#they’d were!!! being loyal to the other!!!! and they weren’t even dating!!! they are SO. OBLIVIOUS AND KINDA DUMB I LOVE THEM

[peapod20001]

Lmao Pinot and Louis are so fucking stupid like. They’ve known each other since they were teens...they are roommates...they kiss on he mouth...they literally have seen eachother naked and it took them till they were in their 40’s to be like “oh wait haha, we’re pretty much dating already!!!”

And only THEN do they refer to eachother as boyfriends

[faerygrant]

so much wine - carmen berzatto x reader

summary: Carmen wants to prove to you that your relationship means a lot to him, what better way to do so than introducing you to his mother over dinner.

warnings: angst, swearing, minor injury, crazy Donna Berzatto appearance

Christmas time in Chicago was indeed the most wonderful time of year, in your opinion of-course. Snow was falling, trees brightly decorated in twinkling fairy lights and colourful ornaments and most of all, it was a time for reuniting with family and friends.

The beginning of your relationship with Carmen was…unorthodox to say the least. He hadn’t asked you to be his girlfriend in the normal way most men did, it was an awkward three months into your “arrangement” of sleeping together, him being partially moved into your brownstone and being introduced to all of his staff at the Bear when you finally posed the question. What are we?

He was stunned, you were stunned and you both stood there for a good 5 minutes in silence until he admitted he thought you were already dating, causing you to let out a loud sigh of relief. You’d told him that usually one asks the other to be their girlfriend to which he just shrugged and smiled, telling you he wanted you to be “his forever.” That satisfied you.

Now meeting his family wasn’t a big deal to you, you’d met Nat only a month into the relationship, as she was regularly at the restaurant, you’d heard about what happened to his brother but never pestered him much about it, as for the rest of his family, he never spoke much about them. He of-course called Richie cousin but you were mad very aware early on by Carmen, that they weren’t actually related in any way.

It hadn’t bothered you much until one night a few weeks ago, while out with your friends, Christmas plans were mentioned, one of them asking if you’d be spending it with yours or Carmy’s parents to which you admitted you hadn’t yet met them. Most of the girls shrugged it off but Mia, your highschool friend had taken this as a red flag.

“You’ve been with him for a year, he’s met your parents, you guys LIVE together and you haven’t met his mom?” Her eyes bulged in disbelief, leading you to down your cosmo worriedly.

“I’m sure it’s nothing and if it is, he probably has good reason. He could be protecting you, you never know” Your other friend Maisie assured, ever the voice of reason. You smiled at her words. Though you couldn’t pretend that you hadn’t began to internalise what Mia had said. You knew Carmy’s dad left when they were younger, but he never mentioned his mother, ever. Unless Sugar did and he’d always step out when they’d speak about her. The only photos you’d seen of her were when you’d visit Sugar and Pete’s and even then, they were old ones.

So yes, despite the holiday being the most wonderful time of the year, the past few days the issue of Carmen’s mom had been weighing on you heavily. You’d considered prying information out of Richie, but you knew he was too loyal to Carmen, Fak would rat you out to Richie, who once again, would alert Carmen of your questions. You knew the best thing to do was either ask your boyfriend or forget about it, unfortunately your brain wasn’t going to allow yourself to do either.

Luckily for you, Carmen had noticed how out of it you’d been acting the past days and had finally had enough. So one evening after work, the restaurant closing early due to heavy snow, Carmy had approached you, ready for answers.

“Are we good?” He asks, taking a seat beside you on the bed. His tattooed arms bulging as he crossed them, adorned in a navy sweater and grey sweats. His hair was a curly mess probably from the windy evening air and he smelt of cigarette smoke and cologne.

“Wha- why wouldn’t we be?” You place the book you were reading besides you on the table and turn to look at him, feigning innocence.

“I dunno, you’ve just been actin’ kinda’ off past couple a days” he pauses, brining your knuckles to his lips and slowly grazing them with kisses. “Thought maybe you were mad at me” his tone is questioning.

“Oh Carmy, it’s not that.” You feel horrible, leaning into him to peck at his face. “It’s just that the girls and I were discussing Christmas plans and the conversation slipped into parents and Mia pointed out the fact that you’ve never introduced me to your mom, even though you’ve met both of my parents.” Immediately you see the way he tenses up, his veins appearing and his body stiffens.

“That really what’s been botherin’ you?” He asks genuinely.

“Yeah.”

“I jus- my ma’s not all there.” He whispers quietly, you notice how difficult it is for him, so you take his big hand in yours, squeezing tightly.

“Carmen I understand, it’s just important for me. If we’re going to be married one day and start a family than I’d like to meet her. The last thing I’d do is judge her.” You assure him, hopping he’d somehow believe you.

“I dunno, we’ll see.” He whispers, failing to meet your gaze.

“Alright.”

-

It was two weeks later, with lots of talking, deep heart to hearts and support from Nat and Pete, Donna Berzatto was coming to dinner at your an Carmy’s place. Carmy was a nervous wreck, insisting on working on the food in the kitchen while you just relaxed and set the table.

He warned you about her and so did Nat, you thought you had an idea of what to expect, what was to come walking through that door in a few minutes but you’d underestimated Donna Berzatto, oh how you’d underestimated her.

Carmen had just placed the braised lamb dish on the table, while you popped open the bottle of red for the night when the sound of your doorbell continuously being rung alerted the both of you. That wasn’t the only sound however, shouts of “Carmen!” Sounded from the door, along with the banging of a flat palm. Ok so maybe you knew where the night was going to be headed.

Carmen sighed, rubbing your shoulder assuringly before making his way to the front door.

“My baby boy, oh you look tired and pale, why?” You heard her fussing, her voice echoing from the foyer.

“I’m fine Ma s’jus winter.” Carmen mumbles, when finally you see her walk into the dining room. Her blonde hair is curled, red lipstick, smudged eyeliner from what you can only assume was a cry session before she’d gotten here, a bottle of whiskey in hand and long bright red manicured nails.

“Mrs Berzatto, it’s nice to finally meet you.” You hold your hand out to shake hers and she simply looks you up and down before looking to Carmen.

“Would you turn the heat up in here Carmen, I’m freezing.” She exaggerates, before taking a seat at the table, completely dismissing your introduction.

“Ma, she was talkin’ to you, don’t be rude.” Carmy speaks, already becoming frustrated with his mother. She had the audacity to show drunk and disheveled, reeking of whiskey and then act rude towards his girlfriend.

“Didn’t hear her.” She shrugs, making herself at home and reaching for the bottle of wine which she grabs, pouring a generous amount into a glass and chugging.

“It’s fine baby, just turn the heat up, I’ll serve the food.” You brush his arm affectionately. You’d try to remain composed, you’d try not to let her win, after all it was your idea in the end to have her over and you weren’t going to crack easily.

Donna had somehow settled, the three of you eating in awkward silence, the only sound being the scraping of forks and knives and sips of wine, mostly on Donna’s part.

“So Mrs Berzatto, what’ve you been up to recently?” You attempt again at conversation with her.

“Not seeing my son obviously, since you’ve got him cooped up in here, you the reason he doesn’t even bother to call his mother anymore?” She drops her fork against her plate, a loud “clank” ringing throughout the room.

“Ma you know exactly why I haven’t called, stop tryna’ blame her.”

“Oh so now I’m the bad guy for missing my baby boy?” She stands dramatically from her seat, the table shaking slightly. She’s hysterical, tears beginning to stream down her face as she points an accusatory finger at you.

“You think I don’t know what you’re doing, tryna use my son for his money and steal him away from me.” Her arms are moving wildly and before you know it, the glass of wine had swung off the table, the glass shattering onto the white tile. A large puddle of red, dripping below the table.

“Fuck, shit, fuck I got it” Carmen groans, but you push him to sit back down. You already felt guilty for pressuring him into inviting his mom over, he knew how it would go but you’d been so stubborn.

“It’s fine I’ve got it Carmy.” You try reaching for the pieces of glass while you hear Donna continuing her blabbering rant. You’re so distracted that you don’t even realise the blood that begins to pour from your palm.

“Fuck” you mumble, not wanting to alarm Carmen, however you’re too late.

“See what you fuckin’ made her do ma? Get the fuck out of our house now, I tried to give you the benefit of the doubt for her and you treat her like this? Not fuckin’ havin it, we’re done here!” He shouts and his mother is stunned.

“You’re really going to speak to your own mother like that?”

“Yes, and I’m going to show you to the fuckin’ door now”

-

“You sure you okay baby, no more pain?” Carmen asks for what feels like the hundredth time, his lips grazing your bandaged hand.

“I’m sure Carmy, thank you for cleaning me up.” He just smiles at you, resting his head in the crook of your neck.

“Carmen?”

“Hmm?” It comes out muffled, the sensation tickling your neck.

“I’m sorry for pestering you, you were right about her”

“Don’t apologise, you were curious and you deserved to know and see for yourself.”

“I know but I shouldn’t have pressed you, you were just protecting me, and I love you for that.” He removes his face from your neck, kissing you tenderly and whispering a quiet “I love you too”

-

“Can I ask you something?” He questions later while the two of you are in bed, cuddled up under the sheets.

“Anything.” You assure.

“Does this change the way you see me?”

“Never, you’re not your mother Carmy.” And those words are assuring enough to allow him to fall asleep peacefully that night.

[gatorbites-imagines]

Can i request the continuation of jason todd and dick grayson yandere ask? Maybe add in smut aswell. (Don't force yourself!, Take a good care of yourself 💗)

-🥚 anon

Yandere Jason Todd x speedster male reader x Yandere Dick Grayson

Part 2

Headcanons

Imagine sitting in a spinny chair petting a cat like a bond villain. I have wanted to write a part two for this for a while. Instead of reader just dating his og universes version of them, what if reader was dating multiple people 👀? Cuz you cant imagine the kid of Thawne being a nice person.

Ill refer to readers original universe as OG verse, and the yandere universe as yan verse cuz its easier to understand.

Part 1 can be found here

In part 1 yan Dick and Jason has pretty much abandoned their former dimension in smithereens after having wiped out the entire justice league, as they tried to stop them from crossing dimensions and tearing a hole in reality itself to find you.

So, when Yan Dick and Jason appear in your OG dimension, different procedures set up by the league notify them about the tear in reality and how unstable it is. They’d rush there and find two bloody and battered versions of Dick and Jason, and thinking they fled some battle or a doomed timeline, they bring them to the tower.

When Jason and Dick wake up, they immediately fall back on the many tricks they had been taught under their batman, who was apparently even better at lying than OG batman, as they believe them when they claim their home dimension was destroyed and they have nowhere to go.

It takes a while to work Yan Dick and Jason into the league and their hero roster, but they never suspect them of being anything less than heroes and stable. They start calling them Rick and Jay since it gets confusing with multiple people named the same thing.

They don’t drop hints that they know you, but they do try to figure out where you are and what you are doing at all times, but its harder than they thought it would be. Who would have thought trying to track a guy that can cross dimensions and time at will would be so difficult.

Rick almost bursts a blood vessel when he hears some of the younger OG league members talking about how “Mach 10 has been dating multiple people at once”, and Jay wants to curl up into a ball and disappear and tear himself apart.

Their obsession finally starts showing through the cracks as they use league resources to find you and stalk you. More and more cracks appear in their masks and fake personalities, as they see you going on dates with other people.

Jericho, Jamie Reyes, Roy Harper, Garth, Kyle Rayner, the list went on. You seemed to be dating multiple people at once, at the same time, as you used your powers to be in multiple places at once.

You weren’t a good person, so you hadn’t even felt bad when Jamie had cried finding out you were cheating on him with multiple people, you just shrugged and asked him what he had expected from Thawnes offspring.

It was common knowledge amongst the younger league members that you were down to a roll in the sheets with most, but there wasn’t a loyal bone in your body, and you could easily turn on whoever you were dating at the time if it was part of a plan.

Of course. Rick and Jay never saw you as the problem. How could you be? You were perfect, you were everything that mattered in the multiverse, and you could do no wrong. It had to be your partners that were the issue, they had to be neglecting your needs and leaving you having to resort to finding different ways to meet them.

OG justice league knew Rick and Jay had some issues, but they had always blamed it on coming from a dimension that had been destroyed by some unknown evil. But as time passed, they started to think that maybe the backstory they had been given wasn’t true.

It came to a head when one day Rick almost gutted Roy after he and Jay had followed you around Coast city, where you had met up with Roy and the two of you had gone on a date, ending with you two back in Roy’s apartment.

Rick and Jay were both cracking as they saw others put their grubby disgusting hands all over you and just doing whatever they wanted. Whenever they heard others insult you, they felt like repeating what they had done in their original universe.

After Rick attacked Roy, he was placed on probation. Jay was more subtle about his plans, as he wasn’t as blinded by rage as Rick and was more fueled by not feeling like he was good enough and blaming himself.

People didn’t even put two and two together for a while when your non league admirers started going missing, only to be found much later dead in many different ways. There was no way to tie the murders together, but it was clear there was a pattern, but no one could figure out what it was.

The league finally discovered just what type of people Jay and Rick were when you one day wandered into the tower. Maybe the league needed your help with something involving the speedforce, or the negative speedforce.

But the moment the two yanderes saw you, it was like they became completely different people, the masks they had been wearing for months shattered as they almost stumbled over each other to get to you first.

You just saw in your seat grinning to yourself as they clambered into your lap, vile threats of what he could do to anyone who touched to passing Ricks lips, as Jay warbled out apologies and begs for you to love him and appreciate him.

The league wasn’t sure what to do, but their suspicions only grew. It got to the point where they somehow track down the dimension the Yans originally come from, to see what really happened. Imagine their horror when they learn Rick and Jay killed all of them out of obsession fueled love for you.

But when they finally figured out the truth, Rick and Jay fully dropped their roles and started chasing you around like lovesick puppies again, butchering anyone who got in their way.

The league could lock them up, but they had also seen what happened when they were separated from you, and as long as they were around you and an had no reason to lash out, they seemed fine for the most part.

You had moments where you would peace out to different dimensions, especially when Rick and Jay started foiling all your attempts to mess around with other people, Rick always exploding in rage and Jay breaking down in tears and wails of misery.

Again, you were never a good person, and they annoyed you sometimes, but it was kinda cute to have them begging for scraps of your attention even as the league tried again and again to capture them and lock them away.

Rick and Jay never find a way to lock you away, you are just too powerful. But they at some point stumble across ways to make themselves stronger so they can keep up. Like making themselves speedsters, or developing gear to follow and track you, they come up with something.

But you learn an easy way to distract them is by piling attention on them for a while, get them comfortable, then you can peace out when they get on your nerves.

Jay is always easier to trick than Rick, as Jay is always aching for any tiny piece of attention and love youll give him, his knees always buckling when you kiss him or hold him, words almost akin to worship always tumbling out from between his lips towards you.

Rick is harder to trick, as hes always suspicious and angry, but an easy way is to dominate him in some way, like tying him up and then leaving him there, leaving him to get out on his own, or get help from Jay if he needs it.

All in all, the league is scared and cautious, but knows they wont be an active threat to the league as long as they have you. And your relationship with your yanderes is nowhere near healthy, with you only loving them like someone would love a pet or a toy, and them loving you way too much.

But what can someone expect from the offspring of Thawne, and two extremely unstable Bats.

[avastrasposts]

The Pilot and his girl - ch. 7 **

You might want to put aside some time for this, I somehow managed to write 10k...and the second half is like all smut, almost.

Took me a while to get this out, it was kinda meant to be a filler chapter but then I wanted to add more so I ended up moving things around in the story line so now we've got this one. Next chapter will see their relationship move forward with leaps and bounds and then we get into the really juicy bits!

Please enjoy and if you do, please reblog so that more people see the fic, I'll love you always if you do

If wanna catch up from the beginning, here is chapter 1 of The Pilot and his girl

Chapter 8

Tag list: @pimosworld @i-own-loki @casa-boiardi @littlenosoul @stormseyer

Sometimes you think back on other guys you’ve dated. The guy who wanted to be able to call you up whenever he wanted sex and always got mad when you weren’t around to supply, the college guy who never wanted to touch you in public, the older guy who ‘forgot’ to mention his wife and two year old son, the guy who cheated on you and then messaged all your friends and told them he’d dumped you because you’d cheated on him with his boss. And that didn’t even cover all the ‘normal’ guys who just wanted to play the game, date and have sex but never commit or say what they actually felt or introduce you to their friends or family. 

And then there was Frankie Morales. Sweet, loving, loyal Frankie who never seemed to hide what he was thinking or wanted to play games. Who never made it difficult or made you guess what he felt or what his intentions were. He was just always happy to be with you, to see you and to let the world around you know that he belonged to you and no one else. Who would kiss you in public just because he felt like it, took your hand as soon as you were near, and never hesitated to include you in his plans. Being with Frankie was easy and you finally started to understand that dating someone shouldn’t be non-stop drama, it should be easy and that’s how you knew it was right. 

And Frankie slipped into your life as easily as he let you slip into his. After your first few dates he made it clear that he would happily spend as much time as he could with you, the only other priority in his life being his daughter and you happily took a back seat to her. Frankie was always a bit low when he came back from seeing her, or she’d spent a weekend with him, his guilty conscience about not seeing her enough always on his mind. But he was also full of stories about her, his eyes beaming, a wide, proud, smile on his face, as he told you about what they’d done, the things she’d said and how much she’d grown or what new skills she’d learnt. She was the centre of his universe and you didn’t mind, she grounded him and made him happy and a better man. Both for her and for you. 

When Frankie wasn’t working or went to see Lucía, your weekends were spent mostly in each other’s company. He’d pick you up on Friday evening and take you out ‘properly’, as he said. He’d show up in his truck, freshly showered after work and in a clean shirt. If he’d ditched the cap you knew he’d made plans for a more upscale restaurant. If the cap was firmly pressed down over his, still very, unruly curls, you knew he was taking you on one of his special Frankie dates. 

The first time you’d expected maybe a cool food truck or local BBQ place when he said he’d made ‘special plans’, your expectations from previous guys were not exactly high. But instead he’d taken you to a secluded spot up on a hill, parking the truck and walking with you through the forest on a small path until the trees fell away to a cliff overlooking a lake. Stuck into the ground was a small sign that read “Reserved - Morales” that made you giggle at the thought that he’d hiked up here earlier, just to place the sign. Frankie had then produced a thick blanket from his backpack, a lantern, a camping stove, various containers and bottles and proceeded to cook you dinner while the sun set behind the forest on the other side of the lake. When dinner was done with, and you’d expressed your deep astonishment at how romantic he was, Frankie blushing to the tips of his ears, he’d wrapped you both in the blanket and leaned back against a rock with you tucked in against his chest. 

“You’re setting the bar very high for all the other guys, Francisco Morales,” you hum as you feel the cool tip of his nose brush against your cheek. 

“What other guys, hermosa?” he mutters, lightly kissing the tip of your ear. 

“All the other guys in general,” you lean into his warm lips skating along your neck, “once word gets out this is how Frankie Morales treats women, who’s gonna want a regular guy?” 

Frankie chuckles quietly, his rich, warm voice close to your ear. “I don’t treat women like this, only you, solo tu hermosa mujer.

“See, there you go again, setting the bar impossibly high,” you smile and push your fingers into the curls at the back of his neck, scratching his scalp and drawing a soft moan from him. 

When the night became too cold even for the blanket and the Frankie shaped furnace at your back, he’d held your hand as you walked back, his powerful torch shining the way through the pitch black forest. At any other time the thought of walking through a dark forest would’ve made you slightly panicky, but with Frankie’s warm hand in yours and his broad shoulders in front of you as he easily navigated the path back to his truck, you felt as safe as you did at home in your bed. 

It was easy, being with Frankie was the easiest thing of them all. 

…

You woke up with a groan on Sunday morning, six weeks or so into dating Frankie. You’d been out the night before with friends and now you were paying the price; dry mouth, headache and that horrible shaky feeling as you moved your limbs. You were definitely never, ever drinking again. You were in Frankie’s bed but he was absent so with a groan you pushed the covers aside and sat up carefully. 

As you sat on the side of the bed, contemplating death, you heard Frankie’s bare feet coming down the hall, pushing open the door. 

“Morning, my little ‘I’m not drunk’ girl,” he smiled, far too cheerful and you groaned again and fell back into bed, pulling the covers with you as Frankie chuckled. 

“Just stay in bed, hermosa, I’ll get you some water and coffee, and breakfast whenever you feel up for it.” 

“Thank you,” you mumble from under the covers. 

“Anything for you, I love you,” he says as he bends and kisses the covers over your head. 

Oh yeah, you said that last night too.

…

Towards the end of your night you’d met up with Frankie and his friends at a bar. Your friends  were heading home, and you probably should’ve done the same, but you wanted to see Frankie and you’d promised to call him before you went home. He was the designated driver for the evening, as most evenings. Frankie didn’t like tempting fate with too much alcohol after he got clean from the coke. 

“Mi hermosa, hi,” came his warm, smiling voice over the phone when he picked up, and you immediately heard someone shush loudly in the background. 

“Sssshhhhh, everyone, ssssshhhhh, it’s the girlfriend, sssshhhhh!” The drunken voice of Benny was easily recognisable in the background.  

“Hi Frankie boy,” you cooed, definitely a little bit more than tipsy, “and hi Benny,” you giggled. 

“Tell her to come here,” Benny’s voice was suddenly very close, “I need her as my wing woman!”

“Benny, for fuck’s sake!” It sounded like Frankie had to pull his phone away from his friend as he shuffled away from the table they were all at, chairs scraping across a floor. 

“Sounds like Benny’s a little bit drunk, baby,” you give him a tipsy giggled again. 

“Sounds like you’re a little bit drunk too, cariño,” Frankie chuckles. “Do you wanna come over, we’re at the usual place.” 

“Only if you want me to, I don’t want to crash boy’s night.”

“You should definitely come over, I wanna see you this drunk,” he laughs as you protest and claim to be only slightly tipsy. “Get yourself in an Uber, and send me the details so I know when you get here.” 

“Ok, Frankie boy, always so responsible,” you pout and give him a salute before you remember he can’t actually see you through the phone. 

“Just be safe, hermosa,” he smiles before he hangs up. 

He’s waiting outside for you when the Uber pulls up, opening the door of the car and giving you a hand as you step out. 

“Hi sweetie,” you purr, wrapping your arms around his neck, stumbling slightly on the curb, as Frankie catches you around the middle. 

“Hey there, not drunk girl,” he smiles down at you and accepts your wet kiss to his lips with a chuckle. “How’s your night been?” 

“S’been good, everybody came, even Hannah who always cancels because her kids are sick.” you say as Frankie guides you towards the door of the bar. “And we got free drinks from a bunch of guys who were trying to hit on us, but their loss, because we’re all taken,” You pull him close and place a kiss on his cheek, “You’re my Frankie boy.”  

“Did you accept their drinks?” Frankie’s got a worried look in his eyes that you don’t notice as you shrug your jacket off as the heat of the room hits you.” 

“Yeah, sure! It was free drinks. It’s not like they were gonna get anything in return.” 

“Cariño, you shouldn’t accept drinks from random men in bars, what if they slip something in it? You’ve got to be careful.” He’s got his arm around your waist, walking you towards the table where the guys are. 

“Wait,” you stop halfway across the bar, poking his chest with your finger, “you were gonna buy me a drink when we met, are you saying I shouldn’t have accepted that?” 

“Uh…I mean…” Frankie flounders, “technically, I guess, no?” 

“You’re so cute when you blush, sweet Francisco,” you gush, wrapping your arms around his neck again and standing on your toes to kiss the tip of his nose, “I know I shouldn’t accept drinks from random guys, baby. But free drinks!” you grin again and Frankie can’t help but chuckle when he sees your delighted grin. 

“My tipsy girl,” he smiles, “we should get some food in you.” 

“Nachos!” you exclaim as Frankie puts his hand on your back and ushers you towards the table and the guys again. 

Pope pulls you in for a bear hug as Frankie pulls out a chair for you, and Will gives you a grin from across the table. 

“Hey, there she is!” Benny whoops as you sink down on the chair, “My wing woman!” He attempts to high five you but you’re too focused on telling Frankie you want the biggest serving of nachos they’ve got, and Benny’s hand slaps down on your shoulder instead, making you jump. 

“Jeez, Benny, calm down,” Frankie scowls and knocks his hand off your shoulder. “I’m getting nachos for the drunk girl, anyone else want anything?” he asks. 

“Nachos and drinks, if you’re offering,” Pope says and Frankie nods, heading back towards the bar. 

“I’m really not drunk, just a little bit tipsy,” you tell the three guys as Frankie walks off. “He’s being very overprotective.” 

“I heard that,” Frankie calls from over his shoulder, making you giggle loudly and snort.

“Well, you’re in good company here,” Will nods at Benny who’s slightly red eyed appearance betrays that he’s by far the furthest one gone at the table. 

“Hey, hey, hey,” Benny taps your arm excitedly, looking at a table towards the back of the bar, not paying attention to his brother, “Can you help me get that blonde over there? Like, walk over to her or something and tell her I’m great in bed and she should totally let me buy her a drink.” 

“What Benny?! No!” you protest, “I’m not lying to some poor woman, I don’t even know if you’re good in bed.” You give Benny a slightly unfocused once over, “Are you any good in bed?”  

“I’m totally good in bed!” he insists, “I’d prove it but you know…Fish would literally kill me dead.” 

“Ewww!” you exclaim, sending Pope and Will into a laughing fit as Benny blinks, trying to figure out if he should be insulted or not. “Sorry! That came out wrong!” you grab on to his arm, “I mean, you’re cute and all but just not my type, I like - “

“We know what you like,” Pope interrupts with a grin, “you like ‘em dark haired, brown eyed and tanned.” He wiggles his eyebrows at you as you snort out a laugh. 

“I mean, I can’t deny that, but I like my men taller and with less body hair, Santi,” you smirk and Pope tries to look insulted. 

“Ouch, going after my height, evil woman,” he huffs, but he’s still laughing. 

“You got the right one then,” Will chuckles, “Frankie’s got less body hair than a hairless cat.” 

“Why the fuck are you talking about my body hair?” Frankie says, coming back to the table, sending Benny and you into a laughing fit and Will just waving his hand. 

“Forget it man, not important.” 

Frankie raises his eyebrows and gives his head a slight shake as he sets down the nachos and drinks for the table, although you’re also getting a large glass of water. 

“Are you riling them up, cariño?” he asks, smiling down at you as you try to pull him down for a kiss that he willingly gives, your lips tasting of tequila and wine, oh, you’ll be hungover for sure in the morning. 

“I’m innocent,” you smirk, looking anything but and Frankie chuckles. 

