#i know if i go and tell them i want to drop our campaigns i will lose them for good. there is nothing between us anymore

[wvrlock]

ooc

[samcarter34]

Since people seem to once again be having trouble remembering the order of operations, let me just remind everyone:

The ability Laudna possesses to feed Delilah is Hunger of the Shadow. In the fight with Bor’dor, Laudna used that BEFORE Orym’s head nod. Bor’dor attacked them and her response was to do the thing she knew would give power to Delilah. Matt even makes the sound of Delilah’s heartbeat.

The spell she used after the head nod? Whither and Bloom. The same spell she later attacked Orym with, which isn’t even a warlock spell.

And speaking of the head nod, you want to know what’s it’s prefaced with? ‘Laudna you can do whatever you want.’ And Marisha responds by saying that Laudna is ‘barely present’ because she’s having ptsd flashbacks to all of the times something horrible happened to her and she couldn’t do anything about it. So she kills Bor’dor because it makes her feel in control of the situation.

And yeah, the 4SD where Liam says Orym thought Delilah might come back. Except y’all somehow took that and made it seem like he’s the one who shoved Laudna over the edge when what actually happened is that Laudna flung herself off it because betrayal is triggering to her.

And the sword. The sword which apparently wasn’t triggering enough that Imogen contemplating whether the Vanguard were good guys didn’t cause any reaction. Or for that matter, make her object to Ashton’s ‘this is permission statement.’ But she saw Orym wearing it, got uncomfortable and then all it took was one sentence from Delilah for her to decide to steal it. Delilah, who mutilated her, murdered her, has been possessing her for decades, and who basically held her soul hostage when BH wanted VM to resurrect Laudna. But what Delilah didn’t do? Tell Laudna to steal the sword.

I wasn’t around for campaign 1, but in campaign 2 I definitely noticed a trend that people who were all ‘I love women! Female characters rock!’ would, the second one of their alleged faves did something controversial (or just something they didn’t like) would find a way to shift the onus onto someone else so she could remain blameless. And that is definitely continuing this campaign, and if anything is getting worse (which, not to get into speculation, but I wonder if it’s because all of the female characters this go round are more traditionally feminine than last campaign.)

I think the reason Orym’s been getting raked across the coals so hard by certain parts of the fandom is actually because of this. Because Imogen’s repeatedly gone ‘what if the Vanguard have a point’ and Laudna agrees with everything she says, whereas Orym’s been pretty consistently ‘no, the murder cult that murdered my family are bad guys.’ And well, can’t go around admitting that our faves did something wrong.’

And so we have a situation where Laudna attacks Orym, but somehow that’s Orym’s fault because the possibility of Laudna doing something wrong ruins people’s lesbian cottegecore fantasy. But the thing is, that whole thing was all Laudna. She chose to listen to her first murderer when Delilah said ‘maybe it’s cursed’ and then she chose to blanket the room in magical darkness (sorcerer ability, not warlock) chose to cast an area of effect spell to destroy the thing Orym was using to sheath the sword (sorcerer spell, not warlock) and, upon hurting Orym, chose not to drop said darkness, which meant Orym couldn’t see who attacked him. And when she got caught, she tried to downplay what she did, tried to say that because she didn’t mean to hurt him it didn’t count, refused to apologize for actually hurting him, kept shifting her argument (and even low key got called out on it by Imogen when she asked Laudna why she’s want its power inside her if she thinks it’s so evil.)

There is an alternate universe where Laudna wakes Orym up and they have what probably would have been an intense discussion about the sword (and that might even have been what Marisha was aiming for before Delilah got involved) and THAT truly would have been the ‘both sides are equally right’ scenario, but that’s not what we got. And you can say Orym shouldn’t have taken the sword unilaterally (but somehow Laudna’s allowed to unilaterally steal and absorb it?) or that she’s being manipulated by Delilah, but the fact is that Laudna’s an adult and is responsible for her own decisions. Yes, Delilah is a powerful and malign presence that they all downplayed/ignored, but, to use Marisha’s addiction metaphor, making amends with those you’ve harmed is a part of recovery for a reason. Because ultimately, you are the one who did that. Yes, it does immensely suck for Laudna that she’s been handed the cards she has been, but it’s up to her to make the best play she can.

Wow this got long, but my overall point is that Laudna is a character with her own agency and makes her own decisions (well, Marisha makes them, but at this point y’all should know she’s not conflict averse and is willing to have her characters make controversial character choices). And really, take all that away, what’s left? How much onus can you take from a character before you might as well go look at a painting?

[feminist-space]

Article by Fortesa Latifi:

"Being the child of an influencer, Vanessa tells me, was the equivalent of having a full-time job—and then some. She remembers late nights in which the family recorded and rerecorded videos until her mother considered them perfect and days when creating content for the blog stretched into her homeschooling time. If she expressed her unease, she was told the family needed her. “It was like after this next campaign, maybe we could have more time to relax. And then it would never happen,” she says. She was around 10 years old when she realized her life was different from that of other children. When she went to other kids’ houses, she was surprised by how they lived. “I felt strange that they didn’t have to work on social media or blog posts, or constantly pose for pictures or videos,” she says. “I realized they didn’t have to worry about their family's financial situation or contribute to it.”

Vanessa, who requested anonymity to speak freely about her family dynamics, says she helped create content for huge companies like Huggies and Hasbro when her mom landed endorsement deals. When she reached puberty and began menstruating, her mother had her do sponsored posts for sanitary pads. “It was so mortifying,” she says. “I just felt like I wanted to crawl into a hole and never come out.”

Being part of an influencer family changed everything about her life, Vanessa says. “Sometimes I didn’t know where the separation was between what was real and what was curated for social media.” And her mother’s online presence indelibly warped their relationship. “Being an influencer kid turned my relationship with my mom into more of an employer-employee relationship than a parent-child one,” she says. “Once you cross the line from being family to being coworkers, you can’t really go back.”

...

Khanbalinov has had zero new offers since he took his kids offline. “When we were showing our kids, brands were rolling in left and right—clothing companies, apps, paper towel companies, food brands. They all wanted us to work with them,” he says. “Once we stopped, we reached out to the brands we had lined up and 99 percent of them dropped out because they wanted kids to showcase their products. And I fought back, like, you guys are a paper towel company—why do you need a kid selling your stuff?”

The law has woefully lagged behind the culture here, but there’s signs that policymakers might finally be catching up. In 2023, in addition to Illinois, three other states—New York, Washington State, and New Jersey—proposed bills to protect influencer kids. Contrast that with the flurry of legislative activity in just the first two months of 2024. Seven more states—Maryland, Georgia, Ohio, Missouri, California, Arizona, Minnesota—have introduced similar legislation. Some of the bills are going one step further to protect the privacy of the kids featured in this content. In some states, proposed legislation would include a clause that borrows from a European legal doctrine known as the “right to be forgotten”—it would allow someone who was featured in content when they were a child to request that platforms permanently delete those posts. None of the current legislation introduced, however, would outright bar the practice of featuring minors in monetized content.

...

The movement on this issue was glacial for years, but it finally feels like the ice has thawed. Much of that progress is thanks to activists like Cam Barrett (she/they), a 25-year-old creator (@softscorpio) who uses TikTok to talk about her experience of being overshared in their childhood and adolescence. Barrett doesn’t go by her legal name anymore because of the online history it’s tied to. “I love my legal name,” Barrett tells me. “I just don’t love the digital footprint attached to it.” Last year, Barrett testified in front of the Washington State legislature as a proponent of a bill to protect influencer kids. This year, they testified again—this time, in front of the Maryland legislature.

“As a former content kid myself, I know what it’s like to grow up with a digital footprint I never asked for,” Barrett told the Maryland House of Delegates Economic Matters Committee in February. “As my mom posted to the world my first-ever menstrual cycle, as she posted to the world the intimate details about me being adopted, her platform grew and I had no say in what was posted.” And yet, Cam says her activism has been healing.

For Cam and other influencer children, getting a paycheck won’t give them back what they lost—a normal childhood unobstructed by the cameras pushed into their faces. But it could be the beginning of some version of restitution. “My friends say I’m fighting for little Cam,” she tells me. “It feels very healing because I didn’t have anyone to fight for me as a kid.”"

Read the full article here: https://www.cosmopolitan.com/lifestyle/a60125272/sharenting-parenting-influencer-cost-children/

[not-neverland06]

How About a Nuke?

Part VI / Part VII / Part VIII

Series Masterlist

Cooper Howard x fem!reader, The ghoul x fem!reader A/N: @weakling-grace did some fanart for the series that I absolutely adore! And I want you all to look at it. It’s on her blog, or reposted on mine under the tag How about a nuke? Summary: The wound’s infected. It shouldn’t be, but here you are anyway, barely holding on to life. You make it as far as you can and then it’s up to him to decide whether you get to live or die.

“Have I told you yet that you are the most gorgeous woman in this room?” You couldn’t stop the smile from spreading on your face even if you tried. 

“Only about a dozen times.” His hand reaches for yours across the table and you take it eagerly, linking your fingers together and enjoying the way his hazel eyes linger on yours. You could get lost in them, as cliche as it sounds. You and about every other woman in the world fell in love when you first saw those smiling eyes on the silver screen. 

“I’ll just have to tell you a dozen more.”

God, you would swoon if you could. But, unfortunately, you are in the middle of a very nice restaurant and you’re sure they wouldn’t enjoy your fainting spell. It’s not like you could help it, he was so effortlessly charming, everything he said with that rasping accent of his sounded like music to you. 

Your smile slipped slightly when you caught two women staring at you both. They weren’t even trying to hide it, pointing and whispering behind their hands. You clenched your jaw, trying your best not to let the anger show on your face. But he caught it anyway. 

Cooper dropped your hand and tucked his back in his lap. He sighed and glanced over his shoulder, they caught his eye and gasped, stopping their cruel whispers. You opened your mouth to try and make him feel better but he interrupted you, “Hey-”

“I told you this was gonna happen sweetheart.” You hated how sad he sounded, how resigned he was to his new place in life. It was no secret that most of your fellow actors despised him now just because he did a few ad campaigns for Vault-Tec. But that didn’t mean the rest of the world did. There were still plenty of people who adored Cooper and asked for his autograph. 

Granted, those ladies clearly weren’t fans, but you didn’t care. You didn’t care if you got spotted together in public and rumors started up again. You didn’t care what that meant about future roles. “I want to be with you, Coop, but I can’t keep having this same conversation over and over again.” You sighed and finally drew your hand back to yourself, he tracked the movement like a hawk. 

“If this is too much,” you forced yourself to swallow past the lump in your throat and put on a stilted smile. “If being with me in the public eye is too much then maybe we should-”

“Enough,” he reached back over and forced his hand into yours. “I’m sorry, I’m just worried about you.” He stopped you before you could interrupt him, giving you a knowing smile. “I know that you don’t care what being around me does to your career, but I do. There’s no reason for the both of us to be washed up celebrities.”

“Hey, you’re not washed up, plenty of people still want to see you on the silver screen.”

He smiled but it didn’t reach his eyes. He squeezed your hand once before letting go and picking up his fork, “Let’s just enjoy our meal, sweetheart.”

“Pick up the pace! I’m not gonna wait for you forever, sweetheart.”

You glared at him and leaned on a tree for support. You’re not sure what’s going on. You feel hot under your skin but also like you’re freezing, you’d thrown up twice during night watch and you’re about five seconds away from keeling over. 

Your sweaty palm slips against the bark and you go sliding over. You hear his boots stomping through the grass before they stop in front of you. Rough hands steady your shoulders and shove you upright again. His eyes rove across your face, the muscles above his eyes turning down in concern. 

“Shit, you look like,” he trailed off, “well, to be perfectly honest you look like shit.”

You laughed but it came out strangled and he flinched back in disgust when you started coughing. “Good to know you’re still a gentleman, Cooper.” 

He sighed and led you over to a rotted log. You threw yourself down on it, wincing as it jarred your sensitive stomach. The gash was aching a lot more than it should. 

When you’d been shot, you could barely even feel it by this point. Now the wound was burning, itching so bad you just wanted to rip the stitches out with your bare hands. Your head rolls back and you clench your eyes shut as another wave of nausea goes through you. You could feel your heartbeat in your throat, rattling like a hummingbird in a cage. 

He kneels in front of you and reaches for your shirt. You lean back on your hands to give him better access. “Stimpak should have worked by now,” he mutters. He pulls your shirt higher up on your abdomen and hisses through his teeth. 

“What is it?” Your tongue is glued to the roof of your mouth and the words come out garbled. 

“Shit!” He yanks your shirt down and reaches for your bag, digging through it until he finds another one of the Stimpaks you’d taken. 

You’d be more panicked if your head wasn’t floating right now. “What is it?” He doesn’t answer you, he hovers the injector over his mouth and lets the medicine shoot in. You wince when he immediately turns to spit it into the grass. 

He wipes the back of his mouth and chuckles. “Should’ve fucking known,” he mutters. He goes through the rest of the supplies you’d grabbed and starts chucking them further into the forest. 

You’re getting pissed off now. Pissed off and worried, you just needed him to talk to you, tell you what’s going on. “Cooper!” You snap, hand clutched over the burning wound on your stomach. He sighs and looks up at you. “Tell me what’s happening.”

“Fakes,” he says, mouth set in a firm line and eyes hard against your worried gaze. “See, darlin’, some people like the men we met last night hand out fake supplies.” If you weren’t so worried you’d be mad about how condescending he sounds. 

“They take empty injectors and fill ‘em with chems to keep people sick and coming back to them. It’s a steady income,” he says, like it’s a respectable career. “Your wound is infected, probably only worsened by whatever chem they put in the Stimpak I stuck you with.”

Your eyes are wide with horror. You can’t decide what’s worse, that you’ve essentially been poisoned and are probably experiencing sepsis right now. Or that people were capable of being so cruel and profited off of it. He pulls your canteen out of your bag and unscrews the cap. He holds the water up to your nose, “Sniff.” You do and he waves his hand, prompting you to tell him what exactly you smelled. 

“Smells like metal,” you shrug, not sure what that means. 

“Infected and you’ve got rad poisoning.” At your confused glance he continues, “Water’s not purified either, sweetheart. Whatever you got is about to get a hundred times worse.” When he turns his back to put the water back in your bag you finally risk a glance down at your stomach. 

You wished you hadn’t because you’re immediately bending over to throw up what was left of your rations. The skin has swelled over the stitches, practically swallowing the black thread. The place the knife went in is red and puckered, pus forming at the corners. The sides of your stomach have an odd green tint that you’re trying not to think about too hard, most likely a side effect of whatever chem you’d been dosed with. 

He presses the canteen into your hand and you shake your head from where it is between your knees. “Can’t, radiation.”

He laughs, the sound unkind, “It’s a bit late for that, honey.” You snatch the water out of his hand and gulp down as much as you can stomach. It’s not much, the taste of the water is too metallic and bitter for you. “The place we’re going, they’ve got medicine. We get you there and I’m sure I can work something out with them.”

You know what that really means. He’ll get paid for his bounty and then he’ll get what he wants, whether they offer it freely or not. “If I get there,” you mutter, still holding back the rest of your breakfast. 

“Enough,” he snaps. His hand wraps around your elbow and he yanks you to your feet. “We need to get a move on, power through.” If you had the strength, you’d slap him again. 

“Here you go,” he placed a bowl down on the coffee table, steam still wisping over the edge. He sat down beside you on your couch and brushed some hair away from your face and you leaned into the warmth of his palm. You were freezing but he seemed to think you were burning up. 

“Did you make me soup?” Your voice is groggy with sleep. He helps you into a sitting position and hands you the bowl. 

“No,” he laughs a little and leans back against the cushions, arm spreading out behind you and pulling you into him. “But I warmed it up for you.”

“Cooper,” you whisper. 

“Get a move on!” He shouts from a couple yards ahead. “You either move your ass or I’ll leave you here, because I’m sure as shit not carrying you.”

Oh shit. 

Hallucinating is never a good sign. You would swear on everything above that you were just on your couch with Cooper. You could still feel the warmth of the bowl in your hands, the old plush fabric of your couch on your cheeks. 

You swallowed down bile and did your best to catch up to him. You blinked a few times, trying to get rid of the fog over your eyes, but it didn’t help much. It took you a minute to realize it was from the sweat dripping down your brow and burning against your retinas that was causing the problem. 

You glanced around, surprised to find yourself surrounded by sand. Weren’t you just in the forest? You lifted a shaking hand to try and get rid of the glare of the sun. He was walking closer to you now, keeping a keener eye on you. You trip over your own feet for the inth time and try to keep pushing yourself. 

“Any chance we could dim those?” You squint and point up to the lights hanging above the set and one of the PA’s runs off to fulfill your request. You shake your boots out, tired of all the sand that’s been getting in them. You understand you’re meant to be chasing an outlaw through the “Wild West” but this is getting ridiculous. 

You’ve done about a hundred retakes of this scene, you’re not sure when the director is going to admit defeat but you hope it’s soon. You don’t know why the studio is even bothering to do cowboy stuff anymore. Everyone knows since Coop was forced out of the industry no one’s wanted to see these types of movies. 

The actor you’re working with this time is a dick. He’s commanding and rude, he’s got no sense of boundaries either. Or a nose. 

What the fuck?

He stands over top of you and you finally realize that you’ve collapsed into the sand. You let your head fall back and rub your forehead. One second you’re on a set and the next you’re in the Wastelands at the end of the world. You’re struggling to remember which version of reality is real and which isn’t. 

