#i freaking love the tune and beat

[adaptive-radiation]

Youth by Glass Animals is one of my new favourite songs 

[summerlycoris]

TANJIRO AT IT AGAIN!

[visforvengeance]

so they would know that it was me

Pairing: Rafe Cameron x fem!reader

Notes: okokok. So this was heavily inspired by The Diner from Billie Eilish's new album, hit me hard and soft. If you've heard this song, doesn't it make you think about our fave hothead? I tried to do the Instagram caption thing but uhhh yeah. I wrote this in 3 hours and I went batshit insane writing it. I wonder if you pinpoint when I went fucking berserk. but anyway. I hope you all enjoy!

Warnings: boy where do i start. ok. p in v, cursing as always, cunnilingus, choking, creampie, suicide (mentioned), canon typical violence, biting/bruising, just reader and rafe being freak nasty.

song

Rafe watched while you danced with your friends. It was almost like you were dancing only for him, beckoning him to come closer. He tuned out Top and Kelce, he didn’t care for their conversation. Not when you were near. You danced so freely and without care, and it was because of him. 

Everyone in the OBX knew you were his and his only. From the moment you two were kids, Rafe had always…protected you. Meaning he beat the ever-loving shit out of any boy who looked your way. And, you were none the wiser. You weren’t aware of his predatory behavior. So, when he’d have you sitting in his lap all the time or just casually made you blow him when you’ve been bad, it never occurred to you that this wasn’t normal best friend behavior. You rather liked when he called you baby or how he let you kiss him nasty when you were bored (which was quite often). But, there were still some guys who thought Rafe wouldn’t be on their ass if he even thought they wanted you. Yeah, you were only his and there’s no getting around that.

He watched as some drunk asshole made their way over to you, rudely pushing away your friends and cornering you. They stood around looking for Rafe as he made sure they knew the drill, which was to look for him immediately in these situations. If he wasn’t already aware, that is. Which was rare, as rare as other guys getting this close to you. Rafe had molded you into his perfect girl over the years, shaped you so that you only needed him. If you wanted something, you’d call on Rafe to get it for you. He’s your chauffeur, your atm, your noncommittal boyfriend, your everything. So, when you realized it wasn’t Rafe grabbing on your waist, you began to panic. You tried pushing the guy away while searching for Rafe but he wouldn’t budge. 

Then, suddenly this 6’2 shadow cast over both of you. Rafe had an unnervingly calm expression on his face. He politely tapped the man on his shoulder, before knocking him on his ass. He settled on top of him landing punch after punch on the man’s face. His face and shirt splattered with his blood. The dude had no chance and if you didn’t get Rafe off of him soon, he’d kill him. 

“Rafe,”

Then, he stopped. Abruptly. Instantly. When he looked over to you, it wasn’t fear that he saw. But, anger. “Baby,” he didn’t get to finish his sentence before you cut him off. 

“Home. Now.”

He followed behind you like a lost puppy, leaving the crowd to deal with the aftermath. You never saw Rafe handle these situations. You never saw him in this light. You knew he was not to be fucked with, though. Of course, you knew your boy had a temper. You weren’t that oblivious. But, you didn’t know that he could get like this. The drive to his house was silent. You sat in his passenger seat (which has your name stitched into it) with your arms crossed, head straight, and fire in your eyes. Rafe had always managed to dodge your anger, but not tonight. 

He was slowly starting to get more and more irritated, though. Every time he looked at your face, he’d only be met with your immaculate side profile. You even moved your leg away from his hand when he tried to rest it there. He knew it wasn’t because of the blood that had dried on his hands, you were never bothered by that but, it was because of his actions. His failure to maintain his composure. 

Before you two were able to reach his neighborhood, blue and red lights flashed behind you. Rafe cursed himself as he looked through the rearview mirror. How the fuck was he going to explain the blood that was on him? He hurriedly tried to clean the blood off of him as he changed his shirt. He managed to make himself look at least halfway decent before the cop arrived at his window, knocking lightly. 

Usually, because of who Rafe’s father was, he only received a slap on the wrist. But, not in this situation. That didn’t mean he wasn’t going to try and get away this time. You rolled your eyes as you listened to him lie through his teeth. He was very charming, you’d give him that. He charmed this female officer right out of being arrested and being sent to prison for aggravated assault. 

You scoffed at the audacity of her to ask for his number and him actually giving it to her. She couldn’t have been much older than the two of you, maybe 25. Baby-faced and fresh out of the academy. You laughed bitterly as he watched her walk back to her patrol car. “You’re fucking unbelievable, Rafe.” His head snapped in your direction, those were the first words you had said to him in the entire 30 minutes he’d been driving. 

Would it be insane of him to assume that you were jealous? Would it be absolutely fucking psychotic if he said that it turned him on to see you so angry and jealous? He smirked softly as he resumed driving. 

You slammed his truck door shut. You didn’t care if he’d get mad about it. You stomped to his front door, impatiently rushing him to open it. He shook his head as he laughed at your brattiness. He loved when you acted like a spoiled child for him. You knew he never had the intention of pursuing that girl, but something in you couldn’t stand the thought of it. 

He took his time opening the door, relishing in the moment before he had to hear your annoying yapping. When the moment was right, he’d know the perfect way to shut you up. He’d argue with you just for the hell of it, then he’d guilt trip you and tell you something like; ‘you’re right, baby, I’m sorry. Ok?’ And, then you’ll find him between your legs, delirious and begging that you forgive him. 

When you made it to his bedroom, you wasted no time ripping into him. First, about the fight he started, and then about giving that cop his number. But, he only stood there with that stupid fucking smirk. “So, you’re not going to say anything? Just stand there smirking?”

He closed the gap between the two of you. He was so close that you could feel his breath fanning your face, if you weren’t so pissed, you’d be on your knees with him looking at you the way he was. He brought his hand up enough to grip your chin, softly at first. “You can’t be mad at me about two different things, baby, pick your battles carefully.” By the end of his statement, his grip had gotten harsher. 

Who the fuck does he think he is? You wrapped your hand around his forearm, caressing it. But, then he felt the growing sting of your nails digging into his flesh. “Aggravated assault in the first degree, babe? That’s a $250,000 bond. Do you think your daddy can afford that? Or will I have to get my daddy’s money to bail you out?” You looked up at him with doe eyes. The silence between you both appeared again. The only sounds heard in his bedroom were his harsh breaths as he tried to remain calm. But, you were really fucking pushing it. 

You forced his hand away and plopped down on his bed. “I just think that you shouldn’t have done that, Rafey.” You pouted as you watched him get down on his knees before you. You wrapped your arms around his neck while he placed his hands on the back of your knees, massaging up to your thighs while pushing his way between them. 

“First off, I am your daddy, babe. And, second, you know how I get when guys try to push up on my girl. Especially when I know how scared you get when it’s not me,” he said while leaving kisses on your neck and chest. 

You scoffed, “I don’t get scared. Just slightly uncomfortable.” You let your hand grasp the back of his neck, fingers dancing softly along the lines of his buzzcut. “Same thing, darlin'. When you’re not happy, that’s when I have a problem. I can’t have my best girl out here feeling nothing but happiness, you get what I’m saying?” He kissed his way up to your chin before pulling away and looking deeply into your eyes. 

“Yeah, daddy, I know. Just don’t want you to go to jail, is all.” You pecked his lips softly. He nodded before kissing you meaningfully. “I’ll be careful next time, huh? That what you want me to say?” You nodded your head as best as you could with your jaw in his grip. You stared back into his eyes as your cheeks spilled between his fingers, and your lips puckered up slightly. It made his dick hard. 

He kissed you again, sloppy this time. The smacking of your lips and the moans that escaped both of you filled the room. He pushed you back on his bed while trailing kisses down your body. While doing so, he slid your panties down, tossing them somewhere behind him. He didn’t care. He didn’t bother riding you of the rest of your clothes just yet. Just hiking up your skirt and leaning back to admire the view. You sat up on your elbows, breathing heavily. You hiked one of your legs up, giving him a better view. “Come on, baby, don’t be a tease.” You were practically begging him to taste you. And, who was he to deny his baby?

He chuckled, “alright, princess. Calm it down.” He watched as you clenched from the nickname. It was taking everything in him not to eat you until you were begging him to stop. Even then, he didn’t know if he had that kind of control. He kisses your inner thigh, working his way up to your heat. Before delving in, he inhaled your scent. You could’ve sworn you saw the white of his eyes while they rolled to the back of his head, but you were quivering with excitement. Too out of it to try and comprehend that. 

He placed your leg over his shoulder and pulled you to the edge of the bed. He placed one long lick from your clit to your entrance, he couldn’t help himself as he let out a moan at the taste of you. Rafe didn’t think he was the kind of guy to be so affected by a woman, of any kind. But, he’d let you slut him out whenever you pleased. Whatever you wanted, he never said no. Not to his baby. 

He would gladly drop to his knees for you. There’d even be times when he’d be the one asking for your permission to taste you. And, just like him, you never said no. 

He began teasing you by repeatedly placing kisses along your clit, when he noticed your whines he fucking laughed. “Rafe, quit it.” You sounded like an intolerant child but that’s what he liked about you. “Ok, ok, baby. I’m sorry.” He wasn’t sorry at all. 

He wrapped his lips around it while slowly sliding a finger into you. Your hips jerked at the intrusion but soon relaxed. He added another finger, but at this point, you weren’t sure who was moaning more, you or him. You were silently thanking God that his family was out on vacation as neither of you were exactly quiet. If anyone had heard, they could easily guess what was going on. 

Rafe pumped his fingers in and out of you at a relentless pace, repeatedly hitting that spongy spot inside of you, while his tongue worked on your clit. He didn’t care that he could hardly breathe as you pressed his face into you, he’d die happily this way. 

Your moans grew louder while your back arched off of the bed. He replaced his fingers with his tongue, easing it inside you with little resistance. His nose bumped against your clit just right as he wrapped his arms around your thighs, holding you flush against him. You held the sheets tightly in your grip, your moans had turned into screams which then turned into nothingness. The sound had simply ceased as you began to clench around his tongue. 

Rafe humped the frame of his bed as he came in his pants. He was moaning into your pussy like a madman. He’d most certainly be ashamed about this later but he thinks this was one of the most amazing orgasms he’s had with you. But, he’s not done with you yet. He had to have you, all of you. He’d kill himself if he didn’t, swears it on his soul. 

When he untangled himself from you, the bottom half of his face was left glistening in the moonlight. He breathed heavily as he started to remove his and your clothing. Both of you were naked, eyes roaming over each other’s bodies. You had never gone this far. Maybe some dry-humping here and there but actual fucking? You were trying (and failing) to contain your excitement. As was Rafe, as he pumped his half-hard cock to full hardness. 

His face held his signature half-lidded eyes look, it was truly a sight to see. You laid back completely flat with your legs spread as you waited for Rafe. You were startled when you felt his hand on your knee. You felt the height of him laying flat against your core. He slotted himself between your lips, and let his spit drip down as he rubbed himself against you. “I want you to try to relax, okay, baby? I don’t wanna hurt you,” you nodded as you tried to follow his directions. Rafe was bigger than you had expected and he was your biggest yet. You took a deep breath as you signaled to him that you were ready. He lined himself up with your entrance as his tip poked at it. Slow, subtle prodding turned into slowly being filled. 

Per your previous orgasm, your fluids and his saliva made it easier. He let out a dragged-out ‘fuck’ as he eased himself into you. When you were filled to the brim with him, he pressed your bodies together, placing his lips onto yours. You could taste remnants of yourself, making you moan into the kiss. Rafe began thrusting into you, softly at first. At first. 

Then, he began pounding into you relentlessly. His hand was wrapped around your throat, squeezing the sides. Your eyes remained in the back of your head for a while, your back arched as you tried to hold onto his forearm. “Tell me you love me,” he said. But, you didn’t hear him. You couldn’t. You were too fucked out. Until you weren’t. Because he stopped. Because he had to hear you say it. And you were so close too. 

“Baby,” he slapped your cheek a few times, trying to get your attention. You will yourself to look at him, he’s admiring you. Your eyes were barely open and your lips were still shining from the lipgloss you were wearing earlier in the night. “Tell me that you love me.” He started thrusting his hips again, but this time it was achingly slow. “Rafe, please.” If you were in your right mind, you’d tell him without a heartbeat. But, he was just fucking you stupid mere seconds ago. “Come on, doll. Just say it and I’ll keep going, promise.” His soft neck kisses turned into harsh sucking with a little bit of biting. 

“I love you, Rafe. Fuck.” He sped up his pace while whispering ‘I love you’ into your skin over and over again. Your stomach tightened as your orgasm approached rapidly. “I fucking love you so much,” Rafe moaned into your lips. You felt the warmth of his cum seeping into you, which triggered your orgasm. He slumped over you as you clenched around him repeatedly. His body twitched as he groaned at the sensitivity. He pulled himself off of you, heading to his bathroom to get a wet towel to clean you up with. After he was done, he peppered you with kisses. Apologizing if he was too rough, making sure you had a glass of water before bed. You were asleep within a matter of minutes, leaving him alone with his thoughts. 

You woke up to an empty bed, the bright ass sum staring right at you, and the constant pinging of your phone. After stewing in bed for 10 minutes, you picked up your phone to see what all the fuss was about. 

“rafe.cameron tagged you in a photo!”

You hadn’t expected the photo to be of you sleeping soundly with a palette of reds, blues, and purples littered upon your skin. 

“rafe.cameron i left a calling card…”

[redbleedingrose]

Hey it’s the anon that had the nightmares. Headcanons about dealing with nightmares would be absolutely amazing if you’re up for it, thank you so much. You truly have no idea how much you’ve helped me 🥺

Of course dear!!! Here you go!!! (sorry this took so long sweetheart)

Edit: This ask has been sitting in my drafts for months and I am so sorry I didn't post it until now. Writers block and general insecurity does crazy things to me.

How the Bat Boys would help you with your nightmares!

Rhysand

Okay, the thing about Rhys is that I think he remains fully aware of your presence at all times, even in his sleep. He can feel you next to him, your body pressed against his, your heart beat thumping at his side, the weight of your head on his shoulder, he can feel it.

He also, is very in tune with your emotional state. Maybe it has to due with your mating bond, but tbh, I think his love for you has brought him a number of powers that allows for the deepest sort of connection to you. He can feel the emotions that you feel. It can go as far as Rhys feeling the roof of his mouth ache when you burn your mouth from drinking too hot tea, it can go as far as him feeling like someone has poked him hard when he is entirely alone in his office (when it is Cass who is poking at you, whining at you to share your summer imported mandarain oranges with him) and if Rhys really sits on it, he can also feel your mixed emotions of amusement and teasing towards Cass in that moment.

So I think that if you were having a nightmare, Rhysand would know. He would feel your heart racing from fear, it would make his own stutter. He would feel the panic pumping through your veins, and it would nearly send him into a frenzy.

Rhys would be awake, shushing your tired whines, and peppering the softest kisses all over your face to slowly ease your mind. The high lord of night would absolutely slip into your mind like butter, easing all the fired up neurons that have built up from your nightmare, slowly detangling the knots of emotion twisted inside your mind without waking you. He would pull you impossibly close, his heart beating against yours, his hands tangled in your hair, rubbing at your scalp, and naturally, you tuck your forehead into his neck, a quiet sigh leaving your once quivering lips.

Your nightmare would have dissolved without your knowledge, and you would be lulled into a dreamless sleep with your mate holding you close, his warm cheek resting on your head with one hand resting at the back of your neck and the other hand stroking up your spine, protecting you from anything and everything, even your own mind. You would wake up without any memories of the nightmare, and if I am being honest, Rhysand wouldn't want to remind you of it either, so he keeps this part of his duty towards you to himself.

Cassian

I am not gonna lie, this male is a heavy sleeper. He is dead to the world once his head hits the pillow. And he freaking snores too. Actually, he is famous for how loud he snores. Cassian can be heard snoring from across the house of wind. And initially, it was really hard for you to fall asleep to. In fact, you would force Cass to stay awake until you fell asleep because you just could not with his snoring.

And now?? Now this fucking male has you unable to fall asleep without his snoring. You need his heated, and I mean this male is a literal furnace, nearly naked body beneath you, with his burly arms wrapped tight around your waist, with your head pressed against his male tits, your legs tangled with his, in order to fall asleep. The snoring has become its own sort of white noise to you, and without it?? You will stay up the entire night and be extremely grumpy the next morning, often resulting in the back of Rhysand's head getting smacked for his taunting. (if Cass is out on a mission for longer than a day or two, Rhys actively avoids you for fear that you will end up choking him for sending his general away. Not that that has ever happened before.... nope... never................)

So. On good nights, you are usually snoozing it away with your hunk of a male, and you end up waking up to a lovely "surprise" poking at your tummy and a male who is too turned on by you to be ashamed in the slightest.

On bad nights though, on nights where you worry about Cassian, on nights where all of your fear of losing your loving mate culminates into nightmares, don't ever doubt that Cass wouldn't be there for you. Cassian is the general of the night court of a reason. He, like Rhys and Az, has been trained, for centuries, to be aware of his surroundings, even in his sleep. So while he might sleep heavy, his body are attuned to taking note of his environment, and that means, his body and his bond is focused on you throughout the night.

So he does wake up to you tensing, to your quickened breathing, to your restlessness, immediately too. His eyes would snap open, with his arm around your waist firm and tight, his other automatically reaching for the dagger he has hidden under his pillow, looking out for any signs of immediate danger to you. Not to himself. To you. His instinct does not edge towards self preservation. It hasn't since he met you. His instinct is to protect you at all costs.

Once he realizes that there isn't any physical threat that is causing your distress, his attention goes back to you, an ache burrowing itself in his chest as he notices your hand is clenching into a fist against him, as he notices your face is screwing up in fear, as he notices your body shaking. His mouth drys at the sight of you looking so scared, and he wouldn't be able to help himself.

Cass would murmur quiet reassurances, rubbing at the space between your shoulder blades and planting kisses onto your furrowed brows, "wake up sweetheart, s'jus a nightmare" and "shhh, I got you love, I'm here" and "s'okay baby, you're fine" and "c'mon, that's it, that's my girl, wake up f'me beauty"

When you wake with a start, he hushes your cries and pulls you in even closer. He would turn you both onto your sides, your front melding against his with his arm tucked under your head and around your hip with his leathery paper thin wings shield you both from the outside world. It's this warm cocoon that he forms around you where you spend the rest of the night and into the early morning.

At first, you would apologize for waking him up so early, knowing that he has training in the morning with Az and the others, but he dismisses that immediately, stressing to you that his only concern, at this time and forever, is you. He would stay awake with you, attentively listening to your ramblings about your nightmare, playing with the ends of your hair while you tell him all your secret fears. And he would kiss you and promise to protect you no matter what, and he would promise to keep you safe. Eventually, you would end up falling asleep, the closeness of your mate, his gentle breathing, and the warmth he brings relaxing you enough to a dreamless rest. And Cass, the ever diligent and loving male, would stay awake for the rest of the morning, skipping out on training to watch over the love of his life and make sure that you don't have any other nightmares.

In the morning, after you wake up feeling rested, Cass would finally let you go, a soft kiss to your lips and a wink in goodbye, only to come back within ten minutes, bringing you some warm, fresh chai that he made for you with some oatmeal that you both share in bed together. You spend the rest of the day cuddled up with your mate with slow and sweet love making, hushed oaths to each other to protect one another, and long naps in between.

Azriel

Azriel is a completely attuned to you. And so are his shadows. He has one that you have noticed that constantly follows you around, that learns every single thing about you to report back to its master. And then there are a couple that you haven't noticed. Ones that stay hidden in the darkness with full intent to take care of anything that puts you in harms way. And it stays that way always, regardless of the timing.

So at night, when your heart rate jumps, your blood pumping through your veins, your eyes furrowing shut too tightly, the slightest bit of sweat breaking out on your skin, they are the first to notice. And they are the quick to notify their master about it, hurridely slithering to his ears to wake Az so he can help you.

Azriel would initially try to soothe you in your sleep, his heart aching at the thought of you being afraid of something he can't control. A quick command to his shadows has the curtains to your balcony eased apart, the light from the moon and stars beaming in through the large glass doors. His scarred hands would stroke at your cheeks ever so gently, your mating bond humming at the barely there touch. Az wouldn't hesitate to place his lips in the space between your brows, moving from one soft edge of your face to the next with small pepperings of kisses.

He would thumb at your edge of your jaw, the calloused tip of his finger reminding you in your sleep that he is there. That he didn't leave sometime in the night. That he would never leave. That he would always be there to protect you. To care for you. To love you. He knows that you have your own traumas that you deal with, and he wants you to feel in control of your problems. Nightmares... they make you feel out of control. And he is there to give the power right back to you.

Most nights, Azriel's simple touch is enough to soothe you. I'm ngl, it does stroke his pride a little (a lot) that he is able to calm his mate with just the touch of his hands. With something that he used to keep hidden behind his back when he talked to others, something that he would cover up from the shame of his past, something that he feared would one day lead to a disgusted look on your face. And on those nights that his touch is enough, once you are settled, he pulls you closer to him, tucking his arm around your waist and wrapping one of his large wings around both of your figures, burying his face into your neck so he can fall back asleep to the feel of your pulse against his skin.

On the nights where the nightmares are just too much, where you are too deep in the dream that you can't feel anything but the fear, Azriel will wake you. He loathes the thought of disturbing your sleep, he hates that you will most likely not feel rested in the morning, but his heart shatters into the tinest pieces when he can feel the end of your mating bond crying out for him in your sleep. So he lays a firm hand on your forehead, his other hand rubbing at your shoulder, tenderly shaking you awake: "wake up my love, it's alright," and "you're fine my sweet girl, I'm here," and "I promise I'll always be here my dove, now be a good girl for me an wake up"

He would hush you as you startle awake, the jolt of your body causing him to wrap his arms tightly around you with mumbled, "that's it, there's my starshine" and "s'okay moon, it was just a bad dream" and after a good long while of him calming you down, he would whisper into your hair with a final kiss to the top of your head, "c'mon love, let's get you something to drink."

Azriel wouldn't let you lift a finger or a toe for that matter. Male would take your comforter and wrap you up like a burrito and then carry you all the way down to the kitchen where he settles you onto the counter, sending you the most beautiful, tired smile while he makes you some chamomile tea. He would be slow in each of his steps, the small smile on his pretty lips never leaving his face as he feels your gaze watching his every movement. He adores doing things like this for you. He craves doting on you. He thinks you are his treasure. A gift from the mother herself. And he plans to make sure you feel that way, all the time, forever, until you and him only exist as stars in the night sky.

A/N: 😫🫠🥲 Sorry this was a bit repetitive, but I hope you liked it ❤️❤️❤️

[thefiery-phoenix]

Hello! Is it ok if I request Yandere headcanons for Gitae kim? It’s ok if you’re not ok with it! Also just wanted to say that I really love all your Yandere content!

YANDERE GITAE KIM HEADCANONS

Freaking hell, he creeps me TF out but why does he look so good, it's just unfair

Please, for the sake of your own sanity, RUN. Just RUN. That's it. Or at least, run as much as you can since he'll end up finding you anyway since he's the leader of a freaking Cartel and the son of Gapryong Kim after all and is a complete sadistic beast in the form of a man. It's rare that he would ever develop feelings for someone and even if he does, he'll be too egoistic and arrogant and proud to admit it, he'll treat you more like a pet of some sort to be precise. But you're HIS little pet, that he loves in his own dark twisted way. It doesn't matter how you meet this deranged flesh eating cannibal here, the second he sets his eyes on you and his mouth curves upwards into a smirk, that's when you're a goner and you might as well just kiss goodbye to your life and freedom

It was a usual day for you and you were walking back to your house after a long tiring day. You put on some earphones and walked down the alleyway, humming to your favorite tunes feeling the cool breeze against your skin. You tried to ignore the men lurking in the alleyway with beer bottles and cigarettes strewn on the ground as they looked drunk and intoxicated while their lecherous gazes landed on you, leering at you and making all sorts of lewd perverse comments about your body that made your skin crawl. You put your head down and didn't want to get into some kind of confrontation which was the last thing you wanted, when one of them ended up grabbing you by your wrist and you screeched on top of your lungs and thrashed around for all you were worth, pleading with them to let you go as tears streamed down your cheeks and your neatly combed hair was now frizzled and became unkempt with a few of your hair strands falling into your face. One of the men ended up striking you hard across your face as you whimpered in pain and clutched at your now stinging cheek and trembled. Before one of them was about to tear off your shirt, in the blink of an eye, the man's hand was now on the ground leaking crimson as the man screamed in agony and fear and you felt your heart stop beating when your gaze landed on a raven haired guy with blood splattered across his well toned muscular chest and had a black leather jacket with a cruel smile etched on his face as he watched the man fall to the ground, whimpering at the sight of his severed hand

What the man did next would remain ingrained into your memory forever. The stranger with the axe swung his axe around and the head of the man who'd been tormenting you now lay on the ground, his crimson blood painting the gravel of the ground crimson as he cut off a chunk of his flesh and bit into it and tore through the meat like an apex predator. At this point you didn't know if you were safe even after being supposedly saved by this man in front of you as his eyes landed on your whimpering and trembling figure and he smirked sadistically. "Relax little girl, I'm not going to eat you...unless you want me to'' he spoke as his eyes surveyed across your features. You reminded him of a scared vulnerable little prey, a weak little lamb that he could take advantage of and the mere thought of it just excited him as his eyes glinted with malice. Before he could even say something else, your fear consumed you and you ended up blacking out and losing your consciousness. You were about to pummel straight to the ground before he grabbed you by your waist and held you in his arms as he let out a soft chuckle, amused that you fell for him already which did give him a bit of an ego boost

You were so weak, so helpless and so fragile like a little doll that he would love to have in his grasp. He wonders how you'd react if you'd see him in his full glory while he beats up people and murders them on a usual day, you wouldn't even last a second without trembling and crying like the helpless little lamb that you were, which was cute in his opinion. "Looks like I'm takin' you home, eh?'' he said as he hoisted you over his shoulders like a sack of flour and fished out your ID to find your address and made his way to your house. You were quite surprised when you woke up the next day in your own bed and you felt your head was slightly groggy as you massaged your temples and sighed to yourself, secretly glad you were away from that cannibal. You made your way into the living room only to find the same guy napping on your couch, with blood still splattered over his chest as your eyes widened and your face paled and you let out a shrill screech of bloody murder. "Damn it woman...can't even let me nap after I saved you...'' grumbled the guy as he looked at you and his eyes narrowed slightly. He enjoyed watching you squirm and fidget nervously, he could see you were torn between trying to be a good host and thanking him for saving you yesterday to contemplating passing out again. "You know...I expect some sort of thanks from you little girl'' he said as he got up from your couch and strode over to you, his massive frame towering over your body as you gulped nervously

"I-I could give you money if you want...please don't kill me'' you whimpered. "Silly naive girl, who said I wanted your money...you're interesting...I'm keeping you with me'' he said with a smirk. You tried to make a run for it when he grabbed your hands and pinned your arms above your head and cooed at you condescendingly, "Well now that's just rude isn't it? You should thank your savior properly. Now don't make this hard for both of us...be a good little girl for your savior, would you?" he asked as he patted your cheek a few times and caressed your cheek as he lifted you in his arms yet again and you let out a nervous squeak. "Don't you think you should get to know me or something before you literally kidnap me?" you asked him as he looked at you with an amused smile on his face. "Plenty of time to do all that get to know you crap. I'm Gitae by the way since you're so insistent on introductions and crap and this isn't a kidnapping...I'm taking what's mine'' he said as he carried you out of your house

What he wants, he gets. That's it. He wasn't going to waste a single second without taking you back with him, of course, he could have kidnapped you in the night but the element of surprise was what made things more interesting for him. Your cute little reactions to whatever he did riled him up so much. No way was he going to let you go now. The next thing you knew, you were sitting in a black car with him next to you and a few other people who had tattoos as you couldn't believe what you'd gotten yourself into. You silently let tears stream down your face and you looked out the window. Gitae wrapped a black jacket around you since you were still in your night clothes as he wrapped an arm around you and pulled you closer to him. Don't get fooled by his actions though, he's as unpredictable as the weather

If you thought Samuel or Eugene were messed up psychopaths, allow me to introduce you all to the poster boy of being a RED BANNER. He's obsessive, manipulative and won't hesitate to literally gaslight you. While he won't physically hurt you, the same cannot be said to those around you unfortunately. He wants your attention on him, he wants you to cling to his arm like the helpless little doll that you are and look at him with those wide eyes of yours, being all pliant and dependent on him. Whenever you squirm when he touches you he just finds it so amusing and cute, he can't help but put you on his lap when he has his meetings with the men from his cartel while you have a pink collar around you pretty little neck that has HIS name on it so people will know you belong to him. As if those love bites and hickeys on your neck, thighs and arms aren't a testament of you being his. He likes marking you wherever he can, you're his property, HIS doll. Of course, anyone who looks at you for a moment too long or if their gaze wanders to a certain part of your body that belongs to him, he's just going to gouge their eyes out like knife cutting through a slab of butter. And then he'd kiss you on your soft kissable lips possessively and aggressively like a dying man needing air, running his hands over your body till you're literally gasping for breath, in front of everyone else to show those losers that they won't ever be able to have you as their minds are now ingrained with the dire consequences of laying their eyes on Gitae Kim's girl

Whatever hopes you have of escaping from him, it's best to get it out of your mind before he ends up killing and eating one of your dear loved ones right in front of you. You're his little pet, he won't tolerate any form of disobedience from you and he'll tell you how it's your fault they're dead and it's all because you dared to leave him. Your punishment is getting handcuffed to the bed till you're allowed to walk. It's best to just accept his advances towards you because there is no escaping from this deranged psycho at all...

