#or like last night i ended up having a conversation with my manager about shitty doctors and was like 'lmao yea i spent my entire teenage l

[vampirebiter]

ive realized that im actually a terrible judge of exactly how bad an experience ive had is because every time i mention something that like. i know was bad but could've been worse or mention the more mild end of something and sucked people always end up Shocked and going on like "oh my god thats insane i cant believe you dealt with that youre so strong" and im just like. i mean it sucked but i didnt think it was bad enough to get that response?

[psychesalcove]

WE WANNA TALK ABOUT SEX BUT WE'RE NOT ALLOWED

college au!percy jackson x fem!reader

⚠️: reader has anxiety, percy being too obvious for his own good, shitty writing (im sorry guys 😭), mentions of sex, cursing, emotional cheating (on percys end), not proofread at all, mentions of an anxiety attack, insecure reader

IN WHICH: you and percy have been dating for around a year. however, you feel like he is always choosing annabeth over you, even if he isn't aware of it. tonight, you decided to confront him about it, ending the night not knowing where your relationship stands with him.

requested: yes, by anon

a/n: GUYS IM SO SORRY IM KIKE NOT GOOD AT WRITING ANGST BUT I TRIES 😭😭 JUST MESSAGW ME ABAIN AND ILL REWRITE IT IN A DIFFERENT WAY BUT I HOPE YOU ENJOY!!😔

you knew this talk had to happen at some point. it was inevitable. there was this unspoken tension between you and percy, and you weren't even sure if he was aware of it. for a while, you thought it was just your anxiety driven brain making you feel the tension—but you soon realized it was there and not made up.

percy and you had been dating for around a year, beggening right before your freshman year of college started. before that, percy had been in a relationship with annabeth. you were on neutral terms with her;you weren't best friends, but you also didn't hate eachother. but lately, that feeling of neutrality with her was slipping away.

you knew percy and her were close, but you didn't understand why they were as close as they were. you knew percy would never cheat, but you figured he didn't understand not being there for his partner.

anytime you wanted to be around him, he would say that annabeth needed him for something. reviewing notes for class, wanting help with decorating her condo, helping her with a new recipe she was doing, anything really.

at first, you didn't mind that much. you knew they weren't sleeping with eachother or anything, but as time went on, going into the last quarter of the school year, you knew that he would go back to annabeth sooner rather than later. his mind was always occupied with her, somehow managing to bring her up in every conversation you have with him.

ᝰ

you sat on the beige couch that you and percy had bought at Ikea last summer, looking out to the balcony area, waiting for percy to arrive. as much as you didn't want to talk to him about this, you knew the longer you put it off the harder the talk would be. you assumed he would be getting back in around 5 minutes, knowing the route he takes in his car to get to the condo from campus.

suddenly the old wooden door creaked open, disturbing the silence that blanketed the room. you sighed lightly, still wondering how to even start a conversation with percy.

percy soon came into vision, dropping his jansport backpack onto the floor before turning to you. "hi, pretty," he hummed. "how was your day?"

you decided to ease into a normal conversation between the two of you before asking the inevitable question that could determine the future of your relationship. "it was fine, english has been kicking my ass recently though, how about you?" you asked, moving around so you were in a more comfortable position.

"it was also fine, but if your having trouble with english, i could ask annabeth—" you cut him off with a sigh, knowing that was your que to steer the conversation in another direction.

"could you sit down percy, please?" you say, making eye contact with him for the first time since he came home. "we really need to talk,"

"uhm.. yeah of course" he says looking around the room quickly before sitting down on the sofa. "if this is about those mint cookies, i did eat them, didn't mean to though, promise." he explains quickly, looking at you with a small smile.

you press your lips into a thin line, knowing how different of a conversation this is going to be than that. "percy, where do you see our relationship going?"

there it is. the idea is out there, in the open, for percy to do anything with.

you watch his eyes widen slightly, looking at you with a questioning look. "what do you mean? i mean, obviously we're going to keep living together, maybe get a better place for next year, we could even make our new kitchen like annabeths–"

"there you go again talking about annabeth!" you said, raising your voice slightly. "i know that the two of you are friends, and i'm fine with that, but not if it's getting in the way of our relationship. almost every conversation you bring her up:annabeth this annabeth that. i know you two are exs, and again, i'm fine with that, but that also means you could have romantiic feelings about her still. i really don't think we should even be doing this if you do, percy."

he sat up straighter at the tone of your voice and what you said to him. "why would i still have feelings for a annabeth? that's why we chose to end our relationship, because neither of us had feelings for eachother!" he exclaimed, attempting to keep a calm voice.

"percy, i really just don't think you're in the mental place to be in a relationship with me, or maybe anyone right now. i don't know what to do—"

percy cut you off, "what do you mean you don't know what to do? i'm the one being told by my girlfriend of a year that she doesn't know if she wants to continue our relationship!" he sat up from the couch and started motioning with his hands. "I'm the one that doesn't know what to do. it's not like i'm going around and having sex with annabeth. you know i wouldn't do that to you!"

"there are other ways of cheating than that percy, and im not saying your cheating on me, I'm just saying that your mind is still on annabeth, which means I don't know if we should be a thing or not." you said. "and honestly, with the reaction your having, i wouldn't be surprised if you were cheating." you also sat up from the couch and moved to stand by him.

"i understand that, but like i said, i'm not going over there to have sex with her or kiss her or anything like that. all im doing is spending time with her, can i not chose who i spend my time with now?" percy spat at you, giving you a look that made you know he was starting to get pissed off.

"that's the problem percy! your spending time with her, which would be okay, if you weren't canceling on me, your girlfriend!" you said, continuing to raise your voice.

he scoffed at you. "name one time that i cancel—"

"last week, when we were supposed to go the cafe to study for an exam together. i was waiting for you at the door when you were grabbing your backpack, and then you come up to me and say that you can't go because annabeth had finished reviewing your notes. and, for some reason, you had to go to hers that moment to get your notes instead of saying that you could later and go to the cafe, with your girlfriend!" you rambled, getting more mad remembering the memory.

you saw a small flash of guilt in percys eyes, but you didn't let him speak. "every single week percy! its the same fucking thing! you cancle last minute to go to annabeth, even dates you've canceled. and i know that your not sleeping with her or anything, but you're still putting her first instead of me. and that hurts. it really hurts." your voice became softer, cracking when you finished speaking.

your eyes filled with tears, and you started blinking rapidly to keep them at bay. "so yeah, percy, that's why i'm wondering what's going to be our relationship in the future. because right now, i'm not seeing one at all."

you shook your head as you saw his mouth open, still wanting to talk and get through to him. "i love you, so, so much. and it hurts, knowing that i'll always be out second to annabeth. if you want to continue our relationship, you're really going to have to change, percy. and i don't know if you're willing to do that for me." your tears starting openly falling down your face, your brain thinking of what it'll be like to not have percy in your life.

you saw percys mouth open, so you quickly looked down, knowing whatever he was going to say will make you go over the edge and into an anxiety attack. "...why didn't you tell me you felt like that?" he asked with a soft tone to his voice. you shook your had again, knowing you didn't fully get through to him.

"if you were feeling like that, you could have told me and i would have stopped," percy explained, opening his arms to hug you.

you quickly stepped back, not wanting to touch him. "you know what percy? i shouldn't have even had to talk to you about it, because it shouldn't have been a problem. i would have talked to you about it sooner, but i knew it was going to go the way this is going." you said as you wrapped your arms around yourself.

"your not understanding what you did wrong, just saying that i should have done something. which i should have, but i was to nervous, i know that you're too good foe me, gods, i get reminded every single day! so i didn't bring it up to you because i knew that i could've lost you by talking about this!" you let out your first sob as you finished, now thinking of how your going to have to move all your stuff out and stay at your friends condo until you can find a new one.

"hey—hey, let's have you calm down first before we talk. i promise I'm not going anywhere unless you want me to," he said, attempting to make eye contact before you looked down again.

"can, can you just leave? just for a while, please? I–I need to think and it's just really hard being around you right now." you said through your sobs, feeling guilty of practically kicking percy out of his own home, even if just for a while.

you didn't hear what he said, but you watched through your blurred vision as he walked away twords the front hall, heard him grab his keys, and then heard the door close behind him. you quickly walked into your shared bedroom, taking a seat on the edge of your queen size bed.

you look over at percys nightstand, seeing a framed picture of the two of you on your 6th month anniversary. then, your eyes quickly go to a polaroid in front of the framed picture. you sobs grew louder as you grabbed the framed picture and threw it out of anger, sending glass shards across the carpeted floor.

the polaroid was of percy and annabeth, sitting at the campfire back at camp half blood, both having matching smiles on their faces.

you could never compete with annabeth, even in the form of a picture.

[eddiernunson]

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

Previous Part | Master List | Next Part

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

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

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

Word count: 16.6k

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

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

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

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

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

About 26/27 Years Ago:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

“Fuck yeah!”

“When?”

“Now!”

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

-

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

“Steve?”

“Hmm?”

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

“Oh, they’re great.”

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

-

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

“You fucked in his tru—”

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

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

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

“Good god, man.”

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

“Okay, sex aside. Tell me about her.”

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

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

-

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

“Trust me, you don’t wanna know.”

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

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

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

-

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

“Yes, baby?”

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

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

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

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

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

“You think Steve—”

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

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

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

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

“Fuck, I love you.”

-

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

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

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

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

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

Basically, none of his boys were the same.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Caption reads, ‘Him>’.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

“Yes, baby?”

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

Still no dice.

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

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

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

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

CHECK YOUR INSTA

HELLO???

BABE

HELLO

GO CHECK IT YOUR POST ALREADY HAS OVER 500 LIKES

BITCH IT’S AT ONE THOUSAND

HELLLLOOOO

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

-

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

“That… is a very long story.”

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

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

-

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

“Fuck me harder, Ed. Please.”

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

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

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

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

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

“Would you like to come with me?”

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

“Alright, let’s go.”

-

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

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

Wrong. Dead wrong.

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

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

“Hi, Brooke.” He sighs, tired.

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

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

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

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

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

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

Wait until Steve hears about this… Holy shit.

Wait until you hear about it. Oh, fuck.

-

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

“Jealous how?”

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

“Yes, baby?”

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

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

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

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

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

“Yeah.”

“When?!”

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

“Mmhmm.”

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

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

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

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

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

“Sure, dude. What do you need?”

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

“What?”

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

-

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

-

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

“What?”

“Dude. Subtlety?”

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

“Call me sir?”

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

“Move without your say so.”

“Hmm?”

“Oh, move without your say so, sir.”

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

“Yes, sir. Thank you, sir.”

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

You nod, a laugh escaping your lips.

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

“Good? Your cock is perfect, Ed.”

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

“I’m so close, baby.” He moans.

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

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

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

Even then.

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

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

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

“If I can walk.” You giggle.

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

-

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

Taglist: @pinkcowracing @yourthebrokengirl @skrzydlak @thirddeadlysin @sammararaven @bebe07011 @prettylovley @josephquinncore @forget-you-morelike-fuck-you @names-were-taken

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

[moraxsthrone]

⌈ WIN-WIN ⌋

⌈ pairing ⌋ kaeya alberich x f!reader

⌈ wc ⌋ 1.1k

⌈ warnings/notes ⌋ nsfw. MDNI. alcohol consumption. bet sex...for science. this was supposed to be a drabble but ended up being over 1k words 😩.

you’ve been drinking with kaeya and a few other friends at angel’s share one night. you’ve all had a few and it’s getting pretty late, but the lively conversation you’ve been having with kaeya is starting to get even more interesting. your other friends have already tapped out for the night, leaving just the two of you to continue your light-hearted debate. 

what had started as a harmless, serious discussion about the female orgasm’s potential role in evolution had quickly gotten personal. 

“...that’s not necessarily true, kaeya," you interject. "some women simply can’t cum from penetration alone.”

“you think so?”

“oh, i know so. for example, no guy has ever made me cum from penetration alone.” before you can stop yourself, the words are already on the table. maybe it's time to cut yourself off...

“oh? how unfortunate.” his frown is genuine. “perhaps they were all shitty lovers.”

“all of them?...”

he shrugs, barely concealing his intrigue.

a bemused chuckle leaves your lips. “that’s certainly one theory, but until my theory is disproved, i’ll maintain that it’s simply not possible for all women...myself included.”

“care to put our respective theories to the test and see which of us emerges victorious?”

“but how? who would…oh. oh. you mean…”

the corner of kaeya’s lips curve upward into a wicked grin and you almost spit your drink out. you’ve had a crush on kaeya since the first time you laid eyes on him, but you laugh, waving his audacious dare off as mere banter because he must be joking.

only, you realize he’s not kidding when he raises an eyebrow at you with an unwavering gaze.

“wait. are you trying to bed me, kaeya?” not that you're about to turn him down.

turning his palms up, he shrugs with a smirk before meeting your eyes again. “just wanna prove to you that you’re wrong.” he leans in, making all your body heat rise to your face as he speaks so quietly that only you can hear him. “how about this? if i can make you cum with my dick alone, you’ll buy my drinks next time. if not, all your drinks are on me.”

you give it careful consideration, hoping that your tipsy state is enough to trick him into thinking the flustered heat on your face is from the alcohol and not at all from his brazen forthrightness. you maintain eye contact with him as you take the last swig from your glass and set it down on the table before standing up.

“you’re on, mr. alberich.”

“your place or mine?” he asks with a cheeky grin.

“mine.”

the cavalry captain smiles, leaning back in his chair, his cock stirring at the sight of your thighs rubbing together as you walk to the bar to square up your bill. feeling his impending erection, he figures now is a good time to do the same before his arousal becomes impossible to conceal. after laying his mora on the bar, kaeya walks with you to the door. he pushes the door open in front of you, the cool early spring air kissing your cheeks, making you wonder if his lips will feel the same.

…

kaeya behaves like a perfect gentleman as he walks you home. once you both cross the threshold of your door, however, things begin to quickly change.

the knight barely closes the door behind himself when he moves in close and cups your jaw. “may i kiss you?” he whispers, his voice almost as sweet as the dandelion wine on his breath.

“please~” you sigh.

your lips meld together, tongues seeking each other out as kaeya backs you up against the nearest wall. his lips trail down the graceful column of your neck, relishing the aftertaste of your sweat from angel’s share. you grip his dark blue hair as you roll your head back, aware of his thumbs digging into the flesh around your hip bones.

you somehow manage to direct him towards your bedroom while making out, leaving a messy trail of discarded clothes along the way.

one thing leads to another and next thing you know, you find yourself on your back with your legs in the air. in the dim light of your bedroom, while kaeya strokes himself before pressing his blunt tip to your needy opening, you notice that his full erection is long and a bit thicker than average with an upward curve - perfect for g-spot fucking. your long-time crush lifts your ass off the bed, an ankle in each hand as his naked thighs soon begin to slap against your soft, moist skin.

now your wet pussy is slurping noisily on his shaft as the bulging ridge of his cockhead rubs vigorously against your sweet spot. kaeya’s heels are digging into his cute butt cheeks with every thrust of his narrow hips, conflicted because he wants to throw his head back in ecstasy but also watch every inch of your face and body as he fucks your orgasm out of you, hands-free. 

the firm head of his dick beats against your g-spot, making you feel so full, every nerve ending in your cunt standing at his attention. one of his hands moves to push your thigh further back as he plants the other one against the mattress to anchor and give himself leverage to fuck your g-spot at a new angle. your eyes roll back in your head. you dig your nails into kaeya's hard thighs as they ride against yours, trying and failing to stop his name from spilling from your lips as he fucks you towards the edge of oblivion. the ridge of his thick cockhead is dragging perfectly over all the right spots inside you. you’re keening, back arching, legs shaking. your body would be twisting except kaeya’s warm hands are pulling on your hips, keeping you right where he wants you. his dark-skinned balls are tightening too; he’s starting to think he might actually lose your bet when you sharply gasp his name.

“k-kaeya?” the tightening of your walls accompanies the spilling of his name from your lips. “you- oh fuck - you’re gonna make me cum! kaeya!”

“that’s it, let go…cum for me, y/n~” he breathes, his syllables broken somewhat by the power of his own thrusts.

and just like that, without touching your clit, kaeya alberich tears down your walls and makes you come apart all around him. it's unlike any orgasm you’ve ever had before…deeper and more intense than any other - including the ones you’ve given yourself. 

you're still riding out your high when the cavalry captain lets your feet fall so he can anchor himself to the bed with his arms on either side of you, caging you in as he dips his head to kiss a path from your lips to your collarbone. your gasps of his name only fuel the fire that rages wildly in his loins, finally snapping the tightly-wound coil deep inside his full balls. 

