#well it is a big deal to me because a stranger is constantly in my personal space pretending im not here

[drysauce]

if i had a nickel for every time my flatmate came into my and roommate's room at 23:30 to hang her laundry i would have two nickels

[thyme-in-a-bubble]

just for tonight

a/n: sure, I was vigilantly working on a different wip (a very long one that needed a lot of strength to get through) but then this whole fantasy came to me and i just couldn't stop myself... at least i downgraded the idea from a full-fledged series (which i sadly very much do not have the time for) to just a slutty little one shot in an au that i can always pop back into whenever the itch pops up (or when anyone has a slutty request for it hehe).

summary: before you could even consider the possible consequences, a desperate request then fell from your lips, “well, what if I’m not asking you to be with me? What if it’s just for tonight? What if I’m only asking you to be with me for one night? Would you give me that?” you blinked up at him, scarcely breathing at all, “would you be mine just till the sun comes up?” 

warnings: bodyguard!bucky barnes x reader, smut, reader's mom is the british ambassador to france, age gap (10-15 years), tattooed!bucky (both a metal arm and tattoos as picked in a poll by you), beefy!bucky, forbidden romance, posh political party, alcohol consumption, wet dream, lingerie, stockings, one night stand (except we already know those fools can't keep it to just one night), kissing, dirty talk, manhandling, size kink, oral, fingering, impact play, squirting, gaping, belly bulge, multiple orgasms, overstimulation, penetrative sex, unprotected sex, creampie

word count: 4907

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“You sure, you don’t want some?” you squinted over at your bodyguard as you lowered the champagne flute from your lips, “this shit costs more than my dress, which is really saying something,” you pointed to the red silk gown that hung from your frame, “this is Dior.”

“I’m good, miss,” Bucky uttered, tight-lipped as always. 

“Right, sorry,” you sat the glass down at the tall table you stood beside, “can’t drink while on duty.”

Posh parties such as the one tonight were always a bit of a drag to get through. Even though you’d been hauled along for most of your life, they’d never gotten any more amusing. 

But when your mother hired Barnes to be your personal bodyguard a few months back, the thought of getting dolled up just to have a bunch of provoking politicians talk your ear off about ideas you’d never in a million years support, somehow didn’t seem as bad as it used to now that he was constantly at your side. 

It had been a little incident involving your phone getting hacked, an explicit video nearly getting leaked, one that had been made for an ex who lived in another country to make the distance more barrable, and a few threatening messages from the perpetrator that had been the reason for your new shadow. 

Though you’d been resistant at first, storming into your mother’s office to state that you were a grown woman and didn’t need a babysitter just because someone tried to exploit an old sex tape that in your opinion wasn’t even that big of a deal, swiftly got squashed when a then stranger cleared his throat behind you and shared the more gruelling threats that had been made alongside the hacking. 

You’d hoped and prayed that he’d turn out to be a pain, that his personality could squash the feelings that fluttered inside of you whenever you looked at him, but unfortunately, he wasn’t an asshole. He was quiet, professional to a fault, but he wasn’t a dick. If anything, all of the silence and all of the glances to always keep track of you made the crush worse. It made you feel as if you were in a Jane Austen novel, reading between the lines of subtext your unreliable brain came up with.

“You tired?” he asked as a yawn rolled out of you. 

“Mhm,” you hummed behind the palm you had brought up to your lips. 

“The car’s ready to take you back to the embassy whenever you are.” 

A grateful smile twitched at your lip as you offered him a small nod of confirmation, “I’ll just go tell my mom.”

The ambassador, your mother, had her back turned to you as she talked business with a small group of people even though the hour had grown late. 

You waited for a sliver of a break before you tapped her on the shoulder and whispered in her ear.

“Hey, mom?” her palm found yours as she turned to look at you, “I’m gonna head home.”

“Oh, alright,” she leaned in and pressed a small peck to your cheek, “see you tomorrow, love.”

“Bye,” you gave her hand one last squeeze before heading out of the elegant venue, your guard still only a few paces behind you. 

A dusty drizzle met your skin as you exited onto the midnight streets of Paris. The sensation made you want to walk home, though you still followed Bucky to the black car already waiting and slipped in when he opened the back door for you. 

The light from the city reflected on the back of his metal hand as it gripped the steering wheel. You could faintly spot the prominent veins on the other one dance beneath the inked skin as it did the same, tattoos you still ached to discover just how far they stretched beneath his dark suit. 

Though soon your gaze flickered away from his silhouette as he drove, and fluttered out to the glittering cityscape rolling by, the vision of which swiftly lulled you to sleep. 

When you arrived home, Bucky’s steely eyes found your slumbering form in the rear-view mirror. You didn’t rouse when he opened your door and carefully picked you up into his arms. You didn’t wake either as he carried you inside, all the way up to your bedroom, and layed you down on your bed. 

Gently, he removed your heels and quietly placed them down on the hardwood floor before he grabbed your duvet and tugged it over your form. 

But just as he moved to leave your side, half asleep you caught his hand.

“Don’t go…” you murmured hazily, eyes still shut. 

And so, he didn’t.

Bucky simply reached for the tufted chair nearby and, as silently as he could, scooted it closer to the bed. 

Barely an hour passed before you woke. 

Before you even blinked open your eyes, your fingers began to slide down your body as the sinful dream you’d been blessed with still lingered in your foggy brain. 

Though when your eyes did flutter open and discovered the star of the dream sitting in a chair right next to you, your hand halted its voyage, and you sucked in a startled breath. 

“You okay?” he asked softly as you blinked a few times. 

“Uh,” the throbbing that still lingered from the dream probably wasn’t going to fade any faster with him sitting there with his unwavering stare, “yeah, I’m–, uhm…” you propped yourself up on your elbow before sitting up more, “I’m fine.” 

“Did you have a nightmare?”

“No, it wasn’t a–…” your sentence then crumbled as you sucked in a breath, “what are you doing watching me sleep?”

As you met his gaze, he then uttered, “you asked me to stay.”

Your eyes then widened, “I did?”

“Yeah.”

“Oh…” though you couldn’t recall, heat still began to bloom on your cheeks, “I’m sorry, I didn’t–”

“It's alright,” his shoulders offered a faint shrug. 

Averting your gaze, you noticed that you were still in your dress. You weren’t quite sure if it pleased you or not that Bucky didn’t try to strip it off you, though it was probably less the moral intentions and more the fantasy of him peeling it off of you that swayed you. 

“Were you just planning on sleeping in that chair all night?” you asked. 

“No,” he shook his head, “I wasn’t planning on sleeping at all.” 

A tinge of guilt stung in your chest, “I’m really sorry, I don’t know what I was thinking, I must have been asleep or something…” you then swung your legs over the side of the bed and got up. As your fingers raised up to pluck off your sparkling earrings, your feet began to carry you in the direction of your wardrobe. Dropping the jewellery off in a small porcelain bowl on the opposite bedside table, you then glanced back at your bodyguard and said, “you don’t have to stay any longer, you can go back to your room and get some sleep.” 

Offering you a nod, he then began to walk towards the door. 

Though, as you reached back to undo your dress, you abruptly uttered, “wait,” and he stopped before his steely fingers could enclose around the door handle. Turning to glance back at you, a bold request then hesitantly fell from your lips, “could you maybe help unzip me?”

He barely made a noise, simply hummed quietly in response before his slow stride carried him towards your frame as it twisted for your back to be turned to him.

When you felt his touch on the zipper, tugging it down ever so slowly, your breath came in ragged, and your eyes fluttered shut. You swore you felt his radiating heat seep into you as he exposed more of your goosebump-ridden spine. 

As the straps tumbled over your shoulders, your hands came up to your chest to hold it up even though you wished for nothing more than to let it drop before him.

And when the zipper finally reached its end, he lingered right behind you just long enough for you to catch the tether of it. Slowly, as if you were dealing with a skittish bird, you rotated around. You didn’t dare to look him in the eyes as you let yourself follow that magnetic pull you’d been trying to keep at bay. Your gaze flickered up to his lips as heated puffs of air seeped from your lungs and you slowly, hypnotically, inched closer. 

But then Bucky opened his mouth and said in a soft and quiet tone, “what are you doing?” making you halt, though not pull back. 

“Please don’t act like you don’t already know… I know you do…”

“You can’t,” he uttered, though didn’t move to walk away either as he captured your gaze, “we can’t, alright?”

“Why not?” you breathed, your eyes returning to his lips, “is it really that important for you to stay professional over everything else? Or is it that I’m just a job to you?” your heart felt as if it was gonna beat straight out of your chest, “you know I like you, I know you do. You notice everything, so of course you know. Am I right?”

A long exhale then flowed from his lungs before the faintest of nods tilted his head, “…yeah.”

“And I have eyes too, I’ve seen the way you look at me,” a shiver trickled down your spine, “so, are you really gonna just stand there and pretend you don’t feel something too? Just go back to your own room and continue to protect me like nothing’s going on?”

“Y/n, I can’t be with you,” he shook his head heavily, “you know I can’t.” 

Can’t or won’t?

Before you could even consider the possible consequences, a desperate request then fell from your lips, “well, what if I’m not asking you to be with me? What if it’s just for tonight? What if I’m only asking you to be with me for one night? Would you give me that?” you blinked up at him, scarcely breathing at all, “would you be mine just till the sun comes up?” 

As if your quiet whispers melted him completely, your bodyguard breathed, “…fuck…” and the next thing you knew, he’d grabbed your face and seized your lips. 

It was like something inside of him had snapped, something you had shattered, with the way that he kissed you as if he’d been drowning and your lips were oxygen. 

As you lost yourself in the sensation of his tongue dancing across your own, you let the red dress drop down your body, passed the sheer stockings that clung around your thighs, to the floor. Like fire, one of his hands disappeared from your cheek and ran down your frame, grazing over the black lingerie that was now exposed.  

Though heated and hungry at first, the kiss soon softened into lighter pecks. 

With his metal hand, he held your face close to his as he withdrew from the kiss, an action you weren’t quite ready for as you dreamily trailed after him a bit, longing for his lips. 

“Are you sure this is what you want?” his hot breath fanned across your features. 

“Yes,” you whispered swiftly. 

But as you dizzily blinked up at him, he simply hummed for you to elaborate, “hm?”

“Yes, I want you,” goosebumps tingled across your skin. 

“You want me to what?” his thumb swiped over your cheekbone. 

“I want you to–, to–…” you fumbled as you felt your desire drip and soak your panties, making them cling to your aching core. 

“To what, huh?” 

“To–… fuck me,” the embarrassingly desperate words tumbled out your mouth. 

“You want me to fuck you?” his unwavering stare briefly dropped to your parted lips.

“Yes,” the syllable rushed out of you. 

“Say it again,” he tilted his chin. 

“I want you to fuck me.”

“Louder,” his feet began to shift, causing yours to shuffle back as well. 

“I want you to fuck me.”

“One more time,” his hand had dropped down to your jaw and his fingers curled slightly to dent your soft cheeks. 

“I want you to fuck me, please!” 

With the hold he had on you, he swiftly dipped down and pressed his lips to yours once more. The world then fell out from under you as his grasp scooped down your frame and plucked you up.

Your arms tangled around his neck right before your back collided with the closet door and your lips tilted away from his as a short squeak slipped out. The distance however lent Bucky to let his kisses dance down the length of your neck and across your cleavage, so perfectly framed by the sheer fabric of your bra. 

Though the hickeys he began to plant across your skin made your eyes roll in your skull, your fingers still captured his tie and tugged him back up for your lips to crash against his. As you moved to push his blazer off, his sturdy grip on you shifted though still held you close as the jacket fell from his burly frame and your palms swiftly scooped over his broad shoulders and down his chest, now one layer closer to letting you actually get to feel the furnace roiling beneath.

Cupping his face close, whimpers seeped out of you and vibrated against his lips as his fingers dug into your ass and rubbed your barely covered cunt over the palpable tent in his pants, your want surely drenching through your thin underwear and marking him as well. 

You almost didn’t realise that Bucky had moved till he dropped you down on the bed. Taking a step back, his tongue briefly flicked across his breathless lips as his fingers lifted to tug his tie off. 

Staring directly into your soul, he uttered, “take your bra off,” as he tossed the tie to the floor and your fingers scrambled to fulfil his request. When you flung the lingerie to the ground, right next to his crumbled tie, the cool night air kissed your pebbly nipples and Bucky let out a murmured curse right before bending down to press his lips to yours. 

Balanced on your elbows, you parted your lips and let his tongue sweep across your own. His touch coasted down your frame, barely granting your tits any attention before his grasp hooked around your thighs and yanked you closer to the edge of the mattress. A surprised yelp escaped you at first at the sudden shift, but as the sting of saliva, that had lingered and connected you from your sloppy kiss, snapped back against your skin, the short cry morphed into a fizzy giggle. 

The light laugh however faded away when you watched him sink to his knees at the foot of the bed. Your legs curled up even further on either side of you, though you weren’t quite sure if that was you or him pushing them up and cracking you open that much more. You could feel his breath hit your pantie-clad core as his gaze fixated on the soaked spot right over your puff. 

When his palm slid up your inner thigh, he only had to reach out his thumb for the broad pad to ghost over your covered slit. His eyes swiftly flickered up to capture yours, checking your reaction as you began to squirm from his feathery light touch. 

Hooking his finger in the gusset, he pulled it to the side and a glossy string stretched out and clung to the fabric as he revealed your glistening pussy. 

A breathy moan billowed out of you as he began to touch you, rolling your little pearl beneath his touch. Finding your eyes once more, he held your gaze as he then leaned down to press a gentle kiss over your clit. 

“This okay?” his voice vibrated against your bundle of nerves, making you twitch. 

“Mhm,” you nodded foggily, “you can do anything you want.”

“Anything?” his lips twitched into a smirk as his fingers stretched from where they were clutching your panties to brush over your button.

“Yeah,” you breathed, “fucking anything.” 

Your mouth then hung agape at the sight of him dipping down to ruthlessly taste your desire. It didn’t take long before he lost himself in you so fiercely that he momentarily leaned back only to rip your underwear off. Both of his hands curved around your bottom, raking across your skin as he drew you even closer to his tongue and dragged it through your wet folds.

Bumping his nose against your clit, he let himself make out with your cunt a moment longer before planting a farewell peck over your pearl and pulling back. A dollop of spit dropped from his lips down onto your pussy. Catching the drop with his fingers before it slid away, he rubbed it into your own juices and made you that much more of a mess. 

“O-oh,” you moaned as he slowly slid a long finger into you after teasing your weepy entrance enough to make you shiver. 

“Fuck, you’re so wet,” he groaned at the soppy sounds his efforts conjured.

Craning down to kiss your clit sloppily, Bucky then slid his ring finger in beside the other, curving them gently as he reached even deeper. 

When he momentarily retracted his digits to land a small tap over your puffy petals, the smile that bloomed on your face only egged him on further. Plugging you back up, he then retracted and repeated the slap though with more ferocity. 

Your head began to lull a bit as he brought his vibranium digits down to roll your clit and his fingers began to fuck you harder, not faster, but with an intent that made your pussy sing for him. 

With your thighs trembling, they nearly slammed shut as you felt the end near, but your bodyguard only slid his strong metal forearm over your legs, hooking it right under both of your bent knees, to keep you spread nice and open for him. 

The veins on the back of his inked hand popped from how fiercely his fingers rocked within you. 

Stretching his thumb up to strum your clit, he tried to sneak a third finger inside of you as he felt your walls begin to flutter around him. 

“That’s it, I’ve got you,” as he always did in every manner, evidently. A smile curved at his lips as your eyes fluttered closed and a symphony of moans flowed out of you with every last tender stroke he offered you to carry you over the edge, “atta girl.”

Melted against the sheets, you caught your breath as he planted one last peck on your inner thigh before standing back up. 

Slowly, with his gaze ever glued on you, he unbuttoned his shirt, gradually revealing the silver shine of the dog tags that hung from his neck and the tattoos that sprawled across his skin. Going all the way up from the hand still shiny with your essence, the ink swirled up his right arm, across his pecs, down his back and even curved over to his left shoulder and intentionally tangled into the gnarly scares sprouting from the border of his prosthetic. 

When the button-up hit the floor, his fingers drifted down to unhurriedly remove his belt, pulling it out of the loops, he let it join the shirt before he undid his pants and let his cock spring free. 

“Jesus christ…” your jaw couldn’t help but drop to the floor as your eyes fluttered at the intimidating reveal. 

Noticing the anxiety that peeked through your lust-ridden expression, his low voice found your ears, “what? Did you change your mind?” 

“No, I just–…” you couldn’t tear your eyes away from his fat cock as it throbbed before you, “I got a bit nervous all of a sudden.” 

“No reason to be nervous, baby,” he breathed out a smile as his fist curled around his girth.  

“Oh really?” you nearly began to laugh. 

“You’ll be fine,” drool threatened to escape the corner of your lips as he slowly began to stroke himself, “trust me.” 

“Really? Because I’m not so sure I’ll be able to take that…” 

“You will,” he uttered calmly as he dipped down to give you a kiss, “don’t worry,” a hand slid into your hair as he cradled your face and ushered your gaze to find his, “you know I’d never hurt you, right?”

“Yeah.”

“So, you’ll be fine,” his thumb curved to sweep over your cheek a few times. 

“Yeah,” you gently nodded and repeated after him, “I’ll be fine.”

“That’s my girl,” he smiled. Kissing you once more, he then pressed a peck to your forehead before his grasp found your hips and he suddenly flipped you around, onto your stomach. 

Helping you up onto your hands and knees, a hazy smile stretched across your features as he bent down over you and pressed kisses all along your spine. Dragging his bulbous tip through your sopping folds, he then teased you for so long, never granting you any more than a dizzying nudge, that whines began to escape from you.

“P-please,” you heard yourself beg as your fingers bunched up the sheets. 

“What?” he continued to flick and tap your swollen clit with the head of his heavy cock.

“I–I want it–, plea–, please fuck me,” you blubbered desperately. 

“Oh, now you want it, huh?” you could hear the smirk that dominated his face, “suddenly not so nervous anymore about me stretching you out, are you?”

“Bucky, plea–, o-oh–,” you felt your limbs tremble beneath you as he slipped the very tip inside. 

His efforts were so slow at first, gradually giving you more of his length and just shallowly fucking you till you blossomed and opened up for him. 

Gradually, his thrusts began to ease from a mind-numbingly slow pace to something that truly scrambled your brain. You soon lost yourself completely to the molten sensation of his fat girth steadily splitting you open. 

Though when he finally bottomed out within you, a shrill gasp slipped out passed your lips and your frame shuttered beneath him. 

Drawing his hips back just enough for you to regain the ability to fill your lungs with oxygen once more, you heard him murmur in your ear, “what, is it too much dick for you?” retraining his thrusts slightly, he kept his tip from kissing your cervix, “that better or is it still too deep for you?” his hands dented your hips.

“N-no, no, it feels so good, it’s just–,” a whimper slipped out of you and broke up your slurring, “you’re so fucking big, I’ve never–,” you felt like you could feel him all the way up in your throat, “no one’s ever been that fucking deep before.”

One of his hands curved down to your clit at the exact same time as your own did. As they met, he let your own fingers swirl over your puffy pearl as his simply lingered, till he suddenly grasped your wrist and gently led it away from your pussy, further up to your lower stomach. 

“That deep?” he pressed down on your palm and let you discover the dull bulge that formed in your belly at every one of his dizzying thrusts, “has no one ever stuffed you that full before? Not even one of your pretty toys you play with so often?”

“Nuh-uh,” you panted as his warm contact dissipated from your spine and he straightened back up. 

A gravelly moan slipped out past Bucky’s lips as he glanced down to see how tightly your creamy pussy was gripping onto his cock. Your fingers returned to the sheets as his wide palm came down to slap your ass, your back arching at the impact and consequently angling his efforts so that the details of his dick brushed against your g-spot in the most heavenly way imaginable. 

He only buried himself inside of you a few more times, his heavy sack tapping against your buzzing clit at every electric buck, till your pussy gushed around his fat girth. 

“There you go,” he pulled out only to insistently flick your puffy pearl with his tip, “fucking hell,” he then plunged his cock all the way back in before dragging it back out, “keep going,” ushering more squirt to drizzle out. He kept up the overwhelming pattern till your pussy stopped gushing for him, till he’d pushed you through the overstimulation and your cunt slowly began to relax again for him. Eventually, when he steadily withdrew from you, he craned his neck to relish in the way your little hole had stretched out and accommodated so well for him, it even winking sinfully at him every time he pulled out, “good fucking girl,” he growled at the sight, “told you so, you’d do just fine,” your shaky frame jolted as he slapped your ass again, “look at you now fucking gaping for me, christ…”

With a ring of your cream staining the base of his cock, he let himself return to your warmth for longer than just a few seconds, fucking you with such ferocity that your pliant form, still molten and unsteady from your second orgasm, collapsed onto the mattress below. 

Though he successfully caught you before you could slip off his cock entirely, he still let you drop down on the bed, though softened the fall for you, before he followed suit. 

The weight of him on top of you felt so comforting and soothed on your tingly skin.

“You okay?” he kissed your cheek before spreading your stocking-clad legs with his own. 

“Hm,” you nodded foggily and felt yourself drool onto the sheets as he squished you further into the mattress.

Your shaky moans filled the bedroom as he slid back inside, “fuck, you feel so good…” sloppily nipping just below your ear before he picked up his pace. 

The chain that dangled from his neck felt cool on your skin and acted as a stark contrast to how hot his body felt pressed against your back. 

“You think you can be a good girl and cum for me again?” he groaned into your ear as his efforts echoed sloppily, “let me feel that pretty pussy squeeze around me one last time?”

“I-I don’t know,” you trembled beneath him, every one of his deep thrusts making you jolt and gasp for air as he was practically splitting you in half. 

“You don’t know?” he sweetly whispered in your ear as he curled his arms under you. One hand slid under your tit and caught your pebbly nipple in a rude pinch while the other soared down to your sore and swollen clit, “can you try for me? Try and cum again,” your eyes had fallen completely shut, so your whole reality had just become Bucky’s reassuring weight, his tantalising efforts, and his sinful whispers that seeped directly into your soul, “try and squirt for me one last time, sweetheart.” 

