#if you look closely you can see a little bit of each of their dnd characters

[matchingbatbites]

Steve proposes to Eddie during DND.

He's played about a dozen times since the Vecna ordeal three years ago, just one-off stories with no real consequences, and while it took him a little bit to get a feel for the game, he's finally reached a point where he doesn't feel totally out of place.

It helps that Eddie absolutely lights up every time Steve agrees to play, that his boyfriend tends to go a little easier on the rest of the table because they all help Steve half-fumble through the mechanics. It's worth it when Eddie beams at him for figuring something out first, for suggesting a dumb play that has the table screaming when it works.

It's the summer after the kids' senior year, and when Eddie offers to run an all-day one shot to celebrate their graduation, Steve instantly starts planning. He talks to Robin, who absolutely gushes over his idea, and along with Dustin they plan it all out.

He learns the premise of the one-shot from Eddie - there's a big bad who's been taking people from the kingdom, and the king is finally forced to do something when his own son, the prince, is also taken - and Dustin helps him make a character, a fighter who is the personal guard of the prince, whose goal is to find and bring him back safely.

Eddie seems pleased with the character when Steve explains it to him, even more so when Steve suggests the idea that they've fallen for each other and have been lovers in secret. "You're such a romantic, sweetheart," Eddie says before kissing him, and Steve knows it’s a tease and a compliment, knows that Eddie loves how soft he can get over things like that.

The game happens about two weeks later, and Eddie wasn’t joking when he called it an all-day affair.

They get started at about ten that morning, Steve and Eddie, their four boys, and Erica all crowded around the little dining table in Steve and Eddie's little apartment, with Robin, El, and Max entertaining themselves in the adjacent living room.

At Eddie’s insistence, they take a break every couple of hours so everyone can get up and stretch and use the toilet, with slightly longer breaks for lunch and dinner (sandwiches and pizza, respectively, both provided by Steve and Eddie).

The big bad is defeated at around nine that night, and everyone is elated as Eddie takes them through the aftermath, letting each player character have a short moment to reunite with their stolen friends and loved ones.

Robin and the girls have moved to sit on the nearby kitchen counter to listen, partly because El always enjoys these soft moments in the story, and partly because Robin knows what’s going to happen soon.

Steve stays quiet, letting the others have their moment as he fights down the sudden anxiety that sparks through him, knowing what he’s about to do. He looks up when Eddie says his name, takes a steadying breath, and asks "Do I see the prince?"

Eddie nods, says "You do."

"I go over to him."

"He sees you approaching and he rushes to you, meeting you halfway. As soon as you're close enough, he throws his arms around you and says 'I knew you would save me, darling.'"

Steve smiles. "I say, 'I always will, my love' and then I kiss him."

The teens hoot and holler a little as Eddie grins. "He kisses you back, and for a moment it's like everything else fades to the background. All that matters is him, back where he belongs, safe in your arms."

Steve nods, and before he loses his nerve asks "Can I do something?"

Eddie quirks a brow, curious. "Of course,” he says, and Steve takes a breath to steady himself.

"I take his hand, and then I drop to one knee."

A couple of the teens give little 'ooh's as Eddie looks at him, clearly a little surprised, and Steve continues before he can say anything.

"Three years ago, I took my place by your side as your personal guard. I swore to care for you, to protect you from anything that would want to hurt you, and somewhere along the way, we fell in love."

Steve swallows, knows he's blurring the line of character and person as he speaks, staring at Eddie across the table.

"The last three years have been everything to me. Any time I'm not with you, you're the only thing I can think about, and every day spent with you is a fucking gift, because I know just how close I came to losing you."

The sudden urge to touch Eddie becomes overwhelming and he stands, watches Eddie's shocked face as he rounds the table and drops to a knee in front of his lover. Eddie's eyes are wide and he gives a soft "Steve?" as Steve takes a slender hand in his own, remembers the words he had practiced over and over with Dustin.

"I don't want to be just a fighter anymore. I want to be a paladin, set on a righteous path, and if you'll let me, I want to make an Oath of Devotion. Not to any god or angel, but to you, the love of my life."

Steve pulls the ring from his pocket and offers it to Eddie. It's very much not traditional, and at first glance seems to be just another chunky ring that blends in with Eddie's current selection. But Steve had to get it, the shield molded onto the band and the new 'beloved' engraved on the inside repeating what Steve always says, I'll protect you, I love you.

Eddie is in tears as Steve stares him down, as he gently asks "Eddie Munson, will you marry me?"

For just a second, Eddie is completely still, save for his shaky breathing. Steve doesn't get scared, he knows that sometimes it takes Eddie a second to register things when he's overwhelmed. He waits it out, and after a few seconds Eddie blinks rapidly before jerking forward, dropping to his knees as he throws his arms around Steve. "Fuck yes! Of course I will!"

Cheers erupt through the room, and a flash goes off when they meet in a kiss. Eddie looks over to see Robin with a camera in her hand and tears streaming down her face. “Don’t mind me,” she says, a bit choked up even as she beams at them, and Eddie’s head whips back to Steve.

“You planned this!” he yells, unable to stop his own tears from falling, and Steve laughs. “Of course I did!” is his reply as he takes Eddie’s hand back so he can slide the ring onto it, and he ignores the second flash from where Robin sits.

“Wanted it to be perfect,” Steve says softly, stroking his thumb over the ring, now at its new home on Eddie’s finger. “Wanted you to know how much you mean to me, and I figured something nerdy would hit all the right buttons.”

“I helped with the nerd stuff!” Dustin calls from his seat, and Eddie laughs wetly as he scrubs at the tear tracks on his cheeks. “I should have known something was up with you, Henderson. You’ve been bouncing off the walls for weeks.”

Steve stands up from the floor before helping Eddie up, and they both grunt as Dustin practically slams into them for a hug, quickly followed by a more reserved El. They hug each of the kids in turn and accept their congratulations, and after a few minutes Eddie is put together enough to actually finish out the one-shot.

Later that night as they're getting ready for bed, Eddie presses up behind Steve, one hand sliding to rest on his stomach and the other opening in front of them, revealing a simple, gold band.

"You beat me to it, you dick," he says with so much tenderness, and Steve laughs as he takes the ring.

"You can still do your proposal, if you want," Steve replies, heart swelling as he looks over the band, sees the little 'sweetheart' engraved on the inside.

"Nah, there's no way I can top what you did for me."

"I dunno, you normally top me pretty well," Steve teases, just to hear Eddie's delighted little cackle.

He turns and hands the ring back to Eddie, asks "Put it on me?" and Eddie smiles. He takes the ring and slides it onto Steve's finger, his thumb brushing over shiny metal, and Steve feels so fucking happy as they meet in the middle for a kiss.

[missjashin]

I think the kids from the party wouldn’t connect the dots that there’s something more than friendship going on between Steve and Eddie very fast. Because they’ve now listened for about a year that no Steve and Robin are not together and they don’t want to be either and the two are just weirdly close . Not lovey-dovey affectionate obviously but still super close and rather inseparable. Not to mention the kids also assume that Steve is straight as an arrow. So when Eddie and Steve seem to get closer and closer they just assume they’re good friends now. That it’s the upside down effect or something. Surprised they even get along in the first place.

But who would start suspecting something? Corroded Coffin guys. They know something happened during the spring but not the whole truth so they don’t have the same perspective as the kids. But they see the lingering looks, the lingering hands and touches. They notice when you walk in on them and it looks like they were just holding hands, something that’s easy to miss if you don’t pay attention but they are. They notice how the two gravitate towards each other, sit next to each other when there’s enough room not to be glued together but they choose to be. How they look and smile at each other across the room. See them sharing cigarettes, whispering into each others ears and hear them honest to god giggle at each others’ jokes.

And even when Steve and Eddie are not together and Corroded Coffin have their band practice/ hang outs, when they’re not playing and practicing the songs they usually do, they can catch Eddie strumming his guitar something that undeniably sounds like a love song.

And sure they might know Eddie’s uhm, preferences when it comes to a partner (read: he is gay af) but Steve Harrington? Well it wouldn’t be the first time the guy surprises them. They also didn’t think he was such a nice guy until they got to know him better after he let them have DnD sessions at his house.

Steve’s friendship with Buckley throws them off a little bit at times because those two are tight but then again she is way too unbothered by the fact that Steve and Eddie seem to be making heart eyes at each other every time they’re in the room together. So yeah. They’ll figure this out, they’re on a quest now.

[nburkhardt]

We’re just gonna see where this goes but it’s inspired by this! Hope you don’t mind @thorniest-rose

~

When it first came to be, it was strictly dnd. Honest. It was a safe place for anybody who wanted to play in the game, to find friends.

But somewhere along the way when it was just the core four; Gareth, Jeff, Frankie and of course, Eddie.

They used their time in Hellfire to become best friends and eventually learn something else they have in common.

A crush on Steve ‘The Hair’ Harrington.

The four of them hated admitting it out loud but it came to a halt when the jock was partnered up with Jeff for a project and Jeff couldn’t stop talking about how nice the guy actually is. It snowballed from there, Gareth found out the guy drove middle schoolers around when he accidentally ran into him at the arcade and one of the middle schoolers wouldn’t leave him alone. Then Frankie accidentally bumped into him during lunch and Steve gave up his food when Frankie’s was all over the floor.

What really sold all of them on the crush was when Eddie decided all of them deserved a treat for defeating the latest campaign. Eddie froze the second he stepped into Scoops Ahoy when Steve turned from his coworker and greeted them.

It was after that they all really admitted to the crush and would spend a few minutes each hellfire session to talk about it.

They thought once the new school year started, they’ll finally move past it.

It was going really good, until the new members came in and all four of them got a front row seat yet again of the one they all like.

Steve dropping off Dustin Henderson and Robin Buckley at school, or Steve hanging around Hellfire to drag Henderson home. They see him around town too, usually with Robin but sometimes he’s out with Dustin and Sinclair’s sister getting ice cream of all things.

They’re all cowards though.

Never actually finding any sort of courage to actually talk to the guy. At least not directly and never long enough, sometimes they’ll say hi and how are yous. Little stuff, ya know?

Luckily no one caught onto it, especially since they actually see Steve more and more now. Instead of talking about the crush during hellfire sessions, they use band practice now. Just to save themselves a from tiny bit of embarrassment.

Eddie’ll admit later on that he got a little, just a tiny amount really, high. A bit, truly. That’s what makes his lips a little loose, makes his brain mushy, makes him giddy and have the giggles.

He’ll blame Henderson or maybe thank him? Eddie isn’t sure yet but for now not just himself but his best friends are all frozen right now.

“You what?!” Henderson screeches and makes them move again, “Hellfire is what now?”

Eddie can process that this is starting to go sideways but the high is pleasant and blurring his lines, so he looks up at Dustin, “a Steve Harrington fan club? A bit. Stevie is pretty boy! How can we not? He’s nice and sunshine in human form, he’s just so so good! And and and gorgeous!”

He sighs and closes his eyes, “so kissable tooooooooo”

Everyone else in the have very different reactions. Jeff, Gareth, Frankie all shrug and nod. Mike and Lucas look a little disappointed and annoyed, Dustin’s the only one that doesn’t seem to either agree or disagree. He looks both happy and grossed out. Eddie’s head is floating away, he can’t really process any of this information. And he’s not gonna ask questions in this state or answer more questions.

“Sooo, I gotta admit, was not expecting this”

Eddie’s stomach does a flip as his eyes fly open and when they focus, there, standing in the doorway with his arms crossed and a smile or maybe a smirk- maybe neither? Eddie’s can’t tell. It’s very, very nice. He does know that at least.

Steve is very, very pretty. Especially as he moves into the room, “Seeeee, Henderson? Ain’t he just gorgeous?”

Dustin looks between them, shaking his head before turning to the others, the ones not currently high. “Seriously?”

Frankie shrugs again, “I mean, Ed isn’t wrong. Thought I’d be over it, but here I am anyway.”

Jeff nodded and Gareth rolled his eyes, “we tried keeping between us only”

The new members frowned, while Dustin and Steve stared at each other. Steve fighting back a laugh, while Dustin already cracked a smile before looking back at Eddie, who’s head is finally floating back down and he’s started to sit back up.

“Oh. Oh man. I did-” Eddie looked between everyone, face turning bright red as he closes his eyes and blinking before meeting Steve’s eyes, “fuccccck, dude- I,”

There’s a glint in Steve’s gaze, his laugh dying but a smile staying in it’s place, “Picked a great day to hang around, maybe we can do all of that again some day?”

“What?”

Eddie sees the younger boys snap their heads to look at Steve, Dustin’s the only one to smile and bounce in his place. The older boys are glaring at him, Eddie can tell even without looking, green isn’t really their color.

Steve’s face hasn’t moved though, still looking at him and definitely smirking.

“Let’s try the complaints and pretty names again, Eddie baby” Steve says, and Eddie cannot believe his ears.

Eddie can tell he looks dumb but he nods and nods and nods as his smile grows, “I can come up with so many. So many, Sunshine, Darling, just you wait!”

(His best friends are both very jealous and very happy for him. And they’ll eventually with time, joke about this and play try getting Steve to themselves. Eddie will always win at the end. Someday it’ll come out that Steve was just waiting for the day for the guts to ask Eddie out. Robin let’s Eddie and the guys in on that secret.)

~ ~

Like I said I don’t know where this was going it kinda wrote itself. I… don’t know how it got this long. Also Lucas and Mike look annoyed because that’s their babysitter. It gross. Dustin’s happy because it’s his big brother. 😌

Permanent Taglist:

@spectrum-spectre @itsfreakingbats @mysticcrownshipper @artiststarme @thereindeerlady @justforthedead89 @ronniescontinuum @freyaforestafay @littlewildflowerkitten @estrellami-1 @gregre369 @zerokrox-blog @bookworm0690 @flustratedcas @carlprocastinator1000 @marvelmwah @solliesolesito @navnae @i-less-than-three-you @grimmfitzz @strangersteddierthings

[aroacedm]

here’s 12 pictures of my art! context after each and my references at the end

tgcf spoilers!

12th

redrawing of the official art from tgcf volume 4! shi qingxuan is my favourite character and he xuan is a close second

this took me a while until i liked it but i wanted to recreate how the original created the ominous feeling and had so much detail and contrast while being in greyscale

11th

from the tgcf manhua, fengqing! i think their my favourite ship, and i hadn’t drawn them before so i tried to give it a go. not a big fan of the proportions but i think it turned out ok.

