#‘we thought we were going to lose you!’ ‘i literally cannot leave’

[valleynix]

I just saw ur angsty post on what if readers family came looking for them and I’m so sad now… TIME FOR SOME HAPPY IDEAS TO COPE

So if reader actually tried to reconnect with their lost family the dimitrescus would meet their family too yk.. and I can just imagine the dimitrescus panicking so much about their mother because they’d want to make a good impression on her 😭😭😭 all of them just being a nervous wreck trying to get on reader’s mother’s good side- and if reader had a little sibling, I’d imagine them (probably cass and Dani) playing with them. I’d bet they tried to find embarrassing stories on reader when they were young to fuck with them later on

PLEASEEE BAHAHAHA I LOVE THIS-

you know it would be an absolute “disaster” if they met Reader’s mother- the former of which would be like “🤨⁉️” when they see these noble, refined murderers NERVOUS to meet their mother

Alcina claims she’s not nervous at all and is actually very excited to meet their mother, but she’s had three glasses of wine at that point, so…

Bela probably has some blood dripping from the corner of her lip and she’s just “:)” while their mother is “😨” (she’s offended and doesn’t understand why their mother doesn’t accept her offer to help her with her jacket 😒)

Cassandra was actually the calmest one, up until the point she was 100% showing off her muscles both to Reader and their little sibling (mostly to Reader) and accidentally revealed the very large sickle at her waist. panic ensues. oops

Daniela was also fine, but she just couldn’t stop her flies from buzzing around her form out of excitement. she gets to meet her love’s family!!! she’s so happy!!!! and her bugs won’t stop biting people!!!!!!

but Reader’s little sibling would 100% snitch on them about things they would do pre-Miranda and both Cass and Dani are saving it for ammunition to prank them later

[your-average-gay-dork]

Ok but what if I can’t stop thinking ab taking you out to a bar and just getting to know you?

Or we can go out for drinks and apps and talk for hours?

I’m feeling patio vibes. Somewhere comfortable. Outside. A quiet ambience so we can just hear each other talk, maybe with some nice music in the back. Somewhere quiet, but private enough that you feel comfortatable entrusting me with all of your deepest secrets and fears.

What then?

[logansbaby]

NASTY | LOGAN HOWLETT

❥ like the title says, it’s nasty, no other explanations needed

word count: 1k

pairing: logan howlett x fem!reader

content warnings: NSFW 18+ CONTENT BELOW, p in v, unsafe sex (don’t be like them!), oral sex, literal filth i need to be cleansed

a/n: just a little drabble because i cannot get the these pictures out of my head and im a preening slut for logan (we knew this) i haven’t written in a little bit so im rusty but anyway its just filth i need to be put down! also, nasty by ariana grande was on repeat, hence the title ❥

— ˚｡⋆⟡♡⟡⋆｡˚

Logan Howlett is the type of man that goes feral when he sees you on your knees for him.

Seeing his girl, all desperate and needy, has his body thrumming with pure, hot desire.

Like right now, for instance. He’s leant back, comfortable in his seated position, eyes struggling to stay open at the feel of you whimpering around his cock.

You’d jumped him the minute he’d returned home, leading him away from wondering eyes until you’d found your bedroom. Far too impatient, you’d pushed him through the threshold and didn’t let up until the back of his legs dug into the leather chair nearest to you. Then, without another thought, you’d dropped onto the ground before him. The minute you unbuttoned his jeans and yanked his boxers down, he groaned at the full-body shiver that rattled through you.

With a salacious glaze to your eyes, you took the tip of him, cherry red and bubbling with white desire, past spit slicked lips and sucked.

“Fuck, princess,” he’d gritted out between clenched teeth, head slamming against the back of the chair at the feel of your wet, warm mouth caressing him.

A soft, supple hand grips the skin of his thigh, nails digging into the flesh until he grunts out, tethered back to the present as his hips jump at the feel of your fingers leaving indents. The movement sends him deeper into your mouth and you both moan at that.

You suck his cock like it’s your favorite treat and you can’t get enough of it. Your eyes never break eye contact with his own. Even as you swirl your tongue from base to tip, as you gag around the entirety of him, as you lift your head up and down in desperation. He supposed you did it because you liked seeing him lose his composure from something only you could do to him.

“Yeah, jus’ like that, baby.” he groans, hands sliding down to grip at you in anyway they can. One hand strokes the side of your face tenderly as he thumbs the imprint of his cock pressing into your cheek. The other grips your hair tightly, yanking it and holding you still as he starts to fuck your throat.

His hips are relentless, cock stuffed as far as it can go and though you’re gagging around him, you look as happy as can be. Even as your eyes stream tears at the fullness and the lack of airflow. You were moaning around him, looking like you were absolutely cock drunk and it’s that thought that sends him reeling past the edge.

Stifling, untamed pleasure curls in his lower stomach and builds up, up, up until his orgasm crashes over him with overwhelming euphoria. Logan groans, loud and guttural, hips stuttering in the sweet, sweet escape of your mouth.

He barely registers the sounds of you gasping off the length of him as you try to swallow his release, a look of pure glee mixed with sweltering desire painted on your face.

Just as you’re about to swallow, though, he yanks you up and into his lap, slamming his lips into your swollen, wet ones. He tastes himself as the saliva and his release mix between the swirl of your tongues. The messy, messy kiss has you whining into his mouth, unconsciously grinding your clothed, sopping pussy onto his thigh. The taste of him between your lips, the caress of his tongue on yours, the grip his gruff hands have on your hips (which encourage your pathetic humping), makes your head spin.

Its all too much and not enough at the same time.

“Such a good girl, took me so well.” Logan praises as he pulls away from your kiss, focusing his attention on the flushed skin of your neck.

Instead of answering, you just moved your hips down harder, chasing the searing pleasure encompassing your body. The smell of your arousal had been permeating the room the minute you sucked his cock, but now, it was wafting around Logan’s nose teasingly, tempting him to ruin you.

“Atta girl, use me.” He grunts out, flexing his thigh against your cunt to relieve the pressure building at your puffy clit. When he can’t take it anymore (and neither can you, you need him so badly it hurts), he lifts your sensitive body into his arms and stands. The need to take care of you properly overpowers his urge to see you hump yourself to an orgasm on his thigh.

Your whines of protests only last a second because the minute you land on the bed, Logan was between your thighs, ripping your shorts and lace panties with his claw, before devouring you.

And after you’d finally come on his tongue, your release was all over his face, slick and shiny, as he pressed gentle kisses on your thighs. It shouldn’t have made you arch back up to his mouth, not with how sensitive you were, but it did.

And because Logan is absolutely unhinged, he wouldn’t just stop after you’d reached your high, he would continue to suckle your clit and lick up your dripping desire until you’d come undone a couple more times for him. Then, as you’re a blubbering, teary mess, he’d flip you onto your stomach, grunting at your lewd whines and whimpers, before he fucks you hard until you were crying out. With your cunt squeezing his cock in tight, delicious pulses, he’ll thrust with more vigor. As you’re shivering with pleasure below him, he’ll grip the plush of your hips and fuck you explosively until he’d finally come inside you.

While you’d be all dazed and hazy, you’d latch onto him tightly and Logan would tuck you into his side tightly. When he would try to pull out, pitiful protests would tumble from you until he got the hint. He’d settled down with you, one hand stroking your sweat soaked hair, the other tracing your back. You’d both fall asleep like that; tangled up together and still connected in the most intimate sense possible.

And if he wakes up in the morning, still inside you and hard again, he couldn’t be blamed. He turns into an animalistic version of himself the minute you get on your knees.

[queerfables]

Reading this excellent laudanum meta by @azfellandco got me thinking about Crowley and Aziraphale and suicide pills. I haven't given this subject much thought in the past, because I agree with Mir that this wasn't on Crowley's radar when he asked for the holy water. Certainly book!Crowley only ever thinks of it as a defensive weapon, and even when faced with literally eternal torture if he's taken alive, he's meticulously careful to protect himself from exposure.

But the thing is. The thing is. It's actually not crazy of Aziraphale to fear this. Not because I think Crowley is particularly prone to suicidal ideation. But rather because they are enemy agents committing treason with every moment they spend together.

"Suicide pill" is an entirely anachronistic term for Aziraphale to use in 1862, since the concept wouldn't arise until World War II (making this Aziraphale's own lead balloon moment). What sometimes gets lost when we talk about this scene - understandably, given all the strong emotions going on in it - is that a suicide pill is a weapon of espionage, a pragmatic last resort for when your only alternatives are captivity, torture, and a painful death. Even if Crowley did mean to use it that way, there's no reason to think he would ever go through with it unless his other options were much, much worse.

And this is where my brain started sparking like a faulty wire, because refusing a request like that is love at its most selfish. Aziraphale cannot bear to lose Crowley. No matter what. He's asking Crowley to risk enduring torture with no way out rather than leave him on his own.

And then at the same time, it's love at its most recklessly and gloriously unguarded. A suicide pill doesn't just exist to protect the captured operative, it protects all the dangerous information in their heads from being exposed. And Crowley and Aziraphale hold all kinds of incriminating secrets about each other. Do you believe there's absolutely nothing hell could do to Crowley that would make him betray Aziraphale? Because Aziraphale does. Or he is willing to accept that Crowley could be used against him. He would rather be betrayed by Crowley than bereft of him.

It's such a messy, human way to love. And the fact that Aziraphale relents eventually just makes it all the more human. He'll give Crowley the choice, and ask him not to take it, and have to live with just the hope that that's enough. And he saves Crowley's life with that trust! God, everything about it means the world to me.

[rhaenella]

CL16 | Is It Over Now? | pt.7

pairing: charles leclerc x singer!reader

genre: social media au

summary: you and charles have been everyone's fave couple on the grid, but when you somewhat unexpectedly break up, you turn to songwriting to cope with the pain

face claim: léon

a/n: the finale... once again, all songs mentioned are either by taylor swift or léon. happy reading x

･ ⋆ ･ ⠄⠂⋆ ･ ⠄⠂⋆ ･ ⠄⠂⋆ ･ ⠄⠂⋆ ･ ⠄⠂⋆ ･ ⋆ ･ ⠄⠂⋆ ･

part 1 | part 2 | part 3 | part 4 | part 5 | part 6

masterlist

･ ⋆ ･ ⠄⠂⋆ ･ ⠄⠂⋆ ･ ⠄⠂⋆ ･ ⠄⠂⋆ ･ ⠄⠂⋆ ･ ⋆ ･ ⠄⠂⋆ ･

Liked by taylorswift, danielricciardo and 1,292,849 others

y/n: End & New Beginnings. ONE WEEK.

✨Is It Over Now?~Say Don’t Go~Bigger Than The Whole Sky~You’re Losing Me~Now That We Don’t Talk~Pretty Boy✨

View all 12,138 comments

user55: y/n’s latest masterpiece is incoming!!

user56: YES GIRL LETS GO

user57: omg finally 😱

user58: can’t fucking wait 💛

user59: babe are you realizing you’re releasing on friday the 13th 💀

user56: y/n is like “i’ve conquered all this year’s bad luck already, no one can stop me”

6 October

Liked by carlossainz55, maxverstappen1 and 1,450,288 others

y/n: It feels like it’s been a long time coming and now it’s here, my new EP ‘End & New Beginnings’ 🤍 Been a few sleepless nights making this to be honest. Ups and downs like always. But now I’m just so happy to let go of it and let you have it, and hopefully you’ll embrace it and make it yours. 

To the incredible people who’ve been a part of this record, THANK YOU! Couldn’t have done it without you… 

Here’s to the end & new beginnings 🕊️

View all 14,159 comments

taylorswift: Perfection 🥰✨🎼😍💋

y/n: ❤️❤️❤️

danielricciardo: ART.

Liked by y/n

lilymhe: Beautiful work sweetie, I can’t with how talented you are 🥹 You made me cry the entire 23 mins (and then again cuz it was on repeat)

y/n: Awww, thank you love 🥰 and I’m sorryyyy 🙊

alex_albon: It’s so so good! I didn’t cry tho…

lilymhe: Liar

Liked by y/n

landonorris: Wow 💕

Liked by y/n

yourbestfriend: You’ve outdone yourself once again, darling, love you

y/n: I love you more baby

user60: as someone who’s just gone through a terrible breakup too, i cannot express how comforting it is to hear these songs and realize i’m not alone

Liked by y/n

13 October

—

You let your phone drop to the bathroom counter, blinking slowly, unable to fathom the conversation that had just taken place. Had he really just said those things? Scrolling through the texts confirmed that yes, he had indeed. The bastard.

Charles had always been the jealous type. But attacking you like that when he had been the one to… It was absolutely ridiculous. Apparently he still couldn’t—or wouldn’t—grasp the depths of how much he had actually hurt you.

You’d loved him with all of your heart. Until he had ripped it out and hurled it to the floor, letting it shatter into a million tiny pieces. Yet, even then, you would’ve forgiven him. If only he’d apologised. If only he’d shown true remorse. But he hadn’t. And so you’d been forced to walk the path of mending your own heart, and move on with your life.

Perhaps a small part of you had hoped that he could be happy for you. That somehow, even after everything, you would be able to greet each other normally—that you could coexist peacefully. But as his texts just now had demonstrated, that wasn’t going to happen. Not right now. And definitely not next week in Texas. You sighed. It would’ve been too good to be true, anyway. Especially considering who you were currently seeing…

A light knock sounded at the door, startling you out of those thoughts. 

“Are you almost ready to go, darling?” a male voice asked, soft.

Right. Dinner. Celebrations. 

You had been in the midst of applying the finishing touches to your makeup and outfit before Charles had interrupted, quite literally shocking you to the core when his name had appeared on your lock screen. He’d been the last person you’d expected to hear from today.

You swallowed the bitter taste that Charles’ texts had managed to leave behind. He wasn’t worth it, you repeated to yourself. You weren’t going to let his shenanigans ruin a perfect night—a perfect date. You ran a hand through your hair and readjusted the necklace around your neck when the bathroom door creaked open behind you. 

Looking up, your eyes met your handsome, new boyfriend’s through the mirror. He was smiling, eyebrows raised in silent question, ever patient as he waited for you to finish up. You felt your pulse quicken at the sight of him, dressed to perfection in a dark suit, hair neatly tousled.

As always, his presence was able to reassure you within the blink of an eye, the tense muscles in your neck and shoulders relaxing as you gladly let all of your complex emotions fall away.

“Yes,” you nodded, a genuine smile spreading across your lips. “I’m ready.”