“I mean it,” he threatens, “I ain’t carrying you.” Your hand flops uselessly to your side, muscles fatigued and the burning in your gut sucking the energy out of you. The only part of yourself you’re physically aware of is the stab, you can’t feel anything else. You can’t twitch your toes or wiggle your fingers, everything is off kilter. “Alright then,” he leans down and yanks your arm over his shoulder. 

Before you’re processing what’s happening the world is being tilted on its axis and you’re being hauled to your feet. You don’t remember much about traveling through the sands. Everything is one long blur of red and orange. When the air in front of you starts to get wavy your eyes lose focus and you black out.

She nearly made it. They’re only about an hour away from this compound he’s been trying to get her to. He sighs, looking down at her prone form in the sand. There’s sweat beading along her forehead, her lips are cracked and split and her face has an unusual tint to it that can’t mean anything healthy. 

He squats down next to her and debates how he wants to go about this. The wound on her stomach has only gotten worse since they started walking, it’s just looking angrier and angrier. With how infected it is, it’s possible that even a stimpak might not help her now. 

He could leave her here, get the bounty, and go on his merry way. He could shoot her, put her out of her misery and leave. Or he could throw her over his shoulder and walk the last hour to the compound, hoping that whatever they have there will help. No matter what choice he makes, it’s her life in his hands. 

His hand drifts forward, brushing the hair off her cheek and lingering on the soft skin there. He sighs before scooping her up and tossing her over his shoulder, she whines, her wound rubbing against his shoulder and probably causing her a heap of pain. It didn’t matter how much it hurt, though, as long as she was feeling something that was a good sign. 

“Nearly there, sweetheart,”; he muttered. He tuned into her shallow breathing, the long pauses before her next breath and let that be what keeps him going. She better not fucking die on him. He grunts, shifting her higher up on his shoulder and wrapping an arm around her legs. 

He could feel how hot she was through each layer of their clothing. This was more than just the sun, she seemed like she was about to combust. “Cooper,” she whimpers. He frowns, she’s been muttering to herself since they left the forest. Talking about things that weren’t possible. 

He’s seen it before, with infection or rad poisoning, the hallucinations start pretty early. Only problem is, he’s never met anyone who lasted as long as her. She should have been dead hours ago. He has no idea what’s keeping her going, but she better fucking hold onto it. 

You laughed, your dress swirling around your legs like a blooming red flower as he spun you through the room. His hand wrapped around your waist and he pulled you back into his chest. You smiled at him and he reached up to brush the hair out of your face. 

Sinatra’s smooth voice cracked and then began to stutter. You laughed again but Cooper just rolled his eyes and walked over to fix the record. You smoothed out your dress and sat down on his couch, reaching for his glass of whiskey on the table. 

You took a sip, hoping for some liquid courage, and regretted it. You’d momentarily forgotten your distaste for alcohol. You tried to fight the tickle in your throat but failed, you probably ruined your lipstick with how hard you started to cough. 

He walked over to you and chuckled, taking his glass from your hands and stealing a swig. “Can’t handle your liquor, honey?”

“I can,” you wiped your mouth and gave him a playful glare. “That just tastes absolutely disgusting.” He smiled and took a seat beside you, arm draped behind you. He crossed a leg over his knee and titled himself to face you. You found yourself taking a deep breath, trying to prepare yourself for the question you were going to ask.

“Everything alright?”

You glanced down at your dress and fiddled with the hem of it. “I know the divorce was finalized a few days ago,” Cooper looked away from you, his face hardening, and reached forward to place his glass back on the table. Your heart leapt into your throat at the way he slammed it down. Maybe this was a mistake. 

You know when Barb came over to pick up Janey yesterday they’d gotten into a fight. You didn’t know what exactly it was they fought about, you’re pretty sure it had to do with you. But it didn’t truly matter. She always found a way to rile him up. You’d been hoping that coming by tonight might make him feel a little better,  but he still seemed to have a residual tenseness to him. 

Bringing the divorce up after one of their fights isn’t smart. But you need to talk about this and he’s been avoiding the conversation for a while now. 

He ran a hand down his face and sighed, “What about it?” 

“I was just wondering what that means for us?”

He scoffed and glanced over at you. The look he’s giving you, you’re certain the fight was about you now. He’s never looked this angry with you, “For us?” You nodded and he shook his head, standing up and heading towards his room. “It doesn’t mean anything.” Your heart stuttered in your chest, eyes burning as he slammed the door to his room without another word. You let your head fall into your hands and took a few deep breaths. You knew you shouldn’t have asked that. 

“That was a mistake,” you muttered. 

“The hell are you telling yourself back there?” Your eyes peeled open and you frowned, you seemed to be looking at something that looked a hell of a lot like Cooper’s backside. You tilted your head to the side to find the world upside down and something stabbing repeatedly in your stomach. 

You clawed your way up Cooper’s jacket, shakily holding yourself up so you could stare down at him. “Settle,” he warns, like you’re a damn horse. 

“Put me down,” you mutter, weakly kicking out your feet and trying to get off of him. He just shakes his head and shoves you back down. You let him, not having much fight left in you anyway. 

“Just,” he pauses, “keep dreamin’,” the words seem to pain him and you wonder why. You don’t linger on it long, letting your head hang against his back before the world is going dark again. 

She keeps muttering Cooper in her sleep. He knows what she’s thinking about. Their old times together, when everything was just dandy and the world was as sweet as peaches. Well, he wasn’t some saint back then neither. He had his own problems, vices, same as any man. 

Only difference between then and now is that he doesn’t have to hide who he is. Doesn’t have to worry about the public’s opinion or how his job will be affected if he speaks his mind. Cooper’s no better than the Ghoul. 

He sighs, barely even believing himself. She whimpers in her sleep, the noise strangled and pained. He squeezes her leg, barely even noticing the action, in an attempt to bring some minute form of comfort. She never should have dived in front of that blade, it was stupid of her. 

Course, she couldn’t have known that he would have healed, it’s not like he ever told her that. But she shouldn’t have risked it anyway, he wasn’t worth her dying for.

He can see a large building about a mile ahead as he crests the ridge of the dune he’s walking on. The compound, nearly there. “Hold on,” he’s not sure who he’s talking to but it doesn’t matter. She’s made it this far, she’ll make it a few more minutes.

“Stop right there!” Only one armed guard comes out from behind the gate of the compound. He scoffs, fucking amateurs. He drops her to the ground at his feet with as much care as he can, which isn’t a lot. Slowly, he raises his hands as the guard approaches, the tip of his rifle pressing into the hardened skin of his chest. “State your business.”

Well, someone liked making themself feel important, he was gonna have a field day beating this boy black and blue. For now, he simply smiled at him, unbothered by the gun. “I’ve got a bounty to deliver.”

“Alright, hand it over.” He reached into his pockets and the boy’s trigger finger twitched dangerously. He pulled out the only thing they’d wanted from the body, dog tags, and held them out for the boy to take. He darted forward, trying to snatch them but he yanked them out of the guard’s grip. 

He lunged, wrapping a hand around the barrel of the rifle and yanking it out of the kid’s hands. He tucked the tags back in his pocket and pointed the barrel into the boy’s chest. His face blanched and he held up his shaky hands. “Not so big now, are you?” He kept the gun trained on him and leaned down to scoop her back up. 

She was just cognizant enough to wrap an arm around his shoulder, keeping herself steady. “My friend here needs help. So help me boy, I swear if you fight me, I’ll slaughter everyone in that fucking place and just take what I want.”

He poked the gun into the boy’s chest and he jumped away from him with a frightened little whimper. With a grin, he bullied him into unlocking the gate and leading the both of them inside. 

“Please-”

“Shut the fuck up and get me inside.” It didn’t take long, the kid seemed to be the only guard they had patrolling right now. He led the pair inside the compound and then shoved them inside a room. 

“Here, you can clean her up here.” Before he could say anything the boy was running down the hall and out of sight. He figured they didn’t have long before the rest of the compound was alerted to what was going on. 

He knew enough about the place to know they had a water purifier set up in the back and some odd little ditty they’d created to use water to generate power. Having a radiated ocean behind them was a lot more convenient than Cooper ever would have thought. 

“Alright,” he propped her up on the bed and threw the boy’s rifle to the side. “Wake up, darling,” her eyelashes fluttered but she didn’t move. He used his teeth to pull off one of his gloves and pressed a hand to her clammy head. Still burning up. He cracked his hand across her cheek, chuckling at the way her eyes flew open. 

“Come on,” he hoisted her up and shoved her towards the bathroom in the room. There were holes in the wall, the faucet was really a metal can with holes poked in it, but it was running water. Who was he to complain? He propped her up against the sink and cranked the odd lever in the wall. There was a loud rattling sound before water came pouring out of the rusted can. “Clean yourself up,” he muttered, closing the door behind him.

Barely a minute later he heard a loud crash and the sound of porcelain cracking. He ran back into the bathroom and found her half collapsed against the shower wall. What was left of the decrepit sink was broken on the ground, only the faucet sticking out of the wall. He sighed and looked over at her. 

“I fell,” she muttered, a million little cuts bleeding on her arms. 

He sighed and tugged his hat and gloves off, tossing them onto the bed outside. He came back in, pulling her away from the shower and straightening her up. She clung onto him, broken nails digging dully into his scarred arms. “Come on, sweetheart,” he tugged her shirt up, her arms slipping limply out of it. 

Her wound was practically festered by now, turning a color that he knew meant she didn’t have much time to waste. He undid the button of her pants and knelt down, hands dragging down her legs and pulling her pants with them. She stepped out, hands braced on his shoulders and tripped slightly. He grabbed her thighs, steadying her and stood back up. He wrapped an arm around her waist, stopping her from falling and leading her into the shower. 

She sighed as the tepid water hit her back and he grimaced at the brown water pouring off of her. Maybe he should have let her clean up in that lake. He didn’t do much to help her as she cleaned herself up, mainly just stood there and let her hold onto him so she didn’t hurt herself further. 

He cupped the back of her neck and helped her tilt her head back to clean out the rest of her hair. It was odd, being this close to her. Less because of how stark naked she was, and more because of just how vulnerable she was being. Like a deer rolling over and presenting its neck to a wolf. He could do anything to her, and she just let him hold her like this. 

She leaned forward, clearly tired after moving around so much. Her head fell into his chest and she wrapped her arms around him tighter. She sighed, “I love you, Cooper.”

He flinched, knowing this was just a part of her delirium. Having running water for once was probably just confusing her more, making her think she was right back home. He leaned forward, lips pressed against her forehead and brushing some hair back. “No you don’t, darling.”

There was a knock on the door and he was quick to draw his gun. The door opened and a middle aged woman flanked by two guards stood smiling at him. She took in the gun in his hand but seemed unbothered by it or the threat he posed. “I hear you two need some help.”

“Mhm,” he glanced at the guards behind her but they didn’t seem particularly interested in reaching for their weapons. The woman took her in from where she lay on the bed, panting and sounding like she was struggling to get her breaths in. “I have a bounty to turn in, figured part of my payment could be you giving us a Stimpak. Then, we’ll be out of your hair.”

She laughed and took a step further into the room. He stood up now, gun pointed towards her slightly. She ignored him and took a peek at the festering wound. “She’ll need a lot more than a Stimpak. We can clean her up, don’t worry.” He didn’t get a chance to argue before the guards were coming in. He stepped out of the way as they grabbed you by the arms and legs, hauling you out of the room. 

He made to follow them but the woman placed a hand on his chest. “Sylvie, I run the compound. The bounty?”

He sighed and fished the dog tags out of his pocket, passing them to her. He glanced out the door, trying to track the path they took you down. “She’ll be fine, trust me.”

He laughed and glanced over at her, “No offense, ma’am,” he says the title with a lack of respect that makes her brows furrow in irritation, “but if there’s one thing I’ve learned it’s not to trust anyone. No matter how pretty their promises are.”

She gave him a long look before smiling and motioning back towards the hall. “Follow me and we’ll go find her.”

They had a decent set up here. Not as nice as the vaults, clearly, but pretty good for surface dwellers. A decent supply of meds and rations, running water. Everything in the building might be run down or covered in mildew, with cracks in the wall, but it was better than the hovels he’d camped out in. 

They’ve got her set up on cot, a bag of Radaway hooked up to her arm and her hair braided away from her face. They had to cut out the stitches he’d sewed and open the wound back up to flush it out. She’d been patched back up and while the skin still looked irritated it seemed to be doing a lot better than before. 

He’d been keeping a close eye on her breathing and she’d finally stopped wheezing on every inhale. He figured another hour here and they could get the fuck out. These people were starting to bother him. Every half hour or so they would come in to check on her, the women would spray some water on her face and mutter something before running back out. 

He seemed to scare them, enjoying the way they would avoid meeting his eyes. But it wasn’t enough to keep them away from her. Their insistence should’ve had alarm bells going off in his head, but he was already preoccupied worrying about her. He didn’t even notice when Slyvie came to stand beside him. 

“She’ll be alright,” she tried to place a hand on his shoulder but the look he shot her had her stopping short. She cleared her throat uncomfortably and tucked her hands back behind her back. He gave her another long look before going back to staring at the girl on the bed. 

“We have a place for her here, if you’re interested.”

He scoffed, “Room for us, huh?” He let himself picture it for a moment. He wouldn’t fucking stay, of course, he couldn’t. There’s no way, after two hundred years of wandering, that he could be locked down to one decaying old building. Showers or no. But he could always come by to visit her, stay a few nights and then leave again. 

That’s assuming she’d even want him to visit. Didn’t matter, he’d come anyway. But, he couldn’t do that anymore. Couldn’t live that life even if it would be temporary. It just wasn’t in him. He stayed stagnant for too long and two hundred years of bloodshed and loss would drive him insane. 

Sylvie shook her head and frowned. “I’m sorry, I should have been more clear. We have room for her, you have to understand, without a steady supply of Radaway we can’t risk having a ghoul here.” She moved towards her and brushed some hair out of her face, “Think about it.” She walked out and he stared blankly at the cot. 

She shifted on the bed, face pained and mumbling something under her breath. Finally, her eyes fluttered open and she frowned. “Coop? What’s,” she trailed off, struggling to sit up and glancing around the room they were in. “What’s going on?”

“Relax, we’re at the compound.”

She rubbed her forehead and glared at him, “Is that supposed to mean something to me?”

He swatted her leg and she recoiled, “No, smartass. Just relax, we’ll be out of here soon.” She nodded and leaned back against the pillows they’d given her. It was odd, finally seeing her clean again. He could see clearly just how tired she looked. It was in her eyes, mainly, a weariness towards the world that left her exhausted. 

He’s surprised she’s even made it this far without giving up. She’d been dealt some shit luck, but he supposed it was better she be exposed to how cruel the world was as quickly as possible. She groaned and her head flopped forward. 

“What’s wrong with you now?” 

“God,” she muttered, turning her face away from him and shaking her head. He huffed and sat up straight, glaring at the side of her face. 

“Talk,” he demanded, not in the mood for games. 

“I meant it,” she sounded pained, like the words had to be forced out. “I mean, I hate that I meant it, but I did.”

He rolled his eyes, “Meant what? You’re gonna have to be a little clearer than that, sweetheart.”

“What I said in the shower. I meant it. I haven’t stopped loving you, despite how much I want to. I don’t want to want you anymore, I don’t want that connection to the past to constantly be shoved down my throat.” She sighed and tugged at the braid they’d given her. “You’re cruel and mean and, fuck’s sake, you’ve shot me twice. But you’re also the only thing I’ve got left, and despite how much I want to, because trust me I do, I can’t let you go.”

He sighed and turned away from her. She was still tired, still a bit woozy from the fever. He could see the sweat on her forehead again and knew that whatever this was, was just drug induced. He couldn’t handle it. He couldn’t handle her wanting him like this again. 

Being around her already made him vulnerable enough. Whatever twisted connection he held to her now, would be nothing compared to letting her love him again. Two hundred years on his own and she thought she could just come barreling back into his life and everything would be lovely again?

No, that’s not how this world worked. Not anymore. 

He stood up and threw his bag over his shoulder. “Get back to sleep, we’ll leave soon.”

She sighed and sank back against the pillows, shivering as she did so. “You’ll be here?”

“Of course I will, sweetheart.” She nodded, eyes already drifting shut, and turned away from him. He let himself admire her, taking in her relaxed features and soft expression. She reminded him so much of before. Before the world went to shit and before he turned into what he is now. 

He could feel parts of him, the ones he’d buried a long time ago, come up around her. Twisted as they were, how he felt about her before still lingered somewhere within him. But he couldn’t afford the risk that they presented if he did let her back in. He wasn’t even sure she could fully handle him if he did. 

She’d nearly died about five times, most of them because of him, and she’d been up here for such a short time. She’d be better off without him. He walked towards the door, the spurs of his boots clicking against the tile of the floor. He found Sylvie lurking a few halls down and whistled, getting her attention. 

Sylvie turned to him with an expectant smile. “You got room?”

She nodded with an eager smile, “We do. And you’d be compensated, of course.” Before he could question what exactly she was paying him for she snapped her fingers and some guards approached. They handed him a bag that he quickly rifled through. Not only was there enough Radaway to last him at least a month, there was purified water and rations that would keep him going until the next bounty. 

She’ll be better off here. 

He tucked the bag away and smiled at Sylvie, “Pleasure doing business with you, ma’am.”

She gave him a lecherous grin, “You as well,” she nodded and the guards escorted him to the gate. He didn’t let himself look back, knowing he’d just want to go get her. At least now he didn’t have to constantly worry about saving her ass. 

He was better off on his own. Always had been, always would be. 

end. — I do not own the characters or the game/show Fallout, but this writing is my own all rights reserved © not-neverland06 2024. do not copy, repost, translate & recommend elsewhere.