“hnn- fuck, y/n,” he sighs loudly. “gonna cum…ohfuckgonnacumsofuckinghard…” wet slapping noises fill the room as your quivering cunt drives him over the edge… “~ahhhh fuck yes~”

he quickly pulls out, cum already shooting from his slit to paint your twitching pussy and lower belly white with his thick seed. he thrusts his narrow hips a couple more times in time with the spurts of his hot cum throbbing from his deep purple cockhead.

he lets out a breathy chuckle as his hooded, pussy-drunk eye lays into yours.

“looks like you’re buying next time.”

kaeya m.list

much love and many kithkith to 18+ rebloggers, commenters, likers, and followers !!

[malereadermaniac]

Late Night Talkin' ~ Atsumu Miya x Male Reader

Referance to NSFW!

FwB -> Lovers????

One-sided feelings (Atsumu) -> reciprocated feelings

MDNI! FEM-DNI!

You met Atsumu when you became the manager of Inarazaki's team

You two clicked quite quickly, with flirty banter and the two of you being able to hold conversation pretty well together

Sure, you did find the blonde hot, but never anything more than that

"Oi blondie! Stop shouting at your teammates!" You shout from the sidelines as Atsumu kicks off when Suna fails to block a ball

"ITS NOT MY FAULT HE SUCKS ASS!" Atsumu shouts back as he points at the boy

It came as a shock to you when Atsumu made a move on you after having too much sake on a school trip

The two of you were on the floor of the bedroom when Atsumu leaned over to you, held your chin in his rough hand, and sloppily shoved his tongue down your throat

So once he sobered up, the two of you came to an agreement - friends with benefits.

A great solution for you, but Atsumu definitely still has some feelings for you

The best part is that because you're still friends, after Atsumu fucks you until your ass is bruised, you two lay in bed together and talk about anything and everything

"Do you ever think about the future, (y/n)?" Atsumu asks, looking over at you, his hands behind his head showing off his muscles

"Yeah all the time haha... I worry about it a lot, but I also Fantasise about it" you say with a chuckle, looking the blonde in the eyes

Atsumu blushes at the intimate eye contact

"Oh yeah? About what?" He asks with the friendliest yet most flirtatious tone he could

"If I want kids or not, marriage, jobs, houses, boring shit haha..." you chuckle

"What about you, Blondie?"

"Pretty much the same, I'm pretty dead set on a lot of things though"

"Oh yeah? Like what?" You ask with a smile

"I'm definitely going to be a pro-volleyball player, I'm not working some shitty office job..."

"Haha! Like that's gonna happen" you laugh, hitting Atsumu's shoulder with the back of your hand in laughter

"Oi! I'm so good at Volleyball! You should know Mr. Manager" Atsumu shouts in offense

"Yeah you are, to be fair you have a good shot at it..." you mumble, staring at the ceiling

"I'm not too sure on kids, marriage is a definite for me though... what about you?" Atsumu looks over, admiring you with gentle eyes

"Ummm... yeah I go back and forth with the idea of children, I don't need to get married - but if my future boyfriend really wants to, I would go along with it hehe"

Atsumu watches you as you ramble quietly, he loves your voice, your body, your personality, and he fucking loves the way your eyes drift from his eyes to his muscles to the point that you have to drag them back

"But yeah... I'm quite scared of the future..." you admit as you end your mini-rant

"Yeah I get you... But I know one thing's for certain..."

"Yeah? And what's that, 'tsumu?"

Fuck he loved it when you called him that

"I want you in my future for as long as possible, (y/n)..." he says as he turns his head to you, looking lovingly into your eyes

Silence fills the room for a split second

"Haha... Don't say things like that 'Tsumu!" You blush a dark colour as you swat Atsumu away with your hand

"Why not?" He jokes with a smile, but he's worried on the inside

".... 'cause I might actually fall for you" you mumble

"Please do, (y/n)!-" atsumu says with a passion in his eyes as he grabs your hands in his

"- I've said it before and I'll say it again. I love you, (y/n)"

"Shut up, Blondie!" You blush more and laugh

"No! Why don't you want to admit to yourself that you like me back!" Atsumu shouts, frustration now taking over

"I... I don't know...my last relationship didn't go very well so I guess I just don't wanna get my heartbroken again..." you mumble, tears pricking the sides of your eyes as Atsumu'a grip tightens on your hands

"I promise you, (y/n)... Even if it kills me, I won't ever break your heart" Atsumu's usual tone is fully gone, replaced by a serious and passionate tone

"Okay... I like you 'tsumu, I probably even love you. But gimmie a little while longer?" You plead with the blonde

"Of course... Now wanna go for a second round, Mr. Manager?"

"You horny fuck... Yes I do"

[chicksmoothie]

•Say it like you mean it — mingi

—you have a very hard time dealing with your nightmares, so your studiocolleague and hard crush mingi helps you out sleeping better

Pairing dom!Mingi x sub!fem!reader/Chick

Genre Smut & Romance, Music Studio AU. Includes fluff & kinks

WordCount 4K

Warnings +18 content, minors DNI, nightmares, sleep paralysis, dirty talk, really dirty sex (urophilia and anal as the kinkiest), cursing, a bit of a size kink, smile kink (??), and I think that’s it, please tell me if I am forgetting something!

This in no way aims to be a real depiction of Mingi, just a character based on him!!! Same goes for Wooyoung, who appears for a sec.

AN: HIIII!!

Firs of all, I would like to thank you for reading :) this is actually my first fic since I was a teenager so I am a little shy about sharing it, but a friend asked me to do it so here it is!

I must say three things that you might want to know:

I use Chick instead of y/n cos it helps me write

English is not my first language and although I am confident in my english skills there might be some typos, weird use of english or gramatical errors, so sorry in advance

This story will continue as independent chapters of the same AU, but it won’t follow any schedule

Say it like you mean it

You are trying to stop moving throughtout your nightmare but it is kinda impossible, as always.

The night is getting longer and longer and this shitty dream doesn’t seem to end. You have always had this problem: you know you are sleeping, that it is a dream and you kinda control it till a certain point where it turns into a nightmare, and then you are unable to wake up. You try screaming, moving or opening your eyes but nothing works. You are trapped until your body is too tired to keep fighting against your wish to snap out of it, or someone wakes you up. The latter is what happens this time.

You blink a few times, trying to swipe the blur in your still sleepy eyes, just to guess a massive dark silhouette bending over you. “Hey, you alright Chick?” The silhouette asks “You were making a funny face” Your eyes finally focus. “Mingi” you manage to answer with a raspy voice, just awaken. “Yeah, thanks… I just need to get some water”. The guy immediatly hands you a bottle of cold water, which you thank and firstly put on your forehead to get rid of even the last bit of nightmare that might remain.

“Were you dreaming?” You open the bottle and drink a tiny zip. “Yes, nightmares, I get them quite a lot” You don’t know why you are telling this to Mingi. The guy could just be a random studiopartner who you sometimes help with lyrics and beats, but well, apart from that, he is the guy you secretly have a huge crush on and the same guy you draw every session day cos you can’t get over his profile, lips, adams apple or shiny eyes. His short pink hair has been printed in your brain along with his smile since the moment you first landed your eyes on him. You are totally delusional for him. And eventhough his mates are obssessed with shipping you together, you don’t get any sexy vibe from him towards you, so you just enjoy his company and, why not saying it, his sight too. You get along really well, and you don’t even think about fucking that up.

“Are they really bad? I mean, you seemed just upset while sleeping, but not enough for it to be a nightmare you couldn’t wake up from”. The next explanaition you give him surprises you even more, cos you spend the next good 10 minutes telling him about your whole problem with sleep paralysis, and this is something you normally avoid at all cost. And, oh my god, not him paying attention without saying a word until you finish, making you blush, cheeks beet red. “And that’s it I guess, not too deep”.

You don’t normally get knocked out like this at the studio, so it isn’t going to happen again anyway. You could just keep helping each other with your songs as you’ve been doing till now before this tiny shitty incident, end this conversation right here and keep going with your lifes, “Do you need someone to wake you up like I did just now?” until he asks this “I might be able to do that” and states this other thing.

“Sorry, I think I don’t get you” you are trying your best to brush off the thought of Mingi being next to you while sleeping before burning with the need of having that scene in real life, “As I said, I offer myself to stay next to you while you sleep just in case you need a hand to wake up” until he offers himself to…fuck, to actually do so.

“Yooooooooo…” you both jump in surprise, your conversation being interrupted by Wooyoung, one of Mingis teamates. “Flirting again I see” Mingi slightly blushing and flicking his tounge. “Fuck off Woyo” he turns to your direction and says “Give it some thought, I might be of help”. He tries hard to hide his nervous smile, dimple showing and eyes shining. And then he fucking leaves.

Woyo laughs while waving goodbye “Well, princess, it is getting late, you should go home”

What the fuck was that just now, you ask yourself.

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

Your dreams are getting not only worse, but also more frequent. The last nightmare with sleep paralysis was the fifth out of seven nights a week has. That is double as much as they were before, and this situation has been going on for another two weeks.

Your lack of quality sleep has you dozzing off during lesson and keeps your brain bottled up, unable to concentrate nor being creative on your music. It has reached to a point where you would get paranoid and afraid of the night itself, which implies being unable to sleep at all. You are tired both physically and mentally, and Mingi and the guys from the studio can tell.

This is why Mingi takes you to the studios kitchen, sits you on a chair and goes “You’re not sleeping shit”. You can only nod. “Why won’t you ask for help? I offered, but it doesn’t have to be me if you are not comfortable with that” you look up at him, doubting if you should tell him that no one knows about your nightmares. You bite your lip until you throw it: “I can’t tell just anyone cos it embarrasses me,” deep breath “so you are the only one who knows” Mingi is so shocked you can tell miles away, given the face he is making. After the shock comes the seriousness. “Okay, you are sleeping beside me tonight”. And all you can do is nod again, tired and surrendered.

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

You throw the key away in the desk by the door, hang your coat and make a gesture for Mingi to do the same. “I am sorry it isn’t tidy”. He wanders around with his eyes just to catch how full of paintings and drawings, sculptures and some other things he can not really classify this house of yours is.

“Your place is actually amazing. How come you have so much arty stuff?” You can tell he is genuinely interested “Oh, I majored in Fine Arts, currently writing my thesis, so this is research material you could say” He widen his eyes “Wait, I thought you were a singer, like, I’ve seen you live” Trying to supress your smile you say “Well, I do that too. I do a bit of everything, never good enough at anything to live on it” He automatically shakes his head in disapproval, “The fuck you saying, that doesn’t show on your songs or in all this, baby” You look at him, not sure about what you should be more shocked about: the fact that he was giving you credit on all of your work so fervently or the fact that he just casually called you baby.

Shit, you could get used to that. “I am going to order the pizza,” you shake it off quickly, “you can choose a movie or something. The TV is over there.” Is this a fucking date? Really? Pizza is okay but, girl, a movie? Bloody hell you are hooked.

After a while watching Inuyasha, chosen by you and accepted by him since not surprisingly he loves anime, you start to feel that new but already familiar feeling of not being able to keep your eyes open due to tiredness. Also not surprisingly, you don’t lose to paranoia and fear tonight, since Mingi is close enough to you to be able to feel his body heat. It makes you nervous in a totally different way, and also calm enough to finally fall asleep on his shoulder.

It is all pitch black, you can’t see a thing and you try to reach something around you but your hands keep slipping through cold air and emptyness. You feel you are too alone for it to even be possible, you feel such loneliness, such fear of what you can’t see. Everything around you is still cold and still empty and your hands are still slipping through the air and you can’t find anything or anyone to wake you up.

Thats it, you are dreaming. Another shitty fucking nightmare. Please someone wake me, please. You try to say it, your mouth opens up and maybe emits the sound but you can’t hear it. You also try to pull your own arm in a desperate attempt of inflicting yourself some pain that shakes you out of this dream, but fail. Your body blocks any kind of action you try to start. Cold drops of sweat rolling through your body outside the dream, you can feel it, you are right in between, why can’t you reach the surface?

It suddenly happens. A hand would gently caress your sweat away outside the dream, first thing you feel in what seemed ages. And that’s what it takes. You slowly open your eyes, also slowly focusing on a worried Mingi. “You alright?” You are suddenly so calm, everything just sets right.

You close your eyes again and rest for the first time in a long time.

When you wake up you are in your bed, fully covered with your 3k blankets (you are really not a cold person) and a fucking big and heavy arm. Mingi is right behind you, breathing soundly on your nape. Shut up. Shut the fuck up because this is not fucking happening. I am still dreaming. You tell yourself all that, but reality says otherwise, since Mingi wakes up to your tiniest move in order to wake you if needed, and he had just noticed how your body suddenly tensed.

“Chick? You awake?” Shit is his morning voice sexy “Good morning Mingi” you can’t even turn around from embarrassment “Good morning baby” BABY, againnnn?jeheodjeifhehehdjhd “Did you sleep any better?” You just manage to nod, unable to emit any sound or word since apparently you have forgotten your own language. “Why won’t you talk? Are you alright?”

His fingers start to have a stroll through your hair, drawing circles on your scalp. What is he up to? You wonder, cos this situation would normally lead to something you know far too well. But, as always, you’d rather die than admit that these things happen to you, that someone might be interested in you. You need more, a bit of a bigger proof. “Hey, Chick, please talk to me, do you need water or something?… Did you fall asleep again?” This last bit is nearly a whisper. Did he actually lower his voice just now just in case you had fallen asleep? You can’t take it. That is too fucking endearing. You break in laughter and turn around, smiling at him. “Thanks Mingi, I slept amazing”.

And there you are, facing each other closer than ever. Just a few centimeters away from his lips, as you had imagined too many times to even fucking count. So what do you do now, you beg someone to tell you. The hand that was previously caressing your head had, lets say naturally, landed on your waist when you abruptly turned around, and somehow it started moving with the same motion it had on your head, but now on its new location. “Yeah? I’m glad, and you are welcome” A bright smile on his lips, still so close to yours you could breathe his words in. You just can’t stop looking at him, he is too bright himself, so pretty. His smile is too much for you, fuck, you might actually cry.

But you don’t have time to do that, cos Mingi takes the chance of you looking at his lips to put on yours his pretty smile. It lasts a second, but when he moves his face away from you, your heart tightens and your eyes shut close to try to process the warmth in your chest. Where did all these overwhelming feelings come from? You never thought it was so deep. Was it this deep? Have you been cockblocking your own feelings for this guy as you always do just to avoid facing them? Hell yeah you have girl. When you open your eyes Mingi is looking at you, clearly puzzled since he thinks he might have gone overboard with the kiss. Your hands find his cheeks, pressing against them so hard his mouth turns into a fish face.

“I am in love with you” You look at him gently for a second, just settling your words altogether with your flaming chest. His face is a poem: the fish face now has his eyes wide open in surprise, and you break in laughter again. He slowly takes your hands away while his expression changes just to grab your chin with one of his own hands “You mean it? Say it like you mean it” his eyes are a bit narrowed, his new and unknown expression tainted in something dark that you can feel right in your lower half. He wants to know, he wants to hear you say it like you mean it.

You swallow, looking at him in the eyes while trying to catch your breath “Mingi I lov-“ And thats all you manage to say, cos next Mingi is full on pressing his lips against yours, your whole body against his, so much bigger than yours. It sounds so messy in your mouths you feel shy about it, but all you can do is give in to him, finally reaching each other as you both apparently wanted to. His hands are all over your body. Fuck you are needy. Fuck he also is.

So you move your hands near the “whatever cloth’s he has got” elastic and pull it down. He growls in your mouth, anticipating what you are about to do. And, although he wants you to do it, he also wants to pleasure you first.

“Baby, wait” you look at him, quite confused again both for him stopping you and also him calling you baby for the third time as if nothing. “Let me get on top, yeah?” As if you could fucking answer anything to that. He slips on top of you making it seem like he has done it every single day of his life, with such ease. When you feel him grind against you, you melt down and pant. You want him so much it’s insane.

In a second attempt to take action you stroke yourself against him, and again he stops you “Be a good girl, huh? Let me work you just right for a bit” you automatically stop and nod biting your lips, eyes full of needy tears, making his chin clench and tighten in lust at the sight of this undone under him you. He goes back to your mouth and kisses you, and this time he does it so damn slowly, as if he loved you back? His tongue going over your lips and making its way inside your mouth, finally eating your breath up in the sweetest kiss ever.

