#Also yes you did everything Eddie planned to do...so it did happen according to plan just not Eddie doing it

[jadewritesficshere]

The boy is mine (Jade's edition)

Eddie Munson x Reader

Summary: Eddie has a plan for a romantic night, but things go awry (2k words)

Contents: Anxiety, Eddie is self deprecating, hurt/comfort (kinda), no gendered terms for reader except mention that their hand is smaller then Eddie's and reader is called beautiful, a literal fire (please look up fire safety), fluff

A/N: So I saw this the first day it was posted and I thought it was a fun idea and saved the prompt by @carolmunson. I've been writing this for a bit,, but like I have had such bad mental fog and generalized pain recently I have been having a hard time focusing...I think I kind of misinterpreted the rules a bit...so here is sad lump of a contribution. Call me Stitch the way I am telling myself "it may be little and broken but still good".

18+ only

The night had started well, at least Eddie thought it had. He promised you a romantic night in. He even prepped for it.

Eddie rented sappy love movies, getting advice by Harrington and Buckley surprisingly. Harrington stated flowers were the way to go, but then started arguing with Buckley. While entertaining, Eddie learned more about the languages of romance from Buckley then he did about romantic gifts. But he wrote down to get flowers.

So he watched the movies. And Eddie was high paid a lot of attention and basically learned to make a grand speech. Big pour out your heart moment. Which, he felt he always talked your ear off, so he could totally do.

Eddie then read those magazines all the cheerleaders gossiped and giggled over. He didn't learn much except some tips for the best kiss. Cup the person's cheek and lean in slowly. Build the suspense. Eddie could do that.

Give you flowers. Make a speech. Cup your cheek as he kisses you. Eddie had this in the bag! Each point written in his little notebook.

And then the reality of you coming to his trailer hit him when you called to confirm the date was still on that morning. He hung up the phone after flirting a bit and looked around his house. Nerves flooded his system as he looked at it with the perspective of an outsider. He didn't want it to look bad. And it was, well, it wasn't bad but definitely could be cleaner.

So Eddie had vacuumed and dusted the entire trailer. Tossed empty pizza boxes in the trash. Sprayed some cologne around the trailer to cover the scent of weed, then cursed himself for using the expensive cologne when there was a bottle of air freshener in the bathroom.

Had picked up his clothes scattered across his room and shoved them all, clean and dirty, into the closet. Had made sure his bed had more then one pillow, grabbing spare throw pillows and tossing them towards the headboard. Even if he didn't think there was a chance you would enter his bedroom tonight, he wanted to be prepared.

Eddie had even started dinner before you arrived. An easy roast that Wayne had made hundreds of times. Thrown meat, potatoes, onions, and carrots into the pot, seasoned it and thrown it all in the oven.

It was newer, this thing between you, and he wanted to get it all right. You'd been friends for years, just recently evolved into dating. It was easy to hold your hand and throw an arm around your shoulder before, stealing those small intimate moments and pretending it meant something more. But now it does mean more. Truly, it always had, but neither of you had said anything. Because like usual, Eddie was the coward and ran.

He spent what felt like minutes (it had been hours) looking back at the notes, the plan. He had even sketched some pictures of you and him as he studied. Gave himself some sweet new tattoos and piercings and muscles while you had hearts around your head. By the time he stopped rereading the same points over and over again, he realized you would be there within the hour.

And he already failed the first point, flowers. It had completely spaced him what with the studying, but he had other things he had been wanting to give you so he figured he could wing it. He rehearsed everything in his mind, having various conversations with you. He would take your coat, be charming as ever, and you would fall for him even more then you already had.

But the plan immediately left his mind when you had arrived. Eddie could feel his face flush as his eyes trailed up and down your figure. All the rushing thoughts in his head suddenly stopped. All he could think was Damn, how'd I get so lucky?

"You're beautiful." Eddie mumbled in awe as you had shrugged off your coat. And then you smiled and Eddie realized he had messed up the plan. He thought he had went through every variable but he hadn't. It wasn't you that was going to fall more in love with him tonight, but Eddie was going to fall more in love with you.

Eddie twirled a piece of hair around his finger, unable to meet your eyes. His heart was beating wildly in his chest and his palms were begin to sweat. He couldn't help but shift from foot to foot. "Oh I uh....got you something," Eddie smiled and turned to leave before hesitating and motioning to the couch," You can uh sit...or stand, standing is good too! I'll be right back."

Eddie cursed himself the whole time he walked away because of how stupid he was. He could stage elaborate campaigns but couldn't seem to form a single sentence in your presence. Eddie grabbed the gift off his dresser and inhaled slowly, mentally yelling at himself to be cool for once in his life.

And faltered in his steps.

Because you were sat on the couch. Not just on the edge of the cushion like those who he dealt to who couldn't wait to get out of his presence. No, you were fully relaxed into the cushion. You looked comfortable. You looked like you belonged.

And Eddie couldn't squash the butterflies that took flight in his stomach. And he sat on the cushion next to you, fighting the urge to wrap you in his arms and hold you close.

"I got you this," Eddie declared as he handed you a rock. A small, smooth stone that fit in the palm of your hand. Your mouth parted but no words came out. Eddie bit his lip as you slowly turned the stone over in your hands, staring at it.

"I saw it and I thought, well, I thought of you and it matches your eyes and-" Eddie huffed out a laugh and shook his head," Sorry, it's stupid just give it back."

Eddie moved to grab it out of your hand but you slapped at his arm and clenched the stone in your hand. "No, it's mine!" You held your hand to your chest and glared at him. "It's stupid," Eddie looked down. "It is not." "It is!"

"Are you serious? If you don't stop we're gonna have a problem. This is the most thoughtful thing anyone has ever done for me." You beamed at him. Joy and adoration written clearly across your face. Eddie slowly grinned back as you dared to open your palm and look at the stone again. "My precious," you wiggled your eyebrows at him, making him bark out a laugh as he relaxed.

"Let's save a ring for a later date." He joked, even as his mind raced. You quoted Lord of the Rings! You were sitting on his couch holding a rock he thought was the same shade as your eyes and you liked it!! He was done for. Completely head over heels fallen for you. Said he would never marry yet here he was planning his vows and everything.

"Seriously, Eddie, this is so sweet." Your hand grasped his. Your hand was smaller then his, fitting perfectly. Fingers interlocked hesitantly and then more surely. Eddie's eyes fell to your lips. Your tongue darted out slightly and wet them. And he started to lean in.

The air was thick, and not just with the tension, the anticipation. Your lips were milliseconds to coming in contact with his when Eddie's nose twitched as he caught a familiar scent. Your lips landed on Eddie's cheek as he turned so quickly to face the kitchen he gave himself whiplash.

Thick smoke started to waft out of the room. "Oh fuck!" He jumped up as the smoke detector finally started doing its job and screeched out an annoying beep. Eddie ran into the kitchen with you hot on his heels.

Eddie opened the oven door, smoke billowing out," SHITshitshit-" Eddie cursed as he slammed the door shut, coughing slightly. Your hand reached past him to shut off the oven before darting over to the window and throwing it open.

Eddie's eyes darted to the sink below the window. Stop, drop, and roll- wait no that was if you were on fire. But water beats fire in almost every scenario, right? Except oil, shit did he add oil? No, he didn't add anything except the food and the seasoning so it should all be good right?

"Stand back!" Eddie yells over the screeching alarm. Grabbing the pot holders, he throws the oven door open. Smoke billows past him as he makes a mad dash for the pot, grasping the handles and throwing it in the sink. He throws the faucet on, water pouring over the burnt food and pot.

Steam billows up with smoke, mingling in the air before flowing out the window. A hissing sound from the cool water hitting the hot pot fills the air. You fan the flames towards the open window. "Oh fuck." You cough as your eyes fill with tears from the smoke. Eddie winces as flurried apologies fall from his lips.

The pot, not on fire at least, starts to lessen up on producing smoke. Eddie deems it safe to leave and grabs your hand, dragging you outside. His hands on your shoulders guide you to sit on the steps as you continue to intermittently cough. Eddie rushes back into the kitchen, double checking that the oven was off, and quickly grabs a mug holding it under the still running faucet.

Eddie rushes back outside to you, almost missing the step and face planting. And wouldn't that have been the icing on the cake. Would that make Eddie or the embarrassment of faceplanting be the vanilla frosting? Who even created that saying? Cake was good and this was not good. Eddie shook his head of these thoughts as he sank down on the step next to you.

Eddie hands you the mug of water. You drink it in big gulps, a small dribble of water falling out of the side of your mouth towards your chin. Eddie wipes it away with his thumb as he apologizes," I am so sorry, I don't even know what happened."

"Is this Garfield?" You peer at the mug, as if Eddie almost didn't kill you. "Uh yeah, was in a rush, sorry I didn't grab like a nicer cup. I just ran out...to you..." "Don't apologize, I like Garfield," you mumble taking another drink of the water.

"Are you okay?" Eddie asks, hands running up and down your shoulders, eyes checking you over. "Think I hacked up a lung from all the smoke...," you rub your sternum," Man, my lungs do not like smoke...and you like that?" Eddie let out a nervous laugh," Yeah no sorry, only when its weed. Never really inhaled a straight fire before."

You look up into Eddie's eyes that are full of concern. "Well, I'd recommend like not doing that. But I'm okay, it startled me more then anything," You give a soft smile. "You sure?" "Positive." You knock his shoulder with yours.

Eddie's eyes search your figure, ensuring you aren't lying to him. You ignore him, opting to set the mug down on the ground. Fingers brushing against a dandelion, yellow and bright. You pluck it from the ground and twirl it between your fingers.

You're okay. You're holding a dandelion and you're okay. You aren't acting like you hate him. You aren't making excuses and leaving. You aren't leaving like everyone else-

Eddie's shoulders relax as the tension leaves his body. You're okay. Your relationship is okay. He didn't ruin everything. You're smiling at a fucking dandelion while his heart feels like it has run a marathon.

You're oblivious to his plight as you lean over and tuck the dandelion behind his ear," Maybe don't smoke that. Looks pretty on you." "Not that kind of weed." "Yeah dumb joke sorry."

A slow exhale escapes him as he shakes his head,"No it's good I'm just," Eddie waves his hand in front of him," like what the fuck just happened? I am never cooking again. I'll just take you to Enzo's. I fucked up. Sorry for ruining the date."

Your hand cupped his cheek as you ducked down to meet his eyes," Hey, no. You didn't ruin the date." Eddie rolls his eyes slightly," Almost killing you? Yeah, pretty sure i ruined it." You bump your knee against Eddie's, "it's not ruined and you didn't almost kill me. Small food fire, happens to everyone. I lit popcorn on fire once. Besides, if you did happen to kill me, at least I would have died happy and in love. And you'd be stuck with me cause ghost me is absolutely haunting you."

Eddie can't help but laugh slightly," Oh? You think you'd be a ghost and not get another chance at life? Be reincarnated or whatever?" "Well, even if I was reincarnated, I'd find you again."

Eddie scoffs, "C'mon, don't say that.. That's not even true, you'd totally be able to move on. You wouldn't need little old me." You grab his face and peer into his eyes," Eddie Munson, I will always need you. In this life and whatever happens after. You and me? We're it. Maybe it should be too soon to say, but I feel it in my bones. You're it for me Eddie. Together now, forever, and when everything ceases to exist we'll be in nothing together. I will always be with you because I will always love you."

You lean in and Eddie thinks his heart stops. Your hand holding his cheek in place, thumb lightly brushing back and forth. His eyes flutter shut as your lips finally touch his. It was soft and sweet, lips slowly parting and melding together in a dance that sent shivers down Eddie's spine. He sighed into the kiss as you leaned closer into each other. Your hands threading through his hair, his wrapping around your waist. Lips moving in tandem, tongues darting out tentatively.

You only part when you both are gasping for air. Soft smiles and longing glances shared as the sun sets. "I love you too." Eddie traces your cheekbone with his finger. "You better." You joke. Your combined giggles fill the air as you continue to steal kisses from each other.

The night may not have been the most romantic. Or gone to plan, like, at all. But it was one Eddie already knew that when he thought about he would be able to feel his heart swell with love. And as he kissed you Eddie thought, yeah you were it for him.

[agirlwholovesrockstars]

when the clock strikes 12

☆ EDDIE MUNSON'S MASTERLIST ☆

❣ AGATHA'S MAIN PAGE ❣

Summary : while awaiting for the new year countdown, Eddie had an idea to blow your mind

Word Count : it's for the mini fics section soooo lengthwise? probably solid

Warnings : 18+ (MDNI)SMUT‼️Eddie Munson x FEM!reader, language, slight alcohol consumption, reader and Eddie are both (20), slight somnophilia 🫠, aftercare, no use of y/n, reader is slowly waking up and Eddie asks for permission and if you're still uncomfortable with that please don't continue to read, that's just it really

What to Expect : SMUT and FLUFF, Eddie being a silly goose, set in modern era (of course, there's still a touch of 80's in there), UPSIDE DOWN & VECNA DON'T EXIST IN THIS!

Note To Reader : GIF for this because I'm missed seeing him moving on my fics lmao, also the divider is made by me hehe- I'm literally exposing myself out here, please forgive for my salacious thoughts 🙏🏻 (if you know me in real life? no- you don't 😃)

Author Note : I know I've been long gone for a while but I'm trying my best to post new fics as much as I can! there has been a lot of happenings with my life especially we're having a lot of events like family reunion 🫠 (but it's so much fun tho ngl)

The preparation for new year's is going so well

So well, that you haven't realized how tired you really are

You're so productive that you've used too much of energy on yourself for working to prepare for the party

You wanted this to be perfect

You want everything to be settled in according to your plan

Eddie knows that you're always so "serious" when it comes to decoration and especially when there's an occasion

He loves you for it though, you just don't throw parties

You throw the greatest parties all the time and you never missed

All of your friends are in there, Steve, Robin, Jonathan, Nancy, Argyle and the freaking kids that you always adored so much

You looked around at everyone in the room

Jeff and Gareth are bantering at each other with some album, Dustin and Lucas fight over which 80's fantasy film is the best, Steve, Robin and Eddie surprisingly getting along with the same pop music artist, you could see the three of them geeking at each other

Max and Jane do makeover at each other which aches your heart of seeing them so close to each other, it's really so sweet to have a real girl bestfriend like that

"I'm gonna refill your glass" Nancy pasts over to you snatching the glass on your hand so swiftly that it makes you snap out of your head

You slowly trying to register what just happened and you smile finally

"More wine? really?" You say as you watch her fill your glass with wine

"Uh, yeah?" she replies with a dramatical jerk to her head as you chuckle

"But it's only 9pm!" you exclaim with wide eyes but a fond smile on your lips

"are you saying that we should only be drinking when the clock finally strikes 12?!?" she says while she fills her cup, she takes glances at you and back to her glass

"Ah- yes, that! exactly!" you point to her using your index finger as you holding your glass of wine

You could already feel yourself getting drowsy a little bit from the wine

Red wine will always make you feel sleepy

You don't even know if it's the alcohol or you just really need to doze off for a minute before you could scream at the top of your lungs for 2024

You don't even know how many glasses that you already take

"Did we just finished the whole bottle?" You feel the world is spinning on you

Nancy, your bestfriend- raises the bottle in front of you as she snorts at your disapproval look

"Kinda?" she says slurring as she smirks at you

"What do you mean? Kinda?!"

"Hey- woah!"

Jonathan passes by and bless him for his instincts because Nancy would've been knocked her head on the counter as she starts stumbling from her stance, he catches her on time

Nancy giggled as you rolled your eyes in annoyance, massaging your forehead

He saw the look from your face as he chuckles

"She got too far again, huh?"

"Yeah, she always does, Jonathan, nothing's new" you reply as you also can't walk properly

"Wait- don't move- should I call-"

Before Jonathan can finish his words, the voice of your boyfriend booms out of nowhere while Argyle tails behind him, looking at you and Nancy

"Sweetheart- how you've-"

Eddie clocked the wine bottle from Nancy hand

"Did you dr-"

"Don't even try it, Ed's" you placed your palm over his mouth as you stumble forward, he immediately wraps his arms around you as you started pressing all of your weight against his chest making the male laugh as he gently hold the back of your head

"Y'all getting drunk already? It's not even 12am yet" Argyle with his iconic tone, you seriously have no idea which one of his voice is normal

You've never heard him talk in normal voice before so you're used to him having that voice that sounds so freaking high as fuck

But, he's a good bud tho, so hilarious

"Blame her, not me! Eddie tell them!" You defend yourself as you put your chin onto his chest as you look at him with a pout on your lips, he smiles as he ruffles his face against yours making your face scrunch up from his action, he laughs again

"What's with all of the commotion?" Steve arrives with hands on his hips

"The two got their selves drunk again" Jonathan points to you and to his girl

"As if that's new" Robin appears in the corner with her arms crossed leaning against the side of the wall

Steve chortles "Wait- you got hustled by Nancy again?"

You groaned from Steve's teasing "yeah, I always fail to see that, thanks" you say

"I told you, you shouldn't brought the wine here, you moron!" Robin uncrosses her arms finally figuring out where the wine misplaced her eyes widen when she saw Nancy holding it, she snatches it making her bite a laugh as Jonathan also connecting the dots at the scene

He pressed his lips together to not burst from laughter

Argyle watches both of his friends having a fit of unnecessary argument

"I think I need to grab a popcorn for this" he leaves abruptly as he looked at your kitchen cabinets and came back munching in a bag of popcorn, very entertained at the scene

"I-I don't know how she got it!"

"Did you hide it properly!?"

"Look- Robs-"

Robin clicks her tongue as she asks "Nancy, how did you get the wine bottle?!"

She turns around with a lopsided smile as Jonathan steadys her

"I just saw it hanging around but-"

"But?"

"I think Steve" she points at him as she chuckles making the boy winces as he finally remembered of what he's done

"Forgotten about it that he left it out there, soooo" she giggles again making Robin grumble as she raises both of her eyebrows at Steve

"Oh- come on!" Steve runs his fingers through his hair as he decides to turn back leaving all of you

"Hey! don't you walk out on me! I paid for that expensive shit-" Robin follows him as she starts pointing everything on him

Argyle, Jonathan, Nancy and Eddie all laughing at the scene while meanwhile you, Eddie could hear you chuckle a bit but you made a little hum

He draws back his attention at you, he looks down at you

"I think I need to doze off for a minute" you say to him with your sleepy eyes

He smiles as he kisses the top of your head he put his arms around you "Yeah, sure"

Eddie says to Jonathan and the rest that you and him will be out for a while, they all nod and said "Don't be late for the countdown"

Your boyfriend leads you to your bedroom as you throw yourself at your bed as he closes the door walking towards you, you lay behind your back as you stretch your whole body, Eddie chuckles at your tipsy behavior

"I love my bed"

"Yeah, you always do"

"Uh huh"

He snickers "Okay, honey, are you well? are you sober?" He leans down at you

"Eddie- you know the alcohol hits harder at Nancy right?"

"I'm just checking you know to see if my girl's alright" he shrugs as he put his hands inside of his pockets

"I'm very much, okay, eds- I'm sssleepy" you yawn as you feel your eyes dropping until it shuts completely

He chuckles as he shakes his head he leans down as he kisses your forehead you smile at the gesture as it makes you even heavier to fall asleep

Eddie watches you sleep as he stands over at the window

The neighborhood outside is quite a watch, everyone is having fun, everyone is having a blast

The music outside is dull but he can hear all of his friends laughter and the screams of excitement from them

He shifts from where he standing as he tears off his eyes from the outside of your window and goes back at you

You turned on the other side, so you're now facing him as you snuggle against your pillow

Eddie smiles to himself, he feels so good having you in his life

He walks towards you as he moves the fallen hair strand on your face

His eyes softens as he sats down beside you

You stirred up from the movement on the bed as you try to open your eyes, you smiled when you realized it's Eddie

You pulled him closer beside you as he lets you take him laying down with you

He put his other arm over you as you cuddled against his chest almost hugging him in the process

You feel more cozier and even more sleepier than before

The moment you move your leg over to his

Your skirt rise up exposing more bare skin to him, his breath hitches at the sight of it

He looks down at you, he double thinked- maybe- it's a bad idea to do this but he wants you so badly right now

He shouldn't even be thinking that you will get mad because hell-

You trust him

So.....

He starts sinking down beside you, you moved slightly as he continues to do his work

He plants hot kisses over your neck when finds your sweet spot- you hum lightly

He's now on top of you, holding your hips, he's positioning you laying on your back, your head is on the side, still sleeping peacefully

He goes over to your chest, you're wearing tube top with a zipper in front, so he has a access to your bare chest, he kisses more and more

Your body couldn't even register what's going on

You felt hot and cold all over because of the midnight's weather and from your body heating up from the tension that your boyfriend is giving you

You feel him going lower and lower but you can still feel your eyes tired

He watches your soft heaves from chest rising up and down, his eyes darkened when he puts his hand inside of your skirt, he slowly reaches at the hem of your panties

He licks his lips, your skin feels on fire because of his fingertips, your stir from your sleep once again but still not opening your eyes

He doves onto your lips, kissing you, and you hummed as you lazily kissed him back

"May I?"

You move your head onto the other side, you catch a glimpse of the clock, it says 11:20pm

"Ed's, we might get late-" even though, you want him to do it

"Please"

You're not even opening your eyes yet but you can see his pleading eyes being directed at you

"Yes, Eddie, you can have me, take it all" you sank down further making Eddie groaned when his fingers touched your center, it's drenched

He hook his fingers on your underwear along with your skirt discarded on the floor

You shudder at the cool air as Eddie positioning himself comfortably

He smears kisses on the inside of your thighs as he goes closer and closer to your core

You moved your head on the other way as you try to close your legs when you can't help but feel the arousal that's coming in

But he places his palms on the sides of your legs spreading you open as you can feel of your insides burning from his touch

His hands are everywhere, when the moment he swiped his fingers at your core, you released lewd noises as your breathing goes quicker

He licked his finger cleaning it off with his tongue, he grins down at you

He holds your hips as he leans down

"Ed-"

Before you can finish your sentence, he doves down lapping at your juices as you gasp from his sudden action

His eyes are glued to you as he continues to do his work, watching your once peaceful slumber turns into pleasure

He devours you so satisfying that it's making you close your legs, he smirks as you can feel his tongue go lower inside, you mewled

He holds you tightly as you grip on the sheets, he sucked more and more of you until your can feel your legs shake

You can feel his hand reaching on the hem of your top, you slightly open your eyes as you find the zipper as you pull it down

He grunts when he saw your breasts that he worships everyday, you loved the way he admires your body

You're now naked so divinely displayed for him

His free hand kneads your boobs as you moaned, he dives back down as he starts to bully your clit

You can feel your body tremble from the sensation forming up in your stomach

You reached for his hair as you pull it making his eyes grow hungrier and eats you like man starved for days

"Oh- Eddie-"

He carries the back your butt as his tongue digs deeper earning a squeal from you when he reaches the spot that you didn't know it existed

Your eyes are heavy-lidded, you try to watch him but you can't when your brain can't place your emotions whether is melatonin or oxytocin

you're not sure at this point but hella you feel so fucking amazing right now

He abruptly stops and when he does, you finally open your eyes

"Wha- what- don't stop!" You whine

"What about the countdown?" His lips are covered with your slick and his saliva altogether not caring a single shit that it's literally dripping down on his chin

You gasp at it as you moaned, he chuckles darkly, you know what he's doing he's teasing you

"Do you know that you're frickin' beautiful without even trying?" He goes at his usual antics as you beg for him to come back down

"Eddie, please!"

"Not until you see stars"

"What-"

Before you can utter another word, he goes back in but this time he places your legs over his shoulders another spectacular angle making you shiver from his touches yet again

He grips your legs, thighs, arms, your belly, he squeezes your boobs and it's literally fucking everywhere

One thing, you know it's for certain that you really would unashamedly come from his simple touches

He pokes his tongue down on you but when he curled it, you chant his name like a prayer, you have the ability to scream his name without being caught in action inside of the room because of the loud noises from the people and the music

Your eyes burn from the threatening tears but Eddie is not having it, he wanted you to fall apart completely for him

You moaning louder and louder when he swipes his tongue on your entrance when he puts your legs down on the bed

"You're still not seeing it, I see"

"D-Don't stop- please"

He opens your legs again as he resume to his mission, he tongue fucks you as he digs in and out, you squirm at it as he starts picking up the pace as you let out a ragged breath

Goddamn, he is killing you right now, you can already die right then and there heavenly

Your mouth falls open without noise coming out of them as you yank his hair, he growls as you couldn't believe that he could reach every spot inside of you

You arched your back as you start grinding against his face, his eyes flashes devilishly mischief as he didn't stop this time

He laps once more until you cry out his name

You jolted when the fireworks exploded booming the entire neighborhood

You come on his tongue as the same time the fireworks started

Your legs are spent, you feel boneless but a sickly smile is now sitting on your lips

He let you get back on earth for a while as he cleans you up, he dresses you up not leaving single skin left behind without his kisses

"You saw it, huh?" He grins like a devil that he is but you love him, he holds the door open for you letting you first outside

You saw all of your friends jumping on to the music and celebrated very happily

"I did" you admit ignoring the rosy tint on your cheeks "and it was much more better"

"Than?" He throws his arms around your shoulders

"The fireworks" you smile as he chuckles as he kisses the top of your head as he squeezes you to his side

[captainlunaxmen]

The Lady and the Lord

Chapter 10

Eddie Munson x fem!reader.

This is a repost since the old blog doesn't work anymore. 🥰

Chapter summary: time to deal with the damages Vecna's done.

Chapter warnings: spoiler season 4, slight mention of rape, Andy, lots of cuteness.

Two days... two days since the Upside Down.

Apparently even if Steve, Nancy and Robin managed to kill Vecna, part of his plan succeded.

Four big gates spreading over the whole town, destroyed almost everything, then they stopped and retreated themselves... but they still did lots of damages around Hawkins.That's why a lot of people are now leaving the city.

Max is... okay... she's in a coma. According to the doctor she died for a whole minute, that's why just part of Vecna's plan succeded. Thankfully the doctors also say she's stable and there are a lot of chances she'll wake up soon. Lucas is with her everyday.

And... Eddie... we had lot of troubles bringing him back through the gate, but we did it.

At the hospital they didn't want to take him in, but I managed to talk to the chief and explained to him almost everything so.. he helped. Basically Eddie is fine. Still recovering, but he should be out soon.

Today we, as in Nancy, Robin, Steve, Dustin and I, are collecting some things to take to the Hawkins High school, to help those who got injured and left homeless by the "earthquake".

"Hey Nance! I found so.e more of your old stuff in the attic" Mrs Wheeler comes out of the house with a bix box in her arms.

Nancy quickly collects it and put it in the car.

"Someone order a pizza?" She then asks, earning confused looks from the rest of us.