[like-a-diamondinthesky]

idiots in love | h.j.s

-> the first i love you m.list

pairing... bf!jisung x gn!reader tags... fluff, established relationship, literal idiots but it’s ok cos ur in love

it’s been a grand four months into the relationship, and neither you nor jisung have said those three words that mean oh so much to the both of you. why? because you’re idiots.

wc... 887 words a/n... here's the first installment for the first i love you series! i've had this sitting in my drafts for like a month and it's not a LOT but i still really enjoyed writing it hehe. i hope you enjoy and stay tuned for more!

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Jisung has always known he loved you. From the moment he asked you out, he knew that you were the one for him. He couldn't ever want anyone else. But he couldn't tell you that right off the bat—he was afraid he would scare you off. Now he wouldn't want that, would he? And so, he settled for showing you his love with cozy cuddle sessions, eager kisses, and endless conversations about anything and everything you wanted to talk about.

As for you, just after the first week of dating, you already knew you loved Jisung. However, you figured it was way too early to say it. You thought such an early confession would make Jisung freak out, and you’d never want to weird him out. So you waited and waited and waited.

Of course, there were many close calls, but the one that constantly replayed in your mind was the time Jisung dropped you off at your house after your one-month anniversary date. You had gone to a carnival, and he had won you not one, not two, but three stuffed toys! He helped you carry your new babies to your bedroom, and you pulled him on top of you to cuddle on your bed, which was overflowing with pillows and plushies. The room was filled with lovesick giggles and as he looked into your eyes, you could feel it coming. You knew he was about to say it. “Y/n,” he opened his mouth. “I love… your bed. I love your bed. It’s so comfy.” Oh, never mind!

Time flew by, and every single day, the nagging voices in the back of both your minds grew louder. Just tell each other, just profess your love, damn it! But, no matter how much you two were dying to say it, there was fear deep inside your hearts that your feelings weren’t reciprocated by the other.

Now here you are, a grand four months into the relationship, and neither of you has said those three words, those eight letters, that mean oh so much to the both of you. Why? Because you're idiots.

You were lying on top of Jisung on your couch, head resting on his chest as you used your phone. He was watching a video on his laptop, which rested on your back. Every now and then he would bring his fingers up to your head and play with your hair. You softly drummed against your fingers against the side of his torso, humming along with the beat of the background music emitting from the speakers of his laptop.

Every brush of your fingertips against his body sent butterflies to his stomach. ‘Do they not know what they’re doing to me?’ Jisung thought as his pulse quickened. He was sure you could hear his heartbeat banging against his chest. He wasn’t even paying attention to the video on his screen anymore, not when you were this close to him. He needed to tell you he loved you. He needed to tell you right now.

Immediately, your boyfriend slammed his laptop close and tossed it to the foot of the couch. You lifted your head and looked at him in confusion. "Ji? Is something wrong, baby?"

“Yes, actually. Something is very, very wrong and I need to make it right.” Jisung announced dramatically, making you chuckle at his antics. You released yourself from his embrace and sat up on his lap. “Okay, let’s talk then. What’s wrong?”

Jisung stared deep into your eyes, contemplated whether or not he should say anything, then looked away shyly. You grabbed his hand and pressed a soft kiss to his knuckles.

“Hey, it’s okay. You can tell me anything.”

"Look Y/n, we've been together for over four months and I swear I've never been happier. You're the reason I wake up with a stupidly wide smile glued on my face every day and I literally cannot live without you, babe. There’s a feeling that’s just been eating me up from the inside and I’m tired of hiding it from you. I guess what I'm trying to say is," Jisung took a deep breath, "I love you, Y/n. So much, you don’t even know. Each day I held myself back from telling you was a day I regret not being honest with you. I understand if you’re not ready to say it back but-"

And suddenly, your lips crashed harshly onto his. Jisung's eyes widened for a moment, but he quickly wrapped his arms around you and melted into the kiss. You raked your fingers into his hair, untangling the soft strands.

"I love you so much, Han Jisung. Never think for a second that I wouldn't say it back. I love you and I always will." You had only barely pulled away from him, so he could feel your smile against his lips. “God, you don’t know how long I’ve been wanting to say that. Oh, I love you, Ji. I love you, I love you, I love you!”

“I love you too, baby.” Giggling, Jisung hugged you tightly, resting his head on your shoulder. "Trust me, I know how you feel. That was long overdue. Wow, we’re huge idiots, aren’t we?"

"I think that,” you whispered as you peppered kisses onto the side of his head, “that’s an understatement."

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taglist... @jinnixxn

comments, reblogs, and feedback are appreciated! © like-a-diamondinthesky 2023

[hijackalx]

GALE NSFW ALPHABET

A = Aftercare (what they're like after sex)

gale will insist on doing the clean-up himself. like cleaning up both u and him. it's just his gentlemanly nature 😇 i think he also will ramble about stuff completely unrelated while doing it too 😹😹 like while he's wiping off ur face or something with a warm rag he'll be saying shit like "hm. i wonder where tara is, haven't seen her in a while. probably off eating pigeons, i suppose" STOPP IM IN LOVE WITH HIM

B = Body part (their favorite body part of theirs and also their partner's)

i think he's pretty proud of his shoulders. they have good width to them and idk they just look nice and stronk 💪🏻 as for his partner, he is a thigh man. he lovvessss thighs. will kiss and squeeze them while u sit on his face. also, if ur AFAB, he will not ever hesitate to grab a titty 🤭

C = Cum (anything to do with cum,

basically)

not getting any specific places where he likes to cum. i think he will cum anywhere as long as it's on/in u. waitttt he probably does like to cum in ur mouth doe. and maybe to smear it on ur lips a little like some lip gloss 😊 LMAO

D = Dirty secret (pretty self explanatory, a dirty secret of theirs)

lowkey think he's a little bit of a voyeur ooohhh nasty boy. idk like i think hes into watching/hearing other ppl fuck but he is deeply ashamed of this so dont ever bring it up 😹😹

E = Experience (how experienced are they? do they know what they're doing?)

dawg. nobody can convince me his first wasnt mystra. sooo.... not SUPER experienced in terms of like... numbers...... but him and mystra was doing some freak shit....... i just know it.......

F = Favorite position (this goes without saying)

ugh this is a good question. i think he likes cowgirl. u have to hold his hands tho and make eye contact with him or just forget it gurl 🙄✋ he likes to admire ur body and watch u use him to get off

G = Goofy (are they more serious in the moment? are they humorous? etc.)

okkk gale can be a little silly sometimes but are we surprised ?? HES ALWAYS SILLY !! i think he switches between serious and goofy. he takes mess-ups and embarrassing moments pretty well and will never make u feel bad over them 🥺 like he'll use humor to make u feel comfortable and safe I NEED HIMMMMM FUCK

H = Hair (how well groomed are they? does the carpet match the drapes? etc.)

yeah hes pretty hairy. i dont think his hair is EXTREMELY thick tho. like he has fine, kind of curly kind of straight body hair? not a lot on his chest but he does have a happy trail, pubes, ARMPIT HAIR 🤤, and leg and forearm hair. i think it looks rlly good on his forearms too eugh.......

I = Intimacy (how are they during the moment? the romantic aspect)

he can be really romantic if he wants to (which is most of the time) but like i said he can also be unserious. but that doesnt make it less romantic i guess ???? anyway yeah he'll even plan everything out. like the type of dude to light candles and lay rose petals and shit 😹😹 probably likes to have some wine beforehand to get yall in the mood better too

J = Jack off (masturbation headcanon)

he will but i dont think he does often. if ur an option he prefers that. if not theres like a 50/50 chance he'll beat off. lowkey feel like he might debate on whether or not its too much work and if he should just go to sleep instead LMAO WAIT PAUSSEEEEEE MAGE HAND ????? yeah...... yeah gurl. if hes feeling lazy thats how its gonna go. prolly will close his eyes and pretend its ur hand

L = Location (favorite places to do the do)

normally somewhere secluded like in a room together on a bed but if hes feeling spicy then somewhere with the possibility of getting caught 😏 maybe on a balcony somewhere or IN THE FUCKING SKY

M = Motivation (what turns them on, gets them going)

i think hes pretty sensitive and in tune to teasing glances or accidentally-on-purpose touches. wordddsss too bro. loves dirty talk so much. especially if ur the one to talk dirty to him. ugh ok gemini vibes yall? yes or yes? anyway whisper things in his ear or say suggestive things in front of other ppl, like innuendo shit 😹

N = No (something they wouldn't do, turn offs)

uhhh... umm.... uh

jk he wont do any noncon roleplay or anything like that. not sure if theres anything else tho 😭

O = Oral (preference in giving or receiving, skill, etc.)

wants to give and receive but has a preference for giving head like its probably his fav sex act 😭😭 yall know hes good af at it too and probably says nasty shit while hes doing it

P = Pace (are they fast and rough? slow and sensual? etc.)

he'll adjust depending on what u want. but if ur riding him he likes when ur more sensual that way he can admire ur body a little better

Q = Quickie (their opinions on quickies, how often, etc.)

doesnt seem like a quickie guy to me. like i said he likes to plan it out most days.

R = Risk (are they game to experiment? do they take risks? etc.)

😐

yes. hes a freak yall

S = Stamina (how many rounds can they go for? how long do they last?)

if he does most of the work then he wont want to go another round but if its u then he probably will. i think it just depends on his mood too. if ur not satisfied yet tho he will use mage hand or projection gale to help 😹���

U = Unfair (how much they like to tease)

i think he likes to tease a generous amount. he can dish it out but cant take it tho he gets flustered pretty fast lol

V = Volume (how loud they are, what sounds they make, etc.)

not extremely loud but will moan/whimper whatever. hes not afraid to make noise like not ashamed at all but i dont see him being obnoxious lol. mostly just talks tho LMAO

Y = Yearning (how high is their sex drive?)

hes pretty much always thinking nasty but not always horny. he just like me fr. prolly not trying to smash often tho cuz he likes to plan ahead and make everything perfect. will fuck maybe 3 days a week unless ur really raring to go 😭

Z = Zzz (how quickly they fall asleep afterwards)

will prolly catch up on a book afterwards for a while before going to sleep. this is so comforting to me tho like what? imagine being all fucked-out and snuggy while ur bae reads their lil book and looks after u while u sleep.... need

[hughesyodaddy43]

Six Flags ⎸ L.H

Pairings: Luke Hughes x fem!reader , Platonic hockey players x reader  Genre : Fluff Synopsis : You go on a group trip to six flags word count: 2.3k+ (first fanfic so let me know what ya'll think)

The summer air smelt of light rain and flowers, the sun was bright and hot. The windows in the car were rolled all the way down and my hair was flying all over the place.

You were all on a road trip to six flags, it was the off-season and frankly really freaking hot. 

Quinn was driving with Trevor in the passenger seat, Luke was in the middle seat behind them with Jack on the right and you on the left of him, behind the both of you sat Cole Caufield and Alex Turcott.

Trevor was banned from playing music after he put on the worst edm songs known to man, so instead Cole took over the bluetooth and started  playing unwritten by natasha bedingfield. Soon enough the whole car was filled with mixed voices that were a hundred percent out of tune but nobody cared.

You and Luke had been dating for around 10 months, the two of you went to college together before he left for jersey. You were the only one in the friend group still at UMICH and you would be lying if you said college was the same without luke. You invited Ethan,Luca, Adam and their girlfriends to come but there wasn't enough room in the car for you to join the girls, so now you were stuck in the  car behind them with hockey guys and no other girls . As much as you loved them all, it got tiring trying to beat the ‘puck bunny’ allegations. 

“Are you excited?” Luke's voice echoed in my ear “yes i am. Will you go on all the big rides with me?” I asked him “or are you too scared?” I add as I examine his reactions, he sucks his teeth with a grimace “i'll be fine” he straightens his back as he finishes while i giggle at his comment  “so is that a yes?” “yes”.

We pulled up to the park, it was almost impossible to find a place to park the cars, it was absolutely filled with people. We all got out of the car and stretched before making our way over to the others. It was such a relief to talk to the girls, who knew being stuck in a car with hockey players for hours would be so hard.

We walk through the entrance of the park, Cole is almost bouncing with excitement as he cheerfully walks ahead with trevor. Jack was walking just behind the two with his hoodie and sunglasses on, stating that he's ‘too popular’ to not disguise himself as if he's not attracting more attention by what he's decided to wear. Quinn is next to Jack, slightly shaking his head at his brother's attire, Luke and I are trailing behind the two while everyone else transitions into a conversation behind us.

Once we are past the gates and have our wristbands on, we gather as a group to see where we should go first.

“Okay so, where do we wanna go first?” Quinn asks 

“We should go get food” luke suggests 

“Food before rides? Thats a bad idea” i say to the hockey player 

“alright , why don’t we go grab a guide and-”

“Wait. Where's Cole and Z?” Jack interrupts his older brother, securing an annoyed eye roll from the 24 year old.

We all looked around and counted heads to discover that Cole and Trevor had disappeared.

“They're probably at the rides, Cole was so giddy about coming here earlier”

 I say

“Okay so then why don't we just split up and meet back here when we're done? We can text each other if anything goes wrong” Alex says this and it doesn't go unlistened, everyone agrees with what he says and we all go our separate ways.

Luke begs me to go get donuts with him but I tell him we can get donuts after we go on the slingshot.

Walking around the park was fun, we found cole and trevor lining up, jack was with them and told cole to measure himself so he's sure he can fit on the  ride 

“Hey caulfield, go measure yourself over there, don't want cha’ to fall out”

“Very funny hughes, i'm not that short”

‘Well” trevor chimes in with a smirk 

“Shut up” Cole does the walk of shame over to the marked line, stomping his feet like a child. 

“NUH UH, HEELS DOWN, BUDDY” Jack yells out to cole.

 Cole huffs as he slowly lowers his heels, Trevor giggling over Jack's shoulder. A worker comes over to Cole, making sure he meets the marked line. The 5 '8 hockey player lets out a relieved sigh as he's told he's tall enough, just before stomping back over to the boys, ready to tell them off.

“Hahahahhaha bitches, I made it. ”

“Barely”

“ I can see the little lift your shoes give you” Trevor states while gesturing to his slightly lifted shoes 

“The height limit is 5’4, I am NOT 5’4”

“Whatever makes you sleep at night” Jack adds, allowing Trevor to slightly snicker at his comment.

Luke and I snicker at the two ganging on about Cole’s height before continuing our walk to the slingshot.

“Are you excited?” i Ask, slightly raising my voice so he can hear me over the loud music and distant chatter

“Yep, stoked.” Luke say

We reach the slingshot and Luke's grip on my hand tightens a bit as he watches the people on the ride fly into the air.

“Okay, i'll buy the tickets really quickly, you can go wait in line before we lose our spot.” I say to Luke while gesturing towards him. The line isn't too long just yet, it's just after lunch so most people are eating or resting before going on anything yet.

Luke walks towards the line, looking like a scared puppy or as Ethan would say, a ‘hairless cat’.

I quickly buy the tickets and walk over to my undoubtedly scared boyfriend. I've never seen him like this other than when he's on the ice. I mean the man is 6’2 i never thought heights would be one of his fears. 

He swallows hard, his Adam's apple bobbing up and down as he watches the ride reload.

“Are you okay, Lukey?” 

“Huh? Oh yeah” the boy says while playing with his hands 

“Are you sure? If I didn't know any better, I'd think you were scared?” i say as i raise an eyebrow at the 20 year old 

“I don't think you know better cause i'm not scared” he hisses 

“don't get your panties in a bunch, Luke. If you're not scared, you aren't making it look like that”

“What do you mean?”

“No offense but you look fucking terrified” i tell him 

“Mmhmm” is all Luke is able to make out before we are at the front of the line and ready to get in the seats.

We sit down and get ready, the workers have to do some things before we are ready to go 

“Okay, Y/N, what if I told you I was a little scared?”

“Its okay, i'm a bit scared too” 

“Okay , what if I said I was a lot scared? What would you say?’”

“i’d say i knew it, sorry honey but you didn't make it very believable that you weren't back there”

“Oh, how did I look?”

“you looked like you were shitting your pants”

Luke shakes his a head a bit, opening his mouth to say something before being cut off by the ride operator coming over with a microphone 

“Okay, who's ready to rumble?”

‘Would you like a countdown or no?”

Before I can answer, im interrupted 

“YES, please” luke yells out, his voice a bit squeakier than usual

“alrightt”

I hold onto Luke's hand that's deathly gripping the bar, his knuckles going slightly white.

The seat moves back and luke lets out a small whimper, I can't help but giggle a bit at my 6’2 boyfriend being so scared. 

“3”  

I sigh as i get ready , sitting back and stroking luke's hand lighty

“2”

BOOM 

We fly up into the air, Luke's screams being the only sound that's audible. Luke screams out so loud, I swear everyone can hear him. You want to scream too but you're too busy laughing as luke pants in his seat, palms sweaty as the seat comes to a slow stop.

“W-why are you laughing??’” luke questions

“Because I've never seen you this scared” I say between breaths of laughter.

“That's mean”

“Why?”

“You shouldn't laugh at your boyfriends expense” 

“Sorry Lukey, but you're just too funny”

“Nuh uh, stop laughing”

“What? Are you gonna hiss at me?” 

“Bro, that was one time”

“Twice”

Luke scoffs while shaking his head before continuing.

“My throat hurts”

“Mhm i bet” 

We are lowered back to the ground and are offered the video of our ride. Luke walks off not wanting to see it but I put my email in so I can see it later.

Luke gathers our bags and waits for me at the bottom of the stairs. I follow down the stairs and take my handbag from Luke's hand.

“Can we get food now? I need compensation” 

“Do you even know what that word means?”

It takes a minute before luke response 

“Yes? Maybe idk”

I snicker lightly at my slightly dumb but cute boyfriend.

“Because you went on the ride with me, we can get food” I laced my fingers with his and we made our way to the donut shop.

x

x

We all made our way back to the Hughes Lake house after Six flags, everyone was staying at the lakehouse for the night before they made their way back home, with the exception of a few stragglers. Luke played pool with his brothers while I stayed downstairs with Cole, going through my message before I found the email from six flags that held the video of Luke and I’s time on the ride. Cole looks over my shoulder while munching on doritos 

“Damn girl, you must have been terrified judging by that scream” 

I giggle before showing him my phone

“That's not me, it's Luke” I begin laughing as I watch Cole's eyes widen and his lips curl up into a cheeky smile.

“we gotta show the boys” he whispers 

“I know we do, why do you think I told them I had a video for them to watch after their game?”

“You're an evil woman, you know that?”

“mhm, thank you” I say, straightening my posture before lifting up from my seat, getting ready to screenshare on the tv. 

The guys finish their game and pool into the living room, grouping up on the couch with a few sitting on the floor.

Jack, Quinn, Alex sit on the right while Luke and Ethan cuddle up together in the middle with Adam and Luca squishing up on the left with their girlfriends finding spots in between. Cole and Trevor both move onto the blowup mattress on the floor, in front of the couch.

“What do you have planned, y/n?” Ethan asks 

“Yeah, is this gonna take long?” Quinn says 

“Why, is it past your bedtime, Quinny?” Jack adds 

“Okay okay, relax. I have a fun video from our day today that i'd like to share”

Luke's body tenses up, his movement not going unnoticed by Ethan who is tightly wrapped around luke in a warm embrace 

“What did you do, Rusty?” Ethan whispers in Luke's ear, only gaining a glare from the boy.

“Hey, y/n, since your boyfriend has been taken by ethan over there, why don't you cuddle up to me?” Cole says with a big smile on his face before frowning after luke kicks his back 

“Back off, dude” Luke growls 

“As much as I love your confidence, Cole. I'm not into short guys, and it's way too hot for that” i say before gaining a whoop from the girl and an ooo from the boys 

"its only hot cause Alex is here" Trevor adds while turning his head to face Alex, blowing him an imaginary kiss. Alex doesn't say anything, instead he shows off his dimpled smile with a toothy grin while shaking his head at the young boy.

“Just thought I'd ask.” Cole shrugs as he lays his head on a cushion.

I giggle before sitting down in between Cole and Trevor, Cole grins at me while he waits for me to start the video.

I press play on the video, my screen showing up on the tv and the video of Luke screaming echoes through the room.

Everyone begins giggling and cackling, all except for Luke who is sitting there, still entangled with Ethan and sporting a bright red blush on his cheeks. 

The video ends and the group wipe the tears of laughter from their eyes and all stare at luke.

Luke looks at me with a look of annoyance before giggling and curling his lips into that wonky smile I love so much.

“Im sorry, babe but i had to show everyone” i say to my embarrassed but happy boyfriend 

“Its fine, i'll just have to get you back later” he replies while pulling Ethan a little closer 

“Yeah, y/n im taking yo bae” Ethan jokes. 

“Yeah, whatever” i say before turning around to face the screen 

“we should watch a scary movie” Adam request, earning a nod from his older brother

“Nope, it's bedtime” Quinn says as he moves from the couch, he gives me a small side hug while moving to say goodnight to everyone else before retreating up the stairs to his room, Trevor quickly stealing his spot on the couch. 

After the movie, I look around the room to see Luke, my boyfriend cuddling Ethan while sleeping. They are spread all along the couch as everyone migrates to their designated rooms, Cole and Trevor staying downstairs on the mattress. Instead of waking up the tired hockey players, I simply kiss Luke on the head, say goodnight to everyone and go to bed, enjoying the space in the bed and access to pillows.

[alice-angel12x]

Death is always around the corner

Riddle + Death!Reader

This Death is greatly inspired by the wolf death from Puss In Boots, and Jenny-Jinya kind death. (some headcanons for some of the characters) Riddle, Leona, Azul, Jamil, Vil, Idia, Malleus

Let's set the Scene: Masterlist

Something was off about this Mirror ceremony, Crowley could feel it. But decided to shack it off and continue with the ceremony.

"Ah, my lovely Lord, The noble and beautiful flower of evil, You are the most beautiful, number one in this world. Follow thy heart and take the hand of the one reflected in the mirror. Flames that turn even stars into ashes, Ice that imprisons even time, Great tree that swallows even the sky, Don’t be afraid of the power of darkness, Come now, show your power. Mine, theirs, and yours, There’s only a little time left for us. Do not let go of that hand, at all costs," Crowley chanted as a green flame appeared in the mirror.

As the night continued, all the new students were neatly sorted into dorms. There was just one coffin left, and just as he was about to insert the key to unlock the coffin. The coffin began to thrash and shack, as puffs of blue fire spewed out from the creaks in the coffin. The headmaster quickly stepped away from the coffin when the lid suddenly blasts off its hinges in a blaze of fire.

From the coffin, a grey cat creature with blue fire ears skitted across the ground. The crowd of students stared in confusion till something caught their attention. An eerie whistle could be heard from the smoking coffin. Out from the smoke steeped a mysterious figure. A figure dressed in the school's ceremonial robes stepped out into the chamber. They stood unnaturally still as the hood of their robe completely obscured their face as they continued to eerily whistle.

"U-Um, excuse me young...Um... You could have waited a few seconds longer till I opened the gate. Anyways please present yourself to the dark mirror," Crowley stuttered as he hurried the stranger.

The mirror awakened to look at the figure, and only stared in... fear?

"Ugh, I can smell... a disgusting amount of blot," The figure spat.

💗Riddle Roseheart💗

Riddle didn't really know what to think of this strange student. He never got a good look at them at the ceremony. The only thing they could tell was that they were a wolf beastman of sorts.

And his only other source of info was word of mouth around the school. And hearing that they were a part of the chandelier incident. Riddle already doesn't like them.

luckily he had the fortune to see this mysterious. Upon seeing this student, they looked strange, but he wasn't sure why. Maybe it was cause of how they just stared unblinkingly at him. With an ominous smile on their face.

When Riddle tried to scold the first-year group for all the trouble they have caused. Yet the student who went by Y/n, simply smiled, unfazed by his words.

This greatly annoyed him and he pulled out his magic pen, but in a blink of an eye, Y/n swiped it out of his grasp. He stood in shock as Y/n chuckled and took a sip of their drink.

Freaked out, Riddle decided to just leave. Yet for a week he felt watched, and whistling followed him no matter where he went. And Y/n's silhouette is always just on the edge of his sight.

One late night, Riddle had to drop off small books at the library, when the whistle filled his ears.

"Are you stalking me?" Riddle glared, as he turned to see Y/n resting against a pillar.

"Just observing. It's been a long while since I got a good look at the Roseheart family. And it's a shame to see how far they have fallen," They growled.

"How Dare You! Off with-'' before riddle could even finish his spell. Y/n swiped the pen from the boy's hand. And then quickly pinned him to the wall.

Riddles's heart started to beat insanely fast as he stared into Y/n's blood-red irises.

"Listen very closely, your life is crashing toward a terrible end if you don't change your tune," Y/n growled softly into Riddle's ear.

Riddle shut his eyes tight waiting for the next attack, but nothing came. As he slowly opened his eyes, he gasped when he found himself in his room.

When morning came, riddle ran to the library to apologize for losing the books. To only learn that Y/n had returned them for him.

Assuming it must have just been a dream, he didn't take Y/n's warning seriously. As blot continued to accumulate. Unaware of Y/n watching from a window across the courtyard, as they polish their sythe, with sad eyes.

They watched as Ace fail to properly apologize to Riddle's liking, and quickly banished the 1st years from the dorm. Which lead to this conflict.

As Y/n stood before Riddle and his overblot as he rampaged across the garden. Reading their weapons, preparing to claim Riddle's life before the blot does.

Suddenly, Aduece, Grim, Cater, and Trey stepped forward wanting to save Riddle. Y/n smiled softly as they dashed toward the blot creature to Find Riddle's soul.

_____________________________________________________

As Riddle slowly came to his dream of memories, he found himself sitting at a party table floating in the darkness. In front of him was a book with his name as the title, and the silhouette of his profile was on the cover.

"Not a good start to life huh," said a voice, causing Riddle to gasp and look up at the source. at the other end of the table was Y/n, dressed in black silk robes. "Strict mother molding you, all the while claiming it is for your own good."

"S-she didn't want me to be a failure like father. He was lazy and couldn't handle the work of a doctor," Riddle said.