His hands are covering your cheeks and reaching behind your ears through your neck, and this could sound all too innocent and fluffy if he wasn’t grinding against your already soaked pussy so hard but at the same slow pace as the kiss. You moan between his lips, earning another one of his smiles, this time a bit cheeky. “Needy aren’t we?” He didn’t expect it, but you grin yourself and go back to his mouth and almost whispering you say “Yeah baby, so fucking needy for you”. Mingi tenses from head to toe, grinds one time just as a reflex and slaps you slightly on your cheek, “And what exactly is it that you need, needy girl?” “Mingi, please” your grin dropping and you cry while your arms wrap around his lower back just to pull him even closer, pressing your clit against his already rock hard dick, making you both moan.

“Words baby, wanna hear you say it” he growls while grinning and you cant help but obey without even thinking, “Mingi, really give it to me,pretty please? Fuck me stupid hm?” You know your slutty begging tone is effective, but not to this extent, cos one second after your last word is Mingi dragging your pants and panties down, lining his dick and pushing it slowly inside you. Slowly, very slowly, cos you are wetter than ever, but he is so, so, so big. You both sighing deep due to the sudden hit of his cock entering you.

“You feel amazing around me. Going so slow is torture” He is looking into your eyes, so when you push yourself up in order to take him whole in one go, you have the perfect sight of his eyelids flicking and his eyes rolling up to the back of his head, enjoying the pleasure it gives him. “Fuck, baby, so good” he bites his lips while now moving in and out of you, still slowly, still so sweet.

Your pussy clenching at the sound of his praising. “Mingi come closer, I wanna kiss you” “Because you love me?” You nod “Words baby” and he demands. “I love you Mingi, please let me kiss you” He smiles brightly. “I love you too” and so he’s got you. You’re done for.

The moment he bends down to kiss you you swallow his mouth, arch your back and make his cock enter you the fucking perfect angle that you both needed to finally lose it. Mingi starts to fuck you hard, taking your legs to roll them around his waist, making you push him deeper with each time he bangs. Your eyes crying and your voice crying too, your head falling back in pleasure, him growling your name and praising how good your pussy tastes for his cock, his body pressed so tightly to yours and every inch of your body feeling so full of him.

You start to feel that burning knot in your core, this hot sensation that you have never felt with a guy fucking you before and that you could only reach with your fingers.

“Mingi I think am gonna cum” you cry “Cum baby, drench me, yeah?” As if you were following his every order, the knot pulls you to your orgasm faster than it ever has before, but he doesn’t stop “You think you can take it a bit longer?” And for some reason you do. And not only that, being so overstimulated turns you on so much that you end up begging with your eyes still rolled back from the high of your orgasm and your body still shaking “Mingi don’t fucking stop, please”.

And he doesn’t, but he does bend you over the mattress, your face sunken in the pillow. He has your ass up to the sky and he can’t help but suck his thumb and then stroke its entrance in circles while still banging your pussy. When you feel his finger entering your ass and trying to find and press his own cock through your flesh inside you, all the overstimulation that has built up finally overcomes you. “Mingi…something different is coming!” You shout ridiculously still pressed against the pillow. He doesn’t stop, he knows what is gonna happen and he wants to see it from the front row. And this is not going to take long, you just need a little push. “Come on babygirl, let me see it” he gasps while rocking his hips.

All of a sudden this heat that comes along with the orgasm mixes with a burning feeling in your clit. Mingi takes his mostly free hand to go down to it and press on really fast and really hard. You scream his name as if it was the last thing you would say. Your legs so week you can’t even keep yourself in all fours, your pussy clamping and drenching the whole bed with your squirt. “Jesus Christ baby, that is so fucking sexy. You’re such a slut huh? Wetting your bed like that. And this is all for me.”

A growl followed by a slap on your ass, this time very hard, nothing to do with the previous one on your face, announce his own orgasm. This one slap is meant to mark you as his, make himself stamp his own pleasure for you on your skin as if he could’t stay still. And then he slows down, pouring all his cum inside your pussy, while still fucking your asshole with his thumb in the same slowing pace.

He pulls out and you whine, feeling too empty all of a sudden. You think it is over and somehow you feel kinda disappointed “I thought you were gonna fuck my ass too” he can’t even finish to lean beside you because he falls apart in laughing tears “Are you for real? After this?” “I don’t know” you say, eyes looking down at Mingis body lying just by your side, you still down faced and breathing irregularly “I was ready for everything”.

Mingi takes your face and kisses you dearly while, again, smliling through your mouth and making you smile too. “I am not gonna fuck your asshole...” you pout, he smiles even wider. “…today. But I am going to clean you up”. He starts kissing you again, then going down your neck with tiny little pecks, he stops for a minute on your chest, your nipples and down to your bellybutton.

The pleasure this time is different. You know you are unable to cum anymore after squirting so hard, at least not in a couple of minutes without any stimuli. But this pleasure is just pleasure for you to enjoy without the orgasm as the reward. Just Mingi feeding you full with attention like this is just right, just enough. You anticipate his next kissing stop, you know what he is about to do and you burn inside with desire. “Mingi…” You pull his short pink hair at the time you push his face between your legs for him to eat you out only as a fucking professional rapper like him would do. The thought of him sucking you clean of his own cum is driving you nuts. “Shit Mingi, so good…” You are too sensitive right now, but somehow it still feels good to have him gently sucking you.

Once he finishes, he is now hard again, and not that you are surprised. You look up at him, asking with your gaze what you should do. He grins “Stay still babe, lay towards the headboard for me” you obey and he gets closer to you, towering you under his huge body and leaning forward, just to have your face aligned with his dick.

He starts stroking in a slow motion at first, then hurrying the pace as he watches you open your mouth while looking at him in the eyes. “I wanna cum on your face” he sighs while closing his eyes “And then I wanna piss all over your body”. At this point this does only not surprise you, but you ache for it too.

Your eyes meet, he is waiting for your approval. Your only answer being gulping, licking your lips and opening your mouth again while looking at his cock pointing at you. “Fuck” he manages to say. And then he cums hard, fast, all on your face and making it drip to your tits. “I am gonna drench you baby, say you want it. Tell me” “Mingi” keep crying, “I do want it so fucking bad…” Right this instant, after coming down from his climax, does he start showering you in his piss, moaning hard with his low voice a bit pitched this time, looking down at you getting covered. Your body suffering because of the temperature difference between the fluid and your skin, and thus making you tremble until he finally finishes his load.

He falls over you and rolls down until he can rest on your lap. “You are incredible” he says. You smile, proud of yourself and also proud of him. “So are you, baby” and hearing yourself saying “baby” reminds you something you’ve been wondering. “Yo Mingi, how come you so casually started calling me baby out of nowhere?” He looked up at you and gave you that smile of his that you’ve spent hours drawing. “I’ve dreamt of it so many times it came out naturally”.

He takes you to the bathroom to get a very needed shower. And under the warm water you think about your next dreams being as normal as his, quiter and maybe safer since from now on you would be sleeping next to Mingi.

Part 2 whenever

[moonsgemini]

seeking arrangements - iv

summary: With just two days left of before the wedding the celebrations continue. Going to a bachelorette & bachelor party when you’re a fake couple might cause some issues. Especially when Lola can’t seem to stop taking tequila shots & the liquid might have given her too much courage.

warnings: escort!rafe x oc, alcohol, angst, insecurities, fluff, thomas (he deserves a warning), shitty family, kissing

wc: 5.1k

an: I’m gonna be real I kinda hate this part, I feel like I lacked in every aspect lol. But it is done, & there’s two more parts to goooo. ALSO HELP I cannot get my comments to work. Like I can’t reply to people or comment on other peoples posts. It’s on in my settings I’m pretty sure so idk what I’m doing wrong.

series masterlist - previous part

“What’s on the agenda today?” Rafe asked before taking a bite of his bagel.

Lola was sitting next to him squinting at her laptop. She may have had the week off from work but she couldn’t help but try and catch up on some pieces that needed to be read. She hadn’t felt focused enough the last few days to try and squeeze in any work because she’d been so anxious. After the engagement party and the boat day she felt a lot more relaxed. Rafe managed to put a sense of calm over her.

After they got home from the party they spent the rest of the night in bed watching another movie. This one was Rafe’s pick. He made her watch The Godfather, but they didn’t really pay too much attention. Lola kept asking questions during the film and of course Rafe answered all of them. Never once did he get upset at her for talking during the movie, something Thomas hated that she did. The conversation ended up leading to them talking about everything. Rafe opened up a lot more to her and she felt closer to him.

It scared her because it meant that even if they continue to be friends after this she’ll never have him in the way she wants. When this whole thing began Lola was unsure about it because what if she got caught but she never thought that there’d be a possibility she’d fall in love with the guy. Of course it had to be Rafe that she reached out to, the most perfect guy.

“Ummm we have the bachelor and bachelorette parties today. Girls are going to one bar and guys are going to another,” She turned to him giving him a weak smile. This is the first time they’ll really be separated from each other.

Rafe groaned, “I have to be with those frat boys all night.”

She threw her head back laughing, “They aren’t that bad. Well except for you know who, he’s that bad.”

“Oh they are that bad sweetheart,” He took a sip of his coffee before continuing, “Except Harry, he’s been pretty decent. I don’t know why you ran with these crowds.”

“Please I only saw them when we came here because they’re all my sisters friends or Harry’s. They met them in college.”

“Explains why you and Tabitha are the coolest,” Rafe smirked at her. She rolled her eyes playfully turning back to the laptop in front of her.

“So that’s why my ears were ringing,” Tabitha said as she walked into the kitchen.

“Good morning to you Tabs,” Lola grinned watching her cousin pour herself a big mug of coffee.

Rafe chuckled, “Went a little too hard yesterday?”

“Possibly,” She rolled her eyes and grabbed the supplies for a bagel.

“Hey you better be able to go out later I’m not doing that alone,” Lola scolded.

Tabitha sat in the seat in front of her, “Relax I’ll make it. Takes me back to college, drunk every weekend.”

“Okay so what am I supposed to do with these guys for a whole night?” Rafe was not excited at all for the bachelor party. Ever since the boat conversations he’s been trying to avoid them. Everything was a dick riding contest to them.

Tabitha waves her bagel around, “Just get drunk, talk about sports too.”

“Getting drunk does sound promising,” he shrugged.

Lola laughed, “You can also talk about finance, you know they love that stuff.”

Tabitha nodded her head, “I’m always having to tell Andrew to shut up when he starts giving me financial advice.”

“I definitely don’t need financial advice. Sometimes I’m glad I don’t have many friends. The less friends or people close to you the better,” Rafe shrugged.

“You two really are made for each other,” Tabitha said looking between the two with a playful grin.

-

Lola had come up with a plan. Maybe it was a stupid plan and would end horribly or it could go amazingly. She was going to go out and take a few shots to earn that liquid courage before ubering home if Rafe was back and then try to seduce him. She couldn’t stand being around him and not be able to touch him.

Of course they did subtle stuff to convince her family, but it was never enough. When he’d place his hand on the small of her back to guide her around the engagement party her body felt ablaze. Her fingers itched to run through his hair and pull him closer. They hadn’t kissed since the boat and her lips ached for his. She missed his soft touch, the things he would make her feel with something so simple as his hand on the back of her neck.

Sleeping next to him at night was the hardest. He slept shirtless and it was incredibly distracting. There had been moments where she’d wake up to his arm around her, his nose tucked into the back of her neck. Rafe knew what he was doing, he’d blame it on him doing it in his sleep. He was really like half asleep and she just looked so cute and soft laying there he couldn’t help himself. If she moved away or anything he would have pulled away but she never did.

He was very disappointed that he wouldn’t really get to hangout with her tonight when their time playing boyfriend and girlfriend was almost over. He’d rather spend the day at the beach with her than drinking with a bunch of guys he didn’t know.

He was sitting outside on the deck going through his emails while thinking about the girl that was inside. Lola insisted on making margaritas for them to pregame. They didn’t have to leave until six so they had time to just relax. Lola came out with glasses and a pitcher of the alcoholic drink.

“Woah there cowboy, we’re gonna finish all that?” He asked with a chuckle.

“Well we can try, or it will just go to waste.” She smirked shrugging. Sitting down next to him she began to pour the watermelon margaritas into the glasses. He smiled at her just looking at her. Rafe liked watching her just do stuff.

“What?” She asked with a nervous laugh. His blue eyes made her nervous because when he looked at her she felt like he was actually looking at her. Not the girl everyone thought was weak because of her breakup. Not the girl that lets everyone walk all over her.

He shrugged, “Nothing, just like looking at you.”

She looked away from his tense gaze, a small grin forming at her lips. It was hard to deny the fact that he didn’t have an effect on her, “You’re too much.” she said because it was true. Everything about him was so overwhelming.

“So Rafe what’s your next job after this one? Or should I say who is your next job?”

He adjusted in his seat. Scrunching his nose as he looked out at the backyard, “Uh no one right now. I-I don’t know I’ve been thinking of retiring.”

“Woah really?” She looked over at him a bit shocked.

“Yeah this week has given me a new perspective you could say,” he took a drink from his margarita.

“How so?” She asked her voice quieter now.

He shrugged, “I guess I just realized I want more. I don’t want to be a paid companion anymore, I want to be just a companion.”

Butterflies of hope flew around in her stomach. Lola’s delusions were starting to get the best of her. Maybe it’s because of me, she thought. Rafe takes her silence as not a good sign.

He feels like maybe he had said too much and scared her away, “Uh so I’ll probably try and get myself out there more. Ya know when we get back to the city. Find a girl finally go on dates.”

The butterflies were crushed at those words. Find a girl. Those words hurt her but she couldn’t show it. Rafe could read her better than anyone even though he’s only known her for a month. Her furrowed brows and the way she couldn’t look at him gave her away. He knew what he said hurt her, maybe he had been reading everything wrong.

She cleared her throat to try and get rid of the lump in her throat, “That’s uh great Rafe. I-I think that sounds great.” She smiled at him the best she could. Lola started chugging the rest of her margarita not really in the mood to sit and drink with him.

He watched her with concern. Rafe wanted to shove his words back into his mouth to get that pretty smile back on her face “Lola I..”

“I-I’m gonna go and get ready now. I’ll see you in a bit okay Rafe,” She gave her another fake smile before walking back inside.

“Fuck,” He muttered rubbing his face out of frustration with himself.

The whole time Rafe felt like he thought he knew what she wanted. She had even asked to just be friends after this. He didn’t want to overstep and tell her the real reason why he wants to give all this up. It was because of Lola, he wants her by his side. He liked the way she made him feel and he loved the person he brought out in her. He loved protecting her from people who don’t deserve her.

-

Lola was beginning to think her plan was going to end horribly. Especially after what he had said. She felt like things were maybe going somewhere with him. She has had more fun the whole week than she’s had her whole life. And she knows it’s because she’s had him by her side.

She looked over herself in the mirror. She felt hot, she felt like she could go through with her plan to seduce Rafe. Yet it wasn’t enough because that voice was still in her head telling her that he doesn’t like want her more than a friend. Or even possibly more than a client. Her outfit consisted of a black mini skirt and olive green long sleeve that had a small pink bow in the middle of the square neckline. She also wore black boots that made her legs look longer, her makeup and hair were done. She felt amazing on the outside but on the inside her insecurities were starting to take over her thoughts.

Rafe had been in the shower while she changed into her outfit. They hadn’t spoken much since he came back to the room. Things seemed a bit tense, a sort of unspoken tension between them.

Lola was switching purses to one that would better match her outfit when Rafe opened the door to the bathroom. He stepped out in nothing but a light blue towel around his waist. His chest and stomach still slightly damp from the hot shower. He had been looking down at his phone. Lola looked up at him from where she stood and gulped at his appearance. He was not making this easy.

“What should I wear? I’m guessing polos and khakis is the bar dress code,” He smirked putting his phone down and going to his side of the closet to look through the shirts he brought. He glanced back at her and stopped skimming through his shirts. He wished she didn’t look so incredible, how was he supposed to spend the night away from her when she looked like that.

He looked her over his eyes moving slowly taking in every detail, “You look unreal,” he said once he met her eyes.

Lola gave him a shy smile as a blush creeped up her neck, “Thank you, and uh you should just wear a button up and some black pants. Casual but nice.”

