#and she’s not the most accountable person so i’m scared that she’s not going to acknowledge how she hurt me or at least will try to deflect

[stonesandswords]

.

[bbyobbyo]

Ever since you stopped using his Spotify account in the mornings, you find other ways to mess with your boyfriend.

A short continuation of this fic, but can be read as a standalone.

content: fluff, established relationship, idol!Jihoon, banter, reader and jihoon just have a permanent jam session going on, they’re in love i swear

wc: 857

note: ahhh they’re back!! thank you to everyone who read the first part and gave it love😊 this has been rotting my brain for a while and i originally was playing with this concept for the original but couldn’t pull it together but we’re here now! shoutout to @highvern because it was partly inspired by her fic “Between the Titles” which is such a great read that i highly recommend along with literally everything else she writes!! all the songs featured here are real and from an era of kpop I hold near and dear to my heart so if you recognize any of them, you’re a real one 🥰

Jihoon is not a morning person, never has been. As he sits in the dressing room of the filming studio, he can feel his eyelids getting increasingly heavy. Some of his members are actively sleeping, in fact, and Jihoon knows he’ll be joining them soon if Wonwoo takes any longer in that makeup chair.

Blasting in his ears is his usual Bruno Mars playlist, a sad attempt to try to recover his energy before he knocks out next to Mingyu sleeping on a mat on the floor, but to no avail because his mind slowly slips away until a piercing airhorn noise jolts him awake.

SEVENTEEN TEEN TEEN NEOWANA SAI E

Uhh. This was definitely not his Daily Bruno Mars Mix.

He immediately searches his screen to find out what happened when he finds his answer in the form of a text from you.

[8:18 am] good morning sleepyhead :)

[8:18 am] hope I didnt scare you too bad :)

He scrunches his face up in disbelief, half amused that you managed to catch him off guard with possibly the most annoying wake up song on Seventeen’s discography, and half annoyed at the realization that he must’ve forgotten to cancel your Spotify Jam session from yesterday.

He decides to leave your text on read. After all, he has plenty of time to be petty today. Furiously searching through his library, he queues up a song and before Mingyu can finish singing the first chorus, he smashes the next track button in smug anticipation.

Now Playing: Fxxk U • Gain, Bumkey

And he doesn’t have to wait long before he gets your reply.

[8:20 am] oh i see how it is

Now Playing: This is War • MBLAQ

If Jihoon wasn’t awake before, he definitely is now. Even as he gets called in to do his makeup next, he thinks carefully about his next move.

Now Playing: LOSER • BIGBANG

…

Now Playing: WHO, YOU? • G-DRAGON

An audible scoffs escapes from his lips as he involuntarily tilts his head back in amusement, much to the dismay of his makeup artist who had just started on his foundation. He mutters a shy sorry before resuming his search for a reply. Maybe he needs to take a different approach to this if he hopes to continue having Jam sessions with you in the future.

Now Playing: Whatcha Doin’ Today • 4Minute

As Jihoon eventually discovers, his hopes to change the topic of conversation were in vain as two songs were suddenly queued one after another.

Now Playing: Why Don’t You Know • CHUNG HA, Nucksal

Next in Queue: Mind Your Own Business • Ailee

Jihoon thinks he’s met his match, coming to the realization that he could never out sass the love of his life. But he wasn’t willing to back down so easily either.

Now Playing: I’m so sick • Apink

Next in Queue: Because of you • After School

Your next move nearly sends him to tears.

Now Playing: Excuse Me • AOA

Next in Queue: You Don’t Love Me • Spica

Next in Queue: I ain’t going home tonight • Navi, Geeks

Next in Queue: I Don’t Need a Man • miss A

As he chuckles to himself for what seems like the hundredth time this morning, this newfound form of entertainment suddenly becomes incredibly precious. Although you see each other nearly every day, Jihoon realizes just how much he misses you, talking to you about everything and nothing at all, bantering like you’ve known each other for your entire lives.

Now Playing: Am I too easy? • U-KISS

...

Now Playing: Mystery • Beast

Even though he couldn’t be with you physically, he knew you were enjoying yourself just as much as him on the other side. He could almost picture your smile of satisfaction as you found your next song, knowing that he would appreciate your humor. And appreciate he did, happily tapping away at his screen until his makeup artist puts on his finishing touches and tells him to call the next member.

Now Playing: Gotta Go • CHUNG HA

Next in Queue: I’m Busy • 2NE1

Next in Queue: Plz Don’t Be Sad • HIGHLIGHT

…

Now Playing: Okay Dokey • MINO, ZICO

Little does he know that his members are in the corner snickering at the sight, knowing that only one thing could have their producer smiling like an idiot at his phone the whole morning.

Soon enough, Jihoon and his members get swept up into their schedule involving the filming of various contents for their Youtube Channel, a task that usually takes the entire day if a game is involved. Thankfully, the game allowed for members to go home early, a rare treat considering how competitive his members can get when it comes to shooting content.

After his usual rounds of “good work everyone” to the company staff and his members, he gets ready to see the person who been on his mind (and in his ears) since the morning. Taking out his phone, he queues one last song while exiting the building.

Now Playing: Run to you • SEVENTEEN

[formulafics]

❀ NEW DESIRE | MV1

SCENARIO: you and max are childhood friends. despite claiming a platonic relationship - or rather, not claiming a romantic one, fans are certain that there’s more to what you both have, especially when max openly simps for you on streams, and most definitely when his private account gets leaked.

PAIRING: max verstappen x fem!reader

AN: i am so sorry this has taken me so long to get to! that being said, i hope you still enjoy it! thank you for your patience and your request 🫶🏻 also i did use google translate for the dutch part so if you speak dutch im so sorry LMFAO

as always, a shoutout to @renarots because these fics truly would not be as good without their input. <3

if you saw me change the title, no you didn’t

MASTERLIST

YNLN on Instagram stories

grandprixsandgossip on instagram

14,567 likes

grandprixsandgossip for a long time, fans of max verstappen have questioned his relationship with childhood friend yn ln. recently, the formula one drivers’ private instagram account posts were leaked after a fan somehow was accepted to follow his private account, which features many pictures of him and yn, dating all the way back to 2014.

you can find the archive of his posts on our website by following the link in our bio. while we weren’t able to gather every comment and like, we were able to get a majority of the posts!

what are your thoughts?

view all 782 comments

formulaverstappen okay so this is pure he-said-she-said, but apparently on the holidays post, max’s sister commented “just friends? 😉” and max responded with the 😳 emoji I AM SICK

rizzciardo anyone who still thinks they’re just friends is LYING to their self

lnnation haunted by the fact that yn learned dutch for max and she helped him learn english

formulanorriz if he doesn’t ask her out at this rate, IM GOING TO

GRANDPRIXSANDGOSSIP.COM

maxemillianv on instagram

maxemillianv goede race, nog betere mensen ❤️ of moet ik zeggen persoon haha (great race, even better people or should i say person haha)

ynln zoveel liefde voor jou. ik ben zo trots op je ❤️🏆 (so much love for you. i’m so proud of you. )

maxemillianv on instagram

maxemillianv out of office

maxemillianv on instagram

maxemillianv happy holidays 🎄

victoriaverstappen just friends? 😉

It’s funny, the way Max is. He’s blunt all the time, but this is different. A part of you is worried that maybe he’s upset, that perhaps something like this will be the reason you and him stray apart - you can’t imagine it. The thought of being anything but with Max matches your chest tighten, and even though you’d like to think that isn’t the case, you can’t be sure.

The wait for Max to arrive at your house is almost torturous. Your mind is racing, and by the time you hear his car pull up, you’re damn near shaking out of your skin. He doesn’t even have to knock or ring the doorbell - hell, he’s barely out of the car when you open your front door and step outside. You study his body language, trying to determine what exactly to expect. You just can’t clock it. With a sharp inhale, you lock your door and then make your way towards the car.

“Is everything okay?” you ask, uncertainty making your voice waver. “Yes,” Max responds simply. It’s a genuine yes, and in fact, he sounds almost happy. Your brows furrow in confusion as he opens the passenger side door for you, and you genuinely don’t think you could be more puzzled. You press your lips together as he returns to the drivers seat and starts the car again, not waiting to pull out of the driveway.

“Max, you’re scaring me,” you say. Scared isn’t the right word, but it’s something along those lines. His eyes stay on the road, yours are fixed on his face, still trying so desperately to read him. He glances at you, offers a small smile, then reaches over to grab your hand. He intertwined your fingers, assuring you that there’s nothing to worry about. It’s still odd - the whole situation, but that does make you feel more relaxed.

It’s quiet for longer than you’d like it to be. Aside from the radio, which is on a low volume, and the smooth rumble of the vehicle, it’s silent.

Finally, Max speaks. “I’m not worried about the posts,” he says, glancing at you for the second time. You find yourself wishing he could look at you for longer, a weird feeling washing over you as his eyes return to the road. He squeezes your hand subconsciously, his thumb soothing over the back of it. “Seriously?” you almost forgot to respond, but at the last minute, you remember his statement. “Seriously,” Max hums. The smile returns to his lips, and much to your relief, he expounds.

“Sure, it’s not ideal, but at the same time,” he pauses, and you can tell he’s trying to think of how to describe it. He chuckles briefly, “The only way to put it is that it’s made me realize that you’re so much more than a good friend.”

You’re still stumped. Now, you’re realizing that you don’t even know where Max is taking you - not that you’re worried about it, but the whole situation is just so strange, especially for you and Max. Thus, you remain silent, eyes never leaving him. You’re waiting for him to say something else, and he’s waiting for you to respond, assuming that you’d understand what he’s saying. Hes the first to realize that you don’t understand, and amused smile playing on his lips at your confusion. “Hold on, you’ll know what I mean when we get there,” He says, and this is somehow so Max, but not him at all, leaving you to sit silently, at least a million thoughts filling your mind.

Max pulls into a parking lot, and it only takes you a moment to realize you know where you are. You’ve been here with him once before, and you still remember that night so vividly. That was the first - and only - time you had ever questioned your feelings for Max. Any other time, you never had to think about how you felt. You knew you were happy with him, and it was the same for him. You didn’t need to know if you loved him, and he didn’t need to know if he loved you.

Now that the memories are coming back to your mind, it begins to dawn on you, what Max said. Regardless, you stay quiet and let him guide you into the club, hand still in his. He takes you to the very spot you both sat the first night you came here, and this time, rather than an empty booth and table, there’s a large bouquet of white roses sitting atop the table, a small note folded beside them. You aren’t sure what to say, or what to do. Your eyes flicker between the roses, the note, and Max, who carefully pulls you closer, his free hand now resting on the small of your back.

“I’ll give you the choice - you can read the card or I can relay it to you,” he says. You choose what first comes to mind. “Relay it to me.” Max nods, then turns you to face him, his hands on your waist. Instinctively, you place yours on his shoulders. “Will you be my girlfriend?” He asks, and even though you’re certain that his words are the briefest summary of what’s in the card, you can’t be bothered. A smile takes over your expression and you nod. Max smiles too, pulling you into a tight hug.

The rest of the night, you continued on like you would have had he not asked you to be his girlfriend. There was no need for things to be different. In fact, the only thing that would change from here would be the pure admiration you both have always had for one another, and that was perfectly fine with you. Somewhere along the line, a certain friend showed up, and you did eventually read the card.

Safe to say, Max’s recap of the words written in the card were indeed brief. Your heart is happy knowing that only you would see such a soft, loving side of him, and only you would be able to clearly picture your best friend- boyfriend, all mushy as he writes the card.

maxverstappen1 on instagram

liked by ynln, landonorris, danielricciardo, pierregasly, and 324,512 others

maxverstappen1 my ❤️

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landonorris okay i guess we don’t do photo creds anymore 😒

⤷ maxverstappen1 👍📸

ynln so much love for you always. ❤️

⤷ maxverstappen1 ❤️🔄

⤷ formulaverstappen IS THIS HIS WAY OF SAYING THAT BACK TO YN??? THERE ARE REAL TEARS IN MY EYES

victoriaverstappen very ‘just friends’ of you

⤷ maxverstappen1 👀

⤷ mv331lvr YALL EITHER GET THIS OR YOU DONT IM GOING INSANE

ln4nation THE FACT THAT LANDO TOOK THESE AND WAS THERE WITJ THEM IM GAGGED

papayabull YN AND MAX CONFIRMED DATING THIS IS THE BEST DAY OF MY LIFE

TAGLIST

@renarots @jsjcue @treehouse-mouse @vellicora @spidersophie @arkhammaid @harrysdimple05 @minkyungseokie @leclercvsx @sleepeatread @kortneej81 @elliegrey2803 @i-love-ptv @motorsp0rt @fastcarsandshit @marshmummy @jellyfish123guts @illicitverstappen @lovstappen @sadieurlady @piasstrisblog @pretty-little-bunny382728 @lokietro @stopeatread

Thank you for reading! 🌷

[shikai-the-storyteller]

I've been thinking a lot about Leonarda's not-death ever since it happened back in April.

("What death?" you might ask, to which I say: "EXACTLY!")

Back in mid-April, Vegetta and Leonarda were mining together in a one-block wide tunnel. A mob (a Petriman) got between the two of them, and Vegetta told Leonarda to step back while he took care of it. At this point, they'd spent enough time together that he trusted Leo to listen to him.

Instead, she was killed by the same sweeping edge bug that killed her siblings.

-

Vegetta's reaction here is what's really interesting to me. Unlike most other parents on the Island, there are no shouts or tears – only a very brief "Hmm" and then silence. He very quietly takes stock of the situation, saying "Vegetta, no" and wondering aloud why Leo didn't defend herself. In chat, Foolish says "It was a bug, right? LAG" to which Vegetta slowly responds "Yes, lag. Bug." (Despite this, Foolish still asks "WHAT HAPPENED" in chat, though Vegetta doesn't reply).

Instead, he creates a slightly wider space in the tunnel where Leo's body is. He continues quietly taking stock of the situation, wondering why Leo didn't defend herself (which is what necessitated his intervention). She'd been lagging a lot that day, and he figures that must be the cause, and eventually when Leo re-appears out of thin air in the middle of the cave and collects her stuff, she confirms that the lag got to her and that's why she didn't fight the mob.

Now here's where things get interesting:

Vegetta checks the tab list. Online, it's just him, Leonarda, Roier, and Foolish. He quietly tells Leonarda "The body has already disappeared, and without a body, there is no crime. Nothing is happening. Did you die?" Leo shakes her head, and Vegetta shakes his head too, and in the kind voice he uses sometimes with Leo, he says: "I believe you have not died. Where is the body? It isn't anywhere, no mija. If it was a mistake, it was a mistake."

Leo says: "I saw Diosito (God) pa, and I was scared. God, what am I doing here?" and Vegetta laughs, telling her it's alright. Leo says "No pasa nada (don't worry / nothing happened)" and Vegetta says: "And the people who are watching us have not seen it either." To Foolish and Roier, he messages: "Secreto."

And the funniest thing about this is it worked.

Not a single person spoke about it. I saw this entire event go down live and I didn't see a WHISPER of what transpired among fans. I can't even remember if the QSMP official accounts talked about it (they sure didn't mention it in Vegetta's recap of the day). We could discuss this in meta terms of course– Leo was having known lag issues that day, Vegetta's beloved by the admins so of course they're willing to turn a blind eye rather than slap a "?" over Leonarda's life on the Eggstatistics, but meta talk isn't what I'm interested in here.

I'm interested in q!Vegetta, the weird "god-adjacent" aura he's got, and the way the universe bends to his will.

Before he took a break from the server, Rubius seemed to be a caretaker for the Eggs who died (for example, he was present when Maxo, Quackity, and Mariana & Slime said their final goodbyes to Trumpet, Tilin, and JuanaFlippa). Because of his role as an "angel" and some of his dialogue during the early days of the server, it's not a stretch to say he probably came to collect any Egg who lost a life. I can imagine he did the same when he saw Leonarda die – that is, until Vegetta said "And the people who are watching us have not seen it either." Realistically, we know Vegetta was saying this to Chat (and possibly the admins as well), but again, we're looking at this from an "in-universe" perspective.

I wonder if Vegetta was aware of Rubius' role, and this was his way of telling Rubius "No. I won't allow that to happen." We know Rubius has a soft-spot for Vegetta (and we also know that Rubius was cast out of heaven several months later) so it makes me wonder if these two instances are connected.

Either way, this isn't the first time the laws of the QSMP universe have bent for Vegetta, and I certainly don't think it'll be the last.

Rubius or no, Leo didn't die that day.

Vegetta made sure of it.

[landososcar]

so high school ; JB5

pairing(s) ; jude bellingham x singer!reader , jude bellingham x student!reader

summary ; twitters favourite new(ish) artist drops her new album right during her school year.

warnings ; nothinggggg & mainly just fluff bc i love happy people

note ; SORRY ITS SHORT AHHAHA, i’ll post a new lando fic soon i just have no inspiration… ignore any dates that are wrong or don’t match - im lazy. also this is VERYYYY LOOSLY based off so high school lol (it’s mainly the aristotle line)

instagram !

liked by judebellingham, taylorswift, and others

youruser surprise !!!!! as an end of term present (for myself🤭🥳) and in honour of knowing the loml for 15 years, here’s 15 new songs for you guys to (hopefully) enjoy 😊 noah, thank you for trusting me and letting me join you on what might be one of my favourite songs ever!! i loveeee youuuu. && to my jude<3 thank you for inspiring me every single day of our lives. i love you bigger than the whole sky 🩵🩵 (guys he’s actually v v talented and he helped me write scared of my guitar, hard to sleep, and feels like) j, you are my safe place and these songs — especially the ones i haven’t let you hear yet — are for you.

ps guys idk how to only write happy songs but jude is the only one who makes me feel safe enough to express my emotions through my songs 😁 i looooovvveee him and am NOT 🙅‍♀️ breaking up with him. he is stuck with me forever💞

‘the alchemy’ is YOURS tonight at midnight 💓

view all comments

user1 WHAT

user2 YOU CANT JUST DROP THIS ON US WTF

oliviarodrigo my girl💞💞 i’m so so soooo excited😭

user3 GIRL I KNOW YOU DIDNT JUST CALL THE ALBUM ‘the alchemy’ FOR NO REASON. WHERE TF IS THE TITLE TRACK I KNOW YOUVE GOT HER SOMEWHERE

youruser jude and i love the alchemy the most out of all the songs and wanna keep her just ours for a little bit longer but maybe if you guys enjoy these songs i’ll let you have my baby

user4 YNAJDKJSKDKDIS

user5 WHATTTT songs did she not let jude hear omfg i need to know

youruser he’s heard them all except for daylight, paper rings & so high school lollll

judebellingham refreshing my spotify every minute til midnight you guys don’t understand she’s kept these songs in a VAULT

user6 jude i know you love spotify but apple music get new music 10 minutes early xxx

judebellingham just made an apple music account

user7 TEN MINS TIL THE ALBUM OF THE YEAR DROPS

taylorswift so so proud of you beautiful 🩷🩷

judebellingham I LOVE YOU SO FUCKING MUCH

judebellingham putting ALLLL of these on the pre-game playlist

youruser babe idk if some of these will pump you up before a game

judebellingham hearing your voice will pump me up idc how sad the song is xx

user8 why’s no one talking about how she’s in UNIVERSITY and dropped a FIFTEEN song album like …??? she’s INSANE. WHERE did she find the TIMEEE

user9 not to mention she lives with him in madrid and does school online coz her uni is in the uk

user10 she’s insane i don’t understand how😭😭

imessages !

instagram !

youruser just posted to their close friends story.

twitter !

instagram !

liked by judebellingham, trentarnold66, and others

youruser surprised my fav person in the uk for his england game and he scored for me 😆🩵🩵

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user1 she wrote “you know how to ball” and he said “yeah” then scored a goal and did a celebration for her😭

user2 zoom in on pic 6 and you’ll see me laying on the road waiting to be run over

judbellingham ‘unemployed girlfriend’ but you’re the greatest singer on earth while also doing online uni full time and you still make time to be able to come see me

youruser it’s coz i love you so so bad

jobebellingham you make me sick

youruser i love u too jobeyyyyyy

england our favourite visitor💙💙

user3 how does she do all this whilst going to uni😭😭😭

oliviarodrigo 💖💖💖

judebellingham I LOVVVEEEE YOUUUUU

user4 i NEED the top in pic 8 where is it from

youruser i found it on depop and HAD to buy it😭😭 i think someone made it x

chappellroan HOTTTTT (you not ur bf)

youruser I WOULD DIE FOR YOU MY WIFE💓💓💓💓💓💓💓💓

user5 i don’t understand how you write sad songs like the ones on your album if ur ‘in love with jude’

user6 jude deserves better than someone who’s so caught up on and still writes songs about her exes

user7 WHYS NO ONE TALKING ABOUT THE LYRICS SHE POSTED ON TWITTER IM GOJNG INSANE

user8 LITERALLY?/!;!!/;@:8@ LIKE ??????? “WHERES THE TROPHY? HE JUST COMES RUNNING OVER TO ME” IS SO JUDE CODED WHEN Y/N IS AT LITERALLY ANY OF HIS GAMES

user7 EXACTLYYYYY HE ALWAYSSS RUNS TO HER IMMEDIATELY AFTER HES ALLOWED TO DO HIS OWN THING. ITS FUCKING ADORABLE

user8 IM SO GLAD SOMEONE UNDERSTANDS ME

user7 were both insane let’s get married

user8 dm me right now wife

youruser liked the comments in this thread

imessages !

instagram !

liked by taylorswift, jobebellingham, and others

youruser lol little life update coz i’ve been m.i.a. for the last almost two months. 1: i went blonde again. 2: my man still as fine as ever. 3: got engaged or whatever lol. 4: slaying up exams. 5: i miss tour so i decided imma come back and see you all soon 🤭🤭 tour dates soon <3

ps in honour of becoming fiance or whatever🤗 the alchemy and 4 other songs are yours on the deluxe version of ‘the alchemy’ ,, out tonight !!!

view all comments

user1 WHAT THE FUCK

user2 GIRL LET US BREATHE

harrykane juudddeeeeee!!! congrats🥳❤️

declanrice mr bellingham that is a ROCK

user3 SHE DISAPPEARED FOR TWO MONTHS AND THEN CAME BACK AND DROPPED ALL OF RHAT ON HS

gracieabrams OMG WIFE IS GONNA BE A WIFE

user4 BLONDE YN IS BACK AND SHES A FIANCÉ OH MY GOD

judebellingham WIFE WIFE WIFE‼️‼️‼️

youruser not yet my love but so close🥰

judebellingham I CANT HEAR YOU MY WIFE IS AN ACADEMIC AND LYRICAL GENIUS

user5 she’s still writing break up and sad songs whilst engaged… so weird

user6 yeah and jude helps her,, he must be so disgusted right? seriously get a life and go touch grass

taylorswift so so happy for you 💓💓

youruser 🫶🫶🫶🫶🫶🫶🫶🫶🫶🫶🫶🫶🫶 i love you

user7 TOUR TOUR TOUR TOUR TOUR

england juddeeeeee💙 sooo happy for you two

trentarnold ❤️❤️❤️

user8 how girl just gonna casually drop a ENGAGEMENT announcement in the middle of a photo dump

user9 REALLLL LIKE THATS A BIG ASS RING TOO

noahkahanmusic YESSSSS🤍🤍🤍🤍

user10 HOWWWW is miss girl gonna find time in her schedule to do uni, make music, keep a healthy relationship, AND TOUR

judebellingham mrs*

my other works !

