#i take two buses and the first bus is the same one we take and he had left school a little later than i have after school

[totheidiot]

the phenomenon of sitting next to your crush in a gay manner.

[eddiernunson]

Really Drives Me Mad | Older!Eddie x Fem!Reader | 18 +

Previous Part | Master List | Next Part

Big big thank you to @forget-you-morelike-fuck-you for editing and spit balling ideas and giving feedback.

Another big thank you to @bebe07011 for spit balling ideas and fueling my ego <3

I have no idea where this story or be without either of you girls. Or me, for that matter.

Word count: 16.6k

Warnings: Degradation/praise, light use of sir without any discussion, light hunter/prey play, crying while fucking (eddie), and a whole steddie story at the start. Lots of talk of their future in this part.

Author's note: When I say I am blown away by the reception of this fanfic, wholeheartedly mean it. Any word of kindness you have given just fueled the fire in me. I have thoroughly enjoyed writing it and exploring where the story will take us.

Due to some worry in the comments from last part I will clear this up: Neither Eddie nor Reader will be cheating, they're it for one another. Steve is here as a long time friend, someone with a wife and kids at home.

That being said, thank you so much, I really do appreciate it.

edit: somehow the first paragraph was missing? all fixed.

About 26/27 Years Ago:

At the failure of both their university careers, Steve and Eddie both dropped out within weeks of one another. This was unplanned, neither one of them knowing as they went back to Hawkins to a mini reunion. They agreed to meet one another for a drink, just the two of them, where Steve kindly asked how Eddie’s schooling was going, to which Eddie answered sheepishly that he had dropped out. Steve let out a bark of laughter, laughing through his response that he had also dropped out.

The mutual sigh of relief waved over them both, the two of them grateful they wouldn’t be receiving that same damn look of pity again. Their conversation then flowed into ease; the embarrassment was no longer there for either of them. Since they both dropped out, they each had found a dead-end job to make their ends meet while they figured out their next move.

Simply, they were at the exact same spot in life. This would be reoccurring for them over the next few years, finding their wives within the same six-month span, and both Arlo and Dylan being born within a year of one another. It’s no wonder why they became so close.

Steve had a crazy idea in their third hour in the bar booth, a little bit buzzed. “Dude. We should go to Vegas.”

Eddie wrinkled his eyebrows, completely thrown off by the suggestion. “What?”

“C’mon, Vegas! Our jobs both suck, and we’re the only ones who actually understand each-other’s shituations.”

Eddie sighed and took another sip of his beer. “Fuck it, let’s go.”

“Fuck yeah!”

“When?”

“Now!”

Eddie nearly spit out his beer, looking at Steve like he was crazy. “Now?”

“Dude. I still have my parents’ credit cards. They’re too lazy to actually cut me off.” Steve’s words were a bit slurred, holding up the many black cards.

Eddie downed his beer; the financials were his number one reason not to go. If this was gonna be on the Harrington’s dime, you best believe he would take full advantage of his friend’s shitty parents’ money.

Halfway through their first bus, Steve and Eddie started to sober up and wondered if it was a good idea. Too late, they were already four hours away. It took a total of 31 hours of driving on the road and about six different buses, but they finally made it to Nevada with nothing but the shirts on their backs and delirious glee.

The first two days they spent gambling and shooting the shit, both nights staring up at the bodies of women with numerous dollar bills in string thongs. (Eddie will omit this part when he tells it to you, for your own sanity’s sake.) On the third night, as Steve was a bit more drunk than the previous two, Eddie found a strong ass strain of weed on the strip and was a bit stoned. One of them managed to convince the other that finding girls to hook up with was the good idea.

They both went on with their night, keeping an eye out for any girl they could prospect. Even with a few conversations with some girls, they both came up short. Hooking up with women who were also running away from their problems was a bad idea.

Steve found a girl, but soon realized she was a dud when she made fun of Eddie’s bandana wrapped around his head. Eddie came up to Steve as she rolled her eyes and stomped off. Jesus. As he rested on the bar, he noticed something he wondered if he had imagined the whole three days they were there. Eddie’s eyes lingered on him, checking him out not-so-subtly. Steve leered on Eddie’s soft pink lips for too long for Steve to confidently tell himself he was not interested. His eyes raked down Eddie, taking in everything, subconsciously licking his lips. Having these thoughts, he realized Eddie was talking to him the entire time and he didn’t take in a single word.

“Well, that was a bust. C’mon. Let’s go get our sleep, we’re spending the next two days bussing home.” Steve yanked Eddie by the sleeve of the gift shop shirt he got up to the hotel elevator.

Eddie wandered into the bathroom when they got to their room and when he came out, he saw Steve sitting on the edge of his bed, legs out and leant back on straight arms. Eddie chuckled nervously. As dorky as it was, Steve looked fantastic in the makeshift gift shop outfit he had gotten himself.

“Steve?” He asked, hesitantly walking towards him.

An uncontrollable huff of laughter left Steve’s mouth, he stood up to face Eddie, accidentally meeting him only inches away from his face. It was a flicker. Only a flicker. A flicker of Eddie’s eyes looking directly to Steve’s lips, and Steve couldn’t help but smile. “You know, Eddie. If you want to kiss me, all you have to do is ask.”

Eddie’s eyes went wide, the panic in his face was clear. “I-I…” He stuttered, his breathing picked up exponentially in the last two minutes and the air in the hotel room was thick.

Steve gently placed one hand on Eddie’s cheek bone, slowly caressing it as to calm the nerves he could tell were radiating off Eddie. He smiled, glancing down very obviously to Eddie’s mouth to ask for permission. Eddie nodded the tiniest goddamn nod in the world and nearly blacked out when Steve’s lips came rushing for his own.

When their lips met, Eddie moaned into it, moving to someone’s bed, he couldn’t tell nor did he care which, and let Steve fall on top of him.

The kisses were messy, clothes were thrown all over the hotel room, and the sex was rough and giggly, but desperate.

And only one time, they decided as they woke up on opposite sides of the bed, laughing at the sheer absurdity that filled the air as they were both wrapped in white sheets.

-

“Uh, Eddie? It’s for you… his name is Steve Harrington?” Eddie pauses, in the middle of hanging a sweater in what seems to be the designated spot for knitwear. A quick assessment tells you that you now have more sweaters than you need, observing them all hung delicately by his hands.

“No way.” Eddie mutters, a smile slowly creeping up on his face. He jogs right past you to the hallway and down the stairs, the quick thumping of his feet loud in the silence of the house.

Your brain takes a moment to catch up to you, following Eddie’s lead back down the stairs. As the front entrance comes into view halfway down the stairs, you see the two men wrapped up in a genuine embrace, arms flexed as they hug one another. They separate, but not by much, maintaining only a few feet between them.

“You didn’t tell me when you were coming!” Eddie accuses playfully, patting Steve on his shoulder.

Steve’s hands are on his hips, shrugging his shoulders. “Well, it wouldn’t have mattered anyway, I ended up coming 2 weeks early.”

“No shit, hey?” Eddie leans back, crossing his arms.

They fall into a conversation so easily that their comfort with one another radiates off them. You would be offended Eddie hasn’t introduced you to him yet if it weren’t for their entertaining back and forth with one another.

“How long have you two known each other?” You mistakenly interrupt them, cutting off the conversation.

“Uh, since high school.” Eddie answers, elbowing Steve.

Steve’s eyes widen deliriously, jerking back at the neck. “Uh, try Jr. High.” He laughs. “Eddie here was the new kid.” He seems to laugh at the memory of young Eddie. Man, you’ll need photographic proof. “The weird-o new kid.”

“Oh, sorry my mom abandoned me, Steve.” Eddie laughs, not a lick of remorse behind it. You gulp, your heartstrings pulled at his throwaway comment.

“Abandonment issues can forgive weirdness only for so long, Eddie.”

“Yeah, but I got it renewed fifteen years ago. Didn’t even have to ask, she just did it for me.”

There’s a moment of silence until they break into laughter, poking fun at one another.

“I’m so sorry, who’s this?” Steve gestures to you, walking over to where you’re standing by the stairs.

“Oh, I’m Y/N.” You hold your hand out to him, somewhat nervous to be meeting someone who’s known Eddie for so long. Decades long before you were even born.

Steve’s hand meets yours and shakes it gracefully, his kind chocolate brown eyes meeting yours. “He paying you well?”  You’re not sure how to answer this, your hand still holding Steve’s as you and Eddie give another a look of confusion. “Oh, sorry. You must be Dylan’s girlfriend! Where is he off to, anyway?” Steve lets go of your hand.

“Steve?”

“Hmm?”

“Remember I told you I was seeing someone?” You smile to yourself under the mere indication that Eddie talked to someone about you.

Steve nods, remembering the life in Eddie’s voice when he called. “Yep.”

Eddie points to you, gesturing multiple times until Steve finally gets the hint. “Oh…oh. Oh!” Steve’s hands move back to his hips, his eyes switching back and forth between you and Eddie quickly. “But she’s a child.” Steve deadpans, pointing to you and furrowing his brows at Eddie.

Eddie chuckles, placing his arm around you as Steve takes it in. You’re slightly offended on your own behalf at the prospect of being called a child. Eddie places a kiss on your temple to ease the tension, making you melt into it. “No, she’s not.”

You tilt your head back at Eddie, giving him a sleepy smile, eyes half closed. He kisses you as if to put the final nail in the coffin in any disbelief Steve might’ve had. You breathe deeply as he pulls away, and goddamn, did you have a long day today.

“Wait until Robin hears you’re dating someone half your age.” Steve muses, shaking his head. “She’s gonna have a field day.”

“Wait till she hears we’re already shacked up.” Eddie jokes, bringing you to the couch and therefore leading Steve as well.

As you sit down on the couch, you cuddle into him, head laying down on his chest. Steve asks how his shop is doing, to which Eddie gives the run down on the nicest cars he’s seen and a customer’s hunk of junk he couldn’t believe was still driving around. Steve explains the logistics of his job, and by the tone of Eddie’s voice, you could tell he had no idea any of what Steve was saying, but he was being supportive in tone, nonetheless.

“How are the kids?” Eddie asks, and you watch as Steve’s eyes light up in response.

“Oh, they’re great.”

“How old are they?” You ask, a tad curious.

“Uh, Arlo is 24, Nick is 17, Dustin is 15, and Eliza is 4.” Steve riles off, letting his head fall back on the couch. Damn, he sure didn’t look like a dad of four.

“Is Eliza 4 already?” Eddie asks, shaking his head.

“Sure is.” Steve answers, bringing out his phone. He unlocks it, and presumably goes into his photos until passing it over to you and Eddie. “Here. This was from yesterday.”

“Awww.” You let out, seeing the image of a little girl with Steve’s curls playing on a water mat.

“Oh, aww” Eddie lets out, laughing through it. Eliza is adorable, that much is clear. But as you look up at Eddie scrolling through a few of the photos of Eliza playing in the water, the hearts in his eyes are undeniable. He laughs softly at them, as if he can’t get enough of any of the photos. As Eddie passes the photos with his praises of Eliza, a stirring gut feeling sits there, a feeling you’ve been proud that you’ve been able to hold off with Eddie already having a grown child.

Goddamn, you wanted to have this man’s babies. Or at least, baby. The idea of him looking this sweetly at a child you made together invades your heart and makes you squirm on his chest a bit. You lean off his chest, afraid of these strong feelings of wanting this much of a future with him; it was a little scary. “I’m sleepy. Been a long day, I’m gonna go take a nap.”

“Alright, here.” He gets up with you, taking your hand and walking you around the couch. “Be right back, Steve.”

Eddie goes up the stairs to your room, escorting you to your now shared bed. Last week it had dark grey sheets. Now it has your favourite yellow daisy-themed sheets that Eddie insisted upon using. You lie down, still thinking of the way his eyes lit up and the smile that took over his face from the pictures. It made something stir in you. You were exhausted from your long day, that was no lie, but needed the excuse to leave before you did something crazy.

Like riding him on the couch. (And begging for his babies)

“Have a good sleep, sweetheart. I’ll wake you when dinner’s ready.” He kisses your forehead, soft and sweet. “Love you.”

“Love you.” You mutter through your breath, eyes already closing.

-

You’re already fast asleep by the time Eddie closes the door. As he reaches the bottom of the steps, Steve looks up at him expectantly, his brow slightly furrowed. He’s concerned, and to be fair, he has a reason to be. “So, we’re dating 20-year-olds, now?”

Eddie bites his tongue from correcting your age. “I guess you could say that.”

“What is this, some sort of midlife crisis? Get a red sports car, not someone who beats my oldest by months, hell your kid by months. I mean, come on, man. Use your brain.” Steve taps his shoulder on the last sentence, surely thinking he’s putting Eddie’s head back on right. However, Eddie just sits through the lecture without defending himself so he can say his piece when the time comes. “I-I mean where did you even find her, on her way to school?”

The front door slams. Dylan’s home. “Dad, am I tripping or is Uncle Steve’s car out front—Hey!” He cuts himself off, jogging toward them as soon as he sees Steve on the couch. Steve stands up to give him a tight hug, having known Dylan since the day he was born. “What’re you doing here?”

“Came by for a visit, turns out your dad’s having a midlife crisis.”

Dylan’s brows pinch together as he glances around Steve to Eddie for clarification. Eddie shrugs his shoulders, pretending not to know a single thing Steve was talking about. “What, did he get a sports car or something? He says they look pretty but they’re not made to last.”

“No, no. I was talking about his pretty new girlfriend.” The pang of possessiveness that hits Eddie in the chest is unprecedented for Steve just calling you pretty.

Dylan hardly holds in his laughter, walking into the kitchen before a full-on laugh escapes his throat. Steve stares off at him, glancing at Eddie and clearly asking, what the hell is wrong with that boy? Dylan makes himself calm down, coming back into the living room with a shit eating grin on his face. “So did he tell you how they met?”

“N-no.” Steve hesitates based on the grin on his face.

“He hasn’t let me get that far, yet.” Eddie chimes in, looking a little cozy as he settles into the couch. You were right, it has been a long ass day.

“I’m gonna tell him.” It wasn’t a threat per se, Dylan just wanted to watch the panic in his dad’s eyes.

Eddie lifts his head off the back pillow of the couch, having been looking up at the ceiling. “He’s gonna find out eventually. I was just gonna wait until she woke up.”

“Tell me…what?” Steve asks, tired of watching Eddie and Dylan’s back and forth.

Dylan gives one last chuckle, the laughter telling Eddie it’s not something he’s very bitter about anymore. They still haven’t talked about it; he’s been waiting for Dylan to come to him. “She was my girlfriend, first.” Dylan says through a smirk. “She cheated on me. With dad.”

Steve processes it, both Dylan and Eddie can see the hamster wheel turning in his head. He looks back and forth between Dylan and Eddie, his eyes staying on either one for a moment. His eyes don’t blink the entire time, switching back and forth for a solid minute.

“Dude!” Steve finally says, landing on Eddie. “What the fuck happened, Ed?”

Dylan continues laughing, walking over to his dad. “Yeah dad, what happened?”

Eddie lets his head fall back on the pillows again, closing his eyes for a brief second. “Well, I tried to keep my distance…she did not.” Shit, that’s putting all the blame on you. “I wasn’t strong enough to tell her to break up with Dylan, first. Felt like I was seventeen years old, hormones just raging to a point where I couldn’t think straight with her right there.” He gets up from the couch, walking up to his closest friend of 30+ years. “She’s not just some 25-year-old, Steve. This girl, Steve, she’s everything, and somehow, she’s convinced that she’s the lucky one.”

When his dad spews cheesy shit like this it certainly softens the blow. Feels funny that he ever dated you in the first place at times.

Steve seems to miss the fact that Dylan has gotten almost completely over it by now. “That’s all good and nice, but I think you’re missing the fact that you stole your son’s girlfriend?”

Dylan lets out another laugh, wishing Steve was here when everything went down. That would’ve been a show. “Listen, Uncle Steve. I appreciate you standing up for me, truly, I do. If you were here three weeks ago when they fucked in my truck, then that would’ve been…just great.”

“You fucked in his tru—”

Dylan cuts him off, “But honestly, I didn’t date her for very long. If anything, I had only begun to develop some deeper feelings for her, but these two had it right away. They’re good together. I wish they could’ve just told me their feelings and then slept together, but with Maya…if she was dating one of my boys I would’ve done the same thing.”

Steve’s hand lands on Dylan’s shoulder, seeing the truth in his statement. “Well, you’ll have to tell me about Maya, then.” He turns back to Eddie, a pinch appearing back between his brows. “But seriously, you fucked in his truck? What kind of sicko are you?”

“His was unlocked. He knows better.” Eddie shrugs, Steve rolls his eyes fondly.

“Good god, man.”

“I was actually just here to grab something, but I’ll see you for supper?” Dylan shoots, mid stride towards the stairs.

“We’re eating out, be back by 8:30.” Steve calls up, and Dylan waves his hand in acknowledgement.

“We are?” Eddie asks, sitting back on the couch.

“Oh yeah, Munson.” He sits on the cushion beside him, leaning onto his knees. “But tell me about her. Sorry I just assumed…but Robin will absolutely be calling you to rip your head off.”

“Or…she can find out in person one day.”

“Like at your wedding?” Steve teases, but lets out a burst of laughter when the blush appears on his cheeks. “Seriously, you hear wedding bells?”

“I’m not getting any younger, dude. But my hormones are, man, she has me doing multiple rounds, sometimes more than one a day!” Steve’s eyes widen, intrigued by this. “I haven’t fucked like this since my 20s.” Eddie pauses, thinking about his sex life back then. “I’m not even sure I fucked like this in my 20’s, to be honest.”

Steve lets out a laugh, shoving Eddie for good measure. Of course, being men, they both skip over the fact that yes, Eddie has had wedding bells in his head enough to start looking at rings…and go for the sex talk.

“Okay, sex aside. Tell me about her.”

It takes only five minutes of Steve listening to Eddie ramble on about you to realize it absolutely was the real deal. No mid-life crises here. Eddie seemed calm and laxed, whereas his ex always made him wired. For the record, Steve never quite liked her. She had Eddie looking like a wet chihuahua, yapping at every drop of a hat. Steve was a little relieved when she left, ‘cause no one could convince Eddie she was not good for him.

Turns out he just needed to wait a few years. 15, in fact.

-

You wake up to the feeling of Eddie’s hand on your cheek, carefully petting you as he places gentle kisses on your lips. “Baby.” He mumbles, causing you to stir. “Baby, wake up.”

As you start to wake up, you become increasingly aware that he was lying right behind you. “Mmm.”

“C’mon, we’re going out for supper with Steve, you have to get up.”  

Still reeling from the dream that you were just ripped out of, you arch your back slightly, grinding your ass against Eddie’s instantly-hardening cock. You hear a sharp inhale, Eddie’s grip on your hip intensifying. “I can’t believe I’m about to say this, but we literally don’t have time.” Eddie comments, his forehead falling onto the back of your head in an act of self discipline.

You frown, giving a good hip swivel. “We always have time.”

“Not today, you don’t! Get up!” You pop awake, aware of Steve’s presence in the hallway as he overshadows Eddie, waking you up more fully.

“He knows me enough to know I’d try to sneak something in.” Eddie murmurs, as not to be heard.

You turn around in your bed, now lying face to face with him, a devious smile creeping on your face. “So, sneak something in.”

Eddie’s brows lift at your suggestive tone. “Fuck.” He mutters, crawling out of bed before you could give his neck one of those licks that just melts him into a puddle. “C’mon baby. Get all dressed up, meet you downstairs by 8:30.”

Your teeth grit together, grabbing your phone that was tossed haphazardly aside when you fell asleep. The screen illuminates itself and your eyes widen when you realize you only have…fifteen minutes to get ready. Well, why didn’t he just say that?

You rush into your closet, and for the first time, the amount of clothes you now own settles in. How the fuck are you ever getting ready ever again? You go to the dresses, skimming through the more family friendly options. You trail  over each hanger one at a time until you reach the right one. Some light makeup is done, a five-minute routine.

You finally reach the bottom step at 8:29 pm, all the guys sitting on the couch watching the tv. “Ready!”

Eddie glances at you and breaks into a smirk. “You look great, sweetheart.”

Your face heats up as you find a pair of shoes that won’t make you hate yourself. You smile, recalling your afternoon in the crowded dressing room. “Thanks, Ed.”

Meanwhile, Steve takes only two seconds as he witnesses this interaction to realize. “No. Go change.”

“W-what?” You stutter, not used to Steve’s blunt stature.

“I-just-just go change. I don’t need to be watching this all night!”

“Fine.” You roll your eyes, kicking your shoe off to put on a dress that Eddie didn’t salivate over that very afternoon.

“Wait, what? What was wrong with the dress?” Dylan asks Steve, not having a clue as to what just transpired.

“Trust me, you don’t wanna know.”

“Hey, Dyl, you remember that green little dress that she had?” Eddie asks, recalling it on his carpeted floor earlier that day before he burned it.

Dylan smiles, then recalls what was so special about the dress. “Oh.” He mumbles, now feeling uncomfortable.

“I think she’s overwhelmed with choices, which is why she picked the dress in the first place. I’ll go help. Meet you there.”

-

Steve put up a fight on just meeting you there, but one on one time with his boy is something he wouldn’t pass up. Especially when he talks about a girl the way he did about Maya.

Eddie didn’t give Steve much of an option, still trying to get rid of the hard on that he had. He bursts through the bedroom and closet door, and as he does so, the front door slams shut. Eddie walks in to you staring aimlessly in your underwear at the dresses, not knowing which one to put on. Eddie comes from behind you, placing his stubbly chin onto your shoulder. “What’s up, baby?” He asks, casually drifting your underwear down your legs.  

You sigh, the trail of his fingertips sending shivers up your spine. “You got me too many dresses.”

“No, I didn’t.” Eddie says, you hear and feel behind you as he lets his own pants drop. “Bend a little bit.” He whispers as you feel his hard cock against your ass.

You do, lifting your ass up at an angle where he can slide right into your folds. He does, arms drifting below your torso and up to play with your tits as he fucks you from behind.

“I got the perfect amount for my sweet baby.” He mutters into your ear, both his hands doing things to your tits that make you whimper. “Love to spoil my beautiful girl.”

“Fuck, daddy.” You whine, your heat already so goddamn hot. “Help. Can’t decide on a dress.”

“Here.” Ed pauses, causing you to whine, but puts a dress in front of you. “Wear this one for daddy.”

“O-ok.” You stutter, barely paying attention to it. “Love you, daddy.”

“I love you,” he kisses your neck, wet and sweet, “so much, pretty baby.” You turn your head to face him, leaning in for a delicate kiss, your pussy clenching around him as you do.

You lean onto the white walls separating each compartment of the closet, closing your eyes as he fucks into you. “Daddy,” you whine, and he pulls your hair gently in response, bringing your head back to his.

“Yes, baby?”

“You’re so good to me, I’m so-so close.” You pant, giving him lustful eyes.

“Cum with me,” Eddie mutters, having been close himself a few times. He leans down, rubbing at your clit. You cum around him hard, yelling his name.

He catches your lips in a kiss when he cums, so you have no idea what he said.

He lets you catch your breath, wrapping his arms around you protectively until you let him know you’re okay. “Thank you, baby.”

“Oh that was just a spur of the moment, I just got lucky.” He jokes, bringing up the dress to you to get redressed.

“You think Steve—”

“Oh, I guarantee Steve already knows.” Eddie interrupts your worry, that Steve knew you were hooking up. “Just had to be sneaky.”

You put yourself in the dress, staring at it in the mirror. Okay, Eddie is seriously good at picking things that fit you well. Damn. “Let’s go baby.”

“Fuck, with you in that dress I’ll be gunning for round two all night.”

“Then we better go so we can come back and do it!” You assert playfully.

“Fuck, I love you.”

-

As you and Eddie sit down at the table where your ice cubes are already melted with the water droplets making a pool on the table, Steve doesn’t say a word, but the look he gives says enough. If he’s your boyfriend’s best friend, how come he already has the ability to make you feel like you had disappointed him?

The restaurant is a steakhouse, something worth dressing up for, but not like the one Eddie took you to. Steve managed to talk about all his kids, describing each one of the four and their distinct personalities to you.

Arlo is apparently a near carbon copy of his father, only differing on a few personality quirks here and there. He was in every sense of the word the eldest Harrington, making a reputation for the Harrington children to live up to at the daycare, elementary school and finally, but most importantly, high school.  Considering Steve raised his kids in Hawkins, Arlo knew the expectations for him and met them, tenfold. Steve never says it, but you can tell he’s so proud of how cool his kid turned out to be. Apparently, though they were closest in age, Dylan was closer to Nicky than to Arlo.

