#coolest robin ask

[dead-ma-outlaw]

>:(

*takes tire and runs*

MOTHERFUCKER-

@arrowsnsarcasm , round up the rest of the Outlaws.

All the other Jasons.........get your goddamn guns.

@dickgraysonfr look at this! Your little wing is being bullied! They kicked my bike and stole my tire! Don't you wanna help? 🥺

[oh23]

The entire batfam gathering to watch Eminem's music video of Without Me when it released because he dressed up as Robin in it.

[clumsypuppy]

43. For the ask game

43: Sexiest person that comes to my mind immediately

going straight for the jugular arent we

[rheakira]

How does Clover attempt to flirt with / impress Robin. Very important question I need answered, please and thank you.

CLOVER IS THE BIGGEST, MOST OBNOXIOUS SHOW-OFF!!

It's particularly funny because they're extremely clumsy, too. They spend a lot of their time trying to look cool and impress Robin, but a lot of the time, their showy displays fall very flat.

Twirling their gun on their finger and accidentally firing at the ground due to forgetting to put the safety on. Trying to do a cool flip only to fall on their face. Climbing really high up a tree only to get their leg caught on a branch and stuck in the tree, now forced to wait for Martlet to come get them down.

They're extremely cringefail, but Robin thinks they're the cutest and really funny.

[objectingtotheobjects]

I'm gonna have some thoughts I'll post about one piece (i watched until the whole vivi situation and got bored once they hit her home island (politics/propaganda was also frustrating me at the time, that arc didn't help) so I'm not restarting, I just finished the arc with Vivi's goodbye and enjoy the Nico Robin joining the crew and her bonding a bit with Chopper

I am excited for things I know are to come as I have had much if it spoiled, that said please don't intentionally spoil anything because I don't know what's been theory or fannon

[dust-bunny-meow]

Anyway, at the end of my therapy sessions my therapist usually gives me a few mins to talk about my special interest, assuming i haven't had like a break down or something. So like, the only show shes really watched is teen titans go bc she has young kids. I had the utter joy of watching her eyes glaze over as i explained the different robins that appear in that one episode w/ all of the robins??? Yea, i watched her spirit leave as i explained that Carrie isnt technically canon and that they had the perfect opportunity to throw in Stephanie bc she is canon and it would give the chance for people to know her for more than being Tim Drakes gf

[soloavengers]

thinking about maleigh and gwynne so hard rn i can’t wait to unleash them

[speedforce-zoomies]

“Favorite hero - go!”

Tim didn’t even look up as he continued to type up his report for the night, “Dick Grayson.”

Jason scoffed, “Way to use your listening ears Timbers, Duke asked who’s your favorite hero, not your favorite brother.”

“I heard and I answered. Dick Grayson. If he’s Robin? Robin is my favorite hero. Now he’s Nightwing? Nightwing is absolutely the coolest hero to ever exist. He’s acting as Batman? Obviously Batman’s the best.”

Dick grinned brightly at Jason, smug in a way only older siblings can be.

“My. Favorite. Hero. Is. Dick. Grayson. From the day I first meet him, to the day I discovered his hero identity, to becoming a part of his legacy, to the first time he called me his brother, to today and till the day we’re both dirt and worms, my big brother will always be my favorite hero. You use your listening ears.”

Several of the others made faces or rolled their eyes at dirt and worms part of his rant but Dick only laughed quietly and hugged Tim so tightly that Tim felt the air being slowly but steadily pushed out of his lungs. Tim made no complaints but did roll his eyes, though no one but Cass could tell if it was at Jason or Dick.

“I can not find fault in your decision,” Damian weighed in, “And obviously, Father is your second favorite, thus your third favorite must also be of equal valor?”

Tim huffed and wiggled his way out of Dick’s loving embrace, “Who said B was my second favorite?”

Everyone blinked at him and he grinned, the exact same expression on his face as had been on Dick’s a few minutes prior, submitted his report, grabbed his Zesti off the ground beside him, and took advantage of Bruce and Alfred entering the cave to escape any more questions.

“Good night!” Dick called after him.

“Night!” Tim waved behind him.

“Well, I think I’m a strong contender for second favorite,” Tim heard Stephanie say and someone’s muffled response before the grandfather clock closed behind him.

[stealingyourbones]

Mr. Mxyzptlk decides to have some fun and decides it’s time for some bodyswapping shenanigans. Behold, a list of varying bodyswaps I think would be neat to explore:

—

Jack Fenton and Clark Kent

Jack being Jack and getting used to his powers and being INCREDIBLY confused that he woke up NOT in his bed, not next to his incredible wife, and assuming this is a ghosts shenanigans. Clark is freaking out because he’s human, not next to HIS incredible wife, assumes this is a Mxyzptlk plot, and cements himself as an incredibly good father figure with Danny and Jazz, reaching out to other Supers for help to teach Jack the ropes and to wait out whatever Mxy has done.

—

Artemis swapping with Jazz

during an Outlaws mission and DURING some test for Jazz. Both freak out, both have to adjust to the other persons strengths and abilities, and Jason and Bizzaro have to calm a very confused and scared teenager who’s in an Amazonian body. While Danny’s friends are DESPERATELY trying to stop Artemis from throwing hands with every ghost she sees.

—

Johnny 13 and Jason Todd

Jason Todd is dead again. Not Good. Johnny is alive again. This ROCKS! Jason’s Red Hood goons lock him up because their boss is clearly compromised. Jason figures a way out of the Ghost Zone and asks Phantom for help. Along with having to acclimate to being able to control a sentient shadow and ghostly powers, Jason is in for a doozy. Johnny on the other hand, is going through many many attempts to escape Red Hood’s room and failing… until Red Robin crashes through a window. Apparently he should have answered the calls on Red Hood’s phone. Red Robin near instantly clocks that whoever is in Jason’s body, isn’t Jason. Ok, time to bring Not Jason to the Batcave to figure out what’s going on.