"Pizza?" Dustin echoes.

We all turn to hear, before see, a horn blaring of a pizza van... stopping in front of the house.

"Oh my god" I let out a chuckle as we see Mike, Will, El, Jonathan and a guy with very long hair... impressive hair getting out of the vehicle.

Mike rushes to his mother, Nancy to Jonathan, Will and El coming towards me and Dustin.

I immediately pull El in for a hug, holding her close not believing she's actually here.

"Hi" I say.

"Hi" she replies tightening her hug.

"What... happened?" I let go to properly look at her, noticing her buzzed hair.

"Long story" she says.

"Hey you" I go to hug Will as Dustin hugs El.

"Hi, Y/n" He says "Where's Lucas?"

"He's at the hospital" Dustin answers.

"Was he hurt?" El asks.

"No. No, he's.."

"He's okay.. Max on the other hand, she's in a sort of coma. The doctors say she should wake up soon though... hopefully" I explain.

"We can take you see her, if you want" Nancy offers and El is quickly to nod her head yes.

Nancy, Jonathan, Mike, El, Will and Argyle, I think his name is, go to the hospital, then to Hopper's cabin, apparently El needs a place to hide, all while Robin, Steve, Dustin and I go to take the boxes to the high school.

"You got it, buddy?" Steve asks Dustin as we walk through the parking lot.

"I'm fine" he assures him. His leg isn't completely healed yet, but Dustin insisted on helping.

We enter the gym, the whole place is filled with people. Lot of them are volunteers, medics, but just as many, if not more, are now-homeless people, people who lost their close ones..

There a big board, covered in poster of missing people.

"Oh god.." I mutter to myself.

One of the girls responsible there smiles at us as we arrive to leave the boxes on the table in front of her.

"Hi"

"Hi"

"Uh, so these are blankets and sheets. And some... some clothes and... and some kids' toys" Robin explains.

"Wow" the girl, 'Melissa' says her name tag, is surprised "it's already so organized. We appreciate that. Do you want a tax receipt for it?" She then asks.

"Uh...No. I don't think that we need one. Thank you, though" Robin answers. "But is there anything else that we can do to help?"

I'm sent to give water to the people sitting in the gym, so is Dustin while Robin is making sandwiches and Steve is at the clothes section.

As I walk around offering glasses of water I notice a man at the missing posters board, he's taking one off to hang another.

I look a bit more attentively and notice it's for Eddie.

Oh my god, that must be Eddie's uncle. Hadn't anyone told him Eddie's okay?

I walk to Dustin.

"Can you hold these for a moment?" I ask him.

"Sure"

I give him the last three glasses of water and I make my way to the man and take a very deep breath.

"Hi, uh... sorry?" I try to catch his attention, he eventually turns around. "Are you... uh... are you Eddie's uncle?"

"That's me" he dryly replies. "What do you want?"

"I'm... can, uh.. can we talk, please?"

"I can't imagine we got anything to talk about. My nephew is innocent" he firmly says.

I look down with a small smile and notice the poster he took of just a moment before.

The old poster of Eddie is smeared with horns and "satanic" drawings... oh..

"I.. I know that, Mr Munson. Trust me" I tell him, looking up at him again.

"What?" He seems taken aback by that.

"I know Eddie, I know he's innocent. And I know he's not missing, sir. He's at the hospital. He got badly hurt during the... the earthquake, saving me..."

I see him letting out a big sigh of relief, going to sit down.

"You're not making fun of me?" He checks.

"I know the people around here are mean and likes to point their fingers at the first... different person they find.. and you have no reason to trust me, but I'm not lying, sir." I sit with him "Eddie is at the hospital. I don't know why no one warned you earlier"

"What's your name?" He asks.

"I'm Y/n L/n" I answer.

"Oh... I should've known right away... you're the Y/n my nephew always talks about" He chuckles and I feel my cheeks heating up at the thought of Eddie talking about me with his uncle.

"Can't seem to make him shut up about you, you know. God..." he chuckles again, relief written all over his face "for a moment I really thought he was dead... thank you"

"I actually should be the one thanking him, he was a true hero. He is." I chuckle nervously.

"I better go see him.. thank you, for telling me" he stands up shaking my hand, holding it in his. "Hope to see you again, Y/n."

"I hope so too."

As he walks away I call him again "actually... Uh. I know your trailer was one of those seriously damaged by the earthquake and... Eddie's gonna stay at mine for a while.. if you have no place to go, you're more than welcome" I offer.

"You're very kind, Eddie was right about that. But don't worry, I got a place to stay in. Just promise to take care of him?"

"Of course, sir"

"Thank you again" He answers with a sweet smile and walks away again.

I go to Steve to help him folding some shirts and sweaters, and I notice Robin talking and joking with Vickie at the table in front of us.

"Awe look at our baby.." I say.

"I'm so happy for her. She deserves this" Steve says.

"Definitely. Now we're gonna have to find someone for you. You too deserve that" I sweetly tell him as I start to fold some clothes.

"You're just saying that because you want to get rid of me" he jokes.

"Yeah... I mean.. I don't know how Eddie would take it to have you in the way... constantly. You know, a threesome every now and then, fine, but constantly? You're lots of work, Harrington" I laughs.

"Don't tempt me, honey. I still remember some things about that night" he jokes back.

"Oh shut up" I scold him playfully and he laughs.

"So... should I get from it that you and Eddie are a thing now?" He asks with a teasing tone.

"Maybe.." I shyly grin.

"Mhmm... he hurts you, he's dead." He says, suddenly serious.

"Yeah, sure Stevie. Sure" I give him a sceptical look.

"Hey... I can beat him up" He insists.

"I'm not saying anything, Stevie"

"I didn't like your tone, honey" he says.

"I'm messing with you" I nudge him "thank you.."

"For what? Handing you the shirts?" He jokes.

"Yeah that... and also.. for always looking out for me" I quietly say.

"Thank you for trusting me" he wraps one arm around my shoulders kissing my head.

"Now, please... don't say anything about Eddie to Dustin, not yet."

"Why?" Steve asks confused, getting back at folding some sweaters.

"Because he wanted to be the very first to know about me and Eddie so... don't say anything." I ask him with a chuckle.

"Sure" he laughs.

" I have to find the right way to tell him"

"why? He's been your number one fan all this time, he's gonna be enthusiastic" Steve tells me.

"Yeah, I know. I just don't want him to organise a wedding or... hear him say 'I told you'" I explain, mimicking Dustin's voice.

"Right... wait...Do I get to be the best man, right?" He jokes leaning onto me.

"You're gonna be my bridesmaid, Stevie." I tell him with a laugh.

There's a comical pause in which he actually considers it, before he speaks again "deal"

"I need to find a way to tell him without him freaking out too much, you gotta help me, okay?" I let out a nervous chuckle, when he doesn't answer right away I insist "Okay?"

"I don't think he's the one you should be worried about... on this 'boyfriend' matter" he tells me.

"Why?" I look up to him, but his eyes aren't on me, rather behind me.

I turn around curiously looking around the gym.

My eyes land on a very familiar figure... that can't be... Hopper?

"Steve..."

"Yes honey?"

"Tell me you see him too please." I shakily ask "I don't want to run to a complete stranger because I'm having hallucinations"

"Go hug him, honey." Steve gently pushes me forward and I immediately rush to the other side of the gym, making my way through the sea of people on the way.

I see him brightly smile at me as I get closer, he opens his arm as I jump at him wrapping my arms around his neck crying like a baby.

His arms are tightly wrapped around me.

"I'm here, sweetheart. I'm here" he rubs my back, letting me back on the ground gently.

I notice Joyce next to him and I hug her too.

"Hey" she says kissing my head.

I let her go and turns back to Hopper.

"How... what... how?" I ask between sobs.

"Well... someone still owes me some snacks for movie night, right?" He jokes, his eyes wet from tears too.

"Shut up" I tell him, wiping away some tears, even if more falls from my eyes. "Oh my god... El! You already saw El? She's at..."

"I did, we stopped at the cabin and they were all there" He tells me.

"Now she looks just like you. You got the same haircut" I laugh, still wiping away some tears.

"Yeah, it looks better on her though" he laughs too.

Then I feel someone beside me, Steve arrived too.

"Hey" Steve greets Hopper, shaking his hand.

"Hey Cool-Hair, you took care of my daughter?" Hopper asks.

"Always, sir" Steve nods.

"Daughter?" I ask.

"I... I wanted to surprise you last year, before the mind flayer happened, but..I didn't get the chance" Hop says reaching behind him to his pocket.

"What are you talking about?" I ask.

"I left it at the cabin, thankfully it was still there when I went earlier." He hands me some papers.

"What... what is it?" I ask again, more confused.

"Adoption papers... all you need to do is sign it..." he nervously explain "if you want to, of course. And you're still gonna live in your house, I know how much you care about your independence... but.. yeah we can still be a family."

"I... I... I don't know what... to say" I stutter.

"Well, think about it, whether you sign it or not, you'll have to tell him about you and Eddie" Steve jokes. I glare at him and he turns back around walking back to the clothing section.

"Who's Eddie? And why there's a 'you and Eddie', uh?" Hopper asks.

"Jim..." Joyce warns him, a sweet smile on her face though.

"What? I'm away for a year and she got a boyfriend? I have the right to ask about it!" He defends, making me laugh.

"Yeah ask, not interrogate" Joyce insists.

Hooper just sighs, deeply, eyes softening when he looks back at me.

"What do you say, sweetheart?" He then asks.

I look down at the papers in my hand, more tears spilling out.

"Well, uh... do you.. do you have a pen?" I ask.

Joyce rushes to grab a pen and excitedly hands it to me, so I can sign the papers.

I'm gonna have a dad... oh shit. That's crazy.

I realised, during this last week, that I always got a family. Now.. now It's just official.

After I sign it, I hand the papers back to him, hugging him again, tightly.

"So, now that we're officially a family," he starts as he pulls away, wiping away more tears. "who's Eddie?

"Oh, I think I should get back to help Steve, you know." I start to walk away "he's not that good at folding shirts"

"This isn't over!" He tells me.

"I'm counting on it!" I yell back, with the biggest smile on my face.

I love how Steve completely gave up in complaining and just drives around wherever we want.

It's actually nice of him, I know he secretly likes doing it.

"Thanks again, Stevie" I tell him as he drives me and Dustin to the Hospital.

"Oh no problem, honey. Gotta check if the boyfriend is okay" he casually says.

"I still can't believe you told him before me!" Dustin complains.

"How many times do I have to ask for forgiveness?" I ask, holding back a chuckle.

"I already forgave you. Also, me constantly telling you 'I told you so' is just enough punishment" he replies.

"You're lucky I love you, Dusty" I semi-warn him.

"Well.. he did tell you" Steve chimes in.

"I warn you too, Harrington" I tell him pointing a finger at him.

"What are you gonna do, uh? Spank me?" He laughs.

"Hey! She's taken, dude. Enough of that" Dustin scold Steve.

"Calm down, Dustin. No risk here anymore" Steve reassures him.

"You better." Dustin sends Steve a glare through the rearview mirror, then realises what he says "wait... anymore?"

"Oh god.." I laugh. "Enough with this, alright? Also... we didn't define anything yet. He was too busy bleeding out to talk about... whatever this is"

"What do you mean? It's pretty obvious he wants you to be his girlfriend" Steve says as a matter of fact.

"Still... we haven't talked about it yet." I tell them.

"Ready for another round of 'I told you's, Henderson?" Steve asks.

"Always"

"I don't like you guys teaming up against me" I laugh.

"You do that all the time with him against me!" Steve complains, with a chuckle.

"Yeah.. because that's fun!" I reply as he parks the car.

We get out of the car and make our way in the hospital.

We go to the table and ask one of the nurses for Max's room and Eddie's. After showing us the way he went back to his desk and we got into Max's room first, finding Lucas still there.

"Hey Lucas" I greet him with a hug and then I go to sit beside Max's bed.

She's still unconscious, but she... looks fine. I think.

"Hey yourself" I softly say to her.

"Thanks for coming" Lucas then tells us as he sit beside me.

"How couldn't we?" Dustin replies with a smile.

"Your eye looks better" I notice looking at his face.

"Yeah, it feels better too"

If I ever find Jason in front of me again, I swear he's done. Beating up a fourteen year-old... fuck's sake.

"Jason's lucky I wasn't there.." Steve comments, rightly mad.

"With all respect, Steve, but I think Y/n here would kick his ass better than you" Dustin shrugs and I let out a small chuckle, while Lucas laughs.

"Thank you very much, Henderson" Steve rolls his eyes.

"Aww, Stevie, we know you could've taken him." I sarcastically say.

"You're on thin ice, Honey" he warns me.

I stick my tongue out at him and go back at looking at Max. She's completely still, obviously yeah, but it's still a painful sight.

"Did the doctors say anything else?" I ask Lucas, not once looking away from Max.

"They just say she's actually doing great, that she'll probably wake up soon" he answers.

"That's.. that's good" I slightly smile at him before moving my attention back to Max.

"Hey, guys, why don't you go buy something to eat, uh? Have a walk, Sinclair. We'll stay here" Steve suggests them.

Dustin and Lucas accept and walk out of the room.

"You good?" Steve takes Lucas' place beside me.

"Yeah.. yeah. It's just hard seeing her like this. Even though the doctors are positive she'll wake up soon... it's still hard. All of that to keep her save and..." I take a deep breath.

"I know" he gently grabs one of my hand "I know. When we killed Vecna, we went down to see his body and then... we heard the grandfather clock chiming, in that moment.. in that moment, I swear I felt.. I felt like dying myself. I couldn't believe we failed" he sincerely tells me and I squeeze his hand to reassure him "but thankfully... we didn't.. or not completely at least. But I still can't not think about how we could've prevented it..."

"You couldn't know, Steve, we couldn't know. That was the biggest risk all along. But we did it, uh? Once again we fucking did it." I look at him, giving him a small smile as my eyes start watering "as always"

"We fucking did it" he nods with a smile.

"And she's gonna be fine and everything is going to be okay"

"Oh definitely, if Mayfield doesn't wake up, I'll kill her" he jokes.

"I'll help you." I laugh and Steve does the same.

In that moment Dustin and Lucas come back with some food for us too.

"We stopped by Eddie's room on the way back, he looks good" Dustin says.

"You talked to him?"

"Yeah, he just feels a little tired he says. You should.. see your boyfriend" Dustin teases.

"Ooh so it's official?" Lucas asks with a small grin.

"No. Nothing's official. And you, Dusty, you're lucky we almost lost two of us, otherwise you'd be dead now" I say as stand up walking to the door.

"You're not coming, Steve?" I ask.

"I'll just leave you two some room, I'll come later" he winks and I just roll my eyes before exiting and heading to Eddie's room.

On my way there, in an almost empty hallway, I bump into someone.

"Sorry" I quietly apologise.

"No worries, baby"

You've got to be kidding me.

I look up seeing Andy right on front of me with a disgusting grin on his face.

What the hell is he doing here? Oh.. righ... Jason's been injured too.

I quickly move to the side to walk past him, but he blocks my way, making me roll my eyes.

"What are you doing here, uh? Came here to apologise?" He asks.

"I'm..." I stutter " w-wait... apologies? Why would I apologise?" I ask, rather confused.

"Well, you haven't been very kind last time we saw each other... threatening to use a shotgun against us..." he says it like the most obvious thing in the world.

"You first threatened to rape me, then you threatened my friend... I don't think I should be the one fucking apologising" I tell him, shocked.

"Hey, hey, hey, Where's the sweet girl gone?" He jokes getting closer, making me take a few steps back. "Uh? C'mon, baby. Why don't we get out of here?"

"No.." I move back again, but he follows quickly.

"Oh, why? You got better plans?" He asks.

"Yes" I try to sound firm, but I know my voice breaks a little.

"Like what?"

"Seeing my friends" I answer.

"You're not here to see Munson, are you?"

"Yes... yes I am" I try to walk past him again, but once again he grabs my hips pulling me to him.

I put my hands on his arms to push him away, but he doesn't bulge.

"You look so cute when you struggle. I'm sure I could show you a better time than him." he leans down towards me.

"I said no" I hit him in the crotch with my knee, making him hiss in pain and let me go. "Don't fucking touch me"

I walk away to Eddie's room and once I find it I enter, as fast as I can.

"What a beautiful sight... hey what's wrong?"

Oh... it's so nice to hear his voice again..

I turn around walking to him, sitting on the bed with him. Eddie just looks at me worried and confused.

"Just a dickhead who can't seem to accept 'no' as an answer" I shrug.

"Oh my" he starts, but I cut him off.

"I hit him in the balls. Hopefully he understands this" I tell Eddie and he just bursts out laughing.

"Oh god... I wish I saw that" he says "my brave girl"

"Shut up.." I look down.

"Still so shy, aren't we?" He teases.

"Me? Never" I sarcastically say and he gently grabs my hand in his playing with my fingers. "You okay?" I ask him.

"Now that you're here... so much better" he grins at me.

"You're terrible..." I playfully roll my eyes "but seriously... are you okay?"

"Yeah, yes m'lady. I'm okay. They patched me up good" he softly chuckles.

"That's good" I smile at him and I see his eyes moving between my own and my lips. "You'll kiss me properly" I tell him.

"Oh c'mon!" He complains, but laugh too and I just shake my head "You're being cruel now, you know that?"

"It was the deal" I shrug.

"The deal included, also, anything else" he hints, teasingly.

"It still does" I wink at him.

"Oh christ... be mine" he suddenly says.

"What?" I ask, taken aback by his words.

"Would you be my girlfriend? Like... officially?" He sweetly smiles at me and, I swear, I could just melt for how softly his eyes are looking at me right now. "And before you could answer. Yes, Dustin talked to me, but no it wasn't because of him I'm asking you. Yes, I'm asking you because I like you, a lot" he smiles at me "Aaaand... Yes, I know Hopper's your father now, like officially your father now and I am ready to meet him, whenever he wants"

That makes me laugh, genuinely.

"I would've said yes, even if you weren't ready, my lord"

"I know... but I still wanted you to know." He move my hand to his lips kissing it gently, making me look away.

"You're gonna be the death of me, Munson" I tell him.

"The feeling is mutual, m'lady" he winks and then smiles. "Are you still sure you want me to stay at your place?" He then asks.

"Positive" I nod "why wouldn't I?"

"Well maybe Hopper has something to say about that" he tells me with a shrug.

"He's fine... I guess, he doesn't have much of a choice. I told him I made a promise to your uncle and he couldn't argue that." I reply with a reassuring smile.

"Oh about that... Wayne wants to.. have dinner all together one of these days.. you know" he's slightly nervous again, playing with my fingers and rings "he insists on buying us dinner to.. get to know you better"

"Why so nervous, love?" I ask, genuinely curious.

"It would be the first time I introduce someone to him" he answers with a timid smile looking me in the eyes "it's a big deal"

"Well then, I accept his invitation. But... next time I'll cook" I tell him.

"Oh well you'll have to talk with him about that. I want nothing to do with this" he raises his hand up.

I laugh and move my gaze to his hands as he lowers them back to his lap.

Shit...What if his uncle finds me boring, or he hates me? I'm gonna make a fool of myself, I know.

I never thought I'd be the kind of girl someone would want to introduce to their relatives... it's gonna be a disaster.

"Where's that mind going, m'lady?" Eddie's voice snaps me out of my thoughts.

"Uh?"

"What troubles my lady's mind?" He grabs my hands caressing them.

"Nothing... it's stupid" I shake my head.

"Mmh..." he considers me for a moment "Nah, that can't be. Tell me" he moves his head sideways, a pout on his lips "please?"

"Just... overthinking.." I answer.

"About what?" He sits up straight again.

"Oh nothing... just what if he ends up hating me?" I softly say.

"Yeah.. as if that's even possible" Eddie chuckles, but his eyes are gentle. "He already loves you. I talked so much about you, it's like he already knows you"

I laugh, still embarrassed he actually talked about me to his uncle... it's sweet.

"And trust me... I said all good thing"

"You did?" I ask, shyly meeting his eyes.

"Oh yeah. I started to tell him about you after I brought you home, after out project meeting." He starts, fingers interlocking with mine as he speaks "he asked me why I was so late and I told him I had to take home the most beautiful girl in the world"

"Oh shut it.." I say, feeling my cheeks warming up.

"Then everyday I would tell him what those little shits told me about you... I'd tell him about how sweet you looked that day, how kind you always are with everyone.. and also I'd ask him what could I have done to approach you again, without scaring you"

"You could have never scared me, Eddie." I gently tell him chucking.

"That's one of the many things that attracted me to you. 'How come such a sweet girl isn't afraid of me?' I asked myself, you know... seeing what everyone says about me." He continues "Dustin then told me how little you care about what everyone says, that's when I started to get obsessed" he laughs "always looking your way, hoping you would notice me"

"I always noticed you" I tell him "whenever the professors forced you to sit in the front row I take a look at you. At your vest, trying to see if there are any new patch on it. In the cafeteria, I always hoped you put on one of your 'shows' so I had a good excuse to look at you and not just stare" I let out a small laugh "and obviously, Dustin started to talk more and more about you and about the campaigns you make, your jokes and about how you were the only person in high school to treat them... well.. not like shit." I squeeze his hands "I always noticed you... I just never thought you would notice me"

"Well, we always noticed each other..."

"But none of us had enough courage to speak to the other" I finish for him, with a chuckle.

"Exactly." He nods "Oh well.. now we'll just have to make it up for the lost time, uh?" He winks.

"Of course" I smile.

A knock interrupts us.

"Yes?"

"It's Steve. Can I come in?" Steve asks.

"Does he have to?" Eddie jokes.

"Sure!" I tell Steve.

"Hey, man" he enters and walk to us. "How do you feel?"

"Oh all good." Eddie replies "especially with her right here"

"I told you to stop it" I shyly laugh.

"And I told you... never" he replies smugly.

"Is it official? Like.. you guys..." Steve starts.

"Yes, Steve. Okay?" I say with an exasperated laugh.

"So... I can finally to 'The Speech', yeah?" He asks me, hopeful.

"Oh god.." I hide behind my hand.

"C'mon, Harrington, scare me." Eddie listens carefully.

"Listen, man. We all care about you, that's true. But... if you dare hurt Y/n, I promise you, I personally will hunt you down and you wouldn't want me to find you. You'd regret those bats." Steve tries to sound threatening.

"Don't worry Harrington, if I ever hurt her, I'd gladly let you kick my ass. I'd deserve that" Eddie replies, calmly.

"I don't need you to 'let me' kick your ass, man... I could take you" Steve insists.

"With all due respect... I'm much more scared of the younger Sinclair" Eddie says honestly.

"Told you, Stevie."

"Also... she could easily kick my ass better than you" Eddie adds pointing at me.

"Alright, fuck you guys" Steve just shrugs, defeated.

"Oh c'mon." I laugh "come here" I grab a chair and put it next to the bed so Steve can sit with us.

"You sure you're good?" He checks again.

"Yeah, Harrington. I'm good, surprisingly good." Eddie answers ad he keeps playing with my fingers. "Plus I got a cute girl helping me, right?" He looks at me.

"Anytime" I smile at him.

"That's good, man. You faced the worst of the worst and look at you, still with us. Only a few scratches" Steve tries to cheer him up.

"Yeah, got some big scars.." Eddie replies, quietly. Feigning confidence, but I think there's more than that. Before I could say something he continues "like yours, big boy, uh?"

"Scar-brothers, you should start a band now" I joke, squeezing Eddie's hand, silently reassuring him.

"Cool name. We're gonna drop 'corroded coffin' and make new t-shirts" he chuckles.

"I'll make the logo" I offer.

"Oh then you're gonna be famous for sure" Steve teases.

"Obviously" Eddie agrees.

"I think we should go though. I have a shift at family video today" Steve tells me.

"Oh.. yeah don't worry" I say "give us a minute, okay?"

"Sure" he smiles. "Get well soon, alright? I don't think I could stand Henderson alone for much longer" he jokes.

"Don't worry, I heal quickly" Eddie assures him.

"Good" Steve walks to the door "can I still call her 'honey' or is it forbidden?" He asks then.

"You ask her, not me" Eddie replies.

Good answer, I think.

I just laugh "as always Stevie. Me having a boyfriend doesn't mean you can't be my friend anymore"

"Just checking. Okay, see you at the car, honey" he finally leaves.

I shake my head chuckling.

"He cares a lot about you" he notes.

"Yeah, well... we've been friends for centuries basically" I smile at him again.

"Hey.. uh... thanks for visiting today" he leans his head to the wall behind him.

"No need to thank me, my lord. I'm just glad you're okay" I tell him "you scared the shit out of me" I then admit.

"I'm sorry" he smiles a little. "But I'd do that again if it means you're gonna be fine"

"So would I" I tell him.

"Oh no, no, I'm more expendable, you let me risk my life" he defends.

"Yeah.. sure, as if I'd let you" I laugh confidently.

"I don't need your permission" he chuckles surprised.

"Neither do I" I smirk.

He just laughs, happily, and I do too.

"Should I tell you what you do to me when you get so cocky, or it's too soon?" He wonders with a teasing grin.

"Let it be a surprise" I say getting up. "I better go. I don't want to be the reason Steve's gonna get fired... or I'll never hear the end of it"

"I'll see you tomorrow then?" He asks. "I mean... I get out tomorrow"

"Oh no, you'll never see me again, my lord I say dramatically with a small laugh.

"Then kiss me and say goodbye properly, m'lady" he follows my joke.

"Fair point.. you got me" I laugh, then sweetly smile at him. I lean down to give him a peck on the cheek.

"Can't wait, m'lady" he bows his head a little.

I walk to the door and, before walking out, I blow him a kiss which he gladly catches and theatrically place it on his lips.

"See you tomorrow, love" I tell him and I walk out of the door as I hear him again.

"I fucking love it when you call me that!"

I laugh rolling my eyes and head out to Steve's car.

[lunamadhatter99]

The Lady and the Lord

Part 10

Hello hello! There you go. Part 10🥰

Thank you!!!!

Hope you'll like it!

Chapter summary: time to deal with the damages Vecna's done.

Chapter warning: ⚠️ season 4 spoilers ⚠️ slight mention of rape, Andy, lots of cuteness 🤷🏻‍♀️

Tag list: @deafeningempathfishcowboy

@imangy

@dragqueen-eddie

@eddie-the-banished

@hurricane-abigail

@spaceandstars

@once-upon-an-imagine

@ruxjules

@ssagube

@munsonmunster

Two days... two  days since the Upside Down.

Apparently even if Steve, Nancy and Robin managed to kill Vecna, part of his plan succeded.

Four big gates spreading over the whole town, destroyed almost everything, then they stopped and retreated themselves... but they still did lots of damages around Hawkins.That's why a lot of people are now leaving the city.

