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eddiemunsons80sbaby · 6 months

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Everybody Hurts

Chapter 17

Pairing: EddieMunsonxReader

Summary: You needed to escape, escape from your life, your messy divorce, and all the pitying looks. Looks you couldn't ignore when everyone in town had known you and Cam, had known your shame and failure. So, you took the first job you could get, teaching third grade in a town called Hawkins. Little did you know, you were walking right into another messy situation, a messy situation with big brown eyes and long dark waves. But he's resistant, at times unbearable and you start getting curious about the town's past, his past, especially when things don't start adding up.

18+ Only for eventual smut

Next chapter: 12/20

Word Count: 7K

Masterlist

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Nerves fluttered in your stomach as Eddie opened up the passenger door, offering you his hand. You took it, hopping down off the seat, your feet hitting the asphalt of the road with a thud. Your eyes peered up at Steve’s house with trepidation, the very idea of facing all of them after your epic and entirely embarrassing outburst at The Hideout making you want to lose the grilled cheese that Eddie had cooked for you as a late lunch.

It was a nice house. It looked like a basic American Craftsman with some touches of Spanish colonial. The colors were all earth tones, rusty orange siding with forest green details in the shutters, railings, and columns. You spotted a small balcony on the side that would be perfect for late night stargazing or watching the sun rise high into the sky with your morning coffee warming your hands. There was no garden but the front walk was lined with small trees, inviting and warm.

“Hey,” Eddie said, squeezing your hand in an attempt to assure you as if he knew the panic that was raging through your body. “It’s gonna be fine. Seriously. These guys aren’t going to care about any of that. And if anybody should be ashamed, it should be me. You just yelled. I’m the one who acted like an asshole. If they’re still happy to see me, they’re going to be overjoyed to see you. Nancy and Robin have been pestering me daily because you won’t answer their calls. Trust me. They’re going to be over the damn moon to see you.”

You hoped he was right. Not only had you acted like a lunatic in front of them, then you'd completely ghosted all of them. You had only done it as an act of self-preservation, trying to keep yourself from looking the part of the fool that you felt so deeply. It had nothing to do with any of them. But how would they not feel offended that you'd disappeared on them? You would have definitely taken it personally if the roles were reversed. They’d been so kind to you, welcomed you in, and then you'd just ghosted all of them.

“I guess we’ll see,” you muttered softly.

“Seriously, you should have heard the tongue lashing Nancy gave me. She backed me up against the wall at the bar, her finger jabbing my chest so hard she left bruises. Man, that woman might be tiny but she is scary as hell. Then Robin started in on me, then Gareth ripped me a new one, and then I had to listen to Mama Harrington lecture me about being a good man. It was fucking painful, man.”

Your face cracked into a smile, a quiet giggle escaping despite your fear. Leave it to him to make you laugh, to put you at ease, when you were feeling anything but. When Eddie had mentioned heading over to Steve’s, you had tried everything you could think of to talk him out of it, including pulling off your shirt but he would not be deterred. Apparently, everyone was heading over for a cook-out and some drinks. They were all expecting Eddie but no one knew that you were accompanying him. He had a great plan to surprise them all, to remedy his screw-up, and to make everything better for you. He was assuming it would be a good surprise but that remained to be seen.

What if they were all done with you? They barely knew you and you'd managed to dig into secrets that made them uncomfortable, create drama between them all, and then ignored them when they tried to reach out. What reason did you give them to want to keep you around? You'd given them no reason to. It wouldn’t be hard to drop someone you’d only met a few weeks ago. None of them would be feeling any great loss if you were no longer there.

“Is it bad if it brings me pleasure that it was painful for you?” you teased, leaning into his side, your cheek resting against the soft fabric of his shirt, a stark contrast to the muscle of his bicep beneath it.

A chuckle shook Eddie’s chest, his lips ghosting over your forehead, “Nah. I guess I did kind of deserve it.”

“Damn right you did,” you stated, poking him in the ribs, grinning when he arched his body away from you with a shriek. Oh, he was ticklish. That was good information to have and use to your advantage at a later time.

You stepped up onto the porch and Eddie looked down at you, “Ready?”

You nodded even though you felt anything but. You wanted to bolt, race down the sidewalk and away but before you could even process that, Eddie was knocking on the door and it swung wide open, Steve revealed behind it. With one hand on the door and the other on his hip, you watched as his face lit up upon seeing you and then his eyes trailed down to where your and Eddie’s hands were clasped together.

“Holy shit! It’s about damn time!” he exclaimed with a wide grin, his head shaking back and forth slightly. “I thought you two idiots would never figure it out.” Steve turned his head to look over his shoulder. “Munson and Sam finally got their shit together!”

A chorus of cheers, about times, and finallies could be heard from just beyond the door. You flushed as Eddie smiled down at you, an ‘I told you so’ look of arrogance on his face that should annoy you but he just looked so damn cute doing it. You shoved him gently with the hand he didn’t have a hold of, snorting and shaking your head. Of course he wouldn't be able to pass up rubbing this in.

Then Nancy and Robin were there, pulling on your arms, yanking you into the house. They wrapped you in a hug from either side and all of the anxiety you'd been feeling seeped out of your body like water being wrung from a sponge. You squealed, gasping for a breath as both girls squeezed you as tightly as they could.

“I’m happy to see you guys too but I can’t breathe,” you choked out.

They pulled back, laughing, Nancy saying, “Sorry. We were just so worried.”

“Yeah, when you didn’t answer the phone this afternoon, Nancy declared we were showing up on your doorstep tomorrow and we weren’t leaving until you answered,” Robin told you. With a raise of her eyebrows, she hooked her thumb toward the brown curly headed girl. “And trust me, this one can be scary when she doesn’t get her way. She would have broken in if she had to.”

“Then I guess it’s lucky I showed up when I did,” you laughed.

“Damn right,” Nancy huffed, her hand coming to your shoulder and shoving firmly enough to send you stumbling back. Damn, she was freakishly strong for being so small. “You don’t get to disappear on us like that. I don’t care what happened with you and Eddie. That doesn’t change that we’re friends. I’ve lost enough people in my life and I won’t lose anymore.”

You swallowed hard, remembering Nancy telling you about her best friend who vanished only to be found dead later. She had to have known people in the mall fire in a town this small. She definitely knew the boy who was murdered ten years ago as they were together at the trailer park. This girl had suffered immense loss at far too young of an age. Of course she’d panicked when you suddenly vanished and that only made you feel like an even bigger shit.

“I’m sorry,” you told your friend, meaning it with every fiber of your being, your hand coming to Nancy’s bicep, squeezing lightly. “That wasn’t fair to any of you. I was just so damn embarrassed that you all knew that I’d…well, I thought I’d let some guy pull the wool over my eyes again. I assumed Eddie was a womanizer and you all knew and you would think I was an idiot for believing him.”

“Eddie?” snorted Max as she walked up, slinging an arm around your waist in a side hug. “Eddie Munson, the biggest nerd to ever walk the Earth? Dungeon master and geek club leader Eddie? You thought he was a womanizer?” She threw her head back, laughing.

“Well, I mean he is in a band,” you stated in an attempt to defend yourself, narrowing your eyes down at Max who was turning red, her laughter taking over her whole body. “Women love a guy who plays guitar.”

“They also love a guy who plays DnD, is socially awkward as hell, completely lacks any self-awareness, and will talk obnoxiously for hours about things like heavy metal, government control, and Lord of the Rings?” challenged Max, her hand slipping from your side to rest on her hip, eyebrows raising.

“Maybe. I mean, girls are into a lot of different things. Look, he totally has the bad boy thing going for him. He’s got the long hair, the chunky rings, the leather jacket,” you argued, gesturing to where Eddie stood with Dustin, Lucas, Mike, and Will.

Nancy’s lips pressed together in amusement, watching as Eddie wrapped an arm around Mike’s head, placing the lanky guy in a headlock while the boy struggled. He brought his other hand up, rubbing it vigorously over the top of Mike’s black hair until Mike yelled out for mercy. Then he released the kid, his head thrown back with laughter just as Lucas jumped onto Eddie’s back and he roared, reaching behind him.

“Yeah, totally a bad boy,” Nancy mused with a roll of her eyes. “Sorry hon. You didn’t snag yourself a bad boy. You snagged yourself a man-child.”

“Oh, man-child. Are we talking about Eddie or Dustin or, honestly, it could be Mike,” El interjected, red solo cup in her hand, as she and Suzie approached their group.

“Or Lucas,” Max groaned, watching as Eddie spun, her boyfriend on his back, arms locked around his neck, legs locked around his middle until Eddie backed into the wall, crushing the guy between him and the plaster until Lucas cried uncle.

“Dusty-Bun may be immature sometimes but it’s just because he’s so young at heart. And he more than makes up for any immaturity with his incredible intellect and his very romantic nature,” Suzie stated and you noticed how the group just smiled endearingly at her.

“It’s not like mine’s any better. Him and Argyle are out back and you know what that means,” Nancy added with a laugh. “I’m surprised Eddie didn’t make a beeline for them straight away. Those three can usually be found in the sacred circle around the firepit.”

“You think that one’s any better? And for some reason, I have to claim him,” Robin sighed, hooking her thumb in the direction of Steve, standing in the kitchen, pulling out lettuce, tomato, onion, all the fixings for burgers on the grill.

You looked at her, confused, “He’s just getting ready to grill. I mean, looks very adult to me.”

Robin’s chin tilted down, snorting, “Yeah. Okay. Steve is very responsible, maybe too responsible. I got over here earlier and he was stressing out over how Lucas told him he was just going to charge a vacation for him and Max on a credit card and then he’d have time to pay it off. Apparently, they don’t have the money right now but he still wants to go. Lucas’s version is if you always wait to have the money, you’ll never do anything. You should have heard Steve. ‘He just thinks credit cards are free money or something. He doesn’t understand the interest he’ll be paying. He could be paying that trip off for years and wind up paying more than double what it actually coasts. This is why you budget and save for things like that.’ Seriously, the guy needs to join the sacred circle more often because he needs to chill.”

“Wait.” Max’s hand came up, her face suddenly tight. “I’m sorry. Lucas wants to do what? Excuse me.”

The girls watched as Max stormed over to the guys in the living room, grabbing onto Lucas’s ear. The poor guy yelped, wincing, as she dragged him out the front door, clearly in for a mouthful. They all looked at each other and then burst into laughter.

“Oops,” Robin smirked with a shrug. “Guess she didn’t know about the vacation plan.”

“What the hell was that about with Sinclair and Red?” asked Eddie, walking up and tossing his arm casually over your shoulder as if it were the most natural thing in the world, as if it belonged there, and you couldn’t deny how much you enjoyed it. You couldn’t deny how much you wanted this, all of this, to become natural, a part of your everyday life.

“Apparently, Lucas was planning a trip for the two of them but they don’t actually have the money to go right now. So, he was just going to charge it all to a credit card,” Nancy explained. “I guess Max didn’t know and Robin spilled the beans.”

“Damn, Buckley, that’s cold,” Eddie chuckled, thumb running along your arm absently. “How are you going to just rat out my man like that?”

Robin held her hands out beside her, “I didn’t know that she didn’t know. I was just mocking Steve for freaking out about it. Mr. Mom in there couldn’t handle one of his little chicks being so irresponsible with money.”

“To be fair, that is really irresponsible. Credit cards are for emergencies only or using them and paying them off right away to build credit. They’re not just for flying fancies that you can’t afford. It’s a slippery slope into a mountain of debt that you’ll be able to get out from under,” Nancy defended.

“Of course it is,” Robin mocked with a slow nod of her head. “Should have known you’d agree with Steve. It’s a wonder why you two didn’t make it, honestly. You’d think the responsible, follow the rules, parents of the group would have been the perfect match but then our Nancy throws everyone for a loop and goes for the stoner.”

“Speaking of, I’m going to go find Jonathan and Argyle,” Eddie grinned, tongue darting out between his teeth. He pressed a kiss to the top of your head. “I’ll be back.”

“Told you Eddie can’t resist the call of Mary Jane,” Nancy told you with a roll of her eyes.

You laughed, “Hey. I’m going to go see if Steve needs any help with the food.”

“Aww, such a good little dinner guest. You go right ahead. Good luck. I’ve learned not to get in that man’s way when he’s cooking,” Robin stated, eyes wide, taking a drink from her cup. “Come on girls. Let’s go upstairs and check out our game options before the guys choose Dragon Strike or something else similarly nerdy and nauseating.”

You watched Suzie and El trail behind Nancy and Robin up the stairs of Steve’s house before making your way into the kitchen. Steve stood at the counter, chopping up the tomatoes into perfectly thin slices for the burgers. His head lifted, a smile appearing as he caught sight of you.

“Hmm…it would appear that someone finally saw what everyone else did, huh?”

You rolled your eyes, “Oh shut it, Steve.”

“I’m just saying, I was right. You two annoyed each other too much. You were at each other’s throats too much, denying it too much, for it not to be an attraction thing, trying to act like you couldn’t stand each other like we all couldn’t see what was really going on.” He snorted, moving on to the lettuce, running it under the tap in the sink before tearing off large pieces. “We all saw it and when I confronted Eddie about it, he was way too defensive. I saw right through him.”

“You confronted him about me? Why?”

“Because he got all grouchy with me about you. He kept making these snide little comments, asking if we’d hooked up yet, asking what I was waiting for.” He rolled his sleeves up, his eyes moving along with them. “Look, Eddie’s not exactly hard to read. Man wears his emotions on his sleeve. You’d have to be blind not to know when something’s bugging him. It didn’t take a genius like Henderson to figure out he was jealous, thinking I was taking the girl he was interested in. I mean, don’t get me wrong. I thought about asking you out but once I saw how he felt, I backed off. Glad I did too. You two just seem right. I think you’ll be good for him. Man could use some good in his life.”

You knew what Steve was talking about because Eddie had made multiple comments about Steve to you too. It hadn’t made sense at the time but now you knew he was digging for information, trying to see if the two of you were a thing. He’d just assumed that you would be attracted to the pretty boy. And why wouldn’t he? That was the guy you'd married but after Cam, you wanted nothing more than everything that was the complete opposite of him. And Eddie, well, him and Cam could not be more different, in all the best ways possible.

