#And the bag is like. I dunno if he gets a cool bag lol

[cryptidcalling]

Cosmo (Art by Nin_Ei on Insta) and some various ideas for gear he could get later in the campaign!

[fairyysoup]

western nights

♫︎ western nights - ethel cain ♫︎

pairing(s): eddie munson x fem!reader

summary: You're on a road trip to nowhere. Eddie wants to get the hell out of dodge. It's a match made in heaven- if only it were, actually, heaven.

words: 13k

cw: explicit, smut, piv sex, oral sex (f + m receiving), exhibitionism, light choking, spitting, eddie is 24, reader's age unspecified (over 21), illegal activities, theft, smoking, alcohol consumption, strangers to lovers, bonnie & clyde type dynamic, mechanic!eddie, eddie's trying hard to be a good boy he's just got issues, pining, perv!reader, some slight dubcon/somno for a sec if you squint, there was only one bed, graphic depictions of violence, a drunk guy being nasty to both eddie and reader, bar fight, blood, arguments, angst, hurt/comfort, panic attacks, an overall janky relationship here, inspired by the song western nights by ethel cain

a/n: *slaps fic* this bad boy can be written with so many cold medicines in my head <3 ethel cain if you see this do NOT interact i have done zero justice to your song and also completely disregarded some key aspects of the themes of it lol this is loosely based at best

ALL MY WORKS ARE 18+ MINORS DNI

He’s never looked more beautiful on his Harley in the parking lot, breaking into the ATMs, sleeping naked when it gets too hot…

You’ve become something of a connoisseur of gas station coffee. 

You know which chains have the best. Love’s always has the best and freshest, with the most options of flavors. Pilot is usually a crapshoot, depending on what area of the country you’re in. Occasionally, if you can find it, Bodega doesn’t disappoint. And the worst, by far, is always Shell. Shell coffee, you think, must come directly from the sewers of whatever backwater town you’re trundling through.

You’re somewhere in Indiana, you guess, judging by the state-shaped keychains on the rotating rack next to the cash register. You grab a state map from a magazine stand and toss it in with the rest of your purchase. You were lucky to have found a Love’s so you could finally afford yourself some proper dark roast coffee; all the watered down arabica stuff you’ve been getting since Cleveland has only been making your head ache. 

“What’s the quickest way to Indianapolis?” You ask the dead-eyed attendant ringing you up, a 20-something year old guy with bags under his eyes and bad skin. 

He chews his licorice like a camel chews straw, staring up at you blankly. “I dunno. Never been.”

You look from him, to the map, and back. “Cool. What town is this?”

“Hawkins.” His bored-by-you attitude is overwhelming.

“Thanks so much for the help.” You afford the attendant a tight smile as you grab your bag of snacks and head out. It’s going to be a long night. 

The air outside is stifling, summer heat hanging in the muggy air like a fog. The humidity makes your hair stick uncomfortably to the back of your neck as you peel off your old green hunting jacket and tie it around your waist. You’ve parked your van under the fluorescent-lit gas pump overhang, providing the proper lighting for you to spread the map of Indiana across the hood and bend over it, using your full coffee as a paperweight. You rip open the singular Slim-Jim you could afford for dinner, and pore over it.

There’s commotion across the parking lot, which stirs you from your rumination over the map. You glance up; there are two guys loitering by a telephone booth in one corner of the lot, sharing a cigarette. Teenagers who have nowhere else to be on a Friday night, you suppose. Five yards away from them, a third crouches in front of a badly vandalized ATM, the cause of the commotion. He seems to be hacking at the wiring with a pocket knife.

You ignore it. So far, on this trip, you’ve seen far worse than a guy stealing petty cash from a gas station ATM. Tracing your fingers across the paper, it looks like if you take state route 13 to I-69, you’ll be in Indianapolis by midnight. Shouldn’t be too difficult, as long as you can find the 13, and then you can find a place to crash in the city.

Grabbing an old highlighter from your pocket, you mark your route in bright pink. The guy from the ATM seems to have gotten what he wanted, moving quickly across the parking lot with his head held high, like he has every right to be there. He approaches a motorcycle parked on the opposite side of the pump from you, and begins feeding dollar bills into the machine. 

“Hey, do you know how to get to the 13 from here?” You can’t see much more than his leather-clad shoulder and hip jutting out from around the pump, the front tire of his Harley sticking out from behind his leg.

There’s a pause, and then his head pops out from around the pump. A curtain of unruly dark hair frames a long neck, big doe-like eyes and flushed lips pouting at you in confusion. It makes you freeze. “Sorry?”

“I, uh-” What were you trying to do? Get on the right course. Right. Of course. “State- uh- state route 13? I’m trying to get to, um, Indianapolis?” You cringe at your own stuttering, nails digging into the paper before you. 

The man stares at you for a long time, dark eyes framed by thick, curling lashes sizing you up slowly. Then, he rounds the pump. “The highway’s just down the road- keep going west and you won’t miss it.” 

“Great, thanks.” You grab up your coffee and the map, crunching it between your tense fingers. He hasn’t moved, still leaning against the gas pump, arms crossed, staring at you. It makes you nervous, in more ways than one. 

“You won’t get far in that heap, though.”

You pause. Your knees threaten to wobble under you as you look up at him. Your hand is on the door, you could simply ignore him and get in, but something in his gaze makes you stop. Is that… genuine concern? Or is he just putting on a show for you? 

“What do you mean?” The heat of the coffee burns through the paper cup and torches your fingers.

“Well, your fender’s bashed in and, I dunno if you noticed, but you have a crack in your windshield,” he gestures at the long crack running horizontally across the glass, just above where your line of sight usually is. “Probably got a lot more shit wrong with it, too, I could hear you coming a mile up the road. Junkyard find?”

“Something like that.” More like, sat in your parents’ garage for so long that you took a chance on the fucked up radiator and bailed. “She’s good, though. She’ll get me another 80 miles, easy.”

“Are you only going 80 miles?” The guy questions, “Or are you going way past that and only doing the 80 miles tonight?”

If he wasn’t so pretty, with a note of flirtation in his voice, you’d be hesitant as hell to tell him. “The second one.” 

ATM guy sucks on his teeth, rocking back on heels that creak with the movement. Rubber soled work boots flash at you from beneath torn blue denim. “Dunno if I should let you go alone, then. You might bust your carburetor halfway there and be stranded.”

That puts alarm sirens in your head. You’d back away if your car wasn’t situated between the two of you. “Thanks, but, uh… I think I can handle myself.”

The teasing smile drops off his face quickly, replaced by a look of subtle desperation. “No, don’t get me wrong, I’m not- I’m not saying you can’t handle yourself. Obviously. Or you wouldn’t be trucking along by yourself through Nowheresville, Indiana,” he chuckles. “I just, ah… let me level with you?”

Your face screws up, but you lean your hip against the fender nearest you- the one that isn’t fucked up. What is it with this guy?

“I’m trying to jump ship. Anywhere’s better than here, but I really want to get to the west coast. I don’t know where you’re headed, but I’ve got my sights on San Francisco. And, uh, I have experience fixing cars, working in a garage,” he confesses. “But I don’t have a ride of my own- this isn’t even my bike, really. So, if you’re heading to the city, and you could use someone to make sure your car doesn’t kick it going over 75, I’m your man. Besides,” he bats his pretty lashes at you, his fingers fiddling with the end of his long hair as he brandishes a wad of ATM-stolen cash, “I have gas money.”

“You want to hitch a ride with me?”

“If you’re okay with it. Otherwise, I bid you fair and safe travels.” He bows dramatically, throwing his hand in the direction of the highway you’d asked about. “But if you ask me, I think you’d be doing both of us a favor in the long run if you let me come with. Just for insurance, y’know.”

“Insurance?” You parrot incredulously.

“Yeah,” he grins. He has dimples, a wide smile that stretches across his face and makes him even prettier than you can stand to look at directly. “Just insurance. No other reason.”

“Mhm,” you grunt, going over the positives and negatives in your head. 

Positives- your car is a piece of shit and you’re sure he’s right, you’re working on borrowed time and you’re less than halfway to your desired destination. Plus, he’s unfairly nice to look at. 

Negatives- you don’t know shit for fuck about him, other than the fact that he’s apparently trying to leave town and makes a hobby of breaking into ATMs. And, hell, even Ted Bundy was supposed to be charming and cute, at first. This guy could be a crazy ax murderer, could be a rapist, could be a junkie who’ll steal your car and leave you stranded, could be, could be-

“MUNSON!”

“Fuck.” ATM guy glances over his shoulder, then ducks quickly around the side of the gas pump as the station attendant comes storming out of the store. He crouches, pressing his hands to the glass window of the passenger’s side and peers through the cab at you on the other side with pleading eyes. “Can you get me a couple miles down the road, at least?” 

“What about your bike?” 

“Not my bike,” he tells you for a second time. “My buddy’ll pick it up when he hears about this, please.”  

The station attendant is making his way across the parking lot now, looking miffed. It’s clearly the most energy he’s put into anything today, but he isn’t moving very fast. 

You’ve made worse decisions in your life. You sigh. “Shit. Get in.” 

“Thank you, thank you.” He pops open the passengers door as you slide into the driver’s seat, tossing the crumpled up map in the back. You guess you’ve found a GPS, for the time being.

“Does my insurance have a name?” you ask as you peel out of the gas station. The attendant hovers by the pump you’d been occupying, looking lamely at the abandoned motorcycle in your rearview. 

“Eddie,” ATM guy says. A ring-clad hand lifts between you, hovering over the gear shift and waiting for your own to settle into it for a shake, “Eddie Munson.” 

You eye his outstretched hand, your stomach doing flips, but you’re unsure if it’s because of him or the very situation he’s just put you in. You lift your hand and bat his with your knuckles, a half-hearted acknowledgement without the formality. “Pleasure doing business with you, Eddie.” 

Eddie coughs, shifting up in his seat to peer behind you at the station. “Fuckin’ Keith. You can just drop me off at the next exit, it’s no biggie.” 

“Hm? I thought you were coming with me to Indianapolis, hot stuff.” 

Eddie whips his head around to look at you. “Seriously? You don’t- you don’t have to, I know it’s a big ask-” 

“You want me to change my mind?”

“Not particularly.” He sinks down in his seat again. “Guess I figured you think I’m more of a liability than anything.”

“I do, but I need all that cash you swiped from the ATM,” you hum with a snarky grin on your face. 

Eddie chuckles, wringing his hands in his lap. His knuckles tighten and relax beneath heavy steel rings. “Yeah, better I do it than you, huh?” There’s an awkward pause, and then he blurts, “Do you have any road music in this thing?” 

You reach forward and hit the volume button for the stereo. You’d been halfway through Danzig’s self titled album- Mother kicks in with the chorus. In the darkness, you don’t see the way Eddie’s eyes sparkle with adoration as he looks at you.

“I think you and I are gonna get along great, sweetheart.” 

You ignore how your thighs press in on themselves while you sip your coffee, and you turn onto highway 13, headed for Indianapolis.

When you step out of the bathroom in the motel room in Indianapolis, you find Eddie hunched over by the window, wearing nothing but a pair of blue plaid boxers. The chain on his wrist jingles as he smacks at the A/C unit beneath the drawn curtains.

“Everything okay?” You ask, pretty much knowing what the answer is. Your hair drips water down your back, but you can still feel the muggy summer heat in the room practically smothering your pores. 

“Damn Motel 6 A/C,” he grumbles as he gives it one last smack on the side, to no avail. “The unit’s broken, there’s gonna be no cool air in the room.”

“That’s okay, we can crack a window.” 

“In this part of the city?” Eddie scoffs, looking over at you. “Believe me, princess, I applaud your optimism- I would have just driven away from me there at the gas station, given the chance. But if we crack that window, we’re gonna get fucking robbed, first thing. Believe me.”

“I believe you,” you huff, clutching the itchy motel towel to your wet skin. Usually you would just pull on a tank and a pair of panties and call it a night, but there’s no such luck for you here. You have a backpack full of old, dirty clothes, and no clean underwear to speak of- you’ve been washing them in public bathroom sinks since Columbus. “Well, I’m just gonna sleep naked, then. You do what you’ve gotta do.” 

“What- you’re gonna- what?” Eddie blathers, sitting back on his heels. You stare at him for a second- he’s a vision of flushed skin and a cloud of brunette hair cascading over his shoulders. Knobbly knees stick up at awkward angles, hairy thighs disappear into the hem of his boxers drawn tight across his skin. Your eyes glance over the ominous bulge in the crotch of them, not willing to think about those parts of a man you barely know. “You really think- I mean- is that wise?”

“Are you gonna get frisky with me, Eddie?” You ask with a teasing voice. You’d learned enough about him on the way to the city- 24 years old, no prospects, big dreams, ran a D&D club in high school, worked in a garage to help pay the bills- that you’re fairly certain he’s a good enough guy to keep his hands to himself. You just enjoy watching his big eyes go rounder at the insinuation.

“No, of course not. Wouldn’t dream of it.” Eddie looks mortified. He backtracks, “Unless- unless you wanted me to, I mean-” 

“Don’t overanalyze it,” you tell him mildly, turning your back to him to rifle through your bag. “We’re both adults, it’s hot, there’s one bed and we’re both paying for it. Something tells me you’ve done worse things than lay next to someone without clothes on.”

Eddie blows a long breath out of pursed lips, not moving from his seat on the floor. He doesn’t deny your accusation, just mutters, “You put so much faith in me, sweetheart.”

“Don’t make me regret it.” 

You drop the wet towel on the floor and round the bed to turn down the sheets. Eddie’s eyes trail you; you can feel them burning into your skin, lit by the dim yellow light on the bedside table. It takes a moment for him to finally move, a single trembling hand reaching up to swipe a pack of cigarettes and a lighter from the table.

“You gonna sit there on the floor all night?” You muse as you lay back on the bed. It’s too fucking hot. The dampness from the shower hasn’t dried, but now it’s simply growing with the rate your body is perspiring. Your hair and skin stick to the white sheets, which feel pasty each time you move.

“Just getting my bearings,” Eddie says, his voice tight and hollow. “You smoke?”

“Not especially, but I won’t stop you.” 

The smell of tobacco hangs in the heavy air more potently than you expected. The humidity dampens the vapor, making it sting your nose and leech into your mouth, even though you’re not the one directly breathing it. It strikes you as devastatingly intimate- the thought that you might be breathing the smoke that’s already touched his lungs. 

“Do you mind if I strip down, too?” Eddie asks after a long time of deliberating as he smoked. “Not that- I mean, I don’t have any pajamas, so…”

“Do what you need to do, honey,” you murmur, repeating what you’d told him before. “We can find a laundromat in the morning. Maybe get you a change of clothes somewhere.”

“Right.” He doesn’t say much after that, but you listen to him rustling around, stubbing out his cigarette in an ashtray and flicking off the bedside light. 

He straightens up, silhouette looming in the blue-dark from the curtained window. You watch from the corner of your eye while his backlit form hooks its thumbs in the waistband of his boxers, and drops them.

He clambers onto the bed beside you, careful not to bump any part of you. You refuse to look at him, scanning the asbestos popcorn on the ceiling above you with an overabundance of scrutiny, willing yourself to focus on anything but Eddie’s beautiful body, especially what he has below the belt. It’s a bad idea, no go. You don’t want to see it, don’t even want to think about it- what it looks like, how big it is, how it curves, what kind of hair surrounds it, if any-

You’re thinking about it.

And you told him not to overanalyze it. To be calm about it. What a fucking joke.

“You know, I’m not as easy as I might seem,” you blurt out suddenly, unaware of why you even do. You mostly come off sounding like you’re trying to convince yourself of it.

Eddie’s head rustles against the pillow as he glances at you in the dark. “I don’t think you are.”

“Okay. Just- just making sure,” you stutter out. “All evidence to the contrary, and all.”

“I’m not expecting to get lucky with you,” he tells you honestly, a little flatly, like he’s afraid of any inflection in his voice betraying him. “You know, beyond the ride west.”

“Right.” 

“Right.” 

You both regress into silence. You think you’ve both said your piece on the matter. You might not trust Eddie, not entirely, but you at least know he’s not gonna try anything stupid if you let yourself fall asleep. You actually think that he’s asleep after so many minutes, until he opens his mouth again.

“It’s really fucking hot, isn’t it?” He croaks. His hands twitch by his sides, feet jammed under the downturned covers, but everything else bare to the open room, like you. His pinkie brushes yours, and he nearly smacks himself jerking his hand back toward his stomach.

“Yeah, it’s not… it’s not good.” You blink into the darkness. “Sorry, you must be regretting coming with me all this way.”

“Nah, not a chance.” He brushes it off, waving a hand in the air dismissively. “I’ve been itching to get out of there since I graduated. Feel kinda bad that I didn’t leave a note for my uncle, but it’s not the first time I’ve bailed on him. I can always call him from a pay phone. Kinda wish I had my guitar, though.” 

“You play guitar?” you ask dazedly. You don’t have a hard time imagining it, now that you think about it. He has that rocker look about him, the kind that could grace magazines and be on posters on teenage girls’ walls, if he played his cards right. If he got his lucky break.

“Yeah. Pretty good, too, I guess.” He sighs. There’s a wistfulness in it, like he’s reminiscing on something from his past. “It’s okay. I can pick up another one once I get to California. Dropped a mint on the one I had back home, but I guess Wayne can always pawn it. Maybe get himself a nicer place.”

You chuckle. “And you think I’m the optimist here.”

“I never said it was a bad thing,” Eddie scoffs, then deepens his voice quite suddenly. “Two optimists, both alike in dignity-”

A burst of laughter bubbles from your chest, making Eddie grin as you gesture at your bodies. “Or lack, thereof.”

“In fair Indianapolis, where we lay our scene.” He ends his recitation giggling, the flimsy bed frame jolting with the shaking of his chest. “Radiant Juliet, you never did tell me where your chariot is taking me.”

“I’m not sure, really,” you admit, mellowing your laughter into a quiet giggle. “I just wanted to leave home. I was suffocating there, I needed to get out. See what’s out there for me, if anything.”

“And have you seen much?”