Max is... okay... she's in a coma. According to the doctor she died for a whole minute, that's why just part of Vecna's plan succeded. Thankfully the doctors also say she's stable and there are a lot of chances she'll wake up soon. Lucas is with her everyday.

And... Eddie... we had lot of troubles bringing him back through the gate, but we did it.

At the hospital they didn't want to take him in, but I managed to talk to the chief and explained to him almost everything so.. he helped. Basically Eddie is fine. Still recovering, but he should be out soon.

Today we, as in Nancy, Robin, Steve, Dustin and I, are collecting some things to take to the Hawkins High school, to help those who got injured and left homeless by the "earthquake".

"Hey Nance! I found so.e more of your old stuff in the attic" Mrs Wheeler comes out of the house with a bix box in her arms.

Nancy quickly collects it and put it in the car.

"Someone order a pizza?" She then asks, earning confused looks from the rest of us.

"Pizza?" Dustin echoes.

We all turn to hear, before see, a horn blaring of a pizza van... stopping in front of the house.

"Oh my god" I let out a chuckle as we see Mike, Will, El, Jonathan and a guy with very long hair... impressive hair getting out of the vehicle.

Mike rushes to his mother, Nancy to Jonathan, Will and El coming towards me and Dustin.

I immediately pull El in for a hug, holding her close not believing she's actually here.

"Hi" I say.

"Hi" she replies tightening her hug.

"What... happened?" I let go to properly look at her, noticing her buzzed hair.

"Long story" she says.

"Hey you" I go to hug Will as Dustin hugs El.

"Hi, Y/n" He says "Where's Lucas?"

"He's at the hospital" Dustin answers.

"Was he hurt?" El asks.

"No. No, he's.."

"He's okay.. Max on the other hand, she's in a sort of coma. The doctors say she should wake up soon though... hopefully" I explain.

"We can take you see her, if you want" Nancy offers and El is quickly to nod her head yes.

Nancy, Jonathan, Mike, El, Will and Argyle, I think his name is, go to the hospital, then to Hopper's cabin, apparently El needs a place to hide, all while Robin, Steve, Dustin and I go to take the boxes to the high school.

"You got it, buddy?" Steve asks Dustin as we walk through the parking lot.

"I'm fine" he assures him. His leg isn't completely healed yet, but Dustin insisted on helping.

We enter the gym, the whole place is filled with people. Lot of them are volunteers, medics, but just as many, if not more, are now-homeless people, people who lost their close ones..

There a big board, covered in poster of missing people.

"Oh god.." I mutter to myself.

One of the girls responsible there smiles at us as we arrive to leave the boxes on the table in front of her.

"Hi"

"Hi"

"Uh, so these are blankets and sheets. And some... some clothes and... and some kids' toys" Robin explains.

"Wow" the girl, 'Melissa' says her name tag, is surprised "it's already so organized. We appreciate that. Do you want a tax receipt for it?" She then asks.

"Uh...No. I don't think that we need one. Thank you, though" Robin answers. "But is there anything else that we can do to help?"

I'm sent to give water to the people sitting in the gym, so is Dustin while Robin is making sandwiches and Steve is at the clothes section.

As I walk around offering glasses of water I notice a man at the missing posters board, he's taking one off to hang another.

I look a bit more attentively and notice it's for Eddie.

Oh my god, that must be Eddie's uncle. Hadn't anyone told him Eddie's okay?

I walk to Dustin.

"Can you hold these for a moment?" I ask him.

"Sure"

I give him the last three glasses of water and I make my way to the man and take a very deep breath.

"Hi, uh... sorry?" I try to catch his attention, he eventually turns around. "Are you... uh... are you Eddie's uncle?"

"That's me" he dryly replies. "What do you want?"

"I'm... can, uh.. can we talk, please?"

"I can't imagine we got anything to talk about. My nephew is innocent" he firmly says.

I look down with a small smile and notice the poster he took of just a moment before.

The old poster of Eddie is smeared with horns and "satanic" drawings... oh..

"I.. I know that, Mr Munson. Trust me" I tell him, looking up at him again.

"What?" He seems taken aback by that.

"I know Eddie, I know he's innocent. And I know he's not missing, sir. He's at the hospital. He got badly hurt during the... the  earthquake, saving me..."

I see him letting out a big sigh of relief, going to sit down.

"You're not making fun of me?" He checks.

"I know the people around here are mean and likes to point their fingers at the first... different person they find.. and you have no reason to trust me, but I'm not lying, sir." I sit with him "Eddie is at the hospital. I don't know why no one warned you earlier"

"What's your name?" He asks.

"I'm Y/n L/n" I answer.

"Oh... I should've known right away... you're the Y/n my nephew always talks about" He chuckles and I feel my cheeks heating up at the thought of Eddie talking about me with his uncle.

"Can't seem to make him shut up about you, you know. God..." he chuckles again, relief written all over his face "for a moment I really thought he was dead... thank you"

"I actually should be the one thanking him, he was a true hero. He is." I chuckle nervously.

"I better go see him.. thank you, for telling me" he stands up shaking my hand, holding it in his. "Hope to see you again, Y/n."

"I hope so too."

As he walks away I call him again "actually... Uh. I know your trailer was one of those seriously damaged by the earthquake and... Eddie's gonna stay at mine for a while..  if you have no place to go, you're more than welcome" I offer.

"You're very kind, Eddie was right about that. But don't worry, I got a place to stay in. Just promise to take care of him?"

"Of course, sir"

"Thank you again" He answers with a sweet smile and walks away again.

I go to Steve to help him folding some shirts and sweaters, and I notice Robin talking and joking with Vickie at the table in front of us.

"Awe look at our baby.." I say.

"I'm so happy for her. She deserves this" Steve says.

"Definitely. Now we're gonna have to find someone for you. You too deserve that" I sweetly tell him as I start to fold some clothes.

"You're just saying that because you want to get rid of me" he jokes.

"Yeah... I mean.. I don't know how Eddie would take it to have you in the way... constantly. You know, a threesome every now and then, fine, but constantly? You're lots of work, Harrington" I laughs.

"Don't tempt me, honey. I still remember some things about that night" he jokes back.

"Oh shut up" I scold him playfully and he laughs.

"So... should I get from it that you and Eddie are a thing now?" He asks with a teasing tone.

"Maybe.." I shyly grin.

"Mhmm... he hurts you, he's dead." He says, suddenly serious.

"Yeah, sure Stevie. Sure" I give him a sceptical look.

"Hey... I can beat him up" He insists.

"I'm not saying anything, Stevie"

"I didn't like your tone, honey" he says.

"I'm messing with you" I nudge him "thank you.."

"For what? Handing you the shirts?" He jokes.

"Yeah that... and also.. for always looking out for me" I quietly say.

"Thank you for trusting me" he wraps one arm around my shoulders kissing my head.

"Now, please... don't say anything about Eddie to Dustin, not yet."

"Why?" Steve asks confused, getting back at folding some sweaters.

"Because he wanted to be the very first to know about me and Eddie so... don't say anything." I ask him with a chuckle.

"Sure" he laughs.

" I have to find the right way to tell him"

"why? He's been your number one fan all this time, he's gonna be enthusiastic" Steve tells me.

"Yeah, I know. I just don't want him to organise a wedding or... hear him say 'I told you'" I explain, mimicking Dustin's voice.

"Right... wait...Do I get to be the best man, right?" He jokes leaning onto me.

"You're gonna be my bridesmaid, Stevie." I tell him with a laugh.

There's a comical pause in which he actually considers it, before he speaks again "deal"

"I need to find a way to tell him without him freaking out too much, you gotta help me, okay?" I let out a nervous chuckle, when he doesn't answer right away I insist "Okay?"

"I don't think he's the one you should be worried about... on this 'boyfriend' matter" he tells me.

"Why?" I look up to him, but his eyes aren't on me, rather behind me.

I turn around curiously looking around the gym.

My eyes land on a very familiar figure... that can't be... Hopper?

"Steve..."

"Yes honey?"

"Tell me you see him too please." I shakily ask "I don't want to run to a complete stranger because I'm having hallucinations"

"Go hug him, honey." Steve gently pushes me forward and I immediately rush to the other side of the gym, making my way through the sea of people on the way.

I see him brightly smile at me as I get closer, he opens his arm as I jump at him wrapping my arms around his neck crying like a baby.

His arms are tightly wrapped around me.

"I'm here, sweetheart. I'm here" he rubs my back, letting me back on the ground gently.

I notice Joyce next to him and I hug her too.

"Hey" she says kissing my head.

I let her go and turns back to Hopper.

"How... what... how?" I ask between sobs.

"Well... someone still owes me some snacks for movie night, right?" He jokes, his eyes wet from tears too.

"Shut up" I tell him, wiping away some tears, even if more falls from my eyes. "Oh my god... El! You already saw El? She's at..."

"I did, we stopped at the cabin and they were all there" He tells me.

"Now she looks just like you. You got the same haircut" I laugh, still wiping away some tears.

"Yeah, it looks better on her though" he laughs too.

Then I feel someone beside me, Steve arrived too.

"Hey" Steve greets Hopper, shaking his hand.

"Hey Cool-Hair, you took care of my daughter?" Hopper asks.

"Always, sir" Steve nods.

"Daughter?" I ask.

"I... I wanted to surprise you last year, before the mind flayer happened, but..I didn't get the chance" Hop says reaching behind him to his pocket.

"What are you talking about?" I ask.

"I left it at the cabin, thankfully it was still there when I went earlier." He hands me some papers.

"What... what is it?" I ask again, more confused.

"Adoption papers... all you need to do is sign it..." he nervously explain "if you want to, of course. And you're still gonna live in your house, I know how much you care about your independence... but.. yeah we can still be a family."

"I... I... I don't know what... to say" I stutter.

"Well, think about it, whether you sign it or not, you'll have to tell him about you and Eddie" Steve jokes. I glare at him and he turns back around walking back to the clothing section.

"Who's Eddie? And why there's a 'you and Eddie', uh?" Hopper asks.

"Jim..." Joyce warns him, a sweet smile on her face though.

"What? I'm away for a year and she got a boyfriend? I have the right to ask about it!" He defends, making me laugh.

"Yeah ask, not interrogate" Joyce insists.

Hooper just sighs, deeply, eyes softening when he looks back at me.

"What do you say, sweetheart?" He then asks.

I look down at the papers in my hand, more tears spilling out.

"Well, uh... do you.. do you have a pen?" I ask.

Joyce rushes to grab a pen and excitedly hands it to me, so I can sign the papers.

I'm gonna have a dad... oh shit. That's crazy.

I realised, during this last week, that I always got a family. Now.. now It's just official.

After I sign it, I hand the papers back to him, hugging him again, tightly.

"So, now that we're officially a family," he starts as he pulls away, wiping away more tears. "who's Eddie?

"Oh, I think I should get back to help Steve, you know." I start to walk away "he's not that good at folding shirts"

"This isn't over!" He tells me.

"I'm counting on it!" I yell back, with the biggest smile on my face.

I love how Steve completely gave up in complaining and just drives around wherever we want.

It's actually nice of him, I know he secretly likes doing it.

"Thanks again, Stevie" I tell him as he drives me and Dustin to the Hospital.

"Oh no problem, honey. Gotta check if the boyfriend is okay" he casually says.

"I still can't believe you told him before me!" Dustin complains.

"How many times do I have to ask for forgiveness?" I ask, holding back a chuckle.

"I already forgave you. Also, me constantly telling you 'I told you so' is just enough punishment" he replies.

"You're lucky I love you, Dusty" I semi-warn him.

"Well.. he did tell you" Steve chimes in.

"I warn you too, Harrington" I tell him pointing a finger at him.

"What are you gonna do, uh? Spank me?" He laughs.

"Hey! She's taken, dude. Enough of that" Dustin scold Steve.

"Calm down, Dustin. No risk here anymore" Steve reassures him.

"You better." Dustin sends Steve a glare through the rearview mirror, then realises what he says "wait... anymore?"

"Oh god.." I laugh. "Enough with this, alright? Also... we didn't define anything yet. He was too busy bleeding out to talk about... whatever this is"

"What do you mean? It's pretty obvious he wants you to be his girlfriend" Steve says as a matter of fact.

"Still... we haven't talked about it yet." I tell them.

"Ready for another round of 'I told you's, Henderson?" Steve asks.

"Always"

"I don't like you guys teaming up against me" I laugh.

"You do that all the time with him against me!" Steve complains, with a chuckle.

"Yeah.. because that's fun!" I reply as he parks the car.

We get out of the car and make our way in the hospital.

We go to the table and ask one of the nurses for Max's room and Eddie's. After showing us the way he went back to his desk and we got into Max's room first, finding Lucas still there.

"Hey Lucas" I greet him with a hug and then I go to sit beside Max's bed.

She's still unconscious, but she... looks fine. I think. 

"Hey yourself" I softly say to her.

"Thanks for coming" Lucas then tells us as he sit beside me.

"How couldn't we?" Dustin replies with a smile.

"Your eye looks better" I notice looking at his face.

"Yeah, it feels better too"

If I ever find Jason in front of me again, I swear he's done. Beating up a fourteen year-old... fuck's sake.

"Jason's lucky I wasn't there.." Steve comments, rightly mad.

"With all respect, Steve, but I think Y/n here would kick his ass better than you" Dustin shrugs and I let out a small chuckle, while Lucas laughs.

"Thank you very much, Henderson" Steve rolls his eyes.

"Aww, Stevie, we know you could've taken him." I sarcastically say.

"You're on thin ice, Honey" he warns me.

I stick my tongue out at him and go back at looking at Max. She's completely still, obviously yeah, but it's still a painful sight.

"Did the doctors say anything else?" I ask Lucas, not once looking away from Max.

"They just say she's actually doing great, that she'll probably wake up soon" he answers. 

"That's.. that's good" I slightly smile at him before moving my attention back to Max.

"Hey, guys, why don't you go buy something to eat, uh? Have a walk, Sinclair. We'll stay here" Steve suggests them.

Dustin and Lucas accept and walk out of the room.

"You good?" Steve takes Lucas' place beside me.

"Yeah.. yeah. It's just hard seeing her like this. Even though the doctors are positive she'll wake up soon... it's still hard. All of that to keep her save and..." I take a deep breath.

"I know" he gently grabs one of my hand "I know. When we killed Vecna, we went down to see his body and then... we heard the grandfather clock chiming, in that moment.. in that moment, I swear I felt.. I felt like dying myself. I couldn't believe we failed" he sincerely tells me and I squeeze his hand to reassure him "but thankfully... we didn't.. or not completely at least. But I still can't not think about how we could've prevented it..."

"You couldn't know, Steve, we couldn't know. That was the biggest risk all along. But we did it, uh? Once again we fucking did it." I look at him, giving him a small smile as my eyes start watering "as always"

"We fucking did it" he nods with a smile.

"And she's gonna be fine and everything is going to be okay"

"Oh definitely, if Mayfield doesn't wake up, I'll kill her" he jokes.

"I'll help you." I laugh and Steve does the same. 

In that moment Dustin and Lucas come back with some food for us too.

"We stopped by Eddie's room on the way back, he looks good" Dustin says.

"You talked to him?"

"Yeah, he just feels a little tired he says. You should.. see your boyfriend" Dustin teases. 

"Ooh so it's official?" Lucas asks with a small grin.

"No. Nothing's official. And you, Dusty, you're lucky we almost lost two of us, otherwise you'd be dead now" I say as stand up walking to the door.

"You're not coming, Steve?" I ask.

"I'll just leave you two some room, I'll come later" he winks and I just roll my eyes before exiting and heading to Eddie's room.

On my way there, in an almost empty hallway, I bump into someone. 

"Sorry" I quietly apologise.

"No worries, baby"

You've got to be kidding me.

I look up seeing Andy right on front of me with a disgusting grin on his face.

What the hell is he doing here? Oh.. righ... Jason's been injured too.

I quickly move to the side to walk past him, but he blocks my way, making me roll my eyes.

"What are you doing here, uh? Came here to apologise?" He asks.

"I'm..." I stutter " w-wait... apologies? Why would I apologise?" I ask, rather confused. 

"Well, you haven't been very kind last time we saw each other... threatening to use a shotgun against us..." he says it like the most obvious thing in the world.

"You first threatened to rape me, then you threatened my friend... I don't think I should be the one fucking apologising" I tell him, shocked.

"Hey, hey, hey, Where's the sweet girl gone?" He jokes getting closer, making me take a few steps back. "Uh? C'mon, baby. Why don't we get out of here?"

"No.." I move back again, but he follows quickly.

"Oh, why? You got better plans?" He asks.

"Yes" I try to sound firm, but I know my voice breaks a little.

"Like what?"

"Seeing my friends" I answer. 

"You're not here to see Munson, are you?"

"Yes... yes I am" I try to walk past him again, but once again he grabs my hips pulling me to him.

I put my hands on his arms to push him away, but he doesn't bulge.

"You look so cute when you struggle. I'm sure I could show you a better time than him." he leans down towards me.

"I said no" I hit him in the crotch with my knee, making him hiss in pain and let me go. "Don't fucking touch me"

I walk away to Eddie's room and once I find it I enter, as fast as I can.

"What a beautiful sight... hey what's wrong?"

Oh... it's so nice to hear his voice again..

I turn around walking to him, sitting on the bed with him. Eddie just looks at me worried and confused.

"Just a dickhead who can't seem to accept 'no' as an answer" I shrug.

"Oh my" he starts, but I cut him off.

"I hit him in the balls. Hopefully he understands this" I tell Eddie and he just bursts out laughing.

"Oh god... I wish I saw that" he says "my brave girl"

"Shut up.." I look down.

"Still so shy, aren't we?" He teases.

"Me? Never" I sarcastically say and he gently grabs my hand in his playing with my fingers. "You okay?" I ask him.

"Now that you're here... so much better" he grins at me.

"You're terrible..." I playfully roll my eyes "but seriously... are you okay?"

"Yeah, yes m'lady. I'm okay. They patched me up good" he softly chuckles.

"That's good" I smile at him and I see his eyes moving between my own and my lips. "You'll kiss me properly" I tell him.

"Oh c'mon!" He complains, but laugh too and I just shake my head "You're being cruel now, you know that?"

"It was the deal" I shrug.

"The deal included, also, anything else" he hints, teasingly.

"It still does" I wink at him.

"Oh christ... be mine" he suddenly says.

"What?" I ask, taken aback by his words.

"Would you be my girlfriend? Like... officially?" He sweetly smiles at me and, I swear, I could just melt for how softly his eyes are looking at me right now. "And before you could answer. Yes, Dustin talked to me, but no it wasn't because of him I'm asking you. Yes, I'm asking you because I like you, a lot" he smiles at me "Aaaand... Yes, I know Hopper's your father now, like officially your father now and I am ready to meet him, whenever he wants"

That makes me laugh, genuinely.

"I would've said yes, even if you weren't ready, my lord"

"I know... but I still wanted you to know." He move my hand to his lips kissing it gently, making me look away.

"You're gonna be the death of me, Munson" I tell him.

"The feeling is mutual, m'lady" he winks and then smiles. "Are you still sure you want me to stay at your place?" He then asks.

"Positive" I nod "why wouldn't I?"

"Well maybe Hopper has something to say about that" he tells me with a shrug.

"He's fine... I guess, he doesn't have much of a choice. I told him I made a promise to  your uncle and he couldn't argue that." I reply with a reassuring smile.

"Oh about that... Wayne wants to.. have dinner all together one of these days.. you know" he's slightly nervous again, playing with my fingers and rings "he insists on buying us dinner to.. get to know you better"

"Why so nervous, love?" I ask, genuinely curious. 

"It would be the first time I introduce someone to him" he answers with a timid smile looking me in the eyes "it's a big deal"

"Well then, I accept his invitation. But... next time I'll cook" I tell him.

"Oh well you'll have to talk with him about that. I want nothing to do with this" he raises his hand up.

I laugh and move my gaze to his hands as he lowers them back to his lap.

Shit...What if his uncle finds me boring, or he hates me? I'm gonna make a fool of myself, I know.

I never thought I'd be the kind of girl someone would want to introduce to their relatives... it's gonna be a disaster. 

"Where's that mind going, m'lady?" Eddie's voice snaps me out of my thoughts. 

"Uh?"

"What troubles my lady's mind?" He grabs my hands caressing them.

"Nothing... it's stupid" I shake my head.

"Mmh..." he considers me for a moment "Nah, that can't be. Tell me" he moves his head sideways, a pout on his lips "please?"

"Just... overthinking.." I answer. 

"About what?" He sits up straight again.

"Oh nothing... just what if he ends up hating me?" I softly say.

"Yeah.. as if that's even possible" Eddie chuckles, but his eyes are gentle. "He already loves you. I talked so much about you, it's like he already knows you"

I laugh, still embarrassed he actually talked about me to his uncle... it's sweet.

"And trust me... I said all good thing"

"You did?" I ask, shyly meeting his eyes.

"Oh yeah. I started to tell him about you after I brought you home, after out project meeting." He starts, fingers interlocking with mine as he speaks "he asked me why I was so late and I told him I had to take home the most beautiful girl in the world"

"Oh shut it.." I say, feeling my cheeks warming up.

"Then everyday I would tell him what those little shits told me about you... I'd tell him about how sweet you looked that day, how kind you always are with everyone.. and also I'd ask him what could I have done to approach you again, without scaring you"

"You could have never scared me, Eddie." I gently tell him chucking.

"That's one of the many things that attracted me to you. 'How come such a sweet girl isn't afraid of me?' I asked myself, you know... seeing what everyone says about me." He continues "Dustin then told me how little you care about what everyone says, that's when I started to get obsessed" he laughs "always looking your way, hoping you would notice me"

"I always noticed you" I tell him "whenever the professors forced you to sit in the front row I take a look at you. At your vest, trying to see if there are any new patch on it. In the cafeteria, I always hoped you put on one of your 'shows' so I had a good excuse to look at you and not just stare" I let out a small laugh "and obviously, Dustin started to talk more and more about you and about the campaigns you make, your jokes and about how you were the only person in high school to treat them... well.. not like shit." I squeeze his hands "I always noticed you... I just never thought you would notice me"

"Well, we always noticed each other..."

"But none of us had enough courage to speak to the other" I finish for him, with a chuckle. 

"Exactly." He nods "Oh well.. now we'll just have to make it up for the lost time, uh?" He winks.

"Of course" I smile.

A knock interrupts us.

"Yes?"

"It's Steve. Can I come in?" Steve asks.

"Does he have to?" Eddie jokes.

"Sure!" I tell Steve.

"Hey, man" he enters and walk to us.  "How do you feel?"

"Oh all good." Eddie replies "especially with her right here"

"I told you to stop it" I shyly laugh.

"And I told you... never" he replies smugly.

"Is it official? Like.. you guys..." Steve starts.

"Yes, Steve. Okay?" I say with an exasperated laugh. 

"So... I can finally to 'The Speach', yeah?" He asks me, hopeful.

"Oh god.." I hide behind my hand.

"C'mon, Harrington, scare me." Eddie listens carefully.

"Listen, man. We all care about you, that's true. But... if you dare hurt Y/n, I promise you, I personally will hunt you down and you wouldn't want me to find you. You'd regret those bats." Steve tries to sound threatening. 

"Don't worry Harrington, if I ever hurt her, I'd gladly let you kick my ass. I'd deserve that" Eddie replies, calmly.

"I don't need you to 'let me' kick your ass, man... I could take you" Steve insists. 

"With all due respect... I'm much more scared of the younger Sinclair" Eddie says honestly.

"Told you, Stevie."

"Also... she could easily kick my ass better than you" Eddie adds pointing at me.

"Alright, fuck you guys" Steve just shrugs, defeated. 

"Oh c'mon." I laugh "come here" I grab a chair and put it next to the bed so Steve can sit with us.

"You sure you're good?" He checks again.

"Yeah, Harrington. I'm good, surprisingly good." Eddie answers ad he keeps playing with my fingers. "Plus I got a cute girl helping me, right?" He looks at me.

"Anytime" I smile at him.

"That's good, man. You faced the worst of the worst and look at you, still with us. Only a few scratches" Steve tries to cheer him up.

"Yeah, got some big scars.." Eddie replies, quietly. Feigning confidence, but I think there's more than that. Before I could say something he continues "like yours, big boy, uh?"

"Scar-brothers, you should start a band now" I joke, squeezing Eddie's hand, silently reassuring him.

"Cool name. We're gonna drop 'corroded coffin' and make new t-shirts" he chuckles. 

"I'll make the logo" I offer.

"Oh then you're gonna be famous for sure" Steve teases.

"Obviously" Eddie agrees.

"I think we should go though. I have a shift at family video today" Steve tells me.

"Oh.. yeah don't worry" I say "give us a minute, okay?"

"Sure" he smiles. "Get well soon, alright? I don't think I could stand Henderson alone for much longer" he jokes.

"Don't worry, I heal quickly" Eddie assures him.

"Good" Steve walks to the door "can I still call her 'honey' or is it forbidden?" He asks then.

"You ask her, not me" Eddie replies.

Good answer, I think.

I just laugh "as always Stevie. Me having a boyfriend doesn't mean you can't be my friend anymore"

"Just checking. Okay, see you at the car, honey" he finally leaves.

I shake my head chuckling.

"He cares a lot about you" he notes.

"Yeah, well... we've been friends for centuries basically" I smile at him again.

"Hey.. uh... thanks for visiting today" he leans his head to the wall behind him.

"No need to thank me, my lord. I'm just glad you're okay" I tell him "you scared the shit out of me" I then admit.

"I'm sorry" he smiles a little. "But I'd do that again if it means you're gonna be fine"

"So would I" I tell him.

"Oh no, no, I'm more expendable, you let me risk my life" he defends.

"Yeah.. sure, as if I'd let you" I laugh confidently.

"I don't need your permission" he chuckles surprised.

"Neither do I" I smirk.

He just laughs, happily, and I do too.

"Should I tell you what you do to me when you get so cocky, or it's too soon?" He wonders with a teasing grin.

"Let it be a surprise" I say getting up. "I better go. I don't want to be the reason Steve's gonna get fired... or I'll never hear the end of it"

"I'll see you tomorrow then?" He asks. "I mean... I get out tomorrow"

"Oh no, you'll never see me again, my lord I say dramatically with a small laugh.

"Then kiss me and say goodbye properly, m'lady" he follows my joke.

"Fair point.. you got me" I laugh, then sweetly smile at him. I lean down to give him a peck on the cheek.

"Can't wait, m'lady" he bows his head a little.

I walk to the door and, before walking out, I blow him a kiss which he gladly catches.

"See you tomorrow, love" and I walk out of the door as I hear him again.

"I fucking love it when you call me that!"

I laugh rolling my eyes and head out to Steve's car.

[julieloveupstead]

"It Was So Close" - Upstead 8x07

Description: They came so close to losing the most important person in their lives in an instant, but after all, they are police officers and that's their job risk, right?

