#think this is the first time i've come up with a proper AU at ALL so um! i'm going to call this

[strwberri-milk]

Songs of Sorrow - Ch. 15

Rancher!AU || Boothill x Fem!Reader || Slowburn, Drama

You wake up in soft sheets, feeling significantly dryer and cleaner than you know you should. You start to sit up, startled by the feeling of an arm on your hip pulling you back in. You make to scream, fully intending to escape when you realise that it’s Boothill laying with you, shirtless. Now you want to scream for a different reason, body warm with a blush. 

“You’re finally awake. Good. Now stay in bed until I can be sure your temperature is regular. I had to wrestle you out of your clothes and then into bed.” 

You peer down and sure enough you’re wearing different clothes than the one you left in, slowly realising that he had fully stripped you down. You cover your body as though that’d change anything, Boothill’s face reddening a little as he turns his face away from you. 

“I didn’t stare or nothin’. I just didn’t want your symptoms to get worse by being left in cold clothes. I couldn’t wash you proper either - you can take a bath when you’re feelin’ better. I just got a lukewarm towel to wash the grime off your body so you could be a little more comfortable in bed.” 

His explanation speeds up at the end and you get the sense that he’s trying to justify his actions towards you. You trust him, thankfully, but that still doesn’t explain why he’s in bed with you. 

“Then this is part of my treatment?” you ask him, pointing between the two of you. 

“Body heat is a good source of heat. I’m sweatin’ my balls off but if that means your body is gettin’ warmer that’s all that matters,” he laughs.  

You shift around curiously, glad to brush up against the loose flannel of his pyjama pants. Without thinking you brush up against him closer, just chasing his warmth. He wraps his arms around your waist as you come closer to him. Your leg wraps around his, brushing back his bangs as you admire his face up close.

Out of the corner of your eye you see a beautiful bouquet sitting on your bedside table. He watches the path your eyes take, smiling tenderly at you as you admire the petals from your spot on the bed. You feel his hand rest on your hip, offering you a soft look. 

“I gotcha some flowers,” he says quietly. “To make up for the fact that I was never able to give them to you the last night of your show.” 

“You didn’t have to do all of that,” you say quietly, resting your hand on his cheek. 

“You’re the one clinging to me right now,” he says just as softly, trying not to show you how much your touch is affecting him. 

“I've told you so many times by now. It doesn’t matter what you’re trying to tell me that I don’t need to, or that you didn’t want me to save you - I mean it when I say I’m going to protect you.” 

“But why?” you continue to insist. 

“I have money on my head and you don’t really benefit from having me live with you. If anything, all I do is put you in danger.”

“And if I didn’t care about you then you would have been turned in a long time ago.”

The words hang between the two of you, your eyes widening a little. You want to believe that he means those words in a way that makes your heart flutter. He’s always been affectionate with you so there’s no reason to think of this any differently, shaking your head as you start to turn to face away from him. 

“BoothilL, I appreciate everything you’ve done for me, really. You deserve better than this. Far better than someone coming in here, taking advantage of your kindness then making you risk hypothermia by running from you.”

He laughs again, shaking his head as his eyes begin to trail the lines of your face. You hold your breath as his knuckle begins to trace the path his eyes took, pausing in your movements. 

“You think I deserve better? Well…that’s a first for me.” 

His smile fades a little. 

“I dunno if I’ll ever find better. As far as I’m concerned, you’re the only thing I could ever want.”

You feel the bed shift as he slowly pulls you under him. Your hands go to rest against his chest, staring up at him breathlessly as his hand slips under your neck to cradle your head. Again, his eyes do that thing where they stare at you as though you’re the most precious thing in his world and your heart tries to tell you that there’s truth in the sweet names he calls you. 

He leans down to you, noses gently brushing as his eyes drift down to your lips. 

“I’ve never really wanted anything for the last little while. Tends to happen when you lose everything you care about in an instant.”

“Boothill I -” 

“Hush pretty. Just let me think about what I’m tryna tell you. I’m not any good with words.” 

You wrap your arms around his shoulders, messing with the hair on the nape of his neck. It seems to disarm him in some way, his muscles relaxing with your touch. He still seems more focused on your lips than anything else, gasping softly when your lips part wordlessly. 

A quick look of deliberation crosses his face before he presses his lips to yours. They’re rough, strong, just like him but the press of them is so gentle it makes your mind spin. You make a soft noise of surprise when he pulls back far too quickly. His touch sends chills through your body, every cell in your body tuned to him.

“I know I ain’t nothin’ but an ex-convict who shouldn’t even be dirtyin’ your hands with me but just know I’d give you everything if you just gave me the chance,” he says softly, pressing your foreheads together. 

“Boothill, what are you saying?” 

You can’t imagine Boothill being a criminal on the run, that confession somehow sidelining the very real confession of his feelings that he gave you. Somehow, he picks up on the fact that that’s what you’re referring to, sitting up a little to create distance between you two. 

“I’m not a good person,” he says softly. 

“I was a bounty hunter. A damn good one at that. Was the only way I knew to make money after an accident took out…everything.” 

You bite back the question burning on the tip of your tongue, knowing that prying too much into his past might scare him off and you’d hate to lose him now that you’ve got him so close. 

“You’re the one who deserves so much better than me. I don’t…I shouldn’t even be touching you like this.”

He starts to climb off of you. You start to panic, realising that you might actually lose him if you don’t make a move. Your arms wrap around his shoulders again, tugging him back down close enough for your breaths to intermingle.

“No…wait…I’m still cold.”

Your hands cup his cheeks as you lean in to kiss him harder. His hands come back to your body, holding your hips in place as he comes back to straddle you. The weight of his body is so comforting to you, feeling your core light up as he warms you up with the heat of his passion. 

“Wait, darlin’, shouldn’t we slow down?” he asks breathlessly, desperation in his eyes despite his words. 

“Why would we? You told me you were lying here to warm me up. I’m simply asking you for more of your medical attention,” you mutter, winding your fingers through his hair as you pull him back down for a needy kiss. 

His hands are gentle as they begin to roam your body, tentatively mapping out the contours of your shape. You’re forced to pull back from the lack of air, biting your lip as Boothill starts to trail his kisses down your lips to your chest. Your mind starts to spin as he showers you in attention, body heating up. You don’t even feel the chill of the air anymore now that you’re quickly being buried by the weight of his body. 

“I mean it darlin’,” he says again, a pleading look in his eyes despite the fact that he’s trying to stop himself. 

“You shouldn’t…we…I mean…do you really want this?”

“Am I not supposed to?” you ask quietly, teasing the hair at the nape of his neck. 

“I want you. However that looks to you, I want it. Please.”

Your voice cracks on the last word, not realising until right now how badly you needed him. You think your desire pales his in comparison as you whimper for his attention, pulling him back down to kiss him again. His hands start to trail up your shirt, large palms gently ghosting over your chest as his thumbs gently brush against your nipples. It makes you gasp sharply, biting his lip in surprise from the sensation. 

“You’re so sensitive,” he laughs against your lips, looking at you darkly. 

“Are you gonna make sweet noises like that the entire time? How am I gonna hold myself from destroying you?” 

“Maybe don’t hold back then,” you sigh, arching into his chest as he continues to tease your nipples with the rough pads of his thumb.

“What if…I want you to ruin me?” 

A low moan slips past your lips as he brings his hand down to cup you. You buck against his hand, clit hitting against the heel of his palm. The teasing sensation makes you clench slightly over nothing. His finger teases against your slit, running along your pussy. 

“You can’t say somethin’ like that. It’ll really get me goin’.” 

He continues to kiss you dumb as his fingers continue to tease you. Instinctively, you spread your legs to accommodate his body. It makes it easier for him to rub against you, hips bucking against his palm as he slowly slips his fingers inside of you. The moan that you give him is music to his ears, Boothill’s heart pounding in his chest. 

His fingers move sensually against you, each stroke drawing out another sweet noise of pleasure. He’s surprisingly gentler than you expected him to be, trying to focus on the way he looks at you but inadvertently giving him the most adorable blissed out look. Nothing he conjured up in his imagination could top this and he’s doing his best to restrain the urge to just hold you in place and have his way with you. 

You can feel the insistent press of his cock against your thigh, mind running wild as you imagine what it’d feel like to have him inside of you. He shudders lowly as you move against him, writhing as he feels your wetness start to coat his fingers. Your breath comes in short gasps, Boothill nuzzling against your throat as he gently coos at you. 

“You’re close, huh? Just keep goin’ doll - let go for me, I know you want to.” 

Your nails dig lightly into his shoulders as your hips continue to buck into him, moaning his name softly as your orgasm slowly washes over you. He looks up at you from his spot against your neck, gently bringing his kisses back up to your lips as he steals the breath out of your lungs. You feel him push your shorts off of you, laughing softly. 

“I thought I needed to stay warm. What are you doing?” you ask breathlessly, shuddering a little at the chill in the room against your bare skin. 

“Making you warm,” he growls before pressing a hungry kiss against your throat.  

You feel him lift your thighs to rest against his waist, pulling his pants down just enough to let his cock slap against his stomach. Your eyes widen at the sight of him, drops of precum sliding down the flushed tip as he leans over your body once again. He takes your hands in his, pinning them on the pillow over your head as he grinds lightly against you. 

“One more time. You’re okay with all of this, right?” he asks gently, slowly bringing his hand back down to guide his cock against your slit. 

You nod eagerly, bringing your free hand against his hip to press him further against you. He laughs at the action, brushing your noses together as he slides inside of you. The gasp you reward him with makes his cock twitch, watching your reaction carefully as he brings your hand back up to join the other. 

You squeeze his hands tightly as the press of him inside of you makes you melt. Just the tip feels like a little too much, eyes screwing shut in a pleasurable haze. You’re about to say something when he kisses you gently. It makes your heart burst and distracts you just enough for the next gentle rock of his hips to press him fully inside of you. He slowly bottoms out, slotting your hips together and gauging your pleasure by how tightly you squeeze his hands. 

“Oh God, Boothill,” you mutter under your breath when he reaches your pelvis, throwing your head back as he starts to slowly rock against you. 

“You’re beautiful like this,” he says dazedly, focused on the way you feel pulsing around his cock. 

“Don’t say stuff like that it’ll make me-” 

Your words are cut off as he picks up his pace, already having felt the way you clenched again at the sweet comment he gave you. You’re not ready for him to lean down against you, mouth right up against your ear as he starts to whisper sweet nothings. 

They all go straight to your core, feeling yourself getting wetter and wetter around him as his cock hits all the right spots inside of you. Your eyes screw shut as you continue to whimper and moan his name, your noises drowned out by the slightly rougher pace he starts to take. 

“I’m sorry my love. I just - I can’t hold back anymore,” he grunts, letting go of your hands to bring them down to your hips. 

He holds you in place as his pace has you seeing stars, letting your nails dig down the expanse of his broad back as you feel another climax beginning to crest. Your legs wrap tightly around his waist as you call out for him one final time. The feeling of your orgasm has Boothill cumming as well, pulling out as he spills against your stomach with quick jerks of his hand to the sight of your writhing. 

You stare up at him, face warm with arousal and satisfaction as you catch your breath. He stares down at you looking equally as devoted as he presses his hand against your forehead. 

“Well if that doesn’t make you warm enough I don’t know what else to do.”

[starberry-cupcake]

Welcome back!! I hope you're doing well and, if not, I hope my silly ramblings can make your day somewhat better, like the wildcats used to say: we're all in this together ♥

previously, in harrowcita del 9:

this happened

for those of you recently tuning in, this is the tag of all the ramblings

also, I'm officially in the sixth house now, palmolive can't stop me

CHAPTER 46

we're back inside the emperor's bolthole, which is infested

this is what happens when you have a lyctor orgy without the proper protection

gideon is doing her very best to fight the infestation of herald bees swarming and attacking her

she's in harrow's feeble small kitten baby body, so she's dying a lot

I'm gonna try to represent this visually

gideon keeps apologizing to harrow for getting her bits chewed off and her insides pouring out

and puts emphasis on things she wants harrow to remember

"I saw it eat your thumb—these details are important, so keep up with me—and your thumb was back in the next half minute"

"Child, that bee smashed you"

"I touched your intestines, which is usually what, fourth date"

me:

so, gideon takes off harrow's excess bones, which are no use to her, and goes further into the emperor's infested bolthole, where she finds mercygirl

mercygirl thinks gideon is harrow at first and, turns out, she was the one who stabbed her

these lyctors istg

can't trust any of them

mercygirl thinks harrow should be grateful that she stabbed her

and she was aware that harrow had "stuffed the soul of the cavalier in the back of her brain"

NOW WE'RE GONNA GET INTO SOME TERRITORY THAT MAKES ME GO ABSOLUTELY BERSERK, SO BEAR WITH ME

I NEED TO GET MY NOTES BACK FROM MY PREVIOUS RECAPS FOR THIS

she asks what happened with gideon's eyes and, as we have seen in the previous gideon-centric chapter, gideon's eyes are in harrow's face atm, if memory serves

"You're not her—she isn't driving you—but you have her eyes. Why? When they showed me your corpse I didn't think to check the eyes"

"I thought I knew what you were, though I didn't want to believe it..."

now listen, we're starting to tie some loose ends and some of those loose ends are linked very closely to my previous theories

I have been considering the Commander Wake is Gideon's Mom and Has a Personal Connection To Gideon The First and Is The One Connected With The Harrow Notes In Canaan AU for a while now

I need to link the specific recaps where I said this because I need to be transparent about where my brain was at

Evidence A, Evidence B, Evidence C, Evidence D

there's probably more but those are pretty clear

I swear to god if I was right about this I'm gonna screencap my own recap and put it here when the time comes

I've been marinating this one for months

I actually forgot how much of that I had written down in the recaps until I re-read them

mercygirl says that she thought the commander was a bad girl workaholic who put business before family, that she made her "the dolls" and she must have "played silly buggers with the emission" and that "gideon was on her tail"

"And then Gideon ruined everything. Then the commander ruined everything. Then you ruined everything. This could have been over eighteen years ago"

apparently gideon the first was "obsessed" with the commander, which accounts for some of the notes harrow read

I'LL GET BACK TO THAT WHEN WE GET TO THE SLEEPER, MY THEORIES CONTINUE

mercygirl starts calling gideon all sorts of names, including mutant, and keeps being bothered about her eyes

"Lipochrome. Recessive. You are the evidence. He lied to us...and you are all the proof I needed" "Cytherea would have known as soon as she looked at you"

is gideon the first gideon's dad??????? I mean, I always though he might have Something with the mom but my money was on gideon being made through science rather than Traditional Means

I mean, having lyctor genes in some way would account for gideon being a demigod, something I said with those words when I was reading gideon

also, remember when not!dulcinea told gideon she was prettier than the other gideon?? because I've never forgotten

mercygirl confirms that gideon the first was sent to kill gideon's mom

who, according to mercygirl, would have hated to be called a mom

mamá luchona intensifies

all of which aligns with my theory very nicely so far

she calls gideon more names, including "abomination, you heresy, you failed ambition nineteen years too late"

gideon reacts not wanting mercygirl to touch her instinctively

man, my theories are RIGHT THERE to be fully connected I'm BITING THE DESK

but there's no time for any more talk because mercygirl is trying to kill gideon in harrow's body

but she is stopped

she is shot

by not!dulcinea

but I don't think this is not!dulcinea, I previously mentioned her maybe being used by someone, not sure if it's possession or being used or what's going on but I don't think this is her

I thought about gideon the first being the one to do it but if he wanted harrow dead, I'm not sure he'd save gideon now

not!dulcinea says "with a tone that wasn't" hers: "goodbye"

gideon ends the chapter with "what the fuck is going on?"

CHAPTER 47

we're back at canaan au and it's time to perform an exorcism

harrow has a new note

I've been connecting those notes to gideon's mom possibly commander wake (as linked above)

the latest note continues to add to my theory

"end of the line. falling. oxygen can't last the distance and won't redirect power from the payload. instead I will make you watch every moment as I get the last privilege you cannot enjoy you bygone son of a bitch. I hope you're both as sorry as I am."

I still think this is gideon's mom because that's how she died, I mean, she got to the ninth in a suit without air and gideon still had some, allegedly

I've been thinking that one of the two people involved in the situationship triangle described in the notes was gideon the first, and that maybe the other was dr reverend emperor john

he's the most likely to be a bygone son of a bitch, so maybe I'm right

so, if harrow connects the notes with the spirit that's haunting her

and I'm connecting them to gideon's mom....

what if it's her that's haunting harrow?????

I mean, Waker

I NEED TO STOP GETTING INTO THEORY TANGENTS

anyway, all of the ghoulie ghostie friends are getting together for a sleepover exorcism

I didn't use this when I should have, back when the different aus were going by, but here it is

real!dulcinea says "Pal always said I'd be the death of him. And I was..."

he died being a weenie but he's not all the way dead, so it's fine

harrow questions why everyone wants to help her but everyone's totally fine with all this, for different reasons

real!dulcinea is "horny for revenge" (that's a tshirt for the seventh girlies right there)

protozoa is there because duty is his full personality

abby is really grateful to be asked to help (she also really likes tombs, very lara croft of her)

magnus loves his wife

ortus wants a redemption arc and now has a polycule

martita is behaving better than judith

abby asks harrow if there's anything she can remember from the slasher waker sleeper to try to pinpoint who tf it is

there's a suit, blood, a gun and gideon's sword, which is the only thing harrowcita recognizes and doesn't know where it comes from

my money is on gideon's mom, commander wake, probably also the woman in the shuttle poster that harrow saw but didn't recognize back when she met camilla

I'M PUTTING MORE CHIPS IN MY BETS EVEN IF I GET NO MORE INFO RN

harrow is very interested in how abby and magnus make it work as a married couple who are also a necro and a cav

I wonder why she's so interested

anyway, everything goes to shit on the exorcism

like, it goes really, really badly

group project off the rails bad

I mean, they didn't even have blood

apparently the spirit is also tethered to an object out there (the sword??????? possibly?????)

and she (she's a SHE) is pretty much invincible and shooting everyone and performing parkour while she's at it

harrow says camilla would be impressed, which is the highest praise

the sleeper waker slasher potentially gideon's mom (but not sure because it hasn't been confirmed yet) calls harrow by her name, but in a way that sounds like she's never said it before

she says it like a curse, which maybe means she knows, to some degree, how harrow was made????

she's basically doing whatever she wants over here, shooting ghosts, punching ghosts, throwing them around, regenerating, not bleeding, pulling guns out of thin air

I mean, ok, we got it, calm down lady

where was this energy when it was time to kill the emperor

she says there's "no magic" there and that "she's been doing this for years"

she wants harrow, so she can kill her and use her body to "finish it"

WHICH MAYBE MEANS KILLING THE EMPEROR???

OH MAN I DO WANT THAT TO HAPPEN

BUT NOT AT THE COST OF HARROW

also, mrs potentially gideon's mom, even if harrow dies, there's also gideon in the body right now so, it's a bit crowded atm

maybe find another way to kill the emperor

use not!dulcinea instead, if you can get the current tenant to leave

the chapter ends with: "ortus cleared his throat"

MAN, I HOPE HE DROPS SOME POETRY LINES, WE SURELY NEED THAT

and that's it for today!!!!!things are certainly heating up in the emperor's bolthole!!!! see you soon for the next installment, fingers crossed for my theories!!!

[ashleys-doodle-corner]

ACT 2 "You're... me?" "That's right, stardust!"

You know I've been drawing Loop as their Siffrin form so much that it's got me thinking. I've read and seen so many fics and artworks of Loop eventually getting back to looking like their old self, but I don't think I've seen any so far of Loop already being a mirror copy of Siffrin. So uh, yoink?

ISAT AU where the game plays out the same way (plot-wise at least) but Loop looks like Siffrin the whole time and while Siffrin is extremely perplexed that there's another him, he's still gotta accept their help because how else are they supposed to escape the loops? Good ol' Loop is here to help, helpful friendly Loop!