Nicky was the middle child for most of his life. He still considers himself to be, despite getting a younger sister four years ago. He had found himself gravitating towards the arts, and Steve found himself with a kid who spent his early mornings watching broadway bootlegs and collecting song books. This turned him into somewhat of a ladies’ man like Arlo, his baritone vibrato beautifully toned as he starred in most of his school musicals. Someday, Arlo wants to enroll in a drama school, and Steve still isn’t sure how he feels about it.

Dustin is the third child, and for a while, the baby. It’s explained to you that Dustin is named after a mutual friend, someone younger than both Eddie and Steve, someone they took under their wing and mutually adopted. When Dustin’s name was announced, Steve and his wife made sure he was in the room, so for the first hour of Dustin Harrington’s life, he was unnamed. Tears streamed down Dustin’s, (the original), face when he realized that Steve had named his child after him. Immediately, Dustin was his. Because of Dustin Henderson, Dustin Harrington is a complete dork. He’s completely invested in Star Wars, has built his own Magic the Gathering deck, used to spend weekends on Skype for DnD sessions with Uncle Eddie, and has even been to a convention or two.

Basically, none of his boys were the same.

You resented little Eliza coming up in conversation, only for the sake of her photos enticing some sick and cruel twist of fate.

Eliza, however, is the apple of everyone’s eye, and the darling of the Harrington family. She’s a handful, to say the least, a stubborn personality and even worse temperament. Steve swears he thought her toddler years were a handful; until she reached the independent thinking stage. Now, she wants everything, but she never wants help. Her three brothers are fiercely protective of her, each in their own ways, on top of having her dad, her uncle Eddie, and a few names that aren’t familiar to you (note: ask Eddie who ‘Hopper’ is), she’s got the world wrapped around her pinky.

Steve is at the end of a tale of chasing little Eliza around the mall, having slipped his grip in a quick getaway, creating havoc as she clutched a teddy bear that wasn’t paid for. He laughs fondly, describing how she evaded three security guards attempting to aid Steve in his mission, finally catching her when she was hungry enough to decide to end the chase.

You all sit with your food in front of you, chuckling at Steve’s well-told story. “Man,” Eddie starts, mouth still full. He waits until he swallows to continue, “I don’t know if I could have a toddler now. Especially if they’re as wild as Dylan was.”

“Hey!” Dylan calls, gesturing to himself. “I’m right here!”

“No offense, kid, but you were a menace. I looked away for two seconds once and found you on the roof with an umbrella to see if it would work as a parachute.”

“You remember what you told me?” Dylan challenges him, leaning onto his elbows on the table. “Hmm? You tell her what you told me.”

You perk up, leaning into Eddie. “Well, I came out and asked him what he was doing. He said he wanted to see if it worked.”

“And…you said?” Dylan asks, eager to get to the punchline.

“I told him to try it then and see how it works out for him!”

“So, I did!” Dylan exclaims, exasperated.

“What?” You exclaim, and the three men around you nod their heads solemnly, all having heard this story several times before.

“I didn’t know he was actually going to do it!” Eddie laughs, defending himself at your bug eyes aimed at him.

“You’re my dad, I trusted you had my best interests at heart!”

“How you didn’t know sarcasm before that is beyond me…” Eddie mutters, shaking his head fondly at his son. “That story was used against me several times in court, too.”

“They tried to make him out to be a terrible parent. I was pissed.” Dylan explains, and your heart melts over it. “I maintained that even though I had a cast for a few weeks, doesn’t mean I didn’t learn my lesson. Don’t jump off the roof. You will get hurt. That’s what my dad was telling me before he dared me.”

You intertwine your fingers with Eddie’s, smoothing his thumb with your own. There’s a nagging in the back of your mind as you recall his claims of being too old for a toddler, a slight disappointment. You shove it far, far back into your brain, not wanting to dissect that. “So, you staying the night, or?” You ask Steve.

“No thanks, Dylan has made it clear that you two are insatiable.” He says, toying with his food. “He has told me every story where he has caught you, even the ones you don’t know about.” He pauses, giving Eddie a resigned glance across the table. “Freaks. The both of you.”

Your phone buzzes on the table, and you reach for it momentarily to check out the text from Bethany. As your attention is stolen, Eddie mouths over you, Jealous? Steve spurts out a laugh, as if the idea is so absurd. Your head shoots up, Bethany’s text is fresh on your mind. “Baby, can…can I take a picture of your hand?”

“Uh, sure.” Eddie agrees, placing his hand out from your grip and onto the table. “What for?”

“For my Insta,” you answer, somewhat preoccupied by getting a good angle while making his hand intertwined with yours look natural.

“Oh, soft launch?” Dylan comments, and you snap your fingers in confirmation.

Eddie chuckles, all the words coming out of you and Dylan sounding like a different language. “What?”

“Okay, so it’s not just me!” Steve laughs, holding his chest dramatically. “Seriously, what are you two on about?”

Dylan answers before you can–  you’re still trying to get a good angle of his hand holding yours on the table. “It’s posting an update to your relationship status without giving a name to the person. It’s telling the world you’re taken, but not by who. Usually in case they break up, but I don’t think it’s why she’s doing it.”

“No, Eddie has no social media and I know…” you pause, leaning back to take one more, “that he wants to keep it that way, so, I’m showing him off in my own way.” You glare at your phone, swearing softly when it still doesn’t look right.

“For fucks’ sake, let me,” Dylan snatches your phone and gets up from the booth, squats and places the phone as if you were the one taking it yourself, snaps a photo, and tosses the phone back to you. “There.”

The phone falls past your hand and into your lap. You gently pick it up, assessing the photo in your recents. Damn. It was the exact vibe you were looking for. “Well, thanks.”

Dylan shoots an eye roll back, his heart not really in it.

“Let’s see?” Eddie asks, leaning into you, resting his chin against the strap of your dress on your shoulder. You’ve already captioned and posted the photo onto your Instagram, so you let him view the screen. He lets out a chuckle, a wide grin appearing on his face. “I like the photo, but what does the caption mean? Greater than what?”

Caption reads, ‘Him>’.

“Oh, it just means you’re ‘greater than’ everything else. There is no one thing to put because it would be useless.” You explain, turning your phone off and placing it face down on the table.

Eddie shifts the two of you so he can see your face, eyes switching between yours as he assesses you. You look up at him, curious to what could possibly be on that brain of his. “You think I’m greater than everything else?”

Of course you’ve seen it plastered on social media sites, somewhat of a common way to refer to your personal opinion of something. It’s so normalized, and you figured it was a simple way to announce that you were taken by the finest man you’ve ever seen in your entire life. You nod, “Of course!”

His hand frames your face and suddenly his lips are on yours. Your breath hitches in your throat as the kiss and the pure love you feel in his reaction makes you feel like you’d be knocked off your feet if you weren’t already sitting down. Your limbs catch up and one hand lands on his thigh, ignoring the subtle heat you feel pooling in your cunt.

Steve and Dylan are forgotten as you get caught up in a frenzy, lips locking with a level of need for one another that would give any other person envy over the display of passion. Dylan has gotten used to it, you two were in the habit of kissing one another like this often. Steve takes a large sip of his bourbon, leaning back in his booth and leaning right to him. “So, this—”

“Yeah, that’s normal.” Dylan tells him.

“Jesus, I thought you were exaggerating.” Steve pauses, moving his plate away from him, all done. “Thought he was exaggerating.”

“Exaggerating what?” Dylan asks, afraid of the answer.

Steve smirks, taking another sip of his drink. “Just drink your apple juice.” He nods to Dylan’s beer; Dylan shoves his shoulder fondly in response. Steve takes one last big swig of his drink, gesturing to the waitress across the room for her assistance. “Hey. You two. Take a breather.”

Your kisses haven’t gotten any more intense, though his hand placed gently on your thigh was a tease. You could make out with him for hours, knowing your limits in the restaurant booth. Eddie finally pulls back, kissing you delicately a few times on the lips as to not leave you hanging, leaving you reeling when the server stops by.

“Just the check, please.” Steve tells her, smug.

The waitress nods, grabbing plates when the four of you insist you’re all done with your food. Steve and Eddie end up telling a story from their early 20’s when they were both single, finishing each other’s sentences as they remind each other how unruly they were back then. Your eyes flick back and forth between them, something clicking.

“Hmm.” You muster, letting yourself think about it.

“Yes, baby?”

You zone back in, blinking as you realize the three of them are staring at you expectantly. You hadn’t even realized you hummed out loud. “Oh, nothing.” But he’s not budging. None of them are. “Seriously, it’s nothing.”

Still no dice.

You lean forward towards Dylan, who sits across from you, lowering your voice. “Do you want to be traumatized by your dad’s sex life?” He shakes his head, the smile leaving his face. You lean back, satisfied. “Then don’t worry about it.”

“For the record, I think you mean more traumatized.” Dylan mutters, just loud enough for you to hear. You kick his shin underneath the table, light enough to hurt but not do anything. You giggle at his reaction, leaning into Eddie’s arm as it snakes around your own.

Your phone buzzes, another text from Bethany. You smile as you check it, content in Eddie’s arms as the waitress comes around again with the bill. Steve hands her a card as he watches Eddie speak softly to you, nothing important, just something causing you to giggle. He feels confident in his own marriage, a love that gave him four kids with a stable home to drive back to. It just made him happy to see Eddie in a relationship where it’s clearly reciprocated.

As Eddie whispers to you, you can barely take in the words Bethany has texted you, but what she has to say to you is seemingly important, your phone buzzing repeatedly in your hands. You allow your eyes to focus back on them and the all-caps of her texts become clear.

CHECK YOUR INSTA

HELLO???

BABE

HELLO

GO CHECK IT YOUR POST ALREADY HAS OVER 500 LIKES

BITCH IT’S AT ONE THOUSAND

HELLLLOOOO

“Oh, shit.” You switch apps to make sure it’s true. In your notifications, there are over 300 comments and more likes than Bethany had claimed, 1.5 thousand. By no means is it viral, but most of your posts got no more than 100 due to your circle of friends in the app being so small. “Holy shit.” There are several comments praising Eddie’s hand, even some drool emojis. The only solace you can give yourself is that you now know you are never exposing his face. “Um, Ed. Your hand has gotten attention.”

He leans over, seeing the amount of engagement on your post. “Cool.” He comments, the numbers not meaning much to him.

“I could’ve told you that much.” Steve laughs.

You peer at him questioningly, silently asking what he meant by it.

“Listen, the ladies in Hawkins are…what is it…thirsty?” He checks with Dylan. Dylan chuckles and confirms it. “Yeah, okay, thirsty. They are mad thirsty over Eddie. If I accidentally mention that the Munsons are coming into town, it becomes town gossip. It’s like Billy Hargrove all over again, except this time it’s age appropriate.”

You turn back to Eddie, serious as you can be. “You’re never going back.”

 He laughs, wrapping his arms around you to bring you into a hug. “We’ll talk about it.”

-

As you walk towards the front door of the restaurant, the sun has set on another day. Eddie’s arm is wrapped around your shoulders, and Steve calls out to Eddie as he leads you to his truck, drawing your attentions. “Munson!”

Eddie turns around, the use of his last name certainly grabbing his attention. They quit using last names on one another years ago. The last time Eddie fully recalls being called Munson by Steve; Steve was pulling at his hair… “You rang, Harrington?”

“Can I steal your girlfriend for a drive?” He asks, sending a smile your way.

“Uh,” Eddie looks at you, making sure you’re comfortable with it. You nod your head, sharing a look with him. “Sure. Have her back within the hour, though.”

“Yes, sir.” Steve jokes, laughing to himself when Eddie subtly grits his teeth, and a pink blush reaches his cheeks. “C’mon, I don’t bite.”

You give your boyfriend a hug, embracing his kiss of safety and comfort. “Love you.” As you walk the steps toward Steve, Eddie tugs you back by your fingertips, one last kiss for good measure.

“Love you more.” He mutters, and for a second you believe him. Oh, to follow him into his truck and ride with him in a comfortable silence on the way back.

“Come on! One hour won’t kill you.” Steve grabs your hand before you can register, leading the way to his SUV.

Dylan passes you on the way to his dad, waving cheekily on the way and you flip him off.

You get into the dark blue SUV, a Range Rover, no less. It’s evident he has a four-year-old with the car seat and the mess in his back seat, but you know that if he didn’t have Eliza, the brown interior would’ve been spotless. Steve turns down the radio he had blasting, turning his iPhone connection on. “Ready for some oldies?”

“You and Eddie. Terrible, the both of you.” You mutter, shaking your head.

Steve laughs, pulling out of the parking lot and turning the opposite way of Eddie’s (yours too) house. “Don’t worry, just taking the long way.” He assures you after he sees you staring wistfully off at Eddie’s tail lights.

It’s about five minutes of silence until Steve talks again. “So, I just wanted to apologize about earlier, I was…I was shocked. When you opened the door, I didn’t know who you were, but I certainly wasn’t expecting the answer I got. Can you tell me your version of how you two got together? I didn’t want Eddie interjecting.”

“Oh.” You clear your throat. “Uh, Dylan forgot a parking pass on our way to the beach, so he stopped by the house to look for it. Eddie comes down, sweats low on his hips and hair still wet from his shower, and I could barely focus on anything else around me. I should’ve broken up with Dylan the moment I got to his truck.” You tell him, making sure Steve knows full well that you are still apologetic about the cheating.

“Oh sweetheart, that’s all fine and dandy. As far as Dylan is concerned, it hurt, but it’s long gone in his mind. Trust me. Any hesitation is aimed at Eddie, and for good reason.” Steve reassures you, feeling your defense build. “Don’t worry. Just tell the story.”

“Okay. I didn’t end it because I was afraid he’d lash out and it would’ve been forever before getting ahold of Eddie again. I couldn’t risk it, so I stayed. It lasted until that weekend, when I was doing horny things in the living room with Dylan just because Eddie was home. Maybe he’d hear something, maybe he’d look…maybe he’d watch…” You drift off, remembering the sheer urgency you had for him. “I wore skimpy outfits, I bent over around the house, I was fully prepared for Eddie, and to be honest, I was too hormonal to care or understand the repercussions.” You glance out the window, lights blinding you as you pass each neon sign. “So, we hooked up. After spending more time with him, I realized how much I had already cared about him. Now, Steve, now, I love that man so goddamn much.”

Steve smiles at you as he drives, his head waving with the bumps in the road. “Where do you see this going? For your future? In the long term, are you willing to accept that his body will give out a lot earlier than yours?”

 A knot forms in your stomach in the shape of a confession. You switch your glance to Steve, and you feel safe with him. Not like Eddie, no. It was like he would never tell your secrets, or like he’d protect you. “Uh, this evening, I had the terrifying displeasure of realizing one day I’d want kids with him. One day, after he marries me and tells the whole world who I belong to, I want to have his baby. I want to raise a baby into a handful of a toddler into a snarky teenager. I thought I was totally in the clear for kids with him, but you showed him the video of Eliza and now it’s…I can’t get rid of it. So, thanks for that, Steve.” Admitting to this, out loud even…it’s too much. “I want to spend my life with him.”

You wait for an answer, somewhat on edge as you fiddle with your fingers. “And you’re okay with the knowledge that you will bury him one day?” Steve pressures on, and you respect it.

“I’ve accepted the realities, yes, which is why I’m not telling him I want kids. He said he’s too tired. I can’t force that on him.”

A full belly laugh escapes Steve as he shakes his head. “If you told him that you want a baby, he would absolutely give you one without a moment’s hesitation. I have never seen him like this, not even with his ex.” He pauses, thinking on how to tell you. “Listen, I don’t know if you know much about her, but Eddie’s ex was not all that…kind to him.” He chooses his words carefully. “He was into her from the get-go, but it was obvious he was more into her. Eventually, when Eddie realized she was cheating, he called me, panicking about losing Dylan.

“I sent my best lawyer to him. Less than a week later they have court dates for custody hearings. Honestly, she was angry she was caught and angry she wasn’t the one to file. I think it took her being angry and belligerent in court for Eddie to finally see who she was. The judge was patient, more than she should’ve been. When she didn’t listen to the judge’s warnings, Eddie was granted everything he wanted. He thought it was a goddamn miracle, the only two things he wanted were the shop and Dylan. The shop had people’s livelihoods; it was their only income. Dylan just wanted to be with his dad, he made that very clear.

“Once the dust settled, it sank in. He called, finally, crying on the floor of the closet. He had spent all year on it just for her to only have it for a handful of months. It was a labour of love for him, and it turned out she was sleeping with someone else the entire time.”

Your teeth grit, fucking seething for Eddie. If either Eddie or Steve knew what was good for her, they’d never tell you her name.

“I came immediately, bringing Arlo and Nick to help cheer him up. Nick was only about 2, so he would’ve done more cheering in the way that toddlers do. But even Arlo knew something was up so it’s the one and only time he’s ever played DnD and fully embraced it. When Nick went to bed, the four of us all played together.” Steve observes your body language, your jaw locked and fists clenched. You’re so angry for him. He decides to omit the fact that after the kids went to bed, Eddie was inconsolable in his heartbreak. Steve knows it might come out one day, but that was not the point of this discussion.

“I promise, I didn’t tell you to make you mad, I just need you to know that Eddie will love you selflessly and wholly, because he doesn’t have it in himself to love any other way.” He slows to a stop at a red light, turning his head to face you. “I was very worried at first, but man, I couldn’t have been more wrong.”

The question still echoes in your mind, but the answer is starting to lean towards a yes. “How did you guys become friends?” You ask instead, leaning away from your boyfriend’s heartbreak and his bitchy ex.

“That… is a very long story.”

“Eddie gave you an hour, of which you’ve only used 15 minutes.” You point out, smirking.

“Alright, buckle up. It’s Hawkins, Indiana. 1996. Eddie ‘the freak’ Munson is missing.”

-

Steve was right, the story of their friendship was a long one. He didn’t necessarily dive into the nitty gritty, just implied he was falsely accused in a situation where he had no alibi and helped him out. One day, years later you would finally feel comfortable asking and Eddie would get into the full details of the Upside Down.

Steve brought you home with ten minutes to spare, you cling to Eddie as soon as you see him. The unresolved lust from earlier on top of the empathy for how hard it must’ve been for him drove your need for him, just you and him. “Can’t wait any longer.” You whisper, fingers digging into the now open button up shirt he wore to dinner and fisting the material into a ball with your hands.

You feel a huff of silent laughter come from him, a long sigh leaving his lips as he considers his options. It’s only 11 o’clock. Usually, when Steve is in town he stays for hours into the night to talk and laugh together. Dylan started a habit of joining their conversations as he got older. He knows it’s what they’re expecting, and he knows exactly what you need. He lifts your face with his hands. “Go get dressed into something more comfortable. Be right up.”

You nod, feeling sleepy, and for once, not conscious of the audience you held with him.

As you run upstairs, Eddie turns to Steve. “You and Dylan go to your hotel room. I’ll meet you there. Later.”

Steve’s eyebrows raise. “Didn’t you say you were exhausted?”

“I could just stay home all night. I have no problems with that.” Eddie bites back, a tone of endearment at the root of it.

Steve rolls his eyes. “Okay, okay. God, I miss when you were single,”

Dylan and Steve leave for the hotel room, the two shooting teasing glances at Eddie.

You lay on your side of the bed, scrolling on your phone but only paying the littlest attention. Eddie opens the door, his long legs take him to the bed quickly as he lies right next to you. You immediately crawl into his arms, the phone forgotten. Your chest feels tight as you mentally go over what Steve told you, the way his ex treated him. There’s no way it was true, because Eddie ever feeling like he deserved any of it was too much for you to bear.

Eddie feels the shift in you, something’s different. It isn’t one of your normal hugs. Your arms are wrapped around his, as if you’re sheltering him. “You okay, baby?” He asks, brows furrowed as he notes your quickened breathing and heart rate. You’re lying down; you should be far more relaxed.

“Steve…Steve told me more about your ex, and it made me sick to my stomach.” You admit, not wanting many secrets between the two of you. You’re already harbouring one, you don’t need another. “I don’t know how anyone could possibly treat you like that.”

Eddie’s eyes well and he looks up, trying not to let a tear fall from the tone of your voice or how genuine you sound in your anger for him. “It’s ancient history, now, baby.”

“Doesn’t make it right.” You counter, hands squeezing him. “I love you more than I can even conceive. More than I can wrap my head around… I can’t stand the thought of you being heartbroken because that bitch decided someone building her a closet wasn’t good enough for her.”

Eddie can’t wrap his mind around how loved you just made him feel, and how in your own way, you just told him he would be just as protected as you are by him. You would stand up for him the same way he would for you. He doesn’t have the words or the strength to hold back the tears, so he leans in and kisses you, really kisses you.  

As his lips meet yours, you taste the salt of his tears and lightly use your thumbs to brush them away. He climbs on top of you, brushing his hand under your PJ shirt, testing the waters. You guide his hand to your tit, aching for him to touch you for what felt like hours. Your kisses are slow and purposeful, the stream of the salt still coming, and you ignore it for the sake of his hand feeling so goddamn good on your nipple as he teases you. He doesn’t seem to want to talk about them, anyway. Your mouth opens against him as he flicks it, whimpering.

You wrap your legs around his hips, unwinding them from between his legs and his bulge presses into your covered heat immediately. You kiss down his jaw, gently decorating his neck with wet kisses as you kiss away the salt that streamed down his face. Your hand moves down to palm him through his slacks, a whimper leaving him. “Do…do you want to?” You check, slightly stroking him through his jeans.

He sniffles, bunching up your shirt to help it off. “Yes. Sorry, I can’t handle strong emotions, they…overwhelm me.”

“I’ll handle them for the both of us.” You offer.

Eddie is a mess already, and he tugs on you to kiss you some more. “I didn’t know I could love someone this much.” He mutters, gulping through his kisses.

You don’t answer him, grabbing at his shirt to take it off. As the shirt flies off, his chest comes full contact with yours and you arch your hips up to meet his, the bulge hitting your heat almost too perfectly. You grind on it, needing him now, wanting to feel all of him.

Eddie reads your mind, tearful but still in tune with everything your body needs from him. His hands move your pants down your legs, placing kisses down your torso as he does. He crawls back up to you, taking his own pants off as he continues to wantonly kiss you. Before you know it, you feel his cock against your thigh as he presses your legs into your stomach.

Eddie leans into you, connecting your foreheads. You frame his face, staring at his wet brown eyes. “Please baby.” You kiss him, your hips barely able to stay still. “I love you, I fucking need you.”

“I know.” He mumbles, nodding his head. He guides his cock into you, pushing in gently but deeply into you within seconds. Your legs tighten around his torso, your pussy sucking him in. “Christ.”

His face finds itself in your neck, giving sweet kisses up and down as he starts to move his hips. You hold onto him, hands wrapped around his torso, spread-out palms down on his back. His hips rock so slowly, taking in every inch of your pussy he possibly can. His forehead finds yours again and his eyes open and stare into yours. His mouth is parted, his cheeks are flushed, and no longer wet. Somewhere in the midst he stopped crying, but the emotions he felt were still there. “Feels good?”

You nod, breath hitching by the sheer emotion you see in his eyes. “So good, baby.”

He smiles softly, staring at you half lidded. “Don’t want it harder?” He teases, bucking his hips hard once before moving back to his soft pace.

The buck releases a loud cry of pleasure from you, not expecting it. “Fuck, Ed. Can you do that again?”

Eddie smiles wider. “Mmhm.” He bucks into you harder again a few times, and your eyes close immediately, the heat from your pussy starting to pool. “Oh my god, Eddie.”

“More?” He asks, slowing his hips again. “My love, if you want me to fuck you harder, you need to tell me.”

“Fuck me harder, Ed. Please.”

Eddie chuckles softly, stopping his movements altogether to give you a kiss, taking your breath away by the love in it. “Sure thing, baby.”

Before you know it, his hips start at an unforgiving pace, the force takes you aback so badly, you moan loudly at every buck, every rut of his hips against yours. His thumb connects to your neglected clit, and the subtle heat explodes into a frenzy. Eddie feels your velvet walls pulse around him as you get closer. “I wanna feel that perfect pussy cum all over my cock.”

“Eddie, so close…love you so much…” you’re seeing stars, your legs tense around him. He leans down to you, giving your torso one long lick down your tummy and, oddly enough, it was the final thing to drive you over the edge.