“Not much,” you tell him quietly. “Mostly truck stops and shitty roadside attractions. But we’re in the midwest, you know.”

“Don’t remind me.” He lays his hand back down on the mattress beside you. 

You turn your body towards him, damp sheets clinging to your skin as you move. “California might not be such a bad idea.”

Eddie turns his head and glances at you, dark eyes finding you in the dim moonlight. “No? I’ll have to fix your car, then.”

“You do that, and I’ll make sure to get you where you’re going,” you whisper.

“Deal.” His eyes linger on your face, just inches away from his on the pillow. Flickering in the moonlight, two voids that hold all the stars in the night sky seem to take you in like you’re more beautiful than they could ever be.

This time, when your fingers brush, he doesn’t jerk away. This time, you don’t avert your eyes when you look down at his cock, but you sure do regret it when you don’t reach out to touch it.

He’s so pretty. You want to.

I watched him show his love through shades of black and blue, starting fights at the bar across the street like you do…

Your underwear and his come out of the dryer wrapped around each other. You spend a minute disentangling them, a small heap of clothes in a rolling laundry basket in front of you. The closest laundromat to the Motel 6 had been a five minute drive down the street. 

You’d woken up with your head on his chest, your arm draped across his bare stomach, despite how you’d fallen asleep barely touching him. As if your unconscious body had known more about your wants than you. His hand had been tangled in your hair, palm cradling your cheek and a bit of your neck, like his own unconscious wanted to keep you against him, too. 

The morning had been easy- the easiest it’s been since you hit the road. Eddie seems to have given you a sense of purpose you didn’t have before, driving around aimlessly, only stopping for fast food every once in a while when you remembered to eat something other than beef jerky and coffee. Once you had extracted yourself from his grip, you’d gone to buy him clothes from the resale store next to the motel. It wasn’t hard to find a plain black shirt and jeans, but used underwear was something you didn’t want to mess with. You’d brought it back to the motel, along with some food from the Waffle House across the way, and you ate cross legged on the bed while he showered and put on his new-ish clothes.

But now, you can’t stop feeling his hand cradling your head. His hot, sweaty skin against your arm. Your fingernails raking lightly through the trail of hair on his stomach, dragging through his pubic hair, your knuckles just barely brushing up the side of his length- thick, uncut, and so so pretty. Then, stopping nervously when you’d gotten too bold, fingers skimming over sensitive skin too close to his groin, and he’d twitched in his sleep.

You want him. You don’t even know him, and you want him so badly you can feel it even now, an aching blush between your legs turning into a dull throb when you so much as think about him. 

You toss all the freshly washed clothes into a plastic bag that you’d grabbed by the door to the laundromat, and haul it out to your van. He’d told you to meet him at the bar across the street when you were done, since he needed to make a few calls on their payphone- he’d even given you his weathered denim vest before he left.

“For insurance,” he winked. “Uh, don’t wash it, though… I stitched it by hand, it’ll fall apart.”

You don’t put it in with the clean clothes. It smells like smoke and alcohol and him, the edges frayed and yellowing a bit. You hold it in your lap for a second, plucking at the stringy bits around the arm holes. Maybe you can convince him to let you soak it in a sink somewhere, hand washed and dried carefully over a working A/C unit, wherever you can find one. You don’t know when he last washed the damn thing, if ever.

When you pull into the parking lot of the dive bar, and you clutch the denim vest in your hand as you step out of your van, something sharp prods your thumb. You hiss, slamming the car door shut and examining what it was. The sharp point of a pin on the vest- which reads Motörhead- had come loose and pricked your skin, which now threatens to ooze blood all over the aged denim.

“Fuck,” you murmur, bringing your thumb to your mouth as you lock the car. You struggle with the vest while you walk towards the door to the dive, trying to resituate the pin so it doesn’t go missing.

You find him loitering beside a billiards table, pool stick in hand, a cigarette in his mouth. When he sees you walk in, his eyes light up, and he nearly drops the stick prancing over to you. 

“Told ya I’d still be here- hey, you okay?” His grin turns very readily into a frown when he sees you sucking your thumb like a child. 

“Yeah, no, I’m fine,” you mutter clumsily, “your pin just nicked me s’all.” 

“Oh, shit,” he curses, reaching for your hand. “Lemme see- no, let me see.” He forces your hand open when you try to close it, and scrutinizes the little pin prick as if it’s the worst battle wound he’s ever seen. “Should’a checked to make sure all the pins were right, this happens all the time. I’m so sorry, baby, my fault.”

Baby. Your brain tries to process it. He called you baby. 

He’s also kissing your thumb, cradling your hand with excessive care. He’s tasting your blood, sucking a little on the pin prick like you had been, so your skin is wet with a mix of his and your spit. You don’t think you’ll ever get tired of the way he touches you. Fleeting as his touches have been, anyways. You melt a little under his gaze as his round eyes blink up at you innocently.

“S’okay,” you tell him with a wobbly smile. “Did you make your calls?”

He looks at you softly, a reserved smile on his face. “I did. Wayne’s miffed, but he’ll live. Told him I’d send him a postcard.”

You giggle at that, thinking you’d sign it along with him. Sorry for stealing away your nephew; it will happen again. “Good. Buy me a drink, handsome?”

Eddie beams at you, and his dimples crease his cheeks as he turns to the bartender. There’s a sweet, boyish manner in the way he puffs out his chest and orders you a drink, his arm circling your waist as he moves you smoothly toward the bar. As soon as a whisky sour has been placed in front of you, he turns and squeezes your arm.

“Hey, I gotta finish this game,” he nods at the pool table he’d been stationed at. “I got some money on it. Y’okay with hanging out for a minute?” 

“Sure,” you chirp, sipping your drink. “Wipe the floor with ‘em for me?”

“It’s in the bag,” he whispers at you conspiratorially. You push his vest at him, imagining he wants to take his insurance back now that you know he’s not taking off on you, but he shakes his head. “No, you wear it. It’ll look good on you.” 

His eyes light up when you shrug the vest over your worn out white t-shirt. As you lift your drink, and he turns back to his game, you think you’d do anything to keep him looking at you like that.

Eddie wins. You don’t know how much he bet on the game, but there seems to be hurt feelings when he collects the money that had been placed on the table. You’ve never been much of a gambler, and he hadn’t struck you as one- but what do you know? He certainly bet on you getting him out of Hawkins, and you certainly took a chance on him. 

You don’t think much of it. It’s late afternoon- the sun’s going down, and you figure you’d better get going, but Eddie wraps his arms around you and says, “Dance with me.” And you do.

The jukebox in the corner only plays country classics. Patsy Cline croons over the speakers, taking you back to a time in your far off childhood. Eddie sways with you to the music, and even though there’s barely any rhythm to his dancing, you find yourself falling into it with him. Your head on his shoulder, his curly hair tickling the side of your face. His breath on your neck, cool on your heated skin. 

That is, until a hand wraps around Eddie’s shoulder and jerks him away from you. A man with blond hair, clearly a few too many drinks in, snarls at him, “That game was bullshit and you know it.”

Eddie blinks at him. “If by ‘bullshit’ you mean I beat you, then sure.”

“You di’int beat me, you cheated,” the man sneers. “I want my money back.” 

“Yeah, no.” Eddie claps the man on the shoulder, trying to push him away. “I won the game, I get the money. That’s how gambling works.” 

You step back when the man’s beady eyes fall on you, peering at him over Eddie’s shoulder. “What’re you lookin’ at?” 

“You leave her out of this, buddy,” Eddie growls dangerously, still forcing the man back with one strong hand on his shoulder. He’s trying to put himself between you and the man, you know. Still, you feel the need to fist your hand in the back of Eddie’s shirt and pull him away.

“I ain’t your buddy. Whatcha lookin’ at, bitch?” The man reaches out and yanks roughly on your arm, making you yelp in alarm.

And that’s when Eddie’s fist connects with the man’s jaw.

There’s a sickening crack. In the chaos, it somehow occurs to you that Eddie’s wearing all those chunky rings. You wonder if they could be considered a deadly weapon, in the same vein as brass knuckles.

It takes you a second to get through the initial shock, finding it hard to focus on who’s doing what. Eddie and the man have barrelled through a couple of tables, knocking over chairs. Eddie has the man pinned to the edge of the pool table, a flurry of fists moving from all sides. 

“You don’t touch my girl!” Eddie shouts at the man. “You don’t fuckin’ touch my girl!”  

His girl.

They tumble to the floor. The man curses and spits blood at him from a cut lip. A strong fist hits the side of Eddie’s face once, twice-

“THAT’S ENOUGH!” The words are shouted by the bartender, finally intervening, pulling the blond man off of Eddie. As the bartender restrains the unruly man, a second pulls an equally enraged Eddie away from him, separating the two. 

By the time you collect a bruised and bloodied Eddie into your arms, you’ve already tuned out the rest of the ruckus going on around you. Someone suggests that you should leave, but the words only barely register. You’re already pulling Eddie out the door and to the car.

You don’t even remember if you closed the tab.

Trouble’s always gonna find you, baby, but so will I. Crying only because I’m happy, hold me across every state line…

You don’t know when you started crying. Maybe it was around the time that Eddie fell unconscious.

Tears burn in your eyes like you’ve poured gasoline in them, but no matter how badly it stings you just keep sniffling and driving, tearing down the interstate away from Indianapolis, toward St. Louis. You hopped on I-70 as quickly as you could, and from there you’ve been lost in a world of your own.

He’d almost look peaceful, if it wasn’t for the blood on his jaw and the nasty shiner on his cheekbone. You keep telling yourself it’s not bad enough for him to need to be taken to a hospital. You can’t afford to go to a hospital, and even if you could, you’d have to explain how he got in this condition. It’s a recipe for jail time. You know that. You know.  

You just want to keep him safe, that’s all. 

He hadn’t instigated the fight, not really. He’d just swung first. He was just defending you.

His girl.  

When it gets to be too much, you pull over. Headlights gleam bright and then pass by in the dark with a whoosh of air. You think you must have crossed over into Illinois by now, or you’re getting close to it. The traffic has lightened considerably. 

You rest your head against the steering wheel, taking deep breaths, but the tears keep coming in streams. A while ago, you had a mattress in the back of this van. That was before it started having problems, and it sat in your family’s garage for a year and a half. You should have put a mattress in it when you took off, but you weren’t thinking that far ahead. You were having a breakdown, something like you’re having now, only worse. It was a manic, get-away-or-die-there kind of breakdown. 

Breathe in. You’re not gonna die. Breathe out. He’s breathing.

Once Eddie cracks his eyes open, he flexes his jaw with a groan. You can tell he’s confused by the inquisitive noise he makes, but when he looks at you, all that disappears in a heartbeat.

“Hey, what’re you- oh, god. Sweetheart, don’t cry.”  

As if that doesn’t make you want to cry harder. His hand lands tentatively on your shoulder, stiff fingered but light in touch. He shuffles closer to you, pulling you against him to sob into his secondhand shirt. 

It’s pathetic, you’re sure of it. You feel pathetic, twisting the cheap cotton of his shirt in your hands and saturating it with tears, as he shushes you and soothes a hand over your hair.

“It’s okay, baby,” he whispers into your hair, pressing his aching lips to your scalp in an attempt to calm you down. “We’ll be okay. I’m right here. What can I do?”

For some reason, the question makes you mad. “You don’t fucking fight,” you sob at him, the anger in your voice making him freeze. “You don’t- you don’t get into fights. I can deal with a lot of shit, Eddie Munson, but I can’t deal with that.”

“Okay, honey. Okay.”

“No fighting.” 

“No fighting,” he repeats affirmatively, petting your head. Then he adds, “No gambling.”

“No bars.”

“Well-”

“No bars.” 

“All right,” Eddie resigns, resting his chin on top of your head. Once you’ve stopped crying, from what he can feel, he tells you softly, “I’m not… I’m not like that, you know. I want you to know. I don’t fight, not usually.”

“You did.” 

“I did,” he agrees. “I just don’t like… I didn’t like him touching you. Disrespecting you like that- did he hurt you?”

“No,” you lie. The guy had yanked your arm a little too hard, your wrist still smarting a bit. Nothing near what Eddie had taken. “He hurt you, though.”

“I’ve had worse, trust me.” His tone is ominous, like you don’t really want to know the heavy details of it. “I’m not a fighter. Used to be if I saw danger, I’d just turn tail and run. I usually just take shit on the chin. But I never had anything to fight for before, really.”

You sniffle loudly, grossly. “I don’t want you to fight for me.”

“I’m gonna protect you, sweetheart. No matter what,” he insists. “Long as we’re together, I’m gonna do everything I can to protect you. Okay?”

Long as we’re together. Like you’re a couple, like you didn’t just meet by chance at a gas station a little more than 24 hours ago. Like you’re in love. 

His girl.  

“My dad’s in prison,” Eddie blurts out, raking a shaky hand through your hair. “He, uh… he was a fighter. And a thief. And a gambler. And a liar. He tried his best to make me be like him, but I don’t- I don’t wanna be like him.” Eddie sighs, a sad sound that rips through your already bleeding heart. “I thought maybe getting out of Hawkins would set me straight. Finally give me a chance to make something better of myself, prove I’m not like my old man. I tried, but after high school I got in some trouble, and Wayne had to sell my old van to pay for my bail. Now I’m here, and… Guess you just take yourself wherever you go, huh?” 

“Yeah,” you agree. Your fingers curve against his hip, squeezing the skin there. “So we have to try to change ourselves in the meantime, while we get where we’re going.”

Eddie breathes in, and it sounds an awful lot like a sniffle.

“Eddie. Are you crying?”

“No.” He is.

You lift your head with a wet, coughing chuckle at his futile attempt to hide it. You look up at him, your fingers tucking a lock of unruly, dark hair behind his ear. He’s staring back at you with glassy eyes, the tip of his nose gone red with the tears he’s holding back. He just barely flinches when your knuckles brush the bruise on his cheekbone.

“Hey, handsome,” you coo at him softly, your touch featherlight on his skin. He blinks, a tear dropping from his lashes. “I’m gonna get you cleaned up, okay?” 

“Okay.” His lip wobbles. “Let me hold you a little longer, first?”

“Of course, Eddie.” You fall into his grasping hands, yanking you to him like a child searching for the comfort of his favorite teddy bear. You’d let him hold you as long as he liked.

You wash his face in a dirty rest area just west of Terre Haute. In the middle of the night, no one is around to tell you not to, so you follow him into the men’s room and take your time wiping the blood from his jaw and his hands. You gingerly apply a bandage from your car’s console to his bruised cheek, while he sits in the front seat and brackets your hips with his knees.

He gazes up at you like a man seeing God.

The neighbors beat on the walls, while I'm face first in the bed. Show me how much I mean to you while I’m lying in these sheets undressed…

You sleep in the rest area that night, in the back of your van. No mattress, just your backs to the hard floor of the cab. With no A/C again, you shuck your clothes and spread a single white blanket over your bodies, more for modesty’s sake than anything else. Even though it’s unlikely that a cop is going to run you down in the middle of nowhere, you’d rather not get cited for public indecency. 

He holds you all night long, his arms around you and his chest against your back giving you peace, but he doesn’t touch you in any of the ways that you desperately want him to.

It takes the better part of a day to drive to St. Louis. Eddie swallows a couple tylenol for his face with his truck stop coffee and eggs, smiling softly at you from across a bright yellow plywood table in a cafeteria. From the look on his face, you doubt that he regrets the fight that gave him his wounds.

By the time your old van rattles up to another Motel 6 at the outskirts of the city, Eddie’s shaking his head. “The car’s not gonna take much more than this. I need to give it a good look, maybe borrow a tool kit and give it a tune up.”

“Whatever you say, magic man,” you muse at him. “Let’s just sleep in a real bed tonight, huh?”

His head tilted back, he looks at you sideways with a lopsided smile. You can tell his face is still hurting, but he puts on a brave face and bats his eyelashes at you. “Sounds good to me, princess.”

His touch lingers on you more, now, than it did yesterday. His fingers grazing your forearm as you open the glass door to the motel office, his hand hovering over your lower back as you sign for the room. His arm slung over your shoulder as he follows you down to the room, twirling the key around his finger. 

“You think the A/C will work this time?” He asks you lightheartedly as he turns the key in the lock.

“Only one way to find out,” you return with the same warmth in your voice. If you from two days ago could hear yourself, and that ooey-gooey note of lovesickness in your voice, your past self might keel over and die. When did this happen? 

You drop your bag of clothes on the bench by the bathroom door. Eddie bangs around the A/C unit a bit, until something starts whirring, and he makes a gleeful noise.

“It’s aliiiiive!” He announces dramatically, emulating Dr. Frankenstein. You giggle as he leaps toward you, practically throwing you onto the bed in excitement. “We have cool air. We can actually wear clothes to bed tonight.”

“Yeah,” you sigh, not even trying to hide your disappointment at the thought. The best part of your last two mornings has been waking up to his naked body beside yours, warm and soft and littered with tattoos that you just can’t stop looking at. 

You mean, I won’t get to wake up to your skin on mine tomorrow? I won’t be able to pretend like I’m not staring at your dick and imagining all the things I want to do to it? How will I be able to admire you for my own perverted gain?

You don’t even realize that you’re stroking your fingers across his bruised cheek until he leans into your touch. Then you take inventory of your current position- your back to the mattress, his body hovering over you, half covering you. Caging you in with his arms. His long hair creates a veil around your faces. 

When he blinks his eyes open at you, you can tell where his mind is before he opens his mouth. “Did we have our first fight yesterday?”

You frown, a puff of air exiting your nose. “No, I think I’d call it laying ground rules.”  

“Ground rules,” Eddie nods, his sore cheek rubbing against your hand. You’re starting to wonder if he likes the pain, since he won’t stop pushing into it. “I’m not great at remembering rules. What were they, again?”

“No fighting.”

“Right, and no gambling.”

“No bars.”

He squints. “Is that one still up for negotiation, or…?” He trails off, giggling as you smack your hand lightly against his shoulder. “Kidding! I’m kidding. No bars. Got it.” 

“And that was it,” you tell him sweetly. “Unless there was another one you wanted to add?”