Siffrin is going through it still but Differently.

[starry-bi-sky]

finally giving fem danyal her own au and fulfilling my 'danny is an animal whisperer' agenda at the same time: mother of monsters danyal 2.0

i say "2.0" because TECHNICALLY 'mother of monsters danyal' is an au I made back in June for Dark fem!Danyal (who I promptly named Layal). However, I haven't posted much for her yet, and I like the "mother of monsters" premise too much to leave it only to Layal. Plus Danyal in that au was going to become the mother of monsters anyway, just with significantly less world domination and mass extinction.

'Animal whisperer' Danny has been something I've been thinking about since my latest DP 'wolfpack au' post and it's! So fun to think about, and who no better to assign the idea to than Danyal Al Ghul? Who comes from a family infamously known for their love of animals and nature?

Fem Danyal is just purely self-indulgent. *gestures wildly at her* i just lomvb,,, her,,,, I've only really mentioned her in context of the 'Things in Threes' au/my first Danyal al Ghul au with the facial scar, but she's!!! I love her. She deserves her own au <33

So kill three birds with one stone! Make a post about it.

Anyways, Danny has a large lair. Similar to cult leader danyal, her lair is a giant mountain region resembling nanda parbat with a big temple/palace-like area built into the mountain. It's large, it's overflowing with natural flora, with its own mini-floating islands hovering over some areas, and it's also completely empty.

Danny takes one look at her lair upon first meeting, -- noting that it looked relatively smaller from the outside -- and promptly, with the elegance of an Al Ghul, goes "What the hell??" Because yes, while she does enjoy her own solitude and privacy, this is a bit ridiculous.

For heaven's sake, there's even a massive lake in there! What's she going to do with all this space? Can she make it any smaller? Why is it so big in the first place? This looks borderline like one of the mega-islands!

She finds out later that apparently, the amount of ectoplasm a ghost has can have an effect on the size of their lair. And since she has such a large core, her lair reflects that. Wibbly-wobbly timey-wimey stuff, it's bigger on the inside so it doesn't take up "too much space" on the outside. Don't worry about it too much.

Danyal isn't totally opposed to having such a large lair, she's just... a bit baffled by it. It feels like so much wasted space is all. All this flora and no fauna to enjoy it with. It's practically eerie.

She decorates her temple-palace area, transforming rooms to match her needs as she sees fit. In the center of the inner gardens is a massive tree that she likes to climb, with twisting, winding branches. Sam and Tucker have honorary rooms, even if they can't safely leave the specter speeder for long periods of time, even with proper safety equipment. So does Jazz. Ali (Dani) has one too, but he can actually use that one, and Danny brought him to her lair so he could decorate it himself.

She has a personal garden, but for the most part she lets the flora exist as it is. Too much space to cultivate it en masse anyways.

Skip to a few weeks later, on her next visit to Clockwork. She developed a habit of going to see him semi-regularly just because. She enjoys his wisdom, and he has a lot of stories to tell, and when he's not being the cryptic and esoteric timekeeper, he's a bit goofy.

(pushing my dadwork agenda here,,, i think Danny deserves to go 'hey, Lord Clockwork, do you want me to buy you something' while she's at walmart, only to receive a singular glowing sticky note that says 'cucumber gatorade'.)

(She insists on referring to him with his proper titles even for the most mundane of things because it's proper, but Clockwork sees a future where she eventually calls him "Cee" and by all things in existence is he determined to get there. Anyways,,,)

On her next visit to Clockwork, just as she is about to leave, Clockwork stops her and goes; "Ah, I have something for you. Hold out your hands."

Danny does as such, and Clockwork doesn't give out things often, so her curiosity has spiked to the highest levels. He turns away from her for a moment, using his staff to summon whatever it is he needs, and when he turns around.

He drops a fish into her hands. Granted, a fish in a small glass tank. But a fish nonetheless. A small one, roughly about the size of her finger, with a blue-black, eel-shaped body and four sets of glowing eyes. She can see thin, almost translucent, but spiny fins down its back and the start of bioluminescent markings. It's swimming around in circles in its small container.

"Lord Clockwork." Danyal says all too calmly.

"Yes, Danyal?"

"What is this?"

"That is an adolescent leviathan, Danyal." She’s transfixed onto the tank, but she doesn’t need to see Clockwork’s face to hear the smile he’s stifling.

The myriad of emotions that runs through her all at once threatens to overwhelm her, and she can’t tell if the feelings are negative or positive. So she carefully closes her eyes to breathe in through her nose.

“Clockwork.”

“Ah, I see you’ve dropped formalities.”

She ignores that.

“Why have you given me an adolescent leviathan?”

She's expecting the trickster to look amused when she opens her eyes. Instead, he just looks endeared. "I know you're fond of animals," he says, "and you always look amazed when you come across an animal of the realms. So I thought you might enjoy taking care of the young beast, it's mother is dead so it has no one to care for it."

Oh.

"But, if you don't like it," Clockwork's hands reach out for the tank, "I can simply take it back--"

Danyal shifts the tank out from his reach and hugs it possessively. "I never said that. How do I care for it?"

And so clockwork gives her a list, and when Danyal returns to her lair, she sets up a large tank in her room for the leviathan to swim in -- it's much too small for the lake right now, she thinks. She'll feel better if it's somewhere she can find it. She names him Suhā.

Suhā grows quickly, and by the end of the mortal month she transforms one of the rooms into a large pond for him to swim around in. He's a very loyal beast, recognizing her as it's mother of some kind. Danyal takes great care ensuring that her beastie gets quality care, and Suhā swims to the surface to see her when he senses her in the room.

It spirals from there. Somehow, Pandora catches wind that Clockwork gave her a leviathan, and so the next time Danyal visits the Greater Athens, she gives her a baby chimera. It's eyes are still sealed shut, Danyal can't bring herself to say no. She names the little beastie Firas.

Frostbite hears about it too, and not to be outdone, gives her an animal she's never even heard of. Infinite-realms born, apparently. A fox-like creature with two small horns like an impala, four eyes, and tall legs. The name isn't something she's quite sure how to write down, and she's positive that her friends won't be able to comprehend it. She names her Eira.

Getting the three of them used to each other was... interesting. Suhā tried to eat Firas when Danyal first introduced the two, and they've hated each other ever since. Firas and Eira are seemingly getting along. Her island already feels full enough with the three of them on it.

Of course, that's not the end of it. With her luck, she begins stumbling across other monsters. Realms-borne or otherwise. An injured hydra in the Grecian islands that, through lots of trial and error, Danyal is able to rehabilitate and heal. It routinely comes to visit her afterwards.

A griffin with a broken wing that she moves permanently to the island that likes to keep to itself, but tends to come down when she's near. It gets along best with Firas.

A panther-like monster from the Shades Woods that had six legs and three tails, with ends that reminded her of a venus flytrap. It stuck around the heavy foliage and she can only make out where it was when she saw its golden eyes reflect.

She befriends a young indrik with its leg injured, and much like the hydra it follows her back to her island, and stays there in the mountains. It comes out when she's alone, much like her other beasts.

She receives two more leviathan -- one from clockwork, and one she finds herself while exploring the deeper and darker recesses of the Ghost Zone. It was huddled against the carcass of its mother, and she managed to befriend and get close enough to it to bring it back to her island. Suhā is fully grown by then, with a head bigger than Danyal herself and he still likes to stick her head out of the water for nuzzles when she's near.

He's not very happy with his new siblings, but he's not trying to eat them when she's not looking. So she calls it a win in her book.

And it's not just large beasts either; smaller animals begin popping up when she's not looking. Bird-like creatures and small mammals, and she swears she saw a doe (or something resembling a doe) grazing in the forest while she was walking by.

She takes back with her a lone snake egg once, and it grows so big it wraps around her island and sleeps with its massive head on the mountain beside the temple, like some smaller breed of Jörmungandr.

And on and on it goes. Some of the beasts she comes across never step foot onto her island, some of them follow her back, while others she has to carry back. Not all of the ones that follow her stay, and Danny rehabilitates the injured and releases them when they're fully healed.

It's hectic, and busy, and frankly she loves it. Some of her rehabilitated beasts return to visit her, or to have their children somewhere on the island, or whatever it is they need to do.

She becomes a bit infamous for it. She goes to visit Dorathea once, and as she's walking through the streets she can hear some of the denizens whispering while she walks past.

"Is that her?"

"Her highness' friend? Yes--"

"--that's the one--"

"--Mother of monsters--"

Danny's not sure how to feel about that.

Although, she can't say she's opposed.

Danyal Al Ghul, Mother of monsters, raiser of beasts. It has a nice ring to it.

[stars-and-the-min]

☆ the wrong way to hard launch (3) | OP81

summary : oscar's girlfriend is a walking pr problem for literally everyone (including herself) social media au

pairing : oscar piastri x zhou!fem!singer!oc

a/n some band dynamics and a mini reunion in toyko

masterlist | last part | part 3 | next part

INSTAGRAM

emptybottlesbar

liked by cameliazzz and 99,284 others

emptybottlesbar Hey! Our awesome lead guitarist turned 23 today AND it's on the first night in Jakarta 🫨 Be sure to give our boy some love! P.S. we couldn't find old birthday photos without Lina (1: Kas' 23rd birthday, 2: Kas' 17th birthday, 3: Kas' 14th birthday) tagged: emptybottles_official, lukaszhang and selinabui

selinabui i'm sorry i was like his only friend growing up?

28kaslina24 kaslina 🩷❤️🩷❤️

emptybottles_official Beach City International Stadium

liked by lukaszhang and 299,726 others

emptybottles_official Snaps from Jakarta, you guys were an amazing crowd, we hope you had as much fun as we did 📸 📸 next stop: Tokyo, Japan

cameliazzz kas and aid both need haircuts why did i not notice this ↳ selinabui @ cameliazzz maybe bc ur behind them all the time

TWITTER

lila💚 @kasdanrights · 2h in honour of the next stop of the 'twelve more days' tour being tokyo, here's the best thing to come out of the 'overtime' tour (before it got cancelled):

↳ lila💚 @kasdanrights · 2h look at kas serving in that polka-dotted scarf

↳ lila💚 @kasdanrights · 2h the greatest discovery was that kas and aid shared rooms the whole tour

↳ 🕯️manifesting EB3 🕯️@ linabelles · 2h did we ever find out about the sushi train thing? ↳ lina bui x2 grammy winner @urdaisea · 2h lina and cami went to an all-you-can-eat sushi train and almost missed night 2 because they were throwing up backstage ↳ li(n)a @meliabelrose · 1h why is this giving "pam and i feed off each others energy..." "she said that?" energy 😭😭 ↳ abby <3 @devilvows · 1h can't believe this was 4 years ago???

INSTAGRAM

oscarpiastri

liked by landonorris and 109,182 others

oscarpiastri Still not over this weekend

selinabui see you soon stranger 💖 ↳ pastry81 HUH LINA WDYM SEE YOU SOON???

zhouguanyu24 the last picture 👀

landonorris great to be home, eh?

emptybottlos papaya stuff, papaya stuff, papaya- lina??? ↳ piastri_lina @emptybottlos gagged us all WHERE'S THAT COMMENT THAT SAID OSC DIDN'T CARE FOR HER

logansargeant "I did great at my home race" "the fans were amazing" "also I got to watch my girlfriend's sold-out tour's opening show" ↳ oliviafufu @ logansargeant OPENING SHOW??? HE WENT ON THURSDAY AS WELL?

selinabui Tokyo, Japan

liked by eb_jonno and 118,972 others

selinabui in the daytime (and early evening)

oscarpiastri Well, that's a completely flattering angle of me, thanks :D ↳ selinabui @ oscarpiastri omg i think so too 🥰

jemma.wren lina as linabell oh she's so cute <3333

2cami4lina serious question here, does he wear anything other than orange? ↳ cameliazzz @2cami4lina from when i've seen him? no

aidan_ebass Who won billiards? ↳ selinabui @aidan_ebass ur kidding right? don't you know how amazing i am? (kas did) ↳ 28kaslina24 @ selinabui kas was there? oooh osc*lina never beating the pr relationship allegations 🤭

oscarpiastri just posted to their story

TWITTER

pookie piastri @op81ln4 · 17h OSCAR PIASTRI WHAT THE HELL??? ↳ pookie piastri @op81ln4 · 17h i need to know what he said pls what did he say for her to react like that ↳ june @linafesting · 17h "mr piastri why are you wilding rn" HAD HER USING PROPER 'YOU'S??? ↳ pookie piastri @op81ln4 · 17h "Wdym 😇" he's sick for that now we all want to know what he meant

kayla @luna_apocolypse · 2d if my math is right... we could get lina supporting oscar in suzuka ↳ kayla @luna_apocolypse · 2d last tokyo show: friday, april 5th suzuka gp: friday, april 5th to sunday, april 7th first sk show: friday, april 12th BONUS: osc's birthday is april 6th 🥸

conNUH @chickenbirch · 39m idk what world im living in anymore ↳ conNUH @chickenbirch · 38m lina pls... he's just another pasty white guy i--

↳ lina !!! @EB_selina · 18m oh shit im realising my 'im totes interested' face is lacking ↳ president linami @ linaminami · 16m AHHH??? ↳ lila💚 @kasdanrights · 1h HELP i didn't realise she was totally blanking out as kas was yapping ↳ june @linafesting · 1h she truly looks like she'd rather be anywhere else ↳ camilina gfs fr @ drummergf · 2h kaslina stans realising the new kaslina content is this 🤡 ↳ lila💚 @kasdanrights · 1h first pic is the exact same way i look at my brother (sheer 'stfu' energy)

BONUS : the unedited insta dm

✧･ﾟ: ✧･ﾟ:✧･ﾟ: ✧･ﾟ:✧･ﾟ: ✧･ﾟ:

taglist @ririyulife @ashy-kit @fionaschicken @namgification

[ladykailitha]

Icarus Part 12

I've decided that since I have a fair amount of backlog on the three I've been doing WIP Wednesday for, that I'd post some of them to give me time to work on the rom-com AU more.

I recommend going back and re-reading part 11 at least before reading this one to be on the safe side.

Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 4 Part 5 Part 6 Part 7 Part 8 Part 9 Part 10 Part 11

The Fallen boys need a break and Robin and Chrissy meet up with Nancy.

****

Things were going really well in the studio now that they had Bob Newby as their producer and their studio was closer to home so they could live their normal lives and still be in the studio recording.

It was the happiest the band had been in awhile. Which was why Steve should have seen it coming. The dark cloud on the horizon.

Shane was late.

That wasn’t to say that it was out of the ordinary or whatever, but it was now two hours late and Spence was pissed.

“When I get my hands on his scrawny neck,” he hissed. “I’m going to kill him.”

Simon rolled his eyes. “You’re just upset because it’s means you’ll be late for your date or whatever with Nadia. He’ll be here.”

“That’s not true and you know it, Asmodeus,” Spence bit out. “This is the third time this week and yeah, so what if I have a life outside of this, but that’s not why.”

Just then Shane stumbled in. He looked like absolute shit. His clothes were disheveled, his hair was a mess, and he wore dark sunglasses. Clutched to his chest was a large coffee.

“Fuck...” he mumbled as he shambled over to the sofa. He lowered himself gently onto the thing with a stream of curses. “Sorry I’m late, but my hookup last night turned off my alarm.”

He took a long sip of his coffee and rubbed his temple. He had finished most of the coffee when he realized that no one had said a word since he arrived.

The door opened and Bob and Robin entered the room looking more than a little cross.

Shane flashed them a smile. “Uh oh, it looks like I upset both mom and dad. So I was a little late. It happens.”

“But it shouldn’t be happening,” Spence said with a scowl. “This isn’t the first time. Hell, it’s not even the first time this week.”

Shane frowned, setting his coffee on the floor between his feet. He rubbed his temples as he struggled to think back. “That can’t be right, it’s only Monday, right?”

Everyone shared concerned glances.

“Astraeus,” Steve said slowly, “it’s Thursday.”

Bob crossed his arms in front of his chest. “You were late on Sunday, Monday and today, Astraeus.”

Shane stared up at them in open shock and disbelief. “There’s no way!” He pulled out his phone and looked at the date.

“Shit.”

“What’s been going on, man?” Simon asked, concerned for the first time. He hadn’t realized how often it had been and was giving Spence shit for wanting to be with his girlfriend.

Shane shook his head. “I have money for the first time in my life. I mean proper money. My parents always had enough to make sure we got into the things we wanted; sports, drama, music, you name it, but there wasn’t a lot of money to go around after, you know? I had to pay for my college education myself and I just wanted to live a little. Spread the money around, even if I couldn’t tell them what I did for a living, they don’t really care.”

“I can see that,” Robin said. “I think we all breathing easier, regardless of our backgrounds because the money we’re getting has pretty much set us up for life if it all went to shit tomorrow, which I really wouldn’t recommend, by the way.”

Shane let out a huff of breath that wasn’t quite a laugh. “I really didn’t mean to go off like that, I’ll cut back to just the weekends. I promise.”

Robin and Bob shared a glance.

“That’s strike one, Astraeus,” Bob said, “I don’t take slackers lightly. You want me to continue to work for you guys, you’ve got to step it up.”

Shane nodded empathically. “Can we have a day off a week though? It doesn’t have to be on the weekend, but this seven days a week is really hard.”

Robin blinked at him a moment. “You guys have been coming every day?”

The band looked around at each and all gave a collective shrug.

She turned to Bob. “Is that your schedule?”

Bob’s jaw dropped and he shook his head. “I only do that if there’s a rush to get the album out, which I understood there wasn’t. I don’t how we got on working every day, but Astraeus is correct they need a day off.”

“What works best for everyone?”

The band worked out a better schedule that worked for everyone with it ending with Bob giving everyone the rest of the week off, giving them strict instructions to talk to him about those sort of things before it got to this point.

Robin clapped her hands once. “Right, now that we’ve got that settled, we’re still meeting up at Abbadon’s for dinner to discuss my meeting with Nancy. My meeting is at three and dinner is at six, so don’t be late.” She glared at Shane and he raised his hands in surrender.

“See you all then!”

****

Robin straightened her wig in her rearview mirror and added more lipstick. She wore special contacts that changed her bright blue eyes to a more common brown color. She was dressed in slim fitting white slacks with a bright pink silk blouse and a black leather aviator’s jacket. She hated wearing these clothes, they just weren’t her. At least she didn’t have to wear high heels to this thing. She would have broken an ankle for sure.

But she would sell her soul to the devil if it meant that Steve got to do what he loved. And it wasn’t as though she didn’t love her job either. But Eddie was right, she was on her last frayed nerve and that wouldn’t do her boys any good.

She slid out of her Maserati MC20 and walked up to the restaurant. The Corroded Coffin’s manager, Chrissy Cunningham was going to be there as a mediator.

Robin hadn’t told Steve this, but Chrissy knew who she was. Not the band, she didn’t know that, but she knew that Celeste Baptiste was Robin Buckley. It was just something Robin felt she needed to know before going in there with Nancy. That she personally had a stake in the game, even if it was just as Steve’s best friend.

Chrissy loved the idea of even their manager having an alter ego and it made Robin feel better about her choice to be someone else.

Robin and Chrissy kissed each other’s cheeks in greeting and Robin sat down.

“She’s not here yet?” she asked, looking at her matching watch.

Chrissy shook her head. “She’s running a little behind. One of her clients blew up the internet last night and she’s been having to play hard ball to keep it from destroying their career.”

Robin leaned in close. “Ooh, do you know who it was?”

“That’s for me to know,” Nancy said from above them, “and for you to never find out.”

Robin looked up at her and was struck on how good she looked. It was almost unfair how good she looked.

She was wearing a grey plaid blazer with the sleeves rolled up over a white button shirt and a black pencil skirt. She wore grey boots and matching sunglasses, glasses she took off with a shake of her dark curls.

