#maybe they were freaking out and upset and didn't think about it (fair) but i still. wish they hadn't tagged it.

[the-real-list-of-ominous-threats]

I'm going to have it so that next time you scroll your favorite tag, some absolutely hideous and insane s*icide bait pops up tagged in leetspeak so your blacklist doesn't catch it

[scoobydoodean]

Season 2 Sam spends the first four episodes of season 2 scared that Dean is going off the deep end. He knows his brother is not grieving their father in the way he expects by 2.02. By 2.04 he knows Dean thinks he should be dead. By 2.09, Dean plans to off himself imminently.

All of this concerns Sam. Sam keeps insisting Dean tell him what's wrong. He keeps insisting Dean is not okay and that Dean needs to open up. He keeps telling Dean he can help. Sam can carry part of the load. Sam cares.

(2.04, 2.09)

Then he finds out why his brother is depressed and contemplating suicide. John told Dean he had to save Sam—it was all on him—and if Dean couldn't, he's gotta kill Sam.

Of course Sam is gonna have feelings about that. It's a horrible fucked up thing to hear your dad said about you. It's awful and horrible and Sam has every right to be upset and freaked out and he has every right to be mad that Dean couldn't bring himself to repeat what was said for so many weeks.

That said. My guy. Spends the rest of the season. Regurgitating John's words back at Dean. The words that made Dean want to kill himself.

Because Sam knows Dean will not do this. He knows Dean will not kill him. He knows that from the very first episode he finds out. He knows Dean will not kill him with such confidence that he jokes about it in the same episode where he finds out.

But after 2.10... Sam starts to get scared. He isn't scared of what Dean will do to him. He's scared of what Dean won't do.

He's scared Dean will never be able to bring himself to kill Sam—to do what's necessary. So Sam needs to find a way to make Dean follow through on John's dying wish. So he gets drunk in the next episode—in 2.11. And he plays out Dean's conversation with John from 2.01.

(2.01, 2.11)

Then he follows it up the next morning, basically saying, "It doesn't matter that I was drunk and grabbing you and wouldn't let go and that you didn't mean it and only promised to placate me (something I clearly know otherwise I wouldn't bring the conversation up again). You made a promise. Are you going to make yourself a liar now? Are you going to lie to me?"

(2.11)

The problem is, this doesn't work. Dean isn't going to be coerced into a promise, and the ramifications of breaking this "promise" for Dean are so much smaller than the fall out on keeping the "promise" it's not even funny.

Meg tries to make Dean think that Sam's gone off the deep end in 2.14—tries to hold him to the "promise" he made—also tacks on a promise Dean never made to John either on top—trying to guilt him into executing his own brother.

Sam gets his body back, and at the end of the episode... he pounces.

(2.14)

"Are you going to be able to do this? It's your job. Dad told you to. You have to. It was an order."

(2.11)

You're a hunter. It's your job. Sometimes the job is ugly. But it's what you were meant to do.

GORDON This isn't personal. I'm not a killer, Dean. I'm a hunter. And your brother's fair game.

(2.10)

(2.10)

And Sam... Maybe he is this ruthless himself. Maybe he isn't demanding something of Dean that he wouldn't be willing to do himself (at least not at this point in time).

(2.17)

Dean doesn't want to do what Sam can. He can't.

2.17 is named "Heart" because it's about werewolves who eat hearts. But it's also about the show's fracturing narrative heart facing his own impending demise... because Dean's heart will rupture in two if he follows through with Sam and John's wishes—that he become Sam's executioner.

The embrace of death at his own hand seems ever sweeter—ever more deserved—ever softer and kinder than dying the way Sam and John are asking him to without even seeing it.

(2.20)

Death is the light at the end of the tunnel that absolves Dean of Sam and John's expectations. It's the way he makes their family's mistakes right—how he takes his body that's supposed to have given out 12 episodes into season 1 and then again in 2.01 and makes himself the sacrifice he was supposed to be—already was—always has been.

SAM So, what, now I live and you die? DEAN That's the general idea, yeah. SAM Yeah, well, you're a hypocrite, Dean. How did you feel when Dad sold his soul for you? 'Cause I was there. I remember. You were twisted, and broken. And now you go and do the same thing. To me. What you did was selfish. DEAN Yeah, you're right. It was selfish. But I'm okay with that. SAM I'm not. DEAN Tough. After everything I've done for this family, I think I'm entitled. Truth is, I'm tired, Sam. I don't know, it's like there's a, a light at the end of the tunnel. SAM It's hellfire, Dean. DEAN Whatever. You're alive, I feel good – for the first time in a long time.

(3.01)

[hobiesdump]

How are you even cooler under your mask? (Headcanon edition. Canon's Razor version here)

Warning- i cannot decide what to do with Hobie's pronouns

Some context - I'm so here for the headcanon that Gwen was gushing bout Miles to Hobie while she crashed there. Totally accidentally hyping him up and getting um excited to meet him.

-First taking off the mask

'Ok. Keep it steady. Don't seem too eager to know what he looks like'

-Noticing Miles looking to final frame before Miles says it

Glancing over all chill and casual. Even adjusting the nose piercing with a potentially unattractive face (lol sorry, Hobie. Miles maybe thought you were winking at him)

-The first and last frame of Miles saying it with some well lit ones between

-The first frame and 3 after Miles says it

But then Miles has absolutely zero chill. Does not control his expression. Just straight up calls him cool. Not hiding a damn thing and Hobie cracks lol (Miles looks like 'it's literally not even fair how cool you are')

-In summary~

-Hobie's so upset to be going into the spiders' den without clear allies and then Miles thinks he's cool and e just lights up and it's so adorable

Some further headcanon context: I think Hobie tried too hard to be impressive, made Miles feel inferior and defensive, misread that defensiveness as playful teasing and reciprocated what was actually antagonism. This moment was a second chance for first impressions. Miles had really not been picking up on what icebreakers Hobie had been laying down so there was no reason to expect things to go so well so fast.

(And I have several additional notes depending on what multiverse we've stumbled into. I'll start from my least favorite so the post ends on the best note imo)

-Hobie clocked Gwen for the failed ally that she's being and came into this knowing e was going to be the only person actually looking out for Miles. This would make first impressions super important and Hobie probably had already realized a few mistakes were made while masked up. Of course it would be immensely relieving to know that things weren't already horribly damaged between them!

-Shipper Hobie. Especially if Hobie is actually older, e's just doing is best to be a good wing spider to Gwen. Hobie makes sure not to place emself between the two (ok once in the panic of Mumbattan and once to allow Miles to shove im). They even consistently walk ahead of them so they can be as alone together as is possible in a crowded place. The only time they walk without Miles is when Gwen hurried to catch up. (And this isn't because Miles is putting himself between them intentionally. I don't think that ever happens)

-Polyamory mission. Gwen is down for it and Hobie just needs to play it cool enough that they can build up to talking to Miles about it without freaking him out. The main focus would have probably been just making sure he didn't feel so threatened that Gwen seeing other people wouldn't be cool. But then Miles thinks Hobie is cool. And then oh no he's cute. Maybe there's a chance for turning that potential poly angle into a potential poly triangle and the plan has definitely evolved.

[keerysquinn]

Wherever You Point To I’ll Find ~ Steve Harrington x Chrissy Cunningham

Nobody expected a budding romance between Steve and Chrissy when they were invited on this graduation road trip. But, as the two spend more and more time together away from the pressures their families, they just might find that they’re the perfect match.

masterlist | prev. | next

Tags: modern au, road trip, mutual pining, fluff, angst, discussion of mental health and body issues, eventual smut, adult themes and swearing throughout

Word Count: 16.1k

A/N: tumblr gave me hell trying to get this posted, so hopefully it goes up this time

Anyway, this chapter brings the story to just under 50k, and I still have 6 more chapters to go. It's wild to me that I've already written that much about these two, and that number is going to more than double before I'm done. Thanks for following along with this story so far!

After giving Steve an ample amount of time to look around the shack, the group was back on the road. They stopped for pizza on the way and ended up making it to Myrtle Beach before it was too late. The only snag in their plan was the fact that most hotels in the area seemed to be fully booked for the night.

“Check this motel up here,” Nancy said as Steve started to turn into the next parking lot. “I’m sure they’ll have vacancies if nothing else. I can’t believe I forgot to book a hotel sooner."

As soon as Steve put the car in park, Nancy hopped out to go check and see if they had any vacancies. There was no reason for them all to get out of the car if they weren't going to be staying there. They waited as Nancy talked to the clerk for a few minutes, and soon she was jogging back to their car.

"So, the good news is that we have a place to sleep tonight."

"And the bad news?" Eddie asked.

"They only had one room left, so we're all going to have to share. But there are two beds, so Chrissy and I can share one, and you and Steve can share the other. It's either that or we all sleep in this car."

"I think the four of us can manage to share a room with no issues," Steve said. "It's better than sleeping in the car."

"Or camping again," Chrissy added.

"Definitely better than camping."

"Then it's settled. I'll go grab the room key, and then we can get ourselves situated."

The beds in the room were a little bit smaller than they would have liked considering they were sharing, but they could make do. They all took turns using the bathroom to get ready for bed, and Chrissy tried not to freak out about having to share a room with Steve. She didn't know why she was so on edge about it. It wasn't like she had to share a bed with him or anything like that. 

But then he came out of the bathroom without a shirt on, and she had to force herself not to stare. Honestly, it should have been illegal for him to walk around like that. He wasn't allowed to have this kind of effect on her. It wasn't fair.

She tried to busy herself with fluffing up her pillows, but it didn’t help that she and Steve had both chosen the sides of the bed that were next to the end table shared between the two. If she really wanted to, she could have reached out and touched him.

Despite the fact that she'd slept on the ground the night before, she had slept surprisingly well, and she was attributing that to sleeping next to Steve. She felt so safe with him, and now her mind was wandering towards how nice it might have been to share one of these beds with him. She could snuggle up next to him, and maybe he'd wrap his arms around her and hold her close. She'd fall asleep feeling protected, and she'd wake up to another one of his sleepy smiles. Maybe even a good morning kiss.

No. She wasn't allowed to have those thoughts. There was nothing between them no matter how much she might have liked that. She still didn't know why he'd been so upset with her when she showed up at his tent, and there was no way he was interested in her if he was that cold towards her. He'd only let her stay with him because she was scared, and he was too nice to turn her away even though her very presence annoyed him. That was the only logical reason why he put up with her. Why anyone put up with her really.

She pushed those thoughts away and rolled over so her back was to Steve. Maybe if he wasn't in her line of sight, she could fall asleep without thinking about how nice it would be to be his.

***

When she woke up the next morning, Chrissy felt awful. Not because she'd slept poorly. She'd surprisingly gotten a decent amount of sleep despite feeling like she was freezing from the way that the room's air conditioning was blasting and being afraid that she was going to invade Nancy's side of the bed.

No, she woke up feeling horrible because it finally dawned on her that she was going to be expected to wear a swimsuit and show off her body in public. She hadn’t been sticking to the carefully formulated diet her mother dictated for her, and everyone was going to notice how horrible she was certain she looked now because of that.

As everyone took turns using the bathroom to get ready for the day, Chrissy sat on her bed completely zoned out. There was no way she could go through with a beach day. She’d feel awful and exposed the entire time, and she knew she wouldn’t enjoy herself. However, she also knew that this wasn’t her trip. She was just along for the ride, and she felt like she had no right to dictate what they did when everyone else was really looking forward to their beach days. She thought that maybe she could say she wasn’t feeling well and opt to stay back at the hotel for the day, but she knew that would never work. She knew her best friend, and she knew that if she said that she was staying back at the hotel for the day, he’d give up his day to keep her company. Or, even worse, he’d convince everybody else to stay with her, too, and she’d effectively ruin this trip for everyone. She’d just have to suck it up and go to the beach with everyone else. Maybe she wouldn’t even look as bad as she thought she would, and then all of this worrying would be for nothing.

When it was finally her turn to use the bathroom, she gathered her belongings and locked herself inside to change. When she got a look at herself in the mirror, that ever present gnawing feeling in her chest only grew stronger. Normally, she loved her high-waisted bikini because she felt like it covered her problem areas nicely, but today was different. She thought she looked so bloated, and she knew it was because she’d eaten nothing but junk food the day before. She’d been trying to eat mostly healthy options on the trip so far, but the day before had been filled with fast food. Fat and salt and grease and all the things she was supposed to be avoiding if she wanted to be the perfect girl that she was expected to be. She’d ruined everything with her lack of self-control, and she could hear her mother’s voice repeating I told you so over and over and over in her ear.

It was then that she decided that she wasn’t taking her coverup off for the entire day. She’d sit there in her oversized t-shirt and shorts and watch everyone else enjoy the water. She couldn’t let anyone look at her, or she’d feel even worse about herself and the choices she’d made that led her to this point.

While Chrissy was struggling to get her t-shirt to drape just right to hide her body, Nancy was starting to get impatient back in the room.

“I’m going to head down to the car,” she said as she grabbed her beach bag. “We need to leave soon if we want to have any hope of finding a decent parking space. Just head out to meet me when she’s done, okay?”

Steve knew that Nancy wasn’t going to be okay with waiting very long. She was a stickler when it came to the schedule she’d made for their trip, and she wasn’t going to be happy if they had to park too far away and then walk the extra distance back when they were exhausted after a long beach day. He didn't want to make Chrissy feel rushed, but he knew that Nancy was going to start complaining about their schedule being thrown off if they didn't leave for the beach soon. So he tried to make his urging seem lighthearted.

“C'mon, Chrissy,” he said, throwing on his Kermit the frog impression. “We've gotta get moving right along.”

Chrissy was immediately pulled away from her self-loathing thoughts as she whipped out of the bathroom.

“I can't believe you told him,” she said, glaring at Eddie. “You promised you wouldn't say anything.”

“Tell me what?�� Steve asked.

“I didn't say anything,” Eddie replied.

“Oh yeah? Then why did he do that?”

“Tell me what?” Steve asked again.

“I didn't say anything,” Eddie repeated, ignoring Steve again. “He's just like that.”

“Oh.” Chrissy got very quiet and stared at the floor.

“Can someone please fill me in on what's happening?” Steve asked.

“Do you want to tell him, or should I?” Eddie asked.

“It's silly and embarrassing,” she said, avoiding making eye contact with Steve. “I'm just a really big fan of the Muppets.”

“Why is that embarrassing?”

“I don't know. It just feels childish for them to be my favorites, I guess.”

“Well, I don't think it's childish. The Muppets are cool,” he tried to reassure her.

“You're making fun of me.” The pit in her stomach grew, and she couldn't help but feel so small. This was why she didn't tell people about this part of her personality. As soon as anyone found out she loved the Muppets, she instantly became a joke in their eyes.

“I promise I'm not making fun of you,” he told her. “There's nothing for you to be embarrassed about.”

“Really?” 

She finally looked up from the ground, and Steve was smiling at her. Not a mocking smirk like she'd feared, but a kind one. A smile that said whatever opinions he had of her hadn't been changed by what she'd just told him.

“Really. I mean who doesn't like the Muppets?”

A wave of relief washed over her, but it was short-lived because Eddie was incapable of letting her hold on to a single shred of her dignity.

“She sleeps snuggled up with a Fozzie Bear plushie,” he said before racing out the door to meet Nancy down at the car.

“Do you think Nancy would be upset if I drowned her boyfriend?”

“You're really that embarrassed by still having a stuffed animal? Even though I've given you two of them in the past week?”

“Fozzie is different. A gift from a cute boy is very different from a stuffie that I've had since I was a little kid. Nobody will take me seriously if they know I still take comfort from a stuffed animal.”

What she wanted to say was that no one would find her attractive if they knew about Fozzie, but saying that would mean admitting out loud that she wanted Steve to be attracted to her, and she couldn't bring herself to do that just yet. Especially on a day like today where she knew she was the opposite of desirable.

He chose to ignore the fact that she'd called him cute. As much as he would have loved to tease her for that, he could tell that wasn't what she needed right now. He didn't want to risk her going quiet on him again, and he was pretty sure that's where she was headed if he didn't do something.

“Can I let you in on a secret?” he asked as he closed the gap between them.

She nodded and looked up at him.

“I still have the stuffie that I slept with as a baby.”

“You do?”

“Yeah. I mean, I don't sleep with it anymore or anything like that, but I've kept it safe and hidden through multiple cleanings by random people my mom hired to clear the useless clutter out of the house. Sentimental reasons and all of that. So, I get it. I'm not going to make you feel bad for having an attachment to a childhood toy. I think it's normal, and if it makes you happy, there's nothing wrong with that.”

“Thank you.”

“You're welcome. I need you to keep that information to yourself though. Not even Robin knows about it, and I'd like to keep it that way.”

“I think I could be persuaded to keep that secret for you. Unlike Eddie, I don't spill secrets for fun.”

“Go easy on him, okay? He might have been the one to bring up Fozzie, but it was kind of your fault he had the opportunity in the first place when you really think about it.”

“I guess so. He's lucky I love him, or I really would drown him.” She beamed up at Steve. “So, what kind of animal is it?”

“That's classified information.”

“Come on. You know about Fozzie. It's only fair.”

“Sorry, Chrissy. I've given you all the info about it that you're gonna get. Now grab your bag and head out to the car before Nancy comes back in here and drags us out.”

