#nine maybe eleven max

[garden-of-bri]

still not over that one scene in hxh where Gon admits he’s been on dates with older women as a CHILD. i felt like Killua first watching that until he brought up that he had no time for dates cause he was out assassinating people.

my mind did a lag moment before i remembered that oh yea! they’re both traumatized! they did not grow up like normal twelve year olds!

[dilemmaontwolegs]

The Aftermath || LN4 {13}

Pairing: Lando Norris x widow!reader Summary: Lando is still struggling with his anxiety and it seems to only grows with time as he tried to balance work and parenting. Warnings: 18+ only, hurt/comfort, mentions of dad!PND WC: 3.4K

F1 Masterlist || One || Two || Three || Four || Five || Six || Seven || Eight || Nine || Ten || Eleven || Twelve || Thirteen || Epilogue

“I thought this was supposed to get easier,” Lando grumbled as you sat in bed, your laptop screen filled with his image. The bright late afternoon sun was streaming through the window in your room but it was night where Lando was in Miami. “I feel like I’m letting everyone down. I can’t concentrate on the race because I’m thinking about you two, and I can’t be at home because of the race…I hate this.”

 “I don’t know if it's easier, but I guess it will become a new normal in time. We’ll be with you at the next three races, just have to make it through this one.”

“I need this two week break to hurry up and arrive. I just need to be able to go to put Ren to bed and tuck her in,” startled cries sounded from the cot across the room as Renleigh woke from her nap, “and I need to be there to pick her up when she cries. I think I’m going out of my mind.”

The catch in his voice broke your heart and you grabbed your phone off the bedside so you could message Max. “You don’t know how much I wish I could take away the hurt you’re feeling, Lan. I don’t want you to be alone so Max is getting on the first flight he can. And before you argue, he is happy to do it. We are both worried about you, babe.”

“No offence, love, but I don’t need Max, I need my family.” He dropped his chin onto his hand with a sigh. 

“I’m just a phone call away, day or night. But if you want snuggles, Max will have to do for a few more nights.” 

You left the laptop for a moment so you could reach into the cot and bring Ren over to see her daddy, waving her little hand to the camera. A smile finally graced his lips as he waved back and leaned closer to the screen to kiss his camera. 

Placing her on the bed, you both watched her try to crawl towards Lando. “That’s it, my girl,” he praised as she rocked forward before face planting into the soft blankets. “Getting there, you’ll be racing around in no time.”

“Speaking of racing, you should be getting ready for bed,” you reminded him gently. “Max will be there in the morning to keep you company and you know you can talk to him about anything.”

“You make it sound like I need counselling,” he joked but it fell flat when you shrugged. “I’m fine.”

“Okay, it’s just…your job is already so stressful, then the addition of a baby…it’s a big change and it’s alright to admit that. Dads can get PND too.” 

“Really?” His brows pinched together as he fell silent. 

“Even if you are fine, I think talking to someone else might still help. Remember when you got me to go to counselling? You said it wasn’t anything to be ashamed of and it isn’t.”

He didn’t look convinced as he muttered, “yeah, maybe.”

“Just think about it,” you suggested as he started to yawn. “And get some rest, babe. I love you.”

You felt like you had come out of hibernation as you sat beside Lando, your fingers entwined as he drove to Imola. Since giving birth you had hardly travelled anywhere, opting to keep Renleigh’s arrival private, so everyone close enough to know about her came to your house to visit her. That would all change on Sunday and to say you were nervous was the mother of all understatements.

Your stomach was tied up in knots just thinking about trying to navigate the busy paddock with your precious baby. Lando had already organised plenty of security to escort you everywhere but your overthinking and paranoia whispered that there were still so many things that could go wrong. It lingered even when you tried to focus on the here and now.

The radio played quietly in the background but it was Ren that you listened to, her babbling in response to Lando’s chattering keeping you both entertained and distracted. You turned in the seat to see her smile in the small mirror and her papaya socks kicking in the air.

“Someone is excited to make her debut,” Lando said with a chuckle. He gripped the wheel with one hand and the other came to rest on your thigh, giving it a gentle squeeze. There had hardly been a moment where he wasn’t holding some part of you since his return, needing the comfort of your touch to ground himself and suppress his growing anxiety. 

This was the most relaxed he had been in months and you smiled back at him, grateful that your husband was returning to his old self. 

“Why are you smiling like that?” he asked with a nervous laugh between glances as he drove.

“Do you ever just stop and think ‘I have never been happier than I am at this moment’?” you asked as you traced the beauty spots that dotted his arm like a constellation of stars that would always lead you home. “It’s almost painful how happy I am right now, like my heart is going to burst right out of my chest.”

“Please don’t,” he chuckled, reaching up to stroke your cheek before concentrating back on the road. “That was me this morning, well, every morning I wake up beside you. Seeing the sunlight catch your hair, the peace on your face when you bury it in my neck and snore.”

Ren’s arms startled into the air at the sudden laugh you barked and Lando’s grin grew at the sound of pure, unfiltered joy. “That was almost romantic! You were so close to a blowjob, until you lied.”

“You do snore, and it’s cute!” he stated seriously before casting you a sly smile. “So about that blowjob…”

You leaned over the console and kissed the sharp line of his jaw, tracing the curve to his ear. “Tell me I snore one more time.” He clamped his lips closed and you smirked as you sat back in the seat. “Smart man.”

Lando put the car in park and turned the engine off but made no move to open the door as he sat quietly with his hands still on the wheel. His qualifying had gone great the day before and he was starting the race in P3 but the race was far from his mind as he looked at the high fence ahead, knowing the circuit was just on the other side.

“What if we are doing the wrong thing?”

“Lan, we can’t keep her bubble wrapped for the rest of her life. And we are going to make mistakes, that’s just a fact, but there’s only one way to find out.” You looked out the window and saw a group of men wearing McLaren shirts that showed off their large muscles. “Your papaya army has arrived, and they bought the big guns too.”

Lando snorted and relaxed a little, though the wariness never left his eyes as he unbuckled his seatbelt and stole a kiss. “Thank you.”

Lando’s fingers tightened around yours and he placed his other hand protectively over Renleigh’s back. He had debated putting her into the stroller that remained folded up in the car boot but the need to keep her close made him strap the front pack to his chest. Every few steps his head would dip down and he would place a tender kiss to the top of her head, whispering soothing words that were more for himself than her.

“What’s the weather forecast?” you asked as you tipped your head back to the skies and wondered if you had imagined the kiss of raindrop on your skin. 

“Chance of rain, but it should only be light.” He took a look around himself and narrowed his eyes at the grey clouds on the horizon before picking up the pace a little. His quick walk stalled when he reached the paddock gates and patted his pockets for his pass to scan and swore under his breath. 

“Looking for this?” you teased as you pulled his pass out of your pocket along with yours. 

“Have I told you how much I missed having you here?” he said as he took his pass and scanned it, his photo popping up on the little screen before he stepped through the barrier. 

“You may have mentioned it once or twice. Is Maria here already?”

Lando nodded, mentioning he had messaged her earlier and she had already arrived at the track with Zak. 

“Maybe grand-mere can look after you for a little while,” you whispered as you tickled Ren’s feet through her socks. “Then mummy and daddy can sneak off to his room for a few minutes.”

 “Minutes?” Lando scoffed at the insult and you grinned knowing his competitive side was coming out despite the fact the man’s stamina was far longer.

“If you want to prove me wrong…”

“I’ve done that multiple times a day, for the last two weeks, love,” he smirked as he whispered in your ear as you walked along. “But if your memory is that bad, I’m sure I can remind you.”

Your reply was lost as a huge swell of people came into view through the gaps in the wall of muscle ahead, the chaotic screams suddenly piercing the air as Lando was spotted by the crowd. Your mouth was still parted in shock but the sound of a shaky breath didn’t come from your lips. 

“Can we get to the garage, please?” you asked the head of security and he nodded, just as eager to make it through the mass of people. 

As effortless as Lando made it seem, he was never truly comfortable in large crowds and the birth of his daughter had only increased his social anxiety. You could feel it now as his palm heated against yours, his skin clammy and grip tightening to an almost painful hold. He was using you to anchor himself and fight back the panic so you bit the inside of your cheek and let him crush your hand.

“Almost there, baby,” you soothed as the men moved to the shape of an arrow that speared the crowd apart. 

Cameras flashed and fans screamed as they spotted the baby tucked into Lando’s chest, just the brown tufts of her curls visible. Those too were hidden as Lando cupped the back of her head and hummed a sweet lullaby to distract himself from the questions thrown his way. There was no way he could bring himself to stop and answer any of them until Ren was safely in the McLaren area, he couldn’t risk her safety among the strangers. It was only when he caught sight of the grey and orange coloured motorhome that he could muster up the courage to slip his hand away from yours and offer a small wave. 

The fear and reservations you had held never had time to surface while you focused on Lando but when you passed the doors and the outside world was silenced you finally breathed a sigh of relief. “We did it, Lan.”

“I don’t like this,” he admitted as he continued to his driver room. A bassinet was already set up with McLaren blankets and it made his lips twitch into an almost smile as you helped him to take Ren out of the front pack. “I can’t believe she slept through all that.”

He placed her into the bassinet and tucked her in while you wrapped your arms around his waist and kissed his shoulder. You knew it wouldn’t be long until she woke up for a feed as a heaviness ached in your breasts so you had to make the most of the quiet moments while you could, dragging Lando to the couch and forcing him to sit down. 

“What’s going on in that handsome head of yours?” you asked as you combed your fingers through his hair and tugged the stands so he looked at you. “Talk to me.”

“I thought having you both here would be easier, but I still feel sick,” he admitted after a minute of drawn out silence. “I need you here, don’t get me wrong, I hated being away from you but now I can't…I don’t even know how to explain it.”

You waited patiently for him to collate his thoughts, holding his hand while he watched Ren sleep peacefully. He longed for that peacefulness too.

“Infinite possibilities, it’s something Andrea gets us to think about when we race. One move can make a difference, one millimetre off the line could be the difference between the fastest lap or ending up in the gravel. Every action has an infinite amount of possibilities and it’s my job to figure out which is most likely to happen.” He took a deep breath from his quiet ramblings and exhaled a long sigh as he slowed down his words. “I can’t stop thinking about the infinite possibilities with Ren. Every bad thing that could happen, everything that could go wrong, I see it in my head. All. The. Time. I can’t stop.”

His words died out with a sob and you wrapped your arms around him, pulling him into your embrace as he fell apart. This was the moment you had been expecting, though it was still gut wrenching to witness. All the ups and downs this season had been leading to one cataclysmic peak where he had to release the pent up thoughts he had tried to suppress.

“Do you remember that day at Silverstone, the first time I came back to the paddock?” You knew he was listening by the way he held his breath to silence the sobs that jolted his shoulders. Rubbing his back softly, you kissed his temple and stared at the poster on the wall, seeing how much his face had matured in the last four years.

“When I sat in your room alone it was like time stood still. I had so much time to think that I imagined every horror scenario of you and your car and that fear made my stomach turn. I couldn’t eat anything all day,” you admitted as he pulled back with shimmering eyes and damp cheeks. “But the moment I saw you napping in the cockpit of your car I could finally think again. Not a single one of those scenarios came close to what was actually happening in that moment.”

You wiped his eyes and cupped his face in your hands. “It doesn’t matter that there’s endless possibilities for how the future might go, Lando. All that matters is this moment, and wasting time thinking about things that may never even happen only makes us miss out on today.”

“You aren’t scared we are making the wrong decisions?”

“Of course I’m scared, babe. But I know the man I married and I know that the decisions we make, whether they are right or wrong, come from a good place.” You placed a hand over his heart, feeling the bump under his shirt of the necklace he wore for Ren. “That’s the best any parent can hope for.”

His hand came to rest over yours for a moment before he lifted it to his lips and kissed your wedding ring. “I need to go but I’ll be back before the race starts.”

You nodded as he went to the small bathroom and washed his face, looking clear headed and calm once more. “Are you alright?” you asked as he started to undress and grab his fireproofs from the closet.

He pulled the skin tight material over his head and looked at your reflection in the mirror. “No, but I will be.”

The honesty was more relieving despite his words and you were glad he hadn’t just lied and said he was fine.

With a small smile, he leaned into the bassinet and kissed Ren’s cheek. “I love you, little lady, more than anything in this whole wide world.”

Five years after Imola had stolen your breath away, it had done it again. This time your voice was hoarse from the screams of support and happiness as Lando won the race.

It was as if all the tears ever shed at the circuit were released from the heavens to cascade upon the track with only three laps to go. Max and Charles had just passed the pit entrance before the deluge fell but Lando had made the split second decision to box and change to full wets. He had quickly caught up with the better grip and took the lead when they pitted on the next lap.

You hadn’t been able to move from where you stood rooted on the balcony in front of the home straight. Lando had always been able to dance in the rain, making his car sing in harmony to the beat of the drops on the blacktop. This was his element, but every turn gave you heart palpitations.

Yellow flags flew as some drivers tried their luck with their slicks, praying the rain would pass, only to spin out when they hit a puddle. One rookie aquaplaned off the track, leaving tire ruts in the grass, before rejoining the track and you gasped as Lando had to swerve to avoid him.

“We saw there was a close call on that final turn. How stressful was that?”

“It was scary, so scary. Knowing that my wife was watching just ahead, and seeing that car come right in front of me…my wife and my daughter, they were all I could think about. It’s so wet out there, turn too quick and there’s just no grip, nothing to keep me on the track. I was certain I was gone when that car came at me.”

Lando brushed his cap off and combed his hair as his lips pressed tight to hide the tremble. “It was so scary. You just have no idea what it’s like in those split seconds where you react on instinct and don’t know if you have just saved your life or forfeited it. It’s a risk, and I used to find it fun when I was younger but not now. I have too much to risk now.”

You cradled Ren closer as the McLaren team let you through to the front of the barrier. You hadn’t planned on stepping out of the motorhome but Lando was clearly not okay and you needed to get to him.

“It’s hard to be excited over winning when I thought I had just about made my wife a widow again, or that my daughter was going to grow up and not know me,” he said, answering another question that you had missed as you navigated your way out of the garage. “As much as I love this sport, and I am grateful for all the people who have helped me to get to where I am, I love my family more.”

He seemed to sense you in the crowd and Renleigh started to cry in your arms as you reached the barrier. The reporter followed him as he crossed the short distance and pressed his sweaty forehead to yours. “I’m going to be alright,” he whispered for only you to hear before he took Ren, who instantly settled on his shoulder, as the crowd ‘awww’d at the sight.

“I have been thinking hard about this for the last few months,” he continued as he gently bounced Ren back to sleep, “but this will be my last season in Formula One. I have always put 100% into what means the most to me and I haven’t been able to do that with racing taking me away from my family.”

The shock that rippled through the crowd and stunned the reporter into silence didn’t reach you. You had seen the look in his eyes when he parked in front of the 1st place signage and pulled his helmet off. He hadn’t thrown his hands in the air, he hadn’t waved to the crowd or his team. He had fallen to his knees and ripped his gloves off to feel the solid ground beneath his palms as the rain continued to fall.

The microphone shifted to you as you watched Lando hold Ren tighter and brush his lips over her dark curls. “It must have been harrowing to watch that last lap, especially since it wasn’t far from where you laid a wreath earlier today.”

“I trust every decision Lando makes. I knew he would make it through,” you said with a reassuring smile to your husband as you clutched the necklace that held your first wedding ring. “And every year when I visit I ask René to watch over him. Maybe he was listening all this time.”

Click here for the epilogue.

Tagging: @yunnie-f1 @neiich @zendayabelova @stillbreathin @dr3lover @writerscurse @christianpulisic10 @alwaysclassyeagle @alexisquinnlee-bc @purplephantomwolf @lightsoutletsgo @pleasantducktimetravel @pierre-gasllllllyyyyyy @holy-macncheese-balls @belennasif @ophcelia @love4lando @ryiamarie @mickslover @tyna-19

[sadhours]

Wicked Sensation

part three // billy hargrove x fem!reader

part one | part two | part three | part four | part five | part six | part seven | part eight | part nine | part ten | part eleven | part twelve | part thirteen | part fourteen | part fifteen | part sixteen | part seventeen

word count: 3.5k

warnings: 18+ minors dni, underage drinking, drinking and then driving, smut, billy masturbates, oral (f receiving), p in v, uh body fluids?

Billy liked you. You mostly kept to yourself but you were a wild child, he could tell. He’d seen you through your window, dancing in your room while you blasted music and drank beers. Every few hours you’d go outside for a smoke and he’d close his blinds so you couldn’t see him. He loved the music he could hear coming from your window. Metallica, Skid Row, Ratt, Def Leppard, Dio and the occasional Black Sabbath. When you’d dive into New Wave you’d lose him a bit until he’d seen how much fun you were having. You seemed carefree but yet there was something reserved about you. Something maybe he could tease out of you.

He’d definitely pleasured himself to the thought of it, not until after thumbing through his girly magazines but your face and wild hair flooded his mind when he looked at the girls in the magazine. He’d tossed the magazine on the ground, laying back on his bed and palmed himself through his jeans. He thought about the way you’d look riding him with your hair and tits bouncing. The way your mouth would hang open but the sides of your lips tugged up in a smile and he quickly undid his jeans, pulling his hard cock out of his jeans and started stroking himself long and slow at first. He imagined your eyes getting misty and you panting, making his movements quicker and quicker. Then he imagined his name falling out of your lips and he came undone, spilling out over his hand and shirt. When he’d cleaned up, he lit a cigarette and opened his blinds, seeing you perched outside having your own cigarette and he couldn’t help but think maybe you’d just done the same thing he did. It was midnight, after all.

The next day at school, you wore leather pants and he knew he was in for another late night.