10th

@oceantherat (this is their favourite character from rain code) showed me the reference picture and i decided to try drawing it as perspective practice. it ended up a little bigger than i though so i couldn’t fit the whole reference, and the mask doesn’t feel rounded, but overall i like it

9th

same guy again! i wanted to try drawing him again but i think the shadows got a bit messed up. my cheap pens smudged a bit but overall i like it

8th

also from the tgcf manhua, this was from a meme that’s become an bit with me and ocean, just felt like drawing something and saw this in my photos

7th

after a dnd session with ocean and some other friends, i drew a scene from ocean’s character’s (also called ocean because that’s not their irl name) flashback! this guy killed her family! he’s one of her relatives! but i really wanted to focus on how dark the scene was, with almost everything being pitch black. i wanted to recreate the scene that left my players going D:

6th

here’s a younger ocean and her cousin that’s more like a brother! i hope nothing bad happens to him… i wanted to draw a picture that helped me as a reference for the backstory, to help build the character relationships and motivations

5th

it’s another character from that dnd campaign when they were younger with their brother figure! except this one is an NPC helping them out! i wanted to try and make the effect of torn paper but didn’t want to risk anything, so i left a bit of uncoloured paper to imitate a layer of partially torn paper. this was also to help when i was writing backstories

4th

this is the npc from the last picture in present time, i wanted to make canon designs for all the characters to help me visualise everything. i hid a few lore elements in this but because ocean is going to see this i can’t explain

3rd

i tried to redraw a picture of me and a friend on a ride together but in a more simple style (no eyes and mouth, ect) i haven’t shown the friend yet but i will soon. i’m the person looking at the camera. i really loved the photo and wanted to try drawing it

2nd

i drew this a while ago, but i still really like it. i used my own hand as reference (for some reason i used the hand i was drawing with) i’ve always been fairly good at drawing hands and when i sent this on an art group chat i’m in, i was quickly accused of being a witch. i can only draw to a level i like when i have a reference, and i always have my hands so it’s the thing i’ve drawn the most. i didn’t have the colour for my hands, but i think it turned out good

and finally,

i’m really proud of this one, i was sick and really bored when i drew it. this is from tgcf vol 6, but i’ve always been really impressed by the tgcf official art and how they look hand drawn but also digital. (you can see brush strokes but they look too perfect). i didn’t have all the different shades of grey, but i think i did well.

thanks for looking at all my art, here are the references i used and where they’re from

i don’t have the reference for number 9 but i’ll reblog with it when i find it

also i plan on showing more of my art but i need to find the original authors of the references

[vynwan-cbq]

U can ignore this if you're not taking requests but i just heard that miguel cried when he first was lil spoon!!? Um.. I need a fic of that

YES. OH MY GOD YES I SAW THIS REQUEST AND IMMEDIATELY STARTED WRITING IT. I kind of got ahead of myself because it's more than just spooning but I hope it doesn't take too much away from the original request <3.

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

Spoon

Pairing: miguel o'hara x gn!reader

Warnings: loss, crying, implied panic attack, angst as HELL but it's soft at the end, I didn't proof read bc my vision is blurry from tears.

Don't ask me to pay your therapy bills.

~~

It’s only been a few months since you and Miguel started dating, and Miguel’s still reserved. His thinking is that he doesn’t deserve you. That he doesn’t deserve happiness because the last time he was selfish enough to try to be happy, he lost his daughter and billions of lives because a universe collapsed. You do your best with consoling him in this, and it’s been working. He’s not as reserved as he was when you both started dating. You started cuddling just about a month ago and have kissed a week after that.

But he still has his moments. Like now.

It’s Gabriella’s birthday, and he woke up at 5, went to the tower, and buried himself in his work.

He came home at 9, not even bothering to take off his suit before he fell on the bed and hugged a replica of the teddy bear Gabriella loved.

You know today’s significance, and you’re worried for him. You were trying to contact him all day and he didn’t answer his phone, which was on DND at home the entire time. You knock on his door and unlocked it with your spare key.

“Miguel?” You call through the home, not finding him. You step into the bedroom and find his figure under the sheets. He’s awake, you observe, but he doesn’t want to talk. Doesn’t want to do anything. You place a hand on his shoulder and the soft exhale he lets out translates to “I need a hug”. Still in your hoodie and jeans, you get into bed and kiss his shoulder. Moving up so that your head is above his, you hug him from behind so that the back of his head is against your chest. One arm has his head resting on it and the other is cupping his cheek and soothingly petting it.

His heart spills the emotions he’s been holding in all day, and he cries.

He hasn’t cried in front of you before, never even came close to it, but here he is crying because you’re spooning him. “Oh, Miguel,” You whisper, your heart also aching at his heartbreaking sobs.

He simply grips the stuffed animal in his arms and curls up, nuzzling himself backwards a bit to be in your arms. “She’d be 10 today,” he hiccups between each sob. Tears prick in your eyes at that, and you hold him closer. Your leg wraps around his waist to keep him close and he lightly squeezes it as if he’s trying to bring himself to reality.

He eventually turns around and stuffs his face in your chest, pulling you in by the waist roughly and muffling his cries into it. He’s holding on to you for dear fucking life because he cannot lose you too. “Miss her so much,” he mumbles a few times, sometimes also whimpering “I can’t breathe”.

Doing your best to pull yourself together, you make him look at you and see him breathing heavily. “Hey, Mig,” you whisper and wipe a tear from the corner of his eye, “shhh, it’s ok.” He looks up at you with the prettiest fucking doe eyes and tries to calm his breathing down. “Name three things in the room, honey,” you coo, and he hiccups before looking around.

“Curtains,” he rasps, hiccups again, then looks around a little more. “Clock,” and he looks down in his arms, “teddy bear.” You smile at him and peck his forehead, “good job. Now name three sounds.”

He looks at you with his eyes still sparkling from tears. “Honking,” he hums softly when you wipe a tear from his cheek again, “wind,” and he squeezes your waist softly before saying, “your heartbeat.” You hum and kiss his nose. “Now three body parts, baby, almost there.”

He wiggles his fingers, touches his cheek, and then his tummy while saying all three. You’ve never kissed him so softly and he sighs at the feeling again. The both of you part and he wipes one of your tears, softly smiling at you before placing his face against your chest again.

“Tell you what,” you cup his face and make him look at you once more, “why don’t we buy a cupcake and put some candles on it? We can sing happy birthday to Gabriella.”

“She wouldn’t want you sad on her birthday,” you trace hearts onto his jaw and kiss his nose.

And his eyes well up in tears again.

Not really sad tears this time, though. You’re the sweetest being he’s laid his eyes on, and he’s all yours and you're all his. He couldn’t believe that fact.

So you did get a cupcake. Her favorite flavor, chocolate with vanilla icing, and he even bought pink sprinkles because she loves them. Carefully carrying the items to his apartment, the two of you settled on the balcony with a picnic blanket and a plate. You help him place the sprinkles on the cupcake, and lit a small candle to put on top of it.

You both sing the happy birthday song to which he adds “happy birthday, mi niñita” near the end. He tries not to sound like he’s already crying as he sings the last part, “Happy birthday to you.”

He holds your hand, still looking at the candle with a soft smile and a tear rolling down his cheek.

And you didn’t even have to blow the candle. The wind did, but it almost didn’t even feel like a coincidence from how immediate it was.

He leans onto your shoulder and the two of you let the soft background noise of Nueva York below you take over. All he’s doing is running his thumb over the back of your hand.

He eventually turns towards you and admires you. Smiling, you ask what he’s doing.

He shakes his head and says,

“thank you.”

~~

Gonna cry now.

[skepsiss]

Reflection: Eddie's POV

This is a 4 part mini-series about the Fruity Four. It's 1989 and Steve, Eddie, and Robin are visiting Hawkins over winter break. Nancy has invited them all over for a little Christmas get-together, and we read from the point of view of each member of the crew across 1 event.

I wrote these pieces to be read in any order, so... enjoy some Steddie, vague Ronance, Vickie x Robin, and just the Fruity Four being... fruity.

Dialogue prompt "You Remember That?" for @thefreakandthehair's Spicy Six Winter Fanworks Challenge. Page break/border by @/alderdoodle.bsky.social on Bluesky.

Rating: T Words: 3,072 CW: Swearing, scars/injury, sexual language

Steve's Part Robin's Part Nancy's Part Eddie's Part

Nancy shut the door and Eddie stepped awkwardly down the front stoop with Steve’s help. He was treating Eddie like he was some kind of delicate ballerina or something, and it only vaguely bothered Eddie because he was wearing Nancy’s coat. He had left his proper winter coat at home by mistake, and of course tonight of all nights the weather gods had decided to launch Hawkins into a snowstorm. Just his luck, really—especially after he had bet Steve that their rental car wouldn’t get stuck in the snow during their visit. He had been dead wrong and now their only way back to the trailer was by foot and well… the trailer park was on the opposite side of town. 

“Hey Steve,” someone greeted from behind them, and Eddie slowly turned. “Hey Nance, where are—-oh.”

It was Mike, and he actually took half a step back when Eddie turned to look at him.

“Eddie?” He asked, looking startled before his brows creased, and his mouth tried to form words for a question.

“I forgot my coat,” Eddie said with a sharp frown, sounding vaguely threatening. “One word, Wheeler, and you’re dead meat.”

“Jeez—okay, I just wanted to—-sorry,” Mike replied, sounding defensive despite folding easily under Eddie’s glare.

“Hey, Mike,” Steve responded, leaning around Eddie slightly before tugging him in beside him. “We’re just leaving. We’ll be back around in a few days, probably, though.”

“Uh, yeah, cool, I was actually hoping I’d catch you before you left, Eddie. I can’t find the like initiation stuff you used for us when we first joined Hellfire, where is it? Do you remember that?”

“Uhhh….” Eddie replied, a bit stunned at being made to remember something so long ago—it was only 2 years, but he could hardly remember what he ate for breakfast sometimes.

“Theatre costume room, maybe?” He replied, shrugging. “I really don’t remember, dude. I’ll ponder on it, though, see if I can unlock something out of Mordenkainen's Tome.”

The two of them exchanged a chuckle at Eddie’s reference before they properly parted ways.

Steve trudged across the lawn, and Eddie shivered in his wake as he followed his footsteps through the snow. He took Steve’s hand once again when they reached the sidewalk and tucked in close to his side.

“Whose Mortem… Mortemkinim?” Steve asked, his voice lacking shyness for needing clarification. They had gotten well past the point of Steve needing to be embarrassed about asking for clarification on nerd stuff.

“Mordenkainen,” Eddie corrected lightly, “he’s like an arch-mage in Greyhawk who invents a bunch of magic… things. Has these planar tomes he has forbidden knowledge in and all that.”

“DnD shit?” Steve asked, raising a brow.

“DnD shit,” Eddie confirmed with a chuckle.

“You’re such a fucking nerd,” Steve teased, and Eddie glanced up to see him rolling his eyes. He was smiling still, though, which made Eddie grin back.

“You loooooovvveee it,” Eddie singsonged, knocking his temple against Steve’s head gently. “Got a fetish for it or something.”

“Excuse me?” Steve asked, accusatory, leaning away from Eddie with a laugh. “How the hell is that a fetish? What are your sources, Munson?”

“Uh, my eyes?” Eddie replied acrimoniously. “My eyes, my mouth, my ass–”

“Okay, enough, we have to walk for another thirty minutes at least, I don’t need this right now.”

Eddie snorted but relented, pleased that he had won that debate.

“It is nice, though,” Eddie said after a few moments of silence. He looked at the sky as they walked, watching the fluffy flakes of snow falling down on them. “Hawkins looking like this. Quiet… walking around the streets with you… holding your hand.”

Eddie looked back at Steve, who smiled faintly at him. He looked soft and despite how cold it was outside, Eddie could swear he felt heat radiating off of Steve from how much he glowed. He looked positively smitten.

Eddie had to look away, and he grinned down at the sidewalk instead, chuckling in an almost shy way.

“Don’t look at me like that,” Eddie swallowed, chewing his lip a bit out of nervousness. Steve could still make his chest and stomach explode with butterflies, even all these years later.

“Like what?” Steve asked, sounding amused as he nudged Eddie’s shoulder with his own.

“Like that–” Eddie laughed, leaning away dramatically from Steve’s friendly shoulder check. “Like you’re completely satisfied with life and more in love with me than anything else in the world.”

“I am in love with you…” Steve replied softly, and Eddie reached up and pulled the brim of his beanie down over his eyes.

He was grinning like an idiot, and Eddie could feel his cheeks cramping from how happy he was. He was being foolish and perhaps a bit juvenile, but he loved hearing Steve say things like that. It was so soft, and it made his heart soar like nothing else.

“You’re so fucking cute…” Steve complimented, which made Eddie pull his hat down further and groan.

“God, shut up,” he huffed, on the verge of giggling.

Eddie hadn’t anticipated it, but suddenly Steve’s arms were around his middle as he was being picked up off his feet.

Eddie shrieked with laughter, the hold only lasting for a moment before Steve was leaning over his shoulder and kissing his neck and cheek.

“Stop it!” Eddie whooped, trying to wriggle from Steve’s hold as he bent at the waist to get away. It didn’t do much to help except pull Steve further over his shoulder, so they were both shuffling gracelessly through the snow.

“I can’t,” Steve chastised, still kissing at what little bits of skin he could reach. “You’re just so goddamn adorable.”

He pulled the brim of Eddie’s hat up, and Eddie couldn’t control the giggles that escaped him as he feebly pulled away from his boyfriend. God, they were acting like such teenagers. They were so stupid. They were so stupid and so in love, and Eddie wouldn’t change a single second of it.

“I’m not adorable,” Eddie complained, still smiling, but his laughter had died down. “I’m supposed to be a metal-god. Devil spawn, heart-breaker extraordinaire!”

He heard Steve chuckle in his ear before relenting and giving him one good kiss on the cheek.

“Yeah, a metal-god that makes me buy chocolate milk for him and who watches Banjo the Woodpile Cat on repeat when he’s feeling sentimental. Which is like… at least once a month.” Steve retorted, still grinning as he moved back to Eddie’s side.

“Shut up, man,” Eddie laughed, punching Steve in the shoulder as they continued to walk. “You promised you wouldn’t tell anyone that on pain of death.”

“You see anyone else around?” Steve asked, gesturing to the empty streets.

The orange glow of the street lights was making velvety shadows spread across the snow, the various Christmas lights from people’s yards joining in to create a nativity of colours. It was romantic, and it felt like they had slipped into a nulspace or the ethereal realm where they were the only ones around. It felt gossamer, and Eddie found himself longing for the old streets of Hawkins that he had so readily left behind a little over a year ago. 