･ ⋆ ･ ⠄⠂⋆ ･ ⠄⠂⋆ ･ ⠄⠂⋆ ･ ⠄⠂⋆ ･ ⠄⠂⋆ ･ ⋆ ･ ⠄⠂⋆ ･

THE END

but who is she with? well, there’s a little (and not so subtle) easter egg that refers back to the beginning of part 6 that will confirm certain things… have you spotted it?

thank you everyone for coming along on this ride! it’s been a hell of a lot of fun writing and creating this story 🥰 my apologies to all the y/n x charles shippers out there, but as our songbird said: here’s to the end and new beginnings…

Now, if you'd like, please cast your votes below :)

･ ⋆ ･ ⠄⠂⋆ ･ ⠄⠂⋆ ･ ⠄⠂⋆ ･ ⠄⠂⋆ ･ ⠄⠂⋆ ･ ⋆ ･ ⠄⠂⋆ ･

･ ⋆ ･ ⠄⠂⋆ ･ ⠄⠂⋆ ･ ⠄⠂⋆ ･ ⠄⠂⋆ ･ ⠄⠂⋆ ･ ⋆ ･ ⠄⠂⋆ ･

Tags: @sukisheadlights @eviethetheatrefreak @blueflorals @kiskso @dessxoxsworld @treehouse-mouse @dangeroustacoalienbiscuit @clown-fc @stopeatread @vanishingcherry @bb-swift @leclercdream @scenesofobx @kagatinkita @allywthsr @evieepepi08 @viennakarma @riverjane-d @httpjeonlicious @madnesstaking0ver @futurecorps3 @celesteblack08 @sadg3 @simxican @glow-ish @spideybv28 @laneyspaulding19 @tswizzleismother @slytherinfolk25 @merchelsea @1655clean @urgirlnextdoorr @cixrosie @lightdragonrayne @lxclerc @hopexcroc @nichmeddar @imthebadguyyy

[fancyfeathers]

What a Camera Cannot Capture (Yandere Harbinger Lyney x reader)

the inspiration for the came from the voice line from Lyney when he was talking about how he was Arlecchino’s successor. So here you go, older Lyney who has become a Fatui Harbinger.

The performance by the well known magician Lyney had just reached its conclusion minutes ago, you were now getting your coat on and getting ready to leave, the last person to leave actually. You were buttoning up the buttons on your coat and reached into your pocket to grab the scarf you had shoved in there only to find it was not there. 

“Looking for this?” You heard the voice behind you, almost with a sing-song tone. You spun around to see the star of tonight’s show, Lyney holding your knitted scarf in his hand. How did he- oh wait, he’s a magician, sleight of hand was his thing. He tosses it back to you and as startled as you were, you caught it as he chuckled. “I wasn’t going to steal it, just playing with you.”

“I figured, but thank you for giving it back.” You replied as you wrapped it around your neck. You turned to the door once more but he called you back.

“You know, I’ve noticed you at almost every show, same seat in the front row.” He spoke as he circled around you, a skip in his step. “Don’t tell me I have an admirer, is that the case?”

“No, no, not in the slightest.” You laughed at his question, but he didn’t laugh with you, if anything he seemed sad. “I’m a photographer for the Steambird, my boss wanted me to get photos for an article covering Fontaine’s entertainment industry.”

“Well then, I hope you caught my good side...” His eyes drifted down to the camera case you held in your free hand and he smiled as his eyes drifted up to your face. He reaches over and before you knew if he was spinning you around and dipped you, his hand on your waist, his face only inches from yours. “…Like this”

He stood you up and spun you out of his embrace and you felt so flustered and your face must have been twenty shades of red. “Y-ya, exactly.”

“Well then, mon chérie, you must be off I suppose.” He walked over and opened and held the door for you. “Do consider paying me another visit at another show sometime, perhaps I could show you around backstage, the behind the scenes.”

“Perhaps, Monsieur, perhaps.”

—————————

“What do you mean your camera is missing?!” You sat in your boss’s office, feeling like a rotten child being yelled at. You had gotten back from the show last night and this morning when you went to get your camera out the case this morning to look at the photos it was gone.

“I-I don’t know, I opened it and it was gone.”

“Well you better find it because without it we lose this article and you lose your job, do I make myself clear?”

“Yes ma’am.”

After that you ran out of her office, nearly in tears as you made your way to the Aquabus Station and took the Navia Line to the Opera Epiclese. You curled up in your seat, praying to whatever god could hear you that you would not lose this job because if you do, archons know what you’ll do then. Once the aquabus reached its stop you literally ran to the Opera Epiclese, your hair getting messed up with your speed and the wind blowing against you, people probably thought someone was dying by the way you looked. You opened the doors to the opera house and rushed into the theater proper. You looked around the opera seat, scouring for where your camera may have fallen. By the time you were finished looking through the seats you must have looked like an absolute wreck with your rush, panic, and tears. 

You sat down in one of the seats and wondered what you were going to do. Then you hear voices from backstage, they clearly talked like they thought no one was there. You walked up the stairs onto the stage and walked over to the doors that led backstage. The door was slightly ajar and you slipped in and ducked down under a piece of furniture and listened, call it a reporter’s curiosity.

“My Lord, please excuse me but I doubt that camera has possible evidence against us.”

Camera?

“I know but it was better to be safe than sorry.” 

That voice… It was Lyney. What in Teyvat was going on?

“Shall we dispose of the photographer behind these photos? Tracking her down would not be difficult.”

Your breathing stopped… dear gods, they were talking about you. 

“No no, that won’t be necessary, she meant no harm by it, besides I have other plans for her.” You heard the voice of Lyney speak, followed by footsteps approaching you but not quite near you, making you think you were still hidden. “You can come out now, mon chérie.”

You could not breathe after you heard that, it felt like you were choking on your own fear. 

“Now now, don’t be afraid, I won’t hurt you.” You felt your shaking legs push you up for the ground and you finally got a clear view of everything. The two other people next to the magician make you feel sick, two Fatui agents. Lyney gestured you to come here and you stepped forward, every step made your legs feel like they were led. You stood in front of him, not making eye contact, you felt terrified. Lyney looked to the two agents and addressed them. “You two may leave now.”

There were mutterings of acknowledgement before the shuffling of feet, leaving you and the magician alone. You felt Lyney’s hand reach down and tilt your head so you would look at him. “Let’s get you relaxed, come on.”

He took your hand and led you further backstage until he reached a door and opened it with a key. He held the door open for you while you stepped in, it was his dressing room. Lyney slipped in after you and you did not even notice the sound of the door locking as Lyney urged you to sit down while he got some tea for the two of you. You sat down on the velvet couch in the large dressing room while Lyney prepared tea for the two of you. Your eyes drifted around the dressing room, it was so beautiful, and so many flowers that must have come from Lyney’s fans. Then you noticed as Lyney brought the tea tray over and set it between you, you saw on his mirror that it was lined with articles, more specifically photographs from the articles, your photographs you have done, even some photos of you. 

“I wish my father could have met you.” He said as he handed you a cup of tea and slowly you brought the cup to your lips and took a sip. “She died before she got the chance. I always talked to her about you though.”

“…how long have you been watching me?” You questioned, parting the cup from your lips.

“Straight to the point I see.” He gave a light laugh and sighed while he counted in his head. “Six years, almost seven.”

You nearly spat out your last sip of tea at that, but forced it down as a look of shock and horror came across your face. “S-seven.”

“Just about, since I started about a year and a half before father died.” Lyney spoke as if nothing was wrong when this was clearly messed up. “I’m guessing you have quite a few questions, so please go right ahead.”

“You’re a part of the Fatui?”

“Ah, yes I am.” He answered as he picked up a macaron from the tea tray to eat, but ended up setting it on your plate. “I was raised in an orphanage run by my father who was a harbinger and I ended up joining them with my sister when I got older. Now since my father passed I have taken her place.”

“You’re… a harbinger.”

“I am, but I’m not going to harm a single hair on your head.” He spoke as you raised the macaron he set on your plate to your lips, not trying to refuse and anger him. You started to feel dizzy and almost sick, your hands started shaking so badly and the pastry fell out of your hand and onto the floor. “Oh dear, are you not feeling well? I didn’t expect it to work that fast, I guess I should have taken Dottore’s word on that.”

“W-what… what did you give me?” You tried to stand up but Lyney’s hand came onto your chest, urging you to lay down on the couch.

“Shhh, just relax, it’s a harmless sleeping drug. You’ll wake up in a few hours.” You rampantly shook your head no, you were scared earlier about your job now you’re scared for your life. “Do you have any more questions I can answer before sleep takes you, my love? If you have any when you awake I’d be happy to answer then.”

“Why me?”

“Oh mon chérie…” his hand came up to stroke your cheek as your vision started to fade. “You’re just so beautiful, your curiosity, your passion for your work. See when my father ran the House of the Hearth she had my mother by her side, albeit a bit unwillingly on my mother’s end, but they ended up being happy in the end. Now that I’m the father of the House, don’t you think I should have a wife at my side?”

Your head felt like it was full of cotton, you could not even think as your body fell limp, your breathing shallow as you struggled to stay awake. 

“Just relax my love, I promise everything will be okay when you wake up.”

A photograph can capture the visual, not what disappeared. So what will happen when the magician makes the photographer disappear?

[ronance4everbrainrot]

Moooore descendants 4 incorrect quotes with Glassheart/CharmingHeart (they back)

(and other ships)

Red: Sometimes I get so caught up on being gay that I forget I’m actually bi.

(Girl. Same)

---

Maddox: Man, I’m gonna get fat if you keep feeding me all these chips and junk!

Red: I’M NOT! I was eating them and you took them.

Maddox: You said I should try some!

Red: I said they were good.

Maddox: That’s not how I heard it.

(MADDOX! HIIIII! SOME LOVE FOR YOU TOO BUDDY!)

---

Red: Tomorrow’s the Cooking Contest. Maddox always tells me one thing every year. They say, “You might win if you’d stop eating your entry!” But how would I know whether it’s an award-winning dish without tasting it first? This may be a problem humanity will have to grapple with for eternity.

(AU. Red is a good cook)

---

Chloe: So how’s the food Red made?

Cinderella: It's great! Compliments to them.

Chloe: *goes to the kitchen*

Chloe: You're adorable.

Red: *blushes*

(again. Red is a good cook. She invites the Charmings for dinner and then asks them for their blessing when Chloe leaves)

---

Chad: we could make a boys club!

Maddox: Im non-binary.

Chad:

Chad: Anti-girls club.

(Slay. Also can't decide if Maddox should be green or purple. Maybe even orange but I chose green for now. Will change later if I'm in the mood)

---

Red: Can you PLEASE peer pressure me into doing my project?

Chloe: Do it or you're straight.

Red: I said peer pressure, NOT THREATEN!

(That's too far, Chloe! Are you mad?!)

---

Chloe: Operation no more distractions is a go!

*not even 10 seconds later*

Chloe: Oh, look! A butterfly!

(She's either laser focused or cannot concentrate at all)

---

Red: *clicks pen*

Maddox: *clicks pen in response*

Queen of Hearts: Stop that.

Red: Stop what?

Queen of Hearts: You’re talking about me in Morse code!

Red: Yes, that’s what we doing. In our very limited time, we took a class on a very outdated, very unnecessary form of communication just so we could talk about you in front of you. Congrats, you figured us out!

*later*

Red, to Chloe: That’s actually exactly what we were doing.

(I'm surprised you kept your Head. And they absolutely did learn that because they had nothing else they could do)

---

Chloe: Come on, Chad. Nobody actually believes that Red is in love with me.

Chad, to The Squad: Raise your hand if you think that Red is helplessly in love with Chloe.

*Everyone raises their hand*

Chloe: Red, put your hand down.

(*raises hand* what more evidence do you need??)

---

Chloe: The salary of a clown is 51,000 dollars.

Chloe, gesturing to Chad and Red fighting: And yet these idiots do it daily, and for free!

---

Red: When I first got my autism diagnosis, my first thought was “woah… it’s canon” and I think that maybe thoughts like that is why Chloe made me get tested.

(It is canon now. Headcanon)

---

Chloe: Anything else?

Red: Yeah. Stay away from me!

Chloe: Alright. See you in the room we share

(Literally them. Canon. can also be switched)

---

Queen of Hearts: If looking good was a crime, you’d be a law abiding citizen.

(rather that and not off with my head)

---

Queen of Hearts: We are gathered here today because someone- *glares at Red’s coffin* -couldn’t stay alive!

(Oop-. Damn. She would care more tho. I think..)

---

Queen of Hearts: So you're looking for information on this thing, huh? Well, I feel like it must be from far away.

Mal: What makes you say that?

Queen of Hearts: If it's something even I don't know about, then I'm sure nobody else must have a clue. So it's gotta be from some faraway place. Impeccable reasoning, isn't it?

Mal: Your Majesty.. You don't have a clue about this thing, do you?

Queen of Hearts: *screams in anger*

(Just a meeting between two Queens ✨. Canon

---

Queen of Hearts: Standing next to sunflowers always makes me feel weak like ‘look at this fucking flower. This flower is taller than I am. This flower is winning and I’m losing.’

Maddox: Wow, you are not ready to hear about trees.

(ssSSHHhhH. Not so loud. Don't want you to lose your head. Canon tho)

---

Red: I’m terrible at expressing myself.

Uma: Don’t worry, actions speak louder than words.

Red: Yes, but my actions are also bad.

(Girl same. Getting advice from the principal ✨ she probably did something 👀)

---

Queen of Hearts: God has let me live another day and I'm going to make it everyone's problem.

(She for real does make it everyone's problem)

---

Hope you liked it!

Wanted to add more but then it would have been too long.

So the next one has more of the OGs

Byeeee

[sayruq]

My name is Bridget Kushner and I'm managing this fundraiser for Mohammed and his family. Mohammed and I met and for me to help manage this fundraiser, Mohammed's ID and family situation have been verified by a journalist on the ground. We talk daily and have developed a friendship. I strongly urge you to read through Mohammed's story and follow him on social media. At 22, after 6 months of this, Mohammed has decided he needs to take action so he's quite late to fundraising compared to many people. Thank you for taking the time to read about Mohammed!! My friends, brothers, and supporters of humanity in the world, I am Muhammad Al-Shaer from Gaza. I am approximately 23 years old, and like any young man in the world at this age, I am nearing the end of my university and the beginning of the formation of my professional life. At this age, I only had 18 hours left (less than a year), and I graduated from university with a very good grade, and I had my own house, and I was working in the field I was studying (software engineering.) As they say, at the age of 23, I have passed halfway or more until the time came that destroyed all these things, destroyed all of my dreams, and destroyed all of these plans. After October 7 (with the beginning of the war in Gaza,) our entire lifestyle changed. Unfortunately, I stopped studying and I did not finish my university (I did not obtain my degree.) With the power outage and the internet outage, I stopped working and completely forgot about my field. The biggest disaster that befell us was that my house, my brother’s house, and my family’s house were completely destroyed I became without a degree, job, or home (homeless in every sense of the word). Since that day when we lost our home, I have seen the amount of sadness and distress in the faces of my family, especially my mother. And every time our hearts bled, we felt sad for every part of this house. You can imagine this feeling as you see your family’s house and the house of your dreams being slowly destroyed before your eyes, and you can do nothing but pray to God only. The war has been going on for almost 6 months, and I did not think about taking refuge here on gofundme, but when my family and I lost the entire house, I had to create this donation, hoping for your generosity and understanding of the magnitude of the disaster that befell us here. From a young man who has less than a year left to obtain his university degree, a comfortable job, and my own house, I thought about every detail when building this. To a person without a degree, job, or home, and unfortunately without dreams as well now. After I lost everything I mentioned previously, which is almost everything I own, and logically all of this will be compensated with the passage of days, but I own something very beautiful that cannot be replaced at all, which is my family (my mother and my brothers ) And after I saw that this war was eating away everything green and dry, and burning everything in its path: people, dreams, and plans. So I thought about trying to get my family out of this war zone, in which not a single area is safe anymore, and every area is literally at risk of being killed at any time, unfortunately, and out of my fear for my family, here I created this link, and Bridget (the foreign Queen of Palestine) helped me a lot with it. Hoping in your humanity to help me get my family out so that I don’t lose them and lose the most beautiful thing I have in my life. Unfortunately, to leave Rafah to Egypt, each person’s coordination requires $5,000. We have a brother in Egypt who went out a month before the war to study, and he is the one who will make arrangements for us and receive us there, and our plans in Egypt are to sit there temporarily to protect our lives from the war.