Robin gulped. Nancy had been intimidating enough in high school, but now she could stare down a raging bull and come away unscathed.

“Hello, ladies,” Nancy said with a smile. “I’m sorry I was late, but I think I managed a god damn miracle and could eat an entire salad bar.”

Nancy sat down and put her phone in her purse.

“Oh are you vegan?” Chrissy asked as the waiter came up with a pitcher of water. Nancy waved him off and ordered a rosé.

“Just vegetarian,” she said with a shake of her head. “I love cheese too much. Plus, I knew a militant vegan and they scare me.”

Robin laughed. “Couldn’t be me, I went full vegan last year and haven’t looked back.”

Nancy and Chrissy both winced, but for different reasons, Nancy for her comment about militant vegans and Chrissy, well...

“I picked this place because it has the best rib eye steak on the planet,” she said with a grimace. “That’s not going to bother either of you if I order that, right?”

Nancy and Robin shared a glance and then shook their heads.

“My best friend loves steak,” Robin said, “It’s his choice to eat it, I just a have a problem with the ethical consumption of meat and other animal products.”

“Most of my clients eat meat,” Nancy agreed. “I’m not about to piss them off because I don’t like the taste.”

Chrissy relaxed and let out a long sigh. “Great!”

She picked up her menu to hide her embarrassment. A few minutes later, their waiter came back and they placed their orders.

Nancy had ordered a pasta with roasted sun dried tomatoes and mushrooms and Robin ordered a simple salad with a vinaigrette.

As they waited for their food, Nancy got down to business. “So as I understand it, the band The Fallen is looking for an agent to help with the legal and PR aspect of their brand, correct?”

Robin nodded, twisting her napkin nervously. Normally as Celeste, she was cooler under pressure but Nancy scared her. Not because of anything she could do to her specifically, but because what she could do to her boys.

Chrissy reached out and laid her hand over Robin’s fidgeting ones. Robin let out a shuddered breath.

“Normally bands like theirs have teams and teams of people doing all the work,” Robin said, “but with the secrecy surrounding their identities the more people that know the easier it is for a leak.”

Nancy nodded. “It’s certainly not the usual thing. But I’ve got a few clients that are strict about their identities and it wouldn’t be a problem, but as I told Chrissy, I would have know everything about them so that I can do my upmost to protect them.”

“Did you sign the NDA?” Robin asked, straightening her spine. This was something she was good at. Protecting her boys and she would do it with the fierceness of a mother bear and her cubs.

Nancy picked up her briefcase and opened it up. She took out a folder and handed it to Robin. Robin looked it over and then nodded.

She stuck it in her purse and pulled out a hard portfolio and slid it across to Nancy. Chrissy squeezed her hand as Nancy read through the documents. Their food arrived in the interim and she set it aside. She steepled her hands and planted her elbows on the table.

“How much of this do you know?” she asked Chrissy.

“Only what I needed to which is who Celeste is,” she replied, “and that both her and Abbadon have a history with you that could be trouble for a lot of people, not just the band.”

Nancy nodded and took a bite of her food before saying anything else. Chrissy and Robin exchanged glances but started eating as well. More for something to do in the intervening silence than because they were actually interested in food at that moment.

After a few moments Nancy blotted her lips with her napkin and set it next to her plate. “This is not what I was expecting when I heard that you had concerns about my professionalism and in all honesty, this is easier to understand then a manager thinking they don’t need the help of an agent when they really do.”

Chrissy and Robin shared a glance.

“Is that something that’s common?” Chrissy asked. Corroded Coffin had already had Nancy as their agent when she became their manager five years ago. They had outgrown their former manager Murray Bauman and was looking for someone younger to manage them so they hired her.

Nancy nodded. “It is.” She turned to Robin. “You’re his best friend, right? The quirky band chick who was always working with him?”

Robin was impressed with her way of asking the question without revealing anything significant about their identity. She brought her finger up to her contact and moved it aside to show the blue underneath before sliding it back into place.

“I’m assuming I’m the last resort?” Nancy asked after taking another bite of food.

Robin and Chrissy shared another glance.

“Not in the way you mean,” Chrissy explained. “I gave her a list of agents that might be able to have them on as clients and we’ve met with a couple of them but decided even before they got to what’s in the folder that they weren’t suitable for their needs.”

“The double lives aspect, I suspect.”

“Both of them wanted to push them into revealing themselves,” Robin said, nodding. “Which was completely off the table.”

Nancy licked her bottom lip and her eyes narrowed. “Is that off the table indefinitely or will we circle back to that sometime in the future?”

Robin rolled her eyes. “There’s no way to predict if they’re going to change their mind five-six years down the line.”

“I’m going to be frank,” she said, “I do not have a problem repping them. Not even Abbadon. But I understand there will be some awkwardness on both sides at first. I will even apologize in person. Because the fact of the matter is, I did hurt him. I strung him along until something better came along and then didn’t even have the decency to break up with him before moving on. I was young and stupid and even worse, I’m not even with that guy anymore. Like with me and Abbadon, we wanted different things.”

“Apologize first,” Chrissy said with a wicked gleam in her eye, “then we’ll see about hiring you for The Fallen.”

Nancy reached out to shake Robin’s hand. “Deal?”

Robin nodded curtly. “Deal.”

They moved onto the more tedious aspects of what they wanted out of Nancy as they finished their meals.

But as Robin was heading back to her car she had a small satisfied smile on her face. Yes, this really was the best option for the band.

****

Because of canon-Chrissy's unhealthy relationship with food, I wanted her to go hard into eating all things that her mom most likely forbade her from eating growing up. Hence the steak and the wine. Nancy I figured would be at least vegetarian with personality (just the vibes I get from her *shrug*) and Robin would absolutely be vegan. Just not a militant one.

Tag List: 10 slots remaining

Part 13 Part 14 Part 15 Part 16 Part 17 Part 18 Part 19 Part 20 Part 21 Part 22 Part 23 Part 24 Part 25

1- @mira-jadeamethyst @rozzieroos @itsall-taken @redfreckledwolf @zerokrox-blog

2- @gregre369 ​@a-little-unsteddie @chaosgremlinmunson @messrs-weasley @val-from-lawrence

3- @goodolefashionedloverboi @carlyv @wonderland-girl143-blog @irregular-child @blondie1006

4- @yikes-a-bee @bookworm0690 @anne-bennett-cosplayer @awkwardgravity1 @littlewildflowerkitten

5- @genderless-spoon @y4r3luv @dragonmama76 @ellietheasexylibrarian @thedragonsaunt

@useless-nb-bisexual

6- @disrespectedgoatman @eyehartart @dawners @thespaceantwhowrites @tinyplanet95

7- @iamthehybrid @croatoan-like-its-hot @papergrenade @cryptid-system @counting-dollars-counting-stars

8- @ravenfrog @w1ll0wtr33 @child-of-cthulhu @kultiras @dreamercec

[brawlite]

some horror fic recs for october 👻

i wanted to put together a rec list of my favorite horror fics for the spookiest month. there are a bunch of different flavors of horror in here as well as a number of different fandoms, so hopefully you can find something that tickles your fancy (though ngl i would still rec reading these bad boys even if you don't know the fandoms at all).

i tried to tag tumblrs when/where i could find them, but if i couldn't, the author name links to ao3.

a reminder as always: this is horror—please read all the tags.

thanks for reading and i hope you find something to enjoy!

also, pretty please feel free to reblog and add your favorite horror fic recs.

👻👁️🎃🔪👻👁️🎃🔪👻👁️🎃🔪👻👁️🎃🔪👻👁️🎃🔪👻👁️🎃🔪👻👁️🎃🔪

the ghost apple tree by @thefearofcod

10k words, rated m song lan/xue yang/xiao xingchen (the untamed/mdzs) summary:

Fixing up a decaying house in the woods is the same as addressing your problems. (sxx is haunted)

brawls' notes: i think about this fic a lot; i'm haunted by it. this is by far one of my favorite horror stories i've ever read—the vibes are off-the-charts and horrific in a very visceral, tense way. made me feel weird (positive). i hope it makes you feel weird too (this is a threat).

—

convergence by @astrophyllitely

33k words, rated e lan zhan/lan xichen, lan zhan/jiang cheng (the untamed/mdzs) summary:

Lan Wangji regains consciousness in a crashed spaceship on an unfamiliar planet. He is not alone; Lan Xichen is there. He is not alone; Jiang Wanyin is there. But never both at once.

brawls' notes: space horror? check. psychological horror? check. uneasy and tense alien vibes? also check. beautiful push and pull of the narrative, paired with an an intense feeling of claustrophobia. there's a particular moment that had my heart right in my throat. stunning.

—

mockingbird by MarInk

82k words, rated e stiles stillinski/peter hale (teen wolf) summary:

Stiles works tirelessly to keep the roof over his heads and longs for a proper challenge for his brains. Peter chafes under his sister's authority and nurses big, bloody dreams. One day, the two are connected by a mistaken text message. One never knows who is on the other end of a wrong number. Sometimes it's somebody one will come to cherish and adore. Sometimes it's a ruthless, unapologetic monster. Sometimes it's both.

brawls' notes: sometimes you read something and are just blown away by it, forever altered. that's what this was for me. want a type of monster-au you've never seen before? this is it. also: ostensibly a wrong-number au, but don't be fooled. (i was.)

—

never meant by nonhicsumus

3k words, rated m alex krycek & dana scully (the x-files) summary:

Sometimes the past isn't worth digging into.

brawls' notes: whump and psychological horror? plus alex krycek?? my favorite. every word of this is perfection—i instantly wanted to read it again for the first time. you can.

—

fais do-do by @moku-youbi

18k words, rated e will graham/hannibal lecter (hannibal)

summary:

“Nothing is so painful to the human mind as a great and sudden change.” ― Mary Shelley, Frankenstein (this fic does not have a summary, but begins with this quote)

brawls' notes: a different-meeting au packed with everything you need for the perfect horror story: violence, blood, a chase scene, and an unreliable narrator. delightful.

—

blackbird, fly by @acroamatica

19k words, rated m kylo ren/armitage hux (star wars: tfa)

summary:

One sunny afternoon in the mountains of Washington state, Ben Organa-Solo walked out into the woods. He never came home. Six years later, a journalist specialising in missing-persons cold cases decides to follow his footsteps and see where they might lead.

brawls' notes: a masterpiece of vibes. this reads so much like a spooky mystery novel, but with a creeping, anxious dread. perfect for the season if you want that true autumnal sort of chill. i've carried this fic in my heart for nearly a decade now—it has inspired me in my own writing so much over the years.

—

grey stars on the rise by @iodhadh

4k words, rated e song lan/xue yang/xiao xingchen (the untamed/mdzs) summary:

Xiao Xingchen comes back. Xiao Xingchen comes back wrong. It takes too long, maybe, for Xue Yang to realize something is wrong with Song Lan too.

brawls' notes: the exact embodiment of: be careful what you wish for. brutal and crushing and so deeply, utterly satisfying. absolute yi-city perfection: the vibes are wretched but strangely romantic (chefs kiss).

—

half your life you've been hooked on death by @whatever-you-can-give-me

4k words, rated m vash the stampede/nicholas d. wolfwood (trigun) summary:

Wolfwood is cornered in an alleyway. Things get worse before they get better.

brawls' notes: and what's a horror rec list without a little bit of gore? whump and blood and near-death-experiences—oh my. this is brutal and feverish and exactly the right flavor.

—

black rock mountain by @bokuno-jinsei

24k words, rated e will graham/hannibal lecter (hannibal) summary:

Will is a hitchhiker with questionable hobbies. Hannibal is a man who has questionable motives. When Hannibal drives by Will who just so happens to need a ride, things quickly take a turn from the questionable to the downright depraved.

brawls' notes: you know That Fic that is really the epitome of that pairing for you? yeah, this is it for me. perfect alternate first-meeting fic. lives rent-free in my head.

👻👁️🎃🔪👻👁️🎃🔪👻👁️🎃🔪👻👁️🎃🔪👻👁️🎃🔪👻👁️🎃🔪👻👁️🎃🔪

and hey, why not be a little self-indulgent: i can't help but rec a few of my own horror fics here, too:

old growth

21k, rated m song lan/xue yang/xiao xingchen (the untamed/mdzs) summary:

There’s something in the woods outside of their hometown. Xue Yang and Song Lan are going to find it.

brawls' notes: i tried something new with the formatting on this one and i think it panned out solidly and was a desperately fun way to tell the story. this is full of spooky, sleepless forest vibes.

—

what's real or isn't

57k, rated e kylo ren/armitage hux (star wars: tfa) summary:

Hux's new house is not haunted. It isn't.

brawls' notes: i honestly love playing favorites and this is one of mine. this was a load of fun to write—it's chock-full of vibes, personal experiences, local history, and love notes to my favorite horror stories.

—

acquiesce

16k, rated e original luo binghe/original shen qingqiu (svsss) summary:

After seeing the gentle and loving Shen Qingqiu of the other world, Luo Binghe returns to his own with a hunger that can only be satisfied by one thing—a Shizun of his very own.

brawls' notes: this isn't spooky or haunted, but it is psychological horror—packed with nightmares, flashbacks, dread, and manipulation. enjoy!

👻👁️🎃🔪👻👁️🎃🔪👻👁️🎃🔪👻👁️🎃🔪👻👁️🎃🔪👻👁️🎃🔪👻👁️🎃🔪

and that's it! hope you find something fun to read for this october 🖤

and again—please reblog and add your own horror recs if you are feeling so inclined!

[tubbytarchia]

In my head I'm constantly rotating around the idea of Ranchers and Pearl... This is largely unfounded but I just. can't help it... I just think they'd make such a cute trio and it's what all of them deserve in DL especially. Further thoughts below but please also have this from Pearl's POV

I have never been able to stop thinking about how Pearl was the first person to genuinely help the ranchers when they requested it, and the way she only asks for food in exchange because she's hungry, gets some steak thrown at her and she immediately gobbles it up. Then Pearl watching them try their best to get goat horns, doesn't even judge them for their complete incompetence (does snicker to herself a little but that's just cute), offers to try it herself, gets it immediately followed by Jimmy's unbridled joy and Tango's unbridled praise

Then Jimmy went and broke my heart by shooing Pearl away in session 3 like everyone else </3, but then pearl comes back later offering him a horse and this time she only asks for friendship in exchange <3. But then she HAD conversed with Scott before and Scott basically just said "I've emotionally reduced Jimmy into nothing before and you can too". In the end Jimmy gives her the horn that she got for him in the first place </3 Then Pearl and Martyn steal the horse back but Pearl pretty quickly feels remorseful and returns to Jimmy to once again ask for friendship in exchange for the horse. Jimmy refuses but Pearl gives him the horse anyway and RAHH Jimmy being genuinely surprised like, baby... he just doesn't expect much at all from anyone at this point does he lol. And Pearl all "No, that's not me, I felt too bad" and Jimmy still asking for reassurance "You sure? Are you sure?". Then they kind of established a friendship before parting ways when Pearl admitted she no longer had Jimmy's horn (had given it to Martyn already)

So obviously that didn't amount to much, they didn't interact a lot before Tango and Jimmy died but COME ON THEY'D BE SO CUTE... The ranchers who are most everyone's laughing stock and Pearl who has been largely ostracized for not even doing anything wrong, and completely alone. Except she does have Tilly, she loves her dogs and she also ushers a donkey into her tower all "here you go my little lovely", ALSO housing Oreo, the very horse that'd been traded back and forth and that the ranchers had so desperately wanted. Oreo WAS left there by Scar because he had to make a swift escape from the top but... you know. Anyway point is I think her and the ranchers have a little bit in common in that, I could totally imagine Pearl enjoying taking care of the animals. Also don't forget how she was struggling for food in the beginning just like the ranchers. But they managed to make do because they had each other, unlike Pearl. So the ranchers could give her supportive company!! Can you imagine how delightful they'd be towards her... The same way Jimmy would usher Tango into the ranch as he fled from mobs, scared and starving

That's about it but PLEASE. SURELY I'm not the only one who can see this. Ranchers housing Pearl would be the absolute cutest, they don't judge each other etc... Imagine an AU in which she does score a proper allyship with them, finally finding happiness in some human company only for them to die first and Pearl being left all alone again with all the other Lifers who considered her crazy

[bcolfanfic]

What was the wedding like? I bet Curt was Bucky's best man? Was the bachelor party messy? Meatball was ring bearer??? LOL

#young vets au

first of all s/o to @swifty-fox who came up with a good chunk of these. i've been so focused on poor bucky's mental breakdown that quite honestly a part of the "they get married on paper and say they'll have a wedding...eventually" was me putting off figuring out that lore LOL. but here thee go.

they start planning it after bucky is out of the hospital and doing better. gale brings it up first- and bucky is so 🥺. obviously gale never asked for a divorce but, he still feels a little insecure about things/how much he put him through. so knowing gale *does* still want to marry him good and proper makes him a lil emotional. sweet boy.

they try to surprise each other with engagement rings and end up clashing with each others surprises bahaha. me thinks gale gets bucky a celtic eternity knot ring. bucky gets gale something like this.

big crowds/travel is still a bit of a rough spot for bucky, so it's in wyoming. in my mind they have a hugeee backyard. so cutesie homey backyard wedding it is.

curt is 1000% bucky's best man. that's his best friend and curt (this hasn't really been explored a great deal yet but it will be) quite frankly did about as much for him during his big ol breakdown spiral as gale did.

hmm idk who gale's is. choose your own adventure, its whoever you want it to be.

wearing their air force dress uniforms comes up briefly but bucky hates it so it’s tabled. gale asks the guys not to wear theirs either.

all the guys come into town, of course they do. they're *so excited* not just because it's their buddies getting married but bc this is the first time all of them except for curt and kenny have seen bucky in person since his attempt. so seeing him so happy and doing better makes them happy.

demarco does indeed bring meatball.

i think since they essentially share all the same friends they have a joint pre-party a few days before. maybe the first night everyone is in town. a reunion party of sorts.

i need to do a hc list explaining all the curt/kenny lore as it exists in my head but this is maybeee the first time everyone is seeing the two of them since they aren't (badly) trying to keep that they're involved on the downlow. which everyone gets a kick out of just as much as they do bucky and gale.

both of them cry during their vows.

and, my favorite thing @swifty-fox and iame up with last night:

i know its hinted at in a few of the phone povs about bucky wanting to get sober but in my mind that's closer to when they have josie. so when they get married there is alcohol abound (lol). and gale, because hey it's his fucking wedding after all- partakes this time.

he sees bucky playing with croz's kids in the yard and gets so emotional because he just loves him so much, wants that with him and now they *can* have that together even after everything they've been though.

curt sees this and is like awww, i see that look buck! and sweet drunk gale just starts blabbering about how he's gonna put babies in him- he's gonna figure it out, JSTOR hasn't failed him yet.

to demarco, who is running around with his camera, this is the best moment of his life.

asks gale to run that by him one more time with the camera in his face.

"i said, you see my husband over there?" gale says seriously into the camera, holding himself up on curt with one arm around his waist and gesturing to where bucky is deep in drunk conversation with kenny "'m gonna figure out how to put babies in him. JSTOR hasn't- hasn't failed me yet. gonna figure that shit out and we're gonna have more kids than- than croz n' jean."

[greenerteacups]

Your last chapter was delightful! Thank you so much!

You’ve mentioned All the Young Dudes in one of your posts and it has been a revelation. Do you have all time favorite hp fics and would care to share your recommendations please?

Oh, man, how could I ever choose? Manacled and DMATMOOBIL are obviously all-timers, but they don't need me to recommend them. Wait and Hope, similarly, is in no need of exhortation by me, but I'll do it anyway, I ate that shit up. Anything by @PacificRimbaud. Especially anything with Pansy in it. Especially Les Pèlerins. Anything by provocative_envy. Especially the college/internship AUs. You don't think an American AU for Harry Potter is going to work, until you're reading it, and wow, does it ever. Bending Light by scullymurphy. Talk about fucking atmosphere, my God. (I haven't read Falling Dark yet, I've been meaning to get around to it.) I've also been meaning to read the Gravitation series, I read the first chapter forever ago and it was one helluva opening. See, now I'm just talking about fics I haven't read and want to. Okay.