—

Vlad Masters and Alfred Pennyworth

Instant character change from both parties. Alfred is midway through talking to Bruce about over exerting himself and Vlad is midway through nearly successfully capturing Phantom.

—

Paulina and Wonder Woman

Paulina having to adjust with Amazonian strength and being lassoed by another party to figure out what’s happening in full (prolly Batman and his paranoid ass wanting the absolute truth <3). Diana having to adjust with being an average teenage girl who’s also high up on the Highschool food chain and pretending nothing is wrong until she can contact the League to figure out what just happened.

—

Tucker Foley and Dick Grayson:

Tucker swapping with Dick while Dick is at the Batcave. He’s too busy marveling at the tech and not really registering that he’s Not In His Body until he hears a roar of a motorcycle somewhere in the distance (One of the Batfamily coming back to the cave), and his reality comes crashing down. Tucker is mid ghost capture when Dick swaps with him and realizes VERY quickly that he’s not in his body and proceeds to go “fuck it. This hero he doesn’t know is genuinely struggling and he needs to blend in until he knows what’s going on. Dick doesn’t know this guys fighting capabilities but he has to AT LEAST know how to dodge well and aim well (Spoiler alert: Tucker doesn’t.

—

Danny Fenton and Martian Manhunter

DANNY IS AN ALIEN! THIS IS THE COOLEST THING EVER!!… Danny also has absolutely no idea how to shapeshift so he’s stuck in J’onn’s true Martian form and uncontrollably shapeshifting random parts of his body out of stress because he can hear *everyones thoughts* within a few miles. Danny’s grown to be a quick learner with powers but with all this noise he just. Can’t. Concentrate. J’onn doing his damndest to act as a regular human boy while not panicking about having absolutely zero telepathy. He’s told the boy’s friends after they noticed something wrong. He found out midway on the walk to Sam’s house that J’onn can turn invisible quite easily. It’s not the same as it is in his body but it’s not too different, kind of like flexing a different sequence of muscles to create the same movement.

[cristinacclearwater]

Au! Batfam talking about who had the most badass mentor amongst them..

Like trying to one up each other with mentors and friends and shenanigans..

Bruce is there, drinking coffee keeping quiet because he knows he wins..

Walks in Dick and Tim..

Dick: hey guys! What are you talking about?

Jason: coolest mentor. I win ofcourse, with Batman, and Talia teaching me personally..

Damian: as if todd. I am the winner of this discussion.. Mother built my base before my various tutors took over. And I have served Robin for 2 batmen. Father and Richard.

Duke: Steph and me are keeping scores, though Steph counted Tim among her tutors, when her turn came.

Tim: me?

Dick: I guess that makes sense.

Damian: I don't see what you are so proud about Brown. Drake is incompetent and had passed on his incompetence to you till Oracle took over your training.

Steph: oh little guy! You have no idea!! Watch this. Hey Tim!!

Tim: hm? *not paying attention*

Steph: who taught you to fight?

Tim: Bruce?

Steph: no like. Who taught you that nerve thing you do?

Tim: oh. Rahul Lama

Steph: Bo staff?

Tim: Shiva

Steph: How many Batmen did you work with?

Tim: 3? Do i count, because then 4.

Steph: is Mt Rushmore still a hologram?

Jason: Still?

Tim: yeah. The league don't know how to fix that, well unless a speedster goes back in time. But then Bart will have to go back to change it back anyway so * shrugs *

Duke: Wait!! What happened to Mt. Rushmore? Its a HOLOGRAM!?!

Tim: yeah. YJ had a mission a few years back and well long story short the lab was under the mountain and kinda crashed out of it..

Duke: * whisper * what?

Steph: Shh Duke. This is just the start.

Jason: THIS is a start?

Jason turns to look at Bruce & Dick

Bruce look like he is re-living a trauma.

Dick has a grimace on his face, klhe knows what Jason is asking.

Dick: Yeah well. Tim's Robin years were... Interesting.

Jason: well clearly.

Steph: i was so surprised when Jason came back to life. Like i know its common now! But then... What about you tim?

Tim: well? Secret was a ghost and came to life too. And Danny became leader of a cult of snakes. So, quiet common i guess.

[love-marimo]

The Strawhats x Model!Reader (Modern AU)

Lolita's Note: these are really short. just a few (some are platonic and some are romantic) headcanons for the strawhats with a model (gender neutral) reader! a bit of suggestive stuff (mostly crack) on sanji, zoro and brook's. enjoy ♡

cw: mentions of smoking and drinking.

Franky

he's going to be SUUUUUPER supportive about your career.

i imagine him to be a mechanic/engineer in the modern au so your pairing is definitely unconventional

will develop an app that detects nearby castings when you're on the go.

and if he can sit somewhere in the audience during one of your shows, he's gonna put up a sign that says something like "I LOVE YOU MY SUPER HOT PARTNER"

will might get kicked out for obnoxiously cheering for you.

Usopp

he'll definitely think you're cool and will brag about you a lot to his peers.

so much so that he'll make up lies like you're also secretly the designer, or you're the highest paid model (even if you aren't).

he gets so mesmerized when he sees you walk in those pretty clothes and he will definitely take photos of you.

like a lot

will run a secret fan account that you will never find out and he'll brag about you lots on there.