“Just you, handsome,” Eddie replied, regaining a bit of his composure as he took Steve’s hand again. 

It was Steve’s turn to chuckle with flattery, and Eddie took the pause in their conversation to hustle ahead of Steve slightly.

“If there was someone around,” Eddie asked, striking a dramatic pose as he put his hand on his waist and cocked his hip. “You think they’d recognize me?”

Steve snorted at him and continued to walk, seemingly unfazed by Eddie’s antics.

“Doubt it,” Steve teased, poking Eddie in the stomach as he passed. Eddie flinched away with a smirk, despite not being able to feel the touch through the heavy parka. 

“That thing does wonders for your waist, though, makes you look curvy as hell.”

“Awww, you miss the curves, Steve?” Eddie asked, only feeling thin-skinned as he trotted up beside his boyfriend again. Despite them dating for two years, Eddie still had these moments of fear and anxiety over their relationship. Steve had been such a womanizer before they started dating—and he had pulled it off well, too. Every woman loved him. But he had somehow settled for thin-as-a-rail, chaos-gremlin, Eddie Munson who hardly had an ass for Steve to grab.

“Sometimes,” Steve admitted, and Eddie felt his stomach drop as he went quiet.

“But,” Steve shrugged, seemingly unbothered. “I’d miss a whole lot more than curves if I lost you.”

Eddie snorted at that and looked away again, Steve’s comment helping to banish his insecurities for now. 

Yeah… if they broke up—gods forbid—hearing that Steve would miss his body and what he had to offer felt reassuring. Despite hardly having an ounce of meat on his bones, he knew Steve found him attractive. He had heard it and seen it in the way Steve stared at him; how his breath hitched when Eddie stood at the foot of the bed with nothing on. He knew Steve found him attractive… it just felt difficult sometimes to stand in front of a literal Greek god—a man carved from marble in the likeness of the hero of Troy—and compare himself to that. Steve was positively radiant. 

“You getting in your head again?” Steve asked, which shook Eddie from his reverence. He blinked at Steve and then stuck his tongue out at his boyfriend.

“Only a little,” he admitted, looping his arm with Steve’s once again. 

They were a little more than halfway to the trailer park, and Eddie breathed deep as he felt his nose begin to tingle from the cold.

“Can we have a bath when we get back?” Eddie asked, swinging Steve’s arm a bit as they walked, needing to release some of the energy that was building in his limbs.

“A bath?” Steve asked, letting Eddie manhandle him however he liked. “It’ll be 11 at night by the time we’re back.”

“Yeah, so?” Eddie retorted, looking at Steve as if he was an idiot. “We’re on vacation, 11 pm baths aren’t anywhere near the freaky shit I want to get up to.” 

“Oh, I’ll be sure to mark that down and check off ‘breakfast in bed,’ ‘12 pm wake-up calls,’ and ‘assembling Christmas puzzles on the living room rug’ on the freaky list,” Steve replied sarcastically. 

Eddie smacked Steve’s arm with the back of his hand, the action having no real force behind it.

“God, am I getting boring?” Eddie asked, snorting slightly. But the question tickled a small part of his brain, reminding him that all of those things were painfully boring. 

He still had the goal of becoming a Rock Star, but he was less driven than he had been as a teen. 

Rock fame had been the only thing that was going to get him away from Hawkins-–away from his old man’s shadow—but along came Steve Harrington, who had whisked him away. Eddie was content now, and that was odd for him. He wasn’t sure if he had ever been content in his life before now. 

“I don’t think you’re boring,” Steve offered, awkwardly trudging his way through a snow drift and then offering his hand to Eddie to help him over it. Eddie didn’t need help, and he casually refused Steve’s hand in favour of making his own path.

“But that might just be because I’m pretty boring,” Steve admitted, watching Eddie as he struggled through the snow. 

It was denser than Eddie had realized, and he regretfully had pants that were not suited for this kind of weather. He didn’t exactly want to get them wet, since they had another twenty minutes of walking left.

“You’re not—boring,” Eddie huffed, awkwardly shifting and sticking his arms out to balance himself so he wouldn’t fall over. “You’re a badass. B-A-D-D… ass.”

He was concentrating on not falling and not paying attention at all to the fact that he had spelled ‘bad’ wrong. Eddie had at least made it to the crest of the drift, but now he was regretting his trajectory.

“And now I’m boring,” Steve said lightly. He reached for Eddie and grabbed his waist, hoisting him up easily enough and depositing him on the road. The move almost looked practised—like Steve was in a ballet and Eddie was some damsel leaping from the porch and into his lover’s arms so they could do the two-step for an audience. Really, the effort on Steve’s part hadn’t been too great, but it was still mind-blowingly hot. 

“I like it that way.”

Steve was still talking, saying something about being boring and how he liked that his life was much simpler now. He’d had enough adventure for a lifetime in the span of 3 years, and he was content to have people think he was dull. Unfazed and unbothered by the notion that someone would dismiss him out of hand or think of him as ‘uncool.’

Eddie was just admiring him and wondering how anyone could look at Steve and think he was boring. 

“What’re you going to do when I become famous?” Eddie asked, his words dreamy and distracted sounding.

Steve looked at him properly, and Eddie could see his boyfriend’s eyes scanning his face.

“Do I have to be famous too?” Steve asked, sounding vaguely amused.

“You’re good-looking,” Eddie shrugged, “you’d sell tabloids.”

“I think you’re good-looking enough to sell your own tabloid,” Steve retorted, teasing, but obviously flattering Eddie of purpose.

Eddie glanced away again, but this time there was less smiling and more shame. He was shy still, but insecurity etched into his brain thinking about himself plastered across a magazine cover.

“I don’t know… might be a bit hard convincing everyone of that,” Eddie said quietly, “cause…”

Eddie gestured vaguely at his jaw, motioning toward the scar that jutted up his neck and along his jaw. The skin was ropey and stretched looking since the wound had healed poorly, and he didn’t have the money for plastic surgery to fix it. Instead, he just hid the mar with his hair and tried to forget about it when he was in public. It was an insecurity, and Eddie feared that even in the metal scene he wouldn’t be palatable. Before the attack, he had sort of always relied on being decent-looking in order to help his career along, especially when he did his eye makeup for the stage. 

He wished it didn’t bother him. 

“How many times do I have to tell you this?”

Steve’s words were soft, and they pulled Eddie’s attention as he flicked his gaze up toward his boyfriend.

Steve was reaching forward, and Eddie flushed slightly as Steve ran cold fingers over the side of his neck and then soothed his thumb along Eddie’s jaw. He was touching the scar even though that spot had dulled nerves. He was touching the scar and staring at Eddie with such gentle affection that Eddie’s breath hitched. 

Two years. Two years and just a look from Steve could make Eddie feel weightless.

“You’re gorgeous…” Steve complimented, his eyes flicked across Eddie’s face as if he was taking all of him in. He truly looked captivated, and Eddie couldn’t help but stare back at Steve with stunned awe; his eyes large and his heart feeling like it was going to beat out of his chest. 

“If someone is bothered by this,” Steve commented, running his thumb over the scar again, “then they’re an idiot. Plus, it’s badass, right?”

Eddie huffed a small breath at Steve’s comment, feeling as if he had to deny the compliment, but also feeling incredibly touched by the reassurance. He wasn’t sure if that was right, but Steve didn’t seem to bat an eye at his scars-–and not in an effort to ignore them, either. 

Instead of looking away this time, Eddie glanced down the road both ways. It was night, and the wind had let up, making way for lazy snowflakes to fall silently down on Hawkins. No one was out, and it was late enough that even the windows of people’s porches were out. No one would recognize him anyway. 

Eddie wrapped his arms around Steve’s neck and ducked in for a kiss, feeling terribly romantic as he indulged in the slow affection.

Steve didn’t resist in the least, and Eddie sighed through his nose as Steve wrapped his other arm around Eddie’s middle and continued to stroke along the scar on his face. 

They stayed like that for a while, kissing quietly, until eventually Eddie brushed his lips against Steve’s cheek and tucked into his neck for a warm embrace.

“You tired?” Steve asked against his ear, kissing the side of his hat where his ear should be. He dropped his other hand to Eddie's waist and swayed them slightly, leaving lingering kisses against Eddie’s temple now and again.

Eddie just nodded slowly; the exhaustion of the day had caught up to him, and he felt like crawling into a warm bed with Steve and snuggling up as close as possible to him. Eddie was so in love… he was so in love, and Steve took such good care of him. There was no one else in the world that he loved more than Steve, and it baffled Eddie still that Steve felt the same way about him.

“Come on,” Steve said gently, slowly breaking their embrace and taking Eddie’s hand to lead him down the street.

Eddie lamely fell in behind his boyfriend and pressed against the back of his shoulder so he could half lean his cheek on Steve’s shoulder while they walked.

Everything felt so wonderful and warm despite the bitter cold. They were still ten minutes away from the trailer, but Eddie didn’t really mind all that much. It almost felt like he could doze off with how slowly he was shuffling with Steve. The holiday season had never been one of relaxation for Eddie before he started dating Steve, but now he felt like maybe he could relate to all those crummy Christmas movies and how love and peace they were. Steve made everything feel a bit brighter.

Gods… he loved this man. In all Eddie’s years on this godforsaken planet, he never thought he’d be so lucky as to date a man like Steve Harrington. 

[r0s3s26]

This is @shxtodxroki here for our match-up exchange, I’m just sending this from my main blog :>

Name: Bee

Age:19

Pronouns: She/her

Gender for Matches: I would be happy being paired with any gender! And I'd like romantic matches please :D

Fandoms: Haikyuu and JJK :>

Character Preferences: If possible I’d prefer no villains in JJK like Mahito or Sukuna (Though like you said in your ask, my exception would be Choso!) 

Appearance: Bright pink hair (which is wavy if I take care of it properly) that goes a little past my shoulders, 5’7” with green eyes, pretty pale and I have freckles but you can see them much better in the sun. Tend to prefer more cute, pastel and/or feminine styles, but I also like to mix things up sometimes and try different styles especially anything cozy (and I like wearing nerdy/silly t-shirts and shorts/sweatpants almost all the time when I’m at home). I have stretch marks on my legs that I’m a bit insecure about, and lots of little freckles/moles on my arms! 

Personality: Introvert, I love spending time with the people I care about but I also need at least a little bit of alone time each day just to decompress and relax. I have pretty bad anxiety, so I tend to overthink and I’m frequently stressed even if I don’t show it, and even about small things that most people don’t even think about. I’m also super awkward and shy especially when I first meet people especially since I sometimes struggle to read social situations, I’m really not the type to initiate conversations much at first and I even struggle with initiating physical affection with someone I’m close to. Once I feel safe and close with someone I tend to ramble quite a lot about my interests or just topics I’ve dived into recently, and I think I’m a pretty good listener as well! :) I try my best to generally be a friendly person and look out for others, and I tend to avoid conflict unless someone I love is being hurt. My worst trait is probably my procrastination. I’m currently in college and studying to hopefully become an either an ELA or sociology professor, not totally sure yet. I really love learning about things I find interesting/important and getting to share what I learn with people :] I usually enjoy staying up somewhat late as I just like being up and being able to use my time how I like.

Qualities in a Partner: Confidence/willingness to initiate since it’s something I struggle with, someone who’s patient and willing to listen when I’m having a hard time (and I’m more than happy to do the same in return) and someone honest and loyal. Since I’m very anxious, I’d prefer someone who’s open with their affection with me! They don’t have to make it super obvious in public or anything though:) And someone who’s willing to kill/get rid of bugs! My ideal first date would probably be something simple like going out for coffee/a sweet treat and a walk, something that would give us a chance to talk and get to know one another!

Love Languages: Gifts and physical touch for giving (I love getting to see people’s reactions when I get them gifts I know they’ll love) and physical touch and words of affirmation for receiving.

Interests/Hobbies: I’m a big fan of horror or mystery movies/media. (My favorite movie is Knives Out) I really enjoy reading and writing too! I enjoy anime/manga (my favorite anime is Yuri on Ice) and there are a few kinds of video games I really enjoy like visual novels (especially spooky ones), games like Danganronpa or or “cozy games” like Minecraft or Stardew Valley! I also play the cello and I work backstage as the stage manager in most of my school’s theater productions. I really enjoy all kinds of music, I listen to anything from k-pop to musicals to “emo” music to just regular pop. I’m currently trying to learn how to play DnD, and I really enjoy collecting things even when I lose interest! (As in, even after I stop fixating on an interest so much and switch over to a new one, I never get rid of the merch because it still brings me joy and reminds me of how important that thing was to me :> ) I like anything that makes me emotional, whether it’s soul-crushingly sad or super heartwarming, I just like when media can make me feel things, and I’m a big crier since I tend to get emotional pretty easily :]

Dislikes: Bugs, math, people with an ego that makes them treat others poorly, vanilla-scented things

Sorry this is so long, I tend to ramble on and have trouble condensing things lol but I hope this is enough, and thank you so much again for agreeing to this exchange! I’m excited to see what you think :)

Your Matchups are…Kurro Tetsuro and Nanami Kento

<3 He would think your style is super cute

<3 Would buy you accessories that he thinks would look good on you

<3 Also buys matching nerd t-shirts

<3 Because his best friend is kenma he has a lot of experience with introverted people

<3 I feel like he is a secret omnivert but he puts up a extravert front

<3 Like pretends to be super social but actually get overstimulated super quick(projecting)

Like picture this:

You both just left early from a work party at his job because your social battery was going down and you had been wanting to leave for a bit. Once you guys get home and start settling into bed he gets his over the ear headphones he usually uses for working out, and he gets into yalls shared bed and just starts cuddling into your side and is just super quiet. You pull him closer and whisper “are you ok?” he nods his head yes and just nuzzles his head into the side of your neck and wraps his arms around you and just calms his breathing

<3 When you guys first met/started to hang out he was super ok with carrying the conversations for a bit until you wanted to open up more to him

<3 He would help you stay on track and study for your degree

<3 Study dates would be 50% actually studying and the other 50% would be talking shit about your classmates and the people at his job

<3 He would tell you fun facts each day just cause

<3 When he gets little gifts from you he ether puts them on his work desk or his desk at home so he always has a little piece of you to remind him off

<3 Would try getting into some of your hobbies with you like horror movies and manga

<3 But for video game stuff he introduces you to Kenma because he is a streamer and now you are a regular guest on his streams when he plays games like Minecraft, Danganronpa, or any other game he thinks you would also enjoy to play

(Kurro secretly loves that you and his best friend also get along so well cause you 2 are the most important people in his life)

Song:

<3 You and Nanami are pretty similar in certain ways

<3 Like you are both pretty introverted and will probably keep to y’alls selves most of the time

<3 Likes the style/aesthetic difference between you both

<3 Also will buy you stuff that matches your style

<3 Both of these rich ass man ready to spoil you, lucky asf

<3 Secretly would like physical affection

<3 Like the biggest cuddle bug but don’t tell anyone else that or he will be mortified

<3 Would kiss your stretch marks, and whisper things he loves about you to make you feel better like this:

You both had just gotten out of the shower and ready to unwind for the night. You are in a pair of his boxers and an old Yuri on Ice shirt reading a manga you had recently bought. Nanami goes and lays next to your legs on the bed, slightly laying his head in your lap. He sees your exposed stretch marks and starts to kiss them and whisper sweet nothings into your skin. Stuff like “You're so beautiful my love” and “Love you so much”. Just being such a lovey dovey sap for you

<3 Loves going to cafes with you

<3 Has a list going on with you where you rank the best cafes in the area so you both know which ones to go to next

<3 So we both know what Nanami looked like in high school

<3 EMOOO

<3 I feel like he still listens to that type of music still

<3 Like has playlist full of Panic! at the Disco, Pierce the Veil, Paramore, MCR, maybe some green day in there

<3 Also still has his old t shirts so sometimes you both wear the same band tees unironically and laugh at each other

Song:

(Authors Note: Sorry if it isnt super long, im still trying to get my groove with this😓)

[artiststarme]

What If Steve Were To Leave Hawkins? Part 19

Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 4 Part 5 Part 6 Part 7 Part 8 Part 9 Part 10 Part 11 Part 12 Part 13 Part 14 Part 15 Part 16 Part 17 Part 18

Well guys, this is the last story part! Just the epilogue left now and I have ideas lol. I plan on posting it sometime tomorrow if my shift gets slow. Thank you to everyone that has stuck around for all of these parts. Let me know what you guys think in the comments!