“Move, baby, sit on my lap, there’s no extra chair.” 

You happily oblige, sitting sideways across Frankie’s lap, his warm arm around your waist, holding you tight. 

Nachos and beers are soon gone and Pope gets everyone a new round, getting Frankie a Coke that he tries to make you drink instead of the beer Pope got you, but not having much success. Benny’s trying his luck with the blonde across the room and Will and Pope decide to shoot some pool while you and Frankie watch from the table. Despite there being several empty chairs now you stay on Frankie’s lap, his legs are slowly falling asleep but he won’t make you move, he’s got you tight against his body, and your arm is draped across his shoulder, absentmindedly dragging your fingers through the curls around his neck at the edge of his cap. He hums contentedly as your nails scratch his scalp and you feel the rumble in his chest. Looking down you see his eyes slip closed, he always has trouble keeping them open when you play with his hair. He’s not asleep but his muscles relax and his head slumps forward, leaning against you. 

Gently you pull his cap off so that you can run your fingers through more of his hair, Frankie mutters his consent and you feel his fingers trace small circles on your back, warm through the thin fabric of your top. His soft curls slip under your fingers as you run them through his hair, the buzz of alcohol in your system making you sleepy, Frankie’s warm body making you feel safe and content. You bend down and press a kiss to the top of his head and with your lips still close to his hair it slips out.

“I love you.” 

Frankie’s eyes snap open and he pulls back from your chest, looking up at you, searching your eyes to see if you mean it or if you’re just too drunk. 

“What did you say, hermosa?” he asks softly as you look down at him, a small, uncertain smile on your lips. 

“I’m sorry…” you waver, “it just slipped out, it’s too soon and I’m drunk and it’s -” 

“I love you, I love you too,” Frankie interrupts, his heart threatening to jump out of his chest as he pulls your lips to his, “don’t be sorry,” he mumbles against your mouth, “I would’ve said it weeks ago if I had the guts.” 

His hand slips behind your neck, holding you to his lips, as you wrap your arms around him. His heart is racing, he can feel your smile against his mouth as you press yourself against him and it feels like millions of tiny bubbles are gathering inside his chest, pushing up through his throat and making him grin like a fool against your soft lips. The kiss turns sloppy as you both start to giggle, foreheads leaning together, you look into his warm, brown eyes that are crinkling at the corners. 

“I love you, Frankie,” you say, still smiling so wide you feel like your face is splitting but happy tears are threatening to spill out. The way Frankie is looking at you makes you feel like he just wrapped you up in a blanket, tucked you against his chest and enveloped you with his love, making you his axis point. 

“I love you too, hermosa,” he replies, “I love you so fucking much, I wanted to tell you when you took my hand after I told you about all the shit in my life, but I was scared it was too much. And when you still wanted to be with me and the first morning you woke up with me, you told me how amazing you think I am…” Frankie reaches up and strokes his thumb over your cheek, catching a tear that’s escaped from your eyes, “I almost said it then too, I really wanted to tell you then, but I chickened out..” 

“You should’ve said it all those times, Frankie,” you say, putting your hand over his, still on your cheek, “I would’ve said it back, but I thought it was too soon. I thought you’d run a mile if you knew how fast I fell for you.” 

“Not in a million years, hermosa, never.” He pulls you in, catching your lips in another kiss, slow and searing, making you part your lips so that he can taste you, despite all the alcohol. You feel his tongue, soft against your own, as he moves to kiss you deeper, his arm wrapped tight around your waist, holding you firm against him as you hold onto his shoulders, and push your fingers into his hair. You’re in your own bubble, only you and him, and the noises of the bar fades away as you hum against his mouth, the taste of him, his tongue, overtakes your hazy mind. 

…

You stay under the covers, you can hear Frankie moving around his kitchen, making coffee. You remember him taking the guys and you home last night. The truck had been full, the guys in the back and you tucked into Frankie’s side in the front, falling asleep against his shoulder as he dropped the others off first. You vaguely remember Frankie gently scooting you out of his truck and picking you up. You’d woken up when he had to put you down to dig out his keys, his soft voice telling you to stay awake as you leaned on him. Finally he’d gotten you both into his place and he’d tucked you in under the covers of his bed, the last thing you seem to remember is him taking your shoes off. 

Now he pads back into the bedroom with a bottle of water and a large coffee. 

“Here, cariño, drink the water first.” 

“Thanks, Frankie, you’re more than I deserve, I was way too drunk last night,” you moan, gratefully taking the water bottle from him. 

“You’re a very cute drunk,” he smiles and sits down on the edge of the bed as you pull yourself up, leaning against the headboard and taking a long drink of water. 

“And I love you too,” you say, putting down the water and taking his hand, “I remember that part at least.” 

Frankie chuckles and pulls your hand to his lips, kissing your palm, “I was a bit worried you’d said all those sweet things and then forget about it. 

“Never, Frankie,” you smile, “how could I? I just wish I hadn’t blurted it out when I was drunk...” 

“It was very sweet, hermosa, alcohol clearly makes you honest. I need to remember that,” he pulls you towards him with a big grin and you lean against his chest, breathing into his clean t-shirt, fresh cotton and the smell of just him underneath it. If you weren’t so hungover you’d pull him back into the bed with you, he feels good next to you, warm and solid, his little belly soft to the touch as you absentmindedly run your hand over it and listen to his heartbeat under your ear. Frankie’s hand is rubbing up and down your back and you can feel his breath against the top of your head where he's leaning his chin. 

“I wanted to ask you something,” he says after a little while of enjoying just sitting together in silence. The slight hesitation in his voice makes you lift your head and look up at him. He’s got that worried look in his eyes, and it makes you mirror his look, raising your eyebrows in concern as he goes on; 

“Lucía is supposed to come here next weekend, she’s staying Saturday and Sunday. And you can say no if you think it’s too much but, but I really want you to meet her, if you want?” 

“You know I’d love to meet her, Frankie” you say, sitting up so that you can look properly at him. His expressive eyebrows immediately shoot up in a relieved look. 

“I know, I just wanted to make sure,” he says, “I’ve…I’ve never…let her meet a girlfriend before and I wanna make sure you’re fine with it too.” 

“I’m absolutely fine with it, sweetie,” you rub his arm, wanting to reassure him that it really was fine. “If you want, we can start easy though, maybe? Just tell her I’m a friend of yours or something and we keep the PDA to a minimum around her?” 

“Yeah, I was thinking that too,” he agrees. “I haven’t talked to her mom yet either, it’s not like I need her permission for it or anything, but you know, just so that she hears it from me and not Lucía afterwards.” 

“I won’t stay over at your place when she’s here,” you stretch your arms up, yawning big and Frankie pushes the coffee mug into your hands with a smile. “We’ll just hang out a bit,” you say, “I don’t wanna intrude on your father - daughter time, I know you feel like you don’t see enough of her as it is.” 

“You could never intrude, cariño,” Frankie protests, “hang out with us as much as you want. Although, four year olds can be a bit rowdy so you might need to work on your stamina,” he chuckles. 

“I know how to handle four year olds,” you grin, “I just buy them the loudest toy I can find and be their new best friend.”

“That’s just evil, just pure evil,” Frankie groans, “every parent's worst nightmare, you would never.” 

“I would never do that to you, Frankie,” you smile and accept his hand as he pulls you out of the bed. “But my brother’s kids, absolutely.” 

“Remind me to never piss you off, cariño,” Frankie chuckles as you make your way into his small kitchen where he’s got breakfast laid out. 

Right from the start Frankie had claimed he couldn’t cook and his mom’s brownies was the only thing he could bake. You’d quickly figured out that the ‘can’t cook’ line was more a show of Frankie’s insecurity rather than an actual thing. And he excelled at breakfast, making both blueberry pancakes, omelettes and smoothies so good you’d rather have his breakfast for every meal of the day than anything else. The first time you had his pancakes, made from scratch and not a box mix, you’d eaten four in one go and not even felt bad about it. Frankie’s smile when you kept asking for more was worth the bloated feeling you had for the rest of the day. He admitted he’d taught himself to make them because they were Lucía’s favourite food and the thought of Frankie looking up pancake recipes online to be able to serve his daughter her favourite food made you almost teary eyed. The more you got to know him, the more you saw of his big heart and soft side, the more it became difficult to equate the man you now knew, with the man who had been in Delta Force and displayed such skill at violence in the bar that horrible night. 

There was one thing that betrayed his background though, his nightmares. Frankie said he had them less these days but there were still several nights where you’d been woken up by him thrashing around in the bed, crying out incoherently. A few times you’d been woken up by Frankie throwing himself on top of you when his sleep hazy mind thought there was a threat in the room and you had to be protected. Sweet on one level, but on those nights it took you both a long time to go back to sleep, Frankie’s adrenaline spiking high and your own heart rate going through the roof after being so brutally woken up. You were grateful that he seemed to need to hold you as close as possible on those nights, it made it easier for you to fall back asleep with his heavy arm draped across your waist or chest, pulled in so tight that you could hear his heartbeat, feel it slow down as he calmed. 

The next morning he’d wake up in a dark mood, feeling guilty about scaring you and bringing his issues into your life. You soon figured out that the best way to get him past his sullen thoughts was to pull him down on the sofa and make him lay back, resting against you. That way you could hook one arm around his broad chest, make him tip his head back on your shoulder and then scratch his scalp with your fingertips. His mind would stop racing, he would feel your heartbeat under his body and your fingers softly scraping through his curls, slowly realising that you weren’t leaving, that he wasn’t scaring you away by showing you the darker sides of himself. 

“I’m sorry, cariño, I’m such an idiot, it’s just me and my stupid brain causing trouble,” he mumbled while your fingers worked through his hair. 

“You’re not an idiot, Frankie,” you gently admonished him, “you know why your brain gives you nightmares, you’ve been through more than anyone should have to endure, “ you press a kiss to his head and he leans towards you. 

“My sponsor always says I should tell people close to me what’s going on when I start spiralling out of control, but that’s always been the hardest thing.” 

“Why is it hard?” you ask, still brushing through his soft curls, willing him to relax against you. 

Frankie shifts under your arm, turning so that he can press his face against the side of your neck, you feel him inhale deeply as he stretches his arm across your chest and pulls you closer. 

“It took me a long time to figure this out,” he says in a low voice, “I feel like I fail when I lose control, fail my family, my friends, anyone I wanna be close to.” His voice is muffled, pressed up against you as he hides his face, “I feel guilty about failing so I don’t ask for help and then it gets worse, I fall into to bad habits and that makes me feel like more of a failure and that makes me feel even more guilty and then it just spirals out of control.”

“What do you think will happen when you tell those you love about losing control?” you ask in a soft voice. You’re leaning your cheek against his head, feeling his breath fan across your neck and chest as he draws a deep breath. 

“That you’ll leave me, see what a fuck up I am and realise I’m not worth the effort.” You can barely hear his low whisper, it cracks at the end, and your heart clenches, your hands leaving his hair as you wrap your arms tight around him, burying your face against his soft curls. 

“Never, Frankie, never.” You squeeze him, willing him to understand how much he’s come to mean to you in this short time. “I don’t know what happens in the future but I can promise you that I’ll never leave you because I think you’re not worth the effort. And don’t say that about yourself, you’ll always be worth the effort, Frankie,” you lean back, putting your hand on his chin and tilting it up so that you can look at him, his eyes are distressed, the usually soft look, pained and tight. “I’ve already told you I think you’re the best man I’ve ever known and even if you spiral out of control and your demons get the better of you, I won’t leave because I know how good you are, what a great man you are and what a great father you are to Lucía.” 

Frankie closes his eyes as you lean in and press a soft kiss to his lips, a long breath escaping with a shudder, as if he’d been holding it in.

“I’m always scared I’ll fuck things up with her,” he says when you pull back from his lips. “How am I gonna be any kind of role model to her when this is what I’ve done with my own life?” 

“Frankie, you idiot,” you smile softly at him, and he looks confused. “You’ve had a passion for helicopters since you were a kid right?” He nods and you continue, “So you found a way to become a helicopter pilot, a very difficult profession that takes enormous dedication and skill. You then got sucked into the fucked up system of the military, and saw some horrible things. Things that any normal person would consider fucked up and have trouble processing, right?” 

“Yeah, I guess, bu- “ 

You stop him, “You didn’t get any adequate help to deal with your PTSD so you found a way to deal with it yourself. A stupid way, sure, but you had the willpower to get your shit together when it became about someone else but you, your daughter.” 

Frankie just nods, his eyebrows pulled up in that tight little knot you’ve seen so many times. 

“Don’t you get it?” you say, “you’ve already proved to her, before she was even born, that she’s the center of your universe and that you’ll do anything for her and that she can do anything she wants. All she has to do is to look at how you’ve managed to get through some of the most fucked up shit.” 

Frankie looks at you as you stroke the lines between his eyebrows with your thumb, smoothing them out. “Frankie Morales, you’re amazing, and if you keep thinking you’re not I’ll have to smack you,” you smile at him and you see the corners of his mouth twitch up, “or I’ll get Pope to smack you,” you say and Frankie smiles properly, his face changing into that soft smile you’ve always loved. He drops his head down on your chest again, his nose pressed against your throat. 

“I’d like to see him try,” he chuckles as he wraps his arm around you and pulls himself on top, looking down at you. 

“Thank you,” he says, using your real name as if to emphasize, “I don’t know what I did in my last life to deserve you in this one.” 

“Maybe you saved my life somehow,” you smile and stroke your thumb over the bare patch in his scruffy beard, “and now you get to have incredible sex with me as a reward.” 

“Yeah?” he smirks, pulling up one corner of his mouth, “Maybe I wanna claim some of that reward right now.”

…

On Friday night, before Lucía’s coming to stay, Frankie picks you up for your date wearing no cap, but a white dress shirt with his dark jeans. You open the door and do a double take, holding out one hand in front of you to stop him, as you shamelessly admire the view. 

“Damn, Frankie…” you purr, letting your eyes travel down from the v of the open neck, the smattering of freckles dark against his tanned skin and white cotton, the wide shoulders that stretch the fabric when he crosses his arms, leaning on the door frame with a smile, his forearms on display where he’s rolled up the sleeves to his elbows, and all the way down over his slim hips and lean thighs under the black denim. 

“Are you taking me out to dinner, or are you delivering yourself for dinner?” you ask, giving him a wicked smile as you hook your finger into his shirt and pull him closer. Frankie chuckles and brushes his lips against yours. 

“Maybe I’m here to make a meal out of you…”

“Cheesy,” you giggled into his mouth, “but I’ll definitely remind yo-” 

He cuts you off with a kiss, pushing his hand into your hair and sealing his lips to yours, licking against your bottom lip before he gently sucks on it. A jolt of electricity immediately shoots down your spine and settles between your legs, the sheer promise of what he could deliver had you trembling. A moan escapes you as he pushes you against the wall and lets his thigh spread your legs, the friction shoots another jolt through your body and Frankie knows exactly what he’s doing. You can feel him move his thigh, the thick muscles giving just a taste of what his fingers would do later, and with a crooked smile he pulls back, both from your lips and your legs. 

“Frankie…” you moan, chasing his lips, but he chuckles and takes your hand, pulling you towards the door. 

“Let's get actual dinner before I make a meal out of you, my greedy little girl.” 

With a pout you follow him out the door but when he wraps his arms around your waist and kisses your neck in the elevator on the way down you melt, you were never really upset. “Who says I’ll keep my hands off you, hermosa,” he murmurs, “the restaurant is really dimly lit.” 

…

The place Frankie has picked is a new place you’d mentioned a while back and you squeeze his arm tightly when you realise that he’s made a reservation especially because he knew you wanted to go. He’s even requested a table at the back where the restaurant has a few tables in small window nooks overlooking the river. The waiter seats you and lights the two candles in the windows and in the small hanging chandelier over your heads, casting the whole table in a soft light. 

You sit down in the middle of the plush bench that curves under the windows, and Frankie sits down close to you, rather than opposite. You’re sharing a corner at the table, and even though there’d be more room if you sat at opposite ends, none of you are moving, least of all Frankie. Instead you feel his hand on your leg, slipping up under the edge of your dress, as soon as he sits down. His hand is hidden under the table cloth and although he lets his hand rest on your thigh for now, you’re fairly certain he won’t let it stay there.

The waiter returns to take your orders and while you’re asking about the fish dish Frankie’s fingers start moving, gentle little circles on your thigh but steadily moving up along your leg. You steal yourself to not let his touch get to you while you talk to the waiter, sitting perfectly still in your seat as you ask about the evening’s special. You can feel his fingers creep further up your leg, starting to tickle the sensitive skin on the inside of your thigh. From the corner of your eye you can see Frankie innocently studying the menu but you can also see the smile tugging at the corners of his mouth. As the waiter finishes with your order he turns to Frankie and as soon as the waiter’s eyes are off you, Frankie squeezes the inside of your thigh. Not hard, but enough to make your limbs clench together as you shudder from the jolt of heat that shoots through you, settling between your legs. Your involuntary spasm makes the waiter look at you again and you pretend to reach for the breadbasket as Frankie struggles to keep a straight face.

As soon as the waiter leaves Frankie turns to you with a mischievous grin and moves his hand further up your thigh. 

“Hermosa,” he purrs as you try to scowl at him, “your skin is so soft and grabbable right here.” He kneads the plush flesh of your inner thigh as you try to ignore the way it feels as he sinks his fingers into you. 

“You’re a menace, Francisco Morales,” you glare and he leans in on the table, propping his chin up with his free hand, so that his mouth is only inches from your lips. He continues to draw shapes on your skin as he looks at you, his face softening into an innocent look, big brown eyes looking at you like he’s only adoring his girlfriend, not slowly moving his hand up to brush the edge of your panties under the table.

“Why would you say that, cariño?” he asks, smiling as you clench your jaw when his finger tips nudges at your legs, beckoning you to spread them, and you obey without hesitation. “Am I distracting you from the nice view?” You scowl at him again but you can’t hide your smile and Frankie closes the last bit of distance between you and nudges the tip of his nose against yours, letting it brush along your cheek as he captures your lips with his. 

The kiss is soft and demure, anyone looking will only see a couple in love sharing a tender kiss, a sweet moment together. Frankie’s free hand takes your hand on the table and your fingers entwine, but under the table his fingertips are slowly brushing over the thin lace in your panties, feeling the dampness his touch is creating. He traces the slit under the fabric and grazes over your clit, making you quake against his lips, and you feel his mouth pull up in a smile. His tongue quickly darts between your lips as the pad of his thumb rubs with more pressure against the spot, pulling a soft moan from you as you lean into him. With a chuckle Frankie pulls away, moving his hand down your leg, and when you open your eyes to protest you see the waiter walking over with your drinks.

“I’m gonna get you back for this, you know,” you mumble and Frankie gives you a look of perfect innocence as he thanks the waiter for the drinks. When he leaves Frankie takes a sip from his beer and over the brim of his glass his eyes crinkle at the corners in a smile. 

“I think I’d like that, cariño, why don’t you try right now?” 

“No, I think I’ll pick a moment you’ll enjoy less,” you smile back at him, taking a sip of your own drink. 

Frankie leans forward, his hand falling below the table again and you quickly cross your legs as his hand touches your knee. 

“Ah, c’mon, cariño,” he coos, caressing the top of your thigh, edging under the hem of your dress again. 

“Keep your hands on the table, Francisco,” you give him a stern look that only makes him grin and scoot closer, leaning in so that he can skate his nose along your jaw, his lips brushing up against your ear, his hot breath tickling you. 

“Mi hermosa,” he mumbles, his lips barely touching your skin, “I want to touch you, feel if you’re as wet as I think you are.” He moves his mouth down and you feel the tip of his tongue slip out and lick across the spot he knows makes you shiver whenever he touches it. “I wanna to feel your sweet pussy tighten around my fingers as you think about what I’m gonna do with my mouth later.” 

His words make your eyes close as a shiver goes down your spine, heat pooling rapidly between your legs. And Frankie knows, he knows exactly what his dirty talk does to you. And now he continues to whisper how he wants to push your dress up over your hips, spread you before him and taste your sweet pussy, all the while his hand gently nudges your legs apart under the table. You feel heat rising in your cheeks as his fingers brush up over the soaked material in your panties. He’s telling you how good he knows you taste, how he loves the feeling of your pussy clenching around his tongue as he pushes into your tight hole. 

“I know you love how my nose rubs against your clit when I bury my face between your legs, hermosa,” he murmurs and you bite your lip to stop a moan escaping. Outwardly he’s still just whispering sweet nothings to you, a loving boyfriend nuzzled against the neck of his love, under the table his fingers have slipped past your panties and are pushing into your pussy, his thick index and ring finger stretching you. You lean forward on your elbows, tilting your head towards him, hiding your face from the room. Frankie’s teeth scrape against your skin as he curls his fingers back inside you, rubbing against the spot he always seems to find so easily. The thrill of him fingering you in public has your cheeks burning, your jaw is clenched tight to stop yourself from panting. Tension is building inside you as Frankie’s breath fans over your skin. 

“Are you gonna come for me, baby?” he whispers, “I wish I could get down on my knees and lick you, tug that sweet little clit of yours into my mouth, make you come on my face just like I did - “

Frankie suddenly pulls back, footsteps approaching your table, his fingers slipping out of you as he sits up. 

“Alright, I’ve got the grilled tuna for the lady and the lamb racks for the gentleman,” the waiter says, placing plates on the table. 

You’ve still got your face turned away, cheeks burning as you calm your breathing. Frankie’s hand comes up and genty cups your chin, a soft smile on his face, as if you say he’s got you, and not at all sorry that he’s got you on the edge of an orgasm in the middle of a crowded Friday night restaurant. 

…

You barely make it to the truck once you're done with the meal. The thrum of your near orgasm is still humming through your body and Frankie’s warm arm around your waist, holding you close, makes you want to duck into an alley and risk getting caught for public indecency. You stop him and cup his cheek, pulling him down for a kiss, letting your tongue slip between his lips as his large hand cups the back of your head. You feel his other hand sliding up your back, pressing you against his chest and you lick into his mouth, tasting him and the chocolate he had for dessert. Heat shoots through your body as he presses his hard on into you, he’s trying to create friction to give himself some relief but the way your body reacts, a low moan slipping out, only makes him harder. With a groan he pulls away, grabbing your hand and almost drags you the last bit to the truck. 

It’s parked on a side street and you pull him against you again when he takes you around to the passenger side. Slipping your hand in between you, you palm his cock through his jeans, Frankie grumbles, dropping his head on your shoulder and letting his mouth kiss your neck.

“I need to get you home, hermosa,” he murmurs, his face buried in your hair. “I wanna get you out of this dress so badly.”

 Letting your fingers trace the outlines through the fabric, you circle around the tip pressed against the zipper and Frankie’s breath hitches, his teeth sinking into your neck, sucking against the skin. Behind your back he opens the door to the truck and manoeuvres you so that he’s got his arms at your waist. With casual strength that takes your breath away he lifts you up, setting you down on the bench seat, and for a second you think he’s going to climb up after you. Instead he stops, one foot up on the step, his gaze dropping to where your knees fall open, he’s got a perfect view and his eyes go dark. His hand grabs your thighs, pushing you further into the truck and pushing them wider, the tip of his tongue comes out and licks his bottom lip, before he tears himself away, looking up at you again and inhales deeply as he steps down and closes the door. 

You can’t help but giggle at the effect you had on him and he notices your smile when he pulls himself into the driver’s seat. 

“What are you giggling about, cariño?” he says, buckling in and starting up the truck. His hard cock is straining against his jeans, and you scoot closer to him, cupping your hand around it. 

“Nothing,” you say, “nothing at all, sweetie,” but you smile when you see his jaw clench as soon as your palm presses against his cock and his voice is strained when he replies.

“If you keep doing that I’m gonna have to park the truck somewhere dark before we get back to my place.” 

“Would you like that, Frankie?” you ask in a low voice, leaning in so that your breath tickles his neck and you see goosebumps break out on his skin.

“If you’re asking if I wanna fuck you in my truck, then, fuck yes. But let's save that for a date where I can do it properly, and not in the corner of some Costco parking lot.” His voice is a dark rumble as he looks over at you, pausing the truck at a stop sign. His unruly curls are creating a halo lit by the street light behind him and it reminds you of the first time you were in his truck. Him driving to the airfield with you and you’re struck by how much has happened since that first day with Frankie. 

“Remember when we were first in your truck together?” you ask, mirroring the gesture you did then, lifting your hand to push it through the soft curls on his head. 

“I do, vividly,” he smiles, leaning into your hand, “I told you to do that again when we weren’t in any vehicles I would crash.” 

“You also said you wanted to kiss me.” 

“I did, and I wanted to kiss you right then, but it took like three more tries before I got my chance.” Frankie chuckles as he puts the truck in drive again. He lifts his arm so that he can put it around your shoulders, pulling you in, and you take your hand from his cock, not wishing to cause any accidents, resting it on his thigh instead. 

“Put your hand back there as soon as we’re inside the apartment, please,” Frankie says, pressing a kiss to the top of your head, making you giggle and squeeze his thigh. Your sexual energy is still thrumming in your nerves but they simmer lower as you lean against Frankie, feeling a different kind of energy in your system. 

This man makes you feel safe, comfortable and wanted. You drop your head against his shoulder, relishing in the way his sheer presence wraps you up in a cocoon of happy content, as if his solid, calm energy makes your body relax and sink into him. Frankie’s own self doubts and nerves never seemed to seep out of him, he pulled them into himself, you could see in his eyes when he was pulled under by his negative thoughts, but the energy he gave to you was always solid, like a rock holding you steady. 

“You’re my rock, Frankie,” you say, as you wrap your arm across his waist, hugging him tightly. 

“Your rock, cariño?” he smiles, dropping his eyes from the road for a second to look at you. 

“You’re solid like a rock, making me feel calm when I’m with you, like you can handle whatever happens and keep me safe.” 

“I don’t know how much of a rock I am, I’ve struggled with keeping myself steady for most of my life,” he says, his voice a little doleful. 

“I know, but somehow you still manage to make me feel like you’re the most stable person in the world.” 

“You mean boring,” Frankie snorts, “should I be insulted?” 

You slap him playfully and shake your head, “Anything but boring, Frankie, just…you make me feel calm, and relaxed, when I’m with you. And happy. Very, very happy.” 

You feel him tighten his arm around your shoulders, “Mi amor,” he mumbles, his lips pressed to your hair as he keeps one eye on the road, “you make me very, very happy too.”

