could sit in on a session or take you all to the movies or something, okay?”

He paused, fidgeting with one of the buttons on his undone, patterned overshirt. “That’d actually be pretty cool. You’d do that?”

“Yeah, kid, it’s no problem.” You walked over to give him a side hug before nudging him out the door. “Now beat it, I’ve gotta get ready.” It took another minute or two of brainstorming before you decided to snag Dustin’s Hellfire t-shirt from his laundry basket– thank God you had just done his laundry for him. You thought it’d be the best fan attire since Corroded Coffin wasn’t exactly selling merchandise.

Once you were ready to go, Robin called shotgun as the four of you piled into Steve’s car. “Sorry that you guys have to tag along now, but you know how Dustin gets.”

Glancing at you briefly in the rearview mirror, Steve replied, “It’s no big deal. Sorry I told him you were going to see Eddie.”

“It’s fine,” You shook your head. “I wanna lie to him as little as possible anyway, I just haven’t figured out how to bring it up yet.”

“I know he wants you to, but you don’t always have to tell him everything right away,” Robin reminded you. “I mean, what were you gonna tell him– that you were fucking one of his best friends? He doesn’t need to know that. It’s not like you guys are actually together yet–” She was interrupted by a punch in the shoulder from Steve.

He gave her an incredulous look before Nancy took over, reaching over and squeezing your hand. “What she means is, you guys should take your relationship at your own pace and tell Dustin when you think the time is right.”

“Right, that’s exactly what I was gonna say,” Steve added.

Robin rolled her eyes. “Oh, shut the fuck up, Harrington.”

“What? I was!”

When you were finally standing in the parking lot of The Hideout, you let out a deep breath you hadn’t realized you’d been holding. Robin hooked an arm around your shoulders and started for the door. “Come on,” She drawled. “Let’s catch ‘em before the show starts, you’ll be okay.”

They weren’t hard to find, setting up on stage front and center. You could see Eddie kneeling down to plug in the amp until Gareth lightly hit his arm and pointed in your direction. A grin stretched across his face as his stare dragged over your frame, taking in your fishnets, short skirt, and Hellfire tee. He excused himself to the rest of the guys before jogging over to you. “Hey, I didn’t realize you guys were coming along.”

“Yeah, I’m really sorry I didn’t give you a heads-up. Dustin found out where I was going and I didn’t want him to get nosy–”

“Are you kidding? This is the most sober people we’ve ever had in an audience, don’t sweat it.” He briefly squeezed your waist then let his hand settle on your back, fingers drumming impatiently. You looked at him questioningly, but he didn’t meet your eyes just yet. “I appreciate you guys coming, I know it’s not really your kinda music.”

Steve waved him off. “Nah, man, I’m sure it’ll be great.”

“Thanks, Harrington.” His arm moved from your waist to your shoulders, “I’m gonna steal her from you guys for a couple minutes if you don’t mind. I wanted to show her some of the equipment.” Robin opened her mouth to make a smart remark but was stopped by another punch from Steve.

He guided you to a nook behind one of the walls in the far corner of the bar. Humming lowly, he cupped your face so you’d look at him. “You really dressed for the occasion, pretty girl. You look fucking incredible.”

“Well, I haven’t gotten my exclusive Corroded Coffin t-shirt yet, so I figured this was the next best thing.”

“My apologies, babe, I’ll get right on that.” He dipped his head to press a long, slow kiss to your lips.

“Somebody smoked a joint without me,” You teased.

With a good-natured smile, he rolled his eyes in false exasperation. “Sorry, should’a gotten here earlier. We can smoke all you want after, alright? Pothead.”

“What’s that thing people say?” You asked sarcastically. “I think it was something about a pot, maybe a kettle?”

“Yeah, yeah, yeah,” He laughed. A whistle from Gareth called his attention to the stage and he exhaled heavily. “Okay, that’s my cue. Wish me luck?”

“Like you need it,” You pecked his lips. “I’m really excited to hear you play. You guys are gonna do great.” Eddie smiled and stole one last quick kiss before darting back to the stage, leaving you to make your way back to the others.

“We may have taken the liberty of getting you a drink,” Steve said as Robin pushed a glass across the table toward you.

“I would be offended if you hadn’t.” Taking a few swigs, you looked over to where Eddie was finally settling the mic into its stand, his guitar hanging from his shoulder. They didn’t bother with grand introductions given the small crowds that gathered weren’t exactly there to see Corroded Coffin; they simply started into their set.

The boys mostly stuck to covers of semi-popular songs– sticking to their roots with Metallica and Black Sabbath, but appeasing the bar patrons with some Led Zepplin and a grudging Bon Jovi song. A few pieces they’d weaved in were their own and you could tell, but they certainly weren’t out of place. You could see where their inspiration came from.

You caught up with Nancy, Robin, and Steve between songs, but they mostly carried the conversation as you watched Eddie. Anyone really paying attention would be able to see that he was in his element. Sweat matted his bangs to his forehead, fingers moving masterfully over the strings as he powered through Trapped Under Ice with incredible accuracy. While you had heard the dramatic voices he put on during Hellfire, you hadn’t known that he could also mimic James Hetfield and Ozzy very impressively. He wasn’t perfect, but what little he lacked in refinement and precision, he more than made up for with passion. 

The middle-aged drunks occasionally gave some muted applause for the songs they recognized, but otherwise ignored the free entertainment. He really was underappreciated here. In front of a real audience, you couldn’t imagine the kind of stage presence he’d have.

Over the next two hours, you worked your way through a couple drinks. You hoped the frequent crossing of your legs could be attributed to the short skirt you were wearing rather than your dwindling patience and self-control as you waited for Eddie to finish his set. When they finally wrapped up their last song, you made your way up to the stage. He was lowering the mic stand when you got to him, holding his gaze as you dropped a twenty in the guitar case in front of him. There were only a few other bills and some loose change inside.

“God, please don’t. Seriously, that’s insulting.”

“Are you kidding? That’s an investment. I expect it back with interest when you guys make it big.” He held a hand out to you as you joined him on the stage. “Really, I thought you were amazing. You’ll see when you get outta this place.”

He just gave you a small smile and brushed his thumb over your cheek, eyes sweeping over your face briefly before he took both your hands. “So I really do wanna hang with you, babe, but I absolutely have to move all our gear first. Is there any way I can convince you to stick around?” His lips dragged over your knuckles, leaving a few kisses as he spoke. “Have a li’l smoke sesh in the back of the van once it’s empty. Promise I’ll make it worth your while.”

Your chest warmed at the attention he was lavishing you with in front of all of his friends– Dustin’s friends– and you tucked your chin a little bashfully. “That’s fine, Eds.”

“Awesome. We’re gonna finish loading the van, then you can ride with me to Gare’s to unload everything there, then I’m all yours. Cool?”

“Sounds good to me, rockstar.”

Holding your face in one hand, he squished your cheeks and shook your head back and forth lightly. “Always makin’ fun ‘a me, aren’t you?” He landed a kiss on your puckered lips and subtly patted your butt. “Go sit with your friends and I’ll let you know when I’m finished, okay? So glad I had my best girl cheerin’ me on tonight.”

As he went back to helping the guys pack up, you went back to Robin, Nancy, and Steve who paused their conversation when you sat down.

“Swooning already?”

“Somebody’s definitely looking a little starstruck,” Robin added. “Ready to ask him to sign your boobs?”

“The way it’s sounding, he might later,” You replied before taking a sip of your drink.

“I’m proud of you,” She nodded and took your hands dramatically over the table. “At least one of us is leading a successful love life. We will live vicariously through you.”

“Well then, let me know when we figure out how to tell our little brother that we’re dating his male mentor.”

“Wait, did Dustin say Eddie was his male mentor?” Steve interjected. “That’s so not true–”

Robin shook her head. “Steve, shut up.” She smacked your hand and nodded behind you just before you felt hands settle on your chair.

“Hey, you guys enjoy the show?” Eddie’s rings clinked against the metal of the chair, his voice not far from your ear making your heart rate pick up.

“Yeah, you guys were great. We’ll have to come again sometime,” Steve replied.

Nancy politely asked, “How long have you been playing, Eddie? Some of those songs seemed pretty complex.”

“I started playing with the guys when I was in eighth grade, but I started teaching myself around sixth. So, I guess about…nine or ten years?” He shrugged, thumbs drumming against the chair.

“You’re really talented,” She commended.

“Thank you, that means a lot to me.” His hand shifted to your shoulder before he continued on playfully, “Your guys’ friend here gets a backstage pass though, which means she gets to come watch us unload equipment at Gareth’s mom’s house and smoke my weed.” He took your hand as you stepped down from your high-top chair, pushing it in for you and grabbing your purse as you said goodbye. “Thank you guys again for coming. I’ll see you around soon, yeah?”

Steve gave him a one-armed hug as he nodded, “Definitely, man.”

The two of you walked back to the van, hand in hand, your steps echoing in the mostly-empty parking lot. The others were already waiting in Gareth’s garage passing around a joint when you pulled into the driveway. You followed Eddie around to the back of the van as he opened one of the back doors. Gareth got up to open the other one, handing you the joint as he passed you. 

“Alright, boys, think we can manage our fastest unload yet?” Eddie asked, cracking his knuckles.

“Yeah. As long as you don’t tweak your fuckin’ back again, old ass,” Jeff scoffed in return.

“Seriously, dude. Lift with your legs,” Gareth chimed.

Eddie made a talking motion with his hand and mumbled mockingly back before grabbing one of Gareth’s drums. “Start moving your shit or I’ll stop discounting your weed.”

“Oh, yes! Forgive me, master!” Gareth snarked, voice quavering with feigned fear.

They all got to work on moving the drum kit out first before moving on to the other equipment. Not knowing what to do with your hands, you took a hit and sat on the edge of one of the chairs they had out. “Is there anything I can do to help?”

“I mean, there’s a fridge in the corner, you wanna grab a few beers?” Jeff asked, getting a grasp on one side of an amp.

Gripping the other side of the amp, Eddie gave him an unimpressed look. “Dude, did you seriously just send her on a beer run?”

“It’s literally the other side of the garage. Shut the fuck up and bend your knees.”

You grabbed a beer for everyone– except Eddie, who was stuck with cherry Coke until he was done driving– and passed them out when they were done moving the amps. Then, to kill some of the time, you sat in the van and packed a bowl to smoke with Eddie later. When the equipment left in the back started to dwindle, you, Jeff, and Barry made conversation while Eddie unloaded some of the lighter equipment with Gareth. Keeping his voice low, the drummer suddenly spoke. “You know you have to like– marry her, right?”

“What’re you talking about?” Eddie chuckled, though his face and neck warmed at the mental image.

Gareth jabbed a thumb over his shoulder in your direction. “Dude, she’s over there talking to your nerdy loser bandmates about Judas Priest’s influences on Iron Maiden’s first album. And she’s actually invested. You’re not gonna find another girl like that in Hawkins. Not to mention how you talk about her–”

“Alright, shut it,” He huffed. “Just help me get this shit out, it’s getting late.”

When the last of it was finally tucked away in Gareth’s garage, Eddie checked his watch and sighed. Eleven-thirty. “Damn.” Your conversation with the boys had drifted to your opinions on heavy metal power ballads when his hands settled on your waist. “Sorry that took so long, you ready to get going?”

“Don’t worry about it, Eds. I’ll see you guys later though, alright? We should really head out.” The three of them thanked you for coming and said their goodbyes before settling back into their fold-out chairs, presumably to keep getting fried.

You and Eddie climbed into the van and he started it up before looking over at you. “It’s not the first date anymore. Any chance I can convince you to stay the night?”

“No convincing needed. I didn’t know how late I’d be home so I already asked Nancy to cover for me if Dustin calls.”

“Wait, you really want to?”

“Of course I do. Will Wayne mind me staying there?”

“Oh, he wouldn’t care. He works the night shift and sometimes he works overtime, so he usually isn’t back until six or eight in the morning. And occasionally he’ll even stop for a drink with a couple guys from work and that could take ‘til ten,” He explained with a little crooked smile. “He’d love you, though.”

You noticed him freeze up a little as he registered his own words, so you took one of his hands and laced your fingers through his in your lap. “I’m sure I’d love him, too. He must be a great man if he raised you.”

He squeezed your hand lightly as he relaxed. “Yeah, he’s pretty cool.” There was a moment of quiet, just the low hum of the radio and the roar of the van until Eddie spoke again. “You wouldn’t wanna go to Lover’s Lake, would you?”

“Sure.” His hand settled on your thigh and your lips curled down as you repressed a little smirk. “I didn’t take you for the type.”

“Hey, I can be romantic,” He defended lightheartedly. “I just prefer places like these when they’re less populated.”

“Why? So you can smoke and have sex in them?” You asked with a joking scoff.

“No, I just like my privacy. It’s more intimate without a bunch of obnoxious people around.” He paused, then conceded. “But yes, I like to have a range of recreational activities to choose from. Is that so bad?”

You shifted your leg so his hand drifted further up your thigh. “You wouldn’t happen to be taking me there to do both, would you, Eds?”

“I’m taking you there to do whatever you wanna do, sweet thing.” His tone remained casual, but his hand slowly crept higher and higher. “We could lay down and look at the stars…Maybe go for a swim…” Goosebumps rose on your skin as his short nails dragged across it, fingers catching on the loops of your fishnets. “What d’you think?”

“We didn’t bring swimsuits,” You remind him.

“So?” He asked as he pulled into the small gravel lot hidden by the trees. Looking over at you with a smirk, he continued, “There’s no one else here.” He got out of the van and came around to open your door as you unbuckled your seatbelt. “We don’t have to if you don’t want to, though.”

After grabbing a couple of blankets from the back of the van, he took your hand and lead you out away from the trees. You helped him lay out the blankets, crawling onto them and kicking off your shoes. Eddie lay down beside you and you looked over at him, “I don’t think I’ve ever actually been out here at night. It’s really pretty.”

“Can’t believe you think so when you get to look in the mirror every day,” He shot back without effort, giving you that goofy grin of his.

Lightly smacking his arm, you fought back a big smile of your own. “That was terrible, you know that, right? That was actually so bad.” Your combined laughter sounded loud in the near-silent clearing of the lake; your voices were only accompanied by the constant chirping of crickets and the occasional owl’s hoot. 

He rolled onto his side, resting his head in his hand as he looked down at you. “You’ve gotta get used to taking my compliments, babe, even the corny ones. ‘Cause soon they’ll be comin’ non-stop.” You simply hummed in response, your hand finding the back of his neck to pull him into a kiss. He didn’t hesitate to shift over you, arms on either side of you to support himself as his knee braced between your legs. Lips sticky with your lip gloss, his mouth made a path to your neck. “Y’really do look so pretty tonight, baby. Never seen you in a skirt before, I could barely pay attention to our set.”

“I thought you did amazing.” His hot breath on your neck made you squirm, grasping at his shirt as your hips wound against the firmness of his thigh. “Had me wet the whole time.”

“Fuck, wanted to get my hands on you so bad. Just performing had you all soaked for me, huh?” Your skirt rode up toward your waist until Eddie decided it was unnecessary, leaning back to yank it off. “Jesus H. Christ, fucking look at you.” Lying beneath him, fishnets stretched taut over your spread thighs leading up to your Hellfire tee, you were his fucking dream. It wasn’t hard to tell he wasn’t a religious man but, at that moment, he wished he was because he felt like he needed to thank somebody for your existence. It was like every fantasy he’d ever had simply walked out of his head and into his life. “Seriously, I might need to take a minute.”

“Can you help me out of these while you do?” You ask, curling your legs up to your chest.

He guided one of them up to his shoulder, running his hand down your outstretched leg and eyeing the tights before he looked at you. “Am I in trouble if I say no?”

“If you take them off now without ripping them I’ll wear them for you again sometime,” You bargained teasingly.

“I’ll do it if you let me eat you out through them next time.”

You shoved lightly at his chest with your foot, trying not to laugh. “You’re such a freak.”

Eddie narrowed his eyes at you playfully, but you could see he didn’t take the name to heart coming from you as his hips pressed into your ass. “Careful callin’ me names, babe. I’m starting to like it when you’re mean to me.”

“Pervert.”

He hummed, trailing kisses down the inside of your leg and finally hooking his fingers into the waistband of your fishnets. “Only for you, sweetheart.” His short nails scraped gently along your skin again as he carefully drew the tights down your legs. The second they were off, you sat up to pull him into another hungry kiss.

Deepening it, he started to ease you onto your back again but was shocked when you pulled away. With a coy smile, you asked, “How ‘bout that swim?”

Baffled, he was unable to come up with a response before you were standing and whipping your shirt off. His brain kicked back into gear when you dashed away from him toward the lake. Then he was running after you, fumbling to kick off his shoes and strip in the process. He froze as he watched you take off your bra and jump in wearing nothing but a skimpy pair of panties. You’ve gotta be fucking kidding. Finally kicking off his jeans, Eddie dove in after you.

Attempting to wipe the water from your eyes, you looked around for him in the water. Just as he breached the surface behind you, though, he grabbed your waist and shouted. Your squeal broke into a fit of giggles as he squeezed your sides and pulled you into his chest. “You’re such a dick!”

“That’s what you get for bein’ a tease.” Staying close to shore, the water came nearly to his shoulders. He urged you to wrap your legs around his waist, his hands settling under your butt to hold you comfortably.

Arms settling loosely around his neck, you looked away pointedly, that mischievous little expression finding its way to your face again. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“Of course, you don’t. ‘Cause the sweet girl I know would never do a thing like that, right?” He asked sarcastically.

You shook your head and answered in a falsely solemn tone. “Never.”

He chuckled softly until you leaned into him, nipples hardened from the chill of the water and pressing into his chest. Faint smiles never left your faces as you shared a few messy kisses. His hand rubbed soothingly up and down your spine while you pushed a strand of wet hair from his face. Swept off his shoulders, his soaked hair allowed you to see his whole face more clearly than ever. He started to feel self-conscious as your eyes drifted slowly over his features, taking him in, your thumb stroking over a spot beneath his ear that gave him chills. “You’re so handsome, Eddie.” He opened his mouth slightly like he was going to respond, but he couldn’t seem to think of anything so you changed the topic for him. “It’s nice here at night, we should come back again sometime when we don’t have any other plans.”

Eyebrows furrowing, he frowned in confusion. “What do you mean ‘other plans’?”

Untangling yourself from him, you faced him and swam backward toward the dock. “Hotboxing the van and having amazing sex, obviously. C’mon.” Climbing out, you held your arm tight over your chest as you snagged your bra off the dock and ran to the blankets still on the ground.

Eddie was close behind, picking up his trail of abandoned clothing. He started to apologize for the lack of towels, but you quickly waved him off and you both dried off as well as you could with one of the blankets. While you wrapped yourself in the dry blanket, he gathered your things with his to carry it all back to the car. “Go ahead and get in the back, I’ll start it up and get the music going.”

Opening one of the back doors, you found that the floor was already covered with other blankets. Climbing inside, you felt the van rumble to life. You could hear Eddie rustling through cassettes in his console as you peeled off your sopping-wet underwear and curled up with the pillows and blankets he’d put back there. The bowl you’d packed in hand, he finally joined you in the back. When he climbed in he paused to fidget with something you couldn’t see and suddenly the back doors were illuminated by little twinkling lights. He swung the door closed and tugged off his boxers before you asked, “When did you have time to do all this?”

“Hm? Oh, it’s all been back here for a little while. I just laid the blankets out in here when I grabbed the other ones to lay down by the lake.” He settled beside you, the top half of his blanket bunched in his lap leaving you free to ogle his tattoos– a favorite pastime of yours. “You want the first hit?”