All the Young Dudes was formative because it was the first time I realized the scope of what fanfiction could do. Until then, I had a very narrow, constrained version of the kinds of stories fanfic was meant to tell (and what fanfic audiences were looking for). ATYD blew the ceiling off that by telling a story that was non-traditional, slow-paced, and completely non-focused on romance for at least half of it, and people adored it anyway. It taught me to be bolder and more creative with my choices. It made me think "well, Gryffindor Draco may not be the most popular trope in the bucket, but maybe some people will like it!" And it turned out some people did!

The Disappearances of Draco Malfoy. This was for a long time my favorite Draco redemption arc, and it remains the first fic I recommend to anyone looking to get into Dramione, because it's the perfect branching-off point for someone who loves the books. Stylistically honest and feels like Book 7, only better. Draco is not let off the hook for fuck, as is right and proper. (I'm a sucker for Book 7 rewrites, for obvious reasons.)

Boy with a Scar. All of it. Made me tear up like four times. This person understands things about Harry Potter that Rowling doesn't and perhaps never could.

Birds of a Feather is a great Tomione Hogwarts fic, and of any fic I've read, it's most interested in the practical day-to-day of life at Hogwarts, which was one of my favorite parts of the books. It's really a book about how someone like Tom, or Hermione for that matter, would experience Hogwarts if there weren't any diabolical plots happening around them: that is, as a very cool, very beautiful, but ultimately sort of mundane boarding school. It makes the place feel lived-in and real in a way that makes it a joy to come back to. And it has the most realistic depiction of child!Tom that I've ever read.

And I'm finding new ones all the time.

[theyoungeragrippina]

✨ 15 gentlebeard fic recs ✨

i have spent the last month trawling the pages of ao3 for you, dear reader, to find the best ofmd fics. all the works on this list:

are longer-form (generally 40k+)

have no steddyhands (simply not my thing)

are generally, all around brilliant (well-written, had me kicking my feet and giggling, laughing, or crying)

are complete!

part 2 and part 3

A Heart Unsated by roughwinds

48k, explicit

"Stede Bonnet has just moved into Orange Crescent. There’s a house on the corner, opposite Stede’s own, with a garden full of flowers and a gleaming motorbike on the driveway. He’s forgotten to buy sugar.

Edward Teach has his morning disturbed by his new neighbour. Enamoured at first sight, he invites Stede round for a chat, and then another, and then another.

This is the story of them."

man i normally avoid fics with lots of alma and louis in them because its just not for me, but literally every second of the family bonding in this was so wholesome i was forced to change my entire mind.

all you left me was a pearl by @sightofsea

88k, mature

"1717. The Golden Age of Piracy. Stede Bonnet sets about wooing the love of his life through any means necessary.

Things do not go as planned."

every day i wish for a precise memory erasing potion to be invented so i can read this again for the first time. i would devour like 2000k more words of this if it was offered to me. brilliant.

forgive & forget by @fool-for-luv

44k, mature

"It hits him then, like a wave breaking on sand, loud as thunder when it crashes, then trickling away into little rivulets flowing back home, murmuring one word over and over and over. Ed.

The problem is, Stede doesn’t recall ever having met anyone named Ed."

so sweet and wonderful, and i wish there was more.

#gentlebeard is trending! by regional_catastrophe

41k, teen

"In which Stede accidentally convinces the pirating world that Gentlebeard (or Blackbonnet or Stedward; there's a poll) is canon, reunites his crew, and gets his boyfriend back."

hilarious & silly & great, but also the most compelling notes of any fic i've ever read. a proper learning experience.

if music be the food of love (then darling, you're a feast) by @fool-for-luv

107k, unrated

"“Hey, so, those two, right, they get together in the end?” Ed asks.

“I would protest spoiling it, but I think it's rather obvious, isn't it?” Stede says. His nose wrinkles as he smiles. “The tension is certainly there from the beginning. It just takes them a while to get there.”

“Good. Would have been a shit story otherwise.""

i love sassy stede and i love ed who is a grump and i love that they share one single braincell at any given time.

If You Were Mine to Keep by @mysterybees

162k, explicit

"Caught between the gallows and the end of an English sword, Ed accepts the Act of Grace: marry into the aristocracy, leave the English ships alone, and live to sail another day. But who in their right mind would ever agree to marry the mad devil pirate Blackbeard?"

Worth every second of tiredness I felt after pulling an all nighter to finish reading.

It's Only Right by hexuponye

53k, explicit

"A modern AU based on Imagine Me & You, in which Edward is a florist who does the flowers for Stede's wedding."

mary gets to be a little silly sometimes too as a treat.

pliocene by unfortunatelyobsessed

75k, mature

""man, it's just ocean for miles.” Ed motions out to the waves, where there is no sign of any sort of ship, their small dinghy pulled far up on the sand. “I told you when the clouds look like seagulls you take fuckin' cover. Goddamn ocean mutinied me.”"

william golding wishes he did something this brilliant and significant when he wrote Lord of the Flies. the best deserted island story.

quite a career shift by @stedesparasol

157k, explicit

"Stede's been posting book reviews on Youtube for two months now. It's taken him that long to finally get a comment, and the person it comes from is rather unexpected."

rip stede you would've LOVED booktube. furious i can never really watch his content.

Semaphore by komodobits

124k, explicit

"Talking things through as a crew is easier said than done, and honest communication has never really been Stede’s strong suit. When it comes to Ed, he is willing to try."

so good that i was properly and truly laughing and gasping and 'oh no-ing' out loud while i read it.

Such Joie de Vivre by @louciferish

94k, explicit

"Professional thief Edward Teach is tired of hole in the wall apartments, shitty pub food, and skipping town every few months to keep the cops off their tail. He’s well past the age he meant to flee the country and retire, and all he needs is One Last Job to set him up for life. When he hears that some rich bastard outside of town has just the sort of treasure he’d trade his good knee for, Ed sets out in disguise to get the lay of the land."

i (so so foolishly) avoided reading this for a while because i simply didn't think i was one for nanny aus. i was so, terribly wrong. don't make the same mistakes i did. showstopping. incredible stuff.

The Chains of Flowers are Fragile Things by @grandmastattoo

62k, explicit

"Stede can't see the shop he's inherited from his late father as anything other than a burden, another insult added to a life that's going nowhere fast. Then he meets the charismatic man who owns the tattoo studio next door, and Stede finds himself forced to consider the idea of home."

maybe i love tattoo shop owner ed fics, sue me. i love this stede and i love his embarrassing mistake tattoo.

The Love Experiment by karawrites

65k, mature

a married at first sight (aus) au. i didn't know i needed it until i read it.

Water/line by @the-gentleman-mermaid

60k, teen

"During a raid on a smuggler ship, Ed finds a merman named Stede locked in the hold."

So good that I would actually pay the author real person money to do a similar story but where Ed is the mermaid.

Where the Daylight Begins by @xoxoemynn

116k words, explicit

"Modern day AU slow burn featuring a pining Ed, a clueless Stede, found family, roughly a million animals, and a very magical house."

This one sort of gave me House on the Cerulean Sea vibes; it was so much fun and genuinely necessitates a proper use of the word whimsical.

[jinhyun]

—daisies.

pairing: hwang hyunjin x reader

genre: fluff, suggestive, college au, dance major hyunjin, art major reader

word count: 7.8k

summary: sometimes things do not go to plan, hyunjin realised. not even when he had so carefully prepared a date to ask you to be his girlfriend for once and for all.

warnings: mentions of sex, mentions of condoms lol, MINORS DNI!!!!

a/n: you know what, i've decided to embrace the word count and i'm not even apologising this time bc we all saw it coming :') also!! i couldn't come up with any proper title for this so i just went with this basic one (if you get it, you get it). i hope you guys enjoyyy, please let me know your thoughts on this, your comments and reblogs make me the happiest<3

You enjoyed your 10 A.M. class on Fridays, you really did.

You enjoyed listening to your professor and taking notes of everything he explained. You enjoyed learning a little bit more about art with each class, and you certainly enjoyed getting to put it all to practice.

Today, however, you could not seem to be able to pay attention — neither to your professor, nor to the hardly touched canvas in front of you.

And how could you? The man you were in love with had just told you last night to pack an overnight bag and wait for him after class.

Not only that, but the conversation that had preceded his sudden outburst had left you restless, too — in the best of ways, of course. You could only anticipate what was to come during the little date he had planned. An entire day of only you and him, in whatever place it was he was taking you to.

An entire night, too, of only you and him. That you were also looking forward to.

A whole day and a whole night… He was definitely dropping the question at some point, right? He wouldn't be going through all this trouble not to ask you to be his girlfriend by the end of the day, would he?

Almost like he was reading your thoughts, you felt your phone buzz in your pocket. You didn't need to take it out to know it was Hyunjin letting you know he had arrived at your building and was already waiting for you, but you did anyway — smiling wholeheartedly at his addition of the pet name 'baby' at the end of his text.

The whole ten minutes left of the class were hell after that.

In between small strokes of colour on your canvas and looking at the clock every twenty seconds, you managed to make it through. And as soon as your professor said the class was over, you picked up your bag and flew outside of the studio.

Hyunjin must've noticed the class was done as well, for he was waiting right in front of the door, wearing a smile that only grew wider the moment his eyes met yours.

"Hey, cutie…" he greeted you softly, reaching an arm out for you to hold.

"Hey…" you smiled shyly, letting him pull you to him and press a brief kiss to your lips. "You've been calling me that a lot lately".

"Well, you did say calling you that would take me places" he smirked, getting a roll of eyes from you.

"You don't even know what places I was talking about" you bit back.

He chuckled, leaning in to brush his mouth against yours. "Hm… I think I'll take the risk".

Laughing under your breath as his lips pressed on yours once more, you rested your hands on his chest. "If anything, you're the one who should be taking me places now".

That got a throaty laugh from him. "I am," he confirmed, sliding your bag down your shoulder and hanging it on his instead. "Shall we go?"

Biting your lip to try and conceive the smile that was threatening to show at both the sight of his hand waiting to be held by yours and how cute he looked wearing the pastel pink bag you had brought that day, you nodded, no longer fighting your smile when you held his hand and his smiley lips pressed softly to your cheek.

"Where are you taking me?" you asked as you made your way out of the building.

"First, we're getting lunch".

"You know what I mean," you squinted your eyes. "What are we doing after lunch?"

"You'll see" he smirked.

"Babyyy~" you pouted, earning an amused roll of eyes from him.

"Not gonna work".

"Please?"

"It's a surprise".

"Can we go now then? We can get something to eat later".

"Aish, so impatient" he pinched the bridge of his nose, eyes closing in feigned annoyance.

"Jinnie…" you pouted once more.

"We can't skip lunch" he denied. "I'm not having you starve during the train ride".

"Train ride?!" your eyes sparkled and a proud smile curved up his lips. "Where are we travelling to?"

Throwing an arm over your shoulders, he pulled you to him and pressed a kiss to your temple — one that any other time would've been sweet, yet this time around seemed more taunting than anything. "That's as much as I'm saying".

-—-—-—-—-—-—-♡

You were not even halfway into the day and it already felt like a dream.

Sitting by the window of a train, head resting on Hyunjin's shoulder while you looked at the passing scenery outside and listened to one of his playlists as you shared his earphones… everything about it truly felt like one of the many daydreams you used to have with him back when everything was one-sided.

And it could only feel even more surreal when you recognised the landscape outside; one you had not visited in over a year now — the last time being for the birthday party Innie's parents had prepared for him.

Busan.

For some reason still unknown to you, Hyunjin had taken you to Busan.

You found yourself having to ask him if he was serious when you first heard the destination at the train station, not believing your ears when you heard the name of the city through the speakers. And a part of you did still not believe he was taking you there until you saw it with your own two eyes.

You enjoyed the ride from the station to the place Hyunjin had booked for the two of you to spend the night, which turned out to be a very nice modern building that was a few minutes away from the beach. You took a mental note to visit it later that day or at least before leaving the next one, as going to the beach with him had just become a fundamental point of your couples to-do list with him.

The hotel room was bigger than you expected, yet not enough to take that coziness you craved so much away. The open curtains and beige walls brought just the right amount of brightness into the room, and it went well with the white sheets of the king bed in the middle.

The king bed.

You couldn't help the heat in your cheeks at the sight of it. You had been hoping there would be only one bed; you had actually supposed so at first, for you had slept together a few times by now. But actually being met with one bed only, regardless of it might being obvious, had sent a rush of heat through your body.

Watching as Hyunjin placed your bags on the small couch by the window, you decided to take off your shoes and lie down on the mattress for a bit. For some reason, the train ride had left you exhausted.

Hyunjin's lips curved up into an adoring smile the moment he turned around and saw you laying down on your back — arms stretching out above your head as if you had just woken up from a deep slumber, and managing to drag your black top up enough for half your abdomen to be uncovered.

"Don't tell me you're tired now" he teased, crawling right next to you.

"And what if I am?" you dared.

He smiled, resting his hand on your bare waist and drawing small circles on your skin. Goosebumps were fast to show under his touch. "It's not even dark outside yet".

"So what, I'm tired and this bed's too comfy" you snuggled up closer to him, receiving a tender kiss to your forehead.

"It is very comfy, I'll give you that".

"Can't believe you booked a hotel room for us" you smiled incredulously.

Hyunjin smiled as well, shrugging lightly before he wrapped his arms around you and pulled you to his chest. "I figured we could stay the night and that way enjoy the city all day today and some more tomorrow".

"I love that…"

"I was hoping you would…" he mumbled, resting his chin on your head. "Besides, getting to sleep with you is a nice plus to it".

Your cheeks heated up. "We've slept together back in Seoul, though".

"Yes, but not like this".

"Like what?"

He didn't need to say anything back. The single look he gave you when your eyes went up to meet his was enough to let you know what was so different this time. And you wanted it to be like that.

You had been taking it slow for a while now, and you'd be lying to yourself if you said you didn't miss his naked body against yours and the entire different level of intimacy that came with it.

Hyunjin missed it like crazy, too, and he couldn't help but show you with a kiss. After all, he had only been holding back all this time because you wanted to take things slow and he was willing to do that for you.

If it were up to him, though, you'd have spent endless nights tangled up in bed by now.

Your hands went to his nape in a second, pulling him closer and deepening the kiss. Your heavy breathing mixed with his hot one, pressing your mouth to his once more and feeling a shiver run down your spine when his hand moved from your waist to your ass.

That's all you needed to push him down on the mattress and crawl on his lap. The low moan that slipped past his lips was music to your ears, and his hands squeezing your ass before he pushed you down on his crotch was enough to get a muffled moan from you in return.

Your hands travelled down from his chest to his waistline, where you reached his pants.

"No, no… wait…" his breathy plea against your mouth stopped you from pulling the zip down, looking at him in confusion instead. "I didn't bring you here to have sex".

The look on your face must've been accusing as hell, for he couldn't hold back a laugh.

"I'm serious!" he said in between a giggle, hands unconsciously digging under your top and resting right above the curve of your waist.

"Your hands tell me otherwise" you teased.

Hyunjin bit his lip, contemplating for a moment before he stole a chaste kiss from your lips and removed his hands from under your top, bringing them up to your shoulders instead.

"I'm supposed to take you somewhere else today," he confessed. "Right now, actually. We're already running a bit late if we wanna see the whole thing".

You cocked an eyebrow, suddenly interested. "Where are we going?"

"It's a surprise" he smiled, giggling once again when you squinted your eyes daringly. "Last surprise of the day, I promise".

"But I wanna stay here…" you pouted.

Leaning in to press your lips to his in a lingering kiss, you felt him sigh against your mouth — already regretting having to take you somewhere else and considering just staying here in bed with you for the remaining of the trip.

"Don't do this to me…" he whined, hands travelling down again and fingertips pressing hard against the flesh of your hips as he lost the battle against himself and leaned in to steal another kiss from you. "If we're staying in bed all day we could've just stayed in Seoul".

You pouted. "But I want you".

"Couldn't you want me this bad back home?"

"I did want you this bad," you confessed, lips lightly brushing his. "I just have a lot of self-control".

Hyunjin chuckled, nuzzling the crook of your neck before pressing a soft kiss to it. "You're gonna have to keep that self-control up for a little longer then".

"Hyunjin…"

"Ugh, don't say my name like that when you're on top of me" he pleaded.

"That is your name, though" you laughed.

"Mhm… play innocent all you want, baby" his grip on your hips tightened playfully. "You're gonna love the place I'm taking you to much more".

"More than staying in bed with you for what's left of the day?"

A heavy whine escaped his mouth this time, one that was followed by a feigned cry as he threw his head back in exasperation — clearly having failed at trying to convince himself of it.

You laughed loudly at the very troubled sight of him, but it didn't last long, for he was fast to turn you around so now your back was pressed against the mattress and he was on top of you.

"Don't play with me, baby…" he whispered, and this time you couldn't tell whether it was a plea or more of a threat. "I promise you we'll have all night to ourselves".

"All night?" you pushed it.

He smiled, leaning in to kiss you gently. "All night".

"Okay then…" you sighed, gently running your hands down his biceps. "Since you promised".

"Trust me, there's nothing I'd want more than to stay here with you right now" he kissed you again. "But there's a reason I brought you all the way here, so…" he sat up, holding a hand out for you to hold. "Let's go?"

-—-—-—-—-—-—-♡

It only hit you how perfectly Hyunjin had planned everything out when you finally arrived at your destination.

The hotel you were staying at was hardly ten minutes away by foot, and you had surely enjoyed the hand-in-hand walk over there. You could honestly enjoy anything as long as you were with him, and you were definitely having the time of your life looking around the city to realise the place Hyunjin had stopped in front of.

Bon Davinci Museum.

More particularly, the Van Gogh Village Exhibition. The same one you had missed last year back in Seoul and had no idea was now back for a while in a different city.

The look you gave Hyunjin at the realisation was one of pure adoration, and you wondered how expressive you actually were, given you could clearly see the effect your eyes had on him — bringing a bright pink to his cheeks and that cute dimple of his was not something you achieved on a daily basis.

He cleared his throat, trying to control his shy smile at that. "Let's go".

Too stunned to speak, you let him guide you to the line of people who already had their tickets. He had truly left no details behind, and your heart could only soar over how much effort he had put into this.

"I can't believe we're here," you squealed, quietly enough not to bring people's attention to you — that didn't stop Hyunjin's attention and heart eyes from focusing on your beaming face. "God, Innie's gonna be so jealous when he finds out".

Hyunjin chuckled. "Now I feel bad because he gave me his ticket for Nam June Paik's expo and I didn't invite him here".

"He couldn't go to his expo, the ticket would've gone to waste anyway" you squeezed his hand, walking forward as the line in front got shorter. "And let's be honest, he would've third wheeled so hard if he came here with us".

"I'm telling him you'd make him third wheel with us" he smirked.

"Do that and I'm making you third wheel when I'm with him".

"I would like to see you try" he gave you a cynical smile.

Mirroring his attitude, you stuck your tongue out to him before he loosely placed his arm around your shoulders. You lightly rested your head on his shoulder.

"I need to record the Almond Blossom room for him, that's what he wanted to see the most" you nodded to yourself, then looking up at Hyunjin with hopeful eyes. "You think they have the Vase with Daisies and Poppies?"

"I knew you would look for it first thing" he shook his head in amusement.

"Do they?" you perked up.

He shrugged, not even trying to hide his will to tease you. "I guess we'll find out".

"You so know the answer and don't wanna tell me".

"Aren't you the one who wanted to visit so badly in Seoul? Shouldn't you know that, baby?"

Your jaw fell in offense, and you wasted no time in pulling away from his hold. "I hate you".