He stares at you for a long moment, his fingers twirling in the hair right beside your ear as he gets lost in thought. Say what you’re thinking, your mind practically screams at him. Please, god, say what we’re both thinking…

Eddie licks his lips and finally says, “No sleeping with clothes on?”

Gotcha. A creeping smile stretches your face, trying to play coy even when your heart’s beating a mile a minute. Eddie’s eyebrows raise at you, waiting for an answer. 

“I’m not easy, Eddie.”

“I know,” he tells you, mirroring your smile. “I don’t expect to get lucky with you.”

“I know,” you hum. Your hand drifts up the side of his torso, a more firm and languorous touch than you’d previously been brave enough to give him. “But do you want to?”

Eddie shudders, and it’s the first honest to god evidence you have that you turn him on as much as he does you. The realization feels rapturous. 

“God, yes.”

He kisses you then, open-mouthed and passionate, his hand cupping your jaw to keep you where he wants you. Your nails scratch up his back with a loud tearing sound against his shirt, and he chuckles as you frantically clutch at him with all your strength. 

“I know, pretty girl,” he murmurs, pecking your lips briefly before descending to bite at your jaw. “You’ve been wanting this since that first night. Feelin’ me up in the morning, like I wouldn’t notice…”

“I didn’t wanna wake you,” you hiccup as his hand cups the crotch of your jeans, rocking the meat of his palm firmly where you’re dying for friction. “Oh, ffffuck Eddie, m’sorry…”

“And here you were, thinking I was the pervert,” he grunts. “‘Least I can keep my hands to myself, hm?”

“I’m sorry, I’m s-sorry,” you babble at him, hands shaking as they grip onto his shoulders. Now that the aching throb between your legs is back, and he’s finally giving it attention, you can’t seem to come up with a more coherent sentence. Your face grows hot, but not at the fact that you’d been caught in your lechery- just because he turns you on more than you can think to admit.

“Don’t be sorry, sweet thing,” Eddie whispers. His dark eyes are lined up with yours, the curtain of his hair shielding them from reflecting any of the light from the desk lamp- it’s just you and the starry voids of space, locked in your own little world. He rubs his hand back and forth with practiced pressure against the front of your jeans, your hips kicking up against him. “I want you to touch me. Want you to do whatever you want with me, baby.” 

“Whatever I want?” Your fingers dragging up his lower back, under his shirt to feel the heat of his skin.

“Anything,” he insists, kissing you again. Wet and sloppy, teeth clacking as you grind up into his palm. Your thick denim jeans are about the most abominable things that have ever existed.

You feel like your head’s on sideways with how pent up you already are. “I want you to fuck me Eddie- jesus chr- can we do that? Right now? Please?” 

Eddie laughs. A happy, whole-hearted, almost disbelieving laugh. “Thought I was gonna be the one begging you, after all this…” His breath hitches, the touch of his hand leaving you so that he can push himself back. “Lemme get you out of these clothes, yeah?”

You nod quickly, earning a pleased hum from him. The way he undresses you is touched by reverence; his fingers slow as they drag the cotton of your shirt over your head, grazing your skin all the way. His lips dancing across your collarbone as he undoes the front of your stupid fucking jeans. You just want them off, done with and laying in a pile to be forgotten about by the motel room door, but Eddie has other plans. 

“Slow.” He grabs your hip to stop your wiggling, fingers curled around the back of the waistband of them as he pulls the denim down your thighs. “We’ve got all night, baby. I’m not leaving. Not going anywhere.” 

“I want you,” you insist desperately, sounding like a broken record. Your distress is evident on your face, in the way you clench your thighs together to hide the obnoxious wet spot growing on your cotton panties. You wonder if he’d felt it when he was touching you over your jeans, if the heat and dampness had soaked through the denim as well. You wouldn’t be surprised.

“You have me, sweetheart,” Eddie ensures. “Don’t… I don’t want you to worry about it. M’gonna make sure there are no worries in that pretty head.” 

He yanks his t-shirt off, the one you’d bought him from the resale store. A cloud of frizzy, dark hair obscures his pretty face for half a second, the shirt landing on the floor somewhere off to the side, and then Eddie’s eyes find you again, grinning at you widely with pointed teeth.

You grab for him, your fingers looping around the chain that hangs from his neck. Tugging him down, you press a gentle kiss to his lips. Then to his sore jaw, where a tiny scab has formed on the right side of his chin. Then to his bruised cheek, where he flutters his eyes shut and groans softly at the brush of your lips. 

“My boy,” you whisper to him, and you don’t even know if he understands the significance of it to you. His girl. Your boy.  

Eddie smiles against your skin. He peppers kisses everywhere he can reach, down onto your chest, dragging his sharp teeth every once in a while just to hear you keen. You’re certain you’ve ruined your underwear now, feeling the wetness grow cool against your skin. 

What a fucking concept. Cool air. 

Eddie seems to have the same thought as you, as he slips his fingers beneath the white cotton and peels them down your legs. Strings of your arousal stick to the wet fabric, dropping off in thick tendrils onto the sheets below you as he groans lowly.

“Fuck,” Eddie curses, shaking his head in chastisement as he settles between your legs at the end of the bed. He tsks, “Just look at you, poor thing. Should’a said something to me, can’t have you going around like this.”

You shiver as he trails his mouth up the inside of your thigh. His day-old stubble scrapes your sensitive skin, making you break out in a cold sweat. “M’not- I didn’t want you to think-”

“That you’re easy?” He coos with a condescending smile. “No, honey. I know, you’re a good girl.” He nips at the widest part of your thigh, plush flesh indenting with the imprint of his teeth. “But I’m no good. You should know that, better than anyone. No good for you.”

Eddie’s tongue burns and soothes at the same time, leaving your brain a scrambled mess on the mattress beneath you. He gathers all of your collected arousal into his mouth, groaning like he’s been desperate to taste it all this time. “Been dreaming of this since I saw you, pretty girl.” 

Pulling your leg over his bare shoulder, he all but crushes you against his face, his sturdy hands wrapped around your hips to hold you still. Your back arched, your hips fully off the bed as he lifts your lower half into the air.

You choke out the first part of his name, your hands fisting in the comforter next to your head. There’s a twist of pleasure deep in your core that makes you whine far louder than necessary, a waterfall of words spilling from you before you can stop them, “Oh shit- Ed- I don’t- s’too good-”

“Too good?” Eddie snickers, eyes bright as he watches you from between your thighs. “Nothing's too good for you.” 

Then he spits onto your already soaked and swollen pussy. You sob, positively crying from the feeling of it, drenched and dripping along your sensitive flesh. Eddie spreads the wetness around with his tongue, and your cunt clamps down hard at the lewd squelch of it, the mortifying slurp of his lips closing down and sucking on your labia. 

“Oh fuck, what the fuck-” you whimper high to the ceiling, mouth hanging open in shock. 

You could have been doing this for days. He could have fucked you like this the first night, when you lay next to him, naked in the dark. Your body aches at the thought of being deprived of this longer than necessary.

“That’s it, baby, just stay still. Let me ruin you, huh?” Eddie murmurs, letting your thigh rest heavy on his shoulder so that he can move one hand, his thumb rubbing tight circles on your clit in front of his face. He watches your cunt glisten and throb for him, listening to your desperate sobs echo through the otherwise silent room, and whispers, “Shit. Like my own little fuckin’ pornstar, sweetheart.” 

Normally, you wouldn’t exactly take that as a compliment- but with the way he says it, with his voice thick and dark like that, and with the way the hot, slick velvet of his tongue dips into your channel and shoots electricity along your skin, you figure he must have meant it like one. 

He goes slow, thrusting into you gently, taking his time to get familiar between your legs. Still, it doesn’t stop you from positively shrieking toward the ceiling when he licks you from hole to clit, the entire expanse of his tongue sweeping along nerve endings that are charged like live wires. 

Eddie chuckles, hot breath spilling out over your feverish skin, and he pauses there. Lets you feel the warm press of his flattened tongue before he just barely rubs it back and forth, back and forth-

“Eddie-!?” You gasp, an erotically loud moan spilling out of your mouth right before you come all over his. You crumble, your hips threatening to buck out of his steady grip as searing euphoria rips through you. He scrambles, ringed fingers locking tight enough on your waist to bruise, keeping you against him as you thrash wildly. 

He keeps you like that for a long time, purring into your spasming pussy while an array of unhinged noises pour from your body- your mouth, your hands tearing at the sheets and at your head, your cunt and all its wet filth drenching Eddie’s bruised face. 

If it hurts him, he doesn’t let on. He just keeps going, and going.

Until something pounds against the wall behind your head. You hiccup, your dazed, post-orgasm brain unable to comprehend where the sound is coming from. That wasn’t- couldn’t have been me…

“Pretty sounds,” Eddie giggles as he finally pulls his mouth away from you. “Guess the neighbors agree.”

“Oh, god.” Your hands cover your face, hot and sticky with sweat. Your eyes feel heavy, fuck-drunk, your heart still pounding in your chest from the adrenaline of the orgasm Eddie gave you. You feel embarrassed, like you ought to be going over to apologize to whatever sorry person happens to be sharing a wall with you, now.

Eddie has other plans. “Think we should give the audience a good show, huh?”

It’s merely a suggestion- you know that you could always find a way to quiet yourself, stuff your mouth with cotton and stifle your moans- but the implication of it makes your toes curl. Your breath rattles in your chest when you inhale. “You… you want everyone in the building to hear you fucking me?”

Eddie crowds you on the bed, your legs still slung over his shoulders so that you’re bent nearly in half. He’s still too fucking clothed for your liking- his leather belt digs into the back of your thighs as he presses a sloppy kiss to your dry lips. “I want everyone here to know you’re mine, sweetheart.”

Your hands cradle his face, pulling him in for a deeper kiss as he slowly lowers your legs from his shoulders. Your over extended legs flop down onto the mattress, and you whine into his mouth as he massages his tongue with yours.

“I’m yours, Eddie,” you moan against his damp skin. “Oh god, I want it- want everyone to know.”

You take the initiative, with one last kiss turning in his grip. His hand slips, catching himself from toppling off the bed as you scoot onto your stomach, your knees planting on the mattress so that you can wiggle your hips up at him. 

Eddie sucks in a sharp breath, smoothing a gentle palm over your ass before he kisses your lower back. He pauses, drawing soft kisses up your spine until his breath sweeps your shoulder blade. “You’re so beautiful. How’d I get so fucking lucky?”

A quiet keen is the only answer you give him, shoving your hips backward to get him to just fucking touch you, but he pulls away too quickly. There’s the clink of a belt buckle, a zipper being pulled, and you tense, your hand closing into a fist around the pillow at the head of the bed. Following the rustle of clothes, you hear the crinkle of a condom wrapper- you hadn’t even realized he had one. It didn’t even occur to you, in your dizzying need to fuck him, like some loveblind idiot.

You almost berate yourself for it, but then you feel his cock press against your entrance, and all those thoughts die away. He rolls his hips, and every single muscle in you tightens.

Eddie chokes on air as pleasure positively tears through you. Your eyes roll back, your mouth wide open and threatening to drool onto the pillow you’ve been shoved face-first into. 

“F-fuck, you’re so big.” It’s the only thing you can choke out around moans. He splits you so wide, dragging through your slick walls that are still so sensitive from your first orgasm. 

“Holy shi- oh my god-” he gasps behind you. “M’so sorry- I can’t- Feels so fucking good-”  

You groan, unable to form words to adequately answer him. All you can manage to do is jam your hips backward in an attempt to get him deeper, as far as he can fucking go inside you. Your body blazes, everything coming up smelling of sex and sweat as you wail hopelessly into the pillow.

Eddie snarls, a deep and dangerous noise in the back of his throat as he draws his hips back and presses into you again. There’s no time for you to adjust, each thrust a little more forceful than the last. His cock hits sharp heaven deep inside you, punching loud and guttural moans from you each time his hips impact your ass. 

“That’s a good girl- so ffffucking wet, goddamnit,” Eddie praises you through clenched teeth, ringed fingers and bruised knuckles wrapping loosely around your neck to lift your head from the pillow. “Let them hear all those pretty noises for me, baby.”

“Eddie…” You hiccup, your voice kicked up into a shrill whine. You swallow against the press of his fingers on your throat, holding your jaw into the air so there’s no place for your sounds to go but to the wall and through it. 

Above your head, the banging on the wall starts back up. Eddie drops your chin and slams his hand on top of the headboard, gripping tightly at plywood that threatens to hit the wall as he ruts into you. Your face hits the pillow again, but your sobbing moans still come out loud and disruptive as Eddie speeds up his hips in retaliation. 

“Doing so good f’me. Feel me, princess? So fucking deep,” Eddie groans. His cock licks up a sweet heat inside of you, and you know you’re going to come. He curses lowly, his hips pistoning into yours hard enough that you have to smack your hand into the headboard to keep from knocking into it. “Taking me so well. So perfect- s’like you were made for me, I know it, I just fucking know it…”

Eddie’s arm wraps around your waist from behind, and he hauls your back into his sweat-slick chest. You almost feel weightless, for a moment, before you’re settled back into his lap, your thighs bracketing his as he kneels beneath you, clutching you against him. 

A gasp tears from your mouth with a loud, “Shit!” His cock hits a different spot inside you, bursting color behind your closed eyelids as you throw your head back against his shoulder.

Eddie’s breath fans across your neck, sweat-damp hair tickling the side of your face. His hand greedily palms at your breasts, bouncing you in his lap as his tongue traces a wet line along your shoulder. 

“Just know you were made for me,” Eddie repeats quietly in your ear, his breath feeling like flames on your neck. “That’s why you found me, baby. You were meant to be mine, my girl.”

His girl.

“Yours, Eddie,” you blubber, reaching back to dig a fist into his hair as his hands squeeze your breasts. “M’all yours.”

“Yeah?” Eddie murmurs, his voice saccharine and velvety. He moans in your ear when your cunt clenches down, a threatening throb at the outskirts of your orgasm. “Say it again.”

A whimper, high and needy in your throat. “I’m yours. Your girl- oh, f-fuck, Eddie- I’m gonna-” 

“That’s right. My good girl. Only easy when it comes to me, right?” 

Eddie’s hand drags purposefully down, fingernails dragging just through your pubic hair, just barely grazing where you want him- just like you did to him, that first morning. The realization makes you seize up, all tense from head to toe. 

“What’s it like, when I do it to you? You like it?” He whispers, his lips brushing the shell of your ear. You suck in a sharp breath, a hiss through your teeth as you nod. His laugh is barely a ghost of a breath on your skin. “Yeah. I did, too.”

Eddie’s voice in your ear says, “Come for me,” and not even a fraction of you would deny him that.

His finger drags slowly your clit, calloused skin catching on the swollen bud, and you come. Your body slumps against him, and you’re so grateful for his arms around you to hold you through it. You’d swear he was splitting you in half with the sounds coming from your mouth. Your head tilted back on his shoulder, every breath is punctuated by a hoarse cry that breaks in your throat. Your hand clamps around his arm, which is still cradling you close to his chest as his own moans ring in your ear, his hips driving up into you as your cunt pulses around his cock. You know that he comes when his teeth wrap around the muscle of your shoulder and bite down.

Silence settles over your sweaty bodies, but thunderous banging is still furiously happening on the other side of the wall. You hear voices, words too muffled by the drywall to be intelligible, but they still sound angry.

Eddie won’t let you go, not yet. He’s clutching you, his mouth still wrapped around your shoulder, even though his teeth aren’t biting anymore. You pet his forearm, and lean forward just enough to knock lightly on the wall.

“We’re done!” Your voice cracks with the effort it takes to call out to the people on the other side.

“Fantastic show, my love. I think we deserve five stars.” Eddie laughs, nuzzling his face into your neck as he finally releases your shoulder from the trappings of his jaw. “I think I’m corrupting you, sweetheart.”

You hum, still petting his arm. “I think you already have, teddy.” 

Eddie freezes, his grip on your waist tightening just a little. “No one’s called me that since I was a kid.”

“What, teddy?” He nods. Your fingernails drag dully down his arm, tracing over a tattoo of a swarm of bats, which breaks out in goosebumps under your touch. “Is that… Can I call you that?”

“Yeah,” he rasps. “Yeah, you can- you can call me teddy.”

It’s quiet after that. He rocks you in his arms until you kiss his knuckles and lift yourself gingerly from his lap, earning a pacified grunt from him as his softened cock slides out of you. You watch him as he ties off the condom and tosses it in the wastebasket a few feet away, then flops backward onto the bed so that his head hits the pillows. 

You chuckle, sliding forward to run your hands along his stomach. “Honey, you still have your pants on.”

He hadn’t taken them completely off, only pushed them down far enough to free his cock and have at you. What’s more, he still has his boots on, too- big, black motorcycle things that nearly hang off the end of the bed. 

Eddie grunts dismissively. “C’n deal with it in the morning.”

“No sleeping with clothes on.”

He huffs petulantly, but the scowl he tries to give you turns into a lovesick grin pretty quick. He tucks his hand behind his head in mock-nonchalance. “Hey, pretty lady. You come here often?”

“Once or twice, so far.” You grin at him as he laughs, rolling your eyes as you move down the bed to finish undressing him. You untie his boots and let them fall with his jeans and boxers onto the floor at the end of the bed, glancing up at him once you’re finished.

His eyes are closed. You don’t think he’s sleeping yet, but he’s flushed, covered in sweat. He’s still so much of an enigma to you, but you adore him. You’re enamored with him. 

You crawl slowly up the length of his body, feline-like in your movements. You appraise his tattoos, smoothing your hands over them as you go. You lean down and press featherlight kisses across his beautiful, bruised face. 

Eddie cracks his eyes open at you with an inquisitive smirk, just barely puckering his lips to kiss you back when you land one on them. “Feeling me up again, sweetheart?” 

You hum, kissing his chest. “You’re hot.” It’s the only explanation you afford him. And once he’s shut his eyes again, you carefully move down his body, peppering kisses across his naked torso.

“What’re you-?” He twitches when you drag your tongue over his cock, still wet and salty with his cum. He groans as you slowly lift it, suckling on the head gently. “Oh… Sweetheart, m’not… I don’t think I can-”

“I’m just cleaning you up, teddy,” you tell him gently. “S’okay. You can go to sleep.”