And so, you did. It didn’t even take that long before you tumbled over one last time and your pussy creamed for him, drenching the already damp sheets beneath you, as he swiftly came as well, throbbing deep within your clenching cunt and filling your little hole up to the brim till it tried to leak and escape around his girth.

His heavy pants faded from your ear as he slowly crawled off of you, cascading a tender trail of kisses all the way down your body till he gently retraced his track of pecks and settled down next to you. Fluttering your eyes open as his palm slid up to your heated cheek, he gazed into your hazy eyes for a moment before leaning in to softly press his lips to your own. 

You wanted to curl in closer to his frame, but your body was so exhausted that you could barely raise your pinkie finger. Fortunately though, as you layed there in wordless wonder, Bucky’s arms draped around you as he scooted in close, hugging you to him and gently caressing your skin as you continued to blink back into his ocean eyes, not uttering a word out of fear that you’d ruin the blissful moment.

After perhaps a small eternity had passed, he briefly raised his head up slightly to catch sight of the small clock on your bedside table. 

“There’s still a few more hours left before the sunrise…” he settled back down beside you.

“Oh, yeah?” a soft smile tilted up your lips as his touch began to travel south. 

“Yeah,” his lips gently parted in a silent moan as his fingers slid through your sore folds. His stare was transfixed on how your brows knitted together and a quiet hiss slipped out of you as he swirled over your sensitivity, playing with the hot load he’d pumped into you as it slowly leaked out, one of his digits too brash not to try and stuff it back inside, “what do you think?” sharing your breath, he inched in and let his nose nuzzle against your own, “do you want me to be yours just a little bit longer or would you rather I’d return to my own bed?” 

© 2024 thyme-in-a-bubble 

[enchantedlov3r]

Coffee crush An Ellie Williams fic College Barista au CHAPTER TWO!

Summary: Young love, always the cutest thing, especially when it's on your very hot barista at your local coffee shop on campus.

Pairings: Barista!Ellie Williams x puppy!reader

Word Count: 4.5k (WOAH! never done that before<33)

Warnings: fluff, first time meeting, flustered reader, bold ellie, lots of sexual tension, shameless flirting, ellie being really hot, brief mentions of alcohol, slight debating/arguing but playful, eventual smut in later chapters, a brief kiss, lmk if I missed anything loves💓

A/N: funny story, there was this fic I read about streamer ellie by @r3starttt and she linked her pinterest below so I just wanted to give creds to her for allowing me to use these pics from her saved pinterest. Also some of it will be via text message style so ellie will be bold and reader will not. lowercase intended..

You were honestly just a girl, who happened to like other girls, no big deal. but when your parents denied it, denied you, you moved out.

you weren’t going to deal with unsupportive family members judging you at every family function.

and you sure as hell weren’t going to stand with your parents treating you completely different from everyone else.

so you moved away from that toxic life but not just because of your parents but for college as well.

you wanted to move to this small town and get to know people new and study at your dream college.

once you finally found out you got in, you made your motives known to the family that you were leaving and never coming back.

you made it to your dorm and met this awesome girl named Kansas. You guys really hit it off your first semester and ever since, you guys have been the best of friends.

constantly hanging out and going to bookstores and party’s and going on vacations and so much more.

So, now to the present day, you’re currently in your dorm studying for finals.

Kansas walks in and greets you, you greet her back and she plops on the bed with a sigh.

“what’s wrong Kansas? I know that sigh. What’s up?” you ask her while keeping your focus on your notes

“I wanna go somewhere, to meet some hot people. get screwed and fucked up” Kansas replies. You bark out a laugh while shaking your head

“I’m getting kinda tired kans, we can go to a coffee shop? Keep me awake cause I need to study for these finals. Wanna go with me?” You ask her

she shakes her head letting out a hum of disapproval, “mm-mm I’m good, I’ll probably just sleep it out. Night.” She says lying down.

“night kans.” you say closing your notebook and grabbing your red converse. They were a little beat up but they were your favorites.

you walked off campus, greeting people as they passed, some people you know, some you’ve met once, and even the strangers that were polite.

you saw the bistro and smiled walking in. There was someone in front of you, a tall blonde-haired boy.

you patiently waited while he ordered his beverage, mindlessly scrolling on your phone.

you heard someone yell next and you lifted your head walking forward. The lady was turned around so you waited until her focus was on you

once she turned around your eyes widened and you stared in awe.

she was the hottest girl you’ve ever seen. Pretty auburn hair framing her face in a cute half up half down style.

freckles littered her perfect face, beautiful green eyes staring back at you.

her lips pretty and pink, bottomed lip tucked between her teeth as she smiles at you checking you out.

“What can I get for you pretty girl?” The lady in front of you asks.

it feels as if everything has stopped and you are the only ones able to move, talk and it was amazing.

“uh-uhm sorry, hi my names y/n and w-what’s yours? I’m pretty sure it’s a sexy- I mean spectacular name.” You stutter before face planting at how embarrassing you’re being.

“Ha, uh Ellie, my names Ellie. You’re funny but, what would you like to drink? Anything that makes you tick?” She says with a smile on her face as she tilts her head scratching her neck.

'you' the only word coming to your mind.

it’s only then you notice how long and slender her fingers are and the wonderful tattoo that litters her forearm.

“I would like a cappuccino please and nice tattoo, it’s beautiful, just like you. Uhm sorry I mean it’s uhm- a-a beautiful…" you sigh. "I’m gonna stop talking now.” You stutter out nervously.

“it’s fine sweetheart, thanks for the compliments.” Ellie responds with a wink. “ your cappuccino will be ready shortly. Your total is $5.95.” Ellie says smiling.

you pull out your card and pay. You look around noticing the beauty on the inside of the bistro and smile.

Ellie watches you with intent because she would be lying if she didn’t think you were extremely hot.

she wanted so badly to talk to you for longer but she had customers and a job to do. So she came up with the idea when you weren’t looking to write her number on your receipt.

“here you go. Maybe we’ll meet again sometime.” She said with a smile handing you your receipt.

“yea, maybe we will.” You say knowing damn well your coming back to this bistro everyday until you graduate college.

You walk off to go to the waiting area to wait for your name to be called for your drink. Your playing with the receipt when you catch something in the corner of your eye.

you look over and see Ellie mouthing something and making hand gestures.

you see her pointing to your hand so you look down and see numbers written down on the back of the receipt.

you look at her and smile and she smiles back before tending to the next customer that walked in.

you notice it’s a phone number, her phone number. You smile and heat rushes to your face. She also left a little note.

“text me, your cute btw, anyone ever tell you that? It was nice meeting you;)”

you smile at the note and fold the receipt and put it in your back pocket to keep for later.

you hear your name get called and grab your drink. You smile and wink at Ellie as you leave and walk out the door.

The moment you get out you jump up and down and giggle before running back to your dorm to study.

you pull out the receipt and smile at the note again. you type the number into your phone and you hesitate to text her. contemplating for an hour before finally texting her.

you: heyy:) it's me! you off work yet? (10:47pm)

ellie🤭: heyy pretty, yea I get off in 5 minutes so I'm clocking out. (10:50pm)

you: ohh ok, so how was it, your shift that is? (10:50pm)

ellie🤭: it was stressful but it got better about an hour ago when this really hot girl walked in and I gave her my number on a receipt. (10:51pm)

you: stoppp your making me nervous, thanks for the compliment btw:) (10:53pm)

ellie: ofc sweetheart, now wanna play a game? (10:53pm)

you: sure what do you have in mind els, can I call u els? (10:54pm)

ellie🤭: you can call me whatever you want love. (10:54pm)

ellie🤭: maybe 21 questions? only if your up for it? (10:55pm)

you: yea sure so do i go first or you? (10:56pm)

ellie🤭: you go ahead. (10:57pm)

you: ok, how old are you? (10:59pm)

ellie🤭: 19. same question for you. (11:00pm)

you: im 18. (11:00pm)

ellie🤭: ok, nice. (11:01pm)

you: my turn again right? ok uhm, what's your fav color? (11:03pm)

ellie🤭: I would have to say green, like my eyes.

ellie🤭: what about you? (11:04pm)

you: so far this is what 4 questions, lol ok! (11:04pm)

you: I would say my fav color is {your fav color inserted} (11:05pm)

ellie🤭: dope! that's a nice one. (11:06pm)

you: thanks! ok, i'm going to ask, what's your fav movie or show? (11:08pm)

ellie🤭: i mean i don't think I have one, there's so many to choose from yk? (11:08pm)

you: yea no I totally understand! (11:09pm)

ellie🤭: ok, my turn. how about we quit this game huh? kinda wanna hear your voice. wanna call? (11:09pm)

your eyes widened at that. ellie, wanted to call y-you. this was insane you were so lost in thought that the buzz of you phone broke you out of your trance.

ellie🤭: ? you wanna or nah, it's totally fine if not. (11:10pm)

you: no no, I wanna. you call me, go ahead!

(11:10pm)

ellie🤭: alright!

ellie🤭: btw it 11:11 make a wish! (11:11pm)

you: oh stop it ellie! (i'm so making a wish right now!) (11:11pm)

you hear the ringing and immediately pick up after the first ring. at first it's quiet and then ellie finally speaks up.

"hey." she says in a raspy voice that makes your skin tingle. you smile at the sound of her voice.

"hey ellie." you say, her name rolling of your tongue like honey. fuck she loved the way you sounded. so sweet and sexy. she just wanted you all to herself already.

"say my name again, sounds hot when you say it." ellie demands with a chuckle at your little squeak of surprise.

"w-what ellie?" you ask totally confused on what ellie was asking. you lied, you weren't entirely confused but ellie did make you very flustered and very nervous.

sure you could dominate women and be bold at times but something about ellies demeanor and the way she carried herself it made you want to be submissive.

you were a very bold and playful person, you could tease and be funny too but around ellie, nuh uh, you were silenced by her words that made down there tingle.

was it also way to late to mention that you've never "done it" with a girl before. yea sure you've had a kiss here and there but you've never done it.

you were close but then the girls parents walked in and you were utterly embarrassed. the girl ghosted you the next day.

so now you hope that same fate won't happen with ellie.

"god you were so gorgeous in the shop today, couldn't keep my fucking eyes off you." ellie admits breathlessly.

"your so kind, thank you and trust me, I was a mess talking to you." you say with a chuckle.

"I know other ways I can turn you into a mess." she says with a giggle. you giggle nervously and bite your lip.

"mmm yeah? that's something i'm looking forward to in the future." you say, ellie not even knowing how hard your gushing right now.

you guys have been on the phone for over and hour or two now and you were loving it.

she chuckled on the other end of the line. "so, are you more of a coffee girl or an alcohol girl?" you ask ellie.

theres a sigh on the line before you hear a snort, "I mean I prefer alcohol rather than coffee." ellie says.

"ellie. cmon, you literally work in a coffee shop, where you have to deal with coffee grounds and the smell, everyday." you say playfully rolling your eyes.

"woah! just cuz I work at a coffee shop doesn't mean I like coffee babe, I just needed the job, plus it was close by campus." ellie argues back playfully.

"oh yea sure because ellie loves working in a place where she doesn't even love the products in the store. If you adore alcohol, why not be a bartender?" you rebuttal.

this playful banter made ellie laugh and you laughed too. "because I don't wanna sit here and toss vodka in a cup, I wanna drink it, not serve it to others." ellie says as she turns off her room light.

"I'm working in a coffee shop cuz I wanted the money and because I don't get tempted with alcohol all around me, just caffeine." ellie says causing you to burst out laughing.

"ok, 1, that was hilarious and 2. nice point els." you say biting your lip as you kick your feet around on your bed and giggle.

you were sure as hell lucky that this campus was big enough to have two separate rooms. you didn't wanna wake up kansas.

its silent for a little before you just randomly blurt out, "you wanna meet again sometime? maybe like a date? just to hang out and talk more?" you ask.

it's silent on ellies side of the phone for a bit before you hear shuffling. "hey my roomates back but yea totally! Meet me at the water fountain in front of the campus at 7:30pm tomorrow, we can talk in the bistro if you want?" ellie asks.

"yea yea, that's perfect." you say smiling as you bite your fingernails out of excitement.

"alright great it's a date, see you tomorrow pup." she says before the line disconects.

you put your phone down, grab you pillow and scream into it. your going on a date with the ellie williams, the hottest girl you know and you couldn't wait.

it's the next day. your walking to your class with kansas. you were telling her about ellie, every single detail.

the details from last night and the bistro. "she was just like so unreal kans, she called me babe, and pretty girl and so much more but eeee! I'm meeting her tonight!" you say with excitement.

"good for you girl! glad one of us is getting excitement." kansas says rolling her eyes playfull with a dramatic sigh to which you shove her and laugh.

"what do you even mean by that kans?" you say chuckling. she stops, looks at you and lifts her hand.

she lays her palm flat right side up and sticks up her middle and ring finger and makes a fingering motion with her fingers.

you gasp and push her quickly walking away while kansas laughs and runs to catch up to you.

"your sick kansas!" you exclaim.

"it's the truth, I can tell ellie knows how to please too. especially since you described her fingers as-what was it?- long and slender?" she says before snorting and laughing.

you laugh with her but roll your eyes at her mocking. "yea yea, keep it up and i'll find a new roommate." you say before walking into class with kansas.

*tap tap tap* is the sound your feet make as you stare at the clock, counting the seconds waiting until the clock strikes 5pm.

you were in your last class for the day and you just had two hours to get ready for your date with ellie.

you were super excited and also kinda surprised you didn't like see her at all in the halls.

she did say she goes here but maybe she was in a different section. You watched as the clock stuck exactly 5:00 and you began packing your notebooks and textbooks in your bag.

"Make sure to read through pages 25 to 37, there will be some paragraphs to study for your exams." your teacher exclaims.

you nod and walk out the door meeting with kansas. "hey girl." you say as you rub your face.

"what's wrong?" she asks as she shoves the last bit of books in her bag.

"I just feel so drained right now, Professor Popovich's class was so draining. I just don't wanna be a buzzkill for my date with ellie tonight." you express with a frown on your face.

"well I mean he is like 60 years old, what'd you expect his class to be like? Energizing? Just get to the dorm, shower and clear your mind and I'll pick an outfit for you and then you'll be good to go, ok?" kansas offers with a smile.

"ha, your right there, thanks kans I really would like that I appreciate you so much!" you say smiling wrapping your arm around her shoulder as you walk to your shared dorm room.

As you guys finally make it towards the dorm, you immediate hit the shower, clicking your phones vibe playlist as you sing and dance in the shower.

you hear a ding from your phone indicating a message notification has come in. you finish rinsing off your body and making sure your nice and fresh and then turn off the water to get out.

You wrap your towel around your self and grab your phone. you look at the time it's 7:15.

You look at your notifications and see that it's ellie that texted you, you open messages and read her message.

ellie🤭: I probably will get there a little early so, see you soon! (7:13pm)

you: ok, i'm getting ready now so i'll be leaving soon! (7:16pm)

ellie🤭: 👍🏻

you smile and do your routine, you don't put any makeup on just some mascara and lipgloss.

you step out and put on the clothes that kansas picked out for you.

it was very cold outside so kansas wanted you to prepared for when your meeting her outside but still wanted you to look a little skimpy and sexy.

"hmm sexy but cute, thanks kans." you say smiling and hugging her. "but I think i'm gonna wear sneakers instead babes, heels are. a bit much." you express grabbing your red high top converse and putting them on.

"Bye Kansas! thank you again for the help babes!" you say hugging her one last time before walking towards the door.

"anytime. I'll do anything for you. also i'll be out at a party so if you and ellie need the dorm to you know..." she smirks and makes two peace signs and rub them together.

"Oh piss off kans!" you say shutting the door as you hear her laugh. you quickly make your way to the front of the campus and see the water fountain.

you see someone sitting there, a girl in a greenish flannel with a black shirt on and jeans.

you notice that the sleeves of the flannel are rolled up and you see those familiar slender fingers and that sexy tattoo.

"ellie?" you say with a smirk on your face.

the girl looks up and smiles at you. "Hey beautiful, missed me?" she exclaims opening her arms for a hug.

"I may have missed you." you say with a smirk as you hug her. you wrap your arms around her neck and she wraps her arms around your waist.

"let's go to the bistro shall we?" she says with a smile. you nod and let go of her. you both make the short walk to the bistro and ellie unlocks the door with the key.

"so what do you wanna do?" ellie asks as she hops on the counter staring at you as you walk around.

"you know, yesterday was my first time in here. I've always passed this place but kansas tired her hardest to avoid it. you wanna know why?" you say with a smile on your face as you glance at her.

she nods, "Yea sure, why?" ellie asks.

"cuz some dude named Michael that apparently works here, he cheated on her and then made her look like a total fool, so she never steps foot in here again. she said that if she does, she might just toss boiling hot coffee in his face and down his pants too." you say with a chuckle.

"I never judged her for it because she was right. she had every right too but I didn't want her getting in trouble so I just avoided this place out of love for her." you finish as you make your way next to ellie on the counter.

"kansas sounds badass and I hate to break it to you but Michael actually quit 4 weeks ago." ellie announces as she crosses her arms over her chest drawing your eyes attention.

you look back at her and bite your bottom lip, "are you serious?" you ask. she nods with a slight smirk and scrunch of her nose.

"your telling me I could have met you a long time ago?" you ask with your eyes slightly widened.

"yep, I'm always here." she says rubbing her neck. your eyes drift to the movement, to her tattooed arm.

her forearm muscle flexing at her movement's. "What's a crazy story you have els? anything that makes you tick with embarrassment?" you say with a smile.

"hey, that's my saying!" she exclaims with a laugh but answers your question.

"I do actually. I have a few but those are for another date, if you earn it." she teases leaning closer to your face.

"Test me, I bet i'll win your heart over." you say with a smirk challenging her as you lean closer.

"Ok. well..." she says as she leans away from you to fix her position. " I have this one memory in the back of my mind but uhm. you see this tattoo. so this is not an embarrassing story more of a backstory into my life ok?"

you nod with understanding and she smiles.

"Ok so when I was 14, I uhm was playing around in this abandoned like lab. I didn't know what I was doing cause I was being foolish and having fun. I was with my girlfr- my uhm friend and she dared me to climb this ladder that led to all the tall chemical tubes or containers. So uhm me being the daredevil that I am." she says pointing at herself and smiling.

you laugh at her silliness and bite your lip as you look at her lovingly and intently listening to the story.

"yea total daredevil ladies and gentlemen. don't get your panties and boxers in a bunch because don't you fear, ellie the daredevil is here!" you say welcoming her with jazz hands.

you hear her laugh and you want to record it so badly so you can have on repeat for the rest of your life.

"yea yea, I'm so cool I know. back to my story though. I climbed the ladder. now what I didn't know was that there were pipes above me filled with this chemical liquid. So one of the pipes had a hole in them and the liquid gushed on my arm, luckily I stepped back in time but half my arm got like burned or something. so, when I got outta there, my friend, she wrapped it up so I could hide it from my dad. and then when I turned 17 I got the tattoo to hide it. and that's the backstory behind my tattoo." she says with a tightlipped smile.

"wow, well a beautiful tattoo for a beautiful girl." you say scooting a bit closer to her.

she inches her hand closer to yours as she stares at your side profile. she thought you couldn't get any more beautiful, well right now, in this lighting you just did.

you inch your hand closer to her until you place your pinky on her hand. she looks down at your hands and fully grabs your hand to lift it to intertwine it with hers.

you both make eye contact with each other and smile at each other. "I really wanna kiss you right now." you admit to her.

"Then kiss me princess." she says leaning closer to your lips before looking down at your lips, smile fading as she grabs your face and kisses you.

it's sweet and light at first but slowly turns into a needy and passionate kiss. you both pawing at each other. whimpers and whines coming from your lips.

a sweet breathy whisper of her name rings in her ears that makes her skin tingle with goosebumps.

no one has ever made her feel the way you make her feel, so euphoric and so happy.

she wanted all of you and more, she never wanted to let you go from the moment she made eye contact with you yesterday.

you both break the kiss of your lives, a glistening string of saliva connecting the kiss of love that you two just shared.

"wow that was-" you start. before she kisses you again. "Please stop talking for a second and enjoy it." she says before her lips are right back on yours.

you lean back as ellie leans more into you until your laying on the counter and ellie is kind of on top of you never braking the kiss.

"els wait. wait." you say lightly pushing her off you and getting up. "As badly as I wanna do this, I feel like we should take it just a little bit slowly. maybe 3 dates in? I wanna do this just as badly as you it's just i've never done it before with a girl or in general. I want it to be special, not at your job no offense." you say shyly as you bite your lip.

she's silent for a bit before she speaks up. "I'm sorry, just eager to be your first. I completely understand though. I guess this means until next time?" she says as she hops down and stands between your thighs rubbing them.

"yea sure, I guess i'll go then, let you get back to your dorm." you say with a smile.

"hmm or I could walk you to your dorm so I know where I can find you next time." she says with an eyebrow raised with her bottom lip between her teeth.

"no... it's ok seriously I don't want you to go through all that trouble els." you say waving your hand at her.

"mama, lemme walk you to your dorm. as a mater of fact, I am walking you to your dorm. c'mon let's go." she says as she pecks a kiss at your lips before walking towards the door.

"c'mere, let's go." she says motioning her head towards the exit of the shop so she can close up.

you roll your eyes playfully and walk out the door thanking her for opening it for you.

you grab her hand and you look at her with a smile as you see a slight pink tint on her cheeks.

you finally make it to your dorm and check the time. It's currently almost 10pm.

"thank you for this ellie, I loved tonight and I want to do this again." you say with a genuine smile on your face.

"anytime, I definitely will have something better planned then just sitting in a coffee shop and talking.

"ha! ok els, get back to your dorm safe yea?" you say with a concerned look on your face.

"I will princess. goodnight." she says smiling at you. you smile back and bite your lip.

"goodnight ellie." you respond. both of you just stand there none of you moving.

you both are startled by a door opening and a voice. "oh sorry, I just heard voices and didn't know what was going on." a girl from the dorm across you said.