You hopped up on a stool, resting your forearms on top of the speckled brown counter. Steve had a kitchen that had jealousy burning within you. Oak cabinets, stainless steel appliances, a light wood floor. It put your own kitchen to shame. You would need to find a second job if you wanted to update your kitchen. More likely you would have to do it piece by piece as you could afford it. A kitchen like this would cost a pretty penny, far more than you made in six months as a teacher.

“This kitchen is fantastic,” you told him, Steve glancing up from the cutting board where he’d moved on to slicing onions. “Was it like this when you bought it?”

“No,” he laughed, “definitely not. It looked like I’d walked through a time portal and straight into the seventies when I bought it. I remodeled it.”

“Damn, that must have cost quite a bit.”

He shrugged, “I mean, yeah, but I saved quite a bit too because I did most of the work. Eddie and Jonathan helped quite a bit. Labor is always where they really get you. I probably paid a third of what I would have by putting in the work myself. It took a few months between everyone’s work schedules but we got it done.”

“I know what you mean. My kitchen is horribly outdated. It’s barely even workable. I would love to remodel my kitchen but there’s no way I could afford to have someone else do it. And, while I am more than willing to put in the work, I wouldn’t have the foggiest idea what I’m doing with some of it.” You sighed wistfully. “Who knows? Maybe someday, far into the future, I’ll be able to pay for something like that. Until then, I’ll just have to make do with my birch cabinets and avocado green counters. At least the appliances are newer.”

Steve paused, lips pouting in thought, “You wouldn’t have to wait that long. I bet we could do it if we all help. I mean, it could take a while. But between all of us, we could definitely knock out a kitchen renovation.”

“Oh no. That’s way too much, Steve. I appreciate the offer but I can’t possibly ask all of you to donate your time like that,” you insisted, shaking your head.

This group of people were so kind, had been so wonderful to you, and you could never thank them enough for readily accepting you into their group. They’d given you hope for your future. They’d made you feel alive again, made you feel as if you could move on, could have a life beyond Cam and your failed choices. They'd given you a place to belong. They helped you find your strength to take that step forward. And knowing them had brought the possibility of…no, you couldn’t bring herself to say that word, not yet.

You couldn’t bring yourself to hope for something that big, not yet. This thing with Eddie was new. You were excited to see where it led and you hoped it could be the beginning of something, that maybe, just maybe, he could be the one. Maybe you'd chosen wrong but maybe it was because your life was always meant to lead you here, to him. That was such a wonderful thought. There was a spark of excitement and possibility but you had to tread carefully, baby steps, not scare Eddie off.

But it was hard because you had never felt with Cam the way you did with Eddie. It was a mixture of excitement, nervousness, and anticipation all at once. You couldn’t stop thinking about him, longing for the next time his lips found yours, the next time his hands touched you. He was like a drug and you were hopelessly addicted. It both thrilled and terrified you because you'd never experienced anything like this before. You knew you were already in too deep and with that came the possibility of your heart shattering once again. But something about him made you feel he was worth that risk. You were ready to close your eyes and leap off the cliff. You just hoped Eddie was there to catch you at the bottom.

“What are you talking about?” Steve asked, bursting through your thoughts. “That’s ridiculous. Of course we would help you. That’s what friends do and you’re one of us now.”

“Not really. I mean, you’ve only known me for about a month and I know I’m…” What were you doing with Eddie? Were you just hanging out? Were you a couple? The only time you'd brought it up he’d said you didn’t need to label it and maybe you didn’t. He’d told you he wasn’t going anywhere so that had to mean you were together, right? “I’m…hanging out with Eddie.”

“Hanging out?” Steve’s shoulders shook with the laugh that rumbled out of him. “Is that what it’s called now? Huh, I must be getting too old to keep up with the young kid’s lingo these days.”

You grabbed a dish towel from the counter and threw it at him, hitting him in his handsome face. “Shut up. I don’t know what to call us, okay? We haven’t exactly defined anything so for now, hanging out seems the most appropriate definition. Anyway, I definitely don’t know you all well enough to expect you to donate hours of your time to help me with some huge project at my house. I know Nancy and Robin helped with my garden but that was a few hours. This would be months. It’s way too much.”

“Well, it’s too bad you don’t get to make that decision. Trust me, the minute I mention it, they will all be in. That’s what we do. Just provide food and drinks and everyone who can will show up. And with me as your foreman, I’ll make sure that boyfriend…” He leaned over the counter, pointing at you with the dish towel tightly in his fist. “Yes, I said boyfriend because that’s what it is. Let’s stop kidding ourselves. Hanging out is for friends and you two are far past friends. I’ll make sure your boyfriend doesn’t nail his own hand to the wall or something. And I’ll make sure it’s all done right.”

“I don’t know,” you countered, really not wanting these people to think you were just using them or something.

“I do know. So, just let me handle it, okay?”

“Fine. Do you need any help?” you asked, remembering what you'd come into the kitchen for in the first place before you got distracted with his kitchen.

Steve glanced around the kitchen, “You want to mix up the pasta salad?”

“Sure.”

You hopped down from the stool, coming around the counter just as Steve opened a high cabinet. He stretched up onto his tip toes, his hand reaching, causing his shirt to rise up, exposing a strip of the skin along his abdomen. You audibly gasped when your eyes caught sight of the pale scars that covered it, perfectly matching the scars that Eddie had on various parts of his body.

Steve’s eyes shot over at your gasp, following your line of sight down to his stomach. When he realized what you were looking at, he dropped down onto flat feet, pulling his sweatshirt down quickly but the damage had been done. There was no unseeing what you'd just seen, no putting that Pandora back into the damn box. How could he and Eddie have the same exact scars?

“Steve…how did you get those scars?” you asked, stepping into him as he stepped back into the counter, eyes widening with panic when he realized there was nowhere to run or hide from your question.

“What? I…oh…uh…”

His eyes darted around the kitchen like a wild animal desperate to find an escape. You took a step closer, your own eyes narrowing in suspicion, refusing to let him out of this. You were so sick and tired of all the secrets and lies. If you were going to be a part of this group, the way he claimed you were, the way they all claimed you were, shouldn’t you know what the hell had happened? If they really wanted to be your friend, why didn’t they trust you enough to be honest? Every time you thought you could be okay with not knowing, had put it all in the back of your mind, something else reared its head, reminding you, pestering you. You couldn't stand it.

“The scars,” you repeated. “Where did they come from?”

“Eddie told you about the raccoons, right?”

Your eyes slipped closed, a long, aggravated breath escaping from your lips, because you knew it was bullshit. All of it was bullshit. You'd known it was bullshit from the moment Eddie had told you about the raccoons but tried to accept it, but only an idiot would keep accepting these flimsy claims. There was no way raccoons did that to two grown men. How many of them could there possibly have been? Steve and Eddie maybe would have gotten bitten once, twice, but they would have kicked or thrown those little bastards. There was no way Eddie would have the amount of scars he did from some little woodland creatures.

“Can you please stop with all the bullshit?” you pleaded. “I know you’re all lying to me. I just don’t know why. The disappearances, the toxic chemicals, the lab, the mall fire, the murders…none of it makes any sense. Don’t try to tell me raccoons did this to you too because there is no way.”

“Sam…” Steve warned, shaking his head. “Trust me, you don’t want to go there. Just let it go.”

“Why? Why don’t I want to go there? Eddie said he wouldn’t tell me because he wouldn’t put anyone else at risk. What does that even mean? Why would telling me put me at risk? Is the murderer still out there? It’s been a decade. How is that possible and if it is, shouldn’t I know if some psycho is running around Hawkins? Did he come after you two? Is that where your scars are really from?”

Steve’s head dropped, large hands covering his face, the muscles of his arms tense. You knew you were pushing him and maybe you should feel bad about it but you couldn’t manage it. What could possibly be so bad that they couldn’t even talk about it? It happened ten years ago. Some of it happened even longer ago than that. Why were they all still so scared to speak about it? Why did Eddie think it would put you in danger? Why did they feel the need to lie?

“It’s not that simple,” Steve said, his head lifting, eyes finding yours, willing you to just forget you saw anything, to just walk away. “You wouldn’t believe me even if I told you. Trust me, you don’t want to know. I promise you. You can’t unknow it once it’s said. You’d run straight out of this town as fast as you could if you knew. Either you’d be terrified or you’d think we all needed to be committed.”

“Why do any of you want me around if you don’t trust me enough to tell me, to believe you? You keep telling me I am one of you, that I am part of this group, but you keep secrets and you lie.”

“It’s not that we don’t trust you. I swear. Shit. I wish I could tell you. I wish we could just be honest. None of us likes lying but there’s no way to explain this so that it makes sense to you.”

“Then just explain it. Where did those scars come from?”

“Bats.”

“Bats?” you asked, even more confused than before. Bats were just a different animal. Same story, different mammal. “So instead of rabid raccoons you expect to believe that rabid bats attacked you two?”

“It’s true. The bats were…not like your normal bats.”

“Why? Because they were affected by the toxic chemicals?”

Steve’s eyes widened and he nodded emphatically, as if you'd just given him the out he was looking for, “Yeah. Yeah. Those chemicals were really bad, you know? They killed Barb.”

“They killed a fully grown human but not the bats?” you interrogated suspiciously, folding your arms over your chest, fully aware that you were just being bullshitted all over again. “What was so special about the bats that they survived exposure?”

Steve shrugged, mouth pursed, hands out in front of him, the strangest sound coming from him, a cross between a whine and a grunt. Jesus Christ. None of them were ever going to tell you what was actually going on. You were always going to be on the outside, the one who didn’t get to know, the one they kept in the dark.

“Steve!” you yelled, slapping your hands down on the counter so loudly that he jumped. “Come on! Do you all really think I’m an idiot?”

“Whoa, what’s going on down here?” asked Nancy as the girls made their way back down the stairs. “We heard yelling. Is…” She paused, looking between you and Steve. “Is everything okay?”

The front door opened, Max and Lucas stepping inside. Lucas looked properly chastised but both of them were also looking between the two people in the kitchen, clearly having heard your outburst. Then the back door opened and closed as Eddie, Jonathan, and Argyle came down the hallway and into the kitchen. Shit. You'd just managed to get past one very public, crazy meltdown and now you were in the middle of another.

“Is someone fighting?” asked Argyle. “We got more stuff if someone needs to chill out, man. No need for tension. Tension is not allowed in the sacred circle. Just let Puff the Magic Dragon take you on a wave of relaxation.”

“Everything’s fine,” you muttered, glaring over at Steve who flinched. You snatched the bowl from his hands, slamming it down on the counter. “I’m just helping get the pasta salad together.”

“Oookkkaaayyy…” came Eddie’s voice from behind you.

“Steve?” asked Robin with concern.

“It’s fine Robs,” he said, grabbing a container of pasta, a cucumber, olives, cherry tomatoes, and Italian dressing from the fridge and placing them on the counter next to the bowl. “Just a conversation that got a little lively. That’s all. Seriously, it’s fine.”

“Doesn’t seem fine,” Dustin argued, eyes narrowing. “She was definitely yelling at you. What did you do?”

“Henderson, why do you always assume I’m to blame?”

“Shit, it’s just nice it’s not me for once,” chuckled Eddie.

You seethed, dumping the pasta in, trying to focus on your task. Not a single one of them was going to tell you anything so what was the point? They wanted you here, at least they acted like they did, but then they all lied to you all the time. You grabbed the knife, chopping the cucumber with force, each slice feeling satisfying, a release of the tension and anger that stirred within you.

“Hey, princess,” Eddie said softly as he slipped up behind you, his hand coming around to cover your wrist, stopping your motions. “You okay there? I don’t know what that cucumber did to you but the way you’re chopping it feels kind of personal.”

You closed your eyes, inhaling slowly through your nose, feeling the rise of your chest, the way your belly filled. You focused on the warmth of Eddie, this man you would never truly know, this man you were already falling for. Shit. Your eyes shot open. No. You couldn’t be. It didn’t happen that quickly, right?

Devastation coursed through you because you knew it was true. No matter how much you'd tried to fight it, tried to deny it, to tell yourself he was a jerk, you'd fallen for him. When had it happened? Had it been that first night, those deep brown eyes burning into you from through the fire? Was that even possible? Love at first sight? That was nuts, right?

Did it even matter? How could anything between you ever be real when there would always be this part of him that he kept locked up from you? How could you ever have something true when you would never get to know all the parts of him? The person you were with should be your best friend, the person who knew you better than anyone else, but you could never be that person for him. And you'd stupidly told him that you could accept that so how could you demand it of him now?

Swallowing down the sour taste that was creeping up your throat, you rolled your shoulders, forcing your body to relax. Pulling your wrist from his hand, you dropped the knife, spinning in his arms to offer him a smile that you hoped appeared genuine even if it was anything but.

“Yeah, everything’s fine. Sorry.”

Eddie’s head tilted to the side, his mouth curving up on one side in that little smile you loved so damn much, the backs of his fingers running down your cheek, metal cooling your flushed skin, “You sure?”

“Yep. Totally fine. Just going to finish this salad, okay? You guys pick out a game?” you loudly asked the girls, trying to change the subject to anything but how insane you were acting. Because that’s what it was. You were insane. You had completely lost your mind trying to figure out what they were all hiding and if you didn’t get it under control, you were going to lose all of this, everything that had made you so happy this past month.

“Yeah, uh…pictionary,” Nancy said, looking as if she didn’t believe you in the slightest.

Well, that was fine. Let her see how it felt to be lied to. Maybe that was mean. Maybe you were being an awful person right now but you couldn’t help feeling a little vindicated. If they weren’t going to tell you what was going on with them, then you weren't going to bother telling them what was going on with you. You couldn’t anyway because if you did, then it would just create more tension, tension you couldn’t handle right now.

“Okay, but then we are playing trivial pursuit because I am going to wipe the floor with all of you,” Dustin announced.

“You are the king of Trivial Pursuit. No one can beat him. My Dusty Bun’s big brain is what made me fall in love with him,” Suzie cooed, her hand coming to his chest, cheek against his arm.

“Uh…yeah, okay,” Eddie snorted. “Because knowing a bunch of useless facts is a real life changer.”

“You’re just mad because you never win,” Steve teased.

“Never win?” asked Mike. “Last time, he didn’t even get one piece of pie.”

“Shut it, Wheeler. You only had two,” Eddie countered. “Don’t act like you’re so much better.”