Your pussy tightening around him does it for Eddie, watching your face as your orgasm rips through you, filling you up with his cum, white ropes shooting into you. He collapses on your chest, the physical exhaustion from the day mixed with the added exhaustion from emotionally breaking down finally piling on him. “Sweetheart, I love you. So fucking much. I just…can’t believe how much better you’ve made my life.”

“I love you.” Your entire body wraps around him, holding him close to you. “Do you have to go?”

“Would you like to come with me?”

You nod your head, knowing full well you’ll probably fall asleep on the couch in Steve’s hotel room.

“Alright, let’s go.”

-

Eddie scratches his head while working on some paperwork in his work office, glasses sitting on the bridge of his nose as he goes through some numbers. One of the things he hates about owning a business is the math part of it. Luckily, he’s good at math, it’s just when the numbers suddenly go negative, it creates an issue.

His phone sitting on the desk starts to ring and he picks it up, expecting it to be you, but instead he’s met with an unknown number. Eddie sighs and reluctantly answers. It could be a customer with a new number for all he knows.

Wrong. Dead wrong.

“Eddie Munson speaking.” He answers, scanning over another invoice.

“Why the fuck are you dating a 25-year-old?” It occurs to Eddie this phone number has an area code from Boston…which is where she moved to. Fuck.

“Hi, Brooke.” He sighs, tired.

“Yeah, yeah. When and why the fuck are you dating some little hot piece of ass? You know she’s probably a gold digger, right? This morning she posted a selfie from my closet and it looks like she’s already moved in?”

“We met through a friend” Eddie wraps his head in his hands, wondering what the hell he ever saw in her craziness. “Wait, why am I telling you this, what fucking nerve do you have to call me and accuse my girlfriend being a gold digger?! How the fuck did you even find out?”

“Her little Instagram post with you two holding hands, which by the way, was cheesy and not in a good way. It got a lot of attention and Laura recognized your hands immediately and sent me the post.”

Fucking Laura. “Good for you, you found her Instagram.” He sighs, leaning back in his office chair. “I owe you nothing, Brooke. Nothing. I’m not sure what you had expected from this conversation but I’m sure this wasn’t it. Oh, and Brooke? That’s not your closet, hasn’t been for 15 years. Don’t call me again or I'll get my lawyer.”

“Oh, calm down.” Brooke huffs, her voice agitated. As if her voice had any other tone. Eddie hears her muffle the speaker to her phone. “Boys, quiet down for five minutes? I’m on the phone!” There’s another shuffle of noise on the other end, then her voice is directed back at Eddie, “That won’t be necessary. I just need to make sure you know that she will ruin your life because she’s a little skank.”

“Talk about my wife that way again and you’ll be hearing from a lot more than just my lawyer, you absolute cunt.” Eddie hangs up on her, missing the satisfaction of slamming a phone on the receiver. He picks his work phone up and slams it down. There, much better.

Wait until Steve hears about this… Holy shit.

Wait until you hear about it. Oh, fuck.

-

Steve manages to stretch his visit for one more day, laying on the couch with you as you watch a movie he recommended to you. He lays down with his torso on the arm rest, legs resting on your lap. When his legs landed, you glared at him, asking if he had nowhere else to place them. Steve said in response, “Of course, I do! You’ll just hold them because you’re so nice.”

So, you do. The movie is called The Gentlemen, a fast-paced comedy about a drug lord attempting to sell his business and all the shenanigans that follow. You find yourself laughing with him, expecting some movie like The Godfather or Fight Club, though it came out only four years ago.

Eddie swings open the door, rubbing his eyes tiredly with a smirk on his face. “Oh my god, Steve. Oh my god.” Eddie came straight from work, the phone call not allowing his brain to go over another invoice, especially when the numbers didn’t make sense. He struts to the couch, lifts Steve’s legs and sits right next to you, placing Steve’s legs back on his lap. He places his arm around you, looking at Steve with a smirk plastered. “Steve. Oh, my god.”

“Ed?” You ask, taking in his flustered features. Not flustered in the way you’re used to, but flustered nonetheless. “Everything okay?”

He nods his head, an incredulous laugh escaping as he does. “Oh, yeah. Totally okay. Got a phone call today.” You and Steve share a look of concern over his shoulder. “From Brooke.”

Now, this name means nothing to you. But from Steve’s reaction, in a split second you realize it’s the name of the woman you have grown to viscerally hate. “No way. What…what did she say?”

“She found Y/N’s Instagram post from last night and recognized my hand.” Eddie says, squeezing your shoulder. “She uh, then proceeded to insult me, insult her, and remind me how grateful I am she left me before I realized what a terrible person she is.”

“Anything else?” Steve asks, eyes wide. Brooke has literally been radio silent for years.

“Yeah, but nothing worth getting into.” Eddie comments, leaning into the couch, raising his eyebrows at Steve. Not something he wants to get into with you around, but definitely will with his best friend. “She sounded…jealous.”

“Jealous how?”

Eddie looks at you, twisting his body to face you. “Jealous of you. Out of line, absolutely, but jealous.”

The satisfaction that ripples through your body is simply too much. A woman took advantage of his kindness and left him for dead and now she’s jealous? Good. “Wait, she stalks my Instagram?”

“Uh, I suppose, yes.” Eddie answers, not so sure he understands the use of stalk.

“I could have some fun with this.” You mutter, thinking to yourself.

“Baby?” Eddie asks, slightly scared of the wicked smirk he sees displayed on your face.

“Hmm.” You mumble, opening your phone to your Pinterest app. “Yes?”

“What do you mean?” Eddie asks, talking low as he watches over your shoulder.

“Nothing. Just be ready for a picture when I need you.”

Eddie laughs, ready to calm you down a bit, but finds himself a little fearful of the plan in your mind.

You scroll through your Pinterest for about ten minutes while Steve and Eddie converse about the boys again. If you have learned one thing about Steve, it’s that his kids are his pride and joy. The conversation leads to Eliza, and you feel that pang in your stomach again. It’s getting harder to ignore as you watch Eddie’s face light up at the endless stories of the kids’ mischief.

Steve gets up from the couch, needing to use the bathroom. While he’s gone, you take advantage, finally having a moment to ask the question that’s been on your mind. “Hey, Ed.” You start, his head turning to face you, almost impossibly close.

“Yes, baby?”

Shit, his lips are so tempting. You sigh, ignoring the pull to his lips. “I just have a question, and please don’t be offended if the answer is no.”

Eddie huffs out a laugh, pleasantly surprised by your reaction to his ex-wife calling, so he’s certainly intrigued by what you’re about to say. “I make no promises.”

That’s not comforting. “Okay. Have you and Steve…did you guys ever hook up?” You ask, avoiding his eyes, which is impossible because they’re right there.  

Eddie breaks into a smile followed by incredibly contagious laughter. You were certain you must’ve been dead wrong based on his laughter alone. You’re just reading into things that aren’t there. He finally stops, grabbing your face for a smiley, giggly kiss. You pull back, looking at him in confusion, as he laughs again. “I should’ve known you’d figure it out.” He says, eyes searching yours.

Oh, fuck. You were right! “Wait.” You say while giggling. “I…I was right?”

“Yeah.”

“When?!”

Eddie squints comically, looking up. “Uh, 27 or so years ago in Vegas.”

You squint back at the sheer cliché of it all. “Vegas? Really?”

“Well, we were both down on our luck, we thought, very drunkenly, might I add, a trip to Vegas would help. It certainly did the trick, I think.”

You laugh, the situation described much differently than what you had expected. “I bet it did.” You boop him on the nose as he scrunches it adorably.

Steve comes out from the bathroom and sees your silly display of love, jogging to the couch. “You guys are cavity inducing. Seriously.”

“Steve.” Eddie says, turning his head to face him. “She figured it out.”

Steve smirks, silently asking Eddie if he was talking about what Steve thought he was talking about. “Hmm?”

“Mmhmm.”

“No shit! What gave it away?” Steve asks, genuinely curious as he attempts to extend his legs onto Eddie’s lap again.

“No offense, you guys, but you both act like you have a secret with one another that you won’t share with the class. There’re only so many secrets that could be.” You offer an answer, and they seem to accept it…for the most part.

“What, we don’t give off two very straight dudes?” Eddie jokes, making you shove his shoulder.

“See, Dylan’s great, but I’ve been dying to ask since last night, and I wasn’t gonna ask with him around.”

Eddie chuckles, leaning in for one last gentle kiss. When he separates, he clutches onto Steve’s leg, startling him. “Sorry,” he laughs through his apology. “I have to take a shower then I have one more errand to run, and I need your help before you take off tonight.”

“Sure, dude. What do you need?”

You go back on your phone, checking your Pinterest and mostly tuning out the conversation, looking for subtle ways to show Eddie off on your Instagram that will piss Brooke off. Eddie nods his head to indicate it isn’t a conversation to be had around you, and you don’t even notice.

Steve nods in understanding, fist bumping Eddie as he runs around the couch and up the stairs. The silence that settles around you while he’s upstairs is comfortable, Steve paying attention to the movie as the plot thickens while you scroll through your phone and gather devious ideas. You barely notice the ten minutes pass by as Eddie comes back downstairs. You clock the scent of his freshly showered self, causing you to look up.

Eddie is wearing a pair of jeans and a button up loosely tucked in with a chain necklace. You pick your jaw off the floor, gulping as he walks up to you with a smirk on his face as he witnesses your very visible reaction. He lays a chaste kiss on your forehead and taps on Steve’s leg.

Steve gets up from the couch and Eddie grabs his keys. “Be back soon, baby!”

“Could you get some pop?” You ask him as he opens the front door.

“Baby, we have so much to drink that’s not gonna rot those pretty teeth. It won’t kill you to drink water.” He says, stopping in the doorway. You roll your eyes, tempted to order in from a convenience store if he was gonna be this stubborn. “If there’s pop here when I get home, you’re gonna see a consequence.”

“Yes, daddy.” You bite back. Well, if you order one drink and place it in the bottom of the recycling, he won’t see it, right?

“Hey. Drink some water. I mean it. Take care of yourself, for Christ’ sake.” He yells, hearing your eyes roll. “Love you!”

Eddie shuts the door, reminding himself to check the recycling when he gets home.

“Daddy, huh?” Steve asks, poking fun as they get into his truck.

“Yeah, yeah, shut up.” Eddie rolls his eyes, shoving the keys into the ignition. His hands move to put the vehicle in reverse when something occurs to him. “Shit.”

“What?”

“Uh, give me a sec.” Eddie brings out his phone, going through the 15 contacts, scrolls right to Maya. He rings it.

“…Hello?” Maya answers, sounding understandably perplexed.

“Hi, Maya, how would one know what kind of ring to get without asking the person it’s for?” Steve’s brows rais, the errand being ring shopping is news to him.

“Well… it depends. Do you want to buy her a ring just because…or are you shopping for,” she pauses, slowly saying it. If she was wrong, it could set off an alarm, “…an engagement ring?”

“Yeah, an engagement ring.” Eddie admits, saying it out loud feels crazy to him. “How would one figure that out?”

“Give me five minutes.” She says, and abruptly hangs up the phone.

As Eddie stares at his phone in bewilderment, Steve leans into him. “Engagement ring, huh?”

“Won’t be asking her until at least another few months, if I can even wait that long. I said something on the phone with Brooke today. It just came out.” Eddie offers, his voice soft as he explains to Steve what’s been invading his mind for the last hour. “Brooke went a bit far on the insults. She called her a skank.”

“How classy.” Steve offers dryly, his face suggesting it was anything but.

“I got so mad. I’ve never been as mad at her as I was when those words left her mouth. I said if she ever called my wife a name again, I would be calling more than just my lawyer.” He quotes himself, letting the word sink into Steve’s skin.

“Oh shit.” Steve mutters, the weight of the word kicking in.

“Yeah, it slipped out, but calling her my wife felt so damn good I couldn’t help myself. I’m not getting any younger.” Eddie pauses before saying anything else, the next confession might be too much to say out loud yet.

“C’mon. If you can’t tell me, who can you tell?” Steve says, giving him some comfort.

“Her eyes when she looks at pictures of Eliza, or listens to stories about your boys, fuck I thought I never wanted another kid, but Jesus Christ, I need to see her face when she looks at one of ours.” Eddie admits out loud for the first time, the words scaring the shit out of him. Dylan in his 20s was exhausting. Could he handle another newborn? Another toddler? Another teenager?

Steve felt like he held all the power in knowing you two both wanted a kid. Feels like neither of you are ready to tell the other, so it’s a secret he’ll have to keep to himself for now. (If he’s strong enough.)

Eddie’s phone buzzes, a link appearing in a message from Maya. He opens it up and it directs him to your Pinterest page. Eddie wonders how Maya even found it. Your name isn’t connected to it. The link is specific to a board labeled Engagement Rings with a bunch of sparkle emojis surrounding it. Eddie looks at a few of them, screenshotting a handful to get the basic idea of what you’d want. He texts back Maya to thank her and puts his truck in reverse before Steve even knows what’s happening.

-

Eddie and Steve go through at least three jewelry stores before Eddie angers Steve at his indecisiveness. It isn’t that Eddie is indecisive, it’s that he’s hoping for a jeweler to look at the general vibe of your board and have the perfect ring to offer. Instead, Eddie’s met with vague indications of where he could look. These interactions all leave Eddie feeling frustrated as just walks out of the store for the next one only about ten feet away.

It takes Eddie a few tries until he finds the fairy godmother he’s been looking for, but finally he shows an engagement ring specialist the general aura of the rings you had saved, and she brings out four or five options that fall into the same category for Eddie to look at. Maybe Eddie could’ve been clearer with other stores of what he needed, but it felt as if they didn’t think he was going to buy one, anyway. Here, in this store, he feels like a respected customer, which goes a long way with him. In his shop, he spends his extra time making sure his men don’t treat any ladies like they know less just because they’re women. He hoped that even though he had a few faded tattoos and dressed alternatively, he’d be extended that same courtesy.

The helpful sales lady holds up each ring and explains to Eddie why she picked it in relevance to the photos you saved. Eddie sighs, each one in the right field, but not quite there. As she puts rings away to keep on looking, Eddie clutches onto the glass in frustration, feeling completely unprepared. Brooke basically gave him her ring and told him to propose when he had the balls. He wants you to love this ring, he wants to see it and know that it was made for you.

Maybe that’s too much to place on a ring. But for Eddie, just the simple prospect of searching for this ring means he has the hope that you will be his for the rest of his life.

Just when he’s ready to leave for the next store, she brings another one, a look on her face that tells Eddie she might’ve found exactly what he’s been looking for. She lays it out on a cloth, as Eddie marvels at it. It’s a thin, silver ring with four blue stones lined up along the band as the metal crosses over itself like vines. Eddie knows all of the jewelry you wear is silver, dainty, and has a few hints of blue. From the moment he sees it, he knows it’s the One.

Eddie holds it up for a few moments, circling it around in his hand. It takes all the self control in the world not to just head home and propose that night. He hands over a ring he took from the center console in your closet to the sales lady for your size. Within ten minutes, the papers are signed, the ring paid for, and Eddie walks out with a small white bag.

They get into the truck, the white bag small, yet significant as it sits in the back seat. “Well, that’s a step you’re taking.” Steve observes, carefully assessing his best friend’s emotional state.

“Mmhmm.” Eddie hums, staring at the bag in the rearview mirror. “And now, I’m fighting the urge to propose tonight.”

“Tonight?” Steve asks him, the speed of your relationship knocking him in the gut. “Let’s not scare her off. Plan a nice meal, set out a pretty dress on the bed for her. I bet she’d appreciate that.” Eddie considers this, knowing Steve is probably right.

So, now the ring sits in its box in the bottom of Eddie’s underwear drawer.

-

When Eddie and Steve get home, they find you on the couch napping while a movie neither of them has heard of plays on the TV, a bottle of nearly empty coke on the table next to it. Eddie sneaks upstairs to hide the evidence, the bag shoved into the bottom of a trash can, and the ring tucked safely away. When he comes back down, Steve is in the kitchen making himself a snack for the road while Eddie crouches in front of the couch to wake you up.

“Morning, baby.” He says in a low voice, petting your left cheek with his thumb.

Your breath hitches as you wake up, the last thing you remember is being giddy as you picked up your order from the front step with chips, candy, and a single bottle of pop. As you finished most of your snack, the movie started to matter less and less, a phenomenon that only occurs when you know that you’re about to pass out on the couch.

“There she is.” He mumbles as your eyes take in your surroundings. Him, the end of the movie you picked out, and the setting sun through the curtains. “Hi. I see we didn’t take my concern for the amount of pop you consume to heart?” He musters, gesturing to the side table.

You stretch, every muscle in your extended limbs feeling it. “You made it pretty clear it was for my teeth.” You mumble, unable to prevent a smile at Eddie’s floored reaction.

“I see.” He mutters, and the smirk on his face is enough to send a thrill of fear through you. “C’mon, Steve is about to leave town. Let’s go say our goodbyes.”

He tugs on your hands, lifting you up off the couch, guiding you to where Steve’s packing a recyclable grocery store bag with snacks he found around the kitchen. He comes out of the kitchen clutching the bag, his brown eyes shooting a fond look to the both of you. “Sorry, guys. Gotta get to the actual purpose of my trip eventually.”

You squint at him, pretending to consider forgiving him. “I suppose we’ll forgive you. If… you bring Eliza next time.”

“Another one bites the dust.” Steve mutters under his breath, chuckling. Eliza Harrington really has the whole world wrapped around her little pinky. (And oh, boy, does she know it.) He grabs onto your shoulder, pulling you in close for a hug. “Take care of him, will ya?”

You nod into his bicep, the soft spot he had gained for you over the last two days taking you by surprise and vice versa for him. “You know I will.”

Steve can’t resist the joke. “Oh, I know you do.”

You hit him playfully, feeling the heat creep up on your cheeks.

Steve and Eddie share an even longer hug, something about saying goodbye to old friends is always hard, you know that. As they separate, still clutching each other, Steve says something under his breath that makes Eddie hit him harshly. “Steve.”

“What?”

“Dude. Subtlety?”

Steve chuckles as he picks up his bag of goodies. “If you two are one thing, it ain’t subtle.”

You’re left questioning what could’ve possibly warranted the reaction that Eddie let out as Steve and Eddie do a few more rounds of farewell. It never seems to end as they keep bringing up new topics with each step Steve makes toward the door. It reminds you of your mom at the grocery store when you were eight.

The door finally slams, Steve yelling an "I love you" while Eddie shouts “Yeah right!” He brings out his phone soon after, sending I love you, too to Steve as a text. Well, Eddie is realizing that a next time is never guaranteed.  

The moment Steve’s SUV takes off, the low hum of the engine riding off to the end of the street, you turn back to the couch for a night in with Eddie. Alas, he has other plans. You lead him to the couch, holding his hand. Eddie tugs you back sharply, your limbs flailing as a result. “Woah, there, sweetheart.”

You give him a questioning look, wondering if you were just picturing his eyes darkening. “Hmm?”

“I asked you, very nicely, not to order pop. For one thing I think you drink too much of it, and for another there is water, juice, alcohol, even. Baby, I would just appreciate you taking my wishes into account.” His voice is serious, to a point that startles you. “So. As mentioned, there will be a consequence.”

“Like…like what?” You ask him, gulping as he traces his fingers along your collarbone so lightly you barely feel it.

He leans down, leaning into whisper, “Run.”

Your heart rate stutters as you turn away from him and run straight towards the basement, a place you know was once Dylan’s hangout spot, but now is just a dusty living room. Your feet trip over themselves as they run down the steps, pure panic and adrenaline coursing through your veins as you run to a guest room, hiding in the corner.

Upstairs, there are footsteps leading directly to the steps you just ran down. He fucking walks. He takes his time, step by step, and you can tell with each step as your heart rate picks up that he’s taunting you. He knows you’re in some corner somewhere, but he just doesn’t know which one. “Downstairs, huh? Didn’t see that coming.” Eddie admits, peering around each corner with his hands behind his back.

Fuck, you’re just a sitting duck here. You crawl up by the door, waiting patiently as he walks into the room right across from the one you’re hiding in. You make a quick run for the stairs, your breathing tight in your chest as you run, but for some reason, can’t recall why you’re running, you’re so fucking turned on right now. Your first few steps are loud and you curse out loud when suddenly Eddie’s feet are right behind yours, giggling with glee as you do.

Somehow, you make it up the steps and run straight to the kitchen, stopping at the island. He lands on the other side, his face hungry with want, his shirt untucked. There’s a wild look in his eye you can’t quite understand. You giggle as you attempt to go either way, realizing you’re stuck where you are.

“Oh, how is she gonna get out?” He taunts, watching you assess the situation.

Your instincts take over. You miraculously hop onto the island, using some sort of kicking method against the counter straight across and crawl into a dive for him, attacking his lips with yours. He accepts you without fail, wrapping his arms around you and kissing you back hungrily. You place kisses down his neck, focusing on the one spot on his collarbone you knew he loved when you sucked on it.

“Like that.” You answer him, starting to run straight towards your bedroom.

Laughter like music to Eddie’s ears leaves your mouth as you reach the top of the stairs, and he books it straight after you, not waiting another second to chase you to where he suspects is either the hallway or your closet. You’re crouched down in the hallway, hoping he’ll go straight to the bedroom. He doesn’t, seeing you as soon as he rounds the corner.

He fists your hair at the crown and you help as he lifts you to your feet. “Looks like I caught ya.” He hums, his face watching you closely. His hands let go of you and he moves to kiss you again, his tongue feeling a sort of rough it hasn’t before. “Holy shit.” He mutters, guiding you so you’re up against the wall.

You kiss him back, and for what felt like the first time, you didn’t spend an ounce thinking about it, just giving in. “Ed.” You whimper, the heat between your legs now begging you to provide friction.

“Hmm?” Eddie asks, his hands moving roughly up and down your body. “What, baby?”

“Ed. Please.” You beg him, lifting your leg so you can at least feel his boner peeking at your clothed cunt.

“Nuh uh.” He tuts, lightly pushing on the knee. Your leg falls down, as well as your face. “You don’t get off until I tell you to. So, unless I move your leg, or remove your shirt, you just let me kiss you and respond. Got it?”

You gulp, nodding your head. “Yes.” Eddie licks his lips, his eyes faltering for a fraction of a second. “Eddie?” You ask, making sure he’s okay.

Eddie loves that you can pick up on this, even as he gives you new rules and a new playground to explore. “Do you mind just…doing one thing for me? It kind of stuck with me since you moved in.”

“What?” You ask, your heat still aching, but for the sake of his sanity and for his good graces, you attempt to stand still. (You’re terrible at it.)

“Call me sir?”

You reflect on moving day, the men calling him the name that so obviously gave him a bad taste in his mouth. Apparently, when you commented on it, you made an impact. “Yes, sir.”

“Holy shit.” Eddie hisses, marveling at you now, staring up at him through your eyelashes, waiting to be told what to do. “Now, be a good girl and bend over against the wall.”

“Yes, sir.” You tell him, turning around against the wall.

“No, actually.” He says, taking you by the hand and taking you downstairs. He guides your hips so you’re right in front of the kitchen sink and he bends you over. “Much better.”

He moves your sweats and panties down only to the middle of your thighs, bending on his knees as he admires the slick that has already gathered. “So wet.” He murmurs. You whimper as he barely dips a finger into your entrance, gathering some slick on his finger. He lifts it up to your mouth, “Open.” You do so without hesitation, licking your tongue all over the three knuckles he places in your mouth, tasting your own arousal. Without warning, he takes his finger out from your mouth and wipes it on your shirt. You waited for the praise that never came.

“Oh, now brats get praise for doing what they’re told?” Eddie asks, knowing exactly what you’re thinking as he pulls down his pants.

“No, sir.” You mutter, now craving that praise even more.

“That’s what I thought. Now be a good girl and take this for me.” It’s the only warning you get before he slides his cock in. Your feet are practically planted right next to one another so you start to open your stance to allow him to go in deeper. “Ah.” You freeze in place, realizing your mistake.

He places his hand around your neck and brings it back to him, your neck extended feeling both incredibly uncomfortable and hot. “What did you do wrong?”

“Move without your say so.”

“Hmm?”

“Oh, move without your say so, sir.”

“Here. If you ask, and I say yes, or, if I tell you to. That’s it. Understood?”

“Yes, sir. Thank you, sir.”

Eddie smiles down at your blown pupils and half open mouth. He was afraid he jumped in too deep and threw you into the bathwater, but he could feel your pussy tighten around him. You’re so into this. He gently kisses your forehead and lets go of your neck. He slides his cock in even more, and keep in mind, he hasn’t even started to fuck you, yet. He’s barely halfway in your pussy and holds onto your hips as he sees you start to squirm. “You need something baby?”