Robin

this woman has connections. a LOT of it. she's the most likely out of all the strawhats to sit front row because of how many people she knows and she's affiliated with.

you both follow each other on instagram and people love to see what you two post. you're definitely a power couple, both online and offline.

your stories and feed will scream quiet luxury and glamour, and everyone is here for it.

she'll help you grow in your career and you might even rise to the top because of her.

she's like your manager and she'll do it for free just because she loves you so much.

Nami

you will be models together. period. no questions asked.

absolutely goes crazy during fashion week. she'll plan all your outfits a year ahead and she's very good at predicting trendy pieces in every. season.

will go with you to every casting and will not settle if the directors don't hire the both of you.

like robin, your online presence will scream power couple.

but the difference is you'll post a variety of things online.

one moment there's the baddest, coolest, and most amazing runway photos of you both and the next there is a video of you having the worst jet lag ever.

Jinbe (if he was human)

need a bouncer? say no more. he's got you covered.

this man will immediately know if there are sketchy people who pretend to do castings.

so you will go to him for advice about it especially when you're just starting out.

if you have an international gig, he'll pack you a lot of essentials (toiletries, medicine, staple clothes, you name it) and he'll be your personal body guard until you reach the airport.

make sure to send him photos, he'll definitely collect those and all the magazines that has you in it.

Luffy

do not bring him to an hour long fashion show, or his restless ass won't take it.

that said, he's also going to be very supportive even if he doesn't understand and relate to your kind of work.

he's the type to wait for your turn and then leave once he knows you're not gonna show up anymore.

will go 0o0 every time he sees you in designer clothing. and he will ask for a photo before you set out to stage.

he's so oblivious that there was one time where he innocently and confidently asked the designer themselves to take a photo of you.

you were definitely scared of being reprimanded and black listed.

luckily his child like charm lets the both of you get away with it.

Chopper (if he was human)

poor baby, he's going to be so confused.

he has no idea how the modeling industry works but he tries his best!!

will get lost in thought, admiring all the models (especially you) who wear the most unbelievable and extraordinary (to his eyes) pieces he's ever seen.

he's that little brother who claps and goes starry-eyed even if he doesn't know what's going on.

in his head he's like "cool cool cool cool!!!"

if he catches you smoking backstage he gets angry, and the other models will find that cute.

the thing is though, he's so well versed in medicine that he convinces all of you to stop smoking.

Sanji

oh boy.

this man is even worse than franky

he's not gonna scream or whistle or do loud things in a regular show (rtw or haute couture)

but! BUT

this man will get a sensory overload and will collapse.

do not invite him to a bikini/swimsuit show.

also runs a fan account about you and is SHAMELESS about it.

he will post the most out of pocket captions that you have to take his phone away for a week.

Zoro

this man is so fine that underwear and fitness companies want to hire him.

he is not interested. he'd rather see you model for a bikini/swimsuit calendar (which he'll definitely buy)

will also be your personal bodyguard. and he'll be secretly happy about it.

prefers to watch you model for photoshoots than walk the runway. he doesn't like waiting and he wants to focus on only you.

will be your personal errand boy and will take you out drinking after shows.

Brook (if he was still alive as a human)

this old man will either be the sound engineer, or the performer in one of your shows.

do not also take him to bikini/swimsuit shows or he will go around backstage reveling in all the panties he sees.

otherwise, he's pretty chill. he will socialize with other guests and talk about how pretty all the clothes are.

will also go to fashion week with you and get the attention of a lot of street photographers.

ー Lolita

[dead-ma-outlaw]

Babe, a magic anon made me a White Lantern. Not sure how to feel.

Oooh, fancy. What does that mean?

[aslxluffy]

I'm on it again cause i need a college au fanfic where they can't live without each other more than 24 hours. I need to see robin, nami and usopp sewing everyone's halloween costumes for the party in luffy's apartment while sanji cooks again, leaving all his recipes book in a corner of the room. Zoro stretches out near the kitchen.

And the fact that Luffy has a date with Law outside because too many people all the time stress him out and he only needs to be with him for an hour or two.

one piece college au

straw hats literally live in luffy's apartment, they all have a key and every one of them has stuffs in his room. it's kind of a mess but it's still the most comfortable place ever and it's full of love. luffy loves it cause it cause it was the thing he missed the most after ace and sabo left. they haven't all their classes together and sometimes, nami could be there early to study while luffy isn't even here until someone else arrives and so on. sanji cooks dinner for everyone, zoro and luffy usually come later in the evening after sports classes.

[ifyoucandaniel]

exactly one person asked and i’ve been DYING to make this, so here are all of my favorite long batman fanfics in general and for new readers @twisted-tales-told :)

cards on the table by @wesslan ! 69k, completed. this is one of my all time favorite fanfictions, it’s so funny and tim is a mastermind genius and a little liar <3 he basically pretends to be a fortune teller and gives scarily good predictions and advice by stalking the upper class and eventually gets involved with the batfam and has to maintain his lies while dealing with his issues :) 10/10, very found family, good angst, so much lying

Dark Matter by @mysterycyclone , 221k, ongoing. this is a batman fanfic rec, of course my bbg dark matter is going to be here <3 this is a MCUxDCU crossover where after infinity war (spoilers for that if you haven’t seen it!) peter parker gets sent to the DCU dimension with part of the soul stone and basically is haunted by the ghosts of the avengers while trying to survive in gotham and get back to his dimension. this is so well written i’ve read it at least three times, it’s still ongoing but trust me it is SO GOOD. i can’t properly describe it, but if you like spider-man and you are interested in batman, you’ll love.

