#it usually takes me weeks to actually start the writing process

[madeofstardust17]

Started a new WIP and in my own true fashion, started on the middle. I already have 2k and I havent even began to scratch the surface. I'm soooo excited to be back at torturing my main boy Tim.

[art]

Creator Spotlight: @tinypaint

My name is Michelle Fus. I’m a Jewish, non-binary artist. I graduated from the School of Visual Arts for Computer Art and Animation in 2011. I’ve interned at Pixar and worked for a few years at Dreamworks Animation. Over the past ten years, I’ve self-published two books and have run three successful Kickstarters. I now work with Skybound (The Walking Dead, Invincible) in developing my webcomic, Ava’s Demon, as a physical book series for stores. I like hiking, cultivating plants, caring for my cats, and hanging out with my beautiful husband. You can read my webcomic at avasdemon.com.

Check out our interview with Michelle below!

How did you get your start in art, and more specifically, with Ava's Demon?

I’ve always been into art since I was very young. I started to gravitate towards it in first grade, where we were required to keep a daily journal. I found myself drawing in it more than actually keeping entries. From there, I got more and more interested in honing my skills as an artist. I started making my own comics for fun. I signed up for classes outside of school and put together a portfolio for the School of Visual Arts, where I majored in Computer Art and Animation. After getting my first job in the field, I realized that it wasn’t what I wanted to do with my life. After working my day job, I would come home and work towards building a career in comics for myself by creating and uploading my webcomic, Ava’s Demon.

What is one habit you find yourself doing a lot as an artist?

Looking things up to learn more before I make art or write. For instance, how many livable planets are in a Galaxy? What does a black hole actually look like, and can it give off light? How long would it actually take to travel through space if you had the fastest ship possible? I look up all of these things and then ignore most of them for the sake of writing a fun story and making fun art.

From idea to final piece, how long does it take for you to create something?

It depends on the feeling I want to convey. Sometimes I’ll work for a whole week on a drawing and then delete it because I just don’t feel good about it. Other times I’ll make something in a day that I absolutely love from beginning to end. Some drawings I never delete nor finish, and instead, the files just kind of sit in a folder. The time it takes varies a lot.

Over the years as an artist, what were your biggest inspirations behind your creativity?

I really love good stories. So movies and books with captivating stories usually motivate and inspire me; stories that stay with you permanently, with twists and turns that you can’t stop thinking about. I also love finding characters whose struggles I can deeply relate to. I try to hold onto those feelings and emulate them through my art.

What is the hardest part of your process?

Actually finishing a drawing. The anxiety of it piles on me sometimes. I’ll work for a while on a drawing and constantly ask myself, “Is this drawing really finished? What terrible things about it am I not seeing?”. My desire to avoid making something terrible can sometimes put me in a mental prison where I keep chipping away at a drawing until I no longer know what I am looking at.

What is one interaction you had from a fan of yours that has stuck with you over the years?

In general, I like letting young artists in middle school, and high school know that I wasn’t very good at art at their age (I really wasn’t, I didn’t have the same resources they have now, and I didn’t have any perspective on what it takes to have a career in art, it’s a different world). Kids have come to me at conventions with their work for critique and advice, and I have to tell them that they’re already miles ahead of what I could make at their age. I have to tell them that it’s okay if they can’t make what all the professionals make online, to know that they have SO much time ahead of them to work at what they love. If you love making art, do it often, study art throughout history, and over time you’ll be able to create everything your heart desires.

What is something other people find hard to draw that you find enjoyable?

I have no idea. Sometimes it feels like drawing anything is suffering, even if you like what you’re making.

Who on Tumblr inspires you and why?

@loish has been consistently inspiring me since my days in high school. Every new painting has so much grace and power and is so excellent to look at. Her skill in shape and form seems limitless, and I hope to someday achieve even a small fraction of her understanding of art. Seeing her new work on my timeline also makes my dopamine spike, so I’m always looking forward to updates from her.

Thank you so much for stopping by and sharing, Michelle! Be sure to check out their Tumblr blog over at @tinypaint and follow their webcomic, Ava’s Demon, over at avasdemon.com.

[xiaojunsdiary]

admire from afar

shen quanrui x m! reader

prompt: your classmate ricky dyes his hair and you just cannot take your eyes off of it. but someone else can’t take their eyes off you either

warnings: flirting, blushing, flustered reader, ricky being a tease, RED HAIR RICKY

word count: 992 words

************************🎀************************

you have had a crush on your classmate and fellow acquaintance, shen quanrui, for a while now. the two of you sharing a few classes over your high school years. now both in your senior year.

he went by ricky in class but you never looked at him and thought of him that way tho. the two of you weren’t close but you had worked on some projects together in the past and greet each other in the hallways. ricky was nice, but the boy was also very popular.

he had gained popularity when he arrived halfway through your sophomore year as a foreign exchange student and had decided to stick it through to the end of high school here as he enjoyed the environment.

the other leading factor to ricky’s popularity was his undeniable beauty. the boy was stunning and had everyone infatuated. you were no different. for you couldn’t help but catch yourself staring at him from time to time, wether it be a few glance or an extensive stare, you admired generously.

* 🍒*

today started a new week of school. a lousy monday. you had done your normal routine of getting ready, brushing your teeth and walking walking to school as it wasn’t far but something was a little different.

the normal crowds that would gather about outside of school seemed to be louder today. gossip was spreading like a wild fire as you tried to listen in while making your way to your first class of the day. you heard ricky’s name slip a few times but never heard any follow up as there was so much going on.

when you had finally reached your first period: mathematic concepts, you eyed the main topic of today: shen quanrui but with red hair. a bold shade that was very different from the normal ice prince-blonde the boy had usually worn.

you didn’t realize you weren’t moving from the doorway until you heard an “excuse me” behind you. you quickly apologized and moved to sit down in your normal seat.

you began to get your belongings out on your desk as you stole another glance at ricky. the bright shade of red really complimented his features and even exaggerated them in the process.

your eyes had managed to catch his and he gave you a smile but you quickly looked away, embarrassed of being caught. you didn’t understand why as many other people were staring as well. probably because he had seen you in particular. ricky went back to conversing with his friends.

your math teacher walked in to begin his lesson while trying to ignore the flutter in your chest.

stupid, stupid, stupid you thought.

*🍒*

the lesson had went on for a moment and you had started to zone out due to boredom. your eyes wandered back over to ricky who was just a few seats away, taking notes down that your teacher had insisted you write down.

he felt someone staring at him and he looked up and locked eyes with you. you felt your face heat up in genuine embarrassment as you were supposed to be taking down notes, not ogling down your classmate. he gave you a small smirk and continued taking down notes.

you decided it was time to actually do some work yourself as well. the red hue on your face not leaving anytime soon as you recall the incident that had just occurred moments prior.

stupid, stupid, stupid.

*🍒*

the bell rang signaling the end of your first period. as students gathered up their materials and begin to exit the room, it took you a minute longer to pack up your things delaying your departure.

as you were putting the final notebook into your bag, you saw a pair of exquisite shoes perch their way beside your desk. looking up to meet eyes with…RICKY?

what could he possibly want? you thought

while there was only a few inches between the two of you, you felt much smaller as he gazed down at you this closely, an undisclosed meaning behind them.

“u-uh, hello?” you asked, zipping up your back back while attempting to hold eye contact. attempting to anyway.

“hi, mn. how are you?” he asked with a small smile.

“i’m okay. you?” you asked, happy you didn’t make a fool of yourself of stuttering again.

“i’m doing great, thank you. didn’t know so many people would be staring at me today, although, there was one pair of eyes that just couldn’t seem to stop” he replied, his smirk from earlier returning to his face.

your face went aflame as he had called you out for your looks you had given him earlier .

“i’m s-sorry, i hope i didn’t make you uncomfortable” you apologized, heat prominent on your cheeks.

“it’s okay. although, i’m curious” he said stepping a little closer.

“to what?”

“as to what your schedule looks like this weekend” he replies, slyly might you add.

“u-uh…,” you were in shock. what do you say?? “i’m unoccupied” a bit of hesitation near the end of your reply. shen quanrui wanted to potentially spend time with you?

“would you like to go out to dinner with me? i could pick you up” he asked, now a smile was stationed upon his face.

“yes!” you replied a little too enthusiastically, you cleared your throat” “yes, that sounds lovely”

omgomgomg, your crush just asked you out!!

“then it’s a date. how’s friday night at 7pm work for you?” he said, shifting more body weight onto his right leg, making his current pose even more attractive.

you nodded with a smile.

“great, well, see you then, gorgeous” he said while leaning in to press his lips to your right cheek before he made his exit.

you stood and stared at the door from which ricky had just left through. your face burning

what the fuck just happened

****************************************************

A/N: this shit deleted halfway though so sorry if the way i wrote it changes like halfway LMAOO. but OMGGGG, RICKY’S RED HAIR HE DEBUTED WITH TODAY, I’M FUCKING SCREAMING. I CALLED THAT SHÍT. i need him so bad, i’m blushing

posted: 03-10-24

edited: ???

****************************************************

comments & reblogs are very appreciated!! <3

[pedgito]

alone, in my mind ✧ ˚ · . eddie munson x afab!reader.

summary: so what if eddie munson had a really pretty face, it was just too good not to admire. so what if you liked to draw him in your free time, he definitely didn't mind. yet somehow, tutoring him still felt like the most scandalous thing you've ever done.

cw: 18+ content (minors, shoo!) afab!reader, virgin!reader, graphic smut (including p in v, oral, fingering, and all that jazz), orgasms, this is v dirty i'm sorry.

word count: almost 14k! don't judge me pls, i've been sitting on this for a few weeks.

prompt requests are always open!

alternate ao3 link

There was something therapeutic about sitting alone during lunch, watching chaos take place in front of you; from kids running around the cafeteria, traveling from table to table, conversing among themselves, yelling to each other from across the room, even standing up on tables like a stage and yelling out to the entire high school class. Eddie Munson was an enigma. You couldn’t figure him out. Other than him dealing you weed under the table and the occasional class you had with him, you hadn’t spoken more than ten words to him at one time.

So, he might find it slightly weird that you’ve drawn him in your sketchbook more than a few times. You couldn’t help it, that hair was just too glorious not to draw. But to be fair, you’ve drawn up a lot of the other students without speaking to them. A lot of it was pure observation—a student focused on a book they were reading, a group of the cheerleaders circled up and giggling among themselves, Jason Carver pictured in his actual form, the true evil of Hawkins. Sometimes you liked to draw devil horns on him for fun. No harm, no foul, you didn’t actually mean anything by it—you just hated how much he bolstered himself up at school, despite still paying you to write for his English homework. But hey, you gotta hustle where you can. He left you alone for the most part, anyways. 

Once the bell rang and the last few stragglers were leaving the lunch room, you finally gathered your own things. Shoving the last minute homework into your bag and clutching the sketchbook to your chest, you leisurely walked your way to the exit. The sound of your pencil clanging to the floor beneath you had you pausing in your tracks. 

Part of you just wanted to leave it, you had enough in your bag that it wouldn’t really matter anyways. 

“Hey, this yours?” The voice asked.

You turned slowly, scanning the floor, stopping on the dirtied-up white sneakers that squeaked against the floor as they turned toward you. Of course it has to be Eddie.

“Yeah. Yeah, sorry.” You said softly, reaching forward to grab the pencil from him. The silence was apparent now, only the two of you left in the cafeteria. 

“No problem.” He laughs slightly, “Oh hey, I’ve been meaning to tell you,” He leans in, lowering his voice—not that it really mattered since it was only you two, “I got a couple new strains in, if you want to meet up at the usual spot.” 

Against your own rational thinking, your mouth spoke before your brain could process. “Sure.” You hadn’t even smoked the last bit of weed he’d sold to you yet. 

He smiled, leaving wordlessly.

Sometimes it felt like life was happening around you and you weren’t even present, your body just did and said what it wanted.

“Oh, you fucking idiot.” You spoke to yourself.

⋆·˚ ༘ *

Four o’clock. The woods just west of Hawkins High. Picnic table. That’s how you’d set up your meetings from the start. And of course, you were always right on time. Eddie however, he’d get here eventually. At least you hoped. Your shift at the Family Video started in a half hour and not that Keith would even take the chance to fire you, you just hated the idea of being late.

“Come on, Munson.” You grumble to yourself, checking the watch around your wrist. You sigh, sitting your bag on the table to grab your sketchbook, scribbling down a rough version of the wide expanse of trees in front of you. 

“I’m late, I know.” A voice startles you from behind. The scream that leaves your mouth is involuntary, but you quickly cover it in an attempt to compose yourself.

“Jesus Christ, Eddie.” You tell him, pulling your hand from your mouth. “You can’t sneak up on people like that!”

“You okay?” He asks, chuckling lightheartedly. The question was genuine, though. The way his eyes connected with yours assured you of so.

“Sure, one tiny heart attack later.” You reply sarcastically. 

“Hey, I was loud as fuck walking up.” Eddie says like he's trying to prove it to himself, pointing behind himself briefly. “You completely forget other things exist when you shove your head into that thing.”

You glance down at your book before promptly snapping it shut. “Shut up.” You say, no real bite behind it. 

He threw his hands up in defeat. “Hey, just a harmless observation.” Not that you were bothered by him observing, but the fact that he had—it was surprising. He only ever talked about two things, Hellfire Club and D&D, which went hand in hand. But so much so, that he was almost hyper fixated on it. 

“Anyways,” you say, shifting the subject. “I’ve got work in thirty—well, about twenty now,”

“Yadda, yadda, yeah—make it quick, I know.” He grins, placing his small chest of goodies on the table. You roll your eyes in annoyance, even if you weren’t really that annoyed in the first place. He slaps two baggies on the table, presenting them like prized possessions.

“Colombian Gold, Northern Lights.” He says, pointing them out individually. “Pick your poison.”

You tilted your head, deciding on which sounded better. Eddie interjects thoughtfully, “Personally, I’m a fan of that sweet, sweet Colombian Gold.”

You laugh quietly, nodding in agreement. “Fine then.”

“Twenty for the ounce.” He says, shoving the leftovers back into the metal chest. 

You swing your bag around to dig for the pocket change, shoving your hand inside to grab for your wallet. But, there’s nothing there. Not the familiar chain or zipper that sticks out, nothing.

“Shit, shit.” You say suddenly, beginning to panic. You close your eyes shut, trying to retrace your steps. But it dawns on you, your wallet is probably sitting on your bedside shelf where you left it the night prior, coming back from your late night run to the store after leaving work. “I think I left my wallet at home.”

Eddie ponders for a moment, then shrugs. “Get me when you can, I know you’re good for it.”

You hated the idea of not paying him the money you owed, “I swear I’ll pay today. I can meet up with you after I get out of work or—“

Eddie snorts, walking forward and grabbing a pen that had fallen out of my bag during my wild search. He opens my palm, holding it firmly. He pulls off the cap of the pen, holding it between his teeth as he scribbles something on my hand.

You inspect it closely. It was an address. Eddie caps the pen and hands it back to you. “Can you stop there after work?”

You were apprehensive for a moment, but figured there couldn’t be much harm in it. “Yeah, I can try. I don’t get out until nine, though.”

“Works for me.” He tells you, shoving his hand in his back pocket to adjust the black handkerchief that was shoved in haphazardly. You snorted softly, shoving your things back into your bag as quickly as you could. 

“Okay, well—I’ll see you then, I guess—“ You swung back around, coming directly in contact with Eddie’s chest, who hadn’t moved from his spot. Why hadn’t he moved? More importantly, why was he reaching down?

Fuck. You looked down to notice some of the papers from your sketchbook had sprawled out on the ground. You scrambled to gather the drawings back into the pocket of the book, hoping you could avoid another awkward encounter with Eddie today.

But, as luck would have it—“Damn, these are good.” Eddie says suddenly, holding up one drawing in particular, an offhand drawing off Steve while you had some downtime at work.

“Make sure you do my hair justice.” He’d told you. You laughed and smacked him in the back of the head softly. 

“Is that Harrington?” He asks.

“…yeah.” You answer, trying not to die of embarrassment. 

He glances at you, noticing your discomfort. “Shit, I’m sorry. Here.” Eddie hands the paper over, realizing he may have overstepped. 

“Thanks.” You answer, taking the paper from his hand.

“Oh, hey-“ He interrupts, reaching down to grab another page that had fallen under the picnic table seat. “You forgot,” He pauses, looking at it closely, “one.” His voice is soft, thoughtful.

You curse inwardly, trying not to physically facepalm yourself.

“Is that me?” He asks, the smallest smile forming in his face. “Well, at least—-the back of me?” 

You stutter for words, your brain suddenly lacking the English language entirely. 

“Does my hair really look like that from the back?” He asks playfully, head tilted in curiosity. 

“Ms. McNally’s class gets really boring.” You tell him, snatching the paper back. “Like, really boring.”

But no, his head definitely looked like that from the back, despite the unruly curls in his hair, there wasn’t a piece out of place.

“Glad to know the back of my head gives you some entertainment then.” It’s a lame attempt to lighten the mood, but it works. Your thankful his immediate reaction isn’t to find it odd or make fun of you, he almost seemed amused.

“Here.” He finally hands the page over. “No more peeking, I swear.”

You place the page back into your sketchbook carefully. Looking up, Eddie’s still standing there, though looking around aimlessly.

“Eddie, what are you still doing here?” You ask.

“Got another deal going on soon.” He tells you. “Top secret.” And if the wink didn’t make you blush, it was the grin that spread over his features, you shook your head and laughed it off. 

“See you at nine, Munson.” You tell him, backpack slung over your right shoulder.

“Can’t wait.” He says playfully.

⋆·˚ ༘ *

Your bike squealed to a stop outside of Family Video, nearly burning rubber. Clocking in with thirty seconds to spare, you breath a sigh of relief. 

“What’s got you riled up?” Steve asks, organizing the Horror section of movies from a few feet away.

“Nothing.” You grumble, setting your bag down and throwing the god awful work vest over your sweater. 

“You just missed Keith, by the way.” He adds, shooting you a knowing but amused look.

“Thank god.” Keith had a small obsession with you, not that you were creeped out about it. He was just so hopelessly in love with you, which blinded his ability to see that you had no interest in returning the sentiment. “That’s the last thing I need.”

“It’s the undeniable charm you’ve got.” Steve jokes, shrugging casually. “The ladies and gents love it—right, Robin?”

Like a jack in the box, Robin pops up from where she’s squatted behind the counter.

“Stop teasing her.” Robin warms, throwing a VHS case at Steve’s head. It promptly smacks him in the forehead. 

“Ow, what the hell?” Steve shouts, fingers touching his forehead for any sign of injury. Not that there would be any, Robin had barely hit him in the process and Steve was kind of dramatizing things. You’d still consider it one of his more positive traits, even if it did serve as more entertainment to you and Robin than anything.

“No, he’s right.” You play along. “It’s a blessing and a curse.”

There’s a beat of silence and then you finally speak up.

“What do you guys make of Eddie Munson?” You asked, grabbing the stack of returned rentals to be checked through.

“The dude who’s been held back twice? Doesn’t he have that weird after school group thing he does?” Steve asks, looking between you and Robin.

“Yes.” You nod. “It’s a D&D club, Steve. Not a cult.”

Steve shrugs nonchalantly. “He always seemed off to me.”

“Yeah and you were prancing around with Tommy and Carol most of junior year.” You reminded him. “Don’t you remember when Tommy hit me on my bike with his car during Spring Break? During that giant party he had at his house?”

Steve immediately looked regretful at judging Eddie.

“Thank god you found Robin.” You tell him, trying to make Steve feel less guilty about it all. Tommy had always been jealous of Steve, but Carol and her constant snarky remarks always egged Tommy on. 

“Yeah!” Steve cheers, reaching over to high five Robin. She scoffs in annoyance, leave Steve’s unanswered high five hanging in the air.

“We both love chicks and boobies, it works out great.” Steve adds, returning hand to his side.

“He’s still learning.” Robin says quietly, leaning over toward you. “Why are you asking about Eddie anyways? Doesn’t he deal weed to the students?”

You shot Robin a knowing look.

“Oh. Oh.” She catches on. “Well, did something happen between you two?”

“No. Nothing, really. I just have to meet up with him after work and was wondering if I should be worried.” Robin didn’t seem to question as to why you would need to meet up with, which made you grateful.

“He doesn’t seem like that type of guy. Not to me, at least.” Robin assures, lowering her voice as the entrance bell jingled, signaling a customer. “But, you could always take your pocket knife with you.”

Your mouth dropped open at the suggestion, but to be fair, Robin just wanted to make sure you felt safe.

“Yeah—murder first, ask questions later.” You retort playfully.

“You’ve been watching too many scary movies with Steve.” Robin tells you.

“Hey, don’t knock ‘em til you try ‘em!” Steve says, greeting the customer as they walk by. 

⋆·˚ ༘ *

You locked up for the night as soon as you could, making the short trek to your bike behind the back of the Family Video store. You pulled the small piece of paper you had scribbled on earlier, the address Eddie had left earlier started to smudge about an hour into your shift and you didn’t want to take any chances that it could last. And luckily, your mother had dropped your wallet off in the process of making her way to work that night, which was a lifesaver. The idea of biking home and then to Eddie’s made your legs hurt at the very possibility.

It was a ten minute bike ride away from the store, leading you down a long road that led to a dimly lit trailer park. The uneasiness set in immediately.