“Could you move please, sir? Just a little bit? Need it so bad.”

“Should’ve thought of that sooner, then baby.” He musters, sounding bored, though he’s anything but. “Here.” Without warning, Eddie moves his fingers against your clit and has you teetering the edge in mere minutes. You’re so close, you can see the edge. It’s right there.

He stops. He slides in a bit more into you as his mouth gets close to your ear, his breath giving you goosebumps. “Consequence.” He grunts out, his grip on your hips bruising.

Your knuckles are white as you hold onto the edge of the sink like a vice. It’s like you can taste it. He doesn’t move another inch, his heartbeat against your back and the only audible sound coming from you is your panting in need. Eddie pushes in the rest of his length and a second beautiful sound is added to the mix, one he couldn’t get enough of, even if he tried. Why would he ever try? The sound of your pussy as you gush around him is perfect. “Taking me so well.” Eddie mumbles as he places both of his hands over yours on the sink.

The whimper that leaves your throat forces its way out, your body is tense from doing everything you can not to swivel your hips or back yourself into him. “Baby, you’re so tense.” His arms flex along yours, a shaky sigh leaving your mouth. “Why, hmm?”

“You…you said not to move unless you say so.” You tell him, frustrated because, of course, he knows.

“Or, unless you ask to.” Eddie adds, his chin resting on that spot on your shoulder. “I’ve been waiting for you to ask.”

“Sir, can I please move my hips?” You ask him, hoping he isn’t teasing you again.

“Of course, baby.” Eddie’s tone is sweet and endearing. What a goddamn liar he is.

The words are like music to your ears as you start to move your hips, testing the waters. When your movement isn’t met with any punishment, you start moving more frantically, fucking yourself on his cock. Eddie lets out a sigh of content, hands raking down your back to your hips, the palms rough against your bare ass. “Sir, can I please move my feet?”

“See? My good girl is catching on. Of course you can, baby.” He answers, a smile lacing his voice.

Giddily, you move your feet further apart. “Sir, please…please take my clothes off?” You ask, waistband restricting your legs. “Wanna feel you.”

Eddie’s hands move down the apples of your ass to the sweats that started moving down your legs from the impact of your ass that had just started bouncing on him. He kisses your clothed back as you step out of them, kicking the garment aside. You feel the cotton of your shirt move up your back, your arms lifting over your head to assist Eddie as he takes it off. His lips touch the bare skin of your back, his tongue sending ripples down your spine as you shiver under his touch. Eddie grunts as you continue to swivel your hips against him.

“Fuck.” Eddie grunts, watching your naked form wither against him. He can no longer fight the incessant need that’s grown while waiting for you to ask him for movement. His hips start mercilessly pounding into you without a hint of a warning. The moans that fall from your throat are uninhibited and radically full of relief. “Is this what you’ve been waiting for, baby?”

“Mmhmm.” You nod your head, curling over the sink as your arms give out.

Eddie slows down and takes himself out, and your hand moves to push yourself off the sink the littlest bit when you realize your mistake. “You can move.” Eddie smirks, noting your obedience. He’s still standing with his pants down to his calves and his shirt disheveled. He steps out from his pants, tossing the pair toward your pile of clothes. Then he goes down each button on his shirt, slowly exposing his chest to you. As his fingers move over each one, you eye his chest hungrily, aware he’s watching your face while you watch him.

The shirt falls down his arms with a slight flop as the material hits the floor. “Sir…” you gulp, the two of you staring at one another. “Sir, can I kiss you?”

Eddie smirks, nodding his head. You take the two steps toward him and your legs wrap around his hips as you hungrily kiss each other. He turns toward the kitchen island, a small yelp leaving your mouth as the cold granite counter hits the warm flesh of your ass cheeks. He guides his cock into you, slowly pushing into your heat, watching your face as your eyes roll back. “Feel good?”

You nod, a laugh escaping your lips.

“What’s so funny, hmm?” Eddie asks, using his mouth and tongue against your neck.

“Good? Your cock is perfect, Ed.”

“What happened to sir, baby?” He asks, yet continues to rut into you. Your face falters, realizing your mistake. He lets out a laugh, pitying you.

He places his fingertips on your clit, circling slowly, making the heat that’s pooled in your stomach hotter and larger than you could even conceive. “That…that feels so good, Ed.” You tell him, letting your head fall back.

“God, I love when your tight pussy just-” he inhales through his teeth, “sucks me in… Feels like heaven.”

You giggle, the end of it cut off by a particularly rough thrust. “Heaven?” You gasp out, Eddie starts to move his fingers faster and matches the pace with his hips.

“If Heaven isn’t fucking this tight pussy all day, then I don’t fucking want it.” Eddie gasps back, a growl forming under his breath.

“Ed, I’m gonna—” the feeling overwhelms you, the edge muting your senses as your orgasm ripples through your body.

Eddie moans as you tighten more around him, a fix he figured impossible. He still rotates on your clit, you release two sharp exhales, the heat too hot, too much. “Too much, Ed.”

“You can do it, baby. I could just edge you more.” He mutters.

You giggle, frightened at the goddamn prospect of it. “No, no, no.”

“No? Well then show me. Let’s feel that pussy make a mess all over my cock.” You came from the words alone, giggles intertwined through your moans. “Oh fuck, good girl,”

“I’m so close, baby.” He moans.

“Gonna fill me up?” You ask him, your legs tight around his hips as you bite at his collar bone.

“Keep doing that.” Eddie begs you, and you happily oblige. Every nip, bite and suck at his collarbone had him gasping over you, the chain of his necklace hanging between you two. Your hands go into his hair, pulling at him and you could probably have a third one at the rate he was going at.

No probably about it, but Eddie’s panting and you’re exhausted.

Even then.

He pushes you down as he cums, your back screaming with cold as it hits the island counter. Eddie collapses on top of you, and you breathe heavily together, both catching your breath. His mouth latches on your neck, kissing a trail to your lips. “Oh, I love you.”

You smile into his kiss, your noodle legs falling from his hips. “I love you.” You find yourself wrapped in his arms, the smell of sweat and sex invades the kitchen. His chest is covered in sweat and there’s nothing better.

“Join me for a shower?” He asks after you two have a moment of silence, his fingers single handedly causing a brigade of goosebumps down your side as they move in a whisper over your skin. His other hand is wrapped on your left hand, and you don’t realize he’s unconsciously rubbing at your ring finger.

“If I can walk.” You giggle.

Eddie chuckles, pulling himself out of you and giving you a sleepy half smile. “I could always…” He begins, and then he scoops you up over his shoulder to take you up the stairs. You protest for the first minute of it, but when the view is his toned ass as he walks up the stairs, you really couldn’t complain.

-

Thank you so much for reading! I love to read your comments, replies, and reblogs. As always, reblogging is the best way to support your fic writers on tumblr.

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(Okay the very idea that this many people wanted on the taglist is INSANE to me. If you want on it, just reply and I'll add you.)

[bisonaari]

So!! How is Finland going so far for me?

If you've talked to me in the past days you've probably heard all of this so I'm sorry in advance, you can skip the post hahaha !

First of all: the temperature is the same as in Canada HAHAHA. Sure it's currently a bit colder, but nothing that would be unusual in winter in Canada. So we've been perfectly ok with our usual winter clothes!

We had troubles locating our airbnb when we arrived. But we've been helped by @katinkulta and @taidotonheiluja and everything went ok in the end! I have to admit that because of the stress, the lack of sleep, the fact that I don't speak finnish and the travel time, the first two days I REALLY wanted to just go back home hahaha. But I'm better don't worry. I'm just an anxious bean

The day after that, I've been helped by Elsa again (my saviour) and she went grocery shopping with me and my partner, so we finally got food! (I don't eat a lot when I'm stressed, but my partner is, surprisingly enough, a normal human being who needs to eat. Weird)

Elsa is absolutely lovely and I really adore her company. She's as much fun as she is on the internet! A blessing to have her as a friend <3

The day after that was UMK! We met with Elsa again and with @teal-skull to have breakfast together before the rehearsal started. WHY IS EVERY MUTUAL I MEET SO FREAKING NICE??? This will apply to every single person mentionned in this post because everyone is a sweetheart seriously!

This is also the moment where I realized that I just could… throw a "puhutko englantia" when speaking to employees at stores YES I KNOW IT TOOK ME TWO DAYS BUT I AM VERY DUMB WHEN I'M ANXIOUS OK so I did that and WOW SURPRISE!! The employees said yes and switched to english!! INCREDIBLE, RIGHT. Urgh I'm so dumb hahaha

The UMK rehearsal was incredibly fun, I've seen almost all the artists that I wanted to see in Finland good I can now leave and never come back (that's a lie). But like KUUMAA, Benjamin, Käärijä (with JUKKA !!! ON STAGE!! IN FRONT OF ME), Erika Vikman, Pilvi Hämäläinen (she counts ok), and all the UMK contestants were people who I wanted to see live so bad, and now it's done I'm super happy. I've seen Cha Cha Cha live!!!!

After the rehearsal we met with @omppupiiras @formulalakana and @smimon to go get food together <3 What is funny is that no one knew what the others looked like, but I'm so easily recognisable that we were able to find each other anyway lol

I'm so thankful for everyone that I've met so far. Also other friends that manifested in dms to help me if I needed it! Like @because-its-eurovision for example <3

Some things that surprised my partner and I in Finland so far:

I've said it to a lot of people but the trains are so silent??? Like in Québec, you can hear the metro a few minutes before you can actually see it arrived. Here we've been JUMPSCARED by sudden trains we didn't hear arrive???

Dish drying cabinets my beloved. How did I live before you??? This is SO useful holy shit

The food is so expensive ;A; I was expecting it to be more expensive, but not by that much hahaha. I guess we're gonna eat a lot of pasta during our trip hahaha

I love how pedestrian friendly the city is (I've only been in Tampere so far). The sidewalks are double the size I'm used to in Montréal! You can walk to anywhere, there are tons of trams and buses, this is fantastic (I'm too anxious to take the tram and the bus though lol)

See you in a while for another update!!

[stumped-on-bennington]

Chasing Buses

Summary: You go to work expecting it to be just like any other day, little do you know that this job will chance the course of your life forever.

Pairing: Patrick Stump x Reader

Author's note: I haven't written fanfiction in like 5 years so im out of practice when it comes to this lol. regardless i hope you enjoy it! and feel free to leave some constructive criticism so that i can hopefully improve!

Another day of work. That was all today was supposed to be. Your job wasn’t easy, but it wasn’t that bad either. You worked for a tour bus company. Your job was to ride along with the band and bus driver throughout the tour and to help keep the bus stocked with drinks, food, and whatever else the band requested. Basically, you were a glorified gofer.

You’ve toured with tons of bands before. Some were super easy and nice and some treated you like garbage. Even the bands who didn’t even acknowledge you were better than the latter, and it was always the bands that would put so much effort into how they appeared to fans. You didn’t have a very wide range in terms of music taste, so when those types of bands would be on your bus and would find out that you didn’t listen to their music, that's when they would start looking down on you. 

You headed to the pick up spot with your luggage for the tour. Turns out you would be in charge of two buses this time. From what your boss told you, this band had 4 members and they would be riding 2 and 2 in each bus, so you would need to take inventory at each venue so you could figure out what you needed to pick up for each bus. As you approached, you noticed that it looked like only 2 of the members were there. They were both relatively short men, probably just about the same height as you, if not just an inch or two taller. One was slightly chubby, with his ginger hair peeking out from under a slightly crooked trucker hat. The other was more lean with shoulder length hair and a labret piercing. They were just standing outside the buses, looking around and texting on their phones, looking a little frantic. It was already 11:45 and they needed to get out of there by 12 in order to make it to the first venue on time. 

“Hey, uh.. You guys in the band?” You say, walking up to the two.

“Oh, yeah, I'm Patrick and this is Andy.” said the ginger man as he motioned towards the other, “We’re just waiting on two others, they should be here pretty soon.” 

You nodded your head and headed towards one of the buses to put your stuff away. After picking one of the bunks and throwing your bags in it, you walked back out the bus to hear a car screeching as it pulled up. Two more men hopped out, one with the really curly hair instantly went to the trunk to grab their bags while the other man, the one with dark emo hair, got out and shouted back into the car, “Thanks mom! I’ll make sure to call you!” The Woman in the car waved at all the boys before pulling off. Patrick waved and yelled “Bye, Ms. Wentz!” as she drove away. 

"Great,” you thought, “now that the others are here we can start getting on the road and get a head start in travel.” Before you can get a chance to introduce yourself to the other two, they are pushing each other, yelling, and running onto one of the buses; coincidentally, the bus that you had already put your stuff down in. “Great.” you think. You momentarily think about getting your bag and moving it into the other bus with the two more tame men, but before you can even fully consider the idea the leading driver steps out and tells you all that it is time to leave.  Hesitantly you get on the bus where the two lunatics are. 

Stepping on the bus you find that the two have already started to make themselves at home. They already have their bags open and strewn about the sitting area and one of them is already smoking a bowl. You Sigh at the mess that is already in front of you and the thought of what is to come.

 Just then the emo looking one approaches you. “So, uh… who are you?” he asks.

“I’m Y/N. I work for the bus company.” You say.

“Shit, we got a babysitter??” The curly haired one says, after talking a rip off his pipe. 

“I'm just a gofer. Whatever you guys need on the bus, I’ll get it.” You tell them.

“Oh, sweet! So like anything? You can get us ANYTHING?” the emo one asks.

“Anything that is legal, yes.” You inform him. 

He shrugs at your response and takes a seat next to the other man, plopping down on the sofa. “So, Y/N. Tell me, is this a dream come true for you?” He asks.

“What?” You ask, a little taken aback by the odd question.

“You know. You look to be in your 20s, you dress pretty alt,” He motions to your black tee shirt with white long sleeve under and your baggy jeans. “So you have to be into Fall Out Boy. You must be pretty stoked to be touring along with THE Pete Wentz,” He points to himself, “and Joe Trohman.” he points to the other man. 

You laugh at the assumption, gaining a raised eyebrow from Pete. “What? What's so funny?” He asks.

You compose yourself before speaking, “I have no idea who you guys are, dude! I don’t have time to listen to music because of the restraints of my job. The only thing I get to listen to is whatever the driver listens to on the road, which usually happens to be Aerosmith.” You say, nodding a head towards the driver’s seat. Pete and Joe look at you for a second, then each other, then once again back at you. 

“Sweet!” They both say in unison. “It’ll be great to have someone our age to hang around that doesn’t care who we are. It’s impossible to talk to anyone who isn’t in the band without them freaking out and having a moment.” Pete says. You laugh at the excitement the two express at the thought of making a new friend. 

After getting settled in a little bit, Pete and Joe tell you more about themselves and the other members of the band. You learn that Pete and Andy are both 26 and Joe and Patrick are both 21, they're from a city just outside of Chicago, and that Patrick is single and that you are “totally his type” as Pete puts it. You roll your eyes at this comment. You're used to getting hit on in your line of work, it comes with the territory of spending months on buses full of men. You choose not to mix work and relationships, knowing that it just gets messy and leads to people getting hurt, plus the last thing you need is your boss to find out your helping the clients out in that way. 

Before you know it you're already pulling up to the venue bus parking. You take a quick inventory of both the buses and make a list of anything that needs to be restocked. While the crew are getting the stage set up, you get in the rental car that your company sets to be delivered at each venue for you specifically to do your job. You make the run to the store, making sure to get enough water, snacks, and other meal items for both the buses. You make sure to follow the special requests that were left for you, like making sure to get a selection of vegan options for Andy, and even pick up a few extra things for yourself, like your favorite candies. Once you’re all done with your shopping, you get loaded into the car and drive back to the venue. It’s still a little early so the parking lot isn't too bad, but there are a few really dedicated fans who are already lining up at the front door. You pull around to the restricted back and flash your badge at the security, who lets you drive right through. 

When you pull up to the buses you see that the band members are standing right outside, playing around with some toy that Pete had brought with him. As you step out and walk around to the trunk of the car, Patrick instantly perks up and rushes over, “Hey, let me help you!” He says, Grabbing a few of the bags from the trunk and bringing them towards the buses. 

“One second!” you say to Patrick before he enters either of the buses. You walk over and double check the bags that he is carrying. “Okay, these ones go on Pete and Joe’s bus. The rest should go for you and Andy, and then we can put a case of water on each bus.” Patrick nods at these instructions and carries the bags onto the appropriate bus while you bring yours to the other. You get everything put away and then head back out to get the case of water for the bus. As you walk out you see Patrick coughing a bit as he steps off the other bus, he quickly walks over to you. 

“You’re ok with them smoking on the bus?” He asks you.

“They paid extra to be able to, so I can’t really object to it.” You tell him, shrugging your shoulders. Patrick looks at you with a frown on his face. 

“Besides, I was planning on moving over to your bus before we take off from the venue tonight. Something tells me that no matter how well I hide some of my snacks, Pete is going to end up finding them.” You say, earning a chuck from Patrick. “Yeah,” he says, “Pete has a nose like a doberman, you can't keep anything from him.”

By the time you get the groceries all put away the guys are already off to the sound check. You use the down time to move your things from your original bus to Patrick’s bus, and then make your way backstage to watch some of the show. You pick a spot just off the side of the stage where you won’t be in the way. The concert starts and you learn real quick why Pete was surprised you didn’t know who they were. They freaking rock! Every song is something amazing and Patrick’s voice, oh man can he sing! You were truly taken aback by their music. 

As they played, you must have had a look of amazement, because when Patrick looked over at you he had the biggest smile on his face. Pete, noticing the beaming smile that Patrick had and looked in the direction he kept glancing at. It was like Pete could smell the electric bond that you two were sharing in the moment and knew what he had to do. 

When the show ended you were grinning ear to ear as Patrick walked up to you. 

“So I take it that you liked the show?” he asked. 

“You guys are really something! When I first saw you I had no idea you had such a beautiful singing voice!” you say.

Patrick blushes slightly at the comment, “T-thanks, I'm really happy that you enjoyed it.” he says, rubbing the back of his neck. As you walk with Patrick back to the buses, you hear what sounds like a raging bull running towards you from behind. As you both look back you see Pete and Joe carrying a yelling and kicking Andy, running with him towards the buses. Before either you or Patrick have time to question what they were doing, Pete and Joe carry Andy onto their bus and slam the door. Before you know it, the bus starts taking off. Confused, both you and Patrick rush to get on the other bus in order to follow after them. 

“What was that about?” you ask Patrick.

“I have no idea, but knowing Pete and Joe, it's probably not going to end well.” He says, sitting next to you on the sofa in the shared space. Just then you feel your phone go off. It’s a text from Pete, “when the hell did he put his number in my phone?” You say as you open the text.

Pete: enjoy the free time w/ trick xoxo ;) 

You sigh at the text, knowing now that Pete is absolutely crazy.

Just then Patrick also gets a text. 

Pete: make some moves and make them count. andy is pissed and i dont want it to be for nothin >:)

Patrick blushes at the text. Realizing how his friends were trying to set him up. 

You both sit there awkwardly for a minute, unsure of what to say. 

Patrick clears his throat, “so, uh, Y/N… What are you into? Like do you have any hobbies or favorite movies?” 

You shift in your seat slightly, still feeling the awkward tension. “Well, I play bass and draw a bit, but I don’t usually have a whole lot of time to enjoy those things, being on the road most of the time makes it hard to get a break where I can practice.” You say, rubbing the back of your neck. “As for favorite movies, I mostly like stuff from the 80s, so The Goonies, Top Gun, Indiana Jones and The Breakfast Club. but my all time favorite movie is Ghostbusters.”

Patrick instantly sat up with excitement, “Really? Ghostbusters is my favorite too! I basically have all the words memorized. What's your favorite line?” 

“Yes it's true,” you begin to say. Patrick knows exactly what line you're referring to and joins in, saying it in unison with you. “This man has no dick!” You both laugh with excitement over your shared interest. Talking more and finding out you have a lot in common. 

Soon the buses pull up to a gas station to refuel, allowing everyone to get down for snacks and to stretch their legs. You and Patrick happily hop off the bus, still chatting and laughing.

Pete, Joe, and Andy also get off their bus and begin walking towards you too. Andy looks defeated, tired, and his face and hair are covered in dead bugs.

“Andy, what happened to you??” Patricks asks.

“Their whole bus smells like weed. I couldn't handle it.” Andy said with an exhausted tone.

“Dude spent the entire ride with his head out the window. I know he's straight edge, but we didn’t even smoke at all while he was with us.” Pete says, budding in. 

You and Patrick help to get Andy back onto your bus so he can clean his face and rest, 

“Oh hey, I actually brought my copy of Ghostbusters with me! We can pop it in the DVD player on the bus and watch it together!.. I-if you want.” Patrick says, stuttering a little bit at the end, realizing how what he just asked sounds like a bit of a date. 

“Oh hell, yea!” you say, “Wait, I have the perfect snacks for us to share!” You say, retrieving your secret stash. You open the bag, revealing the assortment of black liquorice, hi-chews, and butterscotch drops. Patrick’s heart skips a beat seeing all his favorite candies. You set up the sofa with pillows and blankets and make it super cozy as Patrick gets the TV set up. You both watch the movie, laughing and reciting every line, word for word together. By the end of the end of the movie you’ve both fallen asleep, cuddled into each other and holding on as if your lives depended on it. 

From that night forward, you and Patrick were inseparable. 

Bonus!:

Andy: guys let me back on your bus please

Pete: why? i thought you didnt like our bus?

Andy: they put on ghostbusters and it's unbearable. i feel like i'm listening to it in stereo 

Andy: *Image attachment*

Andy: they fell asleep finally, but i already know theyre going to be doing this every night. trade me buses plz

Pete: aww look at them, so cute 

Andy: pete plz 

Pete: sux 2 sux. Xoxo <3

[caratdeulforever]

𝐬𝐮𝐫𝐯𝐢𝐯𝐞 | 𝐚 𝐬𝐜𝐡𝐨𝐨𝐥 𝐛𝐮𝐬 𝐠𝐫𝐚𝐯𝐞𝐲𝐚𝐫𝐝 𝐟𝐚𝐧𝐟𝐢𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧

school bus graveyard x oc's

chapter one

warnings: bad writing, lowercase intended, might contain wrong grammar, none more that i can think of

author's note: i'm a first timer in the writing field so I'm not really good at it. i just wanted to try and create a version of mine of the webtoon with my own ideas. the whole plot isn't mine, the whole school bus graveyard belongs to red. i just own aidhel and frances, thanks for reading!

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it was a quiet night in the town of alto, georgia. that specific night, it was visibly different from the normal night you experience well every night. the sky was abnormally colored in a deep crimson red. the moon was shone with a warm yellow, successfully creating an eerie scenery around the place. the whole place was quiet, too quiet than normal. it was late at night, and no human was in sight. that should be normal but it really didn't felt right. the streetlights were on but the house lights weren't. you couldn't hear anything, not even the wind or the sounds of crickets.

suddenly, deep in the forest a group of eight teens dashed through to the sea of trees. they were running as fast as they could. it proved to be a hassle as they ducked and dodged the branches in the path they were taking. dusts and leaves flew in the air as they ran quickly.

leading the group was a orange headed girl, named ashlyn. her long hair was braided into two braids which was flying with the wind. her breathing was stable, but she was slowly feeling tired from running. she looked at the back of the group, her eyes scanning for someone who had a watch and was keeping track of the time.

"time?!" she called out loudly behind her before focusing back to the path ahead of her. a bespectacled boy with sandy blonde hair named logan, looked down quickly at his watch. his eyes couldn't focus a bit due to his running but nonetheless successfully determined the numbers on the device. "eight minutes!" he called out to everyone around him. he had a rifle in his other arm that he had leaned on his shoulder to keep it upright. being the ace of shooting that he is, the group had all mutually decided that he take the rifle since he's the only one who is good at using it. although they hoped that no situation comes where he would actually use it.

at the back of the group was brunette twins, named tyler and taylor, who both shared the same features and the same worried but scared expression. they gripped a weapon of their own, and kept a look out on the back. there were also a blonde headed duo with them, sharing the same features but not twins like them. the blonde headed girl was named aidhel, and she was gripping on a knife on her hand. in a hurry, she had grabbed it with no thought whatsoever from their kitchen to use for self-defense. beside her was her brother with the same bleached blonde hair, named aiden who despite of their current situation was smiling wildly through it all.

with them were two brunettes, but both in a much darker color than the twins and are not related whatsoever with each other. ben is a cousin of the blonde headed duo and in contrast to his cousin, he had a petrified look on his face while keeping a stable running pace. the other dark-haired person was a girl named frances, and she was holding a stick for her weapon. small but terrible was how we can all describe her choice of weapon as she had already managed to stab something out of it.

continuing on, ashlyn sighed in relief when she heard the time that logan had just claimed. 'just a bit longer!' she thought to herself as encouragement. and as if on cue, after all the running they had done, up front as the trees slowly parted was a secluded area. the area at the end of the forest was packed with used buses and the graffitis were clear from a mile away. with hopeful looks, they all had thought the same thing.

