#i should probably wait to post this until a better time but whatever

[pizzaqueen]

One day I will write a fic that is not a first kiss fic, but today is not that day! This is mostly dialogue, but I might expand it at some point. Brief mention of Mary Jane (sorry, I don't know what Tumblr censors these days lol) / rated T

“You know, Steve…”

“I do know Steve.” Steve's lips tilt in a proud smile.

Eddie snorts. “You’re a funny guy. Anyone ever tell you that?”

“All the time.”

“Anyway. Like I was saying: You know, Steve…” Eddie looks at Steve, waiting for him to interrupt again, but he doesn’t, so he goes on, saying, “Sometimes I wish you were a girl.” Why hasn’t he ever told Steve this before? High Eddie is so much smarter than sober Eddie. Steve should know this.

“What? Why?”

“So I could kiss you.” Eddie scrunches his nose up. “But now that I’ve said it out loud, that’s dumb, because I don’t want to kiss girls.”

“Okay…”

“Maybe I wish I were a girl so you would kiss me.” Eddie scrubs a hand over his face, shakes his head. “Except, I don’t wanna be a chick. And, like, I’m basically a dude version of Buckley, except cooler—”

“Robin’s cool.”

“—and you don’t want to kiss her.”

“Well…”

“Wait, do you?”

“Not lately.”

“So, you guys…”

“No.”

“Right. Well, I don’t wanna be a girl—”

“Eddie.”

“—but I still wanna kiss you, and I can’t as a guy, well I could, but—”

“Eddie!”

“What?”

“I want to kiss you.” Steve’s lips twitch and he adds, “As a guy.”

Eddie opens his mouth, closes it again. “You do?”

Steve nods, pushing himself up on one elbow, leaning over Eddie. Leaning down, so close, and, oh, he’s going to—

Eddie pushes a hand in Steve’s face. “Wait. Why didn’t you ever kiss me before then?”

The next words Steve says are muffled by Eddie’s hand.

“What?”

“I said,” Steve says, moving his face so Eddie’s hand is cupping his jaw instead, “because I didn’t know you were gay.”

“I didn’t know you were gay.”

“I’m not. But I still want to kiss you.”

“You…” Eddie’s brow furrows. Does that make sense? It has to because Steve wouldn’t say it otherwise. He looks up at Steve, still leaning over him, so pretty and right there and he wants to kiss Eddie and Eddie’s head is still pleasantly fuzzy from the weed they smoked and, wait, why is he just looking at Steve?

“Okay, yeah,” he says, “that works for me,” and slides his hand to hook around the back of Steve’s neck, pulling him down for a kiss. “I’m so happy you’re not a girl,” he murmurs against Steve’s lips.

“I’m pretty happy about it too,” Steve says, and then he kisses Eddie properly and they stop talking for a long while.

[arkhammaid]

— ˚₊‧⁺˖ RED BULL GIVES YOU WINGS.

fandom. formula one

pairing. max verstappen x snowboarder fem!reader (fc: zoi sadowski-synnott)

about. y/n l/n, olympic gold medalist, goes viral after her unusal win. her boyfriend silently cheers from the sidelines

content warnings. social media au, not edited/proofread

notes. i vaguely remember seeing the headlines (years ago) of a teen snowboarder oversleeping because he was watching netflix the night before the race LMAO. so this is kinda the inspiration for that

SKYSPORTS

liked by maxverstappen1, yourusername, redbull and 3'370'884 others

skysports Gold Medalist @/yourusername had a rough morning during the Winter Olympics, she overslept thanks to a late game night binge with her boyfriend. Yet despite also forgetting her coat, she takes the win by storm, all while flueled by three Red Bull's she had as breakfast.

"When me and my boyfriend sim race, we totally forget the time. It's his passion and I like to challenge him in something he thinks he's best in. I think it was 3am when I finally went to bed, luckily I found a some cans of Red Bull. You can also thank my boyfriend for that, he drinks that sh*t as if it's water."

Y/n takes the whole incident with stride, jokingly saying that she will have to repeat this routine if she wants to win gold the next time.

user SIM RACING WITH HER BOYFRIEND???

⤷ user don't know if we should thank him or not

⤷ user you'll probably never be able to thank him, y/n and her bf have been together for years now but she never revealed who it is

⤷ user does she even have a boyfriend??

⤷ user check her insta, she's been posting the same man for a long time now

user SHE'S SO FUCKING UNSERIOUS I LOVE THAT

user she's literally the definition of genz

user i don't care what anyone else says, this right here is queen shit behavior

⤷ user i crown thee, y/n l/n, to the queen of whatever this whole mess is

redbull See! Red Bull gives you wings, we take no longer any criticsm

⤷ user you better sign her up

⤷ user imagine she actually lands a red bull sponsorship just because of this

yourusername lol, that was fun

⤷ user LOL???

⤷ user i can't do this anymore 😭😭

maxverstappen1 👏👏

⤷ user MAX?!

⤷ user game recognizes game fr

user i don't know what's better. the camera catching her downing her third red bull right before the race or her cursing after she won

⤷ user meme of the year fr

YOURUSERNAME

liked by maxverstappen1, redbull and 1'552'082 others

yourusername happy to announce that i'm flying with @/redbull now! if one red bull doesn't work, try three. i won gold with it 😉

user SHE DID IT!!! Y/N NATION WE WON!!!

⤷ user now only the x games left

user can't wait for the insane promo shots

⤷ user bet she will do tricks from a cliff, right after drinking four red bulls

⤷ user straight from the skilift is my bet

redbull Proof that Red Bull gives you wings! Welcome to the family y/n ❤️💙

⤷ yourusername ❤️💙

user ahh the bigs smile makes me so happy, she deserves it

maxverstappen1 Welcome to the winners

⤷ yourusername thank you champ, i'll enjoy my stay!

user MAX LIKED AND COMMENTED

⤷ user MAXY/N NATION WE WON TODAY‼️‼️

⤷ user can we not pls... she has a bf

mathilde_gremaud welcome to the team y/n, so happy to see you here!!

⤷ yourusername thank you 😚

user i love red bull athletes welcoming newcomers

⤷ user a big family fr

⤷ user big and batshit crazy

⤷ user never said they're not lol

YOURUSERNAME

liked by maxverstappen1, landonorris and 2'003'863 others

yourusername the moment this trophy comes in our home i will throw it off the balcony. how dare you not kiss ME when you won your fourth world championship?!

all jokes aside, maxie, i'm so fucking proud of you, my #1 racer, my favorite dutchman and cat dad 🫶 to many more years of red bull domination (max and y/n version) love you sm!!

maxverstappen1 You will not touch my trophy.

maxverstappen1 Don't worry, I'll kiss you until you're sick of me

⤷ yourusername impossible!!!

⤷ user STOP THIS

⤷ user ew, that's sickening sweet (pls don't stop you guys are the sweetest)

maxverstappen1 I love you too, schatje

⤷ yourusername i love you more

⤷ maxverstappen1 Not possible? 🤨

⤷ landonorris okay we got it, you both love each other stop this shit

⤷ yourusername @/landonorris get out of my comments if you don't like it norizz

⤷ user WHEN IS IT MY TURN??

⤷ user not lando catching strays 😭

user IT HAS BEEN MAX ALL ALONG???

⤷ user five years of softlaunching... only for us to be hit by the biggest hard launch of the decade

redbull The Red Bull Powercouple™️

⤷ user simply lovely!

landonorris fucking finally! now max can bother someone else with his yapping

⤷ yourusername max doesn't do yapping, he just loves talking about me🫶

⤷ landonorris well, i got sick of it!! i literally should've ruined your softlaunch and tell the press about you guys

⤷ maxverstappen1 That's not what a friend would do

⤷ user HOW DID LANDO KEEP THIS SECRET FOR SO LONG??

⤷ user i bet y/n threatened him with violence

⤷ landonorris she did.

⤷ user HELP?!

user if max can comment on his girlfriend's post like a sap WHY CAN'T OTHER MEN AS WELL??

⤷ user they will never be max verstappen...

user brb, the highway is calling me

user con 😭 gra 😭 tu 😭 la 😭 tions 😭😭😭

⤷ user the bf was real... i fear i'm not strong enough to fight him for mother y/n...

⤷ user at least she's happy!!! (i'm actually crying my parasocial relationship is officially over)

taglist. @keyz-writes , @obsidianjewel , @aimixx , @themercyverse , @lem-hhn , @lupicalbestwolf , @akiraquote , @lilypadlover , @adorablezhui , @peqch-pie

DO YOU WANT TO JOIN THE TAGLIST? please send a non-anon ask to be added to the taglist. taglist can be general taglist (all fandoms and all works), fandom taglist (all works within the fandom), series (all works for specific series) or nsfw taglist (all nsfw works and all fandoms).

crossed off tags mean i can't tag you!

ARKHAM MAID 2024

[karasuno-planet]

Hallo😆 how about some of the karasnuno boys when they have a crush headcanons?? If u don't wanna do multiple characters, that's ok!! I'd love kageyama headcanons!!

Karasuno boys having a crush HCs <3

includes: Kageyama, Tsukishima, Nishinoya, Daichi

a/n: YESSSS TY FOR THE REQUEST and here's some cutesy hcs to fluff u up !!

Kageyama Tobio:

he would avidly deny it but he is suuuuch a blusher, he just turns pink at the slightest things

acts totally cool, but everyone on the team notices his sets are faster when you're at a game

if you help him with his homework suddenly he seems locked in, until you look up at him and realize he's sneaking looks at you

even with your help his grades do not improve im sorry

totally checks you out with the full look up and down without realizing he's doing it

thinks he's really slick but the entire team knows about his crush

would try to smile at you but give you the creepy grimace by accident 😭

if you asked him to work out with you he would push himself wayyy too hard to impress you, probably gets yelled at by Ukai at the next practice

makes extreme effort to give compliments, gets coaching from his sister

GIFT GIVING- always little things like a drink from the vending machine

regardless of your skill or lack of skill at volleyball he would ask you to throw to him or hit his sets

"Why are you always looking at my hands?" swbfvouyqwrbefnh

Tsukishima Kei:

struggles to not just avoid you like the plague when he gets a crush

wants you to come to games but would never ask you, if you do show up he would play way harder

he's actually kinda good about being discreet about it, but yamaguchi definitely knows and encourages him to confess

always fiddling with a pen in his hand when he talks to you in class

"Do you think I should grow my hair a little longer?" "Why? Do you think y/n would like it??" "Shut up."

has a nervous compulsion to push up his glasses

makes playlists about you that he would only share after like yearsss of a relationship with you

low-key gives you sass and would love it if you reciprocated that. and that's def not the only thing he wants you to reciprocate.

if you were in his advanced classes he would kind of initiate an academic rivals thing, but if you weren't he would offer you help with your classes.

chat should I write a tsukki academic rival fic?? edit- the fic has been made <3 find it here!

Nishinoya Yu!

he's a bold mfer but a little shy when you give him any attention in return

would ask your favorite color just to show up at school the next day with this blond streak dyed whatever color you say

tanaka knows. he fs knows. and they avidly abuse the word rizz.

noya is a little embarrassed that he's a pervert when he has a serious crush 💀

makes nicknames for you

would ask you to come to games to watch him play, and smile at you when he made an impressive save

stands up really straight when you're around to make himself a little taller

goes absolutely crazy if you compliment him. happiest boy alive.

"You should call me Noya-Kun"

figures out what kind of music you listen to and then posts stories with it

will "jokingly" flirt with you

"wait, did that make you nervous..? If I didn't know better it might seem like you like me...!! oooooOoooooo"

Daichi Sawamura:

CLASSIC HIGH SCHOOL BOYFRIEND

he's got that promposal planned

would love for you to come to games and would give you his jersey

is honestly shameless about having a crush, and if it went on for long enough without anything happening between you he might just casually confess

rubs the back of his neck when you talks to you

he kinda speaks quieter/softer when he's alone with you

keeps his crush kinda quiet but definitely tells people he's close with, this makes Asahi act particularly nervous around you because he's scared of giving you a bad impression!

is very protective of you but not in an obnoxious way

always offering to walk you home

typical movie-star smiles at you all the time

takes notice of you and compliments you really genuinely

"Did you do your makeup today? It looks great."