He hums tiredly, his hand lifting to run through your hair, stroking tenderly against the back of your head. “My girl just can’t keep her hands off, huh?”

“Not a chance,” you tell him, giving him another slow lick. “You’re just too fucking pretty, Eds.”

“And you’re too fuckin’ perfect.” Eddie only really falls asleep after he comes again.

I’m never gonna leave you, baby, even if you lose what’s left of your mind…

A few days later, the car breaks down in Colorado Springs.

It had been acting up for a while, of course. Even though you enjoyed watching Eddie when he was bent over the open hood, bare arms sweaty and streaked with grease in the afternoon heat, you knew it ultimately wasn’t going to end well. 

Each time Eddie tinkered with it, more and more concerning things came to light. “One of your cylinders misfired,” he said one time, shaking his head. He’d insisted on driving it from that point on. Another, “The fucking spark plug has gone out. We have to get a new one.” That was $75 you didn’t have to spare.

You guess the car had just fucking had it when you got to Colorado. You went to start it up at a truck stop, and the whole thing just sputtered and coughed at you, and then you didn’t have an engine anymore.

After Eddie paced around and cursed about it for a couple minutes, you both crawled into the back of the van and locked the door. And now you sit cross-legged across from each other, with everything of value that you have to your name in a little pile in front of you.

When you left home, you’d saved up a couple thousand to live off of until you got somewhere you felt comfortable working and living in. Since then, you’ve squandered it on food and motels and gas, never staying put and now rambling along with Eddie.

From the ATM, Eddie had stolen around two thousand dollars. He’s in the same boat as you, now looking at only a couple hundred in between the two of you. Hardly enough to afford a hotel room or bus fare for the both of you. Certainly not enough to get you a new car, or even rent one.

He scrubs his hands down his face, dirty fingernails pressing into his skin. “You should take it.”

“What?” You squint at him. 

“There’s enough here for bus fare for you, at least,” Eddie murmurs, his fingers poking at the pile and scooting it toward you. “Getcha where you want to go. Get a nice job at a tourist shop in Vegas or Santa Monica or something.”

“Are you fucking kidding me, Eddie?” you snap. You swat his hand away from the pile, looking affronted. “I’m not taking the money, so cut it out. We’ll figure something else out.”

Eddie shakes his head, like he’s already made up his mind. “We had a deal. I fix your car, you take me with you. And I didn’t fix your car.”

“Yeah, but that was before…” you trail off, scrutinizing his expression. He won’t meet your gaze. He won’t look at you. 

Eddie’s mouth opens and closes like he’s a fish out of water. Then, he says bitingly, “Before we fucked?” 

You can feel all the emotion drain from your face, leaving you a blank, hollow screen with dead eyes just staring at him. It’s your best defense against bursting into tears at the very tone of his voice. 

When he glances at you, you can tell that he wants to take it back immediately. His teeth worry his bottom lip, ripping at chapped shreds of skin. “Don’t do me any favors, sweetheart.”

“It’s not a fucking favor- I thought we were doing this together.”

Eddie talks over you. “You don’t need to keep dragging me around with you, okay? You’re off the hook.”

“Eddie, you’re being mean,” you croak at him. Not exactly the quick, biting wit that you can usually whip out- he’s shocked you.

He drops his eyes, his hands squeezing his knees. “Yeeeah,” he grumbles, his fingers tapping sporadically against his denim jeans. “Well, I told you, I’m no good for you. You didn’t listen.”

You told me that while your tongue was in my pussy. The words are balanced on the edge of your teeth, but they won’t fall out. Your hands itch to reach out for him, grab his chin and force him to look at you, somehow. 

Instead, they snatch up the little bit of cash from your side of the pile in between you. You crumple it in your hand and shove the wad into your jacket pocket before you grab the strap of your weather-beaten backpack full of the last things you have to your name, and kick open the back door of the van. 

It’s summer, but it’s windy in Colorado. It must be something about the mountains, you guess, and it being early morning. Condensation hangs in the air, making the air both heavy and cool as you breathe. Funny- if you slept naked, you’d probably have to curl up into each other for warmth, for a change. 

You’re either vibrating from rage or from the abnormal chill in the air. Standing on the street corner with the gas station sign lit up in neon behind you, you kick the crosswalk pole with your dirty converse. You’re still arguing with him, in your head. We were in this together, motherfucker. I told you, I’m your girl. I put all my eggs in your basket. Whatever fucking martyr complex this is, you can shove it right up your stupid-

“I know.” Eddie’s tattooed arms wrap around your waist and pull you into his chest, his face buried in your hair as he whispers urgently into it. “I know, I’m sorry. I’m sorry.”

So, you weren’t arguing with him in your head. You were actually yelling everything you were thinking, and he chased you as you stormed off. Seems about par for the course. 

“Fuck you, Eddie, did it even mean anything to you?” you blather at him, your voice thick with impending tears. “‘Cause it meant something to me.”

“Course it did,” he rasps at you, his arms squeezing you to him so tight that you’re running out of air to breathe. “I didn’t- I was being shitty. I’m sorry. Please, don’t leave.”

“Then don’t push me away.” The tears collect in your lashes, finally dripping down your cheeks. You turn in his arms and whack your hand flat against his chest. “Don’t treat me like some slut, don’t- I didn’t sleep with you just because I wanted you to fix my fucking car, you jerk.”

“I don’t think that,” Eddie insists quietly, wiping your tears away with his thumbs. “C’mon, now.”

“You said-”

“I know what I said,” he cuts you off. “And I didn’t mean it. I have a bad habit of throwing away the good things in my life, ‘cause… ‘cause of that martyr complex, you said-” He jams his tongue against the roof of his mouth when you hiccup, staring up at him with a wobbly lip. “Don’t let me throw you away. You’re the best thing I’ve ever had, ‘n I don’t wanna lose you just because I’m an idiot.”

You sigh, your head falling neatly into the crook of his neck like it’s meant to be there. He’s too quiet, holding you against him at the street corner. Eddie breathes in deep and kisses the side of your head longingly. 

“I can get us a car.”

You lift your head to look at him. He wears a disappointed expression. “But we don’t have any money.”

“It won’t take money,” Eddie mumbles as he strokes your back. “I, uh… I didn’t want to end up like my old man, but…” he shrugs, his eyes cast away from you. He chuckles sadly. “Nothin’ I can do about that, now, I guess. I mean, look how you met me.” 

Oh. You can infer what he means by the far-off look on his face, like he’s resigned himself to his fate. You lift your hands to cradle his face; the bruise on his cheekbone has faded to yellow, the scab on his chin almost healed. He’s never looked more beautiful to you.

“You’re a good man, Eddie,” you tell him sternly.

Eddie’s smile doesn’t quite reach his eyes. “Don’t be too sure of that. You might change your mind.”

‘Cause you know I’ll be right there beside you, riding through all these western nights…

The sedan isn’t exactly flashy, or new. It’s a tin can on wheels that’ll crumble into bits if you so much as side-swipe a trash can. You keep a lookout as Eddie jimmies an unwound wire coat hanger between the glass window and the door, and a second later the door is unlocked.

You’re unnervingly calm. How did you get to be so calm about all this? Stealing money, driving getaway cars, stealing other cars when those ones don’t work. Suddenly an accomplice to whatever illegal shit has to happen for you to get where you’re going.

What’s worse, you think, is how badly the sight of him hotwiring the car turns you on. It’s practically horrifying the way your skin crawls and your core burns as you watch his hands fiddle with the wires beneath the console, so quick that your mind can barely process it. You’re not sure if the adrenaline in your veins is from looking to see if anyone’s coming, or if it’s because you want to jump his bones.

"I swear to you," he's saying as he swipes at frayed wires, "I swear, when we get to San Francisco, I'll never- I'm gonna get an honest, real fuckin' job, I'm not gonna do anything to hurt yo-"

The car starts, and you leap into the front seat without giving it any more thought. “Eddie?”

“Yeah, sweetheart?” He looks up at you, his brows tilted up expectantly. He’s still tucking wires back under the dashboard, preparing to take off once he gets the door shut.

“I slept with you because I’m falling in love with you.”

Eddie’s eyes go wide as moons, glittering in the light of a fluorescent floodlight at the corner of the dark parking lot. 

“You don’t have to love me back,” you tell him honestly. “I just wanted you to know. I’m with you. And I’m not gonna leave.”

You don’t know if he loves you back- not yet, anyways. He doesn’t say it to you. But he kisses you like he does.

I'll be screaming your name past the gas stations, trailing down the interstate. Please don’t love how I need you, and know that one day, you and I could be okay.

[valiisthea]

I'mma go on a mini rant here about nothing that anyone here cares about but it also does sort of relate to every fandom ever in a way.

The formula 1 crowds are, as a whole and not as individuals, massive dicks. The amount of gatekeeping is insane. Like, you are gatekeeping CARS GOING VROOM ON A TRACK. You are??? So cool??? Lmao, I dunno, it just drives me insane. It's like people aren't allowed to be "new" fans of things, ever. Someone has an opinion someone else doesn't agree with and they're like "lol, new to F1?" and it's like, nah mate the person you're accusing of being new has been watching for decades, you just don't know how to handle someone not agreeing with you. And even if they were new, SO WHAT??? Like lord is it harder to be a dick than it is to just maybe explain something to them they might not fully understand as of yet? You were there too once, Oh Ruler Of The Universe and F1 Knowledge.

Not only that, but the amount of animosity towards drivers and the lack of caring about their well-being in crashes -- or what I call "couch driving" like making fun of George Russell's crash and the way he was screaming for a red flag because, I dunno, he was scared to death of being hit and getting killed (or someone else getting killed) because he crashed and his car was sideways in the middle of the damned track?

Like, are you assing me out? Are you saying you would be stone faced and not at all concerned in the same position? You sure do say a whole lot of words for someone sitting on the couch with a bag of potato chips watching fast cars go nyoom for your entertainment.

Drives me bonkers, it really does. I know gatekeeping is a thing in every fandom so ya'll will probably at least be able to generally relate lmao.

Thanks for listening to the rant. As always, I send hugs and love to you all <3

[vulture-writes-stuff]

Self-indulgent thing with comfort character(s) part 1. Not requested, this is just something I wanted to write. Featuring the new linebreak/header I drew myself lol

Please do not use my designs they are not free use they are mine

Contains major Scarlet/Violet spoilers, particularly for Starfall Street.

Giacomo X Male Reader

Young love is always a wonderful thing. Especially when two students go out for a midnight joyride.

Reader is also a dark type specialist, but their only mentioned Pokemon is an Alolan Persian because I love Alolan Persian. Reader's name is never mentioned, but Giacomo refers to them by the nickname "MC". The academy setting is Naranja academy and the Reader rides a Koraidon, because I like Koraidon better!!

Giacomo was only half aware of how late it had gotten, his only hint to the unholy hour being the bright alarm clock that sat on the nightstand. Ever since Operation Starfall, he'd returned to Naranja Academy as a student... Though, he definitely didn't stop making music.

Even if his love of making music meant he stayed up late creating some other jam for his friends to listen to.

He didn't hear the first knock on the window, too engrossed in his latest song to pay attention. He faintly heard the second, but didn't tear his eyes away from the screen - he figured it was one of the Murkrow he usually fed before he left for classes. The third was the loudest of them all, and finally got him to turn around.

Giacomo nearly fell out of his chair when he saw the beady-eyed face of Koraidon pressed against his window, breath fogging up the glass. He dropped his headphones on his desk, scrambling over to open his window.

"MC!" He only knew one person who rode around on the back of Koraidon, and it wasn't uncommon for him to visit Giacomo at his window on the back of his feathery steed. It was uncommon for him to show up so late at night.

Koraidon made its way through the window, finally dropping to the floor. There he sat on the Pokemon's back, hair still tousled with bedhead and uniform missing the usual vest and tie.

"Ya know, I don't mind you visiting... But you could just come to my door next time." Giacomo snorted, grabbing the other's hand to help him down. Koraidon immediately jumped onto Giacomo's bed, wasting no time in completely unmaking it in order to get comfortable.

"I would've, but we're technically not supposed to be walking around campus this late at night." He replied, poorly stifling a yawn. "...Sorry. I didn't want to bother you, but I just... Ugh. Couldn't stay asleep again."

"Don't be sorry, you're fine. I like seeing you day or night." Giacomo's hand lingered for a moment, their fingers grazing together in an unmistakably affectionate gesture. "Wanna talk about it?"

"Not particularly." MC's answer was honest, and Giacomo liked that about him - he was upfront about his feelings. "I do want to go out, though. Want to come with me?"

"Sure, but where are we going?"

"Dunno. Anywhere but here." MC whistled, and Koraidon hopped down from the nest it had made from Giacomo's sheets, bending down to allow him to hop onto its back. "Let's just see where Raidon takes us."

"MC. Love of my life. Are you genuinely suggesting we go joyriding around in the dead of night?" Giacomo cocked an eyebrow.

"You said it, not me, Pineapple." He grinned, his devious smirk reminding Giacomo of why MC had the nickname of 'MC Menace.'

"Sounds cool, I'm in." Giacomo grabbed his bag, hastily stuffing his laptop inside. They helped him up onto Koraidon's back, where he got comfortable behind them. "Let's just not go into the water again. Last time we got completely soaked."

"No promises. Make sure you duck, by the way. And hold onto your hat." MC gently prodded Koraidon, and the Pokemon gracefully leapt through the open window, the frame barely grazing over Giacomo's head as he ducked.

There was a moment where they were just falling, Giacomo was certain he was squeezing the life out of them without meaning to. Then Koraidon's tendrils unfurled into wings, catching the air and slowing their plummet into a pleasant glide. The trio soared through the night sky, joined quickly by a curious flock of Murkrow.

Giacomo could only hear the wind rushing past them and his own heart pumping, one arm hooked around MC's waist. His other hand held firmly onto his cap, determined to not let it fly off like it had the last time they'd gone out like this. He couldn't help but laugh, the adrenaline from the brief plummet still running through him.

Koraidon didn't take them far, wheeling through the sky and diving down towards the rooftops of Mesagoza - there was one particular building MC and Giacomo had met on often. It was pretty easy to get onto the roof before, since there were planks leaning up against the railing nearby, but they'd been taken down a while back.

The Pokemon landed with a surprisingly quiet thud, carelessly depositing the pair onto the roof. Giacomo fell first, pulling MC down with him without meaning to.

"You alright?" Giacomo asked him worriedly, sitting upright to help him up.

"Yeah. Hope I didn't crush you." MC chortled, moving to sit next to him rather than on top of him. "...We used to come up here all the time, Pineapple."

The Koraidon purred, curling up behind them. It seemed pleased with itself.

"Tsch. And you still call me Pineapple even after, what, four? Five years?"

"Almost six." MC corrected, shimmying closer to him so their shoulders bumped together. "But I can't help it. The story behind it is too good."

"More like embarrassing." Giacomo groaned, tossing his arm over MC's shoulder. "It's not even my fault."

"What do you mean? You were the one who spilled that entire container of pineapple all over yourself in Mr. Saguaro's class!" MC teased, poking his side.

"Not on purpose! I just- saw your Meowth and got distracted!" He spluttered, before tousling their hair roughly. Every little jab between them was purely affectionate - ever since they were younger, they interacted by just... Teasing eachother. Every word was laced with adoration, even if it was through a silly story of early-teen awkwardness. "I'd never seen an Alolan Meowth, ya know? You'd do the same with a Galarian one."

"I probably would, yeah. If I also happened to be in Mr. Saguaro's class with a precariously placed container of sliced pineapples." MC settled into him more.

They shared a comfortable silence yet again, Giacomo giving him a gentle squeeze.

"Do you remember the day we actually talked for the first time?" MC suddenly asked, his query making Giacomo wince without meaning to. "Like, outside of class stuff."

"Yeah. Was when I got kicked off the student council." Giacomo grumbled. "Was getting mocked by a whole bunch of people for my stupid policies. Then you showed up and-"

"Got my ass royally handed to me standing up for you." MC laughed lightly, something Giacomo hadn't expected. "Y'know, every day I thank my lucky stars that happened."

"I don't think it was very lucky you got your ass kicked."

"That part wasn't. What was is that you found me up here, even after I made an effort not to be found..." MC gestured vaguely towards the old path. "And brought me a first aid kit."

"Yeah, because I felt bad." Giacomo rested his head on MC's for a moment. "It's not every day someone sics their Meowth on someone a foot taller than them."

"You still cared enough to come up here. And you cared enough to keep coming up here to meet me, even when you and the rest of the group made Team Star."

"When Penny recruited all of us... Heh. Those were times I always treasure. But I still kinda treasured these moments most of all. Just us, up here. Doing whatever it is we wanted to do."

"Mostly you showing me your songs and asking me to tell you how it sounded before you showed everyone else."

"And that's why you're my MC. Introducing everyone to my music and preparing the world for some sick-ass beats."

A moment of fond reminiscing had them both quiet again, Giacomo's arm falling from MC's shoulder. Their fingers intertwined without either of them thinking, leaning back into Koraidon's warmth.

"I know a spot where you can see the stars better, but it's a little far." Giacomo offered, noticing how MC was looking up at the sky. "Might take a bit to get there even on the big boy."

"I don't have anywhere else to be, so why the hell not?" MC perked up, obviously excited for more wandering. "Are you gonna tell me where it is, or do you want to take Raidon for a spin?"

Giacomo knew he was kidding, but the idea of taking Koraidon for a ride for once didn't sound too bad. He'd ridden Cyclizar before, how different could it possibly be? Excluding the size and the fact that it could fly, scale up vertical walls, and swim faster than a Finizen.

Okay, so it was a lot different. But he still wanted to try.

"Sure, hand me the reins. I can do this." Giacomo stood up with a grin, hands stuffed in his pockets. MC looked up at him with a bit of concern now, getting up as well.

"You sure, Pineapple? Raidon can be feisty." MC crossed his arms, cocking his head to the side. That just made Giacomo want to do it more.

"Course I'm sure." Giacomo plucked his hat off, placing it on their head. "I want to surprise you, so I might as well."