You listened to all of them arguing as you sliced the tomatoes in half, adding them in, along with the olives before opening the dressing and pouring it over the top. Grabbing Steve’s salad tongs, you tossed the mixture around, focusing on the task, the repetitive nature, telling yourself to let it go, to not rock the boat. You were happy. You were in a new relationship. You had friends. You were starting a new life. Getting angry wasn’t going to change anything or help in any way.

“Salad’s done,” you said simply, handing the bowl to Steve.

“Thanks,” he replied, giving you a smile you didn’t return. He cleared his throat. “Hey, while you guys argue about who is the king of some dumb board game, I’m gonna go get the burgers going.”

“I’ll help you, man,” Eddie offered, trailing behind him, the other guys quickly following.

You stood in the kitchen awkwardly, nibbling at your lower lip, the rest of the girls looking at you anxiously as if you were a rabid dog about to attack at any moment. Clearly, you weren't doing the best job of pretending everything was fine but it was getting harder to do with each lie, each denial, each refusal to tell you the truth.

“You sure you’re okay?” asked Nancy.

You lifted your head, smiling wide, “Yep. I’m fine. Everything’s fine. Why wouldn’t it be?”

“You just seem…angry?” Max offered. “I mean, Lucas and I could hear you yelling from the front porch. You drowned me out and that’s saying something.”

“Did you tell him off?” you asked in an attempt to change the subject.

“I mean, yeah, I absolutely ripped him a new one. I don’t know why the hell he would even consider starting our life off drowning in debt. But that’s besides the point. Why were you yelling at Steve?”

“I know he can be a dingus,” Robin laughed, “but why were you asking him if he thought you were an idiot?”

“It doesn’t matter, okay? None of it matters because no one is ever going to tell me the truth. There’s no point in rehashing it. I asked him a question and he lied to me just like everyone else. I asked Nancy and Jonathan about the murders and they lied. Eddie flails in his sleep, whimpering and crying out, and he lies to me. Steve has scars just like Eddie’s and when I ask, he lies. It’s all lies. Clearly none of you trust me and none of you want to tell me so it’s fine, okay? I’m done bringing any of it up. You can keep your secrets.”

“Oh, I…” Nancy said sadly, pressing her lips together.

“It’s fine, Nance. Really. Clearly, whatever happened is between all of you. I wasn’t here and it’s none of my business. I’m the one in the wrong. I shouldn’t be pushing to know things that have nothing to do with me. Can we please just drop it because I can’t take any more lies or half-truths right now?”

“Okay. Yeah,” your friend agreed with a nod. Of course she did. Nancy was more than happy to drop it. She probably wished you hadn’t ever picked it up. “So, are you and Eddie like…together now?”

“I don’t know,” you shrugged. “I think so. I mean, he told me he’s not going anywhere so I assume so.”

El smiled, “Well, that’s a good thing, right?”

You couldn’t help but return the girl’s smile, “Yeah. It is. I really like him. Lord knows why but I do. I mean, it’s all new. We’ll see where it goes but for now, it’s really good.”

“Good,” Robin stated, her arm coming around your shoulder, cheek resting against the side of your head. “You both deserve some happiness. I’m happy for you and we’re all really happy you’re here. Really, we are. Regardless of everything else, please know that. Now, how about we go check on those burgers, huh? I don’t know about all of you, but I’m freaking starving.”

A murmur of assent rose from the girls so you all made your way out into the backyard. Damn, Steve was quite the handyman. You stepped out onto a beautiful wooden deck, the guys just down to the right, standing around the grill that sat on a stone patio. Eddie smiled at you, cigarette in his hand. Out in the middle of the yard was an above ground pool.

“Steve even has a pool?”

“Yeah,” Max grinned. “That’s why his house becomes the designated hangout in the summer. He bitches about how much we’re all over here but he actually loves it. He had shitty parents and no siblings, so he really likes all the chaos. He just has to act grumpy to save face or something but he really loves the family we’ve created.”

“He does. Why else do you think he installed the pool? The guys helped him with it a couple summers ago, along with the deck,” Nancy added. “He’s done a lot to this house.”

“Speaking of which,” Steve called from where he was manning the grill, adding cheese to half of the burgers, “our girl here has a really old kitchen and I told her we could probably help with that.”

“Oh yeah!” Dustin exclaimed. “We all helped Steve. We’re like kitchen restoration experts now.”

“I am a pro with a nail gun,” Lucas stated proudly.

“Don’t let him fool you,” Max whispered conspiratorially, “there was an incident with about thirty nails in one spot because he couldn’t get it right so he just kept adding more.”

You giggled, “Oh boy.”

You made your way down to stand next to Eddie and he instantly pulled you into his side. You snuggled in, inhaling the scent of him, letting it ease all the tension from your body. This should be enough. Good friends who were willing to help you, a beautiful man who made you feel things you didn’t even know you could, and a fresh start. Anyone else would be satisfied with this, would stop digging and causing problems. Why were you your own worst enemy?

“All good, sweetheart?” he inquired, lips brushing over your forehead.

“All perfect,” you assured, arms coming around his waist because it was. It really was. You just hoped it stayed that way.

Chapter 18

Taglist

@tlclick73 @bebe07011 @eddiesguitarskills @witchwolflea @nailbatanddungeon @emilyslutface @fireeyes-on-teller-dixon-grimes @corrodedcoffincumslut @mmunson86 @josephquinnsfreckles @katethetank

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mixed-theater-faisty-tings · 2 years

Text

I Dare You

Pairing: Jeremiah x Reader

Warnings: explicit, smut, 18+, unprotected sex, angst.

Authors Note: This is my first request written for @jeremiahxaesthetic !!! I know it took me so long to get the request up there were technical difficulties. But, I hope you enjoy the story. Anyone can find my request post below and on my blog. You can also find my Masterlist.

Requests

Masterlist

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Eli Pov

Huddled around the living room of the Fisher's summer house was not where I expected this night to go. Taylor came into town to play with Belly in the "Play it Forward" volleyball tournament and somehow managed to convince Jere and Conrad to stay home with us. Steven would've but he had to make an appearance with Shayla. "I'm gonna go get drinks and snacks Connie come help me yeah?", Jere gets up taking his brother with him. "So Eli you and Jeremy aren't like a thing right?", Taylor whispers to me. "Umm no we're just best friends kinda grew up in Boston together just never had the chance to make it out here till now.", my body subtly tenses up.

"Okay cool cause honestly, he is so fine I may just make a move on him while i'm here.", the confidence in her voice is deafening even at an indoor level of 3. "Go for it. He's a single guy who can date anyone he wants.", I want to vomit as the words leave my mouth. "Taylor you already went after Conrad don't you think it's a bit weird to go after his brother now?", Belly jumps in. "Do you want to have that conversation Cinderbelly?", a vicious tone decorated her words, and eyes glare in her best friends direction. "That was last summer and the boys and I are fine. Conrad is just a dick.", Belly rolls her eyes.

"I'm gonna leave you guys to umm..yeah.". Rushing out of the room I end up bumping in my curly-haired best friend in the kitchen. "Hey Eli everything okay?", his hands were resting on my arms sending bolt of electricity through me. "Just coming to see if you needed any help.", instinctively I pull away propping myself against the wall to keep my cool. "No I think we are all good. I even got you your favorite chips, Ruffles.", he boasts in a sing-song voice. "Well don't you just know me so well.", my words offer a pat on the back before we head back to the living room.

"Taylor, are you excited for the game tomorrow? I know Bells has been bouncing off the walls all summer.", Jeremiah asks plopping next to her but, across from me. My stomach churns at the sight, I have no reason to be jealous this is a normal sight for me to see quite literally. Parties, at school, even when we just go to the mall they drawn to him like moths to light not that I blame them. Jeremiah Fisher is the light at the end of the tunnel, always has been. Taylors body leans against his both laughing at some inside joke that came u in the last 10 seconds.

"Eli, why don't you pick the game we play?", Conrad playfully pushes my arm. "Um I don't know what games do you guys have here?", I ask. "Truth or dare!" Belly yells, everyone agrees stuffing snacks into their mouths. "Sounds like fun.", I manage the words but, not sure if I actually mean them. "Jeremy, truth or dare.", shocker Taylor starts us off. "Truth.", his eyes lock on mine for a second though it feels longer. We've been friends for so long he knows when i'm upset by the slightest turn off my lip. I can feel him checking up on me in this small stare. Once he is reassured he turns back to Taylor.

"Boring but, whatever. Is it true that you lost your v-card when you were 14?", Taylor smirks in his direction. It bugs me how intrusive she can be but, she ain't my best friend. "Umm actually no. I'm still a virgin.", Jeremiah explains. I can see the heat rise to his cheeks, the hint of embarrassment becoming apparent in his features. Conrad clearing his throat brings us all back from our dazes, "Belly truth or dare?". "I'm feeling dangerous hint me with a dare.", her smile brightens the room, everyone soon forgetting about the last 2 minutes.

From across the way I shoot him a reassuring smile, and nod of comfort a thing usually reserved for when we have the classes and need vote of confidence back home. His wide-tooth smile tells me he got the message, my body feeling like it's floating. "I dare you to drink pickle juice straight out of the jar and not tell the moms.", Conrads throws his challenge in Belly's direction earning a laugh from the rest of us. "So mature Conrad.", Taylor cackles at his childishness. "Easy.", Belly's confidence oozes out of her tone as she strides to the kitchen grabbing the huge jar of pickles.

After a struggle..or two Jere helps her get the lid off. She brings the jar to her lips and drinks the juice until Conrad stops her though it wasn't before he finished laughing his ass off. Our laughs all mix in the air the game continuing and everyone getting a stupid truth or childish dare, the more the game went on the closer I noticed Belly's best friend got closer to Jere till she was practically in his lap.

"Eh sorry guys. I hate to ruin the fun but, I think i'm gonna head out to the dock and get some fresh air.", the words leave my lips and my feet carry me to my destination, everyone's eyes following my every move. I can hear a few whispers closing the door behind me, rather than allowing that to stick I listen to the sound of Cousins. This is my first time here, for years Jeremiah has begged me to come and meet everyone, experience the summers he has loved his entire life but I never could make it because parents wouldn't let me or they planned some stupid family vacation that wouldn't come to par with The Fisher's summer house.

The salt-water air filled my nostrils with a feeling of warmth and comfort, soft hums of the water soothe my body. Susannah loves to take photos and sends any and every picture she gets of Jere and I to me, sometimes she will sneak in just him alone to make my day..damn her mother's intuition either that or my feelings are just stupidly obvious to everyone except the person that matters. The moment of each picture replays in my mind from the time we were baking a cake for Susannahs birthday and Jere let the batter go everywhere when we tried to mix it, to our most recent junior prom photo.

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~Flash Back~

"Come on E you have to go it's the law.", he argued. "There's no law saying I have to go to prom. Besides, I'd rather just have a movie night we can get munchies and just chill.", I whine. "But it's PROM! As in once in a lifetime high school experience, you're only a junior one time this is our time!", his blue-eyes sparkled when he talked about this one night that seemed to mean the world to him..how could I ignore that?

"Okay, fine but I refuse to third wheel with you and your date.", my tone a bit colder than I intended. "Technically, you're the second wheel.", he bumps his shoulder into mine. "Wait huh?", the confusion prominent though my heart was secretly doing flips i'm surprised it didn't give out. "Oh I didn't mention that part? Well, you agreeing to go to prom isn't just agreeing to go to some school function it's also saying you'll go with me? You're my best friend there's no one else I'd rather enjoy the night with. Plus if i'm your date one you are practically guaranteed a good time and two it may just be the one thing you need to get you more involved in school functions.", he winks in my direction causing my knees to go weak.

"One seems like a pity date and two why do I need to be involved again?", I attempt to argue rather than show his effect on me. "We're gonna be seniors next year and I wanna experience it all with you. We've been friends since we were six, gone through elementary school together were we always went to the dances together even if I had to bribe you with a snow one afterwards. Middle school where puberty was awkward for us both, which we made a pact to never speak of so I shall move on. Lastly, first day of freshmen year we vowed to do this whole thing together same as always. The future is coming and it is sometimes really scary to me to think about not seeing you everyday or having you around all the time.", his words are laced with sorrow towards the end, our usual happy go lucky Jere now petrified of what's coming.

"You are so lucky I love you Fisher. Of course i'll go with you. Here's what I propose you give me the best night of my life and I'll personally ensure you the best senior year ever.", I stick out my pinky as means of demonstrating the seriousness of my proposition. "You drive a hard bargain ma'am but, I shall agree.", his smile is back and wide. With our pinkies intertwined we kiss the index finger knuckle of our own hand solidifying this promise.

~End flashback~

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"Hey stranger why'd you run off?", a familiar voice jolts me out of my thoughts, the promise echoing in my ears. "Oh hey J. Just needed some air.", I force a smile. "Game got boring after you left. Besides, you seemed down had to make sure my favorite girl was okay.", he playfully bumps my side. "I'm okay.". "That's a lie come on tell me.".

"Shouldn't you get back to Taylor.", I spit a bit more aggressively than anticipated. "Ah there it is.", he pokes at me. "Taylor is just being Taylor she flirts with everyone. I'm not into her like that.", he adds. "It wouldn't matter if you were. She's everyone's type.", masking the sadness in my words was harder than I thought. "Not mine.", I can feel his hand moving closer to mine resting on the dock.

"What's your point Jere?", the harshness in my voice seems to set him off. "Could you quit with the self-loathing my god can't you see how much I care about you?". "I know how much you care. You've spent our entire friendship proving it to me.", my words a bit calmer. "But clearly you don't know me.", disappointment crystal clear in his words. The air felt dense, an uncomfortable feeling for us. I can tell there is something on his mind but am terrified of what it could be.

"Just say it Jere. Whatever is on your mind please just say it.", the tears well in my eyes but, I do my best to hide them. "Eli, I've known you since elementary school god I even remember the moment like it was yesterday. It was snack time after recess and Gina had stolen your Scooby-Snacks, you tried to get them back but she stuck her tongue out at you and ran away tossing the empty bag onto the floor next to you. So I gave you my Goldfish now while they aren't as good as the Scoobs I figured you needed the snack more than I did.", a smile creeps onto my face.