You shook your head with a small smile, eyes tracing his features like they had in the lake. His hair was still heavy with water, but his forehead was hidden again and his curls were starting to come back. With nothing but moonlight, his eyes had looked black; in the glow of the fairy lights, you could see their warm cocoa-brown color again. His pretty lips formed an O as smoke billowed out of them. Their blushy-pink color nearly matched the flush on his cheeks, which you knew would spread to his neck and chest soon enough. He was beautiful, really.

He offered you the bowl and it stayed quiet, excepting the Master of Reality album playing softly, while you took a few long rips. You passed it back to him and let the silence continue for a moment before you finally said, “I’m gonna tell Dustin.” Unintentionally hitching in a breath, he choked on a throatful of smoke. The resulting coughing fit was so intense it brought tears to his eyes and you couldn’t help but laugh as you rubbed his back. “Are you okay?” He nodded, but you still leaned over the console to grab the bottle of water from the cup holder. 

Taking a few swigs, he cleared his throat. “Okay, sorry,” He let out a big breath before he looked at you again. “You’re ready to tell him?”

“Yeah.” Too nervous to hold his gaze, you curled into his side. He welcomed you, of course, tucking his blanket around the both of you and kissing the top of your head. “I just feel like things have gotten…real. You try to take care of me in ways no one else has before and everything feels so easy with you– and honestly, both of those things scare the shit out of me ‘cause that usually means everything is absolutely going to go to shit…But you look out for my brother, and I feel like I can trust you, and everything we do together just feels so intimate…” You huffed embarrassedly and buried your face in the crook of his neck. “I think Dustin deserves to know that I care about you so much.”

“That we care about each other,” He corrected you. Hand framing your jaw, Eddie made you meet his eyes. “I’m gonna be there with you when you tell him. I don’t want you to do it alone, we should do it together. I still have to get his blessing, right?” He added jokingly. Before you could say anything, he started to ramble a little nervously. “I feel like this is real. I’ve never felt this way about anybody. I’ve never had the chance to have anything serious before, but you…You’re all I think about now. That first day I met you, it was like I had this ‘Where have you been all my life?’ moment and you’re all I’ve wanted since, and I know that sounds really cheesy and dramatic but–”

Your mouth on his cut him off, which seemed to be a habit you were forming. He didn’t mind though, he’d been told to shut up in much less pleasant ways. When you pulled away, it was only enough to murmur, “I know the feeling.” Your nose nudging his was enough for him to keep it going, hand hooking under your knee and drawing you to straddle his lap.

The blanket slumped to your waist leaving your torso bare for his eyes and hands to wander. “You’re just so fuckin’ beautiful. My pretty girl, right, baby?”

Toying with one of his damp curls, you held his gaze as you agreed, “No one else’s.” At your answer, he pulled you in for a much more desperate kiss. His fingers pressed into your back while the others slipped beneath you to find you soaked, your chest flush with his as his tongue passed your lips. 

He pressed two fingers into you easily, slowly massaging your g-spot until you were whining into his mouth. “Feels like you might not even need me to stretch you out, sweetheart.” Hips canting forward involuntarily, your clit ground into the thick base of his cock. Finally letting you catch your breath, he withdrew his hand from between you and looked down to watch how your slick spread on his skin as he rutted against you. “Mmm, gonna let me show you how bad I need you?”

You brushed his hair back from his shoulders as you breathily replied, “Condom?”

“Wallet,” He answered. Leaning over his shoulder to grab it off the console put you in the perfect position for Eddie to mouth at your tits, lips wrapping around one nipple while the roughened pads of his fingers found the other. You moaned quietly and tugged at his hair, but grabbed the wallet and rifled through it. 

“Eds, there isn’t one in here.”

“Fuck. Glovebox, maybe,” He suggested.

Huffing impatiently, you began to wind your hips against his again. “D’you promise to pull out if I let you fuck me raw?”

He looked up at you with wide eyes. “Really– I mean, are you sure? You don’t have to.”

“Need to feel you now, Eddie,” You insisted.

“Alright, sweetheart, I promise.” He lovingly pecked your lips before grasping your waist, helping keep you steady as you slowly sank down on him. Fully seated in his lap, a gasp rose in your throat. “There you go,” He murmured comfortingly. “I know, baby, but you’re so good. Can finally feel how wet you really are. Takin’ me so deep.”

Your voice was nothing but a high-pitched, airy sigh. “Feel you everywhere.”

“S’Cause I’m made for you.” Your forehead rested against his as he continued. “I was made to fill you up, pretty girl.” His words provoked a pathetic moan from you, spurring you to lift your hips fractionally just to ease back down again. Supporting yourself with your hands on his shoulders, you tried to start up a steady pace, but your thighs trembled with every motion. The moans and whimpers you let out started to sound quiet and watery and it worried him, but the determined rocking of your hips never ceased. “You doing okay, baby?”

Not lifting your head, you sniffed frustratedly. “Need help, Eddie.”

“Oh, baby, why didn’t you say so?” He cooed sympathetically. “S’okay to need my help, c’mere.”

Arms around your waist, he guided you up and down on his cock at a careful speed until you were grinding down on him again. “Eds please, I need more,” You whimpered. Rolling his hips to meet yours, he didn’t hesitate to tighten his arms around you and quicken his pace. The way he was hitting every possible spot inside you had your eyes squeezing shut to keep them from crossing. Thighs trembling, you shivered as he rubbed and squeezed at them.

Eddie’s shoulders rolled back as he leaned against the console, hands running slowly over your hips and across your stomach to palm at your tits. “Look so pretty on top’a me, sweet girl. Might have to make you ride me more often.” His thrusts into you sped up, the console against his back giving him more leverage. One of your hands rested lightly on his lower abdomen to steady yourself but once his thumb found your clit, you were practically writhing in his lap. He rubbed it in firm, precise circles and felt you squeeze around his cock uncontrollably. “That’s it, baby, come for me. Can’t wait to feel you soak me for the first time.”

Something felt different than usual as that coil wound tighter in your stomach. It was hotter, like flames were crawling across your skin. It felt like your bones shook and your eyes swam with stars as you cried out his name. Your nails dragged down his stomach, those of the other hand doing the same to his thigh, trying to anchor yourself with your head in the clouds.

It wasn’t until the ringing in your ears cleared that you heard Eddie’s feral groans, making you look down. Everything was drenched; your thighs, his cock, his stomach, and his chest glistened wet in the warm lights. The sight made you register the sloshing sounds of your dripping wet pussy as he started to slow his thrusts enough to pull out. Arms enclosing around your waist again, he all but pinned you to his chest as he rutted between your stomachs. Lips molding to yours, he kissed you sloppily before his gaze wandered your body in awe. “Can’t believe you fuckin’ squirted f’me. Fuck–” Cut off by his own moan, his forehead fell to your shoulder as his eyes squeezed shut, his hot spend painting both your skin and his. 

After he pressed a sweet kiss to your temple, he eased you onto your back, watching the filthy mixture of your come drip down your used cunt. “Eds, what’re you doin’?” You asked timidly as he lowered himself between your thighs, voice coming out in a barely-there squeak.

“Wishin’ I could take a fucking picture, sweetheart. I was gonna clean you up. Want me to use the blanket instead? S’okay if you’re too sensitive, especially after all that.” You nodded and he kissed the side of your knee with a smile as he grabbed the soiled blanket and quickly wiped himself off. Your legs flinched as he patted you dry and his eyes filled with concern as he murmured your name. “Did I hurt you? Did I do too much?”

“No,” You struggled to raise your voice above a mumble. “I’m okay, Eds, I’m jus’ all sensitive.”

“Promise me that’s it?” He asked, running his hands comfortingly over your legs. Pointedly avoiding his gaze, you huffed through your nose and your eyes brimmed with tears. “Baby, c’mon, what is it? What’s the matter?”

You answered him in a whimper, sniffing back tears every few words. “I jus’ made a mess ‘n I’ve never done that before ‘n now everything’s all yucky–”

“Aw, baby,” He chuckled through a sympathetic pout. Lying down and drawing you to his chest, he wiped your tears and kissed your forehead. The two of you curled up under one of the clean blankets. “Nothing’s yucky, sweet girl. Just gotta wash the blankie, no big deal.”

“But ‘m still all sticky,” You pout up at him. “C’n we take a bath when we get home?”

“Home?”

“Your trailer, Eddie,” You whine. “Wanna take a bath.” Lids heavy with exhaustion, your eyes slowly fluttered closed repeatedly before they’d snap open again.

“You’re so sleepy, sweet girl.” He brushed your hair back from your face. “Think you can take a little nap back here while I drive us home?” You nodded dreamily but still clutched at him whenever he tried to get up. “I know, baby, just twenty minutes and we can take a bath. Okay?” When you finally conceded, he tugged on his jeans and made the short drive home. 

Once you were bathed and dressed in nothing but a borrowed Metallica t-shirt, he tucked you into his bed before crawling in beside you. You dozed off easily with your head on his chest, but he stayed up just a little while longer. Palm rubbing circles on your back, his lips ghosted over your forehead. “I love you, baby,” He whispered almost silently. Closing his eyes, he focused on the feeling of your heart beating against his side, counting them like a child would sheep until he fell asleep.

The next morning, you woke up first, Eddie’s arms around you and his chest molded to your back. You scoffed and rolled your eyes but you couldn’t help your tiny smirk as you registered the feeling of him squeezing at your tit, his even, heavy breaths against your shoulder telling you he was fast asleep. Slowly rocking your hips back, you bit back a laugh when it made his grasp tighten while he nuzzled into your neck. He rutted against you, half-hearted and arrhythmic in his unconscious state. It wasn’t until you reached back to hold his hip and grind directly against his cock, separated only by his boxers, that he finally grunted himself awake. “Mmm, g’morning t’you too, gorgeous.”

“You’re a perv even in your sleep, you know that, Munson?”

He mouthed at your neck with a sleepy grin, “I could’a told you that. How’d you know I was dreamin’ about you?”

“Well, your right hand was my first clue.” You pointedly ground your hips into his again and looked back over your shoulder at him, “Wanna guess my second?”

“Can’t help but get ideas, babe. You’re sleepin’ in my bed, in my shirt, no panties…” His fingers walked a path down your stomach, stopping just after your belly button. “Promise I kept my hands to myself, though– while I was awake, anyway.”

His hand drifted leisurely between your legs but you groaned. “Eds, what time is it?”

“I don’t know, almost nine? Why?” His lips never left your skin, still working over your neck and shoulder without leaving obvious marks.

“We can’t, we have to go. Dustin’s at Mike’s and I wanna make sure we get back before him. I’ve still gotta make myself decent and figure out what I’m gonna say to him.”

“What we’re gonna say to him,” He corrected. “And can’t you stay indecent a little longer?”

“Wayne’ll be home anytime,” You remind him, “If he’s not already.”

He pouted, “But how often do we get to have great morning sex after a night together like this, baby?”

“Any morning now that I’ll be staying over whenever you want,” You point out.

“Hmm, I s’pose that’s true,” He agreed contently. Stretching out beside you with a loud groan, he pecked your cheek before he got out of bed. Yawning, “I’ll be right back,” he headed for the bathroom. 

Rolling over, you buried your face in his pillow and breathed in. Old spice shampoo, weed, and Marlboros filled your nose and it made every muscle in your body relax. Him. You wanted to bottle the scent, soak every pillow and blanket and sweatshirt you owned with it. You’d never have another restless night again. Lifting your head slightly, you left your nose against the fabric but allowed your eyes to flicker around his room. 

A bottle of lotion sat on his nightstand, he didn’t seem to bother with tissues though. You weren’t surprised. Handcuffs hung on the wall, also not surprising, but they still made your thighs twitch. There were more band posters than in your room, including a hand-spray-painted one for Corroded Coffin. He had three guitars, his prized possession– his other sweetheart, as well as another black and white electric, and an acoustic painted to say ‘this machine slays dragons’. An amp sat across from the bed and his dressers were strewn with clothes and beer cans. It was easy to imagine him existing in here. Playing guitar in bed in his boxers or planning the party’s next campaign at his desk.

Your eyes snapped to the door when it finally opened again. “Still in bed, huh?” Nodding with a small smile, you watched him rummage through his dresser for today’s band tee. His hand settled on Slayer before he thought of running into your mom, and opted for the much tamer Deep Purple one beneath it. “Well, you should probably put somethin’ else on before I take you home. What you’ve got on might get a little breezy.”

“Bite me,” You yawned, flipping him off as you got up.

“I didn’t think we had time for that,” He replied snarkily. He finished getting dressed as you slipped on your skirt and balled up your fishnets to put in your purse.

When you were both ready– or as ready as you could get for now– you headed for the van. “I’ll make coffee when we get to mine,” You offer. “My mom should be at work, so I’ll make breakfast. Food might help soften the blow.”

“God, you’re acting like we killed his cat or something,” He laughed. “We’re not breaking bad news, babe.”

“It’s still a shock, alright? And Dustin has big feelings, you know that. I just don’t wanna make him feel uncomfortable or lied to. Me and him don’t usually keep secrets, so this is a big deal.”

“I can be tactful, alright? But I’ll let you do most of the talking if that makes you feel better, I know you’re worried about him.” His fingers laced through yours and brought the back of your hand to his lips. “It’s gonna be okay though, sweet girl.”

Pulling into your driveway, you let out a heavy breath before you got out and lead him inside. As you got dressed, you tried to practice what you’d say, rambling your thoughts aloud. He left you to your process, only stepping in for you to bounce thoughts off of or to keep you from getting lost in your concerns. You only paused once you made your way into the kitchen. Putting a pot of coffee on, you asked, “Chocolate chip pancakes okay for breakfast? They’re his favorite. I’ll probably make a little of everything else too; eggs, bacon, sausage, there’s fruit in the fridge.”

Eddie had to bite his tongue to keep the words ‘marry me’ from rolling off his lips. “Sounds incredible, baby. Anything I can do to help?”

“No, it’s okay.” Watching you methodically gather everything you needed from the fridge and cabinets, he figured he’d just get in your way if he tried to lend a hand. While you cooked, you mumbled through your prepared speech again, knowing it would never go so smoothly in actual conversation. Thinking about it more, you just hoped Lucas and Mike didn’t come back with him.

By the time he made it home, leaving his bike in the yard, you had made more than enough food and Eddie had already eaten his. Dustin was talking the second the door was open. “What’re you doing here, Eddie? Something going on with Hellfire?”

“Nice to see you too, Henderson.” He retorted, standing and flicking the bill of your brother’s hat into his eyes. “Your sister made you breakfast. I hear chocolate chip pancakes are your favorite.”

He eyed both of you suspiciously as he started toward the kitchen. "Yeah, what's it to you?" Eddie shared a confused look with you, but decided not to say anything. After he’d made his plate and sat down at the table to dig in, Dustin spoke again with a mouthful of food. “So, what’s with the special breakfast? Why’re you guys being weird?”

“We’re not being weird–”

“You’re alone at the house together,” He pointed out, still shoveling food into his face. “That’s weird.”

“It’s not weird– would you just listen? It’s not a big deal, I just wanted to run something by you, alright?” Eddie could tell you were fumbling, forgetting everything you’d planned to say. His hand itched to reach out for yours on the table, but he knew you wanted to get the words out first. “I’ve been–”

“Seeing Eddie?” Dustin interrupted. When the two of you shared a glance and you opened your mouth to question him, he continued. “Mike and Lucas told me last night.”

“How did they–” Eddie began, but Dustin cut him off.

“Apparently, everybody knew but me! All the guys in the band knew! Steve, Nancy, and Robin knew! How could you leave me out of the loop like this? You know I hate not knowing things! I have to know everything!”

“Dusty, calm down,” You said softly. “I wanted to wait until I actually had something to tell you. He’s your friend, I didn’t want to change the way you look at him just to go on a couple dates and decide it wasn’t gonna work.”

Nose wrinkling, he asked, “So, what? You guys are like– boyfriend and girlfriend now or something?”

You snorted and Eddie couldn’t help the small, smug smile creeping across his face. “Yeah, are we boyfriend and girlfriend?”

Back of your hand hitting his stomach, you tried not to laugh as you answered. “Yeah, I guess we are.” Turning back to your brother, you added, “Only if you’re okay with it, though. I don’t want you to be uncomfortable or feel like you can’t trust Eddie anymore.”

“It’s kinda weird, but I guess I don’t care as long as you don’t make out and all that gross shit in front of me. And you’d better treat her right or me, Mike, and Lucas are all leaving Hellfire,” He tagged on pointedly.

“You don’t have to worry about that, you have my word.” He looked like he was about to say more, but opted to stay quiet.

“Okay, well, I think I’ve lost my appetite for now.” Dustin stood from the table, “I’m gonna go back to Mike’s and tell them they were right.”

Rolling your eyes, you started to clean up. “Be safe, I love you.” 

“Love you, too!” He shouted back just before he yanked the door shut.

As you started rinsing dishes in the sink, Eddie’s hands found your waist. “I think that went well.”

“Hopefully it doesn’t stay awkward for long,” You sighed lightly. “I guess Lucas and Mike did the hard part for us.”

“Guess so,” He drawled in agreement. “So, what now?”

“Now? Hmm…” Drying off your hands, you turned to loosely wrap your arms around his neck. “I guess now we do whatever we want, no more sneaking around.”

“I hope that’s not gonna suck the fun out of it for you.”

“‘Cause watching you Tetris yourself through my window is such a turn-on,” You scoffed.

He gave you a look of mock offendedness. “Good thing I won’t have to do it anymore, since you clearly don’t appreciate the athletic prowess it takes to climb through that window without waking your mom up.” 

Halfheartedly rolling your eyes yet again, you let your fingers dip past the neck of his shirt, fingers grazing along the top of his spine. “How about you roll us a joint and then I’ll show you how much I appreciate your ‘athletic prowess’?”

“You drive a hard bargain, babe,” He sighed theatrically. “But you know it’s an offer I can’t refuse.”

“Obviously,” Lacing your fingers through his, you dragged him toward your room. “That’s why I offered.”

As the three boys gathered at Mike’s house again, he asked, “Wait, we were right?”

Lucas stood, pointing at him. “I TOLD YOU, MAN!” 

Mike tried to argue, “I NEVER SAID–”

“I TOLD YOU!”

“GUYS, SHUT THE HELL UP!” Dustin interjected.

Lucas cleared his throat as the two of them settled back into their seats. “You’re right, I’m sorry.”

“So, you’re really okay with Eddie dating your sister? I mean, it’s not gonna make Hellfire awkward or anything, is it?” Mike questioned.

“I don’t know, it’s weird. It’ll definitely be nasty seeing them all lovey-dovey or whatever, but they’re still just Eddie and my sister. As long as they don’t act different, I won’t act different.” Turning on the TV, Dustin flopped onto the couch next to Mike. “Besides, I think part of me knew they’d hit it off– I’m like a natural matchmaker. They just have too much in common, ya know?”

part one | part two | tmic masterlist

tags: @adequate-superstar @akiratoro420 @bbciwp @trixyvixx @yujyujj @nope-thanks @broccolisoupy @spookybabey @comboboo @thecraziestcrayon @mommybaby-witch @imvirginia17 @therensistance @peacheskiwi @skyfullofsong123 @hcneyedsstuff @aysheashea @prestinalove @ungracefularchimedes @psychospore @bellaisasleep @untoldshortsofthefandoms @ficsaremylife @ohmeg @twirls827 @bellasfavoritesweatpants @sebastiansstanswhore @444aslut444 @ourautumn86 @dream-a-little-nightmare @extrainsanity @poniesandcupcakes @trln @cantreadbutcute @kennedy-brooke @navs-bhat @sluggzillaa @whatwedontdointheshadows @saayanaaa @depressedacidtest @unholyyylita @m-chmcl-rmnc @pullhisteeth @vivalasv3gan @a3trogirl @thesagewitchh @djoseph-quinn @darlingdixon

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[freezerbnuuy]

I wrote a guide on my main blog on writing SimLit a while back, but I figured I'd amend it to make it more suitable to Tumblr and post it here as well.