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Hailey was still asleep when Jay left her suite. They were going to start working separately that day. Jay, Adam, Kevin, and Kim were working on the Becerra brothers of the Latin Players, who Ruzek had been working on for the past few days, and Hailey had some paperwork due that had her at her desk all morning. She didn't know why, but she had the radio on on their shared frequency and was listening to something she didn't even know what exactly. Maybe she wanted to kill the boredom and the silence in the room or she wanted to make sure that the work the team was working on went according to the plan and that nothing unexpected happened, although she did not expect anything special to happen. She was almost finished with her report when Kim's voice came over the radio

- 5021, Eddie, 10-1, 10-1! Shots fired at police. We're at 4200 South Justine.

- Sergeant! - she called out and immediately a grey head emerged from her office.

- We have undercover officers firing shots. - Kim could still be heard.

- Let's go - decided the boss. Hailey took her jacket and ran to the car. When she heard her friend's words her heart stopped and the darkest thoughts came into her head and she didn't know how to throw them out. After all, Jay was surely fine, right? Shit what if he's lying there right now with a hole in his caltrop and oh god what if he's bleeding out right now and I'm not there with him? No, no, no, no. I'll never forgive myself for not being there, and I suggested to Jay that he wanted me to go with them, but he told me to get some sleep. Oh my God, what if this morning was our last? I'll never see his green eyes again, his wonderfully gallant smile that is reserved just for me and that makes my knees soften and butterflies dance in my stomach. Oh god, oh god, Hailey get a grip on yourself damn it nothing happened because if something bad happened Kim or Kevin would report it, right?

There was a war going on in Hailey's head, and her heart was rumbling in persi, and squeezing unpleasantly in her stomach. She was trembling all over her body and could barely keep herself from crying, but she knew that with Voight around, she couldn't afford to.

For Hailey, it took forever to get to the scene of the shooting, and when Voight finally parked, she took off running, praying that Jay would be okay and that she could scold him for freaking me out again.

- Jay! - shouted Hailey as soon as she saw Kim, who was waiting for backup. Apparently they had arrived first, which probably meant that nothing bad had happened, but as she got closer she saw a black cloth and a piece of shoe sticking out from under it. She froze at the sight and couldn't even move or breathe. She didn't hear someone say her name, she didn't feel Kim touch her arm. All that mattered was that she was late. That she wasn't where she needed to be, that she had let him down. She had promised Jay that she would always cover his back, that she would always be there for him. She was mad at herself for daring to tell him so late that he had long been more than a partner and friend to her. She regretted that they had so little time to themselves. She hadn't had time to tell him that she loved him, that she wanted to become his wife and grow old with him. Yes they had only been together for a month and hadn't really talked seriously about the next steps in their relationship, but it was so obvious to her that he was the one for her that she hadn't considered that something like that would happen. Or should she? She dropped to her knees a few inches from where the body was and, with trembling hands, reached to hide the bag, but then, as if from an abyss, a voice emerged that always brought her out of the dusk. She closed her eyes and let out a few tears that came unexpectedly, she wanted so badly to remember that sound.

- Hailey - she heard someone calling her more clearly now, but she still didn't open her eyes. She was afraid that if she opened them she would not see the most calming and amazing green of Jay's eyes in front of her. - 'Hailey, open your eyes, please,' she heard someone whisper, and someone's hands drawing unknown patterns on her shoulders. Just because she smelled a familiar scent she slowly opened her eyes. At first she thought it was a dream, but then when she studied with her eyes the whole face looking at her with worry, and steam escaped from his mouth, she believed that she was not dreaming that there was a whole and healthy Jay kneeling before her. Then all her senses seemed to awaken from their winter sleep and she realized what she had done, what a circus she had put on. Because of her, it was probably now anyone's guess that she and Jay were together. Damn.

When her breathing normalized and her thoughts returned to normal, she wordlessly got up from her knees and moved away from Jay, who now really looked worried and she knew he wanted to talk, but her survival instinct told her to put on the mask of a professional cop and go back to work as if nothing had happened. Because, after all, nothing had happened. Jay was alive and that was the most important thing, and they could talk later when they got back to her apartment after work. She let Jay know that she was okay and that they would talk later, and then she walked off in the direction of the arriving officers.

There was no time to talk for most of the day, about what had happened that morning. Hailey buried deep in her memory what had happened and did her best not to over-intellectualize the stares her colleagues were sending her, especially not to give into Jay's constantly sending her stares. She tried to work and act like she did on any normal work day, which was to say, professional and cold-blooded, as if it wasn't happening. She worked and functioned better that way. The only upside was that she wasn't avoiding Jay she just knew that command wasn't the place to talk, last time they broke that promise and she's pretty sure Kev suspected something. She'd promised herself she'd never let that happen again, and oh this morning it all came to a head, and now she was sure everyone knew about them. Damn. She could have acted more professionally, but emotions got the better of her.

On the other hand, no surprise there, right? Jay had already escaped death almost twice in front of her eyes, until now she sometimes wakes up at night with the sight of a bloody and unconscious Jay in that damn basement. More her reaction shouldn't surprise anyone and it doesn't have to mean anything right away. I'm sure I'm just exaggerating all these looks. She kept repeating to herself. Her head was starting to hurt from all this, so she got up from the desk she was sitting at and headed towards the breakroom with the intention of making herself some coffee.

Adam and Kim went to talk to Adam's CI, Kev disappeared as I suspect to call Vanessa who got a job in the drug department. Voight, on the other hand, went to see Deputy Inspector Samantha Miller, so it was just Jay and her left in the break room.

- Hey - she heard Jay's voice behind her who she didn't even know was standing behind her, she was still consumed with thoughts from the whole day and which she was trying so hard to keep out of her mind. She turned with a small tired smile towards the man. Jay also had a similar smile on his face, but she could also see that he looked worried and as she guessed probably because of her. This guy was unsmiling. He had barely escaped with his life recently, and he would always worry more about her than himself. Sometimes she felt guilty about it, because she didn't want to cause him even more problems, and now since they were together she felt overwhelmed by it, because no one in her life and the early one where parents in any normal family should do it and the later one when she grew up no one cared about her like he did. At every step he proved how much she meant to him. She almost felt like a princess with him. And maybe that's why losing him scared her so much back then.

- Hey, you want some coffee? - I asked, trying to sound as natural as possible, but it only took a glance at Jay to know that he didn't believe her one bit, but he slowly nodded.

Jay sat down on the couch waiting for Hailey to make them coffee in peace. He wanted to give her a moment to sort out her thoughts, he didn't want to rush her, his goal all along had been to reaffirm that she could always count on him, that he would always be there for her, despite everything. This was, after all, how their thing had started and how it would be until the end, because this was how they functioned. So without rushing, he waited patiently for Hailey to open her heart and soul to him. He did not care if it could be today, tomorrow, next week, next month or even next year, for him the most important thing was that in the end he would entrust her demons to him. And even the smallest secret from her childhood, or what she felt, would fill him with unbelievable love and pride, that she was able to trust him.

And so they sat in the kitchen, in the department and sipped their coffee unhurriedly. Jay often tried not to look at his girlfriend, but sometimes he couldn't help thinking what a damn lucky guy he was to have such an amazing woman by his side. When he heard the shots his first thought was Hailey and the guilt he felt for letting her down again, for breaking the promise he'd made to her a year ago and he'd repeated that promise last week, that he'd always come back to her. He couldn't do that to her, not when his biggest dream had come true. She was the only thing that had kept him alive for four years now almost. When he heard her calling him there that morning he felt so relieved that they still had time and a chance for everything that awaited them on their journey together. What bothered him, however, was the state Hailey was in and he knew full well it was all his fault. This overbearing little person must have been terrified and it reawakened old memories that they both wanted to forget.

- When I heard over the radio that there had been gunshots... - Hailey spoke so quietly, but Jay would have heard her even at the end of the world. He gave all his attention to his girlfriend, he would always want her to know that she was the most important thing to him, so he sat quietly letting her calmly express her emotions, he didn't rush her. - And then when she saw the two bags.... - he didn't need to see her face to know that there were tears in her beautiful ocean blue eyes. Jay stood up and slowly walked over to her. He set his cup down on the table and knelt by the woman of his life.

- Hey, Hailey will you look at me? - he asked himself just as quietly. His heart was breaking into a million little pieces when he saw how scared she was. He slowly wiped away the tears running down her cheeks with his thumb, then took her hand with his and squeezed it tightly. He wanted her to know that he was here, that he would not leave her. He did everything slowly and calmly, he didn't want her to cringe inside, to suffer. He dreamed of taking away all her pain, fear and anxiety and all the weight she carried on her back. - I'm sorry I scared you, I'm sorry it all came back again, I'm sorry you had to go through this again. - With every word, he looked centrally into her eyes. - I can't even imagine what you went through today. I'm so damn sorry, Sunshine.

- It's okay, Jay, it's our job, right? - she said trying to sound more confident, but Jay knew her too well. The green-eyed man merely nodded, knowing that slowly Hailey was trying to end the conversation, and he didn't want to pressure her or force her into anything knowing that then she would shut down completely. That's why he sent her a small reassuring smile, he hoped she could read from his gaze, his face, everything he wasn't able to convey with speech. He stood up and hugged the girl sitting in the chair and kissed her head.

Back then, Jay didn't know that he would soon feel a substitute for what Hailey probably felt every time she saw him in a more dangerous situation. Now he was more determined to be more careful, because the kind of fear and helplessness he'd felt out there under the warehouse when they'd managed to catch those responsible for that morning's shooting and when it got hot and he didn't have a good place to shoot he didn't wish on anyone.

Today was so close to both of them losing what is most important to them, but all the more reason for both of them to be determined to keep fighting and never stop.

[writingwithacupoftea]

Quiet

Summary: Following Grace’s death, Tommy shuts himself off from the rest of the world, dealing with all of the noise in his head alone. But Y/N Shelby will be damned if she doesn’t try to help her brother...

Word Count: 3158

A/N: This has unexpectedly become my 200 follower celebration fic, so thank you again!! I was getting my doctor-prescribed daily dose of Cillian Murphy the other day watching his video about the rise of Tommy Shelby, and the part where he talks about Tommy being burdened by his intelligence for some reason made me think of Matilda. So, the song ‘Quiet’ from Matilda the Musical (which I love btw, I’m a massive musical theatre nerd) became the inspiration for this fic. Hope you enjoy it!!

Y/N Shelby was always a source of amazement to the rest of her family. Being the second youngest of the Shelby clan, it had come as a shock to her three elder brothers that she could be quite as ruthless as them when it came to business and enemies who threatened her family. However, it wasn't just that which truly surprised them: it was the fact that she still managed to retain her heart of gold. This was largely reserved for her family and, despite the violence and atrocities committed by them in front of her very eyes, she loved them unconditionally (even if they were a pain in the arse sometimes).

When Tommy bought Arrow House, he also acquired the little cottage on the estate. Knowing that Y/N was getting restless at the prospect of still living with her family as she approached her twenties, Tommy had given the place to her to do with as she wished. This arrangement pleased both siblings immensely. Tommy and Y/N had always had an incredibly close relationship, despite the large age gap, and the cottage's location meant that Y/N got the independence that she so desperately wanted, whilst also being close enough for them to see each other as often as they wished.

(As well as this, it gave Tommy peace of mind that the only way to access the cottage was to cross the grounds which lay in front of Arrow House. This meant that any enemies would have to go past the blinders stationed in front of his house, then through Tommy himself, and finally deal with the blinders outside of Y/N's cottage in order to get to her. Oh, and he always knew when she dared to bring a boy back with her.)

Everything was going perfectly, and Tommy and Y/N were, for once, happy with their lives.

And then Grace died.

For two weeks after the funeral, Tommy spent most of his time riding around the estate, thinking by himself. He didn't want to see anyone apart from his son. Sometimes, depending on where he stopped at night, Y/N could see her brother at a distance from her living room. She longed to run to him, not to tell him that she was sorry and offer her condolences because she knew he'd be sick of that already. Y/N just wanted Tommy to know that he didn't have to fight every battle alone.

Then, out of the blue, there came a point when he stopped doing that. Instead, Tommy chose to throw himself into his work, providing a different type of isolation. He barely left the house, locking himself away in his office, and when he did go out on business he hardly told a soul. According to Mary (who secretly phoned Y/N every week to let her know how Tommy was doing) he seemed lifeless now, as if he were the one that died, not his wife. Her employer was even quieter than he usually was, and Y/N knew that that was when his brain got the loudest.

Y/N refused to sit by and let him destroy himself for any longer...and she knew just the trick to bring her brother back to life.

***

The phone on Tommy's desk seemed to ring even louder than usual, adding to his pounding headache. He hadn't left the house in three days, not that he'd noticed it, and was more on-edge than ever. With a sigh, he picked up the receiver.

"Tom?" Despite the million thoughts that clogged up his brain, he couldn't help the flicker of a smile that passed over his face upon hearing his little sister's light voice, something he'd gotten so used to when she'd lived with him. But that calm didn't last long before his brain went into overdrive again.

"You alright?" He had tried his best to keep any tones of alarm and worry at bay, but knew that he had failed when his voice faltered on the last word.

"I'm fine, I just need to you pop over and help me move a bookcase."

Resisting the urge to roll his eyes, Tommy replied steadily, "Y/N, I'm waiting on about three different phone calls and I have a business to run. Why don't you ask -" He paused, looking at the list in front of him, "Ben or Harry to help you, eh?" (They were in charge of guarding Y/N's house during the daytime this week, according to the rota.)

"I mean I would do, but I've given them the weekend off, and quite frankly you're the closest other person, Tom."

The man in question froze. "You've sent Ben and Harry away?"

"Yes."

"For an entire weekend?"

"Yes."

"And you didn't tell me about it?"

"That's about the size of it, yeah."

"What the fuck do you think you're playing at Y/N?" Tommy was shouting now, furious that his sister would be this stupid. "I thought you had more sense than this!"

"Actually, Thomas, I think in this case I've got more sense than you. They've been outside this house for two, nearly three, weeks now because you haven't stood them down and you won't let me do it myself. How do you expect them to do their job properly if they're dead on their feet?"

Tommy fell silent, his heart beating at a mile a minute, worry taking over from his anger. What if someone took advantage of this moment? What if they used this opportunity to take his sister from him, like they took his wife? He was terrified, and the worst part was that it would be entirely his fault: he should never have let this fuck up happen, he should've kept a closer eye on his sister. Y/N lived on his grounds, anyone that came for Tommy would inevitably go for her as well.

He didn't even bother to try and conceal the tremor in his voice when he finally spoke again. "Okay, I'm coming over. Do not, I repeat, do not leave your house, alright? Don’t open the door to anyone but me, either. Have you got a gun with you?"

"Tom, you made sure that an entire armoury was installed here before I even set foot in the place, yes I have a gun."

"Good. Keep it with you, make sure it's loaded. I'm on my way."

Tommy hadn't even put the receiver down before he was on his feet, scrambling to get ready. Guilt and worry consuming him, Tommy made another phone call to get some more men stationed outside Arrow House, went up to the nursery and kissed Charlie goodbye, and then told Mary of his plan. Tommy would be staying with his sister until Monday morning – he was taking his sister's safety into his own hands this time.

It was common knowledge that the patriarch of the Shelby family didn't give a toss about religion any more, but as his pace quickened down the drive of Arrow House that Saturday morning, he sent a prayer up to anyone who was listening that he wouldn't be too late.

***

Livid. That's the only way to describe how Tommy felt upon turning the corner to his sister's cottage. For there she was, stood in the open doorway, clearly waiting for him. As he got closer, Tommy noticed that Y/N was wearing one of his old shirts under her worn grey cardigan, with a gun tucked into the top of her rolled up, oversized trousers. She also had a gentle smile on her face, the one that was reserved only for her family members.

Shaking a stern finger at his sister as he marched over to her, Tommy stated in a dangerous tone "I told you to stay indoors."

Y/N's smile moulded into a smirk. "Yeah, and I told you that Ben and Harry had the weekend off, not that there was no one guarding the house. Eddie and Will took their place last night."

Tommy ran a hand through his hair, whether out of relief or frustration, neither of the siblings knew. "You are in so much trouble." His tone was far from teasing, and anyone else would be quaking at the knees. But not Y/N.

"I thought I would be, but you can shout at me as we walk." Y/N grabbed a large basket from inside the door before locking it. "Come on!"

"You're not going fucking anywhere until -"

"You know, Thomas, the further away I get the less I'll be able to hear of you telling me off." Y/N hadn't even turned around or stopped to say it, she just kept walking.

"For fuck's sake," Tommy muttered angrily under his breath and then started moving to try and catch up with her.

***

"For what it's worth, I'm sorry for making you panic so much." Tommy had only just caught up to Y/N, and had opened his mouth to continue speaking when she cut him off. "I knew you wouldn't leave the house unless I made you think that I was in danger. You were always too good of a big brother to risk that."

Tommy was rendered speechless by her words. He had neglected her for over a month, barely speaking to her and never visiting – how could she still claim that he was a good brother?

As if she could hear his thoughts, Y/N continued to speak. "You're grieving, Tom. I didn't expect anything from you, no matter how much I wanted to see you. Although you haven't been checking that the blinders change over, that part of my call was true. But I've been taking care of it, so I've been safe the entire time. Don't go blaming yourself for anything else."

"We thought that Grace was safe." That was the first thing that Tommy had said in minutes, and his anger at being lured into his sister's trap lay forgotten for the time being. Y/N simply placed her free hand into the crook of Tommy's arm and squeezed it.

"You probably think I'm so selfish for doing this, but I promise I'm not just doing it for me." She paused, almost reluctant to put her next question out into the open. "Everything's getting loud again, isn't it?"

Tommy stared at the ground as they kept walking further and further away from either of their houses, wordlessly confirming her suspicions. He let out a small chuckle. "You always know, don't you, sweetheart? For someone so young, you don't miss much."

Y/N breathed out a laugh. "When you grow up with John and his bloody booby traps all over the house, you do tend to notice everything and more."  

That was enough to bring out the first proper smile that Tommy had produced since his wife's death. He had forgotten what a tonic his sister could be – just her presence and gentle voice was enough to soothe him and ease some of his pain. Tommy brought his free hand up to rest on top of her small one, still nestled into the crook of his arm, and she responded by leaning her head against his shoulder contentedly.  

They continued to walk in silence before Tommy realised that, for once, he had no clue what they were doing. When he asked, his sister's answer made him stop in his tracks.

"Nothing?"

"Yep." Y/N smiled at him proudly. "Absolutely nothing."

"Y/N, I don’t have time to -"

"Everyone has the time to do nothing, Tommy, even you." Her brother sighed in defeat, knowing that there was no point in starting an argument over it (the look that Y/N was giving him was enough to tell him that he'd lost it before it had even begun).

"Alright, fine. But how am I supposed to do nothing and clear my head at the same time, eh?" His tone boarded on impatient.

"You'll figure it out soon enough." Y/N responded, calmly.

***

She was right, of course. They had laid down the blankets that had been tucked away in Y/N's basket and for a while they simply watched the clouds dancing across the sky, bringing back fond memories for Tommy: he had done this countless times with his mother before she passed, and afterwards he used to take a much younger Y/N out to do the same before the war took over. Tommy let the rustling of the wind in the trees and the singing of the birds melt away the endless stream of thoughts in his head. His sister had also been clever enough to bring them so far out into the Warwickshire countryside that he knew that no-one would find them, causing a feeling of safety and freedom to wash over him for the first time in years.

Tommy reached over and held Y/N's hand in his, and whispered "Thank you, bug," just loudly enough for her to hear.

Y/N turned her head to smile at him and squeezed his hand. But then she frowned at her brother, causing him to mirror her expression. "Tom, you've got some grey hairs coming. Seriously, I can see them now, just at the side."

His lips parted in shock as her expression turned into one of mirth. "You cheeky fucker." Tommy's tone was deadly serious; however, Y/N knew her brother well enough to know what was coming next. She just managed to roll out of the way before Tommy's hand reached out to tickle her stomach.

Before they both knew it, Y/N was running like her life depended on it and Tommy was following in hot pursuit, uncontrollable laughter bubbling out from both of them.

***

A few hours later and night had fallen. Tommy had built a fire some time ago, and Y/N was sat by it, reading. He realised that, whilst the scene wasn't too dissimilar to the one he created every night in the weeks following Grace's funeral, it was also entirely different. Before, he had only focused on the thoughts constantly whizzing around in his brain, not noticing anything else going on around him.  

But now, everything was quiet. Not silent, for that would surely send all of the noise flooding back into his head. The sounds of the pages turning steadily in his sister's book provided that nice sort of quiet which meant that that noise just...stopped. Y/N hadn't actually tried to distract him from his grief or his thoughts, either, or tried to get him to talk about it as so many other people had done; all Y/N did was bring him physically away from everything and been there, a strong presence without pressure. For that, he loved her more than ever.

Tommy looked up as Y/N released a long sigh, having just finished her last chapter. He noticed her shiver slightly when a cool breeze brushed over the field, and fished another blanket out of the basket as she walked over to sit next to him. Tommy wrapped the soft material tightly around her and placed his arm around her shoulder, pulling her in for a one-armed hug.  

Breaking the silence, Y/N looked up and said "The stars are so much brighter out here than in Small Heath."

Tommy hummed in agreement. "When you were little and we were on the road with mum, I used to point out all the different constellations to you."

"I don't remember that."

"Well, you were always about half asleep."

"Do you still remember them?"

"I do."

"Would you show me them again?"

The question was asked with such innocence that Tommy glanced down at his sister, and saw her bright blue eyes staring back up at him, eyes that had him wrapped around her little finger. He laid down, patting the space next to him, encouraging her to do the same. "Let's have a look then, shall we?"

He was rewarded with a big, beaming smile.

***

When Y/N started to yawn and her eyelids began to droop, lulled by the warmth and her brother's steady voice, Tommy decided that it was time for them to head back. He bundled everything back into the basket bar one blanket, which he layered on top of the other one covering his sister once they started walking away from the dying fire (despite Y/N's apparent annoyance at his fussing).

Tommy was still set on staying in his sister's spare room for the weekend, wanting to make up for lost time. Part of him also still worried that she would be taken away from him, and knew that there wasn't much chance of him sleeping if he returned to his own bed. After all that she had done for him today, Tommy couldn't bear to leave her just yet.

He carried the basket in one hand, and Y/N had wrapped both of her arms around his other arm, revelling in the chance to be so close to her brother again, and not just physically. Y/N wasn't naïve in her view of Tommy: he was cold, brutal, rude and relentless, and she knew that. But she had also never wavered in her belief that parts of the Tommy that she knew before the war were still there; they were simply buried deep within, so much so that it was slowly becoming more and more difficult to bring them to the surface.  

However, looking up and noting the absence of a crease between Tommy's brows, she couldn't help but feel that she could afford herself a small victory this time.

"I'm always here for you, Tom," Y/N mumbled, seemingly out of the blue. "When you need some quiet, and remember that I always know when you do, I'll never get bored of things like this."

Tommy was silent, and Y/N wondered if she'd ruined it and pushed it too far. But then she heard him clear his throat and quietly reply "That sounds perfect, sweetheart," and her worries washed away in an instant.

***

As the siblings stepped over the threshold of the cottage, exhaustion hit both of them. Y/N headed to the kitchen and Tommy made his way towards the living room. Upon his arrival, however, he stopped in the doorway and simply stared in...

"Y/N?" He called, confusion seeping into his voice.

The woman in question appeared behind him, and peered over her brother's shoulder at the bookcase abandoned in the middle of the room. "Fuck, I'd forgotten about that. Well, you can move it out of the way while I make tea – it's what I called you here to do anyway." Y/N began to wander back towards the kitchen, ignoring the befuddled, yet amused, expression on her brother's face. "Thanks Tom, love you!"

"Love you too, darling," Tommy murmured, not loud enough for her to hear, a full and genuine smile gracing his features.

Yep, he thought, his sister was definitely one of a kind, but he wouldn't change her for the world; and no matter what else he did, he refused to fail Y/N again.

[buddiewho]

@bvckactually saw your post

What is even this? Does it even fit your request? I’ll be honest, I almost forgot to add the dinner thing, but I think I tacked it in...

They sat on the 118 sofa (a long night shift ahead of them) and Eddie couldn't stop talking about the outing he and Christopher had with Ana. "Yeah, it was a blast. We went to the zoo, because apparently that's still somewhat open in the middle of a pandemic. It was great."

"Sounds like everything is going well, then?" Buck pursed his lips, squinted his eyes a little bit. Eddie was too excited to notice.

"I think things are great. Christopher seems to be fine. We're getting along just fine. We've got a little park date planned for this weekend."

Buck smiled, but then felt the urge to crack his neck from side to side. Images of the three of them at the park using the skateboard he built flashed across his mind. They wouldn't, he reassured himself. Besides, he can get that from Eddie's garage at anytime and take Christopher himself, and ask Carla for help maybe.

"Hey! Buck!" Eddie clapped in front of his face. Buck returned to reality. Gross.

"What?" He snapped. "You just zoned out. You okay?" Eddie asked.

"I'm fine." "Okay, cool. Now, I was thinking I'd set up a little picnic. It'll be a surprise for Ana." "Yes, a picnic sounds fabulous. Refreshing, fun. Don't forget the food. Maybe just a little wine for you two, one glass couldn't hurt." "Actually, yeah, that sounds awesome," Eddie chuckled. "Didn't even think of that."

Nice one Buck. You dig your own hole and can't get out of it. He seems happy. He is happy right? "Buck, you're zoning out again." "Sorry, I think I'm a little tired."

"No worries, maybe you want to hit the bunks?" "Sure, I'll try that." Buck drags himself to the bunks. "Stupid picnics," he mutters, mocking himself. "Oh, yeah, bring some wine. Keep making this serious Buck."

__

Buck was awake. He had to look up some things on his phone. A simple google search and he actually found an immediate search of "how to keep ants away from your picnic." He found Eddie still on the sofa.

"You know I learned that the best way to keep ants from your picnic is to avoid sticky or sweet foods. Watch where you set up. Give them a barrier. Use natural scents to repel them and distract them with something else. The ground might not be a good idea."

"That's a fair point, Buck. Always forget about those pesky things. Don't really go to the park often, but I'm so excited for this."

"It shows," Buck calmly said. "So I guess then no chocolate covered strawberries. Too sweet for the ants?"

Eddie wasn't looking at him like he did before. There wasn't a fascination in his eyes, there wasn't that much amusement. In fact, to Buck it looked like Eddie was seeing through him now.

"I wasn't planning on chocolate covered strawberries, but that sounds like a great addition to this picnic."

"Of course, it does." Buck squirmed a little on the sofa. "Happy to help with more suggestions," he tried to say without sarcasm, but he was pretty sure Eddie was now oblivious to any and all of his sarcasm so he was safe.  All that matters is that Eddie is happy, you idiot so stop making this about you.