[frankenstein-ate-my-left-shoe]

@steddiemas Day 13 -  Snow Day

uh...yeah.. this got way away from me but...here's day 13! (a day late and 4k words more than normal???)

pairing: steddie | word count: 5,201 | rated: T

The following Thursday finds Eddie and the entire Hellfire Club literally and metaphorically clamoring over each other and his large dining room table while their campaign (Eddie had helpfully told him) continues on.

Luckily, Robin had agreed to spend their night off work from the video store with him.

“So, when are you going to do something about your hopeless Eddie crush?”

“SSshh! Not so loud, Rob!”

She rolls her eyes at him, “Sorry to tell you this Dingus, but I don’t think he’s paying you a single modicum of attention.”

Steve looks over at the table from his spot on the couch; Robin’s right, of course, Eddie’s already halfway onto the tabletop, his arms stretched wide and the rest of him hunched low to the wood.

He’s deep into his story and his voice is dropped low, only the tone of it reaching Steve’s ears.

“He’s such a dork.” Steve sighs, shaking his head.

“Yeah, but you loooove him!” Robin teases, poking one foot that had been with her other on Steve’s lap into his side instead.

Steve rolls his eyes at her, “Hand me another slice of cheese.”

She reaches over to one of the leftover boxes of pizza on the coffee table and fishes out a slice for him, “So what are you gonna do about it?” She asks, handing it to him.

“About what?” he asks, taking down half the slice in one bite.

“Don’t play dumb Steve,”

He sighs, “I don’t know Rob; he hasn’t made a move either! He kissed me first, remember? Right over there!” Steve points to the offending doorway, “Because of you, by the way.” he snarfs down the other half of the slice two big bites.

“I remember.” She nods.

“I honestly don’t know what to do Bob, I want to corner him and kiss him all over his fuckin’ body but how’m I supposed to know if he’d be okay with that? Does he want that?”

“Oh he wants that, believe me.”

Steve narrows his eyes at her. She only quirked a brow at him in return. “What do you know, Buckley?”

Robin snorts out a laugh, “I would say to just go for it, but I feel like he’d freak if you did that out of the blue.”

“So, what, I just say ‘Hey, I really really like you, maybe already halfway love you, and I want to know if you’d like to kiss about it maybe?’?”

“Who’s Steve kissing?”

Steve jumps at Dustin’s voice, suddenly beside him. He knew his hearing was going on his left..Robin told him he was just imagining it.

“OOh, Steve’s kissing someone?” This time it was Lucas, his voice teasing as he passes behind Dustin through the door under the stairs with his arms full of pop cans.

“I’m not kissing anyone,”

“He just wants to.” 

Damn you, Robin. Steve glances quickly to the table, Eddie has his back turned to them.

“Who is it?”

“Uh, it’s…” Steve pauses for a half a second, “None of your business. You guys done for the night?”

“Yeah.. about that..”

Oh no–

“Can we stay the night here? We have to start planning out our characters for the next campaign!”

“You guys are done done?” “Not quite,” Steve turns his head to the right, the older kid Frank is standing in the other doorway from the living room to the hall closest to the front door. “We have one more session then I’m DM-ing the next campaign.”

Steve nods along with Robin (whose head is hanging backward over the arm of the couch closest to Frank). “So you…six? Seven? Want to stay the night?” He's already skimming through the house in his head to where the extra blankets and pillows are stashed. He should have enough.

“No, just us.” Mike confirms, plopping down onto the carpet between the coffee table and fireplace across from the couch. “Me, Lucas, Will, and Dustin.”

Dustin nods, adding “And Eddie was going to stay a little longer to plan his own character, since he’s gonna be able to play in the next one.”

Steve turns back to Frank and the other older kid…Jeff…?, who’s now leaning around the doorway too. “You guys aren’t staying?”

“Nah man, we don’t wanna impose, thanks for having us though.” Maybe Jeff said.

“Yeah, of course,” Steve lifts Robin’s legs off his lap and stands, moving to see the three older Hellfire members off at the door. The Harringtons are polite hosts first and foremost. “Thanks for coming, guys.” What was he thanking them for? It wasn’t like they were here for him.

Jeff’s polite smile seemed to echo Steve’s thoughts, “Of course man, thanks for having us over.” “And for the pizza.” the shortest of the three says to the agreement of the others.

Jeff shakes Steve’s hand, the shortest one (Garby? George? It was something with a ‘G’) smiles again after pulling on his coat before heading out to Frank’s truck.

One of Frank’s solid hands lands on Steve’s shoulder in a friendly pat, and it’s almost enough to miss Eddie slipping out the door behind him into the slow fall of fat snowflakes outside. He was surprised to see a swath of snow had blanketed his front yard since the boys had been here.

Steve almost says something, but hears the guys exchanging their own farewells through the cracked door, so he turns back to the steps. 

Will is already coming back down them, arms full of blankets and pillows, Lucas following behind him.

“I was about to go grab those myself–wait, did any of you dipshits call and ask your parents if you can stay? It’s a school night!” Steve follows the two into the living room.

The four of them immediately look cowed.

“OOohh you better get moving guys,” Robin teases.

“All of you up, you’re calling home.” Steve waves his arm as if to shove them all through the hall into the kitchen. “And no complaints, otherwise you’ll all be piling into the beemer before you can say demogorgon.”

Three of the four boys grumble their complaints as they pass him, “Hey, you’re lucky I’m even letting you stay. Seeing as how I’m the one that’s gonna have to drive you all to school in the morning.”

“You’ll already be driving Robin!” Mike complains

“Yeah but I have pretty privilege.” Robin calls from her spot on the couch.

Steve hears the door click closed, and looks over to see Eddie coming back in.

“Hey–” Eddie disappears down the hall and past the steps, only to reappear in the dining area through the other doorway under the steps. He immediately goes back to whatever papers he’s got on the table.

Steve looks down at Robin, who looks up at him at the same time, his confusion is reflected on her face.

He’s about to go talk to Eddie when Dustin calls for him from the kitchen.

-x-

“Steve! Mom wants to talk to you!”

Eddie hears Dustin call from the kitchen, and he stacks his pile of notes together, finally closing them up into his spiral notebook.

He pauses then. Just staring down at the disheveled wire binding. 

He should go. No need to torture himself further, the kids will understand right? He’ll just make up something about his Uncle needing him home right away tomorrow morning or something. 

Yeah. That should work, it’s not like anyone would call Wayn—

“So. You’re down in the dumps.”

Eddie’s shoulders crowd up against his ears at Robin’s arrival.

“I’m fine.”

“Uh huh.” She doesn’t believe him, of course.

He can hear the sound of Steve’s cheery voice from the kitchen, the tone he takes whenever he’s talking to one of the kids’ parents, and Eddie can feel his face screw up in pain.

“Ah hah!”

“Don’t.”

“I didn’t say anything.” “You didn’t have to,” he bites out, “It’s not like you’re the one having to listen to your crush wax poetic about some girl he wants to kiss stupid.”

He turns to look at her. Robin’s face is blank for a moment, then a barely-there smug smirk appears on her lips.

Eddie’s vision goes scarlet. “You don’t get to be a shithead about it, Buckley. This is all your fuckin’ fault.” he spits out in a low whisper.

“My fault?” she echoes in the same tone, the smile falling from her face. “What’s my fault??”

“You’re the one who made me think I had a chance, weren’t you? The one who put up that fuckin’ mistletoe? Your fault.” He pokes her shoulder accusingly. His volume was getting higher, so he adjusts before continuing. “I should have known there was no chance; he’s the one who said ‘Now we’re even.’ after he kissed me in Melvald’s!”

“He said tha—”

Eddie was practically hissing at this point, just a steady stream of steam escaping him like a cartoon character. “He just felt bad, Robin! He just felt like he owed me something, there’s no goddamn feelings there!”

“Eddi–”

“I gotta go.”

He scoops up his notebook in one hand and snatches up his bag with the other, slinging it over his shoulder.

“Eddie, don’t go–”

He stalks down the hall past the steps away from her voice. He’s almost to his escape when Dustin cuts off his path from the kitchen doorway closest to the front door.

“Eddie, you’re leaving?”

“Sorry kid, gotta go.” He steps around him, “I forgot Wayne needs me home right away tomorrow morning.”

“But you were going to–”

“I’ll help you later, Dustin.” it wasn’t supposed to come out like that.

“Don’t be an ass, Eddie.”

“You know what? Bite me, Mike.” He really shouldn’t be taking his feelings out on the goblins.

“Fuck you, man.”

“Hey! Hey, what is happening right now?” Steve comes out into the hall then, making eye contact with Eddie for a fraction of a second before Eddie focuses on lacing his boots onto his feet.

“Eddie’s leaving,”

“...Okay? And?”

Alright, ouch.

He yanks his laces even tighter.

“And he said he would help us, and now he’s leaving.”

“Oh come off it Dustin, you heard what he said.” Lucas says, an eyeroll in his voice.

“What’d he say?” Eddie’s head told him that Steve’s voice sounded hurt, but best not to believe his head right now. “He said,” Eddie cuts in, “That his uncle needs him home in the morning.”

Steve’s soft “Oh.” was barely audible over the other three arguing back at him.

He yanks the last lace tight to his calf and stands sharply.

“Yeah, so, thanks for having us over, Harrington, I’ll see ya around.” he purposely doesn’t look up at Steve’s face as he says this, focusing on his notebook and bag.

His hand just reaches the doorknob when Robin’s voice calls out from the living room. “Don’t think you’re going anywhere anytime soon, Eddie.”

Because his arm was already in motion when she started talking, the door opens in front of him just as she finishes. 

The slow fat flakes from only, what, 10 minutes earlier? are now flying harsh and sideways across the light escaping Steve’s front door. It’s piling up out there, and fast. Bessie has braved many a winter in Hawkins, but he knows he’d get snowed in by time they got across town to the park. 

Honestly though? Getting snowed in on the side of the road is seeming much more preferable than staying here after his little hissy fit.

“Eddie? Just stay here, man.” Steve sounds much closer than before, “I don’t want something to happen to you–” What Eddie can only assume is Steve’s hand falls to his shoulder, and he immediately turns away from it, closing the front door and letting his bag fall down his arm to the floor in the same motion as he turns into the kitchen without making eye contact with anyone.

The phone is still warm in his palm when he lifts it to his ear, punching Frank’s number into the buttons on the cradle. 

In the handful of rings it takes for him to pick up, Eddie can hear the others whispering to each other, no doubt things like “What’s Eddie’s problem?”, “Why’s he being mean to Steve?”, “Why can’t he control his big gay feelings for his obviously straight friend?”.

Okay, maybe that last one was a bit much for a bunch of sophomores.

“Hello?”

“Frank, you’re home?”

“Uh. Yeah. You called me at home.”

“Well it’s snowin’ like shit outside now, I wanted to make sure you guys got back safe.”

“Oh. Yeah, yeah, I just got in when I heard the phone. Everyone’s home safe.”

“Alright good, I’m gonna stay here at Harrington’s; talk to you later man, I gotta call Wayne.

“Okay Ed, see ya’.”

Eddie jabs his finger into the phone’s switch to end the call, then starts to dial the trailer. Wayne should be just about to leave for work.

“Y’ello?”

“Hey Wayne, it’s me.” Eddie says, turning his face away automatically when someone shuffles into the kitchen.

“Ed, where’ya at?”

“I’m still at Steve’s. It really started to come down so I don’t want to risk driving home tonight.”

“Good. You stay righ’ there, son.”

“Are you still going in?”

Wayne hums in agreement, “Got to.”

Eddie’s stomach sinks, “Wayne–”

“Now don’ you worry ‘bout me boy, I woke up early enough to get the chains on the truck.”

“Fine, fine. Be careful, old man.”

“You got it kid. I’ll see ya tomorrow.”

He hangs the phone back into it’s cradle on the wall feeling much looser now; he’d almost forgotten why he was so wound up, but seized up again as soon as he turned.

Steve was standing at the stove, stirring something that was obscured by his torso. “You want some hot chocolate too, Eds?” he asks, not turning from the stove.

Eddie gives him a short “No.” and goes back out into the hall to unlace his boots once again.

He wanders back into the living room with his bag and plops down in the recliner, pulling out his monster manual and his smaller, less pulverized notebook, the one with the basics of his next character fleshed out in it.

A tiefling bard, one he had imagined as having such thick skin on him that no matter what snide remarks, insults, and bashes to his character were thrown at him, he’d only shrug them off. Something real Eddie’d love to do. A charming, charismatic bard that got all who heard his songs to overlook his hellish appearance.

Wouldn’t that be something.

While he’s mulling over what name to give his bard (he’s waffling between Zarlech and Erron), Robin appears, settling in on the corner seat of the couch beside him.

He tenses up again, thinking she’s going to try talking to him about the too-good-for-this-world man in the yellow sweater in the next room, but she doesn’t. She only sits down and starts back in on the thick Vogue magazine she’d been swiping though since he and his troupe arrived.

Steve comes in with two mugs of cocoa not long after, walking to Eddie first with a soft smile.

“I told you I didn’t want any.”

He regrets his tone as soon as the words pass his lips; Steve looks stunned, the boys’ idle chatter from the coffee table dies off immediately.

Eddie’s face burns in embarrassment, but before he can even open his mouth, Robin says “I’ll take his,” and reaches for the steaming pale yellow mug. 

He passes it over, and stands there for a moment with the other mug before turning and handing it over to Will, the closest to him of the four on the floor.

Steve pinches the bridge of his nose briefly, then turns out of the room. Robin’s up and out of the room not a moment later, saying, “I’ll go help him with you threes’.”

There’s a beat of silence, then: “What. In the actual fuck. Is your problem, man?”

Eddie turns to face the voice; all four teens are staring at him, each one with a different level of incredulousness on their faces. Mike’s is the worst, looking at Eddie like he just killed his dog.  And he’s about to get revenge for it.

“Who do you think you are to talk to him like that, huh?” Mike seethes at him, “This is his fucking house, and you’re gonna sit here and be rude as all hell just because he doesn’t like you back?”

What the fuck?

“What the fuck?” Eddie hears his voice echo his thoughts. “How do you—”

“Steve puts up with enough shit from us as it is, he doesn’t need it from you too.”

There’s surprise on the other threes’ faces, but Eddie’s got an inkling it’s surprise at this coming from Mike and not from the content of the outburst.

“Uh..”

“Mike’s right, Eddie. You’re our friend, but Steve’s our…” Lucas trails off.

“He’s our Steve.” Will says resolutely. 

“He’s our Steve.” Lucas agrees, “And we won’t hesitate to drop you like a dead fish over him.”

Eddie turns his gaze to Dustin, not looking forward to what he might see in his closest butthead’s expression.

Dustin’s face is set in determined lines, and he meets Eddie’s gaze solidly. “I love you both as brothers, man. Don’t make me choose between you two…Though I will choose Steve.”

Robin returns before Eddie can formulate any sort of response to..all that.., pressing a steaming mug of cocoa into each of the boys’ waiting hands.

She came in with four though, and brings the last one to Eddie. “Leave him be for a minute. I’m sure he will be fine, but he’s upset.” He takes the mug from her and she squashes back down into her abandoned seat with a sigh. “Which usually means he’s going to be doing laundry until I make him go to sleep.” 

Eddie spends the next 25 minutes trying to think about what he’s going to say to Steve, what he’s going to tell him was the reason for his bullshit attitude.

For a solid three, he seriously thinks about telling Steve the truth, that he got all pissy at the thought of him sucking face with whoever it is he’s got a crush on, but that’s really not fair to Steve..or to this mystery girl.

At 30, Robin nudges his arm with her bony elbow, so he leaves his book and still-unnamed character on the chair and goes to find Steve.

He follows the sound of music coming from off the kitchen, stopping just outside the door when the low sound of Steve singing along to ‘The First Nöel’ playing softly through the radio.

It had to be that damn song, didn’t it?

…Okay, maybe it’s not so bad if Steve’s the one singing it..

He steps into the narrow room once the radio host comes back on. It’s small, but there’s more than enough room for the machine’s doors to open and to manuver a basket around in here, and there’s a side door out to the yard at the end of the room; there’s neat-ish piles of clothes in front of the washer and overflowing a basket under the dryer door, a few loose dust bunnies and used dryer sheets litter the corners.

Steve’s standing at the dryer, pawing through a seemingly freshly cleaned pile of towels on its top.

He glances up at him briefly when he enters, going back to the pile immediately, “Eddie, hey, sorry for sulking off like that. I just..got into my head a bit.” Even Steve sounded like he didn’t believe what he was saying. “I’ll be back out in a minute, just gotta take care of this load..”

“Hey, it’s alright man. It’s not all on you, you know.” Steve’s hands stop when he looks over, dropping themselves and a half-folded towel back onto the pile. “Look, I’m sorry Steve. My brain is weird sometimes too; I had some of my own shit pop back up for no fuckin’ reason at all and it just..really threw me. I didn’t mean to take it out on you like that, I swear.” 

The truth. For the most part at least. He really didn’t mean to snap at Steve like that over fuckin’ hot chocolate.

“Really, it’s okay Eddie. You did say that you didn’t want any.”

“Yeah, well, that doesn’t give me the right to be an ass to you.” Eddie ducks his head in embarrassment.

“Thank you,” Steve finally says. “I appreciate it, Eds.”

Relief floods through him at the nickname, he meets Steve’s gaze again. “Do you uhm, need help or anything?”

Steve smiles softly, “No, I really do just need to take care of this last load and I’ll be back out there.”

A low howl of wind from outside the side door cuts him off before he can reply.

Eddie groans, “Well that sounds like it’ll be fun…”

All in all, it was fun.