"You told me your mom packed you two snacks that day however, Conrad debunked that lie later on. I was crying because I only got Scoobies once a week and that was my last bag until my mom got paid...leave it to Jeremiah Fisher to be my knight in shining armor.".

"That day I knew that no matter what it took I needed you to be in my life. Soon enough we were best friends doing anything and everything together everyday of my life I prayed to god to let me keep you and vowed to care for you.", his words were genuine laced with a sentiment I rarely hear.

We've always told each other everything, and sure we have plenty of deep-conversations but, never like this...it's slightly terrifying. "You've done that. You're there for me, and push me to do all the things i'm afraid of. Never allowing me to miss out on life, taking me out to dances or pep rallies or even just to a random bowling night hell you drag me to parties I wouldn't be caught dead at. I spent so much of my childhood reading to escape the real world but with you J I love the real world.", it takes a beat before I realize we are face to face.

"I love you Eli, always have.", his blue eyes soften the slightest glimpse of a sparkle present most likely a reflection of the moon. "I love you too Jere. You know that.", an earnestness in my voice catches him off-guard. "As more than my best friend.", he tacks on with a hint of nervousness. "Way more than that.". “Truth or dare.”, he asked confusing the hell out of me. “Huh?”. “Truth or dare.”, he reiterates.

“Dare”, my voice is above a whisper.

“I dare you to kiss me.”, his light blue eyes are searching mine for some type of sign.

A wave of confidence washed over me and the next few moments were slightly out of character but, I didn't care. My hands grabbed ahold of his button up and smashed my lips against his. It takes him a second to register my movements before he returns my actions, his strong hands keeping me as close as possible pulling away only for the quickest of air our lips still brushing against the others.

"I've wanted to do that for such a long time.", he is breathless while keeping our foreheads together. "Believe me so have I.", I giggle. "So what does all this mean?". Way to be a buzzkill Jere I think in my head.

"I want you Jeremiah now and always in every way possible.", the words floated into the air as if to sink into his head. The look in his eyes getting brighter by the second. Without another word or even simple thought we are making our way back to the house. "Hey guys! We're gonna go meet Shayla and Steven at the party its wild ya'll wanna come?", Conrad bombards us when we make it into the backyard.

We collectively hide the last few moments by answering quickly.."No, it's okay probably gonna head to bed.". We have been together too long and frankly that may have been to quick of an answer. "Okay weirdos.", Taylor snickers. "I swear they are like Siamese twins.", Conrad jokes before walking away with the two girls trailing behind. Walking into the house the blonde boy breaks the silence, "Can I be honest about something?".

"Always.", by gently intertwining our fingers it provides him some comfort so he can continue his thought . "I begged my mom to let you stay in my room. I kinda promised her that I would sleep on the floor or that we could even try to get two beds in there. You didn't know Belly and I wanted you to be comfortable.", a hint of pink hits his cheeks, the similar heat rising in my face. "I appreciate that. Staying with Belly isn't too bad but, I also wouldn't have minded staying in your room.", I lead us up towards his living quarters.

"Where are we going?", he raises his eyebrows. "To be together. Something that should've happened a while ago.", I smile softly. The butterflies in my stomach are sent into a frenzy, initiating anything is completely out of character for me but, I'd be lying if I didn't say there was a bit of a rush that excited the hell out of me.

"Eli are you feeling okay?", he asks me when we make it to his room. "Do you want this? Us?", I propose the question dangling above us. "More than anything I thought we made that one clear.", the warmth of his hands cups my cheeks allowing me to lean into the touch. "Then prove it.", my eyes were fixated on his, a mix of lust and love beginning to form. "Are you sure?", he was searching for any sign of hesitation in my features and when he was sure there was none I found myself pinned to the wall.

"Once we do this there's no going back?", his voice was raspy and almost breathless the feeling of his hands digging into my skin sure not to hurt me. Rather than provide an answer I press my lips against his with a sense of hunger neither of us knew was possible from me. "Mmm, please I need words. Verbal consent.", though he was in a trance the fact he was still asking sent shivers down my spine in the best way possible.

"Yes Jere. Please I want you.", my eyes meet his pleading for his touch. He presses his lips against the skin of my neck, allowing his hands to travel around my body. A sense of urgency and hunger began to rise between us as soft moans escape my lips. My fingers tug at the hem of shirt removing it, the tips of his fingers dancing along my hips.

After gathering some momentum I manage to move us over the bed, my body landing ontop of the soft duvet his long, muscled body hovering over me leaving love bites along my neck. "Mmm", a few hums leave my now swollen lips while my fingers tangle themselves in Jere's hair. I have wanted this moment for so long I'm not sure I'm even that nervous I trust this boy more than anything, he would never hurt me or do anything I didn't want to. Every time he kisses or even grazes my body it's as if I'm on fire, a feeling that I never want to lose.

"A penny for your thoughts my love.", a look of curiosity decorated his features, a glimmer of concern taking presence in his ocean-blue eyes. "I just..I've thought about this moment for god knows how long and I'm glad it's you here with me now.". "Me too. God I love you so much.", he pecks my lips softly. "I love you more.", I whisper. HIs fingers begin to fumble with the button of my shorts intent on removing the denim from my skin.

In the midst of him removing my bottoms I catch a glimpse of the bulge fighting his swim shorts. "So I wanna know something?", he inquires drawing his hands up and down my side. "What would that be?", I bite my bottom lip.

"What happens when I kiss you here?", a soft kiss is planted on neck under my ear; I moan.

"Or here?", the collar bone causes me to shudder slightly.

"Here?", his lips trial down my chest, the heat between my legs rising.

"Best for last.", as soon a kiss lands on my thighs I'm afraid I could come undone just from this.

"Quit teasing.", I manage doing everything I can to keep my legs apart. "Needy are we?", his smirk is devilish. He runs his thumb over my mound, my backing arching off the bed. The motion continues while my thighs become decorated with hickeys...how the hell can I hide those in the summer? "Fuck Jere.", I can't help but whimper in pleasure begging for more. Within mere seconds his tongue and fingers join together causing immense pleasure pushing towards an edge I have never accomplished myself.

Every pump of his fingers collided with the lap of his tongue, my hands were tangled in his blonde locks pulling him closer if that were possible. I began to grind against his mouth the heat rising in my belly reaching my peak. Vibrations of his mouth against me was the last thing to push me over the edge. "Fuck!", my body releases covering his face in my juices. "You taste amazing baby.", he coos wiping his lips with a near by towel. A rush of pink hits my cheeks and I wanna hideaway which is odd to say when I'm physically and emotionally nude in this current moment.

"You're so beautiful Eli.", his eyes trail along my body as if he would be tested on every curve, dip and beauty mark that covered me. Without another word I connect our lips in a loving, passionate kiss. With enough strength I manage to flip us over, leaving me on top and taking him by surprise. I like this new found confidence I have.....

My kiss leaves his lips and works their way down his chest, the soft hums from him filling my ears with bliss. "Baby I need you.", he manages breathlessly, as I remove his swimming trucks..my eyes widen at his size less with fear and more with surprise while precum drips down him slightly. The tip of my thumb runs over it earning a moan from Jeremiah, fueling my confidence. My arms carry me over his body, his tip rubbing against my entrance soliciting a shudder from us both.

I slide onto him slowly wincing at the initial feeling that was soon overcome with pleasure when I began to rock my hips. "Oh god just like that.", his voice sounds dazed, while his hands grip my hips guiding my movements. My lips dance around his neck, as my hips make circular motions our moans mixing together praying no one has returned home early. He gathers his strength and flips us over taking over the motions thrusting at a good rhythm, the moment full of exploration and passion.

“I’m close Jere.”, I finally manage. The skin on my body is covered in hickeys, sweat glistening on us both. “Me too baby.”, he groans. The build up began in my stomach and grew more as my climax approached soon to take us both over. His body collapsed on top of me as we rode out our highs him still resting inside of me. “We didn’t use protection.”,I breathlessly say. “I’ll get a pill for you.”, he says planting a kiss on my head.

“That was..woah.”. “You’re telling me.”. We both laugh and clean ourselves up a soreness beginning to take presence between my legs. “I really hope Belly and Taylor don’t ask me to play volleyball tomorrow.”, I giggle. “Sounds like you’re coming down a cold to me which means cuddles and movies all day just you and me.”. He chuckles tossing me his hoodie.

“I dare you to try that.”. I pull the fabric over my body. “And I dare you to be mine.”, his muscled arms pull me to his body. “I’ve always been yours Jeremiah Fisher.”. My lips collide with his once more.

@jeremiah-fisher @jeremiahxaesthetic

#tsitp jeremiah #jeremiah fisher smut #jeremiah fisher #the summer i turned pretty #belly conklin #tsitp conrad #conrad fisher

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ofoceansandtombsanew · 2 months

Text

14:25 ー TAMARACK BAUMANN. honey ain't got nothin' on you, 'cause you're sweeter.

Summers are different in Golden Grove.

Truthfully, Golden Grove feels different no matter the season. For a town called Golden Grove, autumn is the season that suits it best. When the leaves are shades of red, oranges and golds and there's a pleasant chill in the air. Summer, to you, is just when it is the most apparent.

When you were still a child, experiencing your first Golden Grove summer, it was exciting. There was no school so you had all the free time in the world to explore the forest surrounding the cul-de-sac you call home. It had changed, with its green leaves and the sorts of seasonal critters inhabiting it.

When you were much younger, that meant more goodies for you and Tamarack to find and bring home.

Now that you're a teen with more of a mind to hate the summer heat, summer has lost its appeal. You can tell it has also lost its appeal to Tamarack who sits squarely in front of the fan in front of your desk, cheeks flush from the heat. Summer is only enjoyable in small increments, you believe. If there's too much, all the energy gets sapped out of you and you lose the drive to do much of anything.

Case and point, the wig you are supposed to be practicing your braiding on. Now that wig and the mannequin head you placed it on lie abandoned on the floor while you lie eagle spread across your bed. You haven't even begun braiding it. Not even Tamarack could make herself sit and practice her cello in this sort of heat.

Why do conventions have to be in the summer? There are only three major conventions in Oregon ー WasabiCon, Ani-Medford and KisuuCon ー and only two of the three take place at a time your mother accepts. "Why do conventions have to be in the summer," you groan once more, this time for everyone in your room to hear. "Is this really the curse I have to bear for quality cosplay?"

"Autumn can't come quickly enough," Tamarack murmurs in agreement. Autumn may come at the cost of school's return but it's the perfect season for everything. Her ruby eyes glance at your lack of progress. "Maybe you can practice later tonight instead?"

You shake your head, pushing yourself into sitting. "No, if I wait until then, I'll just put it off until tomorrow and do the exact same thing again." Then you'll put it off and put it off, citing the summer heat as the culprit, until finally the weekend of your chosen convention arrives and you have an incomplete cosplay. That's what happened last year when you were 14, you'd rather not make it habit. "I'll work on it now."

You just need motivation. Proper motivation.

That can wait until you've gotten yourself something cold to drink, however. "There's lemonade in the fridge if you want some."

"Please," Tamarack pleads.

The trip downstairs to the kitchen is quick yet arduous as you shuffle through the less cool parts of your house. You can only hope your mother is having a better time where she works. You hope everyone you know is doing better than you are right now.

Serenity is out of town visiting family in the Bay Area.

Vianca and Qiu are at ballet practice in an air conditioned building.

Ren is with her family kayaking for the week so you're sure she isn't minding the heat in the slightest.

As for Baxter, he's off at his fancy university in Virginia. You never really reconnected with the guy before he left either, so you can only hope he's somewhere that has good air conditioning, if any.

So to your knowledge, you and Tamarack are the only ones suffering in a building too old to have an air conditioner. You and Tam, ever a pair. Even if that means suffering during summer vacation together.

"I'm back with the goods," you announce needlessly when you return to your room. Tamarack's already reaching for a glass before you reach her, gratitude all over her face. You're happy to be directly in front of the rotating fan, relishing how it feels on your sticky skin. The tangy-sweet chill of the lemonade is a wonderful accompaniment.

Tamarack cups her glass in both her hands much like how one would carefully hold an injured pigeon. You feel a warmth more comfortable than the sweltering summer heat permeating through your room.

Thick, fluffy hair that shines gamboge pulled into a messy bun. Dappled in an autumn sparkle that never goes away even in another season.

Berry-red eyes that are much too pretty for this world and as expressive as they come.

All things that make Tamarack Baumann 'Tamarack Baumann'.

Tamarack is here. Truly here and she isn't going anywhere. That was the resolution of everything that happened last year when you were 14. No more moving scares, no more hypothetical surprises haunting your every waking moment. Tamarack Baumann is a true blue resident of Golden Grove and you won't let anyone forget it.

"What is it?" Tamarack catches your staring and you're sure that you see her cheeks flush a deeper color. You take satisfaction in knowing the summer heat isn't the only thing that is making her face red.

Yes, this is the life.

"Nothing," you smile into your glass.

"You're thinking something," Tamarack insists with a playful yet embarrassed lilt.

"I'm just thinking about your hair, that's all," you tell her smoothly. You can talk about how your world has become much more vibrant since the confirmation Tamarack wouldn't be moving anywhere another day. "It's really pretty. You're pretty."

You remember thinking Tamarack was the prettiest person you'd ever seen when you popped out of that pile of leaves. Your opinion has yet to change now that you are 15, you doubt it ever will.

Almost instinctively, Tamarack pushes a lock of her hair behind her ear in her embarrassment. "You're the pretty one."

"We have to agree to disagree on who is the pretty one in this relationship," you close your eyes petulantly. Dorothea Baumann would tell you both that you're equally the pretty one in this relationship, but where's the fun in that when you know you're right? As far as you're concerned, if Tamarack suddenly decided she wanted to pursue a career in modeling you would be right there at every audition.

It's then, you feel as if you've struck gold.

"Can I practice on your hair?" Tamarack raises a thick eyebrow. She's stopped plucking them recently, no longer self-conscious about how they look. "My braiding, I mean." Before your girlfriend can smartly argue about the heat, you already present your counter arguments. "We can stay in front of the fan without it rotating! And I'll only take out the parts I'm working on."

Tamarack's face scrunches thoughtfully before she ultimately relents. "Only as long as you don't take everything out," she smiles lightly.

Yes!