Please note, that there is no one way to write SimLit; creative work is always subjective. You do not have to do everything in this guide, obviously- just focus on the bits that apply to you and what you want to write. This is a gathering of my own ideas, the way I do things, and other options as well. Depending on your writing style, some of this will be more relevant to you than other bits will. This is both for the challenge players and the people who write stories with little basis off anything going on in the game.

I have made a story / challenge-planning document that you can read about here that will give you a place to put all your ideas!

The fun part...sort of...is coming up with all your rough ideas. Things to think about are:

. Where you'll put your story: The most popular place for SimLit these days seems to be Wordpress, but there is always Blogger and LiveJournal as another option for a place to put your story. Tumblr is a great place for stories that are more picture-based and less textual, or if you plan to only have dialogue for your story text. Have a look at what different platforms have to offer to see what suits you.

Whilst I would say Blogger is a bit harder to properly customise than Wordpress and you have to rely on custom templates made by other people and some HTML editing if you want a nice blog template, it is very generous in terms of picture limit. To my knowledge, any image under 2048 on the longer width won't count toward your Photo space (as of 2025).

. Narrative or Gameplay-Driven: Some writers will write commentaries to go alongside images of challenges they're doing. Some write commentary for their general gameplay. Others use Sims solely as a way to 'direct' a story they've come up with themselves instead. Others make comics. Some do a mix of various things... Have a think about what kind of story you want to do. It might even change halfway through writing, you never know!

. Genre: You won't always have an easily-defined genre for your story, but you might have some ideas. Romance, Fantasy, Sci-Fi, Horror, Family...the options are more or less endless. 

. Custom Content: If you use CC, it can help to look for CC you might need for your story- whether that's poses, CAS items or Build/Buy items. 

. How you will plan your story: Some SimLit authors write entirely around the game and don't pre-plan anything (brave people you are going by the seat of your pants, I used to do this but now I could never), but others like to plan story points and character notes beforehand. There are plenty of ways to plan your story, whether that's jotting ideas in a notebook or on a word processing document. There is one I already made linked at the beginning of this section.

There are also programs like Scrivener designed for writers to plan stories (it's not free, though). It depends how in-depth you need to plan things out before you write. With me, it really depends. Some story ideas, I have most of the plot planned in my head from the get-go. Other times, I only have a rough idea and have to go from there.  

. What challenge you will do: If you want to write a commentary/story around a challenge, look for one you'll find fun first. Long or short? What rules will you change or omit? How much will you let the challenge and game drive the story? Will you be writing commentary, or will you be writing in a narrrative-type style inspired by what happens in the challenge?

. Rough plot / character ideas: Write down any plot or character notes that immediately come to mind, even if you don't know if you will use them. Anything that comes to you straight away is a good place to build on later and should be jotted down whilst it's still fresh in your mind.

. How you will write your story: - Commentary VS. Narrative: Will you write a commentary around your screenshots/gameplay, or will you write it in the style of a prose-like story? You can also mix both of these approaches in various ways.

Or do you want to go about it in a different way? Maybe you could use your screenshots to make a comic-style story. Another option is to possibly have something like an epistolary novel (written almost entirely in letters) or even a 'scrapbook story' (a story told in multiple ways with multiple artifacts- letters, newspaper clippings, phone calls, almost anything).

- Tense and Viewpoint: Will you write in past tense or present tense? Will you write in third person, or first person? How many different characters' viewpoints will you have if you write in first person? (...Or are you like me, and will accidentally switch between tenses throughout the whole story?)

. Themes: It's good to think more in-depth of what themes will appear in your story. Family bonds, friendships, relationships in general, dealing with various aspects of life, prejudices, overcoming fear...the list goes on forever. Whilst I personally don't like reducing stories to tropes, tropes are always a place to start if it works for you.

. General length: Do you want to ideally write a short story, or something longer? This won't always be something you'll have in mind straight away, but that's fine. 

. How much to plan and when to start: It's up to you how much you need to pre-plan and when to start writing, but I don't start writing until I'm at a point where I know that the story can be resolved. I don't start writing straight away, in case I end up with a story I somehow can't finish. 

. Upload frequency: You won't always stick to this, since most of us are busy, sad and tired adults- but it's good to try and think about how often you want to upload chapters. Are you aiming for weekly, monthly, or just whenever you manage to get a chapter out? What I will say is please TRY NOT TO STRESS about schedules. If your readers are impatient that's their problem and they can wait until you're ready!

. Gather inspiration: Whether it's authors, shows, films, art, music...anything that gets you in the right mood and frame of mind for what you want to do. Moodboards are sometimes a good idea as well for collecting inspiring pictures. Make inspiring playlists of songs that get you in the mood for the story or characters.

. The sliding scale of 'Utopia' and 'Dystopia': On a scale of 'Paradise' to 'Hell-hole world', what's the rough state of the world in your story like? Maybe it isn't that simple, but it helps to have an idea if it's thematically relevant somehow.

. Any messages or lessons: Are there any messages you hope to get across in your story, or anything that a reader may be able to learn from it at all? Not always the case with every story, and this is not the sort of thing that you'll do intentionally. For my own story, it's very much just a snapshot of history so there isn't really much of a defined moral to the story.

This is geared more towards people who are writing mostly story-driven SimLit, since commentary and gameplay-driven stories often don't require any sort of major world-building. That, and the challenge you are doing might already have the worldbuilding situation laid out for you, like the Apocalypse Challenge or the Alien Adoption challenge, but I'll build on this a bit too.

As someone who has been Game Master for DnD and Pathfinder, I'm used to fleshing out worlds, building on lore and the like- and being a Game Master often requires you to do it on the spot sometimes. For me, it's good to have some level of lore and world-building written out. I like having a certain set of 'rules' to stick with, mainly to help keep consistency of the universe's 'rules'. This is especially important with my Magic Universe since the magic system needs a level of consistency I have to try and stick to. (That said, I have occasionally changed tiny less-significant bits of lore as I go...shh...don't tell anyone!)

But where do you start with such a thing? First off, this isn't something you have to do in massive levels of detail (unless you want to!).

Here's the general way of how I do things. Feel free to pick and choose which bits will apply to your story; you don't have to pre-plan every little last detail about your world if you don't need/want to.

--Starting with the already-established relevant worlds and lore--

I almost always start out with the 'official' stuff first. You can find this in-game, in item and world descriptions, in trailers, and on Sims Wikis. Sims isn't the most lore-heavy game for obvious reasons, but now and again you've got something to work with. It all depends on exactly what you're writing about, and how much your story will revolve around the actual Sims universe. 

--Seeing what I want to keep from the already-established worlds and lore, and what to get rid of--

I don't keep everything all of the time, and it's unlikely you will either. Sometimes your idea is better, or fits better with what you've already got in mind. Or perhaps the Sims 'lore' behind the thing is too comical and wouldn't fit a slightly more serious story.

--Start stealing ideas! (Go careful though)--

Writers worry way too much about originality, but everyone takes little bits of ideas off each other all of the time- everything is inspired by something. That, and in my opinion there’s absolutely nothing wrong with doing a story that’s a ‘love letter’ to a genre with all the tropes and cliches you can think of. 

So gather up some inspiration and see what ideas others have; have a quick read of SimLits that are similar to your idea. Look at the lore behind shows or video games that are the same genre as you are writing. Think about your favourite shows, films and video games as well. Or even look at the official Sims forum or Tumblr to see what people have done with worlds, premade characters and the like. On the official forum, there are a lot of ‘What have you done with…’ threads where people discuss what they have done with premades and in-game places.

One thing I tend to focus on the most when worldbuilding, is the sort of socio-political aspect of the world. 'But why does everything have to be political?', you say, but everyone's life is governed by social and political ideas - some more than others, so for me it's what makes up a big chunk of the worldbuilding because of how much it influences the characters living in that world. That, and a few big historical events I tend to think of as well to flesh the world out. If this sounds like something you feel like delving into, then here's some ideas:

NOTE: Some of this won't apply to your world or focus, so just ignore the stuff that isn't relevant to your story.

--Events in history leading up to your story--

This will depend entirely on what you story is about, but events to think about are:

. Inspiring figures from the past: For example, if you're writing about vampires, are there any in history who are still iconic to this day? What made them iconic?

. Any miscellaneous important events? My more specific ones are geared more towards conflict, but there's always going to be important events that happened that stay with people that happen in the world and they aren't always going to be bad. (Yes, the author of Divided really did just say that.)

.Changes in laws and/or major attitudes towards groups: Were there any rules or legislations that came into play that completely shook the world of your story?

.Conflicts: Wars and other major conflicts in history will linger around for years and years in various ways

Modern society 

This is looking at your present day in the story in more depth. This can help you with characterisation as well- how has modern society affected your character and their development and current attitudes? 

. Attitudes towards certain groups: Who or what is celebrated in society? Who has to deal with negative attitudes and why? How are people choosing to fight back, positively or negatively, against positive or negative change? Is there any prejudice at all, or is your world almost entirely accepting of different types of people?

. General morale: How happy are the different groups of people in your world? Is there still need for change, or are people more or less okay with the way things are? Is there an imbalance in the welfare of different groups and why?

. What's/who's popular: From people to events relevant to the story you're trying to tell, what's popular and well-known? Are there any events or people that are causing change or debate that might be addressed later?

. Fashions: It helps to think about what's fashionable in your universe sometimes, but maybe that will all depend on what kind of CC you can get a hold of.

. What the future holds: What ideas do people have for the way things may change as time passes?

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Magic, superpowers, or other power systems

If your story has some kind of system of 'special' power- magic, or superhero powers, certain chemicals, powers granted from deities or the like- it's good to have some rough idea for how they work:

. Is this power innate? Can it be learned? Is it within the person, or is it an outside source of some kind?

. Is this power a finite or infinite source? Is it a physical object, is it ethereal/energy, a chemical, etc?

. What limits are there to the use of this power? When can it/can't it be used? What downsides are there to using this power (illnesses, magical overcharge, death, etc)? What consequences are there for overuse of the power?

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Beliefs and belief systems

Your story might have some sort of 'collective' belief systems- common superstitions, or religions like Sims Medieval’s Jacoban or Peteran faiths, or maybe even cults. If so, it's good to outline those, though the amount of detail you'll need for it will depend on the kinds of beliefs and the story you're telling.

. What are the core / defining rules / lessons /ways of living of this belief?

. What actions/attitudes etc are rewarded, and what attitudes are frowned upon? What rewards and punishments are there for such things, if any?

. How has this belief system affected other people outside of that belief system? What do 'outsiders' think of the belief and the people that practice it?

. Are there any key figures in this belief system? Are they real objects/people, metaphysical beings, or are they not real at all? 

. Are there any specific meetings or practices etc. associated with this belief? 

. Do people of this belief own specific special clothes or objects? What significance do they have?

IMPORTANT SIDE NOTE: When it comes to world-building, ALWAYS go careful when using any real-life cultures, beliefs or events outside of your own culture etc- especially those of marginalised groups. Try to do your research as thoroughly as possible.

To avoid potential upset or misrepresentation, I either rely on fictional creations or keep things vague. For example, I'm using the lore behind the Sims Medieval's Jacoban and Peteran religions in an upcoming story to avoid making a fictional religion that people might mistake as a parody of an existing one.

Do any research you need to do

Once again, how in-depth you go depends on how far you want to go- how realistic you want it to be, how historically-accurate you want it to be...Sometimes it's good to just have enough to get a rough idea of something to add on to. For example, if you're doing a historical story, it might be worth just seeing what big events happened, social taboos, etiquette etc. just to get a feel for the rough world of your story. For anything that isn't an important topic, I'm not bothered if it's inaccurate. For example: if it turns out the soft background science of something in my work is a bit wonky, I don't entirely care. However, for serious subjects like mental health etc, I always make sure to get a good idea of what I'm doing before I write it. If I get it wrong, I could end up spreading massive misconceptions and that's the last thing I want to do. -

World-building towns and cities

Not everyone's story is going to have a huge deal of focus on this sort of thing, and additionally to the top you might want to go even further with building onto what's already given to us. So here's some other things that might be worth thinking about if you want to do a bit of extra fleshing-out for the game worlds. When I say 'individual world' I mean the actual playable worlds on their own as opposed to the ts4 worlds altogether at once. If you're doing a challenge and the challenge has worldbuilding aspects, like Alien Adoption Challenge or the Apocalypse Challenge then that is a brilliant thing to give you some level of a framework for some aspects of your story's world.

. Rough population of the individual world etc.

.Landmarks and their significance

.Tourism, what do other people like to do whilst they're there

.What sorts of people tend to live there

. What the individual world is known for the most, what puts them 'on the map', so to speak

Characters are my main focus as both a writer and a reader. I can have a good story with great characters and a thin plot, but a story with a great plot and boring characters is never going to interest me. They can also be difficult to come up with ideas for. Here is a rough idea of how I come up with characters, and how I build on pre-made characters.

Some people have written 'character interviews' - these can sometimes be helpful. You fill them out from the characters' point of view, or from a third-person perspective but about the character. The 'Marcel Proust' character interview is a great one to use, since it asks questions that will no doubt be relevant to both the character and the plot later on. Some of them have questions about favourite food, colours etc. but for me, this is more often extraneous than not. Then again, knowing too much about your character for some people is better than not knowing enough.

My own character 'interview' is here. It's technically not an interview and is just a list of things to consider about your character. You may get some use out of it.

First off, before anything: think of what to base your character on, roughly. Think of the traits of people you know or have known, think of aspects about yourself. Of course, we can't forget basing characters off of your favourite fictional characters! 

If you are writing a premade character, and you're unsure on what to expand on, first off look at their in-game traits, any information provided in trailers/promotional material, and then look at fan theories and ideas about the character. Those are good places to start if you're using a premade Sim.

As well as specific characters, think of your favourite traits, archetypes, and development types as well. One of my favourites is the downfall of a character, a tragic character whose constant screw-ups land them in a deeper and deeper mess. Even better when they start going off the rails a bit as well. I also love characters who struggle with others' kindness, who learn to let themselves be loved over time.  

Then you can get to outlining them.

The basics about your character

. Name: Is there any meaning behind this name in-story? Did the character choose it themselves or is it their birth name? What nicknames do they have, if any? Which do they like, and which do they hate? (Names don't have to have meaning. I only use meaningful names in certain contexts- most names are just names I like, names that just fit for some reason, or that a character's parents thought sounded nice). 

NOTE ON NAMES: If you want an authentic name for a character from a specific time period, look at census records for the country if they're available or see if you can find articles on people from that country and time period. You can also Google naming conventions, as they can change within a country over time as well. I also recommend avoiding baby name websites or baby-related websites when you want authentic names for characters that aren't English or American. It's best to find blogs written by people from that country. Sometimes travel blogs for the country will sometimes talk about names, authenticity and such. Sometimes Wikipedia has lists of names as well, but it's worth double-checking any info found there.

. Rough description: Height, rough weight, colours of skin/hair/eyes, the general 'vibe' of their attire or a more in-depth description. Anything notable about them, like specific jewellery, clothes, tattoos or scars/other injuries?

. Identity: This could be anything from where they grew up, gender, race, sexual orientation, or if they are an occult sim or some other made-up species or race. How has their identity affected their life? Do they face any prejudice or mistreatment for any of it at all, or does it give them more of an advantage over others?

. Family: People in a character's family, whether blood family or found family.

.Beliefs: What they do (and maybe don't) believe in.

. Protagonist or antagonist: Not always this black and white for every character, but good to think about your character's rough place in the story. Of course, one can become the other as the story progresses.

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Character-defining aspects 

. General personality traits: You can use in-game traits and Randomise to give you ideas, or you can think of your own personality traits for the character.

. Upbringing: What it was like growing up for them. Who was good to them? Who wasn't? How have these people and experiences shaped who they are today? How was the world different growing up to what it's like now? Does the character mourn the old ways of the world or do they like the change?

. Social class: How has this affected their life?

. Education: Might also connect with upbringing here- how was school/university etc. for them?4

. Goals/dreams: Almost everyone has a goal, even if they never achieve it. Even if it's just getting out of bed to make breakfast and then getting back in again.

. Social life: Extrovert, introvert or somewhere in the middlle? What do they do when they hang out with friends etc?

. Fears: What are they afraid of? What do they do to avoid that fear, if anything?

. Any conditions, illnesses, or neurodivergence: (ONCE AGAIN, go careful when writing things like this and do research where it's needed.) How have they affected the character's life and their outlook in general? How does it affect how others percieve them, if it does at all? If applicable, what caused them?

. If not that, then general physical/mental health: How well (or not) does the character look after themselves in these ways? What do they do for self-care and distraction?

. Likes and dislikes: People, things, events, hobbies...What makes them happy and what makes them want to punch a wall? 

. Character 'flaws': Flaws don't necessarily have to be absolutely-horrible things, it can be just things that can hold the character back in some way. Some things that characters may overcome in a story might not necessarily be flaws as well- for example, introversion isn't a flaw (I wish writers would stop treating it as one), but possibly some characters may seek to try and 'come out of their shell' socially a little. Most characters have some kind of flaw or personality 'aspect' to overcome or learn to deal with, but the best kind of character flaws are the ones that actually get in the character's way in the story. The joy is in seeing how the character overcomes these flaws...or even how the character gives into them more and more as the story goes on. Wretched excess is fun sometimes!

. What they're good/bad at: Where do they excel, where do they need a little practice, and what are they absolutely terrible at?

. Any special ablities or powers: What can this character do? What are the limits of this power? How do they feel about this power? 

. Things they are known for: Whether by friends, family, colleagues or the world. What are they known for? What do people like and dislike about them?

. Ideas for development: How do you (at the moment) see the character changing? If you have any ideas for it, who or what will help to influence that change?

. Relationships with other characters: How they do (and don't) get along with other established characters, and maybe why. -

Things to think about character-wise when writing your story

Once you get to writing your character, here's a couple of things that it helps to think about- though some of it is more relevant if writing in the first person.

. What your character does and doesn't notice: How do they approach the world around them? What sort of things do they notice first in their surroundings?

. Manner of speech: Formal, or informal? Do they have any mottos, catchphrases or words they use often? Do they speak about feelings a lot? Do they lie, and how often? Sometimes what isn't spoken can say as much as what is spoken.

. How they socialise and deal with others: Do they overthink things in discussion? Do they pick up on social cues? Do they often over-analyse the actions of others, or do they let everything go over their head? Are they confident in socialising, or not? Maybe their out-of-dialogue musings are complex, but they keep to not revealing much in their speech.

. How they cope with negative emotions: Do they break down, or blame others? Or do they power through it?

. In connection to some of the above points, think about your character both from the outside and inside: How do others see them? How do they think they come across to others? How do they come across to themselves? And finally, who are they really on the inside?

An important aspect to think about especially is character motivation. I've written this one separately from the bullet points since I think it's especially important given character motivation will play a major part in driving the plot along, as well as relationships with the other characters. This might not be something you'll have a solid answer to until you start writing, but it's good to have some starting ideas.

. In the broadest and simplest sense, what does your character want? Money, fame, honour, redemption, happiness, revenge...Have a think about what it is that they strive for deep down. (If you're struggling for ideas, maybe it might help to look at the in-game Aspirations, or maybe even the Traits will give you some ideas).

. How far are they willing to go to get it? Are there limits they won't go to in order to get what they want? Or are they willing to step on whoever's toes? This might be a change that occurs over the story, that's always an interesting concept. Seeing the well-behaved character slowly and gradually challenge what is acceptable...