Part 20

~*~*~*~

The Party was having a great time regaling each other with their own stories. Steve spoke of Chicago and serving the caffeine-addled fiends of the coffee shop. Eddie captivated their attention with tales of concerts of up-and-coming metal bands and towering buildings. Meanwhile, the kids entertained the older boys with stories of pool outings and ideas for DnD. Nancy and Johnathan were in their own world, chatting about college or whatever they talked about. Through it all, Hopper and Joyce watched all of the kids talking and having fun with each other. 

Unfortunately, all good things must come to an end and even though they were having a fabulous time at the impromptu gathering at the Byers’, the older teens had to get back to the trailer to go to bed. They had to hit the road back to Chicago early the next morning. Steve had already taken a couple of days off from work and he was expected to be back at the coffee shop for a midday shift the next day. 

Steve made a move to stand and awkwardly clapped his hands together. “Hey everyone, we have to head out. We have to be on the road early tomorrow.”

The joyful expressions on everyone’s faces vanished in an instant. They had just gotten Steve back, they didn’t want to lose him again. Their own self-pity and morose feelings were ignored however in the face of making Steve feel happy and secure in his decision to move. Every member of the Party stamped a mournful smile on their face and reminded themselves that this was the best option for Steve as they said their goodbyes.

Hopper started off the first of their farewells with a warm hug and a threat, “if you don’t call me as soon as you get back to Chicago, I will personally hunt you down and kick your ass, kid. Don’t go AWOL again.”

He turned to Eddie and glared as harshly as he could, “if I hear about you hurting Steve even a little bit, I’ll finish what the Upside Down started. Do not test me, Munson. I have nothing to lose.” 

Eddie paled slightly and his mouth dropped open. He was both impressed at the Chief’s threat and also offended at the notion that there could be some world in which he’d hurt Steve. “Um, excuse you…”

“Hey, let the boys be happy!” Joyce defended him and slugged Hopper in the arm. She enveloped both Eddie and Steve in a hug and whispered into their ears, “Ignore him. You’re both always welcome here. You boys better stay in touch, you hear me?”

They both nodded at her and returned her hug, Steve pressing a small kiss to the top of the short woman’s head. She was a better mother to him in the past three years than his own mother had been his entire life and he would miss being able to see her at the drop of a hat. Next, the kids enveloped him and Eddie in a suffocating group hug, all muttering over one another about how they’d miss them and would be visiting them soon in the city, how if they didn’t stay in touch they’d hunt them down and make them regret it.  

Dustin, in particular, was upset at their move to Chicago. He held onto them the longest and they could feel tears soaking into their shirts. Steve hugged him especially close and said softly, “Hey man, we’re not going far. We gave you our number and you can call whenever you want. And if you ever need us, we’re just a couple hours drive away.”

“What if you guys forget about me?” Dustin whispered brokenly. 

Eddie grasped the back of his neck and looked him directly in the eye, “Henderson, you’re our little brother. We’re never going to forget you or any of the other kids. We went through something… um, really fucking traumatic together so you’re stuck with us for life.”

Dustin nodded and with another hug to him and Steve and a brief fist-bump to Robin, Dustin joined the other kids back at the table. He still had tears dripping down his face and a permanent pout to boot but he knew there was nothing else he could do to keep them here. He was losing his older friends in the same way that lost his dad but hopefully they would keep their promise to call. He just had to trust them when they said that he was the little brother they would never forget. 

~*~*~*~

When they arrived back at the trailer, Robin claimed the couch for the night while Wayne was on his night shift at the plant. Steve and Eddie tiredly made their way to Eddie’s bedroom for some much needed sleep. They hardly had the energy to undress before they both crawled underneath the covers. 

“Big day tomorrow, Stevie,” Eddie muttered, yawning between his words. “You excited?”

Steve thought for a moment. He was finally doing something with his life and he was doing it for himself. Him, his boyfriend that he loved, and his best friend were moving to the city together and were moving on with their lives in a way he never thought he would. And he was putting himself first for once and was making a move that would make him happy, even while the kids might not feel the same. 

“Yeah Eds, I’m really excited. I can’t wait to go around and show Robin the city. We can take her to the Lincoln Park Zoo and take her to that bookstore that has the gay books! Do you think she’ll like it?” He asked Eddie excitedly. 

“I think she’ll love it, babe,” Eddie yawned again and pecked him softly on the lips. “Goodnight Stevie, I love you.”

“Love you too, babe. Goodnight,” Steve told him. Then, they both fell asleep, eager for the next day to arrive. 

~*~*~*~

The next morning, Steve, Eddie, and Robin rushed around the trailer at the asscrack of dawn flinging random objects into their bags and getting ready for the day. Steve took a shower with Eddie ‘to save water’ while Robin got dressed in Eddie’s room and Wayne made them a small breakfast with coffee. 

Saying goodbye to Uncle Wayne was obviously the hardest part of leaving for Eddie. The man had taken him in when he needed him without so much as a blink of hesitation. But he knew after so long of a time taking care of Eddie and relinquishing space in his own home for him, Wayne would be pleased to have his peace back. Eddie gave him a long hug and almost came to tears when Wayne gruffly mentioned visiting him in Chicago and always wanting to see Wrigley field for himself. But, he managed to choke back the tears and vowed to have him to their new apartment as soon as he could. 

After a small squabble of who got to ride with Steve and who had to drive the van (it was a short argument since Robin was still a new driver and was anxious when it came to driving on the freeway), the trio said their last goodbyes and made their way to the Beemer and Eddie’s van. Then, they were off.

When Steve drove past the Leaving Hawkins sign months ago, he thought no one would care enough to notice his absence. But now, as he passed the sign with Robin in the passenger seat and Eddie tailgating him in his van, he could feel how loved he truly was. They were starting a new chapter, away from the other members of their family, but they were moving on together. And that’s all Steve had ever truly wanted. They may come back to visit their family here but their home has changed. It wasn’t the town of Hawkins with its bad memories and even worse people. Their home was with each other, wherever they ended up.

Updated Taglist: @nickavalens @conversesweetheart @themostunoriginalpersonever @swimmingbirdrunningrock @eddiethegreatteddybear @harrumphingtons @call-me-big-eyes @moonshadows-13 @glittergluekintsugi @cpidcupk @doubleb11 @mentalcyborg @amoris-no-smut-allowed @purple-lemonade @labels-are-for-the-weak @thebrazilianatheist @rajumat @livelaughlexa @5ammi90 @colorful565 @marvelousforlife @chaoticcoffeequeen @gregre369 @suddenlyinlove @thegreatmistake @stillfullofshit @nburkhardt @batxsignalsx @newunknowns @thosemessyvibes @tailsfromthecrypt @luciana-rowan @bird-with-pencils @adaed5 @lolawon @flustratedcas @iwillfindmyneverland @messrs-weasley @skoomy-doompy

@yearningagain @forest-fogg @bitchysunflower @stardust-era @newtstabber @bobatrash-queen @notjasontxdd @ohlook-afrog @00biscuit @grtwdsmwhr @oxidantdreamboat @the-witch-forever-lives @estrellami-1 @whatthemeepever @a-simple-gaywitch @imzadidragonfly @freddykicksasses @krimsonsimp @whatthefuccck @delta-piscium @anaibis @tinynebula @darkwitchoferie @evix-syne666 @tawghasa @pyrohonk @lillys-weird-world @superduckmilkshake @paintsplatteredandimperfect @tiny-enthusiast @whalesharksart @krazyperson @username-i-guess @ilikechocolatemilkh @awkwardgravity1 @romanticdestruction @espressopatronum454 @idontgetpaidenoughforthisshit

[schrijverr]

I'd Make a Deal with God and Get Him to Swap Our Places

While out on a date in the grass hills of Hawkins, Steve and Eddie start to roll down one of the hills after play fighting. Eddie instinctively ensures Steve won’t hit his head again on the way down, making Steve emotional with the caring display.

This fic is based off this post by @babyboymunson bc I couldn't get it out of my head ever since I read it!

On AO3.