He just nodded his head only half paying attention. Rafe couldn’t concentrate when she was standing across the room looking like his future wife. He snapped out of his thoughts at the word wife. She was really doing something to him if he was thinking about marriage. He looked through his shirts and decided on a green jacket and black carhartt pants. Grabbing his clothes he went back into the bathroom to change.

Lola felt like she could breathe again. Having to watch the muscles in his back flex as he grabbed his shirt was too much. Especially since his skin was sun kissed from the day before she just wanted to run her hands all over him. He walked out of the bathroom and she clenched her fists. He smiled at her and she smiled back.

“You look handsome,” Lola said as she started to think about all the women that would get to see Rafe tonight. Jealousy took over her as she thought about how she couldn’t be by his side all night to show people that he was with her.

“Thank you sweetheart.” She was going to kill him.

“Alright lets go,” She sighed and began walking out the door.

“I’m not going go drink tonight so I can drop you off and even pick you up,” Rafe said following behind her.

“Okay, you decided on not drinking?”

“Yeah I just don’t really feel like being drunk with a bunch of people I don’t know. I also want to make sure you’re safe,” He shrugged and opened the front door for her.

Lola turned to him before walking out the door. Standing almost toe to toe, he was much taller than her. She was feeling intimidated but she tried her best not to show it. But like always he could read her so easily. He could see the her fingers twitch and her breathing pick up a little more.

“You’re kind of frustrating Mr. Cameron,” She said with a sigh, her eyes squinting teasingly at him.

“What am I doing?” He asked pretending to be clueless.

She ignored him not wanting to answer him, “Come on we can’t be late.”

The drive there was comfortable quiet. The tense atmosphere from earlier now gone. Rafe pulled into a parking lot on the main street and parking. He had been struggling since he first saw Lola. She was the most beautiful woman he had ever seen.

There were a lot of people on the main street going to the different shops, restaurants, and bars. It was a popular area in the summer. Rafe walked around her to walk on the side closest to the street, and hgrabbed her hand so he wouldn’t lose her in the throngs of people.

“Where are we going?” He asked her following her lead.

“The girls are going to Porter’s and the guys are going to Birdie’s. Porter’s is right there,” She pointed at a bar a few shops down, “And then Birdies is across the street.” She pointed at another bar on the other side of the street.

“Ah so we’re close to each other,” Rafe smirked liking the idea that she’d be close by in case she needed anything.

“Mhmm I think all the girls are there already.”

“If you want to leave early for any reason call me okay? I’ll be right over,” He gave her hand a gentle squeeze.

“Okay Rafe,” She smiled. Once they got to the front of the bar the bridesmaids immediately spotted them since they were all sitting on the patio out front.

“My favorite couple!” Penny shouted as she saw the pair walk up.

“Took you guys long enough. I wonder what you guys were doing that made you laaaate,” Tabitha said teasingly.

“Tabi!” Lola exclaimed.

Penny turned to Rafe, “Hurry and let your girl go so we can get drunk!”

“Alright alright,” Rafe said and turned Lola to face him. He cupped her cheek, “call if you need anything. Have fun and be safe.”

“Always,” She said breathlessly because his eyes kept going down to her lips. She knew what was coming and she couldn’t be more excited.

Rafe leaned down and pressed a kiss against her lips, he didn’t want to do too much since they were in public but he wanted to show everyone that this was his girl. He pulled away only to go in one more time, she smiled against his lips.

“Rafe,” She laughed pushing him away playfully.

“Sorry babe couldn’t help myself,” He shrugged with a lopsided smile that made her want to kiss him a million more times.

“I’ll see you later,” She squeezed his hand before pulling away to walk onto the patio.

“Bye,” He waved at her and all the other girls who had been watching them.

“Byyye,” They all said in synch with laughs

Tabitha turned to Lola as she sat down next to her, “Girl that man is obsessed with you.”

“I really hope so,” She laughed. The girls not knowing the way she really meant it.

“Okay ladies lets drink!” Penny said clapping her hands, “Tonight in honor of me we’re having tequila!”

“This is going to be the best night!” Olivia laughed excitedly.

-

Rafe arrived to the bar the guys were at, he walked inside and spotted the group around a table in the back. He walked over and Harry immediately spotted him.

“Rafe! Dude you made it,” Harry said getting up to greet him.

“Of course, just had to drop off Lola.” Rafe walked over to the empty seat between Mateo and Josh. Thomas say directly in front of him.

“Hey what’s up man,” Josh greeted followed by the rest of them Thomas only nodding at Rafe to not some completely rude. Rafe found it amusing how much he pissed Thomas off. He liked it.

“I’m gonna go get another round. What are you drinking Rafe?” Josh asked him.

“uh just water, I’m driving tonight.”

“Shoulda ubered man.”

-

It was nearly midnight now and Rafe wanted to leave. He had bern having a good time for a while but now all the guys were pretty drunk and he just wanted to be with Lola. He hadn’t heard from her all night which he took as a good sign. The guys were playing pool now, some of the single grooms men were flirting with some women at the bar.

“You ever miss that?” Harry asked him as he lined up his stick with the white ball.

“What? Flirting?”

He nodded his head, “Yeah like picking up girls at bars.”

Rafe shook his head, “Not at all. I like Lola a lot.”

“I feel the same about Penny. Guess it’d be bad if I didn’t since we’re getting married,” He laughed patting Rafe on the back.

“You guys are sooo whipped,” Thomas laughed.

“And what about it?” Harry slurred.

Thomas shrugged his hooded eyes meeting Rafes, “The same boring girl forever? The same average pussy forever? noooo thanks.”

“I’m convinced you’ve never actually talked to a woman. I think you just like women who don’t like you,” Rafe shook his head with a smirk.

“Hey all girls love me. Look at me,” He stood straighter and smirked. Rafe wanted to hysterically laugh but he held it in. He started to feel a vibrating in his pocket. He pulled his phone out and saw Lola’s name across the screen.

“Saved by the bell,” He said before walking away to a quieter area, “Hello?”

“Rafeyyyy,” Lola sang on the other end of the line.

He shook his head with a fond smile on his lips, “This is him. What’s up sweetheart?”

“I’m ready to go Rafey. I wanna see you,” She said breathlessly.

For the last few hours the girls had moved to inside the bar where they drank too many shots of tequila and danced. Penny even did karaoke at some point. Lola was actually enjoying herself and she might have enjoyed it too much. She was definitely drunk by now which meant her plan to seduce Rafe sounds like a very good plan.

“God he’s just so hot,” Lola said her chin resting in her palms as she leaned on the bar. She was currently talking to the bartender and Tabitha.

“He is incredibly hot,” Tabitha agreed, “You should see him, he’s like one of those stone statues of the guys with the abs.”

Lola laughed loudly, “he does look like that. Beautiful. You know he’s a really good kisser.” Her brain started to get even fuzzier as she thought of the kisses from earlier.

“Call him girl, get your man.” Tabitha encouraged as shebsaw the look in her cousin’s eyes.

“I will,” That’s when she had decided to call him and let him take her home.

“You’re drunk huh?” He asked with a teasing tone.

She faked a gasp, “I would want to see you even if I weren’t drunk thank you very much. Especially when wow,” She sighed dreamily, “Especially when you look the way you do tonight.”

Rafe had quickly and quietly bid goodbye to the guys as he all but sprinted out of there to get Lola. He knew she was drunk and he didn’t want her to go outside by herself.

“I’m coming sweetheart, did you have fun?”

“Very much of it,” She smiled to herself.

“I’m outside now,” He as as he was getting closer.

She squealed, “Coming!” She hung up the phone and ran outside before Rafe could even made it to the walkway up to the bar doors.

She ran towards him and wrapped her arms around his neck hugging him tightly, “Missed you.” Lola nuzzled her head into his neck breathing in the smell of his cologne.

“I missed you,” He had hugged her back and was stroking her hair with one of his hands, “Let’s get you home babe.”

“Kiss?” She asked looking up at him with those doe eyes. How could he say no? He was eager to do anything for her, to please her. He was there to fulfill all her needs how could he ever deny her?

“anything for you,” He mumbled leaning down and kissing her. He wanted it to be a soft kiss but when her fingers went into his hair and tugged him closer he couldn’t hold back. She kissed him hard and he was of course going to reciprocate. Their lips moved together in perfect synch yet a little messily. She wanted him and it wasn’t just because she was drunk.

Rafe was reminded of what she had been doing earlier when he started tasting the tequila on her tongue. He pulled away and kissed one more time softly, “Let’s go home.”

She nodded her head in a dizzy trance. He wrapped his arm around her shoulders and pulled her close to him. Lola wrapped her arms around his waist and happily hummed. She was practically leaning her whole body weight on him and it wasn’t even phasing him.

“So how many shots did you take huh?”

“Ohhhh just a few. And a couple tequila sodas.” She laughed.

They reached his car and he helped get her in, making sure she didn’t hit her head. He buckled her in, she just watched him with a dopey smile. Rafe jogged over to his side.

The ride was once again filled with comfortable silence. Mostly because Lola had fallen asleep. Rafe heard her light snores and smiled to himself. Once they got back to the house Rafe rushed over to get her. He ended up having to find her house key and then carry her inside.

He was glad he didn’t drink tonight because he gets to spend the night taking care of Lola. Once he’s walking through their bedroom door the girl in his arms starts stirring awake. He laid her down on the bed as she opened her eyes. Squinting as her eyes adjusted to the light.

“Rafe you brought me up,” She mumbled and sat up on the bed. The sleep had sobered her up a bit. Enough to remember to take her makeup off and brush her teeth.

“Of course I did. You need anything?” He sat next to her rubbing her back.

“I’m gonna wash my face,” She mumbled rubbing her eyes, “Can you get me water and ibuprofen please. It’s in the cupboard on the left of the fridge.”

“I’ll be back,” He leaned over and pressed a kiss to her head. He went downstairs to get whatever she needed. Rafe also took it upon himself to make her a grilled cheese and bacon knowing she hadn’t eaten since earlier in the day. The greasy food will help her feel better in the morning.

Lola washed her face and brushed her teeth. Feeling more sober and clean. She hadn’t drank that much in a while and now that she was older it hit her harder and worse. She went to her dresser to look for pajamas. Her eyes lit up when they came across the small floral tank top and matching boy short underwear. They were long enough to be considered very short sleep shorts. The part of her brain that was still a little drink was screaming at her to pick that set.

Her plan from earlier coming back to her. She didn’t think twice and grabbed them going to change. Lola looked like she was barely wearing any clothes, just what she wanted. If Rafe felt something for her then he would make a move on her or not reject her if she tried first. And she was almost positive that he did feel something for her. She fixed her hair a bit and put on some more lotion and deodorant.

“I brought you food too,” Rafe said as he entered the room. When she heard him shut the door she stepped out of the bathroom.

He looked up at her and froze. There she was standing in front of him in practically nothing. His hands were itching to touch her. The curves of her body and her pretty bare face were doing too much to him.

He cleared his throat and looked away going back to pulling the covers back, “I uh made you a grilled cheese and some bacon.” He motioned to the food on her nightstand. She smiled at him and mumbled a thanks. Lola walked over to her side and sat on the bed.

As she ate Rafe put on a movie for her before he went into the bathroom to get ready for bed. While he was gone Lola was giving herself a pep talk. She could do this, she’s almost 100% sure that he won’t reject her. At least that’s what she kept telling herself. She quickly finished her food before he came out and got herself ready adjusting her pajamas and her fixing her hair.

He stepped out of the bathroom in nothing but sweatpants. Lola took a deep breath as he sat down next to her.

“You feel better?” He asked looking over at her.

“Yeah I am, thanks for the food.” She turned to lay on her side, holding up her head on her hand.

He mimicked her position, “You’re welcome, how did your night go?”

“Hmmm it was good. The girls are crazy. I miss you though wish I had you by my side,” She said trying to give him her best puppy dog eyes.

Rafe swallowed hard, “Yeah? I missed you. What’s tomorrow’s plan?”

She shuffled closer to him, “Tomorrow we have family brunch and then rehearsal dinner. Then it’s the big day.”

He reached forward and brushed a strand of hair out of her face, “Easy last couple days then.”

She sighed deeply, “mhmm can I ask you a question?”

“Always.”

“So do you make all your clients feel like this?”

He tilted his head questioningly, “Like how?”

She shrugged looking at the white sheets under her, “Like they’re the only girl in the world.”

Rafe’s heart had started to pick up speed the closer she got. He didn’t know what game she was playing but it was a very dangerous one. He looked at the tv afraid that if he looked at her any longer he would do something he would regret.

“I think I like only making you feel that way,” He mumbled as he continued watching the movie.

“Rafe?” Lola asked in whisper.

“Yeah?” He finally turned to her and she was a lot closer than before.

Instead of answering him she cupped his face and leaned in kissing him softly. Slightly hesitant in case he didn’t want this, but then he cupped her face and pulled her in harder. She sighed satisfied with his response. Rafe felt like his lungs were going to explode, she was so suffocating in the best way. He grabbed her thigh and pulled it so that she was now on top of him. The very minimal clothes they had on made them be even closer.

Lola tugged on his hair as she arched her back slightly to get closer to him. Rafe ran his hands all over her, touching wherever her could. This was much better than he imagined. Yes they’d kissed a few times but it was never just them and it wasn’t like this.

When Rafe’s lips moved down to her neck he came to a realization. She had been drinking earlier and he’s pretty sure she’s at least tipsy still. He pulled away gently resting his forehead against hers.

He cleared his throat and quietly spoke up, “Sweetheart I can’t.”

Lola pulled away a little. Confusion taking over her features, “I-I thought you..” Her face flushed in humiliation. Had he read his body language wrong? Had she interrupted his words wrong?

“No no Lola I want to, but you’ve been drinking and I think you should be sober. I don’t sleep with drunk women,” Rafe tried to reassure but his last sentence made her nauseous.

She sat back farther, “But it’s me Rafe. It’s not some random client that paid for you.”

Rafe laughed softly not really reading the tension in the room. He thought she was just messing around, “Babe you paid for me.”

Lola rolled her eyes and got off of him, “Yeah you’re right, I’m really tired.”

“Lola,” Rafe said knowing something was wrong.

“Rafe I’m tired can we just not,” She mumbled as she tucked herself under the covers. Her back towards him so he couldn’t see her biting her quivering lip. Had Rafe just been doing all of this and acting this way because it was his job? She couldn’t blame him but Lola swore she saw something between them for just a split second.

Rafe watched her for a few seconds before turning off the lights and laying back. He had fucked it up somehow and he was going to do everything possible to make it up to her.

He had to fix it.

-

tags: @rosal1nd , @magicwithaknife , @f4ll-for-you, @hotch-meeeeeuppppp, @loveu-always , @weareatthebadlands

(if you would like to be tagged or removed let me know!)

(also if you already asked me & I missed you I am so sorry pls send another message)

[kaizsche]

this has been in my drafts for so long it deserves to be freed from jail so here's a shitty unbeta'd snippet of an untitled elejah doctor au fic (inspired by @katherineholmes' tea)

“You should go for it,” Elena heard the low rumble of a man’s chuckle in the earpiece accompanied by a very distracting synthetic music in the background.

“I shouldn’t.” She watched helplessly as the confident resident Hayley Marshall approached Elijah decked out in a form fitting white dress making goo-goo eyes at him.

Hayley always made a spectacle of her arrival, dressed like she was walking to the red carpet of a blockbuster film or as if the hospital were Milan’s current fashion week with her alternating from one brand to another.

Meanwhile… Elena looked down at her current look— courtesy of Jeremy knocking at her doorstep completely stoned out of his mind she had forgotten about her morning shift trying to set him to rights before he’d manage to do anything stupid—a bird’s nest piled on the top of her head, last night’s cable knit sweater with bits of her cute little brother’s vomit, ultra faded jeans she thrifted from a flea market and her sad converse.

She took baby steps, ended the call on a still rambling Caroline listing reasons as to why she needed to hypothetically jump Elijah and ride him at a gallop—car keys on one hand and a cup of hot cocoa to kickstart her day, she balanced them all in her left hand to pretend scrolling through her phone to spare herself the humiliation of having to face Elijah looking like she’d gone out in the wild to hunt for an endangered exotic bird.

But fate like the snivelling bitch it was, wanted her to suffer and die.

“Elena!” He greeted her with a wide smile.

Hayley, out of courtesy, received her arrival with an equally jovial smile but her eyes held a sharp glint of annoyance to it.

Then, Elijah stepped out of Hayley’s reach and into her own bubble to ask a concerned, “Are you okay?”