"You okay, Buck? Still tired?" At least he recognizes that you're zoning out.

"Maybe, it's kind of a dull night. I might jinx it."

"Don't you dare!" Eddie blurts out. "Oh, wait," Buck stood up, puffing his chest. "I thought Eddie Diaz didn't believe in jinxes."

"It's such a dull and...q.." Eddie jumps from the sofa and snaps a hand over his mouth. Buck felt a little better. The fact he could still mess around with Eddie like this dulled the ache of hearing about Ana all time and also hearing about what Ana is doing for or with Christopher now.

"Are you going to shut up?" Eddie reluctantly lowered his hand. "That shift was from hell last time. I don't want it to happen again."

"Fine. We'll bask in a dull night then. Or I could wake everyone up by loudly turning on that pinball machine."

Eddie rolls his eyes. "When Chimney chases you around the firestation for waking him up, I'm not going to help you."

Buck walked over to the machine and did just as he said. He and Eddie waited. Nothing happened. Apparently, it was a dull night at the 118. There's no way Buck could focus on this game. There's no way it could be a distraction from what's on his mind. Hell no, that was still ever present, toying with him.

"I should show Ana the skateboard. Does that sound like a good idea? Buck?"

Buck nearly fainted. Can you blackout from something someone said? Is that possible?

"You still have that thing?" he squeaked, not turning around from the pinball machine.

"Of course, I do."

"How about you just focus on bringing the right foods and drinks? Maybe give Christopher the task of keeping those ants away, then take a stroll. Something light, refreshing, you know?"

"Yeah, just super relaxing. Good idea Buck."

"What can I say," he turned around now, clasping his hands, "I'm full of them."

"All right, it's my turn to hit the bunks," Eddie said with a yawn. "Are you going to be good up here?"

"Just fine," Buck nodded. Eddie used the pole to head down and towards the bunks for some sleep.

Buck stood frozen, leaning against the machine. "Yeah, everything is just fine." The ache that something was missing didn't go away. If Buck let it fester it would grow, but what else could he do? Eddie seemed really happy. There's no way, Buck would ruin that. There's no way.

_

A couple nights later, the firefam is having a big dinner at the station. Ana is there and that's when Buck realizes he is definitely not going there. He won't ruin this happiness that Eddie has found. The loving glances he and Ana exchanged all night were enough to tell him that maybe he did miss his chance. Yet he was still going to miss the way Eddie looked at him when he spouted off random facts, because it still looked like he could care less now.

"Hey, Buck," they were still sitting near each other, which gave Buck some solace. "I wanted to thank you about the ants thing, because apparently, as according to Chris, there was a battalion of them about to take over our picnic. I swear it was like only ten maybe, but he took on his task very seriously."

Buck chuckled. "Happy to help." "Thanks, Buck." Eddie smiled at him. At least there were moments like this to hang on to. "She's really amazing, you know?" Eddie whispered. "I didn't really think anything of it, but damn something good did come out of that jinxed day."

"Indeed, it did," Buck nodded. He fought the urge to yell the word quiet. Don't do it. Stop being petty and be happy for him. You can pretend, you're good at that. "I'm glad it's working out for you."

"That's all we can hope for, right?" "Yes, yes it is." When all hope seemed lost, Eddie added, "You do know Christopher misses you. I told him that next weekend his Buck might take him out on the skateboard."

"Thanks, now, I have to keep that promise." "Yes, yes you do." Eddie laughed. "Thanks, Buck."

Buck sighed. Fine. There's little things, Buck can hold onto, but he'll be forever pissed that he may have missed his chance to be something more for Eddie.

He once again fought the urge to scream the word quiet throughout the firehouse.

[silverdecepticon93]

Not According To Plan

Request by anon: Hi! Just saw your last post about having a request for 12? Tumblr must have eaten my ask again (ugh). So could I please request no. 16 for zero year riddler? Thanks!!

A/n: Again, I’m not that good at writing Zero Year so he might be a bit OOC.

Prompt 16: Person A getting jealous to where they ask out Person B.

Cliche Romance Prompts

     Edward was never one to lose his cool, after all, he was calculating and meticulous when it came to planning. Everything he did or said always had a purpose, whether it be for manipulation or to convince others to do what he wants, but in your case, it was to try and steal your heart.

     The thing about plans is that they could be well thought out and utterly flawless in every aspect but they could be easily tarnished by an unwelcomed force, event, or a person.

     One person in particular was a threat to Edward’s plan to capture your heart and it was the waiter that was supposed to bring your orders back to the chef, but was instead flirting with you, which you really didn’t seem to mind by the way you laughed and smiled at him. What really got Edward annoyed was when you flirted back in the most subtle ways by winking, brushing your hand against his, or just the way that you looked at the guy.

     Edward would kill just to get that look that you were giving the waiter and if this kept happening, he might actually have to.

     Kill, that is.

     “(Y/n), can you stop flirting with the waiter so we can get our food?” He eventually cut into the conversation, earning both the attention of you and the waiter. You smiled at Edward, “Someone’s hangry.”

     He rolled his eyes but couldn’t stop himself from smiling with you, that smile of yours being oddly contagious to him, and watched in satisfaction as said waiter soon waved you bye before delivering your orders to the chef.

     “Finally, I thought you two were going to be talking forever.” Edward scoffed, leaning back into his seat and crossing his arms over his chest.

     “Aw, Eddie,” You cooed before putting your head on your hands, “Is someone jealous?”

     “Me?” Edward repeated before dismissively waving his hand, “What would I have to be jealous about?”

     You shrugged your shoulders a little as you continued to stare at him with those lovely (e/c) eyes of yours.

     “You tell me.” You hummed. Edward leaned in closer to you, “There’s nothing to tell.”

    “Right.~” You purred before booping his nose.

    He blinked dumbfoundedly when you did so before sitting back in his chair once again with his arms crossed, a crimson color now dusting lightly over his face. You giggled at his reaction and couldn’t help but internally ‘aw’ about how cute he was.

     Did you know that he had a crush on you?

    Yes, it was incredibly obvious.

    The only reason you didn’t tell him that you knew was because you wanted to see how long it would take before he finally asked you out, you would obviously respond with an excited ‘yes’ in a heartbeat, but this was also a little bit of payback.

     After all, you knew that Edward could be sweet but most of the time he was rather narcissistic and cocky, so you took joy out of messing around with him whenever you can. You were just as devious and clever as Edward at times, so Gotham should be grateful that you never gave a life of crime an inkling of thought.

     So the two of you talked as friends hanging out would do and Edward would be lying if he didn’t find conversations with you riveting and stimulating, after all, it was one of the reasons that he adored you. However, your engagement in the conversation was soon broken after the waiter had returned with your food, and immediately you began to start flirting with him.

      You’d occasionally stare at Eddie, watching as his green eyes narrowed at the waiter who lavished in your attention and how he’d tightly cling to his utensils. However, more people came in and they had to be served, so the waiter was once more forced to do his job and leave you, much to Eddie’s content.

      When you two finally finished dinner and the waiter came back to give you the check, Eddie noticed that there was an extra piece of writing on the receipt, only to scowl bitterly at it to see that there was a phone number written on it.

     “Honestly, how cliche can you get?” He scoffed as you two walked out of the restaurant after paying.

      “I think it’s rather sweet.” You spoke in a gentle voice, holding it close to your chest.

     Edward rolled his eyes at your words before huffing in annoyance, however, he couldn’t stop looking at the piece of paper in your hands.

     “Are you actually going to call him?” Edward asked.

     “Maybe,” You responded slyly before standing in front of Eddie, “at least, unless you think I shouldn’t?”

      “Why would I think that?” He responded, his face becoming red once more.

      “Oh well,” You sighed heavily before starting to walk again, “It’s been a while since I’ve been on a date and I think I really think that we hit it off tonight. Don’t you, Eddie?”

     “There’s a line between love and lust and be rest assured that it wasn’t love that happening back there.” Edward growled through clenched teeth.

     “Why can’t you ever be happy for me?” You whined, only to unexpectedly be pushed up against the wall.

      You gulped when you saw the way Edward’s gaze was now solely intent on you, his eyes brimming with various amounts of emotions, and the scowl on his face gave him a rather fierce expression, needless to say, he was hot when he was mad.

     “Because you’re not supposed to be with some guy you just met in one night.” He spoke in a low and restrained tone.

     Raising an eyebrow, you stepped on your tippy toes to look at him more closely.

    “And who do you think I should be with, Eddiekins?” You asked him, one hand of yours now trailing up his shoulder.

    He seemed to have stiffened a little at your question, before nervously looking out of the corner of his eye. You felt his arms starting to let you go, meaning that he was probably going to chicken out and try to play the whole thing off, but he had gotten this far and you weren’t going to let him back out now.

    With the one hand on his shoulder, you managed to single handedly pin him against the wall, effectively turning the tables on him. He became flustered at the position you two were in and gulped heavily when he saw the sly smirk on your face.

    “I think I asked you a question, Eddiekins,” You purred, “Who do you think I should be with?”

    “M-me…” Edward squeaked only to cough little to clear his throat, “I, uh, mean me. You should be with me…”

     You two stared at each other slightly, Edward totally unsure of what you were going to do next, and then you booped his nose just like you had in the restaurant, before kissing his cheek.

    “I couldn’t agree more with you!” You beamed happily, letting him go and walking off happily.

   He looked after you, disbelief in shock on his face as he questioned if the events that just happened actually happened, but soon a wide grin spread to his face as he quickly ran after you.

     Sure, most plans didn’t go according to plan, and while his confession to you wasn’t exactly the ideal one he had in his head, it was still something he wouldn’t change for the world nonetheless.

[fandomlurker]

A Ponderous Rewatch: Opportunity Knox and Cameo

We’re treated to something a bit special this episode! No, not the art and animation quality, as that’s…kinda weak this time. Or maybe I should say Brain is drawn and animated kinda nightmarishly in a lot of parts? Well, you’ll see.

No, the special thing about this episode is that it’s written by Tom Minton, the writer at Warner Brothers who was the original inspiration for The Brain! The general idea for Pinky and the Brain as characters and as a show came from Tom Ruegger having an office close by to Tom Minton and Eddie Fitzgerald, two writers and storyboard artists who he would often hear laughing and joking around together but usually couldn’t make out what exactly they were saying. Minton usually spoke low and quietly and was more introverted, while Fitzgerald was much more outgoing and loud…basically already like a cartoon come to life (Eddie actually did exclaim things like ‘Narf’ occasionally in reality, which was an aspect that was added to and exaggerated in Pinky’s character). The fact that these two guys who were viewed as total opposites by their colleagues were good friends and spent so much time working together in secret lead to everyone joking that they were secretly trying to take over the world.

That isn’t to say that Pinky and Brain are 100% cartoon copies of Eddie and Tom—our mouse duo definitely veered off into their own distinct personalities very quickly—but the basic bones of their characters came from these two real life men. That makes me wonder about how surreal it must have been for Tom Minton to write for episodes starring Pinky and the Brain. He only did so four times in Animaniacs (and Eddie Fitzgerald never directly worked on Animaniacs or Pinky and the Brain, to my knowledge).

In any case, let’s move on to the actual episode.

We open to a multitude of bubbling beakers of mysterious liquids and one scientist working alone at night in the Acme Labs. She sneezes a few times, and then exclaims that she’s only a few steps away from curing the common cold.

…Man, Acme Labs is a total shitshow when it comes to their work, aren’t they? In addition to all the blatantly cruel experiments on animals that they do, just look at how lax this scientist is about lab safety. I’ll give her props for at least wearing her lab coat properly and tying her long hair up, which is something most media usually gets wrong. The fact that she’s doing this medical experiment while not wearing gloves or proper eye protection or a mask is very troubling. Not to mention that she’s doing all this while being very sick, if her violent sneezes are anything to go by.

Hmm, that cage is looking suspiciously empty.

Well, well! Looks like our mousey duo is up to something.

“Ahehehehe, oh this is gonna be great, Brain! Narf!”

“Quiet, Pinky!”

OH LORD, SHE JUST CHUGS IT HERSELF! Lady, PLEASE! The fact that this “cure” is piss-coloured only makes it worse.

Sweetie, I think this needs more peer-reviewed, double-blind tests before you can truthfully say that you’ve made a cure for the common cold. You have no proper safety gear on and you’re doing this experiment all alone at night with no one to check up on you.

Oh no. Boys, what are you doing?

So they catapult some powdery substance on her and she goes into a more violent sneezing fit than before. She leaves the room to go “back to the drawing board”, but honestly I’m hoping that she just goes home and isolates herself for a while.

“Success, Pinky!”

“Egad, Brain, what is this stuff?!”

“A new strain of pollen I created myself, Pinky. It causes a temporary but uncontrollable fit of allergic sneezing in man.”

Pinky looks very disturbed by this (although I suppose it doesn’t help that Brain has that very smug and devious look on his face) until Brain says that the effect is temporary. It’s a nice little detail that shows us approximately where Pinky’s lines of morality are. Brain makes his own strain of pollen to cause humans to have severe sneezing fits? That’s amazing but horrifying! Oh, it’s only temporary? Well okay, then. It’s fine if it doesn’t cause any lasting harm.

“No human is immune.”

AAAAAAHHHHHHH! Holy fuck, show, don’t give me a jumpscare like that!

“Do you realize what we will do with this pollen, Pinky?”

“Umm… Open a boutique?”

GAH! I told you to stop doing that! Seriously, what’s up with the way Brain’s draw in this episode?

“Yes, that’s it. We’ll open a boutique and sell ladies’ clothing and pollen.”

“Egad, Brain, what fun! I like this idea, I do! Hehehahahaha!~”

Of course he would. Of course he’d like working in a more domestic setting and selling ladies’ clothing.

…Say, now that I think of it, I think this might be the first time we get a hint as to Pinky’s love of what’s stereotypically thought of as women’s clothing. Hmm.

BONK!

“Focus, Pinky, FOCUS!”

Brain, sweetie, not everyone goes into tunnel-visioned hyperfocus like you do.

“We shall do no less than go to Fort Knox, Kentucky: keeper of the nation’s gold supply. There, we will expose the guards to our pollen…”

Despite the general awkwardness of the animation this episode, I like the way Brain is drawn here from over the shoulder. Very nice work.

Also…”our” pollen? Brain, you made that yourself. I guess this is just another example of Brain subconsciously including Pinky in everything.

“…and while they’re sneezing uncontrollably, we’ll move into the vault and take the gold!”

Brain’s plan blueprints are such a treat. Gold! Gold! Gold!

“For he who controls this nation’s capital, controls the nation!”

Okay, this close-up is a little better.

“Off to Fort Knox!”

“Oh! Wait! But isn’t the nation’s capital in Washington, DC?”

BONK!

“Capital as in money, Pinky!”

Oh come on now, Brain. It was an easy mistake to make. Also “capital” in this instance can mean more than money if you want to get semantic about it.

Brain grabs Pinky’s tail to drag him away again. It’s a wonder that Pinky’s tail isn’t as kinked up and injured as Brain’s is by now.

Ooo, improvised tools time!

“But how are we gonna get to Fort Knox, Brain?”

“We’ll simply borrow one of the lab’s technological resources:”

“The minivan!”

Pinky, are you mildly swooning over Brain acquiring a minivan? I…

This does bring up a point I wanted to make, though. Sometimes fans will question why Pinky and Brain stay at Acme Labs despite being put through so much inhumane and humiliating bullshit. While it’s true that Brain doesn’t much like the experiments he’s subjected to (Pinky is…another story entirely), I’m pretty sure he keeps the labs as his home because it’s incredibly convenient for his world domination plans. These are ACME labs, after all, and regardless of how terrible the experiments are, Acme has access to just about every bit of technology in the Warner Brothers cartoon universe. Brain can find or order whatever parts he needs for his latest world domination plan whenever he wants, and no human bats an eye at mysterious bits and bobs showing up because, well, it’s Acme. Acme is in the business of doing absolutely everything. No matter what daytime tortures Brain goes through, the lab is an incredible asset to him, and he’d be foolish to give that up.

Hello again, Warner siblings! I hope you’re having fun tonight.

That’s an awfully tiny sack of pollen to take for this trip…

“Won’t we get in trouble, Brain?”

“’Get in trouble’? Pinky, we’re going to take over the world!”

I just like the tiny silhouettes in this screencap.

“Besides, we’ll have the van back here by 8 am.”

“Oh! All right, then!”

[Quickly googles how long it would take to drive from Burbank California to Fort Knox]

…Are you sure about that, Brain? Are you really, positively sure?

Oh my goodness, a little winch and pulley system! That’s a little convoluted, but it’s adorable.

“Oi! Nice threads, Brain! But, err, why the disguise?”

“If we are to succeed in our mission, I must pass for an average, non-descript motorist, Pinky.”

I agree, Pinky. Brain always looks good in a suit.

Also he’s on a literal soap box, holy shit.

“So while we’re driving, call me Mr. Perkins.”

A trillby?!? Put it back! Putitbackputitbackputitback!

“Say no more! Brilliant, Brain!”

“Mr. Perkins.”

Oh no, he’s threatening to punch the audience now!

“Ooo, right, right. Narf! Heh, Mr. Per-kins.~”

“Pinky, start your engine!”

So Pinky tugs on a rope tied to the car keys to start the minivan, and I bet we can all already tell that he’s going to be doing most of the hard work for this roadtrip.

“Now depress the brake!”

I half expected a joke here where Pinky would say depressing things to the brake, but that didn’t happen. It’s just as well, I suppose. Pinky’s not usually the type to be mean to anyone or anything.

Instead, he pushes himself into the brake.

This made me curious about how strong real mice are. According to this scientific article, the average mouse can lift approximately 70 g in weight.That’s not a lot compared to us humans, of course, but seeing as the average weight of the common house mouse is 19 g (and common wood mice are on average 23 g), that’s really impressive! Still, for Pinky to be able to depress the brake is quite a feat that’s worlds beyond what the average real-life mouse can do.

Yes, yes, I know. It’s all cartoon logic and physics. That’s not going to stop me from having the headcanon that Pinky and the Brain have both been modified so much by Acme Labs that in addition to becoming sapient and intelligent, they’re basically little mouse superheroes in strength, too.

“Yes! Now I’ll shift the transmission into gear and…you give it the gas!”

Man, Pinky just slams his entire body onto the gas pedal with all his mousey might! You can hear him physically strain against it. Well done, Mr. Paulsen!

“Now Pinky, let us, in the vernacular, ‘take this hog out on the road and see who’s boss’!”

Oh lord, Brain’s on a slight power trip just from being able to drive a vehicle. If he ever does rule over the world one day, I fear he may explode from the sheer ego-high of it.

Anyway, on the way to Fort Knox they get stuck behind a rather slow transport truck. Well, Brain can’t have that! He’s got to get back to the lab by 8 am after all!

“Pinky! Prepare to pass a slow-moving vehicle!”

“Righty-o, Brain!”

Again, Pinky, I’m pretty sure you really aren’t supposed to stick your ass and chest out while saluting. You’re supposed to keep your posture straight.

…What am I saying? Pinky can’t do anything straight.

“Call me Mr. Perkins! Activate left turn indicator now.”

Aww, a little hop!~

Unfortunately it’s the wrong lever.

“…Let’s try that again, Pinky.”

“Narf! Wrong switch.”

He sits down to think and of course he gets it right that way.

Anyone else enjoying a lesson on how to drive from Pinky and the Brain? No? Just me? I mean, I already know how, but this is super cute.

“Exemplary work, Pinky!”

Brain, he just…he just pulled a switch. By accident. The fact that he’s so sincere about complimenting him for this is very cute but also very odd. I guess Brain’s in a good mood tonight.

“But we’re slowing down. Quickly, step on the gas!”

“Gas, check!”

Pinky, no!

Oh lord, he just lets himself fall directly on the gas pedal. You okay there, dude?

“Maintain pedal pressure, Pinky!”

I don’t think he has much of a choice, Brain.

So they get beside the freight truck and the driver of it picks up his CB radio mic.

“Hey, breaker breaker one nine, this here’s Big Red. Eh…what’s your handle, good buddy? Over.”

“The name’s Perkins. MISTER Perkins. Just an average, non-descript motorist.”

Wh—Why is there a CB radio installed in the Acme Lab minivan?

Pinky chooses this moment to lift himself off the gas pedal and then jump back on it in a weirdly showy, semi-acrobatic way. The first screencap has the tip of his tail almost in the shape of a heart, so I had to include it.

Our duo pass by the freight truck. Needless to say, the truck driver is still pretty rattled by his run-in with “Mr. Perkins”.

“I gotta quit eatin’ them double onion chili dogs!…”

Usually people just run with it on this show, but this is one of those rare moments where a human being doesn’t inexplicably fall for one of Brain’s horrible human disguises.

The minivan’s grill looks like teeth here and it’s almost menacing.

Uh oh, Brain’s getting dozy.

“Pinky…I’m in need of some music to keep myself raptly alert. And use the cruise control this time so we don’t lose speed!”

I don’t know why I’m so charmed by Pinky pressing the cruise control button like this, but it’s very cute.

“Cruise control on, Br—aaaerr—umm, Mr. Perkins!”

He is trying his best. :3c

“[yawn] Stellar, Pinky. Now see if you can locate a local radio station frequency.”

“Narf! Wrong knob…”

Smacking the hell out of the right knob make the radio explode into a loud yet incredibly mild generic rock tune. I’m surprised Pinky’s so alarmed. I wonder if Brain—

JEEZUS FUCK! You gotta stop giving me a heart attack with these sudden messed up close-ups of Brain, episode!

“Turn off the radio, Pinky!”

“Heeey! This knob’s loose!”

Aaaand there he goes.

“Oohoo ahaha! What’d’ya know? The lighter works!”

I wonder if Pinky knows what that’s actually for at this point, considering his utter disdain for smoking later in the spin-off?

“The radio, Pinky!”

“Ooo, right. Almost forgot!”

Uh oh.

“Whew. Suddenly I feel downright feverish, I do…”

Pinky has become a Charmander, and he’s not happy about it.

So he’s screaming and shouting his verbal tics all over the place and what’s Brain’s reaction?

“There’s no need for you to entertain me personally, Pinky. I’m quite awake now.”

BRAIN! You wipe that smug smile off your face right now, you little jerk! I know Pinky will be okay because he always is, but still.

One screen wipe later…

“Kentucky, Pinky! We made it!”

“All right, Brain!”

“Mister PERKINS!”

Brain, I think Pinky’s just not into this roleplay tonight. Or it might be your trillby. Lose the damn trillby.

“Fort Knox is mere miles away. Nothing can stop us now!”

Well, looks like you jinxed yourself.

I’ve got no love for cops, but his “what the fuck” expression here is choice.

“Good evening, officer. Was I exceeding the speed limit?”

“By about a hundred miles an hour.”

Oh, is that all? They’d need to be over by, like, a thousand or so miles an hour to make as good of a time as they did getting here.

Maybe this guy is going to arrest them for breaking the laws of time and space.

“I’m sorry, y’see—“

Shining a flashlight directly into your eyes? Yup, this is definitely a cop.

“I’m Mr. Perkins, an average, non-descript—“

“Can I see your license and registration, please?”

And then Pinky immediately interrupts the shakedown with a happy, matter-of-fact “We don’t have any! Zort! :D” and now my mind wanders off into let’s-overanalyze-the-shit-out-of-this-joke-scene territory because… Look at this. A cop pulls over a vehicle from Acme Labs doing about a hundred miles over the speed limit and finds Brain, a mouse in a suit trying to pass as a human driver. Then Pinky, who is dressed in no such disguise because why would Brain ever think of an obviously important detail ever in one of his plans, pops up to say that they don’t have a driver’s license.

…So what does this scene look like at this point from the cop’s perspective? Besides the very rare outlier like the truck driver from before, humans usually take Brain’s word for it that he’s also human, no matter how shoddy his disguise is. There are a few possibilities here, and I honestly can’t decide which is funniest:

1.      The cop can see through Brain’s poor disguise just like the truck driver from earlier can, and knows that these are actually two mice that have stolen a truck and have been speeding down the highway with it.

2.      The cop thinks Brain is a very odd-looking human without a driver’s license who’s been driving down the highway at insane speeds with his loose pet talking mouse by his side.

3.      The cop believes that Brain really is an odd-looking human who has no license and has been wildly speeding down the highway and also there’s an equally odd-looking human man with him who is stark naked for some mysterious reason.

I’ll let you decide which one is the most likely canon scenario as we continue as Brain tries to clear up this scenario.

“If you must know, we are two lab mice out to control the world by seizing its gold assets. But when we assume power, rest assured our budget will result in substantial new funding for law enforcement.”

…

Leave it to Brain to truthfully spell out his global domination intentions for no good reason and then lie his little mousey ass off to try and bribe his way out of going to jail.

Also, again, it’s “when we assume power” and not “when I assume power”. Hmm.

“…Oh.”

“Bwuhyuube… Be--best be on your way, then.”

“Thank you, officer.”

I’d say I was surprised that white privilege extends even to white lab mice here but…that would be a lie.

“Oh man, I do miss them witless teenage speed demons…”

So they finally make it to Fort Knox.

…And I guess the Warner siblings do, too!

The two mice have parked on a hill overlooking their target and gosh Brain, you’re looking extra pudgy here.

“It’s time to make our move, Pinky.”

Judging by the look on his face here, I think Pinky just noticed how thicc Brain’s behind has suddenly gotten.

Nevertheless, they begin their pollen assault on the guards.

Finally, the moment has arrived!

Brain’s head is shaped like a football and is almost as wide as Pinky is tall here, but besides that this is a cool shot.

This bit was also used in the spin-off’s theme for some reason, but now it will forever remind me of the absolute chaotic laughter that erupted when I got some friends to sit down and watch an episode of PatB. The stream decided to stop on this specific shot for buffering and they all just lost it. Most of the reaction was through voice on Discord, but luckily there were some friends using text chat too:

I live for moments like these when we’re streaming shows and movies.

“Egad! This is even better than a Ducktales episode, Brain!”

That’s pretty high praise, Pinky. I love the shadowing done on him here as well.

“Pinky… Are you pondering what I’m pondering?”

“Wha—I think so, Brain, but balancing a family and a career? Oof, it’s all too much for me!”

Pinky did…did you see all this gold and immediately begin envisioning yourself using the money to settle down and start a family?!? And so far in this series you aren’t dating anyone and you probably don’t even know anyone besides Brain and…

Okay, listen, I know it’s established later on that Pinky has wishes and daydreams about having a very domestic life, culminating in that one “Somewhere That’s Green” parody fantasy where he and Brain live together like a 50s couple in the Elmyra spin-off but… But…!

Well, you’ll kind of get a family along with your world domination “career” in a few years, Pinky. It’s probably not going to be quite how you envisioned it, though.

“The gold, Pinky! It’s all ours. Let’s move it out!”