Red is the Color of Sinners by @bluelotuswrites , series, 120k, ongoing, M. i want you to look me in my eyes when i tell you this is my favorite series on ao3. it is set after under the red hood and daredevil 3 where jason and matt meet in a church after jason loses his ability to speak following the events of UTRH. they keep running into each other both as matt and daredevil and eventually jason begins helping matt out with injuries and tech. it’s not finished yet, but there is something so compelling about their dynamic in this series as well as jason’s overall character and how he is portrayed. i’m a sucker for mute jason after UTRH and this series does so well giving him a fresh start and a place away from gotham to heal and build relationships. i cannot recommend enough.

buy back the secrets by @vinelark , 71k, ongoing, T. THIS!!! oh my god, so this is a timkon fic where kon still doesn’t know tim’s civilian identity, but whenever he’s in trouble tim calls for superboy which leads to them meeting without kon knowing. shenanigans ensure when kon starts spending more time with tim! it’s still ongoing but the author is currently working on the next part and it is so so worth the wait. chapter 4 ends on a cliffhanger though so be warned :))

Sales People Know (listening is the most important part) by Mayhem10, 77k, completed, T. this has the coolest urban magical realism ever. tim basically runs this magic shop that shows up places and people who need something find it in his shop :) it’s kinda a slow burn found family fic with magic themes and a smidge of angst!

Retrograde Motion by Lysical, 112k, completed, T. this is best de-aged kid fic ever. jason gets turned into a 7 year old and basically the outlaws, artemis and biz, join forces with the batfam to take care of him. but trust me when i say this is worth your time, it might sound tropey but in the best way possible!! and jason’s relationship with artemis is sooo important to me in this!

Hand in Unloveable Hand (a chokehold) by britishparty, 54k, completed, M. this is one of the best psychological torture/grooming fics i’ve ever read. pretty much what if while our taking photos of batman and robin, little tim gets kidnapped and black mask gets his hands on him and decides he’s the perfect size for a protege. years of psychological abuse and insane mind games ensue. also tim is a Badass™️

If He Had Come by bronwe_iris, 45k, completed, T. so i’m a little freak and i love the angst of arkham knight jason, but more specifically the aus where bruce saves jason before he becomes the arkham knight! this is an au where bruce finds jason and saves him from the joker after 9 months of torture and brings him home. focuses on his healing mentally and physically and rebuilding his relationship with his family

Banshee in a Well by liverobinreaction (bugbee), 43k, completed, T. veeeery good angst. basically what if tim couldn’t die? 43k of tim drake whump where he just dies a bajillion times and eventually his family notices <3

The Birds: Hatching a Family by Oceanera12, 81k, completed, T. this is like “what if the batkids weren’t adopted by bruce, but instead they were all foster siblings who can’t seem to stay out of gotham at night and batman happens to find them and decides obviously he can’t leave these kids to their own business, he has to stick his nose in it” and there’s some angst and heaps of found family

The Hellblazer’s Apprentice by @bluelotuswrites, 29k, ongoing, M. what can i say, im a simple woman, i love to see jason with literally any older male mentor :) basically in UTRH what if he took up an apprenticeship under constantine to learn magic to piss off batman! so good, i really love constantine so seeing him and jason interact in a long fic is so good. also ALL BLADES JASON TODD SAVE ME… ALL BLADES JASON TODD-

something in the static by bonerot19, 101k, ongoing series with three main completed works, T. this is a jason centric series where jason still lives in crime alley with his mom and dad and never stole the batmobile tires. it follows his life in crime alley with an addict mom and an abusive dad and one night when his dad is whaling on him nightwing finds him and the bats just can’t seem to leave him alone after that. steph is his neighbor and best friend also and their relationship is so good. this is a “what if jason took a different way home to the wayne’s” fic series and i love it so much <3

catch the asteroids that come your way by ThePackWantsTheD, 54k, completed, T. i don’t read a lot of ships in the batman fandom i’m sorry, but this kyle/jason one is sooo lovely. basically the two of them growing up together and falling in love and then dealing with the aftermath of A Death in the Family and finding each other again :) really sweet and nice!

hope you find something you like! i realized the majority of these are tim or jason centric, and i love them all dearly, but if anyone has any recs for long fics focusing on any of the other batkids lmk! and any other recs in general, i am a fiend for new fics

[gothicfied]

I SLIT MY OWN THROAT JUST TO SEE IF YOU'D MOURN ME

Pairing: Héctor Fort x fem!reader, toxic situationship

Summary: While Héctor keeps you on your toes about your relationship, telling you that he loves you, amongst other things, he can't quite seem to commit to you. To him, it's all no-strings-attached, but you want more and you end up hurting your own feelings in the process.

Word Count: ~4.3k (oops, not again)

Reading Time: ~17 Minutes

Warnings: Slightly suggestive, mentions of sex and hooking up, mentions of alcohol and drinking, heavy swearing, Héctor turns into a real asshole at the end, he makes reader cry, reader knows something has to change but doesn't try to change anything, complicated mess of feelings on both sides, no hopeful ending, not proof read (english isn't my first language)

A/N: BOAHHHHH we lowkey gotta execute all of portugal rn. GERMANY WTF????? Wie kann man so eine BESCHISSENE PISS ZWEITE HALBZEIT SPIELEN🫩 I already kinda knew we were losing when I saw 3-4-3 and Waldemar Anton with Robin Koch in the defense. WE LET A GRANDPA SHOOT A GOAL WHAT IS WRONG WITH US (yes, Ronaldo is not my goat)???? This was finished in rage, so excuse any angry spelling mistakes, but we just lost in the most embarrassing way. Word Cup, here we come (we'll still win, of course)! On a diffrent note tho: It was really fun writing for Héctor. He's probably one of the prettiest men I've ever seen in my life. Also, I'm 100% sure he's a very sweet guy who wouldn't do something like in this fic lmao lmk if y'all want a part 2 with a happier ending! Inspiration for this was this song👇

Those beautiful eyes. Big, tantalizing, brown eyes that you seemed to get lost in every time you saw them. And, it didn't matter that you were just looking at a picture of him. You could stare at him for hours and not get bored of it. If he would let you.