—

Halloween came slower than he had wanted but it was finally here. He couldn’t be bothered to put together a costume but he wore his favorite leather jacket, leather fingerless gloves with his tightest 501’s. He’d spent a substantial amount of time in the bathroom. Max banging on the door to tell him to get a move on but Neil knocking on the door had him out of there sooner than he’d wanted. He finished his hair routine in his room, blinds open to see if he could get a glimpse of you getting ready. He grabs his cologne, dabbing on it neck and then just above his dick, on the blonde curls neatly trimmed there. He did this anytime he went on. Just in case, he told himself.

When he’s finished, he quietly slips out his house, making sure not to shut the door too hard. He jogs up to your house and knocks three times, shoving his hands into the pockets of his jacket as he waits. He expects you to answer but instead your father does and Billy’s a bit apprehensive, he doesn’t do well with parents. Plus, he’s not wearing a shirt.

Your dad is kind, he lets you do your own thing and tries not to interfere too much. He opens the door and tells Billy, “Past the kitchen, first door on the left.”

Billy is thankful your dad forgoes the formalities. He gets a glimpse of your brother, roughly Max’s age, sitting on couch with a costume he can’t quite pick out. He’s got those visor sunglasses on but nothing else gives an indication of what he’s supposed to be.

As Billy makes it to the hall he can hear your choice of music. Still of the Night by Whitesnake making your door vibrate. The musics loud enough that Billy doesn’t even bother knocking, twisting the door open to reveal you standing in your bra looking down at the two shirts laid out on your bed with a pensive look on your face. Billy moves to shut the door again but you stop him. “Wait, help,” you say and you’ve already had a few beers, the alcohol in your system giving you a bit of confidence and shoving your inhibitions further away.

He steps inside and closes the door behind him, looking at you inquisitively. “I don’t know which one to pick,” you admit, gesturing to the shirts on your bed. One is a leather halter top and the other is a cropped black button up with eccentric buttons.

Obviously Billy leans towards the halter top, pointing at it without a thing to say. You nod, “I was thinking that one too.”

You slip it on, then grabbing a studded leather jacket and putting that on as well. You turn to him, “Okay, I’m ready.”

He looks at your eye makeup and tilts his head, knowing this must be a costume but not sure what of. His curiosity obvious to you so you tell him, “I’m Alice Cooper.”

“No more Mr. Nice Guy,” he quips and you giggle which is not something he’d heard from you yet. He loves the sound.

You open your door and pull him through it, letting go of his jacket when you get into the kitchen because you don’t want your dad to read into this. Billy is just giving you a ride to the party, nothing more.

“Bye,” you tell your dad with a kiss to the cheek.

“Be safe, don’t do anything I wouldn’t do,” he says as you and Billy slip out the door. Billy thinks about how nice of an interaction that was. How your dad didn’t try to control any aspect of you and how that made him a bit jealous.

You walk to his Camaro, feeling your buzz as you tell him, “I love your car, I don’t think I’ve told you that.”

He slips inside, sliding his key in the ignition and turning it. The blue car comes alive with a rumble and it makes your body tingle. He pumps the acceleration a few times to really drive the point across, putting on a show for you.

You hum happily, lighting a cigarette as he peels out, down the street and the houses flying by. The comfortability you feel in this moment is something you wanna feel forever. If you could forever feel the buzz of alcohol and a pretty boy driving you anywhere fast, you would.

Billy has a Ted Nugent cassette in and you cringe, there’s only one song on this album you like. You prop open his glove box and dig through the tapes he has, but nothing quite feels right for the moment. You purse your lips as you lean back, excited for the party. You lived for this stuff, everyone was a little more laid back at parties, they got along.

“Had you a little pre party, did ya?” Billy asks, turning the music down.

“A few beers while I got ready,” you shrug, wondering if you seemed drunk already.

Billy makes it to a stretch of road with no curves for at least a few miles, “Me too.” and with the words he floors it.

You scream with a huge smile on your face, your hands gripping the sides of the seat. The way you sound drives him a little insane, feeling the way his dick twitches in his tight pants at getting the reaction from you. Wild child, he thinks as he glances at you. He’d always wanted girls to act this way. You didn’t talk too much, you didn’t tell him meaningless details about your day at the mall or the gossip at school. You could be uptight but it was in an alluring way, a way that had him wanting more.

However, he didn’t expect for you to disappear the second you arrive at the party. In fact, it kind of pissed him off. But once Tommy saw him, he was ushering him to the keg and telling him he just had to beat Steve’s record. He doesn’t see you again for about two hours, catching you inside with your makeup smeared as you take a shot of whiskey with a group of guys. He feels protective, snaking his way between you and some kid he’s seen around school.

You grin at the resurgence of Billy, loving that you can see the sweat and beer on his bare chest. You’ve had enough to drink to where you’re no longer pushing the sexual thoughts you have about him down. They’re now at the forefront of your mind when you see him.

“Have a shot with me!” you insist, pouring Billy one before he can answer. But he couldn’t say no to you anyhow.

You cheers, clinking your glasses together before tapping them on the counter and then down the hatch they go. You two don’t break eye contact the entire time. The group of men around you had kind of dispersed when Billy walked up, aside from two of them. The four of you somewhat engage in conversation but a song comes on that makes you wanna dance.

The Lovecats by The Cure isn’t necessarily Billy’s thing but he doesn’t protest as you drag him into the crowd of teenagers dancing. You wrap your arms around his neck and pull his body into yours. He places his hands on your hips, swaying with you.

So wonderfully, wonderfully, wonderfully, wonderfully pretty. Oh you’d know that I’d do anything for you.

The words make Billy snort quietly because that’s how he feels looking at you and he has never felt that about another person.

As the song comes to an end, you lean into his ear and whisper, “Take me home…”

Again, no protest, grabbing your hand and pulling you through the crowd and to his Camaro parked on the street.

The drive is quick, you smoke two cigarettes on the way but you share them both with Billy.

Billy notices your dads car is gone when he pulls up. “Where’s your dad?” He wonders aloud.

“Oh, he’s at his girlfriend’s house… my brothers with him,” you answer, opening the car door and stumbling out of it.

Billy tilts his head as he watches you, “You good, sweetheart?”

The nickname makes you giggle and you feel the heat fill between your legs, “Yes, sir! I’m great.”

You lead him into your house after fumbling with the key for a brief moment. Billy locks the door behind him, following to the kitchen where you fill two glasses of water and handing him one. He takes it gratefully, gulping some of it down before you two reach your bedroom. You set your glass down on your nightstand and fall back on your bed, eyes dark as you gawk up at Billy. He sits on your bed, looking around your room and you think about what Stephanie had said about him.

“I mean like he knew what he was doing, he wasn’t awkward about it at all. The man knew what he wanted.”

Billy was being awkward. But you couldn’t fathom why he’d come to your bedroom with you if he didn’t want to have sex with you. You take a pointed foot and shove him with him, a mischievous grin on your face. He finally looks at you, his lips turned up in a smile and his gorgeous blue eyes darting across your upper half.

“Pick some music to play,” you tell him and motion towards your stereo and cassette collection.

He obeys, holding up Master of Reality by Black Sabbath. You nod amusingly, sitting up to shrug your jacket off and then sliding your boots off. Billy does the same after putting the album on, now just wearing his jeans and fingerless gloves. He’s more quiet than you’d imagined, which you had many many times. But in your fantasies he’s eager and saying filthy things to you.

“C’mere,” you instruct, sitting up on your feet. When he sits across from you, the both of you instinctively lean in. Your lips meet and it’s gentle at first. But then it’s like a switch flipped in Billy and he grabs the back of your head, sliding his tongue past your lips. You gasp at the change of pace, falling on your back with him on top of you. He moves his hands from the back of your head to your jaw and his gloves feel nice on your skin.

His fingertips move slowly down from your face to your chest, his lips following suit but pausing at your neck. Reactively, you tilt your head back while he plants sloppy kisses on your neck. A whimper escapes when he sucks your skin between his lips and your legs spread a little further exposing more of his clothed excitement against yours.

Feeling his erection has you laugh excitedly, your body dripping in anticipation for what’s to come. He pulls back at the laugh and looks up at you through his dark and heavy eyelashes. He’s so pretty you could almost die right now. “Tickles?” he asks, his voice low with hunger.

“Uh-uh,” you shake your head, wrapping your arms around his neck and pulling his lips back to yours. “Feels so good,” you say into his mouth.

Billy begins to mess with the laces up the front of your top but gets frustrated when he can’t quite figure how to untie it. He sits back on his feet to get a better look but to no avail. He tugs harshly at the strings which jerks your upper body off the mattress, “How do you fucking get this thing off?”

The roughness of his movements takes your breath away but his frustration is adorable. You grab onto the hem and pull the top up and over your head, tossing it onto the floor with a cavalier smile. He rolls his eyes but is quick to reach his hand around your back and undo your bra in one swift motion. He drags it off of you and throws it behind him, a soft thud as it smacks against a poster on your wall before falling to the floor.

The cold air hits your chest but his mouth is efficient in warming you up, taking a nipple into his mouth while the other is covered by his hand. Your hand snakes up to the back of his neck, fingers tangling between the long curls there. “Oh, Billy…” you gasp and he responds with teeth, biting the tender skin.

But he stops and you’re eyes pry open at the surprise, not wanting this to end so soon. Luckily, you catch him tugging off his leather gloves and hear him mutter in a guttural tone, “Wanna feel you.”

Your head swims when he resumes heavy lips on your breast, his hand squeezing the other gently. You silently tell yourself you’re an idiot for ignoring the way you’d felt about him. If you could’ve been feeling this good the second you met him then you’ve missed out.

His hands smooth down your sides until his fingertips meet your waistband. He shimmies your pants down, your bum lifting to make it easier and they’re off in a heap next to the mattress. A scoff leaves his lips when he sees you weren’t wearing underwear. You shrug and tell him, “Can’t wear any with those pants, major panty lines.”

His curls bounce as he shakes his head a bewildered smile on his face, “You wore ‘em to school this week.”

“Enough talking,” you demand, getting impatient as your core is exposed to him and all he does is stare at it.

He slaps you down there and replies, “I’ll talk all I want.” You don’t mind though as he drags his fingers up and down your folds. Your head props up to watch him work while he mumbles, “Soaking for me.”

Biting your lip, you adjust your legs to give him ample room to continue. “Always so wet when I’m around?” he wonders aloud with a cocky grin plastered on his gorgeous face.

“Maybe,” you moan out as he slides a single digit inside of you.

You’re not sure exactly what it is, especially since it’s so early in the act but Billy is the best sexual partner you’ve had. Neither of you are remotely close to finishing but this is the best feeling you’ve ever had in your life. It could be the way he looks at you, eye contact was never something you did during sex. It always felt distracting but with Billy, it’s just urging that release along.

With his left on pushing slightly on your stomach, he adds a second finger inside you and instantly curls them. You gasp, your hands moving anywhere and everywhere trying to find something to squeeze. You actually sit up to grab at his shoulders, which in turns gives you a better view of what he’s doing. His thumb brushes up against your clit, just gently like he’s testing it out.

“Dear god,” you growl, your eyes meeting while he picks up his pace.

“M’names Billy,” he corrects you sarcastically and you want to slap him for teasing you like that now.

In a few seconds, you start to feel that rise in your stomach. It pushes you on your back and you spread your legs just a bit more, his fingers sliding in and out fast. He doesn’t forget to curl them up every few strokes.

Billy inches down the bed a little and his head dips down between your legs while his fingers stay inside you. He licks broadly against your clit, his tongue strong and certain. You cry out, fingers gripping onto his mullet. He looks up at you but your heads back, eyes closed as your back arches. He takes it as a sign and starts lapping at you with his tongue, quickly. Of course it doesn’t take any longer, your legs closing with him between them as you reach your high.

“Billy, yes!” you pant out, pulling his hair.

He pulls away quickly, not giving you any time to come down and crashes his lips onto yours. The kiss is all tongue and teeth, while your legs and arms wrap around him. Then he moves his hands between the two of you, able to unbuckle his belt and push his pants and briefs down to his thoughts with your help.

He strokes himself a few times before pressing his tip to your clit and dragging it through your folds, gathering the wetness. He bites his lip and there’s an uncertainty in his eyes. He doesn’t have a condom. You look at him and whisper, “I’m on the pill.”

Which isn’t exactly the protection he’s looking for but it’s enough for him, his lips tugging up as he directs his tip back down to your entrance and pushes it in. You gasp at its thickness, your fingernails digging into his shoulder.

“You’re so tight,” he says it like he can’t believe it. You almost tell him maybe he’s too big but you don’t want it to go to his head so you just whimper instead before pulling his lips back to yours, licking into it as he parts his lips.

He inches in further and the sensation in utterly intoxicating, your breath caught in your throat and you head feels fuzzy. All of you feels fuzzy almost. Once he bottoms out, he pulls back to look at you and the eye contact this time is even more intense as he thrusts against you.

You’re an absolute puddle beneath him. His name spilling out of your mouth over and over, almost like a chant. The eye contact doesn’t break either, which would in other circumstance would be uncomfortable but it’s like you’re both in a trance.

He doesn’t last long but either do you, once his hand wraps around your throat loosely you’re falling over the edge for the second time. He follows suit, pulling out and finishing on your stomach and chest. A bit of it actually gets on your chin and you can’t help but want to taste it, bringing your finger to wipe it and slipping the finger in your mouth. The action brings a bit more out of Billy, seemingly shocking the both of you but he laughs. “I could’ve just finished in your mouth, if you’d asked.”

You shyly giggle, “Had a hard time thinking, if I had tried to ask it probably would’ve came out as gibberish.”

He falls beside you on the bed and you look up at him, “Mind grabbing something off the floor so I can clean up?”

“Oh yeah! Sorry,” he sits up and reaches down to grab a ratty band t-shirt you’d left strewn by the bed. He cleans it up for you.

Now is the awkward part. You worry he’ll leave, you’ve never had someone stay and for the first time you minded. Billy stands back up and grabs his briefs, stepping into them before he walks to your bed. His fingers curl around the glass of water on your bedside table and he hands it to you.

“Hydrate,” he says. You obey, sitting up to take a few gulps. When you hand it back he does the same. But then he lays back on the bed, arms behind his head as he turns to you with a soft smile on his face. Your heart flutters and you curl up into his side. Good, he’s staying.

[helpimstuckposting]

I’m a ghost and you are a shadow

Part one | part two | part three | part four | part five | part six | part seven | part eight | part nine | part ten | part eleven

—

When they finally got around to leaving the backyard, once Steve had collected all the little bits of himself that felt tattered and stretched to their limits, he glanced back at his bedroom window. He caught the blinds swaying just a bit, as if someone had been peaking through and just stepped away. It was easy to imagine Eddie, pulling his mess of curly hair over his face to hide even though Steve hadn’t seen him. He wished he’d come back down.

Eddie was the only constant back in his world. He may have been states away, chasing some kind of purpose that Steve had lost among the bodies, but he called at least once a week. Just to say hi. Just to make sure they were both alive. Steve thought maybe he’d been so used to calling Wayne, he just didn’t know what to do without him. If Steve could be that filler in his life, that voice on the end of the line whenever Eddie reached for the phone out of habit, that was fine by him. It was the only thing he’d started to look forward to.

He wondered if his Eddie would be sad when no one picked up the phone this week. Steve felt a little like the small child hiding amongst the clothing racks again. He’s sure Eddie would notice. He’s just not sure if he’d care. Maybe he’d also send the nanny if he could.

Steve steeled his thoughts as they stepped back into the house, trailing slightly behind Robin as if that would delay the inevitable. She told him it was okay, that he could trust this different version of his mom but he wasn’t quite sure he could believe her. Maybe this Linda was different. That still didn’t make her his mother.

Back in the living room, Nancy, Max, El, and Dustin looked up when he entered. Dustin looked so apologetic that Steve almost felt bad for his reaction. He looked like he wanted to tell Steve sorry, that he didn’t mean to blurt that out, or that he didn’t mean to startle him but he couldn’t get the words out. Steve just nodded at him with a small reassuring smile and ruffled his hair as he passed, sitting back down on the couch with Robin.

They were back to the looking at each other thing, so Steve took pity on them and broke the silence.

“I'm okay, we can call her. Did you tell everyone else?” He asked.

Nancy shook her head. “We were waiting for you, we didn’t want to do anything behind your back.”

Steve nodded, heart squeezing tightly in his chest at the reminder that they cared enough to do that, to wait for him. He turned to the kids that were no longer kids, sitting together on the second couch, Dustin on the left and the two girls on the right.

“Still got the walkies?” He asked. Dustin nodded, pulling the two-way radio out of the bag at his feet.

“Always,” he replied.

“Are you ready?” Nancy asked, eyes caring and worried. She emphasized that it was okay if he wasn’t, if he wanted a few more moments to prepare for what was sure to be a stampede. Steve reassured her it was fine, that they’d have to say something eventually, and Robin squeezed his knee to offer her support, letting her hand rest there to keep him anchored to the spot.

“The rest of the boys should be in town. Will and Mike work at the arcade and Lucas is working at Family Video.”

Steve smiled, it seemed like they’d passed down their shitty strip mall jobs to the next generation. It was still so weird to know the kids were the same age he was when Starcourt opened, older than Robin was.

Dustin clicked the radio on and took one more glance at Steve before pressing the talk button.

“Mike, Will, Lucas, this is Dustin, do you copy?” He waited a few seconds, static coming through the other line. “I repeat, Mike, Will, Lucas, do you copy?” Another few seconds of pause. “We’ve got a 10-17, I repeat, a 10-17, do you copy?”

The line clicked in response. “Uh, what’s a 10-17 again?” Mikes voice filtered through the speaker.

“I think it’s a request for a pick up?” Will’s voice responded on the same line.

“That’s a 10-16, isn’t a 10-17 out of service? Why are you telling us you’re out of service? Over.”

The line clicked again, “That’s a 10-7, Mike,” Lucas’ voice responded. “Over,” he tacked on.

Dustin was clearly ready to vibrate out of his shoes in disappointment. The voices filtering through the static of the walkies made something fuzzy in Steve’s brain. The banter and the arguing and the crackling of the speakers, he could remember it like it was yesterday, like he hadn’t been missing it for four years. He was starting to get misty-eyed again and clutched onto Robin’s hand, still resting on his knee. She squeezed back.