[nicksbestie]

hi! i’m not sure if you’re requests are open, but if they are could you write one where chris’s gf is a little and she’s scared to tell him? thank you so much 💜💜💜

We Should Talk - C. Sturniolo

Summary : Chris discovers something that you weren't ready to tell him yet, and a tough conversation ensues.

Warnings : 1634

Word Count : Crying, mentions of anxiety

Pairing : Chris Sturniolo/Reader (romantic)

A/N : This is an age regression fic, which is purely safe for work and innocent. Any hate/disrespect towards me, my work, or readers, will not be tolerated.

Chris had a lot of social media. Of course he did, his entire job was on the Internet.

He had to have a social media presence to continue to keep that career afloat, but there were some apps that he just didn’t see a purpose in keeping. Every now and again he would redownload some of them just to see what all was going on in their fanbase on those specific apps, but he never really stuck around for long. One of those apps was Twitter, and it was arguably one of the most toxic platforms he had ever seen. Their fanbase wasn’t terribly chaotic, but the app just had so much discourse going on in it at any given point in time that Chris had never felt like it was worth it.

 However, he was intrigued, so he had decided to download it and make a burner account so he could be private about his existence on the app, not wanting his notifications to be filled and his direct messages to be completely clogged. That did wonders for his ego every now and again, but he also never checked them and eventually it got overwhelming. But as he finished setting up the app, he saw something unrelated to his fanbase that he wasn’t expecting, at all.

When you finish setting up your account, the app asks you if you would like to sync your contacts. Chris had no issues doing this, as it would make it easier to view some of his friend’s profiles without having to search for them. To put it shortly, he wouldn’t have to go stalking. But one of the accounts that popped up after his contacts finished syncing caught his attention. It was an account covered in pastels, and the biography under it was very… interesting. 

“nxsl agere <3 big age __, little age __. obsessed with my daddy who doesn’t know he’s my daddy… yet? nsfw dni!!!”

The thing that really threw him for a loop was that when he looked to see which contact was linked to this account, he read the words “in your contacts as : my girl .” He was confused when he saw this, and curious as well, having not known about this account. He thought he had known about all of your social media, as he followed you on everything except Twitter, but he had still seen your personal Twitter account, but he had no idea you had another one. He wasn’t angry or anything, not being a controlling boyfriend, just more intrigued than anything else. He had never seen an account like this, so he began to scroll through it. 

He simply became more and more confused as he looked through the account. He saw a ton of posts about childlike things, coloring, shows, even pacifiers and bottles, and he found so many tweets in what seemed like baby talk, nearly all of them referencing your “daddy”. He really just didn’t understand what that meant until he scrolled through some replies on a post about an ask game, where your mutuals could ask you any questions, and one of them had asked you if you were single. You had of course replied with no, and the same person had asked if Chris was your carer. He didn’t really understand what that meant, but as he saw your reply, it seemed to fall into place.

“i think of him that way, but he doesn’t know. i hope he’ll be my daddy eventually!”

Daddy? The thought of it threw him for a loop. Chris was completely uncomfortable with any sort of daddy or parental kink, but there was something about this that really made him think it had nothing to do with sex. He hadn’t seen anything inappropriate at all, and he had been scrolling for a while now. So he wasn’t grossed out, because even in the biography of the account it says that it wasn’t sexual at all, but he didn’t know what to make of it. Finally, he turned to Google for help.

With the help of an Internet browser, he was able to decipher that the word “agere” was an abbreviation, for a thing called age regression. He continued to go down the rabbit hole of research and articles, and the more he read about it, the more the account made sense. He wasn’t confused or weirded out, if anything he felt sad that you hadn’t been able to come to him about this. He didn’t know how long you had been hiding this from him, and his heart hurt at the fact that you felt like he couldn’t know about it. He only felt worse for you when he saw some sad tweets, deciphering through the baby talk, seeing you upset that you were alone. 

When he found out that it was normally caused by a lot of trauma or mental health issues, he realized that it really did fit his girlfriend. You had been through a lot in a short amount of time, and he couldn’t blame you for feeling so desperate to find something that helps you. He was happy for you, more than anything, because clearly this was helping you for the majority of the time. You of course had your sad moments, but he felt like there were a lot of good moments to outweigh them. From your account presence, you seemed like you were genuinely a lot happier, filled with pure and childish joy. The more he understood, the more he wanted to be there for you, to fill that role that you clearly also wanted him to do.

 So, then came the problem of how is he going to bring this up to you? He didn’t know how he was going to move forward with this information without scaring you off or causing you to panic. You weren’t home right now, you had gone off to hang out with a friend after work, and he was expecting you back quite soon, so that only gave him a little bit of time for him to figure out how he was going to approach the situation. By the time he heard your car pull into the driveway, he was thinking that the best idea was probably to just sit down and talk to you about it, so that was exactly what he was planning on doing. 

He greeted you the same way he normally did, hugging you and telling you he missed you, and he waited until after you’d eaten and were curled up in bed together, enjoying the time you got to spend relaxing with each other to bring it up.

“Babe?” 

“Yeah?” 

“Can we talk about something? It’s not bad at all, though.” 

You were definitely on edge a little bit, despite his reassurances. 

“Sure, what’s up?” 

Chris didn’t move any part of him from the way he was, not wanting you to sense a change in body language and freak out.

“So I downloaded Twitter today and decided to set up an account, and you know how it asks you if you want to sync your contacts?” 

“Yeah.. what about it?” 

You were thinking that your personal account had been linked to your number, not your secret one, so you were on edge, but hadn’t figured out why he was bringing this up yet.

“Yeah. So, an account linked to your number came up, one that I didn’t know existed.” 

Your cheeks immediately flushed red and you broke eye contact, knowing exactly what he meant now. You could feel the tears coating your waterline, anxiety building in your chest, feeling like a bomb ready to explode. You waited for the ball to drop, for something terrible to come out of Chris’ mouth, but he simply just held you closer.

“I think we should talk about it, okay?” 

Nothing but a short “I’m sorry” slipped through your lips, and Chris looked confused at your response.

“For what, baby? You did nothing wrong, I’m not angry at you.”

The realization that he had probably, if not definitely, seen everything, caused a couple of the tears to fall from your eyes, as you desperately tried to stop them from becoming full on waterworks. Chris let out a soft hum, pulling you impossibly closer, wiping tears off of your face.

“It’s okay. I promise, it’s okay. You don’t have to talk much, I can. I did research on my own, I think I understand what’s going on, I just want you to tell me what you want from me, okay? I want to be here for you, I want to help wherever I can.”

The lack of judgment, the pure acceptance, the increasing love, made you unable to hold in any emotion any longer. You cried, and Chris simply held you, letting you cry all of your feelings out.

“You’re safe with me, okay? I’m not going to judge you. I know you’ve been alone in this for a while, and that can change if you want it to. Do you want that?” 

He didn’t get a verbal reply, but he could feel the nod against his chest. 

“Okay. Do you want me to be your daddy?” 

Another nod, and you pulled your face away from his shirt, feeling bad when you saw the giant wet patch, and he immediately reassured you.

“Don’t worry, babe, it’s just a shirt. I can change. It’s okay. Everything is going to be okay.”

“Thank you.” 

His smile was bright, as to soothe your fear, but his eyes showed sympathy.

“You don’t need to thank me. I’m more than happy to be here for you. I love you, and you’re going to be okay.” 

As you whispered your own confession of love back to him, you knew it was true. 

taglist : @blahbel668 @mattsgirlfrieeend @69isabella69 @mayhem-72 @iculdstealurgf @iluvm4ttsturni0l0 @sturnioloslife @heartsforkarina @nervousrebelglitter @sturniclo @elliegrace-7 @mattsturnioloisbae @strnilo

~ if you'd like to be added to my taglist, click here!

~ my inbox is open, come chat!!

[buckyshoneybunny]

The White Wolf (Part 3)

Wolf/Alpha!Bucky + Wildlifephotographer!curvy!reader   

W.C- 1082 

Warnings- Almost smut, cursing.  18+!!

A/N- Thank you for all the love!! I made an AO3 account, the link is on my pinned post, still working on making a masterlist. Let me know if you want to be added to the taglist for this series, I promise the next part will be the long-awaited smut lol.  Sorry it took so long. Anyway, hope you enjoy! P.S.- I have some juicy ideas for other stories I'm going to start outlining, I really hope you guys like them.

Taglist-   @blackbirdwitch22 @lesleurs @nelachu2423 @shadowzena43 @calwitch @laughterafter

Part 1 , Part 2, Part 4, Part 5 Masterlist Series Masterlist

Bucky couldn’t believe he found his mate. He’d been drinking the fresh lake water when he’d smelled the most delicious scent he’d ever smelled, granted he couldn’t smell much, only what helped him survive. Werewolf senses were weird. He’d heard the sound of a twig snapping, that’s when he saw you, he felt a rush of desire and heat go through him, causing him to growl and scare you.  

His response to that? Chase you, which ended with him getting a nasty cut on his leg. When you tripped and hit your head, he had dragged you to his cabin, thrown a blanket over you and went to his bedroom, laying on the big dog bed in the corner. 

He’d been so wrapped up in trying to get the stinging pain to go away he didn’t notice you’d woken up, and when you took care of his wound? He was done for. He snuggled close to you the whole time Steve was there, he could see the knowing look in Steve’s eyes. 

When you agreed to stay, to say he was over the moon was an understatement. He laid down close to the edge of the woods and had fallen asleep while he waited for you to get back.  

(Present) 

Bucky wakes up with a pounding head, his white fur coated with dirt. When he looks around, he sees he’s in a cage. He growls. Another wolf growls, Bucky turns his head to see a wild haired wolf, chipped teeth, and crazy eyes. Walker. 

The fuck is this? He growls. 

This is me claiming the forest for my pack, I see you have a beauty now, might have to check her out in person myself. Bucky could hear the smugness in Walker’s voice. 

You lay a hand on her and I’ll rip your fucking head off. He was seething. 

No need to be rude, James.  

Don’t start that shit with me, Walker, let me go. 

Hmm, no.  

You’ll regret this. 

I don’t think I will. With that Walker walks off, to where, Bucky doesn’t know or care. Walker must’ve forgotten what a feral alpha in rut is capable of, especially one trying to get back to his mate.  

With his head pounding he decides to take a nap, Walker must’ve hit him harder than he thought. A couple of hours later he’s roused from his nap by the sound of someone calling his name.  

“Bucky!” Steve whisper-yells for the hundredth time. Buck lifts his head and blinks.  

Steve? What are you doing here?  

“We’ve come to get you out,” Clint says. Bucky shakes his head.  

I may be an alpha, and all of us together may cause hell but there’s no way we’d get past them. I have a plan. The first day of my rut and last day in my wolf form is when I’ll be unstoppable and I’ll break out. No one would dare mess with me.  

Steve nods. “We’ll work on a plan to get a key, you sure this will work?” 

It'll work, I’m sure. How’s Y/N? Is she okay? 

“She’s fine, she’s with the girls.” Sam speaks up.  

Tell her to go to my cabin and wait for me, I want the whole place to smell like her. 

Steve nods and the boy's leave. The next time he sees Walker, he has a sparkle in his eye, he just hopes Walker doesn’t try anything on his babydoll, he’d kill him.  

The next couple of days are pure torture for Bucky, the memory of your scent and the early signs that his rut is starting soon drove him crazy. He couldn't wait until he could shift back and bury himself balls deep inside you, yes you may be a complete stranger, but you were his mate and he couldn’t wait to spend the rest of his life with you. 

Once he’d fucked you, the wolf part of his brain calming down, he’d be able to properly talk about the future with you. But until then he needed to fuck you.  

Time seemed to go on forever, minutes felt like hours, hours felt like days, days-you get the point-until the moment finally arrived, turns out Steve didn’t need to get the key, Walker's dumbass was moving Bucky to a different spot at the perfect time. 

Bucky let his muscles relax, his pupils dilated, he let out the most bone chilling growl Walker had ever heard.  

Walker's eyes widen.  You little- 

See, any alpha is strong and powerful, but a feral alpha in rut? Wanting his mate? Is nearly unstoppable, the only person capable of controlling the feral alpha is their mate. Bucky pounced and his men followed. They effectively took down the wolves, establishing Bucky’s dominance, that he is not to be fucked with like this ever again.  

He ran as fast as he could all the way back to his cabin, he could smell Walker had been there, his blood boiled. When he entered the cabin, he was punched in the face with your scent. A shudder went through him. He followed the scent to where it was strongest and found you, in his bed, wearing his shirt.  

He growled. When he saw you wake up and see him, he shifted. Once the big, fluffy white wolf, now stood a 6’5, muscular man, nice golden tan, brown locks that framed his face perfectly, the same piercing blue eyes, and a shiny silver metal arm.  

You could see the scares that littered his left shoulder where metal met flesh, but it only served to make him even more beautiful. Last, but not least in the bit, standing proudly, at least nine inches, girth making him wider than what you could wrap your hand around, his cock red and throbbing.  

Bucky inhales deeply when he sees your pupils dilate, smelling your arousal. 

“God damn babydoll,” he mutters in a husky, lust filled voice. “You’re in my bed, wearing my shirt, smelling like a fucking dream?” He groans, cock twitching.  

He slowly crawls up your body, taking the shirt with him, leaving you in nothing but a flimsy pair of black panties that are thoroughly soaked through with your arousal.  

He brushes his lips against yours, but doesn’t kiss you yet. He drags his nose down the collum of your neck, through the valley of your breasts, pausing to nuzzle your, soft, pudgy stomach, He continues till he reaches your pussy, he takes a deep breath and moans. 

“You ready, babydoll?” 

[safety-pin-punk]

Punk History Resources: Vol. 1

This is a compilation of resources found and recommended by various alternative bloggers, each of whom are credited for their contributions. This started because I was getting SO MANY asks about resources such as videos, books, and websites to use to learn about punk history. Admittedly, my own list isn't that long, so I thought it was best to reach out to some others and share their knowledge with everyone. So thank you again to everyone who helped out with this!!

@raggedyfink @lovintheaesthetic @punk-patches @my-chemical-ratz

YOUTUBE:

Punk/Goth Docs Playlist on Youtube (77 Videos) (raggedyfink)

1991 The Year Punk broke (lovintheaesthetic)

She's Real (Worse Than Queer) (lovintheaesthetic)

Don't Need You, The Herstory of Riot Grrrl (lovintheaesthetic)

The Long Queer History of Punk (lovintheaesthetic)

The very Black History of Punk Music (lovintheaesthetic)

Punk's Not Dead (lovintheaesthetic)

BOOKS:

Phantoms the Rise of La Deathrock (raggedyfink)

Too Tough to Love by Roxy Ramone (raggedyfink)

I Slept With Joey Ramone by Mickey Leigh (raggedyfink)

Please Kill Me, The Uncensored Oral History of Punk Rock (punk-patches & lovintheaesthetic)

Encyclopedia of Punk (punk-patches)

The Day the Country Died: A History of Anarcho-Punk, 1980-1984 (my-chemical-ratz)

The Heebie-Jeebies at CBGB's: A Secret History of Jewish Punk (my-chemical-ratz)

Sellout: The Major-Label Feeding Frenzy That Swept Punk, Emo, and Hardcore (lovintheaesthetic & my-chemical-ratz)

Tranny: Confessions of Punk Rock's Most Infamous Anarchist Sellout (my-chemical-ratz)

Punk Rock: An Oral History (my-chemical-ratz)

Girls to the Front: The True Story of the Riot Grrrl Revolution (my-chemical-ratz)

Queercore: Queer Punk Media Subculture (my-chemical-ratz)

Queercore: How to Punk a Revolution: An Oral History (my-chemical-ratz)

Spider-Punk: Banned in D.C.(this doesnt have anything to do with history but i love spider punk so) (my-chemical-ratz)

MOVIES / DOCUMENTARIES:

The Punk Singer (punk-patches)

Queercore: How to Punk a Revolution (punk-patches)

Punk's Not Dead (punk-patches)

Pansy Division: Life in a Gay Rock Band (punk-patches)

Queercore: How To Punk a Revolution (my-chemical-ratz)

Afropunk (my-chemical-ratz)

Punk in Africa (my-chemical-ratz)

A Band Called Death (my-chemical-ratz)) (link courtesy of @wrench-p, but is unavailable to watch in the US))

ARTICLES:

(some of these are found on JSTOR, but you can sign up for a free 100 articles per month)

Muslim Punk in an Alt-Right Era (my-chemical-ratz)

A History of Punk (my-chemical-ratz)

Jews, Punk and the Holocaust: From the Velvet Underground to the Ramones: The Jewish-American Story (my-chemical-ratz)

What is Punk and Why Did It Scare People So Much? (my-chemical-ratz)

An Account of a South African Punk Rock Music Collection (my-chemical-ratz)

Queer As Punk: A Guide To LGBTQIA+ Punk (my-chemical-ratz)

Did Punk Matter?: Analyzing the Practices of a Youth Subculture During the 1980s (my-chemical-ratz)

ZINES:

(some may not be *about* history, but they’re a huge part of it!)

Punk Planet archive (my-chemical-ratz & safety-pin-punk)

Queer Zine archive (I personally like the anon boy collection haha) (my-chemical-ratz)

Archive.org in general has a lot of zines :) (my-chemical-ratz)

ETC:

(These aren’t about punk history itself but could be helpful in learning about the politics that go with being punk)

A History of Punk from 1976-78: A Free Online Course from the University of Reading (safety-pin-punk)

Punk History Reading List (safety-pin-punk)

Essays about socialism (my-chemical-ratz)

Leftism 101 (my-chemical-ratz)

Rights as an American protester (my-chemical-ratz)

Social justice classes (I’m really excited to go through these!!) (my-chemical-ratz)

Stamped (my-chemical-ratz)

How To Be An Anti-Racist (my-chemical-ratz)

Nice Racism: How Progressive White People Perpetuate Racial Harm (my-chemical-ratz)

I would love to make a Vol. 2 post at some point in the future, so if you have resources and want to share, PLEASE message me!!

[darkdevasofdestruction]

Honey, I’m Home! ~ Alhaitham x Liyue!Reader

“Girlfriend?! You?!” Kaveh’s face showed nothing but utmost shock. “I don’t believe a word you say! Nobody would! I mean -- You?! There’s no way any sane woman would stay around you!” “I am not one to respond to baseless provokation, however, I have to point out that you directly insulted my partner intellect and mental well-being, to which I cannot remain silent - Though, I suppose you are intoxicated and there’s little I should care about. No word coming out of your mouth is ever worth taking into account to begin with.” Alhaitham, much to his mate’s irritation, didn’t even raise his gaze from the book he was reading. “Hey, you--! You’re SO insufferable!” the poor architect growled in anger. “Since when? You never told me about her, and we’ve known each other for enough years! You’d have let it slip somehow - Or, at least, your arrogance would’ve!”  “Your impression on my personality has nothing to do with any kind of potential slip you think I might have had. As a matter of fact, the existence of a significant other had never been a secret to begin with. You just never asked, therefore, I had no reason to go out of my way and brag about my perfectly accomplished life, considering not only your living conditions, but your infinitely tragic luck. I did not want to bother with you crying again, out of nowhere.” Kaveh threw a random book at his mate’s head, which annoyingly enough, he masterfully caught without as much as blinking. “GAHH, I HATE YOU SO MUCH!” the man whined, slamming his face into the table. “FINE! TELL ME! ENLIGHTEN ME! WHO IS THIS MYSTERY WOMAN THAT MANAGED TO IGNORE THE INFINITE AMOUNT OF NEGATIVE TRAITS AND THAT STUPIDLY ARROGANT AND UNAPPROACHABLE FACE OF YOURS?! IS SHE BLIND?!” “There is nothing wrong with her eye function. In fact, she often compliments my appearance.” the scribe pointed out. “We have been together since a year before we presented our graduation thesis.” poor Kaveh spit out the beer he was drinking. “HOW LONG?!” he was absolutely convinced he was lying. “There’s NO way that is, in any way, true!” “If you don’t believe me, there are plenty ways to search for proof on your own. The only thing I would have to warn you about is not to use your usual barbaric ways of speaking to her, if you manage to find her. You will scare her away.” Kaveh couldn’t help but glare at Alhaitham, though, considering the amount of unceremonious yelling he just did, he couldn’t refute much. “Fine, whatever - Tell me about her. How you met. Something. Anything relevant. I’ll see after if I believe you.” Alhaitham had to fight the smirk off his face as he hummed in amusement - It was so easy to get a rise out of this fool. “Y/N is originally from Liyue, although you can say, after finishing her Amurta course and graduated, she would spend about half a year back home to take care of her family and help with the medicine aspect of the country.” Kaveh’s eyes suddenly shot open and he gasped. “Hold up! Is this the Liyue friend that Tighnari mentioned? They were in the same Darshan and -- They worked on their thesis together a lot and -- And Cyno too, on enough occasions -- Is that her?!” Alhaitham shrugged his shoulders, though he knew it was the truth. There were a lot of references that one must use in the bibliography, and the practical percentage of her thesis she did on the comparison of Fauna and Flora from Sumeru and Liyue was done for the most part with Tighnari. Y/N often mentioned the fennec boy being her only friend for the many years she in Akademiya. 

Alhaitham knew, no matter how nice of a person you were, if you had a unique brilliance, the common flock of mindless sheep were bound to be rude to you. He was no stranger to the endless amount of insults he received from many, although, in almost the same ponder, he also had many more compliments of all kind, be that on his intelligence, on his work, or... His looks especially. Tighnari and Cyno were no strangers to this kind of treatment, but at least they had each other - For the most part.

Back then, having a new student, from another country no less - A country with a rich history, though not as much focus on studies as Sumeru - A new student that, through thorough examination, was able to start her Amurta studies not from the first year, but skipped about a half of the years required to graduate.