“So bossy,” she teased.

Steve reached out to pinch at her hip, but she dodged him as she grabbed her beach bag off the bed. She stuck her tongue out at him before racing out the door and heading towards the car with him following close behind her.

The ride to the beach passed without incident, and they still managed to get a decent parking space, so Nancy was pleased. Everything was perfectly fine until they'd set up their spot on the beach.

Chrissy may have solved the issue of not wanting to expose her body that day, but she'd conveniently forgotten that that didn't mean everyone else would be staying covered up as well. That fact was made all too apparent when a shirtless Steve approached her with a bottle of sunscreen.

“Would you mind helping me get my back?” he asked as he handed her the bottle.

“Yeah. Sure. No problem.”

He turned around so that his back was to her, and she had to stop herself from falling over. She'd seen him without a shirt on before. Just a few brief times during the trip and only before she looked away out of embarrassment. Those few brief moments hadn't prepared her for this.

She knew he was fit, and that was even more obvious as her hands ran up and down the length of his back to work the sunscreen into his skin. Actually feeling his muscles under her fingertips was almost too much for her.

But the thing that truly made her blush was how fixated she was on the freckles and moles that dotted his skin. This man was a mosaic, and she wanted to sit and count them all.

She couldn't do that though. If she took too long doing this, it would be weird, and he'd be uncomfortable around her, which was the last thing she wanted. So, she rubbed the last bit into his lower back before dropping her hands away completely.

“Okay. You're all set.”

He turned back around to face her and took the bottle that she'd offered back to him. She hoped he didn't notice the blush that she was certain was now gracing her cheeks, and if he did notice, she hoped he'd think that maybe she was only a little sun-kissed already.

“I can get your back for you, if you want,” he offered.

“Oh, you don't need to do that. I'm not going out in the sun anytime soon. I was just planning on staying here under the umbrella for a little while.”

“You're not going to get in the water?”

“I'm not really a beach person,” she said with a small shrug. That was a lie, of course, but it was necessary. She needed a reason to explain why she wasn't taking off her clothes, and that was as good as anything else.

“Why didn't you say something sooner?”

“I didn't feel like it was my place to object to a multi-day, already planned portion of the trip. But seriously, don't worry about me. I'm happy to just hang out in the shade.”

“Do you want me to sit out with you? Keep you company?”

“You don't have to do that. Go have fun with Eddie and Nancy. Maybe I'll come hangout with you guys in a little bit, okay?”

“If you're sure. I don't want you to be bored over here by yourself.”

“I'll be fine. I promise. Don't worry about me.”

He left her to make herself comfortable in the shade of their beach umbrella, but he would have been lying to himself if he said he wasn't a little worried about her. He thought she'd seemed excited about the beach when they'd talked about this portion of the trip in the days leading up to it, and now she was isolating herself from the rest of them. 

He didn't want to dwell on it too much, but he kept finding himself glancing back towards where she was sitting. She looked fine though, so he told himself that she was just having an off day.

But then she didn't eat lunch. When everyone else was ready for food, she told them that she wasn't hungry just yet, but they didn't need to wait for her. He'd offered her some of his fries anyway, and she'd looked at them as if he'd just offered her a mouthful of sand. He didn't press the issue, but it worried him more than her sitting out all morning did.

He didn't know why he cared so much when he was still feeling somewhat hurt about the way she'd reacted when she found him reading. He shouldn't have cared if this girl who judged him was choosing to avoid having fun with her friends or skipping meals, but he did. And the more she kept to herself and gave flimsy excuses, the more he felt the urge to make sure she was okay.

When everyone else was ready for dinner, she claimed that she'd eaten a late lunch, so she wasn't hungry, and Steve's concern for her only grew. He'd tried to be subtle about it, but he'd spent the better part of the afternoon keeping an eye on her after she'd declined joining them for a swim. Other than a trip to the restrooms, he didn't think he'd seen her leave her spot under the umbrella once. Maybe she'd gotten a snack at some point, but he doubted it. Something was seriously wrong with Chrissy, and he didn't know how to fix it. He didn't know if she'd even want him to fix it. He just knew he had to do something.

When the sun was just about to set, Nancy and Eddie wandered off to have a private moment together leaving Steve with the perfect opportunity to try to find out what was wrong. He approached her with two rocket pops that he'd purchased from a nearby ice cream cart, and he offered her one as he moved to sit down next to her.

“I'm really hoping you like rocket pops,” he told her as he handed her the treat. “I wasn't sure what flavor you'd choose, and I always got these as a kid because I was really indecisive, and they're three different flavors, so I figured I couldn't go wrong with this one, you know?”

With the sun setting, the breeze seemed especially cool, and he noticed that she was shivering a little as she hugged her knees to her chest. Before she could say anything about the popsicle he'd given her, he turned around and grabbed his windbreaker from where he'd tossed it that morning. He draped it around Chrissy's shoulders and gave them a little squeeze.

“That sea breeze is no joke,” he said as he offered up a small smile.

That was somehow the wrong thing for him to say because the next thing he knew, Chrissy was crying. This was the last thing he wanted to happen, and he was struggling to figure out what he could do for her.

His struggle was short-lived because Chrissy spoke up.

“Why are you so nice to me?” she asked. She was avoiding making eye contact with him, choosing to stare at the popsicle instead.

“What do you mean?”

“I mean, what is all this?” she asked as she wiped at her eyes with the back of her free hand. “The popsicle and the jacket. The plushies. Making me feel safe when I was scared and reassuring me whenever I'm upset about something. I've been racking my brain, and I can't understand why anyone would be so nice to me. And I know you said that sometimes people are nice just because they want to be, but I don't deserve that kindness. I don't.”

If he didn't think she'd brush him off, he'd pull her closer to him and hold her until she stopped crying. This was obviously something that he couldn't fix with a popsicle and a smile.

“Who made you think that you don't deserve to be treated with kindness?”

Chrissy shook her head and wiped at her eyes again.

“That's okay,” he told her. “We can just sit here quietly. You don't have to say anything if you don't want to.”

So, they sat in silence. She waited until it had started to melt a little bit, but Chrissy did eat her popsicle. Steve wasn't counting that as a win though. Not when she was still so upset and shutting down on him. Not when he could still hear the occasional sniffle coming from her direction.

Once the sun had almost completely set, Chrissy started to feel braver. Maybe it was because Steve had sat with her while she cried and hadn't tried to force her to speak or maybe it was because she felt more hidden without the sun beating down on them - she just knew that, for the first time, she wasn't afraid to tell someone what was going on in her head.

“My mother,” she said, breaking the silence.

“What?”

“You asked me who made me think I didn't deserve to be treated with kindness, and I'm giving you an answer. I don’t talk about this with anybody because it’s not exactly the easiest thing in the world for me, but I don’t have the best relationship with my mom. I’ve always been the family disappointment, and nothing I do is ever good enough in her eyes.”

“I find it really hard to believe that a girl like you could be the family disappointment,” he told her. “You’re perfect.”

Chrissy huffed out a laugh.

“That’s because I have to be. Perfect, I mean. And I thought that maybe not being around her during this trip would help, but I can hear her telling me what a failure I am every time I do something that she wouldn’t approve of, and it’s actively ruining this trip for me. I usually love the beach, but I sat out today and punished myself for my bad eating habits because I could hear her telling me that it was obvious I’d gone off my diet and that everyone was going to stare at me because of how horrible I looked. Even now, I can hear her saying how foolish it was for me to waste calories on a treat when I’ve already done so much damage to myself with all of the junk I’ve been eating on this trip so far.

“She’d be furious if she ever found out that I was badmouthing her, but right now, I don’t care. The other day, you asked me why I never sing, and that’s her fault, too. I’ve wanted to be in musicals for as long as I can remember. I love them. I love the way that they make me feel, and I wanted nothing more than to provide other people with that same feeling. But then I was eleven, and I was singing along to whatever musical it was that I was obsessed with at the time, and my mother came in my room specifically to tell me that I had a very unpleasant voice, and I needed to stop doing that because it was never going to get me anywhere. So I did.

“I did everything she told me to. I joined cheerleading because she said that was something that I was better skilled for. I dated the boy that she wanted me to date. I became friends with the people that she wanted me to be friends with, and now pretty much all of them don’t even talk to me anymore because they sided with that boy during our breakup. The only thing I haven’t gone along with is cutting Eddie out of my life. I’d be a truly miserable person without him, and I won’t let her take him away from me, too.

“It’s like she’ll never be happy if I’m not miserable though. She picks and she picks and she picks until I feel so small that I just go along with whatever she says because that’s easier than standing up for myself while she takes away everything that has the potential to make me happy. And even if I do everything that she wants, I’ll never be good enough for her. She’ll never be proud of me.”

Chrissy hugged her knees closer to her chest and willed herself not to cry anymore. Letting all of that out had felt good in the moment, but now she was embarrassed that she’d word vomited on Steve and let him see through the cracks of the imperfect mask she wore.

“I’m sorry,” she told him. “I don’t talk about this with anybody, and I just dumped all of that on you. I shouldn’t have done that.”

“Don’t apologize. It’s clearly something you needed to get out, and I’m glad I could be here for you.”

“Thank you.”

He might have seemed calm and collected on the outside, but on the inside, he could feel the anger building in his chest. Chrissy deserved better than that, and he had no way of fixing this. He didn’t know if it was something that really could be fixed.

But he understood how she felt. Her situation was different from his, but it pained him how much he related to her. So, while he couldn’t fix the hurt that she was feeling, maybe he could show her that she wasn’t alone.

“You know, your mom’s voice will get quieter eventually,” he told her. “Once you’re spending less time with her and more time with people who care about you and see the best in you.”

“How can you be so sure?”

“Because you and I are more alike than you think.”

He smiled at her, but she could tell there was something sort of bittersweet to it. There was a sadness in his eyes even though he was very clearly trying to be positive for her benefit.

“You know how I had that job at Scoops Ahoy?”

She nodded.

“Well, it wasn't exactly my decision to work there.”

“How does that have anything to do with the way my mother talks to me?”

“My dad and I have never exactly seen eye to eye about who I should be and what I should be doing with my life. I'm the family disappointment, too. I grew up knowing that I was never going to be good enough to be the man that he expected me to be. That's just how it was in my house, you know? I was always a problem because I didn't anticipate exactly what he wanted. Being on the basketball team or the swim team wasn't good enough unless I was the captain and did the best or the most in every single game. And even then, I still wasn't good enough. I could have scored the game winning point, and he would have complained that we didn't win by enough, which was obviously my fault because I didn't score enough. Stupid stuff like that.

“So when I graduated high school with mediocre grades and didn't get into a single college, I figured he was going to be even worse than normal. By then, I'd gotten pretty used to tuning him out, but it still hurt. It still sucked to hear nothing but negativity from him. He didn't say anything about it though. Just hung up the phone when I called to tell him since he and mom were on one of their long business trips at the time. That almost hurt worse. Yelling and belittling me? I can handle that. I was used to that. But him being so angry that he couldn't even speak? That was a whole new level.

“When they got home, the house wasn't up to their standards,” he huffed out a laugh. “It's so stupid to me now that it's almost funny. It wasn't even messy. I hadn't put the recycling in the garage, and there was a basket of laundry I hadn't folded yet in the kitchen. Maybe I'd left a towel on the floor or something, too. I don't really remember. I just know that he acted like I'd burnt the house to the ground instead of it actually looking a little lived in for once. He went on this tirade about how me not getting into college didn't mean that I could sit around the house doing nothing all day and wasting his hard-earned money. Told me that I didn't realize how good I had it and that it was about time for me to get a job and develop a real work ethic. Which is so stupid because I'd worked the past three summers as a lifeguard at the community pool, I was babysitting pretty regularly, and I was already actively looking for a job. I just hadn't found something yet. He didn't know any of that though. That would have required him to actually be present or to talk to me about something other than what a failure I am.

“Anyway, he made me apply for every single open job in Hawkins - even ones that I was in no way qualified for - and he made me put him down as a reference on every single one. That way he could bad mouth me to everyone who was interested in hiring me. He decided that the Scoops Ahoy uniform was humiliating enough, and that's why I ended up working there for the last year.”

“I'm so sorry,” she told him. “That sounds awful.”

“It wasn't all bad,” he said with a shrug. “I mean, the sailor uniform was awful, but at least it was comfortable. And I got to spend the year working with my best friend instead of in a boring office job with a bunch of mindless drones who kiss my dad's ass. The job was more for the humiliation than anything else, and he didn’t kick me out or cut me off, so I was able to save pretty much everything I made, so I'll eventually be able to move out and get my own place without using any of his money to do it. I'm glad that I never have to put in another shift there, but I don't hate that I had the experience.”

“Silver linings?” she asked.

“I guess so.”

There was more he wanted to say to her. Needed to say to her really. He was just afraid that he’d hurt her when she was already so vulnerable. It had to be said though, so he took a deep breath and huffed out a sigh before speaking again.

“The worst part about it was that I felt like I deserved it,” he started. “My dad has been telling me that I’m too stupid to make something of myself since I was old enough to understand what he was telling me. I was too stupid to get into college, so I was too stupid to work at his company or do any kind of job that wasn’t completely mindless. The only thing I was smart enough to do was scoop ice cream. I still struggle with the lasting effects of my dad’s words, so I know that what you’re dealing with isn’t easy. But, when I’m surrounded by the people I care about, my dad’s voice disappears. It gets a little easier to tell myself that I’m better than that.

“That’s why it hurt so much when you were surprised that I was reading. I’m used to my dad and people who don’t know me or have made assumptions about me thinking I’m dumb. ‘Of course, Steve Harrington can’t read. He’s just a dumb jock. He probably doesn’t even know what books are.’ But I thought that you and I had really been connecting with each other. That you’d seen past all of that and I could be real with you. So, it really stung knowing that you saw me as that stupid, and it reinforced the fact that maybe there is a little bit of truth to everything my dad has said over the years.”

Chrissy’s heart sank. None of that was true. She’d never once thought he was stupid, and she couldn’t let him think that about himself. She scooted closer to him on the blanket and grabbed one of his hands, gripping it tightly in her own.

“I’m sorry,” she said. “So, so incredibly sorry. I don’t think you’re stupid at all, and I’m sorry that I did something or reacted in some way that made you feel like you were. That was never my intention, and I would never purposely do something to make you feel bad about yourself. I will admit that I was surprised to find you reading, but not for the reasons you thought I was. Never for those reasons.”

Steve avoided looking at Chrissy and instead stared at where she was holding his hand.

“Why were you surprised then? If you don't mind me asking.”

“You’re just so different from what I expected,” she admitted. “I may not have officially met you until this trip, but it was hard not to hear stories about the King of Hawkins High just like I’m sure you heard plenty of stories about me. You’re so different from the person that I was led to believe you were, and the Steve that I’d heard so much about didn’t seem like a reader. Not because of how smart you hypothetically were or weren’t but because that just didn’t seem like a hobby you’d enjoy. But I think it's wonderful that you're a reader. I loved getting to see a side of you that not many other people have gotten to see, and I hope I didn’t ruin whatever connection we had. I would hate it if we couldn't be open with each other anymore because of something I did.

“And, for the record, there are a lot of things that are far more important than being the smartest person in the room. You're funny, you're so incredibly kind, and you care about people with your whole heart. I mean, just look at how much time you've spent taking pictures of a squirrel figurine just because you know how happy it's going to make your friend. You're so selfless, and I see you putting everyone else's needs above your own constantly. You've been doing that with me this whole trip.

“I know I haven't known you for very long, but anyone who spends five minutes with you can see that you're the very best kind of person, and your dad is a fucking idiot if he can't realize that.”

Steve was quiet for a moment. Partially because of how touched he was by what Chrissy had said and partially because he was pretty sure the strongest curse word he'd heard her say so far was “darn,” so he hadn't been expecting such a forceful statement from her.

“Thank you,” he finally said as he gave her hand a small squeeze. “Now, you say the same thing about your mom.”

She shook her head.

“I can't.”

“Yes, you can. Your mom is clearly a fucking idiot if she can't see that you're perfect just the way you are. I know it, and you know it. You just gotta get up and say it.”

She hesitated and bit her lower lip before shaking her head again.

“I really can't.”

“C'mon,” he said as he poked at her side with his free hand, smirking when she giggled and tried fidgeting away from him a little. “You'll feel so much better if you get up and yell it. She'll never find out because she's not here to hear you say it, and I'll hold your hand the entire time if you want.”

He moved to stand and then offered her his hand to help her up. She let him pull her to her feet, and soon they were standing together hand in hand.

“I'm right here,” he told her, giving her hand a small squeeze. “You don't have to do this alone.”

Chrissy nodded and took a deep breath as she turned to face the shoreline. She could do this. She knew she could do this. With Steve by her side, she could do anything. Everything would be okay.

“My mother is a fucking idiot!” she yelled out at the horizon. Her eyes went wide, and she covered her mouth with her free hand. She was silent for a moment, but when she moved her hand away, Steve could see that it had been hiding the largest smile.

“I did it. I can't believe I did it,” she said as she turned to face him.

“You did.”

Chrissy dropped Steve's hand before practically leaping at him to wrap her arms around his neck. He caught her and wrapped his arms around her waist, but the force of her body colliding with his knocked him off balance on the uneven ground, and soon they were falling backwards into the sand. He landed flat on his back with her directly on top of him, and after the shock wore off, they both dissolved into a fit of giggles.