'the graveyard!'

as they finally saw their destination, they all quickly fasten their pace. even though their legs burned with exhaustion, they pushed through to find safety. from what you ask? ashlyn glanced at the back worriedly, her ears twitching as she heard the rustles not so far from behind them. a pair of black skinned almost human legs chased after them. it grinned creepily when it felt itself getting closer to the group of teens.

they all had finally managed to ran out of the forest. they all sprinted in the same direction and ultimately avoided the obstacles of scattered junks on their way. the graveyard neared with an open gate, giving them view of the yellow school vehicles inside. ashlyn was the one to enter first, skidding to the side as her hand hovered above the big red button. her eyes followed the figures of her friends entering before flickering to the inhumane black figure that popped up from the forest just after them.

it was tall, and very human like. except its skin was completely black and no hair was in sight. its eyes were very uncanny and it smiled very sinisterly. it was a monster, and that's what they were running away from. it had managed to catch up and was grinning widely when it finally saw them. it sped up and ashlyn nervously looked at her friends to make sure they were all in.

"CLOSE THE GATE! CLOSE THE GATE!" tyler screamed with urgency as he ran inside with aidhel following close. they were the last of the teenagers to enter and ashlyn immediately slammed her palm to the big red button. the gate whirred loudly, and started to close in. all of them moved to a fighting stance and held up their weapons in front of them. the gate was near close but the monster on the other side was getting close too. they eyed the monster closely, body prepared to charge if it manages to slip inside.

with just a tiny gap, the monster reached to claw at them with a loud screech. creating a cinematic horror scene, they all seemed to tense up looking at it. finally, the gate snapped close and the monster hadn't manage to enter inside. for a second they all kept their fighting stance before finally letting out a breathe of relief.

aidhel dropped to the ground with an exhausted groan. tyler had crouched, and placed his hand on his knees as he tried to catch his breath. taylor on the other hand lessened her grip to her weapon and stuck her tongue out on the gate. frances laughed beside her but nonetheless did the same. the both of them thought it was childish but they felt safe in being inside the safety of the graveyard that they felt the need to mock the monster outside. logan had wailed dramatically as he felt relief course through his body. aiden just patted his sister's back and chuckled, he was already planning to tease her later to exercise more. ben just stood there and regulated his breathing before looking at everyone, making sure they were all unscathed from earlier.

ashlyn clenched her eyes shut and breathed deeply before opening them again. she took a good look at every one before speaking. "alright, let's head to the bus." she said loudly for everyone to hear. one by one, they all straightened up and walked to one of the school buses. as each of them entered, they all placed their weapons inside a wooden crate by the driver's seat.

aidhel plopped herself on the seats by the back tiredly and yawned, "goodness i'm tired." she muttered out loud. frances rolled her eyes before looking away from the girl as she sat on the back. logan sat in front of frances and leaned his head back to the window, wanting nothing more but to sleep in his room. aiden and ben sat together, while ben seemed like aidhel and was ready to sleep again- aiden was a different case beside him.

"ugh.." tyler groaned out loud as he sat beside his twin sister. taylor leaned her head on the window and closed her eyes tiredly. tyler closed his eyes as well, head thrown back on the seat as he sighed. "that sucked." he continued gruffly.

"that's an understatement." frances commented making logan chuckle in front of her. ashlyn just kept quiet and slowly took her boot off. her socks had already been torn off and blood seeped through the fabric. she groaned softly and closed her eyes, her hands massaging the sore spot on her foot.

suddenly, the noise from afar disappeared as they slowly got comfortable on the bus. ashlyn raised a brow and opened her eyes, "the banging stopped." she said out loud before slowly putting her boot back on.

aidhel slowly sat up and frowned, indeed it got quiet. tyler swatted his hand to brush it off, "it probably gave up.." tyler said but paused when he heard something. "or something?" he drawled out slowly. ashlyn froze before suddenly sitting up when her ears heard something.

the others had also perked up getting alarmed, if ashlyn reacts like that, it is not a good sign. suddenly, the bus shook as if someone had gotten on. they all froze because that could only mean one thing and they turned to the entrance with matching petrified looks.

entering the bus was the black monster from earlier. it seemed to grin when it saw the scared looks on their faces. taylor widened her eyes, "how?!" she exclaimed in pure shock as she stared at the monster. tyler immediately moved out of the seat and pulled her behind him. they all quickly moved out of their seats and huddled close together. frances gripped logan's hand and stood close to him. aidhel was now encaged behind aiden and ben while ashlyn was at front.

with every step forward the monster took is one step backward they did. until logan's back slowly hit the back of the bus. aidhel squirmed in between aiden and ben to hold ashlyn's hand. she knew that the girl was petrified right now and wanted nothing more but to comfort her. aiden looked down at his sister and put his arm out in front of her and used his other hand to hold ashlyn's arm.

"can we open the back door??" ashlyn called out, glancing at the back worriedly. sweat trickled down the side of her face, and her hands was slowly getting clammy but aidhel paid no mind. logan quickly turned to try and open the back door like ashlyn had said so but failed. seems like something was pressed up against the back of the bus. "its blocked!" he called back up to her.

frances frowned and crept closer to logan, sharing worried glances with the spectacled boy. "what do we do??" she asked out loud, her eyes darting back and forth to everyone that was infront of her. their crate of weapons was too far for them to reach. the monster was already too close to them, even if they attempt to distract it while someone else go for the crate, the situation is not sure to be harmless. its a risk they are not going to take.

"die?" aiden said bluntly as he stared at the monster with a nervous smile. aidhel turned her head at his brother and hit his shoulder, "aiden!" they all chorused out not liking his unserious answer one bit.

the monster seemingly tired of their antics, sprinted towards them with its claws high up in the air. they all let out high pitched screams and pressed on each other in fright. aiden clutched ashlyn and aidhel close to him. ashlyn just clenched her eyes shut and gripped onto aidhel's hand. ben held frances and logan closer to the group much like tyler did on the other side with aidhel and taylor, who hid in between the space of her brother and aidhel.

was this it? is this how they'll die?

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[copperbadge]

I am *also* from Chicago and about to visit Amsterdam and London (flight leaves on Thursday!) so it’s a trip reading your posts lol. Any tips?? It’s been a couple years since I’ve been to either city. Is Cambridge worth carving out the space in my schedule for a day trip? (And if you don’t have the spoons to answer this no biggie! Honestly seeing you have a good time makes me less anxious already :)) Safe and happy travels! ^^

Oh cool! I hope you have a great time. I will keep this short as time is lower than spoons...

Moneywise, nearly everywhere in London takes contactless cards, to the point where it's what you're supposed to try first; in America (at least in Chicago) we all have the chip thing, but the chip thing is now like swiping, it's secondary to contactless. So when you're checking out always look at the keypad thing and see where the contact pad is, and pat it there. As for Amsterdam, I was warned and found it true that while most places say they accept cards, they really, REALLY prefer cash, so have some Euros on hand. The train station in Amsterdam, Centraal, is a nightmare but they do have very convenient cash-changing offices. They also have One Single Solitary Bathroom and it costs money to use it, so pee on the train if you can. (A lot of places in Amsterdam charged for bathroom use which I think is pretty standard, somewhere between 50 cents and 1 euro, sometimes in cash, sometimes with contactless.)

In London, the buses also all take contactless cards, so you don't need a ticket or a pass, just slap that card on the reader as you enter. Unlike the buses, if you use the underground you need to card out as well as in, so have your card (the same card you used to enter) handy as you leave.

Cambridge was a really good time -- good shopping, fun scenery -- but I was meeting a friend and that's what made it special for me; not only did we get to hang out, but she could get me into a lot of places I might not otherwise have access. Unless you have someone to show you around, I'd stick to London; Cambridge is beautiful but difficult if you don't know it, and also it's like a two hour trip, especially when the train isn't running the whole way. I had to do bus to train to bus, and honestly I had to follow a bunch of people who actually knew where they were going to get to the train (you go through a dark, closed mall to get there, at least when I was there). I'd recommend if you don't have a guide, stick to London, it's easier to navigate and it's not like you'll run out of stuff to do.

Otherwise -- be prepared to queue, folks love to queue, and if you are planning to eat out somewhere you should definitely make a reservation. I would have had a long, uncomfortable wait for the cheese conveyor belt if I didn't have a reservation, and prior to getting there I walked through Soho, past like, dozens of people lined up to get into fairly low-grade looking restaurants that I simply would not queue for. RIP but I'm different. :D

Aside from that no real tips. Just have fun and don't wear yourself out too badly!

[beeeinyourbonnet]

Covetous | Chapter 17

Pairing: Nostelle 

Summary: Father Joseph MacAvoy wakes up in a library across town with no idea of how he got there. When the kind librarian doesn’t kick him out immediately, he considers that maybe there’s more to life than alcohol.

[chapter 1] [chapter 2] [chapter 3] [chapter 4] [chapter 5] [chapter 6] [chapter 7] [chapter 8] [chapter 9] [chapter 10] [chapter 11] [chapter 12] [chapter 13] [chapter 14] [chapter 15] [chapter 16]

[read on ao3]

-----------------------------------

Friday couldn’t come fast enough. Belle spent the week planning crafts and ordering supplies, grateful she’d have two extra hands to put to work the day before their storybook crafting weekend. 

Kaz had come around the same time every day to have a snack and nap through a movie. Unfortunately, Coach Gaston had also come every day, and it didn’t matter what Belle said, he did not seem to take a hint.

“Do you wear perfume?” he asked on Wednesday.

“Yes,” she said.

“Did John get it for you?”

“It’s Joe.”

“Joe, right, sorry.”

She tried to keep him at arm’s length, but on Thursday, he caught her dragging boxes of supplies into a reading room and was helping her before she could even deny his offer. When he followed her into the room, she realized he was muscular enough to block the whole doorway, trapping her in with him.

He set his box on the table with a dramatic grunt, like he hadn’t just seen her do the same. 

“Why don’t you let me carry the rest of these in?” he asked.

“I appreciate your help, but I can handle it.”

“Come on.” He leaned on the frame, and watching him from where she was caged in, she understood why Kaz disappeared any time he came into view. She had read him the second she’d seen him, and Belle wished she’d done the same.

“It’s not much left, Clive.”

“I don’t want you to hurt yourself.” He folded his arms like he was settling in to stand there awhile. “And then you can thank me by having a drink with me.”

“I don’t want to have a drink with you,” she said. “Please leave.”

“Leave? Come on, I’ll carry more boxes.”

She didn’t think he’d let her leave the room if she didn’t at least let him carry boxes, so she agreed, making sure never to go in first, and then somehow, she found herself trapped at her desk again, but that was a much safer trap.

“When do you get off? We can go grab that drink.”

“Clive, it was really nice of you to help, but I don’t want to have a drink with you.”

He leaned forward. “How about coffee?”

Was he ever going to let up? “I don’t have time tonight,” she said. “I have a hair appointment.”

He left after that with a promise that she’d have that drink with him sometime, and she wanted to cry. If only the library had a security person, she could have barred him, but they barely had funding for electricity much less a whole extra employee.

When she called Nosty to see how his appointment had gone, she wanted to tell him about Clive, but just like it had all week, something stopped her. A small piece of her felt like it was her fault Clive wouldn’t leave her alone and that Nosty would blame her and be right.

She was glad she’d be seeing him in person tomorrow. She’d feel better then.

****

MacAvoy spent half an hour digging up Belle’s old bus instructions, but it turned out Nosty didn’t need them. He could get anywhere in the city without even consulting a map, and against his will, this impressed MacAvoy.

They rode the buses in silence, MacAvoy sitting while Nosty stood next to him, holding the bar above his head in one hand and a paperback in the other.

It had been almost two weeks since he’d sat with Belle in the library, and his heart leapt at the opportunity to do it again. Even Nosty’s presence couldn’t dampen his excitement. 

As they walked up—finally—MacAvoy waved to the man Belle brought coffee to every morning, promising to come back and chat in a bit, but Nosty barely spared him a glance as he stalked toward the library doors. MacAvoy hurried after.

When they burst in, Belle was nowhere to be found, and Nosty paused. Even though this surprised MacAvoy as well, he was glad to see Nosty thrown for a loop for once. 

Then, Belle popped up from behind a tri-fold poster board with a cheerful, “Hello!”

For the first time since the call from the constabulary weeks ago, MacAvoy’s muscles eased. At Belle’s side in this library was a place he belonged as much as he belonged on a pulpit. 

“What you doing?” Nosty strode over and MacAvoy trailed after him like a duckling.

“Making some signs for tomorrow. I’m glad you’re both here.” She capped a marker and then strode around the table, taking each of them by an arm. 

“Are we gonna be glad we’re here?” Nosty asked, and MacAvoy kept quiet. Whatever Belle asked him to do, he would do without comment. 

“If keeping me from losing my mind makes you glad, then yes.” 

Nosty grunted, and MacAvoy wanted to smirk at having this upper hand, but then he saw the two of them making doe eyes at one another, and he guessed he was losing that round as well.

Belle sat them at two tables pushed together with six cardboard boxes lined up. The first one MacAvoy peeked into had boxes and boxes of crayons. 

“We’re making little kits, so grab a bag out of this box and put one thing from all the other boxes in it.” Belle plucked out a mesh drawstring bag to demonstrate, and placed in a name tag sticker, a box of crayons, a sheet of colored star stickers, a tube of glitter glue, and a small chocolate. 

“Do the different bag colors matter?” Nosty asked.

“They will for me, but not for you.” She dropped her example on the table. “Oh, and whenever you’re ready, I have something for you in my office.”

MacAvoy tried to scrutinize Nosty’s reaction to this as well as Belle’s expression to see if this was some sort of code for sex, but Nosty seemed to know what it was already, and all he did was thank her. 

“All right, I’ll be over there making signs.” She squeezed each of them on the arm at the same time and then rushed off.

Not wanting to be overshadowed, MacAvoy snatched up the first bag and got to work.

“It’s not a contest, you don’t have to race me, Jesus Christ.” Nosty spoke softly enough that Belle didn’t hear, and MacAvoy’s neck tensed. He was so sneaky when he was being rude. 

“I’m just trying to help Belle,” he said. 

Nosty rolled his eyes, but the two of them worked in silence for almost an hour before MacAvoy scraped the bottom of the first cardboard box with his fingers. 

After that, Belle tasked Nosty with sorting supplies and MacAvoy with manning the desk while she conducted story time for children under three and their parents. MacAvoy couldn’t quite see Belle from the desk, but that was okay because he could see Nosty. He had set himself up at a table where he could watch her through the shelves, and he made a cursory effort to sort things into piles, but mostly, he watched Belle. 

MacAvoy had now spent time alone with Nosty, time alone with Belle, and time alone with Nosty and Belle, but he had never seen anything like the naked adoration on Nosty’s face as he watched Belle work. Did he always look like that when he came to the library? Was it memories like these, memories of Belle in her element reading stories to babies, that kept Nosty going on the cold, unforgiving streets?

****

It had been two weeks since he’d last checked a book in or out, and he had never been great at it anyway, so the handful of patrons that came to the desk took up way more of his Nosty-watching time than he’d have liked. Storytime was wrapping up by the time the last woman left, and MacAvoy only got one glimpse of Nosty before he dedicated himself to sorting—presumably to pretend he’d been focused on it all along.

The storytime crowd dispersed, some to play in the little play area in the corner, some to look at books, and some to leave. Belle checked on each of them before stopping at Nosty, and even though MacAvoy knew it was fruitless, he strained to hear what she said to him.

Whatever it was, Nosty snapped to look at the door, then Belle rubbed his arm and he settled. She said something else and he cracked a grin, then she squeezed his arm and left him for the circulation desk.

“Any troubles?” she asked.

He shook his head. “It went as smoothly as it could, all things considered. How was story time?”

“Perfect.” 

He vacated her chair, then stood next to it, trying not to wring his hands quite so obviously. “Should I bring over a chair?”

“I don’t think so,” Belle said. “Truly, I shouldn’t have had you over here as much as I did before, and my only excuse is that I was a wreck. But I don’t have much else for you two to help with, so you’re welcome to find something to do.”

She gestured out to the library, and this filled him with dread. Find something to do? The only reason he came here was to spend time with Belle in her favorite place. 

“Where’s Nosty?” he asked.

Belle shrugged, already scrolling through her emails. “He likes to hide. I’m sure he’s somewhere.” 

MacAvoy left to bring a cup of coffee to his friend across the street, then poured himself one and set out to find Nosty. 

It was not as difficult as he expected. Nosty sat cross-legged on the floor against a shelf of science texts, a novel propped open in his lap. He didn’t look up at MacAvoy’s approach, but MacAvoy was no longer naive enough to assume that he’d remained undetected. 

He squatted to see what was in Nosty’s line of sight at this angle. As expected, Belle’s desk was visible above a row of history paperbacks. 

“What do you want?” Nosty asked, unmoving. 

MacAvoy clenched a fist in his pocket. “Thought you might want some company.”

Nosty finally looked up from his book. “You want my company?”

Of course he didn’t, but what else was he supposed to do? Besides, if Belle saw them together, it would make her happy.

“Better than being alone.”

“You sure about that?” Nosty turned back to his book, and it didn’t matter how he looked gazing at Belle, he was awful. 

“Suit yourself.” He stalked off, but the wind left his sails as soon as he turned the corner. What did he have to do if Belle had no tasks and no one wanted to talk to him?

A book collided with his upper arm just hard enough to startle him. Nosty held the novel out to him.

“What’s this?”

“I know it sucks to quit,” Nosty said. “You look bored.”

Unable to pick his jaw up, MacAvoy accepted the book, staring at the cover without seeing it. He swallowed, then cleared his throat. “Weren’t you reading this?”

“Read it twice already. Goes quick. Passes the time.”

In all the time he’d spent with Belle, though he’d enjoyed having audiobooks on because they made him feel less alone, he’d never considered trying to read a text. He thanked Nosty, then wandered over to the couches and flipped the book over.

He didn’t know what he expected Nosty’s reading tastes to be—in all honesty, he still had trouble wrapping his head around the idea that Nosty read for pleasure at all. Still, it surprised him to discover that the thin paperback in his hands was about dragons. He could not recall ever having read a fantasy novel, except perhaps when he was a child.

The book smelled of old paper, and the text was almost too small for him to focus on. Just as he was settling into the first page with his brow furrowed in concentration, the couch dipped, and Nosty curled up against the opposite end.

The most shocking part about Nosty coming to sit with him was that he could not see Belle from there. What did that mean? Was he sitting with him truly to keep him company?

Still, MacAvoy took the distraction. “What are you reading?”

“Nothing if I’m talking to you.”

He tried to read again and made it three pages before Nosty disappeared. Even though he said nothing, somehow MacAvoy knew he’d disappointed him. With a tiny groan, he opened the book firmly, forcing himself to stare at it.

“All right.”

He jumped at the sound of Belle’s cheerful voice, and then she was coming around to sit next to him.

“You need help?” he asked.

“No, Nosty says you do. Come on, put it down, let’s go.”

Baffled, he trailed after Belle as she weaved through the stacks until she stopped at a row full of paperbacks. 

“I think this will be more your cup of tea.” She plucked a book out and handed it to him, letting go almost before he’d grabbed it as she moved to pluck another, and soon he had a pile of seven books in his arms.

“You want me to read all of these?” 

“Of course not.” She scanned the shelves again and then, after a second’s hesitation, grabbed an eighth book. “I just think you’re more likely to find one you want to read in this group than from Nosty’s tastes.” 

“You don’t think Nosty has good taste?”

The look she gave him would have sent any Catholic school student running in shame. “No, I think it’s my job to recommend books to anyone who wants one and he was just trying to be nice to a friend.”

Appropriately chastened, he brought his stack of books back to the couch to sort through them. She’d picked a variety of mysteries, and as he selected one set in the Scottish Highlands, he decided that this definitely was more his speed.

The mean little voice in his head wanted to sneer at Nosty, but he was sober and rational enough to recognize that, whether Nosty had chosen the correct book himself, he had made an effort to find one. He’d called over the librarian. 

MacAvoy made it through an entire chapter with the Scottish detective before Nosty returned to loom over him.

“What?” he asked, surprised at how annoyed he was to be interrupted.

“Belle made tea.” He jerked his thumb toward a table and then walked off. Not wanting to reject this unexpected and continued olive branch, MacAvoy hurried after him. Though they sat as far apart as two strangers forced to share a table, MacAvoy knew that Nosty was making a conscious choice to sit here instead of lurking between the stacks where he could observe Belle unseen.

Now, of course, they could both see Belle, but she could see them as well. 

They sat and read in what could only be described as companionable silence until a delighted voice that MacAvoy didn’t recognize chirped, “Oh my god, Nosty!” 

A young woman with cropped, greasy hair who couldn’t have been more than twenty, if that, stood before them in an oversized jacket, one arm crossed over her to clutch at her elbow. 

“Kaz,” Nosty said, not quite frosty but not quite friendly either. 

“I thought you was locked up!” She grabbed the chair closest to him and clambered into it. MacAvoy stared at his book, though anyone with working eyes could see he was just eavesdropping.

“It’d take more than one herd o’ pigs to lock me up,” Nosty said. He closed his book, and though his movements were slow, MacAvoy had spent the past two weeks doing almost nothing but spying on him, and he could tell that it was deliberate. Nosty was agitated. 

“How’d you get out?” Kaz asked. “Gypo said they kept you.”

“How’d I get out?” Nosty cracked his knuckles. “Couple o’ well-placed threats, a few hints as to what a bloke’s capable of without a sense of self-preservation.” He drew a finger across his throat. “Easy.”

MacAvoy almost laughed—surely, Kaz wouldn’t buy that?—but she gaped at him like he’d just dispensed a holy truth.

“No shit?”

Nosty shrugged as though he’d prefer to be taking a bow but didn’t have the space, and MacAvoy could not hide that he was looking between them now.

“Threatening the police is not a strategy that he recommends,” MacAvoy said because the moonstruck look in Kaz’s eyes was making him feel like he was about to be an accessory to a crime.

“Wee bird like her doesn’t need to threaten the coppers,” Nosty scoffed. “She can just fucking cry, they’ll be wrapped around her finger.”

Kaz eyed MacAvoy warily and inched her chair closer to Nosty. How was it that so many people found Nosty more comforting than him? Sure, he knew lots of people had complicated relationships with religion, but he was so small, so harmless in his too-big shirt and collarino. Taking the hint, he cast his eyes back to his book.

“Do you just sit here and read?” Kaz asked.

“Sometimes I have a smoke,” Nosty said. 

“Belle doesn’t put on a movie?”

MacAvoy peeked up at Nosty, whose tense shoulders could burst through his jacket at any moment. 

“She would if I asked her to.” 

Kaz glanced behind her, back at the circulation desk, then scooted closer to Nosty and lowered her voice. “You never said she was pretty when you told me about her.”

Nosty smacked both hands on the table. “That’s not why I’m here, is it? It’s just a place to eat and sit down, hey? Who gives a fuck if the librarian is a fine piece of arse?”

MacAvoy wanted to say something, wanted to defend Belle’s honor, but he sensed that it would not go over well. Even he, in his most unflattering interpretation, could not pretend that Nosty wasn’t lying to save—well, he didn’t know what Nosty was saving, but it was probably something.

“Jesus, fine, don’t get your knickers in a twist,” Kaz said, which MacAvoy thought was quite brave of her. He wouldn’t have said something like that to Nosty when he was in a mood. 

They sat for awhile, and Kaz made multiple trips to the snack cart and engaged Nosty in soft, fleeting conversation. MacAvoy eavesdropped a little about whoever Gypo was—dead now, from the sound of it—and some fellows named Marley and Boomer that Nosty insisted Kaz never tell about the library, and then Nosty fell silent.

“Who’s that?” he asked, and when MacAvoy realized he was allowed to hear this, he looked up.

Clive, who he’d all but forgotten about, was leaning over the circulation desk, COACH GASTON emblazoned on his back. MacAvoy could no longer see Belle through him, but maybe Nosty could.