. Who, or what 'kickstarted' this motivation? Some people just naturally come to want something, maybe as they grow up and/or their general interests, hobbies etc. change. Some motivations are brought on by events, though. Maybe harm done to a loved one motivates them to seek revenge, or something they did in their past motivates them to seek forgiveness or redemption for their actions. 

For challenge players, you can always define your characters through funny commentary, I always like seeing that. One story had one generation founder constantly break the fourth wall and be the only one who realised they were in a game and it made them stand out in a comical way.

 Let me start off by saying: Plot is my weak point. I struggle to organise ideas when both reading and writing, I always have done. As usual, for plots it's best to think of your favourite plots from stories or a 'stock plot' like The Hero's Journey, Wretched Excess etc. It's also good to think about any potential plot points that come to mind straight away, so then you have starting points and can fill in the gaps- this is generally what I do. And honestly, I don't think it's that bad to re-use themes and plot pieces sometimes. Sometimes it works better to stick with what you're familiar with, than it is to try a thousand things at once that are new or different to you.

Do you see yourself as a 'plotter' or a 'pantser'? I'm a bit of both, though I'm leaning towards more of a plotter now. I wish I could write everything by the seat of my pants, but sadly I can't. 

The way I initially began planning for a longer, more in-depth story is by making a table in a word processing document that is one column wide, with loads of rows. Just one giant row of loads of columns. Each box in this table will be for specific notes, and the order of these notes in the planning table goes like this:

. Title ideas/preliminary ideas: What it says on the tin, and the very, very first ideas for the story.

. Rough story ideas: Any ideas that come to me in the pre-planning stage go here. Ideas for anything at all- screenshots, scenes, lines of dialogue, anything!

.Background information to be aware of: Any relevant lore or research goes here. Sometimes I keep story research in a separate document.

. Previous story points to be aware of: Any previous characters or events to be aware of to aid in consistency.

. Current plot threads: Keeping track of plot threads that need to be resolved in some way, to help prevent plot holes.

. Character info: Character information in varying levels of depth. At this point, this usually only covers main characters.

. Character Development:  This almost always changes halfway through, but this is my plan for how characters will change as the story goes on, and the events and characters that will be catalysts for that change.

. Backstory: Character backstory goes here instead, to keep things organised.

. Ideas for future chapters: Any ideas at all for upcoming chapters, no matter how vague. This also includes things that absolutely have to happen later on.

. Story ideas: Various boxes, all of which have more detailed story ideas. At the moment these are defined by specific events, and these are just for the direction of the story.

. Chapter (X): The main story planning, with one box for every chapter. This is where the story starts to be sorted by chapters as opposed to just events. Things always get swapped around during the writing process: Some things get moved until later, moved to happen earlier, or omitted/changed entirely.

The general idea as I'm going, is that each chapter has to move at least something forward. We learn something new about someone, a character's actions have changed something or caused a consequence, a character has learned something, etc. Somehow things have to be different from the beginning of the chapter to the end of the chapter and that is generally how I go about it. Whilst a lot of people frown on whole chapters that 'info-dump', for some stories it might be necessary- especially for futuristic or alternate history stories where the author will need some filling-in on the general state of this unfamiliar world.

Again, how much you want to/need to plan depends on what you're doing. Nowadays I write narratively, and the game has little bearing on the actual story.

If you're going with a gameplay or challenge-driven story you probably won't need much planning, if any at all.If it helps, it's worth doing what you can to create associations of some type within your planning- whether it's symbols, bold/italic, colour-coding, anything. That might aid you in keeping important bits of the notes tied together somehow, whether it's done by scene, character, important plot points etc.

It may help to highlight important bits as well in your word processor, so you can easily find things you know you have to go back to soon. I sometimes do this since I easily get lost in my own notes...

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Other Planning Ideas

. Starting from the end: It might be easier to go backwards if you come up with your ending before your intro. You can always start with your end point, and then figure out how you got there. 

. Mind-maps: If a massive list of boxes doesn't sound ideal, it might help do a sort of mind-map or flowchart. This is better if you are the sort of person who'd rather take in small bite-sized pieces at a time. You could have one mind-map for the beginning, middle and end, and then do little branches off for different events. And then from those branches, possibly add more for other details surrounding that specific story event, or things to remember for later on down the line. 

. 'Snowflake method': Put simply, it's writing down a simple plot point or idea and then continually expanding on it until it's at the level of detail you need for your plan- the way a typical snowflake's points branch out. As a random example: - Dave goes to get some cheese. - Dave has discovered a monster in his kitchen, and it demands a block of cheese or Dave's life. Terrified, Dave goes out to get some cheese to appease the monster. - A monster that can only live off of cheese is used to eating the bits of dropped cheese off Dave's kitchen floor, but Dave has decided to do more cleaning now his girlfriend is moving in. Desperate for survival, the monster has escaped its hiding place, demanding a block of cheese from Dave for its survival. If Dave does not supply cheese, he will be killed by the monster.

. 'Five-part narrative'/Pyramid: Breaking down your story into the five main parts of most stories: - Exposition: This is mainly setting up the world of your story - the setting, the main goings-on in the area, the characters we will be following throughout the story, and also the driving point which sets the main characters ahead doing plot stuff. - Rising action: The rising action is generally the part where the characters' antics, or possibly something caused by the world around them, sets stakes higher and puts more pressure on them. Perhaps the character has made a grave mistake. People could be after them. Or perhaps some kind of natural disaster has caused massive issues for the character. How will they come to navigate all of this? - Climax: The rise up to the 'turning point' or the height of the drama in your story. Maybe your character finally has some kind of breakdown, their actions have led them into the worst situation possible, but good can arise from this...or your character can just keep going down the slippery slope. - Falling Action: This is generally the process of gradually resolving all that has happened during the story. Maybe the main characters have realised their mistakes and aim to solve them, or perhaps your characters have overcome the main antagonist, or possibly made peace with them somehow. - Denouement: The resolution to the story, or at least where the characters end up. Then again, who's to say that everything will be resolved by the end if you want to make a series rather than a one-off? And who's to say the resolution will be a clean pretty one?

. For the challenge/game-driven writers: It helps to make notes of anything that happens in-game that could become a plot idea. Whether it's something from a mod, Lifestyles, Sentiments, or other autonomous actions- anything that gives you idea for a potential relationship change, conflict or story point, jot it down and maybe you can build on it later. If your Sims end up with positive or negative Sentiments for each other, then maybe it could be fun to come up with a reason why they feel that way.

My biggest piece of advice is: If you are stuck with what to do next in a story, let the game do some of the storytelling for you if you need to. Look at what happens autonomously, Likes/Dislikes, traits, anything caused by mods that add story depth to the game, Sentiments that people have for others etc. You probably even have mods that actually add some real depth to the game that you can go off of. It's a great way to help you get new ideas. It's gotten me through a lot of brick walls in the plot.

. Do not use ChatGPT or any generative AI! The whole point of creative writing is the CREATIVE part and neither of these are at all creative. Don't bother writing a story if you can't be bothered to do the writing.

. Be sure to try and use content warnings for aspects of the story that may need it. You can use the trigger tags and can warn in chapter headers. You can't catch everything, of course you can't, but it's a helpful way to help a reader decide whether or not it's worth getting into a story, or whether they may want to skip a page or chapter. My own story has a lot of potential triggers so I warn about them as much as possible.

. Portrayal is not automatically endorsement. Your story does not have to be entirely morally-pure and neither do your characters. Not every story is about the perfect people who do no wrong and somehow manage to tick every box on how to be the perfect Leftist. You also don't have to provide disclaimers on the fact you are not okay with what's being portrayed, but you can do so if you want to save your own skin.

. Do not worry too much about word counts. Some people like to keep an eye on word counts, but make sure you're not letting it dictate your entire workflow. It's great to have goals to keep you going, but to let them define your work entirely can get stressful. If you miss your goals, don't beat yourself up about it. 

. Use online generators if necessary! Names, plot points, rough plot outlines, there are generators for everything online. They are there both for fun and to help you get a starting point, and you are NOT cheating for using them! No other writer ever does absolutely everything themselves. We all get ideas from somewhere, so there's absolutely zero shame in using generators for ideas and such. 

. Do not get hung up on looking for writing advice. I know, I just gave my advice and yet I'm saying this! Over the years I've looked at so many writing advice blogs, and almost all of it has been useless to me in the long run. Most of my learning has been from reading others' writing, and I have also learned from other kinds of art as well- films, pictures, etc. Do not rely too much on one person's style or advice. It's no good wanting to be someone else, and take that from someone who's been super jealous of loads of creators over the years. Whether it's art or writing, I've learned more from looking at others' art than I ever have from people who've told me how to do it.  On top of that, don't let others' advice dictate what you do too much. After all, people are so quick to label absolutely anything as 'bad writing' these days. Continuing on from this point...

. Do not let others' writing advice become super-strict rules. Including my own! The problem with some people and their advice, is that they tend to think their way is the only way, for everyone. And as I mentioned earlier, people are quick to slap the latest cool 'smart writer's term on anything. Remember when Mary-Sue/Marty-Stu started off as an overpowered character who never faces consequences, but then seemingly became any character with supernatural powers and/or unnatural hair and eye colours? Remember when we got taught 'said is dead' in primary school, and then authors and Internet writers suddenly became obsessed with it to the point where you were terrible for using 'said' at all?

All of those writing blogs demanding complete originality when every conceivable story is inspired by something, subconsciously or otherwise? Getting thrown overboard for using clichés? The same three authors being used as a style model? It's great to take inspiration from other people, but don't think that others' writing advice is always 100% going to improve your writing because as I have said ad nauseum throughout this whole thing- art is subjective. Even if the advice-giver is an excellent author that's been published 1205 times, that doesn't necessarily mean their way is the only way for everyone. My likes and dislikes are not ultimate. Neither are theirs, and neither are yours. Write the clichéd character, add the cool thing because it's fun, use 'said' all of the time, enjoy yourself.

. Also worth adding that just because someone writes their writing 'advice' in an incredibly harsh or 'my way is the only way' manner, it doesn't mean they're 100% right and that you should change how you do things because a bored stranger on the Internet thinks they're the last word on how to create things. You are not going to please everyone, and that's fine. And let's face it- some people are never pleased. Ever. Don’t write to please these types of people, it’s not worth it. I've come across them plenty of times in the past on creative websites, and I've fallen into the trap of trying to do what they say because they must be right, right? And really, why should I? Why should anyone?

Don't fall into the trap of feeling like you have to do what the angry man on Wordpress told everyone to do. Maybe these types occasionally have something good to share, but you should only use writing advice you find genuinely helpful to you.

. When it comes to doing research on things like stereotypes or tired archetypes / plotlines for certain marginalised groups, be aware that everyone has a different opinion on what is harmful and what isn't. You cannot write a character of any experience that every single person will agree with or consider to be a sympathetic portrayal. One man's good representation is another man's problematic.

You are also occasionally going to find some people writing these portrayal guides who will consider every experience out of their own individual one to be wrong (I've come across plenty of 'how to write autistic characters' guides where the autistic writer is convinced their experiences are the only kind of 'proper' autistic experience... and we are all very different people in reality!). Try to get a rough idea from multiple sources and go from there.

. In addition to the above: Go careful where you get your research/advice from. I will happily admit when I don't know what I'm talking about sometimes. Other people, not so much. Go careful who you choose to do any research from. On top of that, when you are looking for advice specific to a culture or identity, most of the time it's best to find things written by people who are actually a part of the group. It's good to be as thorough as you can.

. Be imperfect. No-one is a perfect writer, though some certainly think they are! Perfectionism is common, but in my opinion it holds people back a lot of the time. Don't stress too much- SimLit is meant to be a fun hobby.

. Always aim to finish your work. Even if you have to pull a plot point out of your backside to do it, try to finish everything where you can. I have only ever discontinued one story, and that was only five chapters into it. If you're having trouble, don't be afraid to leave a project for a while. I find in the meantime, I come up with new ideas. Sometimes a necessary distance to a project is needed to see it in a different light, and then any issues can be (hopefully) figured out.

. Don't get caught up in the 'reboot loop'. It's a dangerous game, to constantly want to re-do your work. I'd know - I have a personal project that's been rebooted over 10 times and still not completed that's been a work-in-progress since almost 2014. Don't get caught up in it otherwise you'll never finish anything. If there's something you don't like, assess first if it's best to just move on with the story despite it. In connection to my above point, I'd rather a story be finished badly, personally, than not finished at all.

. Do not get put off by low reader numbers or lack of comments. It's part of the creative process- either you'll get feedback or you won't. People nowadays tend to go for shorter stories either due to not having time, language barriers are also a thing that can put people off a longer prose-based story, or due to the modern age trying to make everything as succinct as possible - and like I said earlier, a lot of people are tired busy adults and likely won't have time.

Some things are also typically more niche than others.

Do not publicly whine or guilt-trip people over lack of feedback or attention. There are always going to be times where lack of attention to your work will get you down, and in my eyes, that's a good sign to take a break from it until the passion for creation comes back to you. Otherwise the story will likely suffer for it as will your wellbeing.

. Do not get put off by negative critique. Critique can be helpful, but let's face it, many people often don't know how to write a good or useful critique and a lot of people nowadays want to be a edgy, feisty caustic critic, might as well say it. Even if someone is nice about it, your first reaction might be ‘owch’.

Keep the useful critique in mind, bin the rest. You don't need to change anything about your story, at the end of the day nobody can force you to do that - but it's also not healthy to ignore absolutely all critique completely. Sometimes others' ideas can be helpful. Sometimes.

. Jarte - A free fancier version of Wordpad that I use for note-taking and plot-planning.

. My planning document and character questions linked earlier.

. MyNoise - If you like background noise to focus but music isn't for you, these are various noise machines. It includes chanting, white noise, natural sounds (thunder, rain etc), bar ambience and much more. There's an amazing selection.

. Writing Plot Prompts and Generators - A bunch of generators for plot-related events. Rough plots, possible things that could go wrong, ideas for how characters meet and general writing prompts. 

. Character Generator - A bunch of character-related generators that will generate all sorts of ideas- from rough descriptions, to in-detail outlines, to causes of death, and a separate generator for ideas for LGBT+ characters as well.

. Evernote- a free (with paid options) note-taking app for mobile and for PC. It allows you to create to-do lists, clip whole web pages, screenshots, articles PDFs and bookmarks - great for storing research or other important things! You can also sync your PC notes with your mobile ones so you always have a space to dump your ideas wherever you come up with them.

. Random Town Name Generator - with some fun tidbits about town naming in general.

. Fantasy Map Generator - for the super-world-builders!

I hope this has given you something of a starting point, or has otherwise given you something else to think about. Happy writing!

[daddydoddsjr]

Sis!! I’m so excited to see more of Mafia!Sonny!! 😩🫶🏼❤️

Mafia!Sonny AU

Pairing || Mafia!Sonny Carisi x Female!Reader

Contents/Warnings || Stalking, obsessiveness, age gap, fluff mostly

Part 2/?

Part 1

Authors Note || THIS HAS BEEN SITTING IN MY DRAFTS FOR OVER A YEAR AAHHHH. didn’t put a tag list cause idk who’s interested anymore :’) i’m still working on VERY old asks i feel so bad

Sonny didn’t usually drive himself places. That’s what Nick was for. But, he made an exception when it came to dates. This wasn’t any different for you, so he drove to your apartment alone. He got out, leaning against the car while holding a small bouquet of red and white roses in one hand, his phone in the other. He sent you a quick text that he was here; he had arrived 10 minutes earlier than the agreed upon time, but he didn’t mind waiting.

His heart briefly stopped when you stepped out of the entrance of your building, adjusting your dress and coat a little, the cold weather just beginning. It was cliche, the way he felt in that moment; like you were the only woman in the entire universe.

“You look stunning,” He managed to get out, holding the bouquet out to you as you approached him.

“Thank you…” You reply softly, taking the bouquet. “You look great, too.”

“Ah, not as good at you, though,” he puts a hand on your lower back, guiding you to the passengers side of his car and helping you in. You looked around the car briefly, noting how clean it was, much to your delight after having dated a few terribly messy men in your life. Sonny hops into the drivers seat before driving down the street.

“So… where are we going?”

“You know how I asked if you like seafood? I know this real good Italian seafood place in the West Village.”

“Yeah?” Your face lit up a bit, “Sounds great.”

Sonny smiles, knowing you would be happy about his choice. When he had texted you to ask if you liked seafood the other night, he did it purely to act considerate, already knowing the answer from keeping an eye on you for the past few weeks. You were oblivious to his stalking still, still thinking that bumping into you so often before he asked you out was mere coincidence. The restaurant he picked out was cute, a bit on the expensive side, with plenty of options for meals and drinks.

He was a gentleman when you arrived at the restaurant, holding the door open for you and being polite to the hostess, pulling your chair out for you. You were pleased, thankful that he seemed like a great guy so far. It dawned on you how little you knew about him, as most of your text conversations were about you.

“You haven’t really told me much about yourself, you know,” you say after a short but comfortable silence while you looked over the drink menu, thinking.

“What do you wanna know? Ask away, doll.”

“I don’t know… what you do for work, what your family is like?”

“I work in finance.. I own my own company,” he smiles, keeping the answer vague. He couldn’t let you in on what he and his family really did until he was 100% certain about you. “And, big family. Got three sisters and they’ve got their own husbands and families too.”

You smile at the mention of a big family, “You’re all close I hope?” You ask, earning a nod from Sonny.

“My mother keeps pestering me to get married and have kids like them, too.”

“Is that what you want to do?”

Sonny nods again, “I’d love that. Do you want kids?”

Your face heats up as you fiddle with your napkin, “You always ask that on first dates?”

Sonny smiles, “Just want to be on the same page… for the future. I’m a little too old to be wasting my time.” He noticed you hesitate, and he answers your question before you could even ask it, “I’m 40.”

“Oh… I’m 27,” You say sheepishly.

“I don’t care about that,” he gives you a quick wink, making you nervously smile.

“Right… well, I’m not opposed to kids, I guess. Just need to make sure my life is completely stable for it, you know? So I’m ready.”

“Of course,” Sonny smiles, hiding just how completely excited he was. A young woman his mom would hopefully love, and she was open to a family. So far, everything was just perfect.

The rest of the date was… a bit of a blur for you. He was effortlessly charming, attentive, funny, like he knew exactly how to make you laugh or blush at any given moment. It was probably the best date you had ever had, you thought as he paid for both of you despite your protests, not even letting you leave a tip of your own money.

“You’re really something, you know that?” You ask as you both step back out into the cold night. His hand was on your lower back as he guided you back to his car, “What do you mean?”

“I mean.. it was just a great date. Next time you better let me pay for my half, at least.”

Sonny shakes his head, sliding into the car with you, “Not a chance.”

“I’ll fight you harder on it next time,” you warn, fixing your hair as he began to drive you back to your apartment, fiddling with the flowers he had given you on his lap. “I don’t want you paying for everything every time. Doesn’t seem fair.”

He shrugs, tapping the steering wheel as he drove, his eyes on the road, “I don’t want you paying for anything, just the kind of guy I am.”

You paused, unsure how to argue with that. Sonny glanced over, giving you a small smile, happy with your silence. He didn’t want you asking any questions yet, more about what he did or how much money he spent. He could admit that he was already infatuated with you, but he was still testing the waters, making sure you were right for him until he fully swept in and brought you into his life.

[soobadnoonecanstopher]

Can I Stay? (A Baekhyun Story) Part 4.

Pairing: You x Baekhyun

Rating: M

Word Count: 6.8K

Warnings: UNRESOLVED sexual tension (shhhh I promise you will be okay), an unspecified age difference, an English story that uses the word Noona for lack of another word in English that carries the same feeling, if you don’t like this, then don’t read this story.

Author‘s note: remember all those years ago I said I’d write a Baekhyun x Noona fic? This is that fic.

Inspired by the Ray LaMontagne song Can I Stay?