“I'm so sorry,” she said through her laughter. “I didn't hurt you, did I?”

“I'm okay. Are you?”

“Never better.”

Neither of them made any moves to get up or separate their bodies from each other. One of his hands was resting against the small of her back, and she felt so seen as he looked into her eyes. With their bodies pressed together like that, she could feel his chest moving with every breath he took, and she was certain that he could feel the way her heart was pounding against her ribcage. If there was ever a moment for her to kiss him and finally express that she was interested in him the way that she hoped he was interested in her, now was the time. She just had to make her move.

He reached up to brush her hair back behind her ear as she leaned in, and just as their lips were about to touch -

“Chrissy! Steve!” Eddie called out, effectively ruining their moment.

Steve cursed internally as Chrissy immediately moved off of him and tried to put a little distance between their bodies. Eddie had the worst timing in the world.

Steve tore his gaze away from where Chrissy was now hiding her face behind one of the sleeves of his jacket and looked over at Eddie who was carrying a very sleepy-looking Nancy on his back.

“Are you guys ready to head back to the motel?” he asked. “Nance is falling asleep on me, and I'm probably next.”

“Yeah, we can go,” Steve replied. “Just gotta pack up our umbrella and blanket first.”

“You good, Chrissy?” Eddie asked, finally noticing the way she seemed to be trying to get that jacket to swallow her whole.

“I'm fine,” she said without looking up at him. “Perfectly fine.”

Truthfully, she couldn't have been more embarrassed if she tried. She'd been about to kiss Steve after insisting that they were just friends, and now Eddie was never going to let her live it down. And the worst part was that she didn't even get to kiss him. They didn't kiss, the moment had passed, and she was afraid she'd never get the courage to be so bold again. Maybe, if she was lucky, Steve would take charge and be the one to kiss her, but she was afraid that their one perfect moment had passed them by to never be recreated again.

She tried not to dwell on that too much, but it was the only thing she could think of on the drive back to the motel, and it was the only thing she could think of as she waited for everyone else to be done with the bathroom so she could take a shower. That thought was surely going to consume her.

While Chrissy was in the shower, Steve headed out to attempt to find a vending machine so he could get them all a drink. Once he was gone, Eddie flopped over next to Nancy on her bed.

“Eddie, no,” Nancy groaned. “You'll fall asleep.”

“I won't,” he insisted even though his voice was barely loud enough for her to hear him.

“You will. And then where will Chrissy sleep?”

“She can sleep here, too. I don't mind.”

“No room. Get in your own bed.”

“Five minutes.” He buried his face in her neck. “I'll get up when she's done. Promise.”

When Chrissy exited the bathroom, Eddie and Nancy were curled up next to each other and fast asleep with him softly snoring as he held her caged in his arms. Chrissy would have thought it was cute if it didn't send her straight into a panic. If Eddie was sleeping in her bed, that meant she was sleeping in his bed. And, if she was sleeping in his bed, that meant she was sharing with Steve. Steve who she would have kissed if they hadn't been interrupted. They were going to be sharing a bed that had barely felt big enough when she was sharing with Nancy, and she was certain it was going to feel ten times smaller when she was laying next to him.

She cautiously sat down on the edge of the bed and tried to make herself seem casual even if her insides were in knots. She was just about to get up and go hide in the bathroom when Steve reentered their room.

“I came out of the bathroom, and they were like that,” she blurted out before he could say anything. She didn't want him to think she'd planned this or encouraged it in any way.

“I had a feeling that might happen,” he admitted. “I didn't expect either of them to be up when I got back, if I'm being honest. I figured Eddie'd at least fall asleep in our bed though.”

“He didn't.”

“No, he did not.”

Steve moved to hand Chrissy one of the water bottles he was carrying before grabbing his pillow off the bed and tossing it on the floor.

“What are you doing?” she asked.

“Eddie took your spot, so you need a place to sleep. You take my bed. I'm fine on the floor.”

“Oh. I thought we could share.”

Of course, he didn't want to sleep next to her. That was too much for her to expect. He probably hadn't even wanted to kiss her, and she would have made a fool out of herself if they hadn't been interrupted.

“Are you sure?” Steve asked. “It'll be kind of crowded, and I don't want to make you uncomfortable.”

“I'm not letting you sleep on the floor. I think we can manage just fine, don't you?”

“Yeah. Okay.”

He grabbed his pillow off the floor and placed it back on the bed before climbing in and making himself comfortable. She followed his lead and climbed into the bed next to him after turning off the lights, but she tried to keep as much space between them as humanly possible. He had been worried about her comfort, but she was worried that she'd crowd him too much. She had a bad habit of clinging to anyone or anything that was sharing her bed with her. She could have blamed it on her being afraid when they were sharing the tent, but she'd never forgive herself if she made things even more awkward between them now.

Steve noticed that she was trying to put space between them and failing miserably. He knew what it had to be about because it was the same thing that he couldn't stop thinking about: she'd almost kissed him on that beach. He was sure that's what was about to happen. If they hadn't been interrupted, she would have kissed him, and he would have gotten to tell her how much he'd been wanting to do exactly that.

But that hadn't happened, and now they were in this weird limbo where they didn't know how to talk to each other anymore because that missed moment was hanging over them. He was afraid that the awkwardness building between them wouldn't go away until they'd actually kissed, and that definitely wasn't going to happen tonight. Not when Eddie and Nancy were sleeping in the next bed. But he had to do something so they could both relax.

“So, my Fozzie impression is nowhere near as good as my Kermit,” he said as he rolled over to face her. “But I can give it a shot if you're missing him.”

Chrissy shot up into a sitting position and playfully glared down at him.

“Are you making fun of me?” she asked.

“Oh, no. I would never,” he said with a teasing smirk.

Chrissy gasped and placed a hand over her heart in mock offense. The next thing Steve knew, she'd pounced and was tickling up and down his sides.

“Chrissy!” he sputtered out through his laughter. “Why?”

“C'mon, Steve,” she said as she continued her playful torture. “You wanted to be Fozzie, and Fozzie just loves to laugh.”

He tried to fight her off the best he could, but she was quick, switching spots around his torso whenever he tried to grab at her wiggling fingers, and it was hard for him to anticipate where she'd move next when his eyes were scrunched shut with laughter. She couldn't help but smile and laugh along with him as he flinched whenever she hit an especially sensitive spot.

Her hands traveled lower to squeeze at his hips, and he was finally able to grab ahold of her wrists and pull her hands off of him. His laughter died down, but his smile never left his face as he tried to regain his composure.

“This is adorable. Where else are you ticklish?” she asked, wiggling her fingers in his direction while he kept her hands trapped.

“No more. Please.”

“Can I have my hands back then?”

“Never. You've lost your hand privileges for being evil.”

“I'm a big sister. It comes with the territory,” she said with an innocent smile and a tiny shrug.

“Well, if that's the case, I should probably let you know that as an only child, I don't like losing at anything. Ever. Including tickle fights.”

Before Chrissy could protest, Steve was scrambling to switch their positions, and she was laying flat on her back with him hovering over her. He kept her wrists pinned with one hand and the other hand rested against her side. He made no moves to tickle her yet. Just held her there to build anticipation.

“And what if I said I wasn't ticklish?” she asked.

“I think we both know that would be a lie.”

He punctuated his point with a quick poke to her side in the spot that had her giggling and moving away from him earlier, and he smirked down at her as she bit her lower lip and squirmed in his grasp.

“Steve, we're gonna wake up Eddie and Nancy.”

“You weren't concerned about them at all when I was the one being tickled,” he teased with a flutter of his fingers against her side. “And since I was viciously attacked for offering to do something nice, I think this is only fair.”

He kept his touch teasing and light, just enough to make her start giggling and squirming, tracing patterns on her side with the hand that wasn't pinning her wrists. Truthfully, he just wanted to see her smiling. He wanted to erase any memory of her tears from the beach because he never wanted to see her that sad again. And if playing around like this made her happy, who was he to deny her a little fun?

Once he felt like he'd teased her enough, he released her wrists to make it a fair fight and started tickling up and down her sides much like she'd done to him. Her laughter picked up, but instead of trying to stop his hands like he'd done with her, she tried to tickle him back. She got in a few good pokes, but every time she tried to really get him, he moved to attack an exposed armpit, and soon her arms were retracting to try and protect what he was assuming was her most ticklish spot from the reactions she was giving him.

When he found a spot on her ribs that had her kicking her legs and laughing so hard that she snorted, she tapped out.

“Truce,” she managed to get out through her laughter. “Please.”

“Since you asked so nicely.”

Steve's hands slowed to a stop, but he made no moves to remove them from her sides. He just held her in place as she came down from her giggle high.

“I can't believe I snorted,” she said once she'd caught her breath. “That's so embarrassing.”

She covered her face with her hands.

He really wanted to kiss her.

Instead, he removed his hands from her sides and pulled her hands away from her face.

“I don’t know. I thought it was kinda cute.”

Chrissy was thankful for how dark the room was because she was sure her face was beet red. He couldn't call her cute when her skin was still tingling from the way he'd just had his hands all over her. She wasn't strong enough to handle this.

“We should probably go to sleep,” she told him.

“You're probably right. We've got another big beach day tomorrow.”

“I might even swim this time.”

“I'd really like it if you did.”

Steve rolled over to make himself comfortable, and without him practically on top of her, Chrissy finally realized how cold it was in the room. For such a crappy motel, they were really blasting the air conditioning, and the blankets on the bed just weren't cutting it. She didn't remember being this cold the night before, but she was pretty preoccupied with trying not to obsess over the fact that Steve was sleeping shirtless in the next bed. He was wearing a shirt tonight though, so she no longer had that distraction.

She started to think that maybe she wouldn't be so cold with Steve's arms around her again. All she had to do was get him to cuddle with her. How hard could that be?

“Hey, Steve?”

“Yeah?”

“Is your offer to be my Fozzie for the night still on the table?”

God, he really wanted to kiss her.

Steve rolled back over and opened his arms for her, and she scooched over to him. She rested her head on his chest and draped an arm over his waist as she snuggled as close to him as humanly possible. As he wrapped his arms around her in turn, she immediately started to feel a little warmer. He was like a furnace, radiating heat and making her feel more comfortable.

Once she was fully settled against him, he leaned in towards her slightly.

“Wocka wocka,” he said in his best attempt at a Fozzie impression.

Chrissy gasped, and the arm that she had draped around his waist moved to tickle his side again.

“Hey!” he laughed as he grabbed her hand and pulled it away from his body. “I thought we had a truce?”

“My real Fozzie doesn't speak,” she said matter of factly. “He only snuggles.”

“My apologies.”

He gave her hand a little squeeze, but neither of them made any move to let go of the other.

“Goodnight, Steve.”

“Night, Chrissy.”

And so the two drifted off to sleep still holding hands.

Sometime in the middle of the night, Eddie woke up to use the toilet, and when he exited the bathroom, the light illuminated Chrissy and Steve snuggled up together in their sleep. He wasn't sure if he was really seeing it or if it was just a trick of his still half asleep mind. So, instead of turning out the light and going back to bed, he crept closer and took a quick picture of them with his phone. He couldn't guarantee that they'd still be like that in the morning, and he needed proof that this had actually happened to show Nancy once she was awake. It was going to be a lot harder for the two of them to deny that something was happening between them now.

***

When Chrissy woke up the next morning, she was laying on her side with her back pressed up against Steve's chest. His arm was draped over her and holding her close, and as far as she could tell, he was still fast asleep. A quick glance around the room told her that they were alone, but she could hear the shower running, so she assumed at least one of their friends was in the bathroom right now.

Normally, she was a morning person - the kind of morning person who liked to get out of bed and start her day immediately to be exact - but she was content to laze about in bed for the entire day if it meant Steve would keep holding her like that. The longer she stayed laying there the more her thoughts started to turn on her though. Even if he was cuddling her in his sleep, maybe he hadn't wanted her practically on top of him the night before. Maybe his initial offer of being her Fozzie for the evening really had been a joke, and he hadn't actually wanted to have her clinging to him like that. She'd been far too forward with him, and he wasn't interested in her in that way at all. He'd tell her that himself once he'd woken up.

And her mother would absolutely lose her mind if she knew that her daughter had shared a bed with a boy. Even if it was purely platonic - which Chrissy wasn’t even sure if it was - she could hear her mother calling her a tramp and telling her that only a common whore shared a bed with a man that she wasn't married to.

The more she thought about it, the more she needed to get out of that bed immediately, but Steve was holding onto her pretty securely. She tried to wiggle her way out of his arms, but he just seemed to hold onto her tighter.

“Good morning,” he said as he gave her a little squeeze, settling deeper into their blankets.

And, just like that, all of Chrissy's bad thoughts washed away. There was nowhere else she’d rather be when she could hear the smile in Steve's sleepy, scratchy voice. Any doubts in her mind about whether or not he'd really wanted to cuddle with her vanished when he only seemed to snuggle closer to her now that he was awake.

“Good morning,” she said, rolling over onto her back so she could look at him. His hair was sticking out in all directions, and he was looking at her with the sweetest, sleepiest smile. Her heart melted just a little bit at the sight. “You sleep okay?”

“Best sleep of my life. You?”

“Never better. Thank you for being my temporary Fozzie. I kind of really needed that comfort after everything we talked about. Plus, you're really warm. Kept me from freezing to death last night.”

“I see how it is,” he teased. “I'm just an object to you. Making me feel real cheap here, Cunningham.”

Steve tried to act offended, but it was hard to believe that he actually was when the smile never left his face which only made Chrissy start to laugh.

“And now she laughs at me! I save her from certain death, and she laughs at me. I’m wounded. Seriously wounded.”

This made her laugh even harder to the point where she snorted again and immediately moved to look away from him.

“Okay, I think I need to get up now,” she said as she started to work her way out of Steve’s grasp.

“No, I don’t think so. I’m not ready to start the day yet, so you can’t be ready either.”

“But what if I wanted to get breakfast?” she asked.

“Nope. You’re trapped. How tragic.”

He pulled her to lay with her back against his chest again as he burrowed deeper into their blankets.

“Well, if I’m trapped, I guess I have no other option than to accept my fate and stay here,” she said as she made herself comfortable again.

“A wise decision really. And, for the record, I don't mind being your personal space heater. It wasn't exactly an unenjoyable experience for me either.”

“Good to know.”

With Steve holding her like that, it was all too easy for her to fall back asleep until Eddie burst back into their room from outside.

“I come bearing sustenance!” he announced, holding up a couple of white paper bags.

She wasn't sure how long she'd dozed off, but the shower was still running, so it couldn't have been very long. But with Eddie back in the room, she was starting to feel self-conscious about how snuggled up with Steve she was. He didn't seem to care though, and he made no moves to stop cuddling her, so that helped to quiet those thoughts. If Steve didn't care about how much Eddie was about to tease them, she could try not to care, too.

But the teasing never came. Instead, Eddie just sat down on the edge of the bed that he'd shared with Nancy the night before and passed one of the bags over to Steve.

“I wasn't sure what you guys wanted since you were still sleeping when I left, but I went to this burrito place around the corner and just ordered whatever sounded decent,” he told them.

Steve moved to sit up and Chrissy had to stop herself from looking visibly upset about the fact that he wasn't holding her anymore. She moved to sit up as well and took the bag from Steve when he offered it to her. When she peeked inside and saw the size of the burrito that was left for her, she could feel her stomach starting to churn. It was massive. Much larger than anything she ever would have ordered for herself. She could already hear her mother telling her that everyone would think she was a pig if she dared to eat more than a single bite of that monstrosity, and she wanted nothing more than to set the bag aside and nibble on one of her granola bars instead.

But then Steve was nudging her with his elbow. She pulled her gaze away from her breakfast to look up at him.

“Fucking idiots. Remember?”

He offered up a small smile, and soon the furrow of her brow softened as she smiled back.

“Yeah. Fucking idiots.”

And, just like that, she was able to enjoy her breakfast. Nothing bad was going to happen to her if she ate this breakfast burrito. She didn't even notice the weird look that Eddie was giving them until he spoke up.

“What was that?” he asked.

“What was what?” Steve answered.

“You know what. Anything you two wanna share with the class?”

Before either of them could respond, Nancy opened the bathroom door and poked her head out.

“Eddie, could you give me a hand here? My bikini top is twisted, and I'm having trouble fixing it on my own.”

Eddie pushed himself off the bed and made his way into the bathroom where Nancy immediately closed the door behind him. She was already fully dressed, and there were no issues with her top like she’d said.

“After you showed me that picture, I thought we agreed that we weren’t going to pester them about what happened between them last night?” she asked in a hushed tone. “They’re not going to tell us anything if you put them on the spot like that.”

“Well, you’re ninety seven percent of my impulse control, and you weren’t out there.”

“Okay, so how about instead of questioning them before they’re ready to tell us what’s happening, you text Robin that picture and get her opinions on this situation? She might have a better insight into whether or not Steve's really interested in her or not.”

“But I already know Steve's into her,” Eddie admitted. “He's just waiting for her to make the first move.”

“When did he tell you this?” Nancy asked. “Actually, better question: why is this the first that I'm hearing about this?”

“While we were camping, and I could have sworn I told you.”