As if on cue, one of the poorly lit lamps sprinkled throughout the residence flickered a couple times before going out completely.

“Great. This is how I die.” You say to yourself, double checking the number on the paper so it matched with the trailer you were riding up to. 

Everything seemed normal, the lights were on inside. Aside from the totally barren mobile home and Eddie’s truck parked in the driveway, nothing felt too grim about the whole situation. Normally, you’d be in a rush to get home and relax, but you knew your parents didn’t care one way or another, as long as you came home in one piece.

You sighed, stepping off and leaning your bike against the deck. If it wasn’t for the muffled music playing inside the trailer, you would assume whoever was there had left but forgot to turn their lights off. You reach forward to knock tentatively on the flimsy screen door.

There’s a rustling from the back of the home, the sudden silence of music being turned off, then a twisting of the doorknob as the door creaked open.

“Well, well, well.” Eddie says, grinning at you through the screen door. “I didn’t think you’d ever show.”

“It’s only five after nine, Eddie.” You tell him, reaching around into your bag to make things quick.

“It was just a—nevermind,” He mumbles quietly to himself, “Whatcha got for me, princess?”

You curled your head to the side subtly, but didn’t think anything of the harmless and playful endearment. Save it, bookmark it, stow it away for later. You slide him the twenty, he eyes it for a moment. “You know,” he begins, arm resting against the trim of the door, “I’d take that drawing of me over the twenty if you’re willing to fork it over.”

“Are you serious?” You ask, hand frozen in place from where Eddie was hanging onto the bill.

“Deadly.” He tells you, tongue smoothing over the teeth that showed through his grin.

You debated, not sure why he was so interested in the first place.

“Why don’t you want the money?” You ask.

“You’ve bought enough from me, I think that warrants a little discount.” He shrugs, like it wasn’t a big deal at all.

“You’re so weird, Munson.” You reply, pulling out the sketchbook and handing the drawing over.

“Got anymore?” He asks jokingly, albeit a little curious.

“I’ll let that remain a mystery, thank you.” You tell him, snapping the book closed. He holds the drawing up to the light, watching him scan over it admiringly. 

“It’s really good, you know. You probably draw a lot of kids at school, don’t you?” He asks and you’re not sure where his sudden interest in conversation with you is coming from. Both of you didn’t interact outside of deals—this reality almost didn’t feel tangible. 

“Sometimes.” You answer skeptically, “Not all the time, though.”

“We’ll, I’m honored.” He says, noting one of the small details in the background. “Did you make Ms. McNally resembles a hobbit on purpose?”

You snorted at that. It was something, in hindsight, that you’d completely forgotten about. “She was really pissing me off that day.”

“Nice.” He laughs to himself, finally setting the drawing down on a table out of view. “Anyways, don’t worry about the twenty. You’re covered.”

“You really don’t have to do that, Eddie. I can pay.” You felt guilty at the thought, but Eddie seemed pretty serious about the whole ordeal. 

“Nope. We’re good.” He tells you, flashing you his trademark smile. He still hadn’t changed his school earlier, brandishing his Hellfire Club tee proudly. 

“Okay,” You draw out, dragging the last letter a bit. “Well, I’ll see you at school tomorrow then.” 

“Aye, aye.” He replied in mock salute, coming to stand at attention.

You couldn’t help but laugh aloud at the act, it was undeniably goofy, but adorable in its own right. He shut the door slowly, waving you a sweet goodbye as he finally disappeared. 

And despite all efforts, there was one giant fucking elephant in the room that you couldn’t ignore–because not only was Eddie devastatingly beautiful, he was charming as hell, which was something you had overlooked for far too long. 

⋆·˚ ༘ *

“Stupid. Fucking. Lockers.” You grumble to yourself, slamming the locker shut with every word. It was as if the world was setting you up for the shittiest day possible. It started with you sleeping through your alarm, burning the toast you’d made for breakfast, and somehow managing to spill orange juice all over your jeans in the small span of an hour–so not only were you on your second pair of jeans, you were ready to slam your head against the locker in defeat, ready to be put out of this complete, utter misery that had been your Friday morning.

“Woah, woah.” The voice carried down the hall, you peeked behind you. 

Eddie Munson was heading right for you. You turned and sighed, slamming the locker again for good measure.

“Lucky for you, I’ve got just the touch.” Eddie assures you, wiggling his fingers in your face. 

You tried to ignore every flipping feeling in your stomach at the sight of it.

It took him a second, but he swiftly lifted the locker door in a quick motion and slammed it close, that time for good. He’s smiling down at you–again, with that annoying, shit-eating grin.

“No. Don’t even start.” You tell him, finger pointing accusingly. “My morning has been horrible. I don’t need jokes, right now.”

“I was just going to ask if you wanted to walk to English together?” He replied, looking slightly defeated. “If that’s okay?”

“Oh.” You frowned. It still didn’t feel right to be conversing in front of your peers, like it was almost illegal. “I mean, I don’t see why not. But, Eddie–”

“Yep?” He asks, turning on his heels. You both had English together, which most of the time, was spent staring directly at the back of his head because you couldn’t be bothered to listen to Ms. McNally’s grating voice for more than a few minutes at a time.

“Why are you talking to me?” You ask, genuine and honest. There had never been any reason not to before, but why now?

“You seemed a little scary–well, not scary, scary–but like, she could definitely break my fingers if I said the wrong thing to her–that type of scary.” He explains in one breath, fiddling with the rings on his right hand.

Fair enough, considering the pocket knife you did carry in your bag for instances like that. There were too many assholes and you had plenty of ways to deal with them.

“Ah.” You replied, as if it all made sense. “Well, the jury's still out.”

“I’ll try and remember that.” He tells you, laughing slightly. “I also just wasn’t sure you liked talking to anyone from school–I mean I get that, but I just wanted to make sure you knew that you don’t have to sit alone at lunch like you do–”

“I don’t mind it–” You interject.

“I know. I’m just saying. Our table wouldn’t mind. The guys usually don’t know how to talk to girls, so most of them don’t say anything anyways.” He assures you.

The friendliness caught you off-guard. It seemed genuine, but you were also waiting for the catch. 

⋆·˚ ༘ *

The teacher slaps the graded test onto your desk, brandishing a bright red A. You quickly shove it under your textbook, glancing up as you hear the rustling of Eddie swiveling around to face you from his seat.

“All good?” You ask, mostly in an attempt to be friendly. But, you can’t help but notice the giant circled F on his paper. You’d heard lots of stories about Eddie and his inability to pass, being held back, and every lousy nickname that came along with that. People liked to pick on Eddie because he was different, he didn’t fit in with anyone at Hawkins, and while you might be able to get away with slipping under the radar–Eddie couldn’t. 

“I could tutor you, you know.” You suggest, instantly regretting the words the moment they leave your mouth. 

“Seriously?” He asks, looking caught off guard. “I appreciate it but–”

“Seriously.” You say, “English is my best subject and as long as you put in the same effort I am, I could at least get you up to a C.” In for a penny, in for a pound…I guess.

“That’s–yeah, that’s cool. I’m kinda busy with Hellfire most days though–” He starts, rolling the paper up in his hands. It was a small detail, but you noticed how often he used his hands when he liked to fidget, whether it be his rings or a poor piece of paper being strangled to death. 

“Weekends are good.” You assure him. “I work a lot during that week so I wouldn’t have time anyways.” 

Eddie nods slowly. He seemed apprehensive, like he didn’t really deserve the help you were offering. His jaw was clenched, eyes downcast.

“Eddie, I don’t mind.” You told him, offering a small smile to ease whatever worry he was feeling. “It's just–we’ll have to study at your place though, not mine.”

You didn’t even want to begin to explain the ordeal to your parents, as understanding as they may be–any site of a boy and your parents would be seething at the idea.

“My uncle is gone most of the time, so I guess that works out.” He shrugs.

The sound of the teacher clearing her throat from a few rows over interrupts you both. You roll your eyes inconspicuously, turning in your chair.

Eddie taps your leg softly, having already turned around in his chair. You look underneath the desk to find a small piece of paper between his thumb and middle finger. Prying it from his fingers.

You unfold it quietly, fingers smoothing over the creases in the paper. 'Tmrw at 4?' It read it dark blue ink. His handwriting wasn’t as messy as you expected, you quickly scribbles a ‘Yep :)’ adding the smiley face for fun. Maybe this was a good thing, you could make it a good thing. Helping someone bump their grade and maybe make a friend in the process—what’s the worst thing that could happen?

You slid the paper over his shoulder, ignoring the way his fingertips brushed against yours. You didn’t see him unfold the paper, but the way his shoulder shook with silent laughter was a good sign. He pocketed the paper for safekeeping. 

You couldn’t help but smile to yourself, but what you couldn’t see was the same smile that Eddie shared with you.

⋆·˚ ༘ *

The cafeteria was already packed by the time you had arrived, the hustle and bustle of kids grabbing their food and chit chatting like it was musical chairs was enough to drive you insane. You quickly ducked your head, attempting to make your way to your usual spot in the corner of the lunch room.

The hand that grabs your wrist stops you in your tracks. There’s a moment where you’re ready to swing back in retaliation. 

“Hey, want to sit with us?” He asks. He was really starting to throw you off. 

The idea of going from speaking in short, clipped—and sometimes one word answers, to full fledged conversations was not something you were used to. The only two people you talked to that much, outside of your parents, was Robin and Steve. And maybe Steve was a cop out, you two practically grew up together, toppling over each other as babies. 

“Uh, I don’t know—“ You begin, but the bellowing, boisterous voice of Dustin Henderson overpowers your own. 

“Steve graduated already, you gotta make new friends eventually.” 

That little fucking twerp. Him and Steve together in one place was a nightmare.

“I will murder you, Henderson. Don’t try me.” You threatened.

“You wouldn’t.” He counters.

“Try me.” You quirk your eyebrow. “Remember what Steve told you about summer of ‘84?” 

Your voice was lowered, but it didn’t seem like anyone was paying any attention, aside from the people sitting at Eddie’s table. It was like they had front row tickets to the most talked about movie in town. Dustin’s eyes widened in fear.

“He also told me about that time you two—“ You quickly shoved your hand over his mouth, stopping him from saying what was possibly the most embarrassing thing you’ve ever done. He muffled the rest of whatever he was saying into your hand.

“Don’t you dare.” You say seriously, fingers pinching the tip of his ear. His hands fly up, signaling his white flag of defeat.

“You’re so mean sometimes.” He whines, rubbing his tender ear. 

“You’ll live, Henderson.” You assure him, bumping him aside with your hip to take a seat.

Eddie had been watching with intrigued amusement the entire time, not sure how well you and Dustin actually knew each other until now. And apparently, it was entirely too much. 

“Not gonna eat?” Eddie asks, noticing your lack of a lunch tray.

“I hate big crowds. I usually just wait until everyone sits down.” You say softly, setting your bag on your knees to rest your arms on. 

“Here.” Eddie says, sliding his uneaten apple and bag of carrots over like it was a game of poker and he was dividing up his chips. “For now, at least.”

“I’m fine, honestly.” You laugh lightheartedly, but take the fresh fruit and vegetable anyway.

⋆·˚ ༘ *

Your halfway through lunch when you lock eyes with Jason, who’s practically burning eyes into your skull. He motions toward the door leading to the back of the school, hoping you’d get the signal. 

It made him look ridiculous more than anything. You’d already planned to meet up with after lunch earlier on in the week, but Jason never seemed like he was focused on anything other than basketball or Chrissy—which fair, Chrissy was a great girl. 

You leave without much of a word, other than a smile and a pat on Dustin’s shoulder, hoping he’d get the message. He knew just as much as Steve did about your arrangement with Jason, considering Dustin and Steve were practically conjoined twins, at this point. He clears his throat, distracting Eddie with something about their meeting tonight so you could sneak away without worry.

When you’re finally outside, Jason is pacing, not nervously, but definitely impatiently. “You got it?” He asks.

You pause, “…Yeah.” You answer him, pulling the midterm paper out of your bag and handing it over, he quickly snatches it away and slides you over the money he promised.

“Jesus, Jason. This isn’t a drug deal. Chill out.” You finally find the courage to say. 

“If anyone finds out about this, I could lose my chance at any type of scholarship, you know?” He tells you, and you don’t even want to begin to hear his sob story. His parents could buy his way into any school he wanted, though you appreciated his poor attempt to manage it himself.

“Hmm, well maybe—just maybe, you shouldn’t be asking people to write your papers for you then.” You snark back, zipping your backpack closed aggressively for good measure. “Figure this shit out yourself, Jason. I’ve got work, my own school stuff, and plenty of other shit to worry about. I don’t need you hounding me for a paper that you could finish on your own in a night if you actually took the time.”

“But basketball is my priority.” He tells you, you join in to mock him at the same time. 

“Fuck off, Jason.” Enough was enough. Jason was nothing but a problem, even after all the pain and embarrassment he’d put you through a couple years prior. “Ask your perfect, pretty little girlfriend to do the work for you.”

And for once, he finally looked defeated. But, he was smart in not responding. He shoved his way past you, making his way back inside. You don’t remember how the arrangement between you two started initially, or why you fell pity to him after the stunt he pulled a couple years ago—you figured you were more desperate for the money at the time, sacrificing and swallowing your pride in the process. But now? Fuck that.

You could just ditch the rest of the day, which didn’t sound entirely too awful, but it was rash and you didn’t like to act on impulse, which you’d been doing entirely too much of lately.

“Pull it together.” You remind yourself before forcing yourself through the rest of what was already a horrible day.

⋆·˚ ༘ *

Steve tagged along to lock up with you tonight, considering you two had plans to hang out tonight and he had picked you up from school that evening as a favor. 

“What’s got you so tense?” He asks, swinging his keys around his pointer finger.

“Everything.” You sigh through clenched teeth, outwardly groaning as you take a seat in Steve’s car. “God, my feet are killing me.” You quickly toe your shoes off on the floorboard of his car and curl your legs up criss cross.

“Care to elaborate?” He pushes, backing out of the parking lot to pull out on the main road. “Everything is just like a blanket statement, you know. You know I’m never gonna repeat anything you tell me to anyone, ever.”

“Except Dustin.” You remind him.

“Okay, that was fair game. You told him some embarrassing stuff about me. I couldn’t just stand there and watch.” He laughs, you try to hold back your own laughter but it bubbles out soon after.

“It’s just—the shit with Jason, trying to keep up with school, my parents hounding me all the time, and then I promised Eddie I would help him with English—which, you know how my motor mouth works, once I get an idea it just comes out, it’s impossible to stop it.” And god was that a fucking breath of relief to finally let out.

“You’re still doing Jason’s schoolwork?” He asks, slightly disappointed in you. It was understandable, he hated him just as much as you. 

“Only the important stuff. Essays, the higher graded stuff, you know. It’s easy money.” You tell him, but it sounds like a lousy excuse.

“Let’s not forget he embarrassed you in front of the entire basketball team and cheerleaders last year.” 

“Which was partly your responsibility, Steve.” You remind him. But, it was so far in the past that you couldn’t be mad at him. Holding a grudge against Steve was like hating your own brother and you couldn’t do it. Your gut was pointing to every possible sign to say no to Jason, but Steve gave you the push you’d needed that night.

“I thought it was genuine. I’m sorry.” Steve tells you, you could see the way he paused, swallowed, thinking back on the memory.

“Anyways. I’m just stressed. Not that I can’t handle it, but Eddie’s been acting unnaturally friendly with me and it’s kind of giving me weird vibes.” You admit, like trusting Eddie was just too good to be true. Not weird in the way that made you want to run in the opposite direction, but the way that made your stomach clench in anticipation—and occasionally your thighs. Eddie had always been attractive, but only from a distance.

“Just keep your guard up, that’s always the best option.” He says honestly. “Not that you don’t already have the personality of a brick wall.”

You promptly hit Steve in the shoulder, watching him yell and reach for the spot where you’d landed the blow. “Ouch!”

“I'm not that boring you pompous ass!” You replied in playful disbelief. Steve slowly pulled into the driveway of his home, gradually letting the car come to a stop.

“Have you ever heard yourself talk?” He asks, voice teasing. 

“And I sound like I have the voice of a thousand fucking angels, Harrington.” You assure him, shoving him to the side as you both raced to the front door. 

“You mean a thousand fucking gremlins.”

You gasped outwardly, caught entirely off guard by his response. “Steve!”

⋆·˚ ༘ *

You wake up Saturday morning with everything Steve had told you fresh in your mind.

No getting too close. Don’t talk about anything personal. Take the arrangement for what it was. Studying, that was it. You rarely got nervous around boys, but Eddie, you just couldn’t put your finger on it.

Which was exactly why your heart was pounding out of your chest as you knocked on his front door. You silently prayed he’d answer the door quickly, the sweltering sun doing nothing to help your pale skin. You pulled your shorts down where they had ridden up on the bike ride here, the unnecessary sweater covering your plain tee proving to be nothing but a giant heat trap.

“Princess.” There it was again, the soft tone in his voice and the teasing smile that painted his face. “Welcome to the Munson residence, once again.”

“I’m dying out here.” You deadpan, hiking your bag up higher over your shoulder.

“Oh yeah,” Eddie fumbles with the door knob, swinging the door open. “Come in.”

You quickly step inside, watching as he closes the door behind you. It wasn’t much cooler, but it was definitely a welcomed change from the heat outside.

“You know, the sweater might be your problem.” He says as he makes his way beside you, leading you toward the back room. “Not that I’m judging, I’m just sure you’d suffer from heatstroke if I left you out there another five minutes.”

“And then I’d come back and haunt the shit out of you.” It was a lame attempt at a joke, but the response from Eddie has you snapping back into defense mode.

“Promise?” Your cheeks burn a dark shade of crimson, which you lamely attempt to hide by turning to dig into your bag and fish out some of your English notes and one of the books the class was currently focusing on.

“I figure we should probably go over the paper from the other day, so I could explain what you got wrong and why, if you don’t mind?” You change the subject entirely, taking a seat on his bed. It smelt like fresh linen, it was made neatly, you weren’t sure what you were expecting but it wasn’t that. Even you didn’t take as much time to make your bed that often, at least not as neatly as this. To each their own though—maybe Eddie was a bit of a neat freak, not that you minded. 

“Sure.” He agrees, taking a seat on his bed beside you, although a comfortable distance away. You could appreciate him respecting boundaries, even if you could still smell the cologne he was wearing, not that it was distracting…at all.

His interest is genuine as you explain through the test, even if much of it isn’t sticking with him, he’s still asking questions and staying engaged more than you anticipated. Even you were ready for a break after an hour of endless talk of metaphors in literature and the re-explaining of Macbeth in detail.

“My fucking brain hurts.” Eddie sighs, laying down, hands crossed over his stomach. You try not to stare at the small patch of hair at the end of his stomach, leading down just past the tip of his belt. Or the way his surprisingly toned stomach stretches against the shirt he’s wearing—which was just a plain, black shirt, surprisingly enough. You couldn’t remember the last time you’ve seen him without any type of Hellfire or metal band shirt on his body. Not that you noticed. Not at all.

Your brain finally stutters back awake at the feeling of his finger poking your thigh. “Huh?” You asks.

“I said, if you’re hot you can take off the sweater—that really can’t be comfortable.”

He was right, it wasn’t. But part of it was because it was like a safety blanket. Also, it was just one of your favorites. You let your brain run on autopilot, slipping it over your head. You tried not to think much of it, thankful your shirt was baggy enough that it didn’t reveal to much of you. Even if your shorts were scandalous in their own right. You had to pick and chose your battles. 

You toss the sweater onto his nightstand, noting the paper that falls to the floor as a result. Your drawing, he’s moved into his room, at least. Which was both comforting and odd. You couldn’t understand the interest he’d had in it in the first place, but you weren’t really in a place to question it. 

“I’ve been meaning to tape it up somewhere.” He mentions, noticing the way you stared at the lonely piece of a paper. “Not that my wall isn’t already covered in stuff.”

It was the first time you’d actually found the chance to take it all in. Posters, an amp—Eddie definitely came across as a guitar guy, so there wasn’t much surprise there, nightstands littered with random crap—your eyes immediately snapped toward the cuffs on the wall and quickly glanced over. There was no way you were touching on that topic, no fucking way. 

“I’d be honored.” You joke, tapping your pencil against your notebook.

“Do you take it with you everywhere?” He asks curiously. “That sketchbook, I mean. I’ve never seen you without it until now.” He laughs innocently, adjusting himself to lean up and back onto his outstretched arms.

“It’s…in my bag.” You say quietly, almost embarrassed at the fact that he read through you so well. 

“Can I see some other stuff?” 

If there was a way to make you go into cardiac arrest with one sentence, Eddie Munson had found it. 

“It’s cool if you don’t want to. I just think it’s cool. At least, from what I’ve seen.” He says openly, gesturing toward the drawing you had given him.

“They’re really not that good, a lot of them are just rough sketches and—I mean, you might find this weird but—“ Don’t mention that fact that you totally draw him a lot—like he won’t notice it the second he opens the book. You had a valid excuse, you just didn’t want to come across as a total creep.

“Just show me.” He smiles, nudging your leg again.

You reach for the book buried in your bag and hand it over. There wasn’t any shame behind the stuff in there, but the way everyone perceives art is so different that the idea of any type of comment or criticism was your worst nightmare.