"Alright, if you say so. You hop on first." He gestured to the Pokemon as it stood, stretching out before bending down to allow Giacomo up. Sitting closer to the front didn't feel much different, and the strange blue plumes on its shoulders looked uncannily similar to the handlebars on a Cyclizar saddle. The only main difference was how soft Koraidon's feathers felt.

MC climbed up behind him, setting his chin happily on Giacomo's shoulder as he wrapped his arms around him. Sure, they'd been close before, but this was certainly a different close. A welcome different, though.

"When you want to go, just give Raidon a little nudge. If you want to steer them, move the blue things you're holding like normal handlebars. Be gentle, though, they don't like it if you pull too hard." He gave a quick walkthrough, smugly aware how flustered Giacomo was.

"Right... And, uh, how do I stop them?"

"Nudge them in the side again. Easy peasy." MC nuzzled his face into the side of Giacomo's neck.

"Easy peasy." Giacomo echoed, hesitating for just a moment. Koraidon glanced over its shoulder at him with a meaningful look in its eyes, speaking more words than he ever anticipated it could. He gave it a gentle nudge on the side, and it dramatically reared back with a mighty roar, before taking off across the rooftops.

Giacomo heard MC laugh as Koraidon bounded along, a sound that far surpassed any music he could ever make. Controlling Koraidon was definitely more difficult than it looked, but it seemed like the Pokemon was willing to cooperate... For now.

It definitely wasn't a big fan of being steered by anyone other than MC, though. Giacomo figured it would be a one-time thing, so he might as well make the most of it. A joyride through Paldea was made even better with MC with him, even if his Pokemon was a complete anomaly and liked sandwiches to an alarming degree.

Finally, Koraidon slowed with Giacomo's nudge, kicking up grass and dirt as it skidded to a halt. MC took a look around, though didn't let go of his hold on the other.

"This is the Segin Squad base!" He remarked.

"Yup. The cliff ledge up at the top is hard to get to, buuut it has the best view of the sky. Good thing ol' Raidon here helped out." Giacomo gave Koraidon a pat on the side, the Pokemon huffing shortly and shaking its head as though it wanted them off. "Oop- sorry, bud. Please don't headbutt me."

MC laughed as he hopped down, helping Giacomo down as well.

"I should've brought my picnic stuff, that would've been fun. I just have the... Kind of terrible sandwiches I made." MC shrugged, digging through his bag. Indeed, the sandwiches he presented did not look very appetizing... To humans, at least. Koraidon sniffed urgently at one, pupils dilating excitedly. "...Hey, Pineapple, have you got your Pokemon with you?"

"Only Honchkrow." Giacomo plucked the Timer Ball out of his pocket.

"Perfect." MC tossed a Luxury ball into the air, and their Alolan Persian appeared in a flash of light. She certainly held an air of elegance, even if she was a little silly-looking. The Persian rubbed up against MC's legs with a soft purr, the gemstone on her forehead glinting in the moonlight. Giacomo sent out his Honchkrow - the large bird Pokemon had a particularly menacing glare, ruffling his feathers impatiently.

MC split one of the two sandwiches in half, offering it to the two dark types. The Pokemon happily chowed down, Persian's rumbling still audible even as she ate. He gave the other sandwich to the drooling Koraidon, which swallowed it down faster than Giacomo could blink.

"Picnic complete." He casually swiped invisible dust off his shoulder, before grabbing Giacomo's hand. "C'mon. Let's go find a place to sit."

Despite his implication of being the guide, Giacomo was the one to lead MC along, finally settling down on the grass and tugging him down to sit right beside him. He set his bag to the side, before flopping down on his back in the grass.

MC practically collapsed next to him, fingers still entwined even now. Persian and Honchkrow came to join them, Persian resting her fluffy head on Giacomo's knee while Honchkrow settled comfortably into MC's side.

No words were needed. The young couple simply gazed up at the sky above, quietly enjoying eachother's company. MC slowly scooted to the side, a gesture he obviously thought was subtle, until Giacomo hooked an arm underneath him and yanked them together.

"Oi!" MC yelped, startled by the sudden movement - Giacomo laughed evilly as he wrestled them into his arms, grass scattered everywhere as the other squirmed in his arms. "Let go of me!!"

"Never! You can call me DJ Vice, and I'm gonna play a sick requiem while you crash and burn!" Giacomo shouted dramatically as they rolled about, their Pokemon watching with bored amusement.

Eventually, the roughhousing came to an end, MC lounging across Giacomo's legs. He had grass stains all over his shirt, and Giacomo guessed he wasn't faring any better.

"...Hey." MC said, voice light and breathless. "I... Know I don't really say it much, but I love you. A lot." He set his hand on top of Giacomo's, letting his head fall to the side. He looked tired... Was his sleeplessness getting to him?

"Hah... I love you too, MC." Giacomo turned his hand over, letting their fingers brush along his palm. "We should probably get back before sunrise. Would rather not get chewed out by Clavell."

"..."

"MC?" He sat up, before realizing they were asleep. Still lounged across his legs. "...Oh, shit."

Now how was he going to get out of this one?

Thanks for reading this silly little thing, I hope you're all doing well and staying hydrated :)

I've got final exams coming up so my posts will be even more sparse, sorry for that

Once more.please do not use my header/page split designs, they are for me to use I drew them myself thanks <3

[persephoneflowerpetals]

This is kind of a dumb idea because I don’t know how this concept would work with Greek gods (Disney magic I guess? Lol), but I was thinking about that cliche “body swap” trope with Hades and Persephone the other day and I just came up with so many ideas lol.

Like, I can totally see Persephone in Hades’ body being all sweet and soft and shy (which is highly unusual to see from Hades unless he’s with Persephone lol) while Hades in Persephone’s body has a fast-talking, sleazy, and super casual personality and everyone’s shook because Persephone doesn’t act like that at all. Like, it’s so odd to others seeing them act like each other when they don’t know the context of their situation. Also their voices don’t change, so Hades sounding all sweet while Persephone sounds…like Hades lol is just so weird and off putting.

And then like, maybe they have to keep their body swap a secret so they aren’t causing a big commotion about it so until it gets fixed they have to pretend to be each other and it’s harder than they realize because (despite getting along so well as a couple and as friends) they’re total opposites in personality.

I also love the idea of them both just kinda admiring each other in general lmao, like Hades is just like…in love with himself because he looks like his wife now and then he just goes on to admire himself (or Persephone as himself since she’s now in his body) because the dude can honestly be so full of himself sometimes, so he thinks he’s gorgeous too lmaooo (it’s pretty much like that scene from Scooby Doo 2 lmao). Meanwhile, Persephone’s freaking out because she looks like her husband and (as much as she loves and admires him) she doesn’t want to be stuck as him for the rest of eternity. And Hades is just really cool about the whole thing and doesn’t even mind (however, he too doesn’t want to look like his wife for the rest of eternity, so he wants to get this whole thing fixed at some point because after all, he’s got an underworld to run).

I also like the idea of them struggling to use and control each other’s powers. Like, Persephone can’t stop accidentally setting stuff on fire and Hades either can’t stop growing stuff wherever he goes or he can’t grow anything but a tiny seedling/sapling lol

I had this stupid quote idea too lol:

Hades (as Persephone): *comes in with a bunch of shopping bags*

Persephone (as Hades): Where in the underworld have you been!? I’ve been looking all over for you!

Hades: I was busy!

Persephone: Doing what?!

Hades: Shopping!

Persephone: Hades!

Hades: C’mon, babe! You never let me spoil you, so I had to do it for you! Look, see I got ya some new chitons that fit you perfectly. I was thinkin’ maybe after everything is said and done you can personally show ‘em off to me. Huh? *winks*

Persephone: Hades…can you be serious for like, one second, please?

Anyways I kinda wanna write this as a fic, but like I said I dunno how I could logically explain it since their gods and I don’t think that kind of thing could happen to them/be a problem for them so yeah lmao, but I just thought I’d share the idea since I haven’t posted in a hot minute (I started a GREAT new job and I’ve been training, so I’ve been putting all my energy and time into learning how to do everything)

[shadowmaat]

No fun allowed

Internet drama and controversy can be fun to watch, but I also love silly things, feel good stories, and other harmless fun that gets shared on the internet.

I am, however, exhausted by the ever-increasing number of people who feel compelled to state that something-or-other is "obviously fake" or to otherwise question the validity/intentions of the poster.

Look. Kids. Sometimes, yes, it's important to clarify when something being shared is verifiably false. Especially if what's being shared contains dangerous misinformation that could cause harm to someone else.

Most of the time, though, it doesn't matter. And just because you personally believe something is fake doesn't mean you're right. Stop being an asshole just for the sake of trying to prove how much smarter and better you are than everyone else. Stop trying to discredit strangers on the internet who aren't hurting anyone and are very likely telling the truth. Stop assuming everything is fake. There's a time and a place for those kind of conversations and accusations. Learn how to tell the difference.

The most recent example I've seen is on a video of someone unrolling their knitting project only for it to roll off the end of the bed and startle a cat the maker didn't realize was there. Cute. Funny. No harm done.

Someone in the comments questioned why they were filming if they didn't know the cat was there. Condescending. Accusatory. Rude.

The person was clearly intending to show off all the work they'd accomplished on their knitting project. Very cool and stripey and either a scarf or possibly one side of a to-be-completed blanket. Or a bed for a boa constrictor, who knows? Point is, someone was trying to show off something they were proud of and then got a startled cat as a bonus.

Even if it had been a "set-up" though, so what? Is it hurting anyone? No. Does it change the context of what's seen in the video? No. There's no harm and no foul and no goddamn reason to be a petty suspicious jerk about it.

Another example would be any of Seanan McGuire's Tales of Animal Rehab and Chaos. Some of these do sound bizarre, like the alligator lizard in the leg story, but weird things DO happen (especially around Seanan) and accusing her of making stuff up for attention/clout is fucking rude. Sure, she's a storyteller, but some things she doesn't need to make up. Especially if she isn't getting paid for it. lol

Again, no one gets hurt by stories like that (ignoring the injuries sustained in the story itself) and it's also a good example of what NOT to do if you find an alligator lizard in your tent/sleeping bag. Important safety tip: don't try stabbing something anywhere near your own body.

People can, however, get hurt by constant accusations of lying. Seanan no longer shares those awesome stories because when she did it always resulted in a bunch of armchair fact-checkers calling her a liar and demanding "proof" that any of it happened.

When it comes to stuff like AITA or that Neighborhood thing or whatever, sure, some of those stories are made up. But again, who cares? Do you think you'll get points for calling out an obviously fake story about, I dunno, some dude replacing his gf's perfume for skunk spray because he's convinced she's cheating on him? No. No one cares. Other than maybe reassuring people that so-and-so isn't in any danger, you gain literally nothing by outing it as fake.

Sometimes those things are done for fun. And sometimes they're based on real examples of the kinds of things that have happened. And even when they're fake they can act as cautionary tales to help folks identify potentially dangerous behaviors. Maybe a guy hasn't actually replaced a wife's/girlfriend's perfume with skunk spray, but people of all identities have engaged in paranoid, possessive behavior and if you know what the warning signs look like you can take precautions. Same with tall tales from the workplace. Or involving neighbors. Or whatever. If it isn't hurting anyone and isn't spreading dangerous misinformation, maybe consider leaving it alone.

[29daffodils]

so i stumbled upon a gmmtv x GQ "what's in my bag" interview with the ofts boys and what a weird coincidence

first says he has a perfume, and they show it's YSL

my fic here i stay, pray has a scene where ray is getting ready to go meet sand and spritzes some perfume and i chose YSL because, i dunno, it's the most fancy brand i know?? it sounds rich?? it's absurdly overpriced?? lmao but I'm surprised.

and then first talks about how he has sunglasses which he wears to the airport or mall, but only to look cool and —

i just finished writing the first draft for a new post-canon sandray fic and there's a scene where sand thinks about how he'd one day like to get the overpriced fancy sunglasses even though he thinks he'll look like a pretentious douche lol

i know these are just normal things but it's so funny that it's two times now, and i haven't even watched the full video yet

[helluvapurf]

First-Impression thoughts on Hazbin Hotel's "official" first ep, now that I checked it out on YT-

*Spoiler warning below for those who didn't see it yet-*

-Great to see Charlie & Vaggie again, still a wholesome lil supportive pair whilst having their own quirks/things to do on the side. Esp with Vaggie spending the whole time back at the hotel reshooting a whole commercial for Charlie's sake, awww :3

-Pleasantly surprised by the twist of Charlie's mom being the figure she was most inspired by to make her dream come true, along with her love for singing. Curious to see where Lilith's whereabouts could be if she's been away for so long?

-The new voices were... a mixed bag, I suppose? Mainly in the line/tone-deliveries for certain characters (& I guess I'm still moreso used to the OG pilot's portrayals lol), but I can see the good attempts made from those like Charlie & Alastor.

-I... don't know how I feel about the way Lucifer's backstory was handled? Like, yeah its interesting hearing of him & Lilith genuinely connecting over their "rebellious" natures (& thus fleeing from Heaven's wrath/staying in Hell to be together). But then, the whole thing with Lucifer apparently being some "doofy, misunderstood dreamer who only wanted the best for Humanity, got bullied by those mean ol' angels, and didn't meaaaan to spread Sin all across Earth~ 🥺🥺" ...ehhhhh, felt kinda lame imho 🤷‍♀️. Not that I mind giving nuanced/sympathetic angles to a character's development now & then... but with someone like Lucifer (who mind you, is meant to represent the "Ring of Pride" on top of his Hell-ruling duties), I guess I kinda expected more... "bite" to his portrayal, I guess? .3. But idk, maybe that's just me... (*Tho admittedly, one could argue that perhaps he and/or Lilith were simply lying in that storybook to make them look less "bad"... idk, given HB's track record with Stolas' writing and since both shows are made by the same people... part of me can't help having my doubts ^^; *)

-Adam... ooooooh boi .x.;; Ever since I saw his leaked design I've always been rather... "mixed" about him, and now seeing him on-screen & talking I... don't really get the concept behind him? I mean, yeah I'm all for a fun, chaotic-jackass type when done right (hell I still consider Blitz among my faves to this day lol). But with Adam apparently being the big leader behind Heaven's army, AND was even the "original" Adam from biblical times... how tf did he get the chance to be allowed in Heaven if he not only helped curse humanity to sin (aka: sharing Forbidden Fruit with Eve), but on top of him currently being a horny, misogynistic loudmouth? 🤨Discounting that is also the fact that his whole design vibe just... doesn't really give me "holy army leader" vibes, but more-or-less just Blitz in some weird angel cosplay lol 🤷‍♀️. No shade to those who genuinely do like Adam though (and I'll admit his song was surprisingly catchy lol), I just... feel like his whole personality/design vibe could've probably fit better to a fallen angel-type character (or even a demon-angel hybrid if you wanna play more into the Heaven vs. Hell conflict), someone who only takes up the "Adam" title as an ego trip to enact his revenge against Hell... or, something like that idk; my brain's tired lol. (*His sidekick Lute seems pretty cool tho, she kinda reminds me of Tempest Shadow from MLP in a way .3.*)

-Nice to see more of the old Hotel gang again, esp those like Nifty she was a cute :3 (her whole reaction to the camera honestly being a whole mood lol)

-Did not expect to see Brandon Rogers pop up voicing Katie Killjoy of all people, buuuut I guess I can see the amusing comparison potential to that one CEO persona of his lol

....Aaaaaand yep, that's about the gist of my first-impression thoughts atm .3. Dunno if I'll be sitting down to watch the whole season of Amazon's Hazbin atm (*'cause like, I do have Amazon Prime, buuuuut I rarely ever use that to watch shows (save for some classic cartoons here & there lol) .w.; *), but I'd say it was still generally a decent watch for what it is imo👍(+any chance to see my girl Vaggie again, the better~ x3💜)

[theamityelf]

I'm a wee bit of a sucker for vampire aus. But I dunno, for some reason having the Remnants as vampires and the Future Foundation as vampire hunters feels kind of like the most obvious choice. I think I'd be a little more interested in something like…maybe Vampire Chiaki? Might be due to me going through a bunch of Despair!Chiaki AUs. But now I'm picturing her trying to contain her powers and urges for a while. Surviving off of animal blood initially. Until eventually she starts using more and more of her powers ostensibly "for good".

Like she realizes that she has access to vampire hypnotism. With Nagito being the first one she uses it on. Hypnotizing him into not fixating so much on talent anymore, since she thinks that will help him. Not realizing that without being able to associate hope with talent, all she's really done is left a void for him. Since he still desperately craves hope, but doesn't have any idea now what could be its source. Chiaki gets emboldened by this apparent "success", and begins doing it on others. Kazuichi and Teruteru being next, as she leaves them with mental suggestions to tone down the pervertedness.

And eventually she ends up turning her attentions to the Twilight Syndrome girls. Luring Mikan, Hiyoko, and Mahiru to a private lunch where she hypnotizes all three at once (Chiaki's gamer mind is like "Triple combo!"). Trying to instill a greater sense of self-confidence in Mikan, make Hiyoko stop being a bully and be more polite, and leaving Mahiru with a mental suggestion that she'll rein in Hiyoko more. In practice this ultimately leads to Mikan being more open about her private resentments and turning the tables on a meeker Hiyoko. All while Mahiru feels like she wants to stick up for her best friend, but can't bring herself to. Things taken an even weirder turn when Chiaki hypnotizes Natsumi and Sato to be friends from now on...

Little by little, the power starts to go to Chiaki's head. And she can't help but show off some of her newfound physical abilities. Showing off her enhanced agility in DDR contests and the like. Even bridal carrying Hajime in her arms. And she's gotten a little too accustomed to hypnotizing Nagito, starting to feel quite comfortable being viewed as by him as his goddess. All while the hunger for human blood starts to increase. Which she initially satisfies by stealing blood bags from the school's medical offices with help from Nagito. But at some point down the road, Nekomaru looks like he might be in serious danger of dying to his heart condition. Giving Chiaki the idea for a way to save him...

Lol, I love that the idea has already gone off the rails. You've definitely spun it in an interesting direction! Cool arc for Chiaki!