“No. This is completely new information for me, and this changes everything. What are the chances that Chrissy makes the first move though?”

“Slim to none.”

“That's what I was afraid of. Group text with Robin?”

“Way ahead of you.”

All Eddie did was drop the photo he'd taken of Chrissy and Steve asleep together, and soon Robin was spamming them with messages.

Robin: !!!!

Robin: what?

Robin: when?

Robin: how?

Robin: details! I need details!!!!!

Eddie: don't know. last night. also don't know.

Nancy: but they're clearly flirting with each other

Eddie: and neither of them are willing to make the first move so it's physically painful to watch them

Robin: has he done the hand size thing yet? that's a classic move on his part

Nancy: no. not in front of us at least. but they've been holding hands quite a bit, so I wouldn't be surprised if he has.

Robin: !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Robin: why is this the first I'm hearing about this?

Robin: I demand constant updates!

Eddie: any tips for getting steve to kiss her already?

Robin: leave them alone as much as possible maybe? they're both probably feeling pressured because of you two constantly staring at them

Nancy: I am not constantly staring at them

Nancy: eddie on the other hand

Eddie: hey! I don't stare.

Eddie: I occasionally observe to make sure my best friend is having the best vacation possible

Eddie: it's what she deserves

Robin: sure

Robin: just let me know when they kiss!

“So, what do you think?” Eddie asked. “Think we can manage to give them some alone time?”

“I have an idea for that actually. Get back out there and give me five minutes to tie up some loose ends in here, alright?”

“As you wish.”

Eddie made his way out of the bathroom and back into the room’s main area where he found Steve and Chrissy still sitting practically on top of each other in bed even though they’d had plenty of time to move apart while he was gone. As much as he wanted to continue pestering them about how snuggled up they were when he came back from getting breakfast, he was trying to behave and do as Nancy said. There would be plenty of time to question them later, so he focused on finishing his burrito instead.

“I know we’re supposed to stay here for another night, but I can’t stay in this motel another minute,” Nancy said when she finally emerged from the bathroom. “That bathroom is disgusting, and we need more space than this. I did a little research this morning, and I managed to find a bed and breakfast not too far from here that has two open rooms, so we’re staying there for our last night here. Make sure all your stuff is packed before we leave for the beach so we can deal with checkout now and never have to come back here again.”

Chrissy felt a little conflicted with this new information. On one hand, the idea of a cozy little bed and breakfast where she’d have more space and a shower that didn’t look straight out of a horror movie sounded heavenly after two nights in their cramped and dingy motel room. However, she knew that meant that her opportunity to snuggle up with Steve for another night was officially off the table. She knew it was silly of her to expect that they’d end up sharing a bed for a second night in a row since that hadn’t been part of the plan for the night before in the first place, but she was still somewhat hopeful that Eddie would have fallen asleep in the wrong bed again to give her another chance.

“Sounds great,” Steve said before turning towards Chrissy. “Do you want the bathroom next, or should I go first?”

“You go first. I can wait.”

Steve finally got out of bed and gathered up the things he'd need in the bathroom. Once he was inside the bathroom, Nancy put part of her plan into action.

“I'm sorry you two had to share a bed,” she said as she started to repack her suitcase. “I told Eddie that he couldn't stay with me, but I fell asleep and couldn't stop him from doing the same.”

“That's okay,” Chrissy told her. “We didn't mind.”

“Still. It wasn't really fair to you. I know how small these beds are, and it couldn’t have been comfortable for either of you.”

Chrissy remained quiet. Part of her wanted to talk about last night with Nancy. Getting another woman’s opinion on the situation sounded so appealing to her, and maybe she’d have advice on how to proceed. The issue was that she didn’t want to talk about this in front of Eddie. She loved her best friend. Honestly, she did. There was nothing about him that she’d ever want to change, but she knew him. She knew that he would tease her about this, and that wasn’t what she needed when she was so unsure about how she was feeling and whether or not she was making a fool of herself right now.

Almost as if she could read the uncertainty on Chrissy’s face, Nancy turned her attention towards her boyfriend where he was lounging on the bed and finishing off his burrito.

“Do you mind going to get us something to drink? Maybe just some water bottles from the vending machine? Please?” she asked him.

“I thought you wanted me to pack my stuff?”

“Well, you aren’t packing right now, and I would be very grateful if you gave us the opportunity to have a little private girl talk.”

Eddie glanced back and forth between the two for a moment before pushing himself up from the bed and heading towards the door.  

“You’re lucky I love you,” he said. “Both of you.”

“Thank you,” Nancy called after him as he left.

She waited until she was sure that Eddie was gone and made sure she could hear the shower running to be sure that Steve wouldn’t be able to hear them either before turning her attention back towards Chrissy.

“Steve didn’t do anything to make you uncomfortable, did he?” she asked as she moved to sit down next to her. “Because I’ll go in that bathroom and strangle him right now if he took advantage of you or forced you to snuggle up to him like that. Just say the word, and I’ll do it.”

“It wasn't like that,” Chrissy insisted. “Steve was very much a gentleman. Honest.”

“Okay, good. Because I really would have strangled him if that wasn't the case. Can I ask you something else then?”

Chrissy nodded.

“If he was such a gentleman, why did you get so quiet when I brought up the beds?”

“I just didn't want Eddie to tease me.”

“Why would he have teased you?”

“Can I be honest with you?”

“You know, I really want us to be friends,” Nancy said as she considered Chrissy's question. “Of course, we've technically hung out together before, but that was always Eddie's doing. We were both there for him and not for each other. Other than Robin, I don't really have any friends that are girls, so when Eddie invited you to come with us, I was excited for the opportunity to finally get to know you a little better. I want us to be close, so you can absolutely be honest with me, and I promise I'll be honest with you in return.”

A smile lit up Chrissy's face. She'd never voice these fears out loud, but she'd spent a great deal of time afraid that Nancy only put up with her because of her friendship with Eddie. That Nancy only saw her as her boyfriend's annoying best friend and tolerated her being around for the sake of her relationship. So, hearing that Nancy actually wanted to be friends with her outside of the context of what Eddie meant to them really helped to push those fears aside. She never did this kind of thing with the other cheerleaders, but she trusted that she could share what was currently on her mind without fear of judgment.

“Well, if I'm being completely honest here, I'm the one who asked him to cuddle with me.”

“You did?”

“I did. I mean, he offered, but I thought it might have been a joke at first? But then I asked him, and he didn't even say anything. Just opened his arms to let me get closer to him, and he seemed to care more about my comfort than his own. It was very sweet actually.”

She stared down at her lap as she remembered the feeling of Steve's arms wrapped around her, and she couldn't help but smile at the thought. What she wouldn't give to fall asleep like that again.

“Chrissy Cunningham,” Nancy said with a beaming smile of her own. “Is that a blush I see?”

“I don't know. Maybe?” she replied.

“I think you like him.”

“I don't think that really matters. We barely know each other.”

“So? Do you remember when I interviewed you and Eddie for the school paper? For your production of Pygmalion?”

Chrissy nodded.

“That was the first real conversation I ever had with Eddie, and I knew I liked him by the time I left that auditorium. I felt terrible about it because I thought there was something going on between the two of you, but the feelings were still there regardless. So, I don't think it matters how long you've known him. All that matters is what you're feeling and whether or not you want to act on those feelings.”

“I'm not saying that I like him,” Chrissy insisted. “But, say that I do have feelings for him? Am I making a fool out of myself?”

“I don't think so. I've seen the way he looks at you, and I think that he could maybe like you, too. You just have to be willing to put yourself out there.”

“That's easier said than done. I've never just told a guy that I'm interested before.”

“You haven't?”

She shook her head.

“Jason was my first real relationship, and he was the one who asked me out. I've been second guessing a lot of that whole experience lately, so I have no idea what I'm doing here.”

“I don't know what I can say other than Steve is a great guy. He won't make you feel bad about yourself even if he doesn't feel the same way. I should know. I have firsthand experience with him.”

“Does that make this weird for you? Me asking you for advice on how to flirt with your ex, I mean?”

“Steve and I weren't right for each other, and it was never going to work out between us. Maybe if this had happened right after we broke up, I'd feel differently, but I view him the same way that I view my younger brother now. He annoys me to no end, but I can't imagine my life without him in it, and I just want him to be happy. If you'll make him happy, then I'm happy to give you a little nudge in the right direction.”

“You really think I could make him happy?”

“Yeah, I think I do. There's just something about the way he smiles at you. So, maybe just give him the opportunity to make the first move if you can't bring yourself to do it. I don't think you'll regret it.”

“Thank you.”

Chrissy didn't know what else to say. She might not have been sure how she would make it known that she was interested in starting something with Steve, but Nancy had effortlessly cleared away a sizable amount of her nerves about the whole situation.

“You're welcome,” Nancy replied. “Now pack up everything you don't need for the day. I don't want to spend a second longer in this place than I absolutely have to.”

With that, Nancy got up to finish packing her own things and get a start on Eddie's bags as well. Soon enough, it was Chrissy’s turn for the bathroom, and she found herself rushing through her morning routine to be ready as soon as possible. After the conversation that she’d had with Steve the night before, she was actually looking forward to their day at the beach. Her mother’s voice was still there - she knew it wouldn’t disappear completely overnight - but it was slightly easier to ignore it when she could recall Steve telling her that she was perfect.

So, when they were finally settled into their beach spot for the day, it only took her silently repeating that her mother was a fucking idiot to allow herself to take off her cover up and let other people see her wearing a bathing suit. Even if she felt a little self-conscious, she knew that her nautical themed bikini kept the parts of her that she was the most self-conscious about covered with its high-waisted bottoms. She could be brave about this, but she still felt herself freeze when Steve looked in her direction. As he approached her with his bottle of sunscreen, she told herself to play it cool. She could handle this. She knew she could.

“Mind giving me a hand again?” he asked, offering her the bottle.

She took it from him and helped him apply the sunscreen to his back again just like she’d done the day before. When she was finished, she handed the bottle back.

“Mind doing the same for me?” she asked.

She turned her back to him and pushed her hair over her shoulder so it would be out of his way. She tried to keep her cool as he took his time making sure he covered every inch of exposed skin on her back, but this was very different from them being snuggled up while fully clothed. Her skin was on fire with every little touch, and she hadn't realized just how large his hands were until could feel how much of her back they could cover at once.

After what felt like an eternity and still not enough time, Steve placed his hands on her shoulders and gave them a small squeeze.

“You're all set.”

“Thanks,” she said as she turned around to face him. “I appreciate it.”

“You're welcome. Cute suit by the way,” he said as he reached out to fiddle with one of the decorative white buttons closest to the top of her bikini bottoms. “I like the blue. It really makes your eyes pop.”

“Thanks,” she said, avoiding meeting his gaze. This was the exact kind of opportunity that she knew Nancy was talking about that morning. It would be so easy for her to just reach out and run a hand up his arm. She could smile at him and give his bicep a little squeeze. Look up at him and bat her eyes. Move a little closer to him and make it so much easier for him to lean in and kiss her. It would be so easy.

But she couldn't bring herself to do it. Not there and not in that moment. Flirting with him while she was so exposed felt too intimidating. She needed a little push which meant getting some alone time with Nancy to get her opinion on how to proceed.

“So, are you gonna get into the water with us today?” he asked, pulling her away from her thoughts.

“I think so,” she replied. “But I was hoping to have a little girl time with Nancy first if that's alright with her.”

“Absolutely not,” Eddie said. “You already had girl time this morning. It's my turn. You can't have her.”

With that, Eddie grabbed Nancy around the waist and lifted her to run away from his friends and towards the shoreline with her giggling and shrieking the whole way.

Chrissy and Steve shared a look, and she backed up slightly when she saw the mischievous smile that lit up his face.

“I'm not sure I like whatever you're thinking right now,” she said as she took another step backwards. 

The smile on her own face betrayed her, and soon, Steve was lunging to grab her. He lifted her with ease, and she clung to him as he ran to join Eddie and Nancy.

“Don't you dare drop me,” she managed to get out between her giggles.

It wasn't lost on her that Steve was treating her the same way that Eddie was treating his girlfriend, and she could feel her heart flutter as he gently let her down once they were about waist deep in the water.

“Look who's decided to join us today,” he announced to the other couple. “And only slightly against her will.”

“I was going to come out here eventually,” she insisted.

“Allegedly.”

Chrissy splashed in his direction which only led to him splashing her back, and soon they were enmeshed in an all out water war with Eddie and Nancy finally allowing Chrissy to act like the carefree girl she deserved to be.

***

When lunchtime finally rolled around, the group sprawled out on their blanket with sandwiches and chips from a nearby cart. After a morning of playing around in the water, they were all ready for a bit of a break.

“What are you looking forward to the most about being in D.C. tomorrow?” Nancy asked Chrissy as she started to unwrap her food. “I realized this morning that we never really got your input about what you wanted to do on this trip, and I could easily rearrange our schedule to include anything that we left out that's on any potential list you have.”

“Oh, I don't really have a list. This is your trip and not mine. You don't need to change anything on my behalf.”

“Don't be silly,” Nancy insisted. “This is just as much your trip as it is ours. If there's anything you want to do, I'll make sure it happens.”

“It's fine. Honestly, I'm just happy to be along for the ride.”

Steve frowned. If they hadn't had their heart to heart the night before, he might have believed her. But, knowing the pressure she was under to be agreeable and not be seen as a burden, he had a feeling that she wasn't allowing herself to do something that she felt might be an imposition. He felt compelled to make her realize that she was allowed to want things, and he thought he had a pretty good idea on how to do it.

When they finished eating, Steve excused himself saying that he was heading to the restrooms. Instead, he went in search of a vendor he was certain that he'd seen earlier. He quickly found them and purchased a single seashell collection jar. With a scrap of an old receipt, a sharpie, and some tape that he had in the glove box of his car, he made a new label for the jar.

Once he was happy with how it looked, he made his way back to where he'd left the group, and he found Chrissy by herself.

“I think Eddie and Nancy ran off to build a sandcastle,” she told him as he sat down next to her. “I told them I'd wait for you to get back.”

“This is for you,” he said as he handed her the jar. He watched as she eyed the label.

“The Chrissy needs to be nicer to herself jar?”

“Whenever I catch you being mean to yourself, you have to put a dollar in the jar. Every single time until we're back in Hawkins. And that includes you insisting that this isn't your trip, too. You might not have helped plan it, but you're an important part of it. For all of us.”

She was quiet for a moment, turning the jar over and passing it back and forth between her hands as she considered what Steve had told her.

“And what happens with the money at the end of the trip?” she asked when she finally spoke up.

“Well, if I see you putting yourself first, I might give you a dollar back, but I was thinking that we'd put this money towards doing something fun together after the trip.”

“Just the two of us?”

“Yeah. Just the two of us.”

“Okay. I can agree to those terms. Do I have to put a dollar in for saying I'm just along for the ride then?”

“I'll let that slide since it was before I made the jar. I just want you to realize that you're allowed to want things.”

“You know I'm not used to that.”

“I do.”

“Then you also know how hard this is going to be for me.”

“That doesn't mean I'm not going to help you get used to it.” He reached over and took one of her hands in his. “You deserve to be a little selfish sometimes.”

Chrissy didn't know if she could be selfish and put herself first. That went against everything her mom had forced her to believe over the years. She was supposed to be agreeable and go along with what everyone else wanted or else nobody would ever want her. But then there was Steve who was giving her hand a little squeeze and smiling at her and telling her that it was okay to care about her own happiness. She didn't know if she could do what he wanted her to do, but when he cared about her this much, she knew she could try.

***

Once they'd finished another long day at the beach, they made their way to the bed and breakfast that Nancy had found that morning. Nancy pulled Chrissy inside with her to check in, leaving the boys to unload and carry in all of their bags from the car.

“Now, you can say no to this, and I won't be mad at all,” Nancy said once they were out of earshot. “But I was maybe wondering if you'd be willing to share a room with Steve tonight? We have a room with one bed and a room with two beds booked, so obviously you would get the room with two beds. It's not like I'm expecting anything to happen between you two, and I don't want you to think this is me putting any pressure on you to make that kind of move on him or anything. It's just that Eddie and I really haven't gotten much alone time on this trip, and I'd really like to have a night for just the two of us, you know? But only if you're okay with sharing with Steve by yourself. If you're uncomfortable with that, just say the word, and you and I can share like we originally planned.”

The idea of sharing a room with Steve was both exciting and terrifying for Chrissy. On one hand, she'd never spent the night alone with a boy with a before. Not unless you counted Eddie, and she certainly didn't since there was no physical attraction between them. It was different with Steve. She still hadn't built up the courage to make a move or even let him know that she was open to him making a move, and sharing a room with him definitely threw that door open in a way that she wasn't sure if she was ready for.

On the other hand, the idea of potentially getting to sleep snuggled up to him again was so appealing. And knowing that there were two beds in the room helped to calm her nerves because she didn't have to share with him if she ended up being too afraid to ask him for another night of cuddles. They could just be two people sharing a room. Nothing had to happen between them.

“I can share with Steve,” she decided. “I don't mind.”

“You're literally my favorite person right now,” Nancy said as she pulled Chrissy in for a hug. “Thank you. I owe you one, okay?”

“Don't worry about it. Just enjoy your alone time with Eddie.”