From the get-go, Y/N was a bit of an odd one, and the students of Akademiya were no less lenient with her, nor did they bother teaching her about cultural differences and what not. Alhaitham, too, noticed something strange, but it was different from everyone else. Was it that he never heard her speak, even once? Or that, were it not for the amount of gossips and bullying he witnessed, she’d have been walking the halls of the House of Daena like an invisible ghost, unseen, unwanted, unneeded by all around her?

Or, perhaps, it was that there was a large amount of books that she was reading - Manuals, text-books, works, thesis of all kind, from different Darshan courses even - And for the most time, she’d read them all outside, in the forest, far away from the Akademiya; As far away as possible, if need be.

And despite the awful treatment she received, and the amount of diligent hard-work she was putting into her courses, she never seemed to frown or let things affect her. She wasn’t smiling either, and her tiredness was showing - Still, it almost looked endearing; A brilliant woman, so effortlessly beautiful and graceful in everything she did, wearing a passive, demure smile on her face, even if none wanted to appreciate it.

Were all women from Liyue like this, he wondered? Most Sumeru women he had the displeasure of conversing with were so obnoxious and emotion-driven; Oft times, he even wondered if the inspector examining them did his job well enough, because he himself could see no ounce of anything clever in their bleak, dark minds of theirs. No that the men were any different, but they had the courtesy of avoiding him like the plague, to which, Alhaitham was grateful. He never cared for idle chatting for no reason.

Hence why, he needed to concoct a proper conversation reason, otherwise, there would be no sense to start speaking with the new student.

Luck had always favoured him for some reason, and instead of wasting his time with needless research, it was Y/N herself who came over to him. She nodded her head at him as a courtesy greeting, and introduced herself as Y/N from the Amurta class. She explained that, although her thesis was based on biology, she had plenty of interests in many other areas, and having heard him as the most remarkable student from Haravatat, it was a no brainer that she’d come to him requesting aid for some book and course recommandations.

Though his reply was a simple yet positive one, informing her that, once he gathers some time, he will see what he could do, she offered him a grateful, princess-like smile, and this time, a brief courtesy, before leaving. For a split second, Alhaitham had to wonder if this Y/N had any amount of noble blood in her lineage - No woman could act so perfectly elegant all the time without some proper training from before you even begin breathing into this world.

Regardless, Alhaitham found himself completely abandoning his work for a whole day in search of accommodating Y/N, and when he searched for her with the piles of books he had for her, all of them old, dusty and tattered, she was outside, under a tree, reading a story to a little fox. Such odd behaviour - Though the fox seemed to enjoy it, as it was purring in her lap as it was being stroked. It was quite the sight for sore eyes, he had to admit.

“Ah, so fast, you needn’t! You are far too kind - There is no way to repay you for your kindness. Allow me to treat you to some tea and a meal tomorrow, please.” Alhaitham shook his head, sitting down next to her. “There are few people actually interested in proper research and academics. If someone came to me, willing to learn, there is no reason why I should decline.” he answered simply. “I do not require any reward. Simply put, I did it because I wanted to. However, if you want to repay me, then tell me - Why do you read so many books, when a lot of pointed information can be found out by simply asking through the Akasha terminal.” Y/N smiled at him enigmatically. “That is a question to which I cannot provide an answer. Not because I am unwilling to disclose the information - In fact, it’s quite silly, rather. The reason behind my silence is that... Due to this device you are wearing, if there is anything that I tell you, whether you wish to share this information with anyone or not, the whole network of people using the Akasha device are going to know, by simply asking. The people wearing this device cannot control the information they disclose - It is actually quite frightening, I might say.” Alhaitham’s jade-like green eyes peered deep into her own; They were so gentle and warm, almost resembling those of a fawn, yet even he could discern the tint of sorrow and loneliness pooling behind them. “You almost sound like a criminal speaking like that.” at the faintest hint of a crystalline chuckle, Alhaitham’s heart skipped a beat - Just one, of course, he simply wasn’t expecting such a sound as a response to his words. Was there something amusing in what he said. “Well, I suppose, considering nobody taught me the laws of Sumeru, there is little I can say to refute such a statement. Who knows, perhaps, in my ignorance, I might have managed to stray away from the right path. Regardless, what I can say is - I am forced by conjuctures to personally gather the information I am seeking. Whatever you wish to do with that information, it is up for your own interpretation, and I am unable to either approve or disprove it.” the man couldn’t help but scoff a little, though he came up with an answer easily.

Somehow, this pretty little princess was just about as much of a fairy as he was, and she, for some reason, managed to trick her way into not wearing a Terminal - Or she made it malfunction. Either way, it would make perfect sense.

“Fascinating as it is to guess, I am no philosopher, I am a researcher who bases his work on the factual, not on stories. I will not lose time coming to an uncertain conclusion.” for some reason, his words made the woman next to him chuckle again, for the second time in less than half an hour. Interesting. “Then, may I be so bold as to ask for your aid again, should I require again some kind of help oh some kind?” the woman asked, seeing as he got up, picking up the large pile of books, yet he seemed to have no intention of handing them other. “If the time allows me to take a detour from my work, then I suppose I see no reason not to help.” he answered briefly. As Y/N stepped in front of him, placing her hands over his own, in an attempt to burden the heavy weight of knowledge, he simply stepped past her. “Just show me where to get them. You may be ignorant of Sumeru’s own law code, but I doubt you would be foolish enough to ignore the laws of physics and even delude yourself that you could carry them yourself and reach home without as much as one of them at least being damaged.” he spoke, walking ahead. 

Y/N couldn’t help but blink in surprise at the rather adorable and gentlemanly reaction of the otherwise stoic in inabordable man, however, she couldn’t help but smile in amusement, catching up to his pace and leading the way. “Judging by your your looks, there is no way you weight more than these books, therefore, given their mass, Newton’s law says that an object can only move another if its mass is greater. A single kilogram equals to exactly 9,81 Newtons. With this knowledge, we have to exchange the parameters with actual numbers, in the Law of Force, which says that Force equals the multiplying of the mass and acceleration of said object; And since acceleration is measured in meters per square second --” he continued ranting on and on about the laws of physics and the approximates he took, only to feel a hand powerfully slap the bottom of the book stack, making them all fly aimlessly in the sky - And be caught with the aid of Y/N’s Dendro vision powers. Y/N was smiling like an innocent child, though, with the way she was fighting back a smirk, it only made her look like a playful, mischievous vixen. “Alhaitham --” she said, a hand covering her smirking mouth. “Has anyone ever told you how adorable you are when you’re rambling with no sense?” the man couldn’t help but be rooted to the spot, completely unresponsive.

What did she mean? Him, ranting idly, for no apparent reason whatsoever? That was completely unlike him - Surely, she must be mistaken - He was trying to educate her; There is reason in everything he says. “Come along, I recently brought over some fantastic bamboo dew tea -- Oh, and I suppose, if you’re interested, I have some sweet Osmanthus wine also, the finest batch. Mr. Zhongli himself vouched for the quality, and there’s no other like him, a true connoisseur in everything fine.” with a delicate hand wrapped gently around his wrist, Y/N guided the speechless man toward her home - A pretty, tall house made out of wood, vines and leaves of all kinds, all of it, carved inside a grand tree. With a wave of her other hand, she created a staircase out of liana, allowing them to get up to the top-most part of her house, where her library was. “It isn’t much, but I hope you feel comfortable enough during your stay.” still, Alhaitham couldn’t utter another word as he went to sit down on the couch. Though he couldn’t help himself and analysed every inch of the chamber, he could still faintly feel the slight rise in his cheeks’ temperature, biological and physiological truth which irked him greatly, as it gave away the speed with which his heart beat, and, consequently, the fact that, despite his ration-based life, he was somehow able to be weak before the effortless charms of a woman like Y/N, who made him act like a fool.

But unlike him, Y/N seemed to be his own personal anti-thesis; Y/N seemed so calm and friendly, so warm and with just the right amount of conversation lines that didn’t border on the obnoxious type of talkative. In fact, Alhaitham might even have to admit, he didn’t mind the sound of her voice, in fact, he might as well admit that he found it rather pleasant to his ears. In only she’d know the stimulant effect her presence alone has on his heart’s rhythm, as though someone had secretly injected him with adrenaline... There must be something to be done about this.

As he asked her about her thesis, he swore, he could see sparkles in her eyes - Her infinite amount of love and dedication for the flora and fauna of both countries was insurmountable - Y/N was writing her thesis out of passion of the living beings, not necessarily out of sheer interest in research, though everything that she’s assimilated clearly set her on the right path. In must have been some kind of miracle that his plan on working on a thesis with that good for nothing Kaveh from  Kshahrewar; Simply, he erased his name from it, and moved on to a singular part of the research, though he had to admit, the environmental conditions weren’t the brightest - The subject, at least, was highly fascinating.

“Would you be interested in writing a project together?” he found himself asking all of a sudden. “A senior had previously proposed a thesis subject that interested me, alas, due to differences of opinions and views, the project fell through. The topic of my half of the thesis was the decoding of the ancient runes from the Ruins of King Deshret's Civilization.” “That does sound like quite the intriguing thesis, and I have to admit, I would also be interested in researching the history of the old civilization... But I’m not used to the harsh environment of the desert, I... Am not sure I would be a proper asset to the team.” Alhaitham hummed in understanding - Even Sumeru people had a hard time dealing with the desert, and knowing the landscapes and the weather from Liyue, he could see the reason behind her reticence. Still, he was passionate not only about this project, but about spending quality time with the woman before him, doing what they know best to do - Study. “As long as you’re willing to join the project, I can deal with accommodating you during the practical field research, as I’m more familiar with the country.” despite her skepticism, Y/N couldn’t help but accept, completely uncaring about any risk whatsoever. As long as she was able to spend time with the man in front of her, everything was going to be fine. “Alright, Alhaitham. Let’s make the most outstanding project the Akademiya has ever seen.” her positive outlook was a rather welcome change of pace, unlike Kaveh and his constant wish to either bicker with him, or complain.

For the rest of the years it took for both Alhaitham and Y/N to graduate, they went on a vast number of adventures - Considering the amount of time it took for them to reach the graduation, it was only fair that they extend their thesis for three major regions - Deshret’s desert area, Greater Lord Rukkhadevata’s Sumeru forests and Rex Lapis’ Liyue - Each of them, with their own distinct and fascinating manuscripts, writing styles, flora, fauna and civilizations that have been rapidly evolving throughout the years. Their project ended up truly being one worthy of envy, but not without merit.

The amount of times they got lost in the desert or had to fight mercenaries and treasure hoarders, got trapped inside pyramids, ruins and underground catacombs, had to solve puzzles and decipher codes, decode runes and languages lost to time, found relics and fossils, cave paintings and old manuscripts describing never-seen and never-heard before wildlife from all over the two countries.

“Are we ever going to find a way out of this mess of a tomb? I feel like a grave-robber that’s about to lose her sanity from the lack of food and water.” Y/N dramatically joked as she used her vines to propel herself up to some suspended platforms and activate some intricate mechanism that was going to open up the door - Hopefully, at least. “We haven’t done all this for all our work to be thrown down the drain.” as the door opened, he readied his sword to attack the activating perpetual robotic monsters, and together, they would fight - Yet Alhaitham especially felt a sense of protectiveness over Y/N - Whether it was over the fact that he’s practically responsible for her life, as he got her into the project... Or perhaps it was the fact that he feared anything happened to her. She was a talented healer, and she often used her vision power to shield him from imminent danger or mend some of the wounds he got from direct confrontation against multiple enemies that came in waves at once.

Though they had lots of practical field trips that involved a ton of travelling, the simpler parts of theoretical research was often done in far calmer environments, be it either of their homes, or a neutral place, namely the popular tea house, so they could also catch a bite. Unfortunately, Puspa cafe often hosted a ton of Akademiya students, and that more often than not meant some of their own classmates, that due to exceeding envy, ended up ruining their pleasant leisure time. Just like that one time when a junior from his own Darshan of Haravatat came over to their table - Masterfully and tactically chosen to be the farther-most, retreated from the majority of the people and in a corner away from the prying eyes - And put her hands on her hips, frowning down at them.

“What are you doing here?!” the stranger asked in a rather irritated voice, yet neither of the two even bothered raising their gaze and acknowledge her presence. “Hey - Don’t ignore me, you -- Gosh, you’re so rude.” still, no answer. “Alhaitham~! Why do you waste your time around such a boring woman? She’s no good, y’know? You don’t need to help her with her studies - She’s a plant lover from Amurta - Nowhere near our above-brilliant Haravatat intellect!” the girl whined, hoping to get the man’s attention, yet once again, she was met with no response. Infuriated, the girl threw herself on the couch next to him, clinging onto his arm and cuddling on his side. “Alhaitham~! You are my senior! You promised to help me with research. In fact - Let’s do our thesis together!” Much to her indignance, the stranger was shrugged off the sofa, and received an irked glare. “I have no idea who you are, nor am I interested in your identity, but I would like for you to stop bothering our study session, otherwise I will be forced to ask the patron to kick you out of the cafe for disturbing other customers.” the flabbergast expression on her face would have been amusing, were it not for her disgusting hostility. “Wait, no -- You can’t do that, I -- Alhaitham, don’t you remember me? I’m your Junior, Emiya! You gave me a book about deciphering ancient texts a month ago, remember?” she tried to plead, but was met with a firm, negative reply. “And you -- You have to stop parasiting him already! Do your own work, for once! Can’t you see you’re inconveniencing him?!” Y/N said nothing. “Say something!” “The Phoenix does not lose sleep over the idle chattering of mice.” Emiya’s eyes widened in complete confusion, though Alhaitham couldn’t help but let out a breath of amusement. She fancied herself an Empress, how lovely. “Wh-What?! You make no sense -- Hey, you’re in Sumeru, not in Liyue anymore, y’know? Get it right already.” for the first time, Y/N rose her gaze to meet Emiya’s; the junior shuddered slightly, realising the cold passiveness of her intimidating demeanour. “I don’t know what kind of delusions you like to feed yourself, but I would ask you to leave our table, unless you wish to get permanently banned from Puspa. I would like to return to the research I was doing for our thesis, until you so rudely interrupted our tireless work. Unlike you, we are not so carefree and leisurely.” Y/N curt voice had a frozen edge, intimidating the girl. “Well, whatever! Go back to your stupid grass work. Alhaitham and I have more intelligent research to conduct - And some practical research, perhaps?” Y/N had to turn her head slightly to the side, demurely hiding her mocking chuckle. “I believe it unethical, stealing one’s project partner. Alas, willow blossoms go in dreams, only to find sorrows hidden on the moon.” Emiya’s eyes were wide, and her jaw to the floor - Her mind had gone numb from stupidity. “You pride yourself with being a Haravatat student, yet you fail to comprehend even the most forward of poems. I have no intention of associating myself with mediocre people.” Alhaitham dismissed the tearing up girl with a bored wave of his hand; Y/N and him had to look away from each other to avoid chuckling, “So... I actually found this interesting Zaytun Peach wine recipe -- And I have some Glaze Lily flowers and Sweet Flower to make tea - I’ve got this snow kept for special occasions - I find tea made out of melted snow to have the richest aroma.” Y/N said, disclosing the contents of the book she was reading; The farthest away from being a research-based book. “The history of the Guili plains and the Guizhong ballista are also rather intriguing. I would be interested in finding out the blueprints and the thought concept behind it and its making.” he hummed in acknowledgement, enjoying reading about the past of Liyue and what similarities and differences exist between it and Sumeru. “Do we have any more of that special delivery Dandelion Wine from Angel’s Share?” “Of course! Master Diluc just recently had a few bottles delivered to me through his brother Kaeya, who was on an errand here in Sumeru. He didn’t stay long for catching up, but he brought the goods, so it’s fine either way.” with a shared look, the two got up and moved their leisure reading back to Y/N’s home, delighting themselves with the most quality wine that Teyvat had to offer. “That’s a fine deal.”

At some point, just a year before their graduation, Alhaitham was going to purchase some alcohol to celebrate a massive breakthrough he had in his research - And consequently, escaping yet another death-nearing experience - His ex-project partner, the senior architect student from Kshahrewar, spotted him. This blond man with a volcanic personality ended up shredding his joined thesis in a fit of frustrating rage, only to end up gluing back together out of regret, once he ended up all alone, bankrupt, and realising his once friend’s harsh words were actually viable advices that he should have heeded long ago.

There was no reproach in his words - Alhaitham had nothing to gain out of making Kaveh feel even more humiliated by his own failures, brought upon him mostly by his overly empathetic nature. He had to admit, bit of this precious and rather naive selflessness he could very often see in Y/N, which only made him feel more afraid that there might be some brainless deadbeats upsetting her or taking advantage of her benevolence.

Still, interestingly enough, after getting drunk enough to spill out all of his grievances, Kaveh found himself speaking of some rather interesting rumours. “Ever heard of the flower fairy rumour?” he asked. “They say once a month, at midnight, there’s this mystical being, beautiful as no other woman, and she dances on the sheen of the lake.” “You don’t seriously believe such ridiculous children stories, do you?” Alhaitham scoffed, raising the beer bottle and drinking a bit, yet his eyes never once left the blond. “I believe it more than the Wisdom Seelie, the children of the forest or the Aranara.” the architect grumbled. “How ridiculous.” still, he couldn’t admit, Alhaitham had his own suspicions on who this might be, and his professional curiosity had him want to come to a concludent answer. “Honestly, if that flower fairy is real, she might be the only living being capable of liking someone as arrogant and insufferable as you. No human woman could ever stand you.” Kaveh hiccuped as he sneered at his refound friend. Such a proposition sounded so much like a challenge, that Alhaitham found himself internally accepting.

Thus, every night for a whole month, Alhaitham hid behind a tree and investigated the lake area for any signs of this supposed fairy - And finally, his hard work came to fruition. From the direction of Y/N’s home, followed by an array of forest animals, the glowing silhouette of a gorgeous woman playing a sorrowful tune on the flute piqued his attention. Indeed, it was Y/N, just as he suspected, yet now he could see why she would be mistaken for a fairy. Wherever her barefeet would step, flowers would grow. Her long, light pink dress, flowy and embroidered with the finest gold thread, made her look like a lotus bloom. Her long hair of the most beautiful shade was embellished with royal-looking jewellery, and even her make up, so soft and delicate, yet so feminine, made her face look prettier than the moon itself.

Placing the flute inside her sleeve, Y/N stepped on the mirror sheen of the lake that seemed to sparkle with zircons from the silver light of the celestial body up on the dark night sky, and accompanied by what no doubt was an old Liyue melody, Y/N performed a dance, so enticing, so fluid, like a willow tree in the gentle breeze of spring. Every move she made, every little twitch and tweak of her joint, her body, all of them were perfectly calculated, even the amount of green dendro magic that made her performance even more alluring and worthy of being mistaken with a fictional mythical being.

By the time she was done, Alhaitham was leaning back on a tree, applauding. From the shock of being discovered, Y/N’s cheeks flared red with warmth and embarrassment. “Of course it had to be you who would find me out.” “It was actually a senior of mine who mentioned the rumours of this supposed flower fairy. I had my suspicions, and I felt compelled to have them approved or denied.” the corner of his mouth slightly twitched upwards in a smug smirk. “It seems my intuition hasn’t failed me yet.” “Tian na!” Y/N found herself softly shaking her head, a gorgeous smile gracing her features as she stepped on the soft grass next to him. “Fate sure has the weirdest ways of bringing people together.” Alhaitham found himself scoffing in distaste at the sheer notion of destiny. “Don’t use such foolish words. We are humans, and we create our of path in life. It is our actions and choices that define us, not the biblical or religious concept of a life already chosen and woven for you since before you are conceived and brought into this wor--” before he could continue rambling on about his own views on fate, Y/N reached up to pick his chin, bringing him down to her level, and with one hand on his shoulder to lean up, she captured his soft lips into a kiss that left him speechless from surprise.  “For years we have been friends, yet I cannot tire of how adorable you are when you’re so flustered that you end up ranting over the weirdest things.” Alhaitham wanted to scold her for doing something so uncharacteristic and unexpected, wanted to refute her claim of him ranting over ‘weird’ things - Or simply, the idea of him ‘ranting’ was ridiculous - Somehow, instead of all that, his body moved on his own and his brain took a short break, and the otherwise stoic man found himself cradling dearly Y/N’s form in his strong arms and sharing a much more loving and intimate kiss that seemed to allow the river of emotions to flow and come undone and expose itself in all its glory and vulnerability.

“You are bulshitting me because I’m drunk.” Kaveh growled at his friend. “You just randomly remembered those stupid rumours about the fairy thing and use that against me.” “I already told you, it’s not my job proving to you that I’m speaking the truth.” Alhaitham simply took another gulp of his beer. “But you said the fairy was just a stupid joke! And you never mentioned working on a thesis with someone else! Or having a friend, let alone a girlfriend! Hell, I thought nobody liked you! I still do!” the architect pointed an accusatory finger in his face. “I refuse to bother replying to your ridiculous disbeliefs anymore.” the scribe huffed, ready to take out his headphones and tune out the noise pollution that Kaveh was providing. “HEY, DON’T IGNORE ME! GIVE ME ANSWERS! I DON’T BELIEVE THAT STUPID STORY--” just as Kaveh shot up to his feet, slamming his hands onto the table, the front door was opened, and a beautiful woman entered the living room. “Honey, I’m home~!” her crystalline voice chimed, making Alhaitham smirk smugly and putting back his headphones in his belt pouch. “I brought some Osmanthus wine and moon cakes!” Kaveh’s eyes bulged out of their orbit and his jaw was to the floor, watching the beautiful woman plop down on the couch next to his friend and sharing such a tender kiss with him. “Oh - You must be Kaveh! I heard so much about you! I’m Y/N. Alhaitham’s fiance. I came to Sumeru from Liyue and enrolled in the Amurta Darshan course and graduated with a joined thesis written with him.” “F-F-Fi... Fi... Ance...?!” the blond fell back on his seat. “I-I thought you said... Girlfriend...” “I actually used the word ‘partner’, to be precise. You simply assumed, and I didn’t bother correcting you. If I were to correct every wrong supposition you’ve had since we’ve met... Well, I have better things to do with my time.” Alhaitham declared, his arm around Y/N’s waist, pulling her subtly to lean on his side, planting a kiss on her temple, purposely annoying his friend. “S-So... You mean... She -- And the Fairy -- And Tighnari’s friend -- And your Thesis partner -- They’re all the same person?!” the crestfallen expression on his face only made the beautiful lady hum in amusement. “Yes, I suppose that is me - I should thank you for the nickname - I think being called a Flower Fairy is highly flattering. Here is my gratitude.” with a graceful swish of her hand, Y/N created a flower crown on the architect’s hair. “...You may be lovely, but I swear, you almost have the same kind of mocking cruelty as he does, hidden behind a pretty smile.” Kaveh groaned, getting up and stumbling towards the other chamber, where his bedroom was. “HEY, HOLD UP! IF YOU’VE BEEN TOGETHER FOR SO MANY YEARS, WHY HAVE I NEVER SEEN YOU OVER?!” “No thirds wheels allowed on our dates.” seeing that annoyingly taunting smirk, and the implication behind those words, Kaveh let out another frustrated groan and shot into his room, not wanting to see either of the two anymore. “Perfect timing as always.” Alhaitham praised, pulling Y/N onto his lap. “Yes, well, I have to admit, I was getting cold out there, leaning on the door and waiting for you to finish that story already. Regardless... I think it’s adorable that Kaveh didn’t pick up that the reason you were so intrigued to continue speaking to me was because I fooled the Akademiya not to wear that Akasha device.” Y/N laughed lightly. “One of the many.” he said, bringing her flush against his chest. “Or perhaps, one might say, I was trapped under the charming spell of a certain flower fairy.”