“You’re all useless, it’s urgent business! I repeat, urgent business! Over!” Dustin yelled through the receiver.

Max rolled her eyes on the couch next to him and sunk back into the cushions, arms crossed. El followed her example, crossing her arms as well and relaxing into Max’s side.

“You don’t have to repeat everything, you know,” Mike answered back, tone snappy and impatient. The familiar sound of arcade games crackled out vaguely in the background and Steve could picture him leaning against the prize counter, rolling his eyes as he ignored some little kid in favor of answering Dustin.

“My shift is over in thirty minutes, how urgent are we talking?” Lucas responded.

“Uhhh,” Dustin glanced at Steve, eyes looking just this side of manic, “Try back from the dead urgent.”

“What?”

“Dead?”

“Who’s dead?”

“Who’s back?”

Dustin pressed the talk button to cut them all off again, “Just finish your shifts if you have to and meet back at Base Nora, he’s not going anywhere. Over and out.” Mike, Will, and Lucas tried calling out over each other, the line cutting in and out about ‘who’s not going anywhere?’ and ‘what are you talking about?’, but Dustin just clicked the walkie off instead of answering.

Max leaned forward again, arms still crossed against her chest, and looked at Dustin like he’d finally lost it. “That was the absolute worst way you could have handled that.”

“Yeah but how fast do you think they’ll get here now?” he responded. Steve shook his head as a smile pulled at the corner of his lips. He had to admit Dustin was clever. Rude as hell, but clever. Max just smirked back at him.

“Oh they are so fired.”

“I don’t think Keith can afford to fire them,” El laughed.

Keith, Family Video, the kids, it was all so similar to his world. If it was just this, just the party and Robin and Eddie, it would be fine. The fact that his house was Base Nora, that it was clearly well used by many people and filled with laughter and the sunlight of the morning peaking through the windows, it filled Steve with longing for what he’d lost in his world.

He couldn’t even remember the last time he’d opened the blinds in his house. It was always dark, quiet. He barely even turned the lights on most days, just fumbled through the house hungover and half blind. If it was just the kids they had to tell, he’d be excited to see their reaction, to know that everyone was safe.

However, with the conclusion of one task, the other much more daunting task was at hand. The lightness in Steve’s chest from the kids’ banter was slowly stripped thread by thread, unraveling the warmth he felt and replacing it with cold dread. Robin pulled him up and they all made their way back into the kitchen.

He glanced again at the picture wall, taking in the images he was too panicked to really see before. He stepped closer. There was a picture of the party at a beach, though Steve didn’t know where. He’d only ever seen beaches from expensive hotel windows, before his parents deemed him old enough to stay home alone. Here, the other Steve was smiling, arms around Eddie and Robin, who both had their hair up in buns, kids fighting in the background. There was another picture of the party in his living room, blankets strewn around the floor, kids huddled around with a movie on in the background. He couldn’t tell which movie, but the kids weren’t looking at the screen anyway, they were all huddled around laughing at he and Eddie, sleeping soundly splayed out on top of each other.

Steve wondered how much happier this Steve was. How much more he had. He did things, went places, surrounded by friends, always touching and talking and laughing. He had the party, all safe, he had his mom. But he’d died, left it all behind and Steve was in his place, taking that spot from him. It didn’t seem fair. Steve really didn’t belong here.

“Steve?” Robins voice called as softly as he’d ever heard her. He turned away from the pictures to where she was standing by the phone, already held in her hand. She tilted her head toward the dial on the wall, silently asking if he’d like to do the honors.

He shook his head but walked over to her, stepping in as close as he could. She wrapped an arm around his waist and held the phone to her ear, inexplicably dialing the Wheeler’s number. He glanced over at Nancy, leaning against the archway to the kitchen.

“Our moms have girls’ days sometimes. That’s where they all are now,” she whispered as Robin finished dialing. He could hear it ring. The phone anxiety was creeping back up on him, clawing at his throat. What if she’s mad they interrupted, what if she’s sad he’s not really her Steve, what if she doesn’t care, what if-

“Hi Karen, can I talk to Linda?” Robin’s voice cut through his spiral. He could hear Mrs Wheeler on the other end calling out for his mom, heard giggling in the background and wondered how many of their parents were there. Linda. Robin Buckley was on first name basis with his mother. The more things stay the same, the more they change or whatever the fuck that saying was.

“Hello? Robin?” His mothers voice called out through the speaker. Robin gripped his waist tighter, squeezing three times. He tapped her hand three times right back. It was okay. He’d be okay.

“Hi Linda. I uh… sorry to interrupt!” Robin responded.

“Oh, nonsense, is everything okay? You’re all there, right?” Her voice was so soft, so kind. The last time he’d heard the same voice it was cold, hard like stone. A frigid ‘We’re very disappointed in you, Steven’ tossed his way before his father threw down job applications on the kitchen table. He blinked back the memories and tried tuning back into Robin.

“-don’t really know how to explain it, we just… uh. It’s about Steve.”

It was silent on the other end of the line. The static counting down the seconds before his mother cleared her throat to respond.

“What about Steve, Dear?”

Robin turned to look at him, a vague panic in her eyes as she didn’t know how to respond. They probably should have thought this through more, figured out something to say before calling. It was too late now.

“Um… uh… Something… happened this morning and we think it’s, you know, campaign related,” Robin emphasized, as if she were adding a wink, wink onto the end of her sentence.

She continued, “There’s some, uh, gates we think have opened and someone’s stumbled back into our lives.” Steve felt her shrug helplessly, letting go of his waist to give Nancy a sort of ‘please help me, I’m drowning here’ look, gesturing frantically to the phone. She marched over to them and slid it out of Robin’s hand, stepping in between the two of them.

“Hi, Linda. We think you should come home and see for yourself. It’s a lot, so just… try not to freak out,” Nancy added. Robin smacked her hand to her forehead, that would definitely make someone freak out.

Steve didn’t hear the end of his mom’s call, just the whispered frantic arguing between Nancy and Robin. Eventually, though, Robin hung up the phone and they all looked at each other. At least that was over now. The actual explaining this though was going to be harder. Where did they even start? Everyone was going to flip out the second they saw him, and Steve was exhausted enough already. He couldn’t wait for this part to be over, he just wanted to rest.

This much energy, this many people and conversations and socialization wasn’t something he was used to anymore. It was a bit suffocating, but that could also have just been the panic. It would take about fifteen minutes to get here from the Wheeler’s house, same for the boys at the strip mall — though, Steve wasn’t sure if they’d finish out their shifts first or just make a break for it. They were never good at impulse control.

He decided to sit on the staircase at the entryway. He figured being right there would sort of rip the bandaid off, so to say. So, he sat on the cold hardwood steps, felt Robin plop herself down next to him, and he waited. The dark wood table against the wall of the entryway was the same in his world, though there was a vase of fresh flowers, recently filled. Alive. In his world, they were never real to begin with. Instead, there was a large vase of scented sticks, some minimalist bullshit decor that meant nothing. He stared at the flowers, outlined each and every one to keep his mind away from the panic, to keep himself rooted to the spot.

He used to sit here after saying stiff and formal goodbyes to his parents. He’d watch them leave, tell them have a safe trip, close the door behind them and then just… sit on the stairs. He’d sit for minutes or hours or whatever amount of time it took him to get over himself and get back on with his life. Who cared about some superficial woes of a rich boy? What was he going to say, that he missed parents he never really had? That he wanted his mommy? It was pathetic. So he’d dust himself off, though a spec of dust probably didn’t exist anywhere in the Harrington house, and call up Tommy and Carol to tell them he had the house to himself again. He could fill it with as many people as he wanted before they got back, he was fine.

Now, instead of shaking himself out of it, he was snapped back by the sound of high heels against the brick steps outside. He held his breath, or maybe he just forgot to breathe all together. Before the handle was touched, a stampede of sneaker noises caught up to the heals on the steps, the panting and gasped complaints bleeding through the door.

“Hi, Mrs Harrington,” he thought it was Will’s voice that filtered in.

“Hi, boys. I’m assuming you got a cryptic call as well?” She teased. She teased. He’d never heard that tone before in his life.

“Yeah, Dustin called right in the middle of our shifts!” Lucas accused, as if Dustin didn’t specifically tell them to finish their shifts before coming over.

“Aren’t you going to get in trouble for that?” She asked

“Oh please, Keith can’t afford to fire us anyway,” Mike muttered.

With the greetings out of the way, someone finally gripped the handle. The rattling of the metal put a fire under Steve’s ass and before he knew it, he’d booked it around the corner and just out of sight.

“Wait, Steve-,” Robin shouted after him, though the door finally opened and she was confronted with four startled faces before she could run after him.

“Steve?” Lucas shouted.

He muttered a quiet fuck under his breath and braced himself. He couldn’t just leave Robin floundering around by herself out there, that was too cruel. So, instead of being an absolute coward he took in a deep breath, held it for just a few seconds until his lungs felt stretched to their limits, and then he let it all go as he stepped around the corner.

—

Sorry about that one guys, I hate cliff hangers but I never know where else to stop these lmao you'll meet Linda Harrington in the next one! We'll also hear from Eddie 👀

I'm still adding to the taglist as well, so feel free to ask!

@weirdandabsurd42 @sirsnacksalot @space-invading-pigeon @aliea82 @goodolefashionedloverboi @emly03 @bestwifehaver @mentallyundone @13catastrophic-blues @estrellami-1 @cinnamon-mushroomabomination @likelylad @aellafreya @wxrmland

[starsandhughes]

Penalty Box— Quinn Hughes Edition (Part Twelve)

SERIES MASTERLIST

previous: eleven

next: thirteen

this is so short so sorry but i’m posting sunday’s game at the same time!

SATURDAY MARCH 25TH

yourusername

liked by _quinnhughes, canucks, and 9,773 others

yourusername welcome to my postgame penalty box update: i actually attended my best friend’s game edition! the canucks not only got the series sweep against the stars this season, they now have six straight wins against them!

in quinny baby’s 27:30 minutes of ice time (the longest ice time for both teams, stars’ d-man miro heiskanen is second with 26:40) he did NOT recieve a penalty, which brings his streak to two games! he didn’t receive a point, but his +/- went up by one, and quinny is very proud of his +/- !!

quirky notes: slide four is quinn after suter scored for the stars, and that was also my emotion when he scored because he is not my fav and i was truly perplexed he made it in. slide five is quinny in warm ups doing his quinn hughes thing shootin pucks into the net! very fun to watch but he would not pay attention to me which was rude.

slide eight is the lighting making him look like an angel (because he is), and slide NINE is my favorite ever!! slide nine is benneguin (benn+seguin) sitting in sin together because they’re besties just like me and quinny!! (okay, maybe not exactly like us, but still besties!) (jamie looked very distraught in there and he has the cutest bambi eyes and i’d trade all three hughes brothers plus my boyfriend just to look at him up close) p.s. i didn’t have enough room to post a max domi pic but he also looked very good tonight!!

so ecstatic that i got to see you win in person, quinny baby!! here’s to many more🥂💙 i love you!!!

tagged _quinnhughes

view all 211 comments

_quinnhughes how is it that we won and you still turned this into a stars post??

yourusername hey now, i said i love you and i did NOT say i love anyone else!!!

_quinnhughes you can’t root for three western conference teams!

yourusername watch me, quintin!!

user1 so kind that the benneguin renaissance paused this game to let the canucks win

trevorzegras you would sell me??? to look at the stars’ captain???

yourusername i’d pimp you out to look at the stars captain

trevorzegras immediate divorce

jamie.drysdale @/trevorzegras she’s my wife??? you’re our son???

trevorzegras I HATE THIS JOKE

_quinnhughes THIS IS MY POST!! HAVE RELATIONSHIP DRAMA IN YOUR OWN!!

yourusername @_quinnhughes no <3

user2 quinn really do be looking like an angel in slide eight 🥹

jackhughes i thought i was your favorite hughes? and now you want to sell me? to look at a 6’ 33 year old?

yourusername he’s 6’2 mr. 5’11

jackhughes @_quinnhughes @/lhughes_06 do you guys think we can sell her first??

lhughes_06 we can’t sell my mom!

_quinnhughes @/lhughes_06 your mom said she’d sell you first

yourusername @/lhughes_06 i’ll just sell quinn and jack i couldn’t bare to separate you from ethan!

jackhughes i’m not having a good time

yourusername @/jackhughes good

user3 quinny didn’t get a point tonight :(

lhughes_06 will i get my own posts?

yourusername you’ll get one for your first and more if you frequently commit sins

_quinnhughes careful what you wish for, moose

trevorzegras it’s not all sunshine and rainbows

yourusername cry babies

user4 the question is did y/n wear stars gear or canucks??

yourusername that’s a secret i’ll never tell

jamie.drysdale no one else has said congrats on your two game streak so i’ll do it— congrats quinn! on your win and your lack of penalty!

_quinnhughes thank you😂

yourusername ur so sweet, hubby

jamie.drysdale anything for my wifey’s bestie

_quinnhughes so sorry i didn’t say i love you in my original comment! i love you, too, y/n/n💙

trevorzegras good boy

jamie.drysdale much appreciated

yourusername i feel the love boys💙

user5 that first picture of quinn>>>🤤

_alexturcotte nice game huggy!

_quinnhughes thanks turc!

yourusername aw i didn’t even have to tell you to tell him!! you’re my favorite hughes now<3

jackhughes i am appalled

_alexturcotte and i am eternally grateful!

user6 how many honorary hughes’s are there??😭

user5 i’ve lost count

canucks congrats huggy!

[dwobbitfromtheshire]

Stuck Between a Jock and a Metalhead

Summary: Nancy, on a whim, decides to visit Steve at Scoops Ahoy, which leads to her overhearing confessions from Steve that leads her to think about the decisions she's made. A few days later, she decides to come back. She finds him being hit on by the town freak. What's a girl to do? Oh, get stuck in a freezer with the both of them.

Chapter One - Chapter Two - Chapter Three - Chapter Four - Chapter Five - Chapter Six - Chapter Seven - Chapter Eight - Chapter Nine - Chapter Ten - Chapter Eleven - Chapter Twelve - Chapter Thirteen - Chapter Fourteen - Chapter Fifteen - Chapter Sixteen - Chapter Seventeen - Chapter Eighteen - Chapter Nineteen - Chapter Twenty - Chapter Twenty-One - Chapter Twenty-Two - Chapter Twenty-Three - Chapter Twenty-Four - Chapter Twenty-Five - Chapter Twenty-Six - Chapter Twenty-Seven - Chapter Twenty-Eight - Chapter Twenty-Nine

@nightmareglitter

Chapter Thirty

Steve’s POV

Eddie burst into the apartment with a crown of flowers on his head, tracking mud in with Mayhem. Steve remembered how cute he looked with the flower crowns. It was impossible to be mad at him for tracking in the mud. . .plus, he even made a small flower crown for Mayhem.

"Mayhem and I have made flower crowns for us all. . .well, I did. Mayhem didn't do shit," Eddie replied as he placed a crown on Steve’s head. "Much better crown for you, sweetheart."

"Thank you," Steve beamed and kissed him. "I don't think Mayhem likes her's."

Mayhem pawed at the crown on her head and meowed when she successfully got it off.

"Everyone's a critic," Eddie said. "Well, maybe Nancy will appreciate it. Nancy, my love?"

She was sitting at the kitchen table, pouring over her school books.

"I doubt she's going to notice," Steve snorted.

"Oh, she's so cute when she's not aware of what's going on around her," Eddie sighed as he placed the crown on her head. "My dear, I've placed a crown of bees on your hair."

"That's nice," Nancy said, and then her head snapped up. "Eddie, you should be studying if you want to walk across that stage."

"Goddamnit," Eddie cursed before plopping down next to her while Steve laughed. He watched them for a while as they put their heads together, Eddie scowling while Nancy rolled her eyes affectionately.

Steve sobbed as his hands shook as they strung the flowers together. When he was finished, he walked into the dining room where Eddie's body lay across the table. Nancy stood with Dustin, her arm wrapped around him while Robin stood behind them. He hated how sad and broken they looked. This shouldn't be happening. He walked over to the table and raised Eddie's head as he placed the crown upon his hair.

"He would have loved that," Nancy sobbed.

"I'm so sorry," Dustin cried and threw himself into Steve’s arms.

"It's alright. It wasn't your fault," Steve said.

"You lost Eddie, you and Nancy both," Dustin sniffled.

Nancy wrapped her arms around the both of them and pressed her cheek against Dustin's hair.

"You lost him too," Nancy whispered. "We all did."

Robin threw herself into the hug, her own body trembling. Suddenly, the sound of the front door opening startled all of them, and they quickly broke apart.

"Hello?" Max's voice called out.

They ran into the hallway and watched with wide eyes as Max came in with her mom and Lucas. Nancy rushed forward and hugged her tightly.

"We heard the chimes - we thought you were - " Nancy started to say.

"It was Jason. Jason was always his backup plan," Max said quickly.

Steve hugged her tightly before reaching Lucas and hugging his other brother. His face was bloody and starting to bruise. Susan's was as well.

"What the hell happened to your face?" Steve asked.

"Jason, he tried to kill Susan and Mom," Lucas said. "I stopped him, and then Vecna got him. Where's Eddie?"

The question hit Steve like a blow to the chest, and he squeezed Lucas's shoulder. He didn't have to say anything. He could feel it all over his own face.

"He's in the dining room," Steve muttered.

Lucas ran into the dining room with Max, and he let out a holler.

"No, no, no, no! Eddie!" Lucas exclaimed. "He's sleeping, right? He's just - "

They watched from the hallway as he clung to Max, sobbing.

"Oh. Baby, I'm so sorry," Sue said and pulled Steve into her arms.

"Mom," Steve said weakly.