He flips through slowly, landing on the particular one of Jason you drew from a few days prior. “Now that one’s spot fucking on.” He chuckles to himself, the tiny little devil horns was a nice detail, he seemed to enjoy it just as much as you did in the process of drawing it out.

He flips through the next few pages, nodding silently. The anticipation driving a hole through your chest, you couldn’t even comprehend why you were doing this right now. Every single thing that Steve told you flew right out of the window. 

He flips another page and you interrupt quickly, “Before you say anything. You have a great hair for drawing, I don’t mean for it to come off as weird but it’s honestly helped me improve a lot.”

“No, no.” He shrugs, “I dig it. I guess I’m kinda your muse, in a way.”

That’s definitely not where you expected that to go. Actually, it was completely left field. So many miles away from where you planned.

“Not exactly.” You assure him. “I just—your hair is really distracting in class. And your side profile is really nice—“ You can feel yourself starting to ramble, the giant Cheshire grin on Eddie’s face only making things worse. “I’m just going to shut up before I embarrass myself more.”

Eddie closes the book and hands it over gingerly, “I really don’t mind. I’m serious.” He means it, you know that. “It’s fucking ridiculous how detailed you are.”

“I-“ You laugh softly, “nevermind. Thank you. Just…thanks, Eddie.”

You were so pleased in the fact that if there was anyone to see your work, someone you considered more of a stranger than a friend, like Robin or Steve, that it was Eddie. 

“Anyways, we should probably, you know, get back to work.” You interject after a while of awkward silence, not sure how to move on from the topic. 

“Cool with me.” He nods.

The next couple hours pass quickly, finally packing up your stuff after the long tangent Eddie went off on about D&D and the inner workings of it, which was a lot more interesting than you expected.

“Oh hey, you ever get to try out the weed I gave you the other day? It’s pretty damn sweet, right?” He says handing you the pencil you’d lended him.

“Actually, I haven’t.” You admitted. “I’ve been so busy with work that I completely forgot.”

He holds the joint between his fingers like he’d been keeping it stowed away for safekeeping, waiting for the right moment.

“My parents are going to ground me for life if I come home high.” Okay, it was a bit of an over exaggeration, but still buried in truth, nonetheless. “Let alone even smelling like weed.”

“Do you not realize who you’re talking to?” Eddie asks, he tried to seem offended, but it definitely came off as more of a joke. “Come on, miss perfect. We can just smoke it outside.”

You scoff in annoyance, knowing you were far from any type of perfect. “I have to be home in an hour, Eddie. If you get me in trouble with my parents, I swear to god.”

“I know—you’ll murder me and bury me in your backyard.” He jokes, knowing it’s all mostly playful. “Then I’ll come back to haunt your ass.”

You chuckle, your own words coming back to bite you. “Promise?” You ask, in an attempt to one up him.

You weren’t really expecting a response, but he gave you one anyway. “Someone’s gotta keep you out of trouble.” Eddie teases, bumping his shoulder against yours. 

You smiled to yourself, adoring the way that Eddie charmed himself out of any situation with ease. He lit up the joint on the short walk to the wooded area away from his home, safe from any random bystanders that may decide to wander by. 

“First hit?” He asks, handing it over to you, 

“Such a gentleman.” You reply, hand over your heart. You took a long hit, inhaling until your lungs couldn’t take it and the slight burn lingered in the back of your throat, breathing out slowly through your nose. 

For the first time, the silence is comforting. You pass the joint back and forth wordlessly until there’s practically nothing left.

“The stars are so pretty here.”

“Yeah.” Eddie answered after a while, staring directly at you.

You tried to ignore it, the heat of his gaze burning into the side of your face.

“The deeper you get into the city, the less you can really see.” 

He hummed to himself, “Totally.” 

He hadn’t heard a word you said, too focused on the way you were mindless focused on the sky, mesmerized by something so simple.

“God, I don’t think I’ve ever been this high.” You sigh to yourself, feeling like you were having an out of body experience. Your body didn’t feel like you own, even these clothes felt foreign, the way you ran your fingertips over them. “You’re a really bad influence, Eddie.”

You finally lock eyes with him after a few minutes. He was in a complete daze, high out of his mind–you weren’t even sure if he was still on the same planet as you, which obviously, but there was no way he was leaving this picnic table without some assistance. You take a quick glance at your watch, feeling yourself jump back into reality almost immediately.

“Shit, I’m so dead.” You panic, clumsily placing your feet on the ground–any faster and you probably would’ve twisted your ankle. “I have to go, right now.” 

“I can give you a ride, if you need it.” Eddie suggests, but it’s far, far–literally a galaxy away, from the safer option of biking home high.

“I need to ride off the smell anyway, I’ll manage.” You tell him, rather than declining his offer outright. You hesitate for a moment before lending your hand out, gripping his in an effort to pull him up.

“No smoke sessions tomorrow, Eddie. I’m serious.” You point an accusing finger at him, watching as he follows it, then looks up at you with his stupid, dopey smile. “I’m fucking serious.”

Super duper serious. Strictly business from this point forward. 

“Fine.” He agrees in defeat, finding his own footing. “But, I’ll definitely feel like an ass if you don’t let me drive you home.”

There was no way Eddie could even put a coherent thought together right now.

“I’ll be fine. I swear.” You tell him, smiling sweetly. He didn’t seem like the type to push back thankfully and dropped the argument there. “See you tomorrow, Munson.”

You leave in a rush, blinded by the idea of having to explain any of this to your parents, and only once you’re home, after a very bumpy, sobering ride–you realize the one very important thing you left behind–your school bag. 

⋆·˚ ༘ *

It shouldn’t be something you were worried about, Eddie had already looked through the one possession you were most insecure about–but still, the idea of being thrown so far off your game that you would leave your bag behind was enough to have you showing up at Eddie’s trailer bright and early, the morning dew still stuck to the grass and the birds chirping away at nothing.

You should have figured Eddie wouldn’t be fully dressed when he answered the door, but you weren’t really sure what you were expecting exactly. Still, the door creaking open and revealing a half naked Eddie, boxer-briefs leaving little to imagine–your eyes immediately snap back from where they’d lingered, because nothing about Eddie seemed little, not in the way he was towering over you, right now. Was he really that tall? Huh.

“What can I do for you on this fine–” He begins, voice still fighting through sleep, a yawn escaping him.

“I left my bag last night.” You blurt out. “I just need it back.”

It all seemed ridiculous, in hindsight—showing up like this.

“Uh, yeah–” He looks around, trying to gain his bearings. “It’s on my bed–I think.”

He nods in the direction of said bedroom, swinging the door open to welcome you inside. You side-stepped wide enough to avoid his shirtless chest, trying to ignore the fact that it felt like you were literally going to burst into flames at the slightest touch. Whatever high you had last night was gone, but you couldn’t ignore the fact that you still found Eddie attractive, sober or not.

You move around silently, flipping his blankets around to dig for your bag. He’s standing in the hallway now, just outside the doorway that leads to his room. His arms crossed over his chest tightly, still desperately attempting to rub the sleep out of his eyes. Eddie Munson was nowhere near a morning person, but that made perfect sense in hindsight. 

“Gotcha!” You celebrate quietly, throwing the strap of your bag over your shoulder. 

“Hey, I’ve been meaning to ask—” His voice startles you, “how do you know Henderson?”

It was a weird way to start a conversation, but Eddie wasn’t one to dwell on semantics on proper conversation starting.

“Him and Steve are a package deal.” You explain, like it was the cure all. 

“Oh.” You can see the gears turning in his head. “Yeah, that makes a lot of sense.”

“I’ve known Steve since I was in diapers.” You admit, finally catching his gaze. “We’ve been friends for a really long time.”

“So that stuff at lunch the other day–” You had managed to push that so far out of your mind that you were surprised Eddie had even remembered. He was a curious person, you couldn’t really blame him, but the thought of explaining any of it to him was the last thing on your mind.

“Long story.” You laugh it off, feeling eager to escape now. “Anyways, I’ll be over at four. Is that still good for you?” You ask.

He nods silently, angling his body to let you through–because god, why was this hallway so fucking tiny? You clear your throat and quickly move past him, practically jogging toward the door. The faster you escape, the better. 

“Later, Princess.” He adds–and you bite down on nothing but air, teeth clenched. He was trying to be coy and you knew it. 

“Bye, Eddie.” You reply, lamely attempting to force the nervousness out of your voice. You’ve never forced your legs to pedal so fast in your life, feeling like jello by the time you arrived home.

⋆·˚ ༘ *

“Why the fuck do they talk like that?” Eddie asks, looking up at you from where he was stretched out on his bed, legs kicked up lazily behind. The soft sound of a random rock song you don’t know the name of playing on the radio to fill in as ambient noise.

“It’s archaic and prose.” You answer simply. “It makes a lot more sense the more you read it.”

“Well, I needeth a break, M’lady.” He jokes, forced accent and all.

“That actually wasn’t bad.” You admit, closing the book that you’d place between you both. 

At some point, you’d ended up in a similar position, sprawled out beside Eddie, head resting in the palm of your hand.

“Not to boost your ego or anything, but you’re a pretty good tutor.” Eddie says, twirling the pencil between his fingers slowly.

“Whatever.” You shrug off lightheartedly.

And you can feel the impending question before it even leaves his mouth–blame it on your amazing intuition, but Eddie was also incredibly predictable sometimes. 

“You want to know what Dustin and I were talking about during lunch, don’t you?” You ask, eyeing him carefully. 

He shrugs, “I’m just a little curious, I guess.”

Fair enough. It might feel good to get off your chest anyways–not to mention half the school already knew about the instance.

“Jason asked me to meet up with him during that back to school bonfire they were having, right before Junior year–you remember? Anyways, I talked to Steve about it. He kinda pushed me toward it initially, he was the only reason I even went–I used to have a huge crush on Jason–horrible, now that I think about it. To make a long story short, he made this whole elaborate show about how he liked him and I ended up half naked in front of him, standing on the dock at his parent’s lake house, but the entire basketball and cheer team watched the entire thing happen. I didn’t realize until I heard them laughing from the bushes. There’s a picture, somewhere, I’m sure–I just try to block it out of my memory.” You explain slowly, enough time had passed that you could think about it without bursting into tears from embarrassment, but it was still terrifying to say out loud. “Steve felt really bad about all of it. I know he didn’t know any of that was going to happen, but I just took a lot of my frustration out on him.”

Eddie was eerily quiet, like he was attempting to soak all the information in. You tried not to gauge his reaction too much, knowing that pity was a normal reaction from most people.

“And then,” You say on a deep breath, “Steve and I got really drunk and made out and it was fucking weird. We joke about it now, but it was just…a lot of mistakes in one night, so I try to forget about it.”

“Good to know that Jason’s still a total dick.” He adds, not like that wasn’t already obvious. “I can’t believe you made out with Harrington.”

You want to gag at the long, distanced memory. “It wasn’t my best moment.” You agree. 

“So, yeah–Dustin knows a couple secrets about me. And now you do–but if you tell anyone–Eddie–”

“I won’t.” You can see the seriousness on his face, coming from his voice. 

“Swear?” You ask

“Pinky swear.” He answers, holding up his ringed pinky finger. You hesitate for a second before wrapping your own pinky finger around his.

He doesn’t let go. But to be fair, neither do you. He’s looking at you, not ogling, but admiring–although, it definitely could’ve been interpreted as him checking you out. You avert your attention to the intricate design of the ring on his finger, making some attempt to break the heavy, thick blanket of tension that had fallen over the both of you. It wasn’t like you’d never laid in bed with a boy before–you could lay and talk with Steve for hours, but Steve didn’t look at you the way Eddie did, not ever. 

You clear your throat softly, twisting the ring with the few fingers that weren’t interlocked with his, both of your hands now resting against the soft duvet. “Is that a pig?” You ask lightheartedly. The answer never comes.

Instead, “Can I kiss you?” Eddie asks, almost too timid to be his own voice.

Your mouth hangs open for a half second, before you force yourself to pull it together. And you’re pretty sure your heart was making a desperate attempt at beating its way out of your chest. You nod slowly, leaning forward before you can even think about stopping yourself.

His lips were soft, gentle–but firm in the way they pressed against yours. You only had a couple other experiences to compare this too, but it was obvious that Eddie had confidence in his own abilities. You pulled back after a few seconds, wetting your lips nervously. Eddie followed the way the tip of your tongue dragged over them, the heat from the breathy exhale he let out fanning over your face.

“You never answered my question.” You say softly, eyes flicking up to look at him. His gaze still locked on your lips, you repeat yourself once more, this time calling him out directly. “Eddie, you never answered my question.”

“Yeah, yeah. It’s a pig.” He says, eyes finally locking with yours. “It’s a stupid fucking pig.” His voice is strained, breathy–and you’re just as sure as he is in the fact that you can’t believe this is even happening.

And even if you may end up regretting the decision later, you decide to put him out of his misery. Letting go of his hand completely, hand settling and finding a place to call home against the back of his neck, you pull him forward. He grunts slightly, almost inaudible as you press your lips against his own, more delicate than he had. In the way that he was entirely too sure of himself, you had restraint, hesitance. You let a long, breathy sigh and try to ignore the way your body shivers with nervousness and anticipation. 

Eddie takes the opportunity to find his way past your lips, teasingly dragging his tongue against your own. Your brain could literally short circuit at the thought of his mouth being anywhere else on your body, even now you could feel yourself screaming internally and if you weren’t so goddamn turned on, you probably would just scream out loud.

His hand found your waist at some point, playing with the frayed fabric attached to the bottom of your shirt, kissing you fervently, playfully–and like the tease he’s proven to be, he bites down on your bottom lip gently, for good measure. 

“Eddie,” You breath out, pulling back. You can’t even bring yourself to look at him, only following the way his hand is massaging the dip in your waist, “studying, remember?”

“Shit.” He curses to himself, allowing himself to drop back into reality. “Yeah, sorry.”

“It’s fine.” You assure him, knowing that studying was the last thing you were hoping to focus on now. 

“I didn’t mean to overstep, I’m sorry if–” Eddie starts, and you can’t help but feel like a sucker for the way his voice stutters over the apology. And studying be-fucking-damned, you had plenty of other time to help him out. You had to allow yourself to self-indulge, at least once, and regret it later. 

“Fuck it.” You sigh, shoving your belongings out of the way and pulling him toward you again.

He immediately takes the advantage of being above you, slotting his own legs between yours, still remaining enough distance that you both wouldn’t simultaneously combust from the idea of grinding against each other, though you weren't sure how long that would actually last.

He delves into your mouth like you’re the last meal he’s ever going to have and Jesus Christ–-no one’s ever kissed you this way. You sigh openly, letting Eddie deepen the kiss further. You try to find every reason to pull away, but you’re drawing the biggest fucking blank, gasping softly when Eddie’s hands dip behind your lower back, grasping onto your ass and bring you closer. And there’s no way to ignore the feeling of Eddie’s groin pressed against you, dick straining against the material of his jeans. His openly sighs into your mouth, switching from sweet, closed mouth kisses to dirty, deep open mouthed kisses that leave you both begging for more. His hand slips between you both, palm coming to rest against your clothed mound. He stops for a moment, like he wants to ask permission.

“Eddie,” You say softly, almost startled by how spent you sound, “I don’t know if we should–”

You wanted to keep going–god did you want to, but there was a lot of shit you needed to figure out first. And luckily, this didn’t feel like a one off experience, the way Eddie looked up at you with his wide eyed gaze, lips still obscenely wet and puffy.

“I’ve never–you know,” You struggle to find the words, “I’m a virgin. You should probably know that.”

You had enough common sense to know that Eddie wasn’t, judging by the pack of condoms he never bothered to put in his nightstand drawer, it seemed likely enough that he’s probably fucked a girl or two before, not that you cared. You just weren’t sure if this was the right time to be delving into uncharted territory. 

“Fuck, I-” He replies, slightly breathless, “We totally don’t have to. I didn’t really expect–I just wanted to kiss you at first but Jesus–you’re fucking amazing.”

You laugh openly, falling back against the mattress. The look on Eddie’s face was priceless, something you wanted to take a picture of and remember forever. But, the way his fingers accidentally drag against you from where they were now resting against your inner thigh are enough to shake you back into reality.

“Sorry.” He says sheepishly, dragging his fingers back.

You stop him on a whim. The whim being the fact that you’re just incredibly to horny to leave with the state you were in. Fucked out, without even being fucked properly.

“We can…if you want.” You suggest tentatively. “Just for a little.”

Teenage hormones were a hell of hard thing to overcome and you were desperately losing that battle.

“If you don’t want to it’s fine–I get that you’ve never–” Eddie starts, but you emphasize by dragging his finger up your thigh and right about the waistband of your shorts–similar to the one from the day before, short and just as scandalous. 

“It’s not like I’ve never touched myself before, Eddie.” You assure him, feeling the way his fingers played with the fabric teasingly. “I’m a virgin, not a puritan.”

“God, you’re so fucking hot.” He sighs, forehead resting against your shoulder. You jump at the first touch of his fingers against your bare cunt, and part of you wants to feel embarrassed about the wetness that had collected there, but you were way too horny to give a shit. “And so wet.” It comes out as a moan. A fucking moan.

It should be criminal how attractive Eddie sounds right now, fingers exploring a part of you that only you’ve ever known. He drags a single digit from bottom to top, collecting the wetness. The tightness of your shorts left little room for him to move his hand around and the contact was almost earth-shattering. He hesitates, taking a moment to circle around your clit. You sigh quietly, which he takes as a good sign, testing the motion out again, and again, until you’re practically keening from the pressure building there. The way his finger slips into you is jarring, how easily he moves past your folds, starting a slow, steady motion of guiding his fingers in and out of you, occasionally stopping to drag his fingers against the most sensitive part of your body, the only place you wanted him to be.

“Oh,” You moan softly, “fuck, please.”

Eddie could come at the sound of you, the way your voice squeaks in desperation. He chuckles softly, using his thumb to circle your clit, teasing and slow. You could get yourself there just fine, but the foreign feeling of a hand that wasn’t yours, knowing your body almost as well as you did, it was enough to have you squeezing down on his fingers in pleasure. 

“More?” He asks softly, looking from his face had been resting against the middle of your chest, watching as his fingers disappeared into your shorts. 

“Please.” You beg, almost desperate. His second finger joins the first, adding a nice stretch that you’ve never really felt like this. His fingers were so much bigger than your own, so much more filling. You gasp loudly at the sudden change in pace, closing your eyes in a bid to hide your own embarrassment at the sound of your own voice. When you finally pry your eyes open, Eddie is staring at you. You weren’t sure how long he had been, but his gaze is dark, hot–you want to disappear. 

“I want to hear you.” He assures you, emphasizing his words by working his finger against your clit quickly, causing you to mewl in response, back arching off the bed. “You sound so pretty, princess.”

And if there was any other way to die, this is exactly how you wanted to go out. 

The pressure builds and builds, Eddie finding every way to pull sounds out of you, some you didn’t even know you were capable of. You can feel the way he’s absently, but still gently, grinding against your leg, where he’d maneuvered himself after a while, in hopes of relieving some of the pressure off of his own issue. You could tell he was holding back, which made you feel slightly guilty. 

The thought is immediately interrupted by your orgasm washing over you out of the blue, fast, nearly knocking you out from the feeling that spreads throughout your entire body. Eddie works you through the end, even when your body is oversensitive and tingling. 

“Jesus Christ.” You sigh, staring up at the ceiling. 

“Nah, just me.” He says cheekily, grinning.

You reach for the clasp on his belt on instinct, but he stops you with a hand on your wrist. “It’s fine.” He laughs softly, “Besides, the second you touch my dick, I’m done for.”

It’s absurd, but it makes you giggle to yourself. 

“I’ll take care of it later.” He admits, adjusting the front of his jeans to provide relief. The thought of him in bed, dick in hand, had you squeezing your thighs together shamelessly. 

“O-Okay.” You reply, pushing yourself up as he moved off of you. “Well, thanks—I guess?”

You both fall into a fit of laughter immediately, not finding any reason to ignore how ridiculous you felt. Not to mention that way your heart twisted at the way Eddie’s grin reached from ear to ear. It wasn’t a new thing exactly, Eddie smiled a lot, but you knew this one was reserved for both of you, and that had your stomach doing back flips.

“My pleasure.” He replies, putting on a fancy, pretentious accent. “Princess.”

“Why princess?” You ask curiously, wondering where the name fits in for you.

“I don’t know,” Eddie shrugs, sitting back on his heels, “You've always been little miss ‘pretty and perfect’ to me—smart, and you don’t really put up with anyone’s shit—I almost didn’t believe it when you asked me to sell weed to you that first time.”

“Thought I was gonna rat you out, huh?” You ask teasingly.

“Maybe just a little.” He admits, holding his thumb and pointer finger an inch from each other. You toss a pillow at his head, he takes the hit like a champ, throwing it softly back at you. 

⋆·˚ ༘ *

You two spend the next couple weeks studying off and on, not really bothering to avoid hanging out at school. Dustin actually enjoyed it; since he practically worshiped Eddie and you were another friend he had to talk to, not that Mike Wheeler wasn’t sufficient enough, his mind was just flooded with girls and Dustin was so far from the precipice of females.