[masterlist]

[mbsneur]

My Love

Aitana Bonmati x Reader

Summary: your Aitanas girlfriend

Warnings: Pure Fluff, maybe bad ending

My Masterlist

please read this text before going to the story

please don't be so strict with me but rather write to me what I can do better or what you wished were different. also tell me if you find the story too long or too short.. Also write to me if you liked it. My requests are always open (and English is not my first language so don't be mad at me) and if you have any ideas for the future about who I should write please tell me… the topics I will choose by myself unless you have a request for one or two people I will Read everything.. in the next survey I will take a few ideas from the old survey and new ones…. now read and I hope you like it <33

(its a very short one)

aitana is your girlfriend, she is the most tender and sweetest person you have ever met

You know that she would drop everything if you called her and said you weren't feeling well

It was match day. You've been playing for Betis Sevilla since your childhood. It was the game against FC Barcelona. You already knew that you wouldn't have a chance

You're going to play against your girlfriend. You kept your relationship secret long enough until you went on vacation together during the summer break and decided to post a picture together so that everyone knew you were together. Since then, your team has been annoying you and keeps telling you that you are togheter with the best player

Also today they teased you about playing against Aitana, you haven't seen her in a long time, it was already overdue. You both have been very busy lately and have neglected your relationship a little, so you didn't really like the jokes your teammates made

“Can you please stop” you said slightly annoyed and pulled your jersey over your head The jokes will probably never stop

"Aww we're a little baby again today" Paula joked and pinched your cheek lightly. You clicked in annoyance and let Noelia braid your hair. It's a little ritual between you to braid each other's hair

You were all excited to play against Barça again. You finished lacing up your shoes and went into the tunnel. You acted as captains and stood right next to Alexia, the captain of Barça. You cracked your neck one last time before the referee announced it was time to line up

You stood there, gave a little applause and shook hands with your opponents. Aitana took your hand firmly in hers and gave you a little wink, which you accepted with a smile

it was kick-off. The game went well, even though you lost 5-1, you were still proud to be part of this team

//

1-0 Barcelona: Claudia Pina 26‘

2-0 Barcelona: Mariona Caldentey 44‘

2-1 Betis Sevilla: y/n 45‘

3-1 Barcelona: Caroline Graham-hansen 75‘

4-1 Barcelona: Salma Paralluelo 88‘

5-1 Barcelona: Salma Paralluelo 90+1‘

//

Even though you lost so much, you were still proud that the times were so far apart

After the game you all gave each other a handshake

Aitana ran up to you and hugged you tightly. "Hey you were great" she beamed at you with a huge smile

“Thank you aita you were pretty good too” you joked, smelling the sweet smell of her hair once again

"Would you like to come with me? I mean you're in Barcelona and I think your team will be able to do without you for the night or not?" she told you and put her arm around your shoulders to start the way to the cabins

you took a deep breath "okay but only if you cook for me" you raised your hand aitana laughed "sí I'll cook whatever you want" she said laughing and let go of you "well I'll wait for you outside my car" She said as she walked past and you nodded at her

You took a shower and told the coaching team that you would stay with Aitana and fly back alone tomorrow

//

About an hour later you were finished. You said goodbye to your team and headed towards the exit. The evening warmth of Barcelona hit your face. You looked for Aitana's car until she drove close to you

"Hola chica necesitas un conductor?"

She asks laughing and you ironically bump into her car. You walked in. It's been a long time since you looked in her car. After a moment she immediately pounced on you and bit lightly into your neck and cheek. You squealed and tried pushing her away laughing "aita aita stop" you say breathless with laughter

"I missed you so much" she tells you and places kisses on your cheek. You took her hands in yours and gave her a long kiss on the mouth

When you let go she looks at you with her sweet gaze. She licks her lips and blushes with embarrassment. You have kissed so many times but after such a long time it is always unique to kiss her again

"I missed you too" you say and smile slightly, everything is the same as before, her light ponytail, the smell of peppermint toothpaste when you kiss her and the gentle rose scent of her shower gel that is distributed in the air

"Do you want to go I'm pretty hungry" she said and rubbed her stomach lightly. She sometimes behaved like a little baby but that's what you loved about her, her funny faces that she sometimes gave you or she tickled you awake in the morning or crawled under your shirt you loved everything about her

"Yes we can go" you say, laughing slightly and giving her one last little kiss. She drove through the gate. On the car ride, you sang your favorite songs. Her hand didn't leave yours for a second

When you arrived at Aitana's house she opened your door and took your hand to escort you out. She carried your suitcase and looked for her key to the door

“You can take something from me to wear you know where everything is” she says and gave you a kiss before disappearing into the kitchen

You went into her bedroom and the smell of freshly washed laundry from her laundry basket immediately hit your nose. You did a little tidying up and taught the basket and carefully placed everything in your closet and looked for something to wear yourself You decided on a loose shirt and shorts. You changed your clothes and saw your selfie together in a frame on her dessert. A smile immediately came to your face you loved this woman.

You went into the kitchen and the smell of fresh ham hit your nose. You watched Aitana for a moment until you walked up to her and hugged her tenderly from behind. "Ay baby you're wearing my favorite shirt" she said, laughing slightly and frying a few tortillas in the pan you place your head on her shoulder and place small kisses on her neck

"can you promise me no matter how long we don't see each other or neglect each other that you'll never leave me" You say lovingly and notice how Aitana's stomach falls and rises

"I'll stay with you until you can't stand me anymore and even then I won't let you go you won't get rid of me that easily" she says with a slight smile

you beam across both cheeks "I love you Aita" you whisper in her ear

"I love you too cariño"

[kremlin]

@wikwalker hi sure yes anything to give me an excuse to procrastinate the post i should be writing right now. here are all teh drugs and how to manage them. you can trust me, a drug addict

first of all: https://www.erowid.org/ , erowid always

don't be afraid of drugs, if they're the right drugs, you should do them since they will be a blast regardless and overcoming fear is also good (but outside the scope here)

OK to do as much as you want: alcohol - social benefit greatly outweighs health effects, no reason to avoid if predisposed to abuse since that'll happen sooner or later. what can i say? don't be a fucking dork. when you start drinking, really overdo it as much as possible without dying and get a few real nasty hangovers under your belt so you know how much is the right amount to drink.

weed - innocuous enough to be fine but will make you stupid in the long term. make sure to only buy from a real drug dealer and never some legal institution. cut it out when you're a "real adult". don't smoke weed and watch TV routinely, go out and do things so you naturally grow to hate it. good to go through this as early as possible to minimize the time you spend as a cringe weed enthusiast

i guess those are the only two.

ok to do infrequently (annually): "lsd" - or whatever it is, probably not lsd, blah blah blah, if it works and is sold on blotter its fine and won't make you go nuts or whatever. opt for a better psychadelic imo. see psych rule at bottom of section

mushrooms - better than acid since you know what they are. rule of thumb is to always do more than you think you want. minimum 1/8oz. see psych rule at bottom of post

dmt - if you somehow have a dmt hookup you don't need to be reading any of this. lasts 10 minutes which leads to tendency to way overdo it, don't do this, my favorite webcomic artist is permanently crazy from exactly that. using a crack pipe is also not the uhhhh most dignifying-feeling thing to do either. it's harder than you think.

mdma - for use at electronic music event or rave. overuse causes brain lesions or something.

coke - wait until you're in your 20s, have maxed out your roth IRA for a couple of years in a row, and havent missed a car payment in a similar timeframe. better still if you've worked a very shitty low paying job and know the value of a dollar. if you still find yourself buying candy you're not ready. too expensive to be worth it to get hooked on. know that you are VERY ANNOYING to anyone who also isn't high. don't fuck around with the guy selling it to you. avoid discussing or thinking about business ideas. you can't afford to make it a habit + kinda turns you into a piece of shit after a while, but at least a very interesting one

ketamine - another sick drug that rules, but save it for a special occasion. don't try and go into the k-hole your first time

rule for psychedelics - you get one good strong trip a year and that's it, make it count, always opt for doing a bit more than a bit less. but don't make it a habit, otherwise you turn into a very stupid very annoying "hippy" style cliché and believe in ghosts, aliens, crap like that.

ok to try once prescription opiates/benzodiazepine (xanax), valium, this kind of shit - worth trying so you can go "holy shit, this stuff is way way way too good to ever use responsibly" and then never do again. especially if you're white. for some reason we just can't handle this shit. if a doctor prescribes it to you, idk, that's your call to make.

ayhuasca - this is just dmt in a different form. do some other psychadelics a number of times before you do this. once you realize the whole "substantial visual hallucinations" thing is made up, its time. do exactly this: -buy root online (legal). receive box of dirt -boil dirt into "tea" (read erowid for exact recipe) -take over-the-counter anti nausea medicine or anything that will give you a stronger stomach -drink tea (its nasty as fuck, get it down quick) -have someone bigger than you keep an eye on you for the next five hours. -have the experience, which is absurdly intense, has no bearing to the real world, etc etc. don't be a bitch and throw up, if you do it'll only last an hour or so. again there is no way to provide a consistent description of the experience except that you will meet god. you only ever need to do this once and never again. trust me

peyote/salvia/etc - try em if you want, you'll never ever want to again afterwords. these are drugs for idiot teenagers too lame to get real drugs. imagine being very very sick from poison and utterly terrified at the same time. No good

whippets/nitrous oxide - just find a dentist that uses it and don't bother creating hundreds of pounds of trash on your floor for this crap that lasts ten seconds. you have to understand the extremely short timeframe coupled with the cost makes zero sense. go to a phish concert parking lot and do some people watching -- you do not want to be these people. only use is as a motivator to get routine dental exam. also if you somehow manage to make it a heavy habit your fucking legs stop working, no shit, but they start working again once you quit.

don't ever do heroin/meth/pcp - is is truly a mystery why you should never do these 🙄

synthetic weed/k2/shit from the gas station - it is so funny that they sell this as "weed that won't pop you on a drug test". its not weed. it is some dubious chemical sprayed on yard waste. smoke it to have a terrible time and go nuts. only buy drugs from legitimate drug dealers!

kratom - anyone's guess as to why this is legal but it's heroin for pussies. its still heroin

dxm/cough syrup - do you ever wonder why it is exclusively teenagers robotripping? it's because it sucks ass. is like a cheesegrater on your brain in terms of health effects with repeated usage. you're better than this king

inhalants - these are at the bottom of the list for a reason. do not huff gas. don't huff paint. do not consume computer duster. not fun + fastest way to make yourself a complete, uh, (word i can't say anymore) and then dead

not listed quaaludes- unavailable due to no longer being manufactured. these ruled apparantly

sincis2c - unavailable due to not existing, i just made this up

amphetamines - cannot provide objective take here. they're my albatross, lifelong (posted 4:55am natch)

[midsummer-semantics]

if the world was ending

Okay, I told myself I wasn't going to write anything for @steddieangstyaugust but apparently I lied (I'm sorry)

Here's for day 1: Second Chance

CW: Slight agoraphobia

[not posted to AO3 but you can find other things there.]

When the earthquake hits, he’d like to say he thinks about his parents first. That he wonders where they are and if they're safe or if they’d hear about it from wherever they are in the world. If they’d call to check on him, even though they never did before.

He'd like to say he thinks about Robin, who's two states away studying for a graduate degree in International relations and communication, and likely doesn't feel the ground moving beneath her feet like he does.

Hell, he'd like to say he thinks about the kids, but most of them are scattered themselves, starting college programs (Will, Mike, Dustin) or sports training camps (Lucas) or exploring the West Coast (Max and El).

No, Steve is alone in his big, empty house when it hits, and the only thing on his mind is that they were wrong. Indiana doesn't get earthquakes, so something else has to be afoot. Six years since they defeated Vecna, since everyone tried to move on with their lives while Steve stayed because that's what he does, he stays.

A touchstone Dustin had called him once. Something to do with foundation and a connecting center. Steve still thinks it might have just been him and the rest of the group trying to make him feel better about still being stuck in the same house, in the same town, doing nothing and going nowhere.

He's alone and he thinks 'This is it. What I've been waiting for.'

He has a 6-year-old emergency pack stored that should have more dust on it if it wasn't for the way he chronically checks it. His trusty bat and a duplicate he made just in case, plus the ax he used the last time, are all near enough to the door. He's not sure what the protocol is for earthquakes, having grown up in the Midwest, but he's pretty sure he's not supposed to be indoors, right?

It doesn't last very long, but it doesn't matter. A few seconds of the ground shaking and rolling beneath his feet are enough to jumpstart him into action.

He's gathering supplies, cursing himself for taking too long, when the phone in the kitchen rings.

He should ignore it, knows that whatever or whoever it is can wait until he's secured the area and alerted the cavalry that something is happening. It'll take days for people to get here and Steve thinks he might he able to hold off whatever's coming out of whatever rift has sprung up until then, but he doesn't have time to think about it too hard.

The phone rings off the hook as Steve takes too damn long to double-check that nothing is in the house before he even attempts to go outside, and Steve knows he can't just leave it. Not in case it's someone who's still in town who knows he's here: Mrs. Wheeler, Claudia, Jim or Joyce.

He nearly rips the cord out of the wall when he answers.

"Stevie?!" comes the frantic voice of the person he least expects to be on the other side.

"Eddie?"

"Steve, oh my god." He can hear Eddie panting. "Are you okay?"

It's the first time Steve's heard Eddie's voice in five years. Since Eddie made good on his promise to run like hell out of here, something he'd repeated to anyone who would listen until he finally did. Five years since Steve had realized he was halfway in love with him after saving the world and never got to say anything because he was a coward and Eddie was leaving anyway so what was the point?

He'd gotten one phone call when Eddie arrived in Denver and it's been radio silence since then. Truthfully, he couldn't blame the guy, but Steve had had... thoughts... feelings... probably brought on by end-of-the-world shit but nonetheless. And then Eddie just—

Vanished.

"Yeah, I'm fine. Are you?" he asks.

"We're good," Eddie replies, and only then does he hear the rough grumble of Eddie's uncle in the background, asking why Eddie's on the phone at nearly 3 in the morning.

"Earthquake, old man," Eddie shouts, still too close to the receiver for Steve's already damaged hearing.

Oh.