Ships: Steve x Eddie

Warnings: none

~~~~~~~~~~~~

Eddie and Steve are up on one of the many hills in Hawkins. The summer is just starting, the flowers are blooming and it’s the perfect day for a picnic, something Steve has been looking forward to ever since Eddie got out of the hospital.

Steve wants to romance Eddie properly. Hospital bed dates can only go so far and now that they’re both in good enough health, he’s excited that they’re on a proper date.

However, Steve and Eddie work for many reasons and, while they have their sweet moments, they mostly work because they can gossip together and fondly get into heated debates about utter nonsense, but that is only when they’re not committing slightly too much to a bit together.

Today Eddie commented something and Steve’s mean era personality shone through, when he returned with a bitchy reply that Eddie decided to take faux offense to just to start shit.

With Eddie, Steve has learned how fun it can be to argue, not because you mean it, but just to see how far and to what ridiculous extend you could take it. Picking a hill to die on, just for the sake of doing it.

Still, Eddie is a little bit more wordy than Steve, his love for fiction and DnD coming through in times like these. So, when Steve runs out of arguments, he falls back on his life as a jock and lunges at Eddie.

Now they have abandoned their picnic and are play wrestling. It’s nice to do idiotic teenager stuff after everything, so they’re laughing as they roll through the grass each of them trying to pin the other down.

Neither of them have noticed how close they are to the edge of the hill they scaled earlier with their picnic, threatening to roll back down in a bumpy way.

Eddie is the one that feels it first. Steve manages to get the upper hand, but as Eddie twists towards the ground, he can feel that this is different than before. Steeper. It only takes a second to figure out why and then a split second more to make a decision.

He can’t let Steve get hurt again. Not in the head. His boyfriend is the kindest and most protective man Eddie knows, but no matter how strong and badass he is, there is no denying what Eddie heard in that hospital. How much Steve can’t afford another head injury.

Not to mention that Eddie can see it himself every day. The way Steve lives in a house of sticky notes, reminders to pick up the kids, dates, Erica’s favorite ice cream flavor, the movie Robin talked about loving, some songs Eddie mentioned. The way Steve is always a little slower than the rest to answer questions, taking a little longer to process the question and think of a reply. The way some days his headaches get so bad, he’ll be down for hours.

Eddie knows Steve.

Eddie knows that Steve has done enough and can’t afford to do more. That he needs to be kept safe for once. That he needs to be protected.

So, without thinking he reaches up to pull Steve towards him. His cushions his head on his chest and wraps both arms around his head to keep it still and away from the danger of getting hit as they start to roll down the hill.

For Steve it goes equally quick. One moment he’s play fighting with Eddie, the next he is janked down, before the whole world starts spinning.

It takes a moment before he realizes they’re rolling down the hill, because Eddie has his arms around his head and crossed his legs around his body. The action pins Steve’s arms to his side, so he can nothing but let Eddie hold him as they go down.

He is conflicted on how he feels about that. It’s not the best environment to analyze one’s feelings, you know, when rolling down a hill. But Steve is safe in Eddie’s arms and has enough a brain to realize that he’s usually on the other side of the equation.

Steve is the protector and Eddie got seriously hurt during those bat attacks. He shouldn’t be the one holding Steve. Yet- He can’t deny that it’s nice to be held like this. To be protected for once. To be cushioned from the ground, instead of bouncing off it as they pick up speed the more they roll, until they get to the flat part and start to slow down again.

When they finally stop, both of them are breathing heavily, coming down from the shock of suddenly falling so far down. Steve is on top of Eddie, hearing the other’s heartbeat.

Eddie groans a bit and while it felt nice to be the one protected, Steve is still anxious and worried about Eddie. About loosing him as he nearly did before. About him being hurt. So he attempts to get up. Eddie has dropped his legs, meaning Steve can get on his hands and knees. However, there is one problem…

“Baby, Eds, my head,” he says, when Eddie keeps holding his head like he’s done all the way down, not letting go in the slightest.

In response Eddie just holds his closer and lets out a soft noise. He squeezes once as he lets out a shuddery breath, before moving his hands down, not letting go, but changing to ensure he can look Steve in the eye.

One hand comes up and feels around Steve’s head, before cupping his cheek when Steve asks: “Eds, are you okay?” his own hands fluttering over Eddie’s ribs to ensure he didn’t get hurt, relief washing over him when he can’t find any immediate injuries.

“I- I’m fine,” Eddie chokes out, a few tears starting to gather in his eyes that didn’t soothe Steve’s worries at all, even if they look to be from relief as Eddie realizes Steve is totally fine.

“Are you sure? You’re not hurt?” Steve frowns, just checking one more time in case his eyes deceive him. “Come on, baby, why those tears?”

Eddie roughly wipes them away, only now realizing they’re there, before giving Steve a wobbly smile and answering: “I’m good. Promise, Stevie. Just really happy you’re okay, you know? I don’t know what I would do with myself if you hit your pretty little head again, because of a dumb silly argument.”

The words stun Steve to silence.

He already knows that Eddie cares for him. That Eddie loves him. Yet, this seems to do him in somehow. Just the fact that Eddie’s instinct had been to pull Steve close and make sure he couldn’t get hurt. To keep him safe.

Without his permission tears well up. He tries to push them down, biting his lip so it can’t wobble and blinking a few times. But it’s no use, they start to fall anyway.

At first he tries to ignore the tears rolling down his face, but when he takes a breath he chokes on it and soon he’s properly crying, burying his face in Eddie’s chest. Eddie for his part, just moves his hands so he can hold Steve better, letting him cry with only soft and soothing words.

It takes a few minutes before Steve has his breathing in check again, throughout it all Eddie just holds him and tells him they’re okay. When he notices Steve’s breathing getting better, he softly asks: “Want to talk about it, sweetheart?”

“No, ‘s just- ‘s just nice that you care,” Steve mutters, hiding his blushing face from Eddie when he gives his confession.

Eddie’s heart breaks a little for Steve, the boy, who cares so much and was never properly cared for in turn. God, he wishes the world would have been kinder to Steve. Wishes he could fight someone and make it all better. Wishes there is more he can do than hold Steve and promise: “I’ll always care about you, baby,” hoping Steve can understand how much he means it.

And when Steve whispers: “I know,” that has to be enough for Eddie. Now he just has to prove that he will keep that promise for the rest of their life. It doesn’t sound like much of a hardship.

[wheretheharekissesthefox]

Tav’s sex parade – Chapter 13: Pillow Talk (Astarion x Gale)

(Trigger warning (18+): graphic description of sex, smut, anal sex, lap sex, consensual blood drinking, hand job, gentle slow sex, body worship, the feels, slight angst, talking, lots of talking)

Notes:

Gale mentions his past which I wrote a fanfic about.

According to DnD lore, elves don't sleep, but rest in a meditative, trance-like state called reverie. You can see Astarion do exactly that in camp during a long rest when a sleep-around-the-campfire cutscene plays.

Gale rested on the bed in his study, engrossed in a book, when Astarion walked in and closed the door behind him.

"What's that new tome about?" he asked.

"Magic," Gale mumbled with his eyes still glued to the page.

"Really?" The vampire spawn rolled his eyes. "Anything in particular?"

"Druid magic."

"I didn't think you'd be interested in that," Astarion remarked, flopping down on the bed next to Gale.

The latter finally looked up from his reading.

"Well, it's never wrong or too late to learn something new. Plus, I'm intrigued by the fact that druid magic doesn't come from the Weave. When I was a young boy, my mother always told me that she draws magic without the help of the Weave and that I should stay away from Mystra. – I should have listened to her."

"Naturally," Astarion agreed. "The entire tragedy with the Orb... Well, I hope you learned your lesson at least."

Gale snorted.

"I definitely have. I don't think that's why you're here though. What's on your mind?"

"Well..." Astarion kicked his feet up elegantly. "Tav, Shadowheart and Halsin are busy with each other and I, like you, am not in the mood to watch, so, I thought we could spend some time together."

"Oh... that sounds... interesting."

"I was hoping for a little bit more enthusiasm, Gale. Gods."

"Apologies, I didn't expect you to wish to spend time with me. Plus, the book's rather interesting."

"Fine," Astarion sighed. "I'll leave you to your beloved reading, but don't cry for me when I'll die of boredom."

Chuckling, Gale held the vampire spawn back by the shirt sleeve and retorted: "The book can wait. I'd like your company."

"Really?"

Positively surprised, the addressed kept seated, smiling at the wizard.

"We can have our own kind of fun."

"What do you envision?"

"Sex, darling," Astarion smirked. "You and me."

Gale was taken aback and flustered.

They only engaged in such activities when the others had a threesome. But they'd never taken the initiative.

"I- I don't know. We never - hm - we never engage with one another without Tav's involvement," the wizard stammered.

Astarion leaned in closer, replying: "We're in a polyamorous relationship and we're free to do whatever we want with each other. Hells, the druid even sleeps around with strangers because it's an open relationship, so, why can't we have some fun alone once in a while?"

Gale licked his lips and swallowed. Then, he probed: "And uhm... you wish to do so? With me?"

"Only with you," Astarion revealed, sincerely.

The wizard's heart fluttered nervously and he was painfully aware that the vampire spawn could hear it.

"We don't have to do this if you don't want to. Don't feel pressured, but what - what do you have in mind?" Gale asked.

"Oh, darling, it's sweet how you worry about my wellbeing, but I'm perfectly fine. I want to kiss you until you're breathless and your lips are numb, and I want to ride you –" The vampire spawn scooted closer to whisper in the wizard's ear. "– until you scream my name."

The addressed turned crimson.

"I don't scream."

"You've said that before," Astarion chuckled, "but I'm still determined to get you there."

Slowly, he connected their lips, giving Gale the chance to back away if he wanted to, but the wizard stayed where he was and reciprocated the kiss. First, it was sweet and gentle, almost shy and chaste, but then, their tongues got involved. Astarion moaned into Gale's mouth and pulled him closer. The wizard panted, tongue kissing back as well as he could. After a while, they broke apart to breathe.

"Your tongue surely is talented," the vampire spawn purred. "It surprises me anew every time I get a demonstration."

Gale blushed again and wanted to hide somewhere. He still felt self-conscious when being intimate in real life instead of in the Astral Planes. Astarion got up and stripped quickly, standing in front of the wizard in all his beautiful, elegant, pale glory. Tentatively, Gale touched his partner's body, running his fingers across the soft skin.

He looks so delicate, he thought. I'm scared of breaking him.

The vampire spawn gazed at him.

"What are you waiting for, darling? Take off your clothes."

The addressed shivered at the term of endearment. Astarion usually never used it, except to teased him. It was the first time, he said it and meant it.

Gale took his clothes off, slightly uncomfortable as always, but he looked up at the vampire spawn to distract himself from worrying about his appearance. The latter smiled at him and straddled him. He wrapped his arms around the wizard and lolled his head back.

"Mmh, darling. You drive me crazy," he sighed.

"I do?" Gale was doubtful. "I'm not as experienced as Tav, and I haven't - haven't done certain things to you."

Astarion gave him a serious look and explained: "You don't have to do things you're uncomfortable with, like eating me out. I'm glad with what you give me."

Gale averted his gaze and swallowed.

"How do you do that?" he muttered. "How are you comfortable sharing your lover with others? You're Tav's first. We have no right to get a piece of her. She's yours. I still... Gods... I still get jealous sometimes and I'm... afraid I'm not enough."

"Oh, Gale..." The vampire spawn had an unreadable expression on his face as he stroke the wizard's jawline. "I'm not as great as you think I am. I'm scared too sometimes and then, I fear that Tav will leave me for one of you because I'm a burden and not enough. I understand your anxiety. But the thing is, we live like this for a year now and she still hasn't left. Tav's happy and deep down, I know she won't leave any of us because she loves us equally. Honestly, I didn't believe that it's possible to love more than one person at once, but... I experience it too now. – You're very dear to me, Gale. I want you to be happy, I want to make you happy, and I wish to spend the rest of your life with you – as well as with Tav, and even with Shadowheart and Halsin. Usually, I have better taste."

Gale snickered at the displeased face Astarion made, but let him continue.

"Jealousy's an ugly beast, born from your own insecurities. Believe it or not, but I actually talked about this with the druid. He told me that jealousy comes from the fear to lose our partner to someone else. To lose our grasp on them. We feel like we're losing a possession. The funny thing is, that can't happen with something that was never yours in the first place. I didn't understand what the druid meant first, but I get it now. You never own your partner. The only way your partner's yours, is when they actively choose to be yours. Tav tells all of us that she's ours and that's why she is; because she chooses to be ours. And as long as she makes this choice, you don't have to worry."

For a moment, Gale was quiet, then, he said with a small smile: "I didn't take you for such a philosopher."

The vampire spawn pouted at him, making the wizard smirk.

"Thank you, Astarion. I appreciate it."

The addressed nodded and Gale just had to kiss him again. Astarion was surprised at the wizard's proactivity, but was more than happy about it. He wiggled around on his partner's lap and felt both of their erections stir.

"Let me," he whispered and wrapped a hand around both of them.

Gale gasped at the coolth of Astarion's hand, but bucked up into his grip immediately. The vampire spawn moaned and smashed their lips together to swallow all of his partner's little noises. Gale placed his hands on Astarion's waist, stroking his thumbs over the skin there. They finally drew back, panting, and the vampire spawn said: "I've already prepared myself, I'm ready. Please, let me ride you."

"Yes," Gale whispered, suddenly desperate for it.

Astarion got up on his knees, took a hold of the wizard's member, which was wet with precum, and slowly lowered himself onto it. Moaning, he threw his head back. He loved it when Tav pegged him, but nothing could beat the real deal. The human heat could never be replicated and Astarion got a kick out of it. It made him feel alive again. He sunk down on Gale's cock until he was so full, he trembled.

"Mmh, Gods," he moaned and dug his fingernails into the wizard's shoulders.

"Good?" the latter asked, concerned.

Astarion opened his eyes to gaze at him, replying: "More than good. You feel fantastic, darling. You're the best I had in a long time."

Gale blushed the third time this evening, but muttered: "If I remember correctly, I'm the only one you had since the nautiloid crash."

"Yes, but that doesn't invalidate my statement," said the vampire spawn, cheekily.

The wizard huffed a laugh before kissing him again. Astarion started to move slowly. Up and down, up and down. Always at the same leisurely pace, rolling his hips sensually. Gale panted against his neck and held him close. Then, he tentatively wrapped his hand around his partner's member to stroke him. The vampire spawn's legs threatened to give out as he moaned in ecstasy.

"Yes, oh, yes. Please!" he whined, not even knowing what he was begging for. He dug his nails deeper into Gale's skin, leaving bloody trails, and moaned loudly.

The wizard's other hand wandered from Astarion's waist up to his back where his fingers gently stroke the scars. The vampire spawn shuddered. Gale had never touched him there because Astarion had never let him. But now, the gentle fingers caressed the puckered skin almost reverently.

"You're beautiful, Astarion," Gale whispered. "All of you. Inside and out."

The addressed sobbed and pressed his face into his partner's neck. The latter hummed.

"You can drink from me, dear. I don't mind."

Moaning, Astarion sunk one of his hands into Gale's soft mane and licked his exposed neck. Then, he bit down, whining at the taste of the wizard's blood that was sweeter than any other he'd ever had. Everything about Gale tasted slightly sweet; his sweat, his blood, and even his semen. Gods, Astarion was utterly weak for this man.

The wizard's breath hitched and he came, spilling deep into the vampire spawn's cool body. The latter moaned gutturally at the feeling of heat spreading inside him and climaxed as well. Panting, Astarion rested his forehead on Gale's shoulder, trembling. His hole still pulsated as if it wanted to pull Gale even deeper and milk him dry. The wizard groaned at the feeling, but kept completely still, except for his fingers, which continued to caress Astarion's back. They recovered this way and then kissed slowly and softly.