[laurasimonsdaughter]

“Alright! Let’s just quickly go over your answers to our questionnaire in your application.”

As far as job interviews went, this one was rapidly moving up the list of utterly strange ones. For starters this was the fanciest office he had ever been in, and this was supposed to be an animal sanctuary. The amount of decorative pillows piled onto the chair he was currently trying to sit on would have been more appropriate for a lounge in a posh hotel.

The sanctuary manager – at least that’s how she had introduced herself – peered at the printed sheets of paper.

“So you have experience with animal handling?”

“During several internships, yes.”

“Wonderful. And horticulture?”

“I know how to keep a healthy habitat.”

“Excellent. And do you have any siblings?”

There it was, barely three questions in and already off the deep end. “Yes, three.”

The woman fixed two keen, dark eyes on him. “Three including you?”

“No, three besides me. I’m the second oldest, if that matters.”

“Ah! That’s alright then, Second of four, very good.”

By now he was looking at the manager with unrestrained wonder, eyebrows almost disappearing under his fringe.

“Well that all seems to be in order, just one more question—are you comfortable?”

He faltered, blinking. “I...well, to tell you to truth this chair could do with a few less pillows.”

To his amazement the manager’s face lit up with genuine delight. “Oh that is very good to hear. I do apologise for all that nonsense, but there’s rules against asking people about the circumstances of their birth, you know. Here, let me.”

He got to his feet, still rather stunned, and watched how the manager removed three pillows and, from underneath them all, a small green pea from his chair.

“There we are! Now, we’d be very glad to have you, you certainly meet all our qualifications, and I assure you we offer excellent terms and benefits. You clearly have plenty of experience with amphibians and birds, but you will need some on the job training, because apart from the usual frogs, swans and ravens, we also have clients in some of the rarer categories.”

“Clients? I thought this was an animal sanctuary,” he stammered.

“It most certainly is! Except our residents have not always been animals.” The manager smiled meaningfully. “You’d be surprised just how many people, especially royals, decide they would rather stay enchanted.” She looked a little embarrassed for a moment. “Which is of course exactly why I need to take certain precautions with my employees, you understand.”

He was pretty sure he did not at all understand, but he wasn’t about to admit that now. “Right.”

She peered at him again. “I do still need you to promise me not to fall in love with any of them.”

“Why on earth—”

“It’s happened before,” she said gravely. “We also have a couple of private parks, with a more human enclosure, I mean house, because we do get the occasional beastification.” She shook her head. “The last person we hired, well, our client was kind enough not to file an official complaint, on account of the whole finding his true love thing, but it was really very embarrassing.” He sat very still for a moment. “So, how many of those are there?”

“Beasts? Only two at the moment, since that unfortunate incident.”

“And your other...residents?”

“Hmm lets see, seven swans and seven ravens, three frogs, a stag, a hind, a fox and a bear. Well, and the cat, but she’s an exception, she lives in our head quarters and mostly looks after herself.” She gave him a rather worried look. “I haven’t scared you off, have I?”

He gave her a weak smile. “You promised me five weeks paid time off, so no you haven’t. But I am going to need some more information.”

“Wonderful,” she sighed. “In that case, let’s start with giving you a tour.”

[pedgito]

𝐬𝐜𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐦 𝐦𝐲 𝐧𝐚𝐦𝐞 ⛧ 𝐠𝐡𝐨𝐬𝐭𝐟𝐚𝐜𝐞!𝐞𝐝𝐝𝐢𝐞 𝐱 𝐟𝐞𝐦!𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐞𝐫

summary: summer of 96’, fresh off the anniversary of the tragedy that took place on year ago—you and your friend are ready to enjoy your last few days of freedom and fun, but someone has other plans in mind and everyone is fair game.

cw: 18+ (minors dni), obviously a dark fic (pls read with caution), gore, major/minor character death, mentions of blood/stabbing, background stancy, robin being heartbroken but woke as always, established friendship between reader and eddie, smoking (weed), oral (f receiving), unprotected sex (with some bordering coercive themes, reader is aware and in full control of her choices), knife play, mention of creepy staff member preying on young girls, slight cliffhanger (if you squint), this is exactly what you expect it to be and i’m probably missing some tags, so just lmk.

word count: 15k

Dread filled the summer of 95’, fresh off the killings of some of Hawkins' beloved students; it was a tragedy that affected the entire town, everyone mourning together in unity. The killings should’ve ended there, but that was just the beginning. 

The masked assailant plunged the knife into the chest of his eleventh victim, sweet Tammy Thompson who pleaded for her life—she screamed, fought until the very last second, but she wasn’t a match for the brute strength and force of the person who caught her, adding a sharp twist of the knife as blooded pooled from her mouth, the light leaving her eyes. It was supposed to be a fun trip; everyone’s last hoorah before they parted ways after graduation, instead, it turned into a bloodbath. The killer was never caught, all that was left behind; a mask, stark white and horrifying as its mouth stretched on for miles—it was engraved in everyone’s mind, until it wasn’t. Just a faded distant memory of summer that ended badly.

Enter summer of 96’, a fresh faced group of seniors on the precipice of one of the most monumental trips in their lives to date—it was senior tradition, everyone disconnected for a weekend and lived in the moment, even despite the dark cloud that still lingered over.

“I don’t understand why Principal Higgins needs to go,” Eddie says amongst the large group of seniors, voicing everyone’s thoughts, never scared to be the one to point out the blatantly obvious, “doesn’t that defeat the point of having fun?”

“Mr. Munson,” Higgins' voice boomed from the front of the room, “do I need to remind you how lucky you are to even be allowed on this trip with your grades and attendance record?” 

Eddie slumped back in his seat slightly, earning a few laughs from the basketball team huddled in the corner of the room, namely Jason Carver, resident Hawkins High asshole. And yes, the trip was planned and chauffeured by the school—it was more affordable that way and it was meant to make people feel safer, though it sucked the fun out the entire thing. 

“No alcohol, no sex, and I don’t want to catch any of you young men spying on any of these ladies—“ Higgins explained, the other two designated teachers to be joining nodded beside him, mimicking his weak attempt at scolding, “but that goes both ways. If I catch any of you up to no good, I’m sending you home immediately.”

Steve raised his hand impatiently, a small acknowledgment from Higgins was sent his way, “Are we allowed to drive ourselves? Or do we have to ride on the bus?”

“Everyone’s required to be on the bus, we need to make sure everyone is accounted for.” Well, it seemed logical enough and you couldn’t really argue against it. 

Principal Higgins passed out a stack of papers, a long list of necessary supplies to bring along—bug spray, sanitary items, blankets and pillow, nothing out of the ordinary—you’re hyper focused on the page in front of you, unaware of Eddie’s insistent poking at your ribs until he’s plucking the paper from in front of you.

“Eddie,” You say with annoyance, “give it back.”

He smiles wide, still dangling the paper a few feet out of reach, “Whaddya say, sweetheart—should I sneak in the—,” Eddie makes a quick motion to his mouth, lighting up a fake joint, “—or are you on your good girl behavior this weekend?”

You flip him off, forcefully snatching the paper from his tight grip. Still, you weren’t going to pass up that opportunity. “Stop calling me that—,” You insist, lower your voice to a level only he could hear, “—but yeah, you should.”

Eddie chuckles at that, kicking his feet up on the empty chair beside him, ringed fingers drumming against the table. “Higgins is such a creep,” Eddie points out, aiming his voice toward the small group of people at your table—you, Steve, Nancy, Robin, and a few other seniors you didn’t know too well, they didn’t really pay much mind anyways, “like he isn’t going to be staring at all the girls in their swimsuits the entire time.”

“Like that time he got caught staring up Chrissy Cunnigham’s skirt when she was at the top of the pyramid.” Steve pointed out with a boisterous laugh, earning a soft nudge of warning from Nancy.

“Cut it out.” She warns, “She didn’t deserve that.”

“I don’t even know why we’re going back,” Robin points out, “people died.”

She was still partially traumatized after Tammy—unrequited love and all, she knew it would never be reciprocated but her death still affected Robin more than she cared to admit.

“They caught the guy, though.” Steve pointed out, “Don’t you remember?”

“You really think a poor, homeless man was capable of all that?” Nancy challenged, staring Steve down with a scrutinizing gaze. Eddie snickered from his seat—neither of you wanted to be on the receiving end of that.

“Anyone’s capable of anything with the right motive.” Steve shrugs.

“Stop trying to sound all philosophical and sign the fuckin’ clipboard, Harrington.” Eddie interrupts, scribbling down his name—and your own, before tossing it to his friend. 

It was already filled with about fifty names; not everyone had been interested in the trip and some didn’t even entertain the idea to begin with, but Eddie was a master manipulator and great at convincing people—take you and Robin for example, who had been so on the fence about going that it took every ounce of begging from Eddie to get you both to agrees—on his knees, hands clasped tightly together, praying and pleading for you both you.

“Don’t subject me to third wheeling Nancy and Steve,” Eddie had begged, “I will literally never forgive you guys.”

It didn’t take much convincing after that, plus Eddie had barely managed to make it on the list for the trip and the last thing you wanted to do was let him have a horrible senior trip, not when he’s done just about everything to help you manage through this year—friendship and all, outside of your core group of friends, he was the closest to you. 

It wasn’t like you spent every waking moment together, but it was just about. He’s never made you feel uncomfortable or unwanted, always just the right amount gentlemanliness mixed with his own dumb charm, it was addicting. He always knew just the right things to say, when to make you laugh, and how to soothe you when you were upset—he’d never made it clear if he ever wanted anything more with you and that was fine, but you couldn’t help letting it break your heart just a little. Eddie was the perfect type of guy.

“So—graduation is tomorrow, we leave that next day—Friday, bright and early,” Higgins' voice cut through the chatter, “Eight in the morning, on time—right, Edward?”

“Eight in the morning—got it.” Eddie replied with a low amount of snark, glancing over at your smiling face, struggling to hide the small crinkle of your eyes as you tried not to laugh. “What a dick.”

“Maybe I shouldn’t bring a swimsuit to swim,” You say jokingly, knowing how creepy everyone thought principal Higgins was, Eddie stared at you with a puzzled expression, eyebrows drawn together, “what—I just wouldn’t swim at all, it’s not a big deal.”

“You’re swimming, sweetheart.” Eddie says decisively, “I’ll look out for you, don’t worry.”

And if there was anything to put your mind at ease, it was Eddie.

Eddie answers the door to his trailer with a loud groan and a curse, already pissed at you for waking him up so early. Wayne is trailing up the stairs behind you, having barely gotten off of his night shift, coffee and empty lunchbox in hand.

“Open the damn door for the lady,” Wayne complains, motioning toward the handle, “—do you have your shit ready?”

“Yes—god, yes,” Eddie complains, swinging the door open and rubbing his tired eyes, “the sun isn’t even out and you two are already bitching at me this morning.” Eddie stumbles off, still muttering to himself.

“Keep an eye out for him,” Wayne says to you quietly, following in behind you as you step through the threshold, “I know it’s like babysitting with him sometimes.”

You nod obediently, offering a warm smile. 

“Trust me—I’m well aware. He’ll be okay with me.”

“You two are still talking shit about me?” 

Eddie walks out of the hallway leading to his bedroom, backpack slung over his shoulders, large duffel clutched in his hands. You would’ve thought he was going on a week-long retreat—but it was Eddie, he was probably planning to sneak his entire bedroom into the cabin for the weekend. 

“Yep.” You answer simply, lifting yourself up on the counter as you waited, allowing Eddie to say a quick goodbye to his uncle. 

“Where the hell are your bags?” Eddie asks, taking a full body glance at you. You wore a simple pair of cotton shorts and a dated band shirt that once belonged to Eddie—before you stole it, but not a bag in sight.

“Out by your van,” You motion with your thumb in the direction of his vehicle, parked out front, “—are you ready to go?”

“Let’s get this show on the road.” Eddie says with a rambunctious enthusiasm that could only be contained within him, all of his early grogginess suddenly disappearing before your eyes. 

Eddie makes the rounds for the rest of your friends—first Robin, who looks about as excited as Eddie did when you showed up at his trailer this morning, tossing her bag into the row of seats behind the front two, crawling in to lay her head down against the makeshift pillow. 

“Tell Steve and Nance the seats are occupied.” She mumbled, shifting onto her side, eyes shut. “No love birds allowed up here.”

“Surely they can’t be that lovey dovey this early,” You say out loud, earning a soft rumble of a laugh from Eddie. “What? Am I wrong?”

“I gave him a ride to school for a week—it was the worst week of my life.” Eddie said without explaining, but you caught on quickly, hearing Robin’s mocking impression of Nancy every time Steve went in to kiss her. 

“Steve—Steve, stop it.” Robin squealed tiredly, mimicking Nancy’s soft giggle.

Speaking of the devil, Eddie pulled to a screeching stop in front of Steve’s lavish home, too big for someone who was an only child, a giddy Nancy in tow. 

“Eddie—you really need to change your brakes.” You tell him, the screaming metal slicing together, creating an awful sound. “It’s been that way for weeks.”

“She’s still tickin’.” Eddie joked, patting the dash lovingly, the sound of Nancy and Steve clamoring into the back of the van cutting your conversation short. Eddie turns from the driver's seat, “I hope you two got that shit out of your system before we have to bunk with you both.”

“No promises.” Steve chides back, settling on the floor of the back of Eddie’s van, Nancy settled close by. Robin was already dead to the world, softly snoring away from her seat—if she had the choice to stay home, she easily would have. But, she would feel horrible leaving you behind.

You’re still the last to arrive, albeit on time, but Eddie was really hungry—hence the reason you five showed up with food, piling onto the back of the bus without so much as a word, shoveling your mouths with the food, acting like you hadn’t eaten in days.

Eddie makes a face when he sees Steve reaching for the last bit of food in the bag, like he hadn’t already eaten enough for the both of you, giving a soft shrug and an excusal, “If this is gonna be my last good meal until Monday, I’m taking advantage of it.”

“I don’t think it will be that bad.” Nancy offers, not really believing herself when she says it.

“Well, it’ll definitely be interesting.” You add, shifting into the cramped seat beside Eddie, leaning into his outstretched arm.

“Oh, that’s a guarantee.” Eddie jokes, squeezing you tighter. The bus lurching forward in time with his movement, sending you stumbling further into him.

“Woah—you okay?” He asks timidly, your hand reaching out to stop yourself from slipping out of the seat.

“The faster we get there, the better.”

It’s nearing afternoon when you finally arrive, a long winding road of trees and wildlife, not a person or structure in sight, the place was practically abandoned aside from the giant cabin near the end of town, settled on a large piece of land that houses a lake, two smaller joint cabins, and a few other structures that held supplies for outside, and a tiny outhouse—despite the cabin already having its own bathrooms. 

It seemed perfect—it looked beautiful; lush green foliage and clear water, not a cloud in the sky, aside from the suffocating humidity. But, that came with the hot Indiana summers. You couldn’t imagine the tragedy that took place the year prior, or why they would decide to bring you back to the same spot, but it seemed like a completely different place—untouched, new, like someone had gone out of their way to remove that evil or any reminder of the dread.

You give Eddie a gentle nudge from where he’d fallen asleep on your shoulder, grumbling in disagreement as he lifted his head, eyes riddled with exhaustion.

“How late did you stay up last night?” You asked, the palm of his hand coming up to rub at his eyes. 

“One—maybe two.” Eddie shrugs, “I couldn’t sleep.”

“I’m sorry.” You frown, feeling slightly empathetic,

“Not your fault,” He shrugs, “I had a lot on my mind.”

And you don’t push, because despite how close you are with Eddie, he doesn’t open up as easily as most people—you knew enough about him that it didn’t seem strange, everything that friends would normally know, but he never talked about his past or his parents or how he was raised prior to Wayne. It was all a big mystery. 

When you do finally make it off the bus, it’s met with a sigh of relief and a giant breath of fresh air, despite the sweltering heat—you could live with that, it felt good to be able to stretch your legs again. 

You can sense the slight amount of uneasiness lingering in the air, between the students, between your friends, like you’re waiting for someone to say something or address the elephant in the room. Principal Higgins, of course, speaks first.

“I’ve already got rooms assigned on the chart,” He points at the piece of paper clutched in his hand, “boys on the left, girls on the right—I don’t want to hear a single complaint out of anyone. I went off of everyone’s requests so there shouldn’t be any confusion.”

He takes a pause, too long to remain in a comfortable silence, before he finally speaks again.

“I realize what went down last year—but that’s not why we’re here.” He attempts to assure you all, though it doesn’t really have much effect. “That was all resolved and handled—I can promise you all, it’s going to be fine.”

“Famous last words.” Robin mumbles, arms crossed over her chest as she switches between feet, fidgeting because she can’t stay still—she’d been so confined all day that it was driving her mad.

“I don’t know,” You shrug, “it feels good right now—peaceful, you know?”

Eddie and Steve had gone to fetch the rest of the bags earlier, approaching you near the end of Principal Higgins half hearted speech, you take your bags with a smile and a wink from Eddie, who now, seems entirely too chipper. There was definitely something in the air, less of a weight on everyone's shoulders, whatever impending doom everyone had expected to feel wasn’t there at all, like it never even existed.

“Come on, Robin,” Steve says, “stop worrying.”

“Someone has to.” She defends, feeling defeated over everyone’s lack of concern. “—Whatever, give me my bags.” Steve hands them over without argument, watching as Robin stomped begrudgingly along to the cabin.

“You two should follow her,” Eddie suggests, motioning toward you and Nancy, who seemed just weary as Robin now that you all had officially arrived on the lake, “we’ll meet up in an hour?”

“Yeah,” You agreed, tightening your grip on your bag as you shifted it onto your shoulder, “come on, Nance.”

If there was anyone to cheer Robin up, it would be you—it used to be Steve and you weren’t sure you could ever compare your friendship to that, but he’s been so caught up with Nancy and Eddie lately that Robin almost didn’t feel like a part of the group anymore, and you hated that. So, if it meant abandoning Eddie for a few hours, just to make Robin happy, you’d do it.

The rooms are horribly small, also—three beds to a room, just enough space to fit your bags at the end of your beds, but that was it. There were several lined up on each side of the house, upstairs and down, with two bathrooms at each end—but, things could be worse and at least you weren’t forced into a tent like some of the others originally suggested. A weekend on a lake, sure—camping outdoors for two day? Absolutely not.

“How is everyone not freaked out?” Robin asks, laying stomach down on the rickety bed, feet kicked up behind her, face resting against her arms where they were placed against the comforter.

“I don’t think people care, really.” Nancy tells her, unfolding her clothes neatly onto her bed, double checking her bags to make sure everything was still there, “The killer was caught.”

You couldn’t explain why it felt weird to hear Nancy say it out loud—maybe because you didn’t really believe it yourself, or that it just sounded absurd to say in any scenario, but regardless, you voice your concern.

“Do you really think he was working alone?” You ask, glancing at both of your friends from where you were sitting cross-legged on your bed. “I mean—eleven people, that’s…it’s a lot.”

“Where’s this coming from?” Robin asked curiously, “Don’t try to freak me out anymore than I already am—I’m leaving both of you behind if things start getting weird—I swear.”

“She watches all those weird crime things and reads up about all the crazy serial killers,” Nancy says, adding a small laugh at the end, “if there’s anyone to believe, it’s her.”

“It also just makes the most sense,” You shrug, “—I mean, maybe the person was one of the people that got killed—maybe that guy turned on him, but I don’t think it was him alone, it doesn’t add up.”

Robin seems more intrigued now, pushing herself up to sit on her knees.

“The weird phone calls, messing with their cars, managing to kill them and still hang up some of their bodies like props—I refuse to believe that one homeless man was capable of any of that.”

“We’ll, that’s definitely not comforting to hear.” Robin admits, crossing her arms over her chest tightly, glancing over at Nancy who seemed less than interested in the conversation.

“I don’t think we have anything to worry about,” You attempt to comfort her, “—plus, we’re probably the furthest down on the list of victims if it ends up being someone on this trip—Jason could clearly go down first, everyone hates him.”

“Let’s hope so.” Nancy interjects, interrupted by two solid knocks against the closed door to your room, swinging open before you can even leave the bed.

“Higgins shoved us in with Carver,” Eddie complains, glancing over at Steve sparingly, they were already dressed in their swim shorts—Steve in a muted red reaching halfway down his thighs, Eddie in a pair of plain black ones, reaching just about the knee, both with towels slung over their shoulder, “—I guess no one else wanted to room with him.”

You hummed softly, “Lucky you,” You teased, turning toward the clearly irritated men standing in your doorway, “—swimming already?”

“Yep,” Eddie nods, throwing his towel in your direction, “get changed, ladies—you know much King Steve hates to wait.” Steve scoffs tiredly, earning a deep laugh from his friend, the two of them shoving each other down the hallway as they departed.

You look at Robin, who seems dead set on staying out, “Hey, come on,” You push gently, jumping off your bed to wrap your arms over your friend’s shoulder, the side of her face squished against chest, “swimmings fun, right?”

“If I say yes will you let go?” Robin asks.

“Yes.”

“Then yeah, it sounds fun.”

Most of the afternoon and evening is spent in the lake, on the waterside or laid out on the dock, everyone soaking in as much of the sun and quiet as they can, reveling in the last couple of days of peace before they’re thrusted back into reality—forced off to colleges and filling out job applications.

 By nightfall, after dinner in the cabin, you and Eddie decided to take one last dip into the water, away from the rest of the group. The rest of your friends stayed by the dock, engaging in mindless conversation.

Eddie dunks you under the water immediately, surfacing seconds later to throw water back in his face. “What the hell, Eddie?” You ask, “A warning would be nice?”

“Live a little, sweetheart.” Eddie says endearingly, wiping the hair out of your face that stuck to your cheek, you freeze momentarily, eyes glued to his face, his expression mostly plain. He notices you watching, “Something on my face?”