This family has received less than $1000. Please boost. Donate if you can

[plague-of-insomnia]

Hi, I saw a post a while ago looking at the original Japanese version of Sebastian's "I have gone through great pain to cultivate you" that I just can't seem to find anymore.

I have a feeling that it might have been one of yours, but it doesn't seem to be in the masterlist and Tumblr's search engine is no help. Do you know if that is a post you remember making or have any idea where else I might have luck finding it?

Thanks :)

Hey, this was a great ask and I'm sorry for the delay in replying. I've been really low on spoons and wanted to be sure I gave this question the attention it deserves.

So I was not the one who did that post, so that explains why you couldn’t find it. But perhaps this was the one you meant? It’s a really long one and only talks a little about that moment but I figured you may wanna see it anyway even if it’s not what you had hoped to find.

But I believe that post is using a fan translation (or maybe a version from the monthly chapters and not the volume, and changes were made in between those two releases) because their English translation is not the same as the one I have.

And now that we’ve gotten to this moment in the anime too, I thought we could compare the different versions:

The original Japanese manga version

The translation used in the cited post

The official English manga translation

The official English anime translation

My thoughts on all of this and how *I* would translate it

So I thought I would take this time to go ahead and look at this section myself and give my own thoughts on the translation/what Yana maybe was going for here.

This is gonna be a LONG post, so buckle up.

Below is from the cited post, with the Japanese side by side the English version they used.

Let’s look at the Japanese first.

Japanese

Sebastian says in the original:

せっかく

育てて

きたんです

掠め取られては

たまらない

A bit literally, this is what it means:

(I’ve) taken great pains

to raise (you) / nurture (you) / foster (your) growth

(for you) to be stolen (away from me)

is intolerable

Old Post English Translation

I went through the trouble of

cultivating** it.

So I won’t let myself be

robbed* of it.

Official English Manga Translation

I have gone to great pains to

cultivate** you.

I cannot afford

to have him steal* you away.

Official English Anime Translation

I’ve gone to the trouble of raising** you.

I won’t stand for anyone snatching* you away now.

My Thoughts

So now you've seen the original Japanese, with a fairly literal translation to give you a sense of the core meaning of what's being said here along with 3 different English translations: a fan (or older) translation, the official English manga translation from the volume and the official English anime sub from Crunchy Roll (specifically; other anime sites may have different sub translations).

So let's first look at the part about Seb losing out on Ciel, the bit about something being taken from him.

The word that Yana uses is shown above, kasumetoru, which you can see according to jisho.org means to snatch or steal. We saw three different English words used for this: rob, steal, and snatch, all of which fit with the Japanese meaning. I'll leave off my opinions on what I would pick until the end. But you can see that you can't really fault either of the three translators for their choice as each works in the context and with the original intent of the word itself.

But what about the more controversial part? The REASON Sebastian can't stand to have Ciel taken from him?

Let's first look at the original word Yana used:

You can see it has three possible meanings:

to raise/rear/bring up;

to train/teach/educate;

to promote the growth of/nurture/foster/develop

Now let's look at the ways the three above English translations approached this word:

Both manga translations went with "cultivate," while the anime went with "raise." How well do these two words fit with the original? Well, let's look first at how the English word "cultivate" is defined according to dictionary.com; pay attention especially to the highlighted definitions:

Those three meanings all align well with the three from the original Japanese, don't they? OK. But what about "raise"? How well does that work? That word has over thirty possible definitions, so I won't post them all here, only what's pertinent, but you can see them all here if you're especially curious.

Only two align with the context/meaning intended in this scene:

As you can see, the first of these two, "to grow or breed, care for, or promote the growth of" is a synonym for "cultivate." The second is the one that the dadbastian fans are latching hard onto, but that isn't completely disjoined from a couple of the meanings of cultivate, and that does fit with the various Japanese meanings.

So who did it better? How would I translate this?

Translation is not a science; it's tricky especially when you're moving from two languages that are as different from one another as English and Japanese are. The way Yana uses layered meanings makes things even more challenging. Sometimes, it comes down to simple preference on the part of the translator. That seems to be the case here, as I cannot really say anyone got things "wrong," despite having three disparate translations for the same lines.

I think I would have translated it this way:

I have taken great pains to cultivate you; I shan't stand anyone snatching you away.

Firstly, I know the first translation went with “it” as in “Ciel’s soul,” but I think “you” is a stronger choice here, and it’s what the other two translators went with, perhaps since Sebastian is directly speaking to Ciel here.

As for the rest, I personally prefer "taken great pains" over "gone through a lot of trouble," partly because it's less modern sounding and to me fits the way Sebastian speaks. I also like "cultivate," over "raise," because I think it not only fits Sebastian's manner of speech better (and we know he doesn't want to be seen as Ciel's parent), but it also has a more immediate and direct association with food. Yes, we "raise" food (as we see above they're interchangeable in English in this meaning), but I think that when English-speaking people read or hear that word they think more about kids first.

While ofc Sebastian HAS raised Ciel—he's fostered his education, watched out for his health and made sure he can pass as an earl, etc.—those are means to an end. Sebastian's main goal is to eat Ciel's soul, which he has already spoken about wanting to perfect so it'll be the most delicious it can be. Thus, I think keeping that association while having us remember his ultimate agenda is why "cultivate" is a slightly better choice than "raise."

The bit about Seb finding losing Ciel intolerable is where we see the most variation in the translations, and that's largely likely because the Japanese only needs a word while we need a whole phrase in English for it to make sense. I like "I shan't stand" because it's stuffy and old-fashioned and more possessive than some of the above options, in my opinion.

I also decided to go with "snatch" over stolen or robbed because that's in the Japanese definition and since literally Sebastian was imagining Undertaker scooping Ciel up and taking him away, I figured it fit.

So you can now decide for yourself how you'd like to interpret/translate this section, and you're welcome to dislike my version and prefer one of these others, too.

However, I think anyone who latches solely on the "raise a child" aspect of the meaning here is not paying attention to the full context of the story, characters, and layers of meaning in the Japanese original.

[mistymem0ryy]

Il Dottore x Reader

The Fall of Icarus Chapter 1 - An unexpected letter

Summary: While being a student in the prestigious Sumeru Academy, the reader begins to form a weird friendship with the genius student Zandik, only to then lose said friendship due to his banishment. Years later a rogue letter finds its way to their report-file desk.

The gender of the reader is not specified.

(Minor spoilers for Dottore’s identity ig)// Word count: 2066

Notes: I am quite tired of the constant fics where the Reader happens to not be at a similar intellectual level as Dottore… Do not get me wrong I understand that it could be quite intimidating since the guy is quite literally a genius, but I always wondered how different his common behavior and developing intellect would have been during his Academia years…

Chapter 2

{No beta we die like Zandik’s grades}

People like Dottore are usually blessed with what I call an Imaginative Genius, he is inventive and curious in nature but that is not all you need in order to excel in an Academic environment. Any undergrad level Science student will complain to you about obligatory courses that range from boring classes on how to write an adequate lab report, to mind draining mathematics units that you have to take in order to graduate but most probably will never need in your actual profession.

Dottore is a genius, yes, but he is also impatient and insatiable, and those are the traits that led him to his unlabeled relationship with you…

The Academia is constituted by various facets dedicated to different areas of research, but they all possess one common thing, and that is the dreadful compulsory mathematics and report units. Mathematics is the language of the world, therefore it would be only logical that a self respecting scientist would have a certain degree of fluency in it…And to add unto that, a great researcher must too be capable of describing all observable phenomena in harmonious text.

Dottore… or should I say Zandik? Well, no matter how much his brain was capable of maneuvering itself into creating unimaginable gadgets and devices while simultaneously researching lost ruins of forgotten civilizations, he simply could not wrap his head around a certain set of classes that he deemed utterly useless.

He wanted to go out and research the unknown, feel his surroundings and understand their development, he wanted to acquire knowledge beyond the one present in the various dust collecting books that encircled him every minute… 

He wants to punch down that godforsaken door and leave this classroom at this precise moment… But to his utter disdain he cannot.

You see Zandik is quite the intelligent fellow, his curiosity leads him further in his personal research but he must balance all of that alongside all the courses the Academia requires from him in order to finish his initial program. But no matter how “important” a certain class might be, if it doesn't strike the interest of the blue haired student then he will not even glance towards its direction twice… His time is precious and slowly but certainly running out, so he must make the most of it, even if it means missing a rather concerning number of classes.

You would like to say that perhaps, in some sick and twisted way, Zandik considers you a friend… an appreciated company? a tolerant fellow student?... 

After years of being in the Academia you have come to recognize the fact that you were the one sole person he did not outright treat with pure hatred. Sometimes you look back to your first year in the Academia, when you were solely a freshman ready to embark on a new intellectual endeavor and happened to be partnered up with Zandik for a class on “The Etiquette of Writing a Concise and Clean Scientific Report”. A boring class that you honestly thought quite useless, I mean haven’t you all been writing for years already? Why would you need a specific class centered around writing a report when you could be spending this precious time on other more alarming subjects? 

After receiving your first graded assignment, and looking to your side only to be met with the hellish mess that was your Partner’s crumbling sheet you finally realized why this class was an obligatory module for graduation… You cannot decipher at which point his description of physical phenomena turned into a horrific amalgamation of scribbled equations, and- is that khaenri'ahn script? Nevermind, you do not want to know…

Zandik catches you fearfully attempting to understand the meaning behind his rather… messy report…and lets out an annoyed huff in the process.

He is an excellent scientist in the making yes, but he has a hard time translating the concepts that take place in his head into a mere sheet of paper, and the fact that someone, especially YOU, happened to be witness to one of his intellectual weaknesses, that he so arduously attempted to hide, stroke a nerve.

The moment the class is dismissed Zandik is packing his materials and leaving this humiliating experience, you quickly come to the understanding that his speed is not necessarily a byproduct of his failing grade, but rather of the fact that you saw said grade.

You knew Zandik had a reputation for being a Genius in the making, and honestly a part of yourself could not help but be relieved by the fact that this class was proof that he could also fail, that he was indeed human.

You gather your belongings as fast as you can manage, and decide to follow the boy into whatever corner of this building he has decided to retire himself into. When you find him you offer to secretly help him with his failing grade, which he reluctantly accepts. That is the beginning of the rather weird relationship you happened to establish with Zandik, you weren't necessarily friends… you knew that despite his act in front of the professors and all the well calculated smiles he threw into the air, Zandik didn't actually see any of your colleagues on exactly friendly terms… but you hoped… You hoped that perhaps after all of this he could find in himself the sympathy to see, at least yourself, in a softer light…And the thing is, he did, trully. You simply weren't capable of perceiving it.

It was rather unnoticeable, and only someone with an extremely keen eye and patience would be capable of noticing the slight ways in which Zandik would relax his composure when in your presence, how his gaze would linger on you while you corrected another maze-like report of his, how he would lie to you about being offered 2 coffees instead of one thanks to his Genius-like reputation among the academic staff, and now you would have to drink the other one so he doesn't over caffeinate his system.

It was honestly quite warming, while it lasted at least. You helped Zandik obtain the grade he needed in order to pass that tormenting class, and sincerely hoped that this would not be the end of the untold arrangement between the two of you.

The unnamed relationship between you and Zandik, to your surprise, remained intact after that class, he continued to talk to you whenever you too happened to be in the same room (which even though at first glance does not seem to be that much, it is actually quite important for him since you happened to be the only other student which he does not see as a complete waste of his time), and when he noticed that you were having a hard time with Multivariable Calculus he took it upon himself to tutor you through that fearsome class. It was those tutoring sessions that really allowed Zandik to learn more about you, from your favorite dish to your family history, and eventually to teasingly referring to you only by the name of your favorite constellation.

“Careful there Icarus you don’t want to burn your wings away now do you?”

“Zandik why is the lab on fire?”

It was all going quite well… until the rumors began…

All the compliments that embellished Zandik’s reputation in the beginning slowly metamorphosed into quick whispers in the hallways pertaining to his rather unorthodox ideas, people began fearing for their safety after the disappearances and deaths began… And the initial worry directed towards your person and safety, as being the closest student to Zandik, eventually transformed itself into comments about how you too must also possess some sort of sickness in that head of yours in order to talk with him so casually…

Zandik was ok with people gossiping about him, that is as ok as one can be when your sanity has turned into a theme of communal discussion, but when the hatred that those around him started to deviate from being completely aimed towards him and began to shift towards your unknowing figure, he had to put it all to a stop. You were the only person in that damned establishment that saw him beyond the performance he put up every waking hour, the only person that treated him as if he were an actual human being and not an interesting concept, and no matter how ardently he wanted to be accursed alongside your embrace he couldn't bring himself to actually bring the both of you into your own doom.

He stopped talking to you completely. It's as if in the matter of a fleeting night your bodily presence had been turned invisible to his eyes, your voice echoed upon deaf ears, your pleas for an explanation gone unheard, left to rot alongside yourself.

You tried, you really did, but Zandik persisted, and at some point your loud requests for an explanation had been turned into a fleeting glance on your way to class, only to then become the impossibility of seeing him for weeks on end…

You want to say that you were surprised when he was expelled, but honestly you saw it coming before he did. Zandik, no matter how many times he bashed in his capacity of predicting the outcomes of any possible situation, was always a victim of his own ego, he thought himself undefeatable and it was (temporarily at least) your job to ground him to reality when necessary. 