Hyunjin chuckled, pulling you into his embrace once more and then pressing his lips to your temple. "I know you don't".

Rolling your eyes as you silently rejoiced in his touch, you didn't pry away from it — instead, you wrapped your arm around his waist right as you reached the girl who would scan your tickets.

From the moment you step a foot inside, it was everything you had hoped for.

You remembered how bad you and Innie wanted to go last year when it was in Seoul for a couple of weeks, but it just so conveniently happened to be during finals season, and so you both had to give up enjoying this anticipated art exhibition over your art courses, as ironic as it sounded.

Hyunjin had found out about it one evening when he was lying down on your bed while you worked on a paper — Van Gogh being brought up as you mindlessly chatted and then you casually mentioned your and Jeongin's tragic story.

It had been just that. A light conversation while your attention was mostly focused on your research and Hyunjin's eyes remained focused on his phone, as he had only come over to keep you company. You had mentioned it and moved on. Just that.

You didn't expect him to remember, and you most certainly weren't expecting him to go out of his way to take you to a completely different city so you could finally see the exposition you had missed a year ago.

If he only paid attention, he would see in your eyes just how much harder you had fallen for him right then.

He was too excited making sure you'd admire every masterpiece that was portrayed on the multi-screens, however — far from looking into the way you would stare at him and instead getting lost in the way your smile would take over your face and your eyes would sparkle with every piece you reached.

He was personally most excited about the Starry Night, but when you finally reached the room it was in and you were suddenly covered under the blue and yellow lights, he couldn't help but admire you instead.

Funnily enough, you were doing just the same with him. The difference being you couldn't contain yourself and ended up taking your phone out of your pocket and snapping a picture of him. A picture that turned into five more as you asked him to pose for you and he complied, and which then turned into some more when he took out his phone and had you as his personal model for a while — later pulling you to him and snatching a few selfies together that would make it to his favourites folder.

It made him almost wish you could stay in that moment forever, but there was one last piece you were the most excited about and he was taking you there.

Your face the moment you saw the one painting you had asked about earlier was all Hyunjin needed to know bringing you here was worth it.

"Jinnie, oh my God, they do have it!"

You heard his quite loud yet shy giggle as you rushed towards the huge projection of the Vase with Daisies and Poppies.

Being quite lost in the sight of it, you missed his presence coming up closer to you — jolting up for a moment there when his arms sneaked around your waist from behind, before your body relaxed under his familiar touch.

"I knew they had it" he admitted the obvious, just as his chin rested on your shoulder.

"I knew you knew whether they had it" you side eyed him.

He laughed under his breath, pressing his lips briefly to your cheek. "I just wanted to leave the best for the last" his thumb ran up and down your sides. "Although in my opinion the best was the Starry Night".

"That's because you're basic".

He gasped, tightening his hold on your waist as he leaned back and pulled you slightly away. "You did not just call me basic, daisy girl".

"No, don't bring daisies into this" you warned him.

"They're like the most basic flower out there".

Once again, you were the one to act offended. "You know, you just lost all the points you had gained by calling me 'cutie'".

"Come on now, that's not fair".

"It is plenty fair".

"What about all the points I won by taking you here?"

"Oh yeah, those are gone, too".

"All because I called daisies basic?"

"You deliberately attacked my fixation on them, so…"

He pouted once more, and you could not help but smile sweetly and trace his bottom lip with your thumb.

"You do get some points back for being cute, though".

"Oh, that definitely makes me feel better" he snorted.

You laughed under your breath, lightly pecking his mouth before your eyes locked with his. "Thank you…"

His eyebrows furrowed in confusion. "What for?"

"For this?" you pointed out the obvious, motioning around the room. "I know I already said that I can't believe you brought me to Busan and all that, but this… I mean, I wanted to see this so badly and I didn't even know it was in Busan right now? How did you…"

Hyunjin shrugged, naturally resting his hands on your waist. "I knew you couldn't go last year when it was in Seoul, and I… to be honest I didn't know it was in Busan either, I just started to look for places to take you out on a date and this popped up and it was just perfect".

"You could've just taken me to any art museum back in Seoul and I would've been just as happy, you know?"

"In between taking you somewhere we can go to any other day and taking you to an exposition that will only be here for a couple of weeks… and which you really wanted to see to begin with… I think I know which one would make you happier".

You laughed lightly, wholeheartedly, cupping his face in your hands and tenderly running your thumbs over the corners of his mouth as your eyes went up to meet his. "I love you".

You felt his breath get caught in his throat, and although he opened his mouth to say something in return —or at least try to, as you could see already his voice would betray him—, you didn't need to hear it nor see him struggle. So, you kissed him.

He kissed you back immediately, tenderly as ever — his warm hand cupping your cheek and deepening the kiss before you could pull away.

"You don't have to say it back" you smiled truthfully. "I've just been really struggling lately not to say it every five minutes and needed to let it out".

"Y/N… I, I'm…"

"It's okay, baby, really" you reassured him, reaching for his hand and eagerly tugging at it. "Now let's go! The beach is close, if we rush we can watch the sunset!"

-—-—-—-—-—-—-♡

I love you. I love you. I love you.

That's what you had said, so effortlessly.

I love you. It's what he wanted to say right back the second those three words had abandoned your mouth, but he froze.

He froze.

Love had always come easy to you. You loved selflessly, effortlessly, shamelessly, fully, and expected to be loved the same. He, on the other hand, had always been an outcast to love and romance as a whole.

In his mind, he had told you he loved you plenty of times. When it came to finally, actually saying it outloud, however, his breath had got caught up in his throat and he could physically not let the words out of his mouth.

To say he was upset was an understatement.

You didn't seem to be upset or slightly hurt at his lack of response. Were you that used to his distance from love? Had you really been expecting him not to say he loved you back? Or were you just one hell of an actress?

Whatever the right answer was, it could only upset him more. God, he wanted nothing more than for you to know he loved you.

The sun had still another few minutes to go before settling, and so you had taken a little detour from your walk to the beach to buy the two of you some coffee — on you, as you did not let him pay for it no matter how hard he fought it. Your date, the one he had planned, was not over yet after all.

Hyunjin couldn't help but feel like he had failed at that, too. He had brought you all the way here with the intent of asking you to be his girlfriend, yet the words 'I love you' had been said and suddenly he was out of words and letting you drag him out without even protesting.

If it weren't for how happy you looked back then and how happy he was to see your bright smile adorning your lips as you enjoyed the entirety of the exposition, he would've felt like it all had been pointless.

But there you were, on the other hand, playfully swinging your interlaced hands and sipping on your iced coffee as you walked to the beach. As if nothing had happened ten minutes ago.

A contagious smile took over your face when you finally reached the beach — one that he couldn't help but mirror, feeling at ease over the way your hand had tightened around his as you fastened your pace towards the sand.

You stopped just before the sand turned wet and the waves could reach your feet, yet were still close enough to feel the small drops of salty water that were dragged by the wind to lightly hit your body.

The sun had just started to go down, creating a blue canvas in the sky that turned darker with each passing second, and which was painted by bright strokes of pink and orange that mixed together at certain points.

You couldn't tell whether this was the most beautiful sunset you had ever seen, or whether it was only the fact that you had Hyunjin with you to watch it what made it so special.

Whatever the answer was, you couldn't take your eyes off of it — only doing so to look at Hyunjin when you felt his arms sneak around your waist and his chin rest on your shoulder. You could get used to this new habit of his.

"I always wanted to do this…" you sighed dreamingly, placing your hands over his.

"Do what?" he mumbled, looking up at you.

"You're gonna say it's corny".

"Tell me" he encouraged you.

"Watch the sunset with the person I… you know…" you laughed timidly.

Hyunjin felt a pinch in his chest, and he couldn't tell whether it was out of the insane amount of love he was feeling for you or out of pain.

He knew what you had wanted to say, and he knew you had stopped yourself from saying it not to make him uncomfortable — because, in the end, although his lack of previous response had not hurt you, it did make you fear you'd put him in a tough place if you kept saying it.

Pressing his lips to your shoulder and then clearing his throat, he pulled away from you. "I brought you something, by the way…"

"I thought you said there were no more surprises?" you cocked an eyebrow.

He chuckled, kneeling down on the sand before he took off his backpack and rummaged through it. "It's not really a surprise if we had agreed on making this for each other".

"You brought me your painting?!" you perked up at that, sitting down right next to him with crossed legs.

Hyunjin nodded, silently taking the painting out and handing it to you. "Your painting now, technically".

One look at it, and it had already become your favourite painting in the world.

You had made many portraits in your life, but you had never been on the other end of it. You had never seen yourself through someone else's eyes, and seeing yourself through Hyunjin's right there sent a million butterflies flying around your stomach.

It was funny how both of you had painted each other. However, both works of art were very different.

You had gone with a darker palette — ocean blue being the main star of it. Hyunjin, on the other hand, had gone for lighter colours like white, violet and yellow.

You had used more of a zoomed out picture of him —not like you had used an actual picture, as you had used nothing but your memory to paint that beautiful face of his you had fallen in love with at first sight—, and he had made your face justice by making it the main attraction.

However, although your face was the first thing that caught your eye, your attention and admiration went to the flowers he had painted around. The very same ones he had called you out about earlier that day.

"So… you like it?" Hyunjin asked softly, unable to hide just how nervous he was over your reaction.

"Baby…" your eyes fixed on his expectant one. "It's beautiful, I love it".

"You do?" he giggled.

"Yes, it's—" your eyes went back to the painting, and Hyunjin's smile grew brighter at the way you admired it. "Fuck, it's so beautiful I could cry".

"Now you know how I felt when I saw the one you made for me".

You smiled at him and kissed his cheek. "I really love it, Jinnie. Thank you".

"Don't make me shy now…" he warned you breathily.

"Aw, can't the guy who lives for the spotlight at Mrs. Moon's class take a compliment now?" you taunted.

"It's different…" he rested his head on yours. "I had never painted something for anyone before".

And the fact that the first time he ever did it was for you did not help his case at all.

Your heart soared, and you couldn't help but press another kiss to his cheek — this time closer to the corner of his mouth.

"Well, I love it" you whispered. "Especially the small details of the daisies".

"Yeah… forget about me calling them basic earlier and all that".

You shoved him away with your shoulder as you laughed. "I want to believe this painting as a whole isn't calling me basic".

"I would never" he murmured against your lips, pressing a soft kiss to them.

"That's good," you smirked. "Because you drew a daisy on me once, so that would've been sad".

Hyunjin looked dumbfounded for a second before he got what you meant — a throaty yet somewhat nervous laugh making its way out of his mouth as he was flooded with memories of the night you first kissed.

He didn't think you'd even remember the small blue doodle of a daisy he had taken his time drawing on your neck.

He should've known better, though, for the first thing you did that night after he walked you home and you said your good nights was to go in front of a mirror and check your neck out. You were expecting to see an embarrassing drawing, the kind middle schoolers would draw on their friends' notebooks when they left them unattended, but you were met with a surprisingly neat daisy adorning your skin instead.

You had loved it, and although you were too shy to ever bring it up to him or to anyone else at all, it was a memory you had kept close to your heart. The first ever thing Hyunjin drew for you —or on you— being something you loved so much. And now the first ever proper painting he made for you had, too, made a beautiful inclusion of it.

"You've just made them your whole thing now, ever since we met" he explained. "So I think of you whenever I see them".

"You do?"

"Mhm… you're pretty like them".

"Just pretty?" you batted your eyelashes.

A low chuckle abandoned his mouth as he leaned in to kiss you. "Pretty beautiful, actually".

"Ew, when did you get so corny?" your nose scrunched up in disgust.

"Oh, don't act like you don't love it" his eyes squinted accusingly.

You giggled, shaking your head in disbelief. "God, I love you".

There it was again.

You had breathed those words out like it was so natural for you. Your eyes were no longer on him this time, though, but on the painting he had made for you instead, which could only make him feel like you hadn't even realised you had said it.

It just came that naturally to you.

"You used watercolor in the end" you pointed out, looking up at him with a smile.

"I don't think it was ever up for debate" he chuckled.

"I thought of using it as well…" you admitted, much to his surprise. "But then I thought about the painting I had started that night you came to the studio and thought I could finish it for you… it was all about you after all".

"That's why it looked so familiar" he brought a dramatic hand to his mouth.

"It's not like you got to see much of it back then" you shyly laughed.

"No, because your pretty face was taking up most of it".

You felt your cheeks heat up at his remark — not only because of the use of the word 'pretty', but also because of how your face lying on the fresh paint had been what led up to your first kiss.

"So, you were painting me in blue back then… should I be worried?"

You shrugged, this time a somewhat sad smile reaching your eyes. "You really did put me through a lot, Hwang Hyunjin".

He smiled sadly, too. "I know…"

"Although it was mostly my fault, because I was the one who kept chasing after you even when you made it clear you wanted nothing to do with me" you nervously fidgeted with the sand under you. "And! The painting is not all blue as you can see, there are some bright colours, too. I added the yellow moon to the sky after that same night".

"Why the yellow moon, though?" he asked.

"Yellow makes me happy" you shrugged nonchalantly. "And the moon reminds me of you".

A bright smile parted Hyunjin's lips. "So you're saying I make you happy?"

"Shut up" you warned him.

"Do I make you happy, baby?" he cooed tauntingly.

"Of course you do…" you murmured, not meeting his eyes. "Now leave me alone, I'm embarrassed".

A throaty laugh escaped his mouth, not letting you push him away like you had playfully tried to do, and instead tugging at your wrist. "Noo, come here".

Before you could even protest, he was pulling you to his lap. You straddled it like he wanted, arms naturally resting over his shoulders while his hands fell loosely over your lower back.

You couldn't help but look around for a moment, suddenly hitting you that you were in a public place and anyone could see how lovey dovey you were being.

Luckily for you, the sun had just set completely and the beach was pretty much dessert — the only people who were still there were either friends catching up on their lives or couples who were already too into their own worlds to pay attention to anything else.

Two fingers on your chin brought your attention back to Hyunjin. His nose rubbed gently against yours and his lips brushed yours ever so softly.

"Kiss me" he whispered.

You rested your forehead on his and cupped his cheek before you whispered, "In front of all these people? While I'm sitting on your lap?"

"That's what I said".

"You think you'll be able to control yourself?"

He snorted quietly, shaking his head in amusement before he cupped your cheek instead and pressed his mouth to yours.

Guess you would just have to find out.

The hand of yours that was still over his shoulder tightened around his neck, right as his hand on your back pushed your chest closer to his and his tongue traced your bottom lip for you to open up. Once you did and your tongues met one another, he couldn't hold back the small contented sigh that abandoned his mouth.

The kiss was soft, slow, tender — not a single rush in the world as it felt like you were the only two people in it that night.

"I love you…"

It wasn't coming out of your lips this time, but out of his.

It came out as a whisper, barely audible if it weren't for his mouth being attached to yours, but there was not a single hint of hesitation in his voice.

Your eyes opened in a heartbeat, being met with his genuine yet surprised ones, as the words had seemed to have slipped out of his mouth before he could even notice.

Maybe it was that easy to say those three words after all.

"What?" you asked in a whisper, pulling him slightly away by his shoulders. "No, Jinnie, I didn't… I wasn't expecting y—I wasn't trying to pressure you when I said—"

Your trembling rambling was shut down with a soft kiss of his.

"You really think I would say it if I didn't mean it? After how fucking hard I tried to avoid love all these years?"

"Why didn't you say it back at the exhibition then?" you frowned.

"I froze," he shamefully admitted. "I wanted to say it back so bad but I just couldn't get the words out".

"You mean it?" you whispered, still in disbelief.

"Of course I mean it. I've been struggling not to say it for a while now, too, but then you said it first… twice… and I guess I got too stunned to say anything back".

"Seems like I'm always one step ahead of you when it comes to love" you proudly stated.

"That you are" he agreed, smiling sweetly while his thumb drew small circles on your chin. "I really love you, Y/N".

You pouted, feeling like you could cry out of happiness right then and there. "I love you, too".

He pulled you into a kiss, probably the happiest one you had shared, as the curved up corners of your lips and the breathy laughs escaping them made it hard for you to suck on them.

"Is that why you brought me here?" you asked against his pink mouth. "To tell me this?"

He bit his lip, lowering his head and fidgeting with your fingers. "It was actually so I could ask you to be my girlfriend…"

Your heart skipped a beat, having to take a moment not to let out a squeal. "You planned to ask me at the beach all along?"

"No, um… I was supposed to ask you at the exposition, actually" he tilted his head. "But then you told me you loved me and I froze and, well…"

"You really had that much of a hard time trying to ask me?"

"No, I mean, I don't know?" he whined. "You're just, you".

"What is that supposed to mean?" you laughed under your breath.

"It means that I wanted it to be perfect but then again I still get so nervous around you and feelings are still ugh, and I get all—you make me so flustered, woman".

You threw your head back, this time laughing with your whole chest over how cute his troubled expression was.

"Aw, I love that" coming back to look at him, you pulled him in to kiss his nose. "You're adorable".

"That's not really the reaction I was going for…" he joked.

"You know it didn't have to be perfect, right? You could've just asked me while we were hanging out back at yours or mine, or even after class for all I care" you tenderly pushed back a strand of hair that was covering his eye. "I would've said yes regardless".

"I asked you when we were in bed the first time and you said no" he pouted.

"You were drunk," you reminded him, earning an obnoxiously cute shrug from him. "I wanted you to mean it when you said it".

"I did mean it" he fought.

"I wanted you to say it without the influence of alcohol in the middle then".

"Alcohol made it easier, though" Hyunjin pouted.

You cupped his face as a small laugh escaped your mouth. "I bet it did" your thumb traced the corner of his mouth, where you pressed a light kiss to. "And for the record, I never said no".

"You told me to ask you again when I was sober".

"Which made it implicit that I was saying yes".

"Are you saying yes now then?"

"If you ask me properly…" you sighed over-dramatically. "Then possibly".

"You're just playing with me at this point" he recriminated, earning an amused chuckle from you.

"Maybe…" you taunted him, wrapping your arms around his neck. "Do you know the implications of me becoming your girlfriend, though, Hwang Hyunjin?"

"Of course I know," he smirked, pulling you in. "It means you'll be all mine".

You bit your bottom lip. "It also means you'll be all mine, though".

He shrugged. "I've already been for a while now".

"I've also been yours for a while now. A pretty good while, actually".

Hyunjin chuckled, his hand running up and down your back. "Maybe, but now I'll be able to go up to any douchebag who tries to hit on you and let them know you're mine".

"Haven't you already done that?" you chuckled, and his smirk only grew. "You even used the word 'girlfriend' if I'm not mistaken, which I was not back then".

His plump lips trapped your bottom one in between, gently sucking on it before he slowly pulled at it with his teeth.

"Be my girlfriend then? For real?" he mumbled against your lips, and you felt like you would die when his hungry eyes stared at your mouth for a couple of seconds before they went up to your eyes.

You nodded, because words were not something you could speak anymore.

"Words, baby" he pushed it. "I need you to say it".

"Of course I'll be your girlfriend, Jinnie".

His eyes turned into two crescent moons, and suddenly you realised why the moon reminded you of him. With a breathy giggle leaving his mouth, he pulled you into another kiss — the first one you would share as an official couple.

Looking back at it, you couldn't believe you were living all this with the guy who used to avoid your attempts —or avoid you as a whole— and who claimed not to want a relationship, ever. You couldn't believe your feelings were returned in the end, and that he actually wanted to be with you in a serious, formal relationship.

But here you were, in a Busan beach after the sun went down, sitting on his lap while one of his hands remained on your lower back and the other one on your nape, sharing a kiss that somehow managed to be more special than all the others you had shared that day.

"What's so funny?" he wondered when a small, breathy laugh ran past your lips.

"I managed to get you in the end, huh?" you giggled, earning an amused roll of eyes from him. "Was I too charming for you not to fall for me, baby?"

"Don't let it get to your head" he warned you.