"no no tess your totally fine. sorry to wake you, goodnight." you say with a smile.

"night!" she smiles back at the both of you guys and then shuts her door.

"ok seriously, bye ellie, goodnight," you say before leaning over to kiss her one last time.

she kisses you back with the same passion and smiles into it. "I'll text you when I get back." ellie says before breaking the kiss and walking away with a wave.

"Goodnight beautiful, until next time." she says as she walks backwards leaving you.

you walk into your dorm room and sigh with joy as you lean against the door.

until next time ellie...

Taglist: @ribbonprincess @r3starttt @dollyfl1rt @raynesbandaids @quiet-villian + anyone else who wants to join!

[gfmima]

c. 東京卍リベンジャーズ | tokyo revengers + f!reader t. showing why flirting with his girl is a no-no

on nights you had time to spare, you went with your darling boyfriend on his gigs at the club he and his brother owned. you had nothing to worry over, most of your needs were taken care of the moment word spreads of your visit. all you had to do was sit pretty, drink, and watch him do his setlist.

you were utterly wrong when a strange man chose to settle down on the stool next to you despite the empty bar. a tragedy that frequent clubgoers were constantly reminded of after hearing tales of broken bones and disappearances.

his other error was calling the music blasting “lame noise,” believing it would make him appear intelligent and impress you. when in fact, it made him look like a conceited moron.

it was pathetic.

with the scummiest attempt at a smile you’ve ever seen, he drawls out, “ya’ come here often, cutie-pie?”

you cringe hard.

“my visits here are none of your concern.” peering across at rindō, you give him a reassuring nod, telling him nonverbally to relax and concentrate on his set because you could handle one moron for the evening. it wasn’t a big deal to you, but it was for him.

every now and again, he takes a glimpse at you to check on how you were faring. he wanted to know you were find, despite the fact that he might have behaved like a madman. and he didn’t try to hide his emotions. the way the music would increase each time the stranger opened his mouth to offer another overused pick-up line was no fluke on his part either.

he knows you’ll turn down the advances of the ugly bastard, for sure. he knows you were highly capable of taking care of yourself. he saw how decently you carry yourself around his friends and associates.

however, it doesn't mean he won’t fret over your well-being or not be irritated about the unfamiliar bloke next to you. even from the distance between his station and the bar, he couldn’t help but keep a super close eye on you throughout the evening while he transitioned from mix to mix.

ran begrudgingly volunteers to run the DJ booth. 

he had been eager to intervene soon when he first glimpsed the immature scowl on his brother’s face. it was irritating to see him mope around like a mutt in desperate need of its owner. and it was an even more pathetic sight to witness on a haitani of all people.

lighting the cigarette hanging loosely on his lips, he motions for rindō to move along. it was conceited to believe he’d let him anywhere near his ‘darling booth.’ suppose he damages it; misses the ashtray and digs the bud to its body? besides, he’d rather spare himself the argument and continue to sulk in place unless beckoned.

“you’re being a pussy, rindō.” then exhales the smoke in his direction.

he says nothing.

instead he raises the volume until it drowns ran’s voice. the last thing he needs is for him to pull the ‘older brother’ card and nag his ear off.

his brooding comes to a halt once your eyes lock again; this time with you wordlessly asking for him to interject. a surge of adrenaline flows through his veins, he chuckles,

it’s been a while since he started a fight.

“get away from her.” his tone eerily aloof. whispers start up, filled with interest and fear for the guy who is about to meet his end.

“or what, four-eyes?” he mocks, and takes a long gulp of his drink before slamming it down on the bar counter with such force that several onlookers were surprised it didn’t break in his palm.

ran lets out a low whistle.

your boyfriend didn’t hesitate a second later to hit the man on the nose, earning a startled yell at his eagerness to start a brawl. and it didn’t end there! rindō grabs him by the collar and continues to harass him until he was begging for him to stop.

“did you miss me, ‘fuyu~ ♡?”

“can you not be annoying?”

takemitchy awkwardly laughs along. he didn’t know what to do. he heard many stories about the former vice-captain of the first division from baji and chifuyu, though, to finally hang out with the young man himself was a meeting he was happy he didn’t forget.

you happen to come as well which was a big relief since you could keep him in check before he drives chifuyu mad.

he would’ve never figured ryusei was once part of the tokyo manji gang, much more a vice-captain, by the way he carries the conversation for them all buddy-buddy. you had excused yourself from the table minutes ago to order more drinks for the group. and while it was subtle to most but not to takemitchy’s keen eyes, he caught his gaze wandering to your figure every so often to confirm you were okay.

ryusei took his duties as your boyfriend seriously — enough so, he was willing to be thrown out of the restaurant. 

his patience was put to a test as soon as that bastard came up to you. he wasn’t familiar with his name yet he does recognize him as the coursemate you frequently rant about to him during those late night phone calls. in your words, he was a nuisance.

tanaka? or was it takaeda? whatever. he didn’t understand that “no” means “no,” desperate to arrange a date with you regardless of how goofy it made him appear.

“can you quit it? you know that i’m taken. so, why don’t you bother someone else, yeah?” he listens to you not so kindly turn him down. his mouth slips a wisp of a grin, he didn’t need to look to know your arms were crossed and your face bore the most judgemental expression.

“oh, c’mon! he doesn’t need to know.”

ryusei’s eye twitches.

“talk to a brick wall. ‘m not interested.”

one after another, a pool of thoughts flood his head, lagging his ability to think clearly. all that was going through his mind were methods to beat up this scumbag and a barrage of obscenities he would’ve said if you weren’t there to scold him like a disgruntled mother in front of his friends. 

chifuyu, who used to work alongside him, notices the quick change in his attitude and instantly sighs to himself for the ensuing catastrophe to happen. takemitchy, on the other hand, sweats from the heavy, tense atmosphere inside the booth.

“don’t make a scene!”

he rests a hand on his chest in mock offense. “i could never do that!” he pouts. “have you no faith in me, ‘fuyu? i’m simply going to make sure my girl is okay. i know you won’t get it but i’m sure takemitchy does.” then stands up before either of them could say a response.

“hey! what’s that supposed to mean?!”

up until this point, takemitchy had trouble viewing ryusei in the role of former vice-captain of the first division. he didn’t realize how unnerving he could be when you were the object of his ire. without the charming, boyish grin, his new friend emitted a darker aura. he would’ve meddled as usual but if hinata had been in a similar predicament, he would’ve done the same.

he shoves the bastard to the side and rests his arm by your waist to pull you away from his poor attempt at wooing you. “move it. you’re upsetting my girl here.”

ryusei would say he was a good partner. he was patient, not overprotective, and respected your boundaries. he wasn’t easily annoyed but this stranger was beginning to get on his nerves. he wasn’t going to cause any trouble, not after right after he swore he’d behave. he wasn’t listening to a word this guy said, he was going to shrug it off either way until he catches you mime a tiny, “do it,” at him.

your lover delivers a solid hit to his face before he can throw another remark. “what the hell?! fuck, she isn’t even worth all the trouble!” he shouts, as he slumps backward.

once he fled the restaurant, ryusei drifts back to his regular demeanor and feigns an injury in spite his time as a former gang member to have you coddle him.

what a baby.

[syre-stane16]

DOES THE PYRO VISON HOLDERES DESERVE THEIR ELEMENT?

PYRO

Ye, so Pyro is associated with war in Genshin. Why? Wecause war ravages the land and it kills everything its touches. A heavily destructive force, the element is also related with bad temperaments and rage.

Pyro's positive qualities is its warmth, light and energy.

It can be used to represent love, courage, strength and passion perhaps even ambition.

Now, I am bad at explaining the way I feel a character would represent the love aspect. But basically big positive feelings towards a select few or the entire world. You get me?

Let's begin.

AMBER

Amber is a warm and friendly character but so is most of the cast, so I won't call it out unless a character's warmth is significant enough to do so.

She's energetic, passionate and courageous.

KLEE

BOMB

Also, she a very energetic and passionate child. Klee is also considered the strongest of the knights of Favonius. Also the destruction aspect.

LIGHT

WARM,FUZZY SWEETHEART.

Guys she would love so hard oh my gods. Family, friends, random strangers. It's hard not to adore her and she just loves. I feel so upset about characters that love, like why do we deserve you. Why do we deserve your love. We are horrible, HORRIBLE people.

DILUC

His vision burned out after Crepus died. To compensate for this, Diluc used his father's delusion whilst he hunted down the Fatui. That man went on a rampage and he was exiled from Snezhnaya. So.. rage and destruction.

There's also the case that he lashed out at Kaeya and attacked his brother when he told Diluc about his connections to the Abyss Order allowing Kaeya to gain his vision.

Diluc's vision was rekindled of course, but it was interesting that his passion died the night his father did. The man still holds his dedication to justice.

Power.

Courage.

Also, he and Kaeya have a fire/ice kinda deal going on. I think Diluc and Kaeya deserve to get more story quests, like there is so much more we need to know about those two.

I can't really tell anywhere from the game, the comic or anything about what his relationship with Kaeya used to be, and how badly it broke. I feel that they both want to rekindle their relationship but aren't sure if the other wants to.

Even then, I feel like Diluc also falls int the love aspect. He got banned from a REGION because of what he did after they took his father away from him. His relationship with Kaeya is messy but you KNOW that man has a LOT of feelings.

And that may just be why I think he works with the love factor. His actions gives us an idea of how large and heavy his emotions are , you guys get me, right?

XIANGLING

Let's be honest, her dedication to the art of cooking already explains it. Also she's a chef.

XINYAN

Passionate of course, she's really friendly as well and she has a fiery personality.

Courage in a way. Imagine going onto a stage time and tome again and despite your audience constantly throwing tomatoes at you, you keep coming back to perform what you love.

HU TAO

Energetic.

She also has an interesting relationship with death. She believes that death is a natural part of life and feels that trying to prolong it is meaningless. Hu Tao embraces death.

Also she's a funeral parlour director. Cremation.

I adore how she's associated with butterflies, a symbol of death and change.

YANFEI

You would expect someone who works with law to be a hydro user wouldn't you.

Oh well, Yanfei is very passionate about the law. Like damg.

Also. Fun-fact: She finds Fontaine 's laws too difficult. Which is understandable.

THOMA

I'm not a ThomaTo shipper, but he definitely loves the Kamisato siblings. They are like a family to him and he is extremely loyal to them.

Thoma is a very friendly character and hardworking. He's also protective of the Kamisato siblings. idk guys, he's just one of those characters that you just know loves with all their heart.

YOIMIYA

FIREWORKS

passionate about fire works

friendly

DEHYA

She's from the desert.

She's strong.

Destruction.

Courage.

Her vision came to her at a low point making it a light at the end of her tunnel .

LYNEY

He is passionate about magic. He's the extrovert of the hearth siblings. He shares an element with Arlecchino, which may hint to them having a closer bond.

Light.

Courage.

The terms 'smoke and mirrors' is used when referring to a magician's tricks.

I'm gonna say a case can be made with love, for his siblings, 'Father' and for the magician that trained him and Lynnette. This boy rarely leaves his sister's side for long periods of time. Also he loves the traveller I don't make the rules you gays can't change my mind.

MOVING ON

CHEVREUSE

Passion

GUN

Courage

GAMING

His name is FIRE. He's passionate about his art. He's friendly. REALLY friendly and courage works too. His animations are LIT.

What more do you want?

CONCLUSION

Passion seems to be the most common trait amongst these fiery little guys.

Cryo next and I promise you I will gush about Kaeya and his beautiful face .

Bye!

Edi: i forgot Yoimiya.

[colectingstrz]

SEA SIDE CRUSH ❧

➤ (🐚) oneshot | Sunghoon x fem reader | fluff | angst | strangers to lovers | word count: 1.7k | reader is 18 and Sunghoon is 19 | one small kiss bit and nothing more| set in the 1960’s | whole thing is based within a cruise holiday ship

Soo’s smol note📝 : btw this is not proof read fully it’s like 60%💀 didn’t have my glasses when I wrote this since I accidentally sat on them so yeah ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

“Kiss me hard before you go, Summertime sadness”

Forced on a cruise for the summer there’s nothing much that peaks your interest until you meet a boy who you will never forget or in which you find comfort in Sunghoon who’s there to pick you up when you fall until- he isn’t

YOU FELT LONELY.Your parents didn't want you to spend all of your time in your room, so they forced you to go play with some kids "your age," despite the fact that you're almost 19, and you're surrounded by 9-11 year olds. Should I simply jump in and swim to shore? This serves no purpose.

You sighed, resting your elbows on the edge of the boat railing, looking into the horizon and closing your eyes and listening to the whistling wind and the faint sounds of the passengers around you. Your tranquillity was invaded. When you felt a pair of frigid fingers pinch your flesh, everything came to a halt. Why is some random stranger touching me? If it's one of those obnoxious kids, I swear I'm going to push them over this railing i swe-

When you locked gazes with a tall gorgeous male, your thoughts were cut short. His fair complexion gleamed in the sunlight as he waved at you with a witty smile.

" Greetings! Milady..my name is Sunghoon," he said, raising his hand for a shake, which you slowly accepted. His chilly hands engaging with yours, causing you to shiver slightly " hi..I'm y/n " you say gently, with a faint smile. He’s so good looking..

That was the beginning of your small friendship with the boy, as well as the emergence of your newfound crush. After that day, you resolved never to stay in your room again, constantly going out to see him. Sunghoon was nothing but kind and kind to you, his acts triggering an explosion of butterflies in your stomach at every interaction; you didn't want to leave the cruise because you were frightened you wouldn't see him again.

You and Sunghoon sit side by side on the seats, your shoulders merging into one. "Do you normally come here every summer? " You nod "Yes, it's like a tradition ever since I was 11 they'd take me here for a month," you hum. "This Cruise is so big, there's so much to do, yet you seem upset about it ? Do you not enjoy your time here perhaps ? " Sunghoon says, bending his head to stare at your face. "No.. I've been going here for 8 years it isn't as exciting anymore.. plus no one my age comes here anymore so I'm alone most of the time," you groan, looking down. Sunghoon recognises the sadness in your voice and does not want to see you sad any longer so he extended his arm placing it around your shoulder giving it a small squeeze

"Well, you do have me now, don't you? Milady " With a tiny smile, you nod. " yeah, I guess so," Sunghoon humms, " wanna cause some trouble? " He speaks with a mischievous tone in his voice. Well..it's been so dull here, why not "I'll follow your lead park." Sunghoon smiles sitting up and extending his hand out. You eagerly place it in his allowing him to intertwine your fingers with one another

"So, what's the plan?" you two sneak into your parents' room while they're away having lunch in the canteen part. "Water and some buckets," he raised an eyebrow, "you want to drentch thier stuff?" Wont you get in trouble for that? Milady " You shrug I don’t really care to be honest they won’t do anything anyways “ I'll deal with the conference later" you drag Sunghoon with you to the pool to get the water.

You had miscalculated how heavy water was once you had filled yours to the brim. The weight was so heavy it almost sent you tumbling backwards but thankfully Sunghoon was there to catch you clutching your waist firmly with his spare hand so you don't fall. " y/n are you okay? You swallow anxiously as his hand remained firmly in position, his fingers caressing the material of your shorts slightly, his touch sending shivers down the rest of your body " umm..milady?" Gosh, snap out of it, he was simply trying to help you "nothing, let's go.." You disregard the concept of thought and go on your way.

“I just wanted you to know That baby, you the best”

A MESS you wanted to make turned out to be a mess. The bed ruined and drenched the currants adhering to the walls, your father's books floating around the room, and your mother's cosmetics spilling out and changing colours as it combined with the water. You smiled proudly at yourself.

You turn to face Sunghoon, who is already staring you, "what?" He didn't say anything and simply looked at you. Why is he just starting at me? "Do you ever wonder what it feels like to really like someone?" you look at him shocked. Why the sudden question? "I mean, no, not really, there's never been anyone I've liked well, in a romantic way that is," I like you he shrugs. "That's upsetting,"

" how so?" You ask to which he doesn’t say anything "Sunghoon your seem a bit off " he still doesn't say anything and slowly approaches you, causing you to move back and slip onto your parents soaked bed as a result of your actions earlier.. as there was still a shallow amount of water flowing on the floor.

"Do my feelings put you off, y/n?" Huh" wait what- what are you talking about " he looks closely into your eyes as if searching for something in them " i stated before it was sad that you milady..didn't like anyone because I like you " he stops before starting again " you've made my vacation here brighter.. I want to stay with you just a little bit longer" you blink wildly, unable to believe what your ears are hearing.

"you..like..me," he nods, smiling slightly, "but it's fine if you don't-" cutting him off, you pull him into a passionate kiss. Because you were too nervous to say the words out loud, you hoped your actions would speak for you.

Sunghoon nibbled on your lip right away, causing you to yelp slightly and give him complete access to swirl his tongue and intertwine it with yours. His left hand gently approaching your cheek, his thumb touching your face tenderly and delicately, as if he was afraid you would break.

You eventually draw away, glancing down at your nails. Feeling a bit shy "the feelings... mutual Sunghoon" he smiles again, drawing you close into an embrace and collapsing upon you due to the height difference. "Oh my gosh, let go, your making me wet, it's c-cold!" You yell, attempting to push him away, but he refuses to let go, hugging you even tighter, "but I wish to shower you with you milady with adoration and affection!" He teases, and you lightly slap his chest, and he pulls away slightly, his hands still on your waist, "have I ever told you how beautiful your eyes are?"

"Stop looking at me like that," he hums, "like what I'm just looking at you, can I not stare at a work of art?" you gulp slightly , not noticing the large blush that spreads across your cheeks. You hide your face in his chest, "Stop that.."

Sunghoon smiles, kissing you on the cheek and drawing you in for another hug. This time you didn't mind the coolness from his damp shirt, you were just delighted to be this close to him right now and to know he felt the same way about you.

“Think I'll miss you forever Like the stars miss the sun in the morning sky”

THE NEXT DAY, you awoke in the happiest feeling you'd been in since meeting Sunghoon, but after yesterday, you were elated. Even though you were yelled at by your parents for your stunt, you didn't care. Your thoughts were preoccupied with Sunghoon.

you got ready in the mirror doing your makeup as music plays in the back form your mothers radio “Done my hair up real big, beauty queen style~” “High heels off, I'm feelin' alive~”

I hope he likes it

You sigh as you look at the small pink envelope with a heart in the middle on the counter to your left. You deliberately composed a note for Sunghoon because you wanted to communicate how you felt and how he made you feel.

After you finished , you took your note and dashed out to the section where Sunghoon and his family were staying. Knocking on the door, you wait nervously, quickly adjusting your hair in the hopes of impressing him. But, to your dismay, the door opened to show an unknown lady? Who is that, if not Sunghoon's mother or sister?.. "Um... hello, I'm looking for Park Sunghoon?" She raises her brow "I don't know who that is, you got the wrong door, sorry" before shutting the door in your face.

What the hell? Im so sure this is his door he told me 79

You decided to go to reception and ask more questions because you were really confused . "Hello sir, I have an inquiry," he says, nodding, "what is the request, milady?" "What door number do the residents of the park family stay at?" He tells you to wait and begins entering up some information before reporting back to you, "the parks left early this morning"

You thank the receptionist and walk behind the wall, leaning back against it. Is he gone? There's no way he never mentioned leaving yesterday. It was fine, we were fine. You slip down until you're sitting on the floor. You try to reason with yourself that there was no way he would go like that without at least saying goodbye or alerting you of his departure

Until it finally hits you. You have a brief recollection of Sunghoon's words to you yesterday: "you've made my vacation here brighter.."I just want to stay with you a little longer," he knew.

You clench your fists and throw your letter across the floor. You were upset because you couldn't believe he wouldn't say goodbye properly. At the very least, if he been honest with you, you would have learned to handle reality a little better. You would have stayed with him longer. How could he leave you here alone knowing how lonely it made you feel?

You knew there was a good chance you'd never see him again; you don't even know where he lived or what school he attended; he simply fled away. You wanted to comprehend him but couldn't since your sadness was quickly replaced by rage, hurt, and betrayal.

You felt used..he knew he was leaving all along, yet he decided to give you hope anyways. As much as you sincerely liked him, you honestly don't want to see him ever again because you're frightened of how easy you'd fall apart if you met his eyes.

I hope the memory of me haunts you for the rest of your life Sunghoon…

You prayed he'd never find serenity or even a speck of clarity, that the memories of you would suck him dry of any joy..so he could never be happy. He cannot forget you…. because you'll never forget him

@COPYRIGHTS SOOTREEPER 2023

𖤐 steal my work and I’ll come to your house and suck your blood 🧛‍♀️

𖤐 authors notes and dat 📝pt.2 : yeah I think I have an obsession with creating sad endings lately 💀 I apologise in advance. Anyways I hopes you enjoyed it tho !! Don’t worry anything form now one is positive 😭

-Peace and love ♡︎

𖤐 link to my other works !!

[foxyanon]

Eve

Summary: Title inspired by Eve by Precious Pepala, and I did take a little inspiration from the movie The Devil All The Time. It’s a short one and a song fic, so enjoy.

Pairing: Masema Dagar x Fem!Reader

Rating: 18+, MDNI

TW: manipulation (its Masema), implied smut, religious themes

Word Count: 1621

Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters from Wheel of Time nor do I own any of the images used.

Dividers by @arcielee

Lock me up and throw away the key

'Cause there’s something wrong with me

Something inside you told you this was wrong, but he treated you so well that you didn’t realize until it was too late. Not that you’d want to leave, because you did love him. At least, that’s what you’d tell yourself when the old you, the independent you, made her appearance inside your own mind. That version of you still lived within your soul and she wanted out, or did she?

Throw me in a padded cell

Feel like I'm falling from heaven to hell

You met Masema on a perfect day, the sun filtering through the trees on your hike on a small stretch of the Appalachian Trail. You were so caught up in the sounds and beauty of nature that you hadn’t been paying attention to where you were going when you ran into the most handsome stranger you’d ever seen. His duo colored eyes caught you off guard, his strong hands wrapped around your arms to keep you from falling over. He smiled and you knew you were a goner, introducing yourself with a silly grin and apologizing for nearly sending you both off the path. He simply laughed that it wasn’t a big deal, but that you could make it up to him with a dinner date. You should’ve said no and walked away, but his eyes had ensnared you and you were lost.