Even if you spent half of your study sessions making out, you still managed to get enough work done that Eddie was making a little improvement—not to mention the look on Ms. McNally’s face when she called him out in class and he answered her question correct—you would’ve thought hell had finally froze over. Study sessions went from a weekend basis, to Eddie showing up to your shift at Family Video to ask about a question on the homework on any given day, not trying to hide the fact that he wanted another reason to talk to you outside of school.

“If you manage to help him graduate, it will be a miracle.” Steve says one day, leaning in as Eddie left the store. 

You show up at his door that night, ready for another one of your tedious study sessions. But he’s answering the door before you have a chance to think. 

“My uncle’s home.” He tells, looking back over his shoulder. You’d gotten lucky with the past couple of weeks, timing your visits almost perfectly, so that they aligned with his uncle’s work schedule. But, you weren’t sure what to do now.

“Well, we can just study—it’s fine.” You tell him quietly, “or I can come over tomorrow?”

“No.” He all but blurts out, “Sorry—we, we can just take my van. I know a spot where we can go.”

You’re hesitant at first, but you agree—it’s Eddie, you knew it would be fine. 

His van is incredibly spacey, to your surprise. It made a lot of sense, though. You could tell he’d had more than a few smoke sessions based on how it practically reeked of weed and his cologne. When you’re stopped at the spot—a wide expanse of trees covering a large area and a giant skull shaped rock in the middle, he swings the back doors open, giving you a better view of his setup. 

“Skull rock, Eddie? Seriously?” You deadpan, climbing out of the passenger seat and to the back of his van.

“What?” He asks innocently, hands flying out to his side in question. “It’s a great spot.”

You could point out every surface that Steve had made out with a girl on that rock, from memory—despite wanting to know, Steve just hated keeping his sexcapades to himself sometimes. Either way, you couldn’t complain. It was quiet, secluded, you didn’t have to worry about anyone finding Eddie toking up in the back if he so decided, even if you didn’t plan to partake. And part of you knew, not much study was going to take place anyways.

“Can I draw you?” You ask randomly, Eddie peering at you from where he’s perched on the edge of his van. “Sorry, that was really forward—I just—“

“Sure.” He agrees, moving deeper inside the van, the night sky nearly swallowing the van whole. If it weren’t for the overhead lights, you wouldn’t be able to see more than a couple inches in front of your face, luckily they lit the interior up well enough.

“How do you want me, Picasso?” He asks, flaring his jacket out.

“Just sit—and, what are you doing?” You laugh, watching as he knelt down, chin on his fist, a goofy attempt at a heroic pose.

“Too much?” He asks, but he doesn’t need the answer. He can tell by the amused look on your face, so he shifts onto his backside, legs spread out slightly, one lifted up so his foot was planted in the floor.

“Act like we’re in your room, talking—just be comfortable.” You remind him, letting the pencil feel out the paper.

And you don’t think you’ve ever heard Eddie stay so quiet, for so long. But he’s watching you, just as much you had been watching him, fiddling with his rings occasionally. 

“Something on your mind?” You ask curiously, about halfway through the sketch, “I can see the gears turning in your head.”

“Just thinking.” He says quietly, eyes still locked on yours. “I don’t want to distract you, though.”

Though, that was really the plan all along—so you took the bait. 

“No, tell me.” You demand, setting the pencil and book down.

He chuckles to himself, “I’m just thinking about how I wanna kiss you right now.”

You smile knowingly, a little shy now by how intently he’s looking at you. “Then why don’t you?”

And like a dam breaking, he’s on you instantly, hands gripping under your thighs to lay you down on the blanket that was covering the expanse of the back of his van. 

“Wait, the doors.” You tell him through quick kisses. “Close the doors.”

And you’re right. The last thing you need is someone walking up on two high school students getting hot and heavy in the back of a van. The doors slam shut and he’s finding his way back to you, eyeing your mouth greedily. Eddie had gotten more and more comfortable with maneuvering you around how he wanted, knowing just how to have you begging for more and more.

His mouth leaves yours, kissing the underside of your chin, your neck, the small part of your chest that was exposed to him. He wanted to worship you in every way and form possible. He’s got his dick pressed against your core, still jailed by the confines of his jeans, the coldness of the chain he had attached to his pants, the one bearing factor that was keeping you grounded. Otherwise, you probably would have left the planet already.

“Wanna taste you so bad.” He groans against your neck, free hand coming up to rest against your cheek, stroking the delicate skin. “Please?”

“Yeah,” You rush out, licking your suddenly too dry lips, “only if you let me taste you too.” You slip your hands in the waistband of your sweatpants, pushing them and your underwear down in one go. You definitely want to feel ashamed, but you can’t help yourself. He freaking out at the thought of your mouth around him, you could say the same for yourself.

You expect him to delve right in, devour you immediately, but he stills himself. He mumbled something into the inside of your thigh, you try not to think about it too much, opening your legs a little wider. He’s nipping and biting at the most sensitive parts of your skin, watching you squirm in anticipation. 

And when the flat of his tongue finally makes contact with your core, you moan unabashedly, reveling in the feeling. His nose nudges at your clit, and the sounds—god, the sounds. You blushed a particular shade of red, ashamed at how well your body was responding to his touch.

“So pretty and perfect.” He says against your cunt, “Just like I suspected.” 

You laugh at the absurdity of it all, moaning when he sneaks a finger up to join with the work his mouth couldn’t cover. He was working you up, he wanted you to come, but the fact that he already had you 1-0 was a crime and that just wouldn’t suffice. 

He grabbed your hands, which had been laying useless at your side, and guided them to the beautiful mane of hair attached to him. You wrapped your fingers around the hair at tugged, ever so softly. The look on his face as he pulled back was something you’d never soon forget, mouth covered in your clear slick, his tongue reaching out to lick his bottom lip.

“Wanna suck your dick, Eddie.” You begged. “Please.”

The look of pleading you gave him had him melting in your hands. He wordlessly lifted himself to his knees, wasting no time to undo the buckle of his belt. You helped him along the way, unzipping and pulling at the waistband of his jeans. When you finally found the chance to switch positions, he was already pulling the top of his underwear underneath his ass, but you couldn’t be bothered to wait any longer. You moved on instinct, grabbing his dick in your hand and tugging on the shaft gently, testing his body out. 

Even though you didn’t have much to compare it to, Eddie Munson still had the prettiest dick you’ve ever seen. 

“Shit, say that again.” He groans, watching you lean forward to kiss at the tip. You hadn’t realized you even said that aloud until he was staring down at you, completely wrecked by the idea of you finding his dick pretty. 

“It’s so pretty and perfect.” You tease, licking the underside of his dick in one, long stripe.

He curses audibly, head banging against the metal of the van.

You take him carefully, slowly. Maybe you’re doing everything wrong, but the moan that escapes him proves otherwise. His hand curls around the back of your head gently, guiding and setting a pace. He’s showing you what he likes, so you give it to him. You’re careful not to scrape against his shaft with your teeth, using your tongue to trace slow circles around the tip before swallowing him down in one go, it was a lot more than you could initially handle, it makes your eyes water and you pull back for a moment to catch your breath.

“Sorry, too much.” You apologize halfheartedly and Eddie gives you an incredulous look, both mesmerized and completely caught off guard.

“I’ll take that as a compliment.” He breaths out, eyes searching yours for a moment. “I don’t want to sound forward but I really wanna fuck you.” 

If it was anyone else, they’d probably be dead. But, the way Eddie sounds almost desperate is the entire reason you’re nodding your head in earnest. 

“Yeah. Yeah, we can do that.” You agree, despite how terrified the thought made you feel.

“We can stop if it’s too much for you.” Eddie tells you, sincerity ringing through. “I’m serious.”

You nod, “I’m good, I swear.”

⋆·˚ ༘ *

Eddie has you wedged in between the makeshift pillow he made and himself, laid out comfortably on your side, naked from head to toe, and you try not to linger on the way he’s staring at your breasts, or the hand that’s running between your legs, dipping into your folds again. You adjust yourself slightly, legs widening at the touch. He’s gentle and you want to cry at the thought that someone would want to take so much care with you. He fingers you open slowly, swallowing your moans throat deep, lingering kisses that you never want to end. You can hear the wrapper crinkle between you, watching as pulls away to rip it open with his teeth.

Mesmerized as he rolls the condom down his shaft, you clench at the idea of him being inside. You didn’t want to think anymore, letting your body run on autopilot. 

“We can go slow. Just tell me what feels good.” He reminds you, hiking your leg up against his hip, positioning himself at your entrance. You nod silently, bracing yourself. Your hand wraps around his wrist where he’s caressing your head, letting the slow, stretching feeling of him pushing inside take over your body. It stings, but barely—you nod again, looking up to let him know that this was okay, that you were okay.

He gradually picks the pace up, once he’s finally seated inside you and you’re accustomed to the feeling of him. It wasn’t until then that you realized just how noisy Eddie could be—moaning every obscenity under the sun into mouth as you swallowed up everyone with a kiss, gasping for air when he grazed your clit with his thumb from where it had been resting against your hip bone.

You can feel the way he’s holding back, not sure how much you could take. He’s gripping you tight, and you attempt to break him from whatever daze he’s locked himself into.

“Eddie, it’s fine.” You say breathlessly, “I can take it.”

And like that, he releases you, maneuvering you onto your back to adjust himself over you, pulling himself out to adjust before he’s careful thrusting back in, hand tucked under the soft skin at the back of your knee, bearing the weight you couldn’t bother to hold up. 

He leans forward and mouths at your breasts, taking the time to graze his teeth against the tip of the the soft bud of your nipple, causing a gasp to bubble out of your chest. “Do that again.” You beg.

He laughs quietly, showing the other breast the same care, then switching back to the other. Fuck, it was so good. You’d almost been too distracted to realize the pace he’d picked up, more consistent as the sound your bodies coming together filled up the silence. That and the moans you couldn’t bother to keep quiet, mixing in with his own. 

“Feel so good, princess.” He groans, mouth tucked away into your neck, mouthing at the skin there. “Squeezing my dick just right.”

Eddie has a filthy mouth, obviously. You were definitely bookmarking that for later. 

“Wanna come, Eddie. Please.” You gasp, trying desperately to push back to meet the more desperate pace Eddie had set. 

“Here,” He’s grabbing your hand, guiding it between the both of you, “wanna see you touch yourself, see if you can make yourself come as good as I can.”

Part of you doesn’t know how to respond, so you don’t, but you mindlessly obey the request at hand, circling your clit with your own two fingers, gasping at how sensitive you were. Fingers were one thing, but Eddie’s dick—that was something else entirely. You’re trying desperately to keep up, but Eddie can tell you’re overwhelmed, overworked, so he slips his hand against yours, helping you through the motion. 

“You’re almost there, I can tell.” He murmurs against your ear, the hotness of his breath sending tingles down your entire body. “I got you.”

He moved your fingers with his, hips shaking sloppily, thrusting himself through his own climax, watching as your mouth dropped open in a wordless shout, orgasm hitting you in a flash of white, leaving you panting for breath when you came back to earth. 

Eddie gives you a few minutes to settle, brushing your wild hair behind your ears and out of your face—he pulls out slowly, removing and tying the condom, discarding it in the front of the van inside of the tiny trash can nestled underneath the passenger side dash. He seems worried.

“It was good.” You assure him, hoping he wasn’t stressing over the idea of ruining anything for you. “I don’t really have anything to compare it to but if it’s anything like that, it was pretty damn good.”

He chuckles gently, his chest shaking at the motion. You finally have a clear view of some of the tattoos you never really noticed until now. Eddie had slipped his underwear back on in the process, helping you search through the flurry of mixed clothes to find your own. 

“I guess I just wasn’t sure how we’d handle things after.” He says quietly, taking a seat next to. You see him reach for the pre-rolled blunt sitting in the ashtray and you grab his wrist, pulling it toward you.

“Well, do you want me to leave?” It wasn’t meant to sound harsh, Eddie didn’t seem to take it that way either.

“No.” He replies sheepishly, hands resting in his lap. 

“Then stop worrying. Stop acting like you just scandalized me.” You laugh, poking his stomach. “I think we’re way past that.”

“God, because the sounds you make should be illegal and I don’t like being a one and done type of guy—“ Eddie would have gone on a tangent had you let him, but the gentle reminder you offered was enough to shut him up. 

“Well, next time—“

“Next time?” He quirks up, eyebrows raised.

“Next time,” You repeat, feeling a little silly, “we’ll find out just how long the both of us can get. But, first—you gotta pass English.”

The exasperated sigh that Eddie let out was enough to have you curling forward in laughter.

“You’re gonna be the death of me, princess.” He smiles, reaching forward to kiss you, chaste and sweet. 

[lavender-devotion]

Hello! Would you be willing to write a radiapple fic of what might happen the first time Lucifer sees Alastor’s antlers fall off because theyre shedding? I love the idea of them being mid-argument and one of them just pops off all of a sudden

oooooooooh, I've never done a ship fic before, but I LOVE this! I hope my writing lives up to your expectations <3 sorry if this one is shorter than my other fics, I'm not used to writing for ships

Summary: Lucifer expected a lot of things when it came to his arguments with Alastor, but one thing he didn't expect was to be interrupted by Alastor's antlers suddenly shedding...or to end up in his room helping him through the process. Also, what the fuck is this feeling in his chest?

Tags: RadioApple, Lucifer is feeling things and he is Not Happy about it, Enemies to "what the fuck am I feeling," Wound Tending, lots of insults, I know nothing about deer or medical shit (don't crucify me pls), Southern Gothic, Alastor is from the South fuckers and I'll never shut up about it TW: Blood, Gore (slight?) Word Count: 2k Read it on Ao3 <3

Lucifer stared at the ground, the silence around him deafening.

It was an antler.

A fucking antler.

He had to be hallucinating.

He slowly looked up from the spot on the floor, where the...antler had fallen, and up to Alastor---who was now dead silent, and one antler short. Now that they weren't in the middle of the argument, Lucifer found that he couldn't actually remember why they were arguing in the first place, or what they were arguing about. And that...actually kind of pissed him off more.

Alastor was always irritating, always getting on Lucifer's nerves every chance he got, but it seemed that in the last week he'd been even worse than usual---an impressive thing in and of itself, let me tell you. At first he'd thought that Alastor just wanted to see just how far he could push him until he snapped. Now, though, Lucifer was surprised to find...it was actually a lot more innocent than that---if "innocent" was the right word for it.

His antlers were shedding, and---now that Lucifer knew what he was looking for---was clearly in pain, even though he was pretty good at disguising it as anger.

Lucifer considered his options for a moment before finally sighing and kneeling down to pick up the fallen antler, "come on, let's get that taken care of before it gets any worse."

Before Alastor could respond---likely to either refuse or insult him, or both---Lucifer stood back up and walked away, headed towards Alastor's room. Where he hoped he had the tools to deal with this problem. If not, this was about to get really awkward.

For a moment, he was walking alone---Alastor no doubt reeling and confused by everything that had just happened---but soon Lucifer heard a pair of quiet footsteps following behind him. So, at the very least, he was avoiding the embarrassment of headed to Alastor's room completely alone. Lucky him.

Thankfully, it didn't take long for them to make it there, so they avoided the attention and questions of the other residents---who would definitely take this the wrong way. And, now that he thought about it, trying to explain to Charlie that he was not going to Alastor's room to have sex with him was his worst nightmare. He'd rather fight Michael a second time, honestly.

So, with that in mind, Lucifer quickly made his way into the room and shut the door as soon as Alastor was inside---leaving the two of them completely alone. With none of the other residents around to provide a buffer, and the aggravation of an argument distracting him, Lucifer suddenly found himself feeling...very awkward, oddly enough.

"So..." he started, "do you have anything in here to help take care of..."

He gestured to Alastor's singular antler and, after a bout of silence, Alastor carefully shook his head, sitting down in one of the two armchairs in the room.

"It will fall off naturally," he said simply, sounding resigned to Lucifer's presence, "be patient."

Patience was never exactly Lucifer's forte, but it wasn't exactly like he had a choice. He could always leave, of course, but doing that right after he'd offered to help would make him look like an asshole---and, while he usually wouldn't give a shit whether or not Alastor thought he was an asshole, seeing him in this state made him feel a bit more...self-conscious. So, in an effort to keep things from getting too silent, he decided to ask some questions about...whatever the fuck was going on here.

"So...is this supposed to be painful?" he asked, fiddling with the ring still fitted on his left hand.

Alastor kept silent, staring critically at him for a moment---almost like he was trying to figure out if there was any way Lucifer could use the answer against him which, knowing him, was probably exactly it. Once he seemed to figure it out, he answered.

"On Earth? No. In Hell? Yes."

"Ah..."

What was Lucifer supposed to fucking say to that? "Sorry, I didn't mean to damn humanity to eternal suffering, my bad?" Seriously? Why did trying to have a conversation with this bastard have to be so fucking difficult?

"What…is this, exactly?”

Alastor looked at him like he was stupid, "as you could see, if you'd open your god-damned eyes, my antlers are shedding."

"Of all the fucking- yes I fucking know that, but why?!"

"When humans get sent to Hell we are given new forms, sometimes those forms include animalistic features," he explained slowly, getting on Lucifer's every nerve, "when they do, then the demon in question develops the traits that match their features. I've developed deer-like features, so therefore I've also developed some of the matching traits."

As much as Alastor's condescension aggravated him, Lucifer couldn't really say anything about it, considering that he hadn't known any of this in the first place. What could he say? Spending 99% of his time hidden away in his palace making toy ducks and looking forward to the next time he'd get to call Charlie meant that he didn't really know much about the people that inhabited his realm...or how any of it worked.

"So, what? Did you really like deer when you were alive or something?" He asked sarcastically, trying to push past the topic of his own ignorance. It wasn't something he was proud of.

Alastor's ears suddenly pinned back, so that definitely struck a nerve.

Lucifer grinned, 'interesting.'

"Oh, was that it? Were you a deer boy?" He pressed more, intentionally taking on the same condescending tone that Alastor had, just to get on his nerves.

"The hunter that shot me apparently thought I was a deer, you piss-haired imbecile."

"Oh really? Because I heard through the grapevine that you turn into exactly what you are when you get sent to Hell."

The hair on the back of Lucifer's neck stood up as a sharp static whine made its way to his ears, Alastor practically seething at him.

"Is that what you are," he continued, "prey? A scared little doe trying desperately to prove he's more than just a footnote in the food chain?"

Alastor stood up---eyes darkening and forming into radio dials, limbs elongating as a bright green lightning began to emanate from his shadows.

"Lis†̸̨͔̭̣͔͆͌̈́͊͝Ȩ̶̙̦̘̮̀͒͗̀̏̐ñ̸͉̟̺̬̞̋̏͑́̆ ̷͎͙̮̼̝̔̾͑̍̅H̸̗͇̤̤̗͛̈̆̓̿È̵̡̤̜̲̬͊̒̈́̉͝R̵̡̛̠͍̭͚͊̊̎̇Ę̶͓̫̰̪̀͐̃̊͊̈́ ̶̼͇͎̬̙̾̀͛͐̇¥̴̧̛͖͇͔̲̓̽͗͌Ö̸̝̦̦̙̣̐͋̇͒́Ú̸͚̮͍̺͚͌̈͌̾͘ ̴̥͎̰̣̳́̋̑̓̒Ļ̴̣͉̞̟̓̒̈́̋́Ì̷̖̳͉̳̯̒̒̇̈́̈†̸̬̱͓͙̜̄̅́̽͝†̴̡̧̝͔̳̑̏̒͊̚L̴͇͇̪̈́͆̌̓̉ͅͅÈ̴̡͉͖̗̟̆̀͆̿͝-"

He suddenly hissed and reverted back to normal, falling back into the chair as his antler, while trying to grow larger to match his form, had grown in the wrong place---pieces of antler now coated in blood and sticking...through Alastor's head.

And Lucifer's smugness at finally managing to get to him quickly dissipated, being replaced by the feeling of...being Hell's biggest jackass.

"Oh shit- hold on, I'm gonna- fuck," he rushed to Alastor's side, hands erratically moving all around him, but still not quite touching---unsure of what to do to help.

"Just...pull it out," Alastor hissed furiously, small streaks of blood running down his face.

Lucifer's eyes widened, "what?!"

There was just- there was no fucking way. The antler was still technically connected to his head, but it was basically hanging on by threads of...fuck, he didn't even know what that shit was! He didn't know fucking human/deer/demon biology! And the, now enlarged, antler was literally sticking through his fucking skull!!!

WHAT WAS HE SUPPOSED TO DO???

Alastor practically fucking snarled at him, pain making him near-delirious and livid---eyes darkening and tense shadows crawling frantically up the walls, almost like they were trying to escape the pain.