So, Eddie's in town. Cool. Steve had no idea. Doesn't know when Eddie got in or if he ever intended to tell Steve he was here at all. That's fine.

"Sorry, Stevie. Woke Wayne up. Shit— did I wake you up too?"

Steve swallows harshly, shaking his head even though Eddie can't see it. "No, I was already awake."

"Me too," Eddie replies. "Jet lag. Just got in a few hours ago. What a welcome home, huh?"

"Sure," Steve says, wondering what the point of this call is. "Look, I'm glad to hear from you, but I really need to—"

"Wait!" Steve shuts his mouth, his teeth clacking harshly. "It's fine. Everything is fine."

"Dude, there was an earthquake just now—"

"And it wasn't You-Know-What related," Eddie states, a bit of his franticness back in his voice. "They're leveling part of the plant for safety issues. Wanted to do it at night so no one would freak out." Steve cringes. Hawkins wasn't exactly magnanimous about the rebuilding efforts last time, but he doesn't go to city council meetings to hear about what the efforts might have been since then. "That's part of why I'm home. Wayne's got an extended leave until they sort out what else to do."

Steve sighs, dropping the emergency pack on the floor and leaning the ax he'd managed to grab against the wall. "Oh. Great. Wish they'd have told everyone else just in case."

"I know, sweetheart. But everything is okay."

Sweetheart.

Steve's actual heart skips a beat hearing that again.

"I'll be back, sweetheart. I promise."

"So... you're here then? In Hawkins?"

There's a beat of silence, some shuffling on the other end. "Well, yeah. I told you I'd come back."

"For your uncle."

"He's part of it."

Steve hesitates, hating himself for even considering getting his hopes up.

"And the other part?"

"My guy is here."

When the earthquake hit, he’d like to say he thought about his parents first.

No, he'd thought it was the end of the world. And above that, all he could think about was Eddie.

[orphicdreamers-wp]

Girl Of My Dreams — Mat Barzal

Summary: In which Mat Barzal inadvertently falls for the oldest Hughes sibling and her brothers aren���t happy.

Content Warning; Taylor swift 1989 isn’t by Tay(its by reader) Mentions of University of Alabama (reader went there) Trevor Zegras being hopelessly in love with reader. Readers social media face claim is Addison Rae bc idc she’d clear as a WAG for a athlete.

Pairing: Mat Barzal x Hughes! Reader.

Mat would be lying if he said he didn’t sneak glances at the announcers box after meeting you. You had been carrying a plate of food and two margaritas to your booth where your friends sat. Tito had made a joke about you seeming familiar then the pair heard your voice and knew, “Alright now, eat up because y’all are bumming me out.” Mat’s jaw slacked, “He’d known that the Islanders had gotten a new game announcer who was a girl but he wouldn’t have known it was you. You were effortlessly stunning, you had captivated the attention of every straight man in the bar. Mat had approached you as you sat at the bar, “I’m Mat, can I buy you a drink?”

You grinned and spoke, southern accent slipping out, “I’m Y/N, I mean Barzy after the way you played last game? You better buy me a drink. ‘Yknow how many hate comments my broadcast got?” Mat grinned as the bartender approached you, “Another Corona Light and whatever she’s having on me.” You grinned sheepishly, “I’m fucking with you. I’ve heard worse.” Mat grinned, “So now would probably be a shitty time to ask you out?” You smiled at him, “Maybe not.” Mat smiled, “If I may, your not from New York are you? Where are you from?” You grinned, “I grew up in Toronto with my 3 younger brothers and moved to Alabama for college and been in New York for a few months now.” Mat grinned, “Well welcome to New York beautiful.” That was a year and a half ago. You still hadn’t told your brothers who your boyfriend was, just that his name was Mathew. Until your album release came creeping in and you wanted to go public with Mat.

Instagram

ynhughes; my album ‘1997’ is now streaming! thank you for all your support(especially the bf, ‘slut’ and ‘suburban legends’ are 4 us)

barzal97: celebrating you is my favorite pastime. i have never met someone who people gravitate towards more than you. you are by far the most wonderfully amazing woman i know. it is a privilege to say i love you🤎 this past year or so has changed my life. you make living easy and so so much better. i can’t wait to see what the future has in store for you.

trevorzegras: alexa play that should be me💔💔

ynhughes: forever in awe of you mathew barzal. amazed a gal like me is lucky enough to be adored by you🤎

oliviarodrigo; THEY HIT THE PENTAGON!! @conangray

>conangray; told you it was them i saw at radio music hall!

ny_islanders; our roman empire is all the sweet posts for to y/n today🥹🥹

sydneyemartin: brb crying. the purest people in the world. so grateful my girls get to grow up seeing a love this pure that isn’t their parents.

>ynhughes: we adore your girls more than words can express.

_quinnhughes: my biggest inspiration is out here killing it. in awe of you everyday sissy🥹 thank you for being my best friend from day 1

ynhughes: in a puddle of tears quinny. thank you for always being on my side, even when im wrong.

sabrinacarpenter; hockey players making me ugly sob wasn’t on my 2023 bingo card

elhughes; my first babies🥹 extremely emotional over you all today

>_quinnhughes: we love you momma💕

jackhughes: 1997 reasons to love my meanie head sister, i guess her bf’s alright

ynhughes: i love you little brat, come visit me and mat!!

>jackhughes: will do, sissy🫡

trevorzegras: i can’t believe she won’t date me 😞😞

>ynhughes: buck up z, your way too young for me. perfect age for @sabrinacarpenter tho!

lukehughes: the worlds best big sister came out with the best album to date

ynhughes; really feeling the hughes love train today, i need to plan for all of us to be together soon! so y’all can meet Mat!

etnow; this just in; the Hughes brothers have brought tears to my eyes supporting their sister

barzal97: the third picture is actually the most accurate representation of your sister now

>lukehughes; always messing with those darn cats! even if they are on the side of the street.

[quill-is-brainstorming]

I've just re-read the short lived duel that Aeneas and Achilles have in Book 20 of the Iliad and it's actually the most hilarious fucking thing.

So it starts out with Apollo disguising himself as Lycaon, one of Priam's many sons, and telling to have a go at Achilles. Keep in mind that this is post-Patroclus Achilles. Aka: berserk Achilles. Aka: so fucking mad he would fight a literal river Achilles.

Aeneas, who is capable of critical thinking, says he doubts he can actually take him on. He also references a time when he was herding cattle on Mount Ida and Achilles ambushed him, adding that the only reason he survived then was because Zeus gave him enough strength to book it (cracking up the official times that he's been saved by a god from certain death to 3, you go dude!).

However, after a bit of back and forth and a ton of hyping up on Apollo's part, Aeneas decides to try anyway.

Like, what could possibly go wrong?

Achilles notices Aeneas charging at him and he begins to taunt him. It's something among the lines of: "I'm sorry, are you, background trojan character #61, actually gonna try and beat me? And then what? Do you think that Priam will reward you in some way? Maybe making you king after him? Well it's BULLSHIT, because Priam fucked so much that your chances of succeeding him are basically 0. Ahah. Loser."

Now, you'd think that maybe Aeneas got enraged at the comment and attacked him, or maybe he even got scared and backed down, but NOPE. What does Aeneas do?

Well, first of all, he insults Achilles' insults, comparing his bickering to that of a child. Literally, "I heard third graders do better than that." And then he decides to list his and Hector's entire fucking family tree.

You know that part of the Bible that's like "this guy sired this other guy, and this other guy sired yet another guy" and so on? It's basically that.

So after he's done with all that, Aeneas states that while he'd love to have a battle of insults with Achilles, because according to him he's actually very good at insulting people (his words, not mine), they should probably throw hands now. Achilles agrees.

The duel is shortlived and Aeneas gets his ass handed to him. Badly. As expected. And he's about die when ✨️POV shift✨️ we're not on Olympus where Poseidon, Hera and Athena are watching this absolute train wreck go down.

Poseidon, pitying Aeneas, suddenly goes on a rant. It's something among the lines of: "come on guys, look at him, he's just a little guy! He literally has no stakes in this war, he doesn't deserve to die here! He even gives us lots of gifts and sacrifices, he's literally such a nice guy. How can we do this to him!?

...oh and also he's part of some prophecy, Zeus would get mad if he died."

The fact that the way it's worded makes it sound like Aeneas being part of a literal prophecy is an afterthought to him absolutely floors me, Poseidon is literally just attached to a random dude that's fighting on the opposite side to his because he thinks he's nice.

After all that Hera is pretty unimpressed and states that she really doesn't care if our man lives or dies as neither her or Athena have ever saved a Trojan from death, she however adds that Poseidon is free to do whatever he wants.

The literal moment Hera stops talking, Poseidon lunges down from Olympus and onto the battlefield to look for the two combatants. When he does, he saves Aeneas like only he can do.

You know how when Diomedes first tries to kill Aeneas, Aphrodite gently folds her hands around him to shield him? There's none of that here. Poseidon just runs up to him and literally flings the motherfucker.

It literally says that he flies "high in the air". It's like a Looney Toons sketch.

So Aeneas lands and, while he's obviously a bit dazed, Poseidon proceeds to call him a madman and essentially tells him to never do something stupid like that again and just wait until Achilles is dead, then he'll be able to murder Achaeans to his heart's content. Aeneas is fine with that.

Achilles, who just saw his opponent just get yeeted into the fucking sky, just shrugs and goes "welp, guess that guy's off limits, I'm gonna go kill someone else now I guess lol".

This entire scene is pure fucking gold and the fact that I've literally never seen anyone talk about it just breaks my heart.

[steddieas-shegoes]

"Stevie, I am begging you, please don't tell Wayne."

Eddie was bleeding.

He was on the floor and he was bleeding.

Steve was standing in the doorway, shocked into silence, watching Eddie try to put pressure on a wound that should have mostly scarred over by now.

His last checkup had been good, they'd even said the stitches could come out on his next visit, and he could officially start physical therapy.

So why was he fucking bleeding?

"Dammit. Can you grab a wrap from my room?" Eddie asked him, tone entirely too calm.

"Shouldn't I take you to the hospital?" Steve managed to ask.

Eddie's head turned to him, eyes widening as he seemed to realized what was happening.

"No, I- this is kinda normal? It's happened a couple times," he tried to smile, shrug it off.

"A couple of times?! Eds, this isn't normal. They gotta stitch you up better or something, c'mon I can take you," Steve leaned in and tugged on the arm he was using to hold himself up, ready to take his weight and help him out the door.

"No!" Eddie sighed. "We can't."

"I can call Wayne, then, and he can come get you-"

"Stevie, I am begging you, please don't tell Wayne."

Steve froze.

How long had Eddie been hiding how bad this was?

"You haven't even told Wayne? Eds, you should be mostly healed. You were mostly healed at your last visit! What's happening?" Steve was doing his best to stay calm, but calm went out the window when he thought about Eddie being taken from them long after the threat was gone.

"I ripped a stitch a few days ago, so I've just tried to be careful, but sometimes I move wrong. It'll stop bleeding in a minute. It looks worse than it is," his eyes were pleading for Steve to just drop it, let him handle it on his own.

But Steve was not about to let something go wrong, not when it came to Eddie.

"I'm taking you to the hospital. I'm calling Wayne. You can hate me if you want, but I'd rather that than have to tell Dustin that you bled out on your fuckin' bathroom floor." Steve put his hand over Eddie's on his side, applying more pressure. "Can't believe you ripped your stitches and didn't tell anyone."

"I was handling it!"

"Poorly. Handling it poorly."

Eddie huffed, but surprisingly didn't argue further.

He actually stayed quiet for most of the ride to the ER, even kept his gaze lowered when Wayne walked into the room he was being stitched back up in.

He remained silent on the ride home, preferring to ride with Steve while Wayne followed behind in his truck.

He didn't wait for either of them before making his way to his bedroom.

"Thanks for callin'," Wayne said to Steve as he watched Eddie close the front door behind him. "You can head out, I'll stay with him until the kids come by tomorrow."

"If it's alright, I think I'd like to stay," Steve hesitantly replied. "I'll take the couch. Just don't wanna be too far."

Wayne looked him up and down, much like he'd done the first night Steve refused to leave Eddie's side in the hospital.

Whatever he found, he seemed to accept, smiling at Steve.

"Might as well stay in his bed. Gotta keep a close eye on that one," Wayne winked and walked inside without an answer from Steve.

A close eye was really all Steve had intended, but of course, when they woke up tangled together the next morning, his intentions started to shift.

They shifted more when Eddie, half-asleep and on some minor pain meds, pressed a soft kiss to Steve's chest before falling back asleep.

——————————————————————

I could have done anything with this line and I chose dramatics. Happy Tuesday.

ATTENTION: I reached 5! This is 1/5 and the rest will probably be posted throughout today.

[j0eyj0rdis0n]

This was a request in the comments of one of my posts a while back. I totally forgot about it for a hot minute until I was scrolling through my drafts. I hope whoever requested this enjoys!

CREEPS IDEAL TYPE

JEFF THE KILLER:

He's pretty open when it comes to a partner.

He doesn't care what you're interested in because he'll just tease you no matter what

But he does like someone whos clean (even though he's literally the grossest creep)

I feel like it's something about the contrast he likes? Or maybe it's just because you need everything to be clean so you do it for him?