Sue hugged Steve tightly, and he could feel her hold her other arm out for Nancy. She pulled her in, allowing Steve to wrap his arms around his mother as well as his girlfriend. The pain of the bats biting into his stomach had been the worst sort of pain, but nothing hurt as much as this did. Normally, a hug from one of his parents would make him feel better during times of crisis, but not this time. It hurt so much that he wanted to claw the pain out of his chest. He wanted to rip out his own beating heart and give it to Eddie. . .he'd give anything to get Eddie back.

Steve moved out of Sue's arms and headed towards the living room when he heard Lucas crying. He was weeping over Eddie's body with Dustin and Max. Steve moved over and pulled his brothers into his arms, hugging them tightly. Max moved to hug a crying Nancy. They stayed like that for a while until he looked over their heads at Robin, who seemed to know exactly what he needed.

"Come on, everyone, let's give Steve and Nancy a moment," Robin said softly. "Besides, I think Tommy's going to need some help patching Walter up."

"I'm so sorry, the both of you," Susan told them as she started to follow everyone out of the room.

Steve and Nancy each pulled a chair up near his head. They started to caress his hair, reaching for their hands to interlace them over his heart.

"I don't know if I can do this, Steve," Nancy cried. "I can't do this without him. I feel like a piece of us is missing."

"A piece of us is missing, Nance," Steve muttered.

"What are we going to tell Wayne? Eddie. . .he's never going to see his cousin. He's never going to see El. . .oh God! How are we going to tell El?" Nancy yelled as she started to hyperventilate.

Steve watched in alarm as Nancy pulled away from the table and Eddie's body. She started pacing as she struggled to catch her breath. He stood up and gently grabbed her arms.

"Nancy," he said softly.

"I can't keep going through this shit, Steve. I can't keep losing people. We lost, we lost, Steve! I lost Barb and Fred! We lost Mayhem! We lost Eddie! My parents. . .I don't know where they are! We lost, and Hawkins is going to - we're all going to - I can't!" Nancy wailed and collapsed sobbing into Steve’s arms.

Steve’s knees buckled, and he collapsed on the floor with Nancy as he cried with her. They heard the front door open, and Steve saw Robin run into the hallway.

"Mom! Dad!" Robin cried as they hugged her.

They entered the dining room with Agent Stinson and Lily. Nora gasped.

"Oh no," Nora said. "Oh. I am so sorry, honey."

She knelt down next to Nancy and stroked her hair. Nancy pulled out of Steve’s arms and turned to Nora.

"Have you seen my parents?" Nancy asked.

"No, sweetie," Nora said softly and pulled the both of them into her arms.

"Goddamnit," Lily cursed as she stood next to the table.

"We failed," Nancy whispered. "We failed."

"Max?" Robert asked with horror.

"She's alive. Apparently, Jason was always his backup plan in case he couldn't get to Max," Robin muttered.

Robert put his arm around his daughter and kissed the top of her head, squeezing her tightly. Suddenly, the ground began to shake, harder than it ever did in the Upside Down. It felt like Hawkins was being split down the middle. Everyone screamed and held onto each other. Steve pulled Nancy to his chest, trying to hold onto the wall as Nora did the same on Nancy's other side. The shaking lasted a while, and Steve tried not to throw up as he listened to the kids' screams from upstairs. This was it. This was the end.

Finally, the shaking stopped after several minutes. The windows had broken, and the front door had blown open until it blasted into the hallway. Lamps had fallen, and shelves had toppled completely open. The dining table had turned on its side, Eddie's body had slid to the floor. The kids rushed downstairs, their eyes wide. Steve and Nancy immediately went to them to check them over. Steve turned to the open doorway and gasped at the sight of red lightning flashing outside. He rushed outside, and everyone quickly followed him. The sky was red, while flurries from the Upside Down danced in the air. Smoke billowed from the tops of the trees, and bats flew in the air as the howling of Demogorgons was heard off in the distance.

"Oh, we're so fucked," Dustin said.

"Get inside. Now!" Lily exclaimed.

Everyone rushed inside, and they all worked together to put the door back in place. They also pushed furniture in front of it to hold it in place. It was Dustin who moved back towards the dining room.

"Steve! Nancy!" Dustin shrieked.

Everyone ran into the dining room and gasped at the sight. Eddie's body was no longer lying on the floor. Nancy rushed out of the room, and a moment later, she was calling for Steve. He, along with the others, ran into the kitchen. The back door was wide open, and on the floor next to it was Eddie's broken flower crown. Nancy gasped and immediately rushed upstairs. Steve immediately chased after her and found her in her room, gathering her weapons, redressing in the gear that she wore in the Upside Down.

"What are you doing?" Steve asked.

"I'm going out there to look for him. He's out there, and so is Mayhem. My parents are out there as well," Nancy said. "Are you going to stop me or help me?"

"Like I could stop you from doing anything. Besides, I want to look for them too," Steve said and didn't realize he was shaking until Nancy took his hand.

She pressed her forehead against his and breathed with him.

"We're going to find them and bring them home," Nancy said and kissed him. "And then we're all going to save Hawkins."

It's not that Steve didn't believe in her. He always did, but he was finding it hard to do so with what was going on outside. He got dressed and grabbed his gear. They headed back downstairs and started gathering the batteries as well as the flashlights. They also packed some hairspray and lighters.

"What are you doing?" Lily asked.

"We're going to look for Eddie and my parents," Nancy replied.

"Like hell you are," Lily said. "We need to remain in one place. We keep splitting up, and quite frankly, I'm sick of it. We're all staying here - ,"

"And what? Wait for all of us to die? I'm not sitting here knowing that my parents and Eddie are out there. We have to do something and what are you going to do to stop me?" Nancy asked. "So come with me or stay here, I don't care."

"Fine," Lily said. "I'm going with you."

"We're coming with you too," Dustin said from behind her.

"Uh, yeah, that's a no," Steve scoffed.

"Steve’s right. You guys need to stay here. There's wood in the shed. Dad was supposed to build Holly a tree house. You need to board up the house and defend it. Defend yourselves," Nancy said. "We need to focus on finding the others, and we can't worry about losing you put there."

"I don't want to lose you either," Dustin said softly.

"We know," Steve said softly and pulled him to his chest.

Nancy hugged them both, and they opened their arms to allow Max as well as Lucas. Robin looked torn, staring at Steve with wide eyes as she also looked at her parents. Steve walked over to Robin and placed his hands on her shoulders.

"It's okay if you want to stay here with your parents. They need you right now. I think they forgot they're bleeding," Steve said.

"You're my best friend, Steve. My platonic soulmate. My other half. You better come back with my soulmate in laws," Robin said.

"I'll do everything that I can," Steve whispered. "I love you."

"I love you too, dingus," Robin said and hugged him tightly.

When Steve broke the hug, Tommy was standing on the stairs.

"I'm going with you, man," Tommy said.

"What about Walter?" Steve asked.

"He's upstairs resting. Plus, I think he'd give me hell if I didn't go with my best friend," Tommy said. "I'm ready, man."

Steve pulled Tommy into a tight hug. He was immediately yanked out of it by Robin and pushed to the side as Robin hugged Tommy.

"Keep him safe, Hagan," Robin said.

"Keep yourself safe, Buckley," Tommy said.

Steve rolled his eyes but smiled as he moved on to hug Sue, then Robert and Nora. He hugged the kids again before heading out with the group. They decided it was better off that they didn't use the car due to the fog and the smoke. It was going to take longer to search, but at least they weren't taking the risk of crashing. They decided to head toward the apartment, hoping that Eddie would go there. They had to take several detours when they stumbled upon the splits in the ground. . . So far, they had managed to avoid the bats and the demogorgons, successfully making it to the salon. It had managed to avoid falling into the pit closer to the middle of town, but the tree that had stood in the back had fallen upon his grandfather's store.

"We can always rebuild. We can always rebuild," Steve muttered, closing his eyes.

He couldn't stop the feeling in his stomach or the tears springing to his eyes. Nancy put a hand on his arm, and he looked at her. She had tears in her eyes as well, and he remembered that this was her home, too. He took her hand, and they managed to squeeze inside the building together. The mural that had been on the wall had been struck by the branches and destroyed. Another blow to his already broken heart. Steve climbed the stairs with Nancy and found that most of their stuff was okay, that they could clear it out easily later. Mayhem's favorite chair was broken, though, much to Steve’s disappointment. Nancy squeezed his hand tightly.

They searched the apartment while Tommy and Lily stood near the door. Steve felt some glass crunch under his feet and found a picture on the floor. It was a picture of his grandparents: Irene, Otis, and Steven. There was a crack separating Steven from Irene and Otis. Steve dropped to his knees, pressing a knuckle to his mouth as he sobbed. Nancy wrapped her arms around his shoulder and cried with him. After crying for a minute, they got up and turned around.

"He's not here," Nancy said, wiping her face. "Let's check Hopper's cabin."

"Good idea," Steve said.

Of course, it was after they left the apartment that they ran into trouble. They were heading in the direction of the cabin when they heard a scream. It seemed instinctual for Nancy to run toward it. Everyone took off after her. They found a car in a ditch, and it was surrounded by demobats. Nancy whistled, and suddenly, the bats' attention was on her. Lily reacted quickly when the bats flew towards them, pulling out a hairspray and a lighter before blasting them with fire. Tommy, with the axe and Steve with his bat, quickly took out the rest. They rushed to help the people out of the car. It was Vickie and her dad. . . Matthew Fisher? Yes, that was his name. Dr. Fisher.

"Steve!" Vickie exclaimed.

"Are you guys okay?" Steve asked.

"Yes, thanks to you guys," Dr. Fisher said.

"What's happening?" Vickie asked, and then her face paled. "Where's Robin?"

"Oh, she's fine! She's fine! She's at Nancy's house," Steve said. "She's taking care of her parents."

"Are they hurt?" Vickie asked.

"Yeah," Steve replied.

"Anyone else injured?" Dr. Fisher asked as he managed to pull a bag out of the car.

"Yeah, we wrapped them up as best we could," Nancy said.

"I think they could use a doctor's opinion. I have plenty of medicine in my bag, too. It's the least I could do after you guys saved us," Dr. Fisher said.

"We'll escort you there," Nancy said. "After that, we need to go back to looking for my parents and Eddie."

"I hope you find them," Vickie said softly. "Do you know what happened?"

"It's a long story," Steve said.

"I think we have time," Dr. Fisher said.

It was Nancy who told them the story of how what happened, how it all started with Dr. Brenner and a boy named Henry Creel. It took a while, but Nancy finally finished with Starcourt mall.

"Damn," Dr. Fisher cursed.

"Oh, Robin must have been so terrified," Vickie muttered, and then her eyes widened. "I mean, you guys as well. I wasn't just thinking of Robin. I'm glad you guys made it out."

Steve smiled knowingly at her. Of course, his smile slipped off his face as soon as a single demobat swooped down and dove for Dr. Fisher. Lily reacted quickly and pushed him to the ground. Tommy swung his axe and split the bat in two. Meanwhile, Lily was still on top of Dr. Fisher and looked down on him.

"Are you okay, Dr. Fisher?" Lily asked.

"Fine! Fine! Um, but you can call me Matthew," he said. "Um, you can all call me, Matthew."

Lily realized their positions and stood up, blushing.

"Alright, let's get going," Lily said.

It seems like Vickie and her dad share the same look when they get enamored with women. It looked like it was something that Vickie knew too because she was struggling not to laugh. Meanwhile, Matthew's face was as red as his hair. They continued on without further problems and escorted them to the house.

"We'd go in with you, but I doubt they'll let us leave again," Nancy said.

"Thank you so much," Vickie said and hugged her.

"Yes, thank you. And when you get back, I'm checking on those bits," Matthew said. "Don't think I've forgotten."

"Yes, Dr. Fisher," Steve laughed.

"Matthew," he corrected.

They waited until they got inside before walking towards the direction of the cabin. Steve wasn't sure what time it was or how long they had been walking. He had lost his watch somewhere in the Upside Down. He wasn't even sure what day it was. His bites were definitely hurting him, but he was determined to look for Eddie and Nancy's parents. He liked Ted and Karen. Ted was a funny man, especially when he was arguing with Dustin, and sure, he could speak without thinking sometimes, but then again, so could Mike. Even Nancy had her moments where she could be a little blunt at times. Karen was loving, just as fierce as Nancy, and could be afraid of her own feelings just as much Nancy could. Nancy and Mike were the best of both of them, so perfectly imperfect. They were great parents who were willing to make the sacrifice to protect their kids and support them in whatever relationships they had. Steve remembered them welcoming him into their home for the first time. It had thrown him off when Karen pulled him off to the side and let him know she knew about him sleeping with Nancy. She also let him know about the gun she kept upstairs. Did he forget to tell Nancy that? Anyway, he let them know that they had nothing to worry about, and they grew to love him so much. They also grew to love Eddie. . .Eddie.

"Hey, isn't Gareth's house somewhere near here?" Nancy asked, breaking him out of his thoughts.

"Huh? Oh, yeah, I think so," Steve replied. "Should we check there too?"

"Might as well," Nancy replied.

When they got to Gareth's place and knocked on the door, no one answered at first. Steve and Nancy paused before pounding on the door again.

"Gareth! It's Steve and Nancy!" Steve yelled through the door.

They paused again and moved to step back from the door when it suddenly opened. Gareth stood there with a kitchen knife, his other hand wrapped up in a cast and a bruised eye adorning his face.

"What's Hagan doing here? Come to finish off what Jason started? Think we're the ones responsible for ending the world?" Gareth snapped.

"Gareth, you know me and Steve. We would never let him hurt you. Besides, he grew up, and he almost ran Jason over when Jason tried to kill us," Nancy said. "Did he do that to you?"

"Yeah," Gareth said.

"Well, you don't have to worry about him anymore. He's dead, and that's what ended the world, apparently," Steve sighed.

"How come Eddie's not with you?" Gareth asked, and Nancy's fell. "Nance? Please tell me that he's not. . . "

"No! Well, we don't know," Steve said.

"What do you mean you don't know?" Gareth asked.

Suddenly, the growl of a demogorgon sounded nearby.

"Maybe we should talk about this inside," Lily said.

Gareth stepped aside and let them all in, including Tommy. Jeff and Frankie were sitting in the living room when they walked in. Gareth opened his mouth to speak, but Steve pressed a finger to his lips and then pointed outside. They could all hear the sound of the demogorgon getting closer, and they all went quiet. Steve was sure they were spotted by the creature, but a moment later, a loud boom came from off in the distance. It sounded an awful lot like an explosion. It drove the demogorgon off, and they all breathed sighs of relief.

"We were all hanging out when everything happened. My mom's at work, and the phones aren't working, so I don't even know if she's. . .what the hell happened with Eddie?" Gareth said furiously before softening into fear and desperation. "Please."

Nancy took Gareth's uninjured hand and started explaining things to him as well as the others. It was silent for a while as the story sank in.

"So, Eddie. . .might not be Eddie?" Jeff asked.

"We don't know," Nancy said, her bottom lip trembling.

"Well, we're not going to let that fucker use Eddie's - use Eddie for anything," Frank said. "I'm going with you to look for Eddie."

"So am I," Gareth said.

"Me too," Jeff said.

"I have some stuff in the garage," Gareth said and left.

When he came back, he had a hatchet, a crowbar, and a baseball bat. Gareth kept the hatchet, gave the crowbar to Frank, and gave the baseball bat to Jeff.

"Let's go," Gareth scowled and squeezed Nancy's shoulder gently before doing the same with Steve.

As they got closer to Hopper's cabin, they tried to ignore the vines that were wrapping themselves around the trees, but it was hard when they were moving. Was this even Hawkins even more, or was this the Upside Down? They were all getting tired, he knew, after all that walking and Steve's bat bites were killing him but they couldn't quit now. They were so close to Hopper's cabin now, just a few more miles. Steve had to stop. He bent over with a gasp.

"Steve, are you okay?" Nancy asked.

"My bat bites are hurting a little, that's all," Steve said. "I'll be okay. Let's just keep going."

"Are you sure?" Nancy asked.

"We don't have far to go," Steve said. "Let's get to the cabin."

Nancy gave him an approaching look before wrapping an arm around his waist.

"Lean on me," Nancy said, and he opened his mouth to protest, but she gave him another look. "Steve."

It wasn't long before Tommy was on his other side to help him as well. It was useless to argue, so Steve nodded, and they started moving again. Steve tried to ignore the feeling like someone was watching them. When they made it the cabin, Nancy immediately got them inside and set Steve on the couch with the help of Tommy. Nancy raised Steve’s shirt and frowned.

"I'm not saying that you're not in pain, but your stitches look good, and they don't look infected," Nancy said and paused. "My bat bite is hurting, too."

"Do I get a lolly pop, Dr. Wheeler?" Steve asked.

"You definitely deserve it," Nancy said, smiling weakly. "Sorry. I just - I'm so tired."

"Yeah, me too," Steve said and cupped her cheek, smiling softly when she leaned into his touch.

"I'm going to look around for Eddie. I love you, Steve Harrington," Nancy said softly as she stood up.

"I love you, Nancy Wheeler," he replied.

She leaned down and kissed him deeply. God, he could still feel the love, but he could also feel how tired she was. She moved about the cabin, looking into the back rooms before moving outside with Lily and Jeff. When they heard them holler, they were both quick to get to the porch, Steve leaning on Tommy and Frank for support. Gareth followed them. The others were looking out into the tree line.

"What?" Steve asked.

"I thought I saw - ," Nancy said, holding her neck.

"There was definitely something there," Jeff said.

There was a sudden movement among the trees, like a blur, and then a loud screech as if it were a warning sound. Steve could see it. They could all see it. . .the bright, red eyes. Nancy and Steve looked at each other. Suddenly, they knew. Eddie. Another smaller pair of eyes winked into being, so close to the other as though it was sitting on someone's shoulders. Mayhem.

Chapter Thirty-One

[ally-holmes]

Regular Customer | Steve Harrington x Reader

My fanfics masterlist

Series Masterlist

Summary: Y/N has a crush on Steve Harrington, but she would find out that he doesn't like her at all. Little does she know that his best friend, Eddie Munson, would be pushed toward a very disturbing and scary face of Hawkins.