After going back to the living room and confirming with the others that he did, in fact, apologize to their Steve, Eddie sat back down with his notebook and got back to work.

He was slowly absorbed into the boys’ huddle and by time Steve comes back in, all five of them are heavily debating what alignment Zardok the bard should be.

Not 30 minutes later, the lights flicker off above them.

“Aw hell.” Steve mutters from the sofa.

“I’ll start running the tub.” Eddie sighs, pushing himself off the floor and waving his arms in front of him so he doesn’t run into any walls on his way.

“Why would you run the tub?” Dustin asks, incredulous.

“You fill the tub with water in case the pipes freeze while the power’s out. That way you still have water to flush the toilets and get clean and stuff.”

“Thank you Will, exactly.” Eddie says. Smart kid. 

Damn. Why doesn’t he carry a mini flashlight again?

“That’s a thing?” Robin asks, then clicks on a flashlight. Where in the hell’d she get that?

“You don’t need to do that, Eds. The place is plenty well insulated.” Steve assures, stopping him from leaving, “The pipes won’t freeze, I promise.”

“....Lucky bastard.”

Dustin goes to the opposite end of Robin’s couch and fishes another light from between the cushions.

He and the other three make quick work of arranging their blankets and pillows there in the living room, Dustin’s light only going so far as to help continue their brainstorming.

Steve and Robin leave them to it, and lead Eddie upstairs with their light. 

One round of fighting off nightmares later, he’s dragged into wakefulness with the smell of cinnamon.

He re-cinches Steve’s lended sweats around his hips and trudges down the stairs.

There are snores still reverberating from the living room, and Steve is standing in front of the stove flipping something.

A square glass pan with an inch of some sort of mixture in it was sitting on the island across from him along with an open bag of bread and half a dozen eggs still in their carton.

The floor under his feet squeaks when he stops in the doorway, alerting Steve to his presence.

He glances over his shoulder at him, then goes back to the stove to flip something again. “Hey Eds, just makin’ some breakfast, you want something?” He turns to him fully then, leaning his elbows onto a clear patch of the island countertop.

Steve must take his sleepy silence as confusion.

“Oh! The power came back on last night. Well, er..” he looks back at the stove’s clock, blinking 5:08 out at them, “Early this morning, actually.”

Huh. Guess it was confusion.

“Anyway, you want some french toast?” That explains the cinnamon. “Or I can whip you up some eggs…?”

“No, no, french toast is great.” his voice comes out scratchy with disuse. “Thanks Stevie.”

Steve smiles and turns back to the stove, “The coffee machine is on, if you want a cup; I’ll have a plate ready for you in just a couple minutes.”

Eddie wakes up slowly with his coffee, watching as Steve resets the clock on the oven to his watch.

“It’s 8:30 already? Shouldn’t we get the kids up for school?” Holy shit. Who knew Eddie Munson would ever sound so much like a mom.

“Nah,” Steve waves him off, “I was up with my alarm to get them up and ready, but when I got down here, Claudia called. The school called a snow day.”

Steve passes him a plate of toast, already smothered with syrup. “You want powdered sugar?”

“Ooh fancy, fancy,” Eddie laughs, adding a haughty accent to his next words, “Bring me my powdered confectionary Steeves, I wish to dust it upon my imported french breakfast.”

Steve rolls his eyes at him, but passes over a short ceramic container of the stuff.

Lucas is the one up next, going to the coffee machine before acknowledging either of them.

He sips on his cup without adding anything to it, the heathen. Eddie’s own cup was nearly drowned out with milk and sugar.

Slowly but surely, the rest of the house wakes up and wanders to the kitchen, each getting a plate stacked high with sweet cinnamon-y goodness.

Dustin, Mike, and Will are sitting at the little breakfast nook table in the kitchen’s front window, getting steadily louder about their plans for the near eight inches of snow that’s blanketed across Steve’s front yard.

“You’re going to help me shovel it out so I can get you free-loaders home as soon as possible. That’s what you’re going to do.” Steve insists, pushing a plate of toast in front of Robin, the last to get up.

So that’s what originally got them all outside, but two shovels can only get two of them so far with the driveway before any of the other five start fucking around.

The first blow comes from Mike, a well thrown snowball hitting dead center on the back of Will’s head.

Then Lucas lobbed one aimed for Dustin but hit Mike right on the nose.

Will’s shovel was abandoned, teams were made, and Steve was left shoveling alone when the snowballs really started flying.

Robin, Lucas, and Will booked it for the bushes on one side of the yard, immediately packing snow up between them and into gaps in the branches to protect them from the flurry.

And of course, the only other good cover on the other end of the yard from them was Steve’s beemer, so Eddie, Mike, and Dustin dove behind the newly uncovered tires, frantically packing snowballs from the untouched drift under Steve’s car.

“Really?” The three of them look up at the sound of Steve’s voice.

Fuck, he looks so adorable all bundled up like this. Nose and cheeks bitten red with the cold and with the exertion of shoveling, scarf tucked around his neck and into his jacket, the dark blue mittens, one on his hip and one over the handle of the shovel, the matching knit cap—even as he glares disapprovingly at them.

“So you’re not gonna help me, and also subject my baby to enemy fire? Not cool, guys.”

Mike lobs a ball across the yard.

“Join us then! Help us defeat those heathens and we’ll help you with the driveway.”

A snowball smacks into the back passenger side window of the car

“No.”, Steve says with finality and goes back to shoveling.

Another ball soars over the roof of the car and splats across the cleared-ish pavement behind them.

“Awe, you’re no fun Stevie.” Eddie complains, though he’s definitely not complaining about the view he’s got right now.

Dustin sends one back, mumbling out a “Damn! So close..” soon after.

“Bite me.”

Not 10 seconds later, a blast of snow smacks the back of Steve’s head.

Everyone freezes.

-x-

He turns slowly back around to face the three snow-covered idiots crouched behind his car.

All three stare wide-eyed at him, faces flushed with cold.

Mike and Dustin's hands raise at the exact same time, both pointing at Eddie.

He can tell from Dustin’s face that it was definitely him that threw the thing at his head, but the panicked, adorable, wide-eyed look Eddie has at the accusation is worth playing along for.

“What?! You traitors!” He scrambles up and back, glancing over and managing to duck a snowball aimed for his head by Robin, “Stevie, sweetheart, darling, you know I wouldn’t do that to you.”

“Do I?” He growls out playfully, advancing on the doe-eyed menace.

“Yes! You know I love you, Steve, I would never betray you like that.” 

The words, even said teasingly as they are, make Steve’s stomach swoop heavily. He’s lucky his face was already red from the wind.

“I don’t know, Eds,” He holds out one mittened hand to Mike as he passes between the two boys. He drops one into his palm. “Sounds like something you would do.”

He raises the snowball and yells out, chasing Eddie around the front of his car to the hoots and hollers of the others jeering him on.

Eddie is not a good runner, and his Reeboks slip and slide as they try to carve a path through the fresh snow in the yard.

He’s quick though, and doges out of Steve’s reach when he almost catches the back of his borrowed puffer coat, launching off toward the side of the house instead.

Oh no.

“Wait, Eddie! There’s a—” Eddie’s dark head of curls disappears under his feet as he slips off over the side of the hill. “Hill—shit!”

Steve spoke too soon even for himself, unable to stop his momentum before he slips down the hill too.

Snow pushes itself under the back of his jacket down the first half of his slide, then one of his feet gets stuck up under him and he tumbles ass-over-tea kettle the rest of the way.

“OOF—” he lands on something much more solid than snow at the bottom.

Eddie’s cackling laughter bursts out from under him, his chest heaving with it under Steve’s own.

“Eddie, you okay, man?”

Steve pushes up on his hands, one on either side of Eddie’s torso, to look down at him properly.

He lost the red hat he’d grabbed when they came outside earlier, gone to the snow somewhere, and his hair is fanned in an almost perfect halo around his head.

The red spots on his face show off the flakes that fall onto them briefly before they melt under the heat of his skin, his mouth open wide and his eyes crinkled shut in laughter.

Steve was already head over fuckin’ heels for this man, but…oh.

Oh.

Eddie has laugh lines.

They’re so deep already, crinkled up at the corners of his eyes, but for a split second, Steve can’t help but wonder how much more they’d be in 10, 15, 20 years in the future. 

And he realizes in that instant that wants so badly to be there to watch them grow longer.

look out, it's noelle coming in hot with the Oh. Oh. moment!

other parts! Pt. 1 (Day 1) | Pt. 2 (Day 2) | Pt. 3 (Day 5) | Pt. 4 (Day 6) | Pt. 5 (Day 7) | Pt. 6 (Day 11) | Pt. 7 (Day 13) [YOU ARE HERE] | Pt. 8 (Day 18) | Pt. 9 (Day 21) | Pt. 10 (Day 25) also on AO3! this year

[xxbimbobunnyxx]

The Pull: Steddie x Succubus reader part 2

Summary:You move to Hawkins after spending the last decade in New York City hoping to have a peaceful and quiet next few years flying under the radar only feeding when necessary and making everyone you spend a night with forget you. But when you arrive, you feel a pull from two men like you’ve never felt before. As soon as you feel it you know flying under the radar here wasn’t going to cut it, you had to find them. Masterlist

Chapter warnings: again not much for this chapter, sexual themes, language. But SMUT STARTS NEXT CHAPTER so there will be rough sex, demon sex, M/M/F threesome, dom/sub dynamics and I’ll add more once I actually post it!

‼️THIS STORY AND MY BLOG ARE 18+ MINORS AND BLANK/AGELESS BLOGS WILL BE BLOCKED IMMEDIATELY‼️

Eddie froze when he saw you, he genuinely couldn’t believe his eyes, moments ago he was trying to convince Steve you even existed and now here you are standing on their doorstep. “Holy. Shit.” His jaw dropped “it’s YOU! You’re the girl!!” He pushed his boyfriend to the side so he could get closer to you “I’ve seen you around, I was convinced you were watching us but Stevie here thought I was crazy and now HERE YOU ARE at our door.”

For a second you forgot how to speak, you had walked up here so confident and ready to take what you wanted but the minute you saw them up close you felt like you could melt. You thought their energy was intense before but standing here now you feel like you’re going to pass out if one of them doesn’t touch you soon. Remembering what you came here for, you tried to shake your nerves and turn on your usual charm “Yeah, I’ve seen you, and I HAVE been watching you. Normally I wouldn’t admit that, but something about you makes me want to tell you the truth”

His boyfriend, which you now know is named Stevie, looked at you with a puzzled look on his face “You-? You’ve been watching us? WHY?” He narrowed his eyes at you suspiciously, you could tell he was going to be the harder one to crack.

“Well, I could lie to you, I could say my car broke down on the street, I could ask to use your phone and you would invite me inside” stepping closer to them until you’re standing half way in the door and looking at them through hooded eyes “I could act all innocent and make you want me the hard way like I always do. OR I could just be honest, what I’m really here for, is you. I WANT you, both.” You smirk at them and look at them through hooded eyes. Remembering who you are, you’re a powerful immortal being, who FEEDS on sex drive, you can talk to these two men like you do any other conquest. At least, you think you can, from the minute you saw them something about them made you want to submit to them and you’ve never felt that way with anyone in all your years.

The long haired one, whose name you still didn’t know shoved past his partner and got so close to you you could feel his breath on your face, god he smelled intoxicating “what? Are you some kind of succubus or something? Come to steeeal our virtue?” He said before he started cracking up laughing. You just stared at him, wide eyed and at a loss for words for the second time in the last few minutes.

Stevie rolls his eyes “You have been spending WAY too much time working on your new campaign Munson, you know those things don’t actually exist in the real world right?” He looked at you with an apologetic look on his face “excuse him, he’s obsessed with fantasy worlds, you’re obviously not some kind of sex demon” he chuckled and rubbed his neck awkwardly “but, I’m still not sure why you are actually here?”

Still stunned, you open and close your mouth to say something several times, looking between the two of them, unsure what you planned to do once you actually got to this point.

“I-uh, shit, well…I mean.. hesnotwrong” you blurted out before you could think better of it. The long haired one, who apparently was called Munson looked at you shocked “huh!? I was totally just talking out of my ass for the most part, making a joke you know? You’re telling me that you.. are an ACTUAL SUCCUBUS?”

“Dude. She’s obviously fucking with us, that shit doesn’t exist. Maybe she IS just some kind of crazy stalker that happens to be fucking gorgeous”

“Gorgeous? Aww you think I’m gorgeous Stevie??” You looked at him with your best fuck me eyes “I may be a bit creepy, I suppose, but I’m not lying to you. Despite popular belief it’s not always in a demon's best interest to tell lies.”

Munson looked between you and his boyfriend for a moment before looking at you and saying “Alright if you really are some kind of freaky sex demon, prove it then” you huffed and rolled your eyes “alright then, if you insist” you got so close to him your feet were touching and felt like you were breathing the same air as him “I’m going to touch you now” you said quickly before caressing his cheek, such a simple gesture that would normally be innocent but the minute your skin touched his he felt like an electrical current was going straight from his cheek to his cock, and he was instantly hard. When he looked into your eyes they weren’t the pretty natural color they had been when you first showed up, but glowing red, and when you smiled your teeth seemed sharper than they were before.

“WOAH, what the fuck” he looked at you completely stunned “holy shit, you aren’t fucking lying” meanwhile steve was just standing there absolutely stunned, it was his turn to be at a loss for words. “Steve, man, are you good?”

“Am I good!? How are you so calm right now!? There is a literal demon on our porch and you are acting like it’s fucking normal Eddie!!” Eddie, you thought, that must be his first name, it’s much cuter than munson, it suits him. “I think the reason he is so calm is because I touched him, my touch can be rather.. intoxicating.. if you will. I can touch you too, if it would make you feel more relaxed?”

“RELAXED!? So what? You’re gonna use your weird sex demon magic on me like you did Eddie and make me do your bidding? I’ll pass, I think you should go”

You should feel bad that you upset him, your feelings should be hurt that he told you to leave but just something about the way he was talking to you had you feeling your panties getting wetter.

“What I did to him wasn’t some kind of mind control if that’s what you’re thinking, yes I CAN do that if I really wanted to but something about you makes me want you to want me artificially. What I did to him was just a release of my pheromones they have a calming effect that makes you relax and access your deepest desires” you turned so you were now close to his face instead of Eddie’s “I want to give that to you, I want to give you whatever you want” you bit your lip so hard you felt one of your fangs break into it causing you to taste blood and you felt your eyes flashing red with want, you wanted them to grab you and just ravish you already.

Steve tried to reason with himself, tried to think of any real reason why he shouldn’t let this beautiful girl who is offering herself up to him and his boyfriend despite the fact that she’s a sex demon. “Fuck it. Do it.” He said with a hint of authority looking you dead in the eyes making you feel like you might melt “okay, this will feel really good I promise” you reached out and caressed his cheek the very same way you did Eddie’s and you saw an immediate change in his demeanor and maybe the tightness of his pants as well “whoa.. wow that does feel really nice”

You smirked and decided to push your luck leaning in and kissing his cheek “can I come in now? Please?”

“Good god, yes, get the fuck in here” Eddie said grabbing you by the arm to drag you inside, Steve had barely shut the door before eddie had you pinned against it, kissing you hard.

Part 1 Part 3 Part 4

[withacapitalp]

So I wrote a first draft chapter idea for the no upside down au fic idea I had ages ago. Fair warning this is kinda long.....sorry. Also here's the link to the ao3 instead of reading here

Eddie was no stranger to tall tales. 

He practically built his entire school career on tall tales. He was a legend- The ‘Freak’ of Hawkins High, a psycho who was on his third round of senior year with no signs of ever leaving. He was the scary satanic metalhead who sold drugs in the woods behind the school and would happily indoctrinate any lost souls into his cult of the supernatural. 

Eddie was an enigma, and he liked it that way. He liked the stories people told, rumors that were beyond crazy, things he wouldn’t even dream of doing. It was funny. 

But the story that the Freshman kept telling was just ridiculous. 

Eddie liked all four of the boys, he really did. Dustin was a smartass, but the emphasis was on the smart. He had never met someone who thought as quickly as Dustin did, and that made him a great player. Lucas was so open and expressive that he was awesome to have as a part of a Party. He could always be counted on to react in the best ways to any twists or turns Eddie threw into a campaign. Mike was a little brat sometimes, but his strategic expertise was through the roof, and Will was just all around one of the nicest people Eddie had ever met. 

All in all, they were great. Sweet, fiercely loyal, and way too good for a shitty little town like Hawkins. They were definitely going to get out of here and make it big if they managed to live through high school. 

There was just one big fat problem- the boys kept lying about knowing Steve Harrington. 

And not even just knowing him. According to Dustin, Steve was their babysitter. 

Their goddamn Babysitter. 

Well, not really our babysitter anymore. We’re fourteen, we don’t need a sitter. We’re just friends now. Best friends!

Best friends with Steve Harrington. King Steve, the apex predator of the Hawkins High food chain back in his hayday. According to the boys, Steve let them hang out at his house whenever they wanted, gave them rides everywhere, and apparently lived his entire life just to take care of six weird teenagers. The four nerds, Maxine ‘Mad Max’ Mayfield, and some unknown other girl that they were incredibly tight lipped about. 

It would be quite the story if the kids were telling the truth. A legend that rivaled Eddie’s own mythos. 

But they were 100% lying. 

Barring the fact that Max barely even looked at any of them when they passed her in the hallway, and ignoring that Eddie had never even so much as seen a picture of this other girl Elle they kept hinting at, Eddie knew Steve Harrington. They often got lumped in the same stupid kid classes, and he had spent many a class watching the infamous King Steve. 