Wash his clothes please

EYELESS JACK:

He probably wants someone quiet like him

Someone who likes to read as well!

Quality time is a must for him!!

He's interested in someone who's more covered up when it comes to clothes? Maybe more professional looking?

Honestly he's happy with whatever as long as you accept him for the beast he is

TIM/MASKY:

Housewife. Housewife. Housewife.

PLEASE cook and clean for him

It's not that he's incapable, it's just the act of service melts his heart

Would love it if you waited at the door for him to come home, or were just setting the table as he walked in

"Honey I'm home" type vibes

BRIAN/HOODIE:

Someone innocent

Good LORD would this man fall so hard for an innocent s/o

He wants to be your only source of protection, the one who shows you things, teaches you, tells you what's right

It's the manipulation talking, but it's out of love

He'd give you so so so many gifts (wear the outfits he gets. NOW!)

"TICCI" TOBY:

Someone who's down for adventure!

He needs someone who can handle his up's and his down's and who's always ready to do something together

Probably would fit better with an outdoors person

If you like the same music as him it's a HUGE plus

He'll talk to you for HOURS about his favorite bands

BEN DROWNED:

Gamer. Obviously.

Dude needs a player 2

Also someone who smokes! If you'd smoke it up with him he'd be happy forever

Aaand you should probably know how to cook because this man burns water

Make him mac n' cheese

[mxtantrights]

Omg, girl!! Im the one who requested the "enemies" to lovers with Jason Todd one, and GIRL. I loved it. Was better than i was expecting. Please, write part two!( kiss scene? Hehe)Or a whole Bible if you want. Honestly, i only said a "quick" one because i was trying to be polite, didn't want to push or anything lol.

Anyway, thank you for writing my request!!

thank you soo much!! <333 this is a second parter to this post, but it can be read as a stand alone. hope you enjoy it as much as I liked continuing it!!

The kiss happens in two parts. Not to say that you can carefully dissect it into two parts, but that the kiss almost happens once and then it finally does, kind of.

Once when the two of you are on mission. In a slimy dive bar in some redacted location. You've been following your mark all day and ended up here. He's slinging back cheap shots of an off brand liquor as you and Red watch from the roof of the place.

He's been followed all day and hasn't made you once, which is a good thing. Or a bad thing. So you and Red decide to switch it up. There was no need to drag it out any longer. You could confront him and get the info you needed.

That was the plan.

Until the two of you were about to corner your mark. You were waiting on the street and Red was on the other side of it. It was going well until all of a sudden he met up with a familiar face. Falcone. Red pulled off his side of the street quickly and met up with you.

He doesn't say much. He doesn't say anything at all as he takes your arm and drags you around the wall of a store. You have half the mind to question him but you don't. Until he starts taking off the bottom part of his mask.

You try to stop him, but he crowds into your space. He whispers a very clear apology for being too close to you. And then he explains that him being here, would be a dead give away to Falcone. He might blow up whatever plans he has.

Both of you can hear them walking your way. And the only thing you can think of is apologizing to Red before fitting his fcae right into your neck. In the darkness of the night no one can really see his helmet. Or both of your suits.

They walk by without any second thought to the two of you. And you wait about five seconds before telling Red he was okay to pick his head up from your neck.

The drive to he motel was awkward to say the least.

The second time is when you're in the middle of changing in said motel. It's the last night of the mission. You're just about ready to go home to your comfortable bed and front door that has more than one lock.

Red is in a room on this floor. But the two of you haven't run into each other outside of your masks. It's weird. Like weird as in, it probably should have happened by now, but it hasn't. You think to yourself maybe the universe isn't ready to answer that question yet.

With a towel wrapped around your body you're about to start changing into your sleep wear when you hear something odd. A pop coming from outside. Then another one.

You grab your firearm and go over to the door. You look through the peep hole and see nothing. But you know you heard something. So you open the door , just to peek your head out. And at the right time too.

All of a sudden you see a tall man, white streak of hair, coming your way. He's wearing sweatpants and a black muscle tee. Once he makes eye contact with you, he starts running your way. You don't have time to close the door before he's standing in your face begging you to kiss him.

He's out a breath, and he's practically begging at this point. You're not about to kiss a random man. But when you hear the following footsteps you know he is in danger.

So you agree. And this guy apologizes to you in advance as he leans you against your door and cradles the back of your head with his hand. You almost sort of melt into the kiss. Just for a second. only for a second actually.

Because you realize, the way this man just apologized for what he was about to do, is the same way Red apologized to you the other night. And your brain feels like it's on fire because you realize this isn't some random man. This is Red.

This is Red and you know what he looks like. And he definitely knows it you because your'e the same person he saved in the alleyway in Gotham. Coincidences like that don't happen. Especially when you kind of hinted at it with the first word you said to him as a civilian.

🏷️ @12134z03

[sukunasweetheart]

That classmate sukuna post was just 🤌 a part 2 with dating headcanons pls🫣 if you take requests. Thank you 💕

the referenced post is over here thank you for enjoying! hope you like these extras as well <3

what would dating classmate sukuna be like??

well, at the beginning, its mostly sukuna dragging you around to places after school... he knows all the obscure food places that nobody is aware of- you know those dingy looking places that serve top tier food? yea.

you wonder if this is his idea of what "dates" are, just sitting and eating together lmao, but your heart still flutters even if a lot of the time there is pretty little conversation other than the usual bickering the two of you do because he does little things like giving you the last dumpling or whatever else it is that he's ordered as a side or pouring you a glass of water before he pours himself one

its like this until you begin taking more initiative and suggest the two of you do other things as a couple, like watching movies and going to cute aesthetic cafes, whatever floats your boat! (he'll most likely have a bored look on his face, but look, he'll find some way of having fun, because he always has you to tease, after all)

he probably enjoys more active date stuff like going to the arcade! throwing basketballs into the hoops, shooting games, table hockey, you name it (good luck winning against him)

will probably make everything into a competition and challenge you... and the loser gets a flick to the forehead, or something like that

(you shut your eyes and brace yourself at the end of each game for the impact, but it doesnt come for a while... when you crack open one eye a little, you see that hes smirking in that endearing way at you, because you look so cute with your eyes closed like that, waiting for him)

definitely goes easy on you, and the gentle flick gets you all flustered and shy

(maybe he gets bored of flicking towards the end and gives you a kiss instead)

cough cough anyway

on your way out of the arcade, if you make puppy eyes at him while gesturing at the claw machine filled with cute plushies, maybe he'll cave in and get one for you

what gets shoved into your arms afterwards is a big ass kirby plush

he doesnt get whats so good about such a dull looking creature, but whatever makes you happy, i guess

at school, nothing much changes except that hes a bit more affectionate with his bullying-- arm around your shoulder, sneaky kisses in the hallways, cuddling behind the school building on some days, but its not like the two of you are joined hip to hip constantly, since he has his friends and you have yours

dont bother taking him on study dates - or, if you wanna see him doze off, you should because thats all he'd do, since sukuna does the bare minimum when it comes to studying and still gets good grades

dont ask him to tutor you, he'd be a really mean teacher

but, well, if theres something that you're really struggling with, i guess he wont be opposed to helping out a little, in exchange for something like a free meal later

(but he ends up paying anyway.. when you tell him about the agreement earlier, he'll go "did i say that? i forgot. whatever, just leave it be." its just his tsundere way of saying "dont worry about it" bc he actually has no intention of making you pay for him)

sukuna does his daily activities of beating up losers and getting regular detentions, but now he also finds pleasure in seeing you waiting for him during after school hours by the entrance to walk home with him

is smug 24/7 and its incredibly hard to fluster him

but maybeee it happens once when you give him a big fat kiss on the lips before running away, which stuns him a little

(is definitely gonna chase you up for a second one. better watch out, hes fast as fuck boi)

Masterlist <3

[coffee-and-tea-time]

TWINS, PRETTY PLEASE, FEED ME MORE OF YOUR DELICIOUS TREATS, I ACCEPT WHATEVER, I LOVE YOUR WRITING

Why being a side character when you can have the spotlight?

Yandere! Circus x reader

Well, this was originally made to relieve some stress but in my defense, you said ‘whatever’ so hope you enjoy this little thingy, muak (˶ ˘ ³˘)ˆᵕ ˆ˶) (btw, I want to do a little pause to thank those who send asks and cute words to us, we even got anons! but y'all will see that in detail later in their own post, just wanted to say ‘love you’ again since they really do warm up our hearts and make us smile although we take our time since well #life #busy) ~ coffee

This honestly wrote itself lol. The story flowed out like an actual dream. I'd say figuring out the logic was the hardest part, so we decided on something simple. Gray morals, but no gray aesthetics! (it sounded like a better line in my head) ~ Tea

word count: 2.2k

tw: manipulation?, gray morals, small swearing, death (not the reader), written in you/yours, reader has a background of being hospitalized, oblivious? but somewhat willing reader, attention starved reader? Well, kinda but we all are. 

....the fuck?

Why is there so much color? This… is really different from the hospital monotone atmosphere… How did you get here? Are you having a lucid dream? It's been a while since the last time you dreamed something, it's good to see colors after some time, even if they are saturated.

“Oh, hello little star, are you lost? Did you escape from somewhere?”

Where did this guy come from? Why does he kinda look like a candy? Although, truth be told, you gotta admit that his pinky hair with pastel violet highlights suits h- Wait a minute…

Is this a circus? Woah, dreamland was nice to you this time. Well, since it's your dream, you can go along with it and enjoy your little ‘freedom’.

“I’m part of this circus, I’m…. the new host”

You watch as glittering sky eyes looks at you with surprise before smiling widely at you, if you look close enough, you can even catch a small shiver of… excitement? Probably.

“Really now? Then you are the starlight here, Dear, why don’tcha let me help ya? I can show you around if you let me, you now, to get our new host comfortable here as soon as possible”

You nod, accepting his hand as he starts showing you around saying ‘the show is about to start’ every now and then, your mind did really make an effort with the aesthetic of this dream, even if the circus colors are somewhat saturated for what you are used to, you can’t help but wow every 2 minutes by how large and amusing this place is, although you wished to stay longer on the food court, it's been so long since the last time you ate this much candy to the point your stomach feels so… huh? Now that you think about it, you can taste things in dreams? Lucid dreams really are something.

“It's still empty because there's a lot of time until the show starts. I would show you the amusement park outside the tent, but there's very little time until the show starts. We should look for the right host outfit for your big debut!”

You can’t really say much as you were practically dragged to a different part of the circus, he is really much stronger that he looks honestly and incredibly fast, dream logic you guess, in a blink, you’re met with the sight of a room with dimensions that are only rational in a dream, like an infinite wardrobe full of extravagant costumes.It was only then when you stood in front of a mirror that you noticed you still had the depressing hospital gown on you… 

“What happened, shining star? Does this style not suit your taste? I can bet you will be the one in the spotlight no matter what you choose to wear. Maybe getting a little stage fright? Do believe me, Dear. You're not the one who has to be afraid on stage"

The once frantic cotton candy-looking man seems to lower the rhythm a bit as he notices the switch on your expression, you can’t help but smile at his sweet tone although his speech has rather weird use of words, well, it's not everyday you can use such eccentric clothes without looking out of place, surely you will soon be woken up by a doctor or a nurse, so at least you can enjoy this while it lasts.

. . . . . .

You spin once again to show off another outfit, he keeps singing praises even thought you understand barely half his words and then nothing, it’s so cute to see him giving a full speech of how the style of the clothing, the colors, the accessories, etc matches perfectly with you, that accidentally you’ve already tried on like 20 different outfits, until you chose the one that got him rambling about how you shine for what feels like 30 minutes straight.

“I think I’d choose this one, thanks… I'm sorry, what's your name?”

You feel kinda awkward when you notice you never asked him his name until now, but he seems like he doesn't mind at all as he smiles at you and offers you his hand to guide you again through the circus.

“Aw, and here I thought you would give me a pet name and start calling me ‘sweetie’, I was starting to like you calling me ‘cotton candy’, you know? What a shame… It's not too late to start tho, but if you are too shy and need some time, my name is Pandora”

Pandora? Wait, you also never asked him what’s his role in this circus or anything about him and before you notice, he is handing you a cute looking mic with a toothy grin, that's when you realized that the show is about to start. You feel an anxious voice in the back of your head telling you this is gonna go wrong, yet you silence it by telling yourself that it’s just a silly dream, how bad could it be?

“I'm sure everyone will find joy in your presence like I do. Don't think too much, just have fun, starlight”

Before you could think more or ask for some advice, he disappears out of the blue after passing you some well decorated notes that got some of the information about the spectacles of today and even giving you a kiss of good luck on the forehead but you can't even finish reading when the first sentence when the heavy red curtains open in front of you… Fuck it, If you have to die, let it be at once.

“Nighty night Ladies and Gentlemen, Boys and Girls! Welcome to the best nightmare you will ever experience! Tonight, we invite you to leave your worries at the door and submerge into this spectacle of wonder and amazement. Prepare to be dazzled, enchanted and thrilled as we take your breath away with no devolution! So, without further ado, let’s begin! Sit back, relax, and enjoy the show! Our beloved Brutus will have the honor to be the first show of the night!”