“No,” You respond softly, “I’m just—are you not thinking about any of the stuff that happened?”

“That was last year—“ Eddie shrugs off, “Why—are you scared?”

It sounds teasingly, almost like he can’t believe someone like you could be so terrified over something that happened a year ago, completely disconnected from you—and the truth was, you weren’t scared.

“No, I’m not,” You tell him sternly, making yourself clear, “But, Robin is worried—I guess I’m feeling her emotions a little.”

“We’ll, she’s your friend,” Eddie points out, “it makes sense, you two are close.”

“She’s your friend, too.” You counter, face drawn up in confusion. It was a weird way to phrase himself.

“Of course,” He confirms without hesitation, “but it’s different for you—like how I probably know things about Steve that he’d be embarrassed to tell you.”

You grimace, nose scrunched up in disgust. “I don’t wanna know.”

“And what makes you think I was gonna tell you?” Eddie teases, crowding you under the water, arms encircling your waist to pull you closer, fingers digging into your side playfully. You squeal, begging him to stop. “I take secrets very seriously.”

“I hope so.” You remark, swatting him playfully when he finally lets you go. 

You take his hand, tugging until he decides to follow, swimming toward the edge of the dock toward your friends, both of you perching on the edge, forearms rested against the soaked wood. 

“What’s going on?” You ask Steve, who’s staring back and forth between a slightly jumpy Nancy and an uncomfortable Robin, clearly having interrupted an uncomfortable conversation.

“Robin was talking about the phone calls,” Nancy explains softly, “and all those weird questions that person was asking—“

“Yeah, but those could have been rumors.” Steve tries to defend, “We don’t really know what happened last year—we’re going off of what a bunch of teenagers told the cops.”

“You know—maybe it was Prinipal Higgins making those calls—that fuckin’ creep,” Eddie remarks jokingly, transitioning into his best impression of the man, “Mmm—What are you wearing?”

Steve joins in with a laugh, “I can see you—can you see me?”

Eddie fakes sneaking up behind you, leaning over your shoulder as he whispers, “What’s your favorite scary movie?”

You elbow him gently, shoving him away playfully. “Cut it out,” You laugh, watching Eddie’s face pull into a large grin as he leans against the dock again, hand resting lightly against your back—Eddie was as touchy as touchy could get, regardless of how close you were, he’d always been that way, “Robin is already freaked out enough.”

Robin, who’s looking more and more uncomfortable by the second, finally speaks up. “I’m going to bed,” She said excusing, “I’ll see you guys later.”

“Robin, wait—“ Steve begs quietly, grasping onto his friend’s wrist.

“I’m fine,” She promises, tugging her wrist back, “I just want to get some sleep.”

Robin departs soon after, leaving the four of you in a comfortable silence, starting out at the front of the cabin, lights flipping on and off momentarily, before a loud clattering from the side of the house grabs the attention of all of you. 

“Woah—hey,” Nancy whispers urgently, “Is that Jason and Chrissy?”

“Innocent Chrissy? There’s no way.” Steve jokes, watching as the two of them wander obviously into the woods, up to no good.

Eddie laughs from your side, taking a careful glance over at Nancy who’s cuddling herself into Steve’s side, he lowers his voice where only you can hear, “Let’s give the other lovebirds some privacy,” He jerks his head at the pair, “before Higgins catches us out here and cuts the fun short.”

“I’m pretty sure he’s passed out in his cabin right now.” You assure him, pointing directly at the cabin to the far right of you, no lights, no legitimate sign of life stirring about—if there was any time to get away with murder or rule breaking, it would be now. 

Eddie pulls you further away, near the edge of the water where he can grab his towel, helping you out and drying himself off before passing you his own towel, helping you wrap it around yourself snugly. “I could’ve brought my own towel down,” You point out, ignoring how his fingers lingered against your arm, “I am capable of doing things for myself.”

“I know,” Eddie smiles slightly, wet hair dripping rivulets of water down his chest, pale skin standing out against his tattoos. You’ve seen them a million times before, it doesn’t bother you, but suddenly you’re resisting the urge to reach out and touch—and that’s more terrifying than anything, “good thing we left when we did—“ Eddie motions behind you discreetly.

Steve and Nancy had already slipped into the water by that point, covered by the other side of the dock—you and Eddie weren’t voyeurs, but it wasn’t hard to make out what was going on from the several feet of distance you had between each other. 

“It’s kinda hot.” Eddie says shamelessly, shrugging at your bewildered expression. “What? Don’t look at me like that.”

“Eddie,” You say in disbelief, his face splitting into a giant grin, “I’m kidding—obviously, but you really shouldn’t act so shy around me. I know all your secrets, remember?”

“Shut up.” You shove him lightly, wrist caught by his hands.

“Even the ones you haven’t told me.” He teases further, twirling you slowly until your back is pressed against his chest, hot skin burning against the exposed part of your back. You can hear the faint mix of moans from where you stood—you weren’t even sure if they knew you both were still nearby, or cared, for that matter.

“You never answered my question earlier.” Eddie points out, eyes dragging up toward him from where he stood behind you. 

“I thought you were just trying to be funny.” 

“Yeah—but I’m still curious.” He admits, “What is your favorite scary movie?”

You smirk knowingly, “Don’t have one,” You tell him honestly, “I prefer the real stuff.”

“Like?”

“Bundy, Dahmer, murderers and serial killers—I like learning about stuff like that, but scary movies; they just aren’t scary.” 

“You’re a little freak,” Eddie responds playfully, words lighthearted, it doesn’t bother you at all, “have you always been that morbid?”

“Yes,” You admit with a soft laugh, “instead of morning cartoons I was watching the news for the latest homicide or police arrest—it freaked my parents out for a while, but I think they realized it was all harmless, eventually. I was a curious kid.”

Eddie makes a small noise of acknowledgment, the lewd noises of your friends overpowering him, your chest tightens, his arms flexing ever so slightly around your waist. You can’t find the courage to speak first, so Eddie does.

“We could join in, if you want.” He mentions nonchalantly, a playful attempt at breaking the tension. “I won’t mind.”

“Of course not, you pervert,” You wiggle away from him playfully, “Just shut up and walk me back to my room.” You tug at his hand, dragging him along with you. Eddie’s hand settles low on your waist, but you can’t be bothered to adjust it, spoiled by how easily he shows his affection toward you. Eddie didn’t need to admit the attraction he felt toward you, it was obvious—and you couldn’t say it was one-sided all the time, you were just as guilty.

“Hey—both of you,” Nancy shouts, startling you awake, “get up.”

You rub at tired eyes, sitting up abruptly in your bed. “What the hell, Nance?” Robin responds with the same enthusiasm. 

“Jason’s hurt, they’re taking him to the hospital.” Nancy said in a hurry, pulling her top on. Robin perks up slightly.

“So, does that mean we’re going home?” Robin asks with a hint of hopefulness.

“I don’t think so,” Nancy answers and Robin sinks slightly, “but they’re making us meet downstairs to talk—so hurry up. Steve and Eddie are already waiting.”

It takes some extra convincing, but the two of you eventually make it downstairs, half dressed and still barely awake. You plop down on the couch between Eddie and Steve, both looking just as groggy and clearly annoyed at being disturbed so early. 

It takes you a moment to recognize her, but you catch Chrissy huddled in the far end of the room around her other cheerleading friends, shaken up and crying—like she’d witnessed something she shouldn’t have.

“Hey, what happened?” You nudge Eddie, catch the faint whiff of his vanilla scented shampoo, the one he stole from your place last month because he constantly badgered you about how good it smelt that you finally caved and let him have it, just to shut him up—“Why aren’t we leaving?”

“Uh—they think a mountain lion attacked Jason last night in the woods,” He explains, “Remember when we saw him and Chrissy sneaking off?”

You nod silently and Eddie continues, “I guess he ended up pissing Chrissy off and she left him out there and—I don’t know, something clearly wanted a taste of him—or it was karma for being an asshole.”

You rolled your eyes lazily—it was a fair opinion, because you couldn’t feel much sympathy either, with how much of prick Jason was all the time, specifically toward Eddie, and you by association, there was no telling what caused Chrissy to flee from him last night, but it must’ve been for good reason.

Principal Higgins blows through the front door of the cabin a second later, his scratchy, annoying voice disturbing the peace, “Alright, I’m sure you all have probably talked amongst yourself—and yes, Jason is in the hospital, but the doctors are pretty sure it was an animal attack. We’re not planning on cutting the weekend short, but we are setting a curfew—everyone needs to be in the cabin by nine, no excuses.” There’s a large collective groan from the entire group. Eddie shakes his head slightly in amusement, rubbing at his head tenderly.

“You okay?” You ask quietly, glancing over at him.

“Headache.” He tells you simply, closing his eyes slowly as he leaned his head back against the couch. You tap your fingers against his knee gently, providing him a sense of comfort as he grabs your hand loosely.

“We’ll keep you updated as we learn more,” Higgins explains, “but seriously—keep your asses out of the woods.”

But you knew, in Eddie’s mind, that was a big flashing red sign that said the exact opposite—besides, where else was he supposed to smoke all of the weed he brought with him?

The uneasiness lingers throughout the entire cabin the rest of the day, but for you, it’s one of the last things on your mind. Eddie and Steve seemed tense with each other—and it dawned on you again, they had been rooming with Jason; it was probably freaking both of them out more than they could care to admit. 

When you knock on their door that afternoon, you catch the end of what you can only assume was a heavy argument, both of them angrily shoving at things on opposite sides of the room, shoving Jason’s belongings away to be brought downstairs. 

“Should I come back later?” You ask awkwardly, peaking through the door, both of them surprisingly startled by your presence.

“We’re fine.” Steve says, tossing the duffel on the floor by your feet. It’s too harsh, too clipped for it to be friendly, he doesn’t want you standing at the door and you can feel it.

Eddie chances a look your way, sending your worry and urges you outside, squeezing himself through the small opening to lead you into the hallway. 

“Some people are trying to start rumors,” Eddie explain in a hushed voice, “they think Steve was part of the reason why Jason ended up getting attacked—it doesn’t make any sense, but you know how Steve is—“

“But, we know that’s not true—he was with us last night.” You add, even though it’s obvious information between you and Eddie.

“People talk, though—I’m sure it’ll blow over.” Eddie attempts to reassure you, but you’re not understanding why he’s saying it to you and not Steve—but again, Steve would rather avoid everyone right now. 

“Looks like that stuff is going to come in handy,” You emphasize, but Eddie already knows you’re referring to his stash on his bag, “if you can manage to find somewhere to smoke it.”

“I was planning on heading out to the woods after dark anyways,” Eddie shrugged, hands shoved into his back pockets as he leaned his shoulder against the wall, “if you’re so curious to join.”

“The woods?” You ask incredulously, “Seriously? After what just happened?”

“I’ll take my chances.” Eddie laughs, “I’ll protect you—don’t worry.”

You hadn’t even said yes, but it was like Eddie knew, you couldn’t resist an opportunity to be around him.

Eddie tips your chin up with his finger, offering you a warm smile.

“Why don’t you work your sweet girl magic and help with all the rumors?” Eddie suggests, nodding to the group of kids downstairs. “You’re better at socializing than me.”

“I’ll try.” You answer lamely, forcing a tight smile.

“Tonight at eleven.” Eddie tells you, “Don’t be late.”

Whatever the rumors really were, they didn’t have much substance behind them—you eventually found out that it was a harmless comment Chrissy made about Steve being jealous of Jason because he took the captain spot from him, thus spurring him into the undying need to hurt Jason—which just wasn’t true, but Chrissy was rightfully upset, still leaving out the details of what happened with her and Jason in the woods. She did apologize, which ended most of the talk about it, but Eddie still planned to drag Steve out for some time to think, digress, and get high out of their minds, which didn’t sound too bad now. 

Which brought you to now, sat on the couch beside Nancy, most of the others already bunked up for the night, allowing you both time to talk, without Robin or Steve or Eddie. 

“Are you not worried about him?” You ask Nancy, who shrugs in response.

“He worries about his image a lot, but he’ll get over it.” She takes a moment to pause, eyebrows drawing together in question. “Are you and Eddie ever going to address what’s going on between you both?”

“There’s nothing going on.” You laugh, but it’s unconvincing to Nancy, who stares on knowingly, lips pursed to keep from smiling. “You don’t always have to label everything.”

She nods quietly, pulled out of thought from the phone ringing down the hall. You both freeze in fear, startled by the sudden noise—Robin pops out of the room from above, “Don’t answer that.”

You shake your head slightly, pushing up from the couch, “Well, it’s either answer it or listen to it ring for the rest of the night.”

Nancy hesitates, hand reaching for yours, “—Maybe you should let it ring,”

“God, you two are way too scared.” You say with a tinge of annoyance, walking the short distance to the phone and pressing it to your ear. 

“Listen, if you start this phone call off with a question, I’m hanging up.”

You’re met with silence, before the line goes dead abruptly.

You smile triumphantly, pressing the phone back to the wall.

“See, it’s not that—“ Another shrill ring interrupts you, sending Robin halfway down the stairs before you can even comprehend, both of them hurrying to your side to listen.

You press the phone to your ear without hesitation, you meet them with silence instead this time. There’s a faint hum on the other line—breathing, maybe? Then a voice.

“Cocky, I like that.” The robotic voice responds, unsettling your nerves slightly. Both Nancy and Robin’s eyes widen in panic, but you’re not entirely convinced this isn’t just another stupid senior prank. “Where are you right now?”

“If you’re calling, I’m sure you know.” You respond snarkily, attempting to silently comfort both of your friends, “Where are you?”

“You don’t get to ask questions.” The voice snaps, but you feel nothing.

“Are you alone?” They ask, voice tipping up slightly on the last word, intrigued by the idea. You lie.

“Yeah.” You say, “Just me, all alone.”

“And you wouldn’t lie to me?”

“Wouldn’t dream of it.” You tell them with an overly sweet tone, enjoying the low level game they were playing at. 

“Good—because if you were; I’d have to kill you.”

You tense slightly, watching the worried expression of your friends turn to horror. 

“Instead, I’ll just go for one of your classmates—how does that sound?”

“Oh, so you’re working alone?” You question, ignoring the earlier warning.

It’s not received well.

“I told you no fucking questions.” The voice rips through the receiver, “You’re going to regret that.”

The line goes dead again, anxiety settling in your body, your brain trying to think of any way this could be turned into a joke—that no one could really be attempting to kill you and your friends.

“Now can we leave?” Robin pleads, pulling at the phone line to disconnect it. 

“Do you really believe that shit, Robin?” You ask, “Someone is just trying to scare us.”

“Well, I’m fucking terrified.” She admits, interrupted by a nervous Nancy.

“Wait—Steve and Eddie—we have to go get them.” Nancy tells you.

You can tell by the look on their faces that it wasn’t going to be either of them risking their lives, so by default, it ends up being you. 

“Fine, I’ll go fetch your boyfriend.” You give in, shoving past the two of them, but Nancy stops you with her hand around your wrist, “What—“

“Here,” She scrambled toward the kitchen, running back to hand you a measly kitchen knife, a butter knife at best, unlikely to fend off anything bigger than a squirrel, but you take it to soothe her anxiousness, “for protection.”

If anything wanted to attack you outside, you weren’t going to be able to stop it with your hands, let alone some knife, but you went anyway.

Both Eddie and Steve are laughing obnoxiously when you approach them, unbeknownst to your presence, knife still clutched tightly in your hand. The snap of dry branches pulling their attention toward your dark figure as it lurched from the shadows.

“Woah, sweetheart—“ Eddie says with wide eyes, hands held up in defense as he sees you posed, weapon at the ready, “care to explain the murderess look in your eyes?”

“Nancy wants you back at the cabin,” You point to Steve, motioning with the knife in the direction of the house. Steve and Eddie share a look, long and difficult to decipher from an outside perspective, but you ignore it, desperate for Steve to leave, “she’s pretty freaked out—Robin too.”

“Are they okay?” Steve asks, earning an if of surety from you.

“Nance just wants you back, I wouldn’t keep her waiting.”

Eddie gives Steve a knowing look, tapping his arm gently, “Remember—no sex, they’re always the first ones to get slashed.” Steve shakes his head in annoyance before leaping from the table in a hurry, jogging back toward the house without much of a word, knowing that Nancy would have it out for him if he didn’t.

You drop the knife to the ground immediately, Eddie approaching you without hesitation, “Hey, what’s wrong?”

“Look, I’m really trying to hold my shit together, right now.” You say slowly, eyes closing to calm your breathing, Eddie’s hands rubbing gently at your shoulders, “But, we just got a call back at the house—and I’m fucking freaking out.”

“Hey, hey—“ Eddie says softly, “everyone knows it’s the anniversary of all the shit that happened last year—someone’s probably trying to scare you, that’s it.”

“That’s what I was trying to tell Nance and Robin,” You explain, “but—you know, what if—“

“Here,” Eddie says, holding up the rolled joint, ultimately ending the conversation and soothing your worries, “light up and forget, alright? She’s all yours.”

“You’re a terrible influence.” You tell him, plucking the joint from his fingers and following him toward the picnic table, climbing until you’re seated on the top, Eddie squeezing onto the bench below you, shifting until he was seated between your outstretched legs. You let him light up the joint before pulling it to your mouth, breathing in until it stung.

“See? All your problems float away, like that.” Eddie jokes, snapping his fingers for show.

You sigh softly, joint held tight between your fingers as you look down at him, “How are you so calm?”

“Well, I’m really high—so that helps,” Eddie laughs slightly, “but the more you think about it, the more it’s going to bother you—I mean, look at Robin.”

“So, I shouldn’t be worried about that call?” You ask, like validation from Eddie would solve all your problems.

He was always the fix-all; Eddie knew the right things to say, when to say them, to a disturbing degree, almost—but it helped comfort you like nothing else ever could.

“No.” He tells you simply, you believe him.

“And the chance that a mountain lion might come and attack us right now?”

“I’ll fight it off with your butter knife,” Eddie jokes, “problem solved.”

“I’m serious,” You stress, face pleading with him.

“Close your eyes,” Eddie says, your eyes fall shut obediently, “listen—do you hear that?”

There isn’t a sound to be heard, not a gust of wind, a crackle in the deeper part of the woods, only the soft slush of the water as it moved within the lake.

“I don’t hear anything.”

“Exactly—there’s nothing to worry about. It’s just us.”

Eddie’s hand circles the span of your ankle, rubbing soft gentle touches into the skin, your head tipping back as you finish off the joint, passing along what you couldn’t smoke the rest of, Eddie taking it on greedily. Eddie was always very touchy, but it intensified at times like these—and your skin burned, tingled with electricity as your mind wandered, feeling like it was floating away.

“Tell me something you’ve never told anyone.” You ask Eddie, head tilting up to look at him, his eyes spread over the expanse of your thighs, skin exposed from the shorts you wore. “Not even Steve.”

“I’m an open book,” Eddien replies plainly, “you already know everything.”

You scoff, “Lame.” You move further up the table, feeling bold, ass nearing the edge as you fall into Eddie’s lap, his hands latching onto your waist instinctively. It’s the first time you’ve ever seen him look genuinely shocked, mouth hung open slightly as you spoke again, “fine—I’ll go.”

“I know I should feel bad about Jason being hurt, but I don’t.” You shrug and Eddie smirks slightly at that, knowing all too well. “That prick deserves everything that’s coming to him.”

“You’re still upset at him for exposing that picture all around school, aren’t you?” Eddie teases, it wasn’t much of a sore subject anymore—a joke, sometimes, but he never tried bringing it up unless you did first. 

“I was stupid for trusting him.” You admit honestly, through your haze of unfiltered thoughts, “Now the entire class knows what my tits look like.”

Eddie makes a small noise of amusement, “I guess this can count as a secret, seeing as you’re my best friend and Steve would gouge his ears out if I told him this,” You’re apprehensive to hear now, but Eddie continues, “I liked them.”

You shove Eddie with a weak force, “I thought you said you didn’t see it!”

“I lied,” He shrugs calmly, watching your face heat up, “does that make you uncomfortable now?”

You shake your head slightly, the sudden proximity feeling charged, his hands squeezing gently at your hips for a brief moment.

“Don’t move.” Eddie instructs hotly, breath ghosting over your chest as he leans into you, his face barely visible in the darkness, the faint glow of the cabin helping you make out the more basic features of his face. His wide eyes looked full black, you weren’t sure you recognized him, but it still felt like him. “I’m gonna kiss you.”

Your breath catches, hands falling to his knees where they’re spread out beneath you, stabilizing you on his lap as he pulls you closer—he wasn’t asking or hoping, he was taking; and god forbid you deprive yourself of something you wanted just as bad.

He kisses like fire—hot and intense, lips smashing against yours messily, no rhythm or care; just pure need and want. It felt like being swallowed whole, savored. You couldn’t get enough. He grunts, hands digging into the swell of your ass as you pull back, your bottom lip caught between his teeth as he pulls gently, releasing it slowly. 

You sigh, a long exhale, “We should get back to the cabin.” You say with deep regret, but couldn’t stand another moment outside being eaten up by bugs and covered in a sheen of humidity induced sweat.

Eddie makes a noise, neither approval or disagreement, like he’s not totally listening—but then the lights to cabin cut off, followed by a high pitched scream that pulls you both from the moment—you jump off of Eddie’s lap so quickly he falls off the bench, barely catching himself with his hands.

“The hell was that?” You ask in a panic, grabbing desperately for his hands to help him up. 

“Maybe it was a power surge.” Eddie tries to remain levelheaded, but it’s followed by another bloodcurdling scream. “Okay—maybe not—here, go.” He shoved you off toward the direction of the cabin, running back to his supplies sitting on the table, “I’ll catch up with you, I promise.”

“Eddie.” 

“I promise,” He assures you once more, “go.”

The run back to the cabin is short, a concerned Robin meeting you at the front door, looking far more terrified than earlier. 

“The power’s out,” Robin says in a panic, pushing you outside of the doorway, “Steve’s trying to get it back on and Nancy went to wake up Principal Higgins—“

“Robin,” You call out to your rapidly talking friend, pulling at the item coughed in her hand, “what’s with the keys?”

“It’s just—just a precaution,” Robin explains, pointing at the bus parked down the road, “—I told you—things felt weird from the beginning. I wasn’t lying.”

You glance back at the vehicle, an idea springin on you, “Wait, come here,” You grab at Robin’s hand; dragging her along with you until you reach the door of the bus, prying it open, “—better safe than sorry, right? See if it’ll start..”

Robin doesn’t hesitate, squeezing through the small space until she can reach the driver’s seat, shoving the key into the ignition—she turns it once, a hopeful rumble of life from the bus before it cuts short, “More, try turning it faster and holding it.” Robin nods, trying again.

The bus sputters, the entire thing dying out after a few seconds.