He had strayed too far, and now his own genius could not save him from whatever grave he had dug for himself this time, not even you could stretch a lending hand to bring him from the darkest pits of his mind back to the light…

It has been years since the last time you saw Zandik, out of everyone in your sector of the Academia he was the only one you were certain of achieving greatness in the future, only for that hypothetical greatness to be cut short before he could even graduate successfully…

You tried to find him, after he was banished from Sumeru, no matter how hideous his actions, you could not forget the fact that he too was a human being, you had seen parts of Zandik the world considered utterly impossible, and you hoped that he could see that no matter how tarnished his person could become by the words of the masses, you still saw him as the boy that would ramble about Ancient Civilizations while you studied anatomy, the same boy that would take you to the areas of Sumeru streaming with wildlife and lecture you on all the different properties of the various species inhabiting your surroundings, the same boy that sent you letters nearly every two days when you had to temporarily interrupt your studies to help a sick family member…

But now it has been years, and even though you were able to somehow balance out both your professional research and that for the whereabouts of Zandik, you have found yourself with absolutely no fruitful outcome to the latter.

You quickly realized that you had completely spaced out with your various reports left untouched in front of you, recently the amount of times you temporarily lose awareness only to daydream about your old days with Zandik has become alarmingly bigger, you really should get some healthy amounts of sleep from now on…Especially after receiving a heads up from Alhaitham of a wandering Traveler that supposedly is going to pass by your office today in order to request your help.

You begin to clean up your reports, organizing every sheet according to your personal system until your eyes land upon a rogue letter that you cannot recall having in your possession.

The only tip that could lead to the identity of the sender was the initial -D stamped upon the untouched envelope. You switfly grabbed and began to open the lonely envelope in an uninterested manner, that is until it suddenly fell upon your paralyzed feet, leaving your trembling hands stuck in their prior position, as if you were still holding that now forgotten letter within your grasp.

All it took was one inked phrase.

“Greetings, my dear Icarus…”

[eddiewithcat]

losing my mind a bit, and need to try and get my thoughts in order BUT!

there is just.. something to be said with this season, and how they constantly like to reaffirm for us buck’s place in christopher’s life.

literally starting off the season with eddie opening up to buck about chris and him dating multiple girls at once, asking buck to talk to him (instead of simply asking him for advice to handle the situation, or even asking his girlfriend who- is a girl and would probably be better in that department! but anyway!).

and then showing us buck’s jealousy of chris thinking tommy is “so cool” (we all know now where that stemmed from, but i am still convinced he was confusing a bunch of feelings at once- and even oliver has said buck had no idea what / who he was jealous about!), and when tommy goes over to talk to buck about the basketball court incident- tommy tells him just how much christopher “can’t shut up” about him. and not to forget buck’s face when he says that and how it lasted a few seconds longer than it probably should have

…. and now; whatever the fuck is going on with helen and ramon coming to visit. my money is on abuela getting / feeling sick after the wedding (hence why eddie is still in the same shirt he wore to the hospital wedding in that still of him and chris that we got- also looks like he possibly could’ve been crying)

i am not super sure what the heck is going on there but i have a silly theory that my friend and i kind of came up with! we do not have strong evidence supporting it btw- this simply just based on what we have seen thus far and how the season has been playing out!

but since eddie will most likely be busy being by his abuela’s side- he would want someone to watch after chris for him. our best guess? buck, of course! it would also explain why he seems to be filming the same time as everyone else involved- and plus it could be the perfect opportunity to bring the ‘will of it all’ into play.

i could see two things going on with this; helena says something in a spur of a moment out burst along the lines of like, “you cannot keep leaving your son with a stranger” and eddie can say something like “he’s not a stranger, he’s family” and that can somehow lead into the will reveal! (because i do see helena being the problem here- people have pointed out many times now that ramon is the only one it seems to be putting in any effort into having a relationship with his son, where as it’s crickets from helena! also she was the first one to be defensive about shannon but anyway!)

OR!

and just a heads up: this is not me bashing tommy at all, i actually do enjoy his character and love what he has done / is doing for buck! this is simply speculation and also just a bit of fun!! no harm in silly theorizing!

i could see tommy perhaps noticing how often buck is watching after chris, and maybe he just brings up something about like, oh hey i thought eddie’s parents were in town… are they not able to watch after him? (in a nice way!! idk how the hell to word things but i do not think he would be a dick about it 😭 like he would just genuinely be asking!) and then somehow that conversation leads to the will and how eddie trusts buck more than anyone etc …

needless to say i just think there is. Something. There. and i have sooooo much hope in the will being brought up. based on how many times they brought it up in interviews, and sort of alluded to in the show as well (“you don’t seem to have trouble committing to certain things” you all know where your mind went!)

anyway that is all. thanks for reading this mess if ya did <3

[theladybarnes]

CRIMSON AND CLOVER: CHAPTER ONE

"Do you ever feel like you're losing your mind?”

▸ summary: fall brings in new beginnings, new friendships, and new insecurities ▸ characters: nancy wheeler, robin buckley, eddie munson, & steve harrington 💕(ft. dustin henderson) ▸ word count: 11.5k         ▸ warnings: SMUT (18+MINORS DNI) unprotected p&v smut, semi oral sex, semi-angst, & fluff ▸ series masterlist

SEPTEMBER

 Fall had finally arrived in Hawkins. Bringing in the crisp air, new school year, festive holidays, and the homicidal urges to kill your cousin. 

 “Dustin, move your ass! We’re literally running so late now!” you barked outside his bedroom door. 

 It was the first year ever that you and Dustin attended the same school together. Something that might actually sound cool if your cousin were normal. 

 “I spent two years dealing with you waking up late! I just need five minutes to find a damn shirt, you witch!” He screeched from the other side of the door. 

 Aunt Claudia quickly came down the hall at the sound of the yelling and quietly ushered you to gather up your things as she pounded on the door. “Dusty we can’t be late for school! Let’s hurry up!”

 There was a moment of incoherent yelling from the other side before he slid open his door. Giving his Mother an exasperated look before coming down the hall.

 “All right. I’m here, let’s go!” He chided at you. 

 You were about to tell him off for that late comment when you caught sight of his shirt. “Aunt Claudia!” You gasped. Eyes wide as you pointed at his chest. “We cannot leave this house if he’s wearing that!” 

 She came over and glanced at his shirt before looking at you curiously. “I’m sorry dear, I’m confused.” 

 “Yeah, what’s the deal?” Dustin frowned. 

 “What’s the deal? WHAT'S THE DEAL?” Reaching over you grip onto his shirt, shaking him wildly to get your point across. “You are attempting to go to school. The very same school I attend in a WEIRD AL YANKOVIC SHIRT!”

 Dustin started to slap at your hands, getting you to let go of him so he could straighten out his shirt. “He’s cool! Okay? People actually like his music.” 

 You gaped at his words in disbelief. This couldn’t be happening. Dustin was always different from people. Especially with things such as intellect but this was just borderline..dorky. 

 “I can’t do this.” You gasped, holding your bag up to cover up the line of vision to the shirt. “I can’t walk beside him in that!” 

 Aunt Claudia, having been fed up with the two of you, pushed you towards the door. “Then just walk ahead of him, dear.” She chuckled nervously as she led you outside, ignoring your growing protests. 

  “Now Miss Henderson, I know you had quite the traumatic summer..”

 “Don’t you mean blazing?”

 “No.”

 “Deadly?”

 “No!”

 You bit down your lip, turning your gaze away from Ms. Kelley. This was her first attempt of the year to try and talk about Starcourt. Something you were dreading. On top of not even being able to disclose anything due to the lawyers of Hawkins Labs, but there wasn’t any part of you that wanted to talk about it. 

 Especially when it led to talking about Billy. 

 “I understand that using humor to cope through some of your feelings might help. But I just want you to know that this is a safe place.” 

 The two of you meet eyes at that. You gave a slightly skeptical expression to her kind one. While you’ve always thought Ms. Kelley to be kind and caring, this particular time you wished for the opposite. 

 “Look,” you chuckled awkwardly. “I appreciate the help, Ms. K. Really. But there just not anything I really need to talk about here.”

 “Really?” she asked slowly. “So someone you’ve had a personal relationship with dies in a tragic fire and you’re expecting me to believe that you’re fine?”

 “Yes?”

 “Miss Henderson,” she said leaning forward. “No one would be upset if you of all people had some sort of mourning period for the boy you knew. I know things didn’t end well–”

 “It didn’t just end badly, Ms. Kelley. It was actually all just bad.” You can’t help but feel something snap inside yourself. Finding it hard to keep hold of the anger you had inside towards everyone who kept bringing this up. “The only thing I feel out of everything is relief. Okay?”

 “Oh..”

 “Billy was the only person in my life who ever did me wrong. He cheated on me, he hurt me, he hurt my friends, and that was with the last two years!” 

 A part of you felt crazy bringing up your horrible past again. But if it got Ms. Kelley to back off, then you’d take on the weird looks. 

 “I’m sure there are bad moments that come to mind but surely there are some good memories that you’d like to reflect on.”

 “Good memories?” you scoffed, leaning towards the desk. “There is no such thing as a good memory with Billy Hargrove. Okay? There’s only regrets and a lot of headaches.” You laughed in disbelief. “The only good thing he ever did was cheat on me so bad that it caused me to leave that party, get in that stupid accident, and wind up here.” 

 Getting up from your seat you point outside the door. “Because of him, I got taken to a place where people actually give a shit about me. Where friends stick around despite my attitude, and where I have the most doting and loving boyfriend that I could ever dream of. So if you’re asking me to reflect on anything, it’s only that!”

 Ms. Kelley stared up at you with wide eyes. The sudden outburst from you was probably a bit unusual, but you’ve been feeling the emotions bottle up about Billy since the damn funeral last summer. 

 “I don’t..revel in the fact that he’s dead. Especially since I’m not the only person that was in his life.” You briefly remember the hard, distant, look on Max’s face after the funeral. How she closed off on you trying to talk it out.

  “Even then,” you went on. “That doesn’t mean I need to grieve for him either.” 

 ..Who could miss evil like him..(tick)

 Your mind wanders off again at the thought. Going to how you felt that night again when seeing the monster attack him. Shooting limbs and teeth all over his body while he screamed out in pain. How his blood spit out of–

 No, you didn’t want to grieve or think about him anymore. 

 ..You do..(tock)

 “I don’t wanna talk about it.” you whispered out loud. Unaware of the weird look you were getting from over at the desk. The room is almost filled with an awkward silence. Having only that small ticking sound you heard before as the only noise between you two for a minute. 

 “While I understand there’s a part of you that hasn’t forgiven Billy for the grievances he’s brought to you over the years. I do want to make it known that there’s a chance you’re not fully taking in the whole thing properly. Sometimes loss hits someone at a later time…”

 “Well, if that time comes then I guess I’ll have to come back here right?” you snapped, looking away from the woman. The ticking only grew louder, making it hard for you to follow along to whatever little speech Ms. Kelley was trying to say in order to diffuse the situation. Which was really bringing on a headache, but you pushed the pain away in order to hear her last words.  

 “..of course, it’s whatever feels right for you, Miss Henderson. I just want you to understand that there are people here willing to listen.”

 “Thanks Ms. K. I’ll keep it in mind.” you sighed, ending the conversation. “I’ll see you next week.” Not waiting for a proper dismissal, you grabbed your bag and made it out the door in time for the bell to ring. 

 Students burst from the classrooms, yapping away to one another while you weaved through them to get to your locker. The day was barely midway and you already felt over it. The only solace you had was that after lunch you’d be only an hour and half closer to getting out of these walls. 

 “How’d the meeting go?” 

 You jumped at the sudden voice of your friend, nearly dropping the book in your hands in the process. “Can you like, not scare me right now?” you said with a slight glare to Nancy.

 The girl simply chuckled at your reaction as she opened up her locker beside you. “Sorry,” she smirked a bit. “To be fair, I did call out your name. I think you were lost in thought.”

 “Yeah, been like that all day.”

 “Well now that I have your attention I can finally give you this.”

 Glancing over at her bag, you watched as she pulled out her binder from her bag to retrieve a couple of papers. “It’s your admissions essay!” She grinned. “I finally finished reviewing it for you.”

 “Oh, you mean the essay that you stole out of my very tired hands during study hall?” 

 “The very one!”

 Looking over the pages, you’re at least pleased to see very minimal markings from Nancy’s ruthless red pen. Truthfully, despite finishing it fast, you weren’t so sure how well it had turned out. “Glad to know I can turn this in sooner than I thought.”

 “Yes!” she agreed before pulling out another stack. “And because of that. I was hoping if you could maybe read mine? Tell me if it's bad or not?”

 You take the papers from her hand with a heavy sigh. Unsure if you could mentally handle another task on the list of things you already had. But something in the way that Nancy stared at you with hopeful eyes tugged at your cold heart.

 “How soon do you want to have this back?” you said defeatedly. The girl clapped her hands a bit before pulling you into a small hug. 

 “Do you think you can meet me back in the newsroom afterschool? I have this front page that I’m trying to fix up. Fred Benson tried getting it and I managed to snag it this morning.”

 A whine nearly escaped out of your lips at the idea of sticking around any longer than necessary today. But Nancy is pulling that wide eyed look again and you’re slightly aware that with the lack of Jonathan around Nancy didn’t have the chance to bond like this with anyone else. And honestly, neither did you aside from the days you hung out with Robin.

 “You got me for one hour after school. If you don’t like my corrections, you’ll only have sixty minutes to discuss them with me.” you warned, slipping her papers into your trapper keeper. “And you better supply me with some snacks because I’m gonna have to dig through this during lunch today.”

 “Snacks will be prepared along with the editor's desk empty just for you.” she nodded, holding her binder more excitedly against her chest. “So I’ll see you then?”

 “You’ve got yourself a deal, Wheeler.” 

 The two of you jokingly shook hands on it before Nancy made her leave for her next class. You were about to close your locker and do the same when the sound of your name being screeched came from behind you. Making you jump again.

 You’re shocked to find that it’s Robin making a turn into the hallway you were in. She was using a pair of papers in her hands to wave over at you as she dashed down the hall. “Sweet, Trouble!” she panted, leaning against the locker beside you. “I’m so glad I caught you.”

 “You got me.” you chuckled, patting at her back gently while she tried catching her breath. “Why the hell are you screaming my name anyway?”

 “Have you had English with the Terminator?” she gasped, waving off your question. 

 “You mean with Mr. Terman?” you laughed, remembering someone from last year gave the poor man the moniker. “Yeah, I’ve had him before. Why? Is he trying to kill you for the sake of the future or something?”

 She turned her papers to face you, showing you what looked like an essay with a big fat red D on the corner of it. You couldn’t help but reach out, reading down the small comments he had added to her work. Normally the teacher was a pain in the ass, but this seemed personal with the tiny corrections he gave.

 “Geez, did you spit in his coffee or something, Robs?”

 “That’s what I said!” she frowned, crossing her arms over her chest. “He’s been mad at me since I’ve started this damn class. I work three nights on that only for a D?” Wiping her hand over her tired face, she looked sad for a moment before clasping them in a prayer in front of you. “Do you love me?”

 “What?” 

 “Do you love me?”

 “Robin, duh. Of course I do.” you said using the papers to smack the top of her head. “But what does that have to do with this?”

 “If you love me..you’ll tell me how to fix it.”