[multifandombitxh]

Two Years Late (Ch. 2)

Pairing: Eddie Munson x Fem!Reader

Series Genre: Friends to Enemies to Lovers

Chapter Genre: Angst

Chapter Warnings: brief mention of death, depictions of violence/blood, bullying(? Eddie mean lol), PTSD flashback

Chapter one: X

Tag list: @soapbar99 @avengersmarauders @senkobingus

A/N: I'm so glad some of you liked this series!! I've been working on it for a bit now so I hope you all enjoy future chapters. If you'd like me to add to to the tag list pls let me know ♥️♥️

Edit: I wanted to clarify I wrote this BEFORE vol. 2 came out, just as an FYI!

Chapter 2: In Your Dreams

"I think you're overthinking this," Robin said over her shoulder as she organized a row of tapes. "I mean, honestly, you had a crush on him once, right? It's normal to have dreams about your crush."

"I haven't thought of him in years, Robin," You sighed, "And it wasn't a dream, it was a nightmare, and he died."

The nightmare in question was why you swore not to sleep again until you physically couldn't fight it anymore. It came to you just as you had fallen asleep the previous night, tearing you back out of your rest immediately. It was hard to recall, but based on what you hadn't blocked out, the Demogorgon attacked Eddie in the dream.

Robin shrugged and turned to face you, leaning her back against the shelves behind her. "If it bothers you so much, why don't you just, I dunno, talk to him?"

"I mean, for starters, he hates my guts," You scoffed, "If I told him I had a dream where he died, he'll think I'm a psycho. Besides, I wouldn't even know when I could talk to him."

Robin finished organizing the tapes and turned on her heel to face you again, a sparkle in her eye. "You know, I heard there's this old, rickety picnic table out behind the track field where people meet Eddie to do drugs deals after school. Maybe you could meet him there."

"Yeah, right," You laughed, "Like he'd talk to me if I showed up there. He'd probably run for the hills if he saw me waiting to do business with him."

"You say 'do business' like it's dirty," Robin chuckled, "Like you're gonna meet him behind the school to give him a bl-"

"Don't finish that sentence," Steve warned, whipping his head around the corner and pointing a finger at Robin. "Do not. Finish. That sentence."

Robin threw her hands up defensively. "Quit eavesdropping!"

"The last thing I wanna hear while I'm trying to work is you two knuckleheads talking about Y/N and Eddie 'the freak' Munson doing God knows what behind the school," Steve said, looking between the both of you with a stern expression on his face. "Got it?"

You both agreed in monotonous voices to no longer speak on the subject. Once Steve was done giving you deadly looks and had returned to his own work, Robin leaned in and cupped her hands around your ear.

"Maybe it wouldn't be such a bad thing," She whispered, "I hear he still talks about you all the time."

"God, not you too," You groaned, "That's what Mike and Dustin kept saying when I drove them home the other day."

"It's the truth!" She whisper-yelled, "So I think you should do yourself a favor, and go meet him. School should be out soon anyway."

"Wait," You said, "Shouldn't you be in school?"

Robin shrugged. "I have study hall for my last period, so I get scheduled at this time a lot. Besides, not the point, quit trying to redirect!"

You pinched the bridge of your nose and squeezed your eyes shut, taking a deep breath. "You're not gonna stop telling me to do it until I do, are you?"

"You know I won't."

"Whatever," You said, rolling your eyes. You fished inside your bag and pulled out your keys, hoping to drop the subject for good. "Did you still wanna hang out and watch Gremlins tonight?"

Robin clapped her hands together a few times, grinning ear to ear. "Yes, absolutely I do, yes, please. I need a break from this shit hole and homework desperately."

"Cool," You said with a smile and a nod, "I'll see you then."

Robin gave you a high five and you left the video store, looking forward to spending some time with her later. Since you hadn't been sleeping well for the last few weeks, you and Robin couldn't seem to agree on a time to have a movie night. Every time she asked about it, you always had to reschedule so you could catch up on sleep.

Not that you ever did.

As you hopped in your car, you thought back to your dream from the night before. It only came to you in fragments now, so all you could really recall was dark, black water, a crimson sky, and the Demogorgon rising from the water to attack Eddie. As you thought more about it, more and more of it came back as you drove to the high school. Your breathing became uneven as you remembered holding Eddie's hand on the edge of the water, staring into his eyes just before everything went dark. Your heart skipped a beat and you tried to clear your head enough to focus on driving.

When you arrived at Hawkins High, class wasn't quite out yet, so you sat in your car for a minute to prepare yourself. Did you really want to do this? You couldn't be sure. Part of you was excited to see him again, while another part of you wanted to throw up at the thought. It was hard to tell which part of you was winning, but either way, you had a bad case of butterflies that wasn't going away any time soon.

Gathering your courage you exited your car, locking it behind you and taking long strides toward the track field. Thankfully the field was vacant, allowing you to sneak down into the woods unnoticed. Your breath formed little clouds in the cold air, making you shiver and zip up your jacket. Brown and orange leaves littered the ground and crunched under your feet as you walked into what you were sure was going to be an absolute disaster of a meet-up.

If he even showed up, of course.

The further you went into the woods, you realized you could hear voices in the distance. You slowed your steps as you approached the voices to avoid revealing yourself. The clearing came into view and sure enough, Eddie was sitting at the old picnic table across from someone in a green and white letterman jacket. You decided to hide behind a nearby tree while the conversation progressed. All you could really hear was Eddie blabbing about "pure bliss in minutes".

Drugs. He was talking about drugs.

Fueled by rage you moved from your hiding spot and into the clearing, staring down the student and folding your arms over your chest. He stared back at you, his cheeks burning bright red and his mouth falling open a bit. Next he began to stutter as Eddie droned on about whatever drug he was trying to sell, digging himself into a deeper hole. When he finally noticed his little customer was staring off into the distance behind him, Eddie turned and his shoulders dropped at the sight of you.

"Y/N-"

"Go home now and I won't tell your parents I saw you here," You said to the kid, setting your jaw. It was an empty threat- you'd never seen that kid in your life, let alone his parents- but it was enough to scare him.

"Y-you wouldn't do that," The kid said, immediately beginning to shake and turning to Eddie. "M-my parents can't know about this, they'll never let me s-stay on the team! She w-wouldn't do that, right, man?"

"You really wanna take that risk?" You asked, shifting your weight.

Eddie gave the kid a nod, gesturing for him to leave as he closed the metal lunch box in front of him. "We can do this another time, k?"

With that, the kid began gathering his things, quickly sprinting from the clearing, not that you were paying attention to him anymore. Your focus was locked on Eddie, who stood from the table, seething. His chest was rising and falling quickly, and you took note of the rings that decorated his tightly closed fists.

"You had no right to do that," He said, his voice shaky from adrenaline. He was taking slow, precise steps toward you, but you held your ground.

"And you have no right selling drugs to children," You said with a shrug, "I'm not the bad guy here, Ed. Targeting the young and vulnerable now, huh? I guess I shouldn't be surprised, you were always really good at being manipulative-"

Before you could keep grilling him, he grabbed you by the shoulders and shoved you backwards until your back hit the base of a tree, the impact softened by your thick jacket. Still, the air left your lungs as he pinned you against the rough bark, a dark look in his eye. Eyes that were still so pretty, a lovely shade of warm sienna in the autumn evening.

Even when he was looking at you like he wanted to murder you where you stood.

"I'm warning you," He muttered, his grip tightening on your shoulders. "If you tell anyone about this-"

"You'll what, Munson?" You challenged, "Not to burst your weird little bubble, but you don't fucking scare me anymore."

Eddie seemed taken aback by your words, his expression faltering and switching from murderous rage to remorse. It didn't last long before he pushed off of you, moving back over the to picnic table and covering his mouth with his hand. You watched him carefully as he lowered himself onto the bench, his back facing you. The chain attached to his tattered jeans clanked loudly against the old wood.

"What are you even doing here?" He asked finally.

You shrugged and slowly walked over to the table, crossing to the side opposite of Eddie to take a seat. "Honestly, I just had to ask you something."

"Oh, Christ," He said with an irritated laugh, "That's it?"

"It was an important question!"

Eddie crossed his arms over his chest and looked you up and down, his lower lip pulled between his teeth. "Well?"

"Okay, I know it sounds weird, but have you, um," You started, "Have you been having, like, weird dreams lately?"

"What?" Eddie asked, unable to hold back his laughter. "That's your important question?"

"Just answer it," You said, losing your patience.

"Jesus, you're pushy. No, I have not been having 'weird dreams'," He said, using air quotes. "Why? Are you trying to curse me in my sleep or something?"

You chewed your lower lip and considered telling him the truth. The thing was, if you did, there was no way he would ever believe a word of it. He already hated your guts, there was no reason for him to believe that you were attacked by an inter-dimensional demon two years ago and now you had vivid nightmares about it every single night.

Lowering your gaze, you shook your head and anxiously toyed with the sleeve of your jacket, pulling at the discolored Sherpa lining on the cuff. "It's nothing, forget I even asked."

"Seriously?" Eddie scoffed, "You said it was an important question! You interrupted a deal for this? God, you really haven't changed one bit, you still love making everything about yourself."

Sadness and anger mingled in your heart, making your chest tighten. How wrong he was, you thought, considering it was really about his safety more than it was your own. If he was having the dreams, too, you would know it meant something was wrong. But it was just you. In a way, that brought at least some relief.

"You know," Eddie went on, wetting his lips. "I used to think you were so cool, like, the coolest person I knew. Then you started hanging out with those assholes, and I realized I was wrong about you."

"You were always wrong about me, Eddie," You said, "Just not in the ways you think you were. Besides, you sell drugs to 'those assholes' now, so I don't think you're in a position to be judging my choices."

With that, you rose from your seat and started to make your escape. You made it to the track field, but Eddie was hot on your heels, grabbing you by the wrist and forcing you to a halt. You stopped in place, shooting him a deadly glare. When you tried to rip your hand away, he held on tighter, pulling you closer in the process.

"What the hell happened to you?" He asked, "You didn't used to be like this."

Unprompted memories of hundreds of saliva-covered fangs adorning a gaping mouth flashed through your mind, a low, gutteral growl accompanying the image. Bodies surrounded by pools of blood and carnage followed suit, making you shiver. For the second time you considered confessing to Eddie what happened to you back at Hawkins Lab, but your gut told you to do otherwise. If Eddie wasn't tied up in Brenner's mess, you wanted to keep it that way.

"I grew up, Eddie," You answered, swallowing hard. "I grew up, and the real world sucks. What happened to me is none of your business."

"Oh come on," Eddie groaned, "I answered your question, didn't I? I gave you the benefit of the doubt, why can't you do the same?"

"Let it go, Eddie," You warned. You fought against his hold which prompted him to grab at your other wrist, holding them both up in front of you. Struggle as you did, he was a lot stronger than he looked. You were closer now, the gap between your bodies smaller than before, so it was a lot harder to avoid eye contact, but you found a way.

"Did someone hurt you?" He asked, to which you responded by shaking your head. "Y/N, I'm serious, if someone did something to you-"

More images of splattered blood and desperate screams clouded your mind.

"-I need you to tell me-"

"You won't believe me!"

Eddie released your wrists and let them fall to your sides, one of his hands coming to rest near your elbow. "I might."

"Why do you even care?" You asked, laughing through tears that threatened to spill out. "You never gave a shit about anything except that stupid game-"

"Hey," Eddie interrupted sternly, both hands on your elbows now. "I always cared. I never stopped caring."

"Bullshit," You spat, "If you cared, you would've been there for me, and you weren't. You can't act like how you treated me was okay. You were my best friend and you gave up on that, not me."

Eddie's mouth fell open as if he had something to say, but clamped shut after a moment. He averted his gaze from you, looking up at the sky and closing his eyes while taking a deep breath, as if he was contemplating something. You pulled out of his grip and took a step back, watching as his head fell forward and he placed his hands on his hips.

The bell rang noisily behind you, startling you both. Not long after, students began slowly filing out from the doors, laughter and shouting filling the air. You turned back to Eddie, who was awkwardly scratching the back of his head and still avoiding your gaze.

"Are we done here?" He asked, clearing his throat. "I have shit to do."

"Yeah," You replied, "We're done here."

[ownedbyaborzoi]

Get to Know a Simmer

@memoirsofasim​ tagged me in this and it looked cool so why not!

show your wallpaper:

Pierce (aka SBOS CH Avalon Perlova MHD She Loves Me JC TKI VHMA) up in the mountains in Cloudcroft NM when we went hiking up there in May

Last song you listened to: I don’t even know, I don’t listen to music as much now that I’m working from home and not driving to work anymore.

Currently reading: Play Training Your Dog. LOVE the book, highly recommend it (especially for those who are working with sighthounds), though my puppy grabbed it off my shelf and shredded the back half. It looks like he just got the appendix though so hopefully I can finish it.

Last movie: I don’t even know lol

Last show: I’m currently re-watching Castle. Love the first three seasons, it starts going downhill IMO after that. But I’ve seen it a ton so I can watch it as I sim and not worry about missing anything.

Craving: Sleep. It’s so miserably hot and I have two young sighthounds who need as much free running as possible, so I’ve been staying up until midnight so they can be outside from 8:30 or so to about 11 and then getting up at 3 AM to kick them back out until 7 when I get up and get ready for work. I’m so tired but it’ll be worth it to have my gorgeous show potential puppies reach their full potential. SO TIRED OF IT BEING SO HOT THOUGH. 100-110 degrees F and really shitty AC so it’s around 90F inside. I hate the summer

What are you wearing right now: Pajama pants and a T shirt (From Mad Dog Metal Works that says “It’s a beautiful day for plastic bag murder sports” and I’m obsessed. Def wearing this shirt when I take Pierce lure coursing in a few weeks)

How tall are you: Like around 5′6 I think

Piercings: None, I’ve had my ears pierced twice and both times I had to let them close up. I’m apparently not meant to have pierced ears.

Tattoos: None yet, though I want a galloping borzoi eventually, and maybe Pierce’s pawprint.

Glasses/contacts: I am blind and can’t see without my contacts. I need to get glasses though, ever since I got COVID last year I get headaches from staring at a computer screen for too long. I need to get blue light glasses but I’m also curious to see if switching from contacts to regular glasses makes a difference.

Last thing you ate: Popeyes classic chicken sandwich with cajun fries.

Favourite colour: Blue, green, and purple. I like cool colours.

Current obsession: Borzoi, for now and always. They are my life.

Any pets: I have four dogs (all borzoi), two lionhead rabbits, and an evil leopard gecko

Favourite fictional character: Hmmm, I don’t know. Probably Kate Beckett from Castle because I think she’s absolutely perfect and will name a dog Beckett someday. Also obsessed with MASH, particularly Hawkeye Pierce (hence my dog’s call name)

Last place you traveled: Albuquerque, NM for a dog show. About to travel to Flagstaff AZ in two weeks for another dog show (and then Show Low AZ the weekend after that for an AKC lure coursing trial, and then October and November will also feature dog shows almost every weekend hopefully)

I dunno who to tag so I tag anyone who’s bored and wants to do this. Feel free to tag me in this if you do it so I can read your answers, I don’t always have time to browse Tumblr

[immrbrightsideeee]

Hiiiii!

Are you open for a tiny request, Love? It's cool if you're not but in case you are (and that's entirely too many words there lol), could you do something fluffy with Remington? Like a movie night with lots of cuddles and fun and comfort? I need a hug lol

I also wouldn't say no to some smut but that's your decision

Anyway, you're amazing <3

Love you

OK I'm sorry it took so long!!! Anyway there might be a fluffy smutty part 2 idk :)

Movie Night

Remington Leith x reader

Word Count: 1.5k

Warnings: none, just fluff.

Summary: Remington and Y/N have a fun movie night

It had been a week. A long week. The kind of long, endless week that had you lying face down on the couch groaning the moment you got home. You wanted your snuggliest PJs, your best friends, boyfriend, movies and some pizza. But people were busy. And there was work to do. And cleaning. And a tonne of other responsibilities falling down onto your shoulders, and you were exhausted.

When your cat came up to give you an affectionate headbutt, you couldn't help but think why couldn't life for humans be as simple as a house cat? You get fed, loved, you play all day and night and do what you want? It was while you were pondering philosophies and cats that you felt your phone vibrating in your pocket. You frowned. Please don't be anyone important, please don't be stressful, please don't...

Oh. It was your boyfriend, Remington. You shuffled yourself around on the couch, rolling over and barely avoiding tumbling off as you answered the phone.

“Hello?”

“Hey Y/N, how are you doing?” Remington's voice was a comforting sound on the other end of the phone.

“I'm good, you??” You shot back immediately, so quick that Remington got suspicious.

“..Riiight, I don't believe that but I'm not gonna push you right now. I'm actually not doing so good,” he said, slowly, “Today has just been shitty, and anyway I was wondering if you're free?”

“Ah, yeah, when?”

“Um, now? It's OK if not, I get that there's a lot going on it's just that, I dunno, I miss you.” His voice was so soft and sweet and you could almost picture him scrunching up his face a little and rubbing the back of his neck. The image melted your heart. How was he so impossibly cute all the time?

“I'm free, and I miss you too, trust me.”

It had been a few weeks since the two of you had seen each other, Remington was busy writing and recording his and his brother's new album, and you were busy with work and family responsibilities. There wasn't much time to see each other, and it was breaking both of your hearts. But you tried not to think about it, you talked every day anyway. But seeing him tonight would definitely revive you.

“So, got any ideas?” you asked, changing the mood to something lighter.

“Would it be OK if I come over? I just feel like staying in, but I also can't stand being away from you any longer, and I really can't handle another hour alone with my brothers.” Remington laughed a little and you smiled without meaning to, only able to imagine the nonsense the boys had gotten up to that day, let alone week.

“'Course! Just, um, give me a few, OK? I'm a bit of a mess at the moment.” You thought of the pile of clothes all around your room and the stack of dishes.

“Aw baby, you know I don't care about any of that, but if it makes you feel better would half an hour be good?”

“Yeah, it should be.” There was silence as the conversation started to end, then you spoke. “Oh! Wait, would it be annoying if I ask you to bring some dinner? I don't have it in me to cook.”