Found the apple of my eye

And I want to take a bite

Whirlwind romance would be an understatement to describe the relationship you found yourself in. From the moment you met, Masema constantly swept you off your feet and you were on cloud nine with him. He was charming, charismatic and oh, so romantic. He opened doors for you, always held your hand whenever you crossed the street and lavished you with attention and gifts all the time. All flowers and honeyed words, you couldn’t see that it was textbook lovebombing. Maybe if you had seen the red flags then, you would have run away but you know that would be a lie.

Maybe you can call me Eve

Standing here under the forbidden tree

His kiss was all-consuming, the way he devoured you and all rational thought from your mind. His touch was hot and demanding, causing your head to spin whenever he so much as brushed your cheek with his fingers. You didn’t realize you had started pulling away from your friends, too caught up in Masema and the way he made you feel so damn good. They tried staging an intervention at one point, but Masema had convinced you that they were trying to pull you apart. That he loved you and he would never hurt you, and heaven help you because you believed him without question.

Father, forgive me for I have sinned

This love isn't holy, but I’m too far in

Despite having been together for weeks now, you and Masema hadn’t been intimate once. There were plenty of times you both got close, but he always pulled away, claiming he was waiting until marriage for such things. You respected his wishes, even if you wanted nothing more than to lose yourself in the carnal pleasures he would bring about within you. Instead, you contented yourself to heated make out sessions and just dealing with your own pleasure when you were alone. Not that you could do that often, since Masema rarely left you alone for extended periods of time.

Father, forgive me

'cause I don't know if I can change

You hadn’t been particularly religious before, but that all changed with Masema. He was heavily involved in his faith and the church, spending every Sunday at the church. You were skeptical in the beginning, the first real sign of resistance on your part but Masema’s silver tongue convinced you to go just once and try it. If you had been a stronger woman, you wouldn’t have caved so easily to his sweet face. You would have seen his smile for what it was, the kind hiding a forked tongue and fangs. But you weren’t and you went with him, sitting in the front pew as you listened to him passionately give a sermon. After that day, you never missed on of his services, always thrilled to hear him speak and really connect with the congregation.

This hurts me like hell

Feel like the angel who fell, fell for the devil

Masema proposed after only six months of nearly non-stop dating, the day he asked the question one of the happiest days of your life. He took you out to your favorite restaurant, wining and dining you and treating you like his most cherished possession. After dinner, he took you back to the place you both met before the sun set, his hand in yours as you both made your way along the path. Lanterns lit the little area he had set up, your favorite dessert in the picnic basket he brought and roses waiting on a blanket just off the trail a little ways. The whole thing was beyond romantic and never had you been with someone so considerate as him. Naturally you said yes when he asked, being swept up in one of his passionate kisses and feeling euphoric from the high only he provided.

God only knows what mother would say

If I brought the devil to dinner one day

Planning for your wedding started pretty much immediately since you were desperate to finally be with him and you set a date for only a few months later. However, you realized only after the planning process began did you realize you hadn’t introduced him to your parents. So, a few days later you were at your parents house having dinner when you told them the joyous news. You thought they’d be excited, but you were wrong. They tried talking to you alone, but Masema refused to leave your side, claiming that whatever needed to be spoken should happen in front of both of you. Your mom tried convincing you that this wasn’t like you and your dad outright told you that Masema wasn’t a good man. You weren’t hearing it and promptly left, unaware that would be the last time you’d see your parents.

She'd pray for deliverance

She'd pray for his grace

Even without all your friends and family, your wedding was a lovely affair. The whole church was in attendance as you walked down the aisle to pledge the rest of your life to the one who held your entire being in his hand. The ceremony was done in the chapel and the reception in the basement of the church, which meant no alcohol was involved. Not that you cared, Masema spun you around the makeshift dance area on the dingy blue carpet and that was a greater feeling than being inebriated. That night when you two made it to the hotel for your honeymoon, you both practically ripped each others clothes off and went at it like wild animals. After a year of heated touches and teasing, he finally gave in to your desires and had you on every surface of that room. If you had thought he had his hooks in you before, they only dug in deeper when you felt him inside you for the first time as be brought you pleasure no other ever had before.

'Cause I'm not the angel they want me to be

After your wedding, Masema convinced you to move somewhere new and start fresh when he was offered a position to be a pastor in a small church in the middle of nowhere. You agreed and soon you two were living in an old Victorian era farmhouse in some small mountain town. The chipped white paint on the exterior and wrap-around front porch were your favorite features, but due to how remote you were, you had to give up more than a few luxuries. You loved it, even if you didn’t have all the modern conveniences of your old apartment, like central heat and air or even high speed internet. Even though you you missed your hometown and being social, you had Masema and that was all you needed now.

Father, forgive me

'cause I don't think I wanna change

Because of your shared beliefs, you didn’t believe in contraception and thus, it wasn’t long before you ended up pregnant with the first of many. You were both thrilled, having wanted to start a family and raise them up properly with your religious beliefs. If you spent any time at all alone with your thoughts, you would have remembered that you didn’t want to end up a barefoot and pregnant housewife. But you never did, constantly chasing after small children or doing work for the church, seeing as you were the pastor’s wife and busy teaching impressionable young girls what their role would be in this life.

This hurts me like heaven

Feel like the angel who fell

Many years later, you still lived in blissful ignorance with Masema and your children. You didn’t know about how he had driven away your exes, or how he been deliberate with his actions as he manipulated you and molded you into his perfect little love. Whenever you’d start to resist him and his ideas, he simply showered you in more gifts and attention, making you forget all about whatever rebellious thoughts had rattled around your mind. You never could break free of his grasp, but you realized that you really didn’t want too. After all, you were in love with the devil and he loved you too.

Fell for the devil

Taglist: @sihtricfedaraaahvicius @gemini-mama @whitedarkmoonflower @valeskafics @mrsarnasdelicious @synintheraven @bouncehousedemons

[marcishaun]

OC Deep Dive Questionnaire Tag

Thanks for the tag @natolesims! 💗

I chose Deidra, a sim I had created almost 2 years ago. I had created a save just for her, and gave her extended family members. She eventually fell in love with & married a townie, and when the Growing Together ep came out, she became my 1st sim to have an infant. They eventually had 4 kids!

1. What uncommon/common fear do they have?

Being alone. It led to arguments with her sister, Kendra, who felt Deidra rushed into a relationship with Stan because she wanted to get married & have a baby before it was too late.

2. Do they have any pet peeves?

Laziness. Deidra gets frustrated easily, & hates when others don't help.

3. What are 3 items you can find in their bedroom?

Baby toys (their youngest sleeps in their room), perfume & lotions, hair wraps.

4. What do they notice first in a person?

Probably how they react to her. She can be self-conscious, and seems to be on high alert & observes how people perceive her.

5. On a scale of 1 to 10, how high is their pain tolerance?

Maybe a 2. It's low. She's never had a major physical injury, and prefers to not deal with any emotional or mental ones.

6. Do they go into fight or flight mode when under pressure?

Absolutely flight mode. After constantly bickering with her sister, because Kendra didn't accept her now-husband, Deidra stopped speaking to her.

7. Do they come from a big family/are they a family person?

Deidra comes from an average sized family. She has 1 younger sister (Kendra), and 1 younger brother (Shawn), and even has the family oriented trait.

8. What animal represents them best?

Maybe a lioness. Takes care of all of the babies, hunts/cooks, and is the one REALLY in charge.

9. What is a smell that they dislike?

Trash/dirty dish water. It means someone didn't complete their chores.

10. Have they broken any bones?

No.

11. How would a stranger likely describe them?

Quiet, but nice. Seems well organized and put together.

12. Are they a night owl or a morning bird?

Night owl. Her mornings are chaos.

13. What is a flavor they hate and a flavor they love?

Deidra loves vanilla & cinnamon, and just the smell of pickles makes her gag.

14. Do they have any hobbies?

Reading and art/painting/sketching.

15. Boom, surprise birthday party!How do they react to surprises?

Pleasantly surprised, but anxious.

16. Do they like to wear jewelry?

Not really. Maybe for special occasions.

17. Do they have neat or messy handwriting?

Very neat!

18. What are two emotions they feel the most?

The last time I played her, they were Flirty & probably some form of Tense.

19. Do they have a favorite fabric?

Probably cotton. Simple.

20. What kind of accent do they have?

English, United States. Just realized most of my sims don't have regional American accents, and maybe it's because most people tell me that they can't detect a regional accent in me.

Tagging: @changingplumbob @deardiaryts4 @oofiesims

[rosemaidenvixen]

Halloween story prompt idea:

Sunshine au, the gang somehow accidentally get stuck at a house party when Jim transforms and they have to find a way to:

1) cover for a "missing" Jim who was definitely wearing a different costume and now no one can find

2) explain a completely random stranger showing up uninvited in an awesome and extremely realistic troll costume

3) get transformed Jim out of there without too many people asking questions

“H– Hi Mom,” Claire managed to squeak out “What are you doing home so early?”

Ophelia raised an eyebrow at her as more women, each holding a baby or toddler, streamed into the living room behind her “Enrique’s daycare group is having their Halloween party here tonight, did I not mention it this morning?”

“No I don’t think you did…”

This was bad, they’d planned on having their group meet up at her house because with how early the sun went down this time of year Jim would be ok transforming here and then going home through the woods.

Of course that plan couldn’t account for a herd of babies and their moms occupying the first floor.

“Well uh…I’ll just go back upstairs,” Claire slowly backed out of the room “Tell everyone to keep the volume down so we don’t wake you,”

“Sure sounds great,” Ophelia was already looking away from her, pulling Enrique into his black cat costume.

As soon as she was out of sight Claire broke into a run, racing up to her room, darting inside and slamming the door behind her “We got a big problem, Enrique’s entire daycare group is here!”

You could have heard a pin drop in the stunned silence that followed those words, the four of them staring back at her with expressions of pure horror. 

“Well fuck,” Toby said, breaking the silence.

“Would it kill your parents to tell you their plans ahead of time…” Mary mumbled “Also Toby’s right, we’re screwed,”

Meanwhile Jim had recovered from his shock and shut his jaw with a click “Ok ok ok, no big deal. I’ll climb out on the roof and get to the woods that way,”

Claire felt her teeth digging sharply into her lip “That won’t work. My parents are getting the roof reshingled and have almost all of it stripped off already, so if you go out that way you could slip and wipe out,”

A collective wince rippled through the room.

“Double fuck…”

Abruptly Darci clapped her hands together and got to her feet “Ok, we can do this. You just sneak out real fast and we’ll cover you,”

“We should go now,” Claire added “They’re still getting the babies into their costumes and they’ll be distracted,”

Jim’s expression was still tight and tense but he nodded back at her all the same “Alright, let’s do this,”

Claire cracked open her door and peeked out into the hall. Seeing it was clear she stepped out and waved the others to follow. They crept out into the hall, Claire and Darci in the lead with Mary and Toby trailing behind and Jim tucked in the middle, hood pulled all the way up over his horns.

They made it to the staircase, Claire constantly glancing from side to side and keeping her ears strained for any sudden noises. Waving them ahead, Claire led the group down the stairs, touching down on the main floor without–

Sudden footsteps came from around the corner.

Claire’s heart shot up into her throat “Hide!” she hissed “I’ll cover for you,”

Without wasting a second; Darci, Toby, and Jim hustled through the doorway into the dining room, the door slamming shut behind them just as Claire whirled to face the intruder.

“Oh hello Claire!” Mrs. Knightley beamed at her, a babbling Hailey dressed in a bee costume trailing after her “So nice to see you here!”

Well of course I’m here it’s my house

“Hi Mrs. Knightley, good to see you too,” Claire fixed the smile she used with unfamiliar adults and guidance counselors on her face “Is this Hailey? She’s getting so big!”

Mrs. Knightley beamed “Yes she’s starting preschool this year. Now if you’ll excuse me I need to touch up her make up a bit,”

She stepped around Claire towards the dining room, the same room Jim had gone into–

Quick as a flash Claire and Mary darted in front of her “I don’t think she really needs make up,” Claire had to work hard to make sure her tone was equal parts sincere and convincing and betrayed none of her panic “Her features are so beautiful on their own,”

“Yeah,” Mary piped up “If you want I can give her a baby make up job, it do it for my little cousins all the time–”

“Thank you girls but I’ve worked hard to get the contouring just right and I don’t trust anyone else to do it, now if you’ll excuse me–”

Before they could stop her Mrs. Knightley barged past them and pushed the door open, walking right in on–

“Oh hey, how’s it hanging?” Toby's voice called out.

Hearing a palatable lack of screaming, Claire cautiously peeked past Mrs. Knightley into the dining room. Toby and Darci stood ramrod straight beside the snack laden table, Toby holding a bowl and Darci clutching an apple slice taken from a platter. Each of them sporting wide grins that Claire hoped only looked strained to her.

But where on earth was Jim?

“We were just trying out the snacks,” Darci said, brandishing her apple slice “Gotta make sure they’re good and all,”

Mrs. Knightley’s expression puckered “Please put that down, the snacks are here for the little children,”

“Right right,” Toby set the bowl back down, eyes almost imperceptibly flicking up towards the ceiling.

Stomach churning, Claire lifted her own gaze to the ceiling only to freeze.

Jim was up there, limbs all splayed out clinging to the ceiling like spider man.

Forcing herself to snap out of it, Claire ripped her stare away from the ceiling and back towards Mrs. Knightley.

Ok, so Jim was a wall crawler, that was new, but they could use this. All he had to do to escape was crawl along the ceiling.

And hope to god no one looked up. 

“Well it’s good to see you Mrs. Knightley…” Claire jerked her head up at Jim and then at all the others, before inclining her head towards the still open doorway behind her, slowly starting to back away “We’ll just get out of your hair…” 

The others picked up on what she was doing and followed her lead, inching their way towards the door with Jim crawling along the ceiling.

Mrs. Knightley waved her off from where she’d sat Hailey down and was getting out a container of foundation “Oh yes good to see you to,”

Claire nodded in reply and kept retreating. Once they made it out of the dining room the backdoor was just six feet and one turn away, all they had to–

“Oh, are you doing makeup in here?”

“Yes yes come on in,” 

Claire had to bite back a scream of frustration as a group of moms pushed in from behind her, the room going from wide open to crowded in seconds.

Don’t look up don’t look up whatever you do don’t look–

“Hailey sweetie lean back so I can work under your eyes,”

Claire’s heart stopped as Hailey flopped her head back, getting a full view of the ceiling.

All five of them froze, Hailey’s eyes going wide, a roaring in Claire’s ear as a chubby toddler finger slowly raised to point up at Jim.

“Boogeyman!”

Mrs. Knightley shook her head “Sweetie there’s no such thing as the boogeyman,”

“Boogeyman boogeyman, up up up!”

Mrs. Knightley sighed, more exasperated this time, but she was slowly raising her head towards–

“Hey guys!” Toby’s voice was loud enough to cut through all the chatter in the room, all eyes instantly going to him “Snack spread looks really good, mind if I just snag a few–”

Toby picked up the entire box of cupcakes from the table “So cool if I take this? Awesome, thanks,”

Good news, everyone in the room had forgotten about the ‘boogeyman’. Bad news, all eyes were on Toby and not in a good way.

The sound that came out of Mrs. Knightley could only be described as a screech.

“Oh absolutely not–”

“You kids can each have a cupcake, but not the entire–”

“Young man you put that down right–”

The room devolved into chaos. Women shouting, toddlers wailing, and Toby playing chicken with the cupcake box.

But Claire knew a diversion when she saw one.

Taking advantage of the chaos she all but ran out of the room, opening doors and keeping an eye on the ceiling to make sure Jim was following along on the ceiling. When they finally reached the back door Jim leapt down and they all bolted into the trees.

Only once they were a good distance away did they stop, panting. Going limp as the adrenaline slowly drained away. Looking around Claire saw that there were only three of them. She, Jim, and Darci were here, but Toby and Mary were AWOL. 

The rescue mission would have to come later, first she had to get her heart rate back in the normal range.

“So…” Darci said between pants “You can crawl on walls,”

“Yep,” Jim let out a gusty breath “Turns out I can, so that’s a thing, still not doing that again,”

Claire flopped back on the ground with a groan “Agreed,”

She was glad they’d been able to escape, but she already knew her mom was going to give her hell for this later.

Twigs snapped a short ways away and they all froze, but it was only Toby that came through the bushes.

“Oh man, sorry Claire, but I think I might have burned some bridges with your brother’s daycare group,”

Claire waved him off “Don’t worry about it, none of them are going to risk pissing off the councilwoman who controls their budget. Is Mary with you?”

Toby’s face went red “I…uh…might have tossed the box of cupcakes at her, and booked it the other way,”

Darci gave him an even look “You do know that she’ll kill you for that?”

“Better her than the Karen brigade,” Toby started and flashed Claire and apologetic look “Sorry,”

“Hey you’re not wrong,”

More crunching echoed in the dark woods, the four of them turning towards the sound to see Mary stomping through the trees, face bright red and gaze smoldering “You. Guys. Owe. Me. Big.” 

Jim raised both hands placatingly “Oh definitely, you guys saved my ass in there. I owe you one for sure,”

Still looking angry, but more placated now Mary plunked down on the ground next to Claire. It was only now that Claire still noticed she was holding the cupcake box.

“Mrs. Knightley might be obnoxious, but we really shouldn’t take all their cupcakes,”

“We’ll give them back, but I nearly got trampled by a horde of babies and their moms over these cupcakes, I earned one,” with that Mary pulled back the top of the box, lifted out a cupcake, and sank her teeth into the orange frosting.

After a few seconds Toby reached in after her and did the same, then Darci.

Oh what the heck.

Claire grabbed a cupcake herself, the four of them sitting on the ground in the dark forest munching on their cupcakes while Jim watched with piqued interest.

“So when you guys are done can I–”

“Don’t worry,” Toby gulped down his mouthful of cake “We’ll save you the paper wrappers,”

Jim grinned “You guys are the best,”

Mary swallowed “And don’t you forget it,”

[saikokirakira]

Part 2 of 2: Pagtingin (Feelings) [Steve Harrington x Reader]

a/n: hello. it me. i definitely did not forget to post part two. if you would believe it, i was actually getting sick every week the past month because of the insane hours and workload of my new job. so, umm, probably not lasting long there... i wanna be pretty again and lose all the stress hives all over my body.

summary: based on this blurb on a hanahaki au/flayed!reader

word count: 12k words (big boi over here; i definitely bullied our girl throughout this entire chapter)

warning: barely proofread, only edited twice; no use of y/n; steve is an oblivious himbo (but i'll excuse it because he was the ultimate bbg in s3); ANGST TRAIN, hurt no comfort; moms of hawkins summer '85 (i have 911 on standby); billy "walking red flag" hargrove; unrequited feelings / pining; minor violence; body horror (it's hanahaki, what'd you expect?); writer's torture of a self-insert character; stranger things season 3 canon, but Alexei lives fyuck canon actually; metal goodboi cameo

You despised summer. You didn’t used to hate summer, but working in the summer heat when your recently recurring childhood asthma gets triggered by intense heat wasn’t the best option for you. While you couldn’t pass off as a lifeguard at the Hawkins Community Pool, your neighbour and acquaintance, Heather Holloway, pulled some strings to have you manning the snack bar.

It wasn’t ideal, but it certainly opened up the opportunity to listen in to a lot of gossip all around town. Not your favourite pastime, yet Heather enjoyed the very juicy ones, something you noticed she most likely inherited from her father, the chief editor for the town’s paper. Every time her shift ended, so did yours and either you share interesting stories of the day while you drive home or to the newly opened Starcourt Mall.

“Ew, those women are either married or divorced,” your nose wrinkled in disgust at Heather’s favourite gossip topic, Hawkins group of moms. Specifically, their scheduled visits to the pool whenever Billy Hargrove would be on duty as lifeguard.

“He likes the attention, I guess,” Heather shrugged, “and the moms get to ogle eye candy.”

“Still a minor, Heather.”

“Uh-uh, he turned 18 a few months back,” Heather argued, though the distaste was apparent on her face. “The term is barely legal.” Then she suddenly giggled. “I’m still calling the police when they make a direct move,” she half-joked. “I know they call me a bitch behind my back.”

“You’re a menace.”

“And you’re a sissy,” Heather shot back. “When are you going to ask Steve Harrington ou— JESUS!” She clung at the grab handle when your foot landed too much on the gas pedal. “No need to take me with you to hell just because you can’t get a date.” Then with a cheeky grin, she added, “I heard Steve can’t get a date either, and he talks up anyone at that ice cream place.”

You slammed the brakes. “That’s it!” you exclaimed. “You’re walking the rest of the way to Starcourt!” The only reply you had was Heather’s maniacal giggles at getting you so riled up.

You and Heather parted ways when you arrived at Starcourt after telling you that she’d be getting a ride home with her date. You waved her off and headed to Scoop’s Ahoy. A group of girls were giggling as they were leaving when you got there. You also noticed the whiteboard that Robin, Steve’s co-worker, held up, adding another tally on the “You suck” scoreboard.

“See what I have to deal with?” Steve immediately ranted, jerking a finger at Robin’s direction. “If you worked with me, I don’t have to be subjected with workplace abuse.”

You and Robin snorted in sync. “You poor baby,” you cooed teasingly while pinching Steve’s cheek. “How can I ever live without the longer shifts, ridiculous uniform, and being your wingman?” You earned another laugh from Robin while Steve scoffed before shooting you a pout.

“Well, you certainly miss me since you constantly visit as soon as your shift ends,” Steve shot back.

“Sure, I’m definitely not here as Heather’s chauffer to her movie date,” you said, “or just hanging out at the comic book store.”

“You want me to come wi—?”

“Bye, Robin!” you ignored his offer yet still blowing Steve a raspberry to which he rolled his eyes at. Exiting the ice cream shop, you made you way to the pharmacy first before the comic book store. It was mostly empty when you got there, so it was a breeze in getting your prescription inhaler.