“That’s the coach,” Kaz whispered. “He comes in every day.”

Nosty turned a terrifying, wild expression on Kaz, teeth bared. “Does he?” he bit out.

Again, this did not seem to frighten her, and she nodded vigorously. “She always tells him she doesn’t want to go out with him but he keeps coming back. I don’t like him.” 

“Every day?” Nosty asked. MacAvoy’s heart thumped wildly in his ears even though Nosty was no threat to him at the moment. 

“He thinks she’ll change her mind.”

Nosty slapped a hand on the table, and MacAvoy leapt to his feet. “Well, Father, get ready to be useful.”

“Wh-what?” MacAvoy asked.

“Someone’s gotta read his death rites.”

****

The problem with Coach Gaston’s appearances was that, though Belle had come to expect them all week, she could not know exactly when. Sometimes, he was in the after school crowd, sometimes he was closer to closing, and today, he was well before she expected him entirely.

“Good afternoon,” she said, though she knew she should have said something like get out. 

“Hey, beautiful,” he said. “That’s what ‘Belle’ means, right? It’s pretty.”

“Yes,” she said. Again, the futile thought that she could be curt enough to convince him to go away floated through her mind. 

“You know, you’re not like any other girl I’ve met,” he said. 

“Because I’m uninterested?” As usual, she stared at her computer screen, determined not to do anything that could be construed as eye contact.

“We’ll see.” He leaned closer and plucked a pen off of her desk. “You’re so passionate about books.”

“How would you know?” she snapped. “We’ve never even talked about books.”

“So you want to grab a drink and talk about books?” he asked, and she could have screamed. Of course she’d fallen right into his trap.

“Oi, look at that,” came Nosty’s booming voice, and Belle could breathe again. “There’s a fucking rat in the library.”

Coach Gaston turned, and Nosty shoved him against the desk, gripping his lapels and snarling.

“What the hell, mate?” Clive asked, hands scrabbling along the desk for a grip. Nosty pushed him further back.

“Mate? Don’t be so chummy, son,” Nosty hissed, brogue so thick, Belle could hardly understand him. “What the fuck do you think you’re doing?”

Coach Gaston pushed Nosty off of him, and though he was at least three times more muscular, Belle thought that the only reason he was able to push Nosty back was because Nosty let him. He stepped back enough to give Clive space to brace himself.

“What am I doing? What are you doing? Picking a fight in a library in front of a woman?”

Belle scowled, but the only person paying attention to her was Joseph cowering just out of reach of the fight. “Excuse me—”

“Aye, I picked a fight in front of her, I picked it because she wants you to piss off.”

“Me?” Coach Gaston drew himself up, but Nosty just bared his teeth. “You’re the one causing problems.”

Nosty barked with laughter. “Och, I’m the one causing problems, he says.” He surveyed an imaginary audience. “Fucking piece of shite manky keech good for fuck all—did she not tell you no?”

If she hadn’t been staring at him, she would have missed his glance dart toward her, but she nodded vigorously when she realized he was seeking confirmation of this fact.

Coach Gaston blustered. “For now.”

For a second, Belle thought Nosty might leap at Clive like a wildcat and rip his throat out with his teeth. 

“Fuck—fucking for now?” 

“You know how women are,” Clive said, clearly trying to develop some level of camaraderie when it became obvious that Nosty would not be swayed by his considerable extra muscle. 

“Well, fuck me, I guess I don’t. How are they, then?”

“Well.” Clive glanced back at her, and she didn’t have time to put on her stoic mask again, too busy clutching the top of her chair and watching Nosty. “They’ve got to lead you on. You know, no really means yes eventually and all that.”

With a roar, Nosty had him by the lapels and bent over the desk again, and Belle had to jump out of the way. 

“Didn’t anyone ever teach you basic word comprehension, Coach?” Nosty snarled while Clive groped around the desk. Belle moved a pen cup out of his reach.

“Let go of me!”

“Oh, you want me to let go?” Nosty drove his elbow into his gut.

“Yes, god!” Clive wheezed.

“Didn’t hear that, mate .” Nosty grabbed Clive’s wandering hand and slammed it back into the desk. “How about a broken finger?”

“N-no—let go of me!”

“What’s that? No? Sounds like a yes to me—”

“Wait, stop!” Belle flew out from around her desk, grateful to hear no bones cracking. 

“Get back!” Joseph yelled, but Belle grabbed Nosty’s arm and tugged. It didn’t budge.

“Belle—” Nosty growled.

“Nosty, please, stop!” She clutched his arm like a teddy bear. “If you’re doing this for me, you’ve made your point. You don’t need to hurt him.”

“I don’t think I have made my point.” He wrenched his arm out of her grasp. “He hasn’t even tried to apologize yet.”

“I’m sorry!” Coach Gaston flailed, but he couldn’t move under Nosty’s weight. “Belle, I’m sorry!”

Belle, not knowing what else to do and ignoring Joseph’s hand on her elbow, ducked under Nosty’s arm to get between him and Clive. 

He finally looked at her, a wild animal ready to strike, and she trembled as she met his eyes. “It’s not worth it,” she said. “Let him go.”

Nosty watched her for the span of three breaths, and then dropped his hold on Coach Gaston. Belle stepped aside to let him clamber off the desk.

“You’re banned from the library,” she said to him. “You’re not even allowed for school visits.”

“Me?” He looked incredulously at Nosty. “What about him?”

“What the fuck do you care if you’re not allowed?” Nosty asked. “Come on, I’ll see you out.” He grabbed Coach Gaston by the lapels again and half-escorted, half-dragged him through the door. Belle, Joseph, and Kaz all watched them leave.

“Jesus Christ,” Joseph said. “Jesus fucking Christ, I need a drink.” 

“Are you okay, Belle?” Kaz asked.

Belle nodded, watching the door even though she could no longer see Nosty. Where was he? Was he coming back? 

“Don’t go after him,” Joseph said. “Just let him be.”

“Shut up.” After that, she had no time for guilt over Joseph’s wide eyes or slack jaw because she was running out the doors.

Nosty was nowhere in sight, but when she waved to her friend across the street, he pointed around the other side of the library. She jogged over and there he was, pacing and smoking a cigarette. He held up a hand to stop her from coming closer, so she did.

“Nosty.”

“Don’t say anything,” he said. “Please, I can’t fucking hear it right now.” He rubbed at his chest near the scar from his bottle injury.

“I wasn’t going to say anything bad,” she called. 

He paused, then threw his cigarette on the ground and crushed it beneath his boot. Without looking at her, he lit another, took a few puffs, then did the same. 

“Nosty, can I come closer?”

He shrugged, so she took a few steps toward him, then another few when he didn’t flee, and a few more until she could reach his arm.

“Thank you for getting rid of him.” 

He didn’t speak. She licked her lips. 

“Nosty, I’m not mad. Please.”

Careful, like he didn’t know which of them might break, he stepped toward her. She wrapped both hands around his arm, and he came a little bit closer.

“Please say something,” she said.

He flicked the flint of his lighter in his other hand, watching it click click click until it sparked. “I scared you.”

She shook her head, squeezing his arm. “You didn’t scare me.”

“Don’t lie, Belle, I saw your face. I know how to scare someone. I know what it fucking looks like.”

Belle licked her dry lips again. What could she say? She had been a little scared. “I wasn’t afraid you’d hurt me.”

His head hardly moved, but he watched her now. “What were you afraid of?”

She wished she could wrap her arms around him and bury her face in his chest, but she stayed back. “I was afraid you wouldn’t stop, and the police would come, and they’d lock you up with no bail for good.”

The shift was almost imperceptible, but somehow, Nosty faced her now. “Fuck.”

“Fuck,” she agreed.

“I don’t want to go to prison.”

Tentative, she slid her hand into his. He linked their fingers together. “Then you can’t be violent.” 

“Violence is who I am, Belle. Just ask anyone.”

Belle stepped close enough to rest her head on his shoulder, and though his arm twitched, he stood stock-still beneath her.

“That’s not true. Violence is a piece of you just like anything else.”

“Belle, this is me.” He pulled his arm out of hers. “I’m a basket case who’d cut off the hand what feeds him to make a fucking point.”

She shook her head. “Violence has just been the only tool you’ve had for a long time.”

He frowned down at her. “What?”

“The only way you knew to survive was with violence.” She offered her hand again. “That doesn’t mean that’s all you are, and you can learn new tools. You can make different choices.”

Still frowning at her, he took her hand. 

“The past doesn’t define you. It’s how you move forward that does.”

“If he’d done so much as grazed you by accident, I’d have broken his fucking neck,” Nosty whispered.

She shook her head. “You didn’t even break his fingers.”

“What don’t you understand?” He yanked her to him, cupping her face roughly in his free hand. “If you hadn’t stopped me, I would have. I would have broken every single finger on his hand, and probably pissed on his fucking shoes.”

A laugh bubbled up, but she swallowed it because Nosty did not appear to be joking. “It doesn’t matter what you might have done. It matters that you chose not to.” 

Nosty groaned liked a wounded dog and dropped his hand. “I don’t understand, Belle. I don’t understand what you want me to say. I tried again, I failed. Dress it up however you want, it doesn’t change anything.”

With the hand she still held, she tugged him toward the back of the library where there was a tiny concrete patio and a picnic table where the employees and volunteers who smoked usually took their breaks. He allowed her to sit him down and arrange him so that she could sit next to him and take his hand again.

“Nosty, you keep looking at every setback as failure.”

“Belle, I’m trying my best—”

“I know.” She pressed a finger to his lips and he settled. “Healing takes a long time. You can’t change overnight—and I’m not asking you to change who you are.” 

“Healing?” he said. “You sound like the therapist.” 

She pressed her finger more firmly to his lips, and he finally cracked a tiny smile. 

“You’ve always had to rely on violence to survive, but now you don’t. Now you have a safe place to go, regular meals, and people who care about you.” 

“But—”

“Nosty, have I given you permission to speak?”

Watching her the same way he did whenever he was gearing up to tease her, he tilted his head to the side and closed his teeth around her finger. She laughed and snatched her hand away.

“You don’t have to use violence anymore, and someday, your brain will catch up. And until then, if I’m able to stop you, that means there’s hope.”

“You think so?”

She shrugged. “You came out here to smoke and cool off, didn’t you? I don’t see Clive’s body in a ditch.”

Nosty looked down at his hands, flipping them over as if to confirm that there was no blood. “I did tell him there were some things I missed about me time in prison, and he best lock his windows at night.”

“ Nosty , that’s not funny.”

He pursed his lips. “Wasn’t supposed to be, was it? I wanted him to be as scared as he made you.”

“Oh god.” She slid her hand up to her forehead. “He did scare me.”

“Why didn’t you tell me?” He lifted her chin. “I would’ve been here.”

She shook her head. “I felt silly.”

“In front of me? I just told you I’d’ve pissed on his shoes, and I fucking meant it.”

As usual, her sudden burst of affection made her want to kiss him, but she held back. “I guess I was afraid I hadn’t done enough to tell him no, and you might—you might be upset.”

“Me? Upset with you about him?” His eyes narrowed as if he was doing mental math, and then he snorted. “Is it because I was upset about the good Father?”

“Maybe.”

He tilted her face more, staring her down. “I was only jealous because you were nice to him. If you told me some bloke was bothering you, I’d take care of it. I’d do anything to protect you. You—” He clenched his teeth, but kept eye contact. “You’ve done so much to protect me.”

“I’m really proud of you,” she said. “You’ve come so far. And—maybe your new therapist will help you internalize what you learned today?”

“Internalize what I’ve learnt today?” He scoffed. “Best be careful or I’ll think you want me to do more than be civil with the shrink.”

“Well, if you have to go anyway, you might as well get something out of it.”

He snorted. “We’ll see.” He released her chin only to wrap a lock of her hair around his finger. “I’m not ready to go back in yet.”

“Well, I can’t leave the desk forever, but a few more minutes can’t hurt.” She pecked him on the cheek so quickly, he jumped, and then he grinned.

“A few minutes with you’s less than I want and more than I deserve, but I’ll take it.”

[anticomedygarden]

solangelo marching band au part 2

i'm not typing out the whole title

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part 1 | ao3

this is drastically shorter than the first AND last chapter, but it wouldn't make sense plot wise to not break it up like this, so sorry about that. the next chapter will probably be much longer, and it was almost done, but for some godforsaken reason i decided to add a few scenes so that probably won't be up for a little bit. again, i'm sorry.

here you go

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Four hours, 5 minutes since

The bus took off out of the highway rest stop the same way all buses do: jerkily, and with little regard for the safety of the students it contained. It was exactly how Nico felt as he held back tears.

He couldn't believe that he'd let Will get so close so fast that he'd actually considered telling him about Bianca. How fucking stupid.

He was just about to take his phone out of his pocket to ask his stepmom to pick him up so that he didn't have to deal with his friends when a shadow fell across his seat.

"Hey," Will said. "What the hell?"

Nico didn't even look up at him. "Go away."

"No, not until you tell me what's going on," Will said.

If he thought that would make Nico talk, he was sorely mistaken.

After a minute of silence, Will threw his hands up in the air. "Okay, what the hell! One minute we're having a good time, bonding and whatever, and the next, what, you hate me? What happened?"

Nico could have laughed at that. Who was Will to yell at Nico when the golden boy was only in it for a bet? Already, he'd had enough. "Is that what we were doing? Bonding?"

Will raised his hands in a yeah gesture. "I thought so."

"Then tell that to Octavian. Keep your position. I don't care." He turned back around to the window and stared unseeing at the dark trees whooshing by.

"What are you talking about?" Will said with enough consternation that Nico began to believe he didn't know what Nico was talking about.

"The bet you made with Octavian," he explained. "I know he bet you for section leader that you couldn't talk to me."

"What?" Will's mouth was gaping now, true confusion lining his face. "That definitely never happened."

At this point, Nico's head was really filling with uncertainty. "In the bathroom, two guys came in and said it."

Will looked down, brows furrowed. "I never..." He trailed off and muttered incoherently. "Wait." He looked up, realization dawning on his face. "The guys who went in after you-"

Jostling the entire seat, he shifted to his knees without finishing and turned toward the back of the bus. "Bryce!"

Nico immediately slunk down in his seat. This was exactly the kind of social situation he liked to avoid.

"Solace! How's the bet going?"

Nico felt more than saw Will's entire body tense up. "There is no bet! I would never associate with Octavian."

That was fair, though Nico thought the personal insult to himself was the greater offense here.

Or the fact that the section leader position couldn't just be traded away because of a student bet, not without Chiron or Mr. D signing off on it, yet both Nico and Bryce had been so quick to believe it. Was he really so self-destructive?

Yes, apparently.

"But I heard-"

"From who?"

Bryce didn't answer that time.

"Yeah, that's what I thought. And, hey, if you're so close with Octavian, you can tell him I said to go fu-"

"Hey!"

Nico was pretty sure that was Mrs. Knowles from the front of the bus because a second later, she said, "Actually, I don't care. Just don't start fighting."

"It's fine," Will responded, swiveling back around until his ass touched the seat once more. "I'm done."

As soon as he was down, he turned to Nico. "I'm so sorry, I would never-"

"I believe you." He said it with such certainty and vehemence that Will's mouth snapped shut. He even surprised himself a little bit, though he knew the words to be true (and he didn't want Will to start yelling again). There was no shred of doubt in his mind anymore that Will was telling the truth.

Will blinked. "Well, I'm still sorry that you had to hear it."

"I don't need pity," Nico snapped, practically on instinct. That's all people ever seemed to have for him, anyway. Pity and irritation. Even if the stuff about the bet wasn't true, this still was. Not even Will was exempt.

That wasn't fair. The other boy had been nothing but kind, even empathetic when Nico told him about his dad rather than pitying. Maybe he really did feel guilty. The thought was enough to make Nico a little guilty himself. "I'm sorry for believing it."

Will smiled and shook his head. "It's fine. I know you haven't had the best day."

Nico bristled, then narrowed his eyes at Will. Were his social skills really so bad that Will thought that, even when he was actually having a good time? "What?"

Will looked at him, seemingly confused. "You got up at 3:30 a.m. to sit on a bus for three hours, then got stranded at a rest stop in the middle of nowhere, and you barely even got to see your friends all day."

Through special effort, Nico kept his mouth from dropping open in surprise at Will's perceptiveness. Everything he said was true, almost more so now. The rumors and emotional morning had run him ragged despite how much better the afternoon with Will had left him. Even so, he didn't like being so easy to read. With anybody else in his life, he wouldn't have this problem. It was something he prided himself on, his consolation prize for all the nights sitting alone in his bedroom.

"Plus, I don't know what happened, but I know something did because you've been avoiding your phone all day."

Nico's mouth really did drop open at that, though he refused to give Will the satisfaction. "Maybe I just didn't want it to die."

Will cocked his head, then shook it. "Is that why you told Percy to keep your friends from calling you and turned on 'do not disturb'?"

Nico really did start to get annoyed then because this was ridiculous, not least of all because Will was absolutely right. Something had happened, and it sucked, but that was none of Will's business.

Probably sensing Nico's uneasiness, Will held his hands up. "Hey, I'm not asking what it was, I'm just saying it's okay to be upset."

"I know that," Nico said hotly. He'd had a damn lifetime of being upset. The problem was that he didn't want to be anymore. "It's stupid."

"I doubt that."

He said it with such certainty, such abject belief, that Nico ripped his phone out of his pocket, opened his messaging app and clicked Jason's text chain, scrolled through the last 40 or so texts, and thrust his phone out to Will. "Here."

1 minute before

59 minutes into their three hour ride home, Nico's eyes were held open only by the feeling of the stiff, bumpy old leather seat of the school bus rattling under his sore ass. He'd tried playing on his phone to distract himself, but, like an idiot, he'd forgotten his earbuds. For now, he could watch the orange and yellow trees race by the cold, hard window.

A sign passed by, too fast for Nico to focus on. For all he knew, they were in Albany.

He rested his head in the corner where the window met the back of the seat. It made his temple hurt, but it was better than trying to stay awake.

His phone vibrated in his hand with a text from Jason. Without thinking, he clicked on it.

Jason

Hey, I know you hate this stuff, so I'll keep this short

You did great today, and I'm really proud of you for going for section leader. I'm gonna miss you a lot. Love you

That was it, just 35 words of kindness. It was too much, and for a moment, Nico just sat there, paralyzed. He couldn't think past the roaring in his ears.

I'm gonna miss you.

Because Jason was about to graduate. Because almost all of his remaining friends were about to graduate and leave him behind.

This felt too much like a goodbye.

Suddenly, the bus stopped, and Nico realized they'd pulled into a rest stop, forcing him to drag his attention to the front of the bus. Oh-no.

Thrusting his phone in his pocket, he sat up to see Mrs. Knowles standing by the driver. She turned. "Everybody out of the bus!"

Hushed murmurs grew into panicked chatter as all three dozen juniors filed through the narrow bus hallway and out the door, all the while Nico followed behind, not quite processing what was going on.

When he stepped out onto the pavement and saw the smoke coming up from the engine, his only thought was, It's cold.

4 hours, 11 minutes since

Nico watched nervously as Will read Jason's text, resisting the urge to rip the phone out of his hand.

Finally, he finished and handed the metal object back, and Nico waited for Will to tell him was being stupid and overreacting. Instead, he said, "Damn, that's a lot."

If literally anything else had come out of the blond's mouth right then, belittling, condescending, or an apology and asking if he was okay like Jason's last 40 texts and Nico probably would have exploded, jittery energy escaping his body like gunfire. As it was, laughter bubbled out of his mouth, surprise holding back nervous tears. He tried to form words, but the lump in his throat stopped him, and he just kept laughing.

Will made an odd noise. "What's so funny?"

Nico's fingers splayed on the seat and he clutched his stomach, laughter drying up. "I-" He stopped, then tried again. "That's been haunting me all day, and you just-" He gulped, unable to continue.

"I just what?" He sounded so confused, Nico laughed again. Alarmed, Will said, "What did I do?"

Damn, that's a lot, like this whole shitty situation could be summarized like that, like Nico hadn't been overwhelmed with what he was supposed to do with his life now that his friends were leaving all day long, like his problems could be sorted through if he let himself feel instead of avoiding everything and hiding like normal.

What did I do?

You did what you've been doing all day, Nico thought. You made it easier.

He scrubbed his wet eyes and looked back at Will. "You don't suck."

"Uh..." Will paused, blushing. "Thanks?"

"You're welcome."

After a moment, Will cleared his throat awkwardly. "You can talk to me, you know, about what's really going on."

Nico actually considered it but ended up shaking his head. He'd thought about it enough today. Instead, he asked something else that had been on his mind since they crashed at the rest stop. "Why me?"

"What?"

"Why did you hang out with me all day?"

"Oh, uh." Will's ears turned beet red, and he looked down. "I kind of, um, like you."

Nico almost choked. There was no way he heard that right. "Um. What?"

"Yeah, I've liked you pretty much since I first saw you," Will said, oblivious to Nico's growing panic. "But you're always with your friends, or it was a bad time, or something else, so finally today, I said I was just gonna do it, but then you were so upset, and then there was the whole thing with the bet, and I'm making a huge fool out of myself, aren't I? Oh my god, you think I'm insane. I'm gonna go. Yeah, I'm gonna go."

He started to rise, but in a move surprising himself most of all, Nico pulled him back down. "No! You should stay."

When Will continued to look embarrassed and vaguely shellshocked, Nico made a noise of panic. "What I mean to say is," he started, then stopped for a minute, thinking. "Do you remember the first time we saw each other?" Nico asked.

Will shook his head no.

"It was the day I moved to Olympus. Percy was showing me around, and we got into the band room, and I heard this horrifying squeaking noise. It was you. You must've still been learning the piccolo because it really sounded horrible." Will made a face, but Nico kept going. "I remember seeing you and thinking, 'Wow, he's gorgeous. I better not get attached or he'll just be another person to let me down.'" Nico hugged his knees closer to his chest. "So I spent the next two years talking to know one except my cousins and their friends even though I knew they would all leave before me and even though Hazel had her own circle and didn't need me. Because I wasn't ready for anything else. I wasn't ready for anybody to need me or expect things from me." He took a deep breath, thinking about Bianca. He'd spent so long wishing she were still here, obsessing over her death and thinking about how different he would be if he still had her, wondering if she would accept him. It never mattered, in the end. She was still gone, and he was alone, practically of his own volition. But he didn't have to be.

Slowly, he uncurled, sitting up and resting one foot on the floor with the other still folded beneath him. "I'm ready now."

In front of him, Will's blue eyes flashed in surprise, but he didn't resist when Nico leaned forward and pressed their lips together.

It tasted like chicken nuggets.

Six hours since

When they finally touched down in the band room around 7:30, it was dark outside. The temperature had dropped even further, too, and Nico pulled the sleeves of his under shirt over his hands to keep his fingers from freezing.

After he kissed Will over an hour and a half ago now, they'd pulled away quickly, hyper aware of being two boys on a high school bus.

They hadn't done nothing though. Afterwards, Will had given Nico a small smile and whispered, later, then pulled out his phone, handed Nico an earbud, and turned on Shrek.

Now, stepping into the band room, he took a deep breath. He wouldn't go as far as to say that it felt like coming home, but it felt pretty damn good.

The familiar blue carpet and red walls greeted him alongside the smell of sweat lingering in the air, even two hours after everyone had gone. Chiron could be seen in the office looking the same as he had the last time Nico saw him, though with a few more bruises under his eyes.

Then, of course, there was the tall blond with glasses barreling towards him, still wearing his bright orange band t-shirt and grey joggers.

"Nico!" Jason said, barely stopping within two inches. "Are you okay?"

Nico blinked. "You're still here?"

Jason frowned. "Of course I am. I'm your ride."

"Oh." He looked around to see if everyone else was still there. “Have you been here the whole time?” 

Jason shook his head. “No, I took Piper, Leo, and Hazel home, then came back about a half hour ago. Why did you tell Percy to tell us not to call you?”

Maybe he really should've texted his cousins back because this was going to get awkward fast. 

Will had already gone off to the instrument closet to put his piccolo away, leaving Nico to break the news to Jason that he was going home with Will (and probably spending the night, but that was besides the point).

Of course, at that very second, Will walked up behind them and said, "You ready to go?"

Jason raised an eyebrow, probably attempting to draw his own conclusions. "Is there something you wanna tell me?"

Nico didn't answer, but Will's face went suddenly blank. "Oh. Hey, Jason."

"Hi." The senior narrowed his eyes. "Are you taking Nico home?"