…

The mood changes as you get to Frankie’s apartment, riding up the elevator he nods up at the security camera in the corner and you resort to snuggling into him, keeping everything PG. But the second he’s got you over the threshold he cages you in between his arms against the door, his long body pressed up against yours, and you wrap your arms around his neck as his mouth finds yours. 

“Longest fucking dinner of my life,” he murmurs against you, his hips are flush against your belly and the hard line of his cock twitches between you. “Would’ve pulled you out of there and actually fucked you in my truck if I hadn’t waited three weeks for that reservation.” 

“You’re such a romantic, Frankie,” you smile, grabbing hold of his curls and pulling him back a little so that you can see his dark eyes, his eyelids half closed and a greedy look on his face. 

“Put your hand back on my dick, please, hermosa,” he husks, rolling his hips so that you can feel his cock more firmly. Keeping a hold on his hair so that you can look at him you snake your other hand between you and cup it over the hard bulge in his jeans, stroking it firmly with your eyes locked on his. His lips curl up almost as if he’s in pain and a dark groan slips out between his parted lips as he keeps his eyes on you, his pupils are wide and half hidden under his eyelids. You repeat the motion, adding your nails, rasping them over the bulge and Frankie’s head falls back. 

“Fuuuuck….” he moans, louder this time, “fucking feels so good but I’m about to break the zipper, cariño,” he pants. 

You tug at his hair, “Eyes on me, Francisco.” The use of his full name snaps him back as you palm him again, using your nails, and the look in his eyes sparks something inside you. Leaning in, close to his ear, you nip lightly at his earlobe, pulling a soft gasp from him. 

“Frankie,” you whisper, “do you like it when I tell you what to do?” The groan from deep in his chest is answer enough, and when you lean back, looking at him again, his jaw is clenched and he’s got a strained look on his face. 

“Tell me what to do, hermosa,” he grates out, his hips still against your palm cupped over his aching cock. His eyebrows are tightly knitted, his dark eyes fixed on your as he swallows hard, but he doesn’t move. 

You smile, the thought of having Frankie obeying your orders turns you on more than you thought it would. He’s always in control when you have sex, apart from the last few minutes when he loses himself, pumping into you as he chases his orgasm, he’s always in control. He always makes sure you come once or twice before he thinks about himself, he’s always thinking about how to give you as much pleasure as possible and seems to get as much out of it as you do. But he’s always called the shots, until now. 

“Frankie…” you purr, pulling your hand up from his dick to stroke your fingertips over his patchy beard, “this is new, I can call the shots tonight?” 

“Yes, baby, tell me what you want me to do,” his face is less strained now that your hand isn’t caressing his aching cock but his tone is still a dark groan

“Take me to your bedroom, Frankie,” you say, testing the waters, although this is hardly a difficult one. 

With a swift motion he bends and puts his arm behind your knees, the other at your back, picking you up as your arms wrap around his neck for purchase and he walks through the dimly lit apartment.  

“With the risk of sounding like a cavewoman,” you giggle, “your strength always turns me on, I forget how strong you are until you pick me up like I weigh nothing.”

“Maybe I should pick you up more often,” Frankie grins, pushing open the door to his bedroom. “Tell me, what do you want me to do with you now?” 

“Put me down,” you say and he gently sets you down on your feet and you sit down on the edge of the bed, giving him a mischievous smile. 

“Take your clothes off for me, Frankie.” 

He grins and starts rolling down the sleeves of his white shirt before unbuttoning it, revealing more tanned skin as he moves down. 

“The thing is,” you say, your eyes shamelessly watching him slide the shirt off his wide shoulders, “you’re always in control when we have sex. Making sure I come first, making me come several times before you even let me touch you.” Frankie gives you a proud smirk while his hands undo his belt and slides it out, dropping it on the floor next to the shirt. “And tonight, I wanna do the same to you.” You watch as his hands still, his zipper halfway down. 

“Don’t stop, Francisco,” you tell him. “You take your pants off at the last moment, when you’ve already got me spread out on the bed, coming down from you eating my pussy. I wanna watch you properly this time.” At the mention of him eating you out he narrows his eyes and you see the pink tip of his tongue peek out between his lips, his eyes dropping to the hem of your dress. 

“Maybe later, Frankie, if you’re a good boy,” you smile and his eyes find yours, the greedy look in them almost makes you want to drop your game and let him take control again. But instead you watch him push his jeans down over his narrow hips, catching his socks at the same time as he steps out of them. He stands up, hooking his thumbs into the waistband of his snug black boxers, looking at you with his head tilted to the side and a crooked grin. 

“Want me to keep going?” he asks, his eyes crinkling at the corners. 

You bite your lip, it’s hard to keep a straight face when he’s looking so good standing in front of you and he knows you’re cracking. “I didn’t tell you to stop, Francisco,” you manage to press out. 

The boxers are stretched over his rigid cock, doing nothing to hide the sheer size of him or how aroused he is. When you first had sex with him he was a bit self conscious, both about his body and the size of dick. Any qualms about this size you’d dispelled the first time, he knew you loved how he filled you up and you let him know it, loudly. His hang ups about his flat butt and soft belly were harder to dispel, but now he’s standing in front of you without any nerves, confidence oozing from him as he drags his boxers down his hips. He keeps his eyes on you as they slide over his cock, making it jump out as the elastic pulls over the tip. You’re flitting your eyes between his boxers and his face, your tongue peaking out without you noticing, licking your lips as he drops the boxers and strokes himself a few times with languid passes. 

“Lie down on the bed, Frankie,” you order him, standing up so that he can stretch out and lie back. He puts his hands out for you, trying to pull you down on top of him but you smile and slip away from his hands. 

“Patience, Frankie boy,” you purr and swat his hand away from your leg as he grins. 

You’ve still got your dress on and you see his cocky smile fade away as you give him the same view you just got. You’re wearing the black wrap around dress he loves and as his dark eyes watches, you untie it at the waist and let it fall open, pulling the ribbon out of the dress. 

“Hermosa,” Frankie moans, “you’re so beautiful, come here, let me touch you, please.” 

Shrugging it off your shoulders you step back up on the bed and straddle Frankie’s thighs, his hard cock jutting up towards his stomach just in front of you. 

“Not yet, my sweet Frankie,” you coo, “I know you want to taste me, make me come with your face buried in my pussy, but not yet.” 

Frankie’s jaw clenches and you can see his hands grabbing hold of the covers as you sit down. He’s desperate to touch but determined to let you guide him this time. The black lace panties and bra you’re wearing aren’t helping, it’s his favourite set. You’d asked for his advice when you bought it a few weeks ago and his cock had twitched when he thought about seeing you in it, wrapped like a present for him. Now you’re hovering above his erection, wearing that set, leaning down over him as your hand closes around the base. 

“Cariño,” he grumbles with a shiver as your breath ghosts over the head of his cock, it’s already weeping, drops of precum collecting at the slit. “Please…” 

“Please what, Frankie?” you smile, leaning closer to the tip, sticking out your tongue, keeping your eyes on him. His eyes are black, his eyebrows furrowed as he looks at where the tip of your tongue traces the slit of his cock. When you make contact he moans, his hips bucking up involuntarily. 

“Please, hermosa,” he pants, and you lick your tongue over the head, collecting the salty liquid as he groans and bucks his hips again. Your mouth sinks over him and he’s fisting the covers, fighting the urge to grab on to your head, instead he watches as his aching cock disappears between your lips. He can feel the head gliding along the inside of your mouth as you take him deeper, your tongue licking along the length, teasing along the swollen ridges and veins that thrum with heat. Saliva drips from your mouth, down over his cock and you use it to slide your hand up and down him, easing the friction over the part that’s not in your mouth. 

Heat is building fast in his belly, your mouth is a hot vise around his cock, taking more and more down your throat as he gasps and groans, screwing up his eyes when he can’t watch, when he gets too close to coming. He’s rambling as he shivers underneath you, praising your mouth, your tongue, your hands. When your nose brushes against the wiry curls at the base of his cock, the head bumping the back of your throat, he cries out, begging you for release. 

“Please, you’re so good to me, let me…oh fuck you feel good,” he stutters, his voice catching as you close your mouth around him, dragging your lips along his length as you increase the pressure.

“Fuck…your mouth…hermosa, your mouth, make me come, let me come in you.” He opens his eyes again, looking down at you as you sink your mouth down over him again, you can taste his precum on your tongue, more of it leaking out. 

His hips are jerking up, he’s breathing fast as he whimpers and you lift your eyes to him, meeting his gaze. Seeing him like this, his mouth hanging open as he whines, looking wrecked, he screws his face up as if he’s in pain, makes you shudder, your panties are soaked, every one of his moans and whines going straight to your core. 

You sink down deeper over him, your tongue licking every inch of him as you take as much as you can, letting his cock brush against the back of your throat again as you move your mouth up and down his length, stroking the slick base with your hand coated in his precum and your saliva. 

Frankie lets out a broken growl, “fuck, cariño, ple…please…I’m gon - “ his stuttering turns into shout as you feel the first burst of thick liquid coat your tongue, he’s jerking his hips, his hands fly from the sheets and tangle in your hair as he pumps himself upwards, your mouth closing tight around his pulsating cock, milking his spend as it shoots out of him. Frankie’s whole body tenses up, his back arching off the bed, the corded tendons on his neck stretch and tremble when he throws his head back, a cry as if he’s in pain tearing itself from his throat. 

You continue to stroke him through his climax, looking up at him, seeing his throat strain as he pants, groaning through his high. His thrusts grow slower and you let your mouth drag along him, softening your lips as you let him pump the last of himself over your tongue, ending with a small kiss on the tip of his sensitive head. He relaxes and looks down at you again, seeing your mouth come off him and you wipe the back of your hand over your mouth. 

“Help, I can’t move,” he groans softly and you smile at him as you crawl up his body and lie down in his arms. 

“I liked that,” you say, wrapping an arm over his chest as he pulls you in close. “I see why you like eating my pussy first, it’s a rush to have that power.” 

“Don’t get used to it, cariño,” Frankie smiles, “I’m not giving it up so easily.” 

“I’ll get Benny to teach me how to bark orders like in the military, you seem to like me bossing you around.” 

“Only because I let you,” he pokes his finger into your side, “I wanted to see if you had it in you.” 

“Bullshit!” you splutter and almost sit up, but Frankie’s arm tightens around you and pulls you back down. “The second I used your full name you caved.” 

“I hated hearing my full name in the army, it meant I was in trouble. But when you say it, cariño lindo…I melt.” 

“I know, Francisco Morales,” your giggle turns into a squeal when he suddenly grabs your arms and flips you over. 

“Ahora, mi hermosa,” he murmurs as he sinks his mouth to your neck, “now it’s your turn.”

Chapter 8

[angelsworks]

Hi, hopefully you are doing well. Can I please request a headcanon of yandere Mikaelsons brothers (separate) with an understanding and sweet obsession? Where despite the reader knows who they actually are, they accept them for who they are and loves/loyal to them no matter what? Thanks a lot

Sweet Obsession Yandere! Mikaelson brothers (seperate) x Willing! Darling

TVD Masterlist -> Here

Type: Headcannon

Summary: What it’s like for each of the Mikaelson brothers to have a willing darling.

Warnings: 18+, mature themes, yandere themes, kidnap, coercive behaviours, stalking, etc

For a darling to be willing I think they’d either need to be blindly naive, have a low self esteem or just not care, or find it incredibly charming.

The blindly naive darling would see everything their yandere did for them as loving, kind and normal. They wouldn’t care that childhood friends don’t call anymore or any guy you talk to disappears.

Or they’d have low self esteem. They’d be surprised that anyone would take an interest in them. Especially when there were girls like Elena Gilbert and Bonnie Bennet in mystic falls.

The just not care darling would do exactly that, just not care. They’d be extremely nonchalant with everything their yandere did. Isolate you? Good you like being alone. Move you to their house? Great, rent was getting expensive.

The final darling would have to be a little crazy themselves. They’d twist everything their yandere did into something romantic. They’d see their lover as their Romeo or their Clyde. Ready to do anything to protect their love.

Klaus Mikaelson

Out of everyone in Mystic Falls, Klaus takes an interest in you.

It surprised you. You weren’t exactly the most stand out person in the town, nor the most pretty by your standards.

He approaches you with his charm dialled up to a million. He flashes you his smile and you feel yourself swooning.

It’s not long before you go on a date with him. It of course being one of the most romantic nights of your life.

Yet you can’t get over your insecurity. This won’t last. He won’t stay.

Once he finds everything out about you he’ll get bored and leave. His Interest will dwindle and you don’t think your heart can handle it.

So one night you invite him over. Tell him of your concerns and propose that you try to tell him everything he wants to know.

That way he can decide sooner if he wants to leave.

The logic makes sense in your own head, yet seems completely ludicrous to Klaus.

How could he not be enamoured with you.

But he plays along. Spending the night asking you as many questions as his heart desires.

He’s not used to someone being so open and honest with him. You’re putting everything on the table and he can’t help but admire you for it.

Your attempt to scare him off only draws him in.

He makes this clear to you with gifts and gestures.

He gives you a intricate promise ring, so you can see that he plans to stick around for a long time.

When he says forever, he means forever.

Slowly but surely any doubts you have about yourself and Klaus’ intentions are washed away.

It gets a to a point where nothing he can do scares you off. Killing, intimidating, hunting. Regardless of who it is, you don’t care.

You’re more than happy to talk him through any of his plans. You become his confidant, his safe haven, his other half.

Regardless of any objections you have, he makes you move in with him. Giving you your own room in his mansion but demanding requesting you sleep with him.

And you do, every night.

You lay still as he buries his nose into your neck and sometimes even his teeth.

Marking you as his for all to see.

Elijah Mikaelson

An uncaring darling wouldn’t really understand or care that what Elijah was doing was wrong.

He’d watch you for a while going about your normal routine. Completely oblivious to the original vampire stalking you.

Maybe you do see him one day, you smile and wave politely. Which makes his heart beat and head swoon.

When he approaches you he can’t control himself. He takes you immediately. To a place isolated from anyone willing to help you. His family home.

While you sleep he plans for any negative reaction you could give him. What he’d do if you rejected him, screamed, tried to fight him.

Imagine his surprise when you wake as if it’s completely normal. You walk from the room and make yourself comfortable on the sofa. Turning on the TV and quickly finding your favourite channel.

Elijah tries to explain the situation, but you show little interest. Little emotion to being kidnapped.

You hum and nod at him as he tells you he’s claimed you as his, he’s a vampire, you are to live with him now.

He even makes up some more outrageous claims to get a rise out of you. Like his plans to drink your blood, claim your body, fill your womb.

Still you don’t react, too engrossed in your show.

Finally you turn to him and ask if he has any snacks

Bewildered he complies and fetches your desired food from the kitchen.

The rest of your relationship carries on the same.

He does what he wished, you stay pliant. Why fight him, when he’s given you nothing to complain about?

Sure you have limited freedom. But the man had private jets at his disposal. One call and you could be jetting off to Paris, Milan, New York. Anywhere you want to go, Elijah has it covered.

Similarly, anything you desire, the man is waiting with his credit card. Money is no issue for him and he’s happy to spend it all on you.

Over time you do grow fond of the vampire. Enjoying his attention that is forever on you. How deep his obsession goes.

You find little to grumble about and plenty to enjoy.

Elijah is more than pleased with your response to him. Enjoying how easy it is to do things with you.

Having you willing is such a pleasure.

Kol Mikaelson

A darling just as crazy as Kol would work.

Any crazy thing Kol would do to prove his love, you’d triple.

It became sort of like a competiton between the two of you. How crazy could you get?

Arguments over nothing would lead to glasses thrown and rough fucking on the nearest surface.

Despite his yandere tendencies, you love each other like they aren’t even there.

Maybe that’s what draws him to you.

Your complete lack of sanity.

It’s perfect actually.

With you he feels truly accepted.

At first you didn’t even realise he was flirting with you. The two of you exchanged snide remarks and quips.

Only much later in your relationship did you start to exchange more loving words.

To be honest with all the insults you were sure Kol hated you.

He was always where you didn’t want him.

At your job, at your school, at your house.

His incessant attention lead to an argument between the two of you, then quite a dramatic kiss.

From then on Kol became a lot more bearable.

To the point you were able to feed into his more murderous tendencies.

Finn Mikaelson

You loved Finn, yandere traits and all.

You loved the fact that he cared about you more than anything else (well next to his family of course)

You loved the fact that you could share all your interests with him. He’d sit, listening intently, hanging off your every word.

For him he loved the fact you would explain the world he’d missed to him. Showing him culture of the last 900 years.

Together you learned about history. Exploring the world together.

From the moment Finn found you he knew he had to have you.

His own little encyclopaedia.

Together you watch all your favourite shows and films. Explaining all the behind the scenes facts you know about them.

Eventually you do probably realise how possessive Finn can be.

But you fail to care when he loves you so.

Treating you as the sun that warms the earth.

Something unrivalled by any lover that’s come before him.

Previous lovers and even friends have critiqued your ability to ramble. Often becoming disinterested in your topics of interest.

So to have this original vampire who has been alive (albeit the majority of time in a box) for 1000 years, to pay attention to you, to listen to you, to love you.

That makes any negative of loving Finn Mikaelson completely worth it.

[hellhoundmaggie]

Happy Birthday (Rex x F!Reader, Echo & F!Reader, Cody & F!Reader)

For @diviluscorner, as part of @cloneficgiftexchange ‘s Song Fic Exchange

Your boyfriend Rex, along with his brothers Cody and Echo, have been hiding out at your farmhouse for a few months now. They want to return the favor by giving you the perfect birthday.

Lyrics prompts:

● "We were chasing after hopes and dreams, and we're still under the stars" || "And it was written, 'cause the stars said I was yours and you would be mine all along" (Paradise, NSync [Justin Timberlake])

● "And who knows what it'll cost me, or how long it'll last?" // "Cause what I learned from waiting is waiting never lasts" (Homeward, Benjamin William Hastings)

Tags: fire, fluff, SFW

Word count: 1,937

I hope today is your birthday, @diviluscorner. If not, I understand if you read the fic early. I hope you find these boys as sweet as you need them to be!

Rex watched you leave from your farmhouse window. He waited until you crested the hill, dipping out of sight, to turn back to Cody and Echo. This was one of the most important missions of his life, and he couldn’t let you on to his plan. Even though you’d let them use your farm as a de facto base for the Clone Underground these past few months, sheltered a dozen of their defector brothers, kept all their secrets from the Empire. Even though you’d opened your heart to him. In fact, that was exactly why you had to be kept in the dark, why he could only trust two of his most loyal men to pull this off.

Echo and Cody stood up from the kitchen table, still covered with the remnants of the breakfast the four of you had just shared. Rex frowned. He understood full well why his brothers clung to the military discipline they’d had drilled into them their entire lives. Structure was a comfort in a chaotic galaxy. But if the clones were going to live among civilians, they’d have to start adopting some civilian habits. That was part of the purpose behind this mission, after all. Still, it couldn’t hurt to go along with them a little.

“At ease, men. Sit down and let’s start this briefing.” Cody and Echo obeyed, but still eyed their captain expectantly. The mission was as important to them as it was to Rex. He cleared his throat.

“Men, our mission is simple. Using all resources at our disposal, we throw my cyare the best surprise birthday party she’s ever had.”

This was about more than throwing a party. None of the clones had ever celebrated a birthday – they weren’t born so much as decanted. Even the Jedi generals, who’d encouraged the clones’ individuality, didn’t mark their own births with any kind ceremony. Birthdays were a civilian tradition. If clones could throw a successful birthday party, that would prove they could adapt to civilian life.

More importantly, it would show you that Rex could be part of your life. Though you hadn’t been dating long, it was increasingly difficult for him to imagine his own life without you in it. He recalled that first night you shared a bed, your breath gentle and deep as you slept, your face stripped of all guardedness. He knew that, no matter what, he had to protect you. And he knew how hard things had been for you this year, between helping the Clone Underground and keeping up with your own farm chores. Rex and the others helped you when they could, but they had to be away on missions so often and couldn’t always be there. So when you offhandedly mentioned your birthday was in a couple of weeks, Rex remembered and began formulating his plan.

Rex began the briefing by explaining the basic components of a surprise birthday party: the presents, the decorations, the cake, the traditional ambush.

“I thought civvies didn’t like being ambushed.” Echo said. “I mean, no more than a soldier would. Are you sure she’ll like that?”

“We’re not going to attack her, Echo.” Rex waved his arm dismissively. “We’re simply going to jump out and yell ‘Surprise!’ Then we’ll bring out the cake and sing the birthday song – which I expect each of you to have memorized in advance. She’ll blow out the candles –”

“Captain, is the fire really necessary?”

“It’s festive, Echo.” Rex said, pinching the bridge of his nose. Maybe this would be harder than he’d anticipated.

“If you say so, sir.” Echo settled back in his chair. “But this whole birthday business seems dangerous to me.”

“But we trust your judgement, Captain.” Cody gave Echo a pointed look before turning back to Rex. “She’s your girl, you know her best. If you think she’ll enjoy this, we’ll do what we can to help you.”

“Thank you, Cody.” Even if they couldn’t always cut the chatter, Echo and Cody were reliable. Rex trusted them with his life. Perhaps they could pull this off after all. “You’re in charge of the decorations, then.”

Cody frowned, uncertain, but nodded. “I’ll make sure it’s festive, sir.”

“Then I’ll make the cake,” Echo said. “I’m still learning my way around the kitchen, but I’ll do my best. What about you, sir?”

“I’ve got a special gift for her in the works. One of our contacts owes me a favour, and I’m cashing it in.” Rex cut his brothers a smile. “That doesn’t mean you’re off the hook, though. I expect your gifts to be nothing less than outstanding. Understand?”

“Yes, sir!”

“Dismissed.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~```

A week later, on the day of the party, Rex returned from town with a smile on his face. He had felt a pang of guilt that morning – when you’d left to check on the fences, so preoccupied you didn’t even respond to his goodbye, he’d almost let the tooka out of the bag. it was awful keeping secrets from you, even when it was temporary and for your sake. But at least that meant the surprise would stay a surprise. Cody and Echo had already secured their gifts and already started on the preparations when Rex left for town. And the contact had surrendered Rex’s gift to you with a minimum of haggling. Rex patted his breast pocket, where the precious cargo rested close to his heart. Yes, this would all go off without a hitch.

Rex entered the house to find Cody putting up the last of his decorations in the living room. Dozens of candles twinkled throughout the room, illuminating homemade banners, festooned with your name, hanging across the ceiling. “Just like you said, Captain.” Cody spread his arms wide, showing off his handiwork. “Festive.”

“Nicely done, soldier. How’s Echo doing with the cake?”

“Should be taking it out of the oven any minute!” Echo leaned into the room. “And the frosting came out perfect, if I do say so myself.” He waved his artificial arm for emphasis – he’d swapped out his scomp attachment for a spatula, which was covered with the gooey foodstuff.

“Excellent, excellent. And she should be home soon. Everyone keep an ear out so we can hide –“

A horrific stench wafted from the kitchen, and Rex’s stomach clenched. Even as he crossed the house to open the oven door, he quailed at what he knew was inside. Smoke billowed out of the oven, revealing the cake, black and scarred as the surface of Mustafar.

“Echo, what happened?”

“I don’t know, captain. I used all the right ingredients! The only change I made was –”

“What.” Rex rounded on Echo.

“Well, the recipe said to bake the cake at one hundred and seventy-five degrees for half an hour. But I was running short on time, so I figured three hundred and fifty degrees for fifteen minutes should do it –"

“Echo, that is not how temperature works –”

A scream from the living room interrupted Rex. He and Echo rushed in to discover flames licking at the caf table, spilling onto the rug.

“The banner fell on the candles! Oh kriff, oh kriff –”

Echo shook his head. “I knew this birthday business was dangerous.”

“Help me put this damn fire out!” Rex grabbed a nearby blanket and started beating at the table, but it took Cody and the kitchen fire extinguisher to put out the flames.

“Well, at least the burnt part isn’t that bad, is it?” Echo gestured at the charred caf table. “Adds character.”

Cody’s face twisted with despair. “Echo, it is that bad.”

“Okay, okay.” Rex ran his fingers through his hair. “We can still pull this off.” They had to pull this off. This had to be good for you. “Cody, you find something to cover up this table. Echo, you fix that cake somehow. We should still have half an hour before she gets back –”

“I’m home early!”

Rex’s throat went tight as you walked into the living room. Your eyes wide, you looked to the men, to him, for some explanation.

Echo plastered a rictus grin on his face, waggled his good arm. “Surprise?”

“Give up, Echo. There’s no salvaging this.” Cody turned to you. “Vod, this is my fault. I should’ve realised fire and flimsi don’t mix.”

“And I ruined your cake. I’m sorry, I –”

“No.” Rex stepped forward. “Echo and Cody aren’t to blame. This was my idea. My responsibility.” His failure. He was a fool to think he could understand your world. To try and make what you felt for him last. You were just too different.

You took Rex’s hand. “You guys did all this for me?”

“Of course, cyare. We know birthdays are important to civvies, so we wanted you to have a nice one.”

“Thank you.” You sank into Rex’s arms. “I can’t remember the last time anyone even tried to do something so nice for me.”

Rex didn’t know what to say. All he could think to do was caress your cheek. How could you be so wonderful? How did he get so lucky?

“So you’re forgiving us? Just like that?”

“Oh no, Cody. You all kriffed up my house, and you have to fix it.” You pulled away from Rex and pointed across the room. “Cleaning products are in there. Water’s in the pump out back. And you’d better make me a proper dinner, Echo. It’s been a long day, and I’m starving.”

Rex laughed. “My general. If you’d been in the war, we would’ve had the Separatists on the run years earlier.”

You grinned. “Don’t you know it.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~```

Dinner was served on the back porch instead of in the house. Cody and Rex managed to throw away the ruined banner and cake and scrub off the burn marks, and Rex had opened up all the windows, but it would still be a few hours before the smell was gone. Luckily for all of you, Echo was a far better cook than he was a baker. He prepared your favorite dishes, and stuck a candle – “Just one!” Cody insisted – in the main course for you to blow out. At the end of the meal, the boys bought all the dirty dishes inside and came out with packages, all wrapped in blue paper and tied with string.

“Aw, you guys! You didn’t have to get me anything, you know.”

“Have to, nothing.” Rex patted your hand. “You deserve it, mesh’la.”

You opened Echo’s gift first: a scarf, which made you smile as you rubbed it against your skin. “It’s made of real gualama wool, from Naboo. And I noticed you wear that colour a lot.”

Cody’s gift was a decorative wooden box, filled of sachets of exotic-smelling herbs. “I wasn’t sure what kind of tea you’d like, so I got you a selection.”