"Did your mother tell you that?" Y/n asked as Riddle nodded. '' Then you might want to read this.''

Y/n slid a tray over to Riddle, on it was a book that read Mira Rosehearts, his Mothers name. Riddle looked back to Y/n for an explanation. "Everything your mother had said, done, thought, felt, and heard is documented in this. I recommend reading pages 9131 to 9134."

Riddle quickly read through said pages but slammed it down in anger and disbelief. It read how Riddle's father began to outshine Mira, and when people started to praise him more than her. She divorced and made sure she had full custody of Her son. She vowed to mold him and make him the perfect Roseheart, to outshine everyone else, no matter the cost.

"That is not my mother! You're trying to trick me! Who do you think you are?!" Riddle growled as he stood up from his chair.

"I Have a Beginning, But No End, and I End All Things That Begin. Who Am I?” Y/n asked simply.

"What is this rubbish, the answer is... The answer is," Riddle said slowly as his eyes widened in horror.

"I am Death, straight up," Y/n said as their eyes glowed, causing the boy to fall back into his seat.

"S-so I'm dead?" Riddle asked slowly.

"No, you escape me this time. You are very lucky that some people came to your rescue. Or else you would have died here today," Y/n said as they flipped riddle's book all the way to the back. On the inside of the back cover was a "wanted" Poster.

In bold words on top was Wanted, with Riddle's face printed in the middle. And Dead or Alive is printed at the bottom.

" I would have had you sign, right here,” Y/n said as they tapped over the word Dead. Causing Riddle to gulp nervesly.

"But You attend our school, have I truly escaped you?"Riddle asked nervously.

"Just because I am Death, doesn't mean I enjoy everything it entails. I do not enjoy having to separate families and loved ones. It's just a job that needs to be done," Y/n explained. " And I came here to collect an arrogant little boy, who thinks himself as law and order incarnate. But I can't seem to find him anymore.

Riddle watched as Y/n collected the books and turned to leave, as a door of light appeared.

"You were given a second chance Riddle. Live your life your way for yourself, not how your mother wants you to," Death Y/n said as they stepped through the door.

Riddle finally came too, much to everyone's relief. When everything was set and done. Riddle apologized to everyone and promised to improve on his behavior.

Yet as the days went by, Riddle noticed that Y/n for the most part vanished. He would see them around every once and a while, even Ace, Deuce, and Grim don't seem to hang out with them much.

Grim already spilled the beans on Y/n's identity, and of course, most kept their distance. For who would want death hanging around them.

One day at the reunbirthday party. As All of Riddle's new and old friends gather around his table. Enjoying tea and baked goods, the young dorm leader noticed a lone figure at a table.

Y/n sat alone at one table at the very back of the party, even the tables next to them were empty. As everyone wasn't really comfortable being near them.

Riddle watched sadly as Y/n sat with no snacks, tea, or even company to enjoy. So with a wave of his pen, Riddle levitated a fresh teapot with cups and a large tray of baked goods. As he proceeded to pull out a chair himself at Y/n's table.

Much to everyone's surprise and slight fear. Even Y/n was surprised by Riddle, but they smiled softly as the two began to chat and enjoy the unbirthday party.

But sadly their job here at NRC isn't over yet.

[sitp-recs]

My AO3 Wrapped: 16 Drarry Recs

This year I’ve embraced a change of pace and read way less than I intended to. This made me feel a bit disconnected from fandom but also allowed me to put this list together in record time so let’s not complain too much 😂 this is shorter and lacking my usual commentary but I didn’t want to break the tradition of sharing my fave reads of the year! Be it for their creativity or peak romance, these 16 amazing fics made my heart beat faster and got me even more in love with Drarry. I’ve read most of them in the first half of the year and it was interesting to see so many fics over 40k, as my usual sweet spot is 10k - 20k. I love the mix of tropes featured here and am very excited to rec authors I’m reading for the first time. ps: I haven’t included any Erised fics since the fest is still ongoing.

Thank you dear creators for sharing so many brilliant works with us this year! 2023 wasn’t my best year fandom-wise, but life has been so generous in other areas that I can’t help but feel humbled today. I wish everyone a lovely start to the new year! As always, please mind the tags and take some time to shower these authors with the appreciation they deserve. Oh, and stay tuned for a rare pair list sometime soon ;)

🍆 Snug by @moonflower-rose (E, 6k)

8th year | touch-starved Harry | soft cock kink

Potter can't keep his hands off himself. Draco can't look away.

🧩 Muscle Memory by @corvuscrowned (E, 8k)

curse breaking | partners to lovers | memory magic

There's something just beneath the surface, just at the periphery of Harry's mind. They've been here before — they've done this before. If only he could remember it.

👹 draco malfoy's substitute murder service by @oknowkiss (E, 10k)

odd jobs | D/s undertones | open ending

When Harry joins the Curse Breakers shortly after his twenty-fifth birthday, he’s surprised to find himself assigned to the Department of Creatures, Cryptids, and Associated Calamities.

🏰 the earth from a distance by spqr (E, 15k)

time travel | Wizarding history | only one bed

“Well,” Harry said gamely, once they’d managed to find the Leaky Cauldron – still under construction but mercifully open for business – and he’d turned up a few knuts from his pockets, enough to get them a room for the night, “it could be worse.”

🎚️ O Come, All Ye Faithful by toomuchplor (E, 20k)

vicar Draco | established relationship | Church of England

Aunt Petunia died, that was what began everything. Or rather, Aunt Petunia was dying. In the act of dying. In which Draco finds faith in the church, and Harry finds faith in Draco.

🎄 Waking Up Slow by @sweet-s0rr0w and @ihopeyoubothstaysafefromharm (E, 22k)

shop owner Draco | summer romance | light angst

'Twas the night before Christmas, although it’s July / Draco’s a shopkeeper, no-one knows why / There’s hiking and witch caves, freak snowfalls and more / Bad Christmas jumpers, nosy neighbours galore / Narcissa’s here too, but… something’s amiss / And what’s in those chocolates that’s making them kiss?

🚬 Sun Thief by @floydig and BlackRose532 (E, 28k)

slice of life | fast sexual burn | dark humour

It’s 2005, and Draco Malfoy says, “Fuck the Ministry,” Harry works as a handyman in muggle London, and Draco should really stop pissing off the Squib gangs.

🍷 Winner Takes It All by @skeptiquewrites (E, 41k)

break up make up | down & out Draco | hurt/comfort

As with all his friends’ wagers, it starts small. Fifty Galleons for one kiss from Harry Potter is easily done.

🏖️ LA, Who Am I To Love You? by @epitomereally (E, 42k)

Draco in the Muggle World | pining Harry | recreational drug use

Harry’s summer in LA is not going as expected. Pansy Parkinson keeps inviting him to parties in the Hollywood Hills and harassing him to finally go to the physical therapist, Blaise Zabini keeps slipping new strains of his company’s magical weed into Harry’s pockets in hopes of an endorsement, and Draco Malfoy keeps having sex with everyone but Harry.

🫃Shine On, You Crazy Diamond by @lagerloutfic (E, 42k)

fwb to lovers | gay awakening (Harry) | mpreg (Draco)

Harry has probably always wanted Draco, it just took him a few years to figure that out. A story about the joy of discovering exactly who you are and how easy it can be once you do.

🚣‍♀️ Our Objective Remains Unchanged by @citrusses (E, 46k)

rowing AU | enemies to lovers | university setting

Harry Potter, returning member of the Oxford University Boat Club, has two goals for the spring of 2005: beat Cambridge, and beat Draco Malfoy. Perhaps not in that order.

🧶 Polar Night/Midnight Sun by toomuchplor (E, 54k)

cabin fic | wintery vibes | only one bed

Harry travels to arctic Norway on the trail of dragon egg poachers, only to find he's been assigned to work alongside the only NorMagPol Auror north of sixty: one Draco Malfoy.

🎩 Nights With You by @the-sinking-ship (E, 58k)

holiday fic | fake relationship | mutual pining

Draco is mortified when moments prior to departing for the most anticipated destination wedding of the year, he is cruelly dumped. But when he learns that Harry Potter has, at long last, split with his horrible boyfriend, Draco is certain his luck has changed.

👮🏻‍♂️Rookie Moves by peu_a_peu (E, 75k)

auror partners | slow burn | humour

Aurors Potter and Malfoy crack the case.

🖼️ where all the veins meet by @saxamophone (E, 146k)

sad bois | Grimmauld Place | found family | 8th year

It's the summer of 1998. The battle is over, and Voldemort is dead, but Harry still has more questions than answers. Who is he without a piece of Voldemort's soul in his head? What is he supposed to do now?

📼 Always Already by @aibidil (E, 170k)

time travel | forced proximity | mutual pining

Harry and Draco are perfectly fine, separately minding their business in 2004, when the Unspeakables conscript them into service... in the First War against Voldemort.

[lustkillers]

hi! I absolutely love your stories! would you mind writing some Gabriel (Columbus) or Clyde (Elecktrick Children) fluff (or smut?)? maybe something fluffy that ends up steamy please? thank you! 🫶🫶

NOTHING THE MATTER WITH A KISS!

⊹₊ ⋆ summary. - who knew he was head over heels for you?

┃ tags/warnings. ࿐ ❪ nsfw freak shit, unprotected sex, overstimulation, fingering, softdom!clyde, sub!reader, standing sex?? fluff & bad writing im sorry </3 ❫

⊹₊ ⋆ pairing - clyde x fem!reader

⊹₊ ⋆ note - this request twisted knobs in my brain RAHHHHH but i hope i did this justice!! this is also a short one, i'm so sorry!! the 13 going on 30 roman fic will be published soon (hopefully) !! not proofread. my inbox is open for requests, so feel free to drop anything!

CLYDE watched you as your hips swayed to the music playing in the background of the apartment you both shared, his lips tugging into a smile.

The music was loud, a bluetooth speaker emitting tunes that had become your favorite over the last year, despite neither of you knowing where it wilfully came from. It suddenly struck him how truly happy he was in this moment - with you.

He stood up and walked closer to you, wrapping his arms around your waist as he rested his chin atop your shoulder. You could feel the subtle heat of his breath on your neck, sending a tingle down your back. He could tell that was pleased with being held by him as he felt you sink into his embrace.

He noticed the way your eyes sparkled when he approached you, and a feeling of contentment surged through his veins. He wanted this moment to last forever, he never wanted it to end.

You swayed against him with a smile, a heat traveling to your cheeks as you allowed yourself to melt into the space that seemed so perfectly crafted for both of you. He took his hand and placed it gently on your chin, turning your face towards his before pressing a soft kiss onto your lips. The sudden electricity of the kiss caused both of you to stiffen momentarily in surprise before melting into one another again, your arms wrapping around his neck as you locked your lips together in a moment of unspoken tenderness.

However, it got heated. His lips explored yours with a newfound hunger that had been unfulfilled till then. You felt your heart skip a beat, and couldn't help but return his intensity as you two lost yourself in each other's embrace.

Clyde’s veiny hands found its way to your soaking pussy as you softly moaned into his mouth. His hands were gentle but dominant, and before you knew it you found yourself pushing your hips against his touch, giving in to the strong craving within. He could feel your eagerness and responded with more intensity as he inserted a finger inside of you while he continued exploring your lips with deep kisses.

You gasped at the sudden pleasure as he explored different angles, sending a wave of warmth and bliss throughout your entire body. His fingers gradually increased in speed and intensity as you started feeling yourself getting closer to climax.

His thumb circled your clit, causing you to cry out in pleasure as you felt yourself getting closer and closer.

"Fuck, Clyde!" You cried out, "C-Can I please cum...?" You asked him desperately, your voice shaking with lust.

Clyde felt your body start to tense up and he smiled in satisfaction, giving you one last long kiss before pulling away. With a mischievous smirk on his face, he replied, "Let go f’me.."

And with those words you could feel yourself start to come undone as the waves of pleasure crashed over you. You cried out in bliss, letting go of all your worries and concerns as the orgasm took hold of your entire body.

Your back now found itself laid on the couch, your breathing labored as you looked up at Clyde in admiration.

His blue eyes looked down at you with love, his hands stripping you both of any clothing you had. His lips trailed down your body, setting off fireworks within you as he made his way to pleasure you even more.

He guided his aching, hard cock to your entrance, pushing himself inch by inch into your tightness. You moaned in pleasure, clutching onto his shoulders as he moved slowly but firmly inside of you. He kissed you passionately, which made the sensations more intense with every thrust and moan that escaped from your lips.

Clyde was panting in your ear, his breath hot and heavy as pleasure cascaded through you both.

"Good girl..." He kept on chanting into your ear, the syllables heightening the moment even further as you felt your orgasm reach its pinnacle.

His thrusts were becoming erratic, the sounds of his hips colliding with yours filling the air.

"S-Shit... Cum with me," He groaned, pushing himself deeper into you as the pleasure came to its climax.

You held onto him tightly as you both shuddered in pleasure simultaneously, breathing heavily and crying out to one another. As the intensity of the moment died down, Clyde looked into your eyes with love and kissed you passionately.

Both your bodies were sweaty, sticking to each other as he laid on top of you.

"I love you," He whispered softly, his arms wrapping around your waist as you both held onto each other in solemn bliss.

You hummed, "I love you."

Maybe you should dance more often.

[queenimmadolla]

After Penny & Wayne, shortly after the condom incident, she overhears you and eddie having sex so you leave that one for eddie to deal with.

inspired by the tiktoks of parents coming up with excuses for the noises and the slapping sounds 🙈

you guys are so freaking funny, a follow up to the condom incident lmao I'm calling this one

𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐁𝐢𝐫𝐝𝐬 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐖-𝐖-𝐄𝐬

(dad!eddie munson x mom!reader)

The question comes at breakfast, both Penny and Eddie are chowing down on cereal while Wayne plays with his food in his high chair, chewing too long on a soggy piece of waffle. Eddie’s  busy shoveling his sugary cereal down, eyes scanning over a potential contract Robin had already looked over for him. It’s nothing huge but it’s something, and you’ve been encouraging him to pursue music a little more, do something that makes him happier than tuning up cars–and he really does love it, it just gets annoying real fast; a side hobby he forced into a job. Took the enjoyment out of it. 

  Penny’s been staring at him all morning, glaring at him through her lashes with a firm scowl on her face. You’d noticed it when you got her up and ready, but she didn’t respond to your ‘why so glum, chum?’ with much enthusiasm, just pouted and you’d briefly been able to kiss it away. Then you’d sat her down for breakfast with her dad while you disappeared back to your bedroom to continue getting ready and the scowl returned. 

Eddie reaches for his coffee–also crammed with creamers and sugar–and just so happens to glance Penny’s way when he notices the death glare directed at him. He’s taken aback, leaning into his seat. 

  Neither of them say anything, just stare (in Penny’s case, glare) at each other. Eddie slowly reaches for his spoon, gathers the last bites of his cereal and is about to shovel it into his mouth just as you come out of your room, adjusting an earring and Penny grits out between her teeth. “Why. Did. You. Hurt. Mommy.”

  You frowned and so did Eddie, the both of you exchanging looks of confusion. “What are you talking about, Sweet Pea?” Eddie asks, popping the spoonful in his mouth. 

“I heard you hurting mommy in your room last night. She was crying and you told her she was a bad girl!” Eddie chokes, pounding on his chest with a closed fist as he attempts to dislodge the cereal he’d accidentally inhaled from his throat. You catch on pretty quickly to where this conversation is going so you start packing up your purse, lips pursed and just shy of a whistle to seem inconspicuous and not draw attention to yourself. Eddie coughes a couple more times, having finally swallowed his cereal and beat death. He was panting from the exertion and rush of it, eyes wide in horror, “WHAT?!” “Mommy is not a bad girl! Mommy is good! Mommy is a good mommy and you better stop being mean to her and hurting her or–or–or else!” The five year old packs a surprisingly large amount of malice in the threat, pointing her spoon at her dad menacingly. You barely manage to keep yourself from laughing, rolling your lips as you move around the table to kiss Penny and Wayne’s curly heads. 

“OKAY! Mama’s gotta go to work. I’ll see you two later, okay? I love you so much!” 

Eddie’s staring at you, mouth dropped open with a glint of amusement in his eyes. You’re not really gonna leave him with this conversation, right? Right? Baby? You lean over the table to press a kiss to his lips, it’s firm and briefly distracts Eddie until you pull just a little aways, red lips curling into a smirk as you whisper, “Have fun.”

Then you practically run out the door, leaving him flabbergasted, a little turned on, and at the mercy of a five year old who’d accidentally overheard the two of you going at it the previous night and was demanding an explanation. 

  See, this is why he didn’t regret giving it to you that hard. You were, indeed, a bad girl. And you’d be getting it later. “WELL–UH?” Penny snapped and Eddie closed his eyes, tilting his head up to the ceiling. 

“Okay, Sweet pea. I wasn’t hurting your mom,” If he was hurting you, it was a good hurt. You’d made that clear. “Uh, we just…we play pretend.”

Penny’s unamused stare and pout on her lips conveyed her disbelief in his explanation and he sighed, running his hands over his face as he prepared for the dreadful conversation.

“Alright, kid. When a daddy and mommy love each other, they like to wrestle.”

  “Like on TVs?” “Yeah. And because your dad is super cool and the best wrestler your mom has ever been with–I mean, gone up against, she tries to do that thing where she fakes being hurt so I let my guard down and she can tackle me, get the upper hand.” “Oh,” Is all Penny says, eyebrows unpinching as she purses her lips making them duck like. “Did she get you?”

Eddie raises an eyebrow, tip of his tongue swirling around his canine tooth, “Towards the end, yeah. She pinned me pretty good.” Yeah, you were so gonna get it. You'd be . . . brawling tonight and there was no way he'd be letting you up.

[notimetoparty]

Okay, here’s MY question: would Present try to kill their own siblings if they saw them? Would the resemblance throw them off too much?

For A Weapon, killing people is easy.

It's what it was made for, it's what it was born for. It was told its only reason it continued to breathe was this one task...to exterminate the plague. If it did not kill, there would be no reason for it to live.

When the government found where those last remnants of the plague were, in a world far beyond the reaches of most, it knew its mission was almost complete. That this would be the final, small step to realizing that purpose it was given. It went there without a second thought, expecting to come back to its cell later with discolored blood on its paws and pincers.

It was surprised at how little survival skills the first one it found had. This beast, despite the scar on its eye, was wandering next to the border of the woods in broad daylight. What was it even doing? It watched, to its surprise, as the rusty black thing pulled out a guitar and sat on a log. It began to play a tune, messing up the melody and stomping on the ground each time with a hiss.

Unusual. Idiotic, too. The plagued normally knew to hide away, to live in the darkest corners of every world. And yet this case chose to sing and complain. Whatever. That made it easier to strike.

Eyes peering through the underbrush, it stalked and stepped closer. It pondered the most efficient way to snuff out its life. Avoid the head, to get away from the mandibles and pincers. Go for the neck. Always the neck. Stab and blast if needed, but don't waste valuable ammunition. Make sure that-

Snap.

So lost in thought, it forgot to avoid any of the sticks on the grassy floor. The plagued turned around curiously, now face to face with a yellow behemoth.

And they tilted their head, chuckling.

"Woah. Where the hell did you come from!?” She chirped. Another laugh erupted from them, a small chitter to their voice. “Are you a weirdo, hanging out in the forest? A little forest loser?”

…It blinked. It definitely should kill this thing here and now, right? It would be incredibly easy. But something made it pause. It instead gave a blunt, monotone reply.

“What.”

Without missing a beat, she then pointed at the augmentations attached to its arms and back. “What are those things on you? Some cool cyber stuff? Nerd!”

He continued to chuckle and joke, much to its annoyance as it growled. Eventually she calmed, wiping a tear from her eye as she gave a passing “sorry”.

“Whatever, it’s cool. My brother is also a nerd. He also likes running around the woods like a little freak! You two would get along great.”

Was this bug trying to make conversation? What an idiot. It glared at her, unmoving and unamused as it let out a huff.

“You should be more fearful of what lies in the forest,” It warned, “because I’m not here to make small talk.”

In response, she only shrugged.

“Whatev. I’m gonna go practice guitar somewhere else. Have fun pretending to be a sci-fi protag or something.”

Just like that, the guy turned away with her guitar in hand, humming a tune and giggling still under her breath. “Man, the fam is gonna love this story!” It heard her mumble as she escaped from its sight.

It should’ve pounced while the thing’s back was turned. It knew that. And yet…it let the creature go off without issue, as though its body was frozen in place. Were the circumstances that bizarre, so as to make a weapon not fire its shot? Nothing was special about that person, besides the unusually fluffy body compared to other plagued specimens.

Was it the similarities to itself that had it hesitant? The way their eyes bore the same red, and how her tail looked almost too similar to the one it bore? It was pointless to contemplate. It was pointless to compare yourself to the things you were meant to kill. Now, it was too late to even try to track where she had gone. She was already far out of sight, leaving it on its lonesome and without a new lead.

In a moment of weakness, the weapon snarled and kicked at the ground.

Killing was meant to be easy. Why was this suddenly so difficult? -Zinc

[jadeylovesmarvelxo]

Second Choice

could you write angst to fluff where eddie told his friends he thought Chrissy was super beautiful but a few months later he ends up falling in love with the reader(who is Chrissy's best friend) so they start dating and when he’s telling his friends they start to make jokes about how he couldn’t get the girl he wanted so he settled for her bestie instead and reader overheard and her feelings get hurt?

Requested by anon

Warnings; angst to fluff, soft Eddie.

Like, comments and especially reblogs are very much appreciated 💞. I do not give anyone permission to copy my work.

❤

The Hellfire table was lively at lunch, talk of the next campaign was in full swing but the only person who was unusually quiet was Eddie.

Who was currently staring at the cheerleader table at none other than Chrissy Cunningham.

Garreth notices him staring and rolls his eyes.

"Dude". He nudges Eddie who comes out of his reverie.

"Chrissy is super beautiful don't you think?"

Dustin and Lucas smirk at each other while Mike joins Gareth and shakes his head amused.

"Yeah, yeah, you say that like every week man change the tune". Jeff chuckles and Eddie glares at them then finds his eyes trailing back to the cheerleading table.

Beside Chrissy is her best friend y/n, his heart skips a beat. How had he never noticed her before Jesus H Christ she was beautiful. She catches his eye and smiles at him.

He thinks that even his cynical heart could melt at that smile and suddenly Chrissy is driven out of his mind.

All that fills it now is y/n's beautiful eyes and pretty smile.

❤

The first time Eddie comes up to her is at her locker, some stare at the two of them and whisper scandalised.

Idiots y/n huffs. She's never had a problem with Eddie or thought him to be a freak like Jason and the others did.

In fact, she thought he was really sexy, she loved how he didn't conform to others' expectations, he was funny and those brown eyes of his? Gorgeous.

She kinda always had a crush on him but he always had eyes for Chrissy. Was he here to ask her about her best friend? Disappointment fills her.

He surprises her.

"Hey, uh I know you're probably going to say no but would you like to go out sometime? Watch a movie? Some shit like that?".

His cheeks are tinged pink and it's so fucking cute because rarely has she ever seen Eddie nervous. In drama, he was always the star of the show.

"I'd love to Eddie". He gapes a little then smiles all dimples.

"Great, so we can go after school? It will be totally metal princess". Her heart flutters at his cute name for her and she watches him walk away with a giddy feeling in her stomach.

❤

Eddie was very aware of the way that all of Hellfire was staring at him stunned, it was hard to focus on what was bothering them when he was thinking about y/n.

For two months they had dated and Eddie was in love. Crazy right? His cynical heart had melted from the minute he started hanging out with y/n.

Dates involved watching movies at her house or his trailer, she cooked the most incredible meals for her and him always saving some for Uncle Wayne who adored her.

They'd have nights where they would have sex and afterwards he would jam on the guitar until she fell asleep or they would work their way through the Hobbit and Lord of the rings.

He loved it and he loved her. Today he was going to tell the Hellfire boys if they would just stop staring.

"What?". He asks growing annoyed and Dustin gulps a bit but presses on with his question.

"Well, it's weird man, you haven't gushed about Chrissy in months". Really. That's why they were staring?

"Because I'm with someone Henderson, y/n, she's amazing".

Jeff frowns. "Isn't she like Chrissy's best friend?". What are they getting at?

"Yeah, and your point is dude?" He doesn't realise y/n approaching the table with a beaming smile on her face.

Gareth laughs. "Come on man, admit it. You were crushing on Chrissy for months. Oh, she's so beautiful blah blah blah and now you're with her best friend? You couldn't get the girl you actually want so you settled for her best friend?".

Eddie's stomach tightens in anger.

💞💫💞💫

She walks over to Eddie's lunch table. He was deep in conversation with the rest of Hellfire Club.

They had discussed telling his friends last night and hers. She had already told Chrissy and Robin who were both ecstatic for her and she was heading over to tell Eddie about that.

She stops when she hears his friend Gareth laughing.

Come on man, admit it. You were crushing on Chrissy for months. Oh, she's so beautiful blah blah blah and now you're with her best friend? You couldn't get the girl you actually want so you settled for her best friend?".

Dustin doesn't look impressed.

"Dude are you dating Y/n to get closer to Chrissy because that's not cool".

"Can't get the girl of your dreams so you date her bestie? Good one dude". Jeff sniggers.

Eddie really did like Chrissy? He thought Chrissy was super beautiful? Why was be with her then? Is what his friends were saying true?

Her heart shatters and she feels very hurt and seriously pissed off.

"Is that true Ed's? That's the only reason that you're dating me? As a second choice?". Eddie's head snaps up at hearing her voice, his eyes widen and he stands up.

"No, no the guys don't know shit. Jesus H Christ, I'm besotted with you princess". She sniffs wiping the tears away.

"But you did have a crush on Chrissy before?". He nodded and she shakes her head.

"So I am the second choice then?". He gapes but she rushes away before he can say anything or she hears him chew out his friends.

💞💫

"You morons". He yells at his friends who look guilty as hell.

"Eddie we...". Jeff begins to apologise.

"Shut up dude seriously. I gotta go find my girl and convince her that she's the only girl for me. I love y/n. Have been smitten since the moment I laid eyes on her. I'm over Chrissy completely. Y/n is the one for me".

With that, he storms off and goes to find y/n, luckily she hasn't gone far. She's in their spot deep the woods.

She's crying, his heart aches at the sound and he approaches her, kneels and takes her hands in his.

"Go away Eddie". He shakes his head and gently wipes her tears away.

"Sorry, princess. No can do. Gotta explain to my sweetheart that she's the only girl for me, the most beautiful, girl in the world and Yeah, I had a crush on Chrissy but I'm 100% over her. Have been since the minute I laid eyes on you".

Her crying stops and she peers up at him.

"You mean it?". He nods and kisses her forehead.

"I'm in love with you and only you. You're the only girl for me". She cups his cheek and he cuddles her close to him.

Her tense body relaxes and she sighs.

"I love you too Eds and hey I told Chrissy and Robin about us, they were really happy". He grins and strokes her hair.

"That's great princess. Now how about I introduce you properly to those dumbass friends of mine". He pulls her up and they walk hand in hand back to the school.

The boys apologise the minute y/n sits down which she accepts but doesn't want to hash it out, she would rather move past it and form good connections with them.

"Hey, why don't you guys tell me about the totally metal campaign Eddie is doing? I've helped him with bits and pieces of it. What do you all think?".

Settling on Eddie's knee she listens intently as the chatter grows animated and she's invited to her first ever Hellfire club.

For a second she's drawn to the way Eddie is gazing at her. Full of love and utter devotion.

She's his queen after all.