It’s been forever since you had asthma, the last one during your elementary days. Your wheezing fits had only come back since that occurrence in those tunnels that you still see in your nightmares. However, after the countless tests and screening from military scientists, they cleared it to just “your body shifting from all the trauma.”

You’d think after opening gates to other dimensions with monsters, they’d be able to create a cure for asthma.

The thought was highly amusing to you that you almost missed the fiery redhead that just entered the pharmacy. Your eyes watched Max Mayfield carefully as she walked through the aisles with her head low, trying to be inconspicuous. Grabbing your bag of prescription, you slowly followed where Max wandered off, which happened to be a shelf of bandages.

You almost let it go, knowing that her skateboard hobby always led her to a number of scrapes and bruises. But when she reached for the bandage wrap on the high shelf, her shirt sleeve revealed a hand-shaped mark wrapped around her pale wrist. Trying to be nonchalant as possible, you approached her and grabbed the bandage for her, ignoring how Max quickly put her arm down and tugged at her sleeve.

“Skateboarding mishap again, red?”

Max’s signature cocky smirk covered the surprise on her face. “It’s one of my better falls,” she said. Then her eyes wandered to the prescription bag in my hand. “Still have those? They said you’d be better in a couple of weeks since the incident.”

“Well, I didn’t, so here I am,” you shrugged. “Hey, listen, I’m heading out to the comic book store if you want to tag along. My treat.”

Once you were at the community pool. Though you resorted to buying your carefully as she skimmed through the new arrival stack. You didn’t really have anything worth buying since most of the comics you read are from Dustin’s collection that he recommends and lends to you every other week. Sometimes you get the appeal, sometimes you didn’t. Still, it was a great way to pass the time when things are slow from working the snack bar at the comic book store if you want to tag along. My treat.”

Maybe you should’ve offered to buy Max a cone from Scoops Ahoy instead.

“You got any good recommendations?” you randomly asked the guy who just walked in. You seem to have caught him off-guard, the look of surprise that you were talking to him. “Munson, right?”

“Yeah, Eddie,” he said after a brief pause. “Didn’t think you’d be the type to read comics.”

You thought so too. But you also didn’t think that monsters that live in an alternate dimension exist.

You shrugged. “I read almost anything to pass the time,” you said. “Henderson lends me a lot of X-men.”

Eddie was about to reply when Max approached you with two Wonder Woman comics. “I can pay for the other one,” she offered.

You scoffed lightly and ruffled the top of her head. “Don’t be ridiculous,” you said. “Didn’t I say it was my treat?” Before she could argue, you snatched both copies from her hand and headed to the counter with her trailing behind you. “See you around, Munson.”

You and Max wandered aimlessly around the mall. You offered to go watch whatever movie was in the cinema, but Max turned you down, saying that she had plans with the party later that week once their campaign planning was through. After you ran out of things to do, you offered to drive her home, which she sheepishly accepted.

Before you could even pull out the parking area, Max said, “I know you saw the bruise. You didn’t have to do all that to make me feel better.”

A surprised smile tugged at your lips, impressed on how quickly she caught up on your intentions. “I don’t really have any sisters to dote on,” you said, “so it isn’t entirely on pity. I know you can stand up for yourself, red.” You continued, “But promise me one thing?”

Max nodded.

“You tell me when anything gets too much, okay?” You held her hand to show your support. “I’m always going to be here for you.” Trying to lighten up the mood, you added, “Billy is a prick anyway.” Then you pulled the car into drive.

“He has it worse than me.”

You tried to hold in your composure, but you couldn’t help your eyebrows rising up at the unexpected information. You always suspected something going on with Billy. No one suddenly becomes an asshole overnight. That you knew from being friends for a long time with Steve. Aside from the horrible friends he used to have, Steve grew up with his parents barely around, and even if they were, his father was always either hard on him or emotionally absent.

“Well, it doesn’t give him the right to take it out on you.”

“I know.”

Later that week, you were at your usual spot at the snack booth. The heat was especially brutal that day at it almost felt that your lungs were constricting every time you tried to breathe out. Not even ice water seemed to help, and when the thin clouds cleared, the blaring sunlight only made it worse, even though you were under the shade of the booth.

“Hey, watch the stand for me?” you said to your co-worker who mostly just tried to look busy by restacking cans of soda and rearranging the chips as a way to avoid kids yelling out their orders. He sighed but nodded, getting up to man the counter. On your way out of the booth, you pulled out your inhaler out of your backpack and staggered into the searing sunlight to make your way to Heather.

As you took a blip of your inhaler, you didn’t notice the person near you and collided into them, sending your inhaler flying. “Shit,” you muttered, picking up the plastic case. “Sorry about that.” You looked up and paled upon the realisation that you bumped into Billy Hargrove.

Billy didn’t seem to mind and just grunted before brushing past you. If anything, he looked as disoriented as you, dishevelled and profusely sweating. He had an obvious stumble to his step on his way to the locker room to what you assumed was to get ready for his shift.

You had half a mind to approach him when you heard “Hey! No dunking, Curtis!” from the pool area. You were suddenly reminded of your current task and shrugged off the Billy’s concerning state. For all you know, he was still probably drunk from whatever party he was at last night. It was summer break after all.

You carefully avoided being splashed near the poolside as you circled over to where Heather was stationed at the lifeguard post. Unfortunately, you almost tripped from another dizzy spell again and collided with another person. Just your luck.

“Oh, dear,” a woman this time voiced her concern. “Are you okay, hon? Maybe you should stay out of the heat.”

You steadied yourself and stared into the eyes of Karen Wheeler. “I’m okay, Mrs. Wheeler,” you wheezed. “Sorry ‘bout that.”

“Drink some water!” Mrs. Wheeler called out before walking off.

Finally, you were able to tell Heather that you were cutting your shift short and that you couldn’t drive her to her dad’s office as you agreed on earlier that day. She waved you off and told you to drive carefully, assuring you that she could always call her mom to pick her up later.

On your way out, you noticed Mrs. Wheeler coming out of the locker room looking distressed and teary-eyed. She didn’t seem to notice you staring at her as she made her way back to the pool area. A few moments later, Billy came out of the same room, still looking as physically uncomfortable as before.

For the past weeks of working at the pool, it was no secret that one of Billy’s favourite moms was Mrs. Wheeler. But was there really some illicit affair between them? You probably wouldn’t put it past Billy, but the woman had three kids, for goodness’ sakes. You made a mental note to ask Heather what she knew about it tomorrow.

After a gruelling half hour drive while cranking your A/C up to full blast, you finally got home. You barely got a mouthful of ice water when your door rang. You wondered who it could be when the neighbours knew that you and your parents were usually at work during the entire day.

“Hey, can you drive us to Starcourt?”

You stared into the wild grins of El and Max, standing excitedly on your doorstep. Fifteen minutes later, you were back in your car, playing chauffeur for the two girls giggling from the backseat of your car.

“I’m telling you, El, boyfriends lie,” Max insisted. She poked you. “Tell her.”

You chuckled dismissively at their tween antics. “I wouldn’t know.”

Both El and Max paused and focused their attention on you.

“You haven’t dated anyone?”

“I’ve been on dates,” you clarified, “but I never really dated anyone.”

“Why?” El asked. It was more inquisitive than mocking or accusatory. She was very curious, that one.

“Because she has the biggest crush on Steve.”

“Oh, my God!” you exclaimed. “Does everyone just know about that?”

“Well, anyone with eyes, yeah,” Max said, rolling her eyes for good measure. “The only reason why he hasn’t caught up is because boys are dumb.”

That made you laugh out loud despite the discomfort in your ribs.

When you arrived at the mall, you expected to have them run off to who knows where while you hung out at the waiting area, taking advantage of the air conditioning, but those two dragged you to every clothing outlet at the mall. You tried to not exert yourself, but it was hard not to match their energy when they were clearly having so much fun. It was even so endearing to see El emerging from her shell, trying out outfits that she genuinely liked and not those lumberjack fits that Chief Hopper had her on all the time.

By the third store, you insisted to sit that one out and merely watch them try on a bunch of different hats. You giggled at them posing at the mirror as if they were at a fashion show. However, you only had a moment of peace before Max approached you with a sundress that looked way too close to your size.

“No,” you stood your ground.

“Yes.”

“No!”

“Yes, then we’re going to Scoops Ahoy to get cones after this.”

“Ask Steve out on a date,” El urged, smiling encouragingly.

“What happened to ‘boys are dumb?’” you said, raising your brow.

“He’s not going to ask you out first, so you will do it for him!” Max said. She and El both grabbed each of your arm and pulled you to your feet and into the dressing room then tossing in the dress and pulling the curtain shut.

You stared at yourself in the mirror and the dress you held in front of you. You hated to admit it, but it was a pretty dress. Even if you couldn’t score a date with Steve, at least you had a great addition to your wardrobe. With that positive thought in mind, you pulled your shirt over your head and hung it on one of the clothing hooks.

You carefully pulled down the zipper on the dress when you noticed something odd on your reflection. Peering closer on the mirror, you stared at your ribs, noticing the almost black veins that almost seemed to be moving underneath the skin. What the…

“Are you done?!” Max called out from behind the curtain.

You snapped out of it and quickly pulled on the dress. All your initial worries faded once you saw yourself in the mirror. For good measure, you pulled your hair out of your scrunchie and let your tresses fall out in waves over your shoulder.

“Wow,” El and Max chorused.

You didn’t even notice them pulling the curtain open.

When you made your way to Scoops Ahoy, Max and El apparently had already made plans that you don’t come in with them. “Let it be a surprise,” Max had said. It was almost ridiculous that you were letting 14-year-olds dictate you on how to get a date from your crush.

“Okay, here you go, you got a strawberry and then a vanilla with sprinkles, extra whipped cream.” Steve paused and looked at the two girls suspiciously, especially at El. “Wait a second,” he thought out loud, “are you even supposed to be here?”

The two girls giggled, and El said, “A pretty girl drove us here.”

The words ‘pretty’ and ‘girl’ caught Steve’s attention. Predictable. “Yeah?” he grinned, leaning forward as if asking for more details. “She still with you?”

“You know her, silly,” Max giggled before running off with El. On their way out, they both flashed you a thumbs up and mouthed, “good luck.”

You stepped inside Scoops Ahoy with a newfound confidence. It was definitely the dress, and you hope it paid off. When Steve caught sight of you, his eyes brightened up and flashed you his charming smile.

“Hey, stranger,” Steve greeted. “I see the girls made you their babysitter and chauffer.”

You tried not to let your smile falter when you didn’t get the reaction you hoped. You laughed, trying not to give off the fact that your confidence was quickly crumbling. “Yeah,” you said, “my shift ended early at the pool.”

“That’s great!” Steve cheered. “Listen, Dustin just caught Russians on his new radio thing, and we’re trying to translate it. Spy shit and all.”

You blinked. “Dustin’s back?”

“Yeah,” Steve nodded animatedly, “he’s at back with Robin translating the tape. Well, mostly Robin. Didn’t even know she’s amazing at languages.” He continued, keeping his excited energy, “She already knocked down a couple phrases. Isn’t that cool?”

Then it clicked.

Steve liked Robin.

Too late again.

“Listen, we can use your help because there’s this music at the end that I couldn’t remember where it came from,” Steve said. “Robin and Dustin say it’s stupid, but you can back me—”

“Um,” you breathed out. You cleared your throat, wondering why you started to get out of breath again. “I still have to drive the girls home before dark,” you said, gently turning him down.

“Oh.”

“Um, call me if you find something cool?” You didn’t wait for him to reply and turned your back on him. As soon as you left Scoops Ahoy, you pulled your inhaler out your pocket and took a blip, but it seemed to only make your lungs angrier and cramp even more.

As agreed upon earlier, you found the girls at the main doors of the mall, but they were in a heated conversation with Mike and the rest of his party. You sighed and quickly approached them before it turned into a full argument.

“I dump your ass!” El declared, making you stop in your steps. Lucas and Max were flabbergasted at the outburst, except Max looked somewhat proud. Mike just looked lost and was clearly at a loss for words. Will just looked uncomfortable enough to be witnessing the entire thing.

“Okay, that’s enough,” you interfered. “We’re leaving, come on.” You looked at Will who seemed to be the most aware among the boys at the moment. “You guys need a ride?”

He shook his head.

“You take care, okay?”

Will nodded.

The walk to your car between you and the girls was quiet. Though Max decided to break the silence when you pulled out of the mall compound. “What happened?” she asked.

You simply shrugged, ignoring the burning in your ribs from the simple motion. “Boys are dumb.” Then the car ride was silent again.

Later that evening, you laid in your bathtub in cold water, finally relaxing when you can breathe easily again. The summer heat fatigue really got you today, you thought. Suddenly remembering what you saw in the fitting room, you looked at your ribs again and was relieved when all you saw was nothing but your usual skin.

You were pulled back to your thoughts and remembered the beautiful sundress that was now laid discarded on the bathroom floor. You groaned at the memory of what just occurred this afternoon. You sighed and slid down to submerge the rest of yourself in the almost freezing water, leaving all your worries for the few seconds you had underwater.

Don’t be afraid. It’ll be over soon. Just stay… very… still.

You were scared. You couldn’t open your eyes, and the water suddenly felt too thick. The searing pain that was becoming too familiar in your lungs felt like it was begin to crawl out of your chest and into your throat.

But it was all gone in a split second.

Panicked and scared out of your wits, you immediately crawled your way out of the bathtub, not caring if you were curled up naked on the bathroom floor. You reached for the first thing you could grab to cover yourself, until you realised that it was still the same damn sundress. Suddenly, all the air just left your body, and you were starting to wonder if it was still an asthma attack.

You hoisted yourself up on the sink, both coughing and wheezing, trying to do everything you can to get yourself some oxygen.

“Sweetie? What’s going on?” the familiar voice of your mom came muffled from the other side of the door. When you replied with nothing but aggressive and painful coughs, the knocking became incessant, and her calls turned to worried cries. “Open the door!”

The same sensation of something crawling out of your throat came back. This time, you were more aware than your paralyzed state a few minutes ago. You stuck your fingers in your throat, feeling for any obstruction.

And you did.

With one forced cough, you were able to pinch out something smooth but foreign. You yanked it out, clenched it in your fist, and spat whatever fluid it brought out. You were initially worried that it was blood, but as you looked at the white ceramic of the bathroom sink, it was black.

When the bathroom door burst open, you quickly opened the faucet, flushing down whatever it was. Your mom rushed over to you and covered your hunched figure with a bath towel before pulling open the medicine cabinet behind the mirror to fish out your emergency inhaler.

“Come on, sweetie,” she carefully urged the inhaler in my mouth, pressing down to dispense a dose, but you could barely bury it down. “Let’s go to your room. You’re freezing.” She led me step by step to my bed and laid me under the covers, but the warm blankets only made me feel worse. “Your dad is coming with the nebulizer. Don’t worry. Just careful breaths.”

You didn’t remember how long it took for you to fall asleep that night, but you woke up the next day to your mom entering your room, already dressed in her office attire. She must’ve seen the panic on your face when you realised that it was way past your alarm.

“I called you in sick at the community pool,” your mom said. “Your dad will be picking you up after work to bring you to the hospital. In the meantime, just rest, okay?” She pressed a kiss on your forehead before she left the room, and you were alone again.

Then you felt the soft thing that you had in your fist the entire night. You raised your hand and held the foreign object over your head.

A black petal.

Panic bubbled up at the base of your spine, and you wasted no time in getting out of bed and getting dressed. You needed to tell Chief Hopper or Mrs. Byers. Or even just any one in Mike’s party.

And Steve.

Suddenly, it hit you. Dustin would still be around Steve decoding whatever Russian code they were on. The kid can easily call a code red for your situation. You grabbed your keys with the intent of going to Starcourt.

Just as you locked the front door, Max and El came rushing in their bikes, looking as alarmed as you are. They rushed to you, especially El who gave you a pleading look.

“It’s Billy.”

~

“As much as I appreciate you calling a grown up to investigate, this seems highly unnecessary.”

You were clearly uncomfortable as you turned the corner to Cherry Lane. You already gave them an earful when they admitted that they were spying on random people during their sleepover last night. Personally, you didn’t think that Heather would suddenly go for Billy when she just went on a date with someone else the other week, but maybe Billy was just that convincing.

“But the screams,” El reasoned.

“When Billy is alone with a girl, they make, like, really crazy noises,” Max argued, making you laugh at her words. Case in point.

“That’s surprising,” you noted. “I assumed that because he’s such an asshole he doesn’t…” you trailed off when you caught El’s clueless look from your rear-view mirror. “Never mind.”

“They scream?” El voiced out her confusion.

“Yeah, but, like… happy screams.” Then Max turned to you. “Oh, just that house right there.”

Your laughter came out in breathless snorts at this point. You pulled the car in park around the curb. “Okay, that’s enough,” you interrupted. “You don’t need to know about that yet, El.” You watched the house and hummed in thought. “His car’s not there. This’ll be easy.”

The three of you went inside the house and headed to his room. You knew that their family was very far from a loving one, but you tried to wrack your head for a reason as to why Billy’s bedroom door had a hinge lock from the outside. You barely had any thoughts about that little detail before Max pushed the door open.

“Why do I get the feeling we’re gonna find all sorts of wrong here?” Max said.

“Well, his tastes in music aren’t half bad,” you commented, flicking through his stack of cassette tapes by his stereo. You pulled open his bedside drawer and laughed at its contents. “Jackpot.”

Max rushed over to peek, only to see his collection of ‘printed ladies.’ “Ugh!” she exclaimed. “Gag me with a spoon.”

Then we heard El calling us from the bathroom.

We followed her to see empty ice packets around his tub. The unsettling feeling crept in again as you remember that you were also trying to keep yourself cold last night. But you weren’t the only one who was unsettled.

El, who was breathing heavily, stared off into the corner, and when Max and you followed her line of sight, there it was. Blood. You carefully opened the trash bin and pulled out a utility bag from Hawkins’ Community Pool.

“Let’s go.” You didn’t waste any time leaving the house and getting into the car.

Despite the darkening skies and thunder rumbling, you got there in record time. You ran to see a co-worker of your closing the pool area. Protocol. But he definitely wasn’t pleased to see you.

“Didn’t you call in sick?” he said, sounding annoyed. “You’re the second person to bail today.”

“Heather didn’t come in?” Max asked.

“Obviously. Otherwise, I wouldn’t be doing thi— Hey!”

The three of us ran back to the car to figure out what to do next.

“We can go back to my place,” you suggested. “Wait out until Heather comes home next door.” Then you remembered. “Shit,” you cursed, turning on your car before the girls agreed. “My dad is supposed to pick me up for a doctor’s appointment.”

Luckily, your dad wasn’t home yet when you got back. Probably due to the storm. However, the girls already had their own plans in mind when they walked over next door to the Holloway’s.

“Shit, shit, shit,” you hissed, jogging over to them. “Don’t go running off without me.” You looked at the now open front door. “Did you just unlock the door? This is trespassing!”

“She’s inside,” El whispered. She and Max entered the house, and you had no choice but to follow.

The three of you carefully treaded towards the voices in the dining room. There you found Billy with Mr. and Mrs. Holloway chatting away. The sight of your three by the hallway halted their conversation.

“Um, hey, Janet, Tom,” you greeted. “We tried to knock, but you probably didn’t hear us over the storm.”

“What on earth are you doing here?” Billy cut in, his eyes trained on Max and El.

“Where is she, Billy?” you asked firmly, staring straight into his eyes.

“Where is who?” Billy smiled innocently, but it didn’t give you any ease.

“Well, they’re a little burnt! I’m sorry.” Heather walked in from the kitchen, carrying a tray of cookies. “Oh, hey, girl! Is your shift over?”

“Heather!” Billy called. “This is my sister, Maxine.” He gestured to Max before his eyes landed on El. “I’m sorry. I did not quite catch your name.”

“El.” Eleven responded with her eyes pointedly trained on Billy.

“El,” Billy echoed, his polite smile turning into something menacing.

It definitely unnerved the three of us. Your hands held onto their shoulders and pulled them behind your back, leaving you to face Billy. “You guys weren’t at work, so we got worried,” you said, trying to keep your voice steady.

“Heather wasn't feeling so hot today, so we thought we'd take the day off to nurse her back to health.” Billy turned to Heather. “But you’re feeling just fine right now. Aren’t you, Heather?”

“I’m feeling so much better,” Heather smiled, but there was something about it that didn’t seem right to you.

Max and El tugged at your hand. You looked at them to see them silently pleading at you with their eyes. You gave a brief shake of your head before turning back to Billy. “I’m sorry to disturb you,” you said carefully. “I’ll take the girls home.”

“Thank you for looking out for my sister and her… friend.”

You made sure that the girls walked ahead of you, and right before you passed the front door, Billy pulled you to him. You barely could get a noise out as he pressed his hand over your ribs.

“You’re one of us,” Billy whispered before he shoved you out and shut the door.

It all happened in a split second that the girls didn’t even notice the exchange. The fear stabbed you deep in the gut that you basically dragged them back to your house, forcing them not to look back. Only when you got inside your house that the tension released from your body but only just.

“I’m taking you guys home, and tomorrow, we’re meeting up with the party, okay?”

“You’re not going anywhere, young lady.”

You winced and found your dad staring you down with his arms crossed.

Damn it.

~

“As soon as we’re done here, you’re grounded for a week.”

You groaned and held back the urge to roll your eyes. You were in the hospital waiting area for your family physician, but because there were a handful of minor accidents because of the storm, the wait was a bit long, especially when you were not priority. It was fine during the first ten minutes, but after half an hour, you were starting to get cranky.

“I’m going to the restroom.”

Your dad made a move to get up, but you stopped him. “There’s literally a storm out there, and you drove me here,” you pointed out. “Where else can I go?”

Your dad just scoffed but leaned back in his seat, waving you off. “Bring me back a coffee then,” he said.

You walked down the hallway but turned to the payphones instead of the restrooms. You dialled in the number you were so familiar with and hoped that he’d be home by this time.

“Hello?” Steve’s voice rang through the speaker, sending relief through your body.

“Pick me up at the hospital,” you said.