A press of a button to stop your fan from moving about the place and you're too happy to be running your fingers through Tamarack's hair. It's always been soft, carefully maintained by her grandmother. Now that she's old enough to care for it herself, Tamarack's haircare is still delicately maintained.

Maybe I should run my model Tamarack idea by her again, you think humorously. Nothing will come of it. It's merely a long-standing joke between you both. Modeling is a career you both know wouldn't make Tamarack happy in the slightest. It's for the best. All the other models would be out of work if Tamarack was there.

"I don't feel any braiding," Tamarack notes in a sing-songy voice.

Guilty as charged, you grin, "I'm just making sure I've got the right amount of hair for this section, that's all."

Tamarack's playful hum of disbelief is her only response before you begin.

a request from @luv-indigo that sounded really adorable so i wanted to give it a spin as something set between steps 2 and 3. autumn is personally my favorite season, so i love that's the season that olnf is perpetually set in. but i do get curious as to what life could be like in the mountain down during a different season and thought this scenario was the perfect excuse for it! (disclaimer: this is something written pre-release of olnf)

#look she's writing #timestamp #our life: now & forever #olnf #our life #our life x reader #tamarack baumann #tamarack baumann x reader #tamarack x reader

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majaloveschris · 9 months

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Also to remind the anon, that when Lisa liked that comment, people also found out his dad followed an account that was critical of Chris and this whole thing. People like to dismiss the actions of both his parents and family at large by saying it's fat fingers etc, but these people have been on social media long enough.//

To add to this, the comment Ms. Lisa liked for 12-14 hours was a reply to a comment about AB. It wasn’t a comment that was put up one after the other, it was a reply. Something that has to technically be sought out to read or like. You have to actively tap on “View More Replies” to see reactions to the original. So the possibility of her seeing the original comment, going to check what others had to say about it, and then actually like it; at least for me that would mean she agrees with that person enough to like it. I imagine with older people, they would typically hold their phone in one hand and use their index finger with the other hand to get anything done on their phone. So I don’t feel like it was a fat finger. Like this anon said, Ms. Lisa knows how to use social media and has been on it for quite some time. Probably been through all of the updates and so on. Plus with the narrative they’re trying to sell, they’ve been together since 2021 yet Ms. Lisa only just now follows her in 2023, after the like. This whole time she could’ve been followed her and moved on a long time ago.

And if she actually liked her, why couldn’t Ms. Lisa’s smile actually reach her eyes in the WDW picture? Why did she look like she was about snatch the camera away from whoever took the picture? Why was she only in one picture? How come it was like she was leading the family away from CE & AB during the whole water bottle fiasco, instead of waiting for them like most people would when you’re in a group and someone has to stop. Typically you all wanna stick together. Why didn’t she show up to the Ghosted premiere and hangout with AB (I mean apparently she was soon to be apart of the family, right?), I mean she showed up for Jenny at the SLoP premiere (and brought the whole crew) and even held her hand. Why didn’t she follow this girl in early 2022? Why didn’t she ask her “daughter-in-law” who was born and raised in PT where the best spots were in town, but asked her son’s childhood best friend’s mother on social media?

So many questions, not a lot of answers. But a shit ton of weirdness…

I also find it very unlikely that it was finger-like. Lisa knows her way around social media, so I don't think she would just randomly like a comment. I think since she is Chris's mom and she knows there are people who watch her every single move, she is more cautious about the things she does online and makes sure she doesn't like or follow someone accidentally.

It's really interesting that when his family was there at a premier (Lightyear), she wasn't there, and when she was there (Ghosted), his whole family wasn't there. Now we can make excuses that they weren't dating publicly at the time or that the kids were still in school around April, so nobody was able to go, but I'm pretty sure that at least the latter could've been solved. His family definitely doesn't seem as supportive as they were with Jenny or even with Minka. His mom still leaves comments under Minka's post, and they broke up like years ago. The fact that she rather asked Tara's mom about the places that are worth a visit in Portugal is really telling. Your son's fiance is from Portugal; she lives there, so she would be the best person to ask this question from. If they were on good terms, obviously.

There's nothing normal and concrete about this relationship.

#majaloveschris #chris and alba relationship #cevans-love #lisa and alba

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zeldahime · 4 months

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Highway to Pail Day 14

[Day 1] [Prev] [Next] @do-it-with-style-events

February 14: A witch's favorite subject in school is spelling.

Anathema Device had always been a very bad speller. That is not quite true, actually: her spelling was not so much "appalling," as her Year 3 teacher Ms Johnson had put it, as three hundred years too late. Attempting to explain this to Ms Johnson went over very poorly, as adults often do not take very kindly to being corrected by eight-year-olds, even if that adult prided herself on being a modern and progressive sort of woman who didn't tell everyone immediately whether or not she's married and whose classes involved rather more guitar than was typical.

Anathema was a quiet and intense child who was usually good at school. It was easy, and she daydreamed her classes away with what she imagined the prophecies that she was mentioned in might be about. Her current favorite idea was that the Four that shalle ryde and the Four that shalle alfo ryde and the Three that sharl ryde the Skye might all be riding horses and unicorns and pegasi that didn't like to be ridden, and the horns and wings were why Deville and Angel were mentioned. Maybe she would get to pet them and feed them apples and get the eleven ryders to leave them alone so they could go back to their horsey lives.

Having bad grades in spelling meant there was a class she wasn't bored to daydreams in, and in Ms Johnson's patronizing dismissal she saw a challenge. After all, Anathema believed she was special and was going to save the world. Unlike every other eight-year-old who read too much and believed this, Anathema had it on authority. And if Anathema was going to defeat the forces of Hell and maybe the Antichrist himself when she was a grown-up, silly old Ms Johnson should be small potatoes.

First, she brought The Book to school. Mum and Dad told her it shouldn't leave the house so that they couldn't lose it, but unlike them, she was very good at remembering where she had put things and so she wasn't worried about forgetting to bring it home. When Ms Johnson called on her to spell a word like "ride" or "diverse" or "make," she would spell it correctly as "ryde," or "diuerse," or "mayk" and then show the Ms Johnson The Book, and she would be vindicated.

Ms Johnson did not call on her in class that day, no matter how urgently she waved her hand to be called upon. And apparently Dad noticed The Book was missing even though it had only been while she was at school and she'd brought it right back, and he took it away for a week as punishment.

Her next idea was to bring in one of the concordances. It was less authoritative and much less interesting than The Book, in her opinion, but Mum and Dad were less likely to notice one of them missing, and Ms Johnson couldn't ignore her forever. Unfortunately for Anathema, she was correct. Ms Johnson ignored her in spelling, even when her hand was raised, but did not ignore her in maths, and asked her for the times tables of seven while she was staring out the window and thinking about whether Elliot the dragon could carry three people, maybe her and Pete and the manne who testeth with a pyn.

Then on Friday, Ms Johnson was absent from school, which was just unfair in Anathema's opinion. How could she defeat her opponent if she didn't even come to school?

Ms Johnson was proving to be large potatoes indeed. Desperate times called for desperate measures.

Over the weekend, Anathema made a plan of attack. First, she would attempt plan A again, trying to get called upon in spelling. If that didn't work, plan B was to go to Ms Johnson with the book after school. If Ms Johnson didn't come to school, Anathema would go to her house with the concordance and show her in front of the whole neighborhood, or at least her husband if she had one of those and her guitar if she didn't, and Ms Johnson would be forced to recognize that Anathema's spelling was actually quite good. Anathema went to the town library to borrow a phone book in preparation, and discovered that "Johnson, Susan" lived at 25 Cherry Lane, and a local atlas also told her that 25 Cherry Lane was on the opposite side of the grocery store near the record shop.

Come Monday, Ms Johnson was absent from school again. So, after school, Anathema skipped dance practice and trotted off to the final battle in the spelling war. Knocking on the door at 25 Cherry Lane carrying a 400-page leatherbound book, she made something of a sight, though due to her height, not one that could be seen from the peephole built into the door. The person who answered was not Ms Johnson, or a husband, or even a guitar, but someone who looked a bit like Ms Johnson with darker hair.

"Hello, dear, how can I help you?" said the woman who wasn't Ms Johnson, and Anathema suddenly felt a bit out of her depth. She took a deep breath and powered through it. She'd come all this way, and this was nothing compared to what she'd have to do to save the world as a grown-up, anyhow.

"Hello ma'am. My name is Anathema Device, how do you do? I'm looking for Ms Johnson so I can show her that my spelling is actually very good and she should teach her class better," Anathema said seriously, hoping to convey to this stranger the gravity of the situation.

Not-Ms-Johnson smiled in that tight way that means they think a child is incredibly funny but don't want to encourage them by laughing. Anathema, who was not joking, was annoyed but thankful that Not-Ms-Johnson didn't simply slam the door in her face.

"Well, my dear Anathema, I'm afraid Jane's been ill this weekend but I can see if she's up to a visit from a student. Come in, I'll get you some tea," Not-Ms-Johnson said, and led Anathema into a little kitchen with a kettle already boiling on the stove. Anathema sat very politely at the table as Not-Ms-Johnson fixed her tea and biscuits, and said "Wait here just a tick" before heading off upstairs to fetch "Jane," which Anathema supposed must be Ms Johnson's actual first name.

She heard a groan and then giggles from upstairs, surrounded on both sides by muffled conversation. Ms Johnson's house was smaller than Anathema's but very cozy, with an oldish landline phone with a rotary dial, like the one her parents had replaced with a new Touch-Tone telephone two years ago, mounted on the wall near the garden door.

When Ms Johnson appeared in the kitchen, hair tied back in a simple knot with a dressing gown over her clothes, Anathema had the concordance ready and immediately began presenting.

"Anathema," Ms Johnson interrupted, "I just wanted to say thank you for coming by, but that I don't want you to catch sick. That's why I didn't go to school! I'll look at your book when I come back, I promise."

Anathema pursed her lips, considered and discarded this, and continued presenting. She didn't think she'd get sick; Agnes hadn't put anything about that in The Book. And this was very important.

Ms Johnson looked at Not-Ms-Johnson a couple times, for some reason, but Anathema ignored it. She was so close to persuading Ms Johnson, she just knew it.

Eventually, Not-Ms-Johnson said in a significant voice, "Jane, I think Anathema's made some good points, don't you? Maybe this is something you can talk to her parents about when you're feeling better?"

Ms Johnson smiled suddenly, and Anathema was glad Not-Ms-Johnson had spoken up. Maybe all she'd needed all along was for a grown-up to be an ally; she'd have to write Not-Ms-Johnson a thank you card, like Mum said it was polite to.

"Oh, you're right, sis," Ms Johnson said. "Anathema, how does that sound? When I feel better and come back to school, we'll talk to your parents about this."

Vindication. It was as close as Anathema had ever come to a grown-up admitting they were wrong about something. She got up and went to shake Ms Johnson's hand. "I'm looking forward to it," she said solemnly. "Thank you for the tea, Ms Johnson and Ms Johnson's sister." She collected her concordance, nodded to them each in turn, and turned as smartly on her heel as any eight-year-old could after she's watched Mary Poppins three times and practiced in the mirror.

When Ms Johnson spoke to her parents, Dad would show her The Book to back up the concordance, and Anathema would finally be recognized as being good at spelling. It was just as destined as if it had been prophesied by Agnes herself.

Author's note:

Poor Anathema is going to be in so much trouble.

So far, all my fills this month have been set in TV-verse, but for this one I went whole hog on the book. Anathema in the book was born in 1970 in the UK and in the TV show was born in 1999 in the US, so two completely different worlds, and writing late 70s UK seemed like more of a challenge and less of an exercise in "oh god I'm old." I'm thinking it's 1979, because Pete's Dragon was released in the UK on December 5, 1978, a full year and a bit after its US release, which I didn't realize until after I wrote the daydream about Elliot and I didn't want to change it.

Ms Johnson is vaguely based on my memories of the teacher in Bridge to Terabithia.

Jane and Susan were both popular names in England and Wales in the 1950s, when the sisters Johnson would have been born. The UK has a fun interactive graph you can play with here.

So many thanks to @patolozka who made this post with all of Agnes's prophesies! It was so much easier to reference than flipping through my copy of the book looking for them.

#my writing #do it with style events #highway to pail #anathema device

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thejakeformerlyknownasprince · 1 year

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Character Ages in Animorphs Fic

In response to a few questions on my Eleutherophobia fic series, I wanted to spell out the logic of the character ages I’m using.

Jake is 13 when the war starts, 16 when it ends. This one’s canon: in #53 he says “I was just thirteen when I started. I’m sixteen now.”

Tom is 16 when the war starts, 19 when it ends. This is an educated guess. In MM4, which is set at the same time as #1, “Tom” borrows his mom’s car and drives it across town, apparently legally. So presumably he’s at least 16 when the war starts. But Jake also says “Tom was going to live out the rest of his years till his eighteenth birthday locked in his room” if their parents found out he’s got a “handgun” (dracon beam). So at least 16, but not much older, if there are “years” before he’s 18.

Rachel is 14 when the war starts, 17 when it ends. This one’s pure speculation, but. The reason I headcanon Rachel as a few months older than Jake is how she sees him early on in the war. In #2 especially she seems to look at him like a little brother: “Jake is like me, being a little crazy... It bothered me that he was a faster diver than I was.” Later, when she tries to protect him by getting him to leave, she says “Sorry Jake, this time I’m the boss” and tries to dump him off, confirming with a fake plea and “If he had lied to me, he would answer now” — and then she’s shocked that he did lie and didn’t answer her. Unlike the others, who start the war looking up to Jake for various reasons, Rachel dismisses him as a potential leader at first, and only gradually comes to respect him enough to follow his lead. As somebody who grew up friends with many of my first cousins, I can relate to the struggle to see the ones younger than me as adults, even the ones that are within months of my age. Throw in Rachel’s relative level of maturity, grasping almost immediately that “They’ll probably [kill] me but at least they’ll never find out about the rest of you” (#2) in contrast with Jake’s view (according to Marco) that the war is “some video game” (#1), and I just think it fits the characters.