"Break off the £̶͈̖̰͈͙̎͋͆̉͠µ̶͇͕̰̻͉̈́̌̔͗̕¢̶͍̥̦̥̥̐̈́̓͝͝k̸̢̜̣̤͓̈́̓͑̆͠ï̸̖͚͍̯̝̀̿̓̔͝ņ̷̬̘̝͉̃́͋̓̕͠g̷͈͎͔̩̱̋̎̎̈́̇ base and maneuver it ou†̸͓̳̮̟̪͆̌̈̃͂ ̴̞̘̻̫͂̄̽̋͠ͅð̶̛̛̘̜̣̰̬̓̉̇£̵͙̝͓̞̗̂̓̅̆͝ ̵̡̜̥̬̭̈̌͛̐̕ḿ̵̠̮̦͙͎̄͋͋͐¥̵̛̼̖͈͒̑̆̀͜ͅ ̶̛͍̖̦̩̲̿̃̐̀H̴̡̤̮͔̪͊̒̓̉̑È̷̟͇͔͓͇̀̄̿̇́Ä̷̩̤͖͉̓̿̋̓͆͜Ð̷͔̹̮̜̲́̿͒͊͠!̸̦͈̱͉͇͆͆͂̒̈!̸͈̪͚̘̥̊͆̋̕͝!̷̥̯̩̬̫͂̈́͂̍͠"

In a panic, before he could think twice about it, he did as Alastor said---breaking off the base as quickly as he could before carefully maneuvering the parts that were stuck out and pulling it free. The antler immediately slipped out of his hands and fell to the floor, the blood that now coated his palms making it hard for him to hold onto anything.

His eyes shot back to Alastor, finding him clutching his head and trying to breathe through clenched teeth. So he ran to the bathroom and desperately rummaged through the cabinets until he found a first aid kit and some clean rags. He rushed back into the room and quickly began trying to clean up the blood that bubbled up from the wound. At first Alastor flinched away from his touch, but after a moment he allowed Lucifer's touch---leaning into his hands as he worked.

At least, until he began cleaning the wound.

Once he brought out the antiseptic and began gently cleaning the area around the wound, Alastor hissed and gripped the arms of the chair he was sitting on---knuckles white. So Lucifer absent-mindedly put a hand on his back and gently rubbed circles to soothe him, a habit from when he was still married to Lillith that he still hadn't been able to shake. Alastor jumped at the touch but, after some hesitation, he allowed it, and Lucifer couldn't help but wonder-

'When was the last time he'd ever been touched gently?'

He was always the one touching others, more to exert power over them than anything, but the only time Lucifer had ever seen anyone touch him, they were trying to hurt him---trying and failing. The thought made him oddly self-conscious, the ring on his finger suddenly burning like a brand.

"You're wrong," Alastor said suddenly, making him jump.

"What?"

"Your demonic form isn't affected by what you are when you're alive, but by what you hate," he clarified, "I hate timidness, I hate fear, I hate prey---so I was made into something that embodied all of those traits."

Lucifer didn't quite know what to say to that, so he just asked, "does it bother you?"

There wasn't any malicious intent behind the question, he was genuinely curious.

"No, it doesn't."

"Why not?"

Alastor hummed, clearly contemplating exactly what to say, all the while Lucifer watched him---something warm and insistent taking root in his chest as he did so.

"Have you ever had the pleasure of visiting the South?" Alastor asked him, his ever-present smile seeming to turn genuine.

He answered truthfully, "no."

"Well, we have quite a few local legends in the South---myths, tall tales, ridiculous lies some might call them, but we know better. Warnings, we call them."

"Now, the legends do tend to differ depending on the region, but once you've been around long enough, you tend to learn all of them---no matter where you're from," Alastor continued, "one of the stories, a favorite of mine, is that of the Not-Deer."

Lucifer leaned towards him slightly, feeling drawn in by the story, the gentle static of his voice, and the genuine love he could see that he clearly had for his home.

"The story goes that sometimes people will be driving along a back road, walking through the forest, or simply enjoying an evening out on the porch---when, suddenly, they'll see what looks like a deer," his smile suddenly changed, a curl in his lip that made Lucifer shiver, "at first glance, it looks normal enough, but if you keep looking at it you'll start to notice that something about it is not quite right. That's when you'll also notice that, just as you're staring at it, it's staring right back at you."

The shadows around them almost seemed to dance as Alastor continued, and---although Lucifer could feel fear creeping up his spine---he didn't want him to stop.

"Then you'll notice something off about its eyes---that they're far too dead, far too human, to be the eyes of a deer. Then you'll notice that its body is all wrong too, distorted and bent in all the wrong places. Then you'll notice that it's too big to be a deer, and then you'll notice the blood on its matted fur, and then you'll wonder how you'd ever thought it was a deer in the first place."

A pause.

"Then you'll notice that it's closer to you than you first thought."

Lucifer, breathless, asked, "what do you do then?"

Alastor grinned, that same curl in his lip, "you run."

Now it was easy to see why Alastor didn't particularly mind this form.

"The interesting things humans think up," Lucifer whispered and Alastor almost seemed amused by his interest.

"Indeed."

The odd feeling in his chest warmed under his gaze, and he suddenly found himself feeling the distinct sense of deja vu as well.

...and that was when it hit him.

'Oh motherfucker-'

[stealthetrees]

Okay I’ve snapped.

If you say Percy Jackson is stupid I will find you and make sure you regret it.

I have inattentive type ADHD. I was diagnosed in 4th grade and got put on medication. I did not think there was a difference but I got an award from the school for how much I improved. They didn’t know it was because of meds.

Before I was diagnosed I remember being on the verge of tears often at school because I got so frustrated that I couldn’t do work. I sat at my desk with the pencil in my hand staring at a worksheet physically unable to write the awnser I knew. I would stare at the question and like an optical illusion the rest of the page blurs together and I can’t even make out word anymore.

I thought I was dyslexic for the longest time because some fonts are so difficult for me to read. I could look at a recit, know it says lettuce, and it will not process in my brain. Unless I am a few hours away from a deadline it is nearly impossible to start assignments. Essays are hell.

You know those songs that have an American accent but are completely nonsense? That’s what it sounds like a lot when I listen to people talk. Usally I can grasp the general meaning but I can not tell you what word you just said.

Time is not real. I sit down, scroll through tumblr for maybe 15 minutes and my roommate asks why I’m sitting doing nothing for 4 hours straight. Full days disappear and I can’t remember anything that happened. I have no idea how long it takes me to do something I do almost every day.

I went two weeks at the beginning of the semester with meds that where 10 milligrams lower than my usual dosage. My grades still haven’t recovered.

THAT SAID. In cannon, Percy Jackson passed 13 years of school with high enough grades to be accepted to a university. Not medicated. Without accommodations.

So either the education system in New York is taylored specifically for people with ADHD, or Percy Jackson is a fucking geinios. I can’t spell.

So ignoring the fact that nearly every fight he won by outsmarting his opponent, let me tell you why.

In the books, he’s an introvert, sits in the back, tries to keep his head down but usually fails, gets detention often, and has been expelled multiple times. That’s not the kind of kid teachers go out of their way to help. He’s also unlikely to ask for help. So, despite his struggles in the classroom, he has never been held back or had to redo a grade as far as we know. And it’s pretty likely considering his age.

Add in the fact that he would be constantly sleep deprived from staying up very late (like from 10-3, based off my experience) and his dyslexia, Percy would need to be really good at retaining information after hearing or seeing it only once. That’s actually supported by his ability to memorize prophecies word for word after only hearing them once. We know Percy is bad at taking tests, so he would have to be really good at recalling information.

He also did it all unmedicated. I want to cry just thinking about it.

tldr, the fact that Percy’s grades where high enough to get into college means hes fucking brilliant

[daydreamingatnight209]

Me actually writing and posting? What??? 😱😱😱

Enjoy some Colson content my lovelies 🥰

As usual Feedback is welcome, HATE is not ; if you don’t like it, don’t read it. ✨💕

“I’m Here, Go Back to Sleep”

MGK x Female Reader

Warnings - None. Just pure fluff!

——————————————————————————

Waking up to an empty bed these days wasn’t unusual these days, with the album deadline slowly creeping up day by day, Colson spent almost all of his hours in the studio, working himself to the bone to produce an album everyone can enjoy.

With your own workplace continuously overworking you, sleep or time didn’t come easily to you either. You couldn’t remember the last time both you and Colson had actually spent more than a few minutes at a time together in the same room and it was starting to become very lonely.

Leaving the cold and empty bed, after another night of hopeless tossing and turning, you sigh and drag yourself downstairs to the kitchen. Preparing for another day to survive on coffee you make one for both yourself and your boyfriend who didn’t even leave the studio last night. It was most likely he fell asleep there in the very early hours of the morning.

While the lack of sleep wasn’t new for Colson, it certainly was for you and you could feel it slowly starting to affect your mind and body.

You grab him a change of clothes, a blanket for yourself and his favourite aftershave before crossing over from the house into the converted studio space.

With the band already in session, you slipped in almost undetected, but as always, your eyes caught Colson’s immediately. You give him a small smile and walk over to give him what you had brought over.

“Babe, what are you doing up so early? You look exhausted” he whispers as he presses a gentle kiss to your forehead.

You let out a small laugh and set yourself down on the closest chair.

“Gee, thanks Col”

After a quick clothes change and the others leaving in search for food, Colson calls you over to the desk he’s working at.

“Come, let me hold you” he mumbles, stretching his long arms out in your direction.

Wrapping the blanket tightly around you, you walk over to your lover and wrap yourself around him so you were straddling him. He holds you tightly and sways gently.

“You need to get some proper rest, baby, you are going to make yourself ill” he tells you softly.

You giggle to yourself at his concern for you, knowing full well he wouldn’t take his own advice even if you begged him.

“I’ll rest when you do” is your answer and you can practically feel him rolling his eyes at you, despite not actually being able to see him as you rest your head in the crook of his neck.

The two of you sit there quietly, as colson continues to sway you and hum a track from the new album into your ear.

Despite not being able to sleep properly, something about being in colson’s arms after so long, settles you and you cannot fight the call of sleep that beckons you. Your eyes close slowly and without protest as you rest against the frame of your man, the feeling of safely enveloping you.

Colson smiles down at you, tenderly, the look of frustration and stress leaving your features as you snore lightly.

He would be lying to himself if he said he hadn’t missed these small intimate moments with you and did feel quite guilty for not making more time for you while in the process of doing this next album. You never once complained and took everything in your stride which is on of the many things he loved about you.

He couldn’t wait to look after you and treat you to something special as a way of thanks for all your support when the album was complete.

His train of thought was interrupted as he heard everyone coming back to continue the session. He panicked slightly as they all barged through the door and glared at them in an effort to silence the rowdiness they were currently displaying.

“Shhh! She hasn’t slept properly in weeks and I swear if any one of you wake her up! …” Colson hisses at his friends, before looking down at you to ensure you were still peacefully sleeping.

Slim is the first to put his hands up in mock surrender, a smirk plastered on his face as he leads the group back out the door, but he was secretly glad that this would mean Colson would be forced to take a break, even if it was just an hour or so. He knew he definitely needed one.

Once alone again, Colson lifts you up with ease and carries you over to the sofa, laying you down and climbing in beside you. He wraps his arms back around you settles in. The movement causes you to stir slightly, your eyes still closed you mumble for your boyfriend not to leave you.

“Shh baby, I’m here, go back to sleep”

[justabigassnerd]

The Talk

Pairing - Pete 'Maverick' Mitchell x daughter!reader, Bradley Bradshaw x Mitchell!reader

Word count - 2,701

Warnings - mentions of sex, lil' splash of angst, fluff

Summary - you and Bradley near the next step in your relationship, however, you worry about it

Sequel to - 'Overprotective Aviators'

A/N - what is up y'all? I appear once more to offer y'all a fic that was a lovely anon request! I had so much fun writing this and I hope I did the idea justice! I won't ramble so as per y'all, please send in requests, feedback and enjoy!!!

It had been almost one year since Bradley asked you out on a date and your relationship was still going strong. It took your dad a good week or so to actually process the fact you were dating his best friend’s son but after a long talk with Bradley which ended with Bradley ensuring he’d do his best by you and wouldn’t break your heart; your dad accepted it. Though it didn’t stop him from insisting you kept your PDA to a minimum when you were in his immediate vicinity.

The further into the relationship you got with Bradley, you started to get more intimate, lingering touches lasted longer than usual. You hadn’t had sex with Bradley, but your mind was screaming at you that you were getting clear signs you were nearing that step in your relationship. You were sure Bradley had much more relationship experience than you. He had girlfriends before he got with you, but Bradley was your first relationship. You had never been massively popular in high school so many boys didn’t look your way. Even if you did have boys throwing themselves at your feet, you were sure your dad would’ve chased them away sharpish.

Carole had quickly caught onto the changes that happened with you. She noticed how you and Bradley were more touchy than usual. How you often went off seeking privacy with him more often than not. She knew Maverick and Goose hadn’t picked up on the changes. She loved the two men dearly, but she knew there wasn’t a thought that occurred in their heads most of the time. She also knew that she should have a conversation with you, woman to woman.

One day, when Bradley was out with Maverick and Goose, working on repairs on the P-51 Mustang Maverick had found himself in possession of, Carole had headed over to your house, knocking on the door and greeting you with a smile.

“Hey, sweetie. Could we have a chat?” Carole asks as you invite her in, following you into the living room and sitting on the sofa as you nod.

“Of course. Is everything okay?” You reply, sitting down on the sofa, leaving a little gap between both you and her as your mind begins to race with worst-case scenarios.

“I just wanted to have a chat with you, woman to woman.” Carole says softly, taking one of your hands in hers and squeezing it softly. You remained silent, confused about what she was getting at.

“Now, sweetheart, I’ve noticed some changes with you and Bradley, and something is telling me you two are nearing that step where you are going to have sex for the first time.” Carole says, getting straight to the point as you feel your face get hot very suddenly.

“What? Carole, I don’t-”

“y/n, don’t bother denying it. I have eyes you know. It’s okay if you want to take that next step together.” Carole says, not letting you try and hide behind a lie. You remain silent for a moment, processing her words and thinking about your own doubts.

“I’m scared.” You admit quietly, dropping your head as Carole squeezes your hand softly, getting you to look at her.

“What are you scared of, sweetie?” Carole asks softly, her gaze never leaving you. She was all too aware that you didn’t have any kind of maternal figure in your life, so she always did her best to be a trusted woman in your life, especially since your dad had a tendency to sleep around and never get in a relationship.

“Bradley’s been in more relationships than me. He probably knows what to do and what not to do with things like that. I’m scared I’m not good enough for him.” You confess, blinking back the tears that threaten to spill past your defences as Carole coos quietly, bringing you into her arms as she rubs a hand up and down your back as she holds you tight.

“Oh y/n/n. You don’t need to worry about that. Bradley is most definitely head over heels for you. I know taking steps like this is scary, but communication is key in relationships, sweetie. Goose and I have to have conversations about things. Every couple needs communication, it’s what keeps relationships afloat. You don’t even need to have the conversation the next time you see him if it doesn’t feel right. Just make sure you do talk about it. I’m sure if you spoke to him, he’d understand. If he doesn’t then just know he’d have some hell to deal with because I did not raise him to be that way.” Carole says, pulling away and grinning when she notices the small smile creeping onto your face. You knew she was right, that relationships required communication and if you just spoke to Bradley, you were sure everything would be okay. Before you could say another word, you hear the front door unlock and Maverick announce his return with Goose and Bradley entering behind.

“Honey, what are you doing here?” Goose says the moment he sees Carole in the living room, immediately sweeping her up into his arms and pressing a delicate kiss upon her lips.

“Just wanted to keep y/n company while you men were gone.” Carole says, grinning up at her husband with loving eyes. Bradley then squeezes past his parents and sits alongside you, pulling you into a quick kiss.

“Hey, don’t push your luck, Bradshaw.” Maverick scolds as you and Bradley pull away from the kiss, smiling softly at each other.

“Dad.” You mutter, glancing over at Maverick who holds his hands up in mock surrender.

“Let’s go sit in the garden, the weather’s beautiful.” Bradley says, tugging you to your feet and leading you to the back door to head out into the garden as the adults watch with soft smiles. The second the two of you are out of sight, Carole turns to Maverick.

“Mav, we need to talk. Alone.”

“Wha- don’t you want to include me in this conversation too, honey?” Goose splutters, looking between Maverick and his wife.

“Nick, honey, I love you, but this is a Maverick thing. Besides, I know he’ll tell you the second the two of you are left alone.” Carole says, looking up at her husband and patting his cheek lovingly as he pouts lightly. Carole then grabs Maverick’s wrist, tugging him into the privacy of the kitchen and turning to face him the moment she hears Goose turning on the tv to occupy himself.

“What did you need to talk about, Carole?” Maverick says, leaning back against the kitchen counter with folded arms.

“You need to speak to your daughter.” Carole says bluntly looking at Maverick who blinks in shock.

“I literally spoke to her a minute ago.” Maverick starts, confused as to where Carole was going with this conversation.

“No. Your daughter is growing up Pete. And growing up means that when she gets into a serious relationship, she’s going to take that big step when she’s ready.” Carole says, watching as Maverick’s eyes narrow in confusion before widening in realisation.

“You don’t mean…” Maverick starts, knowing where Carole was going but hoping he was wrong.

“Sex? Yes, I do mean that.” Carole says as Maverick glances out the kitchen window, seeing you and Bradley curled up together in the hammock.

“I- are you- how did you find out?” Maverick manages to force out, looking back at Carole who bites back an amused grin at Maverick being rendered almost speechless for the first time in his life.

“I spoke to her, woman to woman. I gave her a little advice, but her dad needs to give her the rest.” Carole says, watching as Maverick’s shoulders slacken.

“You’ve given her some advice, why can’t you give her the rest? I’m not a woman.” Maverick says, rubbing the back of his neck nervously.

“Pete, I may be a woman but you’re her father. You’re the only parent she has, and she needs her dad to talk to her about this whether you like it or not. She needs you to teach her how to be safe when it comes to sex. I know it's an awkward conversation, believe me, I know. How do you think Goose fared when we gave the talk to Bradley? He couldn’t get a full sentence out, I think he stopped functioning altogether. I know it’s tough when you realise your kid is growing up, but they still need our love and support regardless of their growing independence. Just talk to her Mav.” Carole says, resting a hand on Maverick’s upper arm as she gives him a soft smile. Maverick sighs lightly, but nods his head regardless, looking down at the tiled kitchen floor.

“I’ll talk to her.” Maverick says as he shifts his gaze to look back up at Carole who pats his arm.

“Good. Now, let’s get back to Goose, he might go insane if he’s alone any longer.” Carole laughs lightly, turning around and opening the kitchen door and heading into the living room while Maverick remains rooted in place for a moment, thinking over how to approach the conversation with you, re-joining Carole, and Goose once he had collected his thoughts.

That evening, after the Bradshaw’s had headed home for the night, Maverick was sitting alongside you on the sofa as you watched the tv. Carole’s words echoed around Maverick’s head as he glanced at you out of the corner of his eye. Without warning, Maverick grabbed the remote and muted the tv, ignoring your protests.

“y/n, we need to talk.” Maverick starts, and you immediately have a feeling that you know where this is going.

“Did you speak to Carole?” You ask, fiddling with your fingers as you look down at your hands.

“I’d say she cornered me into the kitchen and spoke to me. But yes, we spoke.” Maverick says after letting out a weak chuckle.

“Dad, I-”

“Squirt, you’re going to need to let me talk, okay?” Maverick politely interrupts, shuffling around to face you properly.

“Carole told me that you reckon that you and Bradley are nearing that next step in your relationship. I need to make sure you know how to be safe when you do make that step. You need to know you have the right to say no if you don’t want to have sex. Don’t let yourself feel pressured into saying yes if you don’t want to. As long as you’re safe and know you have the right to say ‘no’, you’ll be fine. I just want you to be safe.” Maverick says, making you look up at him before he offers you a soft smile before he reaches out, wraps an arm around your shoulders and tugs you into his side.

“Bradley won’t force me to do anything, will he?” You ask, looking up at your dad who softens.

“No, sweetheart. As much as I like to pretend that he annoys me because he’s dating you, I know he’s so in love with you and Goose and Carole raised him to be nothing but respectful. It’s just important that you know that you can say no if you don’t want to have sex.” Maverick assures, rubbing a hand up and down your back before pressing a kiss to the top of your head as you nod against his side.

“I really love Bradley. I’m scared I’m not good enough for him because I don’t have as much relationship experience as him.” You admit quietly, curling further into your dad’s arms like you were little again.

“Oh, y/n/n. Like I said, Bradley is hopelessly in love with you. He’s as in love with you as Goose is in love with Carole. You have nothing to worry about.” Maverick reassures, squeezing you lightly.

“Carole said a similar thing.” You say as you laugh lightly to yourself as you remember Carole’s words from earlier. Maverick didn’t reply, opting to stay silent and relish the feeling of you curled in his arms. He knew you were growing more independent by the day, and that you would reach a point where you wouldn’t want to find solace in your father’s arms anymore, so he relished any moment he got with you.

“I love you, dad.” You mumble, smiling to yourself when you feel your dad press another kiss to the top of your head.

“I love you too, y/n.” Maverick whispers as you return your attention to the muted television, planning on how to approach Bradley with the conversation.

The time for you to speak to Bradley came a couple of days later, Maverick and Goose were at Top Gun, teaching, and Carole was out visiting some friends, so you had gone around to Bradley’s house. The two of you were upstairs in his room and sat on his bed as you kissed each other passionately. As you pulled away, resting your foreheads against each other, Bradley’s hand brushed against your thigh as he moved to set it on your hip. You tensed up at the contact and Bradley noticed, immediately pulling away and looking at you worriedly.

“Are you okay?” Bradley asked, his eyes searching yours as you silently scold yourself for flinching at Bradley’s touch. You’d never flinched at his touch before, but you knew why you had done so. It was time to have the conversation you were most fearing.