 The groan quickly built up in your throat. Why was it suddenly this year that all your friends decided you were the wordsmith in their lives? Looking back at the notes, you frown deeply at the idea of going through everything to help fix this for her. “C’mon, Robin. How would I know how to fix this for you? What if he just gives it another fail?”

 “He won’t!”

 “How do you know that?”

 “Because I told him that I’d get a tutor to help me fix it up today.” Her blue eyes shifted down at the papers before back at you. “I actually kinda specifically said you would help fix it up. He seemed to be okay with the idea.”

 “Great, so you’re volunteering me to do things now.”

 “Please!” she begged, reaching out to grab you by the shoulders. “I’ll make sure to have you home just in time for Dingus to come over and you guys can be gross and do the gross things you like to do alone.”

 You rolled your eyes at her jab. At the current time you didn’t even have any plans with Steve. Let alone do ‘gross stuff’ with him. “I don’t know..I already have a lot of work tonight. Plus, I’m supposed to go over Nancy’s essay afterschool and–”

 “Oh I see how it is.” she sniffled, looking away from you dramatically. “Just because you knew Nancy Wheeler first, poor ol’ Robin Buckley gets pushed aside. As if you and I weren’t stuck on an elevator with me all summer.”

 “We were stuck one day.” you pointed out, feeling another tired sigh building up. 

 “Wasn’t it just a week when you first helped Nancy? Do I have to be in a traumatic situation with you for seven days to earn your help?” She asked with a pout quickly tugging on her face. “Because if that’s the case then—“

 “Robin, stop!” You cried out, watching as her face turned from pouting to shock. Reaching for her hands you clasped them with yours and gave her a sympathetic smile. It was true that Robin wasn’t around for your first year here. But it was silly of her to think there wasn’t any time at all this summer that you didn’t bond with her enough to want to help her. 

 “I wanna help.” You said finally, holding the papers up. “But I already said I’d meet Nancy in the newsroom after the final bell. So I’m not sure how much I can—“

 “That works out fine for me!”

 “How?” You asked confused as she glanced at her watch. 

 “I have band practice afterschool for an hour. By the time you’re out, I can meet you at the front and get the papers back by then. We’ll be twenty minutes tops.”

 Your mouth flopped open as you scrambled to understand everything. It was oddly convenient since you were already sticking around. But even then, the urge to go home would be even stronger. 

 “I can call dingus after lunch and tell him to pick us up. Maybe convince him to take us to dinner?.” She winked, trying to make the plan sound alluring. Which in a way it did so you defeatedly gave her a firm nod. 

 “Well I’d have to be an idiot to say no to that..” you nodded slowly. “I guess after band practice it is.” 

 Her arms engulfed you in a tight hug. Continuously thanking you for a good minute before the tardy bell rang. She quickly pulled back to dash down the hall. Waving at you with a grin on her face. 

 The silence that filled in after that was heavy. 

 The day which felt like it was going on forever was just extended by both of your friends. It made everything about the day feel suddenly overwhelming. But which one was bothering you the most?

 Being late? Talking with Ms. Kelley? The essays? Why were such trivial things suddenly getting to you? It was making your mind a mess and you felt your head pulsing with a ticking noise that only grew louder. Rubbing a hand through your hair, you tried to ignore the sudden sick feeling that hit over you. 

 Senior year had just barely begun and it was already kicking your ass. Especially now that there was no cute Steve around to make it better.

 “Those girls are working you dry, princess.”

 The sudden voice caused you to gasp out loud. Being scared for the third time today was making your poor heart race. It didn’t help that Eddie was amusingly watching you from the lockers on the other side. He used the dark book in his hands to wave at you. 

 “Eddie!” you grinned, making the boy’s smile grow even wider. “Lovely to see you again but you do know you don’t have to sneak up on me  just to talk, right?” you said ignoring the previous comment he made. “Have a good summer?” 

 He slinked off the metal door to saunter over to you, not really seeming to care that at this point you’re both incredibly late to whatever class you were supposed to head to. “It was pretty tame.” he shrugged lazily. “Nothing compared to yours though. Heard you were in that mess with the mall.”

 “Something like that.” you chuckled nervously. Just how many people knew about that? Shaking your head, you point over to the boy with your chin. Turning the conversation around again. “Taking another stab at Senior year? Thought I’d have seen you drive off in the sunset last summer.”

 “Yeah, well, looks like they got me again. Third times the charm, right?” he laughed sadly as he held up the book in his hand. You couldn’t help but frown over at the cover. Having seen that exact book in your living room the other day.

 “What class are you taking here that teaches D&D?” 

 “Ah, shit." He scrambled to cover up the front of the book against his chest. Running a hand up to scratch against his messy curls. “You weren't supposed to see that.” he coughed before he realized. “Wait, how do you know what this is?”

 You close up your locker fully now, throwing a sardonic laugh over your shoulder at his question. “I’ve only ever seen my dumb cousin and his friends play it constantly. I’m actually a little bit surprised you two haven’t crossed paths yet. Especially if you carry around books like that.”

 "Wait, you have a cousin that goes here and plays D&D?”’ He made it a point to dramatically search down the hall for anyone that might be around before he turned back to you. “Where are you keeping this hidden gem, Henderson?’

 “He’s a freshman so I've been steering clear of him and his disciples of nerdom.’ you said bitterly before catching his reaction. It was hard to remember that people weren’t around for this morning’s debacle. 

 “You okay?” he asked wearily. 

 “Sorry. Look, they’re not..horrible. But Dustin made me really late this morning. All because he couldn’t find his ridiculous Weird Al shirt. Something I begged him to change out of since it’s a total fashion disaster. Then there was Ms. Kelley getting on my case. Now the new assignments from my friends. My head is sort of a mess and blaming that little gremlin seems like the best thing to do.”

 Eddie stood quietly for a moment, almost contemplating on how to answer all that before he stepped forward. “You know when you get annoyed your nose does this little scrunch thing?” 

 “Seriously?” You asked, slightly in disbelief. 

 He laughed a bit, giving an empathetic nod before he leaned in close. “Don’t worry, it's cute.”

 There was a lingering hint of cologne and cigarettes on his clothes. A combination that used to make you queasy from dating Billy. But whatever Eddie had on seemed to be..almost pleasant. 

 “Anyway, thanks for the four one-one, Princess.” he smirked as he peered down at you. “Maybe I’ll see him around and take at least one problem off your hands?”

 His closeness became suddenly too much and you forced yourself to slowly take a step back. “I like the sound of that.” You smiled. “Maybe you can really save the day and convince him to ditch that horrendous t-shirt.” 

 He nodded his head again before moving towards his original direction. The two of you hold an unusually long, but nice gaze before you remind yourself about  heading over to class. Waving goodbye, you turned on your heel, ready to go when Eddie softly called out to you. 

 “Maybe there’s a chance I'll see you around too?”

 You felt a little stumped at the question, feeling like there’s a different kind of hope to his tone. One that you haven’t quite felt from someone else in a while. “Maybe,” you shrugged, offering him a small smile. “If I’m not working on essays.”

 He let out a small breathy laugh before turning away, a little skip to his step. The idea of hanging out with Eddie seemed interesting. Enough so that you were a little bit hopeful you’d talk again soon.

OCTOBER

 It’s a completely new world for you with brand new changes. 

 For starters, having a stable job with your new friend, your other best friend leaving for California, and being in an actual loving relationship. 

 And with things like college applications out of the way, it definitely helped make things better over at school. Not to mention how fun things can be when your boyfriend is incredibly distracting...

 “Did I ever tell you that you look good in green?” 

 Somehow he’s managed to get you trapped in the corner of the Documentary/Horror section. His hands snaked around the edge of your hips as he tried to casually drag you towards his chest. For five minutes now you’ve been making an attempt to put away the tapes you checked back into the store. But that was before Steve came back from his break and suddenly needed to check over your work. And way before his hand started to tug at the hem of your shirt. 

 “Steve, there is no way in hell that you mean this ugly green vest.” You make it a point to look down at your outfit. While your blouse from Chanel looked exceptionally cute this morning, under the neon lights and green vest of Family Video, it looked tacky.

 “I think you look good in it.” he laughed, leaning close so he could peck at your cheek. “I think you’d look even better in just the green vest.” he finished, letting his breath fan against your face. You tried not to react so openly, but you couldn’t stop the flustered chuckle that fell past your lips.

 “We literally have one hour left until closing.”

 “Which is why I think we should close up early..”

 Pushing him away gently, you ignored the whining noise he made as you kneeled down to finish placing the last few tapes away. It was always on slow nights like this that Steve tried the most to get in some action. 

 “We’re trying to keep our jobs, right?”

 “And we will! We close up, make sure everything is clean, and then...”

 “Then what? We screw in Keith’s office?” you scoffed from down below. He extended a hand out, wiggling his fingers at you until you tangled them up with yours. With a tug, he pulled you up from the floor so that he could get you close again. His other hand moved to cup around the base of your neck. Bringing you in for a slow and deep kiss. It’s deep enough that you’re still in a bit of a daze when he’s pulled back to look at you. 

 “Well either that or we can go in behind the curtain.” he smirked, pointing behind you to the curtain with the neon ADULT shining brightly. You scrunch your nose, a bit disturbed with the idea alone of the type of people who went past the curtain during the day. 

 “You are a complete horndog, Steve Harrington.”

 There’s another attempt to make an escape, but Steve was smarter this time and moved his lips to your neck. Peppering kisses against the spots he knew very well you liked. The thumb on the hand still holding your neck in place began to rub at your skin, making it very hard to concentrate.

 “I’m gonna kill you.” you laughed weakly, reaching a hand up to playfully push at his shoulder. Stopping the kissing assault so that you gain some sort of control over yourself.

 “I am nothing but a loving–”

 “Needy.”

 “A loving boyfriend. Who just wants to make his gorgeous, sweet girl feel good.” He raised a brow up at you. “Don’t you wanna let me make you feel good? I can do that thing you like. Let me do that thing you like.” 

 You let out a small giggle, needing to get away from Steve and his sweet temptations before you gave in. But that only made him eager to make you trap you even more, wrapping his hands against your hips to press you lightly into the video displays. He was about to lean in for another kiss when the sound of the door’s front bell rang. 

 “Hey, do you think I can get some help over here?!”

 Steve let out a heavy sigh as he let you go. Giving his cheek a pat, you whisper for him to finish up your stack of tapes before heading over to the counter. 

 “Sorry about the wait, Sir. How may I help you today?” you said throwing the customer your most dazzling customer service smile. But no matter how cheery you sounded, it would seem nothing would please this man. Not with the way he was glaring at you. 

 “What you can do for me,” he said, slapping the tape down on the counter. “Is give me my money back for having borrowed this terrible movie.”

 The loud snap scared you a bit, but you managed to keep your composure intact. Grabbing the tape, you take one glance at the name before internally groaning. 

 Terms of Endearment in bright cursive font stared up at you innocently. Leave it for a bozo like this to listen to Robin of all people for a movie choice that he clearly wouldn’t enjoy. 

 “This..is a great choice.” you said honestly. “Amazing cast, riveting plot, and–”

 “And a total snooze fest!” he cried out as he leaned against the counter. “My girlfriend was so bored that she ditched me halfway in.” 

 “Not a Shirley MacLaine fan?” you chuckled, still trying to ease the tension. But all that did was make him more mad as he flared out air through his nose. “Look, sir. While I apologize on behalf of the store, Family Video’s return policy doesn’t offer back refunds just because you didn’t like that movie.”

 His glare turned even worse at your reply. “Excuse me?”

 “You’re free to exchange it for another movie if you want, but the money stays here. It wouldn’t be fair for our business to issue back money for every movie you didn’t like.”

 “It was shit!”

 “So was Fast Times at Ridgemont High but I still had to put up with promoting that movie so–”

 “Listen, you dumb bitch. Are you hearing me? You guys give shit movies. Now give me back my money!”

 Whatever reserve you had been holding in instantly shut down the moment the words came out of his mouth. He was no longer a customer, but a buffoon invading the store. It breaks through your composer enough for the anger to come out. “That’s funny, I’ve never been called dumb before.”

 “Why am I even wasting my time with you!? Give me my goddamn money back!”

 “I’ll tell you what we can give you,” Steve said, suddenly emerging from the back. His breath was heavy as he stepped up beside you, moving closer to the register that had him almost acting like a wall between you and the customer. “How about a permanent ban from Family Video?”

 From the side you could tell how angry he was from the way his brows were furrowed. It was the angriest you’ve seen Steve in a while now. The last time being when the two of you were dealing with Billy last fall. Like before you’re taken back by it. O ddly flustered that this was for your sake again.

 “W-what?” the guy sputtered, not expecting this kind of fire thrown back at him. “No. That’s not what I want! I just want my damn three bucks.”

 “Three bucks?” Steve laughed sarcastically. “Harassing our best employee over three bucks and a movie? That’s against store rules.” 

 He leaned over to press down at the register, making the cash drawer pop open. Getting three bucks, he slapped it over the counter and clicked on the movie title with the mouse “Ooh.” he cooed, tutting at the computer screen. “Looks like you’ve actually returned this a day late, champ. That’s a three dollar late charge.” 

 He quickly snatched back the money and threw it back into the register with a grin on his face. Without hesitation, he clicked over the man’s name on the screen before deleting his name from the store’s registry. Your jaw slacked at the blinking deleted text on the screen. Not thinking Steve would even go as far as to go through with the threat. It was so ballsy, so quick.

 It was also insanely hot. 

 “Y-you can’t just do that, you little shit!”

 “Sorry man, looks like the good times at Family Video are over for you.” He walked around the counter, moving to stand before the man as he sized him up. “I’d say if you want better choices you can try Blockbuster.”

 “Oh come on! They charge up the ass there!”

 “Then your only choices are to give her an apology, change up your attitude, and leave. Then maybe I’ll consider letting you register again with us next week.”

 The man’s nostrils flared as he let out another frustrated huff of air. Looking down at the tape that’s still on the counter in disbelief before he finally turned to look at you. “Sorry.” he muttered quietly. Not seemingly too keen on saying the words.

 But Steve was quick to catch onto that and cleared his throat before leaning in closer, holding a hand to his ear. “I’m sorry.” he said loudly with a slight pleading tone. Steve scoffed a bit at that before he looked over at you. Raising a brow for your signal of approval.

 You feigned mulling over the man’s apology before figuring it was the best either one of you would get tonight.  “It’ll do.” you said calmly, pursing your lips. “Now leave.”

 “You heard the lady.” Steve chimed in after, making his way over to the door. “Beat it.”

 The man grumbled to himself, keeping his arms at his sides in fists as he stalked out the door. It oddly resembled an angry toddler more than a grown man. But you didn’t take too much of a glance as your eyes wandered over to Steve who was still at the door. Keeping it open as he stepped out to make sure the man left the entire premises. 

 The back of his muscles were rippling through his polo, causing your eyes to drift over the expanse of his back as he stood guard for the store. You couldn’t hold back your urges anymore.