"Oh, I would never" you smirked.

Hyunjin shook his head in amusement, pulling you in to plant a kiss on your forehead right as you shivered. "It's getting cold..." he pointed out, looking around to realise there was no one else at the beach anymore. "Let's go back to the hotel, yeah?"

You nodded, standing up from his lap and offering him a hand to help him up before you could pick up the half emptied cups of coffee. "Should we get something to eat?"

"You're hungry?" he asked while putting his backpack on.

"Not really," you shrugged, handing him his coffee. "But it's late…"

"We could order some food later" he suggested, pulling you closer and stealing a lingering kiss from your addictive lips. "Just want to head straight to our hotel room now".

"I'm guessing you did bring a condom this time around?" you teased, although you both knew you were half serious.

"Tsk. Of course I did. Learned my lesson the hard way with you" he shook his head. "Besides, I was being quite optimistic about today".

"Oh, were you now?"

"Mhm..." he nodded, interlocking his fingers with yours before you started walking back to the hotel. "I actually brought like fifteen of them".

You laughed. "Don't test your luck, Hwang Hyunjin".

"You did say we had all night to ourselves".

"You said that".

"And you agreed".

Hearing your laugh right then and feeling you lean closer to him in look for warmth, he could only feel the luckiest to have you with him.

Things had not exactly gone according to plan today, and despite it making him upset at first, it was that little detour what allowed him to hear you say you loved him. And although it took him a while, he, too, had told you he loved you.

It was that little detour what allowed him to ask you to be his girlfriend without feeling like his heart would break out of his chest at any given moment — though he did still feel nervous when he asked you anyway. But it was natural, the words had made their way out of his mouth effortlessly, not even giving him time to chicken out like he had done a couple of times by now.

And somehow, that little moment of yours at the beach, ignoring the world around you as nothing and no one else seemed to matter, had been so much more special than anything he could've ever planned.

In the end, he realised he didn't have to try so hard and instead let things take their own course and go on their own pace. When it came to you, no matter what happened, you would be able to find your way back to each other. The two of you could always count on that.

tag list: @blaaiissee @hyuneytoast @staysuki @tardiscompanion @princehyun-jin @hyuka-luvbot @halesandy @nattisbored @berryberrytan @hibuki-chan @purenjuniverse @seungly @suhnnyskiess @midsoulz @kwanisms @esme-ordaz @candyapletree @firnze @soobin-chois @moon-320 @ohmyteez @elviransworld @valewoos @ktttwwn @hazzaloveschopsuey @hannahdinse8 @zoe8stay @leechanniee @phenomenalgirl9 @aeminju @threevracha @laryisthinking @wolfietara @iam2out @peterparkoure @cosmic-railwayxo @straykidsficsrecsbaby @marsophilia @choibeomgogi @ddaengpotate @oceanyocean @rinsdesires @jhslmhbtsskz @lixlovesworld @keenlampponyclam @yerimselgi @mal-lunar-28 @littlestarhyun @mingiholic @euphroseia

[vodika-vibes]

Congratulations on your 650 followers Vodika! I bring you a request. May I please have a fairy tale AU with Jango Fett. Jango is the king of Mandalore and he hires you as his son's caretaker. As you spend more time with Boba and Jango the two of you fall in love with one another and even though you are just a commoner and Jango can have any woman he wants all Jango wants is to marry you and make you his queen.

Once again congratulations Vodika! I look forward to reading all of your requests once they are finished ❤️

Cin Vhetin

Summary: After losing your well-paying career as an in-home nanny due to a lie, you’re forced to move in with your older sister just to make ends meet. You’re about to give up on ever finding another job when your sister brings you an opportunity that you can’t turn down.

Pairing: Jango Fett x F!Reader

Word Count: 2958

Prompt: Fairy Tale AU

Warnings: None

Tagging: @trixie2023 @n0vqni @imabeautifulbutterfly

A/N: Alright, I've had this mostly written for days now, I just couldn't get the final section to come out right. But I'm finally happy with it! So I hope you like it!

“I’m home~”

You look up from where you’re putting the finishing touches on tonight's dinner as your sister waltzes into the kitchen, a broad grin on her face. “Welcome back,” You greet tiredly, “You’re in a good mood, Rayne.”

“Of course I am, I got to see my future husband-”

“You mean the one who doesn’t know you exist? That future husband?”

“Hush, stop raining on my parade.” She spins around the kitchen, as though she’s still a teenager and not a woman nearing forty. “Anyway, I saw my beloved. And we had a conversation.”

“Oh?”

“He asked me if I wanted two loaves of bread or if one would be enough for tonight.”

“Sis, that isn’t talking, that’s him doing his job.” You counter with a roll of your eyes, “But continue.”

“It’s a step up.” She huffs as she stops spinning and flings her arms around your shoulders in a tight hug, “But, much more importantly. I signed you up for an interview at the palace tomorrow.”

“You what?!” You spin and glare at her, “An interview for what?”

“Don’t freak out,” She says as she jabs her finger in your face, “I’m doing you a favor.”

“Rayne!”

She rolls her eyes, “As you know, King Jango now has an infant son, and he needs a skilled nanny for Prince Boba. And you, my darling baby sister, are a skilled nanny and governess.” 

“Yeah, aside from the fact that I was fired from my last job.”

“Okay, so you weren’t fired because of anything you did, first of all. Those people lied about you and ruined your reputation, and this is an excellent way to repair that.” Rayne says as she places her hands on her hips, “Also, I know you’re doing your best to get a job and everyone is denying you because of the rumors, but I really think that this is the way to go.”

“If I get denied because of this lie—”

“You won’t,” Rayne reassures. “Your skill speaks for itself. And the King is rumored to be a discerning man.” She places her hands on your shoulders, “Will you go?”

You sigh, “Yeah. Okay.”

She squeals and flings her arms around you, “Oh, you won’t regret this, I know it.” Rayne releases you and claps her hands in front of her face, “Now, your interview is at the end of the day tomorrow, do you have a proper outfit to wear? I know you prefer your tunics, leggings, and boots. But do you have any skirts?”

“You know I don’t.” You say with a sigh, “I have a nice tunic and leggings that I can wear tomorrow. It’ll be fine.” Rayne opens her mouth to say something, but you cut her off, “I know you’re worried, but my clothes will be fine.”

She sighs and folds her arms, “I know, I know. I just…you’ve been so unhappy since you lost your last job. I’ve been worried.”

You make a face, “Well, the rumors weren’t kind to me, Rayne.”

“No, they weren’t.” She takes your hands and squeezes them, “I’ll leave you to your cooking, alright? I need to tend to the garden and then get cleaned up. Call me when dinner is done?”

“I always do.”

Rayne smiles at you and turns to leave the room, and then she pauses and looks at you, “Vod’ika,” you start at the familiar word falling from her lips, “Our buir’e would be proud of the woman you’ve become. I know I am.”

Your face heats and you avert your gaze, “You think so?”

“I know so.” Rayne hurries over to you and presses a light kiss to your temple. “Now, I do have to tend to the garden. Are you good?”

You smile at her, “Yeah. I’m good.” You watch as she leaves the room and then turn your attention back to the meal you’re preparing. You are so lucky that your sister is such an amazing person.  You’re never going to be able to pay her back.

The next day, your sister walks you to the palace, where you join the veritable army of other women who have applied for the position. “Are you sure you don’t want me to wait?” Rayne asks as she tucks some hair out of your face, “I don’t mind.”

“I’m sure. You have better things to do than wait hours for me to finish my interview, Rayne. And I know you have some things you need to do.”

“Well, yes-”

“Don’t worry about me.” You reassure her, “I’ll be okay. I’ve done this before after all.”

Rayne sighs, “Alright. I’ll see you this evening then. I love you.”

“Love you too.” You watch as Rayne hurries into the crowd and you settle back to wait for your turn. You know it’ll be a long wait.

King of Mandalore, Jango Fett, leans back in his chair as the most recent interviewee is escorted from the room. He pinches the bridge of his nose as he tries to stem the growing migraine.

“Well, this is going splendidly,” Miles notes dryly, “Half of those women have never seen a child, and the other half would be bad fits for living in the palace.”

Jango grunts, and then drops his hand, “You heard the woman who claims that children need a firm hand?”

“Oh yes,” Miles’ smile isn’t nice, “I made a note of that.”

“How many more?”

“Just the one,” Miles replies.

“And what do we know about her?”

“She’s quite the talented nanny,” He replies, “Has been caring for children since she was a child, used to Nanny for the Kryze clan.”

Jango lifts his head, “Used to?”

“There were some allegations of inappropriate behavior. Rumors and hearsay, mostly. Though, there are quite a few notes here, from a lot of people, indicating that those rumors and allegations are nothing more than lies.”

“Shocking, someone from the Kryze family lying.”

“Hm, if only we could power your kingdom with sarcasm-” Miles counters, just as sarcastically.

“Yeah, yeah.” Jango glances at the peacefully slumbering Boba, and then looks at Miles, “Well, we might as well get this over with. Call her in.”

Miles nods, once, and leaves the room.

He’s gone for almost five minutes, though Jango knows that’s because Miles is doing his pre-screening. Something that he started after the second woman let slip that she was looking for a title and a crown.

Honestly, he’s never going to get used to these leeches. Being a member of the royal family is hardly worth all that.

He sits up when the door opens, and Miles steps into the room, looking very smug. Trailing behind him is a young woman. Her hair is neatly pulled out of her face, and her clothes are neat, but don’t hang overly loose.

And, unlike most everyone else, her gaze skips right over him to focus on Boba. 

That, by itself, moves her to the top of the list.

“The last applicant, your Majesty,” Miles says with a gesture towards the young woman, and then he bows and leaves the room.

“His name is Boba,” Jango says, “He’s only a couple of weeks old.”

The corners of her lips turn down thoughtfully, “Forgive me for saying so, but having such a young baby around so many people is not safe for him.” 

Jango leans back in his seat, and a small smirk plays on his lips. Negative reputation or not, his estimation of her is going higher and higher. “I haven’t been allowing anyone to hold him.”

“Well, that’s something I suppose.” She finally turns her gaze to him and offers a shallow, but respectful curtsy. “I apologize, then.”

“There’s no need for that.” Jango scans her thoughtfully. She is young, but she looks tired. And her clothes hang on her, as though she’s recently lost a lot of weight. Or the clothes used to belong to someone else. “You were looking out for my son.”

He picks up her resume and motions for her to take a seat, which she does.

“I have your resume here,” He says, “And, honestly, I have a hard time believing that you don’t already have a job. Nannying since you were a teenager. A qualified governess in your own right. You’ve nannied for some very big names over the years. The most recent being the Kryze clan.”

“That’s all accurate, yes.” She replies, though her lips tighten at the mention of her previous employers. 

Jango sets the resume down on the table, “Based on your qualifications, you’re more than qualified for the job.” he says lightly, “But, understand, Boba is my only son. So I have to ask about these rumors-”

She winces and her shoulders curl in on her, “What would you like to know?”

There’s something like resigned defeat in her voice, and Jango finds himself not liking it. “What happened?”

Absently she rolls the hem of her sleeve between her fingers, “I was hired as the Nanny and Governess for Korkir Kryze three months before he was born.” She explains quietly, “I prepared the nursery, made sure that the house had everything it needed, and when he was born, I was the first one to hold him. I don’t think the Duke or the Duchess ever held him.” 

“Go on.”

“I can’t remember a single instance of his parents ever being in the same room as Korkie for longer than it took for a photo op or a meal.” She continues, “When he started talking, he called me mom. The Duchess…” She trails off, “She wasn’t happy about it.” She finally says.

“They fired you.”

“And spread rumors that I was a Noble Hunter and that I tried to seduce the Duke.” She bristles slightly, “I would never. I have enough self-respect to not try and poach from another woman-”

Jango holds up a hand, “Peace.”

She quells, though she still looks very unhappy.

“What happened after you were fired?”

“I moved in with my sister, it’s where I’ve been living.”

Jango nods thoughtfully, “This position comes with a series of rooms in the palace,” He explains, you also get two days off a week, days that you can set. You will be responsible for Boba during the day when I’m working, but you’ll only need to take him in the early mornings, evenings, or at night if I’m indisposed for some reason.”

She blinks at him, “Wait, you mean-?”

He smiles, “The position is yours, we’ll work out the rest of the hard details a bit later.”

“Thank you!”

His smile widens, “Would you like to hold Boba?”

She immediately walks over to the infant and allows Jango to place him in her arms. He watches as she adjusts his weight with the ease of someone who’s been caring for children for a long time.

“Time for the grand tour,” Jango says, “Follow me please.”

You settle into your new routine with ease. King Jango is a fine father and an even better man. He never treats you as if you’re less than him, and he listens to you if you say that there’s something wrong with Boba, or if you note that something needs to be changed.

In the 6 months that you’ve worked for him, you come to realize that you’ve never been as comfortable working for a family as you do when working for the King.

And yes, there is something of a small crush there. But you would never dream of risking your job in the hopes of catching his eye.

At 6 months old, Boba can roll over in both directions, and he babbles, though he still isn’t quite at the talking stage. More importantly, he’s learned stranger anxiety. Luckily, you’re not a stranger and he reaches for you as often as he reaches for his father.

Right now, though, Boba’s asleep in his crib and you’re organizing his nursery.

It’s one of the few nights where Jango isn’t able to put Boba down for the night, though, knowing the King, he’ll pop in as soon as he’s done in his meeting.

And, true to your expectations, half an hour later the nursery door opens. 

The King offers you a tired smile, and then walks over to the crib to peer down at the baby, “How was he today?”

“A little grumpy.” You reply, “But he settled around noon time.”

“That’s good.” You watch as Jango smoothes a curl off of Boba’s forehead, “I’m sorry I wasn’t able to put him down for the night.”

“It happens,” You reply lightly, you slip a couple more diapers into the drawer, and then you glance at him, “It’s been happening a lot these last couple of weeks.” You note, almost absently.

It’s an offer for him to confide in you if he wants.

Jango sighs, “It has, yes.” He falls silent for a moment, “I know I only hired you to take care of Boba, but it’d be nice to have someone to talk to. Someone who’s not involved.”

You finish folding Boba’s clothes and put them in the dresser before you turn to look at him, “I’m always happy to listen, Jango.” You make sure the baby monitor is on, and then follow him out of Boba’s nursery and into Jango’s suites.

You sink onto one of the plush couches as he offers you a glass of juice, before he sits next to you, “The Council, and Miles, are pushing me to get married.” Jango says.

“I wasn’t aware that you had a partner,” You note thoughtfully as you take a sip of the juice and set the cup on the table.

“I don’t. That’s the problem.”

“You’re the King, if you want them to stop just tell them.”

“Sadly, it doesn’t work like that. They have lists of women who might be interested in marrying me, but—” He shakes his head.

“But you’re not interested.”

“I’m not blind, I’m well aware that I could have any noblewoman that I wanted. The problem is that I don’t want any of them.”

“May I ask why not?” You ask, curious.

“Boba.”

You exhale slowly, “Okay, that’s fair.”

“Plus, I have no interest in firing you. And the last thing I want is to put you in another situation like the Kryze situation.”

“That’s kind of you, Jango. But I really shouldn’t be a consideration in this.”

“Why not? You’re basically Boba’s mother at this point.”

You laugh softly, “That’s going to get me in trouble, I know it.”

Jango leans back for a moment, his dark eyes scanning you, “I lied.”

“About?”

“Not wanting any woman specifically.” Jango clarifies, “There’s one woman I’m interested in.”

“Okay, so you should talk to her.”

“I am.”

“Oh. Oh!” Your face heats and you press your hands against your cheeks, “Me. You mean me.”

Jango chuckles softly, though there’s nothing unkind there, “I do mean you.”

“But I’m just a nanny.”

“So? My parents were farmers, it was my adoptive dad who made me King.” Jango shifts on the couch so that his knees are almost touching you, “Boba loves you. And you’ve managed to keep me sane these last six months.”

“I don’t know anything about ruling a kingdom.”

“You don’t have to, that will remain my job.” Jango’s warm fingers brush against your cheek, “Tell me you’re not interested, and I’ll never mention it again.”

You stare at him, “I just…why me?”

“Because you’re you. Because the idea of you not being in my life makes me miserable.” Jango’s fingers slide across your lips.

“People will make assumptions—”

“Let them. So long as we both know the truth,” Jango leans in, his lips hovering just over yours, “You are the one I want. The only one I want.”

A soft sigh falls from your lips, “Jango—”

You’re not able to finish your thought, as his lips catch yours in a gentle, almost chaste, kiss. Your hands come up to lightly press against his cheeks, and then one of your hands slides to card through his curls.

Jango releases a low groan, the kiss deepening as he leans you back, so you’re lying on the couch and he’s supporting his weight on his elbows. He lightly nips your lower lip and then soothes the sore spot with his tongue.

You don’t mean to release the breathy whine at the feel of his teeth against you, but you do, and Jango practically collapses on you with a deep appreciative moan.

His lips move to your throat, and you gasp when he bites down on the sensitive skin located there, intent on leaving a mark.

You know that he would keep going and that you would let him when the baby monitor releases a little noise, and you both still at the sound of Boba waking up. 

He stares down at you, and you blink up at him, “I need to go get him,” You whisper. 

“Yeah.” Jango kisses you one more time, “We’ll have to continue this later. If you want?”

“Well,” You smile at him shyly, “I wouldn’t say no.”

He flashes an eager, and boyish, grin. “I can’t wait,” Jango murmurs as he climbs off of you and allows you to grab the baby monitor to hurry to the nursery.

And, when Jango joins you in the nursery half an hour later and wraps himself around you to watch you take care of Boba, you’re really not surprised. Just like you’re not surprised when his arms slide tightly around your waist and he holds you tightly.

You know that it’ll be a change, being in a relationship with the King. But you find yourself excited about the change, rather than anxious.

[rupturedtaleblog]

Hi everyone, Tile here, under more ideal circumstances, you would have gotten everything I wanted to do for the anniversary all at once, but due to my personal life becoming far more busy than I'd like, the content for this year is going to be spread out over the rest of the month.

The following is mostly going to be a few thoughts of mine, over the history of this project, and about a few personal anecdotes. If you don't care about that, feel free to just look at the art up there, it was made by VeggieUTDR.

I would like to start things off by thanking those of you who have decided to still follow this project. What started out as a stupid joke made to spite someone had transformed into a project that is incredibly personal to me. One that I, come hell or high water, will see through it to its completion, one way or another.

8 years feels like an incredible amount of time. A lot of things happened to me, and some things stayed relatively the same. It's part of why I've decided to never really cancel this. By the time Rupturedtale started, it was during the boom of Undertale AU Sprite Comics, it was a project among many of those, and one that would surely fade just like a good chunk of them.

That never really happened, though, as I'm currently talking to you. As corny as this may sound, there is a part of me inside of this thing. And it's a part of me I cannot bring myself to hurt. This whole story is about hurt, really, it'd be cruel to put it out of its misery when it can become something truly beautiful.

If you're wondering why it's taken so long, besides my life in general being busy, it's because I've spent a lot of time developing some personal projects with some good friends of mine. Ones that for the time being aren't really meant for the public eye. Creating those memories is important to me, and they will also shape how some of the things in this project are going to be.

You might get to catch a glimpse at one of them.

There isn't anything of major substance that I can show right now, the Date itself has things that will be better off being shown in their proper context. And its overall script needs to undergo revision before it can be put into game form. In the event of complete and utter catastrophic failure, you can expect it to come out in comic form instead.

In general, for the projects that are made by my hand (and the very lovely people who help said hand), I will be publishing a roadmap of what to expect in the future. There are a lot of things that I want to do, and I'm very eager to show them to you. I just need to get to them first.

Again, I'm incredibly grateful for your patience, there's not a lot of you out there, I'm aware, but for the ones that still are, I promise you're gonna get what you've been looking for.