Rex tried to keep his breathing deep and even as he handed you his gift. Even now, he couldn’t be sure how’d you’d react. But when your eyes flew open at the sight of the ring gleaming inside, he relaxed.

“It’s beskar. Mandalorian iron. Usually the smiths use it for weapons and armour – useful things, if you’re a warrior.” Rex took your hand in his again. “I can’t ask you to live that kind of life, cyare. That life was forced on me, and I’d never choose it for you. But a ring means eternal devotion in your culture, doesn’t it?” He pressed a kiss to your knuckles. “That’s what I’m offering. My protection. My devotion. My love.” He smiled up at you. “If you’ll have it.”

[anonymousewrites]

Adolescent Antichrist (Book 5) Chapter Eleven

Father Figure! Lucifer Morningstar x Teen! Reader

Demon! OC x Reader

Chapter Eleven: That was the Most Mature Advice You’ve Ever Given Me

Summary: Lucifer gets and, surprisingly, gives good relationship advice.

            “So you woke up with Chloe—congrats by the way—and now you can’t use your mojo?” said (Y/N), tilting their head.

            Poor Lucifer’s power had been “stolen” by Chloe after they finally, finally, worked things out and got into a proper relationship. Now, (Y/N) was very proud of Lucifer, but they also weren’t surprised that somehow things had already hit a roadblock since Celestials were apparently terrible about understanding when they were self-actualizing or whatever.

            Also, (Y/N) wanted to bang their head against a wall because everyone was getting into a successful relationship except for them since the world seemed determined to interfere with them and Em. Marcel and Leon? Easy. Noa and Olive? Took a bit to get going but happened. Chloe and Lucifer? So many problems but they were together.

            (Y/N) and Em? (Y/N) wasn’t sure, but maybe God was against them having a love life.

            Still, their own gay pining wasn’t going to stop them from helping out Lucifer where they could. They wanted their dad and Chloe to have a good relationship. They would be good for each other.

            “Yes. She can ask people what they desire, and I can’t,” sighed Lucifer. “It worked on me!”

            “I think that’s hilarious,” said (Y/N), grinning.

            “But…But what if I’ve become powerless?” said Lucifer. “Then I can’t help her, and I can’t protect you.”

            (Y/N)’s heart thumped at the kindness of their dad. “I’m not worried about that.” They smiled. “And if I’m honest, I think it’s just you deciding to be vulnerable around Chloe. You’re willing to share your true desires with her because you feel comfortable with her.”

            “…What about the other people she asked?” said Lucifer hesitantly.

            (Y/N) rolled their eyes. “It was one person, and one person might just be nervous or something,” they said. “I don’t think humans can steal Celestial power. This is just you getting nervous about being vulnerable.” They smiled. “Relax.”

            Lucifer took a deep breath. “Yes. Yes, you’re right.” He looked at (Y/N). “I’m sorry you always have to remind me of these things.”

            (Y/N) shrugged. “I don’t mind.” They shifted. “But, uh, I wouldn’t mind some advice.”

            “Advice?” asked Lucifer. “About what?”

            “Dating. Relationships,” said (Y/N).

            Lucifer froze. “…Has someone asked you out?”

            “Well, no, but I want to ask someone out,” said (Y/N). “And I don’t know how to do it.”

            “Are they even worthy of you?” said Lucifer instantly. “Do they treat you well? You’re Celestial, literally royalty, and I don’t want anyone who doesn’t treat you well going out with you!”

            (Y/N) rolled their eyes and turned bright red. “Dad! It’s not that serious!”

            “Your first relationship.” Lucifer began to pace. “I mean, I’m happy for you, but I can’t believe it! I’m not prepared at all. How are dads supposed to act about dating? Should I be against it? For it?”

            “How about you just support me and give me some helpful advice?” suggested (Y/N).

            “Who is it?” said Lucifer, eagerly turning towards them.

            “…Em,” said (Y/N).

            “Emeranne?” Lucifer blinked. The young demon was (Y/N)’s age, and they’d known each other for years now, but if he remembered correctly, they had started out not getting along. “When did—how—huh?”

            “I don’t know,” said (Y/N), shrugging. “It just kind of…happened. I became their friend, her best friend, and now I really like her. I want to ask them out.”

            “…Okay,” said Lucifer.

            He could approve of Em. He knew they would never hurt (Y/N). In fact, she was more loyal to (Y/N) than she was Lucifer, King of Hell. They would treat (Y/N) the way they deserved. Plus, they were also non-human, so she could understand that aspect of life, too.

            “You approve?” said (Y/N), surprised but pleased.

            “Emeranne is a good choice,” said Lucifer, nodding. He smiled. “And they will treat you how you deserved to be treated.”

            (Y/N) relaxed. They were glad Lucifer would support their relationship, if it ever happened. “Yeah. I know they will. And I want to treat them well.” They cleared their throat. “But, uh, I don’t know how to ask someone out.”

            “…I’m not great at it,” admitted Lucifer.

            “Yeah, but you and Chloe are dating,” pointed out (Y/N). “I just need a little help about how to not be…nervous about this.”

            Lucifer smiled and held (Y/N)’s shoulders. “(Y/N), you are a good person. You’re helpful and strong and kind. Anyone would be lucky to date you. Em knows who you are. You just need to be honest and trust in yourself.” He hugged them. “And if it doesn’t work out, there will be someone else.”

            (Y/N) let out a nervous laugh and hugged Lucifer back. “That was the most mature advice you’ve ever given me.”

            “Don’t talk to your father that way,” teased Lucifer.

            (Y/N) laughed, and Lucifer smiled at seeing their nerves abate.

            “And although you protect so many people, I’m here for you when you need it. Even if I am a mess,” said Lucifer softly.

            (Y/N) hugged him tightly. “I know, Dad. I know.” They could count on him. They were incredibly lucky and happy to have him. After so many years of being with biological parents that didn’t support who they were, (Y/N) had Lucifer. They had a good dad.

l

            “I got your text, Maze,” said Em, walking into the empty Lux. “What’s the matter…” She trailed off as she saw Maze holding a drink in her hand and wearing an old, demonic outfit. A demon blade rested on the counter. “Maze? What’s that doing out?”

            Maze huffed and downed her drink. “I wanted a fight.”

            Em raised their hands. “Yeah, I’m not interested.”

            Maze scoffed. “I know that. You don’t fight because (Y/N) would get mad at you.”

            “Well, they can kick my ass, so it’s a pretty good idea to listen to them,” said Em brightly.

            Maze rolled her eyes. “You’re soft.”

            “I’m not going to take that to heart because you don’t look like you’re doing well,” said Em, sitting down next to Maze. “What’s up?”

            “Amenadiel didn’t want to fight me, so now I’m more pissed than usual,” said Maze.

            Em gave Maze a look. “I know that you’re upset about something, and it has to be from before Amenadiel didn’t want to fight you. I mean, no one just tries to fight Celestials.”

            “He’s a good fight, and then he’s a good f—”

            “Don’t finish that sentence,” said Em, making a face. “You’re just avoiding the question.”

            Maze groaned and just poured herself another drink. “How do you do it?”

            “What?” said Em.

            “Act so…human,” said Maze. “Doing this ‘feelings’ thing.”

            “I’m not acting human,” said Em. “I’m just acting like myself.”

            Maze scoffed. “I don’t believe that. I mean, you act like you like being on Earth. We’re demons. We’re not made for that.”

            “I like being here, actually,” said Em.

            Maze froze. “You…You do?”

            “Yeah,” said Em. They looked at Maze. “Do you not?”

            “I don’t belong here,” said Maze. “I just don’t. I’m not like humans.”

            “Humans don’t actually care,” said Em.

            Scoffing, Maze glared at them. “Yes, they do. So then I just have to be alone.”

            “You have Linda. And Ella. And Chloe. And even Dan,” pointed out Em.

            “They don’t really like me,” said Maze.

            Em let out a loud laugh, and Maze looked at her in surprise.

            “Maze, you’re a personality,” said Em. “And I can assure you, if they didn’t actually like you, they wouldn’t hang out with you.”

            “…You really think so?” said Maze, dubious.

            “Yeah,” said Em. She smiled. “And I like you. So just…focus on that. Having fun with friends helps make Earth fun.” They chuckled. “If I had to guess, it’s probably the same for humans.”

            “I doubt you’re right, but I’m desperate, so I guess I’ll give it a try,” grumbled Maze.

            “Right,” said Em, rolling her eyes.

l

            “Hey, Em,” said (Y/N), walking into her room.

            “Oh, hey, Birdie,” said Em, taking off their headphones and letting them hang around her neck. “What’s up?”

            “I saved my dad and Chloe’s relationship,” said (Y/N), sitting down on Em’s bed.

            “Really?” laughed Em.

            “Yeah, just had to remind my dad that he self-actualizes again,” said (Y/N). They rolled their eyes fondly. “He’ll get it eventually.”

            “Especially if you keep drilling it into him,” teased Em. “You’re a tough one.”

            “Someone has to be,” said (Y/N), leaning back. “But anyways, what have you been up to?”

            “I talked to Maze,” said Em. “She just needed some advice on making friends on Earth.”

            “Celestials are bad at social cues and relationships, aren’t they?” said (Y/N), chuckling.

            “We’re not exactly ones to talk,” said Em wryly.

            “Maybe not, but at least I’m straightforward,” said (Y/N). “I handle myself and my situations.” They sat up and looked at Em. “Actually…that’s what I wanted to talk about.”

            Em froze, and nervousness raced through them. Was (Y/N) going to address the strangely intimate moments they’d been having? Fear clutched their heart. Were they going to tell Em they didn’t like it? Excitement pulsed through them. Or were they going to tell Em they liked them?

            Em swallowed and tried to compose herself. “Oh? What about?” They tried to seem nonchalant, but her voice cracked nervously.

            “Us,” said (Y/N), getting straight to the point. They squared their shoulders and looked at Em. “Listen, Em, I don’t know if I’ve been imagining it or if it’s just been the heat of the moment, but you and I…there’s been something going on. And I just want to be honest and say that I like it. I like you. A lot. Like, in the romantic sense.”

            Em stared at (Y/N) as their cheeks turned pink and her heartbeat raced. “You…you really like me?”

            (Y/N) nodded and smiled. “Yeah. I do. And I just want to be honest. You deserve to know how I feel.”

            Em reached out and took (Y/N)’s hand. “You deserve the same.” She grinned. “And Birdie, I really like you too.”

            (Y/N) felt a large smile spread across their face. “Would you want to go to prom with me, then? As a date?”

            “I would,” said Em, still grinning like an idiot. They moved closer and swallowed nervously. “Can I…Can I kiss you, Birdie?”

            Heat rushed to (Y/N)’s cheeks, but they giddily nodded. “Yeah. You can.”

            Em leaned in, and (Y/N) leaned in. Nervously, Em and (Y/N) kiss. They pulled back almost instantly afterwards, way too nervous since that was both of their first kisses.

            “Was that, uh, okay?” said Em.

            “Yeah,” said (Y/N), smiling shyly. “It was.”

            Em smiled back. “I’m glad.”

l

            (Y/N) felt light as a feather as they ran upstairs to tell Lucifer that they had confessed to Em and it had gone fantastically—they had a date to the prom they had a date with Em they had a date with Em holy shit!

            “Hey, Dad!” said (Y/N), rounding the corner. They slowed as they saw Chloe standing with Lucifer on the terrace. “Oh, uh, sorry to interrupt.”

            “Oh, no, it’s alright, (Y/N),” said Chloe, smiling. She understood as a coparent of Trixie that parents needed to prioritize their kids, so she wasn’t going to interrupt (Y/N) looking for Lucifer.

            “(Y/N), is everything alright?” asked Lucifer, instantly on the attack in case (Y/N) was in danger or needed help.

            “Oh, yeah,” said (Y/N) quickly. “I just wanted to let you that I took your advice, and it…it went well.” They smiled.

            Lucifer grinned. “I’m glad!” He hugged them. “I’m so proud of you.”

            “Something good happened?” said Chloe, smiling.

            “Uh, yeah, I managed to ask someone out,” said (Y/N), smiling nervously.

            Chloe smiled softly. “Emeranne, right?”

            (Y/N) froze. “Was it that obvious?”

            “Yes,” said Chloe, chuckling.

            “It wasn’t to me,” said Lucifer, blinking.

            “Well, you’re not the most observant,” said (Y/N), and Chloe laughed.

            “Oh, dear, I don’t like the two of you getting along,” said Lucifer, making a face.

            “Get used to it,” teased (Y/N). “If Chloe’s going to be around more, then we’re going to be teaming up more.”

            “That’s very unfair,” sighed Lucifer.

            “Someone has to help (Y/N) keep you in line,” laughed Chloe.

            The three chuckled and stood side-by-side, almost like a little family.

            Ding!

            The penthouse elevator doors opened, and they all turned to see Dan, looking very fragile, stepping out.

            “Dearie me,” said Lucifer, laughing. “Still suffering with a bout of the old trotskies, are we?” He took a friendly step towards Dan.

            Dan reached into his pocket and drew his gun. Chloe and (Y/N) froze, and (Y/N) tensed. The shadows around their feet swirled angrily.

            “I was only joking, Daniel,” said Lucifer, frowning.

            “Dad…” said (Y/N) worriedly. “Please step back.”

            “Dan? What are you doing?” said Chloe, staring in fear at the gun.

            Dan swallowed and tried not to look at her or (Y/N) as he focused on Lucifer.

            Bang!

            “No!”

Taglist:

@sammyscreencaps-13

@grippleback-galaxy-galaxy

@scarlettqueen190

@ziro-the-null-god

@sammy-13

@zeros-rot

@ceridwyn3

@technikerin23

@poetoflawed

@slytherinroyalty16

@ilse235

@theurbannoodle

@lookitseddie

@amberforest08

[daniellesimagines]

Where You Go (Eddie Munson)

word count: 13,130 requested by: absolutely no one pronouns: she/her warnings: lots of swears (sorry), major character death, mentioned character deaths, mentions of murder and dying in a fire, mentions of depression and weed, survivor’s guilt, wildly non-canonical timeline (im serious yall, there are a lot of creative liberties taken with that one), also yn is 18!!! (not tryna commit any crimes here @ fbi) fandom: stranger things au type: high school summary: you have a crush on eddie; the only problem is he’s only interested in your best friend. however, a tragic event brings you two together in more ways than you bargained for inspired by: dream, also heavily inspired by/using scenes from season 4 (i use tvshowtranscripts for exact lines and they don’t put who said it, so i’m sorry if some are wrong!!) authors notes: i’m trying a thing where i don’t split this up into parts, so i hope it’s not too long!!! also this is my first eddie fic so pls be nice to me :((( other parts: none

❀・・・❀・・・❀・・・❀・・・❀・・・❀・・・❀

Hawkins High School was nothing if not predictable. 

When movies and TV portrayed what it was like to be a teenager, you were sure they’d gotten their ideas straight from your school. Sports were everything, the popular cheerleaders dated the star athletes, the weird kids were outcast from the rest, and you were just...there.

You weren’t a particularly gifted student, nor were you fairly well-known, and you certainly weren’t athletic. To be honest, you only had one friend. You met your best friend in elementary school, her being on your bus route just one stop before yours.

Chrissy Cunningham was everything you weren’t, but she still kept you around. If it weren’t for the fact that you lived so close and were able to create such a strong bond at an early age, you honestly would have thought she just stayed because she felt sorry for you.

But that wasn’t who Chrissy was.

Chrissy was a fiercely loyal friend, and that only grew once you entered high school. She made the cheer squad freshman year – becoming popular pretty much right away – but she never let it come between her friendship with you. Upon entering your senior year, Chrissy became cheer captain and subsequently caught the attention of everyone in school.

And that included Eddie Munson.

Eddie had always been a character, often interrupting lunches with passionate speeches about the popular crowds and how they excluded anyone different than them. You knew he had a club that met after school, though you didn’t know much other than it was about Dungeons & Dragons. You always had a bit of a crush on him – sure, he could be obnoxious and he was on his third try of making it to graduation, but he was friendly and cute and had no problem talking back to people like Jason Carver.

You wish you could say you were surprised when Chrissy started offhandedly mentioning that she’d been hanging out with Eddie every once in a while. You would listen to her talk about something funny he did or said, plastering on the fake interest as she spoke.

Yeah, you were jealous.

But you knew you had no right to be.

Chrissy had no idea you had a crush, and you knew her relationship with Jason only continued to please her overbearing mother, so you wanted nothing more than for her to finally be happy for once.

But that didn’t mean it didn’t sting whenever she mentioned seeing him.

“Hey, I’ll be right back,” Chrissy told you after setting her lunch tray down at the spot across from you, “I have to go talk to Eddie about something.”

You barely nodded, but it didn’t matter since she didn’t even look at you before trotting toward the Hellfire table. You kept your gaze on your lunch tray as your best friend’s voice rang through your ears again.

“Eds!” she chirped, “Do you have a second?”

“Chris!” he smiled back, “What’s up?”

Oh, that’s cute. They have nicknames for each other.

You listened to their voices fade out as they walked to somewhere less crowded, Eddie insisting to get some privacy.

Way to go with the subtlety there, guys.

You knew you shouldn’t be this hurt over it – Chrissy was way more outgoing than you, so it was never shocking when someone gravitated to her over you – but you still were. Sure, she was your best friend and she made sure to include you in everything she was a part of, but you just...

You wanted someone to see you as your own person, not just ‘Chrissy’s best friend’.

~

Sunday afternoon

You’d spent that weekend the same as you always did: alone in your room keeping yourself busy with whatever you could until it came time for your weekly hangout with your best friend. You and Chrissy had hung out every Sunday practically since the day you met. Your mom always offered her own to stay and chat, but she never did; Her mother was more than happy to pawn her daughter on anyone willing to watch her. Your mom became more of a mother to Chrissy than her own – maybe that was why she stayed at your place as often as she was allowed.

You had just eaten lunch with your mom and Chrissy and played a few board games as well – you knew Chrissy appreciated the feeling of normalcy it gave her – before you ended up back in your bedroom. She was laying on your bed watching TV, propped up against the wall behind it, while you were sitting on the floor. Your most recent endeavor to keep yourself occupied, you decided, would be learning how to take in clothing too big and repurpose clothing that didn’t fit anymore into things you’d actually use. And lucky for you, Chrissy didn’t mind – you could gossip no matter what you were doing.

“You didn’t hang out with Jason today?” you mentioned after noticing her show had gone to a commercial, “I thought he said he was taking you to Lover’s Lake?”

“Of course not!” she insisted, “Sundays are for us! And you know how I feel about him.”

“I still don’t understand why you’re still with him,” you shook your head, “It’s like he’s gotten so much more oblivious to anything other than his popularity recently. Does he even notice when it’s one of the bad days again?”

“No,” she sighed, “But you know how my mom would be if she found out I broke up with him.”

“As if you don’t already get perfect grades, are the most popular girl at school, and all the teachers love you?” you rolled your eyes, “I hardly think not dating such an ass anymore would change all that.” You smiled slightly when she giggled.

“You know what? Enough about me!” she bounced in her seat, “What’s been going on with you? I feel like I never see you anymore!”

“Nothing new,” you shrugged, “Just trying to get at least one scholarship before graduation.”

“Oh, please! You could get those scholarships in your sleep!” You smiled slightly as she continued. “But that’s not what I meant! I mean, what’s been going on in your love life?”

“What love life?” you scoffed jokingly, “You know better than anyone that guys don’t even look at me.”

“That’s not true! What about Trevor? He told me he thought you were cute! You even went on a date with him!”

“Yeah, but we didn’t end up connecting as much as we thought we would,” you shrugged, “Decided we’re better as friends than a couple. I’m just glad he wasn’t a dick about it.”

“I knew he wouldn’t be,” she said, “That’s the only reason I set you up with him. There’s gotta be someone you’re into though?” Chrissy watched you pause, making her suck in a breath of excitement. “There is someone you’re into!” she squealed, “Why haven’t you told me?! I wanna know everything! Who is it?”

“Well... He’s in our grade,” you chose your wording carefully to not give it away, “He’s in a club and a band. We’ve been to his shows a couple of times. He’s really nice, but...”

“Is he not nice to you?” she narrowed her eyes at the idea this mystery crush of yours would be rude to you.

“It’s not that, it’s just... He likes someone else...” you whispered, “But I wasn’t surprised he likes someone else more; Everybody likes you more.”

“What do you mean?” she seemed genuinely confused, “Who likes me more?”

You didn’t respond, making Chrissy furrow her eyebrows. She took a moment to think about when you started acting a little differently when it came to boys, earning another gasp of realization.

“Are you talking about Eddie?” she asked, taking your small gulp as confirmation that she was right. “Y/N, you know I would never do that to you!” she assured you, “Oh my God, I would be the worst best friend ever if I went after someone you liked!” You looked up at her with confusion, making her smile. “You didn’t have to tell me for me to know,” she shook her head, “You’re my best friend; I know you better than I know myself.” Chrissy sighed softly, moving to the floor so she could take your hand in hers and squeeze it lightly. “I’ve been meeting Eddie so much because I’ve... I buy weed from him sometimes,” she finally confessed.

“You what?” your eyes widened, “Since when do you smoke weed?!”

“I’ve been... I see things sometimes... Hallucinations, I think,” she admitted, “And I know Eddie deals, so I thought it would help.”

“You’ve been seeing things?” you repeated, “Why didn’t you tell me?”

“I thought it was just the depression – that it was just something I would have to live with for the rest of my life... I didn’t want to drag you into all that.”

“Chrissy, you’re my best friend,” you repeated her earlier sentiment, giving her own hand a tight squeeze, “Your problems are my problems and mine are yours; We get through it together no matter what.” She gave you a small, tight-lipped smile. You knew she was still holding back, but you also knew that she’d come to you when she was ready.

But neither of you would ever get to have that conversation.

~

One week later; Wednesday

You felt like you weren’t actually in your body anymore. Everything felt foreign and fake and otherworldly. The school felt out of it and it felt like the students were just blips in the universe. People tried to talk to you – offer their condolences – but their voices were all muffled in your ears.

Chrissy was dead; Your best friend was gone.

You’d attended the funeral the previous day – and if you thought the amount of people at school looking at you in pity was bad, you would have prepared better for the service. You humored Jason when he offered his condolences, giving him your own as well – despite how pompous and two-faced you thought he was, he still lost his girlfriend and you weren’t going to be a bitch to him.

You made it through the funeral service and burial before going back home. Your mother tried her best to lift your spirits, but you knew she was having just as hard a time with everything as you were – Chrissy was like a second daughter to her, after all.

You heard about a meeting at the town hall that would take place the day after to discuss those killed recently. You thought it would be a gathering to remember everyone – Chrissy, Fred, Patrick – so you decided to go. Your mother had wanted to attend as well, but you insisted she rest instead. The events of the past week had taken a major toll on her and she looked like she hadn’t slept in days – and honestly, she probably hadn’t. You promised to tell her everything that happened, and she walked you to the front door as you put on your jacket, kissing your head before you left.

And, to be fair, the meeting did start out as remembering the deceased.

Until Jason showed up, that is.

After those who wished to speak offered up memories, the police chief started to speak. He was giving an update on the investigation, and you could feel your blood run cold when he mentioned that they did have a suspect and were looking for information leading to his whereabouts so they could talk to him. But before he could give a name, he was interrupted by Jason.

“With all due respect, Chief Powell, I think it’s obvious who’s responsible,” Jason stated, “That freak Eddie Munson and his Hellfire cult murdered a popular girl as a sacrifice to Satan! It’s about time we band together and rid this town of him for good!”

“Now, son,” the Chief shook his head with a firm tone in his voice, “We only want to talk to Mr. Munson as of right now; We can’t just go around accusing people of something as serious as murder.”

“Don’t you all get it?” he looked around the room, “These satanic cults that are spreading around the country say they’re playing ‘some silly roleplaying game’ when they’re really planning rituals for human sacrifice! That's what the mall fire was really about! That’s why so many people are dead! It’s because of Hellfire!”

“That’s bullshit!” you looked over to see Erica Sinclair practically seething with anger, “The Hellfire isn’t a cult! It’s a club for a bunch of nerds!”

“A club? A club! A harmless club – that’s what they want you to think! But it’s a lie to conceal the truth! And the truth is it’s a cult now protecting their leader! Hiding Eddie and allowing him to continue his sacrifices! We can stop him from killing any more! We must come together and cast the evil out of Hawkins that is Hellfire! We have to-”

“Shut up!” your voice broke as you stood up from your seat, making everyone stare at you in shock.

You were so sick of everyone pointing blame at Eddie – it didn’t matter that they didn’t have proof. You would have defended anyone under those circumstances, but them only choosing him because he’s an easy target made you even more upset.

“It’s bad enough you used Billy and Chief Hopper’s deaths at that pep rally to what, boost morale at a stupid basketball game?! They died in an accidental mall fire; They weren’t murdered in some sacrificial ritual!” you threw your arms up, “But now you wanna claim they were for what, getting justice?! None of you would have even given a shit if someone else died in any other way or if it were anyone but Chrissy, so why do you give a shit now?! You certainly wouldn’t have cared if it were some random student, and you would have celebrated if it were Eddie, so why the hell do you suddenly give a fuck?!”

“Am I hearing you defending that freak right now?” Jason narrowed his eyes at you, “Just because you were Chrissy’s best friend-”

“I am Chrissy’s best friend,” you snapped back, “So I think I know damn well she wouldn’t have wanted this witch hunt! Whether you like it or not, she was friends with Eddie, and she would be pissed at all of you for acting like a bunch of fucking assholes! She wouldn’t have even given him the time of day if she thought he was going to pull some satanic bullshit on her or whatever the fuck you’re bitching about!”

“You’re just as much of a freak as the rest of them,” he scoffed.

“And you’re just as much of the asshole Chrissy thought you were,” you growled, not giving him the chance to respond as you grabbed your jacket and left, letting the door slam behind you.

~

Eddie’s POV; The next day

“Eddie?!” Dustin called out as he and the gang approached Skull Rock.

“I am right here, Henderson,” he reminded him from his makeshift seat, “And I’m sure I will be here until the day I die.”

“You’re not gonna be in here that long,” Robin insisted, “We just have to come up with a plan is all.”

“Knowing all of you? I’ll be here until I die,” he rolled his eyes, earning the same gesture in return.

“Anyway,” Dustin spoke up again, “We brought you some food.” He handed him a bag and Eddie immediately took the contents out and started eating. “Oh!” he chirped, “You know how the town hall had a meeting to remember everyone last night?” Eddie simply nodded. “Well, Erica was there and said Jason came in and started laying it on thick about Hellfire and how we’re a cult and how we perform satanic sacrifices and that’s why everyone’s dying.”