Never once had Eddie ever seen him so much as look at anyone below his social class. 

His friends would terrorize Eddie and the other losers of the school, but Steve wouldn’t even look at him in the hallway. He was above it all, too good to even deign sparing anyone like Eddie a passing glance. Even when Steve had ditched his jerk friends a year or so back, he had still kept his King status, still stayed on a pedestal. 

He still hadn’t looked at Eddie. 

He didn’t know which one was objectively worse, being beaten on or being ignored, but Eddie did know that Steve refusing to even acknowledge his existence had always pissed him off more than the bruises did. 

There was no way an uppity asshole like that was friends with kids like Dustin Henderson and Will Byers. He knew Steve had stayed in town after graduating for some unknown reason, but there was no way he had stayed to babysit. 

Still, if this lie made the boys feel like they had some sort of cool factor, then it was mostly harmless. Being a freshman was hard, being a weird freshman was even harder. Better to let them have their fantasy and hope with enough time they would get comfortable with who they were and drop it. 

Except that didn’t happen. 

Eddie had bravely put up with the constant Steve talk for over three months. Steve said this, or we did that with Steve this weekend. We should do this on our next turn, Steve would do it (That one always pissed Eddie off the most, because usually they would manage to evade death every time by using that tactic). On and on, like he was their freaking imaginary friend. 

But now Imaginary Steve was making them leave early from Hellfire, and that was a slight Eddie could not put up with.

“I’m sorry, Eddie, but we told you we could only stay until eight this time,” Will apologized for the fourth time as he started to pack up his bag, pointing at the clock and giving the other boys a look to get them up and moving, “Steve has the late shift today, and he’s taking his break to pick us up, so we can’t make him late,”

Eddie pursed his lips and stared down at the carefully crafted board he had painstakingly put together. Here they were. Right at the edge of defeating Kyuss, the Worm that Walks. It was a campaign they had been working on for weeks, a campaign Eddie had been planning for months. They were right at the point of no return, and half of the club was leaving because fake Steve Harrington didn’t want to be patient. 

Enough was enough. 

“Guys, I don’t know why you feel like pretending to know Steve Harrington is earning you points, but it really isn’t. He doesn’t even go here anymore, his name has zero clout,” Eddie growled, completely fed up with having to hear about a boy he had finally gotten rid of. Gareth and Jeff immediately nodded along, also done with having to hear the made up stories. 

“Pretending?” Lucas questioned, sharing a confused look with Will. 

“Dude, we already told you this. Steve’s been watching us for years now. He dated my sister for a bit, but when they broke up he kept babysitting us and the girls. Hopper needed someone to watch El when he was at work, and we were always over anyway, so it just became a thing,” Mike explained in a matter of fact tone, rolling his eyes. 

Oh, Eddie had been told. Eddie had been told plenty. He was just finally calling bullshit. 

Yeah, Steve and Nancy Wheeler had dated, but the entire school knew that relationship had exploded and shattered into a thousand pieces. She had cheated with Jonathan Byers, a fellow freak of the school. It was impressive to watch, and Eddie had taken great satisfaction in finally seeing Steve get knocked down a peg.

Why on Earth would a guy like Steve Harrington keep watching the kid brothers of both her ex and the guy who helped her cheat?

“Richie Rich King Steve needs babysitting money?” Gareth asked sarcastically, derision dripping from every word. 

“He never took any money,” Dustin protested, growing frustrated when he realized that the older boys were serious about not believing them, “He didn’t like being paid for hanging out with us, he said it felt weird.” 

The rest of Hellfire shared haughty looks, unable to help themselves. Now it was getting ridiculous. It was already impossible to believe that Steve Harrington was babysitting, but babysitting for free? 

“Okay, jokes over. Let’s finish the campaign,” Eddie said, giving the boys an out. He knew what it was like to double down when you were afraid of being called out. He put on his best DM voice and perched on his throne, dropping his head low between his shoulders, “Kyuss is waiting to demolish you all,”

“Regardless of whether you believe us or not, we have to go,” Lucas grumbled, crossing his arms. 

Fine, if they wanted to play this game, then Eddie would play. He hated humiliating the kids, but at some point they needed to learn. 

“If you’re telling the truth, then let’s see if Steve shows up. You said he hates waiting, so if he actually is here to drive you, then he’ll come in, right?” Eddie challenged, throwing down the gauntlet. The boys exchanged annoyed eye rolls, but sat back down, letting the silence stand tense and awkward between them all. 

The clock continued to tick along the wall of the drama room.

8:04. 

8:05. 

8:06. 

8:07.

“Look guys,” Eddie finally sighed at 8:08, intending to take mercy on his stupid little sheep, “I know it can be hard coming into high school, but-“

“Hey! Dipshits!”

The whole club turned towards the source of the shouting, and, to Eddie’s complete and utter shock, Steve Harrington came barging in through the door, eyes flashing in anger. 

His hair was longer, and he was wearing a dorky green vest that totally clashed with his preppy clothes, but there was no denying those big brown eyes that Eddie had never managed to capture in his gaze. 

He looked completely ticked off, and the boys scrambled out of their seats, surrounding him and all starting to talk at once, trying to explain what had happened. It was like looking at a pack of puppies with a single lonely wolf surveying them. Steve let them talk over each other for a second more, but the moment he held a hand up, all four immediately went silent. 

Part of Eddie was desperate to learn whatever dark magic Harrington was using to hold the boys still and silent. The rest of him was blanking out. 

“Guys, I might be deaf, but I’m almost 99% sure I was beeping the horn. And I know for a fact I told you that you were supposed to be out by 8:00 sharp,” Steve said with an impatient sigh, his fingers flying as he spoke. 

Eddie watched dumbly as the boys began to respond in kind, their hands moving alongside their fingers. Unlike their usual talking over each other and finishing one another’s sentences, they did a quick back and forth, choosing one person to speak at a time. 

“We were coming out on time, but Eddie and the others didn’t believe us when we said you were giving us a ride home!” Dustin explained with a shout, moving his hands nearly as fast as Steve had. Steve looked around his horde of fourteen year olds, and for the very first time in their lives, he made eye contact with Eddie. 

There they were. Big and brown. Eyes that Eddie had always secretly longed to see, even if it was just so he could properly flip Steve off and make sure he saw it. He had always expected Steve to glare at him, or roll his eyes, but he was just looking at Eddie. Just looking.

Like Eddie was nothing especially interesting or grotesque. Not a legend, not a monster. Just another person Steve had no attachment to. 

It was infuriating. 

“You know, you all might be the smartest people I know, but you can be really fricken stupid sometimes,” Steve said with a shake of his head. Eddie wanted to laugh, because Harrington was a hundred percent right, but he refused to even chuckle on principle. 

“It’s not our fault we had to…to….how do you say prove?” Mike interrupted himself with an angry sigh, throwing his hands up as he did. His movements were a lot slower than Dustin’s, and a bit more clumsy, but he was still trying. 

“Prove,” Steve stated, holding his left palm out and smacking the back of his right hand sharply enough that it bounced back just a bit. All of the boys copied the motion, like the most deranged group of ducklings Eddie had ever seen, “You don’t have to sign, Mike. I’m right next to you,”   

Oh. That’s what they were. Signs. 

They were using sign language. 

Which meant Steve wasn’t joking around when he used the word ‘deaf’. 

Eddie’s brain was exploding. 

“I just messed up one word,” Mike muttered under his breath, throwing his hair over one shoulder and picking his hands back up, once again making movements as he spoke, “We had to prove that we knew you.”

“Well, here’s the proof. I’m already late, so let’s go,” Steve turned to go, and the boys shared a quick glance behind his back. Will caught the arm of Steve’s jacket and waited until the other teen was fully facing him before speaking with stilted slow signs. 

“If you’re already late, then maybe we can have five more minutes?” 

They had chosen well. Will was easily the softest of the four, and Eddie knew firsthand just how dangerous those puppy eyes could be. 

“You’re pushing your luck, Byers,” Steve sighed with a soft grin. It was bizarre. Steve was obviously inordinately fond of Eddie’s little sheep, and all of their stories that he had previously disregarded were now at the forefront of his mind. Steve was acting sweet, gentle, completely not like Eddie had ever seen him. 

He was acting like, well, like their babysitter. 

Or someone who had once been their babysitter, if Dustin was to be believed. 

But it still couldn’t be true. It just couldn’t. Steve Harrington wasn’t that kind of guy, and Eddie needed to be right on that. If he wasn’t, then he didn’t know what he would do. 

“Wouldn’t want to waste the royalty’s time with a freak game, would we?” Eddie called out, purposefully pitching his voice low. The simplest thing to call out here was the weird pretending Steve was deaf. Before tonight he had never even heard a whisper of a rumor that Steve Harrington had any kind of flaw, so if he pulled on that lie, then the rest would fall like a house of cards. 

The boys all startled like they had forgotten he was there, but Steve didn’t react until they turned around to look at Eddie. His eyes were back on Eddie, but not meeting his gaze. Not exactly. 

“Too eager to get back to whatever girl you’re keeping waiting, King Steve?” Eddie continued to keep his voice quieter than normal, everyone but Steve seeming to catch exactly what he was doing. The boys were shooting him warning looks, but he ignored them all in favor of staring Steve down. 

The other boy’s eyes were narrow now, but not in a glare. He looked almost confused, like he was trying to parse out exactly what was going on.

Because he couldn’t fucking understand Eddie if he actually was deaf. 

Because Eddie was being a supreme giant asshole if this was true. 

But Steve Harrington wasn’t deaf, and the act was annoying as shit. If anyone was insulting deaf people right now, it was Steve, not Eddie. There was a tiny smart voice in the back of Eddie’s mind telling him that no one would take a joke this far, but the nasty needling voice right up at the front was overshadowing it, and there was no stopping him now. 

“What? Didn’t catch what I said? I think that this might be the first time you’ve ever bothered to care about what I have to say. Kind of ironic that now the King wants to hear me, and he can’t.”  

The rest of the club exploded into laughter, and Steve’s jaw set in a tight line. Now he was glaring, but there was an underlying hurt there that Eddie hadn’t been expecting. 

All this time acting completely above it all, and he was showing his soft underbelly now? Over a fakeout joke? Eddie scoffed and ignored the way his heart was starting to race at an uncomfortable clip. 

Steve jerked his head towards Dustin, and without any hesitation the boy’s fingers started rapidly moving, clearly translating what Eddie had just said. While they did that, the rest of the boys looked at Eddie with varying amounts of horror. 

“What is the matter with you?!” Lucas demanded, looking like he would love nothing more than to walk over and punch Eddie’s lights out. Will’s eyes were wet and shiny, and Mike looked positively murderous. Steve brought their attention back to him with a soft click of his tongue. 

“No girls today, just not too eager to not lose my job, Munson,” Steve shot back, voice impossibly cold and hands staying loose and limp by his sides. The soft set of his shoulders was gone, replaced by a harsh straight back and guarded expression. He completely ignored the second part of what Eddie said, turning around and striding towards the door, “I’m leaving now, with or without you guys. I only have three minutes left of my break, and Robin is going to be pissy if I’m late.” 

The four teens hurried after him, pausing only briefly to shoot Eddie betrayed hurt-filled glares that took all of the fun out of the joke. The rest of Hellfire continued to chuckling, making snide remarks back and forth between each other, and a pit started to form in Eddie’s gut. A pit he knew well enough. 

Guilt. Shame. The knowledge that he had done something cruel when he didn’t really have to. 

It was an awful feeling and it was completely unfair. Steve and his cronies had spent years making Eddie’s life hell. These were just desserts. It wasn’t even like he had said anything that bad. Even if Steve actually was deaf, which was still up for debate, then this was a fair turnabout for over a decade of mistreatment from Steve and people like Steve. 

Never mind that Steve had never done a thing to Eddie himself. Harrington wasn’t an actual person, just an idea of one. A symbol of the small town jock. 

So why did Eddie feel so fucking bad right now? 

“What the hell just happened,” Eddie muttered, hating the way the guilt was gnawing a deep black hole into his chest. 

[the-owl-house-takes]

So I think the worst take of the fandom is that all of the problems of the show would have been fixed had it gotten a full S3. That literally any problem the show had merely came from the shortening. This is... Well, just blatantly shows that the fandom not only doesn't understand how the animation industry works AND doesn't want to actually look at the narrative they did choose to focus on post the shortening call that were just... baffling.

So first let's establish how much of the show was affected by the Shortening. As a fandom, we found out about it during the hiatus between S1 and 2. This was at earliest, August 2020 since the S1 finale came out late August 2020. Dana has claimed two things that are important to this timeline. 1: The shortening was decided on shortly before the finale came out and 2: That the first episode affected by Covid, which would have been back in March/April, was Looking Glass Ruins. So we EXPLICTLY know that the shortening didn't affect the show until after S2 Ep 5.

BUT then we get into production schedules. Before S2 even BEGAN airing, we were told to stop campaigning for a full S3 because they had to get started on storyboards for the season and that was effectively the firm deadline. This means ALL of S2 was effectively done in script and storyboards by the time S2 aired. This makes sense to keep a weekly schedule and the like and most animation professionals will tell you they work MONTHS in advance of release, bare minimum.

This means, AT BEST, S2B was when the shortening really kicked in. And yes, S2B has pacing issues. It has issues in general and is when most people think the quality of the show dropped. The problem is that... The signs were always there. There's a reason why there's been a backlash because as people become disillusioned with the show, you have to ask what was driving so much before.

And a lot of that was potential. S1 is so good when you first watch it because it keeps teasing the idea that it's going to tackle things in a complex way. That it will explore concepts like Amity's abusive family, magic, fantasy vs reality, etc. like that. It's why the fandom was at its strongest during S1.

Unfortunately, the problem with presenting good ideas and then not executing on them, or completely gutting them is that those old parts are a lot harder to enjoy. As Willow was effectively not a character for half a season and then just suddenly was a jock, people began to realize the fact that she in the show is much more a plot device than anything else. They claimed "We're not doing the one kind act into friendship and forgiveness thing with Amity and Willow" and then literally did NOTHING with it until S2B and eventually DID just do the same trope anyways but now with less resonance than it would have had in Understanding Willow.

Not only that but even S1 didn't give a single shit about its worldbuilding. The First Day has Dana Terrace as a lead writer on it. If anyone knows the worldbuilding best, it should be her... So why is it that no one talks about multi-coven things being illegal? It's literally just used as meta commentary and so they entirely ignore the worldbuilding they have. Reaching Out is exactly the same, with Dana as the SOLE writer of that where Amity and everyone else treats joining a coven like going to college and not literally the word of the law.

But S1 couldn't even keep Wild Witches consistent. Half the time Eda can chill and not worry. She can go to a place funded by the EC like Hexide and not flinch for a second that Bump might call the guards on her despite that being kind of the ONE real rule to their society that makes it not just our world but with teeth. Then again, the show gives NO FUCKS about its own stuff, willing excising portions of itself that it finds cumbersome. Escaping Expulsion is BEFORE Looking Glass Ruins and yet it murders Luz's magical potential in its sleep and also discards Amity's family as easily disposable, despite how much the show claims her mother's influence is the reason why Amity behaved the way she did for all of... Three appearances? Because Amity's arc isn't actually good.

It shouldn't be surprising S2 would do this though when the writers already struggled to do anything with Luz's magic. If she's supposed to be learning and growing... Even S1 is shit at this and is repetitive. Not just with the at least three times we do "King has a minion!" B plot that isn't funny and doesn't do anything but also with its lessons. Luz theoretically learns to listen to Eda in the third episode and arguably the second as well. Then she gets her first glyph with the lesson, in theory. of not trying to take shortcuts to do magic and to not steal. And then in Adventure in the Elements, not even to impress Amity but because of her impatience, she steals something to take a shortcut to stronger magic. That is THREE episodes of the first TWELVE of the series. It usually takes most kids shows at least a LITTLE longer to be that bad at retreading its own lessons.

And the final part of this is that... S2 actually had to be effectively the exact same as it was for s3 to happen. You need the foreshadowing of the Collector for the Day of Unity. You need to FINALLY do something with Belos for the revelations of the Human Realm to happen and to do Luz's angst arc. You need Hunter to be at least 90% redeemed so he's there on their side during The Day of Unity, etc. like that. Then you get half a season in the human realm before coming back to the Isles for half a season, just like Amphibia did because returning home is the best mid-season finale you can have there. So any argument that a full S3 would have actually fixed issues with S2B is just... Wrong. The problems with S2B come with the fact that S2A wastes a FUCKTON of time on elements that don't matter.

Oh, and lest we forget that The Collector could have been cut. He had one appearance in a dream, that also doesn't make sense with his characterization, before S2B. In the fact, the crew has admitted as much. He was added AFTER the news of the Shortening because they always wanted to include a character like him so now that they didn't have the time for him... Cram him in anyways.

Could a show have EVER been saved when that's how they treat one of their two final antagonists? It's the sort of statement that just solidifies the idea that TOH didn't want three seasons. It wanted five... If not just to go on forever. To be the next monolithic show, even as it repeats character arcs, lessons and shrinks characters rather than expands them.

So no, the show isn't bad because of the shortening. The show is bad because the writing is bad.

-

[gxthicwxrm]

Hi! Hope you’re doing well! If requests are opened: fake dating fic with eddie munson where he wants to impress/make Chrissy jealous— and he later realizes that he actually likes reader?

Fake Dating- Eddie Munson

Pairing:  Eddie Munson x Fem Reader

Warning:  smut, angst with happy ending, cursing, fem reader, making out, dirty talk

Summary: Eddie and reader are fake dating to make Chrissy Jealous, but real feelings come out and threaten their relationship.