If there is anything I've learned the past few years, is that my love for this game will never truly die, I will be thinking about it for the rest of my life.

Though, that doesn't mean I will only create under its own shadow.

You can't just play with the same toy over and over again, you know.

You'd want something new.

Eventually.

[skepsiss]

Modern Problems, Modern Solutions pt 1

Pt2

I have like 4 other parts to this written already but I'll post em when I have time to edit. Yearning with extremely awkward teen Steddie. Eddie as a proper 17 year old would be awkward as hell! I think at least. Additionally, there is quite a bit of swearing so you've been warned. Generally, I just wanted to explore EDDIE catching feelings first and being put out by that.

Modern day AU, or more or less modern give or take 5ish years circa 2015/19. I don't think this takes place in the Hawkins we know from the show.

Small American towns can be kinda backwards, but it varies a lot as to how open and accepting each town/state is. So, suspend disbelief and imagine it as a place that is tolerant of queerness. Also, read with the understanding that in a lot of places in this generalized time people think queerness is actually kinda "trendy" in some ways. It's not taboo but it's also extremely dependant on the person that is queer and "how queer they act". "be gay... but not too gay" etc.--

---

"Did you hear? Steve Harrington just came out as bi--"

Eddie looked up from his phone, feet propped up on the desk in front of him. The boy who had popped his head into their mostly empty homeroom had delivered the news so quickly that everyone there was quietly shocked.

"Son of a bitch," Eddie grumbled, putting his feet down and getting clumps of dirt on the linoleum floor. School hadn't even started and he was already having to deal with this bullshit.

"What?" Gareth asked, laughing a bit awkwardly. He sounded confused like he didn't understand where Eddie was directing his vitriol.

"Leave it to some preppy, jock, rich-boy to make 'being gay' cool--asshole," Eddie's words were drenched in sarcasm and mockery, going as far as to air-quote when he said being gay.

"I've been fucking gay since 8th grade and now some 16-year-old wannabe happens to be queer it's big news?" Eddie sat back with frustration, crossing his arms over his chest and slouching in his seat.

"I don't think you're supposed to say queer--" Jeff started to correct only to shut up quickly when Eddie whipped his head around to him and glared.

"I can say whatever the hell I want. I'm the one that's queer!" Eddie spat, hating that so much of this 'being gay is okay' culture circled around the heterosexual perspective of what was and was not okay.

Eddie grouched for the rest of the day, keeping his head down and feeling his nostrils flare every time a whisper of today's big news passed by him in the hallways. Who fucking cared? Steve Harrington was thee popular boy in school and was talked about as if he was their generation's teen heart-throb. It was to a point where Eddie knew who he was despite him being an underclassman. He was in grade 12 and he still had to hear about Steve Harrington as if he mattered. Sports star, good-looking, daddy's boy.

It was so goddamn annoying. Eddie had been out since he was thirteen and he had suffered through the humiliation of 'being queer' all the way through high school. He had the scars to prove it and it pissed him off that four years later it felt like people were singing Steve's praises for being brave enough to come out. Who fucking cared? Being gay was cool now or something--it gave you an edge and despite the fact that Eddie was bi himself, it truly felt like bisexuality was a cop-out to get girls to think you were hot with no intention to do the whole gay part of it. That was unfair to think, but in his biased opinion, some popular boy didn't deserve to be treated delicately while he had been in the trenches over it.

Eddie glared as the school day ended as he walked outside into the Autumn air. He could see Steve across the parking lot chatting to a gaggle of people around his car. He was smiling and laughing and everyone seemed so eager to let him know they accepted him. Or whatever the fuck. He couldn't actually hear what they were saying.

"Does the torture of high school know no fucking end?" Eddie grumbled, stuffing his hands in his pockets, not paying attention to where he was going.

"Tell me about it."

Eddie looked up at the sound of a voice; the words that were spoken dripped with sarcasm. Robin was leaning against her bike by Eddie, bag slung over her shoulder as she watched the fanfare from a safe distance--same as Eddie. Robin was president of the LGBT-Alliance club, and Eddie knew her from band. Robin was two years younger than him, but she had come in hot and loud about being a lesbian straight from jump. Despite how meek she was in many regards, she was smart and dedicated to her beliefs. Eddie could respect that.

"Get a load, huh?" Eddie asked, scoffing as he glanced back over at Steve.

"Hmm," Robin offered quietly, staring for a moment before starting to put on her helmet, "he's been coming to meetings pretty regularly over the last couple of months, you know."

Eddie looked back at Robin, surprised to hear her... defending Steve Harrington? He thought it was unanimous that geeks and weirdos like them hated guys like that.

"You'd know if you ever showed up for meetings," Robin said a bit flippantly, and Eddie frowned at her.

He had tried the whole LGBT-Alliance thing and it just wasn't his space. It was boring and he hated that the group generally just talked about events and progress they should make. He didn't want any of that, he just wanted to hang out with a couple of people that were queer like him. He didn't want to be scheduling and painting signs or whatever the fuck. He had his own things to do after school--band, D&D, chucking dirt wads at a wall--anything was better than sitting in what was essentially a business meeting.

"Come on," Eddie grumbled, not wanting to acknowledge that if Steve had been attending the LGBT-Alliance meetings that this 'leaving the closet thing' had been a long time coming.

"He's actually a decent guy," Robin defended as she adjusted her helmet straps, "all things considered."

Eddie huffed a laugh, scoffing at Robin.

"Didn't think I'd be hearing this from you, Buckley--I thought lesbians were supposed to hate all men or something," Eddie retorted, not really meaning it but feeling confrontational.

"Don't be a drag," Robin sighed, rolling her eyes at the comment, "talk to Will Byers about it or whatever. He's in your D&D thing, right?"

"Hellfire," Eddie corrected, thinking about that for a moment. Will was in both their clubs and he was close friends with Dustin--who also seemed to adore Steve Harrington for some reason. It was stupid, he didn't understand why half the kids in his after-school club liked the guy. Eddie had never had any personal conflict with Steve, but he fit the shape of every guy Eddie had ever taken issue with.

"Whatever," Robin retorted, getting onto her bike, "you know we're having a mixer next weekend. You should come."

Eddie looked at her, frowning again. He didn't want to go to a mixer, whatever she meant by that. Robin seemed to pick up on the mild confusion he had around the comment, explaining further.

"Geez, there's like posters around the school, Eddie. Our alliance and like 4 other schools in our district are having like an LGBT dance, mixer, party or whatever. Hosting in Talho on Saturday. We've got a pretty big turnout already, tickets are five bucks."

"Five bucks?" Eddie huffed, acting as if that number was ridiculous for an event like this. He didn't want to admit that it sounded kind of... nice. With four other school districts... that meant there would be a lot of guys that were undeniably queer he'd get to meet for the first time if he went. That was something. It'd really be something if he walked away with a date.

"I'll think about it," Eddie said, waving Robin off and continuing his slouch across the parking lot to start his long walk home.

—--

"Call me if you need a ride," Wayne said as Eddie shuffled out of the cab of the truck. He stood at the door, having to look up at Wayne in order to see him from how much the suspension of Wayne's old gas-guzzler hoisted the truck off the ground.

"Yeah, yeah," Eddie huffed, feeling put out already for having decided to come. He was having second thoughts as he stood there, holding Wayne's door.

"Eddie," Wayne said a bit more firmly, looking for a straight answer.

"I'll call if I need a ride home-- or whatever," Eddie replied, sounding annoyed as he shut the door and turned towards the school gym.

It was obvious where the event was being hosted and he felt weird showing up alone. He had decided to come after much lamenting, resigning himself to just chatting to Will all night if he hated the damn thing. It felt weird, and he quietly hoped that at least some people his age would show up. He didn't want to be stuck as the oldest person there amongst a sea of 14 and 15-year-olds.

The event wasn't formal, but Eddie had tried to clean up a bit. He'd left his leather jacket and vest at home, opting for just an old denim jacket and a T-shirt that didn't have a band or logo on it. Other than that, he was still in scuffed-up shoes and ripped jeans, but he hoped that didn't put people off. Not that it mattered. Not that he ultimately cared. He didn't want to talk to anyone who had a problem with it to begin with, but it still made him feel self-conscious. Really, he hadn't dressed up because he didn't have anything to dress up into. Even the debate of if this was worth five bucks or if he should save it in order to get the luxury of sub-par pizza next week had been a difficult choice to make. He hated showing up to things like this and sticking out like a sore thumb--he hated being easily marked as poor.

Eddie paid his entry fee and stepped into the gym; the decorations were tacky and everything screamed 'event put on by teenagers.' There was something kind of charming about that though, even if it felt a bit pedestrian. It was sort of as he feared though... there were people here--a decent amount--but everyone looked so... young. The realisation made Eddie tense a bit as he moved over to the refreshments table and idled before getting a drink.

Great. Just great. He had spent five bucks for an awkward night leaning against a wall and drinking fruit punch.

"Eddie!"

Eddie turned to see Robin waving at him. She had a vest with a button on it signifying that she was a leader in the club. She probably had responsibilities to attend to during the night, but she did look mildly excited to see him there.

Feeling like he didn't have much of an option, Eddie migrated in her direction, feeling very self-conscious about the whole thing.

"Hey, you made it," Robin offered, a few people hovering around her. It was sort of obvious that she was busy, but Eddie appreciated her taking the time to say hi.

"Yeah, figured I'd check it out at least," Eddie said, talking into his cup as he looked around the room. He didn't really have time to lament though as a small commotion worked its way towards them.

"Sorry--sorry!"

Eddie looked to see Steve Harrington making his way over to them with what looked like 4 dozen balloons. It was kind of comical really, seeing him try to fight past the sea of bobbing, colourful globes.

"Steve!" Robin said sharply, her volume subdued but still stern.

"Sorry--there was a hold-up--" Steve replied, awkwardly trying to move the balloons to see past them and talk directly to Robin.

"Oh—oh-How-what? A holdup?" Robin mocked back, tisking as she took a bundle of the balloons from Steve and handed them to the girls beside her.

"Uh, yeah, Buckley. There was a holdup, you gagging on ten-dollar lipstick or something?" Steve retorted quickly "looks good by the way." He was gesturing to the make-up Robin had on and the bright red lipstick she had applied which was fairly different compared to her usual look.

Eddie snorted into his cup, choking slightly as he tried to hold back from laughing at the burn. Robin looked offended for half a beat before smacking one of the balloons directly into Steve's face and taking the rest of the handful.

"Ow--hey," Steve complained, getting aggressively jostled as Robin walked past him.

Despite what was being said, the whole exchange had been... friendly. It was weird really, it looked and sounded like Robin and Steve were actually friends. They were toying with each other and being bitchy in a way Eddie had only ever seen best buddies do, which was really goddamn weird to see coming from a superstar, jock hunk, and the local raging feminist, band geek.

"You're on my shit-list," Robin commented, pointing over her shoulder at Steve and then bustling off with the other girls and the balloons. Obviously, they had been meant for decorations and Robin was now rushed to finish setting everything up. The whole exchange had been so quick Eddie hadn't even been able to properly react before he was standing there... with Steve.

Steve turned towards him and Eddie averted his gaze, still holding his punch glass up to his lips.

"Hey," Steve greeted, sounding much too charming.

"Hey," Eddie mumbled back, turning slightly and facing the room instead of looking at Steve. He didn't walk away, that felt like a bridge too far, but he wasn't going to open himself up to a conversation.

"Eddie, right?" Steve asked, and Eddie glanced at him, watching Steve push his hair back into place. He hadn't realised, but Steve was panting slightly, obviously catching his breath from... probably running in here to deliver Robin's balloons.

"Yeah," Eddie confirmed, looking away again as he slouched. Great. He was stuck talking to Steve with no obvious escape plan. Perfect.

"Steve--"

"I know who you are," Eddie replied, not letting Steve finish his introduction. It had probably just been to be polite anyway, but it was obvious that Eddie knew who he was. They went to school together. They had mutual friends. It wasn't rocket science.

That shut Steve up for a moment and chewed at Eddie's guts. That had been a bit rude. Steve hadn't actually done anything wrong, yet, so really he should just save it for another time. Steve was stuck here too after all, with a bunch of kids just like Eddie.

"Pretty... young," Eddie said, watching the gym as people mingled. It really was just a bunch of 14 or 15-year-olds chatting with one another. They seemed to be having fun, and Eddie was glad for that since he hadn't had anything like this when he was that age.

"Hm, yeah," Steve replied, sounding kind of amused for some reason. "Always the damn babysitter, huh?"

Eddie glanced at him for that comment, not really understanding where it was coming from.

"Yeah..." Eddie offered, wondering if he had said it because Hellfire Club also skewed younger. He had seen Steve drop Dustin off before, scolding him like a mother would over something, but he had never come inside to meet anyone at Hellfire. Eddie had just noticed it was all.

An awkward silence drew out between them and Eddie could tell that Steve was starting to feel uncomfortable too.

"You seen Will Byers anywhere?" Eddie asked, looking for an out. He knew that Steve knew Will, he was one of those mutual friends.

"Oh, yeah," Steve offered, not making a motion to point anywhere, "but I'd leave him alone tonight if I were you."

Eddie quirked a brow at Steve, something of a challenge in his stance as he looked at him. Why on earth would he leave Will Byers alone tonight?

"I drove him--" Steve half explained, obviously realising that he needed to elaborate, "that's why uh I'm--it doesn't matter. There's a boy here that he likes."

Eddie's eyebrows shot up at Steve's explanation, looking back at the floor and the sea of dweeby, little gays circling each other awkwardly. Oh. Right. This was a lot of people's first chance to do anything with someone queer like them. He hadn't considered that Will would have someone here he intended to talk to.

Eddie laughed, both at his own stupidity and the charming realisation that he was glad this whole thing was happening, even if he wasn't having a good time.

"Good for him," Eddie snorted, cheersing the room and taking a swig of his punch.

"God," Eddie sighed, finding the humour in this whole thing now, "who the hell am I supposed to bother now?"

He was lamenting for no real reason, wondering quietly to himself if he should hold out and wait to see if anyone else his age showed up or if he should just cut his losses and start the long walk home. At least then, once he got back, Wayne would just assume he got a ride and had a good time. He didn't want to admit to Wayne that he ditched, not after he had agonised over whether or not it was worth it to spend the five dollars. Wayne had supported him going and assured him it wasn't a waste if he wanted to go. Eddie didn't want to prove him wrong.

Eddie glanced at Steve, wondering how he was going to excuse himself now that his out was occupied. He caught Steve looking at him and quickly looked forward again, surveying the room. That was weird. Eddie took note of that, slowly looking back at the party unfolding before them.

"So... Bi, huh?" Eddie offered, not sure why he was trying. He'd give it until he finished his glass of punch and then he'd walk home if no one interesting entered the party.

Steve seemed to laugh a bit awkwardly to that, doing this weird thing with his hands where he clasped them behind his back and then swung them forward to clasp at his front. It was the most uncomfortable Eddie had ever seen him--not that he had paid a ton of attention to Steve before now.

Oh. Eddie realised, feeling his chest clench a little, this was a lot of people's first chance to talk to another queer person. He was the oldest one here, closely followed by Steve... they were both fish out of water. Steve had the club, but there weren't a lot of guys their age that Eddie knew of who were queer. Steve had been mingling with kids this whole time. He was the elder here... weird.

"Yeah, I didn't really expect it to become a whole... thing," Steve replied, shaking Eddie from his thoughts. Right, he had pointedly questioned Steve's sexuality. Classy.

"Yeah, well, they'll get over it," Eddie retorted, feeling a bit bad now that he had been so dismissive of Steve's attempt to talk to him.

"I mean, it's been fine, I guess," Steve replied, sounding unsure of himself but not exactly bothered. Eddie could understand that, he didn't have the same experience per se, but all the guys at Hellfire knew he was queer and it was fine. He could remember being unsure though how gay he got to act around them all. It had been awkward and uncomfortable to find the rhythm of where you all sat, even if no one was blatantly rejecting you.

"Feels like you and everyone else are walking on eggshells about it, right?" Eddie asked, sighing as he leaned back until he hit the wall behind them, slouching.

"Something like that," Steve replied, his words coming out slowly as he watched Eddie and then took half a step back to join him against the wall.

"My advice? Just don't fall in love with your best friends," Eddie joked, only half serious. It verged on real advice, but it wasn't like it was something you could help.

Steve laughed anyway, crossing his arms over his chest.

"Yeah, as if. No thanks."

Something about that made Eddie smile a bit. Steve had been so dismissive of the idea as if the mere mention of having a mild interest in some jock was unheard of.

Eddie took a swig of his punch, swallowing hard as he started to relax a little bit.

"I'm bi too, you know," he said, sucking his upper lip to get the rest of the juice off.

"I can't remember if I used that word when I came out though--people just sort of figured with me, I don't think I really had to tell anyone."

"Yeah?" Steve asked, sounding interested but not sure how to progress.

"Uh, c'ya, what do you think?" Eddie mocked back, flipping his long hair over his shoulders and then flicking it back with his hands from side to side as if he were walking down some kind of runway. Long hair didn't mean you were gay, but it was a step towards making people think you were.

Steve laughed at that too, properly this time without that edge of awkwardness to it. That, in turn, made Eddie smile a bit. He liked it when people found him funny, it felt good to make people laugh. It felt better still to be joking about something gay and not having to correct or explain anything to the other person. Steve was queer too, even if he was new at this, there wasn't that same level of judgment. Huh... funny though that he suddenly just accepted that Steve was queer when he had been put off by the idea initially.

The night carried on like that and Eddie was surprised to find... that he didn't mind talking to Steve all that much. There were quite a few cultural touchstones that he didn't have when it came to 'nerd shit' but he didn't seem to be annoyed by Eddie explaining those things to him if it was necessary. Eddie had gotten a bit louder and more loose before too long, even if he wasn't exactly buddy-buddy with Steve. And Steve, surprisingly, had stuck with him the whole night. Really, the event hadn't matured at all and Eddie had little desire to go mingle with the kids--especially when the kid that he knew here was probably trying his best to flirt. What the hell was he supposed to do? Walk up to a group of youngsters and just ask what they were talking about? "Trust me, trust me. I play games with children all the time!" Yeah, no.

Eddie's watch beeped at him and he looked at it, turning the little digital screen off. It wasn't that late, just past 10 really, but the longer he waited the more miserable the walk home would be.

"Well, that's my queue," Eddie said, pushing off the wall and leaving his cup on a table by them. "I should go."

He stuffed his hands in his pockets, not regretting having come after all, but not really feeling like staying either. Steve had made the night bearable, but Eddie wasn't all that eager to keep it up.

"Why? Or you'll turn into a pumpkin?" Steve asked, teasing a little.

Eddie snorted at him, finding that line incredibly cheesy and in turn kind of funny because of that.

"Yeah, I've got to go traipse into the woods and take root or I'll start sprouting weeds like a chia-pet."

Steve chuckled at him, looking over to the doors. Eddie started walking towards the exit anyway, and Steve seemed surprised that he was actually going. He got off the wall and walked a few paces with Eddie before they both stopped, lingering a bit.

"I've just got to start walking home," Eddie explained, pinching his brows in, finding it kind of amusing that Steve seemed... concerned? He wasn't sure, it felt out of character for a cool guy to be following him.

"Walking home?" Steve asked, again, sounding surprised. "To Hawkins?"

"No to the moon, Bilbo was writing about me. Yeah back to Hawkins," he answered sarcastically, jamming his thumb towards the doors. Steve didn't seem bothered by the reply, even if he squinted for a moment with confusion with Eddie's mention of Bilbo.

"You live at Hawkins Trailer Park, right?" Steve asked.

The question instantly made Eddie tense, and he set his jaw a bit.

"Yeah, why?" He asked, sounding a bit defensive. He didn't like this line of questioning. It always felt weird when people commented on the fact that he lived in a trailer park. It especially felt weird coming from rich-boy Steve Harrington.