“Are you fucking kidding me?” Robin exclaims, screaming at the steering wheel.

“Hey—maybe Steve will get the power back on,” You make an attempt at calming her down, “we can plug the phone back in and try to call the police—“

Nancy’s scream rips through the air, her distant running figure hurling toward the bus at a speed that could only be described as panicked, her hands covered in thick, red sludge and face pale with fear. 

“Fuck—Nancy, what happened?” You ask, grabbing her outstretched arms to steady her shaking. 

“Mr—Mr. Clark and—and Mr. Mundy,” Nancy stammers, eyes welling with tears as they glazed over, “I saw them—I saw it—it killed them.”

Robin shoved through the accordion door, “Who?” She presses, keys gripped tightly in her hand, “Who killed them?”

“I don’t—I don’t know.” She shakes her head, “The mask—they had the same mask. It was the same person. It has to be.”

“They arrested him.” You assured her, “It can’t be.”

“Then it’s someone else!” She spits back, broken from her frozen state of fear, pulling her arms back, blood splattering against your face. “I’m covered in—oh my god—where’s Steve?”

“He’s still trying to get the power on,” Robin points out, “what about Eddie?” Their heads immediately turn to you.

“He had to pack up his stuff in the woods—“

Nancy gives you a weird look.

“Weed—Nance, we were smoking.”

“Wait, how close are the woods to those cabins—and the generator?” Robin asks, trying to stay level headed enough to piece things together.

By some horrible, unfortunate coincidence, the cabins are settled just a handful of feet away from where you and Eddie had been only a few minutes ago, not far off from Steve either, which makes the three of you jump into action—until you’re turning the corner of the cabin, meet with the two men you were so frantically looking for.

“Nance—Nancy?” Steve shouts, running toward her in a rush, staring at her blood covered hands in shock, “Are you hurt?”

She shakes her head profusely, “No—no, I’m not.”

“Did you get the power on?” You ask, staring up at Steve from where he was curled around Nancy, hugging her shaking body.

“Someone cut the lines,” He tells you, “Eddie tried helping, but we’re screwed—“

“Wait,” Eddie cuts in, glancing over Nancy’s disheveled figure, “why are you covered in blood?”

“Clarke and Mundy, they’re dead.” You explain for her, knowing that Nancy wouldn’t be able to explain it again, not with the state she was in. “Whatever was here last year, it’s back and it killed them in front of her.”

“So, we’re leaving then.” Eddie says, like it’s the most obvious option. 

“One small problem, dipshit—“ Robin says with an immense amount of snark, “They fucked with the bus, too. We’re stuck here until morning,”

“Someone needs to get Higgins,” Nancy says softly, “If he’s even still alive.”

“And we need to make sure everyone’s awake and knows what’s going on.” You tell the group, pointing at Robin, “Maybe you can find someone who has a phone with them and can call—“

“Didn’t Higgins take everyone’s phones before we left?” Steve asked, something you had completely overlooked. “Can we even trust him?”

“We’re talking about a group of teenagers, Steve.” Robin replies, “Someone is bound to have snuck one in. Don’t worry, I’ll handle it—you should go clean Nancy up.”

“Eddie and I can go look for Principal Higgins.” You offer, grabbing at Eddie’s hand, his own grip giving a squeeze. “We’ll meet back here in an hour, if we’re not back, come looking for us.”

Steve slowly guides Nancy toward the front door, a nervous Robin on their trail. “We will, be safe.” She tells you, receiving a nod from both you and Eddie before they disappear behind the threshold of the door. 

“Still with me?” Eddie asks, a slight hopefulness to his voice. “I can go by myself if you’re too scared.”

“You’re not going by yourself.” You say with finality, “Do you still have your pocket knife on you?” He nods, pulling the tiny switchblade from his front pocket and presenting it to you.

You grab it with ease, pulling the blade out and grasping the handle tightly in your palm. “Look—now I can defend myself.”

“Yeah, from someone with a fear of papercuts.” Eddie jokes, flicking the tiny blade with his fingertips.

“This isn’t suspicious, right?” You ask, shoving open the unlocked door to the empty cabin, not a soul in sight beside you and Eddie, who crowds in behind you, closing the door for safety. “Principal Higgins?!” You call out, mouth immediately clasped over by Eddie’s palm, effectively shushing you.

“What are you doing?” He asks in a hushed voice, “Are you trying to draw the killer here or something?”

“Sorry,” You say impishly, tugging his hand away gently, “—maybe we should take a look around.”

“For safety?” Eddie asks with a small quirk to his eyebrow.

“And curiosity," You tell him honestly, sifting through the dresser drawers haphazardly, shifting and shoving clothes to the side, “it doesn’t hurt to look.”

Eddie shrugs, joining in your search, peeking through the duffel bags placed one the circular table shoved in the corner of the room by the front door, a remedy of normal toiletries and random items that didn’t make much sense to him.

“He could already be back at the cabin,” You suggest, disappointed in your lack of discovery, aside from his terrible choice in clothing, “did you find anything?”

Eddie doesn’t answer you at first, back hunched over as he searches through the bag. You approach him slowly, nudging gently at his waist until he answers you, “Hey, you okay?”

“Well, if he’s not killing people, he’s definitely a grade A creep,” Eddie says into the quiet room, slapping a small stack of Polaroids on the table.

You shifted until you were beside him, alternating through the pictures—various girls in different states of undress, some during the day that were taken from inside his cabin, girls dressed down in the swimsuits, but the more disturbing ones—a few of the cheerleaders, asleep in their bed; meaning he would have had to sneak into the cabin and into the room quietly enough that they wouldn’t be disturbed—but that was already unsettling enough.

“Part of me is relieved that I’m not in here,” You admit selfishly, “is that horrible of me to say?”

Eddie shakes his head, “No—I wouldn’t have let that happen.”

“Oh, really?” You ask, slightly intrigued. “Because you knew that Higgins was up to no good and you were hoping to be my knight in shining armor?” It’s a harmless joke, your hand releasing the Polaroids as they scattered back onto the table. “I don’t need you to save me, Eddie.”

“I’m aware.” Eddie chuckles slightly, turning slightly to face you, sitting against the table, fingers curling around the edge. “I know how well you can handle yourself—you always have.”

You bat your eyes sweetly, “Eddie, are you really trying to put the moves on, right now?”  Eddie shrugs nonchalantly, “Eddie—“

“Is it working?” Eddie asks hopefully, his foot carefully sneaking between your parted ones, nudging at your shoes until you lose balance, forcing you to fall against him.

“Eddie—people are dead,” You point out, “Jason was hurt the other night, Nancy and Robin are back at the cabin freaking out—and someone threatened to kill me over the phone—“

“Yet, there’s no one around,” Eddie points out, “there’s no screaming—look at me,” He taps at your chin with his finger, pushing your face up to meet his, “I mean it—look at me.”

Your eyes pull to his, his wide doe eyes glazed black in this light, penetrating your very essence of being, almost like you couldn’t help but be entranced by the things he was telling you, the way he was looking at you—touching you. 

“I’ve been trying to get you alone,” He admits, sending a chill of excitement down your spine, mixed with a hint of apprehension and arousal, “but you were always busy—“

“But, the other night—with Steve and Nance—“

“Alone,” He insists, “just me, just you.”

“We do that all the time back in Hawkins—what’s the difference?”

Eddie smiles sadly, pushing stray hair from your face, his fingers pressing into the dip at the base of your neck, pulling it taut gently, “Feels like we’re running out of time, right? Feels like I’m gonna lose you.”

“Eddie—I’m not leaving.” You reassure him, “I’ll always be there, whenever you need me.”

“Promise?” Eddie asks softly.

You nod gently, eyes peeking a glance to his soft lips, jutting out slightly from the front on his face, before slowly moving back up his face. Eddie catches it, feeds off of it. 

“Say it.”

“I promise.” You tell him, not a shake or waver in your voice.

You felt shift long after Eddie, he knew it for the moment you stepped inside the cabin—the unwarranted tension, thick and permeating between you both. It was strong now, after earlier in the night, now just a few minutes after midnight—you wanted him to kiss you again—again, and again, until you couldn’t even remember your name. It felt ludicrous and maybe it was the lingering high, despite being freaked out of your mind, you still balanced an unnatural sense of calm. And Eddie seemed unphased, unconcerned—so you followed suit, knowing that as long as you were near him, you’d be fine. Eddie had always protected, that would never change.

You shift between his outstretched legs, tugging idly at the at leather chained bracelet secured around his wrist, letting the hand fall to your thigh, feeling Eddie squeeze until you get message, hiking your leg up and over his own silently, letting him repeat the same process with the other side—and suddenly he’s got your legs secured around his hips, leading you toward the half made bed, neither of you uttering a word until your back hits the mattress.

“Eddie—“ You begin, cut off by his soothing voice.

“Shut your mind off, sweetheart.”

“Didn’t you—you say that the people who have sex always end up getting killed first?” You ask with a slight joking tone, his mouth working underneath your shirt, lips dragging over the soft skin of your stomach, catching on the firm underwire of your bra, his nose nudging the material further and further up your body. 

“What a way to die,” He says with a dramatic sigh of relief, eyes crinkling from the laugh he lets out, your face scrunched up in disbelief,  “—we’ll be okay, trust me.”

“We don’t even have a condom.” Eddie nips at the top of your breast, tongue leading a line of your collarbone until your shirt is shoved under your neck, leaving you no option but to remove it, fabric falling to the floor with little care. 

“Do we need one?” Eddie asks boldly. It wasn’t like you didn’t trust him—Eddie didn’t get much action outside of his hand and it was very apparent, despite his constant refusal to admit it to you—things already felt off, but Eddie is desperate to comfort you, “I can pull out?”

It feels ridiculous in the moment, hearing him say it, but you nod hesitantly, pulling at the edge of his shirt until he understands, material pulling over his wild mess of curls, his hair falling in your face. You laugh softly, shoving it away and guiding Eddie’s mouth to yours, sufficiently silencing him for a moment, aside from the quiet groans of pleasure he let slip against your lips, tongue begging to slip through and into your mouth, wandering hands pulling at your jean shorts until you’re letting him wiggle them down your hips, not once pulling away from his mouth. 

“Wanna taste,” He breathes against you, tongue dipping past your parted lips, triggering a sharp intake of breath, “—all of you.” Your cunt pulses at the thought, the thick fabric of Eddie’s jeans rubbing against your thighs and you grimace, the sensitivity of your skin making it feel uncomfortable. 

“What’s wrong?”

“Your jeans,” You tell him, feeling slightly ridiculous, “take them off.”

“Can you ask nicely?” Eddie teases.

Your face falls, emotionless against his smiling face. “Take them off.”

Eddie smiles even wider, quickly releasing his hold on you to pull at the belt and button of his jeans, shifting his pants down his legs until he can kick them away. You take note of his expression, looking smug from behind the obvious haze of lust.

“Do you like being bossed around?” You laugh softly, feeling you discovered something new, something Eddie had been trying to hide from you.

“By you, maybe,” Eddie shrugs, lifting you with ease until your head hits the pillow, squealing softly as you go, “—assertiveness looks good on you.”

“Almost as good as you look on me,” You say sultrily, pulling Eddie down for a deep-rooted kiss, his hands twisting around your thighs to hike them up again, feet crossed loosely over his back, “—in me, too, if you hurry it up.”

And Eddie was a man of action, so he doesn’t waste anymore time, his hands slipping under your panties in a hurry, yanking them down your legs until he can throw them away in a random corner of the room, his mouth connecting with your center in an instant, the gasp you let out is startling, hand shooting out to prop yourself up, body curling in on itself as Eddie works away, licking a broad stripe up your cunt and back, nosing at your clit with urgency, your other hand fisted tightly in his hair as your hips rocked against his face out of instinct. “Eddie,” You moan out, “—feels so good, more—“ You can’t breathe, overtaking with the stimulation—you fall back in defeat, letting the feeling flood through, his hands gripping at your inner thighs, pulling them wide and tight into his grip, his eyes peeking up from below, daring you to make contact, begging to see just how fucked out you are.

Eddie pulls back for a second, “Look at me,” He demands, his mouth latching back on, tongue flicking gently at your swollen clit, waiting patiently until you can muster the courage, eyes falling open to connect with his, face flushed with pleasure and embarrassment, mouth held open on a gasp that gets caught in your throat, the muscles in his face twitching as he works away at you, hearing the wet squelch of slick that comes from you as he sneaks a hand in too, middle finger pressing into you slowly, “—that’s right, need you to remember who’s making you feel this good.”

“I don’t think I could forget,” You laugh breathlessly, a loud moan ripping from your throat as Eddie curls his finger, pulling back slightly to watch his finger disappear inside of you, he loses his focus, ignoring the soft calls of his name until you finally raise your voice, “—Eddie, come here.”

He lifts up slowly, rising to his knees as you shift forward, your head level with his chest as he looks down at you, hand still covered in your wetness as it flexes, his rings shifting with the movement.

“Open.” He says softly, using his other hand to pull at your bottom lip, parting your mouth until  your tongue peeks out, eyes peering up at him. His hand raises slowly, slipping to the tip of his middle finger over the flat of your tongue, more and more, until the edge of his ring hits your lip, “Suck.”

You weren’t initially turned off by the idea, only slightly hesitant as your lips closed over his finger, sucking gently, the warmth of your mouth and soft press of your tongue constricting around his finger, a slightly pressure as he pressed down testingly, pushing just a bit further until your eyes are watering, nearly gagging. Eddie pulls back carefully, staring down at you with a special kind of adoration; something you couldn’t decipher right now, he smiles softly, forcing you to return the sentiment. 

You’re too impatient now, staring up at him with eager eyes, hands pulling at the band of his underwear, “Do you want me to?” You ask softly, nodding toward the obvious tent in his boxers, his cock straining against the thin material. 

Eddie shakes his head hesitantly, “I’m gonna be honest, sweetheart—if the sight of your mouth around my fingers is enough to kill me, I’m not sure I can handle it around my dick—not right now at least.” You laugh softly at his honesty, letting Eddie push you further and further against the bed, shifting his underwear down in the process, “Plus, I’d really like to be inside of you more.”

“Oh?” You voice lilts, breasts shifting underneath your bra, jumping slightly at Eddie’s movements. It was a small oversight he missed, too eager to please you, but he noticed now, flicking at the small black bow in the middle of your breasts, finger slipping under the stiff centerpiece, shifting your breasts upwards. He doesn’t need to verbalize that he wants it off, you can see the way his face turns, almost demanding, rather than questioning. You smile with amusement, hand slipping behind your back to release the clasp, letting Eddie pull it from your body with ease, your body on full display before him. 

Eddie’s hands caress the lines of your body, up and down, exploring with care, stopping at the curve of your hips, squeezing gently, “Can I be on top?” You ask shyly, your hands falling to his, traveling up the expanse of his arm, squeezing in return.

Eddie nods eagerly, spinning you with a ferocity that has you both laughing, your hands slapping against his chest in a hope to stable yourself, wet core sliding against the line of his cock, his breath coming out in a stutter, even more forceful as you grab his shaft with a gentle grip, settling onto him with ease, the mixed pitch of sighs joining together, whatever line that you two had originally drawn was crossed and long forgotten about.

“Fuck,” Eddie sighs, hands resting up by his head as you shift forward slightly, a slow gentle rock of your hips as you accustomed yourself to him, the stretch of his cock welcoming but intense, you watched as his hands balled into fists, uncurling and curling every few seconds, unsure of what to do with his hands. You lean back, hands placed back on his thighs as you bring your hips down in one sharp movement, spiraling both of you into a mess of loud groans, your head falling back, eyes closed as you focus on the intense feeling of Eddie inside of you.

“I can’t believe we’re doing this,” You say honestly, breath hitched as your thighs tighten, there’s a faint ruffling sound, but you’re too distracted, hips rocking in time with his thrusts, “—can you?”

Eddie chuckles lightly, feeling the cold press of metal against your inner thigh, the deep indent of his rings as he presses harder, until it’s bordering on pain, pulling your attention back to him.

But it isn’t his rings, it’s a knife—not his pocket knife, a large, threatening, very real knife, pressed along the line of your inner thigh, blade poised against the skin. Your first instinct is to jump, push away, but Eddie senses the apprehension immediately, a firm grip on your leg as he pushes the metal further, barely cutting the skin.

“I’ve waited a long time, sweetheart.” He states, still sounding like Eddie, feeling like Eddie, but his face is different—it’s still him, mostly, but there’s a weird pull at his smile, his eyes less wide and innocent, like he’s not really himself, but still vividly aware of what he’s doing. “I don’t think you really know.”

You jerk away, expecting the moment to be broken, but it only seems to spur Eddie on further. You don’t feel scared, or terrified—but startled, yes.

“What the fuck?” You say viciously, gripping the wrist that held the knife. “This isn’t funny, Eddie.”

“Let go,” He says through gritted teeth, yanking harshly at your hand until you release him, he pushes further into the skin, a small trail of blood slipping down your legs. You wince, jolting away from the blade, blood spilling down your thigh onto his, “I don’t want to hurt you.”

Your eyebrows pull together in frustration, “You just cut me.” You say with a harsh tone, causing Eddie to shoot up, pulling the blade from your leg to press against the center of your throat, blunt edge pressed against the skin as the tip barely grazes the line of your neck. You tense, forcing yourself to be still, watching Eddie examine your expression, a faint smirk pulling at his face. 

“But, I didn’t hurt you,” He says softly, free hand moving to caress the side of your face, thumb rubbing the shivering line of your bottom lip, “I didn’t tell you to stop moving, did I?”

It feels ridiculous, trying to move or run away, so you listen, allowing Eddie to lead the movements, his voice coming through a few seconds later, “Unless you’d like to stop,” He offers, “I was enjoying myself—I know you are too. I just wanted to talk, sweetheart.”

You nod slightly, careful of the knife, “Then talk,” You instruct, voice light and airy as Eddie’s hand traveled to your backside, curling around the curve of your ass as you moved, allowing him to chase whatever morbid pleasure he was after, “or go ahead and kill me, if that’s what you’re after.”

“No, no, no,” Eddie coos, leaning in to drag his lips down your chest, catching up the hardened bud of your nipple, cold metal still pressed firmly against your skin, “I couldn’t ever kill you—wouldn’t dream of it.”

“Are you trying to scare me?” You ask softly, voice shaking, “Is it you, Eddie? Please—just be honest with me.”

“Don’t be scared,” He soothes, lips dragging higher, voice muffled against your skin until his lips can latch against your throat, alongside the blade, dragging small, light patterns into your skin. Your breath catches, body fighting between pleasure and fear, still overwhelmed by Eddie and the care and love you held toward him, but terrified out of your mind that this might be your last moment of life, “I can explain, if you’ll listen—but I want you to finish—want you to feel good.”

You feel like you’re losing your mind, like part of you might actually enjoy whatever show Eddie was putting on; fake or not. He pulls the knife away, flipping it in his hand to set it aside, turning his full attention back toward you as his arms tighten around your middle, lifting you with ease as you fall against him, arms sling over his shoulders as he fucks into you, legs spread wide over his thighs. You gasp, pulling tightly at the hair near the nape of his neck, earning a pained grunt in return.

You can see the knife at his back, just barely out of reach, mind working hard to come up with a way to grab it, throw it, get it away—anything, but your eyes curiously travel upwards, catching sight of the horrifically familiar mask from where it had slipped out from under the pillow, having been deeply tucked away and out of sight. You gasp in horror and arousal, Eddie’s rough, calloused hands searching between you both until he finds your clit, rubbing slow, languid circles until you’re nothing but a mess; moaning, begging, forgetting everything but the feeling of him inside you and all over you, sighing out his name as you come, feeling ashamed but overpowered with euphoria—finally achieving something with Eddie that you craved for so long, but conflicted with whatever emotion you were feeling in the moment, you couldn’t pinpoint it.

“Shit—gonna come too,” Eddie warns, the sound of his voice more comforting, more him, “move, sweetheart.”

“No,” You challenge—and maybe you’ll regret it later, but it feels right, it feels like everything you need, “you can—it’s okay.”

Eddie pulls back, looking back at you with a vulnerability you’ve only ever seen once, in a moment of deep connection, his eyes closed, face buried into your chest as he tenses, coming inside you with a rough grip on your thighs, hips working gently through the aftershocks.

And it’s the only opportunity you have in the small window distraction, hand slipping down discreetly to pull at the knife, grabbing a fistful of hair to yank his head back, knife poised at his throat. 

“Now talk,” You demand, pressing the knife in further, “is it Higgins? Or have you been lying to me this whole time?”

“It’s me. It’s me.” He says in desperation, face drawn up in pain as you pull hard, a strangled moan of discomfort slipping from his lips. “I want to explain. I want to talk. Sweetheart—come on.”

You press harder, urging him further. You weren’t handing over that power, even when he subtly shifts to pull out of you, legs still squeezed tightly over his lap, keeping him at bay.

“You don’t know how it feels,” He says quietly, “to kill someone. It’s exhilarating—like a drug, I can’t describe it.”

“Try.”

“I wanted you.” He admits, “I wanted you by my side.”

“What?” 

“Don’t act innocent,” He smiles slightly, “I know you’ve thought about it—what it feels like.”

You pull back slightly, feeling exposed. You weren’t crazy, you didn’t feel crazy, but deep down, part of you believes him. You can’t tell if it’s confused by the love you held for Eddie, or the innate fear of losing your friend, or him having never really been himself at all—maybe it had always been a show.

“I wanted to ask you last year, but we weren’t close enough.” He admits, swallowing noticeably, “You were shy—but I knew. You’re just like me.” He says with a faint laugh, “We’re practically the same person—I know you see that.”

“So that means I’m a fucking murderer?” You ask with a bite, pressing the knife into his skin until it bleeds a tinge of red, Eddie hisses, jerking away with no success. “I’m nothing like you.”

“Not yet,” He says boldly, “everyone is capable deep down—with the right motivation.”

“So, how did you do it?” You ask curiously, tightening your grip on his hair from where he’d slipped loose, Eddie makes a small noise of discomfort, nostrils flaring.

“Last summer?” He asks with a faint smirk on his face, “I ran solo—it wasn’t what I wanted, but it ran smoother than this time.”

“This time?” You ask, trying to pick at what he was hinting around. 

“Think, sweetheart.” He teases, pushing against the blade slightly, “Use that pretty little brain of yours.”

It’s a seems like a simple process of elimination, but with one of your closest friends posed beneath you, confessing to murdering over a dozen teenagers, it wasn’t that easy. You cross Robin and Nancy off immediately though, knowing they couldn’t be capable—

“I see the gears turning,” Eddie sings, “I’ll give you three guesses.”

“And if I get them wrong?”

“Then you give me my knife back,” Eddie says simply, “and I’ll tell you why you’re wrong.”