“Is this supposed to make me feel better, Henderson?” Eddie rolled his eyes, “Am I supposed to be happy there’s a bounty on my head now?”

“No, man! Erica said someone stood up and told Jason to shut up and that he’s being an asshole for-”

“Language!” Steve reprimanded, earning a middle finger from the teen.

“Dude, she said it was so badass!” Dustin bounced around the dirt path, “The way Y/N didn’t back down when Jason tried to intimidate her for the way she was defending you was so sick! She just totally laid into Jason and his stupid friends and the people going along with it and she didn’t care what they thought!”

“Y/N?” Eddie felt his heart start racing, “She was defending me?”

“Yeah? Weren’t you listening?” he frowned, “Erica said she was a real badass! I wish we could have seen it!”

Dustin kept raving about Erica’s play-by-play of your performance, but Eddie wasn’t hearing it anymore.

Chrissy’s cute friend believed he was innocent?

~

Your POV; The next day

You weren’t at all shocked when you arrived at school the next day to glares and whispers behind your back. You knew Jason and his minions were going to make sure everyone knew what you’d done. When someone said something to you directly, you simply rolled your eyes and ignored them. Jason obviously would have spun the story to make you look even worse, so you didn’t want to waste your time trying to defend yourself with things you knew wouldn’t change their minds anyway.

On your way to lunch, you stopped by your locker to put away a textbook when you saw something poking out of the slot above the latch. You grabbed it and held it under your arm against your side as you opened your locker. You put the books away and reached back for the note. You wondered if maybe it was meant for someone else and they just had the wrong locker, but you knew by what was written in it that it was meant for you.

Meet at Hellfire after school

You stared at the sloppy handwriting for a moment before looking up and around the hall. No one was watching to make sure you received it, so you had absolutely no idea who had left you the note. You flipped the paper over – expecting to see contact info? – but instead found a messily-drawn map of where to find the club in the school’s basement.

~

Three hours later

The moment the final bell rang, you were hastily leaving the classroom and walking to your locker. You’d been internally arguing with yourself all day about whether or not you should listen to this mystery note – you had no idea who sent it or what they wanted or if it was just Jason and his friends trying to get you alone – before you finally defined to just go.

Whatever happened now couldn’t be worse than when you were told Chrissy died, could it?

You shoved all of your books into your locker, deciding to just get your backpack after you were done with whoever you were meeting. You slowly made your way to the stairwell to the basement, wanting to wait until the hallway had mostly cleared out.

Once it had, you went through the door and pulled the note out of your pocket. You followed the practically-illegible map as best as you could, occasionally looking up to make sure you were heading in what you assumed was the right direction.

You finally made it to a door with a piece of doodled-on notebook paper taped to it – drawings no doubt done by Eddie – with the words ‘HELLFIRE CLUB MEMBERS ONLY’ scrawled on it. You opened the door, making the chatter in the room cease as soon as the knob moved.

You came face-to-face with a small group of people – okay, one of them is definitely too old to be in school, right? – stepping back in surprise. It was silent for a moment – the tall man looking at the curly-haired boy incredulously – before someone spoke.

“Y/N!” the boy with curly hair exclaimed before looking at the group smugly, “I told you she’d come!”

“Uh... What’s going on...?” you asked.

The boy – Dustin – then finally introduced everyone to you. You recognized him from the Hellfire table, Max from a couple of your classes, you were pretty sure Robin was in the marching band, and you could have sworn Steve graduated the previous year. You had no idea what was going on – you were only expecting to see one person in here, not four.

“I stole Eddie’s key to the room,” Dustin explained as if he could hear what was going on inside your head, “We need to talk to you.”

“About...?” you trailed off, finally looking around the room.

You could see the Dungeons & Dragons game set up on a table in front of a prop throne with seven other chairs around it. There wasn’t much going on besides the mess of other props strewn about the storage room, but one thing did catch your eye.

Sitting on top of the table was a crumpled-up wanted poster with Eddie’s face on it, a bunch of satanic scribblings all over his face. Next to it, pictures of all the people who had been killed so far – Chrissy, Fred, Patrick, Billy, Chief Hopper, and a few others you didn’t recognize – and you knew what this was really about.

“You know what? I already had this argument with Jason; I’m not interested in another one,” you stated bluntly, turning to leave.

“Steve!” Dustin huffed, prompting him to groan loudly and rush over to you. Steve grabbed your arm and pulled you further into the room, despite how hard you were trying to free yourself.

“Hey!” you started yelling, hitting his forearms as he wrapped them around your waist to keep you there, “Let go of me!”

“Henderson!” he grunted as he struggled to keep you in place while you punched him, “You said she’d listen!”

“Y/N, come on! Just hear us out!” he begged, “We just wanna talk about Chri-”

“I don’t care!” your voice broke, trying – but failing – the keep the tears from falling down your cheeks, “I don’t want to talk about Chrissy! I don’t want to remember she’s gone! I don’t want to think about it anymore! I want to go ho-”

“Chrissy died because Eddie’s trailer is a portal to the Upside Down!” Dustin finally yelled.

Steve’s head snapped to glare at the teenager – he had been so reluctant to tell Eddie what was going on, but had no problem just springing it on you? – but he couldn’t ignore that it made you gradually start fighting back less. Your breathing stunted before picking right back up again, your back hitting his chest with every exhale.

“The what?” you whispered, slouching against the man behind you still holding your waist. Steve relaxed his body as well, slowly moving you to sit on the throne. He finally released his hold on you but remained seated behind you, giving you a weird sense of comfort.

The group started explaining the Mind Flayer and the Upside Down and the portals and Vecna and why those killed were targeted and how the Starcourt Mall fire hadn’t been some tragic accident and how their friend Eleven had powers and what had been going on the last three years, and you had no idea how to even respond.

You couldn’t believe all of this had been happening for three years and you had no idea about it. Sure, you’d heard about all the deaths in your tiny town, but you just assumed what the police were saying happened was true – you had no reason to believe otherwise.

Until it came to Chrissy’s death, of course.

You suspected something more was going on – that, despite being found in his trailer, everyone was just saying Eddie was responsible because it was easy. They already hated him for being different; This was just an actual reason now.

As if he could read your mind, Dustin finally brought you back to the real world.

“-and they all think Eddie did it, but he didn’t! It was all because of Vec-”

“I know,” you choked out, earning surprised looks from everyone.

“You know?” Max asked.

“Eddie could never ki-” you swallowed the word, still unable to talk about Chrissy without crying, “He wouldn’t do that...”

“Thank God,” Dustin breathed out sharply, “That makes convincing you to help a lot easier.”

“Help?” Steve finally spoke, “Henderson, she can’t- Stop dragging people into this!”

“But she’s the only one that can convince Eddie to stop hiding out at Skull Rock! And having one more person would just make it easier to defeat Vecna!”

“That’s not the point!” he insisted, “We’ve all been able to fight whatever monsters came up with just us before! Y/N doesn’t need to be brought into that now too! Eddie’s already been dragged into this by association, we don’t need-”

“I wanna help,” your soft plea cut Steve off, causing the group to look at you, “I wanna help Eddie.”

~

Eddie’s POV

Despite it being close to 5 PM, Eddie was finding it harder and harder not to fall asleep. He was starting to lose track of time being out in the woods for so long, but he was not about to return to a place where he was basically being hunted for sport.

Eddie began to doze off slightly again, only to be jolted awake by the sounds of twigs snapping and leaves crunching as footsteps got closer to his hideout. His body immediately tensed up, holding out the first weapon he could grab – a short, broken tree branch. He peeked around the rock before hopping out and yelling like a madman, only earning eye rolls in response.

“What are you gonna do with that, poke me to death?” Dustin asked, “Put it down; It’s just us.”

“Some warning would have been nice, Henderson,” Eddie dropped the stick, waving the walkie-talkie in his other hand to remind him of it.

“I left it at home,” he shrugged, making him roll his eyes as he sat down on a nearby boulder.

“We brought food again!” Robin chirped.

“It’s just what’s available from the vending machines outside Family Video,” Steve added, “But it’s something.” He tossed Eddie a bag of chips while Robin gave him a can of soda.

“Can we come up with a plan now?” Max interjected, “I’m getting tired of hiking up here.”

“I told you guys already,” Dustin insisted, “That’s why we brought Y/N!” Eddie’s gaze snapped to the teenager before he finally noticed someone new had joined the party.

You were trailing behind Nancy and Lucas, looking at your surroundings. When you finally stopped walking and your eyes met Eddie’s, he couldn’t help but feel sick. He knew you didn’t blame him or think he was guilty of Chrissy’s murder, but something about seeing her best friend made him want to find a new hiding spot – a spot the group would surely never think to look for him. You gulped and quickly looked away from him, nervously training your gaze on the nature around you.

The group started talking about how they were going to get into the Upside Down and get rid of Vecna once and for all. They were all coming up with ideas on how to kill him – how much easier it would be if they could just figure out how to get El her powers back – when Eddie looked over and spoke up.

“Hey, uh... Henderson’s not cursed, is he?” he asked, making everyone follow his gaze to find Dustin pacing around and staring off into the forest.

“Cursed? No, he’s fine,” Steve answered, “Mental? Absolutely.”

“BOOM!” Dustin’s sudden shout made everyone jump and snap to face him. He then pointed at Steve and smirked, “I was right. Skull Rock was north!” Eddie cocked an eyebrow when everyone else sighed and rolled their eyes, preparing themselves for the argument they’d been hearing for the past three days.

“Oh my Go- Are you serious?!” Steve threw his arms up, “This again?! This is Skull Rock! You’re totally, absolutely, 100% wrong!”

“Yes,” he smiled, “And no.”

“Oh my God,” Steve repeated, his hands on his face muffling his voice.

“This compass worked correctly when we left the school,” Dustin explained, “But it started to slip the further east we went. Now that we’re here, the thing is way off! Lucas, do you remember what can affect a compass?”

“An electromagnetic field!” he perked up, beginning to realize what his friend was saying.

“I’m sorry?” Robin cocked an eyebrow, “I must have skipped that class?”

“In the presence of a stronger electromagnetic field, the needle will deflect towards that power. So either there’s a super big magnet around here, or-”

“There’s a gate!” Lucas finished, making Dustin beam with joy.

“Now we know how to get to Vecna and release Max from his curse!” the teen exclaimed. Eddie noticed you look at the redhead with wide eyes – clearly no one had told you that one of them was currently dealing with what your best friend had been.

“But we’re nowhere near Hawkins Lab,” Nancy reminded him.

“All I know is this compass wouldn’t react if something wasn’t nearby,” Dustin said, “It’ll be small and not as powerful, but it’s still a way into the Upside Down. We just have to find it.” The teenager turned and began walking down the hill, but Steve stopped him.

“Where are you going? Hey, hey, hey!” he practically shouted, making Dustin come back to the group, “Eddie’s still a wanted man! We can’t just go for a hike in the woods like we’re on vacation in South America!”

“This little steel capsule-” He held up the compass. “-might be the key to saving both Max and Eddie,” he stated, “So what say you, Eddie the Banished?” Your eyebrow quirked at the nickname.

“I say you’re asking me to follow you into Mordor,” Eddie responded lowly, “Gotta be totally straight with you: that’s a really bad idea. But... The Shire is burning...” Dustin started jumping up and down excitedly, knowing he was going to agree. “So Mordor it is,” he finished, standing up from his makeshift seat.

You breathed out a laugh when you heard Steve mutter ‘What the hell is Mordor?’ to himself.

“Let’s split up!” the teen announced, “We’ll cover more ground that way and have less of a chance of getting caught before we find it. We’ll meet back here at sunset to see who found it. Lucas and Max, go toward the Creel house. Nancy and Robin can go west. Me and Steve will go south. And Y/N, you go with Eddie toward the train tracks!” Dustin put his hands on your back and pushed you toward him.

Your POV

Eddie grabbed your elbow when you yelped in surprise and lost your balance, glaring at the teen for nearly causing you to fall. You thanked him quietly as you fixed the hair that flew over your face, surprising him by following him into the forest without protest.

You jogged a little to keep up with his long strides, prompting him to shorten them so you could simply walk. Once the chatter of everyone else died down as they walked in their respective directions, you finally spoke to Eddie for the first time.

“So, uh... This is not how I expected this week to end,” you mentioned, making him laugh.

“I never expected to be on the run from police either,” he said. You let out a small breath of amusement, but your face still fell slightly.

Eddie watched you carefully, his mind racing with what he could possibly say about the loss of your best friend. But the only thing he could come up with was the events that led up to it.

“I really thought ‘86 was gonna be my year, you know?” he sighed, “I was finally gonna graduate and leave Hawkins behind and tour the world with my band. I started making friends outside of Hellfire – a cheerleader even wanted to talk to me...” He noticed you swallow thickly at the mention of Chrissy, but he couldn’t stop rambling. “That night... Chrissy came over to hang out. I left the room to get something and when I came back, it was like she was possessed or something. She wasn’t moving and was just staring at the wall. Then she started just...levitating...or some shit. She started bending all weird and blood was coming out of her eyes... And I begged and begged and begged her to wake up but she wouldn’t, so I... I did the only thing I know how to do...” he mumbled, looking down at the leaves in front of him, “I ran away. I left her there like a coward and hid in that stupid boat house and now Skull Rock and I let everyone believe it was my f-”

“I never believed it was your fault,” you whispered, making his head snap up to look at you. You sniffled as you stared at the ground, roughly swiping your fingertips underneath your eyes to get rid of the tears. “I was mad she was gone because she’s my best friend and the only person who ever really cared about me,” you continued quietly, “But I knew the second everyone started saying how she was found in your trailer that you didn’t do anything to her. I saw how you were with her at school; You liked her way too much to do something like that to her.”

“I didn’t like her,” Eddie told you, “I mean, I liked her as a person, but I didn’t like her. She was my only friend outside of Hellfire, but she... We only hung out because... She was...just...”

“Buying weed,” you finished his sentence with a small smile at the shock on his face, “She told me before she... About the hallucinations and how she was trying to get rid of them... Apparently didn’t work, but... I guess it’s pretty hard to get out of Vecna’s curse once you’re in.”

“You know about Vecna?”

“Dustin told me,” you nodded, “Said he thinks I can help somehow.”

“No,” the firmness in Eddie’s voice surprised you, making you look at him with furrowed brows, “You don’t need to be anywhere near this shit.”

“I obviously agreed to it, Eddie,” you reminded him with a shake of your head, “I want to help if it means saving Hawkins and preventing someone else from dying. I wanted- I want to help you...” You suppressed another onslaught of tears – not even noticing the slight blush he was now sporting – not wanting to cry in front of someone you just met for a second time. “He said I’m the only one that can convince you to stop hiding at that huge rock,” you continued.

“Henderson said that?” Eddie asked. You simply shrugged.

“I don’t know why it would make a difference for me to do it, but he says I have the best shot at it,” you nodded. You heard him sigh, turning your head to find him rubbing his face roughly. “You don’t have to, you know?” you mentioned, “We’ve never even really met before today, so I don’t know why Dustin thought that I could-”

“I mean, I obviously want to stop hiding out,” he admitted, “I just can’t believe Henderson dragged you into it on my behalf now.”

“Well, you were Chrissy’s friend and I know you didn’t do anything to her because she wouldn’t have stuck around if she were scared of you performing rituals or whatever shit Jason’s trying to push,” you offered, making him chuckle, “And I’m already in it, so I might as well do what I can to help. Sure beats writing scholarship essays.”

“With your smarts, any college would be stupid not to take you,” he said without thinking. His eyes widened in horror, but his heart raced when you giggled.

“Thanks,” you replied, “It’s just disappointing I can’t put ‘saved the town of Hawkins, Indiana from an evil curse’ on any of my applications.”

“Well, you could,” he shrugged, “Just don’t expect to get into that college though.”

“I don’t think I’d get into any college after that. They’d probably let all the others know I’m insane.”

“There’s nothing wrong with being a little insane, sweetheart,” Eddie said, making you snort softly.

The two of you walked for a little while longer in comfortable silence. Eddie had since given you his jacket as it got cooler, admiring how cute you looked in it. In fact, he’d been so entranced with you that he’d actually forgotten what you were meant to be doing in the first place.

“So... How do we know if we’ve found a gate or whatever?” you asked.

“No idea,” he admitted, “But Henderson said it’ll be obvious, so I guess we just...look for the obvious.”

Suddenly, as if Vecna himself heard you, the ground started to shake violently. Eddie grabbed onto a small tree, wrapping his arm around your waist and keeping you close so neither of you fell.

“I think someone found the obvious!” he hollered over the sounds of trees being shaken back and forth, their limbs and leaves slamming against each other.

“What are you talking about?! This is totally normal!” you shouted back, gripping him just as tightly as he was holding you while your legs desperately tried to hold you up.

You started hearing loud cracking sounds in the distance followed by small explosions every now and then. Your gaze snapped up to Eddie, finding him already looking at you with a horrified expression.

“What is that?” you asked as the shaking began to subside. It sounded like it was all going away from you, so you figured the gate must be further than you were heading.

“We have to go find everyone,” Eddie said, releasing the tree and grabbing your hand. You both ran as carefully as you could back toward Skull Rock, hoping that’s what the others had done too.

All of this was happening so fast – you had just been told of the existence of the Upside Down not even three hours ago, and now it seemed like it was all going downhill faster than you could process it. You didn’t even fully understand what the gates were yet, and now it was very likely that one was opening?

“I think I’m gonna throw up,” you grumbled mostly to yourself but felt Eddie squeeze your hand in response.

When the rock came back into view, you could see the group already there, frantically looking around for you and Eddie. Steve was the first to spot you two, sighing in relief.

“Guys!” he exclaimed, making everyone turn, “Are you alright?” He, Robin, and Nancy shared a look when they realized you were wearing Eddie’s jacket.

“Where are Max and Lucas?” you asked, noticing they were the only ones not there. Eddie had yet to release your hand – not that you were going to let go of him either.

“Maybe they’re still on their way? Creel house is pretty far from here...” Robin suggested, but you could tell she felt off about it too.

“What do we do then?” Nancy shook her head, “We can’t just stand here and wait and hope they show up.”

“Well, good news,” Dustin said, “Me and Steve found the gate that was making the compass fuck up at Lover’s Lake.”

“Language, Henderson!” Steve exclaimed, smacking the back of his shoulder.

“We should still go check it out! It could help save Max from the curse!” he insisted. The group reluctantly agreed and started following Dustin toward the lake.

“Hey, are you sure you still wanna do this, Y/N?” Steve asked, “Maybe you should go home.”

“No way!” you frowned, “I’m at least finding out what the hell an Upside Down or whatever gate thing is first!” You felt your heart flutter when Eddie chuckled beside you.

“Alright,” Robin added, “Just don’t say we didn’t warn you.”

When you arrived at the lake a few minutes later, it looked completely normal. You knew you should be relieved, but you were honestly disappointed – wasn’t this supposed to be some kind of portal to the underworld?

Steve broke away from the group and went into the boat house, reemerging moments later after pushing a boat onto the water. Eddie immediately jumped in, helping Robin and Nancy in as well. He then held his hand out to you, and you knew you shouldn’t – you knew you were biting off way more than you could chew – but you immediately took it and got sat down with everyone else. Dustin started to climb on as well but Steve stopped him as Nancy started rowing.

“Not you, Henderson,” he stated firmly.

“Yeah! Bedtime’s at 9!” Robin chirped.

“What?!” he shouted, begrudgingly handing over his compass when Nancy reached for it.

“Too many cooks rock the boat, you know,” Steve shrugged.

“I don’t think that’s the saying at all!” Dustin rolled his eyes, “I think you’re just an idiot!” Eddie remained silent while you gave the teen a sympathetic smile, promising him you’d be back in no time. “There you are!” you heard his voice again, making you all look over to find the two kids you’d been worried about.

“What are you guys doing?!” Lucas called after you.

“We’ll tell you when we get back!” Steve announced. You assumed the sound you heard next was Dustin groaning loudly again and going on to explain to them what had been said at Skull Rock.

Once Nancy reached where she believed the electromagnetic source was coming from, she stopped. You all listened for something – anything – that sounded different, but nothing did. You looked over when Steve started pulling off his shoes and socks.

“Steve, what are you doing?” Nancy asked.

“Someone’s gotta go down there and check things out,” he informed you all, taking off his sweater and diving in before anyone had the chance to argue with him.

You waited for what felt like hours, jumping when Steve popped back up only a few moments later. He tossed his flashlight back into the boat and grabbed onto the side for support.

“There’s definitely a gate down there,” he informed you.

“Is that a good thing?” you asked.

But he wasn’t able to respond.

Steve was suddenly yanked back underwater, making you all start shouting. Nancy didn’t waste a second before diving in after him, Robin quickly following suit.

“Are you kidding me?!” you screamed at the water as you stood up – though you knew it wouldn’t do any good.

“Y/N,” Eddie said with a warning tone, “Don’t you da-” He didn’t finish the statement before you jumped into the lake as well. He slapped his hands over his face – he knew damn well he wasn’t about to let you be an absolute moron by yourself – and let out a ‘Son of a bitch, this is so stupid!’ out loud before following you in.

You yelped in surprise as you entered into the Upside Down. You didn’t know what you were expecting to happen, but being literally tossed into the middle of a bunch of flying...things...trying to kill Steve wasn’t it. Nancy and Robin were hitting the creatures with pieces of a broken oar, and Eddie came tumbling into the mayhem with the other one.

“Y/N, duck!” he shouted. You didn’t even hesitate before doing exactly as you were told, feeling your hair fly as Eddie’s oar flew above your head. Your gaze snapped to the side, watching a bat-like creature fall flat on the ground a few feet away from you.

You then looked over at Steve, finding him struggling against one of them choking him. Since you felt practically useless without a weapon, you figured you’d try to help the best you could.

You kept yourself low to the ground as you reached him, helping him pry off what appeared to be a tail wrapped around his neck. Once you were both successful, he grabbed the tail and slammed the thing into the ground as hard as he could a couple of times until he was sure it was dead.

The moment of silence that followed – once the creatures were lifeless heaps on the ground around you – you all looked at each other.

“What the hell were those things?” Eddie asked.

“Demobats,” Steve answered as if it were the most casual thing in the world, “I can’t believe all of you idiots followed me.”

“You’d have been a goner if we hadn’t, you dingus!” Robin reminded him.

“Well, it’s not like I planned to be dragged down here!”

“Guys, can we not fight about this right now?” Nancy held her hand up, “We’ve got more company incoming!”

You all looked to where she was pointing, noticing a new swarm of creatures – now known to you as demobats – were en route. You then looked back down at your now completely shredded weapons, knowing there was no way you’d be able to take on any more of those things.

“We need to get to my house,” she went on, “If this really is just the underside of the real world, my guns should still be in my bedroom.” You looked at her in shock.

“You, Nancy Wheeler, have guns – plural – in your bedroom?” Eddie cocked an eyebrow. She shrugged with a guilty smile on her face.

“Well, it sure beats being eaten alive by demon bats,” you stated, following Nancy in the direction of her house.

“Demobats,” Steve corrected.

“Does it really matter?!” you huffed, your head snapping to look at him. You could feel yourself doing a double take.

You then turned to shoot Eddie a look and he immediately nodded. You slipped your arms out of his jacket and held it out to Steve.

“Please take this, Prince Hairy,” you stated, “I just met you today and I’m very uncomfortable.” The group snorted softly – Robin snickering and calling Steve a dingus again – as he embarrassingly took the item of clothing from you.

Nancy led you all to her house – well, the Upside Down version of her house – and shoved the side door open. Steve and Eddie immediately wandered off upon entering, but you and Robin decided to follow Nancy to wherever she was going. You ended up in her bedroom, showing up in the doorway just as she was letting out a defeated sigh.

“Crap,” Nancy grumbled, closing the closet doors, “My guns aren’t here.”

“Now what are we supposed to do?” Robin wondered, “We can’t get out of here with those bats flying around.”

“There has to be a way to let someone know we’re trapped,” you shook your head with a frown, “I mean yeah, real life sucks, but I don’t wanna be stuck here forever!” The girls looked at you with concern.

“Are you doing okay after...?” Robin asked you.

“I don’t know,” you admitted, “I haven’t been alone long enough to think about it, really.”

“You know, I know what it’s like to lose your best friend,” Nancy offered, “So if you ever need to talk, I’m here.”

“Me too!” Robin chirped, “All this Upside Down stuff can be a lot to take in, but it sure is better than being kidnapped by Russians.” You stopped what you were doing to look at her incredulously. “Oh yeah! Me and Steve were taken by the Russians hiding out underneath the Starcourt Mall,” she shrugged nonchalantly, “They were a bunch of dinguses though – they didn’t even get the drugs they injected us with right.”

“DUSTIN?!” you suddenly heard Steve shout, making you all jump, “HEY?! HENDERSON?!”

“We’re gonna unpack more of that later,” you pointed at Robin before the three of you ran out of the room toward Steve’s voice.

You entered the living room at the same time as Eddie, all of you staring at Steve in confusion. He was pacing around like a madman, shouting Dustin’s name at the ceiling.

“Are you cursed now, Harrington?” Eddie asked.

“Just listen!” he insisted. You were all silent for a moment, none of you hearing what he claimed to.

“We don’t have time for this, you dingus!” Robin rolled her eyes.

“I heard the kid talking! It was like he was here! Can you just-”

“Steve!” Nancy shouted to grab his attention, only continuing when he looked at her, “You said Will communicated with Joyce through lights, right?”

Steve’s eyes widened and the both of them ran toward the light switch on the wall. You, Robin, and Eddie watched on in confusion, none of you understanding what was going on. Nancy flipped the switch up and down a few times, huffing when nothing happened.

“Shit,” she mumbled, “It’s not working.”

“Uh, guys...” you spoke up. The group looked at you, following your amazed stare at the light fixture in the middle of the room.

It appeared to have some sort of orange sparkles dancing around it, though the fixture itself didn’t even seem to be in working order. Nancy lifted her arm to touch it, all of you watching in awe as the light bulbs flickered in response.

“Does anyone know Morse code?” she asked, earning a chorus of dejected ‘no’s.

“Wait,” Eddie suddenly said, “Does SOS count?” You all looked at him with dumbfounded expressions, making him frown. “What?”

“Just do it,” Robin rolled her eyes, motioning to the light above you.

Eddie poked around the orange glow a few times, and you could hear Erica’s faint voice alerting Dustin and Lucas to it. They stopped speaking for a moment but you then heard Dustin say ‘S...O...S...’, making you cheer at realizing he understood what you were trying to communicate.