Nancy got them checked in just as the guys entered carrying their bags.

“Steve, you're sharing with Chrissy if that's alright with you,” she said as she passed Chrissy her room key.

“I am?” That certainly wasn't the sleeping arrangement he'd expected.

“The room has two beds, and she's already agreed to it. You're allowed to say no though.”

“If it's fine with Chrissy, it's fine with me.”

“Perfect. We'll see you two in the morning for breakfast then.”

With that, Nancy started to make her way towards her room pulling a very confused looking Eddie behind her.

“So, are you actually okay with this, or do I need to make you put another dollar in the jar?” he asked once the other couple was gone.

“We shared a bed last night, Steve. I'm past being uncomfortable with sharing a room with you. Besides, it'll be just like our first night at the motel. The only difference is that we don't have to share our beds or listen to Eddie snoring.”

“Fair enough.”

They made their way to their room, and Chrissy called dibs on the first shower the second Steve had set down their bags. She wanted nothing more than to wash the sand and salt water out of her hair and put on some comfier clothes, and she wanted to do it as soon as possible.

When she'd finished in the bathroom, Steve took his turn which left her to think about their sleeping arrangements. To her, it was clear which bed Steve had claimed for himself. He'd set his bags at the foot of the first bed, and Chrissy's belongings were set on the second. She could easily accept this and climb into her own bed while he was in the bathroom.

But Nancy's voice was in the back of her head reminding her that all she had to do was take an opportunity to let Steve know that she was open to him making the first move. And what better way to let him know that than to be sitting on his bed when he came back into the room? And even if he didn't make a move and all they did was cuddle like they had the night before, that was still better than nothing at all. Maybe it was a little bit more bold than she was used to being, but she couldn't let herself sit on the sidelines while her life happened around her. She had to take charge in the little ways she could or else nothing was going to change.

So, without giving it another thought, she climbed onto Steve's bed and tried to make herself look casual as she flipped through instagram stories on her phone. Forget the fact that she was a bundle of nerves about how he was going to react to this. She could be cool and casual.

When Steve exited the bathroom and saw Chrissy lounging on his bed, he stopped in his tracks. He hadn't been expecting that from her after she'd made a point out of saying that they didn't have to share their beds that night. Yet there she was sitting on the bed that he'd claimed as if that was the most obvious place for her to be.

He was almost afraid to comment on it because he didn't want to scare her away. So, instead of saying anything, he just grabbed his bags and moved them over to the other bed. Then, he climbed onto the first bed to sit next to Chrissy.

“I don't know if you noticed,” he started. “But I kinda thought this was my bed.”

“I noticed. I just happened to decide that I wanted this bed, too. And I believe I recall a certain someone telling me that I was allowed to want things.”

Steve let out a laugh and smirked over at her.

“Careful, Chrissy. First, you invade my tent. Now, you're taking over my bed for the second night in a row. I'm starting to think you might have some ulterior motives here.”

She could have told him that she was hoping he'd take the hint, but she couldn't bring herself to make that final push. Instead, she playfully pushed his shoulder which only led to him pushing her back, and soon they were in a full on elbow war. Then, Steve got in one perfectly placed poke to Chrissy's side that left her giggling and squirming away from him. The same mischievous smile from earlier lit up his face again as he turned his full attention towards her.

“You know, I never did get back at you for ignoring our truce last night.”

“You wouldn't dare.” Chrissy's eyes went wide as she started to curl in on herself in anticipation.

“Oh, but I would.”

He was poised to strike, but before he could, she started laughing without him even touching her.

“Now, this is adorable,” he said with a wiggle of his fingers in her direction. All he had to do was hover his hands over her and act like he was about to touch her to elicit a ticklish reaction from her.

“Cut it out,” she said between her giggles as she tried to block his hands.

“Cut what out?” he asked. “I'm not even touching you.”

“You know what.”

She squeaked as he feigned moving to squeeze her hips, and she curled up even more in a failed attempt to shield herself.

Meanwhile, in the hallway, Eddie was trying to listen to what was happening in their room.

“Eddie, what are you doing?” Nancy asked when she exited her own room and saw him.

“C’mon. Aren't you curious about what they're doing in there? All I can hear is Chrissy laughing though, and we both know Steve isn't that funny.” he asked.

“Not enough to be pervy about it like you are right now. Get back in here and leave them alone.”

Back inside, Steve was about to tickle her for real when he heard voices outside their room that he was pretty sure were Eddie and Nancy. He paused his playful torture and signaled for Chrissy to be quiet with a finger pressed to his lips before getting out of the bed and creeping towards the door with her following close behind him. He waited a moment to make sure he could still hear them before banging on the door which earned him a very loud “fuck!” from whoever was on the other side.

“Good night, Eddie!” Chrissy called out.

They heard Nancy apologize on Eddie's behalf, and once he was certain they were gone, Steve turned his attention back towards Chrissy.

“Now, where were we?” he asked.

“Well, I think I was thinking of taking a late night stroll.” She wrapped her arms around herself in an attempt to shield all of her tickle spots from him.

“Really?” he asked. “Because I was thinking we were doing something else.”

He didn't give her a chance to run. He was quick, and he was able to pick her up and gently toss her back on the bed before she even knew what was happening. She didn't try to get away though. She just laid there giggling in anticipation as he climbed back onto the bed.

There was a moment as he climbed over her where he was struck with just how well they seemed to fit together. It would have been so easy for him to just lean down and kiss her, but he couldn't bring himself to do it. He didn't want the story of their first kiss to be that they were in bed and it just happened. Chrissy was special. She deserved better than that. And even if that wasn't the case, he didn't want her to think that he was trying to pressure her into doing something more. He could wait another day to kiss her. For now, he could be content with another tickle fight and hopefully another night of her snuggling up to him for comfort.

***

When Steve woke up the next morning, he was sad to find his bed empty. After Chrissy had surrendered in their tickle fight, neither of them had really been all that tired, so they'd put on a movie and ended up falling asleep cuddling again. But now, she wasn't in his bed, and he missed that warm and fuzzy feeling he'd had waking up next to her the day before. There was barely any light in the room, so he figured it had to be fairly early. Maybe she'd only gotten up to use the bathroom, and she was going to be coming back to snuggle up to him any minute now.

A quick glance around the room told him that wasn't the case. Chrissy was sitting on the window seat with her head tilted to rest against the glass. She looked deep in thought, and she was slightly illuminated by the beginnings of the sunrise. He didn't think he'd ever seen a more beautiful girl in his life. No one could ever hope to compare the way that Chrissy looked to him now.

He pushed himself out of bed to ask her to come back to get some more sleep with him, and moved to sit next to her on the window seat, but she spoke before he could make his request.

“I wish that we could stay in this moment forever.”

Her voice was barely even a whisper. So quiet that it made him question if he was actually supposed to hear her. He did though. He heard her, and he realized that he was wishing for the same thing, too.

So, instead of making his request, he opened his arms for her. She moved to sit on his lap, and he wrapped his arms around her as she leaned back against his chest.

Sitting there with Steve, Chrissy felt the safest and the most content that she'd felt in a long time. And, as they sat there watching the sunrise together, she knew what she had to do. Today was going to be the day she told him how she felt. If it wasn't painfully obvious to him already, she had to let him know. Before the day was through, she was determined to open her heart to Steve Harrington.

[miniimapp]

Jesse - You Boys Are the (Homosexual) Supporting Cast

Gen;; Fluff - Headcanons

Warnings ;; no ?? i mean,, stress and anger (from reader pov) but not really ??

Proofread + Edited ;; a little bit actually,, mainly when going through and adding the bold and the blue and the italics lmao

Auth. Note ;; bet y'all thought i died.. nah i ain't never leaving i'm just clumsy af and smashed my phone into smithereens,, prolly got y'all tho lmaoooo

✄┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈«

Jesse is an insufferable flirt

Which would be fine if you didn't have shit to do

But you do !!

Accepting the roles of stage manager as well as assistant director was the worst choice you could have ever made

So help the world if you ever get your hands on a time machine

The school production may fall apart but at least your mental health would still be somewhat intact

But for now you're stuck with mountains of responsibilities and a sweet fucking annoying distraction

Speaking of said distraction

Jesse plays the lead's best friend and also an asshole who won't let you get on with your work

So he has his fair share of time on stage

But even then, you can barely catch a break

As soon as he steps foot into the wings he somehow immediately finds you

It honestly baffles you how differently Jesse acts in and out of class

Okay but on a real note you can't be at all angry at Jesse

Not when he's being so sweet and charming

Even though he keeps getting in your way

At one point, when the director was sick so you had to take that over whilst being stage manager and assistant director as well you had snapped at Jesse

He hadn't even been flirting with you at that point

Mans was literally just in the vicinity

Apparently that was enough of a crime to warrant your wrath

You absolutely still cringe thinking about that day

You hadn't shouted or anything

No, no you'd angrily whispered

And because you were stressed and upset your voice jumped like 5 octaves

Okay maybe not but it felt that way

You were giving mickey mouse realness

Which we love :D

It just wasn't the time

It's never the time for mickey mouse realness in today's society smh

You were on the verge of tears and mass murder which is always a good combination

(why are you always breaking down around this man fr)

Jesse had stared at you wide-eyed as you shat out a monologue of stress and misplaced anger

And once you were finished, chest heaving and feeling lighter than you had in a while, Jesse sends you an encouraging smile

"Sorry, sweetheart, I never meant to offend ya. Honestly, I was kinda hoping I was breaking up your stress, that's where I was coming from anyway. Still, I only caused you grief, not very fair of me, I'll admit."

You sniffed, awkwardly laughing things off and rubbing at your face

"Sorry for snapping at you. God, why is it whenever we talk I'm always freaking out."

Jesse laughs, a cheeky grin lighting up his face

"It's so I can rescue you from the depths of your despair, like your very own knight in shining armour."

Your roll your eyes good-naturedly, your own smile making it's way onto your face

"Oh, my hero!"

You pretend to swoon and Jesse's smile widens

You give yourself a second to take a breath, realising that, as bad as it seems afterwards, you really needed this

"Thank for, um, listening I guess. I didn't realise how much I needed to get off my chest until I was throwing it at you so I'm sorry but thank you."

Jesse gives a small nod and smile

"Anytime...well, maybe not any but you get what I mean."

After getting over that bump in the road the two of you get on like a house on fire

And you quickly come to appreciate the break in routine that Jesse gives you

You never quite realise how much the stress is getting to you until Jesse drags you away from your scripts and into something else

Something fun

As you two become closer you notice that he's started becoming more.. touchy

Like brushing stray hairs out of you face

Or tapping the tip of your nose

Or giving you a side hug before going on stage

Or leaning up against you to read over your notes

Things like that

And at first you thought they were innocent, unconscious actions

Until of course he started winking at you as he walked on stage

Or smirking at you after smoothing down a stray hair

Or making stupid comments as he moves away

Jesse is absolutely fucking with you

This absolute bitch

You're about to pull up fr

And his flirting continues throughout the whole rehearsal period

And you love it

It gives you happy butterflies in your chest and stomach

It's bearable you suppose...

But his secret winks and smiles directed only at you do get you thinking a little bit

You've never really watched the rehearsals properly

Probably not a good thing to be realising now, seeing as you have such important roles

Oh well, you haven't ruined the show yet

Everything will probably be just fine

Obviously you'd directed and checked for cues when leading everyone backstage but you'd never just watched it

So as the rehearsals left before opening night dwindle to only a few you decide you'll just watch for once

And somehow you've never noticed that Jesse's character has a love interest

Not a problem

You have zero problems

Next question

Okay shut up

It does slightly grind on your nerves watching their confession scene

AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

It's fine.

No worries.

You can handle this.

But it certainly doesn't help that Jesse keeps making eye contact with you when saying his lines

Like,, bro

The director in you wants to scream

He's meant to be confessing to his love interest, not you !!

Make eye contact with the love interest !!

But the rest of you ??

Simply ascending every time Jesse confesses while gazing into your eyes

The dreamy asshole

Not so subtly glad he's looking at you and not at them

It's getting kinda hard to distinguish between reality and fiction

And the heat in your cheeks won't disappear regardless so that's great

Your only saving grace is that Jesse doesn't keep his eyes on you throughout the whole scene

But every time without fail, just before the scene ends, Jesse searches for your gaze and holds it, uttering his character's final line

"My love, for you I would do anything."

[rainydayathogwarts]

ᴄᴏᴡᴏʀᴋᴇʀ'ꜱ ᴇx ᴘᴛ.3 (ꜰɪɴᴀʟ) - ʀᴏʙɪɴ ʙᴜᴄᴋʟᴇʏ

pt. 1 | pt. 2

I'm sorry this took so long for me to write, I had the weirdest two weeks of my life and exams are coming like now.

I hate this but I also love it.

wc: 1.3k

Summary: I'm not telling you, you need to go read the first two parts!!

Warnings: Internalised homophobia, angsty? Idk they get into an argument. Reader gets defensive quickly and is kind of a bitch.

@gracieluvthemoon @darkd3sire

"Hi" She breathed out, looking over your shoulder and into the room ahead, clearly searching for some sort of distraction. "I'm so glad you're here. Oh-come in. Sorry" You rushed, moving out of the doorway to let the rosy cheeked girl in.

Your eyes caught on the car she had come out of in the background, vaguely similar to one you had spent sleepless nights in. A red BMW. Steve's red BMW. Realising you'd been looking at him, Steve awkwardly waved at you and you clenched your jaw, stiffly raising a hand to say 'hi'.

Why on earth was he so close to her? I mean, of course, they were friends even while you were dating. In fact, Robin was the reason you broke up. Not because he caught feelings for her, because you did. But what if he had as well? Or what if he moved on too quickly? Why did they just suddenly get closer once you two called it quits?

And then you were regretting decisions you made all over again. Maybe the looks Robin gave you were purely platonic and you had misinterpreted them to be something more. I mean no one, no one, liked someone of the same sex. No one but freaks and Robin was in no way, shape or form, one of those.

You snapped back to the present just as you heard Robin muttering a quiet "Oh, hi Nancy." You didn't have to turn around to see Nancy's curt nod back to Robin. Cringing internally, you spun on your heels, kicking the door shut and dragging Robin towards the living room, where the party took place. Next to you, Robing held her breath. Everyone in the room was from your inner circle, meaning either she would have a terrible night with people trying to make small talk with her or you really did like her the way she thought you would. "Could I get you a drink?" You ask, already making your way back to the kitchen. Following you like a lost puppy, Robin enters the kitchen, where you kick out some boys trying to steal one too many beers. You open one, taking a sip and offering the bottle to Robin. She crinkles up her nose and takes it from your hand. She brings it close to her face, before taking a drink from it and scrunching her face in disgust. Hearing your giggles, Robin opens her eyes, and quickly gives you the bottle back when you offer to take it. "How about some punch?" You suggest, and Robin eagerly nods. "So," She starts. "Literally everyone here is pretty much a jock. Why am I here?" You raise an eyebrow, trying to mask the blood rushing to your face. "Please, have you seen Nancy? What about her is a jock?" Robin opens her mouth, trying to argue back, but her cheeks flush a dark pink and she closes it again. "I-fair point. But come on Y/N, I'm a band kid! I've shared classes with some of these people, but I bet if you asked one of them who I am, they won't know." You sigh, putting your drink down. "Well, does it matter what they think if I'm the one who invited you? I just wanted people I like here, but if you really hate it, you can go." You clenched your jaw, looking straight into Robin's eyes, trying to keep your face blank from any emotions. She furrowed her eyebrows, shaking her head, and started speaking even as her eyes glossed over with wet tears. "Steve says you do that when you're upset. Your jaw goes tight and you give people that mean stare until you start to cry and they have no idea what they've done wrong."

You scoffed, picking up an empty beer and throwing it in the bin. "Did he? Well I'm sorry you're so obsessed with my ex-boyfriend who asks me out again every single week that you'd come here to talk to me about it! I don't know what's happening with you guys, or what you think is happening, but he doesn't like you that way, I can tell you that! Did you just come here to mock me? To show off that you know him just as well as I do? To rub it in my face that you're the one who's with him everyday and not me? To make sure I know that you're the one listening to his dumb stories and listen to him talking about weird things he's noticed about people that any normal person wouldn't catch on to!? Is that it? Well like you said Robin, you're just a band kid, and that means nothing here!"

You're panting, tears running down your face and you aggressively rub the back of your hand against your nose. It goes scarily silent, the only exception of sound being your panting and the blaring music playing outside this door.

Ten minutes.

Ten minutes was all it took for you to throw out any chance of being in a relationship with Robin, and that was clear from the tears falling onto her rosy cheeks and the way her mouth fell open in shock at what you had said. "God, I-I can't believe it." Robin starts, and you can tell she's going to start ranting with the way she shakes her head faster than your eyes can keep track of. "I can't believe I thought you liked me. Like, not just like me like a friend like me, but like me like you liked Steve like me. But you just- you just like the attention don't you?"

"No, no Robin please."

"This entire time you just figured it out didn't you and you thought it would be amazing to keep not only my hopes high but Steve's, who continued to believe day by day that he still stood a chance with you while you played with my feelings, having me thinking that out of any universe, it would be this one where you liked girls."