"Everything alright?" asked Gale.

"I should be the one asking you this question," Astarion chuckled. "Gods... You knocked me out like a drug."

"Hm?" Gale furrowed his brows and the vampire spawn chuckled.

"You taste divine, is what I'm saying, darling. I don't need to eat your home-baked cookies, your blood's sweet enough."

"Really?"

The wizard seemed surprised and then, his eyes glazed over in that typical fashion of his when he got lost in his thoughts to ponder about nerdy subjects. With a smirk, Astarion snapped his fingers. Gale blinked and was back in the presence.

"You can think about the different tastes of blood later," the vampire spawn teased. "If you need insight knowledge from a professional, I'll gladly help you."

"Of course, you would," chuckled Gale. Then, he looked at Astarion, slightly anxious, and pulled him into another kiss. "Stay with me tonight."

Smiling softly, the vampire spawn rubbed their noses together and answered: "Nothing would give me more pleasure."

After cleaning up, they slipped under the blanket and rested in each other's arms. While Gale fell asleep shortly after, Astarion drifted into reverie. Imagining the snow that was dancing through the night sky.

[aesolerin]

song that reminds me of DD1/2 cast. for some it'd be sarcastic or bitter, for others (read: baldwin) it'd be sincere in how gentle it is.

But, particularly, the last verse, the "I might've been a good man" one - that verse makes me imagine all the shit DD1 Dismas went through in the name of redemption (up to potentially the final battle and maybe even being a sacrifice to Come Unto Your Maker), and how in the end, after all of that, DD2 Dismas is the only one who has a vague recollection of any of it. (not that it turned out we were doing any sort of good in the end, but you get my jist)

now (only slightly related to the above): we both know who our faves are, but I'd love to know all your thoughts/headcanons on our fave Mr. Highwayman yourself, since it seems like you might have some! DD1 or DD2, your choice (if that has an impact).

....but also, if you do have any thoughts on how his dynamics would be with either or both Sarmenti/Baldwin, I would of course not be averse to that either. >>;

the link didn't stick, but we thank lyrics.com bcs i was able to reverse search that one line and you confirmed it was this song:

oh my goodness it has such a sweet bitterness that can perfectly embody what it means to be send unto the breach over and over until you and everyone else around you is dead. lives they could have led, the stories they can tell, the good and bad moments they share. in the Tavern, at camp during an expedition, i can clearly see any and every hero singing along with any and every emotion.

it definitely hits Dismas the hardest. if the well-traveled Sarmenti didn't bring the song to the Hamlet, he's the next likeliest candidate to me. perhaps he's in the Living City of DD2, quietly it singing to himself because nobody else knows it...

i do love Dismas! i especially love the works that contrast him and Reynauld, the penitent thief and the thieving repentant. the Crusader is a good guy, but i don't think he's a nice guy all the time, and in DnD terms i see the Highwayman as the 'face' between them. silver-tongued rogue, ya know?

other miscellaneous Dismas headcanons:

-jokey and witty and such, but still puts up a bit of a wall. old instincts as a former brigand, you don't get close to the new recruits. he softens up a bit as the heroes build camaraderie.

-very protective over his food, but i think this is a pretty common headcanon. if he goes out of his way to share a meal with someone, he is willing to die for them.

-a little bit superstitious. lucky coins and red skies at dawn and such.

-we all know this. man loves poetry. has a secret stash of poems and thankfully Reynauld hasn't found it yet. they're getting really good!

-could give the Antiquarian a run for her money when it comes to counting money. one glance in a pouch and there's a very good chance he can estimate how many coins there are.

-seems to take the eldritch bullshit in stride, but really there are nights where he just. lays face down on his bed. and internally screams about the fuckery of the Farmstead and/or the DD2!Cultists. he's fine after though.

-did in fact try his hand as a candlemaker. loved the work, but the pay wasn't quite enough.

-kinda low alcohol tolerance, but also so on-edge all the time that he feels like he needs to get buzzed to relax.

-loves rats and other vermin creatures. big reason why it bothers him so much in DD2, reliving the times he had to resort to eating rats. how'd you feel eating your cat or dog to survive?

as for his relationship with Sarmenti and Baldwin in particular...

Sarmenti: even with all the verbal jabs and physical semi-violence (headlocks, shoulder punches, etc), Dismas and Sarmenti are best friends. they 'get' each other. with one non-verbal cue they know when to tone it down for the other. partners in (mostly metaphorical) crime, in good times and bad.

Baldwin: Dismas really looks up to him and sees him as one of the very few genuinely good people in the world. trying so hard not to say 'daddy issues'. (which is very funny because i headcannon that Baldwin is actually the youngest of the DD men. man just has that regal bearing.) they'll occasionally read together, and he's the only one Dismas shares his poems with!

thank you for sharing the song and your thoughts! i hope these were enough thoughts for you! sorry it got so long!

[eddiesprettybabygirlstevie]

Steve being the little bratty shit he is, playing with a lighter as Eddie glares at him the entire time, making it hard for him to focus on his DnD game, which causes Dustin to get frustrated, Kas just sighs, Gareth tries to get Eddie to focus but ends up making Eddie say " not my fault that little shits a fucking tease an a brat when it comes to waiting for awhile, he knows how to get what he wants " he growls loudly for Steve to hear, which just causes Steve to smirk smugly, he even lays on his stomach an does downward dog just to show his ass off to Eddie, Eddie scratches his table, leaving more marks in it than usual, he's not gonna explain where the rest came from, the only person who knows is Steve, cuz well there from him, Steve groans an whines " mm bored, can't you play with me, instead " as he crawls between Eddie's legs an lays his head in his lap, Eddie threads his fingers through Steve's hair, pulling it harshly, causing Steve to moan into Eddie's leg muffledly, he smirks as he then let's go an continues playing his game, Steve whining loudly as he puckers his lips and pouts sadly, he wants Eddie's attention so badly, he continues to be a brat and whine, Eddie is still trying to focus on playing, he doesn't wanna stop an bend Steve over his lap an spank his ass for being such a whiney brat, but he absolutely wants nothing more than to do it but not in front of everyone, Steve doesn't do anything with Eddie in front of people but he swears Steve wants him to have people know that Harrington here likes dick, specifically his curly haired freak self, but he's not letting Steve get his way, nope not now an probably never, he wants Steve all to himself, nobody else can touch him, he gets jealous easily over that, an he swears Steve does it on purpose, which he's correct, Steve loves making Eddie jealous, so he goes over to Gareth and whines like a puppy, Gareth smiles " I think the puppy here is getting restless " he laughs as he pets Steve like you would a dog, Steve leans into it a bit, happy to get some attention, Eddie growls lowly as he stares " Gareth if you wanna keep that hand, I suggest you stop touching him " he'd be foaming if he could, Dustin gasps " woah Eddie calm down, we're in the middle of the game " trying to calm him down, Gareth removes his hand, he doesn't wanna lose his hand or get on Eddie's bad side, Steve whimpers as he whines, he crawls to Eddie, if he's not gonna get attention then he'll just stay by Eddie, he gets on to Eddie's lap an curls up, he whines sadly as he stares at Eddie, Eddie looks at Steve, it nearly breaks his heart seeing his baby girl so upset, seeing his eyes water an Steve's doe face, he gives in, he pets Steve as he sits him up an holds him close, making Steve straddle him, he sighs " I'm sorry Princess we can take a break and I can give you cuddles and kisses, I promise " he kisses Steve's cheek, Steve smiles as he whines happily this time, he leans into Eddie's touch and kisses as he snuggles into him, Eddie staying true to his promise, gives Steve kisses and cuddles throughout the game while he plays, he hates losing but he hates seeing his Stevie upset more than anything, so he tries to keep that from happening, so Steve being upset is pretty much rare, Eddie kisses the top of Steve's head an holds him close, whispering quite loudly " I love you my little puppy, even tho your a little shit, I swear " he smiles widely as he growls but chuckles, Steve smiling widely as well " I love you too Eddie Bear, not my fault, I know exactly how to get what I want " he smirks while kissing Eddie's cheek, he then snuggles into him, they snuggle each other and are extremely happy with each other.

[sweetestlittledarling]

A Little Holiday Fluff

*Note: This is a stupid little thing that popped into my mind late at night and wanted to write before the holiday's goes past. It takes place in Gale and My Tav's, Finley (They/Them) first holiday as a married couple so takes place after the game. Also I looked up the holidays in Dnd and settled on Midwinter. In our home Dnd game it's called 'Winter's Day' <3. Hope you all have a good Holiday whatever you celebrate.

“What’s this Tara?” Finley asked looking over the little chest. It was just a small and simple-looking thing that had been hidden in the back of the bedroom closet. Finley hadn't actually noticed it before until Tara had pointed it out.

“This is something that is in dire need of doing,” Tara instructed. “Open the chest and you will see what I mean.”

Finley raised an eyebrow at Tara’s serious tone but nodded. They opened the chest and peered inside. “Are these- “

“They are Midwinter decorations,” Tara finished for them. “I have heard that Halflings celebrate this holiday, yes?”

“Among many others,” Finley said, picking up one of the colorful baubles from the box, looking at it carefully. “We halflins’ tend to take our holidays very seriously, though most of the time a holiday is an excuse to get everyone together to eat and drink.”

“Well right now I need you to focus more on the decorating part as we need to put up these decorations before Mister Dekarios returns this evening.”

“Wait, you want ME to help you decorate the tower?”

“Yes,” Tara stated, looking at the box almost with a wistful look, “because I feel Mister Dekarios deserves a happy holiday season this year. When he was trapped here in his tower because of the orb, I wanted to give him a bit of normalcy and celebration at this time of year. But sadly, I was unable to help as I was busy keeping him alive. Plus, I don’t have those things at the ends of your hands.”

“You mean apposable thumbs?”

“Yes, those. This year we have you living here, and Mister Dekarios is not in danger of exploding, so I feel that he can finally have the celebration he deserves. That is if you will help me.”

Finley looked at the decorations and then at Tara. They smiled softly as they nodded. “Of course, I’ll help. In all honesty I don’t think you could stop me.”

(A few hours later…)

“You don’t think we went a little overboard?” Finley asked as they placed up the last bit of garland along the hearth. They looked around the room at all the glittery and festive colors. To them it was very beautiful but they still worried.

“If it were too much, I would tell you,” Tara answered, taking a moment to scratch at the red bow once again around her neck. “Are you sure that this thing is necessary?”

“You look adorable Tara,” Finley answered, clicking their boots of flying to lower them to the ground. “You don’t have to wear it if you don’t want to.”

“Well, I will wear it at least until Mister Dekarios comes home, and then I will probably demand you remove it before I rip it to shreds.”

As if on cue, the door to the tower opened, letting in a quick bitter cold wind before it quickly closed again behind Gale who was rubbing at his hands. “By the Weave, it is colder than the elemental plane of ice out there!” he cursed as he removed his outwear, hanging it up in the appropriate spot. “I swear it is getting colder and colder each- “As he stepped out into the main living area, Gale paused, his eyes taking in all the decorations. He stood there in silence just drinking in the scene.

“Do you like it?” Finley asked, a little hesitantly. “We tried to make it look as good as possible. I mean we might have gone a little overboard on the-” Finley let out a little shriek as Gale silenced their worried words by lowering himself to his knees and pulling them into his arms. His cold hands made them shiver. “Gale! Your hands are freezing!”

“Well call it revenge for your cold toes in bed!” Gale laughed, pulling them close.

“Excuse you, I have bad circulation and can't help that,” Finley protested, though they didn’t really fight back against the hold. Instead, they looked into Gale’s sparkling eyes and smiled. “Do you like it?” they asked softly.

“I love it,” Gale answered, kissing them gently. “Honestly my love, I haven’t had such a beautiful surprise in a long time, thank you.”

“Well to be fair, this was all Tara’s idea. She wanted to do somethin’ nice for you since you didn’t get to celebrate in years past.”

“Indeed,” Tara said, hoping up onto Gale’s shoulders. “And now that the surprise has been had, I ask that you remove this thing from around my neck.”

“Okay, okay,” Finley chuckled, reaching up to remove the bow, “but you do look really cute with it on.”

Gale smiled as he reached up and scratched Tara behind the ears. “Thank you, Tara, I do not know what I would ever do without you.”

“I would wager you would probably be dead,” Tara assessed. “But thankfully you do have me and your partner to make sure you don’t put yourself into parrel ever again.”

“Indeed,” Gale said turning back to Finley, his eyes shining. "Truly I have been blessed by the Gods this Midwinter to have you both here with me. A blessing I intend to treasure for as long as I live.” Gale kissed Finley one more time before standing once again. “This tower has never looked so lovely, but I think it is missing a little something.” He snapped his fingers and suddenly the ceiling was decorated with a smattering of sparkling stars and galaxies.

“Wow,” Finley sighed in amazement, watching the stars and galaxies as they swirled, “you really haven’t lost your touch darlin’.”

Gale grinned as he gave a little bow. “And now for my next trick, I will make us a Midwinter feast fit for royalty, followed by wine and a warm fire to warm ourselves by. How does that sound?”

“Perfect,” Finley answered, sharing a happy look with a very satisfied tressym.

[stars-tonight]

This is @shxtodxroki here for our match-up exchange, I’m just sending this on anon since that blog isn’t my main blog :>

Name: Bee

Age: 19

Pronouns: She/her

Gender for Matches: I would be happy being paired with any gender, and I’d like a romantic match-up please!

Appearance (brief): Bright pink hair, 5’7” with green eyes. I tend to prefer more cute, pastel and/or feminine styles, but I also like to mix things up sometimes and try different styles especially anything cozy

Personality: Introvert, I love spending time with the people I care about but I also need at least a little bit of alone time each day just to decompress and relax. I have pretty bad anxiety, so I tend to overthink and I’m frequently stressed even if I don’t show it, and even about small things that most people don’t even think about. I’m also super awkward and shy especially when I first meet people especially since I sometimes struggle to read social situations, I’m really not the type to initiate conversations much at first and I even struggle with initiating physical affection with someone I’m close to. Once I feel safe and close with someone I tend to ramble quite a lot about my interests or just topics I’ve dived into recently, and I think I’m a pretty good listener as well! :) I try my best to generally be a friendly person and look out for others, and I tend to avoid conflict unless someone I love is being hurt. My worst trait is probably my procrastination. I’m currently in college and studying to hopefully become an either an ELA or sociology professor, not totally sure yet. I really love learning about things I find interesting/important and getting to share what I learn with people :] 

Qualities in a Partner: Confidence/willingness to initiate since it’s something I struggle with, someone who’s patient and willing to listen when I’m having a hard time (and I’m more than happy to do the same in return) and someone honest and loyal. Since I’m very anxious, I’d prefer someone who’s open with their affection with me! They don’t have to make it super obvious in public or anything though:) 

Ideal Date: Something simple like going out for coffee/a sweet treat and then maybe a walk, where I wouldn’t get too anxious and we could talk and get to know each other!

Love Languages: Gifts and physical touch for giving (I love getting to see people’s reactions when I get them gifts I know they’ll love) and physical touch and words of affirmation for receiving.

Interests/Hobbies: Horror or mystery movies/media. (My favorite movie is Knives Out), reading and writing too, anime/manga (my favorite anime is Yuri on Ice) a few kinds of video games like visual novels (especially spooky ones), games like Danganronpa or “cozy games” like Minecraft or Stardew Valley! I play the cello and do theater (backstage work) I really enjoy all kinds of music. Trying to learn how to play DnD, and I really enjoy collecting things even when I lose interest! (As in, even after I stop fixating on an interest so much and switch over to a new one, I never get rid of the merch because it still brings me joy and reminds me of how important that thing was to me :> ) I like anything that makes me emotional/when media can make me feel things, and I’m a big crier since I tend to get emotional pretty easily :]