“How are we supposed to keep talking to them?” Eddie asked, putting his arm back against his side, “Those are the only letters I know how to do.”

“Hmph,” Nancy began chewing on her bottom lip before sighing in defeat, “I have no idea.”

After a moment of silent brainstorming – and Eddie wandering off after getting bored – you were nowhere closer to a solution than you had been. You looked back up at the light fixture and decided you wanted a closer look, only to be yelled at while doing so.

“Hey!” you heard Dustin’s echoing shout, “Stop! That’s too bright!” The group turned to find you quickly pulling your arm back to your chest.

“Sorry,” you mumbled in embarrassment, “The light got brighter when I got closer to the glass. I thought it was cool.”

“The light got brighter...” Nancy repeated softly to herself before sucking in a breath of realization, “Lite Brite!”

“Lite Brite?” Steve cocked an eyebrow, “Like the kids’ toy?”

“Yes! Holly got one for Christmas three years ago! We can use the lights on that to talk to the kids!”

“How are we supposed to tell them that though?” Robin questioned.

“Y/N,” Nancy said, making you perk up, “Touch the glass again and don’t let go.” You were confused but did as she asked anyway.

You could hear the teenagers start to complain again, all of them whining that ‘the light’s too bright!’. But as they slowly stopped, you couldn’t ignore that Nancy’s plan seemed to be working.

“Hey... Isn’t Mike’s sister playing with one of those Lite Brite things when we go over sometimes?” Lucas asked.

“Yes!” you, Nancy, Steve, and Robin exclaimed simultaneously, following Nancy when she ran down the hall to Holly’s room.

Once she dug the toy out from underneath her sister’s bed, the four of you quickly worked on placing all the pegs into the holes, filling up the entire Lite Brite board in a matter of seconds. Nancy moved her fingers across the glowing rainbow of lights, but you didn’t receive a response like you were hoping.

“Why isn’t it working?” you heard Erica ask.

“Yank it,” Dustin directed, and Lucas pulled the plug out of the socket by the cord. Nancy tried again, writing out a letter ‘H’ followed by an ‘I’. “H... I...” he said slowly before gasping, “Hi!”

“Yes!” you cheered again, making Eddie poke his head into the room.

“What are you guys doing?” he came into the room.

“We found a way to communicate with the kids,” Nancy said, “What were you doing?”

“Found a flashlight for Y/N,” he said, handing it to you. You smiled softly and thanked him, turning back to Holly’s bed. “We can communicate? How?” he leaned over your shoulder, his hands finding your hips to keep himself steady as he sat on his knees with the rest of you. Robin looked at you when she heard your breathing hitch, glancing down and smirking at the situation.

Nancy spelled out answers to the questions you could hear Dustin asking, finally able to let them know you were trapped in the Upside Down and needed help finding a way back out. Everyone listened to the kids try to come up with a plan but you were spaced out, only coming back when Robin nudged you.

“You good, Y/N?” she asked, making the rest of them turn to you.

“I was just thinking...” you sighed, “It’s probably stupid though.”

“Well, if you’ve got an idea, it would be more than the rest of us have so far,” Steve reminded you.

“You guys said that the gates open when there’s a death, right?” you asked, earning nods, “Well... If the lake is a gate because of Patrick, and that road by the fairground is where Fred was... Wouldn’t Chrissy have made Eddie’s trailer a gate too?” The four looked at each other and you watched the smiles grow on their faces.

“Y/N,” Robin grabbed your shoulders, “You’re a downright genius.” You smiled brightly, finally feeling like you were actually contributing something to the group’s efforts to get back to the real world.

“Eddie, how far away is the trailer park?” Nancy asked him.

“7 miles,” he answered instantly, earning looks from everyone. “What?” he raised his eyebrows, “I’ve been to parties.”

“That’s too far to walk,” she shook her head, “We’ll have to take Me and my brother’s bikes – Lucas and Erica’s too.”

“That still leaves one person without a bike,” Steve reminded her.

“I could ride on the handlebars,” you offered, “I used to do it all the time with Chrissy since I didn’t have a bike.”

You made your way outside to where the Wheelers kept their bikes before walking across the yard and finding the Sinclair siblings’ as well. You determined that Erica’s bike would be most comfortable, so Steve straddled the seat so you could hop on. You wobbled slightly as he began pedaling, barely catching yourself before falling off – it really had been a while since you’d done this.

“You need to lean back?” Steve wondered, “You just have to hold my flashlight.”

“I think I can handle that,” you chuckled, taking the device and doing as he asked, no one noticing the boy sulking at the sight of it.

~

7 miles later, you arrived at Forest Hills Trailer Park. Eddie moved to the front of the group to lead you to his trailer, scoffing to himself as you giggled at one of Steve’s stupid jokes. You hopped off of the handlebars before Steve parked the bike with everyone else’s, following Eddie into his home. Once the door opened, you all stood in awe as you stared up at the ceiling.

“Guys!” Dustin was smiling down at you, “How’s it going up there?”

“Up?” Steve asked, “You’re the one that’s up, Henderson.”

“I hardly think that’s important right now,” Max, who was now with the group, reminded everyone, “What’s important is how to they get back here?”

“Well, they just have to climb in, right?” Lucas shrugged, “Just find something to climb.”

“Eddie! How many sheets do you have?” Dustin questioned.

“In the hall closet!” he called back as he walked away. And sure enough, the teen returned a few moments later with an armful of sheets and thin blankets.

“They’ll need something to land on too!” Lucas chimed in, already hurrying out of sight. He called for help, prompting Max to follow him while Erica and Dustin worked on tying the ends of the fabrics together.

The two teens came back, dragging Eddie’s mattress along with them. They let it fall right underneath the portal opening just as the other two finished tying the final knots.

“Alright, here goes nothing,” Dustin said, taking the makeshift rope and looking up at the rest of you. He tossed it upwards, all of you watching it fall into a heap at your feet. “Okay, now pull,” he said. Robin grabbed the rope in front of her and put all her body weight into it, and you were all amazed to see that it actually held up.

“This is the craziest shit I’ve ever seen in my life,” Erica commented, “And I’ve seen some crazy shit.” She happily high-fived Dustin when he held his hand up for one.

“Hey, Eddie... What are those-” Robin asked, pointing to some discolored parts of the mattress. “-that we’re going to be landing on?”

“Those are...” Eddie trailed off, “I don’t know what those stains are.”

“Sure you don’t,” you rolled your eyes, “Look, I don’t even care if they’re fresh as long as I get the fuck out of here.”

The four gave you disgusted looks as Robin began her climb as the first guinea pig – her words, not yours – to leave the Upside Down. You watched her fall flat on her back, breathing heavily as she smiled.

“Thank God,” she sat up, getting out of the way as you began your ascent back to the real world. You let out a sharp yelp, not expecting the floor to be as far as it was but happy to be home nonetheless.

Eddie was next to come through the portal, sighing as he sat up on the mattress, “That was fun.” He took your hand and let you help him back to his feet, all of you now watching as Nancy gripped the rope.

But she didn’t climb up and come falling through the portal like you’d expected her to.

You all watched as Steve’s expression changed to a horrified one, grabbing Nancy’s shoulders and starting to shake.

“Nancy?!” he yelled right in her face, “Nancy! Wake up!”

Max gasped softly, her voice coming out as a whisper, “Vecna...”

“Vecna has Nancy?!” Robin started freaking out, “What could he possibly want her for?!”

“Music!” Max spoke again, “Music got me out of it before; We need something for Nancy!”

“I have some cassettes in my room!” Eddie said, prompting you to follow him as he ran toward the back of the trailer. He directed everyone to the various places he kept his collection, all of you practically tearing apart his entire bedroom to find something you thought would work for Nancy.

“Steve says you guys need to hurry up!” Erica shouted as she ran into the room.

“No shit!” Dustin responded, tossing another tape to the side.

“What is any of this stuff?!” Robin exclaimed, “There’s no Madonna, Blondie, Bowie, Beatles – music! We need music!”

“THIS IS MUSIC!” Eddie screamed back at her, shaking a Metallica tape in front of her face.

“Everyone, just calm down!” you yelled over their fighting, “Does anyone know what Nancy likes to listen to? Pop? Metal? Fucking ocean sounds?”

No one was able to respond, hearing loud thuds coming from the living room. You all ran to the door to look down the hall, finding Nancy breathing heavily on the mattress and Steve groaning in pain from landing on the hard floor.

“Nancy!” Robin gasped in relief, but you were the first to break away from the group.

You shoved Eddie and Dustin out of the doorway, running to the two as they sat up. You weren’t even fully on your knees before you threw your arms around the girl, hugging her tightly. You understood why she didn’t hug you back – you had only met her that day, after all – but you didn’t mind; You were just happy she was alive.

“I’m so sorry I did that without even asking, but I’m just really glad you’re okay!” you exhaled sharply, “You are okay, right?” Your eyes widened. “Oh my God, I should have asked if you were okay before I hugged you! I didn’t hurt you more, did I? I’m so sorry; I really didn’t mean to-”

Your rambling was cut short when Nancy suddenly grabbed your shoulders and pulled you back in, hugging you tighter than you’d previously hugged her. You took that moment to catch your breath, allowing her to remind you that she was in fact okay and actually right in front of you.

“I’m fine, Y/N,” she assured you, squeezing you before letting go to look at you, “Thank you for caring.” You gave her a shy smile.

“I’m sorry if I’m being weird,” you murmured, “I don’t- Chrissy was the only person who talked to me before, so I... I’m not really...used...to having friends...” You were looking down at your hands as you nervously played with your fingers, not even noticing the way everyone looked at each other with small smiles on their faces.

“What was that?” Max asked, “Why did Vecna want you?”

“Why me? I don’t know,” she shook her head, “But Vecna, he... He gave me these...visions.. And he wants me to tell El everything he showed me in them.”

“What... What did you see?” Robin asked carefully.

“Things that haven’t happened yet – the most terrible things,” she recounted, “I saw a dark cloud spreading over Hawkins, downtown on fire, dead soldiers, and this...giant creature with...a gaping mouth. But this thing wasn’t alone; There were so many monsters – an army of them. And then... Then he showed me my mom...and Holly...and Mike... A-And they... They were all...” She let out a shaky breath, unable to even finish the sentence, as Steve grabbed her hand and squeezed.

“He was just trying to scare you, Nance,” he tried to reassure her, but he was obviously freaked out as well, “Right? I mean... It’s not real...”

“Not yet,” she shook her head, “But that wasn’t it. He showed me these gates – four of them – spreading across Hawkins; They all looked like the one at the bottom of the lake. But they were growing. And they didn’t stop getting bigger. But it wasn’t the Upside Down version of Hawkins; It was this one – the real one.”

“You said four gates?” Max asked, making Nancy nod, “Four gates... Four chimes... Vecna’s clock always chimes in fours.”

“Yeah,” she nodded again, “I heard the clock too.”

“He’s been telling us his plan the whole time!” Max threw her arm up, “Four kills. Four gates.”

“If that’s true...” you swallowed, “He’s only one kill away from the end of the world.”

~

The next day

“He's a number like Eleven,” Max said, “So he must have come from that Hawkins Lab experiment that got it shut down.”

“Sure,” Robin remarked, “Only a sick, evil, male, child-murdering version of her with really bad skin.”

“My point is he’s super powerful,” she rolled her eyes, “Could turn us inside out with the snap of his fingers. It’s not a fair fight.”

“Then why fight fair?” Dustin spoke up, “You’re right; He’s like El. But that gives us an upper hand. We know her strengths and weaknesses.”

“Weaknesses?” Steve cocked an eyebrow.

“When El did that remote-travel thing to free me from him the first time, she told me her physical body is in some sort of trance,” Max informed you, “I bet the same is true for Vecna.”

“That’s why he’s up in the Upside Down version of the Creel house?” Nancy asked, “Because he’s in a trance to get to multiple people at once?”

“So we have to go back into the Upside Down,” you announced, making everyone look at you incredulously.

“You’re kidding, right?” Steve asked, “Need I remind you we barely made it out of there yesterday.”

“Listen, I know I just joined in on this shit show, but it sounds to me like you have to take out the physical person and not just his mind fuckery,” you shrugged, “If he’s in a trance, he’s basically defenseless.”

“What about his army of freaky-looking bats,” Robin pointed out.

“We just have to find a way past them.”

“Or distract them and lead them somewhere else,” Dustin said.

“The only problem is there’s no pattern to Vecna’s killings,” Erica finally spoke, “Not one I can decipher anyway; We won’t know when he attacks next until someone dies.”

“But we don’t even know who that someone is,” Nancy sighed.

“Yeah, we do,” Max nodded, “I can still feel him; I’m still cursed. I’ll draw his focus back to me.”

“Max... No...” Lucas shook his head slowly, “He’ll kill you.”

“I survived him before; I can survive again,” she said confidently, “All I have to do is distract him long enough for you guys to get into the attic and chop his head off or stab him through the heart – I honestly don’t care how you put that asshole in his grave. Just... Whatever you do, try not to miss.”

~

You grunted as you fell through the gate, landing with a hard thud despite the group’s best efforts to make it a pain-free landing. You assured them you were alright though, following them outside the trailer back into the desolate Upside Down.

“Alright, we’re all good on the plan?” Nancy asked, earning a chorus of affirmations.

“And guys-” Steve looked at you and Eddie. “-if things here start to go south, I mean, at all, you abort, got it?” he deadpanned, “Don’t try to be heroes.”

“Absolutely,” Eddie nodded, “I mean, look at us: we are definitely not heroes.”

“I’m just trying to figure out what college to attend,” you shrugged.

“And I’m just trying to graduate high school,” he added, smiling at you when you giggled. Steve, Nancy, and Robin began their journey to Creel house, but they turned when Eddie spoke again. “Hey, Steve?” he said, waiting until he looked at him to continue, “Make him pay.” Steve gave him a small nod, silently promising to do exactly that.

You stood still as you watched them leave, not really sure what to say next. Eddie looked over, noticing the weary expression on your face. He remained silent for a moment – he wasn’t sure what to say either – before finally forcing his brain to come up with something.

“You don’t have to do this, Y/N,” Eddie told you, “Nobody would blame you if you went back home.” You stared at the dark blue and grey sky for a moment, your mind racing with thoughts of ‘is this actually happening?’ before you finally looked up at him.

“For Chrissy?” you whispered. Eddie shot you a smile.

“For Chrissy,” he nodded, holding a fist up with the outside of his hand facing you. You bumped the backside of your own hand against it, both of you taking a deep breath before climbing up onto the roof.

He hopped up on top of the trailer before reaching down and helping you. You grabbed his forearms and he grabbed yours, hoisting you up until you were in front of him. He went to let go, but you didn’t. Instead, you were staring at him, your mouth making small movements until you finally found the words.

“You’re sure this is gonna work?” you asked him.

“No better way to lure over a bunch of blood-hungry demon bats than by playing satanic music, sweetheart,” he winked.

You rolled your eyes, shoving him away from you. He chuckled to himself as he grabbed his guitar, bending down to turn on the amp he, Steve, and Dustin had put up there.

Once you turned the volume up as loud as it could go, you grabbed the binoculars and looked up at Eddie. You gave him a small nod and he did the same, yanking the guitar pick off of the chain around his neck.

“Chrissy,” you heard him murmur to himself before he started playing, “This is for you.”

It took a couple moments for you to start seeing results, but when you did... Oh boy, did you see them. The bats were approaching far faster than you’d expected them too, and you couldn’t pretend you weren’t scared to death. Once the swarm was completely covering your field of view through the binoculars, you knew it was time to get to safety.

“They’re almost here!” you shouted over their screeches, “Eddie, we gotta go!”

Eddie quickly yanked the plug out of his guitar and grabbed your hand, pulling you along with him back down off the room. You scrambled to get inside, Eddie pushing you in before slamming the fence door closed just as the bats reached the trailer.

“God, that was so badass!” you panted, leaning against the wall to catch your breath.

“Thanks, sweetheart,” he smirked, “I’ll have to play it again for you sometime.”

However, your moment was ruined when you both jumped at the sound of something hitting metal. You and Eddie shared a terrified look before snapping your heads toward the sound. A demobat had made its way into one of the vents of the trailer, weaseling its way inside.

“Oh, shit!” Eddie shouted, grabbing his makeshift shield and killing it before it could get to you, “Get through the portal!” He followed you to the middle of the room, hoisting you up and watching you tumble back into the real world. But when you reached up to help him through next, he just looked at you.

And you knew what he was going to do.

“Eddie...” you said slowly, “What part of ‘don’t be heroes’ do you not understand?”

“They’re going to go after the others, Y/N,” he shook his head, “I don’t want to run away anymore.”

“Eddie, don’t you dare!” you screamed – much like he had the day you dove into Lover’s Lake to help save Steve – but it was no use; He was already running back out of the Upside Down trailer anyway.

Without hesitation, you climbed back through the portal, landing on the bed with a hard thud. You let out a quiet ‘oof’ before springing to your feet and following him back into the mayhem.

You made it to the gate outside the trailer just in time to watch Eddie running with his makeshift sword and shield, leading the bats away from the portal. You grabbed the spiked bat Steve had insisted you take from Nancy’s arsenal of weapons – “just in case everything goes to shit” – and ran after him without a second thought.

Just as you were getting closer to Eddie, you saw a demobat flying up fast behind him. You knew he wasn’t going to notice it until it was too late, so you immediately charged for it. Eddie spun around when the animal let out a pained screech as it was killed, his eyes widening upon realizing you’d followed him.

“What are you doing, Y/N?!” he shouted, “Go home!”

“Not without you, Munson!” you returned just as loudly, killing another bat as he did the same.

“What did I tell you?! You shouldn’t- Duck!” You did so, letting him kill a bat as it was diving for you. “You shouldn’t be here!” he insisted.

“I never got to help Chrissy through her shit, Eddie! I’m not going to just let you die too!” your voice cracked, making him pause for a moment.

He then grabbed your hand and both of you ran back to the trailer, Eddie closing the gate behind you to buy a moment to talk some sense into you.

“You did not let Chrissy die, Y/N,” he told you.

“I didn’t help her!” you shook your head, not bothering to hold back your tears anymore, “I knew something was wrong! I knew she was acting different! I knew it wasn’t ‘just the depression’ this time! If I just tried a little harder, she would have told me what was going on! And I could have helped her and she would still be ali-”

“Stop it,” Eddie stated firmly, grabbing your face and making sure you were looking at him, “You said it yourself: Vecna’s curse is practically impossible to get out of without knowing you’re in it. There was absolutely nothing you could have done differently. She wouldn’t want you blaming yourself.”

“She wouldn’t blame you for running away either,” you whispered, holding his wrists tightly in an attempt to ground yourself, “She would have run if she saw what you did too.” He stared at you speechless for a moment before swallowing.

“You shouldn’t- Don’t sacrifice yourself for me,” he shook his head, “I’m not worth-”

“Yes, you are!” you sniffled, squeezing him tightly, “Just because you don’t see it doesn’t mean you’re not worth fighting for! You’re weird and loud and obnoxious, but there’s nothing wrong with being a ‘freak’; It’s what makes you you! People like Jason not being able to appreciate it doesn’t mean everybody wants you to disappear! We just want you to be loved!”

You could tell Eddie was getting choked up by the way his eyes started to glisten. You never wanted this to be the way you confessed your feelings, but you couldn’t let him go on his suicide mission without him knowing.

He suddenly pressed his forehead to yours, breathing in deeply and acting as if you were being converged on by a bunch of monsters.

“Y/N,” he swallowed thickly, feelings your own breathing hitch, “Please go home; Get to safety.”

“I’m not leaving here without you, Eddie,” you repeated your earlier statement, “I go where you go.”

“That is the hottest thing any girl has ever said to me,” he admitted, though he still huffed at your stubbornness, “If we make it out of here alive, remind me to kiss you.” You finally let the corner of your mouth twitch into a small grin, making him smile as well.

“Promise?” you asked. Eddie held up his hand, showing you his extended pinky finger. Your small grin only grew, linking your pinky with his.

“Wouldn’t dare break the sanctity of a pinky promise, sweetheart,” he informed you, “Now let’s go kick some demon ass.”

You were sure you fought those damn things for the next 12 hours. They were a lot stronger than you gave them credit for, often needing two or three good hits before falling to the ground. But you and Eddie still gave it your all. You weren’t backing down this time; You weren’t going down without a fight.

But as soon as it all started, it suddenly came to an end. All of the remaining demobats dropped dead at once, and, after a moment in stunned silence, you and Eddie knew that could only mean one thing.

“Vecna’s dead?” Eddie murmured, both of your eyes widening.

“Vecna’s dead...” you whispered before throwing your bat down and bouncing on your feet, “Vecna’s dead! We did it!”

Eddie joined you in jumping excitedly before he discarded his own weapons and reached for you. He grabbed your waist with one hand before wrapping his arms around you tightly. You didn’t even hesitate as you hugged him back, your own arms around his neck and your face buried in his jacket. You both had cuts everywhere, your clothes were shredded, and your hair was a mess, but you were alive.

He lifted you off of your feet and you let your legs dangle against his. You closed your eyes and squeezed each other, simply reminding the other that you weren’t dead and imagining this entire thing. You could feel Eddie start bouncing on his feet,

“‘86 really is my year, baby!” he shouted at the sky, throwing his arms up in victory. You giggled at the outburst, putting your hands on his chest.

“I think you made me a pinky promise if we made it out alive, Munson,” you reminded him. Eddie didn’t even hesitate before grabbing your face again, this time to kiss you like his life depended on it.

When he pulled away to breathe, his eyes were still closed for a moment before he opened them again. He couldn’t stop himself from giving you one more peck on the lips though, moving his thumb to wipe some dirt off of your cheek.

“I’ve wanted to do that for a long time,” he admitted, and you let a soft breath out of your nose.

“Me too,” you nodded.

“Is now a good time to tell you I’ve had a crush on you since the second you stepped into Mrs. O’Donnell’s class?” he asked you, smiling at the way your eyes lit up.

“Is now a good time to tell you I’ve had a crush on you since you told Jason that no one cared how good he was at ‘tossing balls into laundry baskets’?” you returned, earning a small smirk in response.

He didn’t say anything, though; He just returned his arms to your waist, wrapping you up in another tight hug.

“You are crazy and stupid and a total idiot for following me,” Eddie reminded you, his voice slightly muffled by the skin on your neck.

“A crazy, stupid, total idiot who kept you from being some ugly demon bat’s 3-course dinner,” you reminded him with a big smile.

“I think you mean demobats,” he copied Steve’s voice, succeeding in making you giggle.

“Whatever,” you shoved his head playfully. Eddie finally released you, stepping back and holding his hand out to you.

“Would the lady like to go home?” he bowed obnoxiously.

“Are you going to actually follow me this time?” you rolled your eyes as you placed your hand in his and tangled your fingers together, making him grin stupidly.

“I’ll follow you anywhere you tell me to, sweetheart.”

❀・・・❀・・・❀・・・❀・・・❀・・・❀・・・❀

and everyone lived happily ever after thank u and goodnight

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[rocknrollsalad]

💍 steddie holiday drabbles - proposal (ft. buckingham)

👰 Eddie and Steve think they're fine not getting married, who needs that piece of paper to prove anything? Maybe them a little bit.

💍 content/trigger warnings: period typical homophobia

💒 word count: 1231

Glass cases greet them long before any person does. Wrapping from display window to display window and lined with soft, gray rows glittering in what little sun the clouds allowed to squeeze through. It’s unreasonably bright for this time of year and that has to be a good omen.

Not that there needed to be omens of any kind. This was a day Steve thought would never come. A day they all convinced themselves they didn’t care about. The conformity, the thousands of dollars, and from what their friends said, a miserable day. No part of it sounded necessary.

Steve liked the way they didn’t have to hide anymore. He didn’t have a roommate, he was dating Eddie. Half the population could handle hearing that and Steve tended to surround himself with that half.

They weren’t from a very progressive state so that was the best they were going to get and they were okay with it. Not just Steve and Eddie but Chrissy and Robin stood in solidarity with them. Or they supported each other when the rally cries weren’t enough. In those moments of “weakness” where they wanted to be like everyone else.

Canada was a choice, not that far away, but it added to the show of it all. Why travel that far to get a piece of paper? Steve had committed to Eddie and Eddie to Steve. A commitment they’d both held since before they could legally drink. Never once did they stray. Saying “I do” seemed unnecessary.

The four of them looked at each other through tear-stained eyes when it became a legal thing they could do in their own state, no traveling, no domestic partnership, and said it was silly. They were thrilled for the younger generations but they didn’t need the ceremony.

The next day Chrissy and Robin were at the courthouse with the masses of other people. They didn’t even bother to invite Eddie and Steve, a random couple plucked from the line got to be their witness and they returned the favor. Which stung a little but they were so happy it was impossible to stay mad.

Still, Eddie and Steve held strong. They didn’t need a wedding or any of those trappings. They had each other and that was enough. Plus, if they were going to get married, they’d do better than standing at city hall with strangers. Not that they were going to but if they did.

If they did, they’d take Steve’s last name because nothing good ever came from being a Munson. Something Steve wanted to argue with but he was just old fashioned enough to want to keep his name. However, they were happy being the Munson-Harrington household. It had a nice ring to it. Better sounding than Eddie Harrington.

But if they did want to get married, Eddie could pick their kids up from school without a call to Steve first. One was nearly graduated, the other on their way to a driver's license, so being checked out of school by a parent was only really needed for the youngest. It was a lot of money to spend just to easily get one kid out of school for a couple of years more.

As dumb as it all sounded, Steve was raised to think marriage was important. He’d find a nice wife, get a good job, and have a few kids. The keys to happiness. And, sure, he got all of those things and more. A nice house, a loyal dog, amazing friends, fun hobbies, and they even got to travel. So his wife was a husband, somehow that felt more right. Steve was incredibly lucky so he didn’t need to get married.

He did want it. A little bit. He wanted to stand in front of all those amazing friends and cry about how much he loved Eddie, gross their kids out, and walk away from a preacher as husband and husband. For so long he had to stuff that down and be okay without but now it could happen.

And when it came out late one night, exhausted from a day of kids' sports and a dance recital, Eddie admitted he wanted it to. Even as a kid, before he’d met Steve, Eddie was sure marriage would never happen for him but meeting Steve both gave him hope and dashed it. They’d gone through a lot of changes in what they were allowed to show and who they were allowed to be, why not this one?

After decades of explaining why they’d never get married, Steve and Eddie were looking at the very real possibility of making that commitment. Or making a show of a commitment they already made.