Thanks god the first note was the intro speech and that you managed to read it right even if it’s weirdly written, for your dream seems to run out of creativity and consistency, where the ‘audience’ should be is in complete darkness, you can only manage to see tons of colorful and somewhat happy eyes, but you held a cheerful smile in your face, this dream is surely about to end. Hope you manage to see the first show before waking up, Brutus is a dog’s name so it's probably the lion act, right?

You see two jesters waving at the public as they appear magically thanks to a moving platform with a big cage behind them which has inside an intimidating, goth pastel looking guy with ash blonde hair and a choker with spikes and a tag that reads… Brutus. Did your brain forget how lions look and improvised or something? At least the guy doesn't seem uncomfortable in there as he gives such a confident smirk that makes his fangs stick out, walking out the cage almost smugly. When all the focus was back on you, you knew it was time for the host to speak again, so you quickly changed to the next note.

“Our first show of the night will work for the new audience and me, the new host, to give a smooth introduction of our beloved circus, rest assured that we will continue the next shows with the same energy as before, this is just a welcome gift for… our beloved new host”

Did Pandora write this while you were changing? Why does it feel so odd? Well, your question quickly find an answer when in another platform from the other side start to ascend to reveal a man that’s got this mortified expression on his face even crawls towards you to hold your ankles while repeating ‘I’m sorry’ ‘I didn’t mean it’ ‘I’ll be more better’ and stuff like that, is your dream turning into a nightmare?

“Host, the order, please”

You turn to focus on the voice, it was Brutus, right beside you, when did he get so close? Well, apparently, he needs a word to perform his show? Like an obedient dog. Well, you would do better without having a weird man clinging to your leg, so at least he would take him off you.

“Brutus, play”

Oh no, you didn’t see that coming.

Before you could even retrieve your command Brutus lunged forward, his claw-like nails digging into the flesh of the man's hand. Deep crimson staining the brightly colored scene as the screams of the man marked the moment his hands left your leg. It was brutal, for lack of a better Word, how Brutus clawed at the man's flesh with each swing as he screamed and crawled on the floor, splashing and smearing more blood onto the stage, the cage, the jesters, even you. But nobody even flinched, not even you.

The scene was plagued with the laughter of the unseen audience, the oddly cheery music that accompanied the circus atmosphere now sounding like something out of a horror movie, though it didn't seem to phase you just yet. Things were blurry, up until the jesters began their speech.

"Behold the crude man's punishment. seems too much? Well, let us explain!" said one, the other simply finishing up the other´s speech like they were one in the same.

"Oh this filthy creature, his mind as filthy as his scent, ew! does he even shower? he does, but that's the scent of a perverted beast everyone!!"

What the hell is happening here?! Everything is tainted on the man's blood, and these two jesters are just… joking around!? It's their job, sure, but really?!

You can hear Brutus's grunts and huffs as the man's screams grow thinner and thinner, the wet sound of flesh being slashed and blood splashing, trickling down onto the floor of the stage now louder than the man himself. This is sick, twisted, horrifying. This isn't a dream, it's a nightmare you want to wake up from, your own mind screams at you to stop this, to wake up but it doesn't. What 's going on?!

"Could you imagine this pile of shit as a doctor?" 

"We might have done his horrid face a favor with all those slashes! look at that gorgeous red!!"

As the jesters continue to joke and pick on the man, you can't help but pick up on their words… a doctor? A pervert? What does this mean? You search through your memory, which quickly arrives at the familiar face of one of the doctors at the hospital your body surely would be sleeping in right now, the one doctor that appeared so attentive to your care, though never seemed to completely gain your trust in some point you asked to get your doctor changed because how odd his gaze was… did he appear in your dreams as a pervert because of that?

“Kids, adults, elderly! This is something y’all need to remember, sometimes… You have to judge the book by its cover! Look at this disgusting looking man, who is also disgusting on the inside like a movie with no twist”

“Indeed, can y’all believe it? We almost end up without our dear new host because of this oink oink of a person”

You can help but be surprised as you suddenly got mentioned on this… wait, did they just literally say that the doctor really wanted to do something to you? Wasn't it just a paranoia of yours? This… feels too personal to be just a dream.

“I-I DIDN'T DO ANYTHING I DIDN’T EVEN GOT THE TIME TO TRY BEFORE I-”

He tried to explain that clumsily his innocence because with the fact he didn't do anything physical in a bloody murder scream before Brutus lets out a maniacal laugh and makes him scream even louder... so he did think about it? Would you have planned it? What would have happened if... Can you really say that is 'innocent'?

… Why doesn't it feel bad? It's wrong to kill for something that didn't actually take place, even if it was a fantasy, you can’t really manage to feel pity for the situation happening right in front of you.

Is your dream testing how gray your morals are? Some kind of punishment of your mind?

I s  t h i s  e v e n  a  d r e a m ?

And if it isn't... does it matter? Why care? You're Not the one gross enough to end up like that.

With a quick sweep of the curtains you came from, you would've seen Pandora peeking from the sidelines, his stare dazzling, overjoyed as he saw the turmoil in your gaze as it stared at the gruesome scene before you, how it went from horror, to shock, to understanding and… apathy. Saying he was glad would be an understatement, he was ecstatic, it seemed you had found your place in this circus sooner than he expected. For once, his decision was correct at the first strike!

sorry for any misspellings or weird sentence structure ❣

images from pinterest ⚘

[bookofbonbon]

i know i am - rafe cameron.

Pairing: Rafe Cameron x Reader.

Summary: For Rafe, it's always been you. He's just waiting for you to realise it too.

Word Count: 840.

A/N: It has been a hot minute since I've posted Rafe Cameron and this is OLD. So, so old and I just found it in the archives and thought I would post it because why not?

You feel him before you see him, goosebumps covering the length of your arms and, not because it’s cold – more attuned to the pretty blue-eyed boy who fills the space behind you than you cared to admit but, he didn’t need to know that.  You try to be subtle in the deep breath you take, he always smells so good, you think he’s your favourite smell – yet another thing he didn’t need to know but, the small laugh he breathes tells you that he already does.

“You know you can do better than him,” Rafe chuckles quietly at the boy trying but failing to win you a stuffed animal - you’d been hoping he’d get you the brown teddy bear with the blue bow tie – the boy you’re actually here at the carnival with.

You roll your eyes playfully at his words even though he can’t see you, you’d heard them a thousand times before, “you can’t say that to me. I banned you from saying that to me, remember?”

Rafe laughs loudly, warmly, the sound reverberating through you and you’re unsure of when you had leant back into him but, you don’t mind. It feels nice.

“Okay, then…” Rafe acknowledges, making a noise in the back of his throat like he’s thinking. “How about… he’s not right for you.”

This time you roll your eyes in exasperation, turning to look at him – all playfulness and amusement gone. The tip of his nose and apples of cheeks are coloured pink from the cold and, if it weren’t for the mild irritation, you now felt with him, you would’ve thought it was cute.

You look to the side, mulling over your words as your gaze focuses on an unknown couple, wondering whether or not you should say what you have on your mind. It had always been a carefully crafted dance with Rafe, always teetering toward the edge but never going over it and, not because of him but because of you. You had known him too long, loved him too long, what if things didn’t work out between you two? But then he gives you that cheeky half grin that you love so much, and you think maybe you are ready to go over the edge if it's with him.

“You only ever say that because you think you’re right for me,” you shrug nonchalantly, gaze finding him again and steeling yourself to appear more confident than you felt.

Time seems to stand still at your words, never had you said anything like that before, always brushing him off with a roll of your eyes and a push at his arm but not this time. Something shifts between the two of you, a maddening tension that had always knocked at the door but had never been invited in until now and you wonder if Rafe feels it too.

If your words have any effect on him, he doesn’t show it, at least not in the way that you’d like. The seconds feel like hours, each one sending a knife to your heart as Rafe doesn’t say anything. Instead looking at you with a tilt of his head and a light draw of his brows, eyes shining with something you can’t quite place.

Your heart beats wildly in your chest – you’re sure if he comes any closer than he already is, he’ll hear it. But he doesn’t say anything and, instead of coming closer, he moves further away and around you before disappearing from your view entirely and leaving you feeling like a fool. Whatever confidence you may have held, leaving with him.

Tears fill your eyes, a lump in your throat as you swallow thickly, sniffling lightly and pressing a hand to your forehead. You stay there for a minute, probably less but it feels much longer; only prompted to move by the feeling of someone’s hand around your wrist and pulling you around to face them. You mentally shake the last few minutes with Rafe from your head, knowing that it’s likely your date returned with that stuffed animal he promised but, to your surprise – it’s Rafe.

“I don’t think I am; I know I am” he smiles at you.

It’s easy and light, always so effortless in his charm but, it's not playful like it usually is. There's a sincerity and comfort in the way he looks at you.

His confession catches you off guard even though it shouldn’t. He’s always been so openly and shamelessly in love with you and, yet butterflies erupt in your stomach all the same. Sliding his hand from around your wrist to cradle your hand, he squeezes it softly before guiding it towards something he holds in his other hand – you look down in surprise when you feel something soft beneath your fingers – it’s the brown teddy bear with the blue bow tie.

“Just waiting for you to realise that I am, too,” Rafe grins with a cheeky wink before he disappears into the crowd, knowing full well now, that you do.

-

All fics are my own work - I have not posted my work anywhere else.

Disclaimer: I do not own any characters/places mentioned above.

Do not copy. Do not translate. Do not repost.

© bookofbonbon 2023. All rights reserved.

[formosusiniquis]

have your cake

So way back in August 2023 the steddiemicrofic challenge was Cake and 311 words, my head empty brain came up with one thought and it was Steve Munson having a bakery called Mun's Buns and so many months later I finally got around to finishing my vision

Ships: Steve Harrington/Eddie Munson; Tommy Hagan/Carol Perkins; implied/past Tommy Hagan/Steve Harrington/Carol Perkins WC: 6408 | T | tags: Future Fic, the lightest of post homoerotic friendship breakup angst, fluff, Tommy POV AO3

The bakery has a stupid name, is the first thing Tommy thinks when Carol tells him where he's supposed to meet her on his lunch break. He’s still thinking that, when he sees the place for the first time through his rain speckled windshield. It's a modest storefront, small for what Carol says is a booming business, tucked in next to a used bookstore and a music shop. There's a baby yellow awning hanging from the front just underneath a sign lettered in soft blue that reads Mun's Buns.

He's late, is the second thing he thinks after pulling up. Caught up in some stupid bullshit for his dad he hadn't managed to slip away until 12:30. Even then it had only been because Tommy had told him he was going to be late for their cake tasting. He'd rolled his eyes when his father and Greg, a guy that Tommy only considers a co-worker in the sense that they are technically on the same payroll since Greg in every other aspect is incompetent and an idiot, had winced. Shooing him away like a kid who'd just admitted that he's already twenty minutes past curfew. But catching sight of the way Carol has her arms crossed, tapping her foot fast enough to kickstart a motor, while her hair hangs limp in a way that it hadn’t this morning a third thought crosses his mind: maybe he should have been a little more worried.

Waiting isn’t going to make things any better. So he steps out of the car, let’s the misty damp cling to him in a way that makes his dress pants and button down feel like a poorly tailored second skin, and takes his licks like a man. "Late, thirty minutes late. Christ, it's the only thing I've asked from you Tommy." Her right hook stings just as badly as it did sophomore year when she punched him for asking out Erin Murphy instead of her.

Shit like that is probably why no one expected them to make it this long or this far.

When they went away to college; different schools, hours apart. His parents had been gleeful as they'd warned him that high school relationships didn't always last. That he should keep his options open, he didn't want to miss out on the love of his life just because of comfort. He didn't get offered the family ring when he decided to propose right after graduation. Carol has always been particular. Wanted the house to come back to before the wedding could happen, wanted a long honeymoon. That meant saving, a lot of it. Tommy knew and Carol did too, they'd overheard his mother and aunt gossiping in too loud voices after too much wine that they hoped the long engagement meant they were both trying to figure out a good way to break it off with one another. 

Still, over the course of their now five year engagement no one's asked once if they wanted to trade for it.

Carol thought it was horrendous anyway. She’d had her ring picked out since ‘85, styled her class ring so it would look like the oval cut diamond she wanted. Had him slide it on her finger the second it came in.

Cause in the politest of terms, Carol could be a raging bitch. She was Tommy's favorite person in the entire world.

There’s going to be a bruise on his shoulder tomorrow, even if she’s guiltily smoothing a hand down his arm now. Thrust toward the door first in offering, Carol is sorry she hit him but she’s not apologetic. “I’m serious, Tom, if we lose this appointment and have to go with Sweet Treats for our cake I'll- I'll-"

Whatever threat she was preparing is drowned out and then cut off by the echoing TONG of the door chime. A light in the back shifts color for a second, out of place enough that he wonders if he even really saw it. Head tilting toward Carol, his question catches in his throat when he notices her pinched off appraising. Better not to add to the ammunition she might already be building.

And if Carol is looking he better do it too. She'll want to debrief when they're having dinner tonight, just like they did with the florist, the caterer, the three wedding planners they'd met with, and each of the venues that they'd visited. And it wasnt because she was demanding, fuck you Greg. It wasn't because she was being nitpick-y, alright it was a little bit because she was but he liked being particular with her. He liked being involved in his wedding.