You and Héctor met just a couple months ago in the streets of Barcelona. To be honest, you didn't know who he was — And he didn't expect you to. The minute he layed his eyes on you he knew you were perfect: Mostly because your biggest interest wasn't football. You were a fresh breeze in his life, finally someone who wasn't connected to his career. To you, though, it was probably the coolest thing to have a professional football player like you. Héctor is tall, talented, easy to talk to... You like the fact that he works out and surrounds himself with good people. His first impression was perfect, it was natural to fall in love with him.

If things could've stayed that way, you wouldn't be here right now. You'd be beside him, in his bed, looking at the real thing. As the situationship progressed, you realized that Héctor was different deep down. He wasn't this charming young man social media makes him out to be (because, of course, the first thing you did was stalk him on the internet to see what people had to say about him).

Soon enough, you took notice that he treats hou more like a side piece than a girl he's interested in. You're good enough to take out, mostly to parties, and for sex, but that was kind of it. Then, when you were back home, you'd watch tiktoks of fan interactions Héctor had and wondered why he didn't treat you with the same amount of respect.

There's phases of love bombing, meaning he'll send you flowers to your doorstep, invite you over to his house to cook together or buys you expensive things you wouldn't ask for, but those are followed by weeks of silence. Like right now. All you can do is stare at the screen, pictures of you two together and text messages from two days ago:

"You're so beautiful, mi amor."

"I want to take you to training with me."

"I love you."

He loves you. You hold onto those three little words for a long time.

...

"Oh my god, seriously, you need to get a grip girl." Your best friends voice rung out of your phone. "What do you mean?"

You were currently sitting at your vanity, getting ready for... something. You didn't know what it was yet, but something was telling you that Héctor would text you.

"What I mean? Are you crazy?" Calling Mia for advice on this situation always gave you a reality check. She'd never lie to you or coddle you and that's exactly what you needed. You wanted to not care about his attention so much, but it was like your body yearned for it. "That boy has you wrapped around his finger and he didn't even need to do anything." Carefully, you curled your eyelashes while listening to Mia go on and on about your situationship. "And still, he won't respect you."

"How is he not respecting me?"

"Girl..."

"What?"

"All this hanging out and hooking up and he still hasn't asked you to be his girlfriend? You know he meets up with other girls too, right?"

Of course you knew. Hearing that out of somebody else's mouth hit a bit too hard, though. You sighed and stared at yourself in the mirror, a weird feeling suddenly settling in your stomach. That was, until you heard a ping from your phone. With a gasp, you quickly grabbed it and heard Mia groan in annoyance on the other end of the line.

"I'll pick you up in 15, be ready."

"See, I told you he'd text!" You continued to do your makeup gingerly and all giggly. Even if your best friend didn't like what Héctor was doing with you and thought that you were a bit too naïve, she let it slide. This time. At no point you thought Mia was jealous of you, though. Other friends always made it sound like she was trying to get in between of your relationship with Héctor, mostly because he's a footballer bla bla bla, but, the truth is, you know. You know that the dynamic between you and the boy isn't ideal, you know that he's probably just toying with your feelings and you know that you should call this thing off. But you can't. And you won't.

Héctor, even if his feelings were bipolar towards you, never made you feel used. Whenever he's take you out to one of his friend's functions he'd introduce you properly and keep his arm around your waist. He made it all seem very normal and that was perhaps what made you so attached.

There's been nights where you cried yourself to sleep over rumors in your friendgroup about a new girl he's seeing or over the fact that he wouldn't text you. You'd never dare to double text, so if he left you on delivered, you were of course being petty. You ask yourself: Am I not good enough? What do other girls have that I don't? Why would he go for her and not me? What you didn't see was, that you were never the problem in the first place.

Teenage love is hard to swallow. Especially when considering that you both were almost 20. Mia thought this was highschool drama, but to you it was very real. Héctor would never deny your feelings whenever you opened up to him (which has happened like two times only), but he'd also never change. He gave you the feeling of being loved unconditionally. And it was addicting admittedly.

...

Like many times before in the last ten minutes, you were checking yourself out in your mirror. Mia had hung up just a few minutes before and your room felt cold and alone. Why were you sulking now? Did her words really hit home that close? You should be happy Héctor's coming over!

You were lying to yourself and you knew that. If only you could—

The sound of your doorbell ripped you out of your thoughts. The heavy feeling on your chest was lifted immediately when you grabbed your bag and ran down the stairs. Luckily, your parents were away for the weekend, which means if anything else would happen at your place...

Carefully, you opened the front door as to not seem so excited at Héctor's presence. Your eyes immediately fell to his hands which held a bouquet of your favorite flowers. He looked rather nonchalant about it, but the second his eyes found your face, they lit up like firework.

"Hey, princesa." He grinned as he called you the nickname, immediately pulling you in for a hug. His arms rested on your waist when he did so. It took you a moment to reciprocate the gesture, your hands resting on his chest. When pulling away, Héctor pressed a kiss to the corner of your mouth, which left you absolutely breathless... even though nothing had happened yet.