Umm…

“One…two…three…and lift!”

I just realized that out of context the poses and faces in this screencap could look, uhh, questionable. But will that stop me from sharing it? No.

“I believe my plan has a…fatal flaw…”

About 27.4 pounds worth of a fatal flaw. You two might have super strength in comparison to other mice, but it looks like you both have a hard limit.

“I am in intense pain, Pinky.”

“Ditto, Brain. Zort!”

Well, okay, I guess it’s good that you are both cartoons, then. You boys should be able to shrug this off pretty quickly, especially Pinky.

OH GOD!

Is this what all those nightmarish close-ups of Brain were preparing me for?!?

“Fear not, Pinky, for the unwieldy atomic weight of gold will not thwart us tomorrow night.”

“Why? What are we doing tomorrow night, Brain?”

“The same thing we do every night, Pinky… Try to take over the world!”

You know, most cartoons would settle for them just being covered in bandages. Not Animaniacs, though. In Animaniacs were have to know that their removal from under the gold bar was so difficult and painful that fur was pulled out and they were left with bare, raw patches of skin. T-thanks, Warner Brothers?

Let’s end with a somewhat longer cameo appearance, as I suspect at this point Tumblr will have another fit if I try to combine two full episodes again.

The very next episode of Animaniacs has a skit called Hercule Yakko, which is a vague parody of Hercule Poirot mysteries. We get a good handful of cameos from the stars of other Animaniacs skits as passengers on a luxury cruise boat on the Nile.

The basic premise is that the Marita, one of the Hip Hippos, awakens in the middle of the night to find her comically large diamond necklace missing. The Warner siblings are a detective team who happen to also be onboard the ship and offer to help the hippo couple find it.

Before you ask, yes, this is the same episode as the infamous “fingerprints” joke.

Eventually the Warner siblings begin to go around knocking on the doors of the other passengers’ rooms to ask questions. They come across Slappy Squirrel first, who knows nothing about the missing diamond and just wants to be left alone to sleep. Then they meet Minerva Mink and, well, you can guess how that went. Then Yakko knocks on the last door.

“YES?”

Smol.

Look at them in their matching lederhosen! That’s absolutely adorable. Bravo to whichever of the mice had the idea for these “disguises”.

“Did you steal a big diamond?”

“No. We are Swiss hikers on holiday.”

Okay so maybe I’ll deduct a few points for wearing lederhosen, which is more associated with Bavaria and Germany, but claiming to be Swiss. Not that people in Switzerland didn’t also wear it, but you’d probably want to make your cover story as unsuspicious as possible, right? And that’s not even going into the idea of wearing a garment made from leather in hot, hot Egypt. These mice must be drenched in sweat…

“Look at me, Brain! I’m Heidi! Yodelehe-NARF!~”

Well at least someone in this duo is trying his best to reference things from Switzerland.

…Brain is the one that fucked up the lederhosen cultural background thing, isn’t he? Goddammit, Brain.

He just bonks the hell outta Pinky and silently slams the door in Yakko’s face.

After briefly talking with Marita, Yakko exclaims that he knows where the diamond is and asks that everyone assemble together in the state room. And so they do!

Aww, they’re sharing a chair because they are so, so tiny. :3c

“You’re probably all wondering why I called you here!”

“To reveal the thief?!?” says everyone in unison.

Minerva, you’re looking kind of weird in that second pic.

“No. It’s because you can’t play charades with three people.”

“That’s it! I’m goin’ back to bed.”

“So am I. I didn’t take the diamond!”

Man, Minerva really got a raw deal in the 90s. She only has two episode skits of her own and makes a few tiny cameos elsewhere, like in this one. I get that she was put on the back-burner as a character because her skits were considered “too suggestive”—and to be honest they were a bit over the top—but there are certainly ways that you can write a character who uses their sex appeal for comedic effect without it being disrespectful. It’s a shame they never tried to tweak the tone of her episodes just a tad.

But anyway, mice!

Brain is looking at Minerva with…worry? Concern? Confusion? Which is a very atypical reaction to Minerva. Gee, I wonder why.

Pinky is Looking Respectfully.

I’m never going to get over how cute they look in these outfits.

“I also am innocent.”

“Umm… I may have done it! I walk in my sleep, you know.”

Pinky, sweetie, I know you’re trying in your own odd little way to help but there’s no way you’d be able to carry a diamond of that size.

BONK!

This is the very last clear shot that the mice are in and it’s not very significant but I liked the angle of it.

Oh, you’re asking who took the diamond? No one did. The diamond was lodged in Marita’s butt fat the entire time. It’s the typical style of “humour” from skits with the Hip Hippos. Now you all know why no one is clamouring for their return in the reboot.

That’s it for this post, though. I should have the next episode that I promised would go with this one up in a day or two.

See you next time, folks, when we go off to the races!

[softest-cinnamon-roll]

High school popular kid/ nerd au with reddie?

21. High School popular kid/ nerd au 

* * * * * 

“Are you sure this is a good idea?” Richie asked, running a hand through his hair as they walked up the path towards Eddie’s front porch. It had taken a lot of convincing, but Eddie had finally managed to get Richie to agree to meet, and have dinner with his dad so he could introduce him as his boyfriend officially. “He’s a cop Eds…”

Eddie sighed and stopped them, turning around to face Richie as he bit down on his bottom lip, “If you’re still unsure we don’t need to do this, but I promise, my dad is not going to pull a gun out on you or anything. You’d have more chances of that happening if you met my mother.”

As the words left his lips, Eddie winced. He didn’t talk about his mother much, even though he was still in contact with her. When he was seven, his parents divorced and his dad was granted full custody after a tough court case. Eddie still spoke to his mother on occasion, like her birthday and christmas, but they weren’t very close.

Richie must have noticed the sad look on Eddie’s face, as he stepped into his personal space and took his face into his much larger hands, “Hey, baby, look at me,” he tilted Eddie’s head up so their eyes locked. “I’m sorry, I know how much this means to you. I know you’ve wanted me to meet your dad for a while, so I’m going to go into that house and prove to him that I’m the best person for his son to date.”

Eddie’s face broke out into a smile and he pushed up on his toes to press a kiss to Richie’s lips, soft and sweet, before he pulled away to lace their hands together. “Shall we?”

It was a bit of an odd pairing, Eddie and Richie. Richie was quite a popular guy amongst his peers thanks to his charisma and ability to crack a joke at anything. He also seemed to grow into his looks, making him one of the most attractive guys in his school year. Eddie on the other hand, liked to keep to himself, was very quiet and studied way too much. According to the social school hierarchy, the two of them should never have even mixed with one another, never mind date.

Yet it happened. Richie was having a little trouble with his algebra course and Eddie was passing the class with flying colours. This was in sophomore year and it became a routine of theirs to meet up in the library to study as well as pair up for projects whenever they could. It was in the middle of junior year, after being friends for a year, that Richie asked Eddie out on a date and Eddie had agreed with a flush on his cheeks. They had never looked back.

God, was Eddie in love with Richie. He was the best thing to ever happen to him, always right there by his side no matter what. They were a team, and even Richie’s closest friends seemed to warm up to Eddie pretty quickly. They were almost ready to graduate, the end of senior year just around the corner and Richie still hadn’t met Frank officially.

Slowly, Richie nodded his head at Eddie’s question and they made their way up the porch and into the house. The place was quiet, save from the noise coming from the television in the living room. Eddie kicked off his shoes and Richie followed suit, never letting go of his hand. Eddie had to stop himself from smiling at how clammy Richie’s hands were, his boyfriend was always the confident one so it was strange for the roles to be reversed.

“Dad, we’re home!” Eddie called, tugging Richie towards the living room. They stepped inside just as his dad stood up from the chair, a smile on his face. “Hey dad, good day?”

Frank nodded his head, pulling Eddie into a short hug, “Of course, most days are good days.” He grinned and then turned to Richie. “Richie, right? Eddie’s told me a lot about you. Glad to have you for dinner.” He held out a hand for Richie and he took it, entering a firm, yet welcoming handshake. “Take a seat, I’ve made lasagne so it should be ready any minute now.”

As his dad disappeared, Eddie turned to Richie with big eyes, “What did I tell you? That wasn’t so scary was it?” He asked and grinned as Richie shook his head.

“Looks like I need to listen to you a little more huh?” Richie asked, bashfully, rubbing the back of his neck. “Nice place, makes a change from us always being at my house, doesn’t it?”

Eddie raised an eyebrow, “Richie you’ve been in my room before.”

“Well yeah, but I’ve never seen the rest of your house! Richie scrambled, just as Frank walked back in with a smile to announce that dinner was ready.

They all made their way to the dinner table, where Frank had plated up the food and they took a seat. For the first few minutes there was nothing but silence as they ate, until Frank spoke up, smiling, “So Richie, do you have any plans for after school? College or anything?”

Eddie watched as Richie stared at his plate for a moment before looking up to address his dad, “I’m not sure to be honest, Mr Kaspbrak. As you probably know, my mother is a nurse and my dad is a dentist so my family are hoping I’ll go down that route, but I don’t really know, I think I might go into drama or something? Comedy maybe?”

Frank sat his fork and knife down and looked at Richie seriously, making Eddie a little nervous for the first time that evening. “Listen to me, no matter what jobs your parents do or what your family wants you to do, the only person that gets to make that decision is you.” He smiled then, “If you want to go into comedy or drama? Go into Comedy or drama. This is a choice that will set up your whole life, you might as well do something that makes you happy.”

“I-” Richie cleared his throat and for the first time that night, he smiled genuinely, “Thank you...you’re the first person, other than Eddie of course, that’s actually put my feelings into consideration. I love my parents, they are amazing, but I know that they sometimes don’t get me. It’s not their fault, of course, I am strange. Sometimes I wonder why everyone at school wants to be my friend.”

At that, Eddie turned his attention to Richie, placing a hand on his thigh, “Because you’re amazing and friendly, that’s why. You’re not fake, and everyone appreciates that.”

All three of them fell into a comfortable silence, and dinner was finished a few moments later. As Frank went to relax in the living room, Eddie and Richie focused on washing up and cleaning the kitchen. “Hey, Eds?” Richie whispered as he dried the plates, sitting them to the side. “I love you.”

Eddie looked up at Richie, a watery smile on his lips and he leaned over, pressing a light kiss to Richie’s mouth. “I love you too, so much.”

Richie went quiet and Eddie tilted his head to the side as he watched him, clearly in thought. Before he could ask if everything was okay, Richie turned back to him, eyes wide and hopeful. “I know that this might be kind of obvious, and I promise that I will ask you properly but...will you go to prom with me?”

“Richie…” Eddie breathed, drying his hands off on the towel before stepping closer to Richie, wrapping his arms around RIchie’s shoulder’s, pushing up on his toes. “You never even had to ask, but if it makes you happy, then yes. I will go to prom with you.”

With a grin, Richie wrapped his arms around Eddie’s waist, lifting him off the ground as he spun him around, extracting a giggle from Eddie’s lips. As he was set back on his feet, Richie ducked his head, bringing their lips together into a much deeper kiss, but not too deep as his dad was still in the next room. “Love you, Eds.”

Eddie beamed, “Love you too, Richie.”

* * * * *

@3tothe1 @anellope @annxmatron @appojoos @are-you-reddie-for-it @beepbeeprichiellc @bi-bi-richie @billdenbrough @bitchbrak @callmechee @dadbodrichie @derrylosers @disneyfan567 @eds-trashmouth @eduardoandale @feldmancorey @girasol-eddie @gloire-celeste @halfway-happy353 @hawkinsbabe @inthebreadbinwrites @itfandomprompts @its-stranger-than-you-think @jem-carstairs-is-perfection @kaspzier @lifesucksheres20bucks @loserslibrary @losers-gotta-stick-together @madidraw @mars-14 @marsisaplanetyall @moonlightrichie @nancynwheeler @no-she-wasnt-reddie @oldguybones @pink-psychic @purplepoisonedgem @queen-sock @ransonelovebot @rebecca-the-queen @reddie-for-anything @reddie-to-cryy @reddieforlove @reddiesetandgo @richietoaster  @roobarrtrashmouth @rreddies @s-onora @s-s-georgie @sashadrowned @sedanleystanley @sloppybitchreddie @sparklingrainbowdragon @spirited-marvel @stellarbisexual @studpuffin @takeourpure @that-weird-girls-blog @thegoshdiddlydangdoor @thejadeazalea @thorn-harvester-ven @tinyarmedtrex @tozier-boy @tozierking @toziesque @trashmouthtozierr @twoidiotsinl0ve @violetreddie @virgo-luthie @wilding-throught-thehallways @xandertheundead @xcottoncandykatx 

[bookdancerfics]

Bookdancer's Writing Updates

hey so it's currently been a bit since i last posted or updated anything (according to ao3, the last time i did so was late february), so i thought i'd just give a list of what i've been working on

fics i've actively been working on and adding words to:

The West Wind Comes Walking

Lord of the Rings, gen

Summary: Boromir wakes up where he died. There’s still blood on his tunic, and holes where the arrows pierced him, and an echo of the oath he bore for Aragorn in his last moments… an oath he swears to uphold even in death.

currently less than 3k words but i don't expect it to be a very long fic, anyway. i'm just kind of daunted by what i want to write and worried that i won't do it justice

yes the title is from the "Lament for Boromir"

working title 1

Haikyuu!!, gen

no official summary yet, but it's a social media AU that covers the 2020 summer olympics mostly from the eyes of fans and reporters

yes i have been working on this since before 2020. no i am not changing anything now that the actual olympics are almost here and i'll probably finish the fic after them

this fic has 5.5k+ words and i still have a ways to go; it's taking a bit bc as fun as making a social media AU is, it also gets fairly repetitive at times and i'm trying to make it not do that

this is us trying, aka JZX+MNMN Bromance the Fic

MDZS / The Untamed, gen

Summary: 5 times Jin Zixuan and Mianmian have each other’s back, and the 2 times they don’t.

only 2k words right now, but i've finished 3/7 sections so we're further along than the word count suggests. i may also expand one or two of the sections, we'll see

title is from Taylor Swift's song of the same title bc i adore it

fics i should really finish at some point bc i already started them:

carry me into the flames (and set my heart on fire)

Spider-man & the Fantastic Four, Spideytorch AU.

Summary: Johnny is the only one to return from space without powers, but none of his teammates understand why it bothers him so much. The only one who even tries to understand is the weird new superhero who runs around with spider powers, swings by the Baxter Building for impromptu gaming sessions, and catches Johnny when he falls — figuratively and literally. And then Dr. Doom attacks while the Terrific Three are on mission, and Johnny’s whole life goes to hell in a very flammable hand basket.

i've had the beginning of this written for forever now and i'd really like to finish it at some point

Dear Mondays

MDZS / The Untamed, Wangxian modern day college AU

Summary: Lan Zhan’s new work lands him his own desk, or at least it’s his own until a second student joins the office. Lan Zhan works Mondays and Wednesdays, Wei Wuxian Tuesdays and Thursdays. They never see each other, so all Lan Zhan knows of the other boy is that he’s perpetually messy, enjoys making paper clip strings out of their shared office supplies, and has an incredible gift for making the sharpies run out of ink. Then he gets the brilliant idea to start leaving Lan Zhan notes, and Lan Zhan… well it would be rude to not write back, wouldn’t it?

i started this forever ago, have 3.5k+ words written already, actually really like what i have finished, and yet haven't touched it in months. i blame the fact that Jin Zixuan wanted to be my one and only favorite MDZS character

Liven My Body

The Hobbit, gen, Groundhog Day AU

no official summary yet, just "Bookdancer attempts to whump every dwarf who ever existed". but basically during the Battle of Five Armies, Kíli's battle restarts every time Fíli dies. the fic actually extends far beyond the actual "groundhog day," exploring the consequences and rewards of what happens

we're at almost 14k words, it's still not finished, i started it back in 2015 and no i'm not kidding but i wish i was. please let it end

fics i haven't started but do want to write

working title 2

Harry Potter, Draco-centric. possibly Drarry, possibly gen, 100% the redemption arc Draco deserved

Summary: In their 6th year, Hermione takes the boy who would annoy Ron most to Slughorn’s party—this boy is not Cormac McLaggen. Aka Draco gets a totally legitimate invitation into Harry’s group that he won’t take advantage of at all. The result is change—not of everything, but some things. The important things.

i have this fic planned out more extensively than most fics i write and yet i have still not written a single word for the actual fic

learning to love the pain

911 on Fox, gen from Eddie's POV but Buck-centric, checking vital signs pt. 4

i have a summary but no confirmation that that's the plot i'll be sticking with so for now it's just the time Buck prioritizes Eddie's well-being over his own

as you may have guessed from the above point, i have no clue what i'm writing for this so far. all i know is Eddie's POV is definitely coming before Bobby's (who will take pt. 5 of the series)

like every other fic in this series, the title is adapted from The Score’s “Born For This”

Whumptober 2020

so i'm not sure what fics will be going here but again, i promised you guys that i'd write a fic for every prompt. i haven't written anything for Whumptober since October but the plan is still to finish all those prompts

[letmetellyouaboutmyfeels]

Hi! It’s Kassiopeia from AO3. I am obsessed with your Buddie fics. My prompt that I was wondering if you would write is pretty much Dom!Eddie edging Buck. It could be any kind of edging/teasing/overstimulation but I’m kiiiiind of hoping for prostate play. Of course Eddie would also be full of praise and Buck would maybe get emotional and it would be beautiful.

Every time I get a smut prompt, a smut fairy gets its wings! *sniffles* It’s so beautiful.

This prompt is fantastic and I love it so here we go! NSFW, obviously, so under the cut.

They really need to stop having sex in the kitchen.

Buck’s thinking this, and he’s thinking this very seriously, but he’s also currently on his knees with Eddie’s dick in his mouth so really, he’s got nobody to blame but himself. Eddie just looks extremely good fresh out of the shower, and he was doing that thing where he watches Buck sip on a beer and he’s clearly thinking about Buck’s mouth on other things, and Buck is the world’s biggest sucker for praise, so here they are.

He glances up through his lashes, takes in the sight of Eddie’s face, flushed and slack, his eyes heavy-lidded, his gaze dark. Fuck. Buck’s straining in his pants and he wants to work a hand down and touch himself, but Eddie said no and Buck’s learned that there is in fact one place that he likes doing as he’s told.

Eddie runs a hand through Buck’s hair and Buck’s eyes slide closed of their own accord. He loves this - the feeling of Eddie’s cock hot and heavy on his tongue, stretching his mouth, making his jaw ache, the feeling of Eddie’s fingers tight and firm in his hair, holding him in place, the feeling of Eddie looming over him.

It’s occurred to him, in his more contemplative moments (Maddie would claim he has none but what does she know), that he’s really fucking lucked out. He wants so badly to please, he wants so badly to be told what to do - someone with less than pure intentions could’ve run roughshod over him. He’d do anything his partner asked of him, even if it stretched him thin or made him uncomfortable.

Maybe he’s like Maddie in that way. If he’d had a Doug...

But he doesn’t. He has Eddie, Eddie who’s murmuring good boy at him and gently stroking his thumb across Buck’s cheek, right where it bulges out, Eddie who’s looking at him like Buck’s special.

“Jesus Christ,” Eddie murmurs, his voice awed, and Buck can feel his chest fucking glowing with pleasure at that.

He can feel Eddie’s cock jerking against the roof of his mouth, knows what that means, and starts to pull off, but Eddie tightens his grip on Buck’s hair. His voice is a low growl when he speaks. “Swallow.”

Fucking hell.

Buck whines, just a little, because he really wanted Eddie to fuck him but if Eddie’s got other plans, he supposes that’s fair. Whatever Eddie’s got in mind will be good.

So he hollows out his cheeks and sucks, and does his best to swallow it all when Eddie swears violently and spills down his throat. The first time he tried this (despite Eddie’s concerns) he choked and made a huge mess that had Eddie laughing so hard he cried (even as he fetched Buck some water) but by now, he’s got the hang of it, even if some slides down the corners of his mouth, staining his chin.

“So fucking pretty,” Eddie murmurs, and then he’s pulling out and hauling Buck to his feet. They’re still dressed, which is annoying, but that’s about to be remedied, Buck’s certain. “You were made for being all stretched out in bed.”

Try and get Eddie to talk about his feelings, up to and including a stubbed toe, and you’ll be lucky to get a grunt out of him. Apparently Athena’s kids are on a fantasy kick because Bobby recorded a video of them watching The Witcher and sent it to Eddie with the note, “It’s you except medieval,” and Buck thinks that just about sums up Eddie nicely (Eddie, who responded by sending Bobby a selfie with his middle finger up, would beg to differ).

But when it comes to dirty talk? Apparently you can’t get Eddie to shut the fuck up. Buck loves it.

He shamelessly drapes his arms over Eddie’s shoulders and plays with the hair at the back of his neck. “Gonna be kind of hard for you to fuck me now, no pun intended.”

Eddie’s hand is warm and firm at the small of Buck’s back. “Mmm. It’s cute that you think that.”

“Why, did you have something in mind?” Christopher’s out an overnight field trip to the Griffith Observatory, something Eddie was having fits about all week (Chris’s poor teachers, Buck’s started being the one to deal with them since he, quote, won’t make them cry) so they have all the time in the world to do... well, each other.

“Possibly.” Eddie’s grin is wicked, the same kind of smirk he gave Buck when Buck told him in the gym you’re my problem only bigger, stronger, more obvious. “You trust me?”

“With everything except cooking dinner.”

“Ha, ha.”

Buck sees what Eddie was talking about once they’re stripped down in bed and Eddie pulls out a pair of what look like surprisingly durable (but also very comfy and fuzzy) handcuffs.

“Do I want to know where you got those?”

“That one place on Sunset.”

“Oh my God.” Buck starts laughing. He obligingly holds his hands up above his head, though, and lets Eddie slide the cuffs through the metal rail at the head of the bed and then secure them around his wrists. “Any particular reason for these?”

“Because you thrash and I don’t want to get elbowed in the face.” Eddie winked at him, then fished the lube out of the bedside drawer.

“I have never elbowed you in the face.” He did however once knee Eddie in the face, which gave Eddie a bloody nose.

“Don’t make me tie down your ankles, too,” Eddie grumbles, but his expression is nothing but fond as he braces himself over Buck and kisses him, slow and certain. “You going to be good for me?”

Buck nods. “Yes.” He’ll always be good for Eddie. Or try to, anyway.

Eddie’s fingers skim down his stomach, stroking right above his aching cock. Buck hasn’t been touched yet and he whines, pushing up shamelessly into Eddie’s hands, wanting more.

There’s the snap of the lube cap being opened and then fingers teasing at his rim. “Y’know how much I love when you’re desperate.” Eddie’s mouth trails up Buck’s jaw, right to his ear.

Buck nods. He’s loud to start out with and only gets more so when he’s on the edge.

“So I was thinking... just how desperate can you get?” Eddie works a finger into him slowly, twisting it, sinking in easy as anything after so many times learning each other’s bodies. “Let’s find out.”

Oh God. This is going to be the best and the worst thing that’s ever happened to him.

Eddie curls his finger just so, getting in in deep and finding that little bundle of nerves - the one that made Buck give him a bloody nose the first time Eddie found it. He strokes against the spot lightly, and Buck shivers all over. He feels like a teenager all over again when it comes to this kind of sex. He never did anything like this before Eddie, so it still has that new, uncontrollable edge to it the way fucking a girl did when he was sixteen.

He whines high in the back of his throat as Eddie keeps touching him there, and doesn’t let up. Usually Eddie just teases him, knowing how sensitive Buck is, but tonight he’s relentless, stroking him over and over until Buck’s trembling. He wants another finger, a hand on his dick, something, but Eddie’s just watching him with this satisfied smirk, his eyes dark and warm as chocolate.

Every breath in feels like fire, and he’s starting to wonder if maybe he can actually come without touching his cock after all, when Eddie pulls his finger out.

“What - what the fuck.” He’s struggling for breath.

Eddie bends down and nuzzles him, stroking his sides to soothe him. “I learned about this fun thing.”

“I have a feeling we’re doing this fun thing right now.”

Eddie slides back inside him - two fingers this time, scissoring them, letting Buck feel that stretch, the slight burn that Buck craves - and nips at Buck’s earlobe. “Figured you weren’t the only one who could do internet research. It’s called edging.”

Oh fucking hell. “Eddie...” he whines shamelessly.

Eddie starts stroking his prostate again and Buck can feel his eyes rolling back into his head. “Mmm, there was this forum that had a lot of great ideas...”

Now he knows why Eddie wanted to come earlier. Because he wouldn’t have had the patience to do this, otherwise. Take his time.

Eddie presses right up against his prostate and holds there, stroking Buck’s cock with his other hand.

Jesus fucking Christ. Buck’s entire body seizes up as pleasure shoots through him like a thousand volts. There’s that pressure right up against that spot, unrelenting, and then Eddie starts massaging it and he’s gonna - mother of God--

Eddie squeezes the base of his cock, hard, and the orgasm that was rushing through him is strangled to a halt, choking him. Buck’s vision is fucking swimming. He moans weakly.

“Fuck.” Eddie’s pupils are so wide his eyes look black. “Perfect.”

Buck tries to brace himself, but he fucking can’t as Eddie strokes his fingers inside him again, keeping his hand tight around the base of Buck’s cock, preventing him from coming. And he does thrash, or he would, if Eddie wasn’t sitting on his goddamn legs and his hands weren’t fucking handcuffed. Jesus holy mother of fucking goddamn shit fuck fuck. It’s so good and they named this whole thing appropriately because he is right on the fucking edge but he can’t fucking go over.

Eddie pulls his fingers out and gently presses the heel of his hand down onto Buck’s stomach, rolling his palm, massaging him, soothing him once again. He relaxes his death grip on Buck’s cock, too, and that’s a fucking relief.

Buck’s entire body feels like it’s burning up, and his vision is blurred, but he’s starting to come back to himself - right when Eddie slides three fingers in.

His voice breaks when he moans as Eddie gets right back to it, his legs shaking, his hands clenching. “Eddie, Eddie c’mon, Eddie - Eddie please, can I - can I come please please please can I--”

“Mmm, no.” Eddie’s just about purring, and Buck’s ninety percent sure Eddie has no clue that his Texas drawl comes out when he’s like this, turned on and in command, but it’s hot as fuck. “No, you’re not coming yet. You’re coming when I say you are.” He kisses just underneath the bolt of Buck’s jaw. “You know why?”

Buck can’t even speak at this point, he just gasps helplessly.

He can feel Eddie’s smile against his skin as Eddie whispers, “Because you’re mine.”

Neither of them say those three little words often. It’s just not how they are. Eddie’s idea of verbal affection is akin to having a root canal and Buck fumbles his words more often than not, so they just… find other ways. And Buck doesn’t mind that. Because Eddie will go and do that. Say that.

Mine.