❤

[munsons-maiden]

𝐖𝐨𝐫𝐥𝐝𝐬 𝐀𝐩𝐚𝐫𝐭 - 𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝟏𝟐

▹𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝟏   ▹𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝟐   ▹𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝟑  

▹𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝟒    ▹𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝟓  ▹𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝟔  

▹𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝟕    ▹ 𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝟖   ▹ 𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝟗

▹𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝟏𝟎 ▹𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝟏𝟏

First of all, thank you so much for all the support on this series so far; all the lovely comments and reblogs and asks are making my days and I'm so happy about every single one of them🖤 I think this is the chapter I'm proudest of so far. I hope you enjoy! - Love, Kiki 🖤  

𝐏𝐚𝐢𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐠 |  Eddie Munson x female reader

𝐒𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐬 𝐬𝐮𝐦𝐦𝐚𝐫𝐲 |  THEN. You’re the only survivor among the Mind Flayer’s victims, thanks to your friends - but after the Battle of Starcourt, you find yourself adrift in a sea of nightmares. Until an encounter in the woods with Eddie The Freak Munson offers an unexpected life line and turns your world upside down. NOW. Four months have passed since the winter night you walked out of Eddie’s trailer and his life for good. But when the mysterious headaches and nightmares return full-force and something wicked stirs in sleepy Hawkins, starting a witch hunt against Eddie, you realize that there are two things in this world  that might be more persistent  than you’d thought: Evil…and love. The story is told in two timelines: the past (after the Battle of Starcourt) and the present (during the events of season 4).

𝐖𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐭𝐨 𝐞𝐱𝐩𝐞𝐜𝐭 | angst with a happy ending, fluff, smut, it turned into a fix it fic for ST4

𝐒𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐬 𝐰𝐚𝐫𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐬 | SMUT (you need to be 18+ to read this story!), angst with a happy ending, attempted assault, bullying, canon-typical violence  

𝐑𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐢𝐦𝐞 | ~1 hour

𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐰𝐚𝐫𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐬 | SMUT (only read if you’re 18+ years old! virgin!Eddie x virgin!reader), unprotected sex (please stay safe in real life!), mentions of attempted assault, canon-typical gore & violence, blood, mentions of spiders

𝐅𝐨𝐫 𝐦𝐨𝐫𝐞 𝐄𝐝𝐝𝐢𝐞 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐧𝐭, 𝐜𝐡𝐞𝐜𝐤 𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐦𝐲 𝐦𝐚𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐥𝐢𝐬𝐭.  

𝐥𝐢𝐤𝐞𝐬, 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐬 & 𝐫𝐞𝐛𝐥𝐨𝐠𝐬 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐚𝐩𝐩𝐫𝐞𝐜𝐢𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐨𝐮𝐫𝐚𝐠𝐞𝐝, 𝐟𝐞𝐞𝐝𝐛𝐚𝐜𝐤 𝐦𝐞𝐚𝐧𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐥𝐝 𝐭𝐨 𝐰𝐫𝐢𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐬 ♡

▹𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝟏   ▹𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝟐   ▹𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝟑  

▹𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝟒    ▹𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝟓  ▹𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝟔  

▹𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝟕    ▹ 𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝟖   ▹ 𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝟗

▹𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝟏𝟎 ▹𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝟏𝟏

[Tuesday, March 25th, 1986. NOW.]

Eddie Munson had always believed in fairy tales.

At first, it had simply been because his old man had taught him to believe in them. Magic potions from silver flasks that smelled like acid and made Eddie scrunch his nose, pixie dust his dad had sold in little plastic bags, the same glittering powder which had carried his mum to Neverland before he’d ever had the chance to remember more of her than the lavender-and-rosemary scent of her dark curls or the tune of her song when she’d hummed. Treasure hunts.

Growing up, though, Eddie had come to the painful realization that it were the magic potions which made his dad so angry at times, that treasure hunts weren’t treasure hunts when the treasure actually belonged to someone else already, and that pixie dust didn’t carry anyone anywhere except six feet under – and the fairy tales had lost their glitter and magic.

Until an old book had resurfaced, a single thread tying him to his mother – and his love for stories had been rekindled by the words on its worn-out, yellowed pages.

His old man had taught Eddie that not all was gold that glittered.

The Lord Of The Rings had taught him that magic existed – between the pages of a book, and in the colorful world of one’s own mind.

And the girl resting in his bed in front of him, motionless but for the steady rise and fall of her chest, had taught Eddie that true love, the one he’d believed only to exist in stories, did exist – at the price of broken hearts.

But that was okay, fine by him, as long as her heart was beating and her chest rising and falling with each breath, Eddie could deal with the pain of a broken heart. That’s what today had taught him. Nothing could be more painful than the though of you being just…gone.

The tinkling melody of his guitar filled the air of his Rightside Up bedroom, the strings now biting his fingertips with every stroke, but Eddie kept playing because for one, he was still scared senseless Vecna would still get you, and he feared he’d climb his walls with nerves as soon as he put the guitar away.

So music it was.

Who would have thought that Sleeping Beauty would be snoozing off her own curse in his bed one day, he added in his mind as he watched you, the gentle flutter of your eyelids, your beautiful features serene.

Just like all those Saturdays you’d napped in his bed while he’d played his guitar for you. The song remains the same.

And the irony of this song of all songs being the one to break Vecna’s curse wasn’t lost on Eddie while his restless mind filled in the lyrics to the melody for what might have been the hundredth time. Someday, love will find you…true love won’t desert you…

If only a true love’s kiss held any power in reality as well.

There were a few tiny white particles left which had caught in the strands of your hair – ashes from the fire, or spores from that strange dark mirror realm he couldn’t tell – but Eddie didn’t dare to reach out and brush them away.

He would play his guitar until his goddamn fingers fell off.

The words you’d sobbed right before unconsciousness had claimed you were playing in his mind on repeat, over and over again as he was trying to make sense of them, of the flames blooming around you like wildflowers in a meadow. His thoughts felt like a ball of wool ensnaring his as he kept trying to disentangle the damn yarn.

“I don’t think you have to keep playing,” Wheeler’s soft voice ripped through the daze in Eddie’s mind, making him start a little before she sat down at the edge of the bed to glance at you. “If you want to catch some sleep, I’ll stay and watch her.”

“’m fine,” Eddie replied, wincing a little at the pain in his throat, the lingering acidic taste of smoke. He’d never been this hoarse in his life, not even after that one gig at the Hideout on a Saturday where Corroded Coffin had played for four hours straight and he’d felt like dying afterwards.

“Thank you,” Wheeler murmured now, her voice strained with the unshed tears in her eyes as they locked on his. “For saving her.”

“All I did was play guitar.”

“That’s not what I meant. After last summer…” She drifted off, the words hanging in the air, and Eddie’s fingers stilled on the strings when Wheeler went on, “She slipped away from us, after Starcourt. She never told us what exactly he made her do, but –“

“Wait. Wait, did – what do you mean, made her do?”

There was a beat of silence as he watched Nancy Wheeler’s face go from confusion to wide-eyed realization. “She didn’t tell you.”

Eddie tilted his head, already feeling his heart sink. “Tell me what?”

“Last year…the Mind Flayer got her. She was one of the Flayed. The only one who made it out alive.”

***

You were floating.

Adrift on a sea of darkness, like a tiny white particle in air of a dead mirror world, carried by the tune of a song.

Peaceful.

Numb.

There was only darkness…and a scent.

Of leather and soap, sweat and…chocolate, mingling with the faint traces of cigarette smoke, a mix that shouldn’t have smelled good but did, intoxicating and so beautifully familiar as it immersed you.

You loved that scent.

It smelled like Saturday afternoons and happiness, of kisses shared beneath a sea of stars.

Of happiness.

Of home.

For a few fleeting moments, you just kept drifting on this melody of calmness, the soft, tinkling tunes floating alongside you on the breeze.

And when the darkness started to fray at the edges, unravelling like a spool of yarn – you realized this tinkling melody immersing you was real, as familiar as the instrument it belonged to.

A guitar.

It all came rushing back to you.

Vecna. The vision. Eddie, alive, playing his guitar and singing for you to break the curse Vecna, Henry Creel, had put you under.

Eddie.

The rest of your senses snapped back to life one by one, like a row of light switches being flipped.

Your eyes fluttered open.

There were band posters plastering the walls, every letter and detail of them engraved in your mind from all the weekend afternoons you’d spent in this room, on this very bed someone had tucked you into.

Eddie’s bed.

And when you turned your head with a soft rustle of the pillow underneath, your eyes fell on the lonely figure sitting on a kitchen chair beside the bed, one knee tucked up, foot placed on the edge of the seat, dark curls falling over his shoulders as his fingers plucked the strings of the Warlock guitar in his hands to fill the air of the small space with a melody, your brain adding in the lyrics you knew by heart, just like you did the mixtape it was on.

Here we stand,

Worlds apart

Hearts broken in two

Two

Two…

“Eddie.” Your voice sounded as if you’d swallowed glass – just like your throat felt – but at the soft sound of it, Eddie’s head snapped up, his hands falling away from the guitar in his lap.

“Jesus Christ,” he breathed, rubbing his face with a soot-stained, trembling hand, “You scared the shit outta me, monster slayer.”

His voice was as hoarse as yours when he murmured the words.

There were tears shimmering in his eyes.

His beautiful umber eyes.

No eerie white robbing the color from his irises, no snapped neck stealing the life from them, no blood streaming down his cheeks.

Vecna hadn’t gotten him. Eddie was alive.

And he looked horrible. As if he’d gone through Hell and back – and the horrified realization hit you that he had.

Ashes and soot were smeared all over his face, the color matching the black of the bruises blooming on his jaw, on his temple and beneath the gash in his eyebrow you’d stitched with the fish hook what felt like a lifetime ago yet had only been hours.

You slowly sat up in his bed, the sheets falling away from your chest. “How long -?”

“Six hours,” he replied, his voice so croaky that it must have been hurting him to speak.

“Have you –“ The lump forming in your throat cut you off as you weakly nodded at his guitar, and a frayed little smile tugged at his lips as he finished, “Been playing guitar all the time? Yup. I mean, the Walkman didn’t help, so…yeah.” The half-smile grew into a timid little smirk laced with mischief when he added, “I’m gonna blame it on you if I ever get sick of The Journey.”

Love, overwhelming love, flooded you at the thought that Eddie had been by your side, playing for you, despite the bone-deep exhaustion shining in his umber eyes as he watched you tentatively now.

Your gaze flitted to the closed door of his bedroom.

You could still feel it; the call of the gate behind this door.

“How are you feelin’?”, Eddie asked softly, placing the Warlock guitar on the ground beside his chair before he grabbed something from the floor to hold it out for you.

It was a bottle of Yoo-Hoo.

“You-hoo should drink,” he said softly – and the sweet gesture, the old joke…it broke the last of your self-control.

You didn’t manage to muster a reply.

The tears started falling while a lonely, choked sob ripped from you, making pain flare in your body to make you curl up on yourself, knees tucked against your chest and arms wrapped around your shins as you let your head fall, as if making yourself small would somehow keep you from falling apart.

All your secrets, those ugly, ugly secrets you’d kept from Eddie…like Vecna’s creepers, they’d been festering, spreading beneath the surface, carving stains of rot to eat away at you, tarnish and choke and throttle until they were done with you, moving on to claim Eddie next, and the rest of your friends. The rest of Hawkins.

By opening that door, you’d sentenced them all to death.

And by rousing Vecna’s anger, you’d sentenced Eddie to a fate even far crueler than death.

“Hey,” Eddie cooed, the mattress dipping as he sat beside you, one leather-clad arm wrapping around you. His tone took on a desperate, light-hearted note as he tried, “You don’t have to drink the Yoo-Hoo, monster slayer. Pretty sure I got a can of Sprite left somewhere, too.”

His attempt to cheer you up, so utterly Eddie, always trying to set you at ease, made the tears only fall harder, the sobs rip through you with fresh force as Vecna’s words echoed in your head.

“Do you truly think your songbird would be singing for you if he knew the truth?”

Yes. Yes, Eddie would have. The boy who’d chosen kindness and compassion when anger and hostility would have been the easy way throughout all the bullying he’d had to endure in his life, all the scorn and mockery and judgement he was still facing simply for being different…you knew it without a doubt that he would have saved you, no matter what.

Eddie had been saving you from the moment he’d ripped Jason off of you that night in the woods, had saved you again from the clutches of another monster despite the cruel things you’d said, the way you’d so thoroughly broken his heart.

Your songbird, struggling in the razor-sharp claws of a cat without even knowing it. And whatever you’d done to anger Vecna…Eddie would be the one to pay the price.

You curled up against him, face pressed into the fabric of his Hellfire shirt right below his collarbone as you wept.

“It’s my fault.” You barely managed to choke out the words between your sobs. “It’s my fault, Eddie. I let him in. I let him in –“

“Ssssh, I know,” Eddie soothed, “I know. You told me – us –“

They rushed back to you, slivers of memories. Shouts amidst the smoke, Nancy, Steve and Eddie calling out your name, your own confession nearly suffocated by the roar of the fire.

“Four gates. Four killings. He’ll tear down the barrier. Hawkins will fall. I opened the door. I let him in.”

He knew. They all knew, now.

And still…Eddie was here, holding you in his arms as you wept.

“It’s okay, monster slayer,” he cooed, “I promise it’s gonna be okay again.”

You shifted, burying your face at the crook of his neck as all the pain, all the pent-up guilt and shame of those past months and the past few hours ever since that revelation of Max’s painting at Skull Rock spilled free like the flood from a dam thoroughly broken.

Eddie held you in his arms, the warmth of his body seeping through the soot-stained fabric of his Hellfire shirt, the scent of smoke and sweat and the water of Lover’s Lake which still clung to him wrapping around you while the echo of his steady heartbeat mingled with the frail sounds of your sobs in your ears and the tips of his curls tickled the side of your face as he rested his cheek against the crown of your head.

“It’s okay. It’s gonna be okay,” Eddie soothed, his voice raw and raspy from the smoke while his fingers drew lazy, soothing circles on your back and your tears kept soaking the collar of his Hellfire shirt.

He was here. The first one of your ugly secrets out in the open, and Eddie was still here. Holding you with such gentleness, as if he’d never let you go.

“It’s not,” you sobbed. “I opened the door for him, Eddie. It’s my fault. Chrissy and Fred and Patrick and Max and you –“

“The good thing about doors”, Eddie said softly, the vibration of his voice travelling through you as you kept your face pressed to the crook of his neck, “Is that they can be closed and locked again.”

“I’m like him. I’m –“

“No.” The gentle vehemence of Eddie’s voice took you off guard as he cut you off, “Listen, we’ve all done shit, ‘kay? Like, Harrington’s been a total douche. I’m selling drugs, for Christ’s sake, and I recently found out that Henderson secretly raised a whole goddamn Demogorgon. And I know you didn’t just, I dunno, rip open some door between worlds and invite Vecna over for tea and biscuits and shit, so however he got you to do it, we’ll find a way to un-do it. We’ll –“

“You don’t know anything about me, Eddie,” you whispered. You knew they’d hurt him, those same words you’d spat at him that November night – but the truth hurt. And it was time for Eddie to finally learn it.

All of it.

You expected for him to pull away, but the protective shield of his arms around you stayed as he breathed, “Yeah, you keep saying that. And I know it’s not true –“

“It is,” you cut him off, voice conquering the sobs still clawing at your insides.

And then it was you pulled away. Out of Eddie’s arms, wiping at the tears with the back of your hand as you scooted farther away from him, because you wouldn’t be able to stomach him pulling away as soon as you’d spilled the final secret.

But you’d made a decision. Had made it back when you’d still been in Vecna’s grasp, and it was a decision you should have made way sooner. Eddie deserved the truth.

It would snuff out everything he still felt for you, all the sparks your cruel words that November night hadn’t been able to suffocate despite all your best efforts. It would set him free.

How stupid you’d been then, to try and keep him away with a lie of indifference when all you’d have needed to do to drive him away from you forever would have been to tell the truth about those two days in summer.

“I did things, Eddie. Horrible things,” you uttered on a choked whimper, forcing out the words before cowardice could take the wheel. “Last summer –“

“I know what happened,” Eddie said softly. “I know that son of a bitch got you. Wheeler told me everything, when you were knocked out. But whatever he made you do, that wasn’t you.”

This trust, Eddie’s unshakable trust in you after all the hurt you’d caused him, was a dagger twisted in your chest all over again.

His beautiful eyes were pleading, shining with such warmth and compassion and tenderness as he watched you tuck your legs against your chest while he stayed at the edge of the mattress, once again cautious to give you space.

For a few selfish heartbeats, you allowed yourself to relish this expression in Eddie’s umber gaze as he watched you, waited for you to go on.

You memorized the exact shade of his irises, like sunlight falling through a glass of rich dark whiskey, memorized the tenderness in his gaze which felt like the first gentle rays of the spring sun caressing your skin after a freezing dark winter.

Memorized all of it, because once the next words had left your lips…it would be snuffed out like the flame of a candle by a storm.

You couldn’t bear to witness when that happened.

Suppressing the sobs, you squeezed your eyes shut.

Your voice was raw and strained, like ice covering a lake, ready to give in and crack at the slightest bit of pressure as you whispered, “Do you remember what I told you about becoming a cheerleader?”

It had been the most beautiful day in October, golden rays of the autumn sun spilling through the foliage of the clearing to paint streaks of chocolate and caramel into Eddie’s curls as he’d sat beside you on the top of the picnic table, the woods behind the sports field having become the twilight zone of your high school lives, the bridge between your worlds. The freak, and – no matter whether branded a slut or not – the cheerleader.

The not-so-good-anymore girl and the good-for-nothing boy.

Minutes later, he’d twirled you to the tunes of I Remember You floating from the headphones of his Walkman, right before that almost-kiss.

“I remember everything,” Eddie’s soft voice tore you out of the memory and back into the reality of the present, of the secret you were going to spill and everything the truth entailed.

“You know, when I joined the cheer squad back in sophomore year, I did it because I thought it’d keep me safe from bullies. Middle school wasn’t…a good place for me.”

“What did they do?”, Eddie had asked.

“I guess it wasn’t anything special. They did what all bullies do. Under the lead of Stacy Campbell.”

“Wait…Wasn’t she…?”

“One of the people who died in the fire at Starcourt. Yes.”

You’d never told him about the day Stacy and her minions had locked you in that supply closet, the hours spent sobbing in the dark. It didn’t matter, anyway – nothing Stacy had done to you had warranted what you’d done to her years later.

“Stacy Campbell,” you whispered. “She made my life living hell. For three years. Every day.” You swallowed against the tears, staying in the safe darkness of your closed eyes. “He made me choose his next victim. I chose her.”

The images were vivid in your mind. The Mind Flayer – Vecna – guiding your hand to grab her blonde ponytail, slam her head against the wall of the shower before she even had a chance to scream. Blood had run down the side of her face, leaving a stain on the tiles, on the blue fabric of her swimsuit. You remembered how you’d thrashed in the confines of the shadow which had locked you in your own mind, had pleaded for him to stop. You hadn’t wanted to do it. She’d been unconscious right away, unmoving when Heather had helped you tie her up with jump ropes and put her into Billy Hargrove’s Camaro while, locked away inside your own head, you’d screamed and screamed and screamed, cries for help nobody would ever hear; a battle lost before it had even begun.

“He made me bring her to him. To the old steel mill where he kept hiding. Building his…his army.”

“I’m only making you do what you always wanted to, little one.”

He’d shown them to you, all the memories of Stacy’s cruelties. The day she’d locked you in that closet, crushed your fingers in the door when you’d tried to escape. The utter helplessness, and the rage you’d felt that day for the first time, something in you breaking to release it.

A lonely sob ripped from you, momentarily stealing your next words as Eddie croaked, “You were possessed –“

“Don’t,” you whispered. You couldn’t stomach this unwavering gentleness in Eddie’s tone, still feeling the warmth of his gaze on you beyond your closed eyes, despite the ugly things you kept telling him. Not for much longer. “It felt good, Eddie. It…it felt good.”

It was as if your insides had turned into those bats, hacking and clawing at you from within as you desperately tried to stifle your sobs to get the next words out. “To make her pay. To see her screaming and terrified for once while I was the one in power. That was me. Not him. All me.”

The words, your tone dripping with the disgust and contempt you felt for yourself, rang through the heavy silence of Eddie’s bedroom, each one of them a thunderclap, too loud when they were barely more than the ghost of a whisper.

And all those clawed, fanged sobs finally ripped out of you, their force making you keel over.

Pain rippled through your body as the sobs shook you, tearing you to pieces while you pressed your face against your knees and waited. For the rustle of fabric telling you Eddie was rising from his place at the edge of the mattress, for his footsteps to retreat as he left and for the words his twin in Vecna’s trance had thrown at you.

All this time…it’s been you. All this goddamn time I’ve been running from monsters when the monster I should’ve run from was beside me all along.

A heartbeat passed.

Two.

There was the rustle of leather you’d been dreading to hear, a shift on the mattress – before Eddie’s hand took yours, gently prying it away from your legs to lace his fingers with yours. The touch of his warm skin against yours made the swarm of butterflies in your belly fly like a burst of confetti, bewilderment and shock warring in your chest as you felt him kneel in front of you on the bed.

And with a voice that hadn’t lost any of its tenderness, Eddie murmured, “Y/N. Please…look at me.”

It was strange, to hear him use your name instead of the nickname you’d come to love so much, lending weight to his plea.

Slowly lifting your head, you heeded it.

Beneath the blur of your tears, your eyes locked on Eddie’s, your heart thundering painfully against the confines of your ribcage with fear of what you might find in those umber eyes – and desperate, overpowering hope.

Eddie’s eyes were swimming with his own tears which had started running down his face, through the ashes still smeared across his cheeks.

And within…warmth. Of a sunny summer’s day.

The calloused pad of Eddie’s thumb flicked over the inside of your wrist in a soothing motion, just like he’d done at Skull Rock only hours ago, the touch fleeting and light and as innocent as the brush of a feather.

“I need you to listen to me now, ‘kay?”, Eddie murmured. “He made you do this shit. None of that was your fault, do you hear me? None of it.” He let go of your hand, both of his slowly rising to settle on the sides of your face, his thumbs catching the tears which kept running down your cheeks, the gesture filled with a tenderness that made your heart squeeze in your chest while his eyes held yours with an intensity nearly tangible in the small space between the two of you. “This son of a bitch has been targeting you for months. He…” Eddie trailed off, his eyes squeezing shut as he shook his head, and you realized that the pain in Eddie’s was for you.

For what Vecna had done to you.

“I know that,” you whimpered. “But I enjoyed it, Eddie.” Your voice had reached its breaking point. He needed to listen –

“And I understand that,” Eddie pressed, despair lacing his tone. “I understand it. Shit, you need to cut yourself some slack,” Eddie breathed, his hands still resting on your cheeks, his eyes swirling with a maelstrom of emotions.

Your eyes fluttered close, his words sinking in, meeting the echo of Vecna’s.

“We are alike, little thief. And you know it.” 

“He said I’m like him,” you whispered. “Vecna. He said that’s why he chose me to open the door for him.”

“He’s lying.”

“What if he’s not?” It came out as another strangled cry. “How do you know he’s lying, Eddie? When he left, something stayed behind. And it keeps spreading. Like…like rot.”

A frail sob ripped from you as you barely managed to choke out the next words. “It keeps spreading. I can feel the gate. I feel it and there’s a part of me that wants to go through. That feels like…homesick for this place. I’m scared. I’m so fucking scared and I can’t run because what I’m scared of most is me. So how can you know that he’s lying?”

With a gentle caress, Eddie caught more of your tears, swiping them away as you opened your eyes to meet his again, your body melting into his soothing touch.

“Because he can use your shame against you,” Eddie said softly. “If you were like him, you wouldn’t be ashamed of these feelings. Shit, you wouldn’t care if you were good. The fact that this fucker can use this fear of being like him against you proves that you will never be like him. Wanting to hurt those who hurt us doesn’t make us monsters. It makes us human. And feeling guilt and shame for the part that wants revenge? That’s what makes us good, rather than evil. ‘Cause I bet my ass that fucker never felt a single ounce of guilt.”

He paused watching you, his eyes scanning yours as he waited for his words to sink in, before he added, so infinitely gentle, “And if you don’t trust yourself, trust your family of monster hunters right across the lawn at the Mayfields’, currently losing their shit because they’re so worried about you. They heard everything you said before you fainted. About the door. And not a single one of them, me included, believed that you could be some monster in disguise. Not for a single second. Trust me, okay? Because I know you. You keep repeating that I don’t, but I do, monster slayer. You are not like Vecna. And you’re not alone in this, either.”

You couldn’t speak. Couldn’t move – caught in the beautiful spell of Eddie’s gaze, this fierce trust he still held in you.

And you realized nothing had changed.

You’d finally told him all those things you’d been so sure would drive him away – and Eddie was still here. He’d stayed.

And this time, the tug you felt wasn’t that dark and twisted pull towards the gate beyond the door, but the gentle draw towards this beautiful young man whose song had saved you long before you’d even realized you’d needed saving.

Whose eyes had never lost their warmth for you despite all your ugly truths laid bare, whose trust in you had never faltered even when you’d lost yours. The boy who had been ready to walk into death alongside you because he hadn’t wanted to give up on you.

Your songbird.

And in this moment, you realized that it wasn’t the song Eddie played for you. The only thing which had mattered was that Eddie had been the one to sing it for you.

“We’re gonna make it right again.” His eyes were flashing with fierceness. “We’re gonna shut that door in this son of a bitch’s face and throw away the goddamn key.”

If you told him now that Vecna wanted to kill him, he would still stay.

There was no doubt about it now.

Eddie would stay. And if he stayed…he would die.

Your heart sank again, a stone dropped into a bottomless well.

“He will kill you,” you whispered, “He’ll kill you, Eddie.”

“You know what a guy wants to hear.”

“How are you not freaking out?”, you breathed, utterly bewildered.

Eddie’s thumb grazed your cheek in another fleeting caress as a mirthless chuckle bubbled from his lips. “Oh, no, I am. I’m, uh, freaking out but I’ve kinda been in the middle of a pretty long mental breakdown ever since this son of a bitch framed my sorry ass for triple murder and the town wants to see me burn at the stake. Shit.” He paused, taking a trembling breath. “But…I nearly lost you. And everything else kinda pales against the possibility that I could have. That you could have been gone. ‘cause I…”

His voice broke as he squeezed his eyes shut, his hands falling from your face to pinch the bridge of his nose as he shook his head as if that could somehow chase the thought away. “I can deal with whatever shit is thrown my way. As long as you’re still there.”

You swallowed against the lump in your throat, the wave of fresh tears already brimming in your eyes.

“We’ll figure this out, ‘kay?”

“How?”, you whispered.

“Together.” A timid little smile played on Eddie’s lips. “As a team. The cheerleader and the freak, remember?”

An echo of the words he’d said when the two of you had skipped classes and Eddie had taken you for a hike around Lover’s Lake to escape the relentless bullying Jason’s lies had triggered.

They made your heart squeeze in your chest – with love and longing.

And to your surprise…you believed them. For this beautiful moment, you believed that everything would be okay, because Eddie was here.

“The slut and the freak,” you corrected with a whisper, and Eddie’s smile widened.

“You always tend to forget they upgraded me. It’s the perv and the slut.”

For a heartbeat, you beamed at each other, your heart racing in your chest and giddy warmth surging through your veins, before Eddie’s expression grew serious again. “Alright. So, uh. Before we start…anything else I should. You know. Know?”

You bit your lip. “I burned down the boathouse.”

Eddie gave a curt little nod, before you added, “And I’m about ninety-nine percent certain I burned down the townhouse as well.”

Another nod from Eddie. “Yeah, you nearly burned down my Upside Down trailer as well.”

“Does it freak you out?”

“Uh, I mean, after the past few days? You know you could have told me, right? I mean, you basically told me months ago, ‘cause arson was on your impressive list of crimes against the law but, uh, to be honest I’d thought that involved a bit of good old gasoline and some matches and not, you know…your mind. And even though you accidentally nearly barbecued us, I think it’s very metal. Very Stephen King of you.”

A giggle bubbled from your lips, genuine and so utterly relieved.

Eddie was doing what he’d done for you so many times before. Making you laugh; taking the sharp edge of things and setting you at ease like nobody else could.

“Is that how you fought the monsters?”