“Bradley, I feel like we’re getting close to that step in our relationship where we… you know… have sex and I’m going to be honest; I’m terrified I’m not going to be good enough for you. You’ve been in relationships before, and I don’t know how well I measure up to old girlfriends you had.” You ramble, opening your mouth to speak more but being stopped by Bradley gently resting a finger on your lips to silence you.

“Honey, let me talk for a moment, okay? It’s okay if you don’t have much relationship experience, we all start somewhere. I don’t know everything about relationships. I love you, and there’s no rush about anything. We don’t have to have sex or anything unless we’re both ready. There’s no rush for anything. Yes, we’re getting a bit more intimate but that doesn’t mean we have to be leaping into anything if we’re not ready. We can take it slow, that’s more than okay.” Bradley says, his gentle smile never leaving his face as he speaks, his finger moving from your lip so he can cup your face gently, his smile widening as you leaned into his touch.

“I love you too Bradley. Sorry for blurting all that out, I’ve just been panicking for a couple of days.” You apologise, attempting to bury your face in his palm. Bradley carefully removes his hand so he can see you properly.

“There’s my beautiful girl. It’s okay. I’m glad we talked about this. My parents always tell me that communication is important. I also want to be sure you know you can always come to me to talk if you need to.” Bradley says softly, leaning in and pressing his forehead to yours as a smile breaks out across your face.

“And you can always talk to me if you need.” You say, quickly leaning closer to press a quick kiss to Bradley’s lips. Just as you pull away, Bradley grabs your waist and pulls you back in, kissing you again as you bite back a giggle at your boyfriend’s sudden movement.

“Is this okay?” Bradley asks as he pulls away, his eyes flicking down to his hands before looking back up at you.

“More than okay.” You confirm, kissing him once more until the need for air becomes too much.

“As much as I’d love to keep kissing you. I had a date idea. There’s that new mini-golf place that has just opened along the beach. I was thinking we could go there and test it out, a bit of fun and competition.” Bradley says after pulling away and a cheeky smile crosses his face.

“I hope you’re ready to lose Bradshaw.” You say, a smirk covering your face.

“In your dreams, Mitchell.”

[anundyingfidelity]

I'M A RUIN — Soldier Boy/Ben (Part V)

Series summary: After the events of the Seven Tower, you present Grace Mallory a new secret project you're working on already to develop a cure to Compound V. The only problem? You need Soldier Boy for that.

Pairing: Soldier Boy/Ben x female reader.

Word count: 2.4k.

Warnings for series: set after S3 (spoilers), some OOC!Ben, some depressed!Ben, angst, hurt/comfort, eventual smut, slow-burn, language, PTSD, reader has Compound V (she's no Vought supe tho), Soldier Boy being an usual asshole, reader is a fucking liar.

Warnings on this chapter: some misogyny and shit (you know who), psychiatry stuff, canon gore, blood, heads exploding, and violence?.

Notes: so I'm sorry for any mistakes during the psychyatric process, I go to therapy and take medication myself so that's all I know plus google research. And be aware of the gore descriptions, I tried to do my best I guess lol. Thanks for reading as always!

this fic tags: @k-slla @syrma-sensei @mostlymarvelgirl @cheynovak @drasticemotions @soldirboy @deans-spinster-witch

☕ if you like my writing, support me with a ko-fi !

get yourself in the taglist!

Part I | Part II | Part III | Part IV | Part V | Part VI | Part VII | | Part VIII

GEN MASTERLIST! — SERIES MASTERLIST!

Part V: Blow Your Mind

With a deep breath, you reviewed the symptoms Soldier Boy barely 'gave' during your session. The list was kind of long on the pages and it read:

Always being on guard for any danger, self-destructive behavior, irritability, angry outbursts, panic attacks, feeling emotionally numb, not trusting anyone, not feeling safe, hypervigilance, intrusive thoughts, fatigue, muscle tension, headaches, back pain...

There was a weird silence surrounding both of you, mostly because of his mood and his change in demeanor from a somewhat friendly asshole to an irritated, unbearable jerk. Once you had started with the uncomfortably stupid questions, he felt threatened. Soldier Boy wasn't actually open to talk about his past and the traumatic experiences he had, and that meant it was difficult to get to know how his body and mind were reacting to all the stress and madness he went through in decades, adding those weeks after Billy Butcher had released him from his nightmare.

He was opposed to speaking directly about how he was feeling, but you knew better that Ben speaking out on his symptoms was not going to happen. So you had to ask each one of them and review some his most harsh experiences directly, in order to receive monotonous responses, limited to: 'yes', 'no', 'I don't know,' and finally 'what the fuck is that?' You took them all as an absolute yes.

He was being defensive and you knew better than to miss anything after he almost burned the whole damn building. And with the small but confident experience you had with psychiatry, you concluded that he needed medication and therapy. As soon as fucking possible.

"Yeah, you have PTSD," you said after a moment and your eyes found his unreadable gaze.

He raised his eyebrows with false surprise. He already heard that shit from Hughie before. "And where's the fucking drugs?"

"For that to happen, you have to stop the weed first."

"I've survived bricks of coke mixed with shit you probably don't know about and you want to take the only thing that's keeping me sane? Fan-fucking-tastic!" he fumed, but you didn't flinch. Not a bit.

"Look, my goal is keeping you safe and making you sane because you definitely are not. Not right now. And since I took you out, you'll follow my process, so stop whining."

He chuckled softly with a bitter grimace on his lips as he shook his head softly. "No, that's not gonna happen."

"I don't care if you agree with that, it's settled," you continued, a triumphant smile plastered on your face.

It was true, you didn't give a single shit. He had to be clean and quit any type of drugs to start the medication but most importantly, to use his blood. Eventually. You were more than aware that he wouldn't die easily, that was proved. And it was just a matter of time to get him to your lab to take samples of his blood and run the necessary research on them while you and your team still continued the studies with the Anti-V prototype. You were only hoping that day would arrive soon enough. Two months sober, that was all you needed from him. And the best part? Soldier Boy didn't have to really know the whole details.

Ben, on the other hand, clenched his jaw so tight and closed his eyes for a moment after hearing your statement. You really were a fucking bitch, letting him fall into the abyss of misery and torture that was his own wrecked mind. He considered your intentions internally, once again for the millionth time. You showed up there all dressed up, playing a rich doctor when in reality you were just a fucking slutty brat, just to tell him he had to stop his usual pot, which you also brought happily when he asked you to. And now, you were taking away the only thing that stopped him from ripping your head off. What a great move.

"That's not smart," he insisted.

"Why not? I have you under my own terms."

Ben tilted his head, studying you carefully. "You can't stop me, doll. None of you can. I'm only here because I find it suitable instead of storming out and catching unnecessary attention."

Ben saw you swallow down, he immediately knew it was because you were angry, not scared. You never really seemed scared of him. And you tried to restrain yourself from slapping him right away. "Are you blackmailing me again, Soldier Boy?"

"Is just a warning," he said, nonchalantly. "Wouldn't want to harm such a pretty thing like you, now wouldn't we."

"Oh well, just a reminder I can also turn on the damn gas if needed," you snapped. The arrogant smirk on his lips fell off and it was your turn to smile back. "We all have hidden cards, right?"

Such an arrogant bitch, he thought.

"So, what's your plan?" you switched the subject to avoid going further into what was troubling him.

"What do you mean?"

"Homelander. You want him dead, don't you? You must be getting ready to fight again..."

His body seemed tense once you pushed him to talk, looking away from you to calm a bit. "Isn't that what all of you want?"

"Any sane person would love that, trust me."

Soldier Boy narrowed his eyes. "Well, I can do it. If I wasn't here... You've seen what he's capable of. Jesus, I've seen it," he bitterly chuckled. "And the kid? He's a fucking menace."

"You've been watching the news, I take that—"

"The fuck I do! Wasn't gonna wait for you to keep me up to date of what the fuck is going on!" Ben shouted, his loud voice roaring in your ears despite the distance.

"I don't want you to stress out more than you do," you said, vacillating. "A lot of things take time, such as you adapting to the twenty-first century."

"I'd love to know when that'll happen," Ben insisted. "Or else, I might just break out."

With a tentative smile, you started to write down the report. "I'm so glad you're talking more during our sessions."

You barely said goodbye to Soldier Boy once you finished your daily session. Your head was aching as you walked down the aisle, barely leaving the empty wing of the building behind. Certainly he was hard to handle and was behaving defensively. Before you left he began asking, or better said, bossing you to get him whatever the kid Hughie told him he needed to learn how to use. Shit like the internet and GPS, he said. You told him he was not ready for it yet.

But you'd give him a golden star for trying and insisting so badly, even if he was against eighty percent of your methods. He was up to something, there was no question for that. He was a soldier, more or less like his given supe name. People like him always had a plan, and underneath his facade, there were more plans backed up with words of honor that you had to track sooner or later.

As you made your way to your office, greeting your lab employees and guards, a disturbing sensation grew up inside. Before crossing the doorframe you subtly looked around, focusing for some reason in the security camera, more time than you'd like to admit. You turned again to finally get inside, facing the entry of your office when hurried steps and a voice stopped you from doing so.

"Doctor!"

Once again you turned on your heels to see your assistant, tablet in hand. Those had to be the results.

"Hey," you began. "You have everything?"

Bianca nodded with a straight face and handed you the tablet. You noticed her tight grip and her somehow trembling fingers when you took the device from her hands. You eyed her a little, she remained with her hands intertwined in front of her, her attention seemed lost. With caution, you continued to check the file.

"Is the patient alright?" you asked, reading the profile of the supe who had the not so good luck of being tested previously.

Solaris was his supe name. And he had the ability to manipulate light and matter with his mind. He had taken part in the program for a month now and this was his first test. As always, each supe you had into the program was low-profile. You were thankful of your team keeping these supes under their gaze to offer them some sort of solution, even after all the deaths you tracked from time to time when a test of the Anti-V was run. More than a solution for them, it was a partial contribution to find it.

You quickly scanned the updated file that Bianca completed for you. He was doing better than projected, his powers were still gone with a forecast of probably coming back within a couple of hours. A deep breath left your lips. Now that was an improvement. It was the first time anything like that happened on any tests. The supe survived, he was weak but the powers were off for a bit. It was a small step closer to your goal. Just a little bit more maybe and it could be done, finally...

"He's resting right now," Bianca interrupted your thoughts. Your eyes were back on her face.

"This is great news, thank you. I trust he's doing okay."

She nodded. "He is."

"Great, I guess I'll see him in a couple of hours," you said about entering your office.

"Wait!" Bianca suddenly closed the little space between both of you. She breathed heavily before stuttering words out. "I, I have- I'm sorry..."

"Are you okay?" you inquired, knowing her behavior was unusual. She swallowed down, turning her gaze away, her hands shaking. Was she sick? "Bianca, what's wrong?"

You tried to reach her cheek with your hand, but she stepped back abruptly, looking at you like if you were a ghost with her eyes red and wet, and a fine layer of sweat adorning her skin.

"I'm sorry," she mumbled. "I'm so sorry," she sobbed.

You walked towards her, worried about what was going on but every step you took, she also gave it back.

"Bianca, what's happening?"

Her back bumped the wall of your office, and finally, she started to cry. "I'm sorry. You have to go, please..."

Your heart started pounding heavily on your chest. "What—"

"Go now! Please... Please don't hurt me..."

"I'm not going to hurt you, Bianca," you whispered, trying to comfort her.

But she continued crying and mumbled incoherent words with eyes shut, while hot tears streamed down her face. She choked on her sobs as she pleaded for her life. But you didn't understand why. You tried to soothe her, reaching her shoulder with your free hand.

And when you placed your palm on her, everything became red. It all happened in seconds. Ropes of warm blood covered your face in an instant. A loud gasp fell from your throat. You felt every drop mixed with brains on the skin of your face, on your neck, and sliding down the skin under your blouse. It was shocking and equally disgusting. And your eyes remained shut, not brave enough to move or see the horrid picture in front of you.

Your palm was still on her shoulder when the remains of her body fell to the ground with a thud. Your trembling hand wiped some blood from your face to open your eyes anew. The wall was painted with her, as much as you were, and it left a trail of blood from where her corpse slid to the floor. Her head long fucking gone.

"Shit."

Shit. Fucking shit. Was it him? It had to be him. There was no reason to doubt it. It was him. And he complied with his promise. Had Homelander been controlling Bianca? Was she the only one? No. There had to be something more. Homelander wasn't easy and he wasn't merciful with anyone. You had to stop him and get Soldier Boy out of the building. Now.

You tried to control yourself as best as you could, walking away to reach anyone, crossing a corner on the hallway, where a guard was casually passing by.

He stopped on his tracks at your sight, covered in blood and meat. "Doctor?"

"I need your help," you whispered.

He nodded quickly and you began explaining with a low, shaky voice.

"I don't know what happened, my assistant was right there with me when— Fuck!"

You walked some inches away when his head exploded, just like Bianca's did. Luckily, or not, this time was inside his helmet. All the red brains and blood were catched by it. Still, you wanted to throw up right fucking there. The remains of his body fell to the floor with a loud sound.

With a deep breath you continued your way, finding guards, lab assistants and agents. If they were alive, their heads popped into your sight. And if it was your somehow lucky moment of the day, you just found their headless corpses lying on the ground, creating a pool of blood you tried to avoid.

The only thing on your mind was taking Ben out of the building. The alarm had been turned on and the annoying sound of it was driving you crazy. Your head ached more than ever as you made your way to Soldier Boy for the second fucking time during the day.

Since there was no time to open the heavy door properly, you used a force field around the metal, moving the door until it slipped enough to let you in. You found him standing in the middle of the room. Eyes dark and alert, with fists and frame ready to fight. He wrinkled his nose once you entered the place.

"What the fuck's going on?" Ben growled, observing your blood covered face.

"We need to go, now. Take your clothes off."

He blinked, taken aback. Before he answered you continued with an explanation.

"I'll turn you invisible, but can't turn your clothes," you ordered, looking in the closet for a sports bag you knew was inside and picking a couple of shirts, pants and boxers as quickly as time allowed you to. Once finished, you turned to Ben again.

"Mind to fucking clarify?" he insisted. You sighed, closing your eyes for a moment.

"Look, I'll tell you everything once we're out," you turned one of your hands invisible for him to see.

Ben snorted with laughter. How ironic, he thought.

"No fucking way."

"Strip. We're leaving."

[xoxozoro]

can i take your order?

synopsis: you are barista

characters: chifuyu, mitsuya, kazutora

genre: fluff

warnings: none.

masterlist.

chifuyu :

chifuyu was living a cliché. he knew it, his friends knew it and probably all of the regular customers of the small coffee shop knew it.

but could you really blame him?

you were just so... pretty...

with your lips of a lively pink, your cheeks full and bright, your eyes so mesmerizing that he could stare at them for hours and your hair that were pulled back into two messy braids with your loose strands of hair that swept back and forth over your face.

what was there to not like about you?

"chifuyu...? are you there?"

your angelic voice brought him back to earth, his cheeks covered of a small red hue at the sound of his name coming from your mouth, "y-yeah?"

you let out a soft chuckle at his stuttering, a smile plastered on your lips, "the usual?"

"yes, please"

he first started to talk to the pretty girl behind the counter when he first found the coffee shop. ever since that day, after weeks of trying to figure out your work schedule, chifuyu showed up every morning when you worked, ordered the same thing every time and spent half an hour talking to you.

"say 'fuyu, you own a pet shop right?" you asked, writing his name on a cup with a sharpie.

"yeah! it's the one down the streets" chifuyu confirmed, paying his order and putting a generous amount of yen in the tip jar.

you continued scribing down on the cub making him frown, his name was not that long to write... "so if i wanted to adopt a little kitten, i could come see you right?"

chifuyu's eyes widened at your words, a bigger smile on his lips, "yeah, you totally could! actually there's a cat that makes me think of you every time i look at it."

it took him a second to realize what he had just said, but when he realized he quickly look away from you, missing the red on your face.

"well," you spoke again, trying to ignore the burning sensation on your face, "we should get coffee together sometimes… so you can tell me more about the cat that makes you think of me."

"uh?" chifuyu looked at you once more, grabbing the cup you were handing him your fingers brushing with his in the process.

"call me" you smiled at him before turning around to take the order of another customer, the coffee shop being abnormally filled for a thursday morning.

the boy looked down at his cup, and if he wasn't blushing before, he surely was now.

chifuyu♡ 178-003-0000

falling in love in cafés was so damn cliché.

mitsuya :

"mitsuya! i was starting to think that you weren't gonna come today!" you smiled at the pretty boy in front of you.

the boy smiled as you started to enter his regular order on the computer, "come on, you know i can't start my day without looking at your pretty face."

"you guys disgust me." a voice rang from behind you. you rolled your eyes at your coworker.

"stop it! they're so cute together!" your other coworker, kyo, an hopeless romantic, squealed at the scene.

you shook your head at the two, "we're not dating, kyo."

"not yet" mitsuya mumbled quietly, glad that you didn't hear him say that.

"please," kyo rolled her eyes, "you rejected the hotness guy in the world yesterday, because 'you had a boyfriend'- so try to tell me that you weren't talking about pretty boy over here."

mitsuya widened his eyes at what he just heard, what guy?

you scoffed at your friend, "he was the dumbest boy i've ever met, he even bumped into an old lady! plus i've got my eyes on someone else"

"wonder who that would be?" your "against any form of love" coworker sarcastically said.

the boy frowned as he sat down on a booth beside the window, living you with your friends. when he thought he had forgotten about the guy asking you out yesterday a loud irritating voice echoed in the small shop, disturbing the calm atmosphere of the place.

"come on babe," a tall guy with a buzzcut was leaning against the counter looking at you with a cocky smile, "just give me a chance."

"like i told you yesterday," you tried to keep your calm and politely rejected him, once again, "i have a boyfriend."

"i don't see him anywhere~" he pushed once more.

"he's behind you." mitsuya stood behind him, his coffee long forgotten on a table, the other guy turned around to look at him, "i get that you have a little crush on my girl, but we have a plane to catch... so flirt with her when she gets back, yeah?"

the former gang member gave you a look making you mumbled a quick "be right back" to your friends, before joining your 'boyfriend' in front of the tall guy.

"let's go, love" he place a hand on your lower back leading you outside the shop, then to his car. he then opened the passenger door for you to take a seat, closed the door, before walking to take a seat in the driver seat.

"um... where are we going?" you asked as mitsuya started to drive away from your work place.

"at the airport"

"okay... but why?"

"we have a plane to catch."

"a plane to go where, exactly?"

the boy glanced in your direction a smirk on his face, before grabbing your hand in his. he brought your intertwined hands to his mouth and placed a small kiss on your knuckles, "we're going on a date, princess."

you glanced at your intertwined hands before looking at him, when did driving a car became so attractive?

"with a plane? where are we going for that date exactly?"

he gave your hand a small squeeze, "anywhere you'd like."

kazutora :

"if you keep staring at her like that she might call the cops on you, you know?" baji's voice brought kazutora out of his trance.

the boy quickly snapped his head away from you, looking at his two friends, "god- she's so pretty..." he banged his head on the table his cup of hot chocolate in hand.

chifuyu glanced over kazutora's shoulder, taking a sip of his coffee, "so that's why you wanted to close the shop earlier... to stare at a girl from afar?"

"yeah, man!" baji agreed, "there closing in like- 5 minutes and all you've been doing is look at her and giggle like a little girl."

the lover boy rose his head from the table, begging them to quiet down, "you can just yell that when she's just behind us! and besides i'm not here to look at her... i'm here to enjoy a coffee with my friends."

The friends in question shared a look, "yeah no, you're totally here just for the girl."

kazutora groaned, banging his head on the table once more.

"she's still in school right?" chifuyu asked watching you doing homework on the counter.

"yeah... she's a med student"

"a studen~" baji smirked at his friend, "damn you are some kinky bastard-!"

kazutora hurriedly placed his hand on the boy's mouth, preventing to say anything else, "she's 24! and stop yelling!"

"oh~ she's walking over here- act normal." chifuyu stated making the boys straighten up, trying to look as normal as possible.

"kazu? you coming?" your soft voice rang through the air like honey.

"...kazu...?" baji and chifuyu looked at his friend, who's face became redder after each passing seconds.

"y-yeah!" the said boy got up from his seat, glancing at his two puzzled friends.

baji stood up from his seat, "wait- where are you going?!"

chifuyu grabbed the boy's arm, trying to force him back in his seat, "baji-! don't-"

"we have a date!" you smiled at the two, your hand lazily wrapped around kazutora's arm.

"...a date?"

"yeah..." the lover boy looked away from the pretty girl, "i brought you guys with me so i wouldn't look dumb while waiting for her to finish her shift."

he mumbled a small "see ya" to his friends, before placing a hand on your lower back, leading you outside the small coffee shop.

"so..." you looked up to the boy, a cocky smile on your face, "how's my "kinky bastard" doing?"

lowering his face in defeat, his face reddening at your words, "please don't say that..." your laughter echoed in the quiet street, sounding like a melody to the boy's ears.

"god i feel so used..." baji grumbled walking in the opposite direction of the two love birds, along side chifuyu.

"you'll get over it." his friend patted his back, rolling his eyes at his dramatic dementor.

note: this is my first writing so please be nice!

[nogenderbee]

Could I request the brothers calling them the hottest demon they've ever seen while others are watching?