The one thing Steve knew was he was going to do it “right”. In all the cliche ways. None of this justice of the peace stuff, that worked great for Robin, Chrissy, and so many other couples (who went on to have lavish ceremonies later…Eddie and Steve were invited to plenty) but not them. Eddie was the master of giant spectacles so they were going to put on a show.

Which was why Steve was walking slowly around so many glass cases, the third store they’d gone to, because he was going to get down on one knee and ask Eddie Munson to be his husband. And endure jokes from everyone about needing help backup.

Eddie was going to gasp and giggle and say “yes, yes! A thousand times yes!” because he was an idiot. Steve was ready. Hell, he wanted it. To watch Eddie pretend to cry and fawn over the ring. To tell him and Chrissy to go get manicures and not let him know why. More importantly, make some grand plan only to have it all go wrong. They were going to get everything!

So Steve stood there and told yet another clerk Robin wasn’t the lucky lady, she was the best man, and brace for impact. This store seemed understanding. Not just of the husbands aspect but who Steve’s future husband was. Eddie wasn’t looking for a princess cut or the biggest rock, he needed something that fit his day-to-day aesthetic.

Something between what the twenty-somethings who wished they could get married would want and what the months away from fifty-year-old man Eddie was now. It was a weird line to skirt and Robin didn’t help matters by putting the choices on and ranting about how kids today don’t know real struggles in her best Eddie voice. Apparently, it was to give Steve an idea of how it’d look on Eddie but mostly it put him at ease. This had become something major and Steve couldn’t mess it up. They were only doing this once.

When the clerk brought out a black band, lines twisting around the whole thing cut out to reveal a deep red underneath, Steve knew he’d found it. He shared a gasp with Robin and she didn’t even try this one on. They knew. They knew who it was for.

In two weeks it’d be the right size and Steve would be one step closer. Now he had to figure out how to not rush home and tell Eddie. They weren’t great with secrets, many birthdays had been ruined by this, but Steve knew he could do it.

Plus, he had to figure out how to propose.

[rosaacicularis]

Bestie you got so many aus just brewing at all times? Do you ever take a break? /lh anyways I’m gonna feed into the brain rot even more what else is going on in this hero/villain + soulmates au? What was their first civilian interaction? Were they initially tenuous allies at best, mostly using the telepathy to achieve their goals, but overtime something ✨changed✨? -🎶 anon

i try to take breaks and then my little subconscious goes “omg wouldn’t it be cool if grian and scar were tardigrades floating around in the vacuum of space, after being sent off in hopes they could evolve and bring life to another planet” and then i go “omg yeah it would” 

and i am definitely going to ramble a lot because i love this au so much but anyway as for some little fun facts about it <3<3 (and by fun facts i mean the entire plot.. this is literally the entire fic just without any dialogue…. which in my opinion is a little bit quirky of me)

they’d been telepathically communicating their entire lives, so it wasn’t that difficult to realise they were in the same city and arrange a meeting. they were like thirteen and went to see a movie. they made fun of it in their heads, watched it in relative silence out loud while eating their popcorn.

they stayed just friends for a while, not wanting to rush into anything; going about school and university as stolen glances and lingering touches that maybe meant a little more than they were leading on. they could hear each other’s thoughts in their head, they chose to pretend they couldn’t.

the façade came crashing down when they debuted as a vigilante duo. poultry man and the jangler. they weren’t that good or skilled, they hadn’t realised their potential yet—but they weren’t going to let the world suffer—and the jangler got hurt. scar wasn’t going to die without confessing to grian, and grian definitely wasn’t going to let him die after he had. 

they took a break from it, they started training, building connections. they held a lot of resentment toward the heroes for how they hurt scar. one day, and they can’t remember who that it first, they got the idea that one of them would infiltrate the system, reform it or destroy it, just change it so they would stop needlessly hurting the people they’d sworn to protect.

so grian re-debuts as watcher, the untouchable villain. he was fast, could fly, and seemingly unexplainable things happened around him (people can swear they see his eyes go purple sometimes). scar re-debuts as hawkeye, a hero with aim like apollo, and a skill in combat that leaves people horribly envious.

it took a while for them to gain those titles, for them to work their way up, they staged fights between themselves to help. to get on the news, to get their names known and talked about. the snowball of fame turned into an avalanche after hawkeye ‘saved’ the top hero from watcher’s grip.

they both shot up to their respective top spots after that. they didn’t do anything particularly irrational for a while, so they could build up trust. grian got loyal lackeys, and scar got sidekicks and teams. they were in the perfect position to enact a chaotically destructive plan. 

they plant seeds, just little things like scar losing an arrow here, one of grian’s lackeys spilling about dates of illegal meetings there. eventually it all stacks up and comes into play. scar convinces his boss, the head of the hero organisation to go undercover to buy illegal weapons so they can take the group out and study the weapons, use them too, sell them to the military afterwards. scar kills his boss, claiming that the lost arrow was replicated and someone is trying to impersonate him. 

the top heroes have a meeting, and settle on the idea that someone’s soulmate must be working with watcher. that’s the only way any of this would’ve been able to work. they realise that the person may not even realise that their soulmate is working with the city’s most notorious villain, nobody is safe. 

they thoroughly interview everyone’s soulmates, grian passes with flying colours. the heroes are getting a little frantic, they can’t find their leak, their mole. the plan is working flawlessly, but it’s a little bit slow, so watcher walks right into their palms and ‘turns himself in’. 

they arrest him and interrogate him, about his crimes and motives and everything, until they come down to the fated question of who the mole is, the brutus to their caesar. instead of answering, grian drops a little flash drive of information, all the dirt and blackmail material on the hero organisation. 

some of them are horrified, shocked to learn what has been going on under their noses, some look resigned like they were waiting for that show to drop. suddenly the foot they’d had in the door was in their grave. their secrets uncovered, the immoral things they were involved in brought into the light. 

he slips out within the chaos of the heroes fighting amongst themselves. the tension runs deep in the weeks after, to the point where the city starts to notice, starts to lose faith in the people meant to save them. hawkeye makes his public breakaway from heroism by joining watcher and denouncing his old team and boss, telling every news source that will listen about the entire scandal.

every single hero loses their credibility. a few show up at scar’s apartment, demanding answers. he tells them the whole story, how he’d been working with watcher since their conception, and when the heroes ask why he’s confessing now, scar tells them that anyone they’d tell would only see it as them trying to save their skin. 

grian and scar had won.

[amortentva]

student file: pansy parkinson ✶ 23, ciswoman, she/her, pureblood, slytherin, fourth year, potionmaking. member of competitive potions, culinary club, and care of magical creatures club. can be described as mean-spirited, resilient, petty, and loyal. wanted connections. pinterest.

“how to be a monster: one, learn the taste of dirt and pain. two, teach it to others until your knuckles bleed. three, see if that makes it easier to breathe.”

full ��name.  pansy  sabelia  amelie  parkinson.  aliases.  friends  can  call  her  pans,  others  call  her  parkinson.  she  doesn’t  care  for  anything  but  her  full  name,  though,  pansy  is  short  enough.   age.  twenty  years  old.   birth  date.  january  thirtieth,  nineteen  ninety  nine.   house.  slytherin,  like  all  of  the  parkinsons  before  her.   blood  status.  pureblood.   wand.  twelve  inches,  cedarwood,  dragon  heartstring  core.   pet.  snowy  owl  named  apollo.  spoken  languages.  english,  italian,  french.

parents. perseus parkinson ( father, deceased ), romina parkinson ( mother, alive ). siblings. biologically none, but there will be a wanted connection for a soon to be step sibling because romina parkinson is wanting to remarry.

before aurelius. bear with me i wrote a whole bio for this one.

tw’s to follow: child neglect, child abuse, death of a parent.

pansy sabelia amelie parkinson was born on a frosty january night, the only heir that would ever be birthed to carry on the parkinson line. she never wondered why her parents never tried for a son, a true heir to further their name, seeing how her parents avoided one another at every turn. she scarcely saw her parents at all unless they had a family dinner, which was a rarity in itself, or in the case that the family was called upon to social settings. with the help of nannies and numerous instructors, pansy was brought up to be prim, proper, and a wonderful representation of the pureblood parkinson name.

the first bout of magic was displayed later in pansy’s life, a shame for her parents to recall, wondering fearfully if they’d birthed a squib; every piece of priceless porcelain in the parkinson estate’s dining room shattering with her tantrum when they were demanding her to stay out of the kitchen when the elves were cooking because it was unseemly for her, even the chandelier crashing down between the parents and their ten year old little girl. there was nothing that pansy despised more than being told what to do, not after she’d spent years only seeing them every couple of months––who were they to tell her what she could and couldn’t do in her free time?

pansy had never been more relieved than the day she’d pried her thiudreiks letter from a pretty owl’s clutches. school offered her freedom from the parkinson estate, seeing it as more of a prison than a home. although she longed to be at thiudreiks for the holidays, that was when they decided it was time for pansy to start attending all of their holiday events with them––one of which being the start of the yearly parkinson christmas ball, where they could finally boast about their magical child. it was during this time she really got to get to know her parents, and came to understand why her mother despised being in the same room as her father. he was a truly horrendous, domineering man, and pansy didn’t take to it whatsoever; the two would get into screaming matches, neither ever backing down because pansy was certainly her father’s daughter.

he found ways to make pansy bend to his will. never physical violence, no, they weren’t filthy muggles who would throw fists at one another so barbarically… silencing charms became a favorite of her father’s while he would hurl nasty insults at her, and darker spells came her way as she grew into her thicker skin. pansy was no stranger to torture spells, knew them all like the back of her hand by the time she was returning for her sixth year. at school, it was no wonder she’d resorted to verbal abuse towards the peers she regarded as beneath her for so many years––sometimes she would look in the mirror and see her father staring back at her.

positive. candid,  resilient,  independent,  loyal,  trustworthy,  resourceful.   neutral.  intense,  unsentimental,  intelligent.  negative.  sadistic,  mean-spirited,  petty,  vicious,  prejudiced,  shallow.

character notes. headcanons, school notes, and more

pansy  is  allergic  to  kiwis,  and  has  never  told  anyone  this  aside  from  close  friends.

she’s  not  one  to  be  shy  about  her  sexuality,  and  has  slept  with  a  number  of  other  students  regardless  of  house.  there’s  something  very  liberating  about  getting  the  attention  she’d  been  deprived  of  for  so  long  in  her  younger  years,  and  she  takes  advantage  of  her  good  looks  to  get  what  she  wants.

with  everything  she  does,  no  matter  what  it  is,  there’s  always  a  voice  in  the  back  of  her  mind  saying  “would  this  please  my  father?”.  it’s  something  that  has  been  repeated  many  times  in  her  head  since  she  was  a  young  girl,  and  she  wonders  if  she’ll  always  feel  the  need  to  prove  herself  to  him,  even  after  death.

genuinely  is  interested  in  cooking,  but  she  still  acts  as  if  going  to  the  culinary  club  is  a  chore  and  will  tell  anyone  that  she’s  been  forced  into  it.  everyone  should  still  be  a  little  scared  when  she's  wielding  a  knife  with  her  wand  tho.

[philadelphia-hq]

“I will not name this new opening a wound. Here this is no pain I didn’t beg for.”

DARRAGH ‘MAC’ MCGREGOR

Age: 40 Gender and pronouns: Male, He/Him Occupation: Firefighter Neighborhood: Manayunk

BIOGRAPHY

tw: miscarriage, infidelity

When Darragh had been born to the McGregor clan, he’d been the 11th child of Padraig and Maeve McGregor — the last of the Irish kings, as his mother would often say. He was the son of immigrants, raised by his mother and father, older siblings, aunts and uncles and the entire Irish-American community that surrounded them in Fishtown. There was never much money, but Darragh would always happily say he had lived a privileged life as a young boy, never for lack of laughter or companionship in a home that was always jam-packed. 

And while he was the last out the door, there was no relief in his parents eyes to send him off, even if it was only a few blocks away to his first apartment. Some of his older siblings had made big of themselves, some of the first college graduates in their bloodline. For Darragh, he was so brought up on the sense of community that his family had prioritized that he’d never wanted to leave, and found that his life’s work, that of being a firefighter, kept him true to his roots. He joined the Ancient Order of the Hibernians, went to mass every Sunday, and by all means was a good Irish Catholic boy and loyal son of Philadelphia. 

There were great romances, certainly — Darragh had long envied the ease at which it seemed his siblings had all lined up in a row for marriage and children, those nieces and nephews growing older by the second it sometimes felt like. In that respect, he’d felt left behind, always maintaining a fear of letting anyone too close, never certain how his family would receive them, or how they’d fit in. So he focused on work, focused on his friendships and his family, on the regular Friday night haunts, Sunday afternoons spent at his parents with the rest of the McGregor ilk as they recovered from mass. It was all deeply fulfilling, enough so that Darragh put to rest questions of his future, of a wife or of children. And while his family was rather old fashioned about all of that, they soon let up, recognizing that in his time, he would find his way.

And that path became abundantly clear the first time he met Haley Norris — a woman who by all means was so far out of his league they weren’t even playing the same sport. It must have been the second or third date when he’d parked the car in front of his parents house on a fateful Sunday afternoon, as it hadn’t taken very long at all for him to conclude that this was the woman of his life, for better or worse. And despite their differences of background and upbringing, Haley was a perfect fit. 

From there life moved quickly, the pair was living together, soaking up those privileged hours they weren’t working sometimes opposite schedules. And in those windows of respite, a miracle greeted them. A baby, something wholly theirs. Darragh knew that this was how it was all meant to be, that while it hadn’t happened in the traditional order, that it was right, and with the right person. In promising Haley everything would be alright, he slid his claddagh ring on to her ring finger with the promise of forever — and even acquiesced to a quickie ceremony at city hall over the labors of a large Catholic wedding. 

Only life, for the very first time, lost its luster. They had become a statistic, and in that Darragh and Haley became unmoored — from reality, and each-other. As Haley turned inward, Darragh found he was useless, and his emotions were quickly repressed as he felt he had to be strong, strong for Haley and for himself. Their marriage was placed on the backburner as they tried to wade their way through individual grief, pain they had not been equipped to navigate together. Once Haley had turned away, Darragh found that late nights at his favorite haunt would reacquaint him with a former flame, someone who once upon a time, he’d considered having a life with, when everything had been far less complicated. And in a moment of weakness… Darragh had behaved out of character.

The guilt ate away at him, following him around like a shadow day-in and day-out with no respite. Confession did little to ease his burden, the Church no longer a haven. He couldn’t speak to his family about it, knowing that for his crime there was no retribution from alternative sources. He would have to confess his sins to Haley, even if it meant losing her. 

While Darragh was unprepared for her to throw out a lifeline when she did — he knew he couldn’t accept it without her knowing the truth, the whole truth, even if he lost her forever. She was only in the guest room now, but there were oceans between them, and no clear path forward as to any hope of salvation for their union. 

DARRAGH MCGREGOR has the face claim of CHRIS EVANS and is played by DARBY

[uhh-materialgworl]

Can I request Leona with a s/o who is manipulative towards everyone but him? Okay, that is a bit confusing so let me explain. The reader does not trust anyone but them so they are always controlling everyone else around them. I am kinda fantasizing about finally being able to trust someone, so...

Sure thing! Don't know if this is what you meant, but I tried.

I don't trust anyone...except maybe you

Leona Kingscholar × GN!Reader

Author's note: Someone send me more requests. Or ideas. I'm slowly running out of ideas 😭

Call them dramatic, they couldn’t care less. Despite how nice everybody seemed to act, Y/n just couldn’t bring themselves to trust them. Back home, before they ended up in twisted wonderland, everyone seemed to betray them. They tried; they really did. They would befriend someone, share everything with them, only to be disappointed months later when their “friend” left and spilled all their secrets.

All Y/n had was their parents. But they quickly learned that even they couldn’t be trusted. Y/n eventually gave up and decided to keep everything to themselves. They still had friends, but those friends knew nothing except what Y/n wanted them to know.

Y/n hated people who weren’t able to keep a secret for more than a day. They thought that people like that deserved a punishment, so when Y/n found out they had a way with words to get others to do what they wanted...well, it became a part of their everyday life. Manipulating others just so they wouldn’t have their heart broken once more.

They felt guilty sometimes, but it was simply what they had to do. It was something that would never change, they knew it wouldn’t.

Until they met Leona.

At first, they did not trust him at all. They already didn’t trust anyone there. If people back home were liars and couldn’t be trusted, well, what could they expect from a school based off villains?

To them, Leona was rude and shady. They were proven right that Leona could not be trusted after what Savanaclaw did just to win the magical shift tournament. They understood his anger, but that was no excuse to hurt others. However, the more they got to know him, the more they grew on him...they could see just how loyal he was. They were convinced they could kill someone, and he’d help them hide the body.

It was only a matter of time until they started dating. They would never be worried about him as a boyfriend as he would never cheat or lie to them. He was the most loyal and trustworthy person they had ever met, even if others didn’t seem to believe that. Heck, their previous surprise party had been spoiled because Leona just couldn’t lie to them (Grim had not been happy with that. He tried to light Leona’s tail on fire.)

Leona knew what they were doing to everyone else. He was there when Ace wouldn’t give Y/n his sandwich and they’d frown, “Oh, sorry. You know, it just kind of looked like the one my mom made me every day when I went to school. I really miss her...It’s fine though. I’ll just get something else.” They’d get up only to be stopped by Ace who was apologizing and Deuce who decided to give them his sandwich too.

He was there when Y/n wouldn’t get the grade they wanted and would somehow convince Crowley to get them an A. “I’m stuck in this place, haven’t seen my family nor friends in months. I’ve done so much for this school, always ending up in situations that could leave a magicless student like me, dead. Always helping students who overblot and getting in trouble for situations that I had nothing to do with. On top of that, I have to worry about my grade that was brought down, all because I was too busy repairing something another student broke. It’s not fair if you ask me.”

“You told Riddle? I was going to tell him eventually, but I guess he already knows because you can’t keep a secret. I was really looking forward to telling him myself. Plus, didn’t you swear not to tell anyone? Where did that promise go, huh?”

“And why are you telling me this? You say I can’t say anything because you promised you wouldn’t tell. But here you are, telling me. I’d be pretty upset if I were them.”

“What? No, of course not. I would never, I just thought it would be best if I kept this to myself.”

Leona was there for all of these events and much more. He was aware of how little trust his S/o had in others. He had seen how they manipulated others, seeming to like being the one in control. He truly wondered what had happened for them not to trust anyone besides themselves and Leona.

Y/n trusted and valued him so much, he would be lying if he said it didn’t boost his pride. His dear herbivore trusted only him, and he would not give them any reason to think he was not someone reliable. He could see through their manipulation, though they had never used it on him. His herbivore never had a reason to use it, and he was happy about that. What kind of boyfriend would he be if his S/o felt the need to control and manipulate him so that he wouldn’t lie?

Leona knows what his herbivore does is wrong sometimes, so he tries to prove to them that there are others who could be trusted. He knows it’ll take a long time for them to understand that, but he is willing to try. In the meantime, he’ll show them that if there’s no one else for them, he’ll always be right there. He will be by their side, willing to listen and help.

-----

“Mm... how was your day?” Leona yawned as he made room for his S/o.

“It was alright I guess.” Y/n climbed into bed with Leona and sighed.

Leona wrapped his arm around Y/n and kissed them. “You don’t sound too sure. Mind telling me what happened?”

He sat still and listened to them rant, giving advice and comforting them when they needed it. "Honestly, I don’t know why you put up with me. Aren’t you tired of this?”

“Tired? I’m always tired, just not of you. Listening to your worries and problems is the least I could do. Now,” He wrapped both arms around them, “Let’s sleep, alright? Your friends seem to be causing you a lot of stress lately. You’ll feel better after resting for a few hours.”

Y/n nodded and closed their eyes, ignoring the sound of Grim’s yelling as he was dragged out of the room by Ruggie.

“Sorry dude, it was Leona’s order.”

“I don’t care what your boss told you to do! My henchman is still in there and I can’t leave them alone with the oversized cat!”

[sister-symposia]

misunderstanding

You’re dating Wilbur. (or Simpbur as you teasingly call him~)

He’d planned to spend the whole day with you since your day off matched with his. But apparently his boss needed him in the office asap to deal with some numbers or something, he didn’t care really. All he cared about what he had to leave you for a few hours. But he had to go. If he lost his job he’d no longer be able to pay for the apartment you shared, or spoil you how he knows you like. So to work with him. But he kissed you deeply before he left. Sad to go.

BUT GOOD NEWS! He got half way to the office before he got a call from his boss, telling him to just come in the next day. Boss’s wife went into labor or something, Simpbur didn’t care. All he cared about was he gets to go home to you now! So he happily turns around, heading home with a smile on his face. He gets back maybe 40 minutes after he left. He gets in, locks the door behind him, and calls your name in a sing-song tone. But... nothing. You don’t answer. Confused he wonders if you stepped out? But no, your purse is still by the door. Did you have headphones on and not hear him? He checks the apartment for signs of you. 

Kitchen? No. 

Living room? No. 

Bathroo-.... What was that sound?

It came from the bedroom. He backed out of the bathroom and tensed up when he heard you moaning. All the color drained from his face and he suddenly felt sick. He wanted to throw up the breakfast you’d so sweetly prepared for him before he left for work as he stood stock still in the short hallway leading to the bedroom. He had to swallow back the influx of saliva his mouth made in response to his sudden nausea. Maybe he misheard. Maybe you stubbed your toe and were groaning in pain. Maybe he was wrong-

“Ohh fuck, oh god! Mmmyes! Please!” He heard you gasp and plead.

His heart was beating too fast. He felt dizzy and couldn’t breathe. He took a shaky breath as tears welled in his eyes and rage and heartbreak swirled together inside him. Half of him was furious, wondering how could you fucking do this to him?! Hadn’t he done everything you’d asked?! Hadn’t he been a good and loving boyfriend?! 

But the other half... the grief-stricken half.. it knew why you would. Of course he couldn’t be everything you needed. Of course you’d gone and found someone better. He was just a pathetic loser that you would never really love. God he was so fucking delusional. How could he think-

“Ahhhhnn Wilbur!”

Wait.. what?

He blinked away the tears in his eyes, sudden focus knocking him back into reality. He unclenched his fists, realizing how numb they’d gone from how hard he’d been clenching them. He ignored the sting of pain from where his blunt nails had cut crescent moons into his palms, instead focusing on being silent as he crept closer to the cracked bedroom door. His anxiety was still ramped up but now it was being washed around by a lot of curiosity. Had... had you found someone else also named Wilbur?? If so, why? Now more curious than scared he peeked into the bedroom via the small amount of space the door was cracked open, mentally preparing himself to see you with another man..

But you weren’t. You were alone in bed.

Alone and mostly naked. Your pants had been shucked off and your top pushed up over your breasts. Your panties hadn’t even been taken off all the way and were hanging from one leg while you fucked yourself with a bright pink dildo. The one Simpbur bought for you. The flood of relief he got at seeing you not with anyone was almost dizzying. His body shook from the leftover adrenaline and he slumped forward against the doorjamb as he watched you pleasure yourself, totally oblivious to his presence. And relief made way for arousal as his body reacted to seeing you be so lewd. And when he heard you calling his name as you pleasured yourself his heart fluttered in delight. Suddenly his earlier worries seemed so far off and silly. Of course you’d never cheat on him. You weren’t that kind of girl. You were sweet and loyal and loving. God you were beautiful. He needed to taste you.

He creaked the door open and stepped inside, glad you were so distracted. He got closer, finally sitting beside you, which finally clued you in to his return. You squealed in terror before seeing it was just him and scowling. Your body slumped down and you dropped the toy, instead clutching a hand over your heart as you willed it to stop being so fast. You scolded him for sneaking up on you but he just laughed and grabbed the toy and started thrusting it into your still sopping heat. You gasped and he smiled when he saw your toes curl, even as you tried to chide him between gasps. Though your annoyance at being spooked disappeared when he pushed your legs open further and leaned down to put his mouth on your clit, rhythmically suckling the poor nub in time with the toy pushing into you. 

He savored the way you keened as you finally reached orgasm, your hips cantering up to get closer to him and the pleasure he was giving you. Simpbur groaned as he tasted your cum on his tongue, feeling drunk off of it. As soon as your hips fell back onto the bed and you were laying there catching your breath he moved away from you, tossing the toy to the side as he stood up and began yanking his own clothing off, he had to be inside you now. Once free of his burdensome clothes he lifts your legs and slides his half hard cock against your soaked pussy, just grinding against it and getting himself wet with your cum. Then he smiles wider and pushes your legs together before sliding in between your thighs, thrusting between them and reveling in how your slick was coating his rapidly hardening cock so well. Soon he was fully slick.

Once he was suitably lubed up he spread your legs back open and yanked you to the edge of the bed by your hips, making you gasp. Simpbur lined himself up with your opening and with no hesitation he slammed himself in, savoring how you whined at being full so suddenly. Usually he’d be so much more careful with you but he knew you were wet and ready this time so there was no worry. And fucking god you felt so tight, almost unbearably so. Even after getting your pretty cunt fucked by such a big toy you were squeezing tight around him. 

He gave a sharp thrust, relishing your moan from the rough action. He could tell you were probably still sensitive from your first orgasm, but he couldn’t hold back. He got a good grip on your hips then began slamming his cock into you, his usual sweet nature gone as he used your body to get himself off. He wasn’t usually this rough with you but fuck if you weren’t enjoying it. Your head tipped back as streaks of white hot pleasure shot through your core and through the rest of your body, making your hands clench the sheets under you, just for something to hold onto. 

The only sounds echoing through the room were your high pitched pleas for more, for harder and Simpbur’s breathy groans mixed with the sloppy sounds of his length slamming into your dripping slit. The brown eyed musician couldn’t bring himself to look away from your euphoria painted face. Your eyes were closed as you reveled in bliss, your breasts bouncing with each harsh thrust he drove into you. He couldn’t resist leaning down to wrap his mouth around your left nipple, suckling on the pert nub before tugging it gently with his teeth while the other mound was teased and pinched by his deft fingers. His pace sped up when you whined and wrapped your arms around his head, your own fingers gripping his tousled hair like you needed him closer more than you needed air.

“Wi-... Wilbur! I’m almost there!” You whimpered out through heavy breaths. You’d already come before, and this second orgasm was so close you could taste it.

Simpbur couldn’t help the grunt that left his lips as he felt your already tight walls clench further around his pistoning manhood as it sawed as deep inside you as he could force it to go. He released his right hand and took your left one in it, lacing your fingers together as he pressed hungry open mouth kisses up your neck and under your ear, his husky sex deep voice begging you to say his name, to tell him you loved him. You mewled and clutched him closer with your free hand as you answered his prayers, whispering his name and chanting sweet ‘I love you’s’ into his ear as he built you higher and higher towards your peak before tipping you past the edge. 