 Quietly, you made your way around the counter. Moving to stand just behind Steve as he closed up the door. You weaved around him and turned the lock over, making sure that on one could get back inside the store. 

 “Honey, you okay?” he asked, confused. “He’s not coming back in.”

 “I’m not locking up because of him.” you said simply as you turned Steve to face you. Pushing his vest out of the way, you allow your hands to scratch up the front of his chest, stopping just at the collar of his shirt. “I’m making sure the doors are locked so that you can take me into the office in the back and let me show you how much that whole thing turned me–.”

 Steve doesn’t let you finish as he quickly leaned down to press his lips against yours. Feverishly pulling your body to flush against his. Your hands moved up from his shirt collar to wrap around his neck so you could deepen the kiss. 

 “Let’s go.” He said against your lips when pulling back to breathe. You don’t argue and turn around to dash to the private office in the back, working on the buttons of your top before Steve did something stupid like rip them off in the name of passion. 

 The back office was a small room. Only big enough for a regular sized desk and a creaky old chair that Keith loved to lounge on. There’s a couple of papers of stock invoices left on the desk but you carefully chuck them inside one of the drawers before feeling Steve come up behind you. 

 “If I recall,” Steve muttered into your ear as he pressed his front against your back. “You wanted to show me something?” Feeling him so close to you now had you taking in his clean, crisp, cologne scent with a hint of musk that had you going wild these days. And honestly, as much as you liked to pick on Steve for always being horny, it’d be a lie if you said you weren’t the same with him as well sometimes. 

 The lines of his muscles and ridges were curving around your backside. Making you want to curl around to wrap around him. He had other ideas and moved his arms to wrap around you instead. One of his hands snaked into your open top so he could cup at your breast. It made your breath hitch as you tried to answer him.

 “Yeah, I wanted to show how thankful I am.” you whispered, trying to control the moan that wanted to emerge already. 

 “Thankful?” he cooed softly. “You’re thankful for me doing my job?” The smirk is evident in his voice without having to look at it yourself. Steve was definitely getting off on the idea of having you turned on by his heroics. 

 But you didn’t care. In this case, he’d be right. 

 “I am.” you said more clearly this time. “Especially when we both know I could have handled that myself.” 

 He pulled you in tighter, pressing the front of his groin against your backside now. “I know, you would have made him cry if it got bad enough.” He rubbed the tips of his fingers against the pebble of your nipple, flickering with the sensitive skin before he pinched it lightly, earning a soft gasp from you. “But if you thought for a second that I’d let anyone talk to my girl like that, you’re wrong.” 

 He kept the hand changing from pinching to rubbing at your breast while the other slid down your front. Brushing over the front of your stomach before he got to the button of your jeans. It’s only a second for him to single handedly get the buttons and zipper loose. 

 “No one gets to talk to me like that?” you asked, panting at the slight sensation going at your chest right now. It didn’t help that for once having your partner use such possessive words would actually do something to you. 

 “No one.” he confirmed, as his lips started to nip at the vein of your neck. 

 You tipped your head back to rest against the base of his neck and shoulder. Giving him room now to not only press his lips better at your skin, but to get a view at what he was doing to your body. The whole thing was so intimate and slow and you were embarrassed by how needy your body was turning.

 Like he heard the thoughts in your mind, he gently pushed into the front of your panties. Trailing down until he was able to cup around your pussy. “Steve,” you whispered, wriggling a bit in anticipation. “I want you.” 

 “You have me.” he chuckled lightly. “I just wanted to see how damn wet you are.” He pushed two of his fingers now to brush at your clit. Twirling lightly at the small slick of arousal that had begun to build once you were held in his arms. The area is already so sensitive from how horny you were and now Steve’s light teasing was going to get the better of you.

 You’d be more embarrassed about all of that if Steve didn’t moan at the touch. Letting himself play with your pussy like it was his own toy to mess with. When you couldn’t stop wriggling from the light touches, he moved on to what you really wanted. 

 Circling the two fingers against your sensitive bud one last time before he finally inched down to slip them inside of you. A heavy moan escaped your throat finally. Giving into the sensation starting to heat up within your body. 

 “I can’t believe how turned on that made you.” he sighed, moving the hand from your breast to slowly flow up to your neck. “So wet all because I was doing my job as your boyfriend.” The hand wrapped around your neck and you’re a bit excited at the idea of him actually doing the thing he promised earlier. 

 “So wet.” you whimpered, bringing a hand up to place on top of his. He took that as an approving signal and wrapped his fingers around your throat, giving it a tighter hold.

 “Just for me, huh?” he grunted into your ear, keeping the pace quick as he fucked his fingers inside of you. There’s a small wet noise as his hand slapped against the skin. Sounding awfully sinful in a place you both are supposed to be just working at. But you don’t care, not when Steve is starting to hit the right spot and his hand is getting tighter around your throat. 

 “Fuck, Steve!” you choked out, feeling light headed from Steve’s relentless fingering. His long fingers were stroking at your wet walls perfectly. Crooking at just the right angle that was making you weak in the knees. 

 “God I wish you could see how good you look right now, honey.” Steve whispered back, enjoying the pleading tone in your voice. With every grasp to your throat, the walls of your pussy tightened around his fingers. He changed things up by using the heel of his hand to press down on your clit every other stroke. Creating a stimulation that has you rolling your eyes to the back of your head. 

 “So close.” you gasped, writhing beneath his hold. He took that as a sign to speed up, letting his pace go at such a speed that you were practically bouncing on top of his hand. 

 “Oh honey,” he panted, “my hand is practically soaked.” 

 You turned your head up, angling towards his so that you were able to press your lips against his. Quickly, he turned the sweet kiss into a hot open mouth kiss. Petting the tip of your tongue with his until he swirled it against the walls of your mouth. It made your mind spin like crazy. His kiss, touch, body, all of it, gave you an overload of sensations. It’s only a few more thrusts from his hand that you’re spasming against him in a hard orgasm.

 He dropped the hand from around your throat to hold you tightly. Making sure you don’t fall to the ground as you crumpled into ecstasy. 

 “Such a pretty girl.” he chuckled against your mouth. The air is hot and you’re trying to inhale Steve’s scent like it’s the only oxygen left. “Think you got one more for me?”

 You’re so drunk on the orgasm he just gave you, that you’re barely able to nod your head. Weakly giving him a peck on the lips as the signal to continue. He gently pulled his hand out from your pants, turning your body around so that you could stand before him. 

 The look in his eyes is dark and hungry. But before he could do anything else, you reached out to wrap your arms around his neck. Dragging him in for another kiss before things got crazy again.

 “I’m supposed to show you how that made me feel.” you pointed out, when you pulled back. Steve doesn’t seem to care as he pulled you up a bit to reach for the line of your jeans. Helping tug them down enough that he’s able to reach down and get one of your legs out. Apparently he’s on a mission of some sorts as it’s the soaked panties he discarded next. 

 You shyly crossed your legs a bit as he helped push the rest of you on the desk. Letting your backside rest more comfortable and give him a better space to check you out. “You can just show me instead.” he said simply, rubbing gently at your thighs before he pushed them open exposing your bare core for him. “You can also let me taste how that made you feel.” 

 With a slack jaw, you watched as Steve kneeled before you. Pressing loving kisses against the inner corner of your thighs before he gradually moved to your pussy. The slick of your arousal was still clear on the lips of your skin and Steve wasted no time in licking them up. 

 A shiver runs through you and you try to control the small whine that wanted to fall out from having him lick around such a sensitive area. But that failed the moment he began to suck gently at the center bud, making you reach down to tug at the ends of his hair.

 “Steve,” you gasped, giving a hard tug. “Please.”

 “I know, baby.” he said against your lips. Not yet coming back up right away. “Just needed to make sure I tasted every bit.” 

 The gloss of your arousal was all over his lips and you couldn’t help but moan at how much he seemed to be enjoying himself. Switching between licking and sucking on areas of your pussy that had the heat returning to your body.

 Having enough of him toying with you again, you reached down and pulled his face towards you again to steal another kiss. Tasting both yourself and a bit of Steve before letting him go with a grunt to him. You needed him in you and you needed him now. He caught on to that and reached for the front of his pants, undoing his belt and buttons until he was able to get his jeans to fall down his hips. 

 The sight of his hard erection had you licking over your lips. He was red, swollen, and leaking from the tip with a bit of precum. Reaching between you, you grabbed onto the base of his cock. Brushing your thumb over the tip gently to coat up the glossy cum before bringing it up to your lips for a taste. He watched in awe as he grabbed the member back in his hands.

 “Taste good?” he grunted, stroking at the base. You watched as he jerked his wrist up and down, getting the erection to full attention. It was oddly distracting. 

 “So good.” you whispered, almost wanting to forgo everything else to get down on your knees for him. But seeing as Steve was already wedging himself between your legs, you’d have to pin that idea down for another time. 

 You felt the tip of his cock brush against your wet folds, coating it for lubricant before he slowly and smoothly thrusted into you. “Yes.” you sighed, blissfully. Eyes closed as you feel every part of your body react to feeling full again. Any aches were gone with and replaced with the pleasure of having Steve in you again. 

 “Been thinking about this all day.” he groaned, rubbing his hand to wrap around your lower back. “Need to be in you all the damn time.”

 “Steve, move, please.” you begged. 

 He shushed you gently. Leaning forward so that he could pepper kisses against the side of your face, neck and shoulder. Then finally, he began to thrust his hips, slowly pushing in and out of you. Another gasp fell past your lips and you placed your hands against the nape of his neck reaching up to tug at the ends of his hair.

 Steve grunted from the tug and tightened his hold on you, digging the tips of his fingers into your skin as he began to drive harder against you The pace became so fast that the sound of his skin slapping against yours, mixed with the wet sounds of your pussy being pounded by his cock, turned the room obscenely loud. Between the shared body heat between you two, the air grew hot, and you could feel it hard to breathe. But the need for release from the two of you seemed to make both you guys ignore it in order to be close. 

 In fact, your mind was so frazzled, you almost couldn’t make out what Steve was trying to say to you. 

 “..f’cken..gon..a cu–.”

 “What?” you gasped, trying again to listen to his grunts.

 “Fuckin’ gonna cum, honey.” he said again. “Let me feel you cum around me.”

 Nodding your head, you wrapped your legs around him, bringing his waist closer to yours until you could feel him finally fill you all the way in. It has the both of you letting out a moan together, pausing to enjoy the new sensation before Steve started to rut against you again. 

 The desk beneath you made an annoying squeaking noise as it was rhythmically being pushed in place from the thrusts from Steve. But neither of you seemed to care enough about it as you both rocked together to reach climax.

 Steve brought a hand up from your hip so that he could slide it down between you. The pad of his thumb brushing over the slick on his cock before he brought it up to circle around your clit. Creating another stimulation that has you keening with pleasure. “Fuck, Steve! Don’t stop, I’m so close!” you gasped, back arching as you felt your pussy tightened around him.

 It caused Steve to let out a gasp himself as he tried to focus on the double assault he was giving to your pussy. Keeping up with rubbing and pushing at the same time. “Come for me,” he whispered through gritted teeth. “Fuckin’ come for me, honey.” 

 The sudden demand took over your body and you felt your eyes roll to the back of your head as you fell into the blinding pleasure. A small tremor followed your rocking and you held onto Steve’s arms as you cried out from everything that had been building up. It didn’t take long for his hands to fall back to your hips, gripping tightly as he gave one hard thrust forward. 

 A guttural growl fell past his lips as he came. Hot ropes of his cum shooting inside you while he pressed his body tightly against yours. 

 Steve continued to thrust lazily, helping you both ride out the remnants of your orgasms. His hands rubbed lightly over your hips and backside soothingly. Giving your body some love until he finally ceased his movements. Letting his head fall a bit to rest against your shoulder so he could catch his breath. 

 “Holy shit.” he gasped softly. Hot breath fanning over your exposed skin. “That was..”

 “Intense?”

 “Hot.”

 You chuckled a bit before carefully snuggling into his arms. Needing to have some of Steve’s sweeter side after having such a crazy few moments just now. He reached his arms up to wrap around you. Engulfing you into a more comfortable type of heat. 

 Moving your head, you nuzzle against his pecs and listen to the slight thump of his heartbeat. It’s still beating so fast but it brings you comfort instantly. He brought a hand up to brush down the bits of your hair that became frazzled before tipping your chin to make you look up at him. 

 There was a look in his warm eyes that had your heart beating fast. You were happily selfish to know that he would only look at you like this. Similar thoughts must have ran through Steve’s mind because he suddenly grinned, taking in a deep breath before he leaned to press a sweet kiss to your lips. “I love you.” he said suddenly, thumb brushing at your jawline now. “A lot.” 

 The words still have such a heavy affect on you after all this time. Making you feel flushed and flustered again. “I love you, too.” You said softly, placing your hand over his. “Especially since you did that thing I like.”

 Now it’s Steve’s turn to get flustered, making him shake his head before giving you another kiss. With that distraction, he reached between the two of you and gently eased himself out from your core. The tip of his cock brushed over your swollen puffy lips, coating them in your mixed juices. You broke apart from the kiss with a small gasp. You could tell from the small smirk on Steve's lips he was pretty pleased with the sight. But he didn’t say anything other than let go of himself to gently caress at the places his hands had pressed down on too hard.  

 “Sorry I can’t help clean that up right now.” he sighed.

 “It’s fine. I’ll shower when you drop me off at Robin’s.” you said, reaching down to help tuck him into his pants. He bounced a bit from your touch but let you finish up. 

 “Oh, is that where I’m taking you after this?” he chuckled, helping reach over for your underwear and jeans. It’s more of a struggle getting you back into your clothes. Especially with how sweaty you were. But eventually you’re climbing off the desk with pants on again.

 “Well those were my original plans.” you answered finally, buttoning up the front of your shirt. “I was gonna finish work, get in a quick makeout session, and convince you to drop me off.” Pointing over at him, you give a small frowning pout. “Would’ve been a perfect plan but you got greedy.”

 “Greedy?”

 “Yes.”

 “I thought I was your hero?” he asked, raising a brow as he helped adjust the vest over your shirt. “Wasn’t that how we ended up here?”

 “Well yes,” you agreed. “But I was thinking of something along the lines of head or a hand job. But then you came in and let your little sneaking hands have their fun. Which led to more craziness and now I’m gonna go to Robin’s looking incredibly messy. She’s gonna tease me all night!”

 “Incredibly messy? Don’t you mean freshly fucked?” 

 If you knew it wouldn’t give Steve an ego boost, you’d cover up your face from his dirty words. Knowing how flustered they truly made you feel. But he’s already with a big head tonight. 

 “God,” You said, crossing your arms instead. “You’re terrible!” 

 Steve laughed a bit at your dramatic words before nodding his head. “You’re right. I’m the worst.” He reached out to cup at your cheek, looking at you with such adoration that you can’t stop the smile from tugging at your lips. “I guess I should make up for that with a ride to Buckley’s.”