Word Count: 3,313 words.

MINORS DNI! This is an 18+ account. You'll be blocked! Please don't translate or copy my work! You do not have my permission to copy or translate my work. Feedback is always welcomed! Requests are open! Enjoy!

Masterlist

*not my gif*

Note: hey guys! This is my first smut in a while so please let me know what I can do to improve!! Thank you for your requests!I loved this one so much!!

---

It all started with a guitar pick. You've been watching Eddie from the background since you were kids. Before finding his friends and D&D club, he sat at a table far in the corner of the crowded cafeteria. You found your spot at that table on your first day, the mid-second semester in the fall. He was the only person who attempted to be nice to you. 

He'd ask about your books or sketches, and you'd ask about his tapes. Gleefully, He'd dance in his seat while plopping his headphones over his ears, heavy metal music blasting through the speakers. Over time you found songs you enjoyed and just before he left for his D&D fanboys, he made a mixtape of all the songs you liked for you. That was the day you knew you had fallen for Eddie Munson. 

After he found his group, he stopped talking to you. First, he waved at you in the halls when you passed each other, both avoiding eye contact, faces heated. Then, you didn't even get a glance from him. It hurt, but you tried to move by burying yourself in homework and extra credit, maxing out your library card every two weeks, and studying harder and more often—anything to relieve your thoughts of Eddie. 

It took you three months to make your heart stop caving in every time you saw a glimpse of brown curls around the corner or his signature vest. Walking past Eddie, you wouldn't flinch away or cower, no longer dodging his class route. That was until he started meeting Chrissy behind the bleachers. Truly, you believed that he and Chrissy had started to see each other but one day you walked into the bathroom and overheard her practicing what she would say to Eddie. 

"Hello, Eddie, right? I was gonna ask about some……weed? Would weed even fix this shit? Ugh, I can't do this!" She angrily mutters to herself as you wash your hands, quickly leaving, wiping your wet hands on your flannel. That was when you decided you were happy for Eddie and wished him the best, even if it wasn't you.

Sometimes, you caught him looking at you and your heart tugged for a split second to him, begging you to tell him how you felt about the rocker but you knew it was never going to be. You weren't on his radar, you never were.

---

It was third period, English, and the class was about over. Mrs. Landon was wrapping up her lecture as the students packed our bags. The bell rings loudly above us as it signals the end of the school day, and cheers can be heard as students rush into the halls and out the doors. Needing to drop off some overdue library books, you head to the library to drop them into the library bin. Pushing past your peers, you reach the drop-off bin, pushing the flap open and shoving your stack of books into the opening, a soft thud signals they've reached the bottom basket. 

Satisfied, you turn back down the hall to make way to student parking, but to do that you need to pass Eddie's Hellfire room. Typically, he and the boys would already be well into their campaign by now, but uncertainty made you hesitate at the top of the hall. Begrudgingly, you start to drag your feet down the hall, ready to lay in your comfortable bed and listen to your favorite records. 

Passing the club, loud cheers vibrated out into the empty hallway. Rushing down the hallway, your foot slides on something, knocking your feet from under you causing you to land on your ass. With a yelp, you let yourself lay there for a moment. What the fuck? You ask yourself while starting to sit upwards, looking at what made your trip. A silver chain with a black guitar pick. Instantly knowing who it belonged to, you grab it as you stand up and turn back towards the door. As you start to step forward, the door swings open.

"Yeah guys I just need to find my guitar pick! It can't be far." Eddie barrels out of the room, looking back at the boys that sat at the table inside. Stunned, you stand there unsure of what to do next except silently holding the necklace out to him. Turning around, he's startled when he sees you, jumping subtly. 

"Oh, hey…..Oh! You found my necklace! Wow, thank you so much, gorgeous." Eddie takes the necklace, happily putting it back on as you short circuit at the name he used. 

Gorgeous.

Just like old times. Hating how your heart was beating out of your chest, you try to push the nickname away, brushing it off as nothing but an old habit. He probably calls her that now. 

"Y-you're welcome! I kinda fell over it." You awkwardly chuckle, brushing out your shirt to avoid those piercing brown eyes. 

"What? Are you okay? Do you need to see the nurse?" His question makes you look up to see his brows furrowed, face twisted with genuine worry as his hands rest over your shoulders, lighting a fire you thought you put out, indefinitely. Shaking your head, you shrug him off, much to his dislike as he scoffs, pulling his hands away. 

"I'm fine, Eds. I am." You say, firmly. Reluctantly, Eddie nods before a light bulb goes off in his head.

"Oh, I wanted to ask you something. It's a really big favor and is a lot to ask, but you are the only one I trust to ask this. You can definitely say no, I would never make you do anything you didn't want-"

"Eddie, get to the point. I have to go to work." You wanted more than anything to stay and talk with him, but he wasn't yours to talk to. You could never have him the way you wanted, so why torture yourself?

Hurt shadows over his features before he shrugs it away.

"I was hoping you'd pretend to be my girlfriend for a week or two. Just until I can get Chrissy jealous to see if she does like me." He rushes out, scared you'd cut him off and say no. 

What The Fuck? Staring at him, you stay silent, trying to process the words he said.

" You want to make Chrissy jealous? Why aren't you two already dating?" You ask. He shakes his head quickly. Heart pounding in your ears.

"No, we met up for a deal, and then she gave me her number and we just started to hang out for a while. Will you do this for me? Please?" Eddie's voice is filled with sincerity as he pleads with you, lip pouting. To your surprise, you find yourself looking into those pretty eyes and melting.

"Yes, Eddie. I will." You sigh. That was the day that everything went downhill.

---

It started with hanging out with him in his van or at his trailer before Chrissy would get there then you'd hug him goodbye, leaving as they did their deal and hanging out. Quickly, you two became close again, he started to drive with you to school in the mornings and evenings. He'd invite you to his lunch table and club meetings. It warmed your heart but it didn't erase the fact that every time you remembered Chrissy you'd leave with a sick feeling in your stomach, feeling dirty and wrong. But you loved Eddie way more than you would ever admit and you tried to fight it for so long but you couldn't anymore. 

You were sitting on Eddie's bed, wrapped up in his blanket as he tried to find something.

"Eds, what are you doing?" You giggle as he zooms around the room.

"I got something for you and I'm trying to find it. I left it here..somewhere…there it is!!" He picks the items up, putting them behind him as he turns to face you, smiling. "Found it!" He slowly crawls onto the bed as you rest on the edge. He sits on his knees in front Of you, his scent washing over you.

"What is it?" You look up at him as you both maintain eye contact, him hovering over you as you lean closer. Suddenly his arms whip out from around him, holding a beautifully polished copy of Jane Eyre, your favorite book.

"Ta da!" He exclaims as you stare in shock, jaw slack.

"I can't believe you got it for me. Oh my god, I could kiss you, right now! Oh, it probably cost so much, you didn't have to, babe." The name slips out before you could catch it causing his brown eyes to fly to your worried ones as you two sit in tense silence as something was unleashed in the two of you. 

"Do you…do you like it?" He whispers, leaning closer to you as you start to fall backwards on his bed. His hands find your thighs while one moves to rest beside your head, holding him above you as you lay flat against his pillows, dropping the book beside you two, falling to the floor.

"I love it." You say, not just meaning the book but the spark that was ignited between you two as you kept staring at his full lips.

"Good." He smiles down at you, necklace dangling in front of you, the necklace sends a reminder of how you two got where you are, but instead of feeling the usual shame, you push it away and enjoy the feeling of Eddie's body against yours. His tongue darts out to wet his lips as he leans in, connecting your lips. A moan breaks out of you causing him to grip your sides, slipping a moan of his own out. Your legs intertwine with his as he grinds down on you, your tongues swirling together. 

Kissing Eddie isn't what you expect, it was better. His lips meld with yours perfectly as his hands roamed your body. Grabbing your thighs, he makes you wrap your legs around his waist as your clothed cores grind against each other. His lips move from your lips to down your neck, leaving small love bites down your skin, covering your collar bones in hickies. 

"Eddie," you moan. "Oh, Eddie!" His fingers slide under your waistband of your shorts and ghosts over your panties, circling over your clip. 

"Is this alright, princess?" He asks, voice gentle but husk with lust as he waits for approval.

"Yes, yes, please more." Pathetically, you beg and whimper under him as he smirks down at you.

"Okay. Okay. No need to beg, baby. I've got you, babygirl." He groans as you move your hand down his chest to grip his hard on through his boxers. His hips buck into your hand when he suddenly pulls away from you.

Scared he's changed his mind, you look up at him to see him ripping off his shirt before his hands grip your shorts, pulling them off of yours slowly. Helping him, you pull your shirt off of you, sitting up. Throwing your shirt to the side, you begin to leave a kiss across his tattooed chest.

"Can I take your bra off, baby? Is that okay?" He asks, hands hovering behind you.

"Yes…," you pause. "You can do whatever you want to me, Eddie. I am yours." You say those three words in replace of the ones you so desperately wish you could say. But he is only yours at this moment, not forever. Growling, Eddie unclips your bra and hooks his finger on your underwear line and yanks them off of you, leaving you bare in front of him.

"Oh God, princess. You are so much more perfect than I ever imagined. You're so beautiful!" He admires you as he pulls his own underwear down, exposing his length. Starstruck, you let your eyes fall over his naked body as you soak in every inch of never seen skin. In this moment, you pretend he is yours as much as you are his and let yourself have him. Gently, he gets back onto you as your hands roam his body while you litter hickies all over his chest and neck. Wrapping yourself around him, he lines himself up, kissing your neck and jaw before hesitating.

"Are you sure this is what you want? It all kinda happened suddenly and I don't wan-

"Eddie, I want you to fuck me. I've been wanting you to fuck m-" He doesn't let you finish the sentence as he pushes into you. Thrusting hard, you scream as you adjust to his size before you start to meet his hips with yours, grinding on his cock. A heat starts to build in your abdomen as his cock brushes against your soft spot, a whimper leaving your lips as you throw your head back, eyes rolling.

"Oh, you feel so fucking good. So much better than I dreamed of. Fuck." He moans, pumping into you, his words push you over the edge as you tighten on his cock, cummings around him.

"Fuck, Eds. You're so fucking big. Oh, God!" You scream out as he continues to thrust into you at a rapid speed. Grunting and moaning above you, you gawk at Eddie's face as it twists in ecstasy when you roll your hips up to make him hit deeper.

"Fuck." He says as he pulls out and kisses you deeply. "Turn around, baby." His voice is deep and vibrates to your core. Obliging, you get on all fours, arching your back and pushing your ass against his cock, feeling his tip tease your clothes.

"Damn, your ass is so fucking-," His hand smacks down on the soft flesh with a crisp whack. "- Oh, so fucking beautiful." His cock slips back into you, hitting deeper and harder than before when you feel yourself get pushed to the edge, ready to cum a second time.

"Eddie, please. I'm gonna cum. Please." You beg for him to do something, anything to make you cum. Immediately, his hand slithering around your throat as he pulls your back to his chest as he relentlessly pounds into you at a bruising pace.

"Are you gonna come on this cock, again? Huh? You gonna be my dirty slut and cum on this cock. Go ahead, baby. Cum all over me." His words push you as you scream out, pressure releases as you cum, squirt dripping down the two of you as you feel his body go rigid above you before warmth shoots into you, coating your walls with his seed.

"Oh you feel so good." He cups your face, turning you as his lips meet yours, pumping into you two more times before you both fall beside each other. The room was filled with bliss until the inevitable awkwardness floated in. You just had sex with Eddie Munson and ge doesn't even want you. You feel disgusted with yourself as you look overnat Eddie's blissed out expression. Needing to leave, you shuffled to start finding your clothes and started to get dressed. Pulling on your underwear and shirt, you move to gather your shorts and bag. 

"Hey, what's wrong? Babe, are you okay?" Eddie says as he gets up, moving towards you after pulling on his boxers. He tries to put his arms around you, but you move away which he ignores and comes closer again.

"Eddie, I'm fine. I have to go." You say trying to pass him but he just holds your shoulders, pulling you in. "You don't need to say anything. I get it."

"What? What do you mean? Did I do something wrong?" He questions, trying to look at you but you twist away, avoiding his gaze. "Please, let me fix whatever it is."

"Why? Eddie, you got what you wanted. It's okay. Chrissy will be jealous when she finds out." You push past him and he grabs your wrist before pushing you against his bedroom wall.

"I didn't do that for Chrissy. I didn't even don't for you." He says as you twist your head in confusion.

"Then, why did you do it? Why would you kiss me? Why?"

"Seriously, you don't know?" He throws his arms out. "I fucking like you, Y/N."

"No. No you don't. You like Chrissy, not me. Don't be mean." He moves to you, grabbing your hands in his, begging you.

"Y/N, stop. I-I love you. I'm sorry It took me so long to realize how much I wanted you. But I want you so bad it hurts. I thought Chrissy would help me see if you had any feelings for me but you just got so distant that I thought you didn't until I saw you and all my feelings I tried to hide started to drown me. I dropped my necklace in the hall as an excuse to leave the meeting..because I was going to try to find you before you went home." 

"Well, why did you ask me to make Chrissy jealous if you want me?" You ask, your heart pounding at his confession.

"I panicked. I thought you'd see through it and tell me to fuck off. I never thought it would work but I was so happy to have you back in my life. I was scared that if I told you the truth, you'd leave again." His hands hold your face as he leans his forehead against yours. Shaking your head, you let yourself believe him and lean into him wrapping your arms around his torso.

"I wish you would've told me. I wouldn't have ran. I've had feelings for you ever since you made me that mixtape…I just didn't think you felt the same." You mutter as his nose brushes against yours.

"I should've told you. I am so sorry that I didn't and that I messed this all up. But, I am now. I am here, telling you that I fucking love you. Please let me have the chance to make this up to you. Please baby, be mine?" He pleads with you, confessing something you never thought would be possible.

"I love you too, Eddie. Like I said earlier, I am all yours." You whisper against his lips before connecting them. His hands grip your hips as he pulls you against him and holds you to his chest.

You never thought things would lead up to you being with Eddie. It was something that seemed impossible for you, but you find yourself making out with him in his bed, his heart in your hands as yours is in his. The world couldn't be anymore perfect

Masterlist

Tags:

@mrs-hotchner @our-lilly @mikeys-thighs @maisieisbae @hazydespair @parker-natasha @princessmiaelicia @aramora @axen-gers @trouble-in-space @stratospherewalker @fictionlandslanddreams @aunicornmademedoit @augustlikesdeath @kaitioo @uselessbutinteresting @todoroki-slut  

[learnfromjobs]

What's up, fellow learners? It's your boy, the one and only, here to drop some knowledge bombs on your puny brains. Just kidding, I'm not really that arrogant, but you know who was? Steve Jobs. That's right, the man, the myth, the legend, the guy who invented the iPhone and made us all slaves to our screens.

Now, you might think that Jobs was all about innovation and creativity, but let me tell you, he was also all about money. And what's the best way to make money? That's right, by ripping off your customers. Don't believe me? Just look at the prices of Apple products. You could buy a whole new laptop for the same price as one of their chargers.

But hey, if you're willing to pay a premium for a brand name, that's your choice. Just don't come crying to me when your iPhone breaks after a year and you have to shell out another grand for a new one. Jobs knew how to keep his customers hooked, and it wasn't by making reliable products.

And don't even get me started on Jobs' obsession with aesthetics. Sure, Apple products look sleek and sexy, but at what cost? How many times have you dropped your iPhone because it's so slippery? How many times have you accidentally hit the touch bar on your MacBook Pro because it's in the wrong place? Jobs cared more about how his products looked than how they functioned.

But hey, who am I to judge? Jobs was a genius, after all. He knew how to market his products and make people want them, even if they were overpriced and impractical. And let's face it, we're all suckers for a good marketing campaign.

So there you have it, folks. Steve Jobs may have been a visionary, but he was also a master of manipulation. He knew how to make you want something you didn't really need, and he knew how to make you pay through the nose for it. But hey, if you're willing to drink the Kool-Aid, go ahead and buy that new iPhone. Just don't say I didn't warn you.

[ghostofskywalker]

hi! hope you’re having a great break! i was wondering if you could write something with fives? i’ve been having some bad anxiety lately bc of school getting more serious and picking up in pace bc of finals coming soon :( maybe could you do something fluffy and cute with our handsome arc trooper? i appreciate you!! <3

hello!! i'm sorry this is a bit late (finals are absolutely running me over like a bus rn), but i hope you enjoy it :) it starts out with a touch of angst, but gets cutesy later on, i promise!

words: 1,225

summary: When Fives is injured on a campaign, you drop everything to go see him in the medbay as soon as you can. You knew that your boyfriend was on some pretty serious painkillers, but it sure was a sight to behold when he woke up pretty out of his mind.

clone troopers masterlist

A Little Loopy

When you first noticed that Rex was comming you, it didn’t strike much worry in your brain. Besides, you were halfway inside the engine of a gunship, you didn’t exactly have the time to chat at the moment. You knew that the 501st was due back any day now, so you just thought that Fives had broken his comlink again and bothered Rex enough to let him send a quick message to you.

The second time your comm went off, you actually wiped the grease off your hands and answered the call. “Hello?”

“Fives is in the medbay,” the captain said, and immediately your blood ran cold. You were expecting a quick message about their ETA with your boyfriend shouting about how much he wanted to see you again in the background, not this. “It was pretty serious, but he’ll be okay, and I thought you’d want to know.”

“Stars, yes, thank you for telling me,” you said, taking a breath to try and calm yourself down before you spoke again. “Can I go see him?”