Still really in the outs, she barely registered the feeling of his fingers hovering over her cheek, her cold skin soaking up the trail of warmth he left behind when his thumb swept an arc across her cheekbones.

“Wha…”

[d1xonss]

Desert Rose

Chapter 20 ~ Stay

✧ Pairing : Daryl Dixon x Rose

✧ Era : Season 2

✧ Word Count : 4.1k

In this chapter ~ After Rose makes her choice to part from the group, Daryl quickly finds out, leaving him in a state of unbelievable shock. But he doesn't let her get very far before he tracks her down through the trees, needing to find the right things to say to her to get her to stay.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~* DARYL POV ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

After the conversation I had with Rose, I needed to leave and cool off. When I didn't respond, it's not because I didn't want to, but because I didn't want to say something that I would regret later just because I was frustrated. That was the last thing she needed. She was hurting after what happened with Sophia, shit we all were. But my patience was thin right now and I didn't want to take that out on her.

I walked all the way out to the field and sat down on the grass, beginning to pull some pieces out of the ground and started to play with the tiny blades in my fingers. Sitting there silently with my mind running through everything that happened in the past few days. I found myself growing more and more frustrated every time I thought of a sacrifice one of us made for a girl who was already dead. We had all tried so hard, and for what? For it to end up shitty in the end like it always seemed to.

My mind then wandered back to Rose; like it always seemed to as well. Even though everything has been pretty terrible, she was always able to make me smile somehow. I thought back to the small moments we've shared recently and just the thought alone brought another small smile to my face. I had been trying to convince myself that I didn't have feelings for her, hell I've been trying to do that since the beginning. But I did, I liked her. I liked her a lot.

She made me feel different. I had never been with anyone before this, just a few one night stands that I didn't give a shit about. But I had never cared this much about a woman before, ever. The thought crossed my mind, being with Rose, but I didn't want to ruin what we already had. I had managed to build up some kind of friendship with someone that I actually trusted for the first time in my life, and the last thing I wanted was to make the wrong move. Or even worse; push her away somehow.

But my thoughts quickly stopped short once I heard someone call my name from just behind me.

"Daryl!" Maggie's voice called out.

I turned around right as she approached me, with a book held in her hands, "Do you know where Rose went? I wanted to give her this book since she hasn't been liking the one she's reading, but she took off too fast earlier." she finished with a laugh.

I dipped my head in a nod, "I think she's in my tent, I'll go tell her." I replied.

"Great, thanks." she said before turning back on her heel to walk towards the house.

I quickly got up to my feet and started to make my way back to the camp that I had set up a little farther away from everyone. To be completely honest, I don't know why I did it. But I guess a part of me understood Rose's need to be away, because I went and did the same thing without even realizing at the time.

As I finally made it up to the yellow tent, my hand went instinctively to just unzip the entrance, but I stopped myself and shook my head, clearing my throat so she could hear me.

"Rose?" I called out softly, warning her that I was about to come in.

I didn't hear anything, so I slowly unzipped the tent only to find that she wasn't in there. After scanning the small space, I was going to head out to look and see if she was at the house now, but something stopped me in my tracks. I noticed quickly that all of her stuff was missing and there was a note sitting next to my stuff with my name written across the front, a Cherokee rose placed conveniently right next to it. My heart began to sink to the pit of my stomach, but I still sat down and opened the note to see what it said, for all I knew she could be going out for a hunt. But in the back of my mind, I knew that wasn't it.

Daryl,

I wanted to leave you this note because I felt terrible not giving you at least somewhat of an explanation, so here it is. I left.

After what happened to Sophia, something just clicked. I realized how attached I became to this group, and that isn't a very good thing for me. I was on my own for a very long time before this and you know that, it's not easy for me to depend on people or get close to anyone in general but it happened. And I hate to admit it, but it scared me.

I care about all of you so much it hurts, but it's best for everyone if I leave. I don't want to watch anyone else die, I just can't do it, please understand that at least a little. I believe that most of you will make it, but in case I'm wrong...I don't just want to sit and watch like we all did today.

But I don't want you to think that it was easy for me to leave, because it wasn't. It was harder than I will probably ever admit out loud, and it was even harder to leave you. I care about you so much Daryl, you have no idea. But I have to do this, I can't stand back and watch what happened to Sophia potentially happen to you too.

Maybe this isn't goodbye, I'm actually hoping we cross paths again one day.

But until then, see you later Daryl Dixon.

-Love, Rose

I stared at the note with wide eyes, reading the words very carefully over and over again as if they would somehow change. She couldn't leave. In hindsight, maybe I could understand why she would want to but that isn't a good enough reason. Not now. She had turned into such a valuable member of this group and everyone here cares about her so much. I couldn't let her go. She had no idea how much I needed her to stay here.

So, without thinking, I grabbed my crossbow and rushed out of the tent to look for her. It was dark now so she would be harder to track, but I didn't care. I needed to find her. I had no fucking idea what I was going to say to her, but I had to try and convince her to stay somehow. She needed to understand that she didn't have to push people away anymore, at least not me. I would always be here for her, I wasn't planning on leaving her anytime soon, and I wanted her to know that. She needed to know that.

It didn't take very long before her footprints became more prominent in the mud, and I knew she was close by. I only took a few more steps in between the trees before I saw her walking a good distance in front of me, her backpack strapped tightly around her shoulders.

My foot then came down harshly as I purposefully stepped on a branch so she would hear me behind her. She whipped her head around as soon as the sound registered, with one of her knives raised, looking around on high alert. Her eyes scanned all over the trees, but she was unable to see me in the dark as I had apparently hidden myself well. I found myself huffing out a breath before finally stepping closer so she would be able to spot me clearly. Her eyes then landed on me immediately after that, her face dropping as she slowly lowered her knife and sighed to herself.

"What are you doing here?" she asked me.

I scoffed, "What am I doin here?" I asked, "I get a letter from ya, sayin yer just takin off and you didn't expect me to come after ya?"

She looked at me for a long moment, before uttering another word, "I have to leave Daryl, you know that."

"Nah, I don't know that. Make me understand, why do ya have to leave? Why now after everything?" I asked.

"I have to leave because I don't want to watch anyone else die. I can't." she frowned, tears now forming in her eyes.

"But that's a part of life, whether it's the end of the world or not, yer gonna lose people. Yer actually losin them all in one go right now, do ya realize that?" I asked.

She immediately shook her head, "No, that's not the same thing. At least I know you guys are alive."

"Well, what's the point if we're alive or not, if you ain't ever going to see us again anyways?" I asked with edge to my tone.

I didn't want to get upset with her. But she hurt me by leaving, thinking I was just going to shrug it off when in reality, she clearly didn't know a damn thing about how I felt. She just stood there for a few moments in silence, like this had turned into some kind of face off and her move was the next. A part of me was just waiting for her to run, but she didn't. She stayed perfectly still in the same place as her tearful eyes never broke away from mine.

But she eventually sighed to herself with a shake of her head, finding the right words, "I'm sorry I hurt you, I can tell just by the way you're looking at me. But you have to understand I-" her voice cracked, and the tears started to roll down her cheeks, "I can't watch you die too." she finished with a whisper, as if she was terrified to say it out loud.

My face softened almost on instinct hearing her broken voice, and I took a few steps closer to her. I wanted to reach out and wipe her tears away, hell take all her pain away, but I didn't know if that's what she wanted right now. But she didn't back away from me, which I only took as a good sign.

"I ain't gonna die. I don't plan to anytime soon." I assured her.

"Yeah, you don't plan to, but anything could happen. For all we know, anyone could die tomorrow." she stated.

I stared at her for a few seconds before muttering, "Don't."

"Don't what?" she whispered, tears running down her face.

"Don't go." I said softly.

She looked me in the eyes before hanging her head in defeat with a soft breath, and I could tell she was tired and emotionally exhausted after the day we all had. All I wanted was to reach out to her, hold her close as she cried but I obviously hesitated.

But then suddenly for once, I didn't think. I didn't let my mind linger on the "what ifs," I just acted fast before I talked myself out of it.

I gently grabbed her face in my hands so she would look at me, taking my thumbs and wiping away the fresh tears that spilled down her cheeks. She didn't pull away like I thought she would, but only leaned into my touch which made a warmth fill my chest.

"Please," I spoke quietly, "Please just...just stay."

She looked like she was having an inner debate with herself. I knew deep down I couldn't force her to stay if she really wanted to go, but I wanted to try. My mouth opened slightly to say something else, but the potential outcome made me close it again, fearful of the unknown. There was no going back if I were to say the things I truly wanted to say, but maybe those were the things she needed to hear. The things that would get her to stay.

"Stay...for me." I finally spoke.

Her eyes widened slightly, and I was preparing myself for her to pull away from me, but she never did. Instead, she only started to lean closer, which made my heart start beating rapidly, so fast that I thought she would be able to hear it. My mind was on autopilot as I found myself leaning closer too, her hands came up gently as she placed them on my forearms, while mine still held her face. My eyes flickered down at her lips and then back up at her eyes to make sure she was really okay with this, silently asking permission. To my surprise, she nodded her head ever so slightly, and I hesitated for only a moment, before finally closing the space between us.

It was soft and slow, but soon our lips started to move in sync as she leaned in further to kiss me back. I felt electricity flow through my entire body just at the feeling of her soft lips against my own, her hands only pulling me closer. I didn't want to stop, not ever, but I didn't want to push anything either, so I pulled away after a few seconds, resting my forehead on hers with a wide grin on my face.

"I'll stay." she whispered against my lips before kissing me again.

I smiled into the kiss, moving my hands down to her waist, pulling her impossibly closer to me. Her arms wrapped around my neck, starting to tug a little at the hair on the back of my head, the feeling practically ignited my body on fire. At first, I could've sworn that this was a dream, but once I felt her touch, I knew that it wasn't. It couldn't have been.

I had never felt these things for anyone before, but I'm just glad I was feeling these things for her. In the back of my mind, I knew I wouldn't feel this way about anyone else because how could someone be more perfect than her? It wasn't possible. And her saying just those two words to me, made me happier than I ever thought I could be.

She then broke the kiss after a few long moments, with another smile on her face, "I didn't think you felt the same way." she breathed.

I gazed down at her and only chuckled quietly, "Woman, you have no idea." I spoke, causing her to smile bashfully as I pecked her lips once more before saying, "C'mon, let's head back."

She nodded her head and pulled away from me, slowly grabbing a hold of my hand and intertwining our fingers together. As we walked back, we started talking like normal to fill the silence, teasing each other a little bit about whenever we would get nervous around each other before. And I was pretty sure I had never been happier.

When we started to see the house coming into view, I suddenly stopped as I saw the group standing around the house, pulling her to stop with me. She looked at me confused and I only hesitated for a moment, not fully sure how to say what I wanted to say. I didn't want to hurt her, but I didn't know if I was comfortable telling the others about our relationship yet. Wait, were we in a relationship? I had no idea, but all I knew is that I wanted to take things slow, to make sure I didn't mess anything up.

"What's wrong?" she asked me in a soft voice, brushing her thumb against the back of my hand.

I shook my head quickly, "Nothin, it's just..." I trailed off, not looking at her.

I then felt her give my hand a gentle squeeze, causing my eyes to look back down towards her, "Talk to me." she said.

I sighed, "I dunno how to say this. I don't wanna hurt ya or anythin."

She smiled sweetly, "Daryl, you're not going to hurt me, just say it."

I sighed again and nodded to myself,  "Okay, uh... I wanna take this slow, and um... I dunno if m' comfortable with showing off... whatever this is."

To my surprise she let out a small laugh, shaking her head lightly, "That's it? Daryl, it's okay. If I'm being honest, I don't really know if I want to show off well...whatever this is to the group either."

I let out a breath of relief and squeezed her hand. She then let go after a few seconds, "I'm just going to go put my backpack in the tent and I'll meet up with you, okay?"

I nodded my head and watched her smile at me once more, before turning around fully to walk off. My eyes lingered on her figure for longer than they needed to, but I couldn't seem to look away even if I tried. Though once she was finally emerged into the darkness, I began to slowly make my way over towards the others. I couldn't believe any of that just happened, wanting to convince myself that I was still dreaming somehow, but oh it very real.

As I got closer to the group, I saw most of them standing outside the house arguing with each other. I stood off in the back, not saying anything as I listened and watched everything go down. Apparently, the guys weren't back with Hershel yet and Lori had gone after them, crashing a car and almost getting herself killed in the process. I thought that was a stupid move but I still didn't say anything as my arms crossed over my chest.

"Hey, what's going on?" I heard Rose ask, her figure coming up to stand next to me.

I couldn't help but smile down at her when she walked over, watching as her brows furrowed more with confusion as she listened. I kept my eyes on her while she got filled in on everything that had happened since we were gone, before suddenly feeling someone staring right at me. My eyes glanced over to see Dale looking at me somewhat knowingly, with a smug expression. I just glared back at him, and he raised his hands in surrender, but still didn't wipe that stupid smile off his face.

"Look, I had to get you back here, okay?" I heard Shane snap at Lori, "I will go look for them, I will go after them. We just have to make sure you're okay, alright? Gotta make sure the baby's okay." he suddenly spilled.

My eyes got wide when he said that, looking over at Rose who didn't look the least bit surprised as she too heard the news. She made eye contact with me and just shrugged her shoulders, showing me that she already somehow knew about it.

"You're having a baby?" Carl asked her in shock.

Lori didn't say anything, utterly speechless, but Andrea quickly stepped in "Let's get you checked out, okay?" she said softly as she led the woman into the house.

Almost all of them made their way inside after them, clearly wanting to know more, but Maggie surprisingly hung back. Her eyes panning over to Rose as she looked over at the two of us expectantly, her eyes full of suspicion.

"Where have you been?" she asked worriedly.

"Oh, I was... just out hunting." Rose replied quickly.

"In the dark?" Maggie questioned.

She nodded slowly, "Yeah, I just needed some quiet." she said simply.

"Oh, okay so where's the meat?" Maggie asked as her eyebrows pulled together.

Rose stood there for a second dumbfounded, "I didn't catch anything, kind of a waste of time." she finally said.

Maggie glanced over to me and then back to Rose before I heard a small "mhm" from her. I felt my cheeks get hot as her gaze was intense on us, but she didn't say anything else as she turned to head into the house as well. Once she was finally out of earshot, I then looked over at Rose with my eyebrows raised, seeing a nervous smile make its way onto her face.

"You went huntin? That's the best ya got?" I asked playfully.

She scoffed and rolled her eyes, "Whatever. Would you rather me say, "Oh sorry Maggie, I was trying to leave the group and then Daryl came, we made out, and then I decided to stay," is that better?" she asked with a hand on her hip.

I smirked at her, "Nah."

"Yeah, that's what I thought." she muttered before turning around and starting to make her way back towards the tent for the night. I had almost forgotten how late it got, but I soon followed close behind her, feeling the tiredness slowly taking over.

Once we both got inside, the two of us separated onto either side of the space, getting on top of the sleeping bags for the night. I laid down on my back with a groan, staring up at the ceiling momentarily before I subtly glanced over at her again. She too was laying down on her back, her eyelids falling more heavily with exhaustion, but she still could not have looked more beautiful.

My mind thought about moving over and wrapping my arm across her shoulders to sleep, but I made no effort to move. Apart of me was still fearful, even after the both of us confessing the feelings we felt for one another, that she would still move away to have her own space.

A quiet sigh left my lips as I debated back and forth in my head, but apparently it wasn't as quiet as I thought as her head turned towards me in question.

"What?" she whispered quietly in the dead of night.

I shook my head, "Nothin." I muttered as I glanced back up at the ceiling, avoiding her eyes, "Yer just...a little far away, that's all."

My eyes stayed firmly in place as I tried my best not to look back over at her, the fear of rejection still creeping up the back of my neck it felt like. But then I suddenly heard her let out a small laugh, before there was some shuffling like she was scooting closer to me. I then felt her presence only inches away from me now, her head falling on my chest gently as a smile was brought to my face at her actions.

"Is this better?" she asked sarcastically.

I hummed a response as I nodded, not that she would be able to see, before resting my chin on the top of her head. I held her tightly to me as I rested my eyes, content with the contact though I was nervous I wouldn't be. It was a nerve-racking thing for me to admit out loud, but I hadn't felt such a gentle touch before hers, and I was nervous I wouldn't be comfortable with it because of the past. Yet somehow with her, it was different. Almost as if I craved it.

But my eyes popped back open as a thought entered my mind, not wanting to breeze over the fact that Shane announced something worth talking about for more than five minutes.