Pairings: Steve Harrington x fem!reader|plus-sized!reader|nerd!reader

Rating: Mature (maybe for violence and blood).

Characters: Steve Harrington, Robin Buckley, Eddie Munson, Dustin Henderson, Mike Wheeler, Erica Sinclair, Lucas Sinclair, Nancy Wheeler, Max Mayfield, (more characters as the fic goes on).

Warnings: self-esteem issues, angst (happy ending), unrequited love (at the beginning), insecurities, cursing, slow-burn, envy, season 4 spoilers, canon divergence.

Chapter One.

Chapter Two.

Chapter Three.

Chapter Four.

Chapter Five.

Chapter Six.

Chapter Seven.

Chapter Eight.

Chapter Nine.

Chapter Ten.

Chapter Eleven.

COMPLETE

Taglist:  @marvelsmylife @untitledarea @golden-wander @mess-in-side @sandrayaret @the-winter-spider @ladyravenclaw  @thorfemmes @tooearlyforthis @mxdramanana​ @fujiihime​ @blueberry-birdie​ @p-rspective​ @thesnoweclipse​ @simpingfortoomanypeople @bibliophilewednesday @lovesanimals0000 @renaroo123 @thechoiceslookgrimm @xoprincessmel @m-rae23 @qardasngan

[stinkrascal]

—

TRANSCRIPT

picture one max: [ today 11:52 PM ] You busy wolfgang: Yup.

picture two max: Jacques is asleep I was gonna jump the fence at the skatepark. Maybe spray paint the pool. You coming

picture three wolfgang: Pass. max: Your loss

picture five mila: it's a little late, don't you think? shit—i didn't know you were home.

picture six mila: watch your language please. wolfgang: doesn't matter. lucas is asleep.

picture seven mila: it does matter. no son of mine will talk like a sailor.

picture eight wolfgang: when'd you get home? ten minutes ago, maybe.

picture nine mila: it's been a long day. i'm going to bed soon. i have to open the restaurant in the morning. wolfgang: you work too much.

picture ten mila: you should sleep, too. wolfgang: [ groans ] come on, mom, that's so embarrassing. i'm a grown man. mila: you'll always be my baby!

picture eleven mila: goodnight, sweetheart. i love you. wolfgang: yeah. love you too.

picture twelve mila: [ sighs ]

[agendabymooner]

TO LOATHE AND TO LOVE || MV33 SERIES: a masterlist

f1 masterlist: a - n o - z

max verstappen x hearth sister!ofc (sylvie ford) - wip

summary: there is a massive difference between the two words, but sylvie was more than willing to blur out the line if it means for her to spend some time with what others called her soulmate, max verstappen.

content warning: 16+ content, use of explicit language, social media file + written fic format, mentions of paternal relationship issues, jos verstappen, mentions of mental health and problems with it, best friends to enemies to best friends to lovers (lol), gossips + rumours

one, it’s time to go: sylvie attended a christmas party and couldn’t seem to do what she normally did on the paddock: avoid max

two, closure: her memories haunted her so much that the red bull team principal thought of her to be incompetent, so it was only ideal of max to face the music too.

three, goodnight n go: she wasn't sure what was more surprising: toto's presence on her graduation celebration or max's expensive graduation gifts.

four, gorgeous: there's nothing more satisfying than seeing christian horner own up to his own mistake. that, and max's office-warming gift that he dropped off in sylvie's new on-site office.

five, cinema: sylvie was left feeling unsure when she and max did things that friends normally wouldn't do after she was broken up with by another man. (16+)

six, satellite: max verstappen might've avoided talking about what they had done before all of this, but he was certain he wouldn't get out of his way just to ignore her as he swore not to her one way or another ever again.

seven, mean: sylvie found herself with a million and a half pounds and winning against the boys who brought her racing career to an early end.

eight, long story short: they're friends, they said. they bought a house and adopted a dog together, they definitely did.

nine, mastermind: max wasn't going to admit that he was jealous. he wasn't going to tell her that he sabotaged her blind date, either. not that she didn't know.

ten, comfort crowd: ah yes, the first monday of may. when everyone speculated that sylvie was merely using him and when she finally admitted to missing him for the past four years.

eleven, matilda: they don't know much, maybe, but they know how they'll raise their children away from the toxicity that they grew up in, all thanks to their fathers who did nothing but set expectations. (hc)

extra: matilda volume two, smau: set years after the tltl series in which sylvie and max have the most adorable set of kids called emilia, lila and maximilian. (f)

twelve, wild: sylvie is smart and she was always quick to realize things. what she did not expect, however, was realize that she was in love with her best friend.

[justagingerwithredhair]

The Blue Moon Ball: Midnight

I catch my breath and scan the ballroom for Lurien. If my visions were accurate, I'm looking for an eleven figure wearing extravagant celestial clothes and winged accessories. As I search, my focus narrows to a point. Come on... come on... You must be somewhere here. Wait! I think I see him! Oh... oh wow... he is absolutely tearing it up on the dance floor. A crowd is beginning to form around him. This is perfect. I'll work my way back down and--

ACK! I instinctively turn around to the source of the my startle. My eyes behold a giant grandfather clock sounding off. The golden figure towers above me. Inside, a pendulum that looks like a model solar system swings to and fro as cogs of all shapes and sizes whirl and spin, moving the hands from 11:00 to 12:00. Heavens above, that almost had my heart lurch from my chest! Midnight already? I can't believe time is moving this fast. I turn my gaze back towards the ballroom and see the crowd funneling out into the halls again. Wait... no no no no no where are they all going?! Damn it! I lost sight of Lurien! I'm never going to get my questions answered, am I? I put my back against the wall and slink into a ball. This night has been a disaster. As I wallow in my despair, a gentle breeze brushes my cheeks. It looks like a balcony door was left open. The night sky is clear as ever and inviting me outside. I need some fresh air.

Stepping out onto the balcony, I imminently find comfort under the stars. My night may be a wreck, but at least they're here to light it up once more. I stride to the balcony's stone rail and lean against it, focusing on the glittering night sky. The Star... the seventeenth card of the major arcana. It's indicative of hope, guidance, creativity, clarity, and confidence. Hah, funny, that sounds like everything I'm lacking at the moment. And then we have the moon, bright and blue tonight. That sounds more like me. I may have dressed myself to the nines but that doesn't make my mood any better. The Moon... the eighteenth card of the major arcana. It's indicative of anxieties, repressed feelings, deception, indecision, and confusion. Wow. I was right on. If this sky were made to mock me, it's doing a phenomenal job. Ugh, look at me, thinking every little thing in the world is a sign about me. How utterly selfish. Tonight was supposed to be a community event and yet I still expertly weave it into a sob story all about myself. Maybe I should just leave. It's not like the party will be missing me. The only impact I've managed to make tonight was knocking people over and almost recreating Phantom of the Opera. Yep... that's me: Seros, master wizard of the long lost magic of walking disaster transmutation.

I focus on the stars once again. A comet scrapes by, leaving a brilliant while trail. I suppose there is a silver lining. One: I got out of my study for once. I didn't realize how often I chained myself to my desk until I stretched my legs and traveled here. Two: I got to explore one of the most beautiful venue's I've ever seen in my life. I can tell no expense was spared. This is truly a miraculous site. Three: I got to at least speak with someone that isn't Ivory (no offense Ivory, I love you so much). I also tried dancing! In retrospect, I think that could have been a grand time if I just lived in the moment. I should probably keep myself grounded next time as well...

Perhaps this night isn't as disastrous as I thought. But I can't help but think I'm missing something. Ah! I know! I can do a reading! The location is perfect and I'm at a loss of what else could be wrong with me, so I'll give it a shot. I seat myself on the ground. After situating my deck in front of me, I begin to meditate on my question. Once I have it firmly in mind, I take my left hand and place it on the first card and ask:

"What am I missing?"

As I go to reveal the card, a piercing pang strikes my stomach. A low and thunderous gurgle sounds. Oh... I think I know what's wrong. When was the last time I had food? In fact, have I eaten since I arrived? OOOOOOoooooh... this explains a lot. I'm down in the dumps and kicking myself because I'm hungry. I pack up my deck and stand back up. That reminds me, wasn't there supposed to be a feast later tonight? I think there was an itinerary attached to my invite. I summon the letter once again and, would you look at that! It seems dinner follows the dance! That would explain why everyone left upon the clock striking midnight. Wait! If everyone is gathering in one place, then Lurien will surely be at the table soon. This could be the chance I've been looking for all night. I can sit with him and finally ask all my questions. There are mysteries in these halls and I still have half a night to solve them. No time like the present! I make my way back inside, but not before giving the night sky one last look of admiration. I give a farewell to the lights above and journey towards the dining hall. First, I should feed myself. Then, I ask questions. Off I go!

[crossovershipstournament]

SIDE 2A: ROUND 1: Jiminy Cricket (Pinocchio)/Timothy Q. Mouse (Dumbo) VS Max (Camp Camp)/Phineas Flynn (Phineas and Ferb)

Propaganda for Jiminy Cricket/Timothy Q. Mouse:

This ask! So cute!

Also this ask~!

I swear to god, this has nothing to do with the Jimmy Timmy Power Hour thing, I came up with the ship separate from that. So like, as someone who grew up watching both movies, I was like "There are similar elements to these movies." "These two characters are kinda similar." "You know, I wonder how these two would interact, given their similar circumstances." "Yeah, they'd def bond over talks of the kids they watch over and such." "Perhaps the two would be besties." "Wait, both appeared in Dumbo's hat in the opening of The Mickey Mouse Club? Awesome!" "Hold on, maybe they could also be an interesting romantic couple." "I am writing stuff in my head and also a fic and doing art as we speak." "There are old Disney comics that have them interacting, I am on Cloud Nine right now." "This is my ship, I love them. They are both not straight. They're besties. They're trying their best." And here we are. I'd be more than happy to make art specifically for the polls if asked/contacted. Otherwise, I'd be happy to direct your attention to those old comics and stuff. And I'd be more than happy to also elaborate/talk more about 'em when asked.

Propaganda for Max/Phineas Flynn:

Max is the poster child for cynical traumatized grump and Phineas is so oblivious he went the whole summer without noticing his sister trying to tattle on him, and Max being angry enough about a crush to turn his attitude up to eleven while Phin is completely immune to the ways Max normally pushes people away because he's just too oblivious is a very silly premise that opens the door to explore the ways that people find what they need in each other, and sometimes what they need is someone who is incapable of noticing our flaws.

Like. Phineas wants the people around him to be happy, and if Max isn't happy, if Max is actively UNHAPPY, Phineas would instinctively just want to try cheering him up. So Phin is putting all this energy into cheering up Max, who is likewise putting all of this energy into pushing him away because he doesn't know how to handle positive attention. But unlike David (or a little like David), Phineas is completely immune to Max's attitude. It's not like how David is actively working against Max, Phineas just DOESN'T NOTICE. He's not going to be let down, he's just going to try something else because hey, if that didn't work, maybe this will.

Art Credit:

Jiminy/Timothy pic from the Disney comics Max/Phineas art by me, @/astro-b-o-y-d

[burgundybmw]

Munson's Mixtape

Masterlist

Pairing: Eddie Munson x Cunningham!Reader

Word Count: 3,342

Warnings: ED mention, Mrs. Cunningham being the worst mom ever, mention of Eddie's shit dad, angst, funeral mention, hurt/comfort.

Summary: Chrissy has been acting weird, and like a good big sister Y/N drives to Hawkins from Notre Dame to check in on her. Only to find out she has plans to meet up with Eddie Munson. Things take a turn for the worse and now Y/N gets wrapped in to the horrors of Hawkins. Hey, at least she has the company of the guitarist she was sweet on back in high school for comfort.

Author’s Note: A mutual trauma dump can be something so special. I promise this is going to be the last of the angst for a minute, until I get to the episode 9 stuff that is. Just a warning, it will be angsty. But this is a fix it fic! So... take that with what you will. Hope you guys enjoy!

Track Nine

They should have left Hawkins when they had the chance. If only she had gotten her shit together after Chrissy died. They could've been in Canada by now, made their way into Alaska or something. It was only the Hawkins police, the FBI or the CIA wasn't involved then. Eddie would have been a wanted man sure, but they wouldn't have found them. They weren't even looking for him, but now they were.

A million and one regrets came tumbling through Y/N's mind. Why didn't they run? Why didn't she try talking to the police first? Before they started pointing fingers at Eddie? She knew they would do that. Knew it from day one. But she didn't do that, she decided to waste precious time. Eddie had to take care of her, because she was a mess. This whole goddamn thing was a mess. Y/N couldn't understand it. How could anyone look at the state of Chrissy's body and think Eddie would do that? How any human being could do that? Didn't they do an autopsy? See how there was no weapon involved? Why were they going after Eddie? Sweet innocent Eddie?

She was pacing around the boathouse trying to come up with a plan. Y/N tried to have faith in Dustin, Max, Robin and Steve, she really did. They had experience with this sort of thing before, the Upside Down, monsters and mayhem. But they weren't familiar with people, those who didn't know about what was beneath. Y/N was. She feared that even if they did win, if they succeeded in killing Vecna, that Eddie would still get thrown under the bus. How could they make the people of Hawkins believe that an inter-dimensional monster was behind Chrissy's death? The government wouldn't allow the truth to come out, so how could they cover it up?

"Y/N stop pacing, you're going to make yourself sick." Eddie had been trying to get her to relax for the past hour. After they heard the police sirens, Dustin and his friends left to go see what was going on. Y/N had been pacing ever sense.

"I can't Eddie. I need to think. I need to come up with a plan." Could they pin it on someone else? Some random killer? Maybe they could contact the government doctor who helped that Eleven girl disappear. What did Dustin say his name was? Dr. Owens? Yea, he could help. They could create a fake serial killer, surely Vecna was going to strike again, that could work. She could say that Eddie and her had been kidnapped. They could get their stories straight, but this plan entirely depends on the help of one man, if they could even find him. Y/N didn't like those odds.

"Dustin has a plan Y/N, we just need to sit tight while they do their thing." A plan? What plan? Find Vecna, kill him, and boom Eddie's safe? That's not a plan, it's barely an outline.

"I don't want to gamble with your life Eddie! We are in some serious shit right now!" She didn't mean to yell at Eddie, but he was playing fast and loose with his life. She wouldn't stand for that.

"Dustin might have plan A in the works, but I'll sure as hell have plans B-Z worked out solid. Then I'll start working on the greek alphabet, maybe throw in some fucking Egyptian hieroglyphs in the mix. Whatever it takes to make sure you don't get blamed for this mess!" Y/N could feel the tears falling down her face, she didn't realize she was crying.

Eddie stood up and wrapped his arms around her. She could smell the weed they had smoked earlier, and the cheap detergent they used to wash their clothes. It was soothing, familiar. He didn't say anything at first, just held her as she cried. She was so sick of crying.

"I don't know why you're so worried about me sweetheart. You're driving yourself crazy trying to find a way to save my sorry ass." Y/N didn't know why he wasn't worried. This was his life on the line.

"I just can't lose you too, Eddie. I can't go home after this and see my fucking parents knowing Chrissy won't be there anymore. I can't go back to Notre Dame knowing you're rotting in some prison cell or worse. I just can't." Eddie was rocking Y/N back and forth as she cried. He didn’t know how the hell he earned the loyalty of Y/N Cunningham, but he wasn’t going to have her shed tears for him anymore. His heart couldn’t take it.

“Everything’s gonna be fine Y/N. I’m not worried, you know why?” Y/N looked up at him then, her beautiful eyes glassy and wet.

“Why?” She sniffled, the tears finally stopping.

“Because you’re right here with me. You’re fucking brilliant Y/N, and if Dustin’s plan fails I know yours won’t. You’ve never let me down before, hell, you’re the one who defeated Vecna first!” Y/N laughed, her face shoved into Eddie’s shirt.

“That was a just a game Eds…”

“Just a game she says. DnD is not just a game Y/N. It’s a lifestyle.” She lightly flicked the side of Eddie’s head before she took a step back from him, getting a better look of his face.

“You’re ridiculous.”

“Yea yea, you still love me though.” He pulled her back into the hug, not willing to let her go just yet.

Y/N stayed silent, she didn’t trust herself not to spill her heart out to him. To say that yes, she did love him. She was falling in love with Eddie Munson. It made her sad to realize this now. The first person she would have told was Chrissy. She likes to think her sister had an idea about her feelings for him. Back when Y/N was still in high school she would talk about Eddie to her after their tutoring sessions, back when she didn’t acknowledge the affection she had for him. Chrissy would tease her, ask her to bring Eddie home with her.

“He looks so scary, Mom would totally drop dead if he took a step into the house.” Y/N just laughed it off, told her not to threaten her with a good time.

“I don’t know about him, but if you like him he can’t be all bad.” Y/N had rushed to defend herself, said it wasn’t like that. Chrissy had a look on her face then, like she knew something her sister didn’t. As if she knew that when they would talk about their futures, Y/N hoped it was Eddie who was with her in the end. She hopes that one day she’ll see her sister again, tell her about what happened after she died. Y/N never really believed in a heaven or hell, but after learning about the Upside Down, she hoped that her sister was out there. Somewhere peaceful, that somewhere over the rainbow.

“Now come on, dry those crocodile tears. I want to listen to that mixtape I made you. I’m sure Rick has some spare of headphones lying around this shit hole somewhere.” She separated herself from Eddie and went to go sit in the boat. Eddie left to go sneak into the main house, leaving her by herself. She grabbed her walkman and headphones, gently placing the cassette tape inside, and let the sounds of Iron Maiden fill her ears.

Hours passed like that, Y/N and Eddie laying on the boathouse floor side by side, listening to the old mixtape. When Rainbow in the Dark started playing, Y/N started crying again. She told Eddie that it reminded her of Chrissy. He asked her if she wanted to skip it, but she didn’t let him. She said it was good to think about her, let her memory live on in her. If she forgot about Chrissy it would be like she died all over again. Eddie held her hand as the song played, both of them seeking that small comfort in each other. They didn’t notice that the walkie talkie Dustin gave them was going off at first. It wasn’t until Eddie went to switch the cassette over to the other side that they heard him.