Omg yes! It was actually pretty funny to write! You can tell I love Levi here- anyway I hope you enjoy <3

Calling brothers hottest demon you had seen

⊱ we all already know that Lucifer's ego is massive so if you want to make it even bigger, go on and he'll be so full of himself for the rest of the day

⊱ and oh boy do it in front of his brothers and they all ehem Satan and Belphies ehem will give you stares saying "what did you just did-?!"

⊱ it doesn't matter if you tell him that in private or in front od his brothers

"Thank you, I really appreciate that you think so as well."

⊱ and then he gives you one of the cockiest smiles of his

"So subtle..."

"You don't have to be jealous, Satan."

"Me? Jealous of you? Pfft, never!"

⊱ Satan IS jealous, he just won't admit it, he won't give his older brother that damn satisfaction after all

⊱ Lucifer on the other hand is more confident for at least the next week thanks to this and if he can, he gladly will remind his brothers how you called him

⊱ but he'll compliment you as well, after all you deserve it after boosting his ego so much

⊱ Mammon always called himself 'THE Mammon' so you thought that he'll just brush it off like it's nothing

⊱ and while that's a little true he also already has a weak spot for you and you're saying things like that in front of his brothers

⊱ he still tries to act like it's nothing even tho his face says completely otherwise

⊱ it just goes double for him when you say it in front of his brothers and not in private

"O-Of course I am! I AM 'The Mammon' after all! People say that to me all the time!"

"It would he more convincing if your face wasn't so red and if you wouldn't stutter so much..."

"Sh-Shaddup Asmo!"

⊱ now he calls himself 'THE hottest demon Mammon' around you and his brothers to mark that you called him that and no one else

⊱ he becomes a little more clingy towards you then he's usually and his only excuse is that you probably want to hang out with the 'the hottest demon' anyway

⊱ it's obvious if you know Levi at least a little bit that if you call him the hottest demon, he'll get REALLY emberrassed

⊱ and if you call him like that in front of his brothers, his face will literally burn

⊱ but you apparently decide to do it either way- can't blame you honestly

⊱ similar to Mammon except it doesn't go double for him, it goes triple for him is that how you say it?

"W-Wha-Whaaaat?!!?!!!! Y-You can't just say stuff like that out of the blue!"

⊱ and don't even expect to see him in the nearest month, he has to process what just happened and once he does, he needs to get over it so count next 3 months for that

"Okay, that's it. My introvert heart can't take it! I'll just go to my room... I'll need like a week- no, a month- or 3 months!"

⊱ you really didn't knew he could run this fast as he did now... and by the look on his brothers faces, neither did them

⊱ it's not like he doesn't enjoy being called like that, he just thinks you're either making dun of him or saying it all out of pity

⊱ you better go to his room to calmly explain and erasure him and he may leave a little earlier than he planned

⊱ he still becomes a blushing mess any time he or someone makes him remember it, but as the time passes he starts liking it even if he still goes red like crazy

⊱ you may think that Satan wouldn't he moved by compliment like that but you're so wrong

⊱ you better say it to him in front of Lucifer or else he'll definitely make you repeat it just to shove it into his face

⊱ he actually blushes a little but does his best to hide it with some politeness

"I- *ekhem* Thank you very much. It's good to know you have a good taste."

⊱ he definitely will mention it every time the eldest brother of his will let his ego show way too much

"You must have a hight ego calling yourself like that even tho YN clearly called ME the hottest demon they had seen. An I wrong, YN?"

⊱ definitely wants you to repeat it as much as you can especially in front of certain demon and often will ask your i to to agree with his words

⊱ he'll also tease you about what you called him if that will put a blush on your face

⊱ whenever he's pisses at someone that he's already in his demon form and person before him is regretting their whole life, just remember him what you called him and he may let them run

⊱ you could already guess that Asmo won't be emberrassed, quite the opposite actually and you were absolutely right

⊱ when you do it in front of his brothers, everyone in the room knows that he won't shut up about it for at least next month

⊱ after those words left your mouth, be ready for him to spoil you with cuddles and kisses all around your face

"Oh my, you're so sweet darling! Of course I heard it s lot already but I'm stilo happy to hear it from your lips~!"

"Asmo! Whatcha think ya doing?!"

"Spoiling then with affection they deserve, obviously!"

⊱ he's going to be even more affectionate with you than usual for at least next 3 months

⊱ he'll definitely post some selfies with you, putting in description something like 'my sweet human just called me the hottest demon they had seen~ <3'

⊱ be ready that he'll always try to get your attention every time he can and just let me tell you that he can get a little grumpy if he won't attention he needs in the very moment

⊱ Beel is probably the hardest one to guess but he does get slightly emberrassed

⊱ he doesn't really mind if you tell him this in private or in front of his brothers, his reaction would still be the same

⊱ when you said it, you catched him a little of guard so it took him a little bit of time to process what just happened but it doesn't last long

"...Thank you! Oh, do you want to try one of the cupcakes I'm eating right now?"

⊱ definitely offers you some of his food, he's eating right now or will take you out to some restaurant as thanks

⊱ he won't mention it again to any of his brothers since he doesn't want to make them feel worse or anything but that doesn't mean that he doesn't care

⊱ it still puts a big smile on his face whenever he remembers it or you say it again

⊱ he often wants to spend more time with you whenever he remembers it or after you said it, so expect to have tall demon following you like a puppy

⊱ you thought that Belphie won't care so you brushed it off at first, but once the thought of saying it in front of his brothers came to your mind, you decided to realize it

⊱ surprisingly his reaction isn't as different if you would say it in private

⊱ when words leave your mouth tho, be prepared that he'll just mumble thanks and then excuse himself that he's tired

"Thanks... I'm tired now, I will go to my room and take a nap. YN, do you want to go with me?"

⊱ he often asks you if you want to take a nap with him so it's not that strange to you but he definitely won't turn his head towards you because if he did, you'd see his blushing face

⊱ when you somehow see his face and point it out, he'll say that it's just hot here and you should go to attic since there's a little bit colder

⊱ oh, what's that? You want to leave the bed in the morning? Too bad because he doesn't. You're staying in here for at least a day or untill someone reminds him that humans also need to eat

❉⊱•═•⊰❉⊱•═•⊰❉⊱•═•⊰❉⊱•═•⊰❉⊱•═•⊰❉⊱•═•⊰❉

[angstywaifu]

Matchmaker - Ridoc x Reader

A/N: This is my first time writing for Ridoc so I hope you like it. Took a bit of extra thinking this one, but I think I nailed it. Well I hope I did! Ridoc loves Valentine’s Day, so he’s using his antics to set up all his friends. But chaos ensues because he’s not so great at spotting actual compatibility…except he knows he’d be compatible with you.

My corner of the library was nice and quiet. The library mostly empty with the everyone off on dates for Valentines Day. Seemed I was one of the few who had not managed to get a date. Though the library was usually on the empty side anyway.

The quiet doesn’t last long though. A loud band echoes through the library, followed by fast footsteps. Someone was running. I go to turn back to my book when I realise they are coming towards me.

I look up to see Ridoc round the corner of the book case. His head frantically scanning the area till his eyes fall on me. His usual goofy smile forming on his face as he rushes over to me and sits across from me. His eyebrow furrows at the look on my face.

”What the hell is that look for?” He asks.

I close my book and look at him. “What have you done now?”

He rolls his eyes as he leans back in his chair and looks away from me. “Nothing… major.”

I would have almost believed him, but it was Ridoc. And the muffled yell from the hallway tells me it is not nothing major.

”RIDOC GAMLYN!” A yell that vaguely sounds like it comes from Rhiannon, echoes from the hallway, Ridoc’s eyes going wide.

I raise my eyebrow at him. “Nothing major? Then why does it sound like Rhiannon wants your head?”

He sighs as he leans forward on the table putting his head in his hands. “You know how I really like Valentines Day?”

I nod. It was all he had gone on about in the recent weeks. Which had surprised me.

”Well I might have had the idea to try play cupid for our fellow squad mates. And sadly I might have made some not so good matches.” He admits with a sheepish smile.

I narrow my eyes at him. “Who the hell did you match Rhiannon up with?”

”I might have set her up to go on a date with Dain.” He admits with a sigh, his shoulders slumping.

Ridoc had always said I had resting bitch face. And the look I was giving him right was very unimpressed resting bitch face. I pinch the bridge of my nose as I cringe at the thought of those two together. It was not an ideal match. Especially with how close Violet is to Rhiannon. She knows everything he’s done.

“Why the hell did you think that was a good idea?”

He stands up and starts pacing, his hands gesturing wildly as he explains. “Well I thought because they are both strong leaders, who stick to their values.” He turns and points a finger at me. “And yes I know they have some different values, but I thought the whole opposites attract thing would work perfectly.”

I couldn’t deny it was adorable how into this he was. He was so excited about this thought process, that in the end was not very good. But his intentions were good.

”Rhiannon is too strong willed and independent for Dain. She would squish him like a bug. He needs someone he can essentially control. And that was Violet till she got sick of his shit.” I point out as he nods in agreeance.

He slumps into the chair in front of me. “I know. But now I’m worried my other set ups aren’t going to go well.”

”Wait, who else have you set up on dates?” I ask nervously.

At this rate our entire squad was going to want Ridoc’s head on a platter. And honestly I would help them if there other set ups were as terrible as Rhiannon and Dain. Though I can’t help the slight sadness that takes over me. He hadn’t tried to set me up with anyone. It wouldn’t have been any point. There was only one person I wanted. And it was the floppy dark haired boy sitting in front of me. Completely oblivious to how I felt.

“I might have set our entire squad up on dates.” He admits, a nervous smile on his face as his hair flops into his eyes. “But I think I can fix it if I set up one good date.”

Oh god. Please don’t be me. Please don’t be me. Please. Don’t. Be. Me.

“I am going to set you, my closest friend up on the perfect date for Valentines Day.” He says proudly with a smile that doesn’t quite meet his eyes despite how happy he tries to appear.

I yet again pinch my nose and shut my eyes, my hear thundering loudly in my chest.

”I don’t want a Valentines date.” I almost plead at him.

Wrong. I did. I wanted him. My goofy, oblivious, comedic relief best friend. He almost looks sad at my words.

”You don’t even know who I was going to set you up with!” He exclaims loudly.

I open my eyes and look at him. “Who is it then?”

”That wrecks the surprise.”

”After the way you’re match making is going, I don’t know if I want a surprise.” I tell him sternly.

He sighs. “Fine, it was going to be Sawyer.”

Sawyer wasn’t bad. He was one of my good friends. We got along really well. But there was nothing romantic about our relationship at all. Despite how similar he was to Ridoc at times. But there was just something about Ridoc that just drew me in.

”As much as thats a better match up than Rhiannon and Dain. I’m not doing it.” I say as I start to pack up my things. I don’t miss the hurt but almost relieved look Ridoc gives me.

”It’s just one date, it will be fine.” He tells me hurridly. “You two get along so well.”

“Yes as friends.” I tell him pointedly, shoving a book in my bag.

”Hey this could be the one date that leads to finding the love of your life.” He tries to joke with me.

My head whips so fast towards Ridoc it seems to startle us both.

”Trust me, it’s not.” I say sternly, grabbing the last of my things.

”Well who do you want a date with. I’ll make it work. I just need one perfect match up so the rest of the squad don’t serve my head on a platter for breakfast tomorrow. There has to be some one. Maybe you secretly want Dain.” He tries to joke as he walks around the table to me.

I shudder at the thought of going on a date with Dain. ”Ridoc, just leave it alone. Please.” I plead with him. I’m thankful his signet isn’t super hearing other wise I’m sure he could hear how fast my heart is pounding.

”But-”

“No!” I yell at him before storming off, leaving a very shocked Ridoc standing in the Library alone as I half run back to my dorm room.

I get back to my room, running past a concerned Violet and Rhiannon, who ultimately decide to leave me alone as I slam my door shut. I chuck my bag on my desk before flopping facedown on my bed. There was no way Ridoc didn’t think something was up with how I had acted and yelled at him before running away. I was usually the one that tolerated him the most out of our squad. And despite how he acted most of the time, he wasn’t stupid. Probably not smart enough to put together I liked him. Least I could hide in my room for the rest of the day before facing him tomorrow.

For a few hours I think I’ve managed to avoid him, till a knock sounds on my door. I sit upright on my door and hope whoever is knocking thinks I’m gone. But depending who it is they probably saw me enter and never leave. A minute later another knock sounds on my door. Followed my a thump, almost as if someone as banged their head on my door.

”Y/N, I know you’re in there. Please open the door.” Calls a very muffled, very sad sounding Ridoc on the other side.

I sigh and untangle myself from the blanket and pillows I had wormed my way under and head to the door. I slowly open the door to see Ridoc lazily leaning on my door way fiddling with his hands. He slowly looks up at me. He’s nervous.

He slowly holds one of his hands out to me. “Come with me.”

Before I can think my hand is in his, and he’s leading my down the now very empty hall way that’s usually riddled with cadets at this hour. He doesn’t say a single word as he leads me through corridors and down stair cases. As he leads me towards the healers quadrant, I suddenly get very confused as to where he is taking me. I wasn’t hurt, except for my potential feelings, and he wasn’t. Just like the riders quadrant, it is quieter than usual over here. They must also be very big on Valentines Day over here as well. He leads me to the bottom of the tower closest to the riders quadrant and out a door into the forest.

I want to ask where the hell he is taking me, but I keep as silent as him as he leads me towards a clearing in the trees where I can vaguely see a small lake in the distance. He pulls us to a stop few metres from the clearing, standing in front of as he holds my hands in his.

”Close your eyes for me.” He says quietly and nervously

I nod my head and close my eyes. His hands let go of mine letting them fall to my sides. I hear him walk a few steps away before a cold wind rushes past me, sending a chill down my spine. I know this feeling all to well. Ridoc is using his signet.

Ridoc grabs my hands again and leads me forwards. As we get closer to the clearing I can feel the temperature drop. He definitely used his signet. But for what?

”Open your eyes.”

I open them to see that lake I saw earlier now completely frozen over. It wasn’t a big lake, but it was definitely the largest thing I had seen him freeze. It would have taken a lot of power. I look over at him to see he does look a little more tired than usual. But it doesn’t seem to phase him as he stares at me so intently.

”Do you like it?” He finally asks as he steps closer to me.

I nod my head. “Its beautiful Ridoc. But I do have to admit I’m a little confused.”

He chuckles and nods his head as he leads us closer to the edge. He holds his hand out towards our feet. Within seconds, he has used his signet to make skates for the bottom of our riders boots. I look over at him to see him softly smiling at me. I now know why he’s done this. When it had started getting colder I had mentioned how I use to ice skate as a kid. Well attempt to with what we can. He remembered. He walks backwards onto the ice, pulling me with him.

”I realised as you walked away from me in the library I had been an idiot. And before you say it, I know I am a lot of the time.” I smile and nod at him. “But I’m not a complete idiot. Sawyer isn’t who I really wanted to set you up on a date with. I was just too scared to set you up on the date I thought would actually be perfect cause I wasn’t sure if I was being biased to how I felt.”

Ridoc grips my hands tighter as he pulls me flush against him, his hands now holding me by my waist as he looks nervously at me. One of my hands has taken place on his chest and I can feel his heart beating heavily underneath. Good to know I’m not the only one with a heart about to burst at the seems. But his words start to sink in. Ridoc feels the same way.

”But then the way you reacted, got me thinking. Maybe it wouldn’t be so biased. And then when I came after you after standing in the library like an idiot for a few minutes. I ran into Rhiannon and Violet, who despite wanting my head on a platter, helped me.”

I smile and nod. Violet and Rhiannon did know my true feelings for Ridoc. Gods, they’d been the ones to point it out to me after staring at Ridoc during one of the challenges. They’d taken to teasing me quite a bit, but had agreed to keep my secret. Well till now at least.

I push away from him, skating away, spinning around on the ice. “Well, looks like you might have succeeded on your perfect match up Ridoc.”

The smile he gives me consumes his whole face. “Hell yeah I did!” He yells before chasing after me on the ice.

[xiaq]

if you don't mind me asking, how do you balance work and writing? i work two part time jobs and struggle to find the energy/time to focus on writing even when i really want to. any advice?

I honestly don't do a great job of balancing work, writing, social things, home things, fitness stuff, and then just...relaxation. I'm always on the edge of burnout. Every 2-3 months, I get to a place where I feel overwhelmed, I have a good cry, I let myself off the hook for everything except work for a day or two, and then when I've rallied a bit I start the whole process over again.

And the only reason this is somewhat sustainable is that my partner does all the cooking, laundry, and most of the daily home maintenance stuff like taking out trash, checking mail, shoveling the walk, etc. We split cleaning duties on weekends and dog-walking duties through the week.

Even with that help, I typically work from 7am-4pm, take a break to walk Deacon/listen to music/shift into writing mode, and then write from 5 till dinner, sometimes through dinner if I'm on a roll. The one day a week that I climb/work out I don't write. I also don't typically write on Saturdays since those are housework/errands/social time days. Sunday is usually devoted to writing and relaxing (hockey, reading, hiking). It's a lot, even with Sunday as a "recovery" day.

I will say that just setting aside time every day with no word-count expectation made a huge difference for me. Before, I was trying to hit a certain number of words a week and then feeling like a massive failure when I couldn't achieve that. Now, I just say I have to write for at least one hour every day (other than climbing day). It doesn't matter what I accomplish during that hour, I just have to sit with the document open. On bad brain days, sometimes that means I edit what I've already got. And sometimes, even on bad brain days, I tell myself, "hey, you don't really have to write, you just have to clean up the last chapter for the next hour, no biggie" but then I have an idea and I jot down a bit of dialogue and then, well I might as well write the connecting bits, and the next thing I know it's dinner time and I have, actually, written something new. Having that freedom from a daily word count expectation greatly increased my productivity. So shoutout to my therapist for suggesting it.

Ok this is getting long, but also please just remember that writing is work. Even if you enjoy it. Even if you want to do it. It's still requires emotional and intellectual labor. And if you're already working two other jobs, that's a whole lot of work. Of course you struggle to find the energy and time to write. Because there simply are not enough hours in the day and that's not your fault. You can't budget time you don't have. So be kind to yourself. Please.

[mindfulstudyquest]

❥﹒♡﹒☕﹒ 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝗻𝗴𝘀 𝗶 𝘄𝗮𝗻𝘁 𝘁𝗼 𝗶𝗺𝗽𝗿𝗼𝘃𝗲 𝗮𝗯𝗼𝘂𝘁 𝗺𝘆 𝗹𝗶𝗳𝗲 𝗶𝗻 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗻𝗲𝗮𝗿 𝗳𝘂𝘁𝘂𝗿𝗲

𝟭. being consistent in journaling ( 🪻 )

i have recently started journaling more consistently and would like to maintain this line. i tried several times to start, failing miserably, because i couldn't find a method that would keep me motivated for a long time. then i purchased the famous five minutes gratitude journal, which is much easier to keep, and which i manage to update almost every day because by simply having to answer the pre-set questions my brain doesn't experience it as a commitment, unlike writing a diary page. alongside the fmj i have another diary with blank pages that i use as a proper diary, writing my reflections, talking about my day, complaining about negative things and stuff like that. i must say that it's therapeutic. i hope this is the right time i can maintain consistency in writing.

𝟮. having a more balanced diet ( 🍋‍🟩 )

i admit i've been eating like shit lately, a lot of sweets and processed foods alternated with periods of fasting due to guilt with the excuse of not having enough time to cook among the thousand things to do. i want to seriously commit to investing some of my time each week into preparing healthy, homemade meals (i could share some recipes here if you want, lmk) that keep me energized and don't ruin my hard work at the gym by adding empty calories to my diet.

𝟯. being consistent in the gym ( 🍄 )

and then obviously going to the gym at least 3 times a week, not really due to a matter of weight/aesthetics, but to cultivate discipline and focus. i believe that physically venting stress is the best and healthiest way to handle the crushing weight of life lately. sometimes i simply need to unload my energy without throwing a fit and risking venting it on someone who has nothing to do with it.

𝟰. reading at least 10 pages per day ( 📚 )

i love reading. i love reading madly, but i also know that i often find a thousand excuses not to do it. my brain fried by social media and zombie scrolling doesn't like the idea of concentrating on printed pages at all and i always put off reading all those books placed on my shelf gathering dust. i haven't read a book in months, so the time has come to break this bad habit and take back my greatest passion. i won't even mention all the benefits of reading, because only one book can give you so much in such a short time.

𝟱. sleep at least 8 hours ( ☕ )

i think my lack of sleep has a psychological component, but i'm no expert so what i say may not actually make any sense. i sleep little, much less than i need, when i was in high school i finished studying very late at night (past 3am) every day because i was so dependent on academic validation that the idea of getting a slightly lower grade than my usual could make me throw up. the thing is, i always delay going to sleep, even though my body is begging me to do so, and i think it's due to an inherent fear that the next day i'll have to go through it all over again. consequently in the morning i'm a wreck and i have to drag myself out of bed, being 30% as productive as i actually could be. i think it's time to work on my sleep schedule much more seriously, i think it could boost my health a lot.