Eva is 36 when the war starts, 39 when it ends. More speculative still! However, I like the idea of Eva coming from a relatively traditional gender role: we know she’s Catholic (Visser) and immigrated at a young age (#20). We also know she’s “incredibly beautiful” (#15) with “shampoo-commercial black hair” (#30) and she had a somewhat troubled marriage to a genius astrophysicist (#15) where she did almost all of the housework and childcare (#5). She’s also physically fit enough to climb mountains and sail sailboats unassisted. So I headcanon Eva being younger than Peter, married by 20 and with a kid by 23, and having a pretty traditional marriage — Peter with the only income, Eva a full-time parent — before Edriss shows up.

Anyway, Jake’s literally the only character with a canonical age, and K.A. Applegate has said that there were no attempts to plot a coherent timeline for the series, so I don’t think that any of these are the One True Way to interpret Animorphs. They’re just my preferred interpretations.

#animorphs #animorphs meta #animorphs spoilers #eleutherophobia #eleutherophobia meta #jake berenson #tom berenson #rachel berenson #eva animorphs

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bracketsoffear · 3 months

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The House on the Borderland (William Hope Hodgson) "Fishing buddies Tonnison and Berreggnog didn't bargain for what they found while on holiday near the remote Irish village of Kraighten. While walking along the riverbank, they're astonished to see that the river abruptly ends. It reappears as a surge from a chasm some 100 feet below the edge of an abyss, where also stand the remains of an oddly shaped house, half-swallowed by the pit.

Exploring the ruins, the friends discover the moldering journal of an unidentified man--the Recluse--who had lived in the house with his sister and faithful dog years ago. Its pages reveal the man's apparent descent into madness--how else to account for his chronicles of otherworldly visions, trips to other dimensions, and attacks by swine-like humanoid creatures that seem to have followed him home? After one particular vision in which he witnesses the end of the earth and time itself, the Recluse awakens in his study to find nothing has changed--except that his dog Pepper is dead, dissolved into a pile of dust. And then the "swine things" return…"

A Guest in the House (Emily Carroll) "After many lonely years, Abby’s just gotten married. She met her new husband—a recently widowed dentist—when he arrived in town with his young daughter, seeking a new start. Although it’s strange living in the shadow of her predecessor, Abby does her best to be a good wife and mother. But the more she learns about her new husband’s first wife, the more things don’t add up. And Abby starts to wonder . . . was Sheila’s death really by natural causes? As Abby sinks deeper into confusion, Sheila’s memory seems to become a force all its own, ensnaring Abby in a mystery that leaves her obsessed, fascinated, and desperately in love for the first time in her life" While most riffs on the Bluebeard story are probably slaughter, buried, or eye aligned, much of the horror in this story is the uncertainty and loss of a clear sense of reality. Also the art of Sheila feels very spiral.

#spiral poll #the spiral #poll #the magnus archives #leitner tournament #The House on the Borderland #William Hope Hodgson #A Guest in the House #Emily Carroll

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wilchur · 11 months

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Okay. My actual RDR2 Modern AU might be set in 1990s USA and pretty dark, but I have this nostalgic worm in my head that wants to throw these funky guys into late 90s/early 00s Poland SO BAD agshdjdbfk

Ramble under the cut because I can't be normal about any idea ever.

I can see it in my head so clearly... a silly "Rodzina Zastępcza" type sitcom. Hosea and Dutch are still crooks who sell counterfeit shit at the local outdoor market with a side business smuggling in cheap cigs and alcohol from abroad. I would do a little age fuckery to shrink Arthur's, John's and Tilly's age differences so that they all still live with them. Arthur would be like 16-17, John 12-14 and Tilly arund 10 or so. Arthur and John are fucking Monster Children, but Tilly is good at pretending an angel lol

Miss Grimshaw and Dutch are technically married, but just because they got hitched on impulse years ago and can't be bothered to get a divorce. It's good for appearances as well so whatever. She lives with them too, keeps the house from imploding.

Uncle is the town drunk and can usually be found thoroughly soaked through near the local grocery store. Always bugs Arthur for change and never gets shit, but John sometimes slips him something in exchange for buying him some beer or cigarettes with a part of the money.

I see Swanson as this comic relief "friend of the family" character that keeps waltzing in uninvited all the time. There's like no protestants over here and I don't know shit about the eastern orthodox church so I'm making him a washed up catholic priest (sorry my dude). I think it would be pretty funny if he was like totally oblivious to the fact that Dutch and Hosea are Very Gay despite it being super obvious. "Mr Matthews and Mr Van der Linde must be very good friends if he lets him, his wife and their unruly foster children share his home :)" ahah

Most of the names would probably need to be changed to make sense.. Arthur mostly works, just have to throw out the h. Tilly is short for Matilda apparently, but I don't see it. Maybe Tosia? Tola?Both short for Antonina. John>>Jan makes me fucking insane... Little Jasiek Marston 😂😂Though American media had a real boom in the east after the soviet union fell so I could maybe keep Johnny/John as a nickname? So that I don't cringe myself to death. Dutch is going to make me go grey so I won't even try. Hosea is biblical so he could technically stay, but apparently they translate it to fuckin' Ozeasz in the polish version of the texts so idk. At least the surname is easy because it's from a given name and I can just go with a Polish surname of the same meaning -- Matysiak. Uncle is easy because that's just a common word so >> Wujek, or Wujcio if i really wanted to make it silly. Susan is Zuzanna so very easy, but Grimshaw is untranslatable. Though I could just pick something phonetically similar like Grzymała or Gryszkiewicz or something (good luck trying to pronounce that). Orville is straight up a fake name from the 1700s and has no real meaning? Makes it hard to switch out so I'm just gonna be lazy and go with Oliwier? Sounds similar enough. Swanson doesn't have a straightforward equalivent either, but it apparently means "servant"? And "Szewczyk" (tailor) feels like it could work. I dunno, my brain is fried at this point. I'll leave it at that.

I know this probably makes no sense to anyone else but I'm So Into the idea it's insane agsjdkflk I had to write some of it down. I just want them to be silly. Nothing bad ever happens in a polish sitcom ✨

I think I might doodle some stuff for this since I don't have an actual story in mind to write... We'll see. I just want to be self-indulgent and go crazy a bit 🥴🥴

#*polishifies your faves*#i talked about this on twitter before #now its y'all's turn to be subjected to it #and i'm not sorry in the slightest #rdr2 #rdr2 modern au #(kind of)

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justforbooks · 1 month

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When Alice Munro won the Man Booker International prize in 2009, many considered it a beatification that was long overdue. For decades, Munro has been publishing collection after collection of beautiful short stories, widely admired, widely read, but it's been an unflashy career, seemingly careless of the trappings of fame or bestsellerdom. This is simply a good writer doing what she loves.

Her fellow Canadian, Margaret Atwood, said, "Among writers, her name is spoken in hushed tones," but unlike many authors who are considered to be writers' writers, Munro's deceptively straightforward, narrative-based stories have achieved an audience beyond her immediate fanbase, despite her rare public appearances and refusal to give interviews. The corollary of her steady, unimpressed attitude to the trappings of fame is mirrored in her cool prose. Each of the 14 stories in this collection is like a novel-in-miniature, concerned primarily with the telling of the tale rather than rhetorical flourishes.

These are not stories that can be read quickly, back-to-back, any more than you would read 14 novels back-to-back. Each needs to settle in the mind because Munro has an uncanny knack of convincing the reader that the characters have real lives before the stories commence and continuing existences after. "On the bench outside the station I sat and waited…" begins "Amundsen", the second tale in the collection – and it's a classic example of how Munro takes the reader straight into a life-in-progress, in this case an account of a young woman, Vivien, on her way to work as a teacher at a residential home for children with tuberculosis. She soon catches the eye of the medic in charge, the aptly named Dr Fox, and the rest of the staff hear wedding bells. Vivien does too, but the ringing sound will have a slightly off-beat echo for most readers as Munro drops one hint after another that Dr Fox is not reliable. When the wedding is aborted, it comes as an inexplicable shock to her, yet seems inevitable to us.

Most of these stories are set in the rural towns around Lake Huron in Munro's native Ontario, around the time of the second world war, and the petty humiliations of small-town life are apparent in each: in particular, the humiliations of being a woman in an era where being seen in public when pregnant, smoking or even expressing an opinion too forcibly was considered unbecoming. In "Haven", a young woman is forced to stay with an uncle and aunt while her parents are in Africa and becomes witness to the way in which the uncle continually undermines his wife and how his hatred of a musically talented sister persists unto the sister's untimely death. "There was a quantity of things that men hated…" the niece observes. "Or had no use for, as they said. And that was exactly right. They had no use for it, so they hated it."

Munro's stories are full of smart young women wryly observing men's desire for dominance and other women's collusion with their own subservience. In "Dolly", the narrator observes of a love rival, "men are charmed by stubborn quirks if the girl is good-looking enough… all that delight in the infantile female brain."

But it would be wrong to think of Munro as a chronicler of the particular disappointments of being female: she draws men just as well. There is a heartbreaking portrayal of a widowed policeman in "Leaving Maverley". Despite the inevitable end of his wife's lengthy and terminal illness, he realises as he leaves the hospital: 'He'd thought that it had happened long before with Isabel, but it hadn't. Not until now. She had existed and now she did not… And before long, he found himself outside, pretending that he had as ordinary and good a reason as anybody else to put one foot ahead of the other."

There is an interesting diversion at the end of this book: the final four stories are, in Munro's own words, "not quite stories… the first and last – and the closest – things I have to say about my own life." A less well-known writer would not be allowed to lift her hands and say, "Look, there are some bits here, and I'm not sure what they are, but there you go," but they are delightful additions to this collection. Plainer, with a slightly more bitter edge, than the "fictional" stories that precede them, they are a tantalising glimpse of the memoir Munro fans would swoon for, should she choose to write it. The first indeed – but let's hope she changes her mind and makes them not the last.

Daily inspiration. Discover more photos at Just for Books…?

#just for books #Alice Munro #Dear Life #book review

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wishmaker1028 · 8 months

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Farewell to You, ch 1

"Do not disturb the harmony of fire, ice or lightning, lest these titans wreak destruction upon the world they clash. Though the water's great guardian will arise to quell the fighting, alone its song will fail, lest the earth shall turn to ash. O Chosen One, into thy hands, bring together all three. Their treasures combined tame the Beast of the Sea."

A girl, around 17 years old, was remembering that prophecy. She was wearing a black tank top with some blue jeans and white slippers. At first, she found it silly. She thought it was just a legend, a story. But she was quickly proven wrong.

"Melody?"

Melody turned, hearing her boyfriend calling for her. There was Rudy. He is 18 years old now. Melody had earned the heart of the young gym leader.

He asked, "What are you doing here again?"

Melody honestly answered, "Just going down memory lane."

Rudy questioned, "You worried about the parties coming up in Pallet Town?" When she didn't respond, the gym leader knew that he had his answer. He added, "I know you had a thing for Ash and I had a thing for Misty but it is time to move on."

Melody waved her hands in front of her, "I wasn't arguing that but I can't shake this feeling that something is coming."

Rudy thought for a moment before he replied, "Well, if something is coming, I'm protecting you."

Melody slightly teased, "You sure I won't be the one protecting you?"

To that, Rudy could only laugh. It was at this point, Mahri had found them. She is 14 years old now.

Mahri told them, "You two coming or not, big brother?"

Rudy replied, "Don't worry, Mahri. We're coming." He then turned to Melody, offering his hand. He teased, "May I escort you to the airport, me lady?"

Melody rolled her eyes but took his hand, lacing their fingers. "You are so lucky you're handsome."

To that, Rudy laughed more. With that, they walked off, Mahri right behind them.

Mahri turned to Melody and asked, "So why were you down at the shrine again?"

Before Rudy could shoo her away, Melody looked at Mahri. She admitted, "I just have a bad feeling."

Mahri understood that as she just nodded. She stated, "Well, look at the bright side, at least the legendary birds don't live around here anymore."

To that, Melody was grateful. Lugia had arisen from the deepest of the ocean to tell Articuno, Zapdos, and Moltres to leave the area. It didn't want another fight to break out between the legendary birds and it would be safer for them to just leave the area. So that's what they did. No one knew where the birds were now, except Slowking and Lugia. Melody never asked either of them where they went as she didn't think it was important...

"Melody?"

The musician perked up. She saw that Rudy and Mahri were looking at her with concern. Apparently the three of them had made it to the airport.

She apologized, "Sorry, just on edge."

Rudy reassured, "Don't be sorry, you're leaving this island for the first time in a long time. There's nothing to be sorry for."

Mahri replied, "Big bro is right. We should get to Pallet Town and join the party."

Melody hugged them both, kissing Rudy's cheek. She was lucky to have them.

...

"How's the decorations coming, Max?"

Max turned to the voice in question, seeing that it was his sister talking to him. May, Drew, Harley, Solidad, and him were helping Ms. Ketchum decorate.

Max reported, "So far so good. Treecko and I are getting the balloons set."

Treecko said, "Tree!"

True to his word, there were balloons filled with helium. They had two balloons on each table and two at the entrance. Max turned to his sister.

He asked, "How's it going with you and Drew? Getting the tables set?"

May said, "Yeah with Blaziken and Roserade's help, this is going much faster."

Blaziken said, "Bla!"

Roserade said, "Rose!"

Solidad teased, "I'm surprised Ms. Ketchum didn't ask you for your help with the food, May."

To that, May blushed out of embarrassment.

Harley added, "Oh, come on, hun. You know as well as I do that May would eat more than help."

Solidad giggled when she saw May flush more. Cacturne and Slowbro were helping their trainers too. They were putting up the chairs and more tables. Before May could say anything else, they heard a familiar voice.

"That more sounds like Ash."

Everyone turned, seeing Dawn and Piplup there. With them was Kenny.

"Dawn!" May gushed.

"May!" Dawn gushed right back, hugging the brunette.

"Piplup!" Piplup said, running off to join Blaziken.

Dawn said, "I'm so glad to be here!" She turned to Max and asked, "Is this your brother?"

May answered, "Mhm, that's Max and his Treecko."

Max waved, to which Dawn had eagerly waved back.

Kenny asked, "Is there anything we can do to help?"

Drew told him, "Well, we could use a hand with setting up more tables. Ms. Ketchum said that there were a lot of people coming."

"Hello everyone!"

Everyone turned, seeing Iris and Cilan arriving. They were holding hands.

May smiled, "Hey Iris and Cilan!"

Dawn blinked, "I can't believe it! Are you two together?"

Cilan confirmed, "Yes, we've been together ever since Iris became champion of Unova."