“Wait, what?”

“Oh, and do it in half an hour.”

“There’s literally a storm outsi—”

“I’m also staying at your place tonight.”

“Hey! What is going—”

“Thanks, Harrington.”

Steve arrived at the hospital in twenty, still dressed in his sailor uniform. With your dad still busy with his coffee and a random medical pamphlet, you cocked your head to the side and sent Steve a signal where to wait while you made your escape. For the second time, you got up to your feet.

“I think I want a coffee actually,” you said. “Be right back, daddy.”

Your dad hummed, not even lifting his eyes from the pamphlet.

For a split second, your heart seized at the sight of your clueless father. You wanted to tell him and mom about the monsters and how they were this close to taking you, but they were better off not knowing. It wasn’t worth risking their lives when it could be just you.

With a heavy heart, you kissed the top of his head and walked down the hallway, heading for the exit and into Steve Harrington’s getaway car.

“Okay, but what the hell is going on?” Steve asked, pulling the car in drive.

You didn’t answer and just hugged your knees to your chest while crying silently. You’re one of us. You squeezed your eyes shut and tried to level your breathing, which now felt like such a laborious task. Now that you knew the truth, it was almost like you could feel it all inside you. Taking every piece of you.

You were quickly pulled out of your thoughts by a warm hand clasping yours. You raised your head and looked at Steve, who kept his eyes on the road, but continued to squeeze your hand. You managed to stop crying and thread your fingers through his and bask in his warmth.

You knew it was just temporary. You knew who he really liked. And as if the universe was aware of your feelings, they decided to cut the moment short by sending your chest squeezing and blocking your airways again. You dropped Steve’s hand and clutched at your chest as you exploded into another coughing fit.

Steve panicked and quickly glanced between you and the road. “What’s happening?” he asked frantically. “Should I take you back to the hospital?”

You violently shook your head. “N-no,” you managed to wheeze out. “Dr-drive.”

“Where’s your inhaler?” Steve asked to which you left unanswered.

Finally, you managed to cough out a chunk of something, freeing your airways. You quickly shoved it in your pockets without checking before Steve noticed it. You exhaled in relief and leaned back in his seat.

“It didn’t use to be that bad,” Steve pointed out.

“Yeah.”

“Was that why you were at the hospital?”

“Mm.”

“We should go back.”

“Doesn’t matter. We’re near your place anyway.”

By the time you got to Steve’s house, he rushed to his parents’ room to find you something to wear from his mom’s closet. “Go take a shower and warm up!” he called out from the second floor.

You dragged your feet into the downstairs bathroom and rinsed your mouth. As you spat out the water, swirls of blood and black goo circled around before disappearing down the drain. You pulled out the clump that you hid in your pocket and teared up at the sight of a fully formed flower.

It was cruel that something as hauntingly beautiful as this was killing you from the inside.

When you flipped the flower over, you noticed thin tendrils from where the stem should be. You were horrified that the tendrils were actually moving like tiny tentacles. It reminded you of that day when you were in the tunnels under the pumpkin farm.

Without any more thought, you dropped the flower in the sink. Remembering that they were susceptible to heat, you immediately turned on the faucet to its hottest setting. As the water hit the flower, your lungs were suddenly set on fire.

Out of instinct, you turned the faucet off, relieved that the flower immediately dried out and broke off into ashy flakes. The burning stopped as well but still lingered under your skin. Almost tripping over your own feet, you staggered over to the shower, stripping yourself of your drenched clothes and turning on the water to its coldest setting, and only then did you find relief.

You’re one of us.

It took over almost half an hour to compose yourself and figure out what to do from here on out. You put one of the fluffy robes in the bathroom and headed out to the living room where Steve was already lounging on one of the sofas, shirtless but with a towel hanging over his neck. He only seemed to notice your presence when the sofa dipped beside him under your weight.

“You okay?” Steve asked when you rested your head on his shoulder, not minding that his hair was still dripping wet. “Jesus, you’re freezing.” He moved to grab the throw blanket and pulled it over both of you then rubbed his hands on your arms to warm you up.

Meanwhile, you wrapped your hands around his waist and just closed your eyes at the sound of his heartbeat. You were mad that his was steady when you couldn’t even control the fast drumming of your own heart whenever you were near him. Still, you held Steve as if you were afraid to let go, as if he was your only reminder that you were still you. But why did it hurt, even physically, so much to hold on?

“Are you sure you’re okay?” Steve whispered, stroking the back of your head. “I don’t think we held each other like this since middle school,” he chuckled to himself at the memory. “When Vicki Carmichael took stole your partner for the Snow Ball and kissed him in front of everyone? You slept over and cried in my bed, telling me you hated her for it and me for going with Tammy Thompson.”

You wracked your head trying to remember what Steve was talking about. Maybe because it was a long day, but you couldn’t remember him holding you like this in middle school. Still, it must have been a beautiful memory if even Steve remembered it.

Sometimes it felt like you were the only one holding on so tightly in this relationship with him.

“Don’t you remember?”

You just hummed and snuggled closer to Steve.

“Okay, how about when Lewenski and I got into a fight because his girlfriend tripped you up and you skinned your knee pretty bad?”

This one, you remembered. “Your dad grounded you for a month, and you got benched for two games,” you chuckled softly.

“And you still cheered for me in the sidelines,” Steve said, sounding relieved that you were finally talking. After while a long pause, he said, “What happened? You used to tell me everything.” He continued, “I know I joke about it a lot, but I was really worried when you didn’t sign up with me at the mall. And you being sick all the time now?”

“Steve, just drop it,” you said, almost in a plea. “We’re okay. You never have to worry about me.”

Steve scoffed playfully. “That’s never going to happen,” he argued. “I’m always gonna worry about you. You don’t even notice how much trouble you get yourself into without realising.”

You tried not to think about it, but for the rest of that night in Steve’s arms, you almost felt like the vines were moving inside you, growing and taking up what was left of you that you haven’t already given to Steve.

~

“So, basically you’re a fugitive now?”

You chuckled and tiredly patted Dustin’s back. “Man, I missed you, kid,” you said. “And to answer your question, technically yes. I’m facing a lifetime of being grounded if I’m caught.”

“Let me get this straight,” Dustin began, his eyes trained on your plain black shirt that obviously belonged to Steve, “Steve snuck you out of the hospital, and you stayed in his house the entire night?” He leaned close to you. “And nothing happened?”

“Jesus, Dustin,” you wrinkled your nose at him. “People serve food here.” You gestured at the small cup of ice cream you were eating as breakfast slash brunch. Though you were wallowing your sorrows in cold, cold sweets, it did make you feel like a kid again.

“Steve is so stupid sometimes it amazes me,” Dustin thought out loud.

“I’m surprised you caught on. Seems like everyone in the world knows except him.”

“That’s because I’m me,” Dustin grinned proudly. “I bet the rest of the party doesn’t even know.”

“Who doesn’t know?” Steve entered the backroom with Robin in tow.

“Probably that you’re a dingus,” Robin snickered. Then her eyes trailed over to you. “So, we have another addition to the team,” she pointed out. “Who’s bringing her up to speed?”

“Dustin,” Steve said the same time that Dustin also said, “Me.”

Of course, it was Dustin.

While Dustin explained to you that the Russian military was most likely running a secret base right in the Starcourt Mall, you worried about El and Max, especially with not-Billy on the loose. Though they probably were already with the rest of the party right now and alerted Chief Hopper and Mrs. Byers. There was absolutely nothing to worry about.

Right?

“Got it?” Dustin finally said before narrowing his eyes at me. “Were you just zoning out the entire time?”

You snorted. “What do you take me for?”

“Fine, what did I just say?”

“Okay, I probably zoned out halfway through,” you admitted. “But your problem is pretty simple.”

Steve, Dustin, and Robin waited for you to continue.

“You just need the blueprints for the mall.”

“Why haven’t you called her the moment we were cracking the code?” Robin said, rushing outside and grabbing the tip jar. Ignoring Steve’s calls for her, she was off leaving us three at Scoops Ahoy.

~

“Touch my butt! I don’t care!”

“Can we keep it PG in here?” you frowned at the ridiculous show Steve and Dustin were putting by trying to get into the air ducts. “Just pull the boy down before someone gets hurt.”

“He can’t get hurt. He’s missing bones like Gumbo.”

“Like what?” you tilted your head.

“He means Gumby,” Dustin corrected, grabbing hold of Steve’s shoulders as he got hoisted out of the vent, “and that’s not how cleidocranial dysplasia works, Steve. I’m missing collarbones, not nerves.”

“Whatever,” Steve said. “We just need some else who could fit in there.”

Just as Steve said those words, Robin burst in the backroom, looking like she had an epiphany for the second time today. You were beginning to think she was the reason how Steve and Dustin had gotten this far. Behind her stood Lucas’ younger sister, Erica. Ah, the epiphany.

It only took the rest of the day of convincing her. The kid knew how to play hard ball. You’d give her that. She wouldn’t take anything less than ice cream for life. Frankly, you’d do the same.

You waited until the mall closed, though Robin and Steve cleared up Scoops Ahoy a few minutes early. So far, your parents were a no show, though you assumed that they didn’t think you would be hiding in the backroom of a very crowded mall. Frankly, they probably wouldn’t even believe you that you were infected with a monster from an alternate dimension and would rather help your friends with a Russian invasion than go to the hospital.

“Free ice cream for life,” Erica smirked smugly as soon as the thick sliding doors – actually odd for a simple storage room – slid open for us.

It didn’t take much snooping to find vats of glowing neon green vats of unknown substances hidden in regular delivery boxes. Without much thought, you grabbed one and made your way to the door. “Let’s just go before someone catches us.”

Again, the universe… just hated us.

“Uhh, which one do I press, Erica?” Dustin asked, insistently pressing the “OPEN” button.

Panic began to rise among all of us as mechanical whirring buzzed between the walls. Between that and the fact that we were trapped, we definitely knew we were screwed. While all of them fussed over the buttons that were no longer working, you stepped back, feeling something prickle under your skin.

“Just open the door!” Robin cried out, echoing into someone… something different.

Open the door.

Open the door!

Open the goddamn door!

Suddenly, you were on fire. You barely noticed your screams rising over everyone else’s. You fell to the floor, convulsing in agony as flashes of different people appeared in your head as if you were them. An old lady in a hospital bed, Heather, her parents, so many people who barely even knew in Hawkins… then Billy.

It was quiet with him. You saw flashes of a beautiful blonde woman calling out to him, her face concealed in a sunhat, then the beach with sand in between your toes. There was a moment of peace and tranquillity, and like someone playing a sick joke, you were in a dark place, standing in Billy’s place in front of people who were lifelessly standing still right in front of something. Something that you didn’t recognize but was so familiar to you, inside you.

He made me do it. It’s like a shadow, like a giant shadow. Please believe me, Max.

“Billy, it’s gonna be okay,” Max’s voice echoed in his head as if it were yours.

“It’s gonna be okay,” a different voice filtered through from all the noise.

“She’s unconscious. How is her inhaler going to help?” “I’m pretty sure that’s a seizure, nerd.” “Check for a pulse, Steve.”

Your consciousness fell right back on you like a pile of bricks. Your eyes fluttered open to see Steve hovering over you with your inhaler tucked between your lips. Once your eyes locked with his caramel ones, a huge wave of relief washed over his face as he pulled you into his arms.

“Oh, my God,” Steve gasped, clutching on to you for dear life. “Don’t scare me like that.”

“Get… out.”

Steve tensed and pulled away to look at you. “What?”

You weakly pulled up your – actually Steve’s shirt up to your ribs, revealing angry black veins that were now crawling over your torso. You cried out and clutched at you. “Get it out!”

“Holy sh– what the hell is that?!”

You rolled to the side and fell into a coughing fit, your back hunched over. Your nails clawed at your throat, feeling something trying to crawl itself out. Whatever happened somewhere in Hawkins pissed off the plants inside you, and you can feel them twisting and curling throughout your torso.

With much straining and the remaining oxygen in your lungs, you managed to pull out the parasite from your oesophagus. The action made Dustin and Robin gag in the corner, while Steve and Erica warily looked at the slithering vine with a fully bloomed flower you dropped on the floor, leaving a trail of blood and black goo.

“You guys, by any chance, have a lighter?” you panted, pressing your cheek against the cold metal floor for any cool relief you can take.

Silence told you no. You hoisted yourself up with much difficulty and leaned back into the crate then immediately had an idea. Albeit, a bad one. With shaky knees, you got on your feet and lifted the vat of green goo that rolled away when you dropped unconscious. You looked for the right twist to open the container when Dustin stopped you.

“What are you doing?”

“We have to kill it,” you said nonchalantly. “I mean, I could just drink this to get it over with, but I don’t want to die that quick.”

“Are you…?” Then Dustin’s eyes widened. “That day. You were… because you saved me.”

“Wait, wait, are any of you nerds explaining what’s going on?” Erica interrupted.

You sighed. “Monster,” you pointed at the vine. “Infected,” you pointed at yourself. “Must kill monster with something. Preferably fire.”

“You killed one of those before?” Robin asked.

“It was smaller last night,” you shrugged, finding the latch to open up the vat. “Hot water took care of that sucker easily.” Twisting the lid a certain way, it clicked and released. “Aha!” you exclaimed. “This is gonna hurt.” You eyed the goo apprehensively.

Then Steve snatched the lid and sealed back the vat. “There has got to be a way to do this without you in pain,” he said.

“We don’t have time, and we’re stuck here in a metal box with a monster crawling towards Erica’s sneaker!”

“Why are you yelling?!”

“I’m not yelling!” you shouted. Then you turned to Dustin with a much softer voice. “How did Will get rid of his the last time?”

“Space heaters, a lot of them,” Dustin answered. “Anything from the Upside Down hates the heat, including D’Art.”

“Well, we’re not waiting until you cough all the flowers out, so I say we dump you into a hot tub and crank the heat to full,” Steve suggested, keeping the vat out of reach. “Once we get out of here, of course.”

“Boiling her alive,” Dustin scoffed. “That’s genius, Steve.”

“Or,” Robin interrupted, “we just use the same space heaters. It worked before, so it might work again now.”

“Thank you,” you said, pointedly looking at Steve. “At least someone is trying not to kill m—” Suddenly, your lungs were set aflame as you dropped into a heap on the cold floor, convulsing in agony with your mouth open in an open scream. You briefly heard Erica speaking before ultimately passing out.

“What? You only kept one of that green acid away from us. At least the monster’s dead.”

After passing out for the second time that night, you seemed to be sleeping much longer, but when you woke up, it wasn’t much of a surprise to hear Dustin and Steve still bickering. You opened your eyes to see Steve’s legs hanging from the ceiling. Again, not a surprise.

Probably nothing else would surprise you at this point.

“Shh! Jesus Christ!” Steve hissed before disappearing entirely to the top of the elevator.

Now that spiked your curiosity.

Robin was preoccupied with Erica, and both of them didn’t even notice that you were awake. You sat up and climbed on the stacked boxes leading up to the opening on the elevator ceiling. The burning in your ribs and your shortness of your breath was easier to ignore now that you were too lightheaded to actually feel the discomfort. Still, you managed to poke your head out the opening, accidentally ending up eavesdropping.

“I heard you guys talking all night,” Dustin whispered to Steve before his eyes landed on you. He winced and shot you an apologetic look.

Steve turned and saw you by his feet, making him jump in surprise. “What are you doing up?!” he scolded. “You scared all of us last night. I thought Erica killed you.”

“Gee, your welcome!” Erica called out from inside.

“’Last night’? It’s morning?”

Dustin smiled emptily. “Yeah,” he said, rubbing the back of his neck. “I’ve been trying to reach anyone on the radio since the mall is open. I think we’re too far down though.”

“Okay, take Dustin down with you please,” Steve said, facing the wall. “I’m gonna take a leak.”

“First of all, ew. Second, good morning,” you said, hopping back down with Dustin right behind you.

“This is one looong sleepover,” Steve called out before the sound of a stream hitting the ceiling echoed inside the elevator. “Two nights of being your personal pillow!”

“Two nights?” you muttered to yourself. “Was I with Steve the other night?” you turned to ask Dustin, who gave you a weird look.

“You stayed over his place, and he drove you to the mall, remember?”

“He did?”

“Hey!” Robin called out. “We have company.”

One fight with a Russian later, which Steve won – finally – you and the rest of the group snuck into the comms room of the secret Russian base and found out why your lungs had been reacting different once you walked further down that tunnel.

“The gate.”

You, Steve, and Dustin looked at each other in horror before turning back to the machine that was trying to pry open the gate that El had shut down last year. It was your first time seeing it, but the same dark familiarity was tugging from the deepest part of your mind. There was no reason to dwell on it, so you tugged Dustin and Steve, urging them to leave and quickly warn the others as soon as possible.

Unfortunately, leaving was harder than getting in. Guards were alerted, and all of us were sent into running. It ultimately sent us to the direction of the gate itself with Dustin almost running into the laser machine that was opening the gate if it wasn’t for you tugging the back of his shirt collar.

You didn’t like being that close to the gate. Between the soldiers yelling and Steve barking which way to run, a louder voice was whispering crystal clear voices inside your head. You surrendered to the voices for one second to try and understand what they were saying, which proved to be your mistake.

In that one second, you were teleported to an incredibly vivid memory of meeting Steve for the first time.

“Sweetie, say hi to Mrs. Harrington and Steve.”

Your hand curled into a fist on the hem of your mother’s dress. It wasn’t the first time you saw Steve Harrington. Your classmate pointed who Steve was when he passed you at the hallways of Hawkins’ Elementary. She boasted that her older sister was Steve’s “girl friend” after he kissed her during recess yesterday.

You didn’t know what any of that meant, but when you glanced at Steve Harrington, you thought he was the prettiest boy you ever seen. Steve Harrington was exactly what you imagined the princes looked like that your mother read to you at bedtime.

And now, you were at their front door because your mom worked with his mom, and Mrs. Harrington thought it would be nice to have her and you over for tea.

And Steve was still the prettiest boy you ever seen.

You were catatonic while staring up into the gate opening.

While the rest of the guards were chasing after Steve and the others, the scientists urged that the guards don’t touch you, seeing that your pupils had turned entirely black. Your exposed neck revealed raised veins that they could tell were black even under the dim, unsteady lighting in the lab.

Your blank state was finally broken when the Russians took you in a secluded room, further away from the gate. Your mind was wildly fuzzy as if you were in the middle of sinking badly in your own subconscious. You inner daze didn’t last long when the door opened again, and Steve and Robin were dragged in and also cuffed like you were.

“What happened to you there?” Steve said in a low tone. “You just froze.”

The soldier didn’t like the chit-chat and struck Steve across the face. The sound was loud enough to echo in the room that you winced upon impact. “No talking!” he spat in a thick accent. “Now, who do you work for?”

“I’m confused,” Steve said, trying to sound unphased from the hit. “Do I not talk or do I tell you who I work for?”

That earned him another hit.

~

“We have many stories of monsters from where I’m from.”

“So do we,” you groaned at the man pacing the room. “You’re not that special, dude.”

Robin and Steve were taken away over half an hour ago, mostly likely for their own interrogation. So far, on your end, this soldier has done nothing but talk your ear off about stories from where he grew up while you were strapped in an examination chair.

“I suppose you know about flowers that grow on lungs?” The surprised look on your face told him everything he needed to know. “No one knows where they come from,” he said, “… until now.” He leaned in close to you. “You are very important test subject.”

“Not for long,” you said spitefully. “I’m dying anyway.”

“Well, I suppose you will be buried in Russian soil by then,” he said, sending chills in your spine. “But now, I need to see the flowers itself.”

Your breathing quickened at the thought being sliced open.

But…

They wanted you alive enough to bring you to Russia. That meant…

“Steve!” Your eyes widened at the sight of him as they dragged him inside the room and dropped him in a heap on the floor. Your heart clenched at the blood streaked all over his mouth and his eye swollen shut. “What did you do to him?”

The soldier and the rest of the guards merely looked at you struggling from where you were restrained while Steve remained unresponsive on the floor. The soldier looked displeased at the results before him and barked out another order. Soon enough, Robin was also dragged inside the room, and similar to you, she was as distraught at the sight of him beaten up.

Then… they just left the three of you in the room alone.

“What do they want?” Robin asked. “We told them everything, and you’re the only one not strapped with us.”

You gulped. “They, uh, they know what’s wrong with me.”

That gained Steve’s attention. With much difficultly, he raised his head and slurred out, “They’re not taking you, and we’re getting out of here.”

“Right,” you snorted. “Unless you have a way of getting to those scissors and cutting yourselves free, I’m on the next flight to Russia by the end of the day.”

“Those morons. They left scissors here?” Steve scoffed.

“I think that if we move at the same time, we could get over there, and then maybe I could kick the table and knock them into your lap,” Robin said, her voice rising with desperation. “So, on the count of three, we’re gonna hop.”

You smiled as hope bubbled when they succeeded the first two swivels. But on the third, the chair legs slid, knocking them both on the floor. Robin, who had her back to you, began shaking. At first, you and Steve thought she was crying, until her quiet giggles turned into full-on laughter.

“I’m sorry,” Robin laughed, trying to contain herself, “but I just can’t believe I’m gonna die in a secret Russian base with Steve ‘The Hair’ Harrington, while his girlfriend gets shipped off to another secret lab in Russia.”

“We’re not gonna die,” Steve huffed, “and she’s not my girlfriend, okay?”

“Gee, we’re tied up and have no hopes of escaping, and you choose to correct that?” you snarked at him.

There was a moment of quietness, mostly just to collect our wits, but Robin was the one to speak up again. She talked about Mrs. Click, our history teacher. Turns out she had been in the same class as Steve for the longest time, remembering every detail about him.

Just like you.

“Do you even remember me from that class?” Robin said, her voice lowering into a whisper. “It didn’t matter that you were an ass.”

And her next words just crushed you.

“I was still… obsessed with you.”

There was nothing else to do but watch as Steve’s eyes — well, eye — softened. In that moment, you felt like you were in someone else’s moment, just an audience. But wasn’t that what you always have been in Steve’s life?