He once introduced Buck to a goddamn emergency call victim (they’d gotten their foot stuck in a lawn mower, long story) as “my Buck here’ll get you out” and Buck nearly had a heart attack when he realized that Eddie hadn’t even fucking known what he’d said.

They might only say I love you once in a blue moon, but God, he never once had to doubt Eddie’s feelings.

“Hmm?” Eddie scrapes their cheeks together, moves down, down, sinks his teeth into Buck’s throat, sucks hard. Buck’s entire body jolts. “Are you?”

He drags the pads of his fingers against Buck’s prostate and Buck feels like his nerve endings are fraying. “Yes.” It’s barely a word, more like an exhale of breath. “Yes, yours, yes, yes--”

Eddie kisses him, slides his tongue right in, claiming, and Buck draws him in, sucks, whimpers, because he is, he is, he is, and Eddie’s his, and he’s never felt so much like a part of a unit, like he belongs, as he does when he’s with this man. Because Eddie doesn’t let just anyone in. His walls are double reinforced with steel, and now that Buck knows Eddie’s history, he gets it. Everyone that Eddie let in let him down, turned on him, called him weak. But Buck doesn’t think that, and Eddie let him in, and Buck will never forget what an honor that is.

Their bodies press together as Eddie kisses him, his fingers relentless, and Buck can feel Eddie’s now-hard cock dragging against his. God, it’s so good, but it’s not enough, and he’s dangling off the end of the cliff but he’s not falling and he wants, he wants to so very badly.

Something warm and damp slides down his face as he frantically grinds down onto Eddie’s fingers, against Eddie’s stomach, and he realizes he’s crying. It’s just so much, pleasure with no release, and he feels like his brain is fried.

“So good,” Eddie murmurs, encouraging, praising. “You’re being so good for me, look at you. Such a good boy.”

His fingers slide out and Buck whines at the lost, caught between wanting it to end and wanting Eddie to never stop touching him, but Eddie kisses him calm at once. “It’s okay, shh, I got you.”

He hears the lube cap again and then Eddie’s cock is nudging at him and oh, oh, he’s going to get fucked. He spreads his legs, eager for it, knowing if Eddie’s doing this then they’re close to the end at last.

Eddie grabs onto his hips to keep him steady as he sinks in, swift and easy like a hot knife in butter. Buck’s loose and beyond ready after all of this, and between his exhale and his next inhale, Eddie’s gone inside to the hilt, his hips pressing right up against Buck’s ass.

“Just a little longer, okay?” Eddie’s lips are right up against the flushed, tender skin of Buck’s neck, like he can’t bring himself to pull away. Buck’s fingers flex, wishing he could touch him, but he’s not sure he could even manage a good grip right now, he’s so strung out. “You’ve been so good, can you hold out a little longer for me?”

Since you asked. He’d do anything.

“Yes,” Buck promises, his voice raw, and Eddie kisses up his neck, right up to the corner of his mouth, and then thrusts.

Buck does not scream. His voice is too worn out for that. But it is... uh... a noise that’s on the higher pitched end of the spectrum.

Eddie thrusts in deep every time, slamming right up against his prostate, and Buck’s fucking flying. He’s strewn into a million little pieces all over the fuckin’ galaxy. It’s so good it hurts, so good he’s pretty sure you could hook him up and shock him with electricity and he wouldn’t notice the difference. He’s crying again, each press against his prostate causing a weak moan, and he can’t even speak to beg.

Part of him wants it to never end.

Eddie’s thrusts are becoming more erratic, sloppier, and Buck dimly wonders what Eddie sees, realizes that it’s him that’s doing this to Eddie - that his writhing and whimpering are that hot to Eddie, that sexy, and it fills him with a sort of vicious, feral pride. He’s not in this alone. Eddie’s just as wrecked for Buck, in his own way, as Buck is for Eddie.

Eddie bites Buck’s lip as he comes, filling him, finding his prostate and staying pressed up against it, even when he finishes, he’s still inside, still there, and Buck’s mind is melting.

“I can’t,” he breaks, begs, pleads. “Eddie, I fucking - I can’t--”

“Shh, shh.” Eddie wraps his hand around Buck’s cock and finally, finally starts stroking it again. “I know, I know, it’s okay, you can come now. You were so good, you can come now.”

Buck sobs brokenly, his fingers and toes clenching so hard it hurts, his body screaming silently as he stains his own stomach, coming hard, the world vanishing. He has no idea how long it lasts, but when it’s over he feels like a rag doll.

“Jeeeeesus,” Eddie says, drawing out the word like a string of chewing gum.

He undoes the handcuffs and massages Buck’s wrists, checking for marks, then gets up to fetch a warm, damp washcloth.

Buck would move to help, but his bones have melted. So have his muscles. He’s just a puddle. He’s never come that hard in his life.

Eddie watches him with this look of awed satisfaction as he cleans them both up. Buck manages a tired smile. “Did I do good?”

Eddie’s mouth is on his in an instant, like he’s trying to catch that smile before it vanishes. “Very. I’m so proud of you.”

They should probably do more clean up, and get some water, but it feels so good when Eddie kisses him like this, like they have all the time in the world... so Buck manages to get his arms up around his boyfriend’s neck, and holds them together.

Eddie huffs against his lips knowingly, but he stays, a steady weight on top of Buck. “Did you like it?”

“Mmm.” It was absolutely fucking insane, but. “Can we do it again?”

Eddie laughs, blushing, pleased, and Buck - Buck would cross oceans for that face. He’d run into a burning building. He’d dig through thirty feet of mud.

“Of course.” Eddie kisses him again. “Whatever you want.”

Buck feels like he’s glowing.

[calypsoff]

Fifteen.

I am so glad Robyn didn’t put me in for an early flight, I was busy playing 2K and I ended up going to sleep at four in the morning now I had to rush to pack, I used a suitcase because I am going to be gone for a while, not like it’s a weekend so I had to take the necessary things with me for this, I don’t know what Robyn is up too or what she is doing but I am taking my laptop with me so I can you know, maybe do some work while I am out there, took some of my own clothing line stuff so I can wear but I am ready, I am nervous but ready. I am going to leave my ego here, well try too but I am leaving it here and enjoying myself for whatever is to come, I just made my bed and tidied up my room so it’s going to be clean for when I come back, but I am ready. Grabbing my suitcase and dragging it out, I am so excited. I have never felt like this before about something, the excitement is not for the things to happen but to see Robyn, I really missed her. I can’t wait to see her face, I am going to be in her territory and that alone scares me, but I am going to let her take care of me, as she wants too. I have trimmed my pubes, shaved my beard that was growing and coloured my hair blonde, I think it looks good, according to my barber’s wife I look handsome so I will take that, she called me a model and said I have good cheekbones, I thanked her again so it must look good on me “Sisqo!” TJ spat; TJ is still here. Robyn told me to leave him be, I am. Things are rocky, but I deal with it, TJ was really the nigga to help me escape that shit I guess. We do get a long as we do but he always apologises for what happened which I appreciate because he did fuck up bad, it wasn’t good what he did. Seiko is heartbroken according to TJ, I blocked her on everything, I am done with her now. And he thinks she will get rid of the baby but it’s not my problem, Robyn said mind my business, so I am “y’all are goofy, I look good” they both dumb “you really gone blonde, it’s wild” Barry keeps looking at me crazy.

Barry cooked me lunch, he out here being a chef “salmon? Wow, you upping your game” shuffling my seat in “well we ain’t going to see you for a while, we will miss your birthday so I went all out. I love cooking so here we are, I have dessert too, I made your favourite bro. Cheesecake” my smile grew “y’all mushy as fuck, thank you” this is sweet of them “oh and here, me and TJ put in for this” he pushed the spare dining chair back and grabbed something “gift!? For me?” I am shocked “you missed many birthday’s bro, this is the first one that you’re here, you just missed out on the other one, so here. We put in together for you” he placed a neatly wrapped box and a card “these some love letters in this? You both are being very mushy for me, my mom was saying she wanted to come here for my birthday, I declined and told her why” opening the card first “who cried a little writing in the card?” pulling out the card, they are so sentimental. Looking at the front of the card “yooo, look at us niggas. Man how old were we? This is like thirteen? My jeans were too big bro, oh god. Good memories, we always been down” opening the card “this is weird, to be out and opening gifts, emotional” I sighed out “I know this is TJ’ writing, can’t write for shit” I chuckled “my brother from another mother, the nigga I look up too. I am appreciative of you, I don’t deserve to have a friendship because I do fuck up, I am the Eddy of the gang and I believe that. You protected me a lot and I am happy you are out, happy birthday breezy. Aww, TJ. Did you cry?” He waved me off “Barry, Breezy and Breeze, the three Bs. I am not writing shit else but happy birthday” I laughed at Barry being blunt, putting the card down “you were also crying; you both are emotional for me. Nigga might think you are gay for me” putting the card down “thank you for the card, it’s nice. I am smiling but it’s really hit my heart in a good way” TJ clapped his hands together “gift next” he seems excited.

Ripping open the wrapped gift, I am excited to see what it is “what this, a box!?” I spat, placing the paper on the table. Opening the box to see a gold chain, my eyes widened “jewellery!?” I spat “it wasn’t cheap, like that is real gold bro, no cheap shit. Can you tell how pure it looks; it holds weight. Like it’s slim and stuff but it holds weight, like we put money into it for you and got it you. It was expensive” I am shook, like this is so nice “I seem like a girl getting all excited but wow, I love it. I really do, I never looked for gold like that. I am just me, you know me. I love it. I promise to wear it” getting up from the chair “bring it in” Barry got up from his chair, hugging him “I love you Chris, you know I got you” he patted my back “always, I got your back like you got mine” moving back from the hug “you for real got my ex pregnant” TJ put his head down laughing “something I got to live with, I pray she gets it gone” hugging him either way “don’t fuck up on me, you rode for me when I was down, niggas was talking shit saying that I was a bad name but you was there and that is what means the most, you not here for highs’sbecause I ain’t got that yet. Just think, yeah?” patting his chest as I sat down “TJ is like our little brother even though we the same age, it’s wild. Like he’s a child the way he acts” Barry is right “I believe in us, I want us to win together. You both never turned your backs on me, and I won’t do that to you, so we got this. And this, thank you. I did not expect a gift like this, wow. My first piece of jewellery, real gold too. You can tell it is too, thank you” I am in awe with what they did for me, they didn’t have too.

Robyn has set out rules for me and then told me see you tomorrow, she hasn’t even messaged me but she did say she would be busy today to tie up some loose ends and she will call me when things are set “you think Robyn will like me, like do I look good?” I have to ask, the buzzer went off “I will get it but yes, you look so much better. The hair is wild, in a good way” TJ said as he jogged off, I sighed out feeling nervous but I can’t wait to see her “look at you, you’re like a nervous bride” Barry snorted laughing “nervous bride, nigga fuck you” I chuckled “but did I lie” I feel it “bro it’s for you” TJ said seeing this guy in a suit “Chris?” he said, who the hell is this “uh yeah, who are you?” TJ let’s anyone in “I am your driver to take you to the airport, Robyn sent me to collect” TJ gasped “oh shit! You are being collected! Bro, that is crazy. Have fun, like we are living through you” Robyn really got a driver to pick me up “uh yeah, I am ready. I was about to call an uber” the guy smiled “no need too, I will wait for you outside” Barry and I just looked at each other, we are shook. Robyn really planned all this, no wonder she was upset when I said I wasn’t coming.

The last SUV I rode was in the back of a undercover police, when they caught me and I drove in the back with them, I had two officers at each side of me, like I was a criminal, I mean yes I did bad but that is the last time I rode in one and look at me, I am in the back of a SUV with a driver. This shit is beautiful “is this all paid for?” I have to ask “yes sir, everything is done. I will drop you off at the private charter” this is crazy “thank you” I am so fucking excited; Robyn is about to blow my mind and I know it. I am so thankful, good friends too “do you know who the person that booked this?” I am wondering if he does “I am sure you know who it is sir, I will say Robyn and you know who” I am guessing he does “have you met this person?” I have to ask “yes indeed when they came to Texas, they use the company I drive for all of the time” nodding my head “privacy is key, do you have your passport?” he asked “I do, it’s in my duffle bag” picking it up from the floor of the car “that is fine, you just need to show it when we arrive” I am so excited.

I am mind blown, I mean I have seen a private jet before but that was just me dropping Robyn off, this jet is huge though and it’s only me, she really got me on a jet, shook right now “hey” I said to the driver “my case!?” I spat, he smiled at me “it’s already been taken to be put onto the jet, have a lovely day” letting out an oh, they take my shit they self. I swear I wish my niggas were with me, we would be getting hype together, I can only do this on my own. I need to video this shit, memories. Getting my phone from my pocket, I don’t care if I look crazy, but I need to keep this for myself. Tapping on video, pressing record as I videoed the jet “birthday just started, this is crazy” making my way to the jet still recording “welcome” the pilot smiled at me and got his hand out to me “hey” shaking his hand “welcome aboard” he gestured for me to get on board, this is wild. I am such a tourist “good afternoon Chris” I nearly fell back down the steps “oh yeah, hi” the flight attendant, of course there would one here “take a seat, would you like me to put your bag away” shaking my head, looking down the aisle of empty seats and a whole couch, this is wild. This is how the rich ride; I want it myself.

I sat next to the window seat, all to myself “sir would you like anything to eat?” looking away from the window “uhm” I paused, and the thought came into my mind, Robyn wants me to eat fruit. She said my cum was bad, I don’t know but let me do that “erm, fruit. Just some fruis, I am not bothered the kind” she smiled walking off, I am really on Robyn’ jet like this is her life. She just jumps on this shit and rides off without a care, I like it and I appreciate that she even do this for me, I am being more open to letting her do this because I would actually just make my own way there, I am really going to see the rich, I mean do I look the part. Are my clothes expensive enough for that, least I have a gold chain. Is my gold Casio watch too cheap, I like this watch it’s cool but do I look the part for that, will I even fit in to what she has. I mean the luxury; you can smell money. Like I can ask for anything, they will do it to make me happy. I am not sure if that is a life I want, I mean last time I let money get to me and I don’t want that to happen again, it won’t but I just hope I fit in to Robyn’ life without is being a struggle to settle down.

I haven’t been here before, I mean I have heard about the city of dreams but here I am inside of LAX, I am shook and it’s already how imagined, horribly busy. Robyn called earlier, just checking on me, but we were landing, I am so excited to be here. Dragging my suitcase along seeing a man in a suit with my name on a paper, we locked eyes “Chris?” he rushed over to me “uh yeah, that is me?” he looks relieved “bit land with landing, that is why” he smiled “that is fine, your ride awaits” he pointed at the SUV, another SUV Robyn is really spoiling me already, she has made sure I wasn’t without a ride, I mean if I use my brain she hasn’t told me where her home is, I am so slow. Of course she planned it, where the hell was I going with no address, I am dumb “let me” he took my suitcase from me, wild times ahead of me. Following behind the guy, opening the door myself to get in “sorry I would have opened it for you” he doesn’t need to do much.

I didn’t ask the driver where we are going, it seems like a long ride there. It’s been about fifteen minutes and we been just driving, he put music on for me, but I am sick of riding around now, I am bored of it “hey” I said out loud “yes sir?” he looked at me in the rear-view mirror “where are we going?” I mean I could be getting kidnapped “you don’t know?” he chuckled “uh no, I never really verified who you were, you could be kidnapping me “you are from the country, welcome to California. I am taking you to your destination, which is West Hollywood” oh wow “really? Hollywood?” he keeps laughing at me “yes, our client lives there” nodding my head slowly “been there before?” I asked, I keep asking these drivers if they have driven Robyn before “oh yes, I am always driving her around. The home is beautiful just a new purchase for her, very big. She is very kind too, I would usually drop her off at the apartment but she moved from that” that is Robyn, she is kind “cool, first time I am going there” I laughed nervously “meeting her too?” he asked, it was such a simple question, but it feels like I am meeting her for the first time but it’s like, I am meeting her in her own bubble, so I am seeing that Robyn now “erm, I have met her a few times. Just never come to California before” I mumbled.

Rich folk alert, these homes are for the rich, oh my god this is fucking wild to me. These homes are for the rich and famous, these are mansions, private property shit. I am in awe, she lives around here “we have arrived!” he half shouted before buzzing in, oh shit this is really Robyn’ place but I thought she had no home, this is crazy “I have Chris in the car” that voice isn’t Robyn, what if I have been kidnapped, this is wild “this home is twelve thousand dollars, very beautiful” the driver drove down the drive ever so slowly, a long drive down. As the greenery moved from the eyesight I lay my eyes on the home she is in, the biggest front yard, well I think this is parking space but it’s huge “and here we are” he stopped his car.

Now I am outside this home and she is nowhere to be seen, is she kidding me. What if I have been kidnapped, now I am doubting myself. The left side of the tall door opened, I am just stood here from afar confused, this small Chinese girl appeared “Tina here, come” she waved me over “who are you?” I mean we may have met but I don’t remember “Rihanna’ assistant, come in. She is inside” letting out an oh, maybe we did meet. Dragging my suitcase as she opened the door wide for me to enter “thank you” looking up at the high walls as I entered the home, the door shut behind me “she is coming, and there” looking behind me seeing Robyn, she is running to me. Letting go of my duffle bag and suitcase “you came!” she jumped on me, I caught her, picking her up as she wrapped her legs around my waist “I did! I missed you” I admitted, Robyn squeezed her arms around my neck “I am so fucking happy you are here! And you see this?” she moved back, placing her hands over my face “I have a home now, I been so busy. My poppa is here and your hair!!! Wow baby” she pressed a kiss to my lips “I hope you didn’t go all out for me now?” I grinned “to shut you up yes, god. I am so fucking happy you are here, I been busy Chris, now you’re here” she hugged me again.

[goldeneyedgirl]

Fic-Mas Day 3: Jessamine & Alice

Day 3 <3 Today I bring you a larger section of the Jessamine/Alice fic I posted about previously; today was meant to be something else but I think it was a really unsatisfying post, so I’ll rework it/find another fic for tomorrow.

Today was spent putting my mother’s giant, elaborate Christmas tree up, so I have no other thoughts. Hope everyone is having a good day!

(Warning for internalised homophobia; ‘//’ signals a time jump, as there are large chunks still unwritten.)

When Alice wakes up, she isn’t Alice.

She just is.

Her eyes open, her lungs fill and she exists for the first time in her memory. Her heart is still in her chest, her eyes draw in every detail of the forest around her, of the grains of dirt in the mud smearing her legs, of the beetle crawling up her leg.

And then she sees the girl with the blonde hair, and that is when the world slowly pieces itself together. Mostly with a soft smile and a gaze that strips her down to the bone, and a soft, “Alice”.

That is when she is Alice. She wants nothing more than to be that Alice, an Alice that inspires that smile, that gaze.

There’s a lot that she still doesn’t understand, and her throat is burning, but she knows two things.

Her name is Alice.

And she loves that girl.

//

Alice has a tiny hotel room in a terrible neighbourhood. It smells of dust and mildew, and is barely large enough for the mismatched bed, wardrobe and desk. The wardrobe is open, and Jessamine sees three dresses hanging there – yellow gingham, red polka-dot and blue floral. They are so small and remind Jess of doll’s clothes, with the ruffled hems, the puffy sleeves, the tiny buttons. She is wearing a filthy tweed skirt and threadbare blouse that was once grey that she peeled off a past meal, and this girl… she has actual tissue paper stuffed into the toes of the shoes in the closet.

Alice is perched on the desk, beaming at her with barely disguised excitement. The emotions that she can feel coming off the tiny girl are ones of excitement, joy, awe and pure adoration. She is utterly charming, with her pink dress and blue coat, her tiny gloves and curled hair.

The clothing Alice has chosen her are… nice. Nicer than she deserves – a dark blue shirtwaist dress, stockings and flat shoes.  A pair of tailored pants and a blouse, in dark blue and yellow. Even underwear, silky and brand new. It is more than she’s owned in seventy years. More than anyone has ever given her.

When she finally emerges from the bathroom, months of dirt and blood washed away, Alice’s eyes light up, at her in her new blouse and pants, her hair damp around her face.

“You are so beautiful,” Alice coos, and is at her side, practically vibrating, and Jess doesn’t know what to say.

The kiss is so unexpected – Alice on her tip-toes, leaning up to kiss Jessamine on her lips. It is a moment so sweet and so impossible, Jessamine freezes and isn’t sure what to do.

This isn’t right. This isn’t right.

//

Alice knew that they would be tentatively welcomed at the Cullens – Jess is apparently rather intimidating (she doesn’t see it herself) and her own gift is a dangerous one. But the Cullens are peaceful people, do not seek out battle when there is any other alternative. They will sooner pack their things and leave, than claim their territory through warfare.

But she also knows that it will be their relationship that will throw the Cullens. That they live the closest approximation of a human life that they can manage. Husbands and wives, daughters and sons, brothers and sisters. There are no grey lines, just right and wrong. She sees religious iconography in her visions of their house, and that worries her a little.

She also knows that this is what Jess needs, more than anything. A peaceful retirement, a place where she is loved for herself, and not what she can do.

//

Once they arrive, it takes a few days for the family to realise. Edward has a pinched look on his face the first time Jess’s thoughts turn away from defence back to her Alice, and she is glad she cannot read Edward’s thoughts, because they would not be flattering. Rosalie has a slightly quizzical expression on her face when she catches Jess dropping a kiss to Alice’s lips in the hallway, and Esme just becomes flustered, but in a sweet way that overcompensates in her desperation not to offend them.

Carlisle is no less gracious to them, though – later – Edward will tell Alice that he was torn. Over the half-remembered lessons of his youth at his father’s knee, at the human principles he clung to with all his life, the ones that have guided him, with moderate success, this far in his afterlife.

But of everything that he has seen in his centuries of life, is a pair of mated females really that extraordinary? The idea that the bond could form between two souls, despite time and gender and all of the other minutiae that had to align is not so impossible, or he would not have found and lost, and then found Esme again.

And he watched them, to see the way they move in sync, the constant contact, the long looks that could be entire conversations, and the peace that surrounded them. To see the way Jess anchors Alice, contains the boundless energy and joy that is the slight girl; the way Alice brings Jess back to life, banishes the ghosts that haunt her gaze.

Carlisle knows that he cannot condemn that sort of soul-deep bond, cannot turn them away for their most genuine love because of old, narrow-minded teachings, because of social expectations that should have been discarded generations ago. Whatever brought them here, they did so for a reason and he will trust in a higher power, and Alice’s visions.

Emmett is the last to realise, in the middle of a hunt, and his mouth drops open, staring between the pair – standing apart from the rest of them, Alice tucked under Jess’s arm.

“They share a room,” Edward says slowly when Emmett splutters, still clutching his bear corpse. Alice can feel the tension in Jess’s body, waiting to protect and defend, should Emmett’s opinion threaten her.

Emmett contemplates them for a second, and Alice can almost see the wheels turning in his head, as he reevaluates their interactions with this new information.

“Oh well. Esme’s still got you to marry off, Eddie,” Emmett says cheerfully, and drags his bear corpse off to be buried and Alice tries not to laugh at Jess’s expression at Emmett’s response, at Edward’s scowl, at Esme’s bright smile at idea of Edward getting married.

//

After Italy, there was celebration, relief, hope. They were coming home to Forks, and everything would be okay once again. Even Edward thought that everything had been righted.

But then, he’d never seen Jess in full-flight. Alice had caught one of her fits of temper in a vision, before Peter went back for her, but had never witnessed the full scale of Jess’s wrath in person. Peter and Charlotte had both alluded to the temper that had made Jess such a legend in the south on occasion – it was rare that she was ever ‘out of control’; usually it was cold rage with a clear aim.

But when she lost her temper, well, neither Charlotte nor Peter had words for it, aside from a warning that it usually involved some property damage.

Perhaps the fact, according to Peter, was that even Maria backed down when Jess was in a ‘confrontational’ mood was the best indicator, to Alice, of how terrible Jess could be.

It was never planned ahead, and Jess was probably second only to Carlisle at keeping Edward out of her head.

The pacing was what caught Alice’s attention, and by then it was too late to stop Bella and Edward from coming into the house. And if her sight was any indication, the sooner the confrontation happened, the better off they’d be.

Edward realised the issue a moment too late, but there was no way to get Bella somewhere ‘safe’. And from the look on Rosalie’s face, it was clear Rose thought that Bella witnessing the result of the trauma of their eternal lives would probably be good for the girl.

“Jessamine,” Edward had said cautiously, and Alice wanted to bang her head against the wall. Only three people called Jess by her full name – Carlisle, as a mark of respect for her age; Alice, on occasions when she wanted to be taken seriously, and Charlotte, as a sign of deference for her former leader and creator. Peter called her Jessie, Maria had called her Major or Majorette, depending on her mood, and everyone else knew her simply as Jess.

For Edward to use her full name was a red flag to a bull, and Alice just knew Edward was going to be without some extremities by the end of this.

Jess hissed outright at Edward, and Bella was backed into the corner, eyes wide. Esme had ghosted over to the human girl, obviously to sooth and protect, and Alice just perched herself on the side table, waiting for the fireworks.

The argument was loud and unspeakably nasty, ending with Carlisle, Esme, and Emmett gaping in Jess’s direction, Jess putting her foot through Esme’s solid oak coffee table, Edward having his right arm snapped clean off at the shoulder, Rosalie enjoying herself immensely, and Jess storming off to cool down.

“I’m sorry about the table, Esme,” Alice hopped off the side table. “I’ve got another one ordered. It should arrive in a few days.”

Bella and Carlisle were already crouched beside Edward, reattaching the severed limb.

“You knew,” Edward said between gritted teeth. She shrugged.

“Did I know she was angry? I did. Did I know she would confront you? Yes. Did I let this happen? Only because if I had interfered, it would only delay the inevitable,” she said. ‘It would have been so much worse, Edward. So, so much worse.’

‘That’s the first time I’ve been scared of her,” Bella said, her eyes wide. Rosalie snorted at that comment.

“Don’t, Rosalie.”  

[randomoranges]

love potion au part 45

buckle in friends, it’s gonna be a bumpy ride for a bit, yeah?

For you who has dared drink a love potion, heed my warning. There is no known cure to the effects it may have and once it wears off, for it will, the sight will not be pleasant. Oh you might think that it is working, that you have conquered love, but you are greatly mistaken and most likely under the effects yourself. For you see, even if you have not consumed the potion yourself, if you are with the person who has, the effects will also rub off on you. Your only saving grace is that you will not go through the hell that the person who drank the potion will, once it wears off.

 Étienne woke up in their new bedroom and stretched luxuriously. He sighed, content with the world and took in the gentle sunlight streaming through the partially open curtains he had peered through moments before. Some of the light reached his dormant lover and illuminated parts of his face and Étienne couldn’t help but think that Edward looked beautiful and peaceful like this in slumber.