So he looked around.

The way they utilized their space -- a building that big and there's barely enough room to stand, we want someone who knows how to work with limited space for the venues we're looking at -- was the reason their first wedding planner hadn't gotten hired. Small, but not cramped. There are a handful of tables scattered in the open space in front of the counter. It’s the kind of small town cozy that Hawkins had tried for and he doesn’t see very often anymore now that they’ve moved out to Indianapolis.

It’s lunchtime, still too early for people to be seeking out the rows of deserts in their neat glass counter and too late for the breakfast crowd. But one of the tables is occupied by a teenager with long, black braids scribbling in a notebook while a slice of ice cream cake melts on a plate by her elbow. 

Everything was neat, organized, and compliant with health code regulations -- they hadn’t even made it in the door of the first caterer’s when she noticed a trail of ants and roaches marching into the open kitchen door.

Carol had always been quick when she was making up her mind about something. Like those Sherlock Holmes stories they’d had to read in school, in a couple of seconds she could spot everything she needed to make a decision. After a decade Tommy still couldn’t keep up; but he was always best at following someone else’s lead.

The smile she’s got frosted across her face is as sugary and fake as the roses on the cupcakes he can see behind the low topped counters as she approaches the only visible staff member. A girl, young in the way that nebulous way anyone younger than him was now, with thick squared glasses that magnified two distressingly blue eyes. The counters looked like they were designed to sit low enough that she could easily see over the top while in her wheelchair.

“Welcome to,” her customer service tone borders on bored. Two words into a clear script and she sighs, as if saying the name physically pains her, “Mun’s Buns. We’ve got a special series of summer flavors: Strawberry Lemonade, Lavender Mint, Chocolate Fudgsicle, and,” she sighs again, “for the grownups a boozy Blue Moon with orange zest.”

“How about a wedding cake.” He’s impressed. Carol made it through the speech without interrupting.

“Do you have an appointment?” the girl raises her voice, enough to make them both flinch back. Customer service isn’t a requirement for this part of the job necessarily, but Carol had bailed on two venues because the staff hadn’t been polite enough.

Her smile doesn’t crack though, “Yes.”

Even though he’s pretty sure this girl has to be basically blind with the inch thick frames, she levels Carol with a lethal stare. “Not you.”

From the open entryway behind her Tommy had been able to make out what sounded like the highlights of yesterday’s game. He assumed that space had to be the kitchen where these rows of deserts were made. He’s still surprised when a guy’s voice is shouting back, “I don't know, Max, do I? Why don't you check?”

“How am I supposed to do that?” Max shouts back, glowering at then in stand in for her mystery boss.

“With your finger, asshole. It's in braille. When I gave you this job you said you were actually gonna work.”

“Douchebag." Her eyes never leave them, while her hands rummage around in a space beneath the counter where the cash register sits. Max offers no explanation or apology for her shouting or for her boss. A large red appointment book gets slammed down on the nearest counter, making Carol jump but the neat two by twos of chocolate frosted cupcakes don't budge. He watches, a little fascinated by the way her finger scans the page before slowing. "Did you write this or did Dustin?"

Carol has always valued gossip over professionalism, he thinks that’s why she’s done so well as a hairdresser even though she was always awful at chemistry. It’s also why he’s held off from pointing out that they could solve this a lot faster if this guy would come out from the back. "Why?" 

“Cause one of you can't spell and one of you is trying to invent braille shorthand. So I'm not really sure what to do with TomGan Wed.”

“It might be Thomas and Wedding.” Carol leans over the appointment book as she says it, using a tone of voice he has never once heard her use in the entire time he’s known her. He thinks it’s supposed to be helpful.

“Wedding sampler.” The girl calls toward the back, “It's getting late.”

“I’ve got it,” the voice from the back shouts back.There’s an effortless assurance Tommy can hear from where he’s standing. It hits him with a wave of nostalgia so strong he grabs Carol’s arm on instinct.

“Really,” she says, cutting her gaze over to him. He’s not sure what she sees. “If we could hurry this along, it's just we've only got an hour.”

“You're late.” The glare she gets shuts Carol down faster than he’s ever seen.

“Right.”

“Okay I've got it.” The voice from the back is now the voice in the doorway. Hidden for a second by a serving tray loaded with samples of rich looking cake, it’s the first time since arriving that Tommy has actually wanted to be here. Not just because he can make out strong shoulders and a body of a man that’s still very fit but clearly enjoys his work too; the hint of love handles above strong thighs. Only then that tray dips, and for the first time since 1985 Tommy finds himself looking at the shocked hazel eyes of Steve Harrington. “Oh.”

Carol reacts for him, taking in a breath sharp enough she might puncture a lung. They’ll both wind up suffocated on the floor of this stupid bakery with an awful name, because Tommy can’t manage to breathe at all looking at Steve. Still unfairly handsome, faintly pink at the shock of seeing them too he imagined.

His hair is long, is the first real thought his half fried brain manages to put together. Soft looking even where it’s damp at the temples where sweat has pooled. He has it pulled back with a couple of the same butterfly clips that Carol likes to use.

His second, somehow more hysterical thought: this wasn’t how Steve Harrington was supposed to be included in his wedding.

Tommy was six years old and knew he wanted to marry Steve. When he’d told his mom -- to ask for her ring, Steve thought it was romantic like princes and princesses that they had a special ring that they got married with -- she’d grabbed by his arm so hard it’d left finger shaped bruises. So he’d held that certainty quiet in his heart until he was ten, and suddenly it was okay to want to play with girls on the playground -- he thinks it’s because Steve got tired of there never being an even number when they tried to play kickball, he had a way of making everyone want to do the thing he was. Carol wasn’t afraid to tell Tommy C. that he was dumb or to tell Mark L. that he hadn’t actually made it to the base, Steve liked her fast. Too fast, and Tommy had to tell her that one day he was going to be able to keep Steve all to himself. But he knew that it wasn’t right to say that now, even if he wasn’t all the way sure why it wasn’t. He was ten, but he would be eleven soon, and he took this part of him that he’d kept secret for so long and he whispered it to Carol under the slide while Steve tried to convince Brad P. that he could too pick two people for his kickball team first.

He was ten and Carol said they could share. Boys can’t marry boys, but girls can. So they could both marry her and live together forever.

It became a joke when they finally shared it with Steve, thirteen and boys going out with girls wasn’t funny the way it used to be. Sarah Jane asked Carol if she had a chance at going steady with Steve. She told Tommy about it later and they both told Steve that he was too good to date any of the girls in their grade. “Well I’ve got you guys,” his voice cracked when he said it, throwing an arm around both of them. Carol didn’t care as much, but even she’d noticed the way Steve was changing from boyish to handsome.

They were sixteen and disaster was just around the corner, not that he knew that. Steve dated around but he always came back to them. The head, the heart, the body. They don’t feel complete without each other -- at least Tommy doesn’t. Mr. Kripke, who was hungover more often than he wasn't, passed out ten minutes into study hall. Carol didn’t even wait to see if he’d wake back up before she left her assigned table for theirs. She smoothed out a lined piece of notebook paper for them, and Tommy scoffed like he was supposed to. “Aren’t we a little old to be playing MASH?”

“It’s dirty MASH, and I thought you’d think it was funny.”

“I think it’s funny,” Steve had said, “that you’re getting eiffel towered on your wedding night. Who else is joining in, Carrie?”

“We couldn’t agree on who got you for their side of the aisle. So we’re taking you to bed instead.”

He was sixteen and the way that the two of them looked when they shared a joke was the hottest thing in the world. The way their smiles mirror when they turned to him, sharp and ready to flay open the softest parts of him.

Tommy’s two days older when Steve lets him kiss the taste of Carol out of his mouth.

It was three days after he turned seventeen and he had to pretend he didn't want to die when he saw how Steve looked at Nancy Wheeler. Like he didn’t want to rip his hair out because Steve was fucking infatuated with this mousy little teacher’s pet and wouldn’t even look at him anymore.

He still doesn’t like to think about the breakup. He pokes it like a fresh bruise. Less often now, but when he does he digs his fingers in. Baits Carol into fights he doesn’t mean just so he can pretend like he hasn’t lost something that hurts like a limb.

Steve Harrington turns twenty-eight next week, and he’s standing in front of them both holding pieces of what might turn into their wedding cake.

“Wow I can’t believe you’re in Indy!” False excitement grates, but at least Carol has gotten herself together enough to speak. He thought he’d have at least another few months to prepare for the thought of seeing Steve, by their ten year reunion he was going to be married and happy and over it.

“Yeah, this is- Married, wow! I kinda can’t believe you haven’t already.” He says it to Carol, his platitudes had always been for Carol, but his eyes find Tommy. 

While Carol chatters at them and for them both, nervous, he knows she’s nervous. The situation is sudden and strange and fraught. But Tommy just looks at Steve, who looks at him. He’s getting married in three months, one week, and two days from now and for the first time in eleven years Steve is looking at him.

"Takes a while to save up for when you want the best of everything. Dad's still the skinflint he always was, I think he'd pay me less than minimum wage if he could get away with it."

And those soft brown eyes look so sad, looking at him. Sometimes he thinks no one will ever understand him the way that Steve did.

"There's nothing wrong with wanting the best, or having a long engagement." Carol defends. It's the same line she's been giving everyone. Defensive of him and herself and the choices they've been making. He can't believe Steve is someone she thinks they have to defend against.

“I really hope you're happy, man," he says, and the sincerity is a balm on the sting of this conversation. He pushes his hair back from his face, the way he always has when he's uncomfortable and trying not to make it obvious. And there's a fresh new hurt when Tommy catches sight of a plain gold band on Steve's finger, shining bright between the golden highlights of his hair.

“I’m happy about this,” he can say honestly. Carol is one of the only things he’s ever been sure about. She held him steady as she could when his other sure thing left him with a cracked foundation in a convenience store parking lot. “What about you? How long after meeting the future Mrs. Harrington did you wait to put a ring on her finger?”

“Tommy,” Carol chides as the teen in the corner snorts. To anyone else it would sound like a reprimand for being nosy, he, and he suspects Steve, knows she’s telling him to stop worrying a scab that has no hope of healing right.

Married and they didn’t know. Wouldn’t have found out until the reunion. It’s not like he expected an invitation, maybe an engagement announcement sent to their parents’ houses. They’d sent one to Loch Nora when the real ring had finally made it to Carrie’s finger. It was equal parts olive branch and offering. They’d gotten it back return to sender with no forwarding address.

The bell above the door tongs again, loud enough to make Carol jump. The platter of cakes doesn't shift at all in Steve’s hand. His arm shows no sign of fatigue. It’s almost distracting enough that he misses the obvious. The bell signals someone is coming into the store.

“Sorry, Sweetheart. I know I said I wasn't gonna be late but Mike…” There just inside the door is the Freak. Undeniable even with his head down as he digs through his shoulder bag. From the riot of poorly maintained tangles that still hang around his shoulders to the expanded mess of tacky ink on his arms. The only thing that’s changed is the age in his face and the band on his shirt.

“Munson?” Carol has the reflexes and the personal grace to address him first. Shock more than the disgust it might have been when they were still kids.

Tommy feels like a kid still. Looks to Steve in an instinct he’d thought he’d stamped out years ago, only to be met with wide eyes and teeth grit tight enough to draw out the square line of his jaw.

“Christ, I still get nightmares that start like this.” Munson says, eye darting between the three of them. “Max, am I naked?”

“Don't know, don't wanna know.”

“I thought you'd be able to tell by the energy in the room.” He wiggles his fingers, still bedecked in silver, like they can divine the vibrations or some witchy shit.

That’s enough to make Steve break just a little. A soft, exhaling scoff before he finally starts to move out from the counter. Tommy catches, and he doubts Carol misses it either, how Steve passes the closer tables to set his tray down between them and Munson.

“I can tell I don't want to be here for this.” Their redheaded audience member says, “I'm taking my 15.”

“Don't go harass Mike, he's finally working,” Munson says.

“Will and El are on shift on the other side,” Steve calls out, not looking at any of them as he moves cakes from his tray to the table. A deliberate selection he seems to be making.

“Whatever, I’m gonna call Lucas and break up with him so he can play better or whatever.”

“Don’t be too harsh,” Munson calls out, “I’ve only got him on a five point spread.”

If Carol’s nails break from how hard they’re digging into his arm, somehow it’ll be Tommy’s fault. Not the fact that they’ve advanced the worst part of their ten year reunion by months, and also Munson is here and knows shit about basketball.

“Sorry, think my hearing’s going, sounded like you said you want him to lose and he’s getting kicked from the next one shot. I’ll let him know.”

“She gets that from you,” Steve and Munson say in sync. Glaring playfully at one another the way Steve used to with Carol.

“I’ll tell Robin you were-”

“Do not sick Buckley on me, Max made the deaf joke not me.”

“Weird, that’s not what I heard.” Steve has always claimed his hair as his best feature. It isn’t -- Carrie liked his eyes, Tommy his hands -- but it’s hard to deny that it doesn’t look good, flipping over his shoulder. His smile is private, just for Munson, soft the way he got whenever he picked up a new girl. Carrie taps the back of his hand, two sharp smacks, their signal for years that he needed to pay attention and notice something she had. Wide, nervous eyes dart to Steve -- like he hadn’t already been looking at Steve -- so he does his best to assess the way Carol would.