You shook your head slowly, bringing up both your hands to rub at your eyes and mess the makeup you had spent a good hour putting on. "You could not be more wrong." You muttered. "You know why I broke up with him?" You asked, wiping the mix of makeup and tears on your trousers, and walking around the kitchen island to stand nearly chest to chest with Robin.

"I broke up with him because every time I walked into Scoops, I became more excited to see you than I was to see him. Because every time he took me into his arms and gave me the most amazing kiss I could ever dream of, I was hoping it would be someone else who did that. But clearly we don't feel the same way so feel free to leave."

You gestured to the door, but one of Robin's hands came up to cup your cheek and pull you into a soft kiss. Reluctantly, one of your hands came to rest on her hip as you returned the kiss, and you hooked a finger around her belt hoop, bringing her body closer to yours. You pulled away panting, Robin's eyes as wide as saucers. "Holy shit."

"I-uh, I'm sorry. For-" "No, no it's fine. I'm sorry. I shouldn't have said that about liking attention and stuff. How about I make it up to you with uh- ice cream?" She asked.

You cringed. "Uh, as long as Steve isn't there. I think ice cream dates are forever ruined for me now."

[warmaidensrevenge]

Always seen you.

Pairing: Eddie x Insecure!Fem plus size reader

If you want to read my other work you can find it HERE

A/N: Hi! Welcome to my not so mini anymore series. This is part 5. If you would like to read the other parts, you can click the link above. I update it with every fic post. Thanks for reading. As always feedback is greatly appreciated. Kay love you bye.

Warnings: Language, angst, fluff, body insecurities, secret pining, slow burn, sexual implications, and eventual smut. Not proof read and no word count.

Summary: The boy of your dreams is always just out of reach. If only you could get over yourself to see that he sees you too.

Part 5

🖤

A couple of weeks went by and you and Eddie spent more time together. Watching movies mostly. He wanted to ask you if you would like to sit with him and his buddies at lunch a few times. But he was actually afraid you would say no.

One afternoon he was pretty upset when he got to the Hellfire room. You were in there already setting up the little spot on the couch. It started to get cold the past few days so you had brought blankets and pillows.

You must have noticed he was off when you made a comment.

" You're usually quiet today Munson."

" Uhh yeah sorry."

" What's up?"

Eddie handed you the movie and threw himself on the couch.

" I...failed Mrs O'Donnell pop quiz today."

You sat next to him.

"Oh. I'm sorry to hear that. To be fair her pop quizzes are a bit hard. She always uses vernaculars of the time period she's teaching. So sometimes it's a little hard to understand."

Eddie turned his head to look at you. " You took her class?"

" Yeah. Freshman year."

You guys sat quietly for a moment. Then you had something almost like an epiphany. You finally found an in with your parents.

" Eddie? I have an idea."

" Tutor me."

" How did you-...yeah. That's exactly what I was thinking."

Eddie couldn't help the smile that stretched across his lips. If you tutored him, he could spend even more time with you.

" Yeah. It's a really good idea. I would appreciate all the help you can give me."

You got up and went to put the movie in and when you sat back down. He covered you with a blanket.

His smile got bigger when he saw your cheeks fill with red again. And when you smiled his heart started to flutter.

God you were so damn pretty. He could just kiss you. But no. Not right now. Hopefully soon though. Every second you guys spent together made it harder and harder for him to control himself.

He even stopped hooking up with cougars. Though he really needed the release after every time you guys hung out. He never took up the offers.

Today however was a bit different. He picked out The Texas Chainsaw Massacre. It was a gruesome scary movie. Which freaked even him out because they were just regular people doing scary shit. So he knew you would probably be scared. And iff you were scared you might need to hold his hand.

He had been craving your touch since the hug. Wanting to hug you every time he saw you. He wondered what your body felt like next to his. Waking up snuggling with you. To touch your body. To kiss you. But he had to stop. Stop thinking about you like that. Well not until he was sure.

See the only person he talked to about you was his uncle. But all Wayne ever offered was logical solutions for his problems.

Normally he could say what was in his mind. But when it came to you, he couldn't. It was hard for him to deal with his emotions and even hard to talk about them. Especially when it came to being bullied. Sure he could hide the hurt, but it really took a toll on him.

He thought maybe it wouldn't be such a good idea if you got involved with him. He didn't want what was happening to him to happen to you too. He would hate to hear people calling you a freak. There was so much on his plate already and he was struggling with his feelings for you.

"Stop screwing around. Just tell her boy...Get yourself a nice smart girl. It's about time you outta."

Wayne's words echoed in his head. You were nice, smart and very beautiful. You could pick anyone you wanted. So why would you pick him?

Eddie's insecurities came back with a vengeance. Even if you wanted to be with him, it wouldn't last. You would eventually see that he had no real future. When he did finally graduate, he was planning on getting the hell out of Hawkins. Maybe pursue a music career. He liked working with his hands, so maybe something in construction.

Obviously pick something that was not good enough for you. You should be with someone who had a bright future ahead of them. Just like you.

He always felt like he wasn't good enough. For anything. Not a good enough son, or nephew. Not a good enough student or musician. So he clearly thought he wouldn't be a good enough boyfriend either.

All those things silently shouted at him daily. But they all seem to shut the fuck up when he was with you. Well that was until you would look at him. He loved how you looked at him. No one has ever looked at him like that before. It made him feel like he was the only guy in the world for you. Making him think that he might have a chance with you.

Then when you would quickly look away because he made you nervous. He felt that nervousness too. It was just a little harder to breathe around you. His heart beats faster when he was with you. His stomach flips when he sees you smile.

Eddie had to admit, he was a fool in love. When he was with you, he thought about all the possibilities.

You guys could be with each other, go on dates, grow together, go through struggles, build a stronger relationship, maybe one day move in with one another and be happy... together. The possibilities were endless. He just had to see if you felt the same. Because even though the relationship might crash and burn, at least he can say he was truly happy when he was with you.

Your teeth chattering brought him back to the present. He actually looked at the movie and it was about twenty minutes in. He looked at you and you were shivering. That's when he pulled back his blanket without thinking.

" Hey sweetheart. Come here. I... I run hot."

You gave him a nervous look.

" It's okay. If you don't want to, you can have my blanket."

" Umm..no...I don't want you to get sick."

He gave you a soft smile and opened his arms so you could come to him.

You cleared your throat and scooted closer. Just before you leaned your back against his chest you looked at him.

" Uhh. If I'm too much..let me know okay."

He was confused. "What do you mean?"

" I..." You hung your head and spoke just above a whisper. "If I'm too heavy please-"

" Hey" he cut you off and lifted your chin to make you look at him before putting his hand back on his thigh. " Even if you were too heavy, which you're not by the way. I would rather you squish me than for you to be cold. But I swear you're not heavy... Remember when I helped you to the nurse's office? You weren't heavy then and you won't be heavy now. Okay? Now come here so I can warm you up."

This was it. This was the moment that your liking for Eddie Munson turned to love. He couldn't be more perfect if he tried.

You nodded and snuggled up against him. He pulled both blankets on you two. He was right. He was incredibly warm. This was something you could get used to.

You guys continued to watch the movie. Every kill, you would bury your face in his chest. Making his heart race. His arms wrapped you up tight every time. Then when you looked back at the screen he would loosen his grip. Even if it was just a movie, he wanted you to feel safe.

The movie was about half way through when the door to the drama room opened.

" Munson! Dude Jeff came up with-"

You and Eddie both sat up, moving a little bit away from each other.

"Gareth man what are you doing here?!" Eddie nearly shouted

" Hey to you too." Gareth said.

"Hey y/n."

" H-Hi Jeff." You said nervously.

Eddie looked back and forth between his friends and you. He didn't know you knew Jeff.

" What are you guys doing?" Gareth asked

" Uhh just watching a movie." Eddie and you said at the same time.

Gareth narrowed his eyes at Eddie and he narrowed his eyes back. Then smirked.

" Oh cool! Can I watch it too?" Jeff said squeezing between you and Eddie.

" Oh nice. Texas Chainsaw Massacre...this movie is brutal." Jeff said.

Eddie. Was. Pissed. He wanted to tell them to get the hell out of there. But he didn't.

Gareth came and pulled up a chair next to Eddie.

Gareth started to whisper to him. " Dude. I didn't know you were hanging out with her."

Eddie gave him a thin lip smile. He looked over to you. You and Jeff were chatting away. Eddie felt a wave of jealousy wash over him seeing you laugh at Jeff's jokes. He looked away trying to distract himself.

Gareth saw his best friend get irritated that they were there. He wanted to tell Eddie why they came in the first place. But Jeff now threw himself into the mix. So one friend wanted to stay and the other wanted them to leave.

Thankfully for Gareth but not you or Eddie someone else came in.

...

Mrs Adler was heading to the room to grab her list of plays as well as some fabric. She suddenly heard a chainsaw and a girl screaming. She opened the door.

" Mr Munson what did I say about sacrifices on school property?" She joked.

When the kids saw her they all stood up. Like they were hiding something. She narrowed her eyes at them. That's when she noticed you were there. A smirk creeped across her lips. Her plan seemed to be working.

" Sorry Mrs Adler. We were just watching a movie." You apologized.

Eddie went to pause the movie and looked at you. Shoving his hands in his pockets.

Mrs Adler caught that. She also caught how Jeff never took his eyes off you too.

" That's quite alright. I just came to grab a few things. Please feel free to continue."

Mrs Adler could feel the kids eyes on her as she went through some stuff. She grabbed three rolls of fabric and was going for a fourth when you came to help her.

" Thank you dear."

" You're welcome. Is there anything else you want me to grab for you?"

" Umm yes can you grab that pink roll for me and those two books." She pointed at the table.

You were gonna reach for them but Eddie grabbed them first along with taking the few rolls of fabric from Mrs Adler.

" Oh thank you Mr. Munson."

Eddie gave her a half smile. Which turned into a full blown smile when you smiled at him.

Mrs Adler snickered to herself. " umm oh gonna need that list on the table."

You went for it but now Jeff wanted to help. He picked up the list then took the roll of cloth away from you.

"y/n, Eddie and I can take care of it." Jeff said

" Oh. Umm okay...are you sure?"

Jeff nodded.

You glanced at Eddie and he shrugged.

As the boys helped Mrs Adler put the stuff in her car, she finally found it. 'The wrench'

" Thank you." She said " you guys behave now."

Jeff and Eddie stood there for a second to see her drive away.

" Hey Eddie? Are you and y/n like on a date?"

" Uhh no." He said nervously. " Why?"

" Oh I just didn't know you guys hung out. She's pretty cool. Super smart."

" Yeah. How do you know her?"

" We have math together."

" Oh."

" Yeah."

Eddie could sense Jeff's awkwardness. Did Jeff like you too? He had been Jeff's friend for a long time and he never mentioned liking anyone before. Besides the usual cheerleader or two.

As they walked back into the drama room you were gone.

" Hey where'd she go?" Eddie asked.

" She said she had to go home. Something about tutoring you." Gareth replied.

Eddie smirked to himself. He prayed to the gods that your parents would be cool about it.

He went back to the couch with Jeff.

" So what did you guys want to talk about?"

"I came up with a killer song. It's still in the works. So we're gonna need you to write some words for it." Jeff said

" Yeah? Okay. Let's go over it."

Jeff showed Eddie the music sheet. He could already hear it in his head.

" Shit man! This is good." Eddie grinned.

"Cool. So for your solo I totally thought you could come up with that and the words."

" Yeah. I think I might have something in mind." Eddie smiled thinking about you.

"Do you think it would be ready by Tuesday?" Gareth asked.

Eddie continued to look at the music sheet. "Uhh I'll let you know."

" Dude you're gonna have the ladies swarming you after you play that. Then you could have your pick of the litter and we can totally get the rest." Gareth smirked.

Gareth really didn't mean that. He just said it to see what Eddie's reaction to it was.

When Gareth said that all Eddie could think about was that he didn't want anyone else. That he just wanted you. He became a little uncomfortable at the thought of touching anyone else. He shoved away the thoughts and just sat there half listening to what Jeff and Gareth were talking about.

He already started to miss you. He was actually a little depressed that you didn't say bye. But he was happy that you were gonna talk to your parents.

...

Though it took way too much convincing and your brother vouching for Eddie. Your parents agreed to allow you to tutor him. With two conditions. One was that you guys never be alone in your room. You either had to tutor him in the den or at the dining table. With either your parents somewhere in the vicinity or with your brother present. The other was that it did not interfere with your studies.

When your brother was keeping an "eye" on you, he really wasn't. That's when you got to be alone with Eddie in your room.

As time went on you guys were very comfortable with one another. You guys started opening up to each other more and talking about your hopes and dreams. Getting super close. Not enough to call yourselves a couple. Just really good friends.

Eddie was so excited to see you after lunch one Monday morning. He had a surprise for you. He was waiting in theater class when you finally came in. He pulled you to the corner of the room to talk to you in private.

" Check this out sweetheart."

He held out a small packet. Your eyes widened as you took it.

" You got a C+! Holy Oleo!"

Eddie grinned. " I didn't know you could yodel."

You both smirk at the Batman reference.

" Oh Munson! See I knew you could do it."

" Yeah. It's hardly gonna get my grade up but-"

" It's a start."

He smiled. " Yeah... Thanks."

He was taken back from the impromptu hug you gave him. He didn't know he could miss being in someone's arms as much as he missed yours.

He hugged you back and breathed you in. He wanted to hold onto you forever.

He thought the hug lasted a little longer than normal. But he didn't care. He missed your warmth.

Then you started coughing. You pulled away to turn and cough into your elbow.

That didn't sound right to him. He was gonna ask if you were okay but Mrs Adler started addressing the class to take their seats.

You coughed again and he looked at you worried. Especially when you grabbed your chest like it hurt.

" Okay class. We are gonna watch a movie today. Well not so much a movie but a play. I officially would like to announce what play we will be performing. Drum roll Please."

Someone up front started banging on their desk.

Mrs Adler quickly glanced to the back of the class at you two and grinned. " The Two Gentlemen of Verona"

Most of your classmates didn't know the play. But you sure did. It's a tale of two best friends named Proteus and Valentine. One seeks to travel and the other seeks love. They travel to Milan where they both fall in love with Silvia. Silvia loves Valentine, but Proteus pursues her despite the fact he has a girlfriend at home. After an apology, Proteus and Valentine reconcile, Proteus loves his girlfriend again, and both couples marry.

It was a very good comedy. And you looked forward to whatever rolled you got.

" I will have the casting later on today. Please check out the announcement board to see what roles you will be performing."

Mrs Adler already chose who was gonna play who. But she liked the suspense. After all she was a drama teacher.

...

Ever since you walked home that day to talk to your parents about tutoring Eddie. You were feeling sick. It started to hurt while you breathed. Then you started to feel weak and you didn't really eat that much. Then the coughing started.

You were so tired all the time now. You had a hard time focusing on school work. Even around Eddie you didn't have the energy to feel how you always felt around him.

You finished out the school day with your brother picking you up. You barely had energy to walk to the car. So you avoided going to see what role you were to do. Instead you asked if he could take you to the clinic. Which he did. He had noticed you weren't looking so hot for a few days.

Turns out you got pneumonia. You gotten prescribed antibiotics and had to stay home for a few days. Your parents of course weren't too happy with that. So they picked up all your school work and made sure you finished every assignment.

Eddie hadn't seen you in a couple of days and he was worried. He felt terrible that you ended up that sick. So the first thing he did after he found out was buy a space heater for the drama room. He wanted to make sure you never got sick like that again. He started driving himself insane thinking about you. He missed seeing you. You still tutored him those few days but only over the phone. You seemed to be getting worse.

So that Friday he cancelled his campaign and decided to visit you. You had said something about your parents going out of town for the weekend. So he planned on helping your brother take care of you.

When he showed up your brother answered the door.

" Hey man."

" Hey. What's up? Y/n didn't say you were coming over."

" Yeah. I just came by to drop off some stuff." Eddie said holding a bag up.

" Oh cool. Come on in. She's in her room."

" Thanks man."

Eddie went down the hall. He heard what sounded like a lung being coughed up. When he finally got to your door it was open.

You were sitting up on your bed under the covers doing homework. Your hair was in a messy bun and you had your glasses on. Even though you looked like you were dying, to Eddie you were absolutely gorgeous.

" Hey sweetheart."

You turned to him. "H-Hi. What are you doing here?"

He walked to your bed and sat by your feet.

" I came with a care package." He said pulling open the bag.

You coughed. " You didn't have to do that."

" I know. I wanted to."

You gave him a small smile.

He cleared his throat. " So I brought cough medicine, cough drops, Vicks, a 7up, a humidifier and a couple cans of soup...oh and if you're up for it. I also brought a couple of movies. Chick flicks as a matter of fact."

You smiled and sniffled. " Thank you."

" You know. You really should be resting."

" Yeah. But I have to get this work done."

Eddie then proceeded to take your text book and notebook. Getting up and placing them on the desk. He took off his jacket and shoes before returning to you.

"You uhhh have a habit of making yourself at home huh?"

"Sure do." He smirked

He pulled out the humidifier. "Where can I fill this sweetheart?"

" Umm the bathroom is just down the hall to the left." You said. Coughing again.

Eddie went to fill it up and came back. He plugged it in and went to sit by your feet again.

You were about to say something but then decided against it. You were really exhausted.