“No. I found out about it…yesterday.” It felt like a lifetime ago that Jason and his cronies had found Eddie at Rick’s, threatening to break his bones with the crowbars in their hands and hatred in their hearts. But the fresh bruises marring Eddie’s face, peeking out beneath the soot and ashes smeared there, begged to differ. And so did the cut you’d freshly mended with that fish hook. “At the boathouse,” you added quietly.

Eddie’s eyebrows shot up. “Wait – that never happened before? Like, no accidental flambés? You just set a jock on fire for the first time?”

You nodded, and Eddie let out a little chuckle. “Good. Else I would’ve been a bit pissed that you didn’t burn down the school before O’Donnell’s midterm projects were due to buy more time.”

The way he drawled out the words made your smile widen, before another thought fought itself to the forefront of your mind and the smile slipped. “If they know I let him in…are they –“

“Mad? Shit, no. No, they’re scared out of their mind for you. They’re mad at that fucker, but not at you.”

The relief which flooded you at Eddie’s words was so overwhelming that it robbed your words as you gave him a nod, swallowing back a fresh wave of tears – and with a timid little smile, Eddie tilted his head. “So, uh. Should I start calling you Firestarter now? Is that –“

“No! No. I’m…I’m your- I’m monster slayer.”

There was relief and something else flashing in Eddie’s eyes as they flitted down to your lips now, lingering there for long enough to dissipate any doubt that you were imagining it. It made the butterflies in your chest go haywire.

And for a split second…there was this wild, desperately hopeful feeling that he’d kiss you.

Just like he’d done at Skull Rock.

It was hovering in the air between you, the memory of this stolen, fleeting kiss in the veil of night and the woods, the ghost of it still prickling on your lips to make you wonder if it felt the same for him.

There was this draw pulling you towards Eddie; a light-filled, beautiful twin to the dark and twisted urge to go through the gate…a gravity keeping you close to him like a comet in its orbit around the sun so it wouldn’t get lost in space.

He didn’t kiss you.

Instead, his expression grew serious once more before he announced quietly, “If, uh – if we wanna figure this shit out…you need to tell me what he showed you. In every trance. Every…every dream. What he said. Things that could be important. How exactly he got you to…open the door.”

“What did Nance tell you already? About…about Starcourt.”

“Everything,” Eddie said gently.

You nodded, swallowing as your gaze locked on the faded pattern of flowers on the bedsheets. “At first, there were just the nightmares. Then came the headaches. Nosebleeds. And then…the hallucinations started.” You paused, mind going back to the first time it had happened. “At first, they were…I don’t know. Contained. I would look into a mirror, and he’d be there. In my…in my eyes. Black creepers underneath my skin. And then that night last November, when we…” You trailed off, heat flaring in your cheeks. “There was this door. With a window of stained glass. A bouquet of red roses.”

Eddie’s eyes were wide – and you could see his thoughts racing, trying to connect the dots to answer all the questions you’d left him with that night.

In the past days since Eddie had been forced on the run, neither of you had broached the subject, both of you dancing around the matter – and it had been easy not to come too close. Because Eddie had been too timid, and probably too hurt and scared. And you hadn’t dared.

But now that everything else was out in the open, and only that fateful night left to discuss…the situation had shifted. You weren’t dancing on solid ground anymore; you were dancing over a tightrope. And beneath, a glaring abyss. You couldn’t give him hope.

And you still hadn’t told Eddie that he carried Vecna’s mark, as well. That Vecna wanted him dead because of you and now, after everything, there was no doubt Eddie would stay. Which mean he would walk into certain death. And that was what you needed to prevent. If only you knew how.

You waited for him to broach the subject, to start asking questions about that night you weren’t yet ready to answer as long as you hadn’t figured out a way to keep him out of Vecna’s clawed grasp – but Eddie didn’t. He was giving you time, always so considerate when asking questions would have been his every right after all the things you’d spat at him that night.

Once again, your heart squeezed in your chest as you held his gaze.

“I didn’t know it was the front door of Creel house. I only realized it when I saw it in Max’s painting, back at Skull Rock yesterday.”

“What else did you see?”, Eddie asked cautiously.

I saw you die. Eaten alive by a swarm of monstrous bats long before I knew these things even existed.

“There was someone behind that door. A disfigured hand…A claw. The thing wanted to be let in. And then, there was this…this pull.” A shudder ran through you, the pulse of the gate beyond the bedroom door laced with yours, like a second heartbeat hammering in your ears alongside your own. Like the yank of a leash. “It – he wanted me to open the door. I didn’t. And ever since that night, I’ve seen this door. Every night. In every dream. Until I opened it.”

“Why? What changed?”

You finally glanced back up at him.

You. He used you to trick me. Put you behind that door and made you scream for help because he knew I’d do everything for you. Everything.

“There was someone else behind that door. Screaming for help.”

“Who?”

“You.” You fiddled with the corner of the bedsheets. “I didn’t think. I just ran and opened it and when I woke up, I thought it had just been another nightmare.”

“They never stopped.”

“No,” you breathed. “After…” After that November night when I broke both our hearts. “They got worse.”

There was the softest rustle of leather when Eddie shuffled closer, and his fingers gently laced with yours again on the faded bedsheets – cautiously, giving you the chance to pull away.

“Is that…is that okay?”, he asked, and you gave him a soft nod.

“Yeah.”

It was more than okay. The touch made your skin tingle and sent sparks zapping along your nerves while your eyes flew open to meet Eddie’s.

For a few beautiful moments, you stayed like this, your hands entwined on the sheets, gazing at each other with this flurry of unspoken words in the space between you, your heart racing in your chest with such fervor that you were sure it would leap out of your chest and right into Eddie’s palm.

He still looked at you like this. Like you were the only thing that mattered. Like the world around him blurred when he was with you, just like yours did when you were with him.

There was something timid in the way he watched you now, something anxious in his eyes as he took a breath, opened his mouth –

With a resounding bang, the door flew open, making both of you start as Eddie let go of your hand and whirled around to the door as your head snapped up, but before you could get a single word out, you were tackled into a ferocious embrace that nearly knocked you off Eddie’s bed.

“You’re awake,” Nancy whispered, her hug squeezing the air out of you, her curls tickling your nose, “You’re alive.”

“Not much longer,” Robin’s voice chimed up somewhere from the door, “If you keep throttling her like that, Nance.”

A second pair of arms wrapped around you as Robin plopped down on the bed beside you to join the hug, and over Nancy’s shoulder, your gaze locked on Eddie, who’d scooted to the edge of the mattress to make room for your friends to squeeze in beside you.

Robin was the first one to let go.

“How do you feel?”, she asked, letting herself fall backwards and bumping into Eddie behind her in the process, “Like, do you feel like setting something on fire again? Because the one fire extinguisher we had is empty now so I guess if you set this trailer on fire, there’s nothing we can do.”

“It’s not like there’s a goddamn gate to another dimension in my living room already,” Eddie deadpanned, “But if you do, gimme a shoutout first so I can save my guitars.”

“By the way, the kids are still at the Mayfield’s trailer,” a third voice sounded from the doorway, and you met Steve’s relieved grin, “Fast asleep, and Lucas is watching out for Max so we got a while before Henderson realizes we’re making theories without –“

“You’re discussing stuff without me?!”, a voice chimed up from the door while Dustin squeezed himself past Steve through the door, before his blue eyes met yours and a relieved smile won over the annoyance as he said, “We thought we were losing you.”

The way he said it made fierce, protective affection for the boy warm your heart.

It was easy to forget that, when Will and Barb had gone missing three years ago and everything had started, Dustin and the rest of the party had been kids. Middle schoolers. And while Nancy and you had at least been teens at the time, Vecna had robbed Dustin, Will and the rest of them of a part of their childhood. When they should have stayed up all night playing D&D and telling each other horror stories, they’d been sucked into a deadly game with actual monsters and real deaths.

“Come here,” you smiled, patting the mattress between you and Eddie, “We could use your genius, Henderson.”

“At least one of you appreciates my skills,” the boy grinned with a glance at Steve, who muttered, “Yeah, feed his ego, will you.”

“Steve, not to be rude but we all know that I’m the brain of this party. And you’re the –“

“Dick,” Eddie finished with a nod, earning a glower from Steve and a snicker from Robin as you contemplated, “I’d say he’s the hair.”

“Fist,” Dustin grinned, plopping down on the mattress between Eddie and you, “I wanted to say fist.”

“To be the fist,” Robin crooned, “You’ll have to have won at least one fight.”

“Ha! I did!”, Steve called out, pointing at Robin, “I knocked out that Russian last year.” His gaze briefly flitted to Nancy, who’d been watching the banter with quiet amusement, and a soft smile curved her lips when her gaze met Steve’s, before she noticed you watching her and quickly glanced away again.

“There. I’m the fist”, Steve nodded.

“They drugged us about five seconds afterwards.”

“It doesn’t matter, Robin. I knocked him out cold. I won the fight.”

“And lost a tooth.”

“What’s that smell?”, Dustin asked, wrinkling his nose.

“That’s me,” Eddie said drily.

“You stink.”

“Yeah? I’ve been hunted by a mob, plunged into a cold lake two times, ran for my life, got trapped in another dimension which’s gate is eating my goddamn living room ceiling, and I nearly got burned into a crisp; all in a single night. If I stink, Henderson,” Eddie said good-naturedly, giving the boy a playful slap on the back of his head, “It’s my goddamn right.”

Dustin snickered, righting his cap again as he turned his head to give you one of his wide, infectious Dustin-Henderson-grins. “You should have seen him play. It was metal. Right in the middle of a fucking –“

“Language!”, Steve interjected with the mild annoyance of an overworked dad over the dinner table before he gave Eddie another glower. “He got that from you. You’re teaching him swear words, man. Not cool.”

Eddie opened his mouth for a clapback, but was cut off by Dustin who added, “There was fire everywhere. And Eddie just kept playing and singing while you were pulled to the ceiling and it was scary. So metal.”

The gleam in the boy’s blue eyes made you smile and Steve’s expression turned a little gloomy while Eddie’s gaze met yours, a slight blush creeping over his cheeks beneath the soot and bruises, just as Dustin added, “And Eddie told you –“

“That’s enough, big boy,” Eddie interjected with a playful shove against Dustin’s shoulder that wouldn’t match the pained expression in Eddie’s face, just as Nancy cleared her throat, making you start a little, before you noticed the look passing between Nancy and Robin.

“Told me what?”

“You should really drink something,” Eddie said, grabbing the still unopened bottle of Yoo-Hoo he’d discarded on the mattress, and you took it with a flinch.

“Ew, Yoo-Hoo?” Robin scrunched her nose. “That stuff tastes horrible. Like, that’s not even real chocolate in there. The girl just got Vecna’d, cut her some slack before making her drink that. I mean, who even puts chocolate into water? It’s gross.”

“Thank you!”, you exclaimed.

Eddie gave Robin an incredulous stare. “You all really lack taste.”

Steve tilted his head. “Can I get a bottle of that as w-“

“No,” Eddie quipped.

“Wow. Your customer service sucks. Now I know why you sell drugs instead of ice cream,” Steve deadpanned, and Eddie threw him a before he drawled, “We can’t all hop around in little sailor’s hats, Harrington.”

“Aw, don’t worry dingus, nobody wore it better,” Robin chimed in.

Steve gave her an exaggerated glare. “You, too, Robin? Seriously?”

“It was a very cute little hat,” Dustin grinned.

“Thank you, Henderson,” Steve quipped.

And with warmth in your heart, you realized what they were doing.

That this easy banter was their way of telling you it was okay.

There was a sudden lump in your throat.

They all looked so tired. Soot was smeared all over their faces and clothes, telling you in those six hours when you’d been knocked out, neither of them had had a chance or the mood to clean themselves up as they waited for you to wake, and Steve was still clad in only his pants and Eddie’s denim vest, the bandages wrapped around his abdomen smeared with grime and stained with blood seeping through the fabric.

“What happened in the Upside Down?”, you asked quietly, nodding at the makeshift-bandages.

“Bats,” Steve replied darkly.

And your heart ceased its next beat, your blood freezing in your veins.

“Obviously not normal bats, but killer bats. Upside Down bats.”

“Demobats,” Dustin corrected.

“These little bitches ripped a few pounds of flesh out of me while trying to strangle me to death but we got rid of them.”

“They’re guarding the gates,” Nancy added, “That’s why we were stuck there for a while. We couldn’t go back through –“

“Thought Watergate.”

“Through Watergate, yes.”

Their voices blurred into static, drowned out by the thundering of your heart in your own ears; too fast, to forceful, too loud.

They were real.

Not just some creatures from a nightmare used to terrorize you.

The voices of your friends slipped away, far away, as the memories of four months of nightmares returned full-force, of all the things you’d seen on the roof that November night. The images that had made you break Eddie’s heart.

Wings and talons and teeth pouncing down from the bleeding crimson skies, their shrieks filling the air like a chorus of distorted voices as it mingled with another scream, filled with agony and so horribly, horribly familiar because it was Eddie’s scream, from amidst the storm of these monstrous creatures.

These creatures were real. They existed in this dark mirror place, outside of the realm of your nightmares and hallucinations…and Eddie had met them already. Had fought them…

Too close. He’d gotten far too close already, like Icarus to the sun, the first blazing rays already burning away the tips of his wings.

“Hey,” Eddie’s voice made you snap out of your thoughts, your eyes locking on his in a wave of fresh panic.

He’d left his spot on the bed to kneel in front of you on the carpet, slowly taking the bottle of Yoo-Hoo from you to place it on the ground beside him as his eyes held yours, and Nancy’s arm wrapped around your shoulder.

Eddie needed to go. Far, far away from Hawkins, and from you.

You opened your mouth, but before you could voice all these things, Robin said, “Wait, what are we calling him now, by the way? Vecna? Henry? One? The Mind Flayer?”

“Henry,” Nancy stated just as Dustin and Eddie replied, “Vecna.”

“We’re going to call him Henry”, Nancy said, “Because that’s his name. He’s still human.”

“Ish,” Robin added.

“I’m not so sure,” you whispered, the image of Vecna’s rotting flesh, his spidery, disfigured claws reaching for you engraved in your mind. “He didn’t look human anymore. Not like a living person.”

Nancy bit her lip. “Calling him anything else will only make us fear him more.”

“I dunno about you,” Eddie deadpanned, “But the evil eldritch undead being from a parallel dimension with the power to kill people in their dreams as he sees fit doesn’t exactly, um. Lose its thrill just because the dude’s name is Henry.”

“Thank you for the input, Kate Bush,” Steve quipped, earning another cheeky smirk from Eddie as he nodded at the flash of Steve’s bare chest peeking out from beneath the denim vest while he quipped, “Is there a reason you still look like the love child of a Chippendale and a final girl, Harrington?”

The look passing between the two of them had lost its edge though, the bickering having simmered down to something akin of a good-natured banter that made you wonder what had happened to melt the ice which had frozen the air between Eddie and Steve only hours ago. You guessed running from monsters together did work actual miracles even on the most strained of relationships.

“That’s rich coming from the guy who looks like the chimney sweeper from Mary Poppins,” Steve quipped with an answering nod Eddie’s ash-smeared face, the soot darkening the fabric of his Hellfire shirt beneath the leather jacket, the scattering of ashes and residual spores from the Upside Down still caught in his messy curls.

“Guys, we need to focus,” Nancy interrupted.

“She’s right,” you said quietly, fidgeting with a loose thread in Eddie’s worn-out bedsheets. “Time’s running out.”

Eddie’s time.

“That’s the positive spin I was hoping for,” Steve quipped.

“Tell us,” Robin said softly. “”hat happened with the door you opened, I mean. What Vecna showed you.”

And with a steadying breath, you told them what you’d told Eddie.

About the nightmares, how Vecna had tricked you to open the door with the stained-glass roses to save Eddie. About the draw to the gates, the Upside Down calling out for you and this dark wish to heed its call.

You told them of the house on the Hill and the little boy who’d been Henry Creel, of the horrors beyond the door with the stained-glass roses, of Vecna’s collection of tortured souls and everything he’d shown you; little Henry’s past and the slaughter of his family. How Brenner had found him and the birth of Hawkins lab, of the massacre and brave little El, banishing Henry to the place now known as the Upside Down; the way this mirror realm had warped and twisted his body until his appearance matched the rot in his heart.

“And they were…they were all there?”, Robin whispered when you’d finished, breaking the rattled silence which had settled over Eddie’s bedroom. “Like, their souls?”

You swallowed, eyes closed as you gave a curt nod. “Yeah. Their souls, their consciousness…whatever you may call it. As mutilated as their…their bodies.”

“How many times did the clock in the sky chime?”, Dustin inquired.

It took a moment for you to realize Dustin’s question had been addressed at you, and another few seconds to retract the events in your mind before you whispered, “Four.”

“Are you sure?”

“I won’t forget a single second of this nightmare, Dustin. Four chimes.”

“Why is that even important?”, Steve questioned. “We know that creep has a weird relationship to clocks. Did he, by any chance, tell you why?”

“It scares him. Time scares him, I think.”

Your eyes found Eddie’s. He was sitting cross-legged on the ground in front of the bed, fidgeting with the little chain on the sleeve of his leather-jacket as he watched you. The expression in his umber eyes had dimmed, the smile which had played on his lips faded. He was watching you closely, the concern for you shining in his eyes overwhelming in its intensity.

“Four times,” Dustin echoed. “Max counted four chimes as well.”

“Four chimes make an hour,” Nancy contemplated.

“But what happens then?”, Robin pressed, panic making her voice tremble. “Do we know what happens after the fourth chime? Like, is he telling us that time’s running out?”

“The glass of the clock burst at the fourth chime,” you added quietly, your gaze firmly locked with Eddie’s. Your tether. The lighthouse’s guiding beam amidst the storm.

“What else did he show you?”, Robin pressed.

“Monsters. Spilling into Hawkins. An army of them.”

“Jesus Christ,” Eddie breathed, his voice shaking as hard as the hand he rubbed over his face, wincing as he grazed the freshly mended gash on his eyebrow, “Jesus H –“

“The gates,” Nancy breathed. “We know he’s killing people to open the gates. But why does he need more gates?”

“To send more…to send more monsters,” Robin guessed. “Through the gates. So Eleven can’t lock him out again.”

Eddie was still raking a trembling hand through his hair, sending a soft flurry of ashes and spores falling from his dark curls to the carpet as he shook his head, muted with his panic.

And he didn’t even know yet that Vecna was personally targeting him.

“But to get a whole army of monsters into Hawkins, he’ll need a lot of gates,” Steve assessed from his place by the window. “Like, a lot –“

“Fuck.”

All eyes locked on Dustin, who’d jumped up from the bed. His gaze was frantic as he breathed, “What if that’s what it is. He wants to attack but one gate isn’t enough, and that’s why he needs four gates. And if one killing opens one gate…”

“He’s one killing away from achieving his goal,” Nancy finished darkly.

“No. Four is still not enough,” Steve protested, “For a whole monster creepy-crawly army –“

“No,” Dustin called out, wringing his hands as if he were about to strangle you all with his frustration, “LISTEN to me, for fuck’s sake.”

“Dude,” Steve muttered. “We are listening. You’re just not making sense –“

“Jenga,” Dustin cut him off, nearly shouting the word.

“Game night,” Robin quipped. “I don’t think we got time for that, Henderson. Though I’m more of a Monopoly kind of –“

“JENGA! IT’S LIKE JENGA!”

There was a beat of silence as all of you stared at Dustin, who’d started to pace frantically.

“Okay, big boy,” Eddie said, “Maybe you, uh, should –“

“The tower. The – there is a wall between worlds,” Dustin interrupted, waving his hands, “Picture it like a Jenga tower. You pull away one block, and the tower still stands. You pull away two, it might start swaying a little but it still stands. You –“

“Holy shit,” Steve breathed.

“You pull away four,” Nancy said quietly. “And the tower collapses.”

“He’s been telling us his plan all along. We just never listened closely enough.”

“The earthquake,” you breathed.

“There have been more when we were in the Upside Down. Two more. Makes three earthquakes in total.”

“When the barrier between dimensions is gone, he won’t need any more gates. When there’s no wall, you don’t need to open doors to get on the other side. And when he kills his fourth victim, opens the fourth gate, it will make the Jenga tower – it will make the wall between dimensions collapse,” Dustin went on.

“Jesus fucking Christ –“ Eddie breathed, burying his face in his hands.

You waited for the realization to hit you like a punch to the gut, for terror to grip you – but you were only tired. So incredibly tired of fighting and panicking. And even with everything at stake, nothing could compare to the horror of losing Eddie. Of Vecna making true of his threat. His promise.

“Okay, we need a plan,” Nancy said as Dustin plopped down on the rug beside Eddie. “We need to kill Vecna before he can kill his fourth victim. Go back to the Upside Down –“

“No,” Eddie said vehemently, “Nope. No way.”

“We don’t even know if we can kill him,” Dustin threw in. “And before we can come up with a plan –“

“We need to figure out what’s wrong with me,” you said quietly, your voice as dark as the feeling in your chest.

“I wouldn’t have put it that way, but yeah,” Robin agreed.

At the sound of your voice, Eddie let his hands fall away from his face, glancing up at you as your friends started talking, all at once, their chorus of voices too loud as it mixed with the threat of Vecna’s voice playing in your head on repeat, a broken record.

I’ll take your songbird.

It was too much. Too much to grasp, and before you did anything else, you needed to get Eddie away, somewhere far away where not even Vecna could ever find him, and you needed to talk to Eddie alone to tell him that, make him understand –

“Stop!”, Eddie’s sudden voice rose over the noise, effectively cutting them off as all pairs of eyes locked on him, all of them surprised by his sudden vehemence save for Dustin.

“That’s not how you plan things,” he said. “Not at all. It’s chaos.”

Steve let his gaze roam over the mess in Eddie’s room, the assortment of clothes and music tapes and paper full of scrawled chords and doodles and books strewn over every surface, before he assessed, “Talk about chaos.”

Eddie rose to his feet, fierce determination replacing the utter terror which had been reigning over his expression in the past few minutes, the change like a light switch being flipped when he shifted into Dungeon Master mode.

“We can’t come up with a plan to defeat him if we still don’t know what we’re dealing with.”

Steve scoffed. “We do know. The dude is a psychopathic maniac with superpowers who wants world dominion after a little girl whipped his ass and banished him.”

“And what then, Harrington?,” Eddie drawled darkly, “Punch him in the face? As far as I heard, you couldn’t even do that with Billy Hargrove. What do you wanna do, send the little redhead in to sedate Vecna?”

“Shoot him,” Nancy said, her voice dark and even.

Eddie raked a hand through his curls – in exasperation this time, instead of panic.

Robin huffed. “I’m equally amazed and scared that your solution for every problem is a shotgun, Nance. And deeply impressed. But in this case, I’d like to hear what Eddie has to say.”

“While going in back in there to try and kill him right away might be noble and heroic,” Eddie assessed with a wave at the gate casting its eerie glow through his open bedroom door, “It’s stupid as Hell. There are moments for heroism. This one’s not one of them. There are too many questions we need to answer first.”

“Dude, this isn’t a game of D&D,” Steve muttered.

Eddie tilted his head, eyes narrowing. “I am aware, Steve.” He drawled out the name in this lilting way he sometimes spoke with, before he added, “Because if you die at the D&D table, you’ll be gone for the rest of the campaign. If you die at Vecna’s gaming table, you’ll be gone forever. So if you plan ahead during a game of D&D, shouldn’t you do the same thing when your actual life is at stake?”

“He’s right,” Dustin said, and Robin nodded in vehement agreement.

When Eddie looked at you, there was a flash of determination in his gaze, a quiet understanding passing between the two of you.

Together. As a team.

Without another word, Eddie grabbed something from his nightstand before he plopped down on the carpet in front of you again, placing the thing on the rug.

It was a black notebook.

“What’s that?”, Steve inquired, sounding a little suspicious.

Not batting an eye, Eddie replied, “Oh, just. You know. My satanic bible.”

There was a beat of silence before you snickered, and the sound put the widest beam on Eddie’s lips to make your heart soar in your chest, as the two of you stared at each other – until the moment was broken by Dustin’s giggle and the sound of Steve clearing his throat. Eddie opened the notebook and started to flip through the pages.

They were filled with notes and doodles, with the most intricate drawings of monsters and dice as Dustin let out an ecstatic squeal before he jumped off the bed to sit beside Eddie, the marvel in the boy’s eyes that of a child at Christmas morning.

“That’s your campaign notebook,” you breathed.

“He never lets anyone see his campaign notebook,” Dustin breathed in awe, reaching out to touch the booklet, but Eddie gently swatted his hand away.

“Only for Dungeon Masters,” he admonished half-heartedly as he kept flipping through the pages, “You’re not a Dungeon Master, Henderson.”

“Hurry up, man,” Steve muttered, crossing his arms in front of his chest as he threw Eddie’s back an annoyed glance, “We don’t have all night.”

Eddie stopped at an empty page, ringed hand smoothing out the page before he grabbed the pen clipped to the back cover. 

“You might be the slayer of monsters,” Eddie drawled with a grin up at you, drawing out the words to a musical lilt, “But I’m used to making them dance like little puppets on my strings.” He wiggled the fingers of his free hand in the air before he glanced back down at the page. “Okay, so. Uh, we got your superpowers, obviously.”

The pen flew over the page as Eddie doodled a little flame into the left corner.

“Then we got Vecna slash the Mind Flayer slash – yeah, you know.”

“Henry,” Nancy corrected pointedly.

“Henry,” Eddie echoed with a nod.

Silence fell over the group, filled only by the soft scratch of the pen on the paper, the persistent call of the gate only you could hear, its force weakened as you watched Eddie.

With growing fascination, you watched the movement of his hand while he guided the pen across the page with skilled, quick strokes, the rings on his hand glinting to trigger the memory of how it had felt, the brush of their smooth metal on your skin when Eddie’s calloused hands had wandered over your body, sending you into ecstasy. 

Even with the exhaustion carving shadows underneath his eyes, the bruises nearly as black as the soot still smeared across his pale features, Eddie was beautiful. One of his hands shot up to card fingers through the curls of his bangs falling into his face, the little chain on his leather jacket’s sleeve tinkling softly with the motion, and while he kept drawing with his other hand, he poked out his tongue like he always did when he focused on something. It was so him, that the surge of love flooding you momentarily stole your breath away.

“Henry…and the Upside Down” Eddie muttered, ripping you from your silent reverie, and your eyes quickly flitted down to the finished doodle of a crowned skull, looking more like the design for an actual tattoo than a quick doodle. He was truly skilled.

His head lifted as he glanced up at you, a soft smile playing on his lips when he said, “And we got you.” He added a little sword in the opposite corner of the page. It made you smile.

“Since when did you know you could do the fire-thing, by the way?”, Robin interjected.

“Since yesterday.”

“When you burned down the townhall?”

“Nope. When I burned down the boathouse.”

“Actually,” Eddie grinned, “She didn’t burn down the boathouse, she set Chance on fire.”

“Dude,” Steve commented.

“You’re a superhero,” Dustin exclaimed. “Like El.”

“I’m not.”

“It’s pretty fucking awesome,” Robin smirked, “To set fire with your mind. On our next movie night, we could make smores without ever having to make a fire.”

“There won’t be any next movie night,” Steve said grimly, “If we don’t hurry.”

“Can you move objects as well? Like El?”, Dustin asked, excitement widening his eyes.

“I’m pretty sure I can’t. It’s only fire, as far as I can tell.”

“If you only know since yesterday, maybe you can do more.”

“I’m sure I can’t.”

“Dustin’s got a point,” Nancy said, “If you’ve only known since yesterday –“

“I’m not like El, okay?!” They fell quiet, watching you as you took a deep breath, before you repeated, calmer this time, “I’m not like El. I don’t know where this is coming from but I know I’m not like El.”

“Henry is like El,” Nancy mused.