“Sure! What do you feel like?”

“Ah, surprise me, I trust you.” You smiled into the phone and could just about feel him smiling back. He let out a slight laugh of delight and you both said your good byes and got ready.

You had just managed to change into something comfier than your work clothes (after the quick semi-cleaning) when you heard a knock on the door. You smiled, and practically ran to get the door.

“Hey!” A grinning Remington greeted you, with a plastic bag of take-away in one hand, and some flowers in the other. He held out the flowers with a cute little blush.

“Hi- aw! Baby, you didn't have to,” you said, cooing and taking the flowers, a little flustered by how considerate your boyfriend was.

“I don't have to, but I love to,” he said, stepping in the door and towards you with arms open for a hug. “Plus,” he said, arms around your waist “you deserve all the flowers in the world.” There was no time for you to swoon as his lips were already on your for a brief, honey-sweet kiss. When the kiss was over, Remington didn't move, he merely held his forehead against yours, eyes closed, and sighed, drinking in the moment that he had missed for so long. You couldn't help but watch him in awe, biting your lip, then rubbing your nose against his til he opened his eyes to see his favourite smile.

“Come on,” he said, brushing a hand against your cheek but pulling away, “or we'll never make it inside.”

After a few minutes, you both had a plate, stacked high with a few different types of Thai food. You were sitting on the floor in front of the couch, using the coffee table like a dinner table, purely because you could. You were adults, who was gonna say you couldn't? You snuggled up tight next to each other, as you both ate quickly, hungry from a hard week.

When Remington finished his plate he looked over at you. You looked at him. He looked at your plate, then back up to your eyes. And before you could say 'Rem, no' he had already taken the biggest piece of chicken from your plate. You playful whacked his arm and he laughed so hard he nearly choked. The smiles radiated from both of you, even though neither of you were talking.

Eventually, when the silence got too much for you, you turned the TV on and tried to pick a movie. You were browsing Netflix and Remington was browsing your DVD collection when his eyes fell upon “Mamma Mia”. Without saying a word, he started to quietly hum the tune. Then he opened his mouth to keep singing the tune.

“neh neh neh nEEEEH, NE NE NE NE NE,” he sang, now he was facing away from you, one hand holding the DVD as his hands rose to the sides, shaking his hips and doing jazz hands. By the time he finished the intro, he turned around and started full on performing.

“I'VE been cheated by YOU since I don't know when, de de de de da da, de de de de da,” he sang the lyrics as he walked towards you, one leg crossing in front of the other, pointing when he said 'you' and waving his hand. He then gestured to you to sing the next part. You shook your head, so he continued himself. But it was too much for you and you joined him, and in a matter of seconds, the two of you were jumping around the living room, singing to the song that was playing in both your heads, and above all, being absolute idiots. Your cat watched you both, unamused, but you and Remington were having the time of your lives. When you both finished singing you collapsed laughed so hard even though you were trying to catch your breaths.

“So,” Remington said, after calming down a little, “I think I know what we're watching tonight.”

“I think so too,” you said with a cheeking grin, before giving you boyfriend a peck and putting the DVD in the player.

By the time the movie was done, you were curled up into Remington's chest, his arms around you, both of you smiling with slightly sore throats from singing so much. As the credits rolled, he gave you a little peck on the top of your head.

“Thanks for letting me come over, Y/N.” Remington said, grateful for even a moment with you. The comment worried you though, did he want to leave so soon? It's only... Oh. Eleven thirty.

“Do you think you can stay the night?” you asked.

“For you? I'd do pretty much anything.” the smile he gave you warmed your heart, and you lent in for a soft kiss. But the kiss only proved how much you had missed each other, and the soft love turned into a passionate gesture.

The kiss was broken for only a few breaths and the two of you shuffled closer together, entangling your arms around each other as your lips met once more. Remington gently bit your lower lip, causing you to moan and he took this opportunity to explore your mouth while his hands ran through your hair. The heated kiss stopped after a minute to slow gentle kisses while the two of you got your breaths back again. When you opened your eyes Remington had his forehead pressed against yours, looking into your eyes with such adoration and a passionate fire that would never go out. Wordlessly, you stood up, took his hand and walked to your bedroom.

Taglist: @sab-falco @fedorable-killjoys @levyasakura @smiling-girl (again thanks for the request!)

[sharksa-shivers]

"OMG BEST BOYFRIEND EVER!!!!" "Ehhhh, i dunno bout the best but i'm trying...😏"

More Sharksty? Why of course!!! --- (We see Kristy in bed sick when Sharky comes into the main bunkroom…But not fully in…)

Sharky:(opening the door and looking over at Kristy, concerned)…So are you sick? Max and Lady were saying you were…

Kristy:(coughing, nods, not feeling good)Yeah, i think i have a cold or something…

Sharky:(we see him kinda perk up a bit, boyfriend mode activated as we see him grab a couple plastic bags he has in the hall, coming in and closing the door, smiling)Well in that case- (he moves over to Kristy, opening up the bags and showing her what he's got, caring)So i got you a couple of those mini pizzas you like from that one place, garlic cheese bread too with it, i got you some of those strawberry pocky things and some strawberry donuts, i got you some lemon lime soda cuz i wasn't sure what kinda sick you were, wasn't sure if you were throwing up or anything so yeah, lemon lime soda…I got you a few of those manga books you were wanting also just in case you were contagious or anything so you wouldn't be bored BUT IF YOU AREN'T, i also got some cool horror anime movies that we can watch together while you rest easy…

Kristy:(taking all this in, she just sits there a moment before breaking her quiteness and hugging Sharky full force, very much happy with this)BEST BOYFRIEND EVER!!!!!! HOLY CRAP!!!!!!

Sharky:(taking the hug, caring but trying to downplay it some, shrugging and then hugging her back)Eh, dunno bout the best but uhhhhh, i'm certainly trying heh… ------------------ (Also speaking of Sharky biting and nipping Kris on accident lol oof...) --- (So Sharky and Kristy are watching a movie and Kristy's eating the stuff Sharky gave her…We see them on the couch together downstairs and Kristy's nomming on some of the garlic cheese bread when she looks over at Sharky.)

Kristy:(kindly, caring and offering him some garlic cheese bread)Hey, you maybe want a piece?

Sharky:(thinks a moment, smirks)Yeah actually, that'd be nice.

Kristy:(getting an idea, moving over with it)Open your mouth then, i wanna like feed it to you.

Sharky:(laughs a bit)What? Why?

Kristy:(caring)Just cuz i wanna.

Sharky:(rolls his eyes a bit but decides to go with it)Alright, fine. Pop the bread in then…(opens his mouth)

(Kristy tries but both her and Sharky are kinda dumbasses so when she puts it in, Sharky isn't really thinking and although it is very gentle, he accidentally bites her)

Kristy:(pulling her hand away, laughing)Ow!! Dude, you bit me!!

Sharky:(his mouth full now, freaks out a bit)Wait did i????

Kristy:(laughing, nods)Yeah, you did!!! Ya derpass!!!!

Sharky:(apologetic, feels very bad, still chewing his bread)Oh god, i'm so sorry!!!!! Oh god, did i hurt you??? Please tell me i didn't hurt you!!!! I didn't draw blood did i???

Kristy:(looking at her hand, brushing the bite off, hugs him)No no no, none of that!!! You just kinda startled me honestly hehehehe, but i guess that's also kinda on me, i forgot about your teeth and how sharp they are…

Sharky:(swallows his breadbite, awkward, rubbing the back of his neck)Yeah, i guess they are pretty sharp huh? I forget that too sometimes…

Kristy:(caring still, loving)Please don't let this make you feel bad the rest of the night, please, i promise you it's ok…

Sharky:(blushing)Ehhhh, no promises on my end…

Kristy:(topic changing, cuddling him)The bread at least was good yeah?

Sharky:(nods, wrapping an arm around Kristy)Yeah, it was heh. Nice and cheesey…Probs woulda been better with some sauce though… -------------------- (banging fist on the floor) YOUR HONOR, CAN YOU SEE WHY I LOVE THEM SO MUCH NOW??? FUCK!!!!! THEY LITERALLY ARE SO FUCKING ADORABLE, ARGH!!!!!!!!! Also the "idk about the best but i'm trying..." bit with Sharky...He says that alot but cmon Sharkson, Kristy clearly is speaking facts fhfdhdjkfhfdj

[ketastore]

sleepover

the science team x gn! reader, 2nd pov

can be read as either romantic or platonic

...long, i went wild with this one >:)

content warning for bugs. nothing bad happens, there's just a little bug

ohh btw this story takes place in an au where the science team + reader escaped black mesa and are now living normal lives with normal jobs (while succesfully avoiding the authorities! they did wipe out the entire us army after all)

gordon works in a coffee shop, tommy is a veterinarian, benrey is a twitch streamer and lives in tommy's basement, dr. coomer and bubby are married and both work as chemistry teachers at some random high school lol. idk what the reader does, you guys decide :) this information is totally irrelevant to the story i just felt like sharing it :D

☆

poke.

poke poke.

...poke.

alright this was starting to get annoying. you turned to your right, glaring at the person attacking you with pokes. of course he was grinning like the little shit he is. "benrey. stop it." you said in annoyance.

you were currently lying on the cold floor of gordon's apartment, body snug in an old sleeping bag that totally failed at keeping you warm. to your right lies benrey, who's only wearing some random pajamas that he probably stole from gordon, no sleeping bag or blanket or anything.

he's still wearing his security guard helmet though. you learned pretty quickly that benrey enjoys wearing it all the time. you've never seen him take it off actually. you're cool with that tho. it suits him! very benrey-like.

your glare softened at the sight of benrey only lying in oversized pajamas. he.. probably wasn't human, but you still didn't want him to catch a cold. he was your friend! "dude, aren't you cold?" you slipped one hand from your sleeping bag and tucked a strand of benrey's hair away from his eyes. "you should get a blanket or something, i dunno. stop poking me, by the way."

poke.

sigh. how childish.

how did you even end up like this, you ask? well, someone from the science team (cough cough- bubby) decided it would be funny to have a sleepover at gordon's house (without his permission or knowledge, of course). you were totally coming too, but you still felt bad for gordon, so you made him some cookies as compensation. fortunately, those cookies made gordon refrain from throwing everyone from the same window that you guys snuck in through. yay! you don't blame him for freaking out so much though. you would also get pretty scared if a group of 5 people randomly snuck into your apartment through a bathroom window at 10 pm, haha.

however, gordon realized that even if he got your wonderful cookies, he was still going to suffer the night. oh well! at least you apologized for intruding. he searched through his house for some sleeping bags and blankets, and thankfully there was enough for everyone. benrey, coomer and bubby each got a sleeping bag, tommy got a comically large one because he's the tallest, gordon took some old blanket and you got (allegedly) the best sleeping bag that gordon owns. it was your favorite color, and yeah, it was comfy, but it wasn't thick enough to keep you warm for the whole night.

well, at least you had something unlike benrey, but looking at him now, you doubted he felt cold. where even is his sleeping bag..?

after watching some crappy horror movies and eating pizza that benrey somehow obtained (none of you ever recall him ordering it), we called it a night and went to sleep.. and now, here you are! cold. tired. lying on the hard floor and desperately trying to sleep while a midget of a man is constantly poking your cheek. you had no idea what time it was, maybe around 2 am? you were pretty sure everyone else was asleep.

poke.

"aughh, dude, please, stop it–" benrey suddenly grabbed both your cheeks and smushed your face. "HAHA. fish." he said while continuing to play with your face, merely inches from you, while ignoring your pleas for him to stop. just why can't he go bother someone else?

"get off of me!" you pushed his face away from you with your hand, "personal space!" benrey let go of your face, only to bite your hand instead. you hissed in pain "ow ow ow! motherffffu–"

ok. it didnt really hurt, but the audacity!!

"benrey, why do you hurt me like this?" you faked a sad voice. you knew benrey is just being the weirdo he is. it was funny, but also kinda annoying. you still wanted to sleep! why can't he be more like tommy? that guy never bit your hand like this!

"ish funny," he mumbled with your hand still trapped between his teeth. again, it really didnt hurt. "gordon ate my sleeping bag so now i'm bored.

"NO I DIDN-  no i did not!!"

"oh, hi gordon! i didn't know you're awake." you looked over at the brunette on the left. hm, you swear he was way on the other side of the room the last time you checked. when did he get so close?

when did he even get up? did you wake him? you hope you didn't! gordon can be extra grumpy during the night, so you don"t wanna deal with that. the man was currently wearing an old graphic band t-shirt and his hair was down, which is quite a rare sight to see. usually his hair is tied into a long ponytail. right now his hair was messy, but it framed his face just right and looked really fluffy!

man, you really need to ask him about his hair routine. how did he manage to keep his hair so pretty all the time?

your thoughts were occupied by gordon's fluffy hair that you didnt even notice you were staring. oops. gordon's death glare changed into a shy smile when he noticed you staring at him. he looked at you, voice quieter than it was seconds ago. "h-hey y/n! is.. benrey bothering you? should i punch him?" you giggled at the offer. "no, dont punch him, but you might need, i dunno, a wrench to get him off of me or something," you waved nonchalantly with your free hand as if your other hand wasn't currently being chewed on.

ah yes. this is fine.

gordon's glare returned, this time directed at benrey, and it seemed that both him and the midget got into a staring contest. you felt kind of uncomfortable laying between two arch enemies (or two gay homosexuals, depends on interpretation), so you let out a groan of annoyance for what seemed to be the 100th time. man, you just wanted to sleep!

"guys! if you wanna fight so bad, go play another game of monopoly, i'm tired and cold and i just wanna–" without a warning, you were embraced by two pairs of arms into a tight and warm double-hug. both benrey and gordon wrapped their arms around your torso.

well.. this is something.

none of you said a word for a while. their reaction was so sudden and unexpected that you had no idea what to say! you curiously looked left and right, benrey was staring into nothingness with his usual poker face, while gordon was actively avoiding your gaze, his cheeks were slightly dusted red. was embarrassed? what for..? to you this felt pretty silly and you couldn't help but let out a laugh. "woah, would you look at that! i'm not cold anymore! hehe.." you curled your arms around both men as you pet gordon's fluffy hair and rub circles into benrey's back. "thanks guys!"

if anyone right now would see you being sandwiched between two of your homies, you would probably feel embarrassed too, but no one else was awake! so that means there's zero chance of someone taking photos of you three to use as black mail. besides, this was very comfy. your friends were just trying to keep you warm, right? nothing weird about that.

after you 3 settled into the cuddle pile, you all stayed quiet. however, you swear you could hear faint purring coming from benrey. gordon's tense posture seemed to relax slowly aswell. you were glad to know that both of your friends felt comfy just liked you did.

and now you can sleep :)

☆

hah! or so you thought!

4 am. two hours later and you're already awake again.

turns out that gordon and benrey got so comfy that they (albeit accidentally) kicked you out from the group hug and instead decided to cuddle with eachother. you weren't angry at them, but you still felt annoyed that you're awake again.

no more sleepovers at gordon's house! sleep here is constantly interrupted, 0 stars!

you got up as quietly as possible to search for your phone. yeah, you weren't mad at gordon and benrey, but you would be a fool to pass this perfect opportunity to get some blackmail material! photos of those two cuddling without knowing? you just hit a golden vein! maybe with those photos you could finally convince benrey to stop stealing food from you.

now, your phone is hopefully still in your bag. that'y where you put it last time, right? and your bag is in the kitchen.. right?

let's go check out the kitchen then!

you tiptoed through the living room as quiet as a mouse to not wake up the two lovebirds that kicked you out. on the other side of the living room were dr. coomer and bubby, both asleep next to eachother in the typical dad napping position, with their hands crossed over their chest and stuff. it looked pretty funny. once you get your phone they are totally going to be your next victims!

hmm, where was tommy though? you looked over at the couch and saw the faint outline of the comically large sleeping bag. it was really dark and you couldn't see tommy well, but you assume he was asleep like everyone else.

finding your way into gordon's kitchen was harder than you thought. his house isn't that big, but it's dark and you don't want to wake up anyone by switching the lights on. you've been at this place only like two times before, so the only choice you had left was to blindly go into some room and hope that it's the kitchen. also, you had to make sure to not bump into anything, trip, or make too much noise. how fun!

after what felt like an hour but in reality was only like a minute, you stepped into a room that you assumed was the kitchen. the room was quite spacious and the floor was cold. yep, this has to be the kitchen. you were like 80% sure! so, carefully, you took a step forward..

..only to trip over something and land on the floor with an undignifued yelp. you quickly sat up and tried to hush your hissing as you rubbed your left arm, which seemed to take most of the fall damage. well, that hurt a LOT. not only that but you also probably looked like a silly cartoon character slipping on a banana peel!

"ouch- damnit.. what was that?" it was your bag. you literally tripped over the same bag you were looking for. guess it found you first..?

ignoring the pain in your arm and your damaged pride (thank god no one was here to see you!) you picked up the traitorous bag and reached your hand inside it to fish out your phone. you were still determined to take photos of gordon and benrey hugging eachother, it's a long journey, but you're already halfway there! yanking the phone out, you turn it on to check the time. 4:21. aww, you just missed the weed time.

you got up, still looking into your phone to check if you got any new messages or notifications. you were about to leave the kitchen and return to the living room, when you noticed gordon's fridge right next to you.

well, a little midnight snack wouldn't hurt. technically it would be something more like.. an early morning snack, but whatever. either way, you are a bit hungry. gordon won't mind, right? you're his friend! his tired, hungry friend who's totally not going to take photos of him without his permission! (dont be like y/n kids)

you open the fridge with a mischievous smile, but upon looking inside, you notice it's a bit.. empty. no eggs, no milk, only some mustard and vegetables in the corner that seem to be rotting already. you frown. there's really nothing to eat! maybe gordon forgot to go to the grocery store for a restock? yea that sounds like him. you make a mental note to go shopping for gordon as soon as possible.

you reach your hand towards the fridge door to close it, only to see something directly above the fridge door.

and by something, you mean a hecking human face. the light from the fridge shined on it ominously. you jumped away from the fridge immediately. however, before the light completely gone away, you had enough time to do a double check.