Iris admitted, "What a day it was."

Max asked, "So where's Alder these days anyways?"

Iris answered, "Last I heard that he was taking a much needed break in Kalos."

"I can confirm that."

That's when Serena, Clemont, and Bonnie had arrived.

Harley waved, "Ah, there they are. The Kalos gang."

Solidad replied, "Glad to see you all here."

Serena responded, "Thanks, Solidad. I'm so excited for this party."

Clemont nodded in agreement, "Perhaps we could help, what do you think, Bonnie?" He looked around, seeing that his sister was gone. He asked, "Bonnie...?"

Serena tapped on his shoulder. Clemont looked at her and saw that she was pointing. That's when he looked, sweatdropping as he did. Bonnie was near May, Solidad, and Dawn. She was going to go over to Iris too but saw that she was holding hands with Cilan. She bent down to the three of them.

Bonnie gushed, "Would any of you beautiful ladies be interested in dating my brother...?"

Before Clemont could react, Max did. He pulled Bonnie by her ear.

He said, "Good grief, you are worse than Brock!"

Everyone sweatdropped, Clemont was ever so grateful to Max.

...

Wishmaker1028: Oh man I am so excited for everyone to enjoy this! Happy Pokeshipping Week! Please read and review! And always think outside of the box!

#fanfiction #pokeshipping #ashketchum #misty waterflower #pokemonanime #pikachu #dawn #piplup #brockslate #pokeshippingweek #pokeshippingweek2023 #chapter 1 out 10 #farewelltoyou #Pokeshipping week 2023

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countrymusiclover · 1 year

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13 - The Mikaelson Ball

Part 14

Gemini Runaway

Tag list ask to be added @dragonixfrye @secretdreamlandmentality

(Raelyn's Dress)

Caroline and I with our arms linked together with one another, walked up to the Mikaelson’s mansion. She was wearing some heels but I kept my boots on since you could see them with the front of the dress being see through it part of the front. There was music blaring when we came through the door and from the looks of it the whole town was invited. “I’m going to find Matt. I’ll see you later.” She squeezes my arm leaving me on my own.

Scanning my eyes across the crowd I couldn’t find anyone I really recognized but I paused feeling someone staring daggers into the back of my head making me slightly turn around finally seeing it was Klaus. “Klaus…..woah. You clean up rather well.” He was in a black tux but he had a white bow tie that went well with the white shirt underneath his jacket.

“Raelyn, you look stunning in that dress. I must say your designer must have good taste.” He shook his head almost frozen in place by the girl in front of him. I had actually curled the ends of my hair and tied two strands of my hair back in a clip. Paired with my brother's necklace as always.

Leaning up on my toes I smiled up at the hybrid who was taller than me. “Oh I'll be sure to let him know…excuse me sir are you perhaps Nik Mikaelson I must tell him what a splendid job he did on this dress." I mocked pretending to search around for Klaus even though he was standing right in front of me.

"You're so silly sometimes, Rae. I don't think I've ever laughed this much with anyone else." He chuckled, bending his head down to me smiling.

Placing my hands together in front of me, sending him the same expression back. "I can say the same about you, Nik. After what happened to my brother I - I didn't think I could have fun anymore."

"I'd do anything to keep you happy, Ms. Lane." He responded simply lifting his gaze up towards the long winding staircase where his gaze locked with his mother who was watching us and wearing a black cocktail dress from the looks of it. "If you're still worried about her, why don't you just go talk with her?"

"Oh hell no. I can't possibly do that." I made a noise in disgust at his proposal.

He responded. "She might like you."

"Or she might want me dead like the Bennett witches did. A witch without their own magic is basically against nature." I cut him off quickly.

He stepped closer where I could feel his hot breath mixing with mine. "A vampire is also against nature, Raelyn."

"Yeah but that doesn't mean…" I didn't really know what to say back.

Klaus whispered, sending me a cheeky smile. "Aren't we the perfect pair then? Uh Raelyn I have to join my mother. I'll find you shortly." He maneuvered through the crowd of people now standing on the staircase with his mother and siblings.

Elijah declared to everyone in the room. "Welcome. Thank you for joining us. You know, whenever my mother brings our family together like this, it's tradition for us to commence the evening with a dance. Tonight's pick is a centuries-old waltz, so if all of you could please find yourselves a partner, please join us in the ballroom."

I moved through the crowd of people accidentally stumbling over someone's dress where we both tumbled to the wooden floor. "Oops sorry I'm sorry." I immediately apologize for getting to my feet and helping the girl up.

"It's fine, it was an accident. I'm Elena…and you're the new siphon witch in town the Salvatore's are afraid of." She knitted her brows together for me to notice she had dark brown hair and brown eyes. "But they won't really tell me why."

Knitting my brows at the girl I asked softly. "If they are so protective of you then why are you here exactly?"

"The original witch invited me. Apparently she wants to speak with me alone about something." The brunette responds.

Glancing over my shoulder back at the staircase I could see that she was indeed watching us from above. "I wish I could tell you what she wanted to tell you but I don't know anything about it. What I can tell you though is the Salvatore Brothers have nothing to fear from me. Klaus has no intention of using me as a weapon against you and your friends. He's simply offered me a home and protection from my own monstrous family."

"What do you mean monstrous family?" She asked.

Sternly looking at her I decided to tell her what she really wanted to know. "My Coven tricked me into killing my twin brother. Have a nice dance, Elena." Turning on my heels I could faintly hear Damon ask her.

"Why were you talking with the enemy witch?"

Clutching my hands into fists I was getting really annoyed with him anymore. I might just consider throwing his ass around since I revealed the other night that I have enough power to take the Originals to their knees. Some people pushed me around where I nearly tripped until someone put a hand on my waist. I grabbed their forearm making them wince siphoning some magic until they spoke up. "Ah! Raelyn, it's me, love."

"Oh sorry, Klaus." I apologize quietly removing my hand from his arm.

He cleared his throat, removing his hand from my waist and offering up his right hand instead with a slight bow like I was a queen. "May I have this dance, M'Lady?"

"Yes." I snorted a laugh at him placing my hand in his letting him lead me into the crowd with everyone else getting in line for the dance. Placing one hand on his shoulder he put his other on my waist keeping our other hands intertwined together.

"You seem nervous. Your heart's beating faster." He pointed out making me roll my eyes at his vampire hearing.

"Is this going to be like the dances we practiced?"

He said. "Yes, except we will have to switch partners occasionally."

"Switch partners!"

He leans forward nuzzling his nose against mine chuckling. "Don't worry, little siphon. If any of my siblings becomes your partner they all know the moves quite well."

The music began playing where everyone started spinning around the room in step with the tunes that were being played. Klaus squeezed my hand twirling me out and back into his chest a few times making me smile. “Let me try to twirl you now.”

“Alright let’s see you try, Rae.” He smiled when he removed his hand from my waist. I let go of his shoulder. I raised my arm as high as I could where our hands were still intertwined and he spun out. Yet when I spun him back in I did it faster than I thought where we tumbled to the ground causing some of the people dancing beside us to break away and send us glaring looks. “We might have to work on that one, love.”

I chuckled, hugging my knees to my chest even though I had a dress on watching him get to his feet offering me his hand. “Yeah you’re probably right, Nik. Thanks.” He tugged me up to stand with our chests pressed up against one another beginning to get back into the dance routine.

“Don’t panic darling but we have to switch now.” He told me where I gulped nervously letting him twirl me out of his arms with my blonde hair throwing around in the air.

A new set of hands caught me where my gaze lifted up meeting the brown eyes of Kol. “Hello darling, fiery witch.”

“Hi Kol. I hope you know this dance like your brother said. I’ve only had a few lessons.” I responded by placing my hands where they needed to be and we began the dance once more.

Kol smiled down at me closely, focusing on my necklace around my neck. “So what type of witch are you. I have never seen one who was strong enough to bring all Originals to their feet.”

“I apologize for that I was just afraid that he would die, he’s the only person I honestly trust at this moment in my life.” I explained meeting his gaze for only a brief second.

He tilted his head cursively. “Hmm. So what type of witch are you?”

“I wasn’t born with my own magic. My mother referred to what I am as a siphon. I draw magic from anything that has supernatural powers. Vampire, werewolf or witches. I can also take it from objects such as I took magic from the wall. But I always have to take from something else regardless.”

Kol smirked, moving one of his hands to brush over the blue diamond necklace. “Have you ever considered turning this into a source to place your powers.”

“I don't know what you mean, Kol.”

“Turn this jewelry into a talisman for your magic. That way you can just siphon magic from it unless you need a stronger source then you can siphon from someone else.” He explains spinning me out and back into his chest where we broke away bowing to one since everyone else was doing so.

I smiled actually, never thinking that was possible. “I never thought of that. How do you know about it. Could you teach it to me?”

“Before I was turned into a vampire I was a very powerful witch like you clearly are. But yes I can help you do such a thing someday but it seems my brother wishes for your attention.” He nodded his head making me look over my shoulder seeing Klaus coming over to us.

He smiled, holding his hand out for me. “Brother may I steal Ms. Lane froze you. I wish to show her something in private.”

“Of course, Nik.” Kol took my hand kissing the palm of it before going to find another dance partner. “It’s been a pleasure, Raelyn.”

Klaus led me up the staircase and down some hallways before we entered a large room filled with paintings and drawings. The supplies were scattered all across the room putting me at awe until he shut the door letting the music die down. “In the time I have lived in this house, how have I never come across this room before now?”

“It’s one of my passions.” He replied with his hands behind his back. “Do you like it?”

I smiled in his direction seeing that he was worried that I wouldn’t. He probably wouldn’t dare to let his guard down with anyone else. My eyes landed on a large painting on the wall in front of us. “This is amazing. You weren’t kidding when you said you were an artist…I take the curators at the louvre aren't on vervain.”

Klaus sighed with a smile. “Yeah, well, that's their mistake. So how was your day with Caroline?”

“It was good.”

“Oh come on there has to be more than that.” He presses on wanting to know more.

Shaking my head at him he was trying to be noisey. “Sorry Niklaus but if I told you that would break the girl code.”

“Not even a peak.” He tried again nudging me with his arm, making me nudge him back.

“Not a chance.” Moving my eyes across the table in front of us I could see piles of sketch drawings. Picking up one of a girl looking off in the distance I asked him finally to look at him. “Wait a second. Did... Did you do these?”

Klaus nodded at me watching my espression. “Yeah. What do you think of them?”

“They’re incredible. My brother would be more impressed than I am. He wanted - um would have been an artist.” I sucked in a breath fighting back some tears.

“Actually one of my landscapes is hanging at the hermitage, not that anyone would notice.” He replied, biting his lip.

Pushing some of them away I paused recognizing a familiar face on one of the drawings he had done. Lifting the page up I scanned over the image carefully hoping that I wasn’t missing something. But the image was so clear: the matching eye shape, the slight curly hair and the genuine smile that he last gave me before he died in my arms. “You….you drew my brother, Jacob. But how…I…I don’t see how you could have.”

“Yes I did, Rae. It…it was the night you showed me into your memories. I did my best to remember what he looked like. I am not completely finished with it but it was supposed to be a surprise.” Klaus turned to fully face me not expecting that I would have found it underneath all the others. “What uh - what do you think? I can have it finished by tomorrow if there’s something I missed.”

I cut him off sitting the picture down grinning through happy tears that I now would be able to see my brother happy and not go to sleep seeing him die at my hand. “No don’t do anything it’s perfect. That’s how I want to remember him - that’s how he should be remembered. I can’t believe you did this for me…no one ever has…I - thank you.” Flinging my arms around his neck I buried my face in the crook of his neck.

“You’re welcome, little Siphon.” He wrapped his arms around my waist, hugging me back until I broke the hug still keeping my hands on his chest. “What do you say about getting out of here huh?”

“And where would we go?” I decided to play along with his game. “London, Italy or New Orleans.”

His grin grew wider across his face. At my words the blue of his eyes lightened up. “Rome, Paris, Tokyo. Wherever you want. All you have to do is ask, love.” He slowly began to lean forward and I did the same moving my hands around his neck feeling him move his arms around my waist tugging me until I was pressed up against his chest.

I moved my head upward so close to kissing him until we heard someone banging on the door causing us to pull apart. “Nik. Rae. Mother is ready to make the toast!” That could be identified as Rebekah.

“I’ll put a dagger in the next person who interrupts us!” Klaus growled showing me his golden werewolf eyes.

Running my hands down his chest I broke the embrace we shared. “Hey, be nice. She’s your sister.”

“I’m still annoyed with Caroline too.” He grumbled watching me open the door waiting for him to follow me.

Smirking at him playfully I flipped my hair over my shoulder leaving the room. “We could always run away for the weekend with the world at our fingertips, Nik.” He grinned at the idea following me outside to see that there were waiters bringing around glass filled with red liquid and his mother was standing at the top of the staircase holding her own drink.

She makes a speech while Klaus handed me one of the glasses clinking it with mine. “Good evening, ladies and gentlemen. Waiters are coming round with champagne. I invite you all to join me in raising a glass. It provides me with no greater joy than to see my family back together as one. I'd like to thank you all for being part of this spectacular evening. Cheers. “ He takes a drink first and I followed but I felt a bitter taste in my which was weird but I sent him a smile back.

Comments really appreciated ❤️

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dailyunsolvedmysteries · 1 year

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Keddie Cabin Murders

After divorcing her husband, Sue Sharp and her five children moved from Connecticut to Keddie, CA, to make a new start. Sue, her 15-year-old son John, 14-year-old daughter Sheila, 12-year-old daughter Tina, and 10- and 5-year-old sons Rick and Greg got along well with the neighbors, quickly making friends in their new hometown. However, their sense of belonging came to a violent and tragic halt in the early morning of April 12, 1981. Sheila returned home from the neighbor's house that morning and was met with a horrific scene.

Her mother, her brother John, and his friend Dana Wingate had been brutally murdered while she was away. Meanwhile, Rick and Greg and a visiting friend were asleep in the adjoining bedroom. The children had apparently slept through the deadly attack, and 12-year-old Tina was missing. After opening the front door and witnessing the grotesque scene, Sheila immediately ran back to her neighbors to call the police.