Tag List: @andimoon @his-mochi-cheeks

Links: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5

Baekhyun was on his way over to your house. You had no way of knowing how far away he actually had gotten before he turned around but you figured you had maybe 20 minutes. Maybe longer.

Did you have enough time for a shower? You felt the grime and the dirt of the day still all over your skin and your favorite way to start the weekend was with a long soak in the tub. Obviously that wasn’t an option right now but you found yourself racing into your bathroom for a shower instead. At least it would be a way to use up the waiting time instead of sitting on a bar stool in your kitchen and staring at the front door until the doorbell rang. It wasn’t like you could get much work done without the blue harddrive anyway.

Your shower broke speed records. You did what you could with the wet hair and quickly contemplated redoing your makeup. How ridiculous of an idea, putting on makeup right now. But to face this man bare faced with nothing? You opted for just a little. And what to wear? You knew you were overthinking this. You had no control over your overthinking and you had no time for it ether.

He was going to, at most, drop off the blue harddrive and then leave, right? Maybe he would come in just to make sure you were actually able to get the task done, since he’d come all the way over maybe he should stay for a while. Had he eaten dinner yet? Of course he wouldn’t have eaten. A million thoughts were racing through your mind and you quickly reached for just something ultra casual but still kind of cute from your closet. Comfy shorts and a soft top. You didn’t need to always look the part of the ultra professional manager, just because your assistant was ringing your doorbell right now, right?

The sound of that bell sent a jolt of nerves through your belly, you swore you even saw a flash of light somewhere, and in your mind flashed your options for answering that door.

Work, work, work, strictly business mode? How dare you keep my precious blue harddrive young man, don't you know what you almost did? No, no. It was kind of your fault too. You always checked for it before leaving the office. Why you didn't check this time? You’d had plenty of opportunities to check before and the fact that he happened to be carrying it with him instead of being left behind at the office was a blessing because instead of being there, you were home. You’d showered and changed and you were comfy and happy and there was no reason at all for you to be upset about Baekhyun coming over.

So did you go the ultra casual route instead? Welcome to my home. Let me give you the tour. Here is my loveseat — maybe you’d like to sit on it with me. It’s perfectly sized for two consenting adults to sit on together. Here is my kitchen, sorry I only have ramen. Would you like to share some with me tonight?

Maybe ultra casual was a bad idea.

You were out of time for your silly scenarios and when you pulled open your front door you caught a view of the top of Baekhyun’s blonde head. He was bent at the waist and lifted both hands with the hard drive lifted on top. It took only a second for your eyes to catch on to the rest of his appearance.

His hair was wet. His suit jacket had dark water stains on it as well and his slacks were also darker at the bottom legs with very obvious wetness.

“Noona, it didn’t get wet. I protected it with my body.” It took another half second for your ears to catch on to what had to be the sound of heavy rain falling outside. Your floor was a bit high and pretty well insulated from the world but it was odd of you not to notice the rain. You’d been so preoccupied with other things.

“Baekhyun, it’s raining? You should have told me, I would come down with an umbrella.”

You were pulling him inside now. He was a little bit drippy. You were careful to grab the hard drive first due to the sheer importance of its safety, but with it carefully set down next to your work laptop you rushed to the bathroom for a towel and handed it to him.

“I parked kind of far away in a secure lot down the street. There was a big truck right in front and they were—” his face had a wince now and as soon as he lifted the towel to his head his eyes seemed to focus on you for a second as he stopped explaining his reasoning for not just parking outside on the street; his reasoning for why he was so very soaked by the rain right now. You pictured him stuffing the precious hardrive deep inside his coat pocket and fighting the elements with it as he ran through the downpour.

His mouth hung open just a little and you caught the moment he must have registered that yes, you were home, and yes, you maybe had just showered, didn’t have on the usual office attire, nor work makeup on, maybe you were wearing something soft and comfy and so what? You were home. This was your home. It was your favorite place to be, why be uncomfortable at home when you spent 10 hours of every day uncomfortable at the office?

Something about his eyes on you though made you second guess the outfit. Maybe a pantsuit would have been more appropriate. Maybe you should have done something other than just comb your hair. The shorts you were wearing were pretty high cut but they were your absolute favorite to sleep in. The shirt was thin but it wasn’t like it was transparent. This was a normal at home outfit, right? Had you lost your mind completely?

“—they were…?” You spoke out loud, drawing out his last words spoken, trying to get him to continue what he was saying and in the process, interrupting his strange silence.

“Who was?” He whispered and his face dipped forward as he wrinkled his eyebrows in complete confusion.

He was gone somewhere else. You opened your lips to speak and then closed them again. Finding no response for him that was safe enough.

He was standing just inside your doorway and after a few seconds you knew you had to move before the motion light turned off. So you moved — pushing a set of house slippers closer toward him with your bare foot, his eyes looked down catching the motion and without saying anything to him you turned and retreated back inside your apartment.

He could come in. You’d made that invitation evident with the house sippers. It wasn’t like you should be expected to say it out loud right? Some things were so very hard to say out loud.

You quietly settled onto your sofa with your laptop on the coffee table and connected the hard drive; waiting for the happy little notification sound to tell you that everything was going to be just fine — all the while watching the entryway out of the corner of your eye.

When you finally did see him, he had moved up just until to the threshold and he’d removed the wet coat. He found a coat hook and hung it there. The resourceful man could manage well enough on his own. You pulled your eyes to the laptop screen and blinked them purposefully and slowly, willing your focus to stay there. You even furrowed your eyebrows in some attempt to get them to stay put. File folders and dates. Revisions, and final versions. A silent grunt from the back of his throat and slim fingertips that pulled at the top button of a white dress shirt; popping it open with what you thought was much more force than was necessary. The slide of a long black necktie out of its knot and then pulled with force out of its collar until the silken fabric whipped free and hung toward the floor. Checking email attachments. Checking email recipients. Double checking email attachments and checking email recipients. Undoing buttons on cuff sleeves and rolling sleeves up, dear god, forearms with defined muscles— triple checking attachments and recipients and attachments and recipients.

He was moving inside now; wearing your pink slippers on his sock covered feet. As he moved just inside the space so he could place a duffel bag carefully down onto the floor, he squatted in front of it and he was digging inside. Raindrops rolled down the sides of the bag and he used the towel to blot up the moisture.

“Noona, would it be weird if I changed? I don't like being wet.” The second he turned toward you to speak, you shot your eyes to your laptop screen with impressive speed.

“No, it wouldn't be weird, why would that be weird? We are no longer at work, you are off the clock. I also hate being w-w…like that. Nothing weird about that — ” You recognized the telltale sounds of panic in your own voice and you stopped the next words from coming out of your mouth with a deep shaking inhale through your open mouth, “—at all.” You breathed out the last words to make your sentence complete and you vowed, swore, begged, and pleaded for yourself to calm down and just be normal for once in your entire goddamned life, please — please. Your face felt like it might be on fire.

You lifted a finger and you pointed toward your bathroom door. Maybe you had something that could be considered a non threatening smile on your face. The door was already open and there was no need to point it out. It was very obviously a bathroom. He had already been walking in that direction.

Baekhyun was watching you from about halfway there. He’d stopped his forward progress the second you started rambling and his eyes were wide and his lips were shut. After what felt like about 10 minutes of staring, but was probably only 10 seconds in reality, his eyes bounced around somewhere above the ceiling above your head and he nodded his head twice with his eyes way up there.

Then he swallowed, inhaled a half breath and he let out a high pitched, almost painful sounding, “Yep…Okay,” with a very definite wince on his face. He turned and went into the bathroom, closing the door behind him.

After at least a minute you heard the click of the door being locked.

Well.

That went…bad.

You closed your eyes and groaned out loud. Resting your head in your hands, you wondered if it really came down to it and you had to vomit, would you just do it in the kitchen trash can, or the kitchen sink and risk clogging the pipes, or maybe you’d run to the balcony and puke over the railing. That might be the best option actually because you could also just hurl your body over the railing too and see which hit the ground first.

Your money was on the vomit, but some distant memory from one of your high school science classes brought the words terminal velocity flashing through your head and before you knew it you had a google tab opened up, reading the FAQ page from some reputable science website.

Your curiosity was satisfied. You stared ahead at the closed bathroom door with a decision to make now.

Would you be normal?

Or would you splatter onto the pavement at the same time as your vomit?

These were the only two options you gave yourself. Because the second option sounded just so very bad, you really had no other choice.

You had to be normal. You lifted yourself onto your legs and made your way into the kitchen. Baekhyun had arrived as your assistant but could your assistant also not be a guest in your home? An assistant guest deserved a beverage. Your fridge had a few options. And when you heard the bathroom door open you called out over your shoulder from somewhere inside the fridge.

“Do you want anything to drink? I have some teas, some water, some juice…” You did not mention the beer that sat in the back of the fridge. He had to drive back home later and you weren’t sure what his tolerance might be like.

“Tea is fine,” his voice came from right beside you in this kitchen and you steadied your face with a pleasant smile for him before you turned to face him.

He was watching you with an equally pleasant smile on his own face. He wore a plain white t-shirt now, some light gray sweatpants, and clean white socks on his feet. He’d abandoned your light pink slippers it seemed. You tried not to linger on him for too long. Of course he looked beautiful in his gym clothes. You allowed your eyes half a second max to look at him. Any longer than that was superfluous and unnecessary.

Your smile was slipping and you strengthened it.

“Green, black, or a citrusy one?” His eyes slipped down the length your face when you spoke again. But he was quick with an inhale and he also matched your smile before he responded.

“Surprise me.” He bit down on his bottom lip and you reached a blind hand into the fridge grabbing randomly.

You came out with the green tea and held it out for him to grab, reaching a second hand for the same for yourself, you quickly made an escape back to the safety of the work. The work would save you, as it often did when you were faced with having to look too closely at Baekhyun.

This time instead of sitting on the sofa, you opted to sit down on the floor in front of your coffee table. The floor had plenty of space for him to also sit beside you without it being on the loveseat, which you right now decided was off limits to the both of you.

“Noona,” Baekhyun said after a while of watching you stare at your screen as you worked harder and better than you’ve ever worked in your entire life.

“Hmm?” You didn’t look over at him when he spoke, but you did stop the typing and you did raise a single eyebrow as a cue that yes, you responded to him and yes you were giving him enough of your attention to say whatever he had wanted to say.

He didn’t speak right away though and eventually the curiosity about his silence grew.

When you found him he was watching your face and his head lifted ever so slightly to have your actual attention.

“You’re different at home.” It was a quiet observation this time, and behind his eyes you could see the smile there. He lifted the bottle of tea and took the smallest sip. He wasn’t looking at you anymore but you wondered what he meant by different.

“Like bad different?”

He swallowed the tea and was looking across the room at a wall of art you had assembled there.

“Nope,” he said cryptically, drawing out the vowel sound in the word and letting his lips pop with the P at the end and he pushed himself off the floor to his feet and made his way across the space to look at each piece you remember carefully hanging up the week you moved in. It was all silly art. Nothing valuable but every single bit of it made you happy whenever you looked at it.

“Different how?” It was probably the clothes. You were way too dressed down and you probably seemed like a different person to him. You couldn’t quite help the slight upset that you felt somehow. Like maybe you should have put on a little bit of makeup, or done something with your hair before he came. Maybe you should have put off the shower altogether. You held in the strange negativity you felt by his comment and held your breath when you saw the inhale he took as he turned away from the brightly colored hand painted horse wearing an eye patch painting he had been looking closely at.

“Different, different,” he said cryptically and you groaned out loud at being baited by his non answer.

Damn him. You heard the giggle in response and he shook his head at you with a tiny pop out of the tip of his tongue. This would not do.

“Just tell me, like different in a bad way or a good way?” you felt yourself being tricked by this but you felt so powerless. He was very good at it and he had seemed to have perfected his skills over the course of working with you.

“It’s not bad,” he said after a while of looking at you and there was a slow and steady sinking of his playful smile as he did it.

“You can have next Tuesday afternoon off if you just tell me,” you said it flippantly and you were almost completely finished with your work. An entire hour before the deadline. You could feel the end nearing. You could almost taste the bubbles of the beer you would sip on and you could already hear the music you would play on your speakers as you settled into the warm comforting pillows and fluffy blankets of your bed.

“The whole afternoon?” His eyes widened and his eyebrows lifted at the promise you apparently had just made to lose your assistant for an entire afternoon. At least you’d picked one of the less busy days to offer.

You casually shrugged and hit send, submitting everything you needed to submit, you saved your work on the cloud database that management all used and you began to close out all of those damned tabs that kept you chained to this work life.

“Okay, well, at work you're super professional and kinda scary and very intimidating,” oh boy he was talking now. Did he just call you scary? You could feel yourself making a face. It wasn’t one of your best. There was a pout involved.

“But here, you’re like,” his confidence seemed to falter and his eyes didn’t look at yours but rather did a little dance off to the side, “d-different.”

“I know you didn’t just use the exact same word I’ve asked you to define three times now, Byun Baekhyun.” You’d had enough and you snapped. It wasn't your finest moment.

You saw him physically flinch and then he started talking fast. In your defense you did feel a little bad when you saw the flinch.

“Different like, soft and cute different. Soft and cute, like a girlfriend would be different. That kind of different, Jesus.” He said all so fast and you could see the tension in his jaw as the words came out. “I mean, but not right now, you were very much exactly the same as you are at work, just now.” His eyes were wide and his finger was pointing as he spoke his last bit. Not that that part mattered because your mind replayed the parts he said before.

You saw sparkly little starbursts around the letters as they danced inside of your head.

Soft and cute.

Like a girlfriend.

“Oh,” was all you could manage to say. A slight flush crept up your cheeks and you focused all of your attention on unplugging cords on your laptop and oh so carefully putting everything in its rightful spot in the bag.

“I’m done,” you said softly without looking into Baekhyun's face. If he had anything further to add to that description of how very different you were at home, he didn’t offer it freely and you also didn’t ask a single follow up question.

You could feel a moment approaching. A kind of do-or-die moment. A speak-now-or-forever-hold-your-peace moment.

It was still raining outside. You could hear the steady drops hitting your patio through the sliding glass door and the nighttime city lights blurred as the falling water pulled the city view into a distorted and warbled mix of bright colors.

“It’s still raining out,” you said softly in his general direction and his eyes pulled up from where a comfortable stare had kept him looking into your eyes. He did not ask anything from you that required an answer. He looked at you and his eyes blinked but he didn’t speak. You could see that his drink was almost finished now, just as your work had been.

When he finally did speak it was after you’d both been watching the other for too long, wondering who would break first. It kind of seemed like his turn now, you’d managed the comment about the rain.

“Noona,” he said from the spot beside the horse.

I should go. I should leave. I have a long drive back home.

It’s getting late and the roads are wet, Baekhyun, you should stay at least for a while longer. You haven’t had any dinner have you? Let’s eat together. Don't go just yet. You only just got here.

“Hmm?” You hummed in response to him and your voice got halfway caught in your throat, making it come out as mostly air.

“Noona, I think—” He stopped speaking. He was looking ahead of himself holding on to the empty bottle of processed sugary green tea and he stood there with his eyes blinking faster now than when he started speaking to you.

And then his smile came. Oh it was bright and it was lovely, that smile that filled up his face, it didn’t reach his eyes entirely because he was shaking his head back and forth with the smile on his lips.

“Nevermind, Noona. I should go,” He said it softly and cheerfully and then he was moving. “Your Assistant has to leave.”

His smile was so bright and whatever he had been about to say to you was snuffed out instantly by the brightness and the forced cheerful way he declared his intent to leave this place; to leave you.

You had to respond in kind. You stood up quickly and you hid away every little bit of evidence of disappointment you might have betrayed and you played along with happiness about his departure. Maybe he really was glad to go. Maybe he was exhausted from the very long day and longed for the peace of his own home.

This was for the best, of course it was.

“Oh, okay.” You said. It came out a little bit like a whisper, but you still had that smile on your face so that meant something.

He was gathering his things and he was leaving. You couldn't blame him. He had done his part and completed the job needed today. He made sure to bring the blue harddrive to you and he saved the day, just like a good assistant did. The best assistant.

Baekhyun left quietly.

When the door closed there was a new silence in your home that you instantly hated. It was thick and it coated you from the top of your head down our shoulders and made you feel heavy. Lightning struck somewhere in the distance and it was loud enough for you to subconsciously begin counting the seconds to see how far away it was.

A few seconds later you heard the boom and you wished you had made him take an umbrella with him.

You wished he had stayed. You wanted him to stay. You wanted him to finish his thought. What was he about to tell you?

‘Noona, I think-‘

You’d give him a whole week off if he could come back and finish that sentence.

Your feet weren’t quite working. That claggy feeling that had taken over your body made your legs sticky and heavy and you were still standing by the door obsessing over those three words you heard repeated again and again in his voice for how long, you weren’t certain about. Through at least a few more thunderclaps though.

Just when you’d worked up the nerve to walk away from the door you heard an impossible sound ring out in your apartment.

It wasn’t thunder, but it hit you with just as much of a shock that you jumped and yelped in surprise from it.

It was the doorbell.

Someone was ringing your doorbell and it took you a few seconds to recover from the shock. You leapt forward and put a hand on the doorknob.

What if some crazy person had just seen Baekhyun leave and was waiting to hack you to bits with an ax?

You were cautious with it. It was close to midnight now and outside there was thunder and lightning, the perfect kind of weather to hide some poor woman’s screams as she was chopped to bits with an ax.

You tiptoed just enough to see through the peep hole and you could clearly make out the familiar blond head of hair and bright waving smiling face of your very own Byun Baekhyun. He held up his hand, displaying a plastic bag from what you assumed was the convenience store downstairs and you turned the handle and pushed it open.

“Noona!” He shouted as soon as the door was open. “Noona, you will not believe the day I have had at work.”

You were absolutely positive that your face looked only like wild with genuine shock and confusion, which he was flat out ignoring it right now.

“Baekhyun, what—” You began as you pulled the door open. He had a forward momentum about him though and you had to step aside to avoid being bumped as he walked right into your house, for the second time tonight, only this time, doing some sort of a bit. He walked with confidence and with purpose as if he had been here many, many times before.

“I just had to come and visit my favorite Noona to tell her all about my insane day,” he swallowed in the middle of his explanation. His eyes had a frantic look to them. “—my insane work day where I work with my manager?” His eyebrows were lifted in your direction expectantly and you watched his face with much of that exact same look of shock and confusion on your face. Only there was a bit more acceptance beginning to grow.

His bright smile did not quit and you found yourself betraying the tiniest hopeless laugh as you merely followed his steps inside your kitchen where he plopped down a six pack of beer and several bags of what looked to be snacks and assorted instant noodles.

Something felt different this time. You didn’t know how in the hell he did it but maybe it was because he was referring to your job and your manager title in the third person now, you really felt so much more at ease watching him walking around your kitchen doing things like putting some water on to boil in the kettle and reaching for chopsticks from your utensil drawers.

“So…” he began after opening two beers and handing one of them to you. He didn’t speak right away but he did lift his beer up and clink it against yours ever so slightly. You found an easy spot to sit and watch whatever this show he was putting on was from the bar stool on the other side of your kitchen counter. You had to admit, your mood was miles away from where it had been before your doorbell rang. The smiles felt natural and came easily to you now. This version of Baekhyun was the best one yet.

“So,” you lifted the beer to your lips and took a sip. “Tell me about your day.” You somehow felt that this was the right line for you and you reached for a bag of chips and ripped it open. This felt like exactly what you needed actually. A little gossip with a friend who thinks of you as his favorite Noona. The strangest excitement was building inside of you as he sighed dramatically and lifted his hands to his face for the sake of the story.

“It all started this morning Noona, I fucked up. I fucked up big time,” your mouth was full of chips and you crunched through the revaluation of this big mistake he had made.