You tightened around him, back arching off the bed as you practically wept in euphoria. Simpbur groaned at the feeling of your walls fluttering around him as you came, the heavenly sensation pushing him closer to his own climax. He was so close, and in the effort to reach his end his thrusts became sloppier and less rhythmic until he was just brutally hammering his cock into your poor spent form. He finally stilled, hilting into you fully as his cum flooded your abused slit. You let out a breathy cry as you felt him release inside you. A yawn escaped you as you laid back against the mattress with your legs hanging off the side of the bed, feeling as your boyfriend lifted himself up and pulled out of you. You sleepily guessed he was going to get something to wipe you both off.

And you were partly right, he was going to grab a wash cloth for you two. But first he just stood back and gave a satisfied smile as he watched his cum leak out of you onto the bed. He’d never seen anything more lovely than you utterly spent and leaking his cum. 

But when he saw your half dressed and sweat dampened form shiver he snapped out of his trance and hurried to grab something to wipe you off. He lovingly cleaned you up and rid you of your now sweaty clothes, and then he scooted you to lay on the bed proper before crawling in behind you and covering you both with a blanket, happily cuddling against your back as you drift off to sleep 💕

[helliontherapscallion]

Sweet Betrayal

Part 2     Part 3     Part 4

Spotify Playlist (collaborative)

Warnings: swearing, neglect, successful suicide attempt, death, insanity

(A/N): I had a little too much fun writing this

“I’ll help you.”

Tommy cheered and clapped a hand on your shoulder. Wilbur gave you a slightly manic smile, his plan is going to work out perfectly with you working with them. Techno merely grunted in acknowledgement. Something about your tone threw him for a loop, but he just summed it up to the voices and his growing trust issues. The voices were screaming at him not to trust you, that you were a traitor, that you’d betray them. But there’s no way his youngest sibling would ever betray them; they couldn’t hurt a fly. They were basically defenseless. 

Tubbo looked slightly hesitant to accept you as his spying partner, but he figured that you joining him would take most of the stress off from his shoulders. You were close to Schlatt, he basically treated you as if you were his own. He was slightly jealous at how close to his father you were when he, Schlatt’s biological son, was often standing in the same room as them. He knew that Schlatt was a shitty father and could never shape up to being as good of a father figure than Philza was to him, but he just couldn’t help but feel hurt at the fact that his own father, who abandoned him at the side of the road as a kid, so readily took on another kid that wasn’t himself. Despite his resentment towards you, he accepted having you as a partner. Maybe once he got to know you better you weren’t so bad. 

On the outside, you were giving your ‘brothers’ a sweet smile. Almost sickeningly sweet as you plastered it on your face to hide the resentment and hatred brewing inside of you threatening to escape and fill this ravine with it’s raging waves. They were never your brothers, always choosing to exclude you from everything they were doing. As a kid, you had nobody to rely on. Tommy had Tubbo and Wilbur had Techno and Philza. You were completely, utterly alone as a kid. 

You were always deprived of social interaction, always being told to ‘suck it up’, ‘quit whining’, and ‘just accept it’. You watched from the sidelines as your brothers received all the love and support from each other and Philza, and you were sick of being left out. Their proposal has made you finally reach your breaking point. You came to the realization that you were only going to get their support only when you were of use to them. 

Even as adults and as teenagers, they’re always acting like children. Whining over losing power, getting exiled, how ‘tyrannical’ every single government was, like get a grip. You brought this upon yourself. Manberg would be much better off without you two. Just accept leadership, it’s there to bring natural structure to society. This isn’t high school, stop overreacting. Oh, how you longed to scream in their faces, drop the happy, sweet, and defenseless facade you always wore. You were broken down by them, and you were going to be their downfall. You would make sure of it. At least, that’s what Schlatt promised you. 

You met Schlatt one day when you were alone in the forest far from the house you called home. It was dark out and you were hiding from the mobs that threatened to take one of your lives. He found you by following your whimpers, taking you back to his house and giving you shelter for a few days. He treated you like you were a person, an actual human being, and that made you realize that you weren’t alone in the world afterall. Philza and your brothers didn’t even notice that you were gone until after a week of staying with Schlatt. You remembered how Philza stormed into Schlatt’s house, grabbed you by the ear, apologized to Schlatt, and drug you home lecturing you the entire time. You were grounded for a month after that and banned from talking to Schlatt.

However, you still talked to Schlatt in secret. He eventually treated you like you were his own, showering you with the love and support that you were deprived of. You supposed you craved constant reassurance and kindness, and you chopped it up to how you were raised. You had trauma and Schlatt was there to fix that. He gave you constant support, something your ‘family’ has never done. Well, they did once when you finally broke and fell into a deep depression, never leaving your room. They didn’t notice that, but what they did notice was the death message that flashed across their comm tablets: “(Y/n) suffocated.”

When they ran to your room, they caught the last of the golden dust that used to be your body drifting into the atmosphere. In the center of your room hanging from an exposed pipe in the ceiling was a noose fashioned from an old rope they had noticed had gone missing a few weeks ago. It didn’t take a genius to figure out that you hung yourself. 

For a solid month after that, they treated you like they treated each other and you felt like you were soaring the entire time. Philza even told you that he loved you and that he was proud of you when you ate your first meal in a week!  All of the attention and support faded when they saw you smile more and laugh louder. You faded again into obscurity and all that came out of that successful suicide attempt was not your family’s unconditional love like you had hoped, but an ugly scar that wrapped around the entirety of your neck.  

You were going to fuck up their plans. They deserved it for ostracizing you all those years. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Your and Schlatt’s plan was unfolding swimmingly. Your idiotic brothers had no clue of your betrayal and that always made you want to laugh hysterically, but you held it in until you got back to the White House. You would laugh in Schlatt’s office with him. The cabinet often heard loud, boisterous laughter booming from behind the closed office doors, but they’ve long since learned not to question it. 

They grew wary of you two, it seemed that your sanities were turning into slippery slopes. The Emperor and the Secretary of Defense could not be fully trusted to make any decisions anymore. Even Quackity, who loved his adopted kid to death, agreed that they couldn’t be trusted. You and Schlatt had changed so much from when he first started dating Schlatt. It hurt him to see his husband and his child slip into insanity.

While you were planning the festival with Schlatt and Tubbo, it was extremely hard for you to keep a straight face. Whenever Schlatt wasn’t looking, Tubbo would smirk and glance at you from the corner of his eyes. It was in those moments specifically that you would struggle the most with containing your laughter. Originally, Schlatt was only going to exile Tubbo for his treachery, but after the fiasco with the lame excuse of ‘farming totems of undying’, you convinced him to turn it into an execution. You organized every single part of Tubbo’s execution, it was perfect in your opinion. At the same time, you were giving Schlatt information of your brother’s whereabouts during the festival. You were going to put on a show for them.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

On the stage, you were shifting and fidgeting relentlessly from your position between your adopted dads. From an outside perspective, one would assume that you’re nervous to be on stage in the middle of the spotlight. Everybody outside of the cabinet and your fathers still saw you as the innocent kid that wouldn’t hurt a fly. How wrong they were. Tubbo’s speech was the hardest to sit through, Quackity had to have a tight grip on your hand to prevent you from rushing the teenager and caging him too early. 

After Schlatt gave you the signal, you, him, and Quackity quickly trapped him in a cage made of yellow concrete. You could hear the shocked gasps of the audience and saw Wilbur holding Tommy down from revealing their hiding spot. Schlatt gently nudged you up to the microphone with a kind smile. 

You walked confidently up to the podium and gave the audience the widest closed-eyed grin they’d ever seen on you. “Hello citizens of Manberg, other guests,” you opened your eyes and shot a smug smirk over to your older brothers on the roof. You took great pleasure in the look of hurt, anger, and betrayal in their eyes. 

“What you are going to witness today is my pride and joy. As it turns out, our dearest Tubbo here,” you turned around to give a grandiose gesture at the cage behind you, “is a filthy little traitor.” The last word ripped itself from your mouth like a rattlesnake spitting venom at its victims. 

Tubbo banged on the walls in a rage, “you were a spy too! YOU WERE A SPY FOR POGTOPIA TOO!” 

“On the contrary, dearest Tubbo. I was a double agent working for Schlatt, my father. I was never loyal to Pogtopia. Why would I be when you all used me?” You gave him a gentle smile. The insane and malicious glint in your eyes contrasted the kindness of your features. You turned back to the podium with that same smile. The combination of your words and your expression sent cold chills down the spines of the Manbergians. They now saw you as who you really were. 

“Now, since I was so rudely interrupted,” you shot a glare at the shocked boy behind you, “hm, where was I?” You rubbed your chin in false confusion before you perked up, “oh right! What you are going to witness today is the public execution of our dear friend Tubbo.” You broke into a series of manic giggling, pounding your fist against the wood of the podium. The gasps of the audience sounded like music to your ears.

“TECHNOBLADE, GET THE HELL UP HERE BROTHER! YOU HAVE THE HONORS.”

You shouted through your laughter. Technoblade climbed up the stairs and stood facing you with a harsh glare. You grinned at him as he spoke to you with his usual monotone voice. This time, there was an undeniable angry undertone you could clearly detect, “what do you want me to do?”

“You still have that rocket launcher, right?”

He pulled it out of his satchel. You squealed happily and jumped up and down clapping your hands excitedly, “good! I’ve always liked fireworks. Now be a dear and make Tubbo go out with a bang!”

He walked over to face Tubbo’s cage and pointed the crossbow at him. You could see his finger trembling over the trigger and a nervous sweat gathering at his brow. After a while of seeing no firework action, you grew impatient and started to furiously shout at him.

“WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR, BLOOD GOD? WHAT, ARE YOU TOO MUCH OF A PUSSY TO DO IT NOW? KILL HIM! BLAST HIM TO SMITHEREENS! FUCKING DO IT.”

With every word that left your mouth, you stepped closer to him until you were screaming into his ear. You felt immense pleasure when you saw him start to shake. When you heard the shooting of fireworks and the agonized screams of Tubbo and saw the colorful blasts, you felt like you were on cloud nine. It was beautiful. 

Your insane laughter was heard over the chaos that followed. Schlatt and Quackity, seeing Techno’s growing anger after killing Tubbo, moved to push you behind them. Quackity wrapped his wings around you in a tight hug before fireworks were shot at your family. After you pushed Quackity away from you, you saw your father’s corpse lying on the stage floor. It was clear that he had just lost a life. 

Quackity collapsed to the stage with a groan before he briefly passed out. You checked if he was still breathing before you looked at Technoblade with anger written clear on your features. You gave a furious shout before you charged at him, determined to kill the unkillable. 

You dodged the fireworks that he shot at you before you finally reached him. He dodged your flailing arms and the attempts to push him off from the stage with ease. “I SHOULD’VE KNOWN NOT TO TRUST YOU!” 

His shout was dismissed by you, not registering in your clouded mind at all. He grabbed your arms and threw you to the edge of the stage. Before you could get up, he stomped a foot down on your chest and pointed the rocket launcher at your face. You were not phased by this, grinning and laughing with insanity-filled glee.  “KILL ME TECHNO! DO IT, GO ON! FUCKING DO IT. BLOOD FOR THE BLOOD GOD!”

He stared at you with the most anger you’ve ever seen from him before he pushed you off the stage with a simple kick of his foot. As you were plummeting to your death, you saw Technoblade point the rocket launcher at you before you saw the colorful rockets shooting at you. Your laughter ending abruptly with the explosion of fireworks and the thump of your bloodied corpse against the pavement was something the citizens of Manberg would never forget. 

Your brothers stared at your corpse as it disappeared with shock and anger. They never suspected you of all people to be a traitor, they thought you were the sweet, naive kid they knew growing up. They thought your allegiance to them would be unbreaking and you’d follow them blindly. Obviously, they were wrong. There was no saving you. You were too far gone. 

When you woke up with Schlatt and Quackity holding your hands at your bedside, all of the memories flooded back to you. They held you as you cried in frustration, wiping at your tears with gentle, reassuring smiles and loving words. Rage filled you as you remembered how they got away with their lives. You had one life left, and you were going to dedicate it to their downfall. Even if you died in the process. They should fear the day you return. There was no saving them from your wrath. 

[sukirichi]

jujutsu kaisen characters as students in high school: (non-canon AU)

featuring: itadori yuuji, fushiguro megumi, gojo satoru, getou suguru, & ryoumen sukuna notes: some parts include you as their friend, or even their high school love! (this is unedited/ not proofread)

masterlist ! requests are open 

𝐈𝐓𝐀𝐃𝐎𝐑𝐈 𝐘𝐔𝐔𝐉𝐈

he’s not the brightest bulb, but he makes up for it through hardwork and enthusiasm

yuuji is literally that classmate everyone is just friends with

the type who waves with a smile, saying “good morning!” the moment he walks through that door

with that being said, since he’s everyone’s friend, i headcannon that yuuji doesn’t really have a best friend because he’s so open and available to everyone it’s hard to have just a one on one conversation with him

not to say he’s always surrounded by a crowd that you can’t get near him, but everyone likes talking to yuuji

he just fits in so well and understands people 

kind of like how he easily clicked with junpei (please, i miss him, i still can’t believe that he’s...you know...)

whether it’s the guys raving to him about sports

or girls shyly talking about their crush on class or about that new shojo manga

yuuji is open to anything and everyone. this boy wears his heart on his sleeve and he’s honestly such a precious boy, please be kind to him <3

the type of student that gets called to answer in class but isn’t shy to admit he doesn’t know the answer while rubbing the back of his neck

he does pay attention tho

i think it’s canon that yuuji is a dedicated man, like from that time he just watched movies straight and kept his cursed energy controlled so the cursed corpse would stop hitting him

overall, yuuji is a very hard working student! 

he wouldn’t get over the top grades, but he’s really proud of himself (and he should be!)

also that one kid in class that is surprisingly good in sports despite his lanky figure and laid back persona, because all the other sports-craved people are always flexing or challenging other captains 

but plot twist, this boy is ripped and very, beautifully kept in trim

yeah he’s not really into club activities that much

not because he hates them, but he’s just not that into it. he’s more than glad to join in whatever activities though and enjoys them, but if asked what he’d like to do, it wouldn’t be that first thing that came to mind

in conclusion: itadori yuuji is the class sunflower that lights up everyone’s day  🌻

yuuji’s role: the hard worker! 

𝐅𝐔��𝐇𝐈𝐆𝐔𝐑𝐎 𝐌𝐄𝐆𝐔𝐌𝐈

hands down, megumi is THAT student

if you’re volunteering in the library, you can sure as hell guarantee you’ll see megumi there

he doesn’t like studying in class because it’s too noisy, so if he’s in school, you’ll always see his name in the library logs

he’s that kid that aces all exams

the type to scowl when he sees a 96% mark because he’s expecting a perfect mark

okay before you come at me, i’m not saying megumi is that annoying smart kid in class that goes, “Oh, I’m so dumb, just a 96?”

no he’s more frustrated at himself because he knows he studied hard and lost sleep over it. he’s just wondering where he went wrong. he has literal note cards and customize flash cards on an app on his phone, waking up every four am and probably taking supplement classes after regular school hours

i headcannon that megumi is someone who always wants to do his best and actually goes through lengths to prove his worth

maybe it stems from having the need to show who he really is and what he’s capable of

but yeah i can totally see him doing that

also that cute student that keeps visiting the cafe every saturday morning, wearing a black hoodie and headphones tucked in, his pretty hands nestling over a book

he looks like a gamer but honestly i don’t think he’s got time for that lmao

would also be that guy people find hard to approach because of his quiet and reserved self

he’s pretty intimidating too

definitely sits beside the window at the back of the class. you can’t fight me on that

just because he’s smart and loves studying, it doesn’t mean he’ll sit on the front row and raise his hand every damn second

the teachers will encourage him to participate in class a little bit more, especially after seeing he’s awkward during group activities, but megumi just really prefers to do things by himself

i also headcannon him eating in the cafeteria like everyone else instead of having his alone time during a rooftop? like idk i can’t picture megumi completely isolating himself like that

he blends in well in a way that you know he’s just like everyone else; a human

but he also stands out in the manner that he’s a lot more introverted and reserved compared to everyone else

surprisingly good during sports and relay games

100% reliable

the type to stay up at midnight to finish a group project, sighing because his groupmates doesn’t care as much as he does, but turns it in anyway the next day

he’d be annoyed at them, but he doesn’t really like confrontation so he doesn’t out them to the teacher like that

but he’s also not someone who lets people walk over him, so he’ll simply say something about his groupmates becoming more responsible and to be serious for once as a “warning”

and yeah, he may be closed off, but once you get really close with him (even better if you have similar interests) you’ll find there’s a lot more to him than what you’ve originally seen and he’s actually a pretty great friend and supportive classmate

would teach you instead of just letting you copy his work or snap pictures of his notes

ugh he’s so responsible and morally right and that’s so attractive help

in conclusion: fushiguro megumi is the hidden gem  💎

megumi’s role: the intellectual outsider!

𝐆𝐎𝐉𝐎 𝐒𝐀𝐓𝐎𝐑𝐔

man...i don’t know how to start this

i’ve said this about megumi, but gojo is also that student

no, in fact, he’s THE student

everyone loves him. literally everyone

the teachers? smitten

his classmates? in love

the school guard? calls him by his first name

the cleaning lady? turns into a star with the way she lightens up when he’s there

the cafeteria staff? yeah free food because he’s gojo satoru

gojo is what i like to call the “one who has it all” because....well, he kind of does

he’s really smart and talented, which comes as a surprise to everyone in the first day of school when he nearly gets kicked out for falling asleep in class

only for everyone to be shocked that he knows the answer already and the teacher is only discussing chapter 1 lmao

yeah he’d be that kid who always sleeps in class

or is playing games on his phone behind an open textbook

he literally doesn’t listen to what the teacher is saying at all - or at least that’s what he wants you to think

man is a god at multitasking and his seatmate would snicker because he’s crushing his enemies at a phone game, but then gojo coolly corrects the teacher about history or something

he’s pretty laid back tbh

but when he’s got everyone’s attention on him? ofc he’d show off

basketball meats are wild. even students from neighbouring schools would visit just to see gojo play - and he’s not even an official member! the coach just asked him to replace a sick player but boy won that champion shot

omg BASKETBALL PLAYER GOJO I CAN’T

but he pretty much excels at everything

except cooking class, gosh, don’t ever bring this man anywhere near a fire. that’s probably the only thing that really got him to detention this time because he always somehow talks himself out of getting that red card with his words and charm

also that kid that would receive lots of confession letters, chocolates, and random gifts in his shoe lockers

he knows he’s handsome and he’s not shy about it. in fact, he’s shameless when it comes to his allure on people

but he also doesn’t really date anyone (it’s canon this man won’t stay loyal to a single woman lmao)

if he and megumi were classmates, they’d be sort of rivals

megumi would always come on top of class, but gojo is just a breath away from the former’s perfect marks. if it only weren’t for megumi’s squeaky clean record and reputation - whereas satoru’s is TAINTED as heck - and the fact that gojo doesn’t really study as much as gumi, then yeah he’d also be top of the class if he wanted to

on a much more serious note,,,gojo acts like nothing really bothers him and he’s simply that effortless

but i feel like he grew up with tutors from a very young age and that’s how his natural intelligence was just further improved and increased with that type of environment in his childhood

and unlike megumi, i don’t think gojo would really have a set goal in mind on who he wants to be or what he wants to do in the future

he’d just be enjoying the moment <3

in conclusion: gojo satoru is the effortless god!

satoru’s role: the lazy king everyone is envious of 

𝐆𝐄𝐓𝐎𝐔 𝐒𝐔𝐆𝐔𝐑𝐔

the playboy

you can’t argue with me on this one

he just is, i feel it deep in my SOUL he just is

moment he walks in, all classy and suave aura and all, you can honestly smell and taste the amount of confidence that drips from him

probably came from a well-off family

probably the mayor’s kid lmao and he’s been used to the attention ever since he was young

much like megumi, he’s not really the type to show off his intelligence

and similar to gojo, people are surprised he’s actually got them brain cells just because everyone is more focused on his appearance first

like who would expect this tall hunk beautiful beast of a man with long hair and piercings actually liked classic novels and could effortlessly recite sonatas and poems in different languages

yeah i headcannon that getou is an intellectual, cultured man

ofc having long hair and piercings isn’t allowed in his school, but because he’s geto and the school knows about his family’s influence, they just let it slide

probably comes late to school too

he eats in the cafeteria, but you don’t really see him indulge much. some days, he’ll have his own fancy bento box prepared by a family chef, but geto is actually pretty simple and humble that he also buys packed bread or canned coffee 

takes the library volunteer by surprise when he drops by one friday after class to borrow an old classic novel that even your professors had a hard time analysing

but geto’s like, “oh this? yeah i last read it when i was thirteen, thought i’d read it again”

IDK WHY but I can see him as sort of breaking the rules when it comes to the school uniform

top three buttons of his shirt open when he’s feeling hot or something

doesn’t really keep his tie that tight too

but overall, geto is a composed and well-put together guy

i just can’t picture him slacking when it comes to his appearance, he’s too fancy and pretty for that

he’s also similar to megumi in a way people find it hard to approach them, but most definitely, geto also receives confessions often 

i can see him dating someone after being interested in someone in school and actually being serious with them unlike gojo

then they would be “that” couple that’re just so couple goals

not the type that goes overboard with pda and pulls off the angry face emoji when they hear someone talking about them and they’re like, “NO HE’S MINE”

okay that’s cringe but i legit witnessed that way too many times in high school yall cant blame me lmao

but they’d be more like the chill laid back couple that supports each other in everything and you can just tell they have a happy, healthy relationship

(oh to be getou’s girlfriend in high school and his first love and all his firsts)

in conclusion: getou suguru is the unpredictable!

getou’s role is: that one classmate you really admire but he’s so far out your league but he’s genuinely a good guy anyway so you’re happy for him no matter what <3

𝐑𝐘𝐎𝐔𝐌𝐄𝐍 𝐒𝐔𝐊𝐔𝐍𝐀

okay okay hear me out but...the stoner

i really can’t see him any other way guyssss

and if you’re his classmate, you most likely wouldn’t see him that much either

dude is like 2-3 years older than everyone in class and he doesn’t give a shit about it

he’ll come like...once a week, if he’s in the mood enough

teachers don’t even bother scolding him for his tattoos anymore because there’s rumours going around he’s the son of a yakuza leader or that he’s a gangster who sells organs or some creepy dark stuff

ofc he doesn’t do that

he just does drugs and gets drunk at most

sukuna doesn’t really have that much friends either. yeah he parties with people and often gets high with some older kids, but he doesn’t genuinely enjoy their companies either

would totally come to school with his uniform unironed

red-eyed from his high and naps at the back of the class, making the teacher soften their voice in fear of waking him up

also doesn’t have a pen or paper

i mean...he doesn’t even bring a bag

fails the exams all the time, making him repeat year by year, and he’s even known for beating his senpai up for something stupid and sending the guy to a hospital where he stays for two weeks

but on the other hand

he’s also freakishly attractive and surprisingly easy to talk to

you probably bumped into him one time and you profusely apologize, but then he notices something about, something odd like, “did you just cut your hair?”

“uhm yes...you noticed?”

sukuna shrugs lazily, “noticed something was different, but whatever. it looks good on you though.”

he’s just soooo nonchalant most of the time, it’s hard to believe he’s actually pretty violent

but yeah this man has anger issues i’m sorry

but with that speaking, i actually don’t see sukuna as a bully with like a gang of his “followers” or that type of jazz

he’s more like the kid that hides under the bleachers or gets high in a storage room while everyone else is occupied with school festivals

it’s a shock he even came, but sukuna just says “free food is always a gift” but ofc it’s not free food...he just steals from the stalls

now here comes the fun part

so now that we know sukuna pretty much is a hopeless case...suddenly, he isn’t? maybe he meets you, the class volunteer who goes out of their way to visit his shabby apartment just to hand him his class work that he’s missed out on

he obviously disses you at first and ignores you, telling you to get lost

but somehow your kindness and persistence has him breaking

now he starts coming to school often, carrying a pack of gum or mint pops because he smells like weed and he’s slightly conscious of himself

this is supposed to be just them being students in high school, but i could honestly sukuna changing colors once he just gets a better grasp of what would be good for him

or maybe something finally interests him and gives answers to his silent questions

i feel like he’s such a troubled kid and just lacks proper care and attention, but once you become his friend and show him you don’t have bad intentions, he’s actually a loyal and decent guy

and when you two finally get close, you eventually gain enough courage to tutor him. sukuna is actually pretty smart too, he just doesn’t like studying, but when you compliment him, oh man, he melts

“yeah, you actually got that right! i told you you could do this!”

tsk,” he scoffs, “that’s all kindergarten shit.”

“if it is, then why haven’t you graduated?”

“shut the fuck up.”

although he sneers, you and sukuna have gotten close enough that you know both of you don’t mean anything bad behind those words and it’s all light hearted teasing

oh and when you ask him to take a picture with you for “high school memories?”

sukuna is disgusted

“get that thing away from my face - did you just take my photo?”

“yeah, you look pretty cute here! i’m so printing this and putting this in my album.”

sukuna is about to scold you even more, but the thought of you putting your photo together - even when he’s frowning in the picture - in something as sentimental as a photo book really has him softening up

would even try - keyword is try - to study more just so you’d stop frowning when you see his paper covered in red marks all over again

and he’d even try cutting down on his weed for the sake of his “health”

ofc he won’t suddenly - or ever, even - become the amazing student megumi is

he’ll still get into trouble because he’s impulsive and has poor coping skills, also he’s not good with words or dealing with his emotions

but on his good days, he’s a pretty funny guy

it just takes a lot to see that side of him, but it’s worth the time and patience

also i was expecting to write funny scenarios or imagines of stoner! sukuna because he’s too high to even hold a proper conversation sometimes but all i got is him saying weird words like “snail trap” or something when you ask him how his day is

would also have that garbled little laugh when he’s so out of it

sukuna will try to be better though, you just need to be patient him

but my GOSH when he finally graduates

he’s going to hide that little smile because deep down, he’s also pretty proud of himself and how far he’s come <3

lol now this makes me want to writer a high school au lololol

in conclusion: yeah he’s the stoner with a good heart 

which is so not canon...this shouldn’t even be a headcanon we know ryoumen sukuna is PURE EVIL but oh well maybe when I’m down from my sukuna high I’ll write him a lot more canonically