"Actually, we-"

"Yes! He is taking me home. We are going home." Before anyone could process his obvious lie, he took off towards the instrument closet, Will following behind, leaving Jason staring confused after them.

"Hey, just so we're on the same track, does that mean we're not telling people yet?" Will asked.

Nico paused to look at him, suddenly afraid he did something wrong. "I just kinda assumed."

Will nodded. "That's fine. We should probably talk, anyway, before anything else."

Thankfully, he didn't see Nico gulping because Jason came up behind them. "Hey, can I talk to Nico for a second?"

Will's face went pale again, and Nico realized he was actually nervous which was kinda ridiculous. Of all Nico's friends, Jason was not the one to be afraid of. "Yeah, I'll just...go put our uniforms away."

With one last nervous glance between Nico and Jason, he took Nico's uniform bag and walked away, leaving Nico alone with his cousin and what was sure to be a very unpleasant conversation.

"I feel like I freaked you out earlier, with the text," he said bluntly. Cutting right to the chase.

Nico didn't say anything. It didn't seem like Jason's words required a response, obvious as they were.

He was still holding his trombone, though, so he continued on to the instrument closet, and Jason kept pace with him.

"I hope you know that it's all true, and I wasn't trying to make you feel bad or anything." He was starting to sound rambl-y now, like he wanted to make Nico say something, but he wasn't sure how. He really should know by now that there was no point.

Anyway, Jason must've realized that, because the next thing he said was, "Please say something."

They reached the instrument closet, a square room the size of a small classroom lined with cubbies of different sizes. Nico's was on the far end in the back corner. He walked towards it. "What do you want me to say?"

"I don't know, just..." He shrugged. "How do you feel about all this?"

Nico almost laughed. If Jason asked him that this morning, he certainly would have spiraled, caught up in his horrible feelings and catastrophizing about spending a year alone, but now? He didn't really feel anything. The idea of his friends graduating still scared him, yeah, but it didn't feel the same as it had just a few hours earlier. "I feel fine."

Jason gave him a disbelieving look, making Nico roll his eyes. "Really?"

The black haired boy threw his trombone in his cubby, and they walked back into the band room where Nico immediately found Will waiting by the door, still looking nervous. It made him smile, and he realized why he suddenly felt okay. Everything going on stopped feeling like an ending, but a beginning.

That thought in mind, he turned to Jason. "Look, I know you're all worried about me, but seriously, I'll be fine. It had to happen at some point. It's okay."

Jason still looked unsure but nodded anyway.

"Now go home. You've been up since like 3 this morning."

Jason studied him again but finally took his keys out of his pocket. "Fine. Are you going home?" He knew better than to assume Nico would actually go to bed, but it was a nice thought.

And he looked forward to blowing Jason's mind. "I think I'm going to Will's actually."

Jason's mouth dropped. "For real?"

Nico nodded. "Yes, now you can stop worrying about me."

"That's nice, but I'll never not be worried about you." He dodged Nico's punch and scurried to the door. "See ya!"

Shaking his head, Nico walked up next to Will. "You ready to go?"

Relief shone in Will's pretty eyes. "Yes."

Nico grabbed his hand, and together, they left the band room behind.

[shuxiii]

Everyday pt. 6

Hanni Pham x reader pt1, pt2, pt3, pt4, pt5, pt6, pt7, pt8, pt9, pt10, pt11, pt12, pt13

a/n drink your milk everybody even the adults so your bones get yummy yummy milk if you are lactose intolerant, eat your veggies. credits all to ''every day'' by David Levithan.

Day 6003

I am not alone when I wake up the next morning.

I am sharing the room with two other boys—my brothers, Yeonjun and Beomgyu. Yeonjun is a year older than me. Beomgyu is my twin. My name is Soobin.

Soobin is big—a football player. Beomgyu is about the same size. Yeonjun is even bigger.

The room is clean, but even before I know what town I’m in, I know we’re not in the nice part of it. This is a big family in a small house. There is not going to be a computer here. Soobin is not going to have a car.

It’s Yeonjun’s job—self-appointed or otherwise—to get us up and out. Our father’s not home from the night shift yet, and our mother’s already on the way to her job. Our two sisters are about done with the bathroom. We’re next.

I access and find that I’m in the town next to Haruto’s, over an hour from Hanni’s.

This is going to be a hard day.

The bus ride to school takes forty-five minutes. When we get there, we head to the cafeteria for free breakfast. I am amazed at Soobin’s appetite—I pile on pancake after pancake, and he’s still hungry. Beomgyu matches him bite for bite.

Luckily, I have study hall first period. Unluckily, there’s still homework that Soobin needs to do. I push through that as quick as I can, and have about ten minutes of computer time left at the end.

There’s a message from Hanni, written at one in the morning.

Yn,

I want to believe you, but I don’t know how.

Hanni

I write back:

Hanni,

You don’t need to know how. You just make up your mind and it happens.

I am in Laurel right now, over an hour away. I am in the body of a football player named Soobin. I know how strange that sounds. But, like everything I’ve told you, it’s the truth.

Love,

Yn

There’s just enough time for me to check my other email address. There’s another email from Haruto.

You can’t avoid my questions forever. I want to know who you are. I want to know why you do what you do.

Tell me.

Again, I leave him unanswered. I have no idea whether I owe him an explanation or not. I probably owe him something. But I’m not sure it’s an explanation.

I make it through to lunch. I want to go immediately to the library to check the computers again. But Soobin is hungry, and Beomgyu is with him, and I am afraid that if he doesn’t get his lunch now, there won’t be anything for him to eat until dinnertime. I checked, and there’s only about three dollars in his wallet, including change.

I get the free lunch and eat it quickly. Then I excuse myself to the library, which inspires no shortage of taunts from Beomgyu, who claims that “libraries are for girls.” A true brother, I shoot back with, “Well, that explains why you never find any.” A wrestling match ensues. All of this takes away time from what I need to do.

When I get to the library, all the computers are taken. I have to loom large over a freshman for about two minutes before he freaks out enough to give me his space. Quickly I check out public transportation and find out I’ll need to take three buses in order to make it to Hanni’s town. I’m ready to do it, but when I check my email, there’s another message from Hanni, dated just two minutes ago.

Yn,

Do you have a car? If not, I can come to you. There’s a Starbucks in Laurel. I’m told that nothing bad ever happens in a Starbucks. Let me know if you want to meet there.

Hanni

I type:

Hanni,

I would appreciate it if you could come here. Thank you.

Yn

Two minutes later, a new email from her:

Yn,

I’ll be there at 5. Can’t wait to see what you look like today.

(Still not believing this.)

Hanni

My nerves are jangling with possibility. She’s had time to think about it, and that hasn’t turned her against me. It’s more than I could ask for. I am careful not to be too grateful, lest it be taken away.

The rest of the school day is unexceptional … except for a moment in seventh period. Mrs. French, the bio teacher, is hectoring a kid who hasn’t done his homework. It’s a lab assignment, and he’s come up blank.

“I don’t know what got into me,” the slacker says. “I must have been possessed by the devil!”

The rest of the class laughs, and even Mrs. French shakes her head.

“Yeah, I was possessed by the devil, too,” another guy says. “After I drank seven beers!”

“Okay, class,” Mrs. French intones. “Enough of that.”

It’s the way they say it—I know Haruto’s story must be spreading.

“Hey,” I say to Beomgyu as we head to football practice, “did you hear about that kid in Monroeville who says he was possessed by the devil?”

“Dude,” he replies, “we were just talking about that yesterday. It was all over the news.”

“Yeah, I mean, did you hear anything more about it today?”

“What more is there to say? Kid got caught in a crazy lie, and now the religious crazies want to make him a poster child. I almost feel sorry for him.”

This, I think, is not good.

Our coach has to go to his wife’s Lamaze class, which he bitches about to us in detail, but it forces him to end practice early. I tell Beomgyu that I’m going to make a Starbucks run, and he looks at me like I have been totally, irredeemably girlified. I was counting on his disgust, and am relieved to get it.

She’s not there when I arrive, so I get a small black coffee—pretty much the only thing I can afford—and sit and wait for her. It’s crowded, and I have to look brutish in order to keep the other chair at my table unoccupied.

Finally, about twenty minutes after five, she shows up. She scans the crowd and I wave. Even though I told her I was a football player, she’s still a little startled. She comes over anyway.

“Okay,” she says, sitting down. “Before we say another word, I want to see your phone.” I must look confused, because she adds, “I want to see every single call you’ve made in the past week, and every single call you received. If this isn’t some big joke, then you have nothing to hide.”

I hand over Soobin’s phone, which she knows how to work better than I do.

After a few minutes of searching, she appears satisfied.

“Now, I quiz you,” she says, handing back the phone. “First, what was I wearing on the day that Minji took me to the beach?”

I try to picture it. I try to grab hold of those details. But they’ve already eluded me. I remember her, not what she was wearing.

“I don’t know,” I say. “Do you remember what Minji was wearing?”

She thinks about it for a second. “Good point. Did we make out?”

I shake my head. “We used the make-out blanket, but we didn’t make out. We kissed. And that was enough.”

“And what did I say to you before I left the car?”

“ ‘That’s the nice note.’ ”

“Correct. Quick, what’s Yunjin’s girlfriend’s name?”

“Kazuha”

“And what time did the party end?”

“Eleven-fifteen.”

“And when you were in the body of that girl who I took to all of my classes, what did the note you passed me say?”

“Something like, ‘The classes here are just as boring as in the school I’m going to now.’ ”

“And what were the buttons on your backpack that day?”

“Anime kittens.”

“Well, either you’re an excellent liar, or you switch bodies every day. I have no idea which one is true.”

“It’s the second one.”

I see, over Hanni’s shoulder, a woman looking at us quizzically. Has she overheard what we’re saying?

“Let’s go outside,” I whisper. “I feel we may be getting an unintended audience.”

Hanni looks skeptical. “Maybe if you were a petite cheerleader again. But—I’m not sure if you fully realize this—you’re a big, threatening dude today. My mother’s voice is very loud and clear in my head: ‘No dark corners.’ ”

I point out the window, to a bench along the road.

“Totally public, only without people listening in.”

“Fine.”

As we head out, the woman who was eavesdropping seems disappointed. I realize how many people sitting around us have open laptops and open notebooks, and hope that none of them have been taking notes.

When we get to the bench, Hanni lets me sit down first, so she can determine the distance that we’ll sit apart, which is significant.

“So you say you’ve been like this since the day you were born?”

“Yes. I can’t remember it being any different.”

“So how did that work? Weren’t you confused?”

“I guess I got used to it. I’m sure that, at first, I figured it was just how everybody’s lives worked. I mean, when you’re a baby, you don’t really care much about who’s taking care of you, as long as someone’s taking care of you. And as a little kid, I thought it was some kind of a game, and my mind learned how to access—you know, look at the body’s memories—naturally. So I always knew what my name was, and where I was. It wasn’t until I was four or five that I started to realize I was different, and it wasn’t until I was nine or ten that I really wanted it to stop.”

“You did?”

“Of course. Imagine being homesick, but without having a home. That’s what it was like. I wanted friends, a mom, a dad, a dog—but I couldn’t hold on to any of them more than a single day. It was brutal. There are nights I remember screaming and crying, begging my parents not to make me go to bed. They could never figure out what I was afraid of. They thought it was a monster under the bed, or a ploy to get a few more bedtime stories. I could never really explain, not in a way that made sense to them. I’d tell them I didn’t want to say goodbye, and they’d assure me it wasn’t goodbye. It was just good night. I’d tell them it was the same thing, but they thought I was being silly.

“Eventually I came to peace with it. I had to. I realized that this was my life, and there was nothing I could do about it. I couldn’t fight the tide, so I decided to float along.”

“How many times have you told this story?”

“None. I swear. You’re the first.”

This should make her feel special—it’s meant to make her feel special—but instead it seems to worry her.

“You have to have parents, don’t you? I mean, we all have parents.”

I shrug. “I have no idea. I would think so. But it’s not like there’s anyone I can ask. I’ve never met anyone else like me. Not that I would necessarily know.”

It’s clear from her expression that she thinks this is a sad story I’m telling her—a very sad story. I don’t know how to convey to her that it hasn’t all been sad.

“I’ve glimpsed things,” I say. Then I stop. I don’t know what’s next.

“Go on,” she tells me.

“It’s just—I know it sounds like an awful way to live, but I’ve seen so many things. It’s so hard when you’re in one body to get a sense of what life is really like. You’re so grounded in who you are. But when who you are changes every day—you get to touch the universal more. Even the most mundane details. You see how cherries taste different to different people. Blue looks different. You see all the strange rituals boys have to show affection without admitting it. You learn that if a parent reads to you at the end of the day, it’s a good sign that it’s a good parent, because you’ve seen so many other parents who don’t make the time. You learn how much a day is truly worth, because they’re all so different. If you ask most people what the difference was between Monday and Tuesday, they might tell you what they had for dinner each night. Not me. By seeing the world from so many angles, I get more of a sense of its dimensionality.”

“But you never get to see things over time, do you?” Hanni asks. “I don’t mean to cancel out what you just said. I think I understand that. But you’ve never had a friend that you’ve known day in and day out for ten years. You’ve never watched a pet grow older. You’ve never seen how messed up a parent’s love can be over time. And you’ve never been in a relationship for more than a day, not to mention for more than a year.”

I should have known it would come back to that. “But I’ve seen things,” I tell her. “I’ve observed. I know how it works.”

“From the outside? I don’t think you can know from the outside.”

“I think you underestimate how predictable some things can be in a relationship.”

“I love her,” she says. “I know you don’t understand, but I do.”

“You shouldn’t. I’ve seen her from the inside. I know.”

“For a day. You saw her for a day.”

“And for a day, you saw who she could be. You fell more in love with her when she was me.”

I reach out again for her hand, but this time she says, “No. Don’t.”

I freeze.

“I have a girlfriend,” she says. “I know you don’t like her, and I’m sure there are moments when I don’t like her, either. But that’s the reality. Now, I’ll admit, you have me actually thinking that you are, in fact, the same person who I’ve now met in five different bodies. All this means is that I’m probably as insane as you are. I know you say you love me, but you don’t really know me. You’ve known me a week. And I need a little more than that.”

“But didn’t you feel it that day? On the beach? Didn’t everything seem right?”

There it is again—the pull of the ocean, the song of the universe. A better liar would deny it. But some of us don’t want to live our lives as liars. She bites her lip and nods.

“Yes. But I don’t know who I was feeling that for. Even if I believe it was you, you have to understand that my history with Minji plays into it. I wouldn’t have felt that way with a stranger. It wouldn’t have been so perfect.”

“How do you know?”

“That’s my point. I don’t.”

She looks at her phone, and whether or not she truly needs to leave, I know this is the sign that she’s going to.

“I have to make it back for dinner,” she says.

“Thanks for driving all this way,” I tell her.

It’s awkward. So awkward.

“Will I see you again?” I ask.

She nods.

“I’m going to prove it to you,” I tell her. “I’m going to show you what it really means.”

“What?”

“Love.”

Is she scared by this? Embarrassed? Hopeful?

I don’t know. I’m not close enough to tell.

Beomgyu gives me no small amount of grief when I get home—partly because I went to Starbucks, and partly because I then had to walk two miles to get back home, and was late for dinner, which our father roundly chewed me out over.

“I hope whoever she was, she was worth it,” Beomgyu taunts.

I look at him blankly.

“Dude, don’t try to tell me you were just going for the coffee or the folk tunes they play on the speakers. I know you better than that.”

I remain silent.

I am assigned to wash all the dishes. While doing so, I turn on the radio, and when the local news comes on, Haruto Watanabe comes with it.

“So tell us, Haruto, what you experienced last Saturday,” the interviewer says.

“I was possessed. There’s no other word for it. I wasn’t in control of my own body. I consider myself lucky to be alive. And I want to ask anyone else who’s ever been possessed like this, just for a day, to contact me. Because, I’ll be honest with you, Chuck, a lot of people think I’m crazy. Other kids at school are making fun of me constantly. But I know what happened. And I know I’m not the only one.”

I know I’m not the only one.

This is the sentence that haunts me. I wish I felt the same certainty.

I wish I weren’t the only one.

Day 6004

The next morning I wake up in the same room.

In the same body.

I can’t believe it. I don’t understand. After all these years.

I look at the wall. My hands. The sheets.

And then I look to my side and see Soobin sleeping there in his bed.

Soobin.

And I realize: I’m not in the same body. I’m not on the same side of the room.

No, this morning I’m his twin, Beomgyu.

I have never had this chance before. I watch as Soobin emerges from sleep, emerges from a day away from his old body. I am looking for the traces of that oblivion, the bafflement of that waking. But what I get is the familiar scene of a football player stretching himself into the day. If he feels at all strange, at all different, he’s not showing it.

“Dude, what are you staring at?”

This doesn’t come from Soobin, but from our other brother, Yeonjun.

“Just getting up,” I mumble.

But really, I don’t take my eyes off Soobin. Not through the ride to school. Not at breakfast. He seems a little out of it now, but nothing that couldn’t be explained by a bad night’s sleep.

“How’re you doing?” I ask him.

He grunts. “Fine. Thanks for caring.”

I decide to play dumb. He expects me to be dumb, so it shouldn’t be much of a stretch.

“What did you do after practice yesterday?” I ask.

“I went to Starbucks.”

“Who with?”

He looks at me like I’ve just sung the question to him in falsetto.

“I just wanted coffee, okay? I wasn’t with anyone.”

I study him, to see if he’s trying to cover his conversation with Hanni. I don’t think, though, that such duplicity would be anything but obvious on him.

He really doesn’t remember seeing her. Talking to her. Being with her.

“Then why’d it take so long?” I ask him.

“What, were you timing it? I’m touched.”

“Well, who were you emailing at lunch?”

“I was just checking my email.”

“Your own email?”

“Who else’s email would I be checking? You’re asking seriously weird questions, dude. Isn’t he, Yeonjun?”

Yeonjun chews on some bacon. “I swear, whenever you two talk, I just tune it right out. I have no idea what you’re saying.”

Paradoxically, I wish I were still in Soobin’s body, so I could see exactly what his memories of yesterday are. From where I sit, it appears that he recalls the places he was, but has somehow concocted an alternate version of events, one that fits closer to his life. Has his mind done this, some kind of adaptation? Or did my mind, right before it left, leave behind this storyline?

Soobin does not feel like he was possessed by the devil.

He thinks yesterday was just another day.

Again, the morning becomes a search to find a few minutes’ worth of email access.

I should have given her my phone number, I think.

Then I stop myself. I stand there right in the middle of the hallway, shocked. It’s such a mundane, ordinary observation—but that’s what stops me. In the context of my life, it’s nonsensical. There was no way for me to give her a phone number. I know this. And yet, the ordinary thought crept in, made me trick myself for a moment into thinking that I, too, was ordinary.

I have no idea what this means, but I suspect it’s dangerous.

At lunch, I tell Soobin I’m going to the library.

“Dude,” he says, “libraries are for girls.”

There aren’t any new messages from Hanni, so I write to her instead.

Hanni,

You’d actually recognize me today. I woke up as Soobin’s twin. I thought this might help me figure things out, but so far, no luck.

I want to see you again.

Yn

There isn’t anything from Haruto, either. Once more I decide to type his name into a search engine, figuring there might be a few more articles about what he’s saying.

I find over two thousand results. All from the past three days.

Word is spreading. Mostly from evangelical Christian sites, which have bought Haruto’s devil claims wholesale. He is, for them, just another example of the world going to H-E-double-hockey-sticks.

From what I can recall, none of the many versions I heard as a child of “The Boy Who Cried Wolf” spent that much time pondering the emotional state of the boy, especially after the wolf finally showed up. I want to know what Haruto is thinking, if he really believes what he’s saying. None of the articles and blogs are any help—he’s saying the same thing in all of them, and people are painting him as either a freak or an oracle. Nobody’s sitting him down and treating him like a sixteen-year-old boy. They are missing the real questions in order to ask the sensational ones. I open up his last email.

You can’t avoid my questions forever. I want to know who you are. I want to know why you do what you do.

Tell me.

But how can I respond without confirming at least part of the story he’s created? I feel that he’s right—in some way, I can’t avoid his questions forever. They will start to dig into me. They will follow me wherever I wake up. But to give him any answer will give him a reassurance I know I shouldn’t give. It will keep him on his path.

My best bet is for him to start feeling that he is, indeed, crazy. Which is an awful thing to wish upon someone. Especially when he’s not crazy.

I want to ask Hanni what to do. But I can imagine what she’d say. Or maybe I’m just projecting my better self onto her. Because I know the answer: Self-preservation isn’t worth it if you can’t live with the self you’re preserving.

I am responsible for his situation. So he’s become my responsibility.

I know this, even as I hate it.

I’m not going to write immediately. I need to give it some thought. I need to help him without confirming anything.

Finally, by last period, I think I have it.

I know who you are. I’ve seen your story on the news. It doesn’t have anything to do with me—you must have made a mistake.

Still, it appears to me that you’re not considering all the possibilities. I’m sure what happened to you was very stressful. But blaming the devil is not the answer.

I send it off quickly before football practice.

I also check for an email from Hanni.

Nothing.

The rest of the day is uneventful. And I find myself wondering once again when I started to think my days would contain actual events. Up until now, I have lived for uneventfulness, and have found smaller satisfaction in the art of getting by. I resent that the hours seem boring now, emptier. Going through the motions gives you plenty of time to examine the motions. I used to find this interesting. Now it has taken on the taint of meaninglessness.

I practice football. I get a ride home. I do some homework. I eat some dinner. I watch TV with my family.

This is the trap of having something to live for:

Everything else seems lifeless.

Soobin and I go to bed first. Yeonjun is in the kitchen, talking to our mother about his work schedule for the weekend. Soobin and I don’t say anything as we change into our sleep clothes, as we parade to the bathroom and back.

I get in bed and he turns out the light. I expect to hear him getting into bed next, but instead he hovers in the middle of the room.

“Beomgyu?”

“Yeah?”

“Why did you ask me about what I was up to yesterday?”

I sit up. “I don’t know. You just seemed a little … off.”

“I just thought it was strange. You asking, I mean.”

He heads to his bed now. I hear his weight fall on the mattress.

“So nothing seemed off to you?” I ask, hoping that there will be something—anything—that rises to the surface.

“Not that I can think of. I thought it was pretty funny that Snyder had to end practice so he could go, like, learn how to help his babymama breathe. But I think that was the highlight. It’s just … do I seem off today, too?”

The truth is that I haven’t been paying that much attention, not since breakfast.

“Why do you ask?”

“No reason. I feel fine. I just don’t, you know, want to look like there’s something wrong when there’s nothing wrong.”

“You seem fine,” I assure him.

“Good,” he says, shifting his body, getting into the right position with his pillow.

I want to say more but don’t know what the words are supposed to be. I feel such a tenderness for these vulnerable nighttime conversations, the way words take a different shape in the air when there’s no light in the room. I think of the rare jackpot nights when I ended the day at a sleepover or shared the room with a sibling or a friend I genuinely liked. Those conversations could trick me into believing I could say anything, even though there was so much I was holding back. Eventually, the night would take its hold, but it would always feel like I was fading to sleep rather than falling.

“Good night,” I say to Soobin. But what I really feel is goodbye. I am leaving here, leaving this family. It’s only been two days, but that’s twice what I’m used to. It’s just a hint—the smallest hint—of what it would be like to wake up in the same place every morning.

I have to let that go.

[theknightlywolfe]

So a local pedestrians first org got the ear, or probably wallet, of someone in power and they're pushing for the acceleration of the elimination of car lanes downtown.

Which, yeah, great, walkable cities would be good. Except. There isn't public transportation, not really. Six years here and I can't recall the last time I saw a bus or even where bus stations are. We have "rail" but it doesn't really take you anywhere.

I just double checked, to even use public transportation to get home from a popular brewery downtown I would have to walk a mile to the nearest rail station, through an industrial area that hasn't gentrified quite enough to get street lights, ride it to the station closest to my house and then walk another mile (which also rises in elevation by over 150ft). And in the summer we get over 100°F, so that's a totally reasonable ask for most people, yeah.

And I just spent a few weeks in San Jose, where they are doing the same thing. Eliminating car lanes and replacing them with bike lanes but that doesn't really work when people live two miles from a grocery store and 10+ miles from work. Double checked getting from campus to a main residential area and it's another one mile trek on both ends, and that is despite San Jose actually having buses in addition to a light rail (which only really covers downtown and forgets the rest of the city) and the passing through train.