“It can’t have been that bad,” you said through bites, faking ignorance for the sake of this game.

“So you know this big presentation that has been coming up? Like weeks we’ve been working our asses off, my manager harder than anyone? Well right before the presentation I made a huge mistake. Huge. Like world-ending.”

Your mind flashed back to the morning of this very long day. You knew the exact mistake he was talking about but he seemed to be working toward something here so you took another sip of your beer and ate some more chips as a response.

“Can’t have been that bad,” you repeated again. Your acting skills were always a little bit lacking. “What did you even do, it’s not like you did something like…kissed her right before she went on stage, right?”

His hands were covering his open mouth and you heard a dramatic gasp. “How did you know?” He said convincingly and you felt a big laugh escape.

“Wild guess, Baekhyun,” you said through laughter. Never in a million years did you think you would be talking about this with him and actually enjoying yourself. What kind of magician was he?

“So what did she do? What about the presentation”

“She fucking killed it, of course. I knew she would though, she’s incredible. I’m not kidding, she’s like,” his eyes were full and wide and he threw his head back and looked up at the ceiling, “like no one else.”

“So, it wasn’t that bad then, right? Why did you do it?” The fun on the surface game took on a slight feeling of trouble with your next question. You reached for another chip and Baekhyun turned his back on you to grab the screaming tea kettle from the stove.

“Why else does a guy kiss a girl?” You heard him say with his attention down on the boiling water that he was pouring into a single large sized bowl of instant ramen.

You bit down on your bottom lip and you watched the slight wobble in the water as it went into the paper bowl. His grip on the kettle seemed just a little unsteady now.

“Could there be lots of reasons why?” You began as unsteadily as the stream of water poured into the ramen bowl.

“Like maybe you just made a mistake, or didn’t mean to do that, or—”

His eyes looked up into yours with as much disbelief as he could manage and he exhaled a hard breath out of his nose and you pulled your lips closed quickly before you could come up with any more nonsense reasons for that kiss.

You knew with that single look from him, just how full-of-shit he found every single one of your reasons for the kiss. Still your mind had trouble connecting his intentions and the action itself. It was as if you’d been so far into the pit of denial now that you were having trouble finding the footing to crawl your way out of it. Baekhyun was trying to throw you a rope but you missed catching it every single time.

“Well, what did she say about it?”

His hands lifted the ramen and he put it up onto the counter beside you so the noodles could soften and you watched as he grabbed his beer and he walked around the kitchen island to take the bar seat right beside you.

He was very close to you now.

You could feel his arm against your shoulder when he sat down and his brows furrowed as he looked down into the covered bowl that sat between you both.

“She got mad at me after that,” he said softly, aiming his little pout toward the noodles instead of at you. “I don't think it was because I kissed her, but maybe it was. I don't know.” From his chest came a big sigh that absolutely did not feel like part of this whole act. In fact, every single thing he said had just enough of a touch into your eyes that you knew he meant every word he was saying to you now.

“This is why I’ve come to you, my very favorite Noona, for advice.”

He propped an elbow up on the counter and tilted his head, leaning against his hand. His eyes were watching you and he had just the smallest smile on his lips as he did it. His eyes sparkled in your direction and you felt the air around your head take on a static tingle the longer he looked at you like this.

This Baekhyun was so very dangerous simply because he was so disarming. All you wanted was to look into his face and to answer each and every one of his questions. All you wanted was to tell him the truth of it all.

It was terrifying.

“Maybe,” you began cautiously and his eyes blinked at you expectantly as you began to speak, practically rooting for you to go on with their eagerness. You had to bite down on your lip to keep from laughing. How could he have managed to pull this conversation out of you? You were falling for it so easily. You even found yourself wanting to fall for it as easily as you were. You felt bewitched and beguiled and you realized that you might have actually lost this battle a long time ago.

“Maybe?” He urged softly and he broke eye contact to open the lid and check on the noodles.

“Maybe she was mad at how you acted after the kiss?”

This suggestion brought a tilt to his head and he furrowed his eyebrows and searched his memory for a moment.

“How I acted? How did I act? Because I was nervous? Does she only like super confident guys?” You caught a souring of his face for a moment. “Maybe that’s why she liked Chet. All of that undeserved and unearned confidence. Ugh”

“Hey, she never liked Chet. Not like that. Chet was okay to work with, but that’s it.” You lifted your hands to draw a hard imaginary line in the air to emphasize your point.

“And besides, it might not have been about confidence or being nervous, Baekhyun. Maybe she got mad because you immediately switched from calling her something sweet like ‘Noona’ to something cold and sterile and ultra aloof like ‘Miss Manager’ and she thought that maybe you instantly regretted kissing her because you didn’t even mean it and you wished you could take it back and leave and never ever come back.”

Now you had done it. You could feel every cell in your body alive and on full alert from this sudden confession you had somehow been tricked into spewing out all over this countertop and Baekhyun was watching your face very closely for every single word of it.

He stared at you for a long time in silence and there was a slight sinking of his eyelids as he did it. After a while he inhaled a slow and steady breath that must have made his head feel too heavy because he tilted his head a tiny bit to the side and swallowed.

You could feel the time passing through this. You could feel every raindrop that fell on your patio outside. You could count the beats of your heart that echoed inside your ears and he wasn’t speaking at all.

Until he spoke at last.

“Nah, that’s not it.” He said after a deep inhaled breath and you swear to god you felt the earth open up below your feet and swallow you up. Or maybe you just wished it would.

Your eyes opened wide and looked up into the ceiling. You could feel the saliva inside of your mouth refuse to go down even though you swallowed like five times in rapid succession. Finally you couldn't stand to witness any more at all and you closed your eyes up tight and tried to focus on getting your heart rate or your breathing to calm down. It didn’t help much.

It felt horrible and humiliating. You were too close to being overcome. How could he…did he really intend to let you say all of that, admit to all of that and just…laugh at you for it like this? You felt close to an upset. You could feel the heat building behind your eyes and you knew you couldn't do this for very much longer and keep in control of your emotions. You’d already given way too much away.

It was two or three fingertips and that touched over the side of your face that first did it - that brought you out of it. Someone was touching you. Someone was begging you now. You felt the warmth on your face.

Those two fingertips on your cheekbone and you allowed your eyes to open just a little and you turned your focus over to face him. His eyes were on you now and you felt more of his slim fingers slipping along your face until you had turned into him and between the tremble in your lips and the warmth you felt all over your face; it must have felt like a fever with his hand on you like this.

“I’m kidding. I’m kidding. It was a bad joke, baby, I’m sorry,” he was whispering now but he had moved in so close to you that everything he spoke was like headphones sending his whispered words directly into your chest. The new name he called you in that careful cautious whisper of his spread through your chest like wildfire and you were consumed by it. It called to you again and again.

baby

Did he really just—

Did he really call you that with his hand on your face and the warmth of his own forehead leaning against your own and your whole body nearly ready to burst into flames under the heavy weight of his hand on your face?

You felt his other hand now, landing on the other side of your face and there was a pull to look up into his eyes. You had been avoiding them until now.

The pressure of this room made it hard to breathe with him so close to you and with the ghost of that ‘baby’ was still dancing around behind your eyes.

“Noona, I think,” he spoke softer now and your mind sharpened to the words he had told you earlier, the words he tried to say before he left, before he left as your assistant and came back to you just as Baekhyun; as just your Baekhyun. You must be dreaming. This didn’t feel real.

His words, the familiarity of them and desperately you repeated them to yourself after he left, these words once again teased on the tip of his tongue, they pulled your eyes into his and he was watching you from much too closely for you to really be able to focus on anything but the deep brown color of his eyes.

“Noona, I think we like each other.” He was looking into your eyes when he said it and you had no words to refute it. It was true for you and it must also be true for him.

You felt the warmth of his breath that came in short bursts from his parted lips against your face and when you leaned into him. You felt the softness of those pink lips mold into your own when you kissed him.

You felt the deafening silence as every single voice of reason and each and every alarm bell inside of you went still when you kissed him.

You felt the lighting strike hit close enough this time to send a bolt straight through your chest when you kissed him.

[To Be Continued]

Links: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5

[002yb]

i keep thinking about someone buying jason one of those 'i <3 dick' shirts and/or booty shorts when dick and jay first start dating and jason is very gruff and little bit blushy about it but brushes it off and never wears it. then it's laundry day or something and dick comes home to see jay wearing it and ... that's as far as i get tbh. just cycling through all of dick's possible reactions. amusement? endearment? possessiveness?

Jason is petulantly resigned as he pulls the shirt over his head and down his torso. It's a tight fit, the 'i <3 dick' print stretching obscenely over his pecs. The matching booty shorts are no better. Fuck, they're more panties than anything. That Jason used to run around in something just as short a lifetime ago is wild to him - he can't stop trying to pull them down to try and get more coverage.

It's not even hot in their apartment, but Jason feels flushed from embarrassment alone. He chides himself for getting so caught up with work that laundry became an issue.

Never again, he swears, but then the door to their apartment opens and Jason doesn't have to worry about 'never again' because he's dying again right then and there. The damage is done. From across their apartment Dick sees the print stamped across Jason's chest and Dick cackles.

Jason is quick to spit and sputter, adamant in his defense over not having any other options than this abomination of a gag gift. When he crosses his arms over his chest, it only serves to bolster his tits up and draw focus - of which Dick gives him plenty. More than usual, even. The pervert.

Dick shuts the door behind him, fighting to stifle his laughter. When he raises his gaze to look at Jason again, it's with a smile so charming and brilliant and adoring that Jason would be disarmed if he didn't know better. As it stands, Dick and he have been together too long for Jason not to anticipate the pure menace coming his way.

'It's cute,' Dick teases him. 'Darling, even.' And to drive everything home, 'I love you, too.'

To that, Jason scowls and flips Dick off. Skulking off to take his hamper of clothes to the wash, shifting it away from where it had been hiding him to balance it between his hip and arm, instead. He doesn't think anything of the silence that follows - more than content to return to his chores and debate the value in wearing dirty laundry if it means getting out of this embarrassing monstrosity of a-

The sound of a phone's camera goes off.

Slow and foreboding, Jason turns to look over his shoulder with a petulant scowl and sees Dick crouched on the floor, his back to Jason and posing as he continues taking photos of what's soon to be Dick's own demise.

And then Jason remembers it - the 'i <3 dick' stamped across his ass.

The pictures that follow are a sequence: Jason flustering, scowling, raging as he moves to bury this cheeky bastard he calls a boyfriend; another of Jason unwittingly smothering Dick in his pecs, another a blur of motion that might be them roughhousing or making out or trying to, at least - too caught up laughing to do much more than crowd one another's space.

So of course it ends up like this: Dick pushing Jason back against the washer. A hand on Jason's hip, his pinkie catching along the hem of Jason's shorts and hiking them up just enough that Jason shivers with anticipation, an eager and biting smile pulling at his lips.

======

Extra NSFW:

Dick and Jason fucking against the washer

Jason flustering and hiding his face in his arms when instead of sliding the shorts down, Dick pulls them to the side and fucks Jason that way because the 'i <3 dick' really is some sort of thing

A low whistle because no panties, J? Dick is a lucky man.

[alittlextrathatway]

"Wonder how many girls he had loved and left haunted" -any location

Going back to visit the High School AU.

Location: Library

You can find part one: here.

***

It didn't take Matt long to realize he and Sylvie had the same free period. She typically spent hers in the library either getting a head start on homework or studying for her next class. Like him, her grades were important to her. For different reasons, he's sure, but it didn't really matter why. It only mattered that they had that in common.

And that it meant he knew he would always have at least a half hour of one on one time with her every day.

He's leaving his AP English class, after an impassioned lesson from Mr. McHolland. Matt never really enjoyed reading, especially not fiction, but when Mr. McHolland teaches it he has to admit he can see the appeal.

Normally, he can zip out of English and make it to the library before Sylvie, but today Dawson decides to get in his way.

"We should probably figure out when we're gonna work on our group project," she says, crossing in front of him and planting her feet.

He skids to a stop, just short of running her over. "Don't you need to leave for City College so you can make your next class?"

Gabby is dual enrolled at City College in an effort to get her freshman humanities courses out of the way. He admires her drive. Like many of his friends, college is only option if you work exceptionally hard. For Gabby that means reducing the amount of years she'll need to be in college to earn a degree. For him, it means needing scholarships.

"The professor cancelled class today," she says, shrugging. "Besides, my early college courses aren't gonna matter if we don't nail our Senior Project. It's twenty-five percent of our grade."

"We have the whole semester, Gabby. We have plenty of time. I've gotta go, I'm running late."

She smirks and lifts a brow at him. "Isn't this your free period? What are you running late for, exactly?"

He winces. He really tried to keep his interest in Sylvie away from Gabby. He knows he's no good at being subtle. He can't hide it, but he can avoid talking about it with her. He knows Gabby still has a thing for him almost a year after they broke up. If he's honest, until Sylvie, he always assumed he and Gabby would get back together eventually. But now...

Well, the new girl changed everything.

"How much do you know about her, really?" Gabby asks, seeing straight through his hesitance to answer her question. "I've seen her around talking with that Junior on the football team -- Grainger? And at lunch yesterday that Sheffield Kid came up to our table to talk to her about joining Key Club. She's got plenty of options. How do you know she's not one of those people that just likes to flirt? The farm girl act is cute and all, but that doesn't mean she's the right fit for you. I mean, I like her. I do, but how sweet and innocent can she be, really? She might have left a trail of broken hearts between here and Indiana, for all we know."

He can't tell if Gabby's jealous or genuinely looking out for him. She seems to get a long well with Sylvie. She and Shay have welcomed her into their group. But her speech reminds him of all the reasons they broke up. Gabby cares about the people around her. She's very protective. But she can also get wrapped up in her own interests and dive so far down into self involvement that she becomes petty and vindictive. She seemed to be that way with him when they were dating more-so than anyone else they knew. He loves her as a friend. She's been by his side through a lot of tough times. But, as a couple, they bring out the worst in each other. That's the last thing he needs right now.

"That's kind of the point, isn't it?"

"The point of what?" She asks.

"Of getting to know her. That's all I'm doing right now, Dawson. So far, I really like what I've seen and I'm excited to learn more. That's enough for now."

"For now?"

"Yes, for now." Because he's almost certain he's going to ask Sylvie to be his date to the homecoming dance. Which he needs to do sooner rather than later considering, as Gabby mentioned, he has plenty of competition.

"Do what you think is best, I guess," Gabby tells him, her tone flat and hard.

"Gee, thanks for your permission," he snaps, shaking his head as he side steps her and leaves her standing alone in the hallway. "I'll see you for our stats class at three."

By the time he reaches the library Sylvie's deep into her history homework, making notes out of a resource book for a paper that's due at the end of the week. She looks up and smiles at him as he approaches their usual table.

"I was about to send out a search party for you," she whispers as he sits down next to her. "You're never late for free period."

"Yeah, sorry about that. Got a little tied up after English." He gets out his stats book and notes, deciding to double check his homework before he turns it in later. He did it in a rush late last night.

"Everything okay?"

The concern on her face runs deep as if his potential problems are the most pressing issue in her world right now. Gabby was way off base in her assumptions about Sylvie. He doesn't know how he knows, he just does.

"Yeah, just Gabby being Gabby. No big deal."

She bites her bottom lip, apprehension suddenly shining in her baby blue eyes. "Ah, okay. So, are you and Gabby -- I don't know -- a thing, I guess?"

Does she think he would flirt with her so blatantly if he was still into Gabby? God, he hopes not. "No. Not anymore. I mean, we used to be, but we weren't good together. We're much better off as friends."

"Oh, right." Wincing while amusement overtakes her apprehension, she says, "does Gabby know that?"

He laughs at her sympathetic expression and shrugs. "I have no idea what Gabby thinks. Never did. She doesn't exactly put her cards on the table most of the time."

"I've noticed that," Sylvie replies. "I wonder why that is?"

He can tell her interest is earnest. She's wholeheartedly trying to fill in the puzzle that is Gabby Dawson, hoping she'll end up with a better understanding of why Dawson is the way that she is. "If you figure it out, let me know. I could never get to the bottom of it. Did I miss anything in the last few minutes?"

"No, not really. Just Grainger asking me to the Homecoming Dance." She shrugs as if that one sentence doesn't crush every bit of hope in his chest.

"Oh?" He asks, cursing inwardly as his voice pitches up an entire octave. Being outwardly disappointed won't help his case. It'll only hurt Sylvie's feelings.

"Yeah, but...I said no. He's a nice guy, for sure, but I don't feel like it would be fair to him to say yes. There's plenty of other girls who would be thrilled to go with him. I am not one of those."

He had to have heard her wrong or hallucinated or something. "You said no?"

She twists her watch band, looking away from him shyly as she nods. "I'm sort of holding out for someone else. It probably won't happen, but I don't think I could go with someone else and not feel like I was leading them on or something, you know?"

Dammit. Of course she already has someone else in mind. And he has a feeling he knows exactly who she's waiting on. But also her reasoning speaks exactly to Gabby's concerns, not that Matt ever doubted Sylvie in the first place. "I get it," he assures her. "So, who are you holding out for? Sheffield?"

Looking up and meeting his eyes again, she blushes. "No, not Kyle. He's okay, I guess. But I don't know him that well."

"Then who...who else is there?" He asks, confused.

"Oh my god," Sylvie says, rubbing a hand over her face with a grimace. "Am I really that bad at this?"

Ms. Platt, the no nonsense librarian, glares over at them from where she's leaning against the circulation desk. "Pipe down over there, will ya?"

Sylvie's eyes widen and she immediately returns to her notes. "Sorry, Ms. Platt."

"No," Matt whispers, leaning closer to her. "Wait. We're not done with this topic yet. Who else is there, Sylvie?"

"Matt," she pleads, face red with embarrassment. "Just drop it, please. Pretend I never said anything."

The blushing, the embarrassment, the hesitant way she looked away from him earlier...

"Holy shit."

"Matthew Casey," Platt huffs, crossing her arms over her chest. "Don't make me send you to Grissom's office. I'll do it."

He winces and holds his hands up in surrender. "No more outbursts. I promise."

"If you're gonna curse, whisper at least. My god," Platt mutters, forcefully unloading books from a nearby cart.

When he looks back over at Sylvie, she's slid down in her seat and hidden her face behind her book. He cranes up to look up and over the book and notices her face is somehow an even deeper shade of red.

"You meant me," he whispers, sliding his chair over to hers to joining her in her hiding spot.

"Forget it," she urges him, speaking softly. "I thought--I thought you knew that I was -- or that you were flirting back with -- but clearly I was wrong."

He ignores the fact that she didn't finish a single sentence. To him, her meaning was clear. "No, I don't want to forget it. Sylvie, I have been flirting with you. I'm not very subtle. Never have been. I'm positive you read everything accurately. But I thought maybe you were just being nice or polite and then Gabby mentioned she'd seen you talking to Grainger and Sheffield so I just--"

"You assumed instead of asking me?"

He nods, running a hand through his hair while meeting her eyes with a sheepish expression. "Yeah, I kinda did."

"Well, if it helps," Sylvie supplies, leaning so close her forehead brushes against his. "Nothing's changed. I'm still waiting to be asked to the dance by a particular person."

He beams at her, so wide his cheeks begin to hurt. This is his moment. Before he even begins to ask, her face transforms into one as joyful as his. He's sure they look like idiots -- huddled behind a shared book and grinning like creeps -- but he can't help himself.

He really likes this girl.

"Sylvie Brett, will you go to Homecoming with me?"

"Why, Matt Casey, there's no one else I'd rather go with than you."

"Took you long enough," Platt mutters as she snatches the book out of Sylvie's hands. "If you're not gonna read this, then I'm putting it back. It's a shared reference book. Not an invisibility shield."