𝟲. spend 15min in the sun every day ( ☀️ )

as a woman i know how important it is to be in the sun to produce vitamin D, unfortunately for me i'm some kind of goblin vampire who can't stay in the sun for more than five minutes without getting sunburned – on top of that my eyes start to water when the light too strong. i'll arm myself with sunscreen and give my body what it needs, hoping i won't get arthritis in my forties.

let me know in the comments what are YOU planning to improve in the near future <3

[ivestas]

hot head

Summary: You threaten a renowned colossi of a sniper and challenge him to fight.

Tags: sniper!könig x sniper!fem!reader, canon divergence, power imbalance(?), mentions of medicinal drug usage, unedited, reader implied to be on the younger side

Word count: 1.2k

Notes: I've decided to experiment more with characterization; I believe many character headcanons and depictions I make are often influenced by my own experiences, which is obvious, but it's hard to grasp when the character your writing is not only the opposite of you in many ways, but likely has a mindset much unlike yours (male, strong, a soldier, of a culture I know little of, etc) I feel like due to my own experiences, I unintentionally feminize and soften these hardened (male) characters... all this to say that if I keep jumping between versions of these characters, its due to this LMAO—also, the major parallels this has to one of my previous konig oneshots was intentional! and, as usual, sorry for the dubious quality, i just wanted to get the idea down!

You were nervous.

It was hard not to bounce your leg, glance left and right, fiddle with anything beside or on you (dog tag, straps of your gear, a random coin), just trying to shake away the underlying anxiety that ate away at you.

But this is your first 'high-stake' mission, and not only that, but you've been handed to by veterans way beyond your league. You felt clumsy among them, severely inadequate.

Especially since you've been paired with the master class sniper, König.

The mission, according to Aksel, is 'simple enough' for the two of you: you guys will be planted in opposite areas of the enemy base and shoot down and provide back up if stragglers come out or reinforcements come.

But, again—first fucking mission ever that's something as intense as this, and not only that, again, you were paired with König.

You hadn't said anything though, merely nodding to the instruction with a swift 'understood, sir!'

Though you couldn't deny it: it was eating at you, and with your mind clouded with so much thought, it was difficult determining if your hands were gonna be steady enough to shoot (even though it didn't matter because the mission was taking place next week).

While you were busy mulling and agonizing over the hundreds and thousands of ways you could fuck up, you hadn't noticed a certain man making his way to you.

It was only when he spoke that you realized there was someone near. Head shooting up, you spoke quickly, not quite processing right away who it was.

"Yes?"

And then it hit you:

It's König.

It shouldn't have been much of a surprise—it's only natural for pairs in mission to discuss the details and set some sort of plan beforehand; it's practically protocol, actually.

But still, it surprised you. Still, you were able to shake off the surprise quick enough for his words to properly register when he spoke.

"You're nervous."

König said the words with no ire, no disgust, no nothing. It was an observation, plain and simple.

"I... suppose I am, sir."

A puff of laughter—or was it just a scoff? Snort? "No need to address me as 'sir', I'm not your superior."

"Sorry. It's hard to when, you know," shut up. "you're kind of... legendary? I mean, master sniper and all," please just shut the fuck up. "You're kind of like a superior in a skill sense? You know in those rpgs when like—"

"I get it."

You laughed awkwardly, refusing to look at him directly.

"May I give you a piece of advice?"

You looked at him then. "Yes?"

"Cut the rambling short. Although I don't mind it, many others could and will use it against you—it's better to be blunt and honest rather than shy and all over the place." He lifted a finger. "One presumes and sets dominance," he lifted a second finger. "The other presumes and sets weakness."

You were a little offended by that. "Okay but what if I just stabbed them? Can't call me weak after that, even if I start stuttering like Porky Pig."

"..."

"...sorry."

König laughed, and this time, you could properly identify it as one; it was throaty, almost raspy. "I see now—you're a loose-lipped girl. Either a mumbling mess or a sharp-tongued harpy."

"That a bad thing or a good thing?"

"It depends; say I use it against you, will you commit to your word and stab me?"

"I... won't?"

"Then no longer are your words a threat to me, because I now know you're just bark and no bite—"

"I won't because we're comrades right now, but I'd stab you the moment my contract ends!"

Fuck. Fuck.

You did not just threaten a man nearly twice your height and thrice your muscle mass—

"You'll stab me when your contract ends?" He echoed. Amused.

Amused.

"Yeah, dull knife and all—cut you like butter." You rose from your seat, almost chest-to-chest, staring up at König with a glare.

He met your glare with crinkled eyes.

He was looking at you as though you were nothing but a petulant, whiny kid.

"Foolish girl," his voice was light, chiding. "You're barking at the wrong man. Surely you can see that?"

"You're awfully cocky, aren't you? Why not challenge this 'foolish girl' to a spar and prove your worth?!"

"Hmm... okay. I see why not. Perhaps a good hit or two will set you straight, no?"

It took you everything not to (try to) body-slam that fucker.

World renowned sniper or not, you're gonna kick his ass to the goddamn dirt till he's nothing but a pulp of fabric and blood.

---

The two of you were quick to make your way outside, somewhere far enough where no one would see the unregulated fight, but close enough for the safe-house to be in your line of sight.

Sand whipped and pushed at you, the sun was scorching and degrading, but you held still; you were determined to kick König's ass—even if he's huge, you know how to fight big opponents, you trained rigorously to.

König stood two meters from you. He cast a long shadow, light kissing the top of his metal helmet. "The rules are simple enough; whoever keeps the other pinned down for five seconds win and we only use the military-issued knife. Is this fair?"

"Fair."

"Good," he nodded. "Start."

The sand made your footwork unsteady, but not enough to throw you off; light on your feet, you moved close to König, knife unsheathed.

He didn't pull out his knife—in fact, he hardly moved, merely pivoting from time to time from your swings.

You swung your blade forward, aiming for his vest; again, he easily dodged, and with your outstretched arm he pulled you forward.

You could hardly register the movement; one second you were on your feet, and the next you were flat on your stomach, sand in your mouth, and blade far from your hand.

You couldn't move: your wrists were tight in König's grip, his knee digging into your lower back. You tried wriggling your legs, but his knee dug deeper until you let out a pained wheeze.

Then, a moment later, he continued pushing his knee deeper. The sand burned your skin.

1...

2...

3...

"Okay—fuck, okay, stop—you win! Happy now?!"

4...

5...

He finally moved his knee. The shadow that cast over your body was gone.

"You should be happy, maus." He sighed somewhat dramatically. "Had it been any other man, I'm sure he would've been thrilled to harm a pretty girl. Many have twisted minds."

"I'll jus—eugh..." you spat out sand, flipping over and sitting on your ass, propping yourself up with your hands. "I'll just stab those ones, then—and wait! Why'd you say that? That's super creepy, and what does 'maus' mean—?"

"Enough of the blabbing." König said. "And 'maus' means mouse."

"Mouse?"

"Yes, because you chatter away like a little mouse. I like mice."

"You're..."

"Weird?"

"Weird would be underselling it," you muttered, getting on your feet.

"Hm. At least my severe 'weirdness' cured you of your anxiety."

You were ready to snap out an insult, but... he was right.

Your hands weren't shaking anymore. They were steady. You could trust them.

But you couldn't give him that. "Weird assumption, weirdo. I just had a lot of coffee."

"...it seems I've failed to cured you of your tongue, though.”

Childishly, you stuck out your tongue. "Loser."

He merely huffed a laugh at that. It didn't anger you as much as before.

Actually... it didn't piss you off at all.

He really was a weirdo. Nothing like the image you had conjured of him before. (You liked this version of König better.)

AO3

Masterlist

Requests are open

[shadycrushcollector]

Desperation// Wanda Maximoff x Reader (18+)

Summary: Its been too long since Wanda's had her way with you, and your desperation is reaching an all-time high. Good thing hers is too.

Warnings: 18+, bondage, biting, hickies, nail marks, denial, submissive!Reader, dominant! Wanda, Finger Sucking, Oral, Praise, Pet Names, brief thigh fucking, Reader is very desperate.

Notes: Not Beta read and first time writing smut, go easy on me.

WC: 3.2k

Something inside of you was so desperate to make another person feel good. To pleasure them until their eyes were squeezed shut and you no longer cared to take a breath of air. You wanted to be consumed in the tastes, sounds, and smells of another person. If there's anything she did right with you Wanda had stuck to her promise of making you a desperate slut.

You went into all of this, everything with her, not expecting very much. I mean who expects a blind date to actually go well, and for the sex to be good enough that you want to devote your life to pleasing them. But Wanda, she was everything you had ever needed and more.

She had money, you never cared to ask her how, you knew she was notable somehow but you felt looking into her as you would've anyone else felt more inappropriate. You didn't want her to think you were some obsessed stalker so all you knew is she was some kind of scientist, and a damn good one at that. But otherwise all that mattered to you was how amazing she was at making you laugh, feel safe, feel loved and cum until you couldn't move anymore.

Your mind couldn't let go of the idea of cumming, and making someone else do the same, even if that someone wasn't Wanda. She's been punishing you for a week after a bout of misbehavior, and she decided this time it would be not touching you anywhere but your hands, shoulders and face. She still held you now and again but still only on your shoulders.

It was infuriating after months of having her hands make their way between your thighs practically every day. Her fingers were skilled, and she's practically conditioned you into positioning yourself just how she likes when her fingers start to brush close to your inner thighs. Your face pressed down into the surface under you, with your ass in the air exposing you to her.

You would spread your legs just a bit to expose all of you to her. Pressing your crotch back and arching your back even further. Anticipation for her fingers dragging over your skin building ever so slowly as she continues stroking your thighs, admiring how you looked spread and exposed for her eyes only. The thought of it brought a heat down and into your crotch, causing you to squirm and salivate. You had nothing you needed to do today, you were entirely free to do as you pleased. Except for touching yourself, or someone else, leaving you stuck in a cycle of desire that feeds on itself.

You stood to your feet, disorienting yourself for a moment at the sudden movement, before exiting the room you sat in to begin to find Wanda. You had been so good, surely Wanda would see that, surely she'd finally fill you with her fingers to make you cum after shoving her cock down your throat and-. You shook your head, it was all consuming, but you needed her.

You began in the first bedroom where you took off your shirt, the only layer you'd been wearing on top as you relaxed at home. In the living room you stripped your socks, the hallway you shorts and in her office you entered wearing nothing but your underwear.

Wanda sat at her desk, the one she'd fucked you over so many times before, silently working on her computer.

You didn't know what she was doing, all you remember was her saying she'd be in here. But by then you'd already been desperate and could barely process her words. Usually you wouldn't bother her if she was working on something but you'd see that her door was open and that meant you were okay to go in.

"Ma'am" you say timidly, clasping your hands behind your back, puffing out your chest ever so slightly.

Her eyes snapped up to you at the sound of your voice, quickly and noticeably double taking and looking at every bit of exposed skin. "What is it, Love? '' she says, her eyes finally moving back up to your face.

A proud smile lingers on you for a second before you contain it and nod lightly. "I was just wondering," you said as you took a slow but confident step towards her, "Would you happen to have time for a game?" One that would hopefully end with her cock shoved down one of your holes, mouth or otherwise, so long as it made her feel good.

Wanda rolled her chair back, accepting your advances and offering a place for you to sit silently. You moved quickly to be with her, before smiling slowly and continuing. "Whatever game you'd like Ma’am" you say, "I'm yours to play with however you want, remember?"

Wanda tilts her head to look at you through squinted eyes. Her hands are on yours, and you can feel your breaths getting shorter.

Your mind is flooded by thoughts of her filling you and stretching you out. You feel your hair get pushed out of your face, a small strand that escapes your lazy hairstyling. "Of course I remember love, but you've been on punishment. Games are only for sluts that can listen to instructions. You can't play a game right without instructions, Love."

You nod on your head, leaning your face into her touch. "of course, but-"

"But nothing," her hands move to your shoulders as she speaks, "only good sluts deserve to play games. Do you think you've proven you're good?"

You stare at her for a moment, at her eyes staring at you and her hands steady on your shoulders. "Let me prove I'm good" you say then.

"I promise you, I can make you feel good Ma’am." You stand slightly from her lap turning towards her more. "I can use my mouth like you taught me," you lower yourself to the ground, "I can make your cock feel so good in my mouth." You whisper before nuzzling your head against her knee.

Wanda never stopped looking at you, but the way she looked at you now on the floor between her legs you could tell she was going to give you what you needed so desperately. She tilted your face up to see her, touching your neck for the first time in a week and the excitement pressed a whine out of your throat. She smiled a smile you could feel between your thighs before her hands moved to her pants zipper.

You rose slightly from having your butt placed on your feet in excitement, before settling back into a more comfortable position as she took her cock from her pants. You press your tongue out from your mouth, spit gathering quickly dripping to the floor as your anticipation grows. . Wanda's hands found your face where she pressed her fingers into your cheeks to open your mouth.

"Prove you're a good slut and I promise we'll play a really fun game" she says, her eyes hooded and sultry. She moves one hand to press your mouth open and uses the other to shove two fingers into your mouth. She leans down to kiss you. "We have to make sure your mouth is ready for my cock right?"

You nod slightly, trying your best to latch onto her fingers somehow through her forcing your mouth to stay open, before whining for her. Her pointer and middle finger slowly begin to rub against your tongue, each movement into your mouth pressing them further down your throat. Your face is then released and your mouth shuts around her fingers as you suck hard.

She leans back from you then, only slightly so that she can see your face better. “Show me how you'd suck me off with that pretty mouth of yours.” Your eagerness motivates you to start moving your head back and forth, using your tongue to place extra pressure on her fingers exactly how she liked it. Her fingers were pulled out of your mouth just as your eyes closed in contentment, making them snap open to see her scooting forward in her chair, before beginning to slap the tip of her hard cock on your tongue.

Your disappointment quickly faded as her hips moved slowly, lightly rubbing herself against your tongue. Her hands moved to the sides of your head pulling you forward to swallow her cock down as much as you could, she held your head down for just a second before pulling your mouth off completely.

“Keep your hands to yourself and maybe you’ll be allowed to make me cum.” Just a couple months ago the way your heart speeds up at the thought of making another person cum would have seemed ridiculous. You’d always been the dominant one in relationships, the one who would never speak to a person again if they hadn't made you cum. But now, with Wanda none of that mattered.

“Yes, Ma’am” you say, nodding your head and placing your hands behind your back holding your own wrists. The second you're settled her hands, which never left your face, pull you back down onto her cock. She starts slowly, moving her hips and keeping your head stationary to use your mouth like a fleshlight. You did all the things you knew she would love and carefully kept your hands behind your back. Before long she was twitching slightly, and looking up at her you could see how laser focused she was watching herself thrust in and out of your mouth.

Her movements sped up slowly, still with long deep strokes only lightly brushing the back of your mouth, her breathing began getting just a bit heavier. She grunts before pistoning her hips even faster into you, your eyes closed in bliss and you could taste her on your tongue. You desperately tried not to move your head too much, but luckily she wants you closer and she shoves your head all the way down. Her hips don't slow, fucking into your throat with one hand pressed onto the back of your skull to keep you down and the other gripping the edge of the desk. She was too far gone at this point to think, she’d been just as desperate for release as you had been to give it to her and while she’d originally thought she’d be able to last longer than a couple of minutes your mouth was driving her crazy.

Looking down at the way you looked while your lips were flush with the base of her cock had her self control fading every second, and very quickly she threw her head back and shoved yours down one last time as she orgasmed.

She pulled your head away slowly, “Good. So good for me.” she says, sounding out of breath “God, i forgot how good your mouth feels wrapped around me.”

You shiver lightly, swallowing fully, “Thank you, I’m glad I could do that for you.”

She nods, readjusting herself in her seat before once again putting her finger under your jaw and pushing your head up. “But do you wanna know what I know would feel even better?” You pretend you don't know, tilting your head to the side, shaking it slightly. But of course you knew, you came in here to make her feel good, but also to be fucked until you can't think anymore. Letting her take control of you and fill you in all the right ways.

Wanda tilts her head to match you, her eyes looking dark and heavy with lust. “Stand up”

Her command jolts you into action, carefully still keeping your hands behind your back as you stand from the ground. She follows suit, before spinning you around and shoving you down into the desk. The impact wasn't too bad, but she kept a lot of pressure on your back all the same. Your underwear had a damp spot, with your arousal leaking out as you sucked her off. Her hand gently moves in between your legs, rubbing at where your arousal was coming from making you twitch involuntarily. You can feel her move to your side before leaning over you, keeping one hand lightly teasing while her mouth placed a kiss on your cheek.

You smiled as the pressure on your back lightened just a bit, her fingers stopped moving and she looked at your face. She nodded at you, quickly making sure you were okay, and after you nodded back her movement started again and her lips moved to your shoulder. She left kisses down your neck and shoulder, slowly moving down to your ass and finally your thighs. Her kisses get a little more sloppy and open mouthed as her fingers begin to draw you closer to an orgasm. Her kisses turn into hickies and soon your legs are shaking and covered in her lovebites.

Her mouth and hand pulls away from you as your whines begin to get louder, “You know you can't cum yet love.” she says almost mockingly. “You know you don't get to make a mess until I fill you with my own.”

Your eyes close as you bite your lips to calm yourself down, before nodding and stuttering out “o-of course Ma’am. I’d want nothing more.”

Wanda’s hands move to your sides and begin pulling your underwear off, “Let's get these off of you, you made such a big mess. You’re being so good, I know you’re ready for my cock.”

She opens a drawer to her right, pulling out rope and lube and she quickly prepares you, tying your arms behind your back to ensure you stay still. Her dick slides between your thighs, easily with the amount of lube that spilled down between them. But not for long as she angles herself, places her hands on your hips and pulls you back onto her cock. Her hands dig into your sides, with her nails leaving slight indents, as she thrusts into you quickly.

Your brain loses track of anything but the feeling of her filling you up over and over again, and even though everything feels amazing you don't make much noise. Her hips slamming into yours filling the room with noises that made your knees weak, especially those that escaped her mouth as she maintained her quick rhythm.

“You feel so good wrapped around me.” She started speaking, “Squeezing me so tight, I know you want me to cum in you. Fill you up, you'd look so pretty like that. Dripping after what i've done to you”

Your silence breaks with a whine as she keeps going, “I know you’d be so good for me, you'd take everything I give you. You’d beg for it wouldn't you?”

“mm”, you nod.

Her hands move from your sides to the rope binding your arms, stopping for a moment to pull you up into a half standing position. The angle drives her deeper into you, and yet again you feel yourself reaching the edge. “ m--, ‘m gonna” you try to speak.

“You don't get to cum until i'm finished with you.” She says gruffly. You whine but desperately hold on to the last thread keeping you from cumming. You needed to be good for her, you wanted to make her proud, and you wanted her praise. She could use you however she wanted and you would do everything in your power to make sure you didn't mess it up. Not now, not when her thrusts were starting to get sloppier, not when you knew at any moment she would finally fill you up for the first time in so long.

Very quickly you feel her hips begin to stutter and stop for a second as she lets out a low moan. “God, I've missed filling you up.” She says before pulling out and watching her cum drip out of you.

You whine, you'd just gotten used to being filled; she couldn't be done with you yet. As the thought finished Wanda helped you stand completely before picking you up and placing you on her desk with your tailbone handing off precariously. You looked at her slightly startled by the different position but you also knew she was strong enough to hold you up without problems. “I want to look at your face when I cum in you this time.” She whispers as she closes the space between you and her. Your legs are pulled up to your chest, spread so she still has access to you. Her arms wrap under your leg and behind your back to hold you up against the table before lifting you slightly to slide back onto her dick.

Looking at her while she fucked you was always intense but there was something about how long it’d been that made you feel all the more sensitive. Her eyes pierced into yours and almost dared you to close your eyes, dared you to stop looking, but you knew what would happen if you did and while it sounded fun you wanted to be on her good side tonight.

“Use me.” You beg quietly, you’d missed being like this and you needed her to take care of you. “Please.”

The way you said it struck a cord within Wanda, the ball of pleasure that she’d released was building at an exponential rate. She’d wanted this time to go slower but again she just couldnt help herself, “You want me to use you?” she asked, “Use your tight hole to make myself feel good? Make myself cum?”

Each question sent another pang through your body and you nodded desperately.

“I knew i was right about this feeling even better than your mouth. But god I didn't know how irresistible youd be like this, maybe i should leave you without my touch more often. Deny you my cum?” You want to shake your head but instead you answer, “if that's what you want, please do it. Just use me, fill me.”

She adjusts a bit, completely lifting you off the desk and bouncing you up and down on her length. She was hitting all the right spots and this time you don't think you’d be able to hold it. You wanted to be good, but it was so much and you needed a release desperately. “Please”

“Please what”

“Please can I cum, I need it, I need to cum for you.”

She stayed silent for a second and you whined yet again, feeling as though you were about to cry. The desire on her face only grew as she continued to fuck into you. “Mphm.” a pause, “Cum with me then. I want to see you cum on me Love”

You nod quickly, feeling her nails start digging into your shoulders and before long your orgasms start in tandem. “I love you” she says as she pumps into you a few more times before pulling out of you and laying her head slightly on your shoulder. “I love you too” you respond slowly as you both catch your breaths, she places you back down onto her desk and moves her arms to wrap you up in a hug.

A minute passes before either of you moves away from the other, and a wide smile stays on your face. “Thank you” you say, nudging your head against hers and her neck.

“Thank you, Love.” she says, before going to untie your hands from behind your back and placing a kiss on your forehead softly.