"So, ya knew Lori was pregnant?" I asked out of the blue, glancing down at her now.

"Mhm." she hummed as she moved to look me in the eye, "Glenn told me the same time he told me about the walkers in the barn."

The second our eyes locked, I became very aware of how close our faces were now and I tried to swallow whatever nerves I still had. Not being used to something like this. Though she noticed quickly and had a smirk on her face before leaning up and placing a gentle kiss on my nose. I felt my heart leap in my chest, and she laughed quietly to herself at how red my face probably was.

I tried to recover quickly, clearing my throat a little before asking, "Well, do ya have any more secrets I should know bout?"

She thought about it for a second before a small smile returned to her face, "I like you. Have I told you that?"

Another familiar warmth filled my chest as I watched her eyes sparkle, "Yeah." I muttered, "I think you mighta mentioned it." I smirked before leaning in, placing another kiss on her lips.

She hummed in content, kissing me back for a few seconds before pulling away and resting her head on my chest again, closing her eyes. Before I knew it, her breathing had changed and I knew she was asleep within merely minutes. But I just sat there thinking, no longer as tired as I was before.

Today was a shitshow, but also a pretty great one too. I thought to myself, if I didn't have Rose with me right now, I didn't know how well I would be handling the loss of Sophia. But she somehow helped keep me keep my head attached to my shoulders, and that's exactly what I needed. Just her.

~ Thanks for reading!

(They’re finally together ahhhh)

[masivechaos]

BOOKSHOP MEETING

remus lupin x gn! reader

Request: yes / no

see the request here!

Synopsis: you finally can buy this book, but apparently you are not the only one interested

Warning/content: mention of cigarette/smoking/smoke, muggle reader/wizard remus, college/post hogwarts, quick proofreading, my English

a.n.: 1k words- need to meet remus at a bookshop rn

masterlist/ marauders masterlist / navigation / taglist 

── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ.─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ.───･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ.──

Your lips tugged up, a crescent moon of a smile, when you saw the book you were searching for, it was the last copy. It was your favourite book for as long as you could remember, you were collecting every edition of it and a new one came out a few weeks ago.

But you had to wait before buying it because college years weren’t the richest ones and you couldn’t afford to spend your money like this. But now that you received your salary from your small shitty job, you could allow yourself.

You stretched out your hand, ready to grab your book, and your fingers bumped into another hand. You let out a small gasp out of surprise “Oh sorry” you said before turning your head to find out who was going to ruin your excitement.

And there your gaze fell on a tall man with sandy hair contrasting his pale skin. He had beautiful brown eyes that you couldn’t help but stare at. He shook his head to let you understand it’s okay “It’s me”

His voice was deep and grew a weird sensation in your stomach, maybe that’s why they meant in books when they talked about butterflies. You felt heat rushing to your cheeks, since when you were shy in front of a stranger?

You both stared at each other in silence, with timid and awkward smiles. After long seconds of silence, you managed to pronounce a few words “Y-you can take it” your hand showed the black spine of the book.

The stranger’s eyes widened slightly “No, no. Take it” he invited you with a quiet voice as if he was out of breath in front of you. You shook your head with a smile, you couldn’t deny how his scars made him very mysterious so very attractive. 

“I already have it… nine times” you said, a small chuckle leaving your lips. The man joined you in your laughter, impressed you had so many copies of the same combinations of words.

He took the book out off the shelf and looked attentively at the cover “I collect the different editions. This one is new. It’s my favourite book” He couldn’t help but find you adorable at your excitement, pink rising to his cheeks.

“So- um- the book is good?” he finished by asking after a long minute, not wanting this conversation to end. And it didn’t miss, your eyes lit up as your smile widened, glad someone cared.

“Yeah…” you didn’t expect him to ask you something “The characters are endearing and the writing is mind-blowing!” you stopped there before revealing the entire plot. You wet your lips, suddenly feeling so little under his stare, you nervously tucked a piece of hair behind your ear as you took a deep breath. And the man offered you a smile “Then I’ll be happy to read it”

Your neck and ears were now also chased by heat, your flush not stopping exclusively at your face anymore. You rested your side against the wooden bookcase “D-do you- maybe- have some recommendations for me?” you whispered, eyes not quitting his.

The corner of his lips lifted up “Yeah” you were expecting him to move but he just stayed there. It’s after long seconds that he finally shook his head, getting out of his thoughts and started to walk through the bookshop.

He stopped in front of the crime novel section and grabbed a book on the highest shelf. He handed it to you “Great characters, perfect murders, unexcepted plot twist. It keeps you up all night” you bit your lower lip with a nod, reading the back cover.

Your lips turned down, offering the man a lopsided smile. With a bob of your head, you silently asked him if he wanted to head to the checkout and he nodded.

You waited for him to pay before handing the book to the cashier. The man didn’t seem to know if he had to wait or not “Just wait for me outside it’s fine” he acquiesced and you watched him as he darted out of the shop.

“Can I have a little piece of paper with maybe a pen?” you asked the lady at the other side of the counter. With a small ‘sure’ she turned her back before giving you a sticky note and a pencil. You glanced at the stranger waiting outside, he just had lit up a cigarette. You felt your heart throb in your chest and grabbed the pencil and scribbled on the paper.

When you joined him outside he smiled, carefully moving from your left to your right so the smoke didn’t reach you. You took time to breathe properly and handed him the note.

He raised his eyebrow as he read and let out a chuckle when he was done, you just had written your phone number and name “Y/n?” you nodded with a fakely confident smile because inside you were panicked it was too much. “I love your name. And I will definitely call you” your smile widened, and you stared at the ground.

“Thank you…” you trailed off, waiting for him to speak “Remus”

You looked up at Remus, with the lights from outside he was even more handsome, making him somehow mysterious. “Well… I’ll see you around” you showed with a head nod your bus stopping. 

He smiled “Yeah” his eyes didn’t leave your frame as you stepped on the bus and he stared at the bus until it was just a little dot on the horizon line. He looked down at his hand, the paper you gave him in his palm. 

Remus folded it and placed it in his back pocket, he bit his lip to hide the big grin he wanted to make just by thinking about you. He didn’t wait before walking back home, he was going to spend the night reading your book, wanting to know what you loved about it. But first, he was going to call you, he was even already planning in his mind what he was going to tell you.

He was never more grateful to go to the bookstore because he might not just find novels, he might find love too.

── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ.─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ.───･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ.──

⋆ ★ remus lupin taglist: @ell0ra-br3kk3r @sw34terw34ther @cauliflowertree @madison-rebel @witchylele @moonlitmeeks @vintagepearlss @rhydianissuperior

[bari-the-witch]

Steddie week day 1 - Pining

Whew, I know I'm late to the party (it's almost 10 p.m. here) and I originally intended this to be a lot longer, but I ran out of time, so... here it is. Hope you enjoy!

Steve Harrington is not pining.

He’s not.

And everyone who says otherwise should probably get their eyes checked.

It’s not pining that he currently has one elbow propped up on the counter at work, his face cradled into the palm of his hand, watching Eddie goof around with Robin, wishing he’s the one getting all the attention from him right now.

It’s not pining he can’t help himself but notice the freckles dotting Eddie’s cheeks and the slope of his nose, the inviting lips currently pulled into an easy smile or how biteable his neck looks today because Eddie gathered up his hair into a high bun atop his head, a side effect of the hot blazing weather outside. A few loose strands frame his face and Steve feels his fingers twitch at the strong urge to stretch his hand out and tuck them behind Eddie’s ears.

And it sure as shit isn’t pining that he wants nothing more than to bury his hands into the thick strands while kissing him senseless until they’re nearly passing out from the lack of air.

A sigh escapes his lips as Eddie throws his head back and laughs with his eyes closed at something Robin said, exposing the long line of his pale neck in the process. Steve follows the movement with his eyes, swallowing hard at the display in front of him.

He notices too late that they stopped talking altogether, both sets of eyes fixed on him.

Shit, he must've been louder than thought.

While Robin grins smugly at him, wiggling her eyebrows suggestively, Eddie furrows his brows in confusion.

„You okay there, Stevie?“ he asks concerned, cocking his head to the side. „You look a bit hot under the collar there.“

While it’s normally Steve’s job to act like a mother hen at the slightest sign of distress from the people important to him, Eddie seemed to have slipped on that glove like a second skin after the horrors of the Upside Down finally ended, developing a rather persistent protective streak when it comes to Steve’s wellbeing.

Steve’s not sure where it’s coming from. Maybe Eddie just feels guilty about something although he can’t imagine what.

Clearing his throat to buy him some time and also because his throat suddenly feels like he swallowed a bucket of sticky goo, Steve stands up straight and tries to not look like he got caught at something.

Because he didn’t pine for Eddie.

Okay, fuck yeah, maybe a bit. But no one needs to know that.

„Uh, sure. Sorry I - it’s just… I didn’t sleep much last night, so I’m pretty tired you know?“ Steve says, forcing out a yawn as he hides behind his hand to emphasize his point.

And it’s technically not a lie. He really did sleep like shit with the nightmares keeping him awake for the most part of the night again.

Eddie’s expression turns from confused to full-blown concern in a matter of seconds.

„This bad again?“

„Seems like it,“ Steve sighs deeply, feeling like a shitty friend for using Eddie’s concern to deflect from the real reason they’re having this conversation, him behaving like a lovesick schoolgirl and staring at Eddie’s neck like a creep. But he isn’t ready to have that conversation with him yet. And certainly not in the middle of Family Video of all places while Robin followed their interaction like a hawk ready to strike down its prey.

„But don’t worry, I’ll manage somehow. I mean, it’s not my first rodeo with the Upside Down,“ he adds shrugging to lessen the blow a bit.

Eddie doesn’t look like he's buying into Steve’s bullshit of it not being be a big deal, but at least he’s not suspecting there is a different reason for his behavior.

„Call me next time, no matter how late it is, okay?“ Eddie says firmly and Steve knows he actually means it.

„Thanks, Eddie.“ Steve musters up a sincere smile which Eddie immediately returns.

„You’re welcome sweetheart.“

Sweetheart.

Another one in the long line of pet names Eddie gave him since becoming friends, each one making Steve’s heart flutter more than the one he used before. And this time is no different.

Unable to tear his eyes away from Eddie, Steve feels his heart stumble, doing a whole ballet routine inside his chest that leaves him wanting and breathless. Eddie stares back at him with an unreadable expression.

To his horror, Steve leans slightly forward, right into Eddie’s personal space.

The bubble around them pops when Robin clears her throat, pulling them both out of whatever this is. For a moment, he completely forgot about her.

„Well, as you can see I’m still here, and as much as I enjoyed your little staring contest, we’re still at work, so..." Robin trails off but Steve gets the message either way.

I’m giving you an out here, dingus.

„Uh, be right back,“ Steve says as he grabs a stack of tapes, vanishing to the back of the store without another word. He didn’t even check if the tapes were already rewound before picking them up, but that’s not the point anyway. If they aren't, he can still dump them somewhere and sort them out later.

Of course they aren’t, he notices with a groan, because people are assholes and Steve hates them, so he dumps the tapes ungracefully on the floor with a loud clatter, not caring about the mess he made. What he cares about is his job though, so Steve makes a mental note to sort it out later. Steve's already on thin ice, he doesn’t want to give Keith another reason to put him further up his shit list.

With nothing else to do, Steve heads to the backroom, hiding out on the comfortable couch until Eddie leaves. He’s sure Robin will understand, because there’s no way in hell he’s getting back there after almost jumping Eddie's bones only seconds ago.

While Steve’s fairly comfortable with his bisexuality now, something Robin took a great part in because she knows exactly what he’s going through, there are still a few things he needs to sort out for himself on how to deal with all this pining and wanting.

So you see his problem here.

So he keeps all the feelings bottled up inside, because he’s afraid of screwing this up and destroying their friendship in the process.

And also because he’s a fucking lovestruck idiot who can’t tell left from right as soon as he's hit by the power of Eddie’s impossible large doe eyes.

He doesn't know how much time passed when there’s a knock at the door and Robin carefully peeks inside. „The air’s clear,“ she says gently. Steve only blinks groggily at her (did he doze off?) but still gets up to follow her outside.

„Thanks,“ Steve says after a while of working alongside her in comfortable silence. Robin may not always grasp the social cues on when to keep quiet, but most of the time she knows when he needs time and space to think.„You know, for keeping me from making an idiot out of myself.“

Robin puts down the box of sweets she brought in from the storage room and turns around to face him. „I wouldn’t say idiot because you know my opinion on this-.“

Steve wants to protest but she holds up her hand. „Shush, you know I’m right about this. What I was trying to say is that even though I’m sure Eddie would have been totally on board with this - I said shush, Jesus Christ Steve - this wasn’t the time nor the place for this. I mean, imagine telling people you had your first kiss in the middle of Family Video,“ she snorts like it’s the funniest shit on earth, shaking her head in amusement about her own joke.

„I can’t change your mind about this, huh?“ Steve asks rolling his eyes at which Robin only shakes her head.

„Nope, never. And maybe one day you'll see it too. Hopefully soon, because all that pining is making me all jittery and nervous and sure is gonna drive me crazy if you don’t pull your head out of your asses-.“

Steve looks at her fondly while she continues to ramble needing to bite his lip in order to keep himself from laughing out loud, because Robin started to flail her arms around like one of the blow up thingies they have in front of every car dealership.

It’s a lost cause though, because she looks absolutely ridiculous, and soon, Steve finds himself howling with laughter, the worries of the last few hours melting away like ice in the sun.

[sometimes-i-write-4-you]

My specialty - Criminal Minds x reader (hinting to Spencer Reid x Reader)

tag list: @louderfortheback

The coffee store was fuller than usual, as if everyone decided that today they are in the mood for good coffee instead of the usual shitty one they have at their offices. Spencer Reid stood in line, looking around him and scanning the people around him, specifically the man and their arms. Last night, they got a video sent by an Unsub in which you can see a small part of his tattoo for a second. He messed up, he didn't notice his sleeve rolled up when the girl he was holding fought back. He might be digressing, since he was not as careless in the other videos he sent. Spencer suspected the UnSub might have a tattoo there, since in every video so far he fixed the sleeves before his arms were visible to the camera.

"Oh my god, I love your tattoo!" Spencer hears a female voice saying. He immediately looks for the girl who said it, and luckily it's the one right in front of him and he has a clean line to see the tattoo she's talking about. It's higher up on the arm than the one the Unsub has, and it seemed to be a differentstyle, more cartoony. "Thanks" the man says, but the woman continues talking. "It was done by Emily Grace, right? Must be one of her older works, i'd say, 2.5-3 years ago? she only does color now" She says. In her head she continues to explain the tattoo has just enough color to show the beginning of her style change. Emily has done color tattoos exclusively for two years, but started adding small color elements to her works about 3.5 years ago. This one was very colorful, but not enough to be newer, so that means… "yup, I got it done about 3 years ago, 2 years and 10 months to be exact" the man confirms this womans guess. spencer heard the conversation, and an idea snuck up in his head. "Excuse me, Ma'am-" he starts, but she cuts him off. "Ma'am? How old do I look to you, sir?" She says, highlighting the use of the word sir as If it's payback. "I-" Spencer says, confused. She does look about his age, maybe a bit younger. "I'm sorry if I offended you, but I have a question" he gathers a sentence. "Ask away" she smiles. "If you see a part of a tattoo, you think you can recognize the artist, like you just did?" He asks. "Uh, if I know the artist well enough, probably. I've been working in tattoo parlors for a while now, as a secretary, so i know a lot of artists, I spent hours with their flash books by my side and went through them dozens of times" she replies, and Spencer smiles a satisfied smile. He looks her up and down real quick, spotting a name tag on her shirt, "well, (Y/N), how do you feel about helping the FBI?" Spencer says.

she squints her eyes at him. He pulls out his badge, "I am Doctor Reid, I am with the BAU, Behavioral assessment unit, and we really can't continue this conversation farther in here, this is, uh, sensitive information" Spencer says. "Well, Spencer, let me just get my coffee first, okay? Gotta be awake in order to catch the bad guys" (Y/N) says, and smirks at his confused look. "What, think you're the only one who can read names?" She says, and turns her head back to the line, as it is finally her turn.