“Dustin?” Eddie responded after he untangled himself from the intertwined headphones.

“Christ Eddie, I’ve been yelling through this damn thing for that past 10 minutes. Over.” Henderson had such a little attitude problem.

“Whatever man, you’ve got us now. What’s the situation?”

“We found out how Vecna chooses his victims. Over.” That got their attention.

“What did you find out? Why did he pick Chrissy? Did he get anyone else?” Y/N was shooting one question after the other. She had the walkie in an iron grip, Eddie thought it might break.

“Woah woah slow down. One at a time, the reception on this thing sucks. Over.” Y/N took a deep breath, mentally preparing herself for whatever Dustin was about to tell them.

“What do you know?”

“We went through Ms. Kelly’s files at school. Apparently Chrissy and Fred both were seeing her.” Fred? Who’s Fred? Another one of Vecna’s victims?

“According to Ms. Kelly’s notes both of them were experiencing the same symptoms. Headaches, nosebleeds, trauma. Does that sound familiar to you Y/N? Did Chrissy tell you anything like that? Over.” Dustin continued.

“Headaches and nightmares yes. She didn’t mention nosebleeds, but she probably wouldn’t have worried about it too much. Wait, what do you mean by trauma? What happened to Chrissy??”

“Um… I don’t know how to tell you this Y/N… But according to Ms. Kelly’s notes, Chrissy used to make herself throw up... Over.”

“I know, but what trauma are you talking about?” Y/N didn’t see the shock on Eddie’s face. Chrissy made herself puke? Why would she do that? Y/N knew about it?

“Oh. Well, Chrissy told Ms. Kelly that her, I mean your, Mom was always harping on her about stuff like that… She also said that-”

“Don’t tell her that Dustin! She doesn’t need to hear that!” That was Max’s voice in the background.

“Tell me what.” There was radio silence for a moment.

“Tell me what Dustin.” More radio silence. The silence was thick, nearly choking her.

“Chrissy said that it got worse after you left for college. That you always took the heat from your Mom when you were there… but after you left Chrissy was the only person left for her to unleash her wrath on… Over.” Y/N passed the walkie over to Eddie, her eyes distant and cold.

“Anything else.”

“Robin and Nancy have a lead they’re going to check out tomorrow. We’ll give you another update then... Tell Y/N it wasn’t her fault, Chrissy didn’t blame her. She talked about her all the time… Ms. Kelly underlined multiple times that Y/N was Chrissy’s favorite person in the world... Over and out.” Eddie put the walkie back on the floor and turned to Y/N and her thousand yard stare.

“Y/N?” She didn’t respond.

“Are you alright?” Radio silence.

She stayed like that for awhile, staring off into space. The next words out of her mouth scared Eddie half to death.

“It should have been me. Chrissy died because I wasn’t in Hawkins. It should have been me.” Eddie didn't know what to think. Is brain was in information overload. What happened to Chrissy, why it happened. How it could happen to Y/N.

"Y/N..."

"You heard Dustin. Vecna only goes after people with trauma. The Upside Down is only in Hawkins right? He couldn't reach me at Notre Dame... If I was here Chrissy would still be alive." Eddie thought he was going to be sick. The idea that Y/N could have been the broken body in his trailer, he didn't want to think about it.

"Why would Vecna go after you? Chrissy was the one who used to... do that. I mean, I get your Mom, but if every kid in Hawkins with shitty parents got Vecna's curse there'd be hardly anyone left." Eddie didn't want to believe it. He didn't want to believe Y/N could be next.

Y/N looked to Eddie then, like she was begging him to understand. She wanted him to understand something she couldn't say out loud. Eddie tried to, he really did, but he just couldn't think that something so horrible had happened to her to cause Vecna to inflict his curse on her.

"Chrissy wasn't the only one." A rock settled in Eddie's stomach.

Chrissy wasn't the only one. Chrissy wasn't the only one. Chrissy wasn't the only one. Chrissy wasn't the only one. Chrissy wasn't the only one. Chrissy wasn't the only one. Chrissy wasn't the only one. That one sentence was banging against the walls of Eddie's skull over and over again.

"What..." It was barely audible when it left Eddie's mouth. He could hardly bring himself to speak.

"It was both of us. We both did that. Our mother did that to us." Eddie was never a hateful person. There were people he didn't like, people he couldn't stand even. But there weren't many people he hated, but he sure as hell fucking hated Mrs. Cunningham.

"Chrissy and I used to lock ourselves in the bathroom. I would sing to her and run my fingers through her hair while our mother would bang her fists on the door. Shouting at us, telling us we were fat, disgusting, pigs... Just horrible awful things." Eddie's fist was clenched so hard he'd thought he'd break the skin. His whole body vibrating with anger. How could she do that? To her own fucking daughters. How the fuck did Eddie not notice. How did he not notice something was wrong. How many times did he watch Y/N during the lunch, watch her walk out the doors of the cafeteria 10 minutes before the end. He was angry with himself. He paid too much attention to how her skirt swished around as she walked to put the pieces together. He was startled out of his thoughts when Y/N started laughing. It wasn't her normal laugh, bright and cheerful, it was crazed, nearly manic.

"I mean Jesus Vecna! What are you doing! I'm the bigger fish! You have soooo much material to work with!" She was pacing again now, shouting at the ceiling of the boathouse.

"What do you want to start with huh big guy? Gonna have mother show up in my dreams next? Show me the same shit you showed Chrissy? Or do you want to mix it up? Huh? Be fucking original! Gonna show me mother dearest threaten to give me up again? Tell me that she wished she never bothered to adopt me? That I wasn't even her real daughter? Maybe that's why you don't bother to show your face to me! I've dealt with monsters my entire goddamn life! Lived with them under the same fucking roof! Who the hell do you think you are? Have we not suffered enough! Fuck you!" She wanted to scream. Scream until her lungs collapsed. She wanted to break things. Destroy.

Eddie watched her unleash her anger. His heart ached for her, but he could feel it too. Not at her, never at her. Everything else. Vecna, Mrs. Cunningham, fuck, even his own parents. Who gave them the goddamn right?

"Yea! Fuck you Vecna!" Eddie shouted into the ceiling. This wasn't a good idea, people could hear them. But in the moment he didn't care. Didn't care about any of the consequences.

"Fuck you Vecna!" Y/N shouted again.

"If you think you're next on the chopping block, then I'm following you right through the depths of the Underworld baby. You hear that Vecna! Wanna take a peak at my psyche next?!" Y/N watched as Eddie joined her in the screaming match against the boathouse ceiling. He was glorious.

"Gonna show me dear old dad next! Have him call me some pansy ass satan worshipper! Like he's so high and goddamn mighty sitting in federal prison! Gonna show me Jason fucking Carver and his laundry basket bunch call me a freak every chance they get! All the people of Hawkins looking at me like I'm nothing but trailer trash! Come onnnnn Vecna! You know you want to, you self righteous piece of shit!"

Eddie and Y/N just screamed after that. Screamed at nothing. Screamed at everything. Just got it all out of their systems. After awhile they just stood there, facing each other: hearts pumping, adrenaline rushing, throats aching. Y/N didn't know when they got so close to each other.

Eddie had a wild look in his eyes, like he was determined about something. Y/N had the same look, but she knew what she was determined about. She was going to kiss Eddie Munson. She was going to kiss him till she couldn't breath anymore. She's was going to kiss him like the world was about to end.

Right when she was about to close the distance, finally get her hands on him, the sound of the walkie went off.

"Eddie? Y/N? You there? Over." The sound of Dustin's voice breaking the spell between them. Eddie cursed under his breath and snatched the walkie from the floor.

"Yes Henderson?" He gritted out.

"I just realized I forgot to tell you both something else about Vecna. Over."

"Can it wait?" Eddie loved Dustin Henderson, he was like the little brother he never had, but right now he wanted to shove that walkie up his big mouth.

"Can it wait, pssh, like you guys are busy. Over." Why yes Henderson, Eddie was busy, busy trying to have the balls to kiss Y/N Cunningham.

"What is it Dustin?" Y/N asked, her voice much calmer than it was before. The moment was over, Eddie lost his chance.

"Vecna had another victim, Fred Benson. I mentioned him earlier? Over."

"I gathered that Dustin. Anything else?" Y/N asked. She tried not to sound annoyed with the kid, he didn't know what was happening before he called. Maybe it was a good thing Dustin interrupted, stopped Y/N from making a fool out of herself.

"Yea, Max. Vecna is going after Max next. Over." Eddie and Y/N looked at each other, why was Max cursed? She's just a kid.

"How do you know? Is she safe?" Y/N didn't know Max, she just met her the other day, but she was so young. Too young to go out like that.

"She's safe for now. Max has been having the same symptoms as Chrissy and Fred. She has a bit of time, Vecna follows a pattern with his attacks. Hopefully we can figure something out soon. We'll keep you posted. Over."

"Sounds good man, ugh, let us know." Eddie sighed, it seemed like every time they spoke to Dustin all he had was bad news. Eddie was tired of bad news.

"Oh and Y/N? Over."

"Yea Dustin?"

"Chrissy's funeral is tomorrow. Over." Her funeral. Her sisters funeral. They were burying her tomorrow.

"Oh... Thank you Dustin... for letting me know." Did she want to go to the funeral? See her mother's face? Knowing she was the reason why Chrissy was dead? Could she do that alone?

"Yea well, that's everything. Over and out." The walkie went silent. Y/N slowly sank to the ground, she was exhausted, all of the energy in her body slowly bleeding out of her. Eddie followed her to the ground, just as tired as she was.

"Are you gonna go?" He asked.

"To what?"

"Chrissy's funeral?" Was she? Would Chrissy want her to? To dress up in black, look at her casket, watch her slowly descend into the cold hard ground. Have people come up to her, tell her that Chrissy was in their thoughts and prayers. Tell her how much of a tragedy it was, that someone so young and beautiful be taken so soon. As if she didn't already know that. Y/N knew what she was going to do, she just hoped Chrissy would have approved of her decision.

"No."

Taglist:

@imchangkyunned , @creativedogs , @nightless , @kik51199 , @thecraziestcrayon , @dabzzallday420 , @science--hoes , @efvyqrs ,

[dilemmaontwolegs]

Running from the Flames {8}

Pairing: Pierre Gasly x OFC Warnings: 18+ only, kissing, alcohol - this is a work of fiction and the events are not based on reality. Chapter: One || Two || Three || Four || Five || Six || Seven || Eight || Nine || Ten || Eleven* || under construction

Seeing Pierre on that podium would forever be etched in my brain. Lewis of course was happy he won and sprayed his champagne over the crowd but Pierre’s smile was something I will always remember. Monaco was the race that made careers and he came second, it was unbelievable.

No one even noticed Max slip off the stage area, his magnum bottle still full as he carried it away with his trophy in limp hands at his side. I felt sorry for him. Most people saw him as a sore loser, and maybe that was a part of it, but I knew his father and the pressure that he put on his son to win. Anything other than first place was a disappointment to Jos and he didn’t keep those opinions to himself.

Pulling out my phone I messaged Kelly.

To Kelly: How’s Max doing?

From Kelly: You know how it is 🙁 Jos is on the warpath with FIA trying to overturn the penalty.

To Kelly: He saw the footage right? It sucks but a 5 sec penalty is better than staying on the track and getting a DNF because he crashed into Lando.

From Kelly: Logic and pride do not go hand in hand. Max has just got back to the motorhome, looks like we are leaving tonight. Catch up again soon babe xx

Turning my focus back to Pierre I smiled once more as he shook his bottle and sprayed it over Lewis and then the crowd, just a few splatters reaching me where I hung at the back as far from the media pit as possible. Even with the distance between us Pierre found me and held his trophy high before blowing me a kiss.

Today definitely confirmed the rumours, even if we hadn’t put a title on this. One thing was for certain, friends no longer covered it.

It took a while but the celebration started to break off into groups and Pierre carried his trophy with pride as he returned to the Alpine team after a few final interviews. I saw the glint in his eye just before he reached me and suddenly my feet were off the ground as he swung us around. 

“Monaco, baby, we did it,” he said as he buried his face in my hair and twirled us around again.

“You’re getting me wet!” I gasped as my dress soaked up the champagne that he was drowning in.

“A nadie le importa,” Esteban muttered as he walked past, his shoulder grazing Pierre and making him stumble. (Español: Nobody cares.)

“What the fuck?” Pierre growled under his breath and placed me back on my feet to face his teammate who was walking away.

“¿Te he ofendido?” I asked, enjoying his misstep when he turned back wide eyed. “Yeah, I know what you said. Discúlpate. Ahora.” (Español: Have I offended you? Apologise. Now.)

“Sorry,” Esteban obeyed without any sincerity before stalking off ahead of everyone else.

“Didn’t you two used to be friends?” I asked as we watched him leave.

Pierre shrugged noncommittally as he answered, “yeah, until I started winning.”

That explained the renewed animosity considering he placed 7th, but he should have still been proud to get points for the team. I shook my head at the childish behaviour and found my hair was clinging to me, the smell of alcohol strong on my clothes. 

“I smell like I went swimming in a vat of vino,” I complained and tried to wring some of the liquid from my dress. “I’m going to shoot back to the hotel and change while you get cleaned up.”

“I don’t want to go,” Addie grovelled.

“Well we have to,” I said, leaving no room for arguing. 

“Sorry, princesse, that was my fault,” Pierre said softly, brushing her hair back from her face to see her pout. “But you’ll see us soon for the after party, right?”

I chewed my lip as he looked at me for the answer. “It’s not really appropriate for a toddler.”

His eyes widened and I think it finally dawned on him that while he had fun playing with Addie there were far more responsibilities than he had initially thought. There was no compromise on the fact that we were a package deal and that the welfare of my daughter would always come first. I hoped it wouldn’t change his mind but if it did then it was better to end whatever this was now before feelings got any deeper. 

He recovered from the epiphany the least bit unfazed. “Then what about staying for dinner at least.”

Addie turned to me using her big blue eyes and trembling lip to convince me and I sighed, her smile immediately breaking over her face as she jumped up and down confirmed smugly, “that’s a yes.”

“I didn’t even answer but alright, we’ll have dinner but then it’ll be your bedtime, darling. Deal?”

She held her hand out to shake on it with a firm, “deal.”

The sun was only just beginning to set when we emerged from the hotel with my hair still damp from the shower. Otmar had managed to find an Alpine jacket before we left the track and Addie refused to take it off even after changing into a nicer dress for the dinner that we were now running late for. It may have been a fashion tragedy but she was happy and that made me happy.

The after party was in a function room of the Monte Carlo Casino and though the fastest way to get to it was through the casino I had to take the long route because Addie wasn’t allowed on the casino floor. It seemed a bit silly because I obviously wasn’t going to be sitting her at the roulette tables and have her place a bet, but rules were rules. 

“Mon ange,” Pierre gushed when I followed Otmar’s voice and found the two at the same table. “Tu est très belle.”

My cheeks heated at the compliment and he rose from his seat to pull out the one beside him that had been saved and there was even a high chair next to it. 

“Someone’s been celebrating on an empty stomach,” Otmar said with a laugh. “I think he’s forgotten that some of us don’t speak French.”

“I have not forgotten,” Pierre refuted as he lifted Addie into her high chair before pushing my chair in. “English is a bore, le français est plus mélodique et vient du coeur.” (French: French is more melodic and comes from the heart.)

“Wow, you are really drunk right now,” I teased, placing my hand in his as it came to rest on my thigh.

Otmar laughed between picking bits from the charcuterie platter and putting them on the plate in front of Addie. “Let’s hope Yuki isn’t here or there goes your beau for the night.”

I quirked an eyebrow at Pierre as his ears burned red and I helped myself to some bruschetta. “Is there a third wheel I should know about?”

“Talking about me?” I jumped at the sudden face that popped up between Pierre and I, a hand on the back of both of our chairs. Charles Leclerc looked as tipsy as Pierre did and both were grinning as they embraced, congratulating each other on their places before Pierre drew his friends' attention to me.

“Have you two met?” Pierre asked me and I shook my head. “Charles, voici Bri. Bri, voici Charles.”

Charles held his hand out to shake but when I placed my in his he raised them to his lips and kissed my knuckles. “Enchanté.”

“Nice to meet you too.”

“Come on, man,” Pierre sighed and pulled my hand away with a roll of his eyes. “Find your own girl, she’s taken.”

“Am I?” I asked as I tapped my lips like I was deep in thought. “I don’t remember being asked to be your girl.”

“Ohhh,” Charles laughed under his breath. “She told you, pote.”

Pierre pushed his chair back and lowered himself to one knee in front of me and I reached for him, trying to pull him up before fresh rumours began. Charles was no help as he pulled his phone out and started to record his friend, the camera shaking as he laughed uncontrollably.

“Brianna, will you do me the honour of being my girlfriend?” Pierre asked as he looked up from under his lashes, a clarity in his eyes that told me he was sober enough to know what he was doing. 

“Only if you get up off our damn knees,” I rushed and he let me pull him up with another winning smile. 

Turning to the camera he looked down the lens giving the thumbs up. “She said yes!“

“Are they always like this?” I asked Otmar, unable to hide the smile on my face at their familiar comradery. “I seem to remember these events being more tense between the drivers.”

“Pierre gets along with most of the drivers rather well, more than others that’s for sure,” he said as he nodded his head to the Red Bull table a few spots over. 

I looked at the table and saw two empty seats where Max and Kelly should have been but my attention moved on as the lights dimmed and the performer of the night took the stage. The heavy vibrations of bassy music shook the table as David Guetta was announced and a cheer went up around the room, the tables emptying as the crowd moved to the open space in front of the stage. 

“Fuck yes!” Charles cheered and clapped Pierre on the back in farewell before joining the others. 