“But what do we even know about superpowers?”, Robin inquired, narrowing her eyes on the doodles in Eddie’s notebook. He was tapping the pen against the page, chewing his bottom lip as he narrowed his eyes on the drawing of the flame. You could basically see the wheels churning in his mind.

“We know El has been born with her powers,” Dustin said. “And so has Henry.”

“So does it work, like, I dunno, the Force?”, Eddie wondered, giving Dustin a thoughtful glance.

“What’s the Force? What’s he talking about?”

Robin groaned. “Steve! Star Wars?”

“Dude, how are you even working at a video store?”, Eddie wondered, throwing Steve a glance over his shoulder.

“It’s honest work,” Steve quipped, “Opposed to selling drugs.”

“It’s not that honest if you keep recommending movies you haven’t even watched,” Eddie retorted with a drawl.

“It’s the one with the teddy bears,” Robin groaned, and Steve’s face lit up as he nodded in recognition.

Nancy sighed. “Can we focus?”

“The ability to control the Force,” Eddie said slowly, as if talking to a child, “Is something you’re born with.”

“And since El and Henry have been born with their powers, and we don’t know anyone who somehow acquired them,” Nancy deduced, “It’s safe to assume you were born with them.”

You cocked an eyebrow. “Don’t you think I would have known sooner if I was?”

“Maybe you didn’t notice,” Eddie wondered.

“I’m pretty sure I would have noticed things randomly going up in flames around me.”

“Okay, then…what triggered it?”, Dustin wanted to know, leaning forward.

“Panic.” For Eddie. It had always been your panic for Eddie to trigger this strange power.

Robin snorted. “It’s safe to say you weren’t born with it, then. I guess in those three years of Upside Down business, you’d have noticed if your panic had set something on fire.”

“We could put it to the test,” Dustin proposed.

Steve scoffed. “Okay so what, we’ll just, like, hold her at gun point? Is that your plan, Henderson? That won’t work. She knows we’d never hurt her.”

“It was never panic for myself,” you corrected quietly, cheeks burning. “The first time, it was when Jason and his friends locked me up at the townhall after they found out about Eddie hiding at Rick’s. The second time was at the boathouse, when they…when Jason wanted to hurt Eddie. And the third was in my trance.”

“What did he show you?”, Robin asked quietly.

There it was again, this horrible image which had burned itself into your mind like the letters set into a tombstone, the newest addition to your own collection of horrors. Eddie’s eyes, the white of freshly fallen snow, tears of blood running down his cheeks.

“Eddie’s death,” you whispered.

There was a beat of silence, before Steve quipped, “Wait, so we’re gonna need to hold Eddie at gun point? Because yeah, I can do that.”

“Okay, we’ll – stop. Nobody is going to be held at gunpoint,” Nancy interjected, earning her a raised eyebrow from Robin who commented, “Says Miss Gunpoint.”

“You held me at gunpoint,” Steve protested with a flirtatious little smirk at Nancy, “But you won’t hold him at gunpoint?”

“You were acting like a jerk,” Nancy replied softly, the barely suppressed smile on her lips as telling as the beet-red blush on her cheeks before Robin interjected, “Have you seen Eddie’s huge brown doe eyes? We can’t hold him at gunpoint even if we wanted to. That would be like threatening Bambi.”

You couldn’t tear your gaze away from Eddie, whose eyes were wide as he stared at you, their intensity making your skin prickle, a flurry of unspoken questions swirling in the umber of his eyes alongside all the emotions shining there – but the moment was broken when Dustin called out, “Will! Will got powers”, making Eddie start a little with the sudden exclamation.

“He can feel the Mind Flayer. Vecna.”

“Henry.”

“The point is,” Dustin went on, ignoring Nancy, “He can feel him.”

“That’s a connection, not a superpower,” Nancy protested. “It can be used as a superpower, but it definitely doesn’t count as one.”

“’kay, let’s focus on connections then,” Eddie said slowly, before his gaze met yours and his voice took on a gentle hue. “Do you still feel it?” It was a softspoken question, his tone timid as if he were worried to distress you. “The gate, I mean.”

You gave him a slow nod, before you whispered, “All the time.”

You could feel Dustin’s blue eyes on you as he inquired, “What does it feel like?”

“Alive.”

Eddie furrowed his brow, tilting his head as he waited for you to go on.

“It’s…it’s like a heartbeat. Not the gate in itself, it’s more…it’s more where it leads.”

“The Upside Down.”

“Yeah.”

There was a beat of silence as Eddie nodded, and you went on, “As far as I can tell, Will never wanted to go back to that place.”

“He didn’t,” Dustin agreed. “He was scared of it.”

“I don’t think speculation will lead us anywhere,” Nancy groaned.

Robin patted her back. “We’re in the brainstorming phase.”

“We’ll never move out of the brainstorming phase at this rate,” Steve quipped. “We’ll be stuck in the brainstorming phase when Vec- Henry sends his monsters.”

“No, sorry. I can’t do that,” Robin muttered, “I can’t call this guy Henry. It’s…he’s Vecna now. I’m going to call him Vecna.

Dustin glanced up at you. “Do you have any idea why Vecna needed you to open the door?”

“I didn’t even know I was opening a door for Vecna when I did it,” you said quietly. “I didn’t know.”

“But why?”, Dustin wondered, “Why did he need someone to open the door, and why did he choose you?”

“He chose me because El and Will were already too far away, in Lenora. He said it himself. And I guess he needed someone who at least had a connection to him. And since I was…I was flayed…”

“Your connection to him is the same as Will’s,” Dustin said.

You nodded.

“I’m confused,” Steve announced.

“You always are,” Dustin retorted.

“I get that he needs an open gate to come into our Hawkins,” Steve said, giving Dustin an indignant glower, “But – physical gates. What did you open? Where?”

“That’s actually a good question, dingus.”

“Thank you, Robin,” Steve retorted indignantly. “I’m just saying, why did he even manage to target you in the first place, because I was pretty sure as long as he was locked on the other side, he was powerless.”

There was a beat of silence before Dustin muttered, “Shit. I never thought about that.”

“What else did he tell you, monster slayer?”, Eddie asked softly, tilting his head a little as he caught your gaze.

It was only then that you noticed what had escaped you before, because you’d hardly ever been anything but alone with Eddie. But now that the others were around for longer, you realized that, while he was charming and kind and sweet with everyone, this special kind of softness in his voice, his eyes…it was meant for only you.

You closed your eyes.

“When I’m done with you, when I have taken back what is mine, what you stole from me – I will take your songbird.”

Your blood froze with the realization of the glaringly obvious variable which had slipped your notice.

“Little Thief,” you whispered, realization barreling through you with such force that you jolted from the bed as it hit you. You needed to move. “Oh my god. He kept calling me Little Thief. He said I stole something from him.”

“Stole,” Eddie repeated slowly.

“I thought he meant his victory. We all stole his victory from him. We stopped him, and I thought he was angry with me because he was angry with all of us but…” You trailed off, pressing the heels of your hands over your eyes, watching the pattern of tiny white dots dance through the darkness of your closed eyes as your mind was going a mile a minute.

“What if he meant something else?”, you whispered, eyes flying open to look at Eddie.

You could feel it, passing like a spark; the idea flashing in Eddie eyes as he froze mid movement when realization hit you like a truck, the final missing piece of the puzzle falling into place.

“You stole something from me. Something valuable. And before I take it back…I’ll steal the most precious thing from you, little thief.”

“The most precious thing,” you breathed, your voice barely more than a susurration in the air as you echoed Vecna’s words, “He told me I stole the most precious thing from him.”

“Monster slayer,” Eddie’s soft voice made your head snap up. He’d risen from his spot on the ground, standing in front of you now as his umber eyes scanned your face, his dark curls standing on edge from all of his nervous raking-through them, his eyes wide, realization taking root in his mind. He looked breathless, as if he’d run a marathon. “What you said to me earlier. About something…something staying behind. Do you remember the moment he left, last summer?”

[Thursday, July 4th, 1985. THEN. THE BATTLE OF STARCOURT.]

The world had descended into flames and agony, the heat on your skin unbearable, the cacophony of voices blurring around you as you screamed, as this thing inside your head screamed.

All you wanted was for it to stop. Stop stop stop stop STOP “STOP STOP STOP STOP STOOOOOP!”

“Higher.”

“It’s killing her!”

“That means it’s working.” The boy’s voice was barely audible over the noise of your tormented, broken screams.

“LET GO! LET ME GO! LETMEGOOOO!”

“Scratch out their eyes,” The thing in your head commanded. “Tear the skin from their bones, rip out their hearts –“

There were horrible images in your head.

NO.

And something happened.

The creepers around your mind…they started to loosen.

Their chokehold around that dying spark that was left of you was fading as if these vines of shadow were hurting.

As the heat was burning it away.

Scorching it, melting it.

And that ember which was left of you flared to life with hatred for this writhing, creeping shadow which had locked you up in your own mind and had forced you to do its evil bidding.

It had taken something from you. Something you would never get back.

Now it was your turn to take something in return.

There was a girl’s angry scream lacing with your own in the scorching air as an invisible force ripped the darkness out of you – and you lashed out at this vile, dark shadow in your head, making it screech and hiss and writhe in your mind’s grip.

You wanted to hurt it like it had hurt you, tearing and ripping at it as it was forced out of you, black mist rising from your lips as the contorted scream of this thing turned into your own.

The pillar of black smoke bursting from your lips and into the air with a shrill noise, like nails on a chalkboard, burned itself into your memory as someone loosened the ropes around your wrists, a pair of arms pulling you backwards, and a familiar voice soothed, strained with the sob she was holding back, “We got you. It’s gone. He’s gone – right?”

“Yes,” El replied, the back of her hand swiping at the blood which was drip-dropping from her nose. “Gone.”

And this time when the darkness crept in at the edges, it was a peaceful one.

Of exhaustion and relief, as your quiet sobs stole your voice, and the darkness stole your sobs.

Yes, the monster was gone.

But it had left something behind, something you’d ripped away from it.

A sliver of a shadow, a dark fingerprint on your soul. A stain, black like tar, soaking through the fabric of your very essence.

Spreading.

[Monday, March 25th, 1986. NOW.]

It crashed over you like an icy wave, knocking you off your feet and making you sink to the floor, slowly, as Eddie’s hands shot out to grasp your elbows, holding you as he slowly knelt in front of you.

The memory had been buried underneath all the pain of this moment, a thousand razor-sharp blades ripping your body and mind to shreds as they’d burned the black smoke out of you.

As you’d lashed out at this twisted, evil thing in fury and hatred.

Something had stayed behind.

You did this to yourself, Vecna had said. Because you had.

“I wanted him to hurt the way he hurt me,” you whispered, eyes locked on Eddie’s, concern and bewildered realization brimming in them. “When he left, I…I think I lashed out. And something…ripped away. From him.”

“Holy. Fucking. Shit,” Robin’s whisper filled the stunned silence.

And with this one missing piece, the whole puzzle came together, all the lose pieces falling into place.

“You stole some of his powers,” Eddie breathed, an incredulous laugh bubbling from his lips, “Jesus Christ, you stole some of his goddamn powers, monster slayer. That’s the most badass shit ever.”

“And when I’m done with you, taken back what is mine – I’ll take your songbird.”

Vecna’s words, playing on repeat in your head, drowning out the chaos which had erupted at the realization, your friends talking all at once, their words blurring to background noise.

“Hey, you okay?”, Eddie murmured, the smile slipping at the sight of whatever it was that was shining in your eyes.

No. Things were as far from okay as they could get.

Misinterpreting your terror for being overwhelmed, Eddie shouted, “Stop!” – and to your surprise, the others obliged again, the havoc dying down at once to make room for another crestfallen silence.

“That’s why I can feel the gates,” you breathed. “That’s why part of me wants to go there.”

Amidst all the panic, there was a wave of temporary relief flooding you, because…there wasn’t something fundamentally wrong with you. This part of you that wanted to go to the Upside Down, that purred at the sensation of the dark pulse of the gates thrumming through your blood, this homesickness you were feeling for this horrible mirror realm…this, at least, wasn’t you…was it? Did it belong to you now?

“What does that mean about the gates?”, Dustin blurted, and Eddie stretched to grab his notebook from where he’d discarded it on the floor, the hem of his Hellfire shirt riding up to expose a sliver of his stomach, revealing a glimpse at the path of his happy trail dipping below the waistband of his ripped jeans –

Maybe there was something fundamentally wrong with you.

At least the tug in your chest at the brief glimpse of Eddie’s happy trail wasn’t whatever part you’d ripped away from Vecna’s power but your own damn mind.

Silver linings.

You rose on shaky legs to place yourself back on the mattress, between Robin and Nance, watching as Eddie grabbed the pen Dustin extended for him.

“’kay, let’s sum this up. Monster slayer stole a part of Vecna’s power –“ he connected the doodle of the flame with Vecna’s skull, and then your sword, “Which means that part of his power is the bridge between you and him.” Another line, this one to connect the sword with the doodle of the skull to form a triangle. “That’s why he’s been able to target you.”

“Which leaves the connection to the gates,” Dustin added, watching as Eddie drew a door into the middle of the triangle.

“So he needed Y/N to open a door for him,” Nancy summed up, “Because…why?”

Eddie looked up from the notebook, gaze flitting between all of you as he said, “You said when the gates closed, his uh, hosts always died. Right?”

“Yes.”

“Only that Y/N wasn’t a host. The part she stole from him – that wasn’t possession, because she made it her own by ripping it off of him when he left.”

“Are you trying to say –“

“It’s hers now.” Eddie’s eyes found yours. “It belongs to you more than to him, but – it’s like a bridge between the two of you. A living part of him remaining here –“ he tapped the pen at the sword symbol, “While the rest of him is in the Upside Down. It’s…it’s like –“

“A relay!” Dustin called out, and when there was silence as all of you stared at him, he let out an exasperated sigh. “Really? A relay? Never heard of that?”

“Just explain it then, Dustin,” Nancy replied with equal exasperation.

“Fine. It enhances RT signals. Think of Vecna as an RT unit. He’s in the Upside Down, and his signals can’t reach our Rightside Up Hawkins because the wall between worlds is too thick for them to pass through and he’s too far away. But if there’s a relay on the other side to enhance the signal, it will be strong enough.”

“So I’m his relay,” you breathed as Eddie added, “That’s how he managed to target Max and the others. The part of him you stole enhanced his signal.”

“Exactly,” Dustin nodded, his happy little grin a little out of place as scientific enthusiasm got the better of him.

“That’s what the door was,” you breathed. “Not an actual gate, but a connection between us. And by opening it, I became his relay.”

“Exactly!”

“Dustin, you’re aware we’re still talking about murder and not a science fair, right?”, Steve admonished, sounding a little like Ted Wheeler.

Eddie’s eyes met yours. “And with every victim he killed…”

“…more gates opened,” you finished.

He nodded. “And that’s why your powers only acted up two days ago. They’re still connected to the Upside Down, to their origin.”

“Which means if the gates closed, I couldn’t set things on fire anymore.”

“Holy fuck,” Dustin breathed. “We cracked the code.”

“I’m getting a migraine,” Steve murmured.

“Steve didn’t crack shit,” Robin chuckled.

“Wait,” Dustin spluttered, “Wait, does that mean you could tap into the hivemind?”

“In my trance, I could,” you said slowly, “But I’m pretty sure it doesn’t work like that.”

“We still need to see whether we can train you.”

“Train me? When? Vecna is going to trigger the apocalypse in what could be hours, I don’t have time to become a Jedi.”

“A what? What’s that?”

“Star Wars,” Robin and Eddie admonished once more, and this time, the glare Steve threw Eddie was murderous. “You know, I’m not being a bitch about you obviously having no clue about basketball, Munson.”

“Okay,” Nancy announced, rising from her place on the bed to walk to the window, “With everything we know now, the basics of the plan still stand.”

“Yup. The plan,” Eddie echoed, flipping the notebook shut with a soft clap as you furrowed your brow.

“It’s easy,” Dustin explained, turning to you. “Before you went unconscious, you told us that Vecna is Henry is One so he’s human, he’s like El.”

“Just in the grown-up evil child-murdering psychopath version,” Robin added helpfully.

“Which means when he uses his powers, he goes into a trance-like state. He has to enter the Void. Like El. Which makes him vulnerable.”

“And killable,” Steve threw in.

“And killable,” Dustin agreed.

“The killable part is the most important,” Robin added.

Nancy turned away from the window, her gaze finding yours, “So the plan is simple. Max will ditch Kate Bush and make herself vulnerable, baiting him.”

Your mind was reeling.

“She what?! You can’t –“

“We already discussed that,” Dustin interrupted.

“The little redhead won’t take no for an answer,” Eddie mused darkly.

Nancy went on, “And when he’s in the Void to get to Max, we’ll draw the bats away from his lair and kill him.”

“Like sleeping Dracula in his coffin,” Dustin grinned. “And we’ll drive the stake right through his heart.”

“Wait,” you breathed, “The bats. How –“

“I’ll divert them,” Eddie said, giving you a proud little smirk, “With my guitar. Lure them away long enough for team Stab Dracula to succeed. No more running. I’m done being Eddie The Banished. Time to become Eddie The Brave.”

“No.” It came out as a hollow whisper – but Eddie’s timid little smile vanished as if you’d slapped him.

You felt frozen. As if your blood had turned to ice as shock and panic and terror flooded you in a tidal wave, pulling you under, robbing the air from you and making your heart race with the despair of the forlorn as Eddie’s death cries, the soundtrack of your nightmares, rang through your mind, loud as a bell.

I’m going to take your songbird.

And your songbird was about to present himself to the cat on a silver platter.

“No,” you breathed, repeating the word, “No, you can’t do that.”

The hurt in Eddie’s eyes throttled your words of explanation as despair clawed its way up your throat.

“You think I can’t be the diversion ‘cause I haven’t slain a monster before?”, Eddie challenged quietly.

“That’s not what I said.”

“It sounded pretty much exactly like you thought it.”

“It kinda did,” Steve said quietly.

“It’s not what I meant.”

“Okay, I mean, he’s the diversion,” Steve interjected, raising his hands, “It’s not like he’s going in there with us, I’m sure he’ll handle it.”

You knew Steve well enough to tell he hadn’t been thinking about the impact of his words, focused on soothing your own terror – but you could see those words had struck home with Eddie. You remembered all the times he’d scolded himself for running away when Chrissy had died, the shame he felt about leaving her there even though there had been nothing he could’ve done to help –

“I fought those things before,” Eddie said quietly, averting his gaze from you – and that was the worst. “A few hours ago.”

“Well, four of them,” Robin added with a little wince, “Not, like, the swarm of hundreds you’ll be running from once they get to you.”

You could feel the bile rising in your throat, the culmination of images, one crueler than the other, was pelting down on you with the force of a hailstorm. You were going to be sick. You were –

“Please don’t. You can’t do that,” you choked out, and the betrayal in Eddie’s eyes when they finally met yours again was a knife through your heart. “Eddie –“

“So, uh, what else should I do? Stay on the playground with eleven-years-old Erica Sinclair?”

“Leave. You’re wanted for murder. Leave Hawkins and –“

Even Steve scrunched his nose in a muted wince as you blurted the words, panic stealing every sense and filter because you needed to keep him safe, needed to keep him away from the Upside Down and Vecna and his killer bats.

“I’m done running.” Eddie’s voice wasn’t harsh, or sharp. Just determined. As if he wanted to prove himself.

“Okay,” Nancy interrupted, her voice a little too loud, a little too high-pitched, “I think we’re all tired and done for today.”

“Done?”, Dustin echoed, “We need to fight!”

“And to do that, we need to have some rest and prepare ourselves.”

Dustin deflated a little at Nancy’s tone.

“You know, that’s the exact same mistake you keep making when playing D&D,” Eddie said softly, climbing back to his feet and discarding the notebook on the bed beside you before he gave Dustin a playful shove on the head, “Always charging ahead no matter the consequences ‘cause you’re so goddamn impatient.”

It sounded good-natured – and it sounded worried.

Dustin glanced up at Eddie, and the admiration in the boy’s eyes warmed your heart, though the feeling subsided as you saw the strange expression in Eddie’s eyes when he sat on the bed beside you. He didn’t look angry or even hurt – he looked curious.

“Are you having a book club session over here or why are you taking so long?”, a voice chimed up from the door.

“Erica,” Nancy said, “Wait, is everything okay with Max?”

“She’s asleep,” the girl retorted, crossing her arms in front of her chest with her usual not-taking-any-bullshit-expression. “So?”

“We cracked the code,” Dustin grinned.

“Okay, so when we actually want a bit of rest before tomorrow…”, Nancy began, and Robin was quick to fill in her pause, a smirk on her lips, “I guess we’ll need to guard the gate.”

Eddie eyes widened. “Do you think anything will try to…get through tonight? Like, like the bats or shit?”

Eyebrows raised, Dustin said, “I don’t think we need to – “

“Guard it all together,” Nancy cut him off.

Robin’s smirk widened. “Definitely not, good point, Henderson.”

“That’s not –“

“We’ll split the night shift into teams so the rest will catch up on sleep in the meantime, and a shower.” Robin angled her head to sniff at her shoulder, scrunching her nose. “Because we stink.”

“Yes, you do,” Erica added helpfully.

“Yeah?”, Steve muttered, “You go through a lake to another dimension and run from monsters that want you as their starter course and we’ll see how good you’ll smell.”

Erica gave him a side-eye. “And are you gonna be whining about that for the rest of the night like a crybaby, Steve? ‘Cause then I’d like to not be teamed up with you. Are we done chit-chatting teams now or is this a damn game night?”

“Okay,” Nancy breathed, pinching the bridge of her nose, “Just…let’s not make a big deal of it. The kids will stay at Max’s and the grown-ups will guard the gate in three-hour-shifts. Y/N and Eddie, you can take the first shift.”

You met Eddie’s gaze, shining with something you couldn’t quite pinpoint yet, and that frizzy, bubbly giddiness returned to your chest full-force at the thought of being alone with Eddie again. And relief, because three hours hopefully would be enough to convince him to leave and save himself.

“Robin, we’ll take the second one,” Nancy went on, “And Steve can watch the kids over at –“

“No,” Steve interrupted, “I’m not playing babysitter again.”

“We’re not babies,” Erica shot back, “I’m eleven.”

“Good,” Steve exclaimed, running a hand through his hair before he plopped down on the bed. Right between you and Eddie, half-sitting on Eddie’s lap who scooted farther to the side to make room with an annoyed mutter of, “Great. Thanks, dude,” which Steve commented with, “Well where am I supposed to sit, on the ground?”

“Well, right now you’re sitting on my lap.”

“Well, you could scoot over and make room for one more. It’s a big bed.”

Eddie quipped, “Are we back to the problem how many people plus your ego will fit?”

“I’ll be joining Y/N and Eddie,” Steve announced, wiggling a little in his new seat between the two of you, forcing Eddie to scoot away even farther to begrudgingly make room, “Guarding the gate. It’ll be fun.”

“Which gate will you be guarding?” Robin asked with a sardonic smirk.

Her words set your cheeks ablaze, and you found yourself glad for now that Steve had placed himself between Eddie and you.

Louder, with a shit-eating grin on her face, Robin drawled, “Actually, dingus, somebody’s gotta watch the kids and I figured it was my turn. I’d have proposed you and Nance could team up so you wouldn’t have to babysit for once.”

The glance Robin gave you wasn’t as subtle as she might have thought.

Nancy’s eyes screamed murder at Robin before they caught Steve’s, and in the periphery of your vision, you could see Eddie trying to catch your gaze while you were having a hard time ignoring those big brown eyes because your face still felt as if it would go up in flames any second now.

But once again, the draw to Eddie was stronger, robbing every last ounce of your self-restraint. When you raised your head and turned to look at him, he asked, “You okay with this? If you wanna go join the party over at red’s trailer and get some rest –“

“No,” you replied quickly, just as Robin announced, “Monster slayer here slept through the past six hours, I’m pretty sure she’s the most well-rested one of us all.”

“Good,” Nancy announced, striding out of Eddie’s room, “Let’s go over to Max’s, then, and have some rest.” With a glance at you and Eddie, she added, “Thanks for taking the first shift, you two. See you in three hours.”

Three hours alone with Eddie.

Three hours to tell him the final truth about Vecna’s plot of revenge and talk him out of this stupid plan.

While Robin threw you another not-so-subtle wink, Steve looked as if he couldn’t decide whether to feel annoyed by the thought of Eddie and you being left alone for three hours, or giddy at the prospect of spending the same amount alone with Nancy, and the resulting expression in his face would have been almost comical, hadn’t your own nerves turned into a jangled mess.

You wanted to be alone with Eddie, so much so that it felt like a painful eternity as everyone made their way to the trailer’s front door – but you knew that this time, there wouldn’t be any more stolen kisses like the one at Skull Rock, in blissful ignorance of everything else that had happened.  

Fiddling with the hem of your sweatshirt, you watched as Erica, Robin and Steve stepped into the sunset outside, painting the sky above the Forest Hills trailer park in shades of vibrant oranges and crimson that reminded you of the skies in Vecna’s lair, sending chills down your spine.

Nancy was the last one to exit the trailer.

Her hand on the doorhandle, she turned around, throwing you a meaningful glance over her shoulder.

You knew she was thinking about the things she’d said to your earlier at the shore of Lover’s Lake.

“To find someone who makes you so happy, despite everything else going up in flames…some people wait a whole lifetime for this kind of thing and yet never find it. So if you found that with Eddie…you should hold on to him for dear life.”

The tiniest of knowing smiles was tugging at the corners of her mouth when she walked away, pulling the front door shut behind her.

The soft click of it was too loud in the sudden heavy silence.

And you were alone with Eddie.

And the gate.

It was gaping right above your heads, stretching between you; the rip between worlds.

The echo of its dark pulse vibrated through your bones. Come see me. Come join me. Come home, its dark whisper echoed alongside every beat – but Eddie’s presence behind you held so much more power, sending your mind into overdrive as you were reeling with nerves, catapulted back into a glittering November night which had started with hope and happiness, and had ended in shards and tears and heartbreak, right in the very spots you were standing right now.

Which cruel irony, to have said and done all those things that night in order to keep Eddie far away from the Upside Down and its horrors, only for it to have sucked him right into the middle of this whole mess. All this pain to keep him out of harm’s way and yet harm had found and followed Eddie Munson like a malignant shadow.

Back to square one.

“So, uh, you hungry?” Eddie’s hesitant voice made you turn around, “I could scour the kitchen for dinner, I’m pretty sure we still got a can of stew somewhere.”

“Yeah.” You scrunched your nose a little at the stench lingering in your hair, on your skin, every thread of fabric in your soot-stained sweatshirt; a mix of lake water, sweat and smoke. “Or maybe I should take a shower first.”

Eddie let out a half-hearted chuckle.

“Yup. Sinclair’s right, we reek.”

“You more than me, though,” you teased softly, and a playful little smirk lingered on Eddie’s lips when he retorted, “Yeah. Took a hike through a realm with lots of nasty shit.”

“Together with Steve The Hair Harrington.”

Eddie’s grin widened. “I specifically meant Harrington. But, uh, monsters were there, as well, as you know. I’m allowed to stink.”

“You are.”

“Entitled to it, if you will.”

“The most metal smell,” you agreed.

Eddie snorted. “That’s the smell of several mental breakdowns, but since Max told me what the two of you’ve been up to in the meantime, I’d wager the cops were having a harder time than I did.”

At his words, you laughed.

The sound had grown as foreign to you as the feeling which had caused it.

The last time you’d laughed, genuinely laughed, had been that November night before everything had fallen to pieces.

At the sound of it, Eddie’s mischievous smirk fused into a full-blown beam, as radiant as the spring sun, before he said softly, “I missed that so much, monster slayer, you’ve noooo idea. Your…your laugh. I’m glad you didn’t lose it despite...” He gestured vaguely at the gate.

At his words, giddiness rushed through you to make your pulse flutter and your heart race – but in the beat of silence which followed, Eddie’s smirk faltered again, all the leaden anxiety beneath the light-hearted façade shining through as he glanced down and fiddled with the clasp of his bracelet. “Uh, you got ten minutes.”