“I’d have to check with Kix to make sure, but I think he is allowed to have visitors,” Rex said. He may be asleep though, I know they had to put him on some pretty strong medicine.”

“That’s fine, I just want to see him,” you said, already pulling yourself out of the gunship you were working on, not caring if you left things a bit haphazard.

“I figured you would,” the captain responded. “Just go to the medbay, and if for some reason they try to send you away tell them I approved your presence.”

“Thank you,” you said sincerely, packing up your tools and leaving a note saying you had to step out for a little next to your workstation, just in case anyone came looking for you.

You hung up with Rex and immediately raced down to the medbay, not even stopping to change out of your work clothes, so you were sure that you knew that you must have been a sight to behold when you walked inside and practically demanded to see ARC trooper Fives.

Thankfully it was Kix that was the head medic on duty, and he didn’t say a word about your oil-stained overalls as he led you to a bed in the corner of the room and gently pulled back the privacy curtain to reveal your boyfriend. “If he wakes up let me know,” he said as he pulled a chair next to the bed for you to sit in.

You thanked your friend, practically collapsing in the chair and taking Fives’ hand in yours. There were thick bandages on his abdomen and a few bruises on his head, and your heart broke for whatever he must have gone through out on the front lines. Tears threatened to slip from your eyes, but you tried your hardest to keep them in.

Maybe fifteen minutes after you had sat down, Fives began to stir, and you immediately jumped up from the chair and hovered anxiously by his bedside. After calling Kix over, you focused on the way his eyelids twitched and his eyes opened. He stopped moving as his gaze turned in your direction, and for a few moments, the two of you just looked into each others’ eyes.

“Fives,” Kix said, interrupting the silence. “Can you hear me?”

“Hmm,” was Fives’ response, and he still hadn’t torn his gaze away from you. “Go away.”

“Me?” you asked gently, not sure how lucid he was, because Rex had implied he was on some pretty strong drugs.

“No, him.”

“Me?” Kix asked.

“Yeah, you di’kut,” Fives responded, voice thick from medicine and sleep. “I don’t care about anything you have to say to me when there’s an angel standing over my bed.”

The fact that he had referred to you as an angel immediately made your heart melt. Fives was always a pretty affectionate boyfriend, but the dopey smile on his face right now made him even harder to resist.

But as adorable as you found the comment, it was clear that Kix didn’t feel the same way about it. “Come on Fives, you can have the rest of your life to stare at your girlfriend, but I really need to see how your wounds have been healing.”

“She’s my girlfriend?” Eyes wide as saucers, Fives looked like he had just been informed that he was elected chancellor. “This has to be a dream, there’s no way someone like that would be in love with me.”

Not sure what to say, you just squeezed his hand and nodded, an encouraging smile on your face. Fives took your hand in both of his and waved around, giggling like he had too much to drink at 79’s. “So pretty,” he said dreamily, pulling it up to his mouth to place the softest of kisses on your fingertips. “‘M too lucky.”

Kix just heaved a sigh, and you kind of felt sorry for the medic right now (even if you thought this situation was the cutest thing you’d ever experienced). “When he’s a little more lucid, can you please call me back over?”

That question was directed to you rather than the still blissed out ARC trooper laying in the bed between you, and you just nodded. “Of course,” you said softly, and soon you were alone with your boyfriend once more.

“Cyare,” Fives’ voice was starting to seem more like himself, though his previous statements proved that there was still a heavy dose of drugs in his system. “I love you. So kriffing much.”

“I love you too,” you responded, and the expression he wore upon hearing your words was the softest thing you’ve ever seen.

He opened his mouth to speak, but at the same time a flurry of voices broke through the air. It shouldn’t really have been a surprise to see a bunch of troopers in 501st blue making a beeline for the corner where you two were (you knew that they were probably worried about their brother), but you found yourself annoyed at them for interrupting your moment.

“What are you doing here?” you asked Jesse, Echo, Hardcase, and Tup as they approached you.

“We wanted to see how Fives was doing,” Jesse said. “That, and Kix had his comm on when he was waxing poetic about an angel in the room, and we wanted to see how loopy he still is.”

You just laughed as the small nugget of annoyance disappeared from your system, because you’ve spent enough time with this battalion that none of their antics really bothered you anymore. Fives looked like he was going to fall asleep any second, and you still had a gunship to fix, so you figured it was time to bid them all goodbye and head back to your workstation. You could return when your boyfriend had recovered a little more.

“Hey Fives, do you still think there’s an angel in the room?” you heard Jesse ask as you began to walk away from his bed.

“There is, but all I see is a bunch of ugly beasts in front of me right now, and they won’t leave me alone,” your boyfriend responded, and you couldn’t help the small snort that left your lips at his comment.

Yeah, he was in good hands. 

-the end-

i no longer have a taglist! if you're interested in being notified when i post, you can follow my library blog @ghostofskywalker-library and turn on notifications!

[theharrowing]

i'm boycotting hybe merch and i think you should too

listen: i'm not going to hold anyone's feet to the fire and say "boycott or else" and i am not going to unfollow or unfriend people, but i have been thinking a lot about this, and then i saw a post on twitter basically outlining everything that i have been mulling over & then some, and it has just been on my mind all day (and tbh for a few days) and i thought that maybe if i put these thoughts out into the world, it might get people thinking.

i also realize that these thoughts would have been better if realized before black friday and current merch drops, but it is what it is. i didn't even know they were doing another merch drop because i do not pay attention.

THE AFOREMENTIONED THOUGHTS; APOLOGIES FOR BEING SCATTERED:

we are witnessing the starbucks boycott working, and although it is yet to be stated whether that is making anyone on the upper level rethink their bullshit, they have been losing billions !!! of dollars.

i think people will be like "but i don't want to hurt BTS as people," and i hear that, but i also do not genuinely think a boycott would. they are literally fucking millionaires, and it is so hard to not get on my "i don't respect millionaires or believe they have the right to exist" soapbox when i do love them so much, but i also don't think they need our money, especially right now. especially because some (if not most) money can't go to them while they are in the military anyway (although i did see something about how the artist collection proceeds still might since it was initially sold before??? idk. still they are fucking millionaires.)

i think that what would be impactful would be for people to stop buying the merch for a while to send a message to hybe that we are not in support of zionists working with BTS. a romantic, faraway dream is for them to drop scooter braun's dumbass all together, but i do not genuinely think hybe or bang pd gives a shit about much beyond money, which is unfortunate. on this note tho, we could organize an email campaign??? i am more than down??? but it would depend on a lot of you participating. (if you're down tho i will type it up right away.)

do i think we need to boycott golden as a whole? no. i mean........i'm not buying the album because i have personally been more or less boycotting merch since the whole angel pt. 1 debacle, but i think that streams are fine bc they hardly bring in money anyway. but i am boycotting the justin timberlake and usher remixes because.......well, sorry but the favs are problematic.

[going to center myself and my feelings quick and i apologize...] i just cannot get through a day without sobbing uncontrollably about what is happening in gaza. and i cannot, in good faith, support zionists or people who work with them. this falls in line with BTS preaching for us to "love yourself, speak yourself." everything they have stated in UN speeches and in many of their lyrics makes me feel like the only thing i can do as a fan is stand up for injustices when i see them, and hybe working with zionists is a huge injustice. and if you disagree.......idk. i cannot sympathize with or understand you; this post is not for you.

i think it is a huge injustice to what BTS instills in people and makes them believe if we sit back while hybe does whatever the fuck they want without caring about the consequences.

(disney is also on the list, by the way, of companies that support israel. if you need illegal links to disney+ bts content, we can figure something out.)

also, i will say that while silence is violence and choosing neutrality is choosing the side of the oppressor, i wonder if the reason none of the guys are speaking out about the conflict has to do with their enlistment (aka something pertaining to matters i do not understand within the korean government) or within the company itself because they work with scooter et al (aka bang telling them to stay quiet.) whatever the reason is, i guess i am choosing the side of wishful thinking right now. i have absolutely no proof for any of these thoughts, but i do see some people angry at BTS for not speaking up, and while i agree that everyone should use their platforms, i am wondering aloud whether there might be a reason for it. this is not me making excuses for anyone, though........i just don't know. i have no idea.

SOME FINAL FINAL THOUGHTS:

at the end of the day, we can only do what we can. if you can only boycott so much, you can only boycott so much. it takes time and effort to radicalize to the point of cutting out so many unnecessary things what we deem as "necessary." but it is possible. your money does make a difference, and wouldn't you want that difference to be good? and if you do have a moment of weakness, it is important to continue to stay the path and do not let guilt make you feel one way or another. we all make mistakes but the important thing is that we try.

ALSO if you want cute merch, support independent artists!!!!!!!!! the BTS army is full of amazing creatives and your money can help them for a little while instead!!!

i might be missing a lot, like i said, my brain is super scattered. but if this resonates or speaks to you or there is more i should consider, please reach out.

[verosvault]

🚨SPOILERS FOR FANTASY HIGH JUNIOR YEAR EPISODE 6🚨

Dimension20 "Fantasy High Junior Year"

Episode 6 "Party Politics"

Timestamp: 1:31:25

Video Length: 4min. & 49sec.

Kristen and Tracker's Phone Call (1/3 | ‣2/3 | 3/3)

Tracker: "So you don't want me to, but you're saying I don't need your permission."

Kristen: "Yeah, I'm just saying, I got a lot on my plate right now, and so I'm not really in a mental state to be like, 'I am so happy for you,' the way that maybe I would like to be. I just am like, you know."

Tracker: "Yeah, I wanna make...Well, I'm really sorry, and I'm sorry that Cassandra is-"

Kristen tells Tracker that Cassandra is dead and she saw Yes! And that it was rotting and she banished it before she could ask it a question 'cause she's an idiot. 😭✋

Tracker: "Can you even cast spells right now?"

Kristen: "No."

Tracker: "What's gonna happen with you and Aguefort?"

Kristen tells Tracker that she's gonna be president! 😭✋

The awesome caption team: (players snickering) 😭✋

Brennan: "There is a long silence. A loooong silence." 😂😂💀💀

Murph covering his face! 😭✋

Brennan laughing a little 😂🤣💀

Ally: "Kristen really just gassed herself up, actually. Now, she's standing up on a couch on the phone."

Fabian: "Get down! Get down off the couch!"

Kristen giving Fabian the bird! 😭✋

Zac: "All of us are just watching you." 💀💀✋✋

Emily's laughter! 😂🤣

Siobhan: "You're doing really good."

Ally: "I'm kinda holding my hand like Napoleon. Is this how Napoleon did it?" 😭✋

Fabian: "Kristen, get down."

∆

Kristen: "Sorry, I have a lot of adrenaline coursing through my veins."

Tracker: "Yeah, that's sorta playful in a way that I'm not feeling right now."

Kristen: "Ooh! Oh, I'm sorry. Yeah, I was completely honest, I'm having an awful night. And so tonight's not really the night to give you a really honest answer about our relationship." 😭✋ (The voice crack on the "I'm Sorry" made it sound kinda insincere! I'm crying so hard fr! 😭✋)

Tracker: "Great, okay."

Kristen: "Is that all you wanted to ask? If you could post about your girlfriend?"

Tracker: "Yeah." (THE FACE BRENNAN MAKES! 😭✋ YELLING CRYING SOBBING! 😭✋)

Kristen: "Okay."

Tracker: "Yeah."

Kristen: "I think you should just do it, and I'll figure out a way with the tools that I have, which are throwing myself into this campaign and talking to Jawbone as much as possible."

Lou's reaction and the way he laughs during this is concerning me 😂😂💀💀

Tracker: "Okay. Well-"

Kristen: "Can I ask you a question?"

Tracker: "Yeah, yeah."

Kristen: "Your church is thriving. You're doing so good."

Tracker: "Yeah."

Kristen: "And mine is really, really bad. So bad. How did you pick the moon, and do you ever think about just dropping it and starting a whole new thing that you kinda made up yourself?"

Tracker: "Look, there were a lot of things about how you chose to be a cleric that I wouldn't have said while we were together, because we were together and I wanted to be supportive. And I'm not gonna say them now, when you're really low. But probably some of the stuff you need to hear is gonna be not that fun to hear. Yeah, my church is thriving, and I've never thought about abandoning Galicaea. We're changing the nature of how people relate to this goddess, and if I didn't do it, she would be the version you saw in the nightmare forest forever. She deserves people that understand her as she once was and as she can be again. And frankly, it's thriving now, but it wasn't four months ago. And there were hard, hard parts and there's still a long ******* way to go. And frankly, Kristen, I don't think you've ever dealt with Helio. You were like, yeah, this is ******** and I'm leaving, but you never grappled with the parts of it that ******* worked for you. You were chosen. All you had to do was do the **** everybody always said you were gonna do. And then you wandered out into the wilderness where you had to make meaning for yourself, and the truth is, Kristen, as much as you 'like the idea of making meaning,' you don't wanna do it 'cause it's hard."

Kristen: "Yeah, my work ethic's been bad. But Helio was so annoying."

Tracker: "You leaving Helio was the right choice for you, but the issue is, you wanted something Helio-shaped. You wanted something where the engine was already running and all the machinery was there, and you could just step in and have a waiting flock ready to raise their hands up and say, 'This is the chosen one.' And then you made a god out of block letters, and it died on the day you made it."

Kristen: "Wow."

Tracker: "That's true! It's ****** up!"

Kristen: "Wow."

Tracker: "I don't even know if you could go find another god. Your last two gods died!"

Kristen: "I..." *laughs* "Okay, I just-"

Tracker: "You know how rare it is for a god to die?"

Kristen: "Yeah."

Tracker: "Your last two! In high school!"

Kristen: "Maybe she had a shrimp allergy. You don't ******* know!" 😭😭✋✋

Brennan's laugh! And then Murph and Lou's reactions! 😭😭✋✋

This whole interaction made me AN ABSOLUTE MESS!!! 😭😭✋✋

[love-kurdt]

Swooping, Sloping, Cursive Letters: 5

word count: 578

PLEASE READ THIS IS ME TRYING FIRST, AS THIS STORY RELIES HEAVILY UPON THE CONTEXT OF TIMT

October 3, 1987

Dear Will,

Why does loving you feel so wrong, yet so right? It seems like for every thought I have about you, another comes to bite me in the ass. I wish I could just think about you in peace without all of the shame. But at the same time, I know it isn’t normal for me to like you, to love you, to want you. I’m usually able to stop my mind from wandering into that territory, but there’s something about you that is making it more and more difficult for me to resist those thoughts from entering my head. I think the main culprit is your shoulders. Yes, I said it. I am attracted to your shoulders. Specifically when you wear your polo shirts that are a size or two too small and hug your upper body a little too tightly. Or when you steal my leather jacket and shove it on, and it accentuates your arms, rather than making them disappear like it does to mine. You’re so attractive, it’s actually crazy. I think my brain needs to catch up to my heart. Because my heart is thriving, but my brain is a killjoy.

On another (less horny) note, it feels amazing to have you back in school again. I meant it when I told you that Hawkins wasn’t the same without you. I wasn’t the same without you. But now I have you. As a friend, of course. Obviously. And that’s totally okay. Because now, walking through the hallways doesn’t feel so lonely. Now, when someone says something funny, I’m able to turn and see your reaction. Now, I can put effort into my English notes again, because someone never reads the assigned chapters. And now, I’m not going to fail art!

Speaking of, I might have run out of space in my binder of your art. So I had to run to Melvald’s to pick up another one. Your mom had so many questions, and I was a stuttering mess for literally no reason. I ended up telling her it was for an English project, which was a stupid idea, because I momentarily blanked and failed to remember that we’re in the same class. Your mom got all wound up like she usually does and sent me off with a second binder to drop off at your house on her behalf, because she didn’t know we had a “project” due. I was so embarrassed, standing in your doorway and watching your face morph from surprise to confusion, then to amusement. But seeing you laugh at my idiocy made it all the more worth it. And now you have a random binder in your possession that is definitely not for an English project. I hope you find some use for it.

When I got home, I started putting your newer drawings in the second binder, and kind of spent an hour staring at and analyzing them when I should have been doing homework. So your notes for the next few chapters of The Grapes of Wrath probably won’t be too detailed this time around… sorry. I can’t help that I’m completely obsessed with you. I should probably get to those notes, though, before I forget to take them altogether. Plus, we have plans to ride bikes to school early so we can work on our next campaign, and this overdramatic paladin needs his beauty rest.

I’ll see you tomorrow.

Love,

Mike

previous letter | next letter

homepage

[wen-kexing-apologist]

BL/QL Ask game : The Ugly, the Bad and the Worst

Alright, I was tagged in this game by @clara-maybe-ontheroad, so it's time to make some enemies.

Worst soundtrack / weirdest song choice in a BL

I don’t really pay the most attention to this, I can’t recall anything that sticks out to me as particularly egregious even if it may be a tad odd. Weirdest song choice though is Jojo and Ninew letting First sing in Only Friends. I love the boy but we all have our flaws and his is being horrifically out of tune.

Most cringe-inducing line (cute)

“Then I am gay too,” Bee from Between Us. A show that I did actually enjoy despite many people grumbling. I hold that it’s cause I didn’t wait three years for it, and didn’t know Until We Meet Again existed when I started watching it. But regardless, Bee and Prince had like 5 minutes of screen time, max and they won my motherfucking heart.