Sorry this is so long, I tend to ramble on and have trouble condensing things lol but I hope this is enough, and thank you so much again for agreeing to this exchange! I’m excited to see what you think :)

headcanons

🥛 i think i've written before that suga is an ambivert?

🥛 i will stand by that

🥛 he'd be happy to make the first move! may take a while before he plucks up the courage though

🥛 is the type to send you love letters

🥛 secret admirer from afar trope

🥛 when he confesses, it's with a bright blush on his cheeks and a huge bouquet of your favorite flowers

🥛 suga is pretty easygoing and tends to be a mediator (until he gets worked up or excited about something)

🥛 once he gets fired up he can ramble on for a bit

🥛 suga is definitely not a big pda guy but wouldn't withhold physical affection in private

🥛 i think he'd love to receive gifts from people

🥛 not in a materialistic way of course

🥛 but rather he likes seeing what people come up with and it makes him feel very appreciated and thought of

🥛 especially because his students post-timeskip will probably all give him cute things for teacher appreciation day

🥛 (let's be honest suga is probably going to win teacher of the year at his school every year)

🥛 praising and taking care of you just comes very naturally to him

🥛 also since he's an elementary school teacher post-timeskip he's definitely used to dealing with all sorts of people

🥛 since he teaches younger kids, suga will learn how to communicate and encourage in a gentle manner

🥛 i think even pre-timeskip he'd be a good listener and would give great advice

🥛 also really good at encouraging or reassuring you when you feel stressed out

🥛 he's very observant, especially with the people he cares about

🥛 suga doesn't strike me as a video games person but if he was to play a game, it'd definitely be a cozy game

🥛 something he does before bed if that makes sense

🥛 if he's up to it he'd read a bit before bed

🥛 sometimes though he's super tired after work and just wants to curl up with you to play a game or watch anime with you

🥛 since he's definitely an anime fan

🥛 he loves listening to you play the cello because it helps him relax

runner up for you was suna rintarō!

A/N: there you go bee, i hope you like it! thank you for agreeing to do this exchange with me 🫶 also off topic but i wish i could play the cello, it looks SO COOL (i played violin and piano)

[miodiodavinci]

omg i get so excited hearing about dnd!!!! how many campaigns have you been in if u mind answering?

i don't mind at all ! ! ! ! i enjoy talking about dnd ! ! ! ! our group got together in 2020 has run a total of (counts on fingers) 6 campaigns and 5 one shots, with our average campaign length being around 20 to 30 sessions. each person's taken a shot at DM'ing thus far, but the forever DM and i have both run about four of those each w

also, outside of one or two one shots, it's all been exclusively homebrew ! ! ! which is fun because we've all gotten to create our own regions and design overarching lore that connects each campaign to the other ! ! ! (surprisingly, hannus barbarous is usually the connecting factor. we did not plan this but that's just how it is now KJSFLKJH)

and because i love talking about dnd so much i'm taking this opportunity to dump a whole lot of summary of each campaign/one shot in chronological order under the cut w

ON A SCALE of ONE to TWENTY .. campaign

After being shut off from the world for over a hundred years, the region of Celosia finally opens its doors, sending out an open letter to all would-be adventurers asking for help. Our party just so happened to be the fools who decided to answer (and who got lucky enough to not get eaten by wolves on the way there), and have been tasked with taking down the shadowy Emerald Division that has seemingly come to power. They'll get to it as soon as they visit the dump (it's on the way).

Our DM's first homebrew campaign and the result of all of us being stuck inside and realizing we finally had time to play together w. This was the origin of both Hannus Barbarous as a running gag (along the lines of "this is JUST like Thomas and Jeremiah") and the name Scott as a throwaway bit, and also the origin of "The Coolest Emerald Division" title w

Characters

Roachcock the Tiefling Barbarian (played by me) .. bastard at heart, just wants to split heads, get coin, and buy a boat

Babey Möd the Halfling-Tabaxi Cleric (played by @anonprotagging) .. here to eat gravy and spread the good word of Lyra

The Storm the Water Genasi Barbarian .. he's super famous dude just trust me i heard he once fought like thirty turkeys

In'hala the Tiefling Paladin of Pan .. looking for her lost moms and also stealing this guy's boots hahaaa sick

Opus Whitfield the Human Wild Magic Sorcerer .. trying to use this opportunity to set up a new storefront for his family's gem cutting business, is actually using this opportunity to get bullied

note: i don't know if the other players use tumblr so for now they'll just be identified as "Xs player" from here on out w

GRANNY'S COUNTRY APPLE PIE .. one shot

An aging wizard wishes to taste the sweet delight of Granny's Country Apple Pie™ one last time (despite the bakery closing decades ago) and thus tasks our heroes with scoping out the place and seeing if they can find a recipe. Somewhere along the way, things got weird and it turns out Granny was just an immortal 65 year old who was taking a vacation in the outer planes with her wife but she's back now :)

Pre-built one shot that very quickly went off the rails, as to be expected for my very first go at being a DM after being a player for less than 4 months. The first appearance of Hannus as an actual character and not just a running bit.

Characters

Hannus Barbarous the Half-Orc playwright and Bard (played by @anonprotagging) .. he's taking a break from his prestigious play writing career to see the sights and reconnect with the little piece of him that was shattered when his troupe broke apart (but not too much of a break not to sign every autograph he can eyyy)

Sir the Eternal Flame (and sorcerer i guess) (played by Opus's player) .. still frustrated at being locked in human form, this giant immortal moth is off doing busy work until his curse wears off (which apparently includes bakery heists???)

Tehn the Sun Elf Ranger (played by the Celosia campaign DM) .. with their giant bumblebee Spoobin and frankly obscene lack of dietary standards at their side, there's no meal that they can't tackle

THE OSSIFIED GARDENS .. mini campaign

Taking shelter from the rain in an unearthly structure, the gang is snatched away from the physical realm and into a crab bucket-like hotel for the fae. With their most prized possessions taken from them as an entry fee, the gang has to endure arduous tasks to receive the stamps of each of the five Managers in order to receive audience with the minor god who runs the establishment. Whether or not she'll be willing to give their possessions back, however...

My first solo campaign as a DM!! Heavily inspired by Spirited Away and mostly an excuse to put old game dev content to use (including a literal circus of NPCs), but ended up serving as an important event in the Hannus Barbarous lore.

Characters

Hannus Barbarous the Half-Orc playwright and Bard (played by @anonprotagging) .. on the road with Tehn to visit a trinket faire in the next town over, about to experience beginning of a long and scalding beef with a petty minor god

Tehn the Sun Elf Ranger (played by the Celosia campaign DM) .. Hannus and Tehn are best friends now—they're having soft tacos later! :)

Piers the Minotaur Cleric (played by Opus's player) .. he's just along for the ride—maybe there will be cool books! :oooo

Tess the Halfling Rogue (played by In'hala's player) .. laying low until the folks in charge of her latest warrant lose track of her (and by laying low i mean just stealing at waist height instead of top shelves)

ROLL to PHOTOBOMB .. campaign

A seemingly normal winter festival goes astray when our heroes poor fools accidentally soul-bond to an extraplanar device meant to be a birthday present for the renowned sculptor hosting the ball (spoilers: it's a camera). They have four months to take it north to Cobalt City, get the re-calibration redone, and get it back in time for her wife to give it to her for their anniversary. The only problem is, the mountain pass is closed and the only other way there is a several hundred mile road trip by wagon...

Time to take some photos in front of some kitschy roadside attractions, I guess.

Opus's player's first time DM'ing for our group (though they'd DM'd before, and frankly—their experience shows). This campaign was home to some of our most beloved NPCs like Cassidy the subterranean super organism, Barry the extraplanar knife slime, and Sir the Eternal Flame Moth (he got that curse figured out finally!)

Characters

Fafnir of the Boreal North, the human knight Mimic Berserker (played by me) .. they just wanted to leave their dungeon to find a better, damper place to sit and eat and somehow accidentally took part in the funniest case of mistaken identity this side of Alcione

Ranger Rain Rainer the human Ranger (and literal park ranger, played by @anonprotagging) .. originally here to supervise the environmental impacts of the ball on the local landscape, now soul-bound to an extraplanar camera and havin' a good ol' time hangin' with the boys :) y'want some soy sauce with that? i bought a gallon back in brass junction

Kit the Elven Ranger (played by Tehn's player) .. legitimately so traumatized he wraps back around to being the most normal person in this group—just don't mention Celestine Grove

Babu the Hobgoblin Artificer (played by the Storm's player) .. having been separated from his parents and raised by Kobolds, Babu, his steel defender Babu, and his clockwork creation Little Babu are on a long journey to reunite with them in Grand Arbor .. please do not look at him he's sensitive

THE GREAT COCKATRICE RACE .. one shot

It's that time of year—the Great Cockatrice Race is upon us!! But just as our party is soaking in the sights and staking out the perfect spot to watch, they witness a young tiefling have his cockatrice's racing gear shredded by a local gang. Desperate to win so he can help pay to treat his father's worsening eyesight (they're cartographers by trade), he asks the party for help, and they quickly oblige.

Another one shot run by me, based loosely on a one-page campaign document. Not much to say about this one beyond the fact that everyone was ready to kill for Noodles the bantam cockatrice.

Characters

Actias Saturnid the Aasimar Paladin (played by @anonprotagging) .. on a quest to popularize his deity's chosen form of entertainment—tinker vision (TV for short)

Squish the Changeling Bard (played by Tehn's player) .. here to have fun and maybe also look for his friend that went missing have you seen her please tell me i miss her ;_____;

Kai the ??? Swashbuckling Rogue (played by Opus's player) .. it's a big festival, and that means plenty of eyes and plenty of cash! not a half bad time to try negotiating some new patrons for her artist friends

TROUBLE at PORT MANDRET .. one shot

What was originally supposed to be the 58th annual showcase of Umbergate University's horticultural collection is turned sour as an incensed former professor unleashes a powerful awakening spell on the entire town. With only a few hours before the plants release spores that will spread the spell to the entire world, our party has to act fast and cooperate with a local mycologist who seems to know just the fix to this predicament.

Another one shot from me, this time entirely homebrewed! This is also the origin of Scott as a character and not just a throwaway bit, and very much the source of his dynamic with Hannie. They found him tangled up in a bunch of kudzu in a coffee shop and he sent them on a long fetch quest to help him make a cup of coffee using stolen coffee beans.

Characters

Hannus Barbarous the Half-Orc playwright and bard (you know his player by now w) .. you know, he was just trying to lay low after the whole "committing arson" thing, but now he has a gay little mushroom twink to look after and that's (????)

Tehn the Sun Elf Ranger (played by you know who w).. also laying low after helping Hannus commit arson, but mostly here to eat a bunch of plants when no one's looking

Hank the Aarakocra Barbarian (played by Opus's player) .. he's a goose who only says "HANK" and i love that so much about him

Quinn the literal, unawakened, plain old animal tiger and Rogue (played by the Storm's player) .. the reason Hannus and Tehn committed arson after discovering she was being kept in squalid conditions by a wealthy family .. i cannot stress enough that she is a literal, un-enchanted tiger

THE ENIGMA of DAHL CREEK .. campaign

Their boat having sank in a storm, the party washes up on a seemingly once populous island now drowning under webs of unidentifiable blue-green vines and the eerily human-like shapes it creates. Working to unravel the mystery of how the entire town disappeared one August day, they find the past and present blurring together in a strange and haunting way.

The Celosia campaign DM's next big campaign, and frankly the one that haunts me most to this day. I cannot put into words how fucking good this campaign was. Legitimately gave me chills and occupies a region of my brain that cannot be vacated.

Characters

Hannus Barbarous (you know him) .. just trying to recover from the fae thing and the tiger incident and then the Port Mandret fiasco and really doesn't need this right now (but deal he will)

Biscott Cortinarius the human mycologist and Necromancer (played by me) .. putting a little distance between himself and the university due to the ""legal ramifications of interviewing university property without familial consent,"" but mostly sticking with Hannus because he's a bard and... well... bards aren't exactly beefy are they ;)

The Destitution of Mires the Lizardfolk Circle of Spores Druid (played by the Storm's Player) .. to this day i still don't know what their deal was, only that they sensed and so they came, and they left just as easily

Theo the ??? Circle of Dreams Druid (played by Opus's player) .. wanted to get out there and see the world, managed to sneak onto the one and Only boat that shipwrecked that day, now paying for it dearly

TIDECLEFT ISLES .. campaign

When the great Captain Wicke died, he arranged in his will that his treasure was to be given to the pirates of Tidecleft—so long as they could find it. Having arranged a massive, death-defying posthumous treasure hunt, several teams (including our heroes) must now compete to locate Wicke's treasure if they want to claim it all for themselves. What the late captain has in store for them, however, may call the worth of the treasure into question.

The Storm's player's first time DM'ing for our group, but not his first time DM'ing by far (read: he was Tehn's player's forever DM long before he came to our group). This was a grand old romp around a bunch of islands and sea caves that culminated in a frankly off-the-walls batshit final battle.

Characters

Acanthus of the Western Isles, the Mano (shark man) Scholar (played by me) .. a doctor and academic seeking to pay off a massive debt he incurred thanks to the Silver Lampreys and their web of loan sharks .. he doesn't care for jokes... or laughing, or puns, or metaphorical language or

Lemon the Warforged Circle of Stars Druid (played by @anonprotagging) .. realized she's accrued like twenty years in paid time off from working as a docent in an observatory, now taking her first vacation with her best friend Owen Gnome :) (he's a garden gnome she found outside and decided to keep in her pocket) (may or may not be venomous)

Bellamy the ??? ??? (played by Opus's player) .. ever grateful to the squid trawlers that took him in, he's competing in this hunt to earn enough to turn their venture into a franchise .. he is shockingly normal despite the whole "may not be from this plane" thing

Rayin the Tiefling Storm Sorcerer (played by Tehn's player) .. having received that sweet sweet "got hit by a magical explosion on campus" money and gotten magical powers out of it, Rayin is ditching academia to do COOL things like throw lightning bolts and meow at people

these character descriptors are getting long sorry

MIETTE SIMULATOR .. one shot

Somehow, our band of unfortunate souls has wandered into a town caught in a frenzy, raving for the execution of a seemingly normal tiefling man for an unspeakable crime (literally, no one will say what it was). The gang decides to get to the bottom of this, only to discover the very laws of reality are essentially optional in this neck of the woods.

Hannus's player's first time DM'ing as a dry run for his future one shot, and it was a hoot. Also the first time we got to meet Ranger Rainer's brother, Shine Rainer (who is the polar opposite of his brother thanks to all the trauma that comes with being a record keeper).

Characters

Lark the Aasimar Gunslinger (played by me) .. just trying to do as many good deeds as possible to get her dad off her back so she can get a girlfriend without him scaring her off with his whole "incomprehensible being of holy light" thing

Clare the human ??? (played by Tehn's player) .. i don't remember why she was there she just was and she was probably the most okay with everything that was going on

Hank the Aarakocra Barbarian (played by Opus's player) .. he's playing it cool after the Port Mandret thing, except this is not cool this is chaos

MOON TOWN .. one shot

It's Actias! And he needs help! For some reason, they've been disconnected from their god, and they can't figure out why! When our heroes decide to help, they end up getting snatched away to an otherworldly version of the long abandoned Sun Town and need to solve the mystery of a long cold case in order to find their way back home.