The three victims, bound by medical and electrical tape, had been bludgeoned, stabbed, and strangled. First responders reported blood all over the crime scene: on the walls, the bottoms of the victims' feet, the ceilings, the floors, the bedding in Tina's room, the furniture, and the back steps. The scene was so grotesque that investigators didn't even realize Tina was missing until hours later.

Authorities never caught the murderers, and it took three years to find Tina's body. The FBI and local police made numerous mistakes throughout the investigation, leading the community to speculate that the investigators were somehow involved in or covering up for the murderers. Although investigators never pinpointed a motive, they speculated Sue was having an affair with her neighbor. As soon as the local sheriff realized his friends were the main suspects in the case, he advised them to leave town. The neighbor's wife even went to the police with a letter that her husband wrote, confessing to the crimes.

Despite the incriminating evidence, no one followed up on the lead. When investigators reopened the case in 2013, they found evidence that the neighbors and the authorities who questioned them might have been involved in a drug-smuggling ring. They also found a weathered hammer and knife that might have been used as murder weapons. However, no one has ever been charged for the massacre.

#Keddie Cabin Murders #unsolved #cold cases #unsolved mysteries #true crime #crime #murder

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fandomfourever · 9 months

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Lawrusso Dream (2)

Okay, so, out of nowhere I had a Lawrusso based dream, and I figured I'd share it here, because why not? It was kinda cool because it was set up like an episode of the show, mixed with fanfic, and of course, ~dream logic~ lol

So it started off with the POV of some random lady my brain made up, apparently named Olivia, who was arriving at a seedy looking hotel (everything was very brown and outdated). She got into the elevator where she ran into Johnny. They made kind of awkward small talk, but Olivia felt like he seemed like not a creep.

They got off on the same floor and he went to room 14, while she went to room 10. Except her room was in the process of being cleaned (looked like they were trying to hide a crime scene) and the lady inside said her room wasn’t ready and she couldn’t keep her bags in there yet.

Olivia went to her car, grabbed her bags, because she was worried about her abusive ex showing up and taking her things to try and force her to interact with him. She went to the room Johnny had gone into, and knocked on the door to ask for help. Johnny and Daniel answered the door and she was surprised.

(It changed here to Johnny and Daniel’s POV)

So as Olivia was explaining her predicament, she said something like "Oh, I'm so sorry for bothering you and your husband" to Johnny. Johnny and Daniel both glanced at each other. Daniel was waiting to see Johnny deny it, but he didn't, and they both silently kinda came to the agreement to go along with it because she might feel really uncomfortable going to two old straight dudes for help over an apparent couple. (Suddenly) Sam was sitting in the room watching as Johnny and Daniel went along with it, looking highly amused (she disappeared pretty much after this, lol dreams).

After Olivia left to go into town (leaving her bags in their room to get later), Johnny and Daniel decided they had to keep up the charade because they had no idea when she'd show up, or if she might need help. So they brought all their stuff into Johnny's room (Daniel may have been rooming elsewhere but had just been talking with Johnny when all this happened). They were like tossing things to each other to place around the room, and putting each other's stuff on the bedside tables, to make it look like they were Very Much A Couple and then high-fived lol.

They of course had to share a bed now, and went to sleep. Johnny woke up to Daniel sprawled across his chest, and he had a sudden thought of how things might have been if they'd been friends like this when they were younger (~daydream transition fade woo~). Young Johnny and Daniel (like 20s) are sitting on a couch watching a show or movie together and laughing and cuddling under a blanket. Daniel ends up with his head on Johnny's shoulder, snickering away at whatever they're watching, and Johnny can't stop from smiling.(~daydream transition fade back to present~)

Johnny and Daniel both woke up and got ready. Daniel had brought food that could be thrown together in the little kitchenette in the room, and made them both breakfast. Johnny took one bite and had a sort of flashback (if you're picturing it like the scene with the food critic in Ratatouille then you'd be correct) where he realizes that food is his love language. He also realizes he actually wants to be with Daniel for real.

The "episode" ended and I immediately got onto to Tumblr to see if people were talking about how wild this episode was and if anyone was freaking out of the Lawrusso stuff, but nobody was talking about it.

And then I woke up.

So that was the Lawrusso Dream, lol. It was very silly, but also really cute. Maybe it'd make a good fanfic (with obvious edits to make it actually make sense and not have people randomly appearing and disappearing lol). Anyway, if anyone read this, I hope it amused you. Or inspired you, idk.

#lawrusso #johnny lawrence x daniel larusso #my dream #idk #this really did come out of nowhere lol but it was a good dream #it was super detailed too

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slippinmickeys · 1 year

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Three Part Harmony (14/?)

“Not here,” Rhonda swallowed, still trying to catch her breath. “I don’t think they know you’re here . But the FBI,” she panted, closing the door behind her. “They were at the diner when I got in this morning. They had pictures of you. They knew you were there last Friday.”

Mulder could feel his panic face settle onto his face, and Scully reached out to grip his hand tightly.

“How?” he asked.

“Nobody said anything,” Rhonda clarified. “I don’t know how they knew.”

There was a choking whisper from next to him, and Rhonda’s eyes slid over to his partner.

“What?” he said, looking down at Scully.

“The chip,” she said, trying to find her voice. “They knew because of the chip. It was the last place we were before we took it out.”

Mulder swung his eyes back to the waitress.

“Were you followed?” he asked.

“No,” Rhonda shook her head. “I came the back way. Took me damn near forever. I’m certain. You’re still safe.”

“Do we need to leave?” Scully asked, pulling on his hand to get his attention. “Do we need to move?”

“I-” Mulder began. He could feel sweat break out on his upper lip, and he reached up to wipe it away. Should they leave? The answer was probably yes. But in the last few days Scully was finally turning back into herself, the safety the cabin offered them the most welcome respite. And how could they run anyway, with a baby? “I don’t think so,” he finally said, and watched Scully exhale a relieved breath. “Not yet.”

“Good,” Rhonda said, moving further into the cabin. “Good.” She reached into her pocket and slid a small scrap of paper over the countertop in their direction. Mulder reached forward and took it. It was a business card.

“Skinner,” he said, relieved. “Was he the only one there asking about us?”

Rhonda shook her head. “I think they called in the cavalry.”

“This man,” Mulder said, holding up the card between two fingers. “Were you able to talk to him? To just him?”

Again, Rhonda shook her head. “Turn it over,” she said.

Mulder flipped it so that he could see the back. In Skinner’s scrawling chicken scratch, he saw two words:

“Say nothing,” he read.

XxXxXxXxXxX

Walter Skinner swirled the cold dregs of coffee around the thin paper cup once before knocking the rest of it back and sucking the bitter liquid through his front teeth. He was bone tired, jangly from caffeine, and too big for the creaking conference table chair he sat in. His team was in the back office of a shabby Sheriff’s department on the outskirts of the Teton mountains.

“The way I see it,” Agent Kent was saying, pulling to loosen the tie around his neck, “they’ve moved on. Probably kept heading north.”

“Heading for the border,” said Kolinsky. “They’ve got money now from Scully’s mother. It’s what I’d do.”

Several of the other agents around the table muttered their agreement. The small room they’d taken over was hardly big enough for the six of them, was too hot, and had a repellently warm fug redolent of stale coffee and B.O.

“Is that the consensus?” Skinner asked, reaching up to pull off his glasses so he could rub at his eyes. It would be a relief to get the team out of this town. Something about the way the waitress Rhonda had called out the ‘mug shots’ of Mulder and Scully made him think she knew more than she was letting on. If he could get the task force moved north, away from this town, it might give his friends time to get away.

He heard a few muttered yeses before one firm “No.”

All eyes turned to the man who had said it: a new agent none of them knew, assigned to this task force by the Section Chief himself, on loan apparently, from the Seattle Field office.

“You disagree, Agent Bryson?” Skinner asked, feeling his shoulders tense. The providence of the agent’s assignment was murky, and Skinner had been having enough trouble leading the rest of the team in the search for Mulder and Scully. And all of them were good, earnest people whom he’d vetted himself. When the child from the Van De Kamp farm had been taken and dots had been connected, stern orders came from on high and so had Agent Bryson, who had met the team at the small airport in Jackson Hole the day before.

Skinner’s ability to contain the situation was on the precipice of being untenable. He feared for Mulder, Scully and their child. He’d known that other, darker forces were at work – it’s why he’d sent a warning about the boy to his two erstwhile agents in the first place – but now those forces were knocking on his door. On all their doors.

“I do disagree,” Bryson said, his face blank and hard to read. “They’re still here. They’re in the area.” He spoke with a surety that made something clench behind Skinner’s sternum.

Just then, a knock on the door to the conference room pulled everyone’s attention.

“Come,” Skinner barked.

A local deputy stuck his head through the doorway.

“Sir?” the deputy said.

Skinner was about to ask the young man what he wanted when he noticed that the deputy wasn’t looking at him, but at Agent Bryson.

“Yes?” Bryson said, like he was the one in charge.

“We found an abandoned truck off of a scenic turnout off highway 56. We ran the prints. They belong to your suspects.”

“Any idea how long the truck has been there?” Bryson asked.

“The county emptied the trash can there on Thursday and it wasn’t there then. So it was within the last few days.”

“Thank you, Deputy,” Bryson said, dismissing the man.

Bryson then turned somewhat smugly toward Skinner. “As I said,” the agent went on. “I believe they’re still in the area.”

XxXxXxXxXxX

“So here’s what I think the plan should be,” Rhonda said.

William had just woken up from his nap, groggy and a little crabby, so Scully was walking him around the cabin, pointing things out. The baby was having none of it, and was clingy and morose. Mulder sat on the couch following his partner with his eyes as Rhonda spoke.

“We’re about out of food here. And pretty soon you’ll need more diapers and other supplies. I’ll take a trip into town and get stocked up. This evening. I’ve got shifts all the rest of the week and a damn date with Jerry on Saturday. If they have an eye on the diner, it’s better if I don’t come back here after that. If I go on like my life is normal. I only come out here about once a month, if that. So I’ll resupply you tonight, go back to work tomorrow, and we all lay low for a while. I’ll give you my number if you need anything.”

“If they suspect we’re in touch, they might be bugging your phone.”

“Damn,” Rhonda said, without a solution.

“We’ll have to figure it out,” Mulder went on. “But it’s as good a plan as any.”

Rhonda nodded and turned her eyes to follow his gaze; at William, who was still fretting in Scully’s arms. Rhonda made her way over to the piano and sat, and the baby perked up, following her progress. When the woman lifted the lid off of the keys, William leaned back dramatically and Scully sat him down, watching as he scooted quickly across the floor to pull himself up on the piano bench.

He and Rhonda considered each other quite seriously.

“Chopin, do you think?” Rhonda asked the baby.

William grunted.

“No, you’re right,” she said. “Something new, then. Like you.”

And then she started playing a song Mulder remembered hearing recently on the radio. The baby was instantly delighted.

XxXxXxXxXxXx

Rhonda moved through the aisles of the small grocery store dropping anything she could think the little family might need into the already overflowing cart she pushed in front of her. She had reluctantly taken $500 in cash that Mulder insisted she have, and so help her, she was going to make sure the former agents and their son would want for nothing in the coming weeks.

Produce, canned goods, batteries, ice cream, anything and everything, if she thought it might be useful to them or get them through, she was going to buy it.

When she turned into the aisle that housed the baby and feminine care supplies, she paused, considering briefly whether or not she might need an extra cart. There was still a bit of room in the shelf on the undercarriage of the cart that might be able to take a few large boxes, and so she started loading it up with small packages of tampons and pads in various sizes – she had no idea what Scully might need or use, and wanted her bases covered. When she got to the diapers, she paused. There was no way she could fit anything else in the cart, even if she heaped it precariously on top.

The aisle, housing some of the more expensive items in the market, had a large rounded mirror attached to the ceiling that gave the cashier working the front a view into the aisle – no doubt so that some poor mother couldn’t shove a few canisters of pricey baby formula into her purse or shirt (horrific, thought Rhonda) – and if she hadn’t been scanning her eyes over some of the items on a top shelf, she likely wouldn’t have seen it: Movement, in the mirror. Fairly surreptitious movement at that, as she had thought she was the only one – other than a single cashier and a young kid stocking shelves – in the store.

She turned from where she was standing in front of the diapers toward the end of the aisle. Her heart began to pound, but she was determined to overcome her fear.

“I can see you,” she called out. “There’s no need for the cloak and dagger routine.”

A moment later a man stepped forward, somewhat blocking the aisle’s exit. “Good evening,” he said, a small, cold smile playing about his mouth.

“Special Agent Bryson, was it?” she said, pulling herself up to her full, if inconsequential, height.

“You have a good memory,” the FBI agent said, moving forward to stand in front of her cart. “I find it interesting that you didn’t remember seeing particular patrons that I know were in your diner on Friday.”

Rhonda swallowed, but didn’t dignify his remark with a reply. Unfazed, Agent Bryson slowly ran his eyes over all the items in her cart.

“Lot of groceries for a single woman of fifty-five, don’t you think, Miss Fitzsimmons?”

Rhonda clocked that he knew her age and last name. She shrugged nonchalantly. “I’m throwing a party. Maybe I’ll invite you.”

“I do like parties,” the man said, and Rhonda was so put off by the way his dark eyes bored into hers, that she decided she’d had enough of his games.

“Are you following me?” she asked blatantly, and the agent raised his eyebrows in surprise.

“Is there a reason I should be?”

“No,” Rhonda stated, and pulled her cart back so as to move around him.

He casually stepped in to block her path again, this time turning to look at the display of diapers before them, and then down at her cart.

“My apologies,” he said, taking a step back so that she could pass.

Rhonda wasted no time and pushed past him, maneuvering the now unwieldy cart with difficulty.

“Didn’t you need some of these?” he called out to her as she turned toward the cashier.

She didn’t respond, and started loading the items onto the conveyor belt quickly, her heart pounding, a nervous sweat beading on her face.

Later, as she was loading the bags into her small car, she watched as the FBI agent left the store and got into a dark sedan parked several rows over and several cars up. She watched him as he sat in darkness, not starting the car, not leaving the lot. When she finally returned her cart to the front of the market and made her way back to her Datsun, she saw the bright flare of a lighter flick on in the interior of the car, and then the dull orange glow of a lit cigarette within its murky shadows.

#the x-files #fanfic #my fic #msr #wip #family fic #but not fluff

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