“You know, I wish I’d known you in Click’s class,” Steve said, a fond smile growing on his lips. “Maybe instead of being here, I’d be on my way to college right now.”

Last semester, you wrote two of his history papers just so his grades would be high enough for him to play during the basketball playoffs.

“And I would have no idea that there were evil Russians beneath our feet,” Robin chuckled, “and I would be happily slinging ice cream with some other schmuck.”

“Gotta say, though, I liked being your schmuck.”

And there it was…

The burning in your lungs intensified, sending you in a painful fit of coughs. It was hard enough not to curl over because of the restraints on your chest. There was no way to claw at your throat or to grasp at your chest from the twisting pain.

You were too engrossed in trying not to choke from blood and black goo that you didn’t notice the door open. A different scientist came in, this time more sinister-looking, and leaned over you. “I knew it,” he smiled. “He feeds the flowers inside you.”

“W-wha…?” you managed to gasp out. “P-please… can’t… br-brea-eathe… In.... inhal-er.”

In the midst of the black spots tinting your vision, you barely made out a jet injector and something bright blue before you heard Steve yell out and everything went dark.

“… up. Wake up!”

You opened your eyes to see Dustin’s face. “Am I dreaming?”

“Come on! We have to go!”

You were so groggy that you followed Erica and Dustin to a hijacked mini-truck with Steve and Robin giggling along. Both their antics only heightened when we finally ascended back up to the mall. Steve couldn’t stop booping Dustin, while Robin was saying stuff about food and death.

“Did they give you something too?” Erica asked me.

“They probably took something instead,” you rasped out, feeling your throat. “They baited one out and pulled it out while I was trying not to choke to death.”

“Where is it now?” Dustin turned to me, smacking away Steve’s finger from booping his nose again.

“How the hell should I know? I was tied up!” you scowled at him.

“We just saved your asses!” Erica and Dustin chimed back at your tone.

The bickering didn’t end until you were all forced to be quiet as you hid in a cinema that was showing ‘Back to the Future.’ Once upon a time, it seemed to be a fun movie to watch with the kids, maybe even with El, but now, you could barely keep your knees from fidgeting as your eyes constantly watched between Michael J. Fox and the cinema doors for any evil Russians.

It wasn’t long when your lungs began burning again. You didn’t feel the need to cough this time, but it didn’t stop for a metallic taste bursting in your mouth. You grabbed an empty popcorn bag nearby and spat into the paper. Even under the dark theatre, you could see that it was mostly blood now.

You were out of time.

~

“Jesus, you look far worse than El.”

You shot Max a very unfriendly look. “The girl who just pulled a monster out of her leg using your mind powers?” You glanced at El who was cuddled up with Chief Hopper while Mrs. Byers attended to the open wound on her leg.

“Well, both you are bleeding out of your noses, and you are also growing monsters inside you.”

“ERICA!” you screeched while furiously wiping your nose.

“Just the facts!”

“What?!” Everyone else in the party, including the adults, chorused.

“You’re dying,” Will said as if he could still tell. He gave you a look of empathy and a little bit of familiarity. You knew he went through a similar thing last year, and it somehow made you less scared that he was here with you.

You nodded solemnly. “I don’t have much time,” you admitted. “It grows faster the closer I am to the gate… or when I feed it.”

“’Feed it’?” Max asked.

“We don’t have to talk about that,” you waved her off. At this point, you were just desperate to stay alive. All of you were so, so close. “If we close the gate, we can cut off all connections, right?”

“Theoretically,” Lucas added.

Since there was no other option but that, we all based our plan on that ‘theory.’ A man named Murray, who also got into a tiff with Erica, came in with a map of the underground Russian base from a guy named Alexei. With the goals in place, everyone began splitting off into groups.

“You’re coming with us, right?” Steve asked.

You bit your lip as you shook your head. “I’m staying with the girls,” you said. “You go with Dustin and Robin to Cerebro.” At the sight of his worried look, you added, “I’ll be okay.”

Steve shot you a scowl. “Don’t die without me.”

“Hard promise to keep,” you smirked, smacking his hand away from ruffling your already messy hair. Your fingers tangled with Steve’s, and he ended up holding your hand completely. “Don’t die first, Steven.”

Steve chuckled and was about to pull away when you tugged his hand back.

“Hey, Steve.”

“Yeah?”

“I know you and Robin…”

When you trailed off, Steve raised his brows at you, urging you to continue.

You shook your head, waving it off. “You guys just got drugged,” you reminded him. “Drive safely.”

“You say that as if I don’t have any experience from partying.”

“That isn’t comforting at the very least.” Then... you let go.

~

Turns out that it wasn’t just the gate that was triggering the growth.

When the Spider Monster burst through the glass ceiling for Starcourt Mall, the flowers in your lungs reacted the same way when Billy had grabbed you at the Holloway’s. It was one thing to lead the monster away from El, but it was another thing to be hunched in the trunk space of the Wheeler’s hatchback with said monster chasing you down the road.

“The answer to a never-ending story…”

You laughed at the song number from the radio in between coughs. “That definitely takes the sting out of dying,” you said. You can only imagine Erica’s face during this whole ordeal.

“Don’t say that.”

You looked at Steve in deadpan. You kept eye contact as you spat blood and body matter into an empty soda cup you found discarded in the car. It was a low-blow towards him, you knew that, and he didn’t deserve it.

But you were so tired, and you were so mad at yourself for always being late, for being cowardly.

So, when Jonathan turned the car to follow the Spider Monster that turned back to the mall, you immediately hopped off and went looking for El instead of going with them to set off the fireworks. Steve, as expected, put up a fight, insisting that you all stick together.

“I won’t go near it,” you reasoned. “I’m finding El and getting her out of here, while you keep it distracted.” When he looked unconvinced, you added, “The fireworks will also distract Billy. It’s going to be okay.”

“That isn’t comforting at the very least,” Steve said, making you laugh at your early words being thrown back at you.

“Hey!”

You turned to see Nancy Wheeler toss a bundle of fireworks at you. At your raised brow, she shrugged, “Just in case.”

Following a broken gate not too far from where Steve rammed Billy’s car, you found an employee’s corridor where Max and Mike passed out nearby with angry bruises on their faces. You rushed over for Max and shook her awake. Her eyes immediately shot open.

“Billy, it was Billy,” Max said, panicked. “He took El. You have to go. I’ll take care of Mike. Go!” She staggered to her feet, gripping the pipes for stability.

“I can’t go near him or that thing.” You hesitated leaving Max, but when she yelled at you again to go for El, you turned your feet and broke off into a run. Then the fireworks began…

“Fuck!” you screamed, falling to your knees. Every corner of your body was set ablaze. You cried out as the flowers inside you constricted with every blast.

Max and Mike quickly caught up to you, pulling you to your feet. Suddenly, it was quiet, and a wave of calm washed over you. You saw a beautiful woman in a sundress and a hat by the beach. It wasn’t your memory, but it was being returned to someone after being taken away. Billy.

“She was pretty,” you could hear El cry in your head. “She was really pretty.”

Taking advantage of the situation, you sped through the corridor and into the mall. You found Billy beginning to stand up to the Spider Monster. “When I make a run for it, you grab El and get her out of here, okay?”

“What? You just said you can’t face that thing!” Mike told you.

“Just do it!” You pushed your feet as fast as you could to face the monster.

“No!” Billy roared, grabbing the monster’s tentacle mouth to stop it from reaching El.

Seeing your opportunity, you quickly pulled the taped matchstick from the bundle and ignited the fireworks. Swinging your arm back, you flung it as hard as you could into the monster’s mouth. Right as soon as the explosive left your hand, you caught incoming smaller tentacles headed for Billy’s side, slinging two of them to your side from the crook of your elbow.

“I got you,” you said out of breath, seeing Billy’s surprised face. However, your fight had the monster targeting you, sending two other tendrils to your side instead. You barely felt it, even as its sharp tongue stabbed into your abdomen.

Touching the Spider Monster was as worse as looking straight into the Gate. You cried out as flashes of memories of you and Steve, growing up through the years, bombarded you, while the flowers inside you began crawling outside your ribs instead. You barely heard the last firework go off as you felt the vines throbbing under your skin.

An arm wrapped around your waist and pulled your unmoving feet, dragging you away. Your spotted, blurred vision could only see a head of dark blonde curls with a massive dark mass in the background screeching in agony.

“It’s over. It's supposed to be over!" you heard Max’s muffled voice say. “What’s wrong with her?!” You felt hands on your shoulder, shaking you to snap out of it.

“Steve,” you breathed out. You tried to focus on Max, but with a blink, you were trapped back in your memories. Steve telling you to go home every time as he led a different girl up the stairs to his room. Steve dropping you off while thanking you for picking out a gift for Nancy. Watching him smile ever so fondly at Robin. Seeing the smile that you so desperately desired every time.

All the memories of Steve breaking your heart, you felt all at once.

You continued to unconsciously call out Steve’s name. Even when the paramedics began wheeling you out in a stretcher. You vaguely saw them cutting your shirt open, exposing the gore that was concealed by the fabric.

The black vines had reached out on the surface of your skin. The outline of your ribs was exposed, threading black and purple angry bruises over your torso. The right side of your ribcage had completely sank, one rib twisting outwards and leaking a mix of blood and black goo. The damage was extensive, but the monster you grew and fed inside you seemed to be finally lying still, only remaining dormant once the gate was sealed once again.

“… -eral broken ribs and possible internal bleeding!” a paramedic called. “One of her lungs has collapsed. She's in shock!”

Then Steve was there. You couldn’t tell if it was a memory or if it was happening at that moment. He was struggling against two firemen, trying to get to you with one hand reaching out. With the last bit of energy left, you raised your hand, reaching out towards him too.

“Steve…”

[splatcat64]

i had a really long convo with my friends about this but it really seriously feels like ppl get rhys and fionas characterization switched up HARD. this is bc of the u choose the path thing but also a heavy hand in the misogyny and racism (and general way ppl tend to approach pandorans due to being effected by how jack talked about them . LOL) fiona is such a sweetheart whos working her hardest to protect the people she loves + imo shes the one who helped vaughn grow into someone who adores pandora as well. it makes me blow up. i have a few songs that have been making me go nuts about her . hai i got excited sorry

NOOO DON’T APOLOGIZE FOR GETTING EXCITED I totally get it my god,,, this blog is becoming so tales centric I’m sorry not sorry here we go. If you haven’t seen tales and want to be mindful of light spoilers. ⚠️

This has been talked about on my side a bit but I tooootally agree, Both of their characterization gets switched up BAD and it’s absolutely insane, both Fiona and Rhys are good people, but flawed. Flawed, but good people, and it gets constantly jumbled around in the fandom. I feel like a lot of people have a really hard time grasping that “choose ur own adventure” protags still have a core personality set, especially telltale. I always use Lee TWGD as an example, because sure you can portray him as either very very confrontational, or more soft spoken and sweet, but in the end of th edgy he still killed someone. In the end of the day he still ALWAYS cares about Clem. It’s not any different for those two idiots, they still have their respective arcs and the such.

I feel like Fiona gets a lot of shit specifically BECAUSE she’s snarky and she. speaks her mind. And god forbid a POC/Black coded woman do ANYTHING. Jack really messed up ppls views on Pandorans but the look into Sasha and Fi’s life is literally just more, HEY, they’re people!! Maybe don’t listen to the GENOCIDAAAAL [big arrows pointing to the word] MANIAC. It’s thrown right at your face. People take wtv the fuck Jack says way to seriously when he lies. So much. All the time. And I don’t get why no one takes it with a pile of salt constantly. When really she does just have a heart of gold, most of her being mean is literally just playful banter like hello. Sasha’s meaner than her by a mile but Fi still gets slaaandered for it. And even tho Sasha does have her really mean moments I will defend her to the grave with strangers bcus “hating her” without a valid reason gets veeerry racy really quick and as a black person it really does rub me the wrong way sometimes. So much mischaracterization everywhere. It’s a weird mix of a patriarchal, misogynistic, racist deal with EVERY character in The Group and I’m just… how do you manage to mischaracterize everybody from a game that’s all story.

And the point I made in a post somewhere about how Rhys is written differently than a LOT of men in borderlands and ppl have ran with it and decided hey this guy actually sucks. Or hey haha this guy can’t do anything. He’s completely out of his element on Pandora, of course he’s stumbling somewhat but bro is brave as hell for that shit. He’s a completely capable dude, yes he cares about Fiona and Sasha and Vaughn. Yes they care about him. I feel like people also get it twisted because of Fiona and Rhys in the intros, but people gotta remember that they’re acting like that because the game was episodic and we weren’t rlly allowed to know that they’re super buddy buddy. That’s one gripe I have w the game is that they made Fiona seem like she HATED his ass in some of the future settings in the beginning of episodes and people took it way too literally. Please I beg they’re besties,,, you’ve never boxed with a bestie before??? Either way it’s obvious that it’s blown out of proportion especially after Rhys’ whole arc concludes. You’re supposed to be like oooh he’s like that cause we couldn’t know. You look at Fi and you’re supposed to like daaamn she really cares about him/them they were all just split apart after extremely traumatic events. [I’m gonna stop here with this point cause it’s starting to be a run on but people do not talk enough about how traumatic both Helios’ crash, the wreck, and Gortys’ first fight was for all of them.]

I’ve talked extensively with a friend about this too but Tales had a looot of budget issues during its making cause of Telltale nuking itself, and the game was meant to have more time. ALL of them were!!! I always think about maybe if they all got more time they’d be treated this way less. But yknow,, whatever I guess.

AND THE VAUGHN THING UR SO CORRECT GOD. I think she really help him crawl out of his shell for a lack of a better term, both the sisters tbh I feel like they’re a very rare and cute friendship pairing and I need to see more of Sasha daring him to do shit like in the Chimera dome. They all care sooo deeply for each other and people even manage to miss that like god. One of Rhys’ core traits if you don’t make him abysmally evil is loyalty. LOYALTY. Fiona hasn’t had many, hell if any friends since tales started, She is SUCH a caring person of course she’s gonna ride or die for her friends. Like that one scene on Helios where Rhys can ask her not to leave, And she’s like “If I wanted to leave, I would’ve done it a looong time ago.” There’s so many points in the game I could,d bring up that show how great all of them are, Fiona, after knowing him for not too long at all, tries to convince Vaughn to be brave, and that he can survive Bossanova’s race. Yes, she had to do that so they wouldn’t die, but she went out of her way to say it in a way that was reassuring enough. That’s sweet. If she didn’t care about them she wouldn’t have played cards on the roof with Rhys, or play bunkers and badasses with the boys, or I don’t know, let them LIVE IN WHAT IS ESSENTIALLY HER HOUSE FOR A YEAR. /ref ep.3 of tales. I’m being dramatic, of course there are factors that didn’t let her kick them out. But, my point stands.

That wasn’t meaaan that was playful reassurance, she’s telling him she’s THERE FOR HIM. They all care sooosososo much. If none of the, cared about each other, any “betrayal” wouldn’t mean that much. People get hurt like that because of their bonds and yes, YES I’m being opinionated but they’re like the found family ever, god. Fiona is fucking amazing and she wouldn’t put up with anyone if she didn’t either have to, or care, and after a certain point it’s very obvious that it’s not the first one.

TLDR; Tales is great, stan Fiona, stan Rhys, Stan Sasha and Vaughn,,, my glorious queens and kings. Forgive any typos or grammar I wrote this on a passionate whim,

[castlebyersafterdark]

why does will need to look conventionally hot to be in his main character arc? it would be inappropriate seeing as theyre meant to be nerd losers, and look uncool, which makes their heroism even better cos its playing with 80s tropes and beauty standards of who can be the hero. if will looked hot like a bridgerton lead it would be so lame and also completely inappropriate artistically for his character and the storytelling.

i love their nerd asses, i wanna be cringing at least 40% of the time watching this show, like i always have been

(and folks saying the Rightside Up episode title is uninspired?? Its sheer perfection, the ultimate reprise. It works so well for this genre and this show. That's like saying that the kids naming the Upside Down itself 'the Upside Down' is uninspired because all they did is flip a board upside down.)

Hair in this fandom is amusingly one of the most controversial topics around! And yet, I always indulge this discussion. Wild. All respect, no fighting, as always. Maybe it's annoying when I constantly restate that and preface things with it, but hey, I'm an annoying guy and want to alleviate myself of being someone inviting contention 🤷‍♂️

Firstly - it is the glorious, weirdly haired 80s! Yes! We cannot judge hairstyle or fashion by modern standards. Sure, we can personally not like it in today's mindset (I happen to love the "good" and the "bad" of the era a whole lot), but we should consider things through a different vision. And, same as today, the same hairstyle can be considered cool or uncool depending on your social group or what trends you think hit or miss the mark.

Long hair: forever controversial. Rebellious, or chic. Freak, or heartthrob. My lame, conservative father wants me to cut my hair because I look like a degenerate, but the cool guys at school and the guys with record deals and whose videos are on MTV all have long hair. But the hot, popular guys at school have short hair. Wait, but this guy's hot and popular, too and he has longer hair? It's all so confusing. That's how it's always been. Style is so subjective. Every era.

Mike's long hair in season 4. I just personally think that it was a symbolic departure for Mike - we have to ignore Finn haha. Not every character in the show with longer hair does it as an act of rebellion. I genuinely don't think Jonathan is doing it for that reason. I honestly don't think he's putting much thought into it, he just looks like that. Steve? He puts SO MUCH thought into his hair. It's kind of it's own thing. Dustin? I also don't think he put much thought until after Eddie dies - we see it longer than ever. I think his is definitely now an homage. Mike? I think it was rebellion, it was changing his look to emulate this older guy he knew and looked up to (and crushed on) and even if not a complete 1:1 mimic, it was inspired by trying to be something different. My personal opinion is just subjectively that I prefer how Mike looks with the shorter hair. I think it suits him better. It's cuter, fits his sweet, nerdy boy aesthetic rather than what was going on in season 5. I don't think it's necessarily a direct "return to conformity" but a return to Mike. He was trying to be many things in the whirlwind of freshman year. Time will tell.

The bowlcut. And the bowlcut of season five improved. Firstly - the thing I enjoy about Stranger Things is honestly? No one really on the cast is "traditionally" hot. They're all plenty good looking and attractive and hot - but you know what I'm saying? Anyway, the party all looks dorky but we know they're nerdy cute. I don't even see how they could take Will and make him this - I don't even know what? He totally did have a glow-up. In an appropriate way for the character. It's just enough to make him look more mature, the difference between a guy just turning 15 in season 4 and a guy well into 16 as a junior in season 5. That's a big jump for a teenager. They all look more mature. And Will looks so endearing in his season 5 wardrobe and styling so far.

And I'm a big fan of The Rightside Up as the ending title. It's a parallel! It's a callback! It's a book end!! It's a hint towards a happy ending, they did it, they win - we've always known that, but now we get to see it. I love this kind of stuff. If you're afraid of cheesy, sentimental stuff, don't watch the 80s nostalgia show that kick-started this whole past decade of that entire aesthetic. This show did was the catalyst. It's gonna be a little cheesy and I think it's very expected to name the final episode The Rightside Up, and I absolutely love that they've done it.

[brightlight-dazzlingeyes]

between the lines | chapter 02

rúben dias x original female character [+18]

synopsis: isabella is a sports journalist covering the premier league. she has sworn to never get involved with a football player. that is, until she meets a handsome portuguese defender. warnings: incorrect journalism references; timeline of events are not faithful to real life; i have never been to england; mutual pining; romantic comedy;  minors dni.

previous chapter | masterlist | next chapter

Chapter 02 — There’s only one F in Fulham

The very first Premier League game that I’ve covered was at Craven Cottage; it was a sunny day on the riverside and the home team tied with Liverpool, 2-2, on the first matchday of the season. Ever since then I’ve held an over sentimental feeling for the Fulham stadium and the press boxes where you can’t really see the field thanks to the structure poles. On colder days, the Cottage is not as charming and I’m reminded that I actually chose to work in England so I just have to deal with it.

Regardless of the weather, it was always nice to watch City play on a Sunday. Makes the rest of the week feel normal. Melissa, who accompanied me on the way in and on the way out, was having a great day planning what I should wear and what kind of makeup I should put on for my date the next day.

“You have to shave. Full brazilian!" She said, way too loudly, as we were leaving the stadium.

“It’s a first date with a stranger.” I emphasize.

“You never know, honey, better to be prepared.”

She lent me a red dress and a pair of black Louboutins, and it took hours for me to convince myself to wear them. I do look hot, the type of ‘hot’ I'm constantly trying to avoid looking given the circumstances of my job. The dress is tight on the top, with thin straps and it flows to right above my knees.

“Oh my god, I feel like I’ve been standing here for three years.” I speak to myself in the mirror. It was almost time to leave and I didn’t have a second outfit option. Alright, what did Mel say? I’m interesting? I can fix Chelsea? Yes, I can wear a red dress and go on a date. Okay. I call an Uber. It was a penthouse restaurant, and we were supposed to meet at the table. To my surprise, when I reached the elevator, the last person on earth I wanted to see at that moment, was right by my side.

“Oh. Hi.”

“Hi, Isa!”

We both look at the elevator and then back at each other, as if we were waiting for the other to make a move. Neither of us do. Instead, Rúben says:

“I didn’t see you yesterday.”

“Oh, yeah, I was interviewing the Fulham players.”

“You should be interviewing the winners.” He smirks and I smile at him. He looks at me from head to toe and I glance back to the elevator, embarrassed. 

We both decide, at the same time, to press the button. Our hands touch. Barely, but they do. I pull my hand away from him immediately, on instinct, and I hear myself gasping. My face is bright red and the situation becomes even more awkward because I realize he had the exact same reaction as I had. So I stare at him, partially waiting for him to smile again and tell me another joke, partially waiting for him to mock me and reject me. But he just stares right back. The interaction lasted for less than a minute, maybe less than a second, maybe for just a moment. The elevator door opens up and I’m just standing there wondering who the hell pressed the button.

“I think we’re supposed to go in.” Rúben says holding the door open.