"Sorry, Ms. Platt," Sylvie replies, barely stifling an elated giggle.

Platt rolls her eyes and meanders by them to reach the reference section. As she passes them she murmurs, "you're a terrible liar."

"You wanna get out of here?" Matt asks, eying Platt warily. "We should make official plans without an audience."

Sylvie finally releases her giggle and the tinkling sounds causes a weird fluttery sensation in his chest. God, she's so damn cute. How is she this cute?

"Sure, the choir room should be empty right about now. Is that okay?"

"Sounds perfect."

[all-things-are-nothing-to-me]

The PM Press Warehouse at 21 Emma Street in Binghamton, NY will be hosting the Second Annual Upstate Anarchist Book Fair on May 3th and 4th, 2025.

In celebration of International Workers’ Day, the two-day fair will feature book/zine vendors, a warehouse sale, community organizations, two full days of panels, live music from the loading dock, and much more. All are welcome to join us in creating community, sharing skills and passions, and debating the best way to overthrow the (patriarchal, racist, cis het) capitalist system.

The book fair is an opportunity not only to sell and promote but to create community. You don’t need to identify as an anarchist to attend or participate in the book fair!

We’re still booking performers, vendors, speakers, workshops, etc so please reach out to us via email at upstateanarchistbookfair@protonmail.com or fill out this google form…

forms.gle/4sRLCUCHAkpvEyhJ9

…. if you’d like to participate. Adding your contact info to the google form will also get you added to our mailing list with UABF updates and more!

Why an Upstate Anarchist Book Fair in Binghamton, NY?

The practical reason: PM Press bought a 17,000 square ft warehouse in Binghamton in 2021. We also purchased a used bookstore – Autumn Leaves – in Ithaca, NY. Over the last year-and-a-half, we’ve filled the warehouse with racks on racks of leftist literature (both PM Press and other comrade publishers). Today it is surely one of the largest repositories of leftist literature in the world. We also have a big parking lot, a developing event space, and connections to a local DIY community with the skills to put together a fun, productive, and thoughtful event.

The political reason: Binghamton is the post-industrial crater left by anti-union, paternalistic warmongers like IBM and the Endicott-Johnson Shoe Company. The former headquarters of the New York KKK and current epicenter of upstate mass incarceration, Binghamton is, like many small Rust Belt cities, run by reactionaries who grew up in the city’s golden age and are convinced we’re just a few tax breaks and drug raids away from a return to 1959. We also have a small but dedicated community of activists fighting to liberate Binghamton from these slumlord/cop/petit bourgeois business creep/political elite overlords. We hope events like the UABF will bring together like-minded comrades and crews from across the region to share knowledge, skills, and joy to expand our little networks of radical agitation into a collective force that can challenge capitalism across the county, state, and beyond!

Parking Options:

Street parking is easy to find and plentiful. At this time there is no other parking planned for attendees. As you can see from the map above, the warehouse is located in a residential neighborhood. All streets have parking on at least one side. Many have parking on both sides. There is space for about 100 cars within a 2 block radius. The on street parking signage is generally straightforward and easy to understand. We ask that you follow the signage as directed. Please do not park in any of the local parking lots. Bikes are encouraged!

There is additional street parking on/across Glenwood Avenue and on/across Main Street.

Before the fair starts vendors will be able to drive up to their vendor spot for loading/unloading. We are currently looking into designated vendor parking.

Driving Directions:

The PM Press warehouse is just off a major highway (NY-17/I-86) and very close to the I-86/NY-17 and I-81 interchange. NYC, Philadelphia, and Buffalo are all about 3.5 hours away. Boston and Washington DC are about 4.5 hours. Cleveland is 5.5 hours driving time.

The warehouse is conveniently located off Main Street in Binghamton/Johnson City, situated next to the former Erie Line Railroad (later the Erie Lackawanna Line).

The facility is set back from Emma Street down a short driveway and has a large parking lot to host the day’s festivities.

Accessibility:

We have two bathrooms inside the warehouse with 29″ doorways. One of them is currently equipped with handrails.

There is wheelchair access to the warehouse through the loading dock via the ramp but the ramp is fairly steep. We will have volunteers available to assist.

Unless it rains, the plan is to have the majority of the vendors outside in the parking lot. There is a gradual incline up the driveway.

Food & Drink:

We will have plenty of free water on site.

We can’t promise to have any food available at this point, but there are options in the neighborhood:

Parlor City Vegan (81 Clinton St) will be open 12-8 on Saturday

There is a convenience store at 59 Glenwood Ave that’s a 5-10 minute walk from the warehouse.

Seating:

There will be a lot of folding chairs available, a few benches, and some nice grassy areas but we’d recommend bringing your own camping chairs if possible.

Pets:

Only service animals will be welcome inside the warehouse. Animals will be welcome in outdoor areas but we ask that you please be considerate of other attendees who may be allergic or phobic. There are also railroad tracks that run all day near the parking lot and three beehives behind the warehouse.

[clearholidaysindia]

Chaugan Tourist Spot in Chamba, Himachal Pradesh

Chaugan is the lively center of Chamba, Himachal Pradesh, and a must-visit spot for travelers exploring this beautiful region of India. This spacious green meadow, surrounded by important buildings and a historic shopping arcade, offers a perfect mix of culture and nature. For those looking for offbeat places near Chaugan, this area is a great starting point to discover the rich history and stunning landscapes of Chamba.

One of the top places to visit near Chaugan is the old Akhand Chandi Palace. Just a short walk away, this palace showcases the region's royal history and architecture. Visitors can wander through its beautiful grounds and enjoy the views of the surrounding hills. Another nearby attraction is the Bhuri Singh Museum, which holds a fascinating collection of local artifacts and artworks, giving you a deeper understanding of Chamba’s culture and traditions.

If you’re interested in nature, don’t miss the chance to visit the scenic Khajjiar, often called the "Mini Switzerland of India." Just a drive away, this lovely meadow surrounded by pine forests is perfect for picnics and hikes. For those seeking adventure, trekking in the nearby mountains is also a great option. With so many wonderful places to visit near Chaugan, you’ll find plenty of experiences to make your trip unforgettable and immerse yourself in Chamba tourism.

[beatsboy]

7.15.24 / day 22 of romanticizing my life until i love myself again

today was my dad’s birthday, and it marks about 4 years since we’ve been in each other’s lives. and it’s still so hard for some reason.

i say some reason, yet i know why i cry on days like these. i spent so long being angry at him, and i think i needed to, in order to get out of that situation, i just never really spent any time actually mourning our relationship, feeling sad for the fact that i don’t really have a dad anymore.

it feels stupid to complain or even be emotional about it because i know people in my life who don’t even know their dads, and plenty of friends whose dads are dead. my dad is alive and an hour drive away from me, and i’m the reason we don’t talk. and going no contact with him was one of the best things i could have done for myself, so why do i still feel empty in the place where family used to be?

why does it still feel like the relationship i have with my mother is more akin to that of a distant aunt or a college, rather than a mother and child? why is it that i still feel like i’m walking on eggshells trying to prove that i am a functional, moral adult every time i talk to my brother, who i swore would never grow up to be like my dad, but straw man argues me every time i say something contradictory to the acceptable opinion of all the other fuck alls in our family just because he can? he’s “just playing devil’s advocate” but that’s exactly what my father would say to mask his shitty opinions too, or when he just felt like shitting on me to make himself feel better.

i know i did the right thing, i never doubt this, and yet, i wonder if there were other options. if there are, if there ever will be. i miss having an adult in my life i could go to for advice and wisdom, even if that advice and wisdom was not very good for me. i’ve somehow become that person for people, and i feel so lost not having someone like that myself.

you become a trans/queer elder by surviving, by growing, by living. by refusing to give in and become a statistic. i know this. and yet, i am still such a child, such a baby in this world, in my journey. af expects me to be empowered unapologetic tboy number one and im sitting here, shaking in my shorts like, 2.5 years into being out, 1.5 years on hrt, and i know that might seem like a lot for my eggy friends who are just starting to hatch, but that is not!! a long!! time!! like i am literally not even done with my second puberty yet. i am still figuring this shit out. and i love how i have been there for people in their journeys, but i need a sage wise trans wizard elder to help me too. and if i don’t i fear i will literally imprint the wrong wisdom on people, thoughts borne of dysphoria and fear, and yet, i also want to teach them to be safe and cautious because life is so different when you are no longer cis passing, and that i something my early egg cracking friends just don’t understand yet. perhaps they will, and perhaps they never will. and perhaps their journeys aren’t my responsibility and i should truly just be focusing on my own.

[rahilask]

Discovering the Arcomagno Beach San Nicola Arcella

Hidden gems are the best kind of treasures, and Arcomagno Beach in San Nicola Arcella is no exception. This secluded paradise in Italy's Calabria region is a must-see for anyone who loves stunning natural beauty and tranquil settings. Ready to dive into an adventure? Let's explore what makes Arcomagno Beach so special!

History and Background

San Nicola Arcella is a charming town with a rich history that dates back centuries. Its historical significance adds a layer of intrigue to any visit. But how did Arcomagno Beach get its name? The beach is named after the grand archway (Arcomagno) that majestically frames its entrance, creating a natural portal to paradise.

Geographical Location

Where is Arcomagno Beach?

Arcomagno Beach is tucked away in San Nicola Arcella, a picturesque town in the Calabria region of southern Italy. The beach is located on the Tyrrhenian Sea, offering stunning views and crystal-clear waters.

How to Get There

Reaching Arcomagno Beach can be an adventure in itself. You can drive to San Nicola Arcella and then follow local signs to the beach. If you're using public transport, buses and trains connect to nearby towns, and from there, local options or taxis can take you to your destination.

Natural Beauty

Description of the Natural Archway

The beach's most iconic feature is its large, natural archway. This rock formation isn't just a backdrop; it's a dramatic entrance that sets the tone for the entire experience. Imagine walking through a majestic stone arch to find a hidden beach – it's like stepping into another world.

Scenic Views and Landscapes

Beyond the arch, Arcomagno Beach is surrounded by breathtaking landscapes. From lush greenery to rugged cliffs, the views are nothing short of spectacular. Whether you're a nature lover or a photography enthusiast, you'll find endless inspiration here.

Crystal Clear Waters

Water Quality and Clarity

The waters at Arcomagno Beach are incredibly clear, offering vibrant shades of blue and green. It's like swimming in a giant natural pool. The clarity of the water makes it an ideal spot for snorkeling, allowing you to see the underwater world in all its glory.

Perfect Spot for Swimming and Snorkeling

If you love swimming, you'll be in heaven at Arcomagno Beach. Snorkeling here is a must, with plenty of marine life to discover just beneath the surface.

Secluded Cove Experience

The Tranquility and Privacy of Arcomagno Beach

One of the best things about Arcomagno Beach is its sense of seclusion. Nestled in a hidden cove, the beach offers a level of tranquility that's hard to find elsewhere. It's the perfect spot to unwind and escape the hustle and bustle of everyday life.

Ideal for Relaxation

Looking to relax? Arcomagno Beach is your answer. Whether you're lounging on the sand, dipping your toes in the water, or simply taking in the views, the peaceful ambiance is sure to rejuvenate your spirit.

Hiking Trails

Scenic Hiking Paths Leading to the Beach

The journey to Arcomagno Beach often involves a scenic hike. The trails are not only beautiful but also offer a sense of adventure. As you make your way to the beach, you'll be treated to stunning views of the coastline and surrounding nature.

What to Expect on the Hike

The hike to Arcomagno Beach can be steep and rocky in places, so proper footwear is a must. Along the way, you'll encounter breathtaking vistas and maybe even spot some local wildlife.

Rock Formations and Caves

Interesting Rock Formations to Explore

Arcomagno Beach is surrounded by fascinating rock formations that invite exploration. These natural sculptures have been shaped by centuries of wind and water, creating unique and intriguing shapes.

Small Caves Around the Beach

In addition to the main arch, there are smaller caves around the beach that are perfect for a bit of adventure. These hidden nooks add to the sense of discovery and wonder that makes Arcomagno Beach so special.

Flora and Fauna

Local Vegetation and Wildlife

The area around Arcomagno Beach is rich in local vegetation and wildlife. From Mediterranean shrubs to colorful flowers, the flora is a beautiful complement to the beach's natural beauty.

Marine Life in the Area

The clear waters are teeming with marine life. Snorkelers can expect to see a variety of fish and other sea creatures. It's like having a front-row seat to an underwater show!

Best Time to Visit

Seasonal Recommendations

While Arcomagno Beach is beautiful year-round, the best time to visit is during the warmer months, from late spring to early autumn. This is when the weather is ideal for swimming, snorkeling, and enjoying the beach to its fullest.

Weather Considerations

Weather can be a factor in planning your visit. Summers are warm and sunny, perfect for beach activities, while spring and autumn offer milder temperatures and fewer crowds. Winter visits can be peaceful but may not be ideal for swimming.

Activities to Enjoy

Popular Activities at Arcomagno Beach

There's no shortage of things to do at Arcomagno Beach. Popular activities include swimming, snorkeling, sunbathing, and exploring the rock formations and caves. For the more adventurous, hiking to and from the beach is a highlight in itself.

Tips for Making the Most of Your Visit

To make the most of your visit, come prepared. Bring plenty of water, snacks, and sun protection. A good pair of water shoes can make exploring the rocky areas much more comfortable.

Conclusion:

Arcomagno Beach in San Nicola Arcella offers a unique blend of natural beauty, adventure, and tranquility. Whether you're a nature lover, a photography enthusiast, or simply seeking a peaceful retreat, this hidden gem in Calabria is sure to leave a lasting impression.

[chandrashilasummittrek]

Finding Solitude in the Himalayas: My Chopta Chandrashila Experience

Chopta tour package: A calm morning unfolds with the soft hum of temple chants echoing through the mountains. As the sun rises over the snow-clad peaks of the Himalayas, the towering deodar trees sway gently in the breeze. I sit quietly in Chopta, sipping a warm cup of tea, completely immersed in the serene beauty that surrounds me.

A Solo Escape to Chopta Chandrashila

Every once in a while, it's essential to break free from the rush of daily life and lose yourself in nature's embrace. The Chopta Chandrashila trek offers just that — a surreal escape into a world of tranquility and soul-stirring landscapes. This trail, nestled deep in the Garhwal Himalayas, feels like stepping into a realm where peace reigns and the air vibrates with positive energy.

The magic of this place lies not just in its breathtaking views but in its spiritual ambiance. Being in the sacred land associated with Lord Shiva, the entire journey feels divine — like walking through a slice of heaven on Earth. Every step along the way, every whisper of the wind, seems to carry a deep spiritual calm.

Why Choose Chopta for Your Next Escape?

There are countless reasons to visit Chopta. Unlike the typical tourist hubs, Chopta offers an off-beat charm while still providing all the amenities a traveler might need. It’s that rare blend of untouched beauty and thoughtful infrastructure, making it an ideal destination for those seeking peace without sacrificing comfort.

What truly sets Chopta apart is its unique balance — it’s off the radar but still welcoming, never overcrowded yet never deserted. For solo travelers, especially, this makes all the difference. When exploring a less-commercialized place, safety and accessibility are always top priorities.

As a solo female traveler, I made sure to double-check every part of my plan. Safety was non-negotiable. Thankfully, Chopta proved to be one of the most welcoming places I’ve visited. The local Garhwali community is deeply respectful and warm-hearted — their culture teaches them to treat guests like gods, and they genuinely live by that principle.

Despite feeling wonderfully remote, Chopta is not cut off from the rest of the world. Nestled within the Kedarnath Wildlife Sanctuary, it’s well connected by public transport and accessible to anyone seeking a quiet retreat in nature.

Another big plus? Chopta is budget-friendly. You won’t find overpriced cafes or expensive resorts here. What you will find is a serene setting, low-cost accommodations, and simple local food — all contributing to an affordable yet unforgettable experience. And if you’re considering a Chopta tour package, there are plenty of options that cover your stay, meals, guided treks, and transport without stretching your budget.

In short, Chopta offers priceless experiences at a minimal cost — a rare find in today’s world of over-commercialized travel spots.

Reaching Chopta

Though nestled deep in the Himalayas, Chopta is well-connected and relatively easy to reach through multiple modes of transportation.

By Air: The nearest airport to Chopta is Jolly Grant Airport in Dehradun, about 188 km away. From there, you can hire a taxi or take a bus heading toward Chopta via Ukhimath.

By Rail: The closest railway station is Rishikesh, located approximately 140 km from Chopta. From Rishikesh, travelers usually proceed to Ukhimath or Gopeshwar by bus or taxi, and then continue the final leg to Chopta, which is around 40 km further.

By Road: Chopta is accessible by well-maintained roads and connected to cities like Rishikesh, Haridwar, Dehradun, and Delhi. Buses and taxis frequently operate on these routes. The drive offers scenic mountain views and takes about 5–6 hours from Rishikesh, covering around 140 km.

Best Time to Visit Chopta

Chopta is a year-round destination, with each season offering a unique experience — especially for those planning the Chopta Tungnath trek.

Summer (April to June): Ideal for trekking and sightseeing. The weather is pleasant and the trails are dry, offering clear views of the Himalayan peaks.

Monsoon (July to September): The region becomes lush and green, but trails can be slippery due to rain. Trekking during this season requires extra caution.

Winter (October to February): Best for those who want to experience snow. Chopta turns into a white wonderland, and the trek to Tungnath and Chandrashila becomes more adventurous, with snow-covered paths and frozen landscapes.

Chopta is peaceful, scenic, and spiritually rich — a perfect retreat for nature lovers, trekkers, and those seeking solitude in the Himalayas.

Trekking from Chopta to Tungnath

The trail to Tungnath Trek starts right from Chopta and is one of the most beginner-friendly treks in the Indian Himalayas. The path is clearly defined and paved for most of the way, making it accessible even for first-time trekkers. The route winds through tall alpine trees and opens up to stunning views of snow-covered Himalayan peaks on one side.

Just about 45 minutes into the trek, you'll come across a wide meadow — a scenic spot that’s ideal for a short rest or even camping. A few small dhabas here serve basic food, tea, and snacks. These also offer simple shelter for the night, which can be handy in case of emergencies or bad weather.

The trek continues with a steady, gentle climb. As you ascend, the tree cover begins to thin, especially after crossing 3,100 meters, revealing panoramic views of the surrounding mountains. On clear days, trekkers are treated to mesmerizing vistas, and if you're lucky, you might even spot the vibrant Monal, the state bird of Uttarakhand, fluttering near the Tungnath temple slopes.

One of the key advantages of this trail is its ease of access and exit. It's a well-maintained path, suitable for solo trekkers, groups, and even families. While a guide is not necessary, it’s important to carry enough water, especially as the sun can get quite intense at higher altitudes.

If you're planning a Chopta tour package from Delhi, this trek is an essential highlight. It offers a perfect mix of natural beauty, spiritual energy, and physical challenge — all within a manageable distance and budget.

Whether you're here for the adventure, the peace, or the sacred atmosphere of Tungnath Temple, this trek is bound to leave a lasting impression.

🥾 The Tungnath Trek

The Tungnath trek begins from Chopta and is around 3.5 km long. It’s a moderately easy hike, making it perfect for beginners. Tungnath is the highest Shiva temple in the world, perched at an altitude of 3,680 meters. The paved trail takes you through scenic meadows and offers spectacular views of snow-covered Himalayan peaks along the way.

🏔️ The Chandrashila Trek

The Chandrashila trek continues 1.5 km beyond Tungnath and leads to the summit at around 4,000 meters. From the top, you get a breathtaking 360-degree view of the Himalayas. It's a bit more challenging than the Tungnath stretch, especially in winter due to snow, but the panoramic reward is well worth the effort.