"Jeez, chill. I'll give you a ride, I live near there too," Steve explained, taking his keys out of his pocket and jostling them, "Hawkins is too far to walk to from here."

Eddie blinked at him a moment, floored by the offer for some reason.

"You don't have to do that, man," Eddie replied, feeling extremely awkward all of a sudden. "You should stay."

"And do what?" Steve asked, sounding amused. He looked over his shoulder at the crowd of young teens chatting and mingling before looking back at Eddie with a raised brow.

"Fair enough," Eddie replied, banishing his guilt for now. Steve was right though, Hawkins was far to walk to from here and there really wasn't a lot keeping Steve at the mixer. Will was getting a ride home from his brother and Robin was too busy fussing over every little thing to mingle. Plus, the event really would be closing soon so Steve didn't have to stay.

Eddie still felt awkward as he walked up to Steve's beamer and prepared himself to feel awkward the whole drive back to Hawkins. It was a nice car and he couldn't help but constantly think about how he had never been in a car this nice before. It wasn't brand-spanking new, but it almost felt like it with how clean it was. The car was spotless really and it was obvious that Steve took extremely good care of his ride.

"This is... uh, a nice ride," Eddie said, running his hands over the dash as Steve drove, before sitting back again.

"Thanks," Steve replied, chuckling a little. Eddie really was admiring the car; he wasn't a gear-head but he could appreciate a nice ride. Thrill bubbled in Eddie's stomach all of a sudden as he glanced at Steve.

"How fast can this thing go?"

Steve looked at him in turn, the moment drawing out between them before Steve's lips cracked into a smile.

"Want to find out?"

Eddie's eyes widened and he smiled back, surprised and pleased that his ask was being met. God, it was so stupid. They were being such teenagers right now. Steve in his daddy's bought, fast car with the punk, bad-influence kid in his passenger's seat ready to tear it up on the freeway.

Steve pulled off the main road and Eddie's stomach swooped with excitement. He didn't know where they were going but he figured Steve knew somewhere they could drive without hitting anyone. He didn't want to be stupid about it, maybe a bit reckless, but hey--they were young. When else were they going to do this shit?

Eddie leaned forward, turning on the radio and fiddling with the dial.

"What're you doing?" Steve asked, sounding amused as they drove towards some back, country road. Perfect.

"Finding the right music!" Eddie replied, sounding equal parts excited and exasperated for being asked. He was flicking through the dial quickly, only pausing for a beat or two before switching again until he found what he was looking for.

"You done?" Steve asked as Eddie paused for a moment longer to confirm that he liked the song. He looked at Steve before cranking the volume dial and sticking his tongue out.

"Let's fucking go," Eddie whooped, sitting back and bracing himself as he felt Steve hit the gas and they started rocketing down the road.

Fear mingled with thrill as Eddie sat back, holding onto the door as they drove down this pitch-black road. He shouted with excitement, obviously stressed but having a blast. Steve seemed cool as could be, smiling with the thrill of it too but none of Eddie's anxieties.

"Fuckin' hell--" Eddie managed as they reached a bend and Steve slowed down to take it. He started to decelerate, their quick little drag race having finished.

"We should do that again!" Eddie continued, panting a bit as he felt his heart pounding in his chest.

"Chill out--" Steve snorted, falling back into the rules of the road as he stopped at an unmarked rail crossing. "Cops like to drive around here--we'd be risking it."

"Boooo," Eddie called, smiling in a joking way. He understood and he wouldn't push it even if he wanted that adrenaline rush again.

"Another time then," Eddie replied finally, pausing for a moment as he realised he had assumed he'd be in Steve's car again for some reason.

"Sure," Steve answered back easily, chuckling a little.

Eddie glanced at him, before reaching to turn the music volume back down. He didn't turn it off though, needing the quiet metal to help settle him.

Steve sure did laugh a lot, didn't he? Was Eddie really that amusing?

Eddie felt his pocket buzz and he squirmed before taking his phone out. It was Wayne. He was asking if Eddie needed a ride, surely expecting that Eddie had lost track of time or something like that. Eddie let the car fall into silence as he replied back to Wayne, feeling a bit weird all of a sudden. He kept typing and retyping what to say.

No, I got a ride from a friend. Were Steve and him friends?

I'm good. Too vague, it would worry Wayne too much.

Some guy gave me a lift. That sounded sketchy as hell. Eddie just settled on 'no, I got a ride' and left it at that, but it made him feel weird regardless.

"Everything okay?" Steve asked, drawing Eddie's attention back to him.

"Oh, yeah, no, yeah. Just my uncle wondering how I was getting home," Eddie explained, feeling weird about Steve asking him something like that. Robin had been right... he really wasn't such a bad guy after all.

"So," Eddie said, breaking the silence, running his hands over the seat, "this car get you mad puss?" He asked, his tone jovial and teasing as he stuck his tongue out between his fingers, being lewd on purpose. He didn't know why his default was raunchy humour, but it had tumbled out of him before he thought too hard about it.

"God, shut up--" Steve replied in good humour, sounding surprised and amused by the sudden comment.

"I know I've got a reputation, but jeez, man," Steve laughed, driving them back onto the main road towards Hawkins.

"So... that a yes?" Eddie teased, enjoying this little banter.

"Yeah," Steve confirmed, before glancing at Eddie out of the corner of his eye with a wry smile.

Eddie burst out laughing at that, finding it more than a little amusing that Steve was leaning into the tease and taking it on the chin.

"Fuck, dude," Eddie giggled, not sure why that was just so amusing. It felt so weird to have good-boy, Steve Harrington talking to him about getting laid. This was so fucked up. This was so fucking weird.

"So," Steve started as Eddie stared out the window, still grinning to himself a bit, "how long have you known you were..."

Eddie glanced at Steve before lounging against the door, smiling at him.

"Queer?"

Steve looked at Eddie from the corner of his eye, obviously a little unsure of himself.

"You can say it you know," Eddie offered, crossing his arms and looking nonplussed. "If you are one, you get to say it as long as you're not like slurring it at someone or something. Welcome to the restricted section."

"Alright..." Steve replied, sounding a little unsure still. Eddie smiled at that too, finding it a bit charming how baby gay Steve was over the whole thing. He felt a bit superior all of a sudden, and he liked that feeling with Steve. He was in a fast car with the most popular boy in school and he was talking to him about how to be queer. What a trip.

"Since forever," Eddie replied, "I've known since forever. It was more weird for me to figure out that not everyone felt the same way. Like, girls--guys, whatever. Hot people are hot, end of story."

Steve nodded to that and Eddie tucked into the corner of his seat, feeling cool and relaxed as he watched Steve drive.

"You?"

Steve seemed to waffle a bit at the question, putting too much thought into it no doubt.

"I don't know," he finally replied, looking dissatisfied with his own answer, "somewhat recently, I think? It's like... I acknowledged it maybe a few months ago but, I don't know. Before that, I sort of felt like I was being dramatic or something? Like, obviously, I like girls so that's fine, it felt kinda... cliche?"

Eddie cringed a bit at the phrase Steve used, nodding his head and glancing away. He had much the same judgment towards Steve until recently. That had been unfair. It didn't matter that Steve was popular or that there had been less risk involved in his 'coming out' compared to Eddie. He was pretty and sporty and even if there was something a little cliche about an all-American boy like him turning out to be queer it didn't mean it was wrong.

"Your folks know?" Eddie asked, talking softer, not wanting to pry if Steve didn't want to talk about it.

"Yeah," Steve answered easily, his tone unreadable. "They knew before I uh... came out socially?"

Eddie nodded, rubbing his head against the window and feeling the car vibrate under him.

"They... cool?" He asked, feeling a bit weird about the whole thing. He was older than Steve, but he didn't really feel like he was. Steve had so much... going on. He had his own car, activities, career paths--he seemed so put together. He was perfectly coiffed and dressed, his car spotless... Eddie was the exact opposite. He wanted to be a musician and he worked hard at it, but sometimes it felt like he was putting all his eggs in one basket.

"Uh.... yeah, mostly," Steve replied, sounding a bit hesitant.

"That great, huh?" Eddie asked, smiling lightly and trying to sound sympathetic.

"No, well, my mom seems pretty accepting of it. Unsure like... nervous? I don't know. My dad... I don't really know what he thinks yet. He's--it doesn't matter."

Eddie frowned slightly as Steve cut himself off. It was a personal topic and he didn't blame him for not wanting to share, but it felt kind of bad to hear Steve say it didn't matter.

"What about your uh... uncle?" Steve asked, sounding awkward as he shifted the conversation.

"Yeah, he's cool," Eddie replied, looking back out the window, "I don't think he really knows how to be supportive necessarily so he's just like... trucking on but he's never dropped the ball. Treats all my... gay shit as if it was just normal shit." Eddie replied, laughing a little bit. He knew he was lucky to have Wayne. Not every queer person had a supportive family and once upon a time, he hadn't had that either. Wayne was a saviour... in more ways than one.

"That's... cool," Steve answered and Eddie snorted a little at how awkward the delivery had been.

"What?" Steve replied, sounding a bit amused.

"That's... cool," Eddie mocked, making his voice sound girly and vapid.

"Shut up," Steve scoffed, drawing up the syllables a bit.

Eddie grinned, liking that Steve seemed to be easy to torment. He went for the bait every time, but he never seemed overly offended.

"Gee wiz, Eddie, your uncle seems like such a cool guy," Eddie continued, being annoying on purpose. He kept it up as Steve started to laugh in mock annoyance. "Let's you go to a pre-teen party and everything."

"Stop--" Steve booed, glancing at Eddie quickly before purposefully wobbling the steering wheel and making the car quickly veer back and forth.

Eddie jolted up right at the movement, grabbing the door.

"Shit--don't--" Eddie squawked, smiling despite how that had made his stomach drop.

"Asshole--" Eddie jeered, looking at Steve who was grinning back at him. Okay, so Steve was actually fun? Was this why Dustin and those kids liked him so much? Mr. Uptight-jock was actually a little bit of a wild child hidden behind good hair and a dazzling smile?

Eddie settled into his seat, feeling kind of good about the night as he looked back out the window and let the rest of the drive grow quiet. They weren't far from Hawkins now and a part of Eddie felt kind of strung out from the weird emotional whiplash of the night.

"You know," Eddie said as they pulled up towards the trailer park, "you're actually not a bad guy, Steve Harrington."

Steve looked at him, eyebrows pinched in with mild concern.

"Thanks?"

"It's a compliment," Eddie scoffed in a friendly way, unbuckling his seatbelt as Steve drove slowly down the gravel road.

"Oh, well, thank you then," Steve reiterated a bit more sarcastically.

"You're also kind of a bitch," Eddie retorted, smiling at him and getting an incredulous sound from Steve. The car pulled to a stop and Eddie climbed out. He shut the door but lingered a second until Steve rolled down the window. He leaned over the frame and looked in at Steve.

"I can see why those kids think you're kind of cool," Eddie continued, feeling kind of... charmed. "Guess that makes you cool in my books too."

"Cool? Or cool?" Steve asked, mocking Eddie's previous buffoonery.

Eddie laughed, shaking his head as he leaned back.

"You're a bit of a dork too, you know that?"

He liked dorky guys.

"A dork? This? Coming from you?" Steve asked, inching his car forward a bit to keep Eddie in view of the window.

"Oh, cram-it," Eddie retorted, flipping Steve off through the window. He patted the doorframe lightly, careful not to hit it with any of his rings.

"Thanks for the ride though," Eddie swallowed, not really looking at Steve but still trying to be friendly.

"Yeah, man. Don't worry about it."

Eddie nodded, feeling weird about just walking away. He kind of wanted to stay out, chat more, and just listen to the radio with Steve which was... a weird thought. They didn't really have anything in common, and somehow Eddie knew that they weren't going to talk again at school. Steve was popular, he wasn't. Eddie was graduating this year, and Steve was 16. They ran in completely different circles.

"Kay, well, later then," Eddie offered, half waving his hand in front of the window before sticking his hands in his pockets and walking towards his trailer. Steve didn't say anything back, but he waited for Eddie to get his door open before pulling away like a proper gentleman.

The whole night felt... so odd to Eddie. He didn't know if he could say he had a good time, or even what had happened during the night, but it had been... nice. It had nothing to do with the mixer or anything Eddie had prepared himself for that night but instead, his good mood rested solely on his interaction with Steve. It was so weird and it left him feeling like he was in limbo. Like this night had been a weird pocket event and he'd never have a repeat of anything like it again. Nothing big had happened, nothing important, and there was nothing to remember about it really... but it felt like he wanted to hold onto it somehow.

Eddie huffed and stretched his lips, before finally taking the last few steps into the trailer. There was no point dwelling on something he couldn't touch and thinking too hard about it would probably ruin everything anyways. This could just be a one off. He could just look back on this and think about how nice it had been to bond... with Steve Harrington.

[sinner-sunflower]

A HH Lucifer-centric AU 18/?

PART 1, PART 2, PART 3, PART 4, PART 5, PART 6, PART 7, PART 8, PART 9, PART 10, PART 11, PART 12, PART 13, PART 14, PART 15, PART 16, PART 17, PART 19, PART 20, PART 21, PART 22

I've really debated whether or not I'll post this particular part today or do another mystery and have it revealed in a flashback or something.

But then I said nah I'll give it now so you all can enjoy!

Very dialogue heavy.

I appreciate again your reblogs, likes, and very especially, your comments. Something about seeing your reactions or theories motivates me even more. Nothing says writer's pleasure like the suffering of their readers <3

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Once upon a time, all Lucifer wanted was to create and be happy. To love and be loved just the same. Being the Angel of Creation and Humility, his Father often sought his counsel regarding the first creations. He was affectionately called 'my Morning Star' by his Father, reminding him that he will be the first light His creations shall see.

When tasked with guarding the Garden, he embraced that duty wholeheartedly. But with Adam's growing ego and Lilith's festering defiance, he could feel himself struggling. He had tried so hard to make it comfortable for the both of them but it was never enough. The only reason Lilith stayed in the Garden for as long as she did was because Lucifer refused to leave right away.

Lucifer: It's my duty, Lily!

That's what he had said. He loved Lilith but he was still very much afraid of what repercussions his Father may give for his disobedience.

Then comes Eve.

Eve was a lovely girl. She's Lilith but softer. She's Adam but kinder. But she has no free will. Adam treated her like a maid and she took it all with a graceful smile.

And well, you know what happened next.

An apple. A sin. A trial. A fall. Darkness. Fire. He wants to get outOUTOUTOUTOUT!-

A makeshift table with 2 chairs appear in between him and Roo. The Root of All Evil moves to sit and motions for him to join her. Lucifer hesitates but follows.

Roo: See, dear fallen, your old man damaged me enough that I can't get my original form to heal like it was before. And just when I was recuperating my power, you and your sinful lot sealed me! Low blow, by the way. Thanks yo you, my vessel is truly destroyed.

Lucifer: That's why you take on these forms?

Roo: Yoou got it! I can show you what I originally looked like but it's merely confined in this space. Like every caged animal, I crave freedom. Freedom I am not willing to have without a proper vessel.

She giggles as Lucifer's expression dawns in realization.

Lucifer: You... want me? As your vessel?

Roo: Yup!

Lucifer: But- Why?

Roo: Consider it an investment! Why, I can't think of anyone better to powerful enough to control Hell and dear enough to hold against Heaven.

It was Lucifer's turn to scoff.

Lucifer: Hold against Heaven? I don't have any value to the people up there. I am no longer an angel?

Roo had to put a hand in her mouth to prevent her from laughing too much again.

Roo: Naive, little fallen. You really think that?

Lucifer: I know that! Or did you forget that I was exiled into this god awful pit?!

Roo: Ah. But that's all, isn't it?

Lucifer: I- huh?

Roo: Your angelic status is all that they took from you, no? And this place is merely a change of office. You still answer to Heaven, whether you admit it or not. You still watch over humanity, albeit the worst ones. And most importantly, you were not stripped of your heavenly powers. You know why? Because you-

She boops his forehead and it took all of his willpower not to bite her finger off.

Roo: -are God's little favorite.

Lucifer: That's not true.

Roo: Yes it is. Tell me, Lucifer. If God was to punish you for the greatest Sin ever committed, why leave you with power to rule it? If that was you, wouldn't you take away all of their being and leave them to rot in the very bottom of the grave they dug themselves? Why would I cast them out them make them rule it? That's just absurd.

Lucifer: You're speaking nonsense.

Roo: Am I? The old man obviously loved you enough to let you keep your divine powers. He probably could not stand the thought of His beloved son suffering at the hands of some lowly human souls.

The Sin of Pride wants to rebuke but can't get the words out. He always did wonder why he still had his wings, why he could still create, why he was made the King.

'Was it really your love, Father?'

He shakes his head and leaves that thought. He may not be at the bottom of the food chain, that doesn't change the fact that he did not, is not suffering.

Lucifer: And you think saying all that will make me give your reign on my body?

Roo: Of course not! But you asked and I gave my answer.

Lucifer: And what happens if I say yes?

Roo: Not a matter of if, fallen. I know you will.

Lucifer: I need you to be more specific.

Roo: Insurance. We already established that you do not have anything else to trap me with and I'd be more than happy to consume all of Hell. It will be a nice snack before my comeback. So, really, what other choice do you have?

Lucifer: I am not just going to let you use my body to get out of here and destroy Hell another way!

Roo: Woah! Who said I'll be destroying Hell? I just want a vessel so I can explore! Plus, as soon as I enter your body, your little Ring would be back to normal.

She produces a golden contract out of the blue and lays it down for Lucifer to see.

Roo: So, let's make a deal.

Lucifer: No.

Roo: Hush. Let me finish. I get my vessel and I won't touch a single thing in Hell anymore. Your body will act as my new "container" by which, until your demise, will remain yours.

Wait.

Lucifer: What? My demise?

Roo: Yup!

Lucifer: I'm immortal. If we go through with this, you'll never see the light of day again.

This is too good to be true. Not only will Roo be sealed for good but then Hell will safe. So why-

Roo: Then what's the fuss? You trap me forever and with you being immortal, won't even have to think about the other end of the bargain. Fun, right?!

Lucifer: No. What are you not telling me? Why after my 'death'? Is something going to happen that will permanently kill me?

She just gave him a menacing smiles.

Roo: Time is relevant, fallen. There will always be slips and an ancient being like myself, I'm bound to see something in between.

Lucifer: Quit being cryptic!

He is at his wits end. The longer he stays here the worse it gets outside!

Roo: Let me put down the basics of this offer then: I get my vessel and I'll stop this little party trick of mine. I will reside inside you until your 'hypothetical death' by which I'll claim all your being, powers and all. I'll even throw in a sweet deal of letting you keep your soul or have you give it to whoever you wish.

Lucifer: .....

Lucifer: I want to add conditions.

Roo: Be my guest~

Lucifer: In the aftermath of my death, you will do everything in your power to protect Hell and its people against anyone or anything that puts it in danger as long as you reside in my body. That means I also prevent you from leaving this vessel for another to get out of that clause.

Roo: Wonderful-

Lucifer: Hold on. I'm not done. Since you said that you do not wish to have property of my soul, you are to give it to Charlotte Morningstar. She will also ascend as acting ruler of Hell upon my death, not you. But you get to keep being the most powerful demon in Hell.

Roo: Hmmm. Sounds fair. I like those odds, my friend. So-

Roo holds out her glowing red hand. She no longer wore Charlie's face but instead she is now a blob of shadows and eyes. Lucifer has to narrow his eyes to prevent him from being blinded.

Roo: It's a deal then?

Lucifer can already feel Roo's energy inching inside him

Lucifer: Deal.

A handshake. A drop of blood. And a binding contract.

The game is set.

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Holy shit?? This was so long??

Fun fact: this was one of the scenes I wanted to do in my first AU post, the radioapple one with Lilith and Eve. But this is more fitting here now.

ENJOYYY

please leave what you think!

If there are some changes then it's me proofreading it after posting a;sdkla