Most cringe-inducing line (actually bad)

Not a specific line, but literally any time that Nuea questions whether or not Hia Lian loves him in Cutie Pie 2 You. Bestie, you already agonized over that for far, far too long in Cutie Pie, by the time you ran out of the marriage proposal at your father in law’s birthday, I was already way past over the bullshit. And now you want to get back on the bullshit when you are planning your wedding? Come on…

Most stupid decision made by a character

I agree with @bengiyo, Teh giving up his spot in school for Oh. Honestly, you know what, looking even further back the stupidest decision was Oh and Teh’s friends coming up to Teh AT FOUR O’CLOCK IN THE MORNING THE DAY HE WAS GOING TO GO COMMIT TO COLLEGE TO TELL HIM OH WAS GIVING UP. Y’all couldn’t have fucking waited like…one day? You know Teh is stupid motherfucker prone to grand gestures.

Worst plot line

“I’m going to kill your mother from third hand cigarette smoke and spend the last hour and a half of a genuinely otherwise beautifully crafted show making the world’s longest anti-smoking campaign” by New Siwaj in My Only 12%. What a way to ruin a show at the very last minute.

The most problematic show you've watched

Fish Upon the Sky, what in the racism, support of stalking, invasion of privacy, manipulation was that show?

A show people love but you find bad

Enchante. I just hate Theo so goddamn much.

A show people find bad but you will defend

Also gonna agree with @bengiyo here and say Wedding Plan, I have seen so little conversation around that show since it aired and it was super adorable and very very outside of MAME’s typical taboos. Just fluff, lesbianism, and lavender marriages abound. But if you think La Pluie is bad, then I will fight you to an early grave.

A show that is just objectively bad but you enjoyed it

I wouldn’t say it is my favorite, but I didn’t mind Vice Versa, but maybe that’s cause I was paying attention to trying to predict the next episode’s colors and not to the plot?

A bad show that you kept watching because you were intrigued/fascinated

Mine is the same as @waitmyturtles. It’s currently still airing, so it’s entirely possible I drop it, but, Dangerous Romance, I am so mad at how quickly it is brushing past interesting topics, but I am still watching it because I am curious where they intend to go with it. I don’t think they can salvage it, but I need to know what it is they want to say that made them think handling this show the way they are is better than exploring literally any of the class questions presented in the first couple episodes.

A bad show that you kept watching because you were horny

I don’t really watch shows because I am horny,  I watch shows because- Why R U? FighterTutor, only reason I watched that show, I skipped through most of the rest of it.

A bad show that you kept watching because of that one character

Why R U? Because Fighter was such a compelling character and I thought Zee did a phenomenal job in the way he handled Fighter’s internalized homophobia. I wish they were giving Zee more complicated roles than Hia Lian because he’s a strong actor and I think his talent is wasted on Cutie Pie.

A bad show that you would still recommend

I don’t really recommend shows that I think are bad to people, so it is a case by case basis. I did not end up liking A Boss and a Babe, but I did recommend @emotionallychargedtowel watch at least some of it so she could get a better idea of Book’s acting ability.

The character that ruined a show the most

Nadia, My Ride. She’s such a self-entitled, incredibly judgemental bitch and I hate her, runner up is Toy for destroying Boss’ bookshelf.

Most awful character that you hated

Tawan, KinnPorsche. I hate him, I hate him, I hate him, I hate him. I was glad when he died, and I must commend Na for his performance because he did such a good job playing an asshole that I still hate his face when I see it.

Most awful character that you loved

Korn from KinnPorsche, I am obsessed with how casually evil he is, and how he keeps his loyalty through faked compassion rather than abusive fear the way Gun does. He’s consistently winning, even when his lies are revealed. I think he does a superb job of flying under the radar as a visibly awful character. But he’s a terrible person.

A character that wasn't awful but that you just don't like

Saifah, Why R U? It’s not his fault, but I just hate Jimmy’s face.

A hero that should have been a villain

Palm, Never Let Me Go, I had too many theories about the ways in which Palm could have betrayed Nuengdiao. Hell, I’d have settled for Chanon being a villain, but no, only loyalty :(

A morally bad character you're into

*ahem* *gestures to my username*

Wen Kexing, Word of Honor who has done nothing wrong in his entire life.

A morally bad character you're not into and you wish people would stop being into

Theo, Enchante, I hate that motherfucker with a burning passion. I know that I said I think Book should be able to play more assholes cause he’s doing a great job with Mew’s revenge era, but Theo was a goddamn fucking major asshole who was not really presented as such.

The show that disappointed you the most

Again, it’s not done yet, so there is still time to maybe climb out of this hole, but I am very disappointed by Dangerous Romance at the moment.

The Worst Show of Them All Because of Your Own Reasons

Enchante because how the fuck do you think it is okay to write a romance where one of the romantic interests both creates the most fucked up, convoluted lie to mess with your feelings, AND is so goddamn helpless that you GET FIRED FROM YOUR JOB FOR HELPING HIM, and not have either of those things be a wake up call or deal breaker?!

Tagging @ranchthoughts, @respectthepetty, @solitaryandwandering

[xoxoavenger]

F*&% Them All

pairing: Eddie Munson x Fem!Reader

summary: Y/N visits Eddie on a special night at Hellfire Club.

word count: 2737

warnings: allusions to sex but no actual smut, cursing

masterlist

"What do you mean you're getting married?" Dustin practically screamed as soon as Eddie had announced it at the end of that night's campaign. They were in the middle of the game, Dustin about to roll, when Eddie dropped the bomb as casually as telling someone what they ate for breakfast.

"I didn't even know you had a girlfriend." Mike frowned, watching Eddie roll his eyes.

"Well, she doesn't go to the goddamn high school." He smirked. He was waiting for her to come through the door, looking like the absolute babe she was, and knock the socks off of all these boys. She wasn't sure if any of them would know who she was, but honestly her looks alone were enough to take any of these dweeb's breath away.

"How the hell did you meet her then?" Dustin asked, making Eddie simply blink at him. This kid was going to run Eddie into the ground.

"My life does not revolve around you losers, believe it for not." Eddie sassed back, making Gareth and Jeff stifle a laugh.

"Did those asshats know and we didn't?" Dustin was getting heated, causing the other members of Hellfire to giggle slightly. Mike and Lucas pretending to be coughing when Dustin turned, but it was a poor acting job.

"Well, have you ever asked, Henderson?" Eddie questioned, making Dustin sigh, because as stupid as it was the older man was correct.

"No," The younger boy answered, annoyed.

"Right then," Eddie cocked his head slightly, smile returning. "I am getting married, and you fuckers are all invited." This caused another uprising from the group, however more positive this time.

"You're actually getting married?" Lucas questioned, and Eddie groaned.

"Like, you're having a ceremony?" Mike asked. Eddie put his hands on his head, wanting to pull out his goddamn hair.

"Was that not clear?" He was shouting now, causing the members of Hellfire to cringe back slightly. "How much more explaining do I have to do for you idiots to believe me!" He watched his group simply blink at him, knowing that their questions pushed him too far.

"You could bring her in to meet us at some point." Of course Dustin didn't know his boundaries, and he quickly realized as Eddie's eyes went wide that he had pushed the older man to his breaking.

"Listen here you little shit," Eddie was standing, his hands slamming against the table. He wasn't sure what he was going to say to Dustin to piss him off, but he wanted it to be good. "You have been uninvited to the wedding." He decided on, sitting back and watching the kid shake his head and start to whine.

"No, no, no!" Dustin cried out, drowning out the sound of a girl's laughter through the hall and finally into the room.

"Who the hell have you uninvited to our wedding now, babe?" Her voice caused every man at the table to turn and stare. Walking down the hall and into the doorway, she stood, cheerful as ever, using one hand to wave at the boys.

"You're getting married to Y/N L/N?" Lucas asked, and Eddie smirked at all of their shocked faces.

"Present," Y/N smiled at the group as she stood in the doorway, both hands now behind her back.

"You said she didn't go to this high school!" Dustin argued, looking angry at Eddie again.

Y/N had gone to Hawkins High, graduated in three years and was captain of the cheer team. She graduated in '84 - two years prior - and was in Eddie's senior class the first time. She was the one who encouraged him to start the Hellfire Club his sophomore year, and even played with him on nights when she wasn't at practice or a game - which wasn't often, but she still did it.

So, Eddie had been in love with her for about five years at this point, even if they had only been dating for two of those years.

"No, I said she doesn't go to the high school. As in present." Eddie smirked, staring at his girl as if she put the stars in the sky herself.

"I didn't know kids still knew my name." Y/N smiled, watching all the boys melt. Her smile could melt cheese with how bright it was. Eddie wanted to just take pictures of her smiling forever and put them all over his room.

And then maybe he'd take some pictures where she wasn't smiling. Pictures that would stay in his wallet, for his eyes only.

"You used to go over to the Wheelers all the time to tutor Nancy." Lucas filled in, still staring at Y/N. She was older than the last time they had seen her, about three years older, and in that time she had grown into an adult. It was a strange sight for this kids, who had just seen her in passing years ago. Y/N's eyes narrowed as she looked at the table, her gaze settling on Mike.

"Mike Wheeler?" She gasped, her hands coming out from behind her back and showing off a small container with what could be cookies in it, causing all the boy's to stare. "You guys still hang out?" She looked at the rest of the group, obviously not realizing she had ruined her surprise.

"Baby," Eddie was obviously getting upset that the attention was not on him anymore. "What'd you got there?" He nodded to the container, and she gasped, as if she had suddenly remembered it.

"I made you guys cookies," She smiled, moving forward to put them on the table and take off the top. As she did so, she got close enough for Eddie to grab her waist and pull her into him, causing her to knock over the cookies. They fell all over the table, one falling not the floor.

"Eddie!" Dustin groaned through a mouth full of cookie, gesturing toward the now soiled cookie. Eddie rolled his eyes, tugging Y/N onto his lap more so that they were both sitting on the throne, Y/N's legs pulled over his lap and his hand venturing all the way from her calf to her upper thigh, slightly too high to be decent especially in front of children. The contact on her skin felt nice, since she was wearing a dress tonight for good impressions, however she knew Eddie probably needed to be stopped. She grabbed his wrist as he decided to go further, all the way to her ass. She tilted her head when he smirked at her, fingers twirling at her.

"There are children here," She whispered, leaning forward to put her face close to his. She scrunched her nose, and Eddie couldn't help but lean forward and kiss it, because she was just too cute. He then looked to see only a couple cookies left, and his face instantly changed to anger.

"Hey, dumbasses!" Eddie yelled out, the volume making Y/N close her eyes and lift her eyebrows. "Leave some for me! My wife made them!" He reached forward and snatched the rest, causing an uprising of groans.

"You're not married yet!" Dustin reminded the couple, finishing off his cookie.

"Too bad you'll never see it!" Eddie fired back, stuffing a cookie in his mouth to punctuate his sentence. Y/N smirked, grabbing his face and pressing a big, wet kiss to his cheek. It made him blush slightly, and she smiled at that as she turned his face for a proper kiss.

"Thank God." Dustin fired back, but they both could tell that he was hurt.

"He's joking," Y/N rolled her eyes as she broke away from the kiss.

"I'm not," Eddie shook his head, arm wrapped around Y/N and pulling her close, the other hand resuming rubbing up her thigh now that she had let go of his wrist.

"Eddie," She sighed, frowning. She knew she could get him to stop acting up, the same as she knew Eddie was joking. "You talk about Dustin, like, all the time." She tried hard to keep her pouting look as Eddie looked at her like she had just stabbed him in the back.

"You know my name?" In all truth for Dustin's question, she had figured it out in the combination of what Eddie has told her and what she remembered of the boys when she would tutor Nancy. Which, as she thought about it, was more her helping Nancy with some homework and then talk about the boys at school.

But, Dustin won't know that, and neither will Eddie.

"Of course. Eddie talks about all of you." She smiled at the group, who was looking at her and Eddie with confusion.

"He does?" Dustin asked, hope filing his voice even as he tried to act cool.

"No," Eddie removed one hand from Y/N's thigh to hold a finger out, trying to take control of his club once more. "No, I don't. And if I do, it's about Hellfire." Eddie looked back with pleading eyes at Y/N.

"Oh, Eds," She whispered, petting back his hair as if he were a child. Mike and Lucas shared a look at how annoying it was that Eddie still looked at her with big, soft, eyes. "Please, just reinvite Dustin." She put a hand on Eddie's chin once more, giving him a quick kiss.

"We don't even have a date set." He whined, his hand squeezing her thigh. She sighed, looking at the table that still had everyone's stuff and the empty container of cookies.

"Why don't you finish your game and then we'll go home and talk about wedding plans." She suggested, the boys watching as Eddie sighed and nodded.

"You heard the woman!" He yelled when the boys continued to just stare.

"What just happened?" Mike muttered, blinking. Sure, he had been in a relationship with El for awhile, but this was something completely different. Eddie seemed to be wrapped around Y/N's finger.

They went through the rest of the campaign, with Y/N cheering everyone on and giving Eddie good luck kisses for part of it, getting sleepy as she continuously shifted onto Eddie's lap even more; he was grabbing her up and making sure she was as close as possible, somehow shifting closer every time. Everyone was shocked that Y/N knew what she was talking about, that she knew was she was doing.

"You're looking at a founding member of Hellfire, boys." Eddie smacked a kiss onto Y/N's cheek, loving the way she grinned and curled into him.

"There's no way." Even Gareth was surprised at this, and Y/N just rolled her eyes.

"She helps with every campaign." Eddie shrugged, smiling because he was finally getting to share his girl with his boys.

An hour later they were done, and Y/N was practically asleep by the time the last dice roll - she was completely straddling Eddie's lap now, her head resting on his shoulder and his arms around her ass, keeping her dress from flipping up and flashing everyone.

"I can't believe she has him wrapped around her finger." Mike whispered to Lucas and Dustin as he stared at the two on the throne while continuously putting his stuff away. Y/N had her cheek pressed against Eddie's chest now, hair covering her face mostly. Eddie was pushing her hair back, looking at her lovingly, the same he had all night.

"I bet she even tops." Dustin said nonchalantly as he slid his binder into his bag.

"Dude!" Lucas and Mike both yelled, grossed out at the thought of the couple having sex. Before Dustin could say anything back, Eddie was ready to kill them.

"Hey!" He whisper yelled, getting their attention. "Shut the fuck up!" He gestured slightly to the sleeping girl in his arms, who was moving slightly.

"Sorry," Lucas whispered, looking away quickly.

"Don't think I didn't hear you little shits talking about my sex life." Eddie grumbled, settling back into his throne and going back to being obsessed with the girl in his arms.

"We're never getting his full attention again." Dustin muttered as the three of them stared at the couple on the throne. Everyone else was leaving, muttering shit at Eddie as they left. Eddie didn't even nod, probably because he couldn't be bothered to know what they were saying anyway.

"So, when's the next meeting?" Mike asked, barely loud enough for Eddie to hear.

"When have I ever told you that at the current meeting, Wheeler?" He asked, not even looking up at the boys as he stared at his girl.

"You know you're gonna have to wake her up so she can drive back home?" Dustin asked, and Eddie looked up at them, eyes wide in anger, and took a deep breath.

"Henderson, you are so goddamn lucky that my wife is asleep on me because otherwise I would be strangling you with my bare hands." The strength that it took Eddie to not scream was immense, but he made it with an even voice and was able tp keep Y/N asleep.

"She's not your wife," Again, Dustin with the pushing boundaries.

"Get the fuck out." Eddie grumbled, staring them down as they left.

"You're gonna get us kicked out one of these times." Mike said as they walked through the hallways.

"I give it two weeks from now." Lucas nodded with a sigh, making Dustin groan.

"You guys have no faith in me!"

Meanwhile, Y/N was waking up with Eddie.

"You gotta be easier on those kids." She muttered, having only been partly asleep the whole time.

"Didn't you hear what they were saying?" Eddie asked softly, looking down and rubbing her back. It was enough to make her want to go back to sleep.

"Eddie, they're not even teenagers." She sighed, moving to sit up. "They think I'm the one in charge." She smiled, watching Eddie smirk.

"They're fourteen." He muttered, a hand going to her neck to stroke her skin.

"They clearly know nothing." She was still smiling, eyes droopy from sleep.

"Clearly, if they think you top." It was almost a joke, almost enough to make them laugh as Eddie ran his finger along the collar of her dress, one that was barely hiding the marks Eddie had made on her on the last night. "What if you just went home with me. I can bring you to pick up your car tomorrow." He was practically begging, so she nodded, getting ready to stand.

"We need to set a date for our wedding." She told him, grabbing his hand after he swept all his D&D stuff into his bag.

"You're already my wife," He used her hand to pull her forward and kiss her, thumb rubbing against the ring on her finger. It was smaller, because he failed senior year twice and sold drugs for a living, but obviously Y/N didn't seem to care.

"We still need a ceremony." She said as they parted, pulling him out the door. The ceremony was solely for her benefit, because they had already gone to the courthouse and gotten married a couple months ago anyway. They didn't tell anyone because they were both young, and Eddie was still technically in high school and it would mean reliving the shit they went through when the town found out that the girl who graduated in three years and the boy who couldn't graduate were dating.

"Do we?" Eddie asked running forward to open the door for Y/N. She smiled and felt her cheeks heat up as he did so, squeezing his hands in thanks.

"You already told your friends," She shrugged, smile on her face when he realized that telling the boys that he was getting married had suddenly backfired on him as his girl used it against him.

"Fuck them," Eddie grunted as he opened the van and the couple got in.

"Fuck them all," Y/N repeated with a large smile as he started the van and then backed up, grabbing her hand and putting it on the stick shift so that he could shift and hold her hand at the same time.

"Fuck them all." His voice was low, and they both knew that she was talking about more than the kids, more than his friends and her friends and their wedding. They were talking to everyone who talked about them behind their backs, who judged their relationship without knowing either of them.

So yeah, fuck them all.