Jealous, viciously, Steve had been theirs in every way that mattered since they were ten years old and Carol had never liked sharing her toys with anyone but them. She watched his face for any sign of unhappiness anytime a new girlfriend came along, and when she found one she passed it along to him. So he could pick and joke until Steve was all theirs again.

So he checked the face. Tried to ignore the way Steve was lit up from the inside out with a joy he could barely remember, and then he saw the hearing aid.

He tapped back, three times. O.M.G.

“The 1985 Homecoming court here to reveal that this has all been a long con, Stevie?”

“Yeah I faked the name change paperwork and picked up a fake ID, sorry I took my business somewhere else.” Steve says it with the sincerity he’s always made those kind of jokes with, his strange sense of humor never coming across when he always sounded so serious. 

Munson gets it though, snorts loud and ugly, before a smile pulls wide across half his face the otherside taught with a gnarly scar. “Now I know why my fake ID business went belly up when we got to the city, not like I only sold three in high school.”  He gestures to the three of them in a wide arc.

Sophomores, they had decided it was time to throw their first real party now that Steve’s parents had moved out of Hawkins in all but name. Steve was a latchkey kid of new proportions and took to self sufficiency in a way that had seemed adult to him then; and in hindsight looked more like a child fighting for his life. Steve bragged how he’d been saving up the weekly checks they’d sent to ‘sustain him’ while they worked in the city during the week. His contribution to Tommy and Carol’s vague plan to throw a kegger by the pool. When they’d floundered, immediately, with the hows, Steve had been the one to suggest going to Munson.

“Love this preview of the reunion,” Carol cuts in, there’s no bite but Munson bristles anyway like she’s being rude for reminding them that there are customers present. “Steve?”

It’s funny, Tommy thinks, the way Steve still straightens his back at Carol’s tone. All this time and he can’t fight the old ingrained instincts either.

“Dustin made the appointment,” Steve apologizes, even as he’s posture perfect and preparing his pastries. The unsaid, ‘I definitely wouldn’t have’ doesn’t go unheard and it doesn’t sting any less even this far from their last interaction.

“Munson could join us,” Tommy offers, a new olive branch since their last one was never seen. Even if it does raise three sets of brows and makes Carrie’s nervous smile tighten even more in the corner of her mouth.

“Well at least one of us has to,” Munson, Eddie, says. Just says, tone like it was meant to be something said under his breath.

He's grown up a lot since high school, they both have. Still, he's only got twenty minutes left on his lunch break and it's been a long day. "God, is that why it's called that?" Growth, he doesn't say that Steve Munson sounds a lot dumber than Steve Harrington.

"It's charming," Carol and Steve both say. Though Carrie is definitely lying and Steve barely gets it out from between his gritted teeth, a sore spot. He's always been good at finding Steve's bruises.

"It's charming," Tommy agrees, like he always did when he was out voted.

Eddie has a smirk spread across his face and a ‘too proud of himself’ look in his eyes. Mouth open to make some quip that Tommy is going to pretend is funny, for Steve’s sake. Now that they’re here, he’s going to do something to show that they could talk to one another again. Steve clicks his tongue, taps his index and middle finger down to his thumb two quick times before he can.

He turns to the girl in the corner, "Erica, scram, go help Robin and the kids with the new donation that just came in."

The teen continues to scribble in the notebook in front of her, bulky headphones over her ears, she makes no sign that Tommy can see that she's heard Steve speak. "Erica, go, or I'll tell your mother you moved out of the dorms. You're 20, it's not child labor, and you've got a timecard."

She sighs and wordlessly packs up her things, she gives Steve a scathing look that takes Tommy back to high school. The withering eyebrow and rolled eyes would have been just at home on Steve’s own face in 1985, but she marches behind the counter, the sound of her dish rattling in the sink before she disappears out the same door that the redhead had gone out.

Now that the room has been cleared, an awkward silence has found the space to squeeze in. Munson, the original, still standing in the doorway and Steve standing between his unlawfully wedded husband and the two people who had lost their chance at him years ago.

The wedding and the reunion both on the horizon had dredged up a nostalgia that Tommy and Carol had been dealing with in their own ways. Dredging up old yearbooks, Carol had found a shoebox of old notes that she’d kept. Conversations written in three different inks by three different hands, nonsensical after all this time. Tommy woke up from dreams that he hadn’t had in years. Always of Steve and Carol, a study in opposites, but similar where it mattered.

“Well,” Steve says, taking charge of the situation like he always would when the other two faltered, “you’re here for a reason. We might as well get started on it.”

Steve’s fingerprints are still on them, just like he’d noticed theirs on him, molded as they were together. They’ve always bowed to his expectations, and his whims. When he ushers them to the table with a spread hand, Tommy and Carol go where they’re beckoned.

And so does Munson.

They keep an empty chair between them, an artificial divide for Tommy’s sanity, but with the sprawl of Munson’s legs their knees still occasionally brush together. Carol had taken the spot closest to Steve, who has stayed standing. He is their gracious host, marking the head of the round table.

“I pulled out the full sampler before I realized it was you,” Steve says. Even with as off balance as the interaction has felt, Tommy doesn’t feel his hackles raising. While it’s possible he’s gotten more subtle with his digs, Steve’s vicious tongue was usually unmistakable. “I can tell you about as many of them as you want though if you want to pretend like we don’t already know what I’ll be making you. I’m sure neither of you have eaten lunch yet.”

“You are going to take us on?” Carol asks. Shock always gives her tone an extra edge, defensive and catty, even if she’s really just waiting to see if another shoe will drop.

“Obviously,” Steve says, placing a faintly orange square of cake in front of her. He slaps Eddie’s hand away from another piece without looking away from either of them. “That’s as far as I’ll be going in participation though.”

He doesn’t miss the way Steve’s mouth twitches up with the joke, a filthy smirk that leaves Tommy flushing hot. Too warm to not be a bright and obvious red at the acknowledgment of that old private in-joke.

It doesn’t get better when Carol moans, “Oh my god, Steve!” Even if it is about the cake.

He laughs, and Tommy suspects the two are actually trying to kill him. He chances a glance over at Munson who looks like he doesn’t care at all that his husband has made Tommy’s fiance moan. He is watching Tommy though, an inquisitive look like the one Carol gets when she happens to catch a nature documentary.

“Yeah,” Steve agrees with Carol, “I’ll do something small with that citrus cake for you and Tom so you’ve got something you’ll actually eat on your wedding, maybe a pineapple buttercream on top like that nasty Juicy Fruit gum you like so much.”

“I mean it’s really crazy how you’re so good at this when you’ve never had any taste,” Carol compliments, she never did learn how to be nice.

He could probably count Steve’s teeth in the answering smile. Tommy can feel it like an ache in his chest how much he missed this. He snatches another cube of cake off the tray just so has something else to focus on.

“That’s the fancy one for the people who hate their guests,” Munson says as the cake has settled on the flat of Tommy’s tongue.

“It’s lavender,” Steve corrects, and the floral flavor is lodged in the back of his throat at least gives him a reason now to feel so choked up. “And it is for a particular sort of bride.”

“Are you saying I’m not fancy and particular, Munson?” Carol asks. 

She’s obviously talking to Eddie Munson, who lifts his hands up in answer. But it’s Steve who says, “If you tried to feed that to Gail she would leave the reception bitching the whole time.”

“Well go on,” Tommy finds himself goading now that he’s swallowed, “finish calling your shot, Stevie. You said you knew what we were walking out of here with.”

Carol reaches across the table, locking eyes with Eddie as she snags the piece closest to him. The one his fingers had been inching toward like he thought Steve wouldn’t notice him trying to take it.

“I’ll make a small citrus cake for you, Carrie, we’ll hide it in the back of the larger cake so you can get the pictures of you cutting it and smashing into each other's faces-”

“We will not be doing that,” she interrupts, the warning for him and also unnecessary. He already knows how she feels about being embarrassed in public.

“Then the big cake for your guests will be a chocolate cake, I can cover it in a buttercream or a fondant icing also chocolate, because it’s the only kind of cake the Hagan family will eat. Even though I’m sure John hasn’t given you a dime for the wedding, he’ll complain until Hannah gets married if he doesn’t like the cake.”

“Really,” Steve continues, “the only thing up in the air is how many people you were able to get away with not inviting, Care.”

The two of them start talking actual wedding logistics, and as Tommy grabs another bite of cake -- this one looks like it might be a normal flavor -- he figures the real show of good faith would be talking to the only other person at the table while he eats what Steve correctly dubbed his lunch.

“Y’know he never actually answered me,” he says in an undertone.

Munson seems surprised at being spoken to, only widens his eyes in response to Tommy’s unasked question.

“I asked Steve how soon after the first date he proposed, he never actually answered.”

Eddie softens at the edges before he can even say anything. Steve had a way of doing that, bringing out the romantic in a person. He loved with a passion that demanded it be matched. “Technically I proposed to him, but he says it doesn’t count because we weren’t together and I was high on morphine after a major surgery and thought he was Apollo, come to whisk me away.” The smile on Munson’s face looks dopey and drugged up now, like the very memory of whatever hospital stay is so ingrained in his mind he can feel the high now.

“But,” he goes on, “he told me we were getting married whether it was legal or not about three months after he got legally married to another woman.”

“Stop,” Steve has always been able to sense when he’s about to be the butt of the joke. He has a finger pointed at Eddie like a teacher delivering a lecture. “You can’t tell people that. It was for tax reasons, I’m not cheating on my wife.”

“You say tomato, I say whichever one of us is your least favorite has to be the extramarital affair.”

“I say, you’re the most obnoxious person I’ve ever met.” Tommy can hear the warm affection behind the insult, the way their picking is a safer way to express their passion for one another.

He thought he would be jealous of whoever finally managed to reel in Steve Harrington for good, and he is. The emotion is there, present in the snarling tangle of emotions that this encounter has left in him. One that he and Carol will have to slowly tease and pick out tonight when they’re home in bed. Trying to make sense of what each thread is and what it means for them. But the one bright pulsing thread he can make sense of is happiness. He’s happy for Steve, happy that he gets to see an old friend so at ease and obviously cared for.

And he’s sad that his time is up, his lunch hour so close to an end he’ll be late getting back to the office. Something he can already hear his Dad and fucking Greg giving him shit for. Which means they have to end their time here.

Steve walks them to the door, flips the sign to mark them closed for lunch.

“Congratulations again, you two,” he says, “I really am happy I can get to be a part of this with you all. Even if it’s a little different than we used to imagine.”

Carol reaches out for the both of them, puts her hand on his arm. Tommy finds that he’s the one who actually says, “We’re glad you found someone who makes you this happy, dude. You deserve it.”

“Yeah, he’s alright most of the time.” It's said with such fondness it becomes a declaration. It’s hard to imagine how they thought they could ever be the something that could make Steve this happy. But maybe in a different life, under different circumstances it could have been.

There’s a minute where they all stand in the doorway. He wonders if they’re all afraid that this might be the last time they see each other, speak to one another, until Steve is delivering the cake on the day of the wedding. Maybe it’s just him, he was the one who pushed back the hardest after things ended.

Someone finally gives in and pushes the door open. It’s TONG a death toll for their current conversation. But it also sends a jolt through Steve, he straightens to his full height like a shock has gone through him. “Here,” he says, “here, um.” He digs around in his apron until he finds a pen and a receipt pad. Jots down something before tearing it off and putting it in Tommy’s hands, “It's our home number, in case you have any cake emergencies or something.”

They really can’t stay any longer.

Carol takes the note, better at keeping track of these things than Tommy is. It’s hard to know if they’ll actually use it, maybe after they talk about it, but if they do she’ll be the one to do it. She’s always been braver than him.

There’s no way of guaranteeing anything but the fact that they’ll have a cake on the table on their wedding day. But he hopes that Steve might stay for the ceremony once he brings it, he can even bring Eddie if that’s what gets him there. 

Alone in his car, Tommy lets himself take a minute to think about Steve Harrington one last time. He isn’t going to get what he wanted as a kid. Doubts that he’ll ever be as close to Steve as he’d been in childhood, too much time has passed and too much has changed.

But there’s an opportunity to get to know Steve Munson, and he isn't going to pass it up. Even if he doesn’t know how to name a bakery.

[heavyhitterheaux]

Got Me Thinking

Part 6: Don't Make it Harder On Me

Synopsis: You and Jack have to deal with the aftermath of your paparazzi pictures being posted for the world to see, and Jack finds out you weren't coping as well as he thought you were

Pairing: Jack Harlow x Reader

Series Masterlist

Please Do Not Repost My Content Anywhere

After Jack had put your phone on the bedside table, he turned his attention back to you and he knew that he needed to get you to calm down before you sent yourself into a panic attack which he could tell that you were on the verge of.

“Baby….” He calmly said as he moved you to sit on this lap and simply wrapped his arms around you in the hope that you would stop shaking.

“Shh, just breathe. Take a deep breath for me because the last thing we need is you going into a panic attack.” He quietly told you as he placed several kisses on your cheek, but you were still in a daze.