Eddie gave you the couch medicine and pulled back the blanket from your feet. He was just about to take off your socks when you gave him a look.

" What are you doing Munson?"

" I uhhh. My uncle used to put Vicks on the bottom of my feet when I was sick and it really helped."

You nodded then took some of the medicine.

Eddie took off your socks and started rubbing Vicks on your feet. You slightly jerked when he first touched them. Making him chuckle.

" Sorry." You said softly.

" Are you apologizing for being ticklish?"

You smiled. " Are you ticklish?"

" Uhhh fortunately I'm not."

You tilted your head and frowned. " What's it like?"

He mimicked your tilt. " What's what like?"

" Being God's favorite?"

Eddie's smile took your breath away. It always did.

" I don't know about his favorite. Maybe the Prince of darkness though."

" Oh please...a person who is as kind and funny and caring as you can't be anything other than an angel."

His smile got a whole lot bigger. "Flattery works with me. So..."

"So you bring medicine to all your friends when they're sick."

" Uhhh. Not exactly." He said nervously.

"What makes me so special?"

" Well...I like you...can't let my only girlfriend be sick."

Girlfriend?!

" I uhh sorry" he quickly corrected himself. " I mean girl who is a friend. Who is also helping me pass Mrs O'Donnells. Can't let you go just yet."

Awww

" Yeah....of course." You faked a smile. But felt your heart sink. " I see you're only using me for my brain."

" Well it is a big brain. You should learn to share." He joked.

You gave him a thin lip smile.

Did he just fuck up? Did he hurt your feelings by saying that? Or did he push you away? He felt so terrible for calling you something you weren't. Though he wanted you to be. His girlfriend that is.

Shit you should be. He thought

" So umm did you happen to see what characters we are for the play?" You asked because you didn't wanted to think about what was just said.

Was he only your friend because you could help him? Or was he around because he actually liked spending time with you? Also, the whole girl who is a friend hurt more than you thought it would.

" Oh yeah." Eddie put your socks back on and covered them. " I'm supposed to play Valentine."

" Nice."

Eddie didn't want to tell you who played Sylvia.

Please be Sylvia. Please be Sylvia.

"And me?"

Eddie sighed to himself. " Julia."

You nodded. You actually felt like you could play Julia. She was supposed to be really funny. And you could do that. But now that Eddie was Valentine you wanted to be Sylvia. You had half hoped he would be Proteus, so that you guys could finally kiss. But no. You weren't that lucky.

" Jeff is Proteus." Eddie sounded bummed.

" Oh...He should be good." You sounded bummed too.

" Yeah he's a good guy."

You gave him a half-hearted smile. " And Sylvia?

Eddie watched as you laid down, bringing the blanket up to your chin.

He could feel you shivering.

"uhh... Chrissy Cunningham."

"O-oh...."

Of course Chrissy would be Sylvia.

So now not only did you have to pretend to be in love with Jeff and kiss him. But you had to see Eddie talk and look at Chrissy like he loved her.

" Yeah...should be interesting." Eddie implied

You stood quiet. You actually wanted to cry. But you didn't.

Eddie felt the tension. He wanted you to be Sylvia. It would have been so perfect. A great excuse to finally kiss you. Now he would have to kiss Chrissy, then probably get his ass kicked by Jason and his buddies.

" Hey y/n?"

"Hmmm?"

" Are you cold?"

" Yeah." You said just above a whisper.

" Umm...can I lay with you?" He asked.

" uhh yeah. Sure."

Why would he want to? This was getting weird. But you would never pass up the opportunity to have Eddie Munson in your bed. Even if it was platonically.

Eddie moved and got under the blanket.

" Can I..."

You lifted your head so he could put his arm underneath you.

You turned towards him and put your head on his chest.

" Is this okay Eddie?"

"Y-yeah"

You couldn't decide where to put your hands.

Eddie felt how tense you were.

" Just get comfortable sweetheart. Let me warm you up."

You nodded and brought one hand close to your chest and one had rested on his.

His scent was amazing. A mixture of sandalwood and citrus. There was a lingering smell of cigarettes and a little weed. But it just added to the already delightful aroma.

You wanted to bury your face in his neck and breathe him in until you went insane. But this was enough. Maybe too much. But you didn't care. You were laying on Eddie's chest.

When he felt you relax he wrapped his other arm around you and started rubbing your arm. This was perfect. Even though you were sick, him holding you was everything to him. Being here, taking care of you, spending time with you.

"Thank you Eddie...for everything." You said sleepily

" Anything for you sweetheart." He whispered.

As soon as he heard your soft little moans he gently pulled off your glasses and set them on the nightstand. When he went back to hug you, you moved so close your breast were touching his ribs. You moved your arm to hold onto him with your thigh moving so that it rested on top of his.

This was absolutely wonderful. The holding onto each other, the comfortability you felt to subconsciously do that. Eddie loved this more than anything he had ever experienced. Though it was a tad bit hard for him to talk down his erection. He was successful. His body sank deep into your very comfortable bed and even more into your very fluffy pillows.

"Y/n?"

You moved your head a little, but you didn't respond.

He whispered. " I wish I could kiss you."

He hugged you just a little tighter. Before he knew it. He fell asleep too.

...

@salenorona23 @ghosttownwherenoonegoes @idkidknemore @hiscrimsonangel @hellv1ra @browneyes528 @b-irock

[thatgirl4815]

Hi! I'm the anon who sent the ask about the fight in Sand's apartment. In light of the ask you just got about Ray hate, I want to clarify that I do not hate Ray! He is my pookie and I love him, just as Sand is my pookie and I love him. I have all the empathy in the world for Ray finally getting his chance to be with Mew in the worst possible way, and I expect that he knows deep down that this isn't going to work out the way he wants it to - but he had to take the chance anyway. It honestly feels like a form of self-harm for him (or at least accepting the love he thinks he deserves). And I will still have all the empathy in the world when it inevitably blows up in his face. Honestly, I hope he gets the chance to see for himself that a relationship with Mew isn't what he's been imagining it to be because of the ways Mew himself is flawed, and that he gets a chance to feel dissatisfied with it in his own right rather than Mew just throwing him over for Top. Honestly, I don't think his behaviour toward Sand up to this point has been anything to criticise overmuch - they're both guilty of letting the lines blur, and touting the "we're just friends with benefits" party line when that lines up less and less with how they were acting. Sand saying they weren't friends isn't entirely fair - I do think their friendship was honest, even if there was more romantic interest than either was admitting to. Still, it's good that he finally drew the line and admitted it isn't what he wants. And Ray admitting to romantic interest of his own is also good, even if the I can have feelings for as many people as I want, but don't you dare make out with anyone else display was not it. I want the jealousy from Ray not to punish him, but because I think it's important to their relationship progression that he either develops or acknowledges the strength of that romantic interest (especially in contrast to his Mew feels) if they're going to have a hope of being endgame. And I want Sand to remember he's a catch and deserves someone who wants him wholeheartedly. (And if that's Ray, apologises for calling him a whore.) Anyway, sorry if you felt like I wanted Ray punished by the narrative - I wanted to give you a better explanation of where I'm coming from in case my ask was upsetting!

Hi! No need to apologize at all! :) As I said before, I think everybody's opinion on this is valid because it's ultimately such a messy situation. I think my biggest point is that having empathy for both Sand and Ray makes the viewing experience that much more rich and complex. Nobody is 100% good or 100% bad.

For the record, I also want Ray to feel jealousy. I want Ray to hurt for all the hurt that he has caused Sand (and as the catalyst for showing him just how much he cares about Sand). And I agree that up until this point, Ray hasn't really done too much bad to Sand aside from calling him a whore. He hasn't been super upfront with Sand about his feelings for Mew, but he didn't owe him that in the beginning, and even recently he tried to open a dialogue about it, but Sand is the one who shut it down.

Where things get messy is in what is said besides what is implicitly understood. I agree that Sand and Ray's friendship is honest, and I also think that their romantic pull to each other has been a dominant force in that relationship; they might not have vocalized it, but I don't believe for a moment that either of them ever thought this was purely a friendship (besides maybe episode 2?). The problem is denial. Ray is denying because of Mew. And he knows it. I'd argue that Ray is very aware of his affection for Sand, but he isn't allowing himself to consider it too deeply lest it take away from his feelings for Mew.

It's like when you develop a hyperfixation, and while in that hyperfixation you start getting interested in something else, and the thought of liking anything more than your hyperfixation starts to freak you out so you immediately start to shut down the new interest. (Does that make sense? Maybe that's a bad analogy, but I have that experience a lot haha).

[heard-nsfw-is-back]

Here's what I've got as the "beginning" for jumanji!steddie. I just watched it recently so it's like in my mind and I'm ok I'll shut up just look I'm very excited and I'll talk about it forever just here ok bye.

Eddie Munson was on his bike, heading home from school. He'd just seen Steve home, they had been talking about class and what they were going to do for the summer. He was so preoccupied about how he was going to see Steve and what plans to make that he didn't see Billy Hargrove and 4 of his little minions following him. It wasn't until he was halfway to his father's factory that he heard Billy yelling. "I'm gonna get you Freak!" Eddie jumped a little and started pedaling as fast as he could. He just needed to get to the factory. There were too many workers there and Billy wouldn't risk getting caught by them. He hoped anyway.

He hoped correctly. He just made it inside, panting and shaking from fear and pain. "Wait till you get out! You can't hide forever!" Eddie scoffed as the door shut behind him. "Watch me." He muttered and trudged up the stairs. Maybe he could convince his father to drive him home. It was busy and loud and Eddie's head was starting to hurt, but it was safe. He made his way over to Jim Hopper who was probably the coolest adult he knew.

"Hey Jim." Hopper looked up from fine eyelets he was fixing. "Oh hey Eddie. What are you doing out here." Eddie shrugged. "Nothing just thought I'd come by." Jim made a face. "Right sure." Heavy sarcasm with just a splash of an eye roll. Honestly Eddie would be offended if it wasn't so funny. "Oh hey wait listen! I'm working on something. It's going to be amazing." Jim sat up from his chair and walked over to a box. He pulled out some sneakers and held it proudly to Eddie.

"Sneakers. Wow the ingenuity really gets to me on an emotional level." "Can it." Jim bit and hit the sneakers on the table. They lit up and Eddie whistled, actually impressed. "Ok that's pretty cool." The voice of Eddie's father cut through. "What's Billy Hargrove and his buddies doing down there. Is that my son's bike? Is he here?!" Eddie stifled a groan. Damn. There goes his chance of getting a ride home. "Here Pop." His father walked over. "I know you're not hiding up here. I didn't raise a coward." Bull, Eddie thought. It's not cowardly to avoid a fight with 5 other guys!

His father must have seen his thoughts on his face. "You've got to stand up for yourself! Grow up! We've all had to." Eddie nodded, holding back furious words and tears. "Now get home. It's not safe in here for you." He dismissed Eddie, who walked out to Billy and his friends hiding behind a tree. The beat him up, splitting his lip and making his arms hurt. "You stay away from Steve! You hear me? That's my boyfriend!" Eddie pulled himself up. "We're just friends." He insisted. Billy got on his bike. "Not anymore you're not." He laughed and they were off.

Eddie kicked some grass that had the bad misfortune of growing there and threw some rocks. If he wasn't so close to the factory he'd be making some pretty inventive curses right now. He decided to wait a little longer for Billy to really get far, and take the long way home, just to play it safe. Not for the first time he cursed being so much smaller than everyone. It wasn't fair. His father and mother were so tall and even Steve was almost a foot taller. Thinking about Steve was upsetting. He never made Eddie feel like a freak. Or point out how his father threw their name around. Steve's family was also pretty affluent. But he never acted like it much.

Eddie's eye was starting to sting. It would probably bruise at this point. He was walking past a construction site when he heard strange drumming. Rhythmic, but it sounded muffled. He looked around for a radio and followed it. It got louder and louder until he climbed up to a wall of dirt in the foundation. He dug his fingers in and shoveled until he felt a box. Eddie brushed it clear and a small handle came loose. He tugged at it until a crate fell out. It was locked and had chains around it. "Cool!" He whispered and looked around and found a shovel. With a few hits to a lock the chains fell apart and Eddie opened it to a bunch of sand and a board that had pictures and a single word in beautiful font. JUMANJI.

[momentomori24]

Welp, I finished the Clover/Axe ending two days ago and I gotta say.... yeah, I was not surprised. But also SEE I TOLD YOU SHE WAS CRAZY WHY WOULD YOU TRUST HER JUNPEI.

Seriously though, that ending was wild. First we find the body of some old man who's posed as Zero-- which I do not believe for a second. I don't have any idea who he is but Zero is at the bottom of that list. Like, look at this:

This is the most obviously staged Mastermind substitute I've ever seen in my life--and I'm a Danganronpa fan. This isn't Zero, but it is worth noting that there are and were other people on this ship with us that we haven't met yet. From the blood spill, I'm pretty sure he was killed there. And it probably wasn't Clover this time either, because how? Correct me if I'm wrong, but I don't think she was even able to go through here before us. The killer in the Submarine ending was implied to be able to roam freely even without the keys needed to open the doors, so it was probably them. Or someone with that same privilege. I think. Question is, who are they and why aren't they here? And do they even have a bracelet?

Ok, this is the one I've been itching to address-- the revelation that Seven and Santa killed Snake. I was kinda suspecting Seven of having something to do with this, but since was the one who brought up the idea that two or more people were responsible I brushed it off (also he really grew on me after a while and I didn't want it to be him). I never suspected Santa to be guilty of anything involving this. If I had a list of potential culprits he would be at rock bottom, THAT'S how much I trusted him. He stood up for Clover and Lotus after Junpei tricked them into fighting for who gets left behind even with death looming over their heads. He agreed to stay in the game instead of escaping in favour of not leaving June behind. Despite his attitude, it was clear he hated playing dirty. He did drop some sus bombs with Santa Claus story, but his sense of fairness quashed those immediately. Seven, maybe. Lotus, most probably. Hell, I could even buy Ace (with some strong evidence tho), even tho he's such a stand-up guy. A part of me is still very delulu about him killing Snake because of all of this. It literally never registered with me that he's the only other person that could've done this (if it was 2 people that did this). They both better have a good reason because I am UPSET.

Freaking Clover, man. I don't know what happened to this girl to take the turn she did, but MAN, she really did a 180 by the end, huh? Killing Santa and Seven in supposed revenge--which, fair enough-- was not enough. She just had to take down June and Junpei too. Girl, what did we do to you? Like, if you had just killed Junpei I wouldn't have been so upset (sorry dude i swear i love you), but why JUNE? That's like killing an innocent puppy, what the heck. I know that there's something wrong with both Snake and Clover, but wow. I'm dying to find out more about them because this is... well, it's something, alright. The fact that she literally made Junpei accept her hand to escape together while he was traumatised and dazed only to whack him and leave him to slowly bleed out as she happily takes off with his bracelet was crazy tho. I hope there's a reason for why she's still going for everyone that didn't kill Snake because my man did not deserve that.

Also, damn. If I had a nickle for every time a pink/red haired girl has offered to join hands and live together at the expense of everyone else I'd have 3 nickles. Which isn't a lot, but it really is so weird it happened thrice. I'd have 2 if that same girl had the potential to end up killing me at the end.

Also, with the knowledge that Snake has a prosthetic arm and there being no mention of it as well his bracelet being cracked meaning we have no way of confirming it's number 2 almost makes me believe he's alive. Almost. I'm pretty confident he's really gone but wouldn't that be a cool twist?

Lastly, the deaths.

I could be completely off the mark but I have a theory that the other 2 endings have 2 different killers. To me, the way everyone died seemed... different. In the Submarine death, the bodies of everyone were so much more bloody than in the other Bad End. The blood splatter looks more spread out in comparison. What makes me kinda iffy about this one is that both the weapon used is supposedly a knife. It could be different people regardless, because how in the world does a knife create blood splatters worse than the literal axe in the Sub ending, but I'm not sure. We know Junpei in both endings was stabbed for sure, but we can't say the same about the others with the existance of the axe and gun. Just wanted to throw that idea out there anyway.

[munsons-maiden]

I don’t understand why random anons feel the need to harass you and Eddie, but just wanted to chime in on the basketball game…

Hellfire is an extracurricular on the exact same level as basketball. Maybe not in the eyes of the rest of the school, but just like Eddie said in his speech, they’re considered freaks because they like to play a game, when multiple other things are acceptable. This hellfire meeting would’ve been scheduled way before the basketball game. Lucas also would’ve known about the game sooner than the day of, so it was rude of him to wait until the last possible moment to let Eddie know he wasn’t coming. It is automatically assumed hellfire can be postponed, because it (and its members) is considered less than basketball (and its members). As a weird theatre kid, I dealt with this time and time again when it came to funding for extracurricular activities. We were always bottom of the totem pole compared to athletes.

I don’t think it’s fair to blame Eddie for being upset. Not only is Lucas bailing on something he’s worked hard on, probably for months, he’s left him in a bind at the absolute last moment, and couldn’t even come tell him himself. Of course he’s frustrated, because once again, something important to him is being treated as not important.