"These.. are your favorites, right?" Holding out the bouquet, you took it from his hands and grinned. "Yes.. yes they are. They're beautiful, thank you!" This wasn't anything new. After a long period of not meeting up, he's always have some sort of gift with him. Either your favorite snack, jewelry you mentioned liking before or, well, flowers. Héctor payed attention to detail, which made it harder for you to believe he didn't love you. There had to be something behind all of this, right?

On the way to your favorite stargazing spot, the footballer couldn't help but compliment you every minute.

"You look really pretty tonight."

"You've said that like five times by now."

"What? I can't compliment my girl no more?"

While you guys laughed about the situation, your brain couldn't help but replay Héctor's words in your mind. His girl. He called you his girl. If this wasn't a clear sign, then what is?

"I'm really sorry I couldn't make more time for you, by the way." Héctor sighed, absentmindedly skipping some songs on the playlist he put on. "Yeah, don't worry about it, I know you're busy." Obviously, you couldn't expect him to make time for you during the busiest time of the season. The last few games were on the horizon and you knew how important the sport was to him. "I shouldn't be too busy for you, tho! Like... ugh." You giggled at his frustration.

For the remainder of time, a comfortable silence settled between the two of you. You just watched him drive, which was really attractive in your mind. Héctor has called you his passenger princess before. Oh, seriously, how could this guy not be in love with you. It was almost impossible, especially with the way you put so much work into your appearance, or the way you behave around him (you know, not to seem so obsessed) and stuff. Unfortunately, you'd do anything for quiet moments like these as long as they're with him.

And a night out stargazing spot with Héctor always meant making out on the hood of his car.

...

Quietness. Warmth. Comfort. Those were all things you felt while laying next to him right now. Nothing happened tonight — Meaning no sex, that is. Héctor said, this wasn't the type of meet up for that. He wanted to savor the time he had with you tonight, that's all. He wanted to talk about everything, god and the world and maybe also why he's mad at the world right now.

It was natural to let him sleep over, especially when that meant he's hold you close while you slept. Héctor's arms around you always made you feel safe, like you didn't need anything else in the universe.

On one hand, it did make you extremely happy that this seemed to be more meaningful to him, on the other hand you didn't know why. You were suspicious... suspicious if he was feeling guilty about something and felt like he needed to make it up to you. Cheating, maybe. But, would it really be cheating if you weren't officially a thing? No, you had no right to call it that.

Héctors breath on your neck grounded you in reality again. Your hand was interlaced with his and all of this felt so domestic. The thing you were looking at on your phone cancelled all of that out in a minute. A mutual friend of yours and Héctor had sent you a screenshot of a snapchat story just 20 minutes ago.

Just as you had suspected, it was from a girl you didn't like anyway. She posted a picture with her on what seemed to be Héctor's lap. Oh, how much you wanted to beat the shit out of him right now. Perfect opportunity even: He's right beside you.

And then it hits you again.

You're not his girlfriend. What are you doing? Why are you so mad? He didn't cheat. He didn't do anything. It was in his right to pursue othrr girls but... wow, the things you'd do to be the only one. You bit down on your cheek to hold yourself back from crying as you just slid your phone under your pillow.

Héctor slightly shifted against you, making his presence apparent again. Your thoughts were half empty as you tried to make sense of the conversation you had earlier this night:

"Are you free on Saturday next week?" You turned your head to him and nodded, curious as to what Héctor had in mind this time. "Great, I want you as my plus one." Satisfied, he propped himself up with one arm and leaned down to press a chaste kiss on your lips. "What do you mean? Plus one to what?" He proceeded to explain how one of his guy friends was throwing this huge house party, but obviously it was still exclusive. Somehow boys in Barcelona seemed to be plugged in everywhere, because you did in fact also recognize the name of that friend. "Uhhh... okay, fine, I'll come." Instead of saying thank you, Héctor pressed another kiss on your lips, leaving you no time to kiss him back. "We'll have a good time, you'll see."

Aha, why didn't he ask one of his other girls then if he loves them so mu—

"Mhm.. princesa, are you okay?" The sudden rumbling of his voice startled you. Confused you turned your head around, to find Héctor, half awake, already staring at you. "Yes? Why? Are you okay?" You whispered back. The boy yawned in response and nodded, looking like he was about to fall asleep again. "Yeah.. you just... squeezed my hand so hard, I thought you wanted me to wake up." Aaaaand he was knocked out again.

With an irritated look on your face, you turned your head back. Did you actually get this frustrated? You must've.

Great, it's like you're digging your own grave here. You thought tonight would be a good night out, but now it seems to settle in your mind that this was in no way healthy. You should talk to him.. no, you needed to talk. It was long overdue and you knew it.

...

The next morning, you didn't really want to be mad at him anymore. Especially not when he woke you up by kissing you down your neck.

On monday, you also didn't have the mental capacity to call Héctor or text him that you needed to talk with him or that you didn't want to go to that party on Saturday.

Same thing on Tuesday, just then he had facetimed you, which seemed to make all your worries go away.

On Wednesday, you just said fuck it, and you went with. Maybe, if you didn't go, you'd ruin an opportunity for him to ask you to be his girlfriend. It definitely felt like an appropriate timing, like afterwards when leaving the party. And, if it didn't happen, you could make new friends, get yourself drunk and pick out a new guy to like. And that wouldn't be cheating, just like how him letting another girl onto his lap isn't cheating either.

After another, for you depressing, phone call with Mia and a few other things to do with studying and worrying about other things for once, Saturday rolls around. Héctor comes by fairly early just to see you get ready. He says it's one of his favorite things, especially because he gets to have a say in what you'll wear. Sometimes he wants it matching, too.