 “A ride would be great.” you sniffed wrapping your arms around his waist to hug him lightly. “Though, if we maybe hurry...I can still show you what I wanted to do to you in your car..”

 Steve's face changed quickly from content, back to excited with your lingering promise. Without saying much he pressed a quick kiss to your lips. “Let’s go!” he practically sang, reaching down for your hand so he could lead you out. But you’re quick to stop him, giving him a puzzled look.

 “Uh Steve, honey? You forgetting something?” 

 “What’s that?”

 “We still have to close and clean up…everything.” 

 “Shit.”

  THE NEXT DAY

 “I’m just saying, you two shouldn’t be allowed to close the store with each other anymore if that’s what you guys do with spare time.”

 Steve let out a tired groan, gripping onto his wheel tightly as he shook his head at his friend’s words. It’s been ten minutes of Robin’s jabs and your poor boyfriend was slowly losing his patience. Ever since she caught the two of you giving a more affectionate type of greeting this morning, she hasn’t stopped talking about it since. Much to Steve’s dismay. 

 “I have no idea what you’re talking about.” he lied, acting like Robin had no context clues as to what you two did once you had arrived at her doorstep last night.

 “Oh? So you guys didn’t have sex at the store?”

 “That’s a serious accusation, Robin.” you chimed in, trying to stick with your boyfriend and act like the smeared makeup on your face was from something else. “Steve and I are respectful, hard working, employees who would never do such a thing at a workplace.”

 From your passenger mirror, you could see Robin give you an exasperated look. “I think you guys are forgetting that I was stuck with the two of you in your summer heat at Scoops.” She leaned forward to give you a scrunched up look of disgust. “You’re part of the reason why I had to start timing Steve’s break times.”

 You can’t help but giggle a little bit at the memory. There was definitely no excuse to cover up those times, but a part of you knew you couldn’t give in to her teasing just yet. Reaching around her you slapped lightly at Steve’s arm for help.

 “That was uh, us trying to gain control over our emotions. You know..connecting and uh talking..”

 Robin snorted at that, sitting back against her seat as she shook her head at the two of you. Turning over, you give a small sympathetic smile to your friend. Not quite wanting to fully annoy her. “When you get a boyfriend this year, you’ll see how hard it is to keep control of your emotions.” 

 What was supposed to be taken lightly seemed to affect Robin differently. Her eyes shifted side to side before landing on something behind you. Before you could glance at what it was, you felt Steve patting at your thigh. Getting you to sit back against your seat. 

 “Buckley’s gonna tough out her time in Hawkins single.” Steve said lightly, looking at his friend through the mirror for a moment. Something flickered over his face as he raised a brow at the girl. “That is unless she’s changed her mind from our last conversation?”

 “No!” Robin bellowed quickly, rubbing her hands over her face. “I’m not interested in dating right now, thank you.”

 You frowned a bit, confused as to when the two of them had an in depth conversation about dating that you weren’t aware of. Sure, they worked together alone without you. But one of them would usually bring up something at a later time to include you..

 “So there’s no guy in your grade that you’ve had your eye on?” you asked slowly, trying to keep your curiosity at bay. “Because if there is, I can totally and subtly set you up. Ask Steve, I’m really good at it!” 

 “You are, honey. But Robin isn’t into anyone right now.”

 “How do you know? She hasn’t said–”

 “I just do!” he said quickly, making the car become quiet. You’re painfully aware of how much your words are the threatening tone that’s causing the disturbance that Steve’s trying to get rid of. He was never so defensive over anything with you. Not even when he was your ‘enemy’ did he ever push you out of something.

 So what the hell was so different this time? 

 “That’s odd. Since when the hell did you suddenly become so defensive over Robin’s dating life?”

 Steve’s jaw slacked a bit as he continued to drive. There’s a venom to your tone that hasn’t had to come out in so long. But you couldn’t help but feel there was something being kept from you. And by the two people you were considering close friends. 

 The blunt question threw him off a bit, but he quickly shook his head.  “How is it odd with me but okay with you?”

 You crossed your arms over your chest. “For starters, I’ve been known to meddle in people’s love lives. I’m a pretty good wingman.” 

 “Congratulations, Cupid. But this might be a time your services aren’t needed.” he chuckled, trying to ease you into joking around again. But you couldn’t help but frown even more. You opened your mouth, ready to ask why he was trying to put a stop to your work when Robin leaned forward again.

 “I had a friend who liked me back in Sophomore year. It didn’t end up well.” she looked solely at you now, giving you almost a pleading look. “It’s kinda put me off on dating highschool boys..”

 “Yeah, which is why it’s probably best if we just drop the subject.” Steve added right after.

 It was almost dumb for either of them to think that you’d so easily ignore not only the subtle lies in their voices, but the fact that there were things and conversations you weren’t even aware of.

At this point you didn’t know whether to be insulted as a friend, girlfriend, or a regular nosy bitch. But since the car turned down the familiar road to the school, you knew you wouldn’t have enough time to dive into another round of questions.

 “Well, thanks for the ride, dingus.” Robin chuckled awkwardly once the car had stopped. “I’ll uh see you later.”

 She quickly opened up her door, grabbed her things and got out of the car. Sensing that things between you and Steve weren’t done just yet. The door slammed quickly and you kept your gaze on the dashboard before Robin turned around to stick her head through the window. Giving you a small but hopeful smile. 

 “I promise that the very moment I wanna date again...you’ll be the first person I go to. Okay?”

 Her attempt to mend your mood does bring a small smile to your face. You give her a small nod before letting her walk off to enter inside the school. Steve shut off the engine with a small smile. Probably already in his own thoughts about what you were going to say now that you were alone. But the petty girl inside of you wants to leave him to mull over those thoughts alone.

 “I’ll see you later.” you muttered, unbuckling your seatbelt. Reaching for the door, you were about to open it up before Steve shot across to keep you from doing so. Sputtering your name until you let go of the handle to lean back against your seat. 

 “Seriously? You’re just gonna leave like that?” he asked incredulously before sitting back. “What’s wrong?” he asked carefully, extending his hand out for you. The mean girl that wants to be cruel to him is gone, and you have to remind yourself that you were just happily gooey in love with him not fifteen minutes ago. 

 “I’m...upset.” you got out eventually ignoring the peace offering of his hand to keep your arms in your lap. 

 “Why? Because of Robin?”

 “Yes!..No..Yes and no. I’m mad at the both of you.”

 He visibly gulped, looking at you for a moment before he dropped his gaze down. “Why would you be upset? I was just trying to help Robin out. She’s not ready for that kinda stuff. She’s not like us, baby.”

 “She is perfectly normal to date.” you said ignoring the pet name. “What’s not normal is how adamant you are about her not dating.” 

 Steve frowned, shaking his head slowly turning in his seat to face you better. “Honey, I’m only sticking up for her because I know she won’t. Lord knows I’m barely able to tell you no. She wouldn’t have a fighting chance.”

 There’s a bit of truth to his words. But something is still off. A flicker of worry comes into your mind. Something you haven’t thought about once since becoming friends with him last winter. But a deep angry voice kept flooding one question in your mind.

 ..he’s never been so off with you.. (tick)

 Steve wouldn’t lie to you, would he?

 ..yes, he would.. (tock)

 A brush of a finger to your cheek pulled you out of your dreadful mind. Steve had moved in closer now, using the console between you as a way to lean towards your face. His hand was touching your face gently and carefully. “I’m sorry if what I said made you uncomfortable.” he mumbled softly, pressing a kiss to your cheek. “I sometimes forget you might not be around for every conversation I have with Robin. I promise it’s just me looking out for her, okay?” 

 While you knew that whatever bullshit detector was going off about this whole thing with Robin. It definitely wasn’t with Steve's words. He really did care about Robin in the same way you would with Jonathan. You had to give him the same benefit he would for you. 

 Keeping up with that previous worrisome mind would be an awful way to start school. So you settle for pushing down that venom in order to make peace. For now. 

 “Okay. I’m sorry..I believe you.” 

 He seemed pleased with your slight deception and leaned to cup at your cheek. “You know, you’re kinda cute when you get mad. Sitting there with a pout and frown on your face.”

 “Keep going, your highness.” you warned with no real threat.

 He took his chances of having your mood been lightened up to give a sweet kiss to your lips. It had the same warmth from the one this morning and your body doesn’t waste its time relaxing into it.

 “Wanna skip school?” He mumbled against you, seemingly unable to pull himself away from your face now that things were better.“ Got an idea of what we can do right now.”

 That brought out a laugh from you, forcing you to be the one to pull back to look at him properly.

“After that car ride I feel I should make you work towards getting some alone time with me again.” You teased lightly watching a small pout form on his face. You reached out and gently rubbed at his plump pink lips with your thumb.

 “I’m willing to put in the work, boss.” He smiled, making you need to kiss him stupid again. Leave it to only a couple of seconds of alone time to get you out of your bad mood. 

 “I might have some spare time later on for you then.”

 You watched as the smile on his face turned into a wide grin. Cheeks round and rosy from his excitement. 

 “Tonight.” He said out of breath. Reaching up to pull at your hands in order to press kisses against the palms inside. “I’m gonna take you out. Make it up to ya with food, more kisses, and maybe that thing you like again.”

 “Oh.” You giggled with a nod. “I’m gonna hold you onto that.”

 He’s almost insatiable when he dove in for another deep kiss that had your stomach doing somersaults. Thankfully, Steve managed to pull away in order to look at the time on the dashboard clock. “I’ll see you later.” He smirked, letting you finally leave the car.

 It took only a few seconds of gaining the courage to leave his side before you finally did. Waving him off as he made his leave to work. Hopefully without any annoying customers this time. 

 Nancy, who had been waiting patiently in front of the school, joined your side when you made your way to the front doors. “You know, I always thought I’d feel awkward seeing you and Steve finally together. But I don’t.” 

 “Well, thanks, I guess?” 

 She laughed a bit, nudging you with her shoulder. “I was worried about it. But after seeing you guys a couple of times I’m more than sure now you guys really are good for each other.” 

 “Good for each other.” You repeated. Still slightly skeptical of her words.

 “Yeah, you guys are actually so infatuated with one other in a sickeningly sweet kind of way. It’s kinda nice.”

 “Kinda nice or kinda gross?” you teased, making her shake her head worriedly before you held up your hand to stop her worrying. “I’m joking, Nance. I know Steve and I are sort of..a lot these days. But he makes me happy.”

 “I know! And I’m happy that you’re happy, truly.” she insisted. You smile and nod before leading the two of you into the threshold of the front doors. “There is just one thing I’ve kinda been curious about.”

 “How good is our sex life?” you joked, making her blue eyes go wide.

 “No.” she coughed a bit, flustered at the question. “It’s uh, well, you’re close to Robin now, right?”

 “Yeah.” you answered honestly. “Maybe not as close as her and Steve apparently. But I consider us close.” You moved to go towards your lockers, prying open the door to collect your things. 

 “So you aren’t weirded out about that? Don’t they work together without you sometimes?”

 You frown over at Nancy, confused where she was getting at with her questions. Not only because it was odd for her to point out, but also because of their horribly timed arrival. It was almost like she knew what went on in the car just now.

 “They close together and sometimes work in the morning on the weekends. But we all hang out a lot when we get the chance. And I just found out Robin isn’t currently looking to date at the moment so it looks like she’s our third wheel for the time being. Why the cross-examination?”

 Having someone as naturally curious as Nancy Wheeler, have her thoughts be on the subject of your boyfriend and other friend definitely wasn’t helping squash your growing current insecurity. 

 “Right. I’m sorry.” she said quickly, closing the door to her locker. Her eyes were wide and shifting over the area. “It’s nothing, I guess I’m just not used to Steve having friends who are girls.”

 “He’s had friends who are girls before, Nance..”

 “Yeah, you.”

 “Yeah, so?”

 “Now you guys are dating.” You’re about to point out how that was completely different before she held up her hands defensively. “It was just a small, passing, thought! If you say you’re good, then you’re good. If I’m being honest, I guess it’s mostly just me that feels a little bit skeptical about their friendship. And that’s mostly because it’s been a couple of months since Starcourt and I have no idea who Robin really is.”

 You glanced down the hall towards the school bulletin boards. Watching as Robin looked over the new flyers posted up. You’ve hung out closely with her for four months now and even consider her a good friend. The two of you have bonded over different things that didn’t even involve Steve. 

 So why was it suddenly after one morning of hearing her and Steve tag team against you, that you feel there might be something you don’t know about her?

 “Let’s go.” Nancy said, softly. “There’s this article I’ve been working on about gaining equality at this school that I want you to read. If it’s good enough maybe we can convince Fred to let me get it on the cover instead of his piece on the mystery meat served last week.”

 Your gaze followed Robin as she left the hall. Smile on her face as she disappeared from your sight. 

 “It’s not the only mystery around here.”

A/N: If you’ve managed to read through all that mess I love you. It’s been so hard for me in the rl lately to be able to write and continue this. But I missed writing these two out so much and there’s so much stuff I need to set up for the actual plot of the show to come in. So enjoy these sort of longer chapters along the way. I hope you guys are ready for the drama coming up!

[cluescorner]

Tim Drake has a weird fucking function

The thing about Tim that I find unique is that his life became SO MUCH WORSE after joining the heroing thing. Everybody else had a mid-to-shit life before becoming a hero/living with Bruce and mostly everybody (except Jason who LITERALLY DIED) had their life improved by being a hero/being Bruce's kid (or at least it is typically portrayed as such.

Tim had the exact opposite trajectory. His life wasn't perfect before he became Robin, but like...multi-millionaire/billionaire (canon is unclear, but he's within Gotham's upper-strata) kid with both natural intelligence + charisma and a bright future ahead of him and parents who were emotionally neglectful but nothing really beyond that (which is also a form of trauma, but all of the info we have indicates that the Drakes were no Arthur Brown or David Cain) and he still had other people he could rely on outside of them. He went to boarding school, which could be something horrible OR something amazing depending on your own thoughts/experiences. I grew up having a commute where we'd drive past a really pretty and rich af boarding school that literally everybody in our area DREAMED of going to, so to me the idea of going to boarding school sounds incredible but mileage may vary. Tim seems like the type of kid who would thrive in that though. Based on what we know in canon atm, his pre-robin life was fucking amazing.