Spencer and (Y/N) left the coffee shop, each one with his favorite coffee in hand. "I need to be at the parlor in like, 2 hours, I left early to study a bit, but it can wait" (Y/N) says. "Good" Spencer said, "I'll just call my, uh, boss, to clear you and all that technical things". "Do you even have the authority to just… decide I'm a consultant on the investigation now?" (Y/N) asks, walking by her new acquaintance. "They'll listen to me" Spencer said, as the beeping on the other line is replaced by a voice of a man. "Hotch, remember the Tattoo dead end, Garcia didn't manage to find a match?" Spencer says. 

"Yes, Spencer, I remember, it was very disappointing, but why are you bringing this up? We have to look at other angles, this girls life are at risk" Hotch says, but spencer stays calm. "I found this girl, at the coffee shop, she recognized the artist and approximate the time the tattoo was done on this guy who was in line with us, she worked a few tattoo parlors all around, she might be able to at least find the artist, that can help us, right?" Spencer says, and (Y/N) tries to hear the man she assumed is Hotch replying. "I mean, we considered it a dead end, but if you think she can do it, I trust you" Hotch says. "Good, I'm bringing her with me. We'll be there in, I belive, 18 minutes. She's a slow walker" Spencer said. "I am not a slow Walker" (Y/N) corrects him,wanting to give in to the urge to give him a light punch on his shoulder but thinking it might be inappropriate considering the fact they just met, and he is sort-of her boss for the next 2 hours. "just nearly had any coffee" she finishes her sentence. "So, Dr. Reid  am I in?" (Y/N) asks. "You are in" The brown-haired man confirms. (Y/N) chugges the warm brown liquid as if it was beer. She shakes her head, and starts walking, fast. "You were supposed to take a right there" Spencer calls after her, catching up. "Yeah, you really should be the one on the lead" she smiles awkwardly. 

"You made it in less than 18 minutes" a tall, black haired man with the most serious face ever seen says, welcoming Dr. Reid and (Y/N) to the BAU's headquarters. "Yeah, apparently she just needed fuel to walk faster" Spencer said, defending his mistake. "I'm assuming you are Hotch?" She says, and he nods. "Agent Hotch, yes" he says, handing her a string with a tag on it. "This is your clearance, without it security will throw you out if you are not with any of the team" Hotch says, and starts walking. The newly met pair follows him to what appears to be a conference room, and there on the table there is a close up, enhanced photo of the edge of a sleeve, a tattoo peeking from it. (Y/N) sits down in front of it. "Well, this is Alex's work, for sure.This is old-trad. the shading and… this part, right here-" she circles a section with her finger, "-appears to be a tail, a reptile, for sure. He had a phase as a kid, loves tattooing reptiles" (Y/N) says. "Spen- I mean, uh, Doctor Reid, when you guys spoke on the phone, you said Garcua couldn't find a match?" She asks. "Yeah, she's our, uh, tech girl, she ran it through programs trying to compare the visible part to photos of tattoos online-" Spencer said, but (Y/N) cuts him off. Hotch looked at the two interacting, it was weird that someone was thinking as fast as Spencer.

"Alex hates the whole… internet thing, he's an older guy, he had no social media, and all of his records are kept in a binder. Flashes, photos of the tattoos and the client's information" she says, "and I have access to this binder". "Well, what are we waiting for? Get that binder here, now. I'll call JJ to help you two find the tattoo in that binder" Hotch says, and leaves the room to get JJ. (Y/N) nods, and takes out her phone. "Hey, dad, I need your tattoo binder" she says, "like, right now. Can you get it to me? I'll send you an address".

30 minutes later JJ, Spencer and (Y/N) are sitting in the conference room, this time the original shot from the video is on a screen.

"There should be a section of arm tattoos" (Y/N) says, flipping through the binder with slightly shaking hands. If this guy got tattoos by her dad, chances are she met him. Her dad's parlor was the first one she worked at, until he stopped tattooing. She finally found the section. "This binder is as organized as it gets, each section is divided to even more sections, so…" she continues, finally resting her hands on the sides of the table. "Reptile section" Spencer says, looking over her shoulder. She take the first paper out of the nylon it's in and put it against the screen. The tattoos don't line up. She put it back."there are leafs here, I think" JJ says, pointing at the edge of the sleeve. (Y/N) squints her eyes and notice the edges of a green triangle. She flips through the binder, searching for green. The reptile itself was red and black, traditional old-trad style. (Y/N) takes out a few options, Spencer and JJ looking through them and lining the ones with the most similarities with the tattoo of the UnSub, as she heard the team refer to the man in the video. "This looks close enough, isn't it?" JJ says, lining a black and red snake with a few leafs against the screen. "Yeah, it does" Spencer confirms, and takes the paper from JJ hands. "The name on the bottom is Henry Greenway" he puts down the paper on the desk in what will become the pile of possible Unsubs. Every other picture so far didn't seem to fit, and so it was returned to the binder to it's exact spot in the binder. Spencer called Garcia. "Hey, Garcia, I need you to check someone for me, uh, Henry Greenway. Search for, uh, time in the military, a family lost at a young age, minor felonies, possibly…" Spencer talked, and Garcia started looking. Meanwhile, they kept comparing tattoos to find one that matches well. 

“Dr. REid, you said this guy, the Unsub as you refer to him, lost family at a young age?” (Y\N) said, flipping through the pages. Spencer nodded, “uh; yeah; why?” he asked, wondering what goes on in (Y\N)’s head. “I know this guys, well, a lot of them. There’s this one guy my dad tattooed often, Gabriel something… he got a tattoo for the memory of his dad and sister who died on a family trip, they drowned, i think…” she said, as her face changed into a shocked yet proud look. “Try this one, the name, Gabriel Walker… it’s him, i think” she handed Spencer a paper.

"This one lines up pretty much perfectly, don't you think?" Spencer said, holding the picture of a tattoo against the screen. "I think we might got our Unsub, great work here, (Y\N)” JJ said, punching the (H\C) haired women lightly on her shoulder. A phone rang as Spencer grabbed his phone to call Garcia and ask her to search Gabriel instead. "This Henry guy, he is not our Unsub. All the family is alive, has a steady job he is adored in… he did do some time in the military, but no felonies, no nothing" Garcia said,, and so Spencer asks for information on Gabriel Walker. A few minutes pass, and Garcia calls back. "Spencer, this might be our guy… his dad and sister died when he was 10, they drowned on a family vacation to a lake up north, the site closed down after being determined unsafe. Some minor felonies until he joined the army, then no record until six months ago, a bar fight. Guy didn't press charges because he felt bad for the 'poor, drunk guy', and-"Garcia said, her word flow stopping. "Spencer, the date the bar fight happened, it was the anniversary of the day his dad and sister drowned" Garcia said. "He must be our guy then" Spencer declares and hangs up.

“Guess my work here is done” (Y\N) says as she packs up her things. JJ has left the room to get everyone, and Spencer and the impressive women were left alone. “You did great, really. I thought it’s impressive that I remember everything I've ever read but this is something else…” Spencer said. An awkward laugh left (Y\N) mouth and she was almost sad to leave. “Thank you” she said, “I mean, tattoos are my speciality”.

 “Hey, what is it that you study? How about i’ll help you out to say thank you?” Spencer asked. “It’s, uh, well, i didn’t want to say earlier, i’m getting a B.A. in criminology” she answered. “Well than i am more than qualified to help you” Spencer laughed and handed her his business card. She put it in her pocket. “Het, Spencer, Quit the flirting and get to catching” Derek called as he passed by the conference room. “Well, duty calls, but we’ll have a study session some other time” Spencer smiled at her, and left the room with her right behind him. Gideon took her aside, catching up as she’s been to his lectures, and Spencer caught up to Derek.  “I was not flirting” Spencer clarified, “I think” he added, mumbling to himself as Derek laughed.

[dari-ede]

In the Middle of the Night: Chapter 1

Chapter 1: “Cada noche el silencio es un mar”

Chapters: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5 - 6 - 7 - 8 - 9 - 10 - 11 - 12 - 13 - 14 - 15 - 16 - 17 - 18 - 19 - 20 - 21 - 22 - 23 - 24 - 25 - 26 - 27 - 28 - 29 - 30

MASTERLIST

Summary: As Bangtan prepares for a new chapter in their lives, they head to their private property in the forest for a songwriting workshop. As a songwriter and producer they have worked with for years, I’m asked to tag along. I was ready for the heavy workload and small amount of sleep during the workshop week. However, I wasn’t ready for the storm that came that changed my friendship with Namjoon forever.

Genre: Friends to Lovers, Fluff and Smut

Pairing: Idol!Namjoon x Female Reader

Rating: M (mention of sexual assault, explicit language, future explicit sexual scenes)

Status: COMPLETE

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

-Late Summer 2019-

Malibu, California, USA

I felt like a fat lady was pressed against my chest, keeping me from properly breathing. My palms started to feel clammy. The air surrounding me was having difficulty entering my airwaves.

It had been a while since the last time I had this kind of episode. But after the shitty year I’ve been through, it made sense my body had had enough. Even if I wasn’t fully in love with my ex, hearing his last words to me and watching him leave my house with his stuff had broken something in me.

I was broken. I was in shambles. And I was alone. ....I didn’t want to feel alone.

I reached for the phone in my pocket. I was so glued to my spot that if the phone had been in any location in my house, I wouldn’t have been able to reach it. My legs would not have had the strength to take me there.

I sent a quick and short message to the person I always could lean on my aunt Jia.

Even though my emotions were out of whack, my brain still functioned enough to remind me that my Tia Jia had a busy day today. And because of this, I made the message I wrote her sound like I wanted to have a casual conversation with her. Knowing she was busy with other stuff made me feel guilty. I hated to feel like a bother—thank you, childhood trauma.

As I waited for her response, I tried to remember the methods she would use to calm me.

I took a breath, held it for a few seconds, and let it out slowly. I repeated the process a few more times.

After what seemed like an eternity, I received a response from my Tia Jia, telling me she would call me once she got home. That would be hours from now.

Keeping the phone clutched in my hand, I took another breath and tried to settle down. I had managed to get myself to the living room and to the couch. I was able to regain some calmness, but I desperately wanted to talk to my tia.

I didn’t know how long I had been sitting down, but eventually, my phone rang. I was certain it was my tia. Without looking at the caller ID, I picked up, “Hey.” My voice sounded weak.

But the voice on the other end was much deeper than my Tia Jia’s. “Hey, I just finished listening to the track. Sounds great.”

“Who’s this?” I asked, confused. I looked down at the phone, then I noticed the Korean app logo on top of the call.

“Namjoon—RM,” the voice responded.

It clicked. I was cowriting a song for some friends of mine who were in a Korean group, BTS. RM was one of the members and one of the other cowriters. I sent him an email earlier today on the latest version of the track. He was simply calling me regarding it.

“Sorry,” I said.

“It’s ok,” he responded but didn’t say anything else. It was as if he was waiting, listening intently.

I wanted to hang up—I felt the need to lie about being busy and that I could call him later. But I didn’t have it in me to do so. Somehow, a part of me wanted to stay on the phone with RM. Over the years, we mainly had been colleagues. When I first met him, I developed a crush on him. However, I quickly learned how serious and private he was. Unlike most of his team members, who were more open and playful, RM was more reserved and kept a distance from people. I had always been quite the social butterfly and befriended people easily. I learned the hard way that RM took a while to break through. Today, after many years, I could confidently say we were friends. And I knew that’s what I needed right now: a friend. Someone to ground me.

After several long moments of silence, RM spoke. “Maya? Everything ok?” he asks, his voice full of concern.

I wanted to spill my guts, but once again, feeling like I didn’t want to be a burden, I lied. “I’m ok,” I said with a strained voice. But saying this lie out loud was bringing forth the emotions I had been avoiding lately. My breathing became uneven again. I was having difficulty getting the air through my lungs and I was certain RM heard it.

“Maya, slow breaths,” I heard RM say on the other end of the call.

I listened to his voice, feeling like it could be used as an anchor. I followed his instructions.

“Ok, touch each of your fingers as you count them slowly,” he instructed.

I pressed my thumb and pinky together. “One.” I moved my thumb and ring finger together. “Two.” I counted my remaining fingers at the same pace and felt myself feeling a little lighter.

“Good.” RM’s deep voice sounded clearer and I was positive it was due to regaining clarity. “How you feeling?”

“Better.” The emotions were still lingering, but they weren’t too uncontrollable.

“What happened?” Technically, it was a question but the tone in his voice made it sound more like a demand.

And I did. With all the buildup of the last months, having RM as an ear allowed me to lift some of the burden I felt off my shoulders. I spilled everything out. I admitted to my contract ending, my fear of an unclear future, the countless arguments I'd been having with my mother, my breakup with Jerry (I didn’t tell RM the reason we broke up), and the shittiness I felt for not being more upset over my breakup with Jerry—we had been together for years. Why was I not more upset??

RM let me let it all out for a good hour, giving out simple “yeahs” here and there, but mostly listening intently. And it felt good. I was never one to vent but knew I needed to. I was grateful RM allowed me to do this with him.

When it seemed as if I was done, he didn’t give advice but seemed to validate my feelings. “It’s only natural you’re going to feel stressed. All of that going through your head is bound to make your body react the way it did. I’m sure it was a panic attack you had?” It seemed more of a question than a statement.

“Yeah. I’ve had them a few times before. Usually, my aunt Jia is the one who calms things down a bit,” I said.

“Is she your Korean aunt? The one who taught you the language?” he asked.

“Yeah.”

“How often do you get panic attacks?”

I thought about it for a moment. “Not very often. Just when things are too stressful, I think.”

“You think? You’ve never looked into it? To know what the cause is?”

“No, I don’t like medication. And I hate going to a doctor.” I didn’t want prescribed medication. There was too much of a history there.

“Well, you might not have to take medication. Perhaps a therapist can help figure out the root of the problem. They could assist in figuring out methods you could use to balance things to prevent the attacks from even happening—notice the signs before it gets too out of control.” He wasn’t the first to suggest therapy.

I wasn’t sure what it was about this time hearing I should see a therapist. Maybe it was because it was right after an episode had occurred or maybe because, in the past year, RM was the third person to suggest professional help. I knew about RM’s mental health struggles and knew he had sought assistance as well.

“Maybe I should see someone,” I said, surprising myself.