In a slightly uncomfortable way, most likely because of his presence which had never happened before, you pull at the dress you decided to put on — Short, not at all classy and defining all in one. Quickly, you stole a glance at the guy on your bed, watching him tap away at his phone through the mirror. You squinted, trying to make out who he was texting through his mimics. Eventually, Héctor just sighed and put his phone away, his eyes coming to rest on you.

"It's like you're doing it on purpose." Héctor said with a grin and slowly stood up from your bed. You basically felt the way he dragged his eyes over your body, a slight feeling of embarrassment creeping up your cheeks. You moved your gaze to your feet as you started feeling shy or some weird emotion you couldn't really register at all. It has never been like this before, so why are you sweating now?

"What am I doing on purpose?"

"Oh come on now."

You felt his hands come to rest on your hips, slowly dragging themselves over your ass and thighs. He was just eagerly watching your reaction in the mirror without a care in the world. "Hm? Ready to go?"

The minute you stepped into that place, you werr reminded why you didn't want to come in the first place. It's loud, filled with people you don't know and frankly don't want to know, and the smell of strong liquor, sweat and maybe other bodily fluids was in the air. Héctor haphazardly held your hand while dragging you through a crowd of people, trying to get to his friend. You felt watched, exposed and most definitely judged, even though most people were probably just doing their own thing. Or were staring at him and not at you.

"Hey, there you are!" You turned your head back to your date and the guy he was apparently invited in. Without so much as a "Hello" or "How are you?", he went in for a full hug to greet you. And when you tried shooting Héctor a look, he was already gone, off to somewhere else. Great. Now you were stuck with the host who doesn't know how to respect other's boundaries and his friends who are looking at you like they've never seen a woman before.

Twenty-or-so minutes later, you had randomly joined a mixed group of guys and girls who had dragged you in with the question "Oh my god, didn't you arrive with Héctor?" The drink in your hand was a badly mixed blend of what seemed to be cheap Vodka and Lemonade. Whoever made this must've been drunk out of their mind, but you started to get used to it the more you sipped to forget all that around you. You had gone completely non-verbal, another guy next to you was trying to flirt with you and one particular girl out of the bunch didn't seem to like this at all.

"And, you know, you're like the prettiest girl here, sooooo..." Matteo, the guy next to you, said waiting on a response from you. Apparently the appreciative nod you gave him was not enough, because he repeated himself again, trying to get just something out of you by placing his hand on your thigh. Quickly, you slapped it away with a serious expression this time: "Hey! None of that. What the fuck is wrong with you?"

Matteo, a guy who had probably never gotten rejected in his life, was appalled. You couldn't care less, which he gathered by the way you rolled your eyes at him and continued to scan the area for Hèctor. "The fuck is your problem?" He sounded entitled when asking. "I'm just complimenting you. Don't you wanna have a good time? Jesus, women.."

You tried tuning him out by concentrating on the music rather his stupid voice, but it was hard ignoring this idiot who wouldn't stop speculating why you weren't interested. And then he blames it on women? You should've left the minute Héctor left you alone in this mess.

He was probably off somewhere with another girl, having the time of his life while you're stuck here with people who won't even talk to you. Except for Matteo, of course. Why be his stupid plus one of he was going to leave you anyway? What was the point of brining you here? In the end, you were stupid enough to even agree to this.

"Wait.. Are you his girlfriend?"

"Who's girlfriend?"

"Héctors! That's why you don't want me.. Man, sorry, I didn't know you guys were a thing now."

What and absolute idiot. But, the situation resolved itself. You just nodded and agreed, apologzing even for "not being available" or some bullshit. This, of course, made the others in the group listen up, too. Immediately, the girl next to you grabbed you by your shoulder and slightly shook you. "Holy shit! You're his girlfriend!"

Eventually, while you were getting knotted up in all the lies you tried to come up with to back this thing now, Matteo removed himself from the situation, making his rounds for a new drink and possibly a new girl to harass. This got interrupted, though, when he spotted your alleged boyfriend in the kitchen.

"Héctor."

"Matteo."

The latter got himself some water from the sink and drank it faster than he needed to.

"Dude, so sorry, I just tried hitting on your girlfriend. I wasn't trying to start anything so if she mentions that to you, just know I didn't mean it."

Héctor looked at him like he just said the stupidest thing in the world. He sniffled slightly and squinted his eyes, like that was going to help him understand this situation. "What do you mean my girlfriend?" Matteo seemed oblivious or simply too drunk to notice. "Huh? Yeah, the girl you left there."

"And.. she said she's my girlfriend? Only to you, or?" Héctor evidently got more and more irritated by this interaction and the information he had just attained. "No? She openly said you're her boyfriend. Aren't you? Like, bro, I really didn't mean to hit on her." No. You couldn't. Right? Why on earth would you? He thought you knew this was casual— What is your problem?

After a minute of angry silence, Héctor abandoned his drink by the other empty cups on the counter and made a beeline to you. "Awww, how cute! Can't believe you guys have been going steady now! I didn't even kno—" This... very challenging conversation with the girls in the group was suddenly interrupted by Héctor grabbing your arm. Not in a forceful way, but definitely in a determined one. Yeah, determined to get you out of here. "Sorry, didn't mean to interrupt you," Héctor mumbled out, "but I need her for a moment."