At your confused blink, he elaborated, “The shower. There’s, um. Ten minutes of hot water. Then it gets freezing. Sorry.”

“No, it’s…ten minutes is enough.”

Neither of you moved to increase the distance.

The air was laced with all the unspoken words of the past four months and the past few hours, floating in the air between the two of you like the particles in the Upside Down, a strange kind of static sizzling in the air while the kiss you’d shared at Skull Rock hung over the two of you like a ghost haunting an abandoned mansion.

Your gaze left his eyes to travel to the gash on his eyebrow peeking out from the soot and the curls of his bangs.

“We should clean that cut,” you said softly.

“Should I grab my uncle’s whiskey?”, Eddie chuckled softly.

You snickered. “I think soap will do just fine this time.”

“You’re a sadist.”

“I’m a realist.”

“Same thing,” Eddie smirked as you walked past him into the trailer’s tiny bathroom, gesturing for him to follow you.

You felt light-headed – and light-hearted, realizing now that all the secrets which had been weighing down your heart, locked up there and hidden from Eddie…you’d set them free. Had opened the door to their cage and let them go, and the feeling of relief that stayed behind, of knowing that nothing had changed in the way Eddie was looking at you, filled you with the feeling of floating like a feather, after you’d been drowning in them for so long.

It had felt like resurfacing from a freezing lake, right after oxygen would have run out and your lungs filled with water to suffocate and drown you in those depths.

Eddie flipped on the lonely lightbulb that dangled from the ceiling before he plopped down on the edge of the bathtub as you proceeded to soak a towel under the tap, heart already speeding at the prospect of having an excuse to be close to him again.

The memory of Eddie’s arms wrapped around you while you’d sobbed only an hour ago, the way he’d painted soothing patterns on your back while resting his chin on the crown of your head, not caring that you were soaking the collar of his Hellfire shirt with snot and tears…you shook it off, focusing on spreading soap on the sodden towel before you turned to Eddie.

“Can you –“ you began, but Eddie already raked his fingers through the curls of his bangs, brushing them away from the cut, and the towel raised in your hand, you stepped closer, coming to stand between his legs.

“If you tell me this is gonna burn, I’ll make an unapologetic fire-joke,” Eddie warned with a soft little grin, his eyes timid as he followed your movement, closing his eyes before the edge of the sodden towel could graze the cut.

His pained little grimace at the contact made your heart bleed for him all over again – and your anger at Jason and his cronies flare before you pushed it back down.

While you softly dabbed the towel at the mended gash to clean the soot from the seams of the wound, Eddie said quietly, “Robin, um…told me about the townhall meeting.”

There was a beat of shaken silence. “Did she.”

“Yeah.”

“It didn’t do any good,” you said quietly, watching a droplet of soapy water slowly run down Eddie’s temple, collecting some of the ashes smeared at the corner of his eye before you caught it with the towel, and Eddie’s eyes fluttered open to meet your own.

In the dim bathroom light, the beautiful umber shade of his irises seemed even darker as he scanned your face.

“It was brave of you,” Eddie murmured. “To tell them about Jason.”

You swallowed against the sudden lump in your throat, at a loss for words.

I did it for you, you wanted to tell him, but the words were stuck in your throat.

“You know, you look a little like a chimney sweeper, too,” Eddie changed the topic with a tilt of his head, the ghost of a soft smile playing on his lips as he rose from the edge of the bathtub.

A quick glance in the mirror above the sink proved him right.

Your face was a soot-stained as Eddie, a few lost flakes of ashes or spores clinging to your own hair just like they did with Eddie’s, your eyes bloodshot from all the crying.

Eddie’s gaze met yours in the mirror before he glanced down, and with a tentative motion, he raised his hands to place them over your own, still clutching the towel.

The touch of his rough palm against the back of your hand made your skin tingle in the best of ways, and your breath hitched in your throat as Eddie’s other hand gently pried your fingers open to take the towel from you as he murmured, “Your turn?”

It was a question more than a statement, and his gaze was searching as it held yours.

You gave him a nod, and Eddie reached around you to pat the empty space on the bathroom drawer beside the sink, gesturing for you to sit down, and with the swarm of butterflies going haywire, you obliged, pushing yourself up to sit on the wooden surface while you watched Eddie wash his hands over the sink, scrubbing away the soot from his fingers before he grabbed a fresh towel from the drawer beneath.

There was a beat of companionable silence, filled only by the low gushing sound of water and the soft tinkle of the chain on the sleeve of Eddie’s leather jacket against the porcelain edge of the sink as he held the towel under the tap, waiting for the fabric to soak.

“’kay,” he murmured, stepping towards you, the towel raised in one hand, brushing an exceedingly unruly curl away from his face. You parted your legs so he could position himself between your knees, and your heart did a backflip in your chest only the most skilled cheerleader would have been able to master when Eddie gave you another timid little smile.

A whole choreography of somersaults followed when he leaned closer, close enough for his breath to fan across your lips, and you couldn’t tear eyes from him as Eddie’s fingertips gently grazed the side of your face to brush away a few stray strands, before slowly tilting your head a little upwards.

The touch was a tender twin to Jason’s violent one, you realized. Where Jason’s fingers had dug into your skin hard enough to hurt when he’d forced you to look at him at the boathouse, the touch of Eddie’s fingertips on your jaw was as gentle and light as the brush of a feather, giving you the chance to shove him away any time.

For the ephemeral span of a heartbeat, Eddie’s dark gaze flitted down to rest on your lips, the kiss you’d shared at Skull Rock in the veil of the spring night only hours ago hovering between the two of you like a ghost in a haunted mansion, present in the slim space between you, mingling with your breaths – and for the beautiful span of that moment, you waited for Eddie to kiss you again.

For his soft lips to brush against yours, steal your breath away again – but he didn’t.

Instead, he started cleaning the soot from your right cheek, the wet towel brushing over your skin in gentle motions, and your eyes fluttered closed.

For a few moments, you let yourself be immersed in the peaceful quiet which settled over the two of you, filled only by the steady sounds of your breaths as you relished the sensation of the warm towel against your skin, the proximity to Eddie, standing between your legs. So close that you could smell the sweat and the smoke on him, the faint traces of Lover’s Lake clinging to his hair, his skin, the stained fabric of his once-white Hellfire club shirt.

It would have been easier to just slap some cold water into your face over the sink and be done with it – and the fact that Eddie had offered to clean you up, and the way he was doing it in the most gentle way, the strokes of the towel on your cheeks and the sides of your face like caresses, harbored a whole new kind of intimacy. Unlike the kisses you’d shared and the things you’d done on the roof of his trailer, but just as beautiful.

When Eddie traced your jaw with the towel, you angled your head a little further to give him better access – and winced as he brushed over the spot below your chin, making Eddie pull away.

“Did that hurt?”

“A little,” you said, eyes fluttering open as Eddie’s gaze wandered down to that spot on your jaw, his fingertips grazing your skin while confusion was replaced by something sterner you’d only seen once before in his eyes, in the night you’d met. When he’d ripped Jason away from you. Anger.

And you realized that Jason’s forceful grip must have left a bruise.

“I never wanted to actually punch someone,” Eddie said darkly, “But if I ever meet that son of a bitch again, I think I’ll break his fucking nose. In case you didn’t wanna do it yourself.”

“He would have broken every bone in your body but you draw the line at giving me bruise?”, you asked, not exactly sure whether you’d meant to be gloomy or teasing.

Eddie’s expression was one of grim determination. “Yeah. I do.”

The cold shard of anger melting from his eyes again when they met yours, he raised the towel once more to continue cleaning your other cheek.

For a moment, you just watched him, utterly caught up in the way his dark lashes fluttered against his cheeks when he blinked, the focus as he wiped the ashes from your face while there was still soot on his own, covering the smattering of bruises.

Beyond the bathroom, you could still feel the thrumming pulse of the gate – but the vibration had lost its edge, the call its urge. Because with Eddie only inches away from you…the draw towards him was so much stronger. Sunlight cutting through the coldest night.

And before your eyes could stray down to his lips, so damn close to yours, you blurted, “What else did Robin tell you?”

Eddie chuckled, his breath ghosting over your lips, making them prickle. “Oh, uh. Just that you’re nosy.” The soft tease in his voice, the lilt in his tone a familiar melody, didn’t help calm down your racing pulse. Our your racing mind. “And that I’m a dufus.”

You snickered. “Yeah, that sounds like Robin. What else?”

There was a tiny beat of silence before Eddie replied slowly, “She, uh…she told me you knew I was innocent right from the start. That you were the one who insisted on searching for me.”

“And I found you.”

He let out another low chuckle. “You hit me with your car.”

“Which counts as finding you,” you snickered.

There was a beat of silence, the words drifting through the slim space between the two of you, a shared smile growing stern before Eddie added with the softest murmur, “She also told me to fight.”

“Honor and glory?”, you teased softly.

“I always thought honor and glory were incredibly overrated, outside of D&D.”

“Then what else would there be worth fighting for?”

“Well, uh. A princess, maybe,” Eddie said slowly, and your heart ceased its next beat, the seconds ticking by as he waited for your reply.

“And would you? Fight for a princess?”

“I’m not a knight in shining armor, remember?”, Eddie said softly, “So, no. I don’t care about princesses.”

There was a deep, desperate, sinking feeling in your chest, spreading like black ink in water – before Eddie added softly, “Though there’s…uh. There’s someone I’d fight for, though.”

“There is?”

“Yeah,” Eddie breathed. “Shit. There’s this weird girl who puked all over my shoes. And then proceeded to turn me into the most miserable drug dealer in Indiana.”

Your eyes fluttered open, meeting Eddie’s as he murmured, “Though that’s okay ‘cause I always wanted to be more than just her dealer, anyways. Like…a dude she dances with in the woods. Or a dude she dances with in the woods. Or even…even a distraction.”

You swallowed against the tears as Eddie averted his gaze for a moment.

“Or a hero, for that matter,” he added on a breath, before his lips curved into a bittersweet smile. “A girl I’d follow into Mordor when the Shire is burning and who still has no goddamn clue what that even means ‘cause she didn’t read the goddamn books.” Eddie’s eyes were glittering with barely suppressed tears as they found yours again and he whispered, “Though I don’t think she even needs a hero ‘cause she slays monsters in her free time. Pretty badass, huh?”

“Yeah.” It came out as a susurration, your voice breaking beneath the tidal wave of emotions, of love, so much love, for the songbird with the dark curls and the dark eyes and the heart of gold beneath the leather and denim and tattoos.

“Who believed in your innocence,” Eddie added on a final breath, “Even when the rest of the world came at you with torches and pitchforks.”

Even though she broke my heart into as many pieces as there are stars in the November night sky. He didn’t need to voice those words – they were evident in the expression swirling in his umber eyes as he watched you tentatively, waited for your reply.

“You were never just a distraction, Eddie.” It came out as a broken whisper, filling the slim space between the two of you, the tip of his nose nearly brushing yours.

He swallowed back the lump in his own throat before he croaked, “Then what was I?”

A maybe. An almost. The most beautiful what-if, because you knew, with all your heart, that Eddie Munson was your Forever if you let him.

But nothing had changed since that November night.

If anything, you now had confirmation about your greatest fear becoming reality.

You’d seen how Eddie’s story would find its cruel final chapter.

Some stories weren’t written to have a happy ending, no matter what you’d trade for the chance to grab the pen and rewrite the stars mapping Eddie’s path – but you could send him on another one.

Leading far, far away from Hawkins. And from you.

And when, if, the plan succeeded and Vecna was defeated and Eddie safe…maybe he would still want to be with you then.

But until then, he needed to stay away.

“You can’t go back in there tomorrow,” you breathed, your voice having reached its breaking point while your words made something dim in his Eddie’s umber eyes, a light you’d seen shattering within them once before already. “He’ll kill you.”

“He might.”

“Listen to me,” you pleaded softly, “I know you believe you have to prove that you’re not a coward, but you don’t. You don’t need to prove you’re a hero. You already are one, Eddie.”

“That’s what you think this is about?”, Eddie said softly. “That I’m trying to prove something? Shit, I’m no hero, I know that. The only time I’ve ever been brave was back in there ‘cause I can’t…” He cut himself off with a sharp inhale as the first lonely tear rolled down his cheek, leaving a glittering track in its wake as it smeared the ashes on his cheeks before he shook his head, his trembling left hand shooting up to rake his fingers through his curls, the metal of his rings catching the dim light. “Shit,” he whispered, “This…this son of a bitch hurt you. He’s been hurting you, again and again, and he won’t stop until he’s stopped, and that’s why I’ll go back in there tomorrow to divert these nasty things. Not to prove anything. But to make sure Wheeler puts that goddamn bullet through his heart so he’ll never, ever lay his fucking hand on you again.”

His words rang in the air between the two of you, your heart racing so fast that you feared it might burst from your ribs any second now.

“He wants you, Eddie. Vecna wants to hurt you. That night when he showed me the door for the first time, on the roof…He showed me something else, too.” You swallowed against the lump in your throat which threatened to throttle you before you could get the words out, and your hands folded over his, trembling one, clinging to the towel as if it were a lifeline.

The tears were falling down your own cheeks now in hot rivulets. “He showed me the bats. They were…it was a whole swarm. Hundreds of these things, hailing down on you and…and you screamed –“ For the span of a trembling inhale, you squeezed your eyes shut against the onslaught of images. “I thought if I let you go and made sure you stayed far away from me, you’d be safe. I didn’t know it was Vecna, back then. All I knew was there was something on the other side, watching you. Wanting to kill you.”

Your voice broke at the word, shattering into tiny little pieces.

When your eyes fluttered open, Eddie’s eyes, those beautiful umber eyes, were wide, his chest rising and falling with shallow, rapid breaths as he stared at you with tear-soaked shock and…hope.

Seconds ticked by as you watched him grasp what you’d just told him, the words hovering in the air between the two of you like the spores in the Upside Down, mingling with the cruel echo of Vecna’s voice in your head.

“And when I’m done with you, taken back what is mine – I’ll take your songbird. I’ll break him, bone by bone. And when I’m done, I’ll shatter his mind the way you shattered his heart, little thief. And maybe then…I’ll put him out of his misery.”

“I stole the most precious thing from him,” you whispered. “And he wants to punish me for that by taking the most precious thing from me.”

The sob which had been clawing at you broke free like a bird from its cage, momentarily rendering you speechless as your hands fell away from Eddie’s to clasp in your lap.

“That night last year on the roof,” you said, swallowing against the lump which was strangling the words with the sheer force of your emotions as the truth of that night was set free.

There was hope, so much hope, glittering in Eddie’s umber gaze while he waited for you to go on.

“Just…I want this to…count,” Eddie had told you that night in-between kisses, a smattering of stars forming a silver crown around his wild curls, “I want this to mean as much to you as it means to me.”

“It counted,” you whispered. “All of it. It meant…it meant everything, Eddie.”

“You wanted to save me,” he choked.

“That’s all I ever wanted. That’s why you need to leave. Please. Because if you come with us tomorrow…he’ll kill you. I can deal with seeing it happen every single fucking night as long as I can open my eyes and realize it wasn’t real and you’re still there. But I can’t…”

With the sobs ripping through you harder now to cut you off, you buried your face in your hands, all those horrible images coming alive in your mind again. Of those bats and Eddie’s death cry, his blood coating your hands and the light snuffed out of his beautiful dark eyes.

The sensation of Eddie’s hands folding over yours, gently prying them away from your face to make you look at him, sent a shockwave through you, intensifying when Eddie’s gaze met yours.

All the warmth, all the tenderness and adoration for you were shining in his tear-filled eyes, the emotions blazing there as clear and bright as the neon letters on a billboard ad. Eddie was still looking at you the way he always had, the way he’d looked at you when you’d been underneath him that night.

The despair in his eyes, the wild hope, the bewilderment and heartbreak and devotion stole the breath from your lungs.

“I love you, Eddie Munson,” you whispered. “I always have, and I always will. And I can handle whatever Vecna’s got in store for me as long as I know you’re safe and that’s why I need you to leave tonight.”

The words floated into the tiny space between the two of you, mingling with your breaths as for a heartbeat, Eddie just stared at you, his own tears streaming down his face now to mingle with the ashes and grime.

And finally…Eddie kissed you.

It was funny, how Vecna, a god of his own making, was so scared of time, so set on freezing it yet still not powerful enough to achieve this goal – when Eddie was holding the power to stop time in a single, featherlight brush of his lips against yours.

And this time when Eddie kissed you, there were no more secrets between the two of you, no more hiding. This time, he kissed you, all of you, all the light and the dark and the grey spaces in between.

A soft sigh spilled from your lips into the kiss, a breath you’d never even known you’d been holding – and the delicate brush of Eddie’s lips turned ravenous.

Where the kisses you’d shared beneath the November night sky had been hesitant at first, clumsy and timid, with Eddie holding back, so scared to hurt you, with your own residual terror from Vecna’s first vision settled in your bones…there was nothing hesitant, nothing timid about this kiss now.

It was fierce and desperate and so utterly tender all at the same time when Eddie’s lips moved against yours, making all the pandemonium and horror of those past days, months, fade into sweet oblivion.

A kiss to stop the world from spinning and make your heart sing a tune solely meant for Eddie while his hands found their way up to gently cradle your face and angle your head to deepen the kiss. You wrapped your legs around him, pulling him closer to where you were still sitting on the drawer as your hands snaked up the fabric of his Hellfire shirt to lock them at the nape of his neck, burying your fingers in his soft curls to make him arch into the touch with a breathless little moan that made heat flare through your body in response.

Eddie tasted of the salt of your tears mingling with his, of ashes and smoke, the waters of Lover’s Lake and sweat and him, and you’d never get enough of it. The passion of Eddie’s kisses ignited sparks in your chest, in your belly, spreading along your nerves like the sizzling glimmer travelling along a fuse as you pressed closer, the calloused pads of his thumbs brushing over your temples in a smooth caress to catch the tears that were still streaming down your face. Of relief, and love – and fear, the festering fear that Vecna would make true of his promise and take Eddie.

Tell me this is real, each of Eddie’s feverish kisses seemed to beg as one of his hands wandered down over the column of your throat, the pad of his thumb gently grazing the point of your racing pulse while his teeth grazed your bottom lip, Tell me you mean it.

I love you, you answering sigh told him as you pressed closer, the grasp in his curls tightening as you opened your lips to taste him. I love you. I’m sorry. And I love you.

Not in your wildest dreams had you dared to imagine this, right now – Eddie knowing all the darkest parts of you and still kissing you with such devotion and tenderness, his feelings for you unwavering, infusing each of his kisses with all the love and loss and heartbreak of those past weeks and months.

It was so easy, to start again where things had ended that November night.

As easy as breathing.

As easy as it had been to fall in love with Eddie Munson in the first place.

And you knew, with all your masks stripped, all your walls torn down and secrets on display, you didn’t want to waste a single second more.

Slowly, you pulled away from the kiss to catch your breath, the tip of his nose brushing yours as he chased your kiss before his eyes fluttered open and deep, rich chocolate met your gaze with an intensity that could have knocked you to the ground hadn’t you already been seated.

Unspoken understanding passed between the two of you as you decided you wanted to strip yourself in every way possible for him. And after all the truths Eddie had learned about you today, letting your clothes follow suit felt only right.

Your eyes never leaving Eddie’s, you reached down to grab the hem of your sweatshirt, the fabric sticky with sweat and lake water as you slowly pulled it over your head, watching Eddie’s eyes widen a little as he swallowed when you let the clothing fall to the tiled floor.

The air of the tiny bathroom was cool as it brushed over the bare skin of your arms, your chest; with only your bra left to cover you now.

Eddie’s hands found their way to your waist, warm palms settling on your skin to pull you closer for more of those intoxicating kisses that left your mind dizzy and put the sun in your chest and a smile on your lips, turned every beat of your racing heart into a love song written for Eddie, the movement of your lips against his the lyrics only he could understand.

When Eddie slowly let his rough palms wander up your sides, the pleasure of his touch made you arch your back to pressing closer against him, and your own hands roamed over his chest, dipping underneath the lapels of his leather jacket, wandering up to his shoulders –

The jacket was gone in a heartbeat, falling to the floor as Eddie shrugged it off to answer your unspoken question, and your hands found the hem of his Hellfire Club shirt, the gentle tug on the fabric another unspoken plea he heeded without hesitation, momentarily breaking the kiss before the shirt joined the rest of the clothes on the floor, the grimacing red demon face grinning back at you from the heap of fabric.

There was heat flaring in your chest, in your whole body, as you looked at Eddie now.

His hair was ruffled where your fingertips had raked through the curls, sticky with grime and sweat, a few stray strands of his bangs standing on edge from pulling the shirt over his head, and you took a few heartbeats to just stare at him in all his glory, his chest bare and the rest of his tattoos on full display. A spider right below his collarbone, and a demon face on his chest above his heart – before a painful wince escaped you as your eyes roamed down to the bruise on his ribs where Andy Warren had hit him with the crowbar only hours ago, momentarily stealing the spotlight.

“Does it still hurt?” A dumb question.

“Shit, yeah,” Eddie chuckled softly, “But I really couldn’t care less about that right now.”

With a smile, you shuffled a little closer to the edge of the drawer, your fingertips tracing the outline of the spider, wandering down to the demon’s grimace and farther, following the soft outlines of his ribs to his stomach, fingertips wandering over the trail of the v-lines dipping from the lines leading to the button of his ripped jeans as you watched with avid fascination how his breath hitched beneath the caress of your fingertips, the touch light as the brush of a feather as you let it wander down the dark dusting of his happy trail to the spot where it dipped below the waistband of his pants.

“Does that tickle?”, you asked softly, and Eddie snickered.

“Among, uh…other things.”

“Any more tattoos I don’t know of?”, you teased, meeting Eddie’s gaze, burning yet timid as it rested on you with an intensity as palpable as a caress, making your skin burn in the best of ways, tiny flames licking at your skin.

His smile was playful when he replied, “You’re gonna have to look for yourself. If – if you want,” he added quickly, looking as flustered as you felt in this new situation.

You slowly jumped down from the drawer and reached down to undo the button of your jeans before you peeled the sticky fabric off of yourself underneath Eddie’s burning gaze – and when the jeans were gone and you were bare before him save for your underwear, the way he was looking at you, as if you were the most beautiful girl in the whole world…it made sparks explode in your chest to rival every Fourth Of July Firework.

Still smiling, you chewed your bottom lip before you turned around, your back to him, looking at him in the mirror. “Help me with my bra?”

“You sure?”, Eddie asked softly, and you gave a timid little nod.

“Yeah. Never been surer, actually.”

Through the mirror, Eddie gave you the sweetest smile before his eyes flitted down to the clasp on your back, curls falling into his face and his long dark lashes casting shadows across his soot-stained cheeks.

He truly was beautiful.

Before you could voice the thought, though, the brush of Eddie’s fingertips over your back robbed your words at the sensations travelling through your nerves.

Your heart skipped its next beat as slowly, relishing each fleeting second, Eddie leaned closer to press the softest of kisses to the nape of your neck, testing the waters as his hands slowly roamed down your sides – and at the bliss-filled little shiver his kiss elicited, your hands shooting out to grab the edge of the sink, Eddie murmured, “Tell me if you want me to stop, ‘kay?”

“Hell no,” you whispered, arching your head a little as Eddie chuckled, his breath ghosting over the sensitive skin at the nape of your neck before he placed a second kiss to that spot to steal a gasp from your lips.

It spurred him on – and in the mirror, you watched as Eddie trailed a path of slow, lingering kisses down your spine, leaving goosebumps in the wake of his lips, the sensations racing through your body to stir heat in your core while his fingertips worked to undo the clasp your bra.

And when the garment fell to the floor, leaving you bare before him, Eddie gently spun you around, his hands settling on his waist as he took you in, and you slowly rid yourself of your panties, letting them fall to the tiles and stepping out of them before you raised your head to meet his gaze once more.

The heat of his umber gaze made your bare skin tingle as a sudden bout of insecurity hacked its claws into you – but upon the expression in Eddie’s eyes, brimming with so much warmth and affection and awe as he took you in, every residual kernel of insecurity was dissipated like mist in the rays of the morning sun.

“You’re so damn beautiful,” Eddie breathed, the rasp in his voice betraying his arousal as much as the impressive bulge in his pants, “Shit. I feel like I’ll drop dead every second now.” The timidness in the smile on his soft lips mirrored your own, an unspoken question hovering in the slim space between the two of you.

Still so sweet and considerate, still waiting for your permission to touch you even when you were naked in front of him.

“If you faint,” you warned with a soft smile, “I’ll have to take that shower alone. And I really wanted to share those ten minutes of hot water with you, Eddie.”

The smile turned into a radiant grin. “I better not faint, then, huh?”

“You better not,” you agreed with a murmur as you stepped closer, watching Eddie’s lashes flutter as you gently let your hands roam down his belly, fingertips following the soft line of his happy trail for a second time as you listened to the soft hitch of his breath, felt his muscles twitch beneath your caress, before your fingertips found the clasp of his belt, and your lips found his for another searing kiss.

You could feel how Eddie kept restraining himself, holding back to let you set the pace, keep you in control as you worked to open his belt, the button of his ripped jeans, before your thumbs hooked into the waistband to rid him of the pants and boxers all at once, Eddie’s hands coming up to help with the task at hand.

And just like that, he was naked as well, save for the rings on his fingers, the bracelet on his wrist and the guitar pick on the necklace around his neck.

Now it felt as if you’d faint before he could because the sight of Eddie, utterly naked, was definitely one to behold.

“Like what you see?”, Eddie teased softly, and his shyness, so opposed to his usual confident self, made giddiness bubble in your chest.

“Hell yes.” Meeting his eyes, there was a beat of silence as you just took each other in. Stripped of every layer, allowing yourselves to be as vulnerable as humanly possible in every way there was.

“You’re beautiful,” Eddie murmured. “I…I mean it. In…not just hot. Like, you’re hot. So damn hot. But you’re so fucking beautiful, monster slayer.”

The heat in your cheeks was one of utter fluster as you reciprocated his shy smile, taking his hands in yours.

“So are you, Eddie Munson.”

There was relief shining in his dark eyes upon your words, and you wondered how many times he’d doubted that.

For a heartbeat, you remembered the cruel words people had uttered about Eddie that day in the cafeteria when Jason had started spreading his lies about the two of you.

“Did you hear what Jason said she let that freak do?”

“Gross.”

“Maybe the freak’s got some hidden talents underneath these ugly clothes.”

“Wouldn’t ever be enough to make up for his ugly face.”

“I mean it,” you said fiercely. “You’re the most beautiful person I’ve ever seen, Eddie. And…” you smiled, “I’m relieved I can finally ogle you in peace because it was getting really hard not to openly stare at you at all times –“

You were cut off when Eddie’s lips crashed on yours again, the words morphing into a happy little sigh spilling into the kiss while together, you tumbled into the bathtub-turned-shower, the curtain tinkling softly as it brushed your side before your spine met the tiled wall, your hands coming up to cradle Eddie’s cheeks and pull him closer to deepen the kiss while one of his hands left its place on your waist to turn on the water.

You let out a pleased little gasp as the warm spray pelted down on your bare skin, droplets of water running down your body and soaking your hair and washing away all the grime and sweat as Eddie kept kissing you with a fierceness and reverence that sent your senses spinning and chased everything else from your mind but the feeling of Eddie, of his bare skin pressed against yours, every movement of his muscles, every hitching breath and soft gasp and stroke of his tongue dancing over yours as your hands roamed over his body, mapping out every line and every inch of his skin while he did the same with you, building that glowing, throbbing ache for him between your legs and stealing your breath with every caress underneath the warm spray of the shower.

When you pulled away from the kiss to catch your breath, you couldn’t tell how much time had passed. And how much longer you’d have until the water would turn freezing.

Eddie reciprocated your wide smile with a radiant one of his own as you watched him.