"huh.. tommy?!"

you squinted. now that it was dark again, you couldn't tell if it was really him. your eyes seemed to get used to the dark quickly though. you could clearly make out a tall figure. tommy waved at you.

"hi y/n. s-sorry i didn't mean to scare you." he said softly. "i tried- i tried to say hello but i didn't know how, i really didn't wanna scare you." his tone was sad and apologetic.

"o-oh! don't worry, it's ok!" you said with a nervous smile. "but uh.. how long have you been.. here?" you really hope he didn't see you fall. it took tommy about a minute to reply, but you don't mind the long pauses he does sometimes.

"39 minutes! i was watching this bug. here. on this–.. window." he said happily while moving towards the window to point at the insect he meant. you, however, felt your cheeks heat up. he must have totally saw you fall, that's embarrassing!!

you looked at tommy, he seemed very happy to show you the bug for some reason. you pushed the thought of him thinking you're just some clumsy idiot to the back of your mind and followed him. at least you get to see a cool bug.

tommy was already pointing at the little creature. you weren't a big fan of insects, but you were a big fan of seeing your homies happy so you weren't complaining. the bug did look pretty cool ngl. you looked over at tommy, whose attention was completely dedicated to the little guy. how cute!

suddenly, you got an idea. you turned on your phone and connected to gordon's wifi. as far as you knew, you were the only one that gordon gave his password to. what a privilege! taking a quick photo of the bug with flash (fortunately the bright light didn't disturb tommy nor the bug) you opened google lens to search for what type of insect it is. a few images of various bugs popped up and you clicked on one that seemed identical to the one tommy was currently observing.

"hmm, it looks like the violet ground beetle! these guys are pretty shiny. look, tommy!" the tall man moves closer to you to check out the article that you found. his eyes seem to sparkle as he looks at the pictures.

"violet ground beetles are nocturnal, so you can often spot them during the night. they usually live in woodlands and gardens... hm.. oh! they can't fly, but they have an interestinb defense mechanism against predators." you read aloud, both you and tommy interested in the bug lore. "we should probably release him though.. i'm sure the little guy has friends and family he needs to return to! these bugs prefer the outdoor anyway.. i wonder how he got here, in the first place.." you rambled lost in thought.

tommy understood what you meant and carefully moved his hand towards the bug to scoop him up, then cradled it in his palm as it was a little baby. seeing tommy so gentle made you smile, he's such a kind person! benrey should learn a thing or two from him.

you opened the window while tommy brought the bug closer to his face to take a better look at it. you had no idea how tommy could see anything in the dark but you didn't want to disturb him. looking at the open window, you could feel the chilly nightime air. it felt nice.

"there we go! the little one can go now." tommy slowly put his hands through the window, waiting until the bug decided he wants to leave. not only 10 seconds later, the insect scuttled from tommy's palm onto the wall and slowly made it's way to the ground, leaving both you and tommy watching it with sad faces.

wait– what? did you seriously get emotionally attached to a bug?!

tommy looked down at you and smiled "thanks- for the help, y/n. i couldn't do it without you!" you literally only opened the window but alright. he seemed so genuinely grateful that you couldn't say anything but accept his thanks. "of course, glad to help, buddy!" you smiled and pat his shoulder. you were surprised by how much you had to stretch your arm just to reach his shoulder.. damn, he really do be tall.

the air around you two started to go from pleasantly chilly to freezing, so you closed the window. still feeling cold, you hugged yourself and looked back at tommy. "so... are you gonna go back to sleep or.."

"yeah, i- i just-.. no bug anymore so i go to bed. but i'll drink some water first, give me a second." you nod and wait for him to get a glass of water. he, however, got two, shoving the second one towards you.

"oh, for me? thanks, buddy!" how kind of him! you happily accepted the drink and gulped it down. you weren't really thirsty, but the water felt refreshing anyway. you both put the glasses down and then left the kitchen together, with you still clutching your phone in your left hand. the way back to the living room was actually much quicker. you didn't know where you were going, you just followed tommy who seemed much more familiar with the place. must be because tommy often hangs out over at gordon's place to play tekken.

as soon as you stepped into the living room, you tiptoed devilishly towards the sleeping duo that kicked you out of the cuddle pile. rubbing your hands together like an evil hamster, you whipped out your phone. this is the moment you've been waiting for! you quickly take a look at tommy who seemed a bit surprised by your behavior, just standing there in the doorway with a blank expression. he looked at you, then at your phone, then at gordon and tommy, and then back at you. oh no, is he upset? he probably doesn't agree with the thing you're about to do..

so imagine the surprise you felt when tommy raised his arm to give you a thumbs up, still holding that blank stare.

you grinned. did you just get a new partner in crime? woohoo :D

nothing was stopping you now.. looking back at the sleeping duo on the floor, your little grin spread into a wide evil villain smirk. you probably looked like the hecking grinch about the steal the christmas or something.

revenge >:)

☆

15 minutes have passed and you were quite satisfied with the pictures you got. currently you were sitting criss cross apple sauce on the couch and showing tommy, who was sitting right beside you, some memes you had on your phone. he really likes the minion ones you ironically saved from facebook.

both of you were trying your best to keep quiet to not wake up the rest of the science team, but you still had lots fun just chilling with tommy and trying not to laugh at pictures of funny cats. you began to feel tired though, you didnt mean to stay awake for so long after all.

letting out a big yawn, you unknowingly leaned towards tommy and rested your head against his shoulder. he really didn't seem to mind though. "alright bud, that's enough fun for tonight. lets go.. yawn.. back to bed." tommy hummed in agreement. you were about to get up and head towards your sleeping bag when it hit you - you didnt have a place to sleep at anymore!

gordon and benrey were still occupying your spot and you really didn't want to wake them up! maybe you could just sleep at gordon's bed? no, that would be rude. you don't even know where his bedroom is! well, you could try to just sleep on the floor without a blanket or a sleeping bag, but that would be very uncomfy.. oh, what to do now..

suddenly, tommy tapped your shoulder. "y/n- you-... uhh, wanna sleep.. here? in the big bag?" he pat the comically oversized sleeping bag for emphasis. "it's like- we're gonna be like two peas in a pod!" he stated matter of factly.

was tommy really offering you to just sleep next to him? fr? you didn't want to invade his space, but he didn't seem to mind you sleeping next to him. there was no other place to sleep, so this was the next best thing. tommy offered it himself, so it's okay to accept, right?

"hm.. ok!" you say enthusiastically. this should be fun! tommy smiled, very pleased by your answer. he unzipped the sleeping bag and you noticed it was actually one of those double sleeping bags they make for couples. you both climbed inside and got comfy.. this felt very nice! it was much warmer than the sleeping bag you had before.

looking over at tommy, you grinned. it was really nice of him to let you sleep next to him! slowly you reached out  towards his head and pet his hair gently. "thank you so much, tommy. you're a real friend." tommy answered you with a sleepy hum and you smiled at him softly. "goodnight."

and then you guys fall asleep hugging eachother hehe. how nice it is to have homies!!!

☆

morning came soon. you got up with a yawn while rubbing your still sleepy eyes and noticed that tommy wasn't next to you anymore. you slowly stood up and stretched, your back aching. man, the couch sure was better than the damn floor but your back would still prefer a soft comfy bed. what seemed to get your attention though was the smell of the air. it reminded you of the first time you tried to make a cake but burned it instead. except this time, the smell was way worse.

oh. bubby must be cooking!

your assumption turned out to be true. the horrid smell got stronger as you were heading towards the kitchen and upon entering you were met with gordon yelling.

"MY STOVE! NOO!"

gordon was lying on the floor in front of the new stove he got just a few months ago, hitting his fist against the cold tiles while letting out a cry of defeat. next to him stood coomer, who was gently patting gordon's back to comfort him. tommy and benrey were both sitting at the table while watching the whole fiasco. benrey was nibbling a fork for some reason.

right next to the stove stood the culprit, the criminal himself. bubby was wearing an apron that said 'queen of the kitchen' while awkwardly leaning over the stove to check what remained of his "scrambled eggs". he poked into the weird burnt material curiously with a spatula. "gordon. your stove just ruined my eggs."

"I TOLD YOU YOU'RE NOT SUPPOSED TO LIGHT THE EGGS ON FIRE!!" gordon cried out, still on the floor. you walked over to him without a word and crouched down to pet his hair. coomer noticed your presence and greeted you with a loud "hello, y/n!" and then walked over to bubby to pat his shoulder with a proud smile on his face. "professor bubby, you've outdone yourself. this is the 6th stove you broke in a week! you've beaten last month's record!"

coomer's praise was genuine, but bubby didn't appreaciate it. he swatted the spatula he was holding at his husband while hissing. "shut up! it's not my fault that gordon's stove can't handle my wonderful cooking." he crossed his arms angrily, and then he got an idea. "hm.. maybe i should try cooking at y/n's house instead.."

well, that got your attention.

"OH! uhh.. how about- how about no more sleepovers for a while? ..please?" you pleaded, desparate. "don't kill my stove!" you love bubby, you really do, but you are never letting that pyromaniac anywhere near your house, much less your precious kitchen. as you sat next to gordon and pet his hair, you suddenly remember something. you checked gordon's fridge last night and you clearly remember the lack of eggs, or any fresh food for that matter.. so where in the world did bubby get the eggs??

you looked up at bubby, who still seemed a bit frustrated. "bubby..? where did you get the eggs?" the man looked down at you and his expression softened when he realized it was you talking. "oh! benrey gave them to me." he replied and honestly you weren't that much surprised by his answer. you turned your head towards benrey and stared at him, silently asking for an explanation. when he noticed your gaze on him, benrey stopped chewing on the fork and spoke. "uhhh, yea i got them from the egg man."

"..the egg man?"

"the egg man."

okay. you have no idea what that implies. best case is that he stole them from one of gordon's neighbours. worst case is that.. uh, actually, you have no idea. maybe it's a good thing that none of you end up eating the suspicious (and burnt) scrambled eggs anyway. you pat gordon's back one last time and stood up. "c'mon, big guy, i'm sure insurance will cover for the damage. let's go shopping!" you offer him your hand with a smile and try your best to cheer him up. gordon wipes away at his eyes and stands up, looking at you while actively avoiding the rest of the guys in the kitchen. you were literally his only hope here!

you grinned back at him and squeezed his hand reassuringly. then you turned towards everyone else as if asking if they want to come with. all of them seemed okay with a quick trip to the grocery store, so you gave them some time to get dressed up and ready. y

you were about to leave the kitchen to get ready too when someone grabbed your wrist. you looked back and were met face to face with gordon. his expression was focused and determined, but then quickly turned shy and nervous when he realized how close your faces were. "y/n, i- uhh, i want to..." he clears his throat. "i just want to say thanks. you know, for everything." you looked at him surprised, why was he thanking you? you didn't help him with anything!

his words seemed so genuine though, you couldn't help but smile and just go with it. "aww, no problem, gordon!" you say as you happily wrap your arms around his neck and pull him into a tight embrace. you close your eyes and just enjoy the moment, which gordon is extremely glad for because you don't get to see how red his face got. after relaxing a bit into the hug, he wraps his arms around you and squeezes you once, which makes you giggle. you pull away after a while and with one smile sent to gordon you leave the kitchen to get dressed as well.

while getting dressed, you finally have the time and privacy to think about all the things that happened last night and this morning. all of your friends are so silly, but you can't deny how much you love all of them. they are so different from eachother and often fight one another, but they always manage to make up, which makes their bond stronger each day. you are so grateful to have this crazy group of dorks as your friends. you smile at the thought of them, it's like they are your second family..

the beautiful moment is unfortunately ruined by none other than gordon yelling. "BENREY!! WHERE DID YOU HIDE MY WALLET?!"

ah yes, your weird and loud second family.

[kevmania]

1-to-35

THANK U was willing to answer all of them heheehhehe. all these answers will apply to skimpus obviously

uhh idk purple..

He likes all kinds of music!! when i first made him i intended for him to be a big nu-metal fan but i just think he likes any music.. idk what his fav song would be since i don't think he could just choose a favorite.. BUT!! Flagpole Sitta by Harvey Danger is literally him.

Switchblade!! easy and convenient. but for his alter-ego thing, commander skimpus, he uses a flog.

hes pretty stupid i don't think he'd be a crafty individual at all

he wears anything i guess. he enjoys cross dressing!! and well most of the clothes he has are very ill-fitted.

he keeps his hair covering his eye gash cuz he's insecure :(

hamsters. i made this up on the spot idk i think he would like small animals

Skimp!! he gets called that by most of the other characters he interacts with.

literally anything. its hard for him to choose favorites honestly, but i know he loves sweet food ^__^

no jewelry :(

MY FAV QUESTION!! well i intended on skimpus being based on me since he was originally my persona but i got carried away and gave him his own little backstory. i guess he represents my insecurities LOL hes very nervous and is easily driven by his emotions like me!!

i made him in 2021 im pretty sure but for his age hes like early 20s.. still thinking of an exact age

english!!!

NOPE

small family. he doesn't even know anyone from his family besides his parents!!

no pets :(

Well when skimp ran away from home as a very young lad he lived on the streets with the junkies so he spent most of the time being isolated cuz the street junkies actually cared about him and didn't want him to get hurt in conflicts and whatevaa yeah. he didn't really have much fun besides doing drugs sometimes. AND THAT is also why skimpus is so short. drugs stunted his growth. and mal-nutrition too..

well he grew up around it so hes quite used to it. he partakes in all three quite a lot and he feels guilty right after it.. commander skimpus, however, very much enjoys it!!

Yes!! Literally anything that slightly bothers them ticks him off but if he takes his medication hes all good. mood stabilizers i guess?? i dunno i don't take meds.

NOPE he walks everywhere. i wouldn't trust him with a car.

with zeke, his best friend ^_^

not at all. have you seen his eye bags.

he has the same voice as me. a bit androgynous i guess..??

he likes to write songs

average hearing. his other eye is literally a gash so hes partially blind.

very clumsy. he has horrible posture.

he thinks sports are cool and stuff.. he likes hockey.

he usually acts very violent towards a person. skimpus is aroace like me and he absolutely despises intimacy, but he can get obsessed with people i guess? but he is usually held back since the though of a relationship disgusts him.

NOPPEEE

well hes a reanimated corpse what do you think he smells like

yes!! he likes getting useless crap, so basically anything!

literally the only habits i can think of for him are all destructive. I'll name them off anyway!! smoking, self mutilation, drinking, attacking people, dissociating.. idk that kinda stuff

a very troubled individual

He either thinks of himself as a burden or the greatest person who had ever lived. or sometimes he just thinks he's nothing

he literally ran away from home so NOPE.

[ionlytalktodogs]

Having a really hard time rn so if you'd feel comfortable may I request some of the 2AM rambles I've come to know you for? Dunno if this is inappropriate or not

So sorry it’s been like 20 hours since you sent this ask 😭 I didn’t see it bc I was ✨on a date✨ which I’ll get to in a sec

First of all, and this goes to everyone ever, send me any ask you want to. Just send it. If I think it’s rude or inappropriate I’ll just delete it. Never be scared to send me an ask I’m very open to asks

Second, I’m sorry you’re having a hard time 💞 I hope things get better. It’s not 2am but I have to get up early tomorrow so here is my midnight ramble about the last couple days.

So if anyone is not up to date on my lore I move into college in less than a week, which is WILD btw literally never thought I’d even be accepted to a college and now I’m not only accepted to my dream school but I’m moving in in less than a week? Hot damn.

So like my school has orientation but they broke up all the freshmen into groups? That are called primers? God I hope no one from my school is reading this. Anyway in my primer group is me, this kid who has 20 3DS(es?) that they’re bring to school to just…hand out to people(????), and my crush who I’m gonna refer to as this little blue diamond emoji 💠 bc it makes me think of them.

💠 and I are doing that sort of Lesbian Flirting thing where you’re both obviously interested in each other but worried that the other one is just being nice and you don’t wanna fuck it up so you’re like nooo I can’t just say how I feel bc she might just be a super nice person! We’re both constantly like “you’re so attractive I’d make out with you right now but no homo” (we are both lesbians) and it’s. But then today we agreed to be Harley Quinn and Poison Ivy for Halloween? And there’s like…nothing gayer than that so? Idk.

We went to the mall together on a Date-That-Wasn’t-Actually-a-Date-Because-We’re-Both-Into-Each-Other-But-Don’t-Want-to-Say-it-Because-What-if-She’s-Just-Being-Nice and that was cool bc…idk…I worry a lot about how ppl view me as a wheelchair user. Like…idk! It’s just. Hard! But 💠 is also disabled and it was just cool to hang out with another disabled person. Very cool <3

We have been texting 24/7. Just texting our thoughts to each other, texting about comics we like, texting about the eternal emptiness we feel inside from having to be away from each other until we move in next week (yes we’re very melodramatic). We only live like an hour and a half away from each other so it’s not like it’s long distance by any means but we don’t have time to drive to each other before moving in bc packing and the like. Also…we literally move in in less than a week lmao it makes sense to just wait

My new wheelchair bag came today and she offered to embroider it for me and I’m like 😭 that’s the nicest thing anyone has ever said to me. I might be giving her Mercane, at least to borrow, bc she has arthritis and has been wanting to try a folding cane for a while but they’re kinda pricy

Anywayyy my friend and I made a disabilities club for the school which is wild bc we haven’t even moved in yet lol but it’s taken off a lil bit. Right now it’s only freshmen but after we move in I wanna try to have like…meet ups and stuff. Hopefully then more upperclassmen will join! Love being around disabled ppl.

Also my roommate is super cool. He dyed his hair green so we match ✌️😭 so cool. He’s giving me his old Monster High DS game 💕💞💖💗

Also my bestie and I are finally gonna get to hang out!!!! I wish we were in the same primer 😔 but it’s okay bc we’ll hang out after the orientation anyway.

I made 30 or so kandi bracelets with the name of our school and I’m just gonna…give ‘em out at orientation. Way overkill? Yes. A little weird? Indeed. Am I doing it anyway? Absolutely.

I’m also low key famous now for something kind of embarrassing but that’s a ramble for another time.