The young footballer took the liberty to drag you all the way outside to his car, the cold wind of the night hitting you in the face pretty ungracefully. "Would you just tell me what's going on? Héctor?" And he wouldn't respond. He had wrapped his hand tightly around your wrist, shaking his head no everytime you asked him something. Eventually, when he reached for his car keys, you ripped your arm away from him: "What's wrong? What the fuck? That hurt, dude!"

"Get in." Héctor looked at you like you had just killed someone. "What?" You weren't going to lie, you were kind of scared of this now. "Get. In. I'm driving you home. This was a bad idea."

...

The whole car ride was quiet and cold. Not only would Héctor not talk to you, but he wouldn't even do anything to make this more bearable. Slowly, you realized that you had probably fucked it all up with this lie you came up with. To your defense: You needed it to get rid of Matteo and all the other guys trying to hit on you. But, Héctor didn't know that and you weren't ready to start this conversation just yet.

Without you realizing, he had pulled into your drive way and put the car in park. "Why are you telling others that you're my girlfriend?" Oh yeah. This was it, wasn't it? "Look, I had to okay? These guys wouldn't leave me alone and I just—"

"No. No! You.. you can't just go around and say stuff like that! Are you actually mental?" Héctor gradually raised his voice at you, which madr you shudder. Slowly, you turned your head in his direction, finding him already staring you down. His eyes were filled with an emotion you had never seen him with before. Especially not directed against you. "You have to be one crazy fucking woman to do that. I am not your boyfriend, okay? You should've just come to me.. god." You bit down on your cheek while he was clearly struggling to find words for this.

"Do you know what others will believe now? Huh? Do you know how fast this shit can spread? Huh? No! No you don't." Yes you did. You kept quiet as Héctor continued to yell at you about how this will effect rumors again, how this will make fan girls bring hell onto you and so on. You didn't care. The only thing you cared about was how he yelled at you. You heard you heart shatter into a million tiny pieces.

After a few minutes, you couldn't hold it in anymore: "Oh my god! Stop! Genuinely stop!" Héctor did stop, looking at you in an offended way. "Why can't you just be my boyfriend? Do you know how long you've been basically playing with me?" You yelling back at him with this sentiment only made him laugh. In frustration, sure, but he could already feel his blood boil at the choice of your words. "Nah, you can't be serious. Playing with you? I thought you knew what kind of thing this was!"

"Not until you said you loved me! Who does that to a person?" Your voice cracked when asking him that question. For months you've been dying to ask Héctor exactly this and now you know he wouldn't take you seriously. "You should've known this was casual! You know I go out with other girls, why can't you just leave things as they are! Now what will they think of me? As some kind of cheater?"

Tears started prickling down your face, quiet sobbing filling the dreaded silence. Héctor looked at you with a more remorseful expression, but still didn't do anything to comfort you. His head was reeling, as was yours.

You just unbuckled your seatbelt and bolted out of his car, slamming the door shut. You didn't look back, you didn't want to and you didn't need to. And Héctor just watched you go inside, back home again without stopping you, even though you really wanted him to.

You wanted him to realize what he did and come running to your front door to stop you, to hug you, to comfort you.

But those are all things you cannot expect from an immature teenager who doesn't even know when to correctly use the words "I love you".

[artiststarme]

Steve was used to being a disappointment. He’s let down his parents the moment he was born and continued to do so with nearly every choice he made. He disappointed the entire student body at Hawkins High right when they thought he might actually be someone important. And he let down the kids every time they asked for something he couldn’t provide.

He never thought he’d disappoint Robin though. She wasn’t fond of his dating tales of woe or his frankly pathetic work ethic at Family Video but he’d never seen the familiar spark of disappointment in her eyes. Not until he told her that he’s broken things off with Eddie.

It wasn’t like he’d wanted to either, despite their obvious differences, they made a great pair. But they wanted different things. Eddie wanted a cat when Steve wanted a dog. Eddie wanted to saunter in the streets and parade their relationship whereas Steve wanted to remain comfortable and committed at home. Most of all though, Eddie wanted to leave but Steve needed to stay.

Robin couldn’t understand that. She’s always wanted to leave the dead end town she’d been trapped in and planned to as soon as she raised enough funds. She was made for bigger and brighter things.

Steve, though, he wasn’t. He was meant to stick around and watch the kids until they left for school and grew up to lead happy lives. Steve was meant to stay the burdensome housekeeper of his parent’s home until either they kicked him out or he inherited it upon their death. He didn’t have the education to get jobs better than Scoops Ahoy or Family Video nor the experience that demanded anything better. He’d peaked in high school and everyone knew it.

Except Robin until that very moment. He watched the disdain form in her eyes and the hopes of their combined future leave her plans. By breaking things off with Eddie, he’d let both of them down. Eddie would leave without him to be the big rockstar he’d always wanted to be. He wouldn’t notice Steve’s absence. Robin would leave to go to school and become a professor or a linguist or a therapist, anything she wanted to do. But Steve would still be in Hawkins wasting away like he’d always been meant to…

Or so he thought until the day Eddie and Robin ganged up to kidnap him from Hawkins and start their lives together in the city.

Eddie became the world’s coolest rockstar, even more famous than Metallica or any other idols of his youth.

Robin became a social worker that assisted LGBTQ+ youth and at risk kids that needed her help.

And Steve became a novelist that sold his enchanting stories of monsters and super powered teens from alternate realms, of young men that fell in love with each other over cereal and bat bites, and chosen family that didn’t give up on each other.

Steve was no longer a disappointment to the people who mattered most to him (he’d soon realize he never was). Best yet was that he no longer disappointed himself. He could lounge in Eddie’s arms at night and spastically harass Robin during the day and the only emotion he ever saw in their eyes was love.

And annoyance from time to time but does that really count?