 Étienne snuggled back down into his previous spot and placed the most delicate of kisses to his forehead, not wanting to rouse him from his sleep. Edward barely even stirred, for now, and Étienne ran careful fingers down his spine, marvelling at this man, here with him, in their bed.

 It still sometimes felt as though he was living someone else’s life, as though this particular happy story wasn’t his to have, but just as Emma had told him, perhaps it was time he got his own love story and happy ending.

 The events of last night played back in his mind; Edward’s brilliant smile, sharing dessert out on their back porch as they watched the sunset, the gentle feel of his caress down his back, the breathless way he felt after each and every kiss, the tender declarations of love whispered in his ear, the thrill he hoped would never go away from undressing Edward and bringing him to bed, the languid touches that made him gasp and yearn for more...

 Étienne smiled to himself and hoped there would be many more nights like that and more mornings like these in their future.

 Edward eventually slowly came to and Étienne greeted him with a soft smile and made himself comfortable in Edward’s arms when his fiancé pulled him close. They settled around each other, simply breathing together and enjoying the quietude of the morning and Étienne wished they would never have to leave this haven of love and comfort they had carved out for themselves.

 “Tell me we don’t have plans,” Edward murmured, voice still thick with sleep, sometime later, as he kissed Étienne’s bare shoulder.

 “None; did you want to do anything in particular?” He asked, caressing Edward’s cheek in reply.

 Edward took his hand and brought it to his lips to kiss each knuckle in turn and Étienne couldn’t help the fond smile that broke out on his face, “Hmm, maybe, yeah.” Étienne gave him a curious look at that as Edward twined their legs together, “Thought we could stay in bed for a while longer, make love to you again, and again and again...” He trailed off kissing down the length of Étienne’s neck to his collarbone.

 Étienne shivered and wrapped himself around his lover, wanting already, but he smiled and pulled Edward for a deep kiss that left Edward a little dazed, “That sounds like a wonderful plan,” He added, in case Edward wanted verbal confirmation of sorts.

 There is no warning as to when the potion wears off. It might take days, like it might take months; it all depends of the strength of the potion. The first sign will be a headache like no other. A deep, stabbing pain that will start as an acute pulse, which will grow until the drinker will be in agony, feeling as though their head is about to burst open. This will pass within a few minutes, but it only gets worse from here.

 Étienne noticed something was wrong when Edward started slowing down and didn’t return his kisses with as much intensity. He sat up a little in bed and put a hand on his lover’s shoulder to make him stop, “Are you okay? D’you wanna stop? We can take a break if you want, you know,” He offered with a kind smile. Sex was nice, sure, and he’d been having a blast, but he liked simply snuggling with Edward, holding him close and running a hand through his hair. It didn’t have to be complicated – it never was complicated with Edward and that was one of the many things Étienne loved about being with him.

 “It’s – I’m fine, it’s just – bit of a headache all of a sudden. Talk about tim – ow!” He hissed and clutched at his head.

 Étienne frowned. This – was very much unlike Edward. His lover wasn’t prone to such intense headaches – at least, not to the point to look as though he was actually in pain. “D’you want me to get you some Advil or something?” He asked, clearly concerned. Edward let out something that could have been a soft moan and Étienne figured it meant yes. He disentangled himself from the bed sheets and padded off to the medicine cabinet in the washroom to get some pills and a glass of water for Edward.

 He returned shortly after and found his lover clutching at his forehead and grimacing much more than he had mere moments ago. Worry started to settle in Étienne’s mind and he ran through the list of symptoms that could be associated with literally any disease he was aware of and what the correct protocol was. “Here, Sweetheart, take these and drink this...” He helped Edward sit up and placed the two capsules in his shaky hand.

 Edward managed to swallow the pills and drink down a gulp or two of water and once the glass was on the night table, Étienne sat beside him and rubbed his back soothingly, hoping that maybe it would help the headache pass. Étienne noticed that Edward was a little clammy to the touch, but figured it had to do with what they’d been doing before. “Do you need anything? Is there anything I can get you?” He asked, feeling utterly hopeless and very much worried.

 “It’s fine – it’ll pass,” He said just as he swore and gripped at Étienne’s free hand tightly, as pain wracked through his body.

 “Let’s – let’s lie you down, okay? Maybe it’ll help? D’you want me to call InfoSanté?” He asked as he gently got Edward to lie down. Edward groaned at the shift and tried to curl in on himself, but it only seemed to make it worse.

 The drinker’s body will warm up and afterwards, they will tremble and spasm as if their body is suddenly overcome with uncontrollable tremors. These as well will pass, but make sure that there is nothing of danger near the person, if you happen to be there.

 Étienne no longer knew what to do. Edward was even warmer to the touch, he was sweating more and he was still in what looked like to be excruciating pain. He’d eventually decided to call InfoSanté, unsure what to do and he tried very hard to keep it together as he explained the symptoms to the nurse on the other end of the line. The nurse was unable to figure out what could be the cause of this and what it might be that Edward was going through, advising Étienne bring Edward to the emergency room, if he could and if he didn’t get better within the next few minutes.

 “Everything hurts,” Edward said between halting breaths and a broken sob. His body shook and trembled as if acting by its own accord and Étienne didn’t want to panic, but this wasn’t getting any better. He couldn’t understand what was going on with his lover and he feared that it would be something major.

 “I know, Darling, I know. I promise the ambulance is on its way, okay? Everything is going to be okay...” He tried to reassure him – tried to reassure himself. He’d brought a cold compress and dabbed it on Edward’s burning face, but it did little to no good. He’d tried getting Edward to get dressed, before the spasms had started, but had given up after slipping on his briefs, Edward growing heavy as he trembled and became more and more incoherent. “Just, stay here with me, Eddy, okay? I’m right here with you,” Étienne bit back his tears as he sat nearby, afraid Edward might fall off the bed and hit his head.

 The tremors and spasms may lead to convulsions and the drinker will no longer be themselves. They will be completely out of it and will no longer be able to hear the people around them. That, unfortunately, still remains the least of anyone’s worries, for the convulsions are the first sign that leads to the internal bleeding and by the time anyone notices, it may already be too late. If the drinker is still alive at this point, it has been mentioned in one case that the drinker passed out and when they woke up, it was as if nothing had ever happened. They had no recollection of the time they had been under the effects of the love potion, leaving their partner in quite a state. Of course, survivors of love potions are rare, so it is unsure as to whether or not this effect happens in all drinkers.

 Even though only a few minutes had passed since Edward had complained of the pain in his head, Étienne felt as though hours had gone by. He wondered why the ambulance wasn’t here yet and feared Edward would die on him any second now, as he worsened before his eyes. He was completely incoherent now and Étienne was no longer able to get him to answer his questions. He kept on talking to him though, trying to be reassuring as tears ran freely down his cheeks. He couldn’t believe this was happening to him – to them – to Edward, but now was not the time to worry about that. He felt hopeless as he waited and could only watch as the convulsions wracked through Edward’s body.

 Miraculously, he never fell off the bed and Étienne had rushed to get anything that could hurt him out of the way. He’d called InfoSanté again and the nurse who answered stayed on the line with him. The nurse tried to calm him down and gave him instructions on what he could do, while he waited; reported on Edward’s vitals (thank God, he was still breathing,) and such and finally, just as Étienne heard the sirens of the approaching ambulance, two things happened almost simultaneously; the convulsions stopped and Étienne noticed a small trickle of blood dribble past Edward’s lips.

 I urge anyone who considers using a love potion to reconsider. They have ruined lives and have been banned for a reason. They leave a path of death behind them, despite their names and have caused more harm than good. Consider yourself warned.

--

PREVIOUS: XLIV

CURRENT: XLV

NEXT: XLVI

[hysterialevi]

When the Devil Cries - Final Part

Fanfic summary: (NO SPOILERS IN THIS STORY) After arriving in Saint Denis, Arthur ends up falling in love with a seemingly innocent pianist, only to find himself in a battle with one of the most notorious outlaws to ever emerge from America. Now, between working for Dutch and robbing money for the gang, Arthur has to also protect the man he loves as the two of them try to find their freedom.

Pairing: Arthur Morgan/Male OC

Previous chapter

This story is also on AO3

Author’s note: Welp, this is it guys! The final chapter. Thank you so much to those of you who stuck with me during this whole story. I seriously appreciate the support you’ve given me ever since I started this fanfic, and it means the world to me to see how much you’ve enjoyed it. I’m definitely gonna miss writing about Arthur and Eddie, but I also can’t wait to show you what else I have planned in the future. Stay awesome :)

From Arthur’s POV

ONE WEEK LATER

THE BASTILLE, SAINT DENIS

“Dear, John...” I murmured to myself, readin’ my awfully-written letter out loud, “...it’s Tacitus. I hope this letter finds you on the off-chance that you’re still alive, but truth be told...I wouldn’t even know where to start looking. Last time we saw each other, we was both trying to make our way out of that god-awful shit storm, and I regret that I never got the chance to see if you survived.”

“If you’re still out there somewhere, I wish you luck. You saved my ass when hell finally broke loose, and I won’t forget it. As for me -- my partner and I have managed to stay out of trouble for a while, and we’re planning to start a new life someplace else. For your safety and mine, I cannot say where, but just know that we’re doing okay. Things ain’t easy, but we got each other. And if these following years go according to plan, who knows? Perhaps we might be able to rejoin you someday.”

“If you’re not alive though, then...I will certainly miss you. That’s for sure. We ain’t related by blood, I know, but you was always like a brother to me. We grew up together since the very beginning, and I’ll never forget the times when you used to annoy me so much that I wanted to tear my hair out. Who’d have thought I’d eventually miss those days?”

“But...as much as I’d like to keep this going, I’m afraid there’s a ship I need to catch pretty soon. It’s gonna carry me off to a civilized world where I am to live as a civilized man. I ain’t exactly ready for a life like that, but it’s where I’ve ended up. I suppose we shall see how that goes.”

“Farewell for now, John. You’ll always be in my thoughts.

Your friend and brother,

--Tacitus Kilgore.”

Placin’ the letter down on a table, I leaned back in my chair and reread some of the sentences to myself as a worn-out breath escaped me, probably because of how long I spent thinkin’ about how to word all this.

If I was bein’ honest, I didn’t even know if trying to contact John was a good idea. I mean, we was both still wanted men. Even with Agent Milton gone, the rest of the Pinkertons were still searching for us. If they knew that either of us were alive, I had no doubts that they’d do everything within their power to try and stop us from escaping...and that was a risk I couldn’t take.

I let out a frustrated sigh and balled up the piece of paper in my hands, tossin’ it into the nearby fireplace.

“...Goddammit.” I whispered to myself, solemnly watchin’ as the letter burned.

Was that the right thing to do? I wanted to see John again, of course, but...maybe it was better this way.

We both had people to take care of, after all. He had Abigail and Jack, and I had Eddie.

The less we knew about each other, the safer we’d be. We had to worry about more than just ourselves in this case, and -- with the law constantly up our ass -- perhaps it was best for everyone if John thought I was dead. Then, he’d have nothin’ to give to the Pinkertons. At least, not when it came to me.

Still though, part of me wished I could at least say goodbye to him before hightailing it to England. Out of all the people I grew up with, John was the only one left who was alive and trustworthy.

And on top of that, there was no guarantee I’d ever return to America. Apart from sentimentality, this country had nothin’ else for me. All that remained of the Van der Linde gang was a long trail of blood that civilization was already in the process of forgetting, and I certainly didn’t plan on lingering around with my wanted posters still flappin’ in the wind.

I was finally ready to be the man I aspired to be, and not the man Dutch created.

My life in the United States may have been over...but my life as a free man was just beginning.

Interrupting my thoughts, the door suddenly swung open when Eddie came wanderin’ in with a briefcase in his hand, all ready to go. He was usin’ the same cane that Hamish gave to him back at O’Creagh’s Run, and the more I saw him limpin’ around the room with a sway in his step, the more I worried about the true condition of his leg.

The pianist insisted he was fine whenever I asked him, but -- despite bein’ the dolt that I was -- I was still smart enough to assume that climbing a huge rock formation not too long after getting shot in the leg probably wasn’t the best idea.

I supposed all that commotion with Atticus finally did a number on Eddie’s injuries. He looked alright during all that drama, but with everything else that was goin’ on, I only hoped that we wouldn’t need the doctor’s services before departing for England. Things was stressful enough as is.

“Arthur,” Eddie greeted, settin’ his briefcase down on the bed for a moment. “You ready to go? The ship’s leaving in half an hour.”

“Yep. I got everything I need. What about you?”

Eddie took a seat across from me. “Me too. Just...preparing myself for the long journey now, is all. It’s been ages since I last set foot in England. I wonder what it’s like nowadays.”

“Hopefully, better than here.”

A chuckle escaped him. “Oh, I dunno about that, but at least we won’t have to worry about the Pinkertons there. I’m sick of constantly checking over my shoulder for them.”

I nodded in agreement. “I know the feeling. Milton may be dead and gone, but I doubt that the rest of them clowns will give up so easily. Perhaps, it’ll even motivate ‘em to work harder. I just hope Agent Ross doesn’t find John. That man has a family to look after.”

“Have you heard from him ever since Beaver Hollow?”

“No. I was actually plannin’ to send him a letter, but...I got rid of it just before you walked in here. Figured it’d be better if he didn’t know I was alive.”

Eddie tilted his head in an inquisitive manner. “Why? Don’t you want to see him again?”

“’Course I do. But think about it -- if John believes I’m dead, then the Pinkertons will have no reason to pester him. They might still go after him for the bounty on his own head, but interrogatin’ him for information about me would be pointless.”

The pianist glanced downwards. “Hmm. I guess so. Still, it’d be nice to thank him in person. John was always friendly to me back at camp, and he saved our lives at Beaver Hollow too. Without him, neither of us would’ve gotten away.”

“Now, ain’t that the truth.”

Eddie changed the subject. “And what of Dutch? Have you heard any news about him?”

I shook my head. “Nope. Nothing. There’s no word in the papers, no rumors circulating about him --  it’s as if he’s vanished entirely. That man could be on his way to Tahiti for all I know.”

The other man glowered. “...Or running off with Micah.”

“...That, too.” I sighed in disapproval. “Goddamn it...what the hell happened to that man? Dutch used to be so different. So full of life. So...human. But now, he’s nothin’ short of a madman. Just a tyrant who goes trigger-happy when he doesn’t get his way. I keep wonderin’ to myself where it all went wrong. Where things started to fall apart.”

The pianist frowned out of sympathy. “Well, perhaps he was always a madman. It was you who finally opened your eyes and changed.”

I rubbed my chin in thought. “...Maybe. I don’t know. Hosea used to say the same thing about himself, but to be honest...I’m not sure I care anymore. All I care about is us. You’re what matters to me now, Eddie. Not them.”

Eddie beamed warmly at the comment and gazed lovingly at me for a second, seemingly gettin’ lost in his thoughts before bringing up another topic.

“You know what...” he recalled, “that actually reminds me of something I’ve been meaning to tell you ever since we arrived in Saint Denis.”

I quirked a brow. “Oh yeah? And what would that be?”

The pianist gave me a sincere look, suddenly changing his overall demeanor. “...I wanted to say I’m sorry.”

I flicked my eyes around in confusion. “Sorry? For what?”

“For not taking your advice,” he answered. “Ever since the beginning, you warned me that vengeance was an idiot’s game. And like the idiot I was, I refused to listen to you. I was just...”

Eddie let out a conflicted sigh, shifting in his seat. “I was so consumed with this insatiable desire for revenge. No matter how much I tried to forgive him, I just couldn’t let Atticus go. There was too much anger inside me. Too much grief. I thought that killing Atticus would provide a sense of justice, or a fresh beginning, but in the end...his death only made me feel...”

The man trailed off, unable to find the right words.

“...Empty?” I finished.

The pianist nodded in response.

“Yes. Empty. But not only that. When I saw the life disappear from Atticus’ eyes, part of me even...regretted killing him so soon. I guess I had hoped there would be some sort of closure to the conflict between us, but instead...it felt like reading a story that was one chapter short. There was no resolution. No way down from the peak of the mountain. It was just...a cliff. And you know the worst part of it?”

Eddie’s expression sank with melancholy. “...I still can’t let Atticus go.”

Strugglin’ to set his thoughts in order, Eddie lowered his head in a distraught manner and stared aimlessly at the floor, causin’ me to reach across the table and lay a hand on top of his own in an attempt to comfort him.

“Hey...” I whispered softly, tryin’ to catch the disheartened man’s attention. “You made a mistake, but it ain’t the end of the world. You can still learn from this. You’re strong. Much stronger than you realize. And...if I may offer some advice...”

I scooted my chair closer to his, grippin’ his hand more firmly now. “Based on everything you’ve said to me since we first met, it sounds like that Atticus ain’t the one you can’t let go. ...I think it’s Nathaniel that you don’t want to forget.”

Takin’ my words to heart, Eddie paused at my observation and lifted his head slightly, starin’ in a way that told me I just hit the nail on the head.

I could tell from the expression plastered on his face that he ain’t never thought about it that way before, and I almost felt kinda bad for the emotional conflict that I was clearly puttin’ this poor boy through.

He blinked away some of the tears that were startin’ to gather in his eyes and gripped my hand affectionately, trying to hide how much his voice was truly trembling.

“...He is, isn’t he?”

Eddie let out a shaky breath, thinkin’ back to the day Nathaniel died.

“You know, I always blamed myself for not being able to save Nathaniel. I understand that, realistically, there was nothing I could’ve done for him, but still. The thought eats me up all the time. Even now. I just...can’t move on. I can’t sleep at night because I know that if he was alive today, he’d probably never forgive me for abandoning him.

“Nonsense,” I replied, quick to come to his defense. “If Nathaniel knew that you managed to survive that day -- that you actually made it all the way to America, started a new life for yourself, became a pianist, and killed Atticus Rose after months of fightin’ for your life as an outlaw only to become a free man -- why...” I chuckled in awe, “...he’d be so, goddamned proud of you.”

The other man gazed at me with teary eyes, not quite convinced yet. “How do you know?”

I smiled brightly at Eddie. “...Because I know I am.”

Evidently somewhat overwhelmed by my praise, the sorrow disappeared from Eddie’s face as he cracked a small grin and leaned forward, showerin’ me with his own storm of compliments.

“Thank you, Arthur, but it’s not as if I did it all by myself. You did your fair share of work too. In fact, I never would’ve made it this far if you hadn’t found me that day. Your first interaction with me was an act of kindness, and yet you still speak ill of yourself constantly. You truly are a marvel, Arthur...but I don’t think you see it.”

I sighed remorsefully, wishin’ I could say Eddie was entirely right.

“That’s ‘cause I done some real bad things in my life, Eddie. Horrible things. Before I met you, I used to rob people who didn’t deserve it, kill folks who did nothin’ except get in the way of Dutch’s plans, and I did all of it while living under some twisted sense of honor to help me sleep at night. But now...”

I looked the pianist in eye, still holdin’ on to his hand, “I wanna change, Eddie. For real this time. I don’t wanna just be some thief who happens to be kinder than the rest. I wanna be a better man. A better partner. No more crimes, no more violence...just redemption. That’s all I want.”

Eddie gently brought his hands up to my face and pulled me closer, caressing my cheek in a loving manner.

“...Then let’s do it.”

~~~~~~~~~~

TWENTY MINUTES LATER

SAINT DENIS HARBOR

Sittin’ in the stagecoach as it gently rolled over the brick roads, Eddie and I eagerly gazed outta the small windows with a newfound wonder in our hearts as we passed by the whole city, somewhat unable to comprehend that we was actually leavin’ this country.

I had to admit -- it was strange, seeing Saint Denis like this again. Over the course of the last few months, Eddie and I spent every damn day fightin’ for our lives, just trying to survive. We fought against the O’Driscolls, the Pinkertons, Atticus, and even good ol’ Dutch himself.

We had been to Hell and back while still finding the time to plant the seeds of what was now an unbreakable bond between us, and yet...Saint Denis hadn’t changed one bit.

In fact, this city looked exactly the same as when I first met Eddie. People were breezin’ through the streets without a care for the beggars on the sidewalks, activists and politicians rallied people to their campaigns, children played games in the open gardens, and everywhere, people lined up in front of all sorts of establishments, waitin’ to be entertained.

The gears of civilization kept turnin’ with not a single thought for those left behind, and somehow, it still managed to look like it hadn’t gone anywhere at all.

It was one of the many wonders of the new world, but also one of the things that made me fear it. How was it that a city could progress so much without actually changin’ anything? Or maybe it was just my nerves actin’ up? I didn’t know anymore.

Everything was just so confusing now. Instead of runnin’ away from civilized life like I normally did, I was headin’ straight towards it.

I was getting ready to do the one thing that Dutch always insisted was impossible, and to make matters even more astonishing, I had a man who loved me standin’ at my side.

All them years of wondering why I could never be good enough for Mary, or strong enough to protect Eliza...and I finally had someone who accepted me as I was, but also encouraged me to be better. It took a good three decades, but my life had finally picked itself up even though I sure as hell didn’t deserve it.

I was on the opposite side of the spectrum for the first time, but -- contrary to what I expected -- I was happy. I was ready to change. And I welcomed it.

Finally arrivin’ at the harbor, the stagecoach slowed down to a steady halt as it stopped beside the entrance, prompting me and Eddie to leave. There were already a few other stagecoaches lined up in front of us, spittin’ out passengers just the same, and without even looking, I could tell it was gonna be crowded as hell outside just based on the noise.

I picked up my briefcase, takin’ hold of the door’s handle.

“You ready?” I asked Eddie, earning a nod from him.

“Ready as ever.”

Lightly pushing the door open, the two of us were instantly greeted by a cool breeze as the sound of seagulls cryin’ and people chatting reached our ears, followed by the distinct scent of saltwater.

All around me, I could see men, women, and children pacin’ their way across the harbor as they hurried to find their ship, or simply waited for their loved ones to arrive.

There were multiple paperboys stationed throughout the place, merchants displaying their trinkets to newcomers as they came fresh off the boats, fishermen luggin’ heavy nets around, and a number of street performers offerin’ a lively mood to the otherwise mundane atmosphere of the harbor.

It was a surprisingly busy day in this part of town, and...if I was bein’ honest...I felt a tad nervous jumping into the heart of it all. There were just so many people; so many civilized folks who were unlike me that...I felt incredibly outta place here.

But I supposed I’d have to get used to it sooner or later. This was the beginning of my new life, after all...and I was old enough to know that nothin’ worthwhile ever came easy.

“Here,” I said, offering Eddie a hand as he stepped out of the stagecoach. “Lemme help.”

The pianist gave me a humorous grin. “Such a gentleman.”

I chuckled, duckin’ my head as I followed him out. “What can I say? Civilization’s gettin’ to me.”

Swiftly makin’ our way outta the confines of the stagecoach’s limited space, Eddie and I set out for our ship as we slithered through the bustling streets of the harbor, doin’ our absolute best not to crash into other people.

Unlike the serene nature of the countryside, this place was pretty much filled to the brim with commotion. Folks were movin’ around so fast that they practically made the signposts twirl, and sometimes, there’d be nothing but a tornado of leaves whirling in their wake.

It was like people couldn’t even spare two seconds to take a breath. They were just completely focused on the here and now, and didn’t even bother to take in their surroundings. It was...kinda sad to witness, in a way. Though, I guessed that was just the nature of civilization.

There was no time for the present. Only for the future.

Stickin’ to the sides of the pavements, the two of us made haste for a ship at the very end of the harbor called “The Pytheas.” It was a gargantuan thing stacked with so many massive crates and strange-lookin’ machines that it made you wonder how the hell it managed to stay afloat.

There were all sorts of people gatherin’ on the pier as well. Even from here, I could see groups of businessmen discussing deals in many different languages, professors pondering what awaited them on the other side of the sea, artists sketchin’ down the vast landscape to combat their boredom, and immigrants huddling up with their families. It was like seein’ a miniature version of the entire world stuffed onto one strip of land.

And then...there was me and Eddie.

Just a musician and an outlaw.

A pianist and a gunslinger.

Two lost souls who were once crippled by their own fears, but learned to become whole after they found each other.

We was nothin’ but a pair of ordinary men in the eyes of these people. Just two regular guys goin’ about their business on a regular day. But if they were to look a bit more closely -- I guaranteed they’d be able to see the convoluted stories hiding inside.

They were written in the lines on our faces, in the depths of our eyes, in the steps we took. It was a silent journey that spoke for itself, and I doubted that either of us would ever forget it, despite leavin’ that entire ordeal behind.

We had a plethora of memories lingering in the west, after all. Simply by gazin’ at the wilderness hiding behind the city’s skyline, I was practically able to relive every moment of my past.

From the day Dutch and Hosea found me, to our endless adventures riding across the open deserts, to the times I wasted fallin’ in love with Mary, to the many years I spent mourning Isaac and Eliza...

All the friends that I buried along the way, the anger and grief I experienced, the enemies we gunned down, the nights we spent sharin’ stories around the campfire, the days where I wondered if I’d live long enough to see the next sunrise...

It all flooded my head at once. Within the span of a few seconds, I watched my whole life unfold in front of me like a person rapidly flipping through the pages of a book, and for the first time in years, I could sense genuine tears welling up in my eyes from all the emotions that were racin’ through me.

It was just...surreal to think about how far I had come. How much I’d grown. How much things had changed.

Not too many years ago, I was nothin’ but a sad, lost, and lonely man who thought he’d die long before the age of gunslingers withered away -- but now... there was an entirely new world waitin’ for me on the other side of the ocean. As well as a new home.

And so -- with one last glance over my shoulder -- I turned around and savored the reminiscent view standin’ behind me as it slowly disappeared in the distance, waving goodbye like an old friend bidding me farewell.

I had no idea if I’d ever return to this country, or if I’d ever get the closure I desired with John and Dutch...but one thing I did know was that America would always be home to me.

No matter the amount of pain or heartache that lingered in the shadows of our gang’s actions, there was just some sort of connection between me and this place that nothing could sever.

For the sake of buildin’ a peaceful home with Eddie, I would comply and live in a civilized world away from crime, but deep down -- I knew damn well that I’d always be an outlaw for life.

It was just who I was, and it was the thing that turned me into this man today.

I was Arthur Morgan, and this was the end of my story in the Wild West.

“...Goodbye, Dutch.” I whispered softly to myself, turnin’ on my heel to follow Eddie to the ship.

There were only a few minutes left until departure now, and part of me grew weary just thinkin’ about the lengthy journey ahead -- but regardless of how long it took for us to reach England, or how tiring the trip would be, I was at peace knowing that we had finally achieved the dream we fought so long to reach.

Eddie and I were officially free men from this day forward...and we had acquired the one treasure Dutch never found. The only luxury that no amount of money could buy.

The one thing that only ever truly mattered to me.

Redemption.