🗓️ Best Time to Visit Chopta

Spring/Summer (April–June): Ideal weather, perfect for trekking and sightseeing.

Autumn (September–November): Clear skies and post-monsoon greenery.

Winter (December–February): Snowfall season, excellent for snow treks but requires preparation.

Monsoon (July–August): Lush surroundings, but trails may be slippery due to rain.

🧳 Travel Tips

Carry warm clothing year-round — temperatures can drop quickly.

Pack a water bottle, sunscreen, snacks, and basic first-aid.

There are basic dhabas and guesthouses available in Chopta, but booking in advance is a good idea during peak season.

No ATMs in Chopta — withdraw cash in Ukhimath or earlier.

Respect the local culture and environment. Leave no trash behind.

Chopta Chandrashila Trek From Delhi

If you're a city-dweller craving the mountains, the Chopta Chandrashila trek from Delhi is one of the most rewarding short Himalayan getaways you can experience. With breathtaking views of snow-capped peaks, peaceful meadows, and sacred temples, this trek offers a perfect blend of adventure, spirituality, and natural beauty — all within a manageable travel distance from the capital.

Chopta Awaits – Discover Peace, Peaks, and Purpose

Whether you're a first-time trekker or a mountain lover searching for a deeper connection with nature, Chopta has something for everyone. The Tungnath temple trek offers not only scenic beauty but also a spiritual journey that leaves a lasting impression. And as you stand atop Chandrashila, with the Himalayas stretched out endlessly before you, you’ll understand why this trek is so highly recommended.

If you're planning a quick mountain getaway, consider choosing a well-organized Chopta tour package that covers transport, accommodation, and guided treks — especially if you're traveling from Delhi or nearby cities. It's one of those rare places where adventure meets tranquility and nature feels sacred.

Pack your bags, lace up your boots, and get ready — Chopta awaits.

Here are 15 frequently asked questions (FAQs) about Chopta, a beautiful hill station in Uttarakhand, India:

🏞️ General Information

Where is Chopta located? Chopta is in the Rudraprayag district of Uttarakhand, India, and is part of the Kedarnath Wildlife Sanctuary.

What is Chopta famous for? It is known for its scenic beauty, the Tungnath temple (the highest Shiva temple in the world), and the Chandrashila trek.

What is the altitude of Chopta? Chopta is situated at an altitude of approximately 2,680 meters (8,790 feet).

Is Chopta open all year round? Yes, but access can be difficult during peak winter (Dec–Feb) due to snowfall.

🧭 Travel & Accessibility

How do I reach Chopta? The nearest railway station is in Haridwar (around 225 km away), and the nearest airport is Jolly Grant Airport, Dehradun (around 220 km). From there, you can hire a taxi or take a bus.

Are roads to Chopta good? The roads are motorable but narrow and winding; driving requires caution, especially in monsoon and winter.

Do I need a permit to visit Chopta? No special permit is required for Indian tourists. Foreign tourists may need to register if they visit forest areas.

🌄 Trekking & Sightseeing

What are the main treks from Chopta? The most popular treks are Tungnath (3.5 km) and Chandrashila (5 km total), offering spectacular Himalayan views.

Is the Tungnath-Chandrashila trek difficult? It’s a moderate trek suitable for beginners with decent fitness.

Are guides available in Chopta? Yes, local guides are available and recommended, especially in winter or for inexperienced trekkers.

🏕️ Accommodation & Facilities

Are there hotels or camps in Chopta? Yes, you’ll find basic hotels, guesthouses, and campsites. However, facilities are limited compared to larger towns.

Is electricity and mobile network available in Chopta? Electricity can be spotty, and mobile network coverage is limited, though BSNL and Jio may have some signal.

🌦️ Weather & Best Time to Visit

What’s the best time to visit Chopta? March to May and September to November offer the best weather for trekking and sightseeing. Snow lovers prefer December to February.

Is there snowfall in Chopta? Yes, heavy snowfall occurs in winter, usually from December to February.

💡 Miscellaneous

Is Chopta suitable for family travel? Yes, but elderly or very young members may find high altitudes and treks challenging.

[nasluxury]

The Benefits of Living in Saadiyat Beach Villas for Remote Workers

Living in a Villa for rent in Abu Dhabi, particularly in the luxurious Saadiyat Beach villas, presents an exceptional opportunity for remote workers looking for a serene yet inspiring environment to work from home. The growing trend of remote work has led many professionals to seek out locations that provide not only quiet, spacious interiors but also a lifestyle that fosters productivity and well-being. Saadiyat Beach offers both of these essential features, making it one of the most desirable destinations for remote workers in Abu Dhabi. When it comes to designing villas that cater to remote work needs, Saadiyat Beach excels. The villas are generously sized, offering expansive floor plans that allow for the creation of dedicated office spaces. Having a private, well-designed workspace at home is vital for maintaining focus and productivity, and these villas are equipped with ample room to accommodate home offices that meet the specific needs of remote workers.

Whether it’s a quiet corner by the window with a view or a fully separated room with custom-designed furniture, the villas are designed to support your workday needs. Beyond the practicality of space, Saadiyat Beach villas offer a level of luxury that helps transform your home office into a relaxing yet professional environment. High-quality finishes, stylish interiors, and state-of-the-art appliances provide a sense of comfort that ensures you’re always working in a space that enhances your well-being. This combination of luxury and functionality creates an environment where remote workers can thrive. In addition to the ideal work setup, Saadiyat Beach offers remote workers something that many other places can’t: peace and tranquility. The villas are set in one of Abu Dhabi's most serene coastal locations, where the peaceful atmosphere supports mental clarity and focus. The gentle sound of the waves crashing on the shore, the quiet streets, and the lush greenery provide an ideal backdrop for a productive day. Without the usual distractions and noise of city life, residents can immerse themselves in their work while enjoying the calming influence of the natural environment. Whether it's focusing on a project or taking a call, the environment allows for both mental clarity and relaxation, providing a perfect balance between work and leisure.

The lifestyle benefits extend beyond the home as well. Saadiyat Beach villas are strategically located near some of Abu Dhabi’s most iconic cultural attractions, offering remote workers the opportunity to enrich their lives outside of work. The Louvre Abu Dhabi, one of the world’s most renowned museums, is just a short drive away, providing the perfect place to unwind and be inspired by world-class art. After a day of work, residents can easily visit cultural landmarks or stroll along the beach to refresh their minds. This access to culture and leisure allows remote workers to fully disconnect after a long day, fostering both relaxation and creative inspiration. Additionally, the villas are located in a community that is home to a variety of dining, shopping, and entertainment options. Whether it’s grabbing a coffee in the morning, enjoying lunch with colleagues, or spending an evening out, residents have a range of amenities at their fingertips. These amenities create a lifestyle that is both convenient and vibrant, offering the perfect blend of work and play. For remote workers who appreciate outdoor activities, Saadiyat Beach provides ample opportunities to stay active and energized. The villas are situated in close proximity to walking and cycling paths, allowing residents to get outside for a refreshing break. The beach itself offers plenty of space for jogging, yoga, or simply walking by the water to clear the mind. These outdoor spaces foster well-being, ensuring that remote workers can stay fit and rejuvenated throughout the day. The access to green spaces is another significant benefit of living in Saadiyat Beach villas. The area is known for its well-maintained parks and landscaped gardens, providing a peaceful environment that encourages wellness. These green areas provide the perfect space for residents to relax, read, or engage in social activities with family and friends. Living in a place that offers abundant green spaces and outdoor amenities is essential for remote workers looking to strike the right balance between work and life. For many remote workers, having the flexibility to work from home means that their living space must meet a variety of needs. Whether it’s hosting a virtual meeting, entertaining guests, or simply relaxing after a busy day, Saadiyat Beach villas provide an environment that supports all aspects of life. The spacious villas allow for a mix of work and leisure areas, ensuring that remote workers can seamlessly transition from one task to another. Furthermore, the modern infrastructure and reliable connectivity make these villas an excellent choice for remote workers who require fast internet and a stable work environment. Saadiyat Beach villas offer the best of both worlds: a place to focus, unwind, and enjoy the beauty of one of Abu Dhabi’s most sought-after locations. For remote workers seeking an environment that nurtures both their professional and personal lives, Saadiyat Beach is an exceptional choice. The combination of luxury living, tranquil surroundings, and proximity to cultural and recreational attractions creates a unique living experience that supports work-life balance. Living in a Villa for rent in Abu Dhabi at Saadiyat Beach offers the perfect setting for remote workers to live, work, and play. With access to breathtaking views, first-class amenities, and an inspiring community, it’s clear why Saadiyat Beach villas are a top choice for remote professionals looking to thrive in a coastal, luxurious environment.

[weepingpandathunder]

Opening Surprise Possible: Updating Your Honda Civic along with DOHC Components

Introduction

When it comes to small cars, the Honda Civic has actually carved out an online reputation for on its own as a trusted and also versatile option. Nonetheless, many enthusiasts find the Civic certainly not just like a means of transportation but as a platform for functionality upgrades. If you are actually trying to boost your steering adventure, unlocking concealed potential with the https://www.coursera.org/user/ebac42ce292affd5283cd55f1be521d1 integration of DOHC parts is actually a thrilling pathway. In this short article, our team will certainly explore deep right into the globe of DOHC (Dual Overhead Camshaft) parts, checking out just how they may boost your Honda Civic's efficiency to brand-new heights.

What is actually DOHC as well as Why is it Important?

DOHC means Dual Expenses Camshaft, a style that enables even more accurate control over the engine's valves compared to traditional solitary overhead webcam designs. This increased shutoff management can easily bring about better engine productivity, much higher revoltions per minute functionality, and also ultimately improved performance.

The value of upgrading to DOHC components can easily not be understated; they are actually particularly developed to take full advantage of the functionalities of your car. This upgrade allows boosted air flow in to as well as away from the burning chamber, marketing additional electrical power and torque across several RPM ranges.

Performance Enhancements along with DOHC Parts

Upgrading your Honda Civic with DOHC components can dramatically boost its general functionality. Below are some crucial perks:

Increased Horsepower: Along with far better airflow and also improved combustion, you can count on noticeable increases in horsepower. Improved Fuel Efficiency: Numerous modern-day DOHC motors are actually created to be much more fuel-efficient while still giving superb electrical power output. Enhanced Responsiveness: A well-tuned DOHC motor reacts quicker to throttle inputs, bring in driving more enjoyable. Original vs Aftermarket DOHC Parts

When taking into consideration upgrades, you'll have to pick in between initial (OEM) parts and also aftermarket alternatives. Each style has its pros and cons:

Original (OEM) Parts Quality Assurance: OEM components are made due to the supplier and also typically undergo rigorous testing. Perfect Fit: They are developed exclusively for your design, ensuring compatibility. Aftermarket Parts Cost-Effectiveness: Usually cheaper than OEM options. Variety: A substantial variety of items from different brand names enables modification based on personal preferences. Selecting the Right DOHC Parts for Your Honda Civic

With plenty of possibilities accessible out there today, how perform you choose the best parts? Here are some suggestions:

Research Brands: Reliable labels usually give far better quality. Read Reviews: Customer feedback may offer knowledge in to item reliability. Consult Forums: Online communities devoted to Honda Civics frequently share important relevant information relating to upgrades. Popular DOHC Upgrades for Your H

[meaganjimboomba]

Is Mundoolun Suitable for Tree Change Buyers?

Mundoolun, a picturesque locality in Queensland, Australia, has recently gained attention as a potential destination for people seeking a "tree change." For those unfamiliar with the term, a tree change refers to the lifestyle shift from urban living to a quieter, more nature-centered existence. With its natural beauty, spacious properties, and peaceful environment, the idea of moving to Mundoolun can be an attractive proposition for many looking to escape the hustle and bustle of city life. This article explores whether Mundoolun is suitable for tree change buyers, specifically focusing on the key phrase houses for sale Mundoolun.

The Allure of Mundoolun for Tree Change Buyers

Mundoolun offers a serene escape, surrounded by lush landscapes and expansive rural properties. Located just a short drive from the bustling Gold Coast and Brisbane, this charming area provides a perfect balance of tranquility and convenience. The proximity to major cities allows residents to enjoy a rural lifestyle while still having access to urban amenities.

For those searching for houses for sale Mundoolun, the area presents a variety of properties, including large family homes, acreage estates, and lifestyle blocks. These homes typically feature ample outdoor space, offering plenty of room for gardening, farming, or simply enjoying the fresh air. Whether it’s a country-style home with traditional charm or a modern architectural design, houses for sale Mundoolun cater to a range of preferences.

Location and Accessibility

One of the key factors that make Mundoolun appealing to tree change buyers is its location. While the area is peaceful and rural, it is still within easy reach of the major cities of Brisbane and the Gold Coast. This offers the best of both worlds: a tranquil retreat with the ability to access urban conveniences when needed.

The drive to Brisbane typically takes just over an hour, while the Gold Coast is even closer, about 45 minutes away. This means residents can enjoy the benefits of rural life without being isolated. Additionally, the nearby township of Beenleigh offers essential services, such as schools, medical facilities, shopping centers, and public transport options, making it even more convenient for those relocating to the area.

A Wide Range of Properties

The availability of diverse property types is another reason why houses for sale Mundoolun are highly sought after. Many tree change buyers are drawn to the area for its large properties, often with several acres of land. These homes provide the opportunity for a sustainable lifestyle, with space for organic farming, animal husbandry, or simply enjoying a more spacious living environment.

For those looking for something smaller or more manageable, there are also properties available with smaller land sizes. This flexibility in property size ensures that tree change buyers can find a home that fits their needs, whether they’re looking for a large family estate or a more compact country home.

Natural Beauty and Outdoor Activities

Mundoolun is known for its natural beauty, with stunning views of the surrounding mountains, forests, and rural landscapes. The area is perfect for nature lovers who wish to spend their time outdoors, whether it’s hiking, birdwatching, or simply enjoying the serene environment. The local landscape is ideal for those seeking a more laid-back lifestyle and wanting to connect with nature.

For those interested in gardening or farming, the fertile land in Mundoolun offers endless possibilities. Whether it’s cultivating a garden full of native plants or growing fruit and vegetables for personal use, the large properties available through houses for sale Mundoolun provide ample space to create a self-sufficient and sustainable lifestyle.

Community and Lifestyle

One of the main attractions of Mundoolun for tree change buyers is the sense of community. The area is home to a close-knit population, where neighbors often know each other, and there’s a strong emphasis on rural and community values. This friendly atmosphere is a key element that attracts people seeking to escape the anonymity of city living.

The lifestyle in Mundoolun is generally slower-paced, allowing residents to enjoy more quality time with family and friends. The area also boasts several local events, markets, and community activities, making it easy for newcomers to integrate and build connections.

Cost of Living and Property Prices

Compared to major cities like Brisbane and the Gold Coast, the cost of living in Mundoolun is relatively low. This is another factor that makes the area appealing to tree change buyers, as property prices are often more affordable than in urban centers. Whether looking for houses for sale Mundoolun as a permanent residence or as a weekend retreat, buyers will find that their money can go further in terms of property size and quality.

While prices can vary depending on the specific property and its location, buyers can generally expect more spacious homes and larger plots of land at a lower cost than they would find in more metropolitan areas. This makes Mundoolun an attractive option for those who want to stretch their budget while still enjoying a peaceful country lifestyle.

Education and Family-Friendly Environment

For families looking to make a tree change, Mundoolun offers a family-friendly environment with access to educational options in the nearby towns of Beenleigh and the surrounding suburbs. These areas feature primary and secondary schools, as well as childcare centers, making it easier for families to relocate to the region. The larger, more rural properties also provide plenty of room for children to explore and enjoy the outdoors.

With its safe and peaceful atmosphere, Mundoolun is an excellent choice for families seeking a slower pace of life, with the added benefit of living in a rural setting without being too far from essential amenities.

Conclusion: Is Mundoolun Right for Tree Change Buyers?

For those seeking a peaceful and natural environment, houses for sale Mundoolun offer a unique opportunity to embrace a tree change lifestyle. With its close proximity to major urban centers like Brisbane and the Gold Coast, a wide range of property options, and abundant natural beauty, Mundoolun is an ideal destination for those looking to escape the stresses of city living.

The area’s strong sense of community, combined with the affordability of property and the potential for outdoor activities, makes it a highly attractive option for tree change buyers. Whether looking for a large family home, a small acreage, or a lifestyle block, the houses for sale Mundoolun cater to various needs, ensuring that buyers can find the perfect property to suit their desires.

In summary, Mundoolun offers a balance of peaceful rural living and accessibility to city amenities, making it a suitable choice for those wanting to make a tree change. With its stunning landscapes, affordable property options, and family-friendly environment, it’s no wonder that many are considering houses for sale Mundoolun as their next big move.

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Best Suburbs Near Gaithersburg MD for Families & Young Professionals

If you're thinking of moving to the DMV area and you're thinking of Gaithersburg, Maryland, you're already on the right path. It is situated inside Montgomery County, Gaithersburg offers a blend of suburban charm and urban convenience and is a prime option for families and young professionals. What happens if you wish to be close but not located in the city? The good news is that many of the surrounding suburbs have great housing, schools that are affordable as well as green spaces and active communities. In this article we'll take a look at the most desirable suburbs close to Gaithersburg MD, and what the movers in Gaithersburg MD can help you transition smoothly.

1. Rockville, MD

A short drive away just a short drive away from Gaithersburg, Rockville is a preferred choice for professionals within the technology corridor. It is home to a bustling downtown area, top public schools, and easy accessibility to public transportation, including metro red line. Metro Red Line. Rockville offers city-like living in tranquility in the suburbs, which is ideal for families with growing children and commuters alike.

2. North Potomac, MD

North Potomac is perfect for families seeking a peaceful and more residential setting. With trees lined streets, spacious homes as well as access to top-rated Montgomery County schools, it's an idyllic community that allows you to be close to shopping malls as well as restaurants and parks. A lot of families make use of moving companies from Gaithersburg Maryland to relocate because of the accessibility and familiarity.

3. Germantown, MD

If you are looking for a budget-friendly alternative without ruining the high quality of living, Germantown is a smart option. With its varied residents, an excellent schools, and a rising number of local companies, Germantown offers a family-friendly environment with a more youthful vibe. Germantown is particularly appealing to young couples.

4. Derwood, MD

Derwood can be described as a tucked away treasure that blends rustic aesthetics with urban conveniences. Although smaller in size but it offers a tight-knit community feeling, and is close the Rock Creek Park and Lake Needwood. If you're a lover of nature, yet requires access to major transit and highways, Derwood could be a ideal location.

5. Kentlands & Lakelands (Neighborhoods in Gaithersburg)

Technically, they are part of Gaithersburg and the surrounding communities, these planned communities are worth mentioning for their walking-friendly designs, town-center atmosphere, and stunning architecture. Perfect for young professionals as well as families that are growing, Kentlands & Lakelands offer an array of condominiums as well as townhomes and single-family homes. A lot of local moving companies from Gaithersburg MD specialize in moving to and out of these areas because of their popularity and the demand of the community.

Why Use Local Movers in Gaithersburg MD?

The right suburb to choose is only the first step. The success of your move is dependent on securing the right experts. Local Movers from Gaithersburg MD not only are aware of the regional logistics, but are also aware of particular community requirements, like Parking rules for HOA owners, restrictions and access to the building. Their local knowledge can help reduce delays, prevent the risk of damage, and ease stress on the day of moving.

Final Thoughts

No matter if you're a new professional looking for a new career or a family in search of the most prestigious schools and security the suburbs around Gaithersburg have plenty of options to suit your needs. The city is bustling from Rockville to quiet Derwood Each area brings an individuality in its own way. With the assistance of professional moving companies from Gaithersburg MD and the rest of Gaithersburg MD, your move to your new residence can be simple, inexpensive and quick.