I want walkable cities too, but really what we're getting is worse traffic and downtowns that never get in anyone who lives even a half mile outside of them (and they wonder why the businesses there are dying).

[madphantom]

are you okay? /gen

Yeah, in hindsight it was actually a pretty funny story!

So, the situation was that, on the same day, at the same time, in two different towns, I wanted to attend both the antifascist summer festival and my friend's concert. No problem, I thought to myself, the festival is from 13:00-03:00, so I can go there for a bit, take the bus to the neighbouring town with two friends, attend the concert, return to this town by bus until midnight and even take a shift at the festival's bar at midnight.

That was the plan.

At first it seemed to work rather well. We all found the bus in time, got on, it was supposed to arrive in the town center and then we'd take a second bus to the place where the concert was happening and arrive there precisely ten minutes before it began. Well, the bus didn't take us to the city center. It dropped us off a few streets away, because there was a massive accident on the main road. So, we ran to the bus stop, but it was weirdly empty.

"Oh yeah, all buses in the entire town don't drive today because of the accident," we were informed.

After I finished hyperventilating we made our decisions. One of us wasn't feeling well, so she'd take a taxi bus to our hometown. The other friend and I would walk the 45 minute distance to the concert. Which is what we did. Through the fucking woods. Following some kind of highway.

Eventually, after being lost and confused for a very long time, we arrived at the concert. It was in the middle of fuckoff nowhere and there was no cellphone reception. Just before entering the great unknown I sent a message into the antifascist group chat: "Hi everyone, my friend and I are stranded at a concert in xxx town, can someone pick us up?"

During the concert I kept leaving the cellphone reception hole and texting another friend, who was somewhat reluctant to drive us. We did however find some more of our friends, and friends of their friends, who offered to drive us.

During a break my friend came over from the stage to join us, when suddenly an elderly lady approached us and went "Hey Bobby, my daughter just texted me that someone from her group chat called Maddie needs a ride, and I believe you know her...?" so I'm like yeah that's me, I found someone. I got curious and asked how she knew, and apparently her daughter is in the group chat, recognized him in my profile picture of us two, figured that the concert in xxx town had to be him and knew her mum would be there because she's a family friend of his, and sent the photo of us to her mum, who in turn figured if she found him she'd find me somewhere in his vicinity.

At eleven pm a couple who was friends with one of our friends' friend but also loosely knew the performer drove me and my buddy back to our hometown. I needed to get to a cabin in the woods where the festival was happening, and the shortest way was through a graveyard. We ran through the graveyard, started hearing wild hogs, and I panicked and took the wrong turn, so we ended up walking through a field and falling into a pit of stinging nettles. Exactly at midnight, when my shift was due to begin, I arrived at the festival and was greeted with cheers and a big hug.

Then I did my shift, got wasted, wrote sad poetry and got accompanied home by a dead drunk dude at about half past three, but that's the normal part of the night.

[joes-sha-la-la-la-girl]

When Love and Hate Collide: Chapter 8

Series Masterlist

Their next show a few days later went phenomenally, like always. The band and crew were now making their way over to Asia. They had to spend a week on the bus before they went to the airport. Y/N found it to be an odd experience. She found it difficult to sleep the first night as she discovered that more than one of the band members snored. She wasn’t sure who but she knew it wasn’t Sav. They would all be spending a lot more time on the bus in Asia as they would be there for a longer period of time, so she needed to get used to it. She inwardly groaned at that. 

The flight over there wasn’t too bad as she slept for most of it, Vivian standing guard yet again to make sure no one tried to draw on her face. When they landed, they got straight on the buses that were waiting for them, taking to the same beds as before. As she sat down on her bunk, she noticed Joe pull the curtain across straight away, not even giving her a glance. 

Y/N was still wondering what was going on with Joe. She didn’t want to pry and she knew it was nothing to do with her but she was worried that she had done something to him still. She knew that the rest of the band knew what was going on. They weren’t maliciously keeping it from her but rather, she assumed, to respect Joe and his privacy. 

Despite how Joe was still ignoring her after being on tour with them for just over a week, there was a funny feeling come over her when he looked at her. A feeling that Y/N hadn’t felt since she met her ex-boyfriend. She knew it would be best to stay away from Joe for a while, as much as her job made it possible, until she figured out what she was feeling. The last thing she needed was to develop a school-girl crush on a man who wouldn’t even give her the time of day.

They still had a week before their first show and they would be spending that time on the bus as well. The downside to staying on the tour bus was that there was no shower. They had to wash down with a flannel everyday, which was less than ideal. There were eight adults living together on the bus including Y/N and their bus driver so everyone was trying the best they could to prevent any unpleasantness for the people living with them. 

Tension seemed to be rising between Joe and Y/N. Sav thought that Joe was starting to turn a corner and at least be polite towards the young woman, but apparently not. Sav himself couldn’t pinpoint what was causing Joe’s bad mood this time, but he and the rest of the band were trying their best to be extra nice to their tour assistant.

*

Their first week in Asia went quickly and soon enough, they found themselves in the hotel the night before their first show in Thailand. As they were checking in, Mal gave Y/N another updated itinerary telling her where the boys had to be and when. Y/N made sure she studied it well, not wanting to be late anywhere or to show up at the wrong venue accidently.

Sav collected her for dinner after she lost track of time and Y/N could feel the awkwardness that had surrounded them for the previous two weeks, continue. Trying not to seem bothered by it all, Y/N started questioning everyone, making sure they were settled in alright and ready for the show. 

“As long as you don’t walk into anyone else then I think we’ll all be fine. We have done this before.” Joe almost spat at her, shocking everyone around the table. 

Y/N didn’t even bother to react. She didn’t let it show that his words affected her. Sav gave Joe a sharp look and kicked him under the table but Joe didn’t seem bothered by this. 

The table remained fairly quite after that, Y/N looking down the entire time to avoid eye contact with anyone else, she was left slightly embarrassed after Joe’s outburst, she knew that they had done this many times before, but it was her job to make sure they had everything and if they forgot something it would fall onto her.

When they had finished, Y/N quickly excused herself and headed back to her room for the evening. As she left, the rest glared at their lead singer. 

“Well, you’ve really outdone yourself this time.” Sav scoffed. Joe just looked up at him refusing to say anything. “You know you have to apologise to her.” He continued when Joe didn’t respond.

“Yeah I’ll pass.”

“No you won’t,” Phil spoke up, “You said you would be civil with her.” 

Rolling his eyes, Joe realised he was on his own. With a huff, he got up from his seat and followed in the direction their assistant went. It registered in him that he wasn’t listening when she had told him her room number earlier. Turning round he looked at Sav who rolled his eyes.

“625”

Joe gave another nod and made his way towards the lift. The truth was he wasn’t sure what prompted him to make that comment to her. He didn’t know where this anger was building up from again. Maybe it was because he started to let his guard down slightly when he promised to be nice, which was the last thing he wanted to do. Or maybe it was the comment that Mal had made a few weeks ago about her replacing him. Joe knew Malvin was joking but the idea of her being in charge of their tours when he barely wanted to be around her irritated him.

Once he got to the sixth floor, he slowed down his pace, wanting to delay this as much as possible. He hated apologising at the best of times. Counting the rooms as he went, he finally got to Y/N’s room. It was quiet there and for a moment he thought that she wasn’t in there. However, then he heard her moving about inside and decided to knock, knowing that the others wouldn’t let him be until he apologised.

It wasn’t long before she came to the door and Joe felt his heartbeat quicken at the sight of her. She was a short but modest nightdress, with her hair plaited so it didn’t get tangled overnight. She had taken the little make-up that she wore throughout the day off and the main light in the room was switched out, leaving the bedside lamp on. It was obvious to Joe that she was about to go to bed.

Joe didn’t realise that he was staring until Y/N softly cleared her throat. For some reason Joe couldn’t find any words. He moved his eyes from her legs, up to her face but he just stood there like an idiot.

“Why are you here Joe?” Y/N asked in a tired tone.

[brookebeebe-blog]

July 26th - Travel to Taitung

The cough is very persistent. It also seems most of the people on the trip also have the same illness now and unfortunately, I think I was patient zero. So if any of the people on the trip have been keeping up with my blog to see how their illness might progress: the cough stays forever. We woke up early today for a bunch of travel. I packed my bags and got some breakfast this morning. A bit of a culture shock to me is the fact that they serve dinner food for breakfast. I had chicken nuggets at 8am for the past 2 days. Not complaining though because I love chicken nuggets. After breakfast, we headed to our train, which was going to take us to Taipei. I haven’t been on a train in forever, and this one was really nice. The ride was about two hours and then we got to Taipei for our bullet train. We grabbed some lunch at the train station and then boarded the train. This was my first time on a bullet train and it was super fun. It felt like we were flying, but it’s crazy because you stay level to the ground. On a plane, you can’t really tell how fast you’re going because you’re so high in the air, but the bullet train is very different. When we finally got in Kaohsiung, we boarded a bus to take us to Taitung. We finally arrived at our hotel at around 8pm. It is another hot springs resort. We’re here for two nights and then we go back to Kaohsiung. I also just learned that my mom is reading these so, hi mom!

Academic Reflection

Today, I would like to reflect on the construction of the bullet train. The high speed rail was opened in 2007, and since then, it has been quite the learning curve. The system costs $15 billion US to construct. The train also hits speeds of 186 mph while transporting people from Taipei to Kaohsiung. The direct train takes only 90 minutes for a 345 km trip. When the article I’m doing my research on was written, it was 8 months post opening. Domestic airlines were cancelling dozens of flights due to low demand, air traffic on competing routes plummeted more than 50%, there was a 10% decline of traffic on the north-south freeway, and tour agencies became wildly more popular as new areas to vacation were becoming accessible. Buses were also seeing fewer passengers, along with the taiwan rail. The price of the ticket is also affordable to most middle-class people in Taiwan. With a price of $45, it is a much more feasible option compared to a flight. The railway was extremely difficult to build due to the complex topography of Taiwan. Building tunnels and elevated tracks is quite expensive and due to the nature of the high speed rail, the tracks have to be straight and level. Only 9% of the track was built on the ground, the other 18% is underground and 73% is elevated, which makes the Taiwan high-speed rail the longest continuously elevated railway in the entire world. Most passengers agree that the high speed rail is an excellent addition to Taiwan’s infrastructure and a fun travel experience. In 2020, the net profit of the high speed rail was $187.5 million US.

Citations

https://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/article/taiwans-high-speed-rail-its-been-a-rapid-learning-curve/

[potato-jem]

NERO MY BELOVED SOULMATE BESTIE!!!!

i’m back!!! i took a few weeks off because life has been a lot and i felt like i needed a little break from everything 🥲

how are you?? what have you been up to in these last few weeks?? i missed you so much!! and i have stories to tell!!

so, i went to paris for a week back in october. i don’t know if you knew this, but paris has been plagued by a bug infestation lately, and the week before me and my friend were supposed to leave they also started having bomb alarms around the city. like the day before we left versailles had been evacuated for a bomb (it was a false alarm in the end) so we were kinda scared and worried. but the city was okay and we didn’t have much of a choice so we went. it was amazing!!! the first two days were perfect, the weather was absolutely amazing, freezing but always sunny, and we walked around the classic spots of the city. we had lots of macarons and croissants too. that was always the best part of the day. then on day three we’d booked versailles. on the day before it had been evacuated again for a false alarm so i thought it would be safe, they checked the night before, but well… after we’d been inside one hour the guards started to talk hurriedly to each other and they led us to the exits, we got evacuated. it looked like they were trying not to cause a panic but it didn’t work, also because there were way too many people inside!! it was crazy and scary, but luckily we were okay and we got safely out. and it was another false alarm, luckily. we decided not to let it ruin the whole trip so that night we went to the eiffel tower and had a nice dinner and dessert. then day four was disneyland!!! it was SPECTACULAR!!! nero have you ever been to a disneyland park?? it is everything you could ever hope it to be. it is pure magic, pure happiness. my friend and i felt like we were outside of the universe, it felt like nothing could touch us, like no problem could reach us. we were kids again. we were singing along to all the songs from our childhood and riding all the attractions and posing with princesses and cartoon animals and we bought so many little souvenirs to keep the magic with us. i got a cheshire cat plushie which is now my favorite thing i own. i have absolutely no regrets even if it costed 30 euros. same goes for my minnie’s ears which had a unicorn horn and a rainbow veil (see attached photograph) another 30 bucks, i have worn them only once, and i love them to pieces 😂 anyways, now is where the fun part really starts. we walked out of disneyland at 11pm after the night show (made me cry for 30 minutes straight, totally would recommend) and we had to take a train to get to the underground. well obviously there was a suspicious backpack at the station so it was closed for about 30 minutes to figure out what it was. it was late and our phones were almost dead so we tried to look for a taxi or bus and they’d put up a special bus service to take us to the closest train station, but as you can imagine it was absolutely packed and when we got off my friend noticed that her bag was open and her wallet was gone. we rushed back to the park to see if they’d had it in the last shop where she bought something but nothing, then we rushed back home to call the police and block all the cards, but of course we only got to the champs-elysées and then they kicked us out of the underground because it was closing. again our phones were out of battery so we didn’t even know if the buses were still running or not or how to call a cab, but luckily a cab passed by like two minutes later and we managed to get back to the hotel. and well, the 24h hotel door was closed. we panicked for about 10 minutes and ringed the bell a thousand times before anyone came to open the door. they were “just in the back for a minute” and i mean, fair enough, but on top of everything it was just the last drop.

anyways, the next morning we went to the police and got all the documents we needed to get back to italy and it was okay, it was just a very long wait for a two seconds job so it pissed me off a bit, but still we had a whole day and a half left so we enjoyed it. we had the louvre planned for that afternoon and it was so beautiful. and it was very heartstopping. pun intended 😂 we actually went and looked for every room we saw in the show and stayed about five hours in each one. this is where elle and tao kiss for the first time, it’s the exact place. can you guess how much i cried??

the only thing we couldn’t find was the painting on the stairs where nick talks to elle. i was very upset about that :( but anyways, the next day we came home and all i can say for this trip is wow. it felt like a five months trip somehow 😂 it was tiring and stressful and it tested my anxiety a lot, but honestly it was kind of perfect. this friend i was with is my opposite and my half in a lot of things and somehow we managed to laugh it all off whenever something crazy happened and we still had one of the absolute best trips of my life. i am so happy, i actually am getting a tattoo for our day at disneyland because it feels necessary hehe

and speaking of tattoos, i have a new one to show you!!! i finally got another heartstopper tattoo!!! and it is perfect and my favorite ever ♥️ i’ve wanted this vignette on my skin forever, and every time i see it it reminds me of everything about this story and it makes me so happy

anyways, enough about me!!! i’ve been away from this hellsite for so long, so how are you?? how is life?? i am very eager to catch up!!

i’m sending you a macaron because i am craving them again now (i’ve tried the marie antoniette macaron and i swear to god it feels like drinking a cup of tea, it’s unreal) and a warm tea to drink as you read because i’ve written so damn much, i can’t tell a simple story i missed you so so so much nero <3333

HELLO CECE MY BELOVED SOULMATE BESTIE!!!

it is so wonderful to hear from you!! i missed you so so much!! i was wondering how your trip went!! tbh i have been very on and off this website just because life is so exhausting :') i'm very excited to catch up with what's been happening with you!!

yes! i did hear about the bedbug thing! i had a few friends in paris around the same time and it was also all over the news here (funny that...) but i did not hear about the bomb alarms, that must have been so scary!! oh i can only imagine how lovely the macarons and the croissants were. nothing would be better than the original! i'm glad it was a false alarm and that you all got out safe. that must have been terrifying. AND DISNEYLAND?! cece i have never ever been to a disneyland but it has always been a dream of mine! i think the closest disneyland to me is japan or singapore 😭😭😭 but that's so wonderful to hear that you had such a lovely time!!! what was your favourite ride? any snacks you would recommend?? i would love to see the cheshire cat plushy, it sounds adorable! and the minnie ears!!! i'm obsessed and you're right: buying ears at disneyland is essential, it doesn't matter if you only wear them for the day! and what an end to a good day 😂😂 that sounds so anxiety-inducing, i audibly gasped as i was reading 😂

literally!!! government documents and officials make you wait so long for something that takes so little time!!! it's so fucking frustrating >:( the louvre!!! that would have been so cool, and it would have had extra meaning because of the show!! and i think i would have died a little, looking at the exact spot elle and tao had their first kiss! i don't blame you for crying at all 😂😂

a positive is that you got to see every other painting and iconic place from heartstopper and that's all that matters!! the trip sounded like so much fun, but yes, very draining with all those things not going to plan!! and i'm so glad you went with a friend who would laugh it all off with you and still make sure you guys had a good time!! that would have been so lovely! oh and absolutely you need to get a disneyland tattoo!! that would be perfect!

speaking of perfect, your new tattoo is so cute!!!! i love that panel too and it's just such a good representation of nick and charlie's relationship throughout the series!! and a really good placement too. ugh you always get the best tattoos!

as for me, i've been doing okay!! i have finished university for the year, and i am currently preparing for my exchange (i go to the uk NEXT MONTH! cece that is so crazy) a part of preparing for my exchange is unfortunately working a lot, but i have been rostered every single public holiday coming up so i should be getting a good amount of money before i leave!

and you'll be happy to know that after the christmas/new year's period, i'm going to stop working and have a few weeks of rest before i go!! i'm planning on just catching up with friends before i leave, packing and just actually getting a good night's sleep 😂😂

oh, also! i know you wanted little updates about what was going on in my love life, sooooooo... in the time you've been gone, i managed to get a girlfriend!!! i'm very happy and i have no clue what i am doing at all times, but it's good :)

i'm going to send you a little pavlova (a meringue like dessert australians typically have around christmas time, loaded with fruit and cream) and a little iced tea to go with, because my god, is it hot in australia right now. miss you heaps!!! <3

[smartass-hoot]

MY AWESOME GIRLBOSS POGSLAY BROEST OF BROS, THE DAFFODUDE TO MY BROSES, THE BROMEO TO MY BRUHLIET!! i wanna know: jasmine tea, caramel macchiato, earl grey, and sparkling water :3

EYYYY IT'S MY BROULMATE, THE NOYA TO MY TANAKA 😤 mwah i love you bro you the bestest 🩷🩵 (link to the OG ask)

jasmine tea: If you could go anywhere in the world, where would it be and why?

oh man, i've always wanted to go to italy bc i love their food so damn much askjdnsdkfjk. i enjoy architecture and views and all too but my primary focus whenever i travel is trying to experience the culture of the place AND WHAT BETTER WAY TO DO IT THAN FOOD?? i've been obsessed with pasta from when i was a smol bean so i'd love to go there and taste all sorts of pasta and have fun with the locals (i think we'd get along 'cause our cultures are pretty similar).

caramel machhiato: You’re travelling the entire world but you can only take one person with you. Who do you take?

this is so hard 😭 i'd normally say family but since this is only one person, i'll have to choose a friend (my fam won't enjoy shit unless we're all together lmao). honestly i'd probably take my irl friend Art 'cause she's also a foodie like me and she enjoys taking long scenic walks to properly appreciate the places we're visiting. she also enjoys the same kinds of adventures that i do, and since our vibes match so much whenever we go out, i feel like we'd have the time of our lives even if it was just the both of us travelling the world askjdnskfjnkj

earl grey: The inevitable Zombie Apocalypse is upon us! What’s your plan of action?

holy shit okay,,, so i actually have a whole procedure planned out for this + scoping out locations and route maps irl and learning how to hotwire a bus (ofc i only think about this a normal amount what are you talking about haha).

there's this huuuge supermarket that's located in the middle of nowhere so fewer zombies, so that would be the first place i hit to grab all the non-expiring canned food + high calorie stuff and a gas stove. and then since there's a bus parking space nearby i'd go there to steal one. buses are obviously the most safe option where i live because you can keep all your friends with you + luggage space + less damage when ramming into something. and then i'd go to this one statue place that's in the middle of a hugeass lake, and swim my way there since i'm assuming zombies won't be able to cover that big of a distance nor hear us from so afar. yada yada you get the gist of things lmao ksdjfnksjdf

anyways, i'd probably try to outlast the zombies without direct interaction, but if i run outta supplies or it seems like i'm going to get bitten or if it just gets too much, i'd probably try to take out as many zombies as possible with me lmao.

sparkling water: Describe what qualities you look for in a person

ooooh!!! i think i'm pretty flexible with the kind of people i like spending time with but some things i'd definitely prefer is someone who has a sense of humour (i laugh at everything and i love cracking jokes so this person should ideally enjoy the same haha), someone who is passionate and driven (it could be about anything in the world literally, i just love being able to support people's interests), someone who is kind (and i don't mean a goody two shoes, just someone with basic empathy and compassion), and someone who shares at least a couple of interests with me (could be animanga, reading, music, adventure, etc because i really love doing things together with people and just gushing for hours nonstop about some random thing).

anyways thanks for the ask bro, loved answering these 😤

[umichenginabroad]

Week 1: Planes, Trains, and Automobiles (+ a Ferry)

Ciao!

In the past week, I have used Italian trains, buses, taxis, a shuttle van, planes, and taken a ferry ride, so this blog post will be dedicated to transportation. 

To begin, I was supposed to fly from Chicago to Dublin, then Dublin to Naples, where CIS Abroad (the company hosting the program) provided transport shuttles to either the dorms or shared apartment accommodations in Sorrento. The initial long-haul flight wasn’t too bad, I read for the majority of the flight and was fed some half-decent food. 

Unfortunately, due to delays on the tarmac in Chicago, I missed my connecting flight in Dublin and had to figure out another way to Naples. I luckily discovered someone else also in my program in my same flight and we navigated Europe together. Since the next flight out to Naples wasn’t until the following evening, we decided to go instead to Rome and then brave the Italian train system to navigate to Naples. 

(Me and a fellow study abroad student taking a shuttle to our new terminal in Dublin)

To preface, figuring out the train system seemed to be one of the biggest learning curves people that I have talked to have encountered in the past, and as such it was something I was nervous about coming to Italy. Trains (and ferries, as it turns out) are frequently late and don’t align with posted schedules, tickets have to not only be bought but also validated at the station, and the platform numbers commonly change right before arrival. We were supposed to be briefed on how to handle it during our orientation the first day, however we were thrown straight in the deep end! We used one of the most common websites for booking high-speed trains, ItaliaRail, and managed to book a train from the Rome airport to the main Roman train station (surprisingly far from the airport), then one from Rome to Naples for a total cost of around 65 euros.

(Red passenger train with volcano in background)

Since the first train was a regional/local train, there were no assigned seats and thus we had to validate our tickets just before boarding through, however for the high speed cross-country train to Naples, since we had an assigned seat, we did not have to validate (something that stressed us out as you can face fines if you don’t properly validate tickets). Thankfully, everyone we talked to was very nice and helped us figure it out. 

Once in Naples, we shared a taxi to the airport with two other travelers we met along the way (5 euros each) and waited until a few others from the program landed and got the last transfer shuttle to Sorrento. Finally, after over 36 hours of traveling (almost 16 more than intended) we arrive with a leg up on the local transport compared to our peers.

Just earlier today, I took a bus with two other friends from Sorrento to Positano, another town along the Almalfi coast, for 10 euros. Getting the ticket was very easy, as the ticket booth at the bus station was clearly marked. The bus was about 30 minutes late, but that is to be expected for Italian buses. After around 45 minutes and many many curvy and windy roads, we got off at Positano and explored the town. On the way back, we bought ferry tickets for 19 euros (cheaper with cash than online) and waited in a long line to board. As with the bus, the ferry was quite late, but actually took less time to get back to Sorrento. I think the ferry is my new favorite form of transportation as I loved sitting on the top deck and watching the coastline go by. 

(view of Sorrentine peninsula from top deck of ferry)

Overall, I am quite proud of myself for figuring out how to get around on the fly, but I definitely took away some important lessons. First, be patient, both with yourself and the transportation. Everyone gets lost/confused sometimes and navigating a new country is daunting. Be willing to ask for help if you don’t know what to do! It’s better than facing fines or unknowingly breaking any transit laws. Additionally, some places only take cash, make sure to always carry some cash! Lastly, if you can, TAKE DRAMAMINE, especially for the buses. I am not one to get car/motion sick, but the switch backs and coastal curves are no joke and all three of us were very close to turning green by the time we got off the bus. 

This post is getting long, but I wanted to share some details of Italian public transportation as that was one of my biggest questions going into this program. 

See you next week!

Marika Ruppart

Mechanical Engineering

Engineering in Sorrento, Italy