“You should,” he said gently.

~~~~~

Three weeks and two therapists later, I found myself sitting in the waiting room of my third therapist, feeling a combination of nerves and slight pessimism. The previous therapists I had met with didn’t seem to fit well—I had felt disappointed both times.

As much as I wanted to give up on finding the right person to help me, I tried to keep optimistic about getting the help I knew I needed.

Being a good support system, RM checked on me often. It felt as if we spoke every day, whether it was through messages or on the phone. He wanted to ensure I kept looking for the right person to assist me.

I was currently messaging RM as I sat in the lobby of my third therapist. He had sent me a paragraph of words of encouragement when the lady at the desk called my name. “Dr. Rob is ready for you, miss,” she stated.

I made my way over to the door, sending a quick response to RM to tell him I was about to meet my third (and hopefully last) therapist.

“hwaiting!” he responded.

I took a breath and reached to open the door.

But someone beat me to it. The door swung open and standing on the other side of the door, was a tall redhead. An easy smile was on his face as he said, “Welcome Maya."

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

AN: Thank you to whoever is reading this. I appreciate you giving this story a shot. I have been working on it for close to a year, not wanting to start posting until I had the majority of the story finished. I want to release a chapter on a weekly basis and I know myself well enough to know I get writer's block every once in a while; I don't want it to get in the way of a regular posting. 🥰 Also, I posted this as "reader" to bring in more audience. I'm doing my best not to be too specific in Maya's look. I gave her a name because it works better for me as a writer. I find "Y/N" too much of a distraction. I always end up calling the reader "Yoon" or "Yuna" in my head to make it easier. There WILL be smut, but it will be many chapters from now.

Chapters: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5 - 6 - 7 - 8 - 9 - 10 - 11 - 12 - 13 - 14 - 15 - 16 - 17 - 18 - 19 - 20 - 21 - 22 - 23 - 24 - 25 - 26 - 27 - 28 - 29 - 30

MASTERLIST

[diary-of-my-devil]

Sometime In October 2015

I don’t recall this date, but I know it was early in the relationship. He had to use his mom’s phone to communicate with me for the first couple months of our relationship. I later found out it was because he went through phones often. In a fit of rage he would throw them and break them beyond repair. Even when he had a phone, it always had a crack or two.

It was our first long phone call, I believe. One that lasted for a few hours. I remember telling him multiple times that I was trying to maintain a proper sleep schedule. Insomnia had been a large part of my life for as long as I could remember, and despite knowing I’d probably be up much longer than intended, I still tried to be in bed with the lights out at a decent time. It was a school night.

He had told me not to worry about it. That I would get over having to stay up late to accommodate when he wanted to talk. I brushed it off because it wasn’t his phone, after all, and he didn’t have it as much as I had my phone. 

We discussed many things, but this one particular conversation was, in retrospect, the one that showed me a lot of bright red flags that were desperately trying to make themselves known. Firstly was the fact that I wasn’t able to go to bed when I wanted, because he wanted me to be on the phone.

Second, my hair. God, throughout our entire relationship he was obsessive about my hair. I had made it known to him that as soon as my aunt was married and the wedding was over, I was getting my hair cut. Waist length hair didn’t match what I felt like on the inside. He wasn’t happy with that.

“It’s so beautiful.” He had said despite the fact he had never seen it in its full glory. The only time we had ever seen each other involved the vast majority of my hair being hidden for a reason. He had only seen my overgrown bangs and the auburn shade my hair had turned after taking Color Oops to black box dye. 

I was a doormat, yes, but I stayed stern in cutting my hair. It was negatively affecting me. I needed it cut. Countless times I had stood in front of my bathroom mirror crying on the verge of taking a shitty pair of scissors to my hair. I was going to do this. I was going to cut my hair. And then I would dye it, because I’m in high school now and my dad finally agreed to it. 

Third, drugs. Weed, specifically. Nowadays, I have absolutely no problem with weed. I take half of a gummy about once a week to help ease the tension that makes my various aches and pains worse and I had smoked a bit since I had started college.

Younger me was not as receptive, though. All drugs are bad, thanks to what my law enforcement dad and my years in public school had taught me. He was odd about approaching this subject. His first time trying to skirt around a subject by not saying his plan, instead implying it to me.

“Your dad is going to have to get over the weed thing.” He had said to me. I asked why, genuinely confused. His answer was because he liked it, and since he liked it, I would have to like it too. This was the first time I felt something akin to peer pressure like this. Yes, we had only been dating for a short time, but he was my boyfriend. He knew more than I did. 

I managed to skirt around the conversation as well. I changed the subject but after the call was over and it was past the bedtime I had set for myself, I thought about it. I didn’t do drugs, never had and didn’t have the intention to. Jesus christ by that point my dad had been threatening me with drug tests for the past couple years.

I didn’t tell my friends. For your information, that will be a common theme. Secrecy on my end. I didn’t tell my friends a lot of things. It was not a conscious decision, but of course hindsight is 20/20 and I think I knew that these conversations and behaviors were wrong and I felt the need to protect him. 

This was the true start of me learning that I was not the one in control here.

[shedidntevenswear]

My take on today's topic (long ask, beware) is this: choosing to make any sort of art is inherently a political statement. Living life is political. With art, you've just maybe decided to put the politics between the lines, depending on the artist, unlike politicians, who conversely, don't put art into their work at all. I care about the stances of the artists I like to support because I'm also making a political statement with my support. It's why I support Halsey, Green Day, Kendrick Lamar, Hozier, Fall Out Boy, Kesha, etc etc etc. I never asked for their political opinions, they expressed them on their own, through their work/statements/both. I mean you can argue they're less famous than Taylor, but then I can just compare Taylor with someone who was also globally adored and political at the same time - Princess Diana - and defeat that point.

Was Shakespeare, for example, trying to comment on the politics of his time when he wrote his plays? Yes he was. Through his characters he managed to point out what was going on in society and why it was bad/good. Shakespeare was my go-to example because I've seen so many videos and quizzes that go something like "who wrote this line: Taylor or William?"

Let's go with Tim McGraw, her first popular single and track 1 on album 1, talking about her head on someone's chest in the middle of the night. That idea in itself is political, especially if you look at it through a lens where that kind of behavior isn't allowed with teenagers, or even young adults, in parts of the Middle East for instance. Thanking God is also political, in that regard, and many others. Or let's go with Picture to Burn, the song right after that, the one with a censored lyrics. Why is it censored? Politics. The term Redneck is also political, even more so in today's climate (I think - I'm not from the US so correct me if I'm wrong on that).

The issue some fans have is that Taylor decided to take a step and become more overtly political, and then ran right back to her "comfort zone" while undoing the work she did. And people are right to be upset because it's akin to making false promises to consumers. If you order a cute shirt online, and you receive a spatula, you'll be upset too. You saw the shirt, you thought it was cute, you liked it enough to put money into it. And all you got was a spatula? What happened to the product you were promised?

And sure, we can say something like "Taylor isn't an object, she can make different decisions and change her mind" but then the same thing goes for the fans. It's why I think fans are right to complain about the shitty merch they've been getting lately, for example - if they get it at all. It's not what they signed up for. I've mentioned her deliberate silence on political things in asks on various tumblrs in passing in the last two years and how it was going to end up fracturing the fanbase and turning more people that are part of it against her. Those numbers are growing and nothing has changed. She seems to be deep into some sort of performance art thing, that I'm hoping has a satisfying conclusion, because at this point I'm just sitting around with my snacks waiting for the next bit of "are you (not) entertained?". Can't say I'm not. But I'm also not supporting any bit of it with my money. And I never really have. Just my time and attention when I'm procrastinating. I know her silence is deliberate. She knows intricate details about her fanbase because she's mentioned things on stage. She knows people are upset. About Matty. About the merch. About her silence on everything from Roe v Wade to fans getting doxxed. About Travis. About Brittany. About the vapes in backgrounds. I'm sure there's more even I, an everyday consumer, hasn't seen, because I don't have the social listening tools her team has access to. Even the statements that we do get are deliberate. Because Taylor is such a public figure, and is at the forefront of that publicity, it's fascinating for me to follow. In an era where "consumers value authenticity above all" she seems to be losing it, and she worked her whole life to develop a strong authentic brand. I can't look away, I'm fascinated by all of it. I can't wait to see what happens next between her and her fanbase. But criticizing her is definitely valid, and anyone who goes with the "stop pitting people against each other", "you just hate her in particular" and "she can't speak about this or that and risk her safety" as arguments as those are the most common ones I come across are being reductive. Because at the end of the day, people should know if the money they're giving her is going to go directly into stripping their rights away, for instance. Are they funding their own "demise"? Is that actually happening? That's the thing, we have no idea. She doesn't have to express support for every single issue, that's true. But the fans also don't have to support her either, if what's important to them isn't there.

Okay I think that covered most of my thoughts on the matter, sorry for clogging up your ask box, this aspect of Taylor is what hooked me to her since day one.

sharing as something to chew on for anyone following this general convo, but not as an endorsement of everything said here fyi! important submission pointing out that everything is political especially when done in a public sphere so think thats an interesting point to digest the rest of the convo with.

[looserfromhell-blog]

"Smells delicious, doesn't it?"

Professor Remus Lupin Oneshot

Summary:

You and some friends run into your teachers at the Christmas market which leads to a nice evening and a chat with Professor Lupin.

Finally. The Christmas market finally opened so me and my friends took the first opportunity to get off the school grounds and head for diagon alley. And to be honest we really were in keed of the Christmas spirit. Our last class has been potions with Snape and even though everyone was in high spirits at the start of the period he managed to make my classmates and I fear the next week. With not only a seven pages long essay about some shitty potions but also a test on said topic we practically fled from the dungeons. But now with only sweets and mulled wine in our minds the atmosphere changed again. When we arrived at the market it was already getting darker, the cold telling us its time to get something warm into our hands. While passing through the streets we saw some familiar faces of Hogwarts students and made our way towards them. This period of the year was perhaps one of the few where all four Hogwarts houses spend time together without thinking about the competitions and stereotypes. Don't ask me how that actually works but its like a common agreement that when Christmas is around the corner the people just start acting nicer towards each other. With that being said everyone got something to drink and we clinked glasses to celebrate the winter. We laughed and made jokes when someone mentioned that they've seen no other than Professor Lupin and Professor Flitwick heading towards the Leaky Cauldron. By now we all had at least our second drink of the evening and the idea of getting somewhere warm, like the Leaky Cauldron, sounded as good as heaven. Because of how late it was getting, it was at least 07:30pm, some people of our group retreated towards Hogwarts. With three of my friends and I fired up by the idea of our teachers being at the pub we approached it with smiles on our faces.

The way wasn't that long so we were soon welcomed by the warmth and the smell of cinnamon and alcohol. As soon as we entered i heard one of my friends say "Oh Jesus, the teachers are ACTUALLY here." I looked into the direction the group moved and yes, at a big table in the corner of the pub sat Prof. Lupin, Flitwick, Hooch and Mcgonagall. Now nervousness started to rise in me. Would they actually want us to sit with them? Even our teachers deserved some time off from work and some older students disturbing their night out probably weren't on their to do list. But before i could tell the others about my concerns the first person of my group had already reached the teachers table. Due to the loud voices around me i couldn't quite understand the whole conversation but it was something about there being no other free table in the pub (which could have actually been true). There where still two free places at the teachers table and we could easily get two other chairs from the tables next to us. Mcgonagall didn't seem really pleased and in all honesty i totally understood her concerns but the other three professors assured us that we could stay. At the end of the day we were already old enough to drink and since it was a Friday evening we could stay out as long as we wanted to. Not fancying the idea of having to search for a chair I jumped at the empty one next to Professor Lupin. That might have looked a bit awkward if another friend of mine wouldn't have done the same thing and was now placed next to Madam Hooch. While getting rid of my coat i heard a chuckle coming from my left side. I turned my head and looked at a smiling Prof Lupin. It was at that moment I realised that of course our teachers were drinking alcohol as well and by the look on Prof Flitwicks face, who sat next to Lupin, they had been here for a bit longer then I had originally thought. Now everyone from my little group started conversations and together we all ordered some Fire Whiskey to lighten the mood. Since we didn't get to eat at the Christmas market I thought about ordering a little snack. With the chattering around me a assumed that no one was actually paying attention to me going through the menu. That was until i felt a shifting on my left side. Professor Lupin had come closer to look at the menu as well. "Ah, thinking about ordering some food, are we?" He asked, without taking his eyes of the paper in my hands. "Since the mulled wine was everything i had until now i figured it would be a good idea to get something to eat between now and the next round of fire whiskeys. But I am actually not quite sure what to get." I explained. A second later it was Lupin holding the card and scanning the contents. For the first time I realised how close we were sitting. Not only that but I could smell the scent of chocolate, books and mulled whine coming from him. Blushing I looked at the other end of the table where one of my friends was eyeing me and smirked when she saw me looking in her direction. She motioned towards Lupin with her head an wiggled her eyebrows at me. If I hadn't been blushing before then hell I was doing it now. To my misfortune she was the only friend who knew that i had a crush on the Professor next to me. But I mean who didn't? He was kind and always willing to help his students out, there was this air of comfort around him that had mesmerised me at the first day and still does now. Plus he was indeed good looking, the scars on his face adding to the masculinity and having this mysterious touch. A sudden tap on my shoulder took me out of my thoughts. Professor Lupin was looking at me and questioning if I still wanted something small to eat. I could barely nod at him because my brain was an absolute mess. He motioned for a waitress asking if they still had a piece of the special pie he earlier had and ordering said food after the waitress confirmed it. "Believe me you never had a better pie than their special Christmas one!" My teacher  enthusiastically informed me.

Unsure what to answer I said "I have to trust you on that one professor. I am not quite the pie-person.". Lupin put his right hand on his heart like he had been shot and playfully gasped, retreating from my side. With that move he bumped into Prof Flitwick who was in a conversation with Mcgonagall. Both of them eyeing Lupin and I to figure out what had happened. Before I could explain anything the teacher to my left started talking "Oh dear Miss y/n, if that's the truth I'd have to take 5 Points of your house. No one who doesn't like pie shall ever win the house cup!" Disbelief was written on Mcgonagalls and Flitwicks faces. "You don't like pie Miss y/n?" Professor Flitwick asked. "I have to remind you that there are other backed goods that taste delicious." Mcgonagall stated, "Like biscuits!"

One thing led to another and in a matter of seconds the whole table argued about the best pastry. "But I actually like pie... I just don't usually order it..." I whispered more to myself than to anyone particularly. It seems like Lupin had heard me because he lightly patted my shoulder with an apologetic look on his face. Right on time my pie arrived. As I took in the sweet scent of apple mixed with cinnamon and something i couldn't quite describe (probably magic) the Professor leaned over to me and said "Smells delicious, doesn't it?" I eagerly nodded and reached for the fork to finally taste it but it was snatched away under my fingers. That didn't stop me tho. Trying to get my fork back I grabbed Lupins hand "Professor you're playing a dangerous game right now." He looked right into my eyes challengingly while tightening his grip. "Practically it was I who ordered the pie, so you should be grateful to even get to smell it my dear." Smirking like he had already won, we both heard a grumbling sound coming from my stomach. Even though I felt heat rising to my face I looked at him hurt, loosening my grip on his Hand. "And here I thought you were a teacher who cares about his students. Never could I have imagined that you'd let them starve just to get some pie for yourself." I slowly turned away from him, trying not to burst out laughing because of how puzzled he looked. He seemed to be at a loss of words and didn't know if I was still acting or not. Soon enough he carefully pushed the plate in front of me and laid the fork besides it. When I looked at the piece of pie a small part was already missing. "Seriously? You actually took a Bite?" I looked at him in disbelief. Now it was Professor Lupin barely holding in his laughter. While still munching  his left hand found its place at the back of his head "I panicked.", he said. With that both of us started laughing, again shifting the attention of the table towards us. When I finally calmed down I craved my pastry just to find the place where it had previously been empty. Apparently a friend of mine just finished eating it. Lupin gave him a disapproving look. "What? The pie was getting cold!" Again laughter erupted as our teachers ordered a piece for everyone.

An other hour had past and I started to feel tired. It was only 9pm so my friends didn't want to leave the pub yet. The atmosphere was great and they seemed to get along with our teacher quite well. But I just couldn't  get around this sleepy feeling so I said my goodbyes, paid my drinks an was heading for the door when someone held me in place. A bit frustrated I turned around. By now there were plenty drunk people in the Leaky Cauldron and I sincerely didn't want to deal with one of them. To my surprise it was Professor Lupin who held me back. "Are you leaving alone? Shouldn't one of your friends walk back with you?" He asked and for a brief moment concern washed over his face. "That's what we originally planned but neither do they want to go back yet, nor do I want to disturb the good time they're having just because I don't want to go alone." He didn't respond so I started to turn for the door again, when he claimed for me to wait a minute. The Professor went to our table again only to come back with his jacket and belongings. I looked at him while he paid but let my gaze go back to my friends at the table. My eyes locking with the ones of my friend who knew about my crush. There was something in her glance, like she wanted to tell me I was the luckiest girl of the school. I sighed. She'll definitely ask me about the walk the next morning.

When Lupin arrived at my side I told him that he doesn't have to go back with me. He just opened the door and insisted that it was his job as my teacher to get me back to hogwarts safely. I'd be lying if I'd say it didn't sting a bit but moved into the cold night air nevertheless. After going the first few meters I realised that I actually felt tipsy. I tried my hardest to walk in a straight line however the more I tried to focus the more I seemed to misplace my feet. In the next second I stumbled over a cable which belonged to a booth that had already closed its front. I felt two hands steadying me from behind before I could actually fall on my face. One hand was gripping my right shoulder while the other one rested at my left upper arm. Professor Lupin chuckled not letting go of me. Like in the pub I smelled his scent and now also felt the warmth coming from him. "I was already impressed how well you could hold your drink. Given that you had at least three fire whiskeys and mulled wine." He let go but immediately stretched his right arm out for me to take it. At this point I just assumed that he also felt the effects of the alcohol. My assumption turned out to be true cause when I intertwined my arm  with his I felt him leaning at me for support just as much as I did. For the third time this evening I felt myself blushing. Going back to hogwarts with my favourite teacher nevertheless with linked arms and under the Influence of alcohol sounded like a wattpad story.

On our way back we started to talk about God and the world. He asked how school was going and ranted about the downsides of being a teacher as well as some first years who tried to prank him last week. The walk was really wholesome and I felt at ease although I knew this would probably be the only time I'd get this close with him. Right before we entered Hogwarts I turned around to him and said with an awkward chuckle "Thank you for walking with me. To be honest I was kind of scared to go back alone so it felt like a miracle send from heaven when you decided to take along." He smiled kindly and put a hand on my head ruffling through my hair a little. A faint blush was covering his cheeks and nose, tho I didn't know if it was from the situation or the coldness.

"And I'd always do it again my dear."