“Jason?” It seemed completely out of the ballpark, but it was still a shot. “I’m guessing you’re a man down.”

“Huh, no. He’s lucky to be alive—if it had been me, he wouldn’t have made it out.”

“God—this entire time, Eddie—you were lying to me—“

“Next guess.” He pressed, ignoring you.

Your jaw clenches, shoving the tip of the knife up by his ear, blade scraping against the barely growing scruff, “Fuck, I don’t know—Chrissy?”

“You think I have a fetish for working with people that hate me? Let’s think a little closer to home.” Eddie says with a laugh, the small slip drilling into your mind, causing you to immediately pull back, dropping the knife and shoving yourself off his lap. 

“No,” You say softly, pulling at your clothes, scrambling and slipping to dress yourself to some degree, “no, no, no.”

If it weren’t for Eddie and Steve pushing this trip so hard, you would have never gone, content with staying back in Hawkins and never seeing half of these people again, contained in your small bubble of friends, but it hits you in phases—thinking back on every single interaction you’ve ever had.

Eddie was never overly obsessed with you, but Steve had showed a quickly growing interest, pulling you into the friend group with ease, shoving you into their daily routine and making your transition from mostly sticking to yourself to hanging out almost every day, being thrusted into the unnatural social circle that Steve had created for himself, always finding more comfort in hiding away with Eddie than anything else—it was the main reason you two had grown so close, so fast. 

“Steve—he wouldn’t—” You tell him, shirt clutched to your chest.

Eddie moves slowly, reaching for his discarded underwear and jeans, pulling them on as he spoke, “Steve is—interesting,” Eddie says carefully, mincing his words for Steve’s sake, he buttons his jeans, standing shirtless as he approaches you, “—this is why I wanted you alone. I needed you to hear me out.”

“You’re insane. Both of you.” You say harshly, extending your hands out to push Eddie away, but you don’t put up much of a fight when he shoves past, pulling your face into his hands gently. “Where’s Higgins?” You ask quietly, eyes pulling up to connect with Eddie’s; you couldn’t feel scared, because it still felt like himself, he still looked like himself.

“Tied up, out back, he's out for the night,” Eddie tells you without hesitation, “you see, I have this plan; it’s all going to be on him. Higgins is a creep, anyways—we can turn it around on him, let him take that fall. No one would ever know.”

“So, you didn’t kill him?” You ask.

He shakes his head slowly, “No—the other two, yeah.”

You exhale shakily, “But—why Steve? How?”

“I always wanted it to be you by my side,” He admits, “but Steve found out at the beginning of the school year—picking through my shit like the nosy fucker he is. I don’t think you understand how unhinged he is—“

“And you’re not?” You counter, feeling like it was a weak attempt to justify his actions.

“Sweetheart, what do you think? Do I seem unhinged?” He asks calmly, “Who do you think tried to kill Jason?”

“Not you.”

Eddie nods, “Bingo—Steve couldn’t even get the knife through, started slashing because he panicked—Jason will never know, probably won’t even remember any of it, but Steve was never capable of this shit, not the way he wanted to be.”

“But, why me?” You ask with a gentle frown, tears burning your eyes. “Why don’t you just kill me? That’s what you want, right?”

Eddie shakes his head, further reassuring that you were never who he was after.”Steve planned all of this for you—he wanted to be the one to kill you.”

“What?”

“He got a little obsessed,” Eddie tells you, “kept talking to me about how we should do it, when we should do it—and I couldn't break his poor heart, not at first.”

You feel dirty, disgusting, betrayed, every possible emotion that could be felt in the human body, you’d felt tonight.

“So—if I go back to the house—,” You try to calm your breathing, taking it slow and steady, despite the obvious quiver to your tone, “I’m dead?”

“Not unless you do what I say when the time comes,” Eddie tells you carefully, “You listen to me—everything I say; you’ll be fine.”

“What happens from here?” You ask with apprehension.

“Steve kinda wrecked my plans—I didn’t mean to kill those two in front of Nancy—I never even planned to hurt her, but he’s a terrible partner—god, you would’ve been perfect.” He trails off, your hands snatching his own away from your face.

“Eddie.” You warn, “Get me out of here. Now—or I’m killing you.”

Eddie offers a knowing smirk—he already knew what it would take for his dream to become reality.

“Listen to me carefully,” He begins, pointing to the cabin in the distance, “You’re going to run back there, find Nancy and Robin, let Steve come to you. Do not end up alone with him—I’m serious. Despite how horrible he is at going through with shit, I don’t think he’ll have trouble with you—not with how obsessed he's been about you.”

You nod carefully, trying to grasp how you’ve ended up in such a bizzare turn of events, standing in front of your best friend, a threat; murderous enough to kill people, but not you, for whatever reason. It felt like a horrible fucking nightmare you couldn’t escape. You force your top back on, pulling at the handle until the door creaks open, Eddie grips at your arm before you take a step.

“I’ll be there.” He assures you, eyes lingering on your emotionless face until he decides to let go, the pit in your stomach grows larger, feeling like you were about to be swallowed by whatever long, impending doom had been following you all night.

“Nance?” You scream out at the head of the cabin, a suffering silence overtaking the lake, aside from a faint ruffling inside the house. “Robin?!”

You didn’t hear anyone, not your friends, not anyone else—like they had all fled, which considering the knowledge you had now, was probably for the best, but it still send a deep tinge of worry through your body, wondering if they weren’t all just dead inside—was Steve really capable of that?

You push the door open, the door creaking to a stop in the dead silence. You call out their names again; nothing—but there’s a noise, faint, but close. It sounds like crying, desperate and muffled.

“Hello?” You call out, a small shriek in response, someone desperately trying to get your attention. “Are you hurt?”

Nothing that time, you take it a few feet further, turning the corner to a small library shoved in the corner of the house, two bare feet peeking out from around this bookcase. 

You can feel the regret instantly, your feet taking you past the threshold without thinking, cries now becoming whimpers, clearer than ever.

“I can help you—“ You say softly, stepping back slightly as the person stepped forward, turning the blind corner; they weren’t alone, bound with their hands behind their back, knife shoved forcefully against their throat. It was Chrissy, face covered in tear stained mascara.

The person behind them was silent, covered in black robes, that same mask that Eddie had hidden back in Higgins cabin, not so secret anymore. You hear Eddie’s earlier warning, wondering if this was all an elaborate set up. 

Maybe this was their plan all along, maybe Steve wasn’t as reckless as Eddie thought. The person cocks their head, knowing that if they spoke, it would give them away immediately—lucky for you, that wasn’t a problem.

Chrissy looks mostly unscathed, aside from the noticeable bruise by her eye, probably used to subdue her before binding her hands. “Let her go,” You suggest gently, but firmly, “let her go and you can have me.”

The masked figure shakes their head, refusing to speak.

“Cat got your tongue?” You tease, “You were very talkative on the phone, you know?”

You can see his grip tightening around the blade and Chrissy tenses, eyes squeezing shut in fear. If Eddie’s words were true, Steve would never be capable.

“But, I thought you were going to kill me?” You asked innocently, “Don’t I ask too many questions?”

“Shut up.” He snaps, “Or you can watch me gut her first.”

Chrissy cries out, face turned away as she wiggles away from the knife with no luck.

You hear the approaching footsteps before you see him, Eddie turning the corner with a focused speed, wasting no time in pushing past you, plunging the knife through Chrissy’s chest with ease, not a single twitch of hesitation. Your mouth falls open in shock, feet stumbling back against the wall as you watch on in horror. 

You couldn’t say that you were ever close to Chrissy—you didn’t know her very well and you didn’t know the history between her and Eddie, but didn’t deserve that, it didn’t seem feasible. But, you try to shake the thought from your mind, staring at Eddie—he’s not dressed up, which seemed to throw Steve off track, and he yanks at his mask in frustration.

“What the fuck?” Steve asks loudly, throwing the mask to the ground.

Eddie ignores his frustration, “Nancy, Robin, where are they?”

“They got everyone out of the house, they’re trying to flag down help—or—whatever—why the fuck is she still alive?” Steve glances over at you boldly, your body runs cold.

You didn’t even recognize the person standing in front of you.

“I could ask you the same,” Eddie counters, “but it looks like I took care of that for you, like I have been.”

Your eyes narrow, sensing the growing tension. You take a careful step back, floor creaking underneath your feet, both of their heads shooting in your direction. Steve almost lunges after you, but Eddie has a tight hold on him. Eddie looks at you with intense, pensive eyes, silently begging, 

“Don’t. Move.”  He says, nodding toward the empty chair. “Sit down.”

You move slowly, carefully, following the edge of the room until you can slip into the seat, watching Steve’s intense gaze follow you the entire way. 

“I saved her for you,” Eddie admits; your heart drops, “—there’s no backing out now, Steve. She knows.”

You watch as Eddie adjusts the knife in Steve’s grip, allowing him to get a firm grip, before Eddie’s quietly trailing behind you, hands pressed against the back of the chair, curling over the edge, “She’ll tell Nancy, and Robin—everyone, and we’ll be done.”

“I tried to like you,” Steve says suddenly, his now terrifyingly dark eyes locked on your own, “I really did.”

He steps closer, leaning over the front of your chair, leaving you sandwiched between the both of them, attempting to make yourself feel smaller—and maybe by some miracle, Eddie wasn’t lying; you might not die tonight.

“Now, try not to close your eyes,” Steve tells you, blade pressed carefully over the fabric of your shirt, the sharp prick of the knife seeping through, “it takes the fun out of it.”

Steve’s eyes are locked on yours, you don’t even recognize him, just the shell of a person you thought knew, unaware of the small nudging underneath the chair as Eddie slipped the knife in your hand, poised above you calmly. You grip the knife without hesitation, careful of making any sudden movements. Steve is dragging it out, thinking he has all the time in the world, until he doesn’t—the knife presses in at the same time yours is shoved through his abdomen, Eddie’s hands creeping up around the side of your face, directing your face to the point where the knife met his body, you shoved it deeper, twisting for that extra dose of pain, blood sputtering out of his mouth and into your face. 

He stumbles back, hitting the full bookshelf as the books fall to the floor, his hand grasping weakly at the knife stuck in his abdomen, staring up at Eddie with wide, shocked eyes. 

“Sorry, Harrington.” Eddie apologizes, “It was always her.”

The adrenaline hits you then, pushing away from the chair and stalking toward Steve, grabbing the knife and tanning it from where it was buried deep in his chest, savoring the way he yells out in pain, blood stained teeth gritting against each other as he clenched down. 

“You stupid bitch,” Steve snaps weakly, your eyes narrow, knife pressing against his neck before you can stop yourself, “he’ll kill you—he doesn’t—doesn’t care about you.”

“That’s where you’re wrong,” You tell him sadly, gripping his hair to pull at his slumping head, “Eddie’s always been there for me.”

Steve opens his mouth again, but the words never fall, knife slicing the line of neck, rendering him voiceless, motionless, the blood and life draining from his eyes as he slumped down completely. It takes a moment for the emotions to settle, but when they do, you don’t feel the regret that you’re expecting, falling back on your hands as the knife clammers to the floor loudly.

“I just killed him,” You say out loud, not to any particular person or for any reason, needing to say it for it to feel real, “He’s dead.”

“And he was going to kill you,” Eddie reminds you, hands slipping underneath your arms to pull you upright, letting your body lean against him for a moment, “you did everything perfectly.”

“I just killed somebody.” 

“I know.”

You take a small breath, inhaling through your nose, “Why don’t I feel bad?”

“I told you, sweetheart,” Eddie says, peering down to look at you, eyes shifting over to Chrissy and Steve’s lifeless bodies, “you’re like me.”

“It doesn’t feel right.” Your voice steadies, turning your head up to look at him. “I don’t—I’m not—“

“It gets easier,” Eddie says assuringly, “I’ll teach you.”

“What do we do?” You ask in a slight panic, having already fallen deep into Eddie’s hold—you didn’t have to kill Steve, but you did. You could’ve let him kill you, ended all of this—but you consciously decided against it, feeling that immediate surge of power as you inflicted that severe physical pain on him; normal people would feel disgust, regret, but you felt nothing.

Eddie had always been right, he just needed to show you why.

“I’m gonna clean this up,” Eddie tells you, “you’re gonna clean yourself up—and then you’re gonna find Nancy and Robin—I’m going to do everything I told you I would, sweetheart.”

“Be careful, Eddie.” You feel the need to remind him, “I can’t lose you.”

“We’re in this together now, sweetheart.” Eddie says with a strong sense of finality, “You trust me?”

“Always.” You reply without hesitation.

“Promise me.” He demands.

“I promise, Eddie.”

[neo404]

Im gonna try and come up with some younger brother!Sturniolo prompts but they will most likely be more triplets and little brother based and not just nick and little brother based if thats okay

An example would be like the triplets come back home to Boston to find that their younger brother has hit a growth spurt and is now taller than all of them.

Let me know of request like this would be okay.

( i have really been enjoying your writing over the last few days since i have found you account. Keep up the good work)

Grown up.

Summary: your big brothers (Matt, Nick and Chris) are coming back to Boston for a week to spend it with their family. They get a big surprise when their little brother is not so little anymore.

Tw: cursing.

‘’Honey!’’ mom screams from the living room. ‘’Did you clean the boys rooms like I asked you to?’’ I come out of my room and into the living room with her.

‘’Yes mom.’’ I smile at her. ‘’I’m so exited to see them, I have so much plans and games for us.’’

‘’Aww, I’m so glad honey, it makes me so happy to see all of you together.’’ Mom hugs me and plays with my hair.

‘’You are so tall now; do you think you are taller than your brothers?’’

‘’Maybe just a bit.’’ I smile in her arms and then hear a car honking outside. Dad arrived with the boys.

‘’Gosh, they are here already. Go, go, hide.’’ I run to the kitchen to scare them, a little prank me and my parent planed. I hear the door opening and my brother voices greeting mom and I imagine hugging her and all that stuff.

‘’Where’s the little rascal?’’ says Chris.

‘’Who? Your brother?’’ my mom says.

‘’Yep. Where is the little minion?’’ Nick asks and I try not to laugh.

‘’I thought he went with you dad to pick y’all up.’’ I hear them all say no.

‘’Maybe he fell asleep.’’ Matt says, that sound like something I would do. I hear their footsteps approaching the kitchen, and when they enter, I jump and scream as loud as I can.

‘’AHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!’’ they screamed even harder than me.

‘’WHAT THE FUCK!!’’ ‘’HOLY SHIT!’’ I don’t even know who screamed what, they all jumped and I started laughing.

‘’What is wrong with you kid? You almost killed us.’’ Chris says with a hand on his chest.

‘’Hi, welcome home.’’ I smile from ear to ear to them and hug the 3 of them.

‘’Hi… what a nice welcoming.’’ Nick mutters.

‘’That’s not right…’’ Matt says. ‘’Kid, stand up straight.’’ He pats my back and I do, stranding in front of them.

‘’I can’t believe it…’’ Nick says. ‘’HE’S TALLER THAN ME!!’’

‘’WHAT ARE YOU FEEDING HIM???’’ Chris says.

‘’I can’t believe this…’’ Matt whispers.

‘’Come on, come on.’’ Mom enters the kitchen. ‘’Let’s get your things to your rooms so we can have lunch as a family.’’ He pushes them outside the kitchen.

‘’What are you feeding him? seriously, I’ll have to start eating that.’’ Chris ‘whispers’ to mom.

‘’Nothing special honey, just home-made food made with lots of love.’’

‘’See Chris, this is because your diet is based on pepsis’’ Matt playfully pokes Chris arm.

‘’No fighting before lunch, go to your rooms. Hurry!’’ they all nod and go to their rooms. Mom turns around and looks at me. ‘’I love seeing my boys together.’’ She hugs me around the waist and I rest my head against hers. ‘’you really grew up a lot since they last saw you in person.’’

‘’I know. This will be a nice week.’’ I smile at myself.

[anonymoosen]

hi! I'm bored and so I was wondering to drop this in your inbox!--

who r your favorite tumblr artists, both activated and deactivated? also good job on reaching 102 followers in like what- 5 months??? congrats!!! (I wish I was like u I've I've trying so hard and I only got like 20+ and its been a whole fucking year ANYWAY-)

AHHHDHEJD YOU RLLY DESERVE MORE FOLLOWERS, YKNOW!!

ANYWAY- I HAVE SOOOO MANY FAVOURITE ARTISTS ARE CUZ THEYRE ALL SO FRIGGIN AMAZINGGG AHHHHH- IM JUST GONNA LIST DOWN LIKE 10 OR SOMETHING- (not ranked by order, I’m just listing them down hehe-)

@circusfreakk @rainybow8231 @laazytoaster @bonniecupcake @theautumnalcat @mushy-madness @merchuu @aceisew @ditzdove @porcelainfreak-zacrucian @strawowoberry @spaceboibrainrot @ghoul-ish-art @vinililacart @ematooney @reynaruina @nohemi650

THERE ARE LITERALLY SO MANY MORE BUT THE LIST WLD GO ON FOR ALMOST FOREVER IF I LIST ALLL OF THEM

AND SOME OF THEM ARENT MY MUTUALS AND IM SCARED OF RANDOMLY TAGGING THEM BUT AT THE SAME TIME I WANT MORE PPL TO KNOW ABOUT THEIR BLOGS SO IM GONNA LIST SOME NAMES-

@inimoose @moringmark @shandzii @bamsara @cosmicriff @l-ii-zz @emositecc @pichichustudios

THEIR BLOGS ARE THE ONES IVE BEEN STALKING (OTHER THAN MUSHY, REYNARUINA, BONNIE AND STRAWOWOBERRYS BLOGS) WAYYYY BEFORE I EVEN HAD AN ACCOUNT AND I LOVE THEIR ART SO FRIGGIN MUCH EVEN IF ITS NOT ART ABOUT THE FANDOMS IM IN

(THEY DONT KNOW MY EXISTENCE AND IM TOO SHY TO TALK TO THEM SINCE MOST ARE IN DIFF FANDOMS NOW AHHH)

AND LASTLY THIS VERY VERYYYY SPECIAL PERSON WHOS MY BESTEST FRIEND EVER IS DEFINITELY ONE OF THE MOST TALENTED ARTISTS IN THE MULTIVERSE AND I ADORE HER SO FRIGGIN MUCH THAT I MADE HER BDAY GIFT ART FOR ME MY PHONE WALLPAPER:

@peachiedookie-deactivated202402

SHE DEACTIVATED HER ACCOUNT BUT HER ART CAN STILL BE SEEN IF U SEARCH FOR THE TAG #PEACHIEDOOKIE ON MY BLOG

ANYWAYYY- I THINK I MISSED SOME EXTREMELY IMPORTANT NAMES WAAAHHHHHHJDJEJDEJ

(IMPORTANT MENTIONS: @ijustlikeiz @electronicribbonfashion @zims-left-antenna FOR BEING AMAZIM MUTUALSSS!! I ADORE THEM AND THEYRE MY ZIMPAIS TOO)

AGAIN THANK YOU TO THE 102 FOLLOWERS I HAVE (WHO ARENT BOTS LOL) FOR FOLLOWING ME!! AND THANK YOU TO THE ZIMPAIS IVE LISTED DOWN FOR INSPIRING ME SO FRIGGIN MUCH!!

[katesmemes]

feel free to change any pronouns, etc.

“C’mon now, [Name], lets keep moving.”

“It’s always just been me and [Name].”

“I need you to tell me everything that happened.”

“That’s a lot of money to owe…”

“Just what did you get yourself involved in?”

“Are you in town for a business trip, maybe?”

“Well, when your own life is that dull, you need to get your excitement somewhere…”

“Now, don’t you think you’re overreacting?”

“This is exactly the kind of behavior [Name] warned me about.”

“She’s just the worst to every girl she perceives as a threat.”

“So… You’re saying I’m not a threat?”

“I know there’s more to you than meets the eye.”

“I have to get back to work.”

“You don’t seem to care whether I’m happy.”

“Curiosity killed the cat…”

“I’m not used to having people around me while I work.”

“Hey, come on, don’t leave me hanging!”

“I’m sorry to add to your plate, but…I really need your help.”

“Are you telling me I should snoop around?”

“Ah, c’mon, a little joke’s never killed anyone.”

“Although it may seem like it, I’m not actually clairvoyant.”

“I’d forget my own head if I didn’t write everything down.”

“The way they look at each other, you can tell it’s the real deal.”

“Maybe it’s because my empathy only goes so far, but… I admire that you’re able to feel for just about anyone.”

“I don’t think I get along with everyone, but some people are worth getting friendlier with…like you.”

“The way you turned that compliment right back around at me, was…masterful.”

“I bet you could make anything look good.”

“Just what could’ve made you empty out your entire bank account?”

“I’ve never seen two people more suited for each other.”

“I need to know I can count on you.”

“Don’t you have work to do?”

“I think my heart stopped beating there for a moment.”

“If you weren’t so pretty, you’d have been out of a job a long time ago.”

“What the hell are you going on about?”

“Always a pleasure doing business with you, [Name].”

“I hope I didn’t get you into too much trouble earlier…”

“I guess the heart wants what the heart wants…”

“Adults can be so…confusing.”

“I can’t believe it all ends here.”

“Thank you for not giving up.”

“I would never give up on you.”

“Come on, you know I wouldn’t let you down.”

“I’m not sure I understand what the plan is here.”

“I enjoy the occasional, artistic endeavor.”

“I feel like I’m in one of those novels I spend my days reading.”

“I just love trying new things.”

“I could not have done this without you.”

“I’m glad I was able to be of some help.”

“Thank you for everything.”

“Hey, just because I read books doesn’t mean I know everything.”

“That’s a lot sweeter than I expected.”

“I do like a happy ending.”

“We could leave together if you’d like.”

“Even the most put-together person could be an absolute mess on the other side of the door.”

“I like to think that, with me, what you see is what you get.”

“Don’t worry, I’ll find a way to bring the lights back on.”

“Hey, you look a bit pale…”

“Is everything okay?”

“you’re not scared of the dark, are you?”

“Maybe you need to sit down, huh?”

“You look like you’re about to faint.”

“We’ll figure something out.”

“Maybe don’t mention that to the police.”

“I’m sorry I didn’t say anything before.”

“I’m…ashamed of the truth.”

“Maybe now you can understand why I care so much about you…”

“I’d really like for us to be more than just friends, [Name]...”

“Promise me you’ll be careful with the information you share.”

“Sorry, I was…distracted.”

“I really need you to focus right now.”

“I don’t want to be here all night, and I’m sure you don’t either.”

“I suggest you tell me everything you know.”

“We all struggle sometimes.”

“There was no point in staying if you were leaving.”

“I’m flattered, but that really wasn’t necessary.”

“You’re the most charming person I know!”