“I’m going to take Addie back to the hotel, I didn’t bring her earmuffs,” I said in Pierre’s ear over the loud music.

“I’ll come, I don’t want you walking in the dark,” he said, already standing and grabbing his jacket from the back of his chair.

“We’ll be fine, this is Monaco, it’s safe and we aren’t going far.”

He shook his head decisively and stroked my cheek gently. “What kind of boyfriend would I be if I let you walk alone at night?”

It was hard to decline the offer when I desperately wanted to spend more time with him but I felt guilty for taking him away from the party. “Fine, but then you come back here and enjoy yourself alright? You deserve it.”

Otmar was getting ready to leave too, citing the music wasn’t for his generation, but he stopped beside me to make plans for breakfast before his flight in the morning and give Addie a kiss on her head goodbye. Otmar went to shake hands with Pierre and congratulate him one last time but Pierre surprised him with a hug instead and thanked him for the opportunity with Alpine. 

The sincerity made my heart ache and I wanted to throw my arms around the both of them for the wholesome moment but instead I just enjoyed it before they broke apart and Otmar left through the casino floor. Pierre picked Addie up from the high chair and after the long day then the meal she was looking exhausted as she laid her head on his shoulder and yawned.

He made to follow Otmar but I stopped him and turned him to the smaller side door we had entered. “Under 18,” I reminded him. 

“Right,” he chuckled and shifted Addie so he could carry her with one arm comfortably. “When you are older I’ll teach you Black Jack and then we will come here and win all the money.”

Pierre held out his free hand and I laced my fingers with his as we walked the brightly lit boulevard back to the hotel. “I’m afraid she’s already fast asleep.”

“Phew, let’s not remind her when she wakes up because I suck as Black Jack, I have no poker face.”

My head tipped back with a laugh. “Babe, those are two different card games.”

“No, no way.” He shook his head before looking confused and then looking at me seriously. “Really?”

“Poker and Black Jack are different games.”

“I thought it was the other name for Black Jack, no?”

“That’s 21.” He stopped walking suddenly and I had to step back as my arm pulled up. He was grinning at me and I started to feel self conscious, nervously running my hand over my hair to check it wasn’t going wild as it dried. “What’s wrong?”

“Nothing,” he said through that wide smile. “You called me babe.” He stepped closer and I could smell the sweet liquor clinging to him as he leaned in and kissed me in the street, taking my breath away in an instant. The smile never left his face when he pulled away. 

“You like it?” I asked knowingly, a little pep in my step as we walked along hand in hand.

He lifted my hand and twirled me around like we were dancing alone and not surrounded by strangers enjoying a night out. He spun me back to him, curling me in his arms and dipped his head to my ear and whispered, “I fucking love it.”

Click here for chapter nine.

Tagging: @my-only-way-tocooperatewithlife

[helpimstuckposting]

Okay this ones a bit sillier, I'm just a hostage writing their banter into existence. There is no stranger things without silly banter, and I am just a mere mortal passing the message, bound by the laws of this world. Still sad tho, can't forget that.

I’m a ghost and you are a shadow

Part one | part two | part three | part four | part five | part six | part seven | part eight | part nine | part ten | part eleven

—

From his huddle on the floor, Steve felt more hands on his shoulders and his back, felt more arms wrap so tightly around him and he’d never felt more secure in his life. His cheeks hurt and the muscles in his neck pulled uncomfortably around the lump in his throat, his clothes were days old and covered in dirt from the woods outside, and he had no idea what was going on but his arms were full of Robin and he could feel Dustin clinging to his side, and Nancy carding her fingers through his hair. El and Max were crying, everyone was crying, but Steve couldn’t remember the last time he’d felt this happy.

He was so scared, so scared, that when he let go it would all be gone. He knew he wouldn’t be able to handle it, this time.

He felt Nancy step back, the warmth from just above his shoulder gone and he panicked, tearing his damp eyes away from the crook of Robin’s neck to look up. She was still there, smiling with tears in her eyes and she looked so young all of a sudden, Steve could imagine her face aglow with the rainbow lights of the Upside Down Lite Brite, excitement in her eyes like a child waking up on Christmas to find everything she ever hoped for under the tree.

“I’m gonna get the first aid kit,” she whispered, shuffling into the hallway. Always the responsible one.

Robin and the kids finally pulled away, helping him to his feet, and they hadn’t disappeared. A weight in his chest lifted slightly, the unsurety of it all still pressing down but one piece had been relieved. They weren’t going to disappear on him.

They made their way from the kitchen into the livingroom, sitting Steve down on the once pristine white couch. It was now a dull eggshell, years of wear sinking the cushions in and making it more comfortable than he ever remembered. His parents would flip if they saw it. Not that he ever wanted them to come back.

Nancy entered the room with a small white tackle box, sitting down opposite Steve and Robin on the coffee table in front of them. He glanced to his side and noticed a smudge of blood on Robin’s cheek, the one she’d had pressed into his neck. She didn’t have a cut on her face and for a brief moment he wondered where the blood came from until Nancy pressed a wet cotton ball into Steve’s neck. He remembered the knife Eddie had held to his throat, the sharp movement he made when the party burst through the door earlier. The blade must have sliced him and he hadn’t even noticed.

The party was quiet as Nancy patched him up. For some reason, Eddie was nowhere to be seen. He seemed like the most suspicious out of everyone and Steve couldn’t figure out why, but right now there were clearly more pressing matters at hand.

Steve looked around the room at the faces he never thought he’d see again, in the house that was definitely different than his own in the slightest of ways, but more lived in, more comfortable. Full of pictures he’d never taken, but he was clearly present for somehow.

“What…,” he started to ask, throat scratchy, not really sure how to begin. Nancy put away the gauze and tape, closing the tackle box with a quiet click. Everything from the morning flicked through Steves mind and though most of it was hazy, he tried his best to piece it all together. This clearly wasn’t a dream, and it didn’t seem anything like Max had described Vecna’s mind powers to be.

“What’s the date?” He finally asked.

Dustin squinted at him. Okay, maybe Eddie wasn’t the only suspicious one. “It’s May 8th, 1990,” he replied, “It’s been six months since you died.”

Died. There it was again. But the date was correct, Steve remembered that much.

“Listen. I know this sounds… crazy, but-,”

“Crazier than a girl with superpowers and a hell dimension?” Dustin cut in. Steve blinked up at him. He hated when he was at a lower eye level than the kid, made him feel smaller like somehow Dustin was the adult in the situation. The tone didn’t help either. Steve missed it so much.

“Okay, fair.” He started again, trying to gain his bearings and make sense of the situation, put it into words that they’d understand. “You keep saying I died, but for me… I remember you guys dying.” He glanced at them all again. They were watching him with varying levels of confusion, Nancy’s lips were pursed and Max’s were, too, in a similar way.

“The last time we fought Vecna, a few of us barely made it out alive. It’s been… it’s been years since I last saw you guys.”

They were quiet. He watched as they flicked their eyes back and forth between each other. He felt like an outsider once more, like they were speaking a language he didn’t quite know yet, like he was back in the Byer’s living room while Jonathan and Nancy tried to get him to leave. Before everything fell apart.

“All of us?” Max finally spoke, asking the question they were clearly communicating between all of them.

“Not… not all of you. But, Will and El… Dustin, Max… Robbie,” he looked at all of them as he said their names. “The rest of the kids moved away with their families, Eddie left when Wayne died. I’ve been..,” he paused for a breath. They were all still so quiet, letting him finish, though he took a bit to stumble through the words, “I’ve been alone for years. The Hawkins I know is a ghost town and I have no idea how I got here.”

No one really spoke, they just kept looking at each other. Steve glanced back between each of them, feeling like he was failing some sort of test he never studied for. He always hated silence, lived with it so long it became loud and overbearing. He didn’t want it to be so quiet when he was surrounded by people.

“I don’t think I’m your Steve,” he finished, just for one more thing to say, one more break in the quiet.

“Parallel universes,” Dustin muttered to himself. He seemed almost… excited? Like there was a new code he cracked or a gadget he could take apart.

Nancy and Max just squinted at him, the former glancing back to Steve out of the corner of her eye, assessing. She always stayed quiet until she’d figured out the next move, calculated all the variables in her head before saying them out loud. Dustin seemed impatient, rolling his eyes to the heavens and back down again.

“Like The Dark Tower?” he tried, groaning when met with more silence. “Stephen King?” Steve briefly wondered if Dustin ever got tired of acting like he knew more than everyone in the room. The kid needed a reality check in Steve’s opinion, but unfortunately for him, Dustin usually did know more than Steve.

“You know how The Upside Down is like a copy of Hawkins?” Dustin tried again, and the crew nodded back. “Well that’s like our world folded over on itself, it’s an extension and not a separate entity.” He held his hands like two Cs, miming a piece of paper being folded in on itself. “But a parallel universe is like a completely separate world.”

Dustin suddenly clapped his hands together. Steve flinched at the sharp noise, but Dustin didn't seem to notice, separating his hands by just a centimeter and keeping them held out in front of him. “It’s an alternate dimension that runs parallel to ours, with just slight differences leading to separate outcomes.”

“Like Narnia?” Steve asked. Robin let out a soft ‘ohhhh’ and pointed at him. Dustin groaned and his whole body seemed to sag in a parental-like disappointment.

“No, Steve, not like Narnia!”

“I don’t know, it sounds kind of like Narnia,” Robin said.

“Yeah, Narnia was a separate world,” Steve nodded at her.

“Enough about Narnia! It’s not like Narnia!”

“Seems like Narnia,” Robin muttered, but Dustin ignored her and powered through, though El was giggling to herself and that seemed like a win in Steve's book.

“Narnia is an alternate universe that’s completely different than ours. I’m talking about the same world with the same people, but certain decisions cause a split that leaves the world slightly different than the next one. We’re all fundamentally the same, but some of our experiences might be different! For instance, our fights with Vecna turned out different results. Okay? Do you get it now?”

Max rolled her eyes “Don’t have a conniption, you’re not the only person in the room with brain cells, you know.”

"Okay, let's just..," Nancy began, holding her hands up placatingly, "Let's take a breath and pretend Dustin is right, that this is some kind of parallel universe."

"I am right," Dustin muttered to himself, though no one paid him any attention, all eyes focused now on Nancy.

“If Steve is from a parallel universe, then… how did he get here?” she asked. Eyes turned from Nancy to Steve again, and Steve did his best not to cower under the microscope. Carol had taught him to hide his emotions, keep calm and collected, ‘people will respect you more, Steve, just look like you don’t care’. He stared back at them.

“I just… I remember waking up in the woods-,”

“What were you doing in the woods?” Max interjected.

“I… it doesn’t matter. I took a nap and woke up in the backyard, that’s it,” he lied. He didn’t want to delve into his traumas now. Though these people looked like his family, they hadn’t gone through the same thing he did. They didn’t know him the way they should. He could tell them later, if he needed to, but not right now. Robin still looked at him like she knew, though, still seemed to be able to read his mind, ‘I’ve got two brain cells, Stevie, and one of them is yours.’

He sighed as the crew all looked at each other again, resigned to remaining on the outside of this team that wore faces he’d longed to see again. He wasn’t their Steve, and they weren’t his family. They had codes all their own, glances that meant something he couldn’t translate, memories he wasn’t a part of. Steve Harrington was always meant to be alone.

“Wait,” Robin broke the silence. Steve watched as he could see the gears turning in her head, it reminded him of the look she got seconds before cracking the Russian code at Starcourt. “Wasn’t there a gate near your backyard already? From Barb?”

Steve blinked at her. Parallel universe or not, it seemed some events stayed the same.

Nancy filled in Robin’s train of thought, bouncing to the next. “Like you somehow came from the old gate?”

“Did you know that keeping scars healed is a continuous process?” Robin’s train of thought bounced again, seemingly out of nowhere. “The body needs to constantly focus attention on keeping the old wounds healed, it’s called collagen synthesis, which requires vitamin C. So, if you get scurvy the body can no longer maintain the process and your scars can reopen. Bones that have been healed for like twenty years can actually shatter again, too, it’s pretty creepy when you really think about it, like we’re never really fully healed even after decades and-,”

“Robin,” Steve cut in. “Are you suggesting the universe has… scurvy?”

“No? Well… I mean, I guess. I just mean, what if closing the gates wasn’t just a one-and-done thing?”

Nancy seesawed her head back and forth, “Like, what was holding them together is no longer working?” she added. Robin nodded, holding her palms up like Vanna White, presenting Nancy’s contribution to the room.

“Isn’t that kind of a stretch?” Dustin asked.

“We could check the gates,” Max said, “See if they’re still closed?”

El nodded, sitting up a bit straighter, “I can feel them out, see if anything has changed.”

They all worked so well together. Steve had forgotten how easily they came up with plans, the pounding of his heart against his chest as adrenaline raced through his body, sharpening his mind. It all felt so quick, so practiced, no time for dilly-dallying, no time for uncertainty. But… if they found out the gates had opened again, what then? Would he need to go back to his world in order to close them? He looked at each party member one by one, took in their enthusiasm at creating a new plan, at figuring out a puzzle placed in front of them. What if he didn’t want to go back? What was there to even go back to?

“Maybe-,” Steve cut through their chattering voices, and they paused to focus on him. “Maybe we should just check the backyard first. See if that gate is open, and then we can worry about the rest. We should also probably tell the rest of the party, they don’t know any of this has happened yet.” And maybe that could buy him some time.

Just… just a couple more days, a couple more hours at the very least. They weren’t his family, but they were closer than he’d ever thought he’d have again. He wasn’t quite ready to give them up just yet.

“Right,” Robin said, placing her hand gently on Steve’s arm. He wondered how desperately she had craved her own Steve’s touch, if she had sat awake at night feeling like half of herself was missing, ‘two brain cells, Stevie, and one of them is yours.’

She squeezed his arm, and he already knew the answer. She was still Robbie.

“We should call your mom,” Nancy nodded.

“My what?”

—

It’s the little things 👀 expect the unexpected, Stevie

@weirdandabsurd42 @sirsnacksalot @space-invading-pigeon @aliea82 @goodolefashionedloverboi @emly03

[bebx]

Fic authors self rec! When you get this, reply with your favorite five fics that you've written, then pass on to at least five other writers. Let’s spread the self-love❤

This is so lovely. Thank you! Let’s see what we have (I put the links that will direct you to each of the fics here, they are in italics and are in red);

I leave the arrow in my throbbing heart

Henry had no idea his reality of reshaping the world, after escaping the lab with Eleven, would be less of actually reshaping the world, and more of 'being Eleven's protective big brother, as well as her guardian' instead.

true love won’t desert you

"He is the monster, Henry. Not you."

Henry was standing right in front of her now, and even though he knew he was smarter than this, than to fall into Eleven's trap: she was only saying what she thought he'd want to hear, to save her friend's life. There was a part of him — a naive part — that still saw her as that nine-year-old kid who he once considered a friend. Even after she betrayed him, and turned him into this, Henry once... cared for her (and that was a mistake.)

But the way Eleven was looking at him held more than an indication of a desperate attempt to stall Max's death. She looked at him with what looked like sincerity in her eyes, the way a nine-year-old Eleven used to look at her favorite Friendly Orderly, before things reached the point of no return between them.

"You're not a monster, Henry." Eleven said, a tear rolled down her cheek. "Not to me."

like a dagger to the throat

A Papa and his wayward son. One mistake. Maybe, just maybe, they're not too far gone.

Doctor Brenner makes one last attempt to save Henry. He prays to God there's still a soul left to be saved.

blood so red on your fingers

Henry escaped the Lab with Eleven, and is living with her at Hopper's place. This doesn't mean all the problems are gone.

What Doctor Brenner leaves in his wake is the trauma Henry cannot quite escape from.

when a wolf lost its teeth

For old times' sake, Eleven decided to spare Henry's (Vecna's) life after she defeated him.

Henry was hurt, with his many wounds, and he had no place to come home to. But he still had Eleven, or so he hoped.

I.e. Eleven unexpectedly found Henry huddling in the corner of her room, looking painfully helpless.

Vecna’s Curse

Henry decided to swallow down his pride and come to Will for help. Will found Henry's request to be, understandably, messed up.

To sum it up, both Henry and Will faced their worst fear; their own issues, feelings and pain.

I know I was supposed to put 5 works here, but I kind of cheated and added an extra one here. I mean… I couldn’t help it because I feel like all of these works are my babies so yeah lol. Anyway, I’m aware they are all Henry Creel fanfics. I swear I’m so normal about this man (I’m not).

[dwobbitfromtheshire]

Stuck Between a Jock and a Metalhead

Summary: Nancy, on a whim, decides to visit Steve at Scoops Ahoy, which leads to her overhearing confessions from Steve that leads her to think about the decisions she's made. A few days later, she decides to come back. She finds him being hit on by the town freak. What's a girl to do? Oh, get stuck in a freezer with the both of them.

Chapter One - Chapter Two - Chapter Three - Chapter Four - Chapter Five - Chapter Six - Chapter Seven - Chapter Eight - Chapter Nine - Chapter Ten - Chapter Eleven - Chapter Twelve - Chapter Thirteen - Chapter Fourteen - Chapter Fifteen - Chapter Sixteen - Chapter Seventeen - Chapter Eighteen - Chapter Nineteen - Chapter Twenty - Chapter Twenty-One - Chapter Twenty-Two - Chapter Twenty-Three

@nightmareglitter

Chapter Twenty-Four

Nancy sat in the living room of her house, everyone pale as Max told them what happened. Max was being held tight by her mother but this time, Max was holding her back just as tightly. Agent Stinson was back at the house now, recounting what happened with Victor Creel but not before Eddie and Dustin had interjected with their own names for whatever was haunting them. Apparently, they had some time on their hands. Vecna, the dark wizard from Eddie's campaign, with untold powers, was cursing these people. . .was cursing them. Agent Stinson had silenced them with a look before talking again.