Eddie does have his flaws, but I honestly think trying to twist things to make him seem like a terrible person for being frustrated HIS favorite activity was once again coming in second to that of the jocks who bully him is a bit of a stretch. 🦄

Exactly. All of them could have acted better in the situation, all of them didn't act nice - Dustin and Mike were the ones to blame the most tbh because they played the double game of "yeah okay we'll try to make Eddie postpone" in front of Lucas and then telling Eddie "we don't want to postpone, we just don't think we can win without Lucas" to which Eddie's reaction is "well thennfind a sub" since it's literally just about one evening. My own opinion is that a) had Lucas asked Eddie himself or b) had Dustin and Mike told Eddie they wanted to be at the game to support their friend - pointing out it was about Lucas, not basketball - Eddie would have tried to postpone it. Neither of these four is an asshole. They just never tried to see the other's perspective. They all have flaws, and that's perfectly fine.

And yeah that anon was weird af. Didn't hear from them again so I guess my mic drop settled it 😂

[sincelastsession]

Today was shit.

The loudness factor has been insane. I live right next to the pool.

I called my mom freaking out. Honestly it is an unreasonable amount of noise and screaming coming from adults and children and every fucking noise canceling thing and sedative med isn't working. I literally just need to fucking move and AND the stairs are terrible on my fucked up joints back and hip issue.

I tried to have a D/s dynamic with Matt today and he's been a shit head basically not paying attention and he's human we fuck up I get it but today I needed him.

Justin fuckin messaged me about this good time he was having today and so I called because I don't want to text and fuck I don't want to type everything out but text to speech isn't working today because I need a new phone. Which my father promised to help me with.

Anyway then Justin immediately says he has company and can't talk....but he could text me and tell me a teaser line of his day so I'd talk to him?

Fuck I'd planned to say hi just because I wanted to but fuck him.

Petty ass man.

Hannah just told me she took benadryl and slept all day like she needed a fucking award.

I need help. I need to move. I hate living around the loudness.

I understand nobody can afford shit.

THEN MY MOTHER ASKS ME IF SHE WERE TO MOVE TO A BIGGER HOUSE AND HAVE AN ATTACHED HOUSE TO HER HOUSE DO I WANNA LIVE THERE????

She's either lost her mind or fallen for another fucking scam artist who she thinks loves her and wants to visit and see her in person and give her money and spoil her.

I have had to prove her wrong twice if not more than that and she has lost money to these people and other scammers people that said they were the governmentI have had to prove her wrong twice if not more than that and she has lost money to these people and other scammers people that said they were the government

This is insane I am so tired I just want to live in peace and quiet and be left to fuck alone so I can have time with my partner and many other that are peaceful and normal.

I asked my mom to talk to my dad about moving me and she sent me these screen captures which I will share with you. The green text is my mother the other text is my father.

The thing is my mom could very well help him out and she does max out her credit cards and she is addicted to shopping and that is why she as far as I'm aware has not helped very much on paying to help me have a place to live.

She has a job my dad currently does not.

This is all very distressing because the noise and the support beam and all the things I'm worried about are just too much and I really just need something simple and quiet.

I'm terrified that I'm going to end up in a inpatient facility again. I'm scared I'm going to lose my cool and flip the fuck out on some loud inconsiderate people.

I don't think that any of this is fair to me. I understand that people deal with worse but I am not those people and their life is not my life.

I'm sure that this makes me look spoiled but it's far from that. Because no one gives me money for anything I don't ask for money. All I'm asking for is for help getting a different apartment and patience with me while I get better to a baseline where I can operate or maybe I could get a fucking job and help everybody out so I don't have to rely on them.

I'm so fucking upset.

I have tried to sedate myself with my medicine like I'm supposed to take it and it didn't work today and I flipped out.

Idk what to say rn.

[justanotherhkfan]

ok im super curious because i saw you post this earlier, but what's all the stuff about you dressing up and being a girl? (also you are free to make this as long as you want if it helps you distract you from your trip ^^)

oh boy. this is gonna be a long response so bear with me guys! :) i am also still very shakey so i might not make much sense but i will do my best to explain it

ok wait this is gonna sound really weird. so in fourth grade i... had to fake my death? listen it sounds worse than it actually was (but to be fair my mom was really upset when it happened and i felt really bad) but i essentially had to fake being a girl to get a cootie catcher from this group of girls. it was really dumb and i didn't really wanna go along with it at first but yknow. what happened happened

so i got to the sleepover and the girls were doing light as a feather stiff as a board and i freaked the heck out because i didn't really understand how it worked (look i was a really stupid kid ok?) and then the girls just started insulting me. like - not even related to me freaking out. i think what hurt more wasn't really them calling me flat (which i mean ok who cares i'm a guy so it's not that bad) and saying my hair was stupid (which was just flat out untrue my hair was beautiful) but it was more when they insulted my personality

it just felt so. idk. hateful? they said that i was going to live alone my entire life and that i was a nerdy dorky geek and i feel like that lived with me past just being a girl. i hid in the bathrooms for a while and i just thought about it because it was so... true? like, the only kid who ever wanted to be my friend constantly involved me in shit like dressing up as a girl for something as stupid as a cootie catcher and everyone else just never really cared about me much. like that time a kid lodged a ninja star in my eye and made me dress up as a dog for... god knows what reason. (why am i always stuck dressing up as something??? whatever)

anyway thats besides the point. basically what happened after is the girls told me they would give me a makeover and kinda apologised without apologising for calling me ugly and flat. and like. after that i just felt... so much better about myself? like i didnt even care about the fact that the girls were being horrible to me before, i looked really pretty and i had a nice dress on and my hair was styled nicely. it just felt good, to be part of something for once and to actually feel really confident

i guess it all sounds stupid when i say it out loud. but i just thought it was nice at the time to be part of something. maybe i wanna be a girl maybe i just wanna be part of a group again but all i know is that getting dressed up and dancing with the girls that night was probably the most fun i've had in ages

[torireactstohdgstories]

Wellness Check by Darkfalli - Chapter 2 : In Bad Health

Click here to see the story

"Wait…how the shit did I just sleep? How the stars did I get into my bed?" x) Well, you were thinking so much you didn't notice the giant plant injecting you with sleeping drugs. So that should be a sign that you might need help paying attention to your surroundings?

Ooh, ouch, yeah, that's why you don't just jump out of bed...

Oh, hey, nevermind, Cyathea caught her!

"I was going to learn that affini networking stuff, and I was going to snoop on her eating habits, and send the affini her favorite foods." Oh yeah, mhm, such a bold revenge XD I love it, it sounds like she's not even listening to herself.

"overpowered alien nanny" x) This is so funny

I know I mentionned it already but I love the way Darkfalli uses the narration for characterization. So far, each pov in each story has had something different about it and it's really great.

"I buried my face in my hands and muffled a scream. Digitalis found my smut server." Oh no XD Oh, that is embarrassing. I mean, I'm not particularly private about my kinks but there are things I would never want anyone to just find like that so yeah, very relatable XD

So the vet is here and... "Also, uh, non-human genitals… why did my mind jump to tentacles?" Omg, that's the first thing crossing your mind??? XD

I love the way every response from the vet makes Aster want to just one-up or out-weird him XD

"Also, really fucking awkward of a conversation to have with a xeno who fucking broke into my home at the request of another xeno fern bitch." I mean, when you put it that way, then yeah, true.

x) So now, that's the second time Aster has been knocked out by an Affini, I think I'd be a bit annoyed about it by now if I were her.

Wow, yeah, Aster is rude XD But to be fair, she's angry. A lot, now that I think about it.

I actually feel a little bad for Cyathea. She really has incredible patience. If I were her, I would be so upset that someone I'm trying to help is being so mean.

"I had a lot of applications in sandboxed VMs simply because they couldn't run natively on my OS and also because it was more secure." We're getting into vocabulary I'm not entirely familiar with x) I love the internet but I can barely understand how it works.

Oh gosh, Cyathea's last name is Brownii and I don't know if that's a botanicaly term but it sounds like brownie and that's so freaking cute!!!

"You have a number of psychological issues, including your agoraphobia, autism, anxiety, depression, asocial tendencies, insomnia, and attention issues." And a partridge in a pear tree~

I just keep laughing, this character's narration is just so funny x)

Aw, here comes the trauma. :( Aster is spiralling into bad thoughts and trying to repress it. Poor girl.

"An awful wretched cry of pain slipped out and kept slipping out." Oh gosh, I've known that :( Oh Aster...

The description of being too depressed and tired and emotional to move is on point, maybe just a bit too close to home

I like that Cyathea is really giving Aster choices every step of the way, especially since she needs to feel in control. Using the blue or red flower, giving her the option to stop or keep going. It's nice. I feel like she's trying to do that more than other affini in other stories.

Okay, Cyathea is literally a saint for being able to deal with Aster and stay calm. It reminds me of having to explain to a spoiled kid why they have to take showers and eat their veggies. With more insults. Considering what we learned about how Aster's parents dealt with her autism, it'd make sense she has even more problems understanding what is healthy and what isn't. I don't know if I'm making any sense. Basically, trauma.

~

Alright, so far, I really like the way we're learning about Aster, what she is like and why. There was a lot of relatable stuff in here, I feel a bit emotional myself ^^'

Maybe it's me projecting but Cyathea feels very maternal. Makes sense, of course, but the way she deals with Aster's bullshit with the patience of freaking Buddha really reminds me of having to deal with a kid's tantrums. I really like that though. Of course, it's exactly what Aster needs, that's what that story is for x)

Pretty excited about what's to come! This is really good!

[velvetyshu]

damn,,,just two weeks, and yall are still getting work?? that sounds like hell tbh 😭

ughh that sounds painful,,,i hate going to the doctor in the first place so i cant imagine how that must feel. and is ointment really the only way to treat that?? because how on earth is ointment (which is being applied to your skin) able to reach your veins (which are inside you)?? 😭

even though you have your assignments and stuff make sure you rest! i know it sounds corny and i've probably told you that a million times but 2 weeks is a lot of time to get some much needed rest.

wahhh i wouldnt have said anything about friending you if i didn't want to 😭 besides, to be completely fair, i didn't meet you on discord, so i don't think you're a creep. plus the experiences i had were weird at the time but now i just think theyre funny!

also, im sending you a request on discord as we speak! im the one with the beidou pfp btw! im looking forward to talking with you there (and please don't hesitate to talk to me there whenever - i hate having one conversation with someone and then just forgetting about them 😭)

Yeah it is, more importantly since I went to the hospital on Tuesday at 12 am as I had the worst feeling ever and I’m now sick with a virus called the acute viral syndrome. An awful week, am I right 😭 I was upset because I was going to give a letter and some donuts to my school dean who’s helped me a lot when no one was there for me, a father figure basically. Sadly I didn’t get the chance to but maybe once I’m done with winter break I will </3

Sadly an ointment doesn’t help at all, but it’s the only option I have for now since my dad isn’t the type to to care about me physically. I guess he’s physically/mentally neglecting but we’re financially stable at least.

I mean that’s fair! Discord is a fun thing to experience but it’s also bittersweet depending on the people you meet. But thank you <33 I accidentally didn’t know who was the person who friended me until I saw your ask which was why I was freaking out 😭 I’ll do my best to start convo’s though! Just know I suck at them and I overthink a lot. Likewise, feel free to reach out to me whenever!

[panicattheattic]

Falling Asleep on Them Headcanons

Lucifer

So you were in trouble right?

Yup, you aren't even sure what you did this time.

But here you were.

In Lucifer's room.

Getting a talking-to that's been going on for like 3 hours now.

At this point you were sitting beside Lucifer on his bed.

Kinda looking towards him, but not really paying attention.

But he just kept going on and on.

Eventually you started to get really sleepy.

Ah that's right, you were in trouble for staying out so late...

You tried to fight the drowsiness fearing you'd just get in trouble again.

That didn't work so well.

Soon you were slumped over, fast asleep.

Lucifer felt your weight on him and he knew immediately you had fallen asleep.

That may or may not have been part of his plan.

To be fair, he originally was just going to give you one of his extensive speeches about following the rules.

But once he saw you were barely staying awake, he decided to take advantage of it.

Can you blame him?

You look so adorable when you sleep.

Just don't be alarmed when you wake up tomorrow in Lucifer's bed all snuggled up in his sheets.

Mammon

He was over at your room.

Again.

You were watching a compilation of the best Lord of Fools moments from the TSL anime.

Mammon was crying, but that's besides the point.

You held on to his arm in order to comfort him.

"I-I'm fine, ya dummy! Ya think the great Mammon needs someone to hold him??"

You managed to convince him it was for you instead of him, so he let it slide.

Not that that was something difficult for him to do.

The warmth that radiated off of him was calming, so calming infact, that you couldn't help snuggling into his side even more and drifting off to sleep.

At first when he noticed, Mammon nearly freaked out.

"W-Wha' do ya think your doin'?!"

But upon confirming that you really were asleep.

And since no one else was around.

He let his true feelings show.

He gently moved your hair from your face as he gazed upon you lovingly.

The position might have not been comfortable for either of you, but he didn't dare move for fear of waking you.

He didn't want the moment to end.

Leviathan

You were watching an anime from the human world.

The original Dragon Ball.

You wanted to show it to Levi because you thought he'd enjoy it's quirky humor.

But you didn't have the same magical energy that "Master Otaku Leviathan" had.

You really couldn't stay up all night as much as you tried.

It was well after midnight when your head fell on his shoulder.

You fell asleep without meaning to.

To say that Levi nearly died would be an understatement.

What was happening?

What were you doing?

This sorta thing only happens in animes!

And not to guys like him!

Right?

Yeah, if you woke up you'd probably be upset at him for allowing this...

B-but maybe not?

Levi was happy, scared, excited and mortified all at the same time.

He tensed up so bad that he was in more muscle pain than you when you woke up.

Satan

So this was a pretty usual occurrence actually.

Whenever you would read together, all cuddled up, it often ended with you falling asleep with your head on his chest.

Depending on the book (like if he knew you actually liked it) he'd stop reading and set the book aside.

He'd hold you and stare at you, mesmerized by the soothing rise and fall of your chest.

He'd stay wherever you were until you woke up, sometimes falling asleep himself.

But if couldn't sleep, he'd stroke your hair and enjoy the simplicity of your breathing.

Asmodeus

You were sharing a bath in Asmo's super cushy bathroom.

You were wearing bathing suits, something Asmo half-heartedly pouted about.

He was going off about style and devilgram drama.

As much as you wanted to listen to him.

Because he was undeniably cute when he was honestly passionate about something.

You were starting to feel incredibly sleepy.

Probably because Asmo had kept you up the entire night before.

Just doing each other's make up and gossiping. (Get out of that gutter, please.)

You were kinda worried you'd drown if you fell asleep in here, but you knew Asmo would keep you safe.

So you eventually gave in to sleep.

Asmo noticed when you sank a bit lower in the water.

"MC? Are you-- Ooh~ How adorable!!"

He tried to keep his squeals of delight as quiet as possible.

He failed.

Thankfully you were well an truly down for the count at this point.

He wanted to let you sleep so he could just watch your cute sleeping face.

But he didn't want your skin to get pruny and dry so he did his best to carry you back to his room without waking you.

You did wake up, but just slightly.

All he could make out from your slurred, half-awake talking was his name.

He could have died from the cuteness then and there.

Though, not gonna lie, he was really curious about whatever you could be dreaming about.

Pushing that thought aside (for now) he set you down on a towel which he had placed on his bed and, after getting dry, laid down beside you.

He couldn't help but stroke your face as he too drifted off to sleep with a smile.

Beelzebub

Okay, so you know how after you eat a lot you get really sleepy?

Well there was a big meal today, since Simeon showed up offering to cook Celestial realm food, and you jumped on the chance to stack your plate with heavenly goodies.

Through the meal, you were very aware of Beel eyeing your plate as he ate across from you.

You knew what he was thinking.

There was no way you could finish all that food.

And usually he would have been right.

You felt just about ready to burst.

But it wasn't every day you got to eat Simeon's cooking and, damnit, you were going to enjoy it!

It also didn't help that the way Beel kept hungrily eyeing your food made you all the more possessive over it.

It was your food!

And you were gonna eat it!

And that was a mistake.

You ate way too much and after your stomach ache went down all that was left was sleepiness.

And so that led to Beel checking up on you while you laid on your bed in receding pain.

He was reasonably worried after watching you eat much more food than you should physically be able to handle.

When he asked you how you felt you only responded with a groan and beckoned him over.

When he sat down on your bed, you placed your head in his lap.

Beel felt warmer than after eating a super spicy double cheeseburger from Hell's Kitchen.

So he happily let you sleep as he rubbed your back, hoping to help you feel better.

Belphegor

You honestly have no clue how you ended up falling asleep quicker than Belphie.

Well, you were pretty tired already from studying so much.

And your tutor did keep insisting on being a bad influence.

And when the person who's supposed to be helping you learn is purposely trying to lull you to sleep, going so far as to put his favorite cow patterned pillow under your head...

It's kinda hard to stay awake.

Belphie was really upfront about having no interest in studying, preferring to just cuddle and nap.

But when you persisted he "agreed" to help you study.

He knew sleep better than anyone, so putting you to sleep would be easy.

By the time you did fall asleep however, he hadn't expected to find your head on his arm rather than on his pillow.

Not that he was complaining.

He was definitely not complaining.

But now that he had you, he wasn't planning on letting go until he was no longer sleepy.

So if you don't like cuddling, you might want to get used to it.

~Aqua