We walk in together and I know for a fact that my face matches the color of my dress. I try to avoid looking at him or thinking about how hot he looks. Is he here for a date also? Well, fuck me. At least it is a pretty big space, there’s no way we’re seating close to each other. Right? We don’t say another word to each other until the door opens again, finally at the restaurant entrance hall.

“I hope you have fun on your date.” Rúben is not really looking at me when he says that.

“You too.” I reply and we finally make eye contact again. He shakes his head.

“Oh, no. I’m not on a date. It’s a business lunch.”

“Okay, have fun on your business then.” I wink at him and he smiles, agreeing.

We go search for our tables and of course, of course, we are sitting close to each other. In the horrible angle where I could, if I wanted, to spend the entire lunch just looking at him. I won’t do it, of course, but it pisses me off that I could. Sexy doctor is very sexy in real life so my anger lessens for a second.

“Hi.”

“Hi, you must be Isabella!” 

He has a beautiful voice. We shake hands and start to make small talk. About my sister-in-law and my little niece, about the weather and what it's like to live in Manchester. I have to hold back and not just straight up point at the table at the back to our left and say: ‘Hey, Rúben Dias is sitting right there. And yes, I have a crush on him. So this date is going great.’ Instead I just nod and listen to him talk about his work. Are business lunches supposed to last longer than a date lunch? Who knows, but my brain just turned that into a competition. I’m not leaving this table until he leaves. I’ll show him, for some reason, that I’m having more fun than he is. Fuck, what’s the name of sexy doctor? 

“Turns out it was a racoon the whole time!” He laughs and I accompany him, even though I completely lost the start of the story. “Can you believe it?”

"Unbelievable!" I’m still laughing with him. “A racoon!”

Our order arrives and thank God for inventing the culinary arts. The food is delicious and, at least while I’m eating, everything else seems unimportant. I decided to try once again. He seems like a nice guy and he could be funny if I paid attention to what he was saying. So I excuse myself to the bathroom and text Sienna.

Isabella: girl  whats sexy doctor called?? help

Sienna: oh my god his name is peter warren lol

As I walk back to the table I make the mistake of making eye contact with Rúben. He smiles at me, that handsome jerk, and I smile back, instinctively. When I sit down, I’m blushing again. Peter Warren, huh?

“Sienna told me it was your favorite restaurant.” Peter says.

“Yes, it is!”

“I’m loving it, honestly, the food is heavenly. How did you find out about it?”

He asks and I have to physically hold myself back from facepalming. “Oh. It was through work. I come here a lot with my colleagues.” I answer. Yes, me, my colleagues and literally everyone in Manchester that works with football comes to this restaurant. What an idiot, why did I agree to come here on a date? You know what, at least, is Rúben. It could have been my boss seeing me in this dress. I relax with the realization.

“I’m glad you’re enjoying it, Peter!” I speak, casually making him aware that I know his name.

“We could go to my favorite restaurant next? I mean, as far as blind dating goes, I feel like this is worth a second date?”

“The racoon story definitely earned you a second date.”

Peter laughs loudly when I say that. I really wish I understood the context, though. We’re having dessert and as I look over, Rúben is still talking with God knows who, his agent, maybe? They don’t seem like the’yre leaving the table anytime soon. So I convince Peter that I always order a second dessert, that is a tradition. That buys me more time. Rúben gets up to leave when I’m in the middle of my second tiramisu slice.

As he leaves, I look at him again. Just to make sure, I guess. But he notices, and waves goodbye. Handsome and polite jerk. I can’t help waving back at him, and of course Peter notices.

“You know him?” He asks.

“Just a football player.” 

I take another bite.

Mel: so how was the date?

Isabella: terrible but we already agreed on the second one

Mel: did you kiss :(

Isabella: no but he shook my hand? is that something?

Mel: :(

[niallerspayno]

Faking It - Chapter Four

Masterlist

The hotel room feels quieter than usual, the kind of stillness that amplifies every small sound—the hum of the heater, the faint rustle of Liam shifting on the couch, the distant city noise filtering in through the window.

You’re curled up in one of the armchairs, a cup of tea warming your hands as you scroll through your phone. The pictures from earlier are everywhere now, splashed across social media and gossip sites with headlines that make you cringe.

“‘One Direction’s Liam Payne Spotted on Cozy Date with Mystery Woman,’” you read aloud, unable to mask the disdain in your voice. “Cozy date. Right.”

Liam chuckles softly from his spot across the room. “At least they didn’t call you my secret girlfriend. That one’s always fun.”

You glance at him, noting the easy way he leans back, his feet propped on the coffee table like this whole situation is no big deal. “How are you so calm about this?”

“Because I’ve been through it before,” he says simply. “It’s just noise. Tomorrow it’ll be something else—a new rumor, a new story. This’ll fade faster than you think.”

“Maybe for you,” you reply, setting your tea down. “But for me? This is my first time being… scrutinized. I don’t like it.”

Liam’s expression softens. “I get that. Really, I do. But you don’t have to go through it alone. I’ve got your back.”

You study him for a moment, unsure how he can sound so sure of himself, so steady, when your head feels like it’s spinning. “What if I mess up?” you ask quietly.

“You won’t,” he says without hesitation.

“You don’t know that.”

“I do,” he insists, leaning forward now, his elbows resting on his knees. “You’re stronger than you think. And if something does go wrong, we’ll deal with it. Together.”

The conviction in his voice makes something in your chest loosen, just a little. You take a deep breath, letting his words sink in.

“Thanks,” you say finally, your voice barely above a whisper.

He smiles, and for a moment, the weight of the day feels a little lighter.

“You know,” he says after a pause, “for what it’s worth, I think we did pretty well today. The boys might’ve been annoying, but they helped. Made it feel… less staged.”

“True,” you admit, thinking back to Louis’ endless teasing and Harry’s quiet encouragement. “They really leaned into the whole ‘protective big brothers’ thing.”

“They’re good at that,” Liam says, his smile turning fond. “Even when they’re taking the piss out of me.”

You laugh softly, and for a moment, the tension in the room eases.

“So,” he says, leaning back again, his tone lighter now. “What’s next on our ‘how to be a convincing couple’ agenda?”

You groan, sinking further into your chair. “I don’t know. Fake anniversary stories? Coordinating outfits? Matching tattoos?”

Liam laughs, the sound warm and familiar. “Let’s not get ahead of ourselves. One staged outing at a time.”

“Deal,” you say, letting your head rest against the back of the chair. For the first time all day, you feel like you can actually breathe.

But even as the conversation drifts to lighter topics, you can’t help but wonder how long you’ll be able to keep this up—and what will happen when the act starts feeling too real.

…

The following days are a whirlwind. The headlines haven’t let up, and the buzz around your “relationship” with Liam intensifies. Fans are getting more invested, and the media is constantly looking for the smallest hint of confirmation. Your phone is blowing up with messages from friends, family, and even the occasional stranger congratulating you on your new relationship. It feels surreal, and you’re doing your best to keep your distance from it all.

Management, however, is all too aware of the public’s insatiable curiosity. “You’re doing great,” they tell you in their daily check-ins. “The buzz is amazing. But we need to take it to the next level now.”

Next level, of course, means a red carpet event.

The Brit Awards are just around the corner, and it’s the perfect stage for you and Liam to take your act to a new height. You’re instructed to arrive together, hand in hand, in front of the press. Cameras will be flashing, fans will be screaming, and you’re expected to look like the couple the world thinks you are. The band will be there too, all suited up and sharp, and you can’t help but feel the pressure mount.

You spend the morning getting ready, the hum of stylists and makeup artists filling the air. You feel strangely calm for once, even as you slip into the sleek black dress that’s been picked out for you. The fit is perfect, hugging your curves in all the right places. Your makeup is understated but elegant, with a hint of shimmer on your eyelids, and your hair is styled into soft waves. You don’t recognize the reflection in the mirror, but somehow, it feels like someone you could be. Someone who belongs in a room full of flashing lights and loud applause.

When you emerge from the dressing room, your heart stutters at the sight of Liam. He’s standing by the door, already in his tailored suit. The way it fits him—sharp, defined, just enough to show his build—makes your breath catch. His hair is styled back, his jawline sharper than ever. But it’s the way his eyes soften when he sees you that makes you pause.

“You look…” His voice trails off, and for a moment, it feels like the room falls away. He clears his throat, catching himself. “You look incredible.”

You glance at him, unable to hold back a small smile. “You’re not so bad yourself, Payne.”

He grins, clearly pleased by the compliment, though there’s a slight blush creeping up his neck. “Let’s not keep the world waiting,” he says, holding out his arm for you to take.

As you link your arm through his, the weight of the evening settles over you. This isn’t just a walk to a car—it’s the beginning of a public spectacle. You can feel the eyes of everyone in the room on you both, but it’s his hand gently brushing yours that brings you back to the moment.

When you arrive at the event, the media frenzy is as overwhelming as expected. You step out of the car to a chorus of screams. The flash of cameras blinds you for a moment, and you instinctively reach for Liam’s hand. He gives it a reassuring squeeze, and the two of you walk down the red carpet, posing for photos as the flashes keep going off.

“Just smile,” Liam says quietly, leaning in as you stop for a brief second in front of a row of photographers. “We’ve got this.”

You nod, trying to ignore the butterflies in your stomach. It’s all part of the job. Part of the game. But there’s something in the way Liam is standing so close to you, his hand still lightly resting on your back, that makes it feel… different.

“Looking good, you two!” Louis calls from behind, and the rest of the band steps in line behind you, adding to the chaos of the red carpet. They’re all dressed to the nines—Zayn looks effortlessly cool, Harry is practically glowing, and Niall is all smiles, waving to the fans.

You and Liam continue to smile for the cameras, posing together, trying to maintain the illusion of a perfectly staged couple. But as you glance up at him, the glint of amusement in his eyes shifts, just for a second, into something else. Something warmer.

When you’re finally allowed to move inside, away from the lights and the questions, there’s a small moment of quiet. You take a breath, your heels clicking on the marble floor as you walk beside him.

Liam nudges you gently. “I think that went well.”

You chuckle, your heart still racing from the red carpet. “For someone who’s done this a million times, you make it look effortless.”

“Well,” he says, his voice a little more serious now, “that’s because I’ve got someone who looks even better beside me.”

You glance up at him, the sincerity in his voice catching you off guard. It’s almost as if the lines between the act and reality are starting to blur, just a little. But you push the thought away, reminding yourself that this is still just part of the plan.

“Thanks,” you say quietly, feeling your cheeks warm. “You look pretty great yourself.”

Liam smiles, his expression softer than usual, but then the moment shifts as the rest of the band catches up with you, pulling you back into the noise and bustle of the event.

The night continues with a flurry of activity. After a few more pictures on the red carpet, you and Liam are swept into the glittering chaos of the event. The atmosphere inside is charged, filled with laughter, clinking glasses, and the buzz of music and conversation. The band sticks close, moving as a unit, and though you’re still adjusting to the cameras, it becomes easier with every step, the presence of the others grounding you.

You find yourself laughing more than you expected, caught up in the camaraderie of the boys—Louis cracking jokes, Niall’s infectious energy, Zayn’s quiet but knowing smirks, and Harry’s calming presence. But despite the noise around you, there are moments where your focus shifts to Liam. Every time he meets your gaze, a quiet understanding passes between you, unspoken but felt, and for a heartbeat, it almost feels like you are what the world thinks you are.

At one point, you find yourself separated from the group. You’re standing near the bar, a glass of sparkling water in hand, trying to steady your nerves after a whirlwind of interviews. You take a deep breath, watching the crowd as the buzz of the night fills the air.

And then, out of nowhere, Liam is there. He stands beside you, his presence pulling you out of the moment you were caught in.

“You okay?” he asks quietly, his eyes scanning you with a gentle concern. The bright lights reflect off his suit, making him look almost unreal.

You nod, but there’s something in his gaze that tells you he knows better. You try to smile, but it feels forced, a little too tired for your liking.

“I’m good,” you say, though you’re not entirely sure you believe it yourself. “Just… this is all so much.”

Liam’s lips quirk into a small, understanding smile. “Yeah, it can be overwhelming. But you’re doing great.”

He shifts slightly closer, enough so that his arm brushes against yours. The subtle gesture is comforting in a way you weren’t expecting. It feels intimate, even though the rest of the room is filled with people, the noise of the event continuing around you.

“You look amazing tonight, by the way,” Liam says, his tone a little softer now, as though the public mask has slipped for a second. “That dress… it’s perfect.”

Your cheeks warm slightly, and you tilt your head, trying to laugh it off. “You don’t look too bad yourself, Payne.”

He chuckles, but it’s quieter, more personal than before. “I meant it.” His eyes meet yours with a sincerity that takes you off guard, and for a moment, it feels like the world has slowed down just for you two.

You meet his gaze, feeling something shift in the air between you. There’s a pull—gentle but undeniable—that makes you second-guess the lines between fake and real. But before you can think too much about it, a voice breaks the moment.

“Oi, what’s this? A secret conversation?” Louis appears beside you, a mischievous grin on his face. “Save some of the spotlight for the rest of us.”

Liam quickly stands back, flashing Louis a quick grin. “Nothing secret, mate. Just making sure they’re doing okay.”

You roll your eyes, but there’s no real heat behind it. You can tell the boys are enjoying their teasing, but there’s a warmth in their jokes, an underlying affection that makes you feel welcome in their orbit.

The night continues with more interviews and socializing, but in between it all, you steal small moments with Liam. A quick glance shared over the crowd. A quiet joke whispered when the spotlight shifts to someone else. Each interaction, each touch, is just enough to remind you that the boundaries between acting and feeling are growing thinner.

When the night winds down and the awards are handed out, you’re surprised at how much you’ve enjoyed yourself. You haven’t even been thinking about the cameras for a while. In the quieter moments, when it’s just you and the band, you almost forget that the world is watching.

But as the evening comes to an end, Liam steps up beside you as the two of you make your way to the exit. The car is waiting, the door open for you both to step inside.

“How do you feel?” he asks, his voice softer now, almost as if he’s checking in for real.

You pause for a moment, the weight of the night settling on your shoulders. You glance at him, the soft glow of the streetlights illuminating his face.

“Surprisingly good,” you admit. “I thought I’d be exhausted by now, but it doesn’t feel so bad.”

“Glad to hear it,” Liam says, a soft smile on his face. “I’m proud of you.”

You look at him, his words lingering in the air. There’s a softness there, an unspoken connection that you can’t quite place. It feels real in a way you didn’t expect.

As the two of you get into the car and the door shuts behind you, you find yourself staring at Liam, still processing the night. The lines between pretending and feeling real are starting to blur. And you wonder how much longer you can keep pretending—or if you even want to anymore.

Next chapter

[iwillburn]

I’ve put myself in a prison of my own creation I did this to myself I over share, I tell my plans thinking people are in my corner or have my best interest at heart

I’m constantly self sabotaging pushing the people I love the most away I something do know what real anymore idk who wants me I’ve realized so much about myself this year and I’m disgusted with myself I promised my self I’d be strong I never thought I’d turn into this when I telling the truth it’s looked at as lies and when I’ve lied it was to protect myself from more pain I’m not a victim I haven’t been a good person I must accept my wrongs and take accountability all year has felt like one big reaction …… reacting to people throwing jabs at me trying to destroy my mental …. Reacting to people pull at my heart going for my soft spot using me because they know how I love and how much I have to give and my reactions are my fault as a man I should have control over how I engage with people I should know better and I’m so disappointed and how much control I have people over me, I’ve been cruel I’ve been dishonest, I’ve been cold, I’ve been angry, and over all ive been a loser when i look i. the mirror idk what looking at anymore ive been called every name in the book for incel to narcissist, self absorbed, bipolar, autistic, slow dumb, know it all, lame, goofy fucboy, burnout, junkie clunker….like make up your mind i wont pretend like i dont have issues but i know now i have to be careful and who i allow to come in my energy give theyre opinion of who i am i almost started to believe them i have so much work to do and i cant let anyone in rn i to be sure im doing whats best for me and i wish this year didnt happen but i needed very lesson every step of the way i lost my person ik she was my person and it scares me to think ill never have a connection like that ever again we had so much in common it was wild at some point i thought she was copying my every move just to get attached in reality i got caught uo in my head inlet the people around me and my past hold me back from letting this person in….. all the plans we had all the places i wanted to take her all the self improvement we did together she has been the only person in the past 10 years thats help me in ways i didnt know i needed she made me want be a better man not only for myself but for everyone around me i fucked it up but how i did is so dumb paranoia and letting other people get in between us i was gang stalked my her ex and his friends and i should kept it to myself but at some point i thought she was in on it she would pull away at random and treat me as if i was a stranger all the things we told each other started to feel as if they've never been said at all she made me feel weird or creepy for check up on her or comforting her for sub tweets i knew were aimed at me all of a sudden im a stalker or im not respecting boundaries i deactivated all my accounts not only because of the gang stalking but also because i never wanted anyone to feel like im watching them that shit made me feel gross and i care so much about her feeling and her privacy i respect this person they've go me through the tuffest time in my life they dam near brought me back to life bur i cant accept the treatment anymore i found out they had 6 profiles and they would watch me on them so the projection is crazy i started making profiles to get away i had a youtube channel input alot of work into ive learned to keep they things i hold dear to myself now my accounts kept getting reported on all platforms she use my new accounts as proof that i watching her from them but i was trying to get away from her ex and continue my career well wanna be career ive been dealing with this so long i almost started to believe her i became scared to long in anything because i felt like many im the problem i havent been perfect but wtf is going on my mental was really tested this time im still trying to understand what was real this hurt me to my core she knows how much power she has over me and i wasnt afraid to hide how important she was to me i still dont want to believe she did any of this on purpose i dont want to believe her and her ex we in on it together but ill truly never know

[batsyx]

So I finished Batman Resurrection and I have thoughts:

Copied and pasted from my goodreads account FYI.

Some major points I want to talk about:

SPOILERS BELOW

The introduction of Clayface. He wasn’t just a pure bad guy. He had some genuine inner turmoil because he’s dealing with the changes of his body (Smylex exposure) and due to heavy manipulation by a certain character (it was Auslander), he ends up in the ultimate no-win situation. I normally don’t like it when characters origins are changed but if its done well and in service to the rest of the story then I dont mind here. We got a Basil Karlo that was a tragic victim, a guy who was simply at the wrong place, wrong time, wrong everything. You really do sympathize with him. What I’m trying to say here is that I liked the depth he was given here.

Dr. Hugh Auslander aka Dr. Hugo Strange. His name being German translation for stranger (not an exact translation i know but close enough), somehow I feel dumb for missing that. It was pretty obvious from the start though, his experience, the way he was using Clayface and Lawrence (jokers boombox henchmen), all his experiments. Like Clayface, Strange is a character we’ve not yet seen on the big screen but he would totally be a great villain to use. I liked his introduction to the Burton-verse and him being the guy who was working with the Joker behind the scenes on smylex, that makes sense. I remember theres a scene in the Batman movie where Joker is in his lair cutting up the photographs but on his desk there’s a file folder that said CIA top secret. His name being in that file folder totally works. I guess one could argue that if it weren’t for Strange’s involvement in the use of smylex, we wouldn’t have the Joker. At least according to this book.

Joker’s death and how it still affects Bruce. So having defeated the man who killed your parents, obviously thats gunna leave a mark on you mentally. The parts where he’s constantly dreaming about his final showdown with Joker in that cathedral, Joker mocks him every time. Most of the time he’s just saying nonsense but deep down it was Bruce’s subconcious nagging him. Basically telling him the stuff with Joker is not over. If you’re looking for more Batman-Joker stuff to analyze, you won’t find much here other than the dreams Bruce keeps having. Joker killed his parents so Bruce is trying his best to move on from him and the fallout from his demise. I always thought making Joker the killer of the Waynes was a weird choice at first. Especially when you grew up watching the movie as a kid and always believed that until you got older and read the comics and the animated show and realized “ohhh so it was joe chill”. It changes their dynamic, it’s not going to be the one you would expect. Making him the killer works because it gives Batman his motivation, especially when you factor in the whole “I made you, you made me” bit. I liked that the story tried to tackle Bruce’s emotional state and you do get some character development. Do I think this is the same man we see in Batman Returns? I think so, he seems to be more confident and sure of himself and his methods. I mean he’s never going to be OK in the normal sense but things have certainly changed for him.

Speaking of Joker, the whole “is he really dead or not” kinda dragged on too long for me. It went on for too long when I already knew he was truly dead. He had to be because then the rest of the movies wouldn’t make sense especially since this book is supposed to be considered cannon now. And Clayface pretending to be Joker, saw that coming a mile away.

I read an article that the author wanted to explain the plot hole of how Joker’s henchmen were on the rooftop of the cathedral by the time Batman makes it up there. Joker radios for a helicopter but somehow the henchmen, including boombox carrying Lawrence, were already there so fast so how did they know. I have to say I never thought it was that big of a deal. I always assumed they were there because they were stationed in case Joker had to escape via rooftop. Should Joker not have needed the helicopter and just left the building through the front door, then I thought Joker would radio them and tell them to come down. This is assuming they have radios too which I would assume all the henchmen do because how the hell do you communicate orders. When you’re 7 or 8 watching this movie, it’s not something you give a damn about. The other plothole he wanted to address was Joker telling Batman “Hey, bat-brain, I mean, I was a kid when I killed your parents”, Joker being a kid doesn’t make sense. In the movie, thats clearly a much younger man shooting the Waynes. I always understood that sentence as Joker thinking of himself as a “kid” because he was so young. I never took it literally. Despite that I do think the author was able to explain these plotholes in a way thats pretty easy.

I did like the little cameos and foreshadowing we got from various characters. Max Shreck, Selina Kyle and Harvey Dent all show up. I do feel like Max and Selina were kinda pointless, they were just there to have something to tie into Batman Returns. You take them out of the story and nothing really changes. The story ends with Bruce getting a riddle from, yep you guessed it, The Riddler. Kinda wild to know the Riddler has been messing with him for this long.

Do I think this book is worth checking out? If you’re a hardcore Batman fan and want more Burton-verse Batman, then yes absolutely check it out. It expands the Burton-verse while also setting up the stage for whats to come. I will note I did listen to this story via audiobook so that was a much more entertaining experience imo.