And then he starts being the sidekick and working towards becoming Robin. His parents immediately get kidnapped and poison themselves through drinking tainted water; his mom dies and his dad is in a coma. This is not the fault of Robin, but Tim himself muses about the idea that Robin and dead parents are linked: to become Robin completely, you must lose your parents. And with how fate/destiny/canon events can operate in comics universes, maybe he isn't that far off. Once his dad wakes up, their relationship becomes strained as the man grieves the loss of his wife and realizes that his son has been doing vigilantism as a hobby. It is unclear exactly how good of a parent Jack was before the incident, but the results of Tim's involvement with the Robin mantle has definitely made things worse between father and son. Jack will also die within quick succession of 2 of Tim's best friends, his girlfriend, and his other father. He will also effectively lose like 1/2 his loved ones in the fallout of all of that mess including: his older brother, his other friends (both civilian and superhero), and the stepmother with whom he shared what I would argue is his best parent-child relationship (Dana also may have died, but it's left unclear). He has stopped pursuing higher education (the moment he even applied for college he 'died', and it seems he hasn't made another attempt since) and if he wasn’t a major focus of the media before he sure is now. He tries to quit briefly (in fact he initially was planning on quitting once someone more suited came along) and cannot bring himself to do so. Even when he does manage to get away for a while, his superhero life impacts the pre-robin life he is trying to go back to. Leaving is an impossibility, this is all there is for him now. He also isn’t allowed to make mistakes anymore, not when lives hang in the balance. The one who enforces that impossible standard the most (besides Bruce depending on who's writing) is himself. He’s got TRAUMA now and people want to hurt him constantly. He is constantly questioning his own sanity and morality and place in the world. He almost dies like every month. Tim grows colder and less grounded, he is becoming both a better and a worse version of himself at the same time. He’s saving lives in the same few issues as he’s setting up a Saw movie plot for the man who killed his father. He is haunted by the ghosts of his past and the looming figure of his future. His life becomes SO MUCH FUCKING WORSE after he becomes Robin. Some of it is the fault of others, some is the fault of circumstance, and some of it is due to his own actions. But basically all of Tim's worst traumas and life-changing moments are either tied to or caused by Robin. Dick's parents would still be dead, Jason would still be living on the streets, Stephanie would still have Arthur Brown for a father and a lot of other things that deserve their own posts/IDK if they've been retconned, and Damian would still have been raised in the eco-cult where death is a constant. Those are life circumstances that occur without the involvement of Robin, the only one who even needs Bruce involved at all in their series of events is Damian. But Tim? All of what is considered his 'worst' moments occur after he assumes the role.

This idea is what I find the coolest and most fascinating about Tim as a character. Being a hero is usually portrayed as either an outright awesome thing or a righteous duty that one must fulfill or (maybe in a grimmer and/or more grounded story) a sacrifice to your interpersonal relationships/mental health that is made for the greater good. For Tim, being a superhero actively ruined his life (both because of the general circumstances surrounding being a kid vigilante and the choices he made as part of that role). It's never portrayed that way in canon because we need to come out of issues going 'wow being a superhero is so cool! I'm gonna buy the next issue!', but when you just look at Tim's life literally everything really bad that we know of occurred after he became Robin.

[sinner-sunflower]

A HH Lucifer-centric AU 16/?

PART 1, PART 2, PART 3, PART 4, PART 5, PART 6, PART 7, PART 8, PART 9, PART 10, PART 11, PART 12, PART 13, PART 14, PART 15, PART 17, PART 18, PART 19, PART 20, PART 21, PART 22

Hotel reaction 2 electric boogaloo

still deciding whether i'll post tomorrow

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4 hours later, despite the arrival of Lucifer and the mystery woman, there is barely no progress. Charlie and the others were so hopeful the first few times because it did look like the extra power was doing something. But every time they make a dent, it bites back even worse.

They flinch as another Goetia fell, prompting the Prince of Lust to call for a retreat from her dad.

Lucifer: No! We can't afford to lose a Ring.

Cherri: They are clearly exhausted.

Angel: Yeah. One day won't be tha bad, right toots?

Charlie: Umm, I don't think so. Hell's rings are a complicated. They aren't just places, it's a system. Losing one will inevitably cause the others to fall apart.

Husk: I guess his majesty doesn't want us backed to a corner. If they let Sloth be consumed then who knows how bigger the problem would get.

Vaggie: He's right. The best solution is dealing with it at the literal root. They can theoretically recoup but by the looks of things, Sloth has little to no time left.

Husk: Mhhm. The constant ritual might be the only thing keeping it alive. The ring is basically on life support.

Lucifer: Goodie! Goodie: I cannot give more of something I do not have, angel. I warned you that my support alone will most likely not stop this. Lucifer: We should at least be denting it!

They quickly covered their ears as the TV let out a sound so ear-piercing that it feels like their head is splitting in half.

Angel: What the fuck???

Looking up despite the pain, they see that giant roots sprout from the ground. It went up and up until it reached Lucifer's pentagram in the sky.

Husk: Is that a fuckin' tree?

Charlie is transfixed on the image. She has lived in Hell all her life but this is the first time she had felt dread from something that came from her home.

'This is not of Hell.' She thought. It makes her sick. But her stupor was cut short as a new voice cuts through the footage.

Leviathan: Luci! Your marks!

Charlie looks in equal horror as her Uncle Leviathan when she saw the state her dad was in. The marks on his body have now almost consumed his whole face. She lets out a sob as Lucifer held up the mirror Alastor provided to inspect his condition.

No one spoke as he does this. Then after a moment, Charlie saw something in her dad's eyes.

Lucifer: Goodie. What do I need to do?

Charlie was about to say her confusion out loud when the lady, Goodie, blew a piece of paper onto the King's skin.

Goodie: This might be the only way to stop my sister. That is an ancient seal from before the Nothing- strong enough to render God and beings like Roo weak. Satan: Huh?! Then why didn't you just let us use that from the start??

Cherri: Yeah! The shit??

Husk: I don't like this.

Charlie shares the same sentiment. Whatever is happening, she has a bad feeling.

Goodie: Because there is a condition. Lucifer: And what's that? Goodie: It must be performed from the inside. It needs to be as close as possible to the one you are sealing. The hold will be stronger with proximity. And with you being the highest power here... Belphegor: Then that means-!

Nononononono, please don't. Please don't let it be what I think it is. Please don't do it. Please dad. I love you. I miss you. Please don't leave me PLEASE-

Lucifer: I need to be the one to go in there.

Protests from the hotel residents and demons on the broadcast overlap with each other. Charlie's ears are ringing. Her chest is tight and it's getting harder and harder to breathe. She can feel someone's hand around her, probably attempting to ground her. Yup, definitely a coming panic attack.

Lucifer: Are you sure this will stop her?

She can vaguely hear someone, probably Vaggie, say something to her but it's all muffled. Charlie could only focus her hearing on the scene in the TV.

Dark spots are filling her vision and her breaths are erratic as her beating heart.

PLEASEPLEASEPLEASEDADPLEASENOTYOUDONTLEAVEMETOODADPLEASE

Goodie: You are the key, angel. It must be you.

Charlie's world turns to black as she collapses in the arms of her lover. And if her dad looked directly at the camera in hopes of meeting her gaze, well, she'll never know.

[mcbride]

Daryl Dixon Rewatch S1E01 - L'âme perdue

i have some thoughts, but before we get to it and explore the episode, i just wanna point out that the writing is what stood out for me. after seasons of mediocre writers and writing on TWD, it felt like a breath of fresh air. that ain't saying much, but it's a big improvement. also the cinematography, plsss!!

i will digress, this will be long, boring and full of spec for s2!!! read more after the jump...

the best part of it for me was Daryl. Daryl is finally using his words, keeping some things close to the vest he ain't no longer wearing, but he is actually speaking up, telling shit how he sees it, being his observant self, and not taking that religious crap bullshit they trying to feed him. he is also done with it all, and his goal is always and will always be getting back home.

"You deserve a happy ending, too." the ep starts with Judith voiceover, which is repeated in Daryl's feverish dream, and once again by Laurent. Carol isn't mentioned directly, but you can feel her presence throughout the episode. it's sort of a quiet energy that hangs in there whenever Daryl mentions he wants to get back home, he needs to use the radio, he needs to get to that possibly active port. and of course, her smiling face in his dream, with one of the last things he said to her "it's not like we are never gonna see each other again."

"witchy shit;" "dead priest and creepy kid," "you've been fucking with me," while putting his finger in Isa's face and storming out to borrow some cool weapons will always be hilarious to me, but it also felt like genuine Daryl is back. this is the Daryl we fell in love with. he is changed by his experiences, but he is still the OBSERVANT dude with the sass and zero tolerance for bullshit. i like this Daryl, so i will thank Zabel and Norman for bringing him back to us!

NOW let's get to the spec: i think the first episode tells us all we need to know about what is really set to happen, it's so in your face, you may not even notice and just assume they are talking metaphorically - i'm talking about the nuns, the nest, the kid, the whole conspiracy you shouldn't see coming.

for some reason it will probably never be clear, they think Daryl is the one, the messenger to deliver the new Messiah, and he's got an important role delivering the kid to the Nest, like he is the only one who can do it. i mean Isabelle watched Daryl fight and lose, and now she thinks he's Messiah's protector. PLEASE, bitch! maybe he is chosen simply because he is American, he made it across the Ocean, he must be special??? ok, i'll buy that.

now when Mother is dying she agrees Daryl is the one (to protect Laurent) and says "reasons are everywhere." YES, there's a reason Daryl had to come back to protect the kid, there's a reason he doesn't get on that boat to return home, too - and that reason is CAROL is coming. he cannot leave, she's coming to him, and i believe that TOGETHER they are the ones supposed to save Laurent.

WHY Carol, you ask? Daryl just may be to close to the Nest, their people to see them for who they are - some sort of cult who believes "the kid is the cure for a sick world," Mother's words. but how are they dangerous??

they literally tell you, if you're listening. the monk, possibly Losang, says the kid is special, says the kid is the NEW Messiah. Isabelle tells Daryl they need to take the kid there cause he needs safety, teaching and nurturing UNTIL he is ready. ready for what, Daryl asks. ready to be the new Messiah and lead the REVIVAL of humanity.

now Laurent said they had walker!Father Jean there because they were waiting for him to rise again. say what, kiddo? but Father can't rise again, cause he ain't special, he ain't the new Messiah. so there you go, i think the Nest, they're planning to turn Laurent and wait for him to RISE again (be the cure) with help from praying and poetry. maybe the good guys ain't so good.

and this is exactly why the kid is also valuable to Genet. perhaps she also wants to test whether the kid is special or not, knowing his history.

i can see Carol making it to France and figuring out their nefarious plans in like the first 5 mins. and that's why she needs to come to help save Laurent. that would pretty much bring their story full circle, and allow them to deal with the guilt and the trauma of not being able to safe loved ones.

[blacklegsanjiii]

I saw the post you reblog (about Bepo and Law and favouritism) and it got me thinking what if Sanji and Bepo got closer in Wano (because he is so fluffy and warm) and Chopper got jealous lol.

Like beforehand other than the ladies Chopper always got special treatment, but now it's the ladies, Chopper, and Bepo.

Also I feel like it will fit into the golden!Sanji, Sanji is not into stuffed animal, he is literally is into real animal. Always try to bring home real animal (tame and wild) that Mihawk have a hard time saying no to.

Idk it's so weird and random

Welcome back! This is hilarious and I think fits in really well with Lawsan too.

Sanji definitely brought a lot of animals to Mihawk. After a while Sanji got along with the human drills but they're not pets. It seemed almost every supply runs Sanji would wander up with some new animal to Mihawk. Mihawk takes a deep breath and tells his son gently at first that they cannot have an animal on the island because of the human drills. The more it happens though the more bland and less gentle as the years go on.

Mihawk will find his child in a park covered in animals. Sanji gets a flea bath every time before they leave and it's almost comical to the point that Sanji will just do it. Before he leaves for Baratie Mihawk warns Zeff, who doesn't believe him.

Until Sanji befriended almost all the East Blues animals during restocks. Mihawk laughs, sharp and short over the den den before hanging up on Zeff. He won't say 'i told you so' but he will laugh. Sanji is probably so good with animals because of his observation haki but that also means he's amazing with minks. But Chopper is first and Chopper sees Sanji spoil the ladies and while it's not to the same level Chopper's sweet tooth is often catered too. Plus when Chopper has nightmares Sanji will take him to the galley and make hot cocoa with lots of whip cream and marshmallows and sprinkles.

When Sanji starts screwing around with Law, he keeps hearing about Bepo and loves hearing about Law's crew from the surgeon. He shares some facts about his dad in exchange. He hears all about Bepo and Law teases him about the ladies and Chopper which Sanji laughs off, says they're cute like Bepo in a way. Sanji also says he can't wait to meet Bepo. He doesn't get to meet Bepo until he's in Wano. When the crews are all gathered and Luffy is proudly displaying the 'Dracule Sanji' and it's not the 330,000,000 bounty, it's like 700 million something if not higher. Law is rubbing his temples. Sanji looks exhausted and falls asleep and Bepo lays next to him because he's tired and then passes out. Sanji burrows into the bear to sleep and Law is losing it internally. As is Chopper because it happens through all of Wano. They're freaking out in different ways.

Eventually Sanji brings Chopper with him to the Tang and tells Law they're having a sleepover and to get Bepo and as much as he wanted alone time with his boyfriend he agrees but has his questions. It's before they leave Wano so they have more time after the raid and Chopper has said he missed cuddling Sanji and has been getting jealous so Sanji smiles and hauls him up.

"Why are we doing this?" Law asks.

"Chopper thinks I like Bepo too much but he hasn't cuddled Bepo so I need to show him and I do it now you won't be as pissy later." Sanji points at as Chopper hides his face in embarrassment and calls him a dummy and meanie.

"I take offense." Law bites as he leaves to get Bepo.

"You were supposed!" Sanji yells after him. When he returns with the bear and they all lay on Law's bed(and Bepo because he takes up most of the bed) it only takes a few minutes for the bear to be out and Sanji tucking Chopper into his front as Law spoons, pouting into her neck.

"Wow he is soft." Chopper yawns.

"Mhm, so are you, Chopper, now get some sleep." Sanji coos as he pets him. He falls asleep not long after and Sanji puffs a laugh softly. "You're still pouting." He smirks.

"I thought Nico-ya and Zoro-ya spoiled him enough." Law grumbles.

"He's adorable, I can spoil him too. No one said I couldn't." Sanji grins as Law adjusts himself to lean over him. "By all accounts I spoil you as well, shitty surgeon."

"Oi." Law gruffs.

"You sound like my dad. He would always get upset when I brought something home, even when it wasn't dangerous." Sanji pouts this time. Law looks at him appalled and taken back.

"What the hell were you bringing home to Mihawk that made him upset?" He asks.

"Birds, mice, rats, a few cats, one time a circus broke out on the island we'd do supply runs at and he and the ring leader found me with most of the animals. Then he killed the ring leader." Sanji lists off.

"You're like a goddamned fairytale princess." Law says kissing him.

"Mm, he wasn't happy when I found a wolf and wanted to keep it." Sanji hums.

"Did you?" Law grins.

"No, shitty bastard said we had the human drills and that was enough." Sanji bemoans.

"My poor darling, you only had some apes on the island as pets." Law laughs as he lays back down after they share another kiss.

"Nah, they had swords, they weren't pets." Sanji mumbles as sleep starts taking him. Law blinks a few times as the words sink in but he's out by the time he collects his thoughts on the matter.