“This is bad. This is really bad.” You said quietly as tears welled up in your eyes before turning your head to glance at him.

“It's going to be fine, babe. Trust me.” Jack told you and you immediately shook your head no.

“No, it's not. It can't be fine. They have pictures of us. I told you we should have come inside and now look.”

“All this is going to do is…”

“No. In the end, you're going to be fine because it's you. Your fans love and adore you and you can do no wrong in their eyes. And the most important part is you're a man. I however am going to be seen as the homewrecking whore who broke up a marriage.”

“No, you won't. Just… I'm going to fix this.”

“Jackman please stop talking for five minutes because how the HELL are you going to fix this? Give me details.”

“I… but you told me to be quiet.”

You knew that he was trying to make you laugh and put you in a better mood, but you couldn't help but to roll your eyes as you started playing with the comforter that was laying across your lap.

“There are just some things that you are never going to experience or have to deal with because you're a man while women get criticized for breathing too hard. They are always going to paint me as a bad person and Kelsey as an innocent angel who didn't deserve any of this despite her cheating on you first that she will probably deny until she's blue in the face. And did we forget how I'm an influencer and I actually have a following on social media with actual endorsement deals that I could lose simply because of what my name is now going to be attached to?”

“I know we can figure something out. I know you're scared but I refuse to lose you over this. Now when we get back, we both need to file for divorce.”

“Only if Xavier and Kelsey haven't done it already.” You muttered as you grabbed your phone and started scrolling through it.

You were surprised that there wasn't even a call or a text from him because you knew for a fact that he had been alerted to what was going on by now. Because your siblings along with your parents had sent you a few messages that you haven't bothered to respond to. Knowing your mother, she was probably happy about it right along with Maggie.

“We're going to get through this, Buttercup but you just have to trust me. I'm not going to let anything happen to you or to us. Do you trust me?” Jack asked you and you nodded your head, not trusting that the actual words would come out of your mouth.

“Baby, look at me and tell me you trust me.”

You did as you were told and you were now facing him as you straddled him and he started drawing small shapes on your skin that was exposed to him.

“I trust you.”

“I'm going to take care of you and you know that at the end of all this we get to be together how we want. We just have to wait until this blows over and baby it will blow over and people will be onto something new. And we might be bringing a baby into the world too. But I'm going to need you to stop being scared and take the test. Whatever happens, you know it's me and you until the end of time. That's how it should have been from the beginning.”

When you didn't say anything, Jack placed his finger underneath your chin so that you would look at him and placed his lips on yours. You eagerly kissed him back and his hands started roaming your body and he pulled you even closer.

“I wish we could stay here forever and not have to be bothered with anyone anymore.” You quietly confessed as Jack captured you in another kiss.

“We can't stay forever, but we can definitely stay longer.”

“But I'd rather hurry up and get back home and get this over with.”

“In due time, baby. But for now let's focus on us and enjoy the time that we have together before we have to go back out into the real world. But first, I'm going to need you to take a pregnancy test. I'll text Neelam to get it for us.”

You stayed with Jack in Paris for two more days before making your way back home in order to face your husband and to officially file for divorce. You were dreading having to face him, but at this point what did you have to lose? He stepped out on you and had an entire child and you were absolutely done with trying to repair the relationship and it took Jack explaining that there was nothing left for you in that marriage for it to finally click and stop your thoughts of wanting to repair it despite what he did to you.

Even though he hadn't tried to call you at this point in time he had to know. It was everywhere and you honestly couldn't escape it. It did help that when you got back to L.A. it was three in the morning and there weren't a lot of people out, but that wasn't going to be the case on a day to day basis.

Before you and Jack had to leave one another, he simply told you if you wanted to quit your job when you got back home and move back to Louisville, he had already bought a condo for you.

You didn't know if you were quite ready for that just yet, but then again why not? Some of your things were already in Louisville and this would make it feel like the end of an era.

Walking into the house, the light was still on in the kitchen and you were confused as to why he would still be awake. Leaving your suitcase by the door, you stepped into the kitchen to see him nursing a glass of some type of alcohol and he was the first to speak.

“Hmm so you finally decided to come back? You should have just stayed with him.” He said before taking a swig and putting the glass back down on the table which instantly made you roll your eyes.

“Don't even start with me because it's not like you actually give a damn about me so you can stop pretending.”

“Of course I give a damn about you! Last time I checked you were MY wife, but I found out that you were cheating on me with your so-called “friend” Jack Harlow. He's a friend from high school, my ass.”

“I'm your wife, but you leave me for weeks and even months at a time and barely communicate with me and you've been this way for almost a damn year. So you can fucking save it. He actually cares about me while you are too busy taking care of your newborn child.”

The expression on Xavier's face was priceless and if you weren't so mad at him you would have pulled out your phone to take a picture.

“Oh, we don't have a lot to say now, do we? You've been cheating on me for almost a year and got the bitch pregnant. You aren't as discreet as you think and I know everything down to where she lives and what the baby's name is. Congratulations I heard it was a girl so don't you dare tell me shit.”

“You don't know anything.”

“Hmm, funny because not once did you deny it. If I don't know anything, tell me I'm wrong and PROVE it. Yeah I cheated on you with my ex-boyfriend and I don't regret it. He fucked me in our bed and I didn't even care if you had walked in and saw us. You could have probably used some pointers for him because I can't even remember the last time you actually found my clit so it was definitely news to me that you found someone that actually wanted to have sex with you and had actually gotten someone pregnant. So I'm saying all this to say that I'm fucking divorcing you once and for all so you can go and be with sweet little Kristina and baby Olivia all the time because I am taking you down for everything you fucking have. I'm not putting up with this any longer.”

“So, you think that the two of you are just going to live happily ever after? You failed me as a wife and you aren't going to do anything but fail him and be seen as nothing but a homewrecking whore.”

“You have some fucking nerve saying that shit to me. Hmm, I could say the same thing about Kristina. At least you could've gotten with someone who was at least on my level, but all you did was downgrade. She can have my sloppy seconds because the potential is gone. I didn't fail you as a wife, you failed me as a husband the minute you decided to step out on me instead of coming to me and fixing the problem. You didn’t even fight for me and that's what hurts most of all. I don't have anymore else to say so we're done here and you can get the fuck out of my house and go see your baby.”

“I… I never meant for it to come to this.” Xavier said getting up from the kitchen table and walking over towards you but all you did was take two steps back and shake your head no.

“You only feel some type of way now because you got caught. I don't want you anymore and I haven't wanted you for a very long time.”

“Y/N… we can fix this.”

“After you had a baby on me AND called me a homewrecking whore? Yeah, not a chance and let the door hit you on the way out because at this point, I don't give a damn.”

It was around 4:30 in the morning when Xavier had finally left and simply took his clothes and shoes with him and told you that he would be back for the rest later.

You were now laying in your bed staring up at the ceiling and you let out a sigh of relief. The weight that you had felt being in this marriage was no longer there and a few tears couldn't help but to slip out and you quickly wiped them away. Those were happy tears because you finally stood upp for yourself and it was long overdue. Now that you had faced your husband, you had one more thing left to accomplish. Now you had to go out and face the world.

Avoidance of your social media accounts were at an all time high especially when that was one of the first things Jack had told you to do and Neelam quickly agreed. You could only imagine the things that people were saying about you.

It was hard to fall asleep so the idea of calling Jack came to you knowing that more than likely he was still awake. He had let you know earlier when he had gotten home and that he was going to be up for a while. It rang a few times before you saw his face pop into view.

“Why is my girl still awake? I thought you'd be asleep by now? And have you been crying? What's going on?” He asked when he laid his eyes on you. It looked as if he was also laying down and had just woken up by his hair being all over the place.

“Oh no, did I wake you up? I didn't mean to. You can call me back when…” Jack immediately cut you off.

“No. Obviously my girl needs me so tell me what's bothering you.”

“I kicked him out the house… finally.” You said with a sense of relief.

“Hmm, how'd that go?”

“Tried to blame me for ruining the marriage by cheating, but then I pulled out all the receipts about him and his newborn child. He looked like a deer caught in headlights and didn't even know what to say.”

“I mean at that point, what could he say? He got caught red handed.”

“And proceeded to call me a homewrecking whore but then said that our marriage could be fixed.”

“He has some fucking nerve saying some shit like that to you after what he did. So, how do you feel now?” Jack asked as he was now sitting up against the headboard.

“A sense of relief and I feel like a weight has been lifted. I told him that I want nothing to do with him anymore. He took it better than I thought, but I mean at that point he had to know that I was going to say no. I also mentioned howywe fucked that night and that he can never find my clit. Anyway, I know for a fact Kelsey said something and had A LOT to say when she saw you.”

Jack shrugged before responding to you and it was clear that at this point he just didn't care anymore.

“First thing out of her mouth was ‘you told me not to worry about her’ and I was like Clay told you that because I know for a damn fact that that statement never came out of my mouth. Like she knows that we dated and by the end of that conversation I asked… no told her we were getting a divorce and that I didn't love her anymore.”

“We're doing the right thing, right? Tell me we're doing the right thing.” You said as you were making yourself more comfortable.

“Yes, baby, we're doing the right thing. Matter of fact, why are you in that big house by yourself when you could be up under me in your new condo in Louisville?”

“I..”

“First thing tomorrow, file for divorce and then I'll send the jet to come and get you.”

—--

You had been in Louisville with Jack at your new condo for about three and a half weeks and it seemed like the world was crashing down around you.

Being curious one night when Jack was at the studio your first week back, you logged into social media to see blogs tearing you down at every chance they could get and you ended up sending yourself into a panic attack.

The next week, numerous calls came to your phone letting you know that you would be essentially dropped from your endorsement deals because the companies that you were under didn't want their name being tied to any type of scandal or putting their company in a bad light even though they didn't even know the full story of what had actually happened.

Jack didn't know anything about that because you failed to tell him. You had known from the beginning that it was going to come to this and your mindset was that you were simply going to deal with it and not try to worry him about it.

You confided in Tania how you felt ever since the paparazzi pictures were posted and she was immediately blowing up your phone. You were once again hiding out in your condo when a call from her came through on your phone since when you called her earlier she was unable to talk. Once you explained everything to her, the first thing out of her mouth was that you had to tell Jack.

“And you didn't tell him this because?”

“He has enough to deal with and I feel like I keep adding to it. Being with me is probably more trouble than what it's worth. I have literally created a shitstorm.”

“Do not EVER let me hear you talk about yourself that way again. You are worth it and deserve to have happiness and Jack is all in. That man worships the ground that you walk on and if anybody needs to know how you're feeling right now, it's him. Do not keep this from him, because how is he supposed to help you?”

“Tania, how is he supposed to help me with this? My mental health has literally gone to shit since all of this happened. I quit my job, lost all my damn endorsement deals.”

“The two of you want to be together and that man is moving hell and high water to make it happen so I know if you tell him, he will do his absolute best to make sure you get the help that you need. Why are you so scared of just letting go? You've been this way since our first year in nursing school. And he said from the beginning that he's going to take care of you, so let him. Stop running away from the man who wants to love you.”

“None of this would have happened if we didn't break up in the first place.”

“Well we can't do anything about that now and we have to deal with the cards that are dealt.”

“I'm so overwhelmed, I can't do this.”

The wheels immediately started turning in Tania's head because any time she heard you say that, you disappeared for weeks and no one had any idea where you were and she was afraid that you were going to do it again. She knew when your panic attacks and anxiety got the best of you that's what you did in order to reset. It wasn't the healthiest coping mechanism, but when you came back you felt better each time.

“Y/N, don't you dare run. You are done doing that. Talk to him when he gets back home. Do I need to come to Louisville or do I need to call Janelle and Jeremiah?”

“I….. Tania, I don't know if I'm cut out for this. Maybe this is all too soon.”

“No. Stop it. Stop it right now. You made the right choice and I know it's overwhelming because of how famous Jack is and people are going to now be following your every move, but it's going to be okay.”

“How do you know that?”

“Because I know you and you always come out on top. Now get some rest and let me know how it goes when you talk to Jack. If I don't hear from you in the next 12 hours, I'm hopping on a plane to Louisville.”

When Jack got to your condo, he was surprised by how quiet it was but figured that you would be sleeping. He made his way into the bedroom to find it empty and was suddenly confused since you hadn't mentioned to him that you were going anywhere, because at this point in time he didn't want you going anywhere by yourself knowing how people are.

After searching the entire condo, he pulled out his phone to call you but it had gone straight to voice-mail and Jack wasn't quite sure if he should start to panic or not.

It wasn't until a piece of paper on the counter in the kitchen written in your handwriting caught his eye.

Jackman,

Please don't be mad at me for doing this even though I get it if you are. First off, I love you with everything in me, but I just need to reset. I'm overwhelmed and I just need time to myself. I'll be back soon. Don't come and look for me.

Love, Buttercup

Jack felt that his heart was beginning to race as he read your words over and over again, not believing what he was seeing. He immediately started to feel guilty and believed that this was entirely his fault. He thought that you were coping with everything just fine or, it seemed like you were. If it was the opposite, surely you would have told him, right?

He immediately picked up his phone once more and dialed.

“Hello?”

“Y/N isn't here, and I don't know where she could've gone. She left a note saying not to look for her, but how am I supposed to just sit here?”