Admired him.

He was as soaked as you were, his curls black in their sodden state, his bangs falling into his eyes in waves as the water pelting down on the two of you still wasn’t enough to wash away the grime and soot from his face. You’d happily take over this task.

You reached out to grab the bar of soap from the little tray behind him.

“Want me to…?”

“Yeah,” he smiled, his voice breathless as it laced with the noise of the water, and you gestured for him to sit down at the edge of the tub, coating your hands in soap while you stepped closer, positioning yourself between his legs.

“Close your eyes.”

Eddie heeded the soft-spoken command, his eyes fluttering close.

For a heartbeat, you couldn’t help but watch him, admire his long lashes, watch the water run down his beautiful face in soft rivulets, before you set to work.

Your fingertips drew gentle, soapy circles over his right cheek, starting with the side of his face that was unmarred by bruises, and Eddie’s eyelids fluttered softly as he leaned into your caresses as if he’d been as starved for your touch as you’d been for his.

Throat constricting with emotion, with love and affection for Eddie, your songbird, you washed away the ashes from his face, watching the streaks of grime vanish from his skin as you moved on towards the other side of his face, careful to keep the touch of your fingertips light as you cleaned away the grime from his bruises.

And when you were done, you leaned closer, placing the softest of kisses on his brow, right beside the cut, Eddie’s hands coming up to gently settle on your hips while you moved on, placing a second kiss to the bruise on his temple, and a third one on his jaw, right above the darkest of the bruises, Eddie’s soft sigh mingling with the sound of the pelting water.

“Hair?”, you inquired softly, and Eddie’s eyes fluttered open as he gave you one of his playful signature grins before he drawled, “I’m not sure yet whether you dragged me in here because I was stinky or because you wanted to grope me, monster slayer.”

“Both,” you giggled.

“I’ll gladly return the favor.”

You grabbed the bar of soap once more, watching the foam coat your palms before you moved to rake your fingers through his hair, drawing slow, soothing circles on his scalp that coaxed a relieved moan from Eddie’s lips; a sound that went straight to your core, to the ache already building there with every second, every touch, every kiss – but for now, you wanted to relish the innocence of the gesture, of cleaning each other up, the intimacy of it all that wasn’t tied to sex.

“Good?”, you grinned, watching the serene little smile spreading on Eddie’s soft lips as he relished the sensation of your fingertips working the soap into his sodden curls, his eyes closed with bliss while he leaned into the touch of your fingertips.

“If I could purr, I would.”

You watched the water running from his hair slowly turn from a dark grey to clear, a few residual flakes of ashes, or spores, washed away to vanish down the drain.

“I feel like you carried the whole Upside Down in your hair.”

“The way it felt, I wouldn’t be surprised if a Demogorgon or two were still in there as well,” Eddie chuckled, and you joined him in.

With easy silence settling over the two of you once more, filled only by the sound of the water, you moved on to the rest of his body, spreading the foam, fingertips tracing the outlines of his on his chest before you moved on to his arms and down his stomach, breaking your movements to place gentle kisses on his skin that made his breath catch and drew the softest of blissful hums from his throat as Eddie melted into your touches until the last remnants of sweat and grime had been washed down the drain.

“Okay, done,” you said softly, “Squeaky clean.”

“I love it when you talk dirty,” Eddie uttered on a playful croon, making you laugh as he stood up again, gently taking the bar of soap from where you’d placed it on the edge of the tub.

“Your turn?”, he inquired softly, raising the soap as he blinked back at you through the curtain of his sodden bangs and the droplets of water falling from the showerhead above, and you gave him a happy nod.

“I need to hear it, monster slayer,” Eddie said softly.

“Yes,” you breathed, and Eddie leaned in to place to sweetest of kisses on the tip of your nose before he gestured for you to turn. You obliged happily, angling your head a little – and a sigh spilled from your lips as Eddie’s fingertips found their way into your wet hair, massaging the soap into your scalp with smooth movements that made you feel like you could melt any second with the gentleness of the motion, the calming sensations cascading over you as the soapy foam ran down your body.

Your eyes closed, you leaned into Eddie’s touches, feeling the smile tug on your lips and the pleasant shivers racing along your body as Eddie’s hands wandered down to the nape of your neck, along your arms, spreading more soap in slow circles over your skin like you’d done for him, gently washing away the sweat and the stench of smoke and Lover’s Lake which had been clinging to you.

And with the grime and sweat he softly cleared from your skin, vanishing down the drain along the bubbles of soap…it felt like the stain you’d been carrying on your soul, the mark you feared Vecna and the Upside Down had left there to fester, rot spreading with every lie and every ugly secret, was washed off by Eddie’s loving touches, the sensation of his hands wandering over every inch of your body to make your nerves come alive beneath his palms, your mind going haywire as the world around you blurred and each and every one of your senses, of your cells, honed in on Eddie.

Your eyes still closed, you followed Eddie’s lead when he gently twirled you until he was in front of you again, his calloused hands wandering over your body in the softest caresses.

And just when you thought you couldn’t wait a single second longer until he kissed you again, he did.

The softest moan bubbled from your lips and into the kiss as his teeth grazed your bottom lip, having memorized your reaction from that November night – and Eddie’s caresses lost their innocence as he gently caged you against the tiles, his hardened length pressing against your sodden skin to make need flare between your legs.

“That okay?”, he breathed into the kiss, and in your blissed-out daze, it took a moment for you to realize what he meant, that he was scared he could somehow make you feel caught because the position was so similar to the one he’d found Jason in, that night in the woods.

You pulled away from the kiss, your hands cupping Eddie’s cheeks. “I will never, ever feel uncomfortable with you, Eddie,” you whispered. “I want this. Every touch. Every kiss. Okay? As long as you want it too, I’m way more than just okay with everything you do.”

His eyes scanned yours underneath the spray, before he nodded.

And with a trembling breath, shyness taking the wheel for a fleeting heartbeat, you asked, “Can I…touch you?”

It took a moment for the confusion in Eddie’s gaze to clear, before he breathed, “God, yes. If you wanna –“

Your kiss stole the rest of the sentence, because there was nothing you wanted more than to touch him, and his words morphed into a sinful sound that went straight into the heat searing between your own legs as your fingers gently wrapped around his impressive length, one of his hands shooting out to splay on the tiles beside your head to steady himself.

The reaction chased away any residual insecurities, because if that was the sound you could draw from him with a simple touch, you wondered…

Eddie’s groan vibrated through your own body as your thumb gently flicked over his tip, spurning you on and stoking the ravenous need for him in your core as you slowly started to stroke him, the blissful noises tumbling from his throat enough to make you go crazy with want.

Your own moan mingled with his as Eddie’s other hand roamed down your side, wandering towards the inside of your thigh, teasing – before his fingertips found that throbbing spot at the apex of your thighs, and you felt like your knees would give in any second now as he started circling the sensitive bud of your clit, so achingly slowly, just as he’d done that night beneath the stars.

Your blood seemed to turn into liquid flames at the sensations Eddie’s touch sent cascading through your body.

You moved your hips, chasing the friction of Eddie’s fingertips as he continued to draw lazy circles over your wet folds, sending you into ecstasy, and at the sounds tumbling from your throat as your fingers clawed at his back to pull him closer beneath the spray, you could feel Eddie’s soft smile against your lips.

And still, he wasn’t close enough. You needed more, more of him –

A shriek ripped from you as you nearly jumped into Eddie’s arms, your body going numb with the shock of the sudden cold of the spray which had turned icy in the matter of a second, and Eddie’s string of curses filled the tiny space as he blindly fumbled for the shower tap behind you to shut off the freezing water before he succeeded.

For a shaken heartbeat, you stared at each other, both of you shivering, before a breathless little laugh tumbled from your throat and Eddie jumped out of the tub to grab a towel from the drawer beneath the sink, returning to wrap it around your shoulders before, with the sweetest of smiles, Eddie used the towel’s edges to gently swipe the water from your cheeks before he took your hand to help you climb out of the tub.

“Where were we?”, he breathed, inching closer, and you tilted your head before you teased, “Can’t remember.”

“We should definitely retract our steps, then,” he smiled, raising your hand to his lips to place a kiss on your knuckles, “Just to be sure.”

You didn’t remember much of the way from the bathroom to Eddie’s bedroom, didn’t remember how he’d half-heartedly slammed the door shut as you’d tumbled through, the towel falling away from your body as Eddie walked you backwards until the backs of your knees bumped against the frame of his bed and, your hands buried in his sodden curls, you let yourself sink backwards onto the mattress, pulling Eddie down with you, not once breaking the feverish kiss as he situated himself between your legs, elbows resting on the sides of your head and the guitar pick dangling from the little chain around his neck softly grazing the spot below your collarbone.

You rolled your hips against his, and the sensation of his tip grazing against your folds, slick with your arousal, stole the loveliest groan from Eddie’s lips to mingle with your own.

With a soft smile, Eddie began to trail heated kisses from the corner of your mouth to your jaw, over the bruises Jason had left on your skin, the touch of Eddie’s lips featherlight so he wouldn’t hurt you before he reached the spot below your ear, and his kisses grew ravenous again.

You realized what had been in front of you all along. That before you’d even learned that the monster placing horrors into your dreams and mirrors and mind was called Vecna, Eddie had been your saving song to keep each and every single one of your demons at bay.

The tune of his laugh, the music of his lilting voice when he talked, the melody he made your heart sing whenever you thought about him.

Eddie Munson had always been the bane of Vecna’s power over you.

“I need you,” you breathed, and Eddie paused his kisses to glance down at you, eyes glittering with a kaleidoscope of emotions, the darkness of his dilated pupils encased by the rings of his umber irises beneath the drying curls of his bangs.

“You sure?”, he breathed softly, water dripping from his sodden curls onto your own wet skin like the droplets of a gentle summer rain.

You nodded. “Yes. I want you. And if…” You swallowed, fresh tears threatening to choke you once more, “With tomorrow…”

“I don’t want you to want this because you fear it’s the last chance,” Eddie crooned, his breath fanning across your cheeks. “I want you to want this because, well, you want this. Not for some one-last-night-we-gotta-make-it-count-stuff.” He paused, gently brushing a stray strand of hair from your brow before he whispered, “It counts no matter what we do or how far we take this. It always counts ‘cause we’re together. That’s all that matters.”

You smiled at the tenderness in his gaze, the devotion in his umber eyes as if he still couldn’t fathom that you were here, bare beneath him, gazing up at him with all the love that made your heart feel like it would burst with happiness any second.

“You’re still the first, by the way,” Eddie said softly. “The only. There’s…there hasn’t been anyone else.”

His words made your heart soar in your chest like a kite in the summer breeze.

“For me neither,” you whispered. “It’s only ever been you.”

Eddie’s smile widened. “For the record, it wouldn’t change a single thing about how I feel for you, but it does spare me a very large amount of seething, raging jealousy to know you didn’t resort to sex-drugs-and-rock-‘n-roll to…uh. Soothe your aching heart.”

“No way,” you smiled. “I only want you. As for the rest…” your smile turned teasing, “Where should I have gotten the drugs without you? You’re my not-drug dealer of choice. And I feel like I’m more into…you know. Metal, instead of rock ‘n roll.”

Eddie chuckled softly, before his lips met yours again in the sweetest of kisses as he shifted to align himself with your entrance, his soaked curls tickling the skin on your collarbone before he pulled back to gaze down at you, eyes dark and brimming with warmth as he watched you, scanning your face for the slightest sign of unease or doubt he would never find because there was nothing you’d ever wanted more than this, to be with him. To give him your all – body, soul, heart. Everything you had to give.

Your hands locked at the nape of his neck as he leaned onto one elbow, his other hand free to caress your cheek.

“I love you, monster slayer,” Eddie whispered, the tears brimming in his eyes mirroring those which stung in your own.

Of joy, this time. Of gratefulness, for what you’d both thought lost returning to you at last only to realize it had never been gone in the first place.

He’d never told you those three words before, but he didn’t need to. They were evident right now, in the look in Eddie’s eyes as he gazed down at you, making sure you were okay just like he’d done all those months ago on the roof beneath the stars.

They were evident in the sacrifice he’d been ready to bring tonight, and they’d been evident long before, in each of his smiles, every kind word, every little way he’d been there to collect the shards of last summer and mend them back together.

No, Eddie Munson had never needed to say those three words – but hearing him say them now was still the most beautiful thing in the word.

“I love you, too,” you breathed.

With his eyes never leaving yours, Eddie moved, burying himself in your throbbing heat, slowly, as careful as if he still feared he might hurt you, and the air was knocked from your lungs with a sharp exhale as your velvet walls stretched around him and your bodies melted together.

Breathing in each other, gazes locked and overflowing with so much love, it was as if you could feel the glowing thread connecting your soul with his, like the same green ribbon of silk which had led you back to him alongside the tune of his song. Out of the nightmare and back into his waiting arms, catching your fall just like he’d always done.

There were no words to ever express how much you loved Eddie Munson.

And there were no words needed – because you could see it in his eyes that Eddie understood.

You wrapped your legs around his waist to guide him closer, bury him deeper in your heat as the softest moan spilled from his lips to mingle with your own at the sensation.

“You good?”, Eddie breathed, resting his forehead against yours, voice raspy and dark with his arousal as he was giving you time to adjust to this strange new wonderful feeling of him inside of you.

“Better than good,” you whispered – and with your lips meeting his, you rolled your hips, drawing the most beautiful sound from him…and the most sinful one from yourself as the tip of his cock grazed a perfect spot deep inside your velvet walls.

It was all the reassurance Eddie needed. He began to move, pulling out slowly before he sheathed himself inside of you again, and right before your eyes fluttered close with the overwhelming pleasure of the sensation, you caught a glimpse of the tenderness flooding Eddie’s gaze, the raw emotions for you mirrored in their depths.

The glowing sensation of pleasure bolting through you overpowered the slight sting of pain at the movement, and you realized that no matter how often you’d do this with him, you would never get enough of it. Of Eddie buried inside your throbbing walls, his heartbeat racing against yours in beautiful synchrony and his curls tickling your cheeks as he moved, slowly, so achingly slowly; each measured thrust building this heat in your core and stealing the breath from you, chasing every rational thought from your mind until there was only Eddie, his scent immersing your senses and his slow thrusts driving you into the sweetest oblivion.

You realized why people called it making love.

You could feel Eddie’s love for you in every gentle thrust, in every caress of his calloused fingertips over your cheeks while his own moans mingled with yours in the air around you.

His fingertips brushed over the spot below your ear before they caressed your jaw, gently tilting your head to grant him access to your neck, his teeth nipping and grazing the tender skin above your pulse as you bit back another moan – but hot breath tickling over the wet skin below your ear, Eddie whispered, “No need to hold back, sweetheart. Be as loud as you want to. Those sounds are sweeter than any guitar tune.”

He didn’t need to tell you twice. The last remnants of your restraint melted beneath the heat he sent searing through your nerves, setting your body ablaze with bliss.

Your hands roamed over the soft skin of his back, feeling his muscles flex with every thrust as Eddie increased his pace, you own hips snapping up to meet his in perfect synchrony, each movement guiding him deeper into your heat, his tip grazing that spot over and over again while your hands tangled in the soft, soaked curls at the nape of his neck, tugging just the way you knew he loved – and the reward was a sound that went straight into your core, making you clench around him.

“God, you feel so good,” Eddie rasped, his voice strained with need when his hand left your jaw to roam down the column of your throat, trailing over your breasts and farther down, “So, so good.”

Your reply turned into another broken groan before you could utter any words when Eddie’s fingertips slid into the space between your bodies to graze the swollen bud of your clit, making bliss sear along your nerves until your entire body was alight with the sensation, the pleasure Eddie kept building in your core with every quickening thrust, growing more urgent with each roll of your hips to meet his, every caress of his fingertips over the nub of your clit until you felt you might go crazy with the need for more, more of him, his touches, his wanton moans lacing in the air with your own to form a beautiful duet – and with a final thrust, hitting that sweet, sweet spot deep inside of you just perfect, Eddie’s name ripped from you in a broken cry as bliss cascaded over you. A glowing tidal wave, washing over every nerve and every cell of your body, every fibre of your being as you came undone beneath him, his soft murmurs guiding you through your orgasm.

“I love you, sweetheart,” Eddie whispered, the pace of his thrusts faltering as his own climax drew closer, his fingertips still dancing over your clit, the touch of the calloused pads of his fingertips the most perfect contrast to your own soaked skin – soaked with the water of the shower still clinging to you, with sweat and the arousal pooling between your legs. “I love you so fucking much.”

And his forehead falling against yours, Eddie’s orgasm washed over him with the sound of your name like the lyrics of a song on his lips. It was the most beautiful one you’d ever heard.

His eyes closed with bliss and his soft, plush lips parted with a soft groan, the sight was so beautiful you wanted it tattooed in your memories as your hands left his curls to settle on the sides of his face, careful not to graze the dark bruises blooming there as he rode out his climax, his fingertips still coaxing wave after wave of white-hot bliss from your body as they swirled over your clit, spreading your arousal.

And when you felt him spill himself inside of you, the sensation was enough to send you over the edge for a second time, this one more gentle – a wave carrying you rather than crashing over you yet just as intense, robbing every last ounce of strength from your muscles as it washed over you with the sweetest release, his hands shooting up to lace his fingers with your own above your head as the pace of his thrusts faltered.

For a few heartbeats, the two of you stayed like this, trying to catch your breaths, caught in the hazy afterglow of passion numbing your minds and ensnaring your senses, Eddie’s curls tickling your sweat-soaked skin, before Eddie rolled off you, gently pulling you with him, against his chest, the echo of his heartbeat thundering against your ear as you caught your breaths.

“Jesus Christ,” Eddie let out a breathless laugh, bewildered and amazed all at the same time, “That was…holy shit.”

“This…this was…” You trailed off, at a loss for words, still caught in the daze of your second orgasm.

“Yeah,” Eddie whispered, his breath tickling the shell of your ear, “Better than anything I could’ve ever imagined.”

“Did you?”, you drawled playfully, still breathless as you placed your chin on his rapidly rising and falling chest to glance at him, “Imagine something the likes?”

Eddie’s answering smile was as radiant as a supernova, his voice genuine as he rasped, “Only with you, monster slayer.”

And for those beautiful moments, your happiness, the euphoria of being back in Eddie’s arms, right where you belonged with his heartbeat against yours, chased the way the thoughts of Vecna and his monsters and his threat hanging over you like crimson thunderclouds.

There would be time to prepare for what was to come next.

One final battle.

One last time of rolling the dice fate had handed the two of you, hoping for that critical hit to save what you loved most.

To save your songbird.

And save him, you would. No matter the price, you were ready to pay it. Tomorrow.

𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝟏𝟑

--------

𝐥𝐢𝐤𝐞𝐬, 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐬 & 𝐫𝐞𝐛𝐥𝐨𝐠𝐬 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐚𝐩𝐩𝐫𝐞𝐜𝐢𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐨𝐮𝐫𝐚𝐠𝐞𝐝, 𝐟𝐞𝐞𝐝𝐛𝐚𝐜𝐤 𝐦𝐞𝐚𝐧𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐥𝐝 𝐭𝐨 𝐰𝐫𝐢𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐬 ♡

[rorywritesjunk]

Let’s be one another’s present tense

Buggy ‘rescues’ you from an abusive situation, and after a less than stellar introduction, he has you audition for his crew to keep you safe. You want safety, security, and joining a circus seems like the best idea.

Rating: Soft NC-17?

Warning: Mentions of sex, getting caught, dirty talk. Confessions! Buggy is grabby.

A/N: Here's some Cupcake and Buggy y'all. <3

Title comes from “Crater Lake” by Lady Lamb

Chapter 1 + Chapter 2 + Chapter 3 + Chapter 4 + Chapter 5 + Chapter 6 + Chapter 7 + Chapter 8 + Chapter 9 (NC-17) + Chapter 10 + Chapter 11 + Chapter 12 + Chapter 13

TAGLIST: @lostfirefly @neuvilleteismybby @fluffybunnyu @sinning-23 @the-angriest-angel @ane5e @fanshavegottensotoxic @honey-deerling

Chapter 10

You weren't sure you heard him correctly at first.

Maybe it was an accident, a slip of the tongue, because when you set the plate down and he said, “Aw, I love you.” your brain stopped working. Did he mean it? You were pretty sure you loved him but hadn't been sure if he felt the same. There was that tiny voice in the back of your head that sometimes popped up, saying he just kept you around for relief, that no one wanted someone broken and fucked up like you were, but the voice was quickly tuned out whenever Buggy kissed you or brought you a snack when you were helping the other freaks out. He just had different ways to show how he loved you.

Unless he was saying it to the food? Was he even talking to you?

Everyone was gone and you were cleaning, scraping your barely touched meal into the bin with the rest of the food scraps. Buggy remained behind as he had done many times before, but this time with his hand on your ass while he sat in his seat, grinning at you. 

It had been two weeks since the first time he fucked you and since then he was feeling you up any chance he had until he could find time to get you off. It was great, really, and if you weren't stunned over him saying I love you you wouldn't have any issues with his hand squeezing your ass right then, but you were in shock.

“Babe, Cupcake, what's got you thinking so much?” Buggy asked, growing annoyed that you were ignoring him. “What's a clown gotta do to get some attention?”

“Did… did you mean what you said?” You asked as you started filling the sink with water. “Uh, when I gave you breakfast?”

Buggy frowned, trying to think that far back (thirty minutes ago) was difficult. What did he even say to you that had you acting so weird? “No?”

“Buggy, you said you love me.”

“Yea, and?” He got up from his seat and approached you from behind, arms wrapping around your waist as one hand rested on your stomach while the other ghosted over the waistband of your pants. “That a problem? Hm?”

You turned the water off and looked back at him. “Did you mean it?”

“Mean what?” His lips were against the shell of your ear while his hand started to slide past your waistband. Someone could walk in and see what he was up to but Buggy didn't care. “You gotta be clear, Cupcake. I'm not following you.”

You grabbed him by the wrist, stopping his hand from going any further. He made an unhappy face at that as you turned around in his arms to face him.

“Do you love me, Buggy?”

“Yea.” He said without missing a beat. “I do.” He cocked his head to the side. “Why? Dontcha feel the same?”

Shit. “I… I do, but… I wasn't… ready, um, to-”

“Say it back?” He finished. “Look, I get it, it's too fast, you're not ready, all that kind of shit. I can't help it. When I saw you back in that monster's office all those months ago and the way you insulted me and assaulted me all in the same day, I never thought I would have ended up fucking you and falling in love with you.”

“But…”

“No buts, babe, except yours, of course.” Buggy placed his hands on either side of you, trapping you between him and the sink, smirking as he looked down at you. “I love your ass and you love mine, that's all that matters.”

“I guess I just… expected some flashy fireworks or Cabaji on his unicycle with a flag that said that.” You said with a shrug. “I didn't expect it over a plate of fried eggs and bacon.”

“Well, as we know, I'm unpredictable.” He chuckled, leaning in to kiss you. “I mean, I can set off fireworks later, if you want.”

“Promise?” You asked as you reached for his cravat, holding him down as you kissed him. He mumbled something against your lips, moving his hands to your hips and steering you away from the sink. He lifted you up onto the counter and you spread your legs for him, raising an eyebrow. “The kitchen, where we eat?”

He shrugged as he undid your pants. “You're just so tasty, Cupcake.”

“Still.” You chuckled as you put your hands on the counter, lifting yourself up just enough for him to slide your pants past your ass and down your legs before tossing them aside. “Anyone could walk in.”

“So? That’ll teach’em to slack off on their work.” He grumbled as you reached between the two of you, sliding your hand down his pants. Swearing softly, he kissed you, hips jerking against your hand.

He removed his gloves, stuffing them into his pocket before grabbing your hand and pushing it away. He moved fast, pulling you to the edge of the counter before kneeling down in front of you. He pressed kisses to the inside of your thighs, looking up at you with a soft, gentle gaze. 

“I love you.” He told you with each kiss. “So much. I trust you, Cupcake, and Imma take care of you forever.”

It was sweet and kind of romantic, even with your bare ass on the rough wooden counter while your boyfriend gave attention to your thighs and stomach first, scattering kisses over your skin. You took his bandana off, not caring that he just did his hair before breakfast, you wanted to touch, play, tug on his hair. He glanced up at you as you ran your fingers through it, humming contently as you smiled down at him.

“I love you too, Buggy.” You told him,  not missing the way he grinned against your skin, teeth suddenly nipping at the inside of your thigh. “And, and I trust you and I'm going to take care of you forever too.”

“Yea? Really?” He asked, resting his head against your thigh as he looked up at you. “Promise?”

“Really, babe. I promise.”

~

The sex almost didn't happen because as soon as Buggy was about to start, a crewman wandered in, startling the both of you while getting an eyeful of the captain's bare ass. The way Buggy’s head spun around to scream at them to get out while he was starting to fuck you was… kind of hot. It was nice to see his anger when it wasn't directed at you (which he made a point to never do such a thing) and the muttering under his breath after the crewman ran off, stuff about damn idiots and that’ll teach'em to slack off, the fuckers as he glared down at you, hips slamming into yours, was something you found yourself liking.

And he was a little rougher this time. Your ass definitely felt it from the marks the wooden counter left behind after Buggy was done. When he gave you back your pants and you hopped off the counter to pull them back on, he had you turn around just enough so he could see.

“Shit, does it hurt?”

“No, not at all.” You assured him as you buttoned up your pants. “It was a little uncomfortable but it was worth it.”

“You should have said something!” Buggy whined as he dragged his fingers through his hair, looking upset by just the thought of him possibly hurting you. You seemed fine during, but what about now? “Cupcake, baby, I'm so sorry-”

“I'm fine, really.” You covered his mouth with your hand before he could continue. “You didn't hurt me at all, Buggy. I promise.”

He didn't look convinced but he didn't want to argue this early in the morning. He patted your ass gently before you two went your separate ways for chores. He went to make sure the crew was doing well while you went to collect laundry. In the week since you stopped performing, you took up doing laundry. That was something you could do, having done it enough growing up. You knew how to get stains and smells of all kinds out of fabrics and as long as no one asked you to mend something you were fine.

~

A few weeks passed. The freaks appreciated the help with the laundry as it was one less thing for them to worry about. With as big of a crew Buggy had, you basically spent every day working on it, which was fine, you wanted to feel useful. You didn't want anyone to think you were getting special treatment for sleeping with the captain, especially since it was no secret now that multiple freaks happened to walk in on the both of you at different times throughout different areas of the tent. 

“I think you like getting caught, Buggy.” You said as you pulled your pants up after another sneaky session. Another poor unsuspecting freak walked in on you bent over some storage crates while Buggy was behind you with his pants at his ankles, so they didn’t necessarily see anything but it was obvious what was going on. He shrugged at that, tucking himself back into his pants before he grabbed you by the chin, smirking down at you as his thumb reached up to caress your bottom lip softly.

“And? I'm betting you do as well since you never stop me, Cupcake.” He murmured as he leaned down, pressing a kiss on your cheek before he continued, “I think you want someone to see me fucking you, y’know? Let them know you’re the Captain’s and no one else’s. They can see how beautiful you look when you take my cock and how much I love it when you cum on me.”

You grabbed his arm for balance, legs feeling weak from the words spilling from his mouth. And he didn’t slow down as he backed you up against the crates as he continued the filthy praises, how you felt around him when you’d cum, the fucked out look in your eyes, and he was tempted to do it all over again right now if he didn’t have to get back to work. 

“Cupcake?” He asked as he let go of your chin and put his hand on your cheek. “You with me?”

“Fuck, Buggy.” You were flushed, heart pounding, trying to catch your breath as you stared up at him. “You-You can’t just say all that and not fuck me again.” 

He just pecked you on the lips before pulling away with a laugh. You glared at him and swatted at his ass as he started to walk away.

“Asshole.” 

“Love you too, Cupcake.” He said with a wink and a cheeky grin as he disappeared out the door.

You hated the clown sometimes.