"Yes, Victor Creel's family was Vecna's first victims in 1959. Victor believed that his home was haunted, possessed, and even called an exorcist. Later, when his family's bodies were crushed as well as their eyes, he believed it to be the work of a demon. After inheriting some money, the Creels moved to Hawkins to start their new life, and they had one month of peace, and then it all went to hell. Dead animals, tortured, were left near their home. They all began to hallucinate. Victor had said that the demon seemed to take pleasure in tormenting them, and Victor soon began to have hallucinations of his own. He seemed to be able to sense that the demon was close and believed he was hiding in their house, that it cursed everyone in Hawkins. It took Victor's wife, Virginia, first. He tried to get the children out, and then he started to hallucinate. He was back in the war and being taunted by the demon. He was pulled out of the hallucination by the music that was playing on the radio, only to discover that his children had been taken by the demon. Henry had slipped into a coma, and a week later, he died," Agent Stinson finished.

"Jesus," Ted said.

"What does this mean?" Karen asked. "For Max."

"Keep her Walkman on her at all times, keep it playing, and you keep that asshole out of your head," Nancy told Max.

"Okay, well, she can't keep this up forever," Sue said.

"We need to find this guy and kill it," Nancy said.

"Well, we still don't know where he is or why he's waited so long to do this and why he's doing it now. Hell, we don't even know why he is doing all of this," Steve said.

"Excellent point, Stevie," Eddie said.

"Okay, where is the Creel House? Maybe we can search for clues there," Nancy said.

"According to his file, it's located on Morehead Street," Agent Stinson replied.

"Maybe Vecna's still hiding in the house," Nancy said. "So, let's check it out."

"You guys are staying here," Lily said. "We'll check it out."

"I don't work for you anymore," Nancy replied. "So, you can't bench me. We're all in this together, and I'm going to help out whether you like it or not."

"I can't really argue with you, can I?" Lily sighed. "Fine, take Stinson."

"I'm going with you," Robin and Steve said before looking at each other. "Jinx!"

"Robin!" Nora exclaimed.

"Mother!" Robin exclaimed.

"Robin!" Robert scolded has daughter.

"Eddie!" Eddie burst out, causing them to look at him. "I'm sorry, I thought we were doing something here."

"Sorry, mombie, but I have to go. What if Steve trips on like grass or something, which I'm sure is all that's going to happen? You know how he is with the concussions," Robin said.

"He does get those a lot," Nora said and frowned. "I suppose some people do have to stay here. Although, I wish it were you two. I wish none of us were going. Hell, I wish none of this was happening!"

"Mombie! We got this," Steve said and flashed her his most charming smile.

"Oh, my babies!" Nora exclaimed as she hugged them tightly. "I know it's not possible, but sometimes it seems like I pushed you out together myself and at the same time with the way you two act. Look after each other."

"I'm going with you too," Dustin said.

"And I don't think my mom is going to let me go anywhere," Max chuckled.

"I'll stay here," Lucas said.

Suddenly, Holly came into the room with Mayhem and Tews following after. She quickly jumped into Eddie's lap while the cats did the same.

"Well, I guess I'm staying here too. Sorry, my loves," Eddie said.

"Mayhem says you're not allowed to leave," Holly said.

"Is that so?" Eddie asked in amusement.

"She said so, Teddy!" Holly exclaimed.

Karen stood up, her head held high as she gazed at her daughter. Nancy's eyes widened.

"I'm going with you too," Karen said.

"Mom!" Nancy said.

"I'm not taking no for an answer. You need a parent with you all if you're going. It's time you kids stop going through this by yourselves," Karen said. "I know you're all more than capable of doing this by yourself, but that doesn't mean you should."

"Like mother, like daughter," Eddie said and Ted snorted.

"Isn't that the truth," Ted said. "I couldn't stop you two even I wanted to which I don't. Our daughter is going to do this whether we like it or not. She's going to follow through, and you're going to follow her. Please come back in one piece. Like Mike, I like to keep the complete set and in pristine condition. Shit, he's not here to hear that."

Karen squeezed her husband's arm gently. Nancy guessed over the years that she learned when to tell when her husband was worried. Karen surprised them all by kissing Ted in front of everyone and then kissed his broken nose. Nancy wondered if, after 20 years , could someone finally fall in love with their spouse? She noticed now that there was a definite twinkle in her mother's eyes whenever she looked at Ted.

"We'll be fine, Ted. You worry too much," Karen grinned, and Ted actually laughed.

Nancy was surprised. She had never seen this sort of interaction from her parents before. Mike will never believe it until he sees it. She grinned and gave Eddie a kiss before moving aside to let Steve do the same. Eddie grinned at Steve and then down at the yellow sweater that he had slipped on last night. Steve rolled his eyes and pulled it off, revealing a blue polo underneath. He handed the sweater over, and Eddie quickly slipped it on, purring happily.

"You're so cute," Steve said fondly.

Karen disappeared up the stairs and came back down with a gun. It was a 45. Nancy looked at her mother in surprise.

"What? You're not the only Wheeler who can hide guns in her bedroom," Karen said.

"Where did you learn to shoot?" Nancy asked.

"I didn't learn from anyone. I taught myself," Karen replied.

"Hey, Nance," Eddie grinned. "What did you get from Ted? . . . No, offense, Mr. Wheeler."

"None taken, son, you're only telling the truth," Ted replied, and he smiled at Karen.

Jesus, they must have found some time to have a serious discussion because there was more life in her parents' relationship than she had ever seen before. They went outside and decided to take Nancy's car. Nancy stepped back and frowned. Didn't she leave her car at the apartment?

"Oh, Ted drove it back when Steve went to pick up Mayhem while you were and Eddie were busy," Karen smirked. "We need more vehicles, just in case."

"Mom!" Nancy exclaimed. "Okay, I really wish you were getting onto me instead because I don't like this. What's gotten into you?"

Karen smiled as she slid into the driver's seat. Nancy slid in next to her while the others slid into the back. Steve waved the shotgun and the bat he pulled from his car. Nancy grinned as she glanced at him from the rear view mirror.

"I know it's going to sound sappy, but I think of this is making me realize what's truly important," she said. "And I realize now that the one who's been holding me back wasn't Ted. . .it was me. If I want to change anything about my life, it has to be me who puts that step forward, and I know Ted isn't going to stop me. I never thought to ask for what I wanted because I didn't really know. For the longest time, I thought it wasn't Ted, I always doubted myself because I thought I only married him because everyone was telling me not to. I realized that the one other person who was telling me not to love him was me. It only took me 20 years, but when I imagined him dying like those kids, I realized I really loved him. I also realized I was making myself and Ted unhappy because of my own shortcomings."

"Oh, mom, that's great. I'm really happy for you and dad," Nancy said, tears welling up in her eyes.

"You know, it made your dad realize some things too. Like he spent his whole life fighting other people, and he fought in the war too that after a while, he kind of stopped trying to do, well, anything. He didn't realize he's kind of been slacking at home, too. He says he wants to try more and work on this relationship, too. I told him he's done so much for this family, and he works so hard, but he still thinks he can do more. In fact, he's asked me . . .," Karen said, biting her lip.

"What?" Nancy asked.

"He wants to do a vow renewal," she said. "You know, after this."

"That's great, Karen!" Steve interjected, his eyes lighting up.

"I think Steve wants to plan it, Mrs. Wheeler," Dustin said.

"Shut up, man," Steve hissed.

"I was planning on asking you, anyway," Karen said in amusement.

"Yes!" Steve exclaimed.

"Low key, though, nothing fancy. Casual with a few family and friends," Karen said, and Steve saluted.

Nancy smiled at her mom. She realized that for the first time, she was seeing her mom really happy. Her hair wasn't up in a perfect updo. It was actually in a messy ponytail, and she wasn't wearing any makeup. Still, her clothes were bright, but they were also casual, perfect to run in. Maybe it was the fact that Karen had been trying so hard to be picture-perfect to the world that had made her miss out on so many wonderful things. There were bigger things to worry about now, and Karen didn't need to worry about those things anymore. At least, they're not the most important things to worry about anymore. Nancy and the others jumped when someone tapped on the glass. She turned around to find Lucas peering into the window, and she rolled it down.

"Oh, good, you're still here. Max said to tell you that she saw in Vecna's mind a stained glass window with a rose on it. Maybe look for that when you try to find the house," Lucas said and then handed her a bag. "Flashlights."

"That's helpful, thank you," Nancy said and waved at him.

"Good luck," Lucas said.

"You too," Nancy said.

Karen pulled out of the drive and started heading towards Morehead Street with the help of Agent Stinson's directions. As they road down Morehead, they found the house almost immediately. Not only did it look abandoned for years, but it also gave off some creepy energy, almost as if it were announcing that something bad happened here. Nancy shuddered at the sight of it as the sun sank down behind it. Shit, it was almost nighttime again. Has it really been almost two days since Chrissy Cunningham died? It certainly felt longer. She grabbed her shotgun and her flashlight as they moved toward the house. As they moved, the memory of Hopper presenting her with the shotgun popped into her head, of Hopper telling her to keep it from her parents and laughing at his guilty look that this had to be necessary. God, she missed him.

Steve stood at her side, his own bat raised as he looked at her. It almost seemed as if he knew what she was thinking. It seemed like that a lot, actually. She was glad that he was here but at the same time she wished he was safe. She was glad Eddie was back at her parents' house. She wished they were all safe, but it didn't really matter where anyone was. No one was safe. Wasn't that the illusion? No one is ever really safe. She calmed her swirling mind and moved forward. The six of them walked up the porch steps of the run-down Victorian house. The front door was all boarded up, but luckily, there was a hammer lying around. Nancy and Steve pulled the board away, revealing the stained glass window. Yeah, this was the house.

"Well, this isn't creepy at all," Steve said as they walked in, and he stood staring at the clock in the hallway.

"It's just like the clock from Max's hallucinations," Nancy muttered.

"Jeeze, he's obsessed with clocks. Is he some sort of clockmaker?" Steve asked.

"I think you cracked the case, Steve," Dustin said sarcastically.

"It's not totally far off, Dustin," Nancy grinned.

"Really?"

"You can believe in another dimension, but you can't believe that this guy is a clockmaker?" Nancy asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Shit, you may have a point," Dustin said.

"She may have a point? She does have a point," Robin said.

"I love it when you come to my rescue," Steve whispered in Nancy's ear. "It's so sexy."

Nancy giggled and kissed him quickly before moving to look around some more with Robin.

"They just left everything here," Nancy said.

"Including the mice!" Robin screeched as she wrapped her arms around Nancy as one ran in front of her. "Where's Mayhem when you need her?"

"Oh, Mayhem is useless with catching mice," Nancy said in amusement. "She always tries to befriend them."

"And then Eddie tries to keep them," Steve rolled his eyes.

"Your cat is failing at her job, Steve," Robin said.

"Maybe we should dock her pay," he said sarcastically and Nancy giggled.

"Roaches and spiders are the things she's good at catching. She hates them," Nancy said.

"What are we looking for here?" Karen asked Nancy.

"Any sign that this asshole is hiding here," Nancy said.

"And if he's hiding in that place that you mentioned?" Karen asked. "The Upside Down?"

"Well, then we find a way to lure him out and kill the son of a bitch," Nancy said.

"How are we going to do that without El?" She asked.

"I'm hoping that maybe we can buy El some time until she gets her powers back and comes back home," Nancy said. "I still haven't quite figured out how to do that."

"We'll figure it out together," Karen said.

"We should split up," Nancy said. "Cover more ground."

"But remain in screaming distance," Robin said. "Come on, Karen."

"I guess I'm with you," Dustin said with a grin to Agent Stinson, and she just blinked at him. "You don't say much, do you? It's okay, I'll talk enough for the both of us."

To Nancy's amusement, Agent Stinson rolled her eyes up to the ceiling before following the young boy. They left Nancy and Steve downstairs. Nancy leaned her shotgun against the wall and wrapped her arms around Steve’s neck before pulling him into a deep kiss. He kissed her back, smiling into it, as he used one arm to support her. Nancy pulled back with a smile.

"For good luck," she replied.

"We're definitely going to need it," Steve said and looked at her with soft eyes. "I love you."

"I love you too."

Nancy picked up her shotgun, and they began moving upstairs. They remained in the same hallway, but both checked two different rooms. Nancy was moving out of one room when Steve came stumbling out of the other room, trying to brush something off of him. Nancy steadied him by placing a hand on the small of his back.

"Yeah, don't go in there," Steve said, his face ashen. "Black widows."

He was still trying to get them off, brushing the back of his neck and his head.

"Hold still," Nancy said as she tried to pull the cobwebs out of his hair.

"You're won't find the spider eggs nesting in all that hair until they hatch, and all the babies start spilling out," Robin cackled evily as she entered the hallway.

"Robin!" Karen exclaimed.

"Seriously, Robin, what is wrong with you?" Steve asked, and Robin laughed again.

Nancy glared playfully at Robin and pinched her neck.

"You know he's scared of spiders," Nancy said.

"Ow!"

"I'm not scared of them per se, I just respect them too much to not go anywhere near them," Steve scoffed, and Nancy rolled her eyes.

They continued on with the search, and the lights from their flashlights eventually led them to the attic. It made Nancy think of Joyce with the Christmas lights and how she had communicated with Will when he was the Upside Down.

"He's here," Nancy said. "And he's there."

They stood in the middle of the attic and watched as their flashlights grew brighter until finally they exploded. Suddenly, Nancy was falling into darkness. She was falling and falling until she fell all the way into Steve's empty vine covered pool.

"You know, I usually remember all the people that I kill," a deep dark voice spoke to her in the darkness of the Upside Down. "You, Nancy Wheeler, seem to have forgotten."

There was a figure leaning against the wall. Nancy moved closer, only to find Barb lying dead at the bottom of the pool. Vines were spilling out of her open mouth. She stumbled back in shock, sick to her stomach.

"Barb," she gasped, and tears prickled beneath her eyelids before letting them burst open in anger. "Her death wasn't our fault!"

"Is that you tell yourself to make it feel better?" Vecna asked.

"How were we supposed to know what was out there in the dark?!" Nancy exclaimed.

She struggled to remember what her favorite song was, but there were so many of them that she liked. It was hard to choose.

"Oh, Nancy, Nancy, Nancy. . .Excuses!" Vecna snapped.

"What do you want from me?!" Nancy screamed.

"Patience. . . We have so much in common, Nancy. . . I truly do not care who I hurt to get what I want. People, they're nothing but ants to us, right?" Vecna asked.

Nancy looked for a way out and found the ladder. She jumped up and tried to climb out, but a vine wrapped around her waist. Suddenly, she was standing in front of the open gate in the Hawkins' lab.

"You wanted justice, but what you really wanted was vengeance. You wanted them to suffer the way you that you were. The one thing that's different about us. Guilt. . .it's such a trivial emotion. Why let that stand in the way of greatness? You almost set me free. . . Oh, Hawkins would have been mine, and if El hadn't come home then. . .what would have happened? Your mother, your sister. . .your brother. . .oh, I would have enjoyed toying with them. . .Together, you and I could be great together. You didn't even have any powers, but somehow, with pure determination, you brought the lab to their knees. Join me, and I can give you power," Vecna said. "You can stand beside Eddie when the time comes. You two will be my greatest creations."

"And Steve?" Nancy asked, her jaw clenched.

"Oh, I have plans for Steve. Don't you worry about that," Vecna said.

Suddenly, she could see it now, Eddie was straddling Steve’s waist in the Upside Down. Eddie's eyes were red, and wings sprung forth from his back. Blood dripped from his fangs. His clawed hands gripped Steve’s head, and with one quick motion, he snapped Steve’s neck. Nancy screamed. Eddie stood up, another version of Nancy was by his side, her own eyes red. The real Nancy turned and ran.

"Steve is nothing but a man, and much like Papa, he too sought greatness in others, but he is nothing. . . Nothing compared to you and Eddie," Vecna said. "Though, I suppose I wouldn't have known about Eddie if it weren't for you. If it weren't for your change of heart. In a way, the only good thing that Steve Harrington did was lead me to both of you. . .if Eddie Munson hadn't inadvertently called out to his own sister, I wouldn't have known about him. He didn't even know what he was doing."

Suddenly, she was standing in the freezer again, and it felt strange to be back here after so many months. It was even stranger to be looking down on her, Steve, and Eddie.

"I don't want to die. I don't want to leave Wayne all alone," Eddie whispered softly. "I'm sorry."

Nancy felt like someone was squeezing her heart, and she reached out to touch Eddie. She wanted to tell him it was okay. Her fingers brushed his cheek, and the image of them evaporated. She turned around to find a slimy, vine covered monster standing in the doorway. He walked closer to her, reaching out with his long clawed hand.

"Join me, Nancy," Vecna said. "There's so many things that you still need to know before we get started. There's something that you need to tell El."

His clawed hand was reaching for her, and there was nowhere to run to. Suddenly, Steve’s voice came through crystal clear. He was singing, and there was panic in his voice. He was crying too.

"I hear the drums echoing tonight, but she hears only whispers of some quiet conversation. She's coming in at 12:30 flight. The moonlit wings reflect the stars that guide me towards salvation."

Nancy smiled. Africa by Toto. Of course. He remembered. A doorway opened up behind her, and she glanced at it for a moment before turning back to Vecna. He already knew what she was thinking.

"You will be back to hear the message. It's in your nature," Vecna said. "So curious. Just like me."

For a moment, an image appeared in her mind. Four gates opening up and spreading throughout Hawkins, dividing the town. Four chimes rang put like Max's hallucinations. Four gates. Four chimes. Four victims. Nancy gasped and then glared at him.

"Go to hell," she said, flipping him off as she fell backward into the open doorway.

She let Steve’s voice guide her home. Suddenly, she was in the arms of her sobbing mother and boyfriend. Nancy burst into tears as she held onto Steve.

"Steve," she gasped.

"I'm here, baby, I'm right here," Steve said.

Then she screamed.

It's gonna take a lot to drag me away from you

There's nothing that a hundred men or more could ever do

I bless the rains down in Africa

Gonna take some time to do the things we never had

Chapter Twenty-Five