Hannus's player's main group DM'ing debut. Full of fun puzzles and good laughs (I'll never forget Actias asking us for help with a puzzle and showing us one of those shapes and holes boxes you give to kids) with plenty of throwbacks to old running gags. Felt like a nice homage to what DnD had been for us thus far.

Characters

Calamund Galbraith the Reborn Echo Fighter (played by me) .. a completely average guy who just so happened to get roped into getting "engaged" to a wraith that now endlessly pursues him .. he just really wants to go home and eat soup with his birds

Squish the Changeling Bard (played by Tehn's player) .. really worried for his good friend Actias :(

Tiel Alleywollow the Halfling Warlock (played by the Storm's player) .. a girl of few words (literally, she only speaks when casting spells) and eternally fond of her fiendish patron, an asshole imp named Dition

In'hala the Tiefling Paladin of Pan (played by the same guy as before w) .. hit her head on a ship and somehow ended up far, far south of Celosia. who knows what happened? certainly not in'hala, but EYYY SHE STILL HAS THE SICK BOOTS YEAAA

Teller Artax the Warforged Gunslinger (played by Opus's player) .. originally out to hunt down his lost creator, but got sidetracked, and then got sidetracked from that sidetrack, and then got sidetracked from that sidetrack's sidetrack, and then

THE CURIOUS CASE of ACTON RIDGE .. campaign

50 years before the events of Dahl Creek, a similar event is taking place—after a shoot out in the canyon, the town of Acton Ridge is also carpeted in strange, blue-green vines and locked in time. Our heroes must unravel the mystery of their pasts and the two intertwined fates of a pair of brilliant inventors who were seemingly on the hunt for something not of this world. Ongoing!

The Celosia DM's latest campaign and prequel to Dahl Creek. A little different vibes from the last one considering most of us apparently lived here before things went to shit, and many of us have tie-ins with the events taking place. Cool, eerie mystery fun ! ! !

Characters

Outis the Warforged Paladin (played by me) .. an archaic tour guide emissary from the Feywilds who's trapped on an endless journey towards an unseen destination .. it's sassy as hell and just the right amount of british to be infuriating

Emeril the Sea Elf chef and Fighter (played by @anonprotagging) .. retired from being a soldier and running from his past to owning a small tavern (and running from his past) .. very blunt (like his cast iron frying pan)

Spinifer the ??? Bard and travel-book writer (played by Opus's player) .. looking for the scoop on the local scene in hopes of bringing more folks over from her homeland .. common isn't her first language and she delights in learning cool new words, like "paranormal" and "clusterfuck"

Phira the Deep Gnome Monster Hunter (played by the Storm's player) .. haunted by her past and now interested in that which is haunted, this little conspiracy theorist is going to get to the bottom of this mystery if it's the last thing she does (but not actually—she'd like to live you know)

[scooptroopfanfic]

Cas with a C CH2

Notes: Please look at the Chapter Select for warnings and to find other story related info!

Ever since the strange occurrence after the DND game Eddie has been keeping a close eye on the younger girl. During her shifts, she would notice him either eating something at the food court, “wandering around”, or reading books in the fantasy section of the store. The latter activity was one of his favorites to the point that which most other patrons would avoid the section altogether except for those of Eddie’s Hellfire or her other most frequent guests.

The other type of frequent guests were Steve’s friends. Not the party boys and girls that invite her out to different parties out of a sign of respect for the old King Steve, but instead people like Nancy or Dustin or Cassie’s favorites. She knows it can be bad to have favorites among her brother’s basically adopted kids, however she couldn’t help it with Max and El. It was very clear to Cassie that the two knew each other through the group at the beginning because their boyfriends were friends, but as the boys ditched them they started stopping by the bookstore when she was working. 

For whatever reason which Cassie could not figure out El didn’t seem to act like a normal girl her age. It felt like she was mature beyond her years in some categories of life but in others like she was a toddler. The trait must be genetic because this causes Cassie to especially keep an eye on her. Whenever Max is trying to show El how to live like a typical girl Cassie steps in when on occasion El isn’t quite getting it with a book recommendation. Even sometimes when the lesson remained unspoken it was like Cassie knew what they needed before entering the shop, having already gone through the massive shelves until she found the exact volume they were looking for. 

Since this wasn’t a library Cassie had to keep her book dragon in the back and the two girls she had taken under her wing hidden from her boss who was quick to throw people she saw overstaying their welcome out. Her boss was overall nice and fair so there was nothing that she could complain about when it came to hours and other nice benefits she got from working there, but she could be a terror in return with her policies. Thankfully the book dragon was good about making himself scarce when her boss started patrolling. That was normally when he would do his other two default options. The girls, however…

“Get back here!” Cassie winced as she heard her boss scream after the girls as they dropped their books and ran out. They giggled as they dodged her boss’s lunge towards them. Cassie looks to the far wall and sees a moving shadow start sneaking his way to another section. She prays that Eddie at least cleaned up after himself this time. “At this point this store needs security.” Mary, her boss, sighs to herself still a little upset. 

“A lot of Hawkins proper is closing its doors. Including the library on occasion which I think is evil.”

“Wait really? That shouldn’t be the case.”

“Yeah. I know, I found it odd.” Cassie thinks back to when she checked it out. 

“Why her?” Cassie asks Billy/the monster. 

At this point, Billy has accepted something is wrong and still rages against it. The first time Billy fought back and won he looked at her with confusion and fear. “What the fuck are you doing here Harrington?” 

“Minimizing casualties.” Cassie has immense guilt all over her face. “That thing is going to feed. It is the equivalent of a wild hungry wolf. The only thing we can do in the meantime is keep it hungry and content enough so it doesn’t consume the whole of Hawkins in a day.” She then feels herself getting lifted off the ground by Billy. 

“Fucking help me or else I am beating you so much what I did to your brother will look like a joke.”

“I’m trying. This isn’t something that can be just reversed in a day. Just work with this thing and for a bit longer. Until the original wrong is made right.” Suddenly the eyes of anger and fear fade away and the familiar unimpressed look is back on his face as he slowly lowers her back down.

“This host and I are not compatible. It is enough to be able to control it but not enough to maintain it all the time. Don’t get yourself killed before I can finally have my perfect host.”

“I don’t plan on dying.”

She snaps back to herself. “I think she went on vacation. It is the summer after all.”

“So now we have to be at the library?”

“Well, what if we sell a membership that lets you treat it like one?” Cassie asks as she picks up the books the girls had to abandon on the ground and find themselves their proper home.

“Why didn’t I think of that?”

“Because you didn’t know about the library.”

“Smartass. Well, now your friends can actually be in here without having to run away every time they see me.”

“So you knew?”

“You aren’t exactly good at keeping secrets Cas.” 

“Fair enough.” If only she knew the monstrous secret she did keep. “I’ll pay for them now.”

“Don’t worry about it. Consider it a finders fee. Just make sure they tell their friends about it.”

“Thank you, Mary.” She smiles at her as she grabs Eddie from behind the bookshelf she is working on. “In that case, this one will take one.” Mary gives Cassie a bewildered look. 

“Why the hell are you friends with him?”

“Because we are both losers that like books. Besides, he is a good one to let in for free. After all, he is the head of a club at school so his friends will follow and they are massive fantasy fans.” Mary seems to contemplate something for a bit before she nods to herself. 

“I was wondering if he was stalking you. As long as you don’t do any of that weird satan worship in here or curse the store I don’t care.” Cassie sighs a bit. She knows the boy next to her has a bit of a reputation for theatrics that people don’t exactly have respect for. She doesn’t clue her in about the DND stuff but the less she knows about that the better.

“Thank you.” 

“Just be careful.” Cassie nods and walks with the boy back to the fantasy corner. When they get there she gives the boy a look that lowers him down to her height.

“Sorry Sweetheart.” That word almost makes Cassie perish on the spot. 

“Don’t worry about it now. Just please clean up your little den over here mister book dragon.” At this, he makes his best monster noise which causes the only other person in the section to immediately leave. Cassie laughs slightly as Eddie shrugs.

“What’s his problem?” Cassie asks as she puts away a few of the books strewn across the floor.

“I dunno.” Eddie launches him at the bean bag chair he swiped from the kids section and lays across it making him take up most of the space.

“Some people.” She says as she grabs the book she saw him with last and puts it on his back. Eddie lazily reaches back and grabs the book before getting comfortable and wiggling himself into the bean bag chair. “Well, I’ll leave you to your book. I am at work after all.”

“Boo. I thought Harrington’s were supposed to be the life of the party.” 

“Ewwww. Never call me that again.” Cassie fake gags as she leaves. This causes the boy to look at her in confusion as she goes over to the religious section and prays to whichever god is listening that she doesn’t get another lecture on how to organize those books.

——————————————————————-

When Dustin Henderson returns the Harrington siblings are some of the first to know. Cassie is taking her break in the back where no customers can get to. She hears a commotion between what sounds like a small child and her less-than-personable coworker so she decides to investigate. 

“I heard Baby Hair works here?”

“Who is Baby Hair?”

“That would be me, Tracy,” Cassie says as she stands at the door. “So how was that nerd camp honorary little brother?”

“I have so much to tell you but I want to talk to both of you.” 

“So you came here just to get the location of Steve? I’m hurt.” She holds her hand in a fist to her chest and falls slightly over it. Dustin gives her an odd look. “Habit I got from a friend.”

“You have friends?”

“Watch it small fry.”

“It is a genuine question.” At this, Cassie sighs.

“I have a few.”

“Better than the none you had besides me before the summer.” At this, Cassie looks hurt. She sees Eddie start stalking Dustin with one of his schemes and she gives him a look of warning as she flicks her eyes back to Dustin. 

“You wound me. And after I got you and the boys a present too.” She says as she ducks into the back for a second and comes out with the book that she had on hold for him. “I wasn’t sure if you guys got one of your parents to get it but I figured I would-“

“HOLY SHIT! You got it!”

“You kiss your mother with that mouth?” Dustin doesn’t answer as he flips through the book. 

“How did you even get this?”

“A little convincing. I’m pretty good at it when I actually try.”

“So you do have the Harrington gene.”

“A bit. Not enough for guys to be falling over me even when I am a jackass but enough to get my way when I want to.” She then smiles a bit. “Now the next time you and the rest of the Party get together you have something new to play with. Let’s go find my brother.”

Cassie looks over at her coworker who gives her a nod and she is off for Scoops Ahoy on her break. When she does she sees the girl who is normally on shift with Steve manning the scoops looking less than happy to be there.

“Hey… Robin right?” 

“Wow! I didn’t know the princess knew us lowly peasants.” Robin says sarcastically as braces herself against the back of the ice cream counter. At this point, Dustin walks forward with a smile that makes him seem younger than he actually is.

“Hi.”

“Hi?”

“I’m Dustin.”

“I’m Robin.”

“Pleasure to meet you. Uh. Is he here?”

“Is who here?” At this, Steve busts out from the back counter in excitement.

“Henderson.” They both start jumping and giggling and goofing off. Robin looks at the bizarre scene in confusion.

“Honorary Harrington here. I know babysitters are supposed to have their favorites but as you can see he does.” Cassie says with a laugh. Robin doesn’t look amused

“How many children are you friends with?” She asks both of them. Steve looks a bit annoyed and Cassie starts counting.

For Robin and the rest of the customer's mental health, Cassie suggests they move outside, and with a bit of money, Cassie and Steve buy Dustin a banana boat and ask him about his summer.

“You have a girlfriend?!”

“How?”

“When?”

“Is she hot?” The Harrington’s grill Dustin for details. As soon as Dustin starts describing her she seems a little too good to be true for her and she looks around. She looks back at the bookstore and sees Eddie in the window. He waves at her with a finger wave but then he tries to gesture her over. She subtly waves her head no and he dramatically pretends to slowly die in the bookstore causing multiple women in the store to run out in confusion and fright.

“They ditched me yesterday.” At this, Cassie comes back to the conversation looking at Dustin with worry.

“No.”

“Are you kidding me?”

“My first day back. You believe that shit?”

“Whoa seriously?”

“I swear to god.” Dustin takes a bite of his popcorn and Cassie gently pats him on the shoulder as Steve looks confused. “They are going to regret it big time when they don’t get to share in my glory.”

“Cassie! Please help. Your big nerd friend is scaring people away.”

“Really? Shit is getting juicy over here.”

“Please.”

“Fine. You two better not do anything stupid while I am gone.” Cassie says as she grabs one of the cone sails and eats it as she runs into the store.

“Eddie? Are you alive?” Cassie asks as she enters the store. She looks where he ‘collapsed’ on the floor a few moments ago just to find him missing. She looks over to her coworker for help but she decides it is a good time to go on her break. “Asshole.” She mutters under her breath.

Cassie isn’t exactly short. She is taller than the average girl but not by much. Even then the shelves around her seem massive and make her feel like she is in a maze. It is like the labyrinth and she is going in to slay the Minotaur. Except this is a super senior boy who may or may not be into witchcraft and Satanism. She is like 90% sure that is not true but she isn’t positive he isn’t.

As her mind begins to wander she feels the chill in the back of her neck again. As she turns around she is still in the bookstore but not her bookstore. In front of her is not Billy.

“Jesus Christ.” She jumps as she holds her chest. “Warn a girl before you kidnap her mind like this.” The beast seems unamused. “What do you want? I would give us maybe 5 minutes in mental time before my friend out there gets worried.”

“I need to grow.”

“Yeah, and how is that my problem to solve?”

“Unless you want your little and big friends to be on the menu I suggest you come up with something.”

“How much control do you have of your meat suit there?”

“Minimal. He stopped the first attack.”

“Tough luck. Maybe try someone else… Maybe your fellow lifeguard?” She asks as she sees that Billy is going to work.

“Lifeguard?”

“The woman in your meat suit is going to be replaced in a few minutes. Red outfit, megaphone, and a whistle.” At this the beast hums. 

“Smart. Start close then expand. I shall not lure in the other woman then.” 

“Huh. Almost like I was supposed to be your host.” The monster doesn’t seem to get it as it nods.

“Yes, I suppose so.” It suddenly ends contact and Cassie turns around just to run into Eddie.

“Boo!” Cassie actually jumps back away from him.

“Fucking hell!” 

“Whoa there. It wasn’t that bad of a scare. Are you ok?”

“…yeah. Sorry. I’m just worried about my friend.”

“The little kid in the cap?”

“Yeah. You know how some groups go. People start dating each other. People grow apart because of dating. The little guy is the only one not dating who wants to and it is so bad I’m pretty sure he just lied to me about having one.”

“You do know that my friends are just Hellfire right?”

“Oh… Sorry.”

“Why apologize. I wouldn’t trade them for the world. After all.” He then goes into his DM voice. “Who would I save the world with one session at a time?” At this, Cassie playfully taps him causing him to wind back in mock offense. 

“Goof.” She says as Eddie pretends to be seriously wounded.

And with that, they go back into the fantasy corner for a few hours in peace. Eddie in his bean bag chair and Cassie in a rocking chair she dragged from the kid's section. 

“Hey, Eddie?”

“Yeah?”

“Why do you stay here? Like you probably have a lot to plan for and do, so why do you stay here?”

“Hmm… I dunno. The others have summer school and I can’t do that so I guess I am bored?” Cassie seems to stare at him for a second before she raises her book so she can wipe her nose.

“Hmm. Fair. Plus I can get you a nice DND dungeon away from home and free books without having to be quiet.”

And with that, the conversation dies. They both dive headfirst into their books seeming to at least somewhat enjoy each other's presence.