“I’m really glad I have you in my life.”

“Sorry, my mind wanders sometimes.”

“Should I be jealous?”

“I just want them to be happy…”

“What the hell’s going on?”

“You can’t do this!”

[leclerc-s]

(daphne's version)

series masterlist

february 11, 2021

liked by danielricciardo, alex_albon, nataliaruiz, and others

daphnejones i’m thrilled to tell you that my new version of fearless (daphne’s version) is done and will be with you soon. it has 26 songs including 6 never before released songs from the vault. love story (daphne’s version) will be out tonight.

view all comments

danielricciardo LET'S FUCKING GO!!!

georgerussell63 to quote the great kevin maggnussen, “suck my balls mate!”

↳ isabellaperez don’t be shy, tag him. scooterbraun how do you feel knowing daphne's releasing her versions and you'll stop earning money for her hard work?

alex_albon mr.perfectly fine, your time has come

↳ isabellaperez tag him...joejonas you're up first.

sebastianvettel glad you’re finally taking back your music daphne.

lewishamilton sebastian and i can be normal in our congratulations, unlike some people. so, congrats on taking this step daph!

freyavettel YOU BELONG WITH ME (TAYLOR'S VERSION) IS FINALLY GOING TO BE HERE!!! AHHHHH

mickschumacher i apologize for them. they're all drunk.

↳ charles_leclerc you are too micky

rickybobby3🔒 SUPER FUCKING PROUD OF YOU. I LOVE YOU!

liked by daphnejones

↳ user53 is this the boyfriend? his account is private

↳ user45 did you think he'd expose their relationship? they want privacy, let them have it.

↳ user53 maybe he shouldn't comment on a public instagram post?

↳ nataliaruiz maybe people should stop being so nosy and focus on daphne re-releasing her music? that’s the real accomplishment here.

june 18, 2021

liked by danielricciardo, maejones, charles_leclerc

daphnejones the next album that i’ll be releasing is my version of red, which will be out on november 19. this will be the first time you hear all 30 songs that were meant to go on red. and hey, one of them is even ten minutes long🧣

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danielricciardo FULLY PREPARED TO CRY MY FUCKING HEART OUT!!!!

isabellaperez COUNT YOUR FUCKING DAYS JAKEGYLLENHAAL

↳ arthurleclerc you gotta stop tagging them isa

↳ isabellaperez no.

maejones AND MAYBE WE GOT LOST IN TRANSLATION

↳ danielricciardo MAYBE I ASKED FOR TOO MUCH

↳ charles_leclerc BUT MAYBE THIS THINGS WAS A MASTERPIECE 'TIL YOU TORE IT ALL UP

↳ maxverstappen33 RUNNING SCARED, I WAS THERE

↳ pierregasly I REMEMBER IT ALL TOO WELL

↳ nataliaruiz AND YOU CALL ME UP AGAIN JUST TO BREAK ME LIKE A PROMISE

↳ rowantodd SO CASUALLY CRUEL IN THE NAME OF BEING HONEST

↳ carlossainz55 I'M A CRUMPLED UP PIECE OF PAPER LYING HERE

↳ penelopetrevino 'CAUSE I REMEMBER IT ALL, ALL, ALL TOO WELL

isabellaperez jakegyllenhaal, this one’s for you. but also the kennedy kid, we haven’t forgotten about him. he was a saint compared to you.

↳ georgerussell63 how can someone fuck up so bad that he gets a 10 minute song written about him?

↳ isabellaperez i don't know lets ask him 🎤 jakegyllenhaal what did you do?

user71 isabella is so unhinged, i bet that she’s drunk

↳ penelopetrevino she is. most of us are, but it feels like one of those nights we won’t be sleeping

user26 i can only imagine the pr mess this is going to create

rickybobby3🔒 so fucking proud of you sweetheart! can’t wait to drive around and scream this album with you. (i’ll be screaming and you’ll be singing)

liked by daphnejones

↳ user04 the mystery of ricky bobby continues. who is this man? is he daph’s boyfriend?

↳ user93 honestly, if he is love that for daph. he's seems like he's supportive of her and her career and if it's the same person, the they've been together since at least 2016, when daph let it slip that she was dating someone.

may 5, 2023

liked by danieljonesricciardo, maxverstappen1, isabellaperez and others

daphnejonesricciardo it fills me with such pride and joy to announce that my version of speak now will be out july 7 (just in time for july 9th, iykyk 😆) i first made speak now, completely self-written, between the ages of 18 and 20. the songs that came from this time in my life were marked by their brutal honesty, unfiltered diaristic confessions and wild wistfulness. i love this album because it tells a tale of growing up, flailing, flying and crashing… and living to speak about it. with six extra songs I’ve sprung loose from the vault, i absolutely cannot wait to celebrate speak now (daphne’s version) with you on july 7th.

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danieljonesricciardo I FUCKING LOVE YOU!

↳ danieljonesricciardo I'M SO PROUD OF YOU! AHH!!!!

↳ danieljonesricciardo THAT'S MY FUCKING WIFE PEOPLE!!!

danieljonesricciardo YOU ARE AN EXPERT AT SORRY

↳ baileywinters AND KEEPING LINES BLURRY

↳ nataliaruiz NEVER IMPRESSED BY ME ACING YOUR TESTS

↳ charles_leclerc ALL THE GIRLS THAT YOU'VE RUN DRY HAVE TIRED LIFELESS EYES

↳ landonorris 'CAUSE YOU BURNED THEM OUT

↳ freyavettel BUT I TOOK YOUR MATCHES BEFORE FIRE COULD CATCH ME

↳ pierregasly SO DON'T LOOK NOW

↳ yukitsunoda I'M SHINING LIKE FIREWORKS OVER YOUR SAD EMPTY TOOOWWWWNNN

↳ isabellaperez does this seem like cheap writting johnmayer??? (message approved by max verstappen)

user29 mother said we had to be nice but her own friends are calling j*hn out? does that mean we're allowed too?

↳ daphnejonesricciardo nothing i said would've gotten them to stop. i think the same can be said for my fans.

↳ user29 digging my grave rn

georgerussell63 count your days j*hn

lewishamilton do any of you have any idea about what kind of pr mess you're about to create?

↳ isabellaperez what is fia going to do to me? give me a grid penalty?

↳ oscarpiastri i'm adding your name to my long list of traitors lewis

↳ maxverstappen1 you know damn well the original group chat name was daphne jones defense squad

↳ user13 that's iconic

alex_albon SHE WAS NINETEEN WHEN SHE DANCED WITH THE DEVIL! I'M COMING FOR YOU JOHN!!

↳ lilymhe do you ever think about the consequences off your actions alexander?

↳ alex_albon when it comes to defending daphne, no.

mickschumacher i feel like it's my job to inform everyone that they are all extremely drunk except for daph, lily, and lewis. i am bordering on drunk and sober.

↳ user19 love that they all always end up drunk when one of the girls announces a new album

↳ logansargeant it's called celebrating achievements

↳ zoyatorres no, it's called using any small excuse to drink

user30 everytime she releases an album these guys come for her exes throats, and i just know she scolds them but they just don't give a fuck

↳ baileywinters she does but we must protect mother.

↳ isabellaperez father also agrees with bullying. one parent's consent is enough for us.

user89 daniel lurking and being the supportive husband we know he is

user12 dan's so in love with her he might stop breathing

↳ danieljonesricciardo OF COURSE I AM! HAVE YOU SEEN HER! I FUCKING LOVE HER! THAT’S MY FUCKING WIFE PEOPLE!

august 9, 2023

liked by danieljonesricciardo, lewishamilton, baileywinters and others

daphnejonesricciardo surprise!! 1989 (daphne’s version) is on its way to you 🔜! the 1989 album changed my life in countless ways, and it fills me with such excitement to announce that my version of it will be out october 27th. to be perfectly honest, this is my most FAVORITE re-record i've ever done because the 5 from the vault tracks are so insane. i can’t believe they were ever left behind. but not for long!

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danieljonesricciardo I’VE BEEN WAITING FOR THIS ONE! THAT’S MY FUCKING WIFE!!!! I LOVE YOU!!!!

↳ daphnejonesricciardo love you too, you kangaroo

↳ danieljonesricciardo I AM A HONEY BADGER!!!

baileywinters GIVE IT UP FOR DAPHNE JONES DOING THE UNTHINKABLE AND BREAKING RECORDS LEFT AND RIGHT!!!

maxverstappen1 probably our favorite re-record you’ve done because it was after this one you and mae came into our lives.

↳ user87 stop that’s literally the sweetest thing max could ever say

↳ user91 max is such a sweet brother-in-law (they’re not married yet people!!) my brother-in-law usually tells me i’m an annoying fatass

↳ maxverstappen1 throw him away

carlossainz55 THIS ONE IS INSANE!

penelopetrevino DIDN’T THEY TELL US “DON’T RUSH INTO THING?”

↳ maejones DIDN’T YOU FLASH YOUR GREEN EYES AT ME?

↳ isabellaperez DIDN’T YOU CALM MY FEARS WITH A CHESHIRE CAT SMILE?

↳ zoyatorres OOH, DIDN’T IT ALL SEEM NEW AND EXCITING?

↳ dulceperez I FELT YOUR ARMS TWISTIN’ AROUND ME

↳ freyavettel IT’S ALL FUN AND GAMES ‘TIL SOMEBODY LOSES THEIR MIND

↳ nataliaruiz BUT DARLING

↳ charles_leclerc WE FOUND WONDERLAND, YOU AND I GOT LOST IN IT

↳ arthur_leclerc AND WE PRETENDED IT COULD LAST FOREVER (EH, EH)

↳ oscarpiastri WE FOUND WONDERLAND, YOU AND I GOT LOST IN IT

↳ danieljonesricciardo AND LIFE WAS NEVER WORSE BUT NEVER BETTER (EH, EH)

logansargeant the vault tracks on this are 🔛🔝

user56 THERE IS NOT A DOUBT IN MY MIND THAT THE PADDOCK FAMILY ARE THE FIRST ONES TO HERE EVERY NEW ALBUM AND SONG

↳ aussiegrit they are. oscar’s been singing a vault track for over 2 months.

↳ fernandoalo_oficial you were present for the listening party because daniel insisted you be there. jensen and seb were there too.

↳ user82 there was a dilf reunion and we missed it? where was kimi?

↳ landonorris he “couldn’t” make it.

↳ nicorosberg i guess my invite got lost in the mail or something

↳ isabellaperez no, we just haven’t forgotten brocedes and the silver war.

↳ dulceperez we picked uncle lewis over you

lewishamilton this one is amazing daphne

↳ daphnejricciardo thanks lewis!

user03 everyday i think this friend group can’t get more unhinged and they prove me wrong time and time again.

↳ landonorris we live to disappoint expectations of us

¡leclerc-s speaks! in honor of 1989 (taylor's version) i give you this. i genuinely don't what this is but i knew i wanted to do something for oct 27th and this is the result of that. have y'all heard 1989 (taylor's version) and if so what's your favorite vault track, personally is it over now? has been on repeat all day.

¡disclaimer! this is in no way making assumptions about the people involved in this story, this is all fake. it is a fanfiction please don't take any of what is said seriously. this is all for entertainment purposes and as a creative outlet for me. enjoy!

[igotanidea]

Rumor has it : Xavier Thorpe x F!reader

request: can u do enemy!xavier getting into a fight with someone bcs they've been slutshaming reader and reader pulls him out of the fight and cleans him up?

Let me tell you: Xavier is NOT a fighter.

warning: slut-shaming, a bit innuendos, brief mention of blood and injuries, school drama , oblivious school staff

„Enid! Do you know what they say about your roommate?” Ajax noticed the blond she-wolf in the quad and approached her immediately

“Wednesday? Yes, I heard a lot of stories, but I can assure you none of them…..”

“No, not the new one. I meant Y/n.”

“Y/N? What can they say about her? She’s one of the kindest girl I know.”

“Yeah, well, maybe she’s a little bit too kind….” The gorgon scratched his head, or rather his beanie, awkwardly.

“What do you mean?” Enid frowned eyeing her boyfriend carefully, not understanding a word coming out of his mouth

“Rumor has it…. Um… it’s a bit embarrassing to say it.”

“You don’t need to. I won’t force you. It’s like you said – it’s just a gossip, right? Nothing to believe in?”

“ Sure.”

“Then how about….” She started, but stopped in the middle of the sentence “oh, who am I kidding? Of course I’m going to force you. I need to know! And besides, Y/N is my friend so if anyone is trash-talking her I swear I will wolf out on them. Even if I can’t really do this. Now, talk to me.”

“Some people….”

“Boys or girls?”

“Both in fact. They accuse her of being …. How do I put it? A soft touch.”

“WHAT?” Enid could not hold back the disbelief and surprise in her voice. And some pain on the account of her friend. “Y/n? Are we talking about the same person? She sticks to the rules. She respects herself. She would never!”

“I know. And you know. And a lot of people know that. But you know, one fake word and it’s spreading around the school.”

“Let’s hope this word do not reach her ears. I can’t imagine how much pain and suffering this will put her through.”

“What is going on with you, today?” Thera, one of the sirens, who was her regular partner stopped in her tracks seeing how shaky her opponent’s hands were and how it was almost impossible for her to  hold her skewer “I’m not going to fight with you.”

***

At the same time, the girl in subject was in the middle of the fencing class, not really doing well. Despite Enid’s wishful thinking she already was finger-pointed by some of her classmates, for reason unknown to the her,  and it caused  girl’s absent-mindedness and distraction. It was not normal for one of the most skilled fencer to make the rookie mistakes. Normally no one would pay attention and most would even enjoy her slipping, but in addition to that she was also extremely sad and anxious.

“Are you giving up so easily? Scared I will beat you? Again?”

“I’m showing you mercy.” She scoffed, but still kept all the dignity of her kind. “Honestly, it would be degrading for me to fight you in this state. Get yourself together girl.”

“Look who’s talking.” Y/n spat at her

“Um, excuse me?” Thera scoffed, her face expression changing from condescending to angry.

“You’ve been a mess ever since you broke up with….”

“Oh, don’t you dare finishing that sentence!” siren came right at the other girl, taking her by surprise and causing her to trip over her feet and fall down to the ground. “Now, that is better. Being on the ground seems more natural to you, doesn’t it?” she smirked

“What are you….”

“Oh, I’ll tell you what.” Thera crouched on the ground next to Y/N, leaning into her ear “being under someone is your natural state, am I wrong, slut?”

Oh, that hurt. Y/N heard some whispers on the corridor this morning as she was walking by. Whispers about a girl with bad reputation. She turned a deaf ear to them, mostly because she was never into gossip, but also because she knew Enid would let her in the news, but now? Now it was all becoming perfectly clear.  She was that girl. A slut, apparently. But why? Obviously this was  a lie and Y/N never gave anyone any reason to call her like that. Quite the opposite, actually. Always sticking to the “no boys” policy. Focused on her duties and school obligations. Avoiding romances, flirting and giving anyone any pretence to accuse her of doing something wrong. In the matter of relationship she was much like Wednesday Addams, cut the death glare. So why would someone disseminate such bullshit? Why would someone want to hurt her? Hundreds of questions started spinning in her mind, most of them starting with “Why?”, because she felt overwhelming unfairness of the situation. She was so vulnerable and just as the tears was about to flow down her cheek the fencing master finally got his head around what was going on. One of the students shaking on the ground, completely defenseless, the other with foil in hand and vicious smile. Not good.

“Do we have a problem here, ladies?” he asked approaching the girls

“No, no problem, sir” thera smiled widely showing all her teeth and it came out predatory rather than charming “Y/N tripped and I was just helping her up”

“All right then. Y/N get back on your feet, you still have a duel to finish.

“I…. I don’t really feel very well sir…” y/n muttered, holding her tears back, but not wanting to spend any more minute in this stupid class. The only thing she wished for was getting back to her dorm, covering herself with blanket and pretending nothing was happening.

“I noticed.” Oh, now he noticed “very well then. I will assign you an easier opponent today. How about…..” he turned around the class, searching for the right person to match Y/N’s impaired skills “Mr. Thorpe. Come forward.”

“Why me?” he muttered

“Why him?” Y/N hissed at the same moment. This unison in mutual reluctance made both of them look into each other’s eyes. Auch! It was like the electricity run through their veins, forcing them to turn the gaze away. Everyone at school knew that Xavier wasn’t exactly the greatest fan of Y/N and the other way roud. Of course, for the sake of their common friends (Enid and Ajax included) they were forced to deal with each other from time to time, but it took a lot of effort. They were never paired in class before and the rest of the students held their breaths in anticipation. This dead silence made both Y/N and Xavier regain their common sense.

“You know what, I’m good” Y/N shrugged casually keeping her cool “opponent like any other.”

“You took the words out of my mouth” Xavier smirked.

The teacher nodded and went on to observe other student dueling, not paying any more attention to Thorpe – Y/L/N dynamics.

“Are you all right” Xavier asked before putting his mask on. Clearly he noticed her being blue and those treacherous water in the corner of her eyes

“Why do you care all of a sudden?!” she hissed, not wanting any more attention “we’re not friends, stop acting like you care! You only bare with me because of Ajax. And maybe because you want to get close to Wednesday.”

“I….”

“You’re not the only observant one in the room. I noticed how you look at her.”

“You do realize you just admitted to being sad?”

“Oh, damn it!” she secured her face with mask “are you gonna fight me or what?”

“Gladly.” He mirrored her action and inflicted a blow.

***

The situation was getting worse. Now she was hunted by the words. Slut, bitch, easy girl. Sometimes it was impossible to get out of bed. Y/n wanted to stay hidden from the whole world, pretending like she didn’t exist as some sort of self-protection. She couldn’t even walk her way towards the classroom without being chased by pitying looks, smirks and damning words. Or worse, offensive propositions from some of the more courageous boys. Most of the time she had to walk to class with Ajax or Enid or both just to make it intact. Playing cool and acting like she didn’t care was taking all her energy and on Friday she woke up crying.

“I don’t” Enid interrupted her “Ajax doesn’t. Kent and Divina doesn’t. And Yoko. And hopefully, Wednesday…..”

“Y/N” Within seconds Enid was by her side, holding her hand and hugging her “please, don’t cry or I will.”

“How can I not?” Y/N sobbed “everyone thinks I’m a …..

“I don’t. I dealt with bullies before. I can give you an example of how to retaliate on them.”

“Um, thanks Wednesday, but lashing piranhas on people is not really my style. Besides, I still don’t know who started this.”

“And you don’t need to know.” Wednesday stated blankly “we can just get rid of everyone who repeat it.”

“Wednesday!” Enid was appalled by her attitude “that is not the answer!”

“You’ll do what you want, but don’t say I didn’t give you an easy solution.”

“Right.” Y/N sobbed again “I think I’m gonna skip classes today. Please, tell Thornhill I wasn’t feeling well. Honestly, this is not even a lie…..”

***  

 Instead of attending botany class, Y/N decided to take a little walk at the lake. Being around water always made her feel better, even despite the fact she wasn’t a siren and it was pretty unusual behavior for an airbender. Most of the time her kind avoided the opposite element., but not her. As she was enjoying the little breeze coming from the water, some laughs and catcalling sounds came from behind and she was forced to turn around as a strong hand fell on her arm starting her.

“Oh, there you are, little one. Waiting for another boy to take care of you?” one of the boys mocked

“Go away” she muttered flatly

“Oh, sweetheart, don’t be like that. I bet we can have some fun.” The other chimed in.

“Yeah, Tom said you can be a lot of fun. Airbender, huh? Bet that add some spice.”

“Tom?” Y/N eyes went wide and suddenly she knew who was the reason behind her torment. The boy she turned down. She refused to get together with him, so to humiliate her and avenge his broken ego he came up with completely made up stories. Well, as much as it hurt, it worked. “That piece of….”

“Shh. Keep that pretty mouth shut.” The first boy came right at her grabbing her chin forcefully

“That is, as long as we tell you to. Those lips may actually come of use later on and ….”

“Leave her alone!” sudden male voice captured everyone attention

“Oh, shit!” Y/N though. The last person I need. What it Thorpe doing here?!

“You know, you can always join us. If what they say about her stamina is right, she’ll be of use to us all……”

He did not get to sat another word as a perfectly aimed punch threw him off guard. Honestly, the only good one since Xavier Thorpe was not exactly a good fighter. Soon he lost his balance and the cards turned on his disadvantage.

“Stop it!” she yelled and surprisingly they all listened turning the gaze on her “I’ll… I’ll go with you, just, just let him go. “ she looked upon Xavier whose lip was busted and whose nose was bleeding and already started to swell. “Let him go, please…” he wasn’t a friend but surely she couldn’t let him get beaten to pulp because of her he was an idiot.

‘Y/N….” Xavier muttered in a warning tone. Don’t you dare.

“now, pretty one. Isn’t that better and easier for everyone?” three boys approached her once again but when they got close enough she made a wind so strong it caused a huge wave and wetted them all from heads to toes.

“Run!” she rushed past the assaulters, helping Xavier on his feet and before the boys realized what happened Y/N and Xavier were halfway to the school.

“What the hell were you thinking?!” she lashed out on him as soon as they reached the quad

“You know, a bit of gratitude would be nice. I was trying to defend you after all.”

“Defend me!” she scoffed “Look where it got you….” her eyes saddened as she looked on his bruised face.

“Y/N…”

“Don’t Y/N me! Just … just show me, that” she cupped his cheek forcing him to look at her and she froze at the spot. What the hell was happening. “I owe you.” she moved a feet away “so as thanks I’m gonna patch you up. Stay here, I’m gonna get some bandages.”

“Whatever.”

She was there and back in a couple of minutes, which made him wonder whether she was running.

“Such a hurry for me?” he smirked

“You must have hit your head pretty hard during that scrimmage. I will never run for anyone. Waste of air in lungs.”

“And that’s coming from the air master.”

“Airbender.” She corrected. “Now stop talking. I need to clean your face.”

He listened and the silence that fell between them was a bit uncomfortable. Here they were. Two people, who were never close, in the middle of an empty quad, not saying a word to each other even if the situation called (or rather screamed) for some explanation.

“Why did you do this?” she asked pulling away after disinfecting his wounds “why did you got involved.”

“Because you didn’t deserve it.”

“That is not a good enough reason to get oneself beaten up.”

“Look.” He rubbed his forehead “regardless of what you think I am not your enemy. And I don’t consider you to be mine. I was just wondering. Maybe we can start our acquaintance again? Not because of Enid’s or Ajax’s or Addams’s sake. I just… I just think we may benefit from it.

“I’m Y/N Y/L/N”  she smiled and reached for his hand.

“Nice to meet you Y/N. I’m Xavier Thorpe.” He shook it and reciprocated.

Maybe there was something good